#the song says the playboy died young and a way he did

[pinkflipphonez]

alexa, play 'playboy of the western world' by connie converse pls

[blingblong55]

The Heart Nebula- Simon "Ghost" Riley

GN!Reader, Angst, established relationship, Civilian! Reader

A/N: listen to this song You Could Start a Cult-Niall Horan, the last part kills me, every damn time

Simon was never the easiest of men to tame. Not because of his playboy antics, but because of his issues with trust and overall him understanding someone loved him. It took so much time to even get him to comprehend that what you felt for him was real. He has been your partner for approximately 6 years, and it's safe to say you two have learned a lot in those six years. By year one he started to open up to you about what he does for a living. He had mentioned he was a soldier, just not who he really is.

By year two, he told you about his family, something that took nearly six months to tell the full story. Then, he opened up about his friends, like a close friend of his by the name of Johnny, and a man name Kyle. Who he saw as a younger sibling. By year 3 and 4, he finally told you he loved you, that he has loved you, just that he couldn't find a clear way to say it.

Which by the way frustrated him, you were giving so much, always telling him you loved him, which you always meant of course. It was also the year you two moved in together. By year 5 he introduced you to the men he works with, some couldn't believe he actually was telling the truth this entire time. Not that he couldn't date as someone as charming, beautiful and kind as you, but because they swore he would end up being an old, lonely grumpy man once he retires.

By year six, he was as open as could be, always making jokes about his past and being the biggest baby when he got sick. He bumped his arm somewhere at base? oh its nothing, didn't even hurt one bit.

He bumped his arm at home? He goes to you, asking you to kiss his arm because he swears it hurts, although it literally doesn't. One time he got sick, it was just a few coughs and some sniffles, and there he lays in bed, cuddling you and always being babied by you.

One time you caught him faking being sick. But, because you knew this was his best way to get more cuddles than usual, you let it pass.

It was a super long journey that is for sure. From being so odd, quiet, grumpy and cold to you in the beginning to running to you asking for more kisses, back rubs, telling you how much he loved you, crying because he is laughing to much.

You saved his life without knowing it was even at risk. Nobody understood how strong your relationship was, not man or woman could ever break you two apart. At first you had to admit you swore he was cheating on you, the discreet calls at night, the no show ups at dates, because he was called to base, and the walls he put up to protect himself.

But, when you are young they assume you know nothing. Now, if they ask you, you know more than you let on. You know how he likes his tea, how he takes his coffee and when, like at what time or when would be the exact time he would be craving one. You went from barely holding hands to kissing under starry nights and dancing under street posts.

Yes, at some point you had your doubts, but, he is your man. Always has said it himself. There were nights when you thought for sure this was just him wasting time. But, you go home to him, his boots beneath your shared bed.

And now, here you were, sitting on a rock as you stare at the ocean. Simon broke up with you, you weren't sure why, but he did. It was for sure an all of the sudden situation. The moon was your only light source, you sobbed earlier, now you stare at the ocean, letting the breeze pass by as you feel numb.

One part of you for sure died tonight.

There was of course a reason he ended things to soon. 2290 days of loving you and he just ended it? So easily?

It was late May, when Simon was deployed for a classified mission. It was hell for sure, but it's nothing he hasn't seen before. While he apprehended the main target, the man told him something that made Ghosts blood run cold.

"R/n, won't get to see august."

And after a few weeks of being away, he was home. He told you things he knew weren't true.

"You are just so clingy, always asking for my time! I can't just be with friends because all you do is call me to come home, I need my time back!"

But that was a lie, you both. knew it. It was just a one time thing when you seriously needed someone around, and fuck, he would drop everything to just come home and cuddle you. He didn't even like going out, he always wanted to stay home, not leave, because in fact, he was the clingy one. Not you.

Right now, he is regretting that decision, he is currently calling out for you. Driving around town, your favourite places, the places you once told him about. He was desperate to say the least. All he wanted was to love someone without repercussions. The love of his life was threaten, not to your face, but his.

Finally he found you, sitting on that rock, looking at the ocean and stars. He approached you, he heard your small sniffles.

"R/n, I'm sorry, i...I didn't mean to say those things...I didn't even mean to break up with you."

All you did was pat a spot next to you, not once looking back at him. Which he took. He looked at you in concern. You always spoke your mind, so why keep quiet now?

"Love-"

You handed him a necklace, Merkaba diamond necklace, you wanted to show him something a while ago, but the last piece of the puzzle arrived this morning. "whats this, love?" "Three years ago, you told me that when you were a kid, you had a poster of the planets and stars. Said it was your thing. I told you it was also my thing, which we have bonded time and time from."

He looked at you, letting you continue on.

"Well, a while ago, i adopted a star, an actual star, and I even got a telescope...I was waiting on the certificate to arrive, and well...it arrived this morning." He was devastated, part of him had hope, but the other part, knew he had ruined something so beautiful and special to both of you.

"I adopted a star in the Heart Nebula,"

"and where is that located in the sky, love?"

"its in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the Cassiopeia constellation."

"I...you really did that?"

You nod and bring your legs to your chest, it was the only comfort you could receive.

This was it. This topped every little touch and word you ever told him. You had told him many moons ago about this, that this could be the last puzzle in your love story, because funny enough, he wanted to do the same. Wanted to come to this very spot, play "Sleepwalk" by Santo and Johnny and propose to you. Then, he wanted to show you that he bought a star in the Heart Nebula. But you clearly beat him to it.

He swore this was the day, almost every thing in this moment felt like a movie scene, except, you two, he should be holding you in his arms, whispering sweet nothings as you cry because he had finally proposed. Instead, you both sit there, the both missing a piece.

pt2

A/N: I had a dream this happened to me and since I cried, figured you should relive what I went through...bye now!

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

[deja-you]

foreign affairs | part three | d.c.

m. de lafayette x reader

summary: In 2020, Representative Y/n L/n is up for reelection. Lafayette, Y/n’s former best friend and current French socialite and playboy, decides this is the time to walk back into her life.

word count: 5.3k

author’s note: this is the last chapter of this series! it’s been so much fun writing this for you guys, hope you’ve enjoyed it. fair warning, this chapter/ending is pretty melancholic. 

trailer | previous

Although his grandmother had wanted him to be, Lafayette wasn’t Catholic.

Like any other Parisian, he might attend a special Christmas or Easter service, but he wouldn’t call himself a Catholic. His grandmother had always wanted him to be more devout in his faith. Since his father had died when he was young and his mother was a young woman just starting off her political career, his grandmother raised him for the most part. 

She was an organist and would play for different churches every weekend, never finding a church she liked well enough to stay very long. His grandmother had even taught Lafayette to play a few songs. At one point, she had bought Lafayette a crucifix on a chain to keep with him. 

It wasn’t one of those cool, sleek chains you would see people wearing proudly. It was a silver chain with dark beads on it, something you might see an old lady wearing. A silver chain with a tiny Jesus on a tiny cross. He had lost it almost immediately. 

Lafayette had always had a habit of misplacing items. In high school, he had conveniently lost his homework on multiple occasions. He was always losing just one half of a pair of socks. Could you imagine how stupid he looked walking around with one black sock and one white sock on? He couldn’t even remember how many times he had woken up hungover with no idea of where his wallet or keys were. 

The point is, Lafayette was a grown man who was used to losing things. Yet, no matter how many items he lost, he still wasn’t prepared to lose Y/n.

And yes, he knew it was all his fault. Everything seemed to be his fault these days. Lafayette wasn’t even denying that he had made another huge mistake. What kind of idiot sleeps with the secretary of the girl he was in love with? Seriously, why did I write such an idiot?

It had been eight years since Paris. After all this time, Lafayette was just as proficient at destroying his relationship with Y/n as he had been when they were younger. You would think that he would learn from his mistakes, or Y/n would have been able to forgive him, but no. Maybe they were young and stupid then, but they were still very much young and very much stupid. 

Lafayette had made a stupid decision. If it hadn’t been clear to him the night before, it was blatantly apparent to him the next morning while Sybil was getting dressed.

“Last night was a mistake.” He cringed at his words as soon as he said them. Last time he had woken up next to a girl and told her it was a mistake, it didn’t go so well. 

“Not in a bad way, I mean,” Lafayette quickly amended. “I am sorry, was that rude to say?”

Sybil gave him a look that he couldn’t quite read. “No, it’s alright. I agree with you.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “it was unprofessional, and by the looks of it, it didn’t help you get whoever she is off your mind.”

Lafayette rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking at the bed or the floor or the window or at anyone but her. “You are right. I just... Anyway, this can’t happen again.”

“No, never. It was a bad idea to begin with,” Sybil muttered.

There was a silence that fell between them, neither of them knowing what to say until Lafayette awkwardly said, “I’ll see you around, then.”

“Right, right. Are you going to Congresswoman L/n’s election night party?” It was more of a way to fill the silence than actual curiosity.

At the reminder of Y/n, Lafayette had to stop him self from outwardly groaning, but he couldn’t help but grimace. If things with her hadn’t been messed up before, they definitely would be now. 

“I should attend that, shouldn’t I? I’m just not sure Y/n will want me there.”

“You are a major donor,” Sybil pointed out. “It would make sense. If you and the Congresswoman don’t get along, why do you come around the office so often and make contributions?”

He didn’t even know how to respond to that, and his silence was telling. Suddenly everything clicked for Sybil. The frequent visits to Congresswoman L/n’s office. The disappointment on his face when she had told him Y/n specifically didn’t want to talk to him. The woman Sybil had asked him about last night. The way he called her by her first name.

“Oh no. The woman you’re in love with is Congresswoman L/n, isn’t it?” Sybil pieced it together. 

Lafayette’s mouth hung open silently, his eyes told her she was correct.

“I never would have kissed you if I had known. I never would have done a lot of things with you if I had known. My boss? Please tell me I’m wrong about this.”

“You’re not.”

She groaned. “And it was so obvious, wasn’t it?”

“It’s obvious?”

“Of course! How did I not realize until now? I don’t want to get in the middle of anything, I just didn’t know.” 

“You’re not getting in the middle of anything.” Lafayette shook his head. “I ruined any chance I had with Y/n long before last night. I really think she wants me out of her life this time. I should get on the next plane back to France, shouldn’t I?”

“Are you asking me, your one night stand, for advice?” Sybil said. “Not going to lie, this is a first for me. You’re going to miss the election night party if you leave.”

“Does it matter if I go to this event? Y/n doesn’t want to be with me, showing up to a party isn’t going to change that.”

“Look,” Sybil said firmly, “if you really love her, does it really matter if she wants to be with you or not? If you love her, you should want what’s best for her and her career, even if that means she still doesn’t want to be with you.”

He bit his cheek and thought her words over. “I get that, it’s just...”

“It’s your decision. Regardless of whatever happened between the two of you, she could use your support at the election party. Think about it, okay?”

John Adams was going to win the race, he had been ahead in the polls for weeks now. Thomas Jefferson had run an admirable campaign, well, as admirable as a campaign could be that outwardly trashed congress members in the media. Y/n never took his insults personally, even though she knew Jefferson wanted her to. 

Tonight she wasn’t going to let thoughts of Jefferson get her down, even though the news anchors on the television would continuously bring him up. Tonight was going to be a big win for the Democratic party. Jefferson was trailing Adams in electoral votes, and there were only a few states left to be accounted for. 

Y/n has spent most of the night talking with voters and showing off some of her bartending skills at the venue they had rented out for the election party. She was having a lively conversation with a single-mom when Lafayette walked in the door. Suddenly, it was like she had tunnel vision. Everyone else was dark and blurry, but everything about Lafayette seemed to be vibrant and in focus. 

Since the last time she had seen him, Y/n had been doing her best not to waste her time thinking about him. Not that it was an easy task to do, Lafayette had a way of being memorable. Still, Y/n had bigger things to focus on than an old flame. 

Now election night had finally rolled around. No politician was bothering Y/n because they were too focused on the presidential election or their own reelections. And at this time at night, the polls in Y/n’s district had closed. There was no more campaigning she could do at this moment, so she had nothing to distract her from her former best friend who was staring at her from the other side of the room. 

Saying a brief apology to the woman she was talking to, Y/n began weaving her way through the crowd until she was standing a foot a way from Lafayette. Her red lips formed a cordial smile, and to any onlooker, it looked like a kind greeting between two acquaintances. 

“I didn’t think you would show up,” Y/n said cooly.

He bit the inside of his cheek and tilted his head to the said ever so slightly. “I almost didn’t. I know things have been awkward between us lately, but I wanted to show my support for your success. No matter what happens between us, I’m always going to have your back Y/n.”

Her mouth parted slightly, a little surprised and touched by his response. When she didn’t respond, Lafayette quickly added on, “but I can always leave if you don’t want me here.”

“No, no.” She closed her mouth and shook her head. “No, stay. I want you to stay.”

A small smile began making its way across Lafayette’s features. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Nathan had appeared at Y/n’s shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Nathan said, adjusting his glasses. “Good to see you could make it, Monsieur de Lafayette. You think I could borrow the Congresswoman for a moment?” He turned to face Y/n. “They’re about to call your election.”

“Of course, I’ll see you around, Lafayette.” She gave him another smile before Nathan ushered her to the front of the room where a local newscaster was announcing the results for her district.  

The room went quiet and the volume on the tv was turned up. The anchor smiled at the camera and announced, “...and it looks like Representative Y/n L/n has won her reelection campaign by a large margin. Horatio Gates trailed the congresswoman by...”

Y/n wouldn’t know how much she had beaten Horatio Gates by until the next moment. Everything after the anchor announced she had won reelection went unheard. An upbeat victory song had begun playing somewhere in the room, yelling and cheering warmed Y/n from her toes up to her head. Her mouth hung open for the longest time, and before she knew it, she was pulling the nearest person, Nathan, into a tight hug. 

At some point, reporters had swarmed the venue and Y/n began giving out answers to all the questions they threw at her. There were a lot of congratulations and thank yous going around, and Y/n nearly lost herself in all the wonderful chaos. There was more wonderful chaos when John Adams was announced the next president of the United States later that evening, but Y/n hadn’t even been given enough time to soak in her own victory. 

Don't follow men out to the street at 3 a.m.

The election party officially ended at midnight, but that didn't stop people from staying for a few more hours. At 3 a.m. there were maybe five people left at the party. Now that most people were gone Lafayette decided he would approach Y/n one last time.

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure I congratulated you on your win again before I head back to France,” he said.

Y/n blinked. “You’re going home?”

“Early tomorrow morning.”

Y/n’s mouth hung open slightly, but she didn't say anything. Lafayette gave her a thin smile, a polite nod, and then headed out the door.

He had already exited the venue when Y/n processed what had happened. Not heeding my earlier warning, she followed Lafayette out onto the street at 3:00 a.m.

“So that's it, then, is it?” She called after him. “That’s the end?”

He turned around and raised an eyebrow. “The end of what?”

“The end of us. You're just going to leave?”

“Us? What do you want me to say, Y/n? That I regret what I did? That I'm sorry? Because I've already tried that.” He sounded exhausted. “You are just tormenting me now. Do you know how much this is hurting me?”

“You?” Y/n couldn't believe he was acting like the victim. “This is all on you. I can't count how many times you’ve hurt me

“What, you think I don't know that I messed up? You think I don’t regret the decisions I made every day?” Lafayette ran a hand through his hair. “Chèrie, I've used every kind of soap I have, and I still don't feel clean.”

The raw honesty in his words struck both of him deeply. A heavy silence settled between them. Eventually Lafayette reached into his pocket and pulled out two items. He desperately thrusted the objects into her open palm.

“I've been holding on to those for years. I don't want to keep them any longer.”

Y/n looked at the items he had given her. One was an old, worn ticket from a concert. The other item was a necklace. The one she had worn on their one shared night together. Y/n thought she had lost it and never expected to see it again.

“I dated lots of women when I was younger,” he admitted. “It never ended well. I've never been good at being sincere. Every relationship I've been in I ruined. You want to know why we never dated? Because I loved you. To the moon and back.”

“To the moon and back?” She repeated.

He nodded. “I loved you since I've known you. I couldn't let you be another girl I ruin things with. I guess everyone knew we were in love with each other except for us. Even Molly figured it out. That's why we broke up.

“Why didn't we ever tell each other?”

“We were just kids,” he suggested. “We spent all our time watching lovers in rom-coms tell each other what we were too afraid to tell ourselves.”

Y/n stared at the items she held in her hand. She let the ticket and the necklace fall from her hand onto the dark street below.

“This doesn't change anything.” She shook her head. “You walk in dreams. Dreams of what once was, what could have been, and what never will be. You hold onto the tangible things a ticket stub from our first concert, the necklace I lost years ago. You hold onto these objects because they make your dreams feel a little more real. Something you can touch or see, but in the end? It's all in your head.”

“What are you saying, Y/n?”

“Lafayette, I don’t doubt for a second that you loved me. Maybe you still love me. It’s just not enough to make up for all the ways we’ve hurt each other. I’m tired of being hurt, okay?” Y/n tugged at the sleeves of her coat, trying to find the words to tell him what needed to be said. “I’m finally happy and successful. I’m changing the world.”

“I knew you would. I always knew you would.”

In the next few months, Y/n would replay that evening again and again in her mind until it would drive her to the brink of madness.  “Out of sight, out of mind” was a proverb Y/n wouldn’t understand until four months after the election night, when the words Lafayette had spoken to her on the street seemed like an eternity ago. When a year passed, that night seemed almost like a figment of her imagination now. 

Besides, Y/n didn’t have a lot of time to think about events that had conspired over a year ago now. She had legislation to pass and funding to allocate. There was never a slow day in D.C. 

“Y/n, you saw what Fox News said about you this morning?” Nathan asked, setting down a cup of coffee.

More focused on the steaming cup of coffee that had been set down in front of her than anything Nathan had said, she gave him a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t know. Was it anything new?”

Nathan considered for a moment before shaking his head. “No, not really. They were just informing the public that you’re a radical leftist who wants to abolish ICE and free healthcare for all.”

Y/n scoffed. “They figured out I wan’t to keep families together and take care of the health of millions of American citizens? Oh no.”

“You’re not bothered by any of this?”

“Well, they’re not wrong? By all definitions, I am a radical leftist.” She shrugged and pulled the warm cup of coffee closer to her. “Besides, anyone who’s watching Fox News already has a biased opinion toward me. We’ve got bigger things to worry about, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Nathan agreed. “For one thing, France announced its support for your foreign aid bill. If your bill gets passed, they pledged to match whatever amount we’re spending on foreign aid.”

This seemed to wake Y/n up in a way that her coffee just couldn’t. “Really? That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’ve lined an interview up for you and a French diplomat in an hour downtown. You ready to go?” 

Y/n sat up straight in her chair. “You really sprung this on me! Nathan, I haven’t had anytime to prep.”

He rolled his eyes and handed her a thick binder. “It’ll just be a few questions, mostly just to show the public a picture of you and a French official side by side. You can handle any questions, you wrote the damn bill. Besides, we can prep in the car.”

Y/n figured she had no points left to argue, likely Nathan’s intention. Begrudgingly, she followed Nathan out to the front of the building and they got into the backseat of the car. They began going back and forth, Nathan asking her questions on the foreign aid bill, and Y/n responding with well articulated answers.

“See? I told you you had nothing to worry about,” Nathan said in the elevator, finally closing the binder.

Y/n rolled her eyes. “That’s because I’m just magnificent and well-spoken.”

“Yes, yes you are. You’re going to kill this interview.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They began walking over to a small hair and makeup set up, and Y/n froze when she saw who was already on set laughing with the interviewer. She turned on her heel and jabbed a finger into Nathan’s chest.

“You didn’t tell me Lafayette was the French diplomat!” She hissed.

Nathan’s mouth fell open in mock surprise. “Did I forget to mention that to you? How silly of me.”

“Nathan, I swear to God. I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I had known Lafayette would be here!”

“Then it’s a good thing I didn’t tell you, huh?”

Y/n scowled at him. “I haven’t spoken to him in over a year, and last time we spoke, well...”

“I know you’re not on the best terms. Maybe this will help bury the hatchet.” Nathan suggested.

“Nathan, we need to can--”

“Oh dear, it seems I’m getting a call. I should really take this. I’ll see you back at the office, Y/n.” He motioned to his phone that was clearly not ringing and retreated back to the elevator. 

After quietly cursing Nathan under her breath, Y/n resigned to her fate and allowed for some intern to touch up her hair and makeup. When they were done, she was ushered onto set in a seat next to Lafayette and across from their interviewer, J.P. Martin. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Congresswoman L/n.” J.P. Martin said with a disarming grin. “I’m glad you could make it to this interview on such short notice.”

She forced a smile, “thank you for letting me discuss my foreign aid bill.”

Y/n could feel Lafayette’s lingering gaze on her skin, but she refused to take her eyes off the interviewer in front of her. J.P. Martin said something else flattering that Y/n didn’t take to heart, then someone on the crew began to count down, then they were rolling. 

“Today I’m joined with Representative Y/n L/n and Ambassador Lafayette to discuss L/n’s foreign aid bill,” J.P. looked straight into the camera with a wide grin. “Before we get into the details of all that, it’s my understanding that Representative L/n and Ambassador Lafayette have a history. Is this true?”

She froze in her chair. How had this interviewer find out what happened between her and Lafayette? Would this be a scandal she found in the newspaper the next morning? In all the time she had taken with Nathan to prep for this interview, she was already caught off guard by the first question.

“Yes, this is very true. Y/n and I go way back. We met when she was studying abroad in Paris and quickly became close friends,” Lafayette said. Y/n finally glanced over at him, and he gave her a reassuring smile. 

“Well how about that?” J.P. directed his next question at Y/n. “Was it intimidating being friends with President de La Rivière’s son?”

Y/n was feeling more relaxed now after the initial shock. “At first, yes. Of course it was. I’m pretty sure I tripped over my feet the first time I met President de La Rivière.”

“You didn’t!” J.P. said with an amused gasp.

Lafayette chuckled and nodded. “She did. I remember my mother asking me afterwards why I was friends with that awkward American.”

“Oh, I can imagine,” J.P. was positively beaming. 

“I think my mother understands now that Y/n is the youngest woman serving in the United States Congress,” Lafayette was subtlety pointing out Y/n’s accomplishments. “And speaking as her son and an official ambassador from France, I can confidently say President de La Rivière was impressed with Y/n’s foreign aid bill.”

“So impressed that the French government has promised to match the amount the U.S. is spending if the bill gets passed.” J.P. turned to face Y/n, his expression turning more serious. “Tell me, Congresswoman, why do we need to increase the amount of money we spend on foreign aid? We’re already spending 39.2 billion on foreign aid.”

Y/n smiled when he asked this. Really smiled. These were the kind of questions she had prepared to answer, and she knew she had Lafayette to thank for the topic change. “J.P., most Americans think 10% of government spending should be spent on foreign aid.”

“Yes, that seems reasonable,” J.P. nodded.

“39.2 billion might seem like a big number,” Y/n continued, “but that’s less than one percent of our federal budget.”

“Is that true?”

The rest of the interview went fairly well. Y/n had intelligent answers to each question J.P. asked, and Lafayette was there to assure J.P. that France was in full support of Y/n’s bill. Before she knew it, J.P. was saying they were out of time and thanking both her and Lafayette for coming to the interview. 

The crew began to disperse quickly once the interview had commenced. Now that the interview was over, the realization that Lafayette was standing beside her begun to sink in. She loved the idea of walking off the set and never seeing him again, but unfortunately, they were both headed in the direction of the singular elevator.

“I assume you’re going to the lobby as well?” Lafayette asked, pressing the down button on the elevator.

Y/n nodded. “I am.”

The elevator opened and Lafayette gestured for her to step in first before following behind her. They stood in silence for a moment. Y/n hated how slow this elevator was moving, a fact that she hadn’t noticed on the ride up. 

Finally, Y/n caved and she spoke to fill the silence. “I didn’t know you were back in the United States.”

He gave her a sideways look, doing his best to hide a smile. “I’m the French Ambassador to the United States now, Y/n. Did you really not know that?”

She clicked her head and shrugged. “I might’ve read it somewhere, I guess I just forgot. I’m a busy person.”

“Oh, I know.”

Y/n turned to face Lafayette and considered him for a moment. “I suppose you’re a busy person as well, now. How’d you get this gig, nepotism?”

Lafayette laughed and leaned against the wall of the elevator. “Believe it or not, I’m extremely qualified. I’ve served as a representative for France in the EU for a couple years, worked in the state department, long with other places.”

The elevator finally opened up to the lobby, but now Y/n wasn’t ready to end their conversation. “Huh. I guess I forgot that you’re actually a pretty intelligent person under all those layers.”

“Layers of what?” He asked with an amused grin.

“Layers of stupidity.” Y/n shrugged.

Lafayette chuckled and held the door open for her. “I guess that’s fair.”

“It’s more than fair,” Y/n sighed. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “So what is it that ambassadors actually do? I’ve always been curious.”

“A lot of ceremonial gifts and handshakes,” Lafayette admitted. “But very important handshakes. I met with President Adams last week, and I’m headed to meet with Washington at Mount Vernon now.”

“Sounds luxurious. Maybe I should’ve considered becoming an ambassador if it meant I get to spend time with President Washington.”

He paused. “Well, meeting with Washington is more for personal reasons than anything to do with being an ambassador.”

“Oh yeah?” Y/n raised an eyebrow. “I forgot you were best friends with every prominent American.”

“You’re not wrong,” he grinned. “Can’t help it that everyone loves me. Democrats and Republicans. I’m planning to have dinner with Jefferson next month. And I used to be best friends with the illustrious Representative Y/n L/n.”

His words were teasing, but he noticed when Y/n tensed when he said “used to be.” She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. Shifting from foot to foot awkwardly, Lafayette cleared his throat and asked, “What’s next for you?”

She considered him for a moment before responding earnestly. “The Oval Office, eventually.”

“Really?”

“Are you surprised?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Not really. I always knew you were destined for great things, Y/n.”

“Did you, now?”

“Yes, in fact,” Lafayette reached into his pocket and took out a checkbook and a pen. “Let me be one of the first investors to your presidential campaign.”

He handed her the check he had just written. Y/n stared at the check she had been handed, still not entirely processing the extra zero written on the dotted line.

“Is this a joke?”

“No, it takes a lot of money to run for president.”

“I know that, but why would you…” She trailed off, then narrowed her eyes as a thought occurred to her. “This is just you trying to win me over by spending absurd amounts of time and money on things you don’t actually care about. I’ve seen this before.”

“You’ve seen what?”

“This exact scene.” Looking around seemed to solidify Y/n’s conception. They were standing on a sidewalk. Maybe Y/n and been young and naïve in the past, but now she knew how to recognize patterns. She recognized this one. How many times before had the pair of them ended up on a sidewalk together? And how had it ended for Y/n each time?

She counted five times now. The first was the day she had met him. It was Paris, and he had a completely disarming smile that made Y/n trust him immediately. 

The next time it was late, both of them were drunk, and they were laughing in the dark while they waited for a cab to drive by. 

The third time was in New York, ice cream cones in both of their hands and heartbreak on the agenda. That night she had remembered especially well. 

The fourth had been about a year ago now, and although she had tried to forget it, it had been burned into the back of her mind like a scar that would never heal. 

This would be the fifth time, and this time she knew better.

Each sidewalk rendezvous went the same way. Every time. And worse yet, they always ended the same.

“What is this scene?” Lafayette asked, genuinely confused.

“It starts innocent enough, doesn’t it? Just two friends on a sidewalk. But this is how it goes,” she laid out the scene for him. “You’ll reach into your pocket and pull out a cigarette. I’ll tell you how unhealthy it is, but you’ll smoke anyway. We’ll smile and laugh, until it gets to the point where we don’t want to be friends anymore. Then you’ll lean in and kiss me, or, at least, I’ll be wishing you’d kiss me.

Not such a bad scene, is it? Except every time it ends the same. You’ll wake up in someone else’s bed and break my heart. I’m just so tired of letting you do this to me! I’ve finally figured you out, and it’s not going to happen again. You’re my best friend, Lafayette, but I can’t keep letting you hurt me.”

When she had finished her rant, a quietness settled between the two of them. Lafayette watched her carefully, waiting to see if she had anything else to say, but it seemed that she had gotten everything off her chest now.

“That’s not what’s going to happen this time,” he finally said.

She looked into his eyes to figure out if she really believed him. Did she really want to believe him? “No? How can you be sure?”

“There are a few things in your “Lafayette breaks Y/n’s heart” equation that have changed. First of all, I stopped smoking a while ago,” he informed her.

Y/n was beyond surprised. For as long as she had known him, he had always been a smoker. It was part of his personality and was synonymous with his name. If there were two things that she was sure she could count on, it would be Lafayette smoking cigarettes and breaking her heart. Had he really quit?

“Second,” Lafayette continued on, “I’m not going to kiss you.”

“You’re not?” She almost sounded disappointed.

“Not this time. We learned our lesson, didn’t we?” He sighed, adjusted his jacket, and let his eyes fall to the cement at his feet. “You’ve ruined me. I’m never going to be able to love anyone the way I love you. And God, I love you so much.”

His heart felt heavy, like it was sinking further and further into his chest and he didn’t know if he would be able to find it again. There was a moment of silence to mourn something that had been lost. “You know I love you. You know that, right?”

Another certain truth. “Of course I do.”

“Good. I couldn’t live with myself if you didn’t know. I love you, and I can’t tell you how much I hate that that isn’t enough.”

She smiled. The kind of smile you give when you know that something lovely is coming to an end. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but smile.

His voice was tender when he spoke again. “No one ever told me that being in love would hurt this much. Am I a sadist for wanting to love you more?”

“No, darling, you’re just a romantic. That’s the worst we could be.”

Lafayette nodded because he couldn’t find it inside himself to smile. His town car showed up to take him to the airport at that moment. He bit the inside of his cheek, considering the different things he had enough time to say. Lafayette shook his head when he came to the decision that there was nothing left to say. He had already made it to the car and opened the door when he changed his mind.

“You know,” Y/n addressed Lafayette once more. “This might be crazy, but no matter what happened between us, I always thought it would be you and I in the end.”

Lafayette paused and pulled away from the car. He hesitated before making his way to Y/n. He gently held her chin between two fingers, looking her deep in her eyes as if he was searching for her soul.

“To the moon and back, remember?” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then parted from her and got in the waiting car.

Not everyone gets the fairytale ending you see in movies. But they loved. Really loved. And that was enough.

Real love isn’t like the movies. No, it’s painful and warm and terribly strong. Mostly it’s good.

[shypotato-translations]

QTVW Chapter 24

Showbiz* Sexy Queen (XI)

----

After Mei Mu Lan hung up the phone, she opened the webpage and searched for the novel 《Love in a Fallen City》.

As mentioned in the plot, Bai Jieying, a newcomer to the industry, became a sensation after appearing in this controversial film.

And just now Miss S called, informing her to go to Ling's Group tomorrow, the entertainment company's drama team for an audition.

This coincided with her intentions, so she opened the pages of the novel now, and carefully read through, the subject of the novel is lesbianism, 《Love in a Fallen City》.

Love in a Fallen City, a novel set in the early Republic of China; The story takes place in Hangzhou, an ancient water town; The protagonist of the story is the wife of the second son of the local warlord Xiao Sheng Yan.

The wife of the Major, who was a second generation warlord along with her husband, was of noble birth. She is the ninth daughter of Ling Ye Chong, the warlord of the southwest region, and the only legitimate daughter among Ling Ye Chong's 18 daughters. A much higher status than her other sisters.

Although the two Xiao Ling families were married out of interest, the newlyweds were a good match for each other.

And the her husband who is a Major, the second son of Xiao Shi Yan, was a dashing and suave-looking man who fought heroically and was, by all accounts, a wonderful man.

But naturally, such a man has a downside: he is lustful and likes to abuse his partner.

This hobby of Xiao Er Shao's was harmless to the society of the time.

And when he was confronted with the wife of the famous Major, he could not lay hands on her out of love and reason.

Therefore, he left the lady cold and spent many years in the company of playboys and prostitutes, which made her cold to him.

The story opens with the lady sitting on a carved wooden stool, wearing a goose-yellow antique dress and a wooden face as she allows her maid to do her make-up.

Listening to the maid's report of Xiao Er Shao's whereabouts in her ears, like,

“The young master has gone drinking again today,”

“The young master has played with his hands again today,”

“The young master is throwing his money away again today for a 'thing',”……

The lady looked at her reflection in the bronze mirror, the flowery beauty in it, but now her heart was as dry as a half-hundred-year-old woman's.

A young girl, as young as a flower, is tortured by this feudal society and has lost her vitality.

And it was on such early mornings as these for three years that the maid mentioned a woman, a beauty much loved by her own husband, a singing opera singer of unclean origins.

She smiled softly as she listened to the hilarity and said,

“The right way to be a wife is not to be jealous or afraid. I don't blame my husband for being sentimental, he's at that age, he loves to play, so let him go, it's just a thing. If he likes it, he can take it into his house and no one can say a word against it. All right, it's almost time to go and pay my respects to the old lady, let's go.”

The 'thing' that the lady refers to is the other female lead in the story, the lover with whom the lady is entangled for life.

The story shifts perspective to a woman in a large red costume behind a noisy theater stage in the downtown area, now holding a black ink pencil and tracing narrow eyeliner for herself.

The troupe master beside her also muttered to her about this young man who had been so generous recently.

She listened unconcernedly, her hands flowing with makeup, and when she heard the troupe master mention the man's wife, the woman finally felt a little different emotion.

She smiled lightly and said,

“The woman in such a deep house is most uninteresting. From what you are saying, this Major's wife is not a small person. But even if she is the daughter of the Emperor, she is nothing more than a plaything for men to hold in their hands. We are both women, but one is a high-class prostitute and the other a slightly lower class.

I hope this young lady will not be like those ladies before her who could not control their own men and went after men's women, which is really annoying.”

Two women responding very differently to the same incident.

One is as cool as an immortal, the other is as feminine as a demon.

It left a little mark on each other's hearts, so much so that when they first met later, they couldn't help but feel close to each other.

The lady relieves the theater's chastising punishment for the ladies, and the theater's son settles the city's ruffians for the lady; two seemingly worlds apart, and so they cross paths.

One is the wife of a noble and noble family Major, and the other is a lowly opera singer who is trampled on by others. They experience the sweetness of meeting, knowing, companioning, cherishing and loving each other, and the pain of clinging, thinking, remembering and wanting to say goodbye.

Because of the difference in their status, they could only see each other a few times a year, and the rest of the time they were in brocade, but this forbidden love affair brought both of them to life.

The lady refuses to share her bed with Xiao Er Shao for this reason, and is treated coldly by her husband's family, making her life worse every day.

The opera singer refused to share a bed with a wealthy guest for this reason and was tortured by the troupe, in a state of wretchedness worse than death.

Finally, the women decide that they will do something shocking, and that is to elope together and settle down to farm in the opera singer's hometown.

They looked forward to a bright future with each other and each escaped their shackles one winter's day, but the very moment they escaped to embrace each other, both parties sent someone after them.

Xiao Er Shao's face turned blue when he saw the two embracing each other.

How could he let them go when one was his legitimate wife and the other was a opera singer whom he truly loved and now, they were together, making him the laughing stock of everyone?!

He ordered the underlings of the Xiao Family, and took the lady back by force, while the opera singer was beaten alive with sticks by the underlings.

Blood stained the clean white snow, splattered out like cold winter plums, falling and falling, bodies left unmanaged and finally bones.

When the lady learned of this incident, she went mad, but begged for death and was severely tortured by Xiao Er Shao.

She spent every day and night alone in a cold, crumbling house, begging for her life and unable to die.

Until she met the opera singer in red, pale and with crimson lips, a month later on a bloody night, when she winked at her and babbled and sang a soft song under her breath.

Towards the end of the song, her flirtatious phoenix eyes, moist with moisture, stared at her as she said to her,

“Cease to be like this and live.”

The Major's wife began to regain her senses, and because she herself was of noble birth, the people of the Xiao Family couldn't just club her to death like they did with the opera singer, but had to go out of their way to cover up and pretend that the incident had never happened.

The Major's wife, a woman from the deep house of yore, but different again from before, has an additional female ghost in red in her room.

When no one is around, they will snuggle, they will compose songs together, they will be in love.

Doing all the things that lovers everywhere, would do.

Until Xiao suffered defeat, all Xiao's men died in battle, the revolutionary army defeated the warlords and stragglers broke into Xiao's residence.

The ladies live in a trance, rejecting the reality of the Xiao House's decay, while the servants carry their bags and scurry around for their lives.

Once again the Lady sat in front of the mirror, an unseen hand, holding a brush, tracing gently over her pale face.

From top to bottom, the inky eyebrows, the slightly powdered blush and the sweet red lips are a living example of a pretty girl from back in the day.

The lady smiled lightly and changed into a red dress, and the house burned naturally with no one in the second young lady's room in the Xiao residence.

Under the bright flames, a beautiful woman in red can be clearly seen, wrapping her arms around a woman in a long goose yellow dress, slowly swaying and dancing, embracing each other intimately and kissing deeply.

The story ends with excerpts from the novel. Written is:

From a family dinner in spring, one plays out life and death on stage, while the other dresses up as a virtuous wife offstage.

By the cold night of the ninth month, one was intercepted by a domestic servant inside the fence and the other was brutally beaten to death outside the fence.

In the old theater, a woman's watery sleeves danced and her feet moved; a woman's mouth smiled and her feelings were deep. To look at each other is to have no regrets about true love.

Mei Mu Lan's eyes were dazed, emotionally trapped in the story, unable to pull out of it for several days.

She closed the webpage and lay back** with her eyes closed, a story like this, it did hit home, Miss S's writing was excellent, she really wrote this story from an outsider's point of view.

In her writing, each person is portrayed vividly, and a scene of the Republic leaps into the reader's mind.

She doesn't stand up for the state and try to put a sacred veil on this fringe romance; she simply depicts a story that feels like an event that actually happened in the Republic.

In the midst of the Republic, when times were up and down and in turmoil**, everything changed, but only the relationship between the lady and the opera singer remained the same.

They experience great sorrow, great joy, great ups and downs, and every chapter of the story depicts the cold reality.

But, near the end, she recounts the transformation of the opera singer into a ghost, and the novel after this describes the happy life between them.

But, unfortunately, everyone else in the story, and the readers outside of it, all know that the opera singer may be a figment of the Lady's imagination after she has gone mad.

But, it is this plausible description, punctuated by joy against sorrow, that gives the story an unconventional and sublime ending.

The happiness visible in the story, at the end when the two are buried in the fire, the reader's heart unconsciously breathes a sigh of relief for the Lady, thinking: at last it is over, at least the Lady thinks they are living together.

The opera singer at the end paints the lady's make-up and she smiles in the light of the fire, sharing a poignant ending.

A lady in a large courtyard, deprived of the freedom of her body and firmly imprisoned by feudal society; a lowly opera singer in the marketplace, deprived of the freedom of her mind and oppressed by those around her every day.

These are two ordinary women who lived in that particular era, representing two classes.

The women under such oppression fall in love and their lives are rejuvenated, giving rise to the most sincere love, but this emotion meets with social barriers and ends up as a tragedy rather than joy, leaving the reader with a shocking and sorrowful ending.

Mei Mu Lan took a few deep breaths to ease her mind and she began to think calmly.

The novel is about to be turned into a far-reaching film, and in the plot of the novel, it is mentioned that Bai Jieying ends up as the lady in the 《Love in a Fallen City》, while Ling Yi Yao becomes the opera singer in it.

And now, with her ambition for the film, then, after considering her own strengths, she chose to go for the role of the opera singer.

And the next morning, she went to the place where Miss S had agreed.

By the time she arrived on set, the crew had already begun auditions and she was greeted, taken straight to Miss S and then dragged off to have her make-up applied.

This was followed by an ethnic opera which she sang in front of many invested parties.

Her fluent singing voice, vivid expressions and agile figure overwhelmed everyone in the audience in a flash. And she was successfully selected to be an acting actress within the cast of the play.

Mui Mu Lan had been made to look like a fool today by Miss S. By the time she got back to her senses, she heard the news that she had been selected and she grinned broadly with excitement.

After verbally thanking Miss S, she immediately returned to Jiangnan Town, where she knocked on the door and walked into Ling Yi Yao's villa to tell Ling Yi Yao the good news that she had been chosen as an opera singer.

After hearing this, Ling Yi Yao had a strange expression on her face, and under Mei Mu Lan's persistent questioning, she replied,

“Congratulations, Miss Mei, at the same time. Your co-star in this film, unfortunately, is me.”

Mei Mu Lan understood the meaning of her words and immediately jumped up and said,

“Great, you're playing the role of the Major's wife, aren't you? The casting people had a good eye, they could tell right away that we were a couple.”

Ling Yi Yao: “……”

Suddenly, Mei Mu Lan covered her mouth in shyness as she stared at Ling Yi Yao, her eyes cooing and darting about.

Ling Yi Yao suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, and she had an ominous feeling.

Sure enough, Mei Mu Lan said 'shyly' in the next moment,

“Oh, it's written that they did this and that, and the opera singer did this and that to the lady, so I can do that to you too, come on, don't be shy, let's rehearse this and that so we don't get rusty when we're acting.”

Ling Yi Yao: “……” Lifting Mei Mu Lan's collar with one hand, she threw her out the door.

[phoenix-manga]

[DCA Event] - Six Queens Event Part 5

Warning: Dark Jokes

[Howard - All you wanna do] 

It was Cerule’s turn, the ghost sends a promiscuous feeling thorugh her soul. They expected Cerule to be like Briar, vulnerable to being possessed completely not because of a relation in their situation, but more like Cerule is a bit impulsive at times. But surprisingly she was just as strong willed as Vidya, it could be perhaps because of her family’s hereditary power.

Using her voice, the ghost is blocked by the magic that her voice possesses. She gets into center stage as her eyes glowed a bright pink. She gets her act on stage and the audience thought this was just the sexy type character. But they won’t realize that this act was the darkest part of the play.

Cerule starts to ‘roast’ the queens as they tell her that she can’t compete with them in terms of having the worst life. The crowd chuckles at her sarcasm, Jade and Rook were invested in this act and with how she carries herself with such confidence. They stan a queen who knows how attractive they are and doesn’t regret flaunting it.

Cerule: Yeah… yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna need all the luck I can get, your lives sounded terrible and your songs… really helped to convey that.  I mean, Catherine, almost moving into a nunnery and then not? It almost could’ve been really hard for you.  And Anne! Anne, getting your head chopped off? Surely, that means you’ll win the competition— oh, wait, wait, hang on a sec. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded… oh, wait, nevermind.  Audience:

And Jane, dying of natural causes? When will justice be served?! And surviving…  Audience: *Laughs as she skips Rozeline* Seriously, seriously, Anna, all jokes aside, being rejected for your looks legit sounds really rough. I wouldn’t know anything about that.  Audience: 

Cerule: I mean look at me, I’m really fit. So yeah. I can’t even begin to think of how I’m going to compete with you all. Oh wait, like this... 

She snaps her fingers as the lights flash pink and the song starts. Cerule had been practicing on using her voice for the act, since there was a lot of times she’s lost control over it. The harsh vocal training with Professor Faustus was worth it, she uses her voice to make the audience feel the wave of sensual excitement, but for only a small portion, it was enough to get them to focus on her. 

Crowley feels the need to tell her that she shouldn’t be dancing so sensually, but Divus just pulls on his shirt collar again and reminds him that it’s a play, chill out or he’ll be tempted to tighten his tie. (Poor Crowley, his view on the perfectly well-behaved students are being dragged through the gutter, for real though... chill Bird Dad let the Serpent King do the scolding XD)

Jack was now praying to whatever Gods who might be listening to not have Idia kill him as Ortho sits there still with a curious expression. Like the majority of the audience, he can feel his cheeks flush in embarrassment. 

Others who are affected are Epel who is red as Riddle who happens to be clutching Trey’s sleeve as the third year was covering his mouth with his hand, Ace is affected too but he’s focused on laughing at Deuce who is covering his eyes with his hands whenever Cerule coincidentally makes eye contact in his spot of the crowd. Cater was just vibing with the music, typical playboy not affected.

Azul is blushing too but he is struggling to NOT look away because he can feel Jade glance at him from time to time. Floyd was just enjoying the music, go figure. For Azul, if he looks away that would mean that the twins would NEVER shut up about this incident for weeks! He’s having a battle, internally with himself and the twins. Cerule’s dancing just makes it worse because it looked so damn convincing! Not to mention the way she sang the song! OCTOBOY IS REACHING PUBERTY XD

Cerule: All you wanna do, all you wanna do baby~ Touch me, love me can’t get enoughsies~ Azul:

But when she reached the climax of her song the feeling of excitement faded as she her expression morphs from playful to a near meltdown, her dancing stops as she shakes off the hands of the queens when they make contact on her body. The crowd goes silent as the feeling of dread and pity washes over them like a raging wave.

Vil, let’s just say that he can find things that he can relate to being fairest. He may or may not have felt like this when he was pursuing his path of reaching ultimate beauty. He applauds Cerule’s acting, it looked so convincing, as if he was seeing the actual young queen go through the trauma of being used by the men in her life.

Cerule: Touch me when will enough BE ENOUGHSIES?! Audience: *silently realizing the real situation*

When the song was over, she could barely feel the possession fading since it was mostly blocked by the magic of her voice. At the end of the song, people were clapping loudly but there was little cheering. 

Not because they didn’t like the act but because it took such a dark turn. But they admire the acting because some were in tears, we now know whose been in that situation before.

[Queens Fight]

Cerule lightens the atmosphere by explaining that’s how she was beheaded. This was the part where the queens would start to argue.

It starts when Cerule claims that she is the winner because she’s had it way worse. But the others seem to disagree with that.

Briar comes up to Cerule and states that she may have had it bad but it wasn’t the worst they have heard this evening.

Cerule retorts back by stating that she had sung four choruses, that’s the amount of SH*T she has had to deal with.

Allison speaks up by saying how the situation was similar to hers so she ain’t the only one who has experienced that.

Allison:  Wow, yeah, being manipulated by men and paying the price, none of us could possibly imagine what that— oh wait, yeah, I did experience that. Evonie: Yeah, for like that last five minutes of your marriage, Anne! Men had manipulated me from day one. I was literally shipped over from a foreign country, not knowing a single word of English, to marry some random dude. Vidya: Oh my god, same! Audience: *laughs*

Evonie tries to argue again about how the king didn’t even say goodbye but was cut off when Allison and Cerule said that they’ve been there too except she got to keep her lovely neck. The two high five while giving Evonie the stink eye.

And her last statement about the king not allowing her to see her only child who had the chickenpox, which sets Briar off. And the outburst shocks everyone, the motherly queen lashing out in anger.

Evonie: when my one and only child had a raging fever, Henry didn’t even let me, her MOTHER see her- Briar: OH BOOHOO! Baby Mary had the chickenpox and you weren’t there to hold her hand! You know, it’s funny because when I wanted to hold my newborn son, I died!

Malleus: *Was just accepting it at face value and has no energy left to be shook anymore*

The entire room was silent as they gawked at Briar’s outburst.

Vidya buts in by yelling how she has the plague and the queens all turn to her, concern written on their faces.

Vidya: Guys I have the plague! Queens: What?! Vidya: Lol I’m just kidding my life’s amazing~

At the sight of a smug queen with the other five giving her a displeased look, the crowd erupts into laughter.

Kalim is laughing while he’s clinging to Jamil, Ace was choking on his spit and is trying not to laugh because he is going to lose more oxygen. Floyd is cackling because he would probably do this joke too if he had the money to back it up. Azul is scowling a bit because, let’s face it he had a bad life at childhood.

Although Vidya adds that she was humiliated on an international scale but Allison sarcastically asks who could possibly relate but Evonie snaps at her at what would she know about humiliation. This was the moment that sh*t went down.

Evonie: You seriously wanna talk about humiliation?! Well, when I was queen... Henry had not one, not two but three historically confirmed mistresses! Allison: Oh no, mistresses.. GET OVER IT! When I was queen I had not one, not two, but THREE... M I S C A R R I A G E S!

*Record Scratch*

Vil, Divus, Cater, Rook, Jade and Lilia:

Riddle, Azul, Jack, Sebek and Malleus:

Ace, Deuce, Epel, Ortho, Floyd and Silver:

Crowley:

The audience went apesh*t at that and it got crazier when Evonie one-upped her by yelling how she had five miscarriages. And the five queens started going at each other’s throats and yelling.

Rozeline stopped the fighting by yelling, “That’s ENOUGH!”

[Extra]

Rozeline yelled so loud that it shocked the five queens. To the audience it was just acting but for Rozeline this was going out of control. She could feel the ghosts nearly take over the dorm leaders as they argued. Their eyes glowing brighter and even Vidya and Cerule who had really strong wills to resist were being crumbled down almost becoming vulnerable themselves.

That was a close call for sure, but Rozeline thought back to the moment they got possessed. She had a song prepared about the life of the sixth queen but looking back at it, what was the point of making their pain known? She sympathized with the queens because they were in the same position as her, they felt powerless against the man who held the power to take away their lives. But should she just end the show with their suffering?

What about the happy ending? She wanted them to be recognized but would she want them to be recognized like this?

The six wives of Henry VIII who suffered in his hands? 

That was what they were, just HIS wives. Nothing has changed and Rozeline was not about to settle for this!

They’ve had enough suffering, she regrets not seeing this sooner but she’ll make the ending count. Hopefully the girls wouldn’t mind if she went off script for just a bit, right? Time for a histo-rewrite to ensure the legacy of the Six!

She just needs the ghosts to realize that they are so much more than just their history with the king.

[lucywiggin]

Bodyguard

Chapter 1: Kang Gook hates stupid love songs

“Never again, “ Gook murmured to himself as he entered his apartment, “no more idols. I’m not doing this ever again.” 

It was almost midnight, and he was just back from fifty-four days of being part of the world’s second most popular boy band (and they were very bitter about not being the first) security detail. Hye-mi suggested the gig because she thought it would be a nice change of pace, and would allow Gook to do some European site-seeing on his free time. Well, it was a change of pace, but not the kind he had in mind.  

Assassins and terrorists, he could handle; but he just wasn’t acquitted to dealing with a crowd of hysterical fifteen-year-olds. All that crying and yelling when there was no real danger meddled with his instincts. 

But nothing mattered now, because he was home, and he’d never have to listen to another stupid love song again. That was a privilege he never would have appreciated in full fifty-five days ago. Gook was only twenty-eight, but dealing with teenagers and their music made him feel ancient.   

He put down his suitcase, yawning. He convinced himself to change into shorts and a t-shirt, then fell face-first on his bed. 

 Gook woke up at eight-thirty to find a message from Hye-mi. 

“Min-hyun really wants to see you,” Hye-mi’s message said, “could you drop by at around ten?”. Gook doubted that Min-hyun actually said that – she was only ten months old – but he went to shower and dress.   

“Look who’s here,” said Hey-mi in baby voice as she opened the door, holding Min-hyun, “it’s your uncle Gook. He’s been away for a really long time!” 

“Hi,” said Gook.  

“How are you?” Hye-mi asked. 

“Fine,” said Gook, “it was a long, noisy tour.” 

Hye-mi led him to the kitchen. “Sit down and hold her for a moment,” she ordered, “I need to get my iPad.” 

Gook held Min-hyun, supporting her head the way Hye-mi taught him when Min-hyun was less than one day old. She smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back.  

 Hye-mi returned. “Your new client,” she said, passing him the iPad, “Han Tae-joo.” 

“No,” Gook said after one look at the photo. “Not another idol. Teenage girls are loud .” 

“He’s not an idol!” Hye-mi protested. “He’s the new chairman of the TB group. Pil-hyun went to high school with him. “ 

“I thought you went to high school with Pil-hyun,” said Gook. “Didn’t you go to school with him, too?” 

“I transferred only for the last year,” Hye-mi explained, “Han Tae-joo’s father sent him to England at about the same time, so I haven’t met him until five weeks ago.” 

“Why five weeks ago?” Gook asked. 

“His father suddenly died of a heart attack, and we went to the funeral. Then we mentioned him to mom, and she insisted we invite him to dinner. He’s an only son and his mother died when he was young, and you know how mom is with strays.” 

Gook was a living proof of that, though he thought treating a Chaebol as a “stray” was pushing the definition of the word. 

Hye-mi went on, “he was here for dinner twice, and she likes him. She told him he should hire you, and he told her he’d think of that. I guess he did, because he called me four days ago and asked to hire you. We already negotiated your terms.” 

Gook knew he was doomed. Between Hye-mi and Ms. Jung, he was stuck with the Han Tae-joo gig until told otherwise.  

Still, he wasn’t giving up without a fight. “Do you really want me to take the job because he was friends with Pil-hyun in high school? That was ten years ago.” 

Hye-mi laughed, “Oh, they weren’t friends. Tae-joo stole three of his girlfriends in a row.” 

“He sounds like a brat,” said Gook. 

“Pil-hyun says he was,” said Hye-mi, “but so was Pil-hyun, and look at him now. Pil-hyun actually thanked him: he said that if he wasn’t single at the right time he would have never asked me out. In a way, we owe him a favor. “ 

“Because he stole Pil-hyun’s girlfriends,” said Gook. He hoped Hye-mi would see how absurd that was. 

“I’m calling you a taxi,” said Hye-mi, who obviously couldn’t see the absurdity. “You’re meeting him in an hour. I sent everything you need to know about him to your email.” 

Gook accepted his fate. “Okay,” he said. “Fine, I’ll meet with him.” Even though he was feeling less than cheerful, he smiled again at Min-hyun before handing her back to her mother, because it wasn’t the baby’s fault that her mother and grandmother scared him into submission. 

“Dinner is at seven, don’t forget!” Hye-mi called after him, “mom really missed you. We all did.” 

 “I won’t forget,” Gook promised before he closed the door. 

Chapter 2:  A very un-Chaebol Chaebol

In the taxi, Gook reviewed everything Hye-mi sent him about Han Tae-joo. They were both twenty-eight, but that was where the resemblance ended. Han was the sole heir of the TB group, a less than ethical (though no suspicion was ever confirmed) conglomerate. He graduated from Oxford University’s Merton College with a first in Economics, then moved to the US, where he completed an MBA in Berkeley. After graduation, he worked at a Sillicon Valley start-up – not the TB’s group American branch, Gook noted – until five weeks ago, when his father passed away because of a heart attack. There were also pictures of him with nine different girls overall, usually at charity events – Han was somewhat of a playboy. Gook was not disappointed, or so he told himself. Most men were attracted to women; why would Han be any different?

Han Tae-joo looked even better in person than in his photos, which Gook definitely did not care about, thank you very much. He was also the most un-Chaebol Chaebol that Gook had ever met. For one thing, he didn’t remain seated behind his desk and waited for Gook to bow to him respectfully, but was out of his chair the moment his secretary let Gook into the room, crossing the space between them to shake Gook’s hand enthusiastically. For another thing, he smiled at Gook. Gook had met more than his fair share of Chaebols – they were abundant in his line of work – but they rarely bothered looking at him, let along shake his hand or give him a smile bright enough to light a room.

 “Kang Gook,” said Han, “I’m Han Tae-joo,” not Chairman Han, Gook noted. “I’ve been looking forward to meet you.”

Even if Hye-mi’s notes didn’t include Han’s long stay abroad, Gook could have guessed from his behavior that he spent a fair amount of time out of Korea. One had to admit, Gook thought, that Han’s attitude was refreshing.

“Chairman Han,” said Gook respectfully, bowing slightly. Just because Han broke protocol didn’t mean Gook was allowed to do the same.

“Please,” Han gestured at one of the visitors’ chairs in front of his desk, “take a seat.” He waited until Gook sat, then went back to sit behind his desk. 

“You know,” Han said, “at first I looked into your resume only out of respect to Ms. Jung. She insisted that you were just the person I needed as my chief bodyguard. However, after the results of your background check returned, I realized she was right on the mark. If I want to survive in this position, I need you to have my back.”

“And you got all of that from a background check?” Gook asked before he could stop himself. There was something about Han that tempted him to throw caution to the wind, and that made Han dangerous. Gook was a professional, and he wanted to leave the gig with his reputation intact.

“I got all of that from your background check plus Ms. Jung, Hye-mi and even Pil-hyun’s recommendations,” Han replied. “According to all your past employers but one – we’ll get to him in a moment - you never use force unless you have to, which means you have a strong moral code. You’re discreet, well-mannered, and my favorite thing about you: you have superpowers.”

shitshitshit

“Superpowers?” Gook asked carefully, putting on his best poker face. “Chairman Han, have you been watching too many Marvel movies?” And that was downright rude, but Gook was caught off-guard. Hey-mi knew about the telekinesis, but he would bet his life she didn’t tell Han. But who did?

Han didn’t look one bit disturbed by Gook’s rudeness.

“Telekinesis and mind control, to be precise,” he said.

doubleshit.

“You’re careful, which I like. According to my sources, you have used your powers on others…” Han paused and made a show of picking up some papers and consulting his notes, though Gook was sure he memorized every incident, “a grand total of eight times, out of which only two included mind control. The first of those was when you ordered that rapist to turn himself in and confess – which he did. “

That was almost seven years ago. It was Gook’s second gig, and he noticed his own client pouring something into a girl’s drink at a club. After that, Hye-mi took over vetting his clients before he accepted a position.

“How do you know I had anything to do with that?” Gook asked, his voice neutral. “Perhaps he had a sudden attack of conscience.”

Han snorted. “Sure he had; of your conscience. He doesn’t have one. About three days later he denied everything he confessed to. Fortunately, he handed the police enough evidence before that sudden change of heart. Then there was the assassin who tried to murder your client, who was also very talkative for almost three days, then again had that mysterious change of heart.”

The incident with the assassin was three and a half years after, and Gook really should have known that commanding him to spill everything to the police would put him at risk.

“I’m guessing the effect of your commands lasts a little less than three days.” Han didn’t wait for Gook’s response. “There were also six incidents of you using your telekinesis. The last time, according to my very reliable sources, was three weeks ago, when you saved a fourteen-year-old girl from being crushed to death by over-enthusiastic fans of that boy band.” Han finished.

Dammit, thought Gook. He thought he was discreet on that one. How did anyone notice, in the middle of that mass of screaming kids?

“I must say I’m disappointed – I expected a kitten saved from a tree somewhere on the list.”

 Gook did not appreciate being mocked. “Get to the point,” he said. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“No!” Han seemed surprised, as if the possibility never crossed his mind.  “I’m saying that I know what kind of man you are, and that I want you on my team. I don’t want a thug,” Han said, turning dead serious, “those are dime a dozen. I’m hiring you because you’re just the opposite. Look, I know that if I do anything illegal with you around, I will find myself at the police station, confessing my crimes, and I still want to hire you. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“It tells me you put a lot of trust in me for no good reason.”

Han put his elbows on the desk, leaning closer to Gook. “I have a very good reason,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve been out of this country for ten years. I know very few people and I trust no one. But to succeed in this position, I must be able to trust someone.”

“And you decided on me?” Asked Gook.

“You are, by far, the best candidate. Accept the position, please.”

 Gook never thought he would hear a Chaebol use that word, especially not in such a pleading tone. Either Han was the world’s best actor, or his need - desperation, even - to hire Gook was genuine.

“Okay,” said Gook. “But anything illegal, and you’ll be confessing on YouTube.” That felt strange, acknowledging the power he did his best to forget about. He never shared that secret with anyone, not even Hye-mi.

Han didn’t seem concerned, quite the opposite: he beamed at Gook, holding out his hand for another shake. Gook took it.

“Deal,” said Han.

“Deal,” Gook repeated. “I’ll start tomorrow,” he said, “I’m going to need your address and daily schedule.”

“Don’t you want to know how much I’ll be paying you?” Asked Han.

Gook shook his head. “Hye-mi already negotiated with you,” he said, “she knows what she’s doing.”

“She does,” Han agreed. “Smart lady. Scary, too.”

Gook couldn’t help himself: he chuckled. So did Han.

The story is complete! and you can find the next chapters in AO3. (13824 words overall).

[dramaclover]

Ending & Thoughts: Line Walker: Bull Fight

This is my most highly anticipated drama of the year. I’ve always loved the Line Walker series and Raymond Lam returning was just the cherry on top. It wasn’t bad but something was just missing. Line Walker is known for polices going undercover to solve cases. And one of the most prominent aspect was “figuring” out who is the hidden undercover. This aspect was missing in this sequel. I understand it in a way cause how many series can you make focusing on finding a UC? But the mystery of it was what made it fun. So I thought alternatively they could focus the mystery on finding who is the “black” cop. They didn’t do that either though. This is probably gonna turn into a very long post.

The Characters

In this sequel we see the return of Bao Seed (Raymond Lam), Cheuk Sir (Michael Miu), Tin Tong (Benjamin Yuen), Shuk Mui (Priscilla Wong), Foon Hei (Benz Hui), and guest appearances from Sin Ching (Elena King), Yuk Huen (Shiga Lin) & Wing Cheung (Tony Hung). And then there’s the new cast joining this sequel in Madam G (Mandy Wong), Lam Lam (Serene Lim), Ah Dou (Sisley Choi), Ho Yeung (Owen Cheung) and of course Ngai Tak Lai (Kenneth Ma). Wow this is a huge star- studded cast and I didn’t even include the numerous special guest stars that appeared in this series. It’s an attractive cast for sure but due to it being such a huge cast a lot of characters ended up getting sidelined.

Foon Hei was a huge character in the first and second, but for this one he was just there. He helped Cheuk sir and the others to solve cases but he doesn’t offer much other than that. The only thing that would’ve made him interesting is if we saw the return of Lok Siu (Pakho Chau), who he saved in the prequel. Unfortunately we don’t find out what happens to him in this version. I’m hoping that the TVB version that airs on tv will show him cause until then it’s up to our imagination.

Another pointless character was Ah Dou. Which is such a pity cause she was soo exciting to watch in the beginning. From episodes 1-10 she was interesting but after that it just went bad. It started focusing on her going undercover and falling for Ho Yeung one of the triad leaders. Boy, that was sooooo boring. It was love at first sight for him while Ah Dou just fell in love with gentleness I guess? After that it was just Ah Dou moping cause she feels extreme guilt & wants to quit. And goodness that bothered me so much. Cause love was all it took for her to want to stop pursuing justice that she wanted when she first joined the police force. After that she was mostly in the background. She didn’t help solve anymore cases and just talked when spoken to. At the end she helped find a chip that incriminated Tak Lei but even then he got away with it. I have no idea why the writers didn’t do more with her character. She wasn’t even there for the final villian gun shooting show down. Her potential was literally wasted in this. Also off topic, but she’s always wearing short-shorts in this series whether undercover or not and that’s how she dresses. I have no problem but yet when Rachel Koo from Al Cappucino dresses formally everyone disses her saying how she shouldn’t be dressing like that cause she’s a cop. Yet here Ah Dou is always dressed in that and no one says anything? I guess when you hate someone, you’ll also hate them over the dumbest thing.

Ho Yeung is literally a supporting character yet he managed to get more screentime then Bao Seed and Tin Tong. WTH?? Another unfair tactic used by TVB to promote Owen. Now this character isn’t bad but he’s pretty bland. And I’m not gonna lie, when he found out that Ah Dou was actually a UC and he had a standoff with her. That scene was pretty touching, he was so hurt but at the same time he couldn’t hurt her. It felt sad but too bad I just wasn’t invested in their love story. His performance here wasn’t that special. He was just mono-toned the entire time- so I don’t get where the praises is coming from? He was waaaay better in Al Cappuccino.

Tin Tong. One word WHY?? What happened to you? I loved you in the prequel. You were that comic relief playboy. You were hilarious and full on flirtatious. But in this sequel you were way too bland and wooden. I don’t even get what happened. This was a horrible character development. And before you say “he was only flirty cause he was undercover”. That ain’t true when he met up with Cheuk Sir and the rest he would show his true form and there he was still playful! Also there were flashbacks from before he went undercover and he was suuuper serious there too. So he went from serious to playful to back to serious. And it’s a pity cause Benjamin only excels in fun roles and becomes wooden with other ones.

Madam G was a failure. And even more of a disappointment then Ah Dou. She starts off amazing too! A cop with a great sense of justice, and quick witted. Yet, the writers messed up her character as well. Her character is literally a rehash of Madam Yuen from Brutally Young. Where she gets used by people around her and her being so dumb to not figure it out. It’s worse here because once she realized her sister is evil, she does nothing. She leaves the police force and huddles herself alone. While more crimes are committed, & more people are dying. She criticized Cheuk sir so hard when he betrayed the force to save his wife. Yet she’s doing the same thing with her sister but worse cause she chooses to keep this information to herself. If she had revealed what she knew, more people could’ve been saved & honestly her sister could’ve survived too. In the end the only reason she got evidence to arrest Tak Lei is because HE CHOSE to let her go or else she would’ve been dead. Another waste of a potential smart character. Another bland performance by Mandy but it could also be because the character faltered in the end.

Ngai Tak Lei, why are you so indecisive? You’re like evil and then you’re not. You’re just like going back and forth before going fully on evil mastermind. It took him way to long to even begin to avenge his brothers death. Kenneths protrayal was pretty bad and uninteresting. I was never scared of his character in the show. When I watched Death By Zero I was literally terrified of Brian Tse. To be a good villain you would have to be able to invoke fear from the audience. I never felt that way with this character. He was just annoying but at the same time he was only annoying cause the other characters were too slow to realize how evil he is.

The Plot

Episodes 1 - 10 were AMAZING. This arc featured selling organs in the black market. And wow it was great. Bao Seed became a handler for Chu Sin (Mayanne Mak) and worked together to find the mastermind behind this trade. In the process Chu Sin dies while saving someone else. Bao Seed is overcome with extreme guilt as she died under his watch. The sadness I felt was no joke. Chu Sin only appeared in the first episode and dies yet I felt such huge anguish & pain when she died. She died a hero and when Bao Seed avenged her death it was done with great justice. Along with this arc Cheuk Sir opens a coffee shop with his wife Sin Ching but she is later diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Cheuk sir in order to save his wife betrays the police in order to get a liver transplant for her. Unfortunately after going through all that Sin Ching passes away anyways. It was so touching to see them go on one last date together, and they danced together and then she finally passes away in his arms. I was almost in tears cause they went through so much together. I just wanted them to be happy. The flashbacks and the songs they played were perfectly in sync. And then that’s it. After this amazing black market arc it goes downhill.

From episodes 11- 20 it focused heavily on Ah Dou & Ho Yeungs love story. It got to the point that we barely saw Bao Seed, Madam G and well basically any other characters. All the other characters were like just in the background going through the motions. It was so slow paced and boring. I kid you not, you can watch episode 10 & 11 then skip to episode 20 and you would still get what’s going on. That’s how uninteresting and useless those episodes were. And even now I still don’t get the point of this arc. It was about them duking it out to become the top official leader of the triad. Yet I was not invested at all. The sad part is even after Ho Yeung gets arrested and was no longer part of the main story, it was still boring.

Episodes 21- 30 focused more on flashback scenes of two undercover cops that died in the prequel. Along with Bao Seeds secret son that they focused way too much on. With a side story of Shuk Mui and Tin Tong finally getting together. These episodes here were pretty much all over the place. The flashback scenes were not needed at all & I’m pretty sure it was only there cause TVB really wanted to give Shiga & Tony more screentime. I would rather have TVB write a different prequel with them starring in it, then to see them act as filler in this drama. And seriously Tin Tong ends up having 2 girlfriends that worked undercover dead? It’s like he’s cursed. The writers could’ve done so much more with Bao Seed but writing in a secret son is just lazy writing. It didn’t help advance the plot & in the end his son still doesn’t even know that he’s the real Dad. I thought it would end with his sons fake father (whose also a cop) turns evil and uses the son against Bao Seed. But that does not happen so it just ended up being more filler than anything. One thing I did really like is how they written the relationship between Bao Seed and Lam Lam. It wasn’t romantic and never got romantic as Bao Seed still loves Ah Deng (Charmaine Sheh) and Lam Lam only had a one sided crush. But I really appreciate the “platonic -esq” of it. It didn’t turn into anything more but I really liked how they have an understanding of one another. Lam Lam knows he won’t love her but is so kind and still willing to help him instead of being bitter & jealous! I also liked the mentorship that developed between Bao Seed and Ah Dou. I’d rather have them write more about that then the stupid love line she got instead.

The story started to pick up in episodes 31 - till the end. But it really aggravated me that no one suspected Tak Lei as the mastermind. It would’ve been interesting to see someone go undercover to capture him but that didn’t happen. I thought Cheuk sir would realize it quicker. He already knew about him orchestrating to have someone stab Wai Kit (Tak Lei supposed Father). So I thought Cheuk sir would look into him more. Cause wouldn’t he find it weird he was willing to kill his own “father”? Madam G is literally his girlfriend at this point and was able to suspect her own sister but not him? Are you serious? It just seemed like everyone was blind to his actions. I still don’t get why Madam Gs sister didn’t expose Tak Lei as evil. Like why is she helping him? I don’t understand? Was she evil all along? But if she was, why did she plan to expose him but then chose against it when he decided to not kill her? Was she touched cause he did love his sister? I just don’t understand. Bao Seed is a sharp character he should’ve been able to find out sooner. The writing just got sloppy with this part. The ending was nice, justice was served. Madam G is confined to a wheelchair which I’m glad cause she literally indirectly caused a lot of the unnecessary deaths and drama. Cheuk sir is reinstated as a police. Bao Seed decides to go look for Ah Deng. And ends in a good old fashioned cliffhanger. This one I can get behind as most of the main points were resolved.

The Surprise Ending

Tak Lei is killed by another mysterious figure played by Michael Tse. That’s a nice surprise! A pity that he isn’t reprising his role of Laughing Gor though. Madman (Joseph Zheng) who we thought died earlier turns out to be alive and held captive by another mysterious figure portrayed by Philip Keung. This was also a nice touch! Especially when it was revealed that Madman is not who he says he is. I would definitely watch a fourth sequel. Madman was on the way to becoming my favourite character but he had so little screentime I couldn’t really write much about him. He’s a good fighter, smart and he’s able to adapt in situations. So I was pretty sad when he died. But good thing that was not the case. I wonder how they’re gonna write how he survived though in the sequel. One part that annoyed me is that after this whole drama we still don’t know what happened to Ah Deng. They strung us along with saying “she died” to “oh she didn’t die” to having her go MIA. I get why though, TVB wants to leave it open ended should Charmaine ever choose to reprise her iconic role.

My Prediction for the Sequel

If there is one, I don’t see Bao Seed coming back. Mainly cause Raymond doesn’t seem to be interested especially with how his screentime got reduced for Owen. I can see that the fourth one would continue on with Tin Tong and Cheuk sir moving on to a different case. But of course Michael & Phillip would disrupt it. Madman will show up and throw them off. They’ll probably say Bao Seed left to go look for Ah Deng and write him off. I’d rather not see Madam G. Ah Dou would be pointless to bring back unless they kill off Ho Yeung so she gets a new love interest. I hope for the fourth one they bring back the who dunnit concept.

Final Thoughts

I remember on my post on Al Cappucino, I talked about how unrealistic it was with how they portrayed handlers and undercover cops. And that if you wanted to watch a realistic one watch Line Walker... well I take that back. Well for this sequel anyways since it’s super unrealistic how everyone knew Bao Seed was a UC and how they also knew Ah Dou was undercover as well.

This drama had so much guest stars that I lost count of how many appeared. But I was severely disappointed they didn’t bring Sharon Chan in to guest star. She literally played Sin Yan aka Sin Chings younger sister. It makes no sense that when her sister died she didn’t come back to see her one last time! It would’ve been fine to have her cameo or something. It’s like the writers forgot her character existed. But then again they brought back Owen when he already played a different character (Ah Fo) in the first one and ignored it. Also Pakho scenes getting deleted greatly upset me. In the prequel we were left wondering what happened to him and yet we still don’t know right now.

One of the flashback scene that I really enjoyed was Muk Sat (Oscar Leung) meeting Tak Q (Brian Tse). They both were basically the obligatory best friend to the male lead who dies tragically. So having these 2 meet and since they both were goofballs it was super hilarious and intriguing to watch!

I like how they kept the story interconnected with Bao Seed taking over Ah Dengs massage parlour while he waited for her to come back. A pity they couldn’t replicate how the parlour looked in the first one. But it has been 6 years so it would be fairly difficult. Ah Mui dying was sad especially since Tin Tong waited 10 years to be with her. I still feel that 37 episodes made the drama too draggy. And they added subplots that weren’t crucial to the plot.

All in all. It wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either. There was too much filler & useless flashback scenes. The first ten episodes were perfectly top notch! The middle part was a downer but the ending was thrilling to watch. But my top series of the year would still be Brutally Young, Death by Zero & Al Cappuccino.

[blackmuzak8484]

nortey dowuona’s best of 2020

to be completely honest, I decided to do this entirely for TSJ. otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered at all. Best end lists are for music nerds and billboard chart nerds and industry vultures, and i happen to be subscribed, in the discord and in the comments of the youtube vids of these folk. so, i decided to pick 10 out of random from the big best of 2020 i was compiling for the whole of the year, which I was gonna post to this Tumblr at the end of the damn year, but I guess I can just post the link to the playlist in the bottom of this post. Here, i’m gonna write about 10 songs I personally love, and pick out a few artists i specifically loved:

artist of the year.

RAP Ferreira put out his best album and best verses in a year everybody either stagnated, fell off or got rendered irrelevant by the world at large. He was ebullient, hilarious, thoughtful and even surprisingly honest. I enjoyed the fact that now he’s begun to create a real platform for many talented folx, and I hope he continues to do that in the margins and make even more beautiful music in the years to come.

rookie of the year.

Enny by a mile. Everybody else who debuted this year got hamstrung by the pandemic but she created 3 great songs, each thoughtful, insightful and a joy. Apparently she just started publicly releasing music to a large audience, and I hope she gets better and better, and even gets bigger than J-

most pleasant surprise.

Vic Mensa’s V Tape. An artist who I though had no more moves left completely turned around his whole career with a fantastic performance at Lollapalooza, a fantastic fleet of features and tis gorgeously produced EP which had some of his most brilliant songs on it. I love it all, Vic Mensah is well and truly back. Welcome back bro. (ALSO, DROP THE DRILL TRACK.)

GREAT THING A GHANAIAN ARTIST DID.

Strongman Burner, Amarae, Okunta Kinte, Vic Mensah in general.

cool things my friends and classmates did.

Justine Darcenne’s #4TheBaeless. Valencia Rae’s Siren thyhomebodies’s Coming of Age. (Phil, a producer in the group, made his own studio!) Brad built his own computer. petit abri put a track on APT9 Record’s compiliation album Volume II. khaalid anderson’s transitions. (khaalid will also be performing at Beats & Brunch on January 23, 2021 at 11 am.) Yannick Paul’s Bear Fruit. The Big Climax’s This Is Ya Boy kxng jetson’s Waves (ft. Kokko Williams & Mike Mezzl) Nicole Gonzalez performed in The Composer’s Melody. Victoria Marie released a bunch of beaufiful covers on her Insta, @toriiii_marie @ph0ssy_jaw works as a counselor online. Pay her at her PayPal. Johnny Aperano Yoba was on People AND Vogue. Dalitso is a wonderful pianist at his church back home in Zambia. Kobina is a fantastic drummer at his church. Kayla graduated with a BS in Music Technology and Industry! Damian been cookin on his insta. Travis graduated! (Look out for Clan of Dragons.) Rorghino Flores made a documentary! Francis (and Animax FYB) put out Mmofra on AmaLexPrime! (play it with yo kids.) A Hype has been dropping crazy all year, roll by his SoundCloud and check out Persistence Of Memory. Reina H been doing great covers on her Insta, @challenges_inlife. Hannah placed music on C. B. S.

best albums of the year (that nobody’s written about).

Maya Huyana -1991 DaWeirdo - Broke and Ugly $ilkMoney - Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 VI Seconds - Because Why Not/Never Knows Best Erik Cain - Heart & Soul Vol. 2 Dimitri & the Scarecrow - Messenger is Sender (from 2015, finally got released onto streaming this year, still pretty great and another great Zimbabwean rapper for us to all fawn over, just like billy woods) Flowking Stone - Gifted 1 The Hoodies - Incommunicado Jayy Grams - Every Gram Counts Domo Genesis/Mike and Keys - Just in Case1/2 Madwiz - God’s Gold Teeth Maez301 - Hasaan Daara J Family - Yaamatele Dai Burger - Dessert EP TeePhlow - Road To Phlowducation II Tef Poe/Blvck Spade - Preacher in the Trap Terrell Hines - Portal One: The Mixtape redveil - niagara Nyukyung - Trap Harmonix AdrianXpression - Sucka Deante Hitchcock - Better (Deluxe) maassai & jWords - ve.loc.i.ty tobe nwigwe - cincoriginals everything Kelsey Lu did this year.

strangest things happening in music in general.

vic mensah actually making a great record. goldlink going through a narcissistic collapse and winding up making the best music of his career. redveil blowing up off Fantano calling him wack. pharoahe monch finally making a rock pivot and it actually works. meet me@the garden coming 10 years too late for my 14 year old self. RAP Ferreira being in the NYTimes, selling a vinyl record for $72, creating an actual nostrum grocers in a video game so we can listen to his next record. The entirety of the playboi carti phenomenom. The entirety of the lil uzi vert phenomenom. The entirety of Chance’s instagram EP being far more money worthy then the entirety of the Big Day and yet being released on Insta and not immediately monetized. Deante Hitchcock releasing a great album and being completely forgotten armand hammer releasing their underground kings wayyy too early. my ass continually not actually looking into amapiano despite always loving it when I review it. several good songs needing to be tacked on to a prior youtube vid as an ad for me to find them instead of actually listening to the artists. santan dave still releasing good verses after he made his illmatic. (expect his new album to suck.) slowthai becoming cake. (we let that go way too far.) Guapdad and BfB Packman being wonderful. Finding out BfB PAckman is a better rapper than Sada Baby. John Boyega putting on Ego Ella May. Having to admit Young Dolph was good all this time and i missed out like a fool.

best tv performance.

Chance The Rapper’s “A Chi-Town Christmas.” IDK’s “Change The Channel.” Sa-Roc’s Tiny Desk Concert. Chika in general. Robert Glapser’s “This Changes Everything (ft. Denzel Curry).” SZA at the Roots Picnic. Sampa The Great at the Roots Picnic. RAP Ferreira in general. Umi’s “Introspection Live Show.” Alexa Esperanza’s cover of “Is It A Crime.” Bad Bunny in general. the jwords, nappy nina and MIKE performances at Satellite Syndicate

most embarrassing piece of music i love with all my heart

Logic’s No Pressure. In all sense of the words I should not love this album like I love my siblings but I do. It is beautiful.

best 10 songs of this year objectively

1 - RAP Ferriera - An Idea Is A Work Of Art (ft. Mike Ladd) [prod. by Kenny Segal, mr. carmack and Mike Parvizi]

I know, I know. In all honesty Doldrums should be here. Then Noz put it on his best list and I had to be all ChiTown Go-Getter and pick the next better thing: this. And in all honesty, it has the best lyric RAP spits on the album: “we build better answers.” But it’s not just that, it’s RAP’s most animated performance, the most dexterous piece on the whole album and the most gorgeous beat, a loping bassline sliding behind the flatfooted drum, allowing Mike Ladd, his musical father, to gently drift through, saying, “what if royalty depised us?” and knowing the only gold is soul and giving it to all of us, all us maggots and vultures and locusts and weevils, to hold to the light so we can finally see. On the quest to get open and free, we continue.

2 - Chika - U Should [prod. by Lido]

I heard this the night it dropped and shot 2 insta videos playacting as it played. But apart from that, it’s a intimate, beautiful song about getting to know a new lady love, so tenderly sung it might melt and disappear if not held gently, with a sweeping guitar lick and purring trumpets sliding all over the place, Chika softly holding each frayed piece together into a considered, gorgeous piece - wait, she’s talking her shit.

3 - Issa Gold - Boys Don’t Cry [prod. by Kingjet & Sherwyn and Matt Zara]

The only reason this isn’t number one is because it dropped on Christmas Eve. But otherwise, it’s a openheart letter to us all. “it’s a lonely path being different,” Issa says, swimming in the melted ice caps as he once danced happily on the edges of melting glaciers that failed to drown him, looking at the world that keeps hurting his heart, yet he still opens his eyes and smiles, and dances. The heavy drums are so bouncy the whole song suddenly flies, formerly a hidden murmur becoming a bright sunlit flight across the sky so we can all see. I can’t wait to see Tempus, if it’s anything as good as this was.

4 - Deante Hitchcock - Growing Up/Mother God [prod. by Brandon Phillips-Taylor]

In all honesty, “Growing Up” is really not the best song on Better. It’s a sweet, happy song with a smooth, crackling bassline with soft, ghostly synths, but still kinda ok. It’s the song added at the end, “Mother God”, that has warm, sizzling piano chords and gorgeous singing in the back. It’s one of the few time I’ve ever heard a man pay homage to the woman in his life and to the God above while being entirely sincere and not faking the funk. The way he praises his mom, his lady, remembering the women in his family taking care of him and him foolishly neglecting Breonna due to his overburdened mind feels full of details, remembrances, explanations and praises. Plus, it actually makes sense that God, if she exists (she does) is a woman since -

5 - Yana Perrault - whiskey and weed [prod. by slate]

Apparently, Yana Perrault is verified now. Excellent. {YES YES MY GOD YESS}, It means more folks know about how great this song, and Yana herself is. If I had any sense, I would’ve written up 12:21 as the best song of 2018, but such is life. Anyway, we have this smooth, bass heavy slinker with shimmering percussion and lumbering drums about hooking up with a former flame who’s “sober” yet keeps on calling Yana to break their sobriety, “know we ain’t talked in a while but you still know my address,” she wryly mentions. As the beat sprints away under a warm cocoon of accapella echoes, it mirrors a relationship so tenuous it might disappear into the wind. Yet still strong enough to have whiskey on call.

6 - Marlon Craft - Culture Sick Freestyle [prod. by Cormill]

Apparently this was supposed to be a shot at Flex. And since Flex is a woman beater and a lame, good for him. Shouldn’t have even gone on Flex to be honest, but then again neither should Jay Critch or Tyler or Black Thought and besides, I watch those freestyles too. And on the freestyle, Marlon frankly put things in perspective. “You don’t want us to better, you just want to be cool still.” This describes all of rap media to be real. And tellingly, it only has 310,000 views. Methinks nobody really wants real. But I do. Thank u Marlon, you continue to be the best white rapper alive. (Nowhere near the best rapper tho, and if Token hadn’t fell off -)

7 - Miah - Cascades [prod. by Cedes]

I’m sideeyeing the boy Miah cuz I had to search up his Audiomack to find the producer’s name (it’s Cedes, and they have a really great avalanche of Drake Type Beats is you like that kind of thing). Were you trying to trick folk into thinking you produced it yourself? You don’t need to do that shit. Especially since you’re writing stuff like “back in high school all my peers were tryin to hit the league / until the league too far from reach so they tap dancing over beats.” When you can frankly break down life that clearly, don’t be trying to hide producer’s names unless you actually learn to produce too. Plaster your name all over that shit.

8 - Justine Darcenne - Off Days [prod. by Mikhail Miller] / Enny - Peng Black Girls (ft. Amia Brave [prod. by Paya]

Justine is indeed my classmate, but that’s not why this song is here. it’s here because it’s a nice little guitar driven song with a spellbinding bridge that’s the best thing I’ve heard her do yet. And I’mma keep it short cuz I already wrote this up at the Singles Jukebox.

Enny released this soft, cushiony record with washed out synths over bulky drums and floated FLOATED over them without even trying to run in the tar, saying frankly, “He said to me, 'they put guns in the streets, that’s what they wanted for me.’ And I said, ‘G, someone can fix you a plate but no one can force you to eat.’” After all, why not try to live for something greater than what the world has expected you to be. And Amia sings, “We’re gon be alright, ok?” with the joy and excitement of someone realizing the words coming alive on their tongue. One of the best songs of this miserable year, and it’s kinda funny watching Jorja accidentally Drake out Amia and even Enny (and by funny I mean irritating.)

9 - Tobi Lou - okay (ft. Dreezy) [prod. by Matteo Woods & Dilip]

Fun fact: Dilip did some great songs with Otxhello, a producer who recorded and mixed 2 records on my first album. That again is not why this song is here. The warm, swinging synths and heavy, bouncy drums are why this is here. Oh, and Tobi’s goofy, silly lyrics and his surprisingly effective Missy Elliott tribute are great too. But obviously, the verse that vaulted this into top 10 was Dreezy, which opens with such a openhearted line, “i can’t help it, it’s too hard to say I’m sorry.” And every line is harder than the last, until she closes with “and I ain’t talkin frontals but we got the city sown up.” Absolutely amazing.

10 - Strongman Burner - Pilolo (ft. KelvynBoy) [prod. by Nixie]

The sweet, gooey synths are poured over the soft, zipping and smooth drums as the wiry bass whirls between Kelvyn’s soft, thin crooning as Stoneman tap dances over the drums, both desperate and defiant, trying to salvage a sinking relationship that he knows is already gathering coral and snappers. It’s the best afropop song of the year and yet it still has a Nigerian on it (well, I put 4 Nigerians on here, next year I’m rectifying that.) And they even did a song together last year , not as good as this. At all. (still pretty good tho.)

best 10 songs i love (but not enough to write full paragraphs for, I already put 10 in and this is already 5 goddamn pages)

11 - Logic - Heard ‘Em Say

best song on the project that isn’t Dadbod but at least it isn’t tempting fate.

12 - Deqn Sue - Creep

I already love this for having a gorgeous bridge, and is cute af. Yes Sue, you can creep.

13 - Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Sudden Death/ka - i love {moms, mimi, kev}

QUELLE CHIS CAN SANG SANG./ka can heart heart write.

14 - IDK - Square Up (ft. Juicy J)

I don’t know why this is here either but this slaps regardless.

15 - Nappy Nina - Modestly (ft. Maassai)

Maassai is creating some of the best raps out here. so is Nappy Nina.

16 - Kehlani - Lexii’s Outro (ft. Lexii Ajaii)

Let’s celebrate our great rappers when they’re alive (and this includes me. Pls Chika, don’t win Best New Artist.)

17 - Samad Savage - Goodnight

What Travis Scott should’ve tried to be instead of what he is now. Samad still dope af regardless.

18 - Bad Bunny - Si Veo Tu Mama

The way Bad Bunny actually hits that last note makes me feel so excited and alive.

19 - Fat Tony - Back In The Saddle

I fucked up. But I’m getting back in the saddle, back in the saddle next year. NO NIGERIANS ALL NIGERIENS. #ENDSARS tho.

20 - Lady A - the truth is loud

Why am I the only one who has this on a best list? I have 34 bot followers. Vibe, step it up.

best of 2020 music right here folxs.

worst music things of the year:

The Pop Smoke album. Just in all areas. (Better win that Grammy tho.) Travis Scott in general. (So loud and empty and boring.) Big Sean’s Detroit 2. (why does this exist? Just put out Deep Reverence and Detroit Night Cypher and leave everything on the cutting room floor fo the next album.) Remembering all the great rappers who are dead or incarcerated. No Kendrick album (just leaks. Not good enough.) J. Cole and Noname beefing and Noname getting strung up by twitter. Jay Rock pushing being anti-vaccinations. The realization that Normani might never drop a single record ever again. Tory Lanez in general. Joyner Lucas making actually good songs and falling off almost immediately. Cardi B in general. Anything positive being said about steven Universe songs. Luzamity shipping (until it’s canon please stop! Willuz is RIGHT THERE!)

[writing-without-time]

if you can't handle a heart like mine

don't waste your time with me.

read it on ao3

this is peak canon divergence me complaining about minor in game things but make it fluff while i did it

More often than not, Bonnie found herself at the heart of Slumbering Weald.

A beautiful area that was so quiet, so serene, so perfect to just sort out your thoughts. A lot of the time, Bonnie had ran into Hop sitting by the water, contemplating random problems. But today she was alone, as she sat on top of the tombstone belonging to heros. She had come here to think. Not really to solve a problem, no, there's no solving her issue, just to think about it. Calm down, maybe. She breathed deep as she clung her cape close briefly, before letting it drop on the ground behind her. Hopefully Zacian wouldn't mind.

Bonnie was stuck thinking about her adventure. What lead her to now. Not just the adventure itself, and for once, not about Hop, and the shared nights, and camping together under the wild area night sky, and battling together and against each other... She shook the thought from her head. Not the problem right now. She figured she'd have a fucking relationship crisis, 'oh no, i like my childhood best friend!' bullshit later. What bothered her was a common occurrence that also stood out beyond everything. It was this habit her friends way older than her had.

It happened alot. She could recall a few select times: Outside of Spikemuth, when the dynamaxing started happening, when Hop and her had found Lee and Chairman Rose at the top of Rose Tower, and a few other instances that passed through her mind. She was told the same thing, every single time: "Don't worry, let the adults handle this."

She hated it.

She didn't like to admit it, but Bonnie grew up young. She had to. And so it got under her skin, and in a more "adult" term, pissed her the fuck off, every time. She knew there was no hard feelings behind the statement, she and Hop were only sixteen. She supposed some people would still consider that young. She pondered though, how much bullshit would we have avoided if we just let Bonnie and Hop help out for like, 10 fucking seconds? Probably a lot.

When she had left Rose Tower, she had knew, oh she was aware that Chairman Rose would entirely fuck up her match with Lee, but she hadn't told anyone. But look who was right? It was her. She always knew something was wrong, and that Leon and Sonia and all the others couldn't handle it without Hop and her- as conceited as it sounds- but she would be dismissed because she was a kid.

She supposed, in theory, it was nothing to seethe in rage over. One, it was all over now, and two, she had long proved she is more than just a kid. Hell, she's the fucking champion! But it still got under her skin, bothered her. It made the depths of her soul question: Was she ever good enough? Did she still have to prove herself? Is she still just a silly little kid? She sighed, frustrated as ever as she looked to the setting sun and began to hum. Humming and singing helped clear her mind, as she began to sing a song where she couldn't remember where it came from, hands running through her hair as she tried to relax herself.

"..and cut a rug with orphaned girls, now memories are blurred, and their faces are blurred, but I still know the words to this song-" She sings softly, sounding awfully louder than she was in the quiet area.

"I haven't heard you sing in a long time." Hop laughs, causing Bonnie to literally shriek as she falls backwards off the tomb she sat on, only to be caught as she falls back into Hop's chest. "Woah! It's just me." He laughs, shit eating grin on his face as Bonnie looks up at him.

"You're an asshole.." Bonnie mutters, ignoring the small smile that graced her own face while she stood up.

"What a role reversal." Hop laughs, ignoring the comment as he looks at Bonnie with his hands folded behind his head. "Aren't you usually the one running into me?"

Bonnie rolls her eyes. "Not my fault you're late to your scheduled therapy appointment." She snickers, which causes Hop to laugh as well.

"Well, what has you out here?" Hop asks, picking up Bonnie's cape and throwing it around his own shoulders, something he jokingly did often. Bonnie liked it. He sits down where the cape once sat and invites her to join him.

"Just.. frustrated about stupid things." Bonnie sighs. "You?"

He shrugs. "Stressed, a bit." He laughs nervously. "Being a professor is hard. But I'm not giving up!" Hop smiles confidently.

"That's the spirit." Bonnie smiles, messing with his dark purple hair, causing him to swat her hand away, and she laughs as he fixes his hair.

"What's got you frustrated?" Hop asks as their laughter dies down, turning to Bonnie with a more serious tone.

Bonnie sighs. "Something about our..adventure, I guess."

"It's not something I did, is it?" Hop looks worried.

"No, no no, not at all!" Bonnie rushes to clarify. "Quite the opposite, actually.. I just.." Bonnie runs a hand through her hair, effectively messing it up and making it look like shit. "Do you remember, how every time we tried to help Lee and Sonia with things, we were told to 'let the adults handle it'?"

"What do you mean?" Hop asks, tilting his head slightly in an adorable way.

Bonnie thinks of the most easy to remember instance. "Back in the Rose Tower, when we found Lee talking to Chairman Rose." She lists, careful to not bring up their shared kiss, Arceus forbid she decides to have a crisis about that. "When we left with Lee, he just told us not to worry about what we heard. And...well, that went great." She rolls her eyes.

"I.. suppose you're right.."Hop says, seeming to recall the moment Rose had made a bitter remark- 'there are times when adults just cant seem to have an honest discussion with each other. sometimes our pride gets in the way.'

"It just- it's been bothering me. So much shit could've been avoided if someone just listened to us. It felt like we had to run 20 miles and more just to prove we're not just little kids." Bonnie sighs, letting her head roll back and hit the concrete behind her.

"Yeah, I suppose." Hop says, turning to Bonnie. "But that's part of the glory of it. We went from just random kids from a farmer town, and look at us now! Heck, you're the champion!" Hop cheers, only bringing a small smile to Bonnie's face.

"And what about you?" She asks. She had a solid answer to that one. He was her entire world. But she wanted to see his answer.

Hop hesitates. "I-I'm.." He breathes in. "I'm gonna be the best damn professor in all of Galar." He grins confidently.

"Hell yeah." Bon smiles, letting her head rest on Hop's shoulder as she observes the sun has already gone all the way down, and they were now greeted by the stars.

"You're the best champion in all of Galar, Bre." Hop says, quietly. Bon halts. Bre was her real name. She didn't use it much anymore. Not after she moved out of Kalos. Hop was the only one who knew her real name, and he didn't use it a lot. She didn't trust a lot of people to know her real name, cause what was the point? It didn't mean anything good to her. But it meant something good, that through everything, even when her name poured out of his lips, she wouldn't flinch, just for once, and it wouldn't be a reminder of her horrible story.

"..Thank you, Hop.." She sighs, letting her head rest again. Hop lets his own head rest on top of hers, and they're warm and quiet as they watch the sky turn. It's a comfortable silence until Hop breaks it.

"Bon." He calls.

"Yes, Hop?" She asks, quietly.

He hesitates for a couple beats, his face turning as red as it can. "Do you.. you.. I-" He struggles.

"Take your time." Bon laughs softly. He rolls his eyes as he and Bon both pick up their heads to look at each other.

He waits a few more seconds, and she nearly see the gears turning in his head. "You.. Do you know I.. I love you..?" He asks, almost afraid of the answer.

Bon hesitates before nodding her head. Hop holds his breath, waiting for another response. "You should know I love you too, you dense playboy." She grins cheekily, sticking her tongue out briefly. Hop lets go of his breath, if only to laugh before pouting at the nickname. The laughter dies down as their eyes meet and stay there, Hop slowly letting one of his hands cup Bon's cheek. She leans into the touch, seemingly holding her breath as she does, and the two inch closer. And it's a painful amount of time before their lips finally meet, a soft and sweet kiss, leaving the taste of each other on the other's tongue. They pull away slowly, wishing they could stay like that for an eternity, before they let go of each other, and continuing to huddle close against the stone, watching the sky as Bonnie drifted off, and Hop didn't seem to mind.

"Hey, Bon?" Hop asks, again.

"Mh?" She hums, too tired to even open her eyes anymore.

"I like your singing.. you should do it more.." He blushes as he trails off, getting even quieter. She nods, and it's a few beats of silence before she starts humming. Bonnie hadn't sang to hop in a long time, not since they were camping together in the wild area. She had sang to him because as childish as it sounded, he had a nightmare about hurting someone he loved, and it freaked him out, and her singing helped him fall back asleep.

As they both drift off holding each other close, they found comfort in the other, and knew that this was where they would feel okay, and where they could always go for comfort. Into each other's arms.

[the-regal-warrior]

Manic Pixie - An Elorcan Headcanon

You guys can all go thank @musicmaam​ for this one - she said the phrase “manic pixie dream girl” and I was inspired. So, Becca, this one’s for you!

Also, this is the first headcanon I’ve ever done, so let me know what you think.

Summary: Elide is Lorcan’s manic pixie dream girl. That’s it really.

Warnings: This gets a little NSFW for at the end, because it’s Elorcan and I had to. Also, be on the lookout for the occasional language.

.

The Cadre is a rock band made up of local college students

Rowan - lead singer/guitarist if he feels like playing 

Fenrys - guitarist 

Connall - bassist

Lorcan - drummer (he can play guitar - he does this when they’re writing songs and trying to figure stuff out)

Vaughan - guitarist

Gavriel - guitarist/pianist when they do ballads

Aelin and Rowan are already dating 

The band is having like a practice session, and Aelin brings friends - specifically Elide

Aedion and Lysandra are there, and probably Dorian, Manon, and Asterin

Lorcan’s seen Elide around campus (the band are seniors, along with Aedion and Dorian;  Aelin, Manon, Asterin, and Lys are juniors; and Elide’s a sophomore) and they’re sort of friends, as in they talk when the whole crew is hanging out, and Fenrys swears he even saw Lorcan laugh with her once, but everyone else thinks he was seeing things, because Lorcan doesn’t laugh

She’s always wearing an oversized tee and jeans when he sees her, or shorts if it’s warm, with Converse

And that’s what she’s wearing at their practice session - a black tee, faded skinny jeans, and black high top Converse

But her hair, which is usually just down, is pulled back by a maroon bandana, and it’s up in a ponytail, and Lorcan is just enraptured by her face

And the fact that they’re playing classic rock and she’s like jamming out to every song

And then they’re hanging after the jam session, and Elide is super sarcastic, and she calls Vaughan on his playboy bullshit ways, and she definitely steals one of Lorcan’s drumsticks from where he stashed them in his back pocket and chucks one at Fenrys and Asterin when their makeout session turns into more of a gropefest, and she doesn’t hesitate to refer to Lorcan as a “grumpy old man” when he tries to kick them out (she definitely starts on the whole “get off my property you young whippersnappers” spiel as she messes up his hair)

And she might be teasing him but holy shit this girl is amazing, can I make her mine?

But the real shock for him comes when they have a show, and Aelin brings Elide along again

Because this time - she dressed up

We’re talking black skinny jeans so tight they look painted on, a white crop top that’s all lace, and a black leather jacket

The outfit is completed with clunky black combat boots and a bright red bandana in dark hair that’s been curled into 50s movie star waves 

His jaw literally drops when he sees her - he can’t believe that this is the same Elide

But there she is, dressed like a girl straight out of his dreams and singing along to every one of their songs - covers and originals

Once The Cadre is done playing, the club switches over to house music, and everyone starts dancing

Lorcan - who never dances, just sits at the bar with his whiskey - goes right to Elide and asks her to dance

And there they are, right in the middle of the dance floor, dancing so close to one another it’s like they’re one person

At some point Elide took off her jacket - Lorcan about dies when he realizes her shirt is strapless - and his hands are holding her tight against him, his hands splayed over her bare stomach, her back against his chest

Eventually she turns to face him, her arms coming around his neck as she pulls herself closer

The music has gotten quieter at this point, so they start talking

And Elide is witty and sarcastic and basically Lorcan is actually dying because this girl is perfect 

Everyone else is just in shock, because usually Lorcan is the first one to want to leave the club - and he’s the last one on the dance floor that night

And Elide has always been so quiet and reserved in crowds - but not tonight

She’s dancing with Lorcan like she’s wishing they were naked and alone

At the end of the night, Lorcan offers to take Elide home, so she grabs her bag from Aelin’s car and off they go

Everyone is in a state of shock as they drive away, but Lorcan and Elide are sort of friends, so it’s not that weird

They end up back at his apartment - he was actually going to take her home but Elide wanted to spend more time with him - and they’re up half the night getting to know one another

The next morning she walks into the kitchen in leggings and the same top from the night before, one of Lorcan’s red flannels over it, and Lorcan feels like he can’t breathe when he sees her

She’s half awake and stumbling slightly as she walks in, her ankle a little sore from all the dancing the night before, but she’s awake enough to notice the way his eyes get wide when he sees her

“I hope it’s okay that I borrowed you flannel - I was cold and it was hanging on your desk chair and-”

He cuts her off with a gentle kiss to her forehead as he pulls her into a hug with a muttered “it’s fine love, do you want some coffee?”

Elide just sort of nods and hold out her hands for a mug because internally, she’s basically squealing

Lorcan just called her love and she’s trying not to hyperventilate because it’s Lorcan fucking Salveterre, he’s six feet of solid muscle and the man is fucking gorgeous

He hands her a mug and is like “Cream? Sugar?”

And she sort of just arches a brow at him and takes a giant sip of black coffee, and he just stares at her for a couple seconds because flannel and black coffee????? Sign me up 

And he falls for her even more when she finishes her coffee and just sort of goes “right, well, hope you didn’t want the shower, because I’m using it” and pushes her way around him, winking over her shoulder as his laugh booms through the room before he says “guess it’s a good thing I showered already”

Elide comes out of the bathroom to the sight of Lorcan in skinny jeans and a tight-fitting black t-shirt, fingers plucking out a simple melody on his guitar

When he catches sight of her - black leggings and a black spaghetti strap crop top - he physically has to fight to keep his jaw from dropping, especially when he realizes she has his flannel wrapped around her shoulders again

They’re both chilling on his couch, Lorcan still working on a melody on the guitar, when someone knocks twice on the door before letting themselves in

It’s Vaughan, because apparently he and Lorcan are in charge of sorting out a new song Gavriel wrote

Elide offers to leave so they can work, but Lorcan says it’s fine if she stays - so she grabs a book off his shelf (which is packed full of murder mysteries) and curls up in the armchair while Lorcan relocates himself behind his drum kit 

Elide’s lost in her book when she hears them start complaining about the fact that neither of them can sing half as well as Rowan, so they have no way of knowing what the vocals sound like with the music 

And Vaughan just kind of jokingly goes “Elide, can you sing?”

And she’s caught off guard but she’s just like “uh, yeah, I guess”

So they hand her the lyrics and they’re like “just listen and pick up the melody and sing along with us”

So they play the song for her once, and she figures out when she’s supposed to sing, and so they play it again

And she starts singing

Lorcan stops drumming for a solid five seconds

Vaughan literally plays the wrong chord 

Because Elide is good

Like really good

But they recover and finish the song, and both of them are staring at Elide because holy shit she can really sing 

Elide just gives them a look that’s warning them not to comment, so they don’t, despite the fact that they want to

Eventually Vaughan leaves, and Lorcan and Elide are just chilling

And it becomes standard practice for her to hang out at his place whenever they’re both free

And she’s always singing while she’s doing random stuff, like heating up food for for them or doing her math homework or when she’s in the shower

And Lorcan starts to refer to her as his siren, because he hears her voice in his dreams

But what he doesn’t tell her is that he’s also come to think of her as his muse, because he’s been working on a new song that’s all about her

And he doesn’t do relationships but he’s falling for Elide, and hard

Whenever the band has practice sessions with the crew, they keep hinting they have a new song, but they refuse to play it for everyone, claiming it’s a secret

Eventually they have another show, and everyone’s there, because everyone needs to hear the new song 

Elide, of course, is there, but she went the extra mile - she’s still in a crop top (this time a blood red corset) - but she paired it with a black leather miniskirt and combat boots

Lorcan, who looks for her the minute he comes on stage, is practically drooling at the sight of her legs that look like they go on for miles 

They close their set with the new song, and Fenrys, who’s known for being a shit, says “our drummer wrote this song about his muse, someone he’s come to see as his very own manic pixie dream girl” into his microphone

The song is apparently called “Manic Pixie,” and Elide isn’t entirely sure, but she thinks it’s about her

She definitely knows it’s about her when the chorus refers to the mystery girl as his “siren”

They walk off the stage, and before anyone can even think of congratulating them, Elide is taking Lorcan by the hand and pulling him outside the club

She just whispers “did you write that about me?”

Lorcan can barely meet her eyes, but he nods, worried that she won’t feel the same way and he’s been reading the whole situation wrong

He doesn’t have to worry for long though, because he’s barely done nodding before Elide is wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him hard 

She rocks against him, trying to get closer to him, and Lorcan just hooks his hands under her thighs and lifts her up, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist

Carrying her across the parking lot, Lorcan slides one hand under her ass to hold her up, using the other to open the back door to his truck

As soon as he sets her on the seat, Elide slides back until there’s enough room for Lorcan to climb in as well

He does exactly that, settling himself on top of her and hooking both of her legs around his waist again

Elide has both hands tangled in his hair, her legs acting as an anchor to help grind his hips down into hers as they make out, and Lorcan’s shirt is somewhere on the floor of his truck, one hand running over the exposed skin of her stomach and the other gripping her thigh when their friends finally find them

“Gross, you guys,” Manon quips. “You didn’t even close the door”

Lorcan just grumbles and buries his face in her neck, but Elide can’t help but chuckle, her heart bursting at the feeling of Lorcan on top of her 

Eventually their friends corral them back inside, and there’s a lot of teasing they have to endure the rest of the night, but Elide’s giddy with happiness and Lorcan is practically beaming

Elide’s night gets even better when, as she dancing with Lorcan’s chest pressed to her back, he leans down and asks her to be his girlfriend in her ear

And Lorcan’s gets even better when she wraps one hand up around his neck and turns to look at him, the word “yes” slipping from her lips as she pulls him down to kiss her

They enjoy the night with their friends, but both of them cannot wait to get home

And once they finally get back to Lorcan’s, they’re quick to pick up where they left off in the truck, not happy until they’re pressed together, skin on skin

After, when they’re both trying to catch their breath, Elide’s head on Lorcan’s chest, his fingers running through her hair, they both can’t believe how lucky they both are

Bonus: Lorcan adores the sight of Elide in his flannels, but he LOVES when she wears his long sleeve tees from when he played football for several reasons

They have his last name on the back, so he sees his name one her and it makes him happy

They dwarf her, but she adores them

She sleeps in them because Lorcan keeps his apartment cold, but she only wears underwear under them, so he loves that

Whenever she wants to tease him, she wears nothing under them and will just like casually bend over in front of him so he can see that she’s naked (and you can guarantee that he ends up bending her over the nearest piece of furniture and taking her like that) or she’ll sit down and let her legs splay open - when she does that he practically rips his jeans he gets so hard (and 0.2 seconds later he’s on his knees in front of her with his face buried in her folds)

.

Okay, I hope you all liked it, and I would love if you let me know what you think!

Tags: @highqueenofelfhame @musicmaam @city-of-fae @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty @tacmc @tangledraysofsunshine @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars

[kristarocksyourworld]

Quaranthings: Korean Dramas

It’s been a while, Tumblr. LOL I haven’t posted in a while – but we are living in a time of pandemic. I have never thought such day would come but here we are.

It has been 41 days since Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) was implemented in Manila – and I have managed to catch up on my Korean drama backlog.

Thanks to streaming sites like Viu and Netflix, I have spent countless hours just catching up on the latest dramas (The King: Eternal Monarch, Itaewon Class) and the ones I have not finished watching (Mr. Sunshine, Reply 1997, Go Back Couple, Kill Me, Heal Me, My Love from the Stars). I also found time to rewatch my favorites (Secret Garden, Innocent Man).

The last one I watched was Mr. Sunshine. The writer, Kim Eun Sook, tells the story of a Joseon slave-turned-American soldier named Eugene Choi and a noble named Go Ae Sin – and the people around them: the mysterious samurai Go Dong Mae; the rich playboy Kim Hee Seong; and the beautiful, rich heiress/double agent named Hina Kudo. Set in the early years of the Korean Empire (led by Emperor Gojong), the drama depicted the political turbulence of the time: the traditional Joseon ways clashing with that of imperialists as well as the personal struggles of each character. Then there’s storge, eros, philia, and agape - I’ll probably write another review of that because in terms of writing, I think this is the best Kim Eun Sook drama. 

 I have been meaning to write something like this, but I guess I was inspired to share with the world why I love Korean dramas – like it really is a hill I would die on anytime.

Some weeks ago, a Filipino director openly tweeted his disdain for Korean dramas. In his words, he said that Filipino movies and tv are “doomed” because of “K-drama galore: faux Cinderella stories with belofied whiter than white actors. And it’s all about love in the midst of pandemic.”

 LMFAO. I had to laugh.

It came from a director with reputable filmography – I mean I loved two (2) of his films for their social commentary but I have to ask.

How many Korean dramas have you watched – LOL don’t tell me you only watched Crash Landing on You.

HELLO, ITAEWON CLASS WAS IN THE TOP 10. DID YOU WATCH THAT? Did you watch the rags-to-riches story of Park Saeroyi and his quest for justice to defeat the biggest food company, Janga Corporation?

Have you watched Sky Castle? The compelling story of rich families and their schemes to get their children into the best universities?

 How about the Reply series? A nostalgic drama that tells the story of families, youth, and the times they lived in – 1994, 1997, 1988 – the nostalgia was fucking rich. I especially enjoyed 1994 and 1997.

Did you check out Another Oh Hae Young: a woman struggling to come into terms with her personal insecurities? Or have you picked up on It’s Okay, That’s Love: a romantic drama that properly tackled mental illness (the lead had schizophrenia).

From personal experience and the vast filmography of Korean dramas I have seen, let me point out why Korean dramas are the best – and why they’re so fucking addicting. I would have to say that this is not a research paper but rather a lengthy analysis based on my 12-year experience as a Korean drama enthusiast.

 1.      Creative value

Every drama starts with a great plot.

Sure, many Korean dramas are romantic. In fact, most of the Korean dramas I have seen in the early 2000s are romantic: Autumn in my Heart; Stairway to Heaven; Winter Sonata; Full House; My Name is Kim Sam Soon; and Princess Hours. There’s also Memories of Bali; I’m Sorry I Love You; and Coffee Prince. These dramas actually launched the Hallyu (Korean wave) that we know today – and their plots have the typical Korean drama romantic equation: guy meets girl – they don’t get along at first – then they fall in love – misunderstandings (or separation) ensues – reunited – fall in love again – they get married or end up together (or a lead dies). Then there are the non-romantic ones (historical): Jewel in the Palace and Jumong.

But as time went on, you see that the genres become varied – we started seeing action dramas (one of my favorites was Time Between Dog and Wolf) and medical dramas. Then there were dramas that also featured how Korean dramas were made (The World We Live In).

Korean dramas have varying plots that get recycled in many instances but with great plots also come characterization. The characters we see in dramas remind us of real people – we always relate to a character and we all get frustrated when they make stupid decisions (the Noble Idiot Syndrome) that really do not make sense. At the end of the day, we want happy endings for those who deserve happiness – we want justice served, we want closures, etc. because that’s how humans are.

In many romantic dramas, plots are reused but no character is the same. They would have similar traumas but never the same, carbon-copied character. There are villains you want to kill and then there are villains you sympathize with – because you realize that humans are multilayered, complicated creatures.

 2.      Production value

Another observation I have with Korean dramas is their careful attention to details. When writers create the script, they somewhat have actors in mind to play the character. In Korean dramas, they don’t really care about love teams. In the Philippines, we produce dramas based on the hottest pairs. In Korea, they don’t give a shit about that. Dramas are produced with the intention of creating a meaningful production so actors are chosen based on whether the writers and producers think they can bring their characters to life, not because they are the hottest commodity. In some dramas, actors have to audition, but in many instances, scripts are sent to actors with potential to perfectly portray the character.

Prior to filming, writers, actors, and production staff would spend a day or two in story conferences – actors would have the opportunity to discuss with everyone how he or she thinks his/her character is like. The directors and writers would provide their input on how the characters should talk, act, etc. Actors would also take the extra mile to learn a skill or two for the characters they played. They would have dialect coaches, language instructors, etc. Writers would consult with professionals – for instance, in many medical or legal dramas, they would hire doctors or lawyers on board to verify accuracy of terms. During broadcast, you would even see the jargon on screen to simplify them for the audience. In historical dramas, you would also see the terms used (in Chinese characters) and explain them in hangul.

During filming, you’d see how the staff has placed much attention on details – from the wardrobe to the set. You would also see themes, symbols, etc. The production aspect is really like how movies are: vivid, deliberate, beautiful. Who would’ve thought red pinwheels would make me tear up? 

Each drama has a particular soundtrack – can I just say that Korean dramas have the best soundtrack. Each song played in a specific scene perfectly conveys the mood and feelings of the character. I have cried so many times listening to Park Hyo Shin’s “Snow Flower” (I’m Sorry I Love You) or Ji Sun’s ”Goodbye Without Saying Goodbye) (My Name is Kim Sam Soon). On my Spotify account you would see I have played Goblin, DOTS, and CLOY OSTs countless times.

In the past, dramas are not really pre-produced (meaning script came a week or two before filming). There are dramas wherein halfway through the broadcast, they had to switch writers because the earlier writer had a falling out with the production – so you’d see that the quality suffers (story plots would go crazy lol). There are dramas wherein they had to replace the actors because of scandals or accidents. In the last 5 years however, Korean dramas have become pre-produced: meaning the dramas will be filmed 6 months-2 years before being broadcasted. I guess this aspect has contributed to the fact that many Korean dramas are already available on streaming sites.

 3.      Cultural value

Each drama gives us a slice of the Korean culture – food, drink, skincare, attraction, and history. And noraebang (karaoke). Every romcom Korean drama has to have a scene at the noraebang...or jimjilbang (sauna). 

Modern and traditional Korean dramas have to feature food: Korean barbecue, stew, side dishes. LOL you name it. There’s also soju, beer, and makgeoli. BEER AND CHICKEN. 

In most modern Korean dramas, makeovers are a must. You would see product placements of known Korean products: Laneige, Etude House, Nature Republic, etc. The characters would go shopping in a particular shop like The North Face. Their coffee dates would be in one of these (Caffe Bene, Dal.Komm, HOLLYS, Zoo Café, Mango Six). They would buy their cakes or bread from Paris Baguette or Tous Les Jours.

Then there are road trips – many Korean dramas would feature a particular attraction, province, or city. Who can forget Nami Island (thanks Winter Sonata) or Namsan Seoul Tower (Boys Over Flower) or Petite France (Secret Garden, My Love from the Stars)? Of course, you can’t forget Busan (Reply 1997) or Jeju (Warm and Cozy) or Gangwon-do. It is definitely a K-drama fangirl’s dream to be able to visit in one of these places so we can relive our favorite Korean drama moments.

All of Korean dramas I have seen put emphasis on family – the importance of filial piety is always highlighted. The characters are often portrayed as dutiful daughters or sons. Conflicts often ensue when the character is challenged to choose between the parents or the love of his/her life (well in most Korean dramas that’s the case lol). Many dramas portray characters who try to be the good daughter-in-law and yet nothing is ever good enough. Then there are subtle flexes on Korea as an emerging superpower as seen by drama characters (chaebols) who head conglomerates. There is always a character who is filthy rich and can afford a billionaire lifestyle. Product placements include big companies like Samsung, Hyundai, etc.

Slice-of-life dramas also depict the realities in Korean society. Because This is My First Life and Something in the Rain aptly depicted the realities of harassment in the workplace from a woman’s experience. Many Korean dramas also relay harsh realities: meritocracy in the workplace; young adults juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet, etc.; even real estate situations are featured. Often you would find characters renting a small room because that’s all they can afford. From the dramas you would also notice that Koreans are not very kind towards single mothers or orphans. Then of course, there’s the North and South Korea situation: Crash Landing on You, Doctor Stranger, Spy Myeong-Wol, Descendants of the Sun are a few dramas that discussed this theme. The Reply series is a nostalgia drama featuring families that lived through some of important events in South Korea like the Seoul Olympics (1988), Asian financial crisis (1997), Sampoong Department Store collapse (1995), and the historic World Cup (2002).

Korean historical dramas are also interesting on their own – I guess until now, the Japanese occupation of Korea is still a sensitive matter for Koreans. Many of the dramas that feature such themes always depict the resilience and resolve of Koreans as they try to fight off the enemy. Yes, the scenes are depicted artistically, and the thought lingers long after the episode is over.

In terms of marketing, the government has also been proactive. With the Korean Wave (Hallyu), Korean dramas, as well as films, music, food, etc. have become an important commodity overseas. In 2016, Korean Culture Center wrote that Descendants of the Sun was sold to 27 countries, posting a profit of over KRW 10 billion (Php 412 million). The government acknowledges the important contribution of Korean dramas in tourism. Numerous papers have already been published showing the effect of hallyu in the South Korea tourism industry.

 To make the long story short:

Korean dramas have gone beyond “faux Cinderella stories with belofied whiter than white actors”.  I mean, if you want to produce a quality drama, it takes time and effort. Personally it has become a great escape from the realities I face. I do not welcome opinions that clearly spring out of snobbery and disdain for another person’s craft. Perhaps the director can look beyond the Top 10 (since that’s what he mentioned) and check out the wide selection on Netflix. Viu is also a great platform (I’ll start on World of the Married – been hearing and reading about it lol)

Hallyu did not flourish overnight, and the Korean drama industry – while a great model to cite – is also not perfect. There have been numerous cases and instances when staff are overworked or not paid long after the production is over. The #MeToo movement has also exposed some actors who have harassed fellow actors. If we want Filipino dramas to enjoy the same spotlight as that of the Korean dramas, we should be frank about the outputs we have had. We have potential, but it really is up to the decision-makers (at least from the network perspective since it’s all about profits and star value rather than quality production in the Philippines) to come up with a formula that would revitalize Filipino dramas. I can’t say the same for Filipino films because we have great films – the dramas need much work to be profitable. I mean, are we really satisfied with a few dramas being sold overseas? When will we produce dramas that are at par with our Korean chingus? If you want Filipino dramas to be streamed on Netflix or Hulu or Apple TV – maybe we can look at genres beyond police brutality or infidelity or hacienderos harboring a secret child somewhere.

 Anyway, Korean dramas are awesome – and that’s the tea.

[evangclines-blog1]

what  if  we  ......  pretended  this  was  a  good  intro  .....  aha  just  kidding  .....  unless  ?  i  was  just  gonna  link  to  all  my  stuff  but  ...  ur  girl  wrote  a  lot  and  i  don’t  wanna  be  cruel  and  force  u  all  to  read  everything  JDBWBDJBWJ  so  here we  go  !!   <3

( VENUS, PARK SOOYOUNG, CIS FEMALE, SHE /HER ) guess what, EVANGELINE RHEE has just landed in cannes with their private jet. they are a TWENTY-TWO year old socialite, who spends much of their time & money UPDATING THEIR SKINCARE ROUTINE. i think their family is in the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY and their net worth is around 10B USD.   

first things first ... i’m gonna drop some links in case u want to read everything i wrote at 6 am the day the submit closed bc im stoopid like that <3 

here u can find her full bio, stats, extended stats, and hcs ! the hcs are definitely the most fun to read so i recommend going to that page hehe

into the summary we go !

BACKSTORY:  suicide mention tw

eva’s dad is a movie producer and her mom was the beautiful woman he met at a train station <3 her parents had a very whirlwind romance, very love at first sight, very passionate and intense type of relationship literally everything you see in hollywood ? they had that ! they got married after only a year of knowing each other and had eva soon after 

thats when things got not-so-picturesque /: after having eva, her mom entered a pretty dark depression. eva’s dad ( who had been aware of his wife’s mental health and even warned by her family against doing anything crazy like getting married and having a whole baby so fast ) was kinda in denial about everything. eva’s mom still had her good days, but the bad days were really bad & when eva was only two years old her mom had an accident & passed away 

so while eva’s dad was grieving, he sent little eva to new york city to go live with her grandma !! eva adored her grandmother more than anyone else. she was a retired jazz singer, and a lot of what they did together was sit around and listen to old records <3 eva lived with her until she was five years old & that’s pretty much the only childhood she can remember since her mom died when she was so young !! 

when her dad brings eva back to france, he’s doing a lot better. he’s back to producing movies and throwing parties and being a part of society again ( things he had stopped while he was grieving for his wife ) and he even found his own form of “medicine” which was simply the company of beautiful women ! most of them were young actresses he met through his work, all of them were gorgeous, and they all adored little eva <3 

eva adored them right back ! they taught her stuff she imagined all mother’s teach their daughters: how to dress well, how to smell nice, how to get people’s attention, what makeup to wear, how to do your hair, how to speak so everyone hangs on to your every word, etc. she was still a little girl but she was absorbing all these lessons like a sponge, & it’s a big part of why she’s so obsessed with her own femininity and why she’s got this mindset about being beautiful inside & out in order to feel balanced. 

none of the women her dad brought home were ever at her house for more than a week. her father, who had been a notorious bachelor before eva’s mother, seemed incapable of falling in love again. that was his first and maybe only lesson to eva, which was how to break hearts, which is something else she absorbed & carried with her as she grew up

as eva grew up, she kinda became obsessed with trying to imagine what her mom had been like. no one in her family liked to talk about her, especially not her dad, but she knew she looked just like her and she was kinda always trying to fill in the blanks. but then one christmas her dad let it slip that her mom’s death hadn’t been an accident at all, that it had been on purpose. that was kind of the turning point for eva & she just kind of....stopped trying to re imagine her mom after that just kinda wanting to let her rest /:

she also went through a phase of doing stuff just because she could. she’d flirt with people’s boyfriends, she’d make strangers fall in love with her, she’d date people just to break up with them suddenly, etc. she kind of realized just how much she could get away with, but more than that, just how far people would go when they fell in love. she was obsessed with that, but also kind of jealous of those people just because she’d never felt that kind of soul shattering love for someone before and she really does want to </3 while she’s never been in love before, and while she does get bored of lovers easily, she still feels a type of attachment that is sometimes so strong she’s not willing to let the other person go even if she’s being selfish by hanging onto people she can’t get serious abt /: thats just life sometimes......whore rights !

FUN FACTS , PERSONALITY, AND TIDBITS: whore antics tw

 goes by eva, never evangeline. her grandma has always called her angel, and so that nickname has also carried over naturally

libra sun AND moon babey ! read abt it here

wears euphoria makeup to do groceries

 moved from paris to new york city for college to attend columbia university. double majored in english literature and business management. 

created what she called the “manhattan group” in reference to the bloomsbury group, which was a group of associated english writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century ( that included writers like virginia woolf ) duringher freshman year. although meetings were supposed to be about discussing literature, it mostly became a place to drink warming champagne, flirt, and gossip. eva hosted the events & meetings off campus inside her loft. the manhattan group only lasted her freshman year though, as rumors of all the underage drinking and “cult-like behavior” persuaded her to drop it. that, and the fact that more than one member had fallen in love with her and things were getting quite tense. 

she never carries a lighter because she likes the way more than one person will offer her one if she asks for a light <3 

it’s a famous rumor that eva once spilled her drink on her chanel mini-dress at a charity gala and stripped down to her lingerie in front of everyone. it would have stayed a rumor if it wasn’t for the instagram story that went up of her only her underwear. 

she has a house phone in her nyc loft that only a select few people ( minus the strangers she’s given the number to while drunk ) know the number 

has a three year old black cat named june that she brought with ehr to cannes <3 

is the proud owner of a black maserati despite being an infamous bad driver. no one in their right mind, especially not her friends, would ever trust eva to drive.

it’s rumored she once snuck onto the yacht of a ceo to a fortune 500 company, only for him to find her in nothing but a bath towel eating chocolates while flipping through his playboy magazines, and that he was so taken with her instead of pressing charges he decided to name the boat after eva.

once spent a whole day walking around paris in a cheap pink wig and calling herself yvette. nobody could figure out why. eva often pulls stunts like this on a whim.

believes 2 is an unlucky number and is very superstitious about it, as that is the year her mother died. fully believes her twenties are cursed and is actually looking forward to the day she turns 30 just to escape the 2′s.

leonardo dicaprio once made a pass at her during the after party of a movie premiere she was attending.

during full moons, eva always has sex with the windows open. even if it’s winter, a window will be cracked open. this is one of her many personal superstitions. 

has a collection of old love letters, mixtapes, and presents past suitors and secret admirers have gifted her. while she cannot remember the origin of quite a few of the objects in her collection, she is attached to them still.

owns a replica of the famous cross necklace filled with cocaine that kathryn had in cruel intentions.

literally i basically just copied most of my hcs page im a clown i cant do summaries...

ok so personality wise ? shes a flirt. a whore, if u will. yes thats a personality trait now. literally if ur breathing shes flirting doesnt matter who u are doesnt matter if ur married if u have 10 kids doesnt matter like she will flirt....does not know how to open her mouth without flirting 

big on aesthetics /: believes everyone should get manicures like if ur cuticles are showing shes gonna gag . get help <3

not good at being held accountable for her actions. she’s not really the type to be malicious on purpose, but since she really does play with ppls feelings a lot it’s inevitable she’s gonna hurt someone but if u bring it up shes just gonna be like .. me ? at fault ? u must have the wrong girl i’m angel ...

likes 2 play games JSBDWBDJW clearly....matters of the heart are her fave kind but she also likes doing kinda ridiculous stuff for fun just to see how ppl are gonna react, also likes to do stuff just bc she knows she can usually get away with it 

loves skin care like she will be ur dermatologist ( self appointed ) she will gift u a moisturizer she will get everyone to do facemasks with her u cannot escape it ...

has trouble being alone but won’t admit it / doesn’t even really realize it ??? like it is... very rare u will ever find her sleeping alone or spending a whole day in just her own company 

not shy.....at all like JBSJDWBJDW she could use some shame but she has zero unfortunately 

despite being a whore....she is a HUGE romantic like whew she is obsessed with old love songs & is always playing them on her record player she loves to slow dance <3 she often gives ppl her fave poems ( usually poems abt sex ), she loves getting roses, loves kissing ppl on the cheek when she’s wearing lipstick, & she likes to leave ppl voicemails like ... shes really living like she is the main chara of a romance movie and everyone else is extra #5 most of the time... 

idk what else to say im sure shes gonna evolve once we start rping bc that always happens to me but....for now.....this is the end ! *cue feel special by twice*

[bonernas]

A Song of Bobs and Berts

Part 1/7

Word Count: 2,370

Disclaimer: This is a crackfic about the different Bobsonas, based on actor Robert Downey Jr. and his questionable fashion sense. It also includes some hints on other people and things related to the MCU. For more info about the Bobsonas and their respectful creators, please check the link below!

Warnings: rated T, no Bobs were harmed in the making of this fic, mentions of (use of) drugs, swearing, I used the slur “frog eater” at one point, this is a mobster fic set in the noire genre so blood, weapons and violence might become a thing, skipped the typical homophobia and racism tho but a lot of people use roids and crystal

Summary:  When Bobster Di Seta, one of Twunky Town's most feared mobsters, finds out that Boberto Laineux, brother of Bobster's arch enemy, Robert "The Bobfather" Laineux, was elected the city’s new mayor, he needs to put an end to the reign of the french mafia. To infiltrate the Laineux family and increase the sales of his own drugs, he orders his handsome underling, Steeb, to seduce the only heir of the Bobfather: Bobling Laineux, the doe-eyed billionare playboy. But just when Steeb discovers that there's more to the young mobster than good looks and sassy one-liners, their blooming romance is put to the test by a cold-blooded murder. Will the only unbribable cop of Twunky Town's police force solve this case before the city falls into war? Or will the rivalry of the two mobster clans turn everything into ashes?

A Story based on the RDJ spectrum

Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven

Chapter One - A Game of Bobs

Some people might say this is a love story. Some might call it a thriller. Most people would consider it a waste of ink and paper. To be completely honest with you, it’s probably a mix of all three. It’s the story of how I lost not only my job and my sanity, but also my glossy natural curls. It’s the story of my last case.

The year’s 1947. I was a young and ambitious detective at the Twunky Town Police Department, just recently promoted to work at vice. The two rivaling mobster clans, the Di Seta’s and the Laineux’, ruled the city with a firm grip, and the vice squad had their vision plastered with enough bribe to just clean up the aftermath of the drug wars. But not me. I was determined to not become some gangster’s puppet. I joined the TTPD to serve law and justice and not some french mafioso in a scarlet mink and a collection of ridiculous fedoras. But let’s begin with the day it all started going downhill.

The shattering of glass cut through the peaceful atmosphere, followed by a pressed “goddammit!”. Hay rustled when some of the alpacas shifted nervously, moving to the outskirts of the wide, luxurious stable and further away from the angry human and his spilled drink on the fenced patio.

“Mr. Di Seta? You need some help?” A young, blonde man appeared in the top half of one of the dutch doors, hesitant to enter.

Bobster Di Seta, head of the mobster clan, turned down the volume of his oversized mahogany radio and inhaled deeply, one time, two times. He resisted the urge to snap at his subordinate, took one last deep breath and turned around, calm and contained.

“Steeb. Yes, clean up this mess. Make sure to pick up all the shards. I can’t let anything happen to these fluffy little beasts. They cost me enough money already.”

Steeb didn’t bother to open the bottom half of the door and just casually hopped over it, his broad shoulders only one inch from getting stuck in the frame. Bobster caught himself staring a second too long at his employee carefully picking up the broken glass with long, slim fingers. The boy was as meaty and handsome as he was eager to please his boss, and Bobster had to admit that he’d like to give the boy a... promotion. For his good work of course.

“You need anything else, Sir?” The sound of Steebs voice retrieved Bobster from his daydreams, back into the barn with his whiskey spilled on the tiles and the radio silently humming in the background. He almost forgot what made him drop the glass in the first place. Bobster reached over to the small bistro table he usually took his lunch at and grabbed one of the empty crystal bowls, holding it out to Steeb and gestured him to drop the shards into it.

“Can’t have you cut your pretty fingers, right boy?”, he hummed as he placed the bowl back. Steeb, uncertain what to do with his now empty hands, shoved them into the pockets of his slacks, watching his boss strolling over to the railing that separated the patio from the rest of the stable, filled with the most exquisite alpacas in Twunky Town. He’d always wondered why someone would want to brunch in a barn filled with llamas, but he assumed you had to be somewhat extravagant to lead a mob.

Bobster let his eyes wander over the peaceful scenery, the sturdy little camelids cuddled up in heaps of hay, grooming each other or just enjoying the warm patches of winter sun that the broad windows casted on the floor. And that was when he came up with his plan.

“You heard the news already, Steeb?”, Bobster asked as he turned around and faced the nervous blonde after minutes of silence. Steeb frowned.

“Uhm... you mean the election results? Boberto Laineux won with absolute majority, right?”

“Damn right you are, boy. Boberto Laineux, new mayor of Twunky Town. No way this whole election wasn’t rigged. I’d bet half my alpacas his older brother Robert just killed all the voters he couldn’t buy. You heard of him?”

“The Bobfather? Sure did”, Steve blurted, but fell silent when Bobster inhaled sharply with a pained look.

“Don’t- don’t call him Bobfather. His ego is overfed already. Double-faced little bastard. None of my products could ever stand a chance against his Bonguettes and Crystal Crêpes, but did I blame him for that? No, I did my research, I ran tests, and put all my heart and money into a high-end designer steroid based on alpaca saliva. And what did that greedy little frog eater do? Flood the market with down-washed dumpster roids. Swoleabaisse... what kind of name is that even?!”

Steeb shifted nervously. He already heard that Alpacked, the high society’s new anabolic, didn’t sell as well as intended, the french mafia still having the upper hand in drug sales. With the Bobfather’s brother in the mayor’s office it would be even harder to compete against Swoleabaisse’s immense success. Steeb had been a part of the Di Seta clan for barely two years, but he felt like he owed them something for taking him in. A few weeks more on the streets and he’d probably been forced to sell his body for food and shelter. Seeing his boss fed up over these bad news made him quite desperate to help.

“So... what’re we gonna do about Boberto?” Steeb asked. Bobster raised a brow and flashed him a smirk.

“How considerate of you to ask what we are doing about this, Steeb”, he hummed. Slow and smooth he approached the taller man, came to a halt mere inches from his broad chest and looked up, tilting his head and savoring how the blonde’s cheeks flushed under his glare.

“Tell me, boy, if I’d ask you to help me put an end to the Laineux’ reign, would you help me?”

“O-of course, Sir!”

“And if I asked you to do so by infiltrating the french mafia and seducing Robert’s only child, would you still help me?”

Steeb frowned for a second. He had heard of the Bobfather’s heir, Bobling Laineux. Handsome, intelligent, but more interested in throwing parties and crashing venues at his father’s nightclubs than in running a mob. Steeb was well aware of his effect on other people, but he was sure that Laineux Junior was still way out of his league. “Well, I could try... I guess?”

Bobster threw his hands up so suddenly that some of the alpacas nearby startled and stared at him indignantly. “Then it’s settled. Go and meet with Maria, she’ll take care of.. well, whatever you might want to call this outfit. Get yourself dolled up and meet me for dinner at the manor for more details.” Bobster patted Steebs arm and couldn’t resist to give it a light squish. Then, before things could start to get awkward, he quickly strut over to the broad wooden stable door and slipped out into the chilly February afternoon, leaving Steeb with his thoughts and a herd of equally confused llamas.

I didn’t know it then, but young Steeb and I were at the very same venue that night. It was an open secret that Robert “The Bobfather” Laineux had every cop, starting from patrol way up to the chief, under his wing - and he made sure to keep it that way by pampering us every now and then.

And that’s how I found myself crammed between Twunky Town’s rich and famous, pompous chandeliers dangling over my head, faintly glistening in the smoke-filled air of the ballroom. With my colleagues gone the minute we entered and nothing to hold onto but my ideals and a scotch worth a months salary, I roamed through the maze of leather chairs and heavy brocade tablecloths. I found a seat at the very brink of the dance floor, slightly hidden by a huge bouquet of exotic flowers; perfect to sit all by myself and brood over my drink. At a corner table, several feet from my location, a certain young fella was about to make a move.

Steeb ran a hand through his hair for what must’ve been the hundredth time this night. Thank God Maria had used more pomade than he did all week - most of it was probably gone by now. He nipped on his drink and let his gaze drift through the ballroom again, stopping at the corner table like he did all evening.

There he sat, surrounded by a hoard of coquettishly giggling guys and gals, ruffling their opulent gowns and tinkling with heaps of colourful gems. But the young mobster didn’t need any of this. The creamy white suit, hugging his slim shape perfectly, made him stand out like a pearl in an ornament of glass beads. The colour of his dress shirt was the same deep scarlet tone as his château, and the teasing glare he shot over the brim was of the same chocolatey brown as his curls.

Goodness gracious, Steeb really was way out of his league.

But, he was here, he was all dressed up and he had a mission. Just as he decided to down the rest of his drink and finally make a move, his target excused himself and got up. While his admirers continued their chatter, he made a beeline for the bar Steeb was sitting at, casually leaning on the counter next to him.

“Hey, sailor. Don’t think I’ve seen you here before?”, Bobling Laineux hummed with a small nip from his wine, sizing him up cheekily. Steeb felt the mobster’s eyes trace every hint his navy blue suit gave away, and to be honest, it made him tingly. He shifted in his seat, signing for another drink before he faced the handsome mobster, flashing him what he hoped to be a playful smile.

“Nope, my first time here actually”, he answered. Bobling cocked an eyebrow, eyeing the tall blonde up and down a second time. Steeb felt his hands get sweaty. Damn, Bobster really set him up with the sharpest guy in town. Too bad it was all a scam.

“Well, I’d be thrilled to ask you for the first dance then”, Bobling smirked. He didn’t wait for a response, took Steebs hand and gently pulled him on the dance floor. A few other couples were already dancing around them, and they smoothly fit into the fast rhythm of the swing band.

Steeb wasn’t much of a dancer, but with Bobling, he forgot time and place. They twirled and twisted, only inches from the other guests but somehow miles away.  Neither of them spoke much, small talk felt superfluous when each others company was more than enough. Long, intense glares, an occasional smirk and a hand lingering on the small of his back just a few more seconds than necessary, it didn’t take more to make Steeb feel all flustered after the third song.

The band paused and the lights dimmed slightly, a spotlight illuminating the center of the stage. Accompanied by cheers and applause, a lady dressed in emerald green joined the band. Steeb and Bobling mimicked the other couples drawing nearer, slowly swaying to the soft tunes of a ballad. Way closer than before now, Steeb caught a faint hint of Bobling’s exquisite cologne that sent shivers down his spine. He gave his beau a small twirl, and when he tucked Bobling back in, chests flush against each other and his stormy blue gaze meeting shimmering obsidian, it felt like there was no one but the two of them.

“Well, sailor. I don’t think you’ve told me your name yet.” Bobling sounded as suave and playful as always, but the soft pink that tinted his cheeks gave away his true feelings.

“Dorito. Steeb Dorito. A pleasure, Mr. Laineux.”

Oh Jesus, did his voice really sound that croaky? So much for playing it cool. Why didn’t he ask Bobling to leave bite marks on his neck straightaway? That would be way less obvious. Bobling just smiled and said nothing for a few more twirls. But when the song ended and all the other couples stopped for a round of applause, the mobster’s gaze remained on Steeb before he spoke.

“Tell me, darling, if you’d flutter with those long lashes of yours, would I feel a breeze on my skin?”

Steeb smirked. His hand gripped the younger man’s waist more tightly as he leaned in just a few inches, his voice dark and husky as he answered.

“Why don’t you come closer and find out yourself?”

Will Bobling continue to be a thirsty hoe for Steeb? Will Bobster’s evil plan succeed? Will the author get carried away by RDJs everlasting sexappeal again? Will the plot remain a wild mix of cringy crackfic and blooming romance? Will the alpacas ever overcome their trauma? Will there ever be a person, drug or location with a name not mutilated to the point where I should slap myself for writing it? Find out in the next chapter!

A/N: English is not my first language and this is actually the first piece of fiction I didn’t write in German. Therefore my punctuation and grammar might be a bit off sometimes but cc is highly appreciated!

Btw, you can also read this story on ao3!

[slut4supersoldiers]

Amber (one shot)

Pair: Steve Harrington X Fem Henderson Reader (romantic)

Summary: Steve Harrington: former keg king/ former King of Hawkins high/ former Resident playboy/ current babysitter, falling in love? [For funsies]

Words: 1791

Warning: None, just Soft! Steve

A/n: Just a little something that I came up with. The ending kinda sucks but yeah, have fun reading. xx REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

 Steve Harrington, the King of Hawkins High had had his fair share of flings. But it lasted till Nancy wheeler and Billy Hargrove happened. The latter stole his crown and consequently the attention and the former stole his heart (and stomped all over it).  

Steve’s father had once sat him down in the Study room in the Harrington household and told him,

“Son, you’re in high school now. A charming boy like you is bound to have a string of ladies batting their eyelids at you hoping to impress you.” Young Steve blushed at his dad’s words but puffed his chest out a little as his dad raised the half-finished glass of cognac to his son and assured him that there’s nothing wrong with that.

“But you be careful, don’t let them break your heart. You’re too young for that shit.” The younger boy did not understand the gravity of his father’s words till his first ever serious girlfriend broke his heart only to find love in the boy he hated for the longest time; Jonathan Byers. (He wouldn’t openly admit it but recently he was growing quite fond of Jonathan Byers’ company. As long as Nancy was happy, right?)

The breakup with Nancy left Steve distraught. The lack of time to recover from the whirlwind of emotions (what with the Demogorgons and all) exhausted him. He found an escape in babysitting.

The former king/ playboy/ bad boy had gone soft. He did not care about the strange looks he garnered from his peers as he dropped off and picked up “the party” from the arcade. Once Billy Hargrove even made fun of him and asked him if he wanted Max’s dresses since he has decided to go “full sissy mode”. (He immediately shut up when the fiery red head gave him a look which reminded him of that fateful night at the Byers’ house.)

It did not however matter to Steve. He enjoyed the kids’ company and they enjoyed his. He loved the extra attention and affection he received from the party’s mothers (since he was devoid of that after his mom moved out post the divorce). Steve Harrington was thankful for the benefits that came with being “a damn good” babysitter. But what Steve Harrington did not realize was the biggest benefit of babysitting was yet to come his way.

Just like he did every Friday, Steve picked up the kids from the Arcade at 6 pm on the dot. As always he dropped off the kids one by one. However, today instead of dropping off Max at the very end Steve was to drop off Dustin at the end. Half way through the ride, Steve thought only the order of dropping off the kids was out of the ordinary. But soon he realized he was wrong.

While the rest of the kids (excluding Will and Jane who were being picked up by Jonathan and Jim Hopper respectively) were chatting excitedly a dead silent Dustin Henderson sat on the passenger’s seat fidgeting with the zipper of his hoodie.

“You okay man?” Steve softly asked Dustin in order to not alert the rest of the kids.

Dustin looked at Steve with wide eyes and gave him a half-hearted nod.

“Yup definitely out of the ordinary.” Thought Steve as he glanced at the younger boy.

After dropping off everyone Steve pulled over in the driveway of the Henderson household. He turned around to confront Dustin about his behaviour only to see Dustin eyeing the yellow mustang parked into the driveway next to Steve’s car. Before Steve could even utter a syllable Dustin jumped out of the car and sped into his house.

Confused Steve climbed out of his own car and shut the door softly. He eyed the unfamiliar vehicle. He had never seen it in town. Sure some people in Hawkins owned a yellow mustang but this one did not have a Hawkins number plate. Shrugging his shoulders Steve decided to get back in his car and drive away but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Dustin scream loudly.

Without wasting a second Steve grabbed the nail ridden bat from the trunk of his car (he still kept it. Precisely for times like these) and made a run to the door. Thankfully Dustin had left it open when he ran into the house a while ago. Holding the bat above his head Steve was about to smack whatever creature it was into another dimension. But, suddenly he came to a complete halt.

Dustin stood facing a girl whose back was towards Steve. He observed them for a minute. Dustin’s eyes were wide and Steve swore he saw a weird twinkle in his eyes. His smile spread from one ear to another almost like in cartoons. He was holding on to the girl’s arms tightly as if he was scared she would disappear in thin air.

Steve’s eyes slowly traveled to the girl. She had curly hair identical to Dustin’s. Her hair ran past her shoulders down to her waist. The big ringlets almost resembled a waterfall. She was a little taller than Dustin. That’s all Steve could see but he wanted to see more.

“I thought you weren’t going to come. Mom said the flights were cancelled and I thought you bailed out on me and mom was just making excuses to make me feel better.” Dustin gushed at the mysterious girl.

“Well, I told mom to say that. I was gonna drive here and surprise you instead.” the girl laughed as Dustin jumped a little.

Steve had heard in a science class once that the human heart is the size of a closed fist. But he was sure that was a lie. Because the moment her voice fell on his ears, he swore that his heart had inflated to resemble size of the continent of Asia. Sweet and melodious, it sounded like the sweetest song he had ever heard.

“I cannot believe mom managed to keep this from me. What the hell! I have so much to tell you. But first I wanna show you the trophy I won for the science quiz. Wait here.” Dustin ran to his room.

“Hey! No running in the house Dusty!” Her voice sounded soft even when she yelled out at dustin.

The loud thud caused due to Dustin running into his room suddenly brought Steve to his senses.

Steve looked from Dustin’s bedroom door to the girl in front of him who was now looking at him. He could see her face properly now. She was mouthing something but he couldn’t hear a word of what she said. Instead he carefully took in her appearance.

Her hair looked even fuller from the front. Her skin was slightly tanned and a soft blush sat atop her cheeks. Her lips had a tinge of pink to them. She wore a white shirt tucked into a pair of high waist shorts. Before Steve’s eyes (and thoughts) could wander to her exposed legs he looked into her eyes. They were a shade of dark brown almost black but the rogue rays of the setting sun that poured through the open window formed tiny yellowish orange specs in her eyes.

“Amber.” Her voice felt like a soft touch against his skin.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the thoughts he looked at her.

“You said yellowish orange. That’s amber.” As Steve blinked to look at her confused face, he realized he probably said what was on his mind loudly. 

With bright cheeks he extended his right hand out, “I am Harrington, Steve Harrington. I babysat… sit… babysitter… Dustin’s babysitter. I am Dustin’s babysitter. Friend.” If Steve was embarrassed before he wanted to dig himself a hole and jump in that now.

“You’re Steve Harrington? Mom talks about you a lot.” She smiled and shook his hand.

Had Dustin not interrupted their conversation Steve was sure he would have died from heart failure because he swore he felt his heart stop the moment their hands touched.

“I see you’ve met my sister. (Y/n) this is Steve. Steve this is (y/n) my older sister.” Dustin said as he stood next to his sister glaring at Steve who was still holding his sister’s hand.

Steve dropped her hand and looked at her once again. Now he finally knew who this mystery girl was and he thanked the heavens for letting him babysit Dustin Henderson.

Speaking of whom, Dustin took a few strides towards Steve and continued to glare at the older boy. Unlike before Dustin wasn’t quite but was now clenching his fists and looking at Steve; almost as if he was trying to look intimidating.

“If you try to pull any of that “don’t care.” “It drives em nuts” and “sexual energy shit” with my sister I’ll whack you quicker than you killed the demo-dogs.” Dustin whispered through clenched teeth and for a moment Steve was actually scared of the curly haired boy standing in front of him. That is until (y/n) (Steve’s new favorite name) interrupted.

“Dusty, where’s your trophy?” on hearing her voice both boys straightened up. Dustin smiled at his sister and walked to his mom’s room muttering about how she keeps on misplacing his things. Honestly, Steve was too engrossed in looking at (y/n) to comprehend what her younger brother said.

“So? Sexual energy? Demo-dogs? Would it be okay if I ask you why these two words came up in the same sentence?” she chuckled (god everything she did was endearing).

“It’s better if you don’t.” Steve scratched at the back of his neck.

“Oh! Shame. I thought maybe you could give me a proper explanation about it over a burger and milkshake, maybe?” The soft blush of her cheeks became more prominent as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Steve suddenly felt at ease knowing that she was just as nervous as he was. So he asked her, “Are you sure?”

“I mean if you think it’s inappropriate or something, I-

“I mean one burger and shake won’t be enough. It’s a pretty long story.” Steve mentally praised himself for not making an utter fool out of himself.

Following Steve’s remark (y/n) only chuckled and sighed as if she was relieved.

“So I’ll pick you up at 7 tomorrow and we can talk about the demo-dogs and eat some burgers?” Steve managed to ask (while holding his heart in hands).

After a moment of painful silence, she gave him a smile and a nod. Mimicking her expression Steve turned around and walked to his car.

Yup, Steve Harrington: former keg king/ former King of Hawkins high/ former Resident playboy/ current babysitter, was falling in love, for sure.

MASTERLIST 

[stankrhodes]

I Know That You Know by Leslie Odom Jr. [Songfic] - Ironhusbands

Ship: Ironhusbands

Warnings: a bit of homophobia. Fluff. Through the years.

Author’s note: My plan for week 3 is to have a bunch of song-fics. Fluff or angst (probably mostly fluff but who knows)

Word Count: 1,576

Fic day #16/30

Song: I Know That You Know by Leslie Odom Jr.

Life’s a game, but who can play it all alone?

Every chap should hold a heart that’s all his own

Love may come, at first sight, they told me

When I saw you, I knew;

I had found my only love when I met you

MIT. First day.

Tony’s eyes grazed the room as he sat in a chair on the outskirts of the room. It was orientation day for incoming freshmen and Tony swore he was the youngest person there at 15. Of course, he didn’t need to know that he was, in fact, the youngest person there. However, second to him was James Rhodes.

At 17 years old, James Rhodes knew what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to join the Air Force but he was going to wait until he got his masters from MIT.

It took two months into Tony’s freshman year until he came face to face with James Rhodes and the first thing he, unconsciously, blurted out was, “Why are you so beautiful?” Rhodey, startled and baffled at the question, sighed softly. “And you are?” He asked.

“Your future husband,” Tony bluntly admitted. Rhodey reckoned he heard someone yell “Faggot!” from behind the two of them but he didn’t care.

“Hilarious,” he said as he tried to hide that he didn’t necessarily disagree with that statement.

So, darling, I know that you know

That I’ll go where you go

“Rhodey!” Tony yelled from where he sat on Rhodey’s dorm bed doing his homework. He had basically moved into Rhodey’s dorm before the end of their freshman year despite Rhodey’s protests that he would wait until Tony was eighteen to make any advances.

Tony knew that was going to only get harder in the next two years.

“What?” Rhodey responded from the bathroom. It took him a moment but he walked out with only boxers and a large U. S. Military shirt on. “You’re hot,” Tony ogled and Rhodey deadpanned. “Okay okay,” he laughed. “Your request for our dorm went through. It’s been approved since we’re in the same year and my case was valid. We’re very close.” Tony winked and Rhodey groaned.

“Stop,” he weakly argued and Tony cheekily smiled.

“So dorm plans?”

I chose you, won’t lose you

I wish you knew how much I long to hold you

Tony sighed as he worked in the lab of the New York mansion. He was fresh out of his senior year of college and Rhodey had gone straight to the Air Force. Being alone was such a foreign feeling to him after becoming so used to being with Rhodey for the last four years of his life.

Rhodey was his rock and Tony had to admit it to himself --he was lost without him.

Sure, he got the occasional phone call or letter but they were becoming more sporadic with their frequency and Tony couldn’t help but wish Rhodey were beside him.

He supported Rhodey –hell, he would until the day he died-- but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt less when he was away, in fact, it hurt even more.

While he was working, his newest AI system, JARVIS, named after the only father-figure he ever had, alerted him that he had an incoming call from a classified number.

“Hello?” He answered without interest. He expected it to be some stupid company calling him about new plans, but that wasn’t his job, that was his dad’s job. However, he did not expect the huff and joked response, “Sorry. I think I got the wrong number.”

“Rhodey!” “Hey Tony,” he laughed over the line and Tony dropped what he was working on to focus his attention on his boyfriend. They had to keep their relationship a secret of course, but everyone knew Rhodey was seeing someone.

“I miss you,” Tony whined. Although his voice was playful, the confession was serious. “I miss you too, Tones.” “When are you coming home?”

“Four months minimum. A year max. They need me here, Tony. I love you but this is important to me.”

Tony sighed and looked down at his lap. “I know. I just-- I just wish you were here with me.” “I do too Tony. I wish I was there too.”

This time is my time

Will soon be goodbye time

“You know I have to leave in two days right?” Rhodey whispered softly. Tony hummed in acknowledgment and turned over in their bed to face his lover. “Yeah.” Rhodey sighed at Tony’s resigned tone.

“We can’t just lay in bed all day Tones.” “I want to be here with you all day.

“I don’t want to say goodbye because I never know if you’re going to come back. When I don’t get any word from you I get anxious and I drink and I shouldn’t, not after what happened with Mom and Dad but I can’t help it. I love you too much to lose you Rhodey.” Tony’s admission caught Rhodey off-guard and he quickly gathered Tony in his arms.

“I love you too Tony. I don’t want to lose you either and I’m so sorry for putting you through all of this pain. You don’t deserve it.”

In starlight, hold me tight;

With one more little kiss say nighty-night

Rhodey sighed as he looked at Tony who was, for once, peacefully sleeping in their bed. With his duffle bag in hand, he kissed Tony’s forehead and whispered, “I love you,” before leaving for his latest deployment.

Love may come at first sight they told me

When I saw you I knew

I had found my only love

When I met you

Pepper walked into Tony’s lab one evening to see him working on the 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster that belonged to his dad. She didn’t think it an unusual occurrence because he tended to work on this car a lot but she found that sometimes he put off other deadlines to work on the car when he was stressed. Considering the fact that Obie had a pretty strict deadline for a new product looming over Tony’s shoulders, she guessed he was pretty stressed.

“Mr. Stark,” she started and watched with curiosity as he slowly placed the part he was holding on the ground and turned around with movements just as monotone. “Yes, Ms. Potts?”

“I have some paperwork here for you to sign. It’s about a deal with Hammer Industries.” “A deal? Like what?” “Tying the knot on the latest Quantico missile.” “Absolutely not.”

Pepper looked him over once again. His demeanor was unchanging and sluggish. “Are you alright, Mr. Stark?” “I’m stupidly in love.” She was taken aback by that response. Tony Stark, playboy, known for his wild parties and one night stands, in love?

“Well, it seems to me you need to call them.”

“Them is already here,” she heard a voice call and turned around to see Colonel James Rhodes standing behind her. “Honeybear!” Mr. Stark yelled and ran toward the Colonel. Pepper’s shock was evident in that her jaw was wide open. Quickly she collected herself and watched as Mr. Stark immediately relaxed in Rhodes’s presence.

She knew they had known each other for decades but smiled softly because she recognized that they had far better chemistry than she could have ever imagined. He’s happily in love she told herself and has been for years.

So, darling, I know that you know

That I’ll go where you go

I choose you, won’t lose young

I wish you knew how much I long to hold you

“Aliens have entered New York City.” Rhodey stopped listening after that because it was in New York. Tony was in New York which meant he was going to end up doing something stupid.

He kept his eyes glued to the news and when he saw the Iron Man armor going through the portal, his heart dropped. “No. No. No.” Everyone on the plane looked at him curiously but Pepper put an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

He held his breath, praying to any deity out there that they could protect his Tony. When he barely fell through the portal, Rhodey let out a soft breath but kept his eyes on the screen as it looked like Tony was free falling.

Rhodey couldn’t help but let his tears fall freely. “Please don’t be dead,” he whispered to himself but knew it was a false hope.

He had lost the one thing that was most important to him.

Later that night, Rhodey walked into the remnants of Stark Tower and looked around with a heavy heart. He had made love to Tony in this tower. He had confessed his deepest feelings in this tower. He allowed himself to ooze domesticity in this tower. Now that was gone.

He turned around and prepared himself to walk right back out when he heard, “Rhodey?” He spun around and there he was. In all his broken and bruised glory, Tony Stark was standing right in front of him. A sob left his throat as he tumbled forward and into Tony’s arms.

“You’re real?” “I’m real.”

“I thought I lost you,” Rhodey sniffed and Tony’s hand that was rubbing his back stilled before he replied, “I tried to call.” “I know. I’m so sorry I didn’t answer.” Tony led the way to their room and Rhodey, completely worn out, laid in bed while Tony did some more shuffling.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Better now that you’re here.”

[softytom]

money is the anthem of success - t.h [part 4]

summary: Being rich and having a gorgeous finance isn’t everything. Tom and his future bride-to-be need to discover what they truly mean to each other before their wedding

pairing: Tom Holland x female!reader

warnings: for the first time nothing, i think.

word count: 1.5k

a/n: im not even like gonna say much because i’m still recovering from iw. and that tom gif is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. and i know y’all probably gonna kill me because last chapter ended in a cliffhanger and this one well, you gotta read it. Enjoy💓

London. June 16th 2017. 8:46pm

“Who are you going out with again?” My sister asked, uninterested on the dress in front of her, or me. “Just… Some guy, father set me up with” I sighed. Liar. “Looks like you’re trying real hard to impress this one” She looked at me, giving me a grin. I let out a small laugh, ignoring her comment. “I’ll just wear something else, maybe a dress is too much” I walked back my closet, looking around, trying to find a nice outfit for tomorrow night.

After Tom had asked me out, he had found my number, I don’t know how. He texted me, saying how I should wear something cozy. What is cozy code for? Sex? No, I’m sure I would have heard that was like a new code for sex.

I didn’t know why I was so freaked out by this date, it just one date but anyone who knew me, or had gone a date with me knew first dates are not my specialty. A part me shouldn’t have agreed with going but I also couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had managed to keep me entrain a whole evening, just let letting me go on about my stories. Just thinking about him made me smile, a stupid, high school crush kinda smile.

I have heard every possible story, there is to know about him. A playboy, spends his nights with different women every night. A spoiled brat, who happens to have his private plane. My dad refused to buy me one, said I would use it to go away and never come back and I didn’t fight him on that one. But Tom had captured me. I have a weak spot for boys with shitty attitude but with great hair.

“Just wear whatever” My sister shouted from my room. “I’ll be right back” And a heard the door closed. Seems like I’ll do this by myself. Tom was going to be here in less than fifteen minutes and I still couldn’t decide what to wear.

I grabbed a plain white t-shirt, and put that on. I’m sure this would look nice with a Prada jacket.

I made my way downstairs, and I heard my name being shouted. It was coming from my father’s office. I softly knocked on the door.

“Close the door” He said with his head stuck on the papers in front of him. I closed the door and sat on of the chairs in front of his desk “You need something?” I asked “Attitude (Y/N)” I rolled my eyes. “I want to talk to you about your sister.” He looked at me frowning his eyebrow “What about her?” I asked already annoyed by his question “I’m going to start looking a husband for her. I thought you could help” “She’s not even close to being twenty and you forget, I’m still in the look” I remarked “No you’re not. I already have the perfect candidate for you, Joseph kid. Harrison” I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came up. I rather choke on blood than marry that guy “And your sister been, how do I put this, she’s been involving herself with the wrong people. The wrong companies. They think if they get to her, to my youngest daughter. I have to put a stop to her reckless behavior.” “Then have her marry the Harrison guy” “His too old for your sister.” She’s too young to even marry anyone. “(Y/N) His good for business. He had ties to the Hollands. We need that family on our side.” I nodded my head, hoping than me agreeing to this absurd plan of his, would get me out of here. My father got up from his desk, walking in front of me, sitting down on the desk facing me. “(Y/N). Sweetie. This marriage is going to helpful on both sides. Together, the Hollands, the Osterfields and us, are We can own half of Europe, if not all. And I want you at the front of it” Every word made my head spin. I couldn’t stop thinking about myself, being head of the family, of three biggest families. The thought of it made smile. Europe could be ours. Could be mine. And it will. “I’ll marry someone but not Harrison” My fathers smiled, turned into a frown. “I’ll get the big guy”

I heard my phone beep with a text. I couldn’t help my smile a little. It was from Tom. He was already outside.

“I’m going out with Laura tonight... So anything else you want to sprung upon me?” “No. Have fun. Just try not to end up in the news” “No promises”

 London. June 16th 2017. 9:40pm

Tom had been quiet the whole car ride, aside from his quietly singing a The Weeknd song. I sang it in my head but I could hear Tom quietly sang the song. I turned to look at window, and smiled. He wasn’t a bad singer.

The car ride felt like it was taking it forever. I lived far away from the city and it seemed like that’s where he was taking me. I glanced over at him, hoping he didn’t notice it. He was concentrated on the road. One hand on the wheel and the other on his lap. He was wearing a white t-shirt with an olive green jacket. He looked good. Really good.

He stopped the car in front of a company building. His company. His building. What is he playing at? Does he have unfinished work?

He hoped off the car, coming to my side and opening the door for me. “This is your building” I commented. “So?” He said smitten. I frowned. I wasn’t excited about this

He walked into the building and the first thing I notice was the big fountain the middle. It was big one, like the one in central park. Well not that big, but half it’s size. How did they get that in here? I turned to look over a Tom, he was talking to a girl in black suit, behind the reception desk. She was handing Tom a key. They both turned around to look at me and the girl in the suit waved at me. I waved back, confused.

We entered the elevator and he pressed the highest floor. The rooftop. “Who was that back there?” I asked, now wishing I could take it back. “Jealous?” Tom said, with his eyes on the doors. “I was just wondering” I mumbled. I didn’t realize how actually jealous I sounded until the words came out

The elevator doors opened, and revealed a set of stairs. I sighed. He looked me, and smiled. “After you, darling” I tried hiding my smile by existing the elevator quickly.

I opened the door that read “ROOFTOP AUTORIZED PERSONEL ONLY” and if the lobby of his building didn’t leave me impressed, this would. They were fairy lights handing by some poles, and a table, a truly setting for two. If this was any other guy, I would have probably laughed at him, turn away but with Tom, I was impressed. It made me feel special.

“Rich playboy billionaire, has outdid himself” I said, trying to hide my true emotions. I didn’t want to look pathetic by smiling, and giggling and jumping around. I can save all that for my sister, and Laura. “Only for those wo deserve it” He said, as he walked to the table

“So this how you do it?” I asked. I wanted to know how many girls before had fallen for the same trick “Do what?” He asked confused “Get girls to sleep with you” He let out a laugh “You take them to romantic rooftop dinners, and since half of them are idiots and don’t share your same background, you say some sad story of how hard it was for you growing up with money and power and they just happen to fall into your bed” I said and Tom just sat there, smiling at me. “You got me (Y/N). Expect I don’t need a sad story to get them to bed” He added. “I thought we could talk more about your mischievous behavior. That’s something that got me going” “I talked to much last time” I admitted to him. I rarely talk to people, but talking to Tom seemed easy. “Talk about you. Rumor is, your behavior is worse than mine” He chuckled

And Tom talked. About his mum. His dad. His brothers. A dog even. It warmed how much he talked about them with such a joy. I don’t know if it warms of a happiness, or jealousy. Tom seemed incredibly into his story. How they spend some time in France, skiing. Family dinner every Friday and Sunday. How his dad really wanted to be a comedian, instead of a business man.

All the talk of family, got me thinking about mine. My father is never around. My sister is off to Chicago. And mum died. Maybe marrying wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Sunday dinner’s. Vacations in France. Summer in the Hamptons. An actually family. I can do that for a lifetime.

tag list:  @let-me-luve-you @spoodermain @petersunderroos @anytimebitches @andreuskystuff @hollandroos @jademmmmmm @marvelouslyme96 @dr-tardis-who @panicatttckiss @peterspanish @aussie-mantle @riverdalemami @kennedyy-gracee @carrotsunshine @peterparkyourassonme @tiarrasmith (hmu is you want to be added)