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aphrodite-would-be-proud · 3 years

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Armin having a crush on you while you're dating Eren pt.3

{ Armin x reader, Eren x reader | suggestive | tw:possessive behaviour, tw:unhealthy-friendships, tw:toxic, tw:jealousy | angst, drama, pinning | modern }

{ "the stranded ship" 1843 by Asher Brown Durand 1796 - 1886 }

The anniversary of your first meeting was coming soon, an entire year since you stumbled into his life by mere accident.

Armin would've never guessed bumping into you outside the library would've had such an impact, and what a beautiful accident it was.

And now, an entire year later he can see clearly why you stole his heart.

He found in you what he lacked, things he desired and admired for so long, things that made him feel at ease.

Things he oh so desperately wanted.

Just your mention would make his mood better, the thought of you making the sky seem a bit brighter and the world not so dim anymore.

He was smitten and he knew it, after all how could he deny it.

especially since he's read about it in a hundred different books, the stories of those similarly struck by cupid's bow as they got high on love alone.

Watched it in tens of tv shows, people falling for each other, struggling to get together despite the world pulling them apart.

And as much as others would scoff and turn their noses at these things, calling it a mere fantasy, he couldn't deny how much deep down he hoped for it.

Maybe he was just too romantic with his head swimming in the clouds, maybe he was too eager and hopeful for a connection.

But he swore he could see it clear as day, see the both of you falling in love.

At that time, he could recite how it would go as if it was a movie playing in his mind just as he fell asleep, dreaming about a soon-to-be-real fantasy each night.

He's willing to put in the effort, you're worth the work after all.

And so he began making subtle moves, showing interest in small ways, bit by bit till he got bolder day by day.

As far as anyone could tell, you seemed to be on board.

But Armin was never sure, he didn't want to mess this up and make a move that might make you pull away.

He wasn't looking for a nonchalant sure from you, he was looking for an enthusiastic yes.

Which is why he took his sweet time getting closer, strategically considering every move and step, making plans for dates and backup plans if plan A failed.

He was giving his all, squeezing his brain for all it's worth as he analysed every move.

It's just that he didn't want to mess this up.

As if.

Fate had it's way as always, maybe he just cared so much about the tiny details that he was blind to the big signs, for how could he notice the sun if he was too busy studying the grains of sand.

Or maybe, pushing all that philosophical bullshit aside, he just waited too long.

You also made your moves but he didn't seem to respond in a clear way, not fully showing interest since he was too lost in his own mind.

Did you feel like he was subtly rejecting you? Did you feel like he was attempting to push you in the friendzone?

He can't know how you felt, and whatever it was it must have been why you didn't hesitate to say yes to the next person who asked you out.

Which just happened to be Eren.

Thinking back to how it all fell apart, Armin would curse his past naive self for simply standing aside, without making an attempt to stop it as he watched Eren integrate himself into your life.

At the time he thought he was being the bigger person, a good friend to someone he brought he could trust.

He thought life couldn't be that cruel, in the end his hard word should pay off as you realise you belong with him right?

Ha!

Ha…No.

How could he have been so blind and stupid?

It's been a year since you've known Armin but it's been 9 months since you've been dating Eren.

He went through it all, becoming well acquainted with the stages of grief.

But he's fed up honestly.

He swears he could almost lose his mind if he saw another video of you on Eren’s Instagram story.

The other proudly showing you off in his arms, knowing exactly what he's doing.

And so Armin decided enough is enough, he's taking back what he lost, what rightfully should've been his and screw being a good friend.

He knew he can't just barge into your apartment, confess his undying love and ride into the sunset with you smitten in his arms.

Unless he wanted a restraining order.

What does he want most?

You of course.

What is he best at?

...being subtle.

It's what got him into this mess in the first place, and so it will be his saving grace.

A good morning text a day, nothing more or less, simple yet effective.

And that, turning into him checking on you throughout the day, you know casual stuff.

Did you eat? How did that project go? It's raining, did you take an umbrella ?

Slowly, day by day your conversations will grow as you get used to him being a part of your daily routine.

And that's when he turns it up a notch, maybe you'd like to meet at the nearby park? Or grab some coffee in the morning?

You need a friend to shop with? Yeah he's free and he would even carry your bags

...or well attempt to, cut him some slack you know he isn't that strong yet is trying his best.

Maybe, after some weeks of you falling back into the routine of meeting up with him, he could invite you over again.

Just like the good old times.

Of course he'd never tell you the reason he stopped visiting your place was because he couldn't stand seeing Eren’s clothes scattered around.

All you'll hear is that he feels the most comfortable at his own place, he even prepared some lunch and made freshly squeezed juice! You wouldn't say no to him after all the effort he did would you?

Yeah...you couldn't, that's exactly why he made sure only to ask you to come over after he finished preparing everything.

You're a good person, you wouldn't want his work to go to waste would you? You wouldn't do that to him.

The small lunch you agreed on, soon enough turned into watching tv together.

Oh wow the show he picked is so good, and each episode ends in a cliffhanger, lucky he has all episodes on Netflix so you wouldn't mind watching them all now would you?

Let's just turn autoplay on and not pay attention to how each episode is an hour long.

The next thing you know, it's dark outside and you're yawning while hugging a blanket close on the couch.

Your phone was in the other room, it's 11pm and you have 5 missed calls from Eren at different hours.

Armin would assure you that it's just Eren being Eren, you should just send a text back later.

And aren't you hungry? How about you and him go make midnight dinner and think about these stuff later.

After you have your food, you realise it's too late to go home.

Not to mention Armin's words about how dangerous it is to walk alone this late aren't exactly helping.

Of course he's quick to apologise, claiming he's just...worried about you, why don't you stay over instead?

He even has some fresh towels and blankets.

Why?...uh no reason, laundry day just happened to be yesterday so that's why.

And for a single day, he gets to wake up to you first thing in the morning, to see the way the sun would fall on your face as he opened the curtains.

The way he gets to tuck you in and adjust the blanket before he goes to make breakfast, no way he's not spoiling you rotten while he has you in his bed.

You'd be sleeping soundly one minute and the next gently stirred awake to the delicious smell of pancakes.

Armin's smiling face, as he murmurs a good morning in his sleepy voice.

God he wishes he can stay in this moment forever.

But, Armin knows exactly what he's doing, he's 100% self aware.

Maybe that's why he doesn't feel bad when reassuring you that it's still too early to leave, and how about you help him move some boxes to the closet instead?

Oh! What's that? You found an old book in one of them, how bizarre, not to mention it's the one that inspired your favourite movie.

You wouldn't mind him reading you some lines would you?

But he doesn't wanna spoil the details for you, there's a lot of extra content the movie left out.

So how about this instead, forget the boxes, you and him should go back in bed and let him read you the book.

Why would he be the one reading? Because his storytelling is good and you know it, soon enough you'll find yourself entranced by the story as the outer world blurs out into a haze.

Time flies by quickly, because he's such a natural at it and so it's the afternoon when the doorbell rings, bringing you back to reality.

It's Eren, coming to pick you up because you weren't answering your phone.

After you leave, and his little play pretend date ends, he's taken back to the cold truth that no matter what, you will go back home to Eren by then end of the day.

Never him.

Well, not for long.

...

The car ride back home with Eren was...uncomfortable in a way.

His grip too tight on the steering wheel, shoulders too stiff and narrowed eyes glancing at you every once.

And yet he didn't say much, only answering your attempt at starting a conversation with a single word or a hum.

Maybe he was too lost in his own mind, making connections to how Armin seemed to he inviting you places more and more

How each time you come back much later than promised

But the thing that bothered him to the core, was the fact you'd just spend the night at Armin's place with no warning beforehand.

Eren has been trying to convince you to move into his apartment for what seemed like forever, and each time you'd refuse saying you needed your privacy and yet you'd just go and stay over at another guy's house like it's nothing

He wanted to scream, he was fuming inside.

This isn't the only thing that got on his nerves, it's how your phone never seemed to shut up, one text notification after the other and even at the earliest hours of the day.

And for some reason you'd open the phone with a smile, never ignoring any of them because it's too rude to ignore a text.

Then why the fuck didn't you pick up his calls.

He had an idea on who has been texting you, he's not stupid.

He can't even count the amount of times he almost clocked out of work or canceled his plans last minute just because you called saying you're going out with Armin for the day.

Just the idea of you alone with someone else in some secluded area made him want to drop everything and go after you.

He's been attempting to get you closer to his mother, just to show how serious he was about you.

And maybe to show you off to her, but he would never admit it that he takes pride in flaunting you around in front of his family.

Carla even seemed to like you too, making you some food every once in a while, inviting you over for family dinner and including you in game nights.

It was an unspoken rule that you and Eren were an item, even if nothing was official, he made it clear to his family that it will be.

Maybe he'd even introduce you to Zeke one day, someone most of his friends don't even know he's related to.

Well the other already knows about you to be fair, it was by mere chance that you happened to call when both of them were smoking at the front porch while his mom made dinner.

Eren couldn't help the stupid grin spreading over his face when you called, almost forgetting his big brother was next to him the more he talked to you, playfully teasing.

The other observed quietly, the only acknowledgement he gave Eren was patting his back with a chuckle before going to help Carla inside.

Eren was late to dinner, having lost track of time while talking to you.

Sometimes he wonders how did it all get like this, how did he manage to get this infatuated with you.

He won't lie, he wanted to get closer to you since the day Armin brought you to hang out with their group.

His eyes wouldn't leave you, even if they did they'd soon glance back to you.

Even Jean was out of his mind that they didn't argue at all, instead Eren’s entire focus and attention was on the way you laughed each time Connie would tell a joke.

Or the way you licked your lips after Sasha offered you a bite of her food.

It wasn't until Marco asked him what's wrong that he realised he hasn't said a thing the entire time.

So he didn't waste his chance, shooting his shot right away and moving to sit beside you.

It wasn't even a full week before he asked you out, because what's the worst that could happen? If you reject him then he'd just laugh it off and attempt to get closer to you before asking you again after some months.

To his surprise, you welcomed his advances with open arms from the first time and that is what made him latch onto you even more.

He didn't expect to succeed from the first time, although it was a pleasant surprise it still made him wonder if you would've done the same to someone else.

...if you would've still said yes to someone else asking you, that it was more of being at the right place and time that made him win you over.

He knows it's irrational thinking to get irritated by imaginary scenarios that have no proof but it didn't quell his mind.

Thank fuck he snatched you first.

And what a catch you were, perfectly fitting for him as if you were specifically designed.

Your kisses could make him melt into a puddle, your touch could make him lose his breath.

He genuinely enjoyed spending time with you, just the two of you alone.

Not to mention how you are such an adorable thing too whenever you show him your hobbies or interests.

You've always given him validation without him having to ask for it, so much that he's almost addicted.

Mainly coming to you for compliments whenever he does a thing, just hugging you from behind and giving you those eyes till you've boosted his ego enough.

Maybe that's why he started clinging to you more, taking you to cheer for him whenever he went to play basketball with Jean and Reiner, even teaching you some moves just for an excuse to hold you closer from behind as you bounce the ball.

Or pulling you into his lap while playing videogames, giving you a kiss each time he wins and shamelessly asking for a prize afterwards.

Or maybe tracing his fingers up and down your thighs under the table at family dinner nights, more focused on the lining of your inner thigh than whatever story his father is telling about work

you just...made his life better, more fun and so full of colour.

He could see something coming out of this relationship, a burred future but a future nonetheless.

Now with his face softened, he glanced at you again, meeting your gaze.

One of his hands left the wheel, taking your hand instead and giving it a small squeeze.

A silent apology maybe? Or was it to reassure himself that you're still with him.

That's exactly why things like these get a strong reaction from him, it's not that he doesn't trust you, it's that he doesn't trust the world around you.

Mostly because he knows Armin, more than anyone else, hell even more than Mikasa.

He has known him since kindergarten, and while Armin never picks up a fight, he never runs away from one.

Eren isn't delusioned with the awkward and innocent front everyone else thinks of Armin, he fucking knows what he's capable of.

And he knows the second he lets his guard down, Armin wouldn't bat an eye before using it to get closer to you.

The worst mistake someone could ever do is underestimate his friend

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badlydrawndrawnings · 3 years

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Netflix “Sugar Bowl” Theory

Not so much about what’s in the sugar bowl as Netflix pretty much reveal the content for their continuity, but rather, ownership of the sugar bowl (with a bonus on trying to make sense of the Netflix show timeline).

I had to re-watch the opera night flashback in order to listen to the conversation between Esme and Beatrice. One line always stood out to me that I could be putting too much thought into it, but it’s a line I feel is overlook as well.

Esme: “Please, darling, you can trust me to keep it safe. I’m rich and beautiful.”

Even though Esme’s main motive regarding the sugar bowl is ultimately vain/selfish (“It completes my tea set.”) Esme also say Beatrice should trust her enough to keep it safe. Esme only says the line of it completing her set after Beatrice keeps on trying to persuade her to give it up. and to me, the way Esme says “It completes my tea set.”, it seems she wants Beatrice to stop talking about giving the sugar bowl in general, with ‘and another thing’ final note to finish the conversation for good.

It got me thinking ‘what if Esme has her tea set prior to the opera night, but the sugar bowl wasn’t part of her original set?’ Esme in fact, got a replacement sugar bowl in order to complete her set, and she was allowed to keep the sugar bowl as her own, on the condition from the previous original owner to keep it safe. Esme’s main motive is still selfish, but now there’s the fact Esme personally want the sugar bowl (at the time of the conversation and switching sides) because Esme arguably has the most dangerous assignment of all, and sees herself the only one worthy of the task to protect it.

But it still begs the question: Who is the original owner of the sugar bowl?

Beatrice: “Listen to me, Esme. there are traitors within VFD who do not want to put out fires at all. A certain man with a beard but no hair, a certain woman with hair but no beard. They think fire can solve any problem in the world. What if they get their hands on Gregor Anwhistle’s research? […] you want a family one day. I do too. Don’t you want to raise your children in a safer world? This sugar bowl is our only hope. It can save lives.”

It’s a stretch -a big stretch- but given Beatrice namedrops him in their conversation and is putting focus on his research, there’s a possibility Gregor Anwhistle was the previous sugar bowl owner, and he didn’t perfected the mycelium at this point on the timeline. I say this because going by the Widdershins happy family photo and Fiona’s apparent age of five or six, assuming it was taken a bit before Fernald started his apprenticeship at Anwhistle Aquatic (as Fernald was wearing his Queequeg uniform, and not dress up as a lab assistant as shown in his flashback of the fire) and Gregor went volatile because the Mycelium is perfected, the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire in the Netflix show happened five or six years after the schism started.

As this is very early on in the timeline, Gregor’s research is not only imperfect, but still in development. However, it’s at a critical stage Gregor fears if anyone gets its hand on it, it can lead to trouble, and he fears two associates in particular knowing they’re powerful high court judges who are starting to stray and cause trouble. Gregor as a precaution gave the sugar bowl to Esme. A rich and beautiful woman like Esme with a complete tea set would not stand out to anyone. Esme herself is the perfect ‘hiding spot’.

Eventually Gregor realize he had no choice but to go back on his word, and roped in Beatrice and Lemony and Bertrand (who’s role on watching the opera night flashback has me realize Kit’s book role was transfer to Bertrand, just offscreen, because it just occurred to me Netflix!Kit due to her character changes has no idea what is going on) to get it back from Esme. Beatrice didn’t want to steal the sugar bowl because she knew Esme was pick for a reason, which is why she went on a speech to persuade Esme. But after Esme refuse to listen to reason, believing she can keep it safe and keep her complete tea set, did the sugar bowl theft happened. Beatrice (and Lemony, since he was willingly to be the fall guy so I assumed if the opportunity rose, he would have to like...kill someone? again assuming ATWQ events happened? Damn Netflix!Lemony was going to kill twice) prepared to kill Esme with a poison dart snuck in by Bertrand as the ultimate back up plan if/when Beatrice and Lemony got caught. This of course, leads to (in)famous opera night and the schism.

With Olaf’s father dead and Lemony going on the lam, returning back, and then getting declare dead which may or may not be related to Olaf or other VFD reasons or not (this is Lemony after all), Beatrice and Bertrand fear Olaf will go after them. Beatrice knows Olaf knows she threw the dart since Olaf tried to kill her at VFD’s headquarters during the masked ball. However, Olaf is (was) under the impression Lemony gave the dart to her, not Bertrand (was because Olaf is realizing that night was much more different with a re-evaluation). Ishmael at this point is getting tired of the world being up in figurative and literal flames and smokes, allow Beatrice and Bertrand to live on the island with him, which was initially plan as a VFD location but abandon due to the schism.

Ishmael on the island decided he wanted out of VFD and have a new start as a cult leader, while Beatrice and Bertrand after creating the hybrid apples with the help of the sugar bowl (Gregor knows Esme suspects he has it and now gave ownership to the two) and realizing they have a child on the way, want to go back to the world and brave everything together.

They stay in VFD long enough to give Gregor back the sugar bowl, since Esme now believes Gregor never got the sugar bowl back after the opera night and no longer suspects him. Gregor continues to work on the mycelium (in secret) and eventually gets Fernald as his apprentice. Being an apprentice has Fernald going ‘oh gee I think Gregor is getting volatile even more than usual’ because the sugar bowl contents aren’t the same anymore due to Beatrice and Bertrand and now the mycelium project is one step closer to getting perfected.

When the mycelium is truly perfected, and the cure is going to get mass production at Lousy Lane, Gregor is ready to fight fire with fire. This leads to Gregor and Ike fighting, as Ike not only thinks what Gregor is doing dangerous, Ike is upset that the schism happened over a sugar bowl, and he fears this will make the schism worse. After the fight, and Fernald failing to reason with Gregor, Fernald decided to set Anwhistle Aquatic on fire. This of course result in Fernald losing his hands, the fire-fighting side of VFD kicking Fernald out, and Fernald and Widdershins’ big fight resulting with Fernald leaving.

The sugar bowl was moved before the fire (by Gregor, with few people knowing; Fernald isn’t in on the loop because Gregor doesn’t trust him anymore) to the factory at Lousy Lane, after which it was moved around until it accidentally found a home at Heimlich Hospital. Esme when hearing about the factory at Lousy Lane opening up started goes back searching for it, but once again gave up, as Fernald, who is now on their side and because he was out of the loop, tells her and everyone else the sugar bowl wasn’t at Anwhistle Aquatic when he burned it down. So everyone assumed the sugar bowl got ‘stolen’ pre-fire by another unknown player, with everyone giving up on it for years until the ASOUE period which gives new life to the search.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #netflix asoue #asoue netflix #esme squalor #beatrice baudelaire #count olaf #lemony snicket #sugar bowl theory #theory #this is a text post #you have no idea #how long it took to write this

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celestianstars · 4 years

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Sweet Dreams

Chris Evans x Black Female!Reader

Request: Chris is sleep deprived from stress and you decide to do what you can to help him get some rest

Warnings: lots of fluff and only some mentions of smut

Word Count: 2.3k

Note: I know I said I’d try and make this one short but kinda didn’t stick to that plan lol, but it’s a quick read I promise!

——————————————————————————

“Did you get any sleep last night, Chris? You look wiped out.” you watched your boyfriend make his way around the kitchen, eyes low and sunken.

“I mean...I think I got a solid hour or two.” he sighed, running a hand through his hair and sitting down at the table next to you.

You chewed at the inside of your lip, your hand automatically reaching out to hold his.

Chris had been super busy lately in terms of work and work related things.

He had just gotten back the other day from filming another project and then 24 hours later was on another flight to D.C for a more important, political endeavor he’d been working on for a good couple years now.

It shocked you that he wasn’t out like a light the second he got home last night, he looked ready to be back in his own bed, only if you and Dodger would accompany him, however, which was made clear by the pout he gave you when he asked you to come to bed a little earlier than your usual time.

But seemingly, he hadn’t slept at all while you lay your head on his chest and fell asleep within minutes.

Chris was always good at getting you to do that, he was warm and his heart was beating calm and steady and his fingers were lightly brushing against your skin as he held you, all a recipe for you slip into a deep sleep.

It worried you a little, sleep was so important and you didn’t like seeing Chris look this tired or stressed either but you tried to persuade him and your own mind that it was probably just the fact that he’d been travelling so much lately, his body was too wired to really let him rest.

It made sense, and it was true to an extent but Chris wasn’t ready to admit that it was because he was more stressed than jet lagged.

Talking about it might bring those fears about his work to reality so for the time being, Chris tried to shove it all to the back of his mind and just focus on having a nice stretch of time off where he could finally spend some quality time with you and his best dog and go visit and catch up with family.

“Alright sleepyhead, what do you want for breakfast is the real question here.” you stand up and come over to ruffle his hair, smiling softly at the way his arms immediately come up to wrap around your waist.

“Hmm, I’ve been dying for some of those homemade waffles and eggs of yours. Tried making them myself and it was a disaster in my hotel kitchen.” Chris snorts, leaning forward to press a kiss to your ribs.

“I’m surprised you didn’t burn the place down, but you got it baby. Oh, also! I was wondering if we could drop by the beauty supply store, I need more braiding hair, I was thinking of doing smaller braids this time.”

“Sure thing! We need more dog food anyways and it’s right in the area. And braids, huh? I can’t wait, you know I love seeing you with that style.”

Chris caught you rolling your eyes at that, both of you chuckling because of the very dirty innuendo to his tone.

He liked to play with your braids and pull them in bed, gently of course cause he knows you’d kill him if one of them loosened up and unraveled. But he also really couldn’t stop himself from doing it while he fucked you good, and not that you were complaining either.

---

You were browsing the chew toy section of the pet store you were in, letting Dodger sniff around the toys. Chris was right behind you, shaking his head at how much you spoiled his dog.

“What?! He deserves another toy, ok. He was such a good boy keeping me company while you were away. Best cuddle buddy.” you shrugged at the way Chris feigned shock.

“Oh so my own dog had taken my place as best cuddle buddy huh? I thought you were supposed to be wingman, Dodge, not steal my girl.”

“I can’t with you oh my god. Nah, you’re still my number one everything, Evans.” you lean back against his chest, letting your head rest against his shoulder, turning your face to press a kiss to his bearded jaw.

“And I see that barber I told you to go to has shown this beard some love. Such a clean line up.” you wink at him and he pinches your ass.

“That’s for sure, thank you for that by the way. But it could also use some extra love with you sitting on it, is all I’m sayin.” now it was Chris’ turn to watch your jaw drop.

Yeah, it had been awhile and though neither of you were up for it last night, tonight Chris intended to show you exactly how much he’d missed you.

---

Later that day you were sitting on the couch watching a show on Netflix, Dodger at your feet while Chris drank some coffee, brows knit in concentration as he read over some papers.

“How’s the business in D.C coming along?” you noticed the usual stressed out body language and gestures from him. He kept running his hands through his hair and letting out little sighs and huffs here and there.

“So far so good I would say, we’ve got more senators on board for the project it’s just...I don’t know.” he leaned his back, arms crossed. Defensive and on edge was written all across his features.

Shifting your body so you were facing him, you squeezed his thigh and took the papers from his lap, stacking them neatly and setting them aside on the coffee table.

“Talk to me, baby. Are you worried about it all coming together? I know you’ve been taking on a lot lately, even though you’re not doing this project alone, it’s still a lot and you are the face of it, I’m sure that makes you feel some anxiety.”

He felt tense and it made you frown, you wanted to help relax him as much as you could, and now you could see this was probably what was keeping him up at night.

“Yeah you’re right, actually. I just want this thing to be good, something informative and easy to use and it scares me to think it’ll be a huge failure or it’ll be used for the wrong things. I think I’ve been thinking of about a hundred ways it could go wrong if I’m being honest and I don’t really know what to do,”

“By now people have seen me going back and forth from here to D.C and I’m nervous about..well everything.” he placed his palm over yours and squeezed your hand.

Chris appreciated that you took the time to ask and really listen to him, cause half the time all he felt like he was doing was talking about his problems and not paying enough attention to you but then you’d quiet his fears and tell him that you would make sure he knew if you felt neglected.

You understood the nature of his work and of his always good and kind intentions and how his anxiety played into all of it.

“I wouldn’t blame you, it’s a big thing you’re doing. But remember that you’re trying to do some good, trying to make understanding politics and policy a little easier and I don’t think anybody can call you a failure for that, no matter what happens. The best any of us can do is try and bring something about that will help others and baby, you do that in so many different ways. Creatively in the art of acting and also in what you believe in outside acting.”

You scoot closer and rest your forehead against the side of his head for a minute, letting your words sink in.

“You’ve put so much of your time and energy and passion into this, I think you have to trust yourself a bit more. Maybe this certain project is new to you but from what I’ve seen, you’ve thought this out so well, so detailed and thoughtful to the audience you’re trying to reach. I think, and I’m not just saying this because I clearly have a bias, that you are putting out something great here,”

“And if it fails, if things don’t go how you wanted, you know that you did your best to steer it in the right direction and sometimes it doesn’t always work but that doesn’t make you a failure. You always have the opportunity to make something amazing, and coming from your insanely intelligent brain, I know it’s endless.”

You finish off your pep talk and give him some quiet to think about what you said, smoothly sliding across to sit in his lap so you could massage his shoulders.

Chris hummed, smiling at how soft your hands felt on him.

You were such a gift.

Not only did you know exactly what to say during times like this but you also seemed to know exactly what he needed, you were so observant and it kind of amazed him how you seemed to be two steps ahead of him sometimes.

It made him want to strive to be on your level.

All he hoped for was to reciprocate the same love and affection and support you offered him and you always reassured each other that you were doing exactly that.

After a minute Chris opened his eyes and met your gaze, blue eyes soft and tired.

“I fucking love you, you know that?” his voice was low and breathy and it made you bashful.

“I know and I love you too. I just believe in you and the talent and heart you give to everything. It’s stunning to watch you work.”

You keep a steady rhythm with your hands, moving them up to massage the back of his neck.

“Thank you for everything. And in that case I wanna come clean about something. I haven’t been sleeping much more than an hour or so for a bit now, I thought it was just because of traveling and the workload but you were right, it’s from stressing over all this shit. But you’re right, I gotta trust myself more and have some hope in it.”

“Yeah I figured. And I know you’ll get there, I’m sure it’s still gonna stress you out but as long as you remember what we talked about and can call upon that when it happens. How about we have a de-stress night? We’ll take a warm shower, maybe do a face mask, and I don’t know...something else that might require another shower afterwards too.” you wink and he throws his head back in a laugh.

“Oh so that’s what this whole thing was really about, she’s trying to get in my pants, I’m just a piece of meat to her!” Chris fake cries.

“You’re sO ridiculous oh my gosh. I mean that may have been part of it but for real, I know this is gonna come together and succeed. You’ve been doing such a great job.”

Chris nods and leans forwards, his arms coming around you again, pressing you forward into his chest where his lips met yours, a searingly passionate and loving kiss melting everything else away.

Abruptly, you pulled away, squirming your way out of his grip to drop down to your knees in front of him, your head resting on his thigh while your hands tugged at his belt buckle. His eyebrows went up in question but he didn’t stop you.

“Oh so this is your idea of de-stressing?” his eyes darkened and he raised his hips up slightly to help you slide his pants down.

“Mhm, sucking your dick is therapeutic for me honestly, and I wanna make you relax.” you smirked again, letting your hands start going to work because you truly were eager to get your hands on him.

“God, you’re really something else. Not complaining though, fuck that feels good. I’ve really missed this. And as long as you know I’m gonna return the favor. I was serious about this beard needing some of your love.”

“Fine by me, baby.” you giggle, sinking your mouth down around his tip, relishing in his taste and the way he hissed and contracted underneath you.

---

After a couple hours of going at it in bed rather loudly, and a nice shower and peeling face masks off each other, you and Chris were finally settled in bed, Dodger laying at the foot of the bed.

“I am actually struggling to keep my eyes open right now, baby. It’s a miracle.”

Chris smiled lazily, pulling the covers up around your shoulders while you got comfy snuggling into him.

“See, told you I knew the trick to getting good rest. You deserve it too. I hope you have sweet dreams, meatball.” you nuzzle his neck and place a chaste kiss to his lips before settling back down.

Chris only grunted in response and you went on talking for a little bit longer, explaining how happy you were he was home and that you’d finally be able to sleep in with him for a good week.

He’d been quiet for a minute and when you glanced up to check, you found your handsome man asleep, a calm look on his face, his breathing beginning to slow.

And with another soft kiss to his chest, you lay your head against his heart and shut your eyes, happy and serene knowing you were in his arms and had gotten him to finally sleep easily again.

Sweet dreams.

---

A/N: Reading that interview Chris did where he mentioned he only slept like an hour a night recently I was like...my baby, nooo. Hopefully he’s getting some good sleep soon cause it’s what he deserves, periodt pooh!

I hope this was alright and thank you to the anon that requested this, I loved writing it and hope it wasn’t too long since I know we discussed making it shorter.

And thank you to everyone reading! I love y’all so much I truly do!

Please let me know what you think also, I’m a slut for feedback!

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Tags: @themyscxiras @chaneajoyyy @wittysunflower @amirra88 @lady-olive-oil @fumbling-fanfics @designerwriterchic @dc41896 @endless00paradise @oceanscorazon @champagnesugamama @ml0103 @mimigemrose@beaminglife @jojolu @avfug @earthsmightiestasses @crushed-pink-petals @titty-teetee @lifesaverslipstick-n-melanin @kati-1997 @skinnyevilcunt @forbeautyandlife @captstefanbrandt @veryhellshdia @amelatonin @jbrizzywrites @xo-goldengirl @tgigoldie @quaint-and-curious @yaint-me @savvy-ivvory @hold-me-like-a-heart-beat @blowmymbackout @captainsamwlsn @carefreebarnes @harduy @breddiefrooks @curvynsweet @vvigilantes @est1887 @p-writes @thorohdamnson @ellixthea @lovelymari4 @littlesouthernrebelle @uhlxis @lareine-c-blog @captainfiveby5 @blackandnoir @wildfirecracker @xkandixrose @vvigilantes @eclecticblkgirl @pananegra @honey-poooh @bibicarson @ceelikedat @sheagawdess @ljstraightnochaser @savemeroman @m00nlightdelights @thottio @yaunaz @jetaimeamore @melo-yello @glitterandheatlightning @lavitabella87 @laketaj24 @hushfakeomens @valkyriesnymph @notsomellowmushroom @write-fromthe-start @theitcaramelchick @felicity-x0 @nina-skyee @islanddgal @princess-evans-addict @bluestarego @jaz-wegott @munteanhore @buffisummerz @blackvscogirl @gwenspacy @raveviolet @uranoscope @cantbribetheangel @suckthatskittlebiiitch @amberakawolfie @reaper-thighss @academic-glowup @stormsslut @star-spangled-steve @saturnsteverogers @thotgomery

#amalia writes #chris evans x black reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #chris evans oneshot #chris evans fanfics #chris evans fics #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans x woc #chris evans x poc #chris evans smut

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toaheadcanons · 3 years

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General reaction time! Again, this will contain HEAVY SPOILERS FOR TALES OF ARCADIA AND RISE OF THE TITANS. SKIP THIS IF IT GOT THROUGH YOUR FILTER.

So, let's begin. Firstly, as beautifully visually executed as the movie was, I think we all could tell the full original team wasn't working on this part of the TOA project. Setting that aside for a moment though. Trust me on this.

I was SHOCKED at the animation quality this time around. TOA has almost always had pristine graphics, and a movie budget took things to a while new level. Well done, TOA animation team!! 🥰🥰🥰

The MagiScience Camelot. Can I live there? Also, do they live there?? It's sort of unclear, did everyone just decide after the end of Wizards to form their own little bubble or???

I'm curious as to whether the time loop could result in a sort of 'duplication glitch' for the Amulet. I'm putting my speculative stuff in yet another post, because WOW that ending gave my lil' brain a lot to work with

There were so many fantastic scenes intermixed with the not-so-great points. The Best Man scene. That whole sequence in which there's some Blaaarghy hinting sandwiched into the scene between the couples comforting each other. I just 🥺 I know there are a few dull points here, but that whole ten minute span is just so on point. I really wish that accuracy to the characterizations carried all the way through.

I really, REALLY need to know how much time passed between Wizards and ROTT. Really really. Like I know the kids were 15-16 at the start of season 1, and 16-17 by the end of season two, but from there time becomes quite nebulous. I'm speaking in age specifically for our human characters here, as we still have no idea about how the Akiridion, Wizard-Immortal and Trollish life cycles actually work. Like I get that now they're later teens to early adults in age, but considering some of the err, plot choices, I think it's important to know?

I'd love a series, a comic, hell a set of shorts even, where Steve gets some main character time. I really wasn't a fan of him being sidelined the whole time. Give me my Creepslayerz please, Mr. Netflix.

I've started to look at this less like a movie and more like Predacons Rising, a made-for-TV movie/special finale episode. Except, knowing DreamWorks, we also may be seeing the beginnig iteration of another "[name here] of Berk" style of different series, set in different points in time. ESPECIALLY with that ending.

Speaking of, I know a lot of folks were quite upset with the end. I was too for a while, but those braincells just keep on bouncing around, and I have an inkling that however they decide to show us the potential/alternate timeliness, we'll see them somehow.

I'm actually quite excited about the idea of Trollhunter!Toby. From the beginning, I always thought he'd turn out to unknowingly be half-Troll or a changeling or something. Boy has a natural inclination for stones and crystals, the teeth issues, his stature and body-shape, hell, he seems at home in the scenes in Trollmarket throughout the series.

Please, Mr. Netflix, show us what his armor looks like? 👉👈🥺

Okay, picking back up on this not being the original creative team. There were some significant missed opportunities here, not only to draw on previous character development [Steve is a knight, Toby could have used his hammer instead of the glowing sticky-magic, etc.] but also to draw on ideas from The Book that would have gone REALLY well here! Lol and here I was hoping for the "what counts as a bridge" scene. 🤡

For those who don't know, Trollhunters in its original form is a book that reads much like a movie. It features a much different Jim, a much different many characters in fact. There were actually a few references I did catch! If you haven't had a chance to read it and you'd like a palate cleanser, READ IT. Oh it's so good I so wish more people read the book-

Aaaaanyway, back to the topic. The reason I'm looking at this more like a special than a movie is because is feels like it should have been a special. Or a miniseries even, like Wizards. This was a bit much to pack into a <2h timeframe.

BUT, I also feel like they could have waited to spring a plot like this on us until they had a concrete "next steps" plan. If they had, say, separated the beginning of the loop from the film, and used it as the beginning of a Trollhunter!Toby [Insert media type here] teaser/trailer, I have a feeling I'd be more happy with it. Also, why replace Anton's voicework for the audition speech? That I am truly upset with. The loop itself is actually quite intriguing, though.

All in all, I'm honestly pretty satisfied with the film. It was brutal, don't get me wrong, and for future reference I'd like to know how much it cost Netflix to get it a Y7 rating. That said, the parts that were done well were done VERY well. Im interested to see, when the series crops back up, what the true plan is moving forward, but until then my name is my bond. I make TOA headcanons, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you all for getting on this roller coaster, it was one hell of a ride and I hope we get to do it again soon 😁

#rott #trollhunters #rise of the titans spoilers #rise of the titans #tales of arcadia spoilers #toa #tales of arcadia

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random-imagines-blog · 4 years

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Dark Snow {Maria Hill x Reader Oneshot}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2919 Summary: You’ve been acting really weird after getting back from an undercover mission at HYDRA. Notes: Takes place during The Winter Soldier; Character Death

Maria loved to go through your wardrobe. While in hers hung her SHIELD uniforms, neatly and organized of course, and one or two cocktail dresses for when she needs to be undercover, yours was a little more chaotic. You were an agent as well, but kept your dresser full of comfortable clothing, which is what you preferred to spend your time in. Over-sized sweaters, sweatpants, baggy jeans, vintage band t-shirts, you hadn’t changed your style much since you were a teenager. And there was the added bonus that everything smelt like the bodywash that you used on yourself each night when you showered. She’s been wearing your clothes a lot more lately, since you’ve been away on a mission. She hadn’t heard a word from you in over a month. Only Nick Fury’s word that you were reported as still alive was all she had for comfort.

As she curled up, watching something on Netflix that was going in one ear and out the other, she sniffed the sleeve of the sweater that she was wearing. It was yours from University, and had the name of it sprawled across the chest. She never thought she would wear this sweater, given that your schools were nemesis’s. In fact, it was at a school football game that you two had noticed one another. Sitting right across from one another, with the field between. You were wearing this very sweatshirt, rooting for your school’s team, being loud and proud about it. She had been dragged by a friend and wasn’t interested in what was going on at all. You caught eyes a couple of times throughout the game, and even ran into each other at the chip wagon when you both went to buy snacks. That was how everything started - over a cardboard container filled with fries.

You both ended up transferring to the Academy, which had been her idea at first. It had taken some convincing for you to apply, but you got in as soon as you did. She wasn’t ready to give you up. And a decade and a half later, she had no regrets about herself going to the Academy. But when you were off on a dangerous mission without being able to talk to anyone, she regretted getting you involved. She wouldn’t trade the years with you for anything, but she was greatly looking forward to when the both of you retired so she wouldn’t feel this worry anymore.

She was nearly falling asleep on the couch when there was a sound coming from the door of the apartment. With a smooth motion, Maria had the gun that she kept under the coffee table, holstered to the under side in case of emergencies. She clicked off the safety, and held it to her side. The door swung open, and she ducked down beside the couch, her head just poking over the top so she could see who it was that was approaching.

Once she saw that it was you, she put the safety back on and threw the gun onto the couch so she could run towards you with arms wide open. Her cheeks were flush with excitement, and before you could even brace yourself, she had embraced you in a tight hug. “I was so worried about you,” She said into your ear, breathing in, trying to get the familiar smell of you back on her. But you smelt different. Your body wash was still standing on the shower shelf, where it had been for the last month. You smelt like ... like nothing.

Even the hug that you returned, after getting your footing back, was lackluster. In vain, Maria tried to bring you in for a kiss, but you moved your head out of the way, avoiding her lips. “Give me a chance to put my bags down, at least,” You muttered. She slowly let go and you walked further into your residence, looking around. Maria hadn’t changed anything since you were last here, so she was a little confused at what you were looking at.

“I know you can’t tell me the details,” She said, using your rejection as an excuse to retreat into her work-like self. Straight and narrow. No room for emotions. You didn’t want to show her any affection, she would act like she had none left inside of her. “But can you at least tell me that you are okay? And if it was a success?”

“I’m fine, and it was a success,” You echoed. Maria clearly was not convinced, but said nothing more about it. You set your bags down next to the couch, and without another word, went into the bathroom, closing the door behind you. The sound of the shower starting up was heard over the sound effects from the movie that was still playing on the television.

Feeling dejected, Maria took off the sweatshirt that she was wearing, and tossed it into the laundry basket. She hoped that this was just you adjusting to being back home after being deeply undercover for Hydra for so long. But for now, she was very irritated and wanted nothing to do with your stupid sweater.

The next morning, nothing had changed. Nor did the next week. Or even the next few months. You still lived together, and you were pleasant enough, but there was no affection. You stayed up after Maria went to bed, and you were up and out by the time that she woke up. Only the rustled sheets gave any indication that you had come to the bed at all. She didn’t suspect an affair, which was the reason why most people stopped giving affection. Rather, she thought that something traumatizing had happened on your mission. You never spoke of it. Whenever she pestered you about it, you just told her that it was classified information, and she should know better than to go digging. After a little while, she gave up on asking you.

She attempted to get into the records, but they were sealed, which was very odd because she should have all of the clearance in the world given her position. But it locked her out when she tried. It even implemented a virus on the computer that she was using, and Stark had to be called in to help fix it. It felt shameful to even call him in, but at least you weren’t in the headquarters to notice.

She soon grew distracted, as it became obvious that Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD. There had been an attack on Nick. She had to lie to everyone that he was dead. She even had to lie to you, which was a very hard thing to do. It was something she vowed that she would never do, but she found herself doing it anyway. Something in the back of her mind was telling her not to trust you with such sensitive information. She hoped it was just because it would put a target on your back if you knew, not because she thought you might use the information in a bad way.

You were spending more time out of the house as all of this was going on. As there was a war against Captain America. As someone called The Winter Soldier had come out of nowhere and tried to attack him. It kept Maria extremely busy, but even she was home more than you were.

And she was terrified.

Alexander Pierce was not working with her, having named Nick Fury a fugitive. But Pierce had kept you on, and you were spending a lot of time with him lately. Every time that she saw you, you were by his side or leaving one of his meetings. Something was going on. Something that you weren’t telling her.

She lost her faith in you, slowly but surely, and you weren’t even around for her to confront you about it. It went beyond the relationship, now. It was about loyalties. It was about life and death. She had sworn her life to SHIELD. She would die defending it, if needed. She no longer knew where your loyalties lied.

Project Insight was taking off. Romanoff and Fury were against Pierce. Rogers and Wilson were replacing the chips in the Hellicarriers, but it wasn’t coming along quickly due to the Winter Soldier’s involvement. Maria was in the safehouse, ready to take control and force the vessels to turn against one another. She was waiting on just one more, the last of the carriers. Her fingers were at the ready, prepared to program.

A click shocked her out of it. She immediately reached for the gun in her holster, and pointed it at the sound. Standing behind her, with a gun aimed at her, was you. “What are you doing. Y/N?”

“I’m afraid that I have to stop you from interfering further, Maria,” You said, completely calm despite the circumstances. Maria thought that she was going nuts. She knew you were growing distant, but she never thought you would turn against SHIELD.

“Answer my question. What are you doing?” She repeated, her hands trembling.

“What’s best for the world,” You said, with no emotion showing in your face. “Hail Hydra.”

Somehow, you missed. You were excellent with a gun, Maria knew that much from going to target practice together. The bullet whizzed past her shoulder and embedded itself in the wall. She managed to duck away from it, but it wasn’t hard for her to do so, since it would have passed by her anyway. Though it was close enough that she could smell the metal of it.

“That was a warning,” You said, blinking a few times at her, but didn’t shoot again. She aimed her gun at your chest. “I don’t want to have to kill you, Maria.”

“You -” She breathed, hair hanging her face. “- you joined Hydra? When? Why?”

“Those aren’t the important questions that you should be asking,” You said, taking a step towards the computer. She blocked you, still holding the gun in front of her. “What you should be asking is, what will SHIELD have to offer you now? And the answer is nothing. Because there is no more SHIELD. But there is, and always will be, Hydra.”

“You need to leave,” Maria said, her face hardening. She had to remember that this was part of her mission. Whatever they said to get you on board with Hydra must have been good, but she would not fall for it. She knew the dangers of the underground organization, and would fight them until her last breath. “Because I will complete this mission, and I will kill you if that is what it means.”

“I don’t think that you have it in you,” You said with a smirk. “I’m offering you a new life, Maria. With me - things can go back to the way that they were. But we won’t be on opposite sides anymore. We can be united together, under Hydra. The winning side.”

She let out a shaky breath, but did not move the aim of her weapon. She started to shake her head vigorously.

“Maybe it isn’t too late for us,” Maria pleaded. It felt like you weren’t even looking at her, but through her. Like you were so focused on the computer, that it didn’t actually matter whether you two got together or not. She had never known you to be so singularly-minded, especially with her around. “Come back with me. Pierce might be bringing the headquarters down, but SHIELD will always prevail. We can rebuild it from the ground up. Whatever you had a problem with-”

“I’m done with talking. You’re either with me, or you’re against me, Maria. What’s it going to be?” You questioned, gazing still at the computer. She let out a sigh this time, feeling her heart breaking in two.

“Against,” She said, startling you with a high kick that nearly knocked the gun out of your hand. You fumbled with it, but by the time you got it under control in your palm, she had fired off two shots. One had grazed the side of your head, while the second had gone straight to your hand.

Grimacing, you held your bad hand to your head where blood was starting to spurt. Only once you realized that you weren’t actually touching the wound did you realize that three of your fingers, your index, middle and ring - the same one that had your wedding band on it, still attached to a stub, were gone. You brought your hand down in shock and the ring slid off, bouncing off the ground with a metallic ringing.

“Now!” Steve shouted, and Maria turned back to the computer and input the code that would turn the hellicarrier against itself and finally be destroyed. The mission was complete, but at a cost.

A sharp pain went through Maria’s hip as she started to turn to face you. Never turn your back on an enemy, that was SHIELD 101. But the main mission had been important enough for her to do so, and she was paying for it now with a bullet embedded in her bone. It still didn’t clue into her mind that it was you who had shot her, and she went straight into defensive mode. As she started to fall to the ground in pain, she let off another shot, this one going into your chest. You fell back onto the hard ground, and you didn’t get back up again.

Weary, Maria fell onto the floor, landing on her ass harshly. She leaned her head back against the desk that the computer systems were on, and pressed a hand to where you had shot her, putting pressure on the wound. Nick would be back soon, she had to tell herself.

She shuffled over to where you were lying. Your chest was still rising and falling, proving that you were alive, but the puddle of blood beneath your body didn’t look good. It was thick, and dark, nearly black rather than red.

“Why, y/n? Why would you turn against us?” Maria asked, looking at your hand. The discarded fingers lay a couple of feet away, shot clean off. If you survived this, you wouldn’t be able to shoot again. At least, not without a fancy prosthetic, and since you have been labeled a traitor, it seemed unlikely you would get one.

You coughed, blood coming out of your mouth. It wasn’t merely a shoulder shot. She had hit an artery. Despite the pain, you managed a smile, which made her heart started to beat faster.

“I’m so, so sorry,” You said, turning your head to try to look at her better. “I - Bucky -”

Maria’s fingers went to her mouth as you said the name. Bucky. Steve’s friend. The Winter Soldier. The name Dark Snow had come up as well in the records, before the virus was put in that locked Maria out. Everything was coming together.

“It wasn’t you, I know,” Maria said, moving some of the blood saturated hair out of your face. It was in large clumps due to the shot that had nicked your head, causing quite a bit of trauma to the skull. You were going to die, and Maria was half responsible. Hydra had the other half of the blame.

Taking some of the best soldiers and brainwashing them. It was brilliant. Horrific, but brilliant.

“I love you-” You said, snapping Maria back into the moment. She kept her hand on your cheek, comforting you as you passed from this world into the next. It was only a minute later that all of that light that she had loved so much disappeared from your sight, and you only had a blank stare left for the world.

When Steve, Sam, Natasha and Nick returned to the safe house, Maria was still in the same position. She was next to you, hand on your cooling cheek. She explained to them how she had come to the realization that you had been brain washed, like the Winter Soldier. Nick opened up about the mission that you had been on, though he himself only knew of a few details about it. Operation Dark Snow.

You were buried in a cemetery not too far from the football field where you two had met. Maria had you cremated, then your ashes interred into the ground, but not before she took a small amount of them, and had it wrapped in resin, which was then attached to a ring. She wore that ring every day, no matter if she was on a break, or if she was on a mission.

Knowing what HYDRA was capable of, and how they integrated themselves into high society like a parasite, did not bring fear into her heart. Instead, it bought anger. As long as she was working, she was pushing to make sure that no one else lost their love the way that she did.

She kept wearing your sweaters, curling up in them every night, feeling like they were a warm hug against the cold nights. Even the sweater of the opposing University.

#Maria Hill #Maria Hill x reader #Maria Hill oneshot #Marvel #Marvel oneshot #x reader #oneshot #one shot #request #mariah

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ghostofbrock · 4 years

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venomous words

on a rainy afternoon in new jersey, the kids didn't have an option to go outside or not since they knew how strict their mother was on days like this and how their father would react if he saw mud tracked into the house. they'd be toast with the chancla.

so ellie played with her barbie dolls on the carpet in the living room floor with a small smile on her face, giovanni sat on the couch and watched over his baby sister while trying to look for something to watch in netflix, specifically a movie. luke and auggie were upstairs in their room playing whatever the newer generation was into. the two boys were in sweats that had crumbs on them since the boys were munching on potato chips as they played their game. their mother had just arrived from long and stressful day at work, she sat in her car for a minute or two to collect herself before entering her home where her babies and husband would be waiting for arrival. well maybe just her babies... once again.

she covered herself with her purple umbrella since it was pouring rain as she got out her car, closed the door and locked it before walking to her front porch that wrapped around the house. she closed her umbrella as soon as she was covered by the porch's roof. she grabbed her house key out of her pocket and opened her door.

"mom's home!"

she hasn't stepped foot into her home and she was already called out by her kids. luke and auggie jumped out their beds and ran downstairs as soon as they heard their older brother yell. ellie dropped her doll and skipped over to her mommy as gio stood up from the couch and walked over to her.

as sara closed the door behind her and turned around, she was attacked by hugs all over her body. from her thighs to her shoulders, her children had her trapped in a loving hug.

after she kissed them each and asked about how their day went, they went back to what they were doing before she came home. later they were expecting a home cooked meal that she always provided for them since mattia rarely cooked for them nowadays and sara didn't like having her kids eating fast food all the time either for their health. at times it was acceptable but if they didn't need to eat it then they wouldn't.

sara was now sitting at the island that was in the kitchen, she opened the bottled water she grabbed from the fridge and took a sip.

"how was work?" her oldest son's voice came from behind her. he walked from behind her to next to her and leaned against the marble island. "stressful. overwhelming. busy. i don't know how i'm gonna do it..." she rubs her temples with a groan. "don't over work yourself, ma. you got this, you always do." gio rubs his moms shoulder softly and flashed her a smile. a smile that made her feel better and made her smile.

"i know it's just that i wanna do as much as i can for this project. i've worked my ass off for years for this to finally happen and i'm so close. only a few more months of ridiculous amount of stress then i'll have my own clothing line." a weak smile formed on her lips, gio's heart swells at the sight. he knows how much his mom has been wanting this but he also knows how much she can overwork herself.

"isn't dad helping you with any of it? he said he would, right?" gio asked with his mother with hope as she took another sip of her water. "uh yeah. he is but there's certain things he can't help with." she gave her son a tight smile laced with lies.

truth is mattia hadn't even talked to sara about her huge project that she has been working on for over a year now. he thinks his wife can do it herself because of how strong she is but little did he know how weak she was getting from handling everything by herself. she was never the one to ask for help but this time she did ask for help from her husband but his answer?

"you're being dramatic"

so she never asked again and instead asked her close friends who were of course open to help with anything she needed. she knew that the kids had brought up the project while they talked to mattia recently either at dinner or something similar. and being the good father mattia is he had to lie because he knew if his kids found out their parents weren't helping each other out then they'd question why and jump to conclusions which leads to arguments and picking "sides".

"oh yeah. i've been helping her with scheduling everything and keeping the tabloids updated. she's not as stress thanks to me."

sara would just simply nod and give a small nod to the kids and glare at mattia who just rolled his eyes at her.

"like what?" gio asked. "it's personal business stuff, g. don't worry about it, okay? i'll be fine. but did your dad take you guys out for breakfast like he said he would?" she changed the subject with a smile.

gio avoided eye contact with her which she automatically meant no.

"h-he just forgot. that's all." he stuttered a bit. sara tried to remain as calm as she could. she didn't want to lash out in front of her baby and took a mental note to talk to mattia tonight about not taking the kids out for breakfast.

"you don't have to lie to me, ya know? i won't get mad at him." she sighed and gave her son a reassuring look. "when i woke up this morning he wasn't here. he sent me a text as well saying that something came up and he had to go meet up with his manager for a gig." he simply explains. "so i made breakfast for us instead and lunch too. he sent us money for post mates but i was just mad-" he stopped himself from venting to his mother about his father.

"i didn't use the money. that's all." he shrugs as sara looks at him with sympathy.

"he promised me that he'd try hard for us. to try being more involved... why would he lie?" gio claps his hands together. "sometimes work gets in the way of things, honey. trust me if he could clear his schedule for a whole week just to be with us he would, okay?" the fact that sara was defending mattia wasn't something she wanted to do.

she had to because she didn't want her son to think bad about his own father, she was trying to protect at least both of them.

after their little conversation sara made dinner while the kids were being entertained by the activities they were doing before she got home. as sara looked over at the clock, she sighed.

it was seven o' clock and mattia still wasn't home. usually he'd send his wife a text saying that he was going to be home late but when sara checked her phone she had no new messages. the kids were now sitting at the table with their mother. she sneaked a quick text to mattia before eating with her babies.

sara: are you on your way yet?

she got no response after she sent it. she called twice and still nothing. she was beyond livid at this point. first, he didn't take the kids out for the day, then he doesn't respond to her text or calls her back? this was the third time this month that this occurred. she didn't show it but she was pissed off at dinner and while she tucked this kids into bed.

"is daddy gonna tuck me in too?" ellie asked as she held onto her stuffed giraffe. "yes, baby. of course. when he gets home i'll tell him to come and give you a kiss, okay?" sara's soft voice said as she placed a strand of hair behind her ear. ellie simply smiled at her mother.

"goodnight, angel. te amo." sara kisses ellie's nose. "buenas noches, mommy. te amo mas." the two giggled. once sara finishes tucking in her kids, she goes to her bathroom to take a shower. she then changed into some house shorts and one of mattia's shirts that fit her like a dress.

she went to the living room and ate ice cream as she watched good girls. without even knowing it, she fell asleep on the couch. she was woken up by someone whispering her name softly and rubbing her cheek gently with their palm.

she opened her eyes to see mattia with a smile. oh how much she wanted to wipe that stupid smile off his stupid face.

"did you make dinner?" he questions her. "yeah. we ate already so i put your plate in the fridge. now if you excuse me i'm going to bed." she was too tired to deal with him right now. she would have to be up bright and early tomorrow for meetings and such so she just didn't want to argue with her husband right now.

she got up from the couch and tried walking away but mattia reached out for her hand to stop her.

"you guys didn't wait for me? what happened to family dinners?" he asks with a pout as he held her hand. she quickly glanced at the clock on the wall for a time check.

2:34 a.m.

"i was not gonna wait till now to eat with you and neither were the kids, mattia. family dinners means that everyone has to be here at reasonable times." she sighs and glares at him. "where were you anyways, mattia? it's past midnight and you barely got home." she questions quickly and changed the subject.

"i was out. it's not a big deal, babe." he scoffs at her.

"not a big deal? if it's not a big deal then why can't you tell me where you were?" she remarked quickly and crossed her arms over her chest.

mattia gives her a look, as if she was crazy or something. all she wanted to know was where he was at, what was so hard about that?

he started walking to the kitchen, sara quickly followed him.

"sara, i've had a long day. please don't start with me right now..." he huffs as he opens the fridge and grabs his plate of cold food. "says the guy who comes home late smelling like alcohol and cigarettes." she looks at him from across the island.

"i didn't do shit! all i did was go to a bar with alejandro and alvaro after i finished my meetings. they drank but i didn't because i knew you'd react like this and treat me like some kid!" he was getting frustrated with her at this point, he showed it by banging his fist on the island. his breath reeked of alcohol so she was even more pissed off that he was lying to her about drinking.

"all i wanted to do was come home to my wife and kids. a nice home cooked meal and after the kids go to bed and we all settle down, maybe some good sex with my wife but i can't have that can't i? ever since you've gotten this attitude all you ever do is complain! you're on bitch mood twenty four seven, sara!" he was now raising his voice at her.

sara had no energy to argue with him right now. literally nothing left. she had a long day, she just wanted to sleep. she looked at him with tired eyes, she scanned his facial expression and saw the anger he always had all of a sudden now. right now she ignored it and walked away, but he didn't let her.

"where the fuck are you going?" he turned her around a little bit too rough. "to bed, mattia! i'm too tired to deal with your bullshit right now." she stated as she tried not to yell at him.

"whatever. go ahead, walk away. that's all you're good at since you can't do anything right. you definitely can't be a good wife." his words felt like knives. she felt like her heart was getting stabbed completely, over and over again.

she walked off, pretending that what he just said didn't phase her and went upstairs quietly so she wouldn't wake the kids.

little did she know, gio was hiding behind a pillar near the stairs where he heard everything.

she went to the room which she shared with her "husband" and jumped into bed. she laid in bed for a minute, thinking about what mattia said. his words repeating in her head like that one song that could never get out of your head.

"you definitely can't be a good wife."

those venomous words scared her pretty much. she couldn't believe he said that... why would he say that? was she really not a good wife? what was she doing that made her so horrible to him? was it the kisses? was it her cooking? was it her looks? was it the sex? the constant need of having him around? what was it?

whatever it was made her feel like she wasn't good enough which was not the case.

sara was always good enough.

she cried herself to sleep that night. and hours later she felt his presence next to her body, his arms wrapped around her keeping her warm but it didn't make her feel loved like it usually did. no, she had a different feeling. she felt like she was in bed with a stranger. why was she feeling this way? shouldn't she be happy that he was still willing to sleep in the same bed with her?

all the questions she thought of made her feel more insecure, not about herself but about her marriage with the man she loved so much. the last thing she wanted was to lose him, it would ruin her.

she hopes for an apology of some sort. perhaps a date to make it up, she'd be willing to forgive him. she knows he lied about not drinking, mattia could never say no to not have a beer or three with the boys. he wasn't thinking straight, she knows her husband too well.

he just didn't want to admit that he was drinking because he didn't want to feel more guilt than he was already feeling since he missed out on dinner.

so the next morning she was woken up by the smell of pancakes and bacon. she went downstairs and saw gio and mattia cooking at the stove, auggie and ellie coloring on the table while luke looked sleep deprived as he walked into the kitchen with his mom.

"morning, amor." mattia walks over to her holding a plate of stacked pancakes with all the works. he bends down a bit to kiss her oh so sweetly, they both smile into the kiss. "i handled everything you needed to do today so we can all spend quality family time and to start off the day i thought of making breakfast." he hands her the plate where she takes it and sits at the table. once everyone is served the all began to eat.

"you have to cook more, pop. these smack!" auggie speaks as he licks his lips. "maybe i will." mattia laughs as he looks over at his son. "how'd you sleep, ma?" gio asked simply. the way he asked her sounded like he knew something (which he did since he heard what his father told his mom last night) but no one thought too much of it.

"good, baby." she lied with a smile. gio could tell that she was lying but he wasn't going to confront her about eavesdropping on her and mattia.

they all ate breakfast in peace and with joy. gio couldn't stop looking at his mom and dad. especially, his mom since she seemed so happy. didn't mattia's drunk words hurt her? was she really pretending that nothing happened between her and her husband? he couldn't believe she was still protecting mattia after what he told her.

"what's up with you?" luke nudges his older brother's elbow slightly. "what?" was gio's response. "you keep on staring at mom. i get that she's beautiful but it's starting to look weird now. quit it." luke let out a dry chuckle after he spoke.

gio just rolled his eyes and finished his breakfast. once the family finished eating they were told to get ready for a day out. mattia said that he'd be taking them out to the carnival since it happened to be in town.

"hey, can we talk?" mattia closed the door behind him as he walked into his bedroom. sara was sitting at her vanity deciding what necklace to wear that she had in her jewelry box.

"yeah, what's up?" she nods and turns her body to face him. he sits in the edge of their bed as she sat across from him in her spinning stool.

"first off, i want to apologize for last night. i know i should've gave you a heads up about dinner and coming home late. yes, i did drink and i didn't mean any of what i said. i was drunk and stupid. i'm sorry, mamas." he gave a look filled with guilt and he really didn't mean those things that he told her last night.

"tia... i accept your apology, okay? you just had me worried because you weren't texting or calling me back. and i just had a stressful day overall yesterday." she sighed. "i know, baby. you shouldn't be overworking yourself either. i also took the liberty of organizing all of your meetings and handling the little things for your project. i know you've wanted this for the longest time and i hate to see you so worrisome about the little things, babe. i wanted to help you." he explains which made her heart feel a certain way. only he was able to give her that feeling as crazy as it sounds.

"i really do have the best husband in the world, huh?" she giggles. "and i have the best wife ever. being all sexy and shit." he winks at her which makes her blush.

"come give me a kiss." he adds and she obeys. she gets up from her chair and straddles mattia's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and plays with his hair. she dips her head down, he catches her lips with his own. the kiss was soft and sweet, all of their worries seemed to wash away. almost as if all their problems went away as well... boy were they in for it.

#mattia polibio #writing #shorts #bookish #aesthetic #camila mendes #home #new jersey #tiktok #tik tok boys #kairi #alejandro #spaces!mattia

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mirkwoodshewolf · 4 years

Text

My #1 fan; Ben Hardy x child sister reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well here I am with yet another BoRhap boy story, this time it's of Ben Hardy (god it's been FOREVER since I wrote a story of Benny boi) but here it is. Now this is a Big Brother!Ben fic so unlike the last time there is NO ROMANCE, JUST FLUFFY PLATONIC GOODNESS THAT I CAN DISH UP!!!! Also in this fic I would like to point out that I do NOT OWN WORLD OF DANCE!! IT BELONGS TO J-LO AND NBC and all the people involved with the making of this amazing dance competition (if you haven't heard of it, go check it out the recent season is out NOW!!) Also watch the video links (from actual previous competitors on the show) to get a feel of what I'm seeing for the dances cause I am NOT dancer so I do not know all the moves that you dancers do out there, but I hope you all still enjoy this fic :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@simonedk

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queensdivas

@platawnic

@queendeakyy

@geek-and-proud

@kairosfreddie

@iambambi5

______________________________________________________________

God it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen each other. From the time I got my first real American movie role in X-men Apocalypse, everything just seemed to fold right before me. From my biggest success of Bohemian Rhapsody (where I became best friends with probably the three greatest guys in the world), followed by the Netflix movie 6 Underground with Ryan Reynolds (and yes he’s just as hilarious and humble as he presents himself).

My life has just exploded from there, I try to be home whenever I can but when I do, she’s just as busy as I am.

Now that things have calmed down on my end and she’s preparing for an upcoming audition on a dance show, I can finally take the time to go see her (especially now since I’m in LA where she’s to audition). God I haven’t seen her in years, I wonder how she’s been?

“BENJAMIN!!!” Joe’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to him.

“Hmm what?”

“Geez mate you were really out of it back there. We’ve been trying to get your attention for like 10 minutes.” Gwil said as he sipped his beer.

“Oh sorry guys, I was just—thinking.”

“And just who was it that had your attention so badly that you tuned out from the rest of the world?” teased Rami.

“Benjamin Hardy are you cheating on me!? Oh my god you’re cheating! Who is it! What’s their name!?” Joe accused me. I rolled my eyes as I shoved him.

“Is it a girl?” Rami asked.

“Oh great. Now I gotta get breast implants just to get you to notice me.” Joked Joe. We all looked at him strangely and I said.

“Not in that way, but yes I am thinking about a girl. My sister actually.”

“Your sister? You—never mentioned a sister before.” Gwil said.

“I kinda like to keep her separate from my name.”

“What you guys don’t get along?” asked Joe.

“No, no we get along amazingly. We’re each other’s #1 fans. But ever since Bohemian Rhapsody everyone now knows my name. I don’t want people comparing the two of us and making her feel like I’m outshining her. That’s one of the other reasons why I changed my last name from Jones to Hardy.”

“Is she an actress too?” Rami asked with a head tilt.

“No, no. She’s a dancer actually.”

“A dancer? Fancy.” Joe said in a posh accent.

“What kind of dancing does she do?” Gwil said.

“Mostly contemporary. But she also does ballet and a bit of Hip-hop. This one competition she was on, she actually combined ballet and hip-hop together. Got 1st place for it, and was the youngest winner to ever win the Glasgow dance competition.” They all whistled.

“She must be good then, how old is she?”

“She was 7 years old.” They all gaped at me.

“You’re joking right?” Joe said with wide eyes and a gaped mouth.

“No, not at all. In fact in her ballet school where she trains, she’s actually the youngest student to have been chosen to get a full run scholarship to the London Academy for Dance. Once she’s 12 years old, they’ll give her the full ride.”

“Wait, wait, wait. How old is she now?” Gwil asked.

“She’s nine.”

“So they’re gonna hold onto her scholarship for another three years?” Rami said. I nodded.

“Damn she must be good for them to do that.” Joe said with a sigh.

“She is. Fell in love with dancing at 2 years old and did her first pirouette within the first three months of joining her ballet school.”

“Geez, and my sister couldn’t do one till she was about 9.”

“Guess my sister’s got yours beat.” I teased to Joe.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah don’t rub it in.”

“So Ben, when was the last time you saw her?”

“Five years.” I said as I sipped my beer solemnly.

“Wait what? You haven’t seen your sister in five years!?” Joe gawked.

“I told you guys, ever since X-men it’s been one project after another. And even when I did have a break, she was out of state doing a competition either with her school or as a soloist. But—hopefully that’ll change in the next few weeks. She’s actually here in LA.”

“She is?” Rami said. I nodded.

“Yeah. She’s auditioning for some sort of dance show they film here.”

“So you think you can dance is doing a junior competition now?” asked Joe.

“No not that one. It’s a recent one. They’ve only done like 3 or 4 seasons of it. I think it’s called Dancing world…..no World of Dance. That’s it.”

“Oh that show is awesome! I’ve auditioned for that show.” Joe bragged.

“No you haven’t.” Rami exclaimed at Joe’s lie.

“I’m serious I auditioned during their first 2 seasons. Couldn’t commit cause of obvious reasons.”

“I’m calling BS on that.” Gwil said as he leaned back.

“Uhh excuse me; who got the part of the Disco Deacy? Me. Who perfected the BAB dance? Me. I’m perfectly qualified to be a dancer. In fact why don’t we go see your little sis and she can be the judge!”

“What?”

“You heard me, right now! Let’s go see her!” Joe said as he downed his drink and stood up.

“Hang on guys……”

“Well besides of Joe’s reason, I think it’d be fair for us to meet your little sis. I mean we’ve practically seen each other’s siblings. You all met my twin Sami and my sis Jasmine.”

“I agree with Rami, and you all met my older brother at my engagement party.”

“And of course you all met John and Mary at the BoRhap premiere.” At this rate I knew I wasn’t going to win this argument.

“Fine. I—guess I’ll call up my mum and ask her where she’s rehearsing at.” I just hope (y/n) doesn’t mind having my friends come and see her rehearse.

Cause when she’s in rehearsal mode, she can be quite the little jumpy bug.

*My POV*

Two days. I had two days till the Qualifier rounds for World of Dance. I had my routine down to the T and my mum says it’s perfect (but she has to say that she’s my mum), however I’m still doubting myself on some of the moves, or if I’m not showing enough emotion (cause J-Lo loves herself some dancers who can convey emotion).

I was sitting in the rehearsal room having myself a break after rehearsing my dance for the past half hour. I had this studio slotted for a 45min. rehearsal so I had about 15 minutes left to practice.

“I swear each time you dance your routine, you get more graceful every time.” Mum said as she came in with some lunch.

“Thanks mum, but is it good enough for the judges?”

“I know it is.” I chose not to respond to her. Like I said she has to say these things, but I know there are some flaws to my dance. I didn’t stick the landing hard enough, I tripped up on the landing from the 540, my leg wasn’t straight enough with I lifted it outward, so many flaws. “Oh I forgot, there’s a little surprise waiting for you downstairs.”

“Mum I—I don’t know. I mean I haven’t even found out if I’ll make it into the next round.”

“Trust me love, you’ll like this surprise.” She raced over to the door and opened it and soon coming in my brother and his three friends from his film Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Benny!” I cheered as I hopped off my seat and raced right over to him. A huge smile spread across his face as he extended his arms out and caught me as he picked me up and spun me around.

“Hey kiddo oh it’s been forever! Oh you’ve gotten so big since I last saw you.”

“I missed you Benny.”

“I missed you too kiddo. God you have no idea how much I missed you.” he said as he repeatedly kissed the top of my head.

“Your brother happened to be in LA so we planned a little surprise visit for you.” mum said as she closed the door.

“And I hope you don’t mind that I brought a few friends over.” Ben said as he gestured towards the three actors who starred with him on Bohemian Rhapsody.

“I don’t mind. I’ve heard so much about these guys that I figured it’s about time I met them in person.” He set me down and I walked up to the actor who played the legendary Freddie Mercury. “Rami Malek, right?”

“That is correct, and you must be his famous little dancing sister.”

“Well I wouldn’t call myself famous yet, but I hope to be one day.” We shook hands with each other. I then moved onto the next one, the tallest out of all of them who even looked like Brian May even without the wig. “Now forgive me if I pronounce your name wrong, my Welsh isn’t that great. Is it—Gwilym.” I pronounced the “I” like I was saying “ice cream”.

“Close, it’s pronounced Gwilym. Think of the “wi” like will.”

“Right, sorry.”

“No worries—(Y/n) right?”

“Yeah.” We both shook hands with each other and I told him, “Can I just say, I thought you were phenomenal as Brian May.”

“Well thank you love, I take it you’re a Queen fan as well?”

“Yeah. You can thank Benny for that. He introduced me to the band when I was a little girl. I even did a dance routine to White Queen when I was around 4-5 years old.”

“Wow, if you remember it, we’d sure like to see it.” Rami said.

“I think I might remember it. Again it was a while ago so I might improvise something if I don’t remember the whole routine.”

“No problem there.” Rami said with a warm smile. I then moved on to the last actor who played (my personal favorite member of Queen, John Deacon).

“So you’re the famous Joe Mazzello that my brother won’t shut up about.”

“Sure am kid. And you’re the world time dance champion and scholarship holder for the best London dance academy ehh?”

“You could say that.”

“Well little missy I happen to be a dance champion too, and I challenge you to a dance off!” Already I could see Ben, Gwilym and Rami either shaking their heads or rolling their eyes as Joe’s proclamation.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with my brother would it?”

“And if it is?” questioned Joe in a challenging manner.

“No reason.” I shrugged. “Just hope you’re prepared to lose.” The guys all oooh in a challenging manner and that’s when Joe nodded along.

“Okay, okay little one. But I’m giving it all I got so you better watch out.” I gestured that the dancefloor was all his. Gwil went over to the stereo and went through my Spotify app till he found the song that Joe wanted to dance to.

He chose Wham’s ‘Wake me up before you go-go’. I’ll admit he has some pretty good moves—for an amateur. After doing a minute and a half of his little on the spot dance moves, he posed as he panted heavily.

“It was okay.” I shrugged.

“Okay?”

“Yeah I mean—it was…..cute. It was cute. For like an Instagram or TikTok video.”

“Okay then little miss Prima donna. Show me your little ballet moves.” Challenged Joe. Oh he don’t know me very well, do he? I first took off my ballet shoes and put on my sneakers.

I told Gwilym which song to play and he nodded to me that he would wait till I was ready before he played the song. I now stood in the middle of the room and took a deep breath before turning to Gwilym. He nodded and pressed his finger on my phone to play the song and soon YG’s “One time coming” began playing.

Play video

With this song I unleashed my Hip-hop background. Poppin and locking my body when needed, going in time with the beat, even doing things with my limbs to which no one had ever seen (like this one move where I had my right arm out and only by moving my left index finger, either the upper or lower portion of my arm would move up).

The guys and my mum were amazed and just in awe at my dancing. And when I did a little patterned tip-toe strut with my arms tucked in like duck wings, did I hear the guys exclaim and just flip out. When my minute and a half dance break was over, I flipped my hair towards Joe telling him that he got owned.

In pure defeat, Joe collapsed to the ground and lay there dead while my brother came up and hoisted me onto his shoulder.

“The winner and undefeated champion of the dance. (Y/n) Jones!” I bowed and thanked the guys and my mum as they cheered. Benny set me back down on the ground just as Joe finally came up and revived himself. I stood before him and he said.

“You surprise me kiddo. I accept defeat. Benjamin is yours.”

“Well he is my brother. But—we can share him.” At hearing that, Joe took me in his arms and spun me around thanking me repeatedly.

“Do you think whenever we get some free time, could you show me some stuff. I really liked that little tip-toe strut.”

“I learned it from a friend of mine whose into Hip-hop back at my school. In fact he competed on the first season of World of Dance he and his group. They didn’t win but they got to the Semi-finals.”

“That’s awesome. You really are the dance master. And I can’t wait to see what you bring to the World of Dance stage.”

“In fact (Y/n), can we see your routine?” asked Ben.

“Yeah I was just about to ask that. Ben’s told us that while you can combine certain genres of dance, your main focus was on contemporary. I’ve always been intrigued anytime someone says they’re a contemporary dancer.” Gwilym said. I turned to my mum and asked her how long did I have for rehearsal.

When she told me five minutes, I knew I could show them my audition routine that I had planned. But after that we had to leave cause the next group to come in had to set up their things and warmup.

The guys all took a seat along the mirrored wall while my mum handled the music.

Once my song began playing, I did my entire routine before the guys. Showing Ben’s friends that while I can unleash the beast in Hip-hop, I can be as graceful and elegant as a swan.

After the routine was done, I got a standing ovation from all four of the guys as they applauded and whistled. I gathered up my stuff and as I did, the guys all swarmed around me telling me what an amazing job I did, and that for some of the *cough*Joe*cough* I had them crying by the end of my routine.

We then left the dance studio and Ben’s friends allowed us to have our own personal family time (since Ben and I hadn’t seen each other in literally five years). We said our goodbyes and soon our mum took us out to eat as sorta a family reunion/congratulations on all of our combined successes.

It was time. The World of Dance qualifier rounds. Today was my filming date and I knew in several weeks they would soon air it on TV worldwide. Now I have performed in front of crowd before, but this—this was something else.

And not to even make me twice as nervous, I have seen what people comment on the show or the specific dancers. Most of them are nice comments but then again it’s the Internet so there’s bound to be haters out there.

This one girl from last season just a few years older than me got so much hate in fact, that she ended up shutting down her Twitter page and I’m told she gave up on dancing all together. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if that ends up being me.

I was running my routine through my head and stretching myself out. With me to support me was my mum, Ben and Ben’s friends of Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami, Gwil and Joe. With each dancing group or person that went up, I got more and more nervous. Soon a producer came up to me and said.

“(Y/n), you’ll be on up after The Jumperz.”

“Okay, thank you.” I told him. He nodded and walked away from me, at that moment I felt like I wanted to puke.

“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?” I looked up to see Ben standing over me.

“Good, very good.” He sat down beside me, his brow furrowed with concern. Crap he knows, he always knows.

“You sure?” at this point I knew I couldn’t hide it anymore. I tucked my legs into my chest and curled myself into a ball.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore Ben.”

“What do you mean?” he questioned.

“Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. Can we go home? Yeah, yeah let’s go home.” I said as I stood up.

“Now hold on, hold on love.” He took my hand into his stopping me from even walking away. “Let’s just sit down and talk about it real quick.” He stood up and we went outside of the room and stood along the hallway.

I leaned up against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest protectively and my leg bouncing with anxiety.

“Talk to me sis, what’s going on?”

“I just……I’m scared Ben. I don’t know why I am, I’ve performed in front of an audience before, I don’t know why I’m this nervous. It’s stupid I know.”

“Hey, hey, hey. No it’s not.” He said to me gently as he cupped my face, trying his best to not ruin my makeup. “You’re human, you have every right to be nervous. I’ll bet not a single one of these dancers you’re competing against isn’t feeling what you’re feeling now. And some of these guys might’ve been with well-known performers and are still feeling the nerves.”

“Is it always this nerve wracking for you every time you film something?” he nodded.

“Of course it is. I’m always worried about people’s reactions to me on screen. Even with all the positive feedback I get, I always keep my eye focused on that one negative outlook, no matter how many people say I’m good in a role.”

“I just don’t want the haters to pull me away from my dream like they did to that one dancer that came on the show last season.”

“Come here, have a seat in my lap.” He sat down on the floor and guided me till I was now sitting on his lap, holding me like a teddy bear. “There will always be haters and trolls out there in the world. That’s just what they get off of, is by bringing other people down, especially kids who go on shows like this. It’s wrong and vile but I won’t say you won’t encounter some hate. But the one thing you must keep in mind; is to never, ever let them dictate on who you are as a person.”

“Do you think I can do that?”

“Absolutely. You’re incredibly talented, you’re smart, kind, the most talented person I’ve ever met. I mean yeah I can dance but nowhere near to the level that you can. Hell you even beat out Joe in that little dance competition when you first met him a couple days ago.”

“I did do that, didn’t I?” he chuckled.

“You schooled him.”

“Ben no one says that anymore.”

“Whatever I’m a 90’s kid that was the lingo back then.”

“Back in the ancient times.” He scoffed.

“Alright miss smart-aleck I guess since you’re feeling well enough to sass me off you don’t need me anymore.” He plopped me off his lap and went to stand up but I gripped his shirt and begged.

“No Benny please!” all I could hear was his soft laughter. I hit his arm and pouted. “You are so mean!”

“Aww sissy, you know I can’t help but be a little cheeky with you.” he teased as he playfully nudged my shoulder with his arm. I smiled and nodded.

“Yeah I know cause that’s your job.”

“It is my job. Well one of the many qualifications of being your Big Brother. The most important one though, is to be there for you when you need it.” He stroked the top of my head and I hugged him.

“Thanks Ben. I’m glad that you could be here.”

“Me too. And hey, accepted or not. I’m proud of all that you’ve done in your dancing career.” He whispered in my ear as he gave me a snug embrace.

After our little bro-sis cuddle, we separated from each other and he asked me, “Do you still feel nervous?”

“A little but not as much.”

“Okay so there are two options we can do here; we can shake out the nerves, or my favorite—I can tickle them out of you.”

“No Ben you’ll ruin my costume!” I whined out as he chuckled.

“Okay, so we’ll shake them out then.” We both stood up and did our nerve shakeout.

Which was basically what he learned in theatre which was just shaking out your hands and feet counting backwards from 10, but each time we’d count, we’d go a bit faster. Once we got one, Ben picked me up and spun me around before setting me down.

“Better?”

“Better.”

“Good, oh wait one last thing before you go out, gotta shake out those negative thoughts in that brain of yours.” He cupped my face in his hands and playfully shook my head around as he growled out in an angry tone, “Get out of my sister’s head you dirty rotter’s!”

“Ben!” I laughed. He stopped as he grinned down at me.

“Had to make sure. You look beautiful, and I know you’re gonna wow everyone out there, especially the judges.”

“Thanks Benny. I love you.”

“Love you too kiddo.” He gave my nose a peck before escorting me back into the dance room. A producer was calling out my name, I looked up at Ben and he nodded to me before I went racing off towards the producer to tell him I was here.

When he saw me, he guided me towards the corridor where I would walk down, go up the stairs and racing across towards the stage. I could hear the chanting claps of the audience and their cheers and soon I heard the announcer say through the speaker.

“Give it up, for (Y/n) Jones.” I raced across the corridor, took the steps two at a time before racing across the catwalk towards the stage. As soon as I came on stage, everyone cheered and soon I was standing before Ne-Yo, Derek Hough, and Jennifer Lopez. They greeted me with waves or nods and I waved to them.

“Hello sweetie.” Jennifer greeted me.

“Hi.” I waved back to her.

“Why don’t you tell us your name?”

“My name is (Y/n) Jones and I’m from London, England.”

“Oh a British Dancer. Finally someone from the UK.” Derek proclaimed.

“So how old are you?” Ne-Yo asked me.

“I just turned nine last month.” At that the crowd cheered for me and that’s when Ne-Yo said.

“Well happy belated birthday.”

“Thank you Ne-Yo.” He winked at me and said to me.

“Let’s see what you got (Y/n).” I nodded and handed my microphone to one of the assistants before racing off towards the back of the stage as the lights went down.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in before exhaling slowly. This was it, make it or break it.

*Ben’s POV*

From backstage, my mum, the guys and I along with the other dancers could watch and see what was going on stage. I pressed my hands together in a prayer motion as I had them against my lips, c’mon little sis I know you can do it.

*Play video*

Her song routine, Ashes by Celine Dion soon came on through the speakers and she began her routine. The lights softly lit up in a sunrise color of yellow, orange, and purple. She truly shined as her dance went on, going slow when she needed before finally sticking the landing or going with the beat of the song.

That entire stage was hers to command and she used the entirety of that stage for her routine. I could hear the judges voices sound impressed with my sister’s routine, especially once the chorus struck and the hard drumbeats of the song kicked in.

The crowd was just in awe and applauded my sister, dazzled by her grace yet strength she was giving them in her performance. Doing her 540’s, leg lifts, front flips, she was like the Freddie Mercury of dancing on that stage as she showed her true colors on that stage, especially as it lit up with her as the song got more powerful.

By the end of it when she stood up and just gave that pleading face of help as she reached out towards J-Lo, the lights went dark and the entire audience went nuts.

“That was even amazing with the lights.” Said Joe.

“Agreed, she really lit that stage up.” Rami agreed.

“That’s our girl.” Mum said as I wrapped my arm around her.

“Alright, alright, alright, alright (Y/n). Now remind me how old you are?” Derek said.

“I just turned nine.” At that point Derek stood up from his chair flipping his pen which made everyone laugh. “Girl you look like you’ve been doing this for 20 years.” Everyone laughed.

“How old were you when you got into dancing?” asked J-Lo.

“I was 2.” (y/n) responded.

“Well it shows that you definitely have a passion for this. And you literally have been doing this your whole life. Just seeing you being able to do moves that—I couldn’t even do at your age till I was much older, that to me…..shows you have true love for dancing. And you already gave me goosies little missy and we just met you.”

“Uh-oh Jennifer with her goosies.” Ne-Yo said.

“She gave them to me, the goosies do not lie!”

“No they do not.” Derek said before he continued, “But just like Jennifer said. I mean my sister and I we did some contemporary a bit as kids but nowhere could we master it down just like you’ve done (Y/n). And that final move where you just landed right on your knees. I literally jumped from my seat.”

“Yeah it was like you had no bones little miss.” Ne-Yo said as my sister smiled and laughed. “Besides from what both Derek and Jennifer has said. Your timing is what really stuck out to me. Like it was like you were a part of the song itself. Like first you’d be like all smooth and fluid when the beat was gentle. But when the drumbeat kicked in hard with boom- boom boom-boom. That right there is what really stuck out to me.”

“I completely agree.” Derek said.

“Alright we’re gonna lock in our scores and we’ll see if you make it to the duels (Y/n).” J-Lo said with a smile. (Y/n) nodded and that’s when the lights dimmed down on her and we watched as the three judges locked in their scores, while making their silent commentaries to each other.

“Okay (Y/n), you need an 88 or above to qualify for the duels, let’s see what you scored.” The host said as he came out and stood beside my sister. The lights shown down (like those game show lights whenever something gets suspenseful).

First up was Derek’s score; he gave her an 90.

At that my sister made a face of shock as her smile widened and she covered her mouth in shock. The crowd cheered and up next was Ne-Yo’s score.

He gave her an 89. Finally J-Lo’s score was a 92. When the scores rounded up together was 90.3. Her score shined up on the ceiling scoreboard and (Y/n) couldn’t believe it, poor sissy was even crying.

“Congratulations (Y/n) you made it to the Duels. How’s it feel?” the host asked as he held his microphone to her.

“It feel just—absolutely amazing. All three of you have been an inspiration to be in wanting to become a dancer and this just means so much to me. Thank you for letting me get this opportunity.”

“We can’t wait to see what you bring us, cause already little Miss, you’ve got the competitive edge. It better only get better from here on out.” Ne-Yo told her. She nodded and thanked the judges one last time before running off the stage.

As she came running towards us, I had to be the first one she saw. I cheered for her as I opened my arms out for her and she raced towards me before leaping right into my arms. I spun her around as the two of us laughing joyously.

“You did it kiddo! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks to you Ben. I kept thinking about what you said, I dedicated my performance to you.” I felt myself tear up as I buried my face into her ponytailed hair.

“I would’ve been proud of you either way.” At this point the rest of the guys as well as our mum came up and congratulated her.

That night we celebrated her victory on making it to the next round of World of Dance. Drinks for me and the guys, we danced, sung some karaoke, and just partied all night long.

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cecevolume · 4 years

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On The List (Part One)

Prompt from @halfbloodfox: I’m looking for something where Lucifer has to take care of Trixie. Maybe, Decker is stuck at court testifying on a case, Dan is whothefuckknowswhere, Maze is on a hunt and at school Trixie gets hurt or sick. Surprise, Lucifer gets the call. He’s on The List? Since when? During Season 2 or 3, pre 4 nonsense at least. What do you think?

This was...unexpected. And perhaps a little unprecedented.

Just a half hour before, it had been a semi-normal day for he and the detective, dressed in their best--well, not him, but the respect for the court was there--as Chloe waited to be called to testify. Per usual, he tagged along, a charming ace in the hole, just in case.

But then his shirt had started buzzing outside the large double doors; to be more exact, his phone was ringing.

“Lucifer,” Chloe hissed as a clerk eyed them while they passed by, “turn it off vibrate!”

Smiling winningly, he reached for his chest pocket, purring, “An honest mistake, Detective; I assure you, I know proper procedure for the courtroom.” He glanced at the screen, eyebrow raising as a bell of familiarity rang in his head. “Should I know this number?” he asked, turning the screen towards Chloe.

She frowned, taking the phone from him as she murmured, “That’s Trixie’s school.”

“But why--”

Holding up a hand to stop him, she answered, “Hello? Yes, Ms. Hendersen, I’m being brought to testify today. Uh huh. Oh, no, did you try Dan? Of course not. No, no, it’s not a problem; I’ll send Lucifer to pick her up.” She paused for a long time, a muscle ticking in her brow. “That’s a question for him at another time, don’t you think? Uh huh. Yeah, goodbye.”

Tilting his head, Lucifer asked, “Was that Trixie’s lovely school administrator--”

“Don’t. Even. Star,” Chloe growled, handing him back his phone. The door beside them opened just a crack and the DA motioned for her to join them. With a nod, she didn’t spare Lucifer a glance as she moved to the doors. “I need you to pick up Trixie; she threw up in math class. I’ll leave here as soon as I get the okay.” Before she squeezed in the door, she muttered quickly, “Ginger ale--she likes Canada Dry best--for her stomach, some toast or crackers to have in her system. Make sure she takes little sips. This should be done in a couple hours and then I’ll be home.”

“Detective--” he said in alarm, reaching towards her, but the door was already closed. For a moment, he just stood there, wondering two things simultaneously: did Chloe really trust him with her sick offspring and why did the school call his phone?

It hardly mattered now, however, what made sense. Sitting in his Corvette outside an elementary school, he found that he was...uncomfortable. It wasn’t often there was a situation he found himself unable to figure out--in fact, the first hadn’t been until he’d met the detective two years before--yet here he was. Sure, he’d learned how to occupy Trixie, but this was new territory.

How did one pick up a sick child from their school and adequately take care of them?

Taking a deep breath, he got out of his car, striding towards the doors. How hard can it truly be? he wondered, confidence growing the closer he got to the building. If Daniel can do it, of course I’ll be able to.

Following the signs to the “office”--a large, gray room with children’s paintings hanging everywhere, most of the space taken up by a quadruple desk with five women squished side by side at their computers--Lucifer idly took out his handkerchief, wiping his hands as he eyed several of the drawings.

Surprisingly, there were a few that showed a real talent, should they continue honing the craft.

“Hello?” one of the women greeted hesitantly to his back. “Can I help you?”

He turned with a charming grin, noting the immediate softening of all the secretaries’ faces. “Hello, ladies,” he answered, strolling to the desk with his hands in his pockets. “I actually received a call from Debra--Ms. Hendersen, asking that I pick up Beatrice Decker-Espinoza. I know I’m not her parent--”

“Oh, you’re the infamous Lucifer Morningstar!” the first woman cried, nearly tipping her chair backwards as she stood. Holding out a hand, she added, “Trixie is through that door, in the nurse’s office. Karen will go and grab her while you sign her out.” She shoved a clipboard with an attached pen under his nose. “Just her name, your name, why you’re picking her up, and the time.”

Holding the pen, he raised an eyebrow at the woman. That was certainly easy. Did she already know to expect a deal? Or was this her idea of flirting? The memory of Malcolm Graham flashed through his mind and his gaze turned foreboding. “Is it truly that easy to just pluck a child from your facilities?” he demanded, anger burning in his belly.

“Oh, my, you’re right! I do need your picture ID to compare your information to what we have in the system,” she answered quickly, blushing wildly. “I’m so sorry, it’s just that Debra gave such a...thorough description of you, I completely forgot!”

He slowly reached for his wallet, pulling out his license and handing it to her. “Why would a primary school have my information?”

“Well, after the...kidnapping,” she said slowly, peeking a quick glance at one of the other women, who dropped her head, “Ms. Decker updated the people on Trixie’s approved list. We aren’t supposed to release her to anyone other than her parents, her grandparents, or you. There is a Mazikeen Smith on here, too, but that’s on a call ahead basis. But if Ms. Decker and Mr. Espinoza aren’t available, we’re to contact you first.”

Blinking in shock, he made a noncommittal noise in his throat, taking back his ID and signing out the urchin. “I, uh, thank you for your diligence,” he murmured, spinning on his foot to stride towards the chairs lining the windowed walls. He was allowed to just come to the school and pick up Chloe’s child whenever he felt like? No permission, no questions, no call aheads necessary?

Chloe Decker trusted the life of her offspring in the hands of the Devil?

“Lucifer?” a small voice whined from behind him, making him turn back around.

Straightening his jacket and cuffs, he answered, “Your mother has been held up in court today, Spawn. So she sent me with clear instructions.” He’d already called Patrick at LUX to provide the Canada Dry and crackers. “I’ll be taking care of you this afternoon, until she is finished. Is that all right?”

The little girl nodded her head slowly, face pale as she reached for his hand. When he didn’t immediately take it, tears started to fill her eyes and he panicked.

Taking her hand gingerly, he raised the other to wave at the women. “Thank you very much for your help.”

Then they were off.

-.-

If she hadn’t felt so gross, Trixie might have giggled at the scene before her.

Lucifer had brought her back to his penthouse, explaining that it was closer to both the courthouse and school, that her mother wouldn’t be too much longer. She’d thrown up during the elevator ride, only half-listening as he tried desperately to comfort her in the weirdest ways--“I’ll have the cleaners come straight away; you don’t have to worry about cleaning it yourself”--when he’d picked her up, rushing her through the doors to the bathroom.

He’d waited there, awkwardly patting her back until she was finished. He’d then ushered her through to the couch, saying, “Don’t worry, urchin; I’m sure I have a bowl somewhere, or at least something similar.”

And there he’d left her, bringing them to now. His suit jacket was gone, the sleeves of his white undershirt rolled up. He held a fuzzy black blanket in one hand, a paint bucket in the other, holding them out to her. “I’m sorry it took so long; I had to go into LUX’s storage to find a...vomit receptacle.” When she didn’t take it from him, he placed it directly beside her face on the floor, gripping both edges of the blanket to lay it over her. “I don’t know if you have a fever or not, but I’ve noticed you and your mother enjoy your ‘snuggle blankets’, as it were. This is the softest one I could find; I hope it’s...snuggly enough for you.”

She giggled a bit, sniffling. “Thank you, Lucifer,” she murmured. “Can I have some ginger ale? And something to eat?”

Nodding curtly, he turned towards the hallway that led to his mysterious kitchen. “I have a variety of crackers, from wheat to sesame to pepper; do you have a preference in this state?” he called from the other room, the sound of cabinets closing echoing his words.

“Do you have saltines? Or the Ritz circle ones?” she asked.

He was silent for a long time before she saw him come back around the corner. “Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” he sighed striding back in to the room. Brandishing a crystal plate that held at least half a box of both saltines and Ritz crackers, he set it on the coffee table. “And Patrick will be bringing your ginger ale up; I assume a case should be adequate for just a few hours?”

Smiling, she said, “That’s actually way too much.” He started to open his mouth, but Trixie knew better than to push the teasing with him. “Will you turn on the TV and watch with me? My mom usually rubs my back when I’m sick.”

After a moment, he nodded, crossing to the mantle to grab the remote. He sat on the opposite side of the couch, pressing some buttons as a projection screen rolled out from the ceiling, a projector starting to whirl from behind them. “Is there a particular show or movie that you prefer?”

“Can we watch Secret Life of Pets? It’s funny and it’s on Netflix,” she added when his jaw clenched. “It’ll help me fall asleep.”

He perked up at that. “Is sleep good for you at this point? At some of my...parties, you’re supposed to keep the humans awake until they have finished vomiting.”

Nodding, she answered, “As long as you help me if I wake up and have to puke again, I should be fine.”

“Then I suppose I’ll just sit here and keep watch.”

She smiled as he pulled up the movie, though she really missed her parents. Lucifer was doing a great job, but he didn’t know what he was doing. Her mom knew right when she needed snuggles and gave them to her without her asking. She might be nine years old, but that didn’t mean being sick wasn’t scary. Especially when her stomach was still roiling and her throat and mouth burned....

“Are you all right, spawn?” he asked immediately, making her realize that she had started to silently cry. “Are you going to be sick again?”

She shook her head, but that’s when the sobs started. “I miss my mom,” she whispered between savage breaths. “She always strokes my hair so I can fall asleep.”

While she got control of herself, Trixie felt him leave the couch for a minute, making her feel even more alone. He was really trying, but he didn’t know what to do, and her mom didn’t have to ask her how to take care of her, and she wasn’t left alone to cry--

Hands gently pulled her off the throw pillow she’d been using, only to deposit her head on sweatpants-clad thighs. She tilted her head back to see Lucifer wearing a bright green T-shirt and gray sweatpants (they still had a tag on them). “I needed to change in case you don’t make it to the bucket,” he explained easily, reaching over for the remote once again. “Now, lay back; I’ll attempt to stroke your hair, but you may need to direct me.”

Shocked, Trixie did as he said without a word, feeling his hand gently rest on her head.

She fell asleep to the sound of the elevator dinging.

This will be getting a part two shortly because it is getting very long! That will be Deckerstar though. :)

#halfbloodfox #trixie decker & lucifer morningstar #family fluff #trixie espinoza #trixie decker #lucifer morningstar #lucifer on netflix #step devil fanfiction #lucifer prompts

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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What Went Wrong With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?

https://ift.tt/3cey4oF

The story of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went from underground comic book to the highest grossing independent film of all time is the stuff of Hollywood legend. But ask producer Tom Gray about the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and you are likely to hear an altogether different tale. One of a frantically rushed production, censorship backlash and a change of director and direction. Actors were replaced, there were clashes with the comic book creators and a series of strange and unusual characters were added to the mix – including Vanilla Ice.

Gray was head of production at Golden Harvest, the Hong Kong studio behind martial arts classics like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, when comedian-turned screenwriter Bobby Herbeck first approached him about a live-action film adaptation of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s cult comics.

It’s fair to say he took some convincing.

“I hated the idea. I thought it was stupid,” Gray tells Den of Geek. Undeterred, Herbeck pestered Gray for months until the Golden Harvest chief had a sudden change of heart.

“I had an epiphany and thought we could just put stunt guys in turtle suits and make all our money in Japan. That was why I was interested; making it low budget. It escalated when Steve Barron came onboard.”

Barron had made his name with groundbreaking music videos for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and A-Ha’s “Take on Me” and sold Gray and TMNT creators Eastman and Laird on his vision for the movie.

More importantly, he enlisted the late Jim Henson and his legendary Creature Shop to bring the Turtles to life using state-of-the-art animatronics, which came at no small expense.

Even so, Gray found the project was a hard sell when it came to finding a major studio willing to distribute the movie.

“George Lucas’s Howard the Duck had just come out and bombed,” he recalls. “When I went around people would say ‘oh no I’m not going to put my name on the next Howard the Duck. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, how absurd.’ Nobody wanted to step up in the major studios.”

Undaunted by the mass rejection (“Hollywood is always the last to know”) Gray eventually secured a deal with New Line Cinema, then best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The rest, as they say, is history.

That first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie came from nowhere in the spring of 1990 to make an astonishing $135 million, becoming a cultural phenomenon in the process. A sequel was inevitable but the results were anything but.

“It was rushed,” Gray says when asked for his overriding feelings about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. “Once the first film opened, we figured we had to get another one out as quickly as possible because this whole thing could fade away very quickly if we didn’t come back.”

Incredibly, a release date for the sequel was set for almost exactly a year on from the original. That seems crazy to think now, in the era where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is carefully plotted out years in advance, but this was 1990 and New Line Cinema. At this point the production company which was working on its sixth Nightmare on Elm Street Movie in the space of just seven years. The quality of those films had varied wildly but one thing had remained consistent: the quick turnaround.

“New Line wanted it out on pretty much the same date, maybe a week earlier in fact. So, we rushed into the production, got a script together. The overarching thing was speed. We had to get it out,” Gray remembers. “I think that’s probably the reason why it doesn’t top many people’s list of the best Turtles movies.”

A Change in Tone

One of the first challenges facing Gray was a tonal one. While the first TMNT film had garnered praise for maintaining the dark and dangerous feel of the original comics, not everyone was happy.

“We started getting some pressure from parental groups. They felt it was a little too dark and a little too frightening for children,” Gray says.

In the US, there were reports of Turtles toys and merchandise being banned in schools over worries they encouraged aggressive behavior in kids. In the UK, the characters were even rebranded the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles amid concern among censors that the word “ninja” promoted violence. Michelangelo’s nunchucks were also banned. It wasn’t just the censors who expressed concern either.

“The toy company was also telling us that maybe we shouldn’t be too dark,” Gray said. “And then, of course, then there was Jim Henson himself, who died while we were making the first film. His whole thing from the beginning was that he didn’t want to make a really dark film. Steve [Barron] was able to convince him it was the way to go even though it was different from the Muppets and everything he had done before. They had a great relationship. Jim trusted Steve.”

The decision was made to approach the material with a lighter tone, with Todd Langen’s original script undergoing a major rewrite to address the change. Despite the change Gray insists an attempt was made to retain some of the darker elements.

“We tried to get somewhere in between but probably didn’t succeed.”

Ultimately, however, the looming deadline left little room for nuance.

“If you sit down and think about this thing too much, you’re never going to get underway,” he reasons.

A New Director

In another notable shift that fans have questioned down the years, Barron did not return for the sequel.

The Irish filmmaker told Flickering Myth that the shift in sensibilities was the deciding factor.

“[It was] lighter, and all the instructions that had gone on from the first film were coming from the producers about keeping the color and lightness and getting away from the dark edge in number two,” he said. “For me it was poppy, and that wasn’t my sensibility.”

Gray tells Den of Geek Barron didn’t come back “for reasons that I won’t go into” but during the interview paints a picture of difficulties during their work together on the first film.

“I fought with the crew every single day but they did a hell of a job. Budgets were not adhered to but I’ve always given them credit because of their vision,” Gray says.

The producer also revealed that the first film was re-edited from Barron’s original version after his bosses were left unhappy with the director’s cut.

“The studio did edit the film in the end to come up with a different version. It was felt it was cut so you didn’t get to see the roundhouse kicks and fighting which was the hallmark of Golden Harvest. When the bosses saw it in Hong Kong, they complained that they couldn’t tell what the turtles were doing. They wanted to see these guys kicking and fighting. Steve’s style was good but we wanted another look.”

Despite Gray’s diplomatic tone, it’s not difficult to imagine such developments might have created tension. In Barron’s place came American filmmaker Michael Pressman, who Gray knew from his days at United Artists.

“What I liked about Michael was that he was a disciplined director. Having gone through the problems with the first picture I wanted someone who shot fast and stayed on budget. That was my main motivation,” the producer says.

A capable director who has gone on to enjoy a long and varied career in television, little of the blame for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2’s failing can fall at Pressman’s feet though it’s undeniable that some of the creative spark of the first film was lost with Barron’s exit.

So was much of the original’s violence, with the Turtles rarely shown using their weapons in the finished film while the action set pieces were also significantly watered down.

Eastman and Laird

Despite the criticism levelled at the sequel for failing to retain the tone of the comics, all of what went into the movie was greenlit by the TMNT creators. Part of the deal inked by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman saw them retain final approval on anything in the film. But that created other issues both at script and production level, as Gray recalls.

“Kevin was certainly more malleable with going along with things because of the budget but Peter was very difficult to get things by because he would say ‘Oh, well Michelangelo would never say that’. So, it was very hard from the point of view of the writer trying to figure it all out.”

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With Barron no longer around to mediate and sell them on the plans and with time ticking on, the pair’s reluctance to sign off on ideas led to increased tensions.

“We argued a little bit,” Gray says. “These things are never sweet or nice. It gets down to what we can do and, in the time provided. It’s about compromise. In the end they approved Langren’s changed script. Maybe it was reluctantly but we weren’t going to meet the demand and get this out if they kept changing things.”

Tokka and Rahzar

One of the most noted criticisms of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 concerned the decision to introduce two new sidekicks alongside returning villain Shredder, rather than draw on the wild array of mutant animals that had featured in the comics and TV series.

Many fans had expected to see Bebop and Rocksteady, the mutant warthog and rhinoceros supervillains made famous in the cartoon, feature. However, that cartoon outing proved both a blessing and a curse.

“I didn’t want them in any of the movies,” Laird later revealed on his personal blog. “It’s not so much that I disliked the characters so intensely, but more that I found their constant one-note shtick in the first animated series to be extremely annoying and silly to the point of being stupid.”

Gray’s version of events differs slightly.

“We wanted new villains because we would get a piece of the royalty, which we didn’t have with the first movie. We figured if we created something they didn’t come up with we would get a piece of the pie. It was a business decision.”

Together with the creatives at Henson’s Creature Shop, they “threw together” Tokka and Rahzar, a mutant Alligator Snapping Turtle and wolf respectively, based on pretty much whatever was available.

“Those things were basically the Henson Creature Shop’s ideas, because they had to figure out, technically, what they could do, how big they were going to be and how they could move,” Gray says. “They had to design all this stuff, put someone in the suit and then wire them up or get the animatronics going to make it work. So, we just went to them and said we need a couple of villains.”

Indeed, the resulting animatronics proved less complex and less compelling than the heroes in a half shell – and it showed on screen.

“They were just big models,” Gray admits. “We cut corners, there’s no question about it.”

Sweaty and Claustrophobic

Meanwhile, the turtle suits themselves had undergone little in the way of upgrades since the first film, when the actors playing the four leads experienced any number of issues. Not the least of which being the claustrophobia and sweating that comes with wearing up to 70lbs worth of turtle suit.

The animatronics also, despite being state-of-the-art, continued to suffer their fair share of glitches.

“We knew what the difficulties were and they were unbelievable,” Gray says. “There were days when we couldn’t even get these things set up. We were filming right near the Wilmington Airport. We set up a shot and when it came time for action the Turtles would not speak. We realized they were on the same frequency as the airport.”

Gray blames the lack of a major upgrade, in part, on the lack of additional budget.

“The budget didn’t exponentially go through the roof, because of the speed,” he explains. “I have read things saying it was $20 million. It wasn’t, it was $16.5 million.”

A New April O’Neil

Away from the animatronic issues, the human cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 proved a mixed bag. Corey Feldman didn’t return to voice Donatello after pleading no contest to a drug possession charge while, more notably still, Judith Hoag was replaced by Paige Turco as April O’Neil.

Hoag later told Variety she was never approached about the sequel, claiming her omission was a result of the fact she complained about the level of violence in the first movie and the six-days-a-week shooting schedule.

“Everybody was beating everybody up,” Hoag said. “I thought the movie suffered because of that. It was something I spoke to the producers about, I think they thought I was too demanding, and moved on.”

Not that Gray felt the production suffered as a result of either changes.

“No, not at all,” he says. “Certainly not with Corey Feldman because it’s a voice. Remember when you play that movie around the world it will be in 40 or 50 different languages and subtitled anyway. It makes no difference and nobody overseas even knew Corey Feldman was doing a voice…With Judith, we thought it might be of concern but then again it’s all about the Turtles. People aren’t showing up for Judith – though she did a fabulous job – it was really all about the Turtles.”

Elias Koteas also failed to return as the ice hockey stick-wielding vigilante and ally Casey Jones – though that was more down to the film’s shift away from adult themes and one of the more violent human characters.

“Casey was discussed but the reason he dropped out – and I don’t think this was a major issue – was the direction we wanted to take the film,” Gray says. “We wanted to go lighter. That was part of cleaning up the act.”

In his place came Ernie Reyes Jr, a rising martial arts star who had served as a stuntman on the first film and was introduced as Keno, a pizza delivery boy who befriends the turtles. It was a stark departure from Koteas’s character but, once again, it was one Gray says came with the backing of the TMNT hierarchy.

“If Peter and Kevin had wanted Elias back, he would have been back. So, either we were able to convince them that we wanted to go with Ernie and they went along with it.”

Vanilla Ice

Quite how they were convinced to include rapper Vanilla Ice in the proceedings is anyone’s guess, with the rapper turning up in a mid-film nightclub scene to perform new single “Ninja Rap.” His cameo continues to delight and horrify fans to this day. Few will be surprised by the commercially-minded circumstances that led to his appearance.

“SBK the record label producing the soundtrack album said ‘You gotta have Vanilla Ice in this, he’s hot’ so we put him in…We had a good album out of it. Sometimes you don’t make the movie for the reason of art you make it because the thing could go away in a heartbeat. I’ve always been fairly honest and upfront about our motives. It is a business.”

While others might disagree, Gray stands by the inclusion of Vanilla Ice in the film.

“He actually did a very good job. He’s a very cool operative and he loved doing it.”

Shredder or Krang?

Looking back on the sequel, as much as anything, the most disappointing aspect was the decision to resurrect Shredder rather than explore different villains in the way other comic book franchises have.

While Shredder has always been the main antagonist, as with Bebop and Rocksteady, there remained a plethora of colorful villain characters that could have been plucked from the pages of the original comic or the animated series. But the decision to stick with Shredder was not one takem lightly by anyone, and others were discussed.

“We went through the whole catalogue of villains and certainly Krang and all these other characters were in play,” Gray says. “We thought of them but we stayed with what works and that’s what you do in these situations. Don’t try and get too clever.”

As much as anything he blames the Hollywood system and a refusal to take risks. New Line too, would have no doubt been happy to press ahead with a Shredder-oriented sequel, seeing him as the TMNT’s very own Freddy Kreuger of sorts.

“Nobody trusts their instincts,” Gray says. “You go with what worked before and try to modify it a little bit. If it works [and the plethora of Freddy sequels suggests it did] then you are justified in using the same thing over and over again.”

Once again though the decision to stick with Shredder and avoid the kind of time and expense required to create something like Krang, a brain-shaped alien carried around in the waist of a robot man, was influenced by that release date.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze opened in theaters on March 22, 1991, less than a year on from the original. It went on to make over $78 million to become the second most successful independent film of all time.

Despite turning a profit, the film garnered mixed reviews and left Gray and others disappointed.

“It didn’t deliver on what we had hoped because there was this race against time to get it out one year after the first one. When you do that, you really have to compromise.”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

After the rush to make a second film, it was decided that they would take more time over the third one.

But anyone hoping for a return to form was left disappointed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in TIme, which saw the gang head to 17th century Japan.

“With number three, we were aiming something at the Japanese market, which was the number one market for foreign films,” Gray explains. “That’s why we had the time travel storyline with the samurais. That was definitely one of the motivations.”

There was just one problem though.

“We hoped it would get the film released in Japan. To this day, it has not been released in Japan.”

Though Gray returned to produce an animated fourth film in the 2000s box office returns diminished with every film. By the time Michael Bay got involved in the franchise, Gray was long gone. He now considers himself “out of the turtle game” with this being one of the last interviews on the subject. But despite the highs and lows endured on the second film, Gray remains proud of what was achieved.

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“These movies were made by committee. It’s amazing they turned out so well.”

The post What Went Wrong With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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imaginedcreaderinsert · 4 years

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She's got a boyfriend anyway — Jason Todd x Reader

WARNINGS: some cussing words here and there, implied fighting and blood, allusions to depression? or at least anxiety, and sexual implications.

WORD COUNT: 2575.

10. “Friends don’t do this kind of shit!

He is frustrated, and has yelled so out of emotion – and yes, you know it, you know how impulsive and unstable he can get to be when he spirals down in strong human emotions. And well, you were the one correcting him the first time he said so about himself (like he wasn’t human, like they were foreign, which made you sad), but right now you strongly emphasize them because out of the two, you feel like a monster, and he is pure and raw emotion.

—No, I-I refuse!—. He stammers with his own words out of rage as he bolts up from the sofa you’ve been previously kissing on—. I can’t believe you-I won’t, (Y/N)! Fuck no, you don’t say or do that shit with friends! And don’t fuckin’ bring Chad into it.

Chad. He pronounces it like it burns, like it disgusts him, and he is in his own right to do so, but it makes you sigh. Briefly, you wonder, what would have happened if you had invited him over instead of accepting when Jason just called you with the tempting offer of just pizza, Netflix and Chill and some cuddles. Maybe you’d be sexting instead of shouting (and maybe you wouldn’t feel as guilty as you do now).

—Todd, I told you-

—Lose the Todd, sweetheart, we’ve been fucking for months now, is a bit late now, isn’t it?!

He won’t understand. He doesn’t want to understand. Nothing that comes out of his mouth will help, and it will only dig a grave deeper than it really needs to. And, even if right now it’s not the best example in your favor, you really care for him. And fuck yes, you only wanted to spend a sweet and careless night of making out in the sofa, moving it to bed and having some pancakes in the morning. But as of right now it seems out of the question, and there seems to be no possible scenario in the future where you get him to tone it down a notch and it all ends up with both of you okay. And you don’t want to cry, you don’t want to make him more upset, which is probably the only outcome you visualize at this point. So you stop him.

—Just go.

—No, fuck no, we are going to talk about it now, cuz’ I know-

—Jason, I’m not going to repeat myself. You came here for the fuck and stayed for the feelings, Christ, deal with it. I didn’t ask for it and I was perfectly clear the first time it had happened and you agreed to every single thing. So just… Go. We’ll talk in the morning.

You had nursured him. You had seen him broken (with eyes just like the ones he’s giving you now, but younger), beaten up – which is why you two failed as youngsters your first year in uni; why it was the worst because of that. Restless nights of wondering if he ever got home, if he would appear with new marks, bandages, in the hospital! No, you couldn’t deal with it, it was too distressing. And you didn’t actually mind much the fact that he stood you up a couple of times. Gotham was quite big, after all – and even with his resources, the Wayne resources he had been slowly accepting, it was still impossible to get that fast to places that were that far away. No, you didn’t care much about the tabloids and the gossip magazines that “caught him” in the company of one or two pretty girls, you weren’t actually the jealous type and really trusted him, but you couldn’t rest. Ever. He took your heart with him at every single mission, patrol, stakeout… And all you ever wondered was if he would come back okay. And you shouldn’t have deal with that alone for almost an entire year; not with your projects, your anxiety and the pressure of succeding in uni like every other familiar you have. You couldn’t fall back or rely on a comfortable trust fund, unlimited resources like he could, if he wanted to. And by no means you are saying, implying, that he is entitled, that he has it easy… You are with him every night he stays in, when he wakes up in cold sweat, heart in his neck beating like its going to explode and sometimes (they were becoming fortunately more and more rare) shouting. He once choked you – almost did so. He cried after, and you comforted him all night with sweet nothings and reassuring kisses.

But you did have enough. And the question had been quite easy, quite simple: “Would you be able to resist that dangerous lifestyle in the future? Would you able to drop it all?”, to which he had, obviously, hesitated. Jason had feel cornered, and you knew you were not fair, since you both knew all your vulnerabilities, your weak points, but he had pushed you to that limit the night he almost did not make it, the time that Dick had to come inform you after it had gone wrong. You couldn’t stop crying at his side, in his bed – it was truly a cumule of everything academically and emotionally speaking – as he rested in the Wayne Manor. You had skipped exams, you had given everything up, which is why you didn’t hesitate to ask the same thing perfectly knowing your own answer when he threw it back at you:

—In a heartbeat.

So you two had been at different places in the stages of love, but it didn’t mean he loved you any less, he didn’t care when he heard you got a new boyfriend on campus at the ending of the second year. He was brilliant: part of the Student Committe, came from an excellent family, had both the grades and the looks… It was like the only thing that he didn’t have he achieved without making much effort. He didn’t actually see you fall in love with him, but you shared friends, even when you two broke up they tried to keep it “normal” if there was ever a defintion like that applied to him. But he too had eyes, with which caught on the smallest things: the small presents; the occasional blush on your cheeks and faint smile when you received a certain text; the rush with which you picked up your phone when “someone” called you; the hangouts you passed on not because of him, but because of “Him”.

Year three had come, and Chad and her had been dating for some months, but something felt on, and Jason interceded. He reappered in your life with a blank slate, apparently – no resentment, no blaming, no love. Maybe that’s why it had been so easy to fall back into his arms that night Chad had presented you to his parents. They hated you, and you had a breakdown in a freaking Wayne gala in which the only thing he said was “Don’t worry about them; just go to a bathroom and get yourself pretty again. I like it when you smile” which you assume should have made you smiled, but it only made you cry harder as soon as you were out of sight.

Jason knew about the difficult relationship you had with your own family: having another one hating your guts wasn’t the best outcome, no. But Chad hadn’t asked; you didn’t bring the topic to the table, but you assumed he should have asked at some point, because he cared… Right? Full of doubts, feeling broken and pathetic, Jason Todd had come to the rescue. He had noticed you, had seen everything: he wasn’t the jealous type, but he knew that one wasn’t the right for you. And no, he wasn’t stating that he was but… He would treat you better. He would try, at least.

You both that night attacked the secret shelf which Batman, not Bruce Wayne, used to attack whenever his bad went kind of wrong (never fully, he was always proud like that) to get back up. The alcohol was strong and it made your nose burn, but it also made you giggle to the stupid shit Jason said, and you had comfortably (just numb enough) accepted his kiss. You were both in front of the fire, and he had been trying to take the bottle from your drunk ass who was stumbling in high-heels, complaining about dresses and galas and parents… And he had simply growled something (you can’t remember, didn’t care much) which made you almost drop your panties. Jason had a fucking sexy mouth and-

That was the only clear thing you remember from that night. Memories can’t be relied on, but on that one you can count on. He kissed you, and he backed you up to the wall, grinded into you: you had moan in his mouth, had sticked out your tongue for him to take, and just like that, it was spring again when he had kissed you for a second “first” time (the first had actually been on a game) and your fingers were laced on the grass, sun bathing his form, his beautiful white lock, his incredibly attractive jaw, his beautiful and gorgeous eyes-

You didn’t make it to bed. It sounds cliché, but he didn’t let you, as much as you almost crawled into your room; the sofa had been nice enough the first time. Not much better for the second. But at the third, you explained the situation, the rules: “no love, no drama, no strings or uncomfortable questions. Just lust”.

So for everyone’s surprise you were instantly friends again. First they thought you were just fucking, but soon after you had finally introduced Chad to them and all rumors died, which was the main purpose. Jason was just a comfortable fuck where no questions were asked and where you just felt… Good again. Your boyfriend was good to you, yes, but too perfect sometimes, too unberable for someone with anxiety and a constant pressure of being just like him. But the truth is, there’s no point of comparison: for him is just as easy as breathing to be that kind, that good – but it takes the life out of you to be like that, so docile, so good and so excellent all the time. And Jason knows, understands. He murmurs into your hair that you are perfect and you believe him.

He makes you feel pretty, enough; and you need when all Chad cares is his own family, his grandes, his status, his position. It’s him him him all the way. And this time you mind being stood up, you mind him being late, you can’t stand him flirting with other girls, even when you have no right to complain (having fucked Jason for three months kind of takess off the right).

Were you his charity case? The broken girl from the bad neighborhood who made it into uni who he had comforted “and saved”?

It’s been eight months, and even through your second anniversary, you are more and more sure of it. And you actually start cancelling more dates, being more passive with him and start fucking Jason more. It’s just that, it’s nothing more – and while you run from your “perfect” future by his side (you try to, knowing perfectly Chad is everything that would make your family happy, would keep you content and safe), Jason falls more and more in love with you.

The way you need him: your nails digging in his skin, your hands pulling his hair like you need something desperately to hold onto – him and only him being able to do so, bring you to your peak everytime before he can even come close… Your perfect legs that open with a kiss on your thigh, how you trust him to make you feel good without questioning. You love the way he makes you feel about yourself, which is probably selfish, but you couldn’t care less. He accepted, he was fine with the rules: and thus you exploit his love, he gets way into it, into you, even when alarms go all around his head telling him “no”, trying to stop.

But it’s too late, and you feel just a little bit cruel:

—You are great.

—Really now? Does it have anything to do with the pizza, or the fact that I eat you out like a champ?

—Why can I only choose one? God, Jason, it’s like you’ve never read Tolstoi. Things are not all black or white. Dumbass—. You giggle, getting closer to him in the sofa where your hair is spread, almost naked; Jason has put his boxers on, and he’s tracing lazy patterns in your skin.

—First you quote Tolstoi, paraphrase him rather, and then you say “dumbass”. Yer’ an idiot.

It makes you both laugh, and when it kind of dies down, you press your forehead against his and you search for his lips. He concedes, biting the inferior one, marking it.

—Oh, come on, you know you can’t leave marks on. He will see.

—Yeah, and we wouldn’t like that, would we? End this rendez-vous or affaire, however fancy way you want to call it because you love him soooo much—. You roll your eyes, and he smirks. You hate it when he feels he is right (he never is).

—Two things: one, I do like him, however i decided to manage our relationship it’s between him and me; and two, I don’t like to be marked because I’m not “a thing”, Jason. Definitively not yours.

His smile falters. You know you are on dangerous ground. Pizzas are about to get there, why couldn’t you just shut down your mouth?

—So you’re his?—. He gets all possesive. You know when he slightly puffs out his chest. It makes you get up, search for the cushions you both had dumped to the floor. It makes you not look at him directly, distract you—. Then who-no, what are we? Fuck buddies?

—Try friends?—You sarcastically try and throw, but it ends in the most of the miserable ways.

—Let me back up a bit, but I’m pretty sure Roy and I don’t do this at least once a week. Do you have any other special “friend” you do this with this ritually?

—I didn’t mean it like that…

—Well now I do, so answer, (Y/N). Do you?

You massage your nape, bite your lip.

—No, Jason, I don’t. And you know I don’t—. You answer and it kind of feels like he sighs in relief, which annoys you—. It wouldn’t matter anyways, because we would just be friends!

—Friends like what, you and I?

—Yes, Todd, just like you and I!

—Well newsflash (Y/N)! Friends don’t do this kind of shit!

The anger, his voice, had scared you, and it brings you to the present. His eyes beg at you to say something; any sense of regret and he will stay, he will make it work somehow, but you are too tired. So you just give him your back and turn around to face Gotham and its darkness: one that has taken you over the years, that has fucked you up and that will probably break two hearts in one night.

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #dcu x reader #reader insert #reader #dcu #jason todd angst #jason x reader #red hood x reader

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robrpatz · 4 years

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Robert Pattinson new interview in Elle Magazine ( March 2020)

ELLE: You started acting when you were 18 years old, and in 15 years you’ve made 34 movies (and won eight awards…). Why do stay so active? What moves you?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Now I have more fun making movies! The more I learn about how to do things, the more doors it opens to my mind. And the more comfortable you feel, the freer you’ll feel as well. I used to think in acting as a test, in which there was the possibility to fail. But when you stop thinking about the result…You never know if it will be good or bad, so the best thing is to enjoy it! And, as soon as you start behaving like that, everything becomes funnier.

ELLE: And, as you get older, maybe you can choose the roles you want to play and who you want to work with?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes. It happens when you get older and [you] do more projects. You can talk to the director. It’s more of creative collaboration. When you’re younger, you have that school mentality. Someone is telling you what to do and so you just feel like saying no all the time. But then you realize that they are all in the same boat. And that everyone wants to make a good movie!

ELLE: What would you say to the teachers who discouraged you from joining the theater club?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I’m glad they did. When I think about it now … At the time, I was so angry that I didn’t want to have anything to do with the arts at school. And then, I ended up getting an agent, which wouldn’t have happened if I had een a part of the school’s drama club. Sometimes having a little bit of resentment is pretty good. It gives you more fire [energy].”

ELLE: Do you really think that you managed to attract a more “male” audience, as some professionals in the field suggested after Cosmopolis?

ROBERT PATTINSON: To be honest, I never thought about an audience. But the first time I noticed that men accepted me better must have been with Good Time. And it was a little strange … But, again, it’s the same logic as the drama teacher. I liked it when the male audience said to me “Oh, you’re an idiot”, because it made me want to go to the fight! These things give you energy. What’s dangerous is not having enemies. We always need good enemy!

ELLE: Do you read reviews about you on the internet?

ROBERT PATTINSON: When a movie comes out? Yes.

ELLE: What about the bad ones, does it affect you or do you consider yourself strong enough to deal with it?

ROBERT PATTINSON: When I was younger, it affected me. But now … it’s a strangely addictive thing. Reading the bad reviews is more addictive than reading the good ones. You can read a hundred good ones and a bad and, I don’t know if that’s because of that, but now the bad ones don’t affect me anymore. Unless they involve someone else. If it’s just about me, I can take it.

ELLE: What if it’s about someone important to you?

ROBERT PATTINSON: It doesn’t happen much. And I think I can separate things well. It’s one of the advantages of not having an Instagram account. Access is cut off. I’ve always had a barrier and that’s why there’s no problem. It’s all just noise.

ELLE: You’re turning 34 soon and you’re going to be a part of the so-called Millennial. What does it mean to you? Do you recognize yourself as a member of that generation?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I think I’m another last stronghold of the previous generation. I don’t feel like a Millennial at all. Many of the things that people think are important, such as social networks … are not at all important to me. They annoy me. I don’t see what it is the reason to have, to publish, to take pictures of myself and put them online … It all seems crazy to me.

ELLE: You’ve made a lot of movies lately. Waiting for the Barbarians, The King (Netflix), The Devil All The Time, The Lighthouse and Tenet (currently being shot). How many scripts do you receive per month? It’s you who choose each role?

ROBERT PATTINSON: To be honest, I don’t receive that many scripts. Except when it comes to a director I really want to work with. When I’m not working, I read a lot of scripts, but right now… I find it very difficult to read a script when you’re working on another project. I cannot understand it completely. But I love to discover filmmakers that my agents don’t know about!

ELLE: And the movie you’re filming now, Tenet? Can you talk about it?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I can’t say anything about Tenet… nor about Batman! Anyways, I don’t know anything. I’m only starting Batman next year. We’re not even filming yet.

ELLE: After all the artistic films you’ve made, was it difficult for you to decide to be in a film like Batman?

ROBERT PATTINSON: No, I wanted to do it. In every new job, I’ve been trying to do the opposite of the previous one, to be able to surprise myself. And I don’t know why, but at the end of last year, I was thinking I really wanted to do a big movie. I hadn’t think about exactly what it could be, and then Chris Nolan and Tenet came in and Batman came out shortly after. I had been making small movies, I was already relatively comfortable in what I was doing for a while, I didn’t even get nervous anymore. Not even with Tenet, which is a great production. I think it was also because of the directors. I can totally trust Chris Nolan and Matt Reeves. They are very unique filmmakers to whom I would immediately say yes if I wanted to make a smaller film.

ELLE: Do you have to physically prepare to step into Batman’s shoes? Is that the reason why you’ve been running a lot lately?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes. As soon as I finish this job, I will immediately start intensive training. In fact, it is quite pleasant, because I have been doing so many hours in the Chris Nolan film that the idea of, for a few months, being really healthy, just doing physical exercise and sleeping seems like a real dream! I can’t wait! But yes, I’ve never been a big guy. So I have a certain curiosity about what it’s like to be.

ELLE: You’re the face of Dior Homme since five years ago. How did this colaboration started and what does it means to you?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I think it was before that. I met them in 2012. I wasn’t thinking about doing anything like this. But when I met them, I liked the team very much, the three people who talked to me at the beginning. They’re really cool. And Dior is Dior!

ELLE: That was your first ad? Is it the only one until now?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes. The only one! Basically, I really liked the way they presented the project to me. At the beginning, I wanted to work with Romain Gavras. And, at the first meeting, I asked: “Can we do it with Romain?” And they said “Yes, it’s a great idea!”. It’s great to work with Dior. I never went to the shows in Paris before, and I never even thought about it. But now I look forward to them every year. With Dior, I have all the glamor of acting, but without the hardest part! When you’re making a movie, you work 20 hours a day, you’re exhausted all the time. This collaboration is fast and very funny. It’s the best job ever!

ELLE: Do you like to discover underground artists? How was it to shoot the new Dior Homme campaign with the french avant-guard duo, The Blaze (Guillaume and Jonathan Alrie)? Have you met them before?

ROBERT PATTINSON: It was great! I met them in Cannes in 2017* (they were DJs at the Good Time party) and I was talking to them about making a movie together because their films are so cool. They know what performance is. And when it came to Dior, I didn’t even have anything to do with it. When I heard it, I thought, “Oh, this is great, because it’s a big ad, and they are quite unknown. something like that! Their music is great.

ELLE: There is a dance moment in the ad. It seems to be “possessed”. Any preparation?

ROBERT PATTINSON: A shot of tequila and nothing else! I was literally in the dark. I couldn’t see anyone around me.

ELLE: Do you like dancing, in real life?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I was always very shy to dance, so when I did that, my thought was,”Oh, I broke the curse. Now I can dance in front of people!” About two weeks later, I went to a party, everyone was dancing and I threw myself on the dance floor and it was like “Yes, it’s okay. You just have to dance!”

ELLE: How do you feel when you see yourself in a Dior outdoor?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Actually, I’ve never seen any! I’m always walking around airports and thinking,“ How is Johnny Deep’s here and not mine?” It’s always Johnny Depp! [Laughs] ” What beauty care do you have? A diet, a routine? “Yes, now, at 30, I really think about what I eat. I didn’t try very hard, I ate pizza at three in the morning, but… if you don’t eat well – especially when you’re always working – you can’t even survive.

ELLE: What’s the best way to turn off and relax?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Probably, running. As soon as you get used to running, I think it’s better than anything else. It clears the mind so much! But what I really like nowadays is finding ways to sleep better. I’m obsessed with sleep masks, meditation apps, essential oils… I LOVE those things!

ELLE: Do you have any sleep disorder?

ROBERT PATTINSON: A bit. I don’t take pills to sleep. But I love that moment when you fall asleep! So, I got a good sleep mask that helps me fall asleep anywhere. On set, I sit on a chair, put the sleep mask and fall asleep quickly … in front of everyone.

ELLE: Are you narcoleptic?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Maybe! [Laughs]

ELLE: And talking about music, what’s on your playlist?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I’ll see … (opens Spotify on his phone) … what have I been listening to … Oh [Message on the screen] … I didn’t pay my last bill … [Laughs] … changing my credit card … I’ve been hear a lot of Aretha Franklin and that sort of classic stuff. When I can!

ELLE: How would you define your style?

ROBERT PATTINSON: It depends. You know what? There is this thing about sneakers. I use these Adidas from a collaboration with Palace, which were made in 2015. They are no longer produced. And I use different pairs… I have about 20 pairs of these sneakers in all colors and I use them every day! And when some go bad, it’s scary, because there are only a few left. I already called the company to see if they had any extra stock they didn’t sell.

ELLE: Are you a kind maniac?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes, with these shoes. I wear the same pair of shoes for five weeks in a row, and I have an alert on eBay. Whenever my size appears, I buy it immediately!

ELLE: Today you’re fully dressed in black, but we’ve already seen you wearing extravagant clothes on the red carpet such as capes.

ROBERT PATTINSON: I didn’t think much about what I’m wearing today, but I like to wear crazy things, and I think that if I didn’t work with Dior, I would be a little more shy about using more extravagant pieces. With the collection created by Kim Jones, now it makes even more sense (Note: Pattinson was also the first Dior Homme ready-to-wear ambassador).

ELLE: Would you wear a colour such as pink?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes, I like the contrast, although a few year ago, when I shaved my hair, wore a lot more pink. When you have you hair dyed blond, long, seems like you’re in Miami Vice. But yes, if I had my hair shaved, I’d definitely wear skirts and stuff like that.

ELLE: What would you never wear?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Hum… I don’t like serious and perfect things. But I’ll probably wear then at some point of my career.

ELLE: You confessed ELLE that you obsessed with Kate Moss and Jane Fonda when you were young. Have you met them?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I met Kate Moss and was with her a couple of times, doing things for Dior. And I haven’t met Jane Fonda yet, but I’m still a huge fan of her.

ELLE: She is an activist like you, Robert. You are collaborating directly with GO Campaign. What does this NGO do?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Go Campaign improves the lives of orphans and vulnerable children worldwide by creating local partnerships and solutions. All the children have the right to have opportunities, education, medical care, food, water… Two of my friends worked for them and told me to go to an event, five years ago or so. They made an auction and built a school in Cambodja. It is a completely transparent and very efficient non-profit organization. Over the past five years, it has become much bigger than it was when I started working with them.

ELLE: And now there’s a Robert Pattinson School?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Yes! And the school has been growing every year. I’m really proud of it.

ELLE: What keeps you alive and motivated in general?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Actually, I only do things to have fun. Your body tells you how to live your life if you listen to it carefully. There were bad times. I watched Amy Winehouse’ documentary a few years ago. And Tony Bennett said something that touched me, “Life shows how to live, if you live enough”, or something like that, I can’t remember the exact quote. As you get older, the more your body tells what to eat, what to do, tells you everything. If you listen to it and pay attention! And if you’re not having fun doing a certain thing, stop. As soon as you start living like that, you start to feel always well.

ELLE: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I would love to have a production company. There’s a part of me that would like to record an album- but I don’t know if it will ever happen. I like to make long-term plans. That is the key of happiness. That’s it and having plans for the future – everything you build is towards a goal. And you have to have those plans!”

ELLE: What was the strangest thing that happened to you?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Become an actor! The strangest thing in my entire life! I really don’t know how it happened.

ELLE: What do you like the most about your friends?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Positive attitude. I don’t like people who like to complain. It’s really boring.

ELLE: Your biggest flaw?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Pfff, none [Laugh]. Actually, how do you say it? Procrastinate. I postpone everything, really everything, until the last minute.

ELLE: Your idea of happiness?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Being in very creative places. I’m very happy in the initial stage of the work of a creative project before the problems start. When everyone is very excited.

ELLE: Your idea of unhappiness?

ROBERT PATTINSON: When people that I love are worried about something and I can’t help them. And repetitive things. Like being stuck in a circle with the same things always happening. That’s unhappiness to me. Like in that Bill Murray’s movie, Groundhog Day.

ELLE: If you weren’t Robert Pattinson, who would you like to be?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Probably a dog. I think I’ll be one in my next like, almost certainly.

ELLE: The heroes of you’re life?

ROBERT PATTINSON: As I get older, the more my parents are. But when I was younger, were a lot of rappers. They were the first people I saw who didn’t care about what people would think about them. It looked like they were showing the middle finger to everyone.

ELLE: Favourite cult movie?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Probably Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

ELLE: Favourite series?

ROBERT PATTINSON: The Wire. It is a tv series about a policeman and criminals in Baltimore.

ELLE: A director that you admire?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Claire Denis. I admire her a lot.

ELLE: Favourite book?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I’ve been reading a lot of Batman comics lately. I’ve also read a very good book by Christopher Hitchens called Mortality.

ELLE: Favourite dish?

ROBERT PATTINSON: Any type of pasta. I’m really boring when it comes to food. Maybe Spaghetti bolognese. More pasta than burgers.

ELLE: Ideal holidays?

ROBERT PATTINSON: An extreme or the other. Doing something with lots of activities, like climbing or going to the beach and do absolutely nothing, with no one around me.

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theculturedmarxist · 3 years

Link

Bryan Fogel’s “The Dissident” was too hot to handle.

The documentary about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist and political activist who was allegedly killed in 2018 on the orders of the Saudi Royal Family, was one of the hottest films at last year’s Sundance. It had glowing reviews, a ripped from the headlines subject, and a big-name director in Fogel, fresh off the Oscar-winning “Icarus,” a penetrating look at Russian doping that got the country banned from the Olympics.

And yet, Netflix, which had previously released “Icarus,” and other streaming services such as Apple and Amazon steered clear of “The Dissident.” Without any interested buyers, the film languished until last fall. That’s when Briarcliff Entertainment, an obscure distributor run by former Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg, announced it would release the movie on-demand.

Fogel thinks the subject matter was too explosive for bigger companies, which have financial ties to Saudi Arabia or are looking to access the country’s massive population of well-to-do consumers. Using interviews with Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz, as well as friends and fellow activists, Fogel creates a damning portrait of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s apparent involvement in brutally silencing the writer and thinker and the country’s crackdown on free speech. Thanks to previously unreleased audio recordings, “The Dissident” draws a direct line between Khashoggi’s assassination at the Saudi embassy in Turkey and the Saudi government’s anger over his outspoken criticism of the country’s human rights abuses and mismanagement.

“The Dissident” is currently available on-demand, but its rather muted release isn’t the way Fogel had dreamed of provoking a larger conversation around Khashoggi’s murder. He spoke to Variety about the difficulty of making “The Dissident” and then getting it seen and why he thinks his new movie had the major streamers running scared.

Why did you want to make “The Dissident”?

After the success of “Icarus,” I felt a great burden and social responsibility to make a worthy follow-up. I was looking for a story regarding human rights, regarding freedom of speech, freedom of press, journalism. I also wanted a story that had real world implications that could create real world change through social action or political action.

As the investigation into the murder of Jamal unfolded, my ears perked up and I immediately started reading more about this man. I hadn’t heard of him, but I found out how trusted and regarded he was as a voice on the Middle East. He was also being presented in many media circles as a terrorist sympathizer or member of the Muslim Brotherhood or a friend of Bin Laden. This was not true. He was a moderate, who was fighting for free speech for his country and believed women should have rights. He believed Mohammed Bin Salman’s policies were putting the country on the wrong direction.

Was it difficult to get his friends and fiancee and family to speak to you?

It was very very difficult. This is where the accolades and recognition of “Icarus” and the Academy Award really changed the conversation. In those weeks following his death every journalist was after Hatice. As I approached her and other people, they were able to see my prior work. Hatice invited me about a month after his murder to come and meet with her in Istanbul. I didn’t bring a film crew. I spent the next five weeks there just building trust. It was a harrowing time in her life and I just kept explaining that I was not there for a day or a week or a month. I told her: if we do this, we’re going to go on this journey together. I promised that if she let me into her life, I was going to protect Jamal.

At the Sundance premiere, you challenged distributors to “…not be fearful and give this the global release that this deserves.” How did that turn out?

[Netflix CEO] Reed Hastings was there that day and so was Hillary Clinton. We had a standing ovation. People were wiping tears from their eyes as Hatice took the stage. It was the same scene at each one of our screenings. We were blessed with incredible reviews from all of the trades. In any normal circumstance, you’d think of course this film is going to be acquired and distributed. And yet not only was it not acquired and distributed, there was universal silence. Not a single offer. Not for one dollar or not 12 million dollars, which was what was paid for another documentary title at the festival. Nothing. It was literally as if nobody knew me. It was that startling and that shocking.

Six months later Tom Ortenberg and Briarcliff Entertainment stepped forward and said, hey we want to distribute this film. That’s wonderful. People will be able to rent this film on-demand. But what I wanted was for this film to be streaming into 200 million households around the world. I wanted people to have easy access to it. Instead we pieced together global distribution here and there.

Will this have a chilling effect on movies that want to tackle these kinds of controversial subjects?

This is a depressing and eye-opening moment that any filmmaker that wishes to tell a story like this needs to pay attention to. These global media conglomerates are aiding and abetting and silencing films that take on subject matter like this despite the fact their audiences want content like this. I was told that “Icarus” has had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 million views. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but I know it was substantial. The decision not to acquire “The Dissident” had nothing to do with its critical reviews, had nothing to do with a global audience’s appetite to watch a docu-thriller, but had everything to do with business interests and politics and, who knows, perhaps pressure from the Saudi government. Netflix did remove Hasan Minhaj’s episode of “Patriot Act” [at the Saudi government’s request] in 2019 and defended that decision by saying, “we’re not a truth to power company. We’re an entertainment company.” It has been a struggle to get this film into the world and to shine a light on the human rights abuses that are happening in that kingdom. These companies, that have chosen not to distribute this film, in my opinion, are complicit.

Have you had conversations with these companies about why they didn’t want to release “The Dissident”? If so what has been their response?

It has been to not respond.

Is this about money? Are they wary of angering the Saudi Royal Family because they have money from Saudi Arabia or want to access their market?

My guess is both. Decisions are being made that it’s better to keep our doors open to Saudi business and Saudi money than it is to do anything to anger the kingdom. Netflix released a statement regarding Black Lives Matter that is in direct contrast to their statement regarding Hasan Minahaj. One stands behind truth to power and the other says we’re not a truth to power company, so it appears they are a truth to power company when it is convenient. But when their business doesn’t align with that or it might impact their subscriber growth, they’re not. The same can be said for all the streaming companies. In the film, there’s Jeff Bezos on the stage with Hatice. Jamal worked for Jeff Bezos [at the Washington Post, which Bezos owns]. So the same can be said of Amazon. I don’t want to point a finger at anyone because it’s all of them. This is a situation where business, subscriber growth, investment was more important than human rights. There’s got to be greater accountability. Not just on a business level, but on a political level. Trump vetoed the desire of both the House and the Senate to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this crime. He continued to sell them weapons. He’s trying to get the Justice Department to grant Mohammed Bin Salman immunity from prosecution.

Would you still work for Netflix or the other streamers who declined to release “The Dissident”?

Listen, this is my career. This is my work. I’m sure that I will have other projects that might not take on subject matter like this and are not at odds with their business interests. When those projects come along, I will be glad to work with any of these companies. Look, I love Netflix. I really, really do. I’m so grateful to them because without Netflix, “Icarus” would not have become what it became. I’m not insulted by this. I’m not personally offended. I don’t view anything that is happening as personal. I just view it as business. I can understand it on a business level. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. I’m not mad. I’m disappointed.

What message do you want viewers will take away from the film?

There’s a hashtag #JusticeForJamal and the question has to become what does justice mean? We know that Mohammed Bin Salman will not stand trial for this murder. We know that the henchmen he sent are unlikely to truly stand trial. We have to look to the future. So what I hope people will take from the film is knowledge, because knowledge is power. Just like “Icarus” or “Blackfish” or “The Cove,” I hope this film has the ability to change hearts and minds. As more and more people come to “The Dissident,” I hope there’s a call to action. I hope that takes place on social media or through writing letters to congressmen or senators. The first thing I hope is people will spread the word. The second thing is I hope they will use the power of free speech that we have in this country and are so blessed to have to change the narrative. The Arab Spring happened because of Twitter, the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements took hold because of social media. We’ve seen that through combined action, change can come.

Disclosure: SRMG, a Saudi publishing and media company which is publicly traded, remains a minority investor in PMC, Variety’s parent company.

#netflix #saudi arabia #mohammed bin salman #jeff bezos #the dissident #sundance #jamal kashoggi #bryan fogel #cinema #film #censorship

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mrsrcbinscn · 4 years

Text

Franny Robinson HC Infodump #7: More Music Stuff

tw: mentions of psychedelic use (it’s clear it is in moderation but)

Cover Contributions To Tribute or Charity Albums (and other notable covers):

King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller - Franny recorded a cover of The Moon Is High (And So Am I) for the album. There’s a really cute video uploaded on her YouTube channel of her recording the song and she’s playing acoustic guitar and dancing around in place as she sings in several takes. It’s one of the few internet videos where her husband is seen, because sometimes the camera pans to the sound engineer booth when he’s sitting next to Serghei, her go-to sound guy.

She participated on the charity album BBC Children In Need: Got It Covered, since England’s been her home from nearly twenty years now. She sang a slowed down, gentler version of Pat Benatar’s Shadows Of The Night. (inspired by that being a song I vividly remember my mom singing to my siblings and I lmao)

For the album The Music Is You: A John Denver Tribute, Franny sang Rhymes and Reasons.

On a John Prine tribute album released in 2017, Franny and the other half of the duo Dara & Danny, Daniel Maitland, recorded In Spite Of Ourselves for the album.

For a Connie Francis tribute album, Franny sang Where The Boys Are

Franny, along with black country singer Erica James, curated a Charley Pride tribute album, featuring solely country or country-adjacent singers of color. “Charley Pride, when I discovered a black country artist, as an Asian-American growing up in the 80s, that was amazing to me. Because little Cambodian me was like, ‘wow, so you don’t gotta look like Dolly or Willie to love this music.’ Everyone thinks country and bluegrass music is white people shit, but it ain’t. It was always a mix of folks influencin’ it. DeFord Bailey paved the way for Charley Pride, who paved the way for Darius Rucker, who paved the way for Jimmie Allen, Willie Jones, Mickey Guyton, Erica right here, and non-black POC like myself and Dan(iel Maitland). It was such an honor to get to curate this album with Erica. Amazing.” Franny recorded Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger for the album.

On the Tracy Lawrence tribute album Good Ole Days, she recorded As Any Fool Can See with him

She was featured on Brooks & Dunn’s Reboot, recording She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind

During a SiriusXM session, she sang Gretchen Wilson’s When I Think About Cheatin’, and the performance w/ent viral

On a Leonard Cohen tribute album, she recorded A Thousand Kisses Deep and that cover also became popular

During a Spotify Sessions recording with Seoul Hanoi’d, Franny recorded a cover of Marcy Playground’s Sex & Candy, which also blew up, prompting Seoul Hanoi’d to officially release it on their 2018 album. It was the second of five singles off of the album, and Franny in the music video was Hot ™

During a Spotify Sessions recording as a solo artist, Franny recorded a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s From The Bottle To The Bottom

Khmer Music:

Franny, for the most part, does not record or perform pop music. However, she’s collaborated on tracks with Cambodian pop singers

She writes a lot of songs used in the soundtracks of Khmer tv dramas, and sings a lot of them as well

She’s known as The Soundtrack Queen in Cambodia

In addition to a lot of songs for film and tv, she’s released three albums entirely in Khmer. A jazz album comprised of original songs and Khmer language versions of classic jazz songs; and two in the indie/alternative style of music similar to Seoul Hanoi’d

And she’s recorded Khmer versions of several of her most famous songs

With other Cambodian diaspora musicians, she regularly collaborates on special covers of iconic Khmer 60s and 70s songs

Songwriting

Franny’s even more active as a songwriter than a recording artist. She’s got over 1,000 songwriting credits to her name.

She began writing songs “when I was 11, but they were atrocious, unsalvageable things. The first song I wrote that ever saw the light of day even after heavy edits was first thought up when I was thirteen.”

Franny is openly bisexual and explores that in her songwriting-- however, most of her songs about women or her sexuality that she wrote “pre-2009-ish” she’s scrapped or sold to other artists. Why? “Look, I’ve been married to my husband for almost twenty years now. And that doesn’t make me any less bisexual. But a lot of the songs I’ve written about women are from the perspective of a thirteen through twenty year old me, and at forty, I’m not the best narrator for those stories anymore.They are my lived experiences and my lived feelings, but I want to see how someone actually going through that will take it and interpret it. The songs I write about women loving women now are about characters I make up for the purpose of storytelling so they’re about women closer to my age, it’s about big girl love, not adolescent love.”

Common themes in Franny Sor Robinson songwriting: geography, vivid imagery like she’s showing you a picture of what she’s singing about, Buddhist themes, Christrianity (she’s a Buddhist but grew up in the Bible Belt so she’s very familiar with Christian themes), alliteration

Franny came under a degree of controversy in 2014 with the release of a song called “The Sabbath” because it was a tasteful song about how much she likes sex with her husband after they’ve been apart for a while, and Franny was like “you know you’d think the pearl-clutchin’ folks would be glad I practically worship my husband, but I forgot women ain’t supposed to actually enjoy sex.”

She's written another really sweet song about making love with her husband that did Not get hate because it was Acceptable TM and pretty romantic actually. Think along the lines of Josh Turner's Your Man or Dierks Bentley's Come A Little Closer. Songs deff about how they wanna get down but sweet.

After Franny retweet a clip of that Tyler Childers song in 2019 with the caption “big relate”, she was asked in a tweet if a follow up to The Sabbath was in the cards. Franny replied with “there’s a demo recorded for a song I wrote about six years back and that’s that on that.” Yes, Franny Sor Robinson indeed has written a song about masturbation. She’s performed the song live a few times, however, it is still unreleased officially

Franny’s written songs with lyrics alluding to her family’s experiences under the Khmer Rouge and escaping and resettling around the world, she cleverly hides them among her albums so people accidentally digest some education

Cornelius is the well-documented muse for “every love song I’ve written that I don’t specify in the album notes or an interview is written about a character. My husband is the love of my life and had given me twenty years and counting of great material to write about.”,

Franny’s been on both ends of this story. In 2019, a song Franny wrote but didn’t record became a smash pop hit after she and her producer sent it around to other producers. They recorded Franny’s demo in mid-2017 and they and the bigger pop producer that worked on the song with them listened to over 20 demos of the song until they found the right person to sing it.

And in 2013, Franny got a huge boost to her fame when she was the featured vocalist on a pop song that became a global smash hit. Franny doesn’t typically do like...super top 40 pop type music, but she liked the song so when her agent suggested she record a demo for it and send it back to the producer looking, she was like “sure, okay” and then was absolutely surprised that they chose her over some of the names she knew also recorded demos for the song.

Misc. Music facts

In 2019, a group of NYU students (where she did her undergrad) made a Franny Sor Robinson tribute album project; the majority of the students were Asian students in the university’s music programs who cite her as a big inspiration for them pursuing music. She 100% cried

For the Netflix show Just Trust Me that she co executive-produces, Franny is also one of the people who soundtrack the show

In 2020, to celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary of her biggest solo album’s release, she pulled a The Story And Cover Stories (we stan Brandi Carlile) where it was re-released along with cover versions of each song by other artists including some of Franny’s biggest living musical influences. All proceeds for the album were donated to Cambodian Living Arts.

Franny has openly admitted in interviews to using mushrooms, LSD, and DMT before in songwriting sessions. Her stance is Kacey Musgraves’ stance. Franny quote from 2019, “Used responsibly, I think psychedelics are a worthwhile experience to have. But safety and education are key. I truly don’t believe they are party drugs. Psychedelics aren’t a party, they’re a deeply spiritual and philosophical journey.”

#&&...hc #i should have slept but it is 6:15 am and here i am

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peaceisadirtyword · 5 years

Text

Don’t play with fire III (Modern! Ivar/Reader)

A/N: Hello! My inspiration (not my ability to write) is back, and I wrote this in a few hours. I’ll probably fail my next exam, so I hope this is worth it. I was very inspired by Alex in Reliks’ new music video, because he gave me such Modern! dark Ivar...

It’s probably shit, I'm sorry. But I hope you enjoy it♥️ You can find parts 1 and 2 in my masterlist😘

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, Ivar is a warning, flirting, my bad writing.

Words: 3515

After almost a year taking gifs from other authors bc I’m useless I can say today that this gif is mine (I made it yay). It’s probably horrible. Sorry it’s the first gif I’ve made in my life💖

Fridays were the worst.

Luckily, your boss gave you the afternoon shift, and not the night one. As it was a cafeteria, it closed soon, but on the weekends you wouldn't go home until 2 am, which you honestly hated.

You had had some pretty hectic weeks, with essays, projects and exams combined with the fact that Erik had ended in the hospital for a ethyl coma and had been in there for a few days. You moved to his house for a few days to look after him and hadn't had a proper night of rest for weeks.

Your back hurt, you didn't feel your feet and your head felt like it was going to explode. You counted the minutes and the seconds until your boss said you were free to leave. You almost cried in relief.

Your plan for the night was relaxing in your couch while watching some romantic comedy on Netflix, order a pizza and eat chocolate until you feel sick. After collecting your backpack and saying goodbye to your coworkers, you went out of the cafeteria, walking down the street.

You asked Erik to go and pick you up, but he said he was busy. You knew busy meant 'I'm going to drink and smoke until I pass out, so take the bus'.

There was a small store near your home, that sell one of the most delicious chocolate bars you had ever tried, and though you had started your diet the day before, you had had such a long day you couldn't care less about how the new dress you bought was too tight in some parts.

The owner, a middle-aged woman that was reading while sitting at the other side of the counter, smiled and greeted you happily. You smiled back and looked around the store, looking for your chocolate.

You were alone in the store, except for the woman and another guy walking around. He wore a dark hoodie under a (less discreet) orange jacket... And somehow you felt like you knew him, though you hadn't seen his face yet.

While trying to decide if you should take two or three chocolate bars, the guy walked just before you. And you raised your head to look at him.

You gasped when you saw those brilliant blue eyes and the dark hair under the hood that covered his head. You hadn't noticed it, but he had his crutch on his left arm.

He winked at you and then smirked, and you widened your mouth, still in shock.

"What are you doing here?" You asked, trying not to raise your voice to avoid startling the woman "Are you following me?"

Ivar chuckled, shaking his head.

"Do I look like I need to follow you?"

"What do you mean?" You frowned.

"I'm just buying some things, Y/N, don't panic" he shrugged.

He looked... Different. Of course his playful eyes seemed to be playing with you, as he always did. But he didn't look so... Menacing. Or angry.

"Do you have to buy them next to my house?" You pressed your lips together.

After him breaking in your apartment, you had only seen him twice, and both times had been in the club, to tell him the few things you had heard about Aethelwulf, who was now very sick in the hospital. He hadn't threatened you with the gun but you were still wary around him, even if you were in public.

"I was going to your apartment now" he raised his eyebrow "To see if you..."

"I don't have anything" you cleared your throat and smiled to the woman, who had raised her head in your direction "I mean, I haven't heard anything new" you lowered your voice, standing closer to him when the woman looked away again.

"I know" Ivar rolled his eyes "I just wanted to... Reward you"

"What?"

"Do I have to explain everything to you, Y/N?" He sighed. He was losing his patience and clenching his jaw. You had to admit that you enjoyed when he got angry.

What the fuck, Y/N.

"You want to... Reward me?"

"Yes, I want to thank you for telling me, for fucks sake I thought you were smarter, considering the fact you're studying a fucking degree" he scoffed.

"Well, you're welcome, now I'm going to pay for this and..."

Ivar raised his eyebrow and took the chocolate from your hands, walking to the counter and ignoring your protests.

The inside of Ivar's car wasn't as luxurious as you imagined. It was a normal car, with a bit more of space to accommodate his legs.

You didn't know what the fuck you were doing in there. You only entered that store to buy a few sweets and go home, but somehow Ivar managed to change your mind.

Well it wasn't exactly that he had changed your mind. He hadn't really given you a choice, but a part of you was willing to go with him.

"What are you wearing?" you asked, raising an eyebrow as you looked at him. He sighed and looked at you.

"I could ask you the same"

You furrowed your brows while looking down. You were wearing a grey hoodie, a pair of jeans and your favorite sneakers. Okay, you probably didn't look like a supermodel, but in your defense you hadn't planned to go out that night.

"Where are you taking me?"

Ivar breathed deeply, and rubbed his eyes. You could swear the driver chuckled a bit.

"I'm taking you outside the city, to kill you and then burn your body"

You gasped and a part of you believed it, quickly pressing your back against the door next to you, ready to jump out of the car if it was necessary, but then you saw Ivar biting his lip to hold back a laugh and you scoffed.

"It's not funny"

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already" he winked at you "And why would I kill you when you have been the one who told me what I need to know about Aethelwulf?"

"I don't know" you shrugged "A month ago you wanted to kill me"

"A month ago I though you were someone who tried to trick me and worked with my enemies, Y/N... I still don't trust you but... I think you're smart enough to understand what happens to the people who try to trick me" his dark stare was enough to make you shudder. In an instant, his voice lost his teasing note and now was full of threat.

But you ignored the fast pounding of your heart and looked directly into his eyes.

"And what would I gain by tricking you?" Your voice was much more still than you had thought, and the way he narrowed his eyes made you feel proud of yourself.

"I don't know, you tell me" he muttered, licking his lips.

You were momentarily distracted by his wet tongue running over his plump lips, and you pressed your thighs together involuntarily.

"Nothing" you recomposed yourself and looked away, scared.

Not scared of him, not at all. He had already said that if he wanted you dead he would have killed you already, and you believed him. Scared because of the way he had made you feel only by wetting his lips with his tongue.

You tried to recall the last time you felt something like that, but you couldn't.

The car stopped in the middle of a street you didn't recognize. There was a bar opened with some people next to the door. The kind of people you would not like to encounter in the middle of the night while walking all alone.

"Where are we?"

Ivar didn't answer, he only opened the door and got out of the car, leaning into his crutch.

The driver got out and opened your door, motioning for you to get out.

"You can leave your things in the car" Ivar started walking to the bar "It's safer".

Hiding a bit your backpack under the front sea, you followed him, feeling everyone's eyes on you.

The inside of the bar wasn't any better.

It smelled of beer and sweat. It wasn't full, just a few people drinking and screaming at each other in danish. The loud laughter and the smell made you frown. You weren't a big fan of nightclubs, but you definitely preferred the club to this.

"Is this where you bring people to kill them with the smell and then bury them in the backyard?" You wrinkled your nose and Ivar chuckled a bit.

"It's a good plan, I might use it someday... Follow me"

He stopped in front of a wooden door, and opened it immediately.

Inside, the smell wasn't that bad. It smelled of beer and tobacco, but it was much better than outside.

There was a big table in the middle of the room, full of people. You immediately recognized Hvitserk's blonde hair collected on a man bun, and Ubbe's clear blue eyes fixed on you.

Almost all of them were men, except for four women. They seemed to be playing poker, and Hvitserk looked annoyed at something.

"Ivar" Ubbe greeted his little brother, smiling confused while his eyes fixed on you. Did he remember you?

"Ubbe" Ivar looked at his brother with a small smirk "Everything's taken care of"

You frowned and looked at him, confused.

"Y/N!" Hvitserk stood up. It was obvious that he was drunk, but you still startled when he went to you and hugged you.

"Hi..." You got away from him quickly. Hvitserk laughed and turned around to see everyone.

"She doesn't really like me, I don't know why"

"Well you did threaten her the first day you met" Ubbe rolled his eyes "Is everything okay, Y/N? What are you doing here?"

You gulped, trying not to panic when you realized they remembered you very well.

"I'm fine... And I don't really know why I'm here, ask him" you looked at Ivar "He kidnapped me when I was on my way home"

Ivar rolled his eyes as Ubbe looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"I didn't kidnap you" he walked to a couch, on the other side of the room "I just thought it would be nice to invite her to a drink as she has been the one who helped the most lately"

Ubbe was awkward, tense and still smiled at you.

"So you're Y/N" a man sitting next to Hvitserk looked at you with curiosity "I've heard about you, but I was waiting for someone more... Dangerous" the corners of his mouth curved in a wicked smile. He had long brown hair and intense blue eyes, and though he intimidated you as much as Ivar did, his stare wasn't as dark or threatening.

"Don't underestimate her, Harald" Hvitserk drank half of his glass of beer at once "She manages to get more information about Aethelwulf in one hour than most of us together in a week"

You bit your lip nervously as everyone's eyes focused on you again. Ivar watched you too, and you could swear he was smiling... Proudly?

"My name is Harald Finehair" the man stood up "And this is my brother, Halfdan The Black"

You had heard about them. Erik mentioned their names more than once. Halfdan looked like his brother, though he had a darker look, with his blonde hair and brown eyes. He didn't smile at you, but examined your face with curiosity.

"And she" Harald's eyes looked to one of the women in the room, the only one with dark hair "Is Astrid, my beautiful wife"

Her piercing blue eyes bore into yours, making you look away. She smiled softly.

"It's nice to meet you, Y/N, I have to thank you, because you probably saved all of our lives when telling us about Aethelwulf's movements..."

"Oh, I..." You looked at Ivar, your eyes widened and screaming for help "You're welcome?" You bit your lip, and everyone in the room chuckled.

You were panicking. Truly panicking on the inside.

Yes, Erik told you to gain Ivar's trust, but he said nothing about meeting the whole... Gang? Mafia? Family? Whatever the fuck these people were. You were in a dangerous place and you knew that you could fuck everything up if you said the wrong thing, so in spite of your desire of running away from that place, you sat down on the couch next to Ivar while the rest of the people went back to the game.

Ivar had already a beer in his hand, and he offered you another one he took from a small table full of alcohol and things you preferred not to even recognize.

The alcohol helped you to relax. Within an hour, you met Torvi, Ubbe's girlfriend, Margrethe, Ubbe and Hvitserk's ex-girlfriend, Floki, Ivar's "uncle", and Helga, Floki's wife.

You had to admit that they were much more polite and nice than you would have thought. And although you were still tense around them, after a few beers you even tried to play poker. You had never in your life played poker, so you were more than lost in the game. Ivar had an amazing time watching you, though.

The one who didn't look too happy having you in there was Floki.

While Helga had been a sweetheart to you, and smiled a thousand times since you arrived, Floki looked suspicious.

He watched you closely, not smiling even once, he even frowned when Helga went to say hello to you.

Ivar noticed it too. Floki was usually the loudest of the group always giggling and happy... To be silent and serious wasn't Floki's style. He noticed how his eyes never left you, even when you were tipsy and trying to understand the rules of the game.

He made a mental note to ask him about it later... Now he had other problems.

You hadn't had dinner, and hadn't drank any alcohol (not that much at least) in months, which made you giggle at everything and almost fall on Ivar's lap when you tried to go back to your place next to him on the couch only after your fifth beer.

"I'm a bit disappointed on you" Ivar raised his eyebrow "I though such a brave and independent girl would resist more than five beers"

"I'm fine" you frowned, though your slow movements and your sleepy eyes said something else "Why did you bring me here?"

You leaned into him so he could hear you over the loud yelling on the room.

Ivar smiled softly. It was you or the blue of his eyes was even more intense now?

"I told you, to thank you for all the information you've given to me" his lips parted, and you couldn't take your eyes off of them.

"That is not the real reason" you shook your head "You don't trust me, why bring me here?"

"Maybe to see if I can trust you or not"

His hand was on your thigh, and instantly you regretted drinking a single drop of alcohol.

His hand put your hair away, leaving your neck completely exposed.

"I don't trust anyone, Y/N, it's nothing personal" he muttered, his lips now touching your ear.

You sighed, your breath shaking as you felt his breathing on the soft skin of your neck. A part of you wanted to push him away and go out. But you honestly couldn't, not when his delicious lips touched your neck.

Ivar hummed, his hand pressing on your thigh as his lips worked on your neck. You moaned softly and closed your eyes, for his ears only, which made him smirk and then bit down on your soft spot. You grabbed his bicep and hissed in pain.

"And it's a bit difficult to trust you if you don't tell me your sources" he moved to your jaw, smirking.

"And I won't tell you" you managed to answer, eyes still closed.

Ivar chuckled.

"Did you fuck Alfred?"

"I didn't fuck anyone" you opened your eyes and looked at him fiercely.

"Since when?" His hand on your thigh moved, and you squirmed in your seat.

"I'm not going to tell you that" you raised your eyebrow.

"Then I'll have to find out by myself"

His lips touched yours, and you moaned almost instantly. They were even softer than you could have ever imagined, and warmer. It was like coming home after a long time away, like putting on your freshly washed pajamas, or even like the sun hitting your face for the first time in days.

You blushed in embarrassment, and tried to ignore your stupid thoughts as he deepened the kiss.

His tongue caressed yours, and you moaned again. You didn't know if it was because of the alcohol, or because his addictive taste, but you couldn't stop kissing him. Even when your lungs started screaming for air.

Ivar was the one who broke the kiss, smirking when you whined in protest.

No one else in the room had paid any attention to you and your... Moment, but you blushed anyway, especially when Ivar licked those delicious lips of his and his eyes fixed in yours.

You had never ever felt something like that when kissing anyone. And you had kissed plenty of boys (and some girls too) during high school. And you had been in love, or that was what you thought.

Not even with Erik.

Erik...

You felt like throwing up. Your Erik, the Erik you were risking your life for.

Oh my god, I need to get out of here.

You cleared your throat, recomposing yourself. Ivar was now looking at his phone, completely calm. You admired his composure, as you felt like screaming and crying in that moment.

"We're not strangers anymore, Y/N" his soft voice made you shiver again "So... Why not tell me now how did you manage to find out all of that?"

Even if you were panicking and crying on the inside, you managed to hold his stare and answer him.

"If you think that some beer and a kiss will be enough for me to tell you all my secrets, Lothbrok, you're wrong" you stood up from the couch "I need to leave, I have things to do tomorrow"

"You said you didn't trust her" Ubbe was worried, as always. Ivar rolled his eyes "Why bring someone you don't trust here, huh? This is one of the few places no one knows, and if she says something now..."

"She won't" Ivar sighed "I don't trust her, not completely at least" he tried to ignore the way Floki raised his eyebrow "But I really want to know who is giving her information"

"Why is that so important?" Hvitserk was too tired of the conversation "She tells you about Aethelwulf, we attack him, we win"

"But she gains nothing with it" Ivar clenched his jaw, annoyed.

"She told you she did it because of her boyfriend didn't she? The one Aethelwulf killed"

"I don't believe that" Ivar bit his lip. There was something in you, something about you that was... Strange "She might want revenge, but maybe not for herself"

"Look, Ivar, I think you like her, and that's why you're so obsessed"

Ivar glared at Hvitserk, fighting against the blush that threatened to cover his cheeks. Floki scoffed and throw his glass to the floor.

"You're exactly like your father" Floki seemed very annoyed at him "Both of you are smart, observant and strong, but you have the same weakness; women" Ivar clenched his fist "You see a beautiful woman and all that intelligence goes to Hel... Be very careful, Ivar, you can fuck whoever you want, but be careful with that girl, she doesn't have good intentions"

"Oh, go to Hel, all of you" he growled. Luckily, Harald, Halfdan and Astrid had left before Ubbe confronted him about you "Ubbe, you said she was an innocent girl and panicked when I threatened to kill her, and now you're saying..."

"You can not trust someone and still don't kill them" Ubbe used that big brother tone Ivar hated "I don't think she's a bad person, she's just a young woman with a shitty job and pretty big bills... She might not want to hurt you, but can be working with someone who wants"

"That's why I want to know who are her sources"

"Well, the kiss and the caress on her thigh didn't work so... Maybe next time you'll have to fuck her, little brother" Hvitserk smirked, patting his shoulder softly.

You were already in bed, tired but incapable of sleeping, with Smaug curled up next to you, on your pillow.

You couldn't stop thinking about Ivar and the kiss. And just when you were going to put down your phone and force yourself to sleep, the text arrived.

If you think that I kissed you like that only so you would tell me your sources, you're wrong.

And you knew. You were (and had) fucked up.

Tags: @mblaqgi @alicedopey @lol-haha-joke @hallowed-heathen @ivarslittlebadgirl @naaladareia @tephi101 @captstefanbrandt @love-hate-love @titty-teetee @readsalot73 @moondustmemories @thevikingsheaux @therealcalicali @chimera4plums @blushingskywalker @awkwardfangirl02 @gruffle1 @poisonous00 @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly @misskalonthelady @paintballkid711 @nataliehasgrace @atlas-of-the-world @justrepostandlove @persephones-deadgirlwalking @justacripple @love-dria @heartbeats-wildly @sw-eat-ing @letsrunawaytotomorrow @inforapound @sallylebecks @hellogabysblog @trashcanx @winchesterwife27

#ivar imagine #ivar lothbrok #ivar the boneless #vikings #modern ivar #vikings imagine #modern vikings #don't play with fire

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