#He's already trying to get free school diners at school for children to run during the hoildays

[nuttersincorporated]

Your post was what convinced me to go in for voting today! I didn't realize how important this election, but after reading your post last night I shifted my plans around and now I'll be voting in it after all. Thanks for your post - it really did make a difference! Here's hoping for another referendum.

Oh my gosh! Thank you so much fortelling me this. This message really made my day.

As much as I wish that voter apathywasn’t a thing, it is. Every vote counts, every single one. In fact, with voterapathy so high, it actually makes your vote more important and powerful than ever.

In the recent local elections, mydad ran to become a Labour councillor (he has no power over Brexit, local councillors’server their community rather than the UK as a whole). He won by only13 votes. 13! When I say every vote counts, I really mean it.

[mercy-burning]

Myth or Movie

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader Summary: Unbeknownst to the two of them, Y/N and Spencer's children have worked up a plan to get them to meet... Category: SMUT (18+) Content: Strong language, oral sex (female receiving), penetrative/unprotected sex, someone is misgendered (nothing too bad, it’s very brief, and it’s sincerely apologized for by the person who misgenders) Word Count: 4.2k

MASTERLIST

NOTE: This is my 2nd entry for Pom’s ( @imagining-in-the-margins ) Enemies To Lover’s Writing Challenge! This one was one of the prompts she provided: You and (Character)'s kids don't get along, so you have to have a talk. Turns out you... really really get along... and I couldn’t wait to tackle it! I believe my exact words were: “I’m gonna Parent Trap these bitches”... So do with that what you will lol

———

"I'm so sorry I'm late!"

Two heads turn to stare at me as I burst through the doors. I'm out of breath from running through the building, something the staff really didn't seem to appreciate, though their shouts and annoyed glances were the last thing on my mind.

As I try to catch my breath, the two heads stand, and suddenly I feel a lot smaller.

One of them I recognize— Principal Anteros. I'd met with her before over some of Sky's academic achievements, all positive things, which is why today's circumstances make being in this office rather uncomfortable.

It's also why I seem to shrink with embarrassment at my tardiness— and appearance. Waitressing has its benefits, but today's whirlwind of phone calls and a mention at meeting another parent are not any of them.

Speaking of, the other person in the room is one I've never seen before. He's taller than both Anteros and I, extremely well dressed, and probably the most intimidatingly beautiful human being I'd ever met. I can barely meet his eyes, and so I try not to think about what he's doing here—to think about having to talk to him.

I shrink even further.

"Ms. Y/L/N," Principal Anteros greets. Thankfully she doesn't sound too upset given the circumstances. "Please, have a seat."

I do, brushing off my uniform as if that will somehow help my appearance. The soft leather of the chairs, however comfortable they might be, fail to bring me any comfort at all.

"As I'm sure you've guessed already, this is Doctor Reid, Vivian's father."

Great, he's a fucking doctor? This already bodes well for me...

Regardless of my reservations, I turn to him and give a faint smile. He waves in turn, and for the time being I'm extremely glad he doesn't insist on shaking my hand.

"It's nice to meet you," he says, surely nothing but a formality.

"You, too," I say quickly, then turn back to Principal Anteros. "Your phone call sounded urgent... Is everything alright?"

As soon as I say it, I feel kind of dumb. Because of course everything isn't alright. My child's principal called a meeting with another parent, and that can never mean anything good, not to mention the fucking intimidation and awkwardness in the room right now. I almost apologize, trying to explain that that wasn't exactly what I meant to get across, but then I would have just been talking for way too long, embarrassing myself further.

Once again, I'm thankful for Anteros's ability to move the conversation along. "I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem so. I only bring this to attention because Sky and Vivian are both stellar students. They've never had any disciplinary issues or difficulties with other students..."

"No one's hurt, right?" Mr. Reid asks. I know he's just concerned for his child, but for some reason it feels like an attack on me, like he assumes my kid had something to do with it.

"No, no one's hurt. Thankfully there weren't any physical altercations. But it seems your girls are quite... loud."

The doctor looks like he wants to say something, but I'm quick to jump in before he can. "Sorry... Sky is non-binary. They use they/them pronouns."

I half expect one or either of them to make a big deal or just roll their eyes at me, as most people seem to do when I correct them on the matter, but Anteros gives a sincere apology and Reid probably couldn't have cared any less.

I still can't tell if I like him or not...

But that doesn't matter right now.

"What do you mean by loud?" I continue.

Anteros sighs. "Well, while there hasn't been any physical violence, your kids seem to have very heated arguments, usually during lunch or in the hallway in passing... We thought maybe we could resolve it here since, like I said, they're both excellent students, but then it started escalating to classroom arguments... It's a lot of screaming..."

I have never known Sky to raise their voice at anyone, not even in a situation where I probably would have. Lord knows I'm thankful they don't have my impatience and tendency to get pissed off easily...

So what happened that was so bad, it made them snap?

"You... You're sure you mean Vivian is acting out like this?" Reid asks slowly, and I can't stop myself from laughing out loud.

"Come on, she's a professional. This has been going on for weeks, in her school, I'm sure she would know if it was your kid having a screaming match with someone else..."

This time Doctor Reid actually looks over at me, an eyebrow raised, and though I very much believe what I've just told him, the way he's looking at me right now drops my heart straight down to my stomach, like he's the principal and I'm the student acting out—No, it's worse than that... I feel like he's a disappointed parent, but not with Vivian, with me.

I avoid his intimidating stare and look down at the ground. "Sorry... I'm just... This isn't like Sky, either, I don't know what to do..."

"Well, usually when we have these sort of disputes, we like to have the students talk it out amongst themselves with a moderator present. But we've tried that, and it seems that they still haven't made any progress. Now, I know your children are good at heart, and it seems like you both are excellent parents— You know your children better than anyone here ever could. So, I'm proposing the two of you take a meeting some time and try to figure out how to settle this."

Seriously? If it hasn't been made clear already, this man is a doctor of some kind, planets away from my league in any capacity, and I can just picture the two of us in a screaming match close to what I imagine our children's looked like...

Maybe we can just e-mail.

"Okay," he agrees evenly, and I'm surprised he seems this calm considering I've just practically yelled at him... "I have free time this afternoon if you want to talk it over."

"I have to get back to work, but I get done at five," I sigh, wanting to get this over with. "Are you free then?"

"Mhm."

"Good," Anteros chirps, standing and leaving Doctor Reid and I to follow suit. "Perhaps over the weekend we can get this settled."

I sure as hell hope so.

———

"Ms. Y/L/N, wait!"

I have no idea what he could possibly want from me now that we've set a time and place to talk tonight, but I'm just praying desperately that he doesn't want to take this time alone in the parking lot to get back at me for accosting him in Anteros's office...

Thankfully, his face when he approaches seems rather kind.

"You can call me Y/N..."

"Right," he says, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets and nodding. "I'm Spencer."

"Spencer... So, um... Did you need something?"

"O—Oh, I just... I know you have to get back to work so I'll make this short, but I wanted to see if you wanted to do, uh... dinner tonight?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I just figured since we probably didn't expect for our weekend to go this way... We should make it worth it?"

"Are you really trying to turn this into a date?"

"W— No, not really, I just... You know, I thought it might be nice to... make this less like a chore, you know? A—And don't feel like you have to say yes, it was just a thought, I'm sorry if I made this weirder..."

The fact that I still can't figure this man out bothers me, but right now he's blushing, and he looks like he's trying to save himself from embarrassment, and it's so fucking adorable that I don't really care that I was just annoyed.

So I tell him, "Sure. Why not?"

"Really?"

"Yeah... Besides, Lord knows I haven't gone out for dinner in a long time."

The doctor is relieved, a smile creeping up on his lips that suddenly tugs at my insides and makes me wish for a second that it really is a date he's offering... "Okay, good. Do you want to meet at Waterstone, seven o'clock?"

The excitement starts to drain from me as he says it, followed by an incoming wave of embarrassment. "Oh, man, that... That place is kind of expensive, I don't—"

"Oh, it's okay, I'll pay for everything. I'll even wait outside for you so we can go in together if you'd like..."

Why he's being so nice to me I have no idea, but it's making my annoyance melt and my heart start to beat faster, and I really don't know how to feel about that. In fact I'm pretty sure it's weird as fuck given the circumstances.

But all I have to do is make it through this weekend, hopefully all will be back to normal, and I won't ever have to think about it ever again.

"Alright... It's a date."

———

Out of all the scenarios I'd pictured for the end of the night, this definitely had not been one of them.

I finished my shift at the diner, imagining on my drive home the look on his face when I inevitably showed up with something on my face or stained on my dress; Instead I showed up to Waterstone and was greeted with wandering eyes and showered with bashful compliments.

I expected to get into some type of argument about how each of our kids were better than the other or something, but we ended up talking through their traits with compassion, interest, and pride, all while agreeing that we just have to sit with them this weekend and explain that there are easier, better ways to sort out disagreements than screaming at each other in public.

I expected not to have much fun at all, but by the time we gathered the check and headed out the door, Spencer and I were laughing, just a little tipsy on Cabernet, our hands gently brushing and sparks shooting up my arm at the feeling.

I expected to go our separate ways and walk to my car and drive home, but instead he ended up telling me he was taking the Subway home, and I offered to give him a ride to the opposite side of town where I lived (Waterstone was right in the middle).

I expected to walk through the door, stumble straight up to bed, and sleep until Sky inevitably woke me up with them saying I've slept in too late and needed to get ready for work, but instead I ended up following Spencer up to his door to say goodnight.

And now we're at a fork in the road, and I can take one of two paths.

I can say goodnight, watch him walk in, and then go home and forget about this whole thing.

Or I can keep letting him stare at me until I find myself leaning in to kiss him. Whether or not he'll actually reciprocate is another story, but the little bit of wine tingling in the surface of my body and the dark, intense look in his eye gives me more courage than I've had since I met him.

Before I can make a move, Spencer talks, his voice small and inviting. "Do you want to come inside?" The beating of my heart quickens immensely as he takes another step forward and brings his fingers out to graze my chin. "Vivian's with her mom tonight."

Yes. Vivian's mom, who divorced Spencer pretty soon in the marriage after she just decided his job was too much to handle. He'd quit and took a teaching job, but even still, she declined his pleading to stay married and eventually admitted that she just wasn't in love with him anymore. At least she had the decency to let him have joint custody once his schedule cleared up, and it seemed like they were decent co-parents. Maybe even friends.

I think about Sky, how much they wish their dad had stayed, and how much I wish he had too. I was devastated when he left without anything more than a note. For years it took a huge toll on us, and I barely had the headspace to even think about dating anyone since then.

But here I am now, standing with this man who has also lost a spouse, who's somewhat of a single parent, and who seems kind and genuine enough that I don't think I'd have to worry about bringing him into the life of my child.

Though, I don't even know it'll go that far. I'm getting too far ahead of myself, and so to slow down I look at what's right in front of me. Right now.

Spencer looks at me like he wants to devour me. My whole body is tingling from head to toe. I want to kiss him, and I'm pretty damn sure he wants to kiss me back. He just invited me inside, which means that if I accept, we'll most likely end up sleeping with each other.

Again... Definitely not one of the scenarios I'd had in mind when I left the school today. But it's a damn good one, and he's so hot I want to cry.

My flirty switch turns on so fast, it nearly gives me whiplash. "And what are you gonna do if I say yes?"

"Depends... How badly do you want to walk tomorrow?"

My first instinct is to jokingly tell him to put me in a wheelchair, but I settle for kissing him instead, hoping that gives the same sentiment.

The way he melts into my body tells me I've succeeded. My arms fly up to his neck and pull him closer, and he holds me tightly to him, waiting for my lips to part so he can expertly slip his tongue past them.

I whine out and take a step towards the door. Spencer comes with me and fumbles with the keys in his pocket before reluctantly pulling away to get us inside.

Once we take our jackets and shoes off, he clings to me like static, drawn to me like a magnet, and I let him near without a second thought. Our lips find each other perfectly, like they've always meant to fit together. And as pieces of clothing come off on our way through the house and up to his bedroom, our limbs fit together just as well. Nothing is out of place.

Hell, I don't even remember how inferior to him I felt earlier in the day. Our jobs and lifestyles might seem like polar opposites, but for right now, the two of us are on very equal footing, coming together like it's always been meant to be.

I nearly fall apart when his fingers gather wetness from my cunt, just enough to tease me before pulling away and bringing them to his lips. I watch with a whine waiting on the back of my tongue as he slips his fingers past his mouth and sighs.

"More," is all he manages, and I want so badly to tease him—tell him how I know he can be more eloquent than that—but words are all lost on me too, when he drops to his knees and spreads me apart with ease. I have no choice but to reach behind and grip the foot-end of the bed as he works his tongue expertly against me.

Each of my sighs and whines are met with more avidity from him, taking the form of sharp flicks of the tongue over my clit, and once he adds his fingers to the mix, pumping them expertly inside me, I'm a fucking goner.

I come with a silent shout, clenching my thighs around his face and gripping the foot of the bed so tightly it feels like my hands might go numb.

Once my body loosens, Spencer gets up and kisses me, nearly knocking me over. I'm breathless and dizzy as the tang of my arousal coats my tastebuds. His hands are gentle despite the hunger in his lips, and the medley of sensations of all of these things has me weak in the knees.

"Getting harder to stand already, sweetheart?" he laughs, catching me as I fall into him. His hands clutch at my thighs and he carries me to the edge of the bed, crawling over top of me and kissing down my neck. "That's okay... I'll take good care of you."

I still can't manage to speak as he gently pushes in, the slow burn of him splitting me in two rendering me utterly incapable of even thought. I gladly welcome the pressure, especially once he's inside me all the way and lowering his body to mine. Our chests press firmly together as he pulls back and starts a steady pace with his hips. He traps me with his arms, bringing them to either side of my face. And when his fingers brush the hair from my eyes, he stares into them with intensity as he fucks me.

It's slow and hard. It's heart-pounding. It's earth-shattering. It's everything that makes sex worth having. In that moment we're two equals, so wrapped up in the mere feeling of each other that everything else is just background noise. He breathes me in and I do the same, and with each cant forward of his hips, he brings me deeper into this world we've both ultimately created together.

I want more than anything to wrap my legs around him and keep him close to me, but he's fucking me so good that I don't have the willpower. Instead, they lay spread out, lazy and open as his hips move between them. I'm warm all over, tingling everywhere our skin connects. When he kisses me, swallowing my pathetic attempts at whimpering his name, I'm positive that this is what Heaven must feel like.

Whether it's hours or only minutes later, eventually my body tenses, unable to hold back any further, and two particularly deep thrusts from Spencer send me barreling over the edge.

"There it is, sweetheart..." he praises, caressing my face with long, gentle fingers and leaving little kisses wherever they trail. His voice only seems to help me along, each warm syllable soothing the muscles that pulled taut at his mercy. "That's a good girl..."

I feel tired, calmed, and relaxed, when he pulls out only to jerk off over my lower stomach. Through tired eyes, I watch as he lets go and covers me with his release. Hearing him grunt out my name as he does it nearly wakes me up again, and it even finally brings some words out of me.

"God, you're so fucking hot..."

Well... Not exactly elegant, but the feeling gets across.

Spencer laughs and rolls over so that he isn't nearly crushing me anymore. He kisses down my neck, my arm, and he ever-so-slightly swipes the tip of his tongue over the mess he made before kissing my thigh and getting up to leave— presumably to get me something to clean up with.

Sure enough, he returns shortly with a wet washcloth and tenderly cleans me up. I manage to sit, leaning back on my elbows once he's done and smile at him. He's practically kneeling in front of me again, smiling back as his lips press featherlight kisses to the inside of my leg.

"How're you feeling?" he drawls, letting me pull him up to lay down with me.

"Really good. I haven't done that in so long..."

"Me either... I um... I hadn't really thought much about seeing other people once Lena and I got divorced... I guess I just wanted to put all my focus into being the best father I could, you know?"

"Mhm," I answer, turning to face him and interlocking our fingers. "I know exactly what you mean."

We lay like that for a few moments in comfortable silence, hands and limbs tangled while we breathe the same air and revel in the afterglow we've just created.

Suddenly Spencer laughs, and I squeeze his hand. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking... We probably wouldn't have met if not for Anteros calling us in, right?"

"Yeah..." I piece it together. "Guess I never thought of it that way."

"I just think it's funny, because in Greek mythology, Anteros was an Erote, known as an avenger of unrequited love, and he punished those who scoffed at romantic advances made by others... You and I never even thought about dating after our separations, and yet... Here we are now, because of Anteros."

Hearing him educate me on Greek mythology only serves to remind me how different we are. Still, the little story brings a comforting smile to my lips. "Well... Remind me to send her a basket of muffins or something to thank her."

"And tell her what? That you're grateful she got you laid?"

"Yeah. And what about it?"

The two of us dissolve into laughter that eventually fizzles and leaves us silent again. Our fingers are still tangled, and somehow we've snuggled in even closer.

"In any case, I'm glad I got to meet you, Doctor Reid."

"And I, you, Ms. Y/L/N..."

———

In the past two weeks since that first meeting, I hadn't received any more phone calls from Principal Anteros, which bode as a good sign.

Spencer and I decided to see each other as secretly as we could, which meant only giving vague details to our kids as to what we were doing in our spare time— It seemed weird to spring it on them if they didn't get along, so we figured it was best to wait until the situation was handled.

I tried to talk to Sky about their progress with Vivian, but they only insisted that everything was fine and they wouldn't have to worry anymore. And after relaying this information to Spencer, he informed me that Viv had said the same thing to him.

It wasn't until we both realized that they'd said the same things verbatim each time we asked, that something odd was going on.

And that's how we end up right here, Sky and I sitting on a park bench bathed in the golden October sun while I patiently wait for Spencer to 'coincidentally' show up with Vivian.

Thankfully I don't have to wait too long, because almost five minutes after we sit, I hear the familiar sound of my name falling from his lips, and it's hard to contain the cocky, playful smile that appears upon my own.

"Spencer, hey!" I call back, standing up and going to give him a hug. He pulls me in and he's nice and warm. He smells like burnt wood for some reason, and I want to breathe him in forever. Instead, I settle for a sweet kiss on the lips, both because I simply want to and also because it should baffle the fuck out of our kids.

Sure enough we pull away and look to them, and they look panicked. They have no idea what to do, what to say...

"Oh! Sorry... Viv, this is Y/N, Sky's mom."

The pure amusement in Spencer's voice makes me feel even warmer than being in his embrace. I look to his daughter and give her a wave. "Hi."

"H—Hi..."

It almost seems cruel to laugh at their predicament, but as I turn to Sky and introduce them to Spencer, they have clear annoyance written all over their face.

"Okay, Mom, I think we get it... How did you guys figure it out?"

"What, that you two pretended to hate each other so your principal would have to call us both in to meet?"

The pre-teens look at each other and sigh, truly defeated once and for all. "Yeah," they mutter simultaneously.

"Well, it surely didn't make any sense when you got in trouble for yelling at each other in the first place," Spencer points out. "And then when we asked you how things were working out, you both said the same exact thing..."

"It wasn't that hard to figure out, but we appreciate the effort," I add, reaching out to ruffle Sky's hair. They jerk away playfully, and I can't help but notice their smile as they peek over at Vivian.

"Our plan worked, though, so I call it a win," Vivian says with a shrug.

"As long as you two don't plan on causing any more disruptions at school..." Spencer looks between the both of them, and then at me, his eyes softening as he takes my hand and squeezes it. "Then yes. I'd call it a win, too."

I lean into him and laugh. "Turns out it wasn't Greek mythology that brought us together. It was The Parent Trap."

He raises an eyebrow, like he doesn't get what I mean, and before I can ask or explain, Vivian does it for me. "He's never seen it."

Spencer looks between the three of us like a lost and confused puppy, and we all laugh.

"Well, then, maybe we'll have to have a movie night sometime soon," I offer, reaching out for Sky.

Hand in hand, the four of us continue down the pathway, walking away from the setting sun while dried leaves rustle under our feet.

———

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[writingwithciara]

Marry Me ~Drew Starkey~

summary: y/n and drew. an inseparable duo. they grew up thinking nothing could come between them. but when they turned 24, they were definitely mistaken.

word count: 2.8k

pairings: drew x reader

warnings: angst

a/n: mostly told in 3rd person with bits of Drew’s POV. based off of this song! this gif will be drew before the wedding, just saying. italics are flashbacks!

masterlist

At 8 years old, Drew was trusted to wander the neighborhood alone. He went to the park and saw a girl dressed in a tutu, dancing barefoot in the sandbox. When he approached her, he startled her. She stopped dancing and turned to face him.

“Hi.” her smile was the most friendly thing Drew had ever seen. It was the first time he’d met someone who didn’t scare him.

“Hi.” he waved and kicked the sand below his foot.

“What brings you here?” 

“Got bored at home and needed a new adventure.” he shrugged in response, hoping to get the girls name without asking.

“ME too.” she smiled. “What’s your name, stranger?”

“D-drew.” he looked up and noticed a quizzical look upon her face.

“I like it.” she smiled and held out her hand. “I”m y/n.”

“y/n?” he raised an eyebrow and looked at her. 

Suddenly becoming insecure of her name, she stepped back., letting go of his hand. “My p-parents liked the name.”

“I like it too.” he smiled and sat on the edge of the sandbox. y/n stood in front of him with an outstretched hand.

“Come on. You wanted an adventure and an adventure, you will get.” she offered him the kind smile she greeted him with. He knew that this new found friendship would last a long time.

------------------------

All through life, y/n & drew were inseparable. In high school, they were always mistaken for a couple, and at the time, neither of them realized just how much they acted like one.

It wasn’t until one night, during one of  Drew’s football games, that one of them started noticing.

The game was nearing the end and Drew had yet to spot y/n in the crowd. She wasn’t in her usual spot in the stands and he was starting to get worried that something had happened to her.

He was the quarterback though, so he couldn’t let that shake his focus. He looked back into the team huddle as they went over the plays. They broke apart seconds later and got in their starting positions. Drew called out some plays and was handed the ball. Just as he was about to throw it, he caught sight of her. She waved at him and he was almost hypnotized. It took y/n screaming his name to make him come to his senses.

“Drew!” she shouted and nodded her head to the left. The other teams players were running towards him so he made a quick pass to the wide receiver on the left. The guy caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. That was it. They had won the game. Drew and the guy who made the touchdown were suddenly lifted into the air and everyone started chanting. 

Y/n waited by Drew’s car for him to come out, like she always did. And when she spotted him, she ran full force into him. If he hadn’t seen her already, he would’ve been knocked down. But he caught her and spun her around. 

After they got in his car, they drove to the diner to celebrate with the team. Y/n and Drew sat in their favorite, and most frequented, booth and ordered their usual celebratory meal. Burgers, fries and a shake.

“Where were you? I was getting so worried.” Drew smiled as he stole her fries. She smacked his hand and giggled.

“I had to wait for Dennis to pick me up.”

“Wh-who’s Dennis?”

“He’s my new neighbor. Just moved in a few days ago. He offered to drop me off at the game and he was running late.”

“If you wanted to, you could’ve gotten a ride with me.”

“I know. But I wanted to give you some space before the big game.” she smiled and looked at him. “I didn’t want to distract you right before you went out on the field.”

“You’re my good luck charm. You could never distract me.” he held her hand and looked out the window at their friends, who were goofing off in the parking lot. “You have no idea how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” she smiled and before either of them knew, they both started leaning in. Their lips were only an inch or two apart when they were interrupted by some guy banging on the window beside Drew. “Dennis!” she smiled and ran out to greet the guy. As she slapped his arm for scaring her, he chuckled and wrapped her up in a hug.

Drew instantly felt insecure and he wasn’t sure why. 

This Dennis guy looked like he came out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, the very type of guy that y/n would fall for. As Drew looked on at the two outside, he didn’t feel hungry anymore so he stood up, paid the bill, and left the diner.

For the next year or so, he distanced himself from y/n. He couldn’t stand to hear her talk about how great another guy was, right in front of him. The night at the diner made Drew realize that the only reason he suddenly felt jealous, was because he was in love with her.

2 years after the championship game, he got an envelope in the mail. It was addressed to him and it was from y/n. Wondering what she wanted, he quickly opened the envelope. But when he did, his heart dropped. Inside was a wedding invitation to Dennis & Y/n’s wedding. 

It was surprising to him that he had even received the invitation in the first place, since he had been blowing her off for the better part of 2 years. He didn’t want to go to the wedding, but he knew if he didn’t, he’d regret it. 

So the day of the wedding, he showed up. His tux was the same one he wore to prom. The exact same one that he knew y/n would love. The one she did love when she saw him in it that night.

It was killing him, these thoughts he was having. He had contemplated his plan and changed the details many times. His original plan was to show up and actually watch the girl he loved get married to the man he was incredibly jealous of. Then, he changed the plan to leaving halfway through. The plan changed 4 more times after that.

And here he was now, getting ready to try out his final plan. He wanted to go see her and he hoped that once she saw him, she’d give up on Dennis and run away with him. 

But as he approached the room where she was getting ready, he heard her talking to her friends. He stopped and listened to them.

“You look so great in that dress.” 

“You really do, sweetie.”

“Thanks, mom.” she smiled and kissed her moms cheek. Her sister and her 2 best friends sat next to each other on the couch.

“Dennis is a lucky man, sis.”

“I’m even luckier.” she smiled happily. “I love him so much.”

When Drew heard those words come from her mouth, he made one final decision. He went back to the gift table, set the box down gently & walked away. He could not stay and watch her marry Dennis. It would break his heart knowing that he could’ve been the one up at the altar with her, had he actually told her how he felt before Dennis entered the picture.

If he had stayed outside of her room just a minute longer, he would’ve heard something amazing during the conversation. Something he would’ve enjoyed hearing.

“Is Drew coming today?” y/n asked her friends.

“You know, I’ve always hoped it was going to be you and Drew doing this.” her mom smiled and shook her head. Y/n’s sister looked at her as well.

“Me too.”

“Yeah. I thought the same thing but, Drew never made a move. It would’ve been nice to be marrying him, but Dennis is a great guy and he treats me well.” y/n smoothed out the front of her dress and turned. “I made the right choice, right?”

“That’s up to you to decide, sweetie.” her mom looked over at her children and smiled.

“5 minutes, ladies.” y/n’s dad walked into the room and nearly bawled his eyes out. “Awww. My baby looks so beautiful.” 

“Oh, dad. You’re gonna make me cry.” y/n grinned and followed the group out of the room. 

“Dennis is going to lose his mind when he sees you.”

“That’s the plan, dad.”

Y/n watched her friends walk down the aisle and when it was her turn, she grabbed her dad’s arm and walked with him. Her eyes searched the crowd for the blue eyes she cared about. Despite what he has been doing to her for years, she wanted nothing more than to see him sitting in the spot she reserved for him.

When here eyes didn’t find his, she started getting nervous. His eye contact was the only thing that truly calmed her down and she didn’t have it right now. She had thought that he had taken the last second to have a bathroom break but after 15 minutes, she realized he wasn’t coming.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t realize that the ceremony was almost over.

“IF anyone can think of any reason these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.” the minister read from his book. 

When nobody stood up to object, y/n felt a knot in her stomach. Part of her had hoped that maybe Drew would stand up and tell her that she was making a mistake and that she should be with him. Unfortunately, he was nowhere around.

“Now, do you Dennis Christopher Mixon, take Y/F/N to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.” Dennis smiled.

“And do you, Y/F/N, take Dennis Christoper Mixon, to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

The entire crowd looked at her, anticipating her answer. Her dad knew what she was thinking and he gave her a small nod. 

~Drew’s POV~

After I left the wedding venue, I went to the diner I spent all my free time at. The cook began making me a meal as soon as he saw me and the owner sat with me. 

“What’s up, Drew? Shouldn’t you be at y/n’s wedding?”

“He’s not there because it’s not him she’s marrying.” the cook smiled as he served me. Mrs Marden let out a chuckle.

“Is that true, honey? Are you upset because it’s not you?”

“I couldn’t sit there and watch her say she loves him. She shouldn’t be with him and I should’ve said how I felt from the beginning.”

“You know, the both of us have seen the two of you grow up & we thought that it’d for sure be the two of you sharing the rest of your lives together.” Devyn smiled sympathetically as he sat with us.

“I wish it was me.” I looked down at my watch and undid my tie when I noticed the time. “But it’s too late now. The ceremony is probably over by now and she’s now Mrs Mixon. I missed my chance.” I sighed and threw my head back. I didn’t notice the two of them gaze out the window and share a look.

“It might not be too late, Drew.” Mrs Marden nudged my shoulder and walked away. Devyn followed her as they went to the kitchen. I took a quick look out the window, then back at my plate. 

“Wait a second.” I mumbled to myself and looked back out the window. Y/n was walking up to the diner in her wedding dress. Tears were flowing down her face as she stopped and locked eyes with me through the window. She shrugged and started crying again. 

I got up and ran out to her, immediately pulling her into a hug.

“Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon right about now?”

“I couldn’t do it.” 

“What?”

“I couldn’t marry Dennis.” she sobbed into my chest. “Everyone looked so disappointed as I ran out. I think I broke Dennis’ heart. That’s not what I do. I’m not a heartbreaker. Oh my god. I feel so ashamed.”

“Hey, you did what you thought was right for your heart. I don’t think anyone can be mad at you for that. You knew being with Dennis wasn’t right, so you left.”

“Our parents spent so much money on the wedding and they’re gonna be so mad.” she continued to sob, obviously ignoring what I had just said. I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back a little.

“Look at me, okay? Nobody could ever be mad at you. And if they are, it’ll only be briefly. Like I said, you followed your heart and did what was gonna benefit you. That’s all that matters, y/n/n.” I looked down at her and noticed her eyes were closed. “You’re my best friend and I’m so sorry I’ve been pushing away all these years.” 

Was this finally the time I was able to tell her? Nah, I couldn’t She just ran our on her wedding. It just wouldn’t be right. If she even reciprocated the feelings, I didn’t want to be a rebound. So I kept my feelings buried for now.

“I realized that I didn’t love Dennis as much as I had led myself to believe.” she sniffled and rubbed her eyes. The mascara came off on her hands and she looked at me. I nodded and she rubbed her hands on my tux. Thankfully, it was black and wouldn’t show much. “Truthfully, I fell in love when I was 8 & I’ve never gotten over it. Marrying Dennis wouldn’t have been fair to either party involved.”

“You fell in love when you were 8?” was this the moment? “What a coincidence. I fell in love when I was 8 too.”

“Oh, did you really?”

“Yeah. With this goofy girl who danced barefoot in the sandbox while wearing a bright pink tutu.” I smiled and rubbed her shoulder. “She was quite the style icon back then.”

“Sounds like a complete dork.” she laughed.

“Oh, she was. But that dork became my best friend so quickly. Guess I was just attracted to the ‘dork’ lifestyle back then.”

“You’re telling me.” she smirked, “Remember when you dated Lilah because your friends dared you to?”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

“And then there was Lisa. And Lauren. And the other Lisa. Oh. There was also Lindsey.” she counted off all my ex-girlfriends on her fingers. “Wow. Lot’s of L names, huh?”

“It was my favorite letter.”

“Ah, I see.” she nodded and stared at her feet. Her shoes were now in her hands and she was swinging them. “You know I love you, right?”

“Yeah. And I love you too.” I joked, knowing exactly what she meant. But my tone didn’t come across how I wanted it.

“The kid I was talking about, the one I fell in love with when I was 8, was you.”

“Oh, really? I wouldn’t have ever guessed that.”

“Drew, I’m trying to be serious for a second here. Can you just let me talk, please?”

“Of course. Go ahead.” I smiled and she stood in front of me.

“I’m in love with you, Drew Starkey. And if you’ll let me, I plan on never stopping.”

“I’m in love with you too.” I looked at the girl and when I saw the look in her eyes, I panicked. “But-”

“But? There should be no but.”

“I can’t be a rebound.”

“If anything, Dennis was the rebound from you, dude.” she grabbed my face and made me look in her eyes. “Tell me right now that you don’t want to be with me and I’ll walk away. Look me in the eyes and tell me that’s what you want.”

“I....” I looked into her eyes and all of our memories came flooding back to me. “I can’t do that.”

“Thank god, because I wouldn’t have walked away.” she giggled and kissed my nose, something we used to do to calm each other down & keep each other grounded. “So, is this what you want? A hot mess in a wedding dress?”

“Hey, as long as the hot mess is you, I’m cool with it.” I pulled her closer and rested my forehead against hers. “I’m all in.”

“Hmmm...Good.” she smiled and closed the gap between us. It may have taken nearly 15 years but I finally got what I wanted since I was 8. And like it was magic, she was 8 and wearing her tutu while I was wearing my power rangers t-shirt. 

Life couldn’t get any better.

tags:  @spilledtee​​​ @im-a-stranger-thing @ameeravandijk​​​ @jellyfishbeansontoast​​​ @obxmxybxnk​​​ @http-cherries​​​ @ijustreallylovethem​​​ @maggiesrandomness​​​ @softstarkey​​​ @poguesgold​​​ @jjouterbanks​ @drewstarkey​

[xofaddiction]

                                   𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔                                  𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓈                                    𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝑜 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒                                     𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉                                          𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹                                     𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒

full name:  tirzah mizrahi

nicknames:  zah, zahzah, bunny

age:  30

date of birth:  november 1

zodiac: scorpio

gender:  female

pronouns:  she/her

sexuality:  pan

physical

hair color:  dark brown

eye color: hazel

height: 5′3″

weight:  115 lbs

personality

morality:  chaotic neutral

positive traits: compassionate, honorable, charming, gentle, strong, lighthearted.

negative traits: distant, stubborn, callous, temperamental, suspicious, cold.

job: freelance escort

skills: adaptable, artistic, creative

family

parents: adam and rivka mizrahi (deceased)

sibling: myriam mizrahi

backstory and details - ＴＲＩＧＧＥＲ     ＷＡＲＮＩＮＧ :                                      mentions of cancer, death, alcohol, abuse & drug usage

                                                  ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴

Her upbringing was nothing short of mundane. When her sister came along, the monotony continued; A family of 4 who went about their normal lives and supped together every night lived in a quiet kind of bliss. It  remained so, until the cool autumn evening when Tirzah’s mother lost her appetite. According to doctors, by that time the cancer was already so bad she’d only have a couple of weeks. In a perfect world Tirzah would have had a million moments left with her mother: gushing over first kisses, crying over first heartbreaks, filling out college applications, prom photos, graduation, graduation, wedding, baby- whatever it be, the experiences were lined up. However, no world is perfect, especially not a rotted one like this.  Those few weeks passed too quickly for a ten year old girl who had a lifetime yet to live. Her mother died Devil’s Night, two days before Tirzah was set to turn eleven. The mundane little family was decimated, buried beneath the ash of the eruption that shook their world. The world kept turning, but not for them. It didn’t take long for their suburban complacency to change. In a matter of months, the now single father plucked his children from their cozy Winnetka home and right into some inner city 2 bedroom setup. It didn’t take long for her to become the parent her sister needed; the toddler-aged girl had no mother and their father was grief-struck and distant, more so than he’d ever been. She was a child raising a child, alone and wallowing in her grief. Tirzah hadn’t noticed anything amiss until she was almost thirteen; when her mother’s jewelry started to disappear. Beautiful gold and jeweled pieces that, with each passing day, diminished in number. She interrogated her four year old sister and reminded her of the rules of dress-up, though it made no impact. Stirring late at night from a dryness in her throat, Tirzah spotted the real thief; her own father tucking a set of diamond and white gold earrings into the breast pocket of his flannel shirt. Late into her thirteenth year, she noticed the rancid smell of liquor steeped sweat that lingered on the laundry she did. She noticed the crushed cans in the bed of her father’s truck. The newspaper with red sharpie marking sports pages from top to bottom, notes scribbled in the margins. The years passed sluggishly by; she was doing too much and could not do enough to fix what was broken. Money squandered on gambling and liquor didn’t leave much in the way of survival for the girls. Tirzah fought as hard as she could at every turn, trying to do anything to snap her father out of it, but it never had a positive outcome. Most verbal fights came to blows between herself and her father. It was in her nature to respect him, but the moment he raised a fist, she raised her own, no matter how much smaller and weaker she was in comparison. Stealing her resolve, Tirzah did what she needed to do: drop out of high school at the age of sixteen. The bottom line was- they needed to live. Eight hours spent away from home was welcome, but it was too much time wasted. Rumors spread as to why: pregnancy, elopement, illness, some strange combination of all three. The truth was: she had to support herself and her little sister. In place of school, she got a full-time job serving at a little diner in town. The pay was low, but tips were good as the food was greasy. Still not a perfect world, it was the best a high school drop out could manage. She started serving and worked her way up to manager a few years in. Co-workers came and went, times changed and presidents didn’t change shit except their rhetoric, passive patrons of Chicago became dear, protective friends she held in high regard. But the diner wasn’t enough. She picked up another job during the evening as an elderly neighbor’s caretaker. Tirzah was always gentle and kind with the woman, always interested in her stories and her life, happy to be there. Part of her felt bad that she had only begun speaking to the woman for the sake of financial gain, but she was happy to have gotten to know her at all. When the woman died, she left Tirzah the remnants of her estate: there wasn’t much, but it was a good little nest egg to set aside. Without the second job, Tirzah got hired on as a sometimes stripper at a seedy little club that misused her for all she was worth. She was still so young, still barely allowed to do much more than try to survive in a world that wouldn’t value her lack of education.  Tirzah was a child unable to ever experience a childhood, she buried herself in work and parenting. Like most people, she clung to vices that offered temporary comfort, especially during the typical young-adult party phase. She drank, she smoked, she swallowed pills like candy and snorted things that shouldn’t be snorted. Partying without abandon, sleep was few and far between. She worked all day, parented a few hours at night, then worked the rest of it, partied when she could and took uppers to keep herself going, only to repeat the cycle over and over. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different outcome. A turning point came the day she dropped of exhaustion in the middle of the diner. No one was aware of the drugs she was taking, or of the amounts she consumed, but they knew how hard she worked. Doctors at the hospital chastised her, people at work pitied her, her sister worried ceaselessly. Thankfully, it was a wake up call; she slowed her usage gradually until she grew out of it altogether; one of her biggest fears was turning into her father, growing as weak and dependent as he was. And Tirzah had managed to thwart it.

As if by some cruel trick of fate, Devil’s Night of 2016 came, and ended in another death. Her father, deeply indebted to local bookies, had been capped by someone all too eager to take the job. Tirzah was in the diner, cataloging necessities for the next restock of supplies when two police officers came in and shared the news.  She wanted to be upset, wanted to hurt, but she knew why he was dead and why she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was numb to the loss, in a way she hadn’t been when her mother had gone. Her father was a stranger, and his murder his own fault. In many ways, she lost her father the same year she lost her mother. He was gone, body turned to ash and kept in a little box in the trunk of her barely-running car. All that mattered was keeping her little sister safe. Thankfully, the kid was away at school in another state, and fate answered from a late-night interaction at the ramshackle diner.

An older woman, dressed in a designer cream-colored power suit, laced in pearls and diamonds looking for all the world like a politician took her place at a burgundy booth. She called herself Caroline, came in for a coffee, she claimed, but left TIrzah with a possibility: sell fantasy, charge thousands, live comfortably. Like any little girl, Tirzah once dreamed of grandeur; princess, rock star, mermaid. She never wagered the final would be the nearest she’d get; a siren beckoning men to her bosom. Whiskey on the rocks in a smoky bar, Tirzah drank as she gnawed over the offer, the idea masticating in the jaws of her mind. She thought it was a good idea; she needed a break after working so hard over half her life, but she didn’t want to be under anyone’s thumb. When she returned home that night, she set up a website to sell herself. Business came slowly at first, but soon her reputation spread throughout society and she made a wage that helped make living worth it. Now working out of GENESIS and the website, Tirzah makes money aplenty; enough to keep herself afloat, enough to support her sister, enough to be free for the first time in her life.

[thisartemisnevermisses]

Suburban Life  12/13

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warning: angst, fluff,

Summary: Steve had his daily run every morning. While running through the streets he noticeds a house with it’s lights on. A woman is dancing to the music, while making breakfast. Two childeren join her and they start eating. Steve is fasinated with the life of this little family and even stops to withniss this suburbane life every morning during his run. Feeling the need to settle down and the one question remaining Where is the man beloning tot this family?

A/N: Almost done, after this chapter, only the epilogue remains. Enjoy!

Chapter 12: A family again

When you come downstairs, you’re met with two pair of sad eyes. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” the concern in your voice. “It’s just..today you have….It’s teacher/parent conference day at your school. We have to stay at school until you’re done”, Isobel pouts. “Oh, Honey, I’m sorry, but you know it’s twice a year”, hugging Isobel thigh, you look at Alex, who’s grinning mischievously. “Alex, whatever you’re thinking, just don’t”, you warn him, giving him the ‘eyes’. Alex shrugs his shoulder, “I was just wondering if Steve could watch us, while you have those conferences”, his smile brightening. “Alex, Steve’s got other appointments and besides you can’t ask such things from him”, while lecturing your son, you see the smile on Steve’s face brighten, oh no, he’s going to do that, you fist palm yourself internally. “I can’t find a reason why not”, Steve smiles, “It’s the same as this morning, right?” he reassures you. “Well, kind of... they need to do their homework to and…” starting to explain the things that need to be done, Isobel interrupts you, “Mom, we know what we need to do, just let Steve try okay? We’ll behave, I promise?” putting on her puppy eyes, soon to be joined by the eyes of Alex and Steve standing behind them. You look at Steve, “Traitor…”, you whisper, sighing you give in, “Fine, but one wrong move and…”, you start, “It’s going to be okay, let it go, we’ll manage”, Steve lays a hand on your shoulder. “Give me your number, I’ll text you when I’m in the building, so I can pick up the kids”, handing you his phone. Internally you held your fingers crossed, hopefully your kids would behave. You knew what kind of monsters they could be after a schoolday, especially Isobel and her homework.

……….

“You look nice today, Miss y/l/n”, a student greats you, while entering your classroom, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Thank you, Sarah”, you smile, hopefully nobody noticed your absentminded behavior. Trying to finish your notes from last period, you smile thinking about your encounter this morning, it felt so natural, your kids acted so natural and reacted so grown up to the situation. They took your anxiety away and made you realize this relationship didn’t have to end badly. As usually you were overthinking.

Continuing your lesson as usually, you tried as focused as you could. It was like you were a substitute teacher again, searching for the worksheets, constantly losing your pen and the questions from your students seemed for some reason difficult today. Surely some of your students had to notice your behavior today, thankfully none of them made a comment about it.

Even the parent/teacher conferences went by quickly. Deciding to check your e-mail one more time, you log in to check your e-mail. Seeing the amount of new e-mails you sigh and decide to reply the urgent ones, the other e-mails have to wait until tonight, just like your lessonplan. You really want to go home on time, you want to save Steve before those two take advantage of the situation. The screen of your phone lights up and catches your eye when you see Steve’s name in the corner. Looking at the message you smile to yourself, ‘Still at work?’, reads the message, replying with a quick ‘Yes’, you continue your work, only to be disturbed by another message, ‘How long will it take, diners ready…:9)..’, it reads, you smile at his failed attempt to send an emoji. ‘I’m coming home, don’t let it burn :p’, you chuckle at your own message, hopefully he didn’t burn down the house. Closing the door to your classroom, you can’t help but enjoy the warm feeling Steve’s message gives you. You had someone to go home to and it felt good. Sure you loved coming home to your kids, but this made you feel you like a woman again, not only mom and teacher.

 Stepping out of the car, you walk towards the door. Expecting noise or shattering things you approach your house with caution, hearing nothing. Looking through the kitchen window, you see Steve standing by the sink doing dishes, it warms your heart seeing how big of an effort he’s making. But where are your kids? You can’t seem to find them and get a little anxious. While standing in front of your door, you search for your keys. It feels like forever to find your keys, hearing Steve call out towards your kids, calms your nerves. Walking inside your welcomed with warmth and a smell off something delicious cooking, “I’m home” you yell, feeling awkward at the gesture. Remembering this feeling when you got home to your husband, makes you a little sad. Hanging up your coat, you look at the picture at the wall. A picture off the four of you, at an amusement park, happy smiling, all three engulfed in the big arms of your husband. Caressing the picture absentmindedly, you don’t register Steve standing next to you. “Are you okay with me starting over?” you ask the picture, “I promise I won’t forget you, I just can’t take it any longer being alone. I need someone at my side and I think…he’s the right person”, you smile towards the picture, a single tear rolling down your face, “The kids, you got to see the kids, their so happy around them. Like when they were with you, so careless and free”, you sniff and wipe away the tears. Just now registering Steve in the corner of your eyes, startling you a little. Without any words he takes you in his arms, hugging you tight. “It’s okay, don’t feel embarrassed, you two need to talk sometimes, even if he’s not there. I don’t feel offended”, he smiles into your hair. You nuzzle a little closer to his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, he was warm and comforting, just the things you need after a hard day of work. “I’m sorry Steve, It’s just coming home like this, it made me remember all those evenings I got home, when he was still around. It made me sad, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to come home to you and feel happy, looking forward to those warm hugs from you”, looking up you smile at him. He bents down and gives you a quick kiss, “ueew!”, Isobel giggles, “hi mommy”, Alex greets you, we behaved, giving you the brightest smile possible. “Hello you two”, opening your arm so you can hug them.

During dinner the conversations are light and cheerful. Enjoying the dinner Steve had cooked, you offer to clean up for him, but he declines. “Well, Isobel let’s get started on that homework of yours”, you motion for your daughter to get her backpack, seeing her smile wide, you look at her questionly. “I already did my homework, while Steve was making dinner”, she smiles smug. “Did you make your homework, or did you ask Steve questions and he made it for you?” eyeing her, trying to figure out if she lied. “y/n, she did it all by herself. She only asked for my help when she didn’t understand”, Steve answers for Isobel. Looking from Steve to your daughter and back again, squeezing your eyes, were they lying? “Isobel you sure?” asking her, seeing her nod and shrug her shoulders, “Really mommy, what do you think of me?” trying to smother her smile. Starting to say something, Steve gives you a quick kiss, “Let it go, she did it all by herself. I just gave instructions. She didn’t trick me into making her homework”, kissing you again. Seeing Isobel stare at the both of you, you sigh and give in, “Okay, I’m proud of you, you’re taking responsibility”, you compliment her. “Thank you mommy, but I only did it because Steve promised me the bigger desert. I’m swoon easily”, she giggles and runs of into the living room. You look at Steve who’s looking for an exit, busted! “So, you bribe my kid, that’s not so very Captain America of you” you smile, walking towards the tall Avenger until his back is against the wall. “Steve, what’s true of what Isobel said?”, you ask standing on your toes, so you can level a little with Steve. “I just…uhm..”, scrapping his throat, he lifts you up and puts you on the table. Smiling wide at the failed strict impression you tried to make, “I told her, she should make homework before dinner, so she could have dessert and playtime after dinner. Just used common sense and some good old pudding”, shrugging his shoulders, continuing to clean up. “Common sense, huh, seems I don’t have that, seeing she doesn’t do that when I tell her”, you say while drying the dishes. “I’m new and she doesn’t know my boundaries or rules, that scares her. She was very quiet, until you came home. She’s okay with us, but needs to get used to being with me, while you’re gone”, Steve explains calm. “When did you become an expert in children?” looking up at him, grinning. I’m no expert in children, but reading body language that’s easy for me”, giving you a kiss on the cheek, putting the dishcloth away and walking towards the living room.

Joining your kids and Steve in the living room while they watch television. “Mommy, don’t you need to do your homework?” Alex ask you, his head resting against Steve’s chest. “My home..work..Oh you mean grading papers. I’m doing that when you two are asleep”, you answers looking at Alex. “But when will you have time to play with Steve?”, he ask innocently, while the two of you choke on your drink. “Alex, I can read a book or watch t.v, while your mom does her homework”, Steve answers snickering at the word homework, looking at you, who's’ sticking her tongue out. His reaction catches you off guard, seeing it isn’t the reaction you expected, “Behave, or I won’t play with you”, he says winking at you.

Once the kids are in bed, the both of you head downstairs. “So, you’re sure you want to stay and wait for me to do my ‘homework’ ?” you ask looking at Steve. “Let’s sit down and talk for a bit. I want to talk to you about something”, taking you by the hand, seating you both on the couch. You look at Steve, what did he want to talk about. It made you nervous. “So, you have to promise me one thing, let me finish before you interrupt me, okay?” he looks at you, taking your hand in his, ‘Oh Boy, here we go”, you think to yourself. “It sounds crazy, but hear me out. I asked Tony if he could install Friday in your house. That way I can stay here and help you out with the kids, your house is protected and you can follow me while I’m away. It eases my mind, knowing you have a pair of eyes watching over you, when I’m on mission. Talking about mission, I won’t be going on a mission for the next month, only when it’s really urgent, I want to spend time with you, without being interrupted. I know we just started dating each other, but it feels familiar, like it has always been you”, Steve stops his rambling and looks at you. “First of all, who or what is Friday? A system or something?”, you ask Steve, his excitement drops with your question, “Just joking Steve, I read and listen to the news I know what Friday is. It’s a..”, pushing you onto the couch, Steve hovers above you, “Really, are you kidding me? I just…” stopping mid-sentence when he hears you giggle. “Steve,…” your eyes softening looking him in the eyes, “It feels so natural to be around you, like we lived with each other our whole lives. Maybe were going too fast, maybe were not going fast enough, but I know that your idea sounds great. And for one time, we don’t have to discuss this with the kids, they are going to be overjoyed. I know when my kids are in love, they will never stop loving their father, but they are starting to love you. That makes me happy and takes away my fear of ruining it. When can Tony install Friday and does this mean you will sleep here as well?” you ask looking up at him, tucking away a strand of hair. “I will ask him tomorrow”, answering your first question while nuzzling your nose and cheek. “I thought I was already sleeping here?” he asks kissing you cheek, then your neck, feeling you react to his kiss. “One night in my bed, doesn’t mean you’re allowed to every night”, you grin, “Maybe you should sleep on the couch tonight”, you shrug, while fumbling with his blouse. “Doll, I told you, you have to behave or I won’t play with you”, Steve smiles mischievous, clearly adopting that smile from Alex. “What do you mean with playing, I have homework to do”, you whisper against his lips, quickly pulling away. “You can do your homework another time”, Steve’s lips are hovering over your, pulling on the collar of him blouse, you close the tiny gap between you. The kiss was a full open-mouthed, sexual kiss. All of those suppressed feelings, spilling in that one kiss. Earning a soft moan from Steve when you shift underneath him. Holding you tight to him, breathing heavy when you break apart. “Do you want to continue this upstairs?” you ask him shy, still irregular breading. “You sure, you want to do this?” he asks standing up. “I’m sure”, answering while standing up, “Just don’t make too much noise, because of the kids”, you ad, making Steve freeze up and look at you wide eyed, “Just kidding, they can’t hear us when the door is close”, you chuckle seeing his face all red. “Doll just wait until were in the bedroom. I’ll get you for that”, Steve warns, walking upstairs with you.  

[thehighscribe]

The High Queen

Chapter 1

-Collette-

Collette woke to the sun shining in her face, the warmth was nice. Her curtains had opened, and she realized it must have been the Earth cat she had brought home. 'Why must I go through this?' she thought as she laid and stared at the ceiling that she had painted to look like the Earth's skies. 'Why must I choose? Why can't I just do both?' As she rolls out of bed, she walks to the window and pulls the curtain open. "Hello Cat, have you been exploring?" Collette says when she noticed the Earth cat sitting in the window seat. His Black and white fur shined in the sunlight as he rolled onto his back, "It's a beautiful day. Perhaps we can picnic once I return from school." He looked at Collette, his green eyes opened lazily, sat up and cocked his head curiously, he meowed. Collette rubbed his head right between his ears. "Oh, it's when a person packs a lunch in a basket, and they go outdoors and lay on a blanket and eat! Yes, they eat outside!" Collette picked up the cat and cradled him in her arms while she rubbed his belly. He meowed again, then started purring and closed his eyes as Collette carried him back into her bedroom. "I know it's fascinating!"

"Why must you speak to that thing as if it understands?" Collette turned to see her father in the doorway of her bedroom. "I'm not sure how you even got the mangy thing back here from Earth anyway." Collette sat Cat down on her bed.

"Archer, I couldn't just leave him there! He practically begged me to bring him home, he needed me." She remembered how she had found the poor thing behind her Earth High School starving and filthy. His fur matted, and he was so skinny Collette could see his spine and ribs. She had spent an hour just trying to lure him to her. Archer shook his head, then turned and left. Collette's father had long dark hair that was pin straight. He would gather the hair behind his ear's and tie the top half into a braid and tied it off with one of the wild flowers from the garden. His eyes were the brightest and clearest blue Collette had ever seen, true Lylithean features. The majority of Lylithean people look this way, and then there's Collette. She looked in the tall mirror that stood next to her closet. She has the long dark hair, but where most of her people have straight hair, she has wild, curly hair that was full of volume. Her eyes were the most intense color of green, as striking as emeralds. The people closest to her weren't sure if they should be intimidated or consumed by them. Even though they hardly felt emotions, she swore she felt a tinge of what Earthians call jealousy. She wanted the same straight hair and blue eyes. Then maybe she wouldn't feel so out of place.

She looked through her earth wardrobe and found a pair of ripped jeans. She pulled them up over her hips and looked in the mirror, then rummaged through her wardrobe until she found her favorite top. The white flowy tank top fit her well, then she pulled her light pink hooded jacket on. She found her transport bracelet, latched it on while she slipped into her classic black converse, and walked out of the room. She had just turned 17 and was granted what all royal children on Lylithea are, a chance to go to earth and learn from the Earthians. She didn't want to go but her father, the High King of the planet, told her very sternly that she was going and had no choice.

She could hear his steady, gruff voice "If you are to take the throne and become High Queen, you need to know their ways to continue keeping peace in the universe." 'How are we to keep peace if the Earthians are so oblivious to our existence? They haven't a clue we even exist.' She thought as she descended the stairs and passed the dining hall. It was 7:15, she had 15 minutes to get to the shed and transport. She grabbed her school bag and ran out the door and through her family's large grounds to the far east corner where a small Green Gardening shed sat. The teleporter must be hidden so no Lylithean finds it and transports themselves to Earth. She approaches the shed and hears the transport bracelet chime on. She opens the yellow door and makes sure it is closed securely behind her back. She can already hear the voices as she turns and walks to the closet in the back of the shed. Slowly she opens the red doors and sees her Earth High School. She takes a deep breath and steps through.

_______________________________________________________

'Why must transporting make my hair so much curlier?' Collette thought as she ran towards the school just as first bell was ringing. Collette felt dizzy as she tried to smooth her curls down. After a few moments her head stopped spinning, and she walked to the front doors. She'd only been attending the earth classes for two weeks, but she still felt overwhelmed every time she walked through the front doors of the High School. It was so loud and crowded, it made Collette feel small. She quickly walked to her first class and sat down in the back like always. As she pulled out her notebook the second bell rang, and Professor Carmichael came into the History class.

"Good morning class" Professor Carmichael said as he walked into the room. "Please pull out your reports on World War I" Professor Carmichael was a short man with wild white hair that was thinning on top. He wore thick glasses and always wore a bow tie. Today's tie was purple and looked wonderful with his lavender button up shirt and tan slacks. "So, who can tell me why August 4, 1914 is an important date?"

Someone answered but Collette wasn't listening. She found herself thinking how she had to make such a big decision in such little time, and how much her decision would affect everything. 'You have a year Collette. It's only been two weeks. You have time.' She thought as she watched a cardinal flying around the school's front lawn. Collette had realized she had become distracted looking out the class window and hadn't heard a thing Professor Carmichael had said the whole class. The bell rang and she laid her report on his desk as she passed. Down the hall she heard Michael and Findley with their group of friends rough housing. 'Earth males are so different from the males on Lylithea.' She thought to herself as she passed them in the halls. Michael nudged Findley and pointed at Collette. She could feel her face becoming hot, but she was unsure what this feeling was called. She looked towards the ground and gripped her backpack straps tightly. She quickly entered her class and sat in her seat. As she was pulling out her English notebook, Findley entered the room. He smiled and sat next to Collette

"Hey Collette, how was your weekend?"

"It was fine." She said as she thought about the lessons, she had this weekend. She had to study Lylithean history during her Earth weekends. "I mainly read."

"I think that's all you do." He laughed, "Read anything interesting?"

'No' "Oh yes." She smiled, she looked out the window and again was lost in her thoughts. The rest of the day dragged on, she felt there would be no ending. Finally, the last bell rang, she gathered her school bag and headed for the front doors.

As she left the school, she heard Michael calling her name. "Collette!" She stopped to see Findley and Michael heading her way. There was a girl as well, but Collette hadn't met her yet.

Collette smiled, "Hello, Findley, hello, Michael."

"Hey Collette, we're heading to the mall, you wanna come?" Michael said grinning.

"Oh, I couldn't, I need to get home to Cat." Her face was becoming hot again.

"You still haven't given that poor animal a name?" said Findley, "You've had him since you started school here."

"Cat suits him. Why over complicate it by giving him a name that he won't be comfortable with."

"It's just a cat Collette." Michael chimed in. "They haven't gotten any feelings"

"All creatures have feelings. We can learn so many things from each and every one of them." Collette replied. She didn't like the way Michael talked about Cat. After all that was her pet.

"You are so weird." Michael said laughing.

"She's not weird" the girl had spoken. Her voice was quiet, "I think she's got a point, if we could learn from animals maybe we wouldn't be destroying our planet."

Michael scoffed, "No one asked for your input, hippie"

"I'm not a hippie." She looked irritated, then turned to Collette, "My name is Riley by the way. I'm Findley's cousin."

"Nice to meet you Riley, I'm Collette." She smiled, then looked to the ground "I really must be going. Archer doesn't like when I'm gone from home longer then I need to be for school."

"It's a shame, it's going to be a great time." Said Findley, smiling ear to ear.

'His smile is nice' thought Collette.

"Come on Collette, you're always saying you want to learn as much as you can. Think of this as a way to learn more about Camden." Said Michael as he put his arm around Collette's shoulders.

'He does have a point. I haven't learned much about this town yet' She thought. Her face was becoming hotter by the second. "Maybe just one hour."

"Yes!" yelled Michael, "Let's go!"

As they rode down the road Collette could smell Michael's hair gel. It was nice, but strong. Almost like he had lathered his entire head in it. His hair was blonde, short on the sides but longer on top, and he always styled it. Collette couldn't remember a time when it wasn't perfectly sculpted on top of his head. His clothes were just like his hair, perfect. He always looked stylish and clean cut. Findley, however, was the complete opposite. Findley's hair was longer and 'swooshy', brown and always a mess. He wore jeans every day, and one of the hundreds of band t-shirts he had collected. His eyes were as dark as his hair, maybe even darker, almost black. Findley seemed more care free then Michael, like he didn't need to prove himself.

Once they had arrived at the mall, they all got out of the car and headed to the diner. The mall wasn't really a mall, it was more like a couple of run-down shops, abandoned stores, and the diner. The diner was the only place that got any real business in the mall. The bell above the door dinged as they entered the diner. The smell of grease filled the air, they go to a booth close to the kitchen. Riley and Findley run, and both try to get the seat by the wall, Riley dives in and claims the spot and victory. Findley audibly groans and flails his arms in defeat. He sits next to Riley leaving only two seats left which meant Collette would have to sit next to Michael. Again, her face became hot.

"After you, mi 'lady" He said gesturing towards the booth. She smiled timidly and slid into the booth.  They ordered a basket of fries for the table and four chocolate milkshakes. The waitress brought the milk shakes first. Collette's arms and chest had started to feel tingly. As Findley and Riley spoke about the most recent comic book they were debating over, Collette's face felt so hot she thought it might melt off before another minute would pass. "So," Michael began. Putting an arm around Collette "It's about time you hung out with the gang."

"Yes, it is nice." She said trying not to sound winded. She knew this feeling, she had felt it most intensely her whole life, much more then any other emotion. It was panicky, and made Collette lose her breath and then forget how to breathe. She did not like being nervous. It made her feel as if she weren't in control of her actions. He scooted closer to her.

"How are you liking school?" Michael asked. His arm around Collette's shoulders made her heart race. She thought it might jump out of her chest.

"I like it, Especially history class." She feared he would hear her pounding heart. The waitress brought the basket of fries and Collette grabbed a few. She looked at the table and told herself 'Get a grip, take a deep breathe.' She popped a fry into her mouth, 'In and out' she thought, 'Just remember to breathe.'

"Oh, history is so boring. What's the point in learning about a bunch of shit that has already happened?" Michael said while rolling his eyes. This caught Collette off guard, brought her out of her own head. "and that crack pot Carmichael needs to just retire already. I mean the dude has to be one-hundred and fifty."

"I just find it interesting. Learning the stories of our past." Said Collette. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. She couldn't put her finger on what made her feel this way. She looked at her watch, it had only been twenty minutes since they'd left the school. 'Ten more minutes and I'll leave. Archer is going to be pissed'

"Enough talk about school!" said Michael "We have to suffer six hours a day five days a week, let's enjoy our freedom!"

"I wouldn't call it suffering." Findley chimed in, "just slightly inconvenient." he threw a french-fry at Michael. "After all, if it wasn't for school we never would have met!"

"Yea, yea" Michael said laughing. He threw the fry back at Findley.

Collette ate some fries and drank her milkshake while the boys and Riley talked about Homecoming. She didn't quite understand it, but it did sound fun. Getting to wear a dress, and dancing to music. She imagined the earth girls wearing gowns like the ones she had to wear for high council gatherings, long and elegant, metallic looking dresses.

"Hello, earth to Collette!" Michael said nudging her, "Were you going to come watch us play?"

She was still thinking of the dresses, "Play? Are we playing a game?"

"Yea kind of," Findley laughed "the homecoming game?"

"Oh! Football! Right, sorry I wasn't paying any attention." Collette said, "I'll ask Archer." She looked down at the table for a moment, "Will you be there Riley? I'd hate to have to sit alone. I don't really know anyone besides Michael and Findley." She said looking up at Riley.

Riley looked surprised, "Me? I don't know. Football games aren't really my thing."

"Oh come on Riley! Come cheer on your cousin while my girl cheers me on" Michael said pulling Collette in with the arm around her shoulder.

Collette almost choked on her milkshake, "Your girl?" her face became hot again and she looked from Michael to Findley and Riley looking, and feeling, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Well I mean yea." Michael said looking into Collette's eyes. "I was hoping we could go to homecoming together." He smiled and pulled her in even closer.

"Oh." Collette said heart pounding like a hammer, "Um. Well, I mean I'm not sure if Archer would let me." She tried to even her breathing. "He's very protective and doesn't like me being away from home unless it's absolutely necessary." 'When did I become 'his girl'? does this mean we're dating? Am I even allowed to date an earth boy?' Collette's head was reeling, and her face was becoming hotter and hotter by the second.

"Wow dude, way to blow it." Findley said, "You can't ask a girl out by calling her 'your girl'!" Collette noticed he talked with hands, a lot.

"I did not blow it!" Michael said, he turned his head to Collette. "Please Collette, if you don't say yes, I'll never hear the end of it from this one."

"And now you're begging!?" Findley said throwing his hands to his face. He was now laughing so hard he almost fell out of the booth.

Collette's head was still spinning when she heard herself say "Yes. I'll go to homecoming with you." She looked down at her watch and realized they had been out for an hour and a half "Oh no I need to get home!"

"Let us drive you" Findley said pulling his car keys out of his pocket.

"No that's alright, I can walk." The mall was only about a mile from the school, "I'll see you all tomorrow! Thank you for the milkshake." She headed to the car to grab her things, when she got to the door, she heard Michael.

"Hey Collette! Wait up!" he caught up with her and put his hand in hers. "I can walk you. So you don't have to be alone. Also, I hope I didn't embarrass myself in there, you know calling you my girl."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Oh, no its ok. I don't mind." She looked at their hands intertwined and lost her breathe. "Look," she said while taking her hand back, "I really don't think Archer is going to let me go to the dance. I'm not even sure how he'd feel about me dating." Suddenly Michael kissed her, and she forgot all about Archer and rules. All she cared about was Michael and how his lips pressed against hers made her whole body feel like an electric shock went through her head all the way to her toes. Michael pulled away, and Collette felt like the world was spinning around her and Michael. Slowly everything stopped moving and she felt tingly all over, "I'll talk to him."

"That's my girl"

_______________________________________________________

The walk home was a blur, she told Michael she lived in a house a block away from the school and waited on the porch until he was out of sight. As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned against the front door grinning ear to ear. 'I better leave before whoever lives here finds me on their porch.' She walked off the porch and back to the school. There was an abandoned house across the street with a little green shed in the back. She looked around one more time and made sure no one was around, turned on her bracelet and walked through the portal.

Collette walked through the closet closing the door tightly behind her, shutting off the portal. She was walking out the door when she noticed her father standing with his arms crossed against his chest. She had never seen Archer look this way, his face angry, body tense.

"Where have you been?" His voice sounded as tense as his body looked.

"I'm so sorry. My friends asked me to hang out, I didn't think I would be out this long."

"You should have been home two hours ago." Archer said, his arms still crossed, his feet planted firm.

"I know. I'm sorry" Collette said looking at her feet.

"Do not let it happen again."

"Yes, sir" She looked up and saw he had uncrossed his arms. He still looked angry but now not so tense.

Archer turned and started walking through the grounds back to their home. Collette took a deep breath and followed. They walked in silence until Archer opened the door for Collette. "Dinner will be ready soon. Please change out of your earth clothes and come down. We have much to discuss."

She nodded and headed up the stairs. She sat her things on her bed and threw her jacket by the closet. She did the same with her top and jeans. She walked to her bed and started pulling her schoolbooks out to make sure she didn't have any homework. She wondered what Michael was doing. If he was thinking about her too, and how much she liked being called his girl. Her heart raced as she thought of his smile, the way he looked at her. Though she couldn't tell what, but something was off. Collette walked to her closet and pulled out a simple dinner dress. It was floor length, red, off shoulders and cinched at her waist with a belt. She ran a brush through her hair, checked her reflection in the floor length mirror and headed downstairs.

Archer sat at the head of the table, her mothers chair at the opposite end, and Collette sat in the middle on the left side. Collette looked at her mother's empty chair. She missed her very much. It had been four years since she passed but it still hurt. Not a day went by when she didn't think of her.

"How were your Earth classes today?" Archer said, helping himself to the food on the table.

"Good. We are learning about World War I in my history class." Collette said as her father started eating.

"This is good." Said Archer, "These lessons will help you learn how not to handle wars, or better yet how to avoid wars altogether."

Collette tried to remember if she had ever heard of a war on Lylithea. "When was the last Lylithean war?" She looked at her father.

"Hundreds of thousands of years ago. Wars are last resorts for our people." Archer said, "We find them wasteful, and honestly why let all those good men and women die because someone can't get along with someone else."

"I couldn't agree more. I think the loss of life isn't worth it when there are so many other ways to come to an agreement."

"Yes, but men have the weakness of pride. They can't put it aside and make sacrifices for the better good, this is why the High Queen Agueda made it so women ruled Lylithea. She saw the weakness in men."

"When will I learn more about her Archer?" Collette said, she still hadn't touched the food on her plate.

"Queen Agueda? I'm not sure. I'm sure she will be in your lessons soon enough. Did you know she is also the one who brought in the arranged marriages for royal children? To help keep peace in our world royals must marry their children to a Lylithean from the general population. This way when input is needed the royals and the people have a say."

Collette saw her chance to ask about homecoming. "Interesting you bring this up. I was wondering, since I'm not betrothed yet, what does the council say about interplanetary relationships?"

"Well my dear, as of today, you are betrothed." He said without even looking up from his plate.

It felt like Collette's heart had stopped "I am? To whom?"

"His name is Zachariah Xavian. You will meet him next month at your engagement party."

"Oh" She looked down at her plate. Her stomach became upset, her throat tight.

"Oh?" Archer had finally finished eating and put his utensils down to look at his daughter.

"Well, I was asked to Homecoming today. It's an earth tradition and I thought I could go. To learn the customs." Collette said, feeling unsure "I already told him yes."

"So, this is why you asked about interplanetary relationships." Archer's eyebrows furrowed, "You may go, alone. You are betrothed and you must not do anything to put this union in danger. Your mother wanted this marriage and has been working to make it happen since you were four."

"Why was I never aware? I knew I would have an arraigned marriage, but if this has been happening since I was four why have I never known?"

"Your mother wanted you to grow up without feeling trapped." His eyes looked sad.

"I see." Collette was sure what she was feeling now was anger. 'How could they do this? Make me feel like I might have a say in whom I marry just to tell me it has been known all along.'

"If its any consolation, he really is a great boy. He's a year older then yourself, grew up as a farmer." Archer had started to drink a glass of wine.

"Does he know he is to be king one day?" she said looking at her father, hoping he could feel the anger and hurt coming from her eyes.

"He does now. He came this morning while you were in classes. If you had been on time you could have met him today, but you were off doing who knows what." He sat down his glass, "He was very disappointed that he didn't get to meet his future bride. He said he would write to you though. To help the month pass and to get to know each other."

Collette sat quietly for a moment, 'There's no point in being angry.' She thought. "I'm sorry I missed him. I won't be late again." She said looking at her father again and seeing his shoulders relax.

"I understand you're a teenager, you want to go and have fun with your friends. But as the future High Queen you have responsibilities here. Your responsibilities to your planet will always come first."

"I know" she looked down feeling defeated. She had never felt trapped until she started going to earth. Seeing how carefree the Earthians were, how little they had to worry about. It made her feel jealous. Jealous because she had to grow up so much faster then her few earth friends. Jealous because while the biggest worry they had was what dress to wear to homecoming, she had to worry about how to rule an entire planet. "May I be excused?"

"Of course, dear." Archer looked at his glass then back to his daughter. "If it were up to me, you could choose your own husband. I know how hard it is to be forced into a marriage you're not sure you want. However, if you're half as lucky as your mother and I, it will be a perfect match."

Collette stood, curtsied, and headed for the stairwell. Once she got to her room, she shut the door behind her. She was starting to have a new feeling. Her throat was tight. She slipped out of her dress, grabbed an earth t-shirt and shorts and walked to window seat. She found Cat and pulled him into her lap when she sat down. She told cat about her kiss, and how Michael made her feel.

'Will I be able to feel like this with Zachariah?' she thought, 'Or is this a feeling you only get for one person?' She looked at the sky, at all the stars above. The new feeling creeping into her heart, 'Why do I have to go through this?'

[rmjagonshi]

Visions of HeartBreak Past

On AO3

It was almost done, Soos was finishing up the last few stitches before they let the thing into the air. If he could pull this off, he might actually get more customers into the Mystery Shack. There might actually be an upside to this ‘Woodstick’ Festival yet. He’d seen the way these kids spent money – heck, some of them were adults not that much younger than him – and with any luck, he might just be able to top off the budget for this month. He was short on the utilities payment by a good three-hundred-bucks. If there was one thing he never counted on, was that his brother’s dumb sci-fi portal mess drove the electricity bills further up the ‘dear god why’ charts. He does kinda feel bad for the kids; he’d had to come up with some lame-ass old man excuse for never turning on the lights or air conditioner during the day. He’d make it up to them…somehow…maybe. He sighed.

If he was gonna pull this off, he was really gonna need to prepare the kids for the eventuality of their entire world upending. But for now, he just needed to advertise. And the balloon was…abso-fucking-lutely not like he had anticipated. It was a fucking horror show, looked nothing like the blueprints and very much like what he saw in the mirror every morning. Although, Soos’s comment that the nose looked like a sausage and that it reminded him of the story that his Abuelita told him about a couple who find a genie and they fight over the wishes and one ends up with a sausage for a nose, kinda made it better. Soos was a good kid – er, man. Man-kid. Stan was sure he didn’t deserve the kindness and loyalty that the man gave him. He was honest enough with himself to admit that he’d used that unwavering loyalty to his advantage a few times.

Stan gritted his teeth in frustration at his own mind. Everything came back around to that, didn’t it? Everything he did, every time he felt even the tiniest bit of happiness, it all had to circle back and remind him that he was a sad, tired and despicable old man that didn’t deserve the friends and family he had. Hell, until the kids came, he didn’t have any family to call his own. But…maybe, just maybe, after all these years, he could do something right. Be less of a fuck-up. Which brought everything back to the hideous hot-air balloon that he was beginning to doubt was a great idea. He took another look at the blue prints and tried to make sense of the horrid scribbles he had jotted down in the margins when the sound of a lot of hot air being released into the night sky caught his attention.

“Wuh-oh. Mr. Pines. Think we got a problem.” Soos gestured to the ripped seam up near the balloon’s fez. Sure enough, the patchwork fabric they’d used to make the fez was flapping wildly as the hot air trapped in the misshapen balloon escaped with force, threatening to burst adjacent seams with every second. Well, shit. It would take a good hour for Soos to deflate the balloon, repair the damage and get it back up and running. Why is it that everything always had to go wrong? Why couldn’t one of his plans go off without a hitch? Just one? Oy!

“I’m on it Mr. Pines! I’ll have this balloon fixed in a jiffy. Now, what lever turned off the do-hicky again?” Make it two hours until Soos figured out how to fix this. He should probably scope out the venders and see what the young people were spending their money on. I couldn’t hurt to expand the gift shop merchandise to include things his new customers were actually interested in buying.

“Hey, Soos, I’m gonna go walk around, scope out the competition, ya’know. Figure out what these kids are into.” Or he really just needed to walk around and think and didn’t need Soos to pick up on it. As oblivious as the kid was, he always had a knack for knowing when Stan was moping around. It seemed every time, without fail, that he was feeling particularly depressed, he would open the door to see Soos standing there with cookies, or breakfast, or something sweet his grandma had made, or some kind of ‘Boss Appreciation’ gift. While he adored the boy, sometimes, he just needed to stew. He was sixty for Pete’s sake, he was entitled to a few days where he could just be a sad and grumpy old man. He’d earned it.

“Sure, Mr. Pines.” Soos had already started flicking levers and pushing buttons on the engine. Stan shrugged, Soos was the better of the two at figuring out how it worked anyhow. What harm could it do? He turned and walked back to the rows of venders all in pavilion style tents. All the venders were shouting and trying to attract customers, showing off their products and…what was that? Giving out free samples!? And the kids were eating it up! How the heck can they make any money by just giving stuff away? Oh sure, keep the t-shirt and caps for full charge, but give the stickers away for free.

Stickers are where he made most of his money! People were rubes, but some of them were pretty price savvy. Show’em a t-shirt with cheap cloth that will fall apart after five washes and tell’em it’s twenty-five bucks, they’ll laugh in your face and keep their wallets tightly closed. But show them a cheap key chain or sticker and tell them it’s a buck or two, they eat it up. They buy five, one of each variety. Paint one shipment gold and call it “special edition” and charge an extra buck, they buy the whole stock. Have a stack of postcards that got wet and the ink warped during the last storm because the roof leaked? Sell them as prints of a hand painted scape of Gravity Falls and double the price. People were absolutely stupid when it came to money if you just nickel and dimed them with special editions and ‘one of a kinds’.

But he wasn't here to boat to himself about how much better a con-artist he was. He was here to figure out what the young people of today were spending their money on. The further he walked, the more food and drink stalls he came across. Okay, so having a food truck on site might be a good idea. He’d done that with the fair he’d put on at the beginning of the summer. Didn’t he make a lot of money that day? Honestly he can’t remember much – he does the fair every year to replace the county fair that the town can’t pay for anymore, and it breaks even most years – all he remembers is sitting in a dunk tank for the afternoon and bleeding the suckers dry as rube after rube tried their hand at dunking the old creep from the Mystery Shack.

Okay, food truck. He could do that. Have a tiny kitchen where he sold drinks and shitty hot dogs and icecream to the families that come from miles around. Might even call up Susan and see if she had a spare cook and the Greasy Diner can share in the profits.

Or…not. He’d not too keen on calling the resident Crazy Cat Lady again. Especially since she still seemed to want to date him. That was a total disaster. And poor Mabel. She meant well, but he was just, as Wendy had put it, ‘un-fixable’. Heck, Soos had been trying for over a decade and hadn’t gotten anywhere. He was doomed to be alone forever, he supposed. Not that he didn’t deserve it. He’d pushed everyone in his life away. He creeped most women out – most men too for that matter – with his really tired and used pick-up lines. His six hour marriage to Marylin ended with her ducking out of the El Diablo at 75 mph with their ill-gotten casino winnings. He’d really thought he’d been in love. Then again, he’d thought he’d been in love with Carla too. He’d dated her through high-school and when he’d gotten kicked out, they’d tried to go steady for a while. But his constant moping over living in his car and losing his family had pushed her into the arms of a musician. And Ford…

Well, he’d pushed Ford into a swirling vortex of Hell in a fit of rage. His guilt hadn’t let him get a full night’s sleep in thirty years.

And now he was avoiding his feelings by wandering the tents at the Woodstick Festival. Dang it! He really needed to go see a therapist like Soos said. But what was he gonna say; ‘Hey, yeah, so I pushed my brother into a sci-fi portal and have spent the last thirty years trying to teach himself quantum physics and calculus, so he could get him back. Oh, and I may or may not have romantic feelings about said brother.’ Yeah, that would go over well.

Stan sighed. He really was hopeless wasn’t he?

A yell and the sound of a cart of beads being turned over caught his attention as he saw a telltale mop of brown hair and a rainbow sweater dart around the corner. He watched as both Mabel and Dipper cut and weaved through the crowd, a rather pudgy blond man in moderate pursuit. At least, until the prop wings on his back started flapping and Stan got a nagging prickling at the back of his head whenever he encountered something supernatural. His gut reaction, the same one that had kept him from going insane in the last thirty years was to turn around and ignore, repress, and feign ignorance. A slightly more pressing gut reaction was to chase down the offender with a baseball bat for endangering his kids.

I really wasn't even a debate as he found himself darting after the three, watching in only slight horror as he saw the absolutely not supernatural man fly overhead to cut off the kids at the fenceline. Stan caught up just a moment after, quick and practiced fingers taking the bottle of black powder from Mabel’s hand as he came up behind her and tucking it in his jacket. He was braced to punch a hippie in the face to protect his children. Heck, he’d probably punch the hippie anyway.      

“Sorry, kids, but you’ve left me now choice. Visions of Heartbreak Past!”

As the blond hippie raised his bottles of creepy hippy powder to throw at Mable, Stan darted in front of her, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her back to fall to the grass and was coated in the pink and purple smoky haze instead. He inhaled and immediately regretted his need to breathe as he doubled over, hacking so hard he was surprised his dentures hadn’t fallen out. Whatever this guy was using to drug people, it was doing a number on Stan’s lungs. He really was lucky to have quit smoking when the kids showed up. He’d probably have passed out by now if he hadn’t. The residual powder coated his mouth and throat. It tasted of bittersweet hope, and…was that jelly beans? God, he hadn’t had jelly beans since…

“Stan?”

Stan froze. He knew that voice. Knew it better than anything else. That voice, that scream that haunted his nightmares.

“Wait, wah?”

“Why is there a pink flavored Grunkle Stan? Hey Love God, what was that supposed to do?”

The ‘Love God’ gaged.

“Ewwww, Man! I knew this bozo was weird. I didn’t think it was this bad.” The twisted face of disgust on the Love Gods face confused the twins, but was completely lost on Stan.

As the smoke cleared, a pink tinged hand extended out to him. A six-fingered hand, wreathed in pink light reaching out to him. When he looked up, it was like looking into a mirror, one that reflected only his best features. His tired, half-blind eyes meet soft pink ones, ones he knew were supposed to be blue so his mind filled in the correct color.

“It’s supposed to show you romances you’ve had and lost. It gets people off my back when they get too suspicious.” Spat ‘Love God’, momentarily recovering from his aborted retching.

Stan heard none of it. Eyes fixated on the phantom in front of him.

“Himself? Huh? Guess it’s not that surprising.”

“But, why would he have ‘lost’ himself? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Man, you kids have one freaky family.” The ‘Love God’ gulped down something from his belt of potions.

The six fingered hand reached for his own, tugging gently at first before pulling Stan to his feet and interlacing their fingers. A shy smile pulled at that lips he used to catch himself staring at. He knew, logically, that he wasn’t looking into the face of his brother. Stanford was likely older now than his memory allowed. And Stanford wasn’t pink, he knew that. Logically he knew that. But his heart couldn’t take it. The phantom embraced him, twelve fingers digging into his suit jacket.  

“Please…” God, he wanted to. Whatever it was, he would do it. But his mind clouded, his eyes clouded and all he could do was cry.  

He gripped the phantom tightly, the twins watched, even more confused but thankfully silent. The ‘Love God’, true to his name, showed somewhat of a heart and stopped gagging and even frowned in empathy. He barely noticed when the phantom pickpocketed him. The phial was tossed to the ‘Love God’ and the phantom Stanford shot a wicked smile at Stan. One that, while it was supposed to look like betrayal, only shot a bolt of heat down his spine. The ‘Love God’ was right, he was a freak.  

Panicked screams echoed as the night sky lit up orange and red. Stan turned in time to see his would-be advertisement scheme in flames and headed directly for them. Through residual tears, he launched forwards and scooped the twins up and out of the range of the fall out. The ‘Love God’ was not so lucky.  

When the dust cleared and the fire crew crowded in to put out the flames, the kids squirmed their way out of Stan’s grasp and raced back to the spot where the pudgy aspiring musician stood.

“Love God? Are you ok?”

“Please be immortal, please be immortal.”

It was just Stan’s luck that Cupid was invulnerable. He still got a good punch in before the freak got to the stage.

*~*~*~*~*

When they found the portal in the hidden basement and everything literally almost turned upside-down, it made sense. When the author of the journals walked out from the glowing blue light and introduced himself, they understood. When Stan told them the stranger was his brother, everything fell into place.

Mostly.

Mable was still struggling to understand what had happened at the Woodstick Festival. Climbing out of bed, Mabel made her way downstairs and out the back door, hearing muttering from the open door to the gift shop.  

She found Stan leaning back into the couch on the back porch, glass bottle in one hand, lit cigar in the other. Eyes red rimmed and blinking slowly at the treeline like he was a million, billion miles away. He was letting he cigar burn down, the ash dropping off the end to land in the ashtray he’d absently left on the side table. She tentatively took the cigar from between his fingers, squashed the lit end into the ashtray to put it out, and climbed up on the couch beside him.

He startled when she took his cigar, but just watched her as she put it out and sat down; not speaking, not accusing, not asking. He knew why she was up, why she’d come looking for him. Ford was still in the basement working on something or other; the clang of metal occasionally reverberating enough to be heard through the floorboards. He settled back, moving to set the bottle down before wrapping an arm around her. She curled up into his side, fingers picking at stray hairs on his dress-shirt – the suit jacket left somewhere inside. She knew they hadn’t hugged, and that Stan would need one. She liked her new Grunkle, he was cool, and super smart, he just, had some anger issues to deal with. But as mad at Stan as he was, he couldn’t hate him, could he? They were twins, like her and Dipper. They could never hate eachother. She felt her Grunkle slump further into the couch.

He really didn’t want to talk. But like pulling out a loose tooth or a splinter, it was the best thing for him.  

“So…the Woodstick Festival?”

Stan flinched. He tilted his head so that the glare from the open door blocked his eyes and withdrew his arm. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but his voice caught in his throat and no sound escaped. After a few seconds, he just gave up, closing his mouth with a click and turning away from her.

The ‘Love God’s’ words had stuck in her head. Not love, ‘romance’. As in, crush, as in stay awake all night thinking about them. But, Grunkle Ford was Stan’s brother. Love God had to have been wrong, maybe he used the wrong powder, or maybe it applied to familial love too. Her head jerked up when she heard Stan’s ragged voice.  

“I…I…understand…if you want to…go home early. I won’t ask you to stay. It wouldn’t be right. Just…all I’m askin’ is that you not tell your parents about that. I don’t care what they think of me, but Ford deserves a chance to know his family. He never got the chance to meet your dad. Shermie told me that they are a lot alike. Probably where Dipper gets it.”

He chuckled to himself. Voice dry and lacking any sense of real warmth. He reached down and took a swig from his bottle, draining it and staring at the label as if it held the cure to his every ailment.

“But he didn’t know. Nothing ever happened. I was all me. I’m the freak. Ford didn’t know, still probably doesn’t know.” His movements were jerky, bottle dropping to the porch as he turned and grasped Mabel by her hand. “Oh God, please…please don’t tell him! I’ll do anything!” He had clasped her hand in both of his. He was pleading with her, just like he’d done back in the basement. Begging her to trust him, begging her to not do this.

She felt scared. Why on Earth would she not tell Grunkle Ford that his brother loved him enough that their falling out broke Stan’s heart? Why would she not tell her parents that, either? Why would it even need to be a secret? Why would Stan call himself a fre…unless……oh. OH! He meant, as in, oh wow! That changed things, didn’t it? He meant it like, he ‘loved’ his brother. He loved Stanford.

Something in her expression must have showed recognition because his eyes filled with shame and he turned away, letting go of her hands and picking at the tear in the couch cushion.  

“You love him. And I mean, like, love love, like lay awake at night thinking about them, love.” It wasn't a question. But all the same, Stan nodded.

She didn’t know what to say. Usually, she’d tell Stan to go tell him, go confess your feelings. They either liked you back, or didn’t. But this was way different than everyday romances. This wasn't even just forbidden love between a snake and a badger or like between Dipper and Wendy. This was taboo. This was all kinds of wrong. What could she say to that? ‘Oh, hey. Grunkle Ford, I know that we just met and all, but did you know your brother is in love with you? No? Well he is, and spent the last thirty years trying to get you back because of it.’ She shook her head. There was no real way to talk this through.

She tried to imagine feeling about Dipper like that. Like, tried to picture Mermando and the feelings she got when thinking about him and tried to put Dipper there. But, she just couldn’t. Every time she pictures his face, all she felt was good natured affection for her bro-bro. He was cute…she guessed. But he didn’t make her heart beat fast like Mermando did.

Grunkle Stan had called himself a ‘freak’, maybe he was right. Loving your brother, wanting to smooch your brother was weird. She understands now why the Love God got so grossed-out when he saw the phantom Grunkle Ford. It was kinda weird and gross, but…well, Stan was a weird, gross, old man, maybe it was ok. He looked so lost now, like he wanted to jump into the Bottomless Pit and not come back.

She would be sad if he did. He would cry and cry and cry until the whole of Gravity Falls was under water. Dipper would cry too, though he would never admit it. And she doesn’t know Grunkle Ford very well, but she’s sure he would cry too.

They had sat in silence for several minutes as Mabel processed what had to be her Grunkle’s greatest secret. With a small smile, she flopped into Stan’s side and did her best to wrap him in the biggest Mabel hug she could.

Stan flinched, jarred by the contact he thought he would never feel again. He shifted his weight on the couch, turning just enough to gather Mabel into his lap and squeeze as tight as she would let him. He buried his face into her soft hair, brown strands absorbing the tears he couldn’t stop.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled into her scalp, gravel voice hardly a whisper. “I’m sorry your uncle is a freak.”

She wanted to tell him that is was going to ok, that he wasn't a freak, and that he wasn't a bad person. But, she just couldn’t…not yet, and maybe not ever. She didn’t know how to feel about this. She loved Stan, yes, and nothing he would ever do would change that, but, this was something she didn’t know how to handle. She just squeezed tighter.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Upstairs, the triangular window was propped open, and a microphone dangled from a string from its ledge. Dipper’s – with oversized headphones over his ears – face was contorted, brows furrowed and chewing nervously on his thumbnail.

-

-

Ford leaned against the wall beside the back door just outside of view of anyone looking in from the outside. He’d left his boots downstairs to muffle the sound of his steps. His was was grim, tired, and despondent. Hand absently trailing to the inner pocket of his jacket where he kept the one photo that had kept him going the past three decades. He wondered if it would still carry the same meaning now.

[cityoflondon-rp-blog]

BASIC INFORMATION:

NAME: Valencia Flores. AGE: 28. PLACE OF BIRTH: Barking & Dagenham, London, United Kingdom. RESIDENCE: Kings Cross, Islington. OCCUPATION: Personal Assisant to Spencer Berkeley. FACE CLAIM: Eiza González.

BIOGRAPHY:

Valencia grew up surrounded by family - and crammed in with them in a two-bedroom apartment for most of her life. Her grandparents shared one bedroom, she and her mother another, and her brother was relegated to the living room couch. From a very young age, Val proved to be an outspoken, independent, and active child. She always wanted to be line leader, in charge of school groups, and at the front of the class. As her extroverted personality emerged, so did her proclivity for dancing. Her godmother has tons of photos of a four-year-old Val dancing on the counter of the diner where her mother and godmother worked. Despite how little Val’s family had, they still put it all toward Val and her brother Victor. Both Flores children were very physically gifted and their parents and mother worked extra shifts to pay for Victor’s cleats and Val’s dance lessons.

Some years, there wasn’t enough extra money to pay for dance school tuition, so Val had to attend community classes, watch videos, and practice tirelessly on her own. A couple of years, she could afford the tuition but not the extra cost of the costumes for the end of year recitals. The owner of the dance school had a soft spot for the little prima donna with surprising promise so she paid for her shoes, costumes, and a decent portion of her tuition from the age of eleven until Val began training for an audition with the Royal Ballet School at fifteen. The girl was always well aware she was an excellent dancer and leader, and as she aged, her talent fostered a level of confidence that quickly evolved into cockiness. A car accident just a month before her RBS audition resulted in a broken leg and sprained wrist. Hours of sitting at home, crying from pain over her physical trauma and the less tangible thoughts of what could have been, humbled the girl dramatically.

While Val’s passion for dance never wavered, she began to pick up new interests even while she was still healing. She witnessed a lot of harsh realities when she was in and out of the hospital and physical therapy during recovery, and it prompted her to start to read more about economics and politics. The interest soon grew into a second hobby. Whereas before she used to spend time after school only at dance lessons and practicing, after she was fully recovered, she joined the far less prestigious dance club at school and the environmental and debate clubs. With dance off the table as a career, she took it on as a hobby, and learned how to adapt and find other things to focus on that weren’t all about her.

When she was eighteen, Val took a year off from academics but not from anything else. She worked as a teacher for younger students at her old dance studio and worked two waitressing jobs to help her mom and grandparents with bills. She knew she wanted to go to university, but it took some time for her to figure out what she wanted to do. While she was working, most of her free time was spent at practice for a dance group she’d joined or alone, reading, watching, and learning all about government, politics, and activism. Through her self-teaching, she gained an appreciation for the people who put together press releases and held press conferences, and she felt drawn more and more toward the idea of maybe doing that herself.

After getting accepted into Leeds Becket University to pursue a Public Relations degree, Val moved to Leeds with her boyfriend at the time. Though the boyfriend wouldn’t last through the three years it took for the degree, Val’s commitment to her studies and to a local community center where she took and eventually taught dance classes never wavered. After graduating, she moved back to London and shared a cramped flat with three of her friends from Leeds. It didn’t take long for Val to find a job as a public relations specialist, but the “boutique” firm wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind. The pay was great - more than she ever imagined she’d make - and she had enough free time that she was able to join an adult dance troupe. Still, she was fully entrenched by that point in the politics of the nation, often getting into lengthy conversations with her flatmates about what was going on in the world or with specific MP’s over breakfast and dinner.

A year into her first job, she was already tired of it and began searching for jobs in press offices. The moment a job in an MP’s press office was offered to her, she left her firm job without even bothering to clean out her cubicle and started as soon as she could. Her dedication and work ethic helped her stand out, and she grew close with the communications director, Spencer Berkeley. When Spencer decided to run for a seat of his own, Val decided to go with him as his PA so she could be even more involved and hands-on compared to just working in the press office.

For now, ideas of running for a seat are just fanciful thoughts, but Val (and those who know her) could see her running one day once she gains more experience.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Generous. Astute. Attentive. Headstrong. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Unforgiving. Argumentative. Proud. Possessive.

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS:

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Living with her partner. FAMILY: Older brother, playable. More information below. IDEAL CONNECTIONS:

#1 Older brother. Victor also looked as though he was going to have an athletic career, but his derailment came because of a severe fear of flying that took a professional career off the table. He’s currently working toward becoming a full-time teacher and enjoys coaching local kids, though Valencia wishes he’d worked harder to overcome his fears because she thinks he would’ve been happier. Very similar in a lot of ways to his sister, so they butt heads sometimes.

#2 Former flatmate. A public relations specialist at a boutique travel firm who, unlike Valencia, absolutely fell in love with the high-end firm and has been working for the past few years to move up and solidify her position there. She’s always supported Val since they first got to know each other after moving in despite not entirely understanding why she was so interested in politics. It’s simply not a major concern for her former flatmate at this point in time. She encourages Val to try to forget about the seriousness of her job and constantly tries to get Val to come along on her many vacations (one of the best job perks she has), but Val almost always says no. To the offer of one night out at a dance club, though, Val will always say yes to her.

[furederiko]

Does being naive truly a bad thing? Kyuranger's sunset-colored loner takes the spotlight in "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: Episode of Stinger". A story of vengeance and regret...

WARNING: This recap-view is obviously filled with SPOILERS. Also, it is based on the original untranslated Japanese-language version of the V-Cinema. Not trying to brag, but the dialogues is really not that hard to understand and the scenes are pretty self-explanatory. However, IF in a foreseeable future a fansub version is released, and when the time comes I discover some important bits that I've somehow missed out or forgot to mention in this essay, I'll be sure to post a Version 2 sometime after. Only if that's necessary though, because I will try to be as thorough as possible with this one. Prepare for a long one! XD

- Our V-Cinema (the FIRST character-related ever released for Super Sentai franchise) begins directly in the middle of a heated mecha battle. In case you don't have any clue and is intrigued to see what actually led to this situation, then that's where "High School Wars" comes in. Yes, the 4-episodes web-series serves as a prologue or some sort, and this V-Cinema's first 02.19 minutes acts as conclusion that clears out its pesky cliffhanger. At least, until the extra episode arrives. LOL. It's also the reason why at the beginning, we get to see Lucky, Stinger, Hammy, Naga, Spada, and Kotarou in student cosplays. They were doing undercover mission at Planet 3B of the Norma System. Of course, if you don't feel like seeing "High School Wars", then you... don't need to. Its storyline doesn't really have anything to do with the main event of this V-Cinema. How so? Because the story that puts Stinger and Champ in the spotlight, is in fact a flashback! Nope, I'm not kidding. I'll get to this real soon, but let's address how the two ends up reminiscing this memory. - As Kyuren-Oh is about to finish Malistrate Principal Indaver (voiced by Deka Green!!!), Taurus Black who functions as its left arm suddenly goes berserk, causing his Voyager to run off on its own. This is not a new situation, as it had happened before TWICE in the TV series. Scorpius Orange takes off to chase him, while Ophiucus Silver and UrsaMinor Skyblue fill in their vacant spots. When Stinger tries to stop Champ's malfunction, a villainous figure named Thunderbird (voiced by Tsutomu Isobe, whom you might be more familiar as... Wolzard Fire) catches them off guard. With one strike, he blasts the two Kyurangers down a cliff. Despite the other's concern, obviously they survive the fall. That's when the appearance of Thunderbird and a bed of Camomile bring their thoughts to a sad story that occured in the past. Flashback time! - Said memory takes place during the time Stinger and Champ took a break from the team to search for Scorpio, who is played by Yuki Kubota (who else?). It's between the ending of episode 13 and the closing scene of episode 15, which means the setting is not on Planet 3B, but on EARTH! Before they go, Commander Xiao hands them several Kyu Globes to aide their journey. Stinger can later be seen using Pump to deal with his thirst, Champ uses Fornax to set up a bonfire, while three others (Bootes, Lepus, and one unknown) aren't used. It includes one Blank Kyu Globe, to which Stinger quickly deduces is necessary for... gathering new power. Xiao and his sly way of getting things done! LOL... - The best part of this brief sequence, is that we get to see Stinger and Champ bonding for the first time! Stinger avoiding Champ's over-friendliness and giddy excitement? Stinger being irritated that Champ continues to call him 'partner' when he doesn't like it (not yet, in this span of time)? The two having a child-like walking competition, but then sharing a meal in a cafe with Stinger flaunting a drumstick to annoy the fighter robot? ADORABLE. And guess what, the scene in the same diner actually contains a not-so-subtle LGBT representation in the background! It's not even a blink or miss, because the lovey-dovey pair are sitting right behind Champ! Way to go TOEI, it might be small, but truly an AMAZING gesture to address diversity. - Soon, this odd couple encounters a dirty small town called Ryusei. This heralds the appearance of Mika Reetsu, played by gravure actress Yuki Mamiya. Her drill-esque monstrous-looking right arm seems to be scaring off the citizens, but some of them immediately take a stand against her and start calling her 'Monster'. FYI, this group consists of several familiar faces in the world of Tokusatsu. Their mob-leader is played by Kentarou Shimazu, who famously portrayed Gentle in "Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger". That big-sized guy? Kazuyoshi Nagazawa who played 'Kong' in "Kamen Rider Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum". The woman with the glasses? She's prolific suit actress Sanae Hitomi who has played various heroes since "Juuken Sentai Gekiranger" (she's also the one behind Mika's alternate form later on). And guess what? The Tokusatsu Network's very own Tom Constantine stands out as the sole 'gaijin/gaikokujin' among the crowd. I hope hitting that table doesn't hurt, Tom... *grins*. - Don't let these folks fool you though, because as it turns out... not only they are discriminative to Mika, they are also VERY VIOLENT towards her!!! Stinger and Champ arrive, and gets in a fight with Mika because she claims she's there to eliminate the citizens for Jark Matter. Stinger realizes that Mika is not human, and Champ points out that her right hand resembles the ones from people of the Monoceros System. Her statement "I seek power… That alone." however, instantly reminds Stinger of a particular person: Scorpio! - Flashback within flashback? You got it! LOL. Another gem of this V-Cinema, is we actually get to see Scorpio rampaging and slaughtering his own people in the Scorpius System. It has been vaguely teased in the TV series through Stinger's story (likely confirming that this V-Cinema might have been filmed prior to Tsurugi's debut), but this is the first time the entire sequence is played out. With a bonus of another round of Stinger's vocal performance too! Great goodness though, this V-Cinema is NOT for kids, because Scorpio is clearly snapping people's neck to death... ON-screen!!! - Thunderbird makes his first official entry to this part of the story, being the Jark Matter Malistrate whom Mika reports to in Furane City. He's seems to have a soft-spot on her, and promises power to help exact her revenge to those who has wronged her. By the way, I can't say for sure, but I think this setting is that famous chapel from "Kamen Rider W". - At the same time, Stinger isn't completely convinced that Mika is downright evil. I might not understand this one correctly, but it seems Stinger suspects that it's the people who are at fault here. They were openly being discriminative towards her... just because she's NOT human. Both him and Champ aren't as well, so if anything, they surely can relate. Unsurprisingly, that is indeed the case, as we get to witness later on when Mika shares about her abused condition to Stinger. - You see, Mika and a group of Indavers attacks the two Kyurangers. But while Champ chases a mysterious figure who is revealed to be Thunderbird, Stinger and Mika gets trapped under some falling debris. The pair gets some alone time, and Stinger gets to... ugh, SING for Mika, after seeing the 'loneliness' in her eyes. Aaaaaw... this is sweet, albeit corny and unnecessary. LOL. She realizes that her opposite is also not human after seeing his sting, and reveals that she's half-breed, a mix of Monoceros being and Earthling. The townspeople has been bullying her endlessly for that, and the gorgeous Camomile is her sole escapism. Which fits, since the flower is a symbol of 'patience', and we DO get to see Mika tries so hard to endure her loneliness and pain. - Sadly, this is where Thunderbird's influence comes in. He takes Mika to his wing, and sways her to kill the mob to fulfil her revenge. And he succeeds, because after our 'naive' Kyuranger lets Mika go with a flicker of hope (who returns the favor by destroying the debris that's holding Stinger back), the girl is violently ambushed, captured, and mercilessly condemned and beaten by the townspeople. There's a scene in the trailer above that shows the leader hitting someone with a SHOVEL, right? That's helpless Mika indeed! YIKES. - Driven by rage and anger this time around, Mika lashes out, stabs, impales, and.... eventually kills everyone. Including children and that Toku-Fan gaijin (thank goodness this is just acting, huh? poor Tom). The eerie scene is also poignantly symbolized by the Camomile being trampled on and torn by the people. It's a BLOODY, I repeat (this is not a drill)... BLOODY aftermath for the town. SERIOUSLY folks, this V-Cinema is NOT FOR KIDS! - Stinger might have been in disagreement with Champ over his compassion or 'naivety' towards Mika, but the brutal condition of the town brings them back into one mind and heart. They help bury the bodies amids the field of Camomile, while an accoustic version of Stinger's song amps up its sentimental atmosphere. Champ then tells Stinger that they need to 'save' Mika too. At this point, I can no longer hold it in, and inevitably get misty eyed. - Saving Mika is an ordeal on its own. Not unlike Scorpio, Don Armage has granted her the power she desires, and she has been transformed into a monstrous (ugly design, by the way) Malistrate Mika now. The Orange and Black Kyurangers have no other choice but to fight her, in order to turn her back to human. - It works, but regrettably, the malice inside her is already too much. Mika asks them to end her while she's still human. Reluctant and torn, Stinger eventually strikes his sting to free Mika from her torment. Before she dies, she says that she wishes she had met Stinger much earlier, and her soul becomes the #27 Monoceros Kyu Globe. They burried her outside of the town. Stinger regrets this incident, knowing that if he was stronger and stopped Mika before she walked away, things could have turned out very differently. Our main event flashback ends here, as the story returns to present time in Planet 3B... - As for Thunderbird, during Mika's final moments, he cold-bloodedly reveals that he never cared for her all these time. He then runs away with his Consumarz. And what become of him afterwards? He has been promoted to be the Menaster of the Norma System. What for? Because his experiment to pit human against each other had pleased Don Armage, earning him the position to lead Jark Matter's Brainwashing Facility (making him the boss of Principal Indaver). Yes, not only he has been using Mika for his personal gain, he's also the mastermind behind the townspeople unexplained hatred towards her! There weren't any discrimination in the first place. Thunderbird deliberately pushed both party to their limits, so that they would end up hating and killing each other. What a MESSED UP plan indeed! A painful but stark metaphor to what's currently going on in several countries now... (looking at you, America, Russia, and my own country... T_T) - Champs goes into another berserk and runs off. Thankfully, the other Kyurangers arrive just in time to aide Stinger in his fight against Thunderbird. Time for director Kouichi Sakamoto's signature wire-fu action sequence (most visible on Chamaeleon Green and Dorado Yellow) then! To avenge Mika and the townspeople's death, Scorpius Orange utilizes the Monoceros Kyu Globe, gaining a... 'handy' power up. With "Unicorn Antares" attack, he ends Thunderbird's journey by literally drilling a hole on his body. Expect this personal power up to be used later on in the TV Series! - Everyone is back at the Battle Orion Ship (at least that's what I think, because it could still be ORION), but not Stinger. Champ is still running off somewhere in Planet 3B, so he stays behind looking for him. Stinger has blamed himself for Scorpio's turn to evil and eventual demise, as well as not being able to avoid Mika's death. There's no way he's going to lose another important people in his life, so rescuing Champ is now his top priority. THE... END. Extra personal ramblings opinion! Specifically highlighting my major issue with this V-Cinema: - The reunion between Lucky and co with Stinger in the fight against Thunderbird, is where things start to get a little confusing. Hammy mentions that Champ is 'still berserking'. Does this refer to what happened in the Kyuren-Oh intro scene, or is she saying that the team is AWARE or have figured out about Champ's condition? Hmmm... I prefer to go with the first assumption, because episode 34 clearly told us that only Stinger and Garu knew about this secret. Then again, I can't say I'm sure about this. Which means... problematic writing? - That ending is also rather uninspiring, if you ask me. Eventhough Japanese movies are well known for leaving audience in a cliffhanger, not having a proper conclusion for this one still feels irritating. Moreso, it causes the position of "Episode of Stinger" and its counterpart spin-off "High School Wars" in the continuity to be... even more confusing. I'm already somewhat annoyed by Hoshi Minato's presence in the web-series, but that final scene adds even more question. Why? Read on... - Champ was 'benched out' from the team since the heartbreaking episode 16. He returned in episode 21, the one that debuted Tsurugi... who is NOWHERE to be seen. Champ then first exhibited his 'berserking condition' during the Holorogium story, in episode 25. He then travelled to the past as part of Tsurugi's 'Time Travel' in episode 26, and did NOT return to the team until episode 34. Does this mean this V-Cinema takes place after that? Hold on... - Both him and Stinger are present onboard Battle Orion Ship in episode 35. That's the Pavo System story that puts Hoshi Minato to the spotlight. Popular speculation is that the Norma System story takes place within this episode. But as I said yesterday, Hoshi Minato's presence has already contradicted this fact. - Thus I proposed that we ignore several things, and decide that the Norma System storyline takes place afterwards. Meaning... BEFORE episode 36. Problem is... both Stinger and Champ ALSO take part in that episode. LOL. They are even part of the active Away Team that went to Leo Minor System, and will soon be involved in a continuous storyline (Crux System story arc) that will proceed non-stop until around episode 39. - So the final question is, WHEN or HOW this V-Cinema fits? Precisely in-between episode 34 and 35? Then what on Earth happened to Tsurugi! Somewhere beyond episode 40? Sometime after the series ends? I might be nitpickish most of the time, but I really don't expect a brilliant explanation of this timeline. Just an acceptable one would suffice, even if to maintain Kyuranger's good track record in regards of continuity so far. Current speculation, is that we'll have the answer when "High School Wars" exclusive 5th episode arrive on DVD. Is that the case though? The only plausible response to that is... we'll see. *sigh*

Overall: "Episode of Stinger" was basically 3 additional episodes (technically 2+, since the duration is 58:55 minutes) added to the currently 36 that has aired on TV. If we judge this as a stand-alone movie, then this V-Cinema was undeniably an impressive, heartfelt, and ballsy feature. It was on par, if not better in some parts, with the best broadcasted episodes of the TV series. Stinger was a strong lead character who could totally carry his own title, and his buddy-cop styled relationship with Champ added levity to the drama. The story about discrimination, psychological manipulation, and the gray area about revenge and vengeance, gave this V-Cinema a powerful ambiguity that prompted questions and discussions. It's amazing how relevant and representative it was to the current political condition in various countries. On the other hand, the sexuality (Kouichi Sakamoto is well known for his fascination of female cleavage and thighs), and/or violence depicted here could likely ended up as a red-flag to some audience. Even for someone who had no issues going through Netflix' visually gruesome R-rated library, the brutality in this one was... genuinely shocking. This was most definitely intended for much older Tokusatsu audience, so the lack of parental advisory warning was concerning. Particularly in an era when parents are too busy with themselves and already showing utter ignorance about it. Further more, reviewing "High School Wars" inevitably brought negative effect on this one as well. I was about to give this a much higher score, but I simply couldn't brush off its blatant continuity issue now. As I have pointed out above through my extra opinions, the presence of this V-Cinema and its web-series spin-off is currently sitting at a HUGE question mark. It's placement in the continuity is still unclear for now, giving time for the TV series staff to... I don't know, fix it somehow. But both certainly pose a threat of causing a giant flaw that might blemish one of Kyuranger's best trait. In the end, I did enjoy this and was genuinely thrilled and moved by it. Yet the fact remains, it's also a fundamentally flawed feature that might demand Kyuranger's fanbase to just... be ignorant and accept things as is. That's NOT good, and would be a shame to acknowledge. I can only hope that the Summer Movie "Gueath Indaver no Gyakushu" doesn't share the same problem, otherwise that would be even more disappointing... Next: Back to the TV Series, with the Lion Royalties!!!

Overall Score: 7,6 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: October 31st, 2017 - Version 3.04. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

Trailer used above is officially available through TSUTAYA MOVIE Youtube Channel. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[evakfanficsrecs]

Liv’s Favorite Fics

Hi, guys! So I noticed that Andie has a link for her favorite fics, and thought that it would be cool if I put all of mine into a post as well.

This will definitely be getting long, so if you’re interested, feel free to keep reading! After I make this list I’m gonna be clearing up my AO3 history and bookmarks (I’m scared of this part haha) but I’m excited to be essentially starting fresh!

In no particular order, here are my favorites!

I'll Be Coming Home, Wait For Me by dahlstrom Summary: The diner AU. Even and Yousef open a 1950s American-style restaurant together - Even is the creative genius in the kitchen, Yousef keeps the trains running on time, and Isak, Chris B, and Magnus are all along for the ride. Falling in love over food while Elvis serenades from the jukebox. Welcome to the Throwback Diner.

Checking From Behind by DickAnderton Summary: Isak is to captain his hockey team this season which means he has to somehow learn to cooperate with the newest addition to their team: Even Bech Næsheim. This proofs to be impossible, especially when nothing about Even's mysterious transfer adds up and his moods are just too frustrating.

Oppfordre (Nerve) by Evenbechbaesheim Summary: After everything that went on last year, Isak's really just trying to keep his head down and cling onto the few friendships he's managed to maintain. Eva still hates him, and he doesn't blame her for a second. In Isak's head, he really is the villain of her story. He probably deserves everything that's coming to him.And then Oppfordre starts.It's just a silly game. A dumb app that makes you do dares for money, using online popularity as a driving force. Isak isn't interested. Not even remotely.Then he notices the new boy across the schoolyard.

Home Is Wherever I'm With You by cuteandtwisted Summary: “Hi. I’m Even and I don’t usually walk around in nothing but a towel.” “Uh, I'm Isak.” “Isak. Mind if I kidnap you for some fun sightseeing activities?”Or Isak and Even keep meeting in hostels around the world and parting with a kiss or two.

Beat that Record by Dutten Summary: Fuck Jonas. All of this is his fault. Fucking Jonas--- Or the one where Jonas tells the squad about making a girl come untouched more than once and Even gets ideas.

love and healing by evenbakkas Summary: A Fake dating!AU where Isak goes grocery shopping and meets an attractive stranger in a jean jacket who ends up leaving as his fake boyfriend.

I wanna hold you like you're mine by giraffingallday Summary: Isak is often nervous and just trying to get through his required semester of Theatre. Emma makes it a little harder until Even comes along and makes it too easy. He might fall in love somewhere along the way.

Name A Game to Play by flowerbedofsouls Summary: Isak asks Even to choke him.

Paint Me a Picture (With Your True Colours) by Evenbechbaesheim Summary: A collection of moments set across Even and Isak's new life together, taking place in and around season 4!

Oh when you look at me like that, my darling, what did you expect? by Blueskyblack Summary: "You should really stop doing that", Even tried to reason. It was the middle of the night and though his guard was up, as usual when being around Isak, he wasn't in the mood to uphold it much longer. "Doing what exactly?", came the innocent-sounding response. Even raised his eyebrows at that while turning towards the only other person currently being in this kitchen with him. "Don't play dumb with me, Isak." Even sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, leaning against the cabinet opposite the kitchen counter where the sneaky little bastard was sat with his legs dangling in the air, observing every move Even made. Even let his eyes wander, took in the guy in front of him. Sure, there was no denying this guy there on the counter was attractive. Even could admit that, there was nothing wrong with that. Isak was cute. And attractive. Yeah. He just wasn't for Even.

Life is now. (and now, and now) by FlyByNightGirl Summary: In which the clips for season 3 update, because there is so much more of Isak and Even's relationship we haven't seen, so. Here it is, congratulations.

Fatherhood by secondhandsunlight Summary: A series of drabbles exploring Isak and Even's lives as fathers to three children: Elise, Ingvild, and Eivind.

sweet creature (but we're still young) by kittpurrson Summary: Isak meets seventeen-year-old Even Bech Næsheim at Tyrifjorden on his fifteenth birthday.Or: the one where Isak tries to convince the boy next door to put his hands on him.

soft by ramis Summary: Isak is the softest boy Even knows.

baby won't you let me get it wet by highpraises Summary: Isak gets eaten out for the first time.

(make you believe in) love and sex and magic by colazitron, kittpurrson Summary: Isak doesn't want to turn himself into a girl. He just wants his best friend. Apparently his magic has other ideas.or: The one where Jonas gets his mouth on Isak's magical pussy.

hva er dette? Narcos? by koolranchkidz Summary: The two guys strode down the now barely lit street. Before they were too far away to see, Isak saw the tall one flip his green hood over his head, revealing two words embroidered on the back of his leather jacket.‘Helvete Gutter’+ Or: In which Isak meets Even in first year, and he's a drug dealer

The World Is Yours by princevaltersen Summary: Even and Isak meet again in Heathrow Airport after a year apart.

Knock Four Times by folerdetdufoler Summary: Isak is a senior in college, studying at a university in America. He lives in an apartment on campus with three other guys and works part-time in the student center to help with his tuition. As much as he’s enjoyed the whole college experience, he’s ready to graduate and head back to Oslo, to his city, his family, and his boyfriend.But then, during the first week of his last semester, he steps off the elevator onto his floor and sees a guy sitting in the empty hallway. Isak walks over to see if he needs help with something, and finds out three very important things: his name is Even, he just moved into the building but already got locked out, and he is fucking gorgeous.

That Time With the Body Paint by wordsarelifealways Summary: Even finds body paint and convinces Isak to let him use it.

Insomnia Series by wordsarelifealways Summary: This series focuses on Isak’s insomnia and how Evak deal with it.

It Was the Nightingale, and Not the Lark by dahlstrom Summary: He can’t bring himself to look at Even as he says it. He’s thrown back to that night in the kitchen, the night Noora came home, when he refused to lift his eyes from the floor while Even moved nearer, not even when he was inches away.But you’re not a child anymore, Isak, some voice in his brain whispers.No. He isn’t. He’s not.And so he does lift his eyes, looking right into Even’s, inches away, steady and calm while his own heartbeat pounds in his ears and his breath catches just before he speaks. “I want you to fuck me. I want to know how it feels.”

don't you keep it all to yourself by colazitron Summary: Isak starts buying daily coffees before school at Kaffebrenneriet around the corner because it tastes better than the coffee in the cafeteria and keeps his hands warm. But mostly because the barista is heart-stoppingly cute.or: An AU in which Even didn't need to repeat his last year and instead started working at the coffeeshop Isak passes on his way to school every morning.

weak when you're around by ramis Summary: The first tug is subtle, barely there, but it makes Isak stop mid-sentence and hesitate before continuing.

slid the panties right to the side, ain't got the time to take draws off by highpraises Summary: He looks fucking gorgeous, angelic and sinful at the same time, standing in the doorway with one knee bent and turned in, arms behind his back, shy, shaky smile on his pretty pink lips. He’s in a pair of tiny baby blue panties, they’re partly see through and lacey. They’re little and low on his hips, made for a girl, and they don’t do this much, so it’s still special when Isak does this, and it still makes Isak feel a bit unsure.He’s still wearing his necklace, the gold E nestled in the dip between his collarbones. His mouth is pink and Even takes another sip, before he pats his lap. Isak walks closer, straddling his lap delicately, before he takes the tumbler from Even, bringing it to his lips. Even can tell that he’s nervous.Or, a self indulgent (sexual) day in the life of Isak and Even.

Forget The World by verlore_poplap Summary: Hence, Isak resigned himself to being the ninth wheel and consoled himself with the knowledge that Even was always good for some solid kush and he'd just light up for four days straight. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded in Isak's head. Yeah. This weekend was going to be fucking awesome.

Dreamers Stay Dreaming by bbyfruit Summary: “Isak?”“Yeah?”“I love you.”“Are you saying goodbye? Do you have to go?” Isak frowned.“No, not for a little bit. I was just reminding you,” Even said.OR: Isak and Even navigate love in all its complications - after ten years together, a daughter, and jobs that take them away from each other, but it's all good. It's all good.

blood in the water by realityiwanted Summary: Isak has always hated this time of the month.

now my soul beats a sound loud enough to quiet the thunder by colazitron Summary: Isak takes the responsibility of Even's birthday breakfast very seriously. There's eggs, crisp bread, baking, and accidental soul searching.

Let Down Your Hair by colazitron Summary: Even really likes Isak’s hair. Isak's considering a haircut.

And then I met you by live4magic Summary: There was this volunteer school experiment, where the telephone numbers of one half of the participants were randomly sent to the other half by the schools secretary.Nobody knew from who this number was and who the participants were. The goal of this experiment was to get to know each other without prejudice. They get to know each other without a name, look or detail of class and age.Of course every “couple” was free to create their own rules. It was just an experiment in a world full of stereotypes.And that’s how Isak met his sun.

Please Know That I'm Yours to Keep by pressurerin Summary: "Remember how I was making amortentia for my final potions project? Well, Isak ate some. And now…” Even gestured towards the way Isak was currently trying to lick his neck.OR; Even accidentally gives Isak a love potion.

ivory by evenvaltersen Summary: "Would that make you relax? A nice orgasm?" Isak nods, curling up impossibly closer to Even and Even almost wants to cry at the softness of it all, at how tiny and snuggly Isak looks in that pink, too big hoodie. "Alright, baby. How do you want it?" //or: isak's stressed. fingering makes him calm down.//

Eye of the beholder by diamondjacket Summary: Isak discovers something about Even’s past, and he realizes he still has some growing to do. Also, lipstick is involved.

I feel it when you look at me by photographer_of_thoughts Summary: "Did you hear about the new guy?" Jonas asked, motioning over to the other side of the cafeteria. Isak looked up and became rather breathless at the sight of the tall, blonde, and totally gorgeous boy wearing sunglasses. Wait. Sunglasses? Inside? "Must suck to be the new transfer and blind. I hope someone is helping him find all his classes."Or, Isak and Even learn to see each other.

Things Look Different in the Morning by allyasavedtheday Summary: In which Even needs a place to stay, kollektivet gains a new roommate, and Isak just really wants to sleep

take it in your heart now, lover by cuddlesevak Summary: Isak's date doesn't show up so he calls a cab, and the cute taxi driver takes him to a lot of places in just one night.

hell yeah, you the shit (that's why you're my equivalent) by colazitron Summary: Even can't keep it in his pants, or his heart.or: Sometimes your boyfriend proposes and you just really want to sit on his dick.

the adventures of stanley the matchmaking parrot by hippopotamus Summary: In which Even and Isak are ridiculously obvious, and Jonas’ wingman skills are second only to a parrot’s.

Guru Knows Best by StMisery Summary: Isak grumps, and Eskild schemes. But it's all in the name of love. For their gorgeous new neighbour (and a little for each other too).Even moves into the apartment across the hall, and Isak's just trying to make it another day without dying of embarrassment.

gratulerer med dagen by isakhoney Summary: wealthy boy even's family is hosting a reception for constitutional day. he meets beautiful and bashful isak, a waiter in traditional clothing. he takes him to his room, makes him sit on his lap

How in My Arms You Felt Like a Distant Memory, Tucked Far in the Back of my Mind by worshipkink Summary: Even looks at him like he is the only one worth looking at, and it scares Isak if he was honest. Isak feared that it wouldn’t be too long before Even attempts to solve his puzzle. Or, Isak has too much on his mind and Even knows exactly how to unwind the knots that afflict him.

Straight Up Series by nofeartina

almost like calling it love by piginawig Summary: “I have to go to the party,” he stated. “I have to show him that I’m okay, I’m pre-med with perfect grades and yeah, maybe I’m single, but-““What if you weren’t single?” Even said suddenly, biting his lip.Isak choked. “Um, what?”“Like, what if you took a boyfriend to the party?”“I don’t have a boyfriend, Even,” he said, frowning. Even didn’t look deterred. “What?”“I could be your boyfriend.”Isak choked again.“Like, pretend,” Even clarified, and Isak felt slightly sick. “I’d go with you as your date. He doesn’t know I’m just your roommate, Isak. That time we ran into him at the shops you just introduced me as Even, before he started rambling about his own stupid life. That way you could be like, you know, take your crappy job and your crappy fiancé and shove it, ‘cause I’m gonna be a doctor and I’ve got a hot boyfriend!”

Hurts so good by sayyestothis Summary: "Even, this is all I have wanted for my 18th birthday since like, forever. Except for you." Isak rolls his eyes. “Are you seriously comparing me to a piercing? Wow, I’m flattered.” Even laughs, his eyes squinting. “Two things I’d like to have in my mouth, can’t see what’s wrong with it”, Isak shrugs.

In my pocket by Greenteafrappuccino, swang40 Summary: After Even bought an action figure, a cute boy with snapback, from toy store last Saturday, weird things started to happen. His food kept missing and his bio homework was always done for him in the morning.

Let It Be (All Night) by verlore_poplap Summary: A collection of (steamy) oneshots.

The Man Of My Dreams by DustyAttic Summary: A continuation of Isak and Even's life together

the oceans shall freeze by DiscoNight, realityiwanted Summary: Even, the Berserker, has never wanted for anything, content with living out his days in solitude and blood. When his hoard makes a pit stop at a small Jutland village for the first time in years, he wants. So he takes.Isak has never known a life outside of his village. Now he must learn the new ways of the North in order to survive the seemingly endless winter.Can their hearts melt the ice that divides them?

when your heart is bleeding, i'm coming to get you by cosetties Summary: Isak doesn't exactly expect his hookup from last week to be the love advice columnist at the school newspaper he's working at. He also doesn't expect to fall even harder for him than he already has, which is a shame, really, since Even's crushing on someone else.

it's about growing up, getting older, living on a lover's shoulder (it's about time) by babyturtle Summary: The Sana-and-Isak-Childhood-Friends ft. Bookclubs AU you didn't know you were looking for.Sana and Isak might've spent more time fighting than reading the first day the met, but sometimes that's just how it goes. Usually. Usually that's how it goes. With Sana and Isak specifically. In their mostly dysfunctional two person book club.Or, life is hard and growing up harder, but take my hand and I'm right there with you.

The Dials of Life by wordsarelifealways Summary: Isak has lived with Asperger's his whole life, and without a doubt his least favourite part is the hypersensitive times.

Didn't See This Coming by givemesumaurgravy Summary: Isak is behind on his rent again and Eskild has the bright idea to sign him up for a Sugar Daddy dating website.

Untold scenes of Isak and his Even by imissedyourskin Summary: This fic is a collection of untold scenes that were hinted at, but never got turned into an actual scene.

Sleep Is For Dreamers by unfancyandy Summary: Isak's always had a complicated relationship with sleep.

i'm only human with my flaws, just a fool without a cause by lovedisak Summary: Because I don’t need to go to therapy, I’m not sick or anything”Isak knows that was a shitty thing to say even before he takes in all of his friends’ facial expressions, not directed at him, but at something behind him.Someone.Alternatively, Isak is Trying

we were made for gardens by tomatoconveniencestore Summary: When Eskild announces he's about to star in a documentary, Isak doesn't pay him much attention. But once he accidentally gets involved himself, it's not only the film he starts to care about, but also its director.

The Hot Muffin Thief by Bellakitse Summary: There is a magical muffin at the café where Isak's buddy Jonas works. It's Isak's lifeline, he has it every day and then one day some hot art hipster steals his muffin.

Watching Over You by lavishsqualor Summary: In which Even knows exactly how to loosen his boy up.

even the rogue horticulturist by Leprechon Summary: even likes plantsmeanwhile, isak takes an interest in the boy who sits in front of him in his 8 am lecture

Director Næsheim Series by BraveKate Summary: Married Isak and Even, with Director!Even

Tired of using Technology by skambition Summary: Isak & Even texting... about sex, love, relationships, school, family, daily stuff, and whatever else you text about

asshole by antokilljoy Summary: You caught me filling a very inappropriate coloring book but somehow ended up lending me your sharpies instead of running the other way and I think I might be in love with youOr: Isak and Even meet on a train.

philtatos; most beloved by prettylupin Summary: Not all love stories have to end in tragedies.

Would You Mind Closing The Bedroom Door? by allyasavedtheday Summary: The boy falters in the threshold, eyes widening when they land on Even. “Oh fuck- sorry! Eva didn’t say anyone was home.”Ah.No wonder she was up late last night. Even can’t really fault her taste – the boy is beautiful. He’s got golden hair mussed and curling over his forehead and cheekbones not even Michelangelo himself could sculpt and the most well-defined cupid’s bow top lip Even’s ever seen. Also he’s shirtless. Did he mention that part? There’s a stunning, shirtless boy in his kitchen with pillow creases still on his cheek and Even can’t do anything about it because he’s Eva’s one night stand.Fuck.

Membership Dues by Sabeley Summary: Isak is pledging Even's fraternity. Even keeps having to be reminded that he's not allowed to date the pledges."It's a ten-week pledge period. How hard could it be?"Famous last words.

[cynthiajayusa]

Movie Schedule: The 2019 OUTshine Film Festival – Miami

Outshine Film Festival Miami Edition takes place from Thursday, April 18 through Sunday, April 28. During the first week (through Wednesday, April 24) the festival is showing 31 films plus 2 Men’s Shorts compilations. Here are some of the highlights, but to see a complete list of films and parties go to: OutshineFilm.com.

Thursday April 18th

Opening Night Film – Tell it to the Bees – 7pm

The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex  

Gripped by a failing marriage and the responsibilities of having a young son, Lydia (Critic’s Choice Nominee Holliday Grainger) finds solace in her growing bond with the town’s recently returned female doctor Jean (Academy & Golden Globe Award Winner Anna Paquin). But this is the 1950s in post-WWII rural Scotland, and the women’s relationship prompts raised eyebrows in their provincial circles. Based on the novel by Fiona Shaw, Tell It To The Bees is a story of courage in the face of terrifying intolerance and a heart-wrenching portrait of a love against all odds.

From here down all films are at the Regal Cinemas South Beach.

Friday April 19th 2019

(Work-In-Progress) – Sell By – 6:45 pm

Does every relationship have an expiration date? Adam and Marklin are about to find out. Their 5-year relationship has gone from a passionate flame to a medium burn, forcing them to reconcile with each other’s shortcomings all while watching their support network crumble around them. But in this mess, hope springs eternal as they all muddle their way through to try and make life work. Featuring Scott Evans, Augustus Prew, Kate Walsh, and Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson; Sell By asks the timeless questions…how do you know who’s right for you and how do you know when to let go? In attendance will be writer/director Mike Doyle.

José – 9pm

José lives with his single mom in cramped quarters in Guatemala, a tough life in one of the world’s most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. His mother sells sandwiches, and he delivers food at the drive-by diner. Resigned and aloof, the one bright spot in his life is the face of his mobile phone – it literally lights up his evenings and helps him find men to hook up with in pay-by-the-hour hotels. That is, until construction worker Luis enters his life and José is thrust into a dimension of passion, pain and self-reflection previously unimaginable.

Saturday April 20th

The Ice King – 2:30pm

John Curry transformed ice-skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his Olympic win in 1976, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not even fully legal. Toxic yet charming; rebellious yet elitist; emotionally aloof yet spectacularly needy; ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, this is a man forever on the run from his father’s ghost, his country, and even his own self. John Curry was no activist, but an artist expressing his authentic self – yet in a world where his existence was taboo, his life was unavoidably political.

Rainbow’s Sunset – 4:45pm

Elderly Senator Ramon, the pride of his small, provincial hometown, moves in with his terminally-ill best friend Fredo in his final days. It turns out that their connection goes beyond mere friendship, and the revelation of their relationship brings scandal to the town and conflict among his three adult children. It’s up to his saintly wife to restore harmony. Like the most polished of family melodrama, Rainbow’s Sunset bursts with generosity and heart, and yet veteran hit-maker Joel Lamagan subverts the genre, touching on old age, a subject that LGBTQ cinema has yet to explore.) In attendance will be executive producer Harlene Bautista.

Erik & Erika – 5:15pm

The true story of Erik/Erika Schinegger – the ski sensation that became a media sensation. Declared female at birth, Erika is raised as a girl until a gene test proves that she is genetically male. Athletic success turns to heartbreak as he is disqualified and accused of fraud. The National Ski Federation insists that he undergo a medical procedure to make him fully female. Erik finds himself alone, facing the most important and agonizing decision of his life. Erik & Erika follows his life as a woman, his ultimate transition to manhood and his fight for recognition in 1970’s Austria where there was no place in the social dictionary for a word like transgender.

An Almost Ordinary Summer (Croce e Delizia) – 7pm

Two very different families spend their holidays in the same seaside house: the aristocratic Castelvecchio’s – open-minded, eccentric, but quite selfish – and the working-class Petagna’s – very tight-knit and united around solid conservative values. What brought such distant worlds together? Only Tony and Carlo, the two middle-aged heads of the families, know! The unexpected announcement of their engagement will disrupt an apparently ordinary summer and turn the lives of everyone around them upside down. With the wedding already set for three weeks, even more chaos will ensue.

Ppapi Chulo – 9:15pm

Cast adrift in Los Angeles, lonely TV weatherman Sean (Golden Globe Winner Matt Bomer) drives past a middle-aged Latino migrant worker standing outside a hardware store looking for work. He decides to hire this kind-looking man – to be his friend. Sean is young, gay and white; Ernesto is portly, straight and married. Despite the language barrier and having nothing in common, they build a sort of friendship – until Sean becomes consumed with a deeper obsessive need. Papi Chulo is a black comedy about loneliness and the desire to find connection across clear racial and socio-economic lines.

Euphoria (Euforia) – 9:45pm

Matteo is a young successful entrepreneur who is open-minded, charming and dynamic. His brother Ettore, who still lives in the small provincial town where they were born, is a cautious and honest man who has always stayed out of the spotlight out of fear of making mistakes. They are two apparently very distant people. However, a difficult situation results in the two brothers being given the opportunity to get to know each other, and they soon discover that they have a surprisingly close bond in a vortex of fragility and tenderness, fear and euphoria.

Sunday April 21st

Tackling Life – 12:15pm

Adam, Nico and Su are members of Germany’s first gay rugby team. Tackling Life portrays their everyday lives and follows them into the world of the sport, showing their struggle for recognition – in competition with the hetero regional league teams – as well as their community involvement: gathering money at colorful fundraisers and visiting schools to give anti-bullying workshops. Looking beyond the surface of self-presentation and cliché, we focus on how our trio copes with the challenges of everyday life and their search for belonging. Alternating aggressive, vibrant athletics with quiet observation, the film is fragile and profound, but also spectacular and loud.   

Birds of the Borderlands – 4:45pm

Genderqueer Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon’s intense and compelling piece of guerrilla filmmaking powerfully illuminates four queer Arab stories: Jordanian teenager Hiba is transitioning in secret, fearful of being killed by her Bedouin tribe; Gay Iraqi refugee Youssef fled Baghdad and is living in limbo in Bryon’s safe house in Amman; Lesbian feminist Rasha hides her sexuality and her relationship with Bryon from her family while striving for LGBTIQ visibility; and Khalaf, a gay Imam turned activist, lives a lonely life in Beirut. As Bryon becomes more entangled in their struggles blurring the lines between lover, friend, filmmaker, and activist, tensions explode and a dangerous crisis emerges.     

The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Tchelovek Kotorij Udivil Vseh) – 5:15pm

Egor is a fearless state forest guard in the Siberian Taiga. He is a good family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. But one day Egor finds out that he has cancer and only two months left to live. No traditional medicine or shamanic magic can save him. As a last resort, he chooses to take the identity of a woman so death can’t find him. He finds that his new identity is his true self and his family and the local society now have to accept the new Egor.   

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – 7:30pm

Sixteen-year-old Jamie New lives on a council estate in Sheffield and doesn’t quite fit in. He is terrified about the future, but little does he know – he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness into the drag queen spotlight. Filmed live from London’s West End, with songs that have the wow factor, this funny, fabulous, feel-good, musical sensation will sweep you away on a tide of mischief, warmth and exuberance.      

Monday April 22nd

The Harvesters (Die Stropers) – 6:45pm

A raw, atmospheric drama about masculinity in South Africa’s “Bible Belt”. The central province of Free State is a stronghold of the white Afrikaner minority. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different – a delicate and sensitive boy. When his religious mother takes in a Pieter – a hardened street orphan – to save, she asks Janno for help. Janno is supposed to accept Pieter as a brother, but the two boys struggle for power, tradition, and parental love.     

Memories Of My Body (Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku) – 9:15pm

Juno is just a child when his father abandons him in their village of Center Java. Alone now, he joins a Lengger dance center where men shape their feminine appearance and movement. But the sensuality and sexuality that come from dance and bodies, mixed with the violent social and political Indonesian environment, force Juno to move from village to village. If on his journey Juno gets attention and love from his dance teachers, his weird aunty, his old uncle, a handsome boxer, and a Warok, he still has to face by himself the battlefield that his body is becoming.      

Tuesday April 23rd

Third Wedding (Troisièmes Noces) –  6:45pm

US PREMIERE – Recently widowed Martin is overcome with grief after his beloved husband dies in a car accident. When a friend asks him to marry Tamara, a 20-year-old young Congolese woman who doesn’t have any papers, the gay 50-year-old refuses at first, then agrees when he’s offered a sum of money that will allow him to keep the house he shared with his husband. Different on every level, they’ll need to make their love believable to the authorities – but if they pretend long enough, they might learn to love each other… in their own way!        

Neverland (Nevrland) – 9:15pm

17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive, yet uncontrollable anxiety attacks force him to escape into fictional and virtual worlds. A chance encounter in a sex-cam-chat marks the beginning of an online relationship with the gorgeous and seemingly perfect 26-year-old Kristjan. It’s not until the death of Jakob’s only true emotional attachment, his grandfather, that he is willing to meet up with Kristjan in real life. Over the course of one night, they embark on a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their soul where Jakob must face his biggest fear.

Wednesday April 24th

Centerpiece Film – Retablo – 7:00 PM

14-year-old Segundo is following in his father’s footsteps in the traditional folk art of crafting intricate, artisan story-boxes. Segundo reveres his father, and when he stumbles across a heartbreaking secret his father is harboring, Segundo will come to face the raw reality of his deeply religious and conservative landscape, as well as a more profound connection with his father than he’d ever imagined. Retablo masterfully explores the weight of heritage, the boundaries of love, and the burdens of family expectations, as well as the complexity of accepting our parents for who they really are.    

Mr. Leather – 9pm

In 2018, the second edition of the Mr. Leather Brazil competition was held. Five individuals vie to wear the sash, each with their own backstory. The winner will be crowned by Brazil’s first Mr. Leather, Dom Barbudo, the person most admired within the country’s leather community. Along with the title comes a year-long commitment to promote the culture of the leather community throughout the country. Whether part of the leather and/or fetish lifestyle or simply intrigued by it, Mr. Leather will raise the spirits and the understanding of an often-misunderstood community.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/04/18/movie-schedule-the-2019-outshine-film-festival-miami/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2019/04/movie-schedule-2019-outshine-film.html

[demitgibbs]

Movie Schedule: The 2019 OUTshine Film Festival – Miami

Outshine Film Festival Miami Edition takes place from Thursday, April 18 through Sunday, April 28. During the first week (through Wednesday, April 24) the festival is showing 31 films plus 2 Men’s Shorts compilations. Here are some of the highlights, but to see a complete list of films and parties go to: OutshineFilm.com.

Thursday April 18th

Opening Night Film – Tell it to the Bees – 7pm

The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex  

Gripped by a failing marriage and the responsibilities of having a young son, Lydia (Critic’s Choice Nominee Holliday Grainger) finds solace in her growing bond with the town’s recently returned female doctor Jean (Academy & Golden Globe Award Winner Anna Paquin). But this is the 1950s in post-WWII rural Scotland, and the women’s relationship prompts raised eyebrows in their provincial circles. Based on the novel by Fiona Shaw, Tell It To The Bees is a story of courage in the face of terrifying intolerance and a heart-wrenching portrait of a love against all odds.

From here down all films are at the Regal Cinemas South Beach.

Friday April 19th 2019

(Work-In-Progress) – Sell By – 6:45 pm

Does every relationship have an expiration date? Adam and Marklin are about to find out. Their 5-year relationship has gone from a passionate flame to a medium burn, forcing them to reconcile with each other’s shortcomings all while watching their support network crumble around them. But in this mess, hope springs eternal as they all muddle their way through to try and make life work. Featuring Scott Evans, Augustus Prew, Kate Walsh, and Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson; Sell By asks the timeless questions…how do you know who’s right for you and how do you know when to let go? In attendance will be writer/director Mike Doyle.

José – 9pm

José lives with his single mom in cramped quarters in Guatemala, a tough life in one of the world’s most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. His mother sells sandwiches, and he delivers food at the drive-by diner. Resigned and aloof, the one bright spot in his life is the face of his mobile phone – it literally lights up his evenings and helps him find men to hook up with in pay-by-the-hour hotels. That is, until construction worker Luis enters his life and José is thrust into a dimension of passion, pain and self-reflection previously unimaginable.

Saturday April 20th

The Ice King – 2:30pm

John Curry transformed ice-skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his Olympic win in 1976, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not even fully legal. Toxic yet charming; rebellious yet elitist; emotionally aloof yet spectacularly needy; ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, this is a man forever on the run from his father’s ghost, his country, and even his own self. John Curry was no activist, but an artist expressing his authentic self – yet in a world where his existence was taboo, his life was unavoidably political.

Rainbow’s Sunset – 4:45pm

Elderly Senator Ramon, the pride of his small, provincial hometown, moves in with his terminally-ill best friend Fredo in his final days. It turns out that their connection goes beyond mere friendship, and the revelation of their relationship brings scandal to the town and conflict among his three adult children. It’s up to his saintly wife to restore harmony. Like the most polished of family melodrama, Rainbow’s Sunset bursts with generosity and heart, and yet veteran hit-maker Joel Lamagan subverts the genre, touching on old age, a subject that LGBTQ cinema has yet to explore.) In attendance will be executive producer Harlene Bautista.

Erik & Erika – 5:15pm

The true story of Erik/Erika Schinegger – the ski sensation that became a media sensation. Declared female at birth, Erika is raised as a girl until a gene test proves that she is genetically male. Athletic success turns to heartbreak as he is disqualified and accused of fraud. The National Ski Federation insists that he undergo a medical procedure to make him fully female. Erik finds himself alone, facing the most important and agonizing decision of his life. Erik & Erika follows his life as a woman, his ultimate transition to manhood and his fight for recognition in 1970’s Austria where there was no place in the social dictionary for a word like transgender.

An Almost Ordinary Summer (Croce e Delizia) – 7pm

Two very different families spend their holidays in the same seaside house: the aristocratic Castelvecchio’s – open-minded, eccentric, but quite selfish – and the working-class Petagna’s – very tight-knit and united around solid conservative values. What brought such distant worlds together? Only Tony and Carlo, the two middle-aged heads of the families, know! The unexpected announcement of their engagement will disrupt an apparently ordinary summer and turn the lives of everyone around them upside down. With the wedding already set for three weeks, even more chaos will ensue.

Ppapi Chulo – 9:15pm

Cast adrift in Los Angeles, lonely TV weatherman Sean (Golden Globe Winner Matt Bomer) drives past a middle-aged Latino migrant worker standing outside a hardware store looking for work. He decides to hire this kind-looking man – to be his friend. Sean is young, gay and white; Ernesto is portly, straight and married. Despite the language barrier and having nothing in common, they build a sort of friendship – until Sean becomes consumed with a deeper obsessive need. Papi Chulo is a black comedy about loneliness and the desire to find connection across clear racial and socio-economic lines.

Euphoria (Euforia) – 9:45pm

Matteo is a young successful entrepreneur who is open-minded, charming and dynamic. His brother Ettore, who still lives in the small provincial town where they were born, is a cautious and honest man who has always stayed out of the spotlight out of fear of making mistakes. They are two apparently very distant people. However, a difficult situation results in the two brothers being given the opportunity to get to know each other, and they soon discover that they have a surprisingly close bond in a vortex of fragility and tenderness, fear and euphoria.

Sunday April 21st

Tackling Life – 12:15pm

Adam, Nico and Su are members of Germany’s first gay rugby team. Tackling Life portrays their everyday lives and follows them into the world of the sport, showing their struggle for recognition – in competition with the hetero regional league teams – as well as their community involvement: gathering money at colorful fundraisers and visiting schools to give anti-bullying workshops. Looking beyond the surface of self-presentation and cliché, we focus on how our trio copes with the challenges of everyday life and their search for belonging. Alternating aggressive, vibrant athletics with quiet observation, the film is fragile and profound, but also spectacular and loud.   

Birds of the Borderlands – 4:45pm

Genderqueer Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon’s intense and compelling piece of guerrilla filmmaking powerfully illuminates four queer Arab stories: Jordanian teenager Hiba is transitioning in secret, fearful of being killed by her Bedouin tribe; Gay Iraqi refugee Youssef fled Baghdad and is living in limbo in Bryon’s safe house in Amman; Lesbian feminist Rasha hides her sexuality and her relationship with Bryon from her family while striving for LGBTIQ visibility; and Khalaf, a gay Imam turned activist, lives a lonely life in Beirut. As Bryon becomes more entangled in their struggles blurring the lines between lover, friend, filmmaker, and activist, tensions explode and a dangerous crisis emerges.     

The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Tchelovek Kotorij Udivil Vseh) – 5:15pm

Egor is a fearless state forest guard in the Siberian Taiga. He is a good family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. But one day Egor finds out that he has cancer and only two months left to live. No traditional medicine or shamanic magic can save him. As a last resort, he chooses to take the identity of a woman so death can’t find him. He finds that his new identity is his true self and his family and the local society now have to accept the new Egor.   

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – 7:30pm

Sixteen-year-old Jamie New lives on a council estate in Sheffield and doesn’t quite fit in. He is terrified about the future, but little does he know – he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness into the drag queen spotlight. Filmed live from London’s West End, with songs that have the wow factor, this funny, fabulous, feel-good, musical sensation will sweep you away on a tide of mischief, warmth and exuberance.      

Monday April 22nd

The Harvesters (Die Stropers) – 6:45pm

A raw, atmospheric drama about masculinity in South Africa’s “Bible Belt”. The central province of Free State is a stronghold of the white Afrikaner minority. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different – a delicate and sensitive boy. When his religious mother takes in a Pieter – a hardened street orphan – to save, she asks Janno for help. Janno is supposed to accept Pieter as a brother, but the two boys struggle for power, tradition, and parental love.     

Memories Of My Body (Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku) – 9:15pm

Juno is just a child when his father abandons him in their village of Center Java. Alone now, he joins a Lengger dance center where men shape their feminine appearance and movement. But the sensuality and sexuality that come from dance and bodies, mixed with the violent social and political Indonesian environment, force Juno to move from village to village. If on his journey Juno gets attention and love from his dance teachers, his weird aunty, his old uncle, a handsome boxer, and a Warok, he still has to face by himself the battlefield that his body is becoming.      

Tuesday April 23rd

Third Wedding (Troisièmes Noces) –  6:45pm

US PREMIERE – Recently widowed Martin is overcome with grief after his beloved husband dies in a car accident. When a friend asks him to marry Tamara, a 20-year-old young Congolese woman who doesn’t have any papers, the gay 50-year-old refuses at first, then agrees when he’s offered a sum of money that will allow him to keep the house he shared with his husband. Different on every level, they’ll need to make their love believable to the authorities – but if they pretend long enough, they might learn to love each other… in their own way!        

Neverland (Nevrland) – 9:15pm

17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive, yet uncontrollable anxiety attacks force him to escape into fictional and virtual worlds. A chance encounter in a sex-cam-chat marks the beginning of an online relationship with the gorgeous and seemingly perfect 26-year-old Kristjan. It’s not until the death of Jakob’s only true emotional attachment, his grandfather, that he is willing to meet up with Kristjan in real life. Over the course of one night, they embark on a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their soul where Jakob must face his biggest fear.

Wednesday April 24th

Centerpiece Film – Retablo – 7:00 PM

14-year-old Segundo is following in his father’s footsteps in the traditional folk art of crafting intricate, artisan story-boxes. Segundo reveres his father, and when he stumbles across a heartbreaking secret his father is harboring, Segundo will come to face the raw reality of his deeply religious and conservative landscape, as well as a more profound connection with his father than he’d ever imagined. Retablo masterfully explores the weight of heritage, the boundaries of love, and the burdens of family expectations, as well as the complexity of accepting our parents for who they really are.    

Mr. Leather – 9pm

In 2018, the second edition of the Mr. Leather Brazil competition was held. Five individuals vie to wear the sash, each with their own backstory. The winner will be crowned by Brazil’s first Mr. Leather, Dom Barbudo, the person most admired within the country’s leather community. Along with the title comes a year-long commitment to promote the culture of the leather community throughout the country. Whether part of the leather and/or fetish lifestyle or simply intrigued by it, Mr. Leather will raise the spirits and the understanding of an often-misunderstood community.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/04/18/movie-schedule-the-2019-outshine-film-festival-miami/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/184272242865

[hotspotsmagazine]

Movie Schedule: The 2019 OUTshine Film Festival – Miami

Outshine Film Festival Miami Edition takes place from Thursday, April 18 through Sunday, April 28. During the first week (through Wednesday, April 24) the festival is showing 31 films plus 2 Men’s Shorts compilations. Here are some of the highlights, but to see a complete list of films and parties go to: OutshineFilm.com.

Thursday April 18th

Opening Night Film – Tell it to the Bees – 7pm

The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex  

Gripped by a failing marriage and the responsibilities of having a young son, Lydia (Critic’s Choice Nominee Holliday Grainger) finds solace in her growing bond with the town’s recently returned female doctor Jean (Academy & Golden Globe Award Winner Anna Paquin). But this is the 1950s in post-WWII rural Scotland, and the women’s relationship prompts raised eyebrows in their provincial circles. Based on the novel by Fiona Shaw, Tell It To The Bees is a story of courage in the face of terrifying intolerance and a heart-wrenching portrait of a love against all odds.

From here down all films are at the Regal Cinemas South Beach.

Friday April 19th 2019

(Work-In-Progress) – Sell By – 6:45 pm

Does every relationship have an expiration date? Adam and Marklin are about to find out. Their 5-year relationship has gone from a passionate flame to a medium burn, forcing them to reconcile with each other’s shortcomings all while watching their support network crumble around them. But in this mess, hope springs eternal as they all muddle their way through to try and make life work. Featuring Scott Evans, Augustus Prew, Kate Walsh, and Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson; Sell By asks the timeless questions…how do you know who’s right for you and how do you know when to let go? In attendance will be writer/director Mike Doyle.

José – 9pm

José lives with his single mom in cramped quarters in Guatemala, a tough life in one of the world’s most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. His mother sells sandwiches, and he delivers food at the drive-by diner. Resigned and aloof, the one bright spot in his life is the face of his mobile phone – it literally lights up his evenings and helps him find men to hook up with in pay-by-the-hour hotels. That is, until construction worker Luis enters his life and José is thrust into a dimension of passion, pain and self-reflection previously unimaginable.

Saturday April 20th

The Ice King – 2:30pm

John Curry transformed ice-skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his Olympic win in 1976, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not even fully legal. Toxic yet charming; rebellious yet elitist; emotionally aloof yet spectacularly needy; ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, this is a man forever on the run from his father’s ghost, his country, and even his own self. John Curry was no activist, but an artist expressing his authentic self – yet in a world where his existence was taboo, his life was unavoidably political.

Rainbow’s Sunset – 4:45pm

Elderly Senator Ramon, the pride of his small, provincial hometown, moves in with his terminally-ill best friend Fredo in his final days. It turns out that their connection goes beyond mere friendship, and the revelation of their relationship brings scandal to the town and conflict among his three adult children. It’s up to his saintly wife to restore harmony. Like the most polished of family melodrama, Rainbow’s Sunset bursts with generosity and heart, and yet veteran hit-maker Joel Lamagan subverts the genre, touching on old age, a subject that LGBTQ cinema has yet to explore.) In attendance will be executive producer Harlene Bautista.

Erik & Erika – 5:15pm

The true story of Erik/Erika Schinegger – the ski sensation that became a media sensation. Declared female at birth, Erika is raised as a girl until a gene test proves that she is genetically male. Athletic success turns to heartbreak as he is disqualified and accused of fraud. The National Ski Federation insists that he undergo a medical procedure to make him fully female. Erik finds himself alone, facing the most important and agonizing decision of his life. Erik & Erika follows his life as a woman, his ultimate transition to manhood and his fight for recognition in 1970’s Austria where there was no place in the social dictionary for a word like transgender.

An Almost Ordinary Summer (Croce e Delizia) – 7pm

Two very different families spend their holidays in the same seaside house: the aristocratic Castelvecchio’s – open-minded, eccentric, but quite selfish – and the working-class Petagna’s – very tight-knit and united around solid conservative values. What brought such distant worlds together? Only Tony and Carlo, the two middle-aged heads of the families, know! The unexpected announcement of their engagement will disrupt an apparently ordinary summer and turn the lives of everyone around them upside down. With the wedding already set for three weeks, even more chaos will ensue.

Ppapi Chulo – 9:15pm

Cast adrift in Los Angeles, lonely TV weatherman Sean (Golden Globe Winner Matt Bomer) drives past a middle-aged Latino migrant worker standing outside a hardware store looking for work. He decides to hire this kind-looking man – to be his friend. Sean is young, gay and white; Ernesto is portly, straight and married. Despite the language barrier and having nothing in common, they build a sort of friendship – until Sean becomes consumed with a deeper obsessive need. Papi Chulo is a black comedy about loneliness and the desire to find connection across clear racial and socio-economic lines.

Euphoria (Euforia) – 9:45pm

Matteo is a young successful entrepreneur who is open-minded, charming and dynamic. His brother Ettore, who still lives in the small provincial town where they were born, is a cautious and honest man who has always stayed out of the spotlight out of fear of making mistakes. They are two apparently very distant people. However, a difficult situation results in the two brothers being given the opportunity to get to know each other, and they soon discover that they have a surprisingly close bond in a vortex of fragility and tenderness, fear and euphoria.

Sunday April 21st

Tackling Life – 12:15pm

Adam, Nico and Su are members of Germany’s first gay rugby team. Tackling Life portrays their everyday lives and follows them into the world of the sport, showing their struggle for recognition – in competition with the hetero regional league teams – as well as their community involvement: gathering money at colorful fundraisers and visiting schools to give anti-bullying workshops. Looking beyond the surface of self-presentation and cliché, we focus on how our trio copes with the challenges of everyday life and their search for belonging. Alternating aggressive, vibrant athletics with quiet observation, the film is fragile and profound, but also spectacular and loud.   

Birds of the Borderlands – 4:45pm

Genderqueer Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon’s intense and compelling piece of guerrilla filmmaking powerfully illuminates four queer Arab stories: Jordanian teenager Hiba is transitioning in secret, fearful of being killed by her Bedouin tribe; Gay Iraqi refugee Youssef fled Baghdad and is living in limbo in Bryon’s safe house in Amman; Lesbian feminist Rasha hides her sexuality and her relationship with Bryon from her family while striving for LGBTIQ visibility; and Khalaf, a gay Imam turned activist, lives a lonely life in Beirut. As Bryon becomes more entangled in their struggles blurring the lines between lover, friend, filmmaker, and activist, tensions explode and a dangerous crisis emerges.     

The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Tchelovek Kotorij Udivil Vseh) – 5:15pm

Egor is a fearless state forest guard in the Siberian Taiga. He is a good family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. But one day Egor finds out that he has cancer and only two months left to live. No traditional medicine or shamanic magic can save him. As a last resort, he chooses to take the identity of a woman so death can’t find him. He finds that his new identity is his true self and his family and the local society now have to accept the new Egor.   

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – 7:30pm

Sixteen-year-old Jamie New lives on a council estate in Sheffield and doesn’t quite fit in. He is terrified about the future, but little does he know – he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness into the drag queen spotlight. Filmed live from London’s West End, with songs that have the wow factor, this funny, fabulous, feel-good, musical sensation will sweep you away on a tide of mischief, warmth and exuberance.      

Monday April 22nd

The Harvesters (Die Stropers) – 6:45pm

A raw, atmospheric drama about masculinity in South Africa’s “Bible Belt”. The central province of Free State is a stronghold of the white Afrikaner minority. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different – a delicate and sensitive boy. When his religious mother takes in a Pieter – a hardened street orphan – to save, she asks Janno for help. Janno is supposed to accept Pieter as a brother, but the two boys struggle for power, tradition, and parental love.     

Memories Of My Body (Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku) – 9:15pm

Juno is just a child when his father abandons him in their village of Center Java. Alone now, he joins a Lengger dance center where men shape their feminine appearance and movement. But the sensuality and sexuality that come from dance and bodies, mixed with the violent social and political Indonesian environment, force Juno to move from village to village. If on his journey Juno gets attention and love from his dance teachers, his weird aunty, his old uncle, a handsome boxer, and a Warok, he still has to face by himself the battlefield that his body is becoming.      

Tuesday April 23rd

Third Wedding (Troisièmes Noces) –  6:45pm

US PREMIERE – Recently widowed Martin is overcome with grief after his beloved husband dies in a car accident. When a friend asks him to marry Tamara, a 20-year-old young Congolese woman who doesn’t have any papers, the gay 50-year-old refuses at first, then agrees when he’s offered a sum of money that will allow him to keep the house he shared with his husband. Different on every level, they’ll need to make their love believable to the authorities – but if they pretend long enough, they might learn to love each other… in their own way!        

Neverland (Nevrland) – 9:15pm

17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive, yet uncontrollable anxiety attacks force him to escape into fictional and virtual worlds. A chance encounter in a sex-cam-chat marks the beginning of an online relationship with the gorgeous and seemingly perfect 26-year-old Kristjan. It’s not until the death of Jakob’s only true emotional attachment, his grandfather, that he is willing to meet up with Kristjan in real life. Over the course of one night, they embark on a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their soul where Jakob must face his biggest fear.

Wednesday April 24th

Centerpiece Film – Retablo – 7:00 PM

14-year-old Segundo is following in his father’s footsteps in the traditional folk art of crafting intricate, artisan story-boxes. Segundo reveres his father, and when he stumbles across a heartbreaking secret his father is harboring, Segundo will come to face the raw reality of his deeply religious and conservative landscape, as well as a more profound connection with his father than he’d ever imagined. Retablo masterfully explores the weight of heritage, the boundaries of love, and the burdens of family expectations, as well as the complexity of accepting our parents for who they really are.    

Mr. Leather – 9pm

In 2018, the second edition of the Mr. Leather Brazil competition was held. Five individuals vie to wear the sash, each with their own backstory. The winner will be crowned by Brazil’s first Mr. Leather, Dom Barbudo, the person most admired within the country’s leather community. Along with the title comes a year-long commitment to promote the culture of the leather community throughout the country. Whether part of the leather and/or fetish lifestyle or simply intrigued by it, Mr. Leather will raise the spirits and the understanding of an often-misunderstood community.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/04/18/movie-schedule-the-2019-outshine-film-festival-miami/