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damnzawa · 5 years ago

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FIVE TIMES — A. SHOUTA

Summary : Five times the staff of U.A. and Class 1-A tried to get the two of you together but then realized you were together all along.

Warning(s): Immense fluff! Also tiny-weeny bit of smut.

The First Time: The time 1-A started shipping the two of you together

"Today we will be joining by the pro-hero H/n to help you learn more about tactics and planning." Aizawa stated in his usual monotone voice as he motioned for you to go in. You walked to the podium with a smile as you saw the faces of the students of 1-A upon hearing and seeing that you were here. It amazed you that Aizawa didn't even expel someone this year, they must be one hell of a bunch if that's the case. "You can ask her any questions within reason. Be quick." Rolling your eyes at Aizawa, you placed a hand on your hip as you looked at him.

"At least act like you're glad to work with me, Eraserhead." You pouted. "Anyways, I'm the pro-hero H/n! My name is L/n Y/n and I look forward to working with you guys! Especially since you're like the only class he hadn't expelled anyone." You snickered at the end, eyeing Aizawa from the corner of your eye. His left eye twitched as he shot you a glare which was a signal that you should just fucking continue.

"Any questions?" As soon as the words left your mouth almost all of the hands of the students shot up. You gladly answered all the questions they have for you like: what's your quirk, does it have drawbacks, what's it like to work with all might and yadda yadda yadda. For the last question, you pointed to a girl with pink skin and horns coming out of her head.

"Are you single?" If you were new to the hero scene, you would have certainly be flustered as hell but fortunately, you had been asked this question tons of times especially since you are a female hero. You nodded your head as Aizawa scolded Ashido—that was her last name—telling her that it was your personal business and that she shouldn't be nosy on other people's lives. You waved dismissively at Aizawa and told the class that you were used to questions like that so it doesn't bother you anymore that much.

"Well, okay then!" You clapped. "Get into your hero costumes and we'll be waiting for you on the training grounds!" You smiled as you ushered Aizawa outside the room, 1-A curiously staring at the way the two of you interact.

Their teacher doesn't seem to react like he usually does around you, he was even going with the flow of your antics, he even flicked your forehead at one point with a smirk! And what the fuck—was that a small smile, they saw? They were clearly confused about how the fuck did you have that kind of effect on him. Even Present Mic wouldn't get that reaction from him so what made you any different?

"Ms. L/n and Mr. Aizawa looks cute together." And with those words that came from Uraraka's mouth, 1-A's surprised looks—not all of them were surprised nor spared a glance at their teachers interacting—were replaced with knowing ones as they looked at each other clearly knowing what to do.

"I oppose to this, as Mr. Aizawa said—" But even with Iida scolding them they just continued with their plan anyway. Surprisingly Yaoyaorozu even put opinions on the plan with Todoroki nodding every once in a while, agreeing with her.

"Hurry up, future heroes! We don't have all day!" You exclaimed as you noticed that they were still in the room making Aizawa sigh. The students fastened their pace as they went to the changing rooms, after quickly agreeing to the plan.

"Hey Ms. L/n. Mr. Aizawa is super manly right?" Kirishima suddenly said to you once Aizawa took on the students as the 'villain' for the training they had for today. You looked over to Aizawa and immediately agreed with Kirishima. Not only manly with his looks, Aizawa was also manly when it comes to his personality. He was selfless, kind and passionate about what he was doing. He was so goddamn manly alright.

You hummed in agreement as your attention went from Aizawa to Kirishima who had a strange look on his face. "It's a shame though. Someone manly as Mr. Aizawa is single." You raised a brow at his statement. What was he implying?

"I'm sure Shouta will find love when we wants to. Though i'm sure the day he wants to find love is the day he wants to die." You giggled at your statement as Kirishima mentally face-palmed. Did you not get what he meant by that? For a hero, that went over your head quickly which surprised him.

"Maybe Mr. Aizawa needs someone to show him love if that's the case then." You smiled at the statement, clearly sensing the concern his student has for his teacher. Although he was pushing this topic, you didn't mind. He was true, Aizawa needs someone to show his hard ass some fucking love every once in a while.

"I'm sure he'll find that someone soon enough. Though i'm under the impression that he'll end up with Present Mic." Kirishima couldn't help but laugh at your statement. It was quite true though, at first the whole class 1-A thought that Aizawa was hella gay for Yamada. His laugh caught the eye of Aizawa who just shot you a look of disapproval, to which you just shrugged.

Kirishima excused himself from the heroine then walked towards his friends as he shook his head. The group frowned at the signal and just waited for their turn to take on Mr. Aizawa.

The Second Time: Yamada and Nemuri's great plan

"You should really take care of yourself Shouta." You nagged, Shouta just grunting and groaning at your nagging. "Don't grunt at me mister, you can't live on jelly packs forever!"

The duo watched as the of you bickered back and forth about you being a hypocrite as you were living on coffee all the fucking time and you defending yourself from him everytime. If a stranger came in through the door they would've guessed that the two of you are an old married couple fighting over each other's well being.

"Can you two fucking stop and just fuck already? The tension around you is very fucking high." Kayama intervened making the two of them abruptly stop. Aizawa shot Kayama a death glare while you blushed, quickly looking away so that they would not notice it but it was too late though, Hizashi saw and smirked.

Though Kayama used the wrong choice of words, there was indeed a tension around the two of you that they couldn't exactly pinpoint. They were tired of the said tension and just want their otp to be together forever and ever.

"Shut up, Nemuri. We're just friends! Friends that are looking out for each other!" You defended yourself earning an 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me' look from both Hizashi and Kayama. Are you that fucking dense? With you they never know.

"Yeah, yeah and i'm not loud all the fucking time. Sure Y/n." Hizashi stated earning a deadpanned look from Aizawa who decided not to say something because he knows this conversation will just get longer if he did and he wasn't exactly in the mood for that.

"Again, shut up the both of you." You groaned as you retreated back to your desk that was just beside Toshinori's who shot you a knowing look which you just dismissed. Of course Toshinori just had to look at you like that. He knows something they clearly don't and knows that someday you will have to tell them and you didn't want that someday to be today so you just plastered on a look that says 'No-Toshinori-Just-Shut-Up' which made him focus on his computer.

Kayama and Hizashi glanced at each other before walking towards you. You already know they had something planned when they approached you, their faces filled with mischief.

"... What do you want now?" You sighed through your nose. "Well, we were planning to go out for drinks later. Want to come? Shouta will come too, right Shouta?"

"No." Aizawa declined quickly upon hearing their preposition. Aizawa even though declining knew that Kayama and Hizashi wasn't gonna let him slide away that quickly. Just the thought of drunk Hizashi and Kayama made his head hurt.

"See? Shouta is coming! So what do you say?" Seeing as there was no way you were gonna avoid this, you just nodded and told them to go away quickly returning to your work. You really don't want to go but it was Hizashi and Kayama we're talking about.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! We're gonna have some fun later!"

—

"What happened to 'Hey! Hey! Hey! We're gonna have some fun later?'" You mocked Hizashi as you stood outside the restaurant with Aizawa waiting for the two that had just announced that they couldn't make it because of something with the school—which was obviously a fucking lie.

Aizawa—who was clearly not in a good mood—grunted and left without a word, leaving you there on the side walk alone. If he had been in a good mood he would've invited you inside to eat together and maybe even chuckle at your poor attempt at mocking Hizashi's voice but no that wasn't the case and instead he left you there with a fucking frown on your face. What a fucking gentleman, Aizawa is.

"He's so grumpy especially when he got no sleep." You pouted, taking your phone out and quickly plugging it into your headphones. "What an old man. He didn't even say goodbye nor walk me home." You mumbled as you started walking to the direction of your home after pressing on your go to playlist.

As 'The Ballad of Mona Lisa' by Panic! at the Disco came on, you smiled. This was a playlist that you made back for your 'emo phase' which Aizawa surprisingly liked. You weren't surprised though as he looked emo 24/7.

From behind the bushes on the other side of the road, the pair watched what happened and groaned. "'This will definitely work out' you said. Look genius, did it work out? No."

"It wasn't my fault they didn't take the bait! Don't blame me all for it Nemuri! Blame them too for being so fucking oblivious to their own fucking feelings!" And with that they continued to bicker like siblings, earning the attention of passersby. They didn't care though—when did they really care?

"Midnight? Present Mic? What are you doing over here?" Their bickering caught the attention of Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka as they walked to the station, clearly they weren't surprised that they were so fucking loud in the middle of the street because that's Present Mic and Midnight for you but they were confused as to why they were squabbling behind the bushes. Bushes, of all places.

"Nothing! We weren't spying or anything! Hehe..." Hizashi 'defended' making it look more obvious than it really is. The trio blinked at his statement, pros are like this these days? Geez.

"Fine! We were spying!" Hizashi gave in to the looks that were thrown at him by the dekusquad, them making a mental note to not say anything crucial to Hizashi fearing that he has loose lips. (He does have loose lips.)

"Who are you spying on? Was it Ms. L/n and Mr. Aizawa? We saw them on the way here but noticed that they went on their separate ways quickly." Uraraka stated. "Oh! Were they on a date?"

"Did our plan work?!" Midoriya exclaimed catching the attention of the two pro-heroes. Did 1-A ship the two of you too? They even planned something before the two of them! Damn, kids nowadays. They move fast.

"You guys had a plan too?" Hizashi asked and with that the two parties decided to do something for the two completely oblivious people in their lives.

The Third Time: In which 1-A, Hizashi and Kayama joined forces

"Goodbye Eraserhead!" Hizashi practically pushed Aizawa out the door as Midnight emerged from the other door minutes after. Most of 1-A were curious and confused as to why two pro-heroes were here for English but they just guessed that even Present Mic can have problems with English too.

"Alright, today we are gonna be joined by pro hero Midnight because we all have important matters to discuss." Hizashi stated slowly as a grin began to grow on his face. "We are gonna plan how Y/n and Shouta will confess to each other! Yeah!" Almost all of the students cheered because their teachers also shipped the two of them—and partially because no english yey—while some of them sighed asking themselves that this was important than english? They just went with the flow anyway, couldn't hurt to skip one lesson right?

"Now do you guys have suggestions?" Immediately upon asking that dozens of hands shot up, the faces of the students eager to share what they want to suggest. Yaoyorozu even raised her hand which was hella surprising.

"I suggest that they should just confess but in a manly way!" Kirishima's answer was broad yes but it gave Ashido an idea. "Oh! Maybe trap them in a room until they manly confess to each other!" Kirishima and Ashido high fived after, happy about their suggestion.

"Just fucking send them on a mission to kill each other—" Before Bakugo could even finish his suggestion, Aoyama cut in flashing his signature weird pose. "Bonjour! I suggest that we send them on a vacation, to France!"

"Bakugo's suggestion is too violent and Aoyama's is too expensive." Asui pointed out the obvious, her tongue sticking out from her mouth.

"Shut up Frogface! I wasn't asking your fucking opinion!" Bakugo responded to the future frog hero. They were surprised that Bakugo even threw in his suggestion in the first place—even though it was violent—let alone be annoyed at Asui's opinion.

"Make Mr. Aizawa or Ms. L/n jealous!" Cliché but there was a chance it could work. Sero hummed in agreement with Kaminari. It worked with some movies so it should work with them right?

Meanwhile Uraraka, Iida and Midoriya were brainstorming, not listening to what others were suggesting and asking Yaoyorozu and Todoroki for their opinions about what they have thought about. Once they've got the go signal for them to share their suggestion, Iida raised his hand and stood up. "I suggest that a certain student should use his quirk on them." Iida adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as Kayama asked who the student was. "Shinsou Hitoshi."

"We could brainwash the other to confess to the other one! Nice!" Hizashi exclaimed giving Iida is signature finger guns. "Any other suggestions?" Tons of other ideas came around until they reached the decision by the end of the class.

"Well then, it's settled! We move after lunch!" And with that Hizashi and Kayama left, the students clearly excited about what's to come. Would they plan succeed? Only a few more hours to find out.

—

"Shinsou! Shinsou!" Midoriya called out to Shinsou who he luckily spotted walking towards Lunch Rush. The boy turned around and was shocked to even see not only Midoriya but almost all of Class 1-A running after him which made him tilt his head to the side. Why were they after him?

"Shinsou, we need you for something." Iida quickly explained what they needed him for catching him off guard as he smirked. Were they really that oblivious to the situation that they've gone such long heights just for the two of you? Well since Shinsou doesn't have anything to do anyways he decided to agree, at least this was gonna be fun.

"Sure. Where are they?" Shinsou asked, 1-A quickly and gladly giving him the information he needed.

They waved at Shinsou as they watched his back go further and further away. Kaminari wiped a non-existant tear on his face, "Damn. He's braver than the marines."

"He really is."

Shinsou took no time in finding you and Shouta since the two of you were together anyways. Shinsou understood why 1-A wanted the two of you together because damn you looked cute together. You and Aizawa could be that crime fighting couple that make the villains tremble with fear. The two of you would kick a lot of ass and take a lot of names together especially with your quirk.

"Good afternoon Ms. L/n and Mr. Aizawa." Shinsou greeted the both of you cutting yours and Aizawa's conversation short. "Can I excuse Ms. L/n for a while, sir?" Aizawa was confused as to why his student approached them and he grew even more confused when he asked him that. Aizawa nodded weakly as he watched Shinsou and you talk from afar. He noticed the way you interact with the kid and vice versa but failed to notice Shinsou using his quirk on Y/n.

"Goodbye, Ms. L/n." And with that Shinsou left, not wanting to see his mentor's reaction when he finds out that he used his quirk on Y/n. Shinsou knew his mentor would be furious but it's all gonna be worth it.

Class 1-A though wanted to see both of your reactions as they hid behind the two of them. This was finally it, they could feel it. Finally the day came where they were gonna see their otp come true. They waited in anticipation as you walked back to Aizawa.

"Hey Shouta, want to go out sometime?" And with that the effect of Shinsou's quirk vanished, leaving you confused. What the actual fuck happened?

"Wait—what? What happened?" You blinked as Aizawa sighed, clearly knowing what happened to you.

"Shinsou used his quirk on you." Aizawa sighed as he rubbed his temples. "Hurry up. We don't want to waste time." Aizawa said as he walked away, leaving you there. Clearly someone is grumpy today too.

"Wha—Hey Shouta! Wait for me, you old man!" You caught up to him quickly as you resumed your previous conversation.

1-A's hopeful looks were replaced with disappointed ones. Time for Plan B then.

The Fourth Time: Plan B a.k.a lock them in a room and hope that Shouta doesn't kill his students, Hizashi and Kayama

"Shouta! Shouta! We need you for something!" Hizashi screamed at Aizawa who just woke up from his nap. Rubbing his eyes, Aizawa let out an irritated sigh. What could they possibly want right now? It was too early for this bullshit. (Although it was past noon. But still, early for Shouta.)

"What is it, Yamada?" He asked, his usual monotone voice had a hint of irritation in it. "Well, Bakugo and Midoriya—" Aizawa paid no mind in letting Hizashi finish as the two names of those trouble makers were stated. He got up as Hizashi accompanied him to where the trouble was happening.

"Damn those problem children." Aizawa muttered under his breath. Just how many times do they have to fucking fight? Did they not learn after the last one? If that's the case then he got to drill it to their mind then.

"Where is it Hizashi?" He turned to face Hizashi who was now missing from his spot next to Aizawa. Aizawa looked around for any signs of Hizashi but found none, when did he disappear?

Aizawa sighed then decided to just walk back to the teacher's lounge. If this was a prank then he wasn't having any of it. He just wasted time and instead could've get grading done. Hizashi was gonna get it later.

Before he could even leave a force pushed him back to a dark room. He didn't expect that to happen. Was it a villain attack? He furrowed his eyebrows, no it's not a villain attack. If it was the alarms could've rang off. But what if they have a quirk that can silence the alarms? No, they have Present Mic he could've easily be the alarm.

So what was happening?

"Hey man, whoever the fuck you are. Can you like move? You're in my personal space." An oh so familiar voice told him making him sigh. Of course, it was another one of Hizashi's poor attempts on getting the two of them together. "Wait, I know that sigh." You stated before calling out to him. "Shouta? What are you doing here?"

"Since when were you trapped in here, Y/n?" Aizawa ignored your previous question as he searched for the light switch. You could've been there for like minutes before hin right?

"To be honest, I don't know how long i've been here for." This made Aizawa raise an eyebrow at her, if there had been a light you would've hit him in the shoulder already but thankfully there wasn't. He kept fucking searching for the light switch until he found one which was near the fucking door like all light switches were. When they finally had light they realized where they were.

A janitor's closet. Great, just so great. This was so clichè.

"Why didn't you use your quirk then?" You opened your mouth to defend yourself but closed it quickly. "Well... hehehe."

"You took a nap here didn't you." You scratched the back of your neck as you smiled sheepishly at Aizawa. It was true, you had infact taken a nap in the janitor's closet but in your defense you were so tired from the heroics class—you were used as the human punching bag—and was in desperate need of refulling your lost energy. So who could blame you for doing that?

"I was tired, ok. My eyes closed before I could even process it being closed!"

Aizawa let out a tch. You were an adult goddmanit. So why were you doing things like this?

"I'm kicking the door down." Aizawa stated before looking at you who already had your eyes closed. "Y/n."

"You go, do you." You stiffled a yawn with the back of your hand. "That nap still wasn't enough." You layed back down, exhaustion evident on your pretty face. Aizawa looked at you before deciding to lay down beside you and grunt at the lack of space.

"Wha—What are you doing?"

"Move. You're squishing me." You complied deciding not to protest. Good thing you both don't have classes to teach that afternoon or else you both would've been screwed.

Aizawa made himself comfortable beside you and instinctively wrapped a protective arm around you making you blush and scoot closer to him. He was radiating a nice warmth and had an aura of protectiveness around him which made you feel at home as you closed your eyes.

"I though you were going to kick down the door?" You lightly snickered at the end of your statement.

"I got tired." Of course, he was always tired anyways. After a few minutes of silence, you let the darkness envelop you in a welcoming hug and with that, the both of you fell asleep on each other's arms. Clearly not knowing about the crowd that was on the other side of the door, listening to everything they say.

"Do you hear anything Jirou?" She shooked her head as an answer. "Let's wait a few more minutes then." The few more minutes turned into a few hours as they all began to worry.

"Are they dead?" Kaminari asked from the back. 1-A's eyes widened as they realized Kaminari could be right. The both of you could've suffocated in there but wouldn't Aizawa get the both of you out minutes after being locked in there?

"Maybe they're having some fun!" Kayama exclaimed making their worried faces turn into disgust. If they were 'having some fun' they would've heard especially with a quirk like Jirou's.

"Let's just break them out and hope that Shouta would not kill us." And with that they opened the lock, only to reveal a sleeping you with Aizawa. Your legs were tangled together as you laid your head on his chest, both of you breathing evenly. They all let out a sigh of relief that the both of you didn't die—and because Aizawa wouldn't kill them instantly on the spot—and let the two of you be with frowns plastered on their faces after taking a few (hundred) pictures of course.

They were confused. How the fuck did that not work? It was perfect! Well, atleast for them. They failed once again but that doesnmt mean that they'll give up that easily! It's time to move to Plan C and they know the perfect person for the job.

The Fifth Time: Make Aizawa jealous

"Thank you for doing this Tensei." You thanked Iida as you wheeled him towards 1-A's heroic's class. "It really means so much to me, to us."

"Nah, it's no problem! I wanted to see Tenya in action and U.A. Feels nostalgic, you know?" You nodded clearly knowing what he meant by that. When you first started teaching at U.A.—by Midnight's recommendation—tons of memories quickly bombarded you as soon as you stepped inside the school grounds like how you met Aizawa and Hizashi, your first sports festival and etc. It was all nostalgic to you that you almost teared up just by how far you and your classmates have gone.

"I miss U.A." He pouted. "And I miss you too!"

"Aww, I miss you too Tensei."

"Plus, who would decline a proposal from a pretty girl from you?" Iida's voice suddenly began louder as he stated that when the two of you arrived in front of 1-A's room. You giggled at his statement and stretched your hand to open the door but before you could Aizawa already opened the door for the both of you.

"Thanks, Eraserhead!" You wheeled Iida in, clearly in a good mood to see another one of your best friends again. If you had the time you would certainly visit Iida but you were pretty busy nowadays and the only way you can communicate with him is through texts which was obviously not enough.

"Alright-y then. Shall we start?" You asked the pro-heroes beside you with a smile. As the pro-heroes explained, 1-A could sense how uncomfortable Iida was. Of course he would be uncomfortable. His brother was gonna flirt with his teacher for fucks sake. Who could blame him?

"Time for Plan C! Make Aizawa jealous!!" Hizashi announced once homeroom was over and Aizawa was out of earshot. "Normally it was make L/n jealous but since Ms. Joke is not available, we changed it to 'make Aizawa jealous!'" Hizashi rambled on as Kayama appeared, seducingly emerging from the door.

"Yes Iida?" Hizashi called Iida as his hand shot up instantly after hearing the words slip out from the english teacher's mouth. "May I ask who is the person we are gonna ask to make Mr. Aizawa jealous?"

"Great question, Iida!" Hizashi and Kayama shared a look before laughing. "Iida. Can you call your brother?" Hizashi asked in between laughs. Iida froze at his teacher's request, his eyes widening.

"Eh?! Ingenium?!" The class roared out clearly surprised at who they chose. "May I ask why my brother?"

"Again, good question Iida!" This time it was Kayama who spoke up. "Tensei is and I quote Y/n's bestest friend besides us. I remember how close they were when we were in high school! Some even thought they were dating but in truth they weren't. They're just good friends, very good friends at that."

"I remember Y/n even babysitted you Iida!" Iida blushed in embarrassment, did she really? Well he was a baby at that time, he wouldn't remember it now.

"Let's start planning!" And with that 1-A—not all of them though Bakugo and Todoroki seemed interested—clustered around the podium where the planning began. A lot of ideas were given out and a lot were sadly rejected but that didn't bring their spirits down as more ideas came after.

"Well then! Give your brother a call Iida! Tell him about the plan and i'll tell Y/n about heroic's class tomorrow! Surely Iida will be the perfect candidate for that!" And with that Hizashi and Kayama dismissed them feeling proud of what they've done and accomplished.

"Are you sure this will work? Shouta seems to be like the type who doesn't get jealous." At first glance Aizawa isn't a man to be possesive over something so this plan may be a bust but Hizashi knows his best friend better than Kayama, he was sure as hell Aizawa will get jealous once Iida starts flirting with you.

"Oh, just trust me Nemuri! This will work out!" Kayama quirked a brow at him then decided to just trust Hizashi, he knows a lot more about you and Aizawa after all.

"Now that all of that is done, please wear your hero costumes and go outside!" Before Aizawa could even speak to you, you wheeled Iida out already engaged in a conversation with him. You didn't even bother to spare a glance at Aizawa as you talked with Iida, immediately catching up to what's happening with him these past few days. He slipped in a few compliments—that he made sure Aizawa heard—and comments about you that made you giggle.

Toshinori felt the same tension again. He looked at Aizawa only to find him staring at Iida and you but mostly you. Toshinori almost let out a laugh seeing Aizawa's expression when Iida flirted with you and could only guess that this was a work done by Hizashi and Kayama because Iida would never like you in that way, he made it clear when you were in high school.

"Thank you again for inviting me, Y/n. Brings back good memories." You smiled widely at Iida and told him that it was no problem, after all he was a pro-hero like her and pro-heroes help each other out.

"I was wondering, would you like to go out sometime?" Aizawa's eye twitched once Iida asked the question. He was irritated that you didn't even told Iida off when he was clearly flirting with you and most of all he was annoyed by the fact that you agreed on his proposal, asking him what time and when. That was the last straw for Aizawa and Toshinori could sense something blunt and sharp coming.

"Are you both done flirting? We have a class to teach so I suggest you wrap things up and proceed to the gym." You were taken aback by Aizawa's outburst but then moments later you smirked. Was he jealous? Aizawa walked past the two—like he was in a hurry—leaving the three of them dumbfounded.

"What was that about?" Iida asked you feigning confusion but on the inside he was proud at the outcome of his work. He got Aizawa jealous and that was a rare occassion.

"I have a feeling somebody has their period today." You joked making the two of them—yes even Toshinori—laugh but on the inside you know you were screwed. Aizawa was gonna give you the cold shoulder from then on and you knew it.

When all of you arrived at the gym, 1-A and Iida (Tensei) waited for anything to happen but... nothing. Nothing happened except for the little outburst from Aizawa earlier. They even waited after school hours when they were at the faculty room but no, no, no. Still nothing.

"I'm sorry guys." Hizashi and Kayama practically slumped over upon hearing Iida's apology. Their last plan failed once again but they had hoped it gave them the push to say something, anything to each other.

Little did they know, they confessed to each other years back, when they were still in high school.

When Hizashi and Kayama found out

Hizashi and Kayama still didn't give up after many failed attempts so when they had another plan they went to your office, excited about the upcoming events.

"I sure hope this fucking work or else i'm gonna smash their skulls together." Kayama grunted as she pushed the door of your office open and what they saw left their mouths hanging.

Moments before the two of them walked in on you and Aizawa making out, Aizawa had confronted you about what happened earlier with Iida (Tensei). Of course he was jealous and to make things worse you poke fun of him because of it.

He got angry but didn't even dared to raise his voice at you because he wanted to solve this in the rational and logical way possible and you knew that. After all those years of knowing him and vice versa, both of you learned to adapt to each other's needs. For example if Aizawa came home stressed, you'll know it before he even informs you and makes him everything he needs and more. Also, if you're feeling down he'll know to talk to you about it instead of leaving you to cool down because he'll know you'll bottle it up until you can no longer surpress it. There was even this one time where Aizawa tried to hide his worries from you but you knew him, the real him and you instantly knew that something was wrong. Turns out it was just his nerves from asking you something life changing.

"Shouta." You called him, placing your fingers under his chin making him look at you. "You know that I will never do that right? Tensei meant go out as friends. Besides I know what was behind his flirting all this time." Aizawa's piercing gaze softened upon seeing your face. You wrapped your arms around his midsection making him sigh and returning the gesture.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just got... possesive." You giggled at his statement. Although it resulted in an argument seeing him jealous gave off a sexy vibe from him which you incredibly loved—you'll never admit it openly but knowing Aizawa he probably knows by now.

"I'm sorry for being angry." His voice was soft as he uttered the words that made you smile. This was the side that you only get to see, warming your heart as you hugged him tighter. You were glad to see this side of Aizawa, you were glad to see that he trusts enough to put down his walls and let you through, you were glad—heck beyond glad even.

The next moments were a bit blur to you as it started with just a simple kiss filled with passion from you and Aizawa but when his kisses became a little heated that's when things really started. He bit your lip making you gasp earning him an entrance to your mouth as your tongues fought for dominance, Aizawa clearly being the winner.

Back to present time, Aizawa pinned you against the wall, his hands on your waist as he began attacking your neck with kisses making you ran a hand through his hair, your fingers threading through his raven locks.

Was this real? You didn't know. You were sure you were dreaming right now or perhaps in heaven. But nope, this was the reality. The reality you love. The reality that Aizawa Shouta, 1-A's homeroom teacher, underground hero, pro-hero Eraserhead was your husband.

Yup, this shaggy hobo looking man was your husband. No one really knew except for your families and Toshinori who happened to stumble upon the two of you just like this except that the two of you were in the hospital that time.

Aizawa bit the sensitive spot on your neck, the both of you still not noticing the presence of the duo that kept bugging you and Aizawa to just confess and get together. Too ingrossed in your activities, you didn't even hear their footsteps.

"Oh my god!" Hizashi screeched making the two of you break apart as you stared at Hizashi and Kayama with wide eyes. Holy shit, you were found out now and they found out while the two of you were making out. Fucking making out. Why now out of all the days you were making out with Shouta?

"What do you guys want? Can't you see i'm busy with my wife?" Aizawa nonchalantly stated as his face showed irritation. He wasn't irritated at the fact that Hizashi and Kayama finally knew, he was irritated at the fact that Hizashi and Kayama disturbed the two of them while they were in the middle of something good.

You on the other hand was shocked at what Aizawa just informed the two loud mouths and blushed upon seeing the two of them stared at you with those fucking knowing looks. Oh boy, there was no way of escape now.

After 5 years he decided to tell them like it was not a big deal at all but you knew Aizawa cared, he always did. He just want the two of them to shut up but that wasn't the case. Upon hearing what Aizawa said, the two of them squealed.

"Wife?! Did Shouta just say wife?!" Hizashi was practically crying now, telling the world how proud he was of his best friend. "When did the wedding happen?! Why were we not invited?!"

"It happed five years ago Hizashi, and Shouta and I just wanted a small wedding with close family only. I hope you understand." You sheepishly smiled at the two of them.

"I guess we'll leave you two now." Kayama said with a wink as she dragged Hizashi out of the office. "Use protection, kids!"

Just seconds after the door closed, Aizawa who was still pressing you on the wall asked with a smirk, "I don't think we even need protection. Now where were we?"

Oh boy, let's just say that neither of you did your work the whole night and just did each other instead.

"Y/n! Are you ok? You should go to Recovery Girl! Your neck is full of bruises!" Hizashi 'innocently' screamed out in the teacher's lounge earning the attention of all the pro-hero teachers currently in said lounge.

Your face grew red as they stared at you. Of course Hizashi had to notice the marks Aizawa left as a 'remembrance' of the night before and of course he just had to scream it out loud in a room filled with people. You were glad though that he hadn't proclaimed it infront of the students because that will be even more embarrassing—atleast for you.

You secretly flipped the bird to Aizawa who just chuckled then wrapped his capture weapon around his neck even more, hiding the endless amount of love bites placed there.

"Oh! Shouta! You have them too! Are you both ok?! Do you have allergies or something?!" Hizashi yelled out. With a smirk you looked over to Aizawa once again as he grunted and swatted Hizashi away but it was too late now. The whole faculty knows by now as their gazes were placed on you then to Aizawa and vice versa.

Needless to say, the next day was full of teasing and belated congratulations from the two and the staff—with the two of them word spreads quickly—which they had to endure.

When 1-A found out

"As heroes, your goal is to not only fight off villains but to rescue and protect the civillians as well. You should remember that. Especially you Bakugo." The boy scoffed at his teacher's words as he looked away which Aizawa knew was a sign that Bakugo acknowledged his words. "Today we are—" a knock cut Aizawa's sentence making him sigh. Who could it possibly be?

Aizawa walked to the door slowly as his students anticipated who could the visitor be. Could it be a pro-hero? Yes, that could be it but their teacher didn't mention any training with another pro-hero today. So, who was it?

Aizawa opened the door slightly and was face to face with his lovely wife standing there with a huge smile on her face. Aizawa made a mental note that he should wear sunglasses everytime his wife beams at him with that big smile, it was too bright for him seeing as you were the literal sunshine but Aizawa didn't protest though, seeing that smile of yours instantly refreshed him and gave him energy. But why the hell were you here? Lunch isn't near and he was sure as hell that you took a sick leave due to you feeling ill for the past few days. So what brought you here exactly?

"Hi Shouta!!!" You greeted him loudly earning the attention of the students. You didn't mean to say that so loud but excitement was kicking in and you felt very happy at that time, incredibly happy even. You felt that you could solve the crisis involving world peace just with your happiness and that was an understatement.

"Miss L/n?!" The students panicked, you were here? They sweated nervously as they were reminded about the homework they had to do. In truth they hadn't done it yet because they were incredibly busy so seeing you outside their classroom made their hearts race. "But what are you doing here Ms. L/n? I thought you were sick!"

You sighed clearly knowing what the fuss was about. "Mina, I am sick but I need to excuse your teacher for some important matters and it's ok if you hadn't done your homework yet but make sure to submit it on or before friday next week." The students let relieved noises as soon as they heard the last statement but Aizawa was more focused on the 'I need to excuse your teacher for some important matters' part. Was there somethimg wrong?

"All right. Iida, control your classmates. I'll be going outside for a moment." And with that Aizawa closed the door behind him before dragging you as far as possible from the eavesdropping students. Your statement made him worried as millions of logical probabilities rushed through his head, one probabilty standing out than the most.

Were you gonna ask for a divorce? Aizawa hoped that, that wan't the case.

"You're not gonna ask for divorce, are you?" Aizawa hesitantly voiced his thoughts, earning a blank look from you. What made Aizawa think that?

"Shouta." You called while placing the palm of your hand on his cheek, him leaning into your touch almost instantly. "What made you think that I'm gonna ask you for divorce?"

Shouta opened his mouth to tell you all the logic behind his question but was immediately cut off by you, "Don't ever doubt yourself or us, Shouta. I love you as you love me so that will not be happening." Aizawa felt relieved but the bugging feeling didn't go away as the question in his mind remained unanswered. Why were you here then?

"I'm here because of good news not bad news." You stated, your smile returning to your face. Aizawa could tell that this smile was brighter and bigger than the last one so it gave him the fact that you were incredibly happy at the moment because of said news. "Well atleast it's good news for me."

"What is it?" You could feel your excitement coming out an in instant once he asked you the question you've been waiting for him to say. You happily dug through your mess of a bag to reveal a stick to him with a plus sign on the center.

A stick with a plus sign.

A plus sign.

Aizawa's eyes widened as he stared lovingly at the stick you were holding. You waited for his reaction and once you got it you were very much satisfied with the result.

Aizawa placed his large hands on your belly, the stick still on his left hand but he didn't care. Tears welled up in your eyes as you saw his smile mirrored yours—bright, big and clearly expressing how happy he felt at the moment.

"I'm going to be a father." He murmured on your shoulders as he wrapped his arms around you in a tight embrace. You nodded through your tears as Aizawa's grip on you tightened a little—not to the point he's trying to kill you though—clearly not wanting to let go of you. This news made his heart long and beat for you even more.

"I love you." He said with not his usual monotone but a softer voice filled with emotion that he clearly felt for you. "I love that you make me the happiest man on the universe, every fucking day." His confession made you cry even harder, wetting his black hero costume even more but you both didn't care at the moment. You were gonna be a family now. A family. A family that you both wanted. A family that you both will cherish and love until the day death do you apart. A family to care for, look out for. A family that will grow, stay and learn with the both of you.

Oh how excited the both of you are.

"I love you too, Aizawa Shouta." You replied before adding, "I love you so fucking much that my heart hurts with happiness everytime I see or think of you."

Class 1-A didn't mean to eavesdrop once again but they couldn't help but let curiousity kill the cat. They saw the heart fluttering and precious moment between their usually stoic, emotionless teacher and his wife that made them burst out in tears. They were sure their teacher knew they were there but they still kept their cries silent so that it wouldn't interrupt the moment.

That still didn't stop Mina from exclaiming this though.

"Aizawa-sensei and Ms. L/n are married?!" The exclamation earned the attention of the couple as they broke apart, seeing 1-A infront of them with tears on their eyes. "Then all our planning was useless?!" And with that Mina cried harder making you chuckle, not all their plans went to waste though if you could say so yourself.

"Go back to class." Aizawa ordered them with a glare making them shuffle and leave the scene immediately after shouting out a, "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Aizawa!!"

"They truly are an exceptional bunch huh?" You leaned into Aizawa as he placed an arm around your shoulders. "They are a pain in the ass but they are my pain in the ass."

"Aw! Seeing you act like that for your 20 other kids makes me even more excited that you're gonna have another one." You snickered. "If you're their dad then I'm the mom right?"

"Don't." Aizawa grunted making you laugh.

"What?! It's true though!" Seeing Aizawa's expression made you laugh even more. "Oh don't give me that look Dadzawa."

"Don't call me that."

"Dadzawa!" You stated his new nickname making him sigh.

"You're lucky I put up with you."

"Aren't you supposed to say, 'You're lucky I love you'?" Aizawa shook his head then left you there in the hallway after replying with a, "No. See you at home, Y/n."

Extra:

"Congratulations Dadzawa!" Hizashi and Nemuri exclaimed at the same time once again earning the attention of the whole faculty on them.

"Don't fucking call me that, Yamada."

"Oh please, keep calling him that from now on. I'm sure babyzawa will like that." You chuckled as you kissed Aizawa's cheek before leaving the faculty room. "Goodluck dealing with them Dadzawa!"

Aizawa's eye twitched as he felt the attack coming from Hizashi and Nemuri. Oh boy it's gonna be a long long day today.

#aizawa shouta/reader #aizawa/reader #aizawa shouta x reader #aizawa shouta #aizawa x reader #eraserhead/reader #eraserhead x reader #eraserhead #boku no hero academia #reader insert #fluff #pregnancy #slight smut #my hero academia #i love aizawa

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vanessakirbyfans · 4 years ago

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After breaking out in Netflix’s hit global series and stealing scenes in 'Mission:  Impossible' and 'Hobbs & Shaw,' the British actresses about to display her range with frontier romance 'The World to Come' and gut-wrenching drama 'Pieces of a Woman.'

Vanessa Kirby was two days away from shooting Mission: Impossible 7 in Venice — reprising her role as the glamorous gunrunner known as the White Widow — when Paramount halted production. It was late February, and Italy had just recorded Europe’s then-worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus, at the time not officially labeled a pandemic. Tom Cruise’s billion-dollar blockbuster franchise had become the first major Hollywood casualty.

Seven months on, and with the film industry appearing irreversibly changed, Kirby is preparing her return to Venice. But it’s not for Mission: Impossible (she starts shooting that later in September). With The World to Come and Pieces of a Woman, filmed almost back-to-back in late 2019 and early 2020, the British star, 32, has the rare honor of having two films compete against each other in the Biennale, the first A-list film festival to physically take place since cinemas — and much beyond — shut their doors.

Appearing alongside Katherine Waterston and Casey Affleck in The World to Come — a frontier romance set against the rugged and patriarchal terrain of the mid-19th century American Northeast — Kirby plays flame-haired Tallie, who sparks an intense and liberating affair with a farmer’s wife, played by Waterston.

But it’s Pieces of a Woman — also heading to Toronto — and her quietly powerful and gut-wrenching turn as Martha, a woman dealing with towering loss after a home birth that goes wrong (shot in one hugely impressive yet frequently hard-to-watch half-hour take), that marks yet another new chapter for the actress, who already has condensed what many would consider a lifetime’s worth of career milestones into just a few years. A critics’ favorite on the British stage; Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning for her global screen breakout as Princess Margaret in the opening seasons of Netflix’s smash hit The Crown; part of two of the biggest action franchises around (she also appeared in Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw last year); and, for her next act, independent cinema’s newest leading lady.

Even before the reviews come in, Pieces of a Woman — also starring Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn and Sarah Snook — has found a fan in Martin Scorsese, who recently came aboard as executive producer.

“I haven’t stopped smiling,” says Kirby, speaking from the south London home she shares with her sister Juliet (a theatrical agent) and two close friends. “It’s such a mind-blowing thing.”

The actress was originally shown the script in L.A. by filmmaking couple Sam and Ashley Levinson (Ashley is producing the film for Bron Studios). Within 24 hours, she'd jumped on a plane to London, then Budapest, to meet director Kornél Mundruczó. “You know when you’re supposed to do something. ... It felt so right,” she says. “I wanted to show up and tell Kornél face-to-face how much I loved it and how much it touched me.”

Mundruczó, a Cannes regular who won the top prize in the 2014 Un Certain Regard sidebar for White God, also was taking something of a career leap, Pieces of a Woman marking his first English-language feature. But he found the right partner with whom to “take the big risk together,” likening Kirby to his favorite screen siren, Catherine Deneuve. “She’s someone who can express emotion for the unseen, and that’s very difficult,” he says. The World to Come director Mona Fastvold is equally praising of her star, describing her as an actor “who can truly disarm us” and their work together “one of most fulfilling creative partnerships I've had so far.”

Kirby, who cites Gena Rowlands as her cinematic idol (she has a photo from Rowlands’ 1980 drama Gloria in her room), says she had been “biding her time” waiting for such an opportunity: “I felt ready to lead a movie for a long time, but to actually do it was such a gift. Now that I’ve done it, it feels like a new stage for me.”

While there were few thespian genes in her family (her father is a top prostrate surgeon and her mother once edited Country Living), an 11-year-old Kirby caught the bug after watching a production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “I suddenly realized the power of telling these stories is that they can make you feel differently about yourself when you leave,” she says. “And I think that’s always been a goal for me since.”

Countless school plays — including an all-girl Hamlet (Kirby as Gertrude) — would follow, continuing on into college, where spare periods and evenings would be spent relentlessly rehearsing and putting on shows with friends (including Alice Birch, who recently adapted Normal People for TV). Audience numbers didn’t matter – several struggled to make it through a four-hour Eugene O’Neill adaptation, while there were definite walkouts when a group of them took Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to Edinburgh (“Why would you take Julius Caesar to a comedy festival?” she laughs).

It was all for the discovery, experience and thrill, which is why — just a few years later — when Kirby received her first paycheck, having picked up an agent and signed on for her first three professional productions, it felt strange.

“I still have the vision in my mind of holding that white paper and being like, why are you paying me? Someone’s paying me for this? Because I’ve done it so much.”

Performances of As You Like It, Edward II and A Streetcar Named Desire and collaborations with directors like Benedict Andrews would quickly establish Kirby as one of the U.K.’s hottest stage talents in the early 2010s. But by this point, screen had already come calling. BBC drama The Hour — a small part as a troubled young aristocrat alongside a pre-Bond Ben Whishaw — was her TV debut in 2011, landing four years before being cast in her most famous role to date.

The Crown creator Peter Morgan recalls going “rogue” when he chose Kirby, overruling the other show execs’ preferred choice for Princess Margaret. She had turned up to the audition looking like what he describes as a “catastrophic mess”; fake tan smeared haphazardly on her shins and hands stained orange (she’d forgotten to wash them after applying the tan).

“But she had an electrifying presence. ... You realized you were in the company of a rare and special talent,” he says, adding that her chaotic appearance plus visible nerves evoked the essential vulnerability he was looking for. “It was very Annie Hall.”

Subsequent screen tests — and the public reaction — confirmed what Morgan first saw, that Kirby was a “high-impact booking,” much like the royal she was taking on. “There was no room in which you were not conscious that Princess Margaret was there.”

To craft her Margaret, in which Kirby laid the largely unknown foundations that would support the royal’s more brash and defiant public persona in later life, she absorbed everything she could, seeking out footage where the princess thought cameras had stopped rolling, plastering her walls in photos and even listening to her favorite music on repeat (including a version of “Scotland the Brave” played on the bagpipes, much to her housemates' dismay).

“It was so exciting to play someone that was so complicated and so conflicted, who was really struggling with a sense of who she was,” she says. “But I also had to chart this journey carefully, across 20 years of a person's life, and try to make it believable and also set her up for the rest of the seasons that were coming.”

Mission: Impossible came off the back of The Crown, sometime in the middle of season two. “I think Tom had watched it, because he watches everything,” says Kirby, who was surprised to be warmly welcomed into the “Mission Family” during her first meeting with Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie. “On my way home I rang my agent going, ‘I think I got the job, I’m not sure.’”

Hobbs & Shaw arrived via another route, Kirby approached by creative duo David Leitch and Kelly McCormick after she led a 2018 summer run of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie at the National Theatre.

While different adrenaline-fuelled vehicles, Kirby used both blockbusters to creatively “subvert” the usual expectations for female characters in action films, particularly within the typically masculine Fast & Furious world. “I was like, I don’t want to have to be saved ever, I don’t want to have to wear anything compromising, I want her to have her own emotional journey.” Her efforts were rewarded when a journalist wrote that Hattie — Kirby’s fearless MI6 operative in Hobbs & Shaw — had been her son’s favorite character. “How cool is that?” (She found the writer’s email to thank her).

As Kirby waits to start on Mission: Impossible 7 (and also 8 — she says the White Widow will likely “float in and out” of upcoming storylines), and for audiences in Venice and Toronto to see her first lead role, this philosophy is set to continue into what could be yet another career progression.

Alongside a daily film club with her housemates (with titles ranging from a list she found of the Dardenne Brothers’ favourite films to the cult so-bad-it’s-good hit The Room), Kirby has also used the months of lockdown to consider her next creative step and dream: setting up her own production company.

“I feel so excited by the thought that there’s so many female stories that haven’t been told. And so many that have examined the psychology of a man in a particular situation, but not the woman,” she says. “I feel like there’s so much opportunity for that and that we do actually have a responsibility. Changing that space is very important to me.”

#Vanessa Kirby #Pieces of a Woman #The World to Come #The Crown #Interview #Articles

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diveronarpg · 5 years ago

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Congratulations, CHARLIE! You’ve been accepted for the role of CORIOLANUS. Admin Jen: There are no words to describe how floored I was by the stellar portrayal you've presented to us, Charlie. With two very strong applications, we were given quite a difficult decision, but ultimately you showed us not only Coriolanus, but Cyrus, flaws and all. There is so much depth and nuance to Cyrus that it makes him not quite an easy character to grasp, but as I read your app, I could see all of it, small details and broad concepts alike, plucked and arranged in front of me in an alluring, mischievous array. You captured every aspect of Cyrus that is distinct and unique to him and him alone, from the various paths that his journey in Verona could take, to the tragic, painfully human starting point that paved the way for it, to his mannerisms and devious charm. He's going to be an absolute menace on the dash and I can't wait to see it! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Charlie

Age | 23 in less than a month!

Preferred Pronouns | she/her

Activity Level | 5-8. I think we all know how chaotic everything gets at the moment and that’s also mirrored in my activity. On the one hand, I have A LOT of free time on my hands right now and a very high motivation to write, at the same time, my mood is also very fickle throughout the day and can quickly jump from feeling like writing a novel to not even wanting to touch my laptop. However, I’m around for plotting basically 24/7 and have established in the past that queuing my replies works very well for me, so I’d be able to deliver replies on a regular basis.

Timezone | GMT+1/CET

How did you find the rp? | I’ve been a part of DV before.

Current/Past RP Accounts | https://ofduval.tumblr.com/

IN CHARACTER

Character | Cyrus Sloane

What drew you to this character? |

When I knew I wanted to rejoin Diverona, I also realized that I wanted to write a character, who challenges me as a writer, this time around and thus, started looking at characters I’ve never paid any real attention before as they’re not my go-to kinds of characters.

And then I stumbled across Cyrus bio and, for the first time ever since I stumbled across the group two years ago, truly read it. And what can I say, I fell in love.

He’s darkness combined with the charm and holiness of an angel, a paradox in itself. He’s like Lucifer, the one who shined brightest of all only to fall deeper than all the other angels. And just like Lucifer, he’d rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. He’ll do whatever it takes to build his own kingdom. Flectere si nequeo superos, acheronta movebo; if I cannot bend heaven, I’ll raise hell.

Like the most poisonous flowers, he’s as beautiful as they come and will kill you softly from inside. Cyrus Sloane isn’t handsome nor attractive, he’s beautiful and that’s precisely what makes him so dangerous. To quote The Secret History: ‘Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.’ You’ll fear his name and yet, you also won’t help but feel drawn to it, almost like a fly to a Venus flytrap.

Also, his relationship with Vivianne? W o w is all I have to say about that. No, seriously, I’m so emo over this connection, you wouldn’t believe it. There is just so much potential in there, so much tragedy, so much angst, anger, chaos, and destruction that still deserves to unfold. And I yearn to be the one who gets the chance to do that.

From reading up on past plot drops and my personal experience within the group (which might be totally wrong, it’s just my subjective perception!), I feel like, so far, Cyrus hasn’t really had the chance to play a key role, to go through the character development he deserves, to matter as much as he should. And I want to give this character, that has grown to be so near and dear to my heart in the past days, the chance to shine that he deserves. For the first time in forever, I can’t even bring myself to truly stress out over the application process as I normally do because this app simply needed to be written, I needed to write Cyrus at least once, even if it’s just in this app.

Because he does things with me, I myself don’t quite understand just yet. To be frank, Cyrus Sloane gives me a freaking headache, I’m not gonna lie about that. He’s so much and so different from what I’m used to. But still, I just can’t help coming back for more. Which I feel is exactly what Cyrus does? No matter if he hurts you or puts you in uncomfortable situations, you’ll come back craving more.

And I’m definitely craving more of him.

What future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

mother dearest.

Did she weep when she abandoned him? It’s a question he stopped asking himself a long time ago and yet, it still haunts him. He doesn’t want it to, has done everything in his power to stop caring about it and yet, it’s ingrained so deeply in his bones that even breaking them wouldn’t make him forget it.

Cyrus’ questions of what he did wrong to deserve such a fate turned into hatred for the woman, who is to blame for it all years ago. And still, there is still this childlike curiosity, this desire, so suppressed and ignored that even he believes he’s actually forgotten it, to find out why.

The dynamic between Vivianne and Cyrus is a very delicate, very intriguing one and I’d love to explore it further. I’m not sure how much has happened there yet as it’s something that needed to be discussed with Lina, but I’d love for Cyrus to get those answers he tells himself he doesn’t even want to know anymore somewhere down the line. Maybe at one point, he might even downright confront her and demand to get them, though this roughness and lack of subtlety would have to be provoked in some way as it’s not his usual style. Nor does he really want her to know that he cares, or acknowledge that himself for that matter.

I highly doubt that the knowledge of why will be enough to ease the hatred, the pain of the still aching wound that never healed. Finding out what happened, most likely won’t change anything about his determination to see her kingdom come undone as I imagine him being too far down this path for redemption. And yet, it’d be fun to see this already so complex dynamic filled with even more layers.

see it all burn to ashes.

The tale of a mother abandoning her son, throwing him to the wolves is one as old as time. The fatal consequences this act of cruelty can bring with it are just as well known.

And yet, Cyrus intends to outdo them all.

Considering how I feel like it’s his main character arch, I’m not going to be very concrete here as I think it’s something that needs to be plotted out together with other writers, not to mention that there are so many different routes that this arch could go. After all, all roads lead to Rome.

One interesting option would be attempting to destroy the Capulets from within. For that, he’d have to make himself irreplaceable.

This could go hand in hand together with the plot mentioned further below regarding him following into Cassian’s footsteps so I’m not going to delve into that here.

Additionally, In a city like Verona, secrets are a currency more valuable than money, as is information. Mona Chen is a perfect example of the importance of secrets just as the dead witches were. Considering how Mona now not only doesn’t work exclusively for the Capulets any longer but also charges them a heavier price than she used to, it’d be in the Capulets’ interests to replace her with somebody who works exclusively for them, who gives them the information they want for free. I’m not entirely sure of the concrete way to achieve it just yet, but I imagine somebody as charming and talented at manipulations as Cyrus is would be capable of eliciting secrets out of people without them truly realizing what they’re giving up. He might even build his own network of spies to take over that ‘vacant’ position.

Secondly, he could attempt to set the Capulet empire aflame with the help of the Montagues, after all, there is some truth in the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. I’m also be going into more detail about that idea in a further plot point.

Whatever route, Cyrus will take in the end, I do want him to make a mark. To do some damage at least. Even though he’s young, he couldn’t have ever crowned himself king of Cape Town if he didn’t know how to gain power.

the old king is dead, long live the king.

I feel like with Cassian - his mentor - dead, Cyrus is going to strive towards stepping into his footsteps and taking over his role in politics within Verona. After all, it’s what he trained for, what he endured Cassian’s company for. Only that he’ll do a better job as Cassian could have. After all, who could not fall in love with his angelic smile and boyish charm?

Even in a city controlled by the mafia, the civilians still play an important role. Incur the people’s wrath and you’ll find yourself in a tough position. Thus, getting the general population under control is most certainly a way to rise to power (as proven multiple times in various European countries in the past).

I want Cyrus to get (more) involved with Verona’s politics, attempting to earn the support and respect of members of the leading families of Verona. As mentioned above, secrets are an important currency within Verona and not only among members of the mob. The more respectable the family is, the darker the secrets often are and the more determined they are to keep them hidden from public knowledge.

Using that to his advantage paired with his boyish charm nobody ever has truly been able to resist, could be his way into politics and subsequently turning Verona into his kingdom.

He managed to do it in Cape Town, why shouldn’t the people of Verona earn to praise his name as well?

maybe we’re just young gods.

Saying Bernadette Dupont and Cyrus Sloane bring out the worst in each other, is an understatement. They’re a match made not in heaven but hell.

I think it’s safe to say that while causing havoc and chaos is fun, it’s not enough for them. For Cyrus at least it isn’t, he’s dead set on pushing the Capulets from their throne and putting himself on it instead. With Bunny as the queen by his side.

I'm the king of everything and you’re the queen.

I want to explore their relationship further. How far are they willing to go for each other, what lengths will they go to for their own amusement and selfish goals? Might there even be more going on between them than just causing destruction together? Could mutual selfishness possibly be replaced by truly caring about each other?

the enemy of my enemy.

First of all, I don’t think that Cyrus will ever truly betray the Capulets to become a Montague. Is there a chance of him betraying the capulets? Definitely. However, not to become somebody else’s puppet. No, if he does so, only because it’s in his best interests, because it helps him build his own empire.

His connection to Lawrence, whom he serves as an informant, is already a very intriguing and promising one as it’s a way for him to get involved with the Montagues. No matter what Lawrence might think, they’re meeting as equals, Cyrus only gives him the information for a price that he sets and not because he feels obliged to do so or because Lawrence has something on him.

Considering how Lawrence isn’t a taken character as of right now and I don’t think he’s the only connection of this sort Cyrus has, I’d love to find a taken character with whom he’s entered a similar symbiosis.

It’d be the perfect way into getting more power by slowly breaking down the Capulet kingdom piece by piece.

flying to close to the sun.

Just like Icarus, Cyrus has built his own wings, yearning to fly, to become a god. And just like Icarus, at one point he’s bound to get too close to the sun, is going to get burned and plum into a yet unknown depth.

Verona isn’t Cape Town and while he made himself a king there, while he built his own empire on another continent, this new playing field calls for stakes higher than any he’s ever known. He turned himself into a shark in a tank of guppies back then, how will he thrive in a tank full of sharks, all bigger and more experienced than him?

The tragedy of striving to have everything is that you have all the more to lose. The higher you fly, the deeper you can fall. And it’d be such bittersweet irony if his ambition, his thirst to see his mother’s kingdom burned to ashes was the reason for him to get burned.

I think, especially if I follow up on the previously mentioned plot of him getting more involved with the Montagues, that this has a good chance of getting him into serious trouble. After all, with Viola already being outed as a traitor to the Capulets, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. After all, it only stands to reason the Capulets will be even more cautious now that they’ve found one mole in their midst. If there’s one, who says that there aren’t more?

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Yes and no. It needs to be under the right circumstances and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think I’d want to let him go for quite a while. In my eyes, it’d be a logical conclusion for him to die at some point as he’s just an arrogant boy throwing himself into a war against much older, more experienced people to burn everything his mother ever held dear down and rise as a god from the ashes. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hubris got him killed one day. However, I’d want him to make his mark first somehow.

IN DEPTH

muder tw, gore tw

Father, forgive me for I’ve sinned.

Lips curl into the hint of a smirk as he lazily crosses his legs, right feet resting on his left thigh. The confessional box is just big enough for him to find a comfortable position and yet, his foot touches the dark wood of the wall separating him and the priest. And he cannot help but wonder if its main purpose is precisely that, making it almost impossible to find a comfortable position.

If a god finds it necessary to intimidate his followers by forcing them to confess their sins in a state of uncomfortableness, he cannot be very intimidating in the first place, can he?

“I’m afraid I didn’t get your question, padre, mi dispiace.” The words leave his mouth with honey-laced innocence, and while there is not a single hint of doubt in his mind that the priest will buy it right up, the curl of his lips colors their sincerity a lie. It’s almost a shame really, how the insincerity of this show is carefully concealed by the wood in between them, the small openings leaving just enough space for words to transfer back and forth between the two sections.

Then again, what fun is it if you jump right to the end?

He has a grim business ahead one him, a gruesome duty, one he tells himself he doesn’t necessarily enjoy (except you do, a tiny voice whispers in the back of his mind, he chooses to ignore it). It’s something he needs to do. Betray him and you’ll pay the price, it’s a rule as simple as it can be and yet, one he’d enforce no matter what it’d take. Growing up with catholic foster parents, religion has always played a part in his life. He grew up to follow the Christian beliefs, to respect God and all his messengers on Earth. And yet, doing the Lord’s work won’t save the priest. His treason won’t go unpunished.

For there is only one god in Cape Town and his name is Cyrus Sloane.

“Tell me, son, do you regret your sins?”

The priest’s voice is calm, patient, almost gentle. And yet, it causes him to flinch just slightly. For a small moment, so short and fleeting that it has passed in the blink of an eye, hesitation and doubt shadow his mind. Maybe he shouldn’t go on. If he takes this next step, there’s no turning back. He’ll cross a line drawn so deeply into the ground that it’s almost a canyon. If he crosses that line, he’ll truly be the monster some bold voices already call him out to be in hushed whispers behind his back.

Instinctively, he pushes his chin out just a little, jaw muscles tensing in defiance of the thought,

Maybe if they didn’t want him to turn into a monster, they shouldn’t have crossed the simple rules he put up. Maybe they should have been smart enough to not try to bury a dagger in his back in the hope of hitting his heart.

Don’t they already know that it’s nothing but rotten flesh anyway?

“Which one? The ones I’ve already committed or the ones I’ll still commit?” Casual yet empathetic words leave sensual lips with just a hint of amusement lying beneath. And yet, despite it all, there’s a kind of honesty, so sincere and authentic that it cannot be faked, to be found in them. Cyrus doesn’t regret the hard decisions he has to make nor the one he’ll still make in the future; power and the world as his kingdom are his birthrights, a god doesn’t care about the havoc that follows in his wake. And neither does he; if anything he opens it with open arms. And nonetheless, there were some lines that there were harder to cross as others.

The best lies and manipulations always have a ring of truth to them, but maybe that’s just another lie people tell themselves so they won’t have to be ashamed of their true feelings.

“The ones you’ve already committed will do for now. Confess them and beg the Lord for His forgiveness so that with His grace I can grant you absolution for your sins and you can leave reborn in the light of His mercy.”

A soft chuckle, so full of light it’d put angels to shame, rings through the air, fingers brushing through golden curls lazily, head resting against the wall behind him. “I’m afraid those are more than I can count. If I recall them all, we’ll still sit here tomorrow and your god’s ears will bleed in terror.”

But then again, the same god stood by and did nothing when his own mother abandoned him so maybe he’s crueler than he’d give him credit for.

Though he tries not to show it, in fact, tries his best to gloss over the priest’s patience is starting to grow thinner and thinner, no longer a sturdy thread of wool but more a silk thread hanging dangerously thin in the air. It’s as obvious to him like blood in the water to a shark, Cyrus feels just as drawn to it. Charm is his weapon of choice, an automatism if he dare say, and yet, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a grown man slowly but surely come undone.

Figuratively as well as literally.

“Do you regret them at least?”

For a moment there is silence, only the damp, cold air only filled by the soft sounds of quiet breathing. Cyrus takes a moment to answer, the tension growing thicker with every passing blink until it’s thick enough to cut. Feet light like a gazelle he stands up and with two decisive steps, long legs moving gracefully, he bridges the distance between them.

“Not really, no”, he says, looking down into the priest’s puzzled face, lips curled into an angelic smile.

It’s the same smile Lucifer must have worn when he stood in front of his creator, so terrifyingly beautiful it could kill the weak of heart.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to confess that I don’t regret any of them”, the smile still locked onto the priest like sharp shooter’s sight on his next target, he calmly pulls the knife out of its sheath carefully hidden by the backside of his Armani jumper and dark jeans. Though it becomes more obvious with every passing second what he’s intending to do, every movement is done in accurate precision without any hurry.

He rules this town, there’s no need to hurry. Especially not considering how the priest stares at him like a fly caught in a spider net might at the slowly but surely approaching spider, fangs opening wider with every step it takes.

“I’m not sure if there’s anything I need to confess”, he adds, posture straight and balanced like the king he was born to be, tone as charming as ever. If anybody was looking for a spark of lunacy in his dark eyes, they’d have to look forever for there is none. Cyrus Sloane isn’t crazy, this isn’t the act of an insane person who’s lost touch with all rationality. No, he knows exactly what he’s doing and doesn’t do it despite it but because of it.

Head slightly cocked to the right, his gaze wanders over the priest’s face once more, soaking up the slowly rising panic like another might the smell of freshly baked cookies.

It tastes just as sweet in his mouth.

“Che mi dici di te, padre? Is there anything you’d like to confess in front of your god?”

Be it the one hanging on the cross at the other end up the church or the one standing right in front of him.

His words leave a sense of finality in their wake, he knows they both can feel it. Good. As exhilarating as this little situation is, there’s only a small line between exhilarating and boring.

The priest’s eyes open so wide that Cyrus is a little afraid they’re gonna burst. Now that would be mess he wouldn’t envy his dry cleaner having to get it out of his clothes again.

“I’m sorry”, he starts to blather, regressing to a man half his size and age, eyes full of not yet spoken pleas for mercy. Mercy that won’t be granted, but he doesn’t know that, at least not yet. Soon he’ll find out while taking his dying breaths that this town has no mercy for those betraying its king. “I didn’t mean to…”

Before the old priest can finish his sentence, Cyrus cuts his throat with one swift, determined motion, blood bursting out like air out of a ballon as soon as the cut is made, spraying his formerly clean clothes.

He couldn’t care less.

Carefully, he wipes the blade clean with a handkerchief, the one innocent white cloth now tainted by the crimson red of treason, of revenge. He tucks it back into his pocket before stepping over the lifeless body without giving it another look, his face as unreadable as a dark, cloudy sky.

Father, forgive me for I’ve sinned. For deep down, I know I’ll do it again if I have to. Without any shame or regret.

Extras: You can find a pinterest board here.

#accepted #accepted: coriolanus #crime rp #mob rp #gang rp

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danfanciesphil · 6 years ago

Text

too high (can’t come down) by @danfanciesphil

Suspending himself 7,000 feet above the rest of the world seems likely to be a sure-fire way for Dan to escape normality, and isolate himself for the foreseeable future. The Secret of the Alps, a small hotel tucked into the side of the Swiss mountains is too niche for most avid adventurers to have heard of, making it the perfect place for Dan to work as he sorts through his problems. Unfortunately, privacy is a coveted thing, and as Dan soon finds out, the hotel harbours one guest who values it more than most.

Rating: Explicit Tags: Enemies to lovers, snow, mountains, skiing, hostility, slow burn, secrecy, longing, repression, nobility, classism, cheating, eventual sex

Ao3 Link

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

The Fitzgeralds want omelettes for breakfast. But not just one each, Dan learns, when the two adults clean their plates and tell him, patting tummies and grinning, that they’re ready for round two. He’s not sure where the youngest member of their party is hiding, but Dan doesn’t blame her for passing up on watching her parents shovel eggs into their gawping mouths like there’s no tomorrow. Dan has the unfortunate job of telling Louise that she’s expected to fry up unlimited omelettes until the two older Fitzgeralds are completely satisfied. When she smacks him with a yolky wooden spoon, Dan can’t say he blames her.

“You’re so violent when you’re mad,” Dan complains, dabbing at the yellowish stain on his shirt sleeve.

Louise shoots him a glare, whisking eggs vigorously in a bowl. “I have good reason to do a lot worse, so I’d scarper if I were you.”

“I’m not doing anything worse than what Nikolai is doing to-”

“If you think that’s a viable excuse, I’m going to chop you up and feed you to the Fitzgeralds in their next omelette.”

Dan sighs, folding his arms and feeling a lot like a petulant child. “Agree to disagree, I guess.”

“Dan, you cannot fight fire with fire. Nikolai is a powerful man. He’s going to steam roller over you without a second thought if he catches wind of what you’re up to with his man.”

“Well, he won’t catch wind. Our wind is thousands of miles away from anyone up here.” That hadn’t come out quite right, Dan thinks, wrinkling his nose.

“Not from everyone,” Louise rightly points out, grinding pepper into the bowl.

An image of Martyn Lester’s exasperated face flashes into Dan’s mind, and he chews his lip, wondering if he and Phil are anywhere near done chatting yet. They still haven’t left Mona’s office, and it’s been over half an hour. Mona’s going beserk, muttering about etiquette and rudeness, scrubbing tables and dusting corners because she can’t get to her desk. Dan can see her through the serving hatch, polishing the huge balcony windows with irritable vigour.

“Do you know anything about Martyn Lester?” Dan asks in an attempt at nonchalance.

Louise’s lips press together, and she pours some of the egg mixture into the pan. It sizzles pleasantly, immediately beginning to bubble and release a fragrant, delicious aroma. Dan’s stomach rumbles; he hasn’t eaten anything today - too busy sorting out the miraculous appearance of Phil’s sibling.

“I do.” She pauses, prodding at the slowly solidifying omelette with a spatula. “We used to be pals, actually.”

“Used to be?”

“Well, he quit being Phil’s publicist. Pretty abruptly. Just up and left. I haven’t seen him since he walked out.”

“Oh,” Dan says, brows knitting together. The anger in Louise’s voice is unmistakable, but Dan senses he shouldn’t press the still-sore wound. “Do you know why?”

“I imagine there’s more to it than just this, but he was never Nikolai’s biggest fan,” Louise says, then deftly flips the omelette. “He told me that the only reason he ever became Phil’s publicist was to prevent Phil from getting fucked by the guy.”

She pauses, reflecting on her words; her eyes meet Dan’s, and they both snort with laughter.

“You know what I mean,” she says, “Martyn’s a protective older brother type. He and Nikolai did a lot of butting heads.”

“Isn’t it kind of hard to butt heads with someone who’s never around?”

“Yeah, that’s another reason Martyn got so frustrated,” Louise says, shifting omelettes onto plates with swift, practiced movements. “It was always Cornelia he’d have to argue it out with.” Louise looks at Dan as she shoves plates into his hands. “You met her, right? The fiery redhead?”

“Yeah. She seemed cool.”

“Anyway, I don’t know much more than that, but if he’s here after having quit so dramatically, I’d say it’s doubtful that he brings good tidings.” Louise gives him a ‘well?’ look, gesturing to the plates in his hands. “Off you go, then.”

Awash with new information, Dan then turns to the door of the kitchen, and heads out to deliver the Fitzgeralds their second serving.

It’s two in the afternoon, and Phil is avoiding him. There’s no definitive evidence of this, but Dan’s ninety-nine percent sure. He’s been glimpsing Phil all day, through the window in the door of the gym as he works out, hurrying through the lobby in damp clothes, sat at a table in deep conversation with Martyn, but he hasn’t so much as caught Dan’s eye. It’s pissing Dan off to no end, though he’s trying to make excuses for him as his brother’s sudden appearance could mean all sorts of things.

Still, he feels like grabbing Phil by the shoulders and spinning him round so that they’re forced to lock eyes, then telling him ‘hey, dickhead, you were inside of me last night, the least you can do is nod in my direction, even if you have to wait until Martyn is looking the other way’.

Dan’s at the front desk, checking in the new couple that have just arrived with Kaspar in tow: Ms Stone and Ms Harris. They’re both in their seventies, and Ms Stone is in a wheelchair, so it’s pretty impressive that they’ve made it up here at all, but they’re perfectly chipper, papery, ungloved hands tightly clasped. Dan hands over their room key, and just as Kaspar is jerking Ms Stone backwards and spinning her, rather alarmingly fast, in the direction of their wheelchair lift, Phil appears from nowhere, at the side of the desk, bright eyes screaming ‘we need to talk’.

He says a polite “hello” to Kaspar, who bellows an enthusiastic response that makes excessive use of the word ‘Philly’. Then, seeming not to be able to contain his urgency, Phil turns to Dan, inclining his head towards Mona’s office.

Dan nods at him, a little annoyed that he’s being so obvious in front of people, but telling himself Phil must have a reason. Phil slinks off, and Dan turns back to Ms Stone and Ms Harris to tell them that he’ll be up shortly to deliver their bags. Just as they’re disappearing from view, Dan’s preparing to creep round to the office when he senses eyes on him. He looks about, searching for the source of the prickling sensation that’s grazing the back of his neck. At the last second, he looks upwards; peering over the edge of the mezzanine rail is the Fitzgerald’s teenage daughter, her blue strands of hair dangling over the wood.

She’s looking directly at him, her stare wide and unfaltering, like she’s attempting to pierce into his head telepathically. He cocks his head to the side, wondering whether he should call out to her, though he doesn’t even know her first name. Just as he’s debating what to do, she ducks backwards, out of sight, and the moment is snatched away.

When Dan gets into the office, Phil is leaned up against Mona’s desk like some hip CEO with an ‘open door policy’ for his office full of workers. He looks weary, which Dan supposes isn’t so surprising, given that he happens to know Phil got a lot less sleep than usual last night, but there’s something underneath it too. A bone-deep exhaustion, so intense that it radiates off him in waves.

“Nikolai’s coming,” Phil says without preamble. Dan’s only just clicked the door shut behind him. He blinks at Phil slowly, a dread creeping over his body from toe to neck. “He’ll be here soon. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe earlier.”

“Oh,” Dan says, then feels dumb for not having a better response to hand. “Why?”

Long fingers carve narrow valleys through jet black hair. “Apparently someone tipped off the media that Nik and I are definitely breaking it off.” He shrugs. “I mean, I thought I already made that pretty obvious at the charity event. Someone had new information though, I guess.”

“What? Who could possibly have any new information?”

“My guess is one of the vapid yuppies Nikolai has trailing around him 24-7,” Phil replies with a sniff. “Maybe one of them overheard when I called him yesterday. Decided to make a quick buck.”

“So… Nikolai’s coming here why?”

“He hasn’t been able to contact me about all the new stories flying about, so he got in touch with Martyn, figuring he’d be able to snag my attention,” Phil says, sounding bitter. “Martyn listened to Nik ranting about my radio silence for roughly thirty seconds and then hopped on a plane to warn me-”

“Sorry, why hasn’t Nik been able to contact you?” Dan asks, too sharpened from nerves to care about the details. “I thought he was texting you constantly.”

“Well, yeah, he was.” Phil’s eyes, which have been glazed, staring into the near distance, refocus on Dan. The corner of his mouth twitches, and one of his sleek, dark eyebrows arches upwards. “And then I suddenly became somewhat preoccupied.”

“Oh,” Dan says, then trips over what seems to be his own foot. “Right.”

Phil’s little amused smile is not as laser-focused on Dan as he’s grown accustomed. Dan gets the distinct feeling that whilst Phil is still all too happy to have a chuckle over his idiocy, his conscious brain is somewhere else. It’s kind of unpleasant to suddenly have the spotlight whisked off him, after having been the sole focus of Phil’s attention for so long. He kind of wants to snap his fingers in front of those blue eyes and bring him back into the room.

“Nik likes to be the centre of a scandal, but only when he’s in control of it,” Phil muses, arms folding across his chest. He’s silent for a moment, and Dan can practically see the wheels turning in his brain. “There’s… something else, too.”

“Yeah?” Dan’s heart picks up its pace.

“There’s a rumour, apparently, that I have… someone.”

“Someone?”

“Like, someone that’s making me want to leave my husband.”

Dan’s breathing stalls. He feels Mona’s floor cracking beneath his feet. “Surely people can’t know about-”

“I don’t see how,” Phil says, running a hand through his hair again. It seems to be an unconscious action, whenever he feels stressed. “But we should probably be careful.”

“Careful?” Dan repeats, astounded. “You mean like subtly beckoning me in here to talk in private, right in front of brand new guests? And Kaspar?” Phil gives him a look, but Dan can feel himself getting worked up. If he stays in this small room with Phil for much longer, he’s going to boil over and say something he regrets. “I-I have to get out of here-”

Behind him, the latch of the door twitches before he so much as moves a muscle. Dan knows this because he’s leant against it; the wooden lever is digging into the small of his back. He locks eyes with Phil, alarmed, and witnesses what he imagines is reflection of his own fear painting Phil’s face. The latch lifts properly this time, and the door pushes against Dan, but he uses all his weight to prevent it opening.

He mouths ‘help me’ to Phil, who jumps to action at once, coming to assist Dan as he holds the door closed. From the other side, Mona’s voice calls, “who’s in there?”

“What are we going to do?” Dan hisses under his breath. The door rattles; she’s growing impatient.

Phil is staring searching Dan’s face for some kind of plan. “It’s me, Mona,” Phil calls out. Dan gapes at him. Surely he cannot be about to reveal that the two of them are in here, alone, seconds after telling Dan they need to keep their shit on the DL. “My brother and I needed the office again. I’m sorry.”

There’s a pause. The door stops rattling. “Why is the door locked?”

Dan presses his mouth together, trying not to breathe too loudly, in case Mona could recognise the air rushing from his lungs. Phil looks skyward, grasping for a response. “We, uh, didn’t want to be disturbed. It’s a serious, uh, matter we’re discussing. Could you just give us five more minutes, please?”

“Mr Novokoric, I really need to get to my desk.”

“Just five minutes,” Phil begs, then squeezes his eyes shut.

Dan bites his lip, praying. Eventually, Mona says, “fine. But after that, you’ll have to find somewhere else to go. Like your suite, perhaps. Or Mr Lester’s perfectly adequate room.”

“Sure,” Phil says, shooting Dan a look of relief. “Thanks, Mona.”

“Five minutes!”

The sound of her kitten heels click-clacking away are like music to Dan’s ears. He blows out a huge puff of air, slumping against the door. “Fuck, that was close. No idea how we’d have explained that.”

“And we weren’t even doing anything fun to explain away,” Phil says regretfully, aiming a half-smile at Dan.

He tries not to return it, but fails spectacularly. “I should go,” Dan says, partly because he can sense this conversation heading into dangerous territory, and what they absolutely do not need is for Mona to come back in five minutes and walk in on something even worse. “Let me out first, you follow in a minute or two.”

“Wait, Dan,” Phil says, grabbing hold of his arm. He lets go pretty fast, but it was a telling move. Dan stops, waiting to hear him out. “I- I know this is all… not ideal. I didn’t know Martyn was coming, and obviously the timing is pretty crap what with everything that happened last night…”

Dan blushes, looking away. “That’s family for you, I guess.”

“And with Nik coming, I don’t know when we’ll next get a chance to…” Phil trails off, and Dan’s eyes bulge. Phil laughs at his expression. “To be alone. To talk. Whatever.”

“Oh,” Dan says. “Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be wise whilst they’re all… watching.”

“So,” Phil says, leaning back on his hands. His cheeks are vaguely stained with magenta.

“So,” Dan echoes.

A beam of clear, glossy light pierces Dan’s mind, softening his pounding heart. He recognises this half-conversation. Phil is asking for something, without using real words. A tiny smile playing on his mouth, Dan steps in front of him, takes his dumb, emotionally stunted face in both hands, and kisses him, soft and slow. He only lets it last a moment, just long enough for the taste of Phil’s tongue to seep through, so Dan can remember it.

He leans back, and says, “catch you later. Good luck.”

Phil smiles, eyes flicking towards the ceiling for a moment before landing back on Dan. “Thanks,” he says quietly, then moves away from the door so Dan can open it. As he steps through, back into the lobby, Dan turns for a final look. Phil’s watching him with a worried expression, though he does give Dan a tiny wave. “Go do some work,” he says gruffly, then turns back into the office, breaking their gaze.

Not even fifteen minutes after exiting Mona’s office, Dan’s dragging Ms Stone’s and Ms Harris’ cases up the stairs when he hears a sound he vividly remembers being traumatised by at an earlier date. The fact that he knows the deafening rumble from overhead is not an earthquake or avalanche does not make it any less chilling. Dan stops mid-flight of stairs and cranes his neck upwards, as if he could see through the roof of the hotel, then pierce through the steel of the plane into the cabin where Nikolai Novokoric is no doubt lounging in a reclining seat, sipping champagne.

He listens to the plane swoop low, then hit the tarmac, the engine stuttering, then cutting out entirely. With a desperate sigh, Dan continues his climb to the second floor, bags in tow.

Nikolai’s shrill, grating voice echoes off the wooden walls of the hotel from the moment he walks through the door. A shudder runs through Dan’s body as he hears those first few notes of posh, slightly Swiss bolstering. To escape, he goes to clean room two, the Fitzgerald’s room, whilst they’re out on a hike with Kaspar. They hadn’t been enthusiastic to go, but as they’re on an all expenses paid for trip, they couldn’t exactly argue with Mona when she’d scheduled it for them.

Dan closes the door behind him, breathing a long sigh. It feels like the first moment he’s been alone in days, although of course that’s not true. The Fitzgerald’s room is a tip, and it’s not all that surprising. Their mini fridge has been gutted, and there are packets of peanuts and mini liquor bottles scattered on every available surface. It’s a family room, with a double bed on one side, and a single bed against the window. The single bed is half-heartedly made, but the double is in complete disarray - the pillows are dumped on the floor and the sheets are stained with what looks like Dorito dust.

“I don’t know what I expected,” Dan mutters to himself.

He’s just setting to work when he realises that above the mundane cleaning noises, he can still hear Nikolai somewhere downstairs - his loud, boisterous laughter and fake enthusiasm. He needs a distraction, badly, but doesn’t have anything to hand. He supposes he could call his mother back, at last. He hasn’t spoken to her since the day after he arrived at The Secret of the Alps, so he owes her a phone call. He can do it as he works, perhaps that will make it easier to stomach.

With twitching fingers Dan pulls out his phone and dials his childhood home number, before he can talk himself out of it. She picks up on the third ring.

“Dan?”

He swallows, throat tightening. Is it possible that he already regrets phoning her when all she’s said is his name? “Hi, Mum.”

He sets the phone to loudspeaker, and crouches down to begin emptying the overflowing wastepaper bin.

“I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

Wow, straight in with the guilt trip. No point wasting time, he supposes. “No. Sorry. I’ve been very busy here. Long work days.”

“I see.”

The phone crackles. It’s an excruciating sound. To dispel the awkwardness, Dan asks, “how’ve things been?”

She sighs loudly. “Fine, fine. Your father’s had that ear thing again.”

“Oh,” Dan says. He ties the rubbish bag tightly, then sets it by the door. “That’s too bad. Hope he gets it sorted.”

“Well, you know what he’s like about seeing doctors. Stubborn old man, just like his son.”

Dan knows, he knows it’s a provocation, intent on riling him up, but he still falls for it. “I’m not like him.”

“So listen to your mother, and come home,” his mother says, her voice slipping into the one Dan is so used to, sharp and cold. “I know what’s best for you, Daniel. You’re too young make such a hugely affecting decision. Throwing away your chance at a degree, it’s reckless! You’ll end up with no money, stuck in a low-paying job forever-”

“Money isn’t important to me, Mum.” He heads for the double bed, starting to throw pillows onto it.

“It will be important to you when you run out of it,” his mum replies with a sniff.

“I have a job,” Dan says slowly, as if drawing out the syllables could help her understand the one thing she’s always failed to. In his hand he clasps a pillow, ready to be screamed into at any moment. “I have savings, and a place to live. I’m getting by just fine. I don’t see what the point is of forcing myself to toil through a degree in a subject I hate, to secure a job I’ll despise, racking up a load of debt.”

“You’re being naiive,” she says, for what must be the hundredth time. Dan sighs, flopping down onto on the floor by the Fitzgeralds’ bed, abandoning all attempt at continuing the clean. “The world won’t be kind to you if you’re unintelligent and unqualified. What do you suppose you’re going to do with yourself? Change beds in a hotel up God-knows-what-mountain forever? It’s just not realistic-”

Dan looks at the pillow he’s still holding, wondering if she’s somehow able to sense that he’s doing exactly that. “I didn’t say I would be doing this forever.”

Dan’s arms wrap around the pillow, miserably. He’s trembling slightly, because he detests so much as thinking about his future given that it’s so uncertain. He’s here now, for the foreseeable weeks ahead, and that’s some stability at least. He curls his fingers into the pillow’s soft material, trying to breathe through the anxiety attack he can feel brewing.

“It’s not too late for you to come back, you know,” his mum says; her voice is kinder now, the edges softened. It would be so easy to fall into the trap of her mumsy words, to run back down the mountain into her arms. She’d waste no time in calling up the University and re-enrolling him in his awful law degree, then locking him straight back into his prison-cell dorm room. “Your dad and I would sort it all out for you,” she says, like she can read his mind, “it hasn’t been too long, we could talk to people, chalk this up to a minor blip in judgement.”

There’s a pause. Dan mouths some things he wants to say, but won’t. Why can’t you try to understand me properly? Why don’t my opinions matter just because I’m young? Why would I want to be a lawyer, miserable in my office for the next fifty years just like Dad’s been, living for the weekend like that’s the way life’s supposed to be lived?

“You know, I saw on Facebook that Beth is still single,” his mum says in a hesitant voice, and that’s the moment Dan decides the catch-up is over.

“I have to go, mum,” Dan says, proud that his voice cracks only a small amount as he reaches for the phone. “I’m in the middle of my shift.”

“Wait, Dan,” his mum says quickly, and something about the urgency of her voice makes him listen. His thumb hovers over the red ‘end call’ button. “I... had Vanessa and Darren round for lunch yesterday. They were talking about some scandal that’s been in the news. About that young heir of the Swiss Royal family. The gay one, you know.”

Icy fingers wrap around Dan’s heart. He reminds himself to remain calm, that there’s no way she could possibly know he has any involvement. “He’s bisexual, actually,” Dan corrects in a mock-casual voice. “Vanessa and Darren had fascinating insights into the situation I’m sure, but Mum, I really have to-”

“I didn’t think anything of it at first,” his mum continues, like Dan hadn’t spoken. There’s something wrong with her voice. It’s too shrill, too forced. “But I was thinking it over later, and I realised I knew the place this Sir Nicholas’ husband is rumoured to be. It’s the same mountain you told me your hotel is on.”

Dan’s eyes flutter closed. This surely cannot be happening. His mother barely remembers his birthday, let alone the specific mountain in the vast range of the Alps he decided to run off to.

“Huh,” Dan says, because anything else would be too incriminating.

“Oh, God,” his mother says in a small, strangled voice. “Oh, God, it’s you darling, isn’t it?”

“What’s me?”

Dan’s eyes squeeze together; but even as he wishes for anything else, he knows she’s guessed the truth. Her shame is like poison, seeping out of the phone into his ear, plucking Dan’s worst anxieties from their dark corners.

“I always knew there was something you were keeping from me,” she half-wails in a soft, crackly voice. “Some reason you tucked away inside that you felt made you- you different from everyone else. Oh Dan, honey, this is so not the way to deal with it.”

“I don’t know what you’re-”

“I didn’t want to believe it when I had the thought, but I went back through those texts you sent me when you first arrived,” his mum says in a rush. “About the famous guest who you didn’t get along with, how you were dreading spending so much time alone with him. It’s him, isn’t it, Dan? It’s the one they’re all saying is- is- cheating. With a waiter.”

Dan lets the disdain in her voice slip through his skin, burrow into his well of shame that’s already deep and bubbling.

He doesn’t respond for a while, weighing up all the things he could try and say to dissuade her, to convince her that she’s wrong. Instead, wearied by even the thought of exerting himself to insist such a lie is true, he just corrects her.

“I’m a concierge, not a waiter.” His mum lets out a sort of sob-noise. “Mum,” Dan says quickly, frightened by her reaction suddenly, “you can’t tell anyone. Mum, do you understand?”

She breathes thickly. “Oh, God, Dan, this is- why did you-”

“It’s not like I planned it,” Dan says, feeling his hackles rise. “This is so typical of you, Mum, judging me from afar, all my choices and decisions when you have no idea about any of it-”

“So explain this to me!” she cries, still unbearably shrill. “Is this as bright of a decision as dropping out of university, or breaking up with your lovely girlfriend, or running away to scrub toilets up a mountain?! What on earth are you thinking, you daft-”

“I love him!” Dan interrupts, the words surging out of him like vomit. His eyes widen as soon as they’re out, as if he can see them hanging in the air before him, hovering like flies above the Fitzgeralds’ bag of trash. “I- I mean, I care about him. I don’t- I don’t know why I said- forget that. But I do care. His marriage is toxic, Mum. If you knew the truth, if the rest of the world knew - if Vanessa and Derren knew what Nikolai was like-”

“Then what?” his mum asks, weakly. “They’d fall in love with him, too?”

Dan leaves the Fitzgeralds room without finishing the clean; his conversation with his mother has left him too agitated to focus on something so mundane. He remembers now - too late, of course - why he’s been so reluctant to call her back. He had not left home on good terms with his parents - his father refused to even say goodbye. They’ve always been hideously conservative in their views, so Dan with his liberal politics and marginally effeminate ‘emo’ dress sense growing up had never really been their idea of the perfect son.

Through school he’d rebelled against them, which only made everyone unhappy, so once he was older, he tried the opposite - to do what they wanted, to conform to their ideals of being a straight, cisgender young version of his father, on track to be a lawyer. But this was never good enough for them either, probably because it made Dan so miserable that he never truly gave it all he’d got. It’s always seemed to Dan that nothing he did would ever quite please them, so he’d run off instead, done the thing he knew would upset them and said ‘fuck the consequences’. There’s no point trying to explain his actions to either of them - not that his father would so much as speak to him, probably - because Dan doesn’t have answers or reasons for his actions right now, and that’s not what they want to hear.

To distract himself from the thousands of pounding, unpleasant thoughts rampaging through his mind, Dan heads for the stairs, intending to try and creep through the mezzanine without being seen. At a furtive glance, Dan sees the lounge area is rammed with people, some of which are spilling out onto the balcony, through the doors that have been opened. The sleet storm is dying down, but it’s not completely over, meaning that some speckles of icy water are flying in.

Dan doesn’t know for sure of course, but he highly doubts that Mona would have been the one to allow this, so it’s probably a Nikolai-request. He’s almost across the room, at the top of the stairs leading down to the lobby, when Mona spots him.

“Dan!” she near-shrieks, sounding seconds away from an even wilder tone of voice. “Dan, could you come here, please? Now?”

Suppressing a loud scream, Dan fixes a wobbly smile in place, and heads towards her. He notes that every single chair is occupied - people have pulled out beanbag chairs, trunks and stools, and crammed around the scatter of tables. It’s unnerving to see the room so teeming with bodies when it’s usually empty enough that Dan could dance through it in his underwear (provided Louise didn’t choose the wrong moment to look through the serving hatch).

Some of the people are familiar to Dan and some are new to him. Most of the people he doesn’t recognise are huddled together in matching slate grey suits, or grouped around enormous cameras, microphones in their hands. The Fitzgeralds have managed to snag their own table in the midst of it all, looking far too excited (minus their daughter, who is plugged into her iPhone, looking extremely like Dan at that age whenever he was forcibly taken to a social situation he didn’t want to be at). The Fitzgeralds are talking animatedly at Max the security man, who has squished all of his beefy, six-foot-two frame into a beanbag, arms folded, staring stoically ahead.

Ms Stone and Ms Harris are here as well, sipping tea and looking mildly alarmed - but interested - at their unusual surroundings. Dan also spots Cornelia in the corner by the TV, talking into a mobile phone and looking decidedly unhappy about something Dan is sure would push anyone except her into crisis mode. Bryony and Hazel are leaning through the serving hatch laughing about something with Louise. PJ is flitting about, stuck to the walls with his camera to his eye, photographing seemingly everything from the sleet stains on the wooden floor to the whiskers decorating Max’s chin. And Nikolai is here, of course, strolling in through the balcony doors in his long stylish coat, brushing sleet from his shoulders like it should have known better than to settle there.

When he sees Dan, he grins widely, and Dan senses the oncoming hug before it happens. Engulfed in Nikolai’s cold, damp arms, the only thought pumping through Dan’s treacherous mind is, most helpfully, your husband fucked my brains out last night.

He manages not to let this slip off his tongue, mercifully. When Nikolai releases him, he grins again. “My favourite concierge!” he bellows, slapping Dan on the shoulder. Dan wonders if Louise was right about him instantly forgetting the names of people he doesn’t care about. “I was wondering where you were being kept! Didn’t let the place fall off the cliff then, I see.”

“Hah,” Dan says, managing a weak smile as he surreptitiously rubs his shoulder. “Didn’t get the chance. Mona took over responsibility before disaster struck.”

“Atta boy,” Nikolai says; his weird accent does not suit the phrase and he seems to know it, judging by the way he clears his throat and claps his hands, distracting attention. “Right everyone, I know we said an outdoor shoot would be preferable, but the weather is against us, so I suggest you set up right here. I’ve been informed that he will be five minutes.”

Dan badly hopes that the ‘he’ in question is the abominable snowman, but somehow he doubts it.

“...doing my best to make sure everyone has a drink and a place to sit, but you’ll need to help me keep an eye…”

Dan realises, belatedly, that he’s been so busy half-glaring at Nikolai’s big, dumb head that he hasn’t been hearing a word Mona is whispering to him.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.” Dan leans in a bit closer to her. “Any idea what this is all about?”

“None whatsoever,” Mona replies, then darts away from him to where a slate-grey-suit man is beckoning her.

Dan sighs, scanning the crowd of people for any signs that someone might be in need of further refreshment. Nikolai has, thankfully, gone over to talk to Cornelia, so Dan is free of further sickening smalltalk with the man. He turns around, hoping to escape and hide in the kitchen so Louise can explain what the fuck is going on, when he bumps straight into Martyn Lester. He looks… completely different to this morning. His hair is neat and coiffed, he’s wearing a suit and black tie, and he has an earpiece over one ear.

“Afternoon, Dan,” he says with a wry smile. “Having fun at the party?”

“The host isn’t one of my best friends,” Dan says carefully, inclining his head towards Nikolai. It’s a bit of a risky comment, given that this man is Nikolai’s brother in law, but he’s hoping Louise wasn’t fibbing when she claimed Martyn loathed him.

Martyn follows Dan’s inclination, smile falling away. He looks quickly at the ground. “Yeah, don’t blame you.”

“What’s with the secret agent get up?” Dan asks, gesturing to Martyn’s new outfit. He’s not sure what it is, but something about Martyn Lester gives of an inherently calming vibe, like he’s radiating the single statement ‘I have everything under control’. Perhaps it’s an older brother thing. Or, more likely, it’s because he vaguely resembles Phil with his confident stance, and exhausted-yet-amused-by-everyone’s-ignorance air. “You planning on taking him out?”

Martyn sucks in a breath through his teeth. “Wouldn’t say that too loud. Max has the ears of a Silverwing and the biceps of a Silverback.”

Dan looks at him blankly.

“One’s a bat, one’s a gorilla,” Martyn explains.

“Oh,” Dan says, “I, uh, dropped out of uni.”

Martyn looks at him strangely. “Are you blaming your abandoned law degree for not knowing your species’ of animals by heart?”

“Well, no, I-” Dan breaks off, replaying the question in confusion. “How did you know it was a law degree?”

“Right, attention everyone,” Nikolai booms, striding into the centre of the room, whipping his coat off as he goes. He tosses the garment in seemingly no particular direction and Hazel lunges forwards to catch it before it hits the ground. Nikolai doesn’t seem to notice. “My soon to be ex-husband has finally decided to emerge from his lair, so we’ll start the interview in one minute, then move on to photos, then...”

Dan stops listening, too intent on scanning the room for Phil. He spots him at the edge of the crowd, arms folded, looking perfect and polished - an action figure intent on some actual action, but being forced to remain pretty and dust-free, displayed on a shelf.

Martyn leaves Dan’s side with a murmured excuse, at once heading to stand with his brother. Across the room, Dan notices Cornelia notice Phil’s appearance as well, and take a step in his direction, but upon seeing Martyn, she stops dead in her tracks, eyes wide and round, then turns abruptly away again. Dan frowns at the peculiar behaviour he’s just witnessed, vaguely recalling something Louise mentioned about she and Martyn having to argue out publicist-related drama between Phil and Nikolai a great deal when Martyn still worked for Phil.

At present, Martyn looks a lot like he still does work for Phil; he’s currently steering Phil into the centre of the room, pushing quite firmly as he obviously doesn’t want to move. Dan tries to catch Phil’s eye, to smile sympathetically, but Phil won’t look at him. He notes that Phil is wearing a tightly knotted scarf-thing around his throat, which was smart of him. Dan knows far too well that the hickey that scarf hides is, as of last night, just as vibrant as ever.

Martyn stands Phil on a small wooden crate that’s been put out, and Nikolai hops deftly up onto another at his side, unfazed. Everything about Phil’s body language screams discomfort, only growing worse with all the eyes on him. Along with the pang of sympathy that surges up in Dan’s chest, swoops the echo of what his mum said earlier - what Dan had said earlier even - how that ‘L’ word had just slipped out. Effortless, like it had been poised on the tip of his tongue for days.

Dan’s never used that word for anyone outside of family before, not even Beth. It must have been an accidental slip-up, born of a desperate desire not to let his mum win the argument, but how bizarre that it chose now to make a random appearance. He cannot possibly have fallen for Phil of all people, the man who consistently infuriates and aggravates him, who has a husband that would feel no remorse if he stepped on Dan’s face on his way out of the building. To fall in love - even the word is terrifying - with anyone, let alone the person he should resist developing any feelings for whatsoever, is not comprehensible. He refuses to so much as dare to believe it.

Even so, Dan wouldn’t wish this kind of horrible, judgemental scrutiny on anyone, let alone Phil (who he does, admittedly, care for - he wasn’t lying about that).

Martyn nods at Phil seriously, telling him something with those matching blue eyes alone, and then steps aside. Nikolai glances at Phil, who doesn’t look back, and sighs. “Okay. First question.”

Hands shoot up; there are four reporters as far as Dan can see - each with their own mini team of tech crew. The first is a woman in a bright red blazer, who Nikolai gestures to with a silky wave of his hand.

“Sir Nikolai, how are you feeling in the wake of your husband’s desire to divorce?”

“Devastated, of course,” Nikolai says sombrely, hands clasped at his waist. “I’ve tried to give Philip all he could ever wish for, but evidently, that was not enough.”

Dan’s hands curl into fists; he looks at Phil, wondering what he’ll add, but he’s just staring at the floor, lips thin and tight. Nikolai gestures to the next reporter, an attractive, honey-haired woman with dark lipstick and a darker fitted blazer tight on her skinny waist.

“Sir Nikolai,” she says in a low voice, ducking her head in a small bow, “would you address the recent rumours of your husband’s adultery?

Nikolai laughs, straightening his tie. “No more than idle gossip sold for a price,” he says airily; Dan tries to keep very still, but he gets the sense that several people are watching him closely. Probably Louise, for one. Nikolai laughs again in a long trill. “For starters, who on Earth would he be cheating with up here-”

Phil’s loosening his scarf, drawing Nikolai’s attention, making him break off before the sentence ends. It’s a subtle move, barely noticeable to anyone else, but Dan catches it. Nikolai pauses, zeroing in on something that Dan can’t see, that nobody can see except him, standing right beside Phil, but that Dan can easily guess at.

What the fuck is Phil playing at? Dan wonders, heartbeat pounding in his ears. It’s almost like he wants Nikolai to see- Oh.

In a flash, Dan understands. He does want Nikolai to see the bruise. He wants him to know that the media had been right, there is a ‘someone’. Phil wants to hurt him. Nikolai is still not saying anything. There’s a shadow passing over his sharp, handsome features. And then, in the next instant, it’s vanished, flicked away out of the balcony doors, his easy, carefully morose expression back in position. Dan lets out a sigh of relief, quietly. Phil re-knots the scarf.

Nikolai gestures to a man with a dark widow’s peak cutting a severe expression into his forehead. “Next question?”

“Sir Nikolai, it’s a pleasure,” the man says in a deep, slimy voice; Dan likens it to gooey, dark molasses. “What prompted the sudden split?”

“I wish I could tell you,” Nikolai says with a sad smile. He looks at Phil, who is still staring straight down at the ground, and heaves a long-suffering sigh. “But alas, Philip is the only one who could answer that question. I’m still very much in love.”

Dan snorts, the sound loud and obvious in the hushed room. He brings his hand to his mouth, immediately feigning a coughing fit. As he’s spluttering, he snags Cornelia’s eye across the room; she’s laughing silently at him.

“Yes, my question is for Philip?” the large, bespectacled lady Nikolai has waved to says, peering over her glasses at Phil. Phil doesn’t move, but Dan senses a collective intake of breath shudder through the room, which is then held in thirty or so sets of lungs. “How has your marriage to Nikolai been?”

Slowly, Phil lifts his head. He stares the lady full in the face; there’s no mistaking the white hot fury in his eyes now that they’re visible. “Go to hell,” he spits out. “Maybe you’ll experience it for yourself.”

A moment of shocked silence stretches, elastic and loaded, and then it snaps, the room erupting into noise. The reporters abandon Nikolai’s ‘hands up’ system and start angrily yelling their questions, shouting over each other as chairs scrape backwards and Nikolai’s various staff members jump up to keep everything under control. The most angry of the lot is the reporter Phil told to go to hell, perhaps understandably, and she charges towards the makeshift podiums, only to trip on her way and launch forwards into Nikolai’s legs.

Nikolai stumbles and falls backwards, landing directly on his ass on the wooden floor behind. Shrieks of distress echo through the room, most of them coming from Mrs Fitzgerald, and seemingly everybody rushes to help Nikolai up, except Dan and Phil, who both stand rigidly in the midst of the commotion, turning to lock eyes across people’s bobbing heads.

Finally, Dan is able to send him that sympathetic smile, but Phil just looks desperately miserable, and doesn’t manage to return it. So instead, Dan mouths ‘you fucked that up’. The corner of Phil’s mouth twitches then, just a tad, but still enough for Dan to know he got through. Warm, syrupy pride courses through Dan’s veins, just from knowing he’s able to make Phil feel even a tiny bit better in such a horrendous situation. Phil turns to watch Nikolai being dusted off for a moment, and as he looks away, Dan realises what the sweet, soft, melted-butter-on-toast feeling consuming him must be. He loves this pompous idiot with a fuse shorter than most matches.

Phil fixes that gellid blue gaze back on him and rolls his eyes in regard to Nikolai’s theatrics. And right then, in that moment Dan knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that he’s completely, Royally fucked.

(Chapter Eighteen!)

#too high #phanfic #phan #enemies to lovers au

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talisamposts · 5 years ago

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My 7-day Tasmania Itinerary

Tasmania is such a beautiful travel destination! I recently spent a week there and absolutely loved it. Aside from pre-planned group bookings, I didn’t find much in the way of solo travel itineraries, so I took a bit out of all the posts I found and created my own. I have to say, I thought it was near perfect! I decided to rent a car for the week, but if you have your own and take the ferry over, that works too.

So if you’re planning a trip to Tassie, have a look over my plan.

Day 1 - Hobart

Your first day can be spent just exploring Hobart and the surrounds. As it’s not a large city and the airport is so close, it’s possible to see quite a few things even if you only have half a day.

In terms of accommodation, Hobart is not lacking in anything. I would definitely recommend a stay in Rose Bay, which is not in the Hobart city centre, but across the bridge on the opposite side of the Derwent river. It’s a few minutes’ drive out of the city and you get the most spectacular views of the Tasman bridge and the river.

While driving around Hobart and around the city, make sure to head up to Mount Wellington. This is a must-see and probably the easiest and cheapest thing you’ll do. It’s completely free to go up to the viewpoint and you can drive the entire way. I drove at a leisurely pace, stopping a few times to take pictures and take in the scenery, which probably took me about a half hour. The view from the top is breathtaking and you can wander around there for a bit. Just remember to take warm clothing as it’s freezing at the top!

Once you’ve been up Mount Wellington, head to the Botanical Gardens. Entry is also free and the gardens are stunning. They have a wide range of plant species, a cafe and shop and their very own Japanese Garden. If you’re wanting some peace and quiet in nature, this is the place to go.

For dinner, Hobart has many options. As a vegan, I love supporting businesses that are entirely veggie, which is why I ate at Veg Bar a few times. To be honest, it’s not the greatest vegan food I’ve had by a long shot, but it’s worth a visit, if only to enjoy the funky decor.

Day 2 - Bruny Island

Since driving a lot can get tiring, I recommend doing the things that require the longer drives at the beginning of your week. Trust me, you’re not really going to be in the mood for them towards the end. To catch the ferry to Bruny Island, an absolute must-see when in Tassie, you have to drive about 30-40 minutes to Kettering. The ferry takes about 15 minutes and departs at multiple times throughout the day. The island itself is actually really large with no public transport, so prepare to spend the majority of your time driving.

If you’re keen to get that Bruny Island lighthouse photo everyone loves, I recommend doing that as your first thing. It’s the furthest away from where the ferry docks and the road takes you through the South Bruny National Park. It’s gorgeous but be careful on the dirt roads as your tires can slip easily depending on your car. I think it took me roughly 2 hours to get there.

I am not ashamed to admit that, as an introvert, I despise large crowds and will almost always avoid them. I did not get that typical lighthouse pic, because it started raining just as I got there, there were heaps of people and it’s still quite a climb from the carpark up to the lighthouse. I walked halfway up, took an average pic of the lighthouse, and went back down. Keep in mind that you have to pay an entry fee to actually go into the lighthouse. I still think it was worth the drive, though, because the scenery there and along the way is absolutely beautiful.

Aside from the lighthouse, there are plenty of other things to see and do on Bruny Island. Wine tasting, chocolate tasting, whiskey tasting, cheese tasting, lunches (my recommendation is Bruny Island Seafood Restaurant for great seating and a delicious pumpkin soup) and many other options. Build those into your itinerary however you’d like. If you’re exploring the island the way I did, starting right down at the bottom, I recommend heading over to Adventure Bay next.

On your way back up to the north of the island, make sure to stop at the Neck. This is the part that connects the south and north of Bruny Island. Climb up the stairs to the lookout point and get that iconic view of both beaches!

The reason I did this later in my day was that there are a lot less people around than in the morning, so you can actually find parking and enjoy the view without a million people around you.

Day 3 - Bay of Fires

For two days of my trip I did actually book a guided tour. I know this is not always the most appealing to introverts, but I highly recommend you push yourself to do it. There are plenty of tours to choose from, most of them doing roughly the same thing and they tend to keep groups to a maximum of 24 people. In my case I was very lucky, as they’d somehow overbooked their tour and organised a smaller bus for just 7 of us. The people in my tour were all absolutely lovely, and our guide was excellent, so it worked out really well for me.

Either way I’d still recommend booking an East Coast Tasmania tour as getting all the way up to the Wineglass Bay and the Bay of Fires would be tricky as a solo traveller. This is really where you want to be taken care of, and I also enjoyed the break from having to drive for hours.

Have a look at some Tassie tours here.

I realise that for these two days my rental car was not being used, but the daily price was not high enough for me to care too much about this. If this is something that bothers you, change up your itinerary a bit. Keep in mind that booked tours run on specific days only, so you’ll have to plan around that. The 2-day East coast tour I booked starts on Wednesdays.

Part of the tour is also a stop at a wildlife sanctuary in Bicheno, where you can see and learn about Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Quolls and other interesting animals. Buy a feed bag and go feed the kangaroos and geese wandering freely around the sanctuary, it’s an amazing experience!

Day 4 - Wineglass Bay

The second day of the tour takes you to the Freycinet National Park, where you’ll climb up to a viewpoint to look out over Wineglass Bay. This is another iconic Tasmanian image that’s worth the hike up the mountain. Make sure to wear suitable footwear and be reasonably fit!

Unfortunately, I visited on one of those extremely rare, extremely rainy days and did not get to see the view from the lookout, but honestly the walk was still fun. I got completely soaked through within minutes (imagine jumping into a swimming pool fully clothed) and there were waterfalls running down the mountains. Considering that this rarely ever happens, I felt quite lucky to have seen a side of Freycinet that most people don’t.

I’m not sure if this applies to me only or if all introverts can relate, but I love the rain. It’s my favourite weather because the world is so much less noisy when it rains. So overall, for me, this was still a great experience.

On a normal, sunny day you’d probably take a nice hike up to the viewpoint, take some pics and then go down to the actual beach of Wineglass Bay for a swim. This would take a few hours and you’d see wallabies and other animals in the park. You’d then head back to Hobart in the afternoon.

Day 5 - Port Arthur

Port Arthur Historic Site is a little village and historic site which showcases the history of British prisoners and the officers and soldiers stationed there. It’s really well kept and you get a good feeling of how life was back when it was operational. I unexpectedly spent almost all day here as it’s really big and there is just so much to see. Tickets aren’t cheap and additional tours cost extra, but even if you just get general admission it’s worth it. The ticket is valid for 2 days, so you do have the option to return the next day.

The site is about a 90-minute drive out of Hobart, and it’s definitely worth a visit!

Day 6 - Salamanca Market, MONA

Most people agree that a trip to Hobart wouldn’t be complete without visiting the famous Salamanca Market. This market sells everything from fresh veggies to jewellery to delicious food and drinks. My first stroll through the market took about an hour, that’s how big it is. It’s held every Saturday at Salamanca Place from 8:30am - 3pm. There are some great vegan options if you’re like me and like to eat your way through a market!

If you’re into art, then check out the MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). It’s one of Hobart’s main attractions, a museum built mostly underground that you can get to using their unique ferry. If you’re on a budget just keep the entry and ferry prices in mind, as they’re not cheap.

The museum is like no other you’ve ever experienced. You won’t find information cards or artists’ names on the walls beside their art, as you’d expect. Instead, you’re given a device (like an old iPhone) that you keep with you as you walk through the exhibits. It has a location service so you can check out any information on anything you’re looking at, including interactive VR stuff. It’s definitely very interesting, but I must admit there were times where I thought “this counts as art?”, but that’s just me. The nice thing is it’s mostly dark everywhere and you don’t have to talk to anyone, so a great thing to do for introverts.

Day 7 - Richmond

I recommend relaxing or doing any small things you didn’t get to do all week on your last day. A tip my AirBnB hosts gave me was a drive to Richmond, a small town about 25 minutes outside of Hobart. It’s got that typical cute, old-timey village feel. There’s a huge lolly shop with so many candy options, the Richmond Bridge which is the oldest stone bridge in Australia, and the Richmond Gaol where they also imprisoned women. For lunch I recommend Czegs’ Cafe. The decor is adorable and they have little outside tables where you can keep away from the masses. The vegan pasta is to die for!

I really hope this little itinerary helps you in your search for the best things to do in Tassie. If you have more time, I hear Launceston is a great place to visit, or even going up the West Coast. I’ll have to check that out the next time I go.

#tasmania #hobart #itinerary #travel #veganfood #solotravel #introvert #vegan travel #selfdriving #introvert travel

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lunar-winterlude · 6 years ago

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Answered all the questions on this post because @missingparentheses suggested it and why not. Under the cut, unless Tumblr decides to break it, in which case I apologize for the long post...............

1. What was the name of the first person you ever had a crush on? Why did you like them? Her name was Jessie and she was a year ahead of me in Sunday school. She had long dark hair that I thought was really pretty, and she always seemed happy and confident and outgoing. I used to write her name on stuff at home and imagine that we were best friends. We talked exactly one (1) time in the years that my family attended that church, but I remember being in awe of how cool she was. Of course, I didn’t realize that I’d had a crush on her until much, much later. At the time (first/second grade) I didn’t know queer crushes were a thing.

2. What is one thing you regret having done or not done in your life? I regret not speaking my mind more.

3. Which parent do you identify with the most? I’ve always identified more with my dad which is HORRIFYING. Growing up, he was marginally easier to talk to than my mom. Things have completely changed since then, now that I’ve begun to understand my mom and the reasons behind her actions.

4. What do you think you cook or bake the best? I make good crockpot meals lmao. Chicken alfredo, chili, mac n cheese, brownies...yeah, it’s great.

5. If you could change your first name what would it be? I like my name! I do go by Shay on some accounts though, so maybe that.

6. Can you hula hoop? Hell yes. I can swivel these hips for days.

7. What embarrasses you the most in front of other people? Crying in front of anyone. I cried while talking to my therapist once and just thinking about it squicks me out. Before that, the last time I cried in front of anyone was my parents in 2012 (holy shit), when I got home from teaching the day the principal yelled at me in front of my class. SO YEAH if I ever cry in front of you, it’s probably because something traumatizing has happened.

8. Have you considered running for president? Nope, never.

9. If you had to choose one thing you were most passionate about, what would it be and why? Creating stuff! Making music, crafting stories, all that good stuff. I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to that. Lots of insecurities get in the way.

10. Who are you most envious of—real or fictional—and why? I’m envious of creative queer women with long-term partners and financially stable lives. Ultimately, that’s where I want to be.

11. Where is the most beautiful place on earth and why? Haven’t been to many places I’d consider beautiful, but the Cape Fear River is gorgeous!

12. Are ghosts real? Maybe?

13. Are aliens real? Probably! The universe is huge.

14. How old is the most expired item in your fridge? I just checked and nothing in there is expired. My sister and I don’t play when it comes to stuff like that, and this is why we’re great roommates.

15. What are your favorite style of underwear? Boxer briefs!

16. What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard? Joji - Yeah Right. Perfectly encapsulates how it feels to know you’re being used.

17. How about the sweetest song? Shawn Wasabi - Spicy Boyfriend. YEAH I KNOW the lyrics are nothing. But the music itself?? That’s how sweetness sounds to me.

18. Do you know how to play dominoes? Yes! My mom showed us when we were kids. It was boring...

19. What’s under your bed? A replica Joker knife I got at my first con and a baseball bat. Don’t mess.

20. Have you ever prank called someone? Once when I was like five, I called my grandpop and hung up when he answered, does that count.

21. 100 kittens or 3 baby sloths? What, to keep as pets? Neither. But if I had to choose which to hang out with for a bit??? I’m allergic to most cats but kittens are adorable.

22. Are you proud of what you’re doing with your heart and time right now? No.

23. Why or why not? I’m still hung up on past rejections. Fixating on “what if,” and wondering if things would have turned out differently if only I’d been funnier, hotter, more clever, interesting, assertive, outgoing, etc...yeah this is a bad road and I ain’t going down it tonight.

24. How many bones have you broken? NONE

25. Have you ever won anything? Big or small? I won a spot in the NJ all-state wind ensemble on my first time auditioning after playing bassoon for a little over a year. It was a big deal because bassoon isn’t an instrument that people learn very quickly. But I spent an obscene amount of time practicing it in high school, and most of the other bassoons hardly practiced at all. That counts, right?

26. If you could buy one material thing, and money was not an issue, what would it be? A custom-built gaming PC. I want to play the Witcher 3 goddammit

27. What’s your favorite movie from your childhood? Hmmm, maybe “Honey we shrunk the kids.” My sister and I watched it again recently and it's still hilarious.

28. What food will you absolutely not, under any circumstances, eat? Anything I’m allergic to. Keep peanut butter far away from me. Other than that, I’ll try anything once.

29. What’s the best way to comfort you when you’re having a really terrible day? Just check in on me, ask me questions, let me ramble, say something affirming, maybe give me a hug if I ask?

30. Has anything/anyone every saved your life before? When I was a teenager, I liked to say that music saved my life because everyone I knew said that. But honestly? I don’t know..

31. Would you ever adopt a child? Nope, no kids here. I don’t have the emotional capacity for raising children.

32. What is one thing you’re embarrassed to admit you want to try? I’m drawing a blank here...am I supposed to say sex stuff? I’m legit curious to try pegging a guy once, but I also have zero interest in sleeping with guys right now, so that may never happen.

33. If you were a cake which cake would you be? Molten chocolate cake. I know that “molten” isn’t referring to the temperature BUT I’m black and sometimes SOMETIMES I’d like to believe that I’m hot and oh god that was a terrible answer but I can’t think of anything better whoopssss

34. What is the most important material possession you have and why? Definitely my car. Without it, I’m screwed.

35. What is the most important memory you have and why? I’m only coming up with memories of disappointment, so I’m gonna pass on this one.

36. When was the last time you cried? I cried while watching Into the Spiderverse. I’m like Rhett when it comes to crying in movies. But only if I’m alone! Crying in front of other people is a huge nope, as I said earlier.

37. How old was your mother when she had you? She was 33

38. Which famous person would you like to be BFFs with? Janelle Monae!!!

39. Is there something you wish you had said sorry for but never did? I can’t think of anything. There are definitely things I wish I hadn’t apologized for, though.

40. Have you been on your first date? If so, how did it go? Sort of?? I met up with a girl I was talking to online. No one called it a date, so maybe this doesn’t count. We hung out at this little bar that had board games. She was nice, but it was so awkward. We talked for two minutes, realized we had very little in common, but valiantly tried to play a board game or two anyway. Trouble is, most games are meant for more than two people, and my clumsy attempts at keeping the conversation going weren’t working. So after a miserable hour, (miserable for me, at least) we parted ways and haven’t spoken since.

She correctly guessed my reasons for coming out when I did, so that was amusing, I guess.

Heartbreak was the one thing we had in common.

#ask meme #about me #enjoy

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yeehawkins · 6 years ago

Note

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 for the music ask?

“Heh”

am not gonna copy paste every one so heres the post w the questions (a lot of my answers are depeche mode answers aa a a a sorry)

I think my friend answered the same but I Feel You from SOFAD hella got me. In Chains from Sounds Of The Universe was pretty damn good too

Jump - Van Halen

Master of Puppets - Metallica

idk why but Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty comes to mind jkldglh (fall is my fave season)

Ballad of Mona Lisa - Panic! At The Disco

hmmm I think it’s a toss up between The Weight of The Wind and I’ve Been Losing You (both by a-ha)

Electric Love - BØRNS

wow edgy hmmm honestly dont really know, suppose ima go w this one. Wrong - Depeche Mode

We’re Looking For The Whales - A-ha

had to look this up but apparentlY The Beatles did one ig so uh. Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey - The Beatles

Come With Me Now - KONGOS

ik i’m gonna be reusing this song for number 30 buT. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode

ok i’m gonna count covers. Rocket Man - Ninja Sex Party

LA Devotee - Panic! At The Disco

ok kind of a weird choice but the music from the Sunshine Airport course on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Irreplaceable - Beyonce

fuckn. Throwback Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy 2

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths. no specific bad time but definitely a song i listen to when im feelin r e a l bad

Taylor Swift jklsdfhjklf

prob Danny Don’t You Know - Ninja Sex Party tbh

bruh i forget Kansas City even exists most the time i got nothing

i, really do not k n o w. my music taste has basically totally changed from when i was younger with the exception of a few bands but any song i relate to is basically the same reasons jskldlfgjkljklgdf, sorry

i don’T know current music that good (fr looked up top 100 songs rn, luckily i knew One n like it) but B)). Happier - Marshmello & Bastille

The Internet is For Porn - Avenue Q. jsdfghjfgd (still haven’t fully finished that musical but omf this song)

Leave It - Yes. has been hella stuck in my head for the past like 2 days

lowkey never really learned much from a song but this one prob gives a good message i should really take to heart more. Peace - Depeche Mode

Headstar - Depeche Mode

hmm I never really skip songs, but this one I do skip a lot but it’s actually hella good. Sister of Night - Depeche Mode

o m f don’t make me pick. ig, if i must (i love tf outta most of their album closers tho). Clean - Depeche Mode

aa a aA A A this is v hard but my usual go-to is. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode

#emeracco #long post #sorrY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO ANSWER #had to do big think on this

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flapperfromthefuture · 6 years ago

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Michael, what have you done?

That’s what I keep asking him in my head. Because in my head, Michael and I have been friends my whole life. In my inner life’s landscape, he is as natural and enduring as Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh or any person I’ve known so long I can’t remember ever meeting them. No one ever told me who Michael Jackson was. He was just always there.

You have to understand, Michael was the first music I ever heard. My mom listened to one tape, and one tape only, while she was pregnant with me, and that was Thriller.

The first sounds I ever heard in this world were my mother’s heartbeat, my parents’ voices, and Michael singing about monsters. How he was going to protect us from them. Ignore his glowing eyes and the chill in his voice as he says “I’m not like other guys.”

Was he daring us to truly see him the entire time?

Wade Robson says that Michael began his grooming process long before he or James Safechuck ever met him, because Michael groomed the entire world.

What chance did one little boy have against him? Or two little boys, or three or four or perhaps more—no, definitely more?

What chance did any of us have?

You have to understand, I was a child when Michael was everything. Everyone in the world loved him—the biggest stars right now have barely an ember of his star power.

Even E.T. and Kermit were stoked to meet him. Fred Astaire was in awe of his dancing. Princesses and presidents bowed down to him. When everyone from luminaries to little kids treats you like a god, what hope do you have of staying human?

One day, we were dancing to Black or White in the living room at my friend’s house. My friend abruptly stopped dancing, ran to his mother in the kitchen and said, “Mom! If Dad dies, will you marry Michael Jackson?”

His mom laughed and said, “Sure, why not?” And my friend bopped happily back to his place in front of the altar to our hero and we danced to his song.

We were six.

Only now do I realize that he made that video—as a man in his 30s—with cameos from multiple children, including the most popular child star since Shirley Temple, the cartoon characters from every kid’s favorite TV show, and a child-friendly message of “It doesn’t matter what color your skin is! We can all dance together and turn into panthers!” rather than attempt a bolder, more artistically complex statement befitting someone of his talent and experience. Janelle Monae is the same age now and she’s been writing songs that run circles around Michael for years.

Did he ever truly care about his art? Or was it all calculated to appeal to children? To get him access to children?

One day, I was riding along in my babysitter’s car, listening to the Dangerous album. She knew everything about music. So she knew everything about Michael. She had Bad and Thriller ready for action, right in the front seat. I remember so clearly holding the Bad CD in one little hand, and Thriller in the other, and realizing for the first time, “He looks different.” But I never thought he looked like a different person. Even though his hair, his nose, his skin had completely changed, I could see the same soul across both faces.

At least, I thought I did. Now I think I imagined a spark in his eyes that was never truly there. But I was a child then, and Michael was just Michael. I’d known him for all seven years of my life, as long as I’d known anybody. Sure, I didn’t really know him, but that didn’t matter. I forgot about it a second later. It wasn’t worth thinking too hard about. Never even asked my babysitter to explain it, and I asked her to explain everything.

There was a song on Dangerous about a little girl who is murdered by an abusive guardian. Michael’s voice was so vivid and tender, even as he sang about the blood in the little girl’s hair. That song haunted me. I asked my babysitter to play it again and again.

I knew that children could be hurt by adults. When I was little, we were taught to be afraid of strangers and not walk anywhere by ourselves and never answer the door unless an adult was home. It was horrific and impossible to understand but always a lurking possibility that adults could hurt you. And I was glad that Michael was telling people about this.

Michael really cared about children, I thought. After all, he was friends with so many.

Wade was 5 when he won a dance contest in Australia, and first prize for being the best mini-Michael was to meet Michael himself. James was cast in a commercial at 9 where he wore Michael’s jackets and imitated his moves, and then after a camera crew came to his house to film an “audition tape” in his bedroom (for reasons never made clear to his mother, but she didn’t seem to mind), he was invited to join the Bad tour, and dance with Michael on stage every night.

Watching this little boy bound on stage, in front of thousands of screaming fans, and dance with all the confidence and joy in the world, as his shattered adult self wistfully narrates how much fun he had, made me cry for both of them.

Michael took all these luminous children and turned them into broken adults.

Was it some way of molding them into mini-Michaels forever?

They were so small.

When you’re a child, you don’t understand how small you truly are.

When Michael died, I cried for him. I’ve loved his music since before I knew what music was. I’ve spent hours watching his videos, documentaries, concerts. I’ve obsessed over his spins, his steps, the way he winks in Smooth Criminal, the way he snaps his fingers in the The Way You Make Me Feel. He’d gotten me through bad days at school, stress and sadness, a secret friend in my ear always eager to cheer me up. When my sister had to have cardiac surgery as a teenager, I spent twelve hours in the waiting room reading an 832-page biography on Michael. The only thing big enough to distract me from absolute crushing fear was him.

Stella and I got Mexican food and watched his funeral live on CNN. We cried for his children. They’ll never get to truly know him, we said.

Now I have to hope that he died before either of his sons reached his target age range.

After he died, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. What he could have accomplished if it weren’t for all the drama dragging him down in the last half of his life.

What he would’ve looked like if he’d been able to stand his own face.

What he could have done if he’d just gotten a good therapist and cut ties with his family and the hangers-on who kept turning on him for a payout.

Oh, yes, I believed that lie too. I mean, it had been fed to me since I was eight. Of course there are people out there who will lie that the worst crime has been committed against their child and willfully drag that child through the legal system and the 24/7 media spotlight and a lifetime of “Hey, weren’t you that kid . . .” just for a shot at a few bucks.

That makes total sense.

Why did it ever make sense?

After he died, I spent hours watching old videos and interviews and long story short, I took 255 screenshots and saved them to a file on my computer. I never looked at them again, so I don’t know why I needed to save them.

It started out as just wanting to find a good picture of him smiling—really smiling, not just posing or performing, but holding a genuine, human smile. Turned out, that was hard to find.

How sad, I thought. For all of his money and fame and accomplishments, he knew such little real happiness in his life. He always had to be “on.” He was so lonely, with no one who ever loved him for himself, but that was his sacrifice to make us all happy.

That’s what he told us.

Those boys loved him. Those boys still love him. James says that he feels guilty, still, for letting Michael down.

Everyone let James down, but no, he blames himself. It wasn’t his fault. It’s never any child’s fault, but he’s spent his entire life blaming himself. That’s what Michael trained him to do. That’s what this abuse does to you. It corrupts the very wiring of your brain.

Wade says that for him to understand that he was abused meant questioning everything that had ever happened to him from the age of 5, from his love of dance to the break-up of his family to his livelihood as an adult. It takes decades to understand and even longer to accept that your whole childhood was a lie.

“Michael was good. That was all that existed in my mind,” he says.

Michael willfully destroyed Wade’s childhood and his family. James will spend the rest of his life putting himself back together. And they still loved him. So many people still love him. But they don’t matter. What matters is that Wade and James are telling the truth. And people are listening. We’ve lost our friend, for real this time—because not even death could truly take him, not when his music plays somewhere every minute—and we have to accept, at long last, that what we felt for him was genuine, but he never was.

Before I deleted my file of Michael’s pictures, I went through them all first, one by one, but I never found that human smile. Just hundreds of shifting masks and hollow eyes with all the glow extinguished.

Our Friend Michael, the Monster Michael, what have you done? That's what I keep asking him in my head. Because in my head, Michael and I have been friends my whole life.

#leaving neverland #michael jackson #music

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mariposalass · 6 years ago

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Muse Q&A

Pick one of your muses. Fill in the questions/statements as if you were your muse in a new post. Tag five people to do this meme.

Inspired to do this by @husband-of-lucoa, Hi Dylan! Thanks for the dare, bud.

***

1. What is your name?

Issa

2. What is your real name?

Isabelle Katarina Santiago Miravelez (yes, I know Rebecca’s maiden name was actually Del Carmen in the show, but I didn’t know it then and I just don’t care, hehehe! Also, she didn’t have another first name in her canon so I threw in Katarina here for kicks! - Mari)

3. Do you know why you’re called that?

My mom was reading Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits and Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew some time before I was born, lol!

4. Are you single or taken?

Dating Harry Potter (my friend Mari’s adopted older brother)

5. Have any abilities or powers?

Nope, just a normal human.

6. Stop being a Mary Sue.

What are you talking about!?!

7. What’s your eye color?

Dark Brown

8. How about your hair color?

Black

9. Have you got any family members?

2 parents, one living grandmother, 3 dead grandparents, an uncle, 2 aunts (1 died young though), 3 cousins (1 died) and a 2nd cousin from my mom’s side.

10. Oh? What about pets?

My apartment sadly can’t let me keep pets as a policy, but I love my bf and friends’ PokéBirds Torchic, Piplup, & Rowlet, Marie the kitten, and Scooby Doo the Great Dane.

11. That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

Being mistaken for a rude chick thanks to my odd opinions and sharp tongue, getting accused for talking down a guy I used to be friends (but it serves him right in the end though), accidentally hurting Harry from trying to learn magic from him in the past

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

Reading, writing articles (works for a local newspaper at the moment), listening to music, watching films & shows, cooking, swimming, sketching & painting, collecting small glass sculptures, dancing, basketball, hanging out with my friends

13. Ever hurt anybody before?

Harry gets some injuries from me failing to learn magic under his tutelage a few times before he realized it won’t go well if we keep the lessons and I continue to accidentally hurt him for our safety. Verbally, I did turned off plenty in the past, but that’s another story.

14. Ever… killed anyone before?

Nope, never did.

15. What kind of animal are you?

As far as I recall, humans are technically primates. But if you are talking about spirit animals, I’ll go with foxes: sneaky clever little fellows!

16. Name your worst habits.

Being brutally honest on the verge of being mistaken for rude, hair twirling, injuring Harry with wand antics when learning magic, taking too long to pick out a restaurant at times (blames on my Libra ‘indecisiveness’?)

17. Do you look up to anyone at all?

My late cousin Serena: we’re close growing up until her death by leukemia when I was 10 and it really hurt our family a lot with her loss.

18. Gay, straight or bisexual?

Definitely straight

19. Do you go to school?

Already graduated from college, silly!

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

Yes, but we’re not at the right time to marry right now.

21. Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

My series isn’t well-known outside of the Philippines and Filipino overseas communities, so I can’t gauge it out.

22. What are you most afraid of?

Loved ones dying or being in critical injury and tight close spaces

23. What do you usually wear?

I tend to wear comfy and stylish clothes: my usual wardrobe is often composed of jeans, blouses, t-shirts, boots, sandals, flats, sneakers, dresses, cardigans, skirts, and sweaters. Over with the jewelry, I like to mix up bangles a ton and I also happen to wear a silver heart locket necklace that my cousin Serena used to wear before she died as a memento of her.

24. Do you love someone?

I used to had a crush on a friend named Samuel, he’s dating his long-time girlfriend Mona who’s also my friend. Still loving Harry as always though.

25. When was the last time you wet yourself?

....

26. Well, it’s not over yet!

Bring it!

27. What class are you? (High class, middle class, low class)

Family is high class in the Philippines, but I’m currently living a upper middle class life in Daly City, and I don’t mind that at all.

28. How many friends do you have?

Not much growing up until moving to the States. Right now, it has been growing steadily.

29. What are your thoughts on pie?

I’m not much of a pie eater.

30. Favorite drink?

Iced Coffee Latte

31. What’s your favorite place?

Manila, Philippines (#homecountrybias)

32. Are you interested in someone?

Already in a relationship

33. What’s your cup size and/or how big is your willy?

*death glares at the questioner*

34. Would you rather swim in the lake or ocean?

Ocean, I have swimming experiences from living in the Philippines where there are tons of beaches to choose from.

35. What’s your type?

Kind sensitive men who can stand on their own and care deeply for the people around them. I guess I got lucky with Harry.

37. Seme or uke? Top or Bottom? Dominant or Submissive?

Errr... Not a BDSM fan though.

38. Camping or indoors?

Indoors, I’m a city girl sadly.

39. Are you wanting the quiz to end?

Are you serious? That was weirdly quick...

40. Now it’s over! Tag five people:

I’m letting anyone who want to try it out to do this if they wish!

#reblog #reblog game #ask meme #memes #Isabelle Miravelez #Ikaw Lamang #Steel Blossoms #platonic f/os #my f/os #self insert #self ship #self shipping #q and a #wow mari’s not mentioned a lot here...#character q and a #f/o headcanons #q&a #abs cbn #abs-cbn philippines

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teenageread · 2 years ago

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Review: Unbelievable

Synopsis:

Four pretty little liars’ charmed lives have turned into living nightmares. Emily’s been shipped off to Iowa to live with her überconservative cousins. Aria’s boyfriend is behind bars—because of her. Spencer’s afraid she was involved in Ali’s murder. But Hanna’s fate is far worse: She’s clinging to life in the hospital because she knew too much. These liars have tried to keep their scandals secret, but the truth is about to rock their pretty little world!

Plot:

The only way to stop someone as fabulous as Hanna is to hit her with a truck, or SUV in this case. With Hanna waking up from her coma, not remembering anything from that night, Aria, Emily, and Spencer are back to square one, trying to figure out who A is and finding Ali's killer. Not that Emily can help, giving her family homophobia. She gets sent to Iowa, only to realize that there will always be girls that catch her eye no matter where she goes. Spencer, dealing with the Golden Orchid business (still), her and Melissa's relationship is hitting the rocks, and her parents are determined to fix it. Forcing the sisters to work together, Melissa reveals Ian's inability to lie to her. She knew Ali and Ian were a thing back when Ali was alive and that she "took care of it" in her own way. Where Spencer, even her fuzzy block-out memory, knew she could not kill Ali, but could her sister? Melissa always got her way, and even Spencer did not see the length to which Melissa would achieve that, so murder could be within the limit. Then there is Aria, with significant family issues to deal with, past guilt she wants to get off her chest, and a new art class where she can start to focus on putting her life back in order. With the big event of this novel being Hanna's "welcome back to Rosewood" celebration, one that Mona and Spencer planned for Mona's BFFFFFF, a lot of drama is about to go down, including the revealing A.

Thoughts:

Sara Shepard really threw this novel to the wind, as it is the most drama-filled and plot-moving story yet in the series. The story is literally giving my rating one more heart than it deserves, just because of the amount of information given out compared to the previous books in the series. That information being: who A is, and who killed Ali, as it is accompanied by an arrest. Shepard kept the same format as the other books, as it is working well. The story has minor drama, the main event with big drama, and the aftermath setting up the next installment. This book does that, but the little drama is very minor, and the big drama is a game-changer. The little drama is all very reversible issues centering around the girls not wanting to make any life-changing decisions. An example is Emily going to Iowa at the beginning of the novel but being back in Rosewood for a few chapters. Thus, readers are forced to read through these small minded items in order to get to the big drama at Hanna’s party. The favorite character in this novel and Shepard is making it easier to like these girls would be Aria. Our girl is trying her hardest to fix past mistakes, and now that she is living with Meredith, so she cannot really be on a witch hunt 24/7 with her. Almost accepting that her family as she knew it was gone, Aria started trying to make amends with people and was not looking for a new guy now that Ezra was gone (and hopefully stays gone. YUCK!). Shepards writing is getting better, as she starts to make more emotional connections between the characters, ones that you can relate to; however, everything gets left to the last minute because Shepard never has our girls together, forcing them to see each other at these significant events, do a massive talk about what they all individually learned (which always happen to be the same things), and then to rush off to save one of them / hunt A / catch Ali's killer. Thus, making A's dramatic reveal in this novel kind of rushed, and one Shepherd could have drawn out a lot more. With this being the end of phase one for the girls, their story is not done yet, as the trial for Ali's killer is here, and Rosewood has to bury another one of their own.

A Suspects:

The concept of the novel is our four girls trying to find out who A is, thus I thought it would be fun to keep a suspect list to see how many people Shepard writes for the girls to at one point suspect and by whom. So here is the list for book #4:

Maya by Emily

Mona by Hanna