#Off topic but like there has been some crazy school drama that has been involving me and has been im my mind bc of how pissed off i am w it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

xpeachesncream · 4 years ago

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acquainted | four

> series masterlist <

summary: the biggest goal of a grad student is to get through school in one piece - no petty drama involved, no sweating over the little things. however, that plan almost always never follows through. sometimes, you can’t help but fall into the most unthinkable, unexpected traps and learn the hard way. like, exhibit a: being unable to resist your engaged, substitute teacher, kim seokjin.

pairing: (2nd bts member to be revealed) x reader x engaged!teacher!seokjin

genre: grad school au, student life au | fluff, angst, smut (to come)

words: 4.2k

warnings: implied sexual content, your friends are still extra, cussing / mature language, relationship issues, angst, making out, slight dry humping, you actually act on your hoe-ish thoughts because seokjinnie keeps testing you??

notes: 2nd member involved in this love triangle will be revealed next chapter and it’s actually gonna start getting messy. are you with me? 😈

tags: @laurynne5 @yiyi4657 @miinoongi @teamtardis-notdead @bluesharksandfish @photographic-girl (pls msg me if you would like to be added to the taglist!)

A couple of days have passed and you were only getting more giddy as time passes. It sounds stupid as hell, and sometimes you can't help but curse yourself for having a crush on someone so unattainable. The thrill, though, is what excites you, and knowing that there's a possibility Jin may reciprocate the same feelings. Since he had placed his number in your phone, he had sent you random, occasional 'have a good day!' texts and smiley faces. Maybe it didn't help that he was only fueling the fire by sending you texts like this. You couldn't help but ponder on the thought that you had crossed his mind from time to time, and that my friends, was fucking attractive.

"Her head game was on point." Taehyung smirked and leaned back in his chair, making Ryujin roll her eyes at him.

"You're sick, no one asked about your night."

"Why do you sound so mad, sweetie?" He leaned closer to her.

"I'm not mad." She scooted her chair away from him. "Can you believe this right now?" She shot you a look, but you were too busy texting on your phone, responding to the messages you couldn't get to earlier.

[jin] 3:05pm: I hope your day has been treating you well. See you soon?

[y/n] 5:37pm: Been a little busy, but hasn't been bad. :) Excited for class!

You laughed at yourself because who even says 'Excited for class' like that? You were really playing yourself right now.

"Earth to Mr. Kim's mistress?" You shot Taehyung a look and immediately shoved his face away.

"Jeez, you've been glued to your phone so much lately. Did you find new dick, or something?" Ryujin asked as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"No, god. I've just been trying to keep myself occupied." She shrugs and doesn't press any further. Thank god, because you hadn't told any of your friends how Jin comforted you that evening and how he had given you his personal number just to check in every now and then. You didn't plan on telling them anytime soon, only because they'd be dramatic about it and you didn't have the energy to calm the chaos that would ensue.

"Speaking of - have you guys started the assignment due next week for Mr. Kim's class?" Jimin kept his eyes on the work in front of him.

"No. I'll probably do that the day of." Taehyung says as he texts on his phone.

"I was going to ask him for help later."

"Were you now?" Jimin rose his eyebrow, shooting you a look.

"Yes, and it's only because I can't choose which topic to write about."

"Why don't you ask us?"

"Because this always ends up being an open-ended debate and the conversation ultimately ends with no decision made." Jimin nodded in agreement.

"Touché."

"Bat your eyelashes while you're at it, kay?" Ryujin giggles.

"You guys are free to join me."

"Mmm no thanks, I don't think I need any help right now." Jimin responds.

"Same. Besides, I'd rather not cockblock."

"Honestly so sick of you guys." You all end up packing your things to head to Jin's classroom, all four of you entering one by one and taking your seats near the front. Class goes by rather quickly, you and Jin stealing glances from time to time. Ryujin, Jimin and Taehyung offer to wait up for you near the library and you simply nod, letting them know you'll only take a quick minute to talk about the assignment. Once they've disappeared from the hallway corridor, you turn on your heels to make your way over to Jin at the front desk, where he's arranging his things and getting them together.

"Y/N, hey." He smiles at you, tilting his head to look at you from his stance. "What's up?"

"I uh, just wanted to ask for your opinion about the assignment. If.. you aren't busy?" He chuckled and shook his head.

"No, not at all. What's going on?"

"Well, I've just been having trouble deciding on a topic." You placed your things down.

"Alright, try me." He nods towards the whiteboard, signaling for you to scribble your ideas onto the board so he could help you map out your thoughts. You quietly walk over, grabbing the only black whiteboard marker available and start talking through your thoughts. He sits on the desk, arms crossed, watching you scribble on the board. He chimes in every now and then, either agreeing or disagreeing, and providing his honest opinion as to what might work best for the assignment.

"Mm, okay. I think that makes better sense." You step back and take a look at the things you've crossed out and circled, leaving you to finalize the topic for your assignment.

"Yeah, I think so." He stands and nods in agreement. You turn to look at him, only to realize how close in proximity your body was to his. His hands are tucked into his pockets while he looks down at you. Both of you don't move, regardless of how close you two are at the moment. You feel stuck, and the only option that crosses your mind is something you shouldn't even be thinking about. Yet, you still act on it. You find yourself on your tippy-toes laying a kiss on his plump lips, but you quickly pull away and gasp, realizing what you had done.

"I-I'm so sorry, I-" You stutter as you step back to try and quickly grab your things. "I gotta go." You dash out of the room, your heart beating through your chest. As soon as you were far as possible from his room, you slowed your pace to gather your breathing. You facepalmed so hard because what the fuck! You felt dumb as hell for acting the way you did, let alone for thinking his texts and all the attention even meant anything.

Way to fucking go, Y/N. You could feel how embarrassing next class will be already.

As soon as you spot your friends, you try to put on a smile and brush the thoughts out of your head when you see them waving you over. Jimin instantly throws his arm around your shoulder, helping you feel at ease as you momentarily forget about the events that just transpired.

"Ready? We're gonna go grab some pizza before heading home." You smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm down."

Jin grabbed his things, feeling a little conflicted about what just happened. He knew this was something that shouldn't have happened, nor should it ever happen again. Yet, he wanted more of this feeling you gave him. He longed for it. He couldn't explain the feeling he got when he felt your lips against his, he just knew he was interested in more. It was bad as fuck, but it was the same thrill you felt that peeked his interest.

Jin pulled into the lot of him and Grace's house, seeing he was the first one home yet again. It wasn't a surprise to him anymore, and quite frankly, he was used to being home first all the time. It would have been a surprise if Grace was here before he was. Not gonna lie, after what happened, it makes him feel a little empty inside. He's starting to feel like he wanted more of you and to see you outside of campus grounds. He wanted your company and enjoyed your presence, inside of the classroom and even through simple things like text. It just made him happy, and like he was appreciated. Wanted.

Yeah, that quick. He was starting to crave you.

He kicked off his shoes by the door and changed into comfier clothes. He took some time to work out at their home gym before eating whatever leftovers were left in the fridge. He happily warms up his food and quickly gobbles it up, leaving the dishes in the sink for him to get to later. He hops into a hot, relaxing shower, letting the heat hit his back and relax him from all the stress he had been experiencing lately. It was so relaxing that he didn't even hear Grace shut their front door. He only found out he wasn't alone when he heard dishes being washed and slammed onto the dish rack and cabinet doors being slammed shut. He dried himself off a bit, before wrapping the towel around his waist and heading into the kitchen to see what the commotion was.

"Hey, you're home." He says with a smile on his face, but she continued to place dishes on the rack without looking at him.

"Yeah, and you couldn't even think to wash your dishes and clean up the kitchen?" His smile immediately turned into a frown when he realized Grace was far from being in a good mood. Over what? Dishes that he was eventually going to wash anyways?

"I was going to get to them."

"Jeez, Jin. I've had such a long day, the least you could do is help out and clean up after yourself." She glared at him.

"Woah, hey. I do my part around here. Just because I didn't do my dishes right away doesn't mean I don't do anything at all under this house."

"Hasn't seemed like it." She walked away, brushing him off completely. If it's one thing Jin could point out about his fiancé, it was the fact that she liked to project when she was upset. It was the one thing that drove him crazy, and the one thing he felt like couldn't be fixed. It was just in her nature, no matter how many times they've fought and argued about it. He tries to be patient and understanding. He tries to relate. Yes, I'm sorry you had a bad day. But just because you had a bad day, doesn't mean you bring the negative energy into this house.

"That's not fair, Grace."

"Grow up, Jin." She snapped as she headed upstairs. "I'm going up to pack and head to bed." He continued to watch her, appalled at the attitude she was throwing tonight. He really couldn't understand why this was happening over some dishes. He didn't wanna be here right now, and he wasn't going to deal with this shit. To be honest, he was feeling a little relieved knowing he'd get some space from her when she flies to New York for a week. She had some work to do for the opening of her restaurant down there, plus some related projects for her book.

He heads upstairs to throw on some jeans, a hoodie and a hat before passing Grace in their walk-in closet.

"Off for a drive again, huh?" She says as she keeps her eyes on the luggage laid out in front of her. It's sad that Grace knows what Jin does whenever he doesn't wanna deal with her attitude. But, no matter how many times he's tried to communicate and talk it out, it never mattered to her.

"Yeah, because it doesn't seem like you can communicate properly tonight."

"And how is a drive supposed to help?" She turns to look at him, but he doesn't say anything. She scoffs before returning her attention back to the clothes she was packing into her luggage. "Perfect. Run away from our issues, Jin. It's what you do best." He shook his head and sighed.

"I'm not doing this with you tonight, Grace. Not over some dishes that were eventually going to get washed and fixed." He walked out, but turned back on his heel to finish off his thoughts. "You know, I really wanted to have a nice night with you. Pop some wine and put on a movie, just to enjoy being in each other's presence since it feels like we haven't done that in a really long time. But, so be it." He threw his hands up in defeat and continued to walk out. He really did want to try, though. Part of him felt like he needed to because he was probably just longing for that attention from his fiancé, which is why he had been feeling the way he had been about you. Maybe it would have helped him brush it off like it was a silly, little crush. However, tonight just amplified those feelings he had for you and he wanted nothing more but to just see you and hear your voice.

He lowers the brim of his cap as he walks to his car, instantly starting it up and driving off. At first, he was conflicted. He wasn't sure if he was making the right decision or not, or if his judgment was cloudy. But something in him tweaked and made him say, fuck it. He was tired, and for once, he just wanted to feel wanted.

You sat on your living room floor, putting together a vision board for yourself. A ton of magazine cut outs and printouts laid alongside of you, waiting to be organized onto the small white board. You had been rearranging the layout for quite some time, feeling a little frustrated at the perfectionist in you. This definitely could have been quicker if you hadn't picked at the fine details too much. It was nearing 10:30pm; after you and your friends had ate pizza together, you all went your separate ways, tired from this week's events already. You especially didn't want to linger around, the thought of you kissing Jin in the classroom still haunting you. You felt your phone vibrating off to the side, signaling a call coming in.

Speak of the devil.

You hesitate, afraid that this had to do with what happened earlier and to be frank, you weren't sure if you were ready to deal with the repercussions just yet. The call ends, but a text notification pops up at the top of your screen.

[jin] 10:27pm: Are you free right now?

[y/n] 10:28pm: Sorry, yeah I am. What's up?

[jin] 10:29pm: Can we meet up?

You stare at your phone, unsure if you should take the opportunity to see him. It could mean a lot of things, or it could mean nothing. It could be about the kiss, or it couldn't be. But, you can't help but feel a little guilty that he had been there for you when you needed someone and here you were, contemplating if you should blow him off.

[y/n] 10:32pm: Sure. Is everything okay?

[jin] 10:32pm: I think, kind of just need some good company.

[y/n] 10:33pm: Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll come. Just let me know where.

You watch as he drops his location into the message, and it's not too far from where you live. You actually are quite familiar with the area to know that he's sending you up to a view that overlooks the Bay Bridge. You and your friends used to go there often during undergrad, just to eat edibles and eat hella junk food. Those were the days. You all quickly outgrew it though.

The drive up is a little scary, with only a few street lights posted as you drive up the hill. You catch a glimpse of Jin's car, being that he's already leaning against it, facing the view. You pull up into the empty spot next it, taking a deep breath and recollecting your thoughts before stepping out. Whatever it is, just be honest. That kiss was because you wanted to kiss him, but perhaps you misread the vibe about everything.

Not perhaps. You for sure misread the vibe about everything. He's fucking engaged. There was no way.

"I brought you brownie." Is the first thing you say as you hand him a ziploc with a huge brownie square. "There's no weed in it or anything, I promise it's clean." He chuckles as he takes it from you. "I just figured you could use a picker upper since you seemed like you might've need it."

"Thank you." His trunk had been open, so he takes a seat and invites you to sit next to him. You leave a bit of space just to be sure, since you already crossed your boundaries earlier and you weren't even sure how that was gonna play in to tonight.

"So, what's on your mind?" You dread asking him the question but you knew there was a reason he brought you out here.

"I, uh. Just had a pretty tough day and wanted to surround myself around good company." He turned to look at you.

"Oh, so I made the good company list?" You chuckle.

"Yeah, you did." He looks back out at the view. You examine him, his body language still a little tense from whatever he had just experienced.

"Was it Grace?" You ask softly and he nods in return.

"We've just been having issues. It's no biggie."

"No biggie, huh? Then why are we out here looking at the bay bridge?" He chuckles again. You think it's cute the way his dimples under his eyes pop out when he smiles and laughs.

"Touché. I mean, what if I just wanted to hang out with someone who could cheer me up?"

"Wow, then that's a lot of pressure on me." You laugh. "I can already tell something's wrong. You were there for me, so I just want you to know that I'm all ears." He sighed.

"It's kind of dumb? Maybe not? Me and Grace just haven't been the same for awhile now."

"How so?"

"We're just distant. We haven't done things together like we used to because we're both busy and so wrapped up with work."

"Jin." You smile shyly because this couldn't be a serious excuse. You always need to try and make things work! "You know being busy shouldn't be an excuse, right?"

"I know, I know." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, it's difficult to explain. I question if we're still in love with each other or if we're just sticking to this because we're comfortable."

"Deep down, I know you still love and care for her."

"I do. It's been hard to show that these past months. I guess.. what I'm trying to say is that it's been easy to focus more on the negatives than the positives. There have been more negatives than positives."

"Why don't you sit her down and talk about this?"

"I can't. I try, but I really can't. She's always coming home in a nasty mood all the time."

"Well, she might have a lot to balance on her plate. Not everyone approaches things the same way and if you know Grace easily shuts people out when she's overwhelmed or stressed, then I think you just need to continue supporting her by simply being there for her."

"I know." He looks down at his hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking. I hear you loud and clear though." He smiles at you toothlessly.

"Try talking to her. Work it out. I know she's important to you."

"She is but," He shakes his head once more. "I can't shake off this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"It's going to sound stupid."

"Nothing is ever stupid." He simply looked at you before responding.

"Earlier, in the classroom—" Fuck, you thought. You thought you had just gotten lucky tonight and that you both had put it past you so that you could move on without ever mentioning it. But half of you knew you'd still have to confront your mistake either way. Nothing was ever that easy.

"Jin, I'm so sorry, I didn't think about—"

"I didn't want you to stop." He spits out, causing you to stop mid-sentence. Your eyes widened after you had just registered what he had said. Was he fucking playing with you right now? This shit really couldn't be real.

"W-what?"

"I can't shake off this feeling because of you and as bad as it sounds, I really don't want that to go away."

"Jin." You say softly. "You should really work this out with Grace. This feeling is just temporary and you know it is because she's your fiancé. What happened earlier was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened." It kind of sucks, but it's true. You don't really know why you did what you did and what you wanted out of it. You knew what this would entail and it would be too messy. People would just end up getting hurt left and right. It would be a domino effect.

"Was it though?"

"I'm not trying to get in between you two." You beat around the bush with your response.

"Then, what did you want out of that earlier?" He stares at you. You can't help but feel yourself melt at the way he's eyeing you and the way he's actually teasing the fuck out of you with his piercing eyes.

"I don't know." He continues to stare, but this time his face is edging closer to yours.

"You can't even tell me straight up that it was nothing." He says, almost at a whisper. Your knees are starting to buckle beneath you and although you knew you needed to stop this, you couldn't see yourself doing it right at this moment.

"We shouldn't be doing this." You whisper, his lips inches away from yours at this point.

"Then why aren't you stopping me, Y/N?" No response. Before you knew it, your eyes were shut as your lips pressed against his. The feeling of his lips sent chills down your spine, his hand now tugging you closer to his body. You waste no time straddling his lap, deepening the kiss as your hands rest on his face and your hips grind against his. God, he was so fucking attractive and everything about him drove your ass crazy. You wanted him.

But you couldn't have him.

"Stop, stop." You edged your head back, reality settling in once his hands start to dip inside your sweats. "We really shouldn't be doing this." You climb off of him and gather your things.

"Y/N, wait."

"Jin." You turn to look at him. "Listen to me. We would never work."

"I wouldn't say never—"

"Look, this is already difficult as is and I'm trying really hard not to make this even more complicated for anyone. At the end of the day, you're still with Grace. You're still engaged to Grace." You emphasized. "I can't get in between you two, and I don't want to hurt her." How in the fuck did things escalate so quickly? How did we get here?

"I know that, and I know you don't. But you can't tell me that you didn't feel anything just now."

"I'm not saying that I didn't. I did, I-I do." You stuttered on your own words. "But I shouldn't be acting on it and neither should you. You should really focus on working things out in your relationship. I know deep down you love her and want to make this work."

"That's the thing, Y/N. I don't know how else I can make this work with her. I've ran out of options."

"Jin, you planned to marry her! You do understand that you can't just give up on someone like that, especially your future wife."

"As much as I appreciate this and understand where you're coming from, you don't know our relationship."

"I just don't want you to give up on her. I want you to try for her, not just because I told you so." He can see how serious things have turned, and he knew you were right. This would be complicated. But damn, was he undeniably attracted to you and he loved the feeling he got from all of this.

"I-" He sighs. "You make me feel things that I haven't felt in a long time."

"You have your life planned out already, and so does Grace. You obviously saw a life and a future with her, and that's what you should continue building. I don't even know how to get from point A to point B in life and I still have shit to learn. Like-like changing car lights or how to do a fucking oil change by myself! I'm a mess. I'm not the one you should be thinking about."

"I don't care about that." He spits out as he gently grabs your wrist and turns you to face him.

"Don't make this harder than it already is." With all this shit going on, you still found yourself wanting him the same way you did earlier. Looking at him made you want to do unspeakable things and it didn't help that he gave you the green light to do so.

The temptations.

"I'm not trying to."

"We should really keep our distance from each other, okay? You need to work things out and I'm going to give you the space to do so."

"Fuck, Y/N. I really don't want that."

"I'm sorry." You whisper as you break free from his grip and get back into your car. You hear him groan, causing you to cry to yourself as you drive off and get back home. One mistake turned everything upside down, and now everything was suddenly 10x more complicated than it ever was in the beginning. You couldn't help but curse yourself and blame yourself for letting this happen the way it did.

But shit is done. The mistake happened. There was no taking it back.

You just needed to give him space to get over it, and that would be the end of it. Easy.

Or so you assume.

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silentfcknhill · 4 years ago

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FAVORITE SHOWS IN POSTERS

Well, we’re back for another installment of this tagged meme, this time for TV shows! I also stole this from/was indirectly tagged by @jcmorrigan. My taste in shows also differs a bit from my taste in movies, as I tend to like a lot of comedy shows with not as many horror ones. I’m not into shows as much as movies overall, but there are some that I am very passionate about so I picked twenty again. So, here we go for part 2, in order:

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra (2005-2014)

I'm including these as one show since they take place in the same universe and tell a continuation of the same overall plot. Altogether this is probably the best piece of media to ever exist, including movies. It has so many great characters and villains especially and some of the most epic sequences, charming humor and heartwarming moments ever. I've never met a person who didn't like these shows, even people who normally don't like cartoons. My dad, who is biased against animation? He loved it. My mother? She loved it, watched it with her multiple times. My grandmother? Loved it. My ex-boyfriend? Loved it. My best friend? Loved it. I dare anyone not to, and I'm so glad it's making a resurgence since it's on Netflix for a new generation to enjoy.

2. Black Butler (2008-2014)

I never was big into anime growing up and only really started watching anime when I was like 16 and above, but this is one of the exceptions because holy shit is it ever dark and epic. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it for kids, it's more of a teens and young adults kind of anime and that's probably why it's so good, because it isn't afraid to explore dark and mature topics and do it with all of the intensity and gravitas required to do said topics justice. It has lots of great characters, and the story of demons who make deals with children who have a dark side is fun to watch play out.

3. Seinfeld (1989-1998)

My dad was a huge fan of this show so I watched it growing up since I was a toddler and it became a classic for me. I've watched thw hole show through at least 8 times, and I'll never stop because it never gets old or boring. It's also my only comfort show when I'm having a panic attack because of one time a few years ago when I was having a drug-induced psychosis episode and watching it calmed me down, so now it's like the opposite of a trigger and whenever I'm having an episode or something I watch it to bring me back to reality. For that reason it's more than a show to me, it's a medical treatment and I'm forever grateful to it.

4. The Good Place (2016-2020)

The big four shows made my Michael Schur all made it on this post (The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office and Parks And Recreation), either in the main list of the honorable mentions, but this is my personal favorite of the four. It's so funny, quirky, relatable and basically tailor-made to suit my interests. Not only is it an entertaining and wholesome show, but I think watching it helped me come to terms with a lot of things like mortality, ethics, philosophy, religion and my relationships with other people. It gets alot of different viewpoints across and if you're a very analytical and philosophical person like me you'll probably enjoy seeing it all play out. Not to mention, every single character is 'favorite character' material. It's rare you find a show with no filler characters in the main cast, but I genuinely can't choose who is best.

5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-?)

Another of Michael Schur's shows, this one is just barely under The Good Place and to be honest it was tough to pick my favorite between the two because they're both equally funny. I know it's kind of controversial right now because of the whole law enforcement thing, but I actually think they do a good job of handling social issues in the show and remaining respectful of real-life systemic problems. As for the characters, this is another one of those shows where every single character is gold and I think that tends to be a trend among Schur's shows in general. He produces damn good comedy, and damn good characters. I can't wait to see what they bring next.

6. Rick And Morty (2013-?)

This is unfortunately one of those cases of 'great show, horrible fandom' and for that reason I don't get involved in the fandom even though I love the show. It's a shame because it really is a great show, so funny and, again, such good characters. I think it's a lot more accessible than the fandom likes to claim, so I'm hoping more people will give it a chance and not get put off by the intellectual elitism of the fandom because it does have some of the most entertaining and batshit crazy episodes ever, poking fun of some of the staples of science fiction in media while also poking fun of itself the whole time. Unlike the fandom, the show doesn't take itself seriously and that's enjoyable nowadays.

7. Orange Is The New Black (2013-2019)

While this show is a comedy, it is also a lot of other things and it's probably made me ugly-cry just as many times as it's made me laugh. Well, maybe not as often, but those few scenes (if you've watched the show then you know the ones I'm talking about) made me hysterically sob hard enough to be worth like fifty minor sads. But I didn't even mind because the show is just that good, and it makes you /feel/ something in a real way. Probably because of just how real it gets in terms of telling stories that happen all the time in the real world, sometimes with inevitably tragic endings. But these things do happen every day, and it's important to shine a light on that. It's not just representation for LGBTQ+ but also for POC, the neurodiverse, the poor, and many more. Give it a watch to broaden your perspective!

8. Big Mouth (2017-?)

This is probably the grossest show I've ever seen but by god is it ever funny. Maybe it's because I have an immature sense of humor or something, but I love this show. It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea and I don't recommend you watch this show with anyone else around because it will get awkward. I think part of its appeal to me is that everyone I talk to who likes it considers it so relatable to their lives growing up but for someone like me who grew up on the autism and asexual spectrum and who was physically an early-bloomer by years, nothing about this show is relatable to me in any way so it makes it all the more crazy and bizarre watching how the people around me must have experienced things. Did y'all really have these experiences with puberty in middle school???

9. Dexter (2006-2013)

I recently heard that this show is coming back for a reboot soon and I'm so excited because this is my absolute favorite drama/thriller show, as evidenced by the fact that it's the highest one on the list so far that isn't a comedy. I love the idea of having a protagonist who is sort of a villain (or at least morally dubious), and the idea of a serial killer who only kills bad people is particularly satisfying for some reason. Maybe because he's the vigilante we all deserve and want in this unjust and evil world of modern times? Idk but the very premise of this show set it up for big things and aside from the ending I think it delivered consistently.

10. Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

This show took us on some journeys, and you can't deny that. Sure, maybe it didn't always finish what it started and didn't always end in the most satisfying way, but part of its charm is that you didn't care because the experience was just so much fun. They took characters and stories that have been told to death and somehow managed to put a unique and unexpected twist on them, and that alone is admirable. Good twists, good villains, and pretty much every cliffhanger known to man will keep you hooked on binge-watching every episode.

11. RuPaul's Drag Race (2009-?)

A bit different than the other entries on my list in that it's not fiction but a reality competition show, but I couldn't leave Drag Race out because it's just so fucking iconic and perfect. Even when you disagree with the judges or can't stand a certain contestant you'll still be having a good time. It's got the personalities you love to love, the ones you love to hate, and the comedy that's completely meme-able. I mean just how much has this show contributed to pop culture and the internet? More than most of us, henny. I've watched every single season, even the international ones and all of the spinoffs. This show will probably be on for another thirty years when Ru is throwing shade from a hospital bed and I'll still be watching.

12. House (2004-2012)

Some people hate on this show, and I don't get it. I love House. Yes, he's an ass. That's the point. He's supposed to be unlikeable, and that's why I like him. Maybe because I always love the rude, sarcastic, misanthropic jerkass-genius characters for some reason. And I also love procedural shows, so it's a win-win. I also work in the healthcare field so it appeals to me for that reason too, because obviously the whole premise is outlandish which is what makes it funny. Of course it's not realistic for a hospital, so just enjoy the absurdity and don't get too hung up on the details of medical accuracy and professional ethics and you'll be fine.

13. The Office (2005-2013)

The third of Michael Schur's show and the last one that made the main list (sorry Parks And Rec, I love you too but there was just so many good shows to choose from and I saw you last so the nostalgia isn't as strong!) I don't think I need to hype this show up any, it's already a classic and you can't even turn around online without getting hit in the face by a dozen Office memes. You'll have to pry this show and it's relatable characters (especially Michael Scott) from my cold, dead hands.

14. All Hail King Julien/The Penguins Of Madagascar (2008-2017)

Like Avatar/Korra, I also consider this as one show for the sake of this list because it also takes place in the same universe (Madagascar, specifically) and I just couldn't choose one over the other because they're both so perfect. They're funny and I love all the characters (it cut out the weaker links of the Madagascar film series and just focuses on expanding the standout side-characters like King Julien and the penguins). It also delved into some lore, particularly the first show, and even though I didn't also agree with the directions it took (you may have seen me get salty about the ending because I cared too much), I can't deny how much I love it.

15. Bones (2005-2017)

One of the other scarce non-comedy shows on this list, it still has it's funny moments. It's also, like House, another procedural show that involves some medical stuff, but this time on a more scientific and forensic level which is even more interesting. It's nice to see a lead female with Asperger's, too. There's a lot of cop/law enforcement shows where they try to solve crimes, but this one is the best, and I'm saying that as a fan of CSI as well. Don't fight me on this, I'm right. Oh yes, it's corny, it's campy, it's cheesy, but I love every minute of it. Don't watch if you have a weak stomach though.

16. The Simpsons (1989-?)

We all grew up with this show, don't lie. It's been around longer than most people on tumblr have even been alive. Should it have ended seasons ago? Hell yes. But that doesn't take away what the first like 20 or so seasons gave us (there's a lot of argument about when the show jumped the shark, for me it wasn't until much later than the popular consensus). The characters are amazing, but the secret to the show's longevity is that they always return to status quo and there's comfort and nostalgia in that. Bart will still be in 4th grade when you're out there pushing 90. This show is persistent. This show is eternal. This show will outlive us all.

17. Ash Vs. Evil Dead (2015-2018)

Sorely underrated. This show is hilarious, gruesome and campy as hell and I love it. I don't think you necessarily have to watch the Evil Dead movies beforehand in order to get the plot of the show, although it would probably help. In my opinion this show ended way too soon and I'm hoping someday we'll get a comeback because Ash is the reluctant, self-absorbed hero we all need and it's 2020 so at this point there really might actually be a demon-zombie apocalypse and who's gonna save us then if not for the impulsive womanizer with a chainsaw for a hand?

18. Malcolm In The Middle (2000-2006)

Another show I grew up with, I don't think it gets as much credit as it deserves. It has some damn funny episodes and great characters, and it did a lot of the popular sitcom tropes before they were 'cool'. Some other great sitcoms, The Middle in particular, took a lot of influence from this show and it helped pave the way for the future of sitcoms at a time when they were about to make a comeback. If you want a good show about the real experiences of growing up, this is a much more accurate representation of the highs and lows of being an awkward tween from a dysfunctional home.

19. A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Unlike most people I actually liked the movie version from the early 2000's, and I read the books growing up so I was excited when I saw there was a live action television adaptation of it on Netflix because I felt like they cancelled the movie franchise too soon. I was interested to see how new actors would handle the roles, and I was not disappointed. I wouldn't say I liked either portrayal of the characters better or worse, they both added their own twist to it and this show is a great and loyal adaptation to the books, probably because the author was so heavily involved. He knew just when to stick to the books and when to improve upon what he had done with the benefit of hindsight. This show is basically the books, but remastered.

20. Winx Club (2004-?)

Sort of an odd one out on this list, but I really love this show even as an adult and it may surprise you to learn it is still going on and the most recent season came out last year. They take big breaks sometimes in between seasons, but it's still going strong and in multiple countries. The only thing I don't like about watching this show is all the different and inconsistent dubs since the original show is Italian and each dub only goes for a couple seasons so by the time you get used to one set of voices/names for the characters oyu have to abruptly switch to another, but it's still worth it for the beautiful animation and cool characters (especially the villains!)

Honorable Mentions:

13 Reasons Why, America's Next Top Model, American Horror Story, Arrested Development, Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Black Mirror, Care Bears, Chernobyl, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Criminal, CSI, Duck Dodgers, Goosebumps, Kenny Vs. Spenny, Kim Possible, Kingdom Hospital, Lazytown, Lost, Making A Murderer, Mayday, Mindhunter, Modern Family, Monster High, Obsession: Dark Desires, Parks And Recreation, Prison Break, Project Runway, Queer As Folk, Queer Eye, Salem, Schitt's Creek, SCTV, Spongebob Squarepants, The Emperor's New School, The Good Doctor, The Haunting Of Hill House/Bly Manor, The Middle, The Pretender, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Through The Wormhole, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Unsolved Mysteries, Yugioh

Tagging: @bullet-farmer and anyone else who wants to!

273 notes · View notes

viastro · 5 years ago

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there for you | chwe vernon hansol

ミ★ synopsis: in which you can’t admit you’re in love with your best friend, vernon, so joshua takes matters into his own hands.

ミ★ genre: best friends to lovers!au, humor, fluff, some angst

ミ★ warnings: none!

ミ★ word count: 3,752

ミ★ pairings: vernon x female reader

ミ★ notes: hi guys! I just wanted to start off by saying thank you so much for following me! I just hit 100 followers last night and that was really crazy to me HAHA. It really means so much to me and I’m so grateful that 100 people like my writing, so thank you so much ! I hope you enjoy this oneshot for vernon! <3

“I just think that megalodon is still out there, like what if they’re just swimming at the bottom of the ocean!” You exclaim, Vernon turning to look at you with a scoff.

“You’re crazy, there’s no way that big ass shark bitch is still alive.” You frown at those words, choosing to shove him off your bed as a response.

“BRUH.” Vernon shouts from your carpeted floor, and you let out a content sigh.

“Don’t disrespect my boy megalodon like that.” You simply tell him, and you can feel him roll his eyes from your floor. “Don’t roll your eyes at me!” You say, leaning off your bed to point at him.

He gives you an evil grin, and before you know it, he’s grabbed your arm and pulled you down on top of him. He lets out a loud, “OOF!” and you laugh in his face, making him chuckle and roll you off of him.

“I was not expecting you to literally knock the breath out of me. Holy fuck I wasn’t ready.” Vernon groans and you giggle, staring up at the worn out glow in the dark stars on your ceiling.

You and Vernon became friends in your freshman year of high school. You met each other through your mutual friend Joshua, who may have had secret matchmaking intentions, and the two of you instantly clicked. You started hanging out after school, going to the library to study together, joining drama club for fun but getting kicked out for being too loud during the actual play itself.

You and Vernon are quite literally two peas in a pod (or is the phrase three peas in a pod?) Either way, you’re best friends. This is proven from the fact that you’re both in your last year of college, about to graduate and obtain your bachelor’s degree, and are still hanging out just the same. You both almost got an apartment together, but you decided to room by yourself and Vernon would room with Joshua. However, it’s almost as if you guys live together anyways by how much you go over to his apartment and he goes to yours.

No matter how busy you both are, you still try and make time to see each other. Especially on Fridays, those were your cooking nights. Joshua joins in on this tradition as well, considering that it involves eating food. The three of you research recipes to offer to the table on Friday, whoever’s recipe gets the most votes, then you guys make it. It’s the highlight of your week, if you’re being honest.

Those around you have always thought you and Vernon were dating at some point in knowing the both of you, but you and him have never made any move to push your friendship into something more. The only thing you guys have done is be each other's first kiss, which is actually a very anticlimactic story. no it’s not.

It was the winter of senior year, you and Vernon were making it a mission to build an igloo due to the recent heavy snowfall that hit Seoul. You were focused on building the igloo, but Vernon had other ideas.

“Vernon, please! I wanna at least get this base layer done-” You’re cut off when you get hit in the face with a snowball, knocking you over from your crouched position. You close your eyes, hearing Vernon’s loud laugh at your tragic fate.

“I’m gonna kill you Chwe Vernon.” You mutter, standing up and making a snowball.

“If you can catch me yn!” He taunts, thus beginning your chase around his backyard.

“I swear to god! I just wanted to make an igloo!” You yell, laughing when he slips and falls backwards, knocking the wind out of him. You run up to him, placing your snowball right on top of his nose. He lets out a small laugh, making you giggle as well. He grabs your arm and pulls you down so that you’re laying beside him in the cold snow.

“Have you ever thought about the fact that we’re eighteen, and still haven’t had our first kiss yet?” Vernon asks you, turning to glance at you. You stare at the small snowflakes falling, watching your breath expand into the sky due to the cold.

“What makes you think I haven’t had my first kiss yet?” You challenge, turning your head to look back at him. He scoffs at that, immediately calling out your lie, “Yeah, okay. Says the girl who literally ran away from her crush when he tried to give her back her pencil.”

You sit up, hitting his stomach and he lets out a loud laugh, “You’re gonna look at me and tell me that I’m wrong?” He asks, sitting up as well and turning to face you.

“I mean, you’re not. But still! I hate that memory with a passion.” You say with a pout, and he smiles at you. “Why would you even bring up that topic though?” You ask and he shrugs, turning away.

“I don’t know. I was gonna ask if we could be each other’s first kiss, to get it over with, ya know?” Your eyes widen once his proposition falls past his lips. The tips of his ears are red, and you can’t tell if it’s because of the cold, or because of what he just suggested, or maybe both. Either way, they’re red, and your face is very warm.

“You’re crazy.” You sputter and he shakes his head.

“It’s not a bad idea though, like if anyone asks we could say that we’ve had our first kiss. We don’t even need to mention that we were each other’s first kiss! This is strictly for the sake of our egos.” Vernon says, and you hate how right he sounds.

“Ugh, fine.” You mutter and Vernon’s eyes widen, turning to look at you to make sure you are serious.

“R-really?”

“I’m about to take it back if you don’t kiss me now.” You state, turning towards him and closing your eyes. “See! My eyes are even closed, just get it over with.”

Vernon lets out a nervous chuckle, taking in the visual of you with snowflakes on your hair, the snowflake on the tip of nose, and your ridiculously pretty lips. He knew that he didn’t have feelings for you, and that this was simply a… platonic… kiss, but he knew this image would be ingrained in his mind for the rest of his life.

He reaches his hand out, slowly brushing it against your cheek. You let out a small huff of air through your lips, and he smiles. That’s when he decides to lean in and give you both your very first kiss.

“Oh shit, I have to go get ready.” Vernon says, snapping you back to reality. He gets up off the floor, and you stare at him with a dazed expression.

“Why? It’s only 5-”

“I have a date tonight.” He tells you with a small sheepish smile, and you feel your heart slowly sink into your ass.

“Deadass? With who?” You ask, feeling a strange sense of DEATH linger in your ass.

“You know that one girl I partnered with in my intro to literature class, Minji? I asked her out the other day because I’ve been interested in her since we did that project together, turns out the feelings were reciprocated. We’re going on our first date at 6, so I should head back to my apartment to get ready.” Vernon explains quickly as he grabs his wallet, phone, and charger. He pats your head and heads out of your room.

“I’ll text you later tonight!” He calls, then you hear your apartment door close. You stay in the same position for awhile, wondering why the fuck your heart sank into your ass.

You and Vernon are just friends! Besties! Bffies! Of course he’s gonna go find a person to date, so are you! College is the time for exploring and possibly meeting the person you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with! It’s such a good thing that Vernon has found himself a date! You’re his best friend! You should be ecstatic over this!!

So why the FUCK are you sitting here feeling like your heart got ripped out of your ASSHOLE .

“It’s probably because I’m jealous,” You say, feeling your stomach twist at the sentence, “jealous of the fact that she might replace me and Vernon won’t need a best friend anymore. Yeah. That’s better.” it’s not better.

“Oh God, I’m gonna call Joshua. I feel like I’m gonna hurl.” You mutter, whipping your phone out of your pocket to text Joshua to come over.

✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Have you considered the thought that you might be, I don’t know, jealous?” Joshua asks from your kitchen as he whips up two eggs for the both of you. Joshua came as soon as you called, and you sat down at your kitchen island to tell him the story while he went into your kitchen to cook you some comfort food.

“Yes! That’s the conclusion I came up with-”

“Oh thank fucking God. I was wondering how long it was gonna take for one of you to realize that you both like-”

“That I’m jealous of the fact that Minji might take my place! Like, I’m pretty much one of the only girls in his life aside from his mom and his sister, so I feel threatened! Especially because Vernon has never been on a date in the duration of our friendship. That’s why I’m jealous. It makes perfect sense.” You finish, taking a large gulp of your green tea. Joshua stares at you, realizing how stupid you are.

“Uh, you okay Shua? Your eye is like… twitching…” You point out, and he raises a hand up to his eye, letting out a small exasperated chuckle.

“I’m fine…” He responds, realizing that his two best friends are fucking idiots. I didn’t introduce the two of them to each other in freshman year of high school JUST for them to stay best friends god DAMN IT. He thinks to himself, placing the finished eggs on each of your plates.

Joshua walks over to your kitchen island, sitting down on the stool and handing you your plate. You mutter a small “Thank you, Shua.” then you both begin to eat, seemingly ignoring the subject to focus on filling your empty stomachs.

Also because Joshua thought he was gonna explode if he spent another second discussing it.

Actually no he’s gonna say ONE LAST THING.

“Do you really think you’re jealous of that? Like, do you really think-”

“Yes! It makes the most sense Shua, what else would I be jealous about-”

“Maybe because you have feelings for Vernon that you’ve been suppressing all these years due to the fear that he might not reciprocate them?” He suggests, turning to glance at your reaction.

You freeze at his words, staring down at the yolk oozing out of the egg onto your rice. You can’t help but feel like you’ve been caught, but you haven’t been caught? Because it’s not true… right? it’s true.

“That’s not true.” You mean to say this confidently, but you mutter it so quietly that even Joshua has a hard time being able to understand what you said.

“What?”

“It’s not true!” You announce, feeling more upset and sick by the minute. Joshua can’t help but feel guilty, but he knows that this conversation is important or else you’ll always hold in these feelings.

“Yn, you know that it’s true.” He says softly, and you let out a shaky breath, “I’m scared.” Joshua cocks his head to the side, confused as to why you’d be scared.

“Why?” He asks, and you bite your lip. You turn your head and give him a small smile, feeling tears flood your eyes.

“Because if I say it, then it’s true. It’ll be out there. It won’t be the secret I’ve been hiding since I was nineteen, the day he got me cotton candy at the store for no reason, simply because he knew it’s my favorite.” You answer honestly, wiping away the stray tears that fell.

“I knew it then. That was the day I really knew my feelings weren’t just adoration and love because we were close friends. It was because I really did love him. I had a feeling that what I was feeling towards him wasn’t really… normal in friendships. That I was actually developing feelings for him, but I always just pushed it back.” You explain, avoiding eye contact with Joshua. He stays quiet beside you, and you anxiously shove two spoonfuls of egg and rice in your mouth.

“Why don’t you tell him? If you don’t say anything now then it’ll be too late-”

“It already is too late Joshua! He’s already on a date with a girl he’s been interested in for awhile. I,” You sigh, taking in another shaky breath before continuing. “I haven’t told him or tried to initiate anything because I didn’t wanna ruin our friendship either. It’s so cheesy and like the most generic excuse someone could give for falling for their best friend, but it’s true! If he doesn’t feel the same, and I confess how I feel, then it all just gets awkward. We won’t go back to how we used to be.”

You shove the last spoonful of rice and egg in your mouth, standing up with your plate to go and wash it. Joshua watches you with sad eyes as you aggressively start soaping up your plate and silverware.

“I just,” you turn off the faucet and place your hands on the counter, gripping it to keep you in place. “The day that him and I kissed? Just for the sake of us having our first kiss? It taunts me. I didn’t even like him at that time, but the memory is like a slap in the face. It was hard to not fall in love with him, I still failed at that though, right?”

Joshua lets out an agitated sigh, “I have to tell you something-”

“No, don’t say that he loves me too. Don’t give me false hope like that Shua, it’s too late anyways.” You tell him, turning and giving him a sad smile.

“But it’s not! He’s literally crazy about you yn!” You open your mouth to object, only to be cut off by a knock on your door. Joshua gives you a look as if to say, were you expecting someone? To which you give him a look that means, no, I didn’t.

Joshua walks over to look through your peephole to see who’s at the door, only for his eyes to widen when he sees Vernon waiting on the other side. He turns to look at you, motioning for you to come over. You wipe your wet hands on your kitchen towel before walking over. Eyes immediately widening when you see Vernon through the peephole.

“Yn? Are you home?” He calls, and you let out a small squeak.

“Alright, I’m coming in anyways.” He responds, taking out your spare key from his pocket. Joshua turns to look at you with wide eyes and you give him a panicked look.

“He has your keys?!” He whispers as you both run to your kitchen to act as if you didn’t hear Vernon.

“Of course he has my keys! I have your guys’ key too!” You whisper back, frantically turning on the sink. Joshua shoves the last of the rice in his mouth before walking over to your side to act as if he was helping you wash dishes.

“You have our keys?!” He whisper shouts and you swat his arm, muttering that this is not the problem at hand.

“Yn?” Vernon calls as he steps in, noticing another pair of shoes beside your door.

“In the kitchen with Joshua!” You call back and Vernon nods his head, placing the bag of store bought goods on your kitchen island.

“Yall hung out without me?” He asks with a pout, and you almost giggle out a response before Joshua beats you to it.

“You were on a date anyways Vernon, we wouldn’t want to fourth wheel.” He teases, but Vernon notices the slight edge in his tone that you’re unable to.

“By the way, how was the date?” You ask, trying to ignore the pang in your heart as soon as the question leaves your mouth. He shrugs, sitting on one of the stools in front of your kitchen island.

“Kinda disappointing I guess? It wasn’t a proper fit, her and I.” Vernon says, and you scold yourself for feeling a twinge of hope.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” You respond, and Joshua nudges you. You turn and look at him, and he gives you a look that basically means, TELL HIM YOU LOVE HIM BEFORE I DO! You glare back at him, shaking your head NO!

“So now you guys are speaking in code too? Damn, what did I miss in those two hours.” Vernon jokes.

“If you don’t do it, I will. I’m tired of seeing you two act like you’re not hurting.” Joshua whispers and you glare at him. “You wouldn’t dare Joshua Hong-”

“Yn is in love with you Vernon.” Your mouth drops open when the sentence leaves his mouth, and so does Vernon’s mouth.

My god he really done diddly dared.

“N-no I don’t.” You sputter, turning off the sink and wiping your hands on the kitchen towel.

“Yes she does. She’s been pushing her feelings away this whole time. Also, yn,” Joshua says, turning around to face you.

“Vernon’s been in love with you since you both had your first kiss when it was snowing. I’ll be taking my leave now, please use protection if this newfound information takes you to that route once I leave. Love you! Update me later!” Joshua says, waving goodbye as he leaves your apartment.

Leaving you and Vernon to just stand there, staring at each other with wide eyes and warmth rushing tp your faces. You look down at the kitchen floor, unsure of what to do now that your feelings are literally out and about, but you know that what you had feared didn’t come true.

because vernon loves you.

“I uh,” Vernon starts, coughing into his arm before continuing, “bought us cotton candy ice cream to eat? We can eat it while we talk if you want?”

You feel your heart melt at the fact that he bought your favorite ice cream flavor in the world on his way home, so you nod your head. You grab two bowls and two spoons, placing them on the kitchen island. Vernon scoops out the pink and purple colored ice cream into each bowl. Once he’s done, you place the tub in the freezer, and you both head towards your couch.

He sits down, and you sit down beside him. For the first few minutes, you both kinda just sit there eating your ice cream. In those few minutes, you’re both having an internal battle in your minds.

Until you break the silence and turn to him, causing him to look back at you, spoon in his mouth and all.

“I love you. I’ve loved you for years, I just didn’t accept it until now.” You state, but he’s staring at the small dribble of ice cream at the corner of your lip. He reaches out and brushes it off with his thumb, before bringing his thumb back to his mouth to suck off the ice cream.

“D-did you hear what I just said?” You stutter, currently a panicking mess at the previous move he pulled even though he’s done it countless of times before. It’s different now.

“Yes, and I’m currently losing my marbles internally over that because I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long.” He says, giving you a small nervous smile. He places his bowl on your coffee table, taking your bowl as well and placing it beside his. Now that your hands are empty, he grasps them, giving them a small squeeze.

“I knew from the moment you closed your eyes, waiting for me to kiss you as the snow fell around us, that I was in love with you. I thought you were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed in my eighteen years of living at that time, and I still think that you are the most beautiful, precious person that I have been blessed to have in my life.” Vernon confesses, and you feel an intense rush of warmth flood to your cheeks as he stares into your eyes with the most genuine look you’ve ever seen on him.

“I love you, yn. I’ve loved you since we were eighteen. I went on that date with Minji today because I thought I could try and get over you that way, which is dumb I know, don’t need to tell me twice. I just, fuck. When we were at the restaurant, I’d look at her, right,” He makes a hand motion as if he was looking through a pair of binoculars and you let out a giggle.

“And I would wish that she was you. That’s why the date didn’t work out, because she and I didn’t fit. I can’t try and date someone else when all I wish is for them to be you.” Vernon says and you bite the inside of your cheek, feeling your heart pang against your chest. You squeeze his hands, and he lets out a small laugh.

“That being said, will you go on a date with me?” Vernon asks, and you smile, nodding your head softly.

“I’d love to.” You answer and he gives you a big smile, opening his arms and pulling you in them. You wrap your arms around his waist, hearing his loud heartbeat against his chest. He presses a kiss to the top of your head, smiling happily.

“I love you.” He whispers and you let out a small squeal, making him laugh. You raise your head up from his shoulder, looking into his deep brown eyes.

“I love you too.” You whisper back, closing your eyes and pressing a kiss to his lips. He responds right away, squeezing your hips softly. He lets a smile break loose, making you smile as well until the kiss is just teeth clashing. You pull away, laying your head in the crook of his neck once again.

“I’ve been wanting to do that again since the first time. Jesus Christ, it’s been four years since we had our first kiss.” He mutters and you laugh, lifting your head up again so that you’re facing each other.

“Can I kiss you again?” Vernon asks and you smile.

“You don’t have to ask if you can kiss me silly.”

“Of course I have to! I need to respect women!”

“Oh my God, your mind.”

meanwhile...

Joshua is at his apartment, playing his guitar quietly. He’s at peace knowing that all is well and his ship has finally sailed happily.

“I better be his best man for pulling that one.” Joshua mutters to himself, smiling at the prospect that you and Vernon are finally together.

All because of ME BABY! All ME!

JOSHUA FIRST WIN!

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btssmutficslovingfan01 · 4 years ago

Text

Friendly Encounters- Chapter One

𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎: A friend challenges you to go out of your comfort zone and talk to one of the cute boys at the café. However, after attempting to flirt with one of them, they reveal that they are in a relationship with each other. It’s fine, though, because you’re all friends now!

𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒: Romance

𝑅𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔: Fluff

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Domestic Yoonmin, fluff, Jimin is literally too good for this world, barista boys, swearing, mild language, lots of character development, realistic insecurities, Jungkook makes a bad decision.

𝒲𝑜𝓇��𝓈: 6k+

𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔(𝓈): Jimin x Yoongi x Reader

Masterlist

Author Note: This story is available on my archiveofourown as well so go check it out!

⇤Prev | Next⇥

______________________________

“Do it.” Your friend pushes you towards the incredibly adorable busboy as he passes by your table.

“No, it’s stupid.”

“Y/N, I dared you. Now you have to do it.” You roll your eyes.

“That’s not even how dares work.” You lay back in your chair, eyes drifting over to the two handsome men who now stand talking at the cash register.

“Okay, fine, if you can’t have a conversation, at least get his number! I’ll go for that cute barista over there with the sleepy eyes.” How can eyes be sleepy? You shrug as she confidently strides to the counter to order another drink. Jasmine has always been the type of girl to tell people what she’s feeling in the heat of the moment. You had no idea where she got her confidence from, it just happened one fine summer day in sixth grade.

You’ve been best friends ever since you moved into the house across the street, along with Jaehyun and Jungkook. They are the non-identical twins that go to your school and the four of you were a group all through middle school. Things changed after highschool, Jae started hanging out with the wrong crowd and he moved out after saving up some drug money.

Jungkook, on the other hand, is still a sweetheart, protecting you and Jasmine as if you were his sisters. Sometimes you wonder how you even became friends with this meth-head of a girl, but then you realize you’re the same, you both are crackheads and that’s why you’re best friends. You sometimes doubt your friendship when she tries to push you out of your comfort zone. You hate opening up to people, and Jasmine knows it.

Yet, she still tries pushing you towards trying new things and being more extroverted. Your mind is already buzzing with a million different ways this can go wrong, but you’re surprised when the waiter approaches you with a smile on his face. I wonder if he’s truly happy or putting on a fake smile for the customers. You think to yourself. Sometimes you like to look at people and try putting together a life story for them. It helps your creative juices flow, as an amateur writer.

“Can I get you anything else?” He asks with a refreshingly soft voice for a man. You’re a bit taken aback by his melodic tone, and how freaking adorable he sounds with his Korean accent. You can’t tell what dialect it is, because his English flows very well.

“Actually…” You look over at Jasmine, who gives you a thumbs up as she sips her Pink Drink. “Can I have your number?” The man’s eyes widen momentarily and his gaze flickers up to the barista at the counter.

“Oh...Miss I’m very flattered but...see that man over there?” You turn around and face the barista who is busy on his phone at the moment.

“The sleepy-eyed one?” You ask, knowing full well where this is going.

“Yeah, him. Um, that’s my boyfriend.” Your smile falters for a moment but you feel a sudden sense of relief. You were afraid he would actually flirt back and possibly be a douchebag but he is exactly what you hoped he would be. A decent person who won’t cheat on his partner.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Your reaction makes him raise his eyebrows. Normally girls would sigh or be sad that he’s taken/gay, but you’re the first one who’s ever reacted like that. “I mean, sorry. My friend just forced me to ask for your number because she wants me to make friends and step out of my comfort zone, and now I’m...sorry just nevermind.” You trail off, cutting off your pointless rambling as the busboy wipes your table slightly.

“Hm, you’re interesting. You know what, just for that attempt, I am going to give you my number.” He winks at you, sliding you a piece of paper. Did he always have that paper with him? You laugh as he walks away and Jasmine bolts back to your table, excited to hear the juicy details.

“You did it!” She screeches, making half of the people whip their heads around to stare at you. You blush and sink in your seat when you see the adorable busboy speaking to his boyfriend. Just when you’re about to tell Jasmine what happened, you see the sleepy-eyed man look at you with a glare. You bite your teeth and suck in your cheeks as Jasmine starts talking about her encounter.

“Too bad, though. The sleepy dude just waved me away saying he already has a boyfriend.” She folds her arms. You stretch your legs, yawning a bit as you listen to your friend. “What? Am I boring you? Anyways, tell me what happened with the cute blue haired dude!” You giggle to yourself as your friend expected something more out of the interaction.

“Jasmine, he’s gay. And they’re-” You gesture to the two men talking behind the counter. “Together.” Jasmine sighs. You simply shake your head, flipping your hair to one side.

“Well, I guess my luck with men hasn’t changed. But at least they’re cute.” You giggle as your best friend sighs dramatically and then you move onto discussing other topics, like school.

Just as you’re about to exit the café, you realize that you didn’t ask the cute busboy for his name. During the whole five minutes that you talked to him, you didn’t even introduce yourself?! Great job, Y/N. You turn around, reaching for the piece of paper in your pocket to find that he indeed did write his name down for you. Jimin. What a beautiful name for a beautiful boy.

As you climb into the jeep that Jasmine’s parents bought for her 16th birthday, her phone rings, and she turns to you, puffing out her chest. You wiggle your eyebrows at her and then you both laugh after the awkward moment.

“It’s Jungkook.” She throws her phone at you, switching back to her “serious” persona.

“Whoa, what happened between you two for you to act this way?” You give Jasmine the stink eye as she caves under your pressure. She’s acting weird—weirder than usual.

“Nothing, just...ugh.” She clicks her seatbelt in and starts backing out of the parking lot.

“Jasmine, if you don’t tell me I’m gonna jump out the window. And we both know I’m not bluffing because I’m actually really short and this window is huge.” Her eyes widen in panic and her hands start shaking on the steering wheel.

“You see…..um ....Jungkook and I may or may not have gone all the way after a deep conversation about relationships.” I gawk at her, unable to process her words.

Sure JK is a flirt, but he never would’ve moved past touching, seeing how he’s practically scared of girls. There was even a point in your middle school lives where Jasmine believed he was gay and started calling him her “gbf.” Yeah, that wasn’t greatly received by your homophobic class of 2020.

“Bitch, you did not.” You slap the dashboard, shaking your head in disbelief. You can see guilt written all over her face but what’s worse is the fact that you had a crush on him for the longest time and she had no clue about it.

It’s not her fault, but sex can change a lot of things for different people. And you know despite whatever bullshit Jasmine tells you about it being a ‘one-time thing no feelings involved’ type deal, you know things are going to change between you, Jasmine, and Jungkook.

You don’t know how anyone will react, since you’ve never been in this situation before. You just know that your best friend, without even knowing it, broke your heart in two. Including Jungkook’s, who is probably crying by himself at the moment.

Your silence is enough to shut her up, as she stops talking mid-sentence and plays an EXO song on her phone, hooked up to the lavish quality stereo system which is connected to her fancy Jeep Wrangler, the vibrations sending shivers down your spine but you assume that’s from your gut, twisting in disgust planning for revenge with Jasmine. She has no regard for feelings when it comes to sex, and you’re more worried about your other best friend at the moment.

“Drop me off at JK’s place.” Your command makes her flinch, and then her eyes widen when she digests what you said.

“You aren’t going to tell him that I told you, are you?”

“Of course I’m gonna talk to him about it! While you’re over here thinking about how to end your friendship, that boy is probably breaking down in tears right now, or worse, binge eating and watching soapy K-dramas all alone!”

You slam her car door shut, stepping out with your red converse basking in the sunlight. It’s so bright out today, a little bit chilly but otherwise nice. Too bad Jungkook’s having a rainy day. You knock on his door, and his brother opens the door.

“Hey baby. Wanna join me and my buddie-”

“Yeah, nice to see you too Jaehyun, is Jungkook home?” You ask, pushing past him and his stoner pals on the couch.

“He’s upstairs.” There’s not much that needs to be said when you walk into his room.

As expected, he’s lying in his bed, blankets wrapped around his entire body, forming a cocoon of some sort as he distracts himself from the real world, again. It’s like every breakup ever, as you have seen him do all sorts of crazy shit while being heartbroken. He’s dated so many people, but none of them were his close friends. This time, it’s different, and you can tell he’s hurting more.

“Did you see Jasmine?” Is the first thing he asks when he sees you.

“I was with her earlier and she told me some stuff happened between you guys. And now I’m here for you. Tell me what you need.” Jungkook slowly rises, and you can see his hair standing straight up from the static, and his normally bright eyes are colored red from crying, his cheeks are red and puffy, and he looks exhausted. Drained, in fact.

“I made a mistake. I started kissing her first, it was like the time after my breakup with Madi-” He cuts himself off. You shiver, beginning to remember his touch. You hadn’t slept with him, not in a sexual context, anyway. He only kissed you, and his hands slid down the small of your back, tracing circles with his thumbs. You can feel the strange sensation creeping up on you, and then it hits you like a wave.

Jungkook is no longer the little boy that you once knew. He’s a grown man, and he can take care of you if you let him. But, you’re not that type of person. You would never take advantage of him, especially when he’s so vulnerable. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let it get in the way of our friendship, but after that night I knew we could never be just friends.” You take his clammy hands in your soft ones, kissing his fingers gently as tears threaten to spill from his eyes again.

“It’s okay, let it out.” You spend a good chunk of your time cuddling with him, and for a moment you imagine what life would be like if you actually started dating, but alas, he is too in love with your best friend. That’s how life is for you, you’ll always be a side character in a love story, and when it comes to love, guys always pick Jasmine. Guys talk to you because they see that you are friends with Jasmine. Girls invite you to sleepovers to ask you what you know about Jasmine, and worst of all, she stole multiple crushes from under your nose. But they were never truly yours to begin with.

After arriving at your house after a long day spent consoling Jungkook, youlop down on your bed, scrolling through some texts.

༻• The Next Day, at Your Local Highschool •༺

“Jungkookie, are you feeling any better?” You make your way to your best friend but then you overhear him speaking to some people.

“Oh yeah, she was the best in bed, don’t let her tough smart-girl act fool you, she was amazing, so submissive for me.” You hoped they were talking about someone else, but when you stick your head past the lockers, checking for a split second, you see that it was none other than your sensitive friend who was speaking to a group of younger males.

“Wow, you’re so cool, Hyung. I thought Y/N was the hardest girl to pin down.” Wait, what?! You resist the urge to storm out, eavesdropping a bit longer to see if you misheard things.

“Yeah boys, she came to me while I was playing Overwatch in my room and then she offered. Just straight up asked if I could fuck her.” You slam your fist against a locker and then you clench your teeth, about to confront him when the bell rings.

It’s 5th period. You don’t have a class because you have a release period. You instinctively check your phone, making sure you didn’t miss any important texts or calls before running out. You don’t know who to trust, or who to go to, as you lost your two best friends within the span of less than 24 hours. People suck.

Then you get a text, as you park your car in front of the coffee shop.

You don’t text back, hoping to surprise him. You forgot to ask him about his work hours but you assumed he worked part-time everyday or something. As you walk up to the counter, you see him standing there, with a bright smile on his lips and crescent-shaped eyes.

“Ah, what a surprise! Hello, valued customer.” His playful attitude is enough to light up your day.

“Hey Jimin. Sorry for dropping in but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go, c-can we talk?” You stutter, not realizing you were slurring your words together. Jimin nods, obviously worried about his new friend.

“What happened yesterday?” He takes you to the back of the café, an area where there are less people and you have more privacy.

“You know the friend that was here with me yesterday?” He nods, allowing you to grip his hand and squeeze it for comfort. He’s a really kind person, letting you open up to him without judgement. “She slept with another good friend of mine and ghosted him. And yesterday I went to his house and we talked about it and he cried on my shoulder, but today…”

You feel tears threatening to spill from your eyes. “...He was talking about what a good lay I was, lying about sleeping with me to a group of underclassmen.”

Your breathing is uneven as Jimin stares directly at you, keeping his gaze strictly on you. You feel naked, exposed, and vulnerable. But his reassuring smile makes you feel a little bit better. Just a little bit.

“Hey, break’s over, get out there.” You see the same man from yesterday, the guy who Jimin claimed was his boyfriend. He looks like the polar opposite of your mellow friend, with a darker aura radiating from him.

You feel like a deer under a lion’s gaze, as he closes in on you, backing you into your corner, making you feel even more vulnerable than before.

You only hoped he wouldn’t try to chase you away, as yesterday he gave you a very uncouth glare, displaying his annoyance with your friendship with Jimin.

You hope with time he will be able to accept you and possibly become a friend of yours as well, but for now, you can only run with your tail tucked between your legs. Just as you’d been running away from your so-called best friends in school.

You were even considering running to Jaehyun and trying one of his edibles, since he had offered a generous amount of times; it would only be courteous of you to finally accept and try it, as you’d been hearing “don’t try it, don’t try it,” your whole life.

You don’t care anymore, and hopefully under Jimin’s wing you will be able to learn about true friendship.

“Aren’t you the girl who asked for Jimin’s number yesterday?” His surprisingly solemn tone catches you off guard, as his eyes tell another story. Maybe that’s just the way he is, physically a very intimidating person but on the inside he might be a fluffy kitten! Okay, maybe not a total kitten, but still squishy. Why else would Jimin date him? He has to be a decent person, unlike all the people you called your friends.

“I am, thanks for noticing. Is there anything you wanted to tell me?” You try to sound as non-threatening as possible, holding your breath, waiting for an answer. You hoped Yoongi didn’t see you as a boyfriend-stealer, nor a generally annoying person.

“No, just wanted to ask you if you need anything else, an iced coffee, some tea...pink lemonade?” His lame attempt at cheering you up makes you crack a smile after a while.

“Maybe some water? I’m a little bit thirsty.”

“Coming right up,” After filling up a glass with water, he slides into the seat across from you, whipping out his phone and humming a tune of a familiar song you recognized from the radio. “I’m on break. This time of the day, things get a bit slow.” You nod in understanding, respectfully keeping your legs crossed and your arms folded in your lap, not wanting to show any sign of weakness.

“What song are you listening to?” You ask, hoping to make some small talk.

“Uncomfortable by Chase Atlantic. It’s my go-to after a stressful day.” You shift in your seat when you hear that name. You absolutely adore that band, and the lead singer’s vocals are absolutely heavenly. You could go on for hours, but you don’t want him to know that yet.

“Oh, that’s...cool I guess.” You try not to jump

up and down in joy as that’s a lesser known band and not very many people know about them.

“Do you know this song?” He leans forward, sliding you his phone and showing you the cover of an old album, one you recognize to be “Don’t Try This,” and the song is GREENGREENGREEN. Their song titles are a bit questionable, but they are true works of art, so you can let it pass.

“I suppose I’ve heard it once or twice…” You trail off, watching how the curve of his smooth lips turn upwards, and carefully, you watch how he mouths the words.

“All I see is green yuh

Moving on your seat yuh yuh yuh

All I see is green, All I see is green, All I see is green.” You smirk, slowly singing the next part.

“It's green where the grass grows

Let the cash flow

You can keep your head high, keep that ass low,” You laugh, the man across from you grinning at how weirdly you sang the lyrics.

You and Yoongi continue listening to Chase Atlantic songs together late into the evening hours. It’s around seven in the evening and the air is cool and humid.

“You have amazing taste in music, I’ve never met anyone else who listens to Chase Atlantic with such passion! Jimin’s an Alec Benjamin person but I always tell him they have similar music styles…” He trails off suddenly, worrying you with the pace of his cutoff. “Listen, I had a lot of fun talking to you. And at first I really didn’t get why Jimin wanted to get to know you better but now I see what he saw. You’re cool, Y/N.” You’re more surprised he remembered your name.

“Thanks Yoongi.” You share a moment of silence, just smiling at each other as Jimin makes his way back to your table.

“It’s time for me to clock out, we’re closing soon.” He slides into the seat across from you, next to Yoongi, and you watch as Yoongi expertly sneaks his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder, and you feel small fireworks bursting in your heart. It’s not a weird feeling of jealousy, per say, but rather you feel mellow. You like seeing them together. You like this.

“Feels like just yesterday I walked in here and you gave me black coffee instead of an iced vanilla mocha because you were distracted by my sexiness.” Jimin girlishly flips his hair, and the three of you share a laugh before the lights start flickering.

“What’s going on?”

“Looks like there’s something wrong with the power. Jin!!! Did you mess with the electrical again?!” Yoongi runs back inside the kitchen, making sure everything is fine.

“We’re good, just a minor fix,” you hear the voice of another man from inside. You and Jimin exchange worried looks as the lights stay on for a total of 1.032342352 seconds and then they just turn off completely.

“Dammit, stupid thunderstorm outside caused a power outage through town.” You heard Yoongi cursing from the kitchen before he opened the door and stumbled outside back to you.

“Well, when are the lights gonna come back on?” You ask, clutching onto the table as you sink back on the wooden surface.

“News reports say power lines are under service and will be back in function in an hour.” Jimin shows you the article, making you shiver from the thought of spending the night at the café. You most probably won’t have to do that, since your car is right outside and you can just drive home. But do you really want to face your neighbors after a really tough day of school? No. Your bets are that they will probably try to infiltrate your home, failing are trying to “make it up to you.” You’ve lost any trust you had in them before, Jungkook and Jasmine really screwed up this time.

“It’s cold, isn’t it?” Jimin sounds steady, but you can faintly see the outline of his striped shirt and how his muscles contract as he shivers right in front of you. You admire him for putting up the dauntless act, but it doesn’t help as the sound of his teeth clashing give it all away.

“Here, take my jacket. I’m not that cold.” You offer him your coat and he hesitantly slips it over his shoulders. He doesn’t wear it, afraid of stretching out the expensive material and risking threat or wearing it out.

“Thanks.”

“Hey guys, can you come in here please? We need help with the door.” You and Jimin carefully make your way to the pantry, which is at a door at the end of the kitchen. You’d never been inside one in a restaurant, but you assumed it was the same as your school. The kitchen was the darkest room, but thanks to the dim lighting from Jimin’s phone, you safely arrived at the end of the path.

“What are you doing now?” You see a second man, taller than Yoongi and Jimin combined, holding a large box.

“We’re just taking this inside. This stuff is smelly, so we make sure they stay sealed in the pantry until we need them,” The older man has a charming smile, and you can already tell he is a gentleman. He looks a little bit older than you, but you can tell by his mannerisms that he’s a bit older. “And hi, I’m Jin.” He introduces himself, winking at you as he walks past, with Yoongi rolling his eyes at the lame flirting attempt. You thought it was cute.

“Coming through! Move over babe.” Yoongi warns Jimin, who holds the door open while you watch over his shoulder, making sure he doesn’t fall back. Not that you will be of any help.

“Oh crap, I think I forgot something in the kitchen!” You and Jimin make your way into the pantry, shrugging at the way Jin quickly left his post.

“So...what’s exactly in the box?” Your curiosity seems to know no limits as you keep asking questions, over and over again. Yoongi and Jimin, however, find it amusing.

“Vinaigrette. All the same type, same brand.” Yoongi dusts his hands and walks back to the closed door, wrapping his fingers around the cool metal knob before turning it….to find that it doesn’t open.

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Jimin asks, wrapping your jacket around him more tightly. You sigh at his adorable pout. But of course, you try to ignore their moment, focusing on your phone instead. Your battery is at 8% already, and you need to save as much power as you can. However, you also need to distract yourself.

“It won’t open.” You stand up. You’ve hated small spaces since you were a little girl and you refuse to get stuck in a food pantry with two insanely attractive men. What if you run out of oxygen? It’s not them, it’s you.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Yoongi notices your mini panic attack, as you pant heavily, now looking for some sort of opening to crawl through. You need to escape.

“I need to get out!” You shudder as the dim lighting of your phone suddenly disappears. Your phone just died. What the fuck are you going to do now?!

“We’re fine, we just need to call Jin,” Yoongi knocks on the door, and you all stay quiet to hear any feedback. What you didn’t know was that Jin had gone out to run errands and he wouldn’t be back until much later.

“Let me text him.” Luckily, Jimin’s phone has enough power to send one text. Jin replies quickly, telling Jimin that he’ll be back in half an hour, maybe even later because of the horrible weather.

“Looks like we’ll be stuck here for awhile.” Yoongi sits down on the floor first, making himself comfortable between two flour bags. You and Jimin make yourselves comfortable on the floor, shrugging as you snuggle into some things but the lights are off so you have no idea where you’re sitting. Your eyes are adjusted to the darkness, so you can see the faint outlines in the pitch darkness.

Then you think of all the things that happened today. How you overheard Jungkook telling people lies, and how heartlessly Jasmine let go of him (even though he partially deserved it), and all of the lies and betrayal. Jasmine has cheated on a lot of her past boyfriends, but for some reason you thought she would treat Jungkook differently. And Jungkook just cares about fitting in. You wish you could forget it all and go back to being friends, but you are just so, so sad. They broke your heart. You don’t know if you can trust anyone else ever again. You silently sob, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

But your stupid sniffles give you away.

“Are you..crying?” Jimin asks after a long silence.

“No…” You wipe your tears and turn to his voice.

“Tell us what’s wrong.” Yoongi’s warmth creates an almost suffocating feeling in the air as your breathing falters and you feel very disconnected from your environment. You can’t even tell if your eyes are open or not because of how long you’ve been trapped. It’s driving you mad. The only thing keeping you sane are the two men sitting in front of you...or behind you. You can’t tell anymore.

“I just want my friends back. And I want to believe that everything will be alright but lately...everything’s been horrible! Life just keeps throwing one obstacle after another and I just want to believe that everything will be okay but it isn’t! My best friend slept with my other best friend and now everything’s weird between the three of us, and my other friend decided to tell everyone that we’re screwing. I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! Everything is spiraling out of control and I can’t do shit,” You breathe heavily and silence follows, as the boys allow you to catch your breath, not inputting anything just yet. “Thanks for letting me rant. I just needed to let that out, I guess.” You bite your bottom lip, and you can smell the anticipation in the air as the boys wait for their turn to speak.

Oh wow, now you’ve robbed them of their words. Aren’t you the best friend ever.

“Can I say something?” Jimin waits for a moment before dictating his thoughts, “It sounds like you were just thrown into a random mess that had nothing to do with you directly.” He says, earning a cough from Yoongi. Luckily, the sleepy-eyed man is kind enough to cough in his sleeve (ugh corona) and he says, “I agree with Jimin. And that guy sounds like a bitch boy. I’m pretty sure he’s one of those coconut headed e-boy wannabes. Or just a plain fuckboy.” You scrunch your nose. “Jungkook isn’t like that.”

“Oh, with a name like that he’s bound to have a talent. Maybe he dances really well? Lemme guess, he’s a really good singer but is as shy as a goat.” You didn’t know goats were shy. Yoongi seems knowledgeable, so you don’t question him.

“He’s a good singer, alright, but he wants to be a progamer when he graduates.” You reveal it to them, all of a sudden going off on a tangent about your childhood crush and best friend.

“It sounds like you guys are close,” Jimin whispers in a hushed voice, so quietly that you almost miss him. “And from what I can tell, he’s insecure and wants people to think he’s cool. So he used you, as stupid as it was, I think he’s worth fighting for.” You feel a sudden lightness in your chest, like you just confessed something you felt guilty about. It’s as if he’s in your head, and he understands exactly what you’re going through.

“Jimin and I actually got together because of a misunderstanding in the first place, if he hadn’t fought for us, who knows where he might’ve ended up?” You can’t see what Jimin does exactly, but you assume that his face is scrunched up into a cute cringe of sorts, anything that man does is adorable.

“My parents would’ve forced me to become a pastor. They aren’t exactly the most open-minded people...coming out to them was the hardest thing I ever did. And luckily, Yoongi was with me all through the process after they disowned me and threw me out of the house. I guess I lost my biological family but I ended up with something even better.” You feel your lips turn upward, the first feeling you’ve experienced since sadness. You feel hopeful, and happy that the two men can freely be together without judgement from those around them.

You feel slightly jealous as well, since their relationship worked out and yours with Jungkook are in shambles. Maybe it’s not too late to fix this, but seeing as he hadn’t even sent you as much as a “Good morning” text, you decided it was better to leave him alone for now. The darkness is not only making you blind; it’s making you unempathetic. You do feel a bit of fear though, as the sense of not knowing what else might be in here with you is overwhelming and you literally want to curl into a ball and cry. “Your breathing is heavy again...are you okay?” Yoongi’s voice soothes you as you slowly recover from the mini-panic attack. You don’t know if you can take it anymore.

“Sorry, I’m just a little claustrophobic.” You hear some shifting as Yoongi makes himself more comfortable.

“Oh shit, I forgot about Jin,” Jimin pulls out his phone, as it vibrates with a text. Your vision is blurry, but you can see his face with the help of the dim light from his device. “Jin said he’s running late in traffic. We might be stuck for a little longer.” You snap, reaching for the closest thing to you, standing up on your two wobbly legs.

“I can’t do this! I’m going crazy, I need to get out! Anything...away….can’t breathe!” You start taking deep breaths, slightly embarrassed at showing the two boys you barely know your weak side. Of course, they are absolute sweethearts about it.

“Honja jjujeo anja

Saenggag man keojyeoga

Eonjebuteo neon nal apeuge haessdeonga

Neo jochado moreujanha,” He slowly makes his way behind you, snaking his arms around your shoulders in a very intimate manner.

“Neodo apeujanha 'cause you’re mine

I just want to blow your mind

Ireohge neon tto meoleojyeo man ganeunde,” You close your eyes and sink into his embrace, swaying in a movement that could only be described as heaven. His voice is heaven.

“I want you to be your light, baby

You should be your light

Deoneun apeuji anhge

Nega useul su issge

I want you to be your night, baby

You could be your night

Ibami neoege soljighal su issge…” He trails off, leaving you feeling speechless from listening to his honey-like voice. The song is also new, something you’ve never heard. You clap, astounded by his vocals.

“That was amazing!!! Thank you so much for doing that.” You can almost picture the cute blush on his cheeks as you praise him, but you aren’t going to let him know that.

“No problem.” As you both share a moment, Yoongi finds a supposed way out.

“Look, there’s a duct back here. Should one of us go through and see if they can let the others out?” You and Jimin share a look of suspicion but you volunteer anyways.

“I guess I’ll do it. Seems logical.” You get to your hands and feet, and Jimin gives you his phone, tenderly. There’s a gentleness in his eyes and through the blinding light of the flashlight on his phone, you could see his pupils dilate slightly. For a moment, it’s just you and him, as the rest of the world fades to black. You snap out of your daze when Yoongi coughs into his arm again, and you prepare to crawl into a dusty duct that’s been closed for decades.

You eventually find an exit, and you’re surprised at how long Jimin’s battery life was. It was only at 49%, despite him using his phone for half the time you were together. He must’ve charged it to the full 100%. You find a screw loose on another duct, opening it with ease and slipping into the kitchen. And then when you shine your flashlight, you realize your location.

You quickly run to the locked door and find that opening it from the outside is a piece of cake. The two men are thankful, but they still complain about the power. Jimin texts Jin that all of you got out, and he just tells you to go home.

The time is about 9:41, 2 hours later than you’d hoped to go home. Nonetheless, you had fun spilling your heart to these two wonderful men. You’ve never felt so close with a pair of strangers, but you can tell these two will become an important part of your life very soon.

༻• At your House •༺

“Where were you?” Your mother yells as you walk through the door, and you put your bag on the floor, flopping face down on the couch.

“I was at a café but then there was a power outage and I got stuck in a food pantry.” You nonchalantly tilt your head upwards at your mom, as her look of anger changes into one of worry.

“How did you get out?” She asks, bringing you a cheese sandwich. You plug in your phone upside down, but it’s okay because you can see the logo pop up after a minute.

“I crawled through a duct. It was fun but dusty. Oh, sorry for not texting you. My phone died.” She raises an eyebrow.

“Y/N...is there something you’re not telling me?” You fold your arms, whining like a baby. “Was there someone else with you?” You nod, not wanting to tell your mom in detail. “Okay, I’m not gonna ask any more questions. But earlier Jungkook came by, he wanted to talk to you in person. After he left, Jasmine dropped by an hour ago, saying she wanted to see you too. Did something happen between the three of you?” You sigh, turning right-side up on the couch, resting your head on your mother’s shoulder.

“Mom, can I please just go to bed? I don’t feel so good.” Instead of pestering you to tell her, she complies with your wishes, leaving you alone to go into the kitchen.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I started renting the top floor of our house to two nice young men. They’ll stay with us, and we can get money.” You raise your eyebrows at her, not believing her fully. Your mom was never the type of person to do that. You had suggested it in the past, but she had never fully gone through with plans before. Especially big ones.

“And why did you agree to it?”

“Because they are so charming, Y/N, when I put the ad up, they immediately responded, saying that they’d do all the housework and help cook, and take care of the house as if it was theirs, even though they are paying to stay in one room.” You grab your backpack and make your way upstairs. After finishing your nighttime routine, you tuck yourself in and retire for the night.

You wake up with the sudden urge to pee. So, you run to the bathroom only to find a very unexpected sight. The same man with the crescent shaped eyes when he smiles is standing in your bathroom, brushing his teeth.

“J-Jimin?” He turns his head, looking at you with wide eyes.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“I live here!”

“Me too!” Dear God, what has your mother done?

#jimin #yoongi #jungkook #reader #cafeau #barista #bts #yoonmin #yoonmin x reader #Poly #fluff #cute #high school

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eldritch-elrics · 4 years ago

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this summer, me and my brother watched four whole shows. at long last, here is my comprehensive review of all of them!

in the order we watched them, these shows were:

avatar the last airbender (ATLA)

mob psycho 100 (MP100)

demon slayer / kimetsu no yaiba (KNY)

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood (FMAB)

they were all very very good!

i’m not going to try to rank them, but, as is probably obvious by the state of my blog, my favorite was FMAB :) if i had to pick a least favorite, then, it would probably be KNY—not by any fault of its own, but just because it didn’t appeal to me quite as much as the others. still a very good show!

i will review each show by:

giving a quick plot-based pitch discussing the show’s hook or appeal

discussing one element that i believe it does better than any other show on this list—in other words, a quality that i think it stands out for

discussing one element that didn’t appeal to me or that i had issues with—a criticism

putting forth my favorite character and favorite episode or arc, just for funsies

including various other commentary. mostly positive, as, again, i did really like all of these!

(i’ve tried to make this whole thing free of specific spoilers, but if you’re planning on watching any of these shows and want to go in more-or-less blind, it might be best not to read this.)

first of all, i’d just like to discuss all four of these shows as a whole! it was definitely interesting watching one after another and noting similarities between them.

all of them have siblings in them! which is, perhaps, fitting, as i watched them with my brother

two include a pair of siblings in which one has powers and one doesn’t (at least at first), and part of the narrative involves getting better at using those powers (ATLA, MP100)

two include a narrative centered around a pair of siblings and something tragic that happens to them, resulting in the older one being traumatized and forced to train to become a soldier, and the younger one turning into something (arguably) inhuman. the protagonist’s major goal is to return his younger sibling to the way they were before (KNY, FMAB)

ATLA and FMAB are both fantasy political dramas, which is rapidly becoming a favorite genre of mine

most of these are historical, or historically inspired in some way, which is interesting!

all of these shows are really really good at character building. all the main characters are interesting and complex, and the relationships between those characters are similarly nuanced and very well written. they make you really care about both the protagonists and the side characters!

avatar: the last airbender

pitch: as the ever-growing imperial force of the fire nation threatens the earth and water nations, a kid from the long-lost air nation turns up and it turns out he can control all four elements and he has to save the world and all that. sorry i tried to write this pitch like five times and realized that well at this point i think everyone reading this will know the plot of avatar

stands out for: avatar has possibly the best worldbuilding i have ever seen in a show—it takes the time to introduce us to so many places and aspects of its world, both explicitly and subtly. the main highlight of this is the magic system. by creating a magic system based in body movement, the process of using magic and learning to use/control it better becomes immediately obvious to the viewer. combine that with the philosophy behind each type of bending and the way that characters take bending inspiration from types different than their own, and you’ve got a system that is complex, flexible, believable, internally consistent, and just plain fun! it makes action sequences a blast. i especially liked the moments when bending was stretched to its limits in totally logical ways (metalbending, bloodbending). not to mention the way that bending is seamlessly integrated into the world of avatar! the example that comes to mind is the earthbending-powered transport system of omashu. a whole essay could be written on that topic alone!

criticism: i know this is a sentiment shared by many people, but the first season was kind of boring to me. some of the humor and the plots felt hit-or-miss. of course, it needed to take that time to establish the world, and it does a great job of doing that. it just didn’t hook me until the second season.

favorite character: i love toph she’s so much fun :) iroh is a close second! and zuko is great, too, of course

favorite arc: i loved ba sing se a ton, especially the episode when they get there and everything feels off. it felt so resonant with real life, in a very fun way. there’s a reason “there is no war in ba sing se” is a meme…

other commentary: what can i say? it’s a classic for a damn good reason. the plot is tight, and it does a great job raising tension and introducing new elements and twists. i also love the care put into the antagonists, especially azula, who has a fascinating arc.

mob psycho 100

pitch: a middle schooler and a charismatic con artist team up to smite ghosts using extrasensory powers. thing is, only the middle schooler actually has ESP, and it happens to be really, really powerful. can he navigate the difficult world of middle school while also getting a better grip on his powers—and his bottled-up emotions?

stands out for: the way that MP100 uses animation is excellent. it takes a little getting used to but it’s just so fun, combining all sorts of different techniques to create an experience rich with drama and emotion. it’s playfully exaggerated and self-parodying, adding to the show’s fantastic sense of humor as well as its truly emotional moments.

criticism: the way that ESP works makes suspension of disbelief tricky. it’s a great feat to introduce a character who is essentially all-powerful and still make them interesting (even in fight scenes), but at times (especially the second season finale) it felt like a magic system with too much breadth and too few limitations. this might just be my bias for hard magic systems talking, though.

favorite character: other than mob and reigen? probably teru. he’s loads of fun AND all the season 1 episodes he’s in slap hard

favorite episode: the one where the girl asks mob out on a date as a dare.. it’s super cute

other commentary: thank you mp100 for being the leftist propaganda we all deserve <3

in all seriousness though, this show is a blast!! it does a great job switching between silly and serious in the blink of an eye. i also really appreciate the way that it balances comically huge stakes with much smaller, more personal stories. for example, the conflict between mob and reigen in season 2 is especially well-done. in general the emotions just feel so real? characters whose emotions tie into their powers are an excellent trope, and mob is a wonderful protagonist who exemplifies this really well.

finally, on a more critical note—there are so many characters in this show! and it feels like only a handful are fleshed out? however, this may be due to the fact that it’s not an adaptation of the entire manga (which i haven’t read). there’s a lot more to go! more characters to dive into! so i probably shouldn’t try to critique it in the same way as a finished work.

demon slayer / kimetsu no yaiba

pitch: demons kill a boy’s family and turn his sister into a demon, so he decides to try and figure out a way to turn his sister back into a human. what follows is a demon-killing adventure that’s in equal parts harrowing, poignant, and hilarious.

stands out for: there’s not much i can say about this other than “please just take a look” but the art and design is phenomenal. it does a much better job of integrating 2D and 3D than a lot of other animated series, and overall it is just so so pretty! all the character designs are complex, memorable, and fit the characters perfectly. the color choices are interesting and satisfying. i also really like the sound design? not often that i notice that in a show. i’ve watched so many KNY amvs by now lol it’s just amazing animation

criticism: the narration style leans too heavily towards tell instead of show. this is mostly an issue with the first few episodes, but i got super annoyed by how much the show would narrate every single one of tanjirou’s thoughts instead of letting us infer those thoughts through his actions and reactions—the latter, i think, would have been more emotionally impactful. sometimes silence speaks louder than words! tanjirou was also not the world’s most compelling protagonist in my opinion, though i think that mostly has to do with my own tastes.

favorite character: *holds up zenitsu* I Just Think He’s Neat. i actually kind of lost it when he first used his powers, like… damn i love characters with weird relationships with their magic like that. i also think the narrative about how having a solid foundation is sometimes more important than knowing a ton of different moves was really powerful. and he’s just funny! pathetic boy i love him

favorite arc: really just the whole spider arc. fucked up man… i love it. they pulled off that last twist so well, and all the family stuff was so weird and complex and emotional…

other commentary: it’s just a really solid and very well-written show! the team of tanjirou, zenitsu, and inosuke is so much fun… bro bonding :) i also quite like the horror elements; it’s fucked up but in a good way. finally, this is very specific, but the demon that can alter buildings/rooms through drumbeats? appealed to me very much. it’s a cool and unique power!

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood

pitch: two kids do some fucked up alchemy and end up getting parts of their body stolen by god. now they’re on a quest to get their bodies back, but find themselves wrapped up in crazy government conspiracies and alchemy more powerful than they ever could’ve imagined…

stands out for: plot. by this i mean less overall concept (though the overall concept is pretty great too), and more that the pacing and progression of the story is extraordinarily tight. for the most part (the first few episodes are a little weak but i’ll let it slide), it does an excellent job establishing its premise and building on it logically, adding layers and layers that extend naturally from what we already know. everything has a reason for happening; everything is revealed in good time and all the twists are super satisfying. there’s great balance between exciting moments and quiet moments. it’s just very good at being a story!

(fun fact: i’m reading the manga right now and so far it’s even better paced than the show, which is super interesting! it’s especially good at how it lays out pieces of the backstory and then fills everything in later in a really satisfying way.)

criticism: this is incredibly specific but it’s what comes to mind as something that bothered me: winry’s character arc was really disappointing. for most of the series she’s a pretty strong character, but in the end it feels like she gets pushed aside, defined only by her relationship with ed. what happened to her wanting to take action more? that was a specific desire she expressed—wanting to be less passive! since she’s such an important character, i wish she could have had more presence in the last season other than as a sounding board for the elric bros’ emotions. (even though her one scene in the last episode was really good and emotional…)

favorite character: other than the elric bros, absolutely ling. he fits into multiple of my favorite character archetypes (fun, silly, bastard, gets possessed…) and he’s just overall a delight. plus his relationship with greed is really really good. bro bonding at its peak!! (my other favorite is pride. i will not say why because spoilers. but if you know me.. you know)

favorite episode: this is really really hard to choose but i’m gonna go with envy’s death because. holy shit.

other commentary: i’m a really big fan of the complex and nuanced way in which FMAB breaks down militaristic, imperial regimes from the inside. many of the characters have done awful things, and the story forces them to grapple with that and accept that all they can do now is be better in the future. the moral complexity is just really good! characters with flaws—we love to see it!

finally, parts of this story seem so so catered to Me Specifically that it’s no wonder i got so into it. like just the entire premise? the way that so much of the conflict is built out of identity crisis and exploring the nature of consciousness and human vs inhuman? beautiful. i love ed and al so much

if you made it all the way to the end, thank you so much for reading!! glad to have finally gotten this done (3 months late…) and put all my thoughts down. i hope this inspires someone to try watching one of the shows i discussed!

#avatar the last airbender #mob psycho 100 #kimetsu no yaiba #fullmetal alchemist #my post #long post #then for my own tagging purposes..#atla #mp100 #kny #fmab #i really hope some people read this! i put a lot of thought into it

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qsdblogging · 4 years ago

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10 More TV Shows You Need To See

This is the second installment of my recommendations of shows for you to add to your own lists. I watch a lot of television and I’ve got, what I consider to be at least, a wide variety of shows under my favorites.

If you haven’t seen the first list, you don’t need to unless you want to see another list of ten shows you may want to check out if you’re looking for anything new to watch.

Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I. Warehouse 13.

Pete and Myka, U.S Secret Service Agents, are deployed to South Dakota’s Warehouse 13 with a new assignment from an authority above and outside the government.

Intrigued?

With the Warehouse comes assignments regarding objects that hold some sort of abilities that can cause people to do wild and crazy things. It’s their job to find the artifacts (as they all hold significance to history) and bring them back to the Warehouse for safe keeping.

Things get wild and some serious topics get handled, but the show isn’t alone. It’s connected to another on this list, Eureka. More on that when you get to Eureka.

Some familiar faces are Eddie McClintock who played a part in Bones, one episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Joanne Kelly who played a role in The Dresden Files television series, Allison Scagliotti who played roles in Stitchers, The Vampire Diaries, and Drake & Josh, Aaron Ashmore (twin brother to Shawn Ashmore, who has been in the X-Men movies alongside appearing in The Boys, and voicing Conrad in Man of Medan) from Killjoys, Lost Girl, and Smallville, and Jamie Murray from Castelvania, Gotham, The Originals, Once Upon a Time, Defiance, and Dexter.

I highly recommend, especially because the dynamic of the characters is really interesting and covers a lot.

II. Eureka.

As mentioned above, this is connected to Warehouse 13. But only in the last two seasons of this show are the two connected.

Eureka is a town full of geniuses and advanced technology that the government funds, and when a new sheriff comes to town, he’s exposed to all the daily occurrences the locals get up to. And maybe a couple instances of time travel that may or may not have to do with the connection.

The town is full of faces you may recognize. Colin Ferguson who has roles in Haven, The Vampire Diaries, and Maytag commercials, Erica Cerra who has roles in The 100, Supernatural, Deadly Class, and the first Percy Jackson film, Felicia Day who has roles in The Magicians, Supernatural, Con Man, The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Trevor Jackson who has roles in Grown-ish, and a couple Disney productions.

It’s a huge science fiction show and if you’re into that, give it a watch.

III. Alphas.

Now, like the two above is, Alphas is a science fiction packed drama. And it’s rumored to be connected, like be in the same universe, as Warehouse 13 and Eureka. It’s never been confirmed, but there is one character (same name and job) that plays a part in both Alphas and Warehouse 13, which is the stem for the theory. (Plus, some other ideas floating around).

But Alphas focuses on a team that investigates people with supernatural abilities while they, themselves, have abilities. These powered people are referred to as Alphas, due to their nature.

Unfortunately, this show ends on a cliffhanger in its second season.

Yet, I still recommend giving it a shot because it truly is an interesting show and it’s got some people you may recognize.

IV. Haven.

If you’re a fan of Stephen King’s “Colorado Kid”, you’ll most likely enjoy this show since it’s loosely based off of it.

Set in the coastal town of Haven, Maine, FBI Agent Audrey Parker comes to town to find that the residents have dormant curses, or rather troubles, that can be triggered at any given moment. She, along with the Sheriff and the town’s black sheep, must deal with the troubles’ deadly effects. And a few things may be revealed about herself too along the way.

It’s pretty interesting and I enjoyed it quite a lot when I first watched it. I’m not the biggest fan of Stephen King, and the connection seems to barely be there, but I wouldn’t know given my dislike for King.

I highly recommend giving Haven a shot, however, especially if you’re a crime and fantasy fan.

V. Lost Girl.

Lost Girl focuses on the gorgeous and charismatic Bo, a supernatural being called a succubus who feeds on the energy of humans, sometimes with fatal results. Refusing to embrace her supernatural clan system and its rigid hierarchy, Bo is a renegade who takes up the fight for the underdog while searching for the truth of her own mysterious origins. (Taken from IMDB).

Plus, there a lesbian romance or two.

Now, the show itself is pretty strong holding in its own storyline and lore, but the last season does get a bit rocky feeling. It could’ve been better, and it definitely feels a little rushed, but it wasn’t too bad of an ending. However, it’s not a show that got cancelled before it could wrap things up and it leaves things pretty open-ended.

In my books, that’s a point. I highly recommend this is if you’re a fan of fantasy.

VI. Almost Human.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ones in the list that only has one season (that seems to be out of order and frankly I’m not entirely sure of the order myself, so rely on googling it yourself and hopefully you find the right order) and was cancelled not long after airing.

BUT, it’s a good watch. It’s set in the distant future, where cops are assigned an android partner to protect and serve. Things get pretty wild and I’m quite sure there are some bombs involved at some point, but there’s a bonus to all the madness of Almost Human.

Minka Kelly and Karl Urban. Two incredibly beautiful human beings.

I highly recommend bingeing this single season show.

VII. American Gods.

This shows feels very confusing. But it’s still a good watch.

It centers on a recently released ex-con named Shadow Moon. He runs into a man full of mystery named Wednesday (and you’ll later come to find out who he really is, or you may already know given your knowledge on the book of the same name or just how well you know mythology) who seems to know more than Shadow about his own life and past.

There are Gods, mischief, and a lot of crazy shit in this show. So far it’s on it’s third season as far as I know (I have to rewatch the first two before I pick it back up).

You should give it a shot, but I won’t blame you if you feel way too confused about the whole thing.

VIII. The Boys.

Now, there’s a lot of controversy regarding this Amazon Original Series, but honestly, I think everyone should at least give it a chance. I know a lot of Tumblr users were put off on trying to due to the advertisements on the site.

If you don’t know what this series is about, it follows a group of vigilantes set on taking down the corrupt superheroes that are abusing their powers and status.

It covers a lot of ground. Murder, sabotage, terrorism, capitalism, and a lot more. Feminism and sexual harassment occur, but there are warning before each episode for what you may see in the contents.

Some familiar faces include Karl Urban, who’s known for his roles in Thor: Ragnarok, the newer Star Trek movies, Almost Human, Lord of the Rings, and more, Erin Moriarty from Jessica Jones, Laz Alonso from The Mysteries of Laura, Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl and The Covenant, and Jensen Ackles from Supernatural has been confirmed to be joining the cast for its third season.

The Boys is currently on it’s second season, being released on a weekly schedule. So, if you like superheroes and graphic content, this show might be it for you.

IX. Chuck.

Chuck is the result of when a twenty-eight year old computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. assign two agents to protect him and exploit the knowledge, turning Chuck Bartowski’s life upside down. (Taken from IMDB).

This is one of the shows I cannot recommend enough to people. It’s the right mixture of action and comedy, plus a little romance. Spies, love, and murder, oh my! What more could you want?

Plus, Zachery Levi plays Chuck. If you don’t know him by name, you probably would recognize him from some of his roles with the most recent being in Shazam!, Fandral in the second and third Thor films, voicing Eugene Fitzherbert (or Flynn Rider) in Tangled, and Heroes: Reborn.

If Zachery Levi playing a lovable computer geek turned spy doesn’t interest you, maybe some more familiar faces will.

Yvonne Strahovski from The Handmaid’s Tale, The Astronaut Wives Club, acting as Daenerys in a Princess Rap Battle on Youtube, and Dexter. Adam Baldwin from Firefly/Serenity, Bones, Angel, The Last Ship, and Independence Day. Brandon Routh who plays Ray Palmer from the DC Shows. Matt Bomer from Doom Patrol, American Horror Story, White Collar, Magic Mike, and True Calling.

X. Deadly Class.

Unfortunately, I have a truly bad streak with new shows. Deadly Class, like others that have been mentioned in these lists of mine, got cancelled and on a cliffhanger no less. However, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the action-packed coming-of-age story set in the 1980s.

Following a new recruit for a high school training assassins, things get pretty wild when you pair death and teenagers.

#deadlyclass #watchlist #tvshows #chuck #eureka #americangods #alphas #theboys #almosthuman #lostgirl #haven #warehouse13 #qsdblogging #qsdbloggingpopculture #qsdpopculture #findingqsd

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c0ry-c0nvoluted · 4 years ago

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THE ENEMY IS NOT A SKIN COLOR. THE ENEMY IS A CLASS.

White privilege. The phrase implies special rights. The phrase implies having a jumpstart in the race by way of DNA. What it doesn’t imply is that that white-skinned Jim or Judy is gonna win that race, just that the game is rigged in their favor.

I don’t hate the concept. The validity of it, I mean. It honestly rings some-kind-of-true in my brain when taking into consideration the general social status of people of color. But there’s a problem with it. Not in its validity, but in its generality, its assumption, and the overall affect it has on our society.

The biggest and most obvious problem with it is that there are tens of millions of white people (if not hundreds of millions worldwide), who are all struggling just to make ends meet (if they can at all). There are “poor white folk” everywhere. And there are white kids who are terrorized by their own parents. There are white boys and girls getting bullied at school or in their neighborhood. There are white people suffering at the hands of violent criminals, scam artists, corporations, policemen… And I’m not talking about white criminals suffering, here...

I worked with this insanely gorgeous blond who was one of several dozen (I don’t remember the actual number) of women who were raped by this cop in my city (San Diego). He’d follow them from clubs, pull them over, take what he wanted from them, then send them on their way. He got away with it up until he didn’t, but how many cops still do? His choice of victim was young and white, as are most serial killer victims, but does their skin color matter? In the sense that they’re preferred as targets, yes, but not in the sense of right and wrong. Their white skin, in this case, wasn’t doing them any favors.

But let’s get back to the topic at hand.

Is “white privilege” real?

Well that depends on what you consider “white privilege” to be, and I think that’s where our signals are getting crossed. I think that if you look at it on a more psychological level you’ll see that, yes, “white privilege” is a real thing in that “white people are less likely to be demonized or judged negatively based solely on their skin tone.” (But not on their appearance. If a white person is dressed like a thug, he/she is going to get negatively judged the same way a Hispanic would. Whereas vice versa, if a black person was dressed like a total bookworm, they’re going to get judged as such, not as a criminal.) But blacks being judged more often solely on skin color is 100% true. Black-skinned people have been demonized throughout our nation’s history (and many other nations) and this demonization, along with insidious, covert attacks on black communities by those in power, have caused two things (among a plethora of others, but two for the sake of my point). 1: It’s caused non-blacks who are not racist but are just recognizing the patterns they’ve been force-fed by the media, to unintentionally relate black-skin with ignorance, violence, and criminal behavior. And 2: It’s brought about disparity, anger, and emotional trauma in the black community that is the cause of the higher crime rates in those communities and more black-on-black crime than white-on-black crime (by the people, I mean. I’m not counting by the government because that’s a whole other fuck-storm of shit that isn’t only aimed at blacks, but at any who are considered “lower-class,” which, yes, the majority of blacks in our country are. That’s not to say there are more poor black people than poor white people. I really doubt that’s the case. But the percentage of blacks or other minorities who are poor vs the percentage of whites who are is likely leaning in the direction of exactly what makes “white privilege” a valid argument. But I’m not a “facts” guy. The numbers are just ways to distract from the problem, so you’re not gonna catch me quoting them to cry foul on the BLM movement. The reality is that yes, there are probably more poor white people total than blacks in this country, but the psychology, the demonization of blacks, is a real thing.)

But there’s a problem with looking at this as “white privilege.” Number one: if we do that we (unintentionally) discredit any white person who is or has suffered. Those who are, or have suffered, will absolutely not take kindly to being told that they are “privileged”. And what happens when they are told this? It makes anyone with white skin who has suffered or is suffering (and there’s a fuck ton of us) think to themselves, “Oh, fuck no! You think I got it good? You think you’re the only one who has problems? You think you’re the only one who’s getting fucked by the system? Well fuck you, and your white privileged bullshit excuse to whine to the guilt-ridden middle class to get your free handouts! The government has fucked me over more times than I can count!” And what does this mind-state do? It creates a racial class-war between those who have white skin and are suffering, and those who have black/brown skin and are suffering. And who wins in this scenario? If you guessed “the upper-class” you get a prize. (Whatchoo want, a fuzzy bear? A goldfish in a plastic tub? G’ahead. Pick something nice out. You earned it.) So now you got poor white people with guns itching to shoot any black person with or without a gun who supports a movement that indirectly claims that their suffering is invalid. And what does this “civil class war” accomplish? It creates more “criminals” for the fucking private-owned prisons to make money off of, further separating the upper-class from the lower, creating more suffering, more anger, more hate, MORE RACISM.

So is white privilege real? Psychologically, yes, to the extent that our society psychologically favors white skin over black/brown. But has it ever made me any more money? No. Has it ever stopped the cops from pulling me over and searching my car? Fuck no. I’ve been detained, searched, followed, fined, towed, impounded, harassed more than most people you know, regardless of your color. I’ve lost count of how many damn times I’ve been harassed by the cops in my city. Shit, I wrote a goddamn rap song about it back in the early 2000’s called SDPD, smashing on the fuckers for harassing a guy who was just trying to get by. And I was NEVER a criminal. I NEVER had any weapons or hard drugs (ok, some pills and plenty of pot, but…), I was NEVER robbing anyone or breaking into cars or homes or gang banging (maybe just a smidge of graffiti, but that shit’s art), or causing any kind of…ok, no, there was some drunken shenanigans, for sure, but that was mostly my boys, not me. Lol The point is, being white DID NOT stop me from getting constantly harassed by the cops in my city. You know what did? A new car, less homies in the ride, no smoke blowing from the windows, and a slightly more tempered demeanor while driving. I still bump my rap music, but I’m not in a car full of teenage “trouble-makers”. I still speed, but I come to a complete stop at them signs, bruh. I still run red lights, but I look reeeal fucking carefully when I do. I still zip in-and-out of lanes on the freeway, but I keep it below 80 (mostly). So the only thing that’s changed is that I “appear” to have more money (with a nicer ride), and I show more maturity in being on the road. My skin color hasn’t changed, but my run-ins with the cops have.

The bottom line: Crying out “white privilege” ain’t gonna help anyone but the rich who’re sitting back and raking in the dough off all the drama and weapon sales and fines and arrests and damaged property that needs to be rebuilt. So don’t make our society’s problem about a skin color. When you do that you divide people into groups when you should be uniting them. Divided we fall. I know most of your intentions are righteous, (and this goes out to white people too who’re acknowledging their “privilege”), but you’re doing it wrong. You’re creating enemies by unintentionally discrediting anyone with white skin who has suffered at the hands of the system, claiming that you own the rights (the privilege?) of deciding that they’re the ones who are privileged, all while they’re slowly rotting in inequity right beside you.

THE ENEMY IS NOT A SKIN COLOR. THE ENEMY IS A CLASS.

And that class is the rich. The 1%.

Are most of them white? Yes. But will that stop them from stealing money from poor white people? From bankrupting small businesses with corporate industry? From putting blue-collar white people out of work and replacing them with machines? From taking their homes when they can’t pay back their loans? From putting them in prison when they fight back right next to you for equality? No. Because the 1% only care about profit, and they don’t care who they have to manipulate, rob, demoralize, or demonize to get it, or what skin color those people have. Let’s get our heads right. Open them angry eyes and see who the enemy really is. And fight THAT enemy, not the enemy that their manipulation has created for you.

How? The real solution to “white privilege” and inequity and inequality is a very simple concept but an incredibly complex task. It involves creating a society where money is obsolete. When this happens there will be no more inequality. There will be no “superpowers” or 1%. There will be no poor. There will be no rich. There will be no profit other than the profit of betterment, progress, knowledge, discovery, science, quality of living. But there’s only one way to make money obsolete, and that’s by removing labor from our society. Sound crazy? That’s because you don’t realize how close we are to doing it anyway. A fully automated society is right around the bend, my dudes. We have the technology to make ALL LABOR OBSOLETE, in which case no one will have to work, in which case money will have no significance. What will have significance? RESOURCES. But this is a topic I’ve discussed before and will again soon and more directly. So for now what can we do? We demand a society that serves the people’s interests, not the corporations’. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how to this because I’m not into politics, I’m into actual change, not perpetuating the same system that’s fucking us all. My advice? Start spreading the concept of a RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY as loud and as often as you can. This type of society eliminates corruption and inequity and is only just now becoming possible thanks to advancements in technology. Look into it. Spread the word. AND STOP CREATING SEGREGATION AMONG OUR PEOPLE. Please, for fuck’s sake, stop adding to our problems and start moving towards eliminating them. #fightsmarter2020 Thanks for reading. -cc

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 4 years ago

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M*A*S*H: A Product of the Times

At first, it doesn’t really seem all that obvious like M*A*S*H was a show of the 1970s.

Being set in the 1950s in a military hospital gave some leeway when it came to hairstyles and clothing (Mostly military uniforms). Even the discussion of the news and pop culture (although occasionally inaccurate for individual years) that happened around camp placed the show firmly in a period past, another in a string of television shows and films made in the 1970s that were set in the 1950s. Even some things, like attitudes towards women and the minority of non-white cast members seems to place the show so firmly in the 1950s, it might be hard to pick out that this is a ‘70s show.

But in reality, M*A*S*H might not have been made if not for the 1970s.

Coming on the heels of the 1960s, the ‘70s were quite a period of change. Following the Civil Rights movement, American culture was beginning to be more integrated. Disco was big on the scene, and styles were quickly becoming…a lot. The digital revolution began as video games and personal computers began to become a little more prevalent, and thanks to movie directors like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the blockbuster became a staple of every movie season. As for television, edutainment shows like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street took off while Star Trek experienced its first reruns, gaining the audience it’d never had during it’s runtime. Game-shows experienced a comeback, and cop shows replaced the westerns as the most-watched action shows of the decade, and family dramas took up another chunk of the airwaves, while variety shows and increasingly daring sketch comedy filled up the rest.

Throughout all this, sitcoms like Happy Days enjoyed incredible success, along with more ‘issue based’ sitcoms like All in the Family, Good Times, and even The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And it is here that M*A*S*H sits, filling in a slot as one of the ‘issue’ based sitcoms…but why here? Why in the 1970s, could this show work the best?

As wild and crazy as American culture was becoming after the unrest of the 1960s, one thing held over that had not yet been resolved: America’s involvement in the Vietnam war.

Starting in November of 1955, and ending in April of 1975, the Vietnam conflict was one that occupied much of the world, and much of the American population’s minds. Between the protestors and people who genuinely supported the effort, the country was torn in two by people who thought we shouldn’t have gotten involved, and people who thought the opposite.

Why does this matter?

Because when the characters on M*A*S*H talk about war, they aren’t just talking about Korea. Indeed, they aren’t even just talking about Vietnam. They’re talking about all wars.

But it was very important that this was a show made during Vietnam, rather than before.

Before shows like The A-Team and Magnum P.I. began using the Vietnam conflict as part of backstories of characters, shows like M*A*S*H were still processing the American attitude during the war. Much like Korea, Vietnam was never officially declared ‘a war’, and was regarded as a ‘police action’. Much like Korea, a draft recruited soldiers, some just out of high school, into a conflict that blew up into a political struggle.

The difference was, in 1951, Americans were all for Korea. In 1972, the enthusiasm had waned. America turned against the war effort, and there lies exactly why M*A*S*H could not have been anything but a ‘70s ‘topical’ sitcom.

When you watch M*A*S*H and listen to the characters speak about the war, the attitude isn’t hard to pick out: anti-war, anti-US involvement, anti-military. They shouldn’t be here. They want to go home. They tried to duck the draft. One character spends almost all of his time on the show attempting to get discharged due to insanity. The only characters who are for this war are treated as antagonists.

This wasn’t the attitude of the Korean war. This was an attitude that could only have existed after Vietnam, if not specifically about Vietnam.

So, the show isn’t dated from a 1950s sense…but that does leave the question of whether or not it’s dated in a 1970s sense.

Ironically, being set in a decade not your own can actually help a series (or film) in the long run. By not showing contemporary life and creating a world that had already ‘disappeared’, these shows were able to not become relics of the time they were made. However, in the case of M*A*S*H, some might argue that the show, while groundbreaking and revolutionary in the 1970s, may not hold up so well today.

While not having the traditional troubles of hairstyles, technology and pop culture dating it, M*A*S*H does have a few different, more important issues that might render it a little uncomfortable to modern audiences. Let’s start with the women.

At first, it may seem almost impossible from a modern standpoint to approach a show where the only major female character is nicknamed Hot Lips, and even if you get past that enough to start the show from the beginning, it doesn’t get much better.

In early seasons of the show, Margaret Houlihan existed primarily as a woman defined by the men she had been with, her attractiveness to her male coworkers, and her stickler army attitude. Mostly serving as a partner-in-crime to her lover, Frank Burns (who was married), Margaret’s past involvements with many members of high-ranking army brass was a bit of a running joke, as was her level of desirability to her coworkers.

Thankfully, as the show matured, so did the writing for Margaret’s character. As time went on, Margaret ended up losing not only the nickname, but her intimate relationship with Frank Burns, and even the jokes about her previous relationships disappeared. After her marriage to Donald Penobscott, and subsequent divorce, Margaret remained unattached for the remainder of the series, as well as the only major female character in the show. (Pun intended.)

The other female characters appeared in small doses, most notably Nurse Kealani Kellye, a relatively prominent Japanese-Hawaiian nurse. Most of the nurses tended to be interchangeable, with small parts that (in early seasons especially) tended to rely on the men of the episode. While there were exceptions (notably “The Nurses”), especially as the show went on, for the most part, the focus of the show tended to be on the male characters.

And it was even worse for characters of color.

Of the main cast, only Klinger (Lebonese) and the aforementioned Nurse Kelleye were not Caucasian. Early on in the show, a black character by the name of Spearchucker Jones was omitted by the end of the second season (due to writers mistakenly believing that there were no black doctors in the Korean war.

There are other things that date the show: Klinger’s cross-dressing as a gag would likely be looked upon more unfavorably today, as would a few instances of sexual harassment looked over for comedy’s sake. Korean characters were often portrayed (especially in early season) in rather stereotypical fashions, and were never played by actors of actual Korean descent (though admittedly, there were not many Korean actors in Hollywood at the time).

In other words, the show wasn’t perfect. And it certainly was a product of the 1970s.

But, the good news is, it’s not all bad.

M*A*S*H was, overall, a fairly progressive show for its day. Despite its problems writing women, by the end of the show, Margaret Houlihan was one of the best-developed female characters on television. The writing for Korean characters improved drastically by the eleventh season, and Klinger’s ‘crossdressing’ gag was never played at his own expense.

And, more importantly? The characters, attitudes, and interactions, for the most part, ring just as truly now as they did then.

M*A*S*H was definitely fair for its day. For the 1970s, it was up-to-date, discussing attitudes and problems that were prevalent for the time, and slowly improving in the areas it was somewhat lacking in. It’s not really a surprise that the show still has a fanbase (and a young one, at that) to this day, full of fans who can recognize the problematic elements of the show, appreciate it’s growth, and enjoy its characters and situations to this day. These characters still captivate people just as well as they did in 1972, a primary reason that this show, despite its occasional differences from modern ideas, remains so beloved even today.

Thank you guys so much for reading! If you have a thought, suggestion, or question, don’t be afraid to leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you. Please join us next time as we look at the facets of M*A*S*H. I hope to see you there!

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tibbinswrites · 5 years ago

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Prompt: “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Another prompt for @tiredlittleoldme who requested a Supernatural fic for prompt #170

Sorry for the wait! I hope you like it!

(prompts are open. Send me a number between 1 and 635 and I’ll write a thing for you)

I’ve now done prompts for numbers #1, #2, #78, #170 and #502 but all the others are fair game :D

Enjoy ^_^

Prompt #170: “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Sam frowned as he watched Cas skirt around Dean’s warm greeting without making eye contact, he watched the way his brother drooped behind Cas’ back, looking confused and hurt. He watched as Dean visibly pushed that vulnerability down and locked it up tight, schooling his face into the hard mask that Sam hated to see. Cas, for his part, kept on walking to the furthest shelf of the library, only the stiffness of his shoulders and the guilt in his eyes any indication that he knew exactly what he’d done.

Maybe they’d had a fight, Sam tried to reason, maybe Dean had said something stupid and just hadn’t realised it yet. They’d work it out. Jack walked in then, enquiring about lunch; Dean glanced over at Cas once, who had turned at the sound of Jack’s voice and was regarding his son with a kind smile, but when Cas still didn’t look at him, Dean left to go make sandwiches, his elbows tucked into his sides as though trying to take up as little space as possible.

Sam raised an eyebrow and then went back to his book, those two always had some kind of drama going on, it wasn’t his place to get involved, at least not until Dean actually told him that he was in love with his best friend.

Xxx

A week later and things were getting worse. Dean was irritable and morose, seeming to switch between self-deprecating and angry at the world with every sip of whiskey, of which there were far more than Sam thought was wise considering that God could throw them a curveball at any minute.

Cas was drifting around the bunker like a ghost, but then would throw all of his intensity into research or Jack, making sure the boy wanted for nothing, teaching him all he knew about any topic he seemed to have even a vague interest in. Sam included himself in their lessons sometimes. They were always interesting and he had asked Cas to talk him through some of the finer points of history that he had seen several times over the years. Cas seemed to love imparting knowledge, no matter how strange the question, Cas would always answer it with seriousness and thought. He would be a good teacher, Sam thought fondly, if he ever needed a day job.

However, when it came to Dean, Cas was different. He wasn’t ignoring him, per se, but his treatment as as good as. He spoke to him in a way that was polite but curt, the way Sam spoke to the rude soccer mom who’d pushed in front of him in Wal-Mart, then given him a lecture on how he should be kind to strangers because he had no idea what they were going through. It wasn’t how one would speak to a friend, let alone the kind of friend who was bound to you by as much shared experience as those two had.

“What did you do?” Sam asked Dean one afternoon as Dean was throwing laundry into the machine.

“Do when?” Dean snapped, balling up the shirt in his hands to toss it in with more viciousness than was necessary.

“Do to Cas?” Sam clarified, “You must really have pissed him off this time, he barely looks at you.”

“Hadn’t noticed,” Dean grunted.

Sam just raised an eyebrow and waited.

Two socks and a pair of jeans later, Dean turned on him, his face flushed with anger and his eyes just a little too shiny. “I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know what I did. I thought things were fine, that we’d worked it all out in Purgatory. I thought we were getting better. But ever since Jack came back...” he trailed off and shook his head, “I just… he hates me now, I guess.”

Sam frowned. “I doubt that, you’re his best friend.”

“This isn’t high school, Sam.” Dean said, then he sighed. “I don’t even blame him, not really. Hell, you’re crazy for sticking with me this long.”

“Yeah, well… you do my laundry,” Sam said, nudging Dean with his shoulder, hoping that would be understood as the gesture of solidarity it was meant as. Judging by the slight upturn of Dean’s lips, it was. “Jerk.”

“Bitch,” came the automatic response.

Xxx

Sam could only last another couple of days before seeking out Cas. Dean was in a spiral of self-loathing and jumpy around Jack, as though worried that any wrong move would antagonise Cas further, Cas barely spoke to Dean with multiple syllables any more, though he didn’t seem to be mad, on the contrary, Sam had caught Cas staring at Dean four separate times with such a heartbreaking longing that he was surprised Dean couldn’t feel it boring into his back.

“Alright, what the hell is going on between you two?” Sam demanded, barging into Cas’ room one evening when Dean had gone for a drive and Jack was deep into season 3 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Cas answered, spinning round in his desk chair. His voice was calm, but icy. Sam knew a warning when he heard one but he was too angry to back off.

“Don’t pull that crap with me. Why are you treating Dean like he pissed in your coffee?”

“If Dean had actually urinated in my coffee I would be remarkably less civil,” Cas said, though he couldn’t quite meet Sam’s eyes. “Things between Dean and I are fine.”

Sam scoffed. “Right. That’s not how he tells it.”

A spark of fear lit up Cas’ eyes then, and he finally raised them to Sam’s. “What did he say?” That deep voice was suddenly so small, so unsure, and so goddamn guilty that Sam didn’t know whether to be mad at the guy or pull him in for a hug. He settled for answering the question.

“He thinks you hate him. He thinks he’s done something to piss you off but he doesn’t know what. He thinks that ever since Jack came back you’ve started to pull away and it’s killing him not knowing why.”

Cas’ bottom lip disappeared behind his teeth for a moment, then he said, “It was not my intention to hurt him.”

“So why are you doing this to him?” Sam asked, moving further into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, “And more to the point, why are you doing this to yourself? Clearly this is making you just as miserable.”

“That’s the point.” Cas said, so quietly that Sam thought he’d misheard, when his brain replayed the words they did didn’t make any sense.

“What?”

“I have everything I could want, Sam. Do you understand? My son is alive, and Dean and I… it would be so easy to let myself be happy.”

“So why don’t you?” Sam asked, with an incredulous laugh at this whole ridiculous thing.

Cas looks at him then, mournful and afraid, and Sam stops laughing. Cas looks like he’s about to cry, and Sam doesn’t even know if he can cry but he knows that he definitely doesn’t want it to happen.

“Because I don’t want to leave.”

Sam shook his head, thoroughly confused. “I feel like I’m missing something here,” he said. “You know we’re not gonna kick you out, right?”

“I made a deal with the Empty, Sam. For Jack. He would go to Heaven when he died, so he could be with his mother and the Empty would get me. It said it would come for me when I let myself be happy. So… I can’t. We still have so much to do. I can’t just vanish in the middle of this apocalypse. I can’t leave Jack. I can’t abandon Dean.”

“From what Dean said before he feels pretty abandoned.” Sam said, though he was reeling from Cas’ words. Cas made a deal with the Empty? “And Jack says that he was in the Empty, with Billie. That sounds to me like your deal has already been broken.”

“I can’t risk that.” Cas said, pleading now, like he was begging Sam to understand. And Sam did. Oh it cut at something in his core, but he did understand. “Jack also said that he knew he would be sent back. He was in the Empty to protect him from Chuck, not to keep him from Heaven.”

“Then we’ll find another way to break it.” Sam decided, “because you can’t keep doing this to Dean. He hates himself because he thinks he’s done something and doesn’t know how to fix it. You need to tell him about this.”

“I can’t,” Cas said immediately, though he looked torn. “We have more important things to worry about right now.”

“If you don’t, I will,” Sam threatened. “Because you’re crazy if you don’t think that this is already causing problems. Even without knowing what it is, Dean is miserable and distracted. At least if he knows he’ll have some kind of direction. And also,” he stood, pointing a finger into Cas’ face. “Your happiness matters. And we are going to fix this because you deserve it. After everything that we’ve been through, after everything you’ve done that saved a life or helped someone, you deserve to be happy for whatever time we’ve got left.”

Read the second part here

Read the third part here

#prompts #prompt #writing prompt #prompt me #fanfiction #spn fanfic #Destiel #writing #season 15 spoilers #TibbinsWrites #supernatural #part 1 of 3

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ronninoir · 5 years ago

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Can I Steal You for a Second? CH8

Summary: Adrien is forced to participate in a new dating show, but becomes more excited when Ladybug says she’ll participate as her civilian self.

AKA: AU where Adrien doesn’t know Marinette, the superheroes are 22 and Gabriel is mean and ruthless but not Hawkmoth.

Read on AO3

Start from the beginning Chp 1 on AO3

Chapter 8

Getting ready for the second half of the date was a breeze. Marinette had been feeling so confident and beautiful earlier that it just carried on into the second half of the evening. She was brought food into a room where she was getting ready and had to stuff her face in between styling her hair and putting on her make-up. When Marinette thought of dates, she thought of going out to eat and chatting over a meal and possibly sharing a dessert and fighting with the boy over who was going to pay, but instead her first date with Adrien consisted of a fashion show, eating in her dressing room and sharing the boy with 8 other girls.

She was ready right as all of the other girls were and she had to admit, they all looked amazing. Marinette’s confidence began to ebb as the excitement of the fashion show died down and reality that she would have very little time to talk to Adrien set in. Getting to talk to him at all will be exciting, but she was still nervous. Alya briefed her on the low-down of group dates before she left and they usually involve fighting for time and any sort of drama that can ensue from putting so many girls in one place.

They arrived at a gorgeous hotel (not Chloe’s Father’s, thank goodness) not long after the loaded into the van. There, a meeting area in a wing of the hotel was set up for them. They would be allowed to sit and be pulled away to chat with Adrien one at a time. The main area they were sitting in was beautifully decorated and had a rose on a dish sitting on the table. The girls were told not to leave this area unless they were asked or needed to go to the bathroom, etc. They were all handed drinks, and Marinette got a glass of white wine since they wouldn’t let her drink water this early in the evening.

They waited for about 15 minutes for Adrien to walk in. Marinette sipped her wine while everyone else chatted about how the date had went and strategizing about what they were going to talk about with Adrien. Marinette wasn’t too worried. She had spent many hours just chatting with Adrien, only while he was Chat Noir. If the conversation ever came to a lull, she would be able to figure something out.

Marinette heard a gasp and looked up to see Adrien entering. He looked stunning in his tailored slacks and green button down that brought out the color of his eyes. Some of the girls giggled excitedly as he got closer and he smiled at them all.

“Hey ladies! Today was so much fun. I really enjoyed being a spectator on a runway, rather than a performer.” More giggles from the girls. “You guys did an amazing job and I was reminded of just how beautiful you all are. I can’t wait to talk with all of you tonight and dive in deeper with our relationships.” He paused and made eye contact with all of the girls before his eyes landed on Marinette. “Marinette, can I steal you for a second?”

Marinette couldn’t help the blush that spread on her face. “Of course,” She stood up and followed him from the group. She could feel their eyes on her as she walked, but honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to care much with Adrien by her side.

“How are you doing tonight?” He started, shooting Marinette a smile that made her heart flutter.

“It’s been pretty good so far. I will say I’m not a fan of eating in my dressing room, but I guess I’ll have to make do.” She gave a light laugh and Adrien joined in. It felt wonderful to hear him laugh, like a breath of fresh air after being underwater for a couple of minutes.

“Sadly, if you choose to stay you’ll have to get used to it.” Adrien had led her to a couch that was giving out the illusion of privacy. But nothing was actually private here with the cameras lurking around. Adrien had Marinette sit first, like the gentleman he was, then he sat next to her, making sure to sit what could be considered an appropriate distance. Marinette thought he was too far away. “At least you only have to do it once a week. Between modeling and this, I feel like I only eat my meals in dressing rooms.”

Marinette frowned at that. She’d heard Chat say that his home life wasn’t great. Once she had found out he was Adrien, she just assumed that he ate with Gabriel, his father just didn’t talk to him much over meals. The thought of her kitty eating meals alone all the time broke her heart. “Well then when this is all over, I’ll have to take you to a restaurant and show you how normal people eat meals,” Marinette said firmly.

Adrien’s eyes lit up. “You mean that?”

“Win or lose, I promise. Cross my heart.” She took her finger and crossed it over her heart, just to show that she was serious.

“Wow, thank you Marinette. That means so much to me.” He gave her hand a little squeeze and she intertwined her fingers with his. Their hands fit together so naturally and it sent electricity up Marinette’s arm. “I actually wanted to let you know how impressed I was with you today at the fashion show. Not only did you look amazing up there, but you handled losing very well. I don’t know if any of the other girls could have done what you did with such grace.” She blushed under his words as he continued, “Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your reaction. Awarding the winner could have gone really poorly and you helped it go really well.”

Marinette was beaming under his praise. She had channeled her inner Ladybug on the catwalk today, much preferring to be the designer watching from the sidelines than the actual model. She had been happy for Gabrielle, and in Marinette’s opinion, she wore the final dress better than she did for sure. She appreciated that Adrien noticed her even though she didn’t win, it meant that he saw her even through the crowd.

“That’s really kind of you, Adrien, but you don’t have to thank me for being nice. That’s something that everyone should do naturally.”

“If that were true, Ladybug and Chat Noir would be out of a job. There wouldn’t be anyone for Hawkmoth to akumatize.” He gave a soft chuckle before his face grew suddenly serious. “Speaking of that, I have a question for you.” Marinette nodded, and he continued, “Is there a particular reason that Chloe Bourgeois doesn’t like you?”

Marinette sighed. As much as she was expecting it, she was still hoping that this topic wouldn’t come up in her conversation with Adrien. She had decided that being honest was the best possible way to deal with this and hopefully making it go away.

“She went to school with me when I was younger. She was in my class for 7 years in a row and she became my bully. No matter what I did, she picked on me, made fun of me, and drew attention to my mistakes in front of everyone. It wasn’t until I got older that I started standing up to her. I could never figure out why, but she never apologized for it and I never confronted her for a reason. I was hoping that she would drop whatever problem she had with me when we left high school, but she just took to subtle comments on social media and casual digs when we passed each other in the street.” Adrien’s jaw was dropped and Marinette wanted to stop, but Adrien needed to know what she had said to her today. “She even brought some of that anger with her today. Right before the fashion show started, she pulled me aside, tore me down and told me that I wouldn’t ever be able to get you, as if you were some prize to be won.” Marinette scoffed and shook her head. Her Kitty was worth more than a trophy to her. When she made eye contact with Adrien, she gave him a small smile, “She is actually the reason I picked my evening gown dress. She had said that I could never pull off that dress, so I decided to prove her wrong.”

Adrien looked shocked and she wished she could say something to make this easier on him. He took her hands and looked at her so intensely, Marinette thought she would shrink, but she stood her ground. “Marinette, I am so so sorry for the way that Chloe treated you, today, in school and every day in between. She is one of my oldest friends and she has always been kind to me. I never realized that she wasn’t the kindest to the other people she interacted with.” He shook his head and he suddenly wouldn’t look at her in the eyes. “I saw the way she treated the employees at the hotel and I should have known that would translate to her classmates.”

“You never know everything about a person until you live a day in their shoes.” Marinette responded, placing her other hand on his shoulder. She yearned to touch his cheek, but she didn’t want to frighten him. “Don’t blame yourself.”

“You’re right,” He sighed, his eyes briefly meeting hers. When he looked back up at her, he had a sly smile on his lips that reminded her of something Chat would wear when he was going to do something crazy. She lowered her hand to her lap as he leaned in to whisper, “Well then I guess I have Chloe to thank for that jaw-dropping dress.”

Marinette’s blush returned once again and she ducked her head, trying to hide the color. His hand gently touched her chin and lifted her head towards him. She automatically leaned closer to him, craving more of his kisses, though she knew that he had to be the one to initiate it. When their lips did touch, she had to stop herself from sighing. She had been dreaming about doing this again since Sunday night. His lips were soft and gentle, not asking too much of her. When they broke apart, she smiled and rested her forehead on his.

“I really like you, Adrien,” She blurted out. The heat returned to her cheeks as his smile grew at her statement.

“I really like you too, Marinette. Thank you for everything today.” He leaned back and stood up, offering her a hand to stand with him. She took it gratefully and he shifted their hands to where his arm was wrapped around hers while still having his fingers entwined in hers. They started walking back to where the other girls were gathered.

“Thank you, Adrien, for everything. We should do it again sometime,” She shot him a bright smile and he laughed.

“We really should.”

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

The rest of the night was anticlimactic compared to her kiss with Adrien. She found out through the grapevine that he had ended up kissing Gabrielle, Camille, Hanna, and Juliette before the end of the night. At least she got to be the first one, but the thought of Adrien kissing 4 other girls tonight made her shiver. She had to keep reminding herself that this was exactly what she had signed up for, but it still sucked.

The only major drama that had come up involved Gabrielle. Pauline was upset at how much time Gabrielle got to spend with Adrien even though she had some time already after she won the fashion show earlier in the date. Gabrielle argued that she had barely spent any time with him after the show and that she needed to “mind her own business instead of sticking her nose into other’s relationship with Adrien.” Marinette had caught the end of the fight on her way back from the bathroom and was glad she had missed the majority of the shouting. Most of the other girls had scattered when the yelling started in order to avoid being dragged into this. Marinette found Hanna and Juliette hiding behind a wall right next to where the two girls were staring daggers at each other.

“I heard the yelling, are they almost done yet? Adrien should be giving away the group date rose soon and we can go home and sleeeeeep,” Marinette asked pitifully as she rested her head on Hanna’s shoulder. This elicited a giggle from both girls and Marinette smiled knowing that she had dissolved some of the tension the others had created.

“They should be.” Juliette replied while peeking around the corner. “I heard that the producers wanted to keep these emotions as high as possible for when Adrien gave out the group date rose to make it seem more heated on film.” Sure enough, as soon as Juliette had said that, a group of producers came around shuffling the girls into the main room with Gabrielle and Pauline, who were still very clearly mad, although a silence surrounded them.

Almost as soon as the other girls were seated on the couches, Adrien walked into the room. Marinette noticed that almost every single girl sat up straighter and their smiles became brighter when he walked in. Some of the smiles seemed more forced and fake than others, but Marinette couldn’t help but be bothered by how “showy” this whole part of the date felt.

Adrien inserted himself on the couch in between Valentine and Alice and addressed the girls as a group, “Thank you so much for tonight. It was so refreshing to be able to just talk to all of you with minimal distractions.” Marinette took that to mean that he had heard of the fight, but had decided not to do anything about it just yet. She was worried he would let this slide and would send the message that fighting and drama was okay within the house. That would only bring more problems. “The group date rose tonight is going to someone who was brutally honest with me and wasn’t afraid to hold anything back, even if it could stir up problems.” Adrien leaned across the table and grabbed the rose, and Marinette took a quick peek at his toned muscles as he stretched. Running around rooftops had done him good in the muscle department, just as Marinette was extra toned from her constant rooftop runs. Adrien sat back down with the rose and turned towards Marinette. “That being said, Marinette, will you accept this rose?”

Marinette blushed, once again, she just couldn’t catch a break with him tonight, as she gave a nod. He reached over and gave her a hug before sitting back down on the couch. He looked up at one of the producers, a question unspoken in his eyes.

The producer nodded and stepped forward. “Thank you, ladies, that was a wonderful take. Go ahead and take a quick moment to interview with our crew, 3 girls per camera, and then we’ll send you guys back to the mansion.”

Marinette stood up with the other girls and waited her turn to give Adrien a hug goodbye. He whispered a quick, “Thank you for your honesty, Marinette. It means so much to me,” before giving her a quick squeeze and moving onto the next girl. She snagged a camera crew, hoping to get the interview over with quickly so she could sleep.

“How did you feel going into the cocktail party tonight? Be sure to restate the question and pretend it’s the beginning of the night.”

“Coming into the cocktail party tonight, I am just excited to see Adrien again. I felt so confident and beautiful doing the fashion show that I feel like I’m coming in on such a high. I really hope that this amazing day continues with a good conversation with Adrien.”

“Great response. What did you think of Chloe Bourgeois coming up in your conversation with Adrien this evening?”

“I knew Adrien was going to ask about Chloe. From the moment we entered Gabriel and saw her, I knew I would have to tell Adrien about my relationship with her. It’s an important part of my history that I want him to know, especially since Chloe is a friend of his.”

“What do you think about being Adrien’s first kiss?”

Marinette broke her composure and blanched. How in the world did they know about the fact that she, as Ladybug, was Adrien’s first kiss? She decided to play dumb rather than incriminate herself further. “What do you mean?”

“You were Adrien’s first kiss on the show, and as far as the public knows, his first kiss ever. How does that make you feel? How was he?”

She sighed and let her whole body relax. These people didn’t know that she was Ladybug or know of the pair’s other kisses. She gave a gentle smile, which she hoped would come off as shy rather then conceited and began to lie, “I honestly didn’t know but I’m honored that he chose me to be the first.” That was true, she just felt that a couple of days ago. “And considering he hasn’t done much kissing before tonight, he was surprisingly wonderful at it.”

“How did finding out that he kissed 4 other girls tonight as well make you feel?”

“Finding out that Adrien had kissed 4 other girls tonight made my skin crawl. I just—” She paused, wondering how real she wanted to be with the camera. She decided to just be honest and hope that if it isn’t interesting enough they won’t put it in the show. “I hate that he’s dating the other girls as well. I know it’s part of the process, but I like Adrien enough to want to keep him for myself.”

One of the producers cleared his throat and whispered to the man behind the camera. “Sorry, Marinette, we are going to need you to redo that. Instead of saying the word “process” say “journey,” okay?” Marinette gave them a blank look to which they responded, “It’s a rule. We don’t call the show a ‘process’ because that makes it sound cynical. We call it a ‘journey’ so it sounds more optimistic.”

At that, she nodded obediently. “Can you remind me of what I said?”

“Yeah, it started with ‘I hate that he’s dating the other girls as well. I know it’s part of the journey, but I don’t want to share Adrien.’”

Marinette nodded and made the change they had asked of her. It was weird that she had to edit her own words, but she could try to remember to not say “process” and instead say “journey.” That way, she shouldn’t have to do that again.

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

Adrien collapsed onto his bed with an exasperated sigh.

“Who knew dating 9 girls at once could be so exhausting?” Adrien asked his pillow. Sadly, the only response he received was from Plagg.

“Why didn’t you address the fight the girls had?” Plagg asked, flying close to Adrien’s head. He shifted on the bed so he could see his kwami better.

“Why do you care?”

“Because not dealing with conflict quickly after it happens can cause more problems later on.” Plagg replied matter-of-factly.

“And you know this because....?”

“Listen here, kid. I’ve been around for thousands of years. I’ve seen a lot and I’ve dealt with a lot of petty problems. Why do you think that the 100 Years War got started? Over a small fight that was left to stew and grew into something big.”

“Wait, didn’t the English try to take over France? That doesn’t seem like a small thing.”

“That’s what the public knows of. It actually started because the French king didn’t think that the English were ruling their country correctly and he made a snide comment. It grew from there.”

“That’s not true,” Adrien countered, sitting up in his bed.

“Kid,” Plagg started, putting a paw up to stop Adrien from talking. “I know what I’m talking about. So, shut up and listen for a bit.” Adrien nodded to show his compliance. “You need to address this problem. Ask the girls why they were upset, get both sides of their stories, if you can explain what you saw/thought/heard. From there you need to calm both girls down and help them to find some sort of solution that both can accept.”

Adrien was speechless as Plagg flew away to his stash of Camembert. When he brought a piece back to the bed, Adrien didn’t even have it in him to shoo him away. He let the advice Plagg gave him swim around in his head. He knew that putting 22 girls to live with each other for a long amount of time was going to cause problems, he just didn’t know it would happen so soon. He needs to ready and next time, he can solve a fight like this quicker.

“Plagg?” The god gave a slight hum to show he was listening. “What can I do to fix the problem from tonight?”

Plagg swallowed his Camembert and then flew up to Adrien’s face. “You’re going to have to wait until the cocktail party on Saturday. Hopefully this will blow over, but if it comes up again, you have to address it.”

“Thank you, Plagg. I really appreciate that you care.” Adrien changed into his pajamas and began getting ready for bed.

“Anytime, kid. Someone’s got to be in your corner through all this.”

Soon Adrien heard Plagg’s snores and he ended up tossing and turning all night, thinking about what Plagg said and what other crazy things this show had in store for him.

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

The rest of the week was boring, and yet slightly entertaining. Because she had her date early in the week, she spent the rest of the week distracting herself before the cocktail party later on. She was required to attend the other two date card readings, which thankfully happened on the same day, just at different times. Lucie ended up with the one-on-one for this week. Everyone else would be going on a second group date, except Ines, Sophia and Lily, who were left dateless. Marinette spent some time comforting them, especially when Lila said something along the lines of, “He didn’t choose you because he doesn’t like you which means you’re going home.”

Once everyone was calm, Marinette entertained herself. Lucie was going on her date first, so most of the other girls were left in the house. Marinette was going to stay in her room and sketch in order to avoid all of the potential drama. However, Hanna found her and dragged her downstairs to the kitchen which was filled with laughing and happy-shouting. All of the girls had gathered and were receiving “cooking lessons” from Lila, who had claimed to be an amazing cook.

The kitchen was a mess and everyone was laughing at their lame attempts of whatever Lila was trying to get them to make. When Hanna walked in with Marinette, she announced, “Don’t worry guys! Marinette’s parents own a bakery! She can teach us how to make something!” The other girls applauded and made sounds of their general approval as she was pushed to the front of the group. Lila was not amused and sulked to the back of the room with her arms crossed over her chest, refusing to participate.

“Ooh! Can you teach us how to make macarons? I’ve always wanted to know how! Please?” One of the girls called out. Marinette couldn’t tell who had said it, but the other girls picked up her plea and Marinette was forced to agree.

2 hours later (the others were slow and messy learners, plus they had to clean up the kitchen from Lila’s cooking disaster) the girls were all munching on their own macarons and chatting with the others about how much fun that all was. Marinette was sitting with Ines and Marie when she had a realization. The girls were laughing about something Marie had did that ended up with her covered in flour head-to-toe. Of course, Marinette had multiple stories like that, and as she listened to their small group cackle about one she had shared, she realized that she didn’t hate these girls. If they were put in the same class at school or forced to meet in some other way besides this show, they would probably all be friends.

The thought made Marinette reevaluate how she had been spending her days. Sure, she needed to be able to escape in case an akuma came by, but how in the world could she survive her time in the mansion if she didn’t at least try to get along with the other girls?

For the rest of the week, she stayed in the main meeting area. She ended up playing Monopoly, Clue (which she was actually good at), Twister, and even swept the crowd during a game of Poker. She got her fingernails painted by Lily and her toes painted by Constance. She laughed and smiled and actually enjoyed herself. Before she knew it, Friday was here and the girls were chatting about the cocktail party and rose ceremony the next day. Lucie had walked away from her one-on-one with a rose, and Sasha got one from the second group date.

The tension in the mansion rose as the cocktail party grew closer. Marinette did laundry and cleaned both her bedroom and the bathroom she was assigned to distract herself. Finally, she settled into bed early and began writing a letter to Alya. If she could finish it before Sunday, she could deliver it to Alya’s window without her knowing.

As she was writing, Mathilde came into the room. Marinette had tried to have conversations with her, but she never seemed interested. She started to get ready for bed, but instead of taking off her make-up, she started to reapply.

“Hey, umm, Mathilde? Do you mind if I ask what you’re doing?” Marinette asked hesitantly from the bed.

“I’m obviously getting ready for bed.” Mathilde stated flatly.

“Then why are you putting more make-up on?”

Mathilde turned away from her make-up mirror and rolled her eyes at Marinette. “Well, tomorrow is a rose ceremony, and I want to make sure that I am ready for the cameras in the morning. This way, when I get woken up, I already look beautiful.” Marinette shrugged and let her be. She thought her reasoning was flawed, but decided to ignore it.

When Saturday morning came, Mathilde wasn’t the only one who had prepared themselves for an early morning. Multiple other girls had make-up on as Marinette watched them stumble out of bed. She tried to sleep late, but apparently, she was the only one in the house with that mindset. The overall noise of 21 girls moving and interacting and getting ready was too much for Marinette as she slipped out of bed and started getting ready.

The cocktail party wouldn’t start until 7 tonight, just like on the first night, but even before lunch the girls were getting ready. Marinette spent the morning in the main room like she had all week, but no one was in the mood to enjoy any sort of conversation. The only girls who were as calm as Marinette were Lucie and Sasha. Finally, Marinette couldn’t handle it. She snuck up to her room, locked the door with a note that said “Napping, will be awake by 4:30” for Mathilde, and transformed.

Marinette was very particular about not roaming Paris during the day time as Ladybug unless there was an akuma, but she had to break the rules today. She secretly hoped that Adrien as Chat Noir would show up as well, but after running around the city, taking pictures with fans, and even running into Alya and recording something for the Ladyblog, she saw no Chat. She went back to the mansion and gave Tikki a chance to recharge and unlocked the door right as 4:30 hit. She busied herself with getting ready as all of the other girls began to do the same.

When 7 o’clock came around, the girls were gathered in one of the couch areas, awaiting someone to appear and officially start the cocktail party. One of producers showed up and addressed the gathered group.

“Okay ladies, Adrien will be here in about 30 minutes. What we need from you now is kind of like a group discussion. I have some questions that I am going to have one girl ask the group, then you guys can take turns answering. If you have an answer, speak up so we can hear you and please be respectful while the others are talking.”

The group discussion was super boring. The girls talked about how their opinions on the dates were, what bothered them, how excited they are for time with Adrien tonight, etc. Marinette just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

Once the questions were finished and without warning, Adrien walked in the room. All of the girls squealed and awed and were just generally excited to see him.

“Hello, ladies.” Adrien walked in beaming, and the girls began standing as he got closer. He was smartly dressed in a fitted suit and maroon tie. He looked handsome, although Marinette knew she wouldn’t be spending much time with him since she already had a rose.

“You all look amazing tonight, I’m glad you’ve taken to the Gabriel wardrobe well.” He paused and a couple of girls giggled and played with their dresses, but most were giving their full attention to Adrien. “I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve had a pretty amazing week this week. I’m excited to see how all of our conversations go tonight, and I know not everyone here had a date, and for that I want to apologize. I can’t wait to talk to all of you tonight though, and I look forward to all of the conversations. So, cheers to tonight!” He raised a glass that had magically appeared in his hand and the girls all gave a little cheer.

Lily was the first one to swoop in as she grabbed Adrien’s arm and walked out of the room. Marinette had pretty much decided to stay out of the other girls’ way and to just let them talk. At the end, she was going to say hi, give him a hug, and let him be. But until then, she got to be bored.

Tikki was roaming the house, but kept an eye on Marinette just in case. When a producer’s phone started going off with an akuma alert, Tikki was the one to notice. She quickly found Marinette, who pretended to feel faint. Hanna and Juliette helped her to her room and told her to lay down until the rose ceremony so she didn’t faint on camera. She locked the door, and transformed for the second time that day.

Y’all this virus has us pumping some chapters out, expect chapter nine in the next couple days!

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list

@momor3202

@legendaryneckjudgestudent

@discoveringmiraculouswriters

@adrianarfox

@veroocasanova

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popwasabi · 5 years ago

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Lockdown Lookback: Catching up on the past months’ Pop Culture

Aaaaannnd we’re back!

It’s amazing what a little pandemic can do to shake you out of your creative cobwebs but if we’re all going to die, I want to make sure all my pop cultural hot takes are up to date at least.

Many of us are already on lockdown and many major movies including “007,” “Black Widow” and ummm I guess “Mulan” are all getting pushed to the backburner as no one is leaving their God damn homes unless they’re told to!

(Didn’t realize the thing I wish I had more of in the apocalypse would be sweatpants...)

But there’s still plenty to talk about from the previous months and other hot topics I have been meaning to write about but just hadn’t found the time or energy for. Life has been hard I think for just about all of us these days thanks in no small part to this pandemic. For me personally, I’ve had two different vacations canceled because of the virus and currently working understaffed at my job which is considered essential. Not to mention my therapist is on call only at this time and both my martial arts schools have been suspended, so I can neither talk nor punch my feelings out of my system.

So, I might be just a LITTLE on edge at the moment.

(My internal monologue for most of these past few weeks, more broadly years...)

Anyways, I digress, you come here because you like to read my highly unprofessional takes on pop culture and genuinely to those who have cheered me on from the beginning thanks, you guys are my prime motivators. But anyways let’s talk about all the shit I was supposed to write about these last two and a half months.

“Birds of Prey” was a hot, but needed, mess

Earlier last month I got to see the sort of sequel to the much-maligned “Suicide Squad” in “Birds of Prey and the…waaaay too long of a title for me write here.” I had cautious optimism for it because it looked strange and off the beaten path of most comic book movies and seemed to promise at the very least a fun time at the theater but it’s still also a DCEU movie so the floor was pretty low on its possible quality as well.

In the end, the movie is kind of bit of everything; the best and worst parts of the DCEU.

In terms of the good, it’s definitely outside the box, a sort of fem Deadpool first person story as told frenetically by Harley herself. Margot Robbie is, of course, still quite great at this role and you can tell she’s having a blast as this character. The humor is mostly good and visually the bright colors and cinematography pops on each screen and on that front there isn’t much to complain about.

But as a DCEU movie it does suffer from some narrative imbalance partially due to it’s psycho storyteller but mostly, and more than likely, due to corporate editing that probably axed an entire dance number that I was honestly looking forward to from the trailers.

(Seriously, I actually wanted to see the full unedited version of whatever hell this ended up being.)

It’s definitely in the “could’ve been better” camp of comic book movies but you know what? I’m still glad it exists. You know why? Because comic book movies dominate our blockbuster culture right now and if the genre wants to survive, at least artistically, it needs some outside the box films like this. I HATED “Joker” but I appreciate that it opened the door for stranger, more unique takes on a genre that is getting increasingly more stale. This movie falls into that unique category too.

(Also, to all the faux-intellectuals and alt-right nerds making a culture war out of “Sonic” vs “Birds of Prey” *kindly* reevaluate your lives please...)

We’re at the point now where comic book movies should be getting weirder, not more formulaic, and that means swinging for the fences even if a couple don’t quite make it out of the ballpark. If it takes a few not so stellar takes on the genre for Hollywood to greenlight a truly fantastic one I’m all for it.

In any case “Birds of Prey” doesn’t quite end nor continue the DCEU’s recent hot streak but it is enjoyable enough to where I would be more than open to a sequel. It’s worth a watch.

The Mandalorian and The Witcher: Two shows about violent mercenaries and fatherhood

Both these shows are old news at this point, but I did want to talk a little about both for a bit if you would have me.

First, “The Mandalorian” which was Disney+’s flagship production to begin its streaming chapter late last year is definitely a more than welcome addition to the galaxy far, far away. It’s pretty easy to feel fairly jaded about Star Wars these days given how flat the new trilogy ended but for what it’s worth “The Mandalorian” was a good mix of nostalgia bait and something new and interesting for fans to chew on. Its production value is obviously top-notch, no doubt because of all the Disney money pumped into it, it’s well-acted and thrilling and fun from start to finish. It plays heavily on the genres that influenced the series, primarily westerns and old samurai flicks, and fans of those will certainly enjoy the homages to them all.

The series was something of a coming out party for Deborah Chow who directed two of the season 1’s best episodes. Her steady hand, eye for details and tributes to Asian cinema throughout really gave the series an extra kick at times and showed how Star Wars can evolve still. Chow is set to helm the upcoming “Kenobi” series and one can only hope that she *really* leans into the samurai genre for that show.

(Hopefully, there are some “Yojimbo” vibes in there somewhere...)

The Mandalorian’s best and worst parts though are its semi episodic nature making each episode easy to digest as a one-off but also lacking some narrative tension between each. It plays kind of like a Saturday Morning cartoon to both its benefit and detriment with bite-size easy to digest plots and dialogue for the viewers but not offering a ton of depth beyond that.

The Mandalorian himself is also kind of a Gary Stu. His armor is basically impenetrable and far and away the best killer onscreen typically, making more than a few action scenes lack real stakes and tension. Baby Yoda certainly helps at times to make him more vulnerable and puts him in precarious positions plenty of times but outside a few moments (mainly episode 2 and to a lesser extend the final episode) he’s just a little too overpowered to be a more interesting character.

But this show and frankly the Star Wars series as a whole is meant for kids, no matter what the neckbeards try to tell you (violence =/= adult), and that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Plenty of kids productions can be both great and even sophisticated and while I wouldn’t say “The Mandalorian” is either of those it’s a good and fun kids show for the fans.

(And yes I’m aware that the books, some comics, and games have touched on more adult stuff, you weirdos. But how would you describe the overall tone and presumptive audience of the movies and TV series as a whole, guys??)

As far as “The Witcher” goes it also has a bit of an episodic style to it as well with an overarching, albeit, convoluted story that runs parallel to it. The first 3-4ish episodes can be classified as a quasi “Game of Thrones” clone leaning perhaps a little too heavily into the tropes of that series. Once the series finally starts leaning into its real identity, a dry-witted hack and slash fantasy, the series is much more consistent both tonally and narratively.

Henry Cavil is solid as Geralt of Rivia and the supporting cast of Joey Batey as Jaskier, Freya Allen as Ciri and even more so Anya Chalotra as Yennefer are all great in their respective roles delivering some great moments throughout the season.

(And lest you forget this earworm...)

“The Witcher’s” early season struggles keep it from being as tonally or narratively consistent as “The Mandalorian” but where the monster slayer beats the bounty hunter is that it has overall more compelling drama and has more to say, leaning much more heavily into the thematic greys of the plot. There are tons of problems with “The Witcher” on a story-telling level but you can definitely say it cares more about adding some depth in between the more pulpy aspects of the story which is something you can’t say as much for in “The Mandalorian.”

Of course, I’m partially overselling “The Witcher” a bit here, it’s not anywhere near “Game of Thrones” best (yet at least), and on the flipside one could argue that “The Mandalorian’s” more subtle sense of story-telling does its themes better. But when it comes down to these two shows you get somewhat similar story-telling ideas, mostly involving both characters and their smaller counterparts, in two very different genres with equally diverging conclusions to their respective seasons.

(🎵 Toss an “Oof” to your Witcher...🎵)

All in all, they’re both good and worth a watch and I think they deserve a chance to evolve and hopefully showcase more of what they have to offer moving forward.

“Parasite” wins Best Picture! Many people have some hot takes, including the president...

Last month one of my favorite films of 2019 “Parasite” won Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s a movie that is becoming increasingly relevant as elites and celebrities alike are getting front of the line testing despite being asymptomatic in the middle of pandemic and think they can assuage our concerns and dread by poorly singing “Imagine” together within the comfort of their McMansions.

It’s about as a good time as any to revisit this movie, I mean where else are you going to go during this timeline, and at a later date I’ll write something more extensive about it eventually (hopefully) but first here’s a helpful video on one particular thing that came out after director Bong Joon Ho took home the night’s top honors:

youtube

“Cats” is still a fever dream of madness

Back in late December, I watched “Cats” for science, as I had AMC A-List and a friend crazy enough to join me. I figured it would be bonkers and unlike anything I had seen before in the worst way but even then, I don’t think I was truly prepared for what I ended up seeing that fateful night.

I remember quite vividly going to the bar inside the theater and ordering a stiff drink beforehand to numb the pain and the bartender asking “So what are y’all watching tonight?” and beginning to laugh manically like an insane asylum patient at the innocuousness of the question. Walking into the theater was like that feeling you get before getting on a particularly scary-looking rollercoaster at Six Flags but instead of the pre-ride jitters eventually subsiding to the eventual fun and joy of the ride, only a deep sense of existential dread built up and sustained itself through what felt like six hours of the most baffling thing put to screen in front of my eyes ever.

youtube

(The music that played in my head as I exited the theater...)

Have any of you watched the Stanley Kubrick movie “Eyes Wide Shut” before? You know the scene when Tom Cruise is walking around in his mask observing the strange occult sex orgy going on around him at the mansion? That’s kind of what “Cats” felt like except way more terrifying, somehow MORE sexual, and definitely crazier.

(Is...this some type of...intepretative dance to summon an eldritch horror??)

There’s a voyeuristic terror that comes from sitting in that theater room as you watch bipedal humanoid looking felines dance to confusing songs about “Jelicle” cats (whatever the fuck that means) and all other manner of things that should NOT take human form throughout it’s near-endless runtime. A lot was made about Rebel Wilson and the disgusting roach people she consumes but NO ONE warned me about the frankly HORRIFYING mice children in the same scene!

(I am not perusing the internet to find that image again for y’all. I have enough nightmares each night...)

The saddest thing about the whole movie is everyone, save for Ian Mckellen who seemed to be acting as if a gun was pointing at him offscreen and Judi Dench who looked 100 percent like a geriatric in her digi fur, was giving the movie their fullest effort in what can only be described as a Titanic-sized level of hubris by all parties involved. This movie really needed a “Chaostician” involved in evaluating the production for studio heads and shareholders because there were definitely NOT enough people on this project wondering whether or not this film SHOULD exist...

(Dr. Ian Malcolm coming to Universal Pictures to access the film.)

What has “Cats” wrought upon this world? The universe has been clearly out of balance since this movie came out and while I’m not saying it’s director Tom Hooper’s fault, I’m not saying it isn’t either.

“Cats” is one of those things, much like The Matrix that cannot be simply described but must be seen to believe. It’s one of the worst things I have ever seen onscreen but with the right group of people and a few stiff drinks it’s certainly an experience you won’t forget. Consider it for your next Google Hangout during this apocalypse.

Anyways, that about wraps up my thoughts on the last few months. Going to try to be more consistent going forward especially given how much more time I have now to write, for better and worse. But more importantly, just want to say stay safe y’all. It’s going to be a process to get through this and while things are more likely to get worse before they get better there will be a day when this all ends and some normalcy may yet return to our life but in order for us to get there we need to remain vigilant.

So stay at home, wash your hands, and if you want to watch movies just order it online for now and we’ll just wait until aaaallll this blows over…hopefully.

Don’t panic...

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vitosscaletta · 5 years ago

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🍓 🍓 🍓🍓🍓🍓 for ALL your vampire kids! 🦇

AIRIKA..TY FOR MY LIFE! ok this is gonna be long

CHRISTIAN

🍓 — he’s over 300 years old (that technically makes him an elder according to the lore book… overpowered king) & was embraced in the 1600s, he was the son of a french marquis back in the day 😳 He lived in Versailles for a long time & considered it his home even though people would literally shit in the corners there -_-

🍓 — has NO idea how technology works… he has one of those ugly early 2000s flip phones because he saw other people having those but has absolutely no idea how to use them, much less a computer. Most people just think he’s ~romantic or something for writing letters but he really has no idea how to write an email :(

🍓 — He’s the baron of Bel Air.. has a nice mansion there bc living for over 300 years gives you time to hoard that much money ig.

🍓 — His grand-sire (??) is Helen of Troy 😳 overpowered af bloodline

🍓 — He doesn’t care about vampire politics in the slightest and is sort of aligned with the camarilla bc he has power within them but there’s no loyalty or conviction.. the main reason he’s in it is to start drama and watch it unfold 💅 He and La🥐 can’t stand each other but also can’t do anything about it… Strauss is okay with him but they’d also sell each other out for one corn chip.. He’s sort of frenemies with Gary, they hate each other because… yknow toreador and nosferatu but they’re equally shady so there’s mutual respect… in an odd way

🍓 — He doesn’t have any other childe..r… whatever the term is except miss Helena.. he hangs around humans a lot but has no real attachment to them (except being kind of a hoe and.. yknow.). She’s the first mortal in a long time he felt anything for which was mostly just good old toreador obsession but he thought it was love.. she vaguely resembled a lost love of his. and had potential I guess so he actually got permission for embracing her babey… just not from her bc he didn’t even consider someone wouldn’t want to be a vampire.. 🙄

HELENA

🍓 — Having OP Christian as her sire did have its perks even though she hates his guts for embracing her… She automatically had a pretty good position within the camarilla through connection alone :^) she works as sort of an informant/spy for the prince directly.. which puts her at odds with a bunch of people - they either think she’s an inexperienced little girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing and works for an incompetent prince OR hate her for being in his sort of inner circle without having to work for it (like Victoria. she thinks that)

🍓 — CRINGE but it be like that sometimes… she’s descended from a looong line of vampire/witch hunters on her dad’s side - he’s from a catholic german family who was largely involved with the society of Leopold. Michael himself wasn’t overly religious (still studied theology but didn’t actually care) and left all of this behind when he moved to america & got married but after he and Jenny divorced he was like “know what… time to become a zealot again”. His ex-wife and daughters are completely unaware of that of course 😳 dunno if Helena sees him again after becoming a vampire 🙄 but yknow.

🍓 — Doesn’t have any of the “vampires are better than mortals” superiority complex that a lot of the others seem to have.. does think thin-bloods are losers though kjdkjdfnms

🍓 — Only video game she plays is the sims!! she bought ts1 when it came out for fun and got hooked.. ts2 is even better!!!!! first thing she did was make a sim that resembles her and marries a business tycoon 💅💸

🍓 — owned one (1) YSL dress she bought from her savings (which was USED) but she couldn’t afford anything else so she just wears it with something she found at hot topic every time she goes out with her rich fake friends pre embrace. When she works for La🤡 and actually makes some money she can afford a SECOND dress babey! with shoes!!!

🍓 — She’s actually really into some standard 2004 radio pop songs but also emo songs at the same time.. except the genre didn’t have anything good in 2004 except three cheers for sweet revenge (she’s also really into evanescence, green day and blink 182 which isn’t really emo but it was still part of the experience™ nfdkjdf) - which is also her entire aesthetic summed up, emo meets theatre kid prep.. Helena: *googles “how to look like Gerard Way and Britney Spears at the same time makeup tutorial”*

ERIN

🍓 — sdjhsdh cringe but she’s always been kind of a weirdo but was pretty good at hiding it/acting normal & was part if the prep gang in her high school days (not the leader, more the kind of the replaceable third wheel), she always preferred hanging out with the weirdos though. Post-embrace everyone just thinks “lol crazy malkavian” so she’s just like 🤷‍♀️..

🍓 — Her sire, Ray, was suuuch a freak but she liked him because he was something.. different in her sheltered, dull life and made her feel excitement she hasn’t felt in a long time. He bails on her after embracing her bc he sired her without permission & fears execution (even though literally no one cares or even knows he sired someone) but has letters delivered to her from time to time instructing her what to do lol

🍓 — Actually enjoys the freedom vampirism gives her? She’s officially dead so she has the option to start again and be whoever she wants to be… it’s scary at first bc she has no idea what’s going on and where these voices come from but she gets used to it, also the voice of her late grandmother in her head is a comforting presence for her… I imagine she’s actually in there kinda like the heart in dishonored, afterlife isn’t her granddaughter’s mind but it’s sort of an echo of her? IDK she tinkered with magic in life so supernatural schizophrenia added that to Erin’s mind.

🍓 — She loves early 2000′s radio pop (yknow.. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson… etc) but also classical music, stuff from the 20′s, alternative rock, the early 2000s goth music that’s playing in L.A.’s nightclubs …. she’s gonna thrive in 2006 when a fever you can’t sweat out drops!!!

🍓 — She’s part of the anarchs but mostly hangs out in hollywood or downtown (only goes to santa monica to visit the asylum (BEST nightclub ever in her onion. isolated SLAPS)

🍓 — yknow in the 2000s when people had invader zim merch from hot topic.. she owns this backpack 🤦‍♀️ it clashes with the rest of her style which is already a horrendous mix of victorian/early 20th century gothic and 2004 prep style

VICTORIA

🍓 — her background is still a BIG wip but she was born at some point in the late twenties/early thirties and embraced in 1954 :^) she was a bit of a workaholic and had an intense work ethic but never made it far within the company she was working for because it’s the fifties (thinking maybe it was her father’s company bc she was RICH.. there was a feud between her & a few male relatives on who’s gonna lead or something)… She was eventually noticed by a ventrue businessman who thought her ambition and no-nonsense attitude would be a great addition to the clan - She was promised a opportunity to rise within a different society without le sexism. Go white feminist queen!

🍓 — her embrace wasn’t really what she thought it would be.. drinking other’s blood REPULSES her and she has a hard time adjusting to it, plus kindred society isn’t really what she imagined - by the time she’s embraced L.A. has no camarilla presence so there’s really nothing for her to do so she moves to New York to join them there.. except she’s stuck with a shitty job and no one taking her seriously because of her age 😒 When they establish a presence in Los Angeles she’s the first to suck up to the prince & be assigned a somewhat high position (I guess adviser to the ventrue primogen and also being tight with the prince is good!!)

🍓 — She dresses very business-y BUT always designer bc she got money 😳 her wardrobe is chic but also minimalist, also with a hint of fifties design because fashion peaked then in her opinion.. mostly in dark colors, reds, browns and mostly black combined with minimal jewelry and high heels… very very elegant

🍓 — genuinely loves romcoms from the 50s and 60s (doris day & rock hudson movies b*tch!!) but also “newer” one from the 90s and 2000′s.. notting hill, pretty woman and 13 going on 30 are her favorites that she watches when she’s off duty, cozy in her downtown apartment.. but don’t tell anyone 😤

🍓 — She’s THE queen bee within the L.A. camarilla… doesn’t have any friends in her workplace but she’s respected by everyone and that’s what matters to her (it does get lonely sometimes but it be like that. She’s not gonna give up her status for shallow friendships 😒)

🍓 — loves those ugly small 90s/2000s glasses but they clash with every outfit she has so she doesn’t wear them

#I didnt realize how OP christian was before I read the corebook.... jhdsjsd #PLEASE INTERACT.. it took me ages to type this out #chuckhansen #ask

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punkscowardschampions · 5 years ago

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Janis & Grace

Janis: [Let us say that some boys on the bus were going hard with being dicks because duh, shit always goes down on the bus] Janis: 3 of those lads have sent me dick pics Janis: say the word, like Grace: only 3? 💔 Janis: What can I say? Janis: Not got the pull I used to, obvs Grace: yeah same Janis: Yeah Janis: well, there's comfort in knowing you're always one #scandal away from being old news at this school, yeah Grace: mhmm I'm like so comforted rn Janis: Not my forte Janis: I'll work on getting the remaining 2 dicks Janis: revenge porn, I could do Grace: 🤞💜🙏 Janis: I hope the rest of the insults you've heard today have been more creative than that poor showing at least Grace: Duh of course they haven't 🙄 Janis: Gutting Janis: should've paid more attention in English, lads Grace: [sends her some of the quality content] Grace: that'll be easier when I'm not there to be like TOTALLY distracting obvs Janis: 😑 Janis: How dry Janis: 💀 or 👻 Grace: I mean like catch them at 20 still trying to pass Grace: much as I wanna kms Janis: True that Janis: only here past junior cert to get more fingering experience Grace: ugh Janis: I know Janis: romance is dead Janis: is there anything I can actually do though? Grace: get that as a matching tattoo with barista boy? no 👌👌 Grace: idk cos idk what I can even do soooo Grace: my life is just over Janis: I'll float the idea Janis: might be a bit mainstream Janis: yeah but is that such a bad thing Janis: was pretty tragic, right? Grace: can you not Janis: I'm not taking the piss Janis: I'm being real Grace: & I'm not in the mood for a life revamp atm Grace: or your advice Janis: I'm not trying to be a guru either Grace: well you don't know what you're talking about so that's a relief Janis: Alright Janis: not said I do either Janis: sorry I don't, if I knew how to avoid scandals, I could sell that shit for a high price Grace: just stop Grace: I could care less that I'm #cancelled Grace: it's not even Janis: Go on then Janis: I know you aren't upset over that idiot Grace: Duh Grace: he's the WORST but I knew that already Janis: and give a shit about everyone talking shit, apparently Janis: so, what is it? Grace: it's real if I say it Janis: Is that why you're not saying anything Janis: I know it doesn't stop the talk but some people might listen Janis: what don't you want to make real? Grace: I don't want people to listen, I literally don't want anyone to know Grace: I don't even wanna know, I wish I didn't Janis: Grace Janis: what are you talking about? Grace: I'm literally the worst person, I didn't wanna have his baby & now god has like cursed me forever Janis: Babe, God is NOT a subscriber Janis: tell me Grace: if you make me 😂 I will 😭 Janis: That would make things feel more normal Janis: but I'll calm my comedy genius Janis: you haven't grown another head and I don't think our animal have been slaughtered Grace: thanks babes Grace: but I'd rather have another head than this Janis: More to contour, I get it Janis: Kinda Janis: so it must be bad Grace: Yeah Grace: like I said, my life is over Grace: it's not even started & it's done Janis: Did you want the baby Janis: I know you said not HIS but like Janis: it'd be understandable to be in two minds, even after making a decision about it Grace: not now but I didn't know that'd mean not ever Janis: What? Grace: it's not just that I wasn't pregnant this time Grace: I can't be Janis: Ever? Janis: The Doctor told you? Grace: Ever Grace: the doctor said I'm going through the fucking menopause, like is nan even?! Janis: the menopause Janis: is that even possible Janis: fuck Grace: I don't think the doctor is allowed to drop fake news on me Grace: like maybe there's another storytime coming Janis: When did you find this out? Grace: I went to the doctors right after I delivered my fake news to him Janis: Jesus, Grace Janis: How are you in School Janis: why? Grace: I told you, I don't want this to be happening Grace: I'm freaking out, the symptoms are crazy Janis: Is it just pure bad luck Janis: it can't be like..reversed Grace: there's like no way to undo it Janis: Shit Janis: I'm sorry Janis: that is huge Grace: yeah me too Grace: the pity party this fam would throw would be huge Grace: along with the guestlist of all their accidental babies Janis: and we have enough birthdays with all those accidental kids so Janis: Obviously, no need to explain why you're keeping it to yourself Grace: I can't do this Grace: be this Janis: I don't think you have a choice Janis: well, you don't Grace: is it my fault though? all the binging I used to do Grace: Ro got to have a kid Janis: Of course it ain't your fault Janis: this shit is unfair and random Grace: Yeah Janis: and it'll always be shit and unfair Janis: but you can still live your life, just different to how you've imagined Grace: I don't wanna live this life Janis: There's not an alternative Janis: but I can guarantee it's not gonna be as bad as you feel right now Grace: I was just starting to get my shit together, for god's sake Janis: I know Janis: but you still have the rest together Grace: HE'S the last boy that's ever gonna come near me, that alone makes me wanna die Janis: that's bollocks Janis: you've not got the plague Janis: socially, right now Janis: but who gives a fuck, yeah, the lads 'round here are not the be all in any way Grace: I literally live here Grace: what else am I gonna do go online and find boys who are into 👵? Janis: Boys that don't go to our school, would be a start Janis: ones that aren't likely to be fans of that prick, shouldn't be hard Janis: you're not going for 12 year olds, like Grace: I said don't make me 😂 Janis: It can't hurt Janis: except literally, maybe Grace: I've gotta get used to all the fucking aches and pains anyway ugh Janis: Any excuse for a spa day, you Grace: I'll lose your invite, don't even worry Janis: 💔😏 Janis: you should though Janis: do something that doesn't make you feel like 👵 Grace: casual infertility party Janis: not exactly what I was thinking but Janis: interesting take on the baby shower epidemic Janis: I'd come Grace: oh god don't, Rio's gonna have another one soon Janis: It'll be nice to not have to snatch it back from an OTT gay this time Janis: more chill Grace: unless I snatch it cos I go fully mental Janis: I'd recommend a less baby crazy target Grace: maybe I'll start pushing all the 🐈s around in a pram like oh hey this is my new vibe Janis: if you want your face clawed off Janis: they're pretty unsympathetic little bastards Grace: I literally didn't wanna be in this fam before what am I meant to do now?! ugh Janis: As much as it would be a laugh to ask Ri to surrogate again Janis: let's think of something a little less drastic for the time being Grace: like? Janis: like Janis: you can't disown us all, it'd take to long Janis: but you could not be around for a while Grace: 👌👌 except I have nowhere to go Grace: not trying to have a Q&A with my friends about this Janis: You're so lucky I'm the twin with brains Grace: rude Janis: what about going to see Ava for a hot sec Janis: she's not the barrage-you-with-questions type Grace: it's lowkey very unlikely her mum & dad would want me there though Janis: yeah but it's as unlikely they'll be about enough to notice you that hard Janis: everyone knows you're going through it right now, even if they don't actually know what IT really is Grace: okay yeah Grace: mum does, she'd let me go Janis: exactly, who actually gives a shit if you miss a week or so of school Janis: Ava could still go if she so desperately needs, you just need to chill Janis: away from here Grace: not me, school was the worst even before this Janis: One thing we can agree on Grace: don't like tell anyone, okay? Janis: No shit Janis: 'course I won't Grace: Even your boyfriend who you're so 💖😍😘 for & have no secrets from Janis: Even though you're being purposefully antagonizing rn Janis: I won't tell no one Grace: thanks Janis: It ain't even an ask Janis: so don't mention it Grace: 👌💜 Janis: I'll hook it up with her, no stress Grace: I'll handle mum Janis: and your packing Grace: at least I don't have to serve a look as hard when there's only 1 person there I'm avoiding as opposed to like ALL of Dublin Janis: safe to say you can give the #ootds a break too Janis: strictly loungewear, like Grace: mhmmm Janis: bit rude to avoid Ava though Janis: do I need to tell her you're getting in the guestroom and not coming out, like? Grace: oh please, I would never Janis: Who are you avoiding then? Grace: just a boy Janis: unlike you Grace: excuse you Janis: You'd have your exes all back 'round like a family reunion Janis: who's this boy, did you shit in his bed, what's the story Grace: 😱😱😱 Grace: I WOULD NOT Janis: 👌👌 you love a repeat Grace: I'm a hoe reformed 😇🙏 Janis: so that's why you're avoiding Janis: get a wimple, join a convent Grace: literally can't 💍 anyone but god now anyway so Grace: obvs that's what he wanted when he cursed me Janis: #whenbaeisposessive 😍 Janis: and don't talk shit, you don't have to promise you'll have your firstborn within the year when you get married, like Janis: not necessary Grace: whatever we're so off topic rn Janis: the topic of you shitting in some London lad's bed, 'cos you did not deny it Janis: let's get back on that Grace: OMG no! Grace: I'm 👵 not 🤢💀🤒��💀 Grace: he's just a hookup, no drama Janis: just gonna run for cover if you 👀 him Janis: standard Janis: probably not lurking about her gaff unless you've really one-upped everyone and fucked your uncle 🤢 Grace: EW! Grace: I'm not even gonna 👀 him cos he's her bfs brother but like I didn't know that so Janis: that's funny Janis: soz Janis: 😂 when the incestuousness of it all happens without you even trying Grace: 🙄🙄 Janis: okay 🤐 Janis: but deffo avoid him Grace: duh Grace: the state of me & my life rn Janis: more like the state of that whole situation Janis: getting involved in that is not anyone's idea of relaxing Grace: obvs but that's not anything to do with him Grace: just like none of this #scandal involves you Janis: Think people know better than to imply it was a threesome, yeah Grace: Gross! & you know what I mean, babes Janis: yeah, it's beyond #obvs you don't wanna avoid this boy mhmm Grace: like that matters, he's not gonna hit me up & same Janis: well okay Janis: arranging that goes beyond sisterly duties into pimp territory so Janis: focus on what you're actually gonna do whilst you're there then Grace: 😭😭💀💀😭 then yeah? Grace: 👌💜 Janis: you could do that here Janis: at least go somewhere instagrammable to die Grace: well duh Grace: final livestream for the haters Janis: 🙄😏 Janis: wonder if anyone's killed themselves on stream yet Janis: must've Grace: obvs Grace: but I literally couldn't even if it was original content cos they'd all think it was about him & I'm sooo 💔💔💔 Janis: No one wants that as their legacy Grace: exactly Janis: even if the race to #1 most subscribed when he gets #cancelled would be just riveting Grace: he won't even though his fans are just Janis: sweaty virgins Janis: yeah, figures Grace: 😂 Grace: I'd tell him to hit them with a Q&A but like he's got no answers Grace: literally should've known I wasn't pregnant Janis: thank fuck you ain't Janis: this time anyway Janis: obvs the whole thing is a little more complex but Christ Janis: having to parent with that Janis: and knowing your child was the product of a really shit shag Janis: 💔 Grace: IKR Grace: at least he doesn't know he could blame the menopause for how shit it was Janis: I highly doubt he knows what the menopause is Janis: nevermind the concept of it coming early Janis: though that shouldn't be that unfamiliar Grace: who knew it could come this early though Grace: not his defence squad but like wtf Janis: I hadn't heard of it before, really Janis: like I knew people like Ro and Mia and co can stop getting their period and it might not come back, even if you sort yourself Janis: it's shit luck Grace: yeah Janis: Did you not get your period Janis: on whatever contraception you're on Grace: loads of people don't on the implant so I wasn't freaking out Janis: yeah Janis: s'what I thought Janis: you don't think, I mean that's not why, is it Grace: I'd hope someone would have floated that as a side effect before I got it put in but it's not like I can ask my former squad if they're also going through it Grace: they might've moved on by now anyways it only lasts 3 years Grace: hence my 👶 panic Janis: I don't think even doctors and scientists know what it does to our bodies Janis: we're still guineapigs for all this shit Janis: I know loads of people get fucked up from all the hormones they add to your body, and the ones they take away Janis: again, just bad luck it happened to be permanent, I guess Janis: fun times Grace: at least I won't have to do any of that shit any more Janis: that's true Janis: it's not like there aren't any perks Janis: or that the losses can't be filled with other potentials in the future, when you actually wanna think about all that shit Grace: unless I go bald then I will kms obvs Janis: If you go bald, you can just go for it and superglue a wig on Grace: find me one that doesn't make me look like a weird cartoon character & sure Janis: no 💗 or 💙 Janis: got it Grace: ty 💜 Janis: failing that, you could make Ri transplant you some of hers Janis: like so you won't give me a baby, okay Grace: 😂😂 coming at her with ✂ Grace: I love that you didn't volunteer yourself bitch Grace: 💇 or 👶 tbh Janis: Full horror movie moment that Janis: selfish to a fault me Janis: and final girl, so you can pry 'em off my cold dead head or outta my cold dead womb Grace: my 📽🎞😱 moment is that this is gonna change my skin type to dry so it'll take me at least a full week to find replacements for all my makeup faves Janis: yeah, but think about how hard your spots should disappear Janis: get yourself a decent moisturizer and you won't even need to bother barely Grace: !!! Grace: I didn't even think of that OMG Janis: mhmm 👵 don't get acne Grace: 🙏🙏 Janis: and you can try a new facial over there, yeah Grace: as long as Ava isn't like no thanks bitch Janis: won't give her an option tbh Grace: 📽🎞😱 Janis: 😏 you know I'm scary bitch Grace: oh please Janis: 👊 Grace: 😘

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tomloki · 6 years ago

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my play experience

Okay story time … I wasn’t sure if I was gonna comment about my play experience on here, but then I thought “what the hey, I kinda actually want to” so on I go… I was in London from the 24th of March to the 27th (a very, very short stay, I know, but it was what I could afford to do and also I had to get back to work and school asap). It was my first time in London and it’s clearly a beautiful city with wonderful people. I wish I had more time to explore it, even though I’m not the touristy type, but I would’ve liked to visit some of the parks and such. Anyway back on track, the play … I was there with my sister and brother and we had seats to the left in Row B in the stalls, so we were very close to the stage. The curtain rises and all three characters are there in the center, motionless, and I’m already heart-eyes staring at Tom at this point. But I’m not going to give a detailed scene by scene breakdown because that would be insanely long. Suffice to say that, having read the actual play beforehand, this performance was everything I could have never imagined, in the best way possible. All the stage direction, all the creative choices made in this production added so much more meaning to the play beyond the literal and made it so heartfelt. I remember reading in the TimeOut review that Betrayal is usually “taken fairly literally, as a realist drama about an affair.” And just off reading it alone (although to be fair, maybe plays aren’t exactly meant to be read??) I also sensed that it was a bland tale about adultery. But not here; not in THIS production. Here, they get it right or they get it different, whichever one it is, they make it so much more than what it appears to be on the surface. Spoilers under the cut.

The shadows on stage:

It’s no secret now that one of the major things that set this production apart is that none of the characters ever really step off stage (well, except for the very last scene where Robert has to appear later in the scene and so, Tom does step off the stage and then back on it). The conversations happen between whichever two characters and the third one stands or sits as a shadow or as the “other.” Sometimes this third “other” is silently watchful, sometimes they’re reflective or somewhat involved in the scene, and sometimes they’re staring straight ahead into the abyss. In all occasions, the third becomes the topic of the conversation, at some point, between two of the characters. And the reason this creative choice works so well is that it helps you realize that there’s nothing linear about this story of betrayal, its triangular.. its a trio caught up in each other’s lies and this mess of their own making. In any conversation, there’s always concern for the third and you start to truly feel like these three people cannot exist without each other ... it can’t be just the two of them, they’re codependent, which is why I think Jerry felt so betrayed by both Emma and Robert even though as an audience we are aware of how much heavier his betrayal toward Robert was than Robert’s betrayal toward him. In an odd sort of way, the third “other” constantly being present made you feel their absence even more, because you’re constantly reminded of their existence outside of the conversation.

Now, there are nine scenes total and Robert is in only four of them, even though that he’s still arguably the most complex character of the three. The fangirl in me was ecstatic in knowing that Tom would never really step off stage. And I think Jaime Lloyd took good advantage of Tom’s ability to be subtle yet vulnerable and placed him in these scene where only his eyes could do any of the talking. In any instance where Robert was the “other,” tom’s expressions were never impassive. Even as he stared into the distance, you felt there was always something on his mind. In fact, I couldn’t take my eyes off Tom his eyes DEMAND attention to the point where I sometimes felt I was being unfair to Zawe and Charlie. I would listen to the conversations between Emma and Jerry, but still only really look at Robert, for the most part. You only have to look to the Morning Star review to validate me: Tom Hiddleston, statuesque yet vulnerable, holds the eye at all times. I remember reading a fan’s recount of her RADA Hamlet experience and in it, she says that Tom does this thing where his eyes meet with the most attentive fan in the audience and he makes you his focal point audience-member for the a good amount of the performance. Which makes a lot of sense to me, since he’s such a responsive person and naturally great at being attentive. And, I kid you not, I was close enough to the stage and persistent enough with my stares for that person to be me. Directly after the performance I was talking to my sister and said “I swear I’m not making this up, but me and Tom made direct eye contact at least five times over.” And she hadn’t even let me finish that thought before she affirmed it was happening, she didn’t think it was wishful thinking, she didn’t think I was crazy, she just said “I noticed that each time it happened too! He DID make eye contact with you it was wild.” Like even when we came back home, my dad said I must’ve been imagining it but she jumped in and was like “No, believe me I would’ve called her out if she was being insane, but I witnessed it happening!” I thought about it a lot on my way back to the hotel, that night, and what I thought was that either a) he appreciated my attentiveness and reciprocated it or b) this was a natural Tom reaction to someone constantly looking his way (which we all know that he’s very responsive and really great with eye contact so maybe he couldn’t help but look back at the person constantly looking at him) or c) he looked at me and thought “this isn’t even my scene you creep, you should redirect your attention to Zawe and Charlie.” Whichever it was, because Tom is so good at remembering faces, I like to think that if he does even remember me at all, he’ll remember me as the creepy girl in the scarf who stared him down. It was out of love for him though and his performance elicited nothing less, so I really hope it didn’t come off as creepy.

Robert’s persona:

There’s a lot to be said about Robert and there’s a lot more to be said about Robert as portrayed by Tom Hiddleston. Think probably in the same manner that Tom was praised for making Cassio charming and memorable, qualities not usually attributed to this character. So, clearly Tom’s ability to sympathize with the characters he portrays is ever present in his performance and transfers over to the audience. Reading Robert on page, you sense that he’s got this sort of macho stoicism complex and it makes it difficult for you to ever feel genuinely sorry for him. But the way Tom portrays him, this same macho stoicism starts to feel deeply like a persona that the character works hard to keep. It’s Robert’s mask, it’s how he protects himself, but when it becomes revealed to him that his wife is indeed cheating on him with his best friend, he cannot help but have a real reaction to it. And even then, tom finds a balance with his tears to form a character that is still trying to stay in control even as he’s breaking. Even as his world is falling apart, he doesn’t reveal his anger, just subtle, gradual tears that fill this silence between him and Emma. (Sidenote: Tom’s pauses and silences are never just that; he fills them in with an expression, an emotion or even an open mouth and raised eyebrows in his stillness). I’d also like to add that my brother hadn’t read the play, but by the end of the performance he asked, “did Robert really cheat on Emma or was he just saying that?” In the script, of course it is never confirmed for sure, but we take it as a fact, as the truth of the matter. But the way Tom plays him, you feel sorry for him, and you do really start to wonder what if this is also part of this persona, this reputation that Robert has built for himself? Robert seems to be precisely the kind of character who would tell his wife that HE’S been cheating on her when it is revealed to him that SHE’S been cheating on him; just to seem invulnerable, just so that no one can sense him breaking.

One of my favorite uses of both the revolving stage and the third “other” on stage was the scene when Emma and Jerry are in their flat and Robert revolves around the stage sitting in a chair, holding his daughter. This was by far my favorite scene, and it isn’t even part of the script and it isn’t even technically Robert’s scene. But it adds another revelatory layer to what lies underneath Robert’s persona. Here is a father, holding onto his child, laying his cheek against her forehead. His expression is tranquil, but you sense a sadness in it, a sort of hidden worry. He’s holding her tight, and at one point, he looks down at her then lays his cheek back against her head, and in this moment, it feels as if he’s trying to protect her from the world, from himself, from his and her mother’s mistakes. He cares and he cares deeply, even if his conversation with Jerry says otherwise. This isn’t just a betrayal happening between three people, the consequences of it become the children’s problem. They are involved in a way that they never asked to be, and suddenly, you have a clear picture of who the real victim is ... it’s not Robert, it’s not Emma, and it’s not Jerry ... it’s their children. Of course, I can’t ever really know what or how Tom felt about this, but I sensed that there must have been something of himself directly in this scene. He is a child of divorce himself and he’s talked briefly in the past about how that affected him and shaped him and even that acting became his escape at a young age as a consequence of his parent’s separation. You know when people ask “if you could go back and visit your younger self what would you say?” In that scene, I felt as if this little girl was representative of Tom’s younger self, on a personal level. And this must’ve contributed to the way he approached this moment; it was deeply felt and incredibly heartbreaking.

The dinner scene:

There isn’t much I can say of this iconic melon and prosciutto dinner scene that hasn’t already been said. From the Evening Standard: There’s a brilliant scene that demonstrates [Tom’s] usually under-exploited flair for comedy. With emphasis on UNDER-EXPLOITED please exploit it PLEASE DO you won’t be sorry, clearly. He’s funny without trying to be, he imitates Jerry’s laugh sarcastically and the audience breaks into full on resounding laughter, even his pauses show a comedically reserved anger as he stares at Jerry with wide eyes and a haunting smile. All this passive aggressiveness being so much more comedic than it really ought to be and you start to wonder how Jerry is just sat there without a clue. Also, throughout this scene, there were moments where tom’s eyes twitched as you sensed Robert’s rage build up. Just like this, just like with here:

And I don’t know if this is involuntary on tom’s part or not (I think it must have been), but it added so much to the heat of the scene.

1968:

My goodness, even the ending was laden with creative choice that veered off script, again, in a way that only made it better. In the very final bit of the very last scene, Robert is supposed to clasp Jerry's shoulder, briefly, turns, leaves the room. Emma moves towards the door. Jerry grasps her arm. She stops still. They stand still, looking at each other. Robert is meant to leave the room before Emma gives in, but he doesn’t. In this production, Robert grabs Emma’s hand as he’s leaving the room. Jerry grabs her other hand quickly and Robert stops, facing the direction of what would be the door to exit. Emma looks at Jerry and all three of them are connected, literally arm in arm. They stand there motionless. A portrait of Betrayal ... if Harold Pinter’s Betrayal was to be painted on a canvas, I truly think this final moment of this final scene would have been it ... the perfect summation, and this production in itself plays out as if a work of art had come to life.

Stage door:

So, yes, I did get a picture with Tom. It was very brief, because I was very shy and honestly, I expected nothing less of myself. Now, I don’t have twitter or Instagram and I don’t post any pictures of myself online, so I have completely cropped myself out of my picture with Tom. And I know this means people might think I was lying, but that doesn’t matter to me. You can choose to believe me or you can choose not to, I can’t really convince you of this, nor do I really even wish to. You can still kind of see my shoulder and my purse strap and burgundy/ maroon scarf (I wore burgundy on purpose because I was hoping to match up with Tom in his burgundy jumper, but alas, it was pretty cold outside and his coat was buttoned up). Before he stepped out, I had this simple little gif/interview related gift I wanted to give him. I kept taking it out of my purse and putting it back in until I finally decided that I was an idiot and if I gave Tom this gift, he’d think I was dumb so, I put it away. Now, of course, I live with the regret that I didn’t give it to him in my lack of confidence. But when I came up to him, I said “hi” he said “hello, how are you?” and then like a frantically shy girl, I quickly handed him my program then asked “can I take a photo with you?” he said “yea, sure” and I handed him the phone (again frantically) and he took the picture. It was incredibly brief, but I will say this, he definitely IS in fact even more beautiful in person.. somehow, he just is. We all know how beautiful Tom’s speaking voice is, but he’s also very soft-spoken and his voice sounds like that of someone who can do no harm. And I’ll also say this, as I walked off onto the other side of the street after having taken my picture with Tom, I remembered this quote of his that I read before: It’s not that you change but people around you change and that takes some getting used to. It has to do with visibility and anonymity. It’s odd. There’s a before-and-after. Before is you walk into a room and you meet someone and they don’t know you and you don’t know them and you get to know each other. The after is you walk into a room and you meet someone and they know who you are and you don’t know them and that interaction is changed as you get to know each other. Off of me briefly meeting him and just standing on the other side seeing him meet other fans, you definitely get this sense of an attempt at normalcy from him. He approaches you the way you approach him, if you’re shy, he’s not making as much eye contact and he seems to be just really humble as if he’s thinking “you need not be shy of me, but how can I possibly convince you of that?” If you talk with him, he talks back, he holds a normal if even brief conversation with you (although the security guards ask the fans to be mindful of those behind them that also want to meet Tom). So yea, I wish I was confident enough to tell him how creative and artistic and heartfelt this production and his performance were and how lucky I felt to have been a part of his audience, but I’m happy to have even met him at all.

Some other things from when I stood on the other side of the street after my picture: This guy standing on the other side with us shouted “TOM YOU’RE CLASSICALLY HANDSOME” and Tom made this face, this questioning expression with a smile and said “thanks” or “thanks, man.” A white car (maybe a taxi?? drove by the stage door and stopped, did a double take, I guess trying to figure out what this crowd was queued up for on both ends of the street (or maybe just in awe of Tom if they knew who Tom was. Who knows?) and Tom leaned his head over while signing and said “Hello” with this big, calm smile on his face as if to say he completely understood the hilarity of the situation.

There's a bit in the BBC Only Artists radio interview between Tom and Nicholas Britell where Britell talks about the odd feeling of being a composer when you know there were all these greats before you and Tom says "Well, at this point, we're all just remixing; we're all sampling and remixing. It's all been done." If this production of Betrayal can be considered a remix to the script, it would definitely be better than the original. So that was my not-at-all brief account of Betrayal + stage door and if I had the chance to go see this play again, I would do so, over and over and over again and I don’t think I’d ever really get tired of it to be honest.

#tom hiddleston #betrayal #betrayal stage door #hiddlestoners #hiddlesedit #my text #*

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