#( but alex!! i hope it's okay if i continued this?? i have a guilty pleasure...of throwing suki at ur muses....bc she's fun :D )

[kamipyre]

hae-geon ( ft. @theimpalpable​ ) has just met the dumbest of dumb :)

   THE BLOUSE NEATLY HANGS FROM the mannequin; bishop sleeves with loose cuffs as to not asphyxiate the arms and wrists, as well as a set of buttons that start at the very bottom and can be tied all the way to the neck if needed. It looks a bit like a dress shirt but over-sized instead of oddly form-fitting, with a lapel that’s been ornamented with beautiful, handmade embroidery.

   He’s adding the last button when a voice behind him echoes through. Ah, so the petite woman who entered his shop moments ago has finally spoken, and it’s to express a rather firm opinion about colors. Hae-Geon takes a step back from the mannequin; both his hands moving to rest behind his back whilst watching the blouse. He chose a fabric of turmeric and bourbon hues for this one, no hint of pink anywhere.

  The tailor turns about and the reason behind her opinion becomes quite evident as eyes dance up and down to register the garments she’s wearing. A flowy dress and a puffy cardigan, these pieces having PINK in some shape or form. If anything, the only color that doesn’t belong amid rose-colored and strawberry outfit is the PAPER being folded within her grasp. It’s GREEN, and it seems to be taking the shape of something. Is it a SNAKE? He can’t quite discern at this distance.

   Eyes narrow in curiosity, taking a step toward her.

  “I think that’s a matter of preference. Besides, if there’s a plan of wearing, for example, a pink skirt with this blouse, pink on pink would make the piece lose its details. It won’t stand out.” A pause, gaze dropping to see the piece on her hands. “What if I tell you that that,” index finger elegantly points at the folded item, “would look better as a bird? Or a dragon? Or anything else other than what you’re making? What then? Am I right to believe this, will others think the same as I do because I am expressing it, or is it a matter of simple preference?”

  As always, making questions that perhaps could be avoided.

  “That aside, are you looking for something similar to this piece but in pink? Or what would be the reason behind your visit?”

It’s an addictive pastime’s of Suki’s: window-shopping with her wallet in her bag. Not that she ever has to worry about making an impulse buy because however beautiful or frilly or pink the outfit is, it’s never been the price tag that makes her think twice. It will always be the face she sees in the mirror that makes her hesitate before returning it to the rack. The concept of wearing it has always been just out of reach for her, a concept that feels taboo to even conjure in the first place. 

Still, it can’t stop her from visiting the concept over and over again; she might be a member of law enforcement, but as long as one doesn’t go over the line, technically she’s not breaking the law of her self-perception.

And besides, it’s not like the tailor here has a large selection to look at in the first place. They’re not supposed to anyways, right- considering that most tailors make their pay by fixing clothes, right? The most interesting pieces in the building might be the collection of ELABORATE SCISSORS the tailor has on display. And the one he is currently using; she tilts her head. Is he like her then: particular with his tools the way she is with paper? Or perhaps he’s more like Yong, who collects clickable pens for the sake of having them to fall back on. 

The tailor takes a step in her direction. It’s similar to how many of her co-workers take to the halls: purposefully. 

Still, she keeps folding before she frowns. “Okay but you can still have wrong preferences. That happens a lot.” Like when a murder happens. Or when Mister Edgeworth insists that the handkerchief, he wears is a cravat, not frills. And she looks down at the snake that’s just manifested in her hands. “Well, that’s your interpretation. But that doesn’t make it an accurate one. And besides, aren’t all three technically reptiles?” Pink on pink, he says though, as if such a combination is an eye-sore to see, but if that’s the case then- “But you’re using two similar colors for your piece. They’re just different shades so I don’t see why it can’t just be different shades of PINK.���

Setting her snake to the side ( it needs a friend; she’ll make that one next- ), she lifts the bag by her seat. “I need someone to elongate the sleeves on this dress. One of your customers recommended this place.”

[valley-of-headcanons]

If I can request, you did the way the bachelorettes react to ex-stardom. I enjoyed it so much and would love to see it for the bachelors too?

I love your writings ;u; ♡

bachelors reacting to your ex-stardom || headcanons

being in the limelight was fun for a while, but settling down is definitely what you needed. but how would your partner react to your past? part one here!

warnings: nothing that i can see! :)

requested by: anon! hii, thank you so much for the request! this topic is pretty interesting, and i really enjoyed writing for everyone! be sure to check out part one, it adds a little more context and i think it's super duper cool and you're definitely missing out. anyway! hope you enjoy :)

alex

• You and Alex were on the beach, resting after tossing around the Gridball. He got on the topic of his dream of playing Gridball professionally, and how although he wanted to make it big and turn his passion into a profession, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. He's been such a shut-in these last few years, only really hanging out with you and his grandparents. The fame sounds so scary. But ... you knew that all too well. He didn't know that, though. Maybe it was time.

• You slowly told Alex that you knew a lot about being famous, before explaining who you were. “Wait- what?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?! I love your music! Genuinely, like I listen to it all the time ... I know it's not really the manliest choice and it's my guilty pleasure- not to say men shouldn't listen to your music! Oh my yoba- sorry- ... I love your music. That's what I'm trying to say. It's really really good.”

• As you explained why you left the limelight, Alex nodded understandingly. “Yeah, Gridball will always be a dream of mine, but the people I'd be around are probably not good. Maybe staying in the town isn't such a bad idea, huh? I don't think anyone could really beat hangin' with you, grandma, and grandpa.”

• Alex soon opened up about which of your songs was his favorite, and asked in depth about them. There were some that really spoke to him emotionally, and he had a really bad time dealing with that sort of stuff. The fact that you created something he relates to makes him happier than ever! He scored pretty good, if he says so himself.

• Regardless of your old fame, he's still deeply in love with you. He admires your talent, but that doesn't overshadow how you've helped him in his life since you've actually been in it. He will still listen to your music, but maybe a little more publicly. He wouldn't tell anyone unless you said it was okay, but he'd totally be bragging about you if he were allowed.

elliott

• Elliott was not having a great writing session. He invited you over, incredibly stumped with his latest novel. He was bouncing ideas off of you left and right, but nothing would stick! You mentioned that music could be an inspiration, and it was like a lightbulb smacked him in the forehead. He raced over to his stereo and turned on the radio. A cheese-y pop tune ... YOUR cheese-y pop tune. He was embarrassed over the pop playing and immediately turned it, but he did notice your expression and inquired.

• You explained that the song on the radio was a song that you wrote and sang yourself. He was startled at first. “I didn't know we had such a big star in our midst! Are those your lyrics as well? I didn't pin you as such a wonderful writer, but I am so grateful! Someone that shares my writing prowess! I knew some invisible string brought us together!”

• As you continue to explain your past and why you came out to Pelican Town, Elliott nods along, hearing your story. “I didn't realize how similar we are. I understand wanting to get away from it all, that's why I'm out here as well. I suppose you came here to get away from your work, and I came to get closer to it. How awfully poetic that is, don't you think?”

• He asked a lot of questions, really diving deep into your mind. Of course, he only asked if you were comfortable with it. He loved analyzing people's minds, especially if they were different from his own. He may or may not use some of these aspects of your life in his new novel. With your permission, of course. You've always been his biggest muse.

• Elliott is invested in your life, like any good partner should, and admires your creative talent. This only heightens his view of you, as you are an artist, just like him. Despite the different mediums, you two share a lot in common. He would love you regardless of this aspect, but this only draws you two closer.

harvey

• Harvey was giving you a check-up, which was a bit unethical now that you were dating, but eh. He's the only doctor in the town and he's very worried about your health. He noticed that you mentioned a previous injury when checking your knee reflexes. This injury has occurred in a rehearsal for one of your tours. You didn't want to lie to your sweet boyfriend, so you had to admit the truth.

• As he wrote on his clipboard your reasoning, he stopped for a moment. “Tour? Popstar? Is this one of your sarcastic comments that I'm not getting? ... oh, really? You've never mentioned that part of your life before. Please, if you want to open up about it, show me some of your work once we get home. I hate to admit, but I'm fairly curious,” he said with a soft, caring smile.

• When you two get home after the checkup, he starts to cook dinner. “Please, keep me company while I cook. If you'd like to share some stories ... well, only if you're comfortable with it, I know that you got away from fame for a reason, but ... I want to know that part of your life, just like I know this one. Indulge me, if you would, my love.”

• He tries his best to support this part of your life, even if he wasn't involved. He ends up purchasing a lot of your old music and keeping a collection, showing it as a sign of affection. He listens to it while he does household chores, humming along to your songs happily while you're away.

• Harvey didn't mind this aspect of your life. It was another thing that made you the person he loves. He listens to everything you say and pays attention, specifically to the parts of fame you enjoyed and didn't enjoy. He only asked about the stuff you liked, and allowed you to open up about the hard times on your own, when you were ready. He was incredibly careful about the whole thing, and wouldn't dare make you uncomfortable.

sam

• As you and Sam were relaxing in his room one day, he was fiddling with his guitar. He seemed super stumped, strumming random chords to try and make some sense. Nothing was working ... he eventually showed you something that sounds sort of functional? But this rhythm was VERY similar to a song you put out a long time ago. You let out a soft giggle, which left Sam confused. You had to explain now.

• You drop the fact that you were a popstar in a nonchalant manner, trying to make it not a huge deal. But it's Sam. Of course it's a big deal. “No. Fucking. WAY! You're kidding, you've gotta be fucking with me! And you didn't tell me?! For SHAME! As punishment, you've gotta tell me all about it and I will refuse to change the topic. Now SPILL!”

• You explained who you are and why you left everything behind, which Sam thought about for a moment. “Wow ... I never really bought about fame that way. That must've been a lot, and I really do get why you came all the way down here. I'm just glad you're here now, y'know? ... but if you do end up getting the itch to create some music again, with no strings attached to fame, I'm always here. I'd love to create somethin' sick with you.”

• Sam always asked questions about the parts of fame he didn't know much about. Did you go to any parties? Was this person actually chill or were they a dick? He was so curious and asked probably the weirdest questions imaginable, but they were refreshing. And if you weren't the first person Sam showed his music to before, you were now. He always asked for your approval, and asked how to improve. It was extremely sweet.

• Even though he was excited about everything you had presented to him, he tried his best to be respectful. If you asked him to stop, he would with a nod and a quick apology, giving you a small kiss before putting the topic to bed. He still loved you for you! This aspect about you is just so cool and interesting to him. He adores you regardless, and wouldn't trade the current version of you for anyone else.

sebastian

• Sebastian had just finished working for the day and needed to relax. He flopped down on his couch and pressed the button on his radio. The pop station came on, and he was about to turn it before you walked in. You were shocked to hear your own song playing, staring at him with wide eyes. He makes some sarcastic comments about how this is actually his music taste and you just don't understand him. He doesn't understand why you're so shocked, though.

• As you slowly drop the bomb, he lets out a little chuckle. “Hah. Funny. You can drop the act, I can tell you're fuckin' with me ... are you really a world renowned superstar with several albums with hundreds of chart toppers? Like I believe that! Why the hell would you choose Pelican Town of all places to live, huh? This is the type of town you need to run away from.”

• You eventually have to explain why you left, why that lifestyle really wasn't you. He's actually at a loss for words for a moment, before nodding. “I didn't expect that out of you, you really are full of surprises. Tell me more, if you wanna. I'd be willing to listen. If you don't wanna talk about all that shit though, it's fine. Whatever you wanna do,” he said with a welcoming smile.

• Your music was FAR from what Sebastian listened to commonly. His Radiohead collection can attest for that. But ... he decided to take a listen to your music. He's very picky usually, so this is a pretty good feat. He actually kind of enjoyed it, for once. Maybe you're leading him down the path of liking something that's not edgy. Hmm. That's nice.

• Sebastian found this part of you incredibly interesting, but he didn't ask many questions. If you wanted him to know, he would, and he respected that. He loves hearing you talk about anything that you're passionate about, or just hearing you talk in general. It's arguably one of his favorite past times.

shane

• You and Shane were sitting by the pier one night. This was Shane's safe spot, attempting not to start drinking again. You two spent several afternoons sitting under the glow of the stars with an old cassette player and some of Shane's favorite songs. One of these nights, he mentioned that his childhood dream was to be an actor, and how weird fame seemed. He would hate being famous ... and you did too. This would be a perfect time to drop this bomb.

• You mentioned your past to Shane, but he brushed it off. “Uh huh. And I'm actually a famous bowler but I fucked up my arm and now I'm destined to live the rest of my life in this little shit hole. Oh, my poor dreams. How sad,” he said, his dry humor biting with sarcasm. He noticed your facial expressions ... they weren't sarcastic. “... I'm sober right? You didn't spike my drink or somethin' and you're tryin' to fuck with me ... huh. Now that's a topic.”

• You explained everything, mainly about why you came back here. You figured Shane wouldn't really know much about who you were, that's not his type of music anyway. “Huh. Nice. I figured you were just some corporate big league who got tired of the white walls. A lot of things make a lot more sense, I guess. You're a lot more talented than I thought ... sorry, that was mean- let me rephrase ... you are talented. I really am tryin' to get better about that ...”

• Shane didn't ask much about it further, but would listen if you brought it up again. He ended up stumbling across your work ... it was way better than he imagined. Maybe because it was you. It was a source of comfort to him, and he often listened to your beautiful voice when he was in a dark time. It helped him through a lot.

• He didn't mind your past, you had a lot less skeletons in your closet than he did. He liked hearing your voice, so it was a win-win. He got this down-to-Earth side of you that he enjoys being around, but he can also listen to his star-studded partner whenever he wants. He wouldn't tell you that, though. That's his little secret.

[hold-me-sickfics]

Taehyung x Yoongi “Experience is the best Teacher”

Hi guys! Sooooo I was in the mood to write and thanks to @thatoneemokpop-02 I got inspired 😁 here’s an mpreg fic based on a prompt Alex gave me last night! Hope y’all enjoy!

TW: food, mpreg, birth scene, anxiety, emeto (if there are any more please let me know!)

“Taehyungie, baby, I don’t know if we can fit all this in the car…” Yoongi eyed the ENTIRE STORE, watching nervously as Taehyung ran around pointing to various things he wanted. The nursery was Taehyung’s main focus right now, and Yoongi was sure it was because he was nervous about the baby coming soon. However, if it numbed Taehyung’s nerves, Yoongi was all in for it.

“Yoongi it’s not like I’m gonna buy the whole thing. Just a couple things if we really need them.”

Taehyung smiled as he looked through all the bottles that the store had to offer.

“Can we get these? They’re so cute!” Taehyung giggled, causing his tummy to bounce up and down. Yoongi swore it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.

“Babe we bought those last week, didn’t we?” Yoongi put them back on the shelf.

Taehyung picked them back up.

“No, those were the blue ones. These are yellow.”

Yoongi had to admit, he had a point.

“Alright, we can get them. But these are the last bottles okay? If we get any more, I’m gonna have to build another cabinet.” Yoongi chuckled, Taehyung’s beaming smile making him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

“Deal.” Taehyung reached over into the buggy, keeping one hand on his tummy so it wouldn’t be pressed into by the metal siding.

“Ready to go? I’ll get you your favorite.” Yoongi couldn’t help himself, spoiling Taehyung was his guilty pleasure. It had been ever since he’d started dating him.

“Ugh Yoongi I’m already fat.” Taehyung looked down at his tummy, palming it just a bit. His mood swings were no problem for Yoongi, being as he knew exactly how to handle them.

Yoongi and Taehyung were behind a shelf, giving Yoongi a perfect shot (Taehyung hated physical affection with other people watching, so Yoongi was always mindful of it.)

Yoongi took Taehyung’s hand and gently kissed it.

“You’re beautiful, and I don’t care if your scale says that you’ve gained a little. Honestly, I can’t get my mind off of you when you’re doing your little waddle. It’s kinda sexy.” Yoongi winked at him. Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh.

“Min Yoongi you have lost it.”

“Mhmmm,” he kissed his head. “Now, don't fight me on this. Baby wants chicken strips. Does daddy want chicken strips?”

Taehyung felt his face turn completely red.

“... maybe a little…”

“I thought so.” Yoongi winked at him, and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go pay for these and then we’ll go get supper.”

“Ahhhagghhhh!” Taehyung’s smile quickly changed into a pained grimace as he rubbed his back. Yoongi was holding him in less than a second.

“What happened? Are you okay?” The worry in Yoongi’s voice couldn’t be clearer.

“I- I’m okay. He kicked and punched me at the same time. It hit my back. Agh it hurts…” Taehyung had tears in his eyes, but used his breathing techniques from his classes to calm himself down.

Yoongi’s eyes were filled with sympathy, wishing he could take Taehyung’s pain away. All he could do was to hold him, and copy his breathing pattern to keep him focused. Soon enough, Taehyung was back able to walk, and they bought the bottles and went out to the car.

Unfortunately, the kick managed to knock Taehyung’s appetite off. Yoongi begged him to eat, but the mere thought of food made him consider asking Yoongi to pull over so he could throw up.

When they got home, Yoongi helped Taehyung change clothes, and then assisted him in getting into bed. (It used to be easy, but with all the extra tummy weight, he had trouble balancing to raise his leg up.)

“I’ll be right back okay angel? I’m just gonna run to the bathroom real quick.” Yoongi kissed Taehyung’s cheek, and then swept his hair back.

Yoongi went and did his business, but the whole time he was thinking of how he could help Taehyung get through these last few weeks before the baby came. He hated it, but Taehyung was going to be nervous and feel bad no matter what he said. All he could do was support him. Still, he did feel like if he could experience what Taehyung was going through… maybe he could help more.

By the time he got back to the bedroom, Taehyung was already fast asleep. Yoongi took his usual position, big spoon for his beautiful boyfriend. His arm was wrapped around his midsection, right above his stomach. He felt the baby kick a bit, and smiled knowing the little one would be here soon.

Little did he know, he was in for a heck of an awakening…

----

Yoongi woke up to a sickening feeling in the back of his throat. He tossed the covers aside as he felt a stream of vomit coming up his throat. He was out of time. Next thing he knew, he was spilling the remnants of his dinner into the floor below him. Taehyung was awake almost instantly.

“You’re okay baby. Just get it up, I’ll clean it up in a minute.” Yoongi felt Taehyung’s hand rub up and down his back. Goodness he was so sore. It was like he’d been thrown up against a wall and beaten up. Everything hurt, and his stomach being so big and bloated didn’t help either. It made it hard to move. Why on earth was it so heavy? WAIT-

Yoongi looked at his stomach, and puked again. Taehyung actually had to catch him to keep him from falling off the side of the bed.

“T-Tae-Taehyung my stomach-”

Taehyung was behind him, eyes wider than saucers.

“Yoongi… Mine…” He looked down at his sculpted stomach, abs just as firm as they were before pregnancy.

“Oh heck-” Yoongi leaned over, puking again. Every heave wrecked his frame, and strained his insides. Now that he registered what was happening, he could feel the baby moving. Each kick and punch and stretch just made him feel worse.

After a couple minutes, Yoongi was left coughing and dry heaving. Taehyung kissed his crown, smoothing his hair down.

“I’m gonna come around to the other side and get you okay? Keep your eyes closed. It’ll help you not feel as sick.”

Yoongi nodded, one hand on his now, very large stomach. He clenched his eyes shut, wishing he could do the same for his nose.

He heard Taehyung putting a towel down on the floor to cover the puke. Then he felt Taehyung’s hands around him, helping him up gently.

“It’s gonna be harder to get up, just put your weight on me alright?”

“T-Taehyung I’m gonna puke again-” Yoongi dry heaved, the sound even causing Taehyung to wince. He knew that had to hurt Yoongi’s throat.

“You’re empty baby. It’s just the smell. Trust me, I would know. I was the pregnant one like four hours ago.”

Yoongi gagged again, feeling his knees go weak and nearly collapsing under him.

“Help me” Yoongi cried, tears rushing down his face.

“I’ve got you Yoongi I promise I won’t let you fall. Just keep your arms around me alright?”

Yoongi nodded, but kept shaking, knowing at any moment something else could happen. He had no idea being pregnant was this terrifying.

“Breathe Yoongi. Hey, focus on my voice. What do you hear me saying?”

“T-To b-bre-breathe.”

“That’s right. Now we’re gonna go take a bath and get you clean. The water will help with the cramping I promise you.”

“Mmmmmmnnnnn” Yoongi shuddered.

“What did I tell you just then baby?”

“W-water h-helps…”

“That’s good. Now sit down right here for me okay?”

Yoongi opened his eyes, shocked to realize that Taehyung had actually distracted him and helped him walk to the bathroom.

Taehyung leaned him down, feeling his own heart break at how pitiful Yoongi looked. He turned on the faucet, and added in some of his own lavender bubble bath soap.

“Taehy-hyung?”

“What’s happening baby?”

“B-baby’s moving-g. H-hurts…”

“I know it does. Here…” Taehyung ran a washcloth under the water. He started to wipe the sweat from Yoongi’s face and neck.

Yoongi moaned in comfort.

“There you go. That’s good baby.” Taehyung continued until the bath had filled up midway.

“Alright…” Taehyung kissed Yoongi’s rounded cheek, adoring the extra bit of baby-weight that pregnancy had added to him. “I’m gonna help you get undressed. Can you lift your arms for me?”

“Y-yeah.” Yoongi couldn’t think of anything except how scared he felt.

Taehyung slid his shirt off, slightly palming Yoongi’s stomach in the places that he could see the baby moving.

“Ahhhahhh,” Yoongi let out a half moan, half cry.

“I know baby. Believe me, I know.”

Taehyung got ready to take his husband’s pants off, helping him up off of the toilet slowly. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Taehyung’s neck, and just held onto him. Nonverbally begging for some of his strength.

“Taehyung… I- I-”

“It’s alright baby. I promise it’s not this bad all the time. Some nights are worse than others.” Taehyung lightly kissed the boy’s ear, holding him close.

“Ahhhhhhhahhhgggggh Taehyung I gotta lay down… S-something’s w-wrong…”

Taehyung’s eyes widened in shock… for some reason… a splatter of water had just hit the floor.

“Ahhhhaggghhhh hmmmmm…” Yoongi’s legs were trembling. Taehyung laid Yoongi down on the rug, thankfully they’d chosen a soft one when they’d decorated.

“Okay baby let me see-”

“N-no- no no, I can’t… I don’t w-want to…”

Taehyung felt his blood run cold. He had a really bad feeling about this.

“Just let me look. I won’t touch anything. I promise.”

Yoongi’s legs opened on their own, so it didn’t really matter whether Yoongi wanted him to see or not. What Taehyung saw was probably the worst thing he could have seen, or at least close.

“Alright baby I don’t know how but, you’re fully dilated…”

Yoongi cried, screaming in pain. Suddenly, it felt like everything had just crashed down on him.

“I- I c-can’t- p-lease…” Yoongi pushed involuntarily, feeling pressure and more pain than he’d ever experienced.

Taehyung saw Yoongi’s stomach tense up as he pushed down.

“Okay hey, look at me, look at me baby.” Taehyung’s voice was calming. The only bit of comfort he had in the whole situation.

Yoongi opened his eyes, and looked straight into Taehyung’s.

“I’m here. I’ve got you. Just push when you feel ready, okay?” Taehyung used his fingers to stretch Yoongi’s opening a bit, already able to see the baby’s head inside.

“Ugggggghhhhhhh” Yoongi threw his head back, his back arching in pain.

“You’re doing great. Yoongi I can see him already!” Taehyung smiled, tears filling his eyes.

Yoongi felt the urge to push, but wouldn’t.

“Baby I know you’re scared. Just do what you need to do. Your body is gonna show you how to. It’s gonna be alright, I promise.”

Yoongi felt a sharp pain erupt in his lower stomach.

“Taehyung hold me!” Yoongi stretched both his arms out to reach for Taehyung.

“I’m here baby. I’m right here. Just wake up.”

Yoongi was beyond confused.

“Everything is going to be alright. I’m right here with you. Open your eyes.”

Yoongi felt another intense pain inside of him, and he pushed.

“Yoongi you gotta wake up!”

Yoongi woke up, gasping. His entire body covered with sweat.

“T-Taehyung?”

Yoongi’s heartbeat was so loud he could barely hear Taehyung trying to soothe him.

“I’m here baby. I’m here.” Taehyung kissed his shoulder, unable to hold him due to the size of his stomach.

Yoongi immediately reached down and felt his stomach, then down to his privates. He was back to normal. He wasn’t pregnant, and moreover, he wasn’t giving birth.

“What happened?” Taehyung rubbed Yoongi’s arm.

“I-” Yoongi decided there was only one way for him to explain it.

“Taehyung, I’ll be right back okay? I’ve gotta run and get something from the store.”

“You are not telling me you had a nightmare because we’re out of milk.”

“I’m not, but there’s something I gotta do. I’ll be back in 30 I promise okay?”

Taehyung reluctantly said yes, and Yoongi threw on some clothes.

He made a quick job of his mission. Fluffy socks, 3 dozen roses, a bath bomb, as much candy as he could grab in one go, and Taehyung’s favorite from McDonald’s since they were the only ones open. Oh, and the milk. He couldn’t forget the milk.

He got home to see Taehyung waddling around the kitchen, making a mental list of things he had to do today since it wasn’t likely he was going back to sleep. He heard the door close, and turned around to see Yoongi crying.

Yoongi dropped everything and rushed to him, hugging him and half blubbering into his neck.

“You are beautiful and I love you so much and everything is going to be okay I promise. I’m gonna make sure you have the best doctors and the best of everything in the nursery, and I’m gonna build you that other cabinet for the bottles. I’ll start at 6:00, because Lowe’s doesn’t open until then but I’ll be there when the door opens. Anything you want, you just tell me. Anything. I don’t care what time it is or what else I’ve been doing that day or whatever. Anything you need is yours. And on top of that, I’m giving you a massage right now so don’t try and stop me.”

He swept Taehyung off his feet, barely able to see his path due to the size of Taehyung’s stomach. He got him to the bedroom and immediately turned the lights down and grabbed the lotion.

“You rest and let me do this. Want me to turn on the music?”

“Babe… are you okay?”

“Just work with me. Pregnancy makes you emotional.”

Taehyung didn’t question it, and just smiled at how cute his husband was being. He knew there were things he could say to thank Yoongi, but it seemed that right now the biggest thank you would be to go back to sleep and show him that his massage helped comfort him. He did promise himself to get more into detail about that dream in the morning though.

The end

[bellakitse]

The Potential of Tomorrow

TK tells Owen what went down between him and Carlos and then talks to Carlos about why he walked out.

TK Strand is back at the bar with the crew sipping on mineral water with lemon; everyone is sharing some of the funnier calls they've ever been on. His dad is telling them about the time they walked into a fire started by a man who had accidentally knocked over a candle while pleasuring himself, and how he couldn’t put it out because he had cuffed himself to his bed.

“He forgot to mention the leather chaps and mask,” TK adds with a half-smile, much to the amusement of the others. Paul starts talking about his time in Chicago, but TK isn’t listening anymore. His attention is at the door of the bar, where Carlos Reyes just walked in with some of his fellow cops.

Their eyes meet just for a second, and it’s the way it’s been like between them for the last week since Carlos tried to make him dinner before TK freaked out. The cop looks at him for a moment before looking away, his jaw clenched in a way that would signify annoyance if it weren’t for the hints of hurt TK spots in his pretty brown eyes, it makes TK feel guilty, and all he wants is to apologize to him, but like every time for the last five days, he freezes in place.

“You want to tell me what that’s about?” his dad asks softly, trying not to draw the attention of the rest of their team.

TK considers for a moment playing dumb, but his dad isn’t the man he is by being easily fooled. He has no doubt his father has clocked the tension between him and Carlos the moment it started.

Taking a sip of his mineral water, he wishes for a moment for a real drink. He dismisses the thought as soon as it enters his head. He’s doing better, every day gets a little easier, and he’s not going to derail his progress or disappoint his dad and himself again.

“We hooked up,” TK confesses, bracing himself for a lecture. When it doesn’t come, he sneaks a look at his dad. His expression is neutral as he seems to be waiting for the rest of the story.

TK sighs, he’s a grown man, and yet one look from his father has him spilling his guts each and every time. “We hooked up,” he reiterates. “Afterward, he called me again, and I thought it was another hookup. Instead, he made me dinner, he wants it to be more than just sleeping together. I kind of freaked out on him and was an asshole about it before I left.”

Owen lets out a soft hum, looking over at Carlos, who’s left his friends and is by the bar nursing a beer.

“You don’t feel anything deeper for him,” Owen concludes.

“No,” TK answers quickly, making a face when Owen raises an eyebrow at him. “Yes?” he says unsure, his shoulders dropping as he exhales.

“He’s gorgeous and nice, and it was awesome,” TK tells him meaningfully, a little embarrassed to be talking about his sex life with his dad. “But he wants more, and I’m such a fucking mess.”

“You’re not a mess,” his dad says firmly, pulling a smile out of TK in spite of himself.

“He made a comment about it being a meal, not a marriage proposal, and I just walked out on him,” he says, nodding when his dad winces. “Yeah.”

Owen rubs his back, and TK closes his eyes, it’s as comforting now as it was when he was a kid. “I don’t think he would have made that comment if he knew.”

TK swallows hard. “I know that,” he says quietly, looking over his shoulder at Carlos, catching his eye. The man holds his gaze for a few seconds before lowering it back to his beer. “I need to talk to him, don’t I?”

Owen smiles at him, his weathered face sympathetic. “I think so kid. Go, cowboy up.”

TK rolls his eyes as he stands. “Austin is a bad influence on you,” he says, walking away, his father’s laugh behind him. He starts to walk to the bar, the distance short, and he finds himself at Carlos’ side all too soon. He’s biting down on his lip as he watches him, but at least he’s not walking away, so TK takes that as a win.

“Hey,” he says softly, getting a nod in return. “Can we talk?”

Carlos raises an eyebrow at him, waiting him out.

“Outside, maybe?” TK questions holding his breath when Carlos seems to consider his request. He pulls out his wallet, placing a couple of bills on the counter before making an ‘after you’ gesture at him.

TK heads for the door, Carlos just a step behind him, his heart pounding hard in his chest, and on the way out, he catches his dad’s encouraging look, it settles him a bit.

The Austin night air is different from New York’s, fresher, earthier, it has something that calms TK down. He meant it when he told his dad that moving was a good idea.

Turning around, he faces Carlos, taking him in as the man has his hands in his pockets. Carlos is tall and broad, but right now he seems to be trying to curl in, and TK doesn’t like it, he doesn’t like the idea that his behavior could be the cause.

“I had a boyfriend in New York,” he starts, to which Carlos nods. TK takes a deep breath before continuing. He hasn’t talked about this with anyone but his dad and his therapist, something inside him though tells him he can trust Carlos with this. “I was going to propose the night he told me that he was in love with someone else and that he was leaving me for him.”

Carlos straightens up as he watches him speak, TK can tell the second his words from the other day come back to him by the way he closes his eyes in regret.

“TK, I’m-“ Carlos starts.

TK holds off his apology. “You didn’t know, and you were right. You wanted to have dinner and get to know me, it was just a meal, and it was nice.”

Carlos smiles at him, a little sad. “It’s just not what you’re looking for, I get it.”

“That’s not it. It’s-“ TK shakes his head, frustration coursing through him as he struggles with the words. “There’s more to the story.”

Carlos watches him, his expression is so gentle, and TK remembers how Carlos slowed down their kisses, touched him like something special. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“My therapist says that once I can talk about it, I’ll start to move on,” TK says with a hollow smile. “After Alex broke up with me, I did something I haven’t done in years,” he licks his lips nervously, looking down at his feet as he continues. “I used, and I ended up OD’ing. My dad found me, he and our team saved me.”

TK looks up to find a wrecked look on Carlos’ face. “Say something.”

Carlos lets out a deep breath trying to calm down, but TK still spots a slight shake in his left hand. “Are you okay?”

TK lets out a watery laugh. “No, not really. But I’m doing better than before.”

“Can I-“ Carlos pauses, he quickly runs his tongue over his bottom lip and TK feels a spark of heat go through him. “Can I touch you?”

TK lets out a breath that just deflates him, and he only takes a step before Carlos is hugging him tightly, he presses his face into the crook of his neck as Carlos cups the back of his head.

TK doesn’t know how long Carlos holds him, but the man doesn’t seem to care about time as he runs his hand up and down his back. When TK pulls back, looking at Carlos, all he finds in his expression is kindness and affection. TK keeps looking at him, the tenderness of their moment turns, charged with a different kind of tension than the one they have been having the last few days.

“I’m not ready for more,” he whispers. “Not yet.”

Carlos nods as he brings his hands up, cupping his face. “I understand.”

TK grabs at his wrists when Carlos starts to let him go. “But I want to be,” he says quickly, hopeful. “I want to be, and when I am, I want it to be with you.”

The smile Carlos gives him is bright and more beautiful than an Austin sunset, the kiss he lays at the crown of his head is breathtakingly gentle, and when he says. “I can wait.”

TK’s heart skips a beat.

[prouvaireafterdark]

Yours to Keep

After LITERAL MONTHS she's finally done: the smutty morning after sequel to Just A Nightmare, Baby that you've all been waiting for! And she’s got a name now!

This fic was a labor of love, both for Alex Manes, who deserves all the happiness in the world, and for all his fans who were left hurt and betrayed after 2x06. It’s hands down the sappiest thing I’ve ever written and I hope it’s exactly what you all need right now. 

It’s also very, very filthy, so, like, probably don’t read this at work lol

And shout out to @queersirius for giving me the coffee inspiration!

Also on AO3! 💜

***

When Alex wakes slowly from a blissfully dreamless sleep, he opens his eyes to see the bare skin of Michael’s hip a few inches from his face, peeking out between the hem of a white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. His gaze shifts upward to see Michael tapping away on his tablet, looking soft and comfortable, his curls still damp from a recent shower.

Alex leans forward and presses his lips to that warm strip of skin. He hears a startled noise above him, but it’s quickly followed by the feeling of Michael’s left hand gently cradling the back of his head, his fingers sliding through his hair.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Michael says as he lowers his tablet into his lap. “Well, afternoon technically, but time’s a social construct.”

“Shit, what time is it?” Alex mumbles against his skin, eyes closed.

“A little after noon.”

“Fuck.” Alex hasn’t slept in this late in… God, it must be over ten years. Good thing it’s a Saturday, he thinks, which, now that he thinks about it… “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Not today,” he says as he continues to pet Alex’s hair.

Alex thinks that over, wondering if he’s mistaken, but he’s positive that’s not true. He usually takes the weekend off, but he distinctly remembers Sanders calling him the other night to ask him if he could work Saturday morning.

“You had a shift though,” Alex insists.

Michael doesn’t say anything right away. Instead, Alex feels him start to lean away from him, and the movement pulls a soft noise of complaint from the back of his throat. Michael keeps his left hand on the back of Alex’s head, and as soon as his tablet is safely on the bedside table, Michael slides down the mattress so they can lie face to face.

“I took a personal day,” Michael explains, his right hand slipping under the blanket to lay on Alex’s bare side, his thumb tracing idle patterns on his skin.

“Why?” Alex says.

“I wanted to,” Michael insists, sliding closer to Alex until their noses brush. “You had a rough night last night. I didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

As those words sink in, Alex can feel fresh tears pricking at his eyes. It overwhelms him sometimes that this is real, that he can look into Michael’s eyes and see how fiercely, how unconditionally he loves him. There are days where Alex doesn’t feel worthy of it, but knowing that Michael will always be there for him, even when he doesn’t know how to ask him to be, it… it means a lot. It means everything.

“Hey,” Michael says softly, leaning back to get a better look at Alex’s face. His hand moves from Alex’s side to cup his cheek, his thumb resting lightly by the corner of Alex’s eye. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” says Alex, giving Michael a watery, but hopefully reassuring smile. “I just really, really love you.”

“I love you too,” Michael whispers back, expression impossibly fond.

Alex leans in to kiss him, and Michael returns it easily. Heat ignites low in his belly as Michael deepens the kiss, licking into his mouth, and Alex can’t help but tangle his fingers in those damp curls, blunt finger nails scraping oh-so-gently against his scalp.

Michael pulls back much too soon for Alex’s liking, but he’s back a second later, pressing soft kisses against the side of Alex’s neck, the hand on Alex’s cheek moving back down to grip at his waist again—harder this time, needier. Alex’s eyes slide closed in contentment.

“So, do I have you all to myself today?” he asks.

Michael hums in confirmation, and then slowly drags his tongue along the column of Alex’s throat. Alex can feel Michael smile against his skin as he moans, his cock stirring in his sweatpants.

“What should I do with you, huh?” Alex wonders aloud, fingers tightening in Michael’s curls.

“Well,” Michael starts, leaning back so Alex can see the suggestive look on his face. “I was planning to start with breakfast in bed, but now I’m thinking it might be nice to skip to dessert.”

Alex is about to call him out on how cheesy that line is when his stomach rumbles loudly at the mention of food.

Michael sighs dramatically.

“Okay,” he relents, “I guess I should feed you first.”

“Sorry,” Alex laughs.

“Don’t be,” Michael says easily, kissing him swiftly on the mouth before throwing the covers off himself and climbing out of bed. “How does blueberry pancakes sound?”

It sounds perfect, if he’s honest, but Alex feels a little bad. Michael’s already put himself out by taking off work to spend time with him today, he really shouldn’t have to bother with all that.

“Cereal’s fine, you don’t have to—“

“Too late,” he says, smiling cheekily. “I already made the batter while you were sleeping.”

“Michael—”

“Don’t get out of bed!” Michael calls behind him as he disappears out of their bedroom.

Alex would be tempted to listen to him if he didn’t need to use the bathroom and also brush his teeth, so he reaches for his crutch and makes his way to their ensuite. Before he leaves, he makes sure to rinse his mouth well so the taste of toothpaste won’t ruin his morning coffee.

Michael hasn’t returned by the time he gets back into bed, so Alex checks his email until he hears footsteps coming from down the hall. He looks up, expecting to see Michael, but the first thing that catches his eye is the various pieces of kitchenware that are floating into their bedroom.

“Show off,” Alex teases when he sees Michael following close behind, a mug in each hand.

“Hey, I didn’t wanna spill the coffee, okay?” Michael smiles. “Can you get your little laptop table thing?”

“Yeah.” Alex reaches into the space between his side of the bed and his nightstand to pull out the wooden tray table he uses when he still wants to work on bad pain days.

He sets up the tray on the bed and Michael uses his TK to place everything on top of it. When he’s done, there’s one plate stacked high with golden, fluffy pancakes, a bowl of fresh strawberries, a tiny little jug of hot maple syrup Michael must have dug around in the cupboard to find, and two forks sitting in front of him.

Michael hands him a mug topped with whipped cream and cinnamon as he climbs onto the bed, careful not to spill any.

“I thought you said you brought coffee,” Alex asks, tilting his head questioningly at the cup of what appears to be hot chocolate he’s holding.

“I did,” he smiles.

Alex takes another look at the whipped cream on top. “Did you make me a Vienna?” He’s usually a straight espresso guy, hence the fairly expensive machine sitting on their kitchen counter, but, when he’s at a coffee shop that’ll do it right, a Vienna coffee is one of his guilty pleasures.

“Mhmm,” Michael smiles wider.

A complicated series of emotions grabs hold of Alex. He knows how much of a pain in the ass this thing is to make, and the fact that Michael put in that extra effort, especially after making him pancakes and losing money to be with him today, rather than just brewing some dark roast for the two of them… it’s incredibly sweet and Alex loves him so much for it, but it’s—it’s not necessary. Michael doesn’t need to go so far out of his way for him, and Alex certainly doesn’t want Michael to feel like he does.

“Uh oh,” Michael says, catching the look on Alex’s face. “Here it comes.”

That throws Alex for a second. “Here what comes?”

“You’re gonna tell me this is too much, right?” he says, as if plucking the words from Alex’s brain.

“It is,” Alex sighs. “I appreciate it, I do, but—you really don’t have to do all this.”

“Maybe,” Michael shrugs. “But did it occur to you that maybe I need to feel like I’m taking care of you as much as you need to feel taken care of right now?”

At Alex’s stunned silence, Michael puts his own coffee onto the crowded tray table and reaches for Alex’s free hand that’s resting in his lap, holding it in both of his.

“I love you,” he says, brow creased. “And last night… kinda freaked me out, honestly.” Michael looks down at their hands when he confesses, “I was up for a while after you went back to sleep trying to figure out what I did to make you feel like that.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Alex insists, hating the way the furrow in Michael’s brow deepens when he looks up at him again. “It was just a stupid dream.”

“Yeah, but dreams come from somewhere, right? On some level, I made you feel like I don’t want you, and I just—I hate that. You’re my person, Alex. There’s literally no one on this Earth—or any other fucking planet—that’s more important to me than you,” he says, leaning forward in his desperation to make Alex understand. “I need you to know that.”

Alex sets his own coffee down on the tray table and tugs Michael into his arms, careful not to let anything spill. He leans back against the pillows and Michael settles willingly against his chest, his arm tight across his waist.

“I know,” Alex reassures him, holding him close. “You’re my person too.”

Michael sags against him in relief and Alex’s heart breaks a little.

“I think I just missed you,” Alex admits after a second’s pause, running his palm over Michael’s back. On the way back up he slips his fingers under the hem of his shirt, seeking out his bare skin. “We’ve both been so busy with wedding plans and working overtime so we can pay for everything, it feels like we haven’t really had the time to just be together in a while.”

“So let me make it up to you,” Michael says, lifting his head off his chest to look at him.

Alex opens his mouth to tell him he doesn’t have to, that this miscommunication was just as much his fault as it was Michael’s, but Michael doesn’t let him get the words out.

“Please, Alex,” he insists with a pout. “Let me feed you pancakes and ridiculous coffee and just spend the whole day making you smile, okay? That’s all I want to do right now.”

Alex’s resolve flags in the face of Michael’s pout. He draws Michael up, closer, and Michael sighs happily into the soft kiss he presses to his lips.

“You’re a good man, Michael,” he says when they part, “and I can’t wait to marry you.”

Michael’s responding smile is soft and breathtaking, and Alex thinks, not for the first time, that he never wants to look at anything else for as long as he lives. He leans in for another kiss, intending it to be short and sweet, but Michael doesn’t let him go for at least another minute, all but climbing into his lap as he presses needy kisses against his lips. Alex is happy to let him.

“So is that a yes?” Michael asks when he pulls back for air. “You’ll let me spoil you today?”

The look on Michael’s face is impossible to turn down.

“Yes, I’ll let you spoil me today,” Alex relents, and Michael smiles wider, “as long as you let me return the favor.”

“Fuck me through the mattress later and we’ll call it even,” Michael says, too happy to achieve the deadpan expression Alex knows he’s going for.

“Deal,” Alex laughs. “Now, come on, let’s eat before the pancakes get cold.”

Michael puts on an old episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix for them to watch as they eat off the same plate. The pancakes are a little cold, but they’re helped by the hot maple syrup Michael brought to go with them, and his Vienna coffee is delicious even though the whipped cream has entirely melted by the time he takes a sip.

“That was so good, Michael, thank you,” Alex tells him when they’re done eating, both because he deserves to hear it and because he loves to watch the way Michael melts under a compliment.

The smile Michael gives him is soft and pleased.

“Anything for you,” he says, pressing a kiss to his cheek before he takes the dishes to the kitchen.

Alex folds up the tray table and puts it back where he found it before he relaxes against the pillows. Michael’s back a moment later, climbing into bed alongside him and settling against his chest. They manage to make it to the end of the episode before Michael loses interest in the show and starts kissing Alex’s neck, his fingers tracing idle patterns over Alex’s skin wherever he can reach.

Alex lets him, without comment or much reaction besides the slow, encouraging caress of his palm up and down Michael’s spine, until he feels the tease of Michael’s tongue at the hollow of his throat. He curls the fingers of his left hand under Michael’s jaw and draws him into a kiss that tastes like blueberries and maple syrup.

Michael throws his leg over Alex’s thigh, moving in so close he can feel him starting to get hard against his hip. Alex deepens the kiss, chasing that sweetness inside Michael’s mouth with his tongue. Michael indulges him for a moment before he pulls back, a slightly mischievous glint in his eye.

“What?” Alex pants.

Michael leans down to press a kiss to the corner of Alex’s mouth.

“There’s something I wanna try,” Michael murmurs against his lips.

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhmm,” he says. “I think you’re gonna like it. Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” Alex answers instantly.

“Can you turn over for me then, darlin’?” Michael whispers.

Alex raises an eyebrow, but does as he’s asked, using the space Michael gives him to roll over onto his stomach. His confusion grows when Michael gathers the comforter and shoves it to the bottom of the bed.

“I’ll be right back,” Michael tells him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before disappearing from the bed to rifle through their closet. When he returns, it’s with a small wicker basket and a large, fluffy towel.

“What’s that?” Alex asks, rolling onto his side to get a better look. Inside the basket he can see a few bottles of massage oil. His eyes spark with interest. “Ooh, you’re gonna give me a massage?”

“Mhmm,” Michael nods with a smile, spreading the fresh towel on an empty space on the bed to save their sheets. “I was gonna save it for our honeymoon, but now’s as good a time as any. Would you like coconut, jojoba, or sweet almond?”

“Mmm, coconut,” Alex decides, moving closer so he can lie down on his stomach on top of the towel.

“Good choice,” he says, selecting the bottle and placing the basket on the floor by the bed. “This one doubles as lube.”

Alex hums interestedly. “And what exactly are you planning on doing with it?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Michael says easily.

Alex huffs a laugh and feels the bed dip under Michael’s weight as he kneels beside him. He feels Michael’s fingers at the waistband of his sweatpants, dipping just under the fabric.

“Can I?” he asks.

Alex nods his permission, and Michael slides his underwear along with his sweatpants down his thighs and then off entirely, tossing them somewhere on the floor.

“Mm,” Michael hums. Alex turns his head over his shoulder to see Michael appreciating the view with his bottom lip caught between his teeth.  

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Alex teases, resting his head back on the mattress.

“Don’t tempt me,” Michael says as he straddles Alex’s hips and pops the cap on the massage oil. Alex braces for the feeling of cold liquid on his back, but by the time Michael is smoothing it over his skin his hands have warmed it right up.

Michael works the oil into his skin, rubbing the tension out of his neck and shoulders with a firm but gentle touch. It’s not long before Alex feels like he’s melting into the mattress.

“God, Michael, how’d you get so good at this?” Alex moans. Upon reflection, he adds, “Actually, don’t tell me, I don’t wanna know.”

He hears Michael snicker behind him. “Relax, I took some classes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Michael says, running his thumbs up along Alex’s spine. “You work too hard, Alex. You should probably be seeing a professional regularly, but I know you don’t really like it when other people touch you so I thought maybe I could learn,” he explains, and there’s the briefest pause before he adds, smile audible in his voice, “Plus, it gives me a great excuse to get you naked. I mean, admit it, this is pretty sexy, right?”

Alex barely hears the second part, his brain stuck on the fact that Michael really spent time, money, and effort so he could give him some relief on bad days. The constant confirmation of how much Michael loves him is really starting to overwhelm him, and his eyes get a little misty just thinking about it.

“You’ve really gotta ease up with these romantic gestures, Michael. I’m starting to feel like a leaky faucet over here,” Alex says, wiping at his eyes.

“Me too,” Michael says, and grinds his erection into Alex’s lower back, effectively ruining the moment.

“Oh my god,” Alex laughs, burying his face in his pillow. “You’re such an ass.”

“I know,” Michael says, sounding far too pleased with himself, and then he’s leaning down until his chest is resting on Alex’s back, head to the side so Alex can see his face. His eyes are bright and mischievous as he adds, “Made you laugh though, didn’t I?”

Alex bites his lip in contemplation before he raises his head off the pillow. Michael meets him halfway, bringing their lips together in a sweet, teasing kiss. The angle is awkward, but Alex hardly notices.

“Can I get back to work now?” Michael asks when the kiss ends.

“Mhmm,” Alex smiles, content.

Michael leans in to peck him once more, on the nose this time, before sitting back up.

Alex misses his warmth immediately, but the steady pressure of Michael’s hands on his back is a pleasure all its own. He loses himself to the sensation, lets himself float a little at a time until all he’s really aware of is how good he feels. His cock begins to ache the longer Michael touches him, growing thick where it’s trapped against his belly, but there’s no urgency, no desperation to come spoiling his enjoyment of the moment. His world narrows to the warm weight of Michael above him and the bone deep satisfaction of knowing that, no matter what, he will take care of him.

He must fall asleep because when his eyes flutter open again Michael is kneeling over his calf and he can feel his hands, slick with fresh oil, working slowly over his right thigh, creeping higher and higher. His whole lower body feels relaxed, like Michael’s already worked his magic there, and Alex wonders how long he’s been out.

Alex moans softly as Michael’s fingers brush his inner thigh, the arousal that’s been simmering just below the surface beginning to make itself known again.

“How was your nap?” Michael asks, sweeping his hands back down all the way to the sensitive spot just behind his knee.

“Amazing,” Alex sighs, somehow feeling even more well-rested than he did when he woke up this morning. Maybe Michael’s right—he really should be getting more sleep during the week. “Sorry for falling asleep on you though.”

“I’m choosing to take it as a compliment,” Michael says, sliding his hands slowly back up towards Alex’s ass.

“You should,” Alex insists. “Doing such a good job, baby.”

“Yeah?” Michael asks, sounding pleased.

“‘Course you are,” Alex assures him.

“Good,” Michael says, and even though he can’t see him, Alex just knows Michael’s preening silently behind him.

Michael then crosses his right hand to Alex’s right thigh. Starting at the knee, he presses the heels of his palms into his muscle on the way back up, and Alex’s cock aches as Michael’s thumbs edge dangerously close to the apex of his thighs. When Michael finally reaches his ass, he palms both cheeks and squeezes.

“God, Alex,” Michael marvels, smoothing his hands over the swell of it. “Your ass is amazing, I should really play with it more.”

Alex snorts into his pillow, but it turns into a gasp as Michael slips his oil-slick thumb between his cheeks, heat flaring up inside him at the intimate touch.

“Fuck,” Alex murmurs as Michael rubs his thumb around his hole. “They teach you that in massage school too?”

Michael chuckles. “I think we both know I don’t need a licensed professional to tell me how to touch you here.”

Alex moans again as Michael slides his fingers down to press into his perineum, his thumb still working in slow, steady circles.

“Feels good, huh?” he asks rhetorically, like he can’t see the way Alex’s hips twitch forward to grind his cock against the mattress.

“Mhmm,” Alex hums, spreading his legs a little wider. Michael takes it for the message it is.

“You want my fingers in you?” he asks, and Alex can just imagine the hungry look on Michael’s face.

“Please,” Alex answers breathlessly, biting his lip in anticipation. They don’t usually do it this way, but Alex is so relaxed and turned on that it sounds like the best idea he’s ever had.

Alex hears the sheets rustle as Michael reaches for the coconut massage oil again. He can’t help but tense up a little as Michael rubs a lubed finger against his hole.

“Just relax,” Michael says softly, kissing his lower back, “and tell me if you want me to stop, okay?”

“Okay,” Alex agrees with a small nod.

Alex takes a deep breath and releases it as Michael slides his finger inside him, his body opening up for him. It’s a little uncomfortable at first as Michael stays mostly still, just getting him used to the feeling before he starts to move. His finger barely grazes his prostate, giving him nothing but a taste of what he needs.

“More,” he gasps after a minute, digging his fingers into the mattress. “Please.”

Alex feels another finger teasing at his hole before it breaches him. Michael gives him a second to adjust before he starts to fuck him, spreading his fingers on every other thrust to open him up even more. He feels it when Michael finds his prostate, blunt fingers crooking downward against it, and Alex cries out as he jerks in Michael’s hold.

“You like that?” Michael asks, pressing an openmouthed kiss to his tailbone. “You want more?”

Alex gasps, spreading his thighs wider. Michael makes him wait for it, rubbing his fingers over that spot inside him that drives Alex fucking crazy for what feels like an hour before he pulls out. When his fingers return there are three pressing into him, splitting him open and filling him up more than he has been in a good long while. Michael peppers kisses along his back, his ass, anywhere he can reach as Alex gets used to the stretch, his rim taught over Michael’s fingers.

Soft gasps and moans tumble from Alex’s lips, unable to be contained once Michael starts to fuck him again, nailing his prostate on every other thrust. His breath hitches in his chest as frissons of pleasure snake through him, driving him closer and closer to the edge.

“Fucking hell, Alex,” Michael murmurs, something like awe in his voice. “You gonna come for me like this?”

“Fuck, I think I am,” Alex moans in response, just as surprised.

Michael curses and redoubles his efforts, curling his fingers more firmly into Alex’s prostate as he fucks them in and out of him. Alex moans, grinding his cock harder against the mattress, desperately seeking that extra bit of stimulation he needs to get off.

“Don’t stop,” he begs, so close his thighs are shaking with it.

“So fucking hot, Alex, love you so much,” Michael groans against the small of his back. “Come on, come for me, know you wanna, baby.”

Michael’s encouragement and a particularly well-timed twist of his fingers sets off Alex’s orgasm, his whole body going hot all over as he clenches down on Michael’s fingers and comes onto the towel below him.

Michael keeps pressing kisses to his skin, teasing his prostate until his touch crosses that line between just right and too much and Alex whines, grabbing blindly for Michael’s wrist to stop him. Alex’s hand falls boneless back at his side when Michael gently withdraws his fingers, murmuring an apology as he does.

Michael cleans the lube from his hands and Alex’s hole with the towel before he gently rolls Alex over onto his back, pulling the dirty towel out from under him and shoving it to the floor. Alex is so blissed out, he doesn’t even think to complain about the oil seeping into their sheets.

Out of nowhere, he feels the wet heat of Michael’s tongue on his lower belly, and his eyes fly open to watch him lick the come off his skin. As Michael’s mouth envelops the head of his softening cock, Alex’s eyes slip closed again with a soft moan, his head falling back against the bed.

A moment later, once Michael’s cleaned him up, Alex feels him straddle his waist. Alex’s hands come to hold his hips instinctively as he opens his eyes to see Michael looking down at him, curls brightened by the afternoon sun filtering through the window.

He’s so beautiful, Alex thinks, and Michael smiles like he’s said it aloud.

Michael leans down for a kiss, fingers threading through his hair as he coaxes his tongue into Alex’s mouth so he can taste himself. Alex moans, chasing the bitterness on Michael’s tongue with his own. It could be seconds, minutes, or hours later when Michael tugs his bottom lip between his teeth, rough enough that it pulls a soft, hurt sound from the back of Alex’s throat. Michael releases him, soothing the bite with his tongue.

“Ready for more?” Michael asks.

Alex opens his eyes to see Michael looking at him, eyes dark and hooded.

“There’s more?” he asks, still dazed from his orgasm.

“I’m only halfway done,” Michael answers, his smile sinful when he leans back to look down at him. He lets his fingers skim down Alex’s broad chest, catching on a light dusting of chest hair and brushing against his nipples. “Still got so many kinks to work out.”

Alex very pointedly does not take the bait by asking what kind of kinks Michael has in mind.

Instead, he lets his gaze wander over the length of Michael’s body, from his wild curls to his rumpled t-shirt, and lower still. It’s then that Alex notices how hard Michael is, the outline of his cock clearly visible through his grey sweatpants, a wet spot of considerable size darkening the fabric. Alex is struck by the image of Michael tugging down the waistband and shuffling closer to feed his cock into his mouth. It makes his mouth water just thinking about it, and he finds himself sliding his right hand from Michael’s hip to the front of his pants. He bites his lip as he feels Michael’s cock jump against his palm.

Michael catches his wrist and takes both of his hands in his, interlocking their fingers as he presses them gently back into Alex’s pillow.

“Later,” he promises, capturing Alex’s lips with his once more. “Told you, I’m not done with you yet.”

Alex relents, content for the moment to let Michael continue while he lies back and thinks about all the ways he can thank him for it later.

Michael gets back to work, starting at Alex’s shoulders and working his way down to his collarbone before moving on to his arms. When he’s done with his right hand, Alex expects him to gently lower it back down to rest beside him like he did with the other one, but this time he presses a soft kiss to the center of his palm. The tenderness of Michael’s touch takes his breath away just like always, but when Michael starts to kiss each of his fingertips, Alex can’t help what he does next.

Alex taps Michael’s full bottom lip with the tip of his finger and Michael opens right up for him. Two of his fingers disappear into the warmth of Michael’s mouth, and Alex is hit by a sharp surge of arousal at the sight of his lips stretched over him, the soft heat of his tongue between his fingers. He presses them in deeper and Michael moans softly, his hips twitching fruitlessly forward, eyes boring into Alex’s as he sucks.

Alex rises up to meet him, desperate to kiss him again, but Michael plants his hands on Alex’s shoulders and shoves him back onto the bed, his fingers slipping from Michael’s mouth with the movement.

“Nice try,” Michael grins. “But I’m still not done with you.”

“Sorry,” Alex says, with a smile that shows just how sorry he isn’t. “Got carried away.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Michael laughs, shaking his head. He leans in close again so Alex almost has to close his eyes to see Michael’s lips. “But come on. Be good for me now and I’ll be so good for you later.”

There’s a part of Alex that still wants to flip Michael over and absolutely wreck him, but he can see how badly Michael wants to play this thing out, and Alex is powerless to refuse him. Besides, it’s not like he isn’t enjoying himself.

Alex steals a kiss before he nods. “Okay,” he agrees. “I’ll be good.”

“Promise?” Michael asks, and Alex can see the mischievous glint in his eye, but he agrees anyway.

“Promise.”

True to form, Michael plays dirty as he moves on to massage Alex’s chest, teasing his nipples with his lips, tongue, and fingers until Alex is squirming. From there he works his way down his stomach, kissing along the hard plane of his abdomen. He looks up at Alex as he nibbles on the protrusion of his hip bone, just inches away from his cock, which has slowly started to stiffen once again, and it’s no small miracle that Alex manages to keep his fingers out of Michael’s curls.

“Michael,” Alex whimpers as Michael sucks a maddening bruise into the crease of his thigh a few inches lower, as if he’s testing Alex’s self control.

“Shh,” he soothes, pressing a close-mouthed kiss against the darkened patch of skin. “Just a little longer.”

He leans back up to sit on his knees between Alex’s thighs before he starts to massage them, taking special care with his right one. Alex moans as the tension he always carries in his right hip and thigh releases under Michael’s attentive fingers.

Michael waits until he’s explored just about every other part of Alex’s body before he finally, finally, slides between Alex’s thighs to give his cock some attention. He wraps his hand around it, gently stroking it to full hardness as the other plays with his balls.

Alex struggles to keep his hips still when Michael leans down to take the head into his mouth, the velvety softness of his tongue like heaven as it teases his slit. He brings his hands toward Michael’s head, itching to bury themselves in his curls, but he stops just short of doing it, letting his hands fall back to the mattress with a barely audible whine as he catches himself.

Michael reaches for Alex’s left hand and threads their fingers together as he pulls off his cock.

“It’s okay,” Michael tells him, pressing open-mouthed kisses along his shaft. “You can touch me now.”

Alex weaves the fingers of his free hand into Michael’s curls instantly and delights in watching Michael’s eyes flutter closed as he goes back to sucking lightly on the head. He can feel more than hear the content little moan Michael makes around him at his touch. Alex’s eyes drift closed, just enjoying the tease of Michael’s mouth, the way Michael’s thumb caresses the soft skin of his palm.

He opens his eyes when Michael extricates his fingers from Alex’s grip just in time to see him slicking them with the coconut massage oil.

“Wait,” Alex says, and Michael pauses with his fingers halfway to his own ass. “Get up here.”

Alex half expects Michael to remind him he agreed to take the backseat this time, but instead Michael releases his cock from his mouth and rises up onto his knees, going in to kiss him.

“Not like that,” Alex corrects him with a shake of his head.

Michael’s head tilts in confusion, but he gets what he’s asking for a second later, a filthy grin breaking out onto his face as understanding dawns on him. He tugs off his shirt and strips his sweatpants off eagerly before straddling Alex’s chest, facing away from him. Alex grabs him by the hips and drags him closer until his ass is directly over his face. He locks his arms around Michael’s thighs to keep him exactly where he wants him before he licks right over his hole with the flat of his tongue.

Michael’s hips jerk at the sudden sensation, a moan slipping from his lips. The sounds Michael makes as he continues to flick his tongue over his hole are high and needy, spurring Alex on to narrow it to a point and slip the tip of it inside him.

“Fuck, Alex,” Michael moans, shoving his hips back further against Alex’s face before he warns, a little breathlessly, “Don’t let me come. Wanna come with you in me,” before he feels the wet heat of Michael’s mouth around his cock once again.

Alex groans and works his tongue deeper inside Michael’s ass, fucking it in and out of him a few times before letting his head fall back against his pillow—as much as Alex would love to keep giving Michael’s ass the attention it deserves, there’s no way he’s going to last if Alex keeps eating him out like this.

Instead, he spreads Michael’s cheeks wider with his palms and smoothes his thumb around the pink furl of his hole. It’s loose and slick enough now for him to slip the tip inside. Michael whimpers as Alex tugs his thumb to the side just a little to watch it stretch.

“Pass me the lube,” Alex says, voice rough with arousal, and Michael tosses it vaguely in his direction, too overwhelmed to be precise about it.

It lands on the bed nearby and Alex reaches for it, gently removing his thumb. He slicks his fingers and slides two of them inside Michael at the same time. Alex’s cock slips out of Michael’s mouth as he cries out and drops his forehead to Alex’s thigh, fingers digging into the mattress. Alex can feel pre dripping from the head of Michael’s cock onto his chest as he fingers him open, careful to avoid his prostate as much as he can.

He’s three fingers deep with a fourth teasing at his rim before Michael gasps, “Enough, I’m ready.”

Alex withdraws his fingers and waits as Michael turns himself around on shaky knees to straddle Alex’s hips. Michael’s eyes are dark and unfocused as he looks at him, his lips red, wet, and a little swollen from use.

I did that, Alex thinks with no small amount of pride.

Alex slicks his own cock as Michael settles above him, knees on either side of him. He holds himself steady as Michael sinks down onto his cock in one smooth movement, moaning at the scorching, tight heat of him, and it’s only Michael’s hands planted on his chest that remind him to stay still. To distract himself from the need building inside him to fuck his cock deeper into him, Alex runs his hands along Michael’s flank, focusing on the softness of his skin beneath his fingertips until Michael’s caught his breath.

Michael starts to roll his hips into Alex’s in a slow, dirty grind, eyes pinning him against the mattress like a stuck butterfly. Alex reaches up to roll his thumb over Michael’s nipple, pinching it just hard enough to make him gasp and tighten up on him. His hips start working harder, and by the time Michael is bouncing on his cock, Alex can’t look away from him, enraptured by the flush high on Michael’s cheeks and the little moans that get forced out of his open mouth every time his ass hits the cradle of Alex’s hips. He’s the most beautiful thing Alex has ever seen, and his heart swells with so much love and gratitude for him that he has to sit up and pull him down for a kiss.

Michael wraps his arms around Alex’s shoulders and kisses him back, licking into his mouth as he squirms desperately in his lap.  

“Is it my turn yet?” Alex asks against his lips when a particularly well-aimed grind of his hips makes Michael’s mouth drop open in a gasp.

“What?” Michael pants, a little deliriously.

“To spoil you,” Alex reminds him, kissing his way down to his jaw, then his throat. He sucks lightly at his skin before he adds, “We had a deal.”

“Do I not look—mm, fuck—spoiled right now?” Michael asks, tugging Alex up by his hair to look at him in the eye.

“Not yet,” Alex answers, reaching up to run his thumb against Michael’s full bottom lip, “but you will.”

Michael visibly shudders in anticipation. “Fuck, yeah, okay,” he answers. “Do whatever you want to me.”

Alex leans in to steal another kiss before he flips Michael onto his back with surprising grace, keeping himself seated in the process.

“Where’d you even learn how to do that?” Michael asks when his back hits the mattress.

“Basic,” Alex answers, a smug smile on his face.

“Jesus,” Michael says, wrapping his legs higher around Alex’s waist. “Send Uncle Sam my regards.”

Alex laughs and leans in to kiss him again, a light press of lips that quickly turns filthy as Michael teases his tongue into Alex’s mouth. Alex grabs hold of the backs of Michael’s thighs and pushes them further toward his chest, folding Michael nearly in half as he starts to fuck him again, the room filling with the sound of skin slapping on skin.

It’s not long before Alex feels Michael start to tighten around him, hears the pitch of the little “uh, uh, uh’s” he’s making turn a little sharper, and he angles his hips so his cock brushes his prostate that much firmer. Michael keens, and a heady mix of pleasure and pain breaks out over Alex’s skin as Michael digs his blunt nails into his shoulders.

Alex reaches between them to get a hand on Michael’s dick to push him over the edge and all it takes is another few thrusts before he’s is coming on Alex’s cock, so hot and tight around him it makes them both cry out.

He fucks Michael through it, but he doesn’t let himself succumb to his own impending orgasm, determined to make Michael come one more time before he does—Michael’s been so good to him, it’s the least he deserves. He waits for Michael to stop trembling beneath him before he pulls out and sits back on his knees. Michael whimpers unhappily at the loss.

“You didn’t come,” Michael frowns, looking down through the V of his thighs at Alex’s cock, still flushed and hard between his legs.

“Turn over,” Alex pants.

Michael obeys him instantly, propping himself up on shaky knees and spreading his thighs wide enough that Alex can see his hole between his cheeks, slick and open for him. It’s a beautiful sight, but Alex doesn’t take advantage, not yet. Instead he grabs Michael’s legs and tugs him further down the bed. Michael yelps in surprise, but otherwise stays where Alex puts him.

Alex slicks himself with a little more lube before he leans over Michael again, nudging his legs closer together with his knees on the outside of Michael’s thighs. He slips the head of his cock between Michael’s cheeks and lets it tease against his rim.

“Is this okay?” he asks, giving Michael the opportunity to deny him if he’s too sensitive for this.

Michael nods. “Shit, yeah, come on.”

This time, when the thick head of his cock breaches Michael, he’s so much tighter.

“Oh fuck,” Michael groans, head tossed back so his curls tickle Alex’s shoulder. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, Alex.”

Alex can’t help but share that sentiment, Michael so tight around him he feels like he’s going to burst any second, but he pushes that down and focuses on giving Michael what he needs.

“Mmm, I know,” Alex coos in his ear, sliding one hand in Michael’s curls and the other under his arm to brace against his chest as he presses deeper inside him. “Bet you feel so full right now.”

Michael nods, gasping desperately.

“You like it?” Alex asks, rolling his hips slowly into Michael’s until he’s as deep as he can get. “That feel good?”

“Yeah,” Michael moans, “fuck, yeah.”

“Good boy,” Alex says, dropping kisses to Michael’s shoulder before starts to fuck him in earnest.

In this position, Michael can’t do much more than bury his face in his pillow and take it, but that doesn’t stop him from trying, high, thready moans clawing at his throat as he shoves his hips back to meet Alex’s thrusts as much as he can. Alex groans into Michael’s neck as he spears him open on his cock, the tight, clutching heat of him almost unbearable.

“Michael,” Alex groans against his skin. “So good for me, always so good for me.”

“Only—fuck—only for you,” Michael gasps.

“That’s right, baby,” Alex says, grinding his hips harder against him. “All mine, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me.”

“M’yours,” Michael moans.

“Show me,” Alex orders. “Come for me again.”

Alex changes the angle of his thrusts until Michael shouts and he knows he’s found it. He keeps driving his cock right up on his prostate and, sure enough, moments later Alex feels Michael’s walls clench down on him again as he starts to come.

“That’s my boy, come on, let me hear it,” Alex all but growls in his ear, and Michael practically sobs as his second orgasm of the day rocks through him.

Alex doesn’t let up after he’s finished, just keeps thrusting his cock in and out of him until Michael’s a squirming mess beneath him.

“Alex,” Michael begs, “please come, god, please, I can’t—“

“Where do you want it?” Alex grunts, seconds away from the finish line.

“In me,” he answers, dissolving what’s left of Alex’s self control. “Want it in me.”

Alex groans, arousal sharp in his gut at Michael’s words. He tumbles over the edge moments later, snapping his hips forward one last time before he comes, filling Michael up just like he wanted. Judging by the way Michael whimpers and shudders beneath him, he can feel the warm rush of it inside him.

They lie there, gasping and spent, until Alex has the presence of mind to lift his weight from Michael’s back. Alex pulls out of him as softly as he can, one hand spreading open Michael’s cheeks so he can watch his come leak out of his hole, something possessive deep inside him satisfied by the sight.

“‘Lex,” Michael pants tiredly, his hand reaching back to land on Alex’s thigh. “C’mere.”

“I know,” Alex answers, “just a second.”

He leans over the side of the bed for the towel they cast off the bed earlier and cleans up the mess between Michael’s thighs before he lets himself fall back on the mattress beside him. Michael wriggles over to him and Alex opens his arms, bringing Michael close to rest against his chest. He presses his face into his curls, breathing in the soothing scent of the expensive conditioner Isobel bought him for Christmas. They’re both sticky with sweat, come, and massage oil, and in desperate need of a shower, but for the moment Alex is content to soak up every bit of contact he can get right now.

Alex is on the edge of sleep when the sudden peal of giddy laughter Michael buries into his chest draws his attention.

“What?” Alex asks, smiling down at Michael.

“I need another shower,” he explains, laughing again.

Alex huffs a laugh into Michael’s hair as he drops a kiss to his head. “I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry.”

“Eh, whatever,” Michael says, looking up at him with a sated smile. “Totally fucking worth it.”

“Yeah?” he asks, even though he knows the answer. “I give you what you needed?”

“You always do,” Michael sighs happily. A subtle wince passes over his face as he shifts further up the bed to kiss Alex, soft and sweet. “Fuck,” he whispers against his lips. “I’m gonna be feeling you for fucking days, Alex.”

“Good,” Alex grins, kissing him again as pride swells in his chest.

“What about you?” Michael asks when the kiss ends. “I spoil you enough?”

“More than enough,” Alex laughs. “You were perfect. You are perfect.”

Michael bites his lip as a pleased grin blossoms on his face. Alex runs his fingers through Michael’s curls and smiles fondly when Michael’s eyes drift closed as his nails graze his scalp. Michael nudges further into Alex’s touch and practically purrs like a cat.

“I love you,” Alex sighs, the affection he feels carrying through in his tone.

Michael opens his eyes to look at him, expression soft.

“I love you too,” Michael replies. He settles back against Alex’s chest, pressing a gentle kiss right over his heart. It’s the simplest touch, over before it’s even really begun, but it makes Alex ache with all the love he has for him.

Michael just fits in Alex’s life, like a missing puzzle piece or the other half of a friendship bracelet. He always has, filling in all of Alex’s edges and making him complete, whole in a way he’s never been without him. Having Michael in his arms—feeling the unnatural warmth of him against his skin, hearing the soothing cadence of his breathing—is a balm on Alex’s soul.

Alex knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he belongs to Michael and Michael belongs to him, and there isn’t a single goddamn thing in the universe that will ever, ever change that.

[sgstories123]

The Story of Alex Part 4

Alex left Jessie’s flat. He stood at the side of the road and paused for a moment. Somehow, Jessie’s blowjob had made him even more horny. His cock grew hard again as he remembered how Jessie had swallowed his cum. He thought about going to Geylang to relieve himself but he was worried that as it was already getting late, it may affect his the next day. He just got promoted and he should not screw up his career over a session in Geylang. He sighed. He will just have to jerk off to porn tonight.

Twenty minutes, he reached his HDB flat. His parents would be asleep by now as it was already 1 am. He was thus surprised to see that his neighbour was out along the corridor smoking with a can of beer in her hand. She turned around, not expecting anyone to be up at that hour.

“Hi, Kor. Long time no see. So late?” Min smiled at Alex.

Min was 5 years younger than Alex. When Min was in primary school, her father often came home drunk. He was always shouting at Min and her mother. The police came to his house and arrested him when Min was in Primary 5. After his release from prison, her father rarely came back to the flat. Some neighbours speculated that he was involved in other petty crimes and went back to prison. Others said that he found another woman and was living with her. Whatever the reason, Min’s mother started to work to support the family. Min was often left alone at home without food. Alex’s parents took pity on her and often invited her over for dinner. As Alex and Min spent a lot of time together, Min treated Alex like an older brother.

When Alex completed his ‘A’ levels, he spent less time at home as he lived in camp during his national service and in the hall when he was at university. He saw Min only a couple of times during those years but he learnt from his mother that Min was always mixing with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble.

Min was dressed in a white cut-off cotton top with a low neckline which showed off her cleavage. She was not wearing any bra and Alex could make out the shape of two perfect globe of breasts and perky nipples straining against the thin material, two dark patches in the sea of white. The top was cut-off high, revealing fair, smooth skin on a tight tight stomach. There was a tattoo starting from her belly-button and extending right into her shorts, towards her pelvic area. It looked like a snake or dragon; it was long and twirling with some words that were too difficult to make out. Her denim shorts were in the same cut-off style as well. It was frayed at the bottom, revealing the curves of her ass and plenty of skin on her legs. There was a small tattoo of a rose or some flower on one of her ankles as well. Alex wondered whether there were more tattoos on her.

Min brought the beer can to her red lips and drank from it. A little dripped from the sides of her mouth. Her tongue slipped out from the side of her mouth, licking up the beer. Looking up towards the night sky, Min drew on her cigarette, slowly exhaling. Alex found that exceedingly erotic and could not look away from her.

“So why so late?” Min forced him to turn his attention to her again.

“Work.” He gave an excuse. Min had cut her hair short and highlighted several streaks of her hair in metallic blue. She had an ear stud on one of her ears, glimmering in the same metallic blue. Min was looking like a typical‘Ah Lian’ which usually did not appeal to him. But somehow, he found this attractive on Min.

“And I went to see my girlfriend.” Alex was not sure why he felt that he had to confess to Min.

“See girlfriend and you come back home.” Min laughed. “So she must have refused to fuck you.”

Alex was shocked at the language. But he reasoned that Min is now no longer a Primary 5 kid. She didn’t look as if she was a virgin either. From what he heard, she had multiple boyfriends and even an abortion. Obviously, these were all neighbourly gossips and he was not sure how much truth there was to them.

“She gave me a very good blowjob. I was tired and need to work tomorrow. So I came back home.” Alex felt that he needed to put in a defence for Jessie. Or was it for himself? He was not thinking straight any more. He did not even know why or what he was saying. Was he getting tired? Or was he distracted from thinking about Min in an increasingly sexual manner? He found his eyes wandering all over Min and imagining Min and her supposed many boyfriends fucking and impregnating her. Alex tried shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

Min looked at him bemused.

“You don’t look happy. You want to tell me about it?” Min offered.

“It is okay. Just tired, I guess. I will be okay once I get some sleep.” Alex muttered.

“Don’t be stranger. Come on in. There’s another can of cold beer in the fridge. Always a good time for beer.” Min flicked the cigarette out of the balcony and went into the flat. Alex followed her.

It was a long time since Alex went into Min’s house. It looked much neater now. It was still sparse. There was no television set and the sofa was still the same. But there were no more empty bottles or rubbish all over the floor.

Min brought over a can of Tiger and opened it for him. Alex took a sip and he felt much better.

“Thanks. I did not realise how good this is.” He sighed and felt more relaxed than he had felt in many hours. He loosened his tie and took another sip.

“So, I heard you just started on a new job. Was it that bad? Stressed?” Min asked.

Alex could sense genuine concern from her. There was a sense of nostalgia as he remembered the things they shared with each other when they were younger. He felt very comfortable in her presence. A sense of guilt crept over him when he recalled that just minutes ago, he was thinking of her in a very sexual manner. Min is like a sister to him. It was a beastly thing to do.

“I am actually doing quite well. I got a promotion today. But, I have no one to share the good news with. My girlfriend is too busy with her work.” Alex sighed again, this time with some self-pity.

“Ah! So you were hoping for.a reward from your girlfriend for your hard work!” Min laughed again. She drew another mouthful from her can of beer. “And you got only a consolation prize. That’s why you looked so sad.”

“Hey. No need to state the obvious and push a man when he is down, okay?” Alex smiled at Min. This is like the old times again. “You know, I miss talking to you. I feel so relaxed with you.”

“Then let’s talk about happy things. So you are doing well in your job? What is it about? Are you getting paid well?” Min asked.

They talked for a while, occasionally taking sips from their beer.

“It is late. I think I better go.” Alex looked at his watch.

“Kor. Do you want to stay here for the night?” Min looked at Alex. “I can give you the reward that you did not get from your girlfriend.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex thought he knew what Min was saying. But with the alcohol and his tired state, he was no longer sure. His cock seemed sure though as it got hard immediately.

“You are upset from not getting any sex from your girlfriend tonight. I want you to be happy, Kor. I don’t mind letting you fuck me if you can be happy.”

“No. I can’t do that. That is wrong, Min.”

“You remember when we were young? You sometimes slip me some money to buy food to make sure that I don’t go hungry? I remember that. I want to repay you now that I am not a kid any more. There are some things that I can now do for you. I can take care of this for you.” Min leaned over and stroked Alex’s erect cock over his trousers. Alex shuddered and almost came from the touch.

“You like that, right? I can make you happy. Trust me.” Min smiled.

“No. You are like my sister. How can I fuck you? That is crazy.” Alex whispered, unconvincingly, all the while enjoying Min slowly stroking on his erect cock.

“I am not really your sister. Fuck. I am your neighbour. This is not incest.”

The word “incest” turned Alex on. He has seen porn with brothers fucking sisters but as he was the only child, he was never able to understand how that can be arousing. But now picturing himself fucking Min who was almost like a sister to him, he started to see how it can be exciting. His cock twinged in anticipation.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” Alex muttered. Min continued stroking him. “Then let me help you. Just close your eyes and enjoy, ok?” Min purred in his ears.

Min unbuckled his belt and unzip his trousers quickly. This was definitely not her first time, Alex thought. That made him slightly less guilty. At least he is not fucking a virgin. With Alex still sitting on the sofa, Min knelt down in front of him. She pulled down his underwear and started stroking his cock with one hand while playing with his balls in the other.

“I didn’t know you have such a big one, Kor. You must make your girlfriend very happy. I think you are going to make me happy too.” Min whispered seductively.

She drooled some saliva down on to the tip of his cock like some porn star. Using her tongue, she swirled the saliva around the head of his cock, before slowly enveloping around the shaft. She applied pressure on his cock, alternating between squeezing his shaft with her fingers and her tongue. Sucking on it periodically, Alex could feel his cock being squeezed pleasurably. This is even better than Jessie’s blowjob.

He held onto Min’s head, slowly guiding her to pleasure him even further. He pushed his cock deeper into Min’s mouth, enjoying the warmth around his manhood. He looked down and saw glimpses of Min’s cleavage as she bobbed her head up and down on his cock. It was a beautiful sight.

He gently stopped Min from sucking his cock and pulled her top off. He squeezed her C cup breasts, feeling the firmness and smooth skin of youth. As he expected, they were perfect globes. He pulled Min closer, engulfing his cock between her breasts. Min knew what Alex wanted. She pushed her breasts together, creating pressure on Alex’s cock. As she pushed his cock along her cleavage, she licked the tip of his cock everything it pops up between her breasts, causing small waves of pleasure for Alex.

Alex moaned in pleasure. He seldom had the pleasure of titty fuck as many of the girls that he had fucked did not have large breasts. He stroked Min’s head, running his hand through her metallic blue hair. His hand reached for her ears, caressing them lovingly and playing with Min’s blue ear stud. Min replaced her breasts with her hands and started stroking faster, and with greater pressure. Alex groaned at the sudden increase in intensity.

“I am cumming.” He ejaculated all over Min’s breasts with some hitting her face.

Min smiled at Alex. She licked the cum off Alex’s cock, her face and her breast. It was such a sexy and erotic sight.

“Are you eating my cum?” Alex was amazed. Jessie never liked eating cum.

“Why not? It tastes good and it is full of protein.” Min responded. Min sat up and give Alex a deep kiss. Her tongue found her way into his mouth and slid over his tongue. Their tongues continue roaming and exploring each other’s mouth. After a while, Min pulled away. “Let’s continue in my room.”

Min led Alex to her room. She removed the rest of his clothes and laid him down on her bed. Alex watched as Min did a strip tease, slowly pulling off her shorts. Alex was shocked as he realised two things. First of all, Min was not wearing any panties. Secondly, Min had shaved her pussy. His cock became hard again.

“Ready again, I see.” Min purred in his ears. She climbed onto the bed, offering her shaved pussy to Alex while she stroked his cock. Alex examined the shaved pussy closely, stroking the smooth skin and slowly parting the folds with his fingers. He squeezed the perfect ass, admiring the smooth skin on the perfect mounds of flesh. This is one sexy butt. Min started sucking on his cock again and Alex thought that he too should start returning the favour and make Min feel good. As he licked Min’s cunt, his hands squeezed her breasts and played with her nipples. Alex knew that Min was getting aroused. She was moaning and her nipples were getting hard. She was also getting wet.

Min turned to face Alex. “Tell me how you will like to fuck me?”

“Get on top of me.” Alex commanded. Without a word, Min turned to face Alex and with one hand prying open her cunt and the other guiding Alex’s cock, she sat down slowly on Alex cock. Alex could see his cock entering Min, feeling the tightness and warmth of her pussy, slowing engulfing him. Now that Min is naked, Alex could see that the tattoo was really a snake climbing up a thin tree from the top of her vagina to the belly button. The words written on the tree from the belly button to her vagina read “When you can read this, I am yours…” Alex smiled. Yes, Min was such a tease.

Min saw Alex smiled. “You are smiling now? Happy finally?”

“Yes. Because I can read the words and you are now mine.”

Min smiled and started grinding her hips on Alex. He could feel his cock growing larger and harder in Min. Min was now fucking him, moving herself on his cock. She was moaning, seemingly enjoying herself. Alex sat up, hugged her and sucked on her nipples. She hugged him back, all the while trying to push Alex’s cock even deeper into her.

Alex laid Min down and pulled her leg up onto his shoulders. He wanted to take control now. He shoved his cock further up Min’s cunt, drawing gasps of pleasure from her. He pumped her, increasing his speed as Min became wetter. Min was moaning louder, obviously enjoying Alex’s large cock in her. He kissed her again, as he felt the pressure growing in his balls.

“Call me Kor. I want to fuck her as if you are my little sister.” Alex whispered in Min’s ear.

“Kor. You are fucking your little sister. Kor. Your cock is in my cunt.” Min cried in Alex’s ear. Alex could not hold back any more. He had flashbacks of Min in her school uniform and eating dinner together. He also recalled some of the incest porn that he has watched where brothers were fucking sisters. He increased his pace and with a final deep push and a loud groan, he shot his load into Min. He held his cock in Min, enjoying the sensation as waves of sperm filled her cunt. He slowly pulled his cock out, watching with satisfaction as his sperm flowed out, creating a perfect cream pie.

Min sat up and licked Alex’s cock clean. He put his hand on her head, stroking her and enjoying the attention that she is paying to his cock.

“Min, that was awesome. Can we do this again?” Alex asked.

“Sure, Kor.” Min replied. “You know, you have always taken care of me. I can take care of you now. We can be fuck buddies. Anytime you want me to take care of you, just come over.”

“But Min, let me also continue to take care of you. I don’t mean it as an insult. But let me give you some money from time to time. I am doing well at work so let me do that. You will accept my money right?”

“Alright. If it makes you feel better, I can take the money. I never say no to money.”

[temilyrights]

The Bold Type Kadena Jack Sloane

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my: The Bold Type

Favourite character: Sutton Brady

Least Favourite character: Ryan

5 Favourite ships (canon or non-canon): Sutton/Hunter, Kadena, Jacqueline/Jane (guilty pleasure). Can I add none romantic? Cause then Kat/Sutton/Jane and also Sutton/Oliver.

Character I find most attractive: Jacqueline

Character I would marry: Jacqueline

Character I would be best friends with: Sutton and Kat

a random thought: totally underrated show!! deserve’s so much more love<3 Also Andrew and Sage deserve more screen time!

An unpopular opinion: Idk if it’s unpopular but Ryan needs to GO. FOREVER. 

My Canon OTP: Sutton/Hunter

My Non-canon OTP: Jacqueline/Jane

Most Badass Character: All of them??

Most Epic Villain: I don’t think there is one tbh

Pairing I am not a fan of: Ryan/Jane

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Hmm... I don’t know. I don’t think they have (yet).

Favourite Friendship: Kat/Sutton/Jane

Character I most identify with: Jane?

Character I wish I could be: Sutton or Kat

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you: Kadena

When I started shipping them: The cute scene when they were packing sex toys together.

My thoughts: Cute as hell and I enjoy their friendship outside the romance.  

What makes me happy about them: They way they love each other and how they both fight to make the world a better place. Also, the airport scene and their first kiss scene cause it was beautiful.

What makes me sad about them: The tension between them in season 4. Also not a fan of the back and forth between dating and not. 

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I’ve never read a Kadena fic.

Things I look for in fanfic: ...

My wishlist: I love them but I also enjoy their friendship and I hope they continue working together as friends. I’m not necessarily hoping they get back together romantically. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: There’s no one else in the picture for either of them but I’d be fine with them getting with other people.

My happily ever after for them: Them continuing to fight the world together <3 

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you: Jack Sloane

How I feel about this character: She deserves the whole world. She’s a literal ray of sunshine despite all the trauma she’s faced in her life. Total badass angel and I love her. 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: None. I appreciate Slibbs but I don’t really ship it. I feel I could definitely ship her with Hollis if she were to return. Ok and also low-key (don’t hate me for this) but some of her’s and Abby’s scenes...Just sayin’ there was an energy. 

My favourite non-romantic relationship for this character: Her and Gibbs. I like their friendship I just don’t ship them. Same with her and Vance. Also would love more scenes with her and Ellie cause I enjoy them together.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Okay call out on the NCIS fandom but y’all know she’s her own person and not only around to be Gibbs’ romantic interest, right? Cause a lot of the time it feels you only care for her because of Gibbs. Also, I wish they’d have her interact with more characters outside of Gibbs and Vance more. 

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: I hope we get some Faith/Jack/Baby scenes because my heart requires them. I want more Jack going into the field!! And more Jack & guns! I’d love to see a sneak into her life outside the office (Also I’d love to make her canonically into women but y’know...that’s never gonna happen:/)

Favorite friendship for this character: EH. Jack and Vance? 

My crossover ship: Hmm...Jack Sloane and Helen Sharpe from new Amsterdam. POWER COUPLE. Would be cute as hell. Or with Alex Blake from Criminal Minds. Or Teddy Altman from Grey’s Anatomy. :)

[mitchcantfigureitout]

Things have to fall apart before they can fall into place.

Look, I complain a lot...I feel intensely and I think so much. As if this fucking pandemic wasn’t enough, my dad has a tumor in his brain. 4.5x5x5 cm. This year my dad lost his two jobs, fell into a depression, sold his truck and developed a tumor. Could 2020 get any better? I can’t see him in person thanks to fucking Covid 19. I can’t visit him. I can only facetime him and call him. This is absolutely the worst.

 In the middle of my finals, I cannot concentrate. I can’t help while he is at the hospital. I feel so helpless. I feel useless. I don’t know anything about tumors, let alone cancer. I just want him to be healthy and back at home with me and my mom. I can’t imagine a world where either my parents don’t exist. It doesn’t make sense to me. I’m so agitated. I don’t have any appetite, I don’t have a lot of motivation. Before this, I literately wanted to just no exist for a while and now ...

My mom is in critical conditions also. She can’t see clearly. All I want is to make my parents happy. They mean the world to me. She’s diabetic, high cholesterol and high blood pressure and he’s only ever gotten colds and now a tumor? a fucking tumor. that has been growing for who knows how long and for what reason? he works nonstop and doesn’t take any days off. He’s nice to other people and considerate. Has the biggest smile and heart and gets on my nerves sometimes but nonetheless he’s been present in all of my life. 

Mom, too, has dragged us all out of the dirt. Been our rock while she’s crumbling herself. I feel so helpless. I wish I could cure their diseases. They don’t deserve it. They deserve better. I’ve been selfish in life but they always bring me around. Mom especially, she’s always been realistic and dad has always been hopeful and now he’s scared and mom is anxious and I’m depressed. 

I’ve contacted the people that make me feel the most safe -

Sophia, Philip, Rosie, Jannet (Daniel’s mom), Alex and Michael, and I wish I could tell Daniel but he’s away at basic and about to graduate and I miss the fuck out of all these people and can’t see them or MY DAD because of this fucking pandemic. We don’t even have covid and it is still affecting us. I just don’t get it.

We told some family members  - my Madrinas Chayo and Marissa, my tio Guillo and Carmen, Esperanza and Lourdes.  Family we can trust.

I keep telling myself that tomorrow will be another day, and that’s been helpful but now more than ever, I need to be strong and balanced and to be in control of my emotions. I want to get so angry and let the frustration out but I don’t even know where to begin. My deep concern and anxiety don’t let me sleep. 

We had an earthquake last night - 3.3 magnitude another one of like 2ish something aftershock around 2;40ish pm today (Saturday May 3rd). Too many things occuring at the same time and it is frankly so hard to keep track. 

I called After Hours Caps today and the lady who talked to me told me to journal and to take it one portion/moment at a time. Which is sooo hard for me. I’ve always been so bad with changes and this change is such a big one. I’ve never imagined my dad sick and this is such a hard challenge on me and my mom. 

Looking back at my dad, his head has been hurting for i don’t remember how long. He would take pills and it would kind of go away but it never left. His car accident was April 16, 2019, one year ago and his case just closed and he lost his other car and idk things just keep happening and yeah, I get it - everything happens for a reason but why??? I need answers. I-I- hate all of this. I hate that my mom is sick and has to continue to work so she can have her medical bills paid for. I hate that my dad lost his truck and hasn’t been able to buy a new car when he deserves it. I hate that I haven’t been able to help them. I hate that they argue about little things and that it makes me anxious and that I even have anxiety in the first place. I hate that I don’t have a regular therapist I can talk to. I hate having burdens or being a burden to others. 

I just want to walk up from this horrible nightmare that my mom and I are living. I understand not everything in life is picture perfect but I can’t remember the last time I felt happiness for a long time. I can’t find that emotion in me. I don’t know if it’s this stupid bar inside my arm that keeps my hormones all stupid or if its the depression that I experience or what. I’m supposed to have a plan for what I want to do when I can’t even get through finals in this week? 

Everything happens for a reason? well, what the absolute fuck. I just want to wake up from this nightmare that I am living. To happier days. To better days where none of this is occuring. I miss being happy and looking at my parents also having a good time. I don’t want those memories to end. This is so fucking hard. I can’t even hug my friends and have them tell me everything is going to be alright. How can people go through this? Like this experience sucks ass. I don’t take any pleasure from any of this. It’s hard to look on the bright side when it keeps gets fogged by our reality. I am not okay. My mom is not okay. My dad is definitely not okay. And yet, everything is going to be okay? What. the. fuck?! 

I feel guilty, anxious, mad, sad, helpless, and even stupid. Like I should know better or something like that? Like this is all my fault somehow? I know its not but its easy to take the blame. I just want to point fingers to feel something. What. the absolute fuck. 

[firstade-universe]

Pure

Part 2 of Simplicity at it’s Finest

Six Months Later

Lena stirs in the wee hours of the morning, faintly aware that Kara has finally slipped into bed. She instinctually turns over and burrows into her girlfriend, tucking her head under Supergirl’s chin. Kara sighs contentedly and holds Lena close, pressing her lips against the crown of Lena’s head then nuzzling down until her nose is buried in black hair. She wants to sleep, she is exhausted, but she can’t. She watches the sun rise while the CEO clings to her in her peaceful slumber. She chances a glance at the bedside clock behind a stirring Lena. 7:45am, she sighs until a soft kiss is pressed to her neck and she smiles lightly. Then comes another and another, until Lena is nipping at her jaw, then pressing their lips together.

“Morning love.”

Kara looks down at her with a smile and runs her fingers through the dark tresses before bringing their lips together again. “Morning.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing really. Just a rough night. I don’t want to bum you out first thing in the morning, so we can talk about it later.”

Lena’s small frown slowly morphs into a smirk then she sits up on her knees and toys with the bottom hem of her shirt, biting her lip. “Want me to take your mind off it, Supergirl ?”

Kara gulps hard and nods twice. This is what her very sexy girlfriend reduces her to. A puddle of gay who cannot form words other than ‘yes,’ ‘please,’ and the ever popular ‘Lena.’ The CEO wastes no time straddling the reporter and slowly taking her own shirt over her head, making sure to watch her girlfriend's reaction to the scene in front of her.

Two hours later, a slightly rejuvenated Kara is placing soft lips to the spine in between the shoulder blades of the woman in front of her. She hears Lena’s breathing change and smiles into her skin. Lena doesn’t move to roll over or change position at all really. “Ready to talk about it now?”

Kara moves forward, pressing her front to the CEO’s back. She drops her arm over Lena’s waist and moves her lips to bare shoulder. “The arsonist that has been terrorizing the east side struck again last night, twice. I couldn’t be in two places at once and... a woman died.”

“Love, you can’t save everyone.” Lena threads their fingers together over her bare stomach.

Kara sighs and kisses her shoulder again. “I know. It still bothers me.”

“I know it does and I love how much you care for the people of this city.” Lena rolls over then and presses her lips to Kara’s. “Come on, let’s shower then we’re ordering chinese and watching movies all day. Turn every other electronic off.”

Halfway through the first film, The Goonies (Lena’s guilty pleasure movie), Kara is asleep with her head in the brunette’s lap. The CEO runs her fingers continually through blonde hair, only stopping to pull the throw blanket from the back of the couch over her girlfriend. She hears the elevator ding and frowns down at Kara’s sleeping face, gently lifting the Super’s head and placing it back down on a pillow as the inevitable knock on the door reverberates through the apartment. Lena moves swiftly and quietly opens the door to find an upset looking Alex. She steps out and closes the door, hoping to salvage the nap for Kara. “Hey.”

“Hey Lena. Is my sister here, I already tried her place and her phone?”

She looks at the door then back at Alex before responding. “She’s asleep on the couch. Do you need her or Supergirl?”

Alex looks to the door then to Lena and nods. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I know how hard it is for her when she can’t save everyone. Clearly she is in the most capable hands already.” Alex half smirks, concern for her sister still evident along with the gratitude she holds toward Lena.

“She’ll be alright. I’ll have her call you after nap?” Lena offers.

“That’d be great. We could all go to dinner tomorrow. You two, Maggie and I?”

“I’ll check with her and her schedule, but I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to.”

Kara is sitting up, cross-legged, on the couch when Lena re-enters the apartment.

“I’m glad you and Alex get along now.”

Lena hums and takes up her previous position on the couch. “Me too. If I hadn’t won her over in the six months we’ve been dating plus the two years we've been friends then I don’t know if I ever could.”

Kara chuckles lightly then looks at her girlfriends positioning. She gets up and lifts Lena’s legs so they are on the couch, then kneels at end by her ankles and gently pushes them apart to make room for herself. The CEO cocks her head to the side, but doesn’t question what Kara is doing out loud. Then Kara settles in, chin on Lena’s sternum and arms wrapped around her waist and Lena finally gets it. Kara is often the one who holds her, who uses the closeness to show Lena she is still there because Lena Luthor has abandonment issues. Something obviously stemming from her childhood and upbringing. So once in awhile, when Kara needs to be held, but she is too proud to ask for it, she gently forces the issue.

“I love you.” Lena whispers as her Super nuzzles into the inside of her left breast.

“Love you too.” Kara reaches for the remote and clicks play, resuming the movie from where they left off.

The next week

Kara’s breath hitches in her throat when she catches a glimpse of Lena in her gown for the first time tonight. She’s in an emerald green scoop neck A-line dress and it takes several seconds before Kara can hear anything over the sound of her own heartbeat pounding through her ears.

“The suit looks amazing, Love.” Lena compliments as she puts on her earring. “What?”

“You… you look... you are…” Kara sputters.

Lena approaches quickly and cups her floundering girlfriend's jaw with one hand while she slowly runs her finger up the suspenders under Kara’s suit jacket. “Sorry, what was that?”

“You look stunning. You're so beautiful, babe.” Kara breathes deep then leans forward to capture the perfect lips of her lover. “I don't tell you that enough, do I?”

“You literally tell me all the time.” Lena laughs heartily. “You're a wonderful girlfriend and you never give yourself enough credit. I do love this suit on you.”

“It is easier to hide the super suit with this than the dress, you were right.”

“I was right about how hot you would look too.” Kara blushes at the compliment and Lena kisses her cheek. “Come on, let's get downstairs. We need to make the children some money.”

The elevator to the lobby of the expensive hotel that this fundraiser is being held in reaches it’s destination and the couple walks out with their arms linked.

“Miss Luthor. Thank you for joining us.” An over eager assistant to someone with actual influence and control of the evening’s events greets them. “I’ve been told you would like to say a few words, if you follow me, we can get that over with right now.”

“Yes, thank you.” Lena answers and they follow the young man over to the side of the stage and up to the podium. In the last six months, Kara has become intimately aware of how much power and influence Lena wields with her words. She is also acutely aware that the press absolutely loves how much reverence she looks at her girlfriend with while she’s giving a speech. One online tabloid called her “Kara ‘heart-eyed puppy’ Danvers.” To which Kara responded was an awful nickname and far too many syllables. The content doesn’t really bother her because it is true. She loves Lena Luthor and she gives zero shits about the fact that she gives her heart-eyes.

Lena leans into the microphone and clears her throat lightly to check the volume. “Hello everyone. Thank you all for joining those of us from LCorp tonight in honor of the National City Children’s Home. As some of you know, this charity holds a special place near and dear to my heart. It provides a safe and loving environment for children who have had the misfortune of losing their families. Having a family is something an orphan dreams of, trust me. The people who work at the NCCH are a family all of their own and it shines through to the very special children in their care. So let’s all raise a glass and then open our checkbooks to advance along the future of this great city.” The crowd applauds respectfully and everyone tips their glasses. She and Kara make their way down to the sponsor table and take their seats. Cameras, as they usually are at these events, are endlessly snapping. They catch the couple in a variety of poses, Kara with her head tossed back in laughter. Snap. Lena smiling from ear to ear as she brings champagne to her lips. Snap. Kara with her nose tucked into the hair just above Lena’s ear while she whispers something obviously hilarious. Snap. It took a few events for Kara to get used to this, but now it’s normal. As awful as that sounds.

The night goes off without a hitch, something that Lena is grateful for. As they ride home in the town car, fingers tangled together, Kara’s face morphs into a look of confusion and uncertainty.

“What is it, Love?”

The blonde shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the feeling. “I, uh. I don’t know. Something just doesn’t seem… right? I guess.”

Lena raises an eyebrow then leans forward to peck Kara’s cheek. “I’m sure everything is fine.” They arrive back at Kara’s a few moments later and unhurriedly make their way up to the apartment. When they round the corner in the hallway, they spot a figure sitting in front of her door. Supergirl mode is activated and Kara steps in front of Lena, shielding her from any possible harm. As they get closer, she recognizes the figure. She doesn’t believe her eyes, but she definitely recognizes the person.

“Mon-El?”

The man looks up at her and quickly scrambles to his feet. “Kara!”

“What… How… Why…?”

“Oh, Kara. I missed you so much.” He moves to hug her and she puts her hand out to stop him.

“I’ll give you two a moment.” Lena offers as she steps toward the door with her copy of the apartment key in hand. “Popcorn?”

“Yeah. I’ll be right in. Thank you.” Kara watches her slip inside in all of her graceful elegance. Her gaze lingers for a moment and she turns back to Mon-El.

“You love her.” He says simply. No hate or bitterness. No disdain or betrayal. It’s just a revelation, one he probably thought he would have to make after being gone for more than two years with the assumption he could never come back. “You’re in love with her.”

“I do and I am. Mon-El, look, I really want to hear about the last two years for you, but I am going to need to do that tomorrow at the DEO. I have plans with my girlfriend tonight.”

He nods. “Of course.”

“I am glad you are back.”

“Me too. See you tomorrow, Kara Zor-El.” Mike walks away and Kara slips inside her apartment, pulling at the tie on her suit as she closes the door. Lena is standing in the kitchen with her hand on the microwave like the trained microwave bomb technician that she is.

Kara frowns at the shirt and sweats Lena is wearing. “You already changed.”

“I did. Was I not supposed to?”

“I wanted to help you out of your dress.” The Super waggles her eyebrows and the CEO laughs.

“I’m sure the opportunity will arise again in the near future. Or, better yet, you could be content with helping me out of these clothes.”

The next day at the DEO is decidedly awkward for everyone. James avoids the whole thing by calling a Catco departmental meeting and conference call with Cat Grant. Winn refuses to leave his computer siting a project from Alex. Alex takes a call from Maggie who “needs her help on a case.” She asks J’onn to come along too. So that leaves Kara and Mon-El with no buffers. They are sitting in the training room for almost an hour before he speaks.

“So how long have you two…?” He trails off.

“Six months.”

He hums. Possibly he thinks that isn’t a long time. Maybe he thinks that just long enough to be completely serious. “How did you, ya know, come to the conclusion you two should date?”

“She almost died.” Kara shakes her head. “I watched her almost die. I realized while she was in recovery, that I had loved you. I had, part of me always will. But I was ‘in love’ with her. There is a difference. A real, almost tangible difference.”

“Really?” Mike frowns as he looks at his feet. “What’s it like?”

“It’s… it’s amazing.” Kara stands and shrugs, letting her arms fall to her sides. “She’s my best friend and I tell her everything. I mean everything. There is no fear that she is going to judge me or I’m going to say something embarrassing. I genuinely want to spend every moment I can with her. I have even taken a step back with the whole Supergirl role. I help with the major stuff, the alien stuff, but I leave the small crime to the police. Maggie helped me see that was okay, that it’s their jobs.” She turns to face the door, sighing once again.

“That’s good. You deserve the break.”

“But it’s not even about me.” She whips around to face him again. “I made that choice so Lena and I could spend more time together and there hasn’t been a single moment that I regret it.”

“Sounds a little one sided, what has she sacrificed for you?”

The hero narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “She has pulled out of several charity boards and rarely spends time in R&D which is the one aspect of her jobs that she actually truly enjoys.”

“You two sound like a match made in heaven.” He grits, obviously not as okay with the events that took place in his absence as Kara had hoped he would be.

“Bitterness doesn’t suit you.” She scoffs. “What did you expect? That you would come back and I would be crying in a tub of haagen daaz, staring at a photo of you, rambling about how I could never move on from my boyfriend of a couple of months? How my world was just over and I was doomed to be loveless for eternity?”

“Well… No…” He sputters. “But I thought maybe we could get back together or something. I didn’t expect you to be committed.”

“Well I am, and nothing is going to change that.” She turns on her heels and marches out of the training room. Alex and J’onn happen to be approaching the command center at the same time she is. “I’m headed to work, he’s one hundred percent your problem, and no. I won’t need his help should an emergency arise. Maybe ask James if Guardian needs a sidekick or something.”

“Did you find out how he came back?” Alex asks as her sister brushes past the group.

“I didn’t and you know what? I don’t actually care. Feel free to go… nerd.” She waves her hand back toward where she left Mike, but she never stops her feet from moving toward the door.

“Can you believe that? He actually had the nerve to ask me if I was the only one sacrificing things for our relationship.” She complains through bites of pot sticker as she sits on the desk in the R&D department at LCorp.

Lena hums commensurately and fiddles with her microscope. She leans over and Kara feeds her a bite from her chopsticks. She chews the mouthful and goes back to the microscope for a moment more before looking back to her girlfriend. “Some people don’t know how a good relationship with healthy communication works.”

“True. So what are you working on over there my little genius?”

The CEO smiles and pecks her girlfriend on the lips. “Wireless renewable energy.”

“Um… Please do not explain that because the weird things I am coming up with in my head are so incredibly cool.”

Two Weeks Later

“A wedding for who?”

“One of the department heads, Stephen Root. He’s a really nice guy and he actually came to my office and explained to me why he was inviting me.” Lena shrugged. “It’s not because he felt obligated or something, but because I said something one time that inspired him to volunteer more, which his where he met her. So basically he sees me as the reason they are together.”

“Well isn’t that just the sweetest.” Kara leans back against the couch and kicks her feet up on the coffee table. There is a long, comfortable silence as Lena flips through the channels looking for something to watch as they cuddle. A typical Thursday night for the two of them. “So… Alex and Maggie are thinking about adopting.”

Lena looks over at her with a grin. “I know. Maggie and I had lunch today. I was told to wait until Alex told you to say anything.”

“Really?” Lena nods and smiles. “I am excited for them.”

“Me too.”

“Would you… Maybe… Not now obviously, but in the future, possibly…”

“Want to do that too?” Lena finishes the question for her stuttering and unsure girlfriend.

Kara breathes out a sigh of relief. “Yeah. That.”

“Three or four years ago, my answer would be a hard no. You know how it was for me growing up like I did. I would never wish that on another child.” She leans over and settles into the Super’s strong embrace. “Now though, I’m not so against it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Especially if I imagine raising a kid with you. Growing up a Danvers was pretty good right? So a kid would have at least a 50/50 shot between the two of us.”

Kara kisses the top of Lena’s head and takes a moment to form her thoughts. “You are amazing, Lena Luthor. The things you have gone through in your life are what have helped mold you into such a strong and capable leader. How the Luthor’s raised you, how they treated you, that only shows how incredible you are to have turned out the way you did. Any child in your future, with me or even someone else, is going to be lucky to have you as their mom.” There is a long moment when neither of them speak and it becomes evident as to why when Lena sniffles slightly.

“I really do love you, you know.”

Kara smiles and kisses the top of her head again. “Yeah, I love you too.”

Three Weeks Later

“Jess, can you come in here please?” Lena speaks into the receiver on her desk then looks at her door. She knows Jess does not answer her call verbally, she just gets up and comes in. It takes eight seconds, Kara timed it once or twice. The door swings open and Jess appears, quickly making her way to the CEO’s desk.

“Yes, Miss Luthor.”

“Were you able to clear my schedule for this evening, like I asked?” Lena raises an eyebrow and sits back a bit in her chair.

“I was. Although, the Toyko call is now Friday at five am Monday morning.” The assistant wrinkles her own nose in disgust. “Sorry.”

Lena rolls her eyes but nods along anyway. “Mr. Nakamoto is going to be the death of me.”

“Yes, probably, but the company will prosper evermore.” Jess chuckles. “Okay. Now go. Get your girl. See you tomorrow at Stephen’s wedding?”

“You will. Leave soon, please Jess.” Lena gathers her belongings and makes for the door of the phone in hand, typing away a message.

“Kara, look. It’s your birthday, and we are going to have fun, damn it!” Alex orders around of drinks from the alien bar for the table then turns back quickly. “It’s time you loosen up.”

“I am plenty loose. Thank you very much.” Winn mutters a classic ‘that’s what she said’ under his breath and receives slap to the back of the head from Maggie. James chuckles at that as Kara blushes. “You know what I mean. I have fun.”

“Yes, you have fun. I am not saying you don’t have fun, I’m just saying the past few weeks have been extremely tense at the DEO and we all deserve to have a little fun together.”

“It’s also 2pm and I was unaware day drinking was something all of us adults decided was acceptable.”

“Say what you really mean, little Danvers.” Maggie chides. “You don’t want to have fun without Lena.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m here then, isn’t it.” Lena abruptly makes her presence known, dropping her purse in the seat next to Kara and leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Happy birthday, Love.”

“Lena! What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

Lena smirks then kisses her lips this time. “Eh. You might be worth cancelling some meetings over.”

The group carries on drinking alien liquor through the night (tame, human things for the Earthlings.) By the time Lena is steering Kara to the penthouse loft she owns, its nearly three in the morning and they are both pretty intoxicated. The CEO fairing better of the two.

“Babe.” Kara lackadaisically calls from the side of the elevator that she’s leaning on. “I want to see you naked. Can I see you naked?”

“Kara, Love, of course you can. We just need to get inside the apartment first.”

“Ugh. Fine.” She pouts.

“What was that?”

Kara waves her hands around gesturing to everything and nothing at the same time. “I just think it’s absurd that I have to wait until I am indoors to see my girlfriend naked. Everyone WANTS to see you naked Lena. You’re fucking hot. No one out there would be like ‘oh no! Supergirl! Save us. Lena Luthor is streaking!’ It wouldn’t happen. In fact, you’d probably get a medal for creating world peace or something.” Lena is laughing, out right laughing at Kara’s speech, and during it has managed to steer her inside the penthouse.

“I’m glad you think so highly of my body.”

“AND you’re big beautiful sexy brain too. Complete package, you are.”

“Okay, no more Roltikkon rum for you.”

The Next Day

Stephen and Jemma’s wedding is a mid budget affair. They spared no expense on things like food and alcohol, but it is a small affair. There are approximately one hundred guests and everyone is very laid back. The men are in button downs and slacks and the women are in light summer dresses. Both Lena and Kara were very glad the CEO texted the groom and asked for a clarification on attire.

“Champagne or cider ma’am?” A waiter with a bright, easy smile offers a bottle leaned against his forearm.

“Two champagnes please.” Kara points to both hers and Lena’s glasses on the table. Her girlfriend was stopped a moment before by another LCorp employee, presumably to talk about work.

“Of course.” The waiter nods, fills the glasses, then moves on. The DJ announces food to be served and everyone takes their places at the assigned tables. Lena joins Kara and they eat and chat with their tablemates, Stephen’s grandparents it turns out. They are fun and endearing and offer great relationship advice. Lena is in love and Kara loves watching her fall. A short time later, toasts are being made. They are mediocre at best and Kara is disappointed, they are her favorite part. Next is the first dance and the couple dances to an instrumental of “When a Man Loves a Woman.” The couple shares a grimace. But the Mother/Son and Father/Daughter dances are cute and sweet and it almost completely compensates. The couples are all invited to the floor next and 'Love Me Tender' plays softly for them to sway to.

Lena lazily  drapes her arms over Kara’s shoulders and grasps her own wrist. “Ah, a saving grace. I like swaying with you.”

The blonde hums and pulls her a bit closer. “What would you choose for a first dance song? I mean, theirs was atrocious, but there are good non-cliched ones.”

“Hmm… I’m not sure. What would you choose?”

Kara smirks and leans close. She presses a kiss into Lena’s neck and whispers as the music stops briefly for the DJ to ask everyone else to join them on the floor. “Come fly with me.”

“Perfect.” Lena chuckles.

[fireladybuckley]

SanversWeek - Day 2 - Nerd Girlfriends

Summary:  Alex has a nerdy secret that Maggie finds out about and it leads to an entertaining evening.   Tags: @outside-the-government @littlecarowrites @secretgaygentdanvers @queercapwriting @auduna-druitt @whatif-animagineblog Author’s note: This one was incredibly fun for me to write, as I’m a huge World of Warcraft nerd myself.  Thanks to @outside-the-government both for betaing, and intentionally killing her WoW toon while I was writing so I could add what was on the death pop-up to the story, kek.  If you would like to be added to my tag list, please send me an ask or a message! <3  (I haven’t added all of the people on my normal tag list to these fics, because I’m not sure if you guys want to be tagged for Supergirl.  Please let me know if you want to!)

             It started out casually, when Maggie started staying over more.  She’d bring her laptop, and for an hour or two in the evenings, they’d sit across from each other at the table, doing their own thing on their computers in amiable silence, occasionally playing footsie and tossing the odd comment back and forth, usually sharing some kind of snack.  

                It became a regular thing after Maggie had moved in.  Several nights a week they’d sit, their laptops back to back, doing their own things.  Neither of them really asked what the other was doing, each content to absorb themselves in their various activities.  Neither was aware that the other quickly minimized a certain window when the other walked by, or brought them food, or came anywhere near them during these times.  They both had perfected not making a sound while doing their thing, no matter how happy or frustrated they became.

                One night, Maggie was scowling darkly at her computer. Alex kept glancing at her, eyebrow raised, but Maggie never looked up.  She was typing furiously, and seemed angry, but she didn’t offer an explanation and so Alex did not ask for one.  Alex could have sworn she heard Maggie muttering “fucking noob” at one point, but thought her mind must’ve been playing tricks on her when she looked up and Maggie looked like she hadn’t even spoken.

                Slightly suspicious, Alex looked back down at her own laptop, only to see that her character was flat on the ground with the message “6 minutes until release.  Release spirit?” popped up on her screen.

                “Seriously?!” she groaned at the screen, sighing as she released her character’s spirit and began the lengthy trek back to her corpse, where it lay at the bottom of a cliff, having just plummeted to it’s death during Alex’s lapse of concentration.  

                “Problems, Danvers?” Maggie asked, now raising an eyebrow at her.

                “Nope, all good,” Alex said quickly, cursing herself.  She wasn’t sure how Maggie would react to her playing one of the most stereotypical nerdy video games in the world and so she kept it to herself for now, indulging in her guilty pleasure and minimizing the screen when Maggie got up to make popcorn a little while later, pretending she was browsing Facebook instead.

 ---------

                A few nights later when Maggie wasn’t home, Alex had logged into her game and was chatting via headphones and a mic with Winn Schott, who was walking her through her first raid of the new expansion whose content she’d become greatly behind in due to lack of play time.   Winn was explaining things like she was a complete beginner, and she was starting to get annoyed.

                “Winn, I’m not a moron, I know how to play my damn character. Just explain the mechanics of the boss or I’m hanging up and resorting to Youtube,” she griped into the mic, shaking her head.  

                “Okay, okay, sorry,” he said hastily, sounding a mixture of indignant and frightened.  “There were some changes to ferals with the last patch and I just wasn’t sure if you kn--”

                “Boss. Mechanics. Schott.”  Alex said shortly, raising an eyebrow that he couldn’t see, though she bet he could see it in his mind.

                Winn spluttered a little, sighed, and then began explaining the mechanics of the fight to Alex as their group gained members and they got ready to start the encounter.  The fight started off smoothly and Alex grinned as she got into the battle, focused on laying on her damage as hard as possible.

                “I’ve got the adds,” she said, switching targets and attacking the demons swarming the group.  “Stay on the boss, Winn, I got this!” she insisted, tapping the keys furiously.  

                At that moment, Alex heard the doorknob turning and the door to the apartment starting to open.  Her heart leapt into her throat as she realized Maggie was entering – how had she not heard the key turning?!

                “I gotta go, sorry Winn!” she hissed into the mic, bringing up the menu of the game with lightning speed and clicking the “Exit game” option.

                “What?! Alex, we’re halfway through this figh-” Winn’s indignant splutter was cut off as Alex killed the voice chat program too and whipped the headphones into her lap as Maggie stepped fully into the room, dropping her keys onto the hook and looking over at Alex, amusement in her eyes.

                “What was that all about, Danvers?” Maggie asked, coming closer and peering at Alex’s guilty expression with amused suspicion.   “Who were you talking to?”

                “No one,” Alex said quickly, but when Maggie raised her eyebrow, Alex knew she must have heard her speaking.  “Okay just Winn, he was, uh, helping me sort out something on the computer, my antivirus wasn’t working,” she invented wildly, hoping she sounded convincing.  

                “Okay…” Maggie said slowly, still looking amused, and now disbelieving as well.  “Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”

                “What? Me? Lie to you? No way!” Alex shook her head emphatically, trying to look hurt at the accusation.  “I just wanted to hang up with him because I love you and wanted to spend time with you the second you got home…”  Alex stood and moved over to Maggie, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s neck. Maggie rolled her eyes but pressed herself against Alex’s front, allowing her girlfriend to kiss her, deepening the kiss and wrapping her own arms around Alex’s middle.  After a long, steamy embrace, Maggie pulled away and eyed Alex, her gaze one of suspicion mingled with lust.  

                “I’ll let you get away with whatever you’re up to this time, Danvers… but I’m watching you,” Maggie told her, raising an eyebrow in what she apparently thought was a threatening manner.  Alex grinned and leaned closer, pressing kiss after kiss to Maggie’s neck, moving up under her jawline and kissing her hard over her pulse point, making Maggie’s breath catch.

                “I’ll consider myself warned, Sawyer…” Alex murmured into Maggie’s hair as she continued to kiss her neck, licking and suckling under her jaw.  Maggie moaned and lead Alex towards the bed, both of them stripping off clothing layers as they went, Alex thanking her lucky stars for the close call and trying not to giggle as she imagined Winn still spluttering indignantly back at his computer.  Winn disappeared from her mind pretty quickly, however, as she turned towards Maggie and was shoved backwards onto the bed, bouncing off the mattress with a gasp of anticipation as Maggie climbed on top of her and began kissing her neck instead, her hands slipping over Alex’s chest…

 ---------------

              A week or so later, the evening was unfolding like many others. Both Alex and Maggie had a glass of wine and bowl of popcorn between them, but they were mostly quiet, doing their own thing on their laptops as usual.  Alex was completely unaware, however, that Maggie was wise to Alex’s secret. Maggie was a player of World of Warcraft herself, and had figured out that Alex had been hiding that she was too.  When Alex wasn’t home, Maggie had checked Alex’s laptop for the game and sure enough, there it was.  Feeling only marginally intrusive, she had quickly powered up Alex’s version of the game and found out the server and character name of what she guessed to be Alex’s main, added herself to Alex’s friendlist (hoping she wasn’t one to look at it very often) then quickly exited everything and closed the laptop.

                Now that Maggie knew, she’d been waiting for a chance to confront Alex about it, but had been trying to figure out how.  They’d only been on their computers for a minute or two before Maggie got an alert that Alex had signed in on her main character, and Maggie grinned as she realized that not only were they on opposite factions, but also on a Player vs. Player server.  Thanks to the in game friend system, Maggie could see what zone Alex’s character was in and quickly headed her way.  Once there, she got on her most impressive flying mount (unable to resist the urge to show off) and took to the skies, searching for Alex’s character. It took nearly ten minutes of searching, but finally she saw her, farming a mining node at the base of a hill.

                Maggie swooped down and charged Alex’s character without warning, her eyes flipping to Alex’s face as she did so, watching the faint flickers of surprise, then determination, then mild disappointment as Maggie killed her character pass over Alex’s face.    Maggie retreated some distance away as Alex’s spirit ran back to her corpse, then after a moment or two, attacked again.  Alex put up a better fight this time, apparently having anticipated a second attack, but her feral druid was no match for Maggie’s well-geared demon hunter. Alex’s lips had pressed together into a thin, annoyed line as she was forced to do a second corpse run, and Maggie repressed a smile, wondering how long it would take her to break.

                After the third kill, Alex’s foot started tapping impatiently. After the fourth, she took a big gulp of wine, staring at her screen with a look of murder in her eyes, and Maggie had a hard time keeping in a laugh.  The fifth time, Alex nearly managed to kill Maggie’s character, but Maggie just barely defeated her, which seemed to unhinge Alex.

                “Oh come ON,” Alex growled furiously under her breath.  Maggie put on a mask of innocence and looked up, as though only just noticing Alex’s frustration.

                “Problem, babe?”

                “No, it’s fine.”  Alex sounded grumpy, and Maggie had to bite her lip to keep laughing.  

                After the sixth kill, Alex had died enough times that the game was forcing her to wait before she was able to get back into her character’s body, and her foot started tapping faster, more impatiently.  Maggie laughed silently to herself, aware that she was enjoying this a little too much, but unwilling to drop the bomb just quite yet.

                Maggie decided to let Alex think she’d left and so she retreated, flying off to a nearby mountain and settling there for a few, letting Alex get on her own mount and run away.  She heard Alex mutter “finally” under her breath and presumably go back to what she’d been doing before. Once Maggie had determined that Alex had let her guard down a bit -her foot had stopped tapping and she no longer looked like she wanted to murder the screen- Maggie zoomed along on her flying mount, located that purple panther running through the undergrowth and dropped down, sending a warglaive flying in her direction.   Alex immediately puffed up in indignation and Maggie was unable to stop a soft laugh from escaping, though Alex was so angry and absorbed that she didn’t hear.

                “What the HELL?” Alex snapped, glaring at her screen and throwing her hands up in frustration.  She seemed to forget herself as she seethed, scowling at the computer as her character’s health disappeared once again.  “What’d I do to deserve this griefing?!”  She seemed to realize suddenly that she’d spoken out loud and her expression changed to one of wide-eyed horror, then she quickly tried to banish the look and replace it with a nonchalant one.  Maggie knew that the time was perfect and she smirked at Alex before speaking in an even, measured tone.

                “Maybe you shouldn’t have rolled a night elf.  Alliance scum.”

                Alex’s nonchalance disappeared as she stared at Maggie, dumbfounded, for several moments.  The silence was thick between them as Maggie fought to maintain a neutral expression and Alex’s gears turned.  Finally it seemed to click and Alex’s confusion turned to shock, amazement and then accusation.

                “YOU! You’re the demon hunter stalking my ass?!” Alex yelped, half-standing and pointing at Maggie accusingly.  Maggie grinned, unable to stop herself from laughing at the look on Alex’s face.

                “Well, it’s a great ass, can you blame me for stalking it?” Maggie asked innocently, laughing as Alex made a noise of disgust mixed with incredulity.  

                “Oh my god!  How long have you known?!”  Alex asked, still shocked and staring at Maggie, torn between amazement and embarrassment as she sat herself back down in her chair.  

                “A week or two.  I’ve suspected for longer.”

                “How did you figure it out?!”               “I’m a detective, Danvers, I detect.”

                “Very funny.”

                They sat there for a minute just looking at each other, Alex shaking her head, looking both amused and still vaguely scandalized, and Maggie just grinning back at her.  

                “Is that your main?” Alex asked after a while, gesturing at the screen.

                “Nah.  Usually an orc warrior, but I’m bifactional.  I have several toons on both sides.” Maggie smiled at the incredulous look on Alex’s face.  “Though I do prefer Horde.  Lok’tar Ogar.”  Alex shook her head with a disbelieving grin.

                “You are a huge nerd, Maggie Sawyer.”

                “A little rich coming from you, isn’t it, Danvers?” Maggie asked, amused.

                “It’s Winn’s fault!  He got me addicted a few years ago, I didn’t choos-”

              “Please tell me you’re not about to say “I didn’t choose the nerd life, it chose me”,” Maggie groaned, shaking her head.  Alex grinned sheepishly at her, as that had been exactly what she’d been about to say, and Maggie knew it.  

                “Fine, I’m a huge nerd too.  Happy?” Alex asked, playfully scowling at Maggie.

                “Definitely happy,” Maggie said, grinning.  “I’ll switch toons.  Let’s go kill some demons.”

                Maggie logged out of her Horde character and onto an Alliance one, joined back up with Alex’s and together, they mounted their noble steeds and rode off into the heart of the Legion to slay as many demons as they could get their nerdy, virtual hands on.

[survivormontenegro]

Episode 15 (Finale): “I COULD LITERALLY WIN A TUMBLR SURVIVOR SEASON WHAT IS THIS LIFE” - Ali

Did that vote make me a villain? Cuz I don't think I can avoid that anymore. But did it screw my chances of winning? Did it add to my resume? Did it make sense? Who do I work with next? Do people understand that Ali is gonna win this game? Is Ali gonna win another immunity challenge? Can I get him voted off or is it smarter to get him to vote with me, because its Benj and I and we need one more. I have more questions after last night than I started, but knowing that Benj was going to vote Jones I didn't think I had much of a choice.

JONES WHEN U SEE THIS ILY IM SO SORRY :((((((

breakdown.

Seamus enjoyed seeing me suffer with maths and black rotating puzzle

Ok so Ali won immunity so cant use idol on himself so im in the F4 hehe (unless hes seriously been playing me this entire time LMAO)

My 0 votes will prob be ruined tho but oh well still a huge improvement from 20 in kili

honestly think im losing in any F3 scenario ugh im gonna be a 2 time ftc loser LOL kinda iconic tho

regardless this has been one of the most fun games ive ever played hehe

I am trying my best to stay safe this round. I think it would be crazy for them to let me make it to F4, not that I think I am gonna win, but the momentum is definitely with Ali, Tom, and Jason, and I seem like the logical vote.

With that, there are some things I would like to say about the game. I'm actually pretty proud of the way I played. I know it wasn't the most graceful, or the most honest or loyal. I votes out Alex when he really trusted me. I flopped on Jules to win my way back in with that side. I stuck by Mo, but ultimately let him go when I had no choice, and then I did the same thing but more dramatically with Jones. I helped idol out the power player Mitch, but my strongest attribute was creating tight relationships with people who always felt they need to get that extra vote, Tom, Ali, Benj, Alex, Jones, Mo. The closeness has always made me less of a target, I hope not because they think I'm not a threat, but rather because they think I might be that swing vote for them. I feel like I have largely been the only one to make real decisions in this game except for Mitch, because Benj followed whoever told him to vote what, and Tom and Jason only make decisions because they just need to target whoever targets them. Ali and I are suppose to be in a secret bond, but the only time we vote together is when I switch and vote with him (Alex and Jones). I was the flip vote with Jason on Jules. I helped make the decision to vote out Mitch. I told Ali that I think it needs to be Jason this time. If I make it through this that would be soooo freakin fun. If I don't I worked my magic to try to get the target off of me, and so far I think the vote is Jason v Benj (sorry Benj that I had to convince Jason that I could work with him in the case that he idols). The biggest kink to that game is Ali winning those immunities, because truly I think the F5 would have been so different. Him winning rn changes everything and I can truly see the chinks in my strategy and gameplay now. I'm a mess, but I'm a calculating emotional mess, so hey points for me right?

okay so Jason left, which is really good news. He was clearly a major threat, and I acheived my goal (admittedly with no contribution to Mitch going) of Mitch, Jones & Jason being three boots in order.

So I'm in the final four with Caeleb, Benj and Tom. AND TOM IS NOW TARGETTING ME THAT MUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPET. I saw this coming, I knew he would, he thinks he is gonna pull a fast one on me, but little does he know Benj is the KINGEST KING, and we've been allies since the first round.

So I really REALLY wanna win final four immunity, because it might be the Final Immunity and I am cautiously optimistic that if I can just make FTC, I can win this whole thing. If I win immunity, I'm voting out Caeleb with Benj and Tom, who will... kicking and screaming have to vote with me ajkdslfa.

I think no matter what, I'll be able to go to firemaking this round at worst, since I think Benj is firmly in my corner. And I've been dominant in challenges thus far, and could hopefully continue to do so? We will see ahh.

I just desperately want to win immunity this round, because then I can vote Caeleb out and drag Tom to F3. mwahahahahahahahahahaha. HE WILL HAVE TO SIT WITH ME IN A FINAL THREE, like it or not!

I'm literally so close to FTC this is gonna drive me insane. If its a F3, I think I'm literally a challenge away from winning this season, I could truly SCREAM hnnnnnnnnnngh.

There's so much riding on this next immunity challenge. Like so much. And i just realized that I have no won immunity since Merge and everyone else left has, so umm here's hoping.

I WON FINAL IMMUNITY OH MY GOD. i literally.. my heart was pump pumping so fast, when Caeleb won the first two rounds I literally was gonna throw up/throw something/throw a fit.

But HNNNGH I won (and I filmed my reaction, which I'll upload), and I need to vote off Caeleb in my opinion. Benj is a king, but he hasn't done as much as me in this game, and Tom is solidly getting third place I think at this stage, so I think I have a great shot.

IM SO CLOSE ASKLDFAF. I COULD LITERALLY WIN A TUMBLR SURVIVOR SEASON WHAT IS THIS LIFE.

I know that this game is an emotional mess. And HELL I have been an emotional mess. But this I think is the first time that I'm actually angry. 6 immunity wins? Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell? I coulda made it to FTC, and like I'm not done yet I'll keep fighting so hopefully I can make it. But in normal circumstances I would be there. I just. Am so. Livid. There's no strategy involved when you can't vote someone out consistently. Now I have to fight tooth and nail just to have a shot and go against the freakin contender to win. Like its so disheartening, and Ali is a sweet guy sure, but he hasn't even made half the moves I have. His biggest move and most unexpected? Voting out Julia. If I get my chance to make it to FTC I'll have a lot to say, but I don't think its looking up for me at this point.

this is the worst video i've ever filmed nobody watch this

I CANT BELIEVE I MADE F3 AGAIN!!!!!

WOWOWOWOW

and with Ali our day 1 duo actually did it WTF?

Tom king too the anzacs made it

I know im losing but its been SO FUN!!

Good memories only

Okay so... FTC was yesterday, and I kind of want to do a final wrap up confessional, just to kind of bring some personal closure.

So it seems unless a lot shifts, that I am decisively going to win this game. I'm so unbelievably excited, I've literally only ever come second in survivor games, so to have finally snatched the win genuinely means a lot. It shows me that 2019 truly has been a year of real emotional growth for me, and the personal roadblocks I've put in front of myself that have cost me games in the past, have been lifted and I have my act together much much more.

FTC was... just such a weird experience yesterday, I always get dragged at FTCs, particularly live ones. I've only done two ever (Athena: All Stars and BB Pokemon: Orre) and both times, not a single juror spoke positively about my game that was present. To have jurors come on, and say that I unequivocally played the best was such a bizarre experience, but I love all the jurors so much and their high estimation of me is genuinely so flattering.

With that said, FTC was also a really rough experience. I love Benj and Tom with my full heart, and watching Tom get relentlessly told he was rude was tricky because I know how good of a guy he really is, and how well he meant with everyone. Benj was rough because... it seems I just outplayed him, and him mentioning our duo in his opening statement when I didn't at all... was really rough because I felt partly at fault for his dragging. I just love both of them, so it was hard.

I also feel bad for what I was like in confessionals this season, from memory at some point, I went in on JJ, Mo and Caeleb in confessionals, and while I apologised for all, I still feel awful that I let myself get so worked up in this game to sort of snap at them? Like Mo is a genuine friend of mine, so the fact that he wrote like... a sentence and I got so pressed is really stupid, I love Mo so much and hope I can make it up to him. Caeleb I got so mad at after the Jones' idol play for literally no reason... like he outplayed me that round, and its so pathetic that I got mad at him for that. I think Caeleb played a PHENOMENAL game, and did so well.

If I had to predict the POTS of the season, I would say my top three would be Jones, Caeleb and Mitch. Jones is... Jones, she is so likable and has such charisma and hold over people, and her idol play was arguably the most impressive move of the season. Caeleb was someone I underestimated to such at the start of merge, but he played such an impressive middle game, and would've had my vote if I was voted out at F3. Mitch it sounds like was hated by the jury, but I think he played amazingly? Like he has been a target since F20, his name was thrown out so many times, and I just think he did so good? I lowkey think he would be my player of the season to be honest.

I wanna talk about the other jurors particularly that I haven't really referenced in this. Alex is someone I somehow feel most guilty about voting out? He is just such a genuinely good guy, and I think I had this preconceived notion of him as like a gamebot, when he is just so wholesome, I can't wait for him to return, and make single digits. scratch that, I can't wait for him to return and WIN.

I also wanna talk about Jules. I am such a Jules warrior? Like... such a Jules warrior? They were such a pleasure to work with, and I just love them so much. I did them dirty by not idoling them/telling them they were going, but they are someone I have SO much time, love and respect for.

Who else, omg JASON! He was the perfect final juror for yesterday's FTC, someone who went easy on Tom who needed that, and just... is such a wholesome good guy, I love Jason.

Anyway, this is already really, really long so I need to wrap this up. I just want to say how happy this season has made me, and how much of a pleasure its been apart of. I joined the ORG community right before a lot of messy personal stuff came my way, and a lot of my org memories are tied to that. I used to let my personal drama get itself interwoven in my games, and I would just be so emotional. To have a game where I could play hard, cracked and WELL, and just have fun has been such a pleasure, and Im so emo about it.

I just wanna thank the hosts again too, I literally am a full on Asya, Drew, Johnny and Seamus WARRIOR, I love all four of them for hosting my favourite org experience EVER, its been amazing. I've been such a crackhead, was the only OG Budva Tumblr Survior newbie to make merge, spammed my host chat with an unbelievable number of messages, been AWFUL at the bridge idol hunt system yet ended up with two idols, been a crackhead (bears repeating because of how much of a mess i was), its been... a time KLADSF

But yes. I just have had a phenomenal time, crackheads are gonna crackhead and this brit is joining the tumblr survivor royal family, and I truly could not be more excited.

[hegivesmemoretime-blog]

Problems and Projects (pt. 2)

Request:  Holy Guacamole Canoli! I love that Jefferson x reader. I definitely wouldn't say no to a sequel (hint hint) (requested by anon)

Characters: Jefferson x Reader

Word Count: 1,276

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of acne (?), low self-esteem, + some writing of questionable quality (oops)

AU: Modern, University 

A/N: I’m thinking about making this into a series! Not too long, maybe 4 or 5 parts? Let me know what you think! Also, texts in this story are italicized and in quotation marks.

Read part 1 here!

You weren’t quite sure what you were expecting when you went to class the next day. Maybe a quick conversation with Jefferson, a smile in your direction, or even just an acknowledgement of your existence. None of that happened, though. He didn’t even argue with Alex like he usually did. 

“Did you see that, Y/N?” Alex exclaimed excitedly as the two of you walked out of the room. “He didn’t even try to prove me wrong on anything. He didn’t insult us at all! Maybe he finally realized it’s useless to argue with us!”

“Mhmm,” you nodded in response, knowing that wasn’t the real reason Jefferson didn’t say anything. You knew it had something to do with you, but you weren’t quite sure what yet. The only explanation you could come up with was that this was his way of keeping your friendship hidden from Alex. It made sense, but that didn’t mean you weren’t upset by it. 

“Are you okay?” Alex asked you, grabbing your arm and forcing you to stop walking. “You’ve barely said anything today.” You looked at the ground, not wanting to give anything away on accident. “Y/N,” Alex said, forcing you to look up at him. “What’s going on? Can I help with anything?”

You shook your head, starting to feel guilty for making him worry about you. “I’m sorry, nothing’s wrong. I guess I just didn’t get much sleep last night,” you replied, hoping that he’d buy that. The look in his eyes told you he didn’t, so you continued, “Even if there was something wrong anyways, you’ve already got so much on your plate. I wouldn’t want to add to that.” 

Alex frowned. “You know I’d always take the time to-”

“That’s the thing, I don’t want you to have to take time for me,” you cut him off before the conversation started going completely off on a tangent. Sighing heavily, you continued, “Look, I’ve got an important essay to work on for one of my other classes, I’ll text you later, okay?” 

“Alright,” Alex nodded, suddenly sounding small. You hated that you made him upset, but the conversation was getting unnecessarily complicated. It went from hiding your disappointment about not talking to Jefferson to basically telling him to mind his own business. 

As you walked to your dorm room, you made a note to yourself to actually text him later. You didn’t want him upset for too long. 

After an hour or so of working on your essay, you decided to take a highly needed and well-deserved break. You’d made tons of progress, but you still had so much work to do. As you poured yourself some coffee, you heard your phone ding with a text notification. You grabbed your mug and walked over to it, surprised to see a text from Jefferson pop up. 

“Hey, are you busy right now?”

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. The two of you weren’t scheduled to meet to work on your project for a couple more days. As you wracked your brain for any logical reason he could have asked you this, you formulated a response.

“Working on an essay. Why?”

Jefferson responded almost immediately. 

“Feel like taking a break?”

You were about to reply with a offhandedly rude response when another text from him popped up. 

“I got Chinese take-out.”

“Damn him,” you cursed under your breath, also cursing yourself for revealing your food weakness yesterday when you were hanging out. You considered denying his offer, but you really didn’t want to have to work on your essay any more for the night...and you could practically hear the food calling your name from Jefferson’s room. 

“Well,” you typed back, “We wouldn’t want that food to go to waste, now would we? I’ll be over in 10.”

After your message had sent, you pulled a sweatshirt over your head and looked in the mirror. Your hair was pulled up messily into a bun, which didn’t look so great at this point, but your make-up still looked fine. “Why do I care what I look like, anyways?” you wondered, deciding that how you looked now would have to do as you walked out the door. 

When you arrived at Jefferson’s dorm room, he greeted you with a smile and ushered you inside. “Welcome, to my humble abode,” he said cheekily, closing the door behind you. 

“I’ve been here before, ya’ know,” you muttered under your breath, smiling as he let out a hearty laugh. “Where’s the food?” you asked, getting right down to business. 

“‘Oh, Thomas, it’s so nice to see you. Thanks for inviting me over and feeding me!’“ he said in a high-pitched voice to imitate you (and reminding you that you called him Thomas now, not Jefferson). “No problem,” he continued back in his normal octave, “It’s a pleasure having the company!”

You swatted at his arm. “Yes, thank you for the invitation, blah blah blah, where’s the food?”

“Over here, you freak,” Thomas shook his head, but he was laughing so you knew that he wasn’t actually offended. He led you into the kitchen area, grabbing a paper plate and setting it down in front of you. “Sorry, our fine china is currently being washed, so I hope a paper plate will suit your needs,” he joked. 

You sighed dramatically, snatching the plate. “Well, it’s not the quality I was expecting, nor the quality I deserve, but I guess it’ll do,” you joked back. 

Once the two of you had dished whatever food you wanted onto your plates, you sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. You weren’t sure exactly what you were watching, but Thomas seemed pretty into it so you gave it your attention. 

After a couple minutes of no one talking, Thomas said, “Tell me a secret.”

“What?” you asked, not sure if you’d heard him right. When he repeated himself, you said, “Why would I do that? We went from arguing all the time to being friends just yesterday.”

“That’s true,” he replied, “But I promise you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone. I’m just tryin’ to get ta’ know you.”

You considered this for a second before deciding there really wasn’t any harm in telling him something. “Well,” you started, “In middle school I had terrible acne, like covering my entire face and chest, and that earned me the nickname ‘Pizza Face’,” you revealed, smiling tightly. 

“Shit,” Thomas laughed, “That’s harsh.”

“Yeah, well kids are mean, and - ” you paused mid-sentence as a girl walked into the scene on the show that was playing. “God, she’s gorgeous,” you commented, unable to help yourself from admiring her. “Look!” you exclaimed, pointing to her. 

Thomas turned to the screen and nodded in appreciation before saying, “So are you.”

It took you a moment to comprehend what you said, but when you did, you let out a dry laugh. “Please,” you scoffed. “I’m fuckin’ ugly,” you said as you shoveled another bite of food in your mouth to accentuate your point.  

“Don’t say that,” Thomas shot back immediately, frowning. “If you could see the way half of the male population looked at you every day, you’d change your mind.”

You were glad to have food in your mouth to chew, because it gave you more time to think of a response. “Thank you?” you said once you’d swallowed, unsure of what else to say. 

Thomas just nodded in response, and it was quiet once more. 

“What just happened?” you wondered in your head as the silence grew thicker with every second. “And why am I happy he said that?”

A/N: This is just a quick reminder that requests are open, so send in any prompt or scenario you’d like to see me write about!

[queercapwriting]

fic requet: maggie jokingly scolding alex during sex one time and alex Really Liking It so they experiment with bdsm

It happens by accident, at first.

Turning Alex on like that.

Sure, she’s straddling her, and Maggie’s clothes are mostly on while Alex’s are mostly off.

Sure, her hands are all over her girlfriend’s body, and sure, she’s fairly turned on herself, but she speaks before she thinks about what it might do to Alex. To the both of them.

“Damn, Danvers, you’re so bad at this massage thing. How am I supposed to do this properly if you keep writhing like that?”

Her voice is raspy – courtesy of Alex’s ass squirming underneath her, between her legs – and that, combined with her words, makes Alex writhe harder. Makes Alex squeak. Makes Alex bite the pillow under her head to keep herself from full-out screaming.

Maggie freezes, her fingers hovering above Alex’s bare back.

“Danvers, did… Alex, did that turn you on?”

Alex gulps and buries her face in the pillow.

“I’m sorry,” her muffled voice sounds, and Maggie slips off of her and gathers her body into hers.

“No, no, babe, I – you have nothing to be embarrassed by, I… if that turned you on, Alex, I… that could be hot, it’s nothing to be… hey, hey, Alex, can you look at me?”

Alex obeys, gulping, eyes wide and vulnerable and maybe a little hopeful. Maybe a lot hopeful.

“It could be hot?”

Maggie grins and shrugs.

“Only if you wanted it to be.”

“What could be hot?” Alex rolls over halfway so she’s facing her girlfriend, and Maggie fights to keep her eyes on Alex’s eyes instead of her chest.

“Well, that depends. What uh… what turned you on about what I said?”

Alex blushes deeply and tries to hide her face again, but Maggie shakes her head and smiles. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, Alex – “

“You kind of… you were all… commanding and authoritative and you… um… scolded me?” She bites her lip and she rakes her eyes down to Maggie’s mouth and she waits while Maggie remembers how to breathe.

“And you liked all that?” Maggie asks.

Alex nods, still biting her lip. “Did you?”

“If it’s something you want Alex, I… yeah. Yeah.”

“Have you got your handcuffs?” Alex asks, voice clear and low and hopeful, and Maggie nearly chokes.

“Wow, okay, um… yeah, but… could we… could we start slower?”

Alex runs her fingers through Maggie’s hair. “Of course we could, babe.”

“Want me to uh… continue your massage?” Maggie asks, her eyes nervous, her eyes excited, her eyes hungry.

Alex nods softly.

“Remember that color system we talked about the first time I came inside you?” 

Alex moans softly, eyes rolling closed at the memory, and Maggie chuckles.

“I take that as a yes.” Alex nods, and Maggie kisses her nose. “So: color?”

“Green,” Alex whispers, and Maggie takes a deep breath.

“Flip back onto your stomach, Danvers,” Maggie rasps, and Alex’s entire body squirms involuntarily.

“Yes, Detective,” she whispers, and Maggie moans. 

“That okay?” Alex confirms, and Maggie whispers her affirmative color eagerly as she straddles Alex again.

“Addressing me as Detective. So formal. Does that mean you have a guilty conscience, Danvers? Have you been a bad girl?”

Alex whines and and writhes and grabs desperately at the sheets.

“Color?” Maggie asks, though she’s pretty sure she knows.

“Green,” Alex practically squeaks, and Maggie leans down to kiss the back of her neck. “Maggie, please, don’t stop,” she begs, and Maggie does exactly that.

She stops.

“Mmm, Danvers, speaking out of turn. Such bad behavior,” Maggie husks lightly, and Alex grinds her hips down into the mattress helplessly.

“Color?” they both murmur at the same time, both nervous beyond belief, both excited beyond description.

Maggie laughs and Alex giggles, Maggie leaning back down to kiss the back of Alex’s neck again.

“I’m neon green, Maggie, how about you?”

“Neon? Nerd.”

“Your nerd.”

“Mmm, my bad girl nerd, apparently.”

Alex giggle turns into a soft scream, and Maggie bites down gently into her skin. Alex yelps with pleasure and begs for more.

“Uh uh uh, Danvers. You’ve been so bad, and you think I should reward you for that?”

Alex writhes and pants and grinds down into the mattress and up into Maggie’s ass, and Maggie is far past wrecked.

“I think you should do whatever you want to me, Detective,” she whispers when she remembers what words are, and Maggie takes her up on it, fucking her eager and fucking her fast, fucking her hard and fucking her deep, checking in the whole time, telling her how naughty she’s been the whole time, telling her what a bad girl she’s been the whole time, asking her what kind of punishment she thinks she deserves the whole time.

Alex cums hard and loud and desperate against the heel of Maggie’s palm, slipped carefully under her body, between her legs, soaked even through Alex’s underwear. 

“You are perfect, Alex Danvers,” Maggie murmurs as she welcomes Alex back down to earth with gentle kisses pressed to the back of her neck, her shoulder blades, her upper back. “You are absolutely perfect, and I can’t imagine being with anyone better than you, because there is no one better than you.”

[fuck-you-i-am-spiderman]

A kick is a wish your heart makes

A drabble totally not inspired by my friends getting death threats and rude comments thrown their way. It went a different way Q but I hope you still like it @mobsterlena

Lena was used to receiving rude comments, she was a Luthor after all and most of them she could take with a grain of salt but then came the death threats. It was bad and if their atrocious grammar and spelling mistakes weren’t enough then Lena had to be subjected to a spam of them, practically every alert she received was yet another harsh message and she shouldn’t have let it bother her but everything was getting so overwhelming. 

So that was how Kara had walked into her girlfriend’s office armed with her favourite sugary treats and a kale and avocado salad for Lena - because despite Kara making numerous slideshows about the joys of a sprinkle donut she could not get her girlfriend to indulge in the treats very often - to see Lena sobbing over her laptop. 

Kara was instantly by her side, gasping as Lena all but fell into her arms and proceeded to sob as she curled herself into Kara’s embrace. Flooded with concern Kara scooped Lena up and effortlessly guided her to the couch, readjusting as she sat them down so that Lena could lay her head in Kara’s lap as strong fingers ran through her long tresses, gently shushing her as Lena started to calm. When Lena eventually stopped crying she started to spring up apologising as she wiped her eyes with a frustrated sigh only to be cut off with a kiss. Kara pulled back with a smile, brushing a lock of hair behind Lena’s ear before speaking in that calming yet firm tone that Lena knew all too well.

“Lena, don’t. You are allowed to cry, you are allowed to feel. It’s just me here and I’m not going anywhere, ever. So please talk to me, so that I can help you.”

“What are you going to do? Fling everyone who’s ever said a bad word to me into space?” Lena laughs attempting to brush it off but Kara looks completely serious.

“If I have to.”

Lena’s eyes widen as she takes in the solemn tone and the way Kara’s arms flex and tighten their hold around her.

“k-k-kara you don’t have to do that, I’m just being silly.”

Kara’s hand moves to squeeze Lena’s careful of the pressure as she uses her thumb to trace patterns over the back of Lena’s palm.

“How you feel is not silly Lee, especially not if it’s upsetting you. If you don’t want to tell me I respect that and I’m here for you, always.”

Lost for words Lena leans forward capturing Kara’s lips in a soft kiss, pouring the emotions she’s tried to hide into the embrace. When they eventually pull back Kara rests her forehead against Lena’s and it takes everything that Lena has not to cry again.

“I got another message today, what they said...it just cut a little close to home but I’m fine.”

Kara doesn’t say anything for a whole minute but Lena can tell by the steely glint in her eyes that Kara is trying to keep her anger in check. Kara is up in a flash, almost causing Lena to tumble to the ground with how abrupt she is. There’s a whoosh and then Kara is marching them onto the balcony, Lena’s purse and her laptop secured in one arm as she sweeps Lena into her arms and take off without a word. She doesn’t speak until they reach the DEO and it’s only to check if Lena is okay and then she’s back to angrily marching into the base with Lena rushing after her. 

“Kara?” Alex spots them as soon as Kara stomps through the door, her eyebrows raising up when she sees Lena shuffling behind her like a lost puppy. Taking one look at her sister Alex can see the tension rolling off of her in waves.

“Did it happen again?”

Kara stills, turning to share a look with Alex. Lena watches as they have a silent conversation and then Alex is nodding and prising the laptop from Kara’s grip.

“Your room is open, go and cool off. I’ll come find you if there are any updates.” Alex kisses Kara’s forehead and gently shoves her in the opposite direction, when Kara glances at Lena hesitating Alex sighs and wraps an arm around Lena’s should protectively. “I’ll be with Lena the whole time Kara, nothing bad is going to happen - now go.” 

Lena smiles as Kara nods whispering that she won’t be long before disappearing round the corner. Alex bumps Lena’s shoulder, walking them over to Winn’s desk.

“Time to show us what you’ve got Winny boy.”

After a lot of bickering over who could hack better Winn and Lena had made quite the team. Lena had only taken a break to sign some form that J’onn had shoved under her nose and then he’d left them to it. Alex had gone out for lunch and then she’d checked up on Kara who had broken a lot of cement blocks but was otherwise fine. 

“Are you nerds any closer to finding out who’s been sending those messages?”

Alex had expected a response when she’d entered the room but instead she found Winn and Lena hooked up to the main frame, playing Mario Karts of all games. Winn was hunched over trying to get closer as he furiously slammed buttons on his controller whilst Lena sat cross-legged, one hand lazily pressing on her own controller whilst she used the other to finish eating her salad.

“I swear if you hit me with another fucking toadstool I’ll-”

Alex observes how Lena smirks, pressing a few buttons and then Winn is swearing and Lena is exclaiming in victory.

“Take that Schott!”

“You totally cheated!” Winn pouts throwing his hands up as Lena smiles more.

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Just accept the fact you lost to a superior opponent.” Lena’s voice is teasing and Alex can’t help but chuckle when Winn pouts more muttering under his breath as Lena laughs but then she remembers why she came in and she’s walking over to them with her hands on her hips.

Neither notice as they continue to squabble as Alex rubs her temple looking back and forth between the pair. It’s a smack to the back of their heads that gets their attention. Both turning round to stare up at Alex with matching guilty expressions. 

It’s Winn that speaks first, trying to inconspicuously hide their controllers. “oh hiiiiiiiii Alex,”

“What do you two idiots think you’re doing?”

Lena bites her lip as Winn visibly shrinks under Alex’s intense stare.

“We were just-”

“Save it. I saw Lena crushing you so you can spare me the excuses. Just show me what you’ve found.”

“Okay first; she did not crush me because she totally cheated so we will be having a rematch-”

Winn starts to explain but is cut off when Lena snorts, shoving him out of the way as she grabs her laptop to show Alex.

“Finding the IP address was all too easy, especially when the dumbass sending me death threats decides to use a deo owned device.”

Alex should have known, her fist clenching as Lena casually explains without so much as an angry frown.

“Does Kara know?”

“She found him two minutes ago and is bringing him back as we speak. She should be here in 3, 2...” Lena trails off just as Kara comes crashing through the door dragging a squealing Mon-El across the floor.

Alex can see the Daxamite already has bruises forming and is feebly trying to tear Kara’s arm away which only causes her to snarl before slamming him against the wall, making sure to use extra force as he winces in pain.

“Kara please!” 

SLAM

“Let me go!” He whines and then Kara is flinging him across the room, laughing as he slumps against the wall with a loud thud. He groans in pain, trying to shuffle back as Kara stalks over to him. Lena and Alex are up in an instant as Winn silently leaves the room. Kara turns to her girlfriend with a smile.

“You want to get a punch in babe?”

“With pleasure but maybe Alex should have a turn first.” Lena grins, stepping back just as Alex moves forward a truly victorious grin on her face as she comes into view. 

They can see his lip quivering and his whole body shaking as Alex leans down to whisper something in Mon-El’s ear. He actually screams right as Alex brings her foot down on his right leg. 

When J’onn finds them all moments later, with Kara holding Mon-El up like a sparring pad as Alex and Lena take turns to punch him he says nothing, smiling proudly as he watches his adoptive children do exactly what he taught them to do.

[irish-nlessing]

Making the Grade - Ch. 2

A/N: Thank you all so much for your patience.  I’m so sorry this took so long!  This wouldn’t be possible without the support from my friends and readers.  I truly appreciate you guys!

Chapter 1

“Wait wait.  Here comes Lou - tell him what she said when you asked for her number.”  Harry’s laughter peals across the corner of the lacquered bar where Niall’s leaning with his head in his hands.  “Christ Harry, ya think you could keep your voice down to a dull roar?”  Niall can feel his cheeks burning hot with shame.  The entire debacle has been running through his head on a constant loop since the afternoon.  After Poppy had stormed out of his classroom, Niall was left standing at his desk, his mouth hanging open and his arms hanging uselessly at his sides.  For a brief moment he considered running after her, but what would he say?  “Hey, just so you know, I wasn’t hitting on you?”  Niall may have terrible luck with women, but he wasn’t a complete idiot.  Even he knew that wasn’t the way into a pretty girl’s good graces.  So, instead, he sank down into the hard plastic chair, took a deep breath, and shoved all his papers into his worn leather messenger bag.  By the time he’d made it to the pub to meet Harry, Niall’s mood hadn’t improved.  He’s skulked into the bar, heaving himself onto the stool next to Harry’s and waved Louis down for a pint and a shot of Jameson.  Harry had coaxed the entire story from Niall and was now forcing him to repeat it to the bartender for his own sadistic pleasure.  

Louis sidled up to the bar, flipping a bar towel over his shoulder.  They’d made friends with Louis almost immediately, deciding that his caustic attitude and relentless sarcasm could be tolerated because of their shared love of football and collective homesickness for the UK. “Ok Harold, you’ve made your point.  Spill it, Nialler.”  Louis was working on his Masters in psychology, a degree that came in handy more often than not working as a bartender.  With a deep sigh and a tug on his fringe for good measure, Niall reluctantly filled in his friend.

“I kinda accidentally asked out one of my students this afternoon.  Got me ass handed to me in the process.”  Niall raised his eyebrows and took another swig of his pint.  “Gotta be honest, she was fuckin’ terrifying.”  Slumping against the bar in defeat, Niall stared at the drops of condensation rolling down his glass.  

“I’m sorry, did you say you ‘accidentally’ asked out a student, Neil?”  Louis was staring incredulously at Niall, a wicked cackle starting to bubble up from his slight frame.  “How do you accidentally ask someone out?  I mean, logistically, how does it happen?”  Louis and Harry were shaking with laughter as Niall sat back and glared at both of them.

“For your information, Lewis, I wasn’t trying to ask her out.  It was a complete misunderstanding.”  Harry slapped Niall’s shoulder, shaking him slightly in his seat.  “Happens to the best of us, right Lou?”  Harry looked pointedly at Louis, nudging his chin in Niall’s direction.  Louis got the hint, and  piped up quickly.  “Sure Ni, sure.  I mean, can’t win em all can ya?”

Niall slammed his fist down on the bar, startling his friends and a few other patrons nearby.  “I wasn’t asking her out!  Fuck, mate! I just….I’m just…….”  Niall took a breath and slumped his shoulders forward.  “I’m tired of bein’ the butt of everyone’s jokes.  I don’t need to be like Harry, pullin’ a new piece of ass every weekend -”  Harry pulled a face, the corners of his mouth tugging down.  “Heyyyyyyyyyy!”  Niall rolled his eyes and continued.  “But it would be nice, for once, not to have to perform a post mortem every time I interact with a woman!”  Niall slammed the rest of his beer, and pushed his stool back.  The legs scraped harshly against the worn wood of the floor making Harry and Louis cringe.  Throwing a few bills down on the bar, Niall grabbed his bag and slung it around his broad shoulders.  “Just, nevermind.  I’ll get over it.  See ya later, yeah?”  Harry and Lou silently watched his figure retreat through the swinging doors of the bar, disappearing down the street.

The early fall air was beginning to cool down, and scattered leaves swirled across the sidewalk as Niall trudged towards his apartment.  His head swam with a tangled mess of emotions and thoughts.  He’d never blown up like that in front of his friends.  He took great pride in being rational and even-keeled, and was tolerant almost to a fault.  For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why this one moment, this one girl, had rooted so far into his psyche.  He’d never given much thought to any of the girls that had come and gone over the years.  Even sweet Claire, the girl he dated his last year at uni.  She was nice, things were easy, and neither of them put a lot of effort into being together.  He loved her, or at least, he thought he did.  Looking back, he didn’t remember feeling particularly sad when she’d rolled over in his bed the morning after graduation and broken up with him.  He’d simply agreed that it was probably for the best and wished her well.  There were other girls too.  Megan, the barista from his favorite coffee shop who always wore red lipstick and had given him free coffee for two months before he realized she liked him.  When that had ended, he was more upset about having to find a new place to get his morning cuppa.  Then there was Alex, the French Literature major who was subletting the apartment above his.  They’d bonded over a mutual love of crossword puzzles.  Niall had actually thought that was going well until he walked into Harry’s room one morning looking for a spare umbrella and found Alex lounging gracefully in Harry’s bed….naked.  When Harry begged forgiveness for the trespass, Niall had waved him off without another thought.  Then there was Heather.  The infamous “negative date” that garnered him so much grief from his colleagues.  Niall had been drawn in by her long, fiery red hair and sharp tongue.  That, of course, had ended disastrously.  Last he heard she was dating one of the Latin TAs - some bloke called Liam that was usually described as “tall, dark, and handsome.”  That had been the last straw - it was too much effort to waste, so Niall had casually sworn off dating.  When he explained it to Harry, his friend had just sighed and shook his head.  “Hope you’re not expecting some sort of solidarity out of me, mate.”  With that he’d grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and sauntered back into his room for round four with Mel.  Or was it Char?  Niall couldn’t remember, only that it was something short for something else.

Lost in his own thoughts, Niall failed to notice the hurried figure barreling towards him until it was too late.  His shoulder impacted something solid and warm, and he heard a screech as the person he rammed into tumbled onto the sidewalk.  His bag swung around, dislodged from its perch on his shoulder, and he tripped awkwardly trying to right it.  When he finally regained his balance he spun around to see if the other person was alright.  To his shock, he found himself staring down into the steely glare of Poppy Miller.

The first thing Poppy thought when she hit the ground was, “That’s going to leave a mark.”  The second thing Poppy thought was, “I’m going to tear this jerk a new asshole”.  The rampage of words died in her throat when she looked up and found herself staring into a pair of very familiar, very blue eyes.  Before she could think, she managed to unceremoniously croak out, “Oh fuck, it’s you.”  She winced at her own words, acutely aware at how Niall had visibly flinched at them.  She watched as he adjusted his bag, pulling it farther back on his shoulder so he could lean down and offer her his hand.  Poppy slipped her hand into his, mesmerized by how small her fingers looked cradled in his palm.  The warmth from his skin seeped into her pores as he gently pulled her up from the concrete.  As soon as she was upright he dropped her hand.  Poppy shivered at the loss, flexing her fingers over and over to try and hold onto the lingering heat from his grasp.  

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you -” Niall started.

“You should watch where you’re going, you know.”

Poppy interrupted him, almost out of reflex.  She clapped her mouth shut, silently kicking herself.  She’d felt guilty about what had happened in the classroom all day.  As soon as she saw the look on his face when she spouted off to him, she realized she may have overreacted.  But, the damage was done and now here she was, digging herself a deeper hole.  She crossed her arms tightly around her chest and peered up at Niall.  He took in her posture and the scowl etched onto her face, and bristled his shoulders.  Poppy could tell he was on edge, like he was waiting for her next strike.

“Right.  Well, sorry - again.  Are you okay? Not hurt or anything?”  Poppy watched as his blue eyes flicked across her body looking for any signs of obvious injury.  It was a completely innocent assessment but each time his eyes found a new part of her body Poppy felt her skin tingle.  She swallowed harshly and shook her head.  “No, I’m fine.  It’s fine.  Probably just a little sore tomorrow, but I’ll live.”  She watched as Niall tucked his bottom lip under his teeth and nodded at her.   “Good.  Okay. Um, I guess I’ll see you in class then.”  Poppy opened her mouth to say something - willing any words to come out.  Before she could make a sound, Niall spun on his heel and loped off down the sidewalk shoving his big hands in the front pockets of his jeans. As he rounded the corner, Poppy’s voice finally decided to materialize.  “Sorry I’m an asshole.”  With a heavy sigh she gripped her bag tight and headed for home.

At the next editorial meeting, Sabrina made it abundantly clear how badly Poppy had handled both run ins with Niall.  Her exact words were, “You’ve let all womankind down, Miller.”  Poppy argued that assessment may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she couldn’t deny that the simmering knot of shame over her actions had yet to unwind.  She spent the rest of the meeting stewing in self-loathing.  When the rest of the staff shuffled out of the cramped office an hour later, Sabrina got up and closed the door behind them.  She turned and leaned into the door shooting an appraising stare at Poppy’s hunched figure.  “Okay.  Spill.  I’ve never actually seen you pout and mope like this over a guy.  Actually, I’ve never seen you pout and mope about anything, Miller.  What gives?”

Poppy curled her legs underneath her and pulled the sleeves of her hooded sweatshirt over her knuckles.  “It’s not about a guy, Sabrina.  At least…I don’t think it is.  I mean I don’t even care about guys.  My happiness shouldn’t depend on whether a boy thinks I’m pretty.  And I’m not saying he was like that, because actually I think he might be the complete opposite?  I dunno.  It’s hard to explain.”

“Apparently.  Because you’re doing an absolute shit job of it.”

Poppy lobbed a crumpled sheet of paper at her friend and sighed heavily.  “Fuck off, you know I’m not good at feelings.”

“I know sweetie, and I’m not saying you need to find some sort of version of self worth by dating.  But, you know it is possible to have a relationship and not lose yourself in it, right?”

Sabrina approached Poppy carefully, kneeling in front of her.  “Not every man is looking to own you.  And despite what your mother keeps telling you,  your life will not end if you don’t have a diamond ring by graduation.”

Poppy considered Sabrina’s words carefully while replaying all the times she’d purposely pushed guys away over the years.  Poppy wasn’t prude, by any standards, but she had a knack for completely tossing guys aside as soon as she deemed them “too familiar”.  Unfortunately, at a small liberal arts university, word travelled quickly.  Midway through sophomore year it had gotten back to Poppy that she had earned a reputation as “difficult” and “not worth it”.  In true Poppy fashion, she considered that a win and declared herself better off.  She promptly shelled out some cash for a good vibrator and called it a day.  

“It’s just the way he looked at me, Sabrina.”  The picture replayed in Poppy’s mind - the blue in Niall’s eyes flashing from a deep caribbean blue to a cold steel grey as if every emotion he was feeling was concentrated in the tiny ring of his iris’.  Sabrina, trying desperately to lighten the mood, nudged at Poppy’s knees.

“What?  Like you’d gone off the deep end?”

Poppy snorted and looked away.  “No.  He looked at me like…like I had just validated every single terrible thing a girl had ever said to him.  And the instant I did it, I knew it was wrong.  In the thirty seconds we were face to face I saw every single emotion play out in his eyes, Sabrina.  And it scared the hell out of me.  I’ve never been able to read someone like that.”

“Oh honey”, Sabrina cooed, “so why’d you freak out on him the second time?”

Poppy groaned and tipped her head back, absentmindedly rubbing the fading purple hue on her hip from where she’d hit the pavement.  “I don’t know!  I panicked.  He was just right there, and he smelled good, and my ass hurt from falling, but then he looked at me and I felt like I was on fire and I just…..short circuited.”  With a frustrated growl, she hung her head between her shoulders.  “I’m a fucking disaster.”

Sabrina patted Poppy’s knees lightly.  “Think of it this way, there’s only ten more weeks in the semester.  So tops, you see him twenty more times.”  Poppy picked her head up and glared at her friend.  

“I hate you.”

Sabrina smiled wickedly and tipped her head forward.  “No you don’t.”

For the next few weeks, Poppy tried her damnedest to ignore Niall. That was a fairly monumental task considering she was forced to sit through his class twice a week.  Each time she slid into her seat she could feel his eyes on her.  But when she flicked her own eyes up, his stare would be fixated on some random part of the room.  She got the distinct impression he was determined to find any piece of chipping paint or curling tile more interesting than meeting her gaze.  That didn’t stop her from finding herself studying the way his long legs stretched out under his desk.  Or noticing that he had a system for rotating his funky socks (stripes, then polka dots, then chevron).  She even found herself craving the lilt of his voice, even though the subject matter was less than appealing.  Niall made the political tensions in eastern Europe during the 1980s sound like a Harlequin romance novel.  

Unfortunately by the fourth quiz returned to Poppy with a bright red “C-” on it, she realized even Niall’s voice couldn’t make the information stick in her brain.  It took the entire hour of class to build up the courage to approach him.  Poppy had done the quick math, and at the rate she was going with these quizzes, she wasn’t going to pass the class.  And if she didn’t pass, she didn’t graduate early.  And if she didn’t graduate early…well, technically nothing would happen, but it was the principal of the thing now.  When students around her started shuffling papers into their bags and leaving, Poppy was shocked to realize she’d basically missed the entire lecture by being caught up in her own internal battle.  The irony that she missed all the material because she was so stressed about not doing well in the class wasn’t lost on her.  She steeled her resolve and slowly packed up her things, waiting for the last few students to head out.

“Um, Niall? Do you have a second?” Poppy tried to use her nicest voice, the one she usually reserved for small children and the elderly Japanese woman who always slipped an extra spicy sauce container into her sushi takeout box. She didn’t miss the sharp breath Niall sucked through his nose at the sound of her voice.

“Miss Miller. What can I do for you?”

Poppy deflated a bit at the use of her surname.  It seemed stiff and formal, and she swallowed harshly trying to get rid of the bad taste it left in her mouth.  “I’m concerned about my quiz scores?  It’s just that…I need to pass this class to graduate early and I’m just not doing well.”  Poppy’s voice trailed off and she pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her fists; a habit that had left the ends of most of her clothes slightly frayed.  

Niall scraped his bitten nails through the short dark hair at the back of his neck.  He was slightly dumbstruck that she had actually approached him.  He’d had a email about her grade sitting in his drafts folder for two days - waiting for the moment he would find the nerve to hit send.  The thought of direct interaction with her set him on edge.  “Right, yes.  Actually, I’ve been meaning to contact you about that.  I apologize for not emailing ya sooner.”  He felt a blush rise over his cheeks and looked up to peer into her face.

Poppy was chewing on her bottom lip, leaving it a little swollen and rosy from the sharp pinch of her teeth.  Niall couldn’t help but stare at it, watching in awe as the color spread across her plump lip.  “Is it the material you’re not understanding?  I mean, are ya caught up with the reading at least?”  

Poppy nodded vigorously and released her lip from its captor.  “Oh no, I mean, yeah I’m caught up.  I’m actually a week or so ahead.”

Niall raised his eyebrows in surprise.  Being ahead in the reading assignments was not only unusual, but also not normally indicative of poor grades.  Poppy sensed his confusion and tried to explain herself.

“I just like to plan and be ahead. So I just have a schedule for the reading.  But, I guess it’s not really doing me any favors right now.”  She let out a nervous chuckle as she shifted her bag across her body.

Niall hummed and rested his chin on his wide palm.  “Well, this material takes a bit more time to digest properly, yeah?  It’s not really meant to be read and regurgitated - it takes some proper time to process and think about what the relationships we’re discussing mean to a larger world view.”  He flicked his eyes up to Poppy’s in a silent question of her understanding.  Poppy nodded slowly as she thought about his words.  

“Well what exactly do you recommend?  I mean, logistically.”

Niall shifted in his seat nervously.  The answer was staring him in the face, but he was apprehensive as hell to even suggest it lest this girl bolt on him again.  He smirked a bit at the thought that maybe “third time’s the charm”, and let his duty to his students overrule any of the wounded pride still lingering inside him.  “I think you need a tutor, Poppy.  You need to read the material and then be discussing it with someone.  Usually I suggest a study group, but in this case, I don’t really think any of the other students are up for that.”  Niall saw a flash of embarrassment pass over Poppy’s face and immediately started back tracking.  “No no no, sorry, it’s not because of you personally!  S’just that everyone else is a senior or fifth year.  They’ve all had a lot more background in political theory, so they’re better at it.  Fuck.  Sorry, I’m not trying to say you’re bad at it.  But you kinda are.  Shit, I mean it’s just….I’m sure you’re smart…”  Niall stopped himself and untucked the blue pen perched behind his ear, flinging it down onto his notebook.  “Christ, look - m’ willing to tutor you if you want.  I know you’re not my biggest fan but I’ve got the time, and I thi-”

“Yes!”

Niall gaped in surprise, finding a small amount of comfort in the fact that Poppy’s facial expression seemed to mirror his own.  She’d blurted out her acceptance impulsively and appeared to be shocked that her voice had acted without the support of her brain.

He closed his mouth and nodded.  “Ok then, well I think maybe three times a week to start?  Got my office hours, and then maybe Friday evenings as well?  So we can get ya caught up.  See how the midterm goes and then maybe go down to twice a week?”

Poppy nodded, still feeling as though she was on the cusp of having an out of body experience.  She pulled her planner out of her bag to jot down Niall’s office hours and block out her Friday nights for the next few weeks.  “Okay, that works for me.  Thank you….for doing this.  I know it’s your job and everything, but I just appreciate you taking the time.”  Poppy felt her cheeks blush and was delighted to see that Niall’s face was still tinged pink from his earlier rambling.  

Niall smiled, momentarily blinding Poppy with a flash of perfectly straight, white teeth.  His broad shoulder shrugged casually.  “S’no problem.  Want you to do well, I mean I want all my students to do well.  Wouldn’t be much of a teacher if my students were failin’ left and right, now would I?”

Poppy laughed lightly and shook her head.  “No, probably not.  I better run though, I’m sure you’re busy.  Thank you.  Again.  I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Niall clasped his hands behind his head and nodded.  “You got it.  I’ll see ya tomorrow.”  

Poppy turned to head out the door, but stopped just as she reached the threshold.  She spun around and dug into her bag, rooting around for something.  Niall stared questioningly at her, figuring she’d forgotten to hand in her work from class.  A moment later she thrust a flat, black piece of metal towards him shyly and he smirked when he realized what it was.  He reached forward and delicately plucked the phone out of her outstretched hand.  With a playful smile Poppy cleared her throat.

“Niall, can I have your phone number?”

[aspaceblogyssey]

Best and Worst Things of 2016

Whew, what a lovely five month hiatus. I'm finally posting my best and worst list for the year 2016. After this post I will probably cocoon again...popping up occasionally. Mind you I am still lurking on everyone's blogs. You may see me pop in every now and then. Although I may not update it often, this blog will continue as long as I watch films and have breath! So hopefully this blog will continue to run for a very long time...albeit intermittently. Admittedly I have seen a good number of films this past year, but I have not have an opportunity to write about them all. The reasons why are abundant. I am in my late 30s, in grad school, have a 3 year old, a husband, and a full time job. So unfortunately this year, my blog went by the wayside. I hope you enjoy my best and worst list for 2016. Please share with me yours, agree, or disagree with me in the comments. I look forward to reconnecting with everyone. I preface my film list by saying that I don't necessarily qualify this list as the best films of the year. They are simply the best films I HAVE seen thus far this past year. I think 2015 was a much better year at the movies. Have I mentioned that 2016 was a bad movie year?

10. The Shallows. 

IT'S OKAY...NO SHARKS COME HERE.

Surfer [to Nancy]

Similar to 'Don't Breathe,' this little horror movie snuck up on me. I didn't have high expectations so I was pleasantly surprised that a movie with a plot of "Blake Lively versus a shark" was good, but it really was. That was it. That's the plot. 'Jaws' has been done before so there's no need to go there. That said, for this film--simplicity works. Some of the best horror films have very simple plots. Lively does a surprising good job as a medical student on vacation, attempting to follow in her mother's footsteps (who recently passed away). As long as you don't take this film seriously you will enjoy it. 9. Free State of Jones.

'CAUSE YOU CANNOT OWN A CHILD OF GOD.

Moses [to Newton]

Similar to above, I enjoyed this film, but I don't necessarily qualify it as one of the best films of the year. I had such high hopes for this film because of the fascinating material, but the film's lack of focus is it's greatest hindrance. A good biopic does not have to tell the subject's whole life story or that of their descendants. The film is ultimately a biopic about Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), who was clearly a man ahead of his time and who led a very interesting life. His story and the story of Jones County, Mississippi is a story that has been lost to history and it's a story that should be told. In the hands of a better writer and director--this film could have been epic. For example, the biopic 'Lincoln' focuses exclusively on a few months in the life of President Lincoln, during a very interesting time during his life (the passage of the 13th Amendment/Abolition of Slavery). Had the 'Free State of Jones' focused on one time period of Newton Knight's life, a mildly good film could have been a great one. Overall a good, yet flawed film. See my full review here. 8. Ghostbusters. 

WHY AM I OPERATING THE UNTESTED NUCLEAR LASER?

Erin [to Jillian]

'Ghostbusters' 2016 is by no means one of the best films of the year. Wow, I'm saying that a lot this year. It's not a film without flaws--one of the biggest flaws was the removal of the key master/gate keeper storyline. That storyline made the original 'Ghostbusters' film genuinely scary. But I laughed so hard at this film. This film got so much heat and everyone talked so much crap about it, but it's a popcorn movie. It's not meant to be taken seriously or win awards. It's a summertime feel good flick. We don't need to read anything else into it. Yes, the original 1984 'Ghostbusters' is a beloved film and a classic, but 'Ghostbusters' 2016 is not really a remake. It's an entirely new film with fresh characters who happen to be Ghostbusters. I had a great time watching this film with my friends! So yeah, it's one of my favorite films of 2016. I'll own the hate I get for this choice! See my full review here. 7. Allied. 

I'M VERY GOOD AT PRETENDING, MAX.

Marianne [to Max]

This movie received mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it. It was entertaining and it kept me engaged. Brad Pitt (Max Vatan) and Marion Cotilard (Marianne Beausejour) star as two spies who fall in love in Casablanca during a deadly mission. How much more romantic can that be? Canadian spy Max Vatan. Vatan infiltrates German-held Casablanca in order to assassinate the German ambassador. He enlists the help of a French spy, Marianne Beausejour. Once they finish their mission they subsequently fall in love and return to England to continue to fight the war. From the film's trailer you can ascertain that Marianne is later accused of being a double agent. Vatan has to get to the bottom of it. If it's determined that his wife is a double agent he will have to kill her. The film wasn't as predictable as I thought it would be, so that was a big plus. It's not necessarily a film I would see again, but it's a good date night film. My dad enjoyed the film if that gives you any indication how the film appeals to a broad audience. My only complaint is that Hollywood needs to stop pretending that Brad Pitt is 35 years old. Heck, I'm not even 35 years old anymore and I was a young teen when Brad Pitt was a heartthrob in the 90s. Putting enough makeup on 53 year old Brad Pitt to make him look 35 is a little disconcerting every time I see it. I wish Pitt (as well as a few other A-list male actors in Hollywood--like Will Smith and Tom Cruise) would stop trying to look 25 to 30 years younger in their films. It just doesn't work. A little salt and pepper in the hair and not so much makeup would go a long way. There is nothing wrong with a good looking 50+ year old man who looks like a 50+ year old man.

Side Note: My dad is my movie partner and he's typically very naughty. He talks during the film, passes gas, and litters. He's terrible. This time was no exception. On this occasion we finally came across someone who was worse than he was. My father is hard of hearing so he asks me what happened or what someone said or he makes a comment about something happening in the film. My father views the movies as an interactive experience. Every time my father made a peep, the old man behind me would kick the seat a few seats down from me. And I mean he was kicking this seat hard. He kicked that seat during the entire film, which rattled the other seats next to it. I'm surprised I don't have whiplash. So if there was a reason to not like this film that would be it...so clearly this was a decent movie.

6. 10 Cloverfield Lane.

I'M ALWAYS WATCHING.

Howard [to Emmett]

Again, had this been a year other than 2016 (and perhaps if I had seen more films) this movie may not have been on my best list. Geez, 2015's list had so many wonderful little films on it...like 'Bone Tomahawk' and 'It Follows.' Neither '10 Cloverfield Lane,' 'The Shallows,' or 'Purge: Election Year' are of the same caliber, but this is where we are. However, '10 Cloverfield Lane' is an effective thriller. As a sequel/prequel to the original 2008 'Cloverfield' film, one would expect '10 Cloverfield Lane' to "go big," but instead "it goes home." LITERALLY. It delves into the psychology of claustrophobia and  paranoia. What I liked most about the film is that it unfolds as a psychological horror film, rather than a creature feature. This film is a fun, tightly woven little thriller deserving of a must see list. See my full review here. 5. Purge: Election Year.

THIS IS THE AMERICAN WAY.

Uncle Sam

I actually think this film would have landed on my best list no matter what. I loved this frightening insane film. The Purge films are my guilty pleasure. The 'Purge' films get a lot of flack. After all, these are not highbrow films, nor do they stimulate intellectual conservation. And yes these films are violent, but thankfully, writer and director James DeMonaco never crosses the line into "torture porn" territory. The horror of the film is primarily in the minds of the participants. The tension is created in the idea of "what could happen" and less on what is actually happening. But what these films lack in critical acclaim, they more than make up for in their entertainment value. Lastly, these films are highly allegorical. The symbolism and social satire in these films only add to its charm. A must see for any horror fan who loves metaphorical films like 'Equilibrium,' THX-1138' or 'Fahrenheit 451.' See my full review here. 4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

THERE'S A PROBLEM ON THE HORIZON.

THERE IS NO HORIZON.

K-2SO

The ending of this film saved it for me. 'Rogue One' is the 'Star Wars' prequel we've been waiting for. 'Rogue One' follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as the daughter of a disgraced empire scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). Jyn's story is about the creation of the death star and how the resistance learned of the death star's major flaws and who put it there. The film follows Jyn as she searchers for her father with the help of a merry band of outlaws. Her mission turns into a mission to save the republic. In one fail swoop, this film shatters the need for any of the craptastic prequels of the 90s and early 2000s. It's a typical 'Star Wars' film in many ways, with regard to the action sequences, the camaraderie, and moral quandaries. Where this film breaks the mold is in its ending, which I will not spoil for you here. If I had one complaint about the film it would be the gross under use of Donnie Yen. You don't put a Hong Kong action star like Donnie Yen in the film and not properly use him. 3. Don't Breathe.

IT'S KIND OF MESSED UP TO ROB 

A BLIND GUY, ISN'T IT? 

Alex

This film would have landed on my best list regardless. Although I don't know if it would have been rated as high. 'Don't Breathe' was the last film I fully reviewed on this blog because it took me by surprise. I didn't know anything about it before I went to the theater, but 'Don't Breathe' is a slick little horror film, with a great cast, and a thrilling (yet unbelievable) plot. Admittedly, the film has enough plot holes to drive a truck through it, but it kept me on the edge of my seat--which is hard to do. What I liked about the film is that none of the characters are particularly likable. This is one of the few horror films in which there are no heroes. It was such an entertaining nail bitter. The casting of the magnificent Stephen Lang cinched things for me. The film's premise is simple-- a home invasion gone wrong...and oh boy do things go wrong. See my full review here. 2. Captain America: Civil War. 

THAT SHIELD DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU.

YOU DON'T DESERVE IT.

Tony Stark [to Captain America]

It's kind of sad (for other films) when a comic book film is one of the best films of the year. Seriously Hollywood step it up. The film ran a little long, but kudos to directors Anthony and Joe Russo for creating another wonderful comic book film. DC Comics and Warner Brothers can learn a lot from this duo. The first step to ending DC Comic's madness would be to stop giving money to Zack Synder or David Ayers. Back to 'Civil War'-- this film is a little gem among comic book films. The great thing about 'Civil War' is that it truly felt like an 'Avengers' film. 'Civil War' was the Avengers film that 'Age of Ultron' should have been. When I reviewed 'Age of Ultron' in 2015 I thought the problem was that there were too many characters to feature. Yet 'Civil War' has even more characters. The difference between 'Civil War' and 'Age of Ultron' is that 'Civil War' features Captain America at its heart and rightfully so. Whereas 'Age of Ultron' was all over the place, 'Civil War' is focused. More credit should be given to Chris Evans and his portrayal of Captain America. It's not easy play a genuine "good guy." Evans continues to do it well. He's perhaps the best embodiment of a comic book hero since Christopher Reeve's Superman. See my full review here. 1. Arrival. 

IF YOU COULD SEE YOUR WHOLE LIFE FROM 

START TO FINISH, WOULD YOU CHANGE THINGS?

Dr. Louise Banks.

This film was so lovely, magical, and well-written. Most scifi films about aliens have major action stars attached with huge explosions and gun fights. So it's rare to see a non-shoot 'em up science fiction films these days, but that's just not how director Denis Villeneuve's (Sicario) rolls. With 'Sicario,' and now with 'Arrival,' Villeneuve may be my new favorite director. Villeneuve's slow, tense, methodical style carries over to his latest film 'Arrival.' Villeneuve also seems adept at directing smart scripts with female protagonists-- a rare quality in Hollywood. 'Arrival' is a muted scifi film that still manages to be exciting. It's also not linear, so things happen out of order, which add to the film's tension. I haven't seen a scifi film quite like this one. The closest example I can give is the 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.' Not the crappy Kenau Reeves version, but the original 1954 film. Another film I would compare it to would be one of my favorite films, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' 'Arrival' begins where it ends with a grieving mother. We aren't quite sure who is grieving or why, but it's a sad start to a beautiful film. Oblivious to world events, linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is lecturing her class when 12 alien ships land on earth. She is soon asked to join the alien taskforce by U.S. Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), along with physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). The film unwinds as Banks and Donnelly unravel the mystery of the aliens language, which is based on circular symbols and is non-alphabetical. It's a fascinating film about language and the commonality that binds us. 'Arrival' would have definitely been on my best of the year list, but I'm not certain if it would have been the best movie of the year if 2016 had been a better film year? That does not take away the beauty and mystery of this film. It's not a perfect film, but it hits a lot of high marks, which is more than I can say for most films in 2016.

Had I been able to see some of the films listed below, I firmly believe one of these films would have replaced 'Arrival' as my best film of the year and would have been pushed off many of the films currently on my list. Unfortunately, I haven't seen these films yet. Jackie. Loving. Nocturnal Animals. Fences. Miss Sloane. Hidden Figures. Silence. Conjuring 2.

These are the films that were halfway decent. They didn't make the cut on any list. Some of these films I enjoyed more than others. Money Monster. - TWO-1/2 STARS Lights Out. - THREE STARS Bad Moms. - THREE STARS Hail Ceasar. -  TWO-1/2 STARS Hush. - TWO-1/2 STARS Star Trek Beyond. - THREE STARS. I don't even remember what happened. Jane Got a Gun. - TWO STARS Nice Guys. - THREE STARS

Pete's Dragon. - THREE STARS

Thandie Newton. West World.

Thandie Newton's performance was not necessarily the best performance on 'West World.' No, that prize would go to Anthony Hopkins. Jeffrey Wright would be a close second. But Newton's character was my favorite. Her confident, cocky, call girl was wistful and fun to watch. She's the only character to break through to both worlds in such a fascinating way. She's smart, vulnerable, powerful, charismatic, and oh so cheeky. Like other actors, her performance was nuanced, particularly when she reveals her curiosity and her heartbreak. I'm excited to see her character continue on the series. Newton was nothing short of sensational to watch. Ben Affleck aka "Batfleck." Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

I want to preface that the film was not good. In fact it's on my worst list, but say what you want about Ben Affleck he was a darn good Batman. Despite the haters I knew this would be the case early on for several reasons: 1.) Affleck is a decent actor, writer, and director; 2.) Batman is the ultimate American male. There is something quintessentially American about Batman. No offense to Christian Bale, but there are some slight cultural differences that do not necessarily translate across the pond. Similar to the British James Bond or Doctor Who. 3.) Perhaps most importantly, Affleck is the first actor to bring the appropriate level of rage, anger, and madness to Batman. I love Michael Keaton's Batman, but somehow even in a subpar film, Affleck was able to capture this character in full form. Kudos to Affleck. Now if only we can get him in a better film, with a better director. I have no idea why Warner Brothers and DC Comics keep handing the director of 'Sucker Punch' hundreds of millions of dollars?

West World. 

West World was the best show I saw in 2016. Hands down. Anthony Hopkins is a prince among men. I don't know if a finer actor exists in this lifetime. The rest of the cast was wonderful too. Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and the remarkable Ed Harris are all wonderful. This show. Geez, this show. This is what television should be about. Television should be an incredible experience every week. It should not be about "shipping" or wondering which of your favorite characters is going to die each week a la 'The Walking Dead.' Hopkins plays the enigmatic West World creator Robert Ford. For those who haven't seen the 70's pulp film, West World is a theme park populated by robotic "people" (called hosts) who are used as entertainment for the rich and infamous (guests). The guests routinely rape, murder, and exploit these sentient robotic beings for their own pleasures. It's a brutal world with a hidden mystery that only deepens as we descend further down the rabbit hole and watch the hosts and guests find their ways through this muddled existence. The People Versus OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.

TOUGHEN UP COCHRANE.

THIS IS THE SMOKER'S LOUNGE.

DAYCARE IS ON THE FIRST FLOOR.

Marcia Clark [to Johnny Cochrane]

Riveting, fascinating, incredible. These are a few of the adjectives I would use to describe this show. Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark was transcendent. I don't think there was a finer performance in 2016, besides Hopkins in West World...and that's Anthony Hopkins. Likewise, Courtney B. Vance as Johnny Cochrane is crazy good. Similar to 'West World,' nearly everyone in this series if fantastic. High marks to creators Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and producer Ryan Murphy for delivering a stellar sister show to 'American Horror Story.' This is what happens when the writing, the direction, and the actors all come together in a perfect symphony. There were very few weak links here. Sterling Brown as Christopher Darden, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian, Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey, Connie Nielson as Faye Resnick, were all close seconds behind Paulson and Vance. Surprisingly John Travolta as Robert Shapiro was very very good. I didn't find Cuba Gooding Jr. as convincing but he does good work here too. I remember being a young High School student when OJ Simpson took his infamous ride after the horrifying murders. It was a terrible terrible time. After watching this mini-series, clearly I only knew the half of it. This series is just mind boggling good. So even if you remember the mid-90s and think you know what happened--you really don't. The series also re-emphasizes the humanity lost that night--the lives of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Somehow the murders of these two people were lost in the media madness. The series brings the tragedy of their murders to the forefront, along with a behind the scenes look into the trail of the century and the people behind it. If you haven't seen this series you simply must.

The Exorcist.

Wow, just wow. I have only seen the original 1973 'The Exorcist' all the way through one time in my life. I assume I saw it on VHS in the late 80s or early 90s. Once was enough. The film terrified me so badly I vowed to never watch it again. IMO it's the scariest movie film I've ever seen and I have seen a lot of films. Needless to say, I was very hesitant to watch this show, but the casting of Geena Davis changed my mind. I was not disappointed. 'The Exorcist' television series is completely unpredictable and fresh. The fourth episode felt like a season finale. Unlike the overtly predictable 'The Walking Dead,' 'The Exorcist' writers know how to write good television without stupid cliffhangers or killing off characters for ratings. 'The Walking Dead' is so predictable that even the hardcore fans have stopped watching the show, excluding the premieres, the mid-season finale, and the season finale. The ratings have fallen to season 3 levels, which doesn't surprise me. Similar to 'Westworld,' 'The Exorcist' threw the television play book out the window and decided to write each episode like it could be its last. So strap in and get ready for a wild ride . You haven't seen television like this in a loooong while. And what a relief that there are actually good writers left in the world. But my favorite thing about this show is that in the end--good always conquers evil. American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare. 

This season got a lot of flack, but I really enjoyed Season 6. It was insane, hilarious, and scary. All of these three things add up to one heck of a season. The series actually made both my mother and sister think it was one of those fake "haunted house" shows. No matter what I told them they literally believed it was a "haunted house" show on the Discovery Channel. It was pretty funny. I had to explain to them on multiple occasions that these are actors, playing actors, playing actors. They still didn't get it. So hats off to Ryan Murphy this year. My Roanoke Nightmare follows the macabre tale of Shelby Miller (Lily Rabe), played by Audrey (played by Sarah Paulson) and her husband Matt Miller (Andre Holland), played by Dominic Banks (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who move to a haunted house near Roanoke, North Carolina. The casting of Paulson and Gooding is clearly a nod to their roles in 'The People v's OJ Simpson,' where they played Marcia Clark and OJ Simpson. I found Cuba's performance to be much better in 'Roanoke' than in 'The People v's OJ Simpson.' Miller's troubled sister Lee played by Adina Porter (who is subsequently played by Angela Basset) soon joins them. The house has normal bouts of spookiness throughout the year, but when the blood moon comes out it's on y'all. That's when the ghostly murderous pilgrims arrive. Thomasin White played by Agnes Winstead (Kathy Bates) and her son Ambrose White played by Dylan (Wes Bentley) come out to terrorize their new neighbors and create a reality television phenomenon. Now that I read all this "played by" stuff I realize how confusing this must be for someone who doesn't regularly watch the show and who isn't familiar with the anthology series regulars. Ok no wonder my mom and sister couldn't understand this. Stranger Things. 

I was but a wee tadpole in 1983, but I do remember the 1980s. I can attest to the nostalgia of 'Stranger Things.' My husband is a few years older than me, so his middle school picture looks like he was plucked out of 'Stranger Things.' When watching 'Stranger Things' he relived much of his childhood. Afternoons spent in a dank basement playing Dungeons and Dragons, Huffy bicycles with banana seats, baseball caps (he still wears the baseball caps), mullets (he lost the mullet thankfully). According to him, the writers nailed it. Why anyone finds the 1980s to be nostaglic I will never know? Besides 'The Goonies' I don't remember why the 80s is considered such a great time? It certainly wasn't a great time for me. The 1990s was way more fun IMO. I digress. Surprisingly, Matt and Ross Duffer, the brother writing and directing duo (Millennials who were barely born in the 80s) hit the nail on the head.  This show hit all the right marks. My only complaint is that I'm a little tired of seeing 80s adventures for pre-teen boys. Thankfully there was at least one pre-pubescent girl along for this ride this time. 'Stranger Things' follows the adventures of three teen boys who go in search of one of their missing friends, but instead happen upon a mysterious young girl who has super powers. You can see my previous review of the series here. The OA.

Wow, what a weird little show. I still don't know what happened. Was it a beautifully woven fairy tale or a dimensional rift? I don't know. What I do know is that the 'OA' kept my eyes glued to the screen for the full eight episodes...all the way to the end. The first episode is a little slow and difficult to get through but once Prairie Johnson (Britt Marling) weaves her bizarre tale as to why and how she disappeared for eight years, she draws you in. Johnson has been rendered blind by a childhood accident. She disappears for eight years, but returns suddenly with her sight restored. The mystery behind her identity and her disappearance unravels before you in a remarkably beautiful story. Black Mirror. Season 3.

Season 3 of 'Black Mirror' started with a bang, starring Dallas Bryce Howard and Alice Eve. Like other wonderful long lost shows, the British anthology has transitioned to Netflix. 'The Twilight Zone'-like series frequently discusses the perils of social media and technology. The first episode 'Nosedive' has a 'Pleasantville' on drugs vibe. Everyone has a social media rating on a scale from 0 to 5 in which people rank their interactions with you. Howard's character is a classic overachiever, but can't seem to break past her score of 4.2. When her childhood best friend and social media darling asks her to be her maid of honor she jumps at the chance but things don't go as planned. Howard's character proceeds to have an epic meltdown. It's a wonderful metaphor for our overly obsessed social media culture. But my favorite episode thus far has been 'San Junipero' with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and MacKenzie Davis. It begins with a heavy dose of 80's nostaglia. Two women played by Mbatha-Raw and Davis meet in a 1980's club in San Junipero. Their unfolding relationship is both beautiful and tragic. The episode touches on big themes like aging, infirmity, and immortality. These two episodes of the third season are an absolute must-see. This episode reminded me just how good of an actress Gugu is. She's brilliant and should get more work immediately! Flash. Season 3.

Flash is a sweet little feel-good television series. It's so much fun to watch, relax, and unwind with. It's not meant to be taken seriously or have deep thoughts. It's just one of those light and airy shows that you don't have to think about it. The writers are actually quite good. 'Gotham' is a close second. 'Gotham' reminds me a lot of Tim Burton's 'Batman' films--it's kitschy, dark, humorous, and colorful. It should be noted that there is a such thing as a bad superhero television show--if 'Legends of Tomorrow' and 'Supergirl' Season 2 are any indication. The Fall. Season 3.

There aren't that many slow moving, procedural dramas that peak my interest. Perhaps it's the casting of Gillian Anderson as Master Detective Stella Gibson. It certainly isn't the casting of emotionless robot Jamie Dornan who plays serial killer Paul Spector. I've frequently said that acting wise Dornan is near comatose automaton. He seems like a genuinely nice person, but I don't find him to be an engaging actor. I assume his popularity has risen exclusively because of his casting in 'The Fifty Shades of Grey' franchise, which is frankly sad. Thankfully the show has Anderson, John Lynch as ACC Burns, and Colin Morgan as DS Tom Anderson. Season 3 picks up after Gibson finally nabs serial killer Paul Spector after two seasons of cat and mouse. Season 3 follows Spector's recovery from being shot and Gibson's efforts to build a court case against him. The third season is muted but powerful.

I've been on a self-help kick this year. So of course my favorite books have been non-fiction. Rising Strong by Brene Brown Tidying Up by Marie Kondo Love Warrior by Glennon Melton Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown On my list to read: Ready Player One. 

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I tried to like this book, but ultimately Rubin came across as entitled and elitist. I couldn't get past some of the things she actually considers to be problems.

The Walking Dead. Season 7. 

Clearly you saw this coming from my rants above. Kill it before it dies. Please someone cancel this show. If the season 6 "mid-season finale Glen death fakeout" didn't convince you that the writers enjoyed trolling you-- the season finale did. The Walking Dead Season 6 finale was probably one of the worst finales I've ever seen on television. The writers brazenly created the dumbest cliffhanger ever...just to mess with the very people who made the show successful. Simply put--they got greedy and sloppy. They naively thought that their tried and true formula of screwing over the fans to generate huge ratings for the season premiere would work again. Not so fast. Now people are on to you. Everyone knows that nothing happens until the mid-season premiere, mid-season finale, and season finale. So guess what happened. After the season premiere, TWD had a huge rating drop. The ratings dropped to Season 3 levels. If I'm honest, the ratings drop was well deserved and I hope it continues. TWD needs to go away. NOW. Yes, I am a hardcore fan and comic book reader. The Return of the 'X-Files.' Season 10.

Ok if you know anything about me you know that I LOVE THE 'X-FILES!' I love this show. I remember watching the first episode in 1993. In the late 90s, I remember watching an episode of the 'X-Files' while waiting for my friends to pick me up for my prom. When my husband and I were newly together, we watched the series finale of the 'X-Files' together and cried. It was one of the things we bonded over! I have literally seen every episode of this show. So I am hardcore fan. Imagine my disappointment that the new 'X-Files' of 2016 was terrible. It was just awful...besides the third episode, which was classic monster of the week 'X-Files.' Every other episode in the 10th season left much to be desired. I don't know what happened? I hope the 'X-Files' comes back again with better scripts. David Duchovny said it best--when a show has been off the air for 14 years things are a little rusty. So perhaps the next season will be wonderful. I'm hopeful there will be a limited season 11 and that it will improve.

My worst list has been seriously culled this year. I made myself a promise that I would not watch as many crappy films this year. I have also chopped films with known diversity issues. Thankfully I have kept that promise. So I honestly haven't seen that many films this year. I know...what's wrong with a movie blogger who doesn't see that many movies? Well, I just couldn't grin and bear watching so much crap anymore. I just couldn't do it. Although I did try to watch some of the bad movies on Netflix or Amazon. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I made it through about 20 to 30 minutes of the film and then had to turn it off. I couldn't do it. I can't even give you a proper review because I didn't see the full film. Batman versus Superman - Dawn of Justice. 

I actually ended up seeing this film a couple of times...accidentally. After all who in their right mind would see this film more than once? The first scene with Batman's parents being killed was actually visually quite stunning. It was tragically sad, but well filmed. Unfortunately the film went downhill from there. The only two good things that came out of that film were Batfleck and the introduction of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Gal seemed to be the only one having any fun in this dismal film. Gods of Egypt. 

It just happened to be on cable television at my dad's house, so I was forced to watch the first 10 minutes. Alas I could only get through 10 minutes of this sludge. It was that bad. My time is far too precious to watch bad movies. I would rather watch paint dry than finish this film. There were no redeeming qualities. The first 10 minutes of the film were basically about Bek (Brenton Thwaites) a thief stealing a beautiful dress for Zaya (Courtney Eaton) his hot girlfriend who he shares a hut with. Then we see some of the Egyptian gods in the form of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau recovering from a hangover by taking a bath 'Coming to America'-style. i.e. being bathed by scantily clothed women. Yep, no thank you. Over and out. This film was on my "no" list from the very beginning. The diversity issues in this film are plentiful, so there was no way I was going to pay to watch this film. Blair Witch. 

It started out fine, but this genre is so dead. Literally. There were some genuinely creeptastic parts in this film that freaked me out, but overall this movie was boring. My dad almost walked out. No joke. My dad and I have only almost walked out on three films, 'Batman and Robin' and 'Alien v. Predator: Requiem.' So 'Blair Witch' is in bad company. The ending was relatively decent, but the plot never truly came together. I can't even. Neon Demon.

I so wanted to like this moody film. It reminded me a little bit of 'Cat People' (1982) and 'The Hunger' (1983), both of which I adore. I also loved Nicolas Winding Refn's iconic film 'Drive.' Alas, magic in a bottle may only come once in a lifetime. I'm not sure what happened to this film, but it was a little weird even for me. The plot is basically--the models are literally witches who want to eat the angelic newcomer Jesse (Elle Fanning). Interesting concept for sure, but the film was in desperate need of more susbtance. Some of the characters were fun and strange, but it never found its footing. I wish there had been more Christina Hendricks. More Christina Hendricks may have saved this film for me. 13 Hours. The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

One of things my dad and I do together is see movies--his genre of choice is action and war movies, so despite the reviews of course we saw '13 Hours.' But when a war film gets the Michael Bay treatment be warned. Bay is known for his sensationalism and this film suffers because of it. Unfortunately, '13 Hours' doesn't receive the treatment it deserved. Given that this film is based on true events, I would have liked to have seen a more respectful treatment of the material. Had Ridley Scott or Kathryn Bigelow directed this film, I would have enjoyed the film much more. London Has Fallen. 

Gerard Butler needs to stop making movies. Now. This was a follow-up from 'Olympus Has Fallen.' It's an over-exploitative shoot-em up film about terrorists infiltrating London. Somehow only Secret Service Agent Mike Banning can stop them. Jack Bauer he is not. Girl on the Train. 

It started out fine, but it soon descends into utter idiocy. Emily Blunt is a solid actress and the other actors are good too. The main problem is the material. The film was marketed as another 'Gone Girl,' but compared to the brilliance of Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl,' Erin Wilson's 'The Girl on a Train' doesn't hold up. Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) is an alcoholic who spends her days and her nights on a commuter train longing for the life and the house she once shared with her husband David (Justin Theroux). Through the window of the train she watches her husband's new life with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Furguson) and their new baby. In the process she develops a fascination with her ex-husband's neighbors, Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans). As she spies on them she imagines this perfect couple have equally perfect lives, but looks can be deceiving. Megan goes missing and her husband stands accused. Could the girl on the train have the answers to her disappearance? Deepwater Horizon.

It's not a bad movie, but it's not a particularly good one. Deepwater Horizon had such a tragic and sad topic that I wish it would have been handled in a more serious manner. No offense to Peter Berg, who is the star of one of my favorite B-movie films of all time ('Shocker'), but the director of 'Battleship' and 'Hancock' simply cannot do justice to a film about the 'Deepwater Horizon.' Like '13 Hours,' it was an over simplification of the events. I would have much preferred to see 'Deepwater Horizon' done in the tradition of 'Spotlight,' 'Zodiac,' or the 'China Syndrome.' I wanted to see a film that took it's time unraveling the tragedy that took 11 lives, polluted an ocean, and destroyed the local economy of the gulf coast-- instead of  an action film. Note to self, if Mark Walberg is starring... The Forest.

Natalie Dormer stars as a woman searching for her missing twin sister. Her sister disappeared into a forest in Japan known to be a place where people frequently commit suicide. It's a little far fetched, but go with it. It only gets worse from here. January release was the first clue.

I'm not going to waste two hours of my life to watch a crappy movie anymore. My time is valuable. So I significantly culled my movie review list in 2016. Had the reviews been better I would have likely seen the films below. The Huntsman: Winter's War. The Boss. X-Men: Apocalypse. Alice Through the Looking Glass. Independence Day: Resurgence. The Legend of Tarzan. Jason Bourne. Mechanic Resurrection . Sully. Magnificent Seven. The Accountant. Assassin's Creed. Passengers. Suicide Squad. 

I am a huge DC fan, so it saddens me to say that I had to skip this film. I may eventually watch this movie on Netflix if I drink enough wine to make it worth it. I could literally cry at how DC and Warner Brothers are mismanaging their film catalog with talentless directors and bad writers. I do not like Marvel nearly as much, but even I have to admit Marvel (Disney) knows how to use their catalog properly. Most importantly--they hire good people. Seriously, it can't be this hard. I am perplexed how/why the WB and DC keep handing hundreds of millions of dollars to the likes of David Ayers and Zack Synder. It just boggles the mind. Even after Ayer's disastrous take on 'Suicide Squad,' someone at WB thinks it's a great idea to hand over the reins to this near-do-well again for the Harley Quinn film. What fresh hell is this?

Manchester by Sea. Not my type of film. It looks boring. I also do not want to support raging sexual harasser Casey Affleck. La La Land.  I seriously have no interest in seeing this film. Someone will have to convince me this is actually a good movie and not just propped up by the Academy because Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone "do" jazz.

Doctor Strange 

As I've said in previous posts, I'm not going to pay to see films like 'Doctor Strange,' 'Ghost in the Shell,' 'Pan,' or 'Gods of Egypt' or other films with known diversity issues. I adore Tilda Swinton. She and Scarlett Johansson are probably my favorite actresses of all time. No joke. Admittedly, I admire the emails Tilda sent to Margaret Cho in response to the casting issues. Tilda's emails made me love her even more. The problem is not Tilda, but Hollywood at large. If you recall a post I did last year explaining my new policy of "putting my money where my mouth is." I'm not going to get angry or stomp my feet or create twitter hashtags. If a film isn't representative of people of color or women I just won't see it. When I say representative I mean representative of the culture and the time the film is set in. If it's set amongst the wealthy houses of Victorian England-- I wouldn't necessarily expect to see much diversity. However, if it's set in 2017 New York City in an urban neighborhood then yes, more diversity should be included. If a character is a Tibetan monk, then perhaps the character should be played by someone of Asian descent? There are very few roles for people of color in Hollywood, so to change one of those few roles only worsens the diversity issue in Hollywood. I also understand the concern people have about changing white characters to people of color. I have said before that if a character is iconic then it's understandable to maintain that character's ethnicity. But there are very few characters that would fit that iconic classification. The Bechdel Test In the same vein, I am trying to see films that pass the Bechdel Test. Meaning: At least two female characters are named and talk to each other. That's it. Just two. Amazingly most films cannot pass this test. Again a disclaimer, if I'm watching a film like 'Saving Private Ryan,' I do not expect a film to pass the Bechdel test. Also films like 'Sicario' or 'Gravity' are an exception. These films may only have one female cast member, but she's the lead character. But there's no reason that the entire 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, or 'The Avengers,' does not pass the Bechdel test. Women are 50% of the population for goodness sake.

Birth of a Nation. 

I may get some flack for not seeing this, but I refuse to see a film that Nate Parker and writing partner Jean Celestin make. Making matters worse Parker turned this film into a vanity project by starring in it. And yes, I hold Woody Allen and Roman Polanski to the same standard. I haven't seen an Allen film since 'Midnight in Paris' and I don't plan on seeing any of his films either. There are several directors and actors who are on my "nope" list, Parker is one of them. Casey Affleck is also one of them.