#pauses on his face it means its going to be a good episode <3 even if opinions on tang are mixed from the squad

[litt1e-prince]

traffic light trio sketch!!! cause i got lazy and have so much uni work to finish but all i can think about is them

[oneatlatime]

The Guru

Happy 2024 everyone and welcome to the first time I managed to type 2024 without first typing 2023! Oh and also a write up of The Guru. That too.

Me too Iroh. Me too.

So Zuko is riding high on that post-crisis 'time to get my life together' buzz that, similar to 3 am life plans, should absolutely not be listened to. Wonder how long before he crashes and burns? There's literally 2 episodes left, so I'm guessing one and a half?

Poor Sokka. My boy's got anxiety.

I don't know if it's a monk thing, an airbender thing, an Avatar thing, or an Aang thing, but I envy his complete lack of nerves.

How is Appa ok with them splitting up for a week after JUST getting them back?

I paused in a funny place. Have bonk-eyed Appa.

I love them comparing heights. What do you want to bet that that guy on the right was one of the youngest allowed to go fight, and Sokka made a big deal about how they're almost the same age and surely that means he can go too, right?

A lot of these Southern Water Tribe people have dreads or braids. That's neat.

Bato's arm is still messed up. That's some good continuity.

I've found the source of Katara's cheek bones. I guess Sokka takes after his mum.

Ok I know this is a really emotional moment (and it is! Sokka's spent two seasons earning this!) but my brain fixated on the furs and briefly thought they were sky bison pelts.

"It's been a difficult week for me." This guy thinks the Kyoshi Warriors are there to provide him therapy. Someone please just crown the bear instead.

He just gave away literally every relevant plot point AND outlined how to make sure all these plot points don't succeed. Crown. The. Bear.

Maybe if these generals spent less time playing with their giant model Earth Kingdom and more time general-ing, the war wouldn't suck so much?

Pretty.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the designs, the colour palette, the music, the sound design of this air temple. I love everything about it. If I had the chance to live anywhere in the Avatar universe, it would be here. Even in its ruined state it's such a refreshing contrast to the claustrophobia of Ba Sing Se. I can feel the freshness of the breeze through the screen.

"A spiritual brother of your people" an adult perspective on a near extinct culture! What a resource!

"and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso" an old as balls perspective. He's got to be at least 130.

Anthropology cul de sac time: this guy is so valuable as a resource on the Air Nomads. There's probably parts of Air Nomad culture that Aang can't ever accurately talk about, because he was a kid when he left, and there was almost certainly stuff that the adults kept to themselves, or only shared with the older Air Nomads. This Guru doesn't seem to be an Air Nomad himself, but there's a good chance that there is knowledge that he has, that Aang doesn't. Aang should be nerding out more about this. I'll do the nerding out for him.

Aang just breezes right by that Gyatso name drop like it's nothing. Huh.

Oh hey Toph. I'd forgotten she was in a box. Tweedle dum and Tweedle dumber really are quite the pair. What's their plan for keeping her fed and watered? Actually, these guys apparently don't know that maps exist, so it's probably never occurred to them that humans need sustenance. They'll rock up to the Bei Fong estate with corpse Toph and wonder why they aren't getting the reward money.

Mai gets called out in-universe for shopping at Hot Topic.

Ty Lee's buttering up of Azula is getting less and less subtle as the season progresses. It's a testament to Azula's lack of awareness that she's hasn't noticed that, and that Ty Lee can get away with it.

Azula's right that it's an extraordinary opportunity. The King gave them quite literally every piece of info required to overthrow his kingdom in a 25 second conversation. I can't blame her for taking advantage of such an easy win.

That's a very effective unimpressed face. And a very impressive beard.

It's funny to see a spiritual concept from the real world pop up in a show that includes things like bending and giant fish possession. The mention of Chakras kind of sticks out. They couldn't invent a Avatar universe version?

"Once you begin this process, you cannot stop until all seven are open." Well that doesn't feel like foreshadowing at all.

This episode should be called "Aang's self-care Journey." It's about time the kid had a me day that wasn't avoidance-based.

Fear: Losing Katara - makes sense. Losing control of his powers via fish possession - makes sense. The Fire Lord - makes sense. But the Blue Spirit? He helped. Doesn't make sense.

Guilt: Running away - makes sense, although I thought he'd worked through that with Katara in the storm. Nuking that idiot General's base - makes sense, but boy did he quite literally ask for it.

This guru is saying some wonderfully accurate, and realistic, things. I love that he's not taking the Katara route of denying anything is wrong. He's going for the acknowledge, then heal route. And yes, it's unfair of me to compare the emotional maturity of Katara to a century+ old spiritual expert.

I'm going to ruin the immersion here and point out that Sokka's dad's voice actor voiced a bunch of characters in season 1. He's doing an excellent job, but couldn't they get a unique voice for a character that's so important (albeit offscreen) to Sokka?

That's an incredibly roundabout way of avoiding pointing out that the Southern Water Tribe are active participants in a bloody war. Sure, we can show multiple characters with visible scarring from horrific burns, but heaven forbid we imply that the Southern Water Tribe sinks ships. The parameters for what is and isn't appropriate on this show sometimes make no sense.

"Aren't you listening? I said the rest of you men get ready for battle." He hasn't seen his boy in two years, but fifteen minutes in his company and he knows exactly what needs to be said and how. That's some top tier parenting. Dad of the year. Dad of the century. Only decent Dad in this show that isn't technically an uncle.

"Follow your passion Zuko, and life will reward you." Great advice for your eight year old audience. Also a great way to end up unemployed.

Positive Sokka creeped me out a few episodes ago. Now positive Zuko is freaking me out too.

Pretty.

Back to Chakras! Shame: Burning Katara - makes sense. But that's it? To have the inner peace of mind of a twelve year old who's somehow only ever done one thing that he's ashamed of.

Is there anyone in the earth kingdom who isn't stupid? Once again wondering at the network's standards. Visible burn injuries are fine, but Mai can't say 'Shut up." It's got to be Shush up. Although I do seem to recall of brief time in the early 2000s when Shut Up was treated as a curse on par with Shit or Fuck. Maybe that was just at my school.

Chakras again! Even for a show that often has an A, B, and C plot, this narrative is ping ponging around a bit much.

Grief: nothing major, just a whole nation. Makes a horrific amount of sense. but I don't buy that he can get over grieving the whole world as he knew it by thinking about his crush. That's way too high a pedestal for Katara to be placed on.

Lies: Not accepting he's the Avatar. Interesting that not accepting that he's the Avatar and not accepting that he's a firebender are two different problems.

I see you reusing the opening credits footage. Your blue filters can't fool me.

PRETTY

Illusion: So we're relearning what we learned in The Swamp. Aang's probably the person currently alive least likely to believe in the rigid separation of the nations anyway. This doesn't feel like an illusion he's subject to?

The way this episode dances between its narrative threads is so great. It's all woven in so beautifully. And this makes perfect sense! Toph's spent her life secretly doing things excellently that everyone says are completely beyond her capabilities. Life has taught her that the statement "you are not able to" doesn't apply. Of course immutable laws of bending physics are treated with the same respect as an adult telling the champion of the Earth Rumble that she's can't earthbend beyond breathing exercises. If you told her that humans can't fly, she'd figure out how within the week.

Plot collision incoming.

Interesting that Katara initially recognises Zuko by his voice rather than his scar.

I'm pretty sure that Zuko and Iroh don't know about the whole brainwashing thing, but wouldn't it be hilarious if Zuko introduced himself to Katara as Joo Dee, and his uncle Joo Dee, welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, can I take your order? That would throw Katara into one hell of a moral quandary.

Katara being framed as the solution for Chakra number four comes back to bite Aang, as she's the problem in Chakra number seven. I knew that pedestal was too high.

I've changed my mind. This episode should actually be called "Half a dozen reasons why everyone should just learn to keep their goddamn mouths shut already."

So is anyone going to let Zuko and Iroh know that they're now in immediate danger and need to leave, like, yesterday?

I think the Guru is going for the whole 'if you love them, let them go, and they'll come back to you' thing. Don't cling, in other words. But for the sake of the plot he's suddenly lost his ability to explain Chakras in a way that makes them seem like the logical thing to do. The only clunky bit of this episode so far.

May I introduce you to our Lord and Saviour Toph?

"I am the greatest earthbender in the world." Yes. Yep. Yeah. That's now a quantifiable fact, and it's correct. Look on ye mighty and despair. She's even got Bumi beat.

Earth Tongue Running is a bit wonky looking but it covers a crazy amount of distance.

What's the range on Toph's earth sense? Can she sense what direction Ba Sing Se is?

I hope those two idiots' horse bird is ok.

"You don't know how much this means to me dad." He does. Very much so.

Every word out of this guy's mouth is precision engineered to make Sokka feel like a million bucks and I for one think it's about time someone built him up. Also, seeing this makes me realise how few good parents there are in this show. It's a trope of kids' adventure shows that the parents fundamentally can't be there, but I also think it's a commentary on yet another thing that this war has messed up.

Hey look! Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most, and right now that's in Ba Sing Se, protecting your sister! I love narratives that tie their themes up with a pretty bow on top.

This is Azula laying a trap, right? Which means that Katara squealed to someone about the exact location of Iroh and Zuko's tea shop. Don't like the implications of that.

Photos taken seconds before disaster.

Final Thoughts

This episode was a lot! I mean that in a good way! But I felt a bit like the Maxell Blown Away Guy, the way I kept getting assaulted by yet another plot thread. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism. I think the switching between plot threads and the amount of info in this episode worked 99% of the time. But I'm kind of in awe at the balancing act the writers pulled off and I'm sort of sitting here blinking a bit trying to fit all this stuff in my head. I'm probably going to forget half the stuff I wanted to talk about in this write up, so here goes nothing.

Given the Azula reveal in at the end of last episode, I thought that this would be the episode where the shit hits the fan. I was wrong. I'm glad I was wrong. An episode of set up is required and is nice breathing room, even an episode as busy as this. And I got to leave Ba Sing Se! But this does mean that next episode is going to be calamity after calamity.

Aang and his Chakras: I'm fascinated by this guru. I hope he comes back. That brings the total number of people who were alive before the war started up to three: Aang, Bumi, Guru Patik.

I'm impressed that the run through of the Chakras rarely felt like an info dump. The onion and banana juice thing didn't work for me, but I'm sure it worked for people in the target age bracket. Kids love burp jokes.

So many shows sprinkle in tragic backstories for flavour and then never have them influence the character in the present. It was a nice contrast to see a show take a whole episode to tell Aang "yeah all that sucked. It's ok to feel down about it. Here's how you move forward."

Sokka and his dad: Love it. Love it so much. I love seeing Sokka built up, and he definitely deserves it, but I wonder if this is the reward for a character arc well done, or the set up for a character arc that's about to start? Is his dad's praise his prize for crossing the finish line, or is it so he's built up with farther to fall?

I loved seeing more of the Southern Water Tribe. I loved the fashion. There's a lot of variety in accessories and variations on a few basic elements like those knee guard things. I loved their hairstyles. I loved how cozy and communal that command tent felt. I loved their ships. I wonder how often these guys work out, that they can make loading ramps that are presumably deployed and stashed out of the way frequently, out of whole logs rather than planks. I have a bone to pick with the child-friendly sea mine. But it provides a good set up for a dad joke, so I'll let it slide.

Zuko and Iroh: Of course the one time Zuko is allowed to be in a good place, it's so that he and Iroh both have farther to fall when the inevitable happens. Poor guy just can't catch a break. I'd be mad at Azula for the party crashing that I'm assuming she'll do next episode, but it's been established that Zuko has all nice things taken away from him as soon as he gets them, and I can't blame Azula for being a tool of the universe.

Azula & Long Feng: Azula's acting in Long Feng's prison cell was miles ahead of what Long Feng was doing in front of the Earth King, so I'm wondering if Long Feng has bitten off more than he can chew. Also: conspiring with the enemy to bring down your own city just so you can reinstall yourself as the power behind the throne that will presumably cease to exist as soon as the Fire Nation takes control? That is both treasonous beyond description and an incredible case of shooting yourself in the foot. What's Long Feng's plan here?

Toph and the Dunderheads: it says something about the consistency of Toph's characterisation from her introduction onwards that she breaks the universe this episode and my reaction was "that's neat." It's obviously a huge moment, but of course Toph can do that. Toph can do anything. More importantly, Toph knows that Toph can do anything, so Toph routinely does do anything, especially things she shouldn't be able to do. If you had asked me a few episodes back which character would be most likely to fundamentally redefine bending, I would have said Toph, since she's already fundamentally redefined bending with her earth sense sonar vision.

Also Toph just breaks stuff. Things that come into contact with her cease to function as intended and instead function as Toph requires. Look at the two idiots: both successful business owners, one also a successful hoodwinker of the richest family around. But they come into contact with Toph and their brains take an extended vacation.

Katara & the Generals: this plot was more like an extension of Azula's plot than its own standalone thing. You can't blame her for spilling the news about Zuko and Iroh to someone she honestly thought was Suki. Not much else to say about it, although it's cute that she asks for a table for two at the tea shop. Momo gets a chair!

I like that there's a theme this episode of things going wrong despite the best intentions. No one's acting maliciously here apart from the Antagonists. The Earth King is having an honest chat with people he thought were friends. Sokka vouched for people he honestly thought were the Kyoshi Warriors. Katara shares information about a presumed threat with people she honestly thought were her allies. You can quibble with the wisdom of some of these decisions, but there were all done with good intentions. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry and all that. It brings to mind that Star Trek quote about how you can do everything right and still lose. And this set up is going to hit harder when whatever goes wrong next episode happens. And something will go wrong. A few months ago I figured that the Season 2 finale would be a triumph, but all signs are pointing towards a tragedy instead.

This episode was visually stunning, the soundtrack in the Air Temple sections especially was very evocative, and I applaud the minds that could juggle that many plot threads at once without dropping any. This one is definitely going on my rewatch list.

[potol0ver]

Horror with the Bros

Mc is into ARGs/horror and make the brothers sit down and watch their favorite series with them.

Very self indulgent because I love ARGs and scare myself more than I should- I finished this at 3 am and all while I was watching Vita Carnas again and I swear I’m not gonna sleep until it’s light out fml-

I apologize if some of the brothers sections are shorter than the others-

TW; none (?), mentions of jump scares of existing ARGs and stuff alike, nothing horribly detailed,

Lucifer

He doesn’t see why you’d like this. Why would you intentionally scare yourself?

He’d respect the art behind the well developed jump scares and how they’re able to get under someone’s skin.

If you make him watch something like the Mandela Catalog he’d be unnerved by how they use religion as a plot point.

Possibly the only type of horror to truly un nerve him.

You and Lucifer were snuggling down in his bed after you practically dragged him to watch an ARG with you, of course that’s after days of begging him to indulge in watching horror with you.

“I don’t get why you like this stuff…” he scoffs quietly as you set up your computer to watch the Mandela catalog, snuggling yourself into his side.

With a roll in your eyes you hit play on the first episode. He’d hum lowly at the imagery of the uncanny and disfigured human imagery, he won’t lie, that shit is unnerving. Once he realized this had a religion undying to it, he scoffs and gives you a look of “oh really?”.

Why would this be scary to me? I know the truth, hell I was an Angel. I won’t be scared.

Once the cartoons played he started to doubt that thought of his, and once the Angel appeared and spoke in its weird way, you could feel a chill go down his spine. Now it’s your turn to look at him smugly.

“Oh?”

“Shut up.”

Mammon

Good luck dude-

He will NOT make it easy for you

You’d have to puppy dog eye him, make a deal with him about money/getting him out of trouble, lights on constantly, and snuggles throughout.

Take it easy on him please

“You’re lucky I love ya human…” Mammons say’s already under a big pile of blankets in a fully lit room.

“Of course Mams, thank you for doing your ‘First Man’ duty and watch this with me.” You say with an amused smile. For the sake of him you decide to not do something horribly realistic in terms of art and go with the Walten Files.

His eyes widen seeing the first distorted face, and next thing you now he’s clinging onto you like a terrified child.

“You ok Mams? I can turn it off.”

“No no! I-I-I’m ok! I can do this, for you”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Levi

Similar to Mammon, just less bribe-y and more reassuring him you’ll be next to him.

Will try and blow it off like he’s not scared

“Petscop? Is this a real game?” To his disappointment no it’s not. He ties video games he knows to the series. Overall really quiet as he watches.

He gasps once he realizes kids are the pets and what NLM means in terms of the story. Quietly horrified about the implications of the story, so much so he doesn’t even realize he’s holding onto your arm like a life line.

Please just enjoy the moment and let him hold onto you.

Afterwards he’s amazed by the story telling and how they made the videos look like an actual playable game.

Satan

Arguably the best brother to watch ARGs with.

bold of you to assume he doesn’t already LOVE the ARG scene.

He likes true crime, he likes the puzzle like vibe of it. So of course he likes ARGs

Watch the Monument Mythos with him, HES HOOKED.

Will full on go detective mode on it.

Satan grabs the TV remote for what felt like the 50th time of the night. “Ok ok… Dean right? What if he faked the ADA broadcast so he looks better, like…” he rants as you just sit there amused he likes the series so much, but annoyed he keeps pausing it to put pieces together to soon.

At one point when things finally start adding up, he’s quiet and fully immersed. Giving a “I knew it,” or a “hell yeah” when he theorized something right.

Once you finish the final episode he has chills on his skin, prepare for a fan girl like rant about the series.

Asmo

Mc don’t you know stress is bad for your skin?

Will refuse a horror movie or ARG because of it.

Eventuality will agree to look into an ARG/horror series that doesn’t have horror imagery or jump scares.

“Welcome home? Awww this looks cute~” Asmo will sit there and compliment the cute style of it while watching an analysis video of it.

Gets slightly creeped out at the realistic eyes but other than that he loves it. Even gives his own mini theories. Like how everyone potentially got put into the site/show, how Wally is the only one who says “goodbye” instead of go back.

Over all surprisingly loves it and will wait for an update with you.

Beel

Is down for anything really

If you’re having fun, he’s having fun type of guy.

Although not really into horror, if you like it so much he should to right?

“Vita Carnas? Isn’t that science terms?” He eats watching it at first, but slowly loses appetite due to the nature of the series.

Admits the creatures are really cool and well put together, likes the undertone of the story book pages.

But once he feels that you’re getting scared by the Mimics (let’s be honest who wouldn’t?) he turns into his demon form instinctually. Once you flinch by the realistic puppet the creator made he charges at the TV and breaks it.

“Oh… shit sorry…” Beel says with a wide guilty smile.

Maybe watch something you won’t get jump scared by next time.

Belphie

“Are you trying to give me nightmares?”

Will reluctantly lay on your lap while the series plays

It can’t be to scary so he should be able to sleep through it, right?

“Skinamarink? Sounds like a garbled word…” he says before seeing how the movie is directed.

Already hates it.

Hates the premise the kids are stuck in a horror land.

Hates the voice the kids are hearing.

Is wide eyed watching, slightly backing into you while keeping his eyes on the screen like something will jump at any moment.

When it’s done he’ll be sad about what happened to the siblings, definitely not thinking about Lilith- and in return you’ll have to snuggle him to sleep for a month.

[writing-whump]

Could you write a story where Isaiah has a heart episode with Hector and/or Arnie as the caretaker/s?

Hello Nonny! I loved seeing this request, because this is exactly what needed to happen! Just had to get to this point in the story :3 But very very fitting!

Hiding from you

"We are not going."

Isaiah blinked, turning from the door. "Excuse me?"

Matthew shook off his suit jacket in a dramatic gesture. "I'm saying we are not going. You are in no state to go right now, so the evening is canceled. Simple as that."

Isaiah quietly stared in shock at the declaration. They were preparing for the wolf meet for the whole week. Seline was on a trip with her mom, so Matthew agreed to go. Their pack needed to show up as a pack on official social events, to be taken as such. It was time. They should do it.

Besides, Isaiah had a speech tonight and according to his information, Melissa, Matthew's oldest sister, was also supposed to be there. Isaiah planned on talking with her, and Matthew's presence or no presence wasn't going to stop him.

Matthew's eyebrows furrowed in face of Isaiah's silent resistence. "You look like crap. You are hiding it well, but I can tell you are a breath away from an episode. This is nonsense."

Isaiah carefully smoothed his expression of any emotion, a cold kind of certainly settling over him like second skin.

Matthew had been on a lookout since that fateful night, when he saw Isaiah getting sick from the heart pain. Isaiah knew he messed that up spectacularly, but he never dreamed of the consequences being this long-lasting.

Or that Matthew would get so good at reading the signs that Isaiah was training himself to ignore.

There was a bit of weakness for the last day or two, but he was just tired. His chest was tight, like it was turning to cement, too tense, and his breathing came short and difficult after just a bit of walking or stairs, but he probably just breathed wrong.

This wasn't an episode, this wasn't regular. It wasn't serious.

He wasn't even stressed about anything, there was no cause, so there could by no means be an episode. This was nonsense. He wasn't going to get sick for no apparent reason.

And not Matthew or anyone else, were going to make him. He had changed reality as it suited him many times before. He could do it again.

"Suit yourself. I'm going," Isaiah said resolutely.

He didn't raise his voice, but Matthew still flinched. "Fine. I can't convince you even for your own good? Whatever. But you are not going to make me watch."

Isaiah said nothing. Theathrics he knew well. No point in entertaining them.

"See you later," Isaiah said coldly. "Or not, I guess." It was difficult to close the door without slamming them. But he managed all the same.

...

Isaiah held the speech short.

He had talked with Seline about holding his audience's attention, changing the tone, gesticulating, making pauses at the right time. She watched her students, made notes about different professors and their techniques and had a whole lot of tips to explain and give him. There were so many styles to try.

Now Isaiah knew wolves didn't like speeches and lectures any more than humans did. Especially if he was about to talk about humanity and its advantages, what humans could do, were free to do, where wolves were not.

Talking about shadows as a burden and responsibility instead of a superpower, not entirely a curse, but closer to it, was not something many would agree with. Everyone wanted to think what they had was better. It was hard to go against what someone wanted to see.

But if a wolf with a powerful shadow talked about humans and their weakness as if it was a strength - their freedom to express emotion, their anger and joy not enhanced by their shadow, not having to hold back in what they felt couldn't be trusted not to sourced from an entity made entirely of their most primitive self-centered instincts. Humans had rules and control, selflessness and empathy, the need to belong and go with the flow and pressure, where wolves would think of themselves and only their pack.

Isaiah studied it and he wanted to embody it to the packs gathered at the event. He wanted them to realize the limitations of their shadows, the beauty of their human sides and the respect and jealousy in their contempt for humans.

But he cut it short, counting the uncomfortable silence as a reaction enough, before he stepped away from the toast. One step at a time.

The hall slowly went back to chit chat and quiet conversations as Isaiah drunk his glass of champagne, listening for reactions here and there.

"Most impressive speech, Mr Wolfson. One would almost believe you care about us humans." Melissa's hair was as red as her brother's, though long and tightly bound back from her face.

"Thank you," Isaiah said, pulling out one of his thoughtful smiles. Not too happy or large, but appreciative in a polite, gently genuine way.

He didn't like what a distinction she made between humans and wolves. Between herself and him.

"Though I'm disappointed. I thought we were already on the first-name basis with each other."

Melissa's nose wrinkled like he said something revolting. "You have expressed such wish, yes. Though I don't know why you think inviting my good for nothing brother into your pack makes me more inclined to agree. If anything, all the respect I had for you had been diminished by your choice."

Isaiah made a puzzled expression, eyebrows slightly raised. He let the smile stay put to not look unfriendly. "That is an awfully sad thing to say about your own family."

Melissa scoffed. "He is not family. He is a coincidenal blood related problem of my mother. A scary uncontrollable temperamental wolf that brought us or the world nothing of value."

Isaiah took a sip from his glass. "Hard judgment from someone who never bothered to get to know him. Or are these your mother's words that I'm hearing?"

Melissa's frown deepened, cheeks flushing. Isaiah smiled wider. He had seen this exact frown before he left. Puzzling, how similar it was.

Suggesting Melissa had no opinion of her own was a daring move. Maybe too sensitive. Not born a witch, the oldest daughter of the Blackwell pack had been undoubted haunted by that disappointment, just like she was with the amount of siblings until her mother had her youngest daughter - the long awaited, treasured and strictly protected little girl.

Marcella.

Ironically enough the only person in the family that gave Matthew any benefit of the doubt, despite the 10 years old age difference.

There was no win in humiliating the Blackwell's family hard-working doctor by proving her she was wrong.

"Come meet him," Isaiah suggested, feeling the right moment of shock took Melissa's words from her for a few seconds. "Come see for yourself what he is like. With a pack, goals, in process of getting a degree. Matthew just wants contact with his sister, is that so much to ask?"

Melissa's eyes glittered. "He just wants too meet her because she is a witch. That's all that's connecting them. There are enough wolves all over town who want to make that claim. On a 10 year old girl. Explain to me what a 20 something guy wants to do with a small child. Even if I could not mind his shadow," Melissa put her finger up in the air as Isaiah opened his mouth to protest, "I don't see why he would want that. They live in completely different worlds. Our mother has the right to decide if they should stay separate."

Isaiah watched her with gravity, pulse quickening. "Did you ask what she wants?"

"Childish and naive. She doesn't know what she wants. But if she still insists, she can meet him when she turns 18."

Isaiah raised one eyebrow at her. "You really believe she will have that much leeway...ever in her life?"

Melissa looked away, hurt flashing over her face. She took a deep breath, schooling her expression. He knew that move very well. "Have a good evening, Mr Wolfson."

He accepted the diamissal for what it was, nodding to her. His chest was tight, his heart running a mile a minute against his ribcage.

He felt light-headed with the pressure. Did he just make it better or did he make it worse? It seemed like a long road ahead of them. But he still thought Melissa was the most likely to become a connection to Marcella.

He stumbled, taking a deep breath. Time to get out of here, before he blacked out in front of all the packs in the giant city hall.

...

Hector struggled to keep the glass of champagne in his hand intact.

Speeches about humans being better than wolves!

As if they could even compare! Those weak little things, no shadows, no healing, no strength, no packs. They just had the power of numbers and years of research and technology. Otherwise wolves would be ruling. They certainly should.

Of course Isaiah had to be there, take all the attention for himself and then make big speeches complimenting humans right when Hector was there.

So now everyone wanted to know what he meant and if Hector thought the same thing, since he also went to a human university, and was it really necessary to wolves? Did it really have any value? Was it worth it being around crowds of ignorant humans, who didn't know how to act around them, how to respect them? Protecting themselves with their measly laws made from fear?

Hector was scoffing and denying and grunting the whole evening, his shadow trembling with anger. Such nonsense. He liked the school and he liked the city, but for Shadow's sake, such talks of humans having more free lives than wolves...

He had never thought about it like that. When did Isaiah even come up with such nonsense? Certainly not from their Father. Father valued strong shadows and strong wolves, and witches who knew what they were doing. Humans weren't even worthwhile to consider enemies.

Maybe they should have a talk about it. Or maybe not. Hector wasn't sure he wanted to put himself through the painful confusion that was talking with his big brother about anything.

Where did Isaiah even go? It was like he suddenly disappeared from the hall.

Hector looked around, trying not to look too suspicious. All directions were clear. His second or his witch didn't show up. Lame. Very lame.

He found Isaiah at the balcony at the side with the view of the parking lot that led into the gardens. The most boring view on the lowest of the floors. It was empty because of that.

Isaiah stood there, gripping the railings, eyes focused into the distance. Like he was hypnotising something.

Hector considered just leaving him there, but couldn't resist a snarky comment. "If I had a speech that embarassing, I would be hiding here too."

Isaiah stiffened, a slight wince to his left shoulder. "Ah. Really? I thought it was rather good."

Hector rolled his eyes, stepping closer. "So very humble of you. It was totally lame. I can't believe we share a last name. Now everyone will think I'm the same sentimental fool you are. Which doesn't make sense, since you don't even have stupid humans in your own pack."

Isaiah chuckled dryly, voice quiet. "I have a human brother."

Hector winced at that. Yeah. Arnie was his brother too. He had somehow never counted as human or stupid or lame to Hector. Completely objective opinion.

"You focus too much on being a good wolf that you oversee your human possibilities," Isaiah said breathily. His voice went even quiter than before.

Now that Hector thought about it, there was something off about Isaiah's breathing pattern. It was too fast, too choked.

Hector leaned his elbows on the railing, trying to get a glimpse at Isaiah's face without looking like he was. Was he drunk? Poisoned? What the hell?

"Shouldn't you...go inside?" Isaiah asked suddenly, his voice weirdly amused. Too amused. Too happy. "Don't want to be caught with such an embarassment of a brother, do you?"

Hector bit his lip. Maybe he shouldn't have said that when things were still so fragile between them. Plus something about Isaiah's tone really bothered him.

"Don't tell me what to- Isaiah?"

Isaiah swayed, like literally tilted to the side, despite his grip on the railing. His knees buckled and he lowered himself to the ground like he couldn't stand anymore.

Hector's eyes went wide and he stared in a horrified frozen silence for a few seconds at Isaiah sitting on the ground.

His head was bowed, black hair falling into his face, but Hector could now see his hands were trembling, and that his breaths came more like short little gasps.

Isaiah tried to laugh, then broke himself off with a wince. "Look at that. You said my name. Haven't heard you...say it....for a long time."

Hector knelt down opposite Isaiah, still in shock. "Ehhh, what the- what's wrong with you?"

Isaiah waved a hand dismissively, but the movement was shaky and his arm made a weird wincing stop and turned towards his chest, turning sharply away barely from touching it.

Hector followed the gesture. "Something is wrong." He swallowed, feeling out of place, looking around, half-expecting the moon to blow up or the stars to fall from the sky.

This just didn't happen. Isaiah didn't get hurt and he didn't get sick and he didn't fall to the floor and make gasping noises like he couldn't breathe.

"Go back. It's fine," Isaiah wheezed.

Hector finally caught a glimpsed at his face under his bangs. Isaiah was glistening with sweat and his eyes were bloodshot with such obvious pain Hector's whole body shivered with it in resonance. He felt his shadow wiggle and growl.

"What the hell is going on with you? Where is your shadow? Heal yourself!" Hector whisper-yelled, the realization suddenly downing at him.

There were in the middle of a fucking wolf meet.

Every powerful pack had a representative here and Isaiah was a powerful wolf, a famous wolf. Seeing him like this, they would tear him to pieces.

An icy inkling of panic ran down Hector's back. He shuffled to Isaiah, wrapping a hand around his middle and hurriedly hoisting him up. "Get up, we are leaving."

Isaiah swayed in his hold like he was drunk, legs barely holding under him. Hector took most of his weight, dragging them both towards the stairs. Better get out here than through the main entrance.

"Where...where are we going?" Isaiah slurred as Hector helped him down the stairs awkwardly, half-huggung Isaiah to his side.

"Back to your place, I presume. You need help. Where the hell is your stupid pack when you need them?"

"Huh," Isaiah chuckled, that too amused off scary sound Hector was starting to hate very much. "You don't need to bother either. Shouldn't see you with me...when I'm like this. It could be embarrassing."

"Shut the hell up," Hector snapped, ducking under the balcony and towards the parking lot. He hated he had said it at all, gloom gathering in the pit of his stomach. Isaiah never sounded so hurt and so in denial and amused about it at the same time. Like his mask and his pain blended together, letting him see for the first time how much of it there was.

"Just tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt? Silver? Poison? What is this?!"

Isaiah coughed a little, going more limp in Hector's hold with each step. "Look at that. He cares."

Hector flushed, voice jumping up. "Of fucking course I fucking care if you die-"

Isaiah suddenly stopped, freezing in place. A full bodied shiver ran through him, so Hector stopped as well. "Isaiah?"

Isaiah swallowed heavily, then leaned forward with a wheezing cough that wracked his frame all over.

Hector put a hand to his chest to hold him steady, afraid of Isaiah falling forward, when the coughing turned into gags.

Hector flinched, hearing liquid gurgle up Isaiah's throat as he vomited up yellow tinged champagne and some chunks of ham and olives right in front of them. The puke splattered against their shoes.

Hector almost jumped away in disgust, but Isaiah moaned quietly, which stopped him in his tracks. He went back to holding him up, one arm around Isaiah's back and the other against his chest as Isaiah shivered again and heaved up more vomit.

When the gagging tempered off, Hector grabbed Isaiah's arm to wrap it around his neck. "Just a few steps to the car and you can sit down," Hector managed to say, feeling completely lost and incompetent in face of such sickness.

Isaiah wheezed and wheezed beside him, hand going to his left side of the chest openly this time. He dug his fingers into the suit and white shirt under it, face contorted in pain.

Hector opened his car, settling Isaiah into the passenger seat and crouched down next to him. Lost and terrified out of his mind. This wasn't normal.

Isaiah sat with his legs still out the car, but leaned against the seats, both hands massaging his chest. There was a permanent painful frown on him how that he wasn't trying to hide.

"Your...car?" Isaiah breathed brokenly.

"Yeah. I don't know where yours is and I don't care."

"Will get...sick on the way."

"I don't care," Hector repeated. "Just tell me what do I fucking do? Please?"

Isaiah's unfocused eyes narrowed at the question, looking for Hector's gaze. "I'm fine. This is nothing. Shhhhh."

Hector balled his hands into fists, realizing he wasn't getting an answer. Even out of breath and in pain, his brother wouldn't tell him anything that mattered.

Accepting the anger about this wouldn't help anything, Hector got up, moving Isaiah's legs, one by one into the car and circling around to the driver's seat.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Hector burying his face in his hands, while Isaiah wheezed and coughed, hands againd this heart. Hector couldn't smell blood or see any injuries, but he could tell that was the source. Whatever it was.

"Hospital? Clinic? What's with your shadow?" He was aware there was a ting of panic in his voice, but couldn't fight it.

Isaiah shook his head, wincing. "There is no help with this. No shadow. It will go away on its own."

Hector watched him with wide horrified eyes, feeling nausea rise in his throat at the very idea of a problem like that. What could possibly be so incurable, so unsolvable? What was this thing?

"Drive me home? That...would help."

"I will." Hector wanted to touch him, comfort him, help him somehow. His shadow was shaking, all but weiling inside him, but he didn't let it out. There would be enough time for that later.

Hector started the car, his eyes burning with helplessness, when he felt a weight on his shoulder.

Isaiah leaned his forehead against it, breathing in those short little bursts, but his face relaxed a tiny bit. "Sorry. Just let me stay like this...for a second?"

Hector's shoulders slumped as he turned his head to lean against Isaiah's sweaty wheezing form with his cheek. He held his breath.

This was the closest they were together in years and he hated that pain was the reason.

"Yeah," Hector whispered back.

@bellysoupset

[katethevampire]

All right so the new episodes just came out like 20 minutes ago for me (oh yeah me from the future here it ended up taking me about 3 hours to finish watching the episodes cuz I kept pausing to write stuff in between so uh yeah lol) so everything under the cut will be my live reaction to everything. I'll add time stamps so you know where I'm at in the episodes. I can guarantee you that I will be sticking to my promise about potentially eating paper if I'm wrong about Sir Pentious not dying. Which honestly now I'm not sure if anyone will die, it was pretty much confirmed in a live stream that angel dust isn't going to be the one to die so my money is on one of the Angels. Also I'm using voice to text and while I'll try and fix any misspellings or wrong words I might miss them.

LOTS OF SWEARING PROBABLY also I very much abuse capslock

EPISODE 7

00:51- I love Sir Pentious looking at Keke I just thought I should mention that

01:03- OH MY GOD NO KEKE MOVED TO HIS LAP AND HE'S PETTING HER I LOVE HIM SM

01:10 aw Alastor was sleepy you guys woke him up!

01:22- I CAN'T EVEN APPRECIATE RAZZLE AND DAZZLE BEING CUTE CHARLIE IS CRYING

01:29- he did the gay little hand thing

01:50- okay so I've already seen this part because of the small leak but I cannot get over the fact that Alastor has his shoes on the bed!! Like man take those off you're getting it dirty!!!!

01:59- mfs kicking his feet on the bed acting like a high school girl about to ask out her crush on the phone at a sleepover like dude you're a serial killer you can't do this to me 😭 also I should probably slow down cuz I'm making an update literally every 2 seconds

02:18 BROS CHECKING HIS NAILS AND DOING THAT POSE WHILE MAKING FUN OF HER ABOUT THE FACT THAT SHE UNINTENTIONALLY MIGHT HAVE CAUSED THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS 💀💀💀 so fruity i love

2:33- Alasto be like "it's called masking deary. Ever heard of it?"

2:44- if he wasn't saying this in such an evil manner right now I'd be saying he's so me frfr

3:07- what do I even say to that line. He popped off but also like respectfully I think I've heard a third grader say the exact same thing

3:53- OKAY SO I WAS GOING TO SAY SOMETHING BUT I'VE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN LOOK AT THIS FRAME, this could easily be the profile picture for someone's film review channel and I'm not 100% sure that people will understand what I mean by that unless you know a very specific person

04:38- Alastor is in his hat man era

4:33- okay so a few things, thank you subtitles for telling me that the music is edgy I feel like just the word tense would have worked on its own but I appreciate it nonetheless. Number two, I don't like seeing the girlies be mad at each other :(

05:34 I will support my boy Sir Pentious through and through he did nothing wrong!!

06:54- not the voice I was expecting for Rosie but pop up Queen she speaks the truth

07:24- ROSIE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE ALASTOR. Also his confusion, I love him so much

11:04- she's kind of like that one Pokemon

Ad time!- I DON'T CARE ABOUT VITAMIN PILLS THAT DOUBLE MY LIFESPAN

11:13- catabettes! Cannibals and catabettes!!! This is going into my vocabulary from now on. Also this frame that I paused at I love her face.

11:57- ugh, susan. All my homies hate Susan

12:54- I have a dream, I'm here to cause a scandal in the cannibal square

13:37- :( well it wasn't obvious to me I just thought the x over the eye was to look cool :(

14:35- SONG FUCK YEAH

15:26 If this song came out years ago I know for a fact there would have been an undertale parody version of it. Also I just got a cosmic brownie and some chocolate milk let's go guys we're eating good tonight

16:00 HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHE CAN JUST GROW BACK HER WINGS

16:30- therapist Rosie is not something I thought I'd be seeing today but honestly I love it. Also I don't think I'm going to be able to finish these episodes today because I'm only a little over 15 minutes through and I've been watching for like almost over half an hour and also I just realized that what if Lucifer is the one that dies?

18:12 ALASTOR GAVE HER HIS MICROPHONE I'M GOING TO EXPLODE INTO A BAJILLION CRYING PIECES RAHHHHHH

19:38 I'm going crazy I'm going insane right now bro literally what how I don't know what to say I love this act I don't know, it's just really good I don't know what to say like this is cool I don't I DON'T KNOW! IT'S I I LIKE IT everybody in cannibal town is cool and I like them and it's like 10 seconds later now and they're literally So based like free food like so me I don't know I'm just rambling at this point

20:56 ALASTOR AND ROSIE'S LITTLE DANCE THEIR LITTLE TIPPY TAPS OH MY GOD YES

21:06- alastor, you know it's not right to make someone your political puppet. Your little dances are cute though so I'll allow it for now.

I don't know why it thought I was speaking Spanish for a second but anyways that episode was really cute and good and I liked it but I'm also scared for the next episode cuz like now I'm wondering is someone actually going to die or were people just lying. I feel like either Adam is going to be the one to die or it's going to be Lucifer cuz they mentioned a lot in the previous episode about how Charlie needs to take up the throne and get ready to take her place on the throne like why does she need to take her place on the throne? Isn't that her dad's job??? Please don't kill Lucifer off please please please 🙏 also I'm still not on board and probably will never will be on the whole political puppet thing. Like I just know I just have a feeling in my bones that alastor's favor is going to be something like "Let me be the ruler of hell lololol" or something anyways

EPISODE 8

01:01-Why are you watching other men get fucked?🤨 (/j)

01:19 🥺 I love 🥺 I oove him so 🥺 so much 🥺🥺🥺 does he have a spatula like spongebob

02:02- wait so how is Vox watching them like does he have bug cameras in the air like those little guys in v3 (woah now I have to put a Danganronpa spoiler on this)

03:42 SOFT ALASTOR FANFICTION WRITERS QUICK WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN!!!

04:18- I'm not even the biggest huskerdust shipper but awwwww also I don't ship him with anyone but I just want to see Sir Pentious happy pleaseeee also the little Melody of loser baby in the background

04:48- ugh I am clutching my heart right now Sir Pentious is my SON and I LOVE HIM

04:58- what the fuck that ao3 tag was canon this WHOLE TIME???? WHEN DID YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT THIS?????

05:05- I told you angel dust wasn't going to die

05:38- it's like the song but different! Reprise it's called a reprise also is Mimzy gonna come back

07:15- Vox, you know that you guys are going to die if they lose too right?

Okay I can't timestamp this cuz I'll just be pausing every 2 seconds but just know that everything I'm saying after this is from 07:52 to whatever number I put after later right here->09:47

Okay, so this might be a weird comparison but you know like My Little pony Battle scenes? This feels like that in the very best way possible where they have the scenes with all the different characters fighting with the different music.

Oh my God yes Cherry bomb and angel dust I love them also that was a fire transition also I JUST NOTICED THAT SIR PENTIOUS HAT ALSO HAS THE EYE DOES HE JUST HAVE I HATS FOR EVERY OCCASION

Uh oh Adams angry he's going to do a my hero academia

Oh shit it actually worked that's not good.

I TOLD YOU I CALLED IT VOX IS HORNY

Oh my God that is such a cool shot guys someone should make that frame of Alastor their computer background

OH MY GOD WHOEVER ANIMATED THAT SCENE I LOVE YOU I'M LITERALLY GIVING YOU A METAPHORICAL KISS ON THE MOUTH IN THE PLATONIC SENSE ALASTOR LOOKED SO COOL

Guys I think Adam's going to die

😨 okay so Alastor's microphone just broke and I paused it to add that emoji but as I did the people I live with got home so I'm going to have to pause it for there? I'll update if I get prime working on my phone. Also isn't alastor's microphone alive? Maybe that's the character that died.

Update: all right I got it set up on my phone about 30 minutes later now we're resuming

09:47- okay so I think it's interesting that Alastor pretty much lost all his powers as soon as his microphone broke, my guess is probably that whoever has his soul (lilith, eve, or anyone else) gave the mic to him.

09:53- I like the detail that Alastor is still smiling even though he literally just got slammed against the wall, also Vox has the biggest hate boner for Alastor like

10:02- Alastor: "Have to disagree with you there, radio's not dead." Hun you are bleeding out I'm sorry but I don't think you can gaslight girlboss your way out of this one, also I'm sorry to tell you but the only thing they play on my local radio station now besides music is like, a show that's only on at like 7 in the morning where people call to complain about how their husband wraps Christmas presents

10:38- haha silly also EGGS!!

10:43- NO WAIT MY BRAIN DIDN'T REGISTER THAT THAT EGG WAS CRACKED THEY KILLED THE FUCKING EGG!!!!!! Angel, kill them.

11:12- no no no Sir Pentious you better not I don't want to eat paper

11:21- good for him

11:44- NO GOD DAMN IT PLEASE HAVE A REVEAL THAT ALASTOR OR LUCIFER OR SOMEONE ELSE SAVED HIM PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏 I AM BEGGING ON MY HANDS AND KNEES

12:03- okay this is really cool but is he actually dead cuz I'll legitimately be really sad if so

12:50- *that one vine* "*gasp* Adam."

13:23- KILL HIS ASS CHARLIE

14:12 yes Vaggie, queen shit

SIR PENTIOUS ARE YOU DEAD /J OR /SRS?????

14:35 I KNEW IT I KNOW HE WAS GOING TO COME BACK I MEAN I GOT KIND OF SPOILED CUZ I I SAW THE COVER OF THE EPISODE BUT WOAH 10/10 ENTRANCE

14:44- gasp! His face!

15:00- he is, so stupid. I love him.

15:51-okay I went quiet for a minute cuz there were so much happening but oh my God what do I even say this is just so cool also I don't know if this is intentional or not but the blood stain on Charlie's hair is shaped like an apple

16:34- NIFFTY RAHHHHHHH

17:08- wait okay I had a brief thought that maybe lute was actually Eve but I think I'm wrong on that

17:13- Sir Pentious would've liked pancakes :((((((

Ad Time! I don't care about hard Rock Cafe I just want to know whether or not Sir Pentious is actually dead please I'm going through all the stages of grief right now and Brandan Rogers just came on my screen as Katie killjoy please

18:04- Keke :(

Oh my God they're going to find him in the rubble right? ... Right?? Right guys right???????

18:10- fat nuggets survived that's good I see a rock that looks suspiciously shaped like Sir Pentious military hat whoa guys I wonder if that means anything and it looks like it's up like someone is standing? Whoa I wonder if they'll check behind that rock please

18:16- wait is he actually dead I'm genuinely about to cry

19:16- I am not crying about his death until the episode ends I am not crying until it is 100% CONFIRMED that he died

20:50- omg alastor's alive, he's in his Jack's skeleton era that means that maybe Sir Pentious is also-

21:08- friends :) he said friends just saying

22:04- I TOLD YOU I FUCKING TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU THAT BY DYING IT WAS JUST A CHARACTER BEING REDEEMED I TOLD YOU I'M SO SMART I'M NOT EATING PAPER HAHAHAHAHA I'M THE GREATEST MAN ALIVE HE'S NOT DEAD MY SNAKE BOY ISN'T DEAD HOW DID I GET SO ATTACHED TO HIM I DON'T KNOW BUT I LOVE HIM YES I CAN'T EXPRESS MY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW I'M GENUINELY SO HAPPY THIS IS WHY THIS IS WHY I WAITED UNTIL THE VERY END TO CRY ABOUT HIM I KNEW HE WASN'T GOING TO BE DEAD THEY WOULDN'T KILL HIM OFF THEY WOULDN'T KILL MY SNAKE BOY OFF JUST LIKE THAT

22:34- you're telling me Lilith was just doing hot girl shit on the beach for 7 years.

[waitmyturtles]

Okie-dokes: I'm very late to reporting on Dangerous Romance, episode 3, and listen -- listen. A lot of you know I'm in a compromised life state at the moment, --

(I'M MOVING. HOW. IN THE HELL. DO I OWN. SO MUCH. JUST. FUCKING SHIT. HOW DID I FIT SO MUCH SHIT INTO THIS PLACE THAT I AM LEAVING. OH MY GODDAMN WHAT THE FUCK. LET ME BECOME A MONK AND GIVE UP ALL THIS CRAP.)

-- yes, compromised life state, lol, and can't give too much thought to good meta at the moment. (I had to pause Not Me for the Old GMMTV Challenge because even just three episodes in, I knew it was SO GOOD that it deserves my undivided attention.)

So, yeah, brain is out of service at the moment, and then we have THIS episode of Dangerous Romance, and let me just note: y'all, Dangerous Romance was trending on Tumblr even through Only Friends Saturday last weekend (with Only Friends NOT trending, mind you). DR is clearly serving something (.....sigh, ships) that OF is not giving the fandom girlies, and man, did DR just lay it on THICK this week, huh?

I will admit. I'm a touch bummed. I LOVE PERTH AND CHIMON. I LOOOOOVVVVE THEM, YER HONORESSES! UNABASHEDLY. Yes, I love their faces. I DO, NO SHAME. I love their acting, too! I love them, like ::waves hands in circles:: all of it, all of them. I was hoping they'd chomp into a meatier show.

This is not that show. The puppy music, the reeeeeally fast swings into sympathy and "oh, you're my tutor now, bro, and I will spill all my feelings to you," IN ENGLISH AND KOREAN -- and just a touch of a class division conversation by way of Kang homey buying Sailom homey an extra dinner to-go. Sailom is now Kang's... confidante? Kang wants to make someone, anyone, proud, and it looks like Sailom is the guy.

I mean, this episode was all over the place, but....

Forgive me, meta angels, because this is EXACTLY what I need right now, omg. I'm mentally done, I'm toast! Not to say that I'm not going to enjoy Only Friends tomorrow! I am going to totally eat OF up.

But I will ROBUSTLY ADMIT to ALSO being okay with PerthChimon fan service at the moment. Unfortunately for any of my hopes of them being in a more dramatically complicated series: they still have hilarious chemistry. They're actual real bros in real life (Papang smh lol). They're clearly having fun doing this together, like OhmPerth in Double Savage. Chimon's facial expressions are outta control (that look on his face when Perth/Kang accelerated the bike? I cackled).

This is fluff! As @lurkingshan noted -- a recalibration of expectations is in order for this show. I'm taking this show right now as 100% fan service from my PerthChimon wub woobies. Perth and Chimon (and really, the co-director of this show, Lit Phadung of SOTUS and SOTUS S) -- these dudes know the score. Perth and Chimon have been around for a minute. You need two dudes to dial up to 10 on fluff BL? They have those tropes so memorized that it's burned in their bones. Put 'em in coach, they're ready to play.

If I take this show on THAT tip, then -- as an aiming-to-be-classic romance BL, then it's doing something.... if not right, then at least aligned to some tropes simply by mood. I'm curious about Sailom's flashbacks to Kang's bullying, but I don't have the strength or mindpower to read into it. If a reference back to the bullying comes -- or not -- then, whatever. This show is clearly, at the moment, trying to achieve a more simple goal than I expected of it, but I'm not gonna write it off. I'll thoroughly enjoy Perth and Chimon being poodles to each other -- gimme.

I was wondering to @lurkingshan and @neuroticbookworm earlier today that I had previously wondered WHY GMMTV would air Dangerous Romance during the Only Friends run, especially with ALL the marketing hype around Only Friends before it premiered. At the time, it seemed to me to be a pre-emptive gong strike on Dangerous Romance. Now it makes me wonder -- did GMMTV want to cover its bases by placing a classic fluff BL on air, to protect the network from losing fandom points through Only Friends? I can only wonder. If some ships are exploding through OF -- then the network can hand PerthChimon over and say, hey, we haven't forgotten our shipping roots, girlies.

Kinda makes me think. In any case -- Shan is right. I'm recalibrated on Dangerous Romance, I'm watching this literally to see PerthChimon ham it up, annnnnddd yeah, that's about it! At this point, give me the make-out sessions, give me pool time, gimme. I unabashedly stan and simp. If we get some real drama out of this show -- it will be a wonderful surprise. I just hope the show doesn't veer into totally unwatchable territory.

[earthtoharlow]

Sunday Kind of Love

Chapter 3

AN: hope you enjoy 😉

Previous chapters

I rifle through piles of toys and stuffed animals on the floor. Brooklyn is gonna be late. It’s Wednesday and we have been doing good for the past week making sure we left the house for school on time.

“Brooklyn!” I yell. Where the hell are they, I always put them in the same place; the basket near the door.

“Brooklyn!” I yell again as I walk down the hallway to her room. I poke my head in quickly and see my daughter laying on her stomach watching cartoons on her bed.

“Honey, if we don’t leave in the next 3 minutes, you’re gonna be super late to school.” Brooklyn turns her attention away from the tv and looks at me “but momma, the show is just getting to the good part!”

I ignore her and a scramble to get her shoes and socks on. “I know baby, but we have the dvd remember. We can watch this episode anytime. Now, have you seen momma’s car keys? I can’t find them anywhere and we’re really gonna be late.”

I look up and see Brooklyn with her arms crossed with a pout on her face. “Please, Brooklyn. Please help your momma out.”

“They’re on the kitchen table, you threw them down after we came back from the store”

“Perfect, come on let’s go” I darted out of the room in a complete fluster and found my keys sitting right on the table, exactly where she said I left them. “Hiding again” I huffed to myself. I slung Brooklyn’s backpack on one arm and grab her hand as we leave the house. We’re gonna be so late.

I was driving in silence for a few minutes before I heard Brooklyn speak from the backseat. “Can we listen to some music?” I look at her through the mirror and nod my head.

As I turn on the radio, the opening chords of “First Class” by Jack Harlow comes on. Just as I was about to turn the station, I noticed Brooklyn in the back nodding her head along and shaking her fingers.

“And I can put you in (first class, up in the sky)…”

I tap my fingers along the steering wheel and sing softly to the rest of the song. Soon we were both giggling and singing along to the radio as we pulled up to the school. I looked at the clock and noticed we made it with 5 minutes to spare. I quickly unbuckle Brooklyn from her car seat and walk her into the preschool. I walk her to the front door and bend down to her height.

“Ok give momma kisses, I promise to be here at the same time as I always am to pick you up.” I told her softly before I started messing with the edges of her hair making sure it was in place.

“Mom! Stop it!” Brooklyn whines before holding her pinky out for me to grab. I kissed our joined fingers and whispered “I love you, Lyn. Have a good day”

“I love you too, bye!” Brooklyn says before she runs off to class before she ends up late. I turn with a sigh before heading out the school and make my way back to my car so I can start my own work at home.

——————————————————————————-

“So...have you texted her?” Urban turned away from the game for a moment to look over at Jack. “What?” he questioned him before continuing to play 2K

“Dude, don’t play dumb, you know, the girl with the kid who you haven’t stopped talking about since Sunday?”

“What?! I haven’t been talking about her all week!” He huffed. “Yeah sure, buddy!” There was silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

“Should I text her? I mean I don’t want to be a bother.” Urban said nervously. Jack pausing the game so he could look at his friend.

“She wouldn’t have given you her number if she didn’t want you to reach out to her. She even told you she works from home. She’s interested or at least wants to get to know you.” Jack tells Urban before picking up the controller again

“I guess you’re right.”

“Wait...what did you say” “I’m not saying it again”

“Hold on—“

“Shut up.”

It was noon when I decided to take a break from my computer. Being a freelance Graphic Designer had its perks but staring at the computer all day long can really hurt your eyes. I push back from my desk and grab my phone. I always put it on do not disturb while I’m working. I looked down and was shocked to see I had a text from Urban.

Urban: hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight? Maybe go see a movie or something?

Urban: and of course little miss Brooklyn is invited

I smile as I read his message. I felt giddy at the thought of hanging out with him somewhere other than the ice cream shop.

Y/N: I would love too!

I bite my lip wondering if I should invite him to Brooklyn and I “The week is almost over, let’s have a movie night” It wouldn’t hurt to have another person join in on our fun. Something about Urban makes me trust him. I don’t get bad vibes from him like I did….I shake my head before I could even start to think about Brooklyn’s father. I quickly send Urban another text.

Y/N: I have an idea, how about you come over and join our weekly movie night we do? There will be drinks and popcorn! It’s Brooklyn’s night to pick so I totally understand if you aren’t in the mood to watch a Disney movie lol :)

I nervously toss my phone after sending the text. I tried to keep myself busy by trying to get back to work but nothing was stopping my mind from spinning. Maybe, it was too soon to invite him over. I mean, I’m just a stranger. He wouldn’t have texted me if he thought I was a creep. Maybe. I mean…he is white. Before I could stress myself out any further, I hear my phone ding. I quickly grab my phone and see it’s a reply from Urban.

Urban: You had me at popcorn, I would love to join. Should I bring anything special?

Y/N: No, I’m a pro at this. You just bring yourself!

Y/N: . Actually, I would bring a blanket and maybe a pillow. Brooklyn likes to hog all the cover!

Urban: Sounds perfect, I can’t wait.

Y/N: Me too, come around 5:30. I’ll see you then :)

I sent him my address before putting my phone back on silent so I could finish more work before I had to pick up Brooklyn. Tonight is going to be fun.

—————————————————————————

“Mommy hurry! We have to get the fort set up before he gets here! Everything has to be perfect!” Brooklyn whines as she begins trying to drag the kitchen chairs in the living room

“Baby it’s not even 5 yet, we have plenty of time. I promise.” I tell her before helping her with the chairs.

“Mr. Urban could show up early and we won’t have anything ready! That would be super...super no I got it! It would be super embarrassing!!” Brooklyn says with a huff and pushes her freshly washed hair out her face.

“Let’s take a deep breath and calm down, everything will be fine. Why don’t you go figure out what movie you wanna watch while I set up the fort.” I tell her, she nods her head and bounces off to find a movie. “Crazy girl” I muttered before I started grabbing all the pillows off the couch.

I was starting to pop the popcorn when there was a knock on the door. Before I could leave the kitchen, tiny footsteps ran past me. “Wait a minute young lady, what did I say about answering doors without me?”

“Sorry I’m just so excited!” “Me too Lyn, me too.”

I take a deep breath and reach for the doorknob. I open the door and there stands Urban dressed in joggers and a dark colored hoodie.

“Hey, uh I brought some candy. I hope that’s okay, I just figured you can’t have a movie night without candy. “ Urban says holding up the bags of candy

I smiled at him and let him inside. “Well it’s a good thing everyone in this house loves eating candy, good job.” Before he could respond back, Brooklyn was tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. Urban bends down to her height so he could make eye contact.

“Mr. Urban! I’m so happy you’re here, do you wanna go check out the fort?” She says grabbing his hand. He looks up at you with a look of confusion and mouths “fort?” but you give nothing away as you just give him a smile. He turns back to Brooklyn, “lead the way, kid!”

Brooklyn giggles and begins tugging him towards the living room. Urban stops wide eyed as he sees the pretty big pillow fort in the room. “This is amazing, Brooklyn! Did you do this all by yourself?” She starts to sway shyly next to him before shaking her head. “No momma, helped me”

“You guys did such a great job! Wow” Urban turns to me and gives a smile. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“It’s no problem, how about you guys get settled in while i grab the popcorn and then we can get comfortable and start the movie?”

As you were walking back to the living room you paused as you heard Urban and Brooklyn talking

“So what movie are we watching tonight?” I heard Urban ask Brooklyn

“Only the greatest movie in the world! Moana!” Brooklyn exclaims. “Moana? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.” Brooklyn then lets out a small gasp. “what?! Mr. urban that’s crazy talk!” Urban lets out small chuckle

“Well it’s a good thing I’m here tonight to watch it with you and your mom.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna love it! Soon it’s gonna be your favorite movie too!”

Taking that as my cue to join, I get the movie setup and start to make my way inside the pillow fort. I was surprised to see Brooklyn sitting so close to our guest. If she got any closer I’m sure she would’ve been sitting on his lap. I’ve never seen Brooklyn so comfortable with someone so fast. I was even more surprised that Urban didn’t seem to mind. I pressed play as the three of us settled into the movie.

I smiled as I looked over and saw Brooklyn giggling at the movie. Brooklyn and I had a rough year leading up to our move to Atlanta so it was nice seeing her with a smile on her face. Urban seemed to be enjoying the movie as well, watching with a smile on his face and whispering questions to Brooklyn when something confused him. The fuzzy feeling I was feeling in my stomach while watching them interact lowkey made me nervous. I was scared to let another man into our lives especially so soon after everything with Brooklyn’s dad. I could tell Brooklyn was starting to get attached.

Urban must have noticed me staring because he turned from the movie, smiled and offered me some of the candy he brought over. I held my hand out as he dumped some in my hand. Just as I was about to speak, Brooklyn spoke first.

“Ok everyone shush, this is my favorite part!” Urban and I turned towards to the tv as Moana was about to start singing

“I've been staring at the edge of the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing why…”

The fort was tall enough for Brooklyn to stand up and spin around. She played on giving us a show as she grabbed the remote and pretended it was a microphone.

“One day I'll knoooooow, If I go, there's just no telling how far I'll go!”

After her performance, Urban and I give her a round of applause and she crosses her feet at the ankles and gives us a dramatic bow. She then dramatically flops back down on the pillows next to me.

—————————————————————————

As the movie came to an end Brooklyn was slowly falling asleep in my lap. I tell Urban to wait for me in the kitchen as I go and carry her off to bed. I gently press a kiss to her forehead and close the door behind me.

“It was nice having you here tonight, even though you had to watch a Disney film.” I say with a slight smile.

“I had fun, honestly. I very much enjoyed the multiple musical performances we got during the watch” he says with a chuckle. “Oh yeah that girl really knows how to work a stage!” I say.

“If you aren’t in a hurry to go home, I can warm us up some pizza and we can watch another movie? I mean, it’s still pretty early.” I asked. I had a lot of fun with him tonight and I didn’t really want the night to end just yet.

“You had me at pizza”

The both of you stood and made your way back to the living room, you stopped when you realized that the pillow fort was still up. It would take too much time to take everything down. Urban informed you that he was fine watching another movie under the fort and you guys both settled in.

“So…” I looked over and grinned at him. “What should we watch?”

Urban Wyatt just added to his story!

[leenaur143]

Bad Lawyer & Crazy Dog, an unconventional love story

JUST FINISHED THE LAST EPISODE OF LAWS OF ATTRACTION!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Okay this is your HUGE spoiler warning because I have so many thoughts and my love for this show knows no bounds but I don't wanna take away from the magic of living it through on your own so go watch it!!!

Overall episode rating: 9.5/10

Overall show rating: 10/10

I was so tempted to take away points for that SILLY GUITAR AND THE SINGING 😭🤣 but it's fine they can't help that they're in love dhhxhdj

So, currently writing this at midnight just after 2/9/2023 which was Tinn and Charn's wedding day!!!!!!! These two goofs have come so far and yeah, couldn't be happier for them 🫶

I took a pause in the middle of the episode to collate my thoughts and here was the list I made about the first half:

1. the mma boxing unconventional fight between tinn and nawin, it was giving 'youtube boxing: worst bits!' but it made me laugh so its fine 😭

2. thee having no one truly there for him except tan - his fellow bodyguards didn't even back him, meaning ever since he started working for tan's family he truly has known no one who cares and loves him deeply which 🥹😭 how did he manage to stay so kind through all that

3. thattep that psychopath.

4. nawin being the best character ever

5. how similar nawin and charn are (one just has a few dozen more braincells than the other

6. how charn planned that entire plot knowing the risks not only to his physical self but knowing he could be risking his entire career but he's ready to do that as we saw when thattep called him to prison 🤧👏

7. the one guy that said you dropped the soap in the prison showers 🥲

8. tan using his annoyingness to his advantage and celebrating being banned from an airline - the most tan thing to do tbh

9. thee and tinn link up AGAIN!!!

10. the wedding talk made me emosh.. the entire proposal (lets ignore the singing but even that wouldnt wipe the huge grin off my face as i was watching it) i love the storyline of the song though (hats off to that tumblr user who explained the story behind the song, this was perfect

11. emotional during the seeking of blessings from charn's mum

12. grandma is a gem 💯

13. maya and rose doing so much to help the people they love - they truly are the MVPs

14. tongkhao's dream living on 🥹 all she wanted on Tinn's birthday was for him to be happy and start a family with someone he loves, and he did it 🥹😭🤧

Also, completely ignore the fact that I skimmed over the whole exposing scene because it was decent but I knew, I just knew Charn wasn't gonna die today and a bullet wouldn't be the thing that ended him so IM GLAD I WAS RIGHT 😭

The wedding! OH THE WEDDING 🥹👏 It was beautiful, just everyone who loves them there and present in form or in spirit - seeing the dolls and knowing Tonkhao was there just 🥹 maybe I'm just an emotional wreck but this episode really got me in my feels

I did laugh my butt off when they were taking wedding photos because why so stiff 😭🤣 It served prom in a nice way WHICH IS FINE it was just looking a bit awkward and hence it was funny 🤭

Also I could write entire essays about Tan's storyline but the fact that he never held any resentment for his dad even after all of THAT is just astounding, and it highlighted how even though Thee and Tan are very different, down to their core values, they're the same which is why they're perfect for each other

Speaking of perfect for each other, seeing Rose and Maya get engaged!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH I WAS SO HAPPY FOR THEMM

When Tinn said 'one day' concerning the conversation about the legality of same sex marriage in Thailand, I got in my feels again as you can probably gather is a common theme here, and I realised how much good shows like this promote.. and yeah I won't waffle on too much about that but it was really powerful 🥹

All in all, if we learnt anything from Laws of Attraction, I'd comfortably say it would be... how to say doll in Thai 🤣 (WHAT? It sounds so amazing! tuktā (pronounced too-ka-ta), it's a much better word!)

No, but seriously, what a show, I'd definitely recommend watching it and I hope, whoever is still reading my midnight rambles, enjoys it as much as I did 🫰

[jjramblesjj]

The Boys Season 4

(Incomplete Commentary)

(Series Dropped)

I will be watching the eps at whatever times I happen to and this post will help me list my issues in real time. Spoilers of Course are ahead.

Ep 1.

33:46 - A love triangle? Thats such a tired ass direction to go in if they are. Frenchie is literally a polyamorous ass nigga. This has been an established aspect of his character.

39:10 - I refuse to believe any smart nigga would willingly hang around Homelander's ass. That literally is the most craziest shit ever. Like cure some wild ass disease or something.

Sage: (Actually Considering Throwing it All Away Like She not talking to fuckin HOMELANDER)

I truly will be amazed if she lasts up to the last 3 episodes of this season.

42:11 Oh thank fuckin God. I thought this show was boutta be on some degrassi shit, but we good.

42:30 (Hears Denzel Playing From a Distance)

46:07 I kind of gleamed over this, but Noirs alive? is it just a different guy? Retcon? that'd be super fuckin weird.

50:18 This is what I mean when I say the show keeps spitting in your face. Like the series made clear the show isn't friendly to nobody in like the first 2 seasons, but did I really need to see a queer person get beat up by a bunch of white supremacists with this framing?

"Just don't watch the show."

(touches together index fingers and puts knees together)👉👈

But I wanna see what Happeeeensss!

Like.......While i'm sure its not as bad as Berserk (hasn't seen Berserk) Its the same effect of there being like...This type of violence just turning into voyeurism for the writers at some point and I don't respect it, because the visuals are just so bad for life at times.

(Untimed) Its wild the first important black women in the show ends up working for Homelander on some straight coona palooza timing.

53:42 OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THEY GAVE THE FISH A VOICEEEE OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

58:29 bruh........

Anyway............That is indeed a first episode of The Boys.

Ep 2

3:32 I'm fuckin dead

3:48 Ohhhh, so it is just some guy.

12:41 FNAF

13:29 Holy Fucking Shit he Sucks.

18:31 Why is he even alive? Literally survived all 3 seasons just to get super into his abuser bag again.

20:20 [Pauses] ?????

24:05 PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

24:22 Okay, This might actually be my favorite joke out of the entire show. The character choice makes too much sense.

38:24

38:49 That Nigga With The Camera:

41:07 I hate this trope so much. Like was there really not a more clever way to get out of this? You are already suspending so much disbelief when watching shows or movies like this and what not, but the lack of creativity does kind of stick out like a sore thumb with moments like this.

41:48 - 42:27 huh......This truly is a scene.

42:46 WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVE A ROCK VERSION OF HAVA NAGILA?!?!?!?!?!?!?

43:56 "ZIONIST CABAL"!!?!?!??!?!?!/......bruh

(untimed) also why are they just holding them? The entire sequence of this fight has been questionable on a technical level, but I don't want to cinema sins it up so I'll just stop talking about it for now.

(also untimed) Homelanders got some wild ass canines. They've been there for the entire series, but its just a detail I find very interesting if that is suppose to hold any thematic purpose under its subtlety.

48:27 Oh my gosh...........That might be the most evil thing he's done this entire series.

51:01 Ooooooo, Interesting. This the exact sort of conflict I wanted. It took 4 seasons, but AY...........the first 3 were pretty foundational in their own ways.....Maybe 3 could've been handled a bit better. I hope they handle this character conflict good and don't DOOM Patrol it up......(I like doom patrol btw I just hate a lot of its later story beats and redemption arcs)

53:31 Okay....This scene........I dislike the romance dynamic of "partially put together black character" and "piece of shit stress-inducing white character", because there's a stink of white mediocrity (in acceptability) in that balance, BUT...................My understanding of why someone would ship MM and Butcher has risen from 0% to 1% with this scene alone.

That was a Fun episode. This ACTUAL A Train redemption Arc really boutta be a stinker. Like there's no way he doesn't die this season if this is the direction their going. Oh, and the Deep............I really don't understand why he's still around. Like no ones really bodied this nigga yet? Also I didn't like how the last season used Ryan's character. This setup for him seems interesting, but weird, because it still doesn't make sense really how we got here.

Ep 3

1:07 "God-less NonBinary Socialist" Kinda a hitter.....What if homelander just sounded like Jordon Peterson? Jordon Peterson does give off Milk fetish vibes if I'm gonna be real.

"Yummers"🐸

6:30 :O

10:53 That's fucking horrible.....And there's no fuckin way they switched to an injustice knockoff game right after. Someone really needs to find these writers and cause nefarious misfortune upon them.

12:04 Jesus Fucking Christ

24:48 Really?

29:37 I Love this scene so much. Almost got me to cry. I swear if he didn't do that after saying all that shit I might have quit watching this entire show. Like oh my gosh the character growth is palpable.

31:15 DIRTTTYYYYY!!!! they did her dirty as fuck.

(We are so, Not Fucking Back Right Now)

34:12 What?

34:13 Theres no Way they're trying to make this a moment....

34:14 Theres just no fuckin way.....

34:15 NIGGA SHE'S A GROWN ASS WOMEN!?!?!?!?!!? HELLLO??!?!?!?!?! HI!!?!!??!!? like..............It is fucked up and I'd get being angry, but this entire setup doesn't make any sense to me unless I'm somehow missing something...........Like what is this?

34:26 "people don't change" Theres no fucking way you are getting son'd by a Racist for being 13 and talking like a 13-year-old at Your grown ass Age.....

...............This actually sucks...........Like thats trash writing......Like theres no way that it.........Right?

42:01 Damn Jesus.

51:32 What the FUCK are these writers on right now?

Nah, because

1. He should be Dead

2. Writers have officially wrote 2 black women getting Rawed by The Worst White Men on Earth.

3. The only other black women in this show just keep tallying points for the coon-o-meter

4. They're literally giving everything to the Deep Right now. Its already unjustifiable, but its even MORE so if this nigga don't get clapped this season.

Like.....Whats actually going on right now? Where Nubian Prince at? That nigga sick or something? This is fuckin horrendous......Niggas really blicked the Intel lady minding her business before this Guy. It's truly disrespectful as fuck the tomfoolery happening before my eyes right now.

.............tch...........I think this ep has like a balance of "what the fuck are you talking about?" and "oh my gosh this scene is great" that makes me just lenient enough to say its not entirely bad. Like I loved that Butcher and Ryan scene so much, but then they

Killed Chill Surveillance Lady

Made some silly ass conflict up between Starlight and racist women

Allowed the Deep to Win

Somehow made Homelander not hear Hughie's heartbeat directly above him?

Among other things I probably missed. Its just...........I really hope they prove my assumptions wrong on where they may be going with this........I just.........Ya I hope this shit doesn't turn into degrassi. Thats all.

(Dropped)

[goldenraeofsun]

Day 23: Sleepless Nights

Dean 11:31 Hey sorry to text so soon But did you pick up an ID with my face on it after dinner?

Cas 11:39 No, but the restaurant called me a half hour ago. They found it while closing up, and they had my number on file from when I made the reservation.

Dean 11:42 Thank god

Cas 11:42 My apologies; I was going to leave you a message in the morning, as you mentioned needing to get up early. Also, what do you mean by “so soon”?

Dean 11:44 Dude Its been two hours since our date How soon do you consider too soon?

Cas 11:45 I’ve never given it much thought.

Dean 11:45 Seriously?

Cas 11:48 I text when it feels right. I don’t have a numerically-based system.

Dean 11:50 That’s insane.

Cas 11:51 Well, Dean, what’s your system, then?

Dean 11:52 24 hours minimum 1 week max unless they’re batshit Usually averages out to 3 days

Cas 11:57 What do you mean “batshit”?

Dean 11:57 You know Psychos Nut jobs One sandwich short of a picnic Dudes who say their spirit animal is Elon Musk

Cas 11:58 That’s an impressive array of synonyms, but it doesn’t actually give me much information.

Dean 11:58 Seriously??? Ok then Like, the guy who tried to pressure me into a threesome with his ex cause I’m bi Or the lady who practically drank a whole bottle of wine by herself and yelled at the waiter because he didn’t refill our bread basket

Cas 11:58 I see what you mean.

Dean 11:59 OR that guy who mentioned he was casually into cannibalism??? Who the hell drops that on a first date. Glenn Close wannabes, that’s who

Cas 12:00 I’m astounded you had that many bad first dates.

Dean 12:01 Those are only from this year!

Cas 12:01 That sounds horrendous.

Dean 12:02 Heh. Cannibal guy gave good head, so there’s that. Dude knew his way around some man meat, if you know what I mean

Cas 12:02 Unfortunately, I do. Excuse me while I wait a full week to text you ever again.

Dean 12:03 C’mon, I didn’t even tell you about my worst first date!

Dean 12:14 Cas?

Cas 12:18 Go on.

Dean 12:18 Thank fuck, I thought I actually scared you off

Cas 12:18 Despite appearances, I don’t scare easily.

Dean 12:19 For a nerdy dude in a trench coat, you’re made of pretty stern stuff, I’ll give you that

Cas 12:21 Thank you?

Dean 12:26 Don’t mention it ANYWAY worst first date in the history of first dates: The setting: Los Angeles, California, August 2017 Our hero, the dashingly handsome PA, Dean Winchester, has a date with a slightly less-attractive but still stunning guest star from episode 24 of Dr. Sexy, MD who will die three episodes later from a cerebrovascular infection of her spinal cord.

Cas 12:27 Technically, doctors should only use “Dr” or “MD”, not both. And that diagnosis makes absolutely no sense.

Dean 12:28 Shhh DSM had to let go their medical expert due to budget cuts in the 15th season

Cas 12:28 I cannot believe the abbreviation for that show is DSM.

Dean 12:28 Huh?

Cas 12:31 In the medical community, whenever you hear DSM, they’re almost always referring to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Dean 12:34 Hahahahaha Maybe I should buy a copy for the set Then they’ll get SOMETHING right

Cas 12:34 I hardly ever call any case hopeless, but in this case, I might make an exception.

Dean 12:36 Yeah that checks out But nobody watches DSM for the medicine The other stuffs the compelling bits

Cas 12:37 They'd better not be. It's a gross misrepresentation of the medical system. Firstly, their sterile fields leave much to be desired. I had to pause in the middle of the intubation scene.

Dean 12:42 Hold on You actually watched DSM??

Cas 12:44 Of course. You mentioned you worked on the show when we met. I'd be a poor date if I hadn't watched at least an episode. 

Dean 12:44 Oh my god you did homework for our date tonight??? You're such a nerd

Cas 12:45 Dr. Nerd, MD, actually.

Dean 12:46 Ha! You're still Dr Sexy to me

Dean 12:46 Shit that was the stupidest thing I've ever sent. Forget I wrote that. 

Cas 12:47 I think it's flattering :D

Dean 12:48 Thank fuck

Cas 12:52 It wasn't only to prepare for our date. You obviously care a lot about the show, so if I couldn't stand it, I figured it would be a good indicator of our compatibility. 

Dean 12:55 Holy shit. I never thought about it like that I used to tell people it was a guilty pleasure

Cas 12:56 What changed?

Dean 12:57 I got the job on set and everyone there doesn’t treat it like a dirty little secret Sure they know its stupid and shit, but it’s fun, stupid shit

Cas 1:00 I’m glad you like your job.

Dean 1:00 You don’t?

Cas 1:11 I like the mission of my job. But some days the death, pain, and petty workplace grievances make me question my choice. I chose emergency medicine because I was under the impression it required fewer people skills. I thought I would see more acute cases of broken bones, gunshots, burns, etc. But these days, half of my patients use ER doctors as their primary physicians because they can’t afford regular doctor visits for their chronic conditions. I even have a few “regulars”, which I never anticipated having.

Dean 1:12 Damn That sounds brutal

Cas 1:13 Not to mention my hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt.

Dean 1:13 Jesus Sammy’s in the same boat between undergrad and law school

Cas 1:14 But not you?

Dean 1:20 I never went to college

Cas 1:20 Good.

Dean 1:23 What?

Cas 1:25 It seems you didn’t waste your money or time, as you’re in a profession that makes you happy and supports a lifestyle you’re making work.

Dean 1:25 I guess so. I just never figured you’d be all aboard the high school drop out train

Cas 1:31 Usually no, not unless the person has a clear path ahead of what they would like to do instead. My brother transferred from a prestigious liberal arts college to a trade school for plumbers, and he has had no greater joy explaining to my uptight parents the latest thing he pulled out from a client’s septic tank.

Dean 1:32 He sounds like a riot

Cas 1:33

He also makes a killing. Apparently an equal number of people need doctors as plumbers, to my parents’ great chagrin.

Dean 1:33 I like him already

Cas 1:35 You’ll like him until he short sheets your bed and locks you in the wine cellar during dessert so he gets the whole Black Forest gateau to himself.

Dean 1:36 That’s HILARIOUS

Cas 1:38 I almost wet myself, Dean.

Dean 1:38 And you think that makes it less funny???

Cas 1:43 I should have known older brothers would take each others’ side.

Dean 1:44 Damn right It’s in the big brother handbook

Cas 1:49 Did you terrorize Sam too?

Dean 1:52 No And whatever he tells you about itching powder, a farting donkey, and superglue is totally a lie

Cas 1:53 Never mind. I don’t even want to know.

Dean 1:58 Yeah, nobody came out the winner that time Sammy always gave as good as he got though But you seem like the kind of goody two shoes who wouldn’t get your big brother back like he deserved

Cas 2:03 I was worse as a child. It didn’t help that Gabe had an almost preternatural ability to anticipate retaliation. My choices of pranks were never particularly inventive, so he saw them coming from a mile away.

Dean 2:04 So Gabe is a plumber with a sweet tooth?

Cas 2:05 Yes?

Dean 2:06 You got any other ammo on him?

Cas 2:07 He also has an extensive porn collection of vintage Casa Erotica VHS and goes to some annual pornography convention in Vegas. My parents didn’t cut him off for dropping out of college because they were well aware of his alternative and, in their mind, Gabe chose the lesser of two evils.

Dean 2:11 Holy shit, Cas That’s what you LEAD with

Cas 2:12 Excuse me?

Dean 2:19 Next time you’re at his place, you’re gonna swap out half those VHS for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood or Nut Cracker or a Nova documentary Just total boner-killers. He won’t see it coming. Heh Literally

Cas 2:20 Truly?

Dean 2:22 I don’t see why he would

Cas 2:23 Thank you. I might actually take your suggestion.

Dean 2:25 Do it! And then tell me how it goes. Sammy’s all the way in Seattle, so we haven’t had a real prank war in too long.

Cas 2:27 Aren’t you a little old for such childish behavior?

Dean 2:30 You’re older than I am!

Cas 2:31 I’m making up for lost time.

Dean 2:32 You’re unbelievable. Alright, Marcia, if you want to play it that way See if I help you when Gabe hides your stethoscope or dyes your white coat pink in retaliation

Cas 2:35 … he dyed it bright yellow, actually.

Dean 2:36 HAHAHAHAH

Cas 2:37 I looked like a YIELD sign.

Dean: 2:39 Please tell me you have pictures

Cas 2:43 I do, actually. IMG_215

Dean 2:44 What’s with the black stripes?

Cas 2:45 I added the stripes for Halloween last year. I was a bumblebee.

Dean 2:46 Damn Not even a sexy bumblebee?

Cas 2:49 Ah, but you can’t see what’s under my doctor’s coat.

Dean 2:50 An even smaller bumblebee costume?

Cas 2:52 No…

Dean 2:53 Don’t do this to me Lingerie?

Cas 2:55 I wore SCRUBS, Dean, because I am a medical professional.

Dean 2:58 You’re such an ass What are you doing this year?

Cas 2:58 I was thinking of wearing my usual coat and scrubs.

Dean 3:01 Booooo

Cas 3:02 What are you going as, then?

Dean 3:05 A cowboy! Tenth year in a row, baby. If it ain’t broke, yadda yadda yadda

Cas 3:06 But, having recently seen a new medical show, I was thinking of adding cowboy boots to my standard getup.

Dean 3:08 No way

Cas 3:08 Do you by chance have a spare pair I could borrow for Halloween?

Dean 3:10 Hell yes I do! But Shit, I have a 5am call time tomorrow Today? Fuck. I think I have to cut his convo short

Cas 3:11 Oh dear My apologies for keeping you so late! :o

Dean 3:14 Not your fault at all dude

Cas 3:15 I never even heard the story of your worst first date!

Dean 3:18 How about I tell you over dinner Friday? 7PM work with you? You chose the place last time, so I’ll pick this one

Cas 3:18 It’s a date :D

[whim-pr0ne]

SEASON FINALE SPOILERS

we were robbed.

you could tell they had to cram 3 episodes into the season finale. I thought maybe they would throw us a bone and make it at least an hour long but when I saw it was only 30 minutes I knew it was going to be rushed to shit.

they've also written it in a way that if it doesn't get renewed for another season then it still had an ending that made sense.

it hurts my heart that we didnt get three full episodes.

one exploring stede and eds separation.

one where Ed comes back and realizes how in love he is with stede- how much he regrets leaving on a whim. how badly he needs to find and rescue stede. (the look on his face when he sees the Republic on fire and he realizes that he wasn't there to protect stede like he has been doing since the beginning)

finally tying it up with the final episode where they are reunited and have to go through escaping the English, saving their family, losing izzy and finding themselves as a couple again.

it was so rushed when we were told it was supposed to be taken slow. I wanted to watch them fall in love again. Stede still doesn't feel like Stede where as Ed seems to finally have found himself as Edward instead of blackbeard. Stede hasn't hit that part where he realizes he can just be Stede as well. he's still trying too hard to be a pirate instead of his own brand of gentleman pirate as he saw it before. I mean we hear Ed say he loves him (for the first time out loud unless I'm forgetting somewhere before) and Stede says I know instead of i love you too (although I did read a good take on how that wasn't what Ed needed to hear in the moment, but by not saying it-- he doesn't feel like Stede if that makes sense) he's not the man from the beginning of the season. killing ned really set him into this manic episode and I don't think he's over it yet or that Ed realizes he's still going through it.

don't get me wrong the good parts were good. they gave us a lot of closure it just didn't do it the justice it deserved. I'm going to have to rewatch this episode a few times just to try and process everything happening so fast.

i really hope that we get another season and its slow and domestic and Stede is able to find himself again with Ed.

but also excuse me while I WEEP over izzy calling him Eddie and dying knowing he found his family 😭

anyone else just fucking sobbing when Ed is reading the letter from Stede and then just bursting out laughing at the "YOU WROTE ME A LOVELY LETTER"

and excuse me they TATTOOED EACH OTHERS NAMES ON THEMSELVES???? AND THEY'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO SHOW IT???? Bruh (edit: I have been informed that the line could be referring to the act of grace contract and not literal tattoos but I REALLY HOPE IT'S LITERAL TATTOOS)

also the part where zheng is listing off their titles and she barely pauses between her title and Ed still makes me giggle because it sounded like "The Great Pirate Queen Blackbeard" which is totally accurate.

when they rest of the crew left after izzy told Ed they were his family and they loved him 🥺 just for Ed to stay back with Stede and Izzy on shore

he's not ready to be with that family just yet. just the two people he considered to have actually known him

THE WAY ED LOOKED AT STEDE DURING THE WEDDING VOWS PL E A S E.

ugh I could go on forever I am BROKEN

we better get another season or two 😭 I don't want this to be the end. it feels rushed and unfinished

[winderlylandchime]

Okay so i did explain to him that the uk version was the original and his comment to that was a very simple ‘not to be a bitch to the tea people but Brian is better’ and then I told him that Charlie Hunnam aka the hot guy from Sons of Anarchy was actually in it and i wish you could see his face! Literally jaw on the floor/wide eyed and he sat like that for a good minute. But that lead to him then going on a 5-10 minute rambling about how Charlie and Aiden worked together in the movie King Arthur so now Gale and Randy have to reunite as well. And i fully agree with him.

Listen, it’s been days since he found out about Gale being straight and he’s still shocked. We did watch the Prom episode and he literally paused on him and went ‘come on..he can’t…man’ he’s literally having a similar reaction as Mikey did to Hunter. It’s kinda funny ngl. As for his ‘i think’ moment, I honestly have no clue what Gale did to him. Our uncle did say to our mom that if this is how he comes to a certain type of realization that he will never let him live it down because my brother made fun of him for realizing he was gay due to young Hugh Grant. So i think out of everyone, my uncle is the only one who is actually hoping my brother had an awakening through Gale.

I have a love hate relationship with the proposal (my brother only has like 2% love for it, the rest is hate but whatever) but the ‘my prince’ thing started a fight in the house when we watched it. Cause to me it was a cute moment but for some reason is felt a little awkward to me. I think cause the whole thing felt out of character, idk how to explain it. But my brother while having an ‘awww’ type of reaction, swears that Brian would never and that the reason for Brian’s expression afterwards is because Gale was trying not to laugh. So his hatred for the proposal is insane.

As for the B99, both of us have seen in multiple times and he put it on last Saturday because he wanted to watch some comfort shows. And then on Wednesday we were watching the Halloween II episode and when the episode ended with Holt winning the heist that’s when my brother got a text from his friend about Andre. It was the worst timing ever. So for the past few days B99 is the only thing we’ve watched.

Btw our family has this tradition where for Christmas we give each other 3 presents. 2 that are good/useful and 1 that’s something random/weird/sometimes bad. And last year he gave me 2 different photos of himself as a present and the 3rd one was a box of condoms (that was his ‘bad gift cause lesbian ha ha and photos of him are always a good gift duuh’- this was his actual explanation). So I’m genuinely considering giving him your blog and the knowledge of the fandom/what i did :/ as the 3rd gift. I told my uncle and cousins and they all think this is a great idea, which leads me to believe its a bad idea BUT i guess we will find out. He does know fandom exists because he’s been watching edits but he doesn’t know about fics and tumblr. So I’m going to slowly let him him know this week. Wish me luck even though i think he’ll handle it okay…ish

UH YES GALE AND RANDY NEED TO REUNITE IN A FILM. Your brother is so wise about this.

I’m lmao literally about his reaction to Gale being straight is Mikey’s reaction to Hunter being straight. So he’s being half drag queen half Italian about the news.

Your uncle realized he was gay to a young Hugh Grant? I’m dyinggggg! My spouse came out to their parents in their bedroom which was papered floor to ceiling with magazine cutouts of Sandra Bullock. And I had Jennifer Anniston all over my room. I guess my point is, we all have the celebrity that makes us go Oh. Oh.

I do think Gale was trying not to laugh, I mean he really looks like he’s about to crack up. The for my prince line is the worst. And if I was Justin — well a lot of things if I was Justin, but I would say no on the basis of that line alone and make Brian go get assessed for a stroke or something.

I watched Halloween II the night I found out about Andre! I watch B99 every night as I’m falling asleep. ACAB and all that but it is my comfort show.

One year my in-laws did a white elephant gift exchange and my BIL thought we were all doing gag gifts so he got boxer briefs and socks printed with his face on them. My spouse “won” them and they’re now in our sock and underwear drawer. All this to say, I think your brother gets to learn about his tumblr fame for Christmas. This year is an in-laws year for Christmas (we alternate, my parents are still salty about 2020 being their year) so if you want to send me updates, I will welcome the distraction. I love my in-laws (and especially my niblings) but I am an only child and my parents are quiet and visiting my in-laws is 8 adults, 3 children, and one dog under one roof and no one is quiet and it is A LOT for me.

I think he’ll handle it okay. Just make sure he doesn’t let the fame go to his head.

Also, Brother Anon if you’re reading this because your sister revealed that she’s been sharing your reactions with the internet - HELLO! YOU ARE VERY POPULAR IN A TEENY TINY FANDOM ON TUMBLR WHICH IS A VERY PARTICULAR TYPE OF FAME.

[malexthesecond]

i finally figured out what attack on titan does right

i've been re-watching the show recently and for the longest time I could tell it was good, but could never tell what it was. but a re-watch really opened my eyes starting off, the foreshadowing oh my god the foreshadowing. ALL OF THE AOT SPOILERS AHEAD don't continue if you don't want the anime spoiled (i wont spoil the manga, since I'm primarily discussing the show here, but some of my points will apply to both since the manga is equally amazing). There are so many fucking examples of subtle and not-so-subtle foreshadowing it's insane. Here's a few - The camera pans to Reiner and Bertolt a number of times when other characters are discussing the armoured and colossal titans -Armin figures out that the female titan wants Eren, while not specifically mentioning it until several episodes later. This leads to him yelling about how she killed "that suicidal maniac" when she did not, which causes her to pause, further foreshadowing that she wants Eren. -Reiner carves a message into the female titan's hand when he is "captured". pointed out later but still cool - Reiner takes a specific interest in eren's location in the scouting formation. also pointed out later but still awesome - you can SEE Reiner and Bertolt going to bite their hand as the tower at utgard castle begins to fall before ymir saves them - Reiner and Bertolt are in awe at the beast titan, multiple episodes before they are revealed to be titans themselves There's so much more, but I could go on all day if I talked about them all. Foreshadowing is a fucking great technique, especially in shows, as it allows you to rewatch them and gives the plot such a suspenseful feeling, and attack on titan uses it extraordinarily well Another reason aot is so great is due to the way it treats combat and mortality. Death is such a prevalent theme in the show that you feel that all characters are mortal, even seemingly invincible characters like miche and erwin have such fucking horrendous and emotive deaths that it gives the feeling of uncertainty and suspense throughout the entire show. miche's stands out to me in particular due to the absolutely harrowing screams he emits being torn apart by titans and his fear in the face of the beast titan. He's determined to succeed, but in the end determination means nothing, which is typical in other places in attack on titan like in Eren's entire character, where he is determined, but not actually all that skilled until later on. Attack on titan treats combat better than any piece of media I've ever seen. Sure, combat can be badass and cool and in attack on titan, it sure as shit is. You don't have to look much further than Levi's fight with the beast titan or Eren fighting Annie in titan form to figure that out. But it also treats it differently to other shows. Victories are almost always pyrrhic or there is an absolutely disastrous defeat. Most of the time, during battle, a named character is injured or outright killed and the effects of that on the characters are shown. Armin's guilt for being revived over Erwin, Eren's guilt because so many people died to save him at the start of season 3 and Levi's obvious despair upon seeing his whole squad wiped out are prime examples. But where how it portrays combat really shines is in the soundtrack. AOT has a brilliant soundtrack for intense battles, tracks like xl-tt, You see big girl and ashes on the fire are amazing and really add to the scenes they're used in. But attack on titan occasionally switches what music should be where, with tragic scenes like Levi finding Levi Squad dead having ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn play in the background, an intense orchestral track, and Vogel Im Kafig, another more intense track at its end playing when Eren is inside a titan's stomach. It highlights desperation but also the tragic nature of combat, where it must continue despite a character's emotions. anyway im done being a nerd bye

[demadogs]

I've been thinking about watching Dark for a while but I have a problem with scenes that are way too traumatizing. Does the show have really Gorey or disturbing scenes (or plot points) that make you lose your sleep?

Like for example, how much more disturbing it is compared to Stranger Things?

i would say stranger things is way more visibly disturbing than dark but darks plot might be more disturbing. like stranger things has a lot of cgi and gore and makeup. theres not nearly as much of that in dark but the entire plot of the show itself is disturbing. i mean its literally about an eternal time loop hell that theyre all stuck in. i should also warn you that the music, especially in the first scene is VERY horror sounding and may make you think that theres gonna be a jumpscare any second but theres nothing like that.

im also bad with gore but theres not that much for me that was hard to watch. if youre like me i can NEVER watch the scene in stranger things s3 where jonathan puts the knife in el’s leg. theres nothing nasty like that in dark. but i will warn you about some of the biggest things that may be hard to watch.

the very first scene of the whole show is of a man hanging himself. they show the whole thing. its incredibly important to the plot but as long as you know that it happens you dont have to watch it. if you skip to 2:23 of the first episode you wont see it. the note youll see at 2:23 is his suicide note. its a timeloop though so i think they do play it again a couple times but you’ll know when to look away. if you see a man in an attic writing something, thats the scene but you will see the noose and know when to look away.

they also show some dead bodies in a morgue and a found dead body in the woods. these bodies have their eyes completely burned off. this honestly sounds way grosser and gorier than it looks. it looks like they have a mask of dried blood over there eyes. kinda like vecna eyes but not just the eyes alone, its the whole head where the eyes are. like think of the eye mask from the incredibles but with the dried blood that kinda looks like the s3 flesh monster in stranger things. kinda gross but i also have an issue with gore and i didnt find it disturbing to the point where i wanted to look away.

there are a couple murders in the show but most of them are from a gun so theres not too much gore, just the blood seeping out of their body. for me personally im the worst with blood if its like a stabbing or a beating so i found most of the murder scenes fine to watch. its also mostly shots in the chest, not the head which is easier for me to watch.

the goriest scene probably in the whole show is in season one episode 8 and its of a character bashing a kids head with a rock. you will know when to look away!! he chases the kid and pins him down and grabs the rock and pauses for a good five seconds before doing it. you’ll have time cover the screen. i always do.

theres another scene in s2 where someone is hung but he doesnt die, someone shoots the rope and lets him go. this scene leaves a bloody scar around his neck for the rest of the show but it fades over time and its wrapped when its still a fresh wound.

there is also a scene in season 3 episode 5 thats the only scene ive fully looked away from and never actually watched and its of someone getting stabbed in the neck. for me knives are the worst, but ive rewatched the show 3 times and ive always known when it was gonna happen and when to look away so ive never actually seen it. before the character is killed hes held at knife point for a bit and then hes stabbed (which ive always looked away from so i couldnt even tell you how gory it is) and then another character kills the character who killed him. they kill him with a fire extinguisher and you see blood go on their face but it doesnt show the face of the man theyre killing so its not hard to watch. this all happens bc the guy (one killed with the fire extinguisher) tried to sexually assault that other character. its not graphic and very soon after he attempts, the other character saves them. him attempting is not that disturbing. it lasts maybe 5 seconds before someone gets him off of them.

one last thing thats not gory but still may be disturbing is there is some accidental incest. when the characters dont know theyre in a timeloop, they dont realize who theyre related to so some of them have relationships without realizing theyre related. im not gonna say exactly what that relationship is to avoid spoilers but if you do want to know just send another ask.

i am also bad with gore and its really not that bad. spooky as hell and the plot really make you question reality and everything in it but nothing truly scaring. if you can watch people getting vecna’d in stranger things you’ll be fine.

for gore if your only issue is just seeing it but youre ok with hearing the story, something i like to do is listen to the descriptive audio but turn my brightness all the way down. this way i dont miss anything important but i dont have to see anything nasty.

[between-the-lines-fic]

Between the Lines - Bruno Madrigal (Modern AU) Chapter 4

Summary: Bruno Madrigal is a popular telenovela writer, though he keeps his identity secret under the pen name Pedro Oscar. You just happen to be a big fan of his who’s doing their laundry while a telenovela plays in the background.

Pairing: gn!Reader x Bruno Madrigal

Words: 1,532

Warnings: None!

Chapter count: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (More to come!)

Available on: AO3

Bruno blinks at your question, not quite registering the words. Your stare doesn’t lessen, disbelief and confusion furrowing your brow.

His face goes pale.

“Bruno… what did you mean by draft?” You try again, slower. Because, if what he just said is what you just heard, that would imply that he wrote Ojos Esmeralda y Corazones Rotos. Which would imply that he’s-

“I’m Pedro Oscar,” he blurts out, eyes wide and shoulders stiff. “Er, well. Pedro Oscar is me? It’s- it’s a pen name. That I uh… that I came up with.”

Silence reigns, only broken up by the quiet bustle of the coffee shop around you.

His shoulders slowly hike up as you remain speechless, your words strangled by an odd squeezing in your chest.

“I didn’t- I don’t like the attention, you know? I just wanted to write what I liked, and well, the studio didn’t care if I used my fake name, you know? They made enough money as it was.” He’s rambling, hands moving this way and that in that familiar animation of his, but something about this feels almost… afraid. Like watching a cornered animal.

“And it was fine! It was a little boring, sure, but I got to write and direct without ever having to worry about talking to any of the- the fans, but then you- you…” he trails off, a nervous tic pulling at the corner of his lips and leaving a crooked grin behind.

Wordlessly, you hold up a hand, finally pulling your eyes away from Bruno’s face. From Pedro’s face? Your chest is burning, you need to-

Breathe. In, out. In, out. So that’s what the squeezing sensation was, you simply weren’t breathing before. A pair of hands, his hands appear in your field of view, pushing forward a glass of water. You take it without much thought, greedily gulping down the whole cup before chancing another look at him.

He honestly looks terrible. His eyes are blown wide as he watches you with obvious concern, hands pinched together so tightly that his knuckles are white.

“I just… you cared, you know? More than most people I’ve met,” he mumbles, glancing away. “And you didn’t even know it was me, but you’re so passionate about the acting and the writing, and you always had insight and were such an inspiration for me-” Bruno exhales, smoothing over his frazzled hair with one hand. “It was nice to just… be me. With you. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”

The glass finds its way back onto the table with a soft clink.

“...” You purse your lips, both intensely dizzy and more grounded than you’ve felt in years.

“... so when is Hernando going to get his happy ending?”

He stares at you blankly, fear morphing into utter confusion. “H-Hernando. Hernando? Wh- Aren’t you-” he sputters, gesturing quickly between the both of you with one hand. Gambling with your heart, you take it and gently bring the flailing limb down to the table.

Bruno pauses, staring blankly at your hand covering his own. “So… you’re not going to yell at me? Call me selfish?”

“Mm.” You tilt your head and shrug. “I think you’re uh… beating yourself up enough as is.” Now that you didn’t feel like you were being whipped around by the winds of fate, things began to slot into place. The way he always seemed to guess what the latest episode’s plotline would be, the way that he also had the scripts memorized by heart, the fact that he always seemed to be so critical of the episodes and the characterization-

He wrote them. He wrote all of the shows you had spent most of your twenties and early thirties obsessing over. And now that you thought about it, he almost never had a good thing to say about his own work. There had been countless arguments where you’d defended Pedro’s choices and writing from Bruno when really, you had just been arguing to the man himself why his efforts, why his life’s work was worth something.

“... Of course, you’re not off the hook. I’m pretty sure once I actually process this, I’m going to have a heart attack,” you add casually, rubbing your thumb over the back of his hand in soothing circles. Whether the soothing is for him or yourself is unclear, but neither of you are perishing on the spot, so… that’s good.

“Me lo llevare a la tumba,” he quietly jokes, crossing his heart with one hand while the other stays put beneath yours.

The quiet that settles over you both this time is much calmer, fragile. Something that may not need to be broken by words. You don’t meet his eyes for a long while, instead staring down at your hands. You’d bet money that he’s currently staring at your face, maybe trying to guess at your mood, but you remain passive. Pensive.

Perhaps your chest is floating? You feel so distanced from it all, which must be some sort of fear response. If you were really Gabriella, you’d probably have fainted by now. Maybe you shouldn’t focus too hard on that feeling right now.

Instead, you turn your thoughts to Bruno. Your friend who you’ve spent months ranting and rambling to about telenovelas and your weekly inconveniences. Your friend who spins and twirls and snort-laughs when you make a particularly bad pun, acting as if it’s the funniest thing he’s heard in years. Your friend who you count on to brighten your day with his terrible wit and cheesy one-liners, drawing out a smile that lasts for hours after.

Your friend who was clearly pouring his heart and soul into an art form you adored, not in it for the money but rather what he thought that art could be if pushed to the limits. Even if it was silly little telenovelas.

Your friend who was terrified out of his mind by your possible reaction or even rejection, willing to live a lie just to keep your friendship as plain and comfortable as possible.

“You’re still my friend,” you finally say, cracking a slight smile. “That isn’t going to change.”

“It… isn’t?” he probes, his cautious expression wobbling dangerously between relief and a deep frown.

“Nope. Though, this does mean,” you waggle your eyebrows comically, “if Hernando doesn’t end up happy by the end of the show, I’ll never lend you fabric softener ever again.”

A blink. Once, twice, and then Bruno’s jaw drops, the man stunned speechless. Your smile splits into a toothy grin, which opens to a quiet, giggling fit, which morphs into loud, wheezing laughter. Honestly, you’re not quite sure what’s so funny about it all, but tears start streaming down your face as you wheeze from one breath to the next, and he joins you, curling over onto the table as you both laugh at the utter absurdity of it all.

His laugh sounds nice, you note absently, finally calm enough to take a few shuddering breaths. He wipes his face, shaking his head as his laughter subsides in turn. The brightest smile you’ve ever seen on his face scrunches his nose and gleaming, hazel-green eyes, and catching your breath suddenly becomes a bit of a struggle.

“I… I’ll see what I can do about Hernando,” he chuckles, wiping tears from his cheekbones with the base of his palm.

You still haven’t let go of his other hand. A sudden heat rises to your face, the fluttery, squeezing sensation in your heart doing you absolutely no favors. Childishly stubborn, some part of you helpfully adds that you could keep holding his hand. An even more irresponsible part of you extrapolates on that idea by pointing out the notion that you could bring his hand up to your lips and kiss it-

Cheeks flushed, you pull your hand away and politely clear your throat, refusing to entertain that path any further. Friends. You are friends. Bruno’s hand lingers in place as he continues to stare openly at you, and silence fills the space once more before he coughs and pulls his hand away. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he looked a bit disappointed, his cheekbones darked with a deep blush. But, that couldn’t be true. He was probably just flushed from laughing too hard.

His eyes trail down your face, and he pauses, before glancing at the coffee cups in a sudden burst of movement. His shoulders roll, and he knocks six times on the wooden table while muttering something you can’t quite hear before observing, “Well, our coffee is cold. Do you want me to, uh… get some of the fresh stuff?”

“Ah, uh… sure. I can pay this time, you know-” you reply, but he interjects, “No, no, I’ll do it. I just dropped a whole revelation on you, it’s the least I can do.” And then he’s up and moving, headed back to the cashier.

You watch him as he walks away, eyes fondly trailing the way his shoulders rise and fall with each stride and-

It hits you like a bus. You’re in love with Bruno. You’re in love with Pedro Oscar.

“... Mierda.”

[jamnotjam]

Season 2, episode 3

L.JN x f!reader

You thought your project partner was just being mean for no reason, but turns out he has a different side to him after all.

Rating: fluff

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: tsundere!jeno, school stuff, projects

Requested: no

”y/n?”

You look up at your teacher

“uh, here”

“jeno?”

“Here”

you look at your classmate with a sigh, jeno, jenos never liked you, you don’t know why, you’ve always been nice to him.

you try to sit with him at lunch, you invite him to your parties, you even asked him to the dance before, even though you don’t like him like that, anything to find out why he doesn’t like you.

You sit through your boring class, up until your teacher unvails they’re assigning everyone projects, you quietly groan, projects suck.

You raise your hand

“yes, y/n?”

“Can I be grouped with-” you point to your friend at the other side of the class

“no, y/n, I will be assigning group mates”

you sigh again, another reason to hate class projects.

“All right, I will be assigning group mates now” your teacher says, you nervously wait, hoping to not be grouped with a asshole

“y/n, you will be grouped with jeno”

….

you were grouped with a asshole.

jeno looks over at you, angry look on his face, you give him a smile back, trying to hide your anger.

You stare at jeno sitting at a table alone

“maybe if you get to know him he’ll be nicer? He looks lonely…”

your friend says as she takes a sip of her drink

“i dont know…ive tried to get to know him before”

“well this will give you a better chance, he cant ignore you forever”

your other friend says

“i guess…”

i get up and go to his table, slamming my tray down next to his

“hey, groupie”

he looks at you and sighs

“great, just as my day was getting better”

you sit next to him

“we should get started on the project”

“really? Schools not even over, cant you wait?”

“Its a pretty big project, dont you think we should get started asap?”

he sighs

“fine, but you will be in charge, im too tired for this”

you smile and pull out a notebook from your bag

“lets get started!”

the bell rings and you sigh in relief, schools finally over, you had been working on your project all through class, just trying to speed up the process of having to work with jeno.

you put your books in your bag and get up, you leave class and go out to the front of the school, you see jeno and go over to him

“hey~”

you smile at him, he sighs in response

“whyre you sitting out here all alone?”

“…i lost my ride, trying to figure out how to get home”

you nod and look down at your bookbag before you get a idea

“hey! Why dont i walk you home and we can work on our project there”

he looks at you “seriously?”

“Yeah! Itll be fun!”

This would be alot harder if you didnt lie so well

“fine”

you nod

“good, lead the way then, groupie”

he starts walking to his house, you following in tow

“soooo….”

You say, trying to break the tension, he side glances at you

“why dont you like me?”

You look up at him, he sighs

“its not that i dont like you…persay, your just annoying”

you nod

“fair”

you feel a sharp pain in your feet

“ouch!”

You stop and hold your foot

“whats up?”

He looks back at you

“i dont know….i think my feet just hurt from walking so much”

you adjust your foot in your shoe and keep walking, he walks too.

You guys walk for a few more minutes, he sighs again

“hey”

he says, you look at him

“if your feet hurt that bad, ill carry you”

you pause and let out a dumbfounded laugh

“really? the lee jeno, trying to help me?!”

“I just dont want you complaining while we study!”

“Hey, i wont pass up at free piggy back”

he nods and kneels down, you get behind him and wrap your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, he lifts you with a grunt. You feel his heartbeat and sigh in content, why is this making you feel so…happy? I mean…its jeno…your supposed to not like him.

You get to his house and he sits you down, he unlocks the door and goes in

“my parents arent home yet”

you nod and go in, he makes a b-line to his room, you follow after him, when you get in the room hes cleaning off some trash on the table, you chuckle

“werent expecting visitors?”

“Shut up”

you smile and sit your bag down, he pulls up two chairs at his desk and sits down, you two are close, so close your arms are touching, you pull your book out the bag

"you ready to start?”

You look at him, your faces are so close your noses are basically touching, he stares are you for a second

“u-uh huh? Oh! Y-yeah…lets start”

he mutters out, his face red

“are you alright?”

You say as you touch his forehead, he pushes your hand away

“yeah”

“are you sure? You seem sick”

“im fine, y/n, lets just start”

jeno groans and lays his head down on the table

"how long is this gonna take? Its so boring….”

You sigh

“jeno, were almost done, please just focus”

“cant we take a snack break? i havent ate since my lunch was rudely interrupted”

you nod

“sure”

he gets up and goes to the kitchen, you follow him, he looks at you

“you just gonna follow me around like a lost puppy?”

You smile “yup”

he smiles lightly, but looks away to hide it, he gets a bag of chips from the top cabinet and gives it to you. he goes back to his room and sits on his bed, you sit next to him and sits the bag of chips inbetween you two. He stuffs his mouth full of chips

“so….what are some of your hobbies?”

you look at him, he shrugs, you nod

“got it”

he swallows

“why do you ask?”

“I dont know…i guess if were working together i should know alittl but about you”

“hmm, i dont know, i think you have a crush on me”

he nudges you playfully

“w-what?! No! Ew!”

You mutter out

“ew? Damn y/n im sitting right here”

“well, i dont have a crush on you”

he hums

“well…why would it be so bad?”

he looks at you, face close to yours

“what if i say i like you?”

Your face flushes

“w-what ?”

He leans closer, lips ghosting over yours

“

"i suppose….if i did, it would go nowhere, because you dont like me”

you freeze, unable to even form thoughts let alone know what to do in this situation. you lean in, closing the gap inbetween you two, he puts his hand on the side of your face, his lips moving in tandem with yours, he pulls away after awhile, he chuckles

“hmm, kinda seems like you have a crush on me, y/n”

you look away and fan your face, he gets up

“lets finish this project, shall we?”

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