Tumgik
#turns out what you were crazy about at age 12 really does stick with you! lmao
bobzora · 4 months
Text
downloaded sif2 which is up there for the title of most depressing game ever oh my god why does it exist. my many years of sif(1) data refuses to even transfer for the album lmao. this game is so deeply flawed and it is on a doomsday countdown. but also i felt the crazy nostalgia rushing into me when i started playing some of my old go-to songs like wow i remember this beatmap perfectly i really do. too bad it’s a very deeply doomed live service game instead of like. just a normal rhythm game. that i can keep. lmao
4 notes · View notes
k-nonsense · 2 years
Text
(Old ranking - go to my blog for updated rankings)
My rankings/reviews of all the k dramas I have seen so far (up to 26 now). My top 5 has been cracked by 2 shows! Netflix k-dramas are just killing it. I would recommend any show I gave a C grade or higher. I bolded the 5 new dramas I’ve added.
*= reserving the right to change ranking after season 2.
1) Hometown Cha Cha Cha: An absolute masterpiece. It’s a heartwarming fish out of water story about a big city girl who finds herself in the quirkiest little seaside town. I wanted to stay in Gongjin forever. Grade: A+(Netflix)
2)*Extraordinary Attorney Woo (S1): The most delightful show ever. Never have I ever rooted for a lead harder. She is the most endearing lead you will ever find. And the male lead is THE standard by which all men will forever be judged. Grade: A+(Netflix)
3)Business Proposal: Bumped this up again cause it’s the show I have the urge to rewatch the most. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s got every trope you can think of and it does them all to perfection. Plus it’s hilarious. Grade: A (Netflix)
4)*Alchemy of Souls (S1): Episodes 1-19 were the perfect blend of fantasy, adventure, mystery, comedy, and romance. With so many characters who are so lovable. Episode 20 will destroy you. Counting the seconds till season 2. Grade: A (Netflix)
5)Her Private Life: Super funny and charming. The romantic leads have incredible chemistry. The premise is so good! Might be the one of the most rewatchable kdramas. Grade: A (Netflix)
6)Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung: Great strong female lead. Very good messages. Couldn’t stop watching. The most adorable prince I’ve ever seen 💜Cha Eunwoo💜 Grade: A (Netflix)
7)Sh**ting Stars: Probable the biggest turnaround of any show I’ve seen (The “Africa” part was so problematic). However it turned out to be one of the funniest and swooniest KDramas out there. There are 5 couples and you will cheer for all of them. Grade: A- (Viki)
8)Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: The main couple is absolutely everything! Just fast forward through pretty much every side plot (they are not important) and you’ll love it. Grade: A- (Viki)
9)So I Married the Anti-Fan: It’s campy, fluffy, goodness, with a fierce female lead and a K-pop star enemy/love interest. Fastest binge of my life. Grade: A- (Viki)
10)Start-Up: Exceptional acting, compelling storylines, intriguing plot twists, great cinematography, intense love triangle. It’s just all around high quality. Grade: B+ (Netflix)
11)Run On: Cute, fun, silly and pretty light. I especially loved the supporting cast. Strange storyline but it was a fun easy ride. Grade: B+ (Netflix)
12)Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo: A bad-ass yet vulnerable female lead. The main couple just had a lot of fun together. Refreshing. Grade: B+ (Viki)
13)I Am Not A Robot: I was surprised I really liked this one. This goes in the zany premise category but it was surprisingly pretty grounded for how crazy the set up was. It’s funny, emotional, good story telling. Great character development. Grade: B+ (Viki)
14)Shopping King Louie: Adorable! Luis is too cute. I love it how he bops along like a penguin and his cute little screams at bugs. And Bok Sil is the warmest character, you just have to root for her. So many light fluffy feels for this show but it does drag a bit in the second half. Grade B (Viki)
15)Fight For My Way: Such lovable leads. Love the fierce female lead and adorable himbo male lead. It’s like a coming of age story but for 30 year olds. Storyline was ok. Second couple was skippable. Grade: B (Viki)
16)What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim: More PSJ is always a good thing. This drama did all the tropes in ways that didn’t always feel fresh, but it was very romantic and hilarious. A true classic. Grade: B (Viki)
17)Touch Your Heart: If you can just stick it out through the first few very shaky episodes, you will enjoy this adorable, fluffy, series. Grade: B- (Netflix)
18)Doom at Your Service: It was sometimes real sad yet ultimately a heart warming mystical story. Grade: B- (Viki)
19)True Beauty: Fun, cute, teen drama however, it’s a little too “antsy teen” for me. Cha Eunwoo though💜 Grade: C+ (Viki)
20)Suspicious Partner: Great story, great characters, attractive actors, beautiful romance, interesting plot, sometimes funny, sometimes suspenseful, but with 40 episodes, the plot was dragged so far out that it became hard to get through. Grade C+ (Viki)
21)Crash Landing On You: The first half is GREAT but the second half is way too melodramatic for my taste. It’s a very interesting storyline, the main couple has insane chemistry, and there are very lovable side characters. Grade: C+ (Netflix)
22)My Love From the Star: The main relationship is incredibly intense. I just wanted to find out what happened to them so I ended up fast forwarding through everything else. The age difference in the flashbacks creeped me out. Grade D+ (Viki)
23)My Secret Romance: The story of a total screw up female lead falling for a manipulative, gaslighting, hottie. It was problematic yet fun? So 🤷‍♀️ Grade: D+ (Netflix)
24)Our Beloved Summer: I LOVED V’s “Christmas Tree” OST however I struggled to keep watching. Boring storyline but great acting. Grade: D+ (Netflix)
25)Goblin: The age gap is too disturbing for me, like call the police disturbing. However, the Grim Reaper who is one of the most adorable characters I’ve ever seen. Grade: D- (Viki)
26)Extra-Ordinary You: I have never felt so betrayed by a second half of a series as I did in this one. All of the character development that it seemed to be leading to was replaced by a pretty sickening codependent relationship. Grade: D- (Viki).
Currently Watching: Today’s Webtoon (kinda blah), She Would Never Know (idk yet), Romance is a Bonus Book (loving it), 100 Days My Prince (so far so good).
Looking Forward To: Love In Contract, Alchemy season 2!
What are your thoughts on these shows? Do you agree or disagree with my rankings? Any k-romcom recommendations that are not on the list yet?
467 notes · View notes
hiccanna-tidbits · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
@jackunzel-time
Jackunzel Month Week 2 - Coming of Age
***
"Okay, can I look now?"
"Not yet!"
The kitchen is once again filled with the sounds of Rapunzel banging around, plates and dishware clattering as she searches the fridge. Jack's got a sneaking suspicion this all has something to do with the huge, tinfoil-covered mound on the top shelf.
For an entire week, Rapunzel insisted they put every ounce of leftovers in the bottom half of the fridge, ignoring the Mysterious Object™️like a leaky faucet you handn't gotten around to fixing. Not that Rapunzel doesn't occasionally need her home fridge for work-related things, but she isn't normally cagey about it.
Jack once again resists the urge to peek out of the blindfold.
"Come ooooon, Zellie! This anticipation is going to kill me before our starving artist lifestyle does."
Rapunzel laughs. "Starving? I'll have you know, sir, that I've had no less than 5 whole french fries today!"
Considering it was 9 pm, this was not an ideal french fry quota. Rapunzel definitely had time to eat more fries today.
Jack wonders idly if Rapunzel's just getting too caught up in her work to take lunch breaks, or if her manager is crunching her deadlines again.
Before he can get too far into plotting how he would swap her boss's salt and sugar without getting Rapunzel in trouble, he hears the distinctive sound of a lighter.
"Are you torching our apartment?" he asks. "Because if so, I'm very offended I wasn't invited to participate."
Rapunzel scoffs. "Don't be silly! Like I'd set the place on fire without getting home insurance first. And it isn't as though either of us can afford that."
"You're still making me nervous. Usually I'm the one who plays the pranks."
"Hmmm, well...that would have been a good idea, actually." Rapunzel sounds a little regretful. "But no tricks today, I promise. Now open your eyes!"
And at last, Jack gets to see what all the fuss is about.
A stunning, snow-white cake sits in the middle of their dining room table, covered in sparkly silver candy orbs and carefully sculpted fondant snowflakes. All around the side are little hand-painted winter scenes, meticulously crafted by an icing brush in a process that must've taken hours. On top, a "2" and a "6" candle sit ablaze.
Rapunzel, of course, spends all day at work decorating cakes. It's her career. (Or, at least, it has been for the past 6 months--the longest she's gone without leaving a job to date.)
It still seems like she went the extra mile with this one.
"What--" For a long moment, all Jack can do is stare with his mouth hanging open.
"What the hell," he says finally. "How did I forget today was my birthday???"
Rapunzel's surprise quickly turns to laughter.
"Oh my god, how did you forget?"
Easy for her to say. Back when Rapunzel lived with her crazy mom, who practically kept her a prisoner in her own house, birthdays were easily the most interesting thing that happened all year. Birthdays with the Overlands were always much more...lowkey, so to speak.
"In my defense!" He holds up his hands. "Nothing interesting happens when you turn 26. Pretty much all the milestones are finished, so it's just another orbit around the sun."
"Nonsense!" Rapunzel sticks her lip out in disapproval. "That's no way to talk about your coming-of-age ceremony!"
"Coming-of-age?" He raises his eyebrows. "I think we missed the cutoff for that a while ago."
"Well, 26 is your age now." She crosses her arms, chin up defiantly. "And you have come to it. So therefore you have come of age."
He chuckles. "Is that how that works?"
"Why not? Teenagers and college kids shouldn't get to have all the fun!"
"My point still stands, though," he argues. "You don't really...unlock the same kind of stuff in your 20s that you do when you're younger. It's not like there are new magical adventures that you suddenly have access to when the clock strikes 12 on your 26th birthday."
"Says who?"
His girlfriend's conniving smirk sends a wave of excitement through him. What is she plotting?
"Did you find an elite 26-and-over club to join?"
"Not exactly." She leans over the table, smirk widening. "But someone did have a chat with your boss about how many great snowscape photo opportunities there are in the mountains, and how you're going to need to not come into the office for while to get all the best shots."
Jack's eyes widen as her meaning dawns on him. "And Mr. North was cool with that? Me taking a vacation right before the holidays?"
"I mean. He could hardly resist the offer of having his best photographer out getting festive snapshots for the December issue of the magazine. You'd do more good on the field than stuck behind an editing desk, right?"
"No kidding."
Jack sits down, getting ready to blow out the unexpected birthday candles. He pauses, something occurring to him.
"Wait, what about you? I'm not about to go off and leave you to handle the bakery's holiday rush on your own!"
Rapunzel hums thoughtfully.
"Well, funny thing. I told our head baker that I just hadn't been feeling very inspired lately. And if I went somewhere, say, fresh and exciting, then the muse was sure to strike again and I'd pump out a collection of the most beautiful winter cakes the bakery's ever known. Ones to really send that holiday profit flooding in."
"So...you snuck around and got us both a week off for my birthday by spinning it as a work trip? And on top of that, you just casually whipped out the most gorgeous birthday cake I've ever seen in my life?"
She nods, beaming.
"You're my goddamn hero."
He stands up and sweeps her into his arms, pulling her into a kiss worthy of being the Big Dramatic Finale to any coming-of-age film. All these years later, and it still feels like cameras should be spinning around them with rock music building into a triumphant crescendo.
Maybe that's cheesy, but to hell with it.
"Have I ever mentioned I'm in love with you?" he murmurs against her lips.
"I would hope so, Overland. We've been dating for 9 years now."
***
Half a hazelnut chocolate cake and two celebratory hot cocoas later, Jack finds himself being dragged toward the car in the encroaching darkness of 5:30 pm.
"Zel, what--"
"Come on! I booked us a night in a cabin, and we need to take off before the roads get icy. It's supposed to snow in a couple hours!"
"But what about--"
"I packed the car while you were at work." Rapunzel doesn't miss a beat. "Don't worry, I grabbed all your favorite sweaters! Your snowboarding stuff too. And the sleeping bags. And the cozy socks. And the snow chains. And the binoculars. And the sled. And the scarves."
He doesn't have time to form a reply before he's being bundled into the front seat and covered in one of his favorite fluffy blankets. The sheer amount of alpine field guides and brochures on the car floor make him do a double take.
"You have an itinerary?" he asks, surprised.
She hums uncertainly as she pulls out of the driveway.
"Well...nothing too rigid. No coming-of-age road trip of self-discovery can be that structured, or else it might get in the way of spontaneous epiphanies about who you truly are, right?"
"Right."
Rapunzel looks like she's about to burst open with what she isn't saying.
"I sense a 'but' there."
"I did find a really cute place for us to sled." The dam breaks as Rapunzel pulls out of the driveway. "And there's this secluded little mountain animal rescue we have to see. And this four-star cafe we can stop at for hot cider and soup, and this really pretty snowy hike that I don't think is too tiring. Also this ski and snowboard slope we can check out if we have time, with this really cozy lodge, and--"
She cuts herself off mid-sentence as soon as she picks up that all this might be a little overwhelming.
"Buuuuut," she amends slowly. "It's not like I've put down a deposit for anything. We could just drive through the mountains and stop whenever we feel the urge. Find the best secret spots and have them to ourselves, you know? Have deep conversations and be alone with nature and reconnect with our humanity and our sense of purpose. Or something like that."
He can't help but laugh at the way her brow scrunches as she goes deep into thought.
"That sounds great."
"Do you...have a preference?" She gives him a searching look as they pull onto the freeway, already glowing with streetlamps and taillights. "Agenda or no agenda?"
"Whatever you're down for, I'm down for. Hell, I'm just happy to have an unexpected week of vacation."
"I guess that's the thing about these types of 'finding yourself' stories. You kind of have to figure them out as you go along."
"Then let's do some figuring!"
Rapunzel hits the gas, and off they go into the winter sunset, bound for their next coming-of-age adventure. One to perhaps be followed by many more, depending on how many future ages they deem it significant to "come to."
***
Tfw you keep aging but The Blorbos™️do not, so the only logical solution is to force them to age with you XD God dammit, if I have to be in my mid-20s, then so do my comfort characters!!!
Fr tho, I often find myself wishing there were more aged-up AUs in the RotBTD fandom. Most fandom olds returning to (or who stayed in) the fandom aren't the teenagers we were when we first got into the big four anymore, so...why not let them grow up with us??? It's not like their canon ages are some sacred, set-in-stone thing that can't be changed since people do in fact get older as time passes ajdnlshbf
And like!!! Don't get me wrong, I love a well-done high school or college AU, and they can be a lot of fun!!! But I think as I've gotten older I wonder more about how the RotBTD kids would navigate adulthood, and how they would change/adapt and how they would stay the same throughout their lives.
Jackunzel I feel like would be one of those couples who would just be it for each other. Like they get together in late high school--probably junior or senior year--and everyone keeps waiting for the spark to die in college and for them to get stir-crazy (as people who get into committed relationships young often do) or bored of each other, and they just. Don't. MFs hit 30 and are still in the honeymoon phase with no sign of getting out XD
Rapunzel is so right here btw. Twenty-somethings DO deserve to have indie coming-of-age dramas made about them!!! Kids and teens and college students shouldn't get to have all the fun!!! Besides, there's plenty of growing/maturing still to do in young adulthood, so why stop writing stories about that just because the people in question are out of school??? Tbh I'm so tired of movies with adult protagonists being either fluffy (hetero) romcoms or a drama about Some Guy with a wife and kids like??? There are other types of adults besides straights in the dating pool and middle-aged people with tidy little nuclear families!!! I promise!!!
Guess I'll just have to write all those funky little RotBTD twenty-something AUs myself ajshdkuys
Shout-out to the RotBTD discord for giving me the idea of having Rapunzel be a cake decorator and Jack be a photographer! I sometimes struggle a bit with future career ideas for the RotBTD kids, but these fit really well :D Jack definitely seems like the kind of person who would like something freelance and loose-scheduled where he basically gets paid to capture the beauty in the world around him :O And we know Rapunzel can bake, and she likes art, so...
Tumblr media
CAKE ART CAKE ART CAKE ART CAKE ART
VERY happy I found that snowflake-and-orb cake, because that definitely seems like something Jack would enjoy 🤍❄️ And now I kind of want to try it 👀👀👀I DO have to wonder how they did that little picture with the tree and the car :O
As always, moodboard pic credits available upon request!
11 notes · View notes
luci-in-trenchcoats · 3 years
Text
If I Fell For You (Part 12) - Not So Sweet Home
Tumblr media
Summary: Jensen is fed up with his parents ignoring Y/N all day and when he gets a moment alone, blows up on them like never before. The reader sees how upset Jensen is over what’s happening and does her best to defend him while still trying to salvage a relationship with them...
Masterlist
Pairing: Jensen x nanny!reader
Word Count: 6,200ish
Warnings: language, major family angst, mention of a dead parent
A/N: Eek! If you like angst this part is for you! Please enjoy and let me know what you think!
________
It was late, the kids asleep in the guest bedroom, Jensen’s siblings and their families gone home for the evening aside from his brother. He made some half ass excuse about wanting to hang out with Jensen more but you knew he could sense what you did. Jensen was getting close to popping after a whole day of politeness on his part and his parents ignoring you on theirs.
Jensen was bouncing his knee like crazy as he sipped on his beer around a gas fire pit, suddenly stopping when you shifted in your seat.
“Maybe you ought to cool it with the alcohol tonight,” said his dad. Jensen set his empty bottle down on the grass and breathed deeply through his nose. “Your legs been-”
“Y/N, would you get me another beer please?” asked Jensen. You took the opportunity to get out of there, surprised when the back door opened quickly after you, his brother closing it behind him.
“I don’t think your parents like me very much,” you said, going to the fridge and pulling out a drink. 
“I know,” he said, glancing out the dark window. “Jensen asked me to make sure you don’t come back out there.”
“He’s gonna go off on them.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m guessing,” he said with a sigh. “I have a feeling this isn’t going to go well. You guys can crash at my place if you want. We don’t have a guest room but we have an air mattress we can put in the family room.”
“You think it’ll be that bad?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
“Then why are we in here talking about this when we should be out there making sure he doesn’t say something he regrets in the morning.”
“You might hear things you can’t unhear,” he said. 
“Right now my concern isn’t if my feelings get hurt. He’s really upset and I need him to be okay.”
“You know that’s why the rest of us like you, don’t you? You care about him, the kids. You’re in love with him.”
“Yes I am,” you said as he nodded.
“You call me if either of you ever need anything,” he said, going back to the door. You nodded and took a deep breath, following him outside and already hearing raised voices.
“She’s half your age, Jensen,” said his mom. “She was your nanny. Sweetie you have to know what’s going on here.”
“You’re getting played,” said his father, catching you walking out with Josh.
“She is not half my age. She’s thirty fucking years old! She’s a goddamn adult and been through more shit then both of you put together! She’s not after fucking money,” snapped Jensen who was already out of his seat.
“You’re engaged to the girl after five months!” said his father. “It took you years to propose the first time around!”
“Because I was a nervous kid that was away working constantly. I didn’t want to make Dee stay if it was gonna make her unhappy. I’m not afraid of how I feel anymore because I feel the same about her as I do Dee and I’m not wasting my time so I can stick to your socially acceptable schedule,” said Jensen. “I love her and she’s gonna be part of this family whether you like it or not. Deal with it.”
“You need a prenup,” said his dad.
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do! You’ve known the girl for not even six months!”
“She’s not up to anything!” shouted Jensen.
“Son-”
“Have you ever lost your wife? Have you ever been in the car and almost die yourself while you watch her breathe for the last time? Where she’s hurt and you can’t do a thing to fix it? Have you ever had to tell your children their mother is dead and she’s not coming back? You have no idea, no idea, what that does to you, how much it hurts and how much it hurts when you’re still so fucked up and your parents start making comments behind closed doors about you and you have to pretend you’re better when you’re really not. When you don’t even care about yourself anymore, when you pretend for everyone’s sake so they stop treating you like a child, when you don’t know how to tell your kids it’s okay because it’s not. It’s not. Until you go through that, until you know how bad it hurts, don’t assume a damn thing about her. She’s my best friend and she makes me feel like my old self again. I laugh and smile and have fun and when I get scared or feel guilty or freak out she makes me feel better. I don’t give a fuck how old she is or what her job was. She’s kind and good and she deserves better than you two. Danneel’s parents like her. Jared’s parents like her. Her old foster dad’s family likes her. Our family likes her except for you two. Get your heads out of your asses or you can not even bother letting me know you exist anymore. I’m done with things hurting the women I care about. I couldn’t stop what happened to Dee but I can sure as hell keep Y/N away from the two of you,” said Jensen. He huffed and walked off, Josh running off after him. 
“Well congratulations. You got your hooks in him deep, don’t you,” said his father. You rolled your eyes and his mother scoffed.
“You can take care of someone without treating them like a child you know. He’s an incredibly strong person. If you don’t like me fine. But don’t call him stupid or easily manipulated or imply that it’s wrong to know you love someone after only a certain amount of time. I love your son.”
“You love his money,” said his mom.
“I do just fine on my own,” you said, narrowing your eyes. “He’s staying at Josh’s house tonight. We’ll pick up the kids in the morning.”
“He’s overreacting. He’ll be fine in the morning,” said his dad. You crossed your arms and leaned your head back. “He’ll be fine.”
“You two don’t know a thing about me and you assume I want money because of my age and my former career. Don’t assume your son will be fine and get over it.”
“We’ve known him a lot longer than you have. He’ll get over it after a night’s rest.”
“You may have known him longer and I’m sure in some regards you do know him better but not the ones that matter. If you did, you would have seen how much he would have loved for the two of you to like me. I would have taken some respect and been happy because trust me, I get how this looks to everyone else. I understand you have fears and I’m not mad you have them. I’m mad you assume those are facts when all they are is a story you made up in your head you don’t want to change. He’s right, I’m not going anywhere. The difference between him and me though is that I’ll stay out here all damn night with the two of you until you get it through your heads that I’m not here to fuck him over. I love him. I don’t have family, not really. Things have always been screwed up for me pretty much until I met him and he didn’t have to say it for me to know that he was hoping he could share the two of you with me. Maybe I was hoping for that too. But right now I’ll take some goddamn respect and an apology to your son to start and we can go from there.”
“You’re gonna curse at us and expect an apology?” said his mom. “We know you took him when he was at his low and tricked him into trusting you so you could get exactly what you wanted.”
“You know what I want? What I’ve always wanted and somehow always seems to get ripped away? A family. A stupid fucking family. Being a nanny? That let me feel like part of the family. I could pretend I was like all of those people I worked for. Nice and normal and like people gave a shit. Some kindness and a family is all I’ve ever wanted. You two...you wouldn’t have survived a day in my childhood. In my adulthood with the shitty ex boyfriend and the crappy friends and I picked myself over all of them because my mom told me to stand up for myself. Even when she couldn’t be there and I wanted her to. So I stand up for myself and now I stand up for him and those three kids to anyone and I mean anyone, that hurts them. He’s my family and those kids are my family. I don’t know what you think I’m gonna do but I guarantee the only thing I will do is tell you two where to shove it and to leave him the hell alone.”
“Why would we believe anything you say? At all?” his dad asked. “It’s probably the same sad story you told him to get him on the line. I don’t buy it.”
“I have a million dollar book deal. I’ve worked rent free for a lot of rich people since I was eighteen years old. Do I sound like someone who needs his money?” you said. You put your hands on your hips and shook your head. “What is it? You want me to sign a prenup? I would but he doesn’t want one. He trusts me and for a guy that lost his wife and had to work through falling in love with another person, I respect that. He knows what he wants and he’s not wasting time. This is scary for him. It’s scary for me. But when Dee’s parents gave me open arms and kindness and their blessing, the last people I ever expected to disapprove were you two. If you’re going to stand there and keeping calling me a liar, I’m going to find your sons and I’m going take care of Jensen instead of wasting my time here.”
“We don’t disapprove of him moving on and marrying again,” said his mom as you turned to walk away.
“Could have fooled me,” you said. 
“He’s going too fast and he doesn’t know you either, not well enough to make a decision like that,” said his dad. You turned around and smiled.
“He knows my favorite color. He knows what my favorite flavor of ice cream is. He knows why I have nightmares and he knows how to make me forget them in the first place. I’m sorry we aren’t doing things on your schedule but it’s his life. He can do whatever the fuck he wants with it, whether that’s me or somebody else. For the record, he knows me just fine. Oh and if this is how you plan on speaking to him again in the morning, I’ll pick up the kids myself.”
“We’re looking out for his best interest,” said his dad.
“No, you think you’re looking at his wallet for him. See money? People think that’s important and it is but best interest? It ain’t that shit,” you said as you started to leave.
“Well what do you assume his best interest is then?” said his mom. 
“Treating him like an adult. He is smart and strong and the most emotionally healthy man I’ve ever met which considering all the fucked up shit he’s been through and felt the past year is really saying something. He’s your child but he’s not a child. He found someone he loves and all he wanted to do was share me with you. This was his worst nightmare and I couldn’t stop it. So if you’re not gonna even try with me, then I’m gonna protect him from you.”
“He doesn’t need protecting from us,” he said.
“You call him stupid and that he can’t take care of himself, that he can be fooled and that the person he thinks is his best friend really only wants him for his money. He knows none of those things are true but it’s what you said to him when you said that about me. For a man who went through what he did, it wasn’t mean. It was cruel. I’m gonna go fix what I can of your relationship with him because despite all that, I know you guys love each other and I’m not letting that get fucked up because you think whatever the hell you think about me.”
You stormed off around the house and found Josh’s truck still there but neither man in sight. You looked around and heard a sniffle, your head going up to the roof. You saw the lattice work on the side and climbed up, peeking your head up to spot the two of them sat on the roof.
“Hey,” you said quietly. Jensen wouldn’t look at you, Josh rubbing his back. 
“Careful,” he said as you climbed up and slowly walked over. You took a seat on your bottom, spotting the window behind them. “That was my room. Jensen used to sneak out this way. I was always too nervous of getting caught to try myself. You landed the bad boy of the family.”
“Oh yeah, such a bad boy,” you said. You scooted closer on your butt to him, Jensen resting his head on his knees. “Hey. Before you even think about it don’t say you’re sorry.”
“I know,” he said. He took a deep breath but looked up, looking fairly normal aside from a slightly pink nose. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Nobody was,” said Josh. “I’ll give you guys a minute. I’ll be in my car when you’re ready.”
“You should go home,” said Jensen. “Staying in a different house won’t change anything.”
“That was kinda fucked up what they said.” Jensen raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. “I don’t always agree with them. If you guys want to stay, that’s your choice but I’m not going home without telling them what a mistake they’re making.”
“You don’t have to-”
“You’re my little brother and I like her. Even if I didn’t, they’re being assholes and she doesn’t deserve that. You don’t. Alright?”
Jensen nodded and Josh walked off to the lattice and climbed down while you scooted next to Jensen. 
“You thought your siblings weren’t gonna like me,” you said.
“He’s a good person. He’s never told off our parents before so...I don’t know if I’m happy about that or not.”
“He’s a good big brother,” you said, wrapping your arms around him. “I don’t love you for your family though. I don’t care if your parents don’t like me. I’ll deal with it.”
“I wish you didn’t have to,” he said.
“I still like your dad so much better than mine,” you said.
“Yours is a monster to be fair.”
“Yeah, he is. Yours love you and I don’t agree with them but in their minds, they’re protecting you and I don’t have a problem with anyone trying to do that.”
“How are you so fucking kind to them after they basically said you’re with their dumbass son because of money?”
“Like you said, I know monsters. I know toxic and bad. They aren’t it. They raised you and I really, really like you. Good people can be stupid and still be good. In the morning we’ll try again.”
“What if I can’t get them to change their minds?” he said quietly. 
“Jensen,” you said, moving to squat down in front of him. You grabbed his cheeks and he stared at you. “You don’t have to pick anybody over anybody. Maybe I won’t be close with them but that’s okay. It’s so okay. We’ll respect each other or just won’t talk to each other and we’ll figure it out but we don’t have to do it all tonight.”
“I think what bothers me the most is they’ve already made up their minds about you based on your age when they don’t even realize who you are. They don’t see that this is the kind of person you are, kind and supportive and I heard you not taking their bullshit. You’re a stronger person than I am and I wish they could see that the reason I’m not freaking out over this is cause I know you’re my partner and you got my back like I got yours. I’m just having a hard time understanding why they won’t even listen to us.”
“I don’t know,” you said, eyes darting to the window when you caught some movement inside. You narrowed them and glanced down, spotting the crack between the windowsill and frame. “I’m a little cool. I’m gonna get my sweatshirt if that’s okay.”
“Careful climbing in,” he said, turning on his bottom and pushing the window up. You kissed his cheek and climbed inside, the room empty as far as you could tell. You stepped out to the hall and into his old room, getting your hoodie, his old hoodie. You pulled it on but went downstairs, catching his parents in the kitchen with Josh.
“Josh may I speak to your parents in private,” you said.
“Yeah. I’m done here. I’ll be over for brunch, okay?” he said. He walked past you and caught your arm. “Call me if you need me back.” You nodded and he kissed your temple before he went out. 
“Were you eavesdropping on us?” you asked, crossing your arms.
“We went to tell him to get off the roof. We could see him from the backyard up there,” said his mom, putting her back to you as she mixed up something in a mug. “But we heard the three of you talking and then the two of you. We didn’t mean-”
“We are all on the same side. His side. We should get along. It shouldn’t be this difficult and I don’t appreciate private conversations being listened in on. But I hope you understand that you hurt your son. I know you didn’t mean to and it’s the last thing you’d ever want to do to him. But you did. So please try to help me fix this. This isn’t easy for me to accept that you don’t like me either but you’re gonna respect me. If we can respect each other, then he’s not going to worry as much at least. Please promise that we can agree to that,” you said. His parents looked at each other and you sighed. “You have to be kidding me. What do you want me to do? Go away? I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”
“That’s not...Jensen called your father a monster up there,” he said. 
“I thought it was a sob story according to you ten minutes ago.”
“You said you don’t have parents. He said your father is alive.”
“What’s your point, Mr. Ackles,” you said. “Please enlighten me.”
“It doesn’t make much sense to tell different stories,” he said. 
“You can’t even give me the benefit of the doubt that I love your son. Why the fuck would I tell you things only he knows, things so few people know about. Why would I trust you with the worst parts of my life when you don’t accept the best ones. For your information, my birth mother is dead. My adoptive mother is dead. I wish my son of a bitch father was dead. The only glimmer of a parent I have maybe, maybe was my foster father. That was until last weekend. I met some parents. I met Dee’s. I met Jared’s. I got the same message from all of them. Let us know if you ever need anything. Oh the way he looks at you. You must be pretty special. Anything at all, you give us a call. People that don’t even have an obligation to look in my direction treated me like I was their kid. So maybe he and I both got our hopes up with you two and that was on us. If you want to pick apart what I’ve said and call me a liar…” you said, putting your hands on your hips. Your shut your eyes and breathed deeply, turning around. “I don’t care if you have to pretend to respect me. Just do it for his sake and the kids sakes, alright?”
A tissue appeared over your shoulder and you took it, blowing your nose and stepping away. 
“When did your mother’s pass?” you heard behind you. You threw your head back and took a deep breath.
“When I was born and when I was sixteen,” you said, turning around and swallowing. “Why does that matter?”
“When were you adopted?” he asked.
“Why do you care?”
“Please.”
“I was eight,” you said.
“So you only had your mother for eight years then,” he said. 
“Yeah. She got sick when I was fourteen. I stayed with her boyfriend until I moved out for my first nanny job at eighteen. It was all very sad and angsty,” you said.
“Who made the first move?” 
“I’m done with this interrogation,” you said. You started to leave but he stepped in front of you. “What do you want from me?”
“I just want to know who made the first move, you or Jensen.”
“I don’t…” you trailed off. “We had a fight. I told him I didn’t want him to be my friend anymore, he was just my boss and that was it. We couldn’t hang out at night and stuff anymore.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want him to hurt me,” you said quietly. “I didn’t fit with his life. I’m not a pretty actress. I’m not smart. I’m the younger nanny and that’s all I was gonna be until I became an older nanny and that was supposed to be my life. I didn’t ask for…”
“For what?” asked his mother, carrying over her mug and setting it down on the end table.
“I didn’t ask for him to love me. But he did and I don’t know why but I trusted him not to hurt me. It’s not fairytales and roses all day every day but I like having a best friend and I never would have submitted those books to a publisher without him encouraging me and I need him to feel better. He can’t catch a break lately and I hate seeing him upset. It makes me sick to my stomach and I really, really need him to be okay so please stop doing this. Just stop. Please. I don’t care if we have to pretend the rest of our lives but please, I can’t keep seeing him take hit after hit anymore and not being able to stop it.”
You weren’t expecting the hug from his father or to bury your face in his chest for a brief moment. His mom guided you to sit on the couch, pulling a blanket around you. She handed you the mug and you saw it was hot chocolate, your eyes darting back and forth between them.
“This isn’t about to be like a lifetime movie where you murder me, right?” you said. 
“No,” said his mom as she sat next to you. “We hurt you quite deeply today, didn’t we.”
You stared at the mug, holding it in your hands. 
“You were looking forward to meeting us,” said his dad as he sat down on your other side.
“It doesn’t matter. All I care about is him.”
“I don’t think he’d be very happy with you laying down for a semblance of normalcy for him,” he said.
“Just spit out whatever the fuck you want,” you said. You gripped the mug and shut your eyes.
“I’d like you to stop swearing please,” he said. “In exchange, maybe we can have a second chance.”
“Second chance at what?” you said dryly.
“At meeting our son’s fiance.” You lifted your head and stared at him, catching a bashful look you saw in Jensen every so often. “We understand, as well as we can, he was hurt after Danneel. We can’t fix those problems like when he would scrape his knees. We knew he was in a vulnerable position and things between the two of you seemed so fast for how in pain he was. We thought of the worst of you before knowing you and that wasn’t right of us. We were trying to protect him. But like you said, we all try to do that. So if you’ll let us, give us a second chance.”
“For him, I will give you both a second chance,” you said. “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this but this sort of thing isn’t going to go away just like that, for him or for me.”
“Is there anything…” said his mom as you shook your head. “We are sorry for before. Truly.”
“I know. Trust is difficult for me on a normal day. You guys kinda tore through the safety nets I thought I had with you. I need to build them up again is all.”
“That was you that said that, people have safety nets,” she said. You raised and eyebrow and she sighed. “Jensen, months back, he told us his therapist told him that, put things in perspective.”
“I guess couple’s are kinda each other’s therapists,” you said. “Sometimes they just need to vent to each other too.”
“Before you said...has he ever been to one?” asked his dad.
“Last weekend was...intense. I went to one as a child and he talked to him for a little while, helped him put things in perspective,” you said.
“Intense? Did you fight?” she asked.
“He and JJ got stung by a scorpion. It was a little serious. We went out the next night and I made a comment and he took it a different way and he got upset thinking I thought of myself as being less in his eyes than Dee was. I know it’s not true, it’s just different. He’s been having a really great week aside from today.”
You took a sip of the hot chocolate and went back for more, drinking half the mug down. 
“We screwed up,” said his dad with a sigh, sitting back against the couch. 
“Yeah but he’ll forgive you,” you said. “This is really good Mrs. Ackles.”
“Thank you sweetie and call me Donna. I made it for Jensen. He’s always liked it when he was living here and having a bad day.”
“Why do you think he’ll forgive us?” asked his dad as Donna got up.
“Because he’s Jensen. He’s not an angry man. Angry in moments but he doesn’t hold onto anger. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. So I know he’ll forgive you. When I’m not sure of but it won’t be forever.”
“Have you two ever fought badly?” he asked.
“We’ve had a few fights. Mostly small and when we’re both tired or hungry. We had a big one a few weeks ago when he got home but we talked about why it happened and how to make sure it doesn’t again,” you said. Donna carried over a kettle and poured more hot chocolate in your mug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Don't ask about fights Alan. It’s not our business. We should let them tell us what they want,” she said as she walked back to the kitchen.
“They probably should have had a big fight at least once to know if they can work through those things and it sounds like they have,” he said when he turned to you. “I know you’re probably love struck but marriage? That’s a lifetime of putting in the work.”
“Alan if I didn’t care about putting in the work I wouldn’t be down here right now. I know I don’t know everything I’m signing up for and no one really does but I know him and the kids and that’s worth the parts I have to work at.”
“You sound older than you look.”
“Age doesn’t always equal life experience,” you said.
“I suppose not,” he said. He stood and took a deep breath. “I do apologize for thinking the worst of you and not giving you a fair chance upfront.”
“Thank you,” you said. “I’m going to bring this up and check on him.”
“Can I ask one last thing?” asked his dad. You nodded and he looked over to Donna who gave him a short nod. “Josh said you really love him.”
“I do.”
“Do you think he loves you the same way?”
“I know he does,” you said.
“How are you so sure?”
“How are you so sure your wife loves you?” you said. “Goodnight Alan.”
“Goodnight,” he said, his mom catching up with you in the foyer where the stairs were. You gave her a tired smile and she nodded.
“If I told you something, would you keep it a secret from Jensen?” she asked.
“No,” you said with a smile. 
“I had to try,” she said. “We’re not like this by nature. Something happened he doesn’t know about when he was recovering that put us off to you. A woman. A young woman at his physical therapy.”
“What happened?” you asked quietly. She took a seat on a step and you sat beside her. “If someone tried to take advantage of him, you should have told me and him. He thinks you guys have gone nuts, no offense.”
“You’ll find with time you’d rather have your child safe and upset at you than the other way around,” she said. 
“What happened?”
“We moved down to the house for a few months to help Jensen. He went to physical therapy. A very good place. A family friend works there and got him in and he regained a lot of strength in his leg quickly because of it. There were nurses that often helped and he worked with a few regularly and they develop a relationship and all that. It’s good for morale and healing we were told. One of these girls was about your age and our family friend overheard her gossiping to a friend on the phone during a lunch break.”
“Gossiping about…” you said. “Jensen?”
“They saw an opportunity to manipulate him. He is smart, smarter than the both of us together, but he was going through the motions that first month. She made him smile a bit. She flirted with him. Our friend told us what she’d said and we realized, he could be hurt again. Taken advantage of for what he has, what he can offer. His sudden shift in mood this year, introducing you as a fiance, made us think we’d failed to protect him this time.”
“Why not tell him that?” you asked.
“And tell him he was being manipulated back then? He’s so adamant that it can’t happen to him but we know different.”
“I think you should tell him, Donna. It makes your reaction today seem not so…” you said, her head shaking.
“Ma,” you both heard. You looked over your shoulders, Jensen sat against the wall at the top of the landing. “Mom. Jerry told me why I got a new nurse when it happened. She was nice, or was pretending to be, I don’t know. But I didn’t like her. I never got manipulated and I was never going to.”
“How long-” you said, Jensen rubbing the back of his neck. “You heard everything.”
“Yup,” he said, popping his p, his dad coming over to the bottom of the stairs and staring up. “I don’t want to talk to either of you right now. Y/N, I’d like to go to bed, please.”
“Accept their apology Jensen. You can hash out the rest of this in the morning but accept that they know they were in the wrong,” you said. 
“Why should I?” he asked, cocking his head.
“We both got hurt out of their love for you. They are not monsters and I know the difference,” you said. “You know too.”
“Will you two ever look at me the same again,” said Jensen, staring at the landing. 
“Honey it was a fight. It’ll be alright,” said his mom, his head shaking.
“Ever since I woke up in the hospital, you two look at me like I’m a kid. Like I’m weak and defenseless. But I’m not. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and this whole day could have been avoided if you treated me like your adult son, not the kid who fell off his bike and cries over a cut. I needed you two to take over, I did, I honestly did after the accident. I couldn’t take care of myself let alone the kids. But you haven’t stopped thinking I can take care of me again. I can. I do. I know I’m your kid but let me be an adult again. Trust me. Please.”
“Come here,” you said, holding out your hand. He slid down the steps and you stood up and aside, letting him get a hug from his mom and then dad. 
“We’re sorry,” said his dad.
“I know,” said Jensen quietly. “Never do something like that again. Ever.”
“We won’t,” he said. You leaned against the wall and sipped on the hot chocolate, Jensen’s nose twitching.
“That’s my cocoa,” he said, turning his head up at you.
“I just Jerry Springer’ed ya’ll. I get the cocoa. Get your own,” you said. He smiled and you gave it right back, his parents pulling off and bringing him to his feet. 
“Come here,” said his dad as his mom dragged him off towards the kitchen with the promise of hot chocolate. You stepped down until you were about his height and took a drink, licking your lips when you finished. “How do you just let that go? You were so angry before.”
“I’ve been to therapy. I have good diffusing skills,” you said. 
“Is that a joke?”
“Not really,” you said with a smile. “You made a mistake because you love him. I’m gonna make mistakes because I love him. So when I screw up, now you owe me one, deal?”
“I know it’s getting late but would you be willing to stay up a while longer, maybe find out that favorite color?” he asked. You smiled and nodded, stepping down.
“Depends on the day,” said Jensen, stepping out with a mug of his own.
“He’s right,” you said. “You okay to stay up a bit?”
He nodded and walked back to the family room, taking your hand. 
“Better?” you whispered to him.
“Yeah. Not all the way but definitely better honey.”
It was warm when you woke up the next morning. You peeled open an eye and caught Jensen laying awake, staring at his ceiling. You kicked off the blankets and he reached an arm out, pulling you to lay on his chest.
“It’s hot in here,” you mumbled, eyes shutting again.
“There’s a box covering the vent,” he said, dancing his fingers lazily over your bare arm. “It’s almost noon.”
“Seriously?” you said into his chest, nuzzling against his soft skin.
“Yeah. Sounds like they’re out back with the kids,” he said. You nodded and felt him move his fingers all over you, soft and light, absentmindedly tracing patterns every so often.
“Still upset?” you asked, his head nodding. “They’re human. They fuck up.”
“Are you angry?”
“I was. Not anymore. I kinda like ‘em actually.”
“Why would you give them a second chance?” he asked. 
“When I got adopted I didn’t like, instantly love my mom. I was scared of her at first. I don’t know, I get that you can not like someone at first and then love them unconditionally, you know? It’s weird but your opinions can change once you get to know someone.”
“I don’t do a very good job of protecting you from things,” he said, tilting his head, moving a few hairs behind your ear. You looked up at him, his fingers playing in your hair behind you. 
“Honey you went off on your parents last night. I bet you’ve never done that to them. You were trying to protect me and you did. No one has ever protected me the way you do,” you said. “Today is a new day and I’d like to get to know my new family some more.”
“Okay,” he said softly. “I’ll follow your lead.”
_______
A/N: Read Part 13 here!
454 notes · View notes
volkshore · 3 years
Text
sinnoh league headcanons
these hc’s are very centric to my favourite characters so i apologize if most of them only revolve around a few characters (volkner, flint, cynthia, maylene, candice, dawn, lucas).
byron and volkner smoke and the rest of the league hate it. cynthia, maylene, and gardenia, being the biggest advocates for health and the environment in the league, constantly admonish them for it and pull the craziest things to try to get them to stop.
flint and volkner once stayed in the hotel grand lake together (the hotel near valor lakefront, renown as a honeymoon location for couples) and the tabloids caught wind of it, sparking an extreme amount of dating rumours. they still haven’t heard the end of it from the rest of the league.
the elite four all get along surprisingly well for the wide range of ages. flint and aaron occasionally butt heads due to their forward and loud personalities clashing, but bertha talks them down and lucian keeps them sane. the four of them together make quite the unconventional, tight-knit group.
candice and volkner act like brother and sister. they bond over their seclusion (geographically) from the other leaders and their love for complex puzzles, as well as their intense best friends (maylene and flint). their personalities mesh really well and they always protect each other from media rumours and general hate.
the last three gym leaders (byron, candice and volkner) tend to spend more time with the elite four than they do the other gym leaders (though they’re still very close with the others).
the gym leaders, elite four and champion are the closest sinnoh have to any real celebrities, and therefore they attract the most media attention. articles such as “volkner being the problematic gym leader for 5 minutes straight” and “10 times maylene turned a public meeting into a motivational speech” definitely exist.
maylene has a popular tiktok account and she always forces the other leaders to make videos with her.
dawn and lucas are like the adopted children of the league. they always make time to visit the leader of the cities they travel to and make occasional appearances at the battleground when the league decides to meet up there.
flint and volkner have especially taken to dawn and lucas and are the ones they visit most often. they jokingly refer to them as their dads — flint and volkner don’t mind.
even after dawn/lucas beat the league, cynthia stays on as the figurehead champion who takes care of the league’s affairs. dawn and lucas are still young and have so much more of the world to learn and explore before they deal with anything that stressful, though they do take the battles of the occasional challengers.
the sinnoh gym challenge isn’t taken on my many people which leaves the league with a lot of down time, and this is why they’re all so close. only they can empathize with each other regarding the leader experience and the league are the only family that some of them have.
though their most popular hangout spot is the battleground, a lot of the time, they also meet up at someone’s gym/the league building. having so many eyes on you can get exhausting, and they use these hangouts at more protected areas to just be themselves with the people they trust.
during the time of team galactic’s terror, the league often held meetings that turned into group therapy sessions. for the first few hours, they would intensively analyze team galactics actions, movements, and possible motives, but once their energy tanked and the sun went down, most of them would end up lying on the table or floor and they would lay out all of their insecurities to each other. they would often talk about how worried they were that cyrus’ plan would succeed if they weren’t strong enough, or if the region could tell how little control they had over the situation.
i don’t have hc ages for all of them, but here are some:
— cynthia: mid/late 20’s (27?)
— volkner & flint: 24
— candice: 21
— maylene: 20
— aaron: 19
— dawn & lucas: 16
(i know that pokemon has the consistent theme of their mc’s being 10-12, but i just never saw that as viable with the level of maturity needed to go through the situations that they do. read: this is my hc list and i do what i want)
most of the leaders are quite young and i figure that’s why i hc that they all get along so well. bertha, byron, and fantina are the only ones left from the previous lineup of leaders.
this is kind of a big one, but i hc that cyrus was the previous champion of sinnoh. he was very power-hungry and put way too much pressure on the gym leaders / elite four to perform at their highest capacity. it was a huge breath of relief for the whole region when cynthia beat him.
the previous generation of gym leaders / elite four all stepped down from their positions around the same time (within a few years of each other). much like the current lineup, they were all very close, and just couldn’t keep up when the new leaders stared to take on their positions. all of the current leaders are very forward-thinking and fast on their feet while the previous generation still carried the burdens of the league under cyrus’ rule, and decided it was time to let them take the lead.
bertha, byron and fantina all have their own reasons for staying.
bertha: she’s nearing retirement anyway and wanted to see the league be something good before she stepped down. all she knew was cyrus’ rule, and she wanted to end her career on a good note with some years under cynthia.
byron: he decided to stay because of roark getting the leadership position in oreburgh. roark always tells his dad that he shouldn’t stay just for him, but byron does still very much enjoy being a leader, so he stayed for that, too.
fantina: she’s still young and has a huge passion for battling. as close as she was with the past leaders, she still has so many years of her career ahead of her and found it easy to fit in with the new leaders. she also figured that someone with past experience that the younger leaders could relate to should stick around in case any of them needed guidance (being in the middle of sinnoh also helps for visitations sake)
even though dawn and lucas are still very young, they’re wise beyond their years. they’re both extremely empathetic and very good at picking up on other peoples emotions, so when the leaders are feeling off or down, they’re always the first ones to be able to notice what’s wrong and give good advice.
all the leaders feel extremely indebted to lucas and dawn, but all they ever ask for is friends in the leaders and a place to stay when they visit every once in a while.
the league always have a yearly vacation together with each other. it’s chaotic, competitive, and always ends up drawing media attention and making headlines for something crazy that happens during the trip, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
i’ll stop this list here for now, and i’ll compile all the ones i think of from here on out into a part 2! this headcanon list also gave me the idea to make fake social media profiles for the league, so stay tuned for that coming in the future.
60 notes · View notes
dancingdryads · 3 years
Text
Okay you know why I love the Pevensies? I mean besides the fact that they are all hilarious, savage, and can also beat you up without breaking a sweat. I love them because they choose to be happy and light. 
Like take Lucy, she’s what 7? Already close to a war that could take her dad, could take everyone. Then she gets sent to a weird place without her mom (I’m sorry I didn’t want to be without my parents for more than like a week until I was at least 16) and then she finds this magical world with a creepy witch who just hates Christmas and doesn’t let there be spring, and she’s like guys I made a friend! Is she dumb? NO. Lucy is smart and capable and manages to run a country just fine after this. She WATCHES Aslan die. She sees that their greatest chance for hope is completely gone and she still knows that they have things to do to help Narnia. She is shown as the one closest to Aslan often, she sees him the most, but that also means she feels that separation most. And how does she turn out? Her first descriptor as an adult is that she is happy. She is bright and excited and sweet and so so happy. She isn’t happy because she had no hardships, we know that isn’t true. Losing England and her parents 3 times, losing Narnia and her best friends 3 times, plus wars, death, and just generally living in depressing England war times, but she decides to be happy. 
Take Susan. She is in the same circumstances, except that she gets to see Narnia one less time, up until Aslan told her and Peter they couldn’t come back they probably didn’t even think of it as a possibility, or at least a certainty. Now, I don’t think they expected to stay like they had the first time, Caspian became King, they were clearly there for a purpose, and they know that they belong in England to an extent. But it’s whiplash for those poor kids. And, there’s no mom. As the oldest in my family, and a daughter, let me tell you, when the parents aren’t around you step up real fast. I’m not talking about those couple hours your parents leave and you try to have fun without tearing up the house too much so you don’t get in trouble. I’m talking about times where even where there are other adults around but they don’t really know you or your siblings. For me it was a special needs brother who can’t talk except for a little ASL. I knew what he needed, what he was asking for, and how to calm him down from the time I was in elementary school. I didn’t care if it was grandparents, aunts, or teachers, my brother was mine to protect. Susan has that but like times 1000 because they’re the only english kids around, they don’t know if they’ll even see their parents again, it’s not like it’s a 2 hour holiday. Plus she tries being the peacemaker, trying to take care of everyone, keeping everyone fed, united, feeling loved, etc. But you know what? She doesn’t resent the role at all. Yeah, maybe she’s a bit rough around the edges at first (we all are, 12-15 is a terrible age for everyone) but she keeps taking care of them. She stays soft and gentle and protective and maybe she’s not obviously bright like Lucy, but brightness like that doesn’t survive being surrounded by contempt from someone you trust. 
Then there’s Edmund. He feels like trash because of what he did, but you know what? He decides who he is going to be and sticks to that forever. Fair and Just, he’ll make it happen. Supportive of his siblings for the rest of time, check. He is described as quiet, but not sad or guilty or damaged. This is the kid that is happy to sass kings and sword fight rude dwarves. He is happy to not be King around Caspian because it’s not quite his kingdom anymore (i’m ignoring that plot point in VotDT movie). Basically he figures out who he is and is content with that and himself. That is SO powerful. 
Peter. I love Peter. I’m trying not to be super repetitive but like, take Susan’s mothering, and ramp it up because Peter is the oldest and what’s more he was told to look after his siblings. He knows if anything happens it’s on him. And it’s not like they can be like, sorry mum, we fell into a magical war and I let Susan use a bow and Lucy use a dagger because a guy claiming to be Santa gave it to them even though the only weapons they’ve held up till this point are kitchen knives, maybe. Also Ed got kidnapped and I yelled at him right before. Peter isn’t old enough to understand when things aren’t his fault, and when you’re a protector that lesson never quite sinks in anyway. And what does he go on to become? Magnificent. I’ve never known someone who I loved and admired with my whole soul that isn’t happy and bright and the kind of person you feel better about yourself around. The fact that the narnian’s loved them, even though they were humans, is crazy. Like, if some random alien came and started reigning, even if they were cool I wouldn’t be crazy about them. If they were kids??? noooo. But the pevensies were just so loved by everyone because they loved first. Because their experiences tried and shaped them, but did not drag them down. I love that they chose to be polite to random talking beavers, they chose to stay together, they chose to retain who they were through every crazy thing, and they chose to forgive so many people who directly or indirectly hurt them (sorry tumnus but it happened), and they stayed happy. 
That’s why I love them. 
130 notes · View notes
kanmom51 · 3 years
Note
I wouldn’t say that JK was uncomfortable in that clip but he did look like he wasn’t in the mood to me & that’s ok imo !!! lol I’m a hardcore Kookmin lover and that’s what I saw in his face. Everyone can see and interpret different things. Couples or people that are super close with each other are allowed to be annoyed with each other every once and a while.
I’m a firm believer that small instances like that don’t disprove anything for me as much as the super close moments they have-often might I add- don’t necessarily prove anything for some other people.
I, for one, still think they have a really close relationship that goes beyond just friendship & a 1 second clip of Jungkook looking like he wanted to say ‘Really Jimin??, we’re doing this right here and now???’ does not mean that they aren’t close or that Jungkook is ‘uncomfortable’ with Jimin touching him or being close to him. Now THAT narrative is absolute bullshit.
I have received many asks like this or similar to this or just all up about JK's reactions, so I will answer them all in one ask, because I don't want to repeat myself. These are the asks I received (all your voices will be heard):
Ask2:
u cant blame people for thinking jk is not comfortable with jimin because everytime jm does something with him he looks annoyed as hell
ask 3:
Look I've been a supporter since 2017 and Jikook has never once made me cringe or feel awkward. JK has literally almost kissed JM and brushed lips with him and just smiled and never looked awkward. Whatever is happening with Jikook the last several months JK looks stiff and odd anytime JM interacts with him. If he is with JM, then they need to have a talk, cause All I've seen all day long is people calling JM an assaulter and homewrecker and they all say its because of JKs reactions every time.
Ask 4:
If they are broke up, JM needs to learn boundaries. If they aren't, then JM needs to have a long serious talk with JK, cause new army's coming in are already convinced JM makes JK uncomfortable. JK shouldn't have to change to please others, but if JM is his boyfriend, he needs to stop acting repulsed or annoyed or stone faced when JM touches him, cause people feed off his reactions. He fuels it. It really looks like he doesn't want JM touching him if thats the case he needs to leave JM alone too
Ask 5:
JM has looked like an extremely clingy boyfriend lately and usually I love that, I love it even more when its JK being bold and clingy, but the last several months JK's reactions make me cringe for JM. I definitely think JM is over the separation shit, the way RM rolls his eyes or they have to lie and he's probably over everyone shipping his boyfriend with his best friend, but JK isn't going a long with his boldness cause he probably is worried. I just hope this doesn't cause them more problems.
Ask 6:
Either they broke up or JK has become more private about their relationship, because there is no more excuses for JK's reactions toward JM anymore. He KNOWS JM is being hated on every single time they interact, esp here lately and he is doing NOTHING to change the narrative. Therefore its either cause they really aren't together and JK really is uncomfortable or the company told them to tone it down and JK's worried and stiffens up around JM. Its not funny anymore JM is getting formal complaints
Ask 7:
I'm tired of jikook interacting thing when it's only jimin interacting with jungkook and jungkook looks like he's in a funeral. I believe jm likes him but the narratives y'all create about jungkook are so different from his actual reactions and everyone can see that and it's the only reason jimin gets so much hate.
Ask 8:
JM deserves someone who treats him equally. Its clear JK has tapped out of whatever they have and JM isn't letting go. 2017, 2018, 2019 JK would not treat JM this way. In fact, it seemed like JK was ready to tell the world he was dating JM. His boldness in front of cameras, then. He never shunned/made JM look bad. If I did not know Jikook's relationship, I would think JM was an aggressor who makes JK uncomfortable cause that is how it reads no matter how hard we defend it. JK doesn't deserve JM.
Ask 9:
i cried so much today, honestly fuck jungkook. i hope jimin realizes how their "interactions" look on camera and sticks to his word of not even talking to him
ask 10:
JM is telling us one thing, JK is telling us another. Every time something happens with Jikook, its usually because of JM and JK looks uncomfortable, then JK will wear green & purple. JM leans on JK butter pic, JK wears green & purple shirt next day. JM trying to have moments with JK at muster, net day, JK wears purple & green earrings. I'm guessing JK will wear purple & green together soon again. JM deserves better, cause that's not cool if JK is his boyfriend and its not cool of JM if Jk's not
Ask 11:
It's not the same anymore with Jikook and Jk is the main reason. His actions towards Jimin is why its hard to continue defending Jikook. If they're together, then JK needs to treat him better period. I'm not saying he has to kiss his boyfriend in public or shout he's mine, but stop flinching, cringing and sitting there with a pissed look when he interacts if he's your boyfriend. If he's not, set boundaries and leave JM alone and stop leading him on. I'm scared for JM. BH might let him go.
Ask 12:
Genuine Q, why does everyone say jungkook is clingy with jimin? Even always behind the scenes is jimin clinging to him, looking for the tiniest way to interact with him and jungkook is always a passive receptor of all his affections. I like them together but seeing so many people say things I have never seen makes me confused and it's frustrating. Even lee hyun hugged jimin today more friendly than jungkook ever has. ANd I don't mean a 'backhug'.
Ask 13:
If he's going to be fond of JM, I'd rather he show it rather than leave JM out to dry.
So, here we go.
First thing I have to say is, please everyone take a big breath, let it out and lets start talking here.
I will start by saying that neither JK nor JM ow us a thing!! JK doesn't have to prove to us he likes or loves or wants JM, and visa versa.
If they choose to show us, every once in a while, it's their prerogative, not our right.
So, if JK loves JM, if they are in a relationship, it's JM he has to show he loves him, not us.
Where were all of you when JK was practically forcing his arms around JM to hug him after the recording of the Black swan performance? JM clearly didn't seem pleased at that moment. Were you discecting his reaction then? Either way, if your answer to the question is yes or no, you need to stop for a second and think why you were.
Moving on.
JK is not impassive to JM. JK is not hating what JM does. JK is being JK.
I have said this soooo many times before. JK in control of a situation is not the same JK caught off guard or surprised.
When JK is caught off guard he goes into a panic mode of sorts. Many times it looks like a total shut down. Freeze mode, if you wish to call it that. Resting bitch face is also good here.
When JK is in control of a situation he is happy, he is bold, he, in his mind, knows what he’s doing, where he is taking things and f**k the consequences, as far as he is concerned (at least for that split second he decides to do his crazy).
When JK is not in control and caught off guard he loses it. This is a shy introvert that suffers from anxiety. Please don’t let his stage persona confuse you.
JK isn’t uncomfortable with JM. He loves him. And even if you don’t believe they are a couple, I’m sorry, but that is something no one can deny, JK’s love for JM.
JK is an adult, he can be pretty assertive when he wants to. Yes, there is the age hierarchy, but he has shown us on more than one occasion that if he doesn’t want someone to hug him or touch him, he will push them off. We need to understand this. If JK didn’t want JM to touch him, he would push him off. If JK didn’t want JM to jump on him, he wouldn’t have caught him, it’s not like JM would have fallen on the ground. Do I have to remind just how many times JK has lifted JM and loved every single time he has done it.
But you ask, why a big smile on his face then and not this time?
Again, he knew what was coming then, he had control over the situation. He wasn’t caught off guard.
That’s JK, that’s who he is, and you cannot expect him to change who he is, how he reacts, how his face looks just because it doesn’t look good on camera to you, just because fans will dissect it to pieces and then go all nasty and turn it against the one person he loves most.
You can’t turn it on him.
It’s on the fans that as far as I am concerned shouldn’t be even called fans. The haters that instead of loving BTS and all their members are busy trying to break them down.
I will say this both to JM and JK stans:
Those are your bias, each one of them. And you bias loves the other one, JK loves JM and JM loves JK (no matter the level of love, friend, boyfriend, partner, they love each other).
You claim to love them, so how can you point so much anger and hate towards the one person they love so much????
If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it. Because, saying something bad about the one your bias loves, well, don’t you think it would hurt them too???
Your bias, the person you claim to admire, care for, support, he chose to love this other person. Why don’t you give him some credit that he knows what he’s doing? That if that other person was treating him badly, he would no longer be with him, no longer gravitate towards him. No one is forcing him to always, always, be by his side, rub his neck, hug him, talk about him (always positive things, at that, unless it’s giving us information we didn’t really need to know about the other, like how long they shower, how loud they snore, who they were with at 4 am etc.).
PLEASE give your bias the well deserved credit that he knows what his wants and needs are. If JM didn’t want to be with JK, if he felt his needs weren’t being met, he wouldn’t be with him. Same said about JK.
They know how to disconnect, how to distance themselves and still stay professional, and yet, they choose to be at each other's side. That should say something to you.
So, my suggestion to you is to just leave them alone. Yes, I said it.
Let them be who they want to be. We cannot impose our needs for JK to show TKK’s he likes it when JM goes on the way he does on JK. He is who he is. If JM is unhappy with it, well he won’t put up with it, believe me. He is not a damsel in distress and doesn’t need the fans to save him from mean ole’ JK. JM is a strong ass man, I’ve said this many times before. He can take care of himself, and believe me, if he had a problem with JK’s reaction, the boy knows how to deal with it without fans coming to his rescue.
Fans need to stop inserting themselves into these young men’s lives. We are spectators, no more no less.
If you can enjoy them while understanding that, great. If not, well maybe the right thing is to take a breath, re-evaluate things and then come back.
33 notes · View notes
finitepeace · 3 years
Text
this week i read...
Darling, Keep the Lights On (Until I Get Home) by capsicleironman  💙
Summary: When Steve Rogers is awoken from the ice early, he is assigned as the personal assistant to Tony Stark, the man on TV with the strange glowing light in his chest. The plan was simple - protect and gain intel. It was supposed to be just another job, but then again, nothing in Steve's life has ever gone according to plan.
Iron Man 2 Divergence where Steve ends up working for Tony instead of Natasha, and his interest first in the arc reactor and then in Tony himself, leads him through the events of the Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Captain America 2.
17k words 
It's Only Half Past (The Point of Oblivion) by LadyHabren (equalopportunityobsessor)
Summary: "I think it's generally agreed that all of Steve's senses are powered up by the serum? He can hear people whispering on the other side of the room, probably sees a hell of a lot further, etc.
But there are definite downsides. How does Steve control this side effect of the serum?"
Captain America is more than a man - he is a hero, he is an ideal, he is pure muscle held together by patriotism and moral fibre... And not even Captain America can fight it when his own brain turns against him.
4k, sentinel/guide au, not set in mcu, 
Do-Over by gottalovev  💙
Summary: Steve woke up six months ago into a future that leaves him indifferent. There is work, and not much else. His current mission is a basic search and rescue operation to retrieve an American who was kidnapped by a terrorist group ten days ago. He won't let the fact that the hostage is Howard's son be a distraction.
14k words, ironman 1 - 2 but with steve on it!, 
Calls Me Home by steve-capsicle-rogers (adorable_lab_rat)
Summary: Tony can't help but notice the far away look on Steve's face. The visible pain and loss. It wasn't right and giving Steve back everything he'd lost was the right choice. The right thing. And honestly Tony didn't do the right thing near enough.
9k words, post avenger 1, tony time travels to victory day with steve to make him happy 
Memorial by hanyou_elf
Summary: Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier known but to God.
Steve visits Arlington's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in lieu of visting the tombs of those he's lost.
600+ words, steve visits his grave and tony supports 
Damaged by orphan_account
Summary: Prompt: Can you write a story where Tony is having heart problems again even after the shrapnel and arc reactor is removed, like he needs a pacemaker or something please? :)
Steve is worried about Tony after the doctor tells them Tony needs a pacemaker. Tony being Tony decides to build something better.
2k words, arc reactor + health problem 
Warning by laireshi
Summary: Tony's left arm hurts.
100 words, angst post-civil war au 
Told You Dirty Jokes Until You Smiled by ChibiSquirt  💙
Summary: Steve was waiting at light, casually checking out the man in the car behind him, when his phone pinged.
75k words. WIP T_T . steve is cap but tony isnt ironman (yet?). steve is awaken before ironman 1 and meets tony, proceed to have friends with benefits arrangement... 
blood, Lies, and Love by Ridley160
Summary: When Steve Rogers volunteered for Project Rebirth they told him they would make him a hero. No one bothered to tell him that the serum would change him into a monster that needed to feed on the blood of the living for survival. Now he has woken up 70 years in a future where there are more like him and his affliction is now seen as gift. Only Steve is convinced that he is at his core still just a monster.
Then he meets the brilliant, quirky and charismatic Tony Stark, the only person in this crazy new world that seems to understand Steve's misgivings about what he is, but Tony is haunted by something. A secret he has carefully guarded for many years that forced him to push everyone away.
33k words in 13 chapters, steve is cap + a vampire but tony isnt ironman, 
Blood Loss by wisia
Summary: The serum really did work a miracle. It created Captain America, and Tony would like the serum to work a miracle on him too. If only he didn’t fall in love.
5k words, set in captain america 1st avenger, tony is scientist/adventurer looking for a cure for his heart problem 
scientific Heresy by antigrav_vector
Summary: In the process of running the particle accelerator in his basement and fixing the arc reactor, Tony finds himself flung into the past where he has to take on a fight not his own if he wants to get home to stop Vanko. At least he had a chance to replace the old rector that had been killing him with the new one before everything went sideways... But now he has no choice but to face off with family, friends, and old heroes, and none of that sounds remotely appealing. Well, okay, getting to meet them all during their glory days kinda does.
But as it turns out, they're not exactly what he imagined, and his path home is a lot longer than he'd hoped it would be.
And a lot more complicated.
34k words in 12 chapters, time travel au @ cap 1 and ironman 2, steve/tony/bucky 
we will meet in another life by theappleppielifestyle
Summary: Tony is there instead of Howard during Project Rebirth. He ends up following Steve into the Howling Commandos, into the Atlantic ocean and into the 21st century.
6k words, canon divergence. 
Keep on Beating by itsallAvengers
Summary: There were an awful lot of things Steve loved about Tony. But one thing in particular Steve could never get enough of was his heartbeat.
6k words, self-sacrificing tony strikes again and steve is upset.. so tony comes to a solution... 
Coming Up Roses by NobodysBloodyPrincess  💙
Summary: Those with a death wish referred to the High Commander’s infatuation with the late Tony Stark as an ‘obsession.’ They were wrong. It had to be more than that, after all there was no word for what the High Commander was about do in the name of making things right.
No one gets a redo of life… no one except High Commander Rogers that is. Everything is coming up Roses and Sunshine for him. After all, he has a dream and it’s going to come true.
41k words in 3 chapters, beautiful but a bit dark and sad, just like the author said: “‘i’ll be with you till the end of line’ but stony”, definitely one of the best fic i’ve read because THEY ARE HAPPY T_T 
The One With Bucky's Biggest Fan by justanotherpipedream
Summary: Steve still can’t believe how long it took for him to notice. It wasn’t a secret really, just something that no one had cared to ask...it honestly took Rhodey pulling him aside and pulling out an old photo album, before Steve really understood.
Tony Stark was a Bucky Barnes fan.
(aka The one where Tony is the biggest Bucky Barnes fanboy, Steve is a supportive boyfriend, and Bucky is perplexed by it all.)
2k words, it’s all in the summary 
Sins of the Mother by skullshy  💙
Summary: All she could see when her eyes closed was Steve’s face in the courtroom. Stern, pained— with that fucking all-American self-righteousness.
Toni wondered for years whether it would have made a difference. Told him that she was pregnant, that Ultron was to protect their baby, and how sorry she was.
On her worst days, she imagined it wouldn’t have mattered.
23k words in 23 chapters, female tony stark, civil war (or age of ultron?) canon divergence 
So this is bonded life by Captainstark12
Summary: Steve had been protecting the human village from hydra creatures like him for five years. And now he was ready to take his prize as he had the privilege of choosing an omega to bear his child. Hopefully his chosen omega human would want him back as much as he wanted him
4k in 6 chapters, mythology au 
I don't think there's a manual for this by itsallAvengers
Summary: So. His son can stick to things, apparently.
If only Tony had realised this before he'd caught him hanging off the 89th floor of the tower.
Well. Parenting was never going to be a smooth road, was it?
2k words, stony adopts peter parker and then they become superfamily 
For Your Eyes Only by SarahHBE
Summary: Every soldier looks forward to mail call. But Alpha Steve Rogers gets a big surprise with the letter his Omega, Tony Stark, has sent him.
2k words, explicit bcs of sexual content 
It Was Just A Matter Of Time by babynative
Summary: The clock was ticking. And then, black.
719 words, civil war canon divergence, angst 
This Can't Be The Last by MusicalLuna
Summary: Hours after a mission ends, Tony's heart starts to race.
1k words, tony had a heart attack, but not angst! 
The Billionaire and the Army Captain by Neverever
Summary: Facing finanical ruin and needing to care for his sick daughter, Steve Rogers agrees to marry Tony Stark, who needs to get married by his 30th birthday to inherit. It's just a job for Steve until he starts to fall for the enigmatic billionaire.
12k words, non-powers au, 
Adopt by greenteeth  💙
Summary: Steve's life is the same as usual. He goes to work, fights super villains, banters with other Avengers and goes home to an empty apartment. Until the son of an old friend shows up asking for help, well sex first, then help. Suddenly Steve is married, fighting super villains, worrying what Obadiah Stane and coming home to Tony most nights of the week.
42k words in 17 chapters, ABO, tony is not iron man, the story is complete but it’s a part of series that seems to never see the light T_T 
The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation  by scifigrl47  💙
Summary: When Tony Stark was seventeen years old, he built his first AI. On that day, he ceased to be his father's creation, and became a creating force in his own right.
That one act likely saved his life, and not always in the most obvious ways.
84k words in 8 chapters, stony but mostly looking through his AI bots a.k.a. jarvis and dum-e, definitely one of the best fics ever! 
Bewitched, Body and Soul by iam93percentstardust
Summary: Almost ten years after joining the British Army, Steve Rogers returns to his childhood home after his mother's death. The house seems quiet in a way that it's rarely been. But the peace is shattered when his oldest friend stumbles into his home and into his life, seeking an escape from an arranged marriage to a cruel lord. Steve provides that escape but finds himself engaged to be married instead. This wouldn't be a problem - except that Steve is, always has been, and always will be deeply in love with Tony Stark.
16k words, regency AU, ABO,  the classic stony misunderstanding trope 
Right place, right time by hkandi, ralsbecket
Summary: An alternate take on the Captain America: The First Avenger movie. Tony is working with his dad to help out the SSR on this new project, though he and Steve happen to run into each other before that, and sparks fly from the start.
8k, CA: First avenger AU with tony stark present
30 notes · View notes
ifyouseekay468 · 3 years
Note
what do YOU personally think the teenagers (mcr) lyrics are about my friend ? like i keep thinking about them but im not sure im going somewhere
okay, ive answered this ask twice on mobile and each time my phone deleted it, so here I go, the FINAL version of this post
It's been a hot minute since I listened to teenagers so I decided to do a quick run-through of the lyrics, and while Gerard&Co were raised catholic the lyrics seem to REEK of protestant trauma, so that's what I'll be going off of, but I'm pretty sure the two denominations overlap here. The first verse is about kids in youth group, Christian GirlsTM especially, who are put there to pressure you into being "normal" into "cleaning you up with the lies in the book" (bible), although the pastor is the one giving the teaching THESE are the people who will get you to BELIEVE, who will get you to lie to yourself, who will get you to church camps that on some level utilize brainwashing techniques, and will DESTROY you with the idea that you're "Just one of them, and just need to change everything about yourself and fake your way through every last sermon to be just a part of the gang",
The part about sleeping with a gun and keeping an eye on you is about two things: one, about the idea that God can see all your thoughts, that THINKING about "sin" (ie; fantasizing about sex) is as bad as COMMITTING sin (which is fucked up entirely on its own because fantasy is SO FUCKING DIFFERENT FROM REALITY and that is a CRUCIAL aspect of sexual expression in order to safely engage in sex), AND the fact that these kids will pretend to be your friend, will prod you into doing things with them, into telling them things about yourself all the while making you feel like "part of the group" when really they're just blabbing either to religious leaders, or are ostracizing you and bullying you behind your back.
"The drugs never work"
This in my opinion points to the fact that this song is specifically about being QUEER in a christian culture. It is common for trans people to turn to drugs or psychedelics in an area that has little to no access to gender affirming care, or acceptance because they both change reality and disconnect one from the body that is causing their dysphoria. It can also help burn away the guilt, so to speak.
The methods of keeping you clean is about two things: one, about purity culture, no smoking, no drinking, no friends who drink, no sex, no porn, no masturbation, no impure thoughts. The second, is the way they're able to subtly manipulate you into hiding yourself, into lying to yourself, into forcing yourself to the point of death into being cishet. They're keeping you clean not just from the vices of addiction, but the vices of the flesh, the vice you can't escape because it's a part of you from the day youre born. On a darker note, this could also be referring to c*nversion th*rapy, given this second interpretation of the lyrics
"Ripping your head and aspirations to shreds," Is again about two things in my opinion: both the idea of "losing yourself to God's will" that usually leads one to losing their identity and getting depression and fucked up mental health, and the "shift" that happens at church when you reach a certain age. You know the kind, right? You're four years old, and church is FUN! You get to go to this big room and sing and dance on stage with all your friends! You get to play GAMES! You get to talk to the ~cool teenagers~ who are ~Just like you~ and ~think youre a "cool kid"~, you have ~best friends~ who will be with you like Jesus and the 12! but then, one day, something happens, something SHIFTS. maybe the Sunday school teacher leaves, maybe there's a new family at church, maybe the church changes buildings. Maybe none of that has to do with any of it, all you know is that now things are forever different. Church isn't fun anymore. The kids classes are repetitive, they're bribing you into memorizing bible verses with money, they DONT reward critical thinking or analysis, but they do call you smart, that's because they dont want SMART kids they want OBEDIANT ones. You have no choice but to stat going to REAL church. Suddenly, your best friends are not your best friends. Suddenly they're avoiding you. Suddenly they're lying to you. Suddenly you're too... well they don't know the word yet but "gay" for them...
"Teenagers scare the living shit out of me"
This is what youth group does to you, it isolates you from your entire generation because there are few people your age and a whole lot older than you, and everyone is so much DIFFERENT from you for some reason, but neither of you know why, not yet anyways. This makes you distance yourself from teenagers, because you can't SEE yourself as a teenager, because youre nothing like other teenagers.
"They could care less as long as someone will bleed,"
This is the martyr complex that permeates youth culture like the smell of wine, the problem? these kids love to make a show of themselves and their martyrdom, but they're unwilling to martyr themselves, so what do they do? They throw someone else to the wolves and take the glory. They ostracize and eliminate the unique in the name of preserving their faith. They convert and convert and god help anyone who doesn't want to convert.
"So darken your clothes and strike a violent pose"
This is about deconversion, how the moment you leave the church you never want to see another cross till the day you die, that you want to avoid christians of all costs because you don't want them To drag you back into the pit that devoured you. So you do anything and everything you can to make yourself repulsive to Christians, which actually coincides with your indulgence of mundane activities previously considered as "sin"
"Maybe they'll leave you alone but not me,"
There's a different between a cishet ex Christian and a queer ex christian, and that difference is that a cishet atheist is more likely to be left alone than a queer one, especially a queer one whose whole demeanor screams "Christians be gone," that shit is like... it summons christians faster than free winter jam tickets! They swarm to you frothing at the mouth with holy water waiting to either convert you or exorcise you into purity, depends on if you want them or not. Again, you don't even have to be OPENLY gay, they can TRACK this shit. it's like fucking... INSTINCT or something.
"The boys and girls in the clique, the awful names that they stick, you're never gonna fit in much kid,"
as alluded to above, this lyric is about how, even from a young age, BEFORE youth group, this toxic culture kind of develops. ESPECIALLY around christian girls. They don't have the vulgarity of slurs, but they can make up for it with slang like "tomboy" "nancyboy" "too boyish" "a sissy" "Weird" etc, youre NEVER going to fit in, because the moment that "shift", from fun games and songs to Real Church, occurs, you have a target on your back.
"But if youre troubled and hurt what you got under your shirt will make them pay for the things that they did,"
This is probably a gun. But that's a tad too boring for my taste. If you were raised protestant you KNOW that being an ex protestant, after the craziness of evangelicalism, you would not hesitate to burn down your old church. It could be a secret tattoo, top surgery scars, hell maybe even nipple clamps. Whatever it is, it's symbolic of revenge. I know that anytime I wore my labrys necklace to church I would always hide it under my shirt. I hid books and CDs under there too. Again, it's about revenge, it's about breaking free, gun or no gun, the point is getting out and getting back at them.
and thats pretty much my take on the song. Again, this is not about artist intent this is just what the lyrics reminded ME of personally (as you can see from the over biographical bullshit I wrote), I'm always open to contradicting interpretations though as I always have like 2+ interpretations of a song or book! I never really saw the song through the lens of youth group specifically but when I went over the lyrics again in retrospect it all seemed to really click (pun not intended) well! Thanks for the ask!
28 notes · View notes
killiansprincss · 3 years
Text
Could This Be Us?
Tumblr media
This is my work for @csjanuaryjoy​ this is my first year taking part and I’m excited to share with you all! I’ve made it my goal to write more this year and this seemed like the best way to do that goal! This is just a cute fluff missing scene that I hope brings you joy!
Also on A03
Summary: set in the few weeks before 4b when everything was clam, Emma and Killian agree to babysit Neal and Emma slowly begins to let down her walls and Killian becomes vulnerable. Pure fluff. Babysitting adventures.
___
Emma was happy. The Snow Queen was gone and Gold was banished to the real world. There was nothing and nobody that could hurt them anymore. They could begin their normal life, well as normal as a town filled with fairytale characters could be. Her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming and her boyfriend was Captain Hook, so it was a little crazy, but for the first time in her life, Emma was truly happy.
She goes downstairs to see her parents cooing over her baby brother. Again, still weird that she was 30 and the same age as her parents, and had a newborn baby brother. Even weirder that he was named after her dead ex boyfriend, but his death did allow them to defeat Zelena. And she couldn’t tell them the horrible things Neal did to her, it would only ruin their sense of hope and belief that everyone could be a hero.
“Morning Kid, want me to drive you to school?” Emma asks her son, as she pours her coffee.
Henry spent 4 days at the Apartment Lot with Emma and his grandparents, and the other 3 days at Regina’s. It was their best attempt at normality, and Henry seemed to like spending time with David, dropping not so subtle hints that he wanted to take up sword fighting lessons.
“It’s okay Mom. I think I’ll walk, Ivy is meeting me early as we’ve got our science project due today so we need to go over everything.” He tells her. He was getting pretty friendly to this Ivy girl, Emma was sure he had his first crush, but wouldn’t say anything in case she ruined anything.
Checking the time and realises she’s late, she takes a final sip of her coffee before saying, “I’ve gotta go. Killian’s helping out at the station today and I’m meeting him at Granny’s for breakfast.” It had become a weekly tradition to meet Killian for breakfast, she was getting him to try everything on the menu, and this week was Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup.
“Wait, Emma before you leave.” David says, picking up Neal from his crib. “We wanted to know if you and Hook would babysit tonight. We haven’t had a night to ourselves in a while.”
Emma smiles, “We would love to. And since when do you approve of Hook babysitting? Does this mean you like him now?”
David rolls his eyes, but can’t stop the smile from his face. Truth is he was warming to the fact that a pirate was dating his daughter, he was a good guy, he cared for Emma and he was proving day by day that he wasn’t the man he was years ago. “He’s still a pirate dating my daughter, so he’s under careful supervision. But if he makes you happy I’m not standing in your way.”
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
“Morning love.” Killian waits for Emma outside the lot, which he really didn’t have to do seeing as he lives in the room he rents at Granny’s.
She gives him a quick kiss, and takes his hand as they start walking. “So my parents have asked us to babysit my brother tonight. I told them we would, I hope that’s okay.”
Killian gives Emma a worried look. “Just so you know Swan, I know nothing about babies, I’m not so sure how helpful I can be.”
Emma smiles at her boyfriend, he could’ve easily said no, but he didn’t. “That’s okay. I didn’t raise Henry, I also don’t know the first thing about babies, so it’ll be an adventure for both of us.”
Killian was so lucky. He truly was the luckiest man in the universe. He never imagined Emma would be with him in the way that she is. He also never imagine he would help look after her baby brother with her. If Liam could see him now, he hoped he would be proud.
They walk into Granny’s hand and hand and sit down in the booth. Emma orders them both Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and waits patiently to see what he thinks of them. She shows him that he has to cut into the fluffy circle stack and pour the syrup all over them, the more syrup the better.
His eyes go wide as he chews and realises it’s delicious. “It’s so sweet. This is breakfast food?”
Emma laughs as she digs into her plate. “Oh yeah it’s breakfast all right. I don’t know what you eat for breakfast in the Enchanted Forest but we have many sweet options in this world.”
“Much better than the things I was eating whilst at sea.” He says as he pours even more syrup onto the pancakes.
“And what was that, Rum and more Rum?” She teases as she takes a bite off her plate.
“Ha-Ha Swan. Contrary to your belief, I did eat actual food as a pirate. Not nearly as sweet as this though, it consisted of dried fruits and nuts, then once we docked into port, we were able to have bread and other fresh pastry delicacies.” He chooses to leave out that in Neverland his diet did consist mainly of Rum and non poisonous fruit from the Island.
Emma smiles. This is what happiness looks like. Watching her pirate boyfriend eating Pancakes for the first time. She could get used to it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
That night, Killian comes over around 6. Her parents had decided to go to a restaurant in town that wasn’t Granny’s, but after constant reminding that Emma had their number to call should anything go wrong. Not that it would. Hopefully.
Emma’s donned her leather jacket for some comfy clothes, leggings and an oversized hoodie, hair in a messy bun. Not her usual sheriff, or saviour look. Killian however is still in his modern leather jacket and jeans, not quite understanding that babysitting would be much easier in comfy clothes.
“Here, put these on.” She tosses him a pair of David’s clothes, sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, hopefully her dad won’t mind, he did say he was liking Hook more and more every day.
“Swan, the clothes in your world are utterly ridiculous.” He says as comes out of the bathroom, looking a lot less like a pirate, and more like a man.
Emma smiles, she had to say he looked good in sweatpants. “Trust me if Neal pukes all over you, it’s a lot easier to get it out of an old t shirt that it would out of leather.”
Killian looked vulnerable. For the first time really. She’d seen him in a lot less clothing before, but she never noticed how vulnerable it makes him look. Underneath all the leather, was a man who had been broken before.
He looks down at his Hook, “do you want me to take this off?”
Emma immediately tells him no. “I don’t see why you should. It’s a part of you, and he’s gonna have to get used to it.”
Killian smiles, the little prince will have to get used to it. Because he’s not going anywhere, he’s sticking around. He will never leave Emma like all those before.
“So where is the Little Prince then?” He asks.
Emma leads him over to the crib in the corner of the room, “Do you want to hold him?”
Emma trusts him. Wholeheartedly. So he agrees to hold the baby.
Neal fusses at first in Killians arms, but he fusses with everyone. He just needs to get used to it.
“Am I doing it okay Swan?” Killian asks as he fusses, but he isn't crying which is a good thing.
“You're doing great.” Emma smiles at him. This was a rare sight, Captain Hook in sweatpants holding a baby. Emma was getting butterflies in her stomach looking at it. She and Killian had been together for a few months now but she could already see a future with him. Being with him was so different than it ever was with Neal, even Walsh, despite it being all fake, was so different to Killian. He never tried to shower her with gifts or presents or big romantic gestures like Walsh. Killian was just there, by her side. And that's all she wanted.
“I think the Little Prince likes me.” Kilian beams as Neal starts laughing at the faces Killian was pulling.
It was scary. Emma was sure she was in love with him. She just couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud. Because as soon as she said them, things would change between them and it would become real. When she told Neal she loved him, he left her. Killian wouldn't leave, she knows that. But it still scares her.
“Oh no. No. Swan. What’s happening, why is the little lad crying?” Killian asks frantically, starting to panic that he was doing something wrong.
“He’s hungry,” Emma tells him, grabbing his bottle from the counter. “This should be warm enough by now.”
Killian takes the bottle and gets Neal to drink.
“You gotta make sure you’re holding his head, it’s sensitive at this age.” Emma says making his arm support her brother's head.
“You’re good at this you know.” He says as she helps him. “How is it you know all this?”
“Just watching my mom do it really. Also, my cursed memories of me raising Henry. Even though it didn’t happen, I remember learning everything from the books. I remember staying up all night when he cried, and learning how to be a mother at barely 18.” She decided to confide in him, she’s never told anyone about her cursed memories, or about her time in prison, but she feels like she can confide in him, tell him anything without being judged.
“I was 17 when I gave birth, cursed or not, I turned 18 a month later and a few weeks after that I was released from prison. It wasn’t my finest moment, but in my cursed memories I had Henry to keep me going. When I woke up and got my memories back, it made me wish I never gave him up. Because those 12 years were the best 12 years of my life.”
It feels good to open up. She’s letting him in slowly, but it feels nice. He doesn’t pry, he doesn’t ask too many questions, he just listens to her.
“After our father abandoned us, Liam practically raised me. I felt empty and hurt, but Liam, he was there even in my darkest days. The best years of my life was when we were in the Navy together, before it all went wrong.”
They were two halves of the same coin, both abandoned and lost everyone they ever cared about. But together they were healing, both themselves and each other.
“I think he likes you!” Emma says wiping her tears away as Neal becomes fascinated with Killian's Hook.
Killian looks down at the little prince in his arms to see him trying to grab his Hook with his tiny little fingers. “Everyone likes me Swan. I’m not surprised your brother does too.”
“I didn’t like you at first.” Emma teases.
“Aye but my charming wits and looks won you over eventually.” He teases back, causing the smile that he loves to see.
It would be so easy in this moment to say the three words. Killian knew it the moment she kissed him back in Neverland, and in the missing year he realised how much he loved her when he thought he’d never see her again. But he knows better. If he said the words right now, it would cause a rift, and maybe cause her to run. So he doesn’t, he will wait for her to say the words first. He’ll wait forever to hear her say it, it doesn’t matter. As long as they’re together.
“I think I’m getting the hang of it Swan!” He speaks too soon as he begins to rock the little prince to sleep, he decides to bring up the contents of his tiny stomach all over Killian.
Emma tries not to laugh, but she can’t help it as laughter fills the lot.
She takes Neal from Killian so he can clean the sick off his shirt, “told you this would be a better idea, imagine trying to get that off your leather vest. There's another one of David shirts on top of the dryer, you can put the dirty shirt in the basket with the other dirty laundry.”
Looking after her baby brother with her 300 year old boyfriend is honestly not even the weirdest thing about her life at the moment. But it’s something that she never thought she would be doing, she was 17 when she gave Henry up and she thought she would never want kids, or even be ready after that. But just seeing how good Killian was with her brother, it got her thinking could she want this life? It wasn’t off the table. A baby with her hair and Killians eyes. Maybe one day.
___
“He won’t stop crying. Why won’t he stop crying?” Emma cries. They had been trying to settle him for almost an hour now and she’s getting tired. If this was a recurring thing then maybe having a baby of her own wasn’t something she wanted. Especially as it was barely 8.30.
“What else can we try?” Killian asks with Neal in his arms trying to send him to sleep by rocking him slowly.
“I don’t suppose you know a lullaby?” Emma asks, half joking, not really expecting him to.
Except he starts to sing, or hum a melody. It’s quiet enough that she can’t hear the lyrics properly, but Neal seems to like it. So much so that it stirs him off to sleep.
Emma’s really impressed. “That doesn’t sound like a sea shanty. Since when does Captain Hook know a lullaby?”
“My mother used to sing it to me and Liam. Before she died that is.” He tells her, putting Neal down slowly into his crib.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don't be, love. It was a long time ago.”
“Can you tell me about her?” She asks.
“I was 5 when she died, Liam was 8. I don’t remember much about her, Liam probably remembers more. But I know she was tough, she wouldn’t have taken my fathers bullshit. She used to sing that to Liam and I every night before we went to sleep. I sang it to myself sometimes on the Jolly in Neverland after Liam died. It comforted me.” He brushes it off as if it’s nothing, similar to how Emma talks about her past. She takes his hand and interweines their fingers as she leads them back to the couch.
“I like hearing stories about your past. About your pre-pirate days. Reminds me you weren’t always cursed.”
She wraps her fingers around his Hook, she’s never been afraid of it. Or afraid of the man attached to the Hook. She can’t help but imagine one day a baby with her hair and his eyes fiddling with his Hook the way her brother did tonight. And that’s scary.
Emma has a way of seeing the good in him, despite his cruel actions she sees beyond it, sees the pain it’s caused him in the past few years as he attempts to better himself. “I certainly was cursed with bad luck but sadly my actions were of my own accord. But I’ll tell you one story of the time Liam and I got caught in a storm at sea. Liam was a Lieutenant at that point and wanted to prove he could handle it, the stubborn arse.”
And so he tells her stories of his time in the Navy. He tells her anything she wants to hear, and he realises this is the first time anyone has really asked about Liam, or his past. The women he spent the night with back in the Enchanted Forest, well they never did much talking. And with Milah, she was focused on forgetting her past so didn’t care much to ask about his.
“I wish you could’ve met him. He would’ve loved you.” It’s nice, speaking about Liam, telling her the stories he hasn’t really ever told anyone-or thought about in centuries.
Snow and Charming return a few hours later, to find their daughter and Hook asleep on the couch, Emma’s head resting on the Pirates chest. Snow smiles at the sight, and even David isn’t appalled at the sight either, appreciating that his daughter is happy. Snow grabs a blanket and covers the two of them.
“Is that my shirt?” David whisper screams at his wife seeing the pirate wearing his clothes.
38 notes · View notes
Text
Dipper Pines Is Bad At Romance
Adult Dipper x Reader
Warnings - None
Summary - Mable kicks Dipper out for the day and he meets a girl that seems too good to be true
soo i’ve been rewatching gravity falls and I remembered my childhood crush on Dipper so I decided fanfic time
Tumblr media
"Dipper you've been staring at that book for hours!" Mable groans, "stop being so boring!" Dipper rolls his eyes as he moves the book up to cover his face. It's just like Mable to bother him about nothing. I mean he's working on a case he doesn't have time to not be focused. Sure they saved the town- no the world but that doesn't mean she's come to her senses about how they need to focus on these things."Mable I'm kinda busy," Dipper groans.
"You're not busy you're boring!" Mable exclaims.
"I'm not boring I'm trying to help Ford with this investigation," Dipper says at once, "I mean this is important!"
"You know what else is important?" She asks looking over her brother, "socializing, going outside every once in a while. When's the last time you talked to someone that wasn't related to you?"
Dipper thinks for a moment. He can't remember if he's being honest. He's just been working with Ford so he hasn't had time to worry about talking to other people.
"And you reek- have you showered either?" Mable asks him.
"I-"
"No no thats it as your twin I'm putting my foot down," Mable says fiercely, "you're going to go shower-and then I'm making you go into town and socialize!"
"I have a job to do," He says defensively.
"Dipper you're wasting your twenties away!" Mable exclaims, "come on all you've done the last three weeks is work on this. You're just burning yourself out so. You need a break. So I'm forcing you to take one."
"Ugh kid this room's disgusting," Stan groans, "I'm pretty sure it's a biohazard."
"I've almost got it-"
"No you don't," Ford says simply, "Mable you can look over his notes for now, Dipper you need to leave the house."
"But-but-"
"Dipper you are disgusting," Mable says harshly, "come on go into town and I don't know get a coffee or talk to someone. Get some new clothes so we can burn those."
"Hey!"
"Now shower and go!"
Dipper caved. Well is it really caving when you're bulled into it? So he showered and got his car keys from Mable and went in town. If for nothing than get everyone to shut up.
"Well what now," Dipper says as he walks along the sidewalk. His eyes scanning the building, "god why did they have to do this now? I was so close to a break through!"
"Man have I heard this one before," Dipper hears a unfamiliar voice say. He turns to see a girl around his age looking at him with a soft smirk. He's never seen her in town before. Must be new. "Team throw you out even though you were almost there?"
"Family actually," Dipper replies.
"Ouch thats even worse," She adds, "traitors the whole lot of em."
"Tell me about it," Dipper says chuckling lightly, "how do you think I feel."
"Positively filled with despair?" She teases lightly.
"Well I wouldn't go that far," He says with a chuckle, "I haven't seen you around before. You live here in Gravity Falls?"
"Ah I'm fairly new," She shares.
"Pretty random place to decide to move to," He says looking to the girl. She chuckles lightly.
"A friend from college grew up here and had a free room," She tells him, "I love small towns with weird people and thats pretty much the staple here." Dipper chuckles.
"You don't even know that half of it," Dipper says brightly, "I'm Dipper by the way."
"Dipper? Nice name," She says eyeing him closely.
"Nickname actually," He says as he rubs the back of his neck, "ya know one of those childhood nicknames that stick with you for the rest of your life."
"Oh man well at least you've got a cute one," She flirts, "the names Y/n."
"You're really pretty-No! Wait no you are pretty but uh uh- I mean that's a pretty name," Dipper stumbles. She chuckles.
"Thanks," She says giving him a soft smile, "so Dipper how about you and I get a cup of coffee?"
"Uh yeah," He stumbles, "that would be great."
"Come on," Y/n says leading them into the coffee shop. As they get into line his eyes keep on her closely. He's never met anyone so confident like this- well maybe Mable. But she's so much more calm and cool. They get their drinks then take a seat together at one of the tables by the windows. "So Dipper- aren't you Mable's twin?"
"You know my sister?" He asks.
"Oh yeah she's like always at the record store I work at," Y/n says, "she made me a sweater. Honestly I adore her."
"Everyone does," Dipper says softly.
"I'm sure that you hear it all the time," She says to him, "ya know she talks about you a lot. She's been trying to get me to come down the shack to meet you for like three weeks now."
"Whoa really?"
"Yeah she says we'd be good friends," She explains, "something about how we both are nerdy and like the paranormal."
"Paranormal eh?"
"Yeah I'm a paranormal investigator on the side. It's kinda the perfect place for that job," She smiles, "I know you guys aren't supposed to talk about it. But when Pacifica told me all about it-"
"Pacifica? That's your friend!"
"Yeah we were room mates in college," Y/n shares, "she's great for the most part. She told me all about you when you were like what 12? How you used to solve mysterious and helped saved the world."
"Really she talked about me?"
"Pacifica? Oh she talked all the time about the Twins who made her than a spoiled brat-"
"We did didn't we."
"Cocky aren't ya," She smirks, "you're lucky you're cute."
"I'm cute?"
"I thought you knew that already?" She chuckles as she twirls the ends of her h/c hair. Dipper chuckles nervously.
"So what did you major in?"
"I double majored in physics and parapsychology" She answers, "my parents were very confused. What about you?"
"I majored in biochemistry and minored in photographer and film production," He shares, "I loved it and it helped me start producing my online show."
"Online show?" She asks, "thats awesome."
"Yeah awesome," He says blushing brightly.
"I'll check it out sometime," She says smiling. He chuckles nervously again. She's pretty she's making him so nervous. I mean pretty girl who likes the paranormal and already knows about his weird past she's perfect- maybe too perfect. I mean girls aren't really interest in him and I mean she did just pop up out of no where. Oh man she's too good there has to be something wrong with her. She's a murderer, she's Bill! No she can't be. Oh my god is she just a bunch of  gnomes? Or a unicorn? Or a mermaid? "You okay Dipper?"
"Uh yeah I just need to call my sister," He says standing. She nods then looks to her coffee as he slips outside the coffee shop. He moves dialing Mable's number at once. After the third ring she picks up.
"You can't come back yet," Mable groans, "we're still cleaning up your toxic wasteland of a room." Dipper rolls his eyes.
"Listen Mable I think I need you to come into town... Look I met this girl-"
"You met a girl!"
"Mable listen to me!"
"Yeah okay okay listening!"
"I met this girl and she said she knew you but she's like crazy perfect and I think she might be gnomes," Dipper exclaims.
"You should crazy."
"I'm being serious Mable her names Y/n and-"
"Oh my god you met Y/n! Dipper I've been trying to set you two up for weeks!" Mable exclaims, "she's perfect for you! Oh do you like her?"
"Mable you aren't taking this serious!"
"No shes perfect for you!" Mable exclaims, "she's pretty, she's nice, she like mysterious! What's the problem Dipper?"
"She's too perfect!"
Mable sighs loudly. Of course her twin would do something like this. It's Dipper for crying out loud. He'd see a girl so obviously perfect for him then find a reason to mess it up.
"Dipper I'm begging you not to ruin this," Mable says firmly, "I've been setting you guys up for so long now and if you ruin it because you are too paranoid I will make you join that speed dating thing."
"What? Mable no!"
"Dipper you're ruining this! Just give her a chance she's really nice!"
"Too nice!"
"For a guy who's so smart you're kinda dumb."
"Mable," He groans. She sighs. What could she do to convince him that this is a good thing?
"Dipper?"
The boy turns to see the girl in question behind him.
"Y/n hey," Dipper says tensely.
"You think I'm a bunch of gnomes? Like what stacked up in a crop top and jeans?" She teases lightly.
"I'm hanging up now Dipper... Don't mess this up!"
"Mable-"
No use. She already hang up. Dipper sighs as he looks to the girl.
"I just- I don't know I've never met any cute girls who also like the science and the paranormal."
"Your sister was right you are dorky," She says with a chuckle, "listen I'm not a bunch of gnomes or a vampire. Not even a zombie. I'm just me. A normal girl." He avoids her eyes. He feels bad. I mean they were having a good time and he just had to freak out and ruin it like always.
'God dipper why do you always have to do this stuff!' He mentally screams.
"You know I don't meet a lot of cute guys who are into science and the paranormal," She says smirking at him, "I'm still kinda convinced you're a shape shiftier who's trying to get my brain. Paranoia comes with the job. We kinda need to get used to it. Think we can but aside the crazy theories and hang out? If you're like what Mable describes I'm sure we'd have a lot of fun."
"Really?"
"Yeah," She smiles, "I'm thinking you and me go and look at this haunted  mansion a couple towns over."
"Yeah?"
"I think it would be a great first date for us."
"Date?"
"I mean if thats okay?"
He smiles.
"It's okay."
378 notes · View notes
grayintogreen · 3 years
Text
I was not technically tagged, but at least two people on my dash were like DO WHAT YOU WANT NO ONE IS YOUR GOD, and you know what? They’re right and valid. 
1) How many works do you have on AO3?
96! And 90% of them are from just this year. Can’t wait to find out what the big 100 is gonna be. Any one of my WIPS could be Disney’s next 100th fic.
2) What’s your total AO3 word count?
455,024 (also mostly from this year...)
3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?
In my entire life??? Since I was twelve??? I don’t even know, man. I wrote a lot of ooc crackfic and fic for cartoons when I was on FF.net, and then I was on LJ and wrote for a TON of different fandoms, but on AO3, I have written for Critical Role (so much CR), Yashahime/Inuyasha, Guardians of the Galaxy, His Dark Materials (TV), Steven Universe, Bleach, Alias, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies (the last four were all transferred here from LJ, though)
4) What are your top five fics by kudos?
- turning wine back into water (Critical Role, de-aging fic with plot, 30457 words)
I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE HOW POPULAR THIS FIC IS. It beat out two of my super popular GotG fics that have been up since 2017 BY A LOT. Apparently, there was a market for the Mighty Nein being adorable cocktail brats and saving the world. Thanks, Liam’s Quest!
It is probably one of the most wholesome fics I will ever write too. I love it.
- Sunshine Came Softly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Mantis friendship, 3188 words)
THIS FIC STILL GETS HITS EVEN TODAY. It was written right after I saw the movie so it hit hard and fast on the hype train. 
- Mine Is Just a Slower Sacrifice (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket-centric, 2248 words)
BOY YOU CAN TELL THESE FICS ARE ANCIENT BECAUSE I HADN’T DEVELOPED MY TITLE NICHE YET. where are the lower caps and Seanan McGuire lyrics!!
Anyway, this was written probably IMMEDIATELY after I saw the movie and had to process Rocket’s emotions during the last moments, because of who I am as a person. For what’s mostly a character study, it got some mileage on it.
- they drink dreamers up like brandy (Critical Role, 1625 words)
Back to Critical Role! I wrote this one when I was in a fucking blind post-finale haze and producing massive amounts of Kingsley content and I wanted to write a silly fic about Caleb being tiefling catnip. 
- if adversity breeds character (we’ve character enough for two) (Critical Role, Beau and Molly-centric, 1824 words)
I feel like most of my most kudos-ed CR fics are Beau-related, which is funny because I never really wrote her EVER. I guess I need to write her more often. ANYWAY, this one got jossed immediately after 141, but I needed to write Beau and Molly bantering and I couldn’t get her flipping him off after revealing her card is Rumor out of my head.
(Incidentally my sixth most kudos-ed fic is my Fjorester next gen fic, WHICH I WAS NOT EXPECTING AT ALL. IT’S A FIC BASED ON MY OC FANCHILDREN!! I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT!!)
5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?
Usually!! There are times when I forget and then it’s been so long that I never go back, but I like responding to comments. They make me so happy and I want to make sure the people who take the time to comment know that I see them and appreciate them. Especially if they give me long comments. You long commenters know who you are and I value you and also flail incoherently in your direction.
6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
God, probably this church takes no conversions simply because, like, the whole ending scenes are MISERABLE AND FULL OF ANGST and then it has the hopeful ending that is actually a bullshit lie.
But second place probably goes to what couldn’t i offer, what couldn’t i give, which is just misery porn in disguise as a character study. Sorry, Cree.
7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?
Okay, so back in the day when I was a tineh fanbrat I wrote a lot of self-indulgent crossovers featuring my friends and I in true Mary Sue format being ~saviors of the world~ alongside our favorite fictional characters and after I grew out of that, I very rarely did it again, because as someone who can only write AUs if they’re high concept and can only write crossovers if the canon welding is pristine, it’s difficult.
I have ideas for some! I just haven’t written them yet. Or they’re sitting in Google Docs partially written.
8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?
Not to my recollection, which is insane, because I’ve written some things in my youth that deserved it, but also I was a kid, so maybe I definitely did not deserve it. Don’t send hate to kids!!
9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?
The first smut I ever posted on AO3 involved some fucking American Gods flesh horror shit, so that answers your second question.
Basically, yes, but I write smut to facilitate character development in a way that regular story beats can’t, mainly with characters who are in some way deeply fucked up and have unbalanced dynamics. 
So basically chances of me writing smut that isn’t Creecien or Lucigast? Very low. (I haven’t written Lucigast smut yet but I will. Inevitably.)
10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that anyone’s told me, but one time when I was a teenager someone ripped off an entire group messageboard RP I was in and tried to pass it off as a fic they wrote.
11) Have you ever had a fic translated?
Not that anyone’s told me!
12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I tried and it did not work out, because of (non-wanky) reasons, but it’s just not something I’d be very good at. I was the kid who wanted to work alone on group projects. I’m bad at group work.
13) What’s your all time favourite ship?
That I’ve WRITTEN??? Because that at least narrows it down significantly. Sesshoumaru/Rin hands down. It’s a good dynamic and they’re fun and sad at the same time. 
My self-indulgent ass does also enjoy writing Creecien though. I’m putting it out there because I want it.
14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
GOD POOR SUPERNOVAS OF ALL SOUND AND LIGHT. THAT FIC COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER, but I unfortunately posted it RIGHT BEFORE the White Diamond episodes aired and it became so jossed by canon so fast that I gave up on life with chapter two half finished. I need to delete it but I can’t bring myself to bury my shame.
15) What are your writing strengths?
Dialogue and meta-narrative and character-specific stuff. I go into every story with CHARACTER FIRST mentality, which is how I end up writing so many damn character studies or why my word counts explode. I’m just out here naval gazing because I love character stuff SO MUCH.
I’ve been told I’m good at fight/action scenes too, which... Shocks me, but I think watching and playing a lot of D&D stuff has really improved how I write fighting and action sequences.
16) What are your writing weaknesses?
[whispers] too much naval gaze. dial it back, bitch. 
I get really caught up in character stuff and forget to do important things like ADVANCE THE SCENE OR DESCRIBE THE SCENE OR LITERALLY ANYTHING. I also don’t think my prose is all that great, but I’m pretty sure every writer feels that imposter syndrome bullshit, so /waves hands. All I’m saying is I have seen some writers on AO3 who are writing some fucking vivid imagery and stringing flawless sentences together and weaving introspection and description together like beautiful baskets and they are stronger than any US Marine and I salute them and wish to be them.
17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
Iiii try not to. There’s times where I want to throw in, like, a little Zemnian for Caleb flair, but I try to stick to things that are either untranslatable (like German compound words), common phrases (like please or come here), or insults/curses/ pet names. Things that I don’t think Google will fucking lie to me about.
18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?
I think it was a Sailor Moon crackfic about Haruka being forced to enter a beauty pageant which was just a blatant rip-off of Ms Congeniality and oh my god was it awful. I don’t even wanna talk about it.
19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?
this church takes no conversions, probably BECAUSE it’s my little red-headed stepchild of a fic involving so many things that are just never going to make it popular (backstory fic, fic that is almost 85% headcanon, doesn’t involve popular characters, etc.), but godDAMMIT I love that fic so much. It was fun and I use every bit of that headcanon in almost everything like it’s my job.
shattered stage is a close second, because it was such a crazy concept for a fic that I PULLED OFF SOMEHOW and is this wonderful mix of crazy plot and character and lore and my three favorite tieflings having to work together. And also Jayne Merriweather as the main villain. 
A lot of love went into both of those fics and they are my babies. this time next year we’ll see if I add Creedemption and shoot at fate to this list- probably. All of my epic long fics resolve to be my babies because I spent so much time on them, and I have to love them and cherish them because I raised them into gigantic wordy attempts to write a doorstopper.
3 notes · View notes
tirednotflirting · 4 years
Text
does it ever drive you crazy, just how fast the night changes?
baby’s first au whaaaaaat? 
special thank you to @clumsyclifford​ for linking the prompt list i got this idea from! this was the prompt (it was a whole slew of celebrity AUs: “wait, you’re supposed to be DEAD and i just recognized you at the grocery store, turns out you just didn’t want to be a celebrity anymore” au. bella is also writing one from this list and it’s one of my most favorite lashton things i have ever read, highly recommend, 10/10, i could yell about hello, hello for ages omg
also here is the ao3 link if that’s your preferred way to read :)  
There are few things that bring Luke as much joy as his Friday night (well, Saturday morning, really) grocery trips.
He had started working the night shift at the nurses’ desk at the children’s hospital about a year prior after graduating. He had found the job through the friend of a friend of a friend who was a nurse herself and mentioned the job needed filling fast. Luke had never really considered the idea of a night job but ultimately the work wasn’t all too bad. He made coffee every couple of hours (he made an effort to never let the pot empty which got him lots of smiles from the nurses) and every once in awhile Lina, the 6 year old cancer patient whose room was just around the corner from the brightly colored desk, would wander out to ask him to check for monsters under her bed and to be tucked back in. It was pretty simple (and heartwarming) work.
However, staying up through the night for 5 nights a week made it damn near impossible to be awake during the day on his weekends off. Luckily enough for Luke, he had friends like Michael who tended to play video games all night despite working through the day (he stopped questioning how he managed it a long time ago) and his favorite grocery store was a 24 hour location.
The first time Luke had come to do his shop at around 2am, he had felt a little spooked by the parking lot and eerie silence in between Top 40 songs that played over the intercom in the store. But he soon grew to find the general atmosphere pretty calming and he made friends with the nighttime stocker (a guy named Calum who also never saw himself doing nighttime work but here they were) and it became something he really looked forward to on his Saturday (very early) mornings.
He arrives at the store just a bit after 1am. He just finished ‘a late breakfast’ (he still always finds himself giggling at the concept of eating meals at opposite points in the day as everyone else despite the obvious logic to the schedule) and has a list tucked into the pocket of his sweats. It’s a little chilly out so he grabs the first sweater he sees on the backseat - a blue cardigan - since he knows they also keep the store pretty cool in the night to make sure everybody stays awake through their shift.
As he grabs one of the smaller carts as he heads into the store, he feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulls out his list first and drops it into the baby seat of the cart and then grabs his phone. Luke’s faced with the wild selfie Michael set for his profile picture and he rolls his eyes as clicks the icon to answer the call.
“What’s up, Mikey?” he answers as he starts pushing the cart in the direction of the produce section. 
“You at the store yet?” Luke can hear the clicking of the buttons on the controller in Michael’s hands.
“Yeah, just got in. You need anything?”
Michael then rambles off a short list that Luke jots down into his notes app since he doesn’t have a pen or anything with him. He assures his friend he’ll come drop off the odd collection of snacks and things (“They have to be the dinosaur shaped ones. I swear Luke they do taste better.”) once he finished up his shop of real groceries.
Luke wanders around the produce, picking out what fruits and veggies he wants to have around for the week. He takes his time finding the apples without the bruises, bananas that will be the perfect amount of ripe by midweek, some leafy bunches for the salad he’s been assigned to bring for the breakroom potluck on Tuesday. He’s checking out some strawberries that he thinks might be nice to toss into the mix too when a human sized figure appears in the corner of his vision.
It’s a man around his size (in similar cozy clothes) facing away from him. He’s got hair the opposite color to Luke’s bleached blonde. His messy black curls are pulled back into a tiny bun that mirrors Luke’s own. The other man is broad and has a tattoo of a bird across the back of his neck, just barely visible above the collar of a faded blue sweatshirt. The tattoo is one that seems oddly familiar to Luke, as though it belongs to someone he knows. The man begins to wander off toward the bakery section of the store though and Luke shrugs off the recognition, figuring it might be someone he’s seen around a waiting room in the hospital at some point. He settles on some strawberries and starts pushing his cart in the direction of the deli and meats.
As he stares at the different packages of chicken and breakfast sausages, he can’t help but think back on the man he saw though. There was something achingly familiar about him, and more than just the tattoo. He can’t shake the thought for some reason and finds himself jumping in surprise when he feels his phone buzz once again in his pocket. 
He doesn’t even have to look to the screen to know that it’s Michael calling again to add something to his list. In fact, he happens to even know the items that his friend failed to mention the first time he called. Luke presses the accept button and lifts the phone to his ear.
“Froot Loops and the character shaped fruit snacks?”
“The superhero ones, if they have them please!”
*
Luke continues around the store, grabbing all the bits from his list (and Michael’s 12 year old boy list) and eventually lands in the dairy section. He grabs the yogurt he’s been mixing granola into for breakfast lately and some butter for the cookies his mom sent him a recipe for. Only thing left in terms of food is cereal milk and coffee milk (2% and oat, respectively, of course). When he looks up from the list to make his way over to the fridges containing the plethora of milks, he is faced once again with the familiar stranger. 
Except this time, as he catches just the briefest glimpse of the man’s face, of his hazel eyes and strong jawline, he realizes this isn’t a stranger. Very much not a stranger. It’s Ashton Irwin, the host of at least three of those reality dating shows he forces Michael to watch with him on the weekends since he can’t watch them when they air live on Monday and Tuesdays. 
Or, well, he was the host of all of those shows until about two months ago.
Because Ashton Irwin has been dead for two months due to a freak heart attack while on vacation on some remote island.
Luke glances away from him for a moment in a panic. Has he completely lost it? Have the late nights finally gotten to him and he’s starting to actually see things that don’t exist? Was Calum right all along and the store really is haunted? (Though it's a little lost on him why a star TV host would want to haunt a grocery store. And not even a good one like that Whole Foods in Downtown.)
Then he realizes that perhaps he was just wrong. (Though now that he thinks about it, he very much remembers liking an Instagram picture of that tattoo on Ashton Irwin’s account a couple years back.) He’s far enough down the aisle from him that he can chance a look at the man without being caught. So, slowly, Luke turns again just slightly to look toward him.
It’s the hair that left him not immediately making the recognition. His hair has been dyed black, a stark contrast to his signature dark red but definitely a change that likely doesn’t draw as much attention. The sweatshirt he’s paired with black skinny jeans is pretty baggy and it’s a damn shame because Luke knows he has the arms of a god.
(Something Luke knows from the tabloid covers he glances at from time to time at the pharmacy and the summer version of the show that Ashton hosted, of course. He most definitely has never searched up his name + ‘biceps’ before. Never.)
But despite the obvious attempt to match the look and aesthetic of ‘2am grocery shopper’ he's still very unmistakably Ashton Irwin.
As Luke grapples with this new knowledge that apparently this person he thought was dead is not dead and also apparently goes to the same grocery as him, he fails to notice that Ashton has turned to face him and that he is still staring at him in shock. 
Very quickly, Ashton’s face comes to mirror Luke’s expression and he’s rushing toward the blonde in a state of terror. 
“Please don’t say anything,” he gasped in a hushed voice. The accent similar to his own that Luke has grown used to hearing on his TV sticks out some in his panicked words.
“How? I - uh? Are you,” Luke trips over every syllable that comes out of his mouth as he attempts to let his brain wrap around the situation. “Are you a ghost?”
The feared look of the black haired man actually fades some as he lets a quiet giggle escape (a very cute giggle, if Luke is being honest). “I’m, uh, not a ghost. No. Though I guess that does kind of accurately explain what I’m trying to be.”
Now Luke is even more confused. Based on the statement, he obviously wasn’t making up all of the tabloid stories he had seen about Ashton dying but something isn’t adding up to the present moment. “I don't-”
“Listen, if you’re going to go tell the press, can you at least give me like,” he glances down at his phone screen displaying the time. “2 hours to get back out to my friend’s place where I’ve been hiding?”
It’s now Luke’s turn to laugh. “You do realize if I go to some paparazzi or something and tell them I saw deceased Ashton Irwin wandering around my grocery store trying to decide between hazelnut and cashew milk they would just laugh in my face, right?”
The statement causes Ashton to look down at his hands to the milks in his hands. He sighs down at the cartons before tossing both of them in the cart. “Guess you’re not really wrong.”
“Is someone pulling some kind of long-winded, over the top prank on me right now? Am I being punk’d?” Luke asks, his head tilting some in a way that would normally have Michael making fun of him for the child-like behavior. “Because I know for a fact that I am not worth that much effort.”
The questions have Ashton smiling a bit again and Luke suddenly finds himself wanting to say increasingly dumb things so long as it’ll keep the hazel-eyed man smiling. “No, no. Not at all. I just,” his smile falters some, leaving his lips still turned up but his eyes drop some. “I started to get a little sick of the world and the world started getting a bit sick of me, I think.” Luke wonders if Ashton knew just how heavy his words feel.
He scoffs then, as if hearing Luke’s silent question. “Wow, sorry that was really dramatic,” Ashton shakes his head a bit before continuing. “Hi, I’m Ashton.”
Luke looks down to the tanned arm being stretched out toward him. He lifts a hand from his shopping cart and wraps it around Ashton’s. “I’m Luke.”
Ashton brightens again as he shakes his hand. “Well, Luke, you’re the first person other than my current landlord of sorts that I’ve come across since literally dying in the eyes of the media. So I guess I owe you an explanation? Since it seems like you’re familiar with that media viewpoint?”
Ashton moves to start pushing his cart in the direction of another area of the store but peers over his shoulder and gestures with his head to follow him. Luke quickly reaches into the fridge on his left to grab the rest of his dairy before catching up to him. “Well, you really don’t owe me anything. I don’t know you beyond what I see of you on my TV screen,” Luke wonders then if maybe he should have played it a bit cooler and not told the cute, presumed dead TV star that he watches his shows. “But I am a bit confused by whatever is going on and would like to hear anything you’re willing to share.”
“Cute and polite,” Ashton muses, avoiding Luke’s eye as he continues forward toward the packaged food aisles. “You’re already checking boxes, Luke.”
Some kind of intelligible noise falls from Luke’s lips as he feels a blush rush up to his cheeks because he’s flirting with him. Ashton only laughs and starts his story.
“Well Luke, you seem to be aware of what I did for a living up until about 2 months ago. I’ve been doing this job for like, about 5 years and before every new season of anything, there’s all these big network and programming meetings about production and filming and such. And every single time, I get hounded by our ratings people because I apparently don’t do enough to instigate and promote drama. Like my contract was getting threatened like three times a year because rather than trying to make peoples’ lives miserable, I just want to help them fall in love.
“And so at this particular meeting, about two and half months ago, just before the ‘accident’,” he punctuates the word with air quotations. “I got the boot. Ratings from the previous season were down by 3% and all of the uppers decided it was because of my congeniality and not the fact that the guy they chose for the season was a complete dick.
“So that night I have to host the red carpet stuff for an awards show. And I’m talking with all these glittery people who also do TV work and it suddenly hits me, harder than it ever has before, that every single person I’m speaking to would never even bother to smile in my direction if they didn’t know who I was. If I was just a plain old guy, the kind of guy I was back in school before I signed on to the shows, they probably wouldn’t pay me a single bit of kindness. So I decided, right then, as I was talking to some Grey’s Anatomy actor, that I wanted to get out.”
He turns into the chip aisle then, and Luke follows close behind. “You decided you wanted to step away from television and your first idea was to fake your own death?”
Ashton laughs as he reaches for a couple tubes of Pringles. “It was more than that,” he starts as he tosses the tubes into the cart. “I wanted to escape celebrity all together, not just the world of television. A friend from back home that I would trust with my life had this cabin kinda out in the middle of nowhere in this forest and he only ever uses it for like, two weeks in the summer and said I could camp out there until I find a way to get back to Australia undetected to live at the house I bought over there a few years ago. My manager helped with all the media stories and such. And two months later, here we are.”
“That’s insane,” Luke shakes his head as he speaks, reaching for his own tube of Pringles as he realizes it's been quite awhile since he got his hand stuck in a Pringle tube so why not?
“The journey is a bit wild, I will agree, Luke, but the life I’m living right now is much more enjoyable than faking it every damn day.”
Luke shakes his head (and ignores the fluttery feeling he keeps getting when Ashton says his name). “No, I mean it’s insane that I am somehow the first person that’s caught you.”
Ashton’s brows perk up at the statement. “Oh yeah no, I’m also pretty surprised by that. Figured I would have had to pay off a lot of people by now to keep them quiet.”
They’ve both pushed their carts up toward the self check out how and start scanning away at their items. Luke looks up halfway through his cart and catches Calum giving him a look from a little ways away. He’s got a suggestive look on his face. But thankfully it's one that reads much more as “ohhh Luke is talking to a boy” rather than “ohhh there’s a celebrity in my store”. Plus Luke knows Calum wouldn’t be the type to go rushing to media people to out the presence of dead celebrities in his grocery store at 2am so he chooses to subtly flip him off before reaching for the next item in his basket.
They’re both about done scanning and bagging up their groceries when Luke starts to realize he really...doesn’t want this little bit of time he’s spent with Ashton to end yet. And given his lack of normal human interaction during daylight hours as of recently, he’s a bit out of practice on the whole asking someone to extend a conversation beyond the grocery store aisles. He drops his bags back into his cart to roll back out to his car and as he watches Ashton perform the same action the words just sort of leap from his mouth. “Hey do you, uh, have anywhere to be right now?”
Ashton gently places a bag containing some produce into his cart before turning to Luke, a teasing smirk resting on his lips. “Luke, it’s 2am and I’m presumed dead to everyone but about 4 people,” he catches that Luke still looks somewhat nervous (something he would later reflect on to tell him just how damn cute it was) and continues. “So I’ve got just about all the time in the world.”
“Want to come to mine for lunch? We could make something and watch a show or keep chatting or something?” he asks, tentatively. 
He watches as Ashton’s face shifts a bit, obviously confused by some part of what Luke’s just said. “Why would you ask if I’m free now if you were wanting to make lunch plans?”
Luke realizes his request requires some explanation for people that live during normal human hours. “Oh, because I have lunch at about 3am. Because I work nights. So right now feels like,” he pauses a moment, trying to decide and calculate what time this would have been for him before taking his job. “It feels like about 11am-ish for me right now. So close to lunch time.”
They’re out in the parking lot now and Ashton just stops for a moment beside Luke in the middle of the lot and looks up at him for a moment, a smile spreading across his face, his dimples, ones that Luke had grown used to seeing on his TV screens over the last few years, increasingly deepen. “Lunch sounds nice.”
Ashton follows Luke back to his apartment (and to the brief stop he makes at Michael’s where he ignores the comments about the man parked in the car behind his) and they park in the garage, carrying their groceries in their arms up to his unit. They each deposit their cold and frozen items into Luke’s fridge and he pours them each a glass of water as Ashton takes a seat at his kitchen counter. Luke sips from his glass as he watches Ashton glance around his kitchen and living room.
“I try to keep it cozy,” Luke explains as he reaches into a cabinet for a couple pots and pans. He migrates over to his sink to fill a pot with water to boil. “Needed it when I first started the working at night thing and I needed to find a way to force myself to sleep when the sun was up. Gonna make some pasta and chicken thing, that cool?”
Ashton smiles warmly from his place at the counter. “Sounds lovely. You mind if I use that?” he points to the opposite corner of the space where a black Keurig machine sits. “I don’t often do this whole living like normal in the night thing.”
Luke laughs at the comment on being nocturnal. “Go for it.” 
He turns back to the pan of chicken, chopping it up and moving it around some before turning to a different burner and tossing in a few things to make a garlic sauce. He can make maybe two things that qualify as meals rather than just large portioned snacks so he’s opted for one of those since he so rarely has company. 
“What do you do then that’s got you up all through the night?” Ashton asks as he opens the cabinet above the coffee machine pulling down a bright yellow mug. The color suits him, Luke thinks. “You work in tech support or something?”
“Thankfully very far off from that,” Luke starts with a giggle. “I’m absolute garbage with computers. I work the nurses’ desk for the recovery wing at one of the children’s hospitals. It’s a lot of checking and distributing charts, ordering things for the nurses, talking to parents when they want more logistical updates on their child’s care there. Sometimes I get to help entertain the kids who get to go out and about. Yesterday I let them request songs to play for awhile and then we had show and tell.”
“God, you’re like something out of some cheesy movie, huh?”
Luke turns to see Ashton smiling up at him, his arms crossed at his chest as he leans against the counter to face him, the coffee machine whirring to life behind him. Luke bites at his cheek to avoid an entirely too large smile to spread across his face though he knows he can’t help the blush painting it’s way across his nose and cheeks. “It’s a good job. Even worth the whole graveyard shift situation.”
Ashton grimaces at the end of Luke’s reply. “Night shoots used to kick my ass. There is nothing in the world more terrifying than slightly drunk women in hot pink crying over some complete asshole rejecting them after a cocktail party at 2am.”
“Was there anything about it that you liked, though?” Luke asks after he turns down the heat to let the sauce simmer for a bit. He watches Ashton stir some milk into his mug that he retrieved from the fridge.
“Of course,” Ashton answers quickly, in a tone that projects honesty rather than just being used to answering the question. “I got to travel to places I would have never made it to otherwise, meet people that I considered heroes growing up, provide for myself and my family. And for a while that’s why I just dealt with the bull shit. But I started to realize I was working my ass off for all of that good stuff I was getting. That I didn’t have to deal with things in exchange for those things that were mine because of my work.”
Luke isn’t quite sure what to respond to that. Because he’s right, the logic is obvious and sound on all of it. As he’s trying to formulate a response though, Ashton cuts in again. “Though I guess maybe that’s a pretty privileged logic I-”
“No, don’t,” Luke cuts him off. “You shouldn’t justify the unfair parts of your job like that. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your own values about the way people should be interacting with one another for the sake of drama for good TV ratings. You don’t owe anything to anyone who doesn’t actually give a shit about you as a person. I’ve known you for like two hours and it already just baffles me why someone wouldn’t want to know who you are behind the stage makeup and scripted lines.”
He watches as Ashton lifts the mug to his lips, pink cheeks peeking out from each side (he wonders if the change in color comes from the heat of the mug or the words he’s just said). He lowers the mug and his lips lift into a lazy smile. “See now I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually dead. Your kindness is angelic.”
Luke hasn’t a single clue how to respond to that so he gives the hazel-eyed man a small smile before returning to his saucepan. Ashton shifts the conversation then, asking Luke more about his job before telling him about the gardening he’s taken up since being stuck out in the middle of nowhere on his own. He shows Luke pictures of his herb garden and points out each one as he names it. As he starts putting food into bowls, Luke offhandedly mentions how he’s always wanted to grow lavender but tending to plants when you sleep through the sunshine makes gardening difficult. He drops a fork into a bowl and when he turns to hand it to Ashton, Luke watches as he hits the “Add to Cart” option on an Amazon page for lavender seeds. His heart does some kind of funny rhythm as butterflies burst in his chest. Their eyes meet as Ashton locks his phone and looks up to him. 
“Pretend you didn’t see that, I want it to be a surprise,” Ashton whispers between the two of them, his right eye winking up at Luke as he accepts the bowl.
“So this is going to be happening again then?” Luke muses as he grabs his own bowl and walks toward the living room. Ashton follows behind him. “I should plan for future early morning lunches with a dead celebrity?”
“I know it comes with some amount of risk for both of us but,” Ashton looks down toward his feet, scratching at the back of his neck as he tries to come up with the right way to phrase things. Luke turns to face him as he hears the hesitation in his voice. “I really want to see you again. This has been nice. And not just because you’re the first person I’ve spoken to other than my mother in two months. I...want to know you, Luke.”
Luke smiles tiredly, feelings the earliness of the hour in a way that he hasn’t in quite some time. He watches as Ashton’s fingers fidget with a string hanging from the end of his sweatshirt, obviously nervous about what he’s just admitted to the man he’s only just really met, still. Luke reaches forward for his hand, tangling their fingers together as he squeezes his palm against Ashton’s. It feels nice to be close to someone like this. It’s something he didn’t realize he was missing out on while only really living in the night.
“I think you’re worth the risk, Ashton.”
He watches as Ashton looks down to their intertwined hands, Luke’s eyes following to the same place. His hands are pale from the lack of much sunlight other than what he gets at sunset when he goes out to take his walk after waking. Ashton’s is warm and tanned, likely from the sun he gets from days in his secret garden hideout. He barely knows this man, apart from the apparently highly curated version he’s seen on screen. He wants to know the Ashton that speaks like sunshine and loves love enough to lose his job over. He wants to know the steps he knows he’s skipping in his story right now that led to him faking his own death. So it’s no surprise that the next words have him smiling bright enough to light up the early morning they found each other in. 
“I think we’re worth the risk, too.”
*
45 notes · View notes
peterstanslizzie · 4 years
Text
Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 2 Episode 6)
Tumblr media
Episode Title: Fun Gus Part 2
Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers.
Tumblr media
1. Finally! The three cloaked individuals have revealed their identities to us and they’re humans just like I predicted too. They also have managed to steal the giant collar from Scarlemagne and the leader, who we still don’t know her name surprises me and asks the others to put the collar around the Mega Monkey. I thought they wanted to bring it as far away as possible from the monkey? Well, the monkey understands what she’s asking them to do and goes on to attack her before escaping its den. 
Tumblr media
2. Back in Kipo’s parents old apartment; Kipo, Wolf and Benson are spooked by the fungus mute with the toddler voice. It decides to come out of hiding and reveals itself to them. It’s actually kind of cute and he calls himself “Fun Gus”. Ahhh, so that’s where the name of the episode title comes from lol. We also know that Dave and Mandu are fine but Fun Gus considers them as his toys now.
3. They try to convince him to give them back but Fun Gus isn’t budging. Realizing that he’s just a kid, Kipo asks him if he would like for ALL of them, including Dave and Mandu to read him a story, to which he agrees but wants to be the one to read it. Whilst he’s reading Kipo’s mom’s journal, they use this distraction as an opportunity to find their friends.
4. Fun Gus is actually reading the part in Song’s journal where Kipo stopped last episode and it’s the part about Song discovering she grew fur. So we get another flashback of the past:
Tumblr media
5. Song and Lio are trying to make sense of what’s happening to her; Song thinks that it could be the result of Kipo’s stem cells passing to her via “microchirerism”, which is basically a fancy term for what they just explained to us. They’re worried about their lab team members finding out about this or else they will use her work to turn mutes back into animals. So they need to give them a good excuse to allow Song to not come to work. 
6. I think the question here is how did the animals of Las Vistas become mutes in the first place? Was it through experiments conducted by humans? Like if you were to ask me if turning back the mutes into animals is a good thing, I can’t really give you an answer. 
7.  Lio comes up with the idea to tell them she needs to be quarantined at home because she has burrow pox, which DOES NOT EXIST! So Lio has been lying to Kipo for all her life but again...why? Is her mom living her life as a full jaguar mute now with no recollection of her old memories? That seems quite likely. 
Tumblr media
8. Kipo is now caught off guard by this new revelation and thinks that her mother might still be alive. They also wonder if she’s taken away by the scientists or possibly even Scarlemagne. Fun Gus then pops up from inside a cupboard and asks them if they’re still listening to him. Kipo comes up with another idea and that is to play hide and go seek with him; If they manage to find Dave and Mandu, they can win them back.
9. Meanwhile, the Umlaut snakes are being tied up by the Nobles and they’re forced to attend Scarlemagne’s coronation; Well, at least they’re not dead. Anyways, Scarlemagne finally notices that the collar isn’t with them anymore and that the Mega Monkey has ran off.
Tumblr media
10. As Kipo, Wolf and Benson are trying to find their friends, Kipo tries to use her heightened sense of smell to track them by making her jaguar nose appear. And very shortly after, they manage to find them. But Fun Gus still wants to play; Ugh, he’s starting to really annoy me. 
Tumblr media
11. Scarlemagne and the Nobles are also doing some searching of their own but the Mega Monkey trapped his Nobles in a net, leaving only himself to capture her. Without the collar, how exactly is Scarlemagne going to control her again since the Mega Monkey is really strong.
Tumblr media
12. Our main characters unfortunately have no other choice but to play with Fun Gus. But eventually, they manage to trick him into closing his eyes, thinking that it’s a game and he also ends up falling asleep. However, they can’t escape just yet because Kipo still doesn’t think that her mom’s journal is the anchor she needs and she wants to keep looking by continuing to read through the journal.
Tumblr media
13. We head back to the flashback and Lio reveals to Song that the scientists are getting suspicious of her burrow pox and he thinks they should leave tonight. Song isn’t feeling so good and it’s not because of what he said but it’s cuz she’s in LABOR! It then fast forwards post-delivery and they’re on the bed with baby Kipo. That was quick! LOL. And she’s already showing signs of her jaguar-nature. 
14. It’s also revealed that the reason why they made Kipo a hybrid is so that she and the future generation of humans will be able to live safely on the surface since mutes are the dominant group now. Ahh, that makes sense. If that’s the case, then I respect their decision to make their child a science experiment lol. They decide to start packing to head up to the surface world to avoid getting caught. And they’re also bringing Hugo aka Scarlemagne with them. Hmm...
Tumblr media
15. I think if you put two and two together, it’s safe to say that the scientists that Lio and Song were trying to run away from are these three humans here. And we find out the leader’s name is Dr. Emilia and the guy in the group is called Zane. Yeap, it’s obvious that they were the scientists. No wonder they are so adamant in stopping Scarlemagne. The Mega Monkey was also Dr. Emilia’s experiment for 13 years it seems. I guess she was trying to find a way to turn her back into a regular monkey?
Tumblr media
16. Back to Kipo and the others; Fun Gus is really angry at them for attempting to trick him and he goes crazy and starts attacking them. Someone needs to drop kick this kid for real lol. He needs to get a permanent time out. He traps Wolf, Benson and Dave in his webs of fungus, leaving Kipo and Mandu to try to find a way to rescue them.
17. Wow, this episode has a lot of revelations, huh? Scarlemagne says that Dr. Emilia stole his pheromones to control the Mega Monkey and he’s asking the monkey if she wants to get her revenge on the doctor. But the monkey doesn’t seem so sure about it. 
Tumblr media
18. Kipo is trying to find Mulholland to plead for him to help them and he arrives really quickly lol. I guess that’s why he randomly showed up last episode. And just like that, Mulholland manages to save her friends by putting Fun Gus to sleep and feeding off his brain energy. Wait, why did they have to skip through so much? They didn’t show a bunch of things before this. Anyways, Mulholland is starting to find it difficult to hold him off for long.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
19. Back to the flashbacks of Kipo’s parents and Kipo as a baby; They took a family selfie of the three of them and place the photo in between the pages of the journal. I reckon the photo is supposed to be Kipo’s anchor. They hear a knock on the door and they decide to split up to keep Kipo safe with Song staying behind to answer whomever is behind the door. I guess this is the last time she saw Kipo... ugh so sad.
20. Fun Gus isn’t so fun anymore (in fact, he’s really scary lol) but all of them manage to escape! Phew! Mulholland was really useful here and he tells them that he will be around to help them whenever they need him. After Mulholland leaves, Kipo is frustrated that she isn’t able to feel the anchor in the journal and throws the book towards the ground. 
Tumblr media
21. Wolf notices the family photo sticking out of it and hands it over to her. She gets emotional looking at it and feels that this photo is the anchor she needs. However, she realizes that there’s fur sticking out of her mom’s arm and it’s not jaguar fur. Oh snap! Her mom is the Mega Monkey! I kinda had a hunch that she was but I wasn’t so sure because didn’t she experiment with jaguar DNA on Kipo? I guess there might’ve been a mix-up? Also, does Lio know that his wife is the Mega Monkey? Again, why didn’t he tell Kipo the truth about her mom being part-mute too?
Tumblr media
22. Meanwhile, the Nobles have surrounded the Mega Monkey aka Song and they start spraying the pheromones all around her. In the end, she gets mind-controlled again unfortunately. Wait wait wait....so does Dr. Emilia know that the monkey is Song all along? I guess not because she would’ve addressed her by her real name, no? But she’s been her experiment for 13 years; Couldn’t she have discovered that the monkey has had human DNA? 
Tumblr media
23. As Scarlemagne, the Nobles and Song are walking back to the Court (I assume), Kipo sees them and starts getting emotional, knowing that the monkey is most definitely her mother. And because of this, she transforms into a FULL-ON Mega Jaguar and runs after them. However, she left her anchor, the family photo and without it, she could get lost in her full form forever. So, the episode ends with Wolf, Benson, Dave and Mandu trying to catch up to her. 
Tumblr media
24. I just got chills y’all! OMG, this show is so good. I can’t believe the Mega Monkey has been Song all along! Although like I said earlier, I did think of that as a possibility before. And now, we have Kipo in her full Mega Jaguar form. This should be good but of course, she needs to keep her anchor with her at all times. 
25. Thank you guys so much for reading my review of episode 6. I had such a blast. Stay tuned tomorrow for when I will post my review of episode 7. Till then, bye!
40 notes · View notes
bobasheebaby · 4 years
Text
200 Brooklyn 99 Prompts
Tumblr media
Rosa
1 “Talk to him, that's what friends do.” “Nope. I'm gonna wait 'til I'm on my deathbed, get in the last word and then die immediately.” “That's your plan for dealing with this?” “That's my plan for dealing with everything. I have seventy-seven arguments I'm going to win that way.”
2 “I'm already seeing somebody, NAME.” “Oh, and just like that, things got interesting.” “And just like that, I left.”
3 “NAME is even wearing his/her formal leather jacket.” “It's the one without any blood on it.”
4 “Right, that's the guy/girl you said the lame stuff about. Like he’s/she's a good listener.” “Sorry, what do you look for in a guy/girl?” “Real stuff, like the shape of his/her ass.”
5 “Sorry I'm late. I had to go back to the deli and return my Everything Bagel. In what world does everything not include beef jerky?” “All of them.”
6 “He/She also likes to look up recipes online and go, "Who's got the time?"
7 “Thank you, NAME. Your entire life is garbage.”
8 “NAME , tell us about your family.” “I have one.”
9 “Anyone over the age of six celebrating a birthday should go to hell.”
10 “I am dating his/her nephew/niece. Now we are hanging out on weekends. What is next? Oh! Small talk.”
11 “Wait, is that a smile I see?” “Possibly. My immune system is too weak to fight off my smile muscles.”
12 “Whoa, what happened? You know what, forget it. I'll just read NAME’s notes.”
13 “NAME? Are you stuck in there?” “No, I'm in here by choice.” “Oh, 'cause I hear some banging noises as if someone was struggling to open the door.” “No. That was the pipes.” “Or, is it the sound of you learning how to ask for help? You know, you can't spell ‘independent’ without ‘dependent.’” “And you can't spell ‘Go [bleep] yourself’ without ‘[bleep] you.’”
14 “I've said "excuse me" more times this morning than I have in my entire life. Twice!”
15 “Oh, nothing better after a long shift than coming to BAR NAME. It's like Cheers, where everybody knows your name.” “A place where everybody knows your name is hell. You're describing hell.”
16 “So, what is this? Casual, serious? I need to know how to make fun of you.”
17 “NAME and I broke up. He/She ate soup too much.” “What, like every day?” “It happened twice.”
18 “So, what are you drinking?” “I'll have a margarita. But, like, a skinny margarita. So, like, tequila, lime, and a tiny splash of agave.” “Mm. I refuse to order that.”
19 “What are you looking all wistful about?” “Just thinking, about relationships and love, and how I'm way better at them than I thought I'd be. Should I do a TED Talk on it?” “Doesn't seem any dumber than all the other TED Talks.”
20 “Why didn't you tell me? I had no idea things were getting that serious.” “Yeah, it's very embarrassing having feelings.”
21 “So are you bringing someone to the wedding?” “No, I'm taking a break from dating for a while.” “What?” “I'm sick of asking people how many siblings they have. Oh, is it somewhere between zero and two? How fascinating.”
22 “I grew a goatee and it looks amazing, and I know you can see it.” “Of course we can see it, NAME. It's horrible.”
23 “It feels like you're being a little harsh.” “Thanks, good note. I was going for extremely harsh. I'll turn it up.”
24 “Are your senses heightened?” “I think I might be pregnant, not bitten by a radioactive spider.”
25 “You're what sneezes are!”
26 “Seriously, you guys should stand up once in a while. You know, for your hearts.”
27 “NAME, this is dumb. I'm just gonna go.” “No, no, no. You promised me more time. I still have seven minutes.” “I really don't want to miss my flight, and I cannot physically stand the way that room smells anymore.” “Just breathe through your mouth.”
28 “You know, some people say, ‘Mo money, mo problems,’ but those people are idiots. Money's amazing.”
29 “Dude, just admit you ruined everything and turned our lives into a living hell. No biggie.”
30 “We don't want anyone getting alcohol poisoning, so if you throw up, you're disqualified.” “I never throw up. I just tell my stomach to deal with it. My body is terrified of me.”
Jake
31 “I also have a hairline fracture in my thumb. Mankind's least important finger, am I right?”
32 “I wasn't hurt that badly. The doctor said all my bleeding was internal. That's where the blood's supposed to be.”
33 “How much could I possibly owe you? Fifty, sixty bucks?” “Two thousand, four hundred and thirty seven dollars.” “Dollars?! Wait, of course dollars. Why was that the part I was surprised by?”
34 “So, I'm going to grab a healthy breakfast.” “Are those gummy bears wrapped in a fruit roll-up?” “Breakfast burrito, but yeah.” “I pity your dentist.” “Joke's on you. I don't have a dentist.”
35 “I'm talking to my credit card company. I tried to get an online subscription to the New Yorker and they declined me. Apparently, based on my previous purchases, they assumed it was fraud. That's crazy. I'm fancy. One time I had coffee-flavored ice cream.”
36 “Rules are made to be broken.” “They were made to be followed. Nothing is made to be broken.” “Uh, piñatas.” “Glow sticks.” “Karate boards.” “Spaghetti when you have a small pot.” “Rules.”
37 “Hey, can I ask you something?” “Mm-hmm.” “If the toilets drain into the ocean, does that mean a tiny shark could swim up and bite me in the butt?” “No, not at all.” “Psh, lame.”
38 “NAME, super important question. Which one of these shirts should I wear to dinner with your dad/mom tonight?” “Those are exactly the same.” “I have a signature look, NAME.”
39 “Hello, good sir, I'd like your finest bottle of wine, please.” “That will be $1,600.” “Great, I'd like your $8-est bottle of wine, please.”
40 “I am straight-up depressed. NAME’s been doing her best to cheer me up. He/She gave me this sticker this morning just for waking up.” “Ew, it's like you're dating your teacher.” “I know, it's so hot.”
41 “Wait. Before you say anything, I want to guess what happened based on your face. Someone died. No! You won a prize. I'm not getting better at this.”
42 “What is the bandwidth on the wifi here? We have much content to stream.”
43 “Oh, you sweaty, chair-spinning morons. You're gonna get us out of here.”
44 “Sir, I think I speak for all of us when —“ “He/She doesn't.” “He/She doesn't.”
45 “So, your brother/sister's a bit of a nightmare.” “I wouldn't say that. I mean, at most, he’s/she's a daymare.” “Those are so much scarier.” “Yeah.”
46 “Look, NAME, I burnt two hundred calories.” “That's your heart rate.” “Yeah, that checks out.”
47 “I don't slump, people. I opposite of slump. I pmuls. That's slump backwards and it's what I do. I pmuls all over this bitch.”
48 “Excuse me. We were just looking for a place to —“ “Boink.” “Yes, boink. That's my preferred term for it, too.”
49 “Thank you for doing this. I love you.” “Noice. Smort. I love you too.”
50 “Adult parties? I believe they're called orgies.”
51 “I have a sexy voice!
Champagne.
Mountain range.
Hugs.”
52 “Has anyone ever told you you look just like a statue?” “Yes.”
53 “NAME, you're smiling. It's very weird. Like seeing a turtle out of its shell.”
54 “You look happy. Let me guess. Your egg sandwich fell on the floor, and they gave it to you for free.” “No. Can you do that? Why doesn't everyone just drop their sandwiches on the floor?” “I was trying to insult you.” “And instead you gave me an amazing life hack!”
55 “So, we gonna talk about what happened back there? I haven't seen someone cry that much since NAME heard they were remaking ‘First Wives Club.’”
56 “Hey, there, NAME. Everything okay?” “No, I'm having a meltdown.” “Props. That was amazing.” “Thanks. It was a lot of work.”
57 “Almost makes me wanna take things seriously all the time. But then I'm like ‘boobs, farts, boobs, whatever’.”
58 “Ahh, babe, this is so nice. There are hot stones on our butts for no reason.” “Not on mine. My butt stones keep falling off, because I'm so tense about NAME being here and ruining everything.”
59 “Okay, don't shoot! That's how people get shot.”
60 “Rule number 3: Let's not have sex right away.” “Cool. Cool cool cool cool cool. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. Good rule. No sex. Good rule.”
Charles
61 “Okay, but I thought since you were in charge, maybe I could be your right hand man? Your Tinker Bell?” “Tinker Bell?” “Let me tell you something about Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell is a loyal lieutenant and a real thorn in the side of Captain Hook.”
62 “NAME, why don't you show Danger what a fax machine is.” “Okay. Imagine a letter had unprotected sex with a phone.”
63 “Hey, NAME, are you ready to go streaking?” “What?” “That's what my dad/mom and I called getting blonde streaks in your hair. We used to do it to our ponytails on road trips. You just take a little lemon up top, and let the sun do the rest. We called it giving each other road head.” “You just said you called it going streaking.” “It had a couple names.”
64 “So we have good news, and we have bad news.” “My Nana always said, ‘Bad news first because the good news is probably a lie.’ Fun fact: she made me cry a lot.”
65 “What about me? What if something happens to NAME, and he never gets to meet my baby? I don't want to hang out with some stupid baby who's never met NAME.”
66 “Oh, you're right. I'm gonna tell him/her. It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow. It definitely won't be later than tomorrow. So pretty much today or tomorrow then.”
67 “No! I was eavesdropping. I'm always eavesdropping.” “I don't like it.” “Look, I didn't spend the last seven years watching your love ripen, only to have it sullied by a city hall wedding. You're getting married right here, right now.”
68 “I know you think my judgement's clouded because I like him/her a little bit.” “You doodled your wedding invitation.” “No, that's our joint tombstone.” “My mistake.”
69 “How many times have I smacked you in your face?” “Lost count.” “And you still have no fear of me.” “I'm trying to read your womb vibe.” “Exactly. Knock it off.”
70 “Okay, first of all, NAME, you look amazing. Secondly, I made an appointment at the salon with Nikki, for you, under the name Gabriella Fuentes de San Miguel Estrada. I had fun with the name.” “Clearly.”
71 “He’s/She's got a type, which is really any one but you.” “Yeah, that was my ex-husband/ex-wife's type, too.”
72 “Sexy train is leaving the station. Check out this caboose. Later, sluts.”
73 “I can't wait to see you, my luscious little breakfast quiche. I just want to draw you a bubble bath and spoon-feed you caviar. I think we should open up a joint checking account. I love you. [pause] What am I doing?” “It's okay. I hung up right after ‘Chucklebunny’.” “Help me. I've gone Full NAME.”
74 “Do you desire a crispen potato?” “Oh, don't mind if I do-ble. Wait a minute. Crispen potato. Why are you fancy talking.” “How dare you, sir/madam. I speak the common tongue.” “There it is again. You only do that when you're lying or hiding something.” “Hiding? Ha. Pish-posh.”
75 “Hey, donut holes. Don't mind if I do. Eurgh! Fish? Fish donuts, NAME? What is wrong with you?” “It's takoyaki. I'm drowning my sorrows in octopus balls.”
76 “Put on a T-shirt for all I care. It doesn't matter what you wear.” “Of course it matters. He has to wear the smaller checks. Big checks wash him out. Where are you, NAME?”
77 “Ooh, if they have your phone, we can track where they're going. I have ‘Find My Phone’ set up to track you. What? I do that for all my friends, not just you.” “Show me.” “There's no time!”
78 “You okay?” “Yeah, no burns. The doctor said I was lucky my body was so damp.”
79 “You guys have been down here for two hours. What, did you have sex forty times?”
80 “What? You don't need closet space. You have, like, one outfit.”
81 “You just graduated pie school, bitches. [pause] Sorry I said bitches, I'm just really worked up.”
82 “So, I know you're NAME’s best friend, and —“ “Did he/she say that? Did you get that on tape?” “No.” “No, he/she didn't say that or no, you didn't get it on tape? Doesn't matter. Either way, you screwed up big time.”
83 “What you did is the culinary equivalent of unprotected sex.”
84 “That's right. Boom. Just kicked Santa in the testicles.”
85 “No, there's no one in my life. [wink] Sort of a sad thing to wink about, I realize now.”
86 “NAME! Were you dreaming about NAME again?” “Why did you wake me up?! I told you never to wake me up!”
87 “You used all the touching time, NAME. I get 100% of the goodbye touching time. 100%.”
88 “Do you wanna know why he/she went out with him/her and not you?” “Yeah.” “Because he/she actually asked him/her out.”
89 “NAME, will you taste this batter?” “Mm-hmm. Hmm. I think it's a little off.” “You know what's off? Your mouth! Why NAME lets your stupid tongue anywhere near him/her I'll never know. Nope, I forgot the sugar. That's on me.”
90 “There's no need for NAME to see me unleash the beast.”
Captain Holt
91 “Look at you. Always working. What happened to my fun big/little brother/sister?” “Fun? I was never fun. You take that back.”
92 “It's the most fun day of the year. Something you wouldn't understand because you're not programmed to feel joy.” “Yes, but my software is due for an exuberance upgrade.”
93 “Sticks and stones, NAME.” “Describing your breakfast?”
94 “NAME, how are you feeling?” “Better today. I even managed to eat some plain toast this morning.” “Smart. Something bland.” “That's my favorite breakfast.”
95 “Joining us for lunch, Sir?” “Oh, no, I've already consumed the required calories for this day period.” “Yummy.”
96 “You all right, NAME? Tough weekend?” “I went to Barbados with my husband/wife. We wove hats out of palm fronds and swam with the stingrays. I've never been happier.”
97 “Maybe I should wing it. Love, it sustains you. It's like oatmeal.” “Okay. Okay. Not bad for winging it.” “I lied. Took me two hours to write that.”
98 “I do not have a problem. If I want to play Kwazy Cupcakes, I will play Kwazy Cupcakes. Kwazy is a difficult word to say in anger, but I think I've made my feelings clear.”
99 “This place is so romantic.” “Yeah, and so intimate.” “Don't worry. I'm not listening to you. I'm just thinking about how this sea bass is cold but not as cold and cruel as the hands of fate that have thrust my entire life into darkness.” “Ah, damn it. I just ordered the sea bass.”
100 “Yeah, and your new shirt is very aggressive and confusing. Is the pineapple the slut, or is it calling someone else a slut?” “Clearly the pineapple is the slut.” “Huh.”
101 “Oh, I've caused a problem. I think I am getting a text message. Bloop. Ah, there it is.”
102 “So nice of you to greet us, NAME. I thought surely you'd still be crushed under that house in Munchkinland.”
103 “So, do you NAME --“ “Yes.” “And do you --“ “Yes. Yes. We do. We're married.”
104 “I mean, don't people call you NAME?” “How dare you.”
105 “So you lied to me? Out of pity. You pity me.” “I wouldn't put it that way.” “I would. I am offended. I am angry. I am very tired. So I'm gonna take a nap, but when I wake up, oh, you are in for it.”
106 “Look at that. You've helped me find my smile.”
107 “Huh. Meat from the street. Sounds like a fun treat. Hah. I'm a poet and ... I didn't even know I was rhyming those words. But it happened anyway.”
108 “Oh, look at that. An alert. I'm probably trending already. What? My account has been deactivated?” “Twitter thinks you're a bot.” “Why? I am a human. I am a human male/female.”
109 “Care to sit? I'm sure you'd like to take some weight off your cloven hooves.” “Call me the devil, NAME? How original.” “Actually, I was calling you a goat. You goat.”
110 “NAME! I'm coming with you.” “Thank you, NAME.” “I'm also coming.” “Not necessary.”
111 “Spot checks are done. Needless to say I'm thoroughly underwhelmed.” “Huh. From your expression, I would have guessed constipated. Or chilly.”
112 “NAME, you have a pretty low bar for what you consider drama. Once, I used an exclamation point in a email. You called me Diana Ross.” “I assure you, in this case, I do not exaggerate.”
113 “I know they say it's not good to have a TV in the bedroom. Which is why I don't.”
114 “NAME, did you just laugh?” “Uproariously.”
115 “You know when you play along with the robot jokes, it kinda ruins my enjoyment of them?” “Yes, I know.”
116 “And what do you hope to get out of this, NAME? Let me guess revenge on Dorothy for killing your sister?”
117 “It was a good game though for a dumbass.” Okay, you're kinda overusing that one. Maybe switch it up a little bit.” “Oh, good note. You dick.” “That landed good.”
118 “Dancing over. Situation defused.” “No!”
119 “All right, NAME, I'm sick of you wasting time. So, yes, I spilled some minestrone on my pants and I'm sitting in my underwear. Happy?”
120 “You found me. Drinking seltzer in the shadows.”
Gina
121 “It's a sloppy Jessica. Mac n cheese, chili, pizza on a bun. Its everything I've wanted to eat for the last 48 hours.” “What happened? I thought you were gonna 'last forever bitches.'” “Turns out I gave up easy. You hear that bitches? I gave up so easy.”
122 “If NAME had a twin, he/she would have eaten him/her in the womb.”
123 “Wait a minute, I think I just figured something out. I got to go.” “Aren't you forgetting something?” [person a gives Person b a kiss on the forehead] “Uh no, pay your bill! Damn, who raised you?”
124 “The English language can not fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts. So I'm incorporating Emoji into my speech to better express myself. Winky face.”
125 “All right, gang. Diet day 4. How's everyone holding up?” “Honestly, I'm going to last forever. You hear that bitches? I'm gonna last forever.”
126 “If I die, turn my tweets into a book!”
127 “The only reason I didn't tell you is I don't value you as people, so why be honest?”
128 “Breakups are a cartoony thumbs down. They make people feel face-with-Xs-for-the-eyes.”
129 “I'm sorry. I just don't think this is something you're good at.” “What? The only thing I'm not good at is modesty, because I'm great at it.”
130 “Click. I just captured the exact moment you realized you had failed. I guess we all got something out of this.”
131 “It's so addictive, right? I play so much that when I close my eyes at night, I just see cupcakes instead of my normal dizzying array of flashing lights.”
132 “Forget your ex with meaningless sex. It rhymes because it's true.”
133 “NAME. NAME. NAME, I screwed up, big time.” “NAME, given your daily life experiences, you're gonna have to be more specific.”
134 “So, talk to me, goose. How are we looking?” “Sexy, but not like we're trying too hard. Like, sure, we're trying, but it's almost effortless.”
135 “Give me the ring.” “You sound like Gollum.” “That means nothing to me. I don't see those movies, I'm too pretty.”
136 “Oh no, six drink NAME isn't fun. He’s/She's just sad. Damn it!”
137 “I never have second thoughts. That's the luxury of having great first thoughts.”
138 “Ugh, constantly getting NAME’s approval is the worst.” “Yes. I can only imagine.”
139 “You think you can just bully people, but you can't. It's not okay. I'm the bully around here. Ask anyone.”
140 “This just might work out after all.” “You're damn right it will, 'cause we're a ragtag, scrappity, fart-dumb, moron parade, smart-ass team!”
141 “Okay, NAME, stop freaking out. I have the day off. I can step in and help.” “Yeah, me too. I'm not off, but I come and go as I please. It's part of my charm. I'm like an outdoor cat.”
142 “Gina, please keep an eye on NAME today. He's/She’s gonna say something to the wrong person and get himself/herself punched.” “Sure, I'd love to see NAME get punched.” “Try again.” “I will stop NAME from getting punched.” “Correct.”
143 “Oh, I want him/her out. But I'm too scared to tell him/her. “ “All right, listen. I know that your spirit animal is a caterpillar that's been stepped on —“ “Mm-hmm.”
144 “What are you creeps doing? You made me look away from my phone. You better pray I didn't miss a text.” “In the two seconds you looked away?” “Seventeen texts. All of them important.”
145 “What is my favorite soup?” “Chicken noodle.” “Potato leek.” “Corn frickin' noodle. I mean, chowder, damn it.” “You're all wrong. I've never had soup.” “Don't bother. They all suck.”
146 “Okay, so that plumber was useless. But we are two smart and capable people who can definitely figure out how to fix a toilet.” “Of course we can. The internet will tell us what to do. She always does.”
147 “It's crazy how much he/she flirts with me.”
148 “Good morning.” “For whom?” “For you-m.”
149 “So he/she didn't say what happened, which can only mean one thing.” “He's/She’s in a fight club.”
150 “What's up? How can I help?” “Well, when I was a kid, I invented a magnetic flashlight clip so I could read under the covers. This clip and I went all around the world together the Shire, Sweet Valley High, Terabithia.” “But never to a friend's house, huh?” “Uncalled for.”
Amy
151 “That stuff with us is in the past. We talked about that.” “I know, but that was before you saw me in this dope ass tux. I mean you must be freaking out.” “Oh, I really am. I'm really into rented clothes. I love how many butts have been in them.”
152 “You know, we're birds of a feather, you and I.” “I hate cliches.” “Cliches are the worst.”
153 “And now I don't know what to do.” “I think you do know what to do.” “Thanks, NAME.” [leaves the room] “I have no idea what he’s/she's gonna do but that's the safest way to give NAME advice.” “Yep.”
154 “Insult me all you want, for I have only this to say —“ “Victory shall be mine!” “I heard you practicing in the shower. You can't surprise me. Letting me into your life was the worst mistake you ever made.” “Cool, fun take on our relationship.”
155 “NAME, where you at?” “Four drinks.” “What's four-drink NAME again?” “Why don't you come over here and find out?” “Right, Horny NAME”
156 “I'm sorry. We only excluded you because you're kind of an over-texter.” “Over-texter? That's not even a thing.” “Oh really? So you don't remember the time you sent 97 unanswered texts in a five-minute span?” “My phone vibrated itself off the desk. I think it was committing suicide.”
157 “What the hell? I used NAME's exact recipe. I know I'm not a great cook, but I love following instructions.”
158 “What's going on? Is this a dream? No, I'm not holding a label maker.”
159 “My power went out last night and my alarm didn't go off.” “Your alarm is power dependent? You brought this on yourself, son.”
160 “I'd also like to apologize for my friend. His /Her parents didn't give him/her enough attention.”
161 “I'm in! A bet which improves someone's manners? Double score.”
162 “He’s/She's scared.” “He’s/She's not scared. With all due respect, NAME, NAME has no feelings.”
163 “I'm so cold even my fiery dance moves aren't keeping me warm.”
164 “I'm sorry. I tried to be myself and they hated it.”
165 “All right, someone's gotta go out there and kill that feathery bastard. NAME, you're always looking for an excuse to behead something.”
Sergeant Jeffords
166 “It was like taking candy from a baby.” “Why are you giving candy to a baby in the first place? Don't give candy to a baby! They can't brush their teeth!”
167 “I was raised on disco. Little NAME loved to hustle.”
168 “Or is your favorite artist really Taylor Swift?” [Scoffs] “No.” “Lie.” “All right, fine, she is. She makes me feel things.” “She makes all of us feel things!”
169 “Urgh, what's in these?” “Potatoes, butter, a little milk. Oh, and I ran out of salt, so I used baking soda.” “Why wouldn't you? They're both white powders. Of course they're interchangeable.” “Yeah.”
170 “I warned you against using donuts. They're my trigger food.”
171 “Hey, NAME, you know how you're really good at doodling?” “I know you think you're complimenting me, but calling them doodles is an insult. You a big fan of Picasso's doodles?”
172 “Your tone's braggy but your words are real sad.”
173 “See, NAME? Tough love works.” “Damn it! NAME proved the wrong point.”
174 “Now, be respectful and grieve your asses off.” “I don't know why this is happening.” “NAME, I love it. Everyone follow his/her lead!”
175 “Everything's spoiled. My lunch is ruined. My chicken, my potatoes, pasta, my meatballs, ham, my yogurt.” “Wow, that's a lot of yogurt.” “I love yogurt.”
176 “Kind of seemed like you were gonna get up and leave after saying all that.” “I was, but I think I hear NAME.”
177 “You better look cute in this picture, or no one's gonna want you. Do something with your damn paws!”
178 “My tolerance has really changed since I had kids!”
179 “I'm hungry!” “Oh, you're in luck; the fanny pack is filled with granola.” “Mmm! Loose granola.” “I don't want fanny granola! I want steaks and whiskey!”
180 “You probably can't tell, but I'm flexing my brain like crazy right now.”
181 “What's that smell? That's lavender. NAME loves lavender.”
182 “Okay. Excuse me. Can we please eat? My body is starting to digest itself. NAME needs nutrients!”
183 “Don't look at me. NAME wastes all that time building muscles, make him do it.” “Oh, come on, you all know these are just for show.”
184 “Sorry? You bumbling son of a bitch. You just ruined my life. I hope you get hit by a truck and a dog takes a dump on your face.” “Nothing to see here. Just a little hypoglycaemic rage. Move along.”
185 “I feel like a proud mama hen whose baby chicks have learned to fly!”
Hitchcock
186 “NAME, why do you have your shirt off?” “Can't spill food on your shirt if you're not wearing one.”
187 “What bet? What are you guys talking about?” “Seriously? The bet? They've been keeping score all year. It comes up all the time. What are you doing all day?!” “Nothing. Why, you want to hang out?”
188 “So you just want us to lie on the ground and do nothing like a bunch of losers?” “Yes, precisely.” “No!” “Jackpot!”
189 “I don't like it. Something stinks.” “Well, I'm sorry, but I refuse to mask my natural musk with a bunch of chemicals.”
190 “My God. NAME, are you the only person still making sense?” “Yeah. It's bad.”
191 “All right, food is ready, decorations are set, guests should start arriving any moment, and the chairs are still perfection.” “He/She said they're perfection. I'm so proud of you, buddy.” “It was you. You made this happen.”
192 “Who do you think it's gonna be?” “I've no idea.” “I bet it's me. I just hope I'm ready.”
193 “Okay, look, this was maybe a weird way to start the night, but the good news is, we can still make our dinner reservation and no one got hurt.” “Actually, I cut myself real bad.” “Of course you did.”
Scully
194 “Oh, so your plan is to not take this seriously at all?” “Oh, I am as serious as a heart attack. No offense, NAME.” “Nah. Mine are never that serious. I call 'em ‘oopsies’.”
195 “I miss my home chair.” “You miss a chair?”
196 “Are those thumbtacks? What the hell, NAME?” “I thought they'd make good confetti.” “Why?”
197 “All right, anyone else have questions? NAME, NAME, you've been weirdly silent.” “We didn't want to say anything that would get us uninvited.”
198 “Okay, first of all, I want to say that this was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. There is so much talent in this room.” “Just tell us, bitch. Act as if you already have the role.”
199 “I'll be back. Don't move.” “Not a problem. I hate moving.”
200 “Where should we begin? Do you have any experience with puzzles?” “Yes. I've never solved one.”
41 notes · View notes
kuriquinn · 4 years
Note
Dear Mr. Kuri, thank you so much for your recent post concerning the young artist who was effectively censored from sharing his/her/their art on a particular subject (just... so sad). I was hoping to get your thoughts on how adults might navigate interactions with minors in this space. Specifically, extending our support for their work w/out necessarily... engaging with them. I know this sounds crazy stupid but before tumblr I wasn't really active on any social media and I had no idea (cont'd)
there were so many users under the age of 16 on this site. I've even come to learn that some identified users I had interacted with early on were as young as 13, and as someone in my 30's - tbh that scared the shit out of me. I totally agree that someone that young and impressionable would be crushed by the kind of criticism that poor artist faced, and would likely never create or share again... to their detriment. The thing is though, I feel really hesitant following any creator (cont'd)
that isn't 18 or older... What are your thoughts on following/reblogging/interacting with minors in fandom? I fully agree that they need support, especially from older users who don't care what some stranger on the internet has to say... but I just feel... like I don't know how to go about that the right way. I really REALLY don't want minors on my blog at all... sorry to bother you with this, just wondering how you'd suggest handling this. I didn't comment on the post bc I didn't (cont'd)
want to risk that young artist reading my inquiry and feeling even more alienated. As always, thank you for your time and insight. - Birk
I may go a bit off-topic here, but let me give this a try:
I think in, In the end, it all comes down to communication and mutual respect.
Adults have this pervading mentality that until a child hits 18, they need to be infantilized and sheltered, but once they pass that magical number, then it’s a free for all. So, for eighteen years, it’s all about sticking a Potemkin village in front of any idea, person or situation that a child might find uncomfortable (read: they don’t like the feelings it gives them; very different from actual harmful ideas/persons/situations). Then, these sheltered almost-adults enter public spaces and expect society to keep doing that…when it turns out that’s not how it works, they become toxic.
This is how poisonous movements like purity-culture develop online, or new fans who demonize older fans and adults as being perverts for enjoying the very same pastimes they have.
For those of us interacting with these people, the automatic reaction is to “cancel” that person, thereby alienating and isolating them even more in their bad behavior. Instead of taking the time to talk with and try to show them through actions that the world isn’t limited to what they know.
As adults in fandom, we know that a large majority of the fandom is younger, because we were them once. We were that 12-year-old discovering fanfiction existed or sharing drawings we made of our original Harry Potter characters or quoting our favorite movies and televisions ad infinite. We got shit for it in real life, so we had to create spaces of our own online.
We, in effect, built fandom so that it would be more welcoming for the generations that came after us. And while a lot of us stick to that unwritten knowledge, as the years pass, a lot more become gatekeepers. They set a standard of what a fan must know or do to be considered a “real” fan, and they’re mean about how they do that.
Is it any wonder that new fans coming in experience this behavior and then jump on the “adults in fandom is creepy” bandwagon?
These new fans coming in, especially tweens and teens, they still live in this false reality where they only get to enjoy themselves and be kids for a limited amount of time, and once they Become Adult they have to give it all up—and can’t figure out why all those old creeps online are still a part of such “childish” things.
That fault lies squarely on our society, which pushes kids from a young age to be thinking of what they want to do when they grow up so they can get out there and start producing, producing, producing for the state and becoming a “useful” member of society.
We as fandom veterans, need to do our best to teach them differently, and that comes right back to my point: communication and mutual respect.
Older fans need to respect newcomers, as much as the new baby fans need to learn to respect their fandom elders. There is no maximum age for fandom; there’s no minimum age, either, although the younger the fan, the more their parents should be keeping an eye out for the truly damaging stuff and teaching their kids how to avoid that stuff on their own.
Now, obviously, people don’t always announce online how old they are (though it does happen more frequently now than when I started writing), but regardless, there should be a certain etiquette to it.
When you interact with someone online, you don’t know if they are 15 or 50. And the way you interact with them shouldn’t change based on knowing their age. We should maintain the same level of respect for the new fans as the older fans.
So, as to how adults might navigate interactions with minors (especially when you know they’re minors)?
Treat them as any other intelligent human being: with respect.
Because how else are they going to learn?
My mom always used to say to us, “I’m not raising children, I’m raising adults,” which basically meant she was teaching us how to be adults. Kids don’t pop out of the womb magically knowing how to interact with the world, they take their cues from the adults that are already there.
Fandom babies learn how to be active participants in fandom from the people who are already there. And they’re more likely to listen to and look up to someone that treats them as a mature and capable being, than someone who dismisses them as too young or too green, or dismisses their knowledge and experience because they haven’t earned their metaphorical stripes.
Remember, a lot of these kids are coming to fandom because they need an outlet. In this age of helicopter parents, this is the only place where they get to be treated as an individual adult-in-the-making instead of the overly protected child or student that must be shielded from the world. A lot of them are trying to figure out how to deal with the horrors that happen to them or around them every day. That 16-year-old girl writing a rape/non-con fic under a pseudonym? She could be exorcising her own demons through the only way she has because no one in her life is listening to her. That 14-year-old writing about homelessness might know more about it than someone twice his age.
Expertise and experience knows no age, and as adults, we need to not fall into the trap of thinking it does. There are some kids out there that have seen and endured more than I can even imagine.
In recent years, there’s been this trend of treating kids like sexless beings until we, the adults, deem them capable of having a sense of sexuality. When the reality is, once kids start puberty, they’re developing that sexuality, and are trying to figure out what it means to them and how to navigate it, and the world. It doesn’t matter if adults are uncomfortable with it, this is what our human biology has decided for us.
And chances are, as much as adults try to curate the world and keep kids from seeing the darker, less safe stuff? They’re already doing it. I saw this when I was teaching, the kids are already accessing and interacting with stuff like sex, drugs, relationships… Whenever a faceless censor tries to block that sort of thing, they find a way around it. Humans are funny like that—we want the things that are kept away from us, whether harmful or not.
It’s our responsibility to help them think critically about what they’re seeing, and teach them to express themselves about it in a respectful manner.
So by all means: follow that amazing artist even if they are only 15. Their age doesn’t negate the fact that they have talent that needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Reblog the images and the fics that strike you, even if you find out the person writing it isn’t 18 yet. Send a shoutout via DM or review or comment to someone that you admire whether you know they’re age or not.
Unless you’re being actively creepy and offensive (and seriously, don’t do that, it’s gross whether the recipient is a minor or not), chances are these creators are desperate for some assurance that the medium they choose to express themselves in is having an effect on people—and that they have the power to make even adults sit up and listen.
So…TL;DR:
When interacting with younger fans, do so with respect. And if they say something problematic, don’t automatically cancel them and write them off as “obviously too young and immature to understand”. They understand more than you think and will seek out their interests whether adults think it’s appropriate or not. That’s how freedom works. But if we’re going to nip bad behavior like purity culture and agism in the bud, we need to start by treating minors in fandom as adults developing their worldview, not as infants to be sheltered.  
49 notes · View notes