#shes becoming like a stereotypical teen like swearing a lot and trying to be a 'bad bitch'

[himbopatrol]

Cherry Bomb // a Steve Harrington Love Story

Danny Henderson, looks like a punk, can be found at any underage disco. Snorts when she laughs, mom doesn't know she sneaks out, loves her little brother and will defend him with her life, when the song tarzan boy comes out in April of 85' it will become her favorite song, but don't tell anyone. "You look like you just rolled out of bed" "I did" Has a bad habit of smoking that she tries to keep secret from Dustin, but ultimately fails. Is a "cool girl" but also gets her face smashed into a locker, don't worry the smasher will have their head down a flushing toilet by next period. Get's straight A's, and is a star softball player. Oh, and is hopelessly, desperately, disgustingly, head over heels in love with Steve Harrington.

Moments in time and space usually between Danielle "Danny" Henderson and Steve Harrington

originally posted here

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!OC

Warnings: smut (eventual), sexual tension, lots of swearing, some stereotypical rude 80s teens, typical stranger things blood/gore, sloooooow buuurrrrnnn, i don't proofread

Minors Do Not Interact!

A slow work in progress, thank you for your support and patience. Likes, comments, and reblogs are always greatly appreciated.

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five

Chapter Six Below // word count 2,625

Chapter Six: Garbage Advice

Sunday, November 4th, 1984

Steve was up long before Danny, but not able to do much, and in poor taste found himself going through Danny’s drawing notebooks. There were more sketches of himself inside, Steve kept his eyes on Danny to make sure she was awake to see him prying. Steve carefully flipped through the pictures, wondering why there were so many of him, his hand stopped on one, but very quickly realized it wasn’t him, it was Eddie Munson . It was Eddie lounging on Danny’s bed, shirt lifted, one hand pulling at the waistband of his jeans, and a joint in between his fingers. Jesus, Steve thought, a surge of confused jealousy coursing through him in a brief moment of weakness. Steve got that image stuck in his head again. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to force the thought of them out. He slapped the book shut, pushing it back onto the shelf, probably in the wrong spot. He wiped his sweaty palm against his jeans, and back through his hair. Steve resisted the urge to pull out the obvious diary laying on top of a row of books, blue and battered, he really, really, really, wanted to read it, but that wouldn’t be fair to his friend. 

With a plan in motion now the Henderson siblings slowly awoke along with an already fully awake Steve Harrington and prepared themselves for the trap. 

Danny went ahead of Steve and Dustin to start clearing the way through the junkyard while they dropped the meat to lure in the baby demogorgon - something that they insisted they should do because “it was more dangerous” - which didn’t make much sense as it left Danny alone, but she didn’t mind the solitude. And stressing over the upside down and its monsters did take Danny’s mind off of Steve, momentarily. But Danny did hope Dustin wasn’t making a complete idiot out of her.

“So, what’s up with your sister?” Steve asked awkwardly, throwing a chunk of meat to the ground. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dustin retorted. Steve had just gotten done giving Dustin some of the worst advice ever, Danny was going to most definitely chew him out about it later when she found out. “Should I warn Danny that you’re going to start ignoring her and acting like you don’t care?” Dustin teased. 

“What?” Steve exclaimed, making a weak psh noise, “No, not at all. It’s not like that,” he defended quickly. 

“Right,” Dustin rolled his eyes. 

“I just mean, um, like her and Eddie?” Steve only lied a little. 

“Eddie Munson? I barely know the guy,” Dustin explained. 

“Yeah, but like they dated right?” Steve continued anyway. 

“Yeah for a bit, last I heard they're just friends now,” Dustin shrugged, not really getting why this was the topic of their discussion. 

“Yeah-yeah they are,” Steve confirmed, but not entirely believing himself, even though he should, as Danny had reassured him. 

“Okay so-” 

“Did he, like, come over a lot?” Steve quickly interrupted Dustin.

“Dude!” Dustin exclaimed, flapping his arms in the air. “What does my sister's dating life have to do with anything?” Dustin stopped walking. “In case you forgot we’ve got a bit of a code red here! We need to focus on the task at hand,” Dustin replied like it was common sense. 

“Okay, jeez man, just trying to make small talk,” Steve lied as they continued walking. He did want to know more about Eddie and Danny, but didn’t even know why he cared so much to be honest. 

“No you’re not,” Dustin retorted. “You just wanna get in my sister's pants.” 

“Gross dude,” Steve grimaced. 

“Well it’s true. And by the way she would beat you up if she knew what we were talking about right now,” Dustin stated. Steve stayed quiet, knowing how true that was. Dustin sighed. “Be nice to her alright?” 

“What?” 

“She’s cool, cooler than you, don’t try to charm her or anything okay?” Dustin explained and paused. “Plus I don’t want to have to hear about it. She already doesn’t shut up about you, it would be torture if you did something she didn’t like,” Dustin finished.

“What?” Steve asked again, this time with a faint smile. 

“Shit,” Dustin cursed. “Forget I said that. I mean that Steve, not a word to Danny, got it?” He pointed at Steve. Steve held his hands up in defense. 

“Not a word,” he smiled, knowing he was going to immediately use this on Danny. 

Danny waited impatiently for Dustin and Steve to show up and was relieved when they finally did. She almost started to think Dart had gotten them. Danny had been sitting on an old car, her leg bouncing, staring at where they would appear. And as soon as the familiar curly hair and floppy hat appeared she quickly made her way to the duo. Pulling her little brother into a tight hug. “You guys took too long,” she mumbled, still holding tightly to Dustin.

Steve took a long look at the junkyard, having donned his sunglasses. “Oh yeah, this’ll do,” he turned to Dustin. “Nice call man,” making Dustin smile. After dumping out the rest of the meat Lucas showed up, with the girl Steve and Danny could only assume was Dustin’s new crush, Max. After a tedious amount of time setting up traps, moving around junk, and dumping gasoline around Danny was starting to like Max. She was sarcastic and Danny liked that. She could see why Dustin liked her so much. 

The sun had set and Danny sat next to Steve in the crowded bus. He sat silently, flicking his zippo open and shut, open and shut, waiting. 

“So, you really fought one of these things before?” Max asked from the corner, arms crossed. Steve nodded. “And you’re like, totally, 100% sure it wasn’t a bear?” She continued. 

“Shit. Don’t be an idiot. Okay? It wasn’t a bear,” chirped Dustin. 

Danny whipped her head towards her little brother, glaring at him. “Dustin,” she warned.

“Why are you even here if you don’t believe us? Just go home,” Dustin shrugged, this dick Danny thought. 

“Jeez, someones cranky,” Max stood, placing her hands on the latter. “Past your bedtime?” She asked before climbing to the roof. Danny watched Steve let out a small chuckle at the comment and then turn to Dustin. 

“That’s good, just show her you don’t care,” Steve praised, almost forgetting who was sitting next to him. 

“What?” Danny gritted her teeth. 

“I don’t,” responded Dustin. “Why are you winking Steve? Stop.” 

“I’m sorry, what the hell did you just tell him?” Danny turned her body towards Steve.

“What?” Steve responded with confusion. “Oh, well,” he coughed. “I had given Dustin some advice earlier, ya know, with the ladies,” Steve smirked, eyeing Dustin for a second. For a moment there was a glint in his eyes, like the old Steve was back for a brief moment. Danny didn’t like the looks of it, not just for her own sake, but for every girls in Hawkins. Danny propped herself onto her knees, faced Steve, placed a hand on the makeshift wall behind him and got intimidatingly close. Her finger pointed at his face. Her hair fell forwards blocking Dustin for the angry expression on her face. They were so close Dustin thought for a second they had kissed. 

“You listen to me Harrington,” she shook her finger at him, his eyes glued to hers, cheeks turning red. “You don’t give girl advice to my little brother,” she poked his chest. “Not when the advice is garbage,” she poked again. “Ya got that?” She was fuming, Steve kinda knew she was going to be and had secretly been looking forward to her finding out, for some odd reason, he didn’t know why.

Unknowingly, Steve quickly licked his bottom lip and gulped. He found his jaw clenched and stole a glance at her lips. A choked, “Mhm,” was all he could manage. 

“Good,” Danny plopped back down to where she had originally been, this time a little closer to Steve. Dustin was shocked that they weren’t making out after that incident. She had crossed her arms and turned to Dustin, “Dustin, just be yourself and don’t worry about it too much, any girl would be lucky to have you,” she spoke not too loudly to avoid being overheard by Max and Lucas. Steve went back to flicking his zippo lighter, he looked down at his side at Danny, hoping she wouldn’t notice. He made note of the cute shirt she had on underneath her bulky jacket she hardly took off. It was a small blue blouse, a button up, with white flowers, it was snug on her and cropped. But it made him think about the shirts she usually wore. Old band t-shirts with holes scattered across them, he remembered over the summer, on a particularly hot day, she had worn this tiny yellow thick t-shirt, with one of those tiny v-cuts in the center. Stitched across her chest in white was a smiley face. Steve could see the way her chest had flushed against the top, Jesus stop thinking about that man, there's one of those things out there. 

And as if on cue, there came a shriek from outside the bus. The crew found Dart almost straight ahead, slowly moving in. “He’s not taking the bait, why’s he not taking the bait?” Steve questioned quietly.

“Maybe he’s not hungry,” Dustin suggested. 

“Maybe he’s sick of cow,” Steve tilted his head in realization, he stood, Dustin and Danny stared at him. 

“Steve? Steve, what are you doing?” Dustin asked. 

“Stop that, come back here,” Danny demanded. 

“Just get ready,” Steve turned, tossing his lighter at Danny. 

“Goddamit Steve,” Danny groaned as he slowly opened the bus door. Danny and Dustin quickly made their way to the window to watch what was about to go down. They could hear his faint whistle. He swung the bat a few times. God, did Danny hate Steve right now. She hated that in this tense, terrifying situation, watching Steve Harrington hunched, swinging his nail bat around was really doing her in. She hated that he still managed to look hot at this moment.

Max came down to stare through the window with the Hendersons. As Steve got closer and closer she commented, “He’s insane.” 

“He’s awesome,” Dustin smiled. Danny couldn’t help but smile too. 

“Steve watch out!” Lucas shouted from above. Danny’s eyes averted towards the new problems. More of the demodogs closing in on him. Danny and Dustin ran towards the door, Dustin prying it open. 

“Steve! Abort! Abort!” Dustin shouted. Danny shoved past Dustin grabbing a two by four and running out towards Steve. “Danny!” Dustin’s voice cracked. 

“Steve!” Danny shouted as Steve hopped over the hood of a car to avoid one, just as another was coming at him from the other side. 

“Danny, get back on the bus!” Steve demanded. 

“No!” She exclaimed. Danny gave one of the demodogs a hard swing across the face that was going for Steve. Just as Steve was about to grab Danny and run, another one came from behind and clawed at her chest. Steve quickly whacked it away with the bat. Danny cried out clutching her chest. Steve grabbed Danny and pushed her towards the bus entrance, Dustin, Lucas, and Max all screaming at them to hurry up. Steve practically threw Danny into the bus and landed on top of her, kicking at the door and pushing a scrap piece of metal to keep it from opening. The others moved to the back of the bus as another one crawled across the roof, screeching at them through the emergency exit. After a few terrifying moments it seemed to get distracted, like something was calling it, or summoning it to leave, the junkyard grew eerily quiet. 

Steve looked back at Danny, laying on the floor, clutching her chest. “Shit,” he swore quietly, crawling towards her. Danny lifted her hand, wet, warm blood coated her fingers, seeping through her shirt, the sight made her cry out again. “Shit, shit, shit,” Steve hunched over her, not sure what to do, his hands ghosting over her. She smacked her head back into the seat in pain. Dustin stood over them, Max and Lucas behind him, watching, also clueless. “Uh, uh, back pack, towels, shirts, something,” Steve snapped at Dustin, who remained motionless. Max quickly whipped around digging into her own bag for something. She pulled out a sweatshirt and tossed it at Steve, and dived into Lucas’ bag knowing he must have something like medicine. Steve placed the sweatshirt down on her lap. His fingers hovered over the collar of her shirt and in one swift movement, ripped it open, the tings of the buttons flying across the bus.

“Steve!” Both Dustin and Danny shouted, Danny lifting her head momentarily and back down. Steve could barely see through the blood, but what he assumed was once a white lace bra was now a deep shade of red. The gash cut across the top of her right breast, and into the space in between. 

“Dude, that’s my sister,” Dustin exclaimed. 

“Shut up alright! I gotta stop the bleeding!” Steve shouted back, shaking his head. He pushed the sweatshirt onto the wound, making Danny yelp, his own hands getting dirty with her blood. 

“Here, here,” Max came up with a bottle of water and a pack of large bandages. 

“Oh god that’s a lot of blood,” Lucas sounded faint.

“Shut up!” Max whipped around. Lucas and Dustin turned around, unable to look. Max stepped back, letting Steve do whatever it was he was doing. 

Tears streamed down Danny’s face, quietly sobbing, wincing. “I know, I know,” Steve softly reassured. “It’ll be okay,” it sounded like Steve was biting back tears. He continued to push onto the gash. He noticed the dwindling amount of blood. “There, see, it’s okay,” he smiled at Danny. He gently lifted the sweatshirt, the blood had stopped, but it still didn’t look great. “Well,” he sniffled. “Here we are again,” Steve chuckled. 

“You asshole,” Danny gritted. 

“Yeah yeah, you too,” Steve’s shaky hands uncapped the water, pouring some onto a clean part of the sweatshirt. He patted at her chest, one large hand gripping at her torso to keep her still. Her skin burned against his own, flushed and sweaty, her breathing finally slowing under his touch. When it was mostly clean he wiped his hands and opened a few of the bandages. He tried to ignore the soft, squishy, feeling of her breasts under his fingers, he took a deep breath as he smoothed over the bandages. “Okay, how do you feel?” Steve asked. Danny noticed the feeling over his legs squished between her own, one hand still gripping just under her bra.

“I think I’ll live,” she spoke softly, strained from the pain. 

Steve pushed his other hand into her hair, cupping at her ear and jaw, he shook her head gently. “Why did you do that?” 

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun Harrington,” she tried to laugh, but coughed instead. 

Steve sighed. “Can you stand?” He asked gently. 

“I think so,” she nodded, holding her hands out for help. Steve helped her slowly stand, she had almost fully stood before Dustin had wrapped his arms around her. 

“Don’t do that again,” he mumbled through tears. 

“You got it tiger,” Danny rustled his hair, Dustin stepped back. For the first time she felt the cold air hit her stomach, she glared at Steve. 

“What?” 

“You broke my buttons,” she spoke in a whisper, a faint smile playing at her lips. 

Steve’s eyes widened, “Shit, sorry.” 

[sky-kinz]

Didn't your sister also play Webkinz?

She used to. We shared an account together, which is partially why I have so many. She gave me her Webkinz about 6 months ago too which is kinda sad but also I can't force her to like stuff.

[bluemoose86]

Characters I Adore Despite Never Having Seen a Minute of Their Shows

DISCLAIMER: As it says in the title, I’ve never seen any of the shows I talk about in this post. Because of this, some plot points/character traits/etc. that I talk about might not be accurate. I do plan on watching these shows at some point so I’m trying to avoid too much spoilery content, which is why I haven’t done much extra research. I apologize if I offend anyone somehow, this is just something I thought would be fun :)

Hey all! My name is Moose, and for no reason in particular, I thought I would compile a list of characters whom I really like yet know next to nothing about. Does anyone else ever feel connected to/intrigued by a character without having seen the show or movie they appear in? Let me know! Also, please bear in mind that all I know about these characters/shows is what I’ve seen from fan posts on Instagram, and there will be slight spoilers. Without further ado, enjoy the post!

Dani Clayton and Jamie Taylor – The Haunting of Bly Manor

Their love is something that can actually be so personal. I know Bly manor is a horror show, or at least has prominent horror elements (which is something I don’t enjoy), but seeing them together makes me want to watch it anyways. Even if you don’t believe in soulmates, you can’t see even one screenshot of them together and tell me they aren’t meant to be together. Even in this gif they have heart eyes for each other. Dani is an American au pair–a live-in nanny, basically–who was hired to take care of the children living at Bly Manor, and Jamie is the manor’s gardener. They were both intrigued by each other when they first met, and their relationship progressed very naturally. They’re so comfortable with each other–Dani goes through some rough times as far as I can tell, but Jamie is always there by her side to comfort her. I also love how attracted Dani is to Jamie, no matter how much time has passed (the “you could...come back 🥺” scene kills me). And I KNOW what happens to them already but please,,,,let me live with the illusion of their perfect love story.

Clarke and Lexa – The 100

Yet ANOTHER tragic love story. The gays really can’t get a break, huh? Clarke and Lexa are from very different worlds, yet they work perfectly together as allies and lovers. The 100 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where Earth is no longer inhabitable and the rest of humanity lives on a space station called the Ark. Because of reasons, 100 teens from the Ark, including Clarke, are sent down to Earth and have to fight to survive on the ruined planet. Later, they meet Lexa, who leads one of the Grounder clans–people who survived the apocalypse and still live on Earth. There’s immediate tension between both groups, but circumstances require them to work together. Clarke and Lexa become closer as a result and eventually fall in love. Even though they’re only together briefly because #buryyourgays, what I love most about them is how enduring their love is. Clarke has other partners, but no one ever makes her feel the way Lexa did. Lexa really was Clarke’s whole universe; I think one of the other characters even says that Lexa was the greatest love of her life. And Lexa was so smitten with Clarke that she literally went against all her training and customs of her people just so she could make a pretty girl happy. We stan. Their relationship is only onscreen for like a season but I know that Lexa comes back later so I swear I will watch all 6 seasons of this show just for them. I will do it.

Quinn Fabray – Glee

Ok I know that’s not what she normally looks like but that look makes me so gay Jesus Christ 🥵🥵 Anyways, I know the Glee writers really did her dirty even though I haven’t made it past bitchy Quinn from season one. The fact that she was supposed to be a flat, mean antagonist for the whole show but was only saved because of Dianna Agron’s brilliant acting astounds me. She has particularly erratic moments (especially in the season where she gets this haircut), but for the most part she seems like a sweet person. She starts off as a very troubled girl who is under a lot of pressure from her cheer team, her parents, and herself, but after joining the Glee club she becomes more confident and learns how to accept who she is. She comes to care for the other club members as friends and relies on them. I love her development, and I love how Dianna portrayed her despite the writers trying to shove her back in the “stereotypical evil cheerleader” box multiple times. Also, her smile is so cute and so pure 🥺 I’m in love.

Izzie No-Last-name – Atypical

Your Honor, I love her. I clearly have a soft spot for troubled characters, as Izzie starts off much the same as Quinn does. She’s confrontational and just downright mean to Casey Gardener, one of the main characters, after Casey transfers to her school. The two eventually find a way to get along and become friends, and Casey finds out that Izzie struggles with balancing her grades, running track, and taking care of her three (?) younger siblings in lieu of her unreliable mother and absent father. Izzie’s better traits also come to light: she’s strong, independent, and fun-loving, if a bit wild at times, as well as incredibly loyal to Casey. She loves Casey’s autistic brother, Sam, whom most people do not understand or try to get along with. And she’s utterly in love with Casey, which is apparent by their immediate chemistry. She seems like such a fun and complex character. Plus, cute girls smiling is one of my greatest weaknesses and her smile is absolutely adorable.

Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught – Wynonna Earp

Finally a relationship on here that has a happy ending–and a wedding, no less! I love them both, but I feel more connected to Waverly than Nicole. Maybe I’ve just seen more content of her. Waverly is the younger sister of the titular Wynonna Earp, and she helps her defeat supernatural threats to their town of Purgatory (yes, that’s actually the name of their town). That’s all I know about the actual plot of the show lol. Nicole Haught is the deputy and later sheriff of Purgatory and has a crush on Waverly right out of the gate. However, Waverly was dating a man (ew) at the time and somehow thought she was straight. Nicole, of course, was very respectful of Waverly and never tried to pressure her into anything. Even though she knew she might never have a chance, that never stopped her from helping Waverly or Wynonna when they needed it. And they needed it a lot. Of course they eventually fall in love, and while their relationship does have its ups and downs, they always come back to each other. They are also the definition of soulmates: they go through a lot together and are always there to support each other through fights, near-death experiences, and shocking revelations. They utterly adore each other and that adoration never fades no matter what. And I love how they get their happy ending! It’s quite a welcome change from most wlw relationships in media.

And there you go! Sorry this post was so long lol, I didn’t intend for it to be. I hope you all enjoyed, and let me know what you think of these characters. Much love, and stay safe 💙

[xo-cuteplosion-xo]

Midnight ball | Chuuya x reader |

Midnight Ball | Chuuya x reader | (female reader)

I feel like I'm doing Chuuya dirty with this one-

Warnings- references to some NSFW themes, inferred attempted rape, mentions of drug use.

(really hesitant on actually posting this... nothing happens, but I don't wanna make people too uncomfortable)

Undercover missions were normal in the port mafia. Every once in a while they would come up. You went on a lot of these missions. Even the ones you didn’t care for.

The air was brisk, not too cold, but not a comfortable warmth either. It wasn’t every day you were called in on what should have been your day off. The clouds covered the noon sun, keeping its warmth tucked away. It felt as if it may rain. Maybe snow would fall with how cold the air was. The trees were bare of their leaves and the grass slowly warping to brown. The winter flowers, in full bloom. You shivered tugging the scarf closer as you walked towards the black buildings. Stepping inside was bliss, the air warm and welcoming. You walked slowly towards the elevator stepping inside as it carried you to the level Mori’s office was.

Making your way into the office, your eyes landed on the short male you had become close to. Running a hand through your hair you looked to Mori. “Ya know it’s my day off right? This better be important.” you had guts talking to your boss like this. Elise snickered from the corner of the large room, drawing a picture. Most likely something rather disturbing, as she tended to do.

You hadn’t noticed it before, but Chuuya’s face was contorted in both disgust and anger. Whatever this was, gave him quite displeasure. “He’s having us go undercover. Instead of picking another female… he’s making me wear a fucking dress.” his eyes narrowed in Mori's direction.

“Well, you work well with (y/n). I carefully considered members like Kouyou, but none of them matched what I needed for the minor mission." Mori grinned as Chuuya huffed, crossing his arms.

You tried to imagine him in a dress, but the only thing that you could think of was Kouyou, considering they did both have ginger hair. Shrugging you grabbed Chuuya’s hand, tugging him away. You figured he could brief you on the mission later.

~

As the sun fell under the horizon, and the moon took its place in night's embrace, the two of you settled inside the limo. Chuuya’s arms were crossed as he tugged on the dress. His eyes set in heavy glares. His hair happened to be up in a neat bun. It had taken a lot of fighting and shouting that could have deafened somebody. He was even dolled up with light specks of makeup. The red dress suited his form, his height made it ideal for heels. He already had a feminine figure, so there wasn’t much you needed to do to pass him as a female. He kept squirming around glaring at you. “How the fuck do girls wear these dreaded things.” he hissed, referring to the corset hidden beneath the silk he wore.

Snickering you shrugged leaning back. “They say beauty is pain,” you hummed, leaning back in your seat. This wasn’t ideal for you either. You much preferred to be slightly dressed down from this. Looking as fancy as you did now wasn’t modest, and it sure wasn’t something you liked to wear. You were sucking it up so why couldn’t Chuuya? Could he really be all that uncomfortable? “I could loosen it a bit.” you offered, but Chuuya shook his head staring at himself. He had mastered heals within a handful of moments so you weren’t worried about him tripping. The real challenge would be flirting with the target.

This was a two-person job due to the size of the party and the security around the target. One of you would distract the guards while the other smooth-talked their way into a private area with the target. They would either get the extent of the information this person had managed to take early this morning or silence him. You two hadn’t decided who would be doing what. It was more one of those whoever gets there first situations. The car pulled up to the entrance just as your thoughts finished. Stepping onto the ground you waited for Chuuya. The clunk of his heels on the pavement were steady and even. You went to remind him about his expression, but he rolled his eyes. “I know, no scowling, glaring, or yelling.”

You smiled gripping the edge of the dress, pulling it up so you could walk the stairs without tripping on the (f/c) fabric. Your hair was down but pinned in specific places. “Don’t forget, no swearing. We have to act ladylike Chu.” clicking his tongue, he pinched the fabric of his dress and walked up after you. Entering the large mansion you were escorted to the ballroom. Standing at the railing that overlooked the floor you smiled. Never in your life had you been to one of these. You truly wanted to participate at least a little.

Chuuya noticed the excited glimmer of your eyes and grabbed your hand. Tonight, you both were trying to pass as two female teenage siblings whose parents wanted a night alone. Without a boyfriend, the two of you showed up alone. A naive action when it came to noble parties. These were incredible to get into. You had to have power and money somewhere. He pulled you down the stairs, flashing you a small smile. He wouldn’t admit but this wasn’t that bad. He didn’t mind the corset or the way the dress flowed in the wind. He minded the hair since he always wore it in one specific style. He’d done this once before with Dazai but doing this with you was different. Probably because he wasn’t being forced to be the fiance this time. “We might as well try to enjoy ourselves.” he was surprisingly skilled at keeping his voice higher in pitch. There were a few occasional slips, but he sounded somewhat feminine.

Smirking you pulled him to the food table. “I’d say you're actually enjoying yourself Chu.” his eyes narrowed for a second before playfully hitting your shoulder.

“Sure I am.” he huffed looking over the table of snacks. He grabbed one of the tea-sandwiches and took small bites. Despite how he tried to enjoy himself, he was focused on the mission. There was still no sign of the target. Two older-looking gentlemen came up to the pair of you, holding their hands out.

“Would you two care for a dance?” Chuuya’s mouth twitched to snarl, but he quickly put on a smile despite how much he wanted to string profanities. You glanced at him, inhaling softly, you tapped his shoulder as if to reassure him.

“Depends~ how old do you think we are?” you two had decided on your roles already. To spare Chuuya some dignity you would try to be the more seductive while he played the part of the shyer, more innocent twin. Since he was a boy playing a girl, he matched the innocent child-like stereotype well, considering he didn’t have breasts.

One of the men standing in front of you chuckled lightly. “Teens, though it’s not like we're hitting on you. We simply wish to take you for a dance. You appear lonely.” Chuuya was sick to his stomach already. The last time he’d done this he didn’t have to deal with these situations because Dazai had been there. Yet, as he looked to you, he tilted his head. Your hand grabbed the man's as you looked back to Chuuya.

“Trust me, it’ll be fun. There aren't any men our age, so trust me.” the act flew softly off your lips. There was a hidden motion when you flicked your ankle. It would have passed as your feet were slightly sore to anybody else. Chuuya glanced to the railing, spotting the target. He nodded, faking a smile as the two of you entered the dance floor.

With every pulse of the music, you got closer and closer to the edge. Your eyes tracing for the amount of guards. Though based on what you were observing you had both already found them. It was a widely known fact your target had a thing for younger females. Not young like Elise but teenagers who appear frail. You and Chuuya most definitely looked the part tonight. Dipping you back your eyes met Chuuya's, a smirk crossing both of your expressions. When you returned to the normal position you switched partners.

Things started going slightly south from there. While you two had managed to keep your dancing rather close to one another, you were starting to drift apart now. Chuuya moved closer to the stairwell, while you made your way towards the back doors. Despite how you tried to move back towards him, your dance partner kept you moving in that direction. Eventually, you noted what was going on. Occasionally these types of missions had unexpected twists. This was one of those twists. You hadn’t thought to watch for other predators. Trying to rip your hands from his you glared. “I ought to get back to my sister.” you wove innocence into your voice, but he paid no mind as if he had not heard you. As the music ended, the rough grip that had succeeded in pulling the two of you apart let go. A silent satisfactory smirk placed over his lips. Walking from you he headed back to find another dancing partner.

Walking around you began to search for Chuuya among the crowd. Innocently asking couples and other women if they had seen a short, rather young-looking female ginger dressed in red. They had shaken their heads but one couple pointed towards the stairs. You curtsied respectfully, racing to the stairs only to be stopped by the two men you had previously been dancing with. Batting your eyelashes you explained somebody had seen your sister walk up these stairs not too long ago.

You couldn’t help but feel worried despite knowing Chuuya could handle himself with the utmost care. He was strong both physically and ability-wise. You bit the inside of your cheek figuring, they probably weren't idiots. If they had separated the two of you they had to think you already knew something was up. You'd probably made that worse when you tried pulling away in the dance. The high-heels were beginning to get rather annoying. They were difficult to run in, jumping would probably result in a twisted ankle if you don't land perfectly. You made sure to blend away into the crowd. Losing their eyes you slipped through doors until you made it into a hallway. Laying out the map of the building in your head you walked the halls trying to find the staircase leading upstairs. You had to dodge behind corners to avoid security. It took you close to ten minutes to finally reach the stairs. There were so many rooms it would be difficult to find which one to enter. You narrowed it down to two in your head. The others would be a waste of time, the two you had narrowed it to were close to the ballroom, small, and were bar areas. Off-limits to party-goers as well. There would be no interruptions to their perverted actions.

You looked around, spotting a guard, you gripped the edge of your glove with your teeth. Walking up as if you were scared you began to stumble purposely over words. “I-i think I’m lost. I needed the ladies room and I couldn't find my sis or the ballroom.” faking tears as you got closer, the security officer's eyes softened as you approached. Taking you as a younger female instead of an adult, he offered out his hand. You gripped it before smirking as your ability activated. Moving your hand away, you tilted your head. “Sleep,” you commanded them. They fell to the floor with a thud. Grabbing the gun from their belt you checked that the safety was on. Assured it was you stashed it in your dress. Walking to the first room you burst inside finding no sign anybody had been there, you closed the door.

Making your way to the next option you pressed an ear to the door. Whispers and the sound of metal sent you to a light panic. Glaring at the door you pulled the gun out and switched the safety off. Entering the room you pointed the gun only to hear clicks follow. Your eyes darted to the sound. “So there were four.” snarling you entered and shut the door with your heel. Your mind began thinking of every way to get away from this situation. You lowered your gun with a defeated sigh. Letting it drop to the floor, one of the guns pressed to your head. Their hand grabbed your wrist as you looked to the mop of passed-out ginger.

“Damn idiot,” you hissed knowing this was probably the result of drugging. There was no way in hell he’d be beaten by mere ability-less scum. Shoved to the floor you glared. Your hands were pulled above you. Looking to the side you snickered at the poor idiot who touched your skin. “Kill your boss,” you commanded and their body dropped you and turned to the person whose hands were on your love interest. When the next guy pointed the gun at you, you swept them off their feet, whistled, and pointed. “Shoot them.” with another fire, two of three were dead. “Now shoot yourself.” and so they ended up three of three. Tossing off the heels you made your way over to Chuuya. Checking his pulse you rolled your eyes.

You lifted him in your arms before leaving the bloody scene. Your dress was now stained with splatters of crimson. Jumping from the window, then to a tree, and down, you placed Chuuya in the limo. Grabbing a bottle of water you opened his mouth and poured it down his throat. He stirred a bit, his head falling on your shoulder. Blushing lightly you found the back of his dress was open and the corset already loosened. “Got there just in time.” you sighed as the limo pulled to your small apartment. Lifting him you carried him inside. Dropping him to the bed you sat on the opposite side of the bed.

It took three hours before his eyes fluttered open. Holding his head, he glanced at you. “Why the fuck are you here?” of course his first words would be aggressive. He could hide it all he wanted by the shiver of his body and the way his hands moved to his back made it clear. Finding the strings and ribbon undone as well as torn his eyes widened for a fraction.

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to be separated like that.” you played around with your gloves looking back at him you pulled a thing of makeup wipes from the side table. Tossing it to him, you sighed. “I hope you don’t mind, I had Dazai lock pick your door and get you your usual clothes.” he couldn’t even be mad at you for letting that bastard into his house. His mind was still focused on recollecting what had happened. He was beyond humiliated. He should have seen it coming. “I should have gotten there faster. They shouldn’t have been able to even get that close. I’m so sorry Chuuya! I’ll talk to Mori about not putting you on these types of missions. I know you're mad but please… say something.” you twirled a strand of your hair on your finger.

“I should have been prepared.” he looked away from you before feeling your arms around his body. Your head laid in the crook of his neck as you shook your head violently. He felt something wet soil, the shoulder of his dress. Turning so he could pick your head up, he blinked, startled to see the water dripping from your eyes. “You’re crying?” he sounded baffled, confused even.

“I should have let you be yourself! If I hadn’t pushed you to act like an innocent defenseless child, that situation would have been different.'' Chuuya gripped your shoulders laughing lightly as he shook his head. “You didn’t even have a good time! You hated being there.”

“No, no, (y/n)... I... Fuck!” he was bad at words, so as he tried forming the correct words he kept shaking his head. “I enjoyed spending time with you! I’d prefer to accompany you as a man next time. Neither of us are at fault. Missions go south. Nobody got hurt, sure I feel like an idiot, I’m utterly humiliated that I let my guard down and got drugged up, but nothing happened.” he pressed his forehead against yours, his thumb wiping away the tears on your cheeks.

This was out of character for him, but it was a side only you gotta see. He hated seeing you break down or get upset over things you had no control over. His hands wrapped around your ungloved ones. Your skin touches him with a small shyness. “Can I?” he asked watching you nod as his lips passed over yours.

“We both deserve a break from work. How about we tell Mori we are taking two days off?” you hummed looking into his eyes. He smirked and nodded. His lips pressing back to yours in a heated kiss. You pressed him underneath you with a smirk. His face went red as he glared.

“You’re a fucking pervert.” he hissed watching you snicker.

“Wow Chu, I'm so offended.” you leaned back into a kiss as his cheeks turned a brighter shade of red. “Think this makes us a real couple.” he rolled his eyes as you rolled to lay next to him.

“Yeah, I guess.”

[fanficparker]

If opened: Request for Harrison Osterfield In which Harrison is madly in love with the reader but is to scared to bring up his feelings for her due to her being very shy and quiet but the reader accidently let’s it slip that she likes him or something idk

Cute... I had a lot of fun writing it. Also it got LOADS OF TOM HOLLAND IN THIS and you are basically asked to choose one of them in a fun way 🙈...Also, I flew away with it and now it’s 1.6k words, so basically it’s an actual one-shot. Let's see where it goes:—

MONOPOLY | H.O., T.H.

Harrison Osterfield x Reader, Tom Holland x Reader

Word count: 1.6k words

Warning: Swearing...

Summary: You are stuck in the game of monopoly with two idiots and there’s no escape. Shit is about to happen...

Harrison was not exactly your friend. Your friend was Tom and Tom's friend was Harrison, so as maths works, his relationship with you could be best described as a friend of a friend. Yeah, friend of friend, nothing more. Period.

But then he always tagged along with Tom, so you were subjected with big doses of him in your life, much more than what you had anticipated. Whenever you would open the door for Tom, there was always a Harrison waiting patiently at his back, waiting till you both had finished interacting.

And when you were done with hugging and mocking Tom as friends do, Harrison would smile at you and offer a small wave, fingers running gently in the air. He wouldn't say hi but mouth it. It was always just his lips moving without a real sound. You could read it though. You reciprocated the same. And that became your little greeting.

You were shy and quiet, the stereotypical introvert, so there wasn't ever a proper conversation with Harrison without the presence of Tom. Tom always forced the words out of you. He was good at it and had a big mouth but Harrison... He just went with your natural form. Although he was full of jokes and occasional flirting, which you could never complain about. That was how he was and you had also accepted him in his natural form.

On a normal Saturday evening, the three of you were sitting on the sides of an international monopoly board. Tom was sitting beside you, while Harrison was sitting opposite to you but beside Tom.

"Woo Woo Woo... I owe the whole of London now!!!" Tom squealed, doing a little dance with his hands, shoving his token over the block and dramatically throwing the paper currency at Harrison's lap.

"Take my money, banker!" He growls, lurching forward at Harrison as if the word he addressed Harrison with was wanker instead of banker. Or maybe he actually said wanker; he is Tom after all. Harrison rolled his eyes at his best-friend, dumping the fake currency to the side and tossed the dice.

"Eight!" Tom yelled, reading the numbers.

"I can count," Harrison said unimpressed as he moved his token eight blocks ahead and made it land over 'Income Tax'.

Tom laughed loudly, patting his friend's back while Harrison cursed, putting some of his money aside. You watched their interaction with an ear-to-ear smile, occasional giggles leaving your lips.

"Your chance, Y/n," Harrison says, picking up the pair of dice in his hands and giving it to you. His fingers brushed over your palm, sending little chills down your spine.

Oh yeah, Harrison was after all your crush too. How convenient? That definitely meant tons of awkwardness. But how could you ever resist? His smile, the shape of his face, his sweet voice, his eyes, his laugh, the stuff he talks, his playfulness, his dumb jokes, his knack for helping everyone in need, those curls and now just imagine all those things at one place.

You looked down at the board, tossing the dice.

"Twelve..." Harrison whispers, looking at you through his lashes and smiles. Your heart does that little flip-flop thingy. You move ahead and end up at Jakarta which luckily was your own property. Tom lurches forward, picking up the dice and rolling them over.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He curses, finally landing over Rio De Janeiro, now owing Harrison a sum of two-hundred pounds. A smile spreads across the blonde's face as he jokes —

"Looks like a billionaire is crashing down." He winks at you. You force out a laugh, more like a cough mixed with fake giggles to counter the warmth sweeping in your chest and on your face.

"I need drinks!" Tom growls, submitting the money to Harrison and laying back on the floor.

"Get 'em yourself..." Harrison throws back, counting the notes and tossing the dice.

"Karma!" Tom mumbles, sitting up, seeing the token landing over Lagos.

"Ah... Y/n will surely give me a discount, right?" He asks, looking at you hopefully but in an amusing way.

"Nah... You gotta pay extra taxes instead!" You laugh, slowly feeling connected with the game. Also, the drinks that Tom brought from the fridge were working their way in your system.

Then the game went on for several minutes in which Tom had already showered himself with the fake currency two times.

At one point Harrison frustratingly threw the only twenty pounds he owned at the middle of the board.

"We should play UNO instead. This game is shit!" He declares, hands folded across his chest.

"Why? Cause you are almost bankrupt?" Tom taunts.

"Oh, it's because you are cheating!" Harrison replies, rolling his eyes.

"Dude you are the banker!" He exclaims as you chuckle.

"Whatever. I don't care," He shrugs, trying to get up.

"You can't leave before ending the game!!" You whine and he looks at you.

"Okay. Just because Y/n is saying..." He gives Tom a dirty glare, plopping down on the floor again.

"Just because Y/n is saying..." Tom repeats in a poor Harrison's voice impression.

"Shut up, cheater!" Harrison grumbles and shifts the bank from between them to the other side.

"Ugh, kids..." You groan comically, getting back into the game.

"Y/n... Y/n?" Harrison whispers after two turns.

"What?"

"I invite you to be my business partner," He clicks his tongue while Tom's eyebrows narrow.

"What? No wayyy! That's cheating!!!" He bounces on his lap.

"Says who? One who's in jail? And it's not cheating. That how businesses work," He spat looking at Tom and then looks at you, expressions softening within nano-seconds, "Also Y/n. I have so many properties and you got so much cash in hand. Imagine how powerful we both would be together? We can become the biggest business tycoon in the world!" He completes looking up dreamily with hands stretched out.

"Y/n, don't listen to him. He is an idiot."

Harrison ignores Tom's words and slides from his spot, sitting beside you, knees touching.

"I am not. You know what's best for us. Right na?" Harrison asks softly, leaning his head to the side and close to you, his slightly wet curls falling over his forehead. And those amazing eyes were staring deep into yours. The knot in your stomach tightens making you feel nauseous and pleased with his close proximity simultaneously.

You need more alcohol.

"I-I think... Yeah. It's a good idea..." You speak slowly, hiccuping mid-sentence, breaking the lethal eye-contact with Harrison, while Tom's eyes grew wider.

"Seriously Y/n, you have better options!" Tom says, pointing both his index fingers at himself.

"Rubbish. Everyone knows Y/n likes me better than you." Harrison smirks, glancing at both of you periodically.

"You wish." Tom dramatically whips an invisible ponytail resting over his shoulder to his back, looking confident as ever, "Y/n darling, why don't you bless him with facts..."

For the first time in your life, everyone's eyes were on you. Well, at least these two handsome boys...

You were already nervous.

"It's not fair," You try to change the topic, "You can't ask me to choose between you both. Tom is my friend and Harrison is my crush. I can't---" You instantly clamp your mouth shut.

"What?!" Tom spits the beer in his mouth to the floor.

Your mouth opens and closes, unable to find words. You don't even dare to face Harrison—

"Holy shit!" Harrison mutters under his breath. You can hear it, he's sitting next to you, skin touching. As if everything else wasn’t great already.

Don't look at him. Don't look at him. And then you are looking at him.

He's biting his lip, his Adam's apple is bobbing in his throat.

"You like me?" He questions as if he was making sure. There was no escape...

You suck in a breath, "Yeah... I do..." You instantly avert your gaze to your thighs.

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD! I LIKE YOU SO MUCH!" Harrison yelps like a high-school teen and grabs both of your hands in his bigger ones, jumping up and pulling you to stand with him.

"I am seriously leaving. This is going awkward," Tom says and gets up to leave but then he shoots you a wink before shutting the main door.

Little shit.

He knew. Of course, he knew!

Now it's just you and Harrison. Alone... for the first time. What an awfully pleasant experience...

Harrison squeezes your hands and you look at him.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I would have taken you to the best of dates, feed you with the best delicacies..." He says, shaking your hands lightly.

"Y-you could have told me..." You manage to say, feeling a bit confident now that things weren't unrequited.

"Dude. I seriously never guessed. I just had this secret crush on you and you talk more to Tom and we never talk in a bilateral way. The boat looked imbalanced from my side, I was seriously freaking out!" He rambles.

"Oh..." You look at your interlaced fingers. They feel good...

Harrison senses your disappointing expressions, so he steps onto the pedestal himself, "No worries. I can take you out now... So, will you go on a date with me?"

You were looking into each other's eyes. His eyes were basically pleading.

"It's not even a question. Of course!" You say, grinning and he's quick to grab you into a warm hug.

You can't thank Tom enough for getting him bankrupt with his great skills... at cheating in the game of Monopoly.

Can you?

___________

P.S.: Requests are open :) Anyone who wants to request, just shoot me an ask. Response time will be between 1 to 5 days. Also you can send me an ask to get tagged in future fics :) or even ask to get removed :)

Taglist: @asmilinghopefullromantic // @just-a-littlebit-of-everything // @xximaweirdoxx // @jjasalem // @spidergirl007 // @wizliar // @justasmisunderstoodasloki // @veronicas-littleworld // @acceptance07 // @ghostspf // @screeching-student-unknown // @fanficscuziranout // @miraclesoflove // @trustfundparker // @tikapollak // @yourmum792 // @skymoonandstardust // @httplayer // @starlight-starks // @silverwolf-sama // @riz-holland-osterfield // @multifandomdoodles121 // @serendipitous-amor // @viagracex // @halfblood-princess-505 // @parkerpeter24 // @god-knows-what-am-i-doing // @hazardosterfield // @the-crazy-fanfictionist // @lost-aesthetic-of-past //  @lizzyosterfield // @tomhaz

[irandomblogfulb]

FATE: What happens when you get a bunch of middle aged white guys to adapt a cartoon for girls

Well, I just went through 6 hours of fate and I have a lot of opinions on it. Yeah, this is going to be long (slightly under 3k words) so putting it under read more and obvious spoilers.

PSA before delving right in:

1) Yes, I will be comparing to the original. Any comparisons are not through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. There are parts here and there that I genuinely think were done better in the cartoon on a writing standpoint.

2) This is purely my opinion and overall negative. Don't like it? Don't read. I'm all up for discussion but I don't want another person crying to me about how I “ruined” their experience of the show.

3) If you like Fate then good for you. This isn’t me bashing people who like it. 

I've spit it up into sub sections just for my own convince.

1. The problem with the 'I'm not like other girls' trope

This pertains to the entire Bloom-Sky-Stella love triangle. I wasn't as pressed about it compared to other winxers (and I loved Stella's and Brandon's relationship on my rewatch). In fact, I was okay with it. But then I sat down and watched the show and there's a lot of underlying problems with the love triangle. Particularly pitting Bloom and Stella against each other for Sky's affection.

Now this part of the love triangle I already didn't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, since I dropped the OG Winx after season 5 but the Winx while they did have their conflicts and arguments, never fought over a boy. I really appreciated that from the cartoon so seeing that live action would fall into that trap – I was mildly annoyed at that. Then it hit me. It's Bloom and Stella.

The seemingly ordinary girl vs the pristine princess of Solaria. If the title didn't give it away, you should get the point by now. Others have already called it by now but the "I'm not like other girl's" trope in itself, while seemingly feminist is actually misogynist. Saying the more masculine type of girl is better than the feminine is inherently misogynist. Stella, the prime princess, girly and feminine, is villainized by the love triangle. Sky's and Stella's relationship is toxic and Stella's overt co-dependence and jealousy are already big fat red signs - but Sky's and Bloom's relationship is built on how she's "different". Bloom isn't like Stella, she's "real".

2. Am I supposed to like Riven?

As the title puts it, wtf am I supposed to feel about Riven. Is he supposed to be a good guy? Do I root for him? Is he morally ambiguous? Because holy shit compared to OG!Riven, this guy is diabolical and much much worse! OG!Riven is an asshole and he teams up with the trix but his arc was very simple and easy to understand. He joins the bad guys, distances himself from the good guys, the trix betray his ass, he self-reflects in the dungeon - escapes and redeems himself. Net!Riven is so bad to the point where you can't redeem him and the writers don't even try. Freddie Thorp is good in his role. (however, he definitely doesn't pass for a 17-year-old. He's 26 and it shows) and he actually makes the cringe dialogue work. But he's way too diabolical and downright predatory. The scene where he forces Dane to gulp down his spiked drink - it’s worse seeing it than reading it. That grossed me out more than the gore.

What makes it worse, nobody properly calls him out. Beatrix kinda does on his homophobia – “Homophobic bashing by GIF” - and Sky does chastise him, but they still tolerate him. It is kinda funny in a way Sky has a whole ass arc about how he's enabling Stella's problematic behaviour by still dating her after she blinded her friend but doesn't realize he's doing the same for Riven.

The only person that really puts her foot down with Riven is Terra and nobody takes her seriously about anything she says.

Everyone is very laissez-faire around him and that's not how you respond to your friend being problematic. (Hey, kinda like the other girls sans Aisha are with Bloom!) Everyone surrounding Riven is so disgusting and the notion of him supposedly being a good guy is very hard to buy into. His whole relationship with Dane has a section of it’s own because there’s just a lot to unpack.

3. Stella I am so sorry

I'm also in the majority hating how they've tarnished Stella. Basically, they turned her into the stereotypical rich bully with mommy issues.

I get that Stella has an abusive mom but that’s no excuse to be a total bitch to her roommates. And no, her roommates shouldn't accept her back with open arms. And she doesn't even redeem herself - the girls just accept her back after her mom pulls her from Alfea.

And this is also another issue with the writing were the characters suddenly just change their opinions on a whim. Suddenly Stella likes the winx, suddenly Terra misses Stella even though having that girl literally gives her anxiety. Suddenly Aisha's on Bloom's side in the end.

This isn't me simping for the cartoon out of nostalgia. I was mostly okay with the idea of Stella and Sky hooking up. But Looking at it from a creative standpoint - looking at the source material, and the many paths you can take this character, the best thing Brian Young and co. can think of for her was turning her into the stereotypical rich bully that we've seen time and time again? No deconstruction no meta take, it's played out exactly how you’d expect it.

Again, this isn't me simping for the show. Purely from a creative standpoint Stella was such a major let down. There's so much to the character and Brian Young took the easiest, saturated path.

4. That one scene with Bloom's parents

You know the one. Mike unhinges Bloom's bedroom doors and Vanessa cusses out and insults her child like a petty teen bully. Forgetting how utterly cringey that scene was, you can't have her mom go batshit insane on her child, then act like she's this loving parent that cares so deeply about her daughter. Screw that! Vanessa deserved those 3rd degree burns! She invaded her daughter's privacy. Bloom didn't even do anything wrong!

I can't buy into this narrative of Vanessa and Mike being loving parents when they do something like that. Seriously who thought that was okay?

5. Pity Parties for everyone.

I already discussed this in Stella’s section but I don’t like the “it’s okay for me be a shitty person because my life sucks :)” narrative Fate tries to pull. They did it with Stella, Bloom, Riven.

What I liked about the first season of Winx Club is Bloom’s arc and her character as a whole. Because while she went through shit, from the Trix, to finding out she was adopted, her existential crisis, not feeling like she belonged, losing the dragon flame, she went through a lot. She didn’t throw a pity party. She didn’t whine, bitch and complain. She allowed herself to feel upset, took it as it is and tried to make lemonade out of lemons. And I respect that.

Net!Bloom is agrevating. She does some dumb, reckless stuff but it’s excused because she’s the protagonist? She let the war criminal out, the school gets taken over by the bad guys because of Bloom. Faragonda fucking dies because she let the war criminal out! The burned ones attacked the school because she let the war criminal out!!! But no, Aisha’s villainized for calling Bloom out because Bloom’s existential crisis is more important then anything else.

Getting to Sky, he isn’t as bad as the others. He doesn’t become a shitty person because of his problems. (Though lowkey flirting with Bloom while he hooks up with Stella is uh not good.) But he does come across incredibly whiny. Because of the cringey dialogue and the unnecessary swearing  I can’t take his speech on opening up to Bloom seriously. I laughed throughout the whole thing and Bloom leaving his unconscious body there was the icing on the cake.

One of the few characters that deserved a pity party is Terra. She’s very much like OG!Bloom in a way. She is bullied by Dane and Riven, has body insecurities, anxiety, nobody listens to her and at most only tolerates her. Despite all the crap that is thrown her way she still reminds humble, kind, and respectful. And she is one of the few characters that deserves more support than what she got out of the season.

5. Bloom, Aisha, Tokenism and their awful relationship

I’m going to be upfront, their relationship sucks. The core of their dynamic is what Aisha can do for Bloom. It’s very one-sided. Bloom only goes to Aisha to help solve her problems, which Aisha gladly does – but when Aisha disagrees with Bloom or says something Bloom doesn’t like, Bloom suddenly goes off and Aisha’s made to be the bad guy. Even though she’s right? And Aisha has her own problems as well, shown to also struggle with her powers. But nope, that’s pushed to the back burner because Bloom needs help.

I am all for creative freedom. I can stomach Stella x actual Sky. I can stomach turning Stella into a rich mean girl. I can stomach the dark academia aesthetic but what Brian Young and co. did to Aisha is just plain racist. Screw the “it’s an adaptation” excuse. Turning this character who had a rich storyline and was a princess into a white girl’s magical negro who fixes all her problems is racist and by definition tokenism. And by whitewashing the other two characters of color, making Aisha the only poc in the group – that’s the worst thing you can do to her.

And frankly we need more black princesses on screen.

6. Dane and the homophobia of the show

Towards the show’s climax it’s revealed Dane is helping Beatrix because she accepts he’s “different”. Not only does this go back to my pity party rant but like bruh,

1)      Beatrix never really did anything for Dane? She hung out and smoked with him a bit, but that’s all. You’re telling me Terra wouldn’t accept Dane? Beatrix never helped him and he never really opened up to her about his struggles.

2)      Nobody else, not even background characters bully or harass Dane for being “different”. It’s only Riven, the guy he’s crushing on. The whole falling in love with the bad boy/abuser trope is bad in a hetero relationship and that still stands for a gay one. And I know damn well if Dane was a woman half of the shit Riven did to Dane wouldn’t slide.

It makes no sense for Dane to side with the bad guys when Riven’s the one bullying him and Beatrix is complacent in the bullying. Oh, and having your second black* character who’s also lgbt+/potentially questioning be a villain? Not good.

I’m all for gay and poly rep, but not like this. If Stella and Sky’s toxic relationship is going to be called out for what it is, why not Dane’s?

*Idk if Theo Graham is light-skinned black or biracial so I’ll just refer to him as black.

7. The plot

It’s very predictable. Personally, wasn’t fond of the ‘twist of a twist of a twist’ style of writing. The story tries to be nuanced and deep but it’s not. Common sense is treated like a big revelation. Not trusting the war criminal you barely know isn’t as big of a take that the writers try to make it out to be.

8.  Everything else

·       Beatrix is fine. No Icy but did like the gothic bookworm aesthetic.

·       Sam is just there to be Musa’s love interest and provide some dumb drama between Musa and Terra. I thought they’d go the Edward/Bella root – Musa’s drawn to Sam because she can’t sense his emotions for some reason. Nope, they just get together for the obligatory make out sessions. Don’t care much for the relationship or the character.

·       Since the powers are all elemental shouldn’t there be classes purely for an elemental? Classes purely for fire fairies, etc?

·       Musa’s powers are confusing. If she has no control over them and they are “always on”, shouldn’t her eyes constantly be glowing purple?  Very wishy washy. Sometimes they overwhelm her and other times she has complete control. Her character is just there for plot stuff.

·       Terra is one of the better characters but can’t enjoy her knowing about the whitewashing. Why can’t we have a plus sized character just exist and not have body issues?

·       Sky doesn’t feel like a prince. Characters treat him like his dad is a war hero and not the King of Eraklyon. There was a point where I thought I misheard and thought his dad was just a war hero and not a king.

·       Why try to justify Rosalind’s war crime if she’s going to be the big bad anyways?

·       The way the characters treat death/act around death is very weird. Musa and Terra see a pile of dead bodies and they’re unreasonable calm. Especially Bloom an “ordinary teenage girl from earth”, reacts very nonchalant when death and war crimes are brought up. Doesn’t help the show tries to push this “they’re kids fighting a war” narrative.

·  ��    Can’t buy into the girls’ friendship. The Aisha/Bloom dynamic is centred on what Aisha can do for Bloom. Bloom only cares about herself and only goes to her friends to help with her problems. Most of Musa’s and Terra’s interaction centre around Sam. Stella didn’t care for the girls until her mom showed up and pulled a 180. The girls were quick to turn on Aisha when she sided with the adults.

·       I have no problem with technology existing but why do they have Instagram, Tiktok and Tumblr? The otherworld is a completely separated from Earth, why do they have the same technology?  

9. Brian Young, what do you mean by mature?

I grew up on the 4kids dub before transitioning to the Nick dub for season 4 and 5 then dropping the cartoon for good. So naturally on my rewatch of the cartoon I decided to go watch the RAI dub since I heard it’s more accurate and 4Kids are infamous for their horrid localisations straying too much to the source material. Upon finishing season 1 and currently watching season 2, a few things took me by surprise. For one, the cartoon is surprisingly dark. The schools are at war with the Trix and their army of Darkness, Sky almost dies in Season 2, Riven almost dies and the Trix thinks he suicided, it’s heavily implied in Season 2 Darkar murdered some of the pixies, the paedophilic undertones of Bloom and Avalon’s relationship, the list goes on.

When the interview with Brian Young came out, he said Fate would be a mature take on the cartoon. And I wondered, what did he meant by mature? Was he going to delve deeper into the darker aspects of the show, or did he mean he was going to have the girls swear and have sex? Watching Fate, I found my answer.

If you take out the gore, swearing, drug and alcohol usage from the live action, the maturity is on par with the RAI dub. The difference is in the presentation. This is what sucks about the mentality surrounding live action remakes. Because the OG!Winx was colourful with glittery transformations , was super girly and overall had a positive upbeat tone (not forgetting 2D animated) - it can’t be taken seriously. You have to strip all that, the colour, the kindness, the femininity in order to be deemed mature.

10. Wrapping up

I went into Fate expecting the worst and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were things I liked about it. The show looks pretty, and I did like what they were trying to do with Sky’s arc. The actors did what they could with the material. Freddie Thorp made the cringe dialogue work and Abigail Cowen proves she can carry a show as the lead.

Fate is your generic, YA, dark academia show. It follows all the tropes of the YA genre to a T. If that’s your niche, then you’ll love Fate and I’m not bashing anyone who liked it.

For me, as a creative, it doesn’t capitalise on the strengths of the source material. I’m not asking for Winx Club again, as I’ve reiterated, I’m all for creative freedom. But Brian Young, Iginio Straffi, whoever worked on this – they could’ve created something new, innovative, something that stood out from the hordes of other YA shows. They had good material in their hands! But what I got -  I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen it done better. That’s a major disappointment.

As a winx club fan, don’t bother watching this. It’s a very diluted version of the Winx. In trying to capture the interest of the adult fans who grew up with the franchise – Iginio showed how out of touch he is if he thinks this is what they wanted.

[butterfly-winx]

Next baybee, is Mirta Wingert, in her pink punk barbie Enchantix, glow-ing! 

In this AU, she is the Fairy of Emotional Illusions and very, very gay. Let’s hear the rest below! 😁

Krystal | Diaspro | Mirta | Galatea | Nova | Miele 

Mirta is the same age as the Winx, but through her mid-year transfer to Alfea that only got finalised after the Trix’s megalomaniac attack had been dealt with, she repeated a year and graduated while the girls were away in Gardenia. 

Mirta is from an influential family in Magics that has brought forth many a council member, industrial and landowner. All of them witchcraft users, though. When Mirta manifested with magic it was not a question which stream she would pursue and that she would do it at one of the top schools of the Magic Universe. Mirta’s parents don’t immediately belong to the creme de la creme, but have enough influence to make things like this happen for their daughter. 

Being part of the upper class industrialists, but at the same time being removed enough from them to allow independent thought shaped Mirta’s personality greatly and contributed to her explosive rebellious teen stage. She wholeheartedly believes in what the punk anti-capitalist philosophy stands for and has alternately tried either to change her family’s ways from within, or to break away and distance herself. Her generous allowance was always spent on local youth groups, anti-discrimination organisations and personal drives for people in need. Many a times had her parents have to drag her off the streets where she chilled with punk buskers and their dogs before they could set an end to it by sending Mirta off to Cloud Tower.

Could Tower, now that was something else. Despite growing up in a family of witchcraft users, her home was still just basic, good old Adquistes. She has never lived in an exclusively witchcraft using society like the Cloud Tower coven, so a lot of things came as a culture shock to her. The school preserved a lot of things that modern witches in an integrated society don’t observe anymore, just for the sake of teaching history. Not all of it became Mirta, especially not the antagonism towards the fairies. Her heart is huge and as a true punk she stood up to the system and what she believed was not right. This didn’t make her many friends among the hard-core traditionalist witch*ers and combined with her very short statue, got her pushed around a lot.

Her only comfort and friend was Lucy, a childhood friend of hers. They met in an LGBT youth shelter organised event where Lucy had been tentatively seeking help for transitioning. Mirta was there to volunteer and the two girls hit off really well complaining about the world and uplifting each other where they could. After that they stayed online friends and talked on various forums, not having much of a face-to face relationship before becoming dorm mates at Cloud Tower. There it became obvious that some of their attitudes towards life and witchcraft were very different.

Mainly the Trix, they argued about them incessantly before Mirta left. Despite their horrible treatment of her, Lucy saw an opportunity in staying in the good graces of the Trix, as there weren’t many career opportunities open to witches at the time, so she thought it would make more sense to conform to the stereotypes. She was tired of fighting just to be recognised as a girl, why add to that plate? Mirta empathised with that to some extent, but she had unwavering faith in that she could do good, and she would do good regardless of what people thought of her magic stream. She decided to start that by passing on what she knows about the Trix’s doing in and out of school to the Winx. They met at the start of the year at the school’s joint ball that very few witch*ers actually showed up to. Flora immediately swept Mirta under her wing and the five girls frequently invited her to hang out. Mirta knew how the Trix have made Bloom’s life hell and wanted to help out to give the girls an upper hand. Until then she had been under the impression that their antagonism was nothing more than bulling, but the Trix pretty openly discussed ripping stuff from Bloom’s chest, so she felt they needed to know and warn teachers. Not Cloud Tower teachers though, them Mirta didn’t trust. She was discovered sneaking out and the Trix cast an advanced spell on her turning her into a pumpkin. 

Flora and Miss Faragonda cared for her while she was in that form at least for a few weeks before Faragonda was able to turn her back using her fairy dust. After reporting what she had intended to, which has by then become outdated, Mirta was hesitant to return to Cloud Tower. For one because of the Trix and the bullying, but also because of how she and Lucy had broken off. By that point Mirta had been nursing a giant crush on her friend and their angry parting words to each other broke her heart. While at Alfea she learned more about fey magic from the Winx basically by osmosis. She even had success with a few basic spells that absolutely amazed her. She was never the best student and she had to work so hard to keep up with witchcraft. This in comparison was a piece of cake. Faragonda then sneakily slid her a transfer slip before sending her home to her family in Adquistes. It took some convincing for them to come around to the idea of Mirta being a fairy, but Mirta was allowed a trial period which she aced with stellar notes, much to her parents’ surprise. She became a full time student the next semester, starting fresh with a new leaf.

She fell out of tune with the Winx a little bit after that, as their curriculum diverged greatly and they had each their own social circles to stay involved in. Tough a bit distrustful of her at first, Mirta’s room and classmates turned out to be good sport and she often hung out with them even after graduation. Mirta patched things up with Lucy eventually, both of them overcoming their shame over what had happened. As Mirta continued her work trying to bring the two schools together, their relationship seemed to grow even closer than it had been before and Mirta flirted with the idea of flirting with Lucy, before inevitably chickening out of it every time too afraid to ruin what they had. The year was over before they knew it and Lucy and Mirta went on their first sort of date at the end of the year ball. It was sweet and sapphic and filled Mirta with hope for the future. Then of course Valtor struck and everything went to shit. 

When Valtor and the Trix took over Cloud Tower, Mirta was ready to bang down the Winx’s door just as they were coming to her to do the same. Inspecting the castle they of course stumbled into the monsters left for them and the brain-washed Lucy. Mirta was horrified, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t free her from the trance. Lucy herself seemed to resist the pull though and her eyes clear, momentarily looking at Mirta. Later, when the horror was over and Valtor had been defeated, Lucy shared that hearing Mirta’s voice cut through to her and made her fight against Valtor’s control. She felt like she had to come back to Mirta, to see her, to fight for her. There was only so much a girl’s heart could handle and before she knew it, Mirta was kissing Lucy. Lucy broke an incredibly powerful witcher’s spell on her because she loved Mirta so much, how could she not? How could she not love her back? They laughed it out telling each other about all their insecurities and pining, thinking the other didn’t feel the same and decided to go on a lot of dates to make up for that.

In the S6 AU timeline, she is settled in Magics City with Lucy, who is pursuing further magic education at Cloud Tower as a teacher assistant, ready to get her Master Witch exam and become a potions teacher. Mirta is therefore at the front line when Lucy’s voice message comes in telling her that the Trix have returned to Cloud Tower with a strange new witch and something about them being different. More sharp and dangerous. Mirta spends the rest of that story arc trying to free Lucy, then survive in a hostile witch infested Cloud Tower after she becomes trapped in there. (wink a good ending is in sight for her however)

Magic wise she is definitely competent, though not as battle hardened as the Winx. She gained her Enchantix in a very characteristically her situation. During the time of the reawakening of magic on Earth Magics was also experiencing unrest with a lot of people protesting how Magics planned to handle the situation, leaving Earth magic users to their own devices once again. Counterprotesters crashed the scene and escalated the violence, endangering bystanders and protesters alike. Mirta stood her ground way before peace keepers responded and her initiative saved a lot of people, triggering her Enchantix. With emotional illusions she could pacify people for the time being and allowed for vulnerable people to scurry away. Mirta’s powers don’t change someone’s heart like Believix powers do (though after she hears what Believix can do, she becomes keenly interested in it), however it overlays an overpowering layer of what Mirta wants them to feel in the moment. If her concentration fades, so will the feeling. In that way, her power is actually very similar to Darcy’s psychic illusions. Using witchcraft with this aspect always made Mirta feel predatory, offering power bearing items in order to control someone else’s emotions. With fey magic, it is more like she extends what she feels into the mind of other people. All her spells turn out stronger if she herself is feeling the emotion and has an immediate reference to draw on what it feels like to experience it. Unconsciously she sometimes spreads her stress or dread, which took Lucy a while to figure out after they moved together. Now she isn’t as freaked by it and just tuts when she recognises that the jaw-clenching stress isn’t actually her own. Mirta is working on it, she swears! The two of them then cuddle it out, though they always look for excuses to spend the day on the couch, so that doesn’t say a lot. :)

--

I have a lot of love and plans for Mirta, I think this has been going on for a while. All of this is also poured into my S6 AU, which is a “coming soon” kind of project atm.

[cowboypossume]

so i reread keeper of the lost cities and here’s my fresh input:

a note before we begin: you know how people fake throw up at things on tik tok? this book is the reason i now unironically do that.

dex and fitz really have the enemies to lovers troupe going for them and i’m ok with it. i really am.

so do sophie and biana at the beginning but it fizzes out so a better description is enimies to friends to lovers

marhella and stina give me such power top energy i cannot express how much i think that contributes to people not liking them

speaking of stina i wish sophie didn’t just immediately hop onto the bandwagon of “oh she’s evil” without investing further, especially with how much she is written as a ‘good’ person (which i can and will defend to the day i die that good people don’t exist but that’s for a different day).

there’s way too much heteronormativity and Patriarchical Ideas mushed into the book. like three hole pages of a 488 page book of teenagers being like “oooooo girls like guys and guys like girls” only for della to join in. not to mention the amount of times keefe is the reason for those ideas because he’s teasing like “oh fitz has a girlfriend”

keefe and fitz didn’t have as many bonding moments™️ in this book as i remember, but they stil know each other really well, have comfortability around each other, and would make a 10/10 best friends to lovers troupe.

oh my god s o many crushes i swear. like two teenagers of the opposite gender really can’t not like each other apperantly

i miss read a line and really thought there was cannon sexism for me to do a whole ass rant about in the notes part of my analyzation but n o p e

but we do have classism, sexist stereotypes, and the fact that there’s been SO many characters who’ve spoken and ✨🌺far too many of them are white🌺✨

oh also: no ones disabled. which annoys me because their society is described as ‘euptopic’ almost implying that it’s something that makes people problematic, which,,,, no

ok a side note on the society, i understand that the story’s message (kinda) is that things that seem perfect are probably deeply flawed, but something tergan said stuck with me. on a page i can’t remember at the moment he says something like “[the black swan exists] in a society that doesn’t have rebels”, which it suck with me bc that’s boarderline dystopic if it’s not there already. it’s one thing for laws not to be broken, but when you think your society is so perfect despite it having obvious flaws and you think that no one rebels, then i really hate to break it to you, you have a massive rebellion about to occur; it’s just scented as foul under your resplendent nose.

please stop flirting. i get its part of teenagers being teens but i swear if i read “s/he realeased a breath” or “their heart fluttered” or literally ANYTHING like that god no.

yall. i missed dex. he actually has more role in this book than ‘you can gadget and we need one’ and oh boy i really missed him. he’s a BEAN and deserves better.

hole’s said everyone deserves better and i absolutely agree so we’re adding that note here.

if you do what i did and read this book out loud to one of your best friends who has no clue anything about this weird fandom and give fitz a really deep voice for no reason it’s comdy GOLD.

i really think i’m reading too much into this point but iggy seems,,,, symbolic to me?

like ok with humans, sophie didn’t ‘fit in’, right? like she grew up hearing things like “why can’t you be normal like your sister” (which i can do a whole other rant about how that will affect her for the rest of her life just a s k)

not to mention looking really different from her family and graduating high school at age twelve 

but you know who never judged her?

m a r t y

so anyway sophie meets this teal-eyed, movie star smiled wonder boy who takes away her entire knowledge of everything she’s known while taking away her family too

and it turns out even in a place of weirdos she still manages to be the exception to everything

and she doesn’t have the comfort to hear what people are really thinking about her anymore (which as i said before say the word and i’ll deadass write a whole speech about how everything she heard will completely fuck up every relationship she has) which unfortunately means that she grew used to confirming people didn’t like her but now she doesn’t have that

she has to adapt to this new space and feel like she’s always felt, like an outcast in a place that was accepting, but yet again, she the exception to everything

but about halfway through the book she starts to become more comfortable around grady and edaline and that’s when iggy comes in

she finds him while cleaning garbage, and grady compliments her. they have a bonding moment and it’s because of this t h i n g. and then sophie actually feels proud not only does she take up a room, but she did something

and her new parents are proud of her

so she finally feels like she BELONGS because she helped out at the place where she lives/they work

to me it seems iggy is kinda a manifesto of the world building and character development that happens in this book

i think the plot/character arc is fixated a little too much on how different sophie is. like, i get it, she’s exception to everything, but the plot really didn’t need her to be that quirky. yes, she’s different, but there’s a lot more to the plot and her character than how different she is.

also, i had to reread pages a lot bc i needed an exact paragraph number and,,,, it’s really paced like a fanfic

some questions i have about the society is:

it’s established that they use books, physical papers, etc., and the only thing i remember about trees is the speech alden gave her about how she doesn’t know the name of their most popular tree, and the fact that people become trees when they die. even then i don’t think the second one is in this book. never o n c e do i remember something about planting trees that aren’t dead elf’s, so do they feel the affects of deforestation and that jazz?? like if they use trees, will they run out of them? can they??? and do they use the coffins of elf’s for paper??

this is more of a rant than a question, but here it goes anyway. in foxfire, students have a testing system very similar to the one in america: a huge test at the end of the year determines the future of a student. that in of itself doesn’t sound too drastic, right? well,,,,, not necessarily. several studies have shown that tests in general, but especially these types, don’t work. despite how good or bad of a teacher i think my past and current teachers have been, every single one of them hates this system that we have in place. they know it’s an unfair assessment that does it’s damnist to make you fail, and they’re trying so hard to denounce it. however, that doesn’t happen at all in the lost cities. in fact, most of the teachers pride themselves on failing students. so if elf’s are in such an advanced society, why do tests still exist? especially in an environment where the consequences are far greater than just staying back a grade. 

so sophie’s figuring out that major problems exist in the world the elf’s created, right? i wonder if more society structured problems exist more than ‘oh bad people do things and the law justifies which is what’. like, as i’ve previously stated, there’s sexist stereotypes presented (like girls like dresses and guys don’t), but does sexism still exist? does racism exist? it’s established that poverty isn’t a thing because of the fund elf’s have at birth and their limited usage of money (which if you understand please explain bc i don’t really get how they buy stuff but still don’t use money) but if someone gets shipped off to exile, do they lose their money? is it possible for elf’s to starve to death because they can’t afford food? do they pay for food?? if they did starve who would they call? because someone on this website, who’s post i tried to find but i couldn’t so if y’all know what i’m talking about please link it, brought up a good point that elwin is a school physician, he shouldn’t be dealing with the near-death experiences sophie has, so who would they turn to? especially if they don’t have access to foxfire because they got exciled??

is therapy a thing in this world? sophie and dex could really benefit from it, yet mental health has only been brought up when someone went insane, which REALLY shows how little they think about it.

that perfectly transitions into my next point: sophie and dex’s trauma. i really don’t get the vibe that there was much thought going into their kidnapping, other than sophie needed something to trigger her inflecting ability and establish the black swan are on the good side, which really sucks because wow trauma doesn’t happen lightly. and the fact that it happened seems rushed to me, but i’ll come back to that. but anyway, their trauma doesn’t get developed that deeply in this book because it wasn’t given the space to. they were beaten, tortured, starved, gagged, and who even knows what else for t e n d a y s, only for them to find them again, repeat the process, but someone saves them and dumps them into an illegal city and they both nearly die from dehydration, coldness, and lack of concentration, and you’re telling me after three days of conscious of bed rest sophie wants to get her failing out of school over with? ma’am, it takes more time than that to adjust to THAT alone, not to mention the realization that “hey your entire life is fake because people genetically altered you to be their weapon in a war so much bigger than yourself” that was recently dumped on her. like,,,, you really expect me to think that three days is what made her feel prepared and CONFIDENT? no sir. i don’t buy it.

coming back to it being rushed: the book starts out slow and then really hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. so much more stuff happens in the second half of the book than the first and it never gets fully developed it feels like. in the first half sophie moves away but gets a new family and struggles a bit but adapts, fires maybe but hey don’t worry about it, dex hates fitz, fitz is ✨d r e a m y ✨ but our main girl doesn’t like him like that, right?, stina’s a bitch, and sophie is a quirky girl and telepath but can’t tell anyone. pretty basic stuff, not too plot intensive. the second half though: sophie almost fails her midterms but doesn’t, grady and elaine want to unadopt her (which that’s never really explained as to why they do that but ok) fires exist in san degio but they’re fine but they’re actually a rebel elf so..., sophie accidentally breaks a law but it was an accident so it’s fine, update on the fires: sophie burns herself trying to get the evidence that it’s a rebel elf and it works, she’s the moon lark and basically a weapon bc no one knows her well enough to evaluate her safety, sophie and dex get kidnapped but fitz can now transmit to her and she has two new abilities so it’s all good, trauma doesn’t exist except for nightmare you can fix with sedatives, sophie doesn’t fail out of school, and yayyy her family doesn’t want her remove their adoption. there’s probably a lot more that i missed, it’s just that’s a LOT of stuff crammed into a little bit further than the second half of the book that really could have been devolped or explore further instead of forcing into less than 244 pages, ya know?

fitz’s eyes are mentioned seven times, the first time being on page TWO of the novel

his smile is mentioned three times

alden says “no reason to worry” five times, he writes it once, and sophie points out he says it a lot so he chances it slightly to something like ‘don’t stress about it’ so i didn’t count those though i should have

speaking of alden, in this book he’s absolutely creepy, but something that stands out to me is how much he calls sophie girl. i didn’t count it, but he said “that’s a good girl” to sophie too many times for it to be normal especially when you consider how he doesn’t do it to anyone else.

i kinda forgot i was annotating for sophie’s anxious habit of pulling out her eyelashes so i got she did it twice, but i highly doubt that number

but i will keep adding to this when i actually do the words with my annotations.

[thatyanderecritic]

i really like the yandere dynamic but i dont openly post or reblog about it anymore cuz i've had people give me a hard time over it being problematic. and i get told im terrible, get called a freak... idk. do you have any advice for dealing with this...?

Hey anon, sorry for not getting to you sooner. We have a lot of questioned queued up to be answered but I decided to put you first since this is a pretty big issue. 

To be a yandere fan, we’re in a rather precarious position. Like any fandom, we are plagued with bad apples that end up painting the community’s face as a whole. You know the type of bad apples that all fandoms have: the overzealous stans that either attack those outside the community for not sharing a view or catering to our fandom. We also suffer from infighting/bullying between yandere fans because not everyone shares the same views on what a yandere is or even for something as stupid as a yandere headcanon for a character that never was a yandere, to begin with. But unlike most fandoms, the works that we support tend to go against us at times. That is to say... since we’re a bit of an under “funded” (e.g. don’t have enough yandere media. Especially for male yanderes) fandom, people tend to quickly put CrAzY characters on a pedestal without question. And this hurts our credibility, ALOT.  Having group within the fandom worshipping some non-yandere, psychotic girl as a yandere just because she’s kawaii while the more “sane” fans try to explain, “No, we swear yandere’s aren’t like that” doesn’t look good for our case. 

Is there anything we can do about people attacking us for our preference? Not exactly, I’m sorry to say. The moment humans gained self-awareness and free will, universal mental unity became a myth. There will always be a disconnect, even on concepts that all humans should be in agreement on. Would you believe me if I say that some people don’t believe that people should be allowed to have a livable wage? Of course, people will have their reasons as to why they think a certain way regardless if it sounds logical or not. Just because they have a reason doesn’t mean it’s reasonable but in a world where emotions is king, logical will never win.

People who attack you for liking yanderes most likely were victims of abuse and went through some sort of trauma that yanderes are usually identified/linked with. If they weren’t direct victims then they know someone who is a victim. And if it isn’t either of these two, then they’re most likely a bleeding heart with a “higher than thou” sense of morality. Regardless of the reasoning, they all have their hearts in the right places but rigid in their perspective of the world. Already, the decision is cemented and may never change. To most, we’re as egregious as pedophiles and incest-lovers just because we like villains. After all: “How in the world could anyone remotely ‘like’ such awful people?! Clearly, there is something wrong with THEM.” Of course, we have our reasons for liking yanderes but most people close their ears and eyes since they already judged us based on our interest. For those who were victims of abuse or know someone, I understand that they’re reaching out to attack those who seem to defend characters that may or may not be similar to their assailant/abuser. They attack, they defend invisible victims, and in a way, looking for purpose... looking at how they can turn their trauma into a positive. But most of the time, they overstep their boundaries and try to enforce their authority in something they don’t understand. 

The only way we can approach these types of people is to send an open invitation for a diplomatic talk in trying to reach a middle ground. While a change of opinion would be nice, it would be nearly impossible since a lot of people are grounded in their personal moral compass. If they are open for a conversation, then all hope is not lost. Ideally, if a conversation is open then the most important thing is to validate their emotions invested in this situation. 9 out of time 10, people are stubborn in an argument because they feel like they’re getting personally targeted either by their identity, their pride, or their emotions. Therefore, they double down and become louder in their argument, not because of their view but because they believe they are defending themselves. From there, once the other recognize that you aren’t attacking them, you shift the conversation onto yourself and point out how they were making you feel the same away but they were actively attacking you; not only that, treating you as less than human just because you prefer villainous FICTIONAL characters. Ideally, at this point, the other recognizes their hypocrisy and you both agree in staying in your own lanes. If by some miracle they’re open of a different perspective, then you’re given a platform to say why you like yanderes... typical reasons being the idea of unconditional love or coping. 

But this is all hypothetical and the most desirable outcome. But more than often, people are more than comfortable at screaming at you every time you try to open your mouth... most likely something they learned because someone shut them down in such a way. Not only that, they most likely formed their own counter-arguments already since a lot of yandere fans have the same reasons as to why they like yanderes: unconditional love or coping. The counter-argument can usually be boiled down to two reasons: unethical and risking future victims seeking a “yandere” partner. Ethicality... this is a low hanging fruit to argue. Everyone (well the majority of people, again it’s universally impossible to be on the same page) would agree that it’s bad to stalk a person. Even a yandere fan would say never to stalk a person IRL. But because of this, they think they got you in an “ethical checkmate”. It’s a cheap argument and they’re just trying to make you feel like a monster for your preferences in fictional characters. Funny enough, this is a tactic that abusers would use to shame their victim into compliance... hm...

The second counter-argument people use is “think of the youths!” Let’s be real... it’s scientifically proven that kids and teens are easily impressionable because of their underdeveloped brains and lack of experience. Not only the concerns of the younger members of society, they fear that by allowing us to enjoy our media, we are “normalizing” abusive relationships in society. Considering the state of the United State’s government, I understand where the fear is coming from. But they’re barking up the wrong tree and especially using the wrong method in preventing this dystopian future. I always see these people bring up the ‘Jaws’ case as to why there should be no yanderes and no support for them. You know, the case where there was a sudden increase in shark hunting due to public fear which pushed certain shark species into endangerment. It’s always this argument, I swear... anyways, they always toss this without never diving in deeper as to why this happened. 

Before Jaws, people didn’t know anything about sharks in general. There just wasn’t any interest in sharks because we humans just didn’t find time interesting at the time. They were there and we can’t really eat sharks. But, there were already tales about sharks being “man-eaters” from those stranded out at sea or curious citizens. The stereotype was already there. But Jaws brought sharks to the forefront of public scrutiny and shark hunting competitions came up because “what’s the harm? Sharks are man-eaters”. This dropped the shark population, but because of this there was an interest in sharks, funding to research them suddenly increased. Scientist turned their attention on sharks while later on fed to informing the public, making them educated and less scared of shark attacks. Jaws came out in 1975... Shark Week on the discovery channel came out in 1988... there’s a reason, folks. People became interested in sharks. Yes, Jaws hurt the shark population but it’s slowly been going up. Damage takes time to repair. But it also brought about awareness. While the stereotype isn’t dead (that’s just humans at this point and it’s always been a stereotype ever since man was on a boat), it opened a conversation. And that’s the key point here. (Here’s a link. But you can go even further if you research)

Abusive relationships, manipulative people, toxic actions... these are nothing new. “Getting rid” of yandere fans will not solve this issue, just like telling your kid “there are kids starving in Africa” will not end world hunger. For the Jaws example, I point to the argument that politicians make about how video games create violent people. We know that it’s nonsense, you know it’s nonsense. But there is a fear of the “unknown”. People back then thought that cartoons like Tom and Jerry would cause kids to grow up violent. And even further back, people thought that reading books created lazy people. The fear on what’s on TV is a fear people had since the beginning of time. People aren’t as soft as they believe they are but they can lack information... Instead of shutting down people and censor what goes on TV, use it as a stepping stone for the bigger conversation. It’s a lack of knowledge and fear of the unknown that killed the sharks but it is knowledge that is now protecting them. 

This is especially important for our younger peers. Raise of hands, who actually changed their minds as a teenager after someone called you stupid or told you “no” with giving a logical reason besides “because I say so.” I’m going to guess we got an empty room here. Attacking our younger peers or those who are older just because they like a character trope IS NOT HELPING THEM AND ESPECIALLY NOT MAKING THE ATTACKERS LOOK LIKE HEROES. THEY LOOK LIKE JACKASSES. Fuck man, the younger ones want acceptance and looking a supportive group by joining a fandom. Calling them toxic just pushes them to the edge these people never wanted them to be. The same applying to the older ones. We all got our issues and y’all never know what it is. That’s why I hate seeing people in our fandom gatekeep against our younger peers. They’re going to come in even though you say crap like “Lmaooo, my blog/game is 18+! Okay, byeeeee!” If you want to protect them then be their fucking guide, my dudes. You can have a mature conversation with them and explain the difference between fiction and reality and what’s wrong and right. “Yanderes are pretty cool, ay sport? But notice how that guy gaslighted the girl? That is a common tactic people do IRL. Be sure to recognize it as a red flag.” Fuck, is that so fucking hard for everyone? Some people act like they never grew on the internet during the early 2000s.Y’all were a teenager once. If what you’re doing wouldn’t help teenage you in the past, then you’re doing it wrong. Smh. 

Finally, I do want to make a point for those who use coping reasons. While I do understand where you’re coming from, you guys are our most vulnerable to these attacks but also the reason for the attacks as well. It’s the mindset of “How could you support something like this?! You must be a horrible person.” I know a lot of people aren’t like that but also, we got bad apples... people who take this for coping reasons way too far. To them, I ask them to come back from the edge and let’s look for help together. Using yanderes to embrace “yandere tendencies” or rationalizing your abuse as normal isn’t the way. Use it to help you breathe and help you feel grounded but don’t let it define you... especially don’t make it a lifeline. As for those who know the difference and can separate fiction from reality, I applaud you but you got some work in helping those who are too deep. I’ve seen some of the yandere Tumblr group chats on the app. I’ll be real... YIKES. It’s a bit of an echo chamber. I ended up having to message a user on a side since I saw red flags in the group chat when I was lurking. People were trying to give the wrong help by encouraging their actions. Just... don’t do this y’all. I get you relate but don’t get your homie in jail or a court date for a restraining order. 

Anyways, I’m sorry anon for pulling farther and farther away from you specifically since this is a big issue that everyone tackles and I’m also sorry that I can’t give you an “end all” answer. First, you can try having a civil conversation with these people. Try for the middle ground and if you feel like you can push further, then try to do a change of mind. But I know this is hard, especially when tensions build and emotions get heated. But it’s important to never explode that anger... or at least direct that anger into a logical response. The moment you explode and made an error of judgment, you will lose and suffer publically. If a conversation isn’t possible, then encourage these people to stay in their lane and unfollow you. Why the fuck are they following you if they hate the things you reblog? Sounds unhealthy... suggest some hobbies or blogs to follow instead. From there, if they try to continue the hate, just block them and delete the messages. As they say, don’t feed the trolls. Y’all may think you’ve seen all the hate anons we get but we get a lot more than what we answer. We just delete them because they’re typically incoherent or stupid. They don’t come back lol. 

From there, anon, surround yourself with people who you find agreeable and who you relate to. A lot of yandere blogs are down for a talk, I’ll be real. Just be sure you open up that you want to be friends lol. So... yeah. I’m sorry this isn’t perfect, but I hope it helps. Don’t be afraid of being yourself!

[captainscanadian]

Stay | Bucky Barnes x Reader (Part 1)

My Masterlist

Prologue

Summary: Twelve years ago, you ran into a former classmate of yours at a grocery store and ended up going on a life changing adventure. Thanks to your dear older brother, the two of you had become closer than you used to be. But Bucky Barnes... you had no idea what was going to happen between the two of you.

Word Count: 6535

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Tamilian!Reader, Natasha Romanoff x OMC Arjun Y/L/N, Steve Rogers x Platonic!Reader

Warnings: MINIMAL TAMIL DIALOGUE (I’m more than happy to translate!) & TAMIL CULTURE, References to Tamil Literature & Poetry, Mild Swearing, Alcoholism

A/N:This is my entry for @bucky-smiles​‘s 2K Bollywood Writing Challenge! My prompt was to write a Bucky fic inspired by my all time favorite Bollywood movie - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani! Y’all should go watch it because it’s fucking amazing! But I decided to write this fic with a Tamilian reader because I am Tamilian. I was born in Sri Lanka. But I know that there are a few other Tamilian friends on this site who would love to read this. @jalapenobarnes​ & @fafulous​, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU, MY CHELLANGALA! Ever since I posted this fic, I have received so many kind messages from my fellow Tamilian and other Desi Marvel fans who appreciate the representation that this fic has provided for them. I appreciate every single one of you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for your support for this fic!

12 years ago...

You pushed your black framed glasses up your nose as you squinted, the lined piece of paper in your hand looked like it had been ripped off of an old diary that your mother used to keep. The strains of oil and turmeric on the corner of it, and your mother’s writing in smudging black ink; you wondered how she had even thought that you would be able to read what she had even written. You looked down to read the grocery list in your hand as you let out another exasperated sigh. Your mother’s squiggly Tamil manuscript was barely legible as you tried to figure out what she had written for you to buy.

Despite the fact that you had moved to New York when you had been eight years of age, you had managed to learn English as a second language. While you were fluently speaking English by the time you were ten and had worked rigorously to be rid of your accent that had been the cause of all of the bullying that you had to endure, you could not let go of your first language all that easily either. Your parents had been it their mission to ensure that both you and your brother did not forget how to read, write and speak your mother tongue. From binge-watching VHS copies of old South Indian soap operas to enrolling you in Tamil language credit courses while you were in high school, their mission had certainly been a success.

You spoke Tamil just as well as you wrote it. Your knowledge of Tamil literature and poetry was also fairly extensive, compared to most Tamil kids who were actually born in America. You had read most of the Thirukurral and the poems of Mahakavi Bharathiyar, even Kamba Ramayanam and Silappathikaram. You had your father to credit for that. Your reading comprehension was fairly decent as well, but nothing could have prepared you to decipher what your mother had written on that marinated grocery list of hers.

“Hey, what the fuck are you starin’ at, huh?!” You heard a familiar voice call out, startling you in an instant. “Haven’t you ever seen sexy legs before?!”

As you looked up from the grocery list in your hand, you noticed the familiar red-headed Russian girl whom you had once attended high school with. In her ripped denim shorts and leather jacket, she looked quite feisty as she argued with a young boy whom she had just caught staring at her from behind in the checkout line. She had always been a ticking time bomb, not taking shit from anyone, teachers, bullies and cat callers alike.

“... I have. But those legs aren’t sexy.” The boy had responded to her with sass.

Your eyes grew wide as you parted your lips, unable to believe that a boy his age would dare to challenge someone like that. What even happened to kids these days?

“I’ll fucking slap you!” Natasha Romanoff spat at the teen, raising her voice as she grew irritated by his response. “Apologize! Apologize, right fucking now.”

At that point, the entire grocery store had been staring at the two of them. Leave it to Natasha Romanoff to start a scene like this. She had done so much more during her time in high school though.

While the two of you had not been close, you knew her well enough to know that she was not one to be messed with. The number of times she had almost gotten into physical fights with the jocks and the bitchy cheerleader girls who teased her for being a tomboy and ended up in detention were endless. If it had not been for her two best friends, you were sure that she would have gotten suspended or expelled for her behaviour. After all, that was a consequence to her non-conformity to high school stereotypes.  

This poor boy must have been taken aback by her outburst. But he must have thought twice before he stared at her ass and sassed her out when she caught him. If anything, he had to learn his lesson the hard way. “Sorry...”

“Good. Now go stand on the other checkout line and don’t even dare to stare at me, you idiot.”

As you watched the boy walk away from her in defeat, you made your way over to the checkout line having given up on figuring out what the remainder of items on your mother’s list were. If you could get out of here before it got dark, you could stop by the bookstore on your way home and pick up some of your textbooks for the next semester.

It was the holidays after all. You did not have any plans to celebrate; not that you had anything to celebrate anyways. Diwali had been a month ago and it had been a decent celebration. While lighting fireworks and clay lamps was out of the question, you had spent it with your family by heading to the temple and sharing some homemade sweet treats among yourselves. You and your family did not celebrate Christmas, so you had been planning to study your ass off during the holidays.

With your three weeks off from school, you were planning on getting a head start on your readings for the following semester. The perks of being a pre-med student at an Ivy League school meant that you had a lot of pressure to excel academically. Often times this meant that you barely led a social life. Not that you minded, really. You were content with spending all of your free time being buried in textbooks and studying the last of your teenage years away.  

A typical Tamil girl your parents had always wanted you to be, you had retained your innocence for as long as you could. At twenty-one years of age, you had never been kissed and never had a drop of alcohol enter your system. You still lived at home with your parents while your older brother had found himself moving out after he had left high school. It was just how things were and you had accepted it, not having a single rebellious bone in your body. As most first and second generation immigrants alike, you had found it hard to be the perfect Tamil daughter and a perfect American teenager. You had resorted to being the former, therefore sacrificing any prospects of close friendships or a social life in the process.

As you made your way over to the checkout line next to hers and began to unload your shopping cart, Natasha was quick to notice you as she began unloading her shopping cart as well. Recognizing you in an instant, she grinned widely. “Y/N?! ...Y/N Y/L/N?” She called out to you, her lips curling into a smile as she shook her head in disbelief.

You smiled at her as you laid out your groceries onto the belt. “Hi... Natasha.”

“What’s up, dude? Long time, huh? What have you been up to these days?”

“Nothing much...” You replied with a shrug. “Just... trying to get through pre-med, you know? Columbia’s been kicking my ass.”

“Oh wow, that’s so cool.” She beamed, waiting for the cashier to ring up her items. “You’re still the same, Y/N. Even in high school, you were a straight A student. That is so amazing.”

“How about you, Natasha?” You asked her as the cashier began to ring up your items. “What have you been up to?”

“Just... arts, you know?” Natasha shrugged. “Studying has never been my thing, you know? Thank God, it’s the holidays though! I’m so glad I can finally relax and let loose.”

“Any plans for the holidays?” You asked her, curiously. As someone who has never had a proper holiday for yourself, you wondered what other people did during the holidays.

Perhaps, you wished to live vicariously through everyone else’s experiences. The only ever time you had a chance to travel were during the trips back home with your family. Other than that, you were pretty much stuck in Brooklyn.

“I’m heading to The Hamptons tomorrow...” She replied, excitedly. “We’re going to be skiing!”

“The Hamptons?” You asked, your eyes growing wide at her response. “That sounds quite fancy. What? Are you going with your family?”

“Oh no, I’m actually going with my friends. As a matter of fact, you know them too. Steve and Bucky, you remember them. Steven Rogers... as in my best friend? And Bucky, I mean, James Buchanan Barnes... you know him. He used to skip class all the time and get detention. You even had to tutor him for algebra once for extra credit or something, remember?”

Your eyes grew wide as you recalled her two best friends. You were slightly surprised that they had managed to keep in touch with her after all these years. But then again, the three of them had always been close. They were known as the inseparables around school, always hanging out with each other and slacking off in class together.

Often times, you had found yourself being jealous of their friendship. You wished you had that kind of bond with someone. You had always wanted a best friend but all you had was your older brother.  You had been so lonely ever since you moved to New York.

For some odd reason, your parents had been against you befriending anyone who was not Tamilian. Apparently some bullshit about how anyone else would have corrupted your innocent mind and derail you from your path to being the perfect daughter you had always been. They had claimed that while they ‘trusted’ their daughter, they did not trust the society in which they had to raise their children. It was all bullshit.

Truth be told, your parents really had ruined your chance to make any friends at all. As much as you let your social anxiety get the worst of you, you had to blame them for the role they had played in your lack of a social life.

“Oh... right.” You reached into your purse to pull out the cash that your mother had given you, handing it over to the cashier and taking back your change.

As you grabbed your bagged groceries, Natasha had paid for her own things before walking over to you. “Hey, are you headed home? Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

“What?” You looked up at her in surprise. “Oh no, Natasha... it’s fine. I can take the subway back.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m heading over to see my parents anyways and they live down the street from yours. I’ll drop you off on my way.” She offered with a smile. “Come on, dude!”

For how long could you keep avoiding the kind gestures from people and push them away? You had known Natasha since you had first arrived in New York and you knew that you could trust her, even if your own parents would be against that. Thanks to her short hair, tattoos and piercings that made her seem like bad news according to their judgemental eyes. But at this point, you could care less about what your mother would think about you accepting a ride from Nat. “Fine...” You gave in, struggling to carry your groceries.

“Here, I got it.” Taking one of the bags from you, she began walking out of the store with you in toe. “So, what are your plans for the holidays, huh?”

“Not much, really...” You replied with a shrug. “Just getting ready for the next semester, I guess.”

Nat stopped in her tracks before turning around to face you, her jaw dropping slightly at your response. “What the fuck, Y/N? You really need to give yourself a break. You need to go and do something fun.”

A part of you knew that she was right about that. But truth be told, you did not know how to have fun. For the longest time, your idea of fun had been burying yourself in school. Studying had been fun to you until it became the thing that you always did. Not to mention your lack of a social life ever since you were a kid. After all, you had never even been to a sleepover. Now a legal adult, you had never been to a party. Never been kissed and never gotten drunk. You lived quite a boring life and you did not know how to fix that. “I don’t know, man... I never really did anything fun during the holidays. I just studied... a lot.”

Letting out a sigh of disbelief, she turned around to walk over to her car. “I’ll tell you what...” She unlocked her car before opening the trunk. “Why don’t you come down to The Hamptons with me?” It had been a casual offer, perhaps even one that she had thought you would refuse in an instant, which you initially did. But Natasha knew you and knew how hard it had been for you to make friends in high school. She was finally making the effort to be your friend by offering to let you join her on her trip; she should have done something like this many years ago. But better late than never, right?

“What?!” You gasped, hearing her offer. If it had been that easy for you to pack up and leave to The Hamptons with a skater girl and two boys, you would have done it in a heartbeat. But you knew your parents and there was no way they would even allow you to go on this trip if you had even bothered to ask them in the first place. “Oh no, I can’t...”

“Come on, Y/N! It’ll be so much fun!” She grinned at you before loading the grocery bags in her trunk. “It’ll be just the four of us. It’s like you’re going to be on a trip with strangers. It’s just four school friends hanging out together for a week, catching up.”

“Oh no, Natasha... I shouldn’t be intruding.” You shook your head as you handed her the last of your bags. A part of you was longing to take her up on her offer, but you knew your parents very well and you worried about what they might think. They would never allow you to go off to all the way to The Hamptons with the kids they would have never approved of you to be friends with. Even if you were a pre-med student at Columbia University with a 4.0 GPA, no achievement would have made you worthy of such a trip when it came to their standards.

“You won’t be intruding at all.”

“Yeah, but...” You shook your head at her. “My parents would never allow it.” This had always been your excuse to turning down every invite to a party or a sleepover during high school. Your parents never allowed you to make friends with anyone, because that was just how it was.

“Well, then... we’ll sneak you out. You can’t let your parents dictate what you do and don’t do anymore. How old are you? Like... twenty? Twenty-one? You need to start making your own decisions at some point...” She was right. She knew exactly what she was talking about. “Y/N, you’re a good kid... you’re a good student, you’re doing good in school and working hard. You’ve got to give yourself a break. But there’s nothing wrong with being a little selfish sometimes.”

You sighed. “I... they won’t... I’ve never done anything rebellious my whole life, Natasha. And I don’t know how to... I can’t risk getting in trouble with my parents.”

“That’s why you have me, babe. I’ll sneak you out and have you back home in one piece. You have nothing to worry about. Just pack up your belongings tonight and meet me outside of my parents’ house at 3 in the morning. We’re driving up to The Hamptons ourselves.” She told you. “You don’t even have to pay for the gas. Just bring yourself enough pocket money to rent some ski gear and spend on booze or whatever... and we can spend the whole week skiing.”

“Natasha...” You bit down on your bottom lip. “I can’t...”

“For old time’s sake...”

“I need to think about it.” You admitted.

“Fine... I’ll wait for you until 3:30. If you don’t show up, you’ll see me drive past yours from your bedroom window.” She told you with a playful eye roll. “It’s your loss, Y/N.”

When Natasha had dropped you home that evening, you found yourself locked up in your bedroom for the remainder of the night. You paced back and forth, staring out your window to see her car parked down the street in front of her parents’ house. You had a few hours to contemplate taking her up on her offer. It was either spending another dreadful holiday drowning in your anatomy textbook or skiing with her and her friends. You finally had a chance at making friends of your own and it looked too good to pass up. But the thought of being caught by your parents terrified you, for the punishment would be a harsh one regardless of your academic achievements that should seem to balance it out.

So you did the best thing you could in your search for clarity and told your brother of this offer right away. While being of the male gender had certainly given him more privilege within the family, he knew that his freedom to do whatever he wanted was not something he could take for granted. He understood that as privileged as he was for the way your parents had been lenient on him, you were held to a higher moral standard than he was. Truth be told, he hated that and when it came to advocating for you and what you wanted, he always took your side when arguing with your parents. He was a true ally and the only real best friend you had so far. You could trust him.

“I’ll sneak you out.” Arjun offered in an instant.

Your jaw dropped as you heard his offer. “What?! Anna... are you insane? Amma and Appa would kill me they found out that I left!”

“Illa di, listen to me for a sec. I’m on your side here. Sometimes, you have to be rebellious and go out and get what you want.” He advised. “You’ve been too much of a goody-two-shoes to be treated like shit. I say you take the chance and get the hell out of here for a week.”

“Easy for you to say...” You mumbled as you rolled your eyes at him. “You don’t even live here anymore. But I do... and I don’t want to deal with all this crap because when I get back from this trip, you’ll be gone back to Harvard and I’m the one who’s stuck here.”

Your brother thought for a moment. “I’ll give them an ultimatum.” He suggested, shrugging his shoulders. “If they give you crap for going on this trip, then I’ll drop out of Harvard and flip burgers for a living. Trust me, Amma wouldn’t want that.”

“Anna... no, seriously... no!” You shook your head. “You’re being so dramatic right now and there’s no need for that. I’m not going.”

“Hey... po, di. If you don’t want to go for yourself, enakkaga po. Do this for me, please, di?” He told you with a pout. “Go out there and make some friends. You deserve it.”

You bit down on your bottom lip before sighing. “I’m terrified... but... I also want to go.”

“Then go. Go to the Hamptons... go make some friends. I don’t want you to end up friendless when I go off, get married and have my own family one day.” He admitted, chuckling softly. “You’ve been alone for so long, di kannamma. Go enjoy yourself while you’re young. You deserve it.”

You nodded as you pulled him into a hug. “You’re too good to me. Thank you, da Anna. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Hugging you back tightly, he sighed in contentment. “Anything for my kannamma.” He laughed as he held you close. The two of you shared a close bond and it was frankly because you were each other’s best friend. He would take a bullet for you in a heartbeat, so it was no surprise that he was willing to face your parents for your sake. “Now go up to your room, pack up your things and wait. I’ll come and get you when it’s time and we can climb out my bedroom window, sariya?”

You laughed softly and nodded, pulling back from the hug. “Sari...”

And with that, you had snuck up to your bedroom and managed to back yourself a suitcase full of your belongings. You were only going to be there for a week so there was not much to pack. But you were also cautious of how much you packed anyways, considering that you would need to launch this suitcase of yours off of the roof before you managed to sneak out your brother’s bedroom window. The last thing you wanted was for your parents to wake up from the commotion and catch you red-handed. You did not need this attempt at going on a holiday trip to come to an end before it had even started.

When the time came, your brother had helped you climb out through his bedroom window and threw your suitcase onto the sidewalk. Once he climbed down the roof, he helped you down and the two of you sprinted down the street towards the Romanoff Residence.

“Nat!” You called out to the redhead as you reached her parents’ house, your brother following after you with your suitcase.

“Y/N, you made it!” Natasha grinned as she ran up to you, tackling you with a triumphant hug.

You were taken aback by her embrace but you returned it anyways, your heart still beating right out of your chest from the adrenaline rush that came with sneaking out of your house and running down the street. “Yeah, I... I did.” You admitted, laughing softly. You were glad that you had not backed out of this ordeal, thanks to your supportive older brother who wanted nothing more than for you to be happy.

Arjun watched as the two of you pulled back from the hug. “Natasha Romanoff.”

“Arjun.” She bowed her head at your brother. “Good to see you. Thanks for bringing her over.”

“Don’t mention it.” He winked at her before turning over to you. “You two should get going.”

You nodded as you pulled your brother into a tight hug. “Thank you... for being the best big brother I could ever ask for.” Your eyes glazed over as you realized how much trouble he was going to be in for the part he played in your disappearance for a week. But you were grateful that he had been there for you. “I love you, da Anna.”

“I love you too, di kannamma.” He hugged you tightly. “Have fun, okay? You deserve it.”

Natasha stood by as she watched the two of you say goodbye to each other. A part of her found it quite warming that the two of you had such a close bond. But unbeknownst to her, she had also admired how genuine and attractive Arjun really was. But that was a story for another time.

Once your brother had returned home, you and Natasha climbed into her car and she began driving towards Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes’ loft apartment. After all, this entire trip had been planned by the formerly chubby-cheeked and crooked-toothed boy whom you used to tutor. Hopefully, he would not mind that his little excursion had been crashed by his high school class’s resident ‘scholar’.

Present Day...

You tossed and turned in bed as you struggled to fall asleep, snuggling up to your pillow a you pulled the duvet over your shivering body. Despite the fact that you had slept in this bed for years, you had a hard time sleeping in it now. It was as though a part of you had forgotten how it felt to be home, which was partly your fault. After all, it had been your choice to leave home after you had graduated from Columbia. Your search for even the slightest of freedom had been satisfied, but coming home had always been a pain in the ass. You could not sleep.

You sat up in your bed as you let out a sigh of exhaustion, leaning your back against the headboard as you looked around your dimly lit childhood bedroom. Letting out a yawn, you reached over to grab your phone from the nightstand to check your notifications, hoping to see some missed call or text message from work so that you could have an excuse to leave the house in the middle of the night, this time through the front door rather than your brother’s bedroom window.

But you had been disappointed to find no messages from the hospital, meaning that you had no choice but to force yourself to go back to bed. Before you could lie back down though, you heard a slight knock on your door. “Kannamma?” Your brother said softly as he knocked. “Thoongittiya, di?”

“No... I can never fucking sleep in this house anymore.” You groaned as you climbed out of bed and made your way over to open the door. “Anna? What the hell are you two doing up at this hour?” You noticed that he was dressed in a pair of slacks and a button down shirt, a half-asleep Natasha standing behind him. “You were on call tonight?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I was... I just got called in. You think you could keep your Anni some company while I’m gone?” He asked you with a chuckle. “She likes you more than me.”

You nodded, giggling slightly as you yawned. “Sure, I guess...” You moved out of the way so that Natasha could enter your room and you let her hug you from behind. “I think she loves me, actually. She loves me more than you.”

“Yeah, keep saying that to yourself.” He mocked you with a playful eye roll before turning over to his future wife. “I’ll see you in the morning, Nat.”

“Drive safe, baby.”

“Bye, da.”You called out to him as he walked away.

Natasha chuckled as she made her way over to your bed and lay down. “I can never get used to this.” She admitted as she climbed under the blanket and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

You closed the door behind you before walking over to your bed. “You know he doesn’t like working nights. He just has no choice in that matter. He’s trying to get it all sorted out, you know. Hopefully, he can open his own practice at some point.” You admitted. “I on the other hand, I love working nights. I love that I don’t have anyone to go home to, unlike my Anna. Hell, it feels strange not working tonight. I can’t even fucking sleep right now.”

She turned over to face you. “You do work a lot so I guess being single is convenient for you.” She agreed. “But do you ever see yourself... actually having someone to go home to? Getting married and having kids of your own?”

You let out a chuckle before shaking your head. “Did you? Did you ever think you’d be getting married... to anyone, let alone my brother?”

“No, I didn’t... but fate works in weird ways, doesn’t it? It brought you and I together and then... it brought your brother and I together.” Natasha reminded, sighing as she hugged you gently.

“You ever wonder what would have happened if we had never run into each other at the grocery store that day?” You asked her, curiously.

“We wouldn’t be best friends.” She admitted, laughing. “We wouldn’t be family. I think we have Arjun to thank for that night.”

You nodded. “Yeah, I guess... if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be best friends.” And you wouldn’t have fallen in love with Bucky Barnes either.

12 years ago...

You covered your ears with your hands as Natasha honked one more time, hopefully the last time she would do so within the last ten minutes. The sound of the never-ending honking must had woken up the entire neighborhood by now, but unfortunately, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes happened to be heavy sleepers.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” She called out as she rolled down the window. “Steve, Bucky, I swear to fucking God if you don’t get your asses down here in two fucking minutes, I’m leaving without you!” She called out towards the second floor window of the building you had been parked in front of.

Despite the fact that it was way too early in the morning to be causing a scene in the middle of the street, it seemed as though the redhead did not give a shit about any of that. Her friends were both running late and she was certainly not happy about being the only one who had any sense of punctuality between the three of them.

After all, it had been Bucky Barnes’ idea that they drive all the way to The Hamptons at the ass crack of dawn. The least she would have hoped was for the two of them to be ready and waiting for her to arrive. But instead they had both been sleeping on their asses until she pulled up and honked for them to come out. With her lack of sleep causing her to be irritated, she was in no mood to be driving as it was and the boys being late was not helping at all.

It was another few minutes and constant honking before the two boys came running out of their apartment building, their duffel bags and ski gear in hand.

“Jesus Christ, Nat! You probably woke up the entire neighborhood!” Steve Rogers yelled at his friend as he loaded his belongings onto the trunk, followed by Bucky’s.

Bucky Barnes ran his hand through his wet hair that had now frosted up in the cold as he got into the car, his eyebrows furrowing as he noticed the uninvited guest in the backseat. He looked just the same as he did three years ago, the only difference being that he had chopped off his long locks for a shorter hair do. It seemed fitting for the young adult look that he had been trying to pull off lately.

But he still had his high school charm on him, the one that you could not get away from no matter how hard he tried. “Hey... you?!” He looked over at you with a confused expression on his face, noticing that you looked so familiar to him yet he could not place how he had known you. He was just as forgetful as you remembered him to be. “Uh... do I know you from somewhere?”

You raised your eyebrow at him slightly. “You... do???” You swallowed your own drool as you caught yourself staring at him and looked away for a moment, tucking a loose strand of your hair behind your ear as you avoided his eye contact.

“Has your pea brain really forgotten high school that fast, Barnes?” Natasha snickered from the driver’s seat as Steve got in the car, buckling up as he turned around to notice you sitting behind him.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” He gave you a look of surprise, but smiled genuinely happy to see you. “Long time.”

“Hi Steve.” You smiled at him before waving slightly, your eyes darting back to the confused former classmate of yours who had finally managed to recognize you as his former algebra tutor. “I hope you don’t mind me crashing your trip, by the way. Natasha invited me and I couldn’t say no.”

“Y/N?! Oh my God... Scholar Y/N, how could I forget these glasses?” Bucky laughed as he pulled you into a side hug. “It’s been so long, oh my God! How have you been, doll?”

You bit down your bottom lip as you felt yourself blush, slightly taken aback by his rather forward attempt for a reunion hug. “Uh... yeah, I... I’ve been alright.” You did not know what to say as you pushed your glasses up your nose, giggling slightly as you pulled back from him quickly but not as awkwardly as you had feared.

“Jeez, we used to flip a coin to see which one of us gets to sit next to you when we had exams.” Steve recalled with a chuckle as Natasha started the car.

“What? Why?”

“Because whoever won the toss and sat next to you was guaranteed to pass the exam!” Bucky replied, laughing as he shook his head. “You were such a nerd back then, doll.”

“I still am.” You admitted, proudly as you laughed and gave him a playful eye roll. “I take it you’re still skipping class and roaming the town with your camera?” You remembered that Bucky Barnes had a knack for photography, having been involved with the yearbook committee and the school newspaper for multiple years. You had worked closely with him when you had been the editor of the school newspaper during your senior year, so it was not as awkward being in the presence of these three. Thankfully, they were not absolute strangers to you.

“Yeah, I... I’ve been interning with a studio though. Photography is my calling.” He told you as he motioned towards his camera bag next to you. He never left the house without it and he was hoping to document as much of this trip as he possibly could. After all, this was going to be the last trip he was going to take with his friends and neither of them knew that yet.

“So, you still have no plans for going to college then?” You asked him. You remembered that Bucky had initially decided to take a gap year and go traveling after your class had graduated from high school. As Natasha had told you during your drive over to pick up the boys, it turned out that he had not managed to go back to school when he had returned from his trip to Italy.

Bucky bit down on his bottom lip before letting out a sigh. “Not for now...” He told you with a shrug, but it was a partial lie. After all, he had received his acceptance letter for a Journalism and Media Degree in London earlier this month. But he had chosen not to break the news to his friends just yet.

“We’ve actually been saving up our money, Y/N. We’re going to open our own bar in Williamsburg and be business partners, isn’t that right, Buck?” Steve clarified.

He looked up at his best friend with a small smile, but did not nod his head. Unbeknownst to you, the reason behind his silence would eventually cause a drift between all of you by the time this trip came to an end.

Present Day...

When you and Natasha woke up the next morning, the two of you headed out to mail out the wedding invitations that the two of you had finished packing up the night before. Your best friend turned sister-in-law made it her mission to personally deliver Steve Rogers’ invitation to him, just to make sure that he knew that he had no choice but to attend the wedding. With his current financial situation though, the two of you were sure that he would do anything to avoid the wedding. But Nat was not going to have any of it.

You should not have been so surprise to have walked into an empty restaurant, but you could not help but feel slightly bad about how your friend’s business had taken the turn for the worst. You knew that this was not what Steve had signed up for when he had first purchased this restaurant with all of his savings, but he had kept it going for as long as he could.

Natasha blamed his recent increase in alcohol consumption for his failing business, but you knew that there was more to Steve’s pain that he had resorted to drinking as a coping mechanism. Perhaps, this intervention was a much needed one.

“Ladies...” Steve laughed as he walked out of the kitchen with a cold glass of whiskey in his hand. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Steve, it’s 10 am... what the fuck are you doing, getting drunk this early in the morning?! Give me that glass!” Natasha walked up to him and tried to take his glass from him, only to fail miserably.

“I’m a grown ass man, Nat. I can do whatever the fuck I want...” He muttered carelessly before downing his drink and setting down his glass. “Always goes down easy.”

“Steve...” You sighed as you walked up to him, your lips curling into a frown as you pulled him into a hug. “Steve, come on... I know the restaurant is in a lot of debt right now but drinking your ass off is not going to solve that.”  

“Don’t tell me what to do, doctor.” He chuckled as he hugged you back. “If I drink myself all the way to cirrhosis, then that’s my fucking choice.”

“I don’t like what I’m hearing, Rogers.” You admitted, shaking your head at his words. “You’re struggling, buddy. Just admit that you need help and we’re more than happy to throw in a little investment, just to get this place back up and running like it did when it first opened. We hate seeing you like this, you know?”

“No...” He shook his head as he sighed. “I can’t do that, Y/N. You guys... have your own lives and your own shit to worry about. Don’t... waste your time and energy being worried about me or my business.”

“But we are worried about you, you asshole.” Natasha admitted, joining in on the hug. “I’m getting married and I hate that my best friend is... fucking miserable. I hate to see you like this. If you won’t even let us pitch in to keep this place going, then at least stop drinking your days away. The last thing I want is for you to leave me for good like he did. I’ve lost one of you already the way that I did... I can’t lose another friend either.”

“Don’t bring him up, please. I don’t want to talk about him.”

You shook your head at Natasha before you sighed, rubbing Steve’s back as you bit back your tears. “Fine, we don’t have to talk about anything... or anyone. But we have a wedding to get ready for. So, can we at least focus on that for the next few weeks?”

“Fine.” Steve admitted, finally forcing himself to smile a genuine smile. “Anything for my two favorite ladies and you becoming family.”

[himbopatrol]

Cherry Bomb // a Steve Harrington Love Story

Danny Henderson, looks like a punk, can be found at any underage disco. Snorts when she laughs, mom doesn't know she sneaks out, loves her little brother and will defend him with her life, when the song tarzan boy comes out in April of 85' it will become her favorite song, but don't tell anyone. "You look like you just rolled out of bed" "I did" Has a bad habit of smoking that she tries to keep secret from Dustin, but ultimately fails. Is a "cool girl" but also gets her face smashed into a locker, don't worry the smasher will have their head down a flushing toilet by next period. Get's straight A's, and is a star softball player. Oh, and is hopelessly, desperately, disgustingly, head over heels in love with Steve Harrington.

Moments in time and space usually between Danielle "Danny" Henderson and Steve Harrington

originally posted here

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!OC

Warnings: smut (eventual), sexual tension, lots of swearing, some stereotypical rude 80s teens, typical stranger things blood/gore, sloooooow buuurrrrnnn, i don't proofread

Minors Do Not Interact!

A slow work in progress, thank you for your support and patience. Likes, comments, and reblogs are always greatly appreciated.

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four

Chapter Five Below // word count 3,732

Chapter Five: “Do you always tuck your underwear into your socks?”

Friday, November 2nd, 1984

Danny was starting to worry about Nancy, her and Jonathan had bailed yesterday by fourth period and she still hadn’t seen them. Something was wrong. 

“God, I’m so sick of Tommy and Billy,” Steve came up behind Danny in the halls, it was finally their free period, Danny jumped slightly at his sudden appearance. 

“Hello to you too Steve,” Danny quipped. 

“Hey, why didn’t you and Eddie go as Eddie and Columbia instead? That seems more like the obvious choice to me,” Steve asked, quickly changing his own subject picking at his ear. His hair was damp, he had just gotten out of the showers from gym. They made their way into study hall, to not study. “Ya know I could also see Eddie going as Tim Curry– Frank N’ Furter.” Danny thought back to their conversation about their costumes. 

But you’re an Eddie, Eddie. And all your rock n’ roll porn. 

Mm yeah, but I just think Steve might lose his teenage boy mind when he sees you in a maid costume. 

You mean you. 

I mean Steve. It’ll just be a bonus for me. It’s the better costume anyway. 

You sure? 

Yeah, besides I don’t even like Meatloaf. 

“Eddie doesn’t like Meatloaf,” Danny finally replied. “Tommy and Billy?” 

“They were just being dicks in the showers.” Steve answered. 

“I should really come to the boys locker room more often,” Danny smirked. 

“Pervert,” Steve smiled back, bumping his shoulder against hers, making Danny hide another smile. 

“Hey, have you heard from Nance? Sorry to bring up a touchy subject, but I’m starting to worry.” 

“No I haven’t, I was thinking of trying to make up with her. I mean just one day away from her and it’s like torture,” Steve whined. “Like flowers or something, make some sort of gesture,” Steve continued. A tiny part of Danny was growing tired of hearing about Steve’s undying love for Nancy Wheeler. She loved Nancy too, she was in love with Steve, but she didn’t talk about it this much, did she? 

“Hmm, that sounds nice,” was all she could muster to say. 

“Hey what’s wrong?” Steve asked, accidentally letting his fingers rest on top of hers. 

She stared down at his hands. “I think I’m going to be sick,” Danny was technically lying, but something deep within her did make her feel sick. She jumped up from her chair and rushed out of the room. 

“Danny, wait!” Steve got up, drawing more attention from their peers. “Was it something I said?” He began to chase after her down the mostly empty halls. Damn she’s faster than I thought , Steve ran down the hall. 

Tommy H. and Billy were coming in from the track, laughing at something dumb, when they saw Danny running down the hall. Tears already streaming down her face she was an easy target, and without thinking, Tommy H. took hold of Danny and pushed her into the lockers, smashing her head against the slotted metal. “Watch where you’re going freak,” he laughed, Billy smiling behind him. Steve ran up just as Tommy had done so, knowing where this was gonna go Billy slipped away before a teacher came by. Danny had let out a yelp of pain, letting herself slide down the lockers surface, her toes curling in her sneakers, grabbing her head, curling into a ball. 

“Tommy what the the fuck?” Steve exclaimed. He instinctively pushed, hard, at Tommy’s chest. “She wasn’t even doing anything you asshole,” Steve hadn’t been this angry since the Jonathan thing last year. 

“I see you found a new little girlfriend pretty quickly huh?” Tommy responded. “That didn’t take long, but I’m not surprised really, you were bound to get whipped by some freak like her. Come on tell me the truth Stevie, is she the slut everyone says she is?” Tommy smiled. Steve reared back and punched Tommy straight in the nose, both boys stepped back, blood gushing out of Tommy’s nose, Steve shook his hand. Steve ignored Tommy’s advances and hunched to the ground to put his arms around Danny, he grabbed hold of her chin to push her face up. 

“Let me see,” he said softly, he took in a sharp breath at the sight. Blood gushed down from her left eyebrow from a fairly large gash, a small amount of blood dripped from her nose, mixed with tears and snot. Steve saw Tommy coming for him out of the corner of his eye. “Seriously dude, just fuck off,” he waved his hand at him, lifting Danny up. Tommy stepped back, not realizing how hard he had pushed her. 

“Wait,” Tommy began to say. 

“Forget it man,” Steve replied coldly, wrapping an arm around Danny, taking one of her hands in his own. Steve began walking Danny towards the nurse, telling her it’ll be okay. 

“I’m gonna kill him,” she said quietly through gritted teeth. 

“He’s not worth your time,” Steve reassured her. They arrived at the nurses office. 

“Oh, god, what happened?” The nurse stood from her desk. 

“I fell–” 

“Tommy Hagan pushed her into the lockers,” Steve corrected, not caring. 

“Thank you Mr. Harrington I can take her from here,” the nurse said, leading Danny to one of the beds. 

“I have a free period right now, and I’d really prefer to stay, I can help,” Steve said in this kind of desperate tone Danny hadn’t ever heard from him, not towards her anyway. 

“Alright fine,” the nurse responded. “Here help her clean it off,” she handed him a warm wet washcloth as she went to probably tell the office about Tommy. Danny winced as he pressed it to her eyebrow. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Steve replied quickly. 

“Is this our thing? Just constantly having to bandage each other up?” Danny stifled a chuckle. 

“I guess that’s what happens when two accident and fighting prone people are friends. And then mix in some crazy evil dimension shit in there too, we’re lucky we haven’t died of blood loss,” Steve laughed lightly. Steve whipped away most of the blood, Danny flinched back when she felt Steve place his hand behind her head, his thumb pressed into the softness of her cheek. “Sorry, just trying to get this,” he began to wipe away the dried tears and snot. 

“Oh gross, sorry,” she sniffled. 

“No worries,” he replied quietly, taking his hand away. “Are you still feeling sick?” 

Yes. “No,” Danny answered. “Not really,” she dropped her head. She could feel more tears forming. 

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, hoping she’d look back up at him. “Tell me, please,” his soft voice making it even harder on Danny. She didn’t answer him, but he kept waiting. After a few silent moments, he stood, and rummaged through the nurse’s drawers, looking for band-aids. “Alight, pink or blue?” Steve asked, holding up two boxes. 

Danny looked up at him, unable to hide her smile. “Pink,” she almost whispered. 

“You got it,” Steve smiled, tearing open a pink one and gently placing it over the top of her eyebrow. “There, all better,” he smoothed his thumb over the bandage. 

“I don’t look too gross do I?” Danny asked, concerned with all the blood and tears. 

“No you look…pretty. You are pretty,” Steve answered quietly, with a faint smile playing on his lips. Danny stared at him, blushing profusely. Wires were short circuiting in her brain. 

“I want to lie down,” was all she could think of to say. 

“Oh, okay, um, I’m gonna grab your bag from study hall,” Steve stood up. Danny nodded in reply before letting her head hit the pillow. 

When Steve arrived back expecting to see a passed out Danny there was an empty bed, and no Danny to be found. The bathroom door was open, so she wasn’t in there, he figured. He looked around the corner towards the nurses desk. “Where’d Danny go?” he asked the nurse. 

“Oh, I’m not sure, maybe she went back to class?” the nurse answered, of course she didn’t know where she went. 

“Right,” Steve walked back out into the halls, thankful for the lack of care at the school. “Danny!” He exclaimed in a hushed tone, peering around the hallways. Steve hated these halls so empty, it creeped him out. He continued to wander until he heard a muffled motherfucker coming from the girls bathroom. Steve wanted to keep walking by, he was really hoping it wasn’t Danny. He could hear another voice, gasping. Steve shut his eyes tight and turned back, slowly opening the door. 

“How about now?” He heard Danny yell, Steve rushed to the open stall, where he could see a pair of dirty converse peaking out. Danny sat on her knees, Tommy H. underneath her, her hand, bloodied knuckled, pressing his face into the toilet. 

“I’m sorry!” Gasped Tommy. 

“Danny!” Steve yelled. 

“Not now Steve!” She grumbled. 

“Danny knock it off! You’re gonna get in trouble!” 

She flushed the toilet, “They gave him a warning! I heard it!” 

Steve grabbed Danny under her arms and pulled her off of Tommy. She kicked and pulled away from Steve. “Danny, come on!” He held on tighter. Tommy attempted to stand but was too out of breath. 

“Let go Steve!” 

“I’m sorry Danny!” Tommy exclaimed, still gasping for breath, shaking the water out of his face. 

“Fuck you! That’s my warning,” she snapped. Steve dragged her out of the bathroom. Steve took her face in both hands, forcing her to look at him, he had never seen her so angry, out of breath and red. 

“C’mon, let's skip,” Steve didn’t think trying to calm her down at the moment was very smart. Danny and Steve easily slipped out the front doors into the parking lot. Steve led Danny to his car, opening the door for her and making sure she had put on her seatbelt, before he took a seat behind the wheel. “So,” he began. “Do you want to get ice cream or something?” Danny remained silent. “C’mon Danny,” he continued. “Can I buy a new record?” Steve egged on. Danny ever so slightly turned her head from staring out the window. “Alright, a new record it is,” Steve nodded, starting the car. 

Steve drove to Danny’s work, Budget Tapes & Records. Danny hadn’t said anything and Steve was smarter than trying to get her to. Danny roamed down the familiar aisles. She certainly took her time, despite knowing just about every record they had. Steve was a couple rows behind her, watching her flip through the records, her knuckles still had blood on them. She picked up a blue record, turned and started walking towards Steve, who quickly looked back down, flipping through the classical music, how’d I get over here? She’s gonna think I’m weird. Danny nonchalantly pushed the blue record into his hands, she still seemed seething with anger and was clearly chewing the inside of her cheek. Steve held the album, Ramones, Too Tough to Die. “Sounds about right,” Steve commented, smile fading when he saw Danny not amused by the joke. “Right, Ramones, you got it,” Steve turned, Danny on his heels. 

“Hey Danny,” the boy at the counter said, Danny didn’t respond. He looked at Steve, who recognized him from school, Levi Woods, he had dropped out last year when he figured out he wasn’t going to graduate. “Silent treatment, cool,” he whistled while he wrote down the record on a receipt. 

“She’s had a rough day,” Steve quietly explained, Danny glared at him. 

“Right, well, it seems you move on fast Danny,” he ignored Steve, now annoying Steve. Danny fixed her deadly glare on Levi. 

“Oh, we’re not, we haven’t, um here,” Steve spurted out, tossing some cash on the counter. 

Levi raised his eyebrows in judgment, “Sorry,” he chewed sarcastically. Steve took the record and started pushing Danny outside before she got in another fight. The pair got back in the car. 

“Levi Woods?” Steve smiled. 

“We made out once over the summer!” Danny broke her silence. “Now he acts like we got married or something! I had to change my shifts ‘cause of that asshole!” Danny threw her hands in the air and crossed her arms. 

“He’s such a weirdo though,” Steve laughed. 

“You dated Shelly Cross,” Danny retorted. 

“We did not date, okay?” Steve answered back, turning out of the parking lot. 

“You’re right sorry, you fucked Shelly Cross,” Danny replied, the word burning at Steve’s ears as he had never heard Danny talk like that. 

“Hey!” He said like some sort of mom scolding their kid, “I do not fuck , I-I make–” 

“Don’t! Don’t say it! I’ll go deaf if you finish that sentence Harrington!” Danny yelled, leaning towards him, ready to drive them off the nearest cliff if he kept talking. 

“Make love,” Steve finished, with a smile. 

“Ugh! Disgusting!” She pushed her hands to her ears. “You are so gross!” 

“‘Make love is gross? But not fuck? That’s so grotesque Henderson!” Steve exclaimed. “I am a gentleman, I’ll have you know.” 

“You’re disgusting is what you are,” Danny corrected. 

“Alright so then did you Munson make love or fuck?” He asked. 

“Fucked!” She answered as if it was obvious. 

“Nooo, you guys liked each other, so you made love.” 

“You were not there, and stop saying that!” 

Steve made a sudden mistake as she said that, picturing the two of them, Eddie and Danny. He pictured what he could only assume would be Eddie’s room, clothes everywhere, messy, metal posters. He then pictured them, big mistake, Danny on top of Eddie, close, holding on to each other, everything intertwined, sweaty . He imagined for a moment how soft Danny must have felt, he also wondered how inappropriate it would be to ask Eddie about it, he shook the thoughts away. 

“Alright, alright, sorry,” Steve finally said. “Mine or yours?” Steve asked. 

“Huh?” 

“Record listening party, obviously,” Steve retorted. 

“Oh uh, right,” Danny didn’t trust herself in Steve’s big empty house, or hers, as no one would be home. “Um, neither. Can we just keep driving around?” Danny asked. 

“Sure,” Steve replied sweetly.

Danny slept like a rock that night, out cold, drooling, one arm and leg over the side of her bed. Steve had dropped her off after a few hours of riding around, grabbing a burger, and talking shit towards one another. Dustin had been acting weird when she got home, barely paying attention to anything she said and said he would tell her later, when mom wasn’t around. She wasn’t too worried as Dustin and she kept most things a secret from Mrs. Henderson. Danny shoved a towel at the bottom of her locked door, opened a window and smoked some of Eddie’s stash, thinking too many thoughts of Steve. She fell asleep listening to her new record, she liked it, not as good as their earlier stuff, but certainly punk. 

Saturday, November 3rd, 1984

She slept in too, with barely any time to console her mom on their missing cat as she ran out the door to work. The day seemed to be entirely uneventful. Danny was back at home just after work, her mom was still out looking for Mews, and she had no idea where Dustin was. She was quickly showered and watching tv. After the sun had completely set, she heard a car pull up in the driveway, she assumed it was her mom. When nobody has come in Danny peaked through the window. She saw… Steve’s car? She pulled at the curtain looking further down, standing over the cellar door was Dustin and Steve? What the fuck are they doing, together, at the cellar? Danny rushed outside. Just as she stepped out onto the cold driveway Steve had just begun to walk down to the basement. 

“Hey!” Danny half whispered, yelled. Dustin whipped around, clutching at his chest. “What the hell are you doing?” Danny clung to herself, attempting to shield the brisk air. 

“Um, right, well,” Dustin fumbled, he looked down the stairs. “Steve?” Dustin ignored his sister.

A sudden flash of light hit the Henderson siblings. “Get down here,” Steve instructed. “Oh hey Danny,” he added. 

“Dustin Henderson, you better tell me what’s going on right now,” Danny said through gritted teeth as they walked down the stairs. Steve was holding some sort of slimy, grotesque shredded layer of skin with his nailed baseball bat. 

“Shit,” Dustin sighed. “Okay, okay, I may or may not have been accidentally raising a baby demogorgon for the past few days,” Dustin explained. 

“What?!” Danny yelped. 

“I thought I had discovered some new species!” Dustin defended. “I only found out when… when he ate Mews.” 

“It ate Mews? Moms gonna kill you,” Danny retorted. 

“Don’t you dare tell her,” he warned. 

“What do I look like, an idiot?” 

“Guys?” Steve interrupted. The two looked up to where he was pointing his bat. 

“Shit,” they said in unison when they saw the large hole in the corner of the room. Steve flashed his light into it. There was no telling where that thing had gone, but now it was on the loose. 

“What are we gonna do?” Steve asked. 

“C’mon let’s come up with a plan,” Dustin said, for some reason taking the lead on the two teenagers. But there was no argument as they followed Dustin inside to his room. 

As Dustin gathered a few materials, notebooks and pens, Steve looked Danny up and down. She was wearing a large t-shirt of some rock band he didn’t recognize with gray long underwear tucked into some wool socks.

“Nice outfit,” Steve commented quietly, while standing right next to her, too close, as usual. 

“Shut up,” she responded, folding her arms. 

“Do you always tuck your underwear into your socks?” He smiled. 

“Harrington,” she warned. 

“Yes Danielle?” he whispered with a smile. She glared at him.

“Ya know Danny’s room is right across the hallway if you’d like to take this in there,” Dustin commented without looking up, making both Steve and Danny’s cheeks glow red. 

 “Hey, how's your head?” Steve asked, letting his fingers graze over the newer bandage, making Danny move her head back. 

“What’s wrong with her head?” Dustin asked suddenly. Danny realized he hadn’t really seen her since Friday morning before school. Dustin’s eyes landed on the bandaid. “Whoa, what happened?” 

“Don’t worry about it Dustin,” she answered quickly. 

“Did you get into another fight?” Dustin asked. 

“Not exactly. Someone picked on me, I picked on them,” Danny shrugged. 

“Some dick pushed her into the lockers,” Steve explained. “Didn’t take long for Danny to have their head down the girls toilet though,” Steve said with a small smile. While he was pissed Danny had gotten hurt, he didn’t mind seeing her smashing Tommy’s head in the toilet. 

“Cool,” Dustin admired. 

“Forget it and don’t tell mom,” Danny pointed. Dustin lifted his hands in defense. 

Steve, Danny, and Dustin spent the next few hours coming up with a plan that included raw meat leading the demogorgon, or Dart, as Dustin was calling it to the junkyard, to take care of it? Kill it, more likely, but the teenagers were trying to be sensitive towards Dustin’s pet. Mrs. Henderson barely questioned what was going on when she finally arrived home, accepting the lie that Steve and Danny had a science project and were using some of Dustin’s books for their research. After a basically completed plan Dustin was fading and his eyes fluttering. Danny got him into bed, turning off the lights and leading herself and Steve into her room. 

“Here we are again,” Steve sighed, gently closing the door behind him. “What are we going to do this time?” Steve asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep, and I’d feel better,” she paused looking up at Steve, taking a step back and sitting on her bed. “I think I’d feel better if you stayed, in here, with me,” Danny didn’t want to admit that she was scared a baby demogorgon could break through her window any second, but she was, and Steve understood. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Steve reassured, taking a seat next to her, arms naturally wrapping around her. Steve almost gushed at the feel of her skin underneath his hands. She normally wore that big army jacket, her bare arm felt hot to the touch. 

“Did you get a hold of Nancy yet?” She asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“Um no, Dustin got to me before I could, but apparently she wasn’t home, neither was Mike I guess,” Steve sighed. 

“That’s probably not good,” Danny responded. “With her and Jonathan gone, and this demogorgon out there, I have a feeling that this weekend isn’t going to end very well,” she sighed. 

“Yeah,” he let out a heavy sigh. “It’s gonna be a shit weekend,” Steve chuckled. He naturally pushed his face into the nook of Danny’s neck, he felt her take a deep breath in with a shiver. “Are you cold?” he mumbled. 

“Mhm,” she hummed, staying still. Steve took hold of her comforter pulling it over her and crashing her and himself into the bed. He kept his arms around her, his head on her shoulder. Danny could feel his breath on her neck and shook as she felt his hand slither down her arm, his fingers intertwining with her own, lifting her hand to take a closer look at it. His fingers tracing along her own. 

“Oh my god,” Steve suddenly laughed. 

“What?” Danny whipped her head towards Steve, bumping her forehead against his, “Ow,” she commented quietly. 

“Your hands,” he replied simply. 

“What about them?” She scowled. 

“Your fingers are so small,” he smiled at her. Danny gave Steve a look of confusion. “Look,” he grabbed at her fingers, holding his own next to his. “Your middle finger is the size of my pinky,” he laughed. 

“You’re an asshole Steve Harrington,” she laughed back, taking back her hand to flip him off. Steve gave her an exaggerated gasp, as she gave his chest a soft smack.  

“Mhm yeah,” Steve replied, closing his eyes and letting out a heavy groan, “Goodnight Danny,” he mumbled with a smile. 

“Goodnight Steve,” she answered back, letting her eyes flutter shut, into a light sleep. 

[nottheripperjack]

Still rising towards the dark, don't care what's down below 'Cause no one can see me and no one has to know The atmosphere is lonely and beautiful I don't miss a thing I used to know, I used to know

TASK 001 FOUND BELOW CUT....

~~JACK’S STORY~~

MANNERISMS:

What words or phrases do they overuse? 

Jack fucking uses ellipses in texts like her life depends on it. She also swears a lot. Probably too much.

Are they more optimistic or pessimistic?

Jack is pessimistic by nature after her sister’s death. She’s striving to get better but that’s a bitter pill to swallow. 

What bad habits do they have?

What bad habits DON’T they have? She drinks a lot, or rather, she used to. She’s trying to overcome her alcohol addiction but that will... Take a lot of heavy lifting.

What makes them laugh out loud?

Honestly? It could be literally anything. Whatever it is, it has to be her type of humor. Which, let’s be real honest, is all over the place. Just like her. 

How do they display affection?

Jack is a very touchy-feely person. She calls people ‘babe’ no matter who they are. She’ll hold your hand or hug you. Hell, she’ll even snuggle her friends.

Do they make snap judgments or take time to consider?

Snap judgments only happen when its matters of herself or the lack of self-worth she believes she has. When it comes to anyone else? Hell no, you better sit down and think about all the pros and cons. 

How do they react to praise?

Cockily on the outside, not believing it on the inside. 

How do they react to criticism?

Taking it to heart and working on how to irradiate that behavior or thing that is being critiqued. 

What is their philosophy of life?

Life’s short, go fuck someone. (This has since changed).

When was the last time they cried?

When they realized their addiction had gotten the better of them. 

If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?

Ask her on a good day, Jack would say something about her addictive behaviors. Ask her on a bad day? Jack would say that she wishes she could have taken Vic’s place.

What is their obsession?

At the current moment? Animal Crossing.

What are their pet peeves?

Snoring, loud chewing, people butting into the conversation, the list could go on. She has a lot.

FRIENDS & FAMILY:

Is their family big or small? Who does it consist of?

Her family is that stereotypical American family. Consisting of her mom, dad, younger adopted brother, and herself. Extended family is all on the east coast so she doesn’t see them much. Her father is Adrian Novak, a well-known author for his mystery crime novels. Her mother is Katrina Novak, a high-school English teacher.

What is their perception of family?

She maintains constant communication with her parents and brother. Unfortunately, she doesn’t talk about her sister much at all. Jack sadly thinks her family blame her for her sister’s death but in reality, its just been her blaming herself for all these years. 

Do they have siblings? Older or younger? 

Her late sister, Victoria, was her best friend growing up until she died in a car accident when Jack was fifteen and Victoria was seventeen. She has a younger adopted brother named Bryan, who is just now entering the fifth grade. He has CP. 

Describe their best friend.

Jack has several best friends but the one she considers to be her closest confidante just so happens to be Tara Chapman. She’s her kindred spirit, her better half, and someone that she looks up to in all of the ways that she still wishes she could do with Victoria. She’s not a replacement for her late sister by any means but... She means a lot more to her than Tara probably fully realizes.

Do they have any pets?

No but they want to get a corgi and name it Bread Loaf. 

PAST & FUTURE:

What was your character like as a teen?

Before shit hit the fan? Jack was in sports. Volleyball and martial arts took up the majority of her time when she wasn’t trying to focus on school. And she really, really hated school. 

Did they grow up rich or poor?

Due to her father being on the New York Times Best Seller’s list... She grew up in a pretty good financially stable home. 

Did they grow up nurtured or neglected?

Jack definitely came from a nurturing and loving home. After Victoria she disconnected with her family more than she’d admit. She mentally distanced herself from them and shut down. 

What is their greatest achievement?

Becoming a paramedic.

What was their first kiss like?

Jack was kissed by a boy named Stephen in seventh grade. Let’s just say that the second his lips landed on hers, she slapped him so hard he fell into her parent’s swimming pool.

What is the worst thing they did to someone they loved?

Jack believes that it’s her being responsible for Victoria’s death since it was her volleyball game that she was driving towards. However, the worst thing they’ve probably done to someone they loved was let their own shit get in the way of their happiness. It happened with Ben when she didn’t believe her about the drunken kiss. And it almost happened with Riley when she chose to ignore her feelings and pretend like she didn’t care about her more than that for four years. 

What are their ambitions?

Be a mom one day. Own a corgi. Build her own home. 

What advice would they give their younger self?

Don’t go to that damned volleyball game.

What smells remind them of their childhood?

Campfire smoke, cinnamon, and Japanese Cherry Blossom perfume.

What was their childhood ambition?

They wanted to own a video game store. 

What does their five-year plan look like?

They don’t have one. Other than don’t be dead from a work-related incident.

LOVE:

Do they believe in love at first sight?

No. Jack’s far too cynical for that. She believes in lust at first sight. Or rather, she did. 

Are they in a relationship? Are they in love?

Yes, to both. Jack is in a committed relationship with Riley Sawyer, a highway patrol cop. They’d been friends for four years and finally decided to bite the bullet they’ve been dodging for that whole time.

How do they behave in a relationship?

Previously? Not well. She didn’t do relationships and the one that she had in high school wasn’t remotely healthy. Now, Jack is learning how to relationship. 

When did your character last have sex?

Last night.

Has your character ever been in love?

Twice. Once with Ben, her first love. Second time is now with Riley. 

Have they ever had their heart broken?

Three times. First was Victoria, second was Ben, and third was by herself.

Are they crushing on anyone now?

I mean. Hey boo @sonderbound​

WORK & LIFE:

What is their current job?

Paramedic at Los Angeles Fire Department

What do they think about their current job?

They love it. They are currently on suspension from March 27th to April 27th due to alcohol abuse. 

What are some of their past jobs?

Barista, pizza delivery girl, EMT. 

What are their hobbies?

Dungeons and Dragons, video games, playing guitar and singing, sketching out her future home.

Educational background?

Associates Degree. Jack tried college but it wasn’t for her.

Do they have a natural talent for something?

Helping others.

Do they play a sport? Are they any good?

Volleyball. Yeah they went to state four years in a row and won. 

MISC:

What is in their fridge?

Well, used to be alcohol. Now it’s full of food and coca cola. 

What is on their bedside table?

Alarm clock, watch, iPhone charger, change.

What kinda car do they drive, and is their car messy or clean?

Her name is Lyla and she’s a Kawasaki Ninja Crotch Rocket. So uh... She keeps that motorcycle very clean.

Do they carry a purse? What is in their purse or wallet?

They carry a wallet. It’s a tyvek Mighty Wallet that’s got a bisexual colored symbol of Wonder Woman on it.

What is in their pockets?

iPhone, gum, keys.

What is their most treasured possession?

Her sister’s silver snowflake necklace. 

~~Jack’s Jams~~ FOUND HERE

In A Nutshell

Work Out, Sweat It Out

Time to Feel Like Shit

Good Times Gonna Come

[mst3kproject]

601: Girls Town

 This movie is vile but the episode has some amazing moments. The joke about assassinating Eisenhower nearly choked me the first time I heard it, and I love the skit about the honour system.  It reminds me of the one about Bobo’s Sandwich, in that I know where it’s going but it’s the trip that makes it work.  There’s something about Mike’s complete obliviousness while the wrappers fly that just kills me.

A guy named Chip tries to rape his date, and she allows him to fall off a cliff to his death (insert gif of woman with teacup saying “good for her”).  His friends know he was supposed to be out with a girl named Silver ��� she denies being there, but they turn her over to the police, who send her to a Catholic reform school called Girls Town.  Meanwhile, Chip’s ham-faced buddy Fred realizes it was actually Silver’s sister, Mary Lee, whom Chip attacked.  Fred decides to blackmail her, and Silver must somehow find the time to let God into her heart and escape Girls Town to help her.  Meanwhile meanwhile, a girl named Serafina tries to commit suicide because a squashed-looking singer named Jimmy will never love her.

Let’s count the attempted sexual assaults in this movie. We start off with Chip trying to rape Mary Lee.  Then a guy tries to force himself on a girl during the supposedly comedic fight scene. Serafina literally throws herself at Jimmy, twice.  The detective repeatedly tries to get cuddly with Silver when he knows she’s underage. Fred’s plan is to sell Mary Lee into sexual slavery in Tijuana, and at the climax, another one of Chip’s ham-faced friends is trying to rape her all over again.  Oh, and Silver is supposed to be seventeen and Mary Lee fifteen, so even if any of these encounters were consensual the men involved would still be rapists.

This is, obviously, repulsive, but it’s also the entire point of the film.  We’re here to see a bunch of titillating bad behaviour, just barely held together by an outline of a story.  There are two things in Girls Town that might be called a plot – one is the intrigue among the teenagers of who killed Chip and why, the other is Silver coming to realize that she can’t go through life without help, whether from God or other people.  Both these stories, however, happen almost entirely in the background in order to make more room for the exploitation content.

And what a lot of exploitation content there is!  We’ve got leering shots of Mamie Van Doren in all kinds of form-fitting clothing.  We’ve got girl fights with slapping and pulling hair.  We’ve got the aforementioned assaults, which are dropped quite casually into the narrative and never more than barely dealt with. There’s parties and dangerous drag racing and teen idols and the weird ‘scandal’ thing about Serafina’s obsession with Jimmy, which Jimmy seems determined to foster when he really should be getting a restraining order.  Yes, there’s something here for everybody, except of course for people who like good movies!  I find myself wondering if the writers weren’t given a list of things the studio wanted to include, and had to find a way to fit them all into one ninety-minute movie.

The result, as one might imagine, is utterly foul, and while it’s more unified than it might have been, I don’t even want to give it credit for that because it is so utterly nasty and sexist.  When it was first released I suspect the movie felt like a trick, like it lured in an audience with the promise of a good time, only to wag its fingers and tell them to say their prayers.  From the standpoint of sixty years later, it just reeks of hypocrisy. I’m pretty sure the church frowns on taking pleasure in (or profit off) debauched behaviour, even fictional debauched behaviour. Are we really supposed to enjoy all that and then take away the lesson that we should be loving, pious people? Are we honestly meant to believe that the film-makers were sincere about that message?

I commented on the use of the archetypes of maiden, mother, and whore in my review of Untamed Youth and here it is again in Girls Town, even less subtly.  The nuns are obviously mothers, even the ones whose official title is ‘sister’, because that is the role they fill towards the students.  The students themselves come into Girls Town as whores and leave having been remade as maidens, which is Silver’s arc mainly – as illustrated with a rubber mallet to the face when she meets her former self on the way out – but we see the same thing in others, too.  Serafina begins the movie ready to be a whore for Jimmy, and ends it as a maiden, having become a novice nun.  Mary Lee spends the whole movie under threat of becoming a whore, but in the end manages to preserve her maiden-ness with Silver’s help.

The sins and stories of the male characters are equally simplistic. Jimmy seems to have spent his whole life atoning for the theft of a laughable forty dollars (this might have been less laughable in the 50s, but it still wasn’t exactly a fortune). He is in the movie as a literal deus ex machina.  When Silver prays, it’s Jimmy’s car that God sends to her, thereby saving Mary Lee. Jimmy is also the instrument of Serafina’s redemption, inspiring her to marry the Lord instead of lusting after singers.  I don’t think it’s an accident that his name is James.  St. James the Greater is the patron of pilgrims, or those who go on a journey seeking salvation.

(Not that this has anything to do with anything, but when I looked that up I learned that the epithets ‘St. James the Greater’ and ‘St. James the Lesser’ are supposed to specify that one was ‘Tall Jim’ and the other was ‘Short Jim.’)

The only other major male presence in the film is Fred. Characters like Chip’s grieving father and the detective are introduced as if they will be important, but after a scene or two they vanish and never recur.  Where Jimmy is almost literally the movie’s saint, Fred is its devil.  Almost everything he does is reprehensible, starting with harassment and moving up through vehicular homicide to human trafficking!  If they could have gotten away with making him a cannibal they probably would have done that, too.

Girls Town therefore presents a world in which humans can be tidily divided into good and evil.  There are nice god-fearing boys who do charity work, and there are nasty murdering rapist.  There are sweet virginal girls and nice motherly nuns, and then there are whores. And it’s obvious within a few moments of meeting either type exactly which side they’re on

This is, frankly, a terrible way to present people in a movie, not just because it’s shitty character writing but because in real life you can’t just tell like that.  When rapists and serial killers are captured there’s always somebody saying he looked so normal, and I swear it’s because movies keep telling us that such people don’t look normal.  This makes us feel better because we like to think we could recognize a ‘bad person’ if we met one, and even more we like to think that we don’t look the way ‘bad people’ do.  The truth is that this just isn’t possible, and perpetuating such stereotypes encourages people to see danger where none exists and ignore it where it does.

One thing the movie does get kind of right is the culture the inmates have developed for themselves at Girls Town.  There have been studies about how hierarchies evolve in closed groups such as prisons and high schools (yes, of course people have explicitly made that comparison), and an outline of that exists in the film.  The nuns are technically ‘in charge’ but the students have a form of self-government as well, complete with a penal system, which their actual superiors have come to respect.  Rules that benefit the group are enforced from within it.  Alliances survive despite things that should break them, because they’re all anybody has.

As a movie, Girls Town looks okay.  You can always tell where you are and what’s going on.  The girls and even the nuns are easy to tell apart, performances are never outstanding but usually acceptable, and you can follow the plot even when it throws in weird shit like Serafina’s obsession and the ridiculous drag race.  The content is just so disgusting that none of these things actually matter, and the worst aspect of that content is the way it throws in sexual assault like seasoning – just toss in a rape here and there to spice things up!

The writers allow Mary Lee to plead self-defense since Chip attacked her first, but the rest of them are never dealt with.  We don’t know what happened to the girl in the fight scene, she and her attacker never even have names.  The detective faces no consequences for cozying up to both Silver and Mary Lee, despite the fact that he’s gotta be twenty years older than either.  Serafina is somebody to be pitied and the thought of getting her to talk to a psychologist never occurs to anybody.  At the end, it seems like even the nuns are willing to forget about all the nasty shit Fred did as long as he testifies that Mary Lee isn’t a murderer!

When all was said and done the movie’s makers probably patted themselves on the back and told each other than they meant well, what with the Good Christian Message and all, and slept very well that night.  They were douchetrumpets.  Fuck them and fuck their movie.

[lucky-katebishop]

Underrated Teen Drama Gems

If you like teen dramas, then we’re one in the same. I love the drama, I love the ships, I love the characters (well, mostly). Gossip Girl is legit one of my favorite shows. There are a lot of teen shows out there, so I made a list of my favorite underrated ones which you might or might have not heard of before. 

Merli 

This show is about a philosophy teacher and the lessons he teaches his students along the way. To me it somewhat reminds me of Glee with the big group of students developing a meaningful and heartfelt relationship with their teacher, as well as the big ensemble piece where not only one character is the center focus. This show, set in Spain, is an underrated gem because it reminds us what it’s like to be a teenager through asking big philosophical questions. The reason I love it so much is because of the relationships everybody makes with one another. 

The End of the F***ing World

A story about one boy who believes he’s a psychopath developing a relationship with a girl he sets out to murder. I watched this show in a single afternoon and proceeded to watch it again later that night. I was pleasantly surprised by how meaningful the relationship between these two kids was, and how much they found they needed the other. I found myself rooting for the characters, even though it doesn’t seem like something that I should do. It sympathizes with it’s characters and makes them three dimensional, something that I very much appreciate (especially in teen dramas). 

Life Unexpected 

I haven’t actually finished this one yet (I’m still on season one) but so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s about Lux, a teenager who has been in and out of foster homes since she was young. She decides wants to get emancipated and finds her biological parents, who had her when they were only just her age, where she finds out that her mother is her favorite radio show host. A judge ends up making her biological parents take her in, refusing her emancipation request. This show doesn’t shy away from showing that trying to be a family is not always easy, especially when you barely even know them. This show kind of fit in at the same time that The Fosters was like the only teen show anybody was paying attention to, so it kind of fell beneath the cracks, but I highly recommend it. 

Puberty Blues

A show set in 1970s Australia where sex is all anybody can talk about. The show follows a group of teenagers who go through relationship and parental struggles. I’ll admit that I haven’t watched this in a couple of years, but it definitely was a really entertaining show to watch. And also Ashleigh Cummings is like everything to me (the girl in the blue shirt.) It kind of reminds me of a more chill One Tree Hill so if you like that sort of dynamic, I recommend it. 

Dance Academy 

Ahhhh I like really really really love this show, guys. I do a yearly rewatch (and I only do that with Parks and Recreation so that should say something.) I mentioned this show also in my children shows list. A show set in Australia at a dance boarding school follows Tara Webster, a ballerina who feels like she shouldn’t be there. It tackles some really big topics that most other teen shows don’t, such as eating disorders, questioning sexuality, parental problems, and fitting in when you don’t feel at place in such a prestigious place. While Tara is the main character, it’s the other characters that steal the show such as Sammy, Abigail, and Kat. I am in love with this show, and I highly highly recommend it. 

The Carrie Diaries

Okay I realized why no one knows this show, it has really shitty promotional posters (I swear as I was searching the internet, this was the best one I could find.) It follows the story of Carrie Bradshaw, a teenager who lives in a really small town in the 1980s where she gets seduced by the bustle and glitzy fashion industry of Manhattan. Carrie, who recently lost her mother, has to live a double life as she tackles lying to everyone around her in order to be who she wants to be in Manhattan, and seeing if she should just settle with the life she already has. I have never seen a single episode of Sex and the City and I still love this show. Also the main relationship between Carrie and Sebastian is everything, and ugh it’s just so nice to live out the life I want through a character, isn’t it? 

Deadly Class 

While The Carrie Diaries tells the more Madonna singing, bubbly flashing lights version of 1980s New York, this one shows the dark, gritty, Smiths singing version. A story about teenage assassins, it’s highly stylized and follows the story of Marcus, an orphan who is recruited to an assassin boarding school because of burning down his former orphanage, murdering everybody in it. I personally believe it relies on stereotypes just a tad too much, but it’s still a very entertaining show to watch, and you easily become invested in the characters. This show is extremely dark so I will warn you there if that’s not really your speed. Also this is a side note but the main character Marcus is extremely attractive so uh, I don’t know, if you’re motivated by that, I recommend.

The Magicians 

When compared to Deadly Class, this show is like Rugrats or something. I’m not kidding, this show is extremely dark, and I seriously urge you to check out all the trigger warnings if you need it, because it does not shy away from tackling extremely sensitive issues. It follows Quentin Coldwater, a grad student who has been obsessed with magic his entire life because of the children books Fillory only to find that magic is real and he’s a magician. However, he finds that magic is not what it’s all cracked up to be as a monster comes into play, threatening not only he and his friends, but the entire world. This show has so many twists and turns, and it’s easily one of my favorites. 

I hope you liked my list! I make other lists too so check those out if you want. Tell me if I missed anything and maybe I’ll make another list. Here’s my masterlist if you want to check it out. Thanks for reading! 

[dc-x-readers]

Chaos (Raven x Reader)

Request: I need a reader villain being turned good by Raven caring about them m

This is not exactly how it was supposed to go, but it just kind of got away from me and turned out like this.

Trigger warnings: Blood, fighting, and swears

You let the dagger in your hand drag against the Penguin’s car. This was not your idea of fun, team work is boring and you like adventure. “You want to kill the Bat?” Joker screamed, riling up the criminals he had gathered. The worst of the worst were here, Two-Face, Penguin, Harley and Ivy cuddled in the corner. You weren’t sure as to why you had been called to such a meeting, your crimes while dastardly mostly warranted the attention of the Teen Titans, not their adult counterparts. For now however, you were content to watch the chaos unfold. The criminals all erupted in chatter. It was tedious to watch the old villains talk, your chipped nails became the most intriguing thing here. Most of these villains wanted something stupid, money, fun, cat merchandise. You on the other hand you wanted chaos because it is all you ever known. You were born in chaos and you don’t know how to live without it. For you fighting and screaming and killing was for survival.

“With the bat dead I can rule Gotham! I can leave it a barren wasteland of laughs.” The Joker’s voice hissed. This caught your attention. The Joker had not intended for people to hear it, but with you lurking in the background you picked up a lot. You didn’t want Gotham to become nothing but a land of empty minded people laughing at nothing. There was no way to spark violence by laugh gassed people. The plan by The Joker, needs to be stopped. Unfortunately, you only knew a few heroes who you could talk to. One who cared as much about Gotham as you did, and one who appeared to care about you. The Teen Titans slumped into their tower home. They all looked exhausted, fresh from a fight. If you weren’t constantly fresh from one you would almost feel sorry for the teens. “Welcome home Heroes.” You smirked turning on the lights. Each of the titans had a hilarious response to you lounging on their couch, but you eyes were drawn to Raven, who put up her arms expecting another fight. Robin was the only one to react, he ran to you, his fist raised, poised to strike. “What are you doing here Y/N?” He growled. “Well my little birdie friend,” you laughed not even trying to move the fist from you face, “I come bearing news of the Joker variety.” Robin didn’t move his arm and for a moment you thought he would punch you, adrenaline coursed through your veins. As you said earlier, you thrive on chaos, and violence always leads to chaos. “Why would you bring us news? Why should we even trust you?” Cyborg asked from behind Robin. You watched the titans with interest, they were all wary of you, but they seemed inclined to listen, especially Robin. The smile on your face became muted and for once in your short years of life you told the truth. “Joker plans to gas Gotham. I unfortunately live in Gotham, and don’t really want my neighbors hoped up on joker gas.” You answered. “Why tell us then? Why not tell Batman?” Beast boy asked. You considered telling them the truth, you really did. What would they say to the fact that you believed them to be true heroes? What would they say to the fact that you had a slight (*cough huge cough*) crush on one of their members who wore dark cloaks and remained disinterested in your flirty banter? Instead you did as you were raised to do, you lied. “Like I can find the Batman.” You huffed. Beast Boy and Starfire nodded as if excepting your answer, but the rest still appeared wary, “Look, I am going to Gotham to stop the Joker with or without you. I just figured you sidekicks would like to save the city. Or some noble shit like that.” You stood, even though Robin was still ready to strike, you bared your teeth, “hit me with you best shot baby.” You hissed. Surprised Robin let go of you, and you stormed away from the teen heroes who would do nothing to stop such a crime from happening. All because the tip came from you, a criminal. As you passed Raven your distain grew. You actually looked up to her as a hero, a girl clearly as broken as you are deciding to fuck it all, defy stereotypes and become a beacon of hope. She told you that you could switch to the side of good if you wanted to, you aren’t defined by your past. “Some heroes.” You hissed, slamming the door behind you.                                                           —- You were in way over your head. The Joker shot a gun at you, and you barley rolled out of the way. This is what you get for trying to be a hero, gunshots. “You little-” the Joker started. “Oi, language!” You hollered avoiding a booby trap attached to a crossbow. “I am the one with the un-fucking necessary swears around here.” You quipped. The Joker threw a knife which hit you in the shit. You fell down letting out a string of colorful curse words. A knife to the leg really hurts. The Joker came closer, a lion circling his prey. You wanted to scream and yell every foul name at him, but you knew it made no difference. This is the end of the line, you would die here tonight. The Joker raised his signature gun to your forehead, and you knew it was over. You shut your eyes waiting for the pain, but instead of pain, glass shattered. Both the Joker and you raised your heads to the sky to see Raven bursting through the skylight, her royal purple cape floating behind her. The most serious expression on her face, she shouted her magic words, sending the Joker into the wall. “Are you alright?” Raven asked, almost breathlessly as she sank to the ground next to you. Still holding the knife that was embedded into you leg you glanced at your saviour and answered her question, “I’m peachy.” “I’m sorry we didn’t believe you at first, but we did come. Robin got everyone to stop the gas from erupting, but I had to find you.” Raven said. “Oh, and why would a hero like you need to see someone like me?” You asked with a sneer. “Because you’re a hero too, you saved everyone in Gotham tonight. Join us, join the Titans and you can do this everyday.” Raven said, her normally monotone voice had a edge of … desperation? You couldn’t help yourself, you leaned over to meet her lips to yours. It was a soft quick kiss that had you pulling away too fast. “Can I do that again?” You asked. “Only if you become a hero.” Raven countered. You kissed her again, this time it was a promise to be a hero with her.

[wordsonpages1-blog]

Need to Know Basis:

Hey loves!!! This one is a request from @juggiebettyy

“I'm not really sure how to put in request and idk if you want to even do this but: imagine Betty and Jughead dating in secret and Veronica spies them one day through a window from a classroom (like how juggie found out about Archie and Grundy) and when she tells the rest of the group they don't believe her but when they all hang out they start to notice things they didn't before (there's a name for this but idk) and maybe they confront them? I just kind of really want to see this :)”

I’m not thrilled with the way this turned out, but I hope you enjoy it! Xx

Oh and for anyone having trouble with the “read more” link here is the AO3 link-

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11328585

“Hey Jug,” Betty greeted, walking into the Blue and Gold room.

Jughead, who had been glaring at this laptop, averted his eyes from the screen and directed them toward the blonde.

A small smirk found its way to his face as he took her in. Her hair was tied back in its usual pony tail, but her body was clad in her cheerleading uniform; one that gave him a generous view of her long, slender legs.

“Get lost on your way to the football field?” He asked, eye brows raised and running a hand through his unruly raven locks, beanie long discarded in frustration.

Betty shrugged moving to sit on the edge of his desk, the short skirt riding a little higher up her thighs with the action. Jughead’s eyes followed the fabric distractedly for a moment, before he remembered himself and met her eyes again.

It was Betty’s turn to smirk as she noticed his obvious ogling, her heart fluttering in her chest and her stomach swarming with butterflies.

“Ha ha. Actually I came armed with vending machine food to battle your writers block.”

To accentuate her point, Betty dropped some candy bars and a packet of chips on the desk in front of the sardonic boy.

Jughead felt that warmth in his chest that was beginning to become quite familiar in her presence. He was fast learning what it was like to be cared for and about by another, all thanks to Betty Cooper and her adorable little gestures.

“You are an angel I swear,” Jughead exclaimed dramatically, his face lighting up with a grin that made Betty blush.

Jughead’s eyes softened as he took her in. She really was an angel. Her hair gold to match her heart, big green eyes that could manipulate him into doing anything she asked, long lashes that brushed her cheeks delicately when she blinked, full lips, smooth skin and stunning smiles. And that blush, god it enticed him; rose pink spreading from her cheeks to her chest- something he had been delighted to discover.

Moving from his chair, Jughead positioned himself so that he was standing between her legs, his hands settling on her cheeks.

“Does anyone know you’re here?”

Betty smirked then and the way her eyes lit up with a devilish glint made him almost desperate to kiss her.

“No, they were all too dizzy on hair spray fumes to notice I snuck away,” she laughed, her own hands hooking through his belt loops and pulling him closer to her.

“Good,” he mumbled against her mouth. And then he was kissing her.

It wasn’t that they were keeping “them” a secret, it was more like a need to know basis.

Their romance had developed astoundingly rapidly over the course of the year- well when they really thought about they think maybe it had been a long time coming, but it seemed to have happened astoundingly quickly once they both realised what was right in front of them. And it wasn’t that they were ashamed to tell people it was more that they were afraid to let anyone else into their little bubble. What they had was special and beautiful and so honest, something they would rather keep safe from this town so tainted with lies. They didn’t feel the need to parade their relationship around and make it everyone else’s. They were content with it being there’s and nurturing it here in these quiet moments.

Their kiss was sweet and slow, but not without passion. Their lips moved over each other in a sensual dance, savouring the taste of one another. He was kissing her with the kind of pressure that was still innocent enough for the spare minute they had but promised so much more for later.

Her tongue darted out to swipe his bottom lip teasingly and Jughead gladly accepted the gesture with a low groan, angling her head for better access to her sweet lips.

It was at that exact moment that Veronica happened to approach the class room designated to the school paper.

She had noticed Betty’s absence and decided to hunt her down before Cheryl noticed and went on a pre-game rampage. Plus it was almost time for them to head out onto the field anyway. She had sent the blonde a few texts, but upon not receiving a reply decided to search physically. The Blue and Gold had been the first place on her list.

And it seemed she had been right on the money when it came to “places to go to find Betty”. What she had not expected to find however, was her best friend perched on a desk, with her legs wrapped around a certain tall, dark and James Dean-esque beanie wearing boy, whose lips were currently attached to said best friends.

Veronica’s eyes widened in shock as she processed the sight before her through the little window in the classroom door.

A gasp filtered through her lips as a perfectly manicured hand came to cover her mouth.

The raven haired beauty wasn’t sure what she was most astounded by- the fact that Betty and Jughead were apparently a thing, the fact that they were apparently a secret thing or the fact that she hadn’t noticed until now.

After a few more moments, the pair broke away from their embrace and seemed to be exchanging parting words. Composing herself, Veronica moved hastily away from the door and retreated down the corridor again.

A few hours later Veronica, Kevin and Archie were sat in a booth at Pop’s for their traditional post game milkshakes. Jughead had insisted he was on a roll with his novel and couldn’t be interrupted while Betty had declined due to her mother insisting she went straight home; Veronica hadn’t bought either excuse, and had tried her hardest to suppress the knowing smile on her face when Jughead offered to walk her home. They were so cute! How could she not have realised this earlier.

“You guys will not believe what I discovered today,” the New Yorker began with a scandalous gleam in her dark eyes, quirking a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“You’re actually a Kardashian?” Kevin supplied, his own face expressing enthusiastic intrigue at the prospect of gossip.

“Better.”

Kevin was practically bouncing now, while Archie just looked at her with raised brows indicating his own interest.

Veronica waited a moment for dramatic effect before leaning in close and whispering, “Betty and Jughead are dating.”

Kevin looked at her in confusion while Archie burst out laughing.

“You’re kidding right?” the red asked, his shoulder’s still shaking with humour.

Veronica shook her head furiously.

“No you guys, I swear.”

“And how exactly did you come up with this teen rom-com stereotype?” Kevin prompted, still clearly disbelieving the girl before him.

“I caught them making out.”

Archie just laughed harder.

“Sure you did Ronnie.”

Veronica glared at the boy’s across from her irritated by their lack of faith in her gossip weaning skills.

“Laugh all you want Archekins but this is no joke. Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones were getting putting the “hot” in “hot of the press” in the Blue and Gold before the football game tonight.”

It was silent for a moment, both boys seeming to consider this piece of information. Veronica sipped her milkshake daintily, waiting for the follow up questions and theories.

“Okay let’s say they are a thing,” Kevin began to reason, “Why wouldn’t they have told us. I mean Jughead I get, but surely Betty would have said something.”

Veronica shrugged, her dark brows furrowing. That was one piece of information she was still trying to decipher herself.

“I don’t know. But I do know that they are doing a lot more than investigating Jason Blossom’s murder in that office of theirs. And how about the fact that they both just happened to have excuses for not joining us tonight?”

Kevin nodded slowly, seeming to catch on to her suspicions.

“She does make a good point there. And he did walk her home…”

“Na I’m not buying it,” Archie shook his head, “Betty and Jughead are my best friends. I’ve known them forever and neither one of them has ever expressed that kind of interest in the other. Besides Betty likes me.”

“Or liked as in past tense. And anyway if that were true than how do you explain what I saw tonight Archie?” Veronica implored, leaning back into the booth and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Temporary insanity?”

It was Monday morning and Veronica was pretending to get books out of her locker, while really keeping her eyes trained on Betty and Jughead who were at Betty’s locker down the hall. She was alert and ready to catch them out on more “couplie” things today. Veronica Lodge was never one to be deceived.

“Morning Ronnie,” Archie’s voice came from behind her. Veronica jumped; apparently she was one to startle.

“Archiekins,” the dark haired beauty greeted, her eyes not straying from Betty and Jughead for long. He was leaning against the locker beside hers, while Betty gathered her books.

Archie’s own eyes moved toward Veronica’s line of sight, noticing his best friends down the hall. He sighed, shaking his head.

“They’re not together let it go.”

“Oh but they are! Seriously, look at them, she’s totally swooning!” Veronica made a sweeping gesture toward the pair.

Betty was laughing at something Jughead had said, her eyes alight and an easy smile on her face. Her cheeks held a faint blush and she hugged her books a little closer to her chest.

“They’re just talking?” Archie stated dumb founded.

“No, they’re flirting,” she insisted.

Archie squinted in their direction, as if he was looking at a hidden picture and was trying to decipher it. Betty did look slightly flustered, but he was positive Jughead didn’t “flirt”.

“Veronica!” Kevin suddenly exclaimed, bustling down toward the duo to join the congregation at her locker.

“You were right,” the flamboyant boy gasped, slightly out of breath from the physical exertion of rushing toward them.

“Veronica Lodge usually is, but do impart the reason for your change of heart on us,” she stated, eyes sparkling at the prospect of gossip.

“Okay so I was hanging out with Betty yesterday doing homework. Mundane, until she’s leaning over to read my text book and I notice the huge hickey on her neck! She tried to cover it up but I know one when I see one. Plus the reason she couldn’t study with me Saturday was because her and Jughead were ‘working on the Blue and Gold’.”

Veronica turned to Archie with an arched brow.

“I told you! So what do you have to say about that Archie?”

“They’re not together guys. You’re just making something out of nothing.”

By the end of the day Archie was sick of hearing about Betty and Jughead. Veronica and Kevin couldn’t seem to help themselves. It was as if, since Veronica had brought it up, the two gossips were seeing the world through a “bughead” [as they were now referring to the pair as] lens.

“Seriously though did you see them at lunch, she might as well have climbed on his lap with how close they were sitting.”

“Yeah and how long have they been sharing food like that? I didn’t know Jughead shared food.”

“Or the heart eyes he’s been sending her way!”

They were incessant and it was driving Archie mad. He wasn’t entirely sure why the whole idea made him so uncomfortable. He couldn’t work out whether it was the idea of Betty-and-Jughead that was causing knots to twist in his stomach or the idea that there was a Betty-and-Jughead and they hadn’t told him about it.

“And the way he put his arm around her when she was talking about Polly-“

“Okay that’s enough guys! He was just being a good friend I would have done the same if I was sitting next to her,” Archie cut in, frustration evident in his voice.

Veronica and Kevin paused, exchanging a look. The former recovered from the shock of the outburst first.

“That may be true Archie, but would he have done the same for me?” She asked with a look that suggested she already knew the answer.

Archie sighed, running a hand over his face.

“You know what? Let’s just go and ask them.”

Kevin clapped excitedly, following the music playing jock out of the student lounge, Veronica close behind them. She mumbled something about a rude awakening, but Archie was too determined to pay mind to the snide comment.

Soon enough they were in front of the Blue and Gold. This time the window was obscured by a little blind, which made the entrance they were about to make even more suspenseful.

Swinging the door open they were met with the sight of Jughead sat on the couch, with Betty straddling his waist, her hands in his hair, while his were dangerously low on her back… their mouths locked in a heated kiss.

“Oh my god!” Kevin and Archie exclaimed at the same time; the former as though it was Christmas morning, while the latter seemed horrified.

“Oh my god!” Betty mirrored, her own eyes widening in shock from being caught, while Jughead remained passive.

“I told you!” Veronica shouted at Archie with glee, a knowing look present on her face.

“I… you guys… what?... when?!” Archie floundered, his words stuttering and his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

In any other situation Jughead would have laughed.

“Hey guys,” Betty began. Her voice placatory and ready for damage control, her face red as she awkwardly moved from Jughead’s lap to stand.

Jughead got up too, resting a reassuring hand on her back. Betty offered him a warm smile before turning back to the situation at hand.

“Hey guys?!” Archie mimicked with exasperation.

Betty grimaced, while Jughead righted his beanie.

Kevin looked absolutely enthralled, while Veronica watched the scene unfold with baited breath. She had her own questions, but she knew now was not the time.

“Well what do you want us to say?” Betty asked defiantly, though her posture lacked the same sentiment.

“I want you to tell me why the hell you two were making out!”

“We’re together Arch,” Jughead deadpanned and the room fell eerily silent for a moment as the words sunk in.

“You’re together?” Archie repeated slowly after a moment, blinking rapidly.

Jughead nodded, and moved his hand to wrap around Betty’s shoulders. The blonde placed one of hers over that hand and entwined their fingers. The smile the dark haired boy gave her was so full of adoration, Veronica felt her own heart flutter.

“I’m enthralled,” Kevin whispered to her, unable to peel his eyes away. Veronica nodded eagerly.

“How long?” Archie asked after another pregnant moment. His anger seemed to have dissipated now and he was left in a state of resignation.

“About a month,” Betty answered honestly, but carefully.

Archie’s eyes bugged.

“You’ve been together for a month and you didn’t tell me!” He looked hurt now and his long time best friends each felt a pang of guilt.

“As adorable as I think the two of you are, I have to sympathise with Archie on this one. Why didn’t you guys tell us?” Veronica interjected calmly, but Betty could tell she was slightly offended as well.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t want you guys to know as such… It was more like we didn’t want it to be anybody else’s yet. That doesn’t make much sense does it?” Betty sighed, a frown pulling at her lips.

Kevin shook his head, “not at all.”

“I think what Betty’s trying to say is that we kind of felt like as soon as we told you guys- anyone really- then it would become another thing that belonged to Riverdale and not ours anymore and with all the shit going on lately we were kind of enjoying having something that was just between us, something… sacred,” Jughead explained.

The other’s nodded, beginning to foster some kind of understanding toward the pair’s decision.

“And it kind of just snuck up on us too. Like we didn’t really realise we were in a relationship until one day we just kind of were. I’m sorry though if we hurt you guys or made you think we didn’t trust you it was just kind of a… need to know basis.” Betty finished, looking at Jughead for confirmation before turning her nervous gaze back to their friends.

“Well as much as I am disappointed to be getting the news late. I do approve and if you’re happy than I’m happy B,” Veronica stated warmly.

Betty beamed at her.

“I am.”

“Good, well in that case I’ll need all the juicy details later,” the darker girl finished with a wink.

“I knew it from the moment I saw that hickey,” Kevin joked good naturedly and enjoying the way the pair squirmed at the mention of their apparent sex life.

“Achie?” Jughead asked, his tone wasn’t necessarily hopeful, more like expectant.

Archie sighed, looking down at his sneakers for a long moment before turning his gaze on the two people he had known and loved practically his whole life.

“If you guys are happy. I’m happy.”

“Thanks Arch,” Jughead offered and he did look genuinely relieved that Archie was okay with it. Betty shot him a grateful smile.

Archie nodded. But for some reason he couldn’t shake the twisting in his gut. Again he was conflicted as to its meaning. He genuinely wanted his friends to be happy. So why did seeing Jughead’s hand tighten on Betty’s make him queasy? Why did her love sick smile that was suddenly pointed at Jughead make him feel a pang of emptiness?

He convinced himself it was because he hadn’t noticed. Because they had kept it a secret. Because he was the third wheel now. But was it?