#I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on Nicky tho if anyone wants to share

[ninyard]

I really like the way you portray Nicky in your Twitter AU! I feel like there isn't much discussion of him in general and when there is it can be a little wonky because he is sometimes a controversial character in the text. I always appreciate your thoughts on these kinds of things so I thought I would ask! What are your general thoughts toward him that go into the way you have him in your AU?

Oh!! What a good question!!!

Nicky. Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. I think that he has a bad rep in the fandom and like I GET it. I do. Regardless these are some things I personally believe to be true about him:

- He’s a people pleaser. Sometimes to the point of manipulation, but all he craves in life is to be liked, and accepted, and he will do ANYTHING for anyone if it means he’s their friend.

- He’s a chatterbox, the life of the party, but he’s got to be overcompensating for something. I think Nicky is deeply, severely insecure and self conscious and the best way he knows how to mask that is by being this larger than life personality. He seems like this stuck up I-Love-Myself kind of person, but the reality is, is that it’s a front for the fact that he just wants to be loved.

- He is physically incapable of thinking before he speaks 90% of the time. He hates it about himself, but the words are out of his mouth before he has time to stop them. His loud-mouth gets him in trouble more often than not.

- All he wants in life is to make people laugh. Like, he can be a dick sometimes, and he can be very spiteful when he wants to be, but other than Neil, Nicky is the first monster to make an effort to connect with the Upperclassmen. He needs that connection to thrive.

Idk I had a whole thing in my head to write about him but I’m stuck for words at the minute. I guess I just find Nicky hard to talk about sometimes because I know how divisive the Eden’s incident is among the fandom. Even now I’m thinking about it and having one opinion before my brain chimes in from the other side of the argument and makes a better point in favour of the other side. I don’t KNOW.

(It’s kind of funny that it’s perceived that Nicky is a difficult character to embody but honestly I have a way harder time with Renee and I really don’t know why. I have a pretty solid idea of who Nicky is to me but genuinely I struggle a bit sometimes with Renee. I don’t think I’ve done her character justice anywhere at ALL so I’m still working on that one.)

((Pinterest also helps, in my opinion. I don’t know if people still use it the way that we use to, but I still save inspo to my fox boards that help me with their characters. Here’s some super pointless things I have on my Nicky board that you didn’t ask for at all:))

[serena-waldorf]

🏳️‍🌈 pride q&a snagged from @veroniquemagique

❤sexuality: Bisexual baby 

🧡pronouns: she/her

💛gender: female

💚relationship status: Single AF sadly lol 

💙celebrity crush: Just one? LOL. Jane Fonda, Hillary Clinton, and Nicki Minaj are like the top 3 right now lol. And I guess Drake and Mahershala Ali for men lol. Felicity Huffman used to be in this category but yeah, having mixed feelings about her currently obviously (but she did really turn me on in a horny angry way in the 2 episodes of When They See Us that I’ve watched so far 🙈 Even though the character she is portraying is despicable,  lawyer + villain = hot I guess lol 🙈) 

💜best friend: Well my BFF forever and ever from high school Lizz, is straight sadly lol but I have another really close friend from high school, K, who is bi as well and so is her sister and her super soon-to-be husband. But K and I and her sister and fiance don’t really talk about bi/queer issues or topics too much. 

In terms of a close friendship where we talk about Bi/Queer stuff all the time, then @zestycactus is an amazing friend! She is always there if you need to talk through problems/issues but overall she is just a really nice person, a kind friend, and a fun person to chill with 😊 Gotta give her a lot of credit for helping me to be able to accept my bisexuality a lot more over the past year and a bit, just from our talks and by always being able to come along to queer events or programs with me when able to and for bringing me along to my first one ever over a year ago 😁 

Side note: If you’re LGBTQ+ and struggling with your sexuality or even if you’re not and you just want to be around other queer people or make new queer friends, and you have an (LGBTQ) community centre around you with support groups or networks that hold regular meetings and events, I would highly recommend just from personal experience! And if you don’t have access to something like that because I know not everybody does and you ever want to talk, about LGBTQ issues or not and you just want to chat, my ask box and inbox is always open! 

💙when did you come out: I must have figured it out for myself when I was 12/13/14, no later than 14 for sure, I was probably 12/13 ish. Then I randomly came out to a few classmates around then on an overnight school trip that year (7th grade). And then came out to a lot of (if not most) friends over the course of high school and kept coming out to friends throughout university. And I have been coming out ever since lol. As any queer person knows,  it never ends. I think I only told my mom a few months ago, like almost a year ago now? It was last August/September ish, I’m gonna say? And yeah, still have a lot of coming out to do to a lot of family still but its a “cross that bridge when I get to it” situation, if I ever got into a serious enough relationship with a girl and wanted to introduce her to family but right now, its a long shot of that happening any time soon lololol. 

💚first person you came out to: It was over 10 years ago so the memories of that time period are fuzzy but I’m gonna say it was random classmates I was sharing a room with on an overnight school leadership camping trip thing, one of them was a close friend but an on and off again friend (it was a super complicated friendship/situation throughout high school and middle school actually lololol) and thinking back on it, I have no idea what made me come out to them, then and there because I wasn’t really friends with the other 2 girls and one of them was a huge bitch lol. Maybe I just needed to say it out loud to somebody while I was coming to terms with it? 

💛first gf/bf: My high school BF from near the end of high school and into most of our first year of university before we called it quits. Meh, it wasn’t the best relationship for a first relationship, it was sweet and nice but it shortly became more of a friendship than a romantic relationship. I won’t go into details here because I’ve been rambling enough in this questionnaire lol (feel free to message me tho for more info if you’re really  that intrigued lol) but at least it taught us that we do make better friends than we did BF/GF, I don’t even know if either of us was TRULY interested in the other one or if we were just dating each other for the sake of having somebody while almost everyone else around us in our friends group at the time was coupled up and we didn’t want to feel left out *shrug* I think the latter is true for me tbh as bad as that sounds. But even though me and him have our differences in more ways than one, he is a really nice and funny guy and his mom taught him to treat girls well, even just friends lol and we do still meet up every few months for a dinner or a movie or whatever and its nice to catch up every once in a while with him. (LOL, I still wrote a book in this answer when I said I wouldn’t). 

🧡ever had a crush on a straight person: Like all my crushes lol. Even with straight men I’m usually rejected or they are already taken and I had a bad experience with a crush in my last year of university so since then, I’ve just tried not to develop hardcore crushes on people besides little crushes that I know won’t go anywhere. And even though there is one straight friend I will always crush on, I know she is straight and nothing will ever happen lol so I respect that and would never tell her my feelings because it would probably ruin the friendship and I cherish the friendship aspect too much to do that. 

❤fallen for a friend: I think I answered this in the last question. YES lol. It’s never ended well for me except for my first BF. I definitely don’t make moves anymore or let feelings be known. But then again, I haven’t had a serious crush on anyone since my disasterous experience in 4th year of university lol. And I talked about my crush on my straight friend in the answer to the previous question as well. 

💛best LGBTQ+ friend: @zestycactus , reasons why are listed in the best friend question above. And my best friend K from high school as mentioned in the best friend answer above also, but both being LGBTQ isn’t really a factor in our friendship, its just a coincidence lol. 

💚person that made you doubt your sexuality: I don’t think any one specific person ever has but those “How do you know you’re bi?” “How can you be in love with both?” kinds of questions do get tiresome. I don’t really get them aimed at me specifically by any one person luckily but just hearing and seeing those sentiments in general in everyday life or hearing stories from other people is tiresome and annoying. And not so much doubt but I have one straight friend who I love and I know she is just trying to be a supportive friend and ally but she seems really INSISTENT on me dating women, creating dating profiles on dating apps to meet women specifically, she’s always getting on my case about getting on dating apps etc and while I appreciate the support lol and I am more attracted to women than men (and I did express that I would prefer dating girls right now) but like I’m bi, I’m not ruling out men completely yet if I do decide to make dating profiles and I end up clicking with men or one specific guy. I honestly will probably end up with a girl, or I want to see what dating girls is like, but like I said, men aren’t completely out of the equation for me either because anything can happen lol. Life is unpredictable. I feel like if I date men or meet a guy somehow this friend is gonna say something about me dating women and ask why I’m not with a woman and that she thought I wanted to date women etc. So that does worry me about dating men if it ever happens but this friend is very inadvertently pushy in general (in her own weird supportive way lol) so I just gotta roll with it and appreciate the support, and if I end up dating a guy in the future who makes me happy, and she is “upset” or confused or something, I just gotta remind her that its my life, my happiness and my choices at the end of the day. 

💙proud of your sexuality: Hell yeah 10/10, I’m so happy to be bi, even though I still have bad days, doubts, insecurities, worries, my questioning periods etc, but the pride outweighs those feelings for the most part most days. And like I said, going to bi support groups and queer events really helped the past year and a half. 

💜comfortable with your sexuality: Getting there. A lot better than I was a year and a half ago. I’m getting more and more comfortable and proud every day. I’ve definitely been on a journey for the past year and a half of self-love, mindfulness, weight loss, and just building better habits and patterns in general. Not just in terms of my sexuality but I took a lot of risks this past year and a half and not all of them have paid off yet but even though I have the odd bad day still like we all do,  I am in a much better state of mind in general than I was a year ago, 2 years ago, especially 3 years ago. And as I’ve talked about in this questionnaire, support groups for bi people really helped with becoming more comfortable with my sexuality, and helping me to embrace it more over the past year or so. 

💙describe yourself: Coffee addict, foodie, pop culture lover (especially movies and TV shows lol), fun-loving, kind, caring, hardworking, creative, silly, great friend 

💚LGBTQ+ hero: Idk, Sarah Paulson and Lily Tomlin? I’m sure I could answer this better after giving it more thought but its late. 

💛favorite part of being LGBTQ+: The friendships/connections I’ve made in the queer community, both online on social media and in real life through the support groups, queer events etc. Feeling like I don’t have to fit into the neat little heteronormative box. And this is shallow but thank god I was born with the ability to appreciate and love women both physically and intellectually because hey, women are hot af, let’s be real lol. 

🧡advice to younger you: It’s okay to like girls, there is nothing wrong with it, being bi and loving women is beautiful. Love yourself some more. You deserve credit for everything you’ve gone through and overcome. You’re amazing and you’re going to do great things with your life, meet and befriend amazing people one day, and accomplish things you never imagined. 

❤️do you ever wish you weren’t LGBTQ+: No? Why would I? As Lady Gaga would say, I was born this way lol. I mean yeah there’s hard times, difficult moments, hard things about being queer but being bi specifically carries its own hardships. And like I said, the good outweighs the bad. There’s hard days, moments, questioning periods etc but I wouldn’t change things for the world. Thank God I’m not straight lol. If only for the fact that I love women too much lmao. NGL, I often wonder what its like for my straight female friends who don’t see women the same way I do lol and who don’t see them in a romantic sense if that makes sense. It’s probably a whole lot easier to be straight but I really wouldn’t change things if I could. 

[darby-drabbles]

SO I just got struck w a sudden thought (that is to say,,, I had a sudden thought weeks ago and am just now getting around to finishing and posting this thought....) and like. Andre introducing any of his serious dates to his family is stressful and nervous for him he wants them to like his dates but he wants his dates to be themselves but his family can be judgemental and they’re kinda formal and idk he hates it it’s A Big Thing.

But what I was thinking.. Because his family can get serious about it and he’s kinda used to it/gets in that mindset,,, Andre would end up putting some pressure on his dates meeting his friends, too?? Like maybe some of them already knew each other, but maybe it’s when Officially Announcing they’re dating, instead. (They probably met Kriss before dates happened, but with the big mix n match ship I could imagine them not meeting with all his friends yet. There’s Too Many of them!) His friends are like his found family so they r very important to him, too!!! He wants them,,, to approve. I mean if they didn’t it wouldn’t be the end of the world, just,, disappointing? He’d be sad, but the thing is,, worst case scenario if a friend really didn’t like a date they wouldn’t even tell him or make a big deal of it? Meanwhile his family would go on and on abt how they aren’t good together!! I don’t imagine any friend/dates not getting along that badly but I mean,,,, Just In Case, it would still be fine

It’s not bad. He’s not like.. as NErvous to introduce them,, not like with his family. His friends are chill & he knows that! But he just really really wants them to get along, you know? Because he cares about them both!! And he ends up making it into a bigger deal than it really has to be. It’s so much calmer and casual and ofc the friends want to like his dates because they wanna see Andre happy! His feeling of “friends gotta get along!” probably wasn’t always the case, but he’s more, stable now and is valuing important relationships more. Like, his thing with Nicki didn’t last incredibly long and it wasn’t all that serious, for example. (she hadn’t even met Evelyn,,, Andre’s very best friend!!) Kriss happens to be his most serious thing in a while, but also they’re friends for a little bit b4 dating so they’ve probably all already met him a couple times at least? So I guess this is more of a thought only relevant for the mix n match ship, but still.

Idk! I was just gettin sappy at Andre like,, tryin to plan this Serious but Casual and Fun dinner, maybe a movie night thing so everyone can meet and hangout.. Like,, it’s Almost a party with all his friends involved but he’s not callin it a party. The designated moods is: Chill™ and Casual™ and he doesn’t want anyone to stress over it. (he stressin tho... what if,,,, they dont, like each other.. Or they dont think they’re a good couple wh o would dare.)

And he’s probably talking with Evelyn beforehand, about how he “really really likes everyone, very much, all of them are goo- great perfect 10/10” And she can tell he’s nervous about it so just like “ok okaaay relax dude we’re gonna like them too don’t even sweat it!” Or he’s talkin with his dates like “EVelyn’s been my bestest buddy since forever you’re gonna love her and also I told u I dated Nicki before right don’t be intimidated don’t evem worry about it they’re gonna be great friends I promise!!!!” Avery comes over to his house a lot so they might’ve briefly met maybe some of the mix n match already now that I think abt it. But of course he’d still boast abt their good friendship so they get excited to see each other again!

And there’s just,, so many of them so he’s tryin to bounce between different little conversation groups to see if they’re gettin’ along and of course they are but. He;s tryin,,, so haaardd. It takes him a lil while to settle down. HE Will eventually,, and then it’ll be really good! He gets to sit w all his favorite people and share fun stories and get smooched.

I’ve briefly considered before that MAybbeee Evelyn and Izzy would also date a liiiittttle, and while I kinda set that thought aside bc Andre/Izzy was still so new,, imagine them! Just havin really nice chemistry together and getting along great right away! And Andre’s just like, o fuk they really do like each other lmao. HE was a fool,, thinking they wouldn’t!! And ofc the goths gotta stick together,, Evelyn and Lucky should be friends too!

Nicki likes artsy creative ppl and would love to spend time with Kriss,, and even the band babes to hear about making music! She’d like Nate’s enthusiasm and he’d get interested about her acting! They get so chatty together.

Darla drew Avery and Levi together b4 and I don’t fully remember our convo about that, but I Definitely still think they’d get along very well, even more now that Andre’s datin Levi! Nicki would like him and wanna hang out with them, tooo!

Also I’m cryin because Delilah’s there too! Though she’s met everybody already if they spend time at Andre’s house, I’m sure. But!! She just! loves everyone here bc they’re nice and they make Andre happy and that’s so good! :3c