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multimetaverse · 4 years ago

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HSMTMTS 2x09 Review

Spring Break was a bit of an odd ep but helped move some key plots forward. Let’s dig in!

Well people can no longer claim that Portwell is one sided. We finally got Gina’s pov and she starts off the ep uncertain whether the shift in their relationship means that EJ likes her but by the end of the ep she seems sure of herself and that EJ likes her back. I liked that she didn’t try to pretend that nothing had changed or that she hadn’t noticed potential signs that EJ might like her; it always sucks when tv characters act like idiots.

Perhaps the most important reveal of this ep was that Gina has a much older estranged brother who left her and her mom many years ago. That certainly makes her backstory more tragic and is definite set up for her brother to eventually return.

The writers continue to give Portwell great tropes, capping this ep off with an airport rom-com trope that also calls back to EJ getting Gina the place ticket so she could come back in S1. Not only did Gina keep EJ’s Duke sweatshirt but she altered it to fit her better which is both sweet and bold in the assumption that it was hers to keep. Gina got her sign when not only did EJ show up to drive Gina home and take her luggage but he brought her the granola bar that she had wanted but forgot to pack. I wonder if her posting on her story that she was ubering home after her flight was cancelled was intended to see if EJ would show up since the camera focused on her posting it. Also sweet that she’s taken to calling EJ, ‘ Eej’.

EJ’s opening was good, shows a lot of his character growth from the selfish guy he was in S1 and how he’s learned to value other people which of course leads into his feelings for Gina. We got another great use of the camera as character tonight when Gina was laughing after her facetime call with EJ until she realized that the camera was on her.

Jack was a lot of fun. Though he didn’t really change Gina’s mind over anything like the ep description said he would. Seemed like Gina was largely over Ricky and wondering about EJ at the beginning and the end solidified her feelings for EJ but Jack didn’t really play a role in that, it’s not like he encouraged Gina to reach out to EJ or anything. There’s a vague sense in which Jack being nomadic linked him to Ricky’s unreliability in Gina’s eyes with her craving stability but that’s a stretch. Jack mentioned that the second most dangerous part of a plane ride is when the plane takes off, a hint to the blossoming Portwell relationship where in order to take off one or both of them has to risk a confession even though they could be turned down.

This ep might seem a bit weird in hindsight. The zoom parts probably won’t age well and five years from now people might be wondering why they had Gina hang out with a manic pixie dream boy of sorts for an ep.

The path is clear for canon Portwell in the finale with EJ being Gina’s second chance at romance and her first kiss since they clearly telegraphed it out of nowhere. I’ve been impressed with the great work the writers have been doing since 2x05 to build up Portwell as a ship but also work on Gina and EJ as individual characters; they’ve been the highlight of the season so far.

There was discourse this past week over how well or poorly Portwell has been set up. Objectively very few ships on this show get much in the way of set up or consistent writing. Redlyn and Kowie had barely any set up before getting together. Seblos had none (though in fairness that was due to Disney restrictions) and Miss Jenn and Mike Bowen didn’t have much set up either. Rini did get lots of development in S1 but that’s because they had already dated and were the main ship of the show. The show’s not really about slow burns, if Jenzzara canons in the finale they’ll count and if Rina ever got together they’d also count but neither of those ships have gotten consistent development with Mazzara not being in several eps and Gina and Ricky not even interacting for the past 3 eps.

Is Portwell a slowburn? In a sense since they did feature quite a bit in each other’s S1 plot lines and even had a fake dating plot but it is true that they were platonic and not that close in S1 so it’s a wash. There was clear set up for romantic Portwell in 1x10 with team wonderstudies and Gina staring at EJ (which interestingly enough looked more like set up for Gina to pine over EJ). I think the main problem is that even though we saw Gina and EJ hanging out in the background we didn’t get any scenes of substance between them until 2x05. It was a mistake and there should have been some scene, like EJ and Gina commiserating in 2x03 over being single on Valentine’s Day or something like that. Hell there was even that still from 2x01 of EJ and Gina looking at each other at the piano while they were in the frame between Ricky and Nini singing and having a moment which would have been good foreshadowing but that shot wasn’t in the ep.

Whether Tim just really wanted Portwell to be a surprise in 2x05 as a mid-season twist to throw the audience off of what looked like a Rini/Rina triangle or he was unsure as to whether he wanted to go with Portwell or if he just planned it out poorly we may never know. Regardless they’ve had great writing for 4 eps in a row now which puts them slightly ahead of the 3 eps in a row of development Rina got in S1. I’m sure if someone added up their screen time they’d find that Portwell has more screen time this season than Kowie and more screen time than Redlyn or Seblos got in S1.

Caswell cousins was fun and Ashlyn did in fact paint EJ’s nails.

Set up for Seblos drama next week, it’s refreshing to see Seb being jealous over Carlos flirting with other boys that’s definitely not something you see on Disney shows.

Ricky got some healing done with his mom. Enough to cover their issues? No but this is probably the best this show is capable of. There was a brief mention of therapy sandwiched between other options which sounds more like checking off a box then setting up Ricky actually going to therapy. I noticed Lynne was smiling at odd times like when she told Ricky she knew about his breakup with Nini; whether that was poor directing or acting I don’t know. Who knows if we’ll see Lynne again. As an aside still so wild that Tim named Lynne who’s been a kinda shitty mom after his own mom who he seems to be fairly close with.

Really liked You ain’t seen nothin as a song but not a fan of the Tiktok style vid. I’ll level with you wildcats, I’m too old to really get Tiktok, it just seems like a crappy version of Vine to me. Let you go was good, seemed better fitted for Joshua Bassett’s voice than some of his previous songs. A big sign that they’re not circling back to Rini for a long time for sure. Though on that note we got a bit of a hint that Ricky was Nini’s muse which may one day come back as a way to help bring them back together.

Looking Ahead:

If there’s only 3 weeks left till the Menkies, with only 2 weeks left for rehearsal due to spring break, it’s hard to see East High winning unless North High is disqualified or has to withdraw.

Lily is in a promo photo so she’s likely the unexpected facetime Ricky gets which is what I had theorized. Also makes it much more likely that she’s the party crasher Ricky re-evaluates in the finale though what Tim actually wants to do with those two I do not know.

There’s little point in bringing back the Valentine’s chocolate since there’s no real stakes. Rini are already broken up, Gina hasn’t spoken to Ricky since 2x06, and it’s not like Nini and Gina were ever close so even if they stopped talking to each other it wouldn’t really affect the show in any way.

Seems pretty likely that Second Chances refers to Gina realizing that her first try with Ricky failed but her second chance with EJ won’t and that leads to her sharing her truth and cue the Portwell confession and kiss, perhaps with an assist on EJ’s end from Mazzara. We’ve gone well past the point where Portwell can be brushed off as just a plot device to help Rina but Tim is playing with fire by getting the audience so on board with Portwell if he’s once again going to have EJ lose a girl he likes to Ricky in S3.

Gina certainly needs to talk with Ricky and I do think that happens in ep 11 or 12 and leaves them on better terms. As I mentioned last week, if Tim was smart he’d slam the door on Rina if he’s going with canon Portwell or vice versa. If he wants Rina to be a slow burn he’s really botched the writing this season, it’s been too one sided and too angsty to sustain any kind of momentum or audience interest. They haven’t even interacted for 3 eps now and not only has it not affected the show but it’s inarguably made Gina’s story line much better. Again I don’t think he’s smart enough to not try and do Portwell and then later Rina but he’s accidentally set up the Rina story line to quite easily slam the door permanently on them by having their conversation be closure for Gina who’s moved on and an apology from Ricky who never liked her back as much as Gina liked him.

Not looking forward to seeing Nini basically live out Olivia Rodrigo’s life in future seasons

Curious to see Carlos’ apology song to Seb. Ricky helping him with it is a great way to help start redeeming Ricky’s character in the audiences eye’s. According to Matt there is a bit of a Ricky/EJ rivalry this season and if it’s really happening the sleepover would be a good place to do it though I hope it’s not about Gina.

Until next week wildcats.

#HSMTMTS #Portwell #Gina Porter #EJ Caswell #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #Seblos #seb matthew-smith #HSMTMTS Reviews

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nugnthopkns · 4 years ago

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june fic round up!

genuinely thought i had more time to do this but that's life baby!! june saw a lot of tears on my part and hopefully lots of light on yours 💛 without further ado here are some fics that kept me sane this past month

smut is marked with *, minors dni

elias lindholm

loving you was a mistake* by @aereres

this shit hurted ngl. but in the best way possible. he just fits the rockstar stereotype so well and this is magical despite the pain it put me through

elias pettersson

for one night & one night only by @senditcolton

who doesn't love abba and mamma mia!?? a fun little fluff piece that i adore

erik johnson

fourth line grinder (6)* (7) by @horsesandhockeyplayers

love love love the development of this story!! can't wait to see where it goes and hopefully nell, erik, and grinder get the happy ending they deserve

jamie oleksiak

found you by @laurenairay

some sweet big rig content anyone? find it right here! i'm convinced nothing is better than this

joel farabee

like doves doves in the wind (3) (4) by @museinmind

two idiots in love. need i say more??! bee is whipped for mattie, which i respect because i too am in love with her. i never want this story to end

jonathan toews

plain jane (2) (3) (4)* (5)* by @princessphilly

i don't go here but i'm a whore for writers doing little universes so you know i had to hop on this train. there's a lot of tension so far which i adore!! it's going to make the end result taste so much sweeter

kevin hayes

hell of a view (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) by @danglesnipecelly

i am obsessed with this story. obsessed. the hard work and dedication that has been poured into it shows, and the result is a magical little world that i'd like to live in forever and ever

matthew tkachuk

paitence is a virtue (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)* (6)* by @spine-buster

i had been meaning to read this series for ages, so naturally i read it in the middle of writing an exam. but it's seriously so good, though has a bit of an unconventional pretence that is really intriguing. totally worth it, and i can't wait to make my way through the rest of the sbu!! (i don't why it won't let me link chap. 4 but you can find it on the masterlist!)

noah hanifin

loving you was worth it* by @aereres

i am LIVING for this little rock band au!! they all tie together so nicely and it's such a refreshing idea. love that we finally got a look into noah and aleena's relationship :))

sebastian aho

thunder only happens when it's raining (1) by @denis-scorianov

i will never hear dreams by fleetwood mac in the same way. this is a stunning start to something amazing and i find myself coming back to it over and over despite it only being an introduction to the world

sindey crobsy

all bets are off (12)* (13) (14) by @princessphilly

this series has been a rollercoaster in the best way possible. i love everything about sid and nina and will be so sad when this story ends

tyler seguin

and now i know it was always you by @shelbsatans

a fantastic finale to a little trilogy that stole my heart!!!! deadass i cried real tears and bawled my eyes out at so many parts. the details woven into this story are god tier

tyson jost

got this love thing going on by @antoineroussel

i! love! flick! and! tyson! and now she has a ring and they're gonna get married and i've already planned their wedding in my head

william nylander

take my hand, wreck my plans by @broadstbroskis

listen. fake dating to lovers might be my favourite trope in existence, and this fic does it so well!!! the mutual silent pining is 🤌 and i love that aubrey has a big crazy family

#these are all basically series lmao #but they're all fantastic and need your love immediately #monthly round up!

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birthdaysentiment · 4 years ago

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hii do you have any childhood friends to lovers or enemies to lovers sobbe fic suggestions? 🥺

hiii anon! oml i love this question and thank you for sending this to me, because i read sobbe fics everyday (how else am i supposed to get through this sobbe drought lol). so i have a few (read many) suggestions to you here, that i hope you can use ✨

sobbe: enemies to lovers / friends to enemies to lovers

I. the things you once said by @sobbefairytales (ijzermans on ao3). this is actually a friends to enemies to lovers fic where robbe and sander are fake dating too. i mean this fic has everything and the best tropes in it too. its a wip (a work in process), but there’s already five chapters and if you love angst, fluff, cliffhangers and long chapter’s this is the fic for you! it also have text messages between the characters and so/me content too and it’s just so good! the build-up is amazing and reading every scene leaves you wanting more and ahhh it’s just the best! the amount of times i've fallen to the floor while reading it

II. i'm slowly falling away by @fockinglevendcliche (fockinglevendcliche on ao3). a complete fic with three chapters full of angst and real enemies vibes from robbe and sander, that just makes you want to grab them and tell them to just go kiss each other already (because we know they want to). there’s a lot of fluff too, but the angst is always there. and of course robbe is a confused little baby, like who wouldn’t be if you found yourself in a similar situation. it’s one of the first sobbe fics i read and i fell in love with it right away!

III. look into my eyes, ignore the rest by @robbesdriesen (aurorawinds on ao3). idk if you can say this is like hundred percent enemies to lovers, but it’s kinda ex-lovers/boyfriends to lovers. it’s a complete fic with four chapters that’s the perfect mix between angst and fluff. like the last two chapters is so full of fluff that your heart just can’t take it. and the angst is so good too, which is why the fluff is so amazing as well. such an amazing story that i often go back to, just to read one scene to get my fix of sobbe fluff

IIII. eastwood liberty by @fockinglevendcliche (fockinglevendcliche on ao3). another wip with six chapters so far where the enemies part is just right there in your face. the tension is always there between them, but you can just sense the feelings they have for each other underneath. sander rules the school and robbe doesn’t take any of his bullshit and it’s just so refreshing idk in a way to see them both bickering and fighting all the time. but whenever they let their walls down and just share a moment together, just being themselves... i mean it’s the best thing ever and i'm so excited to see what’s gonna happen!

v. our broken fairytale by @goeie-morgen (whenwecollide on ao3). this is a quite new fic, so it’s a wip, but there’s already four chapters and i'm already so hooked on this. it’s actually another childhood friends to enemies to lovers fic, where the way, especially sander acts, just creates so much angst, that you’re just dying to see what happens next. can’t wait for the fluff already because it can only be good after a good amount of angst. also almost every character has a little appearance in this fic, which is so nice!

vl. that burnt out spot by @maade-of-stardust (rust_and_stardust on ao3). another wip, with nine chapters already and this is also another friends to enemies to lovers (i mean we love that trope). i never knew i needed to see robbe as a rockstar, until i read this fic. it’s so good and there’s a lot of fluff and angst mixed in together. we finally got some fluff, but then the angst came again and you can only love it because angst means the best fluff (if you ask me)

vll. run and score by @robbesdriesen (aurorawinds on ao3). a complete work with four chapters where it’s more enemies to friends to lovers. sobbe as football players on the same team is another thing i never knew i needed, but it works so well and this fic is also one of the first ones i read, so i often go back to read a specific scene just to get that fix of some well needed sobbe fluff. again there’s a lot of angst and hurt that’s followed by some good fluff, which is the best thing honestly!

vIII. wings to earn by @to-enter-polaris (isaksliveterna on ao3). a complete work with four chapters and the only (i think) volleyball au, and it’s also a friends to enemies to lovers, again such an amazing trope. the fic has flashbacks in it too which works so well and it gives a nice vibe to the overall fic and how it ended the way that it did. sobbe are the cutest in this fic, just wanting the best for each other, supporting each other so much as well. the fluff and angst is amazing and it’s just such a nice fic

sobbe: friends to lovers / childhood friends to lovers

I. time may change me, but i can't trace time by @honeyandsinn (abittersweetsong on ao3). one of my favorite fics at the moment. it’s a wip, and there’s three chapters so far, where we’re waiting for the last one. it follows sobbe throughout different ages and what happened during that time. childhood friends to lovers is one of the best tropes and to see sobbe be so sweet and cute with each other is just the best. they’re so helpful and caring and soft with each other and it makes my heart melt every time

II. if a june night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance by allforyoumylove on ao3. this is probably one of the softest fics i've ever read and it’s just pure softness and cuteness. it’s a complete fic with three chapters and if you’re a fan of sobbe fluff, this is the fic for you. they’re so in love and ahhh it’s the best thing. and i love the ‘timeline’ (if you can say that) of this fic as well, because you sort of have one big event in every chapter in terms of the development of going from friends to lovers, which is so great

III. come closer i’ll give you all my love by @sonderthroughthestreets (createdforyou on ao3). a wip with five chapters where we’re waiting for the last one, after the last chapter left your heart in a fluttering mess, or mine at lest were. this is sobbe friends to lovers with fake dating as well, so it has another amazing trope in it. and it’s just the cutest, because robbe and sander is just so in love with each other and i will never get tired of seeing them fall in love. the fluff is so cute and ahhh it’s just so sweet!

if you’ve already read these you can always try and search for the tags “enemies to lovers” or “friends to lovers / childhood friends to lovers” under the wtfock and sobbe tag on ao3. there’s also some really good drabbles and small one-shots here on tumblr too, but unfortunately i don’t have them saved so i’ll have to go look for them, but let me know if you want more sobbe fics recommendations and i would love yo give you some more!

i also just wanna say a massive thank you to every fic and drabble writer and just to all content creators in general. you really are the reason why i'm still alive during this drought and just thank you for everything you’re doing! sending you all lots of hugs and kusjes! ✨

#wtfock #wtfam #sobbe #thank you so much for sending this to me #cille's asks ✨

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lonespektr · 2 years ago

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Sept 27th & 28th Double Feature as last night I was out there chasing Jupiter and the moons. I hope you all saw it.

Here you go if you missed it

Pet Semetary

It's actually super nice to get an oldish story and not know a dang thing about it . I miraculously avoided spoilers my entire life.

In an obvious explanation Semetary is spelled that way because a kid spelled it wrong.

It is refreshing to have an adult talk about death like a normal human.

It is not healthy to have an adult shut out the spiritual. Even if you think religious people are fucking lunatics, telling a kid there's no mystery or anything shuts down an important creative element in their brains, whatever ambitious thing your kid wants to do that has never been done before can't thrive if they don't contemplate the unknown in some way.

Already foreshadowing about the bb

In an unfortunate non-twist they kept with the classic of the black man dying first le sigh

Idk if I like the voice over is a bit cheesy

Ugh heavy foreshadowing on the bb

Man spending a lot of time in the street having already seen one fatal car accident and three near misses

The dated elements are showing and not revised

Black man dies first

Man is logical women is emotional and fragile and believes in fairy tales

Demonization/Monstrous depiction of the disabled

These are all old nasty tropes

Hell nah in the water, with the lightening

K just say I'm digging the old man jon lithgow era

Did he tell him to stick em those rocks and weren't they supposed to have masks on or some shit

Not getting tricked into reanimating a corpse

Welp the ovbs guess here is the bb is going to get hit by a car and then dad is going to reanimate him or who knows maybe the dad will fess up and tell the wife and in her histeria she will reanimate the boy and the husband says no, that's not the logic of things!!

The condescending what time is it/ late,

the lies the heterosexual lies that are so common place and the chaste love making 🤮🤮

I never know how I feel about these type of movies where the person is tricked into doing something, like he KNEW something was off but there's no way in hell on earth that's a guess you would make necromancy like that's not possible so house can you be held accountable for like essentially not bailing when there are bad vibes??

They are going for a timeless kinda thing with the timeline which sounds explain why she isn't on therapy

Oh Windigo huh?

And an adult saying i was wrong 😯

He gon be raggedy for the rest of the show?

Wait i think i remember them saying they had to grease up the cat to keep it raggedy looking

Street again

This a thinly veiled corporate attack

Fake out it was big sis good no one wants it to be obvious

Foreshadowing still in play with the bb though

They fail to establish how the secret is kept and oh why the person is changed just like a been to hell thing

More like just abelism with disability as horror

And the girl child perpetrating misogyny? For what?

The cast is ...too small, too insular

Hmm she may have just copped to bring an imposter

Which would explain the random acts of violence

Bruv!!! Get your other fucking kid lordt

What's the goal... just if it's possession then they need more corpses

Turn over time is quick

The cat.. Didn't want Jud to go to the side

I mean they still got the baby

B but like this my point how would it not immediately spiral??? To the whole town

There is a whole theme song. Wow

Ravens Hollow

I'm a Poe Fan

Damn buury the man is alive

Ok i read a bit of a blurb, no spoilers it's Edgar at West Point

Tell tale heart

This is essentially

That's a far as i read i didn't want to get spoiled

Trippin balls to avoid getting brain washed

They went with the poem

Nevermore

Mask of the red death

Or just death itself?

Charlotte

And now the fall of the house of usher

Wait which?

I think i missed something

Thunderbird

Whoo hallucinations

Lol horse

What

Let's ride in the twilight

If i am then we are meant for each other

Uh that was poorly delivered

About orgasms apparently

If it loves it will not suffer with sharing

Booted from the academy

And now an addict

And haunted by the raven

Now he writes

I love it

#spooky 22 watch #pet sematary #ravens hollow

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novelbeetle · 3 years ago

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After 5 fantasy books i needed a cleansing spicy romance book.

-It is a cute fake dating romcom. I do love a good fake dating trope. What makes the whole thing even better is when one of the two has been in love with the other for years.

-Catalina is in urgend need of a date to her sisters wedding. Aaron (her work enemy if you will) offers himself as her fake date to go to spain for the wedding. From the start you could tell he was in love with her. The more time they spent together the more she starts to like him.

-After he offered his help the book draged a bit for me. My favourite part was definitely their time in spain. In other books if one has a secret from the past they only tell the other one after they broke things off. So i was suprised when they both talked about their past kind of early in the book. That was refreshing and i really liked it.

-also the big conflict when they break things off was nicely executed and i was not annoyed by it. Sometimes the point of breaking up is annoying but i liked it in this book.

-definitely a new comfort read for me. I will reread it again. And i will check out the next book this author writes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

#the spanish love deception #aaron blackford #catalina martin #elena armas #romance books #romcom books #spicy books

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comeonpeters · 4 years ago

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new instincts

also on ao3

@troped-fanfic-challenge round 1 contribution

Theme: Angst

Trope 1: Character discovers that they are a Mythical Creature

Trope 2: Coffee Shop AU

Trope 3: Poorly timed confession

Trope 4: Character A catches Character B crying

Clocking in shouldn't be so much of a familiar relief as it is. He hasn’t even worked here that long, and he’s known his friends forever, really, even if he hasn’t known Julie or Flynn or Willie that long but it’s - well. It's easier to have a counter between himself and the familiarity of his friends, the repeated warmth of them, their incessant need to include him in everything that they do - he appreciates it! He does! He loves how much they love him, how much they want to make sure he doesn't feel left out, but... he wishes they wouldn't, to put it simply. He's fine with being the only single member of the band, really, and it doesn't bother him. He doesn't need to fifth wheel on every single double date they go on. Even if he can't find it within himself to tell any of them no when they ask. He loves them! Saying no isn’t really his strong suit where people he loves are involved.

Even besides being the only single member of Julie and the Phantoms, he also has to deal with being the only human member of the band, which shouldn't be that big of a deal, but sometimes... sometimes, it does feel like an even more exclusive club than the romance brigade. He had been the only human member of Sunset Curve too, and that didn’t bother him either. He doesn't take any of it personally. Alex deserves to be happy with Willie (who is human too, so Reggie should be able to commiserate with him, even if he does have the vampire thing lined up), but anyway, he's glad that the two of them found each other. And Julie... she deserves to be happy with Luke. No matter how much... no matter how much Reggie sometimes wishes...

Anyway. Clocking in is a welcome distraction. Coffee beans and cleaning solution is a familiar, comforting smell. None of that to say he's absolutely in love with working - there's a reason he clings to his bass instead of, say, a carafe of coffee - but it pays for his share of the gas and keeps him out of their shared apartment (which he had started to regret somewhat, but not really) when they’re not practicing, so he doesn't hate it. He doesn't really mind it at all. That, and Flynn started working here after he did, and that's nice too. She's Julie's best friend, but she's his friend too now too. They have this little thing that no one else shares in when they work together, and Reggie appreciates that; he's always liked having an individual thing with each of his friends, and it's cool to finally have one with Flynn.

His personal thing with Luke used to be writing the notes for the songs. Luke could write lyrics with anyone, it wasn't personal as far as Reggie was concerned, but the notes and melodies were for them. Now, he writes the whole song with Julie sometimes. He doesn't take it personally at all. He knows that Luke doesn't see things the same way that he does, and that he never clarified that he saw stuff in that light. He's aware of how things are in a mature light. He's just also hurt.

He knows that no one thinks he thinks of things in a mature way because most of the time, he likes to see the best in people, and things, and situations. But he knows himself and he knows his friends. He knows who they are. Just like he knows that - yep.

It's been five minutes since he clocked in, which means that the other three members of Julie and the Phantoms have just walked in, Willie holding onto Alex’s hand like a lifeline. Ever since Reggie started working, he hasn't been able to go two shifts in a row without the four of them camping out in the coffee shop, Julie and Luke writing songs at the bar and Willie and Alex pretending to help, but really sitting in the back corner somewhat nearby and flirting. At least Reggie has the distraction of customers while being on a double date he didn't ask to be on. He still can't help lighting up whenever they come in the room, though, even if he only saw them a couple of hours ago.

"Hey guys. You want your usuals?" he asks, smiling brightly. It’s not even fake. Luke grins back at him, arm around Julie's shoulders - it's raining outside and Luke Patterson could never be so lame as to own his own umbrella. However, if he doesn't remain dry, no matter what form he's in, the entire building is gonna smell like wet dog, an unfortunate consequence of the werewolf physiology. Julie closes their umbrella and puts it behind the counter, smiling at Reggie gratefully.

"Please, Reg, and could you grab me an extra scone? I had to do an enlarging spell on my umbrella because someone doesn't know how to carry his own, so I'm kinda starving," she says, looking at him with those big pleading eyes when she isn’t cutting them at Luke, and he gives her a sympathetic smile.

"Sure will, and I'll put it on the Patterson tab since he sucks," he says, sticking his tongue out at Luke, making the werewolf squawk at him and throw a random projectile out of his pocket at Reggie. Reggie catches it and finds a piece of paper, unravelling it to find... a song? Not one he’s ever seen before, but he knows what Luke’s songs look like when he sees them. Julie snatches it from his fingers before he can read all that much of it.

"I don't think he meant to throw that. It's not done yet. Could you grab us our stuff? I'll just cover it," Julie rushes out like she always does when she’s nervous, and Reggie frowns. He doesn't like how much it feels like they're keeping a secret from him, but it happens when you're the odd man out of the group, he supposes. He nods and... gets to work. He's at work. This is his job. Serving his friends.

He makes the drinks for all of them, even gets the packet of synthetic courage that he sometimes puts in Alex's drinks (just for luck!), and gets Julie her scone, putting all of the refreshments out damn near silently before going to his next customer. Luke and Alex both try to talk to him, but he brushes them off. Well, he brushes Luke off. Alex, he replies to as shortly as he can without actually being short, because Alex doesn't deserve any of his shortness (his bitterness, which he didn't have before all of this unrequited nonsense, he could swear), before going back to the counter and addressing his next customer. Julie and Luke engage him for input on a song (not the one that Luke threw at him, he just knows), and he slowly relaxes back into their usual easy banter. He doesn't stay awkward or angry well. Especially not with Julie, and not even with Luke, even if Luke does drag out some of his more extreme emotions, his passions and problems and all of the things that he doesn't really talk about even with Alex. He… he says a lot of the wrong things around Luke, even if Luke is the best friend he’s ever had. Alex is too, but Luke. Luke is something else.

He's so far in his head that he doesn't notice that he's messing with the espresso machine with his bare hands until Flynn, newly clocked in, comes up behind him.

"Reggie, what the hell are you doing?" she asks, breaking his concentration, and he drops the tiny espresso cup he's holding onto the floor, cracking it open against the tile. The sound of the ceramic breaking fills him with a sense of dread and he can feel tears welling up in his eyes before he can stop them, stupid tears at the stupid reminder that he's an idiot who can't even hold a cup right if he's not focusing on it. The espresso machine tilts from where his other hand has been holding onto it too tightly and he uses both hands to keep it steady on the counter, then moving back to grab a towel to clean up the coffee and ceramic. It's not the first time he's cleaned up one of his own messes.

"Just making a coffee, Flynn. What did it look like I was doing?" he asks, keeping his voice steady and light as he cleans the rest of the mess. He barely notices as a teensy bit of his blood adds to the mess. He'll clean that up too, and bleach it besides.

"Touching the espresso machine with your bare hands, Reg. Are you okay?" they ask, grabbing one of his hands, which are fine except for one new nick from the ceramic, and then looking at his face. He knows that she would have healed him if he needed it - she’s a faerie, and it’s one of the many strange things he’s seen her do - but he doesn’t need anything. He shakes his head to make sure they don’t even heal the cut. He’s fine.

"Go take a break, okay? I think you might need a break, Reg,” Flynn insists softly, softer than her voice typically gets with anyone but Julie, and Reggie finally looks away from his own hands. He would protest, remind her that he is fine, but when he looks up, Luke and Julie are looking at him too, their concern plain as well. He doesn't want to deal with everyone at the same time, and the breakroom is employees only. Everything is going to be fine. He'll go to the breakroom and he won't question why he was able to touch the espresso machine with his bare hands in the middle of his shift when it's already fully warmed up (it must be all of his experience, he just has the calluses already, huh? between the work and his bass, he has calluses to spare), he'll just sit down and take a break. Everything'll be fine, right? The breaking ceramic didn’t remind him of his parents at all. Everything is fine.

Flynn lets Luke back into the breakroom, because of course she does, and everything is a little less fine. Everything breaks down around Luke, all of Reggie’s walls. Reggie hates how glad he is that he comes alone. He loves Julie. She’s one of his closest friends. There’s no way that anyone but Luke or Alex could come in here and talk to him and make him feel safe in the way that he needs to feel safe right now. He misses having them alone. He misses having Luke alone. There was once a time, he remembers, when he had all of Luke’s attention. The bitterest parts of him miss it terribly.

"Dude, are you okay? Flynn said you were bleeding," Luke says, holding up a box of bandaids. The cut on Reggie’s hand is still bleeding lazily, but not too bad. It’s nearly stopped on it’s own. Reggie had nearly forgotten about it. He holds it up for Luke to see anyway.

“I’m fine,” he says, giving Luke a weak smile. Luke snorts.

“Sure, Reg. Let me handle it anyway,” he replies, smiling that stupid Luke smile that makes Reggie do whatever he wants. And so Reggie shrugs.

“Yeah, okay,” he says. Luke pats the counter behind Reggie.

“Hop up.” Reggie looks at it and looks back at Luke, squinting.

“I don’t really think I need to-” Luke laughs and shoves at Reggie’s chest, tipping him back against the counter.

“Hop onto the counter, Reginald, I’m not asking,” he repeats, and Reggie rolls his eyes, but he hops onto the counter, giving a falsely put upon sigh. Luke takes his hand and inspects it for burns that aren’t there, wiping off what little blood remains and putting on one of those little finger bandages - Julie or Carrie or Bobby or someone had replaced the work bandaids a week after Reggie started working here, exasperated by the one-size-fits-all cheap, off brand bandages and willing to throw in their own money if it meant they didn’t have to be worried about it. There’s something terribly intimate about someone else putting a bandaid on your skin, and Reggie feels the need to ramble bubble up in his chest as Luke stands between his legs.

“It’s- um- it’s funny because I didn’t even realize I was touching the espresso machine until Flynn walked up, you know? It’s not like it hurt. I’ve gotten burns from it before, but it wasn’t hot at all this time, even though it normally would be, and I don’t know why it’s not- something might be wrong with it? I’ve already broken a cup today, I can’t really afford to break the entire espresso machine, Lu, that would cost me at least an entire shift, dude, and I might not have many bills, but I still like having money sometimes and-” He doesn’t really realize he’s spiraling until Luke grabs him by the shoulder, his face way too close to Reggie’s own as he grabs Reggie’s attention with a gentle smile.

“Dude, I need you to breathe,” Luke says, the hand on Reggie’s shoulder sliding to the side of his neck, and Luke’s other hand is still holding Reggie’s hand, and Reggie’s legs are sort of around Luke’s hips in a way and the intimacy is overwhelming. He and Luke have always been way too close (codependent, hanging all over each other, too much, everyone has always had something to say about it), and it never used to bother him before. He needs to breathe. Luke needs him to breathe. He copies Luke’s breathing like they get Alex to do when he’s freaking out (like Willie has mostly taken over getting Alex to do when he’s freaking out, but if he compares something he’s doing with Luke to Willie and Alex, he might lose the plot a little), and it does help him calm down. He talks when he’s better to talk, pushing Luke away a little for the betterment of his mental health.

“I’m okay. Breaking the cup kinda… reminded me of things. Wasn’t good, you know?” he says, giving Luke a weak smile. That’s part of it, really. He can’t think about it too much, or he’ll think about his parents too much and he’ll- no. Nope. Not doing that. No, thank you. He’s focussing on Luke, even though that’s it’s own rabbit hole of panicking thoughts, at least this rabbit hole comes with comforting hands and a pretty face to keep him from falling into his own head too terribly.

“You’re here with me. You’re safe, Reg. I’ll keep you safe,” Luke says. Reggie’s moves to look at him immediately and has to break the tension.

“You my knight in shining armor, Patterson?” he ribs, slipping into a loose smile. Luke shrugs, keeping up his bluster.

“Whenever you need one, Peters. You might wanna go back to work soon, though. I can hear Flynn, and she’s talking to Julie, and they sound like they might be starting to get worried,” Luke says, and Reggie remembers everything all at once. He’s at work. Luke has a girlfriend. Luke’s girlfriend is one of Reggie’s best friends, and Reggie shouldn’t be doing this at all. He puts a hand against Luke’s chest because the werewolf is still standing between his legs, and lords and ladies, he never should have let things get this far. This is a little more than codependence isn’t it? He pushes Luke backwards gently, hopping off the counter as soon as the other boy is back far enough, completely unconscious of his own facial expression, the panic that has returned to it, and the return of Luke’s worry. He pushes off Luke’s hand when it grips his shoulder again.

“Gotta get back to work,” he reminds him, pushing a smile back onto his face, and he pushes Luke out of the room in front of him. “You’re not even supposed to be back here, Patterson, so you better get out,” he says, injecting laughter into his voice. Luke contemplates him for a second but smiles, relenting and letting himself be pushed out of the room, out from behind the counter, and back onto his stool next to Julie. Where he belongs.

Next to Julie.

“Hey Reg! You okay? You didn’t burn yourself, did you?” Julie asks, grabbing the hand with a bandaid on it as soon as Reggie comes within grabbing range. He allows it, and it’s pathetic that he’s a little proud of himself for not flinching.

“Yeah, Reg, I didn’t see what happened, but Luke ran back there pretty quick, so we were pretty worried,” Alex contributes, walking closer with Willie attached to him with a hand in his. They really are disgustingly cute. Anyway, Reggie shakes his head.

“I’m really fine, guys. There was no reason to freak out. Dog boy didn’t even have to come back there, really. No burns, no big cuts, just a small little nick from the cup breaking when I dropped it. I’m fine, and I gotta get back to work. I don’t get paid just to look pretty, you know,” he says, giving his friends a grin. Alex rolls his eyes, pushing Reggie’s head before going to sit back down, worries alleviated. Luke, meanwhile, has his lips pursed. Reggie goes back behind the counter, washing up.

“I don’t appreciate being called dog boy,” Luke tells him, which is something that Reggie already knows, because it’s something that he and Luke have talked about before; it’s not an offensive thing, Reggie always makes sure, but Luke does feel teased by it, so Reggie only brings it out sometimes. He takes an order before replying to Luke, taking the customer’s name as well and writing it on the cup because otherwise he would have immediately forgotten it entirely, as occupied as he is with Luke. Even on the other side of the counter, supposedly occupied with songwriting himself, Luke is distracting him at work, as he often does. The boy is a menace.

“That’s the point, Lucas,” Reggie teases, continuing simply because Luke is distracting him at work. If anyone besides he and Flynn were working right now, he could get in trouble. Well, except that he and Flynn (and their friends being in all the time) bring in a lot of business, being semi-famous in the local area, and no one really wants to fire him, but it’s the principle of the thing, isn’t it? He goes through the motions of making a relatively simple drink, putting in the faerie packets that Flynn makes. Everyone just loves a little bit of extra charisma, don’t they? Must be nice.

“I don’t like being called Lucas either. I was just worried about you. You don’t have to be so mean about it,” Luke says, pouting fully now. Reggie actually feels a little bad about it, flashing back to when they invited Julie to the band and Luke got all pouty then too. He pauses briefly in making a drink and then resumes.

“I know, Lu. I’m sorry. It was nice of you to check on me,” he says, and that’s all it takes for Luke to perk up again, because he really is a puppy. Lu is one of his favorite things to be called, not like Reggie has a chart in his head of all of the things he calls Luke or anything, but he knows. Only he, Julie, Alex and Bobby really call him Lu, and it always puts him in a better mood. It also always makes Reggie want to do something stupid, like kiss him on the forehead or something, but Luke’s really the only one who can get away with that, so he doesn’t do that. Luke had started doing things like that when things got worse with his parents, before Sunset Curve had even really begun, let alone broken up, and he had told them that it felt like even if they were just his friends, it still felt like family.

There are a lot of reason he can’t fuck things up with Luke Patterson, and being a member of his pack is only like three thousand of them.

Luke and Julie go back to songwriting after that, which is good for Reggie from a workplace standpoint, but it makes his chest burn. He loves Julie. He does. He loves her and he loves the relationship that she has with Luke because they make each other happy, but. Sometimes, he feels like an inarguably horrible person because he’s thinking about two of the people he’s closest to and he’s thinking about how happy they make each other, and there’s still a but. Julie Molina, more than most people he’s ever known, deserves to be happy. He doesn’t want to stand in the way of that. He shouldn’t stand in the way of that. So he won’t.

But he looks at Luke and he wants. Luke Patterson makes him want in a way that he’s never wanted anyone before, makes him ache, makes him feel like he’s swallowed his tongue. He wants to grab Luke and keep him, he wants to take- feelings like this have been getting worse lately. It’s a problem. It’s a pretty big problem. He has no idea how to handle it, and that’s a worse problem.

After his shift, he goes over to Bobby’s. Ever since Bobby quit the band (“I want to produce music, I still love you guys and we’re still a family, I just want to do something different.” / “We still love you, and we still want to support you.”), he and Bobby have only become closer, and he thinks that’s pretty much true with everyone and Bobby. No one wants him to be left behind. No one wants him to feel that way either, even if he’s making more money than them producing music for his little sister and making his own label and generally being a thousand times more practical than them, he’s still their Bobby. This is evidenced by the way that Reggie climbs in through his fire escape instead of buzzing in through his apartment complex, because who has time to be a normal person when you know how to pick a window lock?

“Reg, you have a key to the apartment. Come on, man,” Bobby says as he hauls Reggie in through the window, even if Reggie was more than prepared to climb in through it himself. He lets the siren carry him to the couch, content to ragdoll on Bobby if the other guy wants to be anal retentive about Reggie’s boots on his entertainment center (as if it hasn’t happened a million times before).

“Yeah, but if I come in like this, 50/50 shot that I don’t have to carry myself to the couch,” Reggie says, even if that’s not really a mitigating factor for him, he just likes to get on Bobby’s nerves. True to fact, Bobby rolls his eyes and huffs, holding him out little so that he can look at him (how did Bobby get so strong? Going to the gym should be illegal.)

“50/50 shot I drop you on your ass, Peters,” Bobby says, but he drops Reggie on the couch anyway, because he loves Reggie and thinks he’s charming and adorable and all of that fun stuff. Reggie says as much aloud and gets swatted at for his troubles.

“What do you even want, dude? Are you here to hang out or are you here to talk about the massive thing you have for Luke, because I need to know the emotional toll you’re about to have on yourself,” the siren says plainly, almost blase, and Reggie has to swallow, eyes widening. He knows he has a thing for Luke. He just didn’t know that Bobby- does Luke- Luke can’t know about it, because if Luke knows, Julie knows, or if Julie knows, Luke knows, right, because keeping secrets from your partner, that’s kinda shitty, right? But having a thing for your friend’s boyfriend, that’s really shitty, and Reggie feels like he’s going to spontaneously combust, maybe.

“I-” he starts, blinking rapidly and having to clear his throat suddenly, panic shooting up from his chest and gathering beneath his Adam’s apple in a pool. Bobby sits down next to him on the couch, grabbing his hand to steady him. It works, slightly, not nearly so much as it normally would. It doesn’t help that Bobby is making a face, looking much more nervous, regretful, than he typically does.

“That wasn’t the best way to bring that up. I should have gone with more tact there. Okay. Alright. Tact isn’t really my wheelhouse. But we’re already here. It’s okay, Reg. It’s okay. Everything is okay.” Bobby pulls Reggie in against his chest, humming, and Reggie feels nearly instantly calmed by the beginning of the siren song. Without the intent of seduction, it’s almost sedative in effect, calming and clean, something that they discovered when Alex was having really bad anxiety when they were fourteen. The four of them discovered a lot of things about sirens, about elves, about werewolves together, because their parents never explained much and neither did school, and Reggie had only ever wanted to help his friends learn. So, he had let Alex use elfen charms on him, and let Bobby siren sing him to sleep, and let Luke scent him, and they’d learned together.

He can’t break their family.

“Bobby, if I ever tell him, I’ll fuck everything up,” he says, and even through the calm of the siren song, he’s crying. The calm breaks, because Bobby stops singing, because Bobby presses a kiss to the top of his head and then he hauls Reggie away from his chest.

“You will never fuck anything up, Reg. Everything is gonna be fine,” Bobby says again, firmer this time, his hands firm on Reggie’s face. In another life, he would be in love with Bobby Wilson. In this one, he’s sobbing, and his claws are buried in Bobby’s jacket and-

His what?

“Bobby, what’s going on with my hands?” he asks, and then a few things happen at once. He’s still crying, because he’s never been able to turn that off and freaking out about having claws isn’t going to make him stop crying, and Bobby is looking down at Reggie’s hands and he’s trying to keep his cool, but he’s obviously also freaking out a little, and that’s when Luke fucking Patterson chooses to walk into the living room like he owns the place, probably having used his own key to make it in the front door. He looks at Reggie and Bobby for exactly one second, taking in the scene, before he falls to his knees next to Reggie, looking for the cause of Reggie’s distress.

“What’s going on? Why are we crying?” he asks, looking up at Reggie with his big, stupid eyes (and he always phrases it like that, always makes sure Reggie doesn’t feel alone, and Reggie hates him, but not even nearly so much as he loves him), and Reggie remembers that he’s freaking out, not just looking at Luke Patterson. Shit. Claws. Fuck. He has no idea what to do.

“I don’t know,” he admits, showing one of his shaking hands to Luke, his shaking hands where claws still protrude where his fingernails should be. They look like something between claws and talons, half an inch past his fingertip, and he’s surprised he didn’t rip Bobby’s jacket, really. Luke holds his hand delicately, and then pokes at the- the scales. There are scales going up Reggie’s hand now, and he hadn’t even noticed. The tears still trying to well up in his eyes try to get closer, probably because he’s freaking out. Reggie sniffles, breaking both Bobby and Luke’s steadfast fascinations with his hand and claws, and Bobby puts his arm back around Reggie’s shoulder.

“This is okay, too, Reg. We’ll figure it out,” Bobby promises, and Luke nods, climbing onto the other side of the couch and holding his hand. He kisses the top of Reggie’s head, and Reggie is nearly asleep before Bobby starts humming again.

After a week of minorly freaking out and going about his life, Reggie is just trying to do his job (okay, so he’s wiping a counter and talking to Luke, but half of that is his job), when a manila folder for the IPC drops onto his newly wiped (and newly dry, thankfully) counter. He turns to Flynn.

“What’s this? Why do I need a folder from the Inhuman Persons Council?” he asks, making sure that he hasn’t sprouted claws again as he looks down at his hands. He’s been doing his best to ignore it, really. Bobby has been researching it mildly, making a few phone calls, but he said he would take care of it, so Reggie decided to let him take care of it. He doesn’t really want to know, to be honest.

“It’s your species folder. Bobby sent me a photo of your hands when you-” Flynn gets closer so that they can whisper the next part “sprouted claws and scales in the middle of his apartment, so that I could do the research when he got stumped. He also sent me the results of that Ancestry test you nerds did together a few years ago so that I wouldn’t be barking up the wrong trees. It’s been a fun project! This is what I’ve got,” they explain, tapping the folder. Reggie doesn’t want to open it. Flynn takes in the look on his face and gives him a smile of her own.

“I’m scared,” he admits quietly, because Flynn is easy to talk to when they want to be, and because they’re his friend. She’s a good friend, seeing as she did all this for him, really. There’s someone else working with them today, so he doesn’t feel too bad when he asks her to take a break with him, and feels even better when they accept.

“Let me make you something real quick, and I’ll meet you in the breakroom, okay?” she says, and he nods, grabbing the folder. Luke looks at him with concern, but he needs to do this without all of their friends in the vicinity, he thinks. He waves him off and heads to the breakroom. All of his anxiety hits him as soon as he sits down at the little table in there, and he wishes he had brought Luke. He could probably say his name at a normal speaking level and get him back here, but he won’t. He needs to do this without him. He doesn’t know why, but it’s just… what if he doesn’t like what’s in there? What if he doesn’t like what he is? Flynn comes into the breakroom with a cup and a smile.

“Little liquid courage, anybody?” she asks, tilting the cup back and forth just a little. He knows that they mean it literally, that she had just brewed actual courage, and he loves them all the more for it; it’s not like he can even stand the smell of alcohol. He takes a sip of it when she hands it to him and instantly feels it thrumming within him. Okay. Okay, he can do this. He can do this. She sits down next to him and inclines her head to the folder. Oh god.

“I can’t do this,” he says, biting his lip. She gives him a look. “Okay, I’m doing it,” he rectifies, opening the folder.

What.

“I- What? A- a what?” he asks, turning to look at Flynn. She looks at him dead on, not faltering a bit. “I’m only a sixteenth Czech! I can’t be a Slavic dragon! I don’t even know anything about the Czech Republic. Are they even Slavic?” He’s rambling, a little, but a dragon? He can’t be a dragon. That’s too much. Flynn grabs the papers in the folder, obvious in her familiarity with them that she’s looked through them before.

“It’s a Western Slavic subgroup, I don’t know that much about it, but according to your ancestry results, the IPC representation of the Slavic Dragons, and the fact that you have dragon scales and claws that were recognizable to the dragon I showed them to, one sixteenth seems to be enough,” Flynn says, which is pretty irrefutable, now that he thinks about it. He’s caught on something, though.

“You met a dragon for me?” he asks, strangely touched. Flynn grins up at him.

“Well, I figured if you’re a dragon, another one couldn’t be too intimidating, so yeah,” they say, shrugging a shoulder like it’s no big deal. He throws his arms around her, overcome by how much he loves his friend. He’s also really, really glad that the (other?) dragon turned out to be helpful, because he would hate to have to get into a fight with a dragon. Especially when he’s just figuring this stuff out.

“You’re the best, Flynn. Seriously. I owe you so big for this,” he promises, hugging her a little tighter before releasing her. The faerie just shrugs again, unbothered.

“Just do me a favor and read over that stuff. I added my own research too, just in case. We’re here for you, you know. Everybody else has always known what we were, and you’re just now figuring it out. We want to be able to support you, Reg,” she explains, and Reggie definitely doesn’t get a little misty, he’s not sensitive, that’s Alex. Alex is the sensitive one. He’s a guy’s guy, he plays bass, he doesn’t get misty. He’s fine. Flynn rolls their eyes anyway and walks out of the breakroom, and it’s less than a minute before Luke Patterson walks his happy ass right back into an employee’s only space.

“You know you don’t work here, right? It’s important to me that you know that,” Reggie reminds him, even though he knows that Flynn probably sent him back here themself. Luke grins at him.

“Yeah, I know,” Luke says, but he doesn’t leave the breakroom either, so it’s not like he cares. Reggie’s smile lags a little.

“I guess you heard all that,” he says, looking down at the folder and thinking about closing it, but Luke sits down with a nod, bumping their shoulders, and he just doesn’t close it. Luke’s slender fingers flick through the pages a little, eyes scanning over a bit that Reggie hasn’t even gone over yet, but Reggie doesn’t mind. Anything that he knows, Luke is going to know anyway. Flynn wouldn’t have delved into anything too personal anyway, right?

“Hoards? Those are real?” Luke asks, pulling out an article (the pages of the article paper clipped together for convenience sake) titled Hoarding and Its Effects Upon Interpersonal Relationships. Immediately, something within Reggie wants to curl up and find somewhere to hide. Pretty much everyone learned about hoards in what little was covered about dragons in Study of Other Cultures in school, and Luke had taken that before he dropped out, but hoards are- a lot of people make jokes about them, right? There’s an instinct in Reggie to be offended by that, but he doesn’t even know where it comes from; it’s not like he even has a hoard! It’s not like he even knows how to make one! Anxiety is humming beneath his skin again, and something must change in how he smells or maybe he makes a noise or maybe Luke just has a feeling, because Luke lifts his head.

“I’m fine, Lu,” Reggie says, even if he might not be, because he doesn’t know why he wouldn’t be. Luke slips their fingers together.

“It’s okay if you’re not. This is kinda huge, dude. You’re allowed to not be okay,” Luke replies, which, despite phrasing, is incredibly emotionally intelligent, and kinda exactly what Reggie needed to hear. It’s basically what Bobby said a week or so ago, but that was before he found out that he’s a dragon, so forgive him if he needed to hear it again.

“You know, we should probably get back out there at some point,” Reggie says, letting go of Luke’s hand. They have to stop doing that. Girlfriend. Luke has one. Luke frowns at the change of pace, but nods, damnably biting his lip. Reggie looks away, putting all of the articles back into the folder for him to look through later, just for something else for him to do. He has to go back to work. He’s taken too many breaks lately, crisis aside.

“Hey, before you go back to work. Come here,” Luke says, and then he pulls Reggie in for a bone-crushing hug whether he wants to come here or not. Luke’s arm is around his waist, and his other hand is cupping the back of Reggie’s head, pulling him against Luke’s neck, and the feeling is overwhelming. His senses might be getting stronger with this whole coming-of-age as a dragon thing, because Luke smells really strong, and really, really good. Not that Luke doesn’t usually smell good, but. It’s distracting. It doesn’t help that Luke is also nosing at his throat in that way he does sometimes, the way he always has because he’s got his wolfy excuses and Reggie has the impulse to nip at his ear to get him to stop (a new impulse, one he blames on other new things), but he markedly does not, because that would definitely make things weird.

Weirder than suddenly developing dragonic traits when you’ve thought you were human your entire life, of course. Because apparently that’s an option.

“I really do have a job to get back to, you know,” he says, interrupting Luke’s sincere investigation of his throat and collarbones, to which the werewolf whines.

“But I’m so much cooler than your job.” Reggie rolls his eyes, even as he silently agrees, and gently pushes Luke away.

“Get out of the breakroom, Patterson,” he says, resisting the urge to kiss Luke on the forehead or something stupid like that.

“You’re so mean to me,” Luke says, leaving the breakroom while Reggie trails after him, manila folder in hand. “Julie, Reggie is mean to me,” he says once he reaches the girl in question, flopping onto the stool next to her. Julie laughs and pats his head.

“How is that my business?” she asks, taking her hand off of his head to sip at her drink. Reggie would think that it would be someone’s girlfriend’s business to care about someone being mean to them, but he hasn’t dated anyone since high school, so how would he know? He gets clocked back in and gets washed up, taking an order from Flynn as soon as she gets it, falling directly back into the workflow as soon as he can. The rest of his shift goes as smoothly as it possibly can, given that all of his friends are populating the coffeeshop, he’s a dragon, he has to deal with customers, he’s a dragon, he gets paid a dollar over minimum wage, and he just found out he’s a dragon.

So, well, smooth is relative, right?

He goes to Bobby’s again after his shift, but he drags Alex with him, which means he also drags Willie. He’s okay with that, honestly. He likes Willie, and Willie is a voice of reason, like Bobby and Alex are, but different from Bobby and Alex. He doesn’t know what it says about him as a person that he needs so many voice of reason in his life: Bobby, Julie and Alex as full time voices of reason, Flynn, Willie and Carrie as part timers, and even Nick pitching in when he comes to parties and keeps him and Luke from doing something stupid like getting stoned and trying to jump a firepit again. He likes to think that he manages himself sometimes, but with so many people also involved in managing him (and Luke), who really knows?

But, on the other side of that coin, maybe they all manage each other, in their own ways. Maybe he shouldn’t think about it so much. Maybe he’s just trying to distract himself.

“I think I’m ready to talk about the Luke thing,” he says when they’re all gathered in Bobby’s living room, him practically in Bobby’s lap on one side and Willie in the same position (though more settled) in Alex’s lap on the other. Bobby presses his face into the side of Reggie’s neck.

“Oh thank God. You guys have been killing me for years.” Alex nods his agreement. Reggie tilts his head.

“Both of us?” he asks, and he can actually hear Bobby swallow. Alex makes eye contact with Bobby over Reggie’s shoulder, and he can’t see the face that Bobby is making, but from Alex’s expression, he can guess that Bobby’s is probably mild panic.

“Ignore that part. Anyway, talk about the Luke thing. Tell us about it,” Bobby says, insists really, and Reggie decides to let it go. He really does want to talk about the Luke thing after all. He’s kept it under wraps for a couple of years, since, well, high school, and that’s why he hasn’t dated anyone. He just… doesn’t want to lead anyone else on when he knows what he wants. What he wants just isn’t available.

“Well, Flynn gave me the folder today on what she thinks I am- a dragon by the way- and I’ve dealt with this whole having feelings for Luke thing for a long time, but now I’m also dealing with dragon instincts or whatever the fuck, so mixing how I feel about him with that is not going great, I’m not gonna lie!” he rambles, limiting how much he gesticulates so that he doesn’t accidentally hit Bobby in the face or something. He doesn’t feel too bad about just dropping in the fact that he’s a dragon; nothing lasts too long as a secret with the Sunset Curve/JATP/Dirty Candy amalgam friend group, and he knows that Flynn probably told Julie and Carrie before she brought the folder to him, and Carrie probably told Bobby, who told Alex, and so on and so forth, so there’s nothing to feel bad about.

“Oh no,” Alex says, and Reggie’s gaze flicks to him instantly. The elf winces.

“What?” Reggie asks, anxiety creeping up his spine. Bobby strokes a hand over his tense shoulders.

“Someone with a key signature just hit the warding, and given that you and me are both here, and Carrie is with Dirty Candy in San Francisco…” Alex trails off. Oh no. Alex had done the warding on Bobby’s apartment, given that elves have strong attachments to homes and places of significance, so he feels it when someone hits the warding, let alone someone with a key signature. The only people with key signatures are Bobby, Alex, Reggie, Carrie and… Luke. Who has the enhanced hearing of a werewolf, and who has probably heard everything that’s been said for the past minute or two.

“Couldn’t have picked a worse time to actually open up about this, huh?” he says, and then he stands up, batting off Bobby’s hands when the siren tries to keep his arms around Reggie’s waist. He’s across the room before anyone can stop him (probably because Bobby doesn’t actually want to grab him, doesn’t want to remind him of his dad, and that’s sweet, but overall, ineffective), and opens the fire escape window.

“Reggie, come on, just talk to him,” Willie says, out of Alex’s lap (he’d have to be, if he didn’t want to get dumped out when Alex rushed up to try and keep Reggie from climbing out the window), and at the window like everyone else. Reggie shakes his head.

“Yeah, no, believe it or not, this isn’t really a conversation I want to have,” he says, and there are tears welling up, and he’s cried a lot lately and he hates it, so he just climbs out the window, sliding the fire escape rail rather than climbing down it, even if it is more dangerous to do it this way. At least it’s faster. His phone is ringing before he even makes it to the bottom floor, and he knows it’s Luke because he has a stupid personalized ringer, which Luke set when he also set his own contact name when Reggie got his new phone, and he asked Reggie to keep his phone with the sound on just for him so that he’d always hear it. God, that’s stupid. He’s so stupid for Luke Patterson.

He doesn’t answer the phone, but when he’s made it to the bus (just to make sure that Luke won’t catch up to him), he texts Luke, just to let Luke know he’s okay. Even if Luke doesn’t feel the same way, he knows that he cares. Luke has always made sure that Reggie knows that he cares. So, he sits at the bus station and waits the fifteen minutes for the next bus because he doesn’t want to get into a cab at this hour, and he texts Luke.

Reggie: I’m fine. We don’t have to talk about it. I’ll see you in a little while.

Lu💙: what if i wanna talk about it?

Reggie: Idk if that’s a good idea.

Lu💙: y not?

Reggie contemplates it for a moment, but he sends what he’s thinking. It’s easier to be brave over text. Besides, Luke already knows how he feels. Might as well just say it.

Reggie: Because I’m in love with you and you have a girlfriend.

Incoming call from: Lu💙

Accept or Decline?

He accepts it this time. What’s the worst that could happen?

“I don’t have a girlfriend and I think you might be an idiot,” Luke says before Reggie can even get out a cautionary hello, and it’s enough that Reggie feels like he might stop breathing. He can barely string a thought together for a second.

“You- I- what?” he asks, suddenly sitting in a bus station unable to get enough air into his lungs, but possibly in the best way. He can hear Luke growl under his breath.

“You went into the bus station, right? I tracked you, but there are too many people in there, and I lost you. Come outside, okay? We can actually talk,” Luke says, and then he hangs up, like an asshole. Even though Luke is an asshole, Reggie still finds himself standing up. Luke… doesn’t have a girlfriend? But he and Julie- did they break up? Did something happen? Was it Reggie’s fault, somehow? He walks outside the exact way he came in, because if he’s right- yeah. Luke is waiting at the entrance he came in at, looking exactly like a puppy left tied to a tree, pouting and then smiley and relieved as soon as he catches sight of Reggie. Reggie gives a cautious smile of his own unbidden, unable to resist the pull of smiling back at Luke Patterson.

“So…” Reggie says as he walks up to Luke, swallowing nervously. He can’t stand being nervous around Luke. It’s unnatural. Luke, for his part, keeps his grin.

“I don’t have a girlfriend. And I haven’t had once since before I dropped out. And I don’t want one. I actually have feelings for a guy,” Luke says, pausing for a brief second in which Reggie sucks in a breath, and then continuing, “he’s about yea high,” he says, putting his hand at Reggie’s height, “and he has these killer eyes, makes you feel like you’re gonna drown in them, can shred both bass guitar and a banjo, but don’t tell him I said that second one, and most importantly, he’s my favorite person in the world. We’ve got the most chemistry of anyone I’ve ever sang with, I think. Certainly the most I feel. What do you think, Reg?” He caps it off by cupping Reggie’s jaw with his rough fingertips, his sweet smile a little lascivious, and Reggie feels weak in the goddamn knees.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hot,” he says, echoing himself from a few years ago now, except now, it’s him who leans forward instead of Luke backing away, and he kisses Luke. He kisses Luke and he holds him close, grabbing him by the flannel (it used to be Reggie’s anyway, didn’t it?), and Luke falls into him like he’s been waiting to do it for as long as Reggie has. The kiss doesn’t last too long (doesn’t last long enough, but they’re in public), before they’re breaking apart, but really getting closer together, Luke pulling him into a hug. Having Luke against him, knowing that Luke feels the same way, feels better than anything Reggie ever thought he could have. He wants this moment forever, maybe, wants to have Luke Patterson in his life for the rest of his, and he’s always known that, but this… this is something new and terrifying and it feels just like home.

Speaking of which.

“We should probably go home at some point. We are in public,” he says, even though he knows it will kill Luke’s vibe. He holds in his laughter when Luke swats at him.

“Can we have a moment, Reginald? Just one moment?” He’s laughing, though, so how bad can it be? He also doesn’t pull out of the hug, and neither does Reggie, he just leans closer to Luke’s ear, kissing above it before speaking.

“I’m in love with you, you know,” he says, because he may have said it over text, but that was spite fueled and less than what he meant, and he wants a do-over. Luke shivers against him.

“Hell of a moment to pick, Peters. I love you too,” he replies, nosing at Reggie’s throat again before pulling back. He looks… pink and sweet and beautiful and a thousand other things that maybe a young, upstart punk rock guitarist and werewolf shouldn’t choose to look like, but he looks like Luke, and Reggie loves him so much. He kisses Luke again, just a peck, and pulls away before he can let himself get sucked into his best friend’s orbit too much.

“We need to go home, dog boy. It’s getting a little late to be loitering outside a bus station,” he says, leaning his forehead against Luke’s, who scowls at him.

“Don’t call me dog boy, scales,” Luke replies, though his voice takes on a teasing of his own. Reggie’s eyes widen, a grin taking over his face.

“Scales? It’s like that?” he asks, strangely charmed by Luke teasing him about his new features. It makes them feel more… normal. Better. Luke smiles back, and nips at Reggie’s jawline. Reggie retaliates by giving into the impulse of nipping at Luke’s ear, making Luke look scandalized, and then delighted.

“You’ve never bit me back before!” he says, hands firm on Reggie’s waist. Reggie shrugs, though his grin is a little wilder.

“Must some new instincts, Lu. Got all kinds, now. You good with that?” he asks, insecurity just barely creeping into his voice. Luke kisses his cheek.

“Anything you’ve got, I’m here for it. New instincts too.”

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christinaroseandrews · 3 years ago

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When the morning paper announces his engagement to a woman he's never met, William Atherton, the Earl of Norwood, is rightfully confused. Confused and more than a little pissed off. Filled with righteous anger, he calls upon the chit, a one Charlotte Hurst, to give her a piece of his mind and to inform her that her ill-thought out marriage trap will not work.

He makes an utter cake of himself.

To his chagrin, he finds that not only did Charlotte not publish the announcement but that she is as much a victim of this announcement as he is. And that while she has considerably more to lose, she informs him that she wouldn't marry him if he were the last eligible man on earth. Shocked and now more than a little intrigued, William proposes a solution: go through with the engagement for a time and then have Charlotte publicly jilt him to save face. Because while the scandal of this false announcement might cost him a coveted and competitive posting in the Prime Minister's government, it could cost Charlotte her whole future.

It's the perfect solution. Assuming one doesn't fall in love in the process.

Okay... you all know me. You know that Fake-Dating-Becomes-Real is one of my favorite tropes in like the history of forever. It's right up there with Time Travel, Enemies-to-Lovers, and The-Big-One-Keeps-The Small-One-From-Murdering-People. I have a lot of favorite tropes. LOL So this book, with the whole Fake Dating as well a hint of Enemies-to-Lovers is seriously right up my alley. And this Debut novel by Kate Pembrooke scratched my itch quite nicely.

Charlotte is definitely the shy, retiring kind of wallflower with a hint of steel underneath. She's not comfortable with small talk. She's nervous in large crowds. She's much more interested in books than the weather. And she desperately wants to do something with her life. She has no interest in landing a titled husband just for the sake of landing a titled husband. She wants love, mutual affection, and she's not willing to settle. She's an interesting character--a little naive at times. a little prudish at others-- she is most definitely a product of her time. She doesn't consider herself the kind of woman an ambitious Earl like William would want to marry and that forms the basis for much of their conflict.

As for William, he's also a bit of a prude... but in the "he's part of the establishment" kind of way. Part of his arc is understanding that he does need to unbend for things to improve between him and Charlotte as well as sorting out his priorities. Part of me really likes that his arc features the potential sacrifice of something he really wants in order to both do the right thing and also to get the girl. It's something that generally the woman has to be the one making the sacrifice instead of the man. So I liked that. But... another part of me doesn't like it. I think that there should be solutions that form a compromise. I'm weird like that. I do like that William is very willing to apologize when he is wrong. It's refreshing to see that honestly. But I didn't love his jealousy and possessiveness. I did like that during the first sex scene that there was very good consent and there was a lot of implied consent in the earlier kisses. This is important, y'all.

The Side characters are fun and actually really offered good advice and were generally stand up characters... well rounded even if they were clearly not going to get their own book later -- like some of William's sisters. The antagonist of the book needed more depth, though. They were very over the top in an almost melodramatic kind of way. They were also introduced way too late in the book as an actual character and not an idea.

Plot-wise, it took me a little bit understand why the announcement would be a big deal. I knew right off that Charlotte could just jilt him and be done with it. And while it was eventually explained the rationale, It didn't land for me immediately. I also didn't love a few other things that happened in this book. There's a very large TSTL moment which does have a VERY good lampshade hung on it, but the fall out from it is very predictable. I also felt that the ending was rushed. In fact the pacing was a bit off for the beginning of the book. While I totally loved the adorable epistolary banter in the beginning, I do think that a few scenes early on could be cut while some of the later scenes in the book felt rushed and missing components. This is why this book isn't a five star from me.

As a note something I didn't love but am not dinging the book for are the few anachronisms that slipped through (Giving someone "An Out" is from 1919 and "Being square" with someone... as in settled up isn't from 1868 and is an Americanism), some very weird punctuation choice, and a few missing scene breaks which turn into headhops. My hope is that these mistakes are limited to the ARC I read and are not in the final product. But in case they are, I am noting them in this review.

In all, this was a very good debut novel that did a good job of setting up the world and introducing us to future characters. I am definitely interested in reading Serena and Charles' book when it is available.

Because I liked this book despite a few missteps this gets:

Four stars

If this is your jam, you can get it here.

If you like these kind of honest reviews, please consider supporting us here!

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley

#Romance Review #historical romance #regency romance #fake dating #debut novel #Kate pembrooke #four stars #Rose and Lark review books

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years-waiting · 4 years ago

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2. Bölüm

So I survived the week to keep watching this dizi. First I'll say something that I forgot to say before in my first review of this dizi. I did not like the first synopsis of it and kept not liking it and everytime I remember it I get sad, but then I remember the laughs the dizi gave me (Esra's family was the best in the 1 bölüm!) and Ilhan Şen's face, I'm suddenly okay (this was my week apparently). Other thing to be said is that surprisingly, I was thinking a LOT about this dizi after I watched it (I mean, it's very strange to be thinking too much if I didn't love or at least truly, profoundly liked the show).

Anyway, I loved this episode! You know, I thought at the beginning of it that I wouldn't like it because I'm not putting much faith in it. But Ekrem and Esra's sibling rivalry is precious! It's so refreshing to see siblings being siblings in a tv show (I mean, I'm just like that with my sisters sometimes you know). That last 20 minutes were the best of the episode with the camera recordings of both siblings being stupid together (I really wonder why they didn't show what Esra called Ekrem for, I was even thinking that they wouldn't show as my doubtful side thought. But then they enlightened me with the best of Ekrem and Esra together). I even can't forget Menekşe hanım say "My children are stupid! How can they steal some base of data if they are stupid! Especially Ekrem as he didn't learn how to multiply until high school!" I laughed so much at that! (I expected exactly that from Ekrem). The scene of Ekrem being taken by the police is really good too. Ozan's mother is SO amazing, every scene of her was perfect, she made me almost forget I have to breathe (she had to be dragged in a humiliating way which she's not ashamed by it and I didn't forget her voice, HER VOICE!). On the comedy department, this dizi is well fed.

As from the department of romance I have to say, I'm not really into enemies to lovers (I'm a "fake-dating trope with found family as part of the whole drama" gal, but I don't have problems if they do it right) and hope they don't drag this bickering between them for too long (I want to see them together right now, not when winter is already there!). I think they're going to be really beautiful together, they seem to have potential to get me all swooned (I hope I'm right!). By the way, what was that Esra meant when she was fighting with Ozan after she tried eavesdropping Şeima (is this how her name is spelled? The subs don't help) at his mother's house. She said something about being his fault for something to happened with her (I really wondered if she got pregnant and aborted the baby, but then I remembered that this is a dizi, something like that wouldn't happen, not in a romcom. At least RTÜRK will not permit with their fussy way of not allowing). Probably is nothing big and I'm exaggerating, I'm dramatic too so it adds to my over exaggeration.

I still can see the possibility of Çağla being an antagonist, she's really cool right now but they'll probably insert a villain and can be just a reform of her or a new actor to come along, both possibilities are available. You know, when I remember some things about the show, I suddenly don't like (the fact that his mother was awful to her when they were married and he didn't do anything at the time, how their marriage was in a way not healthy...) but then I remember Ilhan Şen's face and I'm on again (It's on loop in my head). And I did not forget that I asked in the first review for a scene of them happy when they were married. I got it, so mission accomplished! I'm in complicated relationship with this dizi, but still it is worth it.

That's all for now!

#aşk mantık intikam #ask mantik intikam #burcu özberk #burcu ozberk #ilhan şen #ilhan sen #turkish series #turkish dizi #review

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wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey · 5 years ago

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Kdrama recs Part 1

Hullo and welcome to the kdrama life @camsthisky! The following list is not in any particular order, other than the fact that I start with a more rom/com vibe and head toward more romantic/action or action. All the following kdramas are set in the modern day, and part 2 of my recs for you will be either darker kdramas set in present day or historical dramas.

Let the list begin!

1. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon:

Do Bong Soon is a v smol woman who has super strength and who wants 1. To create her own video game 2. Get her police officer crush to return her affections. Which like, police officer is kinda cute but he ain’t that special. Bong Soon winds up becoming a bodyguard to Ahn Min Hyuk, the extremely rich, kinda spoiled, ridiculously extra CEO of a gaming company who does not like the police for secret reasons, and sadly does not have a good relationship with his family. (He a lonely boy underneath everything.) Min Hyuk finds out about Bong Soon’s powers, is in TOTAL awe of her, offers to train her in fighting, and literally falls head over heels for her.

The caveat with this show is there is a subplot or two that annoy me, BUT I just use the 10 second skip button and it is totally worth it because the romance is super cute—SUPER CUTE (also I have a list of favorite actors and Park Hyung Sik is def on it—one minute he is an adorkable, blushing bby the next he can be intense and sad)

He cute

2. Her Private Life:

Hello fake-dating!! Ryan Gold (an adoptee who didn’t live in Korea for a while) is a former artist who stopped painting because he couldn’t deal with his Stendhol (?) syndrome (among other traumas). Deok Mi is the classy art curator of a famous museum who definitely does not have any secrets she wants to keep from the world—well, other than the fact that she is the number one fangirl of kpop idol, Cha Shi-an (who also appreciates art) and has a major crush on him. Ryan becomes director of the art museum and there is a whole thing with getting Shi-an involved in an art show.

Following this and a series of unfortunate events a false rumor starts that Deok Mi and and Shi-an ARE dating. It’s a little complicated to summarize, but basically what you need to know is that Ryan and Deok Mi become a fake couple so there won’t be a scandal for Shi-an or violence done to Deok Mi by rabid fangirls. I enjoy the fake-dating trope a lot, and how it becomes real for both of them! The leads are played by Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young, who both have incredible range. Lots of soft moments in this one! Good kisses, a scene where the faves bake together, and also Ryan wears a lot of deep v-neck shirts and jackets which is an attack on me personally.

The show also contains a bit of angst, which I LOVE. Hand-holding becomes an important theme 😊

RYAN NO

3. Crash Landing on You: Rich South Korean heiress/fashion designer Se-ri accidentally winds up in a North Korean village, and really REALLY wants to go home. Mostly because there are no scented candles or spa-like bathtubs in the vicinity, but also because she could easily disappear into a NK jail and never return. A North Korean captain named Ri Jeong Hyeok finds her and decides not to turn her because, one, he’s a good guy who doesn’t want to turn an innocent person over to what might be her death, and two, turning her over might get his four underlings in trouble for reasons. Said underlings are his family, basically, and they are a deLIGHT. One is an argumentative proud sort who likes to drink and to feel important and who tries to provoke (and gets provoked by) Se-ri at every opportunity, one is a lover of banned South Korean dramas, one is a 17 year old bby who misses his mom, and one is the silent but most loyal follower of the captain.

Besides all these people, there are two other characters (including a surprisingly wise conman) who become faves and major players in the plot.

There is a great mix of humor, romance, found family, and angst, and I love it very much. A few things don’t go the way I want them to near the end, but a bit of imagination and fanfic can fix anything

ALSO I FORGOT THE CAPTAIN GETS SUPER SULKY FROM TIME TO TIME AND IT IS HILARIOUS

Show of hands, who thinks they will meet again

4. Are You Human Too: A FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL! TIME!

What do you do when your husband dies and your evil mega-rich father-in-law takes your son away from you and keeps you from seeing him ever? Well, if you are scientist with more genius than positive coping methods, you build yourself a robot son who looks exactly like your real son. Great solution, am I right?

Nam Shin III is the name of my favorite robot son, played by the inestimable Seo Kang Joon. He is the purest bby you will ever meet, being designed so that he never lies and so that he will immediately go to hug anyone who cries. He seems quite a contrast to the bitter human Nam Shin, who hates his gilded prison life, hates his Grandpa, and tries to sneak away from his right hand man, Secretary Ji Young Hoon, his only friend in the world. The girl in the show is Kang So Bong, an ex-UFC fighter who was so badly injured she had to quit. She is at first a bit jaded and mercenary because of her past, but she has a golden heart that just needs to be reminded of its existence.

Not going into details to avoid spoilers, but everything upends when the robot Nam Shin has to take the place of the human Nam Shin. The show is a soft, funny, angsty exploration of what it means to be human, with some good found family throughout. The character development is phenomenal, and the connection between So Bong and Nam Shin III is *chef’s kiss*. I just want to give a shout out to Seo Kang Joon who plays a duel role like you wouldn’t believe, to SKJ’s smile, to the soundtrack, and to the character of Young Hoon, a loyal, steady, and self-sacrificing secretary that we do not deserve (gosh tho he looks good in blue!)

Look at my robot son getting a long-looked for affirmation! (his lil smile!!!

5. W: Two Worlds:

This show unique because it meta as HELL! Oh Yeon Joo is a junior doctor and the daughter of a webtoon artist whose big hit, W, is coming to a close. Much to her surprise, she gets pulled into the world of the comic where she encounters and saves the main character, Kang Chul, a former Olympic shooting champion who was blamed for the murder of his entire family, and whose sole desire is to find the real killer. It’s a good romance between them, and I also love Kang Chul’s relationship with his hyung, which, tho it is not always a main focus, is present and wonderful. Kang Chul himself is both intelligent and adorably bratty, charismatic and angsty, soft and fierce, and he is one of my favorite kdrama characters for sure.

As for the meta, the show does a fantastic job exploring the rules of the comic world, of how one can enter and leave, the importance and power of main characters and supporting characters, and the purpose of an author. There is always another twist coming, and it is just so much fun!

UM SIR PLS POINT THAT ELSEWHERE

6. Healer:

I watched half this show and never realized that the female lead is played by Park Min Young, same actress as in Her Private Life. Someone had to tell me lol! She’s just so good at playing different people. In this show, she is Chae Young Shin, a reporter for a celebrity tabloid who has big dreams of becoming a famous reporter who investigates stories that actually mean something. She is a bit quirky, very cute, very brave, and probably one of my favorite female leads. She lives with her dad above his coffee/teashop bakery and is friends with all the ex-cons he has defended while doing his other job of lawyering.

Anyway this show is more of a romantic/action drama. To get an idea of the titular Healer, picture what you would get if you took some of Batman and Nightwing’s aesthetics (wearing black, hanging out on rooftops, punching people, flipping around, etc) and put them into a night courier who likes to watch National Geographic and dream about one day going off to an island where he can live all by himself for the rest of his days because oh yeah he is a loner whose only friend is an older woman who sets up his jobs and whom he has never actually met.

There is also an older reporter that Young Shin looks up to, the fun tabloid office where she works, a heck lot of mystery surrounding some tragedy involving a group of reporter best friends/found family back in the 80’s/90’s, and of course both members of the OTP have childhood trauma that has made them who they are today. One of my favorite things that happens in the show is that Healer has to go undercover for a while, Clark Kenting it up in Young Shin’s tabloid office, which overnight becomes a real news agency for reasons.

The action is LOTS of fun, and the romance is really soft and cute, and better still, when there is a misunderstanding or something that gets in their way, they almost immediately talk about it and resolve issues. They TRUST each other and give the benefit of the doubt where many tv couples would break up or get in big fights. I find it (plus the character development) very refreshing.

I couldn’t find a gif of my favorite fight sadly. This will have to do

7. Lawless Lawyer: This has Lee Joon Gi. Watch it.

Just kidding, there are many other reasons to watch the show, but it is true that Lee Joon Gi is one of my favorite actors. The man has phoenix eyes, a jawline that could cut silk, diamonds, you name it, and such a deep well of emotional acting that it literally kills me when his characters rage/weep/love/etc.

Anyway, in this legal thriller/romance/action drama, LJG’s character Bong Sang Pil is a beautiful, very extra ex-gangster/now lawyer who opens his own office, ready to fight villainy and avenge his mom with the law or with his fists, whichever is more useful at the time. He has a right hand man named Manager Tae and recruits a bunch of thugs as his minions, and they all become a weird sort of family as the show goes on.

Ha Jae Yi is a quiet badass lawyer who has no time for sexist idiots and gets her license suspended for smacking one of said fools. She gets recruited to assist Sang Pil, and they find their goals align as both their mothers were destroyed by the villains.

Speaking of the villains? EXCELLENT acting by them all, like they need to go down obviously, but you can’t help but be in awe of a few of them or even get attached to one or two in a weird way. Props to the show for having one of the best female villains I have ever seen

What an icon

Here you get two gifs of him

Sorry I needed to make it a magical three lol

Tune in next time for historical dramas and modern dramas that are a bit darker!

#kdrama recommendations #lawless lawyer #healer #w two worlds #are you human too #her private life #strong woman do bong soon #crash landing on you #kdrama recs for cam #my kdrama recs

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