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camxnoel-updates · 3 years ago

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Cameron Monaghan brought the character of Ian Gallagher to life on Showtime’s hit series, Shameless. The series aired for a total of 11 seasons after originally premiering in 2011. It ranked as the network’s no. 1 comedy, longest-running series, and had the youngest-skewing audience of any Showtime series. Monaghan also joined two legendary universes with roles in both Gotham and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which I got to ask him about too!

The final season of SHAMELESS finds the Gallagher family and the South Side at a crossroads, with changes caused by the COVID pandemic, gentrification, and aging to reconcile. As Frank confronts his own mortality and family ties in his alcoholic and drug-induced twilight years, Lip struggles with the prospect of becoming the family’s new patriarch. Newlyweds Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) are figuring out the rules and responsibilities of being in a committed relationship while Deb embraces her individuality and single motherhood. Carl finds an unlikely new career in law enforcement and Kevin and V struggle to decide whether a hard life on the South Side is worth fighting for.

Along with the final season, fans also got a six-episode series that featured new Shameless scenes juxtaposed with a retrospective look at each character’s journey over the prior 10 seasons, titled, Shameless Hall of Shame. The first episode followed Ian and Mickey, showcasing their unique relationship and its evolution from a teen fling into a loving, complicated marriage.

I was able to chat with the actor over zoom and ask him all of my burning questions regarding the series finale, Ian and Mickey’s future, the show’s open ending, the representation his character provided to those watching, what he kept from the set, his future projects, and so much more! Keep reading to find out everything he told me.

So first of all, I want to say a huge congrats to you for wrapping Shameless after 11 seasons and bringing this character to life, who has inspired so many and that so many relate to. I wanted to ask, what has your time on the show meant to you and how would you describe how it helped you grow as an actor?

Cameron Monaghan: I mean, it’s so difficult to distill 11 years into some sort of concise answer, but it’s meant a lot for so many reasons. I think that obviously it’s been important for my career and my life in a sense of how it’s not only given me exposure but also given all of us a platform as performers to be able to tell interesting and challenging stories and to really develop and grow. Obviously, we had a couple of old pros on the show– when I say old pros, I’m not calling them old, just that they’re professionals and they’ve been doing it for a long time, but like William H. Macy, Joan Cusack, and a number of people who had very storied careers. Then we had actors on the show who had never appeared on anything prior and for a lot of us, we were somewhere in the middle, where we’d been working for a number of years, but hadn’t been given the opportunities to really put ourselves out there in such a significant way.

So being able to get an audience over the course of 11 years– and the show grew steadily, it was a marginal success at first, but it wasn’t until like season 4 or 5 that it really started to be seen by people and really connect on a larger platform, and a lot of that had to do with Netflix. When that happens we had such an influx of people kind of saying how they related to it and I think that that’s something that I’ve really taken away– I think we’ve all taken away, to be able to hear a lot of other people’s stories and how they’ve connected these stories in entirely different ways. Everyone has had different favorite characters or storylines and they have brought their own personal experiences to that, but for people to say that they feel seen or heard in some ways by these stories, I think is very special. You know, the character that I was playing was an LGBT love story, as well as a story about mental illness, and coping and struggling with that. I had so many positive responses from people regarding those things, and it was amazing to hear people’s responses. So I think that not only was I able to grow as an actor but being able to hear that response and feedback helps you grow as a human being too. I guess that’s what one of my major takeaways is.

What was that final day of shooting like for you, and how did you feel when you officially wrapped?

It was a bit surreal. I don’t think it really set in at first. It’s always funny when you wrap on a project, I feel like it comes in waves, and with something like a TV show, you start to feel it on the last few episodes of like, “Oh, wow, it’s going to be over.” You start trying to find your little ways of saying goodbye to people and understanding that these conversations are obviously not the last for everyone; we’re still close with each other, but you start to recognize that within the context of the show they’ll be your last so that’s a difficult thing. I’ve never been particularly good at saying goodbye, you know? I feel like in general, I’m kind of a person that just likes to be like, “I’m just going to walk away from it cause I don’t know what else to do really.”

So, we were shooting pretty late at night and we were all there hanging out and cracking jokes, and it was just of like, “Oh, I guess that’s it.” We all kind of looked at each other like, “Well, what do we do now?” A bunch of us stuck around for a few hours afterward, we popped a bottle of champagne, and we sat in each others’ trailers and just kinda hung out until pretty early in the morning, the next day. Then we’ve all kind of just been hanging out and seeing each other since. Everyone’s been really busy, thankfully. So we’ve been traveling and going to different cities for work, but when we’ve been in town we’ve been trying to see each other. I had dinner with Jeremy and Ethan, who played my brothers on the show last week. Noel Fisher, I just saw yesterday. I’m going to see Shanola Hampton in a few days. We’re all still staying in touch with each other is what I’ll say.

Were you personally satisfied with the ending of the show? I think it was very open-ended, which was kind of nice and left a lot open for the future. And was there anything you wanted to see for your character that we weren’t able to?

Endings are difficult in general, but I feel like, especially with a show like Shameless, which is a show about a slice of life and sort of how existence doesn’t really fall into a perfect narrative; it tends to be messy and kind of just continue in spite of itself, and it’s a stream of these little victories and these constant mistakes. So you can’t really cap off a pure ending to a story like that. I think that what John Wells tried to do with writing it is not really conclude the stories. He concludes certain aspects, but the way that he explained it to us is he wanted it to feel like if you were walking through the streets of Chicago, maybe you might bump into these characters. Maybe they’re still out there and maybe they’re still doing things. Some of us had more resolution than others.

I would actually say that the Ian and Mickey storyline was one that did have a fair amount of resolution for the final episode. It was about their anniversary, how they were going to deal with their future, and they’ve kind of figured out some sort of life with each other. There are still large questions, whether or not they’re going to have kids and what the terms of their marriage will entail in the future, but those are questions that are lifelong questions, and ones that I think that we know these characters well enough and we understand their relationships well enough that we can draw our own conclusions for. I think there is something beautiful about the fact that the audience will project what their future for these characters will be.

I think it was a challenging final season because of so many extenuating factors in the world. All shows, businesses, everything was trying frantically to keep up with a changing landscape, and the fact that we were able to make it in spite of all of those things, I think is a victory in itself; one that we are all proud of and happy with. I do think there’s still a future, years out, where we might return to these characters and explore them further. I think that I’m happy putting them to bed for now, I think we all are, but I would like to maybe check in with these characters in 5 or 10 years, and just kind of see where they’re at and what they’re doing.

Kind of like a little Shameless movie, just to play catch up for a little bit.

Yeah, I think that’s something that is kind of more possible now with these streaming networks. They’ve done it with a few series, to sometimes success and sometimes mixed results, but I do think there is a possibility of a reunion season or something like that, depending on where the show fits into the public consciousness in a few years, you know? It’s an open question, but one I’d be excited to see.

How you would describe Ian’s evolution and journey on the show?

I think that Ian has come a long way in terms of confidence and assuredness in himself and his own decisions. I think that’s what a lot of the exploration of the character was, especially in the middle seasons between seasons like 3 to 8 or 9, are this guy who sort of just doesn’t necessarily know what he wants for himself and he’s dealing with a bunch of surprises about himself that he doesn’t necessarily understand, or hasn’t really come to terms with. I think it’s amazing to see Ian in these earlier episodes where he’s kind of getting kicked around by his relationships and by his family. He’s kind of a forgotten kid a little bit. He’s like a middle child, who’s just sort of– people aren’t really looking out for him. His brother does to a certain extent, but also his brother is kind of telling him what he wants for himself and Ian isn’t as active.

At a certain point, he starts to really come into his own as an adult and as a human being. I think it’s amazing how we see him as not only a big brother by the end of the series, but also sort of– there’s something a bit paternal about him. He becomes a bit of a father figure, even a little bit in his relationships. I think it’s interesting how Mickey was always sort of the commanding force and deciding factor for so much of the series; when Ian was really struggling with mental illness and down in the dumps, Mickey is the kind of guy who was looking after him, but by the end of the series, Mickey is a bit childlike in certain ways. Ian is kind of protecting him to a certain extent, and even with his older brother, Lip, Ian is sort of looking out for him in a slightly paternal way, which I think is kind of interesting. He really comes a long way in sort of being confident enough in himself to start looking out for other people that I think is a really great quality. It makes him a character who has made a fair amount of mistakes but mistakes that we understand, and I think that ultimately he’s a guy that I understand and really relate to because he does have this quality to him.

So I have to ask you some questions about Ian and Mickey. I personally love them together, they were one of the reasons I started watching the show. In the end, as you said, we kind of get some closure, but also an open ending with them and it’s a happy one; they’re together and celebrating their anniversary. In your head, what do you think that their future holds? Do you think kids are in the picture; do you think they’re going to be parents? Ideally, what is your version of their happy ending, if you could create it?

I think that they both still need to do some work. I would say that they need to do work as a couple in their marriage still of just defining the terms of what is it that they want financially, sexually, intimately, personally, all of these things. It’s a show full of people who aren’t great at communication or dealing with their own feelings– I mean to a certain extent, most human beings aren’t, but these guys, especially, come from a rough background and they have that tendency of just kind of wanting to push that stuff down. Ian has really opened up Mickey and Mickey to a certain extent has really opened up Ian over the course of the series, but I still don’t think they’re fully all the way there. Mickey has a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to parenthood, his father, and dealing with responsibility.

I don’t know if Mickey is fully there. Hopefully, he would be one day in the future. And hopefully, Ian would be patient enough to give him the space to make that decision and to not want to rush into it. I do think that it would be something in their future. Parenthood was a huge motivating factor for Ian earlier in the series, going so far as to steal someone’s baby at some point because he wants to be a father. I would hope that they would be able to provide that for him and for themselves, but there’s no way to know, we have to sort of make that assumption for ourselves, but I think so.

Ian and Mickey have been this fan-favorite couple that means so much to the LGBTQ+ community in terms of representation. What was the moment that you personally started rooting for them?

I think it was pretty early. I was rooting for Ian from the first episode, from the pilot, but the second that Mickey gets introduced to the show, he brought such a fun dynamic with him. Obviously, a massive amount of charisma that was coming from Noel Fisher. The scenes were always fun, exciting, and felt steeped in a lot of dramatic tension. Whether or not they were destined to be together was kind of a question that still was developing. In the first season to the third season, the Mickey character is pretty rough emotionally and physically; he is at points pretty, extremely abusive in a way that is great for a character and for a story, but if I was talking to Ian as a person in real life, I would probably say, “Get the hell away from this guy. He’s awful for you.”

But within the context of the story, we’re able to get the internal life of these characters and we understand them well enough to really want to be rooting for them and see them succeed. It builds into this pretty epic love story of these characters that really do feel kind of intertwined by fate and something greater. It feels like you have these forces pulling for them in a way that you want with every fiber of your being to see it work out for them because you care for them. So obviously, Noel and I had been rooting for these characters the entire time, but it was really fun playing some of the ridiculousness of the situations of the two of them, where they were just very at odds with each other at times. It was a joy bouncing off of each other in both the highs and the lows of the character.

Is there sort of a message that you hope their love story gives to viewers that see themselves in these characters?

Well, I think the aspects of the characters, especially for Mickey, that I’m sure a lot of people relate to, and it is sort of the greatest tragedy of the character, is how he is deeply in the closet and he feels that he can’t embrace his own self and also this beautiful love because of this situation that he’s in; a traumatic home life, specifically an abusive father, and also an environment that doesn’t allow him to be what he wants to be. I guess the message that I do hope that people who are relating to that get is that there are places where you can be accepted and there are better options for you, and sometimes that takes time, but as cliched as it is, it does get better. So hopefully people are able to find these safe environments for themselves to be able to improve the quality of life and to get better situations. I hope that people find hope in the story ultimately.

Another relationship of Ian’s that I have to discuss is his relationship with the whole Gallagher family; that was a focus of the series since day one. What was your favorite part of their dynamic and playing off that?

Obviously, the chaos of the family is always really fun to play. We had these scenes that were kind of an amazing balancing act of like 8 or 9 people in a scene, all messing around with these different storylines that are bouncing off of each other, intertwining, and you have this really biting sharp satirical dialogue that all had a very specific rhythm to it and was a sort of flow that was established early in the show that was kind of kept across the entire series; one that was a genuine joy as a performer to play. But I think that specifically the relationship that I’ve always been a fan of and I love from the start, is probably– it’s definitely one of my favorite relationships on the show– was the relationship between Ian and Lip.

There’s not a lot of depictions of brotherhood and intimacy between men that are deeply sensitive, close, and uncomplicated. Those are definitely scenes that I felt very personally moved by, of two brothers who have just had a world of shit, a lot of complicated and messed up things that have been dropped on their heads that they’ve been dealing with for the entirety of their lives, but they’ve sort of made a pact that they were just gonna be there for each other no matter what. If they weren’t there for each other, who knows if they would have survived. I think that there’s something really amazing about those scenes in that they’re just very open with each other, and that’s something that’s established right from the start and was kind of one of those key relationships for the show that survived until the very last episode and that I’m very proud of, cause I do think that those are some of my personal favorite scenes of the show.

Here’s a fun three-part question: most challenging, fun, and insane storyline for you as an actor?

Most challenging would probably have to be… we reached a point in the series around season 8 and they were trying to contextualize the characters in a modern way, put them into new circumstances, but try to retain what the characters were, but they’ve moved a lot from where they originally were. We were at a point where we were getting so many new writers onto the series, and the show I feel struggled for a second, which happens with any series that’s been on for a while. It felt like there was a point where they didn’t know what they wanted to do with Ian. There were a couple of episodes where I was kind of looking at the story and being like, “What are we doing here? It doesn’t really feel like anything is happening with him and we’re kind of floating across these relationships.” I wasn’t sure what we were trying to say, but that being said, that is kind of true to life, to a certain degree, where we do find ourselves sometimes in these ruts where we don’t know what we’re doing with our relationships, our lives, and ourselves. There is a little bit of a struggle there and that is kind of real to a certain degree, and I do think having those episodes make when they started finding the way with the character and relationships again, kind of more satisfying cause he sort of loses his way and he comes back. So it was kind of a challenge, but I think it all worked out ultimately.

Craziest would have to be… so this is one that no one would even know is like a thing really, no one would even think of it as a thing, but the scene in the pilot episode, Lip and Ian jump out of like a window and they run out of a house to escape an angry parent, right? And they’re kind of running in a rush. So they run out in their socks, down the street, and it’s the middle of January in Chicago and the streets are covered in mud, water, and ice. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever felt in my life that I actually thought my feet were going to like fall off. I thought we were going to have to amputate a toe because of frostbite. We did the scene a bunch of times, and because Jeremy and I were young, we were just sort of trying to be tough, just like, “Yeah, whatever, it’s not a problem. We can do this over and over, not a big deal.” Then I definitely learned a lesson of like, when something is a problem, you have to say, it’s a problem.

Most fun… I don’t know if I can distill it to just one scene. I think the most fun was just getting to interact with all of the wildly different personalities of our show, and just kind of get to sit around and hang out with everyone. There were times that we would just be laughing so hard that one of us would start and we just end up crying, laughing. Usually, it was because of Howey cracking jokes or something like that, but it could be just the dumbest to smallest thing, but it’s the kind of thing when you become so comfortable with people, it just starts to happen. Sometimes it was just the downtime and these little small kind of boring or mundane moments that really ended up being some of my favorite experiences.

Did you take anything from the set at all?

I did. So in the final season, there’s a storyline where Frank steals Nighthawks, the Edward Hopper painting, and that was actually done in cooperation with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Edward Hopper estate. They did these really high-resolution prints of it that were then painted over by hand, and they even took pictures of the back and mimicked the way that the canvas wrapped over, the small writing, and everything. It’s a pretty damn good forgery of Nighthawks. So I stole one of those and that’s hanging up in my living room. I also stole one of the mugs cause in the show we’re always having breakfast and drinking coffee, so there are these rooster mugs and I stole one of those.

Since you’re talking to The Nerds of Color, I have to ask you about Star Wars and Gotham. What stood out to you about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order compared to your other work, and what did it mean to you to join that iconic universe?

I mean, what stood out pretty quickly was that it had a tone all of its own. Star Wars is a very specific tone. It has sort of its own language, pacing, style, and rhythm; there’s something very specific about it, something that I’m a big fan of. I grew up watching the Star Wars movies and that was definitely… you know, anytime that you’re jumping onto something with an active and passionate fanbase it’s going to be slightly intimidating. There’s no way around that. Thankfully, I’ve at this point done enough projects with really passionate fanbases to kind of understand what that entails, which is that there’s going to be a lot of opinions. A lot of people are really excited about things and no matter what, even the smallest things, someone’s going to be very, very angry about it. That comes along with the territory, but that’s kind of fun to a certain degree; it’s fun to hear such minutiae and being examined, and these conversations are ones that are being had on set too.

There’s so much conversation between the Lucasfilm story group, Respawn, and EA, who are the production companies behind the game, and also the cast, directors, and everybody involved are sometimes discussing, “How does a person stand? How does one get onto a speeder bike? What kind of sound does this monster make?” And there’s always a genuine deference and respect to the series. We know how much people care about it. We know because we care about it a lot, and everyone on this project are huge fans of the source material. So that was exciting to be a part of, obviously; I mean, that should go without saying. It’s so freaking cool to be a Jedi and to be the face of this massive franchise, and to be able to not only be a part of a really well-known property and part of this large project but also to be able to tell an interesting and intimate story within it. For as bombastic as all of the action is, and as big as the Star Wars universe is, I feel the story of Cal Kestis and the people that he interacts with is a somewhat smaller one and a more intimate one. It’s ultimately, at least for me, a pretty emotionally resonant one and a story that I actually very much care about and relate to. I think that was probably the most exciting part about it, was being able to within the framework of this big machinery of what Star Wars is, still tell a story that might actually affect people and make them feel things, I think was just really cool.

Could you describe how it felt to take on the role of the Joker?

Exciting, intimidating, an honor, and challenging; it’s a role that I didn’t take lightly. I understood what it was, which is that a lot of the people who were seeing me in the role had never heard of me and didn’t know who I was, and it was a way to prove myself and to show off my take of what I could do with this. It was really cool too with that show that we were getting to do something that had never really been done before with the character, which is to show multiple versions and possibilities of what that character could be, and to kind of tip our hat to some of the famous stories that came before, and then kind of give a unique spin and show off some new things with it as well.

Obviously, that show was heightened to a certain degree and kind of existed in this wacky over-the-top violent, but also slightly cartoony universe that was kind of its own little thing. That was really fun to play around with it and to totally get to do something kind of different with that, something that we hadn’t seen before. But I think it was specifically really intimidating because, at that point of casting when I performed the episode in the first season of that show, no one had played the role since Heath Ledger had posthumously won the Oscar for the role. So the only people who had touched it in live-action had been Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, which are just massive, massive shoes to fill and two people that I deeply admired. Again, it’s just sort of a case of respect and wanting to kind of come in, just do my absolute best with the material, and to try to pay a certain level of honor to the people that came before.

Anything you can tease about what you’re going to do next? Any future projects?

Absolutely. It’s always difficult with this stuff because there’s only so much you can say. I can say that I just shot a film that hasn’t been announced yet, but I was out of town shooting it for a while. It’s the starring role in the film, and that will come out to theaters in the near future. I’m also working on another project over the course of the next year that I will be working on and off for. Again, thanks to the joys of NDAs, I can’t actually say what it is. I have a movie that I will be doing in June and then also I’m starting to move a bit behind the camera as well. So I’m working on producing and starring in a feature in August or September. And I’m writing a couple of projects right now as well. So it’s a loaded year for the next year, but it’s all very exciting that’s happening.

#LOVED THIS #cameron monaghan #shameless #shameless us #ian gallagher #gallavich #noel fisher #mickey milkovich #jerome valeska #the joker #gotham #jeremiah valeska #mr j #cal kestis #jedi fallen order #star wars

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caitlinsnicket · 6 years ago

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Cuddles and Kisses

Prompt: Cuddles (naked).

Summary: Diego and Y/N are friends with benefits, but both of them hide feelings from each other. Well, at least until now.

Characters: Diego Hargreeves, Y/N.

Warnings: This has smut in the begin, nakedness of Diego Hargreeves (god bless) and fluff. So much fluff.

Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Y/N.

A/N: I’ve been wanting to write something for Diego since I finished the show, but school is fucking me up. There’s so many things I still wanna write for him, fluff, smut, E V E R Y T H I N G. This man has my soul. Anyways, enjoy!

With one last thrust and another sweet kiss on the lips, Diego pulled out and laid down beside me. Both of us breathless, naked, my head resting in his arm, our bodies all sweaty. As we got down from our high, the mood changed from lustful to awkward. It was always like that. It started awkwardly, got lustful and sexy, then it got awkward again. When you are in a relationship, the time fixes the weirdness, and everything gets natural. With us, it was different, because we weren’t in a relationship. Not at all. Friends with benefits are not exactly classified as a relationship. Our breaths got slower, but I could feel his heart beating faster. He snuggled to say something.

“So…”.

“So… That was… Good”.

“Yeah very, very good”.

Again, waiting for the other to talk. Waiting for the other to take the next step. I swear this game was getting tiring. But as I never get the guts to say anything, today is no different. Following suit, I started to get up. But his hand held my wrist gently. I turned my head towards him, probably too fast. He seemed nervous, even had a small blush on his cheeks.

“ I actually… I actually wanted you to stay the night. If-if you’re not busy”.

Now I could give a better look at him. His hair was still messy, a sweat hadn’t left his body just yet, but it was hard to concentrate. Trying to fix my gaze on his eyes and not on his lower (naked) part, and trying to not be distracted by his plump lips, I almost got lost on the brown of his eyes.

“Sure”.

Resting my head in his arm again, feeling suddenly cold. The goosebumps showed on my skin, but I didn’t think he would notice. He did not just notice but caressed my arms softly. It’s not that he wasn’t gentle, he was, but not usually. Suddenly, he got up and walked to the wardrobe, picking a blanket and covering my naked body. He didn’t look me directly in the eye, and the blush still crept in his cheeks when he fixed them above me.

“Thanks”.

I said as quietly as possible while turning my back to him. He got under the blanket and hesitated for a moment before passing his hand on my waist. We stayed like that for some time, just skin to skin, his hot breath on my neck and I could see the lights outside the window starting to go down. Diego’s “House” wasn’t majestic or something amazing, but the infiltration, the loud voices outside on the academy and all the mess started to feel like home. His smell always ended up in my clothes, and sometimes I preferred to be there with him than in my own house. Who I’m trying to fool? This guy became my home since last year when we started to go home. Denying my feelings was just a useless afford, but if the feelings were said, everything could get more complicated. He slid his arm under my head again, and now my back is against his chest. I can feel his heart again, and it speeds up as he breathes heavily.

“Hey, Y/N, I wanted to talk to you for some time now. I-I know we are trying not t- to mess things up, t-that we are trying to make it easier and more simple for both of us b-but...I r-really enjoy s-spending time with y-you. Like that day w-when you called me and we j-just spent time together”

I smiled happily because that day had been really good and bad at the same time.

The soft knock in the door made me hurry up, and when I opened it I almost couldn’t help my tears. Diego changed his expression from cocky to concerned and quickly got by my side.

“Hey, hey, what happened? Is everything alright? Do I have to beat up someone? Name it, I’ll do”.

I didn’t want to talk about it. It’s not that I didn’t trust him, but that subject was something that couldn’t be fixed with externe help. But Diego is my safe haven, just his presence could calm me down. Feeling the tears running down my cheeks, my voice cracked when I spoke.

“J-just stay with me today. Hug me. Please”.

He embraced me with his toned arms and did just as I asked.

He stood with me for the rest of the day and held me, being the softest guy I’ve ever seen. We ate, cuddled and he gave me numerous kisses on my cheeks, my forehead, and my hands, and I was almost sure that I fell in love with him that exact day.

“I remember that day. It’s a good memory”.

He giggled slightly, but I could feel his hand shift a little on my belly. He was nervous, his sutter get’s worst when he is nervous.

“I-I just thought t-that maybe we could, I don’t k-know, maybe do t-that other times? M-more freq-quently? Like… Like…”

I turned around and looked into his shiny dark eyes. He was panicking. I started to make invisible circles in his chest.

“It’s okay. Just think of the word”

He sighed, trying to calm himself down. I waited.

“Like a-a couple? Maybe? I-if you want to?”

His heart was beating like crazy, and he was paralyzed, waiting for my answer. My own heart was beating faster. That could end terribly wrong, we both could end up hurt, but Diego always had shown being the best guy ever. Most important: Diego was worth the risk.

“I would like it. Very much”.

He sighed relieved and hugged me tighter. His eyes switched between my eyes and my mouth, but I was faster than him. Moving even closer, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips, and we stood in the same position for some time.

“Can we cuddle?” He murmured against my lips.

“Yeah” I giggled, snuggling closer to him and feeling the warmth of his skin. I didn’t even notice falling asleep.

#diego hargreeves #tua imagines #diego x reader #diego x Y/N #the umbrella academy #knife boy #number 2 #fluff #imagine

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The Boys Season 2 Succeeds By Allowing Its Female Characters to Shine

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The following contains spoilers for The Boys season 2.

On the surface, Amazon’s popular superhero series The Boys is a dark inversion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a profane, uber-violent world in which corruption, blackmail, and corporate greed rule the day rather than truth, justice, and the American way. Despite their super status, the show’s heroes are often depicted as selfish, morally reprehensible, and obsessed with their fame rather than interested in doing much in the way of saving the world.

Although the show certainly has moments where it feels like little more than a parody of our current superhero obsessed culture, The Boys is smart and insightful as a whole, tackling complicated and messy issues like the rise of extremism in America, the perils of celebrity culture, the risks of unchecked capitalism and more.

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So, it probably shouldn’t come as such a shock when it’s the series’ women who actually turn out to be its best characters. And yet, in a world where popular superhero enterprises like the MCU drag their feet about even including – let alone centering – female characters, maybe it really does take a show called The Boys to illustrate how very necessary women are to this genre.

While The Boys’ central conflicts are ostensibly positioned around and among men like Homelander, Butcher, and Hughie, it’s the series’ women who get the strongest, most complete narrative arcs in season 2. From Starlight’s story of quiet but determined resistance and Queen Maeve’s decision to stand up to Homelander to Kimiko’s embrace of her voice, the women of The Boys are all actively reclaiming their own stories and making a place for themselves within the world of the show.

The Boys Season 2 Ending Explained

By Lacy Baugher

The Boys Season 2: Who Is Victoria Neuman?

By Kirsten Howard

Even newcomer Stormfront, who is revealed to be a literal Nazi during the back half of the second season, is a more well-rounded character than several of the male Seven members, and the outspoken way she refuses to participate in or be patronized by the sexist system global megacorporation Vought International has built to exploit its female heroes is admirable, even when she herself is anything but. (Though, to be fair, it’s certainly possible that Stormfront’s aggressive feminism is as much of an act as the rest of her persona and she’s actually a secret misogynist. But since she generally doesn’t treat women with the same open disdain as she does people of color, it seems less likely.)

At Vought, female supes are unfortunately seen as little more than another commodity to exploit. The “Girls Get it Done” campaign that’s launched upon Stormfront’s arrival purports to celebrate girl power, but relies upon shallow catchphrases and leans into sexist archetypes by insisting that feminist strength comes from a skimpy outfit and thigh-high stiletto boots. The female heroes are frequently condescended to by their male colleagues, and rarely given similar levels of agency or control over their own lives. (See also: Vought’s decision to brand Maeve as a lesbian, rather than truthfully label her as bisexual, in an attempt to sell more specially licensed rainbow Pride burgers.)

Thankfully, The Boys not only recognizes the value in the stories of its female heroes, it relies on them to give the season’s overall arc some much-needed emotional depth.

It’s not an accident that most of season 2’s best moments either come about because of or directly feature female characters. It’s hard to think of a more satisfying sequence than the moment in which Maeve, Kimiko, and Starlight join forces to beat the crap out of Stormfront, but it’s the quieter character arcs that do the heavy lifting of interrogating and what being a hero really means.

The most obvious example of this necessary narrative expansion is Kimiko, a character who, in the comics this series is based on, is simply known as “The Female” and has little in the way of interiority. The television version of The Boys not only gives her a name and a history but decides that Kimiko’s story is one that’s worth telling in its own right. The introduction of her brother Kenji and the revelation of their shared torture at the hands of the Shining Light Liberation Army give Kimiko a much-needed backstory and his subsequent murder by Stormfront just adds to her complicated reasons for wanting to take Vought down. (Which, by the way, have nothing to do with the pack of men she’s currently running around with.)

On the supe side of things, Starlight gets what is probably the most complete narrative of the season, growing into her role as both a hero and a leader by doing precisely what those kinds of people are supposed to do: Fight injustice. Her quiet commitment to doing what’s right in a world that consistently rewards those who look the other way sees her make hard choices – she must blackmail a former church friend to gain access to a sample of Compound V – and difficult compromises, but always with a larger goal in mind.

Her small acts of defiance feel both hopeful and thrilling in the wake of Homelander’s consistently domineering awfulness, and you can’t help but see her as the show’s best example of everything a superhero – in this universe or any other – is supposed to be. Her decision to remain in Vought Tower and to work with a man who tried to kill her in the name of being part of the solution to what’s wrong in the world is an extremely exciting development in a universe where superheroes can barely be counted on to save the day when asked. And since Queen Maeve also seems to be on a slightly more heroic path by the close of the season, Starlight may not be alone on the side of right next season

Back in season 1, Maeve is a cynical, world-weary veteran hero, beaten down by years’ worth of struggle within the Seven and at Vought generally. Like Starlight, she’s also experienced harassment and exploitation, but she’s grown tired of fighting a system that constantly treats her as a second-class citizen even as it touts her very presence as progress. Maeve has made so many compromises at Vought that she’s become the sort of woman that lets a plane full of innocent people die screaming because standing up to her team leader has become too much work.

Until it isn’t.

Maeve’s decision to finally to join Starlight’s cause – saving her from Black Noir, arriving just in time to face off with Stormfront, and blackmailing Homelander into leaving them all alone – feels like a choice that’s been years coming, and that could truly shake things up for both The Seven and The Boys itself. What does this group suddenly look like if it’s being led by two women (and, ugh, Homelander, I guess) but we all know who’d really be in charge there. How much good could they do? How much might they actually change things at Vought? The cover-up press conference that reinstates Starlight and closes the season suggests not much, but every rebellion starts with hope, right?

The post The Boys Season 2 Succeeds By Allowing Its Female Characters to Shine appeared first on Den of Geek.

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justanoutlawfic · 7 years ago

Text

Scrabble Chapt. 5

Story Summary: Mary Margaret and David are two best friends who desperately want a baby. One night, over a game of Scrabble, she suggests they have one together.

Chapter Summary: After yet another failed month, Mary Margaret has a proposition for David. Meanwhile, he’s about to get another from a blast from the past.

Also on AO3/FF

Mary Margaret replayed the message once again. Dr. Seward was letting her know that in two weeks time, she’d have to come back in to be inseminated. Letting out a sigh, she looked out the window, watching a small blanket of snow cover the ground. Due to the weather, the kids were having recess in the gym and were being supervised by Jasmine. It was February, just days before Valentine’s Day and she still wasn’t pregnant.

It was time to broach Plan B with David. She just had to hope that he was going to take it well. Then again, how well could asking your best friend to sleep with you go?

She hadn’t been with anyone since Victor and that had been nearly a year. When they started doing the inseminations, they both had STD tests and came up clean, but that didn’t meant that David wasn’t seeing someone.

Pulling out her phone, she texted David, asking him to meet her at the toll bridge. It always seemed to be “their place”. It all started a little after he moved to town.

Her friends had somehow found out her birthday. They didn’t know why she refused to celebrate it and decided to throw her a surprise party. David had told them all not to bother, that they should respect her wishes, but they all thought she was being modest. When Mary Margaret entered the diner and saw all the streamers, it took all she had not break down. She was a good sport for awhile until she noticed the time. She would never have forgotten that time. It burned in the back of her mind.

She snuck out of the back and went to the bridge. It was freezing cold, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to go back to the big empty mansion (her dad was on a business trip), but the bridge was different. It wasn’t long before David showed up. He put an arm around her and let her cry. She thought he’d find her selfish or mean, but instead he understood. He had his own dark days, whenever the anniversary of his parents’ days came up. No one else understood or respected it, he promised to always do the same for Mary Margaret. Ever since then, when one of them was upset about something, that’s where they’d go.

The rest of the day was hard to get through. She could barely stay on top of her lesson plan, Jasmine redirecting her a few times. Luckily, the kids didn’t seem to notice. Eventually, when there was only a half hour left, Mary Margaret let them work on their Valentine’s Day mailboxes.

“What’s going on with you?” Jasmine asked as they made their way back to their shared desk. “You’re never this distracted.”

“I just have a lot on my mind,” Mary Margaret admitted.

“Spill it.”

She chewed on her lip. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Come on, Mare. We both get driven crazy by these rugrats, we can talk about this stuff.”

Mary Margaret laughed. “I’m just…you need to keep this a secret, but I’ve been trying to have a baby.”

Jasmine beamed, clasping her hands together. “That’s great!”

“It is, I’ve been trying since the beginning of the school year, but nothing.”

“Oh, well, it’ll work. If you don’t mind me asking…”

“I’m not comfortable releasing the father. We want to keep quiet until I’m actually pregnant.”

Jasmine nodded. “I get it. Ali and I kept our relationship the same way. No matter what, this is exciting!” She quickly gave her a hug. Before they could say anything else, two separate students were calling them over for help.

Once the final bell rang and all of the kids had gone where they were supposed to, Mary Margaret drove to the bridge. She didn’t have to wait long for David to arrive. She stepped out, adjusting the white beanie on her head. David rubbed his mitten clad hands together, tilting his head.

“What’s going on?” He asked. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine. I just wanted to talk to you without any chance of anyone overhearing.”

“Is it about the baby?” He smiled a bit. “Was the test wrong? Are you pregnant?”

“No.” She could see his face fall and it tugged at her heart. She hated that look, the same one he had every time after another failed result. “In fact, I’m supposed to go to be inseminated on later this month.”

“Right.”

“But…I was thinking…” She sighed. “Okay, this isn’t easy to say, but it needs to be. We’ve been doing this 5 months, I’m not pregnant. Maybe….maybe it’s time we try another route.”

David cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think we’d be a candidate for IVF.”

“No, no, not that. Um…alright, I’m just going to say this. I think we should have sex.”

David blinked rapidly a few times, wondering if he had heard her right. The more he stared at her, the more serious he realized she was. Mary Margaret…wanted to have sex with him. He would be lying if he said he never imagined it, at least very briefly. But that thought quickly went away, they were best friends after all.

Now here she was, suggesting they have sex, like she would suggest they go see a movie.

“I…why?”

“Why?”

“We agreed to do IUI.”

“I know we did.” Mary Margaret frowned. “And I know that 5 months isn’t very long at all, but I don’t want to wait any more. Maybe this wouldn’t work either, but isn’t it at least worth a shot?”

“Sex…sex has always meant something to me,” he said. He wasn’t trying to say no, just more think out loud. “I’ve only ever been with two women.”

Mary Margaret nodded, she knew this. “I understand.”

“And I’m not saying that having sex with you wouldn’t mean something, I mean, we’d be trying to have a baby. I just…this is complicated. What if we do this and it changes things?”

“You mean what if we fall in love?”

The words escaped Mary Margaret’s lips before she could take them back and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. At least she had stopped herself from asking if that’d be so bad. Of course it would be. Love was messy. Of course she already loved David, but they weren’t in love. They were trying to co-parent a child some day. If they fell in love, things would be complicated.

Sex had always meant something to her, too. She hadn’t been in love with every man she slept with, but even so, she didn’t just give it up in a blink of an eye. She had hoped she’d get pregnant by the insemination by then but she hadn’t.

“What if it ruins our friendship?” David clarified. “What if we do this and then you end up pregnant and we somehow hate each other?”

“I could never hate you, David. Do you really think you could ever hate me?”

David shook his head. “Of course not.”

“Look, we don’t have to do it this way. We could wait…I just…I think it’s worth a shot.”

David looked deep into her eyes. He wanted a baby just as badly as she did. Maybe it would work. Maybe for once, he could do something reckless. He slowly nodded his head.

“Okay.”

Mary Margaret smiled. “Okay?”

“Yes. Let’s…” He laughed. “Let’s have sex.”

Mary Margaret burst out laughing, there was a sentence she never expected to hear come from him. “Great.”

“Should we wait until you’re ovulating?”

“I mean…we could…but that hasn’t always worked. I was thinking we could find a day that just works for us both and see what happens.”

“I work the night shift tonight,” he said.

Mary Margaret frowned. “I have dinner at my dad’s tomorrow.”

“That leaves…Saturday.”

“Valentine’s Day,” Mary Margaret paused. “We don’t have to…I mean…”

“No.” He grinned. “I mean, imagine how badly we could ruin the holiday for our future child if we conceived then.”

Mary Margaret stood in front of her underwear drawer, staring at the contents.

What did one wear when they had sex with their best friend?

She had a few pieces of sexy lingerie, presents from Victor. It didn’t feel right to wear those in that instance. She pulled them out and threw them into the trash, unsure of why she kept them after all that time.

The next options were from when Ruby had dragged her to Victoria’s Secret. It was her way of trying to cheer her up post break up. Mary Margaret had brought the bra and panties set home, never to wear them again. She had no reason to.

They were black, covered with matching lace. The only bit of color was in the center of the bra where there was a tiny red bow. It was definitely more something Ruby would wear, but that night, it was all about the adventure.

Sliding her clothes to the floor, she dressed in them, her eyes widening at how padded the bra was. She ran her fingers over the cleavage that poked out and stared at herself in the mirror. She had never thought of herself as sexy, she dressed as quickly as she could. She had never paid attention much before to what men thought of her naked.

Would David be disappointed?

“Shut up, it’s not about that,” she mumbled to herself.

She walked to her wardrobe and pulled out the outfit she had already selected: a red V-neck sweater and a pair of jeans. Her breath caught when she heard a sudden knock at the door. Walking over, she slowly opened it and found him on the other side.

David’s cheeks and nose were pink from being out in the cold. In his hands was a pizza box and a bottle of wine. She wordlessly lead him inside and he set the stuff down. She shuffled through her cabinets and pulled out two wine glasses. He removed his jacket and took the plates down from where they had always been. They settled down across from each other, before Mary Margaret started laughing.

“I mean…when has pizza and wine ever been weird?” she asked.

“I guess when we’re about to have sex,” David nervously chuckled.

“Do you um…do you have any questions?”

“Have you been with anyone since Whale?”

Mary Margaret shook her head. “And you hinted that you haven’t been with anyone since Kathryn.”

“Yeah.”

“Can I um…can I ask you who the first person was?”

David raised an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”

“You know all the people I’ve slept with,” she countered.

“Fair.” He slowly chewed on his pizza slice. “Cristina.”

Mary Margaret nearly choked on her wine. “You slept with Cruella?!?”

David rolled his eyes. “Her name is Cristina.”

“It’s Cruella.”

Cristina de Vil had been one of the nastiest girls in their high school class. She only had one friend, someone who was just as bad as her. She was so cruel, that combined with her unfortunate last name, she earned the nickname Cruella. She owned it and smirked whenever someone called her it. She also just so happened to be obsessed with James Nolan, who was dating someone else at the time.

“I don’t…you lost your virginity to Cruella?”

“And you lost yours to Herc,” he countered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Herc wasn’t…well…”

“Look, it wasn’t the proudest moment in my life,” he sighed. “I knew she was only after me because I looked just like James. I wasn’t stupid. But up until then, I didn’t exactly have any girls interested.”

Mary Margaret frowned. “That can’t be true.”

“It was. I just…I was lonely. So, we dated in secret. It was hard, to keep it from you and everyone else.”

“So…what happened?”

“Eventually, I realized that she was never going to love me.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t James and I wasn’t going to pretend to be that for her.”

“I’m sorry.” Mary Margaret took his hand. “You deserved better than that.”

“I know. Look, it was a long time ago, I was a stupid teenager with not a lot of self esteem. I’ve changed since then. You do have a right to know though, you’re right.”

Mary Margaret nodded. “I’m sorry I flipped out a bit.”

“It’s fine.” He chuckled. “I mean, if I was anyone else, I’d say you were right.”

“Is she really any different than how she acted at school?”

“Not really. I mean, we’ve kept in touch over the years. I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but we still talk. She wrote me after James died.”

“That’s good.”

“Look, Mary Margaret, I just need you to know that I take this seriously.” David bit his lip. “I want to be a good influence over our a child. I’m really not the same guy I was back then.”

“And I’m not the same girl I was. That’s the whole point in growing up, you, ya know, grow.”

He smiled and they continued to eat their dinner, chatting absent mindedly. Eventually, most of the pizza was gone and they knew if they had more wine, their minds would be too cloudy. Mary Margaret didn’t know what else to do, so she started to go through the songs on her phone. Soon, she came across Matt Alber’s cover of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”. She extended her hand to David and he accepted it, following her into the living room.

Her arms around his neck, his around her waist, he stared down at her. She really was beautiful, the most beautiful woman he had ever known. Most were disappointed when she cut her long locks and kept her pixie cut, but he loved it. It suited her face. She was a princess in his eyes, she deserved the world. Everyone had always teased him that he should just kiss her, so they could finally be together. In that moment, he actually wanted to.

Leaning down, he kissed her. Mary Margaret deepened it for a moment, surprised at how right it felt. Her hands began traveling down to his flannel button down Her fingers twirled around the buttons and one by one, they became undone. Her breath hitched as she took in his chest. She had seen it plenty of times over the years, whether it be at the beach or when he was fixing someone’s car. Her fingers traced over the scar he had gotten from fighting off George one night when he was wasted. That was the night that David decided it was finally time to escape his step-father’s clutches.

“I almost forgot about that,” she whispered. She had been so scared he was going to die that night.

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “I bounced back.”

Not wanting to stay sad for long, she removed her sweater and jeans. His eyes widened, feeling himself suddenly attracted to her. Taking him by the hand, she lead him to the bed, him discarding his jeans along the way.

The next part was the hardest. They were laying on her bed, in nothing but their underwear. There was no more kissing, they knew what had to come next. David moved his hand towards her underwear, then pulled away. She smiled.

“You can touch,” she whispered. “I’ll tell you if I want you to stop.”

Slowly, he moved them down and she did the same to his boxers. Never before had they been so exposed to one another. She wasn’t sure what to get from his penis, but it was certainly better than she imagined. He removed her bra so he could get a look at her breasts and became harder. He started kissing down her stomach, nibbling when he reached her clitoris. She bit down on her lip, suppressing a moan of ecstasy. No one had ever tried that before and she absolutely loved it.

“You like that?” He asked, moving his tongue to taste her. God, how she tasted good.

“Uh huh…but this isn’t fair. I want to feel you inside me.”

A smirk fell across his lips and he adjusted himself, allowing to enter. The sudden movement of his erect penis felt strange, but it also made her gasp out in amazement. He leaned forward and she gripped onto his arms. Suddenly, things weren’t so awkward. They felt…right.

The movements, the subtle stolen kisses, she hadn’t felt so happy in a long time. The thought that this could potentially lead to everything they ever wanted.

“Harder,” she moaned. “Harder.”

“That better?”

“Mmm…”

She hadn’t orgasmed much during her relationship with Whale and felt it was normal. That night, however, she did. David’s seed spread out inside of her and he soon fell beside her, both panting.

“Well…that was…” She whispered.

“What you were expecting?”

“More than that.”

“I had fun too.” He rolled over so he could run her fingers through her hair. “You think it worked.”

“We’ll find out in a few weeks, I guess.” She looked up at him. “If it didn’t…would you…”

“I’d be more than willing to do this again.”

She laughed. “And I used to think it was weird that girls wanted to kiss you.”

“Hey!”

“Well, sorry, you’re my best friend.”

“I guess to be fair, I felt the same way.”

“You never imagined kissing me?”

“Not for awhile,” he admitted. “But I’m glad I finally got the chance to.”

The two stared at each other. Before anything else could be said, her cell phone buzzed. She let out an annoyed sigh and looked at the screen, the annoyance instantly leaving her face.

“It’s Belle,” she said. “Baelfire needs an emergency appendix surgery.”

David quickly sat up. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’ll be fine, but in their rush, they brought Gideon. He obviously can’t stay there the whole time…she’s asking if I can go get him.”

“Go, it’s fine.”

“You sure? We just…I don’t want to be…”

“Mary Margaret, our friends need you. I could stay here to help if you want.”

She smiled. “That’s sweet, but you have an early day tomorrow. I’ll call you.”

“Alright.”

Getting dressed and bundled up, they headed down to their cars. Looking back at one another as they unlocked them, they had to remind themselves one thing.

They were friends.

Just friends.

David sat in his office, making a face at his paperwork. It was one of his most dreaded things. He would much rather be out on patrol. Yet, as sheriff, he was always saddled with the brunt of it. He always put it off for last and was paying for it. Graham, Thomas and Leroy were either enjoying their day off or on call, so he couldn’t even bribe them to help.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he allowed himself to remember why he was so anxious. It had been exactly 5 weeks since he and Mary Margaret had sex. She had missed her period right after, but she wanted to be cautious and wait, in case a positive wouldn’t show up. That very day, she was supposed to test. If it worked, they would be on their way to being parents. If it didn’t…well they’d have to try again (not that he minded in the least).

The door to the station opened and he didn’t bother looking up, figuring it was Thomas coming back. That was, until he heard the voice.

“Davey, darling.”

Freezing in spot, David slowly looked up and found Cristina standing there. She still looked good, all those years later. She had long abandoned the mini-skirts and crop tops, now she was wearing a Dalmatian spotted coat over a red dress. Her blonde hair was curled even more around her chin, making her look like a 20s flapper dancer.

“Cristina,” he choked out. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see my favorite sheriff,” she drawled, moving closer to him. “Why else would I be here, chiseled chin?”

He stood up, allowing himself to smell her god-awful perfume when she hugged him. “New York’s an awful long way away,” he said. “Or so you said when you missed James’ funeral.”

“Yes, well,” she shook her head, blinking a bit. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Cristina…”

“Oh relax, it’s nothing like that,” she rolled her eyes. “Though, I wouldn’t mind…”

“You said it wasn’t like that,” he interrupted.

“Right, right.” Cristina hopped up and perched herself up onto his desk, pulling a pack of cigarettes from her purse. “Want one?”

“No, and there’s no smoking in here.”

A pout fell across her lips. “You’re no fun, Davey.” Cristina pushed the pack back in. “Anyway, as I’m sure you know, I started my own private investigating business a few years back. It’s doing quite well.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“And I’ve gotten close with a few people in the NYPD,” she continued. “I happen to know that one of their detectives is retiring this fall. They’re looking for a replacement and I told them I think I know just the ticket?”

“Who?”

“Why, you of course, darling.”

David paused. When he went to college for criminal justice, he had pictured becoming a detective some day. However, he knew he had to start off in Storybrooke. He had interned for the (then) sheriff over the years and had connections. It was easier than being a small fish in a big pond in the city. If Cristina had come to him the year before, he would’ve been all over it.

Things were different, though. Mary Margaret could potentially be pregnant and even if she wasn’t, he had promised her they’d do whatever it took to start a family. Storybrooke was her home, she had said several times she never wanted to live anywhere else. They had friends there, family. She wouldn’t give it all up, to move to a city where they knew no one except Cristina of all people.

Awhile ago, it had been his dream. Now, he had new one.

“I…I can’t.”

“Why of course you can.” Cristina laughed. “This is all you talked about back in high school.”

“Things are different now.”

“How? I thought you and Lawyer Stick Up Her Butt got a divorce?”

“Kathryn,” David rolled his eyes. “But I’m sort of…um…trying to start a family.”

Cristina cocked an eyebrow. “With whom?”

“It’s not important. I just…I can’t take this job. It’s not what’s best for my family.”

“Davey, you’ve given a lot up over the years, I’d hate to see this go to waste. Listen, I’m in town for a few more days, visiting with Ursula and all, if you change your mind…”

“I won’t.”

“Well, if you do, or even if it takes more time, as I said the detective doesn’t retire until October.” She pulled out a business card and handed it to him. “That’s the number to call. I know you’ll make the right choice.”

She got up and gave him another hug before strutting out of the station. David stared down at the business card for a moment. Cristina was right, he was going to make the right choice.

Ripping up the card, he tossed the remnants into the trash can and sat back down to complete the paperwork.

Mary Margaret sat at the island, tapping her foot impatiently. She had taken the test and it was waiting, face down in the bathroom. She had promised she wouldn’t look until David arrived and he was late.

She was doing all she could to not get her hopes up. Her period had been late before and it had all been for nothing. This time could’ve been the same.

The door opened and David came in, throwing his jacket up onto the hook. “Sorry, I had to finish up some paperwork.”

“It’s fine. Let’s just…let’s look.”

Clutching his hand into hers, they slowly walked into the bathroom. Leaning down, she took the test into her hand and shut her eyes.

“I can’t look, you do it for me.”

There was silence and she couldn’t tell if it was the good kind. Next, she could hear some sniffling. Mary Margaret looked up and could see that David was crying. That wasn’t something she saw often, not since James died.

“David…”

“We’re going to have a baby,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Look at the test.”

Her eyes drifted down and she saw it. Clear as day.

Two pink lines.

A loud yelp escaped her lips as the tears poured down her face. David pulled her in for a big hug and she clung tighter to him.

They were going to have a baby.

#snowing #snowing au #charming family #charming family au

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antthonystark · 7 years ago

Note

can you talk about your fave alec moments from 2a?

Oh man. There’s so much, there’s basically too much – I didn’t actually think therewas that much, but wow there’s actually so much because literally every Alecscene is my favourite scene as I am a simple girl with easy standards. But I’ll try to, like, not talk for six thousand years. Let’ssee how it goes lmao.

#1 Best Top Alec Scene of All TimeEver: Alec v. Aldertree, 2x09

Oh man. Oh man. This was…this was such a gift…Ican’t even describe how I feel about it adequately. Like our boy is a saltineat the best of times, but that aspect is sort of is tempered by his forcedrespect for authority (which is a whole nother conversation which I’ve talkedabout a few times) – so against an authority figure, in the past, Alec has beensort of passive-aggressive (for lack of a better word); like in 1x09, he staresdown Lydia and hands the folder to his mom against her command, and in 2x01 hestill takes Lydia’s dismissal instead of contesting it. So I like this sceneespecially because you see him coming out of that, but it’s not OOC oranything, firstly because shedding his adherence to authority has been a partof his arc since 1x12 (and was reinforced in 2x08 with his conflicts with hismother), and also – and more significantly imo – it’s because of his family.Isabelle specifically.

So that “I’ll do anything for my sister,” authoritative,salty as fuck Alec just taking his Institute back that thisscene brought out is my favourite ever Alec and I hope he’s here to stay.(Actually, I hope we see him struggle a bit more with his identity as aShadowhunter, his duty to the Clave and his parents and following orders andthe like, since that was a key part of his character in S1 and it would be socool to see him actually deal with that, but that’s a whole nother thing aswell). And leader!Alec has always been my favourite Alec, and there’s nothingmore I want to see than Alec being the head of the institute like he deservesto be (seeing a struggle for power between Alec/the Lightwoods/Aldertree wouldbe SO NICE too, and I’m actually really interested to see how power is going toshift hands in 2B in the Institute. Maybe seeing Alec have to navigate themessy quagmire of Shadowhunter/Clave politics which puts him at odds with theothers who don’t get how complicated it is because the consequences of any insubordinationare going to fall on his shoulders as the leader sorta like how it was in S1. And I’m also kind of interested to see how Alec navigates the whole “preserving the Lightwood honour” thing from last year - how much he values that now compared to the huge lengths he went to for the Lightwood name in the first season. That would be so cool).

Andhonestly, that smirk and that salty little pat on Aldertree’s shoulder ended mylife. It ended my life.

I just put the rest in chronological order but i just had to mention this one first lol so here we goooo

EPISODE 2x01 (and that punching bagscene in 1x02):

I’m justnaming this whole episode okay sorry (I’m probably gonna do this with mostepisodes lbr). There was just so muchgood Alec in this episode it’s hard to unpack it but let me try.

I’dprobably say my favourite moment overall is the very first one, with the wholegang in the institute. This is weird and most people would probably go for theAlec/Maryse confrontation or the Magnus/Alec scene later on, but there’s justsomething so Alec about this scenethat I love. Like, Matt did such a good job in this scene imo because you couldliterally feel the stress and panic radiating off of Alec and it just cut medeep because man oh man those parabatai feels always get me. More than that, though,you can see the fear and frustration because of the realization that the way hehas dealt with his feelings his whole life is starting to fail – in the wake ofJace’s absence, suddenly he isn’t able to bottle up his feelings and put themin a place out of his own access, so he doesn’t have to deal with them –suddenly, it’s too much to just shove out of sight and push down withoutexamining (as he tries to articulate it for the first time when he says “withJace missing, it’s like the ground has shifted and I can’t keep my balance—”). Andthroughout the first couple of episodes, you see him having to deal with thisand becoming more volatile as these feelings that he never learned how tohandle burst out of him without him being able to exert that control that he’sbeen having to do his whole life.

Relateddirectly to that, one of my other favourite scenes is from 2x02 when he’spunching the punching bag, and I love thisdetail because you saw him trying to do the same thing in a few instances inthe first season, using his physical body (and inducing physical pain, but moreon that in just a moment) as a way of trying to exorcise his feelings without dealing with them in a significant emotionalway. And that little moment when he rests his head against the punching bag –that’s when he realizes that it’s not working, that this is all too much, thathe can’t punch this away. (Leading into his decision to endanger his own lifeto get Jace back which man oh man I loved that scene too but guy we’re gonna behere all day if I keep doing this.)

I really supermega love the scene on the balcony with Magnus as well, but to try and makethis not a million years long I’m trying to focus in-depth on Alec-only scenesrather than relationship-related scenes. But know that this one is definitelyone of my faves as well. (My favourite Alec quote probably ever is “Thanks, I’vebeen working on [my apology skills]” BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK THAT’S ADORABLE ANDI LOVE IT. And that smile.)

2x04: The fight with Izzy and thesubsequent cuddle pile

(The ending of 2x03 is another favouritemoment but everything I think about it I just cry and I have nothing good tosay so I’m skipping on to 2x04).

Okay sothe fight with Izzy is deadass one of my favourite Lightwood scenes EVER, and I’vetalked about it so much before so I’ll try and keep this brief but oh my god it’sjust perfect to me in every way. Mostly I can’t stop thinking about how he justcannot even so much as bruise Isabelle when she would literallyrip his heart out if given the chance (I mean, the demon possessing her but youfeel me right). Like, he can’t hit her with a non-lethal shot and instead oftrying to force her off of him he’s just trying to reason with her (Izzy please ugh my heart) and try to gether to overcome the demon and it kills my soul. This is my true favourite Alec,the gentle big brother Alec, and that’s why I love this scene so much. Add thatto the whole “you’re the favourite child” rumination which I love because itjust shows how poorly both the Lightwood kids have been treated by theirparents so that there’s really no favourite child at all, but I talked aboutthat a lot once too lol.

Butspeaking of gentle big brother Alec oh my lord the scene right after Izzy getsunpossessed and the way he holds her and applies the iratze on her (and laterthe way he scoops her up) oh my god I die every time (I don’t think I canestimate to you how many times I’ve watched this scene tbh lol). And when Jacecomes in that little soft hug that passes through all three of them is myfavourite thing in the entire world honestly I can’t believe we were blessedwith a Lightwood group hug in my lifetime. It’s just my favourite thing aboutthem, how they were made to be weapons from childhood and how they’ve had tofend for each other, and how they’re soldiers raised in this militaristic andoppressive society that forces them to be cold and hard and yet they are sosoft and sweet and loving and kind to one another……idk if I’m articulating thiswell at all but I’m just I love itbye.

2x05: Rooftop scene with Jace/fireescape with Magnus

If I hadto pick a solid second favourite, it would probably be these two scenes, when Ithink about it. Ever since season 1, I was very interested in Alec’srelationship regarding the physical and the emotional, because of that wholepile of stuff I wrote under the 2x01 heading right up there (but more examplese.g. punching Jace when he insinuatesAlec’s feelings for him, and the punching bag scenes in 1x06, 1x08, 1x09). Butthis is another facet to that, which is trying to avoid dealing with the emotionalpain/trauma that he never ever taughthimself how to handle properly by trying to translate it into self-inflictedphysical pain and injury just to tryand make it go away, and it breaks my heart. I know this is a sensitive issue,so I don’t want to talk about “loving” it or anything like that, but Iappreciate it because it’s very in line with Alec as a character, not only inhis struggles with self-worth that were very apparent throughout the firstseason, but because of the way he was raised informing the way he navigates his emotions(i.e. with a lot of difficulty, and as it becomes apparent, a certain amount ofanguish), as he was both brought up in the emotionally repressive militaristic society of the shadowhunters, and struggled with being gay in an openly homophobic society, which makes it even worse for him compared to the other shadowhunter characters we see.

Just theimage of Alec’s blood-soaked hand reaching for arrow after arrow that keep further wounding his hand was a very strong one, and it’s the reason whythis scene has stayed with me as a strong Alec moment. And his whole conversationwith Jace added to it just makes it even stronger to me, because it hammershome the guilt and the self-loathing that Alec is feeling not only for Jocelyn,but for apparently failing Jace, and you can feel his shame at hisself-perceived shortcomings coming to light and it’s heartbreaking and just sogood. (I’m not gonna keep saying “yay Matthew” but yay Matthew because he’s sogood he’s so good).

Also sincewe’re talking about 2x05, I loved the little moment with Madzie (that smile curedmy depression im p sure)

2x06: Yeah, the…the whole thing.

Yeah, sothis episode was amazing. Great Alec, great Magnus, great malec, everything sogood.

One of thethings I liked about this as a Matt stan more than anything is just the waythat Alec was allowed to have a little bit of comedy, since he’s usually such aserious character, and Matt just nailed the subtle comedy in lines like “youcan round down, if you want” and the ICONIC “17! 1700? …17000?” moment which wasjust so spectacularly done. And the best acting moment of S2A when Matt “drinksvodka straight out of the bottle” Daddario does the most perfect impression of a non-drinker drinking alcohol (as a nondrinker this was especially special to me lmao).

But morethe actual Alec moments, I think the way his insecurities were portrayed is whatI really loved in this episode? I don’t usually relate to Alec in ways that are less superficial than not drinking alcohol, but in this single specific way only (only this) I find him relatable to the sole extent that asa 20y/o with basically no relationship experience for certain reasons (yeah sadlife whatever leave me alone). But even apart from that and just focusing on Alec, one of my favourite lines was when hesaid “I didn’t want you to think that there was something wrong with me” and “…becauseI knew I could never have what I wanted” or whatever it was) because that’sjust heartbreaking and basically I just love it, I don’t have anything good or profoundto articulate here, I just love this because I’m so happy Alec can finally have what he wanted for so long, after so many sad lonely years of thinking he could never be this happy and i love him and this whole episode okay bye

On ahappier note, I also really loved the pool-playing scene between Magnus and Alec.I love how they showed his competitive spirit and that playful flirty side toboth of them, it was really cute and Iwant a lot more of it in the future. Like, you don’t see a lot of Alec being competitiveoutside of this moment, and I feel like some of it was dulled a little bit bythe fact that he would always measure himself up against Jace and perceivehimself as coming up short, but I like when you can see his smugness andcompetitiveness come out in certain moments like this one, esp in the way that you can see Magnus making him happier and more open which yes. (And I also likeAlec talking about archery and i want more of that too).

2x07. omamori

I know2x07 was a big giant mess, but I have to give it the omamori scene. I’ve talkedabout it so much because I love it so much, so I’m deadass just going tocopy-paste something I “wrote” before on it (my grammar in this post is weirdly good and mixed up because i had to write it on MS Word and that autocorrects and capitalizes but the following is more indicative of my actual thought processes lol):

the “yesyou” especially killed me like………he’s so sweet, so obliviously sweet?? likethis is alec’s first relationship ever, and it just strikes me as so lovelythat on their second date ever, he’s like “here have this present” like!! forso long he’s never let himself do any of this, indulge in not only love andattraction and desire, but also all of the small relationshippy things - soliterally the first opportunity he gets, he gives magnus a little present:)))))) it makes me almost sad because there’s so much love in this boy and forso long it had nowhere to go and it choked him from the inside out and now hefinally gets to show it and embrace it and give it to somebody special,somebody who will appreciate and return it in kind

and hedoesn’t register or understand magnus’s surprise? he’s like “yes you duh” likeit’s just par for the course, like “this is what you’re supposed to do, isn’tit?” it’s just so fucking………..alec that it hurts

and thatthe omamori represents protection???? oh god i love it so much b/c alec is thisyoung and relatively un-special shadowhunter (in that he doesn’t have any extraspecial angel powers or whatever) and then there’s magnus who’s immortal andamazingly, endlessly powerful, but alec’s instinct is still towards protection.how sweet is this boy

So yeahthat’s that.

2x08 – Runer ceremony & the endscene with Maryse

Okay LASTONE I promise. 2x08 was again chock full of some NICE Alec scenes, and Iespecially love when Alec has scenes with his parents because as a viewer it’ssuch an interesting dynamic that I really want the show to explore a lot.

Anyway, Ilove love love the Rune Ceremony scenefor a lot of reasons, but speaking about Alec particularly I!!! love!!!!proud!!! big!!! brother!!! Alec!!!!!!! and seeing him smile at Max like that made my entire life ho my god. And there was something very affecting aboutthe fact that since Robert couldn’t be there, it was Alec who had to accompanyMax up to the Silent Brother. idk exactly but I just really love that moment,because I guess it’s this visual representation of the emotional neglect fromthe Lightwood parents, and the way that the children had to start looking outfor each other at such a young age, and the almost parental protectiveness thatAlec has had to develop over his siblings (and his siblings over him as well) becauseof the lack of emotional support from their parents? I love this song tbh and bigbrother Alec is my favourite Alec (and the visual contrast in height betweenJack and Matt in this scene especially is just SO GOOD for this aesthetic too).You can see this dynamic in terms of some other interactions with Alec and Maxthroughout the episode (which, by the way, I loved.) And this whole idea isjust underscored by the fact that Max is so young and is already being sworn into be a soldier, basically, so it really hits home how young Shadowhunters arewhen they’re indoctrinated into this life.

And I lovethe Alec/Jace/Maryse scene at the end because the Lightwoods are such a good family, in that they’re so fuckedup and there’s so much bad shit that goes on, there’s resentment, there’sthinly-veiled homophobia, there’s emotional abuse, there are lies and secrets –but the realness of it is that they’rea family. They’re a complicated, ugly family (when it comes to parent-childdynamics), but there’s love there, even after everything. And there’s the possibility of apology and maybe, maybe, of eventual healing (as testified to by Maryse and Jace’sconversation earlier).

I know theLightwood parents are awful and often emotionally abusive, but Alec’s hug andsupport to Maryse showed so much more about Alec’s character – how heimmediately forgets all the shit he’s been put through when his mother needed ashoulder to cry on. It’s not beautiful and it’s still indicative of a fucked-upfamily dynamic, but Alec and his protective, gentle, and comforting instinctkills my soul – and I love the sort of irony, I guess you could call it, thatit’s this woman that made Alec repress those instincts in an attempt to makehim a perfect soldier, but they were too strong and too much of a part of himfor his kindness and gentleness to completely be stamped out by his upbringing,and now that’s what Maryse needs fromhim in this moment. idk where I’m going with this but you feel me right?

And I’mreally excited to see Alec’s relationship with his father unfold and get moredevelopment. Because Robert was kind to Izzy and wasn’t as openly awful aboutMalec as Maryse was, people got the idea that he was “better” to Alec thanMaryse, but if you look at season one, Robert did his fair share of mistreatingAlec (not to mention that thinly-veiled dig at Magnus being a “lothario”). SoTodd & Darren teased that Alec/Robert scene and my god they better deliveron this and deliver properly becauseit’s all I want.

2x10: REAL QUICK so I really really likedthe “I love you” malec scene from 2x10 but I wrong a long-ass answer on that back then, so I’m not gonna get into it nowI literally have no more words to say about it lmao

AND YUPTHERE IT IS. These are my favourite Alec scenes. I think I did okay, all thingsconsidered.

#this isn't as long as it could have been okay i limited myself severely #in my defense i was asked #you cant expect me not to word vomit when asked #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #my thoughts #mine:meta #anonymous #mavra answers #text post

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