#SPELLER BEE

[superstarzolar]

you hate losers !!!! so do i !???? i’m a loser !?!!! so good bye!!??!!

[bumblingest-bee]

im such a sucker for audience participation in musical theatre. the 25th annual putnam county spelling bee. the mystery of edwin drood. the trail to oregon. absolutely unmatched

[panelshowsource]

@guy_mont: Thank you all the spellers and audience members who came to the U.K. debut of Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee! I never thought a comedy show about language would find an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe but against the odds - we did it

[vidavalor]

A theory about Aziraphale, Crowley, Mrs. Cheng, and high sensitivity

What's up with Aziraphale sensing love in Tadfield and thinking Maggie might be able to hear Heavenly trumpets and with Mrs. Cheng pausing weirdly at the bookshop door before entering The Ball?

What if bad spelling isn't demonic and sensing love isn't angelic? What if Aziraphale (an angel), Crowley (a demon), and Mrs. Cheng (a human) all actually just have the same ability? What if they are all HSPs-- highly sensitive people?

Aziraphale's ability to sense love is something that has spanned both seasons now and I know some people think this is an angelic thing but there's evidence, imo, that it's not. The show has been putting forth a message that angels, demons, and humans are really not that dissimilar. They have different life spans and abilities but they're all under the same kind of umbrella and none are superior or inferior to the other. They suggest this with the symbolism of labeling all of them all as insects (humans are ants, angels are bees, demons are hornets, flies are Beez's department) and as different kinds of waterfowl. Pat's example magic trick of The Professor's Nightmare-- the rope trick-- during The Blitz, Part 2 is also this as well. You have three different ropes that seem like they're different lengths: the big one (angels), the medium one (demons), and the small one (humans) but if you put them all together under the same light and you pull (like the force of gravity, that Gabriel and Crowley talk about in S2), you see them as all the same length.

The idea then is that angels and demons are just like humans, in terms of their needs and wants, and some don't recognize it because their supernatural abilities inhibit their ability to consider why they might also have human corporations in the first place. All of the angels and demons really need to eat and sleep and to not feel alone. Some of them, like some humans, might be interested in romantic love and/or sex, and some of them, like some humans, might not be. Things the show has coded as "demonic" at times-- like being terrible with language-- they also quietly illustrate as not being fully true. It can't be that all demons are terrible spellers who aren't great with words because Crowley is a demon and a literal poet while Gabriel was the Supreme Archangel of Heaven-- and he once suggested that keeping the status quo would keep things "static and, uh, quo-y." Who is better with words: Lord Beezlebub or Sandalphon? Beez, by a long mile, right? But Michael is also better with language than Hastur. The point is that it doesn't matter if you're an angel or a demon or a human-- some people are good with language and some are better with other things.

So, just some of the demons are bad spellers-- which doesn't actually mean anything. There are plenty of terrible spellers who are very intelligent and who are just better at different things-- which is something that is true of humans as well, right? What if we apply those same ideas to the sensitivity thing?

For one thing, if all angels-- or, even, just a lot of angels-- had a high sensitivity to love like Aziraphale does, the end group scene in S2 should have gone differently. The only angels experiencing or sensing love in the bookshop during the Ineffable Bureaucracy scene are Gabriel (who is the one feeling it) and Aziraphale. Being in the presence of love did nothing for Michael, Uriel, Saraqael or even our sweetheart Muriel (who, to be fair, wisely had their nose in a book in the back of the room the whole time but still probably should have been able to sense something if that's actually an angelic power.) The only angel actually overwhelmed by the love in the room is Aziraphale... which is, mathematically, kind of interesting. Aziraphale is one-sixth of the angels in the bookshop in that moment, which equates out to the roughly 17% percent of the human population estimated to be HSPs, or highly sensitive people, some of whom are also empaths.

If you go back to S1, when Aziraphale and Crowley enter Tadfield and Aziraphale starts experiencing love, he says to Crowley: "I'm astonished that you can't feel it." This comment alone might be suggested to say that the high sensitivity that Aziraphale has is something that isn't an angelic ability. By saying he's surprised that Crowley can't feel it, Aziraphale is saying that he knows that Crowley is sensitive in the same way that Aziraphale is. Crowley, too, is then what humans would probably call a HSP. Crowley balks at the suggestion in S1 but we can see in S2 that it's true when Crowley has his version of being overwhelmed sensing emotion and, in his case in that moment, it was waves of distress. Who else experiences it at the same time as Crowley does? A human. Mrs. Cheng.

Mrs. Cheng is the only other character who gets the heebie jeebies during the arrivals at The Ball. Both she and Crowley actually experience it before the demons come up Whickber Street, around the same time. Crowley attributes it to the demons and his own anxiety over Hell circling closer to the shop while Mrs. Cheng gets pulled into Aziraphale's magic and forgets what she felt at the door. Why did Mrs. Cheng feel something when others who came to the door did not? Because she's a highly-sensitive person.

Aziraphale is an angel, Crowley is a demon and Mrs. Cheng is a human. They are all highly-sensitive people. They all have the same high level of sensitivity.

Maggie shown to be a bad speller? Maybe she's just a human who can't spell, like many humans and demons (and angels) are. Why does Aziraphale think she could hear the Heavenly trumpets sounding the arrival of angels? It could just be because Maggie runs a music shop. Maggie is a musically-sensitive human. Aziraphale thought that might make it possible that, if anyone could hear the trumpets, it might be Maggie. He's not really sure how this all works. Aziraphale thinks that if he can feel love between humans then maybe humans that know music well might be able to hear Heavenly trumpets.

Back in S1, we see in a couple of scenes that Adam has what Crowley calls "an automatic defense thing-y" that keeps him from being found-- and seen, to an extent. A shield of sorts keeps Anathema from reading Adam's aura, showing that such a thing is in place and intact. Because Adam is the antichrist, his power overrides the other demons shy of Satan, so the presumption could be made that those of us who think that the reason why it's when they cross into Tadfield that Aziraphale begins to feel overwhelmed by love is because Adam's shield overrode Crowley's own "automatic defense thing-y" are correct because, let's be real, Crowley with his sunglasses and his Bentley has never met a defense thing-y he's never given a whirl. It fails when they cross the Tadfield line and Aziraphale is then feeling Crowley's love for him.

This is also why Aziraphale is overwhelmed by it again at Tadfield Manor. At the moment that he has to stop walking, Crowley is looking up at the place and, inevitably, remembering dropping the antichrist baby off there eleven years earlier and how he was supposed to be with Aziraphale that night instead. He's thinking about his own love for Aziraphale and Aziraphale senses it and has to stop walking for a moment, overwhelmed. Adam does love Tadfield but Aziraphale is not sensing his love for his hometown. Adam wouldn't remember being born in a religious hospital that has now become a corporate bonding retreat and wouldn't feel an overwhelming love for the place that he's probably never actually been inside since he left it as a baby. Aziraphale is sensing Crowley, who has probably had an automatic defense thing-y up for most of the time for millennia because, otherwise, Aziraphale would be in a constant state of near-faint.

Maggie may or may not be more than we think she is. She might wind up yet being some kind of supernatural being but she also might just be a human who is a bad speller and can't hear Heavenly trumpets. Mrs. Cheng may or may not be a mysterious figure with more going on than we think but she also might just be a highly-sensitive human who helps to illustrate a commonality between angels, demons and humans by having the same ability to deeply sense emotion that Crowley and Aziraphale do.

[toooliix]

hey! alright so i may have done a thing

so for the past,,, idk 3 weeks? ive been going on a deep dive into spelling bee mostly to sedate my own curiosity of needing to know everything about what i'm interested in. as it turns out, there is a LOT of content with this musical, so i'm here to talk about my findings! note: i will be keeping this EXCLUSIVE to the original 2005 off broadway cast. as much as i'm a brown university girlie through and through, the original cast is where the content is. OKAY FIRST: youtube findings

a lot of small videos were made usually with logainne and leaf. you'll be quick to learn that they made the most off stage content. i have a public playlist with these videos, along with interviews, the original boot, and a few other things. the cast album isn't in it because that's audio only and i want visuals damnit. (plus its on spotify and easy to look up so.) the exception is 25apcsbmt12doc because its pretty underground and the purpose is to get word out about niche things.

second: myspace pages a lot of the spellers have myspace pages! this is like. a common thing!! only two were archived (leaf and logainne) and are able to be accessed! i'll talk about the others in a bit. they contain new information and i personally find them very interesting!

leaf logainne

HOWEVER: three are currently able to be accessed through modern myspace without needing an account. the format is off, but it's accessable.

barfee 25apcsb account panch third: other

there's two different things here so i'll separate them :]

3.1: r/v club

r/v club is a short film by rebecca feldman (one of the people that worked on spelling bee) that includes logainne! it can be found on her site with other short films. i believe this is the only one with her in it HOWEVER i have not checked therefore i could be wrong. it's set post-spelling bee, i believe. also jesse is in it but not as leaf.

r/v club

3.2: official site

spelling bee had a site!! and official merch!! its just a cool thing i think. it'll be mentioned again in the last section

spelling bee site

fourth and final: lost media (to my knowledge)

okay, spelling bee has.... QUITE a bit of lost media. again, this will be separated into parts.

4.1: C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E

before spelling bee was a thing, crepuscule (albiet mispronounced) was an improv play made by the farm. (same group who made r/v club) a lot of the characters were similar or the same, and it has a similar premise. however, it wasn't a musical. from what i've heard, there USED to be a boot of it, however i haven't found one of my own. i would love to be corrected.

4.2 myspace pages

remember how i was going to say this was going to come up again? hi thats now. outside of leaf and logainne, other myspace accounts were made! mitch (comfortcounselor), olive (mydictionary) + (oliveostrovsky), chip (chiptolentino), marigold (marigoldconeybear) an olive and barfee joint account (ilovemydictionary), and a leaf and logainne joint account (schwartzylogan). there's also another leaf account with the very confusing name of panchspell the issue with these is that theyre not archived, so you'll need a myspace account with a verified email to view these. in the year of our lord 2024 that's not exactly an easy find, especially since verification emails no longer send. plus, one of olive's accounts is dictionary.com now so,,,, who knows what it looks like there. most also need a connection, which makes things even MORE difficult. i hate how close but out of reach these accounts are.

4.3. spelling bee game

yeah they had a game. it's on the site, and it's eternally stuck at loading characters from my experience. here's the link anyway! game

4.4 the dirty bee

oh jesus its the dirty bee. so for context, in 2006 when the show was running, a few nights were booked for spelling bee that were meant for mature audiences and were 18 plus. it's catered towards people who have already seen the bee and want something new. it was inspired by jay (panch) and putting in words or sentences researsals that were clearly for funnies because he was bored. alas it became a derivative of the musical. all we know is what an article provides (theres more than one but the one linked gives the most info) and that chip quote unquote "finished off" at my unfortunate erection according to jose. there's rumor that chip is canonically bi in it but theres no sources so,,,, can't confirm that one.

article

(the quote is said in the reunion "stars in the house" and is found in the playlist)

conclusion:

there's genuinely so much shit in this musical i find it fascinating. this post WILL be updated with any other finds or information. PLEASE dm me or let me know if i got something wrong or if you have something to add (though do add a source, please and thank you)

ALSO: reblogs are greatly appreciated!! shoutout to the wiki, @/honkmaster69 and the people i spam in dms for helping and tolerating me <33

[brightlotusmoon]

In middle school and high school in the 90s (they were in the same building), I was consistently the top speller in my grade and I won every spelling bee up until junior year when I took second. My entire grade was cheering me on regardless, because spelling bees were brutal.

Currently rewatching the spelling bee episode of American Dad made me recall that, because once I lost, I realized how much fun I could have just being the best speller, because my classmates would get me to spell anything, genuinely happy, and nobody bullied me and instead became fiercely protective.

Still unsure what the actual goal was, getting a bunch of nervous children to spell out loud competitively in front of huge crowds of judgey adults. As an adult it's still really fun to be able to know how to spell innovation off the top of my head during casual conversation.

[prismartist]

was not made aware that the side effect of being a guest speller in putnam county spelling bee is developing a parasocial relationship to the people you sit beside. and mitch mahoney

[densi-mber]

Just Give us a Reason to Compete

“I’m just saying, of the two of us, one is clearly a better speller than the other,” Deeks proclaimed as he and Kensi walked into the bullpen.

“Deeks, I misspelled one word. It’s not that big a deal,” Kensi insisted, tossing her bag onto her already crowded desk. Callen reached out to catch a bottle of lotion. “And that was autocorrect’s fault.

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“Hey, guys,” Nell said. “Do we want to know what’s going on?

“Kensi can’t spell,” Deeks announced loudly, before Kensi could respond. She rounded on him with a glare, and Deeks grinned back at her. He could tell it wasn’t true anger, so he didn’t feel all that bad about teasing her.

“All right, that’s it. I challenge you to a spelling competition.”

“Ok, I’m in. What do I get if I win?”

“The knowledge that you’re the better speller?” Kensi said with a shrug.

“Nah, that’s not good enough,” Deeks decided. He thought for a moment. “If I win, I want control of the radio for a week.”

“Then I want you to make me frittata every morning for a week.”

“Deal.” Turning to face the rest of the team, who had been watching the conversation with varying levels of interest, Deeks asked, “Any other takers?”

Callen snorted. “Not a chance. Sam, you in?”

“Oh no, I already know my spelling abilities. I once won a state spelling competition in high school,” he said, a hint of pride in his voice.

“I thought you were a mathlete,” Callen commented.

“I was.” Sam jabbed a finger at him. “And no jokes.”

“I would never,” Callen said solemnly. “Though it is impressive that one man can hold so much geekiness within him. I think you’re running neck and neck with Beale.”

“He thinks that’s an insult,” Eric said wryly. “For the record, I am not beyond competing in a test of spelling acuity.”

“Nell?”

“I would, but I don’t think you guys could handle it,” she responded.

“Ooh, that sounds like a challenge, Jones. Why don’t you put your money, or similar compensatory item, where your mouth is?”

Nell stepped toe-to-toe with Deeks, standing as tall as she could.

“All right Mr. Deeks. I’ll participate, but you’ll regret it. And if I win, the losers will write all my expense summaries for the next week.”

“It’s a deal,” Deeks agreed.

“Oh, you’re going down hard,” Kensi goaded him. “I’m looking forward to breakfast in bed.”

***

“Alright Kensi, your word is “onomatopoeia”,” Callen called out, waiting as Kensi stepped forward. He’d been assigned the role of choosing and assigning words, mostly because Sam refused.

Eric had dropped out after three rounds with the word chiaroscurist. Personally, Deeks thought he’d done it on purpose, in deference to Nell. Deeks had nearly lost it with lachsschinken, but somehow managed to squeak through solely by chance.

Kensi correctly spelled her word; she looked decidedly tense, biting at her thumbnail in between turns. When it came back around to her again, Callen gave her the word “arachnophagous”.

“A-r-a-c-h-n-o-p-h-a-g,” Kensi started, then hesitated. “u-s?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, that is incorrect,” Callen said, not sounding sorry at all. “Now it’s just down to Deeks and Nell.”

“Damn it!” Kensi hissed, plopping into her seat.

“I can’t believe I’m watching this,” Sam mumbled.

“You got this, Nell,” Eric encouraged, then shot Deeks an apologetic look. “Sorry, man.”

“It’s ok, brother. I understand.”

“Ok Nell, your next word is “budgereegah”.

“Now you’re just making things up,” Deeks muttered even as Nell rattled off the apparently correct spelling liked she’d actually heard the word before.

“Excellent. Deeks, yours is “sesquipedalian”.”

“Awesome. Uh, s-e-s-a-u-i—p-e-d-a-l-i-e-n”.

“That is…incorrect,” Callen called out. “Congratulations, Nell. You’re the NCIS Office of Special Operations’ inaugural spelling bee winner.”

“That implies there’s going to be another one,” Sam commented under his breath.

“Nicely done, Nell,” Deeks congratulated her, and Nell accepted the praise with a nod.

“Thank you. And thank you for the week of expense reports. I will enjoy going home early.”

“It won’t be so bad with Eric and Kens helping. Right, Kensi?”

“Right,” Kensi said with a grimace. “Congrats Nell, but I was really looking forward to those breakfasts.”

“Well, there’s always next year,” Deeks said brightly.

***

A/N: This one was a bit sillier, but I hope you still enjoyed it. I think the team would compete for anything under the right conditions. Also, some of the words I used were selected from the national Spelling Bees list.

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

thinking about how in spelling bee both mitch n rona play extra parts within the spellers’ imaginary vignettes but panch never does. having him be the only adult who doesn’t engage with the spellers on a personal level is a really nice subtle indicator of just how mentally detached he is from the bee + subsequently its overarching theme of the necessity of carrying childhood hope on into adulthood

[latinrockluvr]

i am here to debunk the age of all the spelling bee kids

A lot of the fandom has been saying they're all 12 according to "why we like spelling". I AM HERE TO DISAGREE. All of the kids range from 10-12; and i will imply their age, grade, and why according to their school they attend and some irl information. According to the cut song, "Why We Like Spelling", the spellers are implied to be 12. The only person that could canonically imply to this is Chip Tolentino. Since Chip’s parents are apart of the PTA (mentioned in his lament) and the location of the spelling bee is at Putnam Valley Middle School; he cannot be younger than 11 & cannot be older than 13; so he would be 12 and attending Putnam Valley Middle School. (his school theory is now fixed). Chip is a 12 year old boy, a 6th grader attending Putnam Valley Middle School; he is apart of the Boy Scouts, his little league team, and parents are apart of the PTA . He is as well, canonically going through puberty. [kids usually are 11-12 going through puberty; but there are some rare excpetions; he's not a rare exception.] Leaf is canonically homeschooled, but he is the speller that sings the verse "The chaotic life of a 12-year-old is too hard and you never know what's coming next". This can imply Leaf is 12 years old; and a 6th grader that's homeschooled. [this is the one i had most trouble to find evidence.]

Marcy is on-track of becoming the youngest high-school freshman in parochial school history. Our Lady Of Intermittent Sorrows is most likely a catholic secondary school; which makes her around 11-12 years old; where the average freshman would enter their first year at 14-15 years old. Marcy Park is an 11 year old girl, an 8th grader, attending Our Lady Of Intermittent Sorrows. [being 12 and a 9th grader just seems like a high probability & a little too common. so 11 fits it. ] [she wouldnt be 12 bc she hasnt experience puberty yet & that's the peak age of change & marcy's the lightest in her class.]

William attends Cold Spring Country Day. Country Day schools usually range in the in the elementary age-range. Since elementary schools range from 4-11; I would like to imply William is an 11 year old boy, a 5th grader that attends Cold Spring Country Day. [country days nearly apply the age range; it'd just make sense he'd be an 11 year old; close to graduating & moving to middle school.]

The same rule really applies to Olive; but the elementary is more implied for her. Olive is an 11 year old girl, a 5th grader that attends Garrison Elementary. Last but not least, Logainne. Logainne is canonically 10 by her constitutional amendment; lowering the voting age to 10. Logainne is a 10 year old girl, a 4th/5th grader that attends Magna Magnet Grammar School.

okay i am finished with my little rant enjoy; if anyone would like to disagree or talk abt their opinions abt the spellers ages in the comments; i will open to hear!!

[lovecommajaime]

Spelling Bee 🏳️‍🌈 (also your taste is insanely good)

everyone’s neurodivergent

marcy leaf and chip are all fillipino (my reasoning for marcy is that my music director at one of my companies played her and also spennys fillipino and bros marcy callback was insane, leaf bc i’m fillipino and i. love leaf, chip bc yeah like)

honestly every speller is asian in my head mainly bc i am asian and that is like my whole personality

leaf likes dinosaurs, ducks, and spiderman

leaf likes those like good job star stickers

(also thank you)

[not-sure-what-im-feeling]

Fandoms and simple descriptions below (no propaganda because I don’t have any) (okay maybe a little but I’m a tad biased)

Logan Sanders

From: sanders sides (web show)

Brief description: The logical side of Thomas Sanders, advising him in all aspects of logic in his life. A metaphysical being who takes things too literally (and is my babygirl)

Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre

From: the 25th annual Putnam county spelling bee (musical)

Brief description: one of the spellers in the bee, she feels immense pressure to do well. She is the head of her school’s GSA, and has proposed an amendment to lower the voting age in America. To the age of ten. An overachiever by all accounts, likely will experience gifted kid burnout.

[disneybrandautism]

howdy!!

my names finn or roman!! welcome to my tumblr!! here are some things to get to know me!

my pronouns are he/she/they

i’m 17! (insert the MINORS. MINORS! audio clip here)

i have adhd as well as general anxiety disorder! so if you ever want to chat PLS do but i struggle to reach out because of my anxiety.

i have a LOT of interests so talk to me about whatever, i swear i will respond i LOVE to chat abt them.

i can’t spell very well but i promise i try. i am just a really really bad speller, sometimes it’s unbelievable.

i also say fuck a lot. i swear often.

here are some of my main interests but i’m prone to side quests:

The saw franchise

disney anything. i’ve seen it all. but i specifically love disneyland and disney channel from about 2007-2015.

the hunger games (the books and movies)

Film. Film always. talk to me about movies.

Sander Sides (… it’s borderline a special interest)

stranger things (mostly just steve)

succession (i love flawed characters)

hannibal nbc. i’m crazy about will graham.

community (i love troy and abed)

topgun (but in a gay way.)

marauders (just to mess with the terf)

ghost the band

here are some of my favorite characters (aka characters that are just like me fr):

finnick odair (the hunger games)

rapunzel (tangled)

austin moon (austin and ally)

steve harrington (stranger things)

reggie (julie and the phantoms)

rooster bradshaw (topgun)

tom “iceman” kazansky (topgun)

adam faulkner-stanheight (saw)

roman sanders (sander sides)

virgil sanders (sander sides)

simon “ghost” riley (COD MW2)

kendall roy (succession)

abed nadir (community)

sirius black (hp/marauders)

for sander sides i’m #1 multishipper except for remrom. they are brothers in my noggin.

my dislikes!

I don’t like mean people or people who make fun of me for my interests. unclear instructions. terfs. JKR. loud sounds. passive aggressive people. homework.

my likes!

all the fandoms and characters i previously stated! headcannons. sleep. fashion. plushies. talking to people. playing video games. reading. the color green.

to find me on my other socials!

discord: oatbees or bees#3730

instagram: finnsmojodojocasahouse

tiktok: o4tm1lk0

that’s all!!

[cruger2984]

[Akademiya Spelling Bee] Kaveh: The word is 'beagle'? Everyone: (watching at Faruzan's place on TV) Cyno: Oh boy! That's an easy one. That's his dog! He'll get that one easy. Tighnari: Kaveh's at the threshold of being a champion speller! Kaveh: Beagle. Alhaitham: (points to himself) Kaveh: Beagle. Cyno and Tighnari: Yay! Yay! Yay! Kaveh: B-E-A-G-E-L. Beagle. (shocked) Everyone: (shocked and awe) Alhaitham: (turns the TV off) Owning 10% of Kaveh is like owning 10% of nothing! (turns the TV back on) Kaveh, you... you made me mad!! (turns the TV off again)

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

A look into the past.

Chapter 4

-FLASHBACK-

You were in the middle of eighth grade and still living in America. Sitting at your desk, you were waiting for class to end, as the day had been uneventful and you were ready for it to be over. You were on the verge of falling asleep, feeling weighed down by the tedium of your advanced classes and the numerous clubs you were involved in. Although the administration suggested you join the school council, it never felt like the right fit for you. Your parents even wanted you to skip a grade, but you couldn’t bear the thought of leaving your best friend behind.

You didn’t have many friends in school. Many people were friendly with you, but you could tell that their kindness was fake. Whenever someone would be nice and talk to you, it would always end up with them asking for you to give answers to homework or even asking if you could do the work for them. You never thought that you would meet someone genuine until you met your best friend, Elina.

Elina never took advantage of you like everyone else. She wasn’t even as smart as you. Hell, Elina may have even been the slowest girl you have ever met. She wasn’t in any of your academic classes- or any of your classes- for that matter. You two met when the mere girl stumbled upon you during the spelling bee.

She was on her way to cheerleading tryouts. The tryouts were moved to the gym instead of the auditorium due to the spelling bee. Elina never got the message, and that was how she ended in the theater, watching you spell words. She claims to this very day that you are the fastest speller in the world, but you always tell her that if you were you would be in a book of world records.

“Please report to the counseling suite.” Your head pops up from hearing your name called over the intercom.

You get up out of your seat and grab a hall pass before heading out the door. As you walked to the counseling suite, you wondered what they could have possibly wanted from you this time. You hoped it wasn’t another conversation about you joining the student council or moving up a few grades. One thing you were really dreading was them asking you to talk to some random people about your quirk again and demonstrate it for them.

Your quirk was something that everyone seemed to fawn over. Your school would always call you up to the councilors suite so that you could show off your quirk to random businessmen and women. You weren’t even sure if your parents knew about this, but you never seemed to tell them. Most of the time, your councilors would say to become a hero in the future; people had to examine your quirk. It was always your dream to be a hero, so as much as it bothered you, you’d always end up showing your quirk off anyway. This time around was different, though. The administrators have never called you in the middle of class; it would always be at the end of the school day.

You finally arrive at the counseling suite and can already see two people inside. You knock on the door and wait for someone to sign that it is ok for you to come into the room.

“Please, come in. We have been waiting for you,” your counselor stated as you opened the door.

You walk into the room and let the door shut behind you. The two people that are there to see you look overjoyed. You give them a look of confusion as you walk to your usual seat in the corner of the room.

“It is so very nice to meet you, miss. It is an honor to finally meet you in person. We have been admiring you for quite a while now,” The lady says with a very thick accent.

“Oh, hello, it’s nice to meet you as well. Sorry, but I never caught your name,” You say as you greet the woman that is standing in front of you.

“Apologies; how could I have been so rude. Please call me Mrs. Yagiyama, and this over here is my co-worker Mr. Yato. We have both come here on behalf of UA high school to formally invite you to our prestigious academy,” Mrs. Yagiyama reveals as you look at her in awe.

The UA high wanted to invite you to their prestigious school. They sent workers from Japan to the United States of America to tell you that you have been requested to attend their school. This had to be a dream. None of this made sense to you.

“I’m sorry, I am not sure that I heard you correctly; you said that you wanted me to attend UA high school,” You stammered as if it were the craziest question on earth.

“Yes, you are correct. Like I said before, we are all very hopeful that you will accept this offer. We wish that you will join and work with us to be the best top hero that you can possibly be. So, yes, you are the perfect fit for what we are looking for at UA high,” Mrs. Yagiyama went on courteously.

“Wow, that was a lot to take in. I would love to attend your school, but I really need to ask my parents first, and my family would have to pick up and move to Japan, and I don’t even know any Japanese, neither do my parents and-” You were cut off from your babbling by Mrs. Yagiyama.

“We know that, but we have everything planned out so that you should be able to come to our school without any problems. Let me explain a little more. You see, over the summer- and your ninth-grade year- you will catch up to the curriculum that students in Japan are currently learning. We have everything in this folder that will explain this further. You will have a tutor teach you everything you need to know during that time, that is you agree to the terms of course,” Mrs. Yagiyama explains as she hands you the folder.

“Thank you, this is such an amazing opportunity. My parents will never believe this when I tell them. I am not sure that I can ever thank you enough for this opportunity,” You beam, grasping onto the folder.

“This may not be the thank you that you were thinking of, but could you please demonstrate and explain your quirk for us? I and many others have been desiring to see it up close and personal and for you to explain how it works in your own words.”

“Is that really it? You just want me to show you my quirk and explain how it works? You, people, are pretty easy to please, aren’t you, but ok,” You scoffed, putting down the folder.

You get up from your chair, and your eyes begin to glow a bright yellow, signifying that you activated your quirk. You look over to your counselor and ask if they could demonstrate their quirk. From there, you copy their quirk. Their quirk was invisibility. You instantly turn invisible and walk over to tap Mr. Yato on the shoulder. Then you turn yourself visible again and deactivate the quirk. Everyone turns around and sees you standing behind Mr. Yato.

“So, as you two know already, my quirk is Copy. I get most of my power from the sun. That's the reason my eyes turn yellow when I activate my quirk. I can only copy a quirk if I know exactly how it works, and I have to see it in action before I can use it. Hence why I asked for a quirk demonstration before turning invisible too. I can only hold two quirks at a time for ten minutes each for a total of sixty minutes before all my vitamin D runs out. If that happens, I become very lightheaded and nearly pass out,” You explain, trying not to exclude anything.

You then look over to Mrs. Yagiyama and begin to ask her a couple of questions. She seems to know what you are going to ask and hands you a small piece of paper. You open it and see all the answers to the questions you would have asked.

“I was kind of hoping you would use me as a demonstration, so I took the liberty of writing down my height, weight, arm length, leg length, and waist-length,” Mrs. Yagiyama says.

You quirk an eyebrow at her but waste no time to turn into her. She looks at you like it’s the most marvelous thing that she has ever seen in her life. The only difference between you and her was that she was wearing a suit with a pin, tight skirt, and you had on your black polo and grey skirt with black leggings. You then shifted back into yourself.

“As you two know, again, I can shift into a person if I know their exact measurements. This takes a lot more energy out of me than just taking a quirk. I can only copy one person at a time, though. I can do this for up to thirty minutes each time, but I usually don’t do it because it requires too many things just to get it done. I also feel much more drained after time is up. There is one more thing that I can do, but I don’t like to demonstrate it, because it is very exhausting. I can take an appearance and quirk simultaneously, but it puts a lot of strain on my body. I can only do it for fifteen minutes at a time, and I can only copy one person and their quirk each time. This takes a lot more focus to do, and it is so draining that after fifteen minutes are up, I completely pass out. Do you guys have any more questions?” You state as you wrap up your mini-lesson on your quirk.

Mrs. Yagiyama and Mr. Yato begin clapping at the end of your speech. They both thank you for taking time out of your day to hear them out and tell them about your quirk. Mrs. Yagiyama hands you a card and tells you when you come to a final decision to give her a call and let her know. You all exchange your goodbyes, and you head back to class. By the time you get back, school is over, and you begin to pack your things up. You walk to the front of the school building to meet Elina so that you two can walk home together, and you tell her everything that went down in the suite as you walk home.

Denki’s POV

“Well, maybe if you didn’t give up on trying to be a hero, then none of this would be the way it is-”

“I’m going to stop you right there, 'cause you have no right to disrespect me like that. You, of all people, should know the real reason that I didn’t want to become a pro. So how dare you go and say something like that to my face?”

You were gone just like that. You left the diner faster than the conversation started. It felt like everything went back to how it was in high school, but I had to mess it up.

“What the hell just happened?” Denki pondered to himself, sitting there in the diner, dumbfounded.

Denki truly didn’t understand why you got so mad. You never tried to visit him when you knew where he was at. You stopped texting and calling him out of the blue. It was like you vanished from the planet without a trace. So, how could you be mad at him for leaving him behind? You never once told him that you were a therapist. He had to find out just a few moments ago when you were screaming your head off at him. This all had to be a sick, cruel joke. None of it made sense. One moment you two were talking like the best friends you used to be, then the next, you were getting up and walking out the diner, leaving him alone once again.

Denki pulled his wallet out of his pocket to pay the bill and got up to leave the diner. He stood outside, waiting for his Uber to arrive at the location. He was thinking about the whole conversation again, analyzing everything you said, leading him to this point. Was Denki actually in the wrong? No, you were the one who stopped texting him; he was only asking a simple question, right?

Denki gets in his Uber and heads to Mina and Eijiro’s house. He texts Eijiro and lets him know that he’s on his way. Once he arrived, he got out of the Uber and made his way to his car. He thought about going and saying hello to Mina and Eijiro, but knowing them, they were most likely knocked out. Denki began pulling his keys out until he saw someone coming out of the front door.

“Oh, hey Denki. Mina and Eijiro are both passed out if you were here to see them,” Momo waved while walking up to Denki.

“Oh no, I just came to pick up my car,” Denki says in a dry tone while waving his keys to show Momo.

“Oh, ok, that makes sense,” Momo chuckles and realizes that something is off with Denki. “Are you ok?” she asks with concern on her face.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m good,” Denki affirmed while snapping out of his thoughts.

“Apologies, I just thought that because when I was on the phone with… earlier,” Momo trails off trying not to bring up your name just in case you were the reason Denki was acting off. “She sounded off too, and I-”

“Hold up, you talked to her?” Denki interjected.

“Yeah. Is there something I should be concerned about?” Momo questioned with a look of confusion on her face, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Uh, no, don't worry about it,” he assured, smiling slightly.

“Are you sure? If you need me to tell her anything, I can call her for you,” She tilts her head reassuringly.

“No, I'm good for real, but it was good talking to you, but I should get going now.” Denki lies, smiling reassuringly.

“Oh ok, just call me when you ever need anything I’ll always be there for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do. And if you need anything, I’m here too,” He gave a small smile.

Momo smiles back while reaching in her back pocket, pulling out her phone, smiling, and responding back to whoever texted her. Denki starts to get in his car when Momo stops him to tell him something.

“Speaking of the devil, she just texted me,” Momo said, waving her phone in her hand.

“Oh, what did she say?” He replies in a nonchalant tone.

“She just told me that she made it home safely.”

Denki hummed in response, not wanting to continue the conversation any further. A car pulled by the sidewalk as Momo gazed at her phone.

“Well, it looks like my ride here,” Denki directs his gaze towards Momo as she walks to the car. “It was nice of you again. Oh, and congratulations on your promotion.” She waves goodbye while getting in the car.

Denki gets in his car to drive home after his long day. As he went home, he wished that his day could have been better than it was. Seeing you for the first time after years, he hoped that the encounter could have been better. He never expected to meet you at the ceremony, let alone leave in the same car as you, then proceed to take you to dinner. He never intended to get into a screaming match with you and have you walk out on him. If he could go and change one part of the night, it would be never showing up to Mina and Eijiro’s place and agreeing to take the same car as them. If he never did, then you and he would have never spoken in the first place, and maybe none of this would have happened.

Denki finally arrives at his house and makes his way inside. He couldn’t keep his mind off you and was starting to irritate him a little. He runs a hand through his hair and proceeds to walk towards the bathroom. He was hoping that a nice shower would calm him down and get his mind off of you. He hopped in the shower and scrubbed off all the dirt from his miserable day.

Once Denki got out of the shower, he still couldn’t get thoughts of you out of his head. He pulled on a sweater and some shorts and grabbed his phone before calling someone.

“Hey, could you come over? I really need your company right now,” Denki says, speaking into his phone.

“If ��need your company’ means having sex, then just say that.”

“You know I can’t do that to you. It sounds wrong if I’m just calling you for a quickie.”

“Well you basically just admitted to it, so it all sounds bad, but I’ll be over in about 30 minutes.”

Jiro hangs up the phone and tosses it on the bed. She begins to pack a bag before heading over to Denki’s to ‘keep him company’.

Extra Notes:

Hey, I just wanted to say that these first few chapters were made a few years back, so please don’t mind any grammar mistakes! We honestly don’t feel like going back and fixing them lol…but you can really see the writing development as the story progresses so stick around!

[punk-chicken-radio]

spelling bee

oh, how a playlist like this warms my 'loves to tell you when you've misspelled something' heart....i give credit to @theoldsmelly for adding this into our library, though he probably didn't know just how much i would enjoy it.

i will readily admit, though it pains me to do so, that even though i am a spelling corrector at large, my own spelling skills....well....they seem to be getting worse. i am not sure if this is due to age, or the way spellcheck kind of tends to fuck with your brain and make you forget how to actually spell. some days i have to think a little too hard after typing a word if i have indeed spelled it correctly. my habit of typing all in lowercase means i get that little 'underline' on so many words that sometimes it just gets confused and then i get confused and it's like....uh. am i right? is the device right? wtf now i am gonna have to google how to spell this simple word....

at least i almost always get context right. i know smelly still rankles at a screenshot i saved of him saying 'there' when he should have used 'their" like 7 years ago 🤣. he's normally a pretty good speller and almost always gets the context of a word right, so i treasure moments like that.

you know what's next....👆👆....songs that spell out a word in them....somewhere....

love (i think tom hiddleston should be james bond) axiomatic and the old (calm down) smelly