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ndiebrioxhe · 2 years

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Another Rambling post about Ascendance of a Bookworm:

BLUE - ORANGE MORALITY

(with minor digs at Harry Potter)

When I was younger I used to browse Tv Tropes and I really enjoyed looking at them describe things I noticed in media but didn’t have a name for. On a rare occasion, I would find a trope that I had no real reference for and one of those was “blue-orange morality”.

The concept of having a morality system completely divorced from our own that we can’t really judge it. Now it’s not like I have never seen like a series or text attempt to create a character or species that has different standards of morality but the issue I always had was, that the supposed “different moral standards” were always included as a contrast to a more recognisable real world standard - which meant it was framed from a real world standard anyways.

It is always seemed like one of two scenarios:

Scenario A:

Alien/Monster/Non-human: “Here is our horrifically barbaric practice that has no functional purpose to our society and entirely superstitious!”

Human/Humanoid 1: “That’s bad”

Human/Humanoid 2: “Oh that’s just their culture”

And its like no… the narrative framing still shows that is weird and barbaric and not at all a foreign concept which is it’s own morality system so divorced from our own. If we have to be advised not to judge it on our own standards, it can be judged by our standards.

Scenario B:

Olden Times!

Stories being set in a distant past/medieval times where there are different moral standards is not true blue-orange morality. They are just the worse models of current moral standards. We are not divorced from those at all. They are just uncomfortable to think about. Like, yes it is fucked for dudes to claim to be kings and murder thousands to maintain their power… but people weren’t super cool with massmurder back then either - it was just an inevitability due to the social economical problems. It’s like being a billionaire with hundreds of sweatshops now. Even with people who are cool with the system - we all know that shit isn’t our “moral standard” - it’s our uncomfortable reality. Pushing the setting back or forward a 1000 years doesn’t really change anything. Our countries’ leaders still go off to kill and exploit people to maintain power, they just don’t get crowns for it anymore.

And I don’t care if you chose to do this with fictional races and places, that is just set dressing. They still resemble human society as we know it.

So I just never really saw a series that really grabbed me as authentically blue-orange… just typically shades of grey.

But then I read AOAB… and I really saw the potential of blue-orange morality. And it was done well.

Now it might seem logical to treat Bookworm as a Scenario B.

After all, it’s literally nobles presiding over commonfolk and elizabethan era political drama… but heres the thing… the framing of Scenario B is based on understanding that some characters still fit our present mold of a good person:

caring

considerate

fair

just

humble

attractive (no literally)

would not murder babies

religious in the right way

And these characters are the ones we root for. The characters we aren’t rooting have qualities we do not desire

mean

selfish

powerhungry

bloodthirsty

unattractive

will murder babies

over zealous or cult-like

Like in a Scenario B you can’t show the main characters enslave children in a sweatshop and allow grown adult attendants put their hands on them - and still be the good guy. You can’t plan the purging of an entire faction and hold their children hostage under penalty of death - and be THE GOOD GUY . Can’t overtly tax a city to the bones and deny them the best possible harvest because the previous mayor annoyed YOU — AND EVER HOPE TO BE THE GOOD GUY.

Well you can in ascendance of a bookworm tho.

And the readers will agree with you.

And it’s NOT because readers can overly moralise the actions of main characters.

And it’s because unlike a Scenarios A and B which are just OUR WORLD where we are all AWARE that we don’t really need kings or billionaires and antiquated traditions that rely on human suffering for the world to work. AOAB is different

The world of AOAB is not our own. Nobles have more rights because the world explicitly requires their mana to function. Nobles are human plus. They are what rich people in the regular world pretend to be.

Remove the army, the wealth, the status of a king and he is commoner. AOAB Nobles are literally magic batteries that build cities, make harvests happen, keep the population safe from deadly magical creatures …like the yearly giant blizzard monster that won’t literally won’t let spring come unless you have an army of trained magical knights slay it. Without Nobles the world literally be a giant sandpit.

So right of the bat, the nobility are integral to society. You simply don’t live your life raised as a necessary part of the world functioning and not have a social structure that reflects that. Its our world turned on it’s head. All the commoners could die and all that means is the nobles have to do more work. Instead of rich needing the poor, the commoners need the nobles. Otherwise they rarely even interact. The commoners and nobles are almost different species.

And not like it’s particularly unfair on the commoners. Not having mana simply bars you from a lot of activities, duties and experiences. Hell, not having a lot of mana as someone born into a noble family arguably sucks more than being a commoner. Nobility is earned, not given. Being born into a noble family that doesn’t have the means to regulate your mana means you won’t even make it to age where you are considered a separate entity from your parents in that society. If you have enough mana to make it to the Royal Academy without getting sent to the temple and the ability to pass or even excel at the Royal Academy - congrats you are now an asset to your duchy and that includes the commoners inside it. Just make sure you don’t blunder and cause your own execution.

So if murder, classism, deception and greed aren’t necessarily immoral in AOAB, what is?

The only real way to be a labeled a bad person in AOAB noble society is to endanger your duchy and cause widespread problems. Which only means the real way to be immoral in AOAB is to be incompetent or to FAIL.

You might initially think The Veronica-Georgine faction are the antagonists because they try to murder a barely baptised child but the guardian trio literally admitted they had plans to kill her too. They are ones committing the most one sided mass murders in the series. Ferdinand being able to outmanoeuvre and manipulate his enemies in the ring of politics is considered a SEXY TRAIT.

So what’s the difference between the Florencia faction and the Veronica-Georgine faction? Easy. The V-G faction is DESTABILISING AN ENTIRE DUCHY WITH SHORTSIGHTED NOBLE BULLSHIT. And just escalates into the entire nation being in jeopardy… because the Ahrensbachian Archducal family keeps producing nobles that are profoundly worthless with no sense of noble duty. They are defective.

In the next paragraph, I’m just going to state something this legion of defective nobles did and the names of who did it/involved.

They don’t respect the authority or wisdom of nobles of higher rank so they disobey orders (Bezewanst, Veronica). They force already new brides on married nobles that ruin established marriages for no benefit besides sating their schoolyard fantasies on a whim (Gabriele). Their spitefulness and cruelty to one of the biggest archnoble families in the duchy has made the Ehnferestian faction politics a disaster (Veronica) and were forced to create an entire section of mednobles not even loyal to Ehnferest because archnobles rightfully disliked them (Shikikoza and Gloria). They’re such suck ups it endangered their own duchy’s stability to the point where their only options is an intermediate archducal candidate that was poorly raised by all metrics (Gieselfried). Ahrensbach archducal children are regularly raised to be puppeteered by the parents instead of independent thinkers (Detlinde). Which is a real fucking problem for duchies when you keep trying (and typically succeeding) in making these children the Aubs of duchies (Georgine).

Ultimately it comes down to the fact they believe in their ideological RIGHT as nobles over their ideological DUTY to prioritise their duchies running smoothly. And that leads them to overestimate their APTITUDE as nobles.

Which is REALLY telling when a little powerhouse is redefining what it means to be an accomplished noble and entire political career is to the benefit of Ehnferest. Which is why the Ehnferest archducal family and Florencia faction who prioritise the stability and growth of the own goddam duchy instead of their own personal grudges are the good guys.

Bad guys are bad because they are bad what they are supposed to be doing and the good guys are good because they focused on what they should be.

There’s even a moral gray zone which is “trying your best but not being enough” and the prime example of that is the current the royal family. The country is only in this sorry state because one prince allowed his ineptitude and thirst for power to spiral and cause the nation lose the most important tool, and now it has a king that was only ever raised as a vassal is struggling (impressively) to keep a nation that should have dried up to keep running… A shame his intel gathering is dogshit so he keeps making mistakes and even overlook things that could have solved the problem.

So the dynamic of magic and morality is baked in the worldbuilding and it’s doesn’t feel dumb that nobles have all this power but somehow DON’T really interfere the non magical inhabitants in the world on a grand scale. These features, not flaws.

It is so much better than making a magical world where wizards hide their shit IN non magical places but don’t interact with non magical humans and have poverty and slaves that do house chores despite HAVING MAGIC that handles that shit. And also celebrate non magical people’s holidays despite thinking non magical people are beneath them because despite the book apparently being about fascism being bad - it doesn’t address any of the core issues of it and even has extra issues layered on top!

AOAB doesn’t operate on regular morality so it’s not mind numbingly incongruent when bad things happen in the universe because the magic people choose to let it happen despite thinking it’s bad. Even tho nobles do not care about the commonfolk it would stupid if they hid magic from the non magical folk and even dumber if entire spinoffs were based in fighting to keep it secret. Having a series where the protagonists realise that a faction in their world is a problem and getting RID OF THEM? Imagine getting rid of people who are the problem instead of fighting them in a WAR and reading checking the epilogue and that faction caused the fascism is STILL THERE and children are scared to end up there?? WHY DOES SLYTHERIN STILL EXIST—

Anyways,,,

I haven’t had the pleasure of reading past the translated pre-pub myself, but from what I do know is the Ahrensbachian penchant for stupidity and shortsightedness in the pursuit of positions of power they couldn’t hope to manage effectively… while destabilising as much of the nation as possible continues and I can’t wait to read it.

#ascendance of a bookworm #honzuki no gekokujou #this is so long omg #i just had another rambling to get out

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louisisalarrie · 6 months

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Hi! I’m with your last anon- these past couple of days have been wild. And the coverage this is getting just keeps growing and growing. Different from previous ‘denials’ right? What’s going on. I feel like our space has been invaded (ha ha), and I’m not loving it. The theories on twitter are getting stranger and stranger which doesn’t help. I guess we just wait and see if he sells loads more tickets. Not loving the how though, feels intrusive, even after the initial shock has worn off.

the media coverage is… pretty wild. like… idk, it’s not as gross as it has been before after previous denials (some press posted some pretty gross manips and talked about fanfic in graphic detail) but it seems more… general? like… discussing why we think that as opposed to being insane? Idk, some of them are still pretty nasty, but it’s… interesting. This coverage just feels differently to me, idk.

But yeah, agreed. The Twitter theories are actually… wild. Like… it’s not 2 + 2 = 4 like Larry has always been and is meant to be, it’s like “hey this weird little design on Louis’ shorts leads back to the history of 1758 which a person named Larry had a distant cousin three times removed named Louis and his great great granddaughter had seven children, one of which was a lesbian who had a secret lover and they weren’t allowed to marry each other or be together but then they secretly adopted a son and named him harry and this is proof” like… what?

I mean, maybe not that outlandish, but along the lines of wildly reaching to a point that Louis and harry just wouldn’t think of. H has said before that he does put little clues in his promo, and sometimes people investigate so deeply they find coincidences which he didn’t mean to be there. And we know Larry do make hints for us and clues and keep us interested and all that, but… some of these theories that they SEE on twitter are genuinely just… out of this world and in know way match up, therefore dispelling prior evidence and making us look crazy. It’s annoying. I see a new one every day that makes me have to close the app.

I’m all for bluegreening (because they genuinely know what that means), and performing covers of songs they know we will draw back to Larry, and talking about each other in interviews, and a lot of other things… but like, the theories used to be so straight forward and proof. Half the shit on there isn’t proof.

Anyway, the press also go to twitter for Larry stuff. They mentioned chickengate in a bunch of interviews to this denial, which they wouldn’t know what that meant if they didn’t research. Tumblr just isn’t as big as it once was and is often ignored when it comes to this stuff. Idk, it’s just all a bit… too much.

We’ll see about those ticket sales, yeah. I mean, they have everyone talking about Larry again sooooo if it irritates you louis, don’t fucking talk about it and leave it alone hahahaha. It ain’t 2015, you’ve not been seen with him publicly in years. If they were seeding a friendship then sure, I’d expect this denial. But it’s a cold denial out of nowhere in an attempt to get louis more press and make him and his team sell more tickets and make more money.

#anon #answered #so be it 2k24

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popculturebuffet · 3 months

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The Kablammiest Retrospective Finale: Odds and Ends (Comission for Cory Bryant)

The end is nigh all you happy people. After several months, and 4 aricles covering every season it's time to say Goodnight to KaBlam. I enjoyed this retrospective.. almost no one read it, but it had me exploring a show I only occasionally thought about and see the wonders it had to offer. I truly enjoyed this show

So in making my way out I got Cory to extend the retrosepctive as when it was comissioned I hadn't realized there's a bunch of neat extras on the fringes of KaBlam history: Pilots, shorts not aired on the show, a spinoff attempt, all sorts of intresting pieces of media I wanted to dive into. If I was going to do this I wanted it to be complete and I thank Cory dearly for both this retrospective and allowing me to give it a proper sendoff.

So today's final entry is a bit diffrent: every little KaBlam loose end I could find, reviewed as they go, and one final kablammy awards to cap it all off. So put your heiner in the recliner one last time as we take a look at everything that coudln't be cartoon crammed into the series proper.

We start with one of the last KaBlam things, the Henry and June Show. Nick had this weird thing where they really didn't care about KaBlam as a whole by the end.. but DID really like Action League Now! and Henry and June. The former got a test with an exclusive short we'll talk about in a bit and the latter got a pilot for a spinoff that, like the show itself, Mark Marek thankfully put up on his webstie.. if relutcantly. Marek really wasn't a fan of this and it didn't go to series, with the characters moving on to other things post kablam we'll get to soon enough.

I get why this pilot happened: The Henry and June Shorts were the longest out of the kablam segments as the wraparound, taking up a decent chunk of each episode, had an established supporting cast and had potetial. Not only that there was the potteial to expand on the two's day to day lives, which we only saw glimpses of. The potetial was there.

It was not reached though. The first segment suffers from feeling like reheatd KaBlam leftovers: The duo's first show goes offf the rails due to the Oleson Twins not coperating, Stockadle screwing up and mr foot not being back with henry's breath mints so he accidently kills a hamster/ There's some good bits: I love how they introduce their annimal trainer as "that guy with all the animals", that the olseon twins won't come out because of how their drawn and our duo having a fight scene early on due to Henry embezzling both their paychecks to buy a sports car that goes through the WWF and actual genie al roker's sets. I also like that for whatever reason they got the REO Speedwagon song "Roll with the Changes" which I didn't know by name but did recognize by ear. It's just fun to hear it as Mr Foot gets into an OJ Simpson style high speed chase that ends up saving the show. It has good bits.. but it also feels like iv'e seen "henry and june's show go's off the rails" in way more intresting ways like their parents getting into a fist fight or mr stockdale having a war flashback. I do get this is the pilot, trying to set the tone.. but it dosen't work when you've already seen this.

The second half has the two prepared to bask in their fame.. only to find no one watched the show. I do like finding out June has other friends, but otherwise the first half of this short is pretty boring. it's also not helped by a very unwanted return. For somehow, Ryan returned.

Yes Ryan the Annoying fanboy is alive and just as annoying and one note as last time. And the fact he's arround twice means for the final time this retrospecitve, and the SECOND time in so many months... i'm adding one to the wall.

I swear this thing just gets bigger every time. And I"m not padding it: I geninely hate the fuckers added and if the hate goes down, they will be dropped. I only had TWO in mind.. then I remembered "Didn't let his son rescue him from a torando to teach him a shitty lesson" and "Cut his ex-girlfriend's breaks and acts like their still together".

Anyways Ryan is still the worst though thankfully isn't around a ton. I also think he might of debuted here first as this aired during Kablam's final season. Either way he sucks and we go on to the two going to a performing arts academy and getting sick of it because they hype them up too much.. but the two classes don't really show it? Another wannabe star kicks june during dance class (leading to a funny piano gag) and Henry's trainer gives up on him doing reps. The only really funny bit is what gets them to leave.. after admitting the issues the entire school, including mary kate and ashley, break into a motivational song.. and our heroes slink away to obscurity and sick ryan on the school. It's just bland: parodying fame wasn't fresh in 1999. Underated film though, check it out. It just feels like two weaker kablam wraparounds and while I wish Mark Marek would make another full show, I can understand why he was glad this didn't get picked up.

The rest of wha ti found for the duo is various other apperances. First is something I found while writing this article, a short comic done for nick magazine where the two parody various comics. It's short, breezy fun and can be found here if your intrested.

The rest is a variety of hosting gigs: they hosted a summer marathon where June assumed a bunch of small babies ate sausage when talking about the rugrats, a halloween marathoon, and upick friday, a segment where voters called in to get the cartoons they wanted I vaguely remember. Not bad stuff, just not meant to be watched in one go. There's also 101% whizbang a cartoon block they hosted which there were only a few segments of floating around. I watched em all, but the lost media wiki clocked a handful that simply dont' exist and I may cover if they ever surface. I did what I could.

Finally we have Nicktoon News, where the two reported on various news stories. It's.. weird to here Henry and June talk abotu the fairly odd parents or anyone talk about Butch Hartman without calling him some form of asshole. Simplier times. Also Henry wants to bea new pokemon. Keep at it henroid, i'm sure you'll be in the next game. you just gotta belivie. Overall this pile was intresting stuff you can find on youtube.. but not really entertaining nowadays. Fun for one look, neve ragain.

Next up we have the Sniz and Fondue Pilot, Psyched for Snuppa. Why is Snuppa named? Well it could be because he's played by Meatloaf. Yes... Meatloaf. He will do anything for love... but he won't play a cat. A ferret's okay though. I also like his outfit and wish it hadn't been changed to a more generic one. I love the high collars on him and sniz.

This one's also notable for being directed by John R Dilworth of COurage the Cowardly Dog Fame, who didn't direct any following episodes because that masterpiece got picked up and who Brandon was apparently unsastisfed with his work anyway.

Psyched For Snuppa is a lot of fun, having our three protaganists get into shenanigans after Bianca calls them mid seance to summon Jimmi Hendrix to help her with two hilaroius brats sh'es babysitting. The episode is really just our main duo and ocasoinally snuppa getting into weird shenanigans with two children. It works really well, ti's charming and dilworth's expertise at timing and facial expression relaly elevate this one. it's one of the best sniz and fondue shorts and a really excellent pilot despite the two being on the side.

Now we've come to Action League NOW! which has two pilots that aired on all that that were never resued and a short for a one off special that never aired on kablam but I think aired in the spinoff.

First up are the pilots and they.. aren't great. one has the gang being stalked by the mayor with a train which isn't as funny as it sounds and the other has them stuck in the fridge. Both good concpets btu the comedic timing and slapstick just aren't there yet. Which isn't suprising: I wasn't the biggest fan of action league now season 1 and it took the series till season 2 to really hit it's stride.

In the Whine of Fire is a decent extra sized episode. Meltman flees during a case and to get his rep back agrees to guard pop star blandee, while the league looks out for him as the Mayor has been targeting pop stars with a giant robot to promote his album. And I swear to god if the Mayor's va Jim Krenn ever reads this, please give me that album. Or at least a track. I'd love to hear the pisstake that would be the mayor singing.. or rapping. Oh god... have him rap. Pleassseee.

At any rate Meltman naturally chickens out and is pissed after the league beats the robot as he thinks they were trying to make hi mlook good, and ends up in a realtionship with blandee, not happy that she thinks he's a hero and feels wrong for deciving her. It's honestly some of the most sympathetic we've seen him: he still sucks, but he dosen't take credit for something he didn't do on purpose and dosen't want ot hurt her.

It all climaxes at a concert, with another giant robot, meltman bein ga hero and blandee being crushed so he can avoid concsequences. It's.. okay. Not the best they've done, but it has the mayor in a giant robot and a hilaroius parody of late 90's pop stars, not the best i've seen but still spot on enough for this to be decent.

We Are the Shrimpskins is a weird one. It was done by Life With Loopy creator Stephan Holman as one of Nick's many intertitle shorts, ala The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Part of the contract included an animated short, the network wanted more, and thus Life with Loopy became the series but since i'ts from the same creator, I figured this one should be included. Holman and his company would go on to create the short lived WB series phantom investgators in the same style as loopy, and is something I hope to cover someday but like some of the series that broke out it's too long at 13 episodes to justify putting in here.

As for We Are the Shrimpskins it's delightful absurdity as two weird beings , the titluar shrimpskins, enter a contest at a local sofa store to win a weekend with the weirdest people in the world. What follows is chainsaws, sofas and madness, and it's great ending with the revelation they are the wierdest.. and them just boarding up the door at the people who did one. This short is silly, delightfully fun, and worth a look if you like Holman's other work or just like wacky nonsense in general. Do I completely get it? Not really and i'm 40% wacky nonsense. But it's fun nonetheless

The Life with Loopy Birthday Galabration is something I almost didn't include: it's a repackage of several Life with Loopy Shorts, along with one that hadn't aired yet, Send in the Clones It's not bad and a good collection if you want to try the shorts. It's clear the series was popular and i'm shocked it didn't get a full series order at some point or at least had the shorts repackaged ala action league now!

That said the galabration is fun, with members of the action league there along with Prometheus.. whose dating Brad Pitt. Which is awesome> Good for you man, both of you. Sadly didn't last but hey. There's also A LOT of celebrity gags from Patrick Stewart being loopy's mentor, to Henry creepily hitting on Kate WInslet, to Ben Franklin dating Alyssa milayno. The man can still get it.

The wraparound is animated by Mark Marek, so we get to see some characters in the Henry and June style, including loopy and family themselves as you can see, though theys till neatly mimick the cardboard cutout style. I myself coudln't cut it, but respect to meshing the two styles.

The wraparounds decent enough, the short package is some of the best of the series and overall the special's worth a look and like I said a good place to start if this series peaks your intrest. I really cannot recommend these shorts enough.

Like Sniz and Fondue I was so happy to see the off beats again. Starting off we have three shorts that aired between shows that never made it to KaBlam! All this talk about intertitle shorts make me want to review the adventures of pete and pete.

The first has August solo as he tries to impress the populars by saying his dog can talk.. which of course september can but the punchline is great as he says bow.. because he wants them all to bow to him. Nice and simple. The second has the Populars pull "your shoes untied" and it only work on Rapunzil. Finally we have The Twig, the weakest of the three but still not bad as Betty Anne tries to save a twig. The ending is great though August and September play fetch... and naturally August is the one fetching.

The main event though is naturally

Fun Fact I found out.. despite seeing this as a kid, this was lost media for a while> Thankfully like most of kablam's content it hasn't been for some time, and can be found on youtube as can almost all of this. I'll point out the exception later. Why Nick hasn't put this up on paramount I dont' know.. then again they haven't put Catscratch ont here and took YEARS to put el tigre on there so

The Valentine's Special is fun, and while I was mildly worried if the show could keep it's nice mellow energy for so long it does, resluting in what's both easily the best Off-Beats cartoon and one of the best things related to KaBlam. It's a shame Willems didn't want to tkae this to series or make more specails, but I can respect he had other things he wanted to do.

The Special is great though as a finale, ending these shorts on a high as the kids deal with valentine's shenanigans: Tommy falls in love with a popular, Beth, the one with frizzy hair, and they go to hilaroius lengths to keep it secret like him calling her.. while disguised or pretending to be a statue while she visits at night while the rest of the populars, still glued to her hip, are all there asleep. IT's a lot of fun stuff.

It's also a lot of painful stuff as while the shorts themselves had a bit of pathos, this specail really digs into it, something I feared would happened but figured wouldn't.. and was proven wrong. When planning to reveal their relationship at the valentine's dance.. Beth backs out at the last second and Tommy learns the hard lesson talking to her that you have to find someone who cares about you more than their status or themself. She likes him.. but not enough to actually risk anything or be seen with him. It's a sad ending.. but it's realistic, has a ncie punch to it, and still ends on the note of Tommy realizing that having friends is still good. Looped in is Repunzil planning to ask out Tommy , not knowing he's in a relationship and him taking the cowards way out of avoiding her. Betty Anne has to be the one to tell her (having found out earlier). That said we get my faviorite gag of the special, Tommy holding up a sign that says i'm not tommy and it working. Stupid? Yes. Glorious? Also yes. It works on character as I do buy Repunzil would take the sign that literally and Tommy knows this> I also like that they don't go for the obvious ending of the two ending up together: tommy isn't intrested even when he's publicly humiliated, but accepts her as a friend and she accepts that. Even after finding out he's in a relationship earlier on, she rebounds fine and still goes to the dance.

Betty Anne Bongo also gets a subplot and it's eh: She claims to be over valentine's and only need friends, changes her toon when she meets groovy gru's nephew and passes out in front of the guy falining. It's funny, from her growling he's mine in the same voice tommy uses when yelling when Repunzil compliments him to her passing out, but it's something i've seen a lot that the off beats dosen't spin well.

We then have August. August's plot is.. there. It feels like they came up with everyone elses plots and then scrambled to include august, who does factor into things, he asks out Tina the headpopular and his rejection makes Beth nervous enough to back out of accepting Tommy' s invitation to dance, but it's just kinda .. eh. He breaks from his reliance on tech to try being natural then prances around in his underwear. It just kinda happens.

I saved the best for last though as September gets a dedicated plot and easily the biggest one of the special outside of the main plot with Tommy: September belays his tragic backstory to Tommmy, how he once dated a cat named febuary, whose design I love as do her real cat meow. She disappeared, he was left broken but enourages Tommy to move on. He also is super depressed when DJing due to the memory, which would be the best depressed valentine's dj gag ever, but sadly parks and rec came along. It's not BAD but it's no Chris Trager playing sad monk durges before looking longingly at jerry

God I miss this show. The Off Beats Valentine's day is a can't miss and was easily the best of the stuff I watched for this odds and ends, and given Psyched for Snuppa was pretty dang good, that does say something. but this peanuts style holiday special just can't be beat in charm or technique.

So now we've come to the suprising shorts, three of which had other shorts that simply never made KaBlam.. and the first is the one I dreaded the most, to the point I saved it till towards the end. I wasn't a big fan of the louie and louie show, finding it overly cruel and depressing.

So i'm shocked that the second short.. works better. our main duo are still neglected pets but they dont' seem to be as miserable, and the anatagonist,s instead of thier terrible owners are the cat and dog that get more attention and act like thugs. It's still not amazing, but it has good gags, a nice payoff and the bad guys actually pay for being dickheads this go round. Not a bad short all things considered. Still don't think there was enough for a series and i'm glad they went and made Teacher's Pet instead, but far better than I expected and it deserves credit for that.

Patchead had three more shorts outside of KaBlam. Why they didn't use them, I have no idea. They needed to fill the space and it woudl've been anothe rrecurring segment. Whatever the case, we got three more to look at and given I liked the first two, I was excited for this The first Hook Line and Sinker is one of two shorts overall that dosen't have Nick Offerman

Thankfully it's not as dire as it seems, as the short's still good. Patchead has a junk fishign contest with a rich kid. It's not as good as the gold one, and honestly neither was the racing one, but it's still some good fun and a nice change of pace. While I love nick offerman playing a large ham in a work this weird and this early in his career, it's not bad to break from it.

That said it was a DELIGHT to have him back for the next one where Patchead is a porkchop delivery boy, but no one wants them they want possum pops, which Offerman cheerfully delivers in a sleeveless white shirt in his run down shack

Eventually though Patchead is able to use the porkchops to stop a wave of bbq sauce and the town embraces the porkchops now with more flavor. It's a fun short and a nice break from the compettition stuff in the first three shorts, and look i'll take Nick Offerman looking exactly like lenny while promoting eating possum any day. The guy got what the shorts were going for and went for it. One of the best comedic actors out there.

Almost forgot the last one.. which has a genie emerge from a mudflap and try ot kill people. You'd think it'd be more intresting.

Cards on the table: our final shorts today are the reason why I did this. Finding out there was more of what was easily one of my faviorite surprising short was too tempting not to look into. I already had built up a decent pile of possible stuff to cover, but this... this was the goat. And the shorts.. were decent. Their not bad , their simply only a minute or two: they still have the utterly unique abstract art style and the down to earth tone that plays off, but the KaBlam short had more room to breathe. I still highly recommend watching these three as their still intresting: Alice recounts getting some new boots after deciding people are their shoes

Has her cat die, something that was entirely hard to stomach as I lost my cat Stewie last year, and a trip to the planterium where a plan for the class to all wear glow in the dark goes sideways thanks to Alice's horrible best friend suki, who shit talks another girl in alice's name and previously said she didn't like cats to her best friend's cat dying

Not bad just not a lot to talk about as their so short.

Overall i'm glad I went to look into these extras: it was an intresting ride: it was also a lot of "this was pretty good" i'll admit but outside of the henry and june show and the action league now pilots, there really wasn't anything BAD and even then both are intresting. The H and J show has some good bits and it's neat to see how Action League Now evolved into what it became. It was nice to have one last lap with this property. While this has been far from my most successful project, it's one of my faviorites: it got me to really think about it and I wouldn't be oppsoed to doing another retrospective for cory down the line.

For now though there's one FINAL piece of buisness:

It's the FINAL Kablammy Awards! For this one i'm picking out the best shorts PERIOD from each recurring series and the best of the MANY startling shorts. Also to be fair to today's batch a few awards, if not nearly as many as usual since it's a small pile of shorts and all

Best Patchead Segment Post KaBlam: The Porkchop one. Look it was fine to experiment without Nick Offerman.... but his hammy southern performance adds a lot to the charm of these segments.

Best Girl WIth Her HEad Falling Off: The Boots. I mean again I relate to a cat death... "Sigh", but I like the concept of an inner name and her buying some kickin boots nicely. That feeling of a kid of wanting something bad your parents just hate.

Best Off Beats Pilot: My Dog Can Talk. It's simple, hilaroius and sets up the dynamic of the show beautifully.

Best Overall: The Off-Beats Valentine's Day. A full 22 minutes of what's probably tied for my faviorite KaBlam Segment with Life with Loopy (Though Sniz and Fondue is close). What's not to love?

So with that our grand finale.. the best of the best. First up the best episodes from each season. It' ssomething I should've done all along but decided to save for this finale.

Season 1: What the Astronauts Drink. This ep mostly gets it on novelty, as it's I belivie the only ep where the various segments and the wraparound all have the same theme.. SPACCCCEEEEEE. But for these consicancy is also a factor: some of the best segments can have mediocre episodes. But the segements here are all classics: The mayor trying to launch the action league's dog into space to be a dick, Loopy lassoing the moon, Sniz getting kidnapped by aliens, and the only short not themed around the space stuff, Anemoia and Iodine, which charmed me so much Anemoia is in the page image for this artcle. It's a solid episode with a lot of fun segments and a nice themeing no other episode matches.

Season 2: This one has a weak wraparound, i'll admit, the 3d stuff being mildly amusing at best.. but it clicnches the win with it's segments. We have Flesh getting naked and ruining diplomacy, Bob not getting how chairs work (One of the few pre season 4 p an db segments I love), the delightful bat infested upside down loopy and the iconic off beats where Tommy has lost his coat. All bangers, all make up for a weak wraparound.

Season 3: This one's.. okay. Season 3 had some great stuff.. but I found it wasn't very constient in it's episodes. So You'll Love OUr Selection wins. Granted the Mayor's football murder and Race Rabbi'ts debut are spectacular, but Loopy's whale adventure and whatever promethus and bob did aren't anything amazing. Not bad, but it really wins this award for the mr foot wraparound and the two good segments more than anything.

Season 4: Now With More Flava, which is more on par with what the astronauts drink: it dosen't have the neat gimmick but every segement is great: The wraparound about our heroes trying to stay relevant, while depressing in hindsight, is full of great gags and John Stamos. It also has two of the series best segments period, spoilers for coming up, which helps boost it's rating.

Finally we have the best. I picked these mostly from my best episodes, but there's at least one outside it that got in as I changed my mind between reviews. It happens. So without further ado the best of the best KaBlam has to offer and if your this late in and STILL haven't tried the show, these are the shorts to sell you on it.

Henry and June's Best Segment: Won't Stick to Most Dental Work, the Studio Tour is one of their most inspired, every joke lands, and the ending with the off beats stunt show is my kind of bonkers in the conkers. It has the wraprounds meta flava while applying it to something rediculous and fun and it works oh so well. Great theme park satire, great jokes, simply the best.

Best Sniz and Fondue: Stuntbike Sniz. The Hose one did have a decent shot... but Stuntbike Sniz is just the most consitantly good, has a lot of great jokes and a stuntacular and injurrrifc finale.

Action League NOW!: Grief for the Chief the concept of a bunch of flashbacks where they keep ruining his life with thier stupidity despite TRYING to do something nice for a change, his rage typhoon at the end.. it's perfect. I shoudl've picked this one for the season 4 list and it's winning now.

Best Prometheus and Bob: Tape One. A wonderful origin story that shows whY Bob and Prometheus stick with each other with lots of neat gags and reveals all wrapped into it. Probably shoudl've eaten that monkey tho.

Best LIfe with Loopy: This one was hard, not helped by the Galabration reminding me how good the ballon one was. It was down to that one, the Trouble with Inflation or my faviorite of season 4, Rock N Roll Loopy. It was a REALLY tough choice... but I'm going with The Trouble with Inflaction, which lost it's season 1 thing.. but in hindsight.. is really the most represnetive of the series. It has a great premise in Loopy simply wanting to stop the bills from stressing her dad, a real perfect kid dilemma not getting WHY bills piss him off so much and blaming the stone faced mail man. To be fair the dude does come off like a dick, but at the end of the day dick or not he's only doing his job and Loopy's solution, sending her dad a letter to help and his smile.. it kills me. It has the series heart, insanity and humor all in one place. Had to pick this one.

The Off-Beats: The Valentine's Special. Tommy's Song was close.. but it's hard for the regular shorts to beat a whole, expertly crafted episode that expands the show wonderfully.

Startling Shorts: The Girl With Her Head Coming Off. The animation style is truly unique and the story relatable and well done. Truly wish we had more.

So with that we say adeu to KaBlam! This project has been a lot of fun, a lot of work, and I want to thank anyo f you who read it, thank cory for pitching it and thank the creators of these wondreful cartoons. There was truly nothing like this... there may of been oh yeah cartoons and what a cartoon after it.. but there was never anything quite like this wonderful exploration of animation, creativity and nonsense. See ya when I see ya

#kablam #henry and june #action league now #sniz and fondue #life with loopy #patchhead #nickelodeon #90's #2000s #cartoons #animation

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rosesranting · 6 months

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it takes all my self-control to not comment on TikTok ban posts that contain blatantly false information. read more for my extended Complaining.

keeping in mind that the TikTok ban is a phenomenally stupid idea that should absolutely languish and die in the senate (because Biden has said he’ll sign it, so that’s the only way to kill it currently),

there’s a lot of posts with just. blatantly false information? I saw a post saying ByteDance was based in Singapore. it’s not? it’s based in Beijing. this is information you can find on Wikipedia, and on their own corporate website and social media.

and I will give people that some of what irks me is that I work in a field where I have written papers doing comparative analysis on global data protection regulations. like it’s entirely understandable people aren’t up on Chinese internet law and the exact language of the DSL/PIPL and how it compares to the EU’s GDPR and specifically how it allows the Chinese government to interact with data being stored on servers in mainland China. I wish I didn’t know this information, because researching it required reading hundreds of pages of EU and Chinese regulations. and doing extensive research on U.S. state and local laws for data privacy. it sucked.

(and there’s a lot to say here about hey, U.S. government? if you’re so fucking concerned why not pass your OWN data protection regulations? a TikTok ban doesn’t even solve your stated problem and data protection regulations actually WOULD. and the answer to that one is indeed a mix of corporate interests and “ooh um. we also buy your data? that’s a thing we do and we’d have to work around our own laws.”)

tbh, even the confusion I see around what “foreign adversary” means in U.S. policy is understandable, where people keep asserting it will extend to whoever the current president wants to target. (it is a vague term, but it specifically is used to mean China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. yes the list can be changed, but the vagueness of the ban referring to “other apps” is so they can target other Chinese-owned social media like weibo. it could be misused later, but major social media the law could go after are either on that list, or fall into the category of “U.S. allies and partners,” meaning it would have a LOT of second- and third-order impacts to move them over to the “foreign adversaries” column)

also for that matter, it isn’t actually a ban, which is in fact extremely confusing due to how it’s being reported on. it requires TikTok to divest its U.S. business, which is a) hilariously impractical to do, and b) would almost certainly be blocked by the Chinese government, so it’s effectively a ban, but not an actual ban. it’s also not the first time the U.S. government has done this; the USG forced a sale of Grindr when it was bought out by a Chinese company. and there is indeed some element of “turnabout is fair play, China,” seeing as they ban US social media. which is a weird moral high ground to try and take when you’re doing the same thing, effectively if not on paper. but that’s the U.S. government for you.

anyway like. in conclusion. some of this irks me because I have the relevant knowledge to spot oversimplifications, but there’s some of it where it’s things like: you can find out where ByteDance is headquartered for free. that takes about 10 seconds. there’s a LOT of misinformation floating around that’s easily disproved with a 10 second fact-checking search. and it’s so frustrating and I’m gnashing my teeth going “I can’t respond to every single post but I’m annoyed every time”

#I am this 🤏 close to just blacklisting tiktok #but I like seeing the funny curated videos #anyways I wrote up my grievances here #so I hopefully will feel less compelled to comment on posts #and to be clear! the TikTok ban! is a stupid and bad idea!#I just keep seeing the most wildly false shit #and THAT is what annoys me

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bonesofwomanhood · 10 months

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November 30. Officially the last day of my birthmonth. My birthday was last week, november 22nd. It was also a month since my grandma died.

My birthday is my favourite day of the year, just because it's mine. I love birthdays, they're important to me, i love celebrating peoples birthdays, i wish i had someone to celebrate mine with. Usually i have dinner with mom and dad the night before, on the 21st, this year i didn't.

It was not a good one (are they ever? I feel like the past few years all of my birthdays have been sad, how pathetic is it that i still consider it the best day of the year?) It's so weird, you know? Often people tell me they feel the same on their birthday, like nothing changes for them but to me, as soon as the clock hits 00 and it's november 22nd, i'm fully conscious of my new age. I immediately know i'm older, i lived another year.

A few days before i accidentally saw something extremely triggering, i didn't mean to do so. It was a slide show of someone i like, a singer. She was talking about how she thought she would die before 18 but she didn't, how she will now be 30 (but she never made it to 30) i felt disgusting for getting triggered. I cancelled a movie date with a new friend (is she my friend? am i allowed to call her that or am i rushing?) And i felt disgusting for cancelling. I deleted all my social media and i didn't sleep, i couldn't stop crying and had to call the emergency line (yes, again. How pathetic, right?) They asked if i needed an ambulance again. I was terrified. I didn't tell anyone directly about what happened, why would i? I was terrified.

November 22nd. My birthday. Jessica Jung released her album and it was all pink, my favourite color. I tell myself it was for me, it has to be.

I still cried all day, i couldn't stop but didn't know why. Thank god i was alone, no one had to know. So many people forgot and that hurt me a lot but so many people remembered too, new people at that! Why was i so sad then?

Mom, who sent a million text messages all day asking how my birthday was going, i lied to her and said it was great. Dad, who sent a text saying he wanted me to do good in life. M, who (as always, my precious angel) sent me the longest message ever, talking about how proud she is of me and how much she loves me, along with a million pics and edits, our birthday tradition since i met her. D, who said she wanted me to take care of myself because she wants to celebrate me for many years to come. A, who made a birthday card with a pic of Hani, we got close this year, i like watching movies with him. K posted a tweet saying happy birthday, i haven't talked to her in months. I have her blocked but needed to see if she remembered, i think i miss her.

A few new people said Happy Birthday to me too, shorter messages but no less sweet. Why was i so sad and lonely then? I felt so guilty. I feel so guilty. I was annoyed that everyone was busy or just weren't close enough to me to celebrate it. The only thing i did was cry and stay in bed but then, at around 10pm someone asked if i wanted to watch something, it was the girl (the new friend?) that i had cancelled plans with the previous days, when i thought i was going to die, i was worried i had hurt her when in reality, she probably didn't care that i had cancelled. We ended up watching my favourite movie, Helter Skelter and i had ravioli with lots of cheese. It was good. The movie finished as soon as 00 hit the clock. November 23rd. My birthday was over and with that, all the magic of what is both the saddest yet best day of the year.

I saw my mom a few days later. She got me a sewing machine (that i never asked for but that i really wanted) and she was so proud of herself for getting me that. I thanked her and hugged her and we had a nice lunch before i went home. As soon as i was alone i started crying. Had i succeded in killing myself the week before, she would have wasted money. Why was i thinking that?

I'm 24 years old now. Never thought i lived this long. I wish i was healthy, i wish i could sleep properly, i wish i was happy. I thought at this age i would have my children, i would be able to have an actual job. I dreamed of that but i will never be able to and accepting it is so hard.

I feel guilty every second, because some people remembered but i was sad, because i'm older than i ever thought i would be so maybe no one believes that i'm sick, because i'm a burden, i can feel it.

24 years old. I'm terrified i won't make it to 25. I'm terrified i will make it to 25. I'm terrified that i do my best to think about it but i can't see myself being 25, i can't. Why can't i? I'm terrified and i'm really sorry to everyone. To everyone i love. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I promise you guilt eats me alive.

The idea that i'm now 24 sits so heavy in my heart, it's bittersweet. I guess it's good that i'm alive, i don't know why it's good but my therapist says it is. It's also a painful reminder of the fact that for 24 years i have been me, i have no way out. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I think i have been sadder since my birthday. I'm 24. I made it to 24.

#vent #birthday

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chet-oh · 2 years

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Demoted to just a Pen Pal

I miss her. How could I not miss her? She was in my life everyday.

She was my pen pal and she resented that. Not being my pen pal (at least, not completely, I hope), but that I answered when asked about her that she was my pen pal. I see how what I said was wrong. Or not wrong but inadequate and inaccurate. While in a way, accurate. She actually is my pen pal. We used to write to each other everyday, several times a day, for many many many days.1340 days. I actually counted them. Not counted them, but did the math.

The thing is we understand words differently. Please allow me to blame it on the language barrier and on my ignorance and not on my shortsightedness to read the room and the impossibility of me being capable of leaving my head. I’ll try and elaborate on this.

I have come to realize that a pal is someone you pat on the back while you say “There you go, buddy!” because you don’t remember the name that was just stated two minutes ago.

Of course she is not my pal. Not just my pen pal. I have come to hate that stupid word. But I hadn’t any deeper answer for my “friends”, the ones who were asking. Let me clarify on those quotations; they are (were) my friends, but I have not seen them but only a few times in many years, they are gossipy and annoying, they aren’t curious about me or my life (I guess I am not that curious about theirs, but I can explain that... maybe in another time) and I barely share anything about me with anyone, and even more rarely, something that is so important, means so much to me, and that I hold dearly close to my... wherever I keep my nice feelings. I try not to waste those things on ears that don’t care.

It was important for me that she was there when I met my friends for dinner. The thing is that it wasn’t important because of my relationship with them. It was important because of that thing she said (wrote) once. Ok, I need to interrupt myself to explain that part.

While we were getting to know each other better, as people and pen pals do, our conversation came to a point where we commented on our digital footprint and, particularly, our social media footprint, which isn’t as large as expected from someone of our generation. I asked if she had looked for me. She said no. That she was going to, but realized that she preferred to get to know me through me and whatever bits I decided to share with her. Which was nice and in tone with the kind of relationship we had. We kept the magic of being... god damn fucking pen pals... alive. Away from all the noise and with the peculiarity of the way of thinking that communicating this way does. Or so I thought.

So, I was trying to show her the bits of me that she didn’t know. There isn’t a lot to know. I am a boring bread-without-salt type of person. But I imagined this would be kind of my origin story part of the movie. I wanted her to know the bits. I even send her the link to my blog. The one were I put the memes that I like, has funny pics of dogs and cats, lots of movie quotes, and where I wrote things when things were a bit too much for me to handle. It’s not that it’s a secret place. It’s there somewhere on the internet for anyone to google if they are committed enough to think of the right combination of words. Obviously, this origin story sparks a very constrained flow of followers. I haven’t shared the link with anyone before, really. But, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. showing her the bits. “Look, this is where I was before I met you.” was what I was trying to do. But I fuckin’ said pen pal.

That unfolded a chain of events. From then on, every time felt like I was saying good bye. As if all my short comings and weirdness and awkwardness finally added up and the balance was not in my favor. It became apparent those things that I do differently and I came up short in the things that make people (regular normal people, people that aren’t me) go “this is important.”

Now it takes her days to write back. And I miss her.

She recently mentioned, in one of those less frequent messages, something that we have talked about before. You know that novel about the guy who fucked a thousand women but was still a virgin and that woman that had to live a whole other life before they could be together while everyone else was dying of cholera? She was wondering which one of us resembled more to which one of them. Well, not the parts that I described about them. The other parts that are all over the novel when you read it. The way they are from different from each other and have personalities and stuff. Look, I also need to read that novel again, but I think I make my point. If you don’t get it, stop reading and go get that book. Well, she asked if I would wait for her the way Florentino waited for Fermina. I don’t know what she meant.

But I will.

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dienamights · 3 years

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Ex’s and O’s | K.Bakugou

» Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x Fem!Reader.

» Word count: 6.7K

» Genre: hurt/comfort, Smut MDNI, Prohero!au

» Summary: Its bad enough that you’re spending your ex-boyfriend’s birthday curled up in bed, wearing his merch, drinking away your sorrows, but what’s even worse is having your eardrums pierced by the blaring music upstairs at the party thrown just for him.

» Warning(s): Smut 18+ MDNI please, hurt/comfort, mentions of alcohol, dubcon since reader is under the influence while getting dicked down, drunk sex, oral sex and fingering (female receiving, we getting fed tonight), one pussy slap lol, manipulation, unprotected sex (don’t be silly, wrap your willy)

» Author’s notes: Hello! aaaah I’m actually pretty excited about posting this fic! First of all, its Bakuhoe’s birthday! and what better way to honor it than to feed you all some good ol angst sprinkled in with some good dickin’ down. Its been years since I’ve written smut and I’m actually really fuckin proud of it, yet real nervous but I hope you enjoy! Secondly, this fic is a part of Bakugous Birthday Bash! I’m so excited to read everyone’s work, thank you everyone for holding this event and allowing my ass participate to create this with you all ♡ be sure to read everyone’s contributions, I know it’ll be more than amazing since everyone worked so hard!

Happy Birthday to our favorite King Explosion Murder♡♡

Lastly, I wanna thank everyone for their support and helping me reach 200 followers already! You guys are the cutest thing ever and I promise I’ll update more frequent the minute I’m out of uni late june fml, thank you @tteokdoroki for giggling with me when i wrote cock for the first time lol

» Masterlist | Requests

Rolling out of bed and flailing onto the floor as a start of your day ensures you that the following 24 hours will ultimately suck ass. Getting up and readying yourself for the day by looking through one of your cardboard boxes for your favorite Dynamight hoodie, the back of your mind keeps nagging you, trying to remind you of something buried deep in your subconsciousness, and you have half a heart to try and remember, because for some odd reason, you feel so fucking weary, as if the few steps from your bed to your bathroom are somehow now endless miles, almost making you breathe out in relief after finally reaching it.

And as you are making your coffee, that odd feeling keeps annoying you again, prodding at your brain to remember something, something. And ultimately, that's when your eyes fall to the counter. You knew this day was coming and you were dreading it for months, so as you look at the calendar on your kitchen counter, you frown, the quote of the day you always love reading so much long forgotten when your eyes fall on the date.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin' me.” You mumble at the calendar on your counter hatefully with furrowed eyebrows, as if it would either reply or change its date, it doesn’t do either, and your lips curl downwards even further. As in immediate response, you pick up your phone, your coffee pot tossed aside as you dial the number of the only person you could think might help you right now.

“G’morning y/n -” you hear Kendo’s voice through your phone, and you honestly want to sob right then and there, but you hold yourself, barely and speak over her overly cheery voice first thing in the goddamn morning. “It's Kats- Bakugou’s birthday” you whimper at the slip up, being so used to the first name basis you were in with your now ex-boyfriend.

“Yeah, was kinda hoping you would’ve forgotten.” She sighs, tugging at her bangs and pulling back her phone to check the time. “Tell you what, I get off work in an hour, then I’m spending the day with you. I’ll get tequila, I know you love your shots.”

“Ken, it's like 10 right now..” you can’t help but pout, having alcohol in your system as an escape to help you forget about the entire day still sounding better than the urge to cry and crawl into a hole, even if it's at the start of your day. “Y'know what? Get those gummy worms I like too.” “Bet.” you hang up with a sigh, moving back to the kitchen to sift through your bubble wrapped kitchen utensils, barely forcing yourself to prepare breakfast as to not have your liquor on an empty stomach.

You loathe the fact that you remembered his birthday, always reminded of him no matter how long ago since you’ve last seen him, being the center of the media’s attention for years as the number 6 hero in japan has its perks, well, in his case, but to you? Nothing but trouble and heartache as every channel you flip through plasters his face, whether it be about some big rescue mission he partook in or a new rumor about a potential lover to the explosive hero, followed by him almost attacking a reporter, yelling to them about ‘needing to mind yer goddamn business and keep my fuckin’ name outta your mouths’. Therefore, you opted long ago to stay away from the TV to avoid seeing him, his captivating rubies for eyes, covered by that goddamn mask you like to push up to his forehead, sweeping his bangs away and exposing his sweaty forehead that he bumps against yours as he makes love to you, still in his hero costume, all battered and dusty and so incredibly hot you have to-

You grip your coffee mug tighter, almost to the point of breaking the handle off of it, placing it rather roughly onto the table before pushing your food away, appetite gone with the thought of whatever paradise you were thinking you were in before now long gone and never coming back, all because of you, of your action, of your mistake.

Kendo walks in with a bright smile on her face, as if her overly cheerful attitude will balance out the void you’re slowly but surely falling in. She shakes the bag of snacks in your face as you blink your eyes back into focus. Dragging your heavy feet across the floor to get to your kitchen to retrieve the shot glasses. Only kissing her cheek in thanks when you snatch away whatever it is she brought with her to lift your mood.

She eyes the boxes by your kitchen, the four placed haphazardly in your living room and the one you're using as a stool while filling your shot glasses, tongue sticking out to try and fill each one to the brim without spilling any on the new coffee table that she failed to notice before is still wrapped in bubble wrap that prevent any damage during the moving process.

“y/n…” you hum in response, a frown falling on your lips as the third glass spills a bit and the liquid pools on the plastic.

“Don't you think that you should’ve probably unpacked a while ago? Hasn't it been, what, five months?”

“I didn't know you were gonna come here to harass me about my life choices, Kendo”

She flinches away, your tone venomous, almost feeling it as a slap to her face, before leaning in when she sees your eyes start to water.

“If I did, that just means it's true… that just means it happened, and I did the stupidest thing- you know what,” you wipe the few tears that managed to escape away with the sleeve of your sweater, looking down at the shots in front of you. “It, it doesn't matter anymore just- can I just drink and try to forget about how my life has gotten nothing but fucking worse since the day I left him?”

You questioned your worth that one time, that one time all those months ago. Thinking that by doing what you did and leaving, he’d drop everything and run behind you, chase after you and win you back, but he didn't, and as you sit surrounded by the evidence of how much of a failure you find out you are without him, you regret ever questioning it, ever questioning him. Because to you, living in denial was so much better than whatever hell this is.

So all you could think of is to just drown yourself in alcohol until your mind is too numb to think of the possibilities of how you could have avoided this, how you could’ve been a less of shitty person, and stop imagining how your life would be now if you just swallowed all your insecurities and just stayed. Despite the neglect, despite not being prioritized, because in some weird twisted way, those lies held you with warmth that you were never able to find after uncovering the ugly truth you’re living in right now.

You lay on your living room floor, the alcohol swirling in your system and clouding your vision as you trace imaginary shapes in your ceiling, the voice of Kendo muffled as she rambles on and on about her day, the amount of outlaws she bitch slapped - a term she uses to get a laugh from you - and how she considers herself the unluckiest being in the whole world for having Monoma as a partner of all people, seriously contemplating who she should beat up first between him and the villains.

“Must be nice,” you voice, low and slow, scared of how Kendo would react to what you’re about to say, yet your intoxicated self unable to stop your mouth from uttering the words. “To have a purpose in life, to not be quirkless and lost like us.” your face twists in an ugly scowl at your ceiling, but mostly to yourself for putting a downer on whatever mood your friend is trying so hard to build, proven by the hitch of her breath before she enters your peripheral vision when she leans over you, all upside down and pouty.

“What’re you talki-” the shrill ringtone of her phone breaks you away from each other as she leaps to fetch it and silence the god forsaken thing by answering the call. “Battle Fist here, yes sir, I was partnered up with Phantom Thief for the patrol at area B, n-no sir I wasn’t informed.” Kendo breaths out in irritation, pinching the bridge of her nose as she starts tapping her feet aggressively on the floor, eyes falling onto yours when you look up at her all weary and sad, knowing what she would tell you once she hangs up. “That dumbass is gonna be the end of me I swear.” She crouches down to your level and kisses your forehead, promising to be back in the morning with hangover food, before she leaves and locks the door behind her.

Now you’re left all alone, back aching from laying on the hardwood floor and eyes watering as you feel your loneliness eating you up inside, the god awful music thumbing loudly in your ears followed by the cheer of people as you-

Music?

You sit up abruptly, groaning at the dizziness of the swift movement as your hands fly to cover your ears, a failed attempt of ensuring your brain doesn’t begin to spill out from them, because of the loud voices, the bass shaking your entire fucking apartment by how strong it is, and you curse yourself for falling for the scheme the landlord pulled you in, paying half of the rent everyone did, just because you lived right below the penthouse that hosted the loudest parties in the area, 4 days out of the fucking week.

The money hungry shameless bastard praised the apartment the minute it spiked your interest all those months ago, selling it so well you actually moved in the next week, anything to stop feeling like a burden to Kendo as you couch-surfed her apartment. Only to realize within that first week from your downstairs neighbors that he rents the penthouse to host parties of all sorts, and due to its location in the city, it was pretty popular, yet you didn’t have the money to move out again, nor the heart to concern your friend with your problems, as she was a hero with other responsibilities aside from taking care of your hopeless self.

So you get up, barely gathering yourself onto that elevator to tell off whoever the fuck will answer the door first to turn the music down. You pound the door with your fist repeatedly the minute you reach it, the door opening so suddenly you almost punch the man standing in front of you in the chest, the cool air created from the door cooling your warm cheeks as you squint at your victim for the day.

“Welcome!”

“Listen here, you buttfaced moron” you start to chew the person’s ear out, your sight blurring yet still able to notice how bright his hair is, how fiery and familiar it looks, and you’re certain you’ve seen it somewhere before. “I’m trying to drink away my regrettable life choices and cry over my ex-boyfriend, so if you would just turn down the-”

“y/n?” oh, that’s where. Your stomach drops as Kirishima looks down on you, the bright smile he flashed to whoever he was welcoming now dropped with his eyes almost bulging out at your presence, you both stand in silence, the boy unbuttoning the collar that suddenly feels like it has a chokehold on him while you cross your arms and hope the floor would swallow you a floor down back into the comfort of your home.

Kirishima basically is shutting down the second his eyes lay on you, breaking a sweat as your eyes never waver, despite how you fail to stay standing straight, what was he supposed to say? ‘Hey we’re throwing a birthday party for your ex-boyfriend because he's been feeling depressed from the day you dumped his ass’ ? No! He wouldn’t do that to his friend, but what was he gonna say now?

Well, he didn’t have to really think about what to say to you, because his other friend didn’t hesitate to push him forward, slurring something along the lines of ‘lettin the hot ladies in so they can take a look at the prettier blond, aka moi’. In his moment of panic, the redhead stumbles forward, his cup slipping from the tips of his fingers and meeting its doom by the floor, whatever was filling it now staining your pants as you both look at the mess between you.

“Woah bro, we said you gotta get’er wet but not- '' Denki's cackle stops him from continuing whatever filth he was gonna spew out - thankfully - before his eyes drop down to your chest, or more like what was covering it. “Hey! You a Dynamight fan? Hey Bakuhoe, comere for a sec.”

Dear God, move, for the love of all that's pure in this god forsaken world, move! Run!

All you could do is shake and breathe in short segments as your widened eyes meet his unamused ones, the garnets in his eyes glistening at your sight, he stands straight and so tall, suited up in his usual attire. Dressed for the occasion, words aren't able to describe his beauty. You try not to let your brain be dazzled by how incredibly handsome he looks. He is wearing a dress shirt, in the deep color of wine that complements his eyes, dress pants hugging his long legs, not to mention the open collar, and no tie. He looks like a long, lean Lothario.

At that your eyes drop down to the floor, specifically the now stained carpet, your hands wrenching the end of your hoodie to distract yourself from the piercing rubies that haunts your dreams.

You build up some courage, enough of it to lift your head to continue what you came here to do, so you open your mouth, and drop a few IQs while you’re at it. “The m-music is loud and m’tryin’ to sleep,'' you mumble, noting how Kirishima leans down to make up the words you are saying over the sound of the blaring music while Bakugou narrows his eyes at you as if disregarding his sight will make him hear you better. “So, if you could turn down the heat, that’d be,”

“You squiffed?” The blond grunts, leaning his face close to yours to inspect it, and he catches a whiff of alcohol in your breath, his eyebrows furrowing at your response. “No I'm not squinting-”

“Yeah you’re drunk alright,” he huffs at your less than intelligent reply, pushing his glass of whiskey - you figure since it's always been his drink of choice - against Kirishima’s chest, telling him to lower the fucking volume and grabs you by your bicep. “C’mon, I’ll take you home.” you stumble at the force used against you, no matter how weak it actually is, before you barely straighten yourself to push his hand away. “I can walk down all by myself, thank you.” Of course you’d expose where you live, you dumbass.

He doesn’t question your integrity, just continues to basically drag you to the elevator before pushing your apartment door open when you choose your floor, irked to find your misplaced trust in the people of the complex by not locking your door after leaving. He barges into your bedroom and tells you to change out of your fucked up pants and proceeds to saunter to your kitchen to get you water, eyeing the boxes that he comes across during that small trip.

He stands awkwardly by the door when he sees you standing in the middle of the bedroom, sifting through countless moving boxes with your pants on the floor, thrown next to a pile of clothes that he can only assume that its supposed to be your laundry ‘basket’, until you opt against wearing any since you can't seem to find anything to replace them. And when he asks you if you just moved in, his expression sours when you shake your head no and explain to him that you’ve been living for months in this space, after chugging that cup of water like you’ve been parched for days.

“Birthday party?” You ask out of the blue as you play with the strings of your hoodie, your ears perking up at the confirmation hum you receive. “Hmm, thas’cool… I-I guess.”

Bakugou’s impassive as he gently pushes you onto your bed, eyes meeting yours as he covers you up with your blanket. “Get some rest, I’m leaving.” He said, slowly stalking away from you and barely reaching your door as your big mouth talks on its own. Your body sitting up and facing his retreating back.

“That's what you always do, you always leave”, you utter and you see him stiffen his shoulders before he spins to face you, so fast you almost want to check up on him about getting a whiplash.

“Hah?” it's one syllable, but it shakes your very core, that one sound making you almost shake, overwhelmed by the amount of emotions, the amount of pain that one sound has. He steps closer to your bed, the stomps of his feet sounding like gun shots in your ear, and you pathetically lift up the blanket to cover yourself up, cowering behind it like it's some pseudo shield that might protect you from him.

“I’m the one that leaves?” he growls at you, his eyes sizing you up when you react to his forceful approach, leaning back to look down on you, but his lips are still curled in a frown, he tries to hold himself from blowing up at you, his feelings oddly enough still raw in his chest the moment he lay eyes on you the first time since you left, threw him away and walked away, probably finding someone better, probably finding someone who you tolerated, unlike himself, but when he sees you straighten up your back to rebuttal him, an automatic response to whenever he raised his voice at you from all those years ago, he knows he is in for a fight.

He snarls when you nod at him, your eyes hard and glaring up at him, not knowing that your silence is by your better judgement since you don't trust your voice, knowing it’ll fail you, probably crack and show him how much he actually is affecting you by his closed off posture and demeaning look down at your frame.

“Real fuckin’ rich of ya, y/n.” He snaps back, his hands brought up to his hair, tugging at it. “As if you didn’t pack your shit,” he kicks at yet another cardboard box fucking spewed in your room, noting its heavy weight when it didn't move but an inch by his action. “Dropped your keys by the fuckin’ door,” as an emphasis, he throws your apartment key at you, making sure it doesn’t actually hit you, but falls onto your lap. “And left. Without a single fuckin’ word, like I'm some lowlife who didn't deserve an explanation, like I didn't deserve anything! And-” that hurt, goddamn it.

Exhaling deeply, he focuses on how your eyes look a little less glossed over, a little more sober, but holding fear, and he almost steps back and out when he looks at how you’re fighting tears, almost wanting to bust his own kneecaps than to see you like this, always wanting nothing for you but to be happy, to never upset about anything no matter how small it might be.

Then why did you leave him? Left him to drown by his lonesome self, waves of his insecurities and sorrow crashing into him, pulling him even further down to his inevitable doom.

Despite the fact that you both yearn for each other, long to feel one another, engulf yourselves in the others presence. You both stand your ground, eyes glaring despite the emotions hidden behind them, mouths shut and curled into ugly scowls regardless of the words you wish to speak to each other, whispers of promises into each other's ears about being together forever, in spite of not knowing what the future holds.

Bakugou breathes out again, recalling all those months worth of coping mechanisms to exercise when placed in anger inducing situations like this one, the time in therapy spent to better himself, to control himself, to be the best version of himself, for you, hoping that one day you’ll pity him enough to want to come back, knowing full well he would never hold a grudge against you and welcome you back with open arms, intending to never repeat whatever it is he did that made you think of him as so unbearable you couldn't spent another day with him.

You on the other hand, are barely holding in the tears, wanting him to just leave your sight, so you can go back to the world of denial where he didn't look like straight out of a magazine, looking as captivating as always, as if your absence did not have an effect on the hero, of course it wouldn't, why would a quirkless extra have an effect on the great Katsuki Bakugou, that's what he used to call them, right?

“Just leave, Bakugou-” his ears pick up the way your voice breaks at his name, the way you utter it sounds so horrendous, because you aren’t meant to call him Bakugou, you’re meant to call him Katsuki, Katsu, Suki, your Suki. Not- “I hate you.”

The room suddenly spirals. The floor panels misalign themselves into zigzags. Bakugo’s eyes shatter like a glass window. He tries to hold himself against the tears that threaten to fall, stomach wrenching as if reaching from inside of his body, but it’s useless. He brings his hand up close to his chest and sinks his head, letting the words overtake him.

Oblivious to his internal struggle, you pile whatever courage you have left in another attempt to ask him to leave, aware that your body wouldn’t aid you in pushing him away physically, you open your mouth, only to gasp after a moment of silence when he pounces on you and grabs you by the neck, sliding a hand behind your head and leaning your face impossibly closer to his “you fuckin’ hate me? show me you hate me then,”

Then he's pressing his lips against yours, your half foggy mind all too surprised by the flow of motion you can only try to keep up with his feverish kisses, you try to pull away, to push him away, to no avail, Bakugou only stopping his assault on your lips to growl at them again “Show me then, hah?”

But he wouldn't even let you, his grasp on your neck loosening to circle around your back to push you to him even more. His kisses get more and more aggressive, trying his best to show you how much he was hurt by what you said, by what you did, after all this time, almost begging you to not let him have to voice out whatever he’s feeling because he would do so much of a worse job than he is doing now.

The hands you placed on his chest in a failed attempt to push him away are now just placed over his pecs, welcoming their warmth and the way they flex under your touch, your right hand clenching over where his thumping heart is, and he almost sighs in relief, the movement feeling like it holds together all the broken pieces of his heart to make it whole again.

Almost like that gesture calmed him down, Bakugou’s rough touches start to soften, very caring as they glide to your hips before sliding underneath your - oh my God it's your special edition Dynamight hoodie! His amused chuckle tickles your lips as he pulls away when he feels you stiffen at the realization, barely letting you breathe in ease until he places his lips against your ear. “Love how m’still the only one sprawled over yer tits.”

“But I still want the real thing, lemme see ‘em, hm?” And just before throwing a dumb retort and embarrasing yourself even further, the article is tugged eagerly off of your body and thrown haphazardly on the floor. Earning yourself a low whistle when he realises you’re wearing nothing underneath. Bakugou all but shoves you onto the bed, spreading your legs when you try to rub them against each other for any friction, wedging his body neatly between them as his teeth gently bite your soft buds, pulling them slightly before captivating the nipple entirely.

His tongue flicks against your hardening nipple while keeping a watchful eye at the sinful expressions your face makes, his one hand toying with and twisting the other nipple while the other slides down to tease your needy cunt, pressing his fingers against your -fucking soaked- panties, swearing under his breath at the feeling of your walls trying to clench around his fingers just from that one movement. Sitting on his haunches, he lifts your hips with ease to pull your panties right off, eyes travelling between your heaving chest and your exposed pussy. Before lowering himself and finding comfort in biting and sucking your nipples again.

Bakugou’s smirk grows with your moans as his tongue dances over your sensitive nipples, he presses his finger against your walls, and you immediately keen at the prodding feeling that almost feels foreign after all this time apart. His thumb pushing your pussy lip to the side to see you suck his finger in like the good girl he knew you always were.

“Ba-ba-ba,” you struggle to talk, your drool collecting at your lips, stopping you from forming any words as you feel a breeze hit your spit covered tits, whining at the feeling and wanting him to pull your nipples in the warm cavern of his mouth again. Bakugou’s eyes focus on the spit line connecting his bottom lip to your nipple before disconnecting it to smash his lips against yours in an effort to shut your blabbering up.

“Ba-ba, what? y’better not be callin’ me Bakugou with my fingers deep in yer pussy baby, its Katsuki for you, yeah?” he taunts with a fake pout that immediately turns into a grin at the way you hold your pathetic sobs, pressing another finger in your tight cunt, reveling in the wet sounds your pussy makes as he thrusts his fingers in and out of it, soaking his fingers in your slick as he curls them, eager to hear the squelching sounds it would make when his cock is shoved deep inside you. “Or better yet, lemme hear you say Suki, hmm?”

“Suki- p-please, eat me out” you throw your head back and bring your hands down to play with your clit, showing him where you want his lips to be, as if the blond doesn't already know where it is, and he scoffs at the thought, slapping your hand away and giving another slap to your clit, earning a moan from you from the sharp pleasurable pain.

“Yea, yea I fuckin’ know already, needy slut,” he growls, keeping eye contact as he circles your clit with his tongue before sloppily eating out your cunt, making a mess of both drool and your arousal, mumbling “my needy slut.” to himself, and you do hear it, yet you brush it off with the thought that your lust must be messing with your brain.

Your chest still flutters at his words and your walls clench in on his fingers as he curls them again in a way you didn’t know would make you yelp like it did. He thrives off of how your body responses so easily to him, your back arching and the squelching getting louder as his fingers pick up speed, his tongue so skillful in drawing circles around your clit before sucking it again. A whine escapes you when he draws his head away from you, only for you to see the way his eyes darkens, his chin glistening from your arousal when it catches the light.

“Let go for me princess,” he whispers uncharacteristically, making you question if the glint in his eyes is from his desire for you or something else. “Lemme see you fall apart for me, alright?” the way he’s almost begging you to come undone for him takes you by surprise, and your body curls in on itself so fast, not realizing your orgasm was creeping up on you until it hits you. The knot in your stomach breaks as you gush around his fingers, white crossing your vision as he slows his pace to help you come down from your high.

Your shuddering body lays on your bed, eyes unwavering as they meet Katsuki’s, his fingers stuffed in his mouth as he moans around them at your taste. It's all a blur after seeing that unravel, and you’re so woozy that you don’t register him discarding his clothes until he lays above you. Placing himself between your legs as he pumps his cock, hardened from seeing you fall apart on his tongue and fingers, his tip leaking precum and burning a bright red.

His movement is almost too quick for you as he dips his head into your leaking hole before pulling right back, a breathless chuckle escaping him when you whine and roll your hips and try to suck him in again, wanting to feel the stretch of him inside of you.

“Didja wanna say somethin’ princess?” he taunts you, one of his hands holding you down by your stomach while the other is wrapped around his length, teasing you in the ways that he knows drive you crazy, he leans in, using the tip of his cock to spread your pussy lips open and running it along your slit to coat it with your arousal.

“Katshu, p-please I-” you hiccup, your fists tightening on your bed sheet as you try to rock your hips up get more than just his leaking tip, but your begging is always interrupted when he isn't hearing what he wants you to say.

“Say you love me.”

You freeze at his demand, your widening eyes looking up at him before you pout your lips, not thinking about surrendering to him, no matter how much you want your cunt stuffed full of him right now.

“I don’love yooou-” you gasp as katsuki’s grip onto your waist tightens and you feel as he gives a thrust into your sopping cunt, arching your back at the burning stretch of being filled up by his thick cock. Katsuki’s hand traces down your left thigh before cupping behind your knee, hiking your leg up and out, close to your chest to expose more of yourself to him, wanting nothing more than to see his dick seething in and out of your tight pretty pussy, and by almost muscle memory, you did the same thing with your right leg, replacing his hands with your own, presenting yourself to him.

“Y’see that? Fuckin’ know you like the back of m’hand, y’think someones gonna- ah, take the fucking time to work you like I did?” he's right, absolutely right, he ruined you for any other potential lovers and he loved it with every fiber in his being, knowing this means you’re always going to be wrapped around his finger. You moan as he pushes more of himself into you, bottoming out and holding one of your tits and squeezing when he feels your walls do the same to his cock.

You hate it, after all this time, you’re still a blubbering mess the second he was one fucking inch deep in your pussy, sucking him in and clawing at his back begging for more. No self respect, no dignity, you hate it, how come after all this time he gets to come here and fuck you like you belong to him, like you’ve belonged to him despite everything that has happened.

You only realize that your eyes are closed when Katsuki’s breath hits your face, and you open them wide, noting how wet your lashes have gotten from your tears, only for him to kiss at the tears gliding along your right temple and licking the ones on your left. He breathes out a chuckle and when he leans to look at your eyes, the humor and menace you expect to see in his eyes are nowhere to be found, clouded by a solemn look instead.

“What? Yer cryin on me now, huh? Y’think a few tears are stoppin’ me?” His voice is masked so well, because he sounds like he was simply enjoying a game, like an imp that had branched from a demon. “C’mon, not gonna tell the birthday boy you love’em?”

“I don't love you, I hate you, h-hate you-” you keen as drool pools at your lips, your body betraying you as it shakes from pleasure, letting go of your legs to wrap them around his slim waist, to bring him in closer, if that was even possible, stopping his deep thrusts that were brushing up against your cervix, it feels pathetic, denying him the pleasure of telling him you love him while clinging onto him like he's your last breath of fresh air, because in a way, you feel like he is, like him leaving would just collapse your lungs and stop your heart from beating, you know that he’s gonna leave you. While your spent body would lay on your bed and you'd cry because you didn't tell him you love him, yet you wouldn’t ask him to stay, knowing deep down that you don't deserve it, you don't deserve him.

You feel his weight on top of you as he rests his elbows by your head, his lips brushing against your ear as he repeats again with every shallow thrust into your warm insides, his cock twitching from time to time in your walls. “You love me.” he says it once, twice, thrice. Every time his voice lowers more and more to a broken whisper, almost a plea instead of the cocky taunt he started off with.

Your legs are starting to ache from the grip they have around him, so you loosen up, your mind easy since his thrusts haven’t been rough nor painful. And when you do, you notice two things immediately, first, your thighs are so soaked from how he's making you feel, probably ruining your bedsheet at this point, second, he pushed his chest away from yours to look you directly in the eyes, one hand molding around your thigh to keep it from wrapping around him again while the other is placed on your stomach, his thumb inching closer and closer to your clit, wanting to toy with it, toy with you, but not ready to give you any satisfaction until you admit to him, please just tell him, that you do still love him. All insecurities, all battle scars, all emotional constipation as layers he covers himself with, that no one gives a fuck to peel off, to see who he really was, except you.

His red eyes lock onto yours as your chest heaves with breathless sobs at the lost of his warmth, and when you think he's lowering himself back down, he pulls out suddenly, sending a shiver down your spine as you gasp, now feeling like you're frozen over, your tears coming from lack of both pleasure and warmth.

Suddenly your face is met with the pillow and you feel his hands on your hips as he lifts them up and off the bed, your half intoxicated, half aroused mind barely registering that you’ve been flipped over on your stomach until you feel his cock prodding at your cunt, easily sliding in like they’ve been made to be warmed up in there, when you know Katsuki would argue that your pussy was made just for him and to warm his dick.

He presses his chest against your back, pushing you onto the bed as he thrusts his hips roughly, pulling out fully before seething himself right back in, your moans and whimpers muffled by your pillow from being pushed down by his hand as his other holds your hips firmly.

Then what happened next probably shocked him more than you, despite how delirious you’ve become due to his relentless thrusting, his dripping tears feel cool on your bare warm shoulder, one by one as his groans and moans turn into strangled sobs, before Katsuki digs his teeth into that shoulder, to both hear you scream and to muffle his cries from you.

“because I love you” he sobs, detaching his teeth from their grip and kissing the bite marks before resting his forehead against it, but his thrusts never cease, getting sloppier, as if the confession is pushing him off the edge. Dragging the tip of his nose from your bitten and bleeding shoulder to the back of your ear, his own face flush and warm against you as he breathes harshly against your ear and kisses along it.

“So-” he moans again, the hand behind your neck now turning your face so he could see your fucked out expression, the tears streaming down your face and the drool that pools under your cheeks, with your tongue lolled out and your eyes barely focusing on his form.

“You better say you do too, becau-”

“I love you.” you gush, like saying it is a breath of fresh air, your eyes never leaving his teary ones, your gaze so intense and fixated on him with no regards to the way the snapping of his hips against yours is shaking your entire body against the bed.

With new found vigor from your confession, Katsuki grabs onto the meat of your ass, hammering into you from behind with force that pushes you against the bed even further, your pulled hair jerking your head back so he can listen to the lewd noises you are making, long forgotten the will to cover your pleasure and hiding your moans.

Your ass heavily slaps against his thighs as he grabs your hips with both hands and pounds into your sopping wet cunt, relishing in the way you’re begging for him. “Y’like it when I fuck you baby, hmm? Like it when I stuff you so fuckin’ full of me?” He growls, feeling you push your ass back every time you repeat ‘yes’ to his questions. “Yes, yes love it, love you, please please don’t stop, please ‘Suki. Yes, gonna cum ‘Suki please” you weep, your head pounding from the grip he had on your hair and your eyes crossing as you feel his thrusts stutter, getting sloppier when you bounce your ass against him, his hand coming down and slapping it.

“That's fuckin’ right, cum on this cock, c’mon baby” he brings four of his fingers to rub your clit with urgency, and you can’t help but arch your back as your orgasm hits you again, screeching as you feel your walls tightening on him, squeezing him for what he’s worth. “F-fuck ah, y-you’re so- Fuck” his heavy weight falls on you as he fills you to the brim with his milky seed, forehead pressed against your shoulder as he rocks his hips against you, pushing more of his load inside before slowly pulling out, gaze flutters down to where your bodies were once joined, seeing your mixed arousal seeping out of your hole and he has half a mind to push it back in with his fingers.

But he flips you over effortlessly, the sight of your crossed out eyes and wet cheeks squeezing his chest at the realization he might’ve been too rough on you, so he wipes your cheek with the palm of his hands and revels in the way you lean towards him, turning your face to kiss his palm. “Say it again.” barely a whisper, as you flip his hand and kiss the back of it as well, and he almost repeats himself, thinking you didn’t hear him, but your hands reach up and cup his face, bringing him towards you. “I love you Katsuki” and goddamn if that wasn’t the most beautiful thing you’ve ever spoken. “Again,” “I love you, Katsuki” “Again,” you giggle, and he knows that's probably what angels sound like.

Your thumb brushes over his warm cheeks, red from showing vulnerability, and you pull him even closer, “Happy birthday, ‘Suki.”

“Yea,” He breaths out, his lips barely brushing against your bitten and bruised ones. “It really fuckin’ is.”

aaaaaaaaah! Hope you enjoyed it! Lemme know what you think of the smut, I also changed my writing style from past tenses to present tenses or tried to at least

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livvyofthelake · 10 days

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booktok is honestly sooo annoying when they get all “kids shouldn’t be reading this these books aren’t appropriate for kids they have sex and mature themes etc” as if 12 year olds aren’t hitting up ao3 to read about two guys from their favorite tv show fucking. as if children need to be like. protected from Adult Topics until they’re 17. like damn girl i agree that there is a weird trend in book marketing right now that seems to be pushing for younger audiences in genres that have in the recent past been more clearly identified as adult. i agree that the cartoon covers of adult romance novels is a weird branding choice that makes those books look like they’re for a young adult audiences when they’re not. i get it. even cassandra clare’s shadowhunter books have sex in them now (pg-13 sex but please remember that 15 years ago even that was frowned upon) to cater to the “new adult” audience as well as ya. and i realize that all of this is happening because it’s becoming harder and harder for ya readers to transition out of ya and into like. literary higher level adult reading. and i think this is probably tied to the internet age stealing our attention spans and the decline of media literacy and things like that. like i get it. but also i think you should let 12 year olds read icebreaker. if they’re “traumatized” over it that’s honestly just a learning experience and they’ll figure out how to read books in their demographic. it’s a book it’s not gonna ruin their lives… 12 year olds aren’t babies you don’t need to go all book banning on them jesus. their parents probably aren’t paying attention to what they read either i’m gonna be honest with you. my parents didn’t give a fuck what i read at 12 i guess they figured i was old enough to just do whatever. and they were right because i was fine. and the new generation of middle schoolers will be fine too. if a kid wants to read you literally need to let them we are in a drought of media literacy rn i fear giving the 12 year olds icebreaker and acotar can only help at this point. well i mean i probably wouldn’t GIVE them those books my point this whole time was to let them read whatever they choose to read. i wouldn’t put those books in a middle school library but that’s not going to stop a precocious sixth grader from finding it on their own. matilda wormwood was reading moby dick at seven years old and we think she’s a badass but suddenly the middle schoolers aren’t allowed to read about sex? get real 🙄 if i was 13 and wanted to read acotar and someone tried to tell me to read harry potter instead i’d scream. a) don’t recommend harry potter and percy jackson to any kid over the age of 12 and frankly in harry potter’s case 10. they will get so mad at you you are in fact misinterpreting that kids reading level don’t do that shit. and b) kind of the same point but stop acting like middle schoolers are babies holy shit you’re gonna create a world where children are so sheltered they become stupid…

#i firmly believe that if a kid picks out a book on their own you have to let them read it. you have to it’s the law. to me

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team-council-two · 2 years

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So how is Spy a special case?

*is excited*

(for context, in a previous post, i added the tags " i could write an entire book on how unfamiliar french people in medias seem to actual french people, spy is an odd case; ask me about him")

aiight, you know what you signed up for, get ready for one hell of a presentation, ft terminal verbosis frenchosis ! this will be in three parts, of course, because three is a good number and the mere concept of having 3 parts should give you all a headache (look ray i didnt add a n this time)

wait shit im not even sure mistral is a spy, hold on,

aw fck thats for real ones

anyways femme fatale trope, next question

HA gotcha, you didnt think id let yall go with just one sentence huh ? so. our fella is french. our fella is a spy. our fella is a huge piece of shit. extremely common, alright ? outright overused archetype. eeeexcept that the combo's execution here REALLY stands out. how so ?

well, let me ask you a quick question. do you think the fact that he is french, and the fact that he is an evil bastard, and the fact that he is a spy are linked ?

well ill answer that for you. nope. valve treated these three traits remarkably separately. the way he speaks french in game is relatively polite, and the insults he throws around are, i checked, exclusively in english. he is surprisingly free of the usual way medias make "being evil" and "being french" be a hand in hand thing, and similarly free of the one that seems to indicate that Because you are french Of Course you are a spy. in other words, rather than being a walking glamour stereotype of sorts or an obnoxious asshole the likes of which we have seen hundreds of, this is a godawful guy that also happens to be a french snob, and that also happens to be a spy.

compare with, say, our lady mistral above who has a shitton of taunts in french, who embraces that whole sexy lady deal, deliberately plays on it and so on. difference is miles.

and now if you followed you did catch i said french snob rather than just french, there is a reason behind this, so allow me to get on part 2, which i promise will be WAY more verbose-

im not sure why but american medias love to have peppy rich french fashionistas in their shit. theyre cute, hyper, sheltered as fuck, and the entire deal is weird bc these people seem like aliens to actual french people who tend to care about fashion in pretty normal amounts and definitely do not have that many grands to bust into it. *yes* we pride ourselves in having a pretty neat fashion industry, but in a similar way as the american and the german boast about their cars. we are NOT obsessed with it okay. anyways, sometimes writers have the decency of making these characters cunts, but not always. but what doesnt vary is the trope seems to play out like ah yes, your average french- which is fucking baffling. and is the part taking us aback.

see, we HAVE the evil breed of those characters too in our shit. comedic shit, to be precise. a rundown of our humor is it often is situational humor - stupid outlandish situations with equally stupid archetypal characters, their personality equally pushed into the absurd, all of that more often than not thinly veiling some pretty heavy social commentary. in other words, you often laugh at the evil cop/rich factory/big restaurant owner/politician/etc getting karma'd in mind boggingly bizzare and hilarious ways, while clearly showing them as evil for mistreating subordinates (and often getting shit for it sooner or later) and as simpering cowards towards literally anyone who has any kind of superior position to them whatsoever.

in other words, context matters. where in american shit they are often allies or friends or comedic relief of sorts through being french/annoying or just villains, in french shit they more often than not are *targets* of some kind of events and shown to be ridiculous through other means than their obsession for fashion or whatever.

am i saying that valve did this ?

...yeah. thats a very bold statement, but yes. i mean, cmon,

see, i am overall basing this on the fact that ingame spy is so fucking similar to many, many, many of Louis de Funès' roles, and even his face, it outright had me searching around the wiki for some kind, any kind of claim of inspiration from valve-

he reads exactly as one of them ! rich cunt obsessed with money, constantly mocking people, constantly complaining about everything ever, fakely polite, not opposed to doing vile acts to have his way, extremely menacing face, *the same fucking laugh*, and the fact that characters played by this guy have remarkably often have what we call a couillon de fils, a dumbfuck of a loser ass son, if you will.

the only differences really are from comic spy, who reads far less like this. he's still well executed mind you, but he (especially @miss pauling) reads as far kinder than this dude's characters usually are, and he is a bit more... stretched, both physically and in behaviour, than the actor's goblin build and attitude, as game spy seems to be unable to stand straight whereas the comic one seems to have no difficulty with this, and the similar range of expressiveness that also ports 1:1 is game exclusive as well. and finally, comic spy also was not given the occasion to cuss people out, so.

anyways my point mostly amounts to, if you manage to make french people think of an emblematic actor beloved by many, rather than just make us go through the usual whiplash of "how is that a normal french person to american people ???", you are probably doing something right.

youtube

in addition to this wall of text, i am begging you all to watch this, it should help understand what i meant by our breed of humor, and what i mean by "spy could have been played by this dude no problem"

now, onto part 3,

well once you said he is a pathetic wet cat man you summed it up really.

for all the class he has, for all the money he has, for all the. everything ? he still is pathetic. he still is simply seen as a mean as fuck loser either trying to drown his failures as a father with expensive tastes, or simply amoral and unsympathetic because of his concerns being about money rather than about humans. he still is headcanoned as stinking by most of the fandom. nobody respects the fucken spy. he comes across as haughty and it only makes people want to shit on him some more.

really, it is pretty much everything I explained in the two points above. the patheticness helps with making it so he is not a stereotype, and it helps making it clear he is supposed to be representative of rich pretentious cunts rather than of french people.

so, he is a huge bitch, and ironically, this makes him a blorbo to us, bc who doesnt love a good ole flawed character ?

his whole french deal is not shown as eccentric or what makes him a loser but just a coincidence, in a sense. and you'd be surprised by how much of a breath of fresh air this is to french people. shitty in a realistic way rather than a made up clown, and in a way we can recognize in our own medias. it also is neat from the, err, fandom pov ? because you get to develop his frenchness and assholeness and spyness separately, since they are elements implemented for the sake of themselves rather than as a stereotypical whole. you get to have *fun* with him.

SO i think i ran out of things to blabber about. hope it makes sense tho. but i guess it really is about. not *quite* representation because we do not see ourselves in spy, of course, but way more about our culture not being bastardized and being turned into a joke about eccentrics at best, or hatred about seductive women and effeminate/homosexual men at worst, + having a fresh execution on tropes that else usually would get our eyes rolling.

alpha, over and out

#tf2 spy #langage language #tf2 #The Council has spoken #god my tags are a mess #hope yall can bear with how im basically the messiest member of the council #comes with being the frenchman i suppose

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tentative-wanderer · 2 years

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Hi again..... I'm glad you're feeling better now than before...... I'm doing so-so (sorry for the weird answer)......

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime, books, movies or tv series)? Thanks....

Thank you! My past few months have been hopeful. I hope each day will be better and better for you!

I don’t have a top 10, but I can do top 7/8, arranged in no particular order. I know I’ll sound like a broken record talking about them, but they’re all danmei characters because that’s the kind of fiction I enjoy nowadays. Some English titles are my translations and may differ from what fan translators call them, if fan translations of the books exist.

🚮🌶 Chi Xiaochi from “Don’t Pick Up Boyfriends from the Trash Bin” and Wei Wuxian from MDZS

Chi Xiaochi is an actor who carries out missions across various universes in exchange for a wish that will allow him to regain his life after a freak accident. Wei Wuxian, as most know, is a donkey-riding resurrected necromancer who solves mysteries.

They’re my favourite type of protagonist. Right from the start, they wow readers with jaw-dropping statements that infuriate other characters. I love their charisma, their humour, and the way they don’t always toe the line. They have the classic protagonist hallmarks: kind hearts, impressive intelligence/skills, and complex pasts that gradually unfurl as we read, but those things aren’t special on their own; it’s the authors’ prowess that makes them shine through creativity and the weaving of human problems through fantastical events.

An aside: Chi Xiaochi had/has a dog and is terrified of ghosts, while Wei Wuxian had/has ghosts and is terrified of dogs. These traits are important in their respective stories.

🐾 Bai Chunian from “Merman’s Fall” 《人鱼陷落》

Bai Chunian is a white lion alpha not-so-secret agent who works for the IOA, the International Omega Alliance. (If only there were a similarly influential International Women’s Alliance in our world.)

I like contrasts, and Bai Chunian has plenty. He’s rough yet gentle, immensely strong yet vulnerable, a leader and strategist who needs a guiding light in his life. He’s a bad-boy kind of tease, but he always ends up being the one who gets teased when he tries it on Lan Bo, his partner. (Lan Bo doesn’t even mean to tease. He’s just giving Bai Chunian replies from the heart; those replies just happen to be bawdy to the max.)

There’s something about the way Bai Chunian acts when he’s sad that triggers the urge to protect. You just want to give him all the nice things in the world.

🏋️‍♂️ Shen Qiuji from “Today I Am Forcefully Resurrected Again” 《今天我又被迫复活》

The love interest of a constantly haunted protagonist. By the standards of common danmei love interests/tops, he’s on the “useless” end of the spectrum, and by that I mean his protective capabilities are low because his ghost-busting skills are mediocre. Contrast him with, say, Hua Cheng from TGCF or Luo Binghe from SVSSS. Despite that, Shen Qiuji gives off a very strong sense of safety and reliability by dint of being a masculine fitness buff who chooses to be persistently there for the protagonist, Gu Rong. His presence is like an anchor.

Shen Qiuji may look stony-faced and somewhat intimidating, but he’s very affectionate with Gu Rong; he likes to cuddle and touch and—in the past, before he and Gu Rong went from being faux-enemies to lovers—annoy. It’s captivating. I think having someone who makes their existence tangibly felt and who wants to share your burden is a wonderful thing.

Plus, like many characters in the book, Shen Qiuji is hilarious.

✨ Xiao Xingchen from MDZS

Blind smiley daozhang (Daoist priest, used very loosely in this instance).

Who wouldn’t want a friend like him? He strikes that sweet spot between poised and approachable. A kind person with an amiable attitude and an undercurrent of courage to do what other people don’t dare or care to do. Also, it’s super cute that he laughs easily and uncontrollably (I suppose this trait would have been more obvious when he had eyes). He sounds like a huge pleasure to be around.

Oh, and he has the prettiest name I’ve ever seen: “dawn stardust”, sounding like “little stars”. Additionally, it sounds like “the dawn star sinks”, echoing a line from an old poem and, in hindsight, foreshadowing his fate. I like wordplays!

Giving a supporting character like this a tragic ending makes him even more attractive to (sadistic) readers because it makes us mourn how good and beautiful things don’t last, sometimes.

🐀 Shen Jiu/Shen Qingqiu from SVSSS

Misunderstood villain in the book title. High-ranking scholarly lord in the No. 1 martial arts sect. Fierce battered batterer.

Another tragedy king, in a totally different flavour. I love contrasts in characters, so I love how hardened Shen Jiu is, how deliberately rough and tough he acted as he grew up, and yet he has this soft spot, this vulnerability pertaining to one person who (accidentally) helps shape his demise.

(Spoilers below)

Speaking of his relationship with Yue Qi, there’s beauty in what-could-have-beens, in feelings burned and blackened before they could properly begin. There’s beauty in things only half said—no I’m not talking about Yue Qi’s tight-lipped idiocy, I’m talking about something that’s almost love but not completely there yet because no one’s said it out loud; only metaphors whisper it. I like metaphors and implications.

🌸🏡 Shi Mei and Hua Binan from 2ha (indirect but major spoilers below)

Guy who wants to go home. At almost any cost. (Lol, sounds like me when I was a kid.)

Yet another tragedy king, and this time it’s one who’s physically very lovely. (At this point, I can safely summarise my favourite supporting characters as “beautiful tragedies”.) I’m semi-blending Shi Mei and Hua Binan from both timelines into one person in my speech because I like both versions of the man whom child Hua Binan grew up to be. Same seed, same tree, just moulded to grow in slowly diverging directions.

I like characters who are stuck between a rock and a hard place; it doesn’t matter whether they’re protagonists or antagonists. And ethical dilemmas aside, I admire the way Hua Binan dreams big (and crazy), puts it into action, and succeeds. My reactions were both “wth, they actually did…that” and “what a relief, they made it”.

I like male characters who come across as tastefully demure and exquisite, their unfortunate rarity making them all the more precious. The demure part may have been acting in this case, but elegance is indisputably required to make it work. What’s more, this guy can pull off both styles: beautiful and handsome. He’d be a delight to look at. (Sidetracking: speaking of “delight to look at”, I dig Mo Ran’s strapping farmhand look too.)

The books above are listed in my danmei book recommendations: https://tentative-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/624449567085248512/danmei-book-recommendations

#mdzs #dpubftb #dpubfttb #qijiu #svsss #2ha #人鱼陷落 #the falling merman #merman’s fall #今天我又被迫复活 #魔道祖师 #不要在垃圾桶里捡男朋友 #danmei #asks

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falcor-thee-luck-dragon · 4 years

Text

Interviews - Henry Cavill x wife/actress reader

Summary: You and Henry have been married for a couple years now, and when you’re both part of the Witcher cast, fun interviews are to be had.

Warning: nothing but a good time, btw I’ve never written anything like this so I hope it’s good enough that I might feel motivated to write more

-Readers Witcher character is loosely based off my Geralt fic from here (just a little self promotion), but in this case you play a full vampire in this Witcher universe

The days have been long and grueling, filming hours upon hours of stunts and regular acting had taken its toll. Not to mention the countless times in hair and make up paired with costume changes and traveling to film on certain locations.

To say being apart of Netflix’s The Witcher was full of tiring days and some accidental bruises would be a huge understatement. But none of that mattered, nor did you bother to complain when through the thick and thin of it all did you have Henry with you along the way. And your favorite big slobbery bear, Kal whenever he was allowed on set.

Fortunately for you in the beginning of all the craziness, the casting and writers had wanted you specifically for the part of Y/C/N in the new series before Henry even auditioned for the role of Geralt, that was soon given to him after you accepted your fresh role of vampiric heroine.

It was ironically strange in a good way, you had watched your dork of a husband play the Witcher: Wild Hunt a few times before, eventually learning of what Geralt of Rivia was, who Y/C/N was in the story, who Yennefer and Ciri were, Tris and even Jaskier.

Who would have thought that you’d finally get to snag a role side by side with Henry in quite literally one of the most fantastic shows you’ve ever heard of. You didn’t even need to see the show yet to know how well it was most likely to be reviewed. Being a key character in the grand storyline was enough to convince you of how amazing it would most certainly turn out in the finished product.

And after all was said and done, you couldn’t believe how well loved and popular the show truly became in the following months after shooting and its eventual release onto Netflix. The after parties and cast celebrations truly made you blessedly grateful for pulling through to the vary end.

Then again you had your mans Henry by your side every step of the way. He was your rock and you were most definitely his. You know life on set would have been far less entertaining and dreadfully long if not for the lovely company of your dear Witcher, Henry. And so far after the fact, you and a good portion of the cast have been placed in random interviews for the majority of the day.

Reason being, The Witcher has at long last finally premiered and as per usual the people and media live for those cast interviews that always reveal some interesting events. So far this morning you’ve done some interviews with Anya that have gone perfectly fine since the two of you seem to click so well.

Also it helps ease the anxiety of your fellow newer cast mates to the world of continuous interviews with an experienced veteran actor like yourself, who’s gone round the ring more times then you can count. Though you can’t help but wonder how Henry’s doing, considering you’ve been separated since the sessions began at 10am, you’ve had lunch and now it’s about 1 in the afternoon with more hours to go.

Luckily for you, you’ve just been informed of another interview with the man of the hour himself. Saying your goodbyes and well wishes to your fellow cast mates, you stand and follow the guide into the advised place. Aka some really nice hotel room that’s been done up real nice for efficient interviewing, complete with the Witcher insignia on a large background poster and three chairs that happen to look rather comfy.

The camera and sound people nod in acknowledgment as you walk in, you nod back no doubt making their day with your friendliness and adorable smile that quite literally lights up a room. Soon you spot the bubbly yet nervous interviewee who instantly welcomes you into her space like you’re an old friend.

You sit, a bit confused as to where your partner happens to be at the moment, the interviewer, Lauren makes small talk before a door opens and her big bright doe eyes go wide in nervous excitement. A telling smile upon her face as she shifts in her chair before looking back to you again with a happy grin.

Henry says a quick hello to the behind the scenes crew before waving to Lauren, you smirk while watching him get comfortable next to you, “Well, well, well. Get lost on your way up, you know they have guides for a reason.” You tease as he chuckles at your humorous jab, relieved to see you again after a couple hours apart.

“Traffic.” He quips with a shrug.

“Uh huh.” You mutter with a shake of your head before drawing your attention back to Laura, “Can’t take him anywhere I swear, he does this all the time.”

She laughs as Henry pretends to gasp at your teasing, you chuckle along with them before she finally collects herself, “Well, welcome back to London. It’s fantastic to have you both in town once again, and your big beautiful faces all over Leicester Square.”

You both laugh, “Right.” Says Henry, “I guess we do look pretty cool.”

“Hell yeah, I mean where else can I see myself with a giant sword on a building? And anyways look at this beautiful mug,” You say gently squeezing Henry’s cheeks in your hand, “he’s literally killing it out there.” They laugh as you give Hen another playful squeeze before letting go and setting your arm against the chairs cushioned armrest.

“Alight let’s start.” She says enthusiastically before glancing down at her cards then back up to you and Henry. Then into one of the two the cameras, “Hi I’m Lauren from Entertainment Weekly and today we’re here with the two stars of Netflix’s The Witcher.” She says enthusiastically while giving a nod to you two, indicating that the camera is now focused on you both, “Henry Cavill and Y/N Cavill.”

You both smile in acknowledgment as Henry gives a slight nod, “How you doing?”

“I’m great,” She beams, “So, I’ll get right into it, what do you like most about the story? What really drew you into the script that made you say, yes this is going to be awesome?”

Slapping a hand against Henry’s muscular leg, you hum, “I’ll let Hen take this one he’s a real expert on the linguistics of the whole show.”

“Thanks Y/N/N.” Replies Henry, bemused that you’re making him take the first question.

You nod to him knowingly with a smirk, “Of course.” Knowing how much he loves to talk about the show and also because you’d rather have him use his energy to talk about it then do that yourself. Priorities, right, though in your defense it’s been a long day.

“Well I absolutely love the games and the books themselves are phenomenal works of literature.” He explains, his face glowing with that usual glimmer of excitement in his eyes, “The story and the world of the Witcher is just so rich and full of potential that when I signed on for the show, I immediately knew it would be amazing, no doubt.”

You lean into the arm of you chair, “And of course I was there so that’s always a bonus.”

“That too.” He smiles adorably, “That too of course.”

Lauren smiles, “Great. So, what was it like working together, how was it having your characters interact with one another?”

You smile, setting a hand against Henry’s forearm, “This guy right here.” You deadpan before waving him off dramatically, “So annoying, my god he whined all the time and he was such a drama queen dear lord so ugh....” You start cackling before you can even finish the sentence causing Henry to loose it as well and with that the interviewer.

Shaking your head you rest your hand against his shoulder, “I joke, he was a gem to work with as usual...I mean I feel incredibly blessed to be able to act alongside my husband for months and months every single day. It’s a rarity in this line of work and I’m grateful to have shared this experience...and I guess more so this whole adventure with him as well.”

The interviewer aww’s as Henry tilts his head to lean into your hand that’s still resting atop his shoulder before pulling away just as quickly, the intimate sentiment not going unnoticed by you or Lauren who looks to be enjoying your loving yet calm energy with one another. “That’s so sweet, what about you Henry?”

“Oh yes absolutely,” Agrees Henry to your recent statement, “not only did I have her by my side through it all but the dynamic of our characters interacting together was so fun to shoot. I think the audience will really be able to see their relationship grow on screen into something strong and beautiful like in the books.”

Slow clapping you give him a curt nod of approval, “Well said.”

Lauren smirks, “Seems like it. Well, I was able to catch the premier yesterday and I gotta say...it was fantastic! I couldn’t believe how diffident the two of you looked from how you are now.” She gushes enthusiastically.

The corners of Henry’s lips curl into a proud smile for the fellow crew of the Witcher’s, “Oh that’s great then, honestly we gotta give all the props to the costume and makeup team, they’re so talented and know how to make us look like real badasses.” He adds.

You nod in agreement before grinning at a positive memory of your first interaction with Henry as Geralt, “Oh for sure, I remember during the early stages of production when our characters met each other for the first time, before this we came to set together but went separate ways to shoot our own stuff in the meantime so I never got a real look at him.” You recall with a bright smile as Henry watches your every move, beaming just the same.

“It was so funny, I was in the tent with Freya Allen, the wonderful girl who plays Ciri, and then suddenly her eyes got all big and nervous and I was like, that’s not me right? Something weird didn’t just happen with my costume? And then I turned around to find this man, wig on, face a mess, and his eyes looked so fearsome and different...it was a bit startling.” You say with a chuckle, “I clearly wasn’t expecting to see Geralt right then and there. He just looked so unlike Henry.”

“Yeah, I was almost hurt.” Laughs Henry, “She had to like squint and make sure it was me.”

Rolling your eyes, you shrug, “He had some real creepy looking colored contacts, yunno?”

Henry fake scoffs, “You’re one to talk, I mean when I first say her, Y/N’s eyes were red and she had fake blood spattered all over her face and shirt. Oh, and not to mention those fangs they put on your teeth...we probably traumatized poor Freya that day.”

“Oh shit you’re right!” You exclaim with a snort of concealed laughter, “God I completely forgot about how I looked...now since I think about it, I did that a lot too. I would just walk up to people and be completely oblivious as to what kind of nightmare I looked like, honestly I might have scared one of our producers a couple of times.” You add with a half nervous laugh, it’s true, you did scare some of the crew unintentionally. Most of the time.

Lauren lightly chuckles, “That sounds like you were quite the sight to see then.” She says before glancing back down at her notes, “Alright I have’ta ask, is there anything that you two took home with you from set?”

“Besides Henry every night,” He holds back a laugh while covering his mouth as you nonchalantly continue, “Uh, yes actually I got to take home Y/C/N’s wolf ring that I loved so much and just thought was the coolist thing ever and....uh, I might have stolen some socks too.”

“So that’s why after filming the amount of socks of yours I had to fold increased?” Wonders Henry with a surprised snort of realization.

Turning your head to give him a “no shit” kinda look, you look back at Lauren, pointing your thumb at Henry, “Master sleuth right here, but hey, he folds my laundry.”

“Aw that’s great.” Adds Lauren with a smile before turning her attention to Henry, “What about you Henry? Take anything from set?”

“More then Y/N did actually...”

“He just about took the whole makeup trailer most nights, I swear.”

Henry chuckles, “That. Is true.” He agrees with a nod, “Interesting enough, at home I’ve got Geralt’s armor hung up in our living room and a multitude of other nicknacks that I’ve collected during filming.” He adds, glancing over to you, “So uh, yeah, we were fairly lucky to be able to snag what we could.”

Lauren smiles, absentmindedly shuffling her cards, “That’s awesome to have such special memorabilia, you guys really are fortunate.” She adds before reading off from another card, “Alright you two, care to play a game called guess the image? Witcher style.”

Your face perks up at this, you’re a sucker for interview games and Henry knows it, “Are you reading my mind or something, I have been waiting all day for someone to ask about playing a game.” You gush rather enthusiastically.

He smiles at your adorableness and how excited you’ve just become, Lauren grins, happy that her suggestion has been so well received, “Okay so how it works is, I’ll show you an image on my iPad and then you have to guess who or what I’m showing you.”

“Oh, cool I’ve heard of this,” You reply, turning to Henry with a smirk, “Loser has to clean Kal’s yard poop for a week.”

Rolling his gorgeous blue eyes he chuckles, “You’re on.”

“Alright, the stakes are high, you two ready?” Beams Lauren, holding her iPad to her chest as she awaits an answer.

“Yes, I’m ready to kick his ass.” You quip, leaning an arm against your chair while Henry does about the same, though he does his best to contain his laughter.

“Okay, first image.” She holds up the device to show some sort of weird golden thing, it’s shiny and hard, worst part is that you’re not entirely sure what the hell it could be.

Sensing your confusion Henry nudges your shoulder, though you ignore it before he smartly answers, “Oh, is that...Renfri’s brooch?” Little shit knows exactly what that is, of course he does.

Lauren claps, “Correct.” Zooming out of the image to show the full picture of the golden brooch, “Right on, that’s one point for Mr. Cavill.”

You scoff playfully, “Beginners luck.” While Henry side eyes you with a humorous grin upon his plush lips, he nudges your arm, “I’m going to really enjoy not cleaning up Kal’s grass turds for awhile.” He mutters lightheartedly, though you know deep down he’s being serious, no way is he going to win this, you think. You won’t have it, hopefully the next few pictures aren’t as difficult, Kal duty is not fun by any means.

“Shut up.” You grumble with a dismissive wave of your hand, though just teasing of course.

“Okay next image.” This time the blurred photo looks much more familiar, soon it clicks as to what the obscured blurriness actually is, yes!

“Got it! Anya’s er I guess Yennefer’s dress from the fight at Sodden.” Lauren giggles, zooming the image out to reveal Yennefer in her tasseled blue and purple dress from the battle at Sodden Hill. “I’m amazing I know.” You boast at Henry with a casual little bow in your seat.

“It’s the second question.” He deadpans, eyes crinkling in amusement as you shake your head at him.

“Pffff get outta here.” You mutter back, gently pushing his arm off of your chairs armrest and setting yours in its place while he gives you a fake shocked expression.

In turn you can’t help the smile that tugs at the corner of your lips, so instead of saying some sassy remark that would no doubt get a reaction out of him, you turn your attention back over to Lauren who’s looking over her notes again.

“Fantastic,” She says, glancing back up at you and Henry, “you’re both tied with one point each. Alright, anyone know what this is?” She asks showing something red and fuzzy, a bit of dirty skin showing from one corner but with The Witcher this bloody image could literally be anything.

The both of you squint, puzzled as to what this could be, “Y/N you got any ideas.” Wonders Henry, brows furrowed as his face contorts into deep concentrated thought.

Raising a brow, you hum, “If I knew I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Fair point.” He chuckles.

Lauren smiles, “Any guesses?”

After a few concentrated moments, Henry shrugs in defeat, “I’m stumped.” He admits as you study the image harder, mind racing to put the pieces together as to what the hell you’re looking at.

“No, I think I might know this....erm is it...me?” You wonder, voice raising in question, hoping to be correct about this or face the teasing of Henry.

Lauren quickly zooms out of the obscured image, “It is!” She says excitedly, revealing the picture of you from your characters debut in episode 2 where you save a girl from a werewolf, your mouth is covered in blood and so is most of your costumes chest area and left arm from the struggle. Not to mention the make-up teams fun 20 minutes of throwing fake sticky blood all over you to get the right look for the taxing scene.

You grimace a bit, “Oh god that was quite the day on set,” You recall with a half smile, “I was doing stunts all day covered in that red syrupy dye, I think it took a week to get out of my skin.”

Henry suddenly snorts with laughter, “Right! That reminds me, I thought Kal had gotten cut or something, it was just Y/N who had hugged him not realizing she still had some fake blood on her arm.”

“Jeez that’s right, I felt so bad, but I couldn’t stop laughing once we realized it was just me.”

Lauren grins, excited to hear some hidden information about little things that happens behind the scenes, “Oh wow that must have been a sight, alright Henry, Y/N’s taken the lead with a two to one score.” She says as you playfully nudge his strong shoulder. “Second to last image, what is this?”

Without missing a single beat Henry replies, “Jaskier.”

Squinting at the image you lean closer to the iPad, “How the hell do you see Jaskier?”

Smiling the interviewer zooms out to reveal the bards full outfit from the banquet scene, though he’s in the background of a fight between Geralt and some Cintran knights. “Right on!” She exclaims as you lean back into your seat dumbfounded, shoulder flush against Henry’s as he clutches your arm and squeezes it affectionately.

Ignoring his silent show of victory you shrug, “And they say he’s just another pretty face,” Earning a laugh from Lauren and some of the crew as you smirk at the camera, face them shifting to apologetic, “also I’m so sorry Joey you beautiful bastard apparently I’m blind. Uh, we don’t have to dwell on it, Lauren whatcha got?”

“You guys are both tied with two points each, last chance to win.” She replies before glancing down at her iPad, “Alright, what is this?” She asks, her iPad showing that of fuzzy bright colors, with a small corner smear of dull white that clearly wouldn’t make much sense to the untrained eye.

Smirking you glance at a puzzled Henry before sitting up in your seat, feeling rather good about yourself, “Would that happen to be, Hen in Stregobor’s illusion?” You answer with, though sounding a bit as a question considering you aren’t entirely confident as to what image this is.

Lauren’s brows raise in surprise, “Henry, looks like we have a winner. Y/N you are correct.” She beams, enlarging the image to reveal Geralt’s side profile as he talks to the old wizard while the background stays colorful and shrouded in various arrays of sunlight..

Shaking your fist victoriously in the air you give a couple enthusiastic whoop whoops while Henry simply takes it like a champ, “Have fun cleaning up Karl’s monster turds, cause this lucky lady doesn’t have to.” You boast as Henry and the crew laugh.

“Well that was something,” Beams Lauren, “I’m so glad to have chatted for a bit about your guys’ amazing new series, and maybe ended a relationship in the process.” She says jokingly as both you and Henry chuckle.

Patting his thigh affectionately, you smirk, “He’s a tough old bear, but yeah, it was awesome having you talk to us.”

“Yes, take care now.” Adds Henry while the interviewer Lauren stands, saying her goodbyes as she goes to exit the room.

The camera crew take a small break to adjust things and whatnot as you and Henry wait patiently for the next interviewer. He turns, an adorable smile pulling at his lips while you pretend to ignore his fiery gaze. “Well that went pretty well, minus the fact that I’m on Kal poop duty for a week...but uh...” He leans in close to you now, “I missed you all morning.”

Breaking out into a smile you raise a brow, “Boring without me huh?”

“Always.”

You casually shrug, “I figured as much. Don’t worry, we have a hotel all to ourselves tonight.” Your brows wiggle suggestively causing your blue eyed lover to shake his head with amusement.

“Say it louder next time.” He jokes.

Side eyeing the oblivious crew you begin to speak a couple octaves louder, “Henry I can’t wait to fu..” Suddenly his hand presses against your mouth before you’re able to call any attention to yourself. He gives you a warning look before slowly pulling his hand from your mouth.

You grin mischievously, “I wasn’t gonna say that...”

“Sure Y/N,” He mutters in your ear as a new interviewer walks into the room and finds their chair, “and I’m wasn’t going to make you scream tonight.”

Your brows raise in surprise and admittedly slight arousal at his choice of wording in this room of all places. Eyeing him up, face still showing surprise, you finally break out into a satisfied smirk. “You know what? I think you should consider changing your offer.”

He thinks deeply for a moment, though you know he’s only pretending to get you riled up, “Hrmm...maybe, possibly, should I? Should we? You are my co-star after all, that wouldn’t be very professional now would it Y/N?” He states with a shit eating grin, all done while the crew and interviewer get ready, minding their business and completely unaware to yourself and Henry’s teasing.

Scoffing playfully you lightly swat his arm, “We are way past being professional.”

He chuckles, looking from you to the rest of the room, “Oh, they have no idea.”

#the witcher x reader #henry cavill x y/n #henry cavill x female reader #henry cavill x you #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill

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calwrites · 3 years

Text

Fearless

Prequel to Don’t You

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader

Word count: 4.5k

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“Looks like it finally stopped raining.”

The murmur of the coffee shop was replaced by the sounds of the city as you followed Sebastian outside. The humidity seemed to hit you like a truck, making you miss the air conditioning you had just left.

“Finally. I thought I was going to be stuck in that coffee shop with you forever.” You laughed at the faux offended look on Sebastian’s face. “That’s what I get for not checking the weather.”

“Next time I’ll let you wait out the rain by yourself,” Sebastian threatened. His grin made the corners of his eyes crinkle a bit. Had they always done that? Had you just never noticed before?

“At least then I won’t have a bunch of teenage girls taking pictures of me the whole time. They’re scary. How do you deal with that all the time?” It had been disconcerting to have the group of girls staring at you and Sebastian as you sat and chatted. For a moment, you had thought you were crazy when you noticed them looking. The first thought you had was that you had something on your face or needed to fix your hair, but you realized why they were so focused on your table when they walked over to ask Sebastian for pictures.

Sebastian let out a sigh as he shrugged. For a second you were worried that you had said something wrong. “I just try to ignore it most of the time. I’m polite if they come up to me. I’d rather they like me than hate me.”

“I’m sure you have lots of stories. You’ll have to tell me sometime.” Your eyes widened when you realized what you’d said. What if he didn’t want to see you again? “I mean, if you’re staying in the city long. I’m sure you’re really busy.”

“I’ve got some promo to do soon, but I’m not filming again for a few months. I wanted a bit of the break.” Sebastian waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about my work. What about you? You taking the business world by storm?”

“Well I did just get a raise, so now I can almost afford my rent, groceries, and student loans.” The joys of living in New York City.

“Ah sounds like everything’s going well then. Are your parents still around?” Your parents had basically fallen in love with Sebastian when they first met him freshman year. A group of your friends had come over to your house for a movie night and Sebastian had insisted on staying to help you clean up after everyone else had left. Your mom had spent the next few weeks not so subtly dropping hints that she thought you should date him.

“Yeah they’re still in Jersey. They tried to convince me to move in with them, but I told them I didn’t want to have to commute into the city every day. Of course, that set them off about how that’s what they’ve been doing my whole life because they didn’t want me growing up without a yard or whatever.”

“So it sounds like they haven’t changed much?” You shook your head slightly to force yourself to stop watching Sebastian as he laughed.

“No they have not.” You bumped your shoulder against Sebastian’s gently. “They’re your number one fans, you know.”

“Oh they are?” His eyebrows raised in surprise, and he was already fighting a smile, no doubt waiting to hear what embarrassing things your parents had done since high school graduation.

“They see all of your movies in theaters.” Multiple times, but you didn’t want Sebastian to think they were weirdos.

“Even the bad ones?”

“Even the bad ones. I did tell them that they aren’t allowed to buy any of the Bucky dolls.”

“They’re action figures.”

You rolled your eyes, but found yourself matching Sebastian’s smile anyway. “Whatever. It’d be weird seeing a mini version of you at my parents’ house. It’s bad enough that they still have a bunch of high school pictures hung up.”

“My mom does too. She’s going to be so excited when I tell her that I ran into you. You were always her favorite of our group.”

You stopped suddenly, grabbing Sebastian’s arm. He looked a little alarmed, but you ignored it. “Are you serious? I was always so scared of her. This is the best day of my life.” You had met Sebastian’s mom a couple of times throughout high school, but had never been able to tell whether or not she liked you.

“Scared of her? Why? Because of the accent?”

“The accent didn’t help, but really it was because she’s hot. That makes her intimidating.”

Sebastian groaned and pulled a face. “No. You can’t think my mom is hot. That’s not allowed. Take it back or I’m sending your parents all of the Bucky dolls I can find.”

“It’s not like I wanted to bang her or anything. I just think that she’s an attractive woman. Which makes sense considering how attractive you are.” Your mouth snapped shut. You weren’t sure who was blushing more, you or Sebastian. “Let’s forget about this whole conversation.” Sebastian laughed slightly and nodded.

It was silent between you two as you continued your walk through the streets. You weren’t really sure where he was going. You were heading to your car, but you couldn’t tell if Sebastian was also going somewhere or if he was just following you. If you had looked up, you would have noticed that Sebastian was watching you carefully. But you didn’t look up. Your eyes were on the pavement, watching the glow of the lights in the reflection from the rain.

“Do you remember that poster that was in our English class freshman year?” you asked suddenly. Sebastian’s brow crinkled slightly as he tried to remember, but then he followed your gaze to the glowing pavement and smiled.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” The two of you laughed slightly as you remembered your slightly eccentric teacher. “We made fun of that poster so much.”

“It was a stupid poster. But remember it was raining when we were leaving the homecoming dance freshman year and we started dancing in the parking lot-”

“And all of our friends thought we were crazy,” Sebastian finished. “To be fair, we were crazy. That was probably the most fun part of the dance though.”

“Are you saying that I was a bad date?” You gasped and brought your hand up to your mouth as if Sebastian had offended you. Both of you dissolved into giggles.

“I’m saying that I was probably a bad date. I was so awkward. I had such a big crush on you.” Sebastian rubbed his neck uncomfortably. You definitely didn’t notice how the action made his arms look.

“Wait really?” This was news to you. You had always kind of assumed that Sebastian didn’t like you very much. He had always seemed to just tolerate your presence.

“Oh yeah. All the guys used to make fun of me because I got so awkward around you. That’s why I never talked when you were with us.”

“I just thought you were shy or something.” Or that he secretly hated you.

“Well that too,” Sebastian admitted with a small grin.

“You should have just told me. I had a crush on you too. I was so excited when you asked me to the dance.” You were so engrossed in conversation that you almost walked right past your car. “Oh, this is me.”

“Oh.” Was it your imagination or did Sebastian look disappointed? Before you could figure it out, he was smiling again. “It’s been nice catching up. We should hang out again. You still have the same number?”

You assured Sebastian that you did and the two of you exchanged more pleasantries. After sliding into your car, you watched Sebastian continue down the street. The memory of the two of you dancing wildly in the parking lot while the rest of your friends complained about the rain made you smile. You kind of wished you had asked him to dance again.

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Part of you already wished that this weekend would never end, even though it had barely even begun. You had finally made it out of the city and still had a couple hours of driving left, but you were already dreading having to go back into the office on Monday.

You and Sebastian had been hanging out more since running into each other last month. Most of the time, you got away without any pictures of the two of you getting out, but recently that had been getting harder and harder to do. Now, through what you could only assume was some sort of social media stalking witchcraft, people had managed to figure out who you were. The hundreds of notifications had freaked you out at first, but after deleting all of the social media apps from your phone, it was totally not a big deal.

Until your coworkers had found out. Some magazine had printed a picture of you and Sebastian, including your name underneath it, so now everyone at the office was either making fun of you by pretending to take paparazzi pictures whenever you walked into a room or constantly asking about Sebastian. Needless to say, you desperately needed this weekend away.

“Hungry eyes,” Sebastian sang, rather poorly though you suspected that was on purpose. You had seen him in musicals in high school. He half turned towards you, reaching out with one hand while the other stayed on the wheel, as he continued to sing along to the music. “One look at you and I can’t disguise these-”

“Keep your eyes on the road,” you scolded, though you couldn’t help but laugh at his bad attempt to hit a high note. “You know, I was worried that you would get us killed at the cabin, but now I know you’re going to get us killed before we even make it there. And stop caressing my hair.” You slapped his hand away for emphasis.

He reached out again to run a hand down your hair. “I am not caressing your hair-”

“Definitely were.”

“-and I am not going to get us killed. We are going to have a nice relaxing weekend at a cabin that I rented and am graciously letting you stay at without paying me back. And we aren’t going to worry about paparazzi or annoying coworkers or random people on the street with cell phones.” There may have been a incident earlier that week where you had almost gone up to a random person in the street to yell at them about taking pictures of you and Sebastian. It turned out they were just a lost tourist who barely spoke English. That was when Sebastian decided that you needed a vacation too.

“I think I’m paying you back by forcing myself to spend time with you. You’re very hard to get along with. Plus, I have no money for vacations. We can’t all be actors in Marvel movies.” The trees blurred by as Sebastian drove down the highway.

“You know, I could probably get you in the next Captain America movie. You might not have any lines, but you could stand in the background.” Had he ever offered any of your other friends from high school roles in his movies? No, you couldn't let yourself get caught up in these kinds of questions.

“Sebastian, thanks again-”

“Stop! I told you to stop thanking me-”

“Thanks again,” you continued loudly, “for inviting me. I know that you were looking forward to a relaxing weekend away before you have press stuff. If you want, we don’t have to talk to each other. I don’t want to ruin your relaxation.”

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably in his seat at your thanks, but then shot you an incredulous look. “How would you ruin my relaxation? I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t want to spend time with you.”

“Promise?”

Sebastian sent you a smile that was so full of warmth that you could have melted right there. You were definitely getting caught up now. You tried to snap yourself out of it by thinking about all of the reasons you could never date Sebastian. First, he was Sebastian. He knew what you looked like when you were young and awkward. He had seen the awful bangs you cut yourself sophomore year. Second, he was Sebastian Stan. Surely he’d never date a nobody like you. Not that he was stuck up now. He was surprisingly similar to how he had been in high school. It’s just, he could date models if he wanted to. You were definitely not a model. And you wouldn’t even want to date someone in the spotlight like him. Third, you had been on like two dates with the skeazy guy from accounting. If you ignored most of what he said, he was only a little skeazy. Barely tolerable really. You could work with that.

But then Sebastian ran his hand through his hair, and you had to bite your lip to stop yourself from saying anything stupid. Did he know what he was doing or was he just naturally this cool now? Either way, it was going to be a long weekend.

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The dance was not fun. Whoever was writing the prom scenes in all of those cheesy movies was full of crap. The decorations looked bad, your dress was uncomfortable, and you were so busy making sure everything was running smoothly that you weren’t even getting to enjoy your senior prom. You never should have agreed to head the prom committee. Surely the night would be more fun if you didn’t have any responsibilities.

Except you’d probably still be standing on the edges of the dancing watching as all of your friends danced with their boyfriends. You had thought that this would finally be the dance you had a boyfriend for, but then your boyfriend broke up with you less than two weeks before because you were spending too much time working on prom. Great. Wonderful.

It had been difficult to mentally prepare yourself to go to senior prom without a date after working so hard on it. It had seemed almost poetic when Sebastian asked you. The two of you had gone to your first high school dance together and now you were at your last high school dance together.

Except Sebastian had barely talked to you all night. In fact, he had barely even looked at you. At least, that’s what you thought. Sebastian later confessed to you that he was scared he’d get in the way of your prom committee duties so he watched you from afar as you took care of the last minute issues. But you didn’t know that yet.

“Decided to actually acknowledge me?” you snapped when Sebastian leaned against the wall beside you.

Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He was probably already regretting coming over to talk to you. “I probably deserve that. You just seemed busy.”

“There were a couple of issues that I had to take care of. I still want to enjoy the dance though.”

“So let’s enjoy it.” Sebastian held his hand out to you and nodded to the dance floor. You smiled gratefully at him and took his hand, letting him lead you out.

Neither of you were great dancers, and the dance floor was maybe a little too crowded, but you made the best of it. After bumping into another couple one too many times, you and Sebastian retired back to the wall, perfectly content to watch the others and whisper amongst yourselves.

“So have you had fun tonight?” Sebastian asked. You had, which was surprising considering how badly the night had started out. Sometimes you forgot how well you and Sebastian could get on. It was so rare to talk to him one on one. You really didn’t know how prom could have gone better. You were kind of disappointed that prom was wrapping up. Already, the dance floor had begun emptying as people left for various after parties.

“I did.” Sebastian grinned, obviously pleased with your answer. “But it wasn’t nearly as good as homecoming freshman year.”

Sebastian's smile faded as he tried to recall the dance you were talking about. “Wasn’t that dance really awkward though?”

“Sure the actual dance was,” you shrugged. “But dancing in the parking lot after was one of my favorite high school memories.”

Sebastian threw his head back to laugh, his hand resting on your shoulder to steady himself. “I’ll admit that I’m kind of glad it’s not raining tonight. My mom was not happy that I got my suit wet. But we can still dance like that tonight. There’s plenty of room on the dance floor.”

“Absolutely not,” you scoffed. “We’d look crazy.”

“Everyone here is either our friend or someone who we’ll probably never see again.” Sebastian held his hand out to you. You bit your lip as you considered before meeting his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“Fine.” Sebastian laughed as you took his hand, once again allowing him to drag you onto the dance floor. He was truly fearless in his dancing this time. Obviously you had to follow suit and ignore the looks people were throwing you as you and Sebastian twirled and spun and jumped around. By the time it was time to leave the dance, you both were red faced and breathless with laughter. The sky was perfectly clear as you walked through the parking lot, but part of you wished it was raining so you could once again dance in a storm in your best dress with Sebastian.

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“I thought you weren’t talking to me because you didn’t really want to go with me.”

“What?” Sebastian took his eyes off the road quickly to look over at you. “Why would I ask you if I didn’t want to go with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe our friends told you to since neither of us had dates.”

“You’re crazy. I was so intimidated by you that I didn’t want to get in your way.” You scoffed and started to speak but Sebastian shushed you. “You’ve always been the most impressive person in the room.”

You weren’t entirely sure how to respond to that. Sebastian Stan thought that you were impressive. But what exactly did that mean? That he thought it was neat that you managed to wrangle high school students enough to plan prom? He said ‘you’ve always’ which seemed to imply that he still felt that way. Right? But he was a successful actor. He worked with people way more impressive than you every day.

The thoughts flashed furiously through your head as Sebastian continued to drive slowly through the town. He had certainly achieved his goal to get away from the city. It was hard to believe the small town you’d spent the weekend in was so in the same state as the city. Paparazzi had certainly not been a worry for the two of you. Eventually, the car reached the end of the road. Rather than turning around and heading back into town, Sebastian put the car in park.

“I don’t want to go back,” he sighed. You had to agree with him. You wanted to stay right there. It had been so relaxing to get away from it all. No paparazzi. No fans. No coworkers. Just you and Sebastian. But it couldn’t last. You had work, and Sebastian had interviews.

“So let’s stay here,” you suggested. “We’ll stock up on food and then barricade ourselves in the cabin. We’ll obviously have to defend ourselves when Marvel comes looking for you and my company comes looking for me, but I have complete confidence that we can take them.” Not that you had reached a position in the company where they would notice you were missing. Maybe after a week or two they’d notice something was off. Marvel was sure to be quicker though.

“Ha ha you’ve made your point.” He sighed again. “This has been the best weekend I’ve had in a long time. Thanks for coming with me.”

“Thanks for inviting me.” Your voice sounded small in the sudden stillness of the car. Sebastian’s eyes flickered over your face, going from your eyes to your lips. “What did you mean earlier?”

“About what?”

“When you said that I was always the most impressive person in the room.” You were a little nervous about his answer. There was a good chance you’d made it out to be deeper than he meant. But then you remembered how fearless and free you felt when Sebastian led you out onto the dance floor at prom, and you knew you had to know the answer.

“Exactly that. I’m constantly in awe of you. The way you were the smartest person at school. I mean, I think you’re still the smartest person I know. I don’t understand anything you’re saying when you talk about work. You always knew exactly what to say to diffuse any of our friends’ drama. You’re kind and funny and always keep me on my toes.” Sebastian paused for a moment. You tried to speak, but all you could do was look at his beautiful blue eyes. “Running into you might be the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“Sebastian,” you murmured. Before you could think of anything else to say, Sebastian’s lips were on yours. You smiled into the kiss as you ran your fingers through Sebastian’s hair. It was the perfect length. You tried your best to capture the memory of this moment. The feel of his lips. His hand on your cheek. The faint sound of birds chirping outside. The patter of rain on the car roof. It was all perfect, and you wanted to remember every second of it.

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You didn’t know how life could get better than this. Sebastian’s hand was entwined with your own as you walked through the streets. You had been nervous about this at first. What would his fans think? So far they had been curious but benign when it came to you. Hopefully that wouldn’t change now.

You had almost cancelled when Sebastian showed up at your door. A night in suddenly sounded really good. He hadn’t let you though. Instead, Sebastian had grabbed your hand and pulled you out onto the street. You laughed as he twirled you, causing the skirt of your favorite dress to flow out.

“Good thing it’s not raining today,” Sebastian had laughed. “This would be much less enjoyable if we were getting rained on.”

“I don’t know about that. I think we normally have a pretty good time in the rain.”

You had managed to walk to the restaurant without being spotted, though you had noticed some people taking pictures as you were eating. By the time the bill had been paid, you were more than happy to take Sebastian’s hand and follow him outside. A short walk later and the two of you were strolling around a park eating ice cream on the way back to your apartment.

“So did you have fun tonight?” Sebastian asked.

“I did,” you admitted with a smile. “It was a lot better than I was expecting.”

“Ouch.” Sebastian made a faux wounded expression that ended up making you both laugh. “I didn’t realize you thought I’d be a bad date.”

“It wasn’t you I was worried about. Your fans kind of terrify me. Not gonna lie. I half expected them to show up at the restaurant and start pelting me with rotten fruit or something.”

“That would certainly kill the mood, but I don’t think you have to worry about people throwing fruit at you.”

“No. I just have to worry about what people are going to be saying about me online.”

“Hey, stop.” Sebastian caught your hand and pulled you back to where he had stopped walking. His hands cupped both sides of your face as he looked seriously at you. “It’s going to be ok. Yeah, there are going to be some people who say some mean things. Just ignore it. It’s why I don’t bother with social media much. It doesn’t matter what they say.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one they’re going to accuse of dating someone just to latch onto their fame or money.” Soon after you and Sebastian had started hanging out, the posts about you trying to use Sebastian’s game to get ahead had started. It didn’t really make much sense. Being friends with an actor wasn’t going to get you promoted any sooner. Still, they had annoyed you and sometimes made you feel weird about being around Sebastian.

“I know that you’re not using me. You know that you’re not using me. Everyone that matters will know that you’re not using me. If anything, I’m getting the better end of our relationship. I’m getting to date the most amazing woman ever.”

“Most amazing woman ever?” you repeated. “I’m not sure I have the necessary qualifications for that title.”

“Would you like to hear your qualifications?”

“Yes I would.” You giggled slightly, feeling like a kid with a crush, when Sebastian slung his arm around you and pulled you close so that he could whisper in your ear.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. You are the smartest person I know. You’re kind and funny and you know all of this already because I’ve told you it before.”

“Yeah but I wanted to hear it again.” Your face was so close to Sebastian’s as you whispered back to him that your noses were almost touching. You hardly dared to breathe as your eyes flickered between his eyes and his lips.

Sebastian just barely started moving closer when you both heard “Is that Sebastian Stan?” coming from a nearby group of people. You jumped back almost immediately, blushing like a kid who was caught holding hands on the playground. Sebastian sent you a small smile before turning to face the fans who had come up to ask for pictures. Once he was finally finished with that, he took your hand again and led you back towards your apartment. Hopefully, no one had gotten a picture of you two in the park about to kiss. Despite what Sebastian had said, you were still scared of what people would say. Your hands shook slightly as you walked, so you slipped your hand out of his, hoping he hadn’t noticed.

Quicker than you would have liked, you were back outside your apartment building. “Do you want to come up?” you asked when he stopped on the sidewalk.

Sebastian shook his head. “I have to be up early tomorrow, and, if I go up, I’m never gonna want to leave.” Sebastian grabbed your hands, which were still shaking, and pulled you close before resting his hands on your hips. “I had a great time tonight.” He smiled, making you feel a bit more brave. This was just Sebastian. The same Sebastian you had known for years growing up.

Slowly, Sebastian brought a hand up to your face, giving you plenty of time to stop him. But you didn’t want to. He was making you feel a bit fearless. You grinned as he kissed you softly. Even though it wasn’t your first kiss, it certainly felt like it. Although technically, it was your first kiss as an official couple. And it was your first kiss out in public, where someone could take a picture that would make its way through the Marvel fandom.

But that didn’t matter to you now. The kiss was flawless. And despite whatever people online were probably already posting about you, you would never regret this moment. Life with Sebastian was undeniably better than life without him.

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