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obscuredgold · 8 days ago

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Why Byler isn't how you (typically) queerbait an audience, and why there is still hope

I've seen a lot of people expressing both doubt and fear about the future for byler, and how it will most likely be another case of queerbait. Because that's how it always turns out, even if one of them is already confirmed queer.

But, is it?

Let's take some shows guilty of queerbait as examples. Supernatural, Teen wolf, and What we do in the shadows (2019)

Teen wolf is especially guilty of this, with even promotion and videos of the actors appeasing to shippers to lure them in while nothing in the show ends up happening. The people working on the show knew about the shippers, knew they could use it to their advantage to get more viewers, and to keep queer people watching. This most likely, at least partially, influenced their writing.

For example, Stiles bisexual scenes, which are played as comedic to make the audience laugh. He ends up never being confirmed to be bisexual/queer and his love interests are women.

But what about queerbait where one of them does end up being confirmed queer, which is a perfect mirror to what is currently happening with Will?

The other examples I named has at least one, if not both of the characters, confirmed as queer.

In Supernatural, Castiel confessed his love to Dean.

In What we do in the shadows, the main cast consists of queer vampires, with Guillermo later also coming out as gay and getting himself a boyfriend.

And still, these fall under queerbait. Let me just quickly explain why, or skip this part if you already know the gist of it.

Supernatural is a show that spanned over 15 whole seasons. During most of these, there was very obvious "tension" between Dean and Castiel, and even some scenes that could imply that Dean is bisexual, (though that's yet again never confirmed, and all of those scenes are also played for laughs.) Both Dean and Castiel have female love interests, with Dean having more overall than Castiel, which obviously appeases to a straight audience.

Castiel is later confirmed to have been in love with Dean, which is in episode 18 of 20 in season 15, the very last season. He does this right before he "dies," and doesn't see Dean again.

I don't think I have to explain how this is terrible writing and why it is, despite confirmation, still queerbait. You lured queer people in by leaving bread crumbs here and there, only to confirm it in one of the last episodes right before he dies, and only on Castiel's side? Queerbait and bury your gays trope, very famous. Lure them in and take the easy way out in order to minimize backlash.

What we do in the shadows follows a group of queer vampires, one of which is Nandor and his familiar, Guillermo. Guillermo has been Nandor's familiar for 10 years starting season 1. Nandor is already confirmed as queer, and Guillermo is confirmed gay in one of the later seasons.

User ufocatchers on reddit put it perfectly;

In this case, you could make the argument that them not ending up together is better, since their relationship wouldn't be stable. And the show does celebrate queerness in a very natural way, even allowing it to be sexual, mature, and not innocent and easy to digest for straight audiences. Although I have a personal gripe with how they never gave Nadja a proper female love interest despite her being attracted to women as well as men.

But why hint at them getting together in the first place? Why lead so many fans on, knowing it's what they want?

Stories about or involving queer characters can be queerbait if you're leading your audience on with false hope concerning a pairing in the show only to snuff it out in the very last season.

Now, this leads us to Stranger Things. Your fear might be rising again. What if they take the same turn as What we do in the shadows, or even as terrible as Supernatural?

Here's why I don't think this is going to happen;

Queerbait is obvious.

It's a marketing strategy. It's meant to lure in the queers while showing clear favoritism towards the straight audience and keeping them satisfied. Queerbait is often very in your face, very famously even played for laughs so that the straight audience isn't upset by it being there. Gay jokes are pretty funny, after all.

Queerbait will often go to the lengths of calling the characters "destined to be" on top of having blatant, obvious gay moments. Sharing a bed, forced to huddle for warmth, standing very close, coming when the other calls, having intimate moments where they might even say typically romantic things.

This, of course, doesn't go ignored by the general audience. Even straight people notice how this looks, how it sounds, but they don't live under the hope that it will turn into anything. After all, in most cases, these characters still have separate love interests, are never confirmed to be queer (until, well, the very end), everything gay is always played for laughs, and hey, what if their relationship is just very brotherly?

Here's also a great post (using Sherlock as an example) about what queerbaiting usually looks like.

How is this different?

For most queerbait ships, the reason as to why you think they're queer is always "well, just look at them."

But can you do that with Byler? Can you convince people that they're queer just by looking, or do you have to point out the evidence? Personally, I've had to explain to my queer friends why Byler is heavily implied because they didn't pick up on it.

You might already be picking up what I'm putting down, especially because of the header, but Byler is not how you bait and lure in a queer audience. We've already established that queerbait is obvious. It's not something you have to look for because that would defeat the whole point. You can't sell something that is hidden. Like Byler being completely excluded from the teaser as well as trailers in the past.

Unless you're not trying to sell it at all.

Byler is not queerbait, it's queer coding.

The very definition of queer coding is subtly hinting at a character's sexuality or gender identity without explicitly stating it within the story. This can involve implied dialogue, set design, costuming, color coding, body language and expressions. Sound familiar?

The way that Stranger Things handles Byler and their relationship is very similar. It's intricate and clearly developed with care. It involves not only dialogue, body language, and facial expressions, but also color coding, lighting, mirroring to other relationships and show, don't tell. Hell, even playlists hint at their queerness, especially Mike's. And the biggest thing yet; Will's sexuality and any of their intimate moments are never played for laughs. You're not supposed to find it funny. You're supposed to feel for them.

Queer coding is also done in a way where the general audience does not pick up on it. It is only for the queer viewers, who are supposed to see themselves in the characters and put the pieces together. (I saw the tv glow is a very good example of this)

Queer coding might be done on accident (dead poets society, lord of the rings) but I don't think this is the case here, considering Will has been queer coded since season one, proving that if they can do it once, they can do it again, and that it is intentional.

Here's also some posts that go into further detail, and why I also believe they didn't accidentally queer code Byler.

Why Mike and Will are written for each other

How Byler mirror's Jancy

How Mike only makes sense if he's queer

The last one is especially important. How do you accidentally write a character like that? The answer is, you don't. And this is once again not how you queerbait an audience. Not with characters who don't make sense outside of a queer lens. How would this appease straight viewers, who in this case only see Mike as an asshole for no apparent reason and dislike him?

My last point is, many queer people don't watch Stranger Things because they do not believe Byler will become canon, or they don't even see the hints between them. Obviously, this can be said about many shows that are guilty of queerbaiting. Why waste your time? But I think in this case it's very telling that, if they tried to queerbait (even in the past) it was not at all successful.

EDIT: for supernatural, the show runners in general hated their audience. especially the women who shipped cas and dean. they unintentionally added homoerotic scenes and only kept doing it bc they realized it's profitable. they also really, really hated cas. they killed him off constantly and only brought him back because their viewership kept dropping. i think, at the end of the day, they only had cas confess at the end because they knew it would be huge. it would get them massive attention, even if the show was ending. just wanted to add onto that!

#i hope this isn't too long but i needed to get this off my chest #i could've made this shorter but i felt it was necessary to point out the differences #don't lose hope #stranger things #stranger things s5 #stranger things analysis #byler #byler endgame #byler analysis #will byers #mike wheeler #anti milkvan #anti mileven

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almostnugget · 8 months ago

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anyway, nobody asked but here’s how i would have done season six!!

establish the documentary is ending soon from the first or second episode to give us an overarching background plot as well as all the characters the idea that if this is the end, they should rly go balls to the wall about it

keep the cannon capital storyline but use it as a way to better emphasize that guillermo is not meant for a normal human life (he’s literally a slayer, he was never meant for human life)

use the monster storyline to somewhat revisit laszlo raising colin (think like the episode with laszlo’s father but a lil more than a one-off, just to give that storyline some proper closure)

sidenote? maybe actually have laszlo and colin make a bride for the monster but in true fashion, the bride doesn’t want anything to do with the monster and ykw, she doesn’t have to 🤷🏻‍♀️ maybe she dates the guide instead who fucking knows

SURPRISINGLY keep nandor being in love with the guide but when he confesses/hints at it to her, she shuts it down like in canon but the affection stops there and nandor is once again forced to decide what he Really wants…

just more of the baron i think. missed him.

more nadja experimenting in human life (like i said, we keep the cannon capitol storyline so she still gets to work there and then become strangely aware of human emotions like in the finale)

yes canon nandermo. but it would be progressively hinted at more and more as the season goes on (possible confession ft clips from the documentary crew where nandor slipped up over the seasons and hinted at more feelings for guillermo than we were lead to believe bc he always hypnotized them to cut it out) (hence why he says he’s glad there will be no more filming)

more laszlo and nadja simply bc i love them a lot and i just always think we need more why lie

AKA using the BONES of the season but doing it better!! making it all more meaningful and tying up open storylines but still keeping in mind this is the horny shitty vampires show at its core

#like they could have done GOOD they could have! s5 was good to me! what happened!!#what we do in the shadows #wwdits #wwdits spoilers #what we do in the shadows spoilers

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beansprean · 2 years ago

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He might not actually know this is an option.

(final face is as always inspired by mlekonya's comic)

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1a. Knees up of Nadja, hair half up in cat ear buns with purple streaks, wearing a poofy purple off-the-shoulder dress with mutton sleeves and a darker purple leaf pattern, and Nandor, wearing a brown damask patterned belted tunic with gold fastenings and cuffs, on a mottled green background. Nadja is grinning smugly, right hand on her hip and the other pressing haughty fingertips to her breast to gesture to herself. She says, "Well, Laszlo is my best friend, too!" Nandor squints at her in confusion, brow furrowed and hands fiddling together at his waistline. He replies, "Huh? But... he is your husband..." 1b. Repeat. Nadja cocks her hip to the other side, left hand turning palm up to gesture in a kind of shrug. She frowns at Nandor, one brow raised, and replies, "Yeah? I wanted to hang out with him and fuck him forever, so I married him." Nandor continues to squint at her, brows raised and jaw slack. His speech bubble is just ellipses. 1c. Repeat. Nadja cringes, slightly concerned, and places her left hand on Nandor's shoulder, holding her right out flatly as if ready to calm a spooked horse. She says, "You are supposed to marry someone because you like them... You know that, right? ...Nandor?" Nandor is frozen, gaze moved to the middle distance, brow furrowing again as his face grays with realization

2a. Bust of Nadja on a white background, holding up a finger informatively as she says, "You can marry your best friend." 2b. Reverse shot of Nandor on a dramatic starburst background, mouth and eyes gone comically huge in shock, floating completely off his face, hair sticking out in surprised spikes. Apparently this is news to him./end ID

#wwdits #nadja of antipaxos #nandor the relentless #what we do in the shadows #what we do in the shadows fx #my art #fanart #image described

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shaunashipman · 4 months ago

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here is the colouring tutorial i promised to go with my beginner's gifmaking tutorial.

to save image space, i've written up a simple explanation of how each adjustment layer works here, so i'm just going to over my colouring for these 4 different gifs.

as always, very image heavy underneath

there are many ways to get the same results and i'll use various methods usually just based on what i'm feeling at the moment. some of it is a little convoluted, but hopefully this will give you a rounded idea of how it all works so you feel more comfortable playing around with your own colouring

NADJA

this is the base gif with zero colouring adjustments, just resized and sharpened.

unless the base gif is already very bright, which doesn't often happen because directors nowadays are allergic to light, the first layer i add is always a brightness/contrast layer. i don't adjust any of the sliders, i just change the blending mode to "screen", and then adjust the opacity if needed. this gif was pretty dark, so i left it at 100%,

my next layers are always curves to even out the white and blacks. i use two curves layers, one for white and one for black. i used the white drop-picker and selected just below the lightshade on the lamp behind her, and for the black drop-picker i selected her hair near her neck which gives us this

it's already looking much better, it's not as green tinted, but i want to make the red of her dress pop a bit more. in order to do that without making her face too red, i'm gonna remove some of the yellow. so next i'm gonna add a selective colour layer, and under the yellow channel i moved the yellow slider to -5 and the black slider to -52. now

now that the yellow is reduced, i add another selective layer, and under the red i move the cyan slider to -66 and the black slider to +29. now the red of her dress pops and her face is still a realistic tone. when i first made the gif, i added the red selective layer first, then added another selective layer under it and adjusted the yellows to offset it. you can always shift layers around or add a new layer underneath as you go.

voila

TOMMY

here is our base gif

this scene is better lit than the nadja one, but i prefer bright and colourful gifs, so i'm gonna once again add a brightness/contrast level and keep it at 100%

and then the curves layers to even it all out. since there isn't a spot that is immediately noticeable as white, you can hold the alt button with the white dropper selected and it will highlight all the white/very near white pixels. you can also zoom real close in to select specific pixels. i selected a from the white area around his chin/mouth. the same process works for finding a black spot with the black dropper, and for that i selected from a dark spot in his hair

the curves layers evened it out but also made the gif a bit more red and warm toned, and since i've decided i want the end result to be more blue/green, so i'm gonna add a colour balance layer. in the shadows channel i moved the cyan/red slider to -16, and the yellow/blue slider to +11

now the gif already looks great, it's bright, skin tone is accurate, he's not washed out, but like i said i like my gifs colourful, so i'm gonna add two more selective colour layers. in the first i'm gonna adjust the greens, bringing the magenta slider to -87, and the black slider to +81. in the second layer i'm gonna adjust both the blues and cyans, because when you see blue in a gif it's rarely ever straight blue or straight cyan, so always adjust both. (you could adjust the blue and green in the same layer, but i prefer to do them separately in case i need to move the layers around)

now finally i'm gonna add a hue/saturation layer because i think the blue of his suit is too blue when the sky behind him is more cyan. (also, since you only have 256 different colours to work with, you don't want too many different colours otherwise it will distort the colouring.) in the blue channel i move the hue slider to -12 to make the blue a bit more cyan, and i also move the saturation to +38 to make it pop more

and voila

RHAENYRA

here is the base gif (this one is going to get very convoluted and imo best exemplifies what colouring gifs is like most of the time)

as always, a brightening layer set to screen

now the curves layers. for the white i clicked on her hair at the top of her head, and for the black i i clicked in the shadows to the left of her.

but as you can see, while it added contrast, it also made the gif more green tinted than it was. you could click around more, or manually adjust the red, green, and blue lines on the curves until it looks better but i decided to add a channel mixer layer instead. in the green channel i set the greens to -95, and in the blue channel i set the blue to -97

next i wanted to add a little contrast, but i find that using the contrast in brightness/contrast can saturate it too much, so instead i added a levels layer. first i adjusted the bottom bar, moving the right slider to 230 which reduces the overall brightness of the gif, so when i adjust the top bar it doesn't brighten the gif too much. on the top bar, i moved the right slider to 212, and the left slider to 9

now, i'd like it to be not exactly warm toned, but less cool, and while i could use colour balance or a photo filter, i'm instead going to add a gradient map, using the default gradient pink 08, and setting it to blend mode soft light at 50% opacity

next i just want to increase the blacks a little, so i'm gonna add a selective colour layer and under black i'm gonna set the black slider to +10

it's still not as warm as i'd like, so i'm gonna add a colour balance layer, in the midtones setting the cyan/red to +10 and the yellow/blue to -5

we're almost done, but i want to make her dress pop a bit more, so first i'm gonna add another selective colour to bring the yellows down a bit, setting the black slider to -15

and finally one more selective colour layer, in the reds, setting the cyan slider to -50, the yellow slider to +10, and the black slider to +15

voila

NATALIE

here's the base gif

as always the brightness/contrast layer set the screen

now the curves layer. for the white, i zoomed in and selected a pixel on her cheek under her right eye. for the black i the dark spot just above her head

now she's very yellow, so i added a channel mixer layer. in the red channel i set the reds to +88. in the blue channel i set the reds to +10

she's still a little too yellow for my liking, so i'm gonna add a hue/saturation layer, and under the yellows i'm gonna adjust the saturation to -60

finally, i want her to be a it brighter, so i'm gonna add another curves layer, but instead of using the drop, i'm going to manually adjust it. the two points along the line are where i selected it and then i dragged until it looked how i wanted. i start with the upper dot, which made it brighter and moved the line into an arch, and then selected at the lower end of the line and dragged in back closer to centre to add some darkness and contrast

voila

and that's how i do my colouring. it's generally all trial and error, using a layer to fix one thing and then needing another layer to fix something the previous layer did.

play around, have fun, see what works for you and what doesn't. it will take a while for you to develop your own method and style, and even then you'll come across scenes that make you question if you have any sills at all. you do, directors just hate us

have fun and feel free to ask any questions

#tutorial #gif tutorial #colouring tutorial #photoshop tutorial #gifmakerresource #completeresources #*tutorials

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veryintricaterituals · 2 years ago

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This whole season was the Nandor loves Guillermo back season. He loves him so much. He adores him. We had so many moments, big and small.

He realized something was wrong and organized a birthday dinner.

He bought him a present (foot locker) that Guillermo used as a coffin.

He asked him for bedtime stories and enjoyed Guillermo doing his hair

He got so jealous of Laszlo getting a bit of attention that he flew to outer space

AND admitted he was only doing it to impress Guillermo.

He tried and failed to replace him with Alexander just because Guillermo didn't want to go to the gym with him

and THEN he still took him to the movies with him

When he got in trouble with the news he kept looking and calling for Guillermo and got so angry at him for not being there

How giddy and proud he sounded when he spoke about Guillermo killing a theater full of vampires just to save him

The way he pleaded for his life to the Baron

The way he clung to the Baron's cloak just to stop him

His ridiculous plan with Nadja to kidnap them both and negotiate

The fact he spent the whole episode doing EVERYTHING in his power to save him

And he was so relieved to find him safe and sound in his own coffin

His little speech when he was begging for the Baron at the end, just saying over and over that Guillermo was true and loyal

His safety blanket being one of Guillermo's sweaters

The little boop at the end

The fact that he had Guillermo's card memorized and could recite it (he probably has it saved somewhere)

"I know you better than anyone" and he proceeds to prove it in the last episode

The way he kept including Guillermo into the family dynamic all season

How he wanted to hunt with him and kept calling for him, first to hunt and then for help

His face when he found out he'd been betrayed

The fact he was the only one who'd thought about the Van Helsing DNA interacting with the vampiric transformation (because he'd thought about it so much beforehand)

The way he had to turn the heartbreak to anger

He was a scorned lover

Him destroying Guillermo's things (he destroyed the pillow)

All his dramatics

How he went back to Panera Bread to wait for him night after night

The way he realized he loved Guillermo too much to kill him

How for all his dramatics and threats, he knew from the begging how to get Guillermo to come to him and didn't do it until he knew he wasn't going to kill him

How he probably sat and hung out with Guillermo's mom for a while, probably making conversation

The fact he was looking at his baby pictures (because he's Guillermo's significant other and Sylvia could tell)

Him promising Guillermo he wasn't going to kill him. His word as a vampire, his word as a warrior (season 3 episode 1 parallels much?)

The way he formally introduced him as fully fledged member of the family to the other vampires

How he, again, was the only one who knew what Guillermo needed to complete his transformation

The fact he gave him human blood (he helped transform Guillermo in the end)

The way he knew, almost straight away, that Guillermo wasn't going to be happy as a vampire

How he tried to get the Djinn to fix it for him

How he managed to do WITHOUT the Djinn's help

How he made up a whole ceremony to turn him back

The way he asked Guillermo if he'd rather be a vampire or a human

How he killed Derek when Guillermo couldn't do it

The fact that he knew Guillermo so well that he had his old glasses ready for him

The way he comforted him in the end.

Last season's theme was be careful what you wish for and this one was just love.

And Nandor loves Guillermo so much. And he knows him, he knows him so well.

I think, I think we ARE getting Nandermo next year. There's no other way the show can go on. There's no other direction for these two characters to go.

#writing this healed me #he loves him so much #that's the point #wwdits spoilers #wwdits #nandermo #nandor #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #mine

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redeyeyuna · 4 months ago

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Nandermo’s first time?

Just love to keep digging for more hints about Nandermo having something off camera :3 and I am convinced that Nandor and Guillermo had sex for the first time between 03x03 “Gail” and 03x04 “The Casino”.

I think Guillermo taking care of Nandor as his heart guard has caused something further between these two. This is very noticeable at the end of 03x03: How Nandor looks at Guillermo after he petted Nandor’s back and the tiny, sweet smile after that.

And the grin on both of their faces just doesn’t stop…

The way they interact in this scene with each other is unlike anything we had seen before in the show.

Then just one episode later in 03x04 Nadja, Laszlo and Colin want to know more about Guillermo’s sex life.

After Guillermo and Nandor canonically teased in the Finale that there was something going on between them off camera, Nandor’s thought during his ✨iconic casino reaction ✨now in retrospect seems to be like: “Oh fuck, I am his little secret…”

And I love Nandor’s glance towards Nadja and Laszlo after Guillermo tells them that he wants to keep this thing private. As if Nandor thinks: “You see?! Guillermo wants to keep it private!! Do not ask him again about that!” ;)

I do not think it was a secret relationship at that point yet, though, more just a sex-thing. It might have been sort of a one-time mistake for them, and neither of them knew how to deal with it in combination with growing feelings during S3.

They probably disagreed in particular on what a relationship between them should mean or what kind basis it should have: Excessively sex-positive Nandor who is bad at handling feelings towards his van Helsing-DNA-Bodyguard/Familiar VS. shy, sexually repressed Guillermo who is more open emotionally.

Nandor starring at Guillermo while Laszlo talks about sex looks like as if Nandor wants to know exactly how Guillermo will react to this.

Guillermo and Nandor may have had a similar talk, e.g. how things should continue between them now and how it might not have been a problem for Nandor to just casually carry on like this without anyone realizing that the vampire had a thing with his familiar. Meanwhile, for Guillermo sex is not the most important thing and he would rather build a fundamental relationship with someone and is not the type for a poly-thing.

With that reaction Nandor doesn’t seem to see himself as the one who would get into a real relationship with Guillermo at this time. The gentle nodding and his look down seem sad. He know that polyamorous is not Guillermos thing and if Guillermo had found someone else, he would have wanted to stop what was going on between him and Nandor.

Nevertheless, Nandor seems to wish for something like this for his relationship with Guillermo. Almost through whole scene, Nandor searches Guillermos face for hints as to whether he might want to get involved into a casual-poly thing after all, while Guillermo doesn’t look at him once, mostly looking down and only looking over at Laszlo and Nadja from time to time.

I think this reflects their dynamic at that time very well. Nandor is mostly the one who tends to be a dick towards Guillermo, though but Guillermo on the other hand leaves him in the dark about what he really felt towards him. Yes, he had shown jealousness towards Gail but not directly to Nandor and Nandor did not know that Guillermo had also used the cloak of duplication and talked to Meg.

Nandor probably still thinks that Laszlo had talked to Meg about Guillermo in his form. Nandor still has to think that Guillermo only wanted to be turned into a vampire without further feelings for him. Even if they had sex, I don't think they talked about deeper feelings for each other.

But I assume that they must have talked about Guillermos sexuality and that he hadn't been brought up to be so open about sex in general by his family. After Guillermo says that going off after finding the one and still fuck many others like Nadja and Laszlo was not the case with is parents and Laszlo wants to know more, Nandor looks to Nadja and Laszlo with a piercing glance and then back to Guillermo as if he wants to ask Guillermo: “Do you really want to tell them?”

Nandor had recently found out from Meg that there are women who only like women. So why shouldn't he have also heard from Guillermo recently that he only like men and that it was difficult for him to deal with coming out all his life?

Nandor looks at Guillermo intently when Guillermo decides to talk more about it before he will be interrupted by Seanie.

Nervous Guillermo looking directly at the camera cause he actually needs his things to be private and supportive Nandor still not taking his eyes off him. And it is so funny how things change…

In 06x11 Nandor is the one who looks nervously at the camera and wants things private while Guillermo fixes his eyes oh him.

Nandor has no problem with being sex-positive on camera until it is about a person he really cares for and has to reveal deeply feelings. And these feelings for Guillermo have grown steadily.

Almost the same applies to Guillermo: He has a problem with being sex-positive on camera until he can connect it with deep feelings for a person. He certainly wouldn't have talked and discussed so extensively about any other penis than Nandors 😉 (shoutout to amazing Season 4 my love)

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits meta #wwdits fan theory #nandermo #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #wwdits post

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sommerbueckers · 1 year ago

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𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜

➪ 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐝. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫’𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞.

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YOU STOOD IN THE hotel bathroom, slightly bent over the counter in attempts to be closer to the mirror. You carefully applied a red lip liner to your lips, trying your best not to get distracted by the buzzing blonde beside you.

"I better have mind-blowing sex tonight ," she spoke for the tenth time that night.

You paused your actions, "You fucking will, it's your birthday."

"I wanna fuck into the new year, that'd be sick," the blonde said.

"That'd be hard. Everyone's gonna be looking for you to say 'Happy Birthday' at twelve on the dot."

"Ugh," she threw her head back in frustration, "that's so shitty."

You finished your lips off with a smooth Pop! before capping the liner and slipping it into your clutch. You ruffled your hair a bit, the usual tight coils now hanging down your shoulders in a loose body wave.

Your best friend giggled, "You look slutty."

You gave her a cheeky wink through the mirror before the both of you were joined by her boyfriend, Jackson.

"Cara are we doin' more birthday shots or what?" he raised his brows.

The blonde gasped, "Duh! Nadja lets go."

You followed the pair into the kitchen where the last member of your group was idly sitting on the couch, he released a heavy sigh when the three of you entered.

"How are you gonna be late to your own party?"

"Relax Christian, I can show up at whatever time I want," she reassured the boy, dismissing him with the wave of her hand.

Christian turned to you and shook his head, "Remind me why I hangout with the two of you."

"Because i'm your sister and you love me, and me and Cara are a package deal."

"And who else is gonna be our personal bodyguard?" Cara added with a smirk, twisting off the cap to an almost empty Titos bottle.

She proceeded to fill four shot glasses to the brim and gestured for each of you to grab one. She drunk what was left in the bottle and disregarded it on the other end of the counter.

"What are we drinking to?" she asked.

"To another year of life, and the longest night of our lives."

...

A spotlight greeted the group as you all made your way through the penthouse. People Cara hadn't even seen before were there to wish her a 'Happy Birthday,' thrusting drinks at her and smiling crazily. The blonde eagerly pulled you along, only settling once the two of you had reached the bar.

"Free drinks for the birthday girl," the bartender smiled flirtatiously.

"My best friend too," she added, slinging her arm around you and grinning from ear to ear.

"What can I get y'all?" he asked.

"Can I do a martini?" Cara yelled over the music.

"Vodka or gin?"

"Vodka, definitely."

"And for your friend?"

"A white russian," you said.

The man nodded and moved away to make your drinks. Cara smiled with satisfaction and excitedly shook you.

"This is going to be the best fucking night Nadja, all these fucking people! You're gonna get laid, I know it."

"Please stop saying 'laid,'" you laughed, "it's not 2013 and you're not Channing Tatum."

Cara threw her head back and laughed, "Fuck off!"

As you waited patiently for your drink (you were practically on top of the counter trying to see how much progress the bartender had made), Cara's hand flew to her mouth and she let out a gasp that was drowned out by the party.

"What is it?" you tried to follow her gaze.

"Paige Bueckers just walked in," Cara adjusted your head slightly and that's when you spotted her.

The basketball star was making her way through the crowd with a few of her teammates behind her, each of them holding a cool look upon their faces. After spotting Cara, the group immediately made their way over.

"Birthday bitch!" Nika exclaimed, tightly embracing the blonde.

"Holy fuck Nik! What're you doing here?!" Cara exclaimed.

"The team had a little break in the season, thought I'd visit New York and shake things up a bit," the brunette replied.

Turns were taken as the girls wished Cara their best and then moved to greet you. Now holding onto your drink, you gave each of them a hug paired with a wide smile.

"How are you?!" Nika yelled excitedly.

"I'm fucking great! How are you?"

"I can't complain girl," she laughed, "I saw that pic of you on the cover of Vogue, bitch that shit is hanging above my bed!"

"Shut the fuck up!" you drunkenly laughed, shaking your head.

The two of you were then joined by Paige and KK, the shorter girl staring up at you with wide eyes.

"Why the fuck is everybody here so big?" she laughed.

"No, no it's the heels. I'm six foot with these on but i'm actually like 5'6," you shook your head, rubbing her arm with your free hand.

"Oh my gosh Nadja Clark is touching me right now, i'm finna freak out," KK admitted.

"Oh no don't do that! Are you okay?" you asked with a look of concern etched on your face.

You had to admit that all the alcohol you consumed before arriving to the party was definitely having its effect on you. You laughed with the girls while they laughed at how tipsy drunk you were. Paige's hand found the small of your back to grab your attention, her scent drawing you in as you leaned in for a hug.

"You look like you're havin' fun," she smirked.

"So much! Are you?"

"Well I jus' got here, but yeah," she nodded.

"Good, that's good."

"Nadja!" Cara yelled, "'M gonna find Jack!"

You nodded and turned your attention back to Paige.

"How many drinks have you had?"

"Only one," you smiled cheekily, holding up a finger. "And a couple shots but that was earlier..."

She laughed, amused.

"Be careful tonight Nadj, I mean it."

You bit your lip teasingly, keeping your eyes on her as you backed up into the herd of people. Her gaze remained glued on you until you became surrounded by so many people that she couldn't see you anymore. She leaned back against the counter, a smile ghosting her lips, she could already predict the morning you'd have.

...

You were dancing with two guys whose names you couldn't remember for the life of you. They were YouTubers though, that much you were sure of. The entire place was practically shaking as people moved their bodies to the music, jumping from furniture to furniture, pouring bottles of alcohol on each other, rubbing their sweaty bodies against other sweaty bodies.

You allowed yourself to be fully consumed by the music, your movement becoming restricted as the guys pressed themselves against your back and your front. Your eyebrows slightly furrowed, not because you didn't like it, but because it was far too hot to be sandwich dancing.

As though your thoughts were being put on full display, the two bodies moved away from you and were replaced. This time there was only one, and their touch felt a lot more familiar than you would've thought. The big hands moved up and down your sides, squeezing possessively at your hips and holding you close.

You rubbed your ass against their front, your own hands playing in your hair. Everything about the encounter felt recognizable, the dance, the touch, the scent. The second you smelled that perfume you knew exactly who it was. Even in the drunken state that you had found yourself in, you knew that perfume anywhere.

You leaned your head back onto Paige's shoulder, closing your eyes in content. Her arms moved to wrap around your waist.

When the song ended you pulled away and faced her, "Hello there," you smiled.

"Hey Nadj," she looked at you with hazy eyes.

"You're drunk," you poked her chest.

"So are you."

Another song started, this one slower and sexier than the last. Midnight The new year was approaching, and the urge to go out with a bang was overwhelming. You laughed and leaned in closer, "Do you wanna go upstairs with me?"

The blonde smirked, "You can't go by yourself?"

Shrugging innocently you said, "Maybe i'm scared."

Your hand found hers and you led her toward the stairs, guiding her up to the grand office you knew was at the end of the hallway. You both stumbled occasionally, your laughter cutting through the silence. The music grew fainter and fainter the closer you got to the large double doors, and after checking to make sure you hadn't been followed, you pushed one open and entered.

Flicking on the lights and dimming them, the two of you were greeted with an office the size of an entire apartment. Two steps led down to two identical leather couches that faced each other in the middle of the room. A glass coffee table resting on top of a bearskin rug had a bottle of whiskey on it, accompanied by two glasses. Beyond that was a large desk with full length windows behind it. It was as if you could see all of New York and the hopes and dreams that came with it.

The same song that played on the main floor could be heard through the speakers on the ceiling, though it was much quieter.

"This shit is amazing," Paige mumbled in awe.

You nodded in agreement. Without the effects of the alcohol and the closeness of everyone else mixed together, the two of you discovered that you had become quite grounded. Now slightly sober, you made your way to the couch and sat down, Paige doing the same on the opposite one. She rested her arms across the back of it, still admiring her surroundings whilst you admired her.

You pressed your thighs together at the sight. Her legs were spread open and her lap looked inviting, but you fought the temptation. Instead, you reached down to take your heels off.

"How do you walk in those things?" Paige laughed.

"My favorite thing to do when I was little was wear my mom's heels, i've been doin' this for years babe."

"Lemme see 'em," she said, reaching her hand out.

You placed one of the large heels in her grasp, then massaged your feet with your hands.

"They're heavy as fuck. How much?"

"I got 'em on sale for $850."

"Damn Nadja, that's an expensive ass shoe."

"Every pretty thing comes with a big price," you said.

Paige raised her eyebrows and carefully set the shoe down, "Yeah?"

You nodded.

'What's yours?' the blonde thought silently.

"Come over here," Paige gestured her head to the space beside her, and you tried your best not to look too eager.

You slowly walked around the table and took a seat a few inches away from her. You frowned when she scooted away, your confusion then dying when she brought your feet into her lap and began to work her fingers into them. You bit your lip to hide the intensity of your smile, leaning back onto the soft cushions.

Your eyes glanced at the clock on the wall, 10:02. Two hours until midnight, two hours left to do something batshit crazy, something you might regret but would certainly never forget. Paige was staring up at the ceiling, her hands taking turns massaging each foot as she contemplated starting a conversation. Still a little tipsy, she feared she'd either say something stupid or forward. She wasn't even sure what it'd be, but if she said nothing, it could be neither, and she decided that was best.

"Wanna play a game?" you questioned her, leaning up on your elbows.

Paige's ears perked up, and keeping her head resting on the couch, she turned it to look at you.

"A game?"

"Yeah."

"What kinda game?"

"Truth or dare," you suggested.

Paige had a feeling where the night would go if she agreed, and yet she did it anyway.

"Sure."

...

Half a bottle of whiskey and roughly ten rounds of truth or dare later, the two of you were laughing uncontrollably, you wearing only your dress and Paige in her bra and boxers. You had lost your tights about six rounds ago and your panties went soon after that. Shaking your head with slowly dying laughter, you set your empty glass down.

Paige watched you intently, her own laughter ceasing.

"My turn?" you asked, to which she nodded.

"Okay, truth or dare Paige?"

"Truth."

"You're so boring!" you complained, dragging out the 'g.'

"If I pick dare again, i'm gonna be naked."

You narrowed your eyes at her, "Fine. But if you go truth then you can't drink on this one, you gotta answer the question."

The blonde nodded, "Deal."

You nodded and fell silent as you thought about what to ask her. She had to answer this question, she had no choice, so you knew you had to make it something good. You tapped her fingers against your leg, tossing a few of your options back and forth.

When you had finally decided on one, you had wasted no time going to ask her, but something had stopped you. It was the way she was looking at you, with that sinful glint in her eye. Her lip was taken in between her teeth, her eyes low as they ran over your body. You felt yourself grow hot at the sight, at Paige lusting over you.

The entirety of it pushed you to ask a different question, one that without the alcohol, or the urge to do something wild, or the fact that both of you were already halfway naked, you wouldn't have ever even considered.

"How long is it gonna take you to finally make a move on me?"

She wasn't shocked by the question, at least she didn't appear to be. She just smiled and tilted her head, still shamelessly checking you out.

"I wanted to make sure I wasn't reading this wrong," she admitted.

"And now that you know you aren't, what're you gonna do about it?"

"Well I can show you better than I can tell you."

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a little smth to keep y'all hungry but not starved

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