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peachatini · 1 month ago

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Sorry this is so long but I had a lot of thoughts.

A think piece about Choi San and Jeon Jungkook from BTS and the fanfic ideal of the alpha. I'm obsessed with all the similarities and differences between BTS & Ateez, guys.

The Alpha Misconception

Let’s talk about something that’s been on my mind: how fanfic tropes - even the ones we love - can sometimes mess with how we see real people. I’m thinking specifically about Jungkook from BTS and San from ATEEZ. I think they’ve got a lot in common in terms of how fans talk about them, but also some key differences that are worth noting.

Before we get into it, I want to make something clear: I’m pro fanfiction. I’m not here to judge anyone’s ships, fic preferences, or how you express love for your faves. This isn’t a “shipping is toxic” post. I’m a shipper and a fanfic writer of 25 years. It’s just a look at how certain archetypes and tropes can go from fun storytelling tools to something a little more limiting and even harmful when they get pushed onto real people too hard.

Also, I’m not pretending to speak for all of fandom. These are just thoughts based on what I’ve seen - if that means it’s a small slice of the internet, so be it. This is just one person’s take.

Backdrop that would be good to know:

A small section of BTS’ label Hybe’s internal audit was released in late 2024. It was a report widely condemned for the “petty” nature of some of the comments within. It basically confirmed what a lot of fans had long suspected: that companies pay very close attention to fan culture, and sometimes even feed into it on purpose.

It would be useful to know the people involved: BTS’ Jungkook and his most common ship partners Jimin and Taehyung and ATEEZ’ San, Yeosang and Wooyoung. But mainly focusing on Jungkook and San. The dynamics between them aren’t exact copies, but there are similar vibes and notable differences - especially in how fans ship them and assign roles based on appearance or energy.

Rough Male Pheromones

Rewind about ten months to an article published in W Korea. A review of the Jimin and Jungkook travel show Are You Sure?

The article is now deleted. The response from groups of people with enthusiasm for Jungkook was not great. Aside from factual inaccuracies, falsely attributed quotes and an overtly fanservice-y description of two friends on a trip, the “rough male pheromones” really stood out.

Simply put: Many people simply didn’t recognise that description of Jungkook.

And that dismay might stay in the BTS tumblr space if I wasn’t seeing a very slight reflection of this in Choi San.

Fanfic as Profit

Saying that companies might engineer fanfic dynamics and characters onto their idols felt like a conspiracy theory once upon a time. It’s been quite a familiar refrain for me in the BTS shipping space: Well why would they make it up? Why would they bother doing this? Why would they construct things? What do they gain from it?

But then Hybe’s report dropped, and it more or less confirmed four ideas:

They know fanfiction is powerful.

They create narratives designed for fans to latch onto.

They know fans love familiar BL-style dynamics - simple, digestible, romantic, TESTED.

They like to nurture the immersion of fans into the world and encourage the parasocial elements.

It really rewrote a lot of the thinking around what we're seeing. We’re not imagining things when we feel like certain “moments” between idols seem tailor-made for fans. A lot of it is intentional. That doesn’t mean the friendships aren’t real, but it does mean they’re being shaped into something marketable by using fanfic ideas. I don't think this was a huge secret uncovered. It was a pretty open secret but had it been laid out so plainly?

This is Hybe's CEO Bang Sihyuk in 2019 talking about a; fanfic and b; narratives to be developed based upon this.

Here is Bang Sihyuk talking about going beyond fanservice with Jimin and Jungkook in a PowerPoint presentation:

Here is an article about the Hybe report seemingly confirming a song by TXT - also a Hybe group - is based on a fanfic:

From the Hybe Report:

Mad Summer: a fanfiction that was released around early days of debut. Not sure if the writer is just being sneaky, but they only release the fanfiction for viewing occasionally so as to self-manage any issues that arise. Perhaps that’s why it became a total hit amongst the 4th generation fandoms. Last week, it began trending on X that they made it public again for the first time in a long while and [redacted]. … Thanks to the fanfiction, in the early days, fantasies about the Yeonjun X Beomgyu OTP grew too big. But the two bicker a lot in real life, and the members also have the vibe of cousins who spend the whole summer vacation together, so it wasn’t a good environment for OTP stans to be active.

Even if the song and music video were not a direct reference to the fanfic, Hybe are aware of and monitor fanfic trends and how those trends play out with the member narratives.

Here is Hybe monitoring fanfic trends:

And not just fanfic but how sexuality is represented. Here is Hybe commenting on New from The Boyz wearing a crop top.

Translations vary on this. It’s either:

So when New posted that photo screaming 'gayness', it triggered the outpour of 'queer-hate'. [...] overall, the 'queer image' that the fans wanted to see was not this 'teasing flirt' but more of the cute and little BL-story character.

The fandom wants queer members to be cute protagonists of the BL universe, not power players.

At worst, Hybe believe fans want the simplest version of gay people as BL archetypes and at best, they’re keeping tabs on how they should be presenting their members for widest appeal.

So we know Hybe are curiously married to fanfic presentations, utilising it to determine the direction of their narratives.

The easiest way to present this to an audience is to replicate tried and true popular fic dynamics for queer ships. You'd be hard pressed to find a fandom without an ABO dynamic AU or a Mafia Boss AU. They're popular in every fanfic sphere I've ever been in: A tsundere/seme/masc/sexually confident top with a deredere/uke/femme/innocent bottom. The binary ideas of top and bottom, cute and grouchy, masc and femme are not necessarily always reflective of real complicated bedroom dynamics between real queer couples but they are really simple to grab, easy to understand. Think about the reductive questions queer people are asked: Who's the woman? Who's the top? Who puts up shelves and who cooks? It's a very simplistic shorthand for queer.

Certain popular pairings are reflective of these dynamics either by design - via constructed content or narrative - or by fortuitous circumstance to be capitalised on. In the case of San and Yeosang: the infamous WooSanSang live drama created a frisson to be explored.

This post about San and Yeosang really nails how these tropes show up: San as the protective, muscled one; Yeosang as the quiet, softer one.

Those same roles show up all the time in Jungkook/Jimin fic too but also very intensely in the Jimin/Jungkook shipping space.

Sidebar:

There’s a whole conversation to be had about how accurate the “innocent, seductive cutie who needs protecting” image really is when it comes to Jimin and Yeosang. They both have “cute” traits and are seen as sweet - but weak or helpless? Jimin is literally a black belt in, I think, a couple of martial arts. Still, he leans into the flirty-yet-adorable persona that fits neatly into the uke/seme dynamic. He’s quite committed to the role, often describing himself this way.

Yeosang, though? He’s never seemed fully comfortable with it. Let’s not forget his EPIC eyeroll at a fan who called him cute:

But yes, he’s whimsical and super pure and sweet. He’s the guy who doesn’t swear and draws his little aegyo character everywhere. But flirty? Not really. He doesn’t seem to court that kind of attention with any kind of regularity. He’s a soft-spoken, drone-loving, gamer-maths-nerd with a dry wit and, honestly, a suspiciously detailed knowledge of how to commit murder. So while the trope might suit Jimin, I’m not sure it was ever a natural fit for Yeosang.

And interestingly, we are witnessing the physical widening of Yeosang right now via his handy gains photos. That twink is PERISHING in real time:

I would talk more about Yeosang’s image but I think other people could do it better. And hey, look, Thirst did some excellent thinking about Yeosang and Wooyoung's image here.

Ok sidebar over.

The other pairings - Taekook and Woosan - don’t adhere to these ideals so strongly. Incidentally that would be our two could be real pairings. Thanks to @thirstkanaphan for that super handy shorthand phrase.

Taekook have similar characters and broadly similar physical appearance in terms of masculine presentation. Taehyung pre-military was physically slightly narrower but he does not have the femme qualities. They might be categorised as masc4masc vibes so the simple and easily comprehended lines around dominance/submission, alpha/omega, top/bottom are very fuzzy. Neither of them is playing the cutie to the tsundere, they both exhibit both traits.

And in the case of WooSan, the pieces have been in place but seemingly never overlapped. Early years Wooyoung was the sexy one, the seductive cutie Jimin replica:

With his best friend little twink San:

But by the time San had physically broadened to the point of being viable alpha material, Wooyoung seemed to have grown out of his designation. He’s now a bit more goth, a bit edgier and too steadfastly Wooyoung to play along with something that doesn’t feel real to him. See this quote from Wooyoung himself:

My personality is such that, when it comes to my convictions, not only do I not tip toe around my stance, I'm also unable to put on an act for the sake of presenting a certain outward appearance.

(Further interesting similarity in that Taehyung occupies this kind of unapologetically self-determined role within BTS. On the surface there's not a lot Wooyoung and Taehyung have in common but the more I learn, the more I realise there's a lot of similarity.)

Some things with WooSan remain fic-friendly: the brat/brat tamer dynamic is strong with those two, Wooyoung can still play the enticing sweetie and physically, Wooyoung is shorter and leaner than San so they present the visual ideal:

But crucially, every single time you think you have them pinned down, there’s a twist to them. Suddenly San is pouting and pushing buttons for attention, suddenly Wooyoung is attentive and dominant. There was a little fan story - that I cannot find the tweet for, sorry edit: FOUND IT - about San nearly tripping at Gayo Daejeon and going over to Wooyoung with a pout “I nearly tripped!” to be cooed at and loved on. The same event where Wooyoung gets San to check his hair looks nice. Those valued fic dynamics are so hard to hold onto in those two. The authenticity of them tends to override an overarching narrative. They just do their thing:

So now we’ve discussed the relative approaches to ships, to the actual point. It’s not really about ships at all. It’s all about a certain kind of shipping, whilst perfectly valid, and the box it inadvertently puts it’s main characters into: Our two “alphas” Jungkook and San.

The Golden Maknae and the Mountain

This is how we first meet Jeon Jungkook, maknae of BTS, at BTS 2013 debut. He is 15 years old and looks it too:

He grows up literally in front of Armys eyes. He has a vulnerability from his tender age, his huge bright eyes and babyface. He’s polite, he’s deferential, he bows low to his seniors. He adheres closely to age hierarchy, feeling it protects him from destroying relationships and making mistakes.

And he hates to make mistakes. He’s hard on himself, a perfectionist to a self-detrimental fault. He’s silly and he’s soft and cute. We watch him go through puberty hormones that make him a little all over the place with his feelings but that’s your little brother, right?

He’s a little duo with his best friend Taehyung. He’s the annoying little sibling to some of his hyungs, he’s the beloved baby to others.

Then he hits 19 (20 Korean age) in 2017 and performs a dance cover to Coming of Age Ceremony by Park Jiyoon. It’s a popular song for girl groups to perform when they come of age. It’s a little problematically sexual, honestly, with a bunch of lyrics about how a man waited for her to become old enough and now she is, he doesn’t have to wait anymore. It’s weird.

A new narrative emerges about Jungkook: He’s sporty; he’s a gym bunny; he can drink now; he can have opinions about kissing; he’s a MAN. He is now in a full time shipping narrative.

Jungkook is a workout aficionado since pre-debut but he had been discouraged from strength training to maintain a young teen appeal. He begins to work out. He gets tattoos too, a full sleeve that he begins in 2019. He rides a motorcycle.

By 2023 he looks like this:

And the transformation into the Seme-Alpha-Masc idea is complete.

Any Atiny reading will probably see the similarities between this and Choi San. San was 19, so a fair bit older than JK at debut in 2018 but he looks younger, just as innocent, like this:

He comes from a little island in the South called Namhae. The first ever idol from Namhae, in fact. There’s only a two year age range in Ateez, he’s the middle of five 99 liners. He has this sweet little voice still in the process of deepening. He’s excitable, youthful, playful, bubbly and he loves singing. He smiles a lot with these deep dimples. He collects plushies, can’t sleep without something to cuddle and he’s a scaredy cat. He’s a mischievous brother with some, a hyung to one, a joined-at-the-hip soulmate to another.

He’s quite self conscious about his skinny body. I’m unsure of whether he was prevented from working out but around 2021, he begins to bulk up. Just including this comparison picture because it makes me laugh:

In 2024, he looks like this:

Transformation complete. His name means Mountain and he looks like one.

I want to be clear: These two men made these choices for their own bodies. I don’t think for a second either of them was forced to become muscular. They clearly find mental wellbeing in exercise and conditioning their bodies. It’s a stress reliever, it’s a fun thing for them. We’re all for the muscles as their personal choice.

When it becomes a problem is when people treat them as if masculinity of the muscles are now their whole personality when the contrary very much still exists in them. I think it’s convenient for the company to lean into it but I don’t think the seeds they sow with a throwaway caption are easily controlled. It grows like weeds and seems to invade the fandom consciousness until the soft parts of them are always secondary to the mafia boss/northern duke.

Some of the negative portrayals of Jungkook in shipping spaces, in fandom spaces and in official content include:

He’s aggressive.

He’s rude.

He’s jealous to the point of toxicity.

He’s abusive.

He’s violent.

He’s an alcoholic.

He’s sulky.

Too competitive. Too toxic. Too Western for singing about sex. Too big for his boots. So ungrateful. Overgrown manchild. Stubborn. A Hongdae boy, a fuckboy. Pushy and sexually aggressive. Himbo.

Why is he so angry? Jungkook just punches me all the time. Jungkook scares me. Why is he so scary? If you get into a fight with Jungkook, he’ll definitely win.

After the airing of Are You Sure, a travelogue featuring Jungkook and Jimin (and Taehyung), a tumblr user genuinely began to accuse Jungkook of physically abusing Jimin because Jungkook had made this prototypical younger sibling gesture at him:

Around the time of NewJeans relationship with Hybe imploding, Jungkook posted to his instagram a fairly generic message of support to NewJeans, calling for companies to not use their young artists as pawns:

Because this message partially called out Hybe, a lot of Army were convinced he had been hacked. It simply wasn’t comprehensible to them that he would have the wherewithal to take a mature and noble stance about something and put his own reputation at risk in support of young female artists.

Hybe eventually confirmed that yes, Jungkook did make the post and what’s more made ANOTHER post along those lines and then the response flipped. Now he was ungrateful, biting the hand that fed him, foolish, immature, egotistical. There’s only two options for Jungkook here: He’s either oblivious and dumb or he’s ungrateful and childish.

Some of the ways Jungkook is written in the top 40 fanfics:

Mafia boss, Bad at feelings, asshole, manipulative, alcoholic, drug user, abusive, cheater, top, tsundere, playboy, rich, sad, protective, alpha.

Once again keen to point out that it is ok for these things to exist in fic and absolutely no judgement on the content thereof but it is concerning how often these fic ideas become shorthand.

It's not helped by the mainstream presentation of Jungkook pitched by Hybe content and some other members:

Jungkook's house in the BTS mobile game. All gym equipment.

Alongside comments like: Why is he so angry? Jungkook just punches me all the time. Jungkook scares me. Why is he so scary? If you get into a fight with Jungkook, he’ll definitely win. Jungkook's muscles scare me.

Shipping edits of him as a sulky aggressive toxically jealous boyfriend, usually made up of slowed down clips of innocuous facial expressions, and even Taekook afficianados at war with Jikookers contribute with excessive edits of Jungkook fighting with Jimin to prove they don't even like each other when to ANYONE who has had a sibling this is perfectly normal playfighting. In the great ship war, Jungkook is consistently painted as the aggressive fuckboy.

While all facets of him are on display in this content, his silliness, his cuteness, those easy to grasp alpha archetypes tend to override. That's why the Spice Girls became so popular. Easy to cling to Posh Spice, Scary Spice, Baby Spice. It's good PR, it's fantastic marketing.

But it disregards so much of what Jungkook himself chooses to present.

He collects make up. He dances when he eats. He has a little bratz lipbalm. His purse is fluffy. He is just about the babygirlest it’s possible to be. He loves Hello Kitty dolls, gg choreo and skipping about the place:

He went full androgynous for Calvin Klein:

And more importantly, he’s uncommonly kind and polite as noted by anyone who meets him; he's a talented painter and artist and keen videographer and photographer; he works unbelievably hard, putting in the hours into his craft; he’s into gender free clothing and LGBT+ clothing brands; he is vocally sex positive; he’s not bound by macho expectation about never having feelings; he’s very silly and pure of heart. All of those things he was when he was younger and leaner are still there, softened by maturity and experience. That’s why Jungkook-aligned fans don’t recognise these negative portrayals of him… because overwhelmingly, the masculine muscle boy is the smallest part of him.

Is it a problem to think of him as a gym obsessed muscle bunny if that's your point of reference...? No.. maybe not. But in dehumanising him with this Hulk idea, it makes him an easy target for blame and criticism. There’s no benefit of the doubt, no will to defend him against unkind commentary. His shoulders are so broad, he can carry the weight, right? That becomes cruelty and robbing him of his identity.

And so perhaps I was more aware of what I was looking out for when it came to San. Maybe experience has made me cynical. I have noticed that generally Atiny are kinder to San than Army are to Jungkook - I think that comes from the fandom being a lot more aligned on ships and general approach and a lot of this perception comes from non-atiny seeing tiktok edits - but there’s little things I keep seeing creep in.

San is scary.

San is possessive.

San is too sexual.

San is too big with his movements.

San is forceful.

San is so moody and cold.

San is rude to fans.

But what do we really know about him?

He is a human cat. He took needle felting kit on tour with him. He studies English diligently. He loves strawberry cake and cats. He still sleeps with his plushy shiba inu. He makes plushies kiss, he makes legos kiss. He loves this kitty card.

And on a deeper level, the real principles that he lives by? He studied tattoo types and placements for his Warriors video to ensure he wasn’t going to inadvertently offend someone’s culture. He is a vocally feminist, trans inclusive, LGBT ally. He’s a gentleman and an empath. He is educated on disability and neurodivergence.

He, like Jungkook, is everything he has always been since debut, soft and sweet, but matured. And I think we should celebrate these things about them as much as we celebrate their masculine presentation.

The alpha thing only works at a surface level with these two. When you take the physical size and assign a bunch of characteristics to it, it feels a little like using San or Jungkook as avatars for a character that doesn’t ring true. Fancasting them as OCs… and then attributing that personality to a person it doesn’t belong to. And maybe that’s not so bad, they’re strangers to us after all… but when it starts to encroach on their liberty and their ability to be judged for who they actually are, it feels heavier.

Another sidebar: Any smart Atiny reading might be recognising that Mingi is arguably falling victim to this in a much more toxic way than San is. It's a much more pernicious issue of the treatment of perceived potential neurodiversity within this space. Traits shared by both Jungkook and Mingi has led to demonization of them in certain spaces and I'm sure it's as much a contributor to Jungkook's treatment as his physical form is. There's another essay to be had there, I'm sure. But for now, I am just working on the ideas I have more firm in my brain.

San is definitely getting off lighter than Jungkook did. I think this is because ultimately KQ aren’t as determined to trade reality for the fiction ideal, valuing the unique appeal of authenticity. Hybe are much more committed to story and narrative and construct. To me, there’s a sense that KQ throw things at the wall and if it sticks, it sticks. If it drops, it drops. Leave it and move on.

Hybe will go in with gorilla glue and duct tape and make it stick. Unfortunately there’s human collateral in that thinking.

So when the youtube channel says:

Remember Seonghwa saying:

#ateez meta #side quests: bts

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lunastryinc · 7 months ago

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hi babes! we are so excited to announce our new planned event we have coming to you guys for this month. from december 13th until december 18th, you are all invited to spend 5 nights in the slopes of st. moritz, switzerland. we have several things on the itinerary for you all to enjoy and it can be found in the cut below.

this event is optional. if you are interested in attending, please give this post a like! the cut off date for signing up is december 8th. there will be no exceptions for late sign ups this time so that we are able to finalize the final details before the dates of the event.

dec 13th - arrival day: you will arrive and check in to the resort and find your assigned cabin. on this day, you may get rested up from the travels or explore the cute little village of st. moritz.

dec 14th - charity events: lunastry is excited to announce that we will be hosting a charity event for anyone who wants to participate! during the day, there will be a vendors market for people to sell their goods as well as a skills competition for the athletes in the group. at night, there will be an open mic/karaoke event for those of you who are more musically inclined. we will leave it up to writer discretion to decide how you will contribute! all proceeds raised by lunastry will benefit charities that help families throughout the holiday season. to participate, we will make another post where you can sign up for the charity events and let us know what your muse will be doing.

dec 15th - free day: take your time and enjoy the resort! you can hit the slopes with your friends or stay bundled up inside, drinking hot chocolate by the fire. the main lodge also includes a small day-spa and sauna for you to relax and warm up after a day out in the snow.

dec 16th - snow in: the weather forecast is predicting a snowstorm to hit the mountainside early morning of the 16th. although the lodge is well equipped to deal with blizzards, you might all find yourselves snowed in your respective cabins for a few hours until the lodge employees are able to dig you out. be sure to stock up on blankets and snacks!

dec 17th - snowman building contest: like we did with the pumpkin carving contest, we will be hosting a snowman building competition! first place winner gets an exclusive interview in the next edition of eclipse media magazine. more information on how to participate will be posted on the 13th to give everyone time to find the perfect snowman to share.

dec 18th - checkout day: time to pack up and head on out back home- and maybe snag one last cookie before you go

we are super excited for this laidback event and hope you are to! as always, if you have any questions, you can send us an ask, slide into our dms, or message us directly on chats @ lunaincmods x

#linc.event

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fadetouchedsilk · 6 months ago

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I think when it comes to Veilguard critique there’s a bit of a disconnect between what I see most people complaining about vs. What a lot of the rebuttals to these opinions seem to be.

I can’t speak for everyone else but at this point when I come at this game it’s almost purely Doylist. I think it’s kind of ridiculous for my experience as a player to seem lacking when compared to the narrative experience of the NPCs. The setting isn’t real; it’s a product that was marketed as being ‘the most romantic Dragon Age yet,’ which implies a level of wish-fulfilment that we were supposed to expect. Which is fine! But it’s not what was delivered.

If I’m criticizing a romance & comparing the Rook version of it to the NPC/NPC version of it, it’s not because I’m violently jealous of the version that doesn’t include my character. It’s because I can make a direct comparison to things the writers come across as caring more about. Never mind the fact that we get statements in the AMA like ‘Yeah, we really wanted to include the Lords even if we knew they weren’t going to get the content the other factions had.’ You’re allowed to like that faction, you’re not stupid for doing so. It’s not a deliberate shot at you if someone points out how ridiculous the decision to keep the Lords in was when the devs were aware that they weren’t going to be able to develop them properly, especially when compared to other factions.

It doesn’t do anyone any favours to take criticism of the game personally. “This is good on a technical level” and “I personally liked this thing” are separate statements that need to coexist.

I don’t want to say it’s a waste of time to examine things from a Watsonian perspective, but I’m having a harder time doing that here because the shortcomings of the writers are so apparent, particularly when you hold it against the other Dragon Age games.

Maybe some people are being malicious in their criticism, idk. If that’s the case, then it’s definitely not worth engaging with on any level. But don’t automatically assume that someone who says ‘I didn’t care for the way this aspect was written’ is an automatic dog whistle for ‘I think you’re dumb if you disagree with me’ either.

The game has been out for a few months now. Take opinions with a grain of salt & form your own. If we shouldn’t be expected to place several disclaimers at the start of every opinion we post on this website, then we also shouldn’t be automatically assigning bad faith interpretations to every opinion that isn’t worded with perfect thoughtfulness either.

#veilguard critical #listen I have my opinions also lmao #and a Lot of takes are out there that I think are so. let’s be nice and say Interesting.#99% of the time I’m just scrolling on #but I’ve been seeing an annoying amount of ‘Well ACTUALLY you just don’t get it because [insert plausible hc reason to make up for poorly #delivered canon]’#and honestly there’s a place for those fixes #there’s a place for those interpretations and I do like seeing what people can make from the crumbs we got lmao #but also a lot of complaints I see aren’t leveled at the canon as much as like.#the actual narrative structure? if that makes sense?#more behind the scenes critiques.#idk if I’m explaining that well but it’s I think just essentially #’no I’m not mad at the character it’s the Writer’s Choice I disagree with’#which is a related discussion but not the same one

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17020 · 7 months ago

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AMOR'S WORDPRESS EVENT!

hello, and welcome! if you don’t know me! i’m amor, an 18 year old latino currently studying marketing. i have been assigned a homework where i need to create a wordpress blog about anything, and the group that gets the most web traffic wins and gets an 100, and the rest get 80, 70, and under.

me and my group partner both have scholarships, and if we don’t get a reasonable grade we might lose our scholarships because averages are strict. we need your help! we need web traffic, and me and my partner have written quick articles for you to read. please help a gal out! we’ll update the posts and stuff this week, so stay tuned!

IF YOU SEND ME PROOF THAT YOU BROWSED THROUGH MY WORDPRESS/LEFT A COMMENT/SIGNED UP, I WILL WRITE SETS OF 4 HEADCANNONS FOR A CHARACTER IN MY WRITING LIST.

UPDATE!!! we have met the deadline!! thank you so much for participating, i’ll let you know if im first or second place <3

SFW AND NSFW WELCOME! READ MY RULES, SEND THE PROOF, AND YOU'RE GOOD TO GO! proof can be on anon too, just say “i browsed through this article and blah blah!” simple as that

my partner and i really need this grade to pop off. we need all the help we can get. i already outed myself as a fic writer to my professor, so please help me out. i will post the headcannons throughout the week. thank you and sorry to bother! stay safe, i love you.

tagging my dearest moots who said they'd help me with the wordpress, @vinomino @ryescapades @itoshiexx @sanemistar i love you have a kiss from me

#wind breaker x reader #bnha x reader #jjk x reader #blue lock x reader #dandadan x reader #dan da dan x reader #my hero academia x reader #wind breaker (satoru nii) x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #bllk x reader

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jellogram · 7 months ago

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Ok I am getting asked several times a day about this so I am going to break this down into steps and then pin this post.

How I Got a Job as a Travel Writer (aka the ten steps I took that eventually got me hired in the writing world)

I started writing unpaid for a magazine when I was in high school. I got a leg up because I knew someone whose parent knew the editor of an indie mag and gave me an email address. Unless you are lucky enough to find a connection like that, I suggest reaching out to indie mags and local publications to see if anyone will let you write for them for free.

Got a college degree (cultural anthropology)

Did an unpaid marketing internship one summer in college (it was at night so I could work during the day)

Did all the copywriting and marketing for a club on campus

Graduated in spring 2020, worked a bunch of dead-end jobs

Eventually ended up unemployed and directionless, lived off the government and savings and was generally lost and unhappy.

Decided I wanted a copywriting job but couldn't get hired. Spent months and months applying, never even got an interview.

Saw that several related jobs requested experience in stuff like SEO, html, Google Analytics, and WordPress. Took free online classes to learn those things. Also picked up some copywriting gigs from Upwork on the side to make some money and beef up my portfolio.

To practice WordPress and make myself seem more professional, I started a blog that functioned as a literary journal and published submissions from other young writers.

Found an opening at a copywriting agency and wrote some SEO articles on contract. This didn't pay enough to live on, but it was fun and made my resume way more impressive.

Eventually the agency work dried up and they didn't have any assignments for me, so I went back to Indeed with my new beefed up resume. I saw a job for travel writing and applied. I got hired.

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makeassignmenthelp · 11 months ago

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Maximize Your Summer: 9 Essential Career Actions to Boost Your Professional Growth

Summer is a great time to relax, but it’s also a perfect opportunity to advance your career. With a bit of planning, you can make significant strides in your professional growth. Here are nine essential actions to maximize your summer and boost your career.

1. Set Clear Career Goals

Start by defining your career goals. What do you want to achieve in the next year, five years, or ten years? Clear goals provide direction and motivation. They help you focus on what’s important.

Write down your goals. Be specific. Instead of saying, “I want to be successful,” say, “I want to be a senior manager at my company in five years.” Having concrete goals makes it easier to create a plan to achieve them.

2. Invest in Professional Development

Summer is an ideal time to invest in professional development. Look for online courses, workshops, or seminars related to your field. Learning new skills can make you more valuable to your employer and open up new career opportunities.

Consider taking a course in a high-demand area like data analysis, project management, or digital marketing. These skills are increasingly important in today’s job market. Plus, having additional qualifications can set you apart from your peers.

3. Expand Your Network

Networking is crucial for career growth. Use the summer to expand your professional network. Attend industry events, join professional organizations, and connect with colleagues on LinkedIn.

Networking isn’t just about meeting new people; it’s about building relationships. Reach out to former colleagues or classmates. Offer to help others. You never know when a connection might lead to a job opportunity or a valuable piece of advice.

4. Update Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

Your resume and LinkedIn profile are your professional calling cards. Make sure they are up-to-date and reflect your current skills and accomplishments.

Highlight recent achievements, new skills, and relevant experience. Use strong action verbs and quantify your accomplishments when possible. For example, instead of saying “Managed a team,” say “Managed a team of 10 people, increasing productivity by 20%.”

5. Seek Feedback and Act on It

Feedback is essential for growth. Ask for feedback from your supervisors, colleagues, or mentors. Be open to constructive criticism and use it to improve your performance.

Regularly seeking feedback shows that you are committed to your professional development. It can also help you identify areas for improvement that you might not have noticed on your own.

6. Take on New Challenges

Stepping out of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to grow professionally. Volunteer for new projects or responsibilities at work. This can help you develop new skills and demonstrate your willingness to take on challenges.

Taking on new challenges can also help you stand out to your employer. It shows that you are proactive and eager to contribute to the company’s success.

7. Find a Mentor or Become One

Mentorship is a powerful tool for career growth. A mentor can provide guidance, support, and valuable insights based on their experience. If you don’t have a mentor, consider finding one. Look for someone who has achieved what you aspire to and reach out to them.

Alternatively, becoming a mentor can also be rewarding. It allows you to share your knowledge and experience with others. Mentoring can help you develop leadership skills and gain new perspectives.

8. Improve Your Soft Skills

Technical skills are important, but soft skills are equally crucial for career success. Communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership are all valuable soft skills.

Use the summer to work on these skills. Join a public speaking club, take a leadership course, or participate in team-building activities. Improving your soft skills can enhance your effectiveness at work and make you a more attractive candidate for promotions.

9. Prioritize Work-Life Balance

Career growth is important, but so is your well-being. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can prevent burnout and improve your overall productivity.

Make time for activities that you enjoy outside of work. Spend time with family and friends, pursue hobbies, and take care of your health. A balanced life can make you more effective at work and happier in general.

Conclusion

Maximizing your summer doesn’t mean sacrificing relaxation. By setting clear goals, investing in professional development, expanding your network, updating your resume, seeking feedback, taking on new challenges, finding or becoming a mentor, improving your soft skills, and prioritizing work-life balance, you can boost your professional growth while still enjoying your summer.

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lunaandco · 6 months ago

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i know who you pretend i am; part one

pairing: gavi x ofc

summary: catalan author aroa ferrer is about to be translated into spanish. to promote her book, her publisher has the worst idea possible: a pr relationship with a heartthrob footballer.

masterlist // series masterlist // i do not take requests

"Uhm, where is the bathroom?" Asked Gavi. His hands were sweating and he wanted to fix his hair before the meeting. He was nervous, more than he was when he had to play in front of millions of people.

This was different. This made him vulnerable.

"That corridor to the left has the gender neutral bathrooms," explained the woman at the reception counter. Gavi thanked her quietly and walked toward the corridor she had pointed to.

The bathroom was empty, except for a girl in the farthest sink away, who was covering her face with her hands and quietly sniffling.

"I'm sorry," he stumbled, taking a step back. Maybe he could come back later.

"No, it's okay." The girl didn't look at him, scurrying pass him, almost running away from the place. It left Gavi with a bitter taste in his mouth. What had that girl so upset?

He didn't think too much about it, though. He had his own things to worry about.

💙❤️

Iván put a hand on his shoulder when they were finally called up.

The offer had reached Gavi as a passing comment. Iván had heard that Roses Editorial was searching for a guy to be in a PR relationship with one of their more successful writers. The agent was offering the opportunity to his other clients, who were footballers of a smaller caliber than Gavi, when media attention was concerned.

Gavi would have usually not even considered an arrangement like that. His dating life was his business and his business only, but after a rough break up he needed to do something drastic.

"Hombre, I didn't think you'd be interested," admitted Iván. "You never want to do stuff like this..."

Gavi had shrugged.

"Just let me look a bit into this before I fully accept," asked Gavi. "Do you have the girl's name?"

"Aroa Ferrer," said Iván. "There are no pictures of her on the Internet, but you can check her book if you want."

Gavi frowned. He wondered if Iván noticed it was a bit strange that agirl with no public photos on the Internet was ready to go on a PR stunt like this, but he said nothing.

Gavi had bought the book, which was in Catalan, and actually read it. Going though the pages was quite different than completing his high school assignments. In school, he had loathed the language. Teachers were strict, the grammatical and orthographic rules made no sense, and he was in a clear disadvantage against his native speaking classmates. But Aroa's book was entertaining, the plot, the characters. It made him forget he was actually reading in a second language.

Aroa's second book was in Spanish. It had been published a few days earlier and was flying off the shelves in all the bookstores of the country. The publishing house wanted to take advantage of the rush, and use the publicity of a PR stunt to drive people's eyes towards the first book's Spanish translation.

Gavi walked to the office awkwardly. By the desk, Ferrer's agent and Roses' marketing manager were waiting for them. On the other side of the room, by the corner, arms crossed and jaw set, was the girl from the bathroom.

It took Gavi less than a second to figure out he had walked into a war zone, and that the room was divided. Iván, who either didn't notice, or ignored it, walked to the men in suits by the desk.

The men seemed to be delighted to see him. Gavi was sure that when they started asking around for an interested party, they never thought they could bag someone of Gavi's prophile. He could see the Euro signs in their eyes.

Gavi looked back at Aroa. Her jaw was set and he gaze was averted. Having the freedom to map out her face, Gavi was stunned with how pretty she was. Short brown hair curled to down to her chin, pink lips, curled in a pissed off expression, green eyes guarded and harsh.

She looked like she wanted to kill everyone in the room.

"Hi," he greeted shyly, when he caught her gaze. She replied with a short head gesture.

"C'mon, c'mon, sit, sit, Gavi." The men there were adamant in having him be as comfortable as possible. They really wanted to sway his will towards whatever they wanted to do. "Meet Aroa, she will be your partner in this operation. Excuse her behavior, she's not done throwing her tantrum yet."

Aroa clenched her jaw.

She definitely looked too pissed off for it be "just a tantrum". Suddenly, Gavi didn't think this was the best idea. Something about the men and the way they talked about their author, the fact that she was clearly distressed and nobady seemed to care.

"Aroa, sit next to him, I want to see you two together," demanded the agent. She obeyed, walking briskly and dropping next to him on the couch. Gavi could feel the tension in her muscles.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worriedly. It took Aroa a few seconds to figure out he was talking to her.

"Could be worse," she said, her face softening a little. Her eyes were prettier up close, he noticed.

"Alright, so, the idea is to have you two appear to be a couple in public, so that Aroa's book sells in the rest of Spain," said the agent.

"We also wanted something from this relationship," announced Iván.

"Of course." Both men seemed to find that completely reasonable. "What do you need?"

"Gavi broke up with his girlfriend a month ago. She's still posting indirect statements that reflect badly on him. Once the break up is announced, we would benefit of Aroa speaking kindly of him, at least a couple of times," explained Iván. Gavi flinched. The issues with Alicia had been many, specially after the break up. When she started posting, he and Iván had agreed to ignore the situation completely, but now that Gavi had been open to this scheme, it was logical that his agent wanted to take advantage of it.

Aroa rised her eyebrow, tension returning to her body.

"You're not like, abusive, right?" She asked bluntly. "I won't go against a victim just to clean you image.”

"I can promise you it's nothing like that," reassured Iván. "Alicia is just a little bit immature."

Gavi shook his head. That argument was doing nothing to quench Aroa's doubts.

"We fought during the break up," he explained. "Alicia wanted us to spend more time together, but I ignored her, sometimes even on purpose, to focus on football. If anything, all her complaints about me are about how I'm too immature and childish for a woman like her. That sort of thing."

Aroa seemed to find his explanation more plausible.

"If I learn that you did something bad to her..."

"I promise you I didn't," insisted Gavi. She finally nodded.

"Well, the relationship should be announced slowly, we don't want to overwhelm the public," continued the manager. Gavi had not caught his name, and he realised he did not want to.

"Yes, maybe Aroa should go to a couple of games, and you should be seen with the book somewhere..." agreed the agent, looking at Gavi.

"But how are we going to tie her face to her name? There are no pictures of you available on the Internet," interrupted Gavi.

"That's because my face should not be necessary to sell a fucking book," replied Aroa. Gavi tensed. During the whole time, Aroa had seemed tense, pissed off. But he now was starting so see the reason.

"Well, you refused to do tik toks, so this is your next option, young lady," reminded her the manager. Something churned on Gavi's stomach.

"My target audience is not on booktok," she complained.

"It will be if we say so," insisted the manager. "You wrote a roamce book, you can't be picky about your public."

"Wait, you don't want to be doing this?" Asked Gavi, fully tuning his body to watch her. By the corner of the eye, he saw Iván's expression souring.

"No. Not really. I want my books to sell because they are good, not because I'm some dude's girlfriend." Aroa explained. Gavi recognised the glint of ambition and pride on her eyes. He had the same feeling surrounding his career. He was liked and valued because he was a good footballer, not because he was pretty.

"Then why are you here?" Asked Iván, concerned.

"I don't have a choice."

"Her contact stipulates that marketing decisions lay on the Editoral. We were already kind enough to listen to her when she rejected booktok, we won't do that again," explained the manager. Gavi felt like throttling him.

"Well, Gavi and I need to reconsider the offer..." Iván stood up, and gestured Gavi to do the same. "This information changes a lot of things for us..."

Gavi spared one last worried glance to Aroa before slipping out of the room, following Iván.

"That was..."

"Defiently unethical," finished Iván. "I can't believe they think they have the right..."

Aroa rushed through the corridors catching them before they reached the elevators. She grabbed Gavi by the arm, desperation obvious on her eyes.

"Wait, please." There were tears streaming down her pink cheeks. "I... please. Stay. They will carry on with this plan with or without you, and I... I would rather have to do it with you, knowing that you care, and are kind, that to do it with whoever new they find, someone that agrees with their thinking." She explained.

Gavi did not doubt on wrapping jus arms around her, pressing her to his chest. Aroa buried her face on his shoulder, her tears wetting the fabric of his shirt.

"Alright," Gavi looked at Iván over her shoulder. His face was troubled, but Gavi could see that he agreed with him. They would take the offer, even if it was just to protect Aroa Ferrer.

💙❤️

"I'm so sorry for getting you into this mess," said Aroa when she let Gavi in on her apartment. She had kicked out Inés, her best friend, so they could talk peacefully.

"It's okay, though. I kind of want to do it, you know?" Gavi put his hands on his pockets. Now that she's allowing herself to look at him, Aroa could admit that he was pretty handsome. "I'd rather help you, that see you in a fake relationship with some scumbag in a few months and wonder if you're okay every day."

"Still. You shouldn't be worrying about it."

Gavi shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. Aroa couldn't fathom how he found the whole ordeal so... irrelevant, to the course of his life, but he was not putting his ambition at risk so that was that.

She led him to her kitchen, were she had prepared two bowls of simple tomato pasta.

"I wasn't sure what you could or could not eat..." she explained. "So I played it safe."

"Smells so good," he complimented. "I love pasta, specially before a match."

Aroa smiled, pleased.

💙❤️

"So this thing... we can have it be quiet, right?" Asked Gavi, helping Aroa do the dishes.

"I'm not sure they want it to be quiet..." she told him. Edgar and Toni were like dogs with a bone, and Gavi was a very succulent bone.

"But I can demand that it is." He replied, confidently. "They need it to be me, no one is going to give them any more clout than I do," Aroa flinched. "I have power here."

"Alright," she said. "What do you have in mind?"

"Like Iván said, you come to a few of my matches, we get someone to spot you. I carry your books around a couple of times. Then we get caught kissing somewhere, maybe a restaurant or a park, something romantic. A couple of insta stories on the same place at the same time and done. We stop following each other on social media, don't interact in public and everyone will figure out we've broken up. Easy."

"Easy." Aroa repeated, finishing drying a dish.

"Yeah, easy." Gavi seemed proud of his plan."

"There is only one problem," she said. "I've never kissed anyone."

"Oh."

It was obvious Gavi did not expect that.

"Never?" He croaked. Aroa shook her head, a little bit embarrassed. She was about to turn twenty one, and no one had ever deemed her pretty enough for a kiss. "You didn't want to or..."

It was cute that Gavi thought she had chosen that. Aroa shrugged.

"Just never happened for me."

There was a heavy silence, in which Aroa avoided eye contact, turning her face away from Gavi, until she felt his hands gently cupping her cheeks.

"I could... we could kiss now," he offered. "So your first kiss isn't everywhere on the Internet. And so we know what to do when the moment comes or in an emergency."

Aroa took a shaky breath, lifting her gaze to look at him. Gavi's big eyes were dark, his lips parted as he studied her face. He wanted to do it, she realised, startled. Whether it was a stupid bout of desire or wanting to be kind she was not sure.

But she nodded, accepting the offer.

His lips met hers softly at first. Small kisses to help her figure out what was going on. But as Aroa grew in confidence, her arms lifting to grip his shoulders, her lips moving against his, the kiss deepened. Gavi gripped her waist, their hips colliding as he squished her against the sink. Aroa rised a hand to the back of his head as his tongue went inside her mouth.

"I thought it was supposed to be fake?" Inés' voice startled them into separating.

"We're just rehearsing," came out of Aroa's mouth, as she touched her tingling lips with the tip of her fingers. Kissing was nice, she decided.

Inés snorted leaving her purse by the couch.

"Sure, at least he's the hot one," she commented, before disappearing into her room. Gavi blushed, to Aroa's delight.

💙❤️

Gavi went back home excitedly. His lips were still tingling from the kiss, his heart still beating hard from all the adrenaline. They were doing this. They were so fucking doing this.

But there was one thing he needed to do first. He found his family gathered in the living room, but they tackled the issue before he could open his mouth.

"Since when do you read?" Asked Aurora. She was holding Aroa's book. "And since when do you speak Catalan?"

"I wouldn't have a high school diploma if I didn't speak Catalan," he replied taking his coat off. His cheeks are already pink. "I've lived here for almost a decade, I'm not that stupid."

"But reading a romance book?" Insisted Aurora.

"Stop annoying your brother," reprimanded their mother. "God knows I've tried to get him to read for years..."

His dad, though, had a knowing smile on his face.

"Where were you, boy?"

"I, eh... that is what u wanted to talk about with all of you. I was... eh, I was on a date." He blurted.

Aurora's mouth dropped.

"So soon after Alicia?"

"Yeah. I know it seems precipitated, but I have a great feeling about this..."

"Gavi, dear, it's better if you wait a little. At least as a curtesy. Alicia deserves better..."

"Well, for as long as Alicia doesn't hear..." decided Aurora. "We can pretend like they started dating six months after the break up or something..."

"She's coming to my game next week." Said Gavi, squashing their planning. "And I asked her to wear my jersey." He had not actually, but he was sure it would be the easiest way to link her to him, if she was spotted alone in the stands with the rest of the families.

"That's a bit soon. It took you quite a while to go public with Alicia..."

"I'm sure of what I'm doing," replied Gavi, squaring his shoulders. "I like Aroa a lot. I want her—"

"We don't even know this girl," protested his mother. "How do you know that she isn't after your fame?"

'Because I caught her having a panic attack at the thought of using me for my fame,' he thought, but said nothing.

"Why is it so hard to trust my judgement?" He asked. He felt like he was setting Aroa up to be hated by his family, once they broke of the arrangement.

"If you feel lonely, I'm sure Alicia..."

"I don't want Alicia, Aurora," he snapped. "I want Aroa." As he spoke, Gavi realised he was saying the truth. "I really want to try this with her. She's sweet and smart and accomplished. She wrote that fucking book!" He pointed at the book that was still in Aurora's hands. "And I liked it! And I hate reading, and I struggle with Catalan! That is how good she is."

"We're gonna have to meet this girl," spoke his father then. "Before the match. Ask her when she can come for dinner."

Shit.

💙❤️

"You didn't tell your parents it was a PR deal?" Said Aroa and Iván almost at the same time.

Gavi covered his face with his hands.

"They've been worried about the break up with Alicia. They liked her a lot, always asked if we are going to get back together. Aurora actually still meets with her, I'm sure." He explained. "I thought that maybe... I could use this to make them forget about my thing with Alicia, I don't know."

Iván sighed. He was used to Gavi's impulsive decision making, but Aroa was looking at him totally puzzled.

"Alright," she said. "I'm free every night next week."

"You're actually accepting?"

"You're making me a huge favour, not letting me do this with some random reggetón singer. How bad can a family dinner be?"

"If my sister suspects you're after my money, it can be quite awful," he warned.

"Then let's think of it as warm up, for when this thing hits the news."

At that moment, Gavi could have kissed her.

"Okay, you two need to fix that stuff alone," decided Iván standing up from the kitchen table of Aroa's apartment, taking the folder with him. After a second meeting with her publishers, the three of them had gone to her house to discuss the details form their more ethical point of view. "I'll give this to my friends. They will call you by the end of the week," he told Aroa.

Iván had offered to send the manuscript of her third book to some agents he knew, who specialised on publishing. They also had good ties with foreign publishing houses, and could get her translated to other languages apart from Spanish or Catalan, like English, French or German.

💙❤️

"Do they really hate me?" Asked Aroa once they reached his home. She was squeezing a box of homemade cookies against her chest, nerves finally kicking in.

"They... liked Alicia a lot. And they distrust any girl that attempts anything with me. So this is more like an exam..."

"Great." Gavi almost snorted at her ironic remark. She had come out of her shell slowly, but it was fun to banter with her now.

Inside, they were greeted by his father first. He looked soft, like a teddy bear. He took the cookies from Aroa with a smile on his face, as he led them to the kitchen, as if this wasn't Gavi's house too.

There, they found his mother, who was a little bit more cautious around Aroa. She still smiled and was very polite, but Aroa could tell she was being watched.

Aurora would clearly he the hardest one to win over. She smiled curtly, but kept the interactions at the minimum. Aroa took a step closer to Gavi instinctively. He put his hand on her hip as he talked to his dad, something about the cookies being 100% acceptable by Barça's nutritionist standards.

"You made them?"

"Yeah!" His mother nodded appreciatively. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard.

💙❤️

"They definitively hate me," whispered Aroa once they were alone in his room. She picked her pyjamas from the bag she had prepared to spend the night.

"Okay, it could have gone better," admitted Gavi, sitting in bed.

Even if his father seemed to welcome her, his mother and Aurora were not as inclined. They were still untrusting, and Aroa had spent enough time studying human behaviour to know they were comparing her to Alicia the whole time.

"I don't think it's worth it to try to make them like me," she told him. "I'll be gone in a month an a half anyway." Aroa went to the bathroom to change her white stamped t-shirt and blue jeans—that Gavi had helped her pick, for the pyjamas shirt and shorts. "You could tell them they were right about me and call it day," she offered when she exited.

"I don't like that, though," he shook his head. "I don't want them to think badly of you. You're wonderful, I wish they could see it. And what do you mean you will be gone, we can still be friends, no?"

"I thought you would want me gone," she admitted, sitting in bed next to him. Gavi shook his head. "Not at all. I want to be friends with you, I want to able to laugh about it in a few years."

Aroa rested her head on his shoulder, in silence. Gavi had to keep himself from dragging her to his lap and crushing her in a hug.

💙❤️

Aroa watched herself in the mirror. The show started today. She would go to the match, wearing the black jersey with Gavi's name on her back, and do the part.

"You'll slay this, I promise," encouraged Inés with a tight hug before she left.

At the stadium, Iván greeted her and sat with her to watch the match. She was grateful for his presence, it was a friendly face in the sea of unknown people.

"I presume the dinner with his family did not go well," muttered Iván.

"No," admitted Aroa. "Did he tell you?"

Iván shook his head and pointed to a few rows in front of them. Gavi's sister had arrived, and with her a pretty girl with beautiful clothes and beautiful hair.

"Why would Aurora bring Alicia if she approves of you?"

"Shit."

"Shit indeed. I told that boy he should have told his family the truth."

💙❤️

Gavi noticed immediately, and cursed under his breath. Shit was going to hit the fan faster than he thought. As they warmed up, he searched for a reason to rush to the stands.

"I need to talk to Iván for a sec," he told his teammates, who looked at him puzzled. Gavi rushed up the stairs, ignoring his sister trying to get his attention, and making it to Iván and Aroa in record time.

"We have some drama here," warned him Iván. Gavi ignored him too.

"How are you doing?" He asked Aroa, who shrugged a little bit. She looked terrified. "I'm going to go off script right now," he warned. lifting his hands to cup her cheeks. He felt them heat under his fingers, as Aroa realised what he was planning.

The kiss was longer than it should have been. Gavi wanted to make sure one of those fans who recorded everything got the clip, wanted everyone to see.

Gavi wanted everyone to know he was Aroa's so badly, he forgot he actually wasn't.

💙❤️

"Anything you want to say about this?"

Of course his teammates would get a hold of the video sooner than the day was over. Gavi was changing into his jeans when Lamine slid on the bench next to him, holding his phone with the viral tik tok.

"That's my girlfriend," he said. "Her name is Aroa Ferrer, she's a—"

"The writer?" interrupted Cubarsí. "No way you're dating her, hermano. She's too cool for you, way out of your league."

"Oh, yeah?" Snarked Gavi, watching how Cuba asked Lamine to show him the video again.

"I only saw her face for the first time last week, when the new book dropped and she included an author photo. Finally!"

Cuba being an Aroa fan boy wasn't on Gavi's plan, but it made him proud.

"But is she hot?" Asked someone else, trying to see the video too. Gavi put on his shirt, amidst patting on his shoulders, hair ruffles and congratulatory comments.

The smile on his face was genuine.

💙❤️

"I'm sorry about what my sister did."

Gavi held her hand. His eyebrows were furrowed, his lips pouted. He truly cared about her well-being. Aroa smiled.

"It's okay. At least my publishers are loving the drama," he snorted, but she could tell he noticed the saddened tone on her voice. "I'm sorry I'm making things hard with your family..."

"No you're not. Alicia is, trying to get us to get back together." Gavi stopped in front of his car. "You might have helped me cut this once and for all."

Aroa squeezed his hand, and he lifted hers to his lips, kissing it gently.

"Also, my teammates want to meet you too."

Aroa rolled her eyes.

"You didn't tell them this was fake either?"

"Pau is your fan boy. I would look like a loser if I hadn't actually seduced you!"

Aroa snorted, and suddenly they were laughing loudly, putting their weight on each other, until some other families started to trickle by and look at them funny.

💙❤️

It was quiet at home. Gavi was dozzing off with his head on Aroa's shoulder as she typed her soul away. Her fourth book was halfway done, this time in Catalan. At the other side of the couch, his mother was reading a magazine, and his father was doing a puzzle in the coffee table.

Aurora made it home then. She left her keys and took her coat in silence, watching the new couple warily.

"You didn't need to do that," she told her brother. Gavi woke up fully.

"Actually, I did. You didn't need to do that."

"Alicia's feelings are hurt."

"She hurt them herself," he stated, curling further onto Aroa's shoulder, who had not noticed Aurora's presence due to her headphones.

"You're hell bent on her, huh?"

"Yes, actually."

Aurora rolled her eyes and went to her room.

💙❤️

"Are you sure you do not want to come?" Gavia sked again. He did not expect Aroa to say yes, she was admant to keep their public interactions to a minimum.

"No, have fun," she smiled softly, looking up from her laptop. That book was writing itself fast.

Gavi had a boy's night out, and even if some of the guys brought their girlfriends, Aroa had argued that she would be a girlfriend for too little to actually go there. He has wanted to argue, but there was no point.

Gavi bent to drop a short peck on her lips, before leaving, whistling some old fashioned song.

"You're not... going to ask him to text you every twenty minutes?" Asled Aurora, from her side of the couch. Even if the relationship was tense, Gavi insisted they should act like nothing happened.

"Why would I do that?" frowned Aroa.

"To make sure he doesn't cheat?"

"If I have to put that much effort to make sure he doesn't cheat, why would a I date him?" Questioned Aroa. "Seems stupid."

His father snorted.

"She's got a point," he said, smiling. He was the one that seemed to accept Aroa the fastest.

Aurora shrugged.

"Alicia did not like it when he went out without her."

"And they broke up," reminded her Aroa. "So it was useless in the end, all that work."

Aroa wasn't sure why she was pushing so hard. Her idea was to be as quiet as possible, bother the family as little as she could. But she also wanted to defend herself a little. Aurora nodded.

"I guess you've got a point, nena," she said.

💙❤️

An hour and a half later, Gavi came back with some sweets he had picked at the 24h bakery, just to find his sister and his fake girlfriend cuddling and laughing over the stupid movie on the TV.

His chest fluttered.

💙❤️

"Iván's friends picked up my book. They will publish me without stupid marketing deals," she announced one day Gavi went to her apartment straight from training.

"That's great!" Gavi picked Aroa up and spun her around.

"And they told me they didn't mind that I wanted to use a pseudonym, so no one would link my new books to you and this PR deal," she finished once her feet touched the ground.

Gavi knew what that meant for her.

"So whats left with your old publisher?" He asked.

"Once we break up, we're done." She said. "They just need to forward the royalties from the sales and that's it."

Gavi nodded quietly, catching his lower lip between his teeth.

"There is something I wanted to ask," he said then, changing his weight from one foot to the other. "What would happen if we never broke up?"

"Huh?"

"If instead of breaking up, we kept dating. Could your publishers say anything?"

"I don't think so, we never stipulated in paper..."

"Then let's stay dating." He blurted.

"What?"

"Be my girlfriend. My real girlfriend. Please." Gavi's hands cupped her neck. "I've thought about this too often since this started. Please—"

Aroa rised to her tip toes, and shut him up with a kiss. The first kiss that had nothing to do with the arrangement, and everything to do with them. The first of many.

#gavi #gavi x reader #pablo gavi #gavi x oc #pablo gavi x reader #pablo gavi x oc #luna's i know who you pretend i am series

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hooked-on-elvis · 2 days ago

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"What do they expect me to do with shit like this?"

In February 1965, Elvis began his next project for MGM studios, Harum Scarum (which was retitled, for no particular reason, Harem Holiday on its release in the UK). This film was something of an anachronism. The progressive changes of the late-fifties' film industry had all but signaled the end of swashbuckling costume pictures. For Elvis to be involved in such a venture as late as 1965 suggests that even less care was now being taken when selecting scripts for consideration. It is considered by critics and fans alike to be Elvis' worst ever film. Loyal fans spoke of walking out of the theater before the end. Such reports were a heavy indication that Elvis was following a disastrous cinematic path. What was conspicuously absent from this mid-sixties' period of intense film-making was the participation of film industry luminaries. Where notable Academy Award-winning writers, producers, co-stars and so on had been employed on previous projects, Elvis was now having to contend with people who were either fresh from television work or who, quite simply, lacked any talent. Colonel Parker's motives in this respect were always patently obvious. He made no apologies for the fact that he was only interested in huge profits. What is inexcusable is the way that Elvis himself agreed to appear in such films, which he must have recognized as being potentially very harmful to his career. He later admitted to having been bored stiff during the making of a number of movies, but the fact remains that he accepted the assignments in the first place. In his defense, people do state that Elvis was signed to a long-term contract and had little control himself. Perhaps this was true to a certain extent. However, when he was quoted as asking "What do they expect me to do with shit like this?"about a script, then it was surely time for him to make a personal stand and change the course of his career.

He is kidnapped during a personal tour of the Middle East. He manages to escape from his captors, but his life is fraught with danger as he attempts to return to the Western world. He encounters the beautiful Princess Shalimar (Mary Ann Mobley), who is disguised as a slave girl, and is helped in his flight by Zacha (Jay Novello), the leader of a strange band of market-place thieves. The greedy Zacha demands payment for each and every form of assistance to Johnny. The reason for Johnny's abduction is that a group known as The Assassins want to use his talents as a karate expert to kill a ruling monarch. They have been made aware of Johnny's skills at a world premiere showing of his latest film, Sands of the Desert, in which he supposedly kills a leopard using karate. The scheming Prince Dragna (Michael Ansara) is in fact responsible for ordering the execution of his brother, King Toranshah (Philip Reed), in a bid to take over the throne himself. The evil Aishah (Fran Jeffries) is also involved in this 'takeover bid'. With the aid of Zacha's many henchmen, Johnny defeats The Assassins and saves the king. Shalimar and Johnny have fallen in love, and they return to the United States with Zacha's motley crew. The film ends with Johnny performing 'Harem Holiday' on stage in Las Vegas. One obvious plan with Harum Scarum was to capitalize on a sport in which Elvis was, in real life, highly proficient. The opening of the story showed the film-within-a-film sequence in which he kills the leopard. One strange point is that, although numerous references were made to 'this skill with his hands' (and other euphemisms), the word 'karate' was never mentioned.

(...) At his press conference in New York on 9 June, 1972, when asked why he was now so available as a public performer, Elvis started his answer by saying "Just as soon as I got out of the movie contracts … " This reply makes it seem that he had been a prisoner within Hollywood and that he was now expressing grateful relief for being released. The sad reality is that Elvis did not, or perhaps could not, make any obvious attempt to alleviate his predicament.

"The Elvis Files: 1965-1968" by Erik Lorentzen.

#to me this film has one of the times where they mocked elvis' karate liking - kill a leopard with karate? seriously?#the other has a scene where another character threatens to use karate on Elvis' character - and they have Elvis literally mock it #he's like 'shut up' and punches him in the face #like... he loved karate... it's a sport but its has a beautiful philosophy #and they make elvis show karate to billions of people in his movies as if its a joke #it makes A WHOLE LOT OF SENSE that Elvis took karate up to the stage when he begun performing live again #he needed to show people it wasn't a joke #it's ridiculous what they did to him and his life in Hollywood #elvis presley #elvis history #elvis #elvis movies #elvis films #1965 #harum scarum #60s elvis #elvis the king

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iz1331 · 8 months ago

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Gonna have to rewatch Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice back to back to compose a list of "movie canon" that were deemed not brought back/continued in the sequel.

For example: Like how the sequel "disregarded" the fact that only those who "died of suicide can become civil servants in the afterlife".

NO ONE CONFIRMED THAT! It was just a throw away line by Otho, WHO WAS A FRAUD AND KNEW LITTLE TO NONE OF THE SUPERNATURAL!

The sequel even subtly corrected that misconception. Not everyone in the Civil Service in the Afterlife died of suicide, several were wrongly assigned that cause of death.

Miss Argentina was the only significant character that had an accident in Beetlejuice that we've seen who works as a civil servant. And maybe the flattened guy, but not sure if that was an accident or not. He looked quite jovial for a flattened guy.

Case in point: we have Wolf Jackson, and he certainly didn't die of suicide, yet he works as a self-proclaimed cop and runs the whole police joint there.

The earlier scrapped concept of Betelgeuse hanging himself was just that. An idea/concept of how he died. They never used that in the film, thus it's not canon. It's considered fanon in the fandom cause it's been more than 30 years of no solid confirmation of a sequel and we were hungry for any scrap of Beetlejuice material that we can consume and use as inspiration for art and stories to feed ourselves over the years until news of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was announced and got released.

The sequel answered some questions and gave us new content to work with. For both the characters and about the Netherworld/Afterlife in the Beetlejuice universe.

I'm all for creative liberty and freedom, make a canon divergent or write an Alternative Universe of it all, but don't just shit on the sequel and say that it's an "elaborate fanfiction" like the screenplay writers didn't put a lot of thought in it that even Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara finally, after DECADES of turning down script after script, found THIS story for the sequel to have the most potential and having the right tone as a follow up for the movie that meant so much to all of them.

Everyone who worked behind the scenes in creating the film from props, set location and design, puppetry, stop-motion, costume, stunt people, make-up, lights, sound, extras, production, marketing, EVERYONE put a lot of effort and passion and did AMAZING work on this project. I'm still amazed by every large and miniscule details I discover every time I rewatch it.

Was the story of the legacy sequel perfect?

Of course not.

No sequel ever is. Someone will always find something to complain about and that's just how things work in this industry, in this world.

But, was it fun? Was it both new, and brought the same feel from the original? Did the actors brought to life the characters we've loved for more than three decades and counting? Did it introduce new characters that fit the ensemble and had the same eccentric aura of the Beetlejuice world? Was it a relief that the story didn't just end 30 years ago?

Yes, it did. For me. I loved it. It's not perfect, but for someone like me who's a bit of a perfectionist on my works, and then finding the imperfections actually making the finished product better than I expected, it means a lot.

And for what it's worth, at least the time and love and the littlest of delusion I invested for Beetlebabes actually had something to show for. A one-sided romance it may be, at least I now know that Betelgeuse isn't harboring any lasting ill will towards Lydia for all these years.

That Tim also saw it that way. That Michael and Winona were open to this dynamic and relationship between the two characters/roles that they love and cherished to play.

Also, people change. No one stays the same. Life throws curve balls at us, and yes, to FICTIONAL characters as well. People mellow with age. One person or experience can change someone, even when they've been dead for 600 years.

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice beetlejuice #otho fenlock #wolf jackson #miss argentina #betelgeuse #lydia deetz #michael keaton #michael douglas keaton #winona ryder #tim burton #beetlejuice & lydia #beetlebabes #legacy sequel #Beetlejuice rant #netherworld #afterlife

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hlficlibrary · 1 year ago

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HL Fic Library 🩷 Meet Cute Fics

Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find the library's other recs here.

🩷 You Make Lovin' Fun by @homosociallyyours {E, 109k}

Harry is a 28 year old travel writer at a gay magazine who gets the assignment to go a lesbian cruise. She figures it's a nice chance to have some fun in the sun, but she's not expecting much else-- even if her partner and best friend are both encouraging her to hook up with someone while she's there.

When she locks eyes with a gorgeous silver fox from across the room, she starts to think she could've been wrong. There are lots of things standing in the way of anything real happening with her and Louis, but that doesn't stop them from falling for one another. True love isn't always easy, but they do make lovin' fun.

🩷 Quiet People Have the Loudest Minds by @2tiedships2 {M, 38k}

Broadway shows were one of the few things that could keep Louis’ attention for a full two hours without needing to move about. But not tonight.

The alpha next to him was both infuriating him and practically turning him on at the same time. He needed to leave. The alpha, that is. Louis was staying.

Or the one where Louis is a nonverbal omega who has accepted the fact that he will never find an alpha that will treat him as an equal. On the other hand, he’s never met anyone like Harry.

🩷 hymns for restless stars by @turnyourankle {E, 37k}

Every Holiday season Louis has his pupils write down their Christmas wishes for class. He's read almost every wish under the sun, but one girl's wish takes him by surprise. It's for her uncle not to be alone anymore. It's not a wild wish by any means, but Louis had no idea that former teen idol Harry Styles was lonely in the first place.

🩷 From the Start by @allwaswell16 {E, 32k}

Louis has no idea that one act of kindness will cause his life to spiral out of control. But that's what happens when his new friend fake proposes to him and a video of it goes viral.

🩷 On This Winter's Night by @reminiscingintherain {T, 27k}

When a random bloke offers his lap for a seat on a busy bus in December, Louis' Christmas ends up being much different, and far less lonely than he was expecting.

🩷 What Side Of Love Are You On? by @fallinglikethis {T, 25k}

Ever since Harry finally made the decision to come out to his mother as bisexual, she’s been foisting women on him left and right, determined it’s just a phase. But when she puts out a personal ad to find the perfect partner for her son, things really get complicated. Suddenly, Harry’s heart is being pulled in two very different directions. On one side is the sweet, caring woman he has fun with, but doesn’t know his mother chose for him. On the other is a man who seems to be his mother’s worst nightmare, but makes Harry’s heart flutter in ways he’s never felt before. When all is said and done, maybe they’ll all learn that when there is no clear path to go down, the best option is to follow your heart.

A Because I Said So Au with a bisexual twist.

🩷 A Road To Something Better by @taggiecb {E, 25k}

Louis Tomlinson, famous romance novelist, has just had the rug pulled out from under his feet when his boyfriend leaves him without notice. What's the most appropriate response to this? Move a thousand miles away and seclude himself in a tiny lake town, of course. But nothing is as he expects it to be in the very best way, especially not the handsome mayor of McAll, Idaho.

🩷 Naked & Proud by kiwikero / @icanhazzalou {E, 18k}

The town itself is tiny, as evidenced by the ten minutes it’s taken Louis to drive the entire thing. There’s not a single recognisable brand in sight—no Tesco or McDonald’s or even a bloody Starbucks. Lining the streets instead are mom and pop stores with names like ‘Jerry’s Burgers’ and ‘The Market Basket’ and…

“'Naked & Proud?'” Louis almost slams on the brakes at the outlandish sign, the name written in a seemingly innocent font, words curved around a large cartoon peach. He can’t help turning into the carpark, easing the car into a spot next to a beat up truck.

He isn’t sure what to make of it. Surely it isn’t a strip joint or sex shop, not with the families and little old ladies going in and out of the establishment. Some kind of nudist hangout, perhaps?

And, oh, God. Did Louis’ mother accidentally send him to live in a nudist colony?

In which Harry runs an organic store, not a nudist colony, and Louis doesn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

🩷 Single Bells Ring by nonsensedarling / @absoloutenonsense {M, 16k}

A holiday singles event is not where Louis wants to be tonight, but there he is, helping his best friend find love. Just as Louis is settling in, ready to have a terrible time, he meets the fittest alpha he’s ever come across.

🩷 love so soft, you ain’t had nothing softer (series) by @neondiamond {E, 15k}

Louis is an Alpha with an odd obsession for gummy bears. Harry is an Omega who makes friends a little too easily. They meet on the bus.

🩷 Breathe me in, breathe me out by @lunarheslwt {G, 14k}

Louis was just passing the autumn collection, when an unfamiliar but addicting scent tickled his nose. Cinnamon. He turned as he realised something. He felt calm. Relaxed. The permanent agitation that he carried was melting away the more he breathed in the scent, as faint as it was. Consumed by the crazed desire to seek out the specific candle, Louis began picking up candles and sniffing them madly, when a deep voice piped up, startling him. “Uh, sir, we don’t allow candle fetishists in here.” Louis froze mid sniff in mortification. Willing himself to not blush, he turned, a retort at the tip of his tongue. Except, it died in his throat as he took in the man before him. “I uh,” Louis blurted out accidentally, temporarily rendered speechless by the frankly unfairly beautiful man before him. Only at the man’s grin widening did he regain his wits. “You’re gonna kink shame me?”

Or, Louis is drawn into a quaint candle shop in his desire to find ways to soothe himself while struggling with touch depri. It takes him two more run-ins and with the lovely alpha sales assistant, and a drop, to figure out the source of the scent that imprints upon him and calms his omega. Idiots to lovers

🩷 Far Afield by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird {T, 11k}

Harry Styles is a witch who owns the best flower shop in Manchester. Lottie Tomlinson is planning her wedding, and brings her brother along to her first appointment. Both men have been having a bad day and sparks fly.

🩷 The Art of the Giants by asphodelknox / @iamasphodelknox {G, 10k}

Louis is dancing away from an old relationship when he meets Harry at a bookstore in the busy streets of Seattle. Harry is just a bookstore owner hoping his handsome weekly visitor could become something more.

🩷 All Shook Up by @littleroverlouis {T, 9k}

Memphis, Tennessee is looking to crown the Ultimate Elvis Tribute artist. A majority of the contestants are content to shake their hips on stage, but singer-songwriter Harry is taking it more seriously. He is confident his voice and charisma will send him straight through to the finals.

He is already polishing his crown before even setting foot on stage, until he meets a fellow competitor. Louis is talented, charming, and a natural born performer. He commands the stage— and Harry's attention.

Harry has his eye on the prize and the Ultimate title, but what happens when someone becomes the ultimate prize?

🩷 The Way to My Heart by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13 {T, 6k}

Louis' having a bit of a dry spell, until he bumps into an attractive alpha in the supermarket and leaves with his number. It was a hard bump. Very... muscular.

The only problem is, said alpha asks Louis to cook for him - which is not exactly his skill set.

🩷 Only Reason by @letsjustsee {NR, 5k}

“We are so lucky to have with us one of the leading experts on beekeeping in the modern age, Dr. Louis Draper.” No. No, no, no… “I know I speak for many of us when I say that this man’s books have guided our practice, or helped us get started,” Harry continued, and Louis watched as the crowd nodded their heads in agreement. Oh shit. No. What? No. But then Harry was gesturing towards him, saying “Dr. Draper?” into the microphone, the crowd was applauding, and Louis found himself walking up the stairs to the stage.

Or, Louis is most definitely smitten with Harry from the second he sees him, but he is also most definitely not the world's foremost expert on beekeeping. He decides to roll with it anyway.

🩷 Unplant by @hellolovers13 {M, 4k}

Please do not disturb my plant She needs 2 hours of sunlight a day and I live in a sunless flat I’ll be back to collect her soon Thank you and stay well.

or Louis should've looked where he was going, then he wouldn't have to desperately try to save a little flower now.

🩷 Validation by @lululawrence {NR, 3k}

“Hey, how are you?” Harry asked. He’d found that sometimes just a smile and a kind face was all that was needed to brighten someone’s day.

“Oh, uhm. I’m alright. Can you validate me?”

Harry chuckled inwardly, but decided to go ahead and take him literally.

Or the one where Harry worked in a parking garage and he totally didn’t mean for this, the whole validation of people as well as their parking tickets, to become a thing. It just kinda...did.

🩷 more than that by @nouies {NR, 3k}

Harry looks for the best bread in France. He finds Louis.

🩷 an honest mistake by @disgruntledkittenface {NR, 2k}

“You look different when you’re not covered in come,” he blurts out, immediately regretting each and every life choice that has led to this exact moment. Elevator Guy is going to hate him.

Louis has ridden the elevator with his neighbor all week. The first time they speak, there’s a misunderstanding.

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