#psa to artist friends!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

angel-of-the-moons · 5 months

Text

Chocolate and Cream

Eddie x Venom x Curvy!Fem!Reader

TW/CW: NSFW, SMUT, inappropriate use of chocolate, Venom's tongue should be a warning on its own, oral (Fem Receiving), piv sex, creampie, protected sex (personal headcanon that Venom can make it so the baby batter don't bake ;)), Venom is a great source of birth control, a bit of fluff, food play(?), Eddie and Venom love you so much, spme anal, squirting, Eddie and Venom definitely bang too tho IMO (PSA: PLEASE DO NOT PUT CHOCOLATE ON YOUR KITTY LADIES THAT'S HOW YOU YOU GET INFECTIONS)

MINORS DNI I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

A/N: Woo! My first Eddie/Venom fic! (Technically) This is based off a private fic an old friend of mine requested that I wrote years ago, adjusted more for a curvy reader, part of some of my self-indulgent fics regarding us gals on a thicker scale :)

🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷

You took one last look in the mirror, proudly nodding your head at your handiwork. It was a pain in the ass, for sure to get done, but with the help from some people in an anonymous kink forum, they were able to help you get this surprise for your lovely boyfriends.

You see, one of your boyfriends had this "thing" for chocolate. He needed to consume an insane amount of it or he'd have to resort to... other methods of gaining a certain chemical to sustain himself...

And of course, that's how this lovely idea came to be. Edible panties were soooooo boring!

Your body covered in chocolate-based body paint however...

You had painstakingly painted cute little hearts over your body, with some artistic swirls for extra flair. You kept your apartment freezing to avoid your body heat melting it too much, or while you painted around your nipples, the rolls of your belly, and of course somewhere far more intimate...

Then came the waiting game. You didn't know when they'd be home from running their "night errands". You knew full well what that meant, and you didn't really focus too much on that fact. It helped you sleep easier at night

You should have thought this through, though. If you sat down on your couch, the chocolate would stain it. You could sit on one of your dining chairs, but the surface was far too cold for your poor bare ass to handle right now.

Shit. Well, you could always--

You jumped back with a shriek, grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch and held it out, obscuring the view of your body from the hulking dark mass that squeezed through your apartment's window.

You relaxed slightly, your breath escaping you in a sigh.

"Venom!" You scolded. "You gave me a heart attack! Why can't you and Eddie use the front door?"

The large creature grinned, revealing jagged fangs that sent shivers of excitement up your spine. Or maybe you were just cold.

"It is faster, this way." Venom replied.

He tilted his head at you, and how peculiarly you were holding the blanket, concealing yourself from him. Then... He tipped his head back, sniffing the air.

"We smell chocolate." He growled, his voice excited as he tilted his head at you. "Are you baking, sweet thing?"

You suddenly felt very small, very awkward. Like a bunny caught in the trap about to be devoured by a hungry wolf. You'd be lying if you didn't feel a little turned on.

You also felt very stupid. God, this was so silly. Why did you...

Venom began to stalk closer, having to lean down to avoid hitting his head on your low ceiling.

"What are you hiding, sweet thing?" His voice rumbled lowly.

"Uhm..." You peep, squirming backwards, awkwardly looking around for a way out of this stupid situation you got yourself into.

"What." Venom said, each word punctuated by a step. "Are. You. Hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything!" You lie.

"Really?" He purrs, his tongue laving out to taste at the air. "Because it smells like you're hiding something delicious from us."

"I..." You take a step back further, only to bump into the wall, squealing when your bare back makes contact with the cold drywall.

And in a blink of your eyes, Venom was there, his large, opalescent eyes narrowing at you, his maw curling into a lascivious grin.

Yeah. He was definitely salivating.

"What are you hiding behind the blanket, sweet thing?" He purred once more, his massive paws gripping the plush knit quilt.

"Uh--"

"Last chance."

"It's... Uh...." You flounder for an excuse.

In the span of a few seconds, the blanket is ripped away and you squeak, your arms locking and Venom's eyes get big and his head rocks back as he looks down at you.

(Holy shit.) Eddie's voice breathed from inside his head.

Venom's grin spreads even wider as he tilts his head slowly in the other direction. "I knew you were hiding something delicious."

"I just... I wanted to, uh..."

Venom pressed his mouth to your throat, and you could feel his heavy, wet breaths as he inhaled your scent, his large hands gripping the upper parts of your arms as he held you there, against the wall, just breathing.

It felt like forever you were standing there, the feeling of him just... breathing on you was enough to get you hot and bothered.

"You smell delicious." He grumbled against your throat, opening his mouth to let his tongue slide out.

The moment it wrapped around your throat was electric. It sent a throb of arousal straight through to your core.

You let out a watery sigh, your breaths leaving you in trembled gasps as his tongue slides lower, through the chocolate on your sternum, and wrapping around your pebbled nipple, the chocolate melting and smearing under his hot breath and saliva.

"Did you do this for us, sweet thing?" Venom asked as he pulled away, looking down at you. "You wanted to surprise us? Hmm?"

"I... I got the idea online, and..." You said, somehow finding it within yourself to still be embarrassed.

"It is a tasty surprise." He said lowly, curving a taloned finger along your cheek. He leaned in and placed a small, unusually chaste kiss to your cheek.

"But you definitely taste better." He whispered into your ear.

You couldn't suppress the little noise that comes from your throat.

"Let us clean you, sweet thing."

Fuck, why did his voice have to have that bone-vibrating frequency? Why the fuck did it have to be so sexy?! Him and Eddie both! Especially Eddie's morning voice! Ugh! It wasn't fair how easy they could just render you stupid.

Venom got on his knees in front of you and brought his mouth to your chest, swiping his hefty tongue through the chocolate, a low rumbling emitting from him the whole time, sending those wonderful tremors through your very bones as he took his time cleaning you, licking up every drop of chocolate from your body, moving lower and lower...

Fuck, you'd swear Venom's purring would be a great substitute for a vibrator. Not that you ever needed one. The moment Venom could pick up on your scent and told Eddie, they were all over you. It was especially bad when you were about to start your cycle. Venom would go feral and pounce on you the moment he picked up on your hormones.

Your train of thought derailed somewhere around the thought of that one time Eddie woke you up with his hand between your legs and crashed into the station of Venom's tongue plunging through your now-soaked folds.

"We were right. You do taste better." Venom purred right into your cunt, making you gasp and cry out. "Though the chocolate compliments your taste well."

"Fuck!" You cry as he hoists your legs over his shoulders, pushing you up the wall with how forcefully he was thrusting his tongue inside of you; his massive arms caging you in and his hands groping and squeezing at your breasts as he voraciously ate you out.

You felt his tongue press against that wonderfully world-spinning spot inside your spongy walls, drawing out and drinking down more and more of your slick as he snarled into your puffy folds.

Your nails clawed at his arms, doing no damage to his odd "skin", and if anything it was encouraging him to go further.

You felt the tip of his tongue press on your cervix before rolling back around and curling, the pink muscle writhing and wriggling inside of you like it was fighting desperately to become a part of you.

You had half a thought to let Venom bond with you for a little while and do something like this with Eddie...

You practically sobbed when Venom brought one of his hands down, squeezing the plush rolls on your belly, kneading them lovingly before pressing down beneath your belly button, where he could feel his tongue bulge and roil inside of you.

The orgasm that you were starting to feel build exploded, going off before you had a chance to prep, your eyes rolled back and you arched your spine, your mouth opening in a silent cry, your body unable to find its voice as everything came crashing down onto you; his tongue eagerly lapping up each drop, every bit of your sweet cream.

The moment his tongue slid out of you, you felt empty, bereft of his contact. You whined when he pulled away, and he kissed your neck, licking the skin again.

"Don't worry, sweet thing. Eddie just wants his turn with you, now." He snarled, easing you down onto the floor, his hands caressing your legs gently as he stood.

As his head reached height with yours, his scary, alien visage peeled and melted away, revealing Eddie's gorgeous eyes, full lips, and patchy stubble.

"Hey, baby." He chuckled, giving you a kiss as he pulled you against him.

"Hey..." You said, your voice weak and shaky.

"Nice surprise, by the way." Eddie smirked at you, his hands going down to grope and squeeze at your plush ass, his thumbs tracing every dimple. "Vee loved it."

"I could tell." You smile up at him.

"So... Let's move the after party to someplace more comfortable, huh?"

🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷🖤📷

God it always surprised you. It didn't matter which one of them fucked you, but somehow they always did it in a way that made you feel like they were trying to bully their way into your guts with their cock.

You whimpered as Eddie hugged your legs against his chest, snapping his hips up into you with so much vigor that he kept rocking you up the couch cushions. Hell, one of the cushions was a few thrusts from being pushed off the couch entirely.

"Fuck you're so fucking tight." Eddie groaned, looking down at you as every soft part of your jiggled and bounced with the force of his thrusts. He loved how you looked when you were utterly fucked out. Venom did, too. Venom's favorite "hobby" that Eddie teased him for, was how he loved to grab you and squish you in his hands, and move you up and down on his cock like a sweet, soft little toy.

Of course, you enjoyed it, too.

Eddie moved your legs so they were on either side of him now as he leaned down and kissed you hard, his plush lips and tongue greedily dancing with yours, your soft hands sliding up his back, feeling the droplets of sweat roll off of him.

Eddie had hips, and he certainly knew how to use him. The way he arched his back and gyrated them, you were tempted to joke and say he should start pole dancing. Maybe you'd bring it up with him when he wasn't currently stuffing you nine different kinds of full with his fat cock.

The tickling of the short hairs at the base made contact with your clit at every thrust, sending little flames of pleasure licking up your spine.

"Eddie..." You moaned, gripping hard at his shoulders and squirming your hips against his.

He gritted his teeth and groaned, dropping his head into the crook of your neck. "Fuck, baby." Eddie hissed, "You gettin' close?"

"Mhmm--" You say, nodding with a weak mewl.

You feel him grin against your throat and he sucked on your skin, leaving a nice, dark present on your skin. He pulled away, soothing the sting with his tongue.

"Oh-kay--" He grunted, leaning back as he slowed his thrusts almost torturously slow.

The black mass that is Venom slinked around Eddie's torso, thick tendrils moving out and gripping beneath your knees, gently forcing them as comfortably close to your head as possible, your cunt fluttering gorgeously around Eddie's cock so well that you felt Venom shudder.

Eddie stopped moving for a second that felt like hours, before he leaned over, one hand on the back of the couch and the other gripping the arm of it behind your head before sending on hard, brutal thrust down.

The moment he did that, you shrieked so loud you were sure your downstairs neighbors could hear you--hell, maybe the people down in the street heard how well Eddie was fucking you (with Venom's help, of course).

The sinful sound of his cock sliding in and out of your hole, your slick-coated skin slapping against each other was deafeningly loud to your ears as he fucked you with his newfound leverage over you, hitting your g-spot at just the right angle it had your brain going almost numb from the pleasure.

When you cum, you cum hard. You soak Eddie's stomach and your thighs as your pussy clamps down on him. You got so tight that Eddie's pace stuttered and almost stopped, a gravelly whine crawling out of his throat.

"God... Fuuuuuck, baby..." He panted hard, grinding his hips down into yours, bringing his knee up and pressing one of your thighs tighter to your body.

"E-Eddie--" You mewl.

"Just--Just a bit more, baby, I promise." Eddie hissed, his eyes closing in pure bliss as he fucks the absolute heaven that is your sweet little cunt.

"God--damn!" Eddie practically squeaked.

You see Venom's head materialize over his shoulder and he grinned down at you through your glazed-over eyes.

Oh god. That was a favorite trick Venom liked to pull. Whenever Eddie was close to coming, sometimes Venom liked to force a tendril up his ass, squirming and tickling his prostate.

"Vee, you little shit--!" Eddie moaned.

"Keep fucking her, Eddie." Venom purred, his tongue sliding around Eddie's throat.

"Gonna beat your fucking--" He hiccuped, his hips stuttering and jolting into yours. "--beat your ass for this..."

"You say that every time. NOW KEEP FUCKING HER." Venom snapped, forcing the tendril deeper into Eddie's ass, this time pressing with more force on his prostate, eliciting a broken moan from him as he slapped his hips harshly into yours, your sweet cunt leaving a nice creamy ring around the base of his cock.

"Fuck, baby..." You whine, feeling tears burn in your eyes as your second orgasm starts to build.

Venom can sense it, and you were fucked the moment his head snapped to look at you.

Completely, utterly fucked.

A smaller tendril splits off from the ones still pinning your legs up, and latches onto your clit, pulling and tugging and rolling in a way that has the air knocked out of your lungs.

"Oh shhhii-iIiIII-iit..." You sob, clawing desperately at Eddie's shoulders, feeling Venom's tongue wrap around one of your wrists, eagerly lapping at your skin as if he could taste your nectar from that alone.

You and Eddie cum almost simultaneously, your orgasms slamming you like a runaway freight train.

You once again soak Eddie's stomach and crotch, your spray and cum dripping down to soak the couch cushions as Eddie's hot seed floods your soft, now-pliant walls, groaning as Venom presses inside of him, making his hips jerk until he's fucked every last drop into you.

Venom finally releases the two of you and Eddie collapsed, Eddie laying across your plush body, your rolls, and cute squishy fat being the perfect pillows for him. (Your breasts too, as he buried his face in them.)

The two of you breathe hard, your sweat mingling between your bodies as you cool off, shivers causing goosebumps to rise up and down Eddie's back as his heart slowed, the heavy echoes still pattering against yours.

"Eddie?" You breathe.

"Yeah." He grunted, voice muffled by your breasts.

"I think we're going to need to steam clean the couch."

Eddie and Venom both broke out laughing.

And here you were, worried about chocolate staining your couch. Turns out it was the cream that was the problem.

#eddie x venom x reader #eddie x venom #eddie x reader #eddie brock x venom x reader #eddie brock x you #eddie brock x reader #eddie brock x venom #venom x you #venom x reader #venom x eddie

896 notes · View notes

anadiasmount · 3 months

Note

painting date with jude filled w messy kisses 🤭🤭

cherry coated lips - jude bellingham x reader.

psa 🗣️: what about first kiss with soon to be bf! jude??? 😋😋 (also i did not proofread this so i hope it isn’t to bad to read.)

the rain had been predicted but part of you wished an prayed it would’ve been clear so your date with jude wouldn’t be canceled. it would been your 6tg date with him. the first one was him taking you to a fair, and latest where you had invited him over to make dinner and watch movies.

you loved his ideas of dates, always going above and beyond to make you feel special, he always knew how to leave his mark, and today wasn’t any different. he planned to take you on a evening out to a nice restaurant and finish the night by going to his favorite spot with a view of the new city he lived in, painting and having late night conversation.

with jude it could be just that, talk hours and hours together till the sun rose and moon was bright. he made you feel like the luckiest girl and you were. you were lucky to have met jude, and in any given occasion he became your person. he understood you, he cared for you, he knew you better than yourself and that was a bit scary at first.

while you always surrounded yourself with your circle of friends, when meeting jude you grew a soft spot and love for him. you both agreed to take it slow to relish the slow burn every time you were together. to feel the feelings inside every time. the tension was always present but lately it began to fill the room anytime you were together.

you became a nervous and stutter mess with him. not being able to keep eye contact when he stared into you. you skin burning everytime he held your hand or kissed your cheek goodbye. you wanted more but you felt unsure if he felt the same way you did for him.

you wanted this to go different from your past relationship. the last one made you feel like a shitty person, always calling you naive or clingy, being insecure when you went out or even alone in private. always complaining to you even when they were in the fault. they blamed you for everything and in the end you had enough. it wasn’t love it was being manipulated and constantly controlled by a person who couldn’t even figure out their own life.

with him it was different. he was almost too perfect to be true. a gentleman straight out the movies who made you feel like there could be no one else in the world besides you two.

which is how you felt right now. you were sat on the carpet of your flat, candles surrounded the place as the power had gone out due to the storm, but in a way it made it feel more romantic. the evening was filled with yummy takeout from a hidden spot in the city, a place only you and jude knew after going finding it randomly. since then it became your guys spot.

you giggled and laughed at the stories he told from when he started the academy at birmingham, later on in his teenage years in year school. about how jobe and him were day ones and valued family over anything. football was his life, but family and friends? we’re his main priority. just like you since they were the only ones there to lift you up after anything.

“have you seen those artist on tiktok where they use their led lights when painting? i feel like that right now with all these candles. i wish i could see the colors properly to see what i’m working with,” you said, licking your lips in concentration as the thin brush ran over the outline you had drawn into the canvas.

you looked over to the side, jude had suddenly came close to you, a arm around you and but placed on the couch cushions barely touching you. you could smell the faint cologne on him, driving your senses a bit into overdrive. you had been sitting on your bum but your knees began to hurt and now they were angled to the right.

“whatever the ending piece is, i’m sure it will look great, y/n,” jude said with a smile on his face, clinking the brush inside the glass of water on his side. jude looked over to see which brush and paint color to use next, quickly looking at his canvas before going with his intuition.

the familiar tension grew in the air, your bodies close together that if you moved you’d be side to side. you cleared your throat scratching your temple feeling like you’d explode any minute that passed by if you didn’t say or do anything. you attempted to distract yourself in the art but your mind was tracing back to him. jude. ir always seemed to be him.

you thought of every encounter together. that first time you met him and the kiss on your cheek when you had left, to right now where you wanted to do more than that. not sex but share your anticipated first kiss. the kiss that seemed to be interrupted by someone passing by, a loud noise, or a sudden jult or text. it was always something that had delayed the moment.

jude could feel your sudden change in body language, the end of the brush tapping against the canvas as you think loudly. he wanted to hold you against him, before he had to leave and wish he had done more than that. he wanted to taste a small bit of you, show you that whatever you felt he felt the same and stronger.

without hesitating, he brushed closer to you, being able to smell the hair products and see the glint in your eyes as he approached you. “penny for you thoughts?,” he asked softly, seeing you smile nervously as yo finally landed your brush on the outline. “not much, just thinking about school and work. the usual,” you shrugged as lighting struck again.

“what’s the usual?”

“you…” you confessed, looking up to see jude already starting at you. you were being openly honest with him, not wanting to lie because he was the only thing that consumed your head.

“what’s about me?” jude hummed, his finger discreetly tucking a piece of hair behind your ear as he cocked his head to the side. your stomach clenched tightly with butterflies as you could’ve sworn he stared at your lips and leaned closer.

“that if you…” you licked your bottom lip unable to get the words out, feeling like a shy school girl when getting called out or seeing the popular guy at school. “that if you feel the same way i do… feelings wise and that this isn’t just a waste of time or anything like that…” you said quickly, feelings jude’s nose ontop of yours.

“oh those feelings…” jude traced and e his nose into your cheek, watching the way you bit the corner of your lip as he did. “the feelings where you want to be reassured huh? the feelings you’ve hid because you’re afraid they won’t feel the same way? but deep down you know they do feel the same way…” he taunts, closing his eyes and breathing loudly at the proximity.

jude’s nose traced back ontop of yours, watching how you gulped heavily as his top lip ever so slightly brushed against yours. “tell me you want this, y/n… i’ll grant you every wish you want or ask for because i’ll do anything to call you my girlfriend…” jude said breathlessly, his hand coming to hold the back of your head as your pupils grew wide.

your hand came to his jaw, tracing your thumb over his jawline as he closed his eyes and hummed in relief. “kiss me jude…” you whisper not wanting to hold back or be interrupted by anything. jude sucked in a breath tasting your cherry coated lips he pulled you closer, his lips molding with yours that made his heart race a bit.

his lips danced with yours in sync, not once pulling back as all he could focus on was the way the two of you had gotten lost into it. his tongue wanting to be grant permission and tracing over your bottom lip, to be inside to fully taste you, and once he did all he could do was let out a groan as you whimpered. jude was in love with the way you kissed, touched his chest as your lips never parted from his, the way you tasted sweet and all his.

you pulled away first catching a breath as your hands rest on his chest, biting your lip in nervousness. jude looked completely in utter chaos, fucked over, his brown eyes now hooded as they continued to stare at you, running his tongue over his lips to see you shyly smiling. you placed a final peck onto his lips, jude closing his eyes rapidly so he could relish the kiss further.

“god i’ve been dying to do that since we were on that ferris wheel…” jude said chuckling, kissing your closed eyes and tip of your nose, not failing to notice how your lips were slightly swollen and plump from the kiss. he wanted more and now that he said what he wanted to say, there was no going back for the two of you.

“about the girlfriend thing-” you started to say but jude cut you off, “thought our kiss made it clear?” jude teased, watching how you tucked yourself into the crook of his neck feeling giddy. “you are my girlfriend right, princess?” he asked you again, wanting to hear fall from your lips. “yes jude… as long as you’re my boyfriend handsome…” you say coming back up from your spot.

“i think a kiss will confirm it all…” jude cocked his eyebrow, leaning down to capture your lips again, smiling into it as he heard you giggling. a familiar sound of the microwave turning back on and the lights suddenly brighting the room made you realize the power was back on, your kiss interrupted again or maybe was the cause of it.

“oh my gosh! jude look at my painting!”

#judey thoughts 5️⃣#jude bellingham #jude bellingham imagine #jude bellingham x reader #jude bellingham blurb #jude bellingham one shot

315 notes · View notes

mothgodofchaos · 2 months

Text

This is your early morning PSA to support artists. And I don’t mean only monetarily. I mean reblog shit. Ramble in the tags how much you like it if so compelled. But artists will only continue posting while there is support.

And I want to make it entirely clear that I do mean post. Because what is gonna happen is that they will continue to create, but it will just be shown to their friends that they made within the community. If you want to continue to see things from an artist, tell them as much. We have seen fandoms and communities die, because there was no more support for the artists that are the backbone for them.

Reblog your favorite fanfics. Reblog your favorite artists. Write them a nice comment. Tell them how you like their art style or how they write a certain character. Artists will continue to create because we continue to enjoy it. We continue share it because we want to spread something we’re proud of and we think others will to.

I’ve seen too many of my artist friends recently saying it’s not worth it to post anymore because there’s no point. No one acknowledges it. Yet I continue to see it before they post and support them. So they privatize their audience.

Support artists if you want them to stick around. For fuck’s sake.

#artist support #artists on tumblr #reblog shit #it’s not hard #chaos.exe has told you to fucking reblog shit

149 notes · View notes

pawberri · 3 months

Text

Noticing a scary trend of young girl artists, like freshly 18-19 or even underage, drawing lolicon bait, hard-core guro, and shock content with a similar throwback anime style and undercurrent of nostalgia for early internet, especially 4chan. It seems to me the face of the alt right in the 2010s was gamergate and "non-threatening white men" and now we're moving into a weird era of women being thrown out as the public figures for regressive movements. The same alt right stuff is being filtered through a soft, sweet lense and now that "nazis don't look like that" doesn't work they go with "nazis can't be xyz group." It's happening with tradwives and terfs and now the legacy of groups like kali-yuga accelerationism who made the grooming of young girls a huge part of their whole thing is spreading wider.

This artist who goes viral on pinterest all the time and sneaks tons of dogwhistles into their work is the face of this to me. This artist is a black girl who is speculated to be underage. Her friend group contains adult white men who clearly teach her these things and she is clearly being taken advantage of, and her grooming has proved advantageous as her visual language is spreading further. I believe the same artist also rebranded on furry Twitter doing a similar nostalgia bait style.

I guess this is just a PSA to be aware of the changing face of the alt right and to be wary of nostalgia bait even for things that seem absurd to turn into a valorized past. They seem to be focusing on the edgelord libertarian internet of the 2000s as the new way to smuggle in alt right bullshit and actual child abuse is involved in the process.

#csa tw #racism tw #alt right tw

152 notes · View notes

ckret2 · 5 months

Note

Does bill have "a type"? Since you said he only dates every millennium, what kinds of stuff would catch this lunatic's eye? What would motivate him?

You're getting a read more because I listed every single blessed thing I could think of. The tl;dr:

artists (who depict him)

hot eyeballs (subjective)

no head

bright natural coloration

emotional doormats

party animals

nerds, provided they're also attractive other ways

worshipers

things that can injure him

getting gifts

someone who expresses interest first but lets him take the lead

really tacky expensive displays of wasting wealth

someone he thinks is similar enough to "understand" him

This is the first point because it's the answer he'd give: if you ASK him, he'll say he's "a complete sucker for those deep, brooding artist types." He'll say this like it's his biggest weakness. He says it like it's a charming little character flaw. This is the narrative he tells himself. What he ACTUALLY means is if you hit on him, and if you have created art of him (visual art, sculpture, music, poetry), the odds that he'll return the interest go up by 1000%. He is incredibly vain, he loves art of himself, and "willing to give Bill art of himself" is an insanely attractive trait.

Some species have sexy eyeballs. Other species don't. It just so happens that Earth, as a whole, has evolved an array of eyeballs that are by and large pretty sexy when compared to the multiversal baseline. Those little, like, thready filament things in the irises? Mesmerizing. Visible veins?? Drive him crazy. Bloodshot eyes? Gonna be haunting his fantasies for weeks. Top tier is those frog eyes with multiple colors or crazy crackly-looking patterns.

He's not a fan of heads. Like, when a species puts a face on a little bobbly looking thing separated from the rest of the body, rather than right on the torso where it belongs? Looks weird. It's not a dealbreaker but he's definitely more attracted to species that put their faces where they belong. Similarly, a mouth without an eye in it looks weird.

Big fan of bright colors. You know what's attractive? Looking like Lisa Frank colored you. Wearing bright colors isn't as good as being bright colors, but he still finds wearing bright colors to be an attractive trait.

If you combine the last three points, I think that I accidentally made Bill's ideal lover a poison dart frog.

Usually at some point pretty early in the dating process he's gonna say something like "Just so you know—really, I'm not as bad as all the rumors and gossip and ancient legends and globally-broadcasted warning PSAs make me sound. But: I am totally crazy. You wanna stick with me, you've gotta be cool with crazy." What he's looking for is someone who says "oh I am SO cool with crazy, I am the MOST cool with crazy, crazy is GREAT." When he says this, he's not saying "I'm actually mentally ill and need someone who's supportive and understanding." He's also not saying "I'm a wild crazy fun party guy and I want a partner who can keep up with that lifestyle." What he's saying is "I am an inconsistent and inconsiderate asshole who will show no regard for you, and in a year when you're complaining about the selfish harmful things I'm doing, I'll get to roll my eye and go 'I THOUGHT you SAID you were COOL with crazy. Are you NOT cool with crazy??' And then I'll complain about you to my friends." So: he'll focus on naive emotional doormats he can push around. He'll probably draw back from someone who stands up to him, unless he got seriously interested in them before they grew a spine.

But that said, he is also more likely to show interest in people who can keep up with his lifestyle. He parties with apocalypse machines. If he sees an alien at a party where three absolutely wasted demigods started mixing sink chemicals and accidentally set off a big bang that took out half the neighborhood, and the next weekend he sees that alien at another party? That means they party hard, they don't scare easy, they don't die easy, and they avoided the cops. That's somebody he wants to spend time with. If they're not lover material, they might be Henchmaniac material. Similar opinions on substance use and mass destruction a plus.

He's kinda into nerds. Not in and of themselves, but if they already hit other traits he likes, that's a plus. If he has a choice between two identical people and one's dumb as a rock, he prefers the one who knows lots of things and likes to share facts and trivia. Bill goes for long, long stretches without feeling curiosity, and those stretches typically coincide with when he feels most depressed; someone who can drive him to think a little bit is a godsend.

If someone literally worships him, like as a god, he's into that. It's not partner material but he'll put a star next to their name in his booty call list.

Any novel Extreme Sensations, he likes. Particularly pain. Not a lot of stuff can hurt him in his true form. If someone can make him feel pain, that's interesting to him. Not even necessarily in a BDSM way. If holding someone's hand feels like being electrocuted, or they give off a gas that makes everything too loud and makes him see weird colors? That's someone he wants to touch.

I think I've just added another trait to the "poison dart frog" column.

His love language is gifts & favors, both giving and receiving. If somebody gives him a gift, he'll remember them positively. Even if it's a kinda lame gift. It makes him feel liked. Roses & chocolates would work on him.

He's not liable to be the first to express interest, because he finds being rejected utterly devastating. On the other hand, he prefers to take the lead/call the shots in a relationship. So if somebody lets it be known that they're interested in him, but then hangs back to allow him to make the first move? Appealing.

He's a sucker for gold and tacky displays of wealth. Like he's sort of disgusted by wealthy people, but he's very into wealth. If you're rich have fun with it. If you're not ordering a $900 sundae coated with gold leaf just because you can then what's the POINT. Also, Bill is tacky. If some multidimensional billionaire decides to show an interest in him by gifting him an extremely ugly diamond-covered top hat, he'd probably let them do things to him that he wouldn't even confess to his doctor. (He doesn't have a doctor but.) I think what this boils down to is that he's only into rich people who are living like they want to go broke as soon as possible.

He goes through most of his existence feeling like Nobody Understands Him. Part of this is because he's bad at communicating his sincere feelings & emotional needs and even worse at relating to or caring about other people; but part of it is just because there's not a whole lot of people who can directly relate to "my ambition drove me to destroy my entire universe and ever since then I've been grappling with the paralyzing guilt while struggling to find a new universe." So when he DOES meet somebody who he believes can really, truly understand him the way most people can't? He emotionally latches onto them HARD. Not necessarily romantically, but it easily could be. This is last on the list but probably the most important point to getting a genuine emotional connection rather than fleeting physical attraction from him.

Example that hits multiple of the above points: one of his longest & most emotionally meaningful relationships was with a sentient black hole who—quite literally—destroys anyone who gets too close to her, and is constantly wracked with chronic pain due to being a fucking black hole. She did poetry at open mic nights. She'd go up to a mic and say something like "this poem is called The Taste Of Unwillingly Consuming The Solar System You Called Your Home" and then scream into the microphone for five minutes without pause. Bill was like "she's the only one in the multiverse who Gets It." He is a sucker for brooding artists. She let him get away with unspeakable things because he's one of the only entities powerful enough to get physically close to her and survive. Which was incredibly painful, but hey, he was into that too.

Maybe they'd still be together if she looked like a frog.

#(and it's more like once every million years. but that's ON AVERAGE not a schedule)#(like he might have three partners in a millennium but then a billion year dry spell)#anonymous #ask #about my writing #bill goldilocks cipher

93 notes · View notes

jungkookslipring · 4 months

Text

I Will Never Make You Lonely: CH 1

Summary: When your life is falling apart, your 8 best friends are there to lift you up

TW: mentions of de&th, su!c!de, su!c!de tendencies, su!c!dal ideologies, depress!on, anxiety, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, crying. If this is in any way triggering I’d steer towards more of my happier works.

If you or someone you love has thought of or acted on suicide, there is help and there is hope

Call or text 988

Genre: angst, hurt/comfort, non idol AU

PSA: this is no way represents the artists. While their birth names are used in this story, this is in no way a reflection of the artist or artists in real life.

Ch 1

The next day, Saturday, you were in your bedroom getting ready to paint your nails while the other guys were either out and about or in the apartments just doing their own thing.

“Y/n?! Can I borrow some of your coffee grounds?” Shouted Seungmin from the other side of the apartment. You laughed before you shouted back.

“Check the bag behind mine!” There was silence and shuffling until you heard “YOU’RE THE BEST!” You giggled to yourself. You got the younger one his own bag of ground coffee because he always borrowed yours. You didn’t mind sharing your coffee but Seungmin loved it so much you decided he needed his own; it was only fair since you used his coffee machine.

“Would you like me to make you a cup?” Seungmin yelled from the kitchen.

“Yes, please! Can you add vanilla too?” You ask.

“French or Bean?” He shouts back.

“Bean!!” You answer before going back to your task. You were going through your colors when your phone started ringing. It was Carter’s sister, Peyton. You put down your nail polish and answered the phone.

“Hey, what's up?” you ask putting the phone in between your ear and shoulder so you could proceed to paint your nails.

“Umm…w-what are you doing right now?” Peyton asked. You froze with the brush hovering above your nail bed. She was crying.

“I’m just about to paint my nails, why?” you ask, screwing the nail polish wand back into the tiny glass container. You grabbed the phone and held it firmly pressed to your ear. You heard your friend trying to control her breathing.

“Peyton? What’s going on?” You ask urgently.

“Carter was in a car accident early this morning…her car went off the road and hit a tree,” she choked out. Your heart stopped. There was no way.

“Is she okay?” you asked with every hope in the world that she was okay. There was silence.

No.

Please god no.

There was a ringing in your ear that wouldn’t allow you to process what your friend was saying over the phone. While staring straight ahead you saw the picture frame that held a photo of you and Carter smiling together at the lake. You shook your head.

“I’m so sorry…” Peyton cried out.

No.

You slowly set your phone on the floor as you stared at the picture. You could hear the faint voice of Peyton on the other line calling your name. You shook your head as you scooted backward until your back hit the bed frame. You press the heel of your hands to your eyes.

“No No No..no this isn’t…this isn’t real,” you grit out between your teeth. After you moved to Seoul, you were only able to meet your best friend, Carter, once a year for a couple of days before returning to school. Little did you know that the last time you spent time with Carter would be the final time. You remained seated, hugging your legs, and rocking back and forth. Suddenly, you heard two pairs of footsteps coming to a sudden stop outside your door, before entering your room and starting to speak.

“Y/n? What’s wrong?” Chris asked calmly but slightly frantic. He scanned you making sure you weren’t physically hurt. You open your eyes and look up. Standing in front of you were Chris and Seungmin. How does one relay this type of information without completely shattering?

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay, yeah?” Chris whispered, squatting to your level. You shook your head again. It wasn’t okay.

“Carter-” you whispered.

“Carter’s dead,” you finally say. They audibly gasped, Seungmin immediately squatting down to your level by Chris.

“Oh my god…” Seungmin breathed out. Chris crawled up next to you and gathered you in his arms.

“Oh, my goodness y/n…I’m so sorry,” he said, arms circling your frame. You barely registered the movements until you were breathing in his scent. Seungmin had a hand on your back, rubbing it in soothing motions. He turned around when he heard your friend calling your name over the phone. He picked it up and held it to his ear.

“Hi…yeah Y/n is still here, Chris has her right now,” Seungmin said gently in English. Peyton asked you to call her back when you could. She hung up and Seungmin put the phone down. When Seungmin turned back to Chris, he was still holding you in his arms.

“Peyton asked if you could call her back when you get the chance,” he said gently as he rubbed your knee. You nodded as your eyes shook. Their comfort was the one thing keeping you grounded and preventing you from going catatonic. After maybe 5 minutes, you lifted your head from Chris’s shoulder.

“I think, I think I’m going to call Peyton back, check in on her” you whisper. Seungmin rubbed a thumb over your hand.

“Would you like us to stay?” He asked. Your friends were just so kind. You shook your head, giving them a tight-lined reassuring smile.

“I think I’ll be okay, thank you though.”

Chris squeezed you once more before hesitantly moving to stand up.

“If you need absolutely anything at all, come get us okay?” He said with so much sincerity in his tone. You made eye contact with them and wordlessly nodded before the two walked out and closed the door. They made their way into the living room and found Minho and Han. The duo smiled at them until they saw the sad looks Chris and Seungmin had painted on their faces.

“You guys okay?” Minho asked. Chris let out a small sigh and guided the boys further into the living room. They all sat down on the couch and the two listened intently.

“Y/n’s best friend Carter passed away,” Chris said looking at his hands. Minho and Han’s breaths hitched.

“Oh my gosh…” Han whispered. Minho put a hand on Han’s knee.

“How?” Minho asked. Seungmin shook his head.

“We don’t know…we didn’t ask,” said Seungmin. They realized it had to have been a freak accident or something; Carter was young.

“Should we tell the others?” Minho asked.

“Eventually yeah, just so they know what’s going on,” Chris said quietly. After 30 minutes, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin finally got home from their classes. Chris quietly called them into the living room. They all quickly took off their shoes and sat down nervously.

“No one’s in trouble, I just have some news,” Chris said sadly. Everyone’s hearts started racing, even the ones who already knew.

“We don’t know how…but Y/n’s best friend Carter died,” Chris said sadly. Everyone’s eyes went huge.

“Oh no…” Changbin said quietly, shaking his head. He couldn’t even imagine the look on your face when you found out.

“How is she?” Jeongin asked quietly. Chris gave Jeongin a sad smile and patted his leg.

“I think she’s in shock,” he whispered, remembering how he and Seungmin found you. They all sat in silence, not knowing what to say until Seungmin spoke up. “She’s on the phone with Carter’s sister,” he said quietly. They all nodded, and all that could be heard were the cars outside. Back in your room, you picked up your phone and went to your recent phone calls. You clicked on Peyton’s contact and hit the soeaker button.

“Hey,” she croaked out. She’s been crying for a while.

“Hey,” you whispered.

“How are you doing?” Peyton asked. You shook your head.

“I don’t know….”

There was silence for a while until Peyton spoke up.

“Do you think you would be able to fly down here next month?” she asked. You shrugged while rubbing your temple. You only flew down for the holidays and usually, you had enough saved for those flights only. Tickets weren’t cheap.

“Yeah I think I can make it,” you say before Peyton lets out a sigh.

“Okay…I can pick you up from the airport if you’d like,” she offered.

“Sure, yeah that works.”

This was not happening.

“Okay, I’ll keep you posted,” Peyton said thickly as she hung up. You let your arm fall to the side as you stared at the ceiling. You inhaled deeply and let out a long sigh. You decided to get out of bed and get that coffee that was probably lukewarm by now. The guys all whipped their heads around when they heard your door click. You slowly walked out of your room into the hallway, stopping in the entryway when you saw 8 pairs of eyes looking at you with so much concern. The sight of you was just so sad. You were wearing one of Hyunjin’s sweatpants and Chris’s black hoodie, which wasn’t new, but you looked so small and so lost, something they weren’t used to seeing. Your face had lost all of its color, like you had just seen a ghost. You suddenly felt so vulnerable, scratching your neck.

“I uh *clears throat* thanks for the coffee, Seungmin,” you say, giving him a shaky smile.

“No problem…” he says just as quietly. Everyone was still unsure how to approach this situation. Do they mention Carter? Do they act like nothing is wrong? Your hands were shaky, still in a state of shock from the phone call you got not even an hour ago. Minho and Changbin both stood up quickly when they watched you almost drop your mug. At this stage, the boys were nervous you were either going to drop the mug on your foot, spill the hot liquid on your skin, or all of the above. That fear came true when you took a shaky sip of your coffee, the hot liquid spilling out from the sides and hitting your wrists. You made a pained noise as you put the mug down. Minho swiftly walked into the kitchen calmly placed hands on your shoulders and led you to the sink, immediately turning on the cold water.

Everyone knew you were headstrong, so they weren’t used to seeing you like this. Within your friend group, you were the third oldest, and in times when they needed someone to lean on, it came naturally to you to care for them. Only on a couple of occasions have they seen you upset, like during a sad drama or when you’d laugh so hard tears would spring to your eyes, or when COVID happened and so much was happening, but even then you remained strong for them, and right now you looked like you were on the brink of an anxiety attack.

“Come here,” Minho whispered after turning off the faucet. He walked you into the living room where everyone else was and pulled you into a hug. Your arms hung by your side and your breathing became uneven, but you refused to cry, cause once you cried then it was real.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to love, but what happened?” Minho asked carefully.

“Um…car accident?” you said almost as a question but more in disbelief. You heard someone make a pained noise while you stared at the wall.

“I don’t know how…maybe an animal ran out or maybe she was on her phone, I don’t know….but her car ran off the road…and she hit a tree.” No one knew what to say.

“Y/n…were so sorry,” Hyunjin said sadly. As much as you wanted to stay in someone’s embrace, you needed a distraction, something to take your mind off of things. You lifted your head and took a deep breath.

“I’m gonna try to get ahead on my reading, so I can get further in my research paper,” you said as you slowly pulled away from Minho, putting on your best attempt of a smile. Everyone nodded, not sure if they wanted you to be by yourself, but they respected your wishes and watched you retreat to your room. You flipped back and forth between reading and writing for a few more hours until your eyes hurt from staring at the screen for so long. You didn’t know how you were going to sleep. You tossed and turned in your bed for an hour, the phone call on replay in your mind. Well shit if you can’t sleep might as well study even more, right? You pulled out your laptop, the bright screen irritating your eyes even further as you started typing when all of a sudden there was a knock at your door.

‘Great, I woke one of the kids up’ you thought to yourself. You went to open the door and there stood the literal sun.

“Hey y/n,” he said sweetly. You gave him a small smile.

“Hey Lixie, what’s up?” you asked.

"Can't sleep...can I stay with you tonight?" he asked playing with his sleeve. You grinned and pulled him into the room. You got under the blankets, Felix following close behind. You saved your work and put your laptop on your nightstand. You pulled the sweet boy into your arms and closed your eyes.

“Y/n?” He asked quietly. You hummed in response.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered. You ran your fingers through his hair.

“Thanks, Lixie.” He smiled and snuggled even deeper into your side. Felix dozed off in your hold, but you were wide awake.

At around 7 am, Felix woke up. He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stared into your eyes, and by the looks of it, you hadn’t slept a wink.

“Did you sleep at all?” He asked. You shook your head.

“My brain wouldn’t let me,” you slightly chuckle. Felix pouted.

“I’m sorry,” he said in his low voice. You gave him a small smile.

“Thanks for the cuddles Lixie,” you thank Felix as you pat his hand. He smiled and gave you a side hug.

“Anytime,” he said as he squeezed you.

“Do you want to come to breakfast?” He asked. He figured you probably didn’t have the biggest appetite but he still wanted to ask. You shook your head.

“I’m not hungry, but maybe I’ll come out at some point, I’m gonna keep working on this,” you say, rubbing your eyes and pointing towards your laptop. Felix and patted your shoulder before getting out of bed and leaving your room. In the kitchen, Changbin and Seungmin were cooking. They both turned around when they heard footsteps.

“Morning Lix,” Changbin smiled. Felix gave Changbin the best smile he could, but the older one knew what was going through his head.

“How is she?” he asked quietly. Felix shrugged.

“She didn’t sleep at all, which I get…I just feel so bad for her,” Felix sighed. They both nodded.

“I don’t know if she’s still in shock or trying to numb herself but…I mean I know it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet so maybe she is just in shock but *sigh* I don’t know, it’s just hard seeing her that way,” Felix added. Seungmin shook his head.

“I’m sure she was very grateful you stayed with her last night, honey,” Changbin whispered as Felix hid his face further into the older’s neck, Seungmin walking up behind him and scratching his back. If Changbin felt wetness on his skin, he wouldn’t say a word.

————————————————————————

ahhhhhh nerve wracking! I promise chapter 2 will be more lighthearted. Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list!❤️

taglist: @felixmainacc @felixburneracc @myforevermelody143 @dunno-wut-to-do @itzsana-kiddingmenow

#stray kids #stray kids x stay #stray kids fluff #skz fanfic #skz scenarios #skz imagines #stray kids hurt/comfort #stray kids x reader #non idol au #skz au #stray kids imagines #skz x reader #hurt/comfort

69 notes · View notes

tbyfandoms · 1 year

Text

Invisible String | Austin Butler x Reader

Pairing : austin butler x actress!reader

Word Count: 11.6k

Summary: y/n and austin have known each other for years. each harbors feelings for the other yet they remain clueless to it until an accidental slip up from austin leads to a series of events that reveals just how destined for each other they've always been (requested)

Warnings: mild swearing

Masterlist/Request Form | Ask/Tell/Request

A/N: when i got this request, i knew immediately i had to write it. i adore the thought of soulmates and second chance romance and this request was perfect for that. i loved writing this story full of these two completely missing the signs they’re supposed to be together, and i hope you love reading it just as much. it is dialogue centered, so a lot of explaining and talking is done (hence the word count) and i just wanted to give ya’ll a little warning! Make sure to keep track of who’s saying what. I feel like I’ve structured it in a way that makes it easier, but still. anyways, to the user who requested this, thank you and i hope you like it! :)

psa: i tweaked dates of when certain interviews came out and what happened during them. also kaia and austin aren’t dating in this. all for the sake of the fic, but i just wanted to say something about it in case anyone gets confused!

Fourteen years ago

“So-uh, was that-was that okay?” Austin reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. The blush on his cheeks is evident, even under the grime the makeup artists have piled on his face. The sight makes you giggle, leaving the boy’s cheeks to flush deeper.

“It was more than okay,” you reply, your voice dropping to a whisper. “It was perfect.”

The blonde gives you a lopsided grin and you can’t help but to give one in return, feeling like you’re floating. You and Austin have just finished your final solo scene together for the film Aliens in the Attic. The two of you are love interests; you playing the best friend of the character Bethany, and Austin playing her cousin.

To say the role was a bit of a challenge is an understatement. It’s not that you couldn’t remember your lines or you were suffering from stage fright, it was that you didn’t know how to act around Austin. The moment you got introduced to the boy, you knew you were done for. He was, is, charming and funny and beyond attractive. The two of you are both still teenagers. You’re not sure about him, but for you at least, you haven’t dealt with a whole lot of crushes or relationships yet. So it was a bit difficult to deal with more or less.

It’s like every time you would go to shoot a scene with him, your brain would short circuit and your pulse would jump higher than you thought it could. It didn’t help at all that he was so nice to you and did whatever he could to make you laugh in between takes.

The days leading up to your final scene alone with him—the kissing scene—you were a wreck. Both excitement and nerves coursing through your veins. You figured it was merely a little on the job attraction, of course you'd feel something for the person playing your love interest. You completely ignored the true feelings planting roots in your heart, as was a certain blonde companion.

Lips still tingling with warmth, you try to subtly lift your fingers to them, grazing over the slightly swollen skin. You watch as Austin takes his bottom lip between his teeth, still looking nervous as ever.

It's undeniable—the connection between the two of you. Although you haven't been filming for long, it took practically no time for you and Austin to become close. There was something about him you couldn't get over and he felt the same way about you.

Days and nights were filled with endless laughter and conversations you felt like you couldn't talk about with many other people. He made you feel special, seen. You can't believe it's all over now.

"Hey-" you both speak at the same time, simultaneously realizing you can't bear to let it all end like this.

The two of you laugh; Austin's blue eyes—that noticeably light up every time they spot you—shift to the floor for a second over his awkwardness. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to keep his cool around you.

"You first," you say, tilting your head to try and catch his eye again. Looking up from under the curls of his sandy blonde hair, Austin takes a breath before he goes to speak again.

"Would you um-." His voice gives a little and you have to hold back your smile at how nervous and unsure of himself he seems. The thought that maybe he's acting like this over you sends your heart into overdrive. Clearing his throat the boy continues, "Would you want to go-"

"There you guys are! You two lovebirds killed it! For a second I thought it was real!" Ashley comes up to you and Austin, wrapping her arms around you both while she laughs. You swear you couldn't love Ashley Tisdale any more than you already do, but God did she have bad timing.

Your eyes meet Austin's across from the girl and there's evidently something unspoken there between you. Was he going to ask you out? Was this more than just an innocent little crush?

"Thanks, Ash, glad it was believable!" The two of you laugh together, but you can't help the pull towards Austin, to get back to that conversation and find out what his next words were going to be.

Ashley instantly knows something's happened, she was always good with stuff like that. "Did I interrupt something?" She looks between the two of you, trying to grasp what it is she walked in on, but you're not even completely sure what it is.

"No, nothing at all," Austin says, barely looking at you now. You shake off the feeling of the tiny pang in your chest. "I was just gonna see if Y/N wanted to go hit up the snack table one last time, and now that you're here, we can all go together!"

Ashley doesn't believe it for a second, especially with the look on your face, she can tell there's more to the story. While the three of you walk over to the refreshments, Ashley holds herself back from butting in. It's too bad she did and that she's the only one who can see through Austin's lie. If she would’ve said something or if you would've noticed, maybe things would've been different. Maybe it would've been you on his arm a few years later instead of Vanessa Hudgens...

Present day

The memories of that final filming day swarm your mind as you sit with your jaw dropped to the floor while staring at the tv in front of you.

It took ten seconds, ten seconds, for your buried feelings for Austin Butler to come bubbling back to the surface.

And it’s all his fault.

Curse you finally having a night off to sit and watch television, curse James Corden for creating games that make people spill their secrets, and curse Austin Butler for causing your feelings for him you thought you buried long ago to claw their way out again.

He could’ve lied. You’re sure there are tons of guests who have lied on The Late Late Show to get out of embarrassment or scrutiny, and Austin definitely could have. There is no way what he said is true, no way.

But why you? Why say your name out of hundreds of others. When James pressed for who his celebrity crush is, why did your name come up first?

The blush on Austin's face is clear as day, even through the screen. He's fidgety and chuckling as he rubs the back of his neck, the audience 'ooo'ing at his confession. The sight is all too familiar.

Your mind reels over what's happened. You're shocked but you also can't help the tiny feeling of giddiness that's making your stomach flutter. Brushing your hand over your face, you grumble at the warmth of your cheeks.

Damn this man and his affect on you. It's been fourteen years, fourteen, since you've seen him in person, since you've talked practically. And yet he still makes you feel just like you did on that movie set; jumbled, nervous, and smitten.

After filming wrapped on Aliens in the Attic, you got a job offer you couldn't refuse. You moved to a different country to begin filming a show you never thought you'd get even a supporting role in, let alone the lead.

That role set you for life, it was a fan favorite, but it took up practically every aspect of your existence. Sure you were able to come back home to visit family and friends once in a while, but those visits were few and far between. To even think about meeting up with Austin was out of the question. It just wasn’t in the cards as far as you could tell, especially when he was attached at the hip with his girlfriend or off filming his own roles. Even if you could’ve met up with him, the fact you couldn't admit those feelings you had for him would’ve crushed you. You couldn’t bear the weight of keeping those feelings hidden while he fell so deeply in love with another woman.

When your show wrapped, only needing a few seasons to tell the creator's full story, you figured it was back to square one; time to go home and face everything, but that was so far from what happened. That leading role was a once in the lifetime opportunity and it boosted your career to a height you could've only dreamed of. Due to the popularity of the show and your evident acting chops, you were on every casting director's radar from then on.

You booked movies with franchises like Marvel, Godzilla, and even Star Wars. The offers poured in from every angle, and majority of them you graciously accepted. To say you were nonstop busy for years would be an understatement. You barely even had time to think about Austin anymore, and to be honest you wouldn’t allow yourself to anyways.

He never admitted any feelings in the short months you stayed in contact over the phone after Aliens in the Attic wrapped, and even if he did have any, he clearly moved on. You took it as a sign to cut your losses, shake the feeling that he felt the same about you, no matter how much it hurt.

Still, It's crazy to think about how long it's been since you've talked to Austin. The both of you had such a strong bond, one you have yet to find with another. It blows your mind how easy it was to sever something so special.

Breaking you out of your thoughts, your phone starts rattling on the table before you. Picking up the device, there's a name across the top of the screen that you're not totally surprised to see; Ashley Tisdale.

"Ash-" You're cut off immediately, Ashley's voice rapidly spilling from the speakers.

"Y/N! Oh my god, girl, are you seeing this!?" There could be a million things your best friend of over a decade could be talking about, but you know instantly what she's referring to. What else is there, really?

"I have yet to pick my jaw back up off the floor." Ashley laughs and you can practically see her now; standing in her living room, probably holding Jupiter on her hip as she paces back and forth in front of the tv. It's hard to keep her still when she's excited. Ashley that is, not Jupiter.

"So what are you gonna do about it? You’re gonna reach out to him, right?” Your eyes widen instantly at Ashley’s questions, the idea seeming absurd to you.

“What!? No, no way! Ash, you know how long it’s been since I’ve spoken to him! That’s out of the question. There’s no shot I’m gonna call him up and say, ‘Hey saw you on tv saying you had a crush on me! Wanna hook up?’ Absolutely not!” The blonde’s laugh cuts through your phone speakers and the sound makes you smile, even with the present state of disbelief you’re in.

“I mean, it could work! He’s a simple guy,” she teases, and you roll your eyes even though she can’t see you. “In all seriousness, though, this is a big deal. I know Austin and he wouldn’t just say something like that and not mean it, no matter how nervous he was.”

You let that roll around in your head for a second. It makes sense and Ashley would know better than anyone, she is his best friend for God’s sake. But still, it just doesn’t seem right to you, it’s too out of the blue.

In reality, it’s your fear of being hurt again, of once again thinking falsely about how someone—how Austin—feels about you that’s preventing you from letting this be something positive.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just stuck on the fact it’s happening now. Why after all this time? It’s been fourteen years, Ashley.” Your voice is timid and your friend can tell even over the phone that you’re scared, even if you won’t admit it. She decides now is the time to let it all out, if only for your sake. It’s better late than never.

“Y/N/N, I have to tell you something.” The sentence makes your throat go dry. As if anything else could happen tonight. You clear your throat and urge your friend to continue.

“What is it?”

“When we were wrapping Aliens, do you remember when I came up to you and Austin after your final scene together? After your kiss?” Your blood runs cold. As if you hadn’t just been thinking about that memory.

“Yeah, what about it?” You’re confused and anxious. This shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it is, at least for you. Because it’s not just some guy or just some crush. It’s Austin, the guy you can honestly say now that you were falling in love with all those years ago. The guy who made you laugh and feel special in a way that no one’s ever been able to replicate. To think you missed something, to think maybe there could’ve been a chance, sends you reeling.

“When I walked up to you I could tell I interrupted something. I think the whole time we were filming I knew there was something happening between you both but I never said anything because I didn’t want to make things awkward for you. I knew when Austin asked if we wanted to go get snacks that he was lying. We may not have known each other for that long at that point, but he was so easy to read it was ridiculous he even tried hiding what he really wanted.” You wince at that, but keep quiet. You wish you could’ve been able to read him that easily, maybe things would’ve been different.

“I never asked him about it, but I think it was two years after that when he admitted everything to me on his own. You were off filming your show and Austin and Vanessa were just starting to get serious. We were hanging out like we always do, we had a couple drinks, and were trying to find a movie when suddenly Aliens in the Attic came on! We watched it just for shits and giggles but then the ending came when you guys kiss and I could tell Austin wanted to talk about something. I paused the movie and turned to him and took one look in his eyes and knew I was right about the two of you before he even said anything.

“He liked you, babe. Like really, truly liked you. He didn’t say it but I think it was more like loved you. You should’ve heard the way he talked about you, about what it was like between you both. I asked him about that day, called him out on his lie, and he told me straight up he wanted to ask you out but got too scared. Austin said he wanted to tell you so many times when you would talk on the phone, wanted to try and make it work even though you moved countries, but he just couldn’t admit it. Convinced himself it wouldn’t work. And then I introduced him to Vanessa and things took off from there. He said it was for the best and that he felt good with V.

“After he said all that he tried to play it off, make it seem like his feelings for you were gone, that the past was the past and it just wasn’t meant to be. But I could tell there was still something there. I know he loved her so much, Y/N, but I swear to God after that night I never once saw his eyes shine again like they did when he talked about you.”

Sinking into the couch, you feel as if you’re in some kind of dream space. Nothing quite seems real as you stare at your television and watch as the man of the hour laughs at something James has said, while you try your best to process all that Ashley has revealed.

“Oh my god,” you croak out, your mouth feeling incredibly dry. Mind racing, you can’t quite find the right words to articulate what you’re feeling.

“I know it’s a lot and kind of sounds crazy, but it’s all true. Hell, I don’t even know if Austin remembers it happening, but I’ve never forgotten it. I’m sorry I kept it from you but I figured it was best; Austin was getting serious about Vanessa and you were busy with your show and casually dating at the time. I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary drama or hurt. Ugh, maybe I should’ve told you sooner. I should’ve said something that last night of filming!” It’s obvious the girl feels bad about it all, conflicted even. Even in your shocked state, you immediately put a stop to her worries.

“Ash, please don’t blame yourself for anything. Even if you had told me what Austin said or if you had done something when we wrapped, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I still would’ve gotten the show offer and still would’ve moved. Austin and I didn’t deserve to jump into something just for us to be torn apart. Besides, he and Vanessa would’ve crossed paths anyways. It was never going to be him and I. If not Vanessa, Austin would’ve found some other girl. Our lives just didn’t line up back then, that had to be some kind of sign we weren’t meant to be.” Your voice trails off, mind traveling back to those years and how hard it was to keep your closest relationships afloat. You can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like trying to keep a romantic relationship going, especially being separated by an ocean.

There’s a part of your brain that tells you you would’ve tried with Austin despite the obstacles, would’ve done anything to keep him close and not lose contact like you did. You shake it off quickly before it can consume you.

“You’re right about the timing and distance I suppose, but you're wrong about you and Austin not being meant to be.” Ashley pauses for a moment, thinking about her next words. She takes a breath and then, “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be back then, but what if it’s meant to be now.”

Your breath catches in your throat and you do your best to not choke on it. “I don’t know about that. I-It’s been too long. We were just kids back then. I don’t even know who he is anymore. Besides, even if he’s being serious about me being his celebrity crush, that’s all it is. It’s not like he said he’s in love with me.”

Bringing your feet up on the couch, you hug your knees close to your chest, needing some sort of comfort and a way to ground yourself. This past half hour has been one of the craziest of your life, and that’s saying something.

“He may not have said it, but he’s sure shown it.” Ashley goes quiet for a moment, you can hear shuffling and small noises from Jupiter; she must be putting her to bed. The lack of conversation leaves you a moment to ponder what your friend might mean. How has Austin shown he loves you? You haven’t even been in the same room together for over a decade. She must be mistaken.

Before you get a chance to dismiss her claims, the actress chimes in again. “Just hear me out on the things I’m about to tell you, okay? Over these past few years since Austin and Vanessa’s breakup, I’ve noticed certain things that make me believe Austin at least still thinks about you, and I say 'thinks' since I can tell you don’t want to believe it’s love.” There’s a joking edge to her voice and you lightly laugh at the way she’s able to know your thoughts without even being with you in person.

The whole thing seems absurd. You don’t really understand how you got to this point; discussing with your best friend how a man you knew fourteen years ago might still have feelings for you, but here you are. There is a tiny part of you that thinks maybe it isn’t so absurd because maybe, just maybe, you still have feelings for him too.

“Okay,” you decide. “Lay it on me.”

“Alright so I’m just gonna be honest and tell you he hasn’t said anything to me about it upfront, but like I said he’s easier to read than Jupiter’s baby books so I can tell this man is hiding something from me.” The both of you chuckle and you shake your head. This girl truly never misses a beat.

“First of all, he hasn’t dated anyone in three years, Y/N/N. Sure he’s hooked up with one or two girls, but every time I ask if this new girl is the one, he says it’s not gonna work out, that she’s not the one. And when I try to get it out of him who he thinks the one is, he looks at me like a little boy afraid to say he has a crush on a girl at school and then changes the subject.”

“Ashley-“

“Wait! No, okay, I know what you’re gonna say. You’re gonna say ‘that could mean anything, that doesn’t automatically make me the girl he’s talking about’, and that’s what I thought at first too, but then he started asking about you.”

Heat rushes to your face, your chest beginning to tighten as a fluttering feeling takes over your body. He asked about me? You bite your bottom lip and rub your hand over your face, preparing yourself for what Ashley is going to say next.

“It was subtle, I know he thinks he got away with it, but I knew every time he brought you up, it was because he was trying to find out more about you, trying to figure out a way to get close to you again. He was slick about it at first, would ask how you are when a commercial for one of your movies came up, but then he would straight up ask if you would be coming to the parties or hangouts I would have.”

“Oh my God,” you whisper, once again at a loss for any other words as excitement and disbelief course through your veins.

“I don’t know why he didn’t just ask me for your number, he knows I have it. I should’ve just given it to him but I didn’t want to overstep with you, didn’t know if you would want me to. I knew how busy you were and figured you wouldn’t have the time or maybe just wouldn’t want to considering how long it had been since you guys talked. I should’ve just been my normal scheming self and handed it over. To be fair I did try to get you guys together without either of you knowing over these last few years after I realized what he was up to-“

“Ashley!” You shriek, laughter erupting from within you and ringing out across your living room.

“What!? I couldn’t help it! It was clear to me Austin was into you, or at least wanted to reconnect, and I kinda wanted to see what happened! I told you I knew there was something between you guys way back then so I figured you probably felt the same as him. It never worked though because every time he would come to my functions, you couldn’t, and every time you would come, he couldn’t! I for sure thought it would finally happen when we had Juju’s party, but you had to leave to catch your flight right before Austin got there. It’s like you guys kept missing each other.”

Every single one of those instances floods your mind as Ashley says this. To think you guys could’ve been reunited, but something or someone pulled you away from it every time. And Jupiter’s birthday? The fact you missed him by mere minutes. You don’t know whether to take this all as a good or bad sign, clearly Austin wants to be in your life, but the universe seemingly has other plans.

“I don’t even know what to say,” you breathe out. “I mean, that’s crazy, right? It’s like we’re on the same path to each other, but we’re taking different routes, just missing each other every single time.”

"I know you're probably thinking this might be a bad sign, but I don't think it is. You and Austin had a bond that not many people get to have in their lifetime. You don't just forget about something like that. Sure you haven't talked in years, but that doesn't mean you still can't care for each other. Sometimes the universe has a plan that may not always happen when you want it to, but it's there. Like you said, it's like you're on the same path to each other, and maybe it's finally time the two of you are meant to be back together."

Ashley's words hit you hard. On the outside it might look like you and Austin just aren't supposed to cross paths again, but there's no way that could be true, not with all that's happened.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," you say. "All this time I thought I lost him for good, that he never felt the same as me back then." Tilting your head back on your couch, you let out a short, breathy laugh.

"And to think it's all because Austin just had to spill his guts on television." Once again you find yourself laughing with your best friend. To think you met two of the most important and special people in your life on the set of a silly little alien movie is so crazy, but you're glad it happened. You really don't think you'd be where you are today if things had been different, you definitely could say it was fate.

"So what do I do? Damn, I really am gonna have to call him and say 'Hey saw you on tv saying you had a crush on me! Wanna hook up?', aren't I?"

Ashley snorts on the other line and the sound makes you giggle. “Okay honestly, for once I’m gonna go back on what I’ve said. I definitely think this is too much to discuss over a phone call. You two need to be face to face when this happens.”

“I guess start your party planning then because I have no idea how else I’m supposed to meet him in person without having to call him first.”

While you sit on the couch and begin to nibble lightly on your bottom lip as you contemplate, an idea immediately comes to Ashley’s mind, and she knows the second she thinks of it that you’re not gonna like it.

“What if-,“ she hesitates, tossing the idea back and forth in her head, trying to decide if it really is the way to go. She decides it doesn’t hurt to at least suggest it. “What if you talked to him at the Met?”

You blink and then your eyes go wide. The thought of meeting up with Austin at the Met Gala hadn’t even crossed your mind. To be fair you’ve been trying to block it out since you found out you’d both be attending. The prospect of running into him for the first time in fourteen years during one of the biggest nights of the year sort of terrifies you.

“I-I mean I guess I could but-,“ shaking your head, you let out a huff and lean back into the couch.

“I know it’s not ideal, but this is your chance! I know you guys have obligations in the beginning, but the rest of the night is yours! You can find a cozy little corner to chat or whatever…” Ashley giggles and you gasp.

“Ashley, seriously!?” The girl laughs and you just roll your eyes, fighting back a smile.

“I’m sorry! I know this is serious, I’ll stop. But honestly, Y/N, this could work. It’s two weeks away, you have plenty of time to prepare. I know there’s no guarantee of anything happening, but don’t you at least wanna see what happens? This could change everything.” Ashley’s tone is light and supportive, you know she’s rooting for you and Austin, apparently always has been.

You know she’s right, that this could really be it. Maybe the universe really did have a plan for you and Austin all along, sure it wasn’t when you wanted it to happen, but it’s better late than never. There’s only one way to find out.

“Okay,” you reply. “I’ll do it. I’ll talk to Austin at the Met Gala.”

*****

The last two weeks have been…interesting to say the least. When Austin’s interview aired, you thought nothing of it in terms of media and fan attention, surely nothing would come of it. The only ones who would notice and mull it over would be you and Ashley, but boy were you wrong.

For fourteen straight days your socials have been filled with tags, comments, and mentions of you and Austin. All of which include photos or videos of the two of you from your days working on Aliens. There were so many people picking apart everything they could, theorizing, and making absurd assumptions. Majority of the time everything was light hearted and funny, but you couldn’t shake the feeling of how weird it all felt.

While looking at everything and seeing all the comments, it made you feel like you were right back on that set, like you were fourteen years in the past and you couldn’t make your way out. The whole thing made you feel like a teenager again, made you feel like that naive girl who was falling for her costar.

It’s funny how easy it is to slip back into those feelings, how some photos or clips dug up from strangers on the internet can suddenly transport you back to a time you tried hard to forget about and move on from. For the past few days you’ve been fighting with yourself on whether you’re taking that as a good or bad thing, but for now the jury is still out.

It’s almost time now. Any minute your car would pull up to the Met and you’d find yourself climbing those stairs and making your way to the one person who’s taken up space in your mind for two weeks.

Anxiety is definitely starting to rattle your bones and for once it isn’t because of the paparazzi or fans. It’s because of a boy, a man.

Times goes faster than you would’ve liked and suddenly you're stepping out to a swarm of flashing lights and excited screams. Somehow these things calm you, ground you. You choose to ignore the reason for this; the chaos drowns out your thoughts of seeing Austin tonight.

Staff ushers you along as you make your way towards the entrance of the building. Even with the fluid movement of everything, there’s no doubt you’re turning heads, almost forcing everyone to stop what they’re doing in order to get a look at you.

The past few years when it comes to the Met it’s no secret that people have been disappointed in certain looks, disappointed in a clear lack of on-theme fashion. But that’s so far from what’s happening with you tonight.

People would bet money that if Anna Wintour laid eyes on you right now, she would fall to her knees in both gratitude and awe over how on theme and brilliant you look. And that is saying something.

The fact that what you're wearing is even a topic to be discussed leaves you giggling and shaking your head, being a celebrity sure is crazy sometimes.

For a moment, you take a mental step back and really take everything in. It's crazy to you how far you've come, how much things have changed in such a short time. In just over a decade your whole life has been turned around. You've had experiences you've only ever dreamed of and it just keeps getting better. Not a day will ever go by where you aren't thankful for what's happened to you.

Sure, maybe you would've changed some things, taken different paths, or tried a little more with certain people. But at the end of the day all of that led you to where you are now—right here.

Keeping that in mind, you allow yourself to take a breath, to stop obsessing over what may or may not happen with Austin—if you even get a chance to talk to him. Stressing out over what ifs will do nothing good for you, and you know that. Whatever's meant to be, will be. Good or bad—with or without Austin—tonight will happen as it should.

You tilt your head down and close your eyes for a second, smile at the thought if it all, and then proceed to head inside.

*****

As the night goes on, it's clear to you that there's a possibility you really won't speak to Austin this evening. Somehow, you haven't seen him at all. You wouldn't have even known he showed if it wasn't for one of your friends gushing over how great the whole 'Elvis ensemble' looked earlier.

To be fair, you haven't really gotten a chance to even look for the guy. It's like everywhere you turn there's a friend or work colleague pulling you every which way and wanting to talk to you. It warms your heart to be speaking with so many lovely people, but if you wanted to even have a chance at letting something happen between you and Austin tonight, it would have to happen fast. The night may be young, but people would be leaving the museum soon to attend the countless after parties thrown throughout the night.

Who knows, you think, maybe Austin already left...

*****

Unbeknownst to you, Austin had seen you countless times tonight. Each time he caught a glimpse of you he was awestruck, as if he had never seen such a beautiful person before. But it was more than that too, it was the way he would watch as you laughed at something your friend would say, the way you would smile when greeting someone. Austin so desperately wanted to walk over to you—to hear that laugh and to have you smile at him like that. He had missed it so much.

But each time he would gather up the courage, someone would pull him away towards some producer he just had to talk to, or to some chairman he didn't even know existed until tonight, or to just someone who wasn't you.

Austin did his best to not look like a creep as he kept sneaking quick glances at you as often as he could. There was a part of him that hoped maybe you were looking to catch his eye as much as he wanted to catch yours. Every time you'd scan the area—as if you were looking for someone—his pulse would jump. You'd be just about to see him when someone would call your name or pull you away. You were constantly slipping through his fingers, have been for the past fourteen years from what he could gather from Ashley, and he wants that to end now—he needs it to.

"Austin." The blonde nearly jumps out of his seat as he's ripped from his thoughts. He clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck, hoping and praying he didn't just get caught staring at you as you speak to Daisy Edgar-Jones.

It's Priscilla and from the knowing look on her face Austin can tell he's busted. "M'sorry, what did you say?" Austin does his best to look fully invested in the woman sitting beside him, but no amount of fake attentiveness could fool Priscilla Presley.

"I said," Priscilla smiles. "When are you going to stop staring at that girl and go talk to her?"

Austin can feel the heat rising to his face and he tries to collect himself as much as possible in order to not let on to anything. "I-uh, I don't-." He chuckles, not totally sure on how to salvage this.

"Oh c'mon, Austin. You've been looking at her since the moment we got here. I didn't think anything of it, but when Baz was talking to you earlier and all you were doing was looking over his shoulder at her, I could tell something was up."

Austin immediately feels a small sense of shame, "I hadn't realized. M'so sorry, Priscilla. I didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything, especially not to you and Baz-"

Priscilla shakes her head, placing her hand on Austin's arm to let him know she's not trying to reprimand him. "There's nothing to apologize for! Trust me when I tell you it went right over Baz's head. He's so invested in this whole thing and drunk off the champagne he didn't even notice. I'm saying this to you because I want to know why you haven't gone over to her yet. We've just been sitting here for over a half hour, there's nothing stopping you from reaching out to her."

Austin can tell by the look in Priscilla's eyes that she knows something is up. She can tell he cares for the girl and wants to talk to her, she just can't understand why he hasn't already. You don't look at a woman like that and not go up to her.

"I just-I want to it's just-" Austin feels at a loss for words. His eyes flick to you across the room and his heart nearly bursts at the sight. He doesn't understand how he could care for someone so much even after how long it's been since you two have spoken. He's never been able to shake the way you make him feel, even after he fell in love with someone else and buried his feelings for you deep down, they were still always there. You were still always there.

"I know it may not seem like it, but I am hip to what goes on online. She's that girl you worked with a long time ago that everyone's talking about, isn't she?" Priscilla's eyes and smile are warm, inviting. She has this way about her that's always been able to calm Austin. Even when he was nervous as all get out when he met her for the first time, she was able to ease his nerves. Able to make him feel like he had someone to talk to, someone looking out for him.

The actor can feel his shoulders relax, feel some of the tension melt away as he decides there's no better person to open up to about love than Priscilla.

"Yeah, she is," Austin smiles. "If I'm bein' honest with you, I'm pretty sure I've been in love with her since I was seventeen years old. Sure I fell for other people, but I think there's a part of me that's always known no one else has ever, or will ever, make me feel the way she did-does."

There's a sense of relief Austin feels as the words leave his lips. He never thought he'd ever admit that to anyone, especially not out loud, and yet here he is. And if someone were to ask how it feels, he'd say it feels damn good.

"That's a beautiful feeling to have, and to know it as well. Not a lot of people find that person that makes them feel such a way, and they definitely don't always get the chance to have them back in their lives when they do."

Austin reaches out to grab Priscilla's hand and she places her other on top of his, squeezing it lightly. "No, they don't."

There's an unspoken understanding passed between the two. A nod to a past love and the chance a different ending can be written for a present one.

"I may not know a lot about the two of you, but it's clear to me you care a lot for this young woman and you can't let anything hold you back from finally going after her, from telling her how you feel. Love is one of the most important things in a person's life, and you've got to do everything you can to hold it close while you still can."

Austin nods his head, understanding completely what Priscilla is telling him. He knows with all his heart she's right; that he can't let anything or anyone hold him back any longer from the one he truly loves, not even himself.

"Go, Austin. It's obvious there's something destined to happen between you both; timing doesn't align like this for no reason. Now is your chance." Priscilla lets go of Austin's hand and there's a glint in her eyes Austin's only ever seen a few times before, all for the same reason.

As the blonde begins to stand up, he stops for a second. "Thank you, Priscilla, truly."

The woman closes her eyes briefly, nodding her head. Austin smiles once more before turning and walking straight to the person he's wanted to talk to for fourteen years, not stopping for anything.

*****

Taking a final sip of your drink, you stand from your chair. Half your table has cleared out, leaving with excited mumblings of after parties and late night escapades.

Part of you aches to stay longer to try and seek out Austin, but you really have no way to. All of your friends have already gone, the only one left being Daisy, but she wants to leave now too. Sure you could stay on your own, but who would be your cover? You don't really want to go walking around asking if anyone has seen the Elvis star—not with everything that's been going on in the media lately. You'd hate to draw attention to your desire to seek out an old friend and have it spin into something it's not.

"Ready?" Daisy asks from beside you, a light smile on her lips. Nodding, you return her smile before taking one last look around the extravagant room, hoping to catch a flash of familiar sandy hair somewhere.

"Yeah let's-"

Cutting yourself off, your neck nearly snaps at the speed in which you turn it back around. It was only for a second that you saw him, and only out of the corner of your eye, but you would recognize that face anywhere. It's Austin. And he's coming straight towards you.

Daisy notices your sudden change in demeanor instantly and it doesn't take her long to figure out what's happening. She sees the blonde and connects the dots. It's hard for her to contain her smile.

"I'll talk to you later, yeah?" She says, drawing your attention away from the approaching actor. Your eyes widen a little as you turn towards her again. There's no shot she missed your reaction, but you're glad it's Daisy who's caught it and not someone else. You told her a little about what's going on the other day when you were catching up, and you know she'd take everything to her grave if you asked her to.

"Yeah, of course." Reaching out to grasp her hand you whisper, "Thank you."

Daisy squeezes your hand in hers, nodding. "You're welcome and good luck." The girl gives you a knowing look before grabbing her clutch from the table and following the steady stream of people towards the exit.

Even over the constant flow of chatter and light music, you hear when Austin's steps stop behind you. You know that this is it, the moment you turn around everything will change. This could mean nothing, Austin could simply want to exchange pleasantries and catch up, but there's a part of you that knows that's far from what's going to happen.

Turning on your heels, you're met with ocean blue eyes you never thought you'd see in person again, and suddenly your mind is completely numb. All previous thoughts and anxieties are thrown out the window as you get lost in those big blue orbs.

"You look...beautiful," Austin gasps out. The comment leaves your cheeks feeling flushed, but you do your best to not shy away.

"Thank you," You whisper, your voice failing you as you're hit with so many emotions. If you thought seeing those old videos and pictures of you and Austin would be bad, it's got nothing on how you feel with him standing right here in front of you.

It's been over a decade and yet it's as if no time has passed at all. He's the same boy from that movie set all those years ago. Sure he's older, more defined, but he's got those same warm features. That same inviting and comforting aura that drew you to him in the first place.

"How long's it been?" He questions, but you can tell he knows exactly how long it's been. You can see it in his eyes, in the way he looks over your features as if he can't get enough of you, as if he's been waiting ages for this day.

"Fourteen years," you both say at the same time. There's a beat of silence, the weight of that revelation being spoken to each other for the first time hanging in the air.

The way it makes you feel is odd. There's a rush of sadness that passes through you and it passes through Austin as well. It's funny how quickly time flys. How it never really affected you because you had always been so busy. You didn't have time to think about what could've been with Austin, you didn't allow yourself to. You practically built a wall to block out the what ifs and the feelings you knew you had to let go of.

But knowing what you know now—that there could've been a chance and the fact he’s here with you—makes it all come crashing down.

In an instant you find yourself lunging towards the man before you, wrapping your arms tightly around him and falling in an embrace you haven't had in a long time.

To hell with the gossip, you think, let them talk. I missed him.

To anyone else the way Austin holds you so tightly might feel uncomfortable, but for you it's the most comfortable you've felt in a while. You bask in the way his scent and warmth envelops you. It's all so strangely familiar, yet you also had forgotten the way it felt to be wrapped in his arms. You wish with all your heart that you never had to forget in the first place.

"Why did you never reach out to me?" The words leave your lips so fast you surprise yourself. It could be seen as hypocritical asking this of Austin because why didn't you reach out? But the difference is, you always thought Austin never felt anything for you. You were under the impression he found his match and that was the end of it. You felt rejected only to find out there was something there all along. Why didn't he let you know sooner?

Austin takes a breath, sighing into the side of your head. It's obvious he has a lot to share with you, to explain. You want nothing more than to hear all of it and to have everything make sense. You’d sit with him all night if you have to.

Releasing his arms from around you, Austin takes a step back and softly turns you towards your table. He places a hand on the small of your back and leads you to your chair. The both of you sit down and you turn towards Austin to show him he has your full attention.

Unlike just a few moments ago, Austin looks anywhere but at you. He’s nibbling on his bottom lip and contemplating how he’s going to explain himself. There’s definitely a reason for the fact he didn’t try to contact you sooner, why he didn’t make more of an effort to keep in touch, why he didn’t fight for you.

He just doesn’t know how he’s going to explain it to you. Austin’s struggled to admit it to himself for so long, so admitting it to the woman it all has to do with is borderline terrifying for him.

“Aus,” you say, reaching out to give his hand a light squeeze. “It’s okay. You can talk to me, you know that.”

The blonde slowly raises his eyes to yours and sees how genuine your concern is. He can tell that you need this. It breaks his heart knowing how long he’s left you hanging without any explanation as to what he felt. Austin feels like an idiot over the fact you thought he felt nothing for you while the whole time it was the opposite.

All because of my own fears, he thinks, my own insecureties...

Austin shakes his head, essentially shaking off his nerves. He can't let them hold him back anymore. He can't let himself hold him back from going after what he really wants, who he really wants. Austin wants to be honest with you, he needs to.

"Y/N, I never reached out to you because I thought I wasn't good enough for you."

The statement practically knocks you over. Your head jolts back in confusion and your eyes go wide, disbelief clouding your features instantly. "Austin, why in the world would you think that?"

You don't want to diminish the importance and validity of Austin's feelings and fears, but the fact he believed he wasn't good enough for you is beyond mind-boggling.

A small smile tugs at a corner of Austin's lips, realization dawning on him that maybe it was a little silly to feel that way. But it's what he's always felt as soon as you left for your tv show, and he hasn't been able to shake it since.

"I-I don't know. You left the country and I saw how big your career was gettin' and I thought I wouldn't be able to compare, that you could do better, that you could be with someone more on your level. I know it may sound stupid but it's true. I also didn't want to come between your success or hold you back in any way. Trust me that not a day went by after we wrapped on Aliens that I didn't want to do better at stayin' in contact, but I figured with your big break that it was no use. You shouldn't have to choose between trying to make a relationship or your career work. So I just let it go. I let you go when I shouldn't have."

"Austin," your lip trembles as you try to not be consumed by your emotions. The fact he felt like this, no matter if it had even been a little bit, hurts your heart in a way you've never experienced before.

The actor lifts his hand in an effort to try and halt you feeling bad for him. "Sweetheart, please don't get upset over this, okay? It was all on me, I should've done something about it instead of keeping it from you back then. Lettin’ our relationship crumble is the worst thing I've ever done and I'm sorry.

"I thought after a few years that I had gotten over it. As you know I was in a committed relationship and I felt a good balance during it. I thought I had grown and that I could handle the fact my career wasn't at an extreme height compared to my partner's. So when that relationship ended I had a lot of time to reflect and figure out what it was I really wanted. I came back to America after filming Elvis and I swear to God when I stepped off that plane one of the first things I saw was a billboard with you on it for one of your new movies at the time.

"I figured this had to be some sorta sign or somethin'. But the more I kept thinkin' about it and figurin' out how I could reach out to you, the more I started to doubt myself. I felt like I was a teenager again questionin' if I was good enough for you. You were in all these huge films and seen with these other guys who are so much more successful than me, and I didn't know if you would even wanna talk to me considerin' how much time had passed."

Austin takes a breath, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. It was a lot to admit, but letting you know exactly how he felt all these years is such a relief. He's kicking himself for not doing it sooner, for letting more time pass that he could've spent with you—as a friend at the very least.

He shouldn't have relied on possibly running into you at Ashley's parties, he should've just taken the leap and gotten your number. What's done is done though and there's no going back, but he sure as hell is gonna do everything he can to stay close with you going forward.

“Austin,” you start, feeling very much overwhelmed in both a good and bad way. No matter how you’re feeling though, you won’t allow Austin to think he’s inferior to you or that you wouldn’t want to talk to him because that’s so beyond far from the truth. “Never would I ever not wanna talk to you. If anything you’re one of the only people I’ve wanted to talk to these past few years. I’ve missed you like nobody’s business and I hate the fact you’ve ever felt anything less than equal when it comes to me and my success, and that those feelings forced you to stay away.

“No matter how many movies or shows I do, or what famous people I’m seen with, none of it will ever change the way I feel about you or make me see you in a different light. You’re one of, if not the, most honest and kind people I have ever met. I may not have known you for long way back then, but every single moment we spent together has stuck with me, and the way you treated me and made me feel has never left my mind. No one’s ever been as special to me as you were, Austin—as you are.”

The way Austin's eyes shine with emotion is indescribable. Somehow they get even more blue, a pale color you could get lost in for hours if given the chance. It's clear how impactful your words are on him, so you let him take a moment to just gather his thoughts.

"Y/N, I-I don't even know what to say," he chuckles, rubbing his fingers over his chin. "There aren't really enough words out there to describe how much that means to me, how much you mean to me. Gosh, m’just so sorry I let so much time pass between us and that I let my insecurities get the best of me."

You had begun shaking your head before Austin even finished what he was saying. "Don't be sorry. We both had our own part in everything and I would never hold that to you, especially when it comes to insecurities. I just hope you know how much I appreciate you being honest with me and letting me know everything. It definitely answers a lot of questions I had back then."

Austin nods his head and smiles lightly at you. It's a relief for him to know that helped you in some way. He knows finally letting it out absolutely helped him.

"And hey," you continue, a teasing tone poking through. "There's no way you can still feel like that, Mr. Elvis Presley himself! Like are you kidding me, Aus? That's incredible, I'm so proud of you and how far you've come. You deserve this so much and I know only a little bit has been shared, but I can just tell you're going to be amazing in that film. I can't wait to see it."

Your smile is wide as you watch Austin get shy, his cheeks reddening and his hand immediately rubbing the back of his neck. The sight makes you feel giddy.

"Thank you, Y/N/N. I appreciate that a lot. I really hope you do enjoy it when it comes out." There's a timid tone of pride as Austin says this. It's so surreal for him to think about how this film is actually real, and even more so that people are excited to see it. He's grateful for all the work he's ever done, but this is beyond his wildest dreams, and he can't wait for you to see it.

"You're welcome," you grin. "I'm sure I will."

There's a comforting stillness that surrounds you both for a few moments. The two of you just staring at each other fondly, feeling a fourteen year weight off your shoulders. It's a lot to take in all at once, especially after so much time, but it feels good and as if you're picking up right where you both left off. The questions and doubt you've carried for years finally roll off your back and you feel like you can start fresh with Austin, like things can be different after all.

"So, there's a lot to catch up on, isn't there?" Austin says, a coy smirk playing on the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, there is," you reply, settling more into your chair as you eagerly await the endless stories you know are coming.

"Where should we start?"

You ponder that question for a moment, thinking of where the best place to begin your catch up would be. It doesn't take long for the only correct answer to surface in your mind.

"How about right where we left off?" You suggest.

"Sounds perfect."

*****

You're not sure how much time has passed since you and Austin started reminiscing, but from the state of the gala around you—or at least what's left of it—it's been a while.

In the time you've spent chatting with Austin and getting to know who he is now, you realize just how aligned your lives have always been.

There's this little café in Los Angeles that you always pass by when you're out and about, and they have the best drinks and food you could imagine, so you stop there in the mornings before you start your day. Turns out Austin goes to the same place, except instead of in the morning, he goes at the end of his day right before he goes home.

Another thing was when Austin brought up how he saw your billboard when he got off the plane, it reminded you of how you had the same experience when you got back to LA from filming your tv show. While you were on your way home from the airport you saw a bus with an advertisement for the show he had been on at the time, The Carrie Diaries, and it had made you want to reach out to him as well. Of course you never did, though.

All of these things coming to light had made the two of you laugh so many times throughout your conversation. It was crazy to think about how many times you missed reuniting with each other, either unknowingly or knowingly.

Despite the time lost, you're honestly just grateful to be back in Austin's life now. Maybe him spilling his guts on national television wasn't so bad after all. Without it, you really might never have crossed paths again, even with being at the Met together.

"Austin," someone says off to the side of you. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Baz is making his way out and I figured you'd want to say goodbye before he leaves."

The voice is gentle and calm, and when you look up to see who it belongs to you nearly fall out of your seat. Priscilla Presley in the flesh. You have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep your jaw from dropping.

Austin basically startles, suddenly realizing where he is. He got so caught up in listening to your stories and telling his own that he completely forgot he was even at an event.

"Oh absolutely, thank you, Priscilla. I'll be right there, I'll be just a moment."

Priscilla smiles warmly at Austin, and then her gaze quickly shifts to you. You can feel her kindness and compassion without her even having to say anything. She looks back towards Austin and you watch as she reaches up and lightly squeezes his shoulder, a knowing look passing between them.

You wonder what it is she's communicating to him, but something tells you it has everything to do with Austin coming over here to speak with you. The thought makes you feel warm inside.

In an instant, Priscilla's gone and it's just you and Austin once more. You know he has to leave now to say his goodbyes, so you begin to stand up from your chair. Austin does the same.

"She seems amazing," you say, staring in the direction Priscilla set off towards. You catch a glimpse of her as she laughs at something Baz Luhrmann has said.

"Yeah, she's incredible," Austin gushes. "I'll have to introduce you two properly sometime."

There's a shyness in Austin as he awaits your response. He doesn't want to overstep or push you into anything. From what he can tell he thinks you want to be back in his life as much as he wants to be back in yours, but still he doesn't want to just assume that there will even be a next time between you two.

"I'd love that, Aus," you reassure. His blue eyes meet yours and you can see how happy he is. You're sure your eyes show the same.

Austin looks quickly towards his table and knows he doesn't have much time left with you, so he speaks up before any more time can pass between you. "There's somethn' I wanna ask you. It's somethin' I should've asked you about fourteen years ago."

An airy laugh passes your lips and your heart swells at the idea of what the blonde is about to ask, a familiar feeling settling in your bones. You nod your head for him to go on.

Austin leans in, a little flustered but somehow still exuding the utmost confidence. "Would you wanna go out with me sometime?"

There it is. The question you were hoping he'd ask you all those years ago. It sounds even better than you thought it would.

"You have no idea how much I wanted you to ask me that." Austin laughs and the sound practically rattles your body. You'd never get tired of it. "Of course I would."

Austin wastes no time in wrapping his arms around you, bringing you close to his chest and holding you there. Once again you find yourself basking in it, wishing you didn't have to say goodbye already. The fact this won't be the last time you see Austin keeps you happy, though. The fact you have a date with him really seals the deal.

"You ever feel like, I don't know, there's somethin' that ties two people together sometimes? Like they're always gonna be connected, that they were destined for each other or somethin'? Sort of like a-" Austin cuts himself off, trying to think of what it is he's referencing.

"Like an invisible string?" You beam, pulling back to look up at him, knowing precisely what he's getting at.

"Yeah, exactly," he murmurs, staring at you with such adoration you swear you could melt right here.

You lightly squeeze Austin's waist before whispering back to him, "Then yeah, I absolutely do."

*****

It's been a couple weeks since you reunited with Austin at the Met Gala. It had taken a bit of rescheduling and careful planning, but you two were finally able to go on that date, and to say it was one of the best nights of your life would be an understatement.

There was a small part of you that was worried you had exhausted your topics to discuss while at the Met, but the way you and Austin fell into an easy rhythm while going out felt incredible. He made you laugh more times than you could count and just being in his presence again after so long felt like a dream come true. You missed talking to him and feeling a genuine connection with someone.

So, you were ecstatic when he kissed you goodnight. There aren't really words to describe the way it feels to kiss Austin Butler. All you know is that it definitely left you dizzy and wanting more. Needless to say, you can't wait for your next date.

Now, you find yourself in what feels like a full circle moment. Just like Austin was over a month ago, you're sat with James Corden on The Late Late Show. Luckily, you're not playing Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts like Austin had, but you're sure the topic of the two of you will come up soon enough.

The internet was kind of a mess since the Met, even more so than it was before. Word got out that you and Austin had spent the night talking—with a few added assumptions—and it hasn't been the same since. When you got papped while out on your date, that's when it got even worse. It was all so crazy, but all you two really cared about at the end of the day was that you were finally together.

"So, Y/N, I have to ask," James turns the questions to you now instead of your fellow special guest. "There are a few rumors flying about you and a certain blonde heartthrob—care to comment?"

Scattered 'oh's and 'ah's make their way across the audience and your heartbeat picks up a little at the sound. You knew this was coming, but it still makes you feel a little nervous. This relationship between you and Austin is fairly new, even if you have known each other for over a decade, but it's special and you'd hate to make it out to be something it's not.

"What would you like to know, James?" You're willing to throw a bone here and there, it's not like you and Austin are keeping your relationship a secret. You'll only dish out a little, but then it's lips sealed, at least for a little while longer.

"Anything, really. I mean is it true you and Austin reconnected at the Met and then proceeded to go out on a date?" James scoots forward in his chair a little, as if not wanting to miss a single thing you say.

You nod your head, that's obvious enough. Not too personal. It takes a quick search of your names over the past few weeks to connect those dots. "Yeah, it's true. The Met was actually the first time we saw each other in person in fourteen years. It was pretty crazy."

James and the audience react accordingly, finding that little tidbit to be fascinating. It kind of is, in a way. "That is pretty crazy! You know when Austin was on the show a while back and he said you were his celebrity crush, I was just so happy. I knew you guys had worked together a long time ago, so the idea of a reconciliation just seemed so cute to me."

"Thank you! Yeah it was great to meet up with him again. We definitely had a lot to catch up on, and I guess I really have you to thank for that considering it was Austin's comment on the show that sort of set everything in motion," you smile.

The host laughs and then grins before pretending to brush off dust on his shoulders. "Well you know they do say I tend to bring out the best in people. It's a gift, matchmaking."

Everyone laughs and James claps his hands together before shaking his head. "No, I'm joking, but really, Y/N, congratulations on everything. I know it's a tricky subject to bring up so I'll leave it at that, but I'm happy for you and wish you all the best."

"Thank you very much, James, I appreciate that." The man smiles at you before a thought appears to dawn on him.

"Okay wait I lied. I have one more question and then I'm done with you, I swear." You bust out laughing, along with everyone else, and shake your head at him.

"Sure, hit me with it," you giggle, interested to know where this is going.

"Y/N,” James pauses, building up the anticipation in the room. “Who is your celebrity crush?"

You don't even hesitate.

"Austin Butler."

#austin butler x reader #austin butler x y/n #austin butler x you #austin butler fanfic #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fluff #austin butler angst #austin butler #requested

794 notes · View notes

fernsnailz · 1 year

Note

i love reading your sonic loreposts i was wondering if you could please explain archie charmy to me, i have heard stuff and i am so curious but i am not a comics in general kinda person. the lsd poisoned friend or the brain damage literally just anything that happens to him your pick

hi anon i’m just going to go over everything that happens to archie charmy pre-reboot so i hopefully never have to talk about it after this. i'm sorry i'm so so sorry

Archie Charmy is subject to a lot of controversy and discussion because despite his limited role in the comics, he goes through some of the most batshit insane character and plot beats in the whole series (and that you’ve already mentioned). I’ll be skimming over some of the more boring parts, but the wild stuff I'll go pretty in-depth with.

I’ll also be attempting to explain WHY all of this happens to Charmy Bee of all characters, taking into account the context of the story, what was happening behind the scenes in the writer’s room, and even comic trends in general. I want to try and keep away from the very reactionary “wow archie sonic is sooooo crazy” discussion that happens around this stuff and hopefully provide a little more useful analysis. i talk about comic PSAs for a while so be warned

There are some very, very important content warnings that are coming with Archie Charmy lore: warning for non-consensual drug use and overdose (specifically LSD), child death, genocide, implied ableism, memory loss, implied age regression, breif homophobia mention (not related to charmy)

this is going to be a very long one. charmy lore under the cut

INTRODUCTION - CHAOTIX

Charmy Bee’s first appearance in Archie Sonic is in the Knuckles’ Chaotix special, which adapts the first game he appeared in. This issue introduces the entire Chaotix cast (six new characters) in a mere four pages, so Charmy doesn’t make much of an impression other than “bee who likes to explore and adventure.” He lacks that annoying little brother personality that he has in most Sonic media, and he’ll often speak with language that feels extremely out of character for the Charmy that most people know.

This is because this version of Charmy is based off of his character description from the Knuckles’ Chaotix game manual. Despite the series being based off of the video game franchise, the Archie Sonic writers were often given very little information about upcoming game releases from SEGA when they were asked to adapt them into the comics. Often they had to go digging for the canonical materials themselves - for example, the only way they were able to adapt Sonic Adventure into the comics is because Patrick Spaziante (one of the comic’s artists) had a Japanese version of the game that he bought himself. They had no English translation and zero guidance from SEGA, so they had to attempt to piece the story together without SEGA's help. This was the case with most of the game adaptations, and it was honestly a miracle that they had access to the manual for Knuckles’ Chaotix at all.

There’s just one problem: the manual for Knuckles’ Chaotix describes a version of Charmy that is very, very different from the one we know of today. It describes a 16-year old that is… sophisticated?

(sorry for the low quality, there aren't many images of the manual. also fun fact, there was no age for Charmy listed in the original Japanese manual)

Charmy's differing age and personality will lead to many, many problems, as the writers decided to give the “sophisticated” Charmy darker stories. This brings us to the Knuckles the Echidna mini-series.

The Knuckles mini-series is. Bad. Charmy Bee is certainly there for the first few issues (as are most of the Chaotix), but he doesn’t get much focus until issue 13.

I don’t know how to put this in a way that doesn’t sound extremely blunt: This is the issue where Charmy’s best friend overdoses on LSD and dies.

PART 1 - MELLO

Charmy's best friend is named Mello Bee. This is his first and last appearance in the series.

Mello started feeling strange on their return trip from Happyland, a sketchy theme park that recently reopened under new management. Charmy isn't sure why Mello died, but Constable Reminton (essentially the sheriff of Echidnopolis) reveals that there have been a series of cases similar to Mello's - cases where people were suffering from… Lemon Sundrop Dandelion poisoning.

The Chaotix go to Happyland to see if they can find the source of the poisoning, but what they don't know is that it's actually laced into the food. The manager of Happyland, Renfield T. Rodent, has been lacing the park's chili dogs with LSD in hopes of making everyone addicted to them. However, the amount of LSD he's been putting into the food is too much for most people to handle. This is probably the most insane paragraph I've had to write for one of these loreposts

Unknown to the Chaotix, they all start eating the chili dogs during their investigation (except for Julie-Su and Knuckles, who is absent) and start tripping balls.

Continuing the story into issue 14, Charmy’s LSD trip reveals that he’s actually the prince of a bee colony and has been running away from his responsibilities as a member of the royal family.

Charmy is knocked out for the rest of this arc as he goes through his trip - they have to operate on him and some other stuff happens I guess (Julie-Su gets thrown off of a roof, Knuckles fights some guys in a desert, Vector is a misogynist, stuff like that). At the end of issue 15, Charmy learns from his trip and returns to his family, temporarily leaving the Chaotix to return to his royal duties. Mello's family and his all mourn Mello's death and bury him back at their home.

So. What was the fucking point of all that

In the long-term, Charmy returning home to his family essentially writes him out of the story for a while. Knuckles the Echidna issue 15 released in 1998, and Charmy doesn't really return until 2001. While I'm not entirely sure what the reason for this was, there were so many members of the Chaotix that I honestly think this was an okay decision.

However, there's one very important question left to answer: Why was LSD and a drug overdose included in this arc at all?

When I first read this arc, I had a burning thought that I couldn't get out of my mind:

PART 1.5 - wait is this an anti-drug PSA?

(if you want to avoid me talking in-depth about the abilities of LSD and my ramble about comic PSAs for a while, you can skip to PART 2 where I continue the Charmy lore)

Comic PSAs (Public Service Announcements) and propaganda are a fundamental part of the medium’s history, whether it be to aid their country’s war efforts, give health information to their readers, or warn kids about the dangers of drug abuse. While a comic being used as a PSA isn’t inherently a bad thing, it’s usually VERY obvious. One of the most interesting ones I've found is a PSA that features Green Lantern debunking misinformation about the AIDS crisis. The image quality isn’t great, but the comic doesn’t hold back when talking about how the AIDS crisis is spreading homophobic ideology - if you read this, you know it’s a PSA and you know what message it’s trying to send. Sometimes propaganda can be subtle, but PSAs are usually loud.

(cw: homophobia)

This is why anti-drug PSAs are so common and so remembered - they’re over the top, they’re blunt (lol), and they have a very specific message they’re trying to send. For example, there’s an issue of New Teen Titans from 1983 that introduce a character called the Protector to teach kids about drug awareness where the issue literally starts with the Teen Titans in an auditorium telling kids about a dangerous drug. This issue also includes some bad trip imagery, and it’s uh… honestly i kinda love this

Anti-drug PSAs usually don’t work for this very reason - showing how a drug affects fictional characters can increase interest in the substance, and a single superhero telling someone to stop smoking is not going to break someone’s addiction.

So. Is Knuckles the Echidna issues 13-15 an anti-drug PSA?

Probably not, but if it is it’s doing a fucking terrible job of it

Some of the main factors of a PSA are the information it's presenting, the opinion it wants the consumer to develop, and the bluntness of its presentation. While this part of the Knuckles series is certainly over the top, the rest of these factors are really muddy. First, anti-drug PSAs usually don’t create a fake drug to replace the one they’re advising against. An anti-weed campaign will just tell you that weed is bad because that’s the opinion it wants you to walk away with. So when Knuckles issue 13 introduces a substance called “Lemon Sundrop Dandelion” and never actually refers to it as LSD, it’s less of a message about “drug bad” and more just a sly nudge and wink that goes “hey you see that? yeah, that’s drug.”

Then there’s the problem that there isn’t really much of a lesson to be had from these issues regarding drug use. Yes, Mello dies horrifically of an overdose, but most of the cast is able to walk off the trip like it’s nothing. Charmy needs to be operated on, but the doctors literally treat it like it’s fucking NOTHING

he's literally talking about how he told a patient that couldn't afford surgery to go to the butcher like HUH?????

In fact, Charmy’s trip seems to help him in the long run - he’s forced to face his past, and eventually returns to his family because of the literal guilt trip he has. It’s a fundamental part of his character arc.

This isn’t to say that I wish these issues were explicitly drug PSAs - I bring all of this up because these issues were released in 1998, in an era where the anti-drug movement was arguably at its peak. The people working on these comics would KNOW its content is similar to and even promotes the anti-drug movement. While I don't consider these issues to be an anti-drug PSA, they can definitely serve as anti-drug propaganda.

With this in mind, considering Knuckles the Echidna as a form of propaganda really opens up how utterly terrible these issues are. These comics can be genuinely harmful pieces of anti-drug propaganda because the way they use LSD to advance they plot is untrue to how the drug actually works and relies entirely on fear mongering. While LSD can be laced into other substances like drinks, it probably wouldn't last long in cooked meat - LSD usually degrades at higher temperatures, and telling comic readers that they need to be afraid of LSD-laced fair food is fucking stupid and likely based on false urban legends. Not only that, but Renfield T. Rodent’s plot to addict everyone to his LSD chili dogs is also fucking stupid because LSD is not considered an addictive substance. It can be extremely dangerous at high or multiple doses, but LSD does not normally lead to compulsive use.

I don’t talk about all of this to be a cinemasins guy or to nitpick a comic from 1998, and I also don't want to imply that PSAs can't spread lies and misinformation (anti-drug PSAs famously over-exaggerate things). I bring all of this up to show an ineffective and possibly dangerous use of something that could be considered anti-drug propaganda. Spreading blatantly untrue information and placing false fears into a reader’s mind is truly incompetent on the writer’s behalf, especially considering that this comic was targeted at kids. And that’s not even mentioning that there’s barely any moral to all of this. There’s no lesson and they never talk about this again.

Do I think this was all intentional on the behalf of the writers? I have no idea. I have no goddamn idea what they were thinking with this one, and I honestly don't think much thought was put into this arc at all. Maybe this was a strange attempt to make a Sonic-themed anti-drug PSA, maybe they were just inspired by the drug PSAs of their time when writing this, or maybe they just did not care. I don't know man. Anti-drug propaganda is stupid and it doesn't work and these comics drive me crazy

alright enough of that. let's talk about genocide

PART 2 - SAFFRON

don’t worry this part will be shorter (cheering and clapping)

Like I mentioned a while back, Charmy is essentially written out of the story for a while after the Mello incident. While living in the Golden Hive Colony, he reunites with another friend, Saffron Bee. Saffron becomes Charmy’s girlfriend, and they’re together for basically the rest of the comic. Usually if Charmy shows up, Saffron is there too.

(image of Charmy and Saffron I stole from... the Shipping Wiki??)

They eventually return to help Chaos Knuckles, a green version of Knuckles who is uh. Kinda going through it. Not much important Charmy lore needs to be discussed here, but some of his actions do eventually lead to him creating a genocidal villain that will cause many problems later. Don’t worry about it.

Things are quiet for a while for Charmy and Saffron. That is, until Eggman attacks their colony and wipes out most of its population.

Charmy and Saffron are the only survivors we see from the Golden Hive Colony. Eggman transforms the colony into a new base and traps its residents in an invention of his called the Egg Grapes - basically, he puts Mobians in these little pods that sap all of their life force, powering his empire. Most people do not survive the Egg Grapes.

The two bees return to join the Chaotix for a little while, and the rest of the Chaotix confirm that the Golden Hive Colony and its residents are truly gone. Espio destroys what’s left of the colony so Eggman can’t use it as a base, and no other survivors from the colony are found.

So. yeah what the fuck

Archie Sonic is known to have a LOT of characters - I’ve talked about the sheer number of echidnas the series has before, but there are a lot of characters that have massive extended families. The arc where Mello died introduced like eight new bee characters, but most of them were background characters that didn’t need to stick around.

Most people cite writer Ian Flynn’s debut to the series as when a lot of these unneeded/background characters were written out or killed off, and I agree since one of his objectives as a writer was to tighten up the story. However, the trend of “Archie background characters getting killed off or written out” started a little bit before he joined the team. There’s the destruction of the Golden Hive, and many echidnas in this arc suffer from the horrors of war - a number die off after Charmy and Saffron rejoin the Chaotix. yeah it's kinda fucked up

This is the second major arc where Charmy has lost people close to him - first Mello, and now his entire family and kingdom. The same goes for Saffron - they only have each other left. I mean the Chaotix are also there but still, trauma is trauma

How could it get any worse?

PART 3 - CHARMY

Remember how Archie Charmy is based off of the Knuckles’ Chaotix manual? The one that said he was sophisticated and 16?

This is about to cause a few problems.

At this point, it’s around 2007. The Knuckles’ Chaotix manual is terribly outdated, and most versions of Charmy within canon are 6 year-old kids. Charmy is known to be the annoying comedic relief, which is the exact opposite from how he’s portrayed in Archie Sonic.

So when SEGA asked writer Ian Flynn to change Archie Sonic to be like his video game counterpart, the solution was uh. well. it could have been handled better

Like how he obliterated the Golden Hive Colony, Eggman’s next target to destroy is Knothole, the city where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters all live. It’s a surprise to all of the residents, and he manages to teleport most of the population into his Egg Grapes. Before Sonic can save them, Eggman singles out Charmy to be used as an example of how the Egg Grapes work.

Sonic and friends manage to get Charmy out, but not before the damage is already done. In the limited amount of time the Grape sapped his life force, Charmy’s memory was partially wiped and personality changed forever. After this, Charmy has very little memory of the Golden Hive Colony at all, only seeming to remember Saffron and his friends. His becomes much more child-like, similar to his game counterpart.

the fucking sigh i just sighed

For clarification, Charmy is still 16. The only thing that was altered was his mind, with the intention to make his personality more in-line with his goofy video game counterpart. The problem is that giving a character brain damage to turn them into a comedic relief character is fucked up and unintentionally ableist.

This is something that writer Ian Flynn identified pretty early and openly regrets (I’m not sure what the source of that statement is, I’m assuming an episode of Bumblekast but I’m don’t know which one. I’ll edit this if I find it). Because of this, he mostly kept Charmy out of any comedic situations for the rest of the series. Charmy has a very limited role in the series after this until the reboot, only appearing sporadically and in one Sonic Universe arc. When he does show up, his childish demeanor is usually met with the patience of the Chaotix and their sad expressions.

Although the intention was to make Archie Charmy more like his game counterpart, in practice I honestly think this action only made Archie Charmy even MORE distant from his game character. From the Egg Grape incident to the reboot, Archie Charmy’s trauma never leaves my mind and leaves me feeling strangely hollow.

CONCLUSION - WHAT THE FUCK

I find the Archie Sonic series unfathomably fascinating. While I love the series, I can’t deny that most of the events I went over are poorly handled by the writing team and leave the series with such a strange legacy. With Archie Sonic, it’s often incredibly easy to see the biases of the writers and how they affect the characters and stories, leading to some genuinely fucked up moments that could have easily been avoided in my opinion.

Archie Charmy was really one of the characters that got it the worst, but it's honestly so strange that all of this happened to him specifically. The fact that all of this shit happens to a silly little bee is so, so Archie Sonic to me. Charmy is such a simple character to understand - he's a funny kid who's kinda annoying and hard to handle. So when I look back and see the 3,000+ words I just wrote about Archie Charmy... fucking hell why did i do that

In conclusion. I am sorry and do not become a comics person

thanks for reading if you got this far. as always let me know if i need to tag any other content warnings or if there was anything i got wrong! alright good night tristate area

#PLEASE read all of the content warnings before opening the pandora's box of charmy lore #this one's a hell of a read i am so sorry #sonic loreposting #cw drug use #cw overdose #cw child death #cw genocide #cw ableism #cw memory loss #cw age regression #i actually really enjoyed talking about comic psas and propaganda its very interesting to me #long post

202 notes · View notes