#whose birthday it is. She's not really shown to be close to them during the Odyssey and idk just seems in character for her to not give af | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

popculturebuffet · 3 years

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The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House. The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for.

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess.

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat.

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time, going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is.

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude.

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic.

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up. I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were. THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that.

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her.

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky.

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave.

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why. At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww.

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one. So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system. Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still.

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all.

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science.

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a previous beating.

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk.

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die.

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them.

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages, that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course.

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head.

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz.

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out.

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening.

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully.

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise.

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister.

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns...

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball. This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done.

Goodnight everybody!

#the owl house #lumity #luz noceda #amity blight #willow park #gus #eda clawthrone #king #principal bump #grometheious #enchanting grom fright #lbgtq+#disney #disney plus

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gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights · 4 years

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Rating: G

Summary: Luka's replaced his broken guitar with a kazoo. Marinette realizes just how important that guitar was to their burgeoning relationship....Maybe she should've made sure no one was around before she ranted about that to Tikki.(Set during/after the end of Miracle Queen)

Word Count: 2569 | Chapter 1/2

Notes: No Luka bashing is intended with this fic, but it is lovesquare endgame Disclaimer: I love kazoos and if someone tried to woo me with a kazoo I would probably swoon. Rip to Marinette but I’m different Disclaimer 2: I didn't come up with the idea for kazooka, @bugaboo-n-bananoir did in this post ). sorry for all the shoutouts lately bud lol you're just an inspiration Special thanks to @botherkupo for betareading!

XXX

“Are you okay?” Luka asked when Marinette returned from getting ice cream.

It took some effort to pry her gaze away from where Adrien and Kagami were sharing at the other end of the ledge, but she promised herself she wouldn’t be jealous.

...Or at least, she wouldn’t show it this time. Both of them were her friends, and they deserved to be happy with each other.

Did that mean she was okay? No, not really. But she didn’t really want to get into that, especially since Luka had already seen her so vulnerable last time.

“So, uh… where’s your guitar?” she asked instead.

“Oh.” Luka blinked, as if surprised his instrument wasn’t there either. “Remember the last time I saw you? When you were… crying in the street?”

She’d really been hoping he forgot about that. It definitely wasn’t her most awkward moment, but Adrien at least tended to ignore the worst of hers. He hadn’t even breathed a word about the whole constipation incident.

But comparing Luka and Adrien wasn’t fair to either of them.

She shook her head. “Um, what about it?”

“I dropped my bike when I went to hug you. My guitar fell out of the basket and… yeah.” He moved his hands as if to strum a chord, only to slump when they just stroked the air.

“Oh, Luka, I’m so sorry.” She winced. She knew his guitar was basically an extension of himself; she hadn’t intended for him to sacrifice it for her. Was she really that important to him?

“It’s alright. I’ve almost saved up for a new one.” He shrugged.

She couldn’t tell if he was actually alright or if he was just faking. “Well, I’m still sorry.”

“It really is alright. You’re the music that’s been playing for me since we met, anyway.”

She blushed and looked away. Luka had always been more forward, but she really didn’t know how she felt about his love confessions, especially considering…

No, she wasn’t going to glance back towards Adrien. (Not that she could do that subtly, with all their classmates packed between them.)

But the point was, she couldn’t return Luka’s confession while her heart still hung somewhere in the balance. She could try to move on—she should try to move on—but no matter what Luka said, she didn’t want him to feel stuck as a second choice.

“Well, um… thanks, I guess.”

She took a bite of her raspberry ice cream to fill the awkward silence. Normally his guitar did that. Ivan’s hand drum sort of helped, but it was too far away (and too sporadic) for her to pretend she was focused on his music.

“I guess you can’t play that song for me now,” she added when he didn’t speak up. It was too bad, because she thought she might actually want to hear it, if only to give them something to connect over.

Had she really listened to his music that often? It was painfully obvious now that his guitar was absent.

“Were you ready to hear it?” Hhe asked. “I still can, if you’d like.”

Her head tilted, her eyebrows scrunching together. “But you don’t have your guitar. Unless you’re going to borrow Ivan’s drum.”

He chuckled a little at that. “I’ve got something else.”

His hand reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out…

“Is that a kazoo?”

Was this a joke? Was he playing a joke on her? He’d never shown that much of a sense of humor before. If Juleka hadn’t been in the middle of the group sharing ice cream with Rose, Marinette would’ve flagged her down for help.

“Yep. Juleka got it for me as a replacement present, you know, until I can pay for my new guitar.”

“Oh.” She forced a grin. “That’s… sweet of her.”

So no help from Juleka then. Maybe this wasn’t such a big deal. Maybe Luka would be an amazing kazoo player, and sweep her off her feet with his buzzing melody and help her forget all about Adrien and—

Yeah, even her normally-vivid daydream couldn’t paint that picture.

“It really is. She’s the best.” He smiled. She hadn’t heard him talk about Juleka often, honestly. It was a little weird to remember that he was her friend’s older brother, but Juleka hadn’t seemed to mind Luka showing an interest in her.

Well, unless the kazoo was more of a warning than a present. But that was branching into conspiracy theory territory.

“Are you going to play it, then?” she asked before she could lose her nerve. Maybe hearing the melody, even if just on the kazoo, would give her the answers her heart was looking for.

“Right.” He nodded and raised the blue piece of plastic to his lips.

She didn’t wince at the first high-pitched buzz. She might have just… cringed a little. Kazoos weren’t really meant to be played at close distance—at least that’s what she assumed, because could anyone really want to unironically listen to that?

The melody was… hard to pick out with all the screeching. She tried to smile through it—he’d written this for her, and it wasn’t really meant to be played on the kazoo—but then Marc and Nathaniel looked up in shock-slash-horror, and Mylene just about fumbled her ice cream into the river, and Juleka let out an uncharacteristically loud cackle.

Luka’s playing petered out with a sad doot doot. He still looked up at her expectantly.

And because he was staring at her, of course the rest of their group did too. Including Adrien, the green mint of his ice cream still staining his lower lip.

“Um… that was…” Marinette’s face burned as she sprung to her feet. “W-well! Look at that I have to go—buy a birthday present for my grandpa’s mouse!” Wait, had she used that one before? It didn’t matter, her legs were already wooshing her away, leaving only the cherry from the top of her ice cream behind.

She hurriedly shoved the rest of her ice cream into her mouth to cool her burning face. That was… probably an overreaction. Luka had just tried to play her a song. It wasn’t her that everyone else was laughing at.

A horrible feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t just the odd mix of raspberry and cotton candy ice cream. She should’ve stayed to cheer him up, right?

“Tikki, what’s wrong with me?” She groaned, dropping her forehead against the side of the alley. “Why did I run away like that? I probably made Luka hate me!”

The kwami flew out from her purse. “I don’t think he can hate you, Marinette. He still liked you even when he knew you were in love with Adrien.”

“For some reason.” She sighed.

“Do you want him to like you?” Tikki prodded gently.

“I don’t… I don’t know.” She bonked her head against the wall again. Ow. “He likes me, and he’s nice, and we… have absolutely nothing in common.”

There. She admitted it. They both liked Jagged Stone, but lots of people liked Jagged Stone.

(Adrien liked Jagged Stone. He’d asked for her autograph, and she’d just about melted.)

What she felt with Luka was nothing like that. It was nervous usually, until he started playing his guitar. The chords, if simple, were still soothing.

“Did I just think he made me comfortable because he played the guitar? Am I really that shallow?”

“Of course you aren’t.” Tikki rubbed her cheek to hers. “A boy liked you, and it sounds like you liked him at least a little bit. Even if it was mostly because he played guitar.”

Marinette groaned.

“But now he plays the kazoo and I don’t want to hear his song! And I really can’t think of anything else we have to talk about. And I won’t go on dates with him and move on from Adrien and I’ll end up old and alone with a tarantula instead of a hamster and—”

“Marinette, you know that’s not going to happen.” Tikki patted her face again. “There are plenty of other boys besides Adrien and Luka. And you don’t have to move on with a boy. You have plenty of time to just be you. Maybe that’s for the best, with you being the guardian now.”

“Don’t remind me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. She wished she had someone to rely on as the guardian. Luka had been there that one time when she couldn’t take it anymore, but she couldn’t actually tell him anything. If only she could talk to…

“Chat Noir,” she whispered, eyes going wide.

“What?”

She paced back and forth across the width of the alley. “I want to talk to Chat. I can do that now, can’t I? I’m the guardian. No, but Master Fu did what he did for a reason. I can’t go sharing important secrets. But if Fu did tell us more maybe we could’ve protected him better.”

“Um, Marinette—”

“Either way he’s gone and I don’t know what to do, Tikki! He didn’t finish teaching me everything and here I am worried because of a boy playing the kazoo!”

She spun, breaths coming too quickly, hoping to hear Tikki’s words of wisdom to help her calm down.

Instead, she came face to face with Adrien. Adrien, whose eyes were practically bugging out of his head. A cute smear of ice cream still clung to his parted lips. That was easier to focus on than the fact that he’d almost certainly heard every word she said to Tikki.

His mouth opened and closed again. “Uh.”

“Oh no.”

“You’re…!”

“No, no, of course I’m not!” She waved her arms frantically. Tikki’d had the sense to dive back into her purse, but the damage was already done.

“You’re Ladybug,” he breathed. “It’s you. Of course it’s you.”

Tears pricked her eyes. One day into being the guardian, and she’d already let someone figure out her secret identity! And it was Adrien, and while she thought he could keep a secret, she couldn’t ignore the incident with the beret, and if he told anyone and that awful future happened—

“Marinette, hey, hey, it’s alright.” He stepped towards her, too close, not close enough. “I’m not going to tell anyone. I swear. I—I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and then I heard and I can’t unhear and—please don’t be mad.”

He looked down at her with such a distraught expression, she couldn’t imagine him ever breaking that oath.

“I’m not mad at you, Adrien.” She bit her lip and looked down, afraid she might actually start crying if she had to see his pain any longer. Which was ridiculous, because it was her identity that was compromised. “You were just trying to help, and—and it’s my fault for not being careful enough.”

Her voice choked. His arm reached towards her, hesitated, fell back to his side. Of course he wouldn’t pull her into the hug that she craved. He was dating Kagami now; it was surprising enough that he’d left her just to come make sure she was alright. He really was a wonderful friend.

Maybe that was all she needed right now.

“It’s not your fault, my—Marinette.” He swallowed. “It could’ve happened to either of us.”

“Yes, but it’s not a big deal if someone finds out you once used the snake miraculous. Nearly all of the other heroes were compromised yesterday, anyway.”

Her fault again. She was back to square one, just her and Chat Noir against the world… and possibly Adrien too. He hadn’t been revealed yesterday. Maybe it would be worth it to give him a miraculous again?

He laughed awkwardly. “Yeah. Of course.”

“So… yeah.” She nodded. “I’m just going to. Go home now.”

Where she could cry in peace and Tikki could lecture her and she could find someone else to pass off the miracle box to because clearly she wasn’t ready, only there was no one else who could possibly do it except maybe Chat Noir, and he didn’t deserve that kind of pressure either, and—

“Marinette, wait.”

This time Adrien did grab her hand. She did her best to control her flush.

“I know you didn’t want me to know, but… I’m still your friend, okay? You can tell me anything. Especially now, if you need someone to lean on…”

She did. Oh, she did, and any other day she would leap headfirst into that offer.

But all she could think of now was Adrien smiling softly as he wiped ice cream from Kagami’s cheek. It wasn’t like he couldn’t still be her friend when he was dating someone else, but she wasn’t sure her heart could take trusting him with all of her secrets except the one she’d actually wanted to tell.

She loved him. Even now, knowing he had just become a threat to her identity, she loved him.

And it was too late to say it.

“Thank you, but I’d actually rather talk to Chat Noir right now. I hope you’ll understand.”

He blinked and opened his mouth before shaking his head. “Right. Of course. I’m glad you trust him.”

“I do.” She looked towards the sliver of sky above the alley as hope blossomed in her. She did trust Chat. He would be able to help her through this, just like he’d supported her during Miracle Queen’s short reign. “I wish he’d been the first to know my identity, but if anyone else had to… I’m glad it’s you, you know. I lo—I trust you too.”

Really? Now she almost said it? He didn’t seem to notice, though. His expression softened into a smile.

“Thank you, Marinette. That means a lot to me.”

She smiled back, palm braced against the alley wall to make up for the weakness in her knees.

“Oh, um—is Luka alright?” She barely remembered to ask. It was probably the least of her worries, but it was still worth checking. “I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. The whole kazoo thing was just—I was so embarrassed and I ran away without thinking. He was just trying to be nice, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t like it.”

“You never seemed to have a problem telling that to Chat Noir,” he said. Was that a hint of… jealousy she detected in his voice? No way; she had to be imagining that.

“That’s because I know Chat Noir. He knows I don’t return his feelings…” she trailed off, blinking at the ground.

Chat had been the first person she wanted to talk to when she was upset. The one who always supported her, who knew all her weaknesses and flaws and still looked at her like she’d hung the moon in the sky. Who wouldn’t hesitate to risk everything for her, who trusted her even when she was wrong but was always, always there to make things right.

He was the one who called her his Lady. He was the one whose hug felt like home.

“Marinette?” Adrien asked.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Oh?”

She looked up and met his eyes, and before she knew it, she was confessing to the wrong crush.

“I think I’m in love with Chat Noir.”

#fic tag #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #luka #tali writes #kazooka #humor #believe it or not this isnt really crack

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catboymingi · 3 years

Text

poisoned apple - veninder chap. 11

navi/masterlist

story masterlist

pairing: mingi x reader

genre: angst, fluff; best friends to lovers

word count: 5.6k

warnings: a little language, non-consensual kissing, insecurities

camilla har hadet mig / lige siden at jeg lavede dig / det’ ik’ camilla jeg’ forelsket i - camilla hated me / ever since i got with you / it’s not camilla i’m in love with

you noticed that mingi had chosen the wrong recipe soon after, because it started talking about bread when you hadn’t intended to bake bread, and though he wanted to apologise you wouldn’t let him, pecking his cheek as you told him it was okay and that from then on it was mainly guessing and that you’d be able to improvise a cake, smiling brightly as you put the different coloured layers in one by one because you were kind of convinced the colour would become a weird, mushy brown if you tried to layer now already, even though that most likely wouldn’t have been the case. but neither of you was good at baking and you had all the time in the world, so layer after layer was baked, and then you had to attach them to each other with frosting, and then you put frosting on the outside of the cake and each other’s faces, and then mingi got out his secret weapon, a couple of birthday candles he’d bought for this occasion, telling you “happy 1 month” on the cake as he kissed you again, still shy but still so sweet, and this time he tasted like lemon frosting.

“you’re sweet too”, you informed him after you licked the remainders of lemon frosting that he’d left on your mouth off your lips, and he smiled awkwardly, so adorable that this time it was you who pecked his lips because you couldn’t stop yourself, even though you were shy, too.

“muruni”, a fond whisper as you looked up at him, eyes so full of adoration that he almost wanted to cry with happiness.

“murusi”, he confirmed, his arms around your waist while yours were around his neck.

“are we allowed to get food again or are you still busy?”, yeosang’s voice interrupted your loving staring into each other’s eyes, reminding you that you’d blocked the entire kitchen for several hours now.

“sorry, come in!”, though you wouldn’t let go of your boyfriend, just turning around in his arms so they were connected in front of your body rather than on your back and putting your hands on top of his to keep him in place.

“how’s the cake going?”, the smaller boy (though he was still a little taller than you) asked, getting some water as he stayed in the kitchen with you to talk a little.

“we haven’t tried yet”, you admitted, and mingi told him: “if this wasn’t because she’s managed to stick with me for a month i’d offer you to try.”

“i don’t think i want to risk trying that anyway”, yeosang teased, and if you hadn’t held the tall red-haired goofball’s hands in front of your body he probably would have started a food war with his friend because this was your anniversary cake and it had to be good and implying it wasn’t was an insult to his manliness.

“i want to risk trying that”, you informed your boyfriend before you’d find yourself having to comfort an angry mingi because someone dared to insult his cake, and his face lit up because at least there was someone that appreciated his baking.

so he quickly got out the dishes needed and the two of you brought your things to the table, sitting down next to each other with the tall boy saying he’d feed you if that’s okay, “for maximum cake enjoyment” as he claimed, because he was your boyfriend now and while feeding you was a boyfriend thing that wouldn’t have to stop him anymore.

despite the process having been a mess and despite both of you still looking like you fell into the dough during preparations the cake was good, very filling but very good, and you put the rest of it into the fridge as you started cleaning up, something that was very much needed because you’d not been able to control yourselves and your silliness during the baking and left a whole mess that you couldn’t have the other boys deal with if you didn’t want them to make it impossible for mingi to have a restful sleep, always fearing they’d come have him deal with the consequences. plus, you didn’t want to have them deal with your mess because it wasn’t exactly kind, and cleaning up with your boyfriend proved to be fun, actually, almost as fun as causing the mess, something he’d never admit out loud but that he did agree on.

it felt like your relationship continued to be perfect, despite the anxiety you still dealt with, despite knowing that your friends would try to ruin it at any moment. he was kind, he was gentle, he made sure everything was always as perfect as it could be, and he kept his cute notes and his cute dates up, he acted even cuter now that you were still dating, kissing your cheek randomly and kissing your mouth once he’d realised he was allowed to do that even in public and constantly wanting to be around you. it was almost annoying, but the two of you were still your own individuals, still spent time apart, were trying hard not to become one of those annoying couples that only ever cared about each other and nothing else. you continued your pyjama parties - that had become a biweekly happening because it was just so fun -, you continued getting lunch with the boys and engaging in their stories just as much as they engaged in yours, you continued acting like best friends that just so happened to also kiss every now and then. and were you anything else, really? your relationship had a label, but not too much had changed - you’d been close and touchy before you started dating, too. it was just an upgrade to what you’d already had, really.

it was mainly owed to this that the boys weren’t uncomfortable or upset at all about the new (or at this point not so new) development, even though you were stuck to each other every time you were somewhere together, refusing to not be touching in some way. mingi had admitted to them, once, in their group chat late at night when they’d been teasing him, that he was scared you’d run from him or vanish into thin air if he wasn’t touching you in some way, grounding himself in some way, and though it wasn’t very logical it was very cute, so they accepted it, thinking the way he was always asking you to be on his lap was adorable.

they could see it made you happy, too, being so close to your boyfriend all the time, being held whenever he had the chance, so they could complain even less. they still remembered the way you’d looked and acted in the beginning of your friendship and even after that party whose only achievement had been getting mingi to finally confess his feelings, and they didn’t want to see you anxious like that ever again.

they didn’t know about the anxiety you had deep inside you, though, hidden away from even your boyfriend.

you’d agreed on a date, mingi and you, at a café, a study date, and he arrived before you because he was closer when you’d agreed on the time and because he’d bought you a tiny teddy bear that he wanted to give to you because he was still your teddy bear even though he was also muru now, a small token of his affection, something you’d be able to hold when he wasn’t there, a small portable mingi.

there he was, waiting, excited to give you the little bear, but before you arrived one of your old friends did, coming over to him and sitting down next to him, giving him that fake smile he’d come to hate.

“you’re really trying to be a good boyfriend, huh?”, asking with an awfully sweet voice that made him want to run because he knew this meant trouble. he kept looking to the door, not wanting to give away too much but wanting her to leave because you’d come any moment now and he didn’t want her to still be there when you’d be coming in.

but she just kept talking, telling him how she wished you’d respected her dibs back then because he really was very handsome and a real sweetheart, too, from the looks of it, and she’d just love to ruin him someday. he wanted her gone, immediately, but he didn’t want to physically hurt her, he wasn’t like that, he wasn’t the kind to get physical towards girls or anyone, really. maybe he should have at least pushed her further away from him, though, because suddenly she leaned in and pressed her lips on his, kissed him when he had shown in absolutely no way that he’d ever be interested in that, she just kissed him and he was so shocked that it took him a moment to realise what was happening and to push her away. and that moment was enough for you to come in, to see it, and to turn around on your heel because you couldn’t stand to see this, couldn’t stand to see him, in that moment.

so instead of going on that sweet date with him almost two months into your relationship you went home to cry and think that your relationship was over now, because there was no way he’d ever want to be with you when things like this happened.

you cried and ignored your phone, ignored the messages you got from mingi, from the group chat, from the boys, ignored mingi’s calls, too, just cried and showered and put on your softest pyjamas and cried some more, looking like a raccoon because you couldn’t be bothered to really wipe off all the makeup you’d worn and you’d just half-assedly gotten rid of the worst of it in the shower. you hated life, you hated this, you hated everything, you wanted a hug but you didn’t know what to do because if your relationship with mingi was over now your friendship with the boys would have to end, too, just like you’d told mingi during that very first confession, and it scared you, horrified you to think that you’d be entirely alone. you wanted nothing more than to just sleep and wake up and realise all this had just been a bad dream.

eventually, though, you did open your messages, reading all the worried “y/n??”s and telling the boys you were okay before replying to mingi, or rather ignoring what he’d said, ignoring his worried messages and just telling him that you needed to talk.

[10/10 halattava]: ill come over rn, okay?

[y/n]: okay

and then you waited, waited for your now still boyfriend but soon maybe ex, trying not to cry because you’d hate it if he saw you crying your eyes out as soon as he arrived.

mingi was there soon after, knocking on your door and waiting patiently for you to let him in, which you did wordlessly, and as soon as he entered you made your way to the bed, not wanting to stand next to him awkwardly and not wanting to risk him trying to kiss you. he noticed the way you were avoiding him, and even though he wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t try to make you do anything. he just wanted to know what was wrong, but he also felt like he had something to come clean about.

“i know you wanted to talk, but i have something to tell you, too”, he said quietly, feeling so guilty about what had happened earlier even though he’d pushed the girl away immediately. he wanted to tell you. he had to tell you. but he wanted to give you the option to speak your mind first.

you didn’t seem to want to, though, looking at him with a pained expression when you asked him “what is it?”, and he felt like you already knew. but still, he had to tell you, he wanted to be open and honest and fair with you, he wanted you to hear it from his mouth, not anyone else’s.

“i have a teddy bear for you”, remembering the little gift he’d gotten for you to give you today, holding it up for you to see, “but that’s not important, just… sorry. your friend kissed me today. and i let her, at first. i’m sorry.”

he heard you sigh, and he wanted to explain himself to you, wanted to tell you just what and how it had happened, but the choice of how many details and how many excuses you wanted to hear was yours. this was what had happened, objectively. there was nothing that would change this fact.

“why’d you let her?”

“i was shocked. i didn’t really realise what she was doing at first, you know? so i didn’t push her away as fast as i should have.”

and you believed him. the fact that he’d told you without you confronting him, and the fact that he hadn’t tried to make any excuses first thing, it showed you all you had to know. and while of course you weren’t feeling good about it you weren’t angry at him; how could you be? especially with how the people that used to be your friends had been acting in general - you knew that even if he hadn’t been so surprised he couldn’t have stopped her from giving him at least a small peck. no, you weren’t angry at him, but you couldn’t help but be scared that he was going to leave you, not for her, but in general. that he was going to be tired of all the issues your past bad decisions in the friend department brought into your relationship.

and he could tell that you were worried about something, though he wasn’t sure what exactly. he didn’t know whether or not you were angry, so instead of coming to sit right next to you as he usually did he asked you if you wanted him to leave, because as much as he wanted to be close to you he didn’t want his presence to cause you any hurt. you shook your head, though, vigorously, not wanting him to leave, not when you were scared that if he did he wouldn’t come back.

“come here”, you all but begged him, and he immediately complied, sitting down on the bed next to you and opening his arms so you could have him hold you, if you wanted to. and you did, all but climbing into his lap, holding on to him as if your life depended on it.

“i’m sorry.” he held you tight, feeling that there was something really wrong, and even though it may have been selfish he wanted to be the one to comfort you. so he said it again, “i’m sorry”, murmured against your hair.

“don’t”, you told him, moving away from him just enough to be able to look at him, hands still grabbing at him with all your power, “i’m not angry.” and because you could tell by the look on his face that he was confused, you elaborated: “i’m not angry at you, really. i’m just scared that it’s too much. for you, i mean. that you’ll go find someone who won’t cause all these problems.” your voice cracked during that last sentence and it broke his heart.

“i won’t. i won’t go find someone else, i don’t want to go find someone else. even if things are all rainbows and butterflies with them all the time, i don’t care. because i’m not in love with anyone else, i’m i-”

he found himself surprised when you put a hand on his mouth with an unexpected force, stopping him from telling you what part of you longed to hear but what you didn’t want to hear now.

“don’t say that. please.”

he nodded and you slowly took your hand away, scared he might still say it. but he didn’t, instead looking at you with softness, but also worry in his eyes.

“what’s wrong? are you okay?”

you nodded slowly, trying to think of a way to explain why you’d reacted like that.

“i’m sorry, it’s just… i don’t want you to say that when i’m scared you’re gonna leave me. i don’t want that to be the first time you say it.”

with anyone else, you’d be embarrassed about admitting this, but not with mingi, because he understood you, he knew how much all kinds of firsts meant to you, and if the current situation would taint this first for you he was going to wait with saying it. not being able to say it now would never make as much as a difference for him as him waiting until it felt right for you would make for you, and he accepted and respected that this was something you cared much much more about than he did, the ‘formalities’ of how things happened for the first time in your relationship. so instead of saying anything he pulled you closer again, pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head while he soothingly rubbed your arm.

“i’m not going to leave you, though. you’re stuck with me now.”

and even though you were still clinging on to him desperately he could feel you smile against the skin of his neck, and he smiled as well. this was all he could ask for, being the reason you were smiling, being the one to cheer you up when you were hurt or anxious, and as long as he could do that he definitely would.

“i still have the bear for you, angel. do you want him to join?”

you nodded against him, refusing to let go, so he tried carefully to fetch the bear from where he’d dropped him to the floor when he came over to hold you tight, leaning over and trying not to squish you, ending up in an incredibly awkward position, but it was better than having to kick you off his lap.

“this is small mingi”, he then informed you, showing you the little bear with a red bow, “and he’s going to cuddle with you when i have to sleep in my own bed by myself.”

“pikku mingi”, you told him, taking the little bear from his hands when he’d sat back up and pressing him tightly to your chest.

“hm?”

“it means really tiny mingi. that’s him”, holding the bear in front of his face so he could now take a look at pikku mingi, as if he hadn’t seen him before.

“this is our child”, you continued, stroking the little bear as his apparent father looked at his new little family.

“i think i’d know if we got you pregnant”, he teased, and you covered pikku mingi’s ears as you hissed at him: “not in front of the baby!”

“sorry, sorry”, kissing your nose because he was glad you were joking now, though it was very obviously jokes to distract yourself from how bad you’d felt just a moment ago.

“i have the best family in the world”, kissing the bear’s head before leaning in to kiss you, offering some comfort through his soft touch and the adoration you were able to feel whenever he kissed you.

“you’re the best”, you whispered against him, holding him close because you didn’t want even a single centimetre to be between the two of you. “you’re beautiful and you’re the best.”

even though it was you who needed the comfort right now he was glad you were still obviously happy to be with him, because that was something he feared quite often, that you’d get tired of being with him because of the issues it brought. he had much of the same fears as you, fearing the other would leave because things were hard the way they were right now and because you didn’t know how to make things easier, fearing that things would be over way too soon just because you’d rather not risk getting hurt.

“you’re beautiful”, he countered, a small peck to your lips again, “you’re beautiful”, peck, “kind”, peck, “and amazing”, kiss.

his hands were in your hair, in your incredibly red hair, and yours were in his incredibly red hair, and you decided you wanted to wash his hair now.

“let’s wash your hair”, you half suggested, half ordered, and he nodded.

“i want to wash your hair because it’s so soft.”

“with shampoo? will i smell like you?”

he was excited about that thought, about the thought of smelling like you even if it would make the colour fade more easily if you added shampoo.

“if you want”, smiling at your beautiful boyfriend, and he most definitely did want, nodding at you with his bright red hair bobbing up and down as he moved his head.

you moved off his lap, putting pikku mingi on your bed and patting his little head before you got out the dyeing towel and moved to the bathroom, telling him to take off his shirt as you already turned on the water, making sure the temperature was nice before he’d get in, asking him to feel if the temperature was okay before he’d lean in.

“it’s good”, he confirmed, then leaned over on all fours, the head and half his upper body in your shower as you kneeled next to him on the cold tiles of your bathroom floor.

“i’ll wash your hair now”, soft ministrations as you ran your fingers through his hair, made sure to wash it decently, massaging his scalp with the shampoo as he smiled with his eyes closed, enjoyed the feeling of your hands in his hair.

“done”, you let him know as you dried his upper body first, then put a little towel turban on his head so he wouldn’t drip all over your floor, and he smiled at you brightly when he sat up.

“can i hire you as my hairdresser?”, he asked and you smiled, glad he’d enjoyed it at least as much as you’d enjoyed playing with his hair.

“if you want i can blow dry it”, you offered, the last option you had for playing hairdresser now that his hair was washed and he didn’t want a new haircut, and he nodded so enthusiastically that the towel turban fell off.

“okay, we can do that in my room again, sit down on the bed, i’ll be right there”, the short moment you’d promised turning into a slightly longer moment as you looked for the blow dryer, a machine you barely ever used yourself because it didn’t exactly make your curls look the way you wanted them to. but then you’d found it and joined your boyfriend in your bed after you’d plugged it in, smiling widely at his excited expression as you ran your fingers through his wet hair, ignoring how small drops landed on your blanket. this was domestic, this was nice, and you didn’t want to be sad. so you dried his hair, and then you cuddled, and then you talked some more about the anxiety both of you held deep inside you, because you knew ignoring it wouldn’t work out and would only make things worse, and he promised that you were the only one for him and you told him that you’d never want anyone else and you agreed to try and talk about your fears when they arose, and to always tell each other about everything you thought might be tell-worthy, and then you kissed each other, he was on top of you and tickling you a little to make you laugh and then he was kissing your smile and your entire face, and when he was so tired that he near collapsed on top of you you switched positions so that you were on top of him, clinging to his large, soft body, and you fell asleep like this, pikku mingi on his chest, in your arms and with his arm wrapped around the two of you, his little family.

much to your old friends’ dismay did their little stunt not actually ruin your relationship with mingi, quite the opposite, and instead of causing a fuss he went up to the girl that had kissed him the next day, telling her that she must have missed it but that he was dating you, so he was very sorry to have to let her down, sending the same fake smile her way she’d always send your way, you holding mingi’s hand the entire time to make obvious just how ridiculous it was to think that she’d missed it, and by now your coursemates had caught on to the girls wanting to ruin your life, something there wasn’t really proof for yet but something that definitely was the case, and something that caused others to avoid them because everyone remembered how you’d always tried to be nice even when the girls had been horrible, staying behind to make sure their victims were okay, and now you were their victim, something that got you sympathy and the girls even more negative attention than they were used to. and by showing that even being their friend wouldn’t keep you safe if you acted wrong other people seemed to realise that trying to act nice towards them wouldn’t help.

and, what you were proudest of, the way mingi stood up to them seemed to motivate other people to stand up for themselves, too, so that their little empire where you didn’t even know how they’d managed to build it was starting to crumble, slowly, but you saw, you noticed, you noticed how their fake smiles slowly faded more and more. and you had mingi there to celebrate the small victories with you, the moments you managed to stand up for yourself. you were so grateful for him, for the boys, for these people that genuinely supported you all the time, supported your dreams and what you wanted for your life.

“angel?”, one of the boys in question interrupted your thinking during lunch at their place on the saturday of yet another pyjama party, “i was wondering if you’d like to do something on monday. you can choose what we do, too.”

monday was the two months anniversary, something you were so glad you’d reached, and of course you’d like to do something with him then. though you didn’t exactly have any ideas - what was there to do that you hadn’t already done?

“can you pick? surprise me again. i’m bad at deciding”, you asked him with the biggest puppy eyes and he nodded, kissing your cheek quickly because he couldn’t resist, because you were so cute and he was so absolutely in love with you.

“i’ll think of something”, and lunch continued with everyone joking, and then you had the pyjama party with so many games that you were becoming better and better at, and at night, when you were in mingi’s arms again, he kissed your head and told you: “let’s go to the zoo. we haven’t done that yet.”

“let’s go to the zoo”, you replied, nuzzling close to his chest because you were exhausted, wanted to sleep in your teddy bear’s arms and not think about anything but how wonderful and warm and perfect he was.

“on monday”, he confirmed, and you hummed, and then he said goodnight, and you said goodnight, too, already half asleep, no longer holding on to the state of being alive once you’d said your goodnights, slipping away into the land of dreams just minutes after.

you spent the next days excited for your zoo date, near vibrating on monday during lunch, wanting nothing more than to just leave already but you couldn’t, had to go to your class first, but at least he’d pick you up in front of your classroom and then you’d go right away. you’d come to university a little dressed up for this occasion, because you wanted to look good for your anniversary, and as the boys had noticed on your last anniversary it was impossible for you to not be smothering each other in love, so this time they knew not to expect anything different. it was kind of cute, too, seeing you be so absolutely in love with each other.

it was even cuter when you kissed mingi goodbye after lunch and almost hurried to your class like a schoolgirl, wanting for it to be over as soon as possible so you’d get to go on the date with your boyfriend that he’d planned for you and that the boys had secretly gotten the mission to supply the food for because some of them had shorter class than you did so they had the chance to go get something, and because it was two of their closest friends they’d gladly supply the food even when they wouldn’t get to share it. they wanted your happiness just as much as you two wanted each other to be happy, and they’d become your biggest hype squad and, sometimes, on very rare occasions, personal therapists.

you mainly messaged san, still a little closer to him than to the other boys, asking if mingi had ever hinted at not wanting to be with you when they were alone, because while he always seemed so happy to be with you you also knew he was good at acting and it scared you a little, and mingi messaged yunho or their group chat to ask about how to make everything perfect for you even when you just came over to dye his hair. he always wanted to be perfect for you, and sometimes those screenshots were used as evidence by san to let you know that, while he understood your worries, there was absolutely zero reason to ever worry about mingi not liking you at all.

today, however, no secret receipts of mingi being whipped as hell for you were needed - you were excited, you were happy, and you’d told mingi to take care of pikku mingi for the night because you wanted him to join you on your date but didn’t trust the girls to not break him if he was in your bag, something he gladly did, taking care of his little son and making sure he had the most comfortable time in his bag.

and then class was over, and mingi was standing in front of your classroom, smiling at you brightly with a small hand-picked bouquet of flowers from the sidewalk because he hadn’t had the time to get you actual flowers, but he wanted to give you something. he was adorable, and people were secretly convinced you were the cutest couple ever just because you were always so genuinely happy to be around each other.

and when mingi kissed you, only one arm wrapped around you to not smash the so carefully hand-picked flowers, your smile was so bright that no one on the entire planet could ever doubt that you were absolutely in love with him.

“let’s go, muruni”, taking the flowers and his hand and dragging him along with you even though you didn’t know the way. you knew how to get out of university, at least.

he knew the rest of the way, luckily, so you arrived without getting lost, and then he got the tickets for you, something you would have complained about if it hadn’t been your anniversary and if he hadn’t looked so sweet with his now slightly faded hair - it was about time to redye it, something you’d do that night, you’d agreed - and if you weren’t so completely in love.

“which animals do you want to see first?”, showing you the options on the little map he’d gotten, and you again couldn’t decide, so you told him to just lead the way.

he gladly did, leading you from animal to animal, taking candid pictures of you and taking selfies together - one of those would be his new background picture - and kissing you whenever he felt like it, which was at least with every new animal.

you went on for ages, pointing at animals and saying how absolutely adorable they were and him thinking that none would ever be able to be more adorable than you were, even when you looked so scary on the outside.

you’d reached the pandas now, and it seemed like these were your favourites so far, judging by your expression and how excited you seemed to be. “these are so cute!”, you told him, pointing at the bears, and he couldn’t help but grin widely, and when you said, voice full of adoration and excitement: “i love them!”, he saw his chance, pulling you close by your waist to kiss you and whispering against your lips: “can i say it?”

“say what?”, because you weren’t really sure what he meant, confused and too excited about all the cute animals and your cute boyfriend being right next to you, so close to you with his beautiful eyes focusing on you, your face, your every expression.

“what you just said. but to you”, and then you realised, a smile breaking out on your face as you nodded, pecking his lips quickly, and then he said it, those magical words that he’d almost burst out so often but always stopped himself.

“i love you”, he told you, still so close to you that you could feel his breath on your lips, forehead against yours, and “i love you, too”, you replied.

this moment was perfect, he decided as he lifted you up into his arms to kiss you with your legs around his waist, ignoring the cute pandas for a moment, because he loved you and you loved him, too.

14 notes · View notes

gstqaobc · 4 years

Text

CBC THE ROYAL FASCINATOR

Friday, October 23, 2020

Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox.

Janet DavisonRoyal Expert

The lessons of becoming Diana in The Crown

(Ollie Upton/Netflix)

For Emma Corrin, preparing to take on the role of Diana, Princess of Wales, in The Crown was something of a psychology lesson. The 24-year-old actor assumed the part knowing full well those watching her arrival next month in Season 4 of the Netflix drama will already have well-established impressions of a member of the Royal Family who grew from "Shy Di" to one of the most photographed celebrities and fashion icons of recent times. Those existing impressions made assuming the role “incredibly daunting,” Corrin said in an interview from London. It helped once she got the script and saw the story. But there was also considerable work with a coach on “understanding the psychology behind a lot of what was happening.” And a lot of what was happening to Diana was “incredibly unnatural and quite intense,” Corrin said. At the age of 19, Diana Spencer moved from an apartment she shared with friends in West London into Buckingham Palace after her engagement to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and a man 13 years her senior. Diana thought “it was going to be the best event of her life and that they were going to live happily ever after, but then [she discovered] he was with another woman,” Corrin said. Along with that, there was the pressure that comes from being a royal in the public eye. “All of these are very extraordinary circumstances, really, for someone to be operating in,” said Corrin. “These things that she was exposed to come with a whole lot of pressures that affect someone’s mentality, and that was really interesting.” Even so, there are still all those impressions viewers will have before they catch their first glimpse of Diana when the new season of The Crown starts streaming on Nov. 15. And what if Corrin’s portrayal doesn’t match those impressions? Does that matter in trying to create a successful portrayal of such a well-known person? Not necessarily. “If you talk to actors who have to play a real person ... especially somebody that is so world famous and familiar as Diana — [the challenge comes] because audiences are expecting that actress to look and sound just like the real thing,” said Bill Brioux, a longtime television columnist and commentator. He looks no further than the actor holding the central role on The Crown for Seasons 3 and 4 as an example of overcoming that challenge. “I think Olivia Colman [as Queen Elizabeth] has shown that you don’t have to be a carbon copy, that you might capture a nuance or an essence of someone,” Brioux said. “Certainly, Colman spent a lot of The Crown looking surprised and perplexed, you know, aghast at times.” And we certainly aren’t used to seeing the Queen looking that way in public. “So I think it will be interesting to see how Diana is received,” Brioux said. As she prepared for the role, Corrin said she became overwhelmed “by the amount of factual information out there about her and also … the thought that I would be portraying someone so well-known." Corrin said she “started work on her mannerisms and her behaviour and figuring out why she did the things she did or what she would feel about certain situations that I was going to be acting. “ Corrin also spoke to Patrick Jephson, Diana’s private secretary. “He knew her very well and was able to provide a lot of insight, which was wonderful.” With Diana, Brioux suggested, there may be more pressure on an actor than if the portrayal was of a person not so well-known. “People all have their own expectations of Diana in their minds,” he said. “You’re going to disappoint a lot of people no matter what you do, so hat’s off to this actress for taking it on. “I think that there’s potential, though, if you come close, to get a lot of rave reviews because everyone knows the subject and that’s how they’ll judge it."

For more on Corrin’s experiences preparing for the role, click here.

A rare day out for the Queen — and no mask

(Ben Stansall/Reuters)

Royal visits can typically give the royal guest the opportunity to see some cutting-edge technology or to meet individuals being recognized for their work or volunteer efforts in helping others in their community. But Queen Elizabeth’s first major public engagement since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March offered more than a chance for her to visit a new defence research centre west of London and check out the latest in explosives detection. The visit to Porton Down, where scientists are also helping in the response to the pandemic, seemed designed to offer a larger symbolism. “I think it was a really important message for her to send that even though … we’ve been in lockdown and we’re facing new restrictions, the Queen was still able to meet people involved in the COVID response,” Roya Nikkhah, a royal correspondent for the Sunday Times newspaper, told the CBC’s Renee Filippone. Still, the visit, which the 94-year-old carried out alongside her grandson, Prince William, sparked questions — and criticism — because neither of them was wearing a mask at a time when Britons must wear face coverings in stores and other indoor spaces. Those involved in the visit were physically distanced, and Buckingham Palace said safety protocols were followed. Reuters reported that staff at the research centre had been tested for COVID-19 before the visit. “Every precaution that could be taken was taken,” said Nikkhah. “That’s why the Queen didn’t have to wear a mask.” Royal author Robert Jobson told the Daily Mail that Elizabeth was sending a “message of confidence to the people.” “She’s going back to work, she'll go about her business in the usual way, but without taking chances. She is reassuring the public that things must go on as normal, wherever it is safe to do so.” The Queen has spent much of the time since the pandemic struck in isolation at Windsor Castle, considered to be her favourite residence. She has returned there recently after spending a few weeks with Prince Philip at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and a shorter period on her Sandringham estate northeast of London. Throughout the pandemic, Elizabeth has conducted official duties via video or over the phone, and made two appearances within the walls of Windsor Castle — one for a considerably scaled-down recognition of her official birthday in June, and one to bestow a knighthood on Capt. Tom Moore, a 100-year-old honoured for his charity fundraising. Still, it’s unlikely there will be many other outings like her trip to Porton Down anytime soon. “I think [it] was probably a bit of a one-off,” Nikkhah said. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her on public engagements.”

A new portrait for Canada

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images/Government of Canada)

There is also considerable symbolism on display in Queen Elizabeth’s new official Canadian portrait. While the portrait is new to the public, the photo itself was taken more than a year ago, in March 2019 at Windsor Castle, by royal photographer Chris Jackson. He shared it on social media late last week. In the portrait, the Queen is wearing her Canadian insignia as sovereign of the Order of Canada, Jackson said, along with the Order of Military Merit. The diamond and blue sapphire necklace and earrings she is wearing were a wedding day gift from her father, King George VI, in November 1947, and were worn during her five-day trip to Canada in 1990. Jackson said on Instagram that it was an “incredible honour” to have the opportunity to photograph the Queen for the portrait. “I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Canada many times now with members of the Royal Family and have the fondest memories of the people I’ve met.”

Royally quotable

"My family and I knew nothing about it and were at a loss to know how we could help alleviate the terrible pain she suffered."

— Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,

reflects on her mother’s death from osteoporosis

26 years ago, and went on this week to note the “huge strides” made since then in treatment and research into the disease.

Royals in Canada

(Hans Deryk/The Canadian Press)

When Charles and Diana came to Canada in late October 1991, it was the last trip they made to the country together. And in ways it was two visits in one for the couple, whose collapsing marriage was under intense media scrutiny at the time, as they went their separate ways for much of the seven-day sojourn.

One stop for Diana in Toronto took her to Casey House, a hospice for people who have AIDS.

“Diana had just begun to venture into the issue of AIDS, then repellent to much of society, but it was still surprising that she chose to see a hospice full of very ill people rather than some less harrowing AIDS setting,” Casey House founder June Callwood

wrote in Maclean’s magazine

after Diana’s death in 1997.

Callwood had a mixed view of Diana, but that visit to Casey House, where she sat and visited with hospice residents, left a lasting impression.

Diana “wanted nothing less than to change the world for the better,” Callwood wrote. “And perhaps she did. On that lovely afternoon … she made everyone at a small AIDS hospice in Toronto feel worthwhile. That’s quite a gift.”

Our friends at CBC Archives have taken a closer look at the 1991 visit, which was also the first time both William and Harry went with their parents on a foreign trip.

Royal reads

1. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, says she

avoids speaking about controversial topics

in an attempt to ensure she doesn’t put her family at risk. She also says she’s been told that in 2019, she was the

“most trolled person in the entire world.”

[BBC, The Guardian]

2. More than 60 years after Queen Elizabeth gave a pair of swans to a city in Florida,

it has sold off three dozen of their descendants

in a bid to ease a crisis in overpopulation of the birds. [The Independent]

3. Thirty years after Diana laid a ceremonial foundation stone for a cancer hospital, her son William

did the same

. [The Daily Mail]

4. Dutch King Willem-Alexander says he

regrets going to Greece for a holiday

after he and his family were criticized for taking a trip during the pandemic. [BBC]

Cheers!

I’m always happy to hear from you. Send your ideas, comments, feedback and notes to

[email protected]

. Problems with the newsletter? Please let me know about any typos, errors or glitches.

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crimsonfacets · 3 years

Note

💘 Jiggies this in here for the demon wifes uwu

send me 💘 + A SHIP and i’ll tell you—

where they first met and how

When Vaggie fell into Hell, she was drowning in a sea of tormented souls. It was a nightmare, and it was very, very painful. Charlie was the one who helped pull her to the surface and the first to hold her, as well as comfort her. It was a very impactful first meeting that led to Vaggie forming a very powerful trust in Charlie from the get-go, and for someone like her, that sort of thing is hard to achieve.

how long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involved

Long! Playful flirtations were part of their aesthetic, but of course, somewhere along the way, things got very, very real.

who fell for who first ( if applicable )

They’re a tale as old as time in Hell, because both started falling just around the same time. I’m not sure what happened, but I feel as though some sort of event happened with the two of them that begun their slip into a very deep, very true love with one another. I think it’d be fun to figure out what exactly happened. :)c

where their first date was and what it was like

I feel like Charlie might have suggested a bowling alley due to being so flustered, so their first date was at one of the most flashy and theatric bowling alleys in the First Ring. A very neon-palette place! Very fun, honestly. Vaggie wasn’t too sure about it since she’d never been bowling before, but they ended up having a blast! Vaggie even asked what took them both so long to do this.

Afterwards, they both went for a drive to one of the best lookout points in Pentagram City and spent a few hours sitting atop the limo just.. snuggled up, and talking. Razzle and Dazzle wrapped them up with a shared blanket before leaving them to have their privacy. It was really nice, and they both just flatout fell asleep like that and woke up in Charlie’s room.

who asks who out and how ( with a sign? spelled out on a cake? just a simple ‘will you go out with me’? )

While I vibe with their canon story of them just having clicked together, I feel like after they both confessed, Charlie asked Vaggie out with panache; an enormous display of flowers formed into a heart with Vaggie’s name spelled out in the middle. Tons of stuffed toys and balloons. Cute cupcakes with little purple moths and goats on them. A bouquet of roses and being down on one knee.

Vaggie was very overwhelmed, but she loved it so much.

who proposes first

Charlie, for sure. Vaggie doesn’t have the confidence for it.

if they keep / kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away

Pfff, as if they’d keep their love a secret. They’re proud of their love and are not hiding it! Everyone knew they were an item almost right away. Vaggie was a little nervous when it came to Charlie’s parents though, but Lilith&Lucifer had already far accepted her as a member of the family unbeknownst to her. The friendship she’s had with Charlie has a history and a fond one at that, so she’s been in the Magne fold for quite some time now. It was no shock to either of them that they both wound up like this.

where the proposal happens and how ( kiss cam at a baseball game? on a hillside surrounded by ducks? at a disney park? )

On Vaggie’s birthday. Charlie always does Vaggie’s birthday up big, even if it’s a closed event with just the two of them, plus R&D. This time, Charlie’s taken Vaggie up top to the Mortal Realm and they’re having a wonderful dinner in a very luxurious suite at a hotel that Vaggie has always wanted to stay in but had the funds to. It’s a private event and it’s a dream.

Charlie uses her magic and she summons some fireworks to enchant her beloved, and while she’s distracted, she gets on one knee and takes out a very gorgeous ring in an onyx band. Vaggie immediately senses something is going on, something more than it seems, and glances down, and nearly jumps out of her skin before immediately having tears just pour down her cheeks as she covers her mouth.

When Charlie pops the question, she even uses Vaggie’s real name. Priscilla López.

Of course, Vaggie says yes after tackling Charlie and smothering her in teary, teary kisses.

if they adopt any pets together

Maybe in the future when things are more stabilized and less at risk. A pet’s a big responsibility and they’re both very busy girls right now who are constantly on the go, and neither are irresponsible. I think a pet that’s independent could be good for them if they both wanted one, like perhaps a very regal and very lethal Hell Feline that’s warmed up to the both of them and incredibly loyal, and very protective. THAT could be cute.

who’s more dominant

I feel like they switch, to be honest? One’s usually in the mood to take control, but they definitely have their moments where they’re both in the mood and “fight” for it lol.

where their first kiss was and what it was like

Akin to the proposal being on Vaggie’s birthday, I like to think it was on Charlie’s birthday when they first kissed, brought on by Vaggie. She stole her Princess away from the crowd and used the Witching Hour to take Charlie to the mortal realm for an hour. There, she kissed Charlie under the stars, and it blew her mind. ♥

if they have any matching couples stuff ( mugs? sweaters? pillowcases? )

They have so much of this already people STRUGGLE with ideas of what to get them for their wedding. They have cups, they have pillowcases, they have shirts, they have shoes, they have bracelets, they have dinnerware, they have SO MUCH. SO MUCH.

It’s obvious they’re really into this. Like, really into it. Very sappy couple.

how into pda they are

Incredibly. They do not care who sees them, they’re going to snog and snuggle in public as much as they want - they refuse to censor themselves or feel ashamed of their affections. It’s very common to see their arms linked, or seeing one wrapped around the other’s waist. Kisses and getting lost in one another’s attention is something they’re prone to do, Lilith bless ‘em.

who holds the umbrella when it rains

I feel like Charlie does this and Vaggie thinks it’s the sweetest thing. Leave it to her babe to always be prepared.

where their usual ‘date spot’ is ( if applicable )

Going with the first date, I think their fallback is that bowling alley for fun. It’s just an enjoyable locale overall where they can just kick back and enjoy the food, the fun and the atmosphere. There’s a skating rink conjoined to the place, so it’s not strictly bowling - they love to go skating, too!

This is subject to change of course if it’s not fitting for Charlie, it’s just what I drummed up. c: Essentially, a really neat Arcade in Hell.

No I am not imagining them taking their kids to the skating rink for the first time and skating as a family. No, I am not crying about it.

who’s more protective

Vaggie is incredibly protective (as the Pilot has shown us!), but when it comes to serious dangers, Charlie is the Princess of Hell and it shows. She’s kind, but she won’t let anyone disrespect her wife. You don’t take shit from other demons, and you certainly don’t let them treat your wife like it.

how long it is before they sleep together ( can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’ )

They’ve shared a bed before since the earlier days of their friendship! They’ve always been pretty comfortable together, even if the thought gave Charlie internal *BI PANIC*. When it comes to intimacy, however, they slipped during their friendship stage. They’d been good friends for a while (at least a year in) then suddenly whoops, they became friends with benefits after a little too much flirtation and a little too much sexual tension went overboard!

if they argue about anything

They have disagreements, but they never let it escalate into arguments. They hear each other out and they talk civil, handling it maturely. No emotional screaming, no misunderstandings.

who leaves more marks ( lipstick, hickeys, scratchmarks etc. )

Oh, Vaggie for sure. She absolutely adores marking what’s hers and letting the entire world know just who Charlie belongs to.

who steals whose clothes and how often

Charlie loves to steal Vaggie’s clothes, especially her jackets and coats. Their styles are different; Charlie’s formal and snappy, and Vaggie’s more stylish and on the gothic side. She’s a little obsessed with her white feather jacket, and Vaggie just thinks that’s adorable. Meanwhile, Vaggie adores wearing Charlie’s dress shirts as sleep shirts. ♥

how they cuddle ( spooning? facing each other? )

Tucked into one another. They like zero space between one another when they cuddle! One head beneath the other’s chin, limbs all wrapped around the other. A sentient knot with fingers lost in hair and lips pressed to the top of the other’s crown. If not like this, their faces are mushed together.

what their favourite nonsexual activity is

Besides affection? They really enjoy dancing together, and playing games where they get to be on the same team! They work very well together, if not sometimes losing focus because Charlie ends up goofing off and Vaggie ends up falling right after her lmao.

But, dancing. Dancing steals the top spot, for sure. They could get lost in dancing together easily, and lose sight of everything around them just as much.

how long they stay mad at each other

Not long at all. Feels bad, man. They refuse to go a day where they’re on the wrong foot, going to bed on bad terms just does not settle well in their book.

what their usual coffee / tea orders are

I feel like they both like their coffee the same; black with a few spoonfuls of sugar. It’s shocking because people expect Charlie to like it super sweet, but she needs that pep to last her through the day, and Vaggie’s the same exact way. The stronger, the better! But it always needs sugar because they love that sweet note. They’ll always have a dessert tagged with it too, though. It changes, from fresh baked snickerdoodles to eclairs.

Tea, on the other hand, changes. They experiment and are always trying new blends! They’ll usually get whatever the place is serving as House rec. As a default though for home, they do enjoy their Darjeeling. Also, these girls take their tea time very seriously, especially when it’s been a chaotic week.

if they ever have any children together

Eventually, yes! Vaggie has her own issues to get through first; she’s not sure she could be worth a damn as a mother since her own screwed up with her own upbringing so royally, but with enough assurances and talking, she’ll come around. The idea of them both being mothers makes her heart flutter. :’)

I like the thought of them having a bunch of daughters, but I like the thought of them having just one, too. Depends on what we’re feeling if we get to that point! <3

if they have any special pet names for each other

Of course they do! Terms of endearment are regularly used between these two. Vaggie usually calls Charlie, “Mi Princesa”, while Charlie calls her a whole litter of names every day of the week. Sugarbear, Honeycup, Sweetie-face, Apple of my Eye.. you name it. Vaggie, astoundingly, keeps up and is impressed Charlie has not run out of anything yet.

if they ever split up and / or get back together

NO.

red is not a fan of these tropes and will avoid them like the plague.

what their shared living space is like ( messy? clean? what kind of decor? )

Clean with decorative clutter. It’s a very cool clash of worlds, with Charlie’s classy style and Vaggie’s more darker aesthetic. They have creepy-cute plushies everywhere and canopies galore in red, black and purple. The air seems to sparkle. It’s a bedroom befitting the Princess of Hell, molded with her lover.

You have walls filled with posters of Charlie’s favorite musicals and memorabilia, and Vaggie’s more.. suggestive wall art and gothic posters ranging from original work she purchased to bands. There’s a wall they decorated themselves with their own graffiti and have tacked on lots of special things they both like!

There’s a corner of the room that serves as their online area; it’s a swerving black glass table with one computer that is Vaggie’s, and next to it is Charlie’s. Their areas are very personalized, but they have two little funko pop figures of themselves meeting at the middle of their sections that they mess with and change the positions of.

The bed is, of course, vast in size. Very comfortable, like laying on a mattress filled with feathers, which makes it very hard for Vaggie to get out of bed in the morning. The general blanket is black with a holographic effect that gives it a red and purple gradient, and the white sheets below are satin with the same property. There’s a lot of big, plump pillows too - black with gradients ranging from unicorns to moths and rainbows, depending on how the casing.

They have a balcony they have their tea time on, with a black iron wrought table and chairs to fit. A porcelain tea set gifted from Lilith with an apple theme, although the cups were purchased by the girls. “Hers&Hers” theme along with the setting, from washable napkins to the silverware. To boot, the bottom of the tea cups say “I love you”.

what their first christmas / hanukkah / etc as a couple was like

Wholesome. They’ve always had their Christmases together ever since they started bonding real tight, but this domestic vibe was added when they’d begun dating. It’s the same, nothing much has changed, but now there’s themes of romance and kisses beneath the mistletoe.

It was very warm and tender. A very pleasant memory in both their minds, memories from the gift exchanges to preparing a dinner for four (themselves + R&D), then later visiting Charlie’s parents at the Castle.

Vaggie loves the memory so much. She still can’t believe she can have a very beautiful Holiday like this in Hell, but Charlie’s here proving to her that it’s possible time and again.

what their names are in each other’s phones

On Vaggie’s phone: “💖 👑 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓪 👑 💖 💍”

On Charlie’s phone: “💞 🥰 It’s Vaggie!! 🥰 💞 💍 ✨”

if they have any ‘couple traditions’ ( buying a new mug for their collection every year? baking every friday evening? )

Tea time, as mentioned before. Tea time is so crucial for both their peace of mind and generally for having a really lovely time together that’s like a mini-date-at-home. It’s a dedicated moment they both use to slow their roll and take stock, too. They both get so caught up in the business of getting the Hotel up-and-running they can oft neglect important things like eating and drinking, and just, you know, taking a break. R&D stick them to it and pull them out of their busy bee mindsets. :’>

who falls asleep first and who wakes up first

My girl falls asleep FAST, but I feel like Charlie’s always the first to wake up and usually Vaggie’s own personal wake-up call!

who’s the big spoon / little spoon

They switch! Sometimes you’ll find Vaggie draped over Charlie, other times you’ll find Charlie wrapped up around the tiny lilac-gray ball that is Vaggie.

who hogs the bathroom

Their bathroom is enormous! There is no hogging, there’s using it at the same time! It’s honestly cute and hilarious to watch them both fuss around while groggily chattering, sometimes clattering together to use the mirror even though it’s like, six feet long. They just gravitate to one another and clog the other’s space, mushed together. It’s handy though, because usually they’ll help one another with brushing hair and fixing clothes!

who kills the spiders / takes them outside

It depends on who gets there first! Although Charlie’s gotten Vaggie into the habit of sparing their HELLISH little lives, she still prefers to be the one who shoos them out in case Vaggie just says, “fuck it” and SQUASHES. Hell Spiders are no laughing matter - They’ll Fuck You Up.

#(( THIS TOOK AGES BUT HONESTLY I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH #feel free to turn down anything! this is just what I came up with uwu I hope you like it!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ))#『 vaggie / &charlie. 』 ❝ baby girl; heaven is a place in hell with you. ❞#『 blog / dash games. 』 ❝ roll that wheel of fortune! ❞#『 blog / asks. 』 ❝ IT CAME FROM THE MAILBOX. ❞#idyllicserendipity #long post

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

Text

Survey #313

“i’m your turbo lover / tell me there’s no other”

Where are you located at this moment? In my bed. What if you found out your ex was having a child with someone else? If it was Sara, I'm finding out who the fuck I'm flying up there to punch his face in. If it was Jason, I'd either faint or be in the bathroom vomiting. Or both. I can almost promise you at least one or the other while I have an absolute emotional breakdown. I'm not at the point in my recovery where I can hear that and be entirely okay. I'd be happy for any of the others. At what age do you think you'll be ready to have children? Never. When was the last time you couldn't stop laughing? Why? I don't recall. Which of your friends do your parents get along best with? I guess Girt, since he's known my mom the longest of the friends I still have. I don't know about Dad; he barely knows any of my friends seeing as I don't live with him and see him rarely. Is there anyone in your friendship group that your parents don't like? No. Can you recall the last time you were extremely disappointed? I surprisingly can't remember, even though I know it was recent. Who was the last person to un-friend you on Facebook? I don't know, it's not like I go hunting people down if I notice the number has dropped, lol. Do you know why he/she decided to un-friend you? I'm certain it would've been something political. Are there any food wrappings, boxes, containers etc. in your room? No. Do you know anyone who does have cancer? I don't think anyone who currently has it, no. I may know someone via association, but idk. What is the worst medicine you've ever taken? There are two that very strongly stand out: the first one was in middle school, and the second sometime last year. I was put on an antidepressant that made me absolutely love life in the morning, like I would practically prance through school, but come afternoon, I was a fucking demon. Mom took me off that shit so fast. Most recently, my birth control was changed to have more estrogen for some reason I can't recall (maybe it had to do with mood?? idk), and it made me... I'm just gonna say I was a ~mess~. I slammed on breaks with it so fuckin fast. Safe to say I returned to my normal pill. Has your house or where you stayed ever flooded? My childhood home came very close during Hurricane Floyd. Thankfully the water never got actually inside the house, but it was an absolute lake outside. What was the last event or special occasion you participated in? My niece's birthday was actually a couple days ago, so we celebrated at my sister's house. What do you find yourself reminiscing about the most? I'll give you one guess. Do you have a favorite pianist? No. Song you listened to last is...? I have "Turbo Lover" by Judas Priest on right now. What's the last type of cookie you ate? Uhhh I would assume chocolate chip. Do you have your own computer? I have my own laptop, and I'm possibly getting an actual computer come May?? One of my WoW friends knows the hell I've been through with this laptop, and she and her husband are getting new computers then, so she's basically pushed her husband's old one on me, lol. Apparently it works just fine, he just wants something better. I've told her again and again to make some money off of it, but she's pretty much giving me no choice lmao. I appreciate it a whole lot, though. It'd be pretty nice to separate games onto an actual, capable desktop versus making my laptop sound like it's screaming for God's mercy if I boot something up. Describe your computer chair? I don't have one. Well, there's an old one in the extra room I'm going to end up using, but all I know is it's black. I've never paid closer attention to it. Do you sleep with your door open or closed? Open. I feel too isolated with it closed. Are you going to keep your last name when you get married? God no, it's very unlikely. I hate my last name, take it away. Does it bother you when people beg? Why are they begging, and how insistently? It depends. Do you have any weird rings? I have two, but neither I consider weird, at least. Well, I suppose the one with "bitch" carved on the inside would confuse non-Supernatural fans, haha. Are you anything like your siblings? Not really, no. At least, my two immediate sisters. Mom says I'm extremely similar to her eldest daughter though and wishes we'd talk more, but yeah, I just don't have anything to talk about with her. I'm so bad at initiating conversation. When was the last time you shaved your legs? October for when I was doing that witchy photoshoot with a friend. I absolutely hate shaving my legs and pretty much only do if anyone else whose opinion would affect me may see them. What would be the best surprise you could receive right now? Uhhh I guess all the "upgrades" I want to make to Venus' enclosure: a 40g tank and a nice, accurate hygrometer and thermometer, as well as the proper kind of lamp for her. I feel like such a "bad snake mom" still having her in her current terrarium because, while it's perfectly liveable and not dangerous, it's too small for her. It's pretty much always on my mind to some degree nowadays, so just like, dropping the terrarium and extra tools off would be a massive weight off my shoulders. Did you ever skip a grade or get held back a grade? No, but I was able to skip the intro Writing course the last time I was in college; I just started in Writing II. Who took your profile pic? Anywhere where it's a picture of myself, odds are me. I hate getting pictures taken, but if it's gonna happen, it'll be through myself, knowing my "good" angle and such, lol. Have you ever been fishing? Do you know anyone who likes fishing as a hobby? I've been fishing many times, especially as a kid with my dad. There are pleeeenty of people I know who enjoy it. I don't anymore. Do you own any cats? What color are their eyes? Yes; his are a light blue. Is there a rose bush in your garden? What color are its roses? We don't have a garden. When was the last time you spent over $100 in one transaction? What did you buy? Over $100 with my own cash, a plane ticket. My recent tattoo deposit was exactly a hundred. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Would you judge a grown adult for doing so? No; Roman would NEVER allow me to cuddle anything else, and I am not even remotely kidding. I couldn't care less if any adult does, though. Would you rather read an erotic novel or watch an erotic film? Ew, neither, but I guess a book would be better just so my eyes weren't forever scarred. What’s your favorite way to make your home smell good? Do you spend a lot of money on making this happen? INCENSE!!!! God, I love incense burners. I don't light it anymore though because Venus' terrarium is also in my room, and it's not good for snakes. What are the main two colors in the room you’re currently in? Did you pick these colors out yourself? Just... white. That's it. Well, my furniture is brown. I didn't pick either. How often do you wake up in the night needing to pee? Usually once, sometimes not at all anymore. I guess my bladder actually grew a pair. If you live in a household with pets, who is responsible for their care - both in terms of finance and the physical tasks involved? As far as the physical care, me. Mom does help me do a full clean of Venus' cage sometimes, though, because I don't trust myself to both keep her around my neck while I scrub the tank, hide, bowl, etc., with a cat that is my absolute shadow. I don't want to be bent over the tub and Roman tries to do something; he's shown very little interest in Venus, but still, I'm one hell of a paranoid snake mom that doesn't want to risk her life. Full cleans only happen like twice a year, so I don't mind too much asking my mother for some help. I should point out that Mom doesn't want to hold her, so we can't reverse roles. Do you have anything hanging from your ceiling apart from lights? Not anymore, no. At my old house and the one before, I had lots of Pyramid Head gift tags hanging, but our landlord doesn't want me to do that here. Would you describe yourself as neat, messy or somewhere in-between? I'm in-between. If you have pets, when was the last time one of them needed to go the vets? Venus had to go to the vet about a year into me having her because she was showing symptoms of an RI in strange breathing episodes, which can be fatal to a snake. Thank God, nature, whatever, that she didn't. There were warning signs, but closer watch over her humidity saved her. Roman, meanwhile, was taken to the vet like a year ago to be neutered. When the pandemic is over, what is one thing you can’t wait to do again? I barely ever left the house beforehand, so... I guess go to the movies. What’s one thing (aside from essentials) that you spend the most money on each month? Has anyone ever told you you’re obsessed or addicted with it? N/A What’s your favourite genre of TV show to watch? What’s your favourite show that’s not from that genre? If I had to pick, uhhh... yeah, idk, due to the whole "not into TV much to begin with" thing. Would you rather be employed or self-employed? Why? Self-employed, though taking care of all business matters yourself is/would suck. I just really want to be my own boss for the sake of photographing whatever I want. IIs your hair naturally curly, straight or somewhere in between? Do you wish it was different? It's straight, but on the wavy side, and I wish it wasn't. Do you ever play online games with your friends? Which one(s)? Just WoW. In the last week, have you had any alcoholic beverages? Which? No. Do you ever wear accessories in your hair? Which ones? No. Do you feel free to post your views on social media? Yep. I honestly don't care who it pisses off. What is your favorite work of historical fiction? Well, I don't really know what you consider truly "historical" in age... That, and I'm bad at dates to begin with. There are lots and lots of older books and movies I adore, though. Old Yeller is one of my favorite books ever, for one. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas makes me sob, too. What cartoon character looks like you? I remember when Hotel Transylvania came out, my ex's mob pointed out how much she thought I looked like the daughter, especially when my hair was dyed black. Do you have hope for the future? Some days I do, some days I don't. Do you believe in yourself? Ehhhh... debatable, idk. Do you have trouble letting go of your past? Oh yes. Were you happy in high school? It's funny, I was very depressed in HS, but due to Jason and friends, it's one of my most cherished time periods. Were you ever a teacher's favorite? I mean it modestly, but I was almost always pretty obviously one of the teachers' favorites. I was a good student. Are you popular? I wasn't. If you won a title in the senior class polls, what was it? I didn't. Have you ever had a medical condition that made you unable to work? My social anxiety is so debilitating that it's made it questionable. It ruined my very short-lived previous jobs. What makes your life worth living? My future goals, family, friends... What is your favorite Bible verse? I don't have one. List five careers you've considered. Paleontologist, vet, game designer, author, and wildlife biologist are all past ones. Do you have any unusual talents? If so, what? No. What do you get compliments on? My hair and my art, mostly. What have people told you you should be? I've heard "a vet" most in my life. What is holding you back? My (mostly social) anxiety and extreme fear of judgment. Do you have anyone purely evil in your life? Hell no, I wouldn't allow that person to stay in my life. Have you ever felt threatened for your life? I've felt scared for it, yes. While riding my bike once, I ran into a guy in my old neighborhood who had a criminal history, including assault, just asking what I was listening to on my iPod. I stopped because I was scared to keep going, and he wound up asking for my Facebook, but guess who didn't accept THAT friend request. List ten positive words that describe you. That's too much thinking, man. List ten negative words that [you feel] describe you. And that's too much negativity to fish in. Are you a good person or a bad person? I mean, I try to be a good one. Have you ever contemplated being a bad person? I've done bad things, but I've certainly never deliberated tried to be an overall bad person. Have you ever resorted to vandalism because you didn't have a voice? No. Have you ever egged someone's house? Wow, no. Do you want to egg someone's house? Also no because I'm a fucking adult. Have you ever seen a piece of graffiti that you are thankful for? What an odd question. I mean, no? Name three people who hurt you and didn't care. I am quite positive Colleen doesn't care about the many times she did considering she's always right. Was your first crush sexual, or no? No, I was just a kid. What would you do if you got pregnant right now? I honestly can't say I know. If I was God forbid raped, I'd probably have an abortion because I psychologically could not handle that without being scarred for life. If it was by my own stupidity, I feel I'd probably have the baby but give it up for adoption. I just can't raise a kid. Do you have a medical condition that you are embarrassed or ashamed to tell people you have? No, I don't think so. What do you get asked the most? Hm. OH, WAIT, THAT'S EASY. I get asked a lot if my lip piercing hurt. Have you ever stood up for someone else who was being bullied? I know I have before, but I don't remember the occasion. What tragic news stories that you've heard has touched you the most? Man, that's a lot to think about. You see news articles on Facebook all the time, and a whole lot of them touch me, so I dunno. What is your favorite thing to order at Taco Bell? I like the cheese quesadillas, and whatever those cinnamon bites are called are really good. I'm still tilted they got rid of the fiesta potatoes, because I adored those. Where do you have cutting scars (if you have any)? I only ever had them on my wrist, but you can't see them anymore. Do you like cotton candy? Not very, but I mean, I can have a bite or two. It's way too sweet to eat a lot of it. What's the best piece of graffiti you've ever seen? I'm unsure, but I've definitely seen beautiful work, especially online. Do you like tattoos? "Like" is a colossal understatement. Do you like piercings? Yep yep yep. Have you ever made someone so mad that they broke something? No. Those are not people I hang around with. Who is the last person you slow-danced with? Slow-danced? I don't think I've done that since Jason.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''turbo lover'' by judas priest

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rawiswhore · 4 years

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Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Billy Gunn, Bart Gunn x Fem Reader- “Supersoak that Ho”

In 1998, the WWF is increasing more and more in popularity, and so are some of the WWF stars: Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Kane, Triple H/D Generation X, Sable, Debra, and even you.

Since the 1980's, the WWF have had toys aimed at prepubescent kids, and they even sell and have toys aimed at prepubescent kids during the late 90's Attitude era: arguably the most inappropriate, raunchiest, shocking, and violent era the WWF has ever had (yes, there's also the WWE 2000's Ruthless Aggression era, which is debatable over which was more violent and inappropriate).

Honestly, seeing WWF stars in the late 90's do toy commercials and have toys aimed at prepubescent kids made of their Attitude era wrestlers is pretty shocking considering the era, there was even a lot of controversy over having toys aimed at young kids during such an inappropriate, violent WWF era.

And speaking of that, in the summer of 1998, 3 members of D Generation X did a Supersoaker commercial where they didn't say their obscene, iconic catchphrase and do their equally obscene gesture, but did hose down Sable, albeit surprisingly, DX grabbed the cameraman snapping pictures of Sable for a photoshoot, only for her to walk away.

Despite this commercial sounding pornographic on paper (3 men shooting water from huge water guns on one of the company's biggest sex symbols), this commercial really isn't inappropriate at all.

This commercial gave you an idea.

However, in June of 1998, the leader of DX who was easily the hottest, sexiest member of that faction that hadn't left the company was growing facial hair, and him growing facial hair turned you off.

He was a little hot in June of 1998, but that facial hair slightly ruined him.

It might make him look more badass and he might've looked better here than in 2006 when he had that bushy handlebar moustache, but you prefer him without facial hair than with it.

However, by the end of his birth month and around the time of his birthday, he shaved his facial hair off. Hooray!

Even better, a former D Generation X member who also has a birthday a few days before Triple H's was back in the WWF, albeit not wrestling, and this former DX member whose birthday is close to Triple H's looks hotter and sexier than ever before.

How great is that?

Not to mention, July is known as being a hot month, Stevie Wonder even has an album titled "Hotter than July", and it was hot in the summer of 1998.

You needed something to cool your jets.

You told 4 of the sexiest men in the WWF an idea you had with them, 3 of them are D Generation X members, and they loooooved your idea.

Hell, Jerry Lawler, Vince Russo and Vince McMahon would love this idea too, but Jerry is a bloated, creepy, statutory rapist, Russo is a smarmy, egotistical Noo Yawk smartass with idiotic ideas and McMahon is a racist, unoriginal, Trump supporting manchild, so they can go fuck themselves.

3 DX members you invited outside were Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Billy Gunn, who all took some fully loaded Supersoakers Billy and the 2 other less attractive DX members promoted in a commercial with them.

The other man you invited with you was Bart Gunn, a former tagteam partner with Billy Gunn who's been sexy all year in 1998.

And yes, he's brought a Supersoaker filled with water with him as well.

You were dressed in a white top with no bra underneath and short denim Daisy Duke shorts.

When you ushered them outside, it was a hot, humid day, where the sky was blue and not a single cloud was in the sky.

And you're in need something to cool down.

Once you were outside, you stood in front of these aforementioned 3 DX members and Bart Gunn.

"Boys" you said to them "I'm feeling hot right now and I need something to cool down"

You tried sounding as sexy as you could when saying that, as well as tried looking sexy in your face.

The boys in front of you absolutely loved that, their mouths spreading ear-to-ear grins across their faces that probably is hurting their faces.

"Well, let's get ready to soak iiiiiiiit!" Triple H shouted, pumping up the Supersoaker in his hand quickly, Shawn, Billy and Bart followed pumping their guns just as fast (and you ain't talking their penises) afterwards.

When Triple H exclaimed that, Shawn, Billy and Trips cackled and laughed afterwards in their throaty laughs.

Next thing you know, they as well as Bart aimed their Supersoakers at your tits, where water shot out of the plastic waterguns and to your tits, soaking your shirt.

The fabric was dampening and clinging to your skin, especially your tits, and your nipples are poking out of your top.

They were aiming and pointing their Supersoakers at your chest and tits, trying their best to soak your breasts and wet your chest, and they were doing a good job!

The water was very cold, but it's supposed to be cold, and hit you quite hard.

You were trying your hardest to keep your balance and stand up while you got hosed down, not fall down to the ground.

While you're getting sprayed and hosed by these 4 wrestlers, you're lifting your hands up and cried out, albeit not crying out like you're getting raped or you're hurt, more like "woo hoo!!" and you're in a wet T-shirt contest.

Your mouth is spreading an agape, ear to ear smile, looking like Stacy Karter/Miss Kitty/the Kat when she took her bikini top off and flashed the crowd her tits at the end of 1999.

While your tits are peering through your top, Shawn, Triple H, Billy and even Bart are all loving this, and their faces are clearly showing it.

"Yyyyyeaaaaaaaaah!!!!" Shawn and Triple H roared, albeit not in unison, their mouths widening and spreading huge smiles across their faces as well as Billy, and Billy has such a cute, infectious smile (so does Shawn and Triple H, for that matter).

Bart's not really as mischievous as Shawn, Triple H and Billy are, nor is he as well known.

You just hope when you're outside, you don't get arrested for indecent exposure.

Your nipples aren't the only thing poking out of your shirt, your areolas are also showing under your top thanks to these 4 wrestlers hosing you down with water.

Shawn, Triple H, Billy and Bart all tried to soak your tits with water, making sure to get plenty of water on your breasts.

As they're hosing you down, you writhe and sway your hips slowly, trying to look hot and sexy.

"Yyyyyyeaaaaahhhh, baby!" Billy exclaimed.

Shawn made a corny, cheesy "wolf whistle" at you while you swayed your body back and forth, left and right.

Wonder if anyone can hear them outdoors?

While they're hosing you down, Billy honestly isn't as hot as he was back in 1997 or in 1999, thanks to him cutting his hair in that stupid 90's teen heartthrob mushroom haircut.

He probably did it so he won't be involved in having a lot of sex and orgies with you and he's trying to turn you off.

So you're imagining it's Billy in 1997 when he had his usual blond hair hosing you down.

Even when he had that stupid RockaBilly gimmick last year that didn't get him anywhere, he looked hot (except for when his hair was that unflattering dark shade of brown).

You wish Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Davey Boy Smith, even Bret Hart and Stevie Richards could all be in front of you and hose you down with Supersoakers, they're missing out on all the fun.

But Bret dislikes you and dislikes the WWF's current Attitude era due to having so many oversexualized women, yourself included.

Your hands moved from the belt loops of your shorts to the bottom of your top, where you slowly began to lift and pull your top over your torso and over your tits.

Under your top was your bare tits with no bra underneath, showing these 4 wrestlers your tits that you've shown them before already, they've even sucked and came on those tits before!

Their eyes and facial expressions were growing wild, although they were growing wild even before you started taking your top off.

"Yyyyeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!" Shawn roared and exclaimed, looking like he did a few days ago when some Jenna Jameson lookalike in the audience flashed her tits at Triple H.

Triple H, too, especially loved seeing your tits, so did Billy.

While the water hit your breasts, the water hit your skin quite hard.

They still were pointing their Supersoakers at your tits, soaking them, the water dripping down your body.

You've told them while walking down the hallway to outside that you want these 3 to act like their DX characters, although Shawn and Triple H in real life really aren't much different from their DX characters.

When your shirt was above your breasts, you held the bottom of your top above your tits, where you began to shake and wobble your chest and breasts back and forth, your tits wiggling back and forth.

"Yyyyyyyyyeahhhhh!!" Triple H exclaimed, Shawn "wolf whistling" at you.

That wasn't all you did, you also bounced a bit up and down, jumping up and down on the ground, making your tits bounce as well.

They absolutely loved this, shouting and sounding like men in the crowd when Sable or whatever hot WWF diva (yourself included) strolled into the arena.

Should you take your shirt completely off or just have your top above your tits?

Your tits looked so shiny under the sun, which was a turn on for these men, but you hope you as well as these men don't get sunburned.

You, on the otherhand, had a huge smile across your face much like these male wrestlers, making high pitched "woooooo!!!" noises like you're partying.

They'd all love to hose your entire body down and not just with water (ifyknowwhatimean), and they may as well.

You moved your hands from your top to the front of your shorts, where you unbuttoned and unzipped your shorts.

The men saw where your hands were going and what they were doing, and they really got excited.

You turned your body around and now showed your backside to these 4 wrestlers, where you slid your thumbs under the holes of your shorts, letting your thumbs hold onto your shorts.

You began to pull your shorts down left to right, shaking your hips left to right, showing these men your ass.

Under your shorts was a thong showing your ass cheeks off.

Their eyes and facial expressions grew wild seeing you show your ass off, shouting like they're typically doing in this moment, so they aimed and pointed their Supersoakers to your asscheeks, shooting water on both cheeks.

The water is trying to penetrate through your ass cheeks, only to spill down your cheeks instead, wetting your ass.

Your thumbs slipped out of the belt loops of your shorts, where you moved your hands in front of your ass cheeks.

You proceeded to beat your ass cheeks like Triple H did in December 1997 when he was in a white thong with Shawn (that rhymed).

Wonder if you should take your thong off?

When the water hit your skin under the hot sun, it felt so relieving considering how hot it was outside as well as inside.

In April 1998, Triple H promised to pee on the audience and it was implied he was jizzing on them, only to be revealed it wasn't jizz, it was just a Supersoaker.

Looking back, you wish he could've used that Supersoaker and soaked you with it, getting water everywhere all over your body.

Billy could've joined in on this fun as well.

Not to mention, last year, Sunny and the Headbangers did a Supersoaker commercial.

You regret that you didn't get blasted with water shooting from Supersoakers carried by Shawn Michaels, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, RockaBilly (as he was known as last year), Davey Boy Smith, and even Rob Van Dam and Bret Hart in the summer, that would've been awesome!

So many hot guys shooting Supersoakers at you and cooling you off.

While Shawn, Triple H, Billy and Bart do think you're a beautiful woman, they probably would love it even more if they hosed down Sable, Jacqueline, Debra and/or Terri Runnels: sexy women in the WWF circa 1998 who also just so happened to have huge breasts.

Speaking of divas, after being hosed by Supersoakers, not too long after this moment...

Since this year, the WWF is beginning to have bikini contests with their women, you talked with the WWF creative team about having a "wet T-shirt contest" involving most of the female roster.

They, especially Vince Russo and Vince McMahon, LOVED and adored this, and yup, there was a wet T-shirt contest involving you and most of the other female roster.

Why? Because Attitude era and boners.

Sadly, you didn't win the contest, but you don't mind, really.

(Confession: I have thought of setting this fic on a "Monday Night Raw" episode in late July 1998 where the fem reader in the ring gets sprayed and hosed down with Supersoakers by DX and Bart Gunn, but...)

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Uploading this fanfic on the last day of summer.

#triple h #shawn michaels #billy gunn #bart gunn #1998 #90s #wwf #attitude era #fanfiction #dx #d generation x

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wezzaner · 5 years

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Evie’s and Doug’s relationship develops the best, Pt. 3.2: The Movie

I feel like I keep postponing this. I find it hard to analyze a movie where the only consistency shown is a birthday cake. I love it, but like, I kinda strongly dislike it as well. Anyway…

For part 3.2 to make more sense to you, check out the previous parts here:

Pt.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186775140063/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.2: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186827407103/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.3.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186971661403/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Now that this is out of the way, fair warning, this is going to be long...

As noticed in pt. 2, there was no character analysis for Evie and Doug. That is because in my timeline (that I will fight to the death to prove), it’s been only 3-4 months between D2 and D3, so I thought I can do it in one go. Let’s see how Evie and Doug changed, yeah?

Evie:

Wow. Talk about character development done absolutely right. I have been silently observing the fandom for four years and I have yet to come across anyone who even slightly dislikes Evie. A huge part of that is attributed to Sofia Carson, I have no doubt about that. This woman will go places.

As far as development, Evie was such a complex character from the start. Far more complex than any of the other VKs, not including Carlos whose abuse history remained strictly in the books and was only hinted at in the movies in two lines across the board. The Evie we got in D2 and D3 came a long way from D1 Evie.

Evie had a reputation of being a complete vain flirt, a selfish heart-breaker who wouldn’t hesitate to use her looks to get what she wanted. Somehow, she remains sort of shy, reserved and not always speaking her mind. That’s probably due to her, Jay and Carlos being accustomed to blindly follow Mal.

She was brought up entitled by her mother, to marry a prince for the social status and riches. She was bred to be a perfect trophy wife, the fairest of them all, with the concept of beauty trumps personality and smarts embedded deep into her brain.

But somehow, somehow, she ends up being a well-mannered, smart girl who is practically good at everything except being true to herself. She, along with Carlos, end up being the sensitive, level-headed ones, not the ones to lash out unless super necessary and probably regarded as the easiest VKs to be around. They’re also the two mature ones, no matter what Mal likes to think.

Throughout the first movie, Evie shows her good heart, her fashion and style and finally, her longing to be an Auradon girl. Her longing to get away from the isle, explore who she is and who she really wants to be.

For Evie, Doug wasn’t why she chose good. And I love that. Doug standing up to her marked the time she started being hesitant about the plan to steal the wand and his passivity during the events of family day reignited her determination. He wasn’t her purpose; he wasn’t her motive, but he was a catalyst.

Her supporter and helper. A believer.

Next time we saw Evie, she had evolved so much already in so little time. She was more comfortable with who she became, more in tune. She was shown to be outspoken, confident, calm and collected. She was very open and had chemistry with everyone she interacted with. Also, following Mal blindly became a thing of the past, Evie down right scolded her at some point.

On the isle, she stepped into the role of the leader effortlessly, I personally always thought that Jay would be the second in command. She was dominant, calm under pressure and fluidly returned to be a support to Mal once she was found. And she was content being s support. Her actions spoke louder than any words, portraying her as the fiercely loyal sister anyone would dream to have. Loyal to the point where she would give up her life in Auradon, complete with a boyfriend and a booming business.

Let’s not mistake her loyalty to Mal, someone she regards as family, to her being indifferent to Doug. Family comes first, Evie’s future family will be lucky to have her. Speaking of Doug, Evie knows the guy, their slow and steady relationship proves to be suitable for them. She oh-so-easily defused his frantic confrontation, caused by a problem that was arguably created by her family. By Mal having an identity crisis and fleeing, she unknowingly forced the rest to go after her. Then Carlos and Jay, people who Doug became friends with, lied straight to his face.

Her good heart was once again evident in her being inspired by Dizzy and proposing the idea of bringing more VKs from the isle.

It is worth noting that she also gave up practicing magic (her mother practiced black magic, she had powers) and donated her magic mirror to the museum.

Finally, in the third movie, Evie is basically the ultimate good. A selfless protector in every sense of the word. She kept asking Carlos if he was okay, brought the Smee kid back inside the limo during Hades’s “attack” and constantly had Celia protectively behind her.

The one time she wasn’t protective of someone, she was stepping up into the leader’s shoe when Uma and Mal kept going at each other during the confrontation with the suits of armor. And when she casually directed everyone on what to do when Mal was, briefly, an old hag.

She was the moderator, trying to constantly rally everyone together, breaking up fights and getting everyone to get along. She was successful too, with her ice breaker activity. You can see Hary starting to respond, she got through to the unhinged maniac. And later, Gil carried on her game with Jay, she got through to him as well.

And of course, Evie still had the VKs on the isle on the forefront of her mind. They were still priority, the incident with Hades never swayed her.

The most prominent trait of Evie that is glaringly obvious through D2 and D3 is her selflessness. A direct opposite to her in D1. A trait she obviously picked up from Doug, he inspired her.

Now Doug:

Doug has come a long way as well, though it’s very subtle. He started out as an insecure, somewhat shy kid. He is a son to a sidekick, and he was embracing that and had no problem with it. He was friends with practically everyone, closest to Ben though. However, being friends with royals and heroes had added tremendously to his insecurities, making him see himself as less.

But among all the AKs, Doug always came off as the most welcoming and least reluctant when dealing with the VKs. He was selfless, going out of his way to stand up for Evie with no ulterior motive, since he had already somewhat been rejected by her at that point.

In the second movie, Doug was even more comfortable around the VKs. He became friends with all of them now and trusted them. That was why he was hurt and sent into a frenzy when Jay and Carlos lied to him. He considered them friends. His insecurities came rushing back, seeing himself as not worthy of Evie and that was why he thought she might be seeing someone else. He also saw himself as unworthy of the friendship with Jay and Carlos, also Mal with association, when they lied straight to his face.

In D3, Doug’s insecurities were almost gone at that point. He became close to Jay, Carlos, Jane, Mal and even closer to Ben. He was protective of Jane when Auradonians freaked out during Hades’s incident. He was so laid back in almost all of the scenes.

When he woke up from the sleeping spell, he was conversing with Gil, a new VK he just met. The only possible background information Doug has on Gil was that Gil kidnapped Ben, the King Ben, and fought the core four on the isle. And there he was just standing casually engrossed in conversation with him. Also, towards the end, he was hanging out with Evie, Uma and Harry. And was later dancing with Uma and Harry as well, no Evie in sight.

That leads me to believe that Doug is one of the most accepting people in the Descendants franchise, along with Lonnie. And somewhat Ben, he was apprehensive when he saw Gil and Harry but for good reason. That is why I will be using this part of my analysis to not only go over all the Doug/Evie relationship moments, but will leave you with some of his platonic interactions as well.

Moving on, scenes breakdown:

The first Evie and Doug interaction happens off-screen. We only get a snippet of it behind the scenes, where we see Evie holding onto Doug and leading the band to the front of the welcoming committee. We never know what they are talking about, only one sentence of the conversation.

Again, what Evie says actually plays well into their relationship, its history and dynamic. Doug had her back since the moment they met. As I said, he is her supporter, he believes in her. I had hoped this would be included in the behind the scenes, deleted scenes or even the bloopers videos but we never got it.

Then they are standing with the crowd, waiting for Ben and Mal to show up. Doug, being Ben’s best best friend and future best man, plays a rearranged version of the song Ben sang to Mal to declare his love for her. Best friend goals, everybody.

Also, squad goals! Look at that support!

After the music died and as Ben proposes, Evie is clearly seen standing with her hands interlocking over Doug’s shoulder, leaning into him as they await Mal’s response.

They separate as the squad congratulate each other. And Doug and Carlos hug twice, solidifying themselves in my mind as very close friends and marking the first sign of Doug’s character progress. Also, vindication to my theory that the reason for D2’s confrontation was more than just Evie’s disappearance and that it was fueled by Carlos and Jay lying to him. He’s more than just Evie’s boyfriend or an acquaintance to them, he’s a very close friend now.

Evie’s and Doug’s attention goes back to the newly engaged couple as they stare, dare I say longingly, at what Mal and Ben have together and where they are now. And this conversation takes place.

Doug starts the conversation with a little joking jab at his and Evie’s own relationship. You can see how Evie picked up on his subtle comparison and how eager she is to blurt the words, the words almost flying out of her mouth, like she can’t hold them in anymore.

Now Doug’s response… There are a lot of ways to interpret that. My personal favorite is that Doug understood what she was trying to say. Here’s how: I have already established time and time again that of all the couples in the franchise, Evie and Doug have more reasons to take things slow than anyone else. For a brief recap, they both come from the same story, meaning that their parents were direct enemies. His father and uncles killed her mother. Add to that Evie being a past flirt and a heart breaker, Doug’s personal insecurities and the fact that Evie didn’t know what love is until she made it to Auradon and boom, you’re there.

Knowing Doug’s selfless and caring nature, I’m willing to bet money he had already come to terms with his feelings for Evie a while ago, perhaps even during the first movie. But knowing her history, their history, he chose to be patient and considerate. He chose to hold his tongue and not say anything, so he wouldn’t be pressuring Evie into anything she wasn’t ready for.

To me, his hopeful look as he waits for Evie to finish her words and then his “me too” afterwards is him subtly telling her that he loves her as well. He read into what she tried to say and saw her history and insecurities coming back and chose again to not pressure her, but to try to subtly reassure her.

They share a look, a nod and they both look away.

It just wasn’t their time yet.

Their brief awkward moment gets cut short when Ben and Mal join the group. Mal runs to her sister and Ben flies towards his bachelor party group, stating the obvious because he is a cinnamon roll and gets swamped into a group hug by all his best friends.

As Mal steps up to her future parents in law, Doug and Jay can be seen hugging in the background. Also bonus Ben/Evie on the right, they lock hands briefly as they pass by each other. Because why not, their friendship in D2 was one of the moments in the franchise.

Further proving that Doug’s a big part of the group, he joins in as they mock Mal and her soon to be acquired status. He could be seen further left throughout the scene. Jane is there too; behind Carlos and she also joins in the shenanigans.

Originally, I was planning to end the proposal scene with this gif of Evie turning around to wave at her boyfriend before leaving.

But then I found this.

This is during the Hades incident when Fairy God Mother is trying to maintain order and failing miserably. Doug is obviously very protective of Jane, keeping her close during the chaos. He only leaves her when he hands her over to one of the guards, who is sure to keep her safe, then he turns around and tries to direct the herd of panicking people. That was very protective and sweet of him, and also not the only moment he shares with Jane.

After that, Doug is only mentioned once until they’re back at Evie’s starter castle. The one Doug helped her find and purchase.

Irrelevant but like, poor Jay!

Anyway, next time we see Doug, it’s way after the halfway mark of the movie. And he’s sound asleep. Which brings up the question, what was Doug doing in Evie’s place anyway? I highly doubt that Doug is all moved in, that goes against his and Evie’s… mental agreement to take things slow. My educated assumption would be that Doug went to Evie’s starter castle so they could all go together to Jane’s birthday party, found them all suiting up to go to the isle and was asked to stay with Dizzy and the Smee twins. That would fit with Evie’s protective nature, which pushes her into asking her trusted and responsible boyfriend to take care of the VKs she’d be leaving behind.

So, poor Doug is sound asleep and there are two ways to wake him up. Either ending Audrey’s reign of terror or… a true love’s kiss. Before breaking down the scene, let’s take a minute to appreciate how it all comes back full circle to the two of them. Queen Grimhilde spelled Snow White and she had to be woken up by a true love’s kiss and now, Audrey spelled Doug and Evie has to wake him up with a true love’s kiss. Also, in true Descendants tradition, the gender role reversal is not lost on me. Another flip of the fairy tales, if you will.

I have noticed a few people going on about how Audrey is cursing everyone to sleep and, meanwhile, Evie is wasting time singing to a sleeping body. Well… She had time to kill.

They had two hours to search Auradon Prep and head back to Evie’s place. Not sure how long it took for Evie and Mal to search the school while Uma was going through Audrey’s Diary, but I am assuming not too long? I mean, chronologically, Evie was serenading cursed-Doug before (or during) the guys actually encountering Ben. So yeah, she had time.

Now onto the actual scene:

For starters, Evie loses her wits. For a minute, she loses her mature, smart personality and is reduced to the teenager she actually is. She is completely clueless, momentarily forgetting the fact that a sleeping spell has been cast all over Auradon and attempts to shake him awake.

It takes Uma’s snark pointing out that he’s spelled to bring her back to reality, and Mal has to defend Evie, letting Uma know she’s emotionally involved, and that her sense of judgement is currently kind of compromised. Now, considering how many times Evie was in situations where she showed brilliant emotional intelligence, it goes to show how deep her feelings are for Doug. During family day, during the coronation, leading the crew into the isle pre-running into Mal, when Ben was king-napped, the confrontation at Uma’s ship, cotillion, old hag Mal, the bikes being taken and when the suites of armors ganged up on the VKs, Evie never lost her cool. But when it came to him, she just lost it.

Uma says that Evie should be able to wake him up and you could see Evie slowly registering what she means. Her worry about her boyfriend’s current situation is even more accentuated with the worry that she now has to test their love. She has to face the one thing she has been actively dodging for months. Her reaction has Uma spelling out what Evie has to do for her, true love’s kiss.

And that’s when Evie admits that she and Doug have yet to say their “I love you”s, sending Uma rolling her eyes. And Mal in the back smirks and raises an eyebrow slightly at Uma’s back as if to say “welcome to my world”, a hint that this is not the first time Mal has been involved in a conversation with Evie about her feelings for Doug and her postponing the inevitable. Which is something Mal did before for he own set of reasons and regretted, she didn’t want Evie to make the same mistake. She almost lost Ben then, she didn’t want that for Evie. That explains her later frustration throughout the music number.

Mal almost looks smug, like yeah, Evie will have to do it now!

Then the song… there’s no doubt that almost every lyric is perfect for the couple, their relationship dynamic and their personalities as well. It goes back and forth between Evie reassuring herself and her going on about how good Doug is for her. And Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to Evie unfolding is indeed one of the best things that has happened in this movie. Actually, in all three movies.

Don't freak out, it's okay 'Cause true love can save the day And I think we feel the same But I don't know

Evie starts off by trying to reassure herself that she will be able to wake him up with a true love’s kiss, knowing that deep down, below all the uncertainties she’s feeling because of their history, she knows she loves Doug and that he loves her back. Unfortunately, her nervousness gets the best of her and she reluctantly starts stalling. However, her stalling technique is actually helping because she basically lives through their entire relationship, trying to prove to herself that Doug really does love her as well. And her nervousness is 100% valid because Doug isn’t Evie’s family like Mal, Carlos and Jay are, he isn’t a member of her inner circle, he can choose to leave at any point. It’s not the same as when Evie told Mal that she loves her or her constantly dotting over Carlos’s wellbeing. This is different for Evie.

When we met, it was sweet He was oh-so into me Seems like things are meant to be But I don't know

Like I said, Evie is reliving her relationship, especially the parts that had her falling for him, slowly but surely, starting with their first meeting. Doug was awe-struck by her beauty that he was left speechless for a second before gathering his wits to nervously stutter through the classes the VKs were signed into before their arrival. Again, the role reversal is evident. Doug started out as the nervous one and Evie has always oozed confidence, she’s not the kind to lose her cool but now things are different and she’s the one freaking out. Again, she tries to reassure herself that they are meant to be.

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this verse are very appropriate. Mal approaches first, her eagerness to see Evie finally admit what they both knew all along evident all over her face. She’s excited for her best friend, who is finally admitting her feelings, and perhaps finally fully recovering from what the Evil Queen used to drill into her head. All the talk about having to marry a prince, about Snow White and the Dwarves being enemies, about having to be a royal and having a castle, about how she looks and how she could always be better. Mal sees Evie’s love declaration for Doug as her recovery journey ending.

Uma is whole different story, approaching a second late but faster. Uma is intrigued and her interest is peaking. That’s simply because this is the first time Uma sees anyone so in love and gushing over their significant other. During D2, Mal’s true love speech had more to do with her insecurities and fear regarding Ben and the pressures of being the King’s girlfriend… Auradon-washing (is that making any sense?) her, acknowledging that Ben knows her and loves her for who she is. But there’s Evie singing about how Doug is good for her and she barely questions her love for him during the song. Considering that dating on the isle is unheard of, let alone people being in love. She’s curious to hear the story behind Evie’s change to who she is, a person she envied for being selected for the Auradon program instead of her. Perhaps she is even thinking of the possibilities and opportunities Auradon will open to her and the other VKs once they’re freed. Hope of being safe enough to be in love like Evie is, of being self-made like Evie, of owning a home like Evie’s and being loved like Evie is.

I might even go as far as say, she prefers having Evie’s worries about being loved and in love to her own worries about surviving the day.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

It’s worth nothing that Evie questions Doug’s feelings for her countless times throughout the song. But she only questions her own twice, this being the first one. The other is also in the pre-chorus. And it’s not about her love for him as much as it is about the strength of that love.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh

Focusing once again on Mal and Uma, Mal is evidently more invested in the whole deal while Uma is starting to lose interest. That is still true to who they are, because Mal has experienced this situation before while Uma has not. Mal wants Evie to have her own proof that she’s loved and that she’s worthy, like she had with Ben in D2. And while Uma wants to feel what Evie is feeling, she’s not as emotionally forward as Evie is. She doesn’t like to be seen as sensitive, or compassionate, or vulnerable or in love.

One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Again, Mal’s too eager and she can’t really hide it when Evie tries to gather courage to attempt to kiss Doug the first time. And Uma’s interest is renewed again, her face lighting up like a kid swimming in gifts on Christmas.

As Evie avoids facing her demons the first time, Mal is frustrated while Uma is downright disbelieving. Again, playing well into their characters. Mal being Evie’s ear to vent to is frustrated that Evie deflects the opportunity to finally make sure of her feelings for Doug and his for her. While Uma, a very confrontational person by nature, is confused over Evie stalling. She wants to get this over with, like she always does.

Keep it cool, keep it calm Think he's loved me all along But maybe I got it wrong So I don't know

Again, Evie is reassuring herself that Doug has loved her from the start. But again, true to her character’s conflict with the idea of love, she keeps doubting her own words.

Then in the next lines she goes on how supportive he has been to her since they met. Her doubts shine through in this verse when she makes it known that it’s all about how she doesn’t think she deserves him.

He's so good, got my back But maybe I'm just too bad Could we be a perfect match? Now, I don't know

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this part is one of my favorites. Mal is ecstatic that Evie found someone who loves her so much and has her back so blindly. Uma’s reaction is more controlled and more subtle, it is recognition. She sees it now, why Evie loves Doug, how Doug shows he’s in love with Evie, Evie’s own insecurities and why Mal supports the couple whole heartedly. She’s starting to get it. Maybe even support it.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

The second time Evie questions Doug’s love for her. And that’s it.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Yeah, here I go

Finally, Mal and Uma are about done. They frustratingly encourage Evie to go for it already, neither of them is exactly known for patience. They are so impatient that Evie is still taking her sweet sweet time and leave. I’ll also go as far as say that Mal and Uma bonded over Evie’s love trouble more than they have bonded in the entire movie so far.

I feel my heartbeat beating saying, "It's gonna work" But if I'm dream-dream-dreaming, this is gonna hurt Either I will or I won't What if I do and he don't? Is he my Romeo? Oh, there's only one, one way to really know

Up until the line about Doug being Evie’s Romeo, we were good. More than good, actually. Evie is hyping herself up, following her gut feeling while still acknowledging that this would hurt like hell if it doesn’t work out. Which is another sign she’s sure of her own feelings and questioning Doug’s, playing well into her character flaws and self-consciousness.

But that Romeo line…

Here’s the thing, I am legit torn when it comes to that line. The only reason they could have used Romeo as an example, would be the family feud. You know, Montague vs. Capulet and Evil Queen vs. Snow White and the dwarves. Other than this little call-back, this line makes zero sense, the parallels stop there.

Let’s clear this up, if you ever hear Romeo and Juliet mentioned in a positive, happy light, know that whoever wrote the song, script or whatever it is, is not… fully aware… of the story. Romeo and Juliet were not a love story, it was never meant to be. Their love at first sight wasn’t even love, it was lust. They were both seeking escapism, Romeo was trying to get over a woman (Rosaline) who didn’t love him back, and Juliet, who is 14, was trying to avoid marrying this guy (Paris) who her parents where preparing her for, pretty much. To say that they fell in love at the first sight is not right, it was lusting after each other at best.

And that’s not even considering the tragic ending of the story. So, Romeo and Juliet were a tragedy start to end.

Again, I get why the line was used, but I would have done without it.

Moving on from the number, Evie finally kisses the guy and gets it over with. She is just so soft and tender with him, caressing his face then letting her hand sneak down to his chest. Can I be him for minute?

When Doug snores, Evie FREAKS. Just look at her face. For a second there, her only constant outside of her family is not a constant anymore. The one stable thing she had is not as stable as she originally though. When that turns out to be Doug being a little shit, her initial reaction is to smack him and be mad about it. But her pout slowly relaxes into a relieved, small smile and it is everything.

Cruel cruel prank from Doug, but again, he’s a joker. It’s one of the few things the movies actually told about his character, so that’s fine. If Evie can forgive him then so can I. I would have strangled him for a bit first, though.

And I assume Evie and Doug talk about the whole true love thing somewhere off screen, since they spend together the time it takes for Uma to eat cake twice (once with Dizzy and once with Mal when they sort of make up) and the guys to find Ben, de-beast him and bring him back. So yeah, probably they talk things through like the mature couple they have proved to be, maybe sharing a few kisses and so. Oh, and catching up, Evie absolutely fills him in on everything that has been going on the past few hours.

Then Audrey traps everybody inside, breaking their couple time and bringing them back to reality. When Uma helps Mal and they’re freed, Evie looks off screen towards Doug, gives him a big smile and a nod. Like, See? I did that! I got them working together! See my handy work and be proud!

Of course, whether Evie is the reason for them getting over their conflict or not is irrelevant. She tried. But the point is, she looks at him, showing him the result of what she has been working towards.

Again, one thing I have noticed was that, other than the fact that Doug is talking to Gil when Ben interrupts to send Doug, Jane and Gil to find Fairy God Mother, Uma and Evie wave Doug goodbye. You can clearly see Gil looking the other way a few beats before Uma and Evie raise their hands in sync. It wasn’t for Gil, oh no, it wasn’t for Gil.

So, Uma likes Doug, you can’t change my mind. And I don’t know about you, but Queen Uma’s opinions are clearly superior and to be trusted. I could end this here and be done with it and I’ll be satisfied.

But there’s more.

Engagement Party time!!

To kick things off, Doug is hanging out with Evie and Jay, you know, as he is part of the group. For some reason, even Jane and Carlos aren’t together and Chad looking around aimlessly and not being a part of anything is definitely me at a party. Chad in general is a mood on his own.

During Mal’s speech, when she makes it known that Hades is her father, everyone looks around in confusion. Except Evie, Carlos, Doug and Jay. Jay moves slightly but I think it’s more of the shock about Mal going public than the information itself. Everybody else looks confused, even Jane and Audrey.

Knowing that Jane, Chad and Doug were absent when Mal told about Hades the first time, when Audrey was comatose, and assuming that Audrey didn’t catch onto why Hades was there to help wake her up, it’s expected that all four of them would be clueless at this point.

But Doug isn’t. He knows. Evie definitely either let it slip sometime before and made him promise not to tell anyone or she told him sometime between their true love kiss and the party. Since Evie is a secret keeper herself, I’d assume that this piece of information was given to Doug as part of the run down after the kiss or after Audrey was rescued.

So yeah, Evie trusts him as blindly as he trusts her.

Anyway, Mal goes blah blah blah barrier down blah blah blah they sing the final number and Harry pulls the sleazy move of all sleazy moves. He literally hits on four different people in, like, one minute. He asks if Mal is taken, attempts to give Evie the eyes, tries to kiss Uma then lets himself be pulled away by Audrey.

Harry asks if Mal’s is taken and Doug’s dancing ceases and he steps forward. I don’t think Doug thought that Harry would move onto Evie next, he barely knows him, and he hasn’t seen Harry making a move on anyone before. Doug definitely steps forward to interfere and stop Harry’s advances on his best friend’s fiancé. However, Evie shots Harry down so Harry tries to make eyes at her but Doug shots him down instantly.

Harry legit looks at Doug sort of in deflated disappointment and is elbowed by Uma for two reasons, one being the fact that Uma has witnessed Evie waking Doug up with a true love’s kiss and two, Uma’s own feelings for Harry. Obviously. She acknowledges that she had shot him down before but now everything is different, it is safe now for her to let herself be in love.

So yeah, Evie laugh, grabs Doug and leaves after the grumpy and pouty Uma.

Also, the following gif means that Doug is to Evie what Harry is to Uma. I’ll just leave it at that.

And that concludes all the Evie/Doug story in the three movies. I guess it kind of proves my point that you have to read between the lines and look hard in every shot to gather what is going on with every character and pairing. To be honest, I get why some people might say that Evie deserves better than Doug because he’s not good looking enough or not interesting enough or whatever. Again, Doug was never meant to be viewed as good looking or classically handsome from the start. He is the son of a sidekick after all. And him not being interesting enough, it’s just the movie prioritizing the moving the story forward over developing already existing characters. Making him anything but what he was in the final cuts of the movies undoes all the character development Evie had, which is garbage.

I guess my point is, it is not about deserving. It’s never about deserving when it comes to love. It’s about loving your partner unconditionally, helping them rid of their flaws, treating them the best way you can, being their support system and believer. That is why Evie and Doug are one of the best-developed couples.

A few things I felt like going over:

1- The movies have severely underused all the characters, we can all agree on that, but none more than Doug. The AKs especially, after the first movie they were all but accessories, not even amounting to supporting characters. Lonnie was actually the only one who got no good story arc in the first movie, which is why she had her own in the second and that’s that.

2- “Doug has no contribution in D3″ Well... I am not entirely sure how to break this to you, but none of the AKs did. Chad did absolutely nothing as Audrey’s sidekick except be a comic relief.

Jane’s contribution was turning Beast-Ben into semiBeast-Ben. Which could have been achieved through ending Audrey’s reign of terror, or the guys holding down Ben while Mal true-love’s-kisses the spell out of him. So... Jane’s contribution, while is smart, is pointless. And when she is sent to find her mother, she does find her on the steps to the museum that holds her wand. And Jane doesn’t even think about carrying on the plan her mother obviously had in mind.

And this is Ben’s contribution. He took them to the Audrey’s lair, which she had already abandoned at this point. So Ben’s story in D3 is proposal, Beastie Boi, beard-and-fanged-up, Uber driver, Stone Boi, nervous pacing and finally, engagement party. With a side of being surprised all the time.

3- Doug receives so much hate with absolutely no good reason. I have already gone over the character, but let’s stop a second at his looks and wardrobe. And like, I didn’t want to go there, but I kind of have to, it wasn’t just about the hair. Some people are ripping him apart, completely ghosting over the fact that Zachary Gibson is a real human being, who has been struggling with his mental health and is finally getting better and feeling comfortable in his own skin. So, just relax. I am not trying to call out anyone or even shit on any ships, they can all coexist, it is what fanfiction if for. But ripping into the guy like that is unacceptable.

4- I have seen people going on about Doug’s wardrobe and how it is boring, but have you seen the movie? Because Doug’s outfit is on level compared to the AKs’ guys outfits to Jane’s birthday, and none of the AKs’ outfits come even close to what the VKs are rocking. Here’s what everyone are wearing to Jane’s birthday for reference:

Then here’s Doug’s:

He’s literally wearing the same exact outfit as Chad but with his own colors, both are average and boring compared to the girls’ dresses or the VKs’ outfits. Can’t we agree that Chad and Doug were cheated and move on?

Rant done, I promise.

I’d normally see you off with gifs of Evie and Doug, but I also thought I’d include gifs and images of Doug interacting with everyone. Because he’s one of the few characters that actually does interact with almost every important character on screen.

And with these, I rest my many cases:

As for his interactions with the rest of the core4 and the AKs:

And, my favorites, his interactions with the sea3:

This is the start of a beautiful friendship:

183 notes · View notes

soundwavereporting · 4 years

Text

Presenting...RODAN’S BIRTHDAY, written for @fauveshumankaiju. Written entirely by hand, and then frantically typed up whilst trying not to look at the screen. Any and all errors are entirely mine. Bonus picture of the og draft at the end!

The snow had stopped falling and settled onto a comfortable, chilly layer of white on the ground when his alarm woke Rodan up.

Ni was already gone—morning person he was not, but a shipment of some kind of fancy, non-IKEA furniture was set to arrive this morning.

Meanwhile, Ichi and San remained in bed with him.

“Happy birthday,” Ichi mumbled into his back.

Rodan was laying comfortably in Ichi’s arms, and San was comfortably settled in Rodan’s arms. Reluctantly, Rodan stretched, feeling Ichi grasp his waist, hearing San mumble a protest.

“Gotta work,” Rodan said, fumbling for his phone. He unlocked it and swiped past a flurry of birthday texts and Facebook messages. Rick had said he was calling out today, wasn’t he? And Quetx had been using her non-rollover PTO this week; she wouldn’t be back till New Year’s Eve at the earliest. Which…gave him an idea.

Rodan sat up. “Hey. You doing anything today?”

Sneaking two-thirds of the Ghidquorum into the lab wasn’t hard. The security guard couldn’t care less who showed up as long as one of them showed a badge—and Rodan did. San was smiling—a genuine smile, Rodan was pleased to notice. He loved San’s smiles. Ichi’s face was a careful mask of cool neutrality. Rodan hadn’t planned on Ichi coming—not that he minded, of course. It was just that he had extended the invitation assuming Ichi would be busy, and only San would be free. Of course, where Ichi went during business hours, his laptop followed, and Rodan was quick to provide him with the lab’s wifi password.

As he had expected, the lab was deserted, just as he had left it. San set down his bag and wandered over to the locked cabinet and began fumbling with the lock, ignoring Rodan’s offer of the key with a wave of his hand. Ichi pulled out his laptop and settled on one of the vacant desks, and Rodan went to work.

Rodan had left a batch of samples simmering overnight. He examined them, then sat at his desk, absently scribbling notes.

“Your handwriting is…charming,” San said carefully. “Is that the correct word?”

Rodan snorted. “Not all of us went to ritzy private schools that taught cursive.”

“Fair point.” San seated himself on one of the lab stools and continued to watch Rodan write.

“Any plans tonight?” San asked, and Rodan narrowed his eyes.

“Is that an invitation for a date, or…?”

San visibly brightened. Rodan had persuaded him to put on a pair of safety goggles. They sat perched on San’s forehead (endearingly, Rodan thought), looking for all the world like an earnest grad student. Impulsively, Rodan leaned forward and bumped his nose against San’s.

San smiled.

“Monsuta Island Bar? Six-thirty?” From this distance ,it looked like San had six eyes. Three Sans. What a concept. “I don’t know, San…” Rodan pulled away and pretended to consult his nonexistent itch. “I did have a date tonight…”

Before San’s face could fall—the man did still have trouble picking up American sarcasm. Rodan pressed a quick kiss to San’s nose. “Of course I’ll be there.”

San’s smile lit up the room. He busied himself with rifling through a former coworker’s desk, and Rodan slipped out of his seat to bother Ichi.

Out of the three of them, Ichi was the best dressed—he had at least put on a suit that probably cost more than Rodan made in a year. Rodan’s phone buzzed—Goji, probably, wanting to know if he would be at the bar today. That would be…interesting. Gojira and the Ghidorah’s truce—or whatever it was—had been in effect for a grand total of 36ish hours.

Privately, Rodan wanted to hope it would last. Ichi had taken his hand, promised him that they would not go after Gojira until the new year, if Gojira agreed. For Rodan. All for Rodan.

And Gojira had agreed, which had lifted a burden off Rodan’s shoulders he hadn’t known existed.

Regardless, tonight would still be…interesting.

The rest of the day slipped by quickly.

San was content to create his own strange concoctions in the junked flasks and test tubes, though his habit of peering directly over the mixtures and sniffing and Rodan on edge. Ichi had situated himself on Rick’s desk, in front of the most neutral-looking of the lab’s walls as he Skyped with his multitudes of global business partners.

At exactly 4pm, the door to the lab opened, and Ni stepped in. Dressed in an elaborate gold and black jump suit made by a designer whose name Rodan couldn’t even begin to pronounce, Ni peered at the three of them over his golden sunglasses.

San looked up from his experiments.

“How did you find us?”

Ni blinked. “I track all of your phones,” he said, as though that were the most normal thing in the world. He turned back to Rodan. “Are you going to wear that to Chez Honrie?”

“He knows,” Ichi said, without looking up. Ni’s lips twitched. “You know, we could simply purchase that little bar,” Ni offered. “If not demolish it entirely, at least get it up to minimum health and safety codes.”

Rodan snorted, trying to quash the instinctive panic rising in his chest. That was something they would do, wasn’t it—and they would think Rodan would like it. Or they would do it, because they didn’t know what else to do.

“If you close MIB down, how will Battra ever make ends meet?” Rodan joked, hoping NI wouldn’t pick up on his discomfort.

“Who?”

“The EMT’S brother,” Ichi supplied dryly. “The one you mistook for her.”

“Ah.” Somehow, Ni managed to look (slightly) sheepish without his expression changing one bit. “I did not have my glasses that night.”

“Have we agreed we’re not buying and/or renovating anything tonight?” Rodan interrupted.

hearing the tone of his voice, San had looked up from his experiments, and Rodan shoved his irritation-slash-fear down and managed what he hoped was a genuine smile. San dumped his concoction into the lab sink and washed his (ungloved, Rodan noted slightly despairingly) hands. He moved to sit beside Rodan, close enough that it felt more like solidarity than simple companionship.

“Anyway…” San looked at Ichi, who lad lost interest some seconds before and had gone back to his laptop. “Do you have anything else to complete before we leave?” San asked.

“You are apparently the most reliable employee here,” Ni added, giving the empty desks a cursory glance. “It is not surprising you refuse to resign. This place would clearly fall to ruins without you.”

Rodan smiled. He accepted the peace offering for what it was, leaving his lab coat on his chair and taking a chance, squeezed Ni’s shoulder.

“Still,” Ni said. “Are you going to wear that?”

Rodan looked down at his shirt. He had gotten into the habit of consistently doing aunty since meeting them, and this was a clean shirt.

“What’s wrong with this shirt?” Rodan asked.

It was one of his favorites, an aloha shirt Angurius had gotten for him two Christmases ago, a dark red print with orange-ish patterned dinosaurs overlaid with vague, tribal-esque patterns probably dreamt up by some white college kid for their Redbubble. But it was soft and comfortable, and entirely Rodan’s style.

“I like it,” San said.

“You like everything he wears,” Ni retorted. “I do have some shopping in the car for him. Ichi?”

Ichi shrugged.

Rodan rolled his eyes. “If the Ghidquorum is finished debating the merits of my wardrobe? I’m ready to go.”

Ichi nodded and closed his laptop, then looked up, scrunching his nose in distaste. “What is that smell?”

Rodan inclined his head to the lab sink.

San grinned.  

As it usually was, at this time of the evening, the bar was pleasantly not-crowded. Later, the other regulars would trickle in—assuming they had actually shown up for work, Battra and Hedorah’s shifts didn’t end till 7, and though Goji’s shift had ended at 6, she liked to shower and change before heading to the bar. Which left…

“Rodan!” Baragon’s dusty, eager, freckled face was the embodiment of pure, obnoxious joy.

“Baragon.” Rodan allowed himself to be pulled into a bone-crushing hug. Faintly, he heard San snickering. Ni had refused to step more than a few feet into the bar, settling down at a booth near the pool tables, looking exactly like a frightened car. Rodan wondered what it would take for him to leap out and scamper out of the bar.

“Hey.” Angurius clapped a hand on Rodan’s shoulder. “You’re wearing the shirt!”

“It’s a favorite,” Rodan said.

“Then you’ll really like this one.” Angurius held up a gift bad decorated with bright, gaudy balloons. Angurius nodded encouragingly as Rodan peeled back the white tissue paper o reveal another aloha shirt, this one a light brown color with a palm tree and volcano pattern.

Rodan wasn’t yet drunk enough to strip off his shirt—the first shot of tequila was still on his tongue—but he slipped the new shirt over the old one.

San pressed another drink into Rodan’s hand.

“Seem familiar?” He asked, and Rodan raised a brow.

“Tell me,” San said. His eyes were dark—troubled, Rodan thought—though his voice remained light.

“If you had known—” San gestured to himself, then to Ichi, then to Goji, who had just walked in, but was already glowering at Ni— “Would you have taken the drink?”

Rodan stepped up on the tips of his toes—even so, he barely came up to San’s chin. ROdan tapped his chin, and San obediently tilted his head down.

His lips were warm.

“Was that enough of an answer?”

San frowned, though his expression had visibly brightened. “I do not know—I might need some clarification, yes?”

Rodan took another sip of his drink and grinned.

San had taken a seat on Rodan’s usual barstool, and when Rodan looked at him questioningly, San smiled innocently and patted his lap.

Rodan was tempted, though he elected to sit on the barstool directly beside him. He finished off the drink and set the glass down, as it settled in his belly, warm and filling, somehow like a fire smoldering over coals.

Ichi and Gojira were talking—arguing, more likely, though it hadn’t yet turned violent—and at some point, Mother had shown up and was nursing a bottle of something bright blue and tantalizingly shiny. Paragon and Angurius had taken over the pool table. Mando and Biollante were comfortable tucked into a booth just outside of his peripheral vision. To his left, luring by the pool table was a man Rodan didn’t immediately recognize, but looked enough like Goji at first glance that Rodan immediately labeled him as “half sibling of Goji’s”, a category that so many in Monsuta seemed to occupy.

The door jinxed again.

This time, the atmosphere seemed to darken as Gigan stepped in, and Rodan could practically see Goji’s hackles rising.

“Rodan!” And then Jet Jaguar and Megalon stepped and inside, and it seemed all was forgotten.

Privately, Rodan was grateful for…whatever Jet seemed to have going on with Gigan and Megalon; he was happy enough for the guy, but his weird redemption-seduction thing they had going on had been enough to divert some of the attention away from Rodan and the Ghidorahs.

“Merry Happy Birthday!”

Unlike the grimace-smile that was plastered on his face whenever he was on the clock, Jet’s smile was genuine. Megalon was grinning from ear to ear, holding out a set of packages out to Rodan. Genuinely curious, Rodan slipped a finger between the wrapping paper and tape and popped it open.

Ah. A book on the chemical reactions that took place during the cycling of a home aquarium. From Megalon, then. And the other gift…

“Thanks!” Rodan examined the decorative test tube-turned-pen-holder, etched with R. Rodan in clear, professional lettering. “Both of you. Really.”

Megalon beamed.

Jet and Megalon grabbed their drinks and sauntered over to Gigan, who had stopped to alternate between chatting with Ni and shooting glares at Gojira.

Rodan waved his hand, as if by magic, another drink appeared.

Fascinating. Out of habit, Rodan sat in his seat, and landed in San’s lap.

“There you are.” Rodan could hear San smiling. “Enjoying the free drinks?”

“Free?” Rodan squinted at the drink in his hand.

“For you friends as well,” San said. “We are trying to fit in here. For you.”

Rodan felt his face heat up. He turned to face San, who was staring at him with something akin to…devotion. It was nice, to be wanted, even if the ones doing the wanting were a couple of gentrifying, foreign luxury real estate developers who wanted nothing more than to squeeze him and his friends out of their homes—

“As nice as that is,” Rodan said, “I’d rather you do it for you.”

“For me?”

“For yourself,” Rodan clarified. “Because you want to.”

“Hmm.” San was still frowning, though he seemed relaxed enough. “I will have to think about that. But tonight, it is all about you. Agreed?”

Rodan smiled. “Agreed.”

The night slipped by pleasantly enough—Battra and Hedorah arrived in due time; the former had slipped Rodan a gift card and was trying to hit on Goji’s brother or half brother or whoever he was, and the latter sat at the far end of the bar, alternating between frantically texting in between shots of cheap whiskey.

Ichi and Goji were still talking about…what, Rodan wondered? Their unofficial truce? The weather? Rodan?

And Ni and Gigan had resorted to carving intricate designs on the tables—the one closest to the door already bore the marks of Ni’s first foray into the bar.

“Here.”

Rodan’s eyes widened as he took in the drink. Beautiful and beautifully on fire, all red and gold in the dim lighting.

“You finished it!”

“Compari, vodka, a dash of Mothra’s tea blends…” Manda trailed off. “Our gift to you, my friend.”

“So,” San said, after Rodan had finished his drink. “How was your birthday?”

Roan took a long look at the bar—at Angurius and Goji and Mothra, at Biollante and Manda, and Gigan and Jet and Megalon, and even Baragon. And Ichi. And Ni.

And finally, Rodan looked at San.

“The best,” Rodan said.

#fauveshumankaiju #rodorah #mine;#i am truly Tired after writing this but it was FUN and i hope i didn't absolutely mangle your interpretations of these boys...

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mayquita · 4 years

Text

The Art of (Fake)Dating - (3/5)

I still can't believe I managed to finish this chapter in such a short space of time, at least for my standards. Anyway, I can't seem to stop writing this story even though I got like a million other things to do. But when you get a stroke of inspiration you should take advantage of it, right? @shardminds this is for you, darling. :) Thank you, everyone, for all your comments, notes, likes, kudos and reviews.

(This is unbeta'd, so I apologize in advance for the many mistakes and nonsense)

Summary: When Emma agrees to be Killian’s fake girlfriend she expects it to be a one-time thing. However, and despite getting an enemy in the form of an overprotective brother, she ends up becoming an expert in the art of fake dating even though she can’t stand her fake boyfriend, at least at the beginning.

Ao3 / FFNet / Part 1 Part 2

The Art of (Fake) Dating - Part 3

Liam took his time to prepare the hot drinks, keeping himself in a stubborn silence broken only by the sounds caused by his task, so Emma had no choice but to wait sitting on a stool at the kitchen island. This awkward silence, far from making her feel uncomfortable, allowed her to at least regain her composure and meditate on what had happened since she had accepted this stupid plan.

She had never found herself in such a surreal situation, about to be lectured by her fake boyfriend's brother on Thanksgiving night and after having witnessed a performance in which said fake boyfriend pretended to have sex with her with the sole purpose of bothering his brother. It was almost like being part of a hilarious scene from a typical romcom.

Okay, the scene might not be funny, at least Liam's serious expression while preparing the hot chocolate showed it, but that didn't stop the beginning of a chuckle from bubbling in the back of her throat, so she had to press hard her lips together to hold back the incipient laughter.

"How do you prefer your chocolate, lass?" When Liam turned his head to address her, she made an effort to keep her back straight and a neutral expression on her face.

"With whipped cream and cinnamon if that's ok, thank you."

After uttering what seemed like a sound of approval, Liam returned his attention to the stove, ignoring her presence again. It was obvious that he didn't know her at all if he thought that with that attitude he was going to make her nervous. It was rather the opposite, with each passing minute she gained more self-confidence. You wanna play? Let's play, buddy.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Liam took a seat next to her while he handed her a steaming mug. Still, he kept his silence, focusing his attention instead on the mug between his hands. His expression was quite cryptic, though, so Emma couldn't tell if Liam was reluctant about how to approach the issue he wanted to deal with her or if, on the contrary, he intended to intimidate her in some way. She suspected that the latter option would be the most likely, so Emma convinced herself that it didn't matter what Liam could hold against her. He was no one to her, she was just playing her role in a farce. None of this was real.

While she waited, Emma took a sip of her drink. Damn it, it's delicious. She kept her lips sealed, though. It wasn't like she had any intention to compliment him, especially when she hadn't yet managed to figure him out. After the second sip, the hot liquid sliding down her throat seemed to have its effect, pushing her to act. She already was so done with the waiting.

"Is this like a protective big brother talk where you want to make sure I'm good enough for Killian?"

Liam clicked his tongue, placed his mug on the counter and finally — finally — looked her straight in the eye before answering. "No, because I already know you're not good enough."

Whoa! Straight to the point. Good, at least he had already shown his cards. Now it was Emma's turn to continue playing. She also put the mug on the counter and then she crossed her arms over her chest and slightly raised her chin in a defiant attitude. "Oh, so now I'm not good enough for your little brother. Enlighten me, please." Emma hoped she had endowed her words with enough sarcasm for him to notice.

The change in Liam's expression was immediate. His features hardened as he also crossed his arms over his chest and kept his gaze fixed on her. "I've taken care of my brother since we were both just children and I can assure you that I will continue to do so until my last breath. So that means than I care about anything that might affect Killian in one way or another."

Liam paused for a moment, but since Emma remained silent, he continued speaking, somewhat maintaining a defensive attitude. "I have no idea how much you know about Killian's past, but at least I suppose you do know about his accident. He gave you some explanation about the loss of his hand, I take it?"

"I do know about his accident," Emma replied in a calm tone.

It was true, she didn't know all the details, but she did know about the most important thing, that in that accident that happened sadly on Killian's birthday more than five years ago he had not only lost his hand, but also his fiancée. And she knew all this not because Killian had confessed to her —their relationship wasn't that close after all— but because of other circumstances that, she really preferred not to remember at this moment, although she suspected that they would somehow come out at some point during this conversation.

"And do you also know that, before the accident, Killian had aspirations, projects, and a promising future? And that all that was truncated not only by the accident but by his subsequent decisions?"

Emma's face must have revealed the confusion she was feeling because Liam's lips moved drawing a smirk of little authenticity behind it. "Of course you don't know. Well, let me enlighten you. Despite my insistence that he move here to Boston, to allow us to help him, he decided to move to a bloody town in the middle of nowhere and start working as a simple bartender in that dreadful bar. Even its name, The Rabbit Hole, suits the town."

The way he said the last words, almost like spitting them out with disdain, caused her blood to start boiling in her veins, but she remained silent, biting hard the inside of her cheek to try to hold back any possible reply. Emma also reminded herself that none of this was real and that nothing Liam could tell was going to affect her. She knew from experience that sometimes it was better to wait for the right moment and not act impulsively, so she simply raised an eyebrow in a defiant attitude, before asking, "and this is where I come in, I take it?"

Before continuing, Liam narrowed his eyes, as if studying her. After the brief scrutiny under which she remained impassive, he finally offered Emma some juicy detail directly related to her.

"It's funny because when Killian confessed to me a few weeks ago that he had started dating someone I had the hope, at least for a moment, that whoever the chosen girl was, she would talk some sense into him and would get him out of that hole, quite literally if you know what I mean." Liam let out a humorless chuckle at his own pun. Emma instead, had to make an effort to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. "But then he confirmed that it was you and all my hopes went to hell."

This time Emma couldn't help but huff as she shook her head. "You don't even know me."

"Oh, but I do know enough. No offense, lass, but, honestly, what would you think of a person who hated my brother from the beginning for no apparent reason? Someone whose feelings changed magically to the point of suddenly deciding to start dating him? How is someone like you, with no family, no aspirations, without a future, supposed to help my brother?"

Okay, she had had enough. Emma didn't need this kind of gratuitous crap in her life. Just when she was intending to get up, Liam reached up his arm, palm forward. "One last thing, if you allow me. It seems obvious that my brother fancies you for some strange reason, so I suggest you, if you care in the least for Killian, you should do what is necessary to keep him from being stuck in that life without a future. You should push him towards us, his family, who can really help him."

Emma considered for a moment to ignore him completely, go up to her (their) bedroom, grab her belongings and get out of there like a bat out of hell. But Liam had managed to piss her off enough for him to earn a few retorts at his level.

"Are you done?" Only when he nodded sulkily, did she continue. "Good, because it's my turn now. And you better get settled, because this is going to take a while." Emma silently gloated over the fact that Liam's grumpy expression continued to accentuate. And this is just the beginning, buddy.

"Well, we better start now to finish as soon as possible." He threw at her in a challenging tone.

Oh man, how she was going to enjoy this unexpected situation.

Maybe if all this were real, if Liam was her actual boyfriend's brother, she would think twice before acting, but given the unwarranted situation she found herself in, she really had nothing to lose.

"Okay. Here we go. First. It's commendable that you've taken care of your brother since you were kids. I guess it's something families do, but how would I know?" Emma shrugged, her lips drawing an exaggerated pout. "As you well indicated before, I have no family. I've never had one, in fact." Emma added to give even more drama to her speech, ignoring the pang in her heart after uttering those last words and focusing on the matter at hand, holding her finger up to stop any attempt at reply by Liam. "However, Killian is a grown-ass man, capable of making his own decisions. He doesn't really need you or anyone else."

"If you aren't able to see that he does need help..."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't ask for your opinion." She hastened to cut him off. Although Liam kept a challenging attitude, he must have thought better and pressed his lips together into a grim line. "If it is not too much trouble I'd like to continue, because this absurd situation is giving me a headache and I'd like to go to sleep. Yes, with your brother next to me. It's what happens when you got a boyfriend, you get to sleep in the same bed and sometimes you have an extremely good time in it."

A furious red tinged his cheeks, causing her to almost step out of her role and burst out laughing. At least he kept silent, so, after taking a deep breath, she continued. "We agree on that, but you know what? I don't remember seeing you in Storybrooke on the days when he needed you the most."

"That's because he continues to push us away." Liam hissed, clearly upset, but she ignored him.

"Oh, it's so easy from your privileged position to decide how another person should live his life." She waved her hand to encompass the entire house in a way to emphasize her words. "But in the difficult moments, on those dates, and you and I know what specific days I am referring to, those who have come to Killian's aid have been his coworkers, his friends, the people who care about him back in Storybrooke. Where were you, Liam, on Killian's last birthday? Certainly not in Storybrooke."

"He doesn't want us there." He snapped, but she might have hit a nerve because his defiant attitude had deflated considerably. Emma almost felt sorry for him, because all his bravado seemed to have left him, but then she remembered all the hurtful words he had thrown at her face and any hint of pity disappeared.

"And it doesn't surprise you? I wouldn't want someone like that by my side either, someone who thinks he has the right not only to decide for me but to question my own decisions, no matter how close that person was."

"I just want what's best for my brother." Liam insisted, regaining part of his confidence.

"I know it, and you've already made it clear that I'm not good enough for him. Which brings me to the next point. You don't know me, but wherever this relationship takes us, it's up to him as much as me. You don't get a say in this."

"I did not intend to interfere in your relationship, lass, but to get an ally in you." It was a poor justification, neither his voice nor his expression were convincing and they both knew it.

Shaking her head, Emma finally got up ready to leave the kitchen but before, she turned back to him wearing what she expected was a triumphant expression. "It's a bit unfair, don't you think? Your brother and I have only been together for a few months but you've decided to blame me for something you haven't achieved in the past five years." Emma was surprised that her voice didn't even tremble when she released such a lie.

To his credit, Liam seemed uncomfortable, his elusive gaze and his clenched jaw at least indicated so. She had one more thing to say, though. "One last piece of advice, if you allow me. Maybe you should rethink your strategy towards Killian. But who am I to offer advice? I am nobody, right? " This time Emma could not help a hint of bitterness in her voice, but she recovered quickly to give the final blow. "The chocolate was delicious, by the way. And now if you'll excuse me, I suddenly felt like waking up your brother and showing him how much I want him, so you better be prepared for any unusual noise. Good night."

This time Emma did go out of the kitchen leaving Liam, who seemed partially defeated, all alone. At least she had managed to leave him without arguments. She should consider it as a triumph, right? In fact, that was how she felt, like a winner. Their argument had meant such an adrenaline rush that she felt her whole body vibrating, a surge of energy gripping her as she climbed the stairs up to her bedroom.

That determination weakened as she approached her destiny, being replaced by a mixture of feelings. Emma was so mad at Killian for putting her in this situation that she was tempted to wake him up and send him to sleep in his car, the one he so much had insisted on driving. But there was another feeling struggling to emerge, guilt.

Somehow Liam's words had gotten deep into her. She shouldn't feel guilty, they were just acquaintances after all, although that didn't stop her from having witnessed some of his low moments. Except for the momentary assistance in his few episodes of grief, she had done nothing to help him overcome his loss.

After letting out a deep sigh, Emma shook all those turbulent thoughts away and focused on her most immediate concern, how to face her encounter with Killian after the intense talk with his brother.

When she entered the bedroom she realized that she could delay that concern at least until the next morning, as she found Killian sound asleep.

She was so upset with him... But when she saw him there looking even younger with a placid expression on his face while he slept, she didn't have the courage to wake him up to yell at him, so she couldn't do anything but sneak into bed, trusting that he didn't notice her presence.

The moment she laid down, she felt a strong arm around her waist pulling her back towards a solid body. "Go to sleep," Killian mumbled against her ear as he tightened the hold of his arm on her waist.

Emma remained still for a few seconds, not even daring to breathe, her heart beating frantically in her chest. The whirlwind of emotions was so intense that she felt a bit overwhelmed, but when she noticed his breath caressing her skin and the warmth emanating from his body against hers, she gave up. After taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to melt under his touch as she grabbed the left arm wrapped around her and held his stump between her breasts. That was how she finally fell asleep.

When Emma woke up the next morning she was alone in bed. Her brain needed a few seconds to start working, so she allowed herself a few seconds huddled under the covers, surrounded by the sensations her senses captured.

The light that filtered through a slit between the curtains caused Emma to blink a couple of times until her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the bedroom. She reached out her arm to find a cold and empty space on the other side of the bed, so she deduced that Killian had woken up a while ago. She still wasn't sure if she felt relieved or irritated by that fact.

What her ears caught next, muffled voices coming from somewhere on the ground floor, caused her to want to curl up again and bury herself under the covers. Although Emma tried to prick up her ears, she was only able to identify the owners of those voices, the Jones Brothers, and some rambling words that seemed to indicate that they were not having a calm conversation.

A heavy sigh escaped between her lips, as she squeezed her eyes with one hand, the reminder of her previous conversation with Liam finally coming to her mind and causing an even less desire to leave the shelter offered by the bed.

In the end, curiosity overcame her, so, although reticent, she sat up and walked stealthily to the door. She poked her head through the slit, glancing up and down, finding that the coast was clear. The voices could be heard more clearly from that position but the sounds still came muffled, so Emma had to make an effort to capture anything that revealed the subject they were talking about.

My girlfriend, how dare you? she is so full of herself... Emma was able to understand a handful of words perfectly, getting to clear up any doubt about the reason for their discussion. So the secret conversation was no longer a secret. She let out a huff of annoyance as she turned back to the bedroom and grabbed her box of toiletries and fresh clothes, then headed to the bathroom for a quick shower.

When Emma left the bathroom a few minutes later, she found that the discussion wasn't over yet. She would even say that the argument had become more heated. Doubting whether it was convenient for her to make an appearance or not, she finally decided that it was more reasonable if she returned to the bedroom and waited there. She had definitely had enough fighting with people she barely knew.

Emma had been in her bedroom for less than two minutes when a soft knock on the door caused her heart to jump until it almost popped out off her chest.

"Emma? Are you awake?"

A sigh of relief escaped from her mouth when she detected that it was Elsa the one on the other side of the door. "Yes, come in."

Whatever she thought she would find was certainly not Elsa with a contrite expression. She walked reluctantly to stand right in front of Emma, a light pink hue adorning her cheeks, her eyes cast down to the floor. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Elsa seemed to regain her composure, as she finally looked into Emma's eyes, her lips drawing an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry, Emma, for everything. And I don't mean only the discussion you had yesterday with my husband but also that Killian has heard about it because of me. He caught us a while ago arguing in the kitchen."

"It's okay. I'm fine." Emma assured her with more certainty than she really felt.

"No, it's not okay. Look, can we talk? It won't be a lecture, I promise." Emma simply nodded and then they sat on the bed, side by side.

"I'm so sorry about what happened yesterday with Liam. His behavior is inexcusable, no doubt, but, you know, he cares too much, about everything." Emma was tempted to reply but Elsa continued talking. "Don't get me wrong, I'm so mad at him that he's going to sleep on the couch for the next few days. But, we really care about Killian. Maybe we put it the wrong way, but we do intend to offer him any help that he decides to take."

"Okay, I get it. But, honestly, that's a family issue. I still don't understand why your husband took it against me. I don't know, maybe, although it's still too early to value it, our relationship eventually turns out to be just a passing thing and you would be worrying about nothing." Emma realized at that moment that her speech was the closest she had been to being honest with them. The expression of disbelief that crossed Elsa's face indicated that such a possibility was something she hadn't considered.

"Do you know that you're the first girl he brings home after the accident? I don't want to put any pressure on you, you obviously don't deserve it, but I have a feeling that your relationship may become quite serious and, although my husband may have a strange way to show it, we cannot be happier in that regard."

Emma couldn't help letting out a laugh of surprise. "A strange way to show it, we agree on that." She shook her head in disbelief but continued smiling until Elsa did the same. Emma decided then that she liked Elsa, even she would probably place her as her favorite person in the house except for the children, of course — She still hadn't decided if she was still mad at Killian. Meanwhile, he would continue below Elsa on that mental list of hers.

Just as the conversation began to become interesting, the bedroom door opened abruptly giving way to an angry Killian. "We're leaving, Swan." He simply snapped without even looking her in the eye as he headed toward his travel bag and began to throw things inside in a careless way.

When Emma glanced sideways at Elsa, she met her new friend wearing a panic expression, which led her to act. Rising from the bed, she walked with determined steps toward Killian and grabbed his arm gently, forcing him to stop with his task.

"No."

"What?" He addressed her with the confusion marked on his face, his eyes flickering quickly between hers.

"We're not leaving. Not yet anyway. I need my daily dose of caffeine to function properly, so Elsa and I are going to look for breakfast somewhere out of here." Emma looked for Elsa's approval who nodded vigorously. "And in the meantime, you're going down again and you're gonna fix things with your brother. We're not leaving for Storybrooke until you two have solved whatever it is that makes you behave like two obstinate teenagers."

"Are you kidding right now?" His voice trailed off when Emma gave him a silent warning through her gaze. Killian simply pursed his lips and kept silent. After glancing at his sister-in-law he let out a heavy sigh and dropped his arms in defeat. "Fine, but I want an extra-large coffee. Something tells me I'm going to need the additional caffeine."

A strange sensation had taken hold of her since she had woken up, making her act in a more determined way than usual in her, more confident, and above all a little bold. Only in that way would she explain what she did next before he left the room again.

"Killian, wait." Without thinking twice, she pulled him toward her and pressed her lips against his. The simple contact caused her knees to weaken and the butterflies in her stomach to flutter furiously, as a wave of memories washed over her.

After that brief initial moment, though, she realized that he wasn't responding at all to the unexpected kiss, so the flutter in her stomach was replaced by a sense of disappointment. Luckily, that feeling lasted just a split second. After that brief pause of shock, he kissed her back, hard, as he wrapped her with his arms. Such was the spiral of emotions dancing inside her that she almost got carried away but a glimmer of lucidity appeared in her mind, making her realize where they were. Showing off unusual willpower, she pulled away from him just a few inches, their foreheads pressed together as she whispered against his lips, "easy tiger, we got company."

Killian didn't seem to care, though, because he captured her lips once more before finally pulling away. This time it was he who murmured, his warm breath caressing her lips and causing her head to spin.

"See you later, love." He then turned around and disappeared through the door, leaving behind a stunned Emma, unable to decide if the kiss had simply been part of their performance or if it had been something real. She obviously knew the answer as to herself, there was no point in denying it when her lips still tingled craving for more. But she wasn't sure she wanted to know what Killian had really felt. Certainly, his expression also seemed somewhat astonished, although she couldn't say whether if it was in a good or bad way.

At least the delighted expression that appeared on Elsa's face seemed to indicate that she had totally bought their stellar performance. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

Half an hour later Emma and Elsa were back home carrying several cups of coffee to go and a box of delicious pastries. That short space of time had served to reinforce Emma's previous impression towards Elsa, so much that she wouldn't have minded spending more time with her, but honestly, both were afraid of how the stubborn Jones brothers would have faced their time alone. Luckily the kids had stayed in their care so Elsa hoped they would have been able to behave civilly.

When they entered the living room they were pleasantly surprised to find a fairly quiet picture. Killian was on the ground playing with his nephews while Liam took pictures of the scene, both sporting calm but guarded expressions.

The moment Killian's eyes fell on her, he hurried to get up and walk towards her, wrapping her in a tight embrace before kissing her again. This time it was a gentle kiss, but with the ability to take her breath away. Only when they heard Liam clearing his throat did they separate.

Once recovered from the incredible sensation of his lips on hers, Emma dared to look sideways at Liam, who wore a more relaxed expression, no sign of animosity towards her, to her relief. Emma could even detect the hint of a smile. Good.

They moved to the kitchen where they enjoyed a peaceful breakfast, everyone having a lively conversation sprinkled by the sporadic remarks of the two little boys who kept hovering around giving signs of overflowing energy. Once they finished, Elsa hurried to take the children out of the kitchen, leaving Emma alone with the two brothers.

That was when Liam finally dared to address her.

"I'd like to apologize for my poor behavior yesterday, lass. It was totally out of place, and for that I'm sorry." Both his voice and his expression seemed genuine, so Emma couldn't do anything but shrug her shoulders before responding tentatively.

"It's okay."

In other circumstances, if all this had been real, that little attempt at apology wouldn't have been enough for Emma. In fact, she would probably have crossed him out of her life maybe forever. But she reminded herself once again that she was simply a part of a farce, so it made no sense to hold a grudge towards a person she probably wouldn't have to deal with anymore.

She was wrong.

"As a way to make amends we've decided to invite you guys to come over for Christmas, if that's fine with you, of course." Emma's eyes widened in surprise, and then she turned her gaze subtly to Killian, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

So the farce was going to last a little longer after all. It's okay, I like a challenge, she convinced herself mentally before responding.

"If Killian is fine with it, I'll be fine as well." She offered, which seemed to be enough since Liam finally — finally — smiled at her.

"Good."

They stayed at the Jones' house for another hour, which they spent in peace, although it was evident that the tension hadn't completely abandoned them, so Emma felt relieved when they finally left the house and got into Killian's car.

They traveled in silence during the first minutes, until Emma could no longer resist it.

"I should be so mad at you, Jones. You knew perfectly well that something like that could happen and you still decided to bring me." She reproached him in a tone perhaps harsher than she intended.

"I'm sorry lass, I really thought he wouldn't dare. But in my defense, I did warn you." He was right. The apologetic smile that appeared on his lips and the way his eyes glowed were too distracting. Her anger melted away under his charms without her being able to do anything to stop it. Bastard.

"So Christmas, huh? Have you thought of any new plans to continue bothering your brother? Something like adding some other sound, human perhaps, to make our performance more credible?" She wasn't flirting, right? She was totally doing it. Dammit!

For all answer, Killian burst out laughing. It was a deep and somewhat contagious laugh because a few seconds later she was accompanying him, letting the laughter act in a liberating way, dragging away any trace of the previous tension.

Once the laughs subsided, he glanced at her with a mischievous expression on his face. "Sorry to tell you, Swan, but apparently our performance was a bit scandalous. They haven't invited us to spend the night."

"Seriously?" She asked pretending to feel upset while her lips drew an exaggerated pout, earning a new laugh from Killian.

"But they have invited us to spend New Year's Day." He hurried to reply between chuckles.

"We have the New Year's Eve party at the Rabbit Hole though." Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion while looking at him.

"Aye, that's why they invited us the following day."

"So we're going to continue with the fake dating."

Killian's eyes bored into hers for an instant before his gaze turned back to the road. "You don't have to do anything, love, but we make quite the team, so I'm in if you're still in."

Emma ignored the butterflies fluttering in her belly and focused on something safe, their farce. "You know this is going to cost you much more than a switch of shifts, buddy. But, in a way, I will have my reward when we show up at your brother's house with a hangover and feeling miserable on New Year's Day."

"And even if we aren't allowed to spend the night there, we always have the possibility of making out on the couch, or in the kitchen..."

"Keep dreaming, buddy."

"Always."

The way Killian winked at her had no effect on her. None at all. The burning sensation that spread through her body was nothing more than the result of the heat inside the vehicle. That was the only reason.

This time, Killian wouldn't be the only one who would dream about it. Both her first experience of unforgettable sex with him ant the two previous kisses had left her wanting more. Sadly, she had no choice but to settle for improving the art of fake dating. At least for the moment.

One thing was certain, though. She was no longer sure why she couldn't stand Killian in the first place. In fact, she might have started to like him a little. Just a little tiny bit.

Thanks for reading :)

#cs ff #captain swan #cs au #csss #cssecretsanta2k19 #the art of (fake)dating #mayquita writes #my cs writings

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Jake Reviews Stuff: Steven Universe: The Answer

Happy pride everyone and naturally, it just wouldn’t feel like a celebration of pride in animation without one of the frontrunners of LBGTQ represintation in Children’s television, as well as quality in storytelling in general: Steven Universe. Since your seeing this you probably know the gist but as my idol peter parker would say let’s do this one last time: The story of Steven, a 14 year old, though he dosen’t look it, boy with a boundless amount of love, compassion and empathy, lives in beach city with his borderline homeless dad , surrogate moms and surrogate until we find out they actually are kinda related sister: Garnet, a fusion of two gems in love and thus the sum total of both them and their feelings, Peal, an emotional but loving gem who grew from a servant to Rose’s right hand, sometimes lover, and confidant, and Amythest, a gem born long after the war that brought everyone else here who acts like a 20 something or teenager half the time. Steven soon finds himself fighting alongside themt o protect earth both from the monsters caused by the final battle of the war his mother fought to save earth from distruction and let her army live life how they choose, and the gem homeworld as it starts to take an intrest in earth again. And as the fight goes on Steven also starts to see just how flawed his family is and how much they haven’t moved on from his moms death and finds himself forced to help them past it while grappling with his mom’s terrible and complicated legacy, everyone expecitng him to basically be her, and what it means to be a being that’s truly one of a kind. I absolutley love the show: it’s not without flaws; Characters tend to be ingnored for seasons or episodes at a time,some arcs are really weirdly paced and the slice of life episodes can be jammed in the weirdest places. But the show’s strength: a devotion to having emotional resolution be even more important, and sometimes just as powerful animated and framed, than fighting, though the show’s fight scene’s are incredible, incredibly deep characters with fully fleshed out arcs and growth, and a love for tackling deep, heavy subjects through metaphor or even directly, taking on things such as gender identity, societal conformity, ptsd, grief, gender identity and many many more with grace and weight and helping kids with them in the process. The show is also the frontrunner for LBGTQ+ representation in cartoons in the 2010′s. While other shows had bits nad pieces, series creator Rebecca Sugar was the one responsible for making Marcline and Princess Bubblegum ex-lovers and making it obvious as possible without saying it because standards were bullshit, Steven Unvierse decided to say fuck subtley and thus had PLENTY OF gay content: Garnet is a fusion of two women and the embodiment of their love and relationship, and when the two show up their very affectionate with one another to the point of bullcrap censorship in less tolerant countries such as india and russia, while Pearl out and out had a CENTURIES LONG romantic relationship with Steven’s mother who was explictly pansexual, and that’s just the main cast! But I genuinely believe that it’s thanks to Steven Universe that children’s animation is as LBGTQ+ positive as it is now. SU wasn’t the first to have gay leads but it was one of the few kids shows with the balls and, at least in the us, network support to explictily have gay characters as some of the main cast, and I feel the show’s success softend execs at CN and other companies to let more representation too. Since SU”s airing, most CN shows have had gay content great and small, Nick has had gay parents and a bisexual lead, not to mention the korra ending kicking it all off, and Netflix has said hold my beer, having not only multiple gay main characters, but having the finale of she ra be built on a decleration of love between two women saving the universe and being the climax of the entire series. Not that those crews likely still didn’t have to FIGHT for most of that, i’m not bilind and NOelle Stevenson has outright admitted she had to be sneaky about catradora for season 1 as to not get it shut down, but I feel SU”s sucess and Rebecca and crew’s own likely fights put the various studio goon’s reflector shields down and got more representation into children’s media. And that’s a wonderful thing. So naturally the show was a lock for this month and for coverage here.. i’ts just given the show’s heavily seralized nature and the fact it dosen’t really have any long romantic story arcs. Sure ther’es plenty of romance, but it’s mostly either in the past or between an already married couple that’s also a person. The show’s arcs were more focused on worldbuilding and character building, which I do prefer and will be doing one in July. But it did make it tricky to find an episode to spotlight the character I wanted to spotlight: Garnet Garnet is easily my faviorite character, with pearl a very close second: she has a great dynamic, is a decent if flawed mother and leader, and is also damn funny with her deadpanned reactions to things being utterly divine. As well as whatever the hell this is.

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The problem is I also wanted to spotlight the parts making up her: Ruby and Sapphire, their relationship etc as they themselves are fantastic and i’m 100% convinced were the inspriation for one mr mc skat kat and one paula abdul’s magnum opus in steven’s unvierse

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The problem is most rupphire episodes are tangled in bigger arcs. They debuted at the end of the invasion arc, they had the baseball episdoe together shortly after another arc, and their wedding is tied up in the reveal rose was pink diamond and the reception is crashed by the climactic battle with Yellow and Blue that sets up the final arc of the whole series. But thankfully season two gave us The Answer to my problem.. ironically named the Answer, basically Garnet Year One as Garnet tells steven how she came to be, a story so beauitful they made a storybook out of it.. and it’s my honor to present it here after the cut.

We open at the Barn... as a refresher at this point the Gems and Steven have been staying at Greg’s old family farm in order to have the space and suplies to build a drill to stop the cluster from hatching and destroying earth, with Peridot reluctantly working with them. So as such Steven’s sleeping there when Garnet wakes her.. and in a notable departure for her it’s san’s shade, which shows her adorable excitment as she wakes Steven. Turns out it’s his birthday! And.. I don’t really begrudge the show for takin ga break for two episodes to celebrate it: besides being the only time steven went up a year, on screen, it was a nice break from the peridot/cluster storyline for a second, and this and the following episode are pretty great and both add a lot to the world as a whole. It’s why i don’t MIND when SU takes a break from the plot, as long as they do it for good reason.

IN a great callback steven asks if garent’s going to tell him she’s a fusion, as Jailbreak revealed the reason she hadn’t yet is she was saving it for his birthday, which is a good joke and a great callback. Garnet cheerfully tells him know but has clearly found a backup: While steven knows she’s a fusion now.. she never told him how she came to be and how ruby and sapphire met after all. So we journey back about 5000 years to, as we’d learn much later with the pink diamond reveal, the start of the gem war. Earth was to be the next great colony, as we’d learn next season for pink diamond, but something was in the way: The rebel rose quartz and her brutal right hand pearl were causing tons of distruption, so the rest of the diamonds had come to snuff out the rebellion personally. So that’s where Ruby and Sapphire came in. Sapphire is a higher class gem, and befiting her caste is a precog, with Sapphires brought in to tell the diamonds the future so they can either make sure it happens or change it’s course. Garnet neaturally has this ablility too but vastly improved to see multiple timelines. She’s proper and distant. Ruby meanwhile is a shy, if more intellgent then her peers grunt soldier. Rubies as we learned here are basically made in groups to fuse. To homeworld, Fusion is simply a tactic to create a slightly stronger gem out of three other gems, and basically creates one giant person. In Contrast up to this point the series has shown fusion as something important to the crystal gems and requriing more work: It requires all parties to be in sync to even happen much less stay together, and requires an emotional connection; Freindship, romance, kinship... whatever it is it’s needed to hold the fusion together. It’s part of what MAKES garnet so impressive: Garnet is a permafusion, only unfusing either when her two halves are needed. or when thier personal conflict is so great they CAN’T stay fused. It also means due to said emotional resonance and combining the best traits of two gems rather than creating just one big gem, that the crystal fusions we’ve seen are vastly more powerful and versitale.. evne if they dont’ speak much because Rebecca made the mistake of getting big artist to do the role and apparently refused to just you know.. recast? It’s something that always baffled me. There’s no shortage of talented poc performers who can sing out there. Anyways, that’s part of what makes this intresting: up till now, we’d only seen one form of fusion.. we hadn’t seen what homeworld thought of it and used it for, and to the show’s credit it was hinted back during the return arc when Jasper called fusion a “tactic for making weak gems stronger”, since as far as homeworld used it, that’s what it was and it’s a stark contrast to the crystal gems harder to maintain but much more intresting and unique fusions.

We’ll get more into this later. The two front rubies argue about whose going to punch people whie our ruby just points out the obvious: Their just going to fuse into a really big ruby and punch together. This gets her shoved into sapphire, which despite not being her fault gets gasps and monocle pops from the gems around them. And it’s about time I dug into the episodes unique animation style: instead of the usual, only a handful of characters, the rubies, sapphire, and later rose and pearl, are animated normally and even then, at least for the first half, are brightly lit in their primary colors, while the rest of the gems present are just barely animated sytlistic shadows. It’s a really intresting choice and a clever way to save on budget, while still looking gorgeous.

Sapphire, while refusing Ruby’s help getting up, is understanding if monotone, but as w’eve seen in the present, tha’ts mostly just a side effect from seeing where everything’s going, and likely the reason garnet’s own emotional process is much like that; Stoic but willing to emote when necessary. Sapphire however has a reason for brushing her ruby off: the reason she was called here.. Blue Diamond. This is intresting as it’s not only the first time we HEARD of blue, as before this we only heard of Yellow, who’d make her proper debut at the end of this season, but the first time we saw a diamond in any way shape of form. Sure we had murals and such, but given the lack of info about the diamonds this early on it was impossible to tell whow as who and the only giveway there was more than was diamond was the symbols: the era 1 symbols in temples and at the arena showing all 4, hinting at pink, and the modern one shown in jailbreak that was a triforce. We do only see Blue in a hood, covered by her palquin and her voice done by Garnet, but it’s still the first tiem we’d see any of the diamonds in any onscreen form. The Garnet voice is also notcable as every other voice in the flashabck, including characters who aren’t either part of garnet or the same gem type as part of her, is normal.. it’s only blue Garnet does a voice for.. and a clever way of covering for the fact they likely hadn’t cast her voice actress yet. It’s also notable for the introduction of Blue Pearl, who silently stands by her Diamond teh whole time.. it’s weird thinking back to the fact that this was the first time we’d really SEEN other versions of our main cast: other rubies and another pearl. Sure we knew they were all part of one type or another with the obvious exception of garnet.. but this episode is notable, and weird to think about giiven how many variants we see as the series goes on, for being the FIRST time we see this on screen.

Sapphire reveals that while she, and two of her rubies, will poof the rebllion will end here, and Blue is releaved to here this, thanks sapphire and dismisses her. As Garnet explains, Sapphire had no issue with this as she simply saw her life as one straight line: No choice no, option: Fate would just come as it may. Sapphire also muses to Our Ruby on the fact that she finds this planet a wonderful place for a colony.. and that she wishes she could’ve seen more of it. While Our Ruby says theirs more time, Sapphire, while appricating the sentiment gently shoots it down. This little moment is interuptted however as Rose shouts out, signaling her and Pearl’s arrival. The battle has begun. And I do like the clever use of storytelling here.. not in presetnation but in what we’d learn muchhhh later with the big reveal: To a first time watcher, we just thought that it was only rose and pearl for story purposes or it was a small attack. After all the rest of the characters we’d seen were just shadows, so I, and I presume many others just assumed the rest were off screen or failing that this was just a small strike. As we’d learn once we got the full story of Pink Diamond becoming rose.. it was indeed JUST them, and only them at the time. it’s probably why in the future sapphire saw the rebellion ended her: Pink while powerful had to reign it in as not to be found out and pearl, while as we see her is already utterly badass and an ace with a sword as she mows down Quartz soldiers, is still one gem going up against a literal army. Another noticable thing, that hints at when this takes place is the fact that when Rose takes down the fused rubies, poofing two of them and leaving ours to flump to the ground.. she uses her fists. At this point her iconic sword is well established and it’s assumed it was just left out for artistic purpose.. but since we meet who made it next season with Bismuth, it’s another clever hint this is before there was a proper army. Bismuth wasn’t a gem yet so Rose/Pink just had her natural strength and shield to protect her, which wasn’t nothing, but the sword probably made it far easier to hold back.

And thus we come to the moment of truth: Pearl has come back and is about to mow down sapphire.. when Ruby realizes just waht Sapphire meant and waht she’s about to do and thus.. the future changed. Ruby tackles her out of the way. And Garnet is born.

I absolutley love Garnet’s cotton candy design, both as a sensible evolution, as this is a garnet formed in a moment of passion and accidently versus the one we see in the present or even in flashbacks: a person formed by choice and love and thus having a more stable form. Naturally, Rose and Pearl are baffled by this.. and it’s even more understandable.. as the above mentioned pink diamond origin episode explained.. they had never SEEN this kind of fusion before. While i’m sure this isn’t the first time this happend in gem history, any others were likely killed as soon as it were over or went into hiding as we saw with the off colors. And Pink being sheltered and Pearl being created for her, probalby simply never thought of something like this existing. But they also realize this never before seen to them miracle is their cue to skidoo and book it out of there. Naturally Blue is pissed and the court are disgusted as the two defuse and both have about the same reacation.

Before Blue can murder Ruby for you know, doing her fucking job, Sapphire ttakes her by the hand and books it off the sky arena and the two plummet to earth while ruby screams no a lot. The foundation of any good relationship.

They float down to earth.. because she’s Mary Poppins Ya’ll. Ruby reveals why she’s upset: Because as she sees it, there’s dozens of her. She’s not WORTH this. Sapphire has no reaction because for the first time, she has no idea what the future brings, what it means and the future she saw was just shattered. She’s frozen.

Jokes aside I really love that pun. Ruby worries and quickly scoops her up bridal carry style and quickly finds the two a cave. In the cave the two light that flame get that and Ruby continues to freak out over what happened, upset with her self that she’s supposed to save sapphire.. with Sapphire gently reassuring her “you already did.” It’s also intresting as it shows even garnet, or at least half of her, had to go through what peridot did.. it went down a bit easier since exile happened right away, but Ruby still had to shake off the homeworld conceived notion that she was WRONG for saving sapphire simply because it lost them the fight and got them fused and all that. It’s also a nice metaphor for someone whose been told, for a nightmarish rainbow assortment of bullshit resaons, that being gay is wrong only to discover they are and having to realize there’s nothing wrong with who they are.

After a breif flash the two finally talk about their fusion, with Sapphire being suprised considering she figured fusion wasn’t anything like they experinced.. only for Ruby to chime in that sh’es RIGHT: Their fusion wasn’t anything like Ruby’s normal “me but bigger’ fusion.. they lost htemselves.. and both clearly enjoyed it, expressing it through having a third eye for ruby and more than one for sapphi

We then get the utterly adorable musical number: “Something Entirely New”Which takes the so far mildly subtle “This is like two people who had sex with the oppsite gender for the first time “ metaphor.. and just makes it texual as the song basically screams of two people talking over an unfamiliar sexual experince, but in a cute, well done, and intentionally awkward way that’s still approraite for the kids. it’s a real beautiful song and also shows the burgoning couple bond on earth. This is important as a previous episode had garent and out and out say that love takes time and work, accurate and that love at first sight simply dosen’t exist.. and we also see she practices waht she preaches as the montage does show some time past and even before that the two genuiely bonded. Sure they FUSED on the spur of the moment.. but actually loving each other took time and bonding.

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As the song ends, the two dance romantically,deciding to be Garnet for good as we get some nice callbacks to jailbreak: the two hum the tune to stronger than you, now revealed to be their song and spin similarilty to the way they have when they’ve fused, a nice callback that also add’s weight to those previous moments.. and thus two become one and Garnet is reborn.

Garnet narrates as her past self gets used to her strange new form.. and just as she does she falls down a ditch. Eh could’ve been worse.

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Garnet finds herself face to sword with Pearl. Pearl backs off a bit once she realizes who their dealing with, and Garnet panickedly offers to unfuse.. only for Rose to enter. Garnet narrates them as Rose Quartz and her terrifying renegade pearl.

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Truly a force to be reckoned with. Rose dosen’t care about her own feelings though “What you feel is bound to be more intresting” It’s a good moment both because Garnet , up to this point hasn’t had to think about what they are or how they feel.. but more notably... no one but the two gems makingthem up ever cared, not before they were garnet and after all the homeworld gems wanted was to kill her. We also get a great line from garnet: “Why am I sure that i’d rather be this than anything else and that i’d rather do this than anything else i’m supposed to do? “ Rose’s response.. to give a giant grin while saying welcome to earth. As Garnet continues to question things, Rose tells her to never question this, never question what you are... which is a damn good message for a kids show to give out. The metaphor is crystal clear: no matter where you are on that beautiful lbgtq+ rainbow: NEVER be ashamed of who you are, never question it.. just enjoy it. Be who your meant to be and love that person. It’s a damn good message and one badly needed in a medium that for way too fucking long was SCARED to tell messages like this: Of sponsors, of foreign markets, and of idiots like one million moms. it took people like rebecca and her crew to say “fuck that”, to say that queer kids NEED these kinds of stories to know they aren’t alone, they are beautiful how they are. They shoudln’t have to wait to find out what they are.. is okay. And that’s beautiful.

As Rose Tells Garnet that she is the answer, and as we cut back to the present, Steven asks what the answer is. Garnet simply answers: Love. And we close on one great exchange Steven: I knew it Garnet; (wistfully) So did I.

Final Thoughts: While I remembered the episode being good, hence part of the reason I choose it I forgot just HOW great this episode was, especially post reveal. The art direction is goregous, shot like a fairy tail and rightfully so since this episode is told as one, the story is heartwarming and erica and charlene really act their hearts out as ruby and sapphire while Estelle kills it as both present garnet narrating and past garnet, a garnet ENTIRELY diffrent from what we’ve seen but acted beautifully. It’s espcially noticable since unlike the other two lead gems, we obviously wouldn’t see more garnets like we would amythests and pearls, so unlike her contepraries estelle really didn’t get to flex her vocal range as much playing alternate versions as the seasons went on, with this being the closest she got. The episode is beautiful, has a wonderful message, and is just utterly charming and is agian why I DON’T mind that every su episode dosen’t advance the plot: Sometimes it dosen’t need to. And even so this one ended up being WAY more important than I remembered, introducing blue diamond and turning out to be MASSIVELY important once the reveal kicked it: For it was Garnet, and the love dthat forged her that changed Pink’s direction. Before the rebellion was simply a way to stop the occupation of earth and would’ve been snuffed out if not for ruby’s actions.. but seeing garnet, seeing how earth and being free from homeworld’s restraints could positvely impact someone.. it changed rose. Besides bringing her and Pearl together, it also made her realize just what her rebellion could bring to people and what a gem could be and even more how precious her future home was. By forming in an act of Love, garnet changed the entire future of gemkind. By staying that way she did so once more. And that’s beautifully. overall an underated, even by me, little masterwork with once again a damn fine message. We’ll get back to SU soon enough, as I plan to cover the series first full arc as we meet peridot, and see into the souls of our heroines. But first Pride isn’t over yet, and I have one last card on the table as we todd it up a bit with my first look at bojack horseman. Like this if you enjoyed it, comments subscirbe etc etc and don’t be afraid to comission a review for 3 bucks, and until we meet agian, later days.

#steven universe #garnet #ruby #sapphire #rupphire #pearl #rose quartz #pink diamond #blue diamond #the answer #fusion #review #lbtqia #lbtq+#lbtqa #pride month #pride #reviews

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter Forty-Nine: Another Three Stories

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

Earlier chapters can be found here

Kenta Sato in Working Lunch

“Oh, who’s that?”

The sound of Nejire Amajiki’s voice made Kenta jump. He’d just closed his phone after checking his notifications—Takuma had somehow managed to upload a half dozen videos in three days and Kimiko kept texting him about how she was going crazy studying and needed him to make her work harder. He’d also gotten a few hits on the video he’d uploaded at the start of his Internship, but he was actually trying to take it seriously. No eating stuff for clicks this week. Plenty of time for that later. Assuming of course that Tokoyami’s dad didn’t kill Takuma for some of the stuff he was putting up online. Kenta swore he was half of Kimiko’s impulse control and nearly all of Takuma’s sometimes.

But when he’d closed his phone, it had shown his lock screen, with a picture of himself, Takuma, and Kimiko: himself on the left, Kimiko on the right, Takuma with his arms around both of them. He remembered the day they’d taken it, right after they’d gotten their UA acceptance letters. They all looked so proud (though Kimiko had claimed that she’d blinked). Takuma had his usual “this is a good idea, trust me” grin and he could tell Kimiko was smiling (he always could). But if you really looked closely at him, though, you could see the smile didn’t entirely reach his eyes. He’d been too worried then, about whether or not his Quirk was good enough for Hero work. Even now, he was still pretty sure that he’d come in dead last in the Entrance Exam.

And yet here he was, interning with a Top-Ten Hero, Suneater (He was very sure there was some backroom dealing going on, even if they did both have eating-related Quirks). Which also meant his wife. Who made Kimiko look positively sedate. He wasn’t sure how it was possible for one human being to be that perky or ask that many questions. At least, not anyone who wasn’t Shota Shinso.

She’d apparently gotten a look at his lock screen. “Just me and my friends,” he said. His best friends, really. As far back as he could remember, it had always been the three of them. Of course, Takuma was spending a lot of time with Tensei these days, but given how much time Tensei spent in the lab with his sister, it still left plenty of time for the three of them.

Nejire peered at the picture. “She’s cute!” she said, speaking of Kimiko. “Is she your girlfriend?”

Kenta nearly dropped his phone. How could she think…? Why would she…? He didn’t… Did he…? “What? Kimmie’s not…”

“Are you suuuuuure?” she asked. “Do you have a girlfriend already? Or a boyfriend? Or a special friend of some kind?”

Kenta started backing away. Maybe he could book it? This really wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having. No point to it. There was no way Kimiko thought about him like that anyway.

“Nejire, you’re scaring him.” He hadn’t heard Suneater’s arrival, but Kenta was very grateful for it.

“I’m just asking some questions, Tamaki!”

Kenta really didn’t understand how someone as reserved and shy as Suneater had married someone like Nejire-Chan. Even now, he flinched slightly at her exuberance.

“Can it wait?” he asked. “We’ve got a call. I’ll take Sato here and investigate. You stay on standby.”

Just so long as it didn’t end like last time, where the paparazzi had splashed a photo of them with a caption implying Nejire-Chan was interested in him. He could have gone his whole life without seeing it, but Kimiko had just had to share it with him and Takuma.

He was never going to live it down. At least he was pretty sure Suneater and Nejire-Chan hadn’t seen it. Or were polite enough not to mention it.

***

Things went gloop. The Villain they’d been dispatched to stop had a Quirk which let them produce vast quantities of some kind of strange, vaguely greenish colored… gunk. There wasn’t any better word for it. It wasn’t a solid, not really a liquid, and it was sticky as hell. Kenta and Suneater were already buried up to their necks in it, along with most of the street.

The Villain somehow seemed capable of walking on top of the gunk he’d created. How that worked, Kenta didn’t know. He was tall and skinny, with hair the same color was the gunk. No flashy costume, he just wore jeans and a t-shirt, along with a black trench coat.

“Imagine me, Yuck-Raker, taking down a Top Ten Hero!” he laughed. “I thought filling the streets with my gunk was performance enough, but winning a fight like this?” He pulled a cellphone from his coat pocket and snapped a few selfies with Kenta and Suneater in the background. “My hit count’s going to skyrocket!”

Great. He was one of those. The kind of guy who gave Viewtube bloggers like Kenta and his friends a bad name. A Villaintuber. Someone who used their Quirk in villainous ways just for the hit count. A trend that had started ages ago, but had picked back up in the last few years.

“Chomp,” Suneater said, using Kenta’s Hero name. “I can’t morph anything to break loose. Can you move at all?”

Kenta tried to move his arms and legs and struggled to move them at all. No good. Only his neck and head were free. He could move that pretty good, but… Oh. “I think I can get us out,” he said. The Yuck-Raker was still getting away, but taking his time with it, taking selfies, occasionally spraying more gunk.

This was gonna suck.

He lowered his head and took a big bite of the gunk. It tasted awful. Kenta’s sense of taste was, by necessity, a little wonky. He enjoyed the taste of most metals, especially iron and steel and minerals like rocks were decent. Wood tended to be a little dry and rubber was way t0o chewy. And plastics were a whole mixed bag. He’d even eaten a battery once, on a dare. It had turned out to be a good thing his ability to eat anything meant his mouth and tongue were pretty much indestructible and that he couldn’t be poisoned. Battery acid would have been a hell of a thing otherwise.

This gunk? Absolutely the worst thing he had ever eaten. And that included the time Takuma had dared him to eat his dirty socks and then filmed it. It was slimy and sticky, like old gelatin. Kenta had eaten actual dirt before and this made him want to throw up. But he powered through it, taking bigger and bigger bites, until his arms and upper body were free. That gave him the leverage to start eating Suneater free.

It didn’t take long. And fortunately, the Yuck-Raker was still taking selfies. This time, Suneater launched a pair of tenacles at him, wrapping him up. Yuck-Raker tried to fire more gunk at them, but Kenta got in the way, opening his mouth wide and catching it in his mouth. So gross.

After that, Suneater had the Villain wrapped up and that pretty much took the fight out of him.

“Good work,” Suneater told him. And for a moment, Kenta did feel a surge of pride. Maybe some of the others could have done something—Todoriki probably could have frozen her way out and he was pretty sure Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow wouldn’t have gotten stuck—but he was just as sure that several of them would have been just as stuck as they’d been.

Maybe he Quirk had its advantages after all. Situations like this were probably few and far between, but he’d take the win today.

His stomach rumbling, Kenta let out of a long and loud burp. Suneater gave him an incredulous look. “Uh, excuse me,” he muttered, weakly. He was going to need a mountain of antacids.

And then maybe he’d called Kimmie.

He was feeling lucky.

***

Asuka Tokoyami in The Sound of Silence

Asuka’s Internship with Mob-Goblin (a dark-skinned woman with pointed ears whose Quirk could summon up to a half-dozen small goblin like creatures under her control) had been quite ordinary so far. A few small-time Villains stopped, a lot of training, and even more meditation. And while that might have worked for communing with her creations, it hadn’t done nearly as well for Asuka. Frog-Shadow liked to hum show-tunes during meditation.

Until now. They’d been chasing a Villain with some kind of powerful blast Quirk. They’d both launched their familiars at her, only for the Villain to unleash a burst of power that had shattered windows, set off car alarms, knocked them both off their feet, and ripped Frog-Shadow, who was at virtual ground zero, to pieces.

There was a wave of pain unlike anything she’d ever known and then she screamed. And screamed and screamed and screamed until her throat was raw. Her world went white and even the sound of her screaming faded away into nothingness.

She became aware of being shoved back into consciousness by Mob-Goblin shaking her. Her goblins had been wiped out too, but they weren’t as connected to her as Frog-Shadow was to Asuka. “Tokoyami!” she said. “Tokoyami! Speak to me…!”

Her vision cleared and Asuka found herself staring into Mob-Golbin’s face. The other woman’s features were marred with worry. “I…” Asuka began, her voice weak from screaming. “What… what happened?”

“Bad guy got away,” Mob-Goblin said. “Took us both down. Knocked out all of my goblins and our girl. You okay?”

Was she? Asuka took a moment to take stock of herself. She appeared uninjured, at least, other than some soreness from her throat from screaming. As for Frog-Shadow…

No. It wasn’t possible. But it was quiet. Too quiet…

If you’re pretending to ignore me, Asuka thought, your timing is quiet terrible.

Nothing.

Frog-Shaow? Frog-Shadow? Are you there? Speak to me!

“I,” she mumbled, “I can’t hear her. She’s gone!”

***

As far back as Asuka could remember, she’d never been alone.

Oh, certainly, there was a window from when she was born (not hatched, as some people might have thought) to when her Quirk manifested shortly before her third birthday, where, while there were always adults at most a few feet away. But after Frog-Shadow appeared, there had always been another voice, another comforting presence in her life. Whether that voice was only in her head, with a warm glow inside her body, or whether that voice was external, flitting about with a life of its own and embarrassing her, it had come to be one of the defining features of her life.

Both she and her father had been endlessly studied by and interviewed by Quirk researchers and counselors over the years. They’d all ultimately thrown up their hands in frustration, unable to fully understand how their Quirk and the symbiotic relationship they shared with their familiars worked. While the number of people possessing Quirks that could create semi-independent beings had risen over the last couple decades, they still made up less than one percent of the kinds of Quirks out in the world.

Which made the silence all the more deafening.

According to doctor, there was nothing wrong with her Quirk factors. But with how poorly understood living Quirks like Frog-Shadow were, there was no telling how long it might take her to return. Mob-Goblin had suggested that it might be psychological, that Frog-Shadow was simply within her and too afraid to come out.

Which was why she was trying meditation again.

She remembers playing in the park, father watching from the bench, Dark Shadow reading the paper over his shoulder and interjecting his opinion of world news, whether it was wanted or not.

She’s not quite three years old, the feathers on her head soft and downy, more fluff than feather.

Asuka feels strange all of a sudden, warm. She thinks she’s just been playing too hard when, with a slight pop and a lime-green flash of light, a tadpole shaped ball of light is floating next to her, tethered to her midsection by a glowing cord.

“Hi!” the light thing says. It’s a girl, somehow she knows that.

Asuka’s eyes go wide. She stares at it for several long seconds. Finally, she lets out a shrill scream, starts running as fast as her little legs can carry her. “DADDYYYYYYYYYY!”

She runs to her father, who’s already leapt up from the bench in a panic, Dark Shadow flying around him like an angry bird of prey. It’s only as she gets closer than she noticed the light-thing still following her, and she grabs hold of her father’s leg, crying.

“It won’t stop following meeeeee!”

“Hiiiiii,” the light thing trills. She locks eyes with Dark Shadow. “Daddy!”

“What?” Dark Shadow gasps, surprised. He gives her father a confused, guilty look. “I’m not… I mean, maybe? It’s confusing!”

Her father looks over the both of them, instantly assessing the situation. Carefully, he peels her from his leg and bends down next to him. The light-thing keeps trying to hug Dark Shadow, darting this way and that, while Dark Shadow dodges out of the way.

“Little Bird,” her father says, putting one hand on her shoulder, “I need you to take a deep breath and listen to me. Can you do that?”

Asuka takes a deep breath, trying to still her tears. “Uh-huh…” She can’t help but watch the light thing now, she’s managed to corner Dark Shadow and is snuggling up against him while he looks on helplessly.

“Fumi! Help!”

But her father ignores Dark Shadow to focus on her. “Asuka,” he says, looking to the light thing, then back to her, “this is your Quirk. It may seem scary, but there must be light to be shadows, and every shadow needs the light. This is your light and your shadow. Do you understand?”

She shakes her head. Sometimes, her father talks too funny for her to understand. But she’s not crying anymore.

Her father pauses for a moment, thinking. Then, “You know how Dark Shadow is Daddy’s friend?”

This, she understands. She nods. “Uh-huh.”

“I think this little one is meant to be yours.”

He stands up and turns to Dark Shadow and the light thing. She’s settled down in Dark Shadow’s arms now. “May I?” he asks. Dark Shadow nods and passes the thing to him.

Carefully, her father bends down again, holding the light thing in the crook of one arm. He runs a hand along the tether connecting it to her. “See? Just like me and Dark Shadow.”

The thing gazes up at them, her eyes wide. “Do you have a name, little one?” her father asks.

She gives them a confused look. “I don’t know!”

“Maybe you’d like to her give a name, Asuka?”

Asuka looks over the little light-tadpole, how innocent it seems now. It’s just a kid, like her. “She’s a tadpole… so she’s a frog! Like Mommy! So maybe… Frog-Shadow!”

“Ooooh! I like that! I like that!” the newly named Frog-Shadow claps it’s flippers together happily.

“It’s a big responsibility,” her father says. “Mommy’s going to have a new baby soon, and now this little one is here too. You’re going to be a big sister twice over. Can you be a good big sister, to both of them?”

Asuka nods. “I can! I will! I will, Daddy! I promise!”

“Say, Fumi,” Dark Shadow says, “do you think this is because of the time we…”

“SILENCE!”

Since then, Frog-Shadow had been her constant companion, slowly growing from a tiny tadpole to a powerful frog-shaped light being. And definitely into a being with a mind of her own. The number of times Frog-Shadow had appeared of her own volition, to embarrass her or just to insert her own thoughts on things… Asuka wasn’t sure whether or not having all that out in the open was better than having to just deal with Frog-Shadow’s voice in her head.

But right now, she missed it more than she had ever missed anything in the world. It was as though a piece of herself had been cut out.

Thoughts of her promise returned to her. Had she been a good “big sister?” She often yelled at and argued with Frog-Shadow, tried to shame her into behaving properly. Maybe she should have been more understanding? Maybe she shouldn’t have tried so hard to make her fit her idea of good behavior?

“Please,” Asuka said softly, “please, come back.”

She felt a warmth growing in her middle, and with a pop, Frog-Shadow appeared! She looked weak, her glow very dim, barely floating, but she was back.

“Hiiii,” she said weakly.

Asuka let out an unintelligible squeal and pulled Frog-Shadow to her tightly. “Never, never worry me like that again, you!”

“Hey! Hey! I just took a break, okay! No need to get so mushy! But… okay, if you insist…”

“Love you, little sister,” Asuka said.

“Love you too.”

***

Tensei Iida in a Flight in the Limelight

Tensei fired his Jetpack, doing math in his head rapidly. If he let the falling woman’s velocity equal x and his own speed equal y and the distance between them equal z, then he needed to maintain his speed and then reduce it so she would not become a greasy, crimson smear on his armor if he tried to catch her.

He applied another burst of speed, then immediately cut his forward acceleration, just in time to catch her in his arms. Her screams stopped, suddenly surprised at no longer falling.

“I’m… I’m not dead?”

“Please remain calm,” he said, trying to be reassuring. Their teachers and his father had always insisted that reassuring the civilians was just as important as the physical rescue itself. “This may be somewhat jarring.”

Carefully, he activated his Quirk again, slow bursts from his Jetpack to continue slowing them down, before shifting to a steadily decreasing stream to bring them down to the ground.

On the ground, he was met by the Hero he was interning with, the gold and black-armored Veloci-Queen. She was able to generate a frictionless field around her body, which combined with the disks built into her hero suit, let her move at incredible speed. The perfect fusion of science and speed, which Tensei respected. She had a highly credible record as well, which he also respected. The only blemish, it if could be called such, was her insistence that he needed to “lighten up.”

Of course, his boyfriend (He admitted, he truly did love thinking that word, even if they had only been able to exchange a few texts since the start of the Internship) occasionally said the same thing.

The fact that a mid-air rescue was how he had gotten his boyfriend in the first place was not lost on him.

“Good work, Jet-Blue,” Veloci-Queen said. “You all right, Miss?”

The woman Tensei had caught—he vaguely recognized her from some Instaglam pictures Takuma had shown him—climbed out of his arms. Paramedics were waiting for her. “I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks to this guy!”

She was blonde, with green eyes with vertical slits. Now that he looked at her more closely, he could see that she has small scale patterns on various spots on her body. Tensei was a poor judge of female attractiveness, but if this woman—Or was it girl? He now realized she was not much older than him.—was an Instaglam content producer, she was likely attractive by those who found women attractive.

“So what caused you to fall like that?” Veloci-Queen asked. Tensei knew she had little patience for so-called “internet celebrities.” She had found him watching one of Takuma’s videos during a lunch break and made some unflattering remarks about the kinds of people who made such videos. He regretted not speaking up more in his boyfriend’s defense, but he also felt obligated to respect his mentor.

“Oh, I was up on the roof, trying to get the perfect picture! The skyline is to die for!”

“…Be careful. You won’t always have my intern to catch you.”

“Speaking of your intern,” the woman said, “I haven’t said thank you! Can you take the helmet off? I want to see the face of the guy who saved me!”

Tensei looked over to Veloci-Queen, who shrugged. He reached up and snapped the seals on his helmet, lifting it off his head and holding it in the crook of his arm.

Before he could blink, the woman leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek, snapping the whole thing with her phone.

***

What was the word that Takuma had used to describe when something spread through social media faster than one could track? Ah, yes… viral. He hadn’t quite understood it before, but in the last few hours, Tensei had come to see that the term was very apt. Like a virus, it first infected one social media platform to another, spreading to various digital news outlets faster than he could blink.

Instaglam Star Akebono Hebi Kisses Rescuer and U.A. Student Tensei Iida – Is Romance On the Horizon?

There were so many inaccuracies with that he did not know where to begin! One, he was already in an established relationship! Two, romances resulting from rescues were highly inappropriate! Three, one kiss did not a relationship make and it very poor journalism to assume as such! And, of course, four, he was gay!

At least his boyfriend was being understanding.

Takuma Sero: You met Ake? Super jealous. She’s got, like, a bajillion followers!

That is entirely beside the point!

Why are you not scandalized by these accusations of disloyalty?

Takuma Sero: Babe. I know you’re gay. I’m not exactly worried here.

Nevertheless, this is all highly inappropriate!

Takuma Sero: First time going viral?

Takuma Sero: This can’t be your first time being in the news, Tensei.

Takuma Sero: Your family’s super-famous. Mom, Dad, Uncle, like, everybody.

Yes, but that has only been in association with my more renown family members!

And furthermore, this has nothing to do with my own merits!

This is merely her using me for…

What is the word I am looking for here?

Takuma Sero: For clicks?

Yes!

This is her using me for clicks!

Takuma Sero: Didn’t your mom use your dad as an advertisement

the first time they met?

Yes, but that is entirely beside the point!

Takuma Sero: Babe. Relax. Ake’s a bigger attention whore than me.

Takuma Sero: By this time tomorrow, she’ll be going viral for something else.

Takuma Sero: And you’ll be yesterday’s news.

Takuma Sero: Except to me.

You are much wiser in the ways of the social media than me.

I shall defer to your expertise in the matter.

Takuma Sero: Though if you did want to go

viral for kissing someone

Takuma Sero: I could always stream it

Takuma: Sero: Joking!

I should hope so!

Though I would not object to the non-streaming part of that.

Takuma Sero: Why, Mister Iida!

Takuma Sero: Did you just say you wanted to kiss me?

Takuma Sero: I thought your sister was the expressive one!

I am fully capable of expressing my own desires!

And please do not discuss my sister.

I have no wish to think about whatever she and Toshi may get up to.

Tensei hoped Takuma was right. At the very least, he was grateful that his father was not active or interested in social media. The last thing he needed was more reminders about upholding the Iida family name. That had been impressed upon him and his sister often enough. Father simply wanted what was best, but even Tensei could admit, his line of thinking was somewhat rigid.

More importantly, he was even more grateful his sister seemed not to have noticed this. She would never have let him hear the end of it if she did.

His phone buzzed.

Sora: You now also have a girlfriend? You really must allow me to better vet your romantic entanglements, Little Brother!

Tensei just sighed. Some things, it seemed, never changed.

#their hero academia #my hero academia #kenta sato #asuka tokoyami #tensei iida (THA)#takuma sero #fumikage tokoyami #tamaki amajiki #nejire hadou #sora iida #fan fic #fan fiction #my writing

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dirkcresswellx · 4 years

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( TRANSMALE (CLOSETED) , HE/HIM ) DIRK CRESSWELL is a HUFFLEPUFF whose favorite subject is CHARMS, maybe because they are INDUSTRIOUS but also EVASIVE. They might be so popular because they look like ELLIOT FLETCHER, can you believe they are a SIXTH YEAR? rumors say they support DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY. where do they go from here?

anyway this bio is ... a lot. sorry.

BASICS —

Full Name: Dirk Anthony Cresswell

Age: Seventeen

Birthday: June 29; Cancer

Blood Status: Muggleborn

PERSONALITY —

(+) Positive Traits: Helpful, cooperative, industrious, nurturing

(-) Negative Traits: Evasive, docile, mistrustful, scatterbrained

LIFE AT HOGWARTS —

House: Hufflepuff

Year: Sixth

Wand: Alder wood, 9 inches even, with a unicorn tail hair, very flexible.

Best Class: Charms

Worse class: Potions

Pets: A Ragamuffin cat named Pixel

Boggart: The corpse of his foster father

Patronus: Basset hound

Extracurriculars: Hufflepuff Quidditch team (chaser), Hufflepuff prefect (sixth year), charms club, herbology club, music club

BIOGRAPHY —

trigger warning: child neglect, child abuse, transphobia, death

From a young age, Olivia Cresswell’s life had been in a state of flux. Money had been tight for Cresswells and the shared knowledge of children her parents possessed reached a zero sum. It wasn’t like they didn’t try, they just didn’t have the necessary skills to take care of an infant. She would go hours sitting in a dirty nappy because neither one of them had noticed she needed to be changed and it was only after wailing for a solid ten minutes that they would figure out she was hungry. It became easier when she learned how to talk but at the same time, it didn’t. An infant had to be taken care of all the time but a toddler could tell you what they needed. They could ask for food or water and it should have made things easier on the Cresswells. But a toddler could also run around and knock stuff over and accidentally burn themselves on the iron that her mother had left on when she had to chase after Olivia. Mrs. Cresswell had been stressed all the time, being left alone with a toddler while her husband was at work, trying to make money to take care of the kid they didn’t understand. Children don’t come with an instruction manual, they barely cooperate when you want them to and when you need them to, all hope was lost. A few drinks in, trying to ease her frayed nerves and Mrs. Cresswell began screaming. Worse, she began shouting and getting loud and teaching her four year old all sorts of new words. She loved Olivia dearly but that didn’t stop her hand from flying out and striking her child when she started bawling and asking when daddy would be home. It was a close little neighborhood, with families packed into flats and from next door, the sound was unmistakable. When Mr. Cresswell returned that night, Olivia had already been removed from the home and into a family that would take better care of her.

In the foster home, with a family called the Houstons, Olivia seemed a little off. She recoiled from the slightest touch and refused to ask for anything. They had a child of their own, named Jacob, that she took to, because he was a kid just like her and Olivia emulated him. She played games and roughed around in the grass and accidentally broke a lamp or two after a few years of living there. They were a cute little family, almost picturesque, until Jacob went into secondary school and left Olivia alone. He made new friends that weren’t her and left her alone. Resentful, thinking it was because she wasn’t grown up enough, she found a group of older boys who just saw a kid that they could mess with, use to steal things and then if it failed, blame it on the kid. Simply put, it failed. Olivia had been caught by a corner store owner who had grown tired of the boys stealing from her store and now they were recruiting young kids to go and help them. No charges were pressed and the most Olivia had to deal with was a cop talking to her. He had introduced himself as Derek, though his badge said McAfee and asked why such a sweet young lady would want to hang out with a group of troublemakers. She had protested, shaking her head. She wasn’t a lady, she didn’t want to be a lady, and at least they cared about her! Unlike Jake. Derek had taken that in stride, not questioning the child and simply talking to him. That’s it. Just talking. Until Mr. Houston came to pick him up.

He had been removed from the Houston’s a week later, bouncing around from home to home because they couldn’t find one that was a good fit. In that time, he’d bounced from name to name as well, trying to find something that eased the pressure in his chest and made him feel good and strong and masculine. He’d briefly landed on Jacob but that idea was tossed away as quickly as it came to him and went to Jesse to Kai to Parker. He was going by Jack when the cop, Derek, from a year ago had finally put in a request to foster him. In the McAfee house, Jack thrived. His grades were up, he was making friends with people his own age. The McAfees didn’t have any issues with Jack being a boy, introduced him to the word trans-gender, and it was the first time Jack really smiled in a very, very long time. The kind of smile that you just know meant everything clicked in his head, with the overwhelming relief of “There are others like me. I’m not broken.” The McAfees had broken down seeing that smile on their boy’s face and the family was perfect. Just perfect.

For less than a year. Less than twelve months later, Derek had been taken from his family and they never got justice for the man they lost. When he found out that Derek wasn’t coming home, his magic manifested in a most extreme way. All of the glass in the house had broken, shattered on the floor. It was a physical display of how broken he felt hearing that. Mrs. McAfee fell into a depression too deep to continue caring for Jack and he was moved once again. But this time, it was with a new outlook. Grieving was one thing and he was sure to do that in his own time but he wanted to make Derek proud. Jack was sure he was watching, upset the family had been torn apart but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Derek was looking out for him. The first step was to officially, finally, settle on a name. Forever. Only eleven years old and he knew that he wanted something that would keep his favorite parent close to him. He chose Dirk, like his dad’s name, but not quite the same. His teachers’ rosters still said Olivia and some of the foster families called him Olivia but he was Dirk. And despite how mad he got, how crushing it was to have people ignore what you told them and say you’re a girl, he kept his cool. Reminded of how Derek was with him, he tried to be that way with everyone else. He had been shown kindness in the McAfee house and he would in turn, pass it on. Despite how awful it was to lose the first real family he’d had. Despite how bad he felt because he couldn’t have stopped him. His hardships were his and his alone to carry. He refused to put that weight on anyone else.

It was shortly after his eleventh birthday, now living with a family called the Tylers who accepted him for who he was, called him Dirk and everything, when he received a letter. Except that letter was brought to him by a wizard named Dippet. He explained that Dirk had magic in him, that he was a wizard and he would attend the finest wizarding school of all, Hogwarts. Dirk didn’t have money, or anyone that would understand. He wouldn’t be able to go and that terrified him. The first time in his life he truly felt special and he would have to pass up on the opportunity because there wasn’t another option. Or so he thought. The school would take care of his robes and his books and all of his equipment in return for good grades and the promise that he’d keep them up. They’d even allowed him to bring a pet with him. He was moved once more, to a new home, with a squib, which was a word he didn’t understand until it was explained to him. They would understand him and protect him. It wasn’t quite a home and he didn’t always stay there during the nights, especially as he grew older, but it was close enough and the best he was getting.

Before Dippet had left, leaving him with the new family, Dirk had asked how they had known he was magic. The headmaster explained about the enchanted quill that wrote down students’ names when they were born. When he asked what name had been written down for him, Dippet had just replied with, “Dirk,” before apparating away. Relief had washed over him and Dirk felt vindicated, felt good and right, that he had been meant to follow this path. Life may have taken him on a strange, lonely path with a lot of twists and turns, but it was always leading right here. He was meant to be here.

If he had a million years, Dirk wouldn’t be able to repay all that he had been given in his life, because he wasn’t given charity but acceptance and kindness and a second chance when he didn’t even realize he needed one. Instead, he tries to pay it forward, to put good things out into the world and be a good person and hope that maybe, he can be the type of person he needed for someone else one day. He just wants to help, especially now that he can’t seem to shake the feeling that they’re not as safe as the news says they are. A girl a few years above him, Sybill something, said that she felt the same way, but no one ever believed her. She said she was a Seer and maybe Dirk was too. But Dirk isn’t so sure about that. Dirk is only sure about one thing: he wants to help people anyway he can.

#svhqintro #intro.#did i go overboard? yes. do i regret it? no.

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