#Thomas if you’re hiring writers…

[loganslowdown4]

Virgil: You want the honest truth? *sigh* Okay fine.

Virgil: Sometimes I look around at all the guys and feel so…humbled that these nerds accepted me and chose me back. Like, genuinely, why? I’m just an idiot in a hoodie.

Virgil: But… I’m a happy idiot in a hoodie. I’m supported by the best sides in the world…

Roman: *calling from the other room* ARE YOU BEING NICE TO US IN THERE??

Virgil: NO SHUT UP GO BACK TO YOUR 5 HOUR HAIR ROUTINE PRINCEY

Roman: *offended Princey noises*

Virgil: Yeah, they’re alright

[austinshotbutlers]

The Wedding Date - Part Three

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner × Fem!BAU!Reader

Summary: Your sister's wedding is approaching fast and the thought of showing your boyfriend off to you family and your ex-boyfriend seems like a very appealing idea. The only problem is... you don't have a boyfriend. Luckily your stony faced, serious, sexy boss has agreed to be your fake boyfriend for the weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

Word count: 4.3K

TW: SMUT!!! (Protected sex, vaginal fingering) and swearing.

A/N: AHHHH the tension finally breaks and Aaron finally gives in! I’ll be honest, my smut writing probably isn’t as good as other writers on here but I hope you all enjoy it. I also really wanted to paint Luke as the huge asshole he actually is and there will definitely be a moment in the future parts where Aaron will set him out straight (AKA punch him in the face). Again, I’m open to suggestions of what else I can include in this series, I love all your feedback 🫶🏻. Here’s a link to my Masterlist where you can find parts one and two.

Standing in a dance studio with your ex boyfriend and fake boyfriend was a peculiar situation to say the least. You could feel his eyes following you as you and Aaron moved to find a space in the room, ready to start dancing.

“I really can’t dance.” You murmured to Aaron as he took your hand, placing his other on your hip.

“Don’t worry about it,” Aaron paused as you gently placed your hand on his bicep. “Let’s just try and have some fun.”

Music filled the studio and the instructor your sister had hired began to count you in “And! 5, 6, 7, 8!”

You and Aaron gently swayed to the song, neither one of your fully committed to the dance. You looked around and watched as your sister and Thomas danced excitedly with one another, their bodies close together, stepping perfectly in sync with each other. The dance instructor sung their praises before turning to look at everyone else.

You tried not to laugh as you saw Luke awkwardly stepping out of time with his partner who you assumed was his new girlfriend. She was gorgeous with long auburn curls and a beaming smile; way out of Luke’s league. She laughed again as Luke danced a wrong step again and he looked at her with an annoyed glare. The coldness of his stare was definitely something you did not miss.

You were suddenly pulled from your thoughts by the voice of the dance instructor shouting at you and Aaron. “Why are we dancing so far away from each other? Where is the passion?”

You cringed at her words and looked straight at Aaron who was definitely stifling a laugh. You shuffled closer to Aaron, your bodies touching one another, your grip tightening on his arm.

“That’s much better!” Said the dance instructor excitedly and set the two of you off dancing again.

Aaron swayed perfectly in time with the music, humming along which took you completely by surprise.

“I never thought you’d be one for dancing.” You laughed.

“I uh…” Aaron paused. “I took dance lessons when I married Hayley.”

“That explains then why you’re so good.” You said sweetly.

“I wouldn’t say I was good.” He chuckled.

“Stop being modest. You’re definitely good at dancing.”

Aaron was about to speak but the two of you were interrupted by the instructor again. She huffed as she watched you two dance. “Less swaying. Swaying is boring!”

You rolled your eyes so only Aaron could see and he tried his best to hide his chuckle.

“You are in love are you not? Show us your love through dance!” She shouted at you and Aaron before she waltzed off leaving the two of you alone again.

“I would like to remind her that it’s meant to be Sarah’s lesson.” You said frustratedly. “She’s the one getting married, not us.”

“Maybe she is right though,” Aaron responded and you looked at him confused. “Let’s dance with more passion.” He mocked the instructor and you laughed loudly which caught the attention of everyone in the room. Your laugh sounded like heaven as it filled Aaron’s ears, it was adorable.

You moved in closer to Aaron, your bodies pushed tightly against each other. You swayed a bit more adventurously, moving across the room. Aaron spun you around in a circle and you giggled as the room moved around you. He then spun you out to the side before spinning you neatly into his side. Your bodies clashed together and you both laughed, the closeness between the two of you made heat rush to your cheeks and Aaron’s ears tinged red.

“You’re a much better dancer than you said you were.” Aaron complimented with a smile, adoration glimmered in his eyes.

“It’s true, I hid my talents so not to embarrass you,” you joked and Aaron laughed.

“I dare say you’re better than me.” And this time you laughed.

“Sorry to bruise your ego.” You giggled and jokingly rolled your eyes.

You and Aaron danced more confidently with one another, striding across the floor gracefully, small talk and laughs being exchanged. But, Aaron couldn’t help noticing the way Luke was watching your every move, his eyes raked over your body, not caring if anyone saw him. Aaron fought hard not to go over there and punch him in the face. Who the hell did he think he was? He suddenly felt the need to protect you so Aaron spun the two of you round, shielding you from Luke’s cold stare. In just two brief meetings with him, Aaron had profiled him to be a straight up narcissist and questioned what you ever saw in him.

***

“I surprisingly enjoyed the dance lesson.” You found yourself admitting as you took a sip of the large glass of orange juice.

“Yeah,” Aaron chuckled. “It was fun.” And he took a gulp of black coffee.

“I’m also happy we were still able to come and get brunch! I am starving.” You say exasperatedly.

Then, no more than 5 minutes later, a waitress brought over your food. A tall stack of pancakes with chocolate for you and some bacon and eggs for Aaron.

“Jack would very much approve of your meal choice.” He laughed as you immediately tucked into the overly sweet breakfast.

“Another reason why he is the best kid ever.” You said. “He knows how to pick a good meal.”

The two of you sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, enjoying your well deserved meals after the exhausting dancing.

“I keep forgetting it’s the bachelor and bachelorette parties tonight!” You suddenly speak. Aaron looks up from his plate to you and laughs.

“What?” You asked confused. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing its just…” He laughed again. “You have chocolate round your mouth.”

“Oh my god!” You groaned. “That’s so embarrassing.” And you frantically attempt to wipe it off your face.

“Here, let me do it.” And before you could respond, Aaron was leaning across the table with a napkin is his hand and gently wiped at the corner of you mouth. “Done.” He smiled.

“Thank you.” You said, trying not to blush.

“What were you saying about parties?” Aaron asked, putting you back on track to what you were saying before.

“The bachelor and bachelorette! You’re 100% expected to go to Thomas’ bachelor night.”

“I’m a bit too old for bachelor parties.” Aaron said.

“Oh shut up! You’re not that old.” You replied with an eye roll.

“Fine.” He chuckled. “I’ll go.”

“Perfect! My mom might ask you to keep an eye on Thomas. I know you two don’t know each other that well but I know for a fact, Luke will have booked a stripper.”

“And who will keep an eye on you at the bachelorette?” Aaron asked jokingly.

“I can handle myself Agent Hotchner. Just a shame I couldn’t bring my gun for extra protection.”

***

Getting ready for the bachelorette was stressful. Your room wasn’t big enough to accommodate both you and Aaron walking around trying to get ready at the same time. There had been awkward laughs when you stumbled out the bathroom and saw Aaron in his boxers while getting dressed followed by mumbled apologies. Once Aaron was ready, he sat down on the bed and observed as you doing the last touches of your makeup and finishing accessorising your costume.

“What’s with the outfit?” He asked curiously.

“You can’t tell me you don’t recognise it?” You questioned in shock.

He laughed before saying. “Of course I recognise it. I was a college student once upon a time. It’s Madonna.”

“5 points to Aaron Hotchner! It’s ‘Like a Virgin’ Madonna to be precise.” You added. “Sarah has always wanted the theme of her bachelorette to be Madonna. Just never thought she’d actually do it. She’s going as ‘Hung Up’ Madonna. You know in the pink leotard?”

“Yes.” He nodded with a chuckle. “I know the pink leotard music video.”

“Are you secretly a Madonna fan?” You joked.

“You’ve caught me!” He replied, standing up off the bed. He was in a white button down and black slacks. It was simpler but god did he look good in it. The sleeves rolled up, showing his forearms and the top button open. You weren’t used to not seeing him wear a tie.

Aaron took in your outfit as you leaned forward to slip your heels on. The low cut corset-like top was enough to make heat rise to his cheeks. The bulky necklaces hung from your neck, drawing attention to your cleavage and the puffy, netted skirt accentuated your figure. He had never seen you like this and it took everything in Aaron to stop himself from taking your face in his hands and kissing you passionately. You looked so beautiful.

“Are you ready?” You asked with a beaming smile and Aaron simply nodded.

You both walked down the stairs and saw your sister and the whole bridal party knocking back shots.

“What are you guys doing here?” You asked confused.

“Finally! We’re here to pick you up and then it’s onto bar hopping.” She said and you could already smell the alcohol on her breath. “So say goodbye to Mr. Sexy and get in the limousine outside!”

You turned to face Aaron. “I guess this is goodbye then.”

“Kiss him goodbye!” Your sister shouted.

You leaned in and gave Aaron a quick peck on the lips.

“Boo! A real kiss!” Your cousin joined in.

You rolled your eyes with a laugh and wrapped your arms around Aaron’s neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss. His hands instinctively found your hips and held them tight as he reciprocated the kiss. Cheers filled the room as the group of differently dressed Madonna’s watched you two kiss. You pulled back and smiled brightly at Aaron who seemed flustered but smiled back nonetheless.

“Right! It’s time to go lovebirds.” Liv said, drawing your attention from each other.

“Bye.” You whispered to Aaron and before he could answer, your sister was dragging you out the door to the limousine.

***

Aaron sipped at his beer slowly. The bar was packed with rowdy men for Thomas’ bachelor party, some already very intoxicated. He felt a pat on his shoulder and turned to see Thomas.

“Aaron! Thanks for coming man. I guess Y/N got you to come?”

“She can be very persuasive.” He chuckled. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thanks!” Thomas slurred. “To think I’ll be a married man soon. I can’t wait.”

Luke suddenly stumbled over with a dopey smile but it immediately dropped when he saw Aaron.

“I didn’t think you would come.” Luke said aggressively. “Did Y/N persuade you to come with a blowjob or something?”

“I’m sorry?” Aaron asked appalled.

“She’s a good fuck isn’t she?” Luke continued. “That’s the one thing I miss about her.”

“Dude, that’s inappropriate.” Slurred Thomas as he downed the last of his beer.

“Nah we’re just having a chat, man to man.” Luke said, placing his hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “Isn’t that right Aaron.”

“Actually, Luke.” There was a harshness to Aaron’s voice. The same harshness he used when interrogating criminals. “I don’t appreciate how you’re talking about Y/N.”

“Come on buddy, you can say whatever you want about her to me.” Luke threw his arm over Aaron’s shoulder. “Go on, what’s your favourite thing about her? It’s gotta be the head hasn’t it? She gives good head.”

Aaron shoved Luke’s arm off of him. “I’m not your ‘buddy’.” He said sternly. “You don’t have any right to talk about Y/N after the way you treated her. And I definitely don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate the way that you’re talking about your ex.” He had gone full protective boyfriend mode. “If I even hear you utter Y/N’s name again, I will make you regret it.”

Luke looked startled but not as scared as Aaron was expecting him to look, the smug bastard.

“Enjoy the rest of your night.” Aaron said to the two men and headed straight for the door. He’d had enough for the night.

***

“To Sarah!” You cheered, raising the shot glass in your hand before downing it in one.

“To me!” Sarah shouts, knocking her shot back and everyone cheering.

You throw yourself back down onto the sticky bar stool and ask the bartender for another round of shots.

“So…” Liv drawls out. “Will you and Aaron be having hot sex tonight?”

“Liv!” You shouted in shock.

“That’s a yes then.” She responded

“A fat yes.” Sarah interjected.

“Mine and Aaron’s sex life is none of your concern.” You slurred.

“Yes it is! After hearing about you sex horrors with Luke, I hope you’re actually having decent sex now.” Sarah says, taking another shot of god knows what.

“The sex is amazing.” You lied effortlessly, probably thanks to the alcohol pumping through your veins.

“Tell us more!” Pleaded Liv.

“No!” You laughed. “What Aaron and I do in the bedroom is for us to know and you guys to never find out.”

“You’re such a bore!” Sarah shouted.

“Shut up and drink more shots! The both of you!” You shouted at your sister and cousin. They both laughed and ran off to the dance floor. You followed them and immediately started dancing around the floor, the music booming in you ears and the vodka pulsing through your body.

“And a special song for the bride-to-be!” The DJ shouted out and the recognisable ticking of “Hung Up” by Madonna started playing. You burst out laughing as your sister ran to the middle of the floor, dominating it with her best attempt at the dance from the music video, every single person in the club cheering and whistling.

“Go Sarah!” You cheered out.

“Yes baby!” Liv shouted. “She is loving the attention.”

You laughed. “Yes she is!”

The night went on until the whole bridal party stumbled out the club at 2AM, going on a hunt for the limousine.

“Ladies.” Your sister slurs as she climbs into the back of the car. “That was the best night of my life.”

The whole group cheered as you all clambered in the back after your sister. She reached for a bottle of rosé out the limousine’s mini fridge but you snatched it off her.

“I think you’ve had enough for one night.” You mumbled. “I know I have.”

“You two may be done, but I’m not!” And Liv snatched the bottle from you, unscrewing the cap and taking a big swig.

By the time you stumbled through the door, it was nearing 3AM. You walked into the kitchen and poured yourself a tall glass of water, downing it in one. You thought back to what Sarah and Liv were asking you and then to your texts from Emily. Would having sex with Aaron really be as bad as the two of you were making it out to be? Maybe Emily was right, maybe the two of you should just sleep together. You stopped overthinking and wandered upstairs to your room, opening the door and tripping over something.

“Shit!” You hissed out.

Aaron stirred from his place in bed and then sat up, turning to see you.

“Are you ok?” He whispered, his voice raspy from sleep.

You stood upright so Aaron could see you properly, he took in your slightly dishevelled appearance but noted how gorgeous you still looked. You kicked your heels off before shuffling over to him, you pulled the duvet back off of Aaron and grabbed his hand, pulling him up off the bed so he was standing. He looked down at you as you ran your hands up his chest and then wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Y/N…” Aaron said in an almost pained, warning tone.

“Shhhhh.” You hushed him as you pulled him in for a kiss. It was deep, passionate, long overdue. You last kissed him almost 7 hours ago and you were hungry for more. Aaron ran his hands down your back before sitting them snugly on your hips, massaging lightly. Your teeth clashed together as your kiss grew more and more heated, Aaron’s lips travelling down your neck, sucking softly as he went. You pulled away and Aaron looked at you with lust-filled eyes. You pushed him back slightly until his legs hit the bed and he sat down. He reached out to grasp your hips again but you pushed them away.

“No touching.” You murmur. “Just watch.” And Aaron’s eyes glued on you instantly. You slipped the white, netted skirt swiftly down your legs, revealing more of the lacy corset Aaron had fixated on all night. You pulled the necklaces up over your head and his eyes immediately fell to your cleavage. You pushed the fishnet tights down your legs and struggled to unhook your feet out of them. As soon as you had freed yourself from the very uncooperative piece of clothing, you walked back towards Aaron and straddled his lap. His hands rested at your hips as he raked his teeth over your collarbone.

“I have been thinking about taking this top off you all night.” He mumbled against your skin, sending shivers down your spine. He ran his hands up your back and they settled at the small clasp at the top of the corset. He nimbly unfastened it before realising there were another couple clasps down the whole back of the top. “How the fuck am I meant to get you out of this?” He laughed frustratedly and you buried your head into his neck, chuckling with him. Fortunately, Aaron managed to unclip every clasp quickly and he pulled it over your head. Aaron took a moment to appreciate you. “You’re so beautiful… gorgeous.” He muttered and ducked his head down to place soft kisses down your neck to your chest. You could feel how desperate he was for you as his growing erection pushed into your clothed core. You rolled your hips over his bulge and Aaron groaned into your neck, biting down on your shoulder.

He suddenly lifted you up as he turned to place you down softly onto the bed, climbing on himself and settling between you legs. You looked deeply into each other’s eyes, your lips nearly touching.

“Are we going to have sex?” You whispered.

“Do you want to have sex?” Aaron asked, his breath warm on your face.

“Yes…” you murmured breathlessly and Aaron captured your lips in a soft kiss.

His hand traveled down you body and slipped under the waistband of your panties, fingers sliding between your folds.

“God you’re so wet already.” Aaron mumbled and his thumb found your clit, circling softly but enough to pull a moan from your lips. He then quickly slid the lacy undergarments down your legs. He went back to circling your clit, your head buried deep into the pillows as soft moans filled your bedroom. Aaron moved his fingers down further, his index and middle finger finding its way between your folds and sliding into you effortlessly. You gasped at the sudden sensation, bucking your hips up against his digits. The feeling of his thumb circling your clit faster and his fingers pumping in and out of you, curling inside you was enough to push you instantly over the edge.

“Does that feel good.” He asked with a smirk.

“God yes! Aaron… I’m going…” you couldn’t find your words, so overcome by the building pleasure between your legs.

“Let go sweetheart…” Aaron whispered in your ear like honey. “Let go for me.”

You did as he said and the growing pressure reached its end point, pleasure coming over you like a wave as you reached your climax. A loud moan escaped your mouth and you bit your lip. Aaron kissed you softly as you came down from your high.

“I… I think I have an advantage over you.” You mumbled breathlessly and Aaron looked down at himself still clothed, his length straining against the fabric of his boxers. You sat up, reaching for the hem of Aaron’s T-shirt and pulled it up slightly, prompting him to pull it over his head. You glanced at his toned torso and saw the smattering of deep scars that covered his body. You knew exactly where they were from, George Foyet. You had only been on the team for a few weeks when it happened but had been one of the first people at the hospital to see him after Emily had found him. You ran your hands down his chest and Aaron inhaled a deep breath.

“You’re so handsome.” You said and placed another kiss on his lips which he melted into.

“I need you before I lose my mind.” Aaron groaned into your lips and you helped him escape from his boxers.

“Condom?” You asked and Aaron frantically leaned across to the bed side table, grabbing his wallet and opening it up. He searched through it and pulled one out triumphantly, tossing the wallet somewhere amongst the mess of clothes. He tears it open and slowly rolls it on with no problem. You repositioned your bodies, Aaron nestling deeper between your legs. He takes himself in his hand, aligning himself with your entrance.

“Ready?” He asked gruffly.

“Yes!” You whispered out desperately and that was all Aaron needed to hear before he slowly pushed his length inside you, every inch felt like ecstasy to him. You gasped at the sudden contact and dug your nails into his shoulder. Aaron stilled, taking a moment for your body to adjust.

“Ok?” Aaron asked, looking deeply in your eyes.

You nodded and ran your nails down his back. Aaron’s pace started slow, his hips gently rocking back and forth, the feeling of your body clenching around his cock was enough to send him into overdrive. He picked up his pace a little, rocking ever so slightly faster and you moaned sweetly into Aaron’s ear.

“Aaron…” you muttered. “Harder.” He immediately followed your breathless plea, thrusting deeper into you, his pace fast and consistent. Moans left your throat, the feeling of Aaron’s cock hitting the right spot almost sent you crumbling. “Ahhh! Right there.” You gasped out at the sensation.

A guttural moan escaped Aaron’s lips and it echoed in your ears. “You feel so good.” He managed to speak between his groans.

“I’m… I’m close.” You whispered in his ear as Aaron kept up with his fast paced thrusts and this only prompted him to go faster.

“Y/N…” your name was just a whisper on Aaron’s lips. “Look at me and let go.”

You moaned out as the pressure built, your back arching up into Aaron’s body, his hard thrusts sending you into an abyss of pleasure as your orgasm took over.

“Ohhh… Aaron! Yes!” You manage to sputter, your climax clouding all brain function.

“Fuck!” Aaron hisses out as his own pleasure built in between his legs and his release washed over him. He rode out his orgasm with messy and erratic thrusts before collapsing onto the bed, slowly pulling out of you. Aaron quickly slipped the condom off and threw it in the bin.

You both laid in silence for a moment, taking in what had just happened. Your body still tingled with Aaron’s touch and you turned your head to look at him, surprised to see him already looking at you with a loving look in his eyes.

“That was…” He started.

“Amazing.” You finished and Aaron chuckled.

“Amazing.” Aaron repeated.

Another beat of silence.

“What does this mean for us?” You asked.

“I knew that if we ever crossed this bridge, there would be no turning back for me,” Aaron started. “I… I have loved you since your first day at the BAU two years ago. When you shouted at me in the lobby for being rude.”

You threw your hands up to cover your face in embarrassment. “Don’t remind me. I was then so mortified to walk in and find out you were my boss. I thought you would have it in for me for the rest of my career!”

“You were right to shout at me though.” He laughed. “I shoved past you, knocked you over and I didn’t even apologise..”

“Yeah, it was a dick move.” You laughed. “But maybe I was a little hot-headed.”

Aaron reached for your hand, intertwining your fingers. “I guess I always wanted to ask you out on a date but I was always too nervous.” He chuckled. “That’s why I said yes to doing this with you, pretend to be your boyfriend. I thought I would find the moment to tell you how I really felt about you, that I… I love you.”

You felt you cheeks heat up. Everything Emily had said to you was right. Aaron did love you.

“I love you too Aaron,” you muttered, pulling his face close to yours. “I thought I was doing an ok job at hiding my crush on you for the last few months but Emily noticed it. Stupid profilers.” You joked, rolling your eyes. Aaron laughed with you, lifting his hand up to push some hair from your face. “This has got to be the most romantic pillow talk I’ve ever had.” You laughed.

Aaron placed a kiss on your lips. “Let me take you out on a real date. As soon as we get back to Washington, let me take you out to dinner. No hiding feelings anymore.”

“I’d love that,” you smiled brightly and Aaron’s heart swelled.

***

The Wedding Date Taglist 1/2: @wanniiieeee @notsopersonalcharlie @blackeyedangel9805 @preciousbabypeter @stxlemate @twilightlover2007 @justarandommom @impala1967dwinchester @spencermiromantiko @julyhoney @thecubanator2 @xphantomphanphanaticx @lawlesshedgehog @louderfortheback @ssamorganhotchner @essenceproxima @lespendy @stiles-argent24 @rousethemouse @tvdstelenaforever @wandererseye @bibella8swan @yourfavunsub @bibimangines @lou-the-confused-bisexual @realm8626 @sophiaj650 @bylones @howabouticallyou @madz-19 @hotchnerxo @supercriminalbean @jayxox @sweetpeterparker @mina2000alex @xoxokiwi @rayofeffingsunshine @helmihotchner @pedrohoe04 @blackqueenie-18 @crocodilefeet2707 @mynotesapptbh @cryingraccoonn @victoriaholland @1d-obssesed @jemssafespace @red-red-rogue @fandomalert31 @valentinaromanoff @smad809 @pretty-little-bunny382728 @tim-thefrog @mojo366 @jazzymariexoxoc @dankfarrick29 @gffesegjoiegi @fuckthealarm @users09 @8crazy-freak8 @jazzerbelle14 @vsophb

***

Part four

[artzychic27]

I've got an idea.

The Miraculous crew cut the Magician of Misfortune story out from the show, barely giving it a mention, and cut out all of Jean's dialogue. They did this because they decided that his lines and whole demeanor was "too theatrical" (too "camp" and "gay") and that it would be censored in countries like China and Russia. Also the fact that he got akumatized after his boyfriend Austin T was being bullied. They essentially screwed him over, and Jean's pissed. He goes over to Thomas Astruc to ask what the hell happened.

Jean: *Kicks the door open* HEY, NO NUTS!

Thomas: What the hell, Justin?!

Jean: *Pours soda on Asstruc’s laptop* Learn your characters names, bitch! I’ve been on this show for five fucking seasons, and I haven’t had one tiny little shred of acknowledgment!

Thomas: You were Akumatized-

Jean: Barely! The episode wasn’t even named after my Akuma! And all people saw was a lousy sketch of my face, and heard about my plot, which, frankly, was stupid! And to top it all off, you cut out all of my dialogue, and for what?!

Thomas: We were introducing Rose’s love interest-

Jean: SHE HAS JULEKA, YOU PUTZ! And while we’re on the topic, let’s discuss how you completely cut out every single romantic moment between me and Austin! How I was Akumatized because he was being bullied!

Thomas: Look, we couldn’t have scenes between your and Arthur-

Jean: *Flips a chair over* Learn his name, idiot! And before you even think about opening your whore mouth, I don’t fucking care about the fucking censors! Why would I care about what some homophobes think?! I just wanna kiss my boyfriend in front of cameras and profess my undying love for him! Is that too much to ask?! I do not think so!

*Jean storms toward the door, but then stops*

Jean: Oh, and another thing! Hire some writers and artists who aren’t all total creeps! And hire women and black people, bitch! Don’t think I didn’t notice what you did to Pegasus! *Slams the door behind him*

Austin T: How did it go, sweetie?

Jean: … I think we should take the offer to work at that other studio.

Austin T: Where they’re making Scarlet Beetle & Ikati Black?

Jean: That’s the one. Now, I know we’re gonna be bitter enemies in the earlier episodes, and you’re gonna be an ass to me, but-

Austin T: *Kisses Jean* I don’t mind waiting.

[jcmarchi]

No Rest For The Wicked Developer Moon Studios On Why Remote Development Is Key To Its Success

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/no-rest-for-the-wicked-developer-moon-studios-on-why-remote-development-is-key-to-its-success/

No Rest For The Wicked Developer Moon Studios On Why Remote Development Is Key To Its Success

No Rest for the Wicked is the upcoming action RPG from Moon Studios, the developer behind Ori and the Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps. It’s also the game gracing the latest cover of Game Informer. Cover story writer and editor Marcus Stewart and I traveled to Vienna, Austria, to play the game and speak with two of its leads, tech and production director and studio co-founder Gennadiy Korol and studio CEO and creative director Thomas Mahler. 

However, while the frosted glass of the front door of the two-story apartment we entered was engraved with the words “Moon Studios”, this studio is actually just Mahler’s workplace. Korol met us in Vienna for the cover story, but he actually lives in Israel. The rest of Moon Studios lives around the world, because Moon Studios is completely remote – there is no headquarters to report to or central location to work. 

Mahler (left) and Korol (right) explain why Moon Studios is a remote studio

While remote development has become more popular as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moon Studios has been remote since its founding in 2009. When I asked Korol and Mahler about remote development, it’s clear it’s a big part of the team’s winning game development formula, responsible for the aforementioned Ori games and the upcoming No Rest for the Wicked, which launches into Early Access on PC next month. 

“We absolutely 100 percent believe it allows us to hire the best talent,” Mahler tells me. “I think for us, it was a little bit easier because we never knew anything else. We started as a remote studio. I do think it’s much harder if you’re at an established studio and you have established, proven processes that are all based on being in the office, and then now, suddenly, the world stops and you have to work remote but these processes […] you’re reliant on […] you have to be in the office for. 

“I think that’s a really difficult change to make. That’s like changing the DNA of a studio, but we never had to do that.”

[embedded content]

Mahler says he wouldn’t be in game development if not for the internet and, subsequently, remote work. He lives in Austria, and “there’s almost no [games industry] here.” But because of remote work, he was able to work at studios around the world. “I think that’s just amazing, right? That you can find all these people who are just amazingly talented, no matter where they live in the world, and if they’re super hungry, if they’re really passionate, if they’re willing to throw themselves in, then they can get a job in the games industry.” 

He says studios that believe you have to work in the office for good work simply haven’t adapted yet. He hopes Moon Studios’ resume of games speaks to the idea that great products can come from remote studios. “I get this question a lot: ‘How did you make it look so coherent?’,” he says. “The workflow is exactly the same: people play the project, they play the build, they’re in touch with one another all the time. I don’t necessarily know why we need to sit in an open office space to achieve that.” 

Korol, who attributes their belief in remote work to meeting Mahler on an online forum in 2004 before creating Moon Studios together in 2009, agrees. 

“Some people blame certain things that don’t go right when people are working remotely on the fact that it’s remote work,” he says. “But I think it has to be a bit more nuanced. If you’re just trying to force a remote culture on top of the office approach, which is how a lot of these companies are structured, it’s not going to work. You have to kind of re-envision how the communication works, how the documentation works, how the work flow works, and what the big focus point is. I personally believe that remote work actually puts the emphasis on the product and the work even more than office work.”

Korol admits the team does miss out on the opportunity for water cooler moments, which he says can be fantastic moments, but Moon Studios does try to replicate them with streams, meet-ups, and more. 

Korol points to a lack of commute, giving employees back more of their time, and the ability to be with family more easily as key factors for Moon Studios’ remote success.

“There’s no commute, so you don’t have to worry about wasting time,” he tells me. “Especially with people with families. We find it works really well for them because they can be with their kids. We’ve heard all these stories of people that say, ‘Oh, I had to ship this game, and I didn’t see my kid growing up, and I missed that precious period where I will never have that again, and my kid will never be that age again and it’s gone, and I was just so busy with work.’ But if you work remotely from home, you can still be there for your family and do great work.

“You can pace yourself much better, and you can take care of your mental health much better, so I’m a huge believer in [remote work.]”

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Ultimately, Korol and Mahler, Moon Studios’ two leads, believe remote work is the most efficient process. Studios that aren’t remote are missing out on great talent for their games, they say. 

“We believe it’s really ultimately the most efficient process if you do it right, if you hire for that, if you optimize all communication for that,” Korol adds. “And like with everything else, you also have to iterate. So if things go wrong, your first reaction shouldn’t be, ‘Oh, let’s bring everybody back to the office.’ The reaction should be, ‘Well, why isn’t it working? Can we fine-tune it? Can we tinker with it a little bit more?’ And I feel like maybe some people are jumping the gun a little bit too fast and are missing out on some opportunities with great talent.” 

No Rest for the Wicked hits Early Access on PC next month on April 18. 

While waiting for its launch, check out this feature breaking down the Early Access roadmap and endgame content of No Rest for the Wicked, and then check out more than 25 minutes of the game in our No Rest for the Wicked New Gameplay Today. 

You can learn even more about No Rest for the Wicked by checking out our features and videos rolling out over the coming weeks in our exclusive coverage hub below. 

[denimbex1986]

'Ripley starring Andrew Scott has landed, and it sees Scott take his scamming to deadly new levels.

In his recent, Golden Globe-nominated turn as Adam in All of Us Strangers, Andrew Scott was getting used to talking to ghosts. In Ripley, he seems set on creating them.

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s culturally esteemed, 1955 psychological thriller novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the new Netflix series will see 47-year-old Vanya actor Scott take on the titular role of Thomas Ripley.

The black-and-white show will follow Scott’s Ripley as he is hired by a wealthy businessman to help him track down his wayward son Dickie Greenleaf (Lovesick star Johnny Flynn), who has gone AWOL while living la dolce vita in Italy.

Yet when Ripley is introduced to the lavish lifestyle of Dickie and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (The Secret Life of Bees’ Dakota Fanning), he doesn’t want to leave it – and thus begins a life of crime, concealment and ultimately, murder, to get what he wants.

In a new trailer released today (4 March), Scott appears incredibly convincing as the elusive and frankly terrifying Thomas Ripley.

“He came to Italy, moved into Dickie’s house – he just wouldn’t go away,” says a scared-stiff Dakota Fanning.

“He’s taking advantage of Dickie… I don’t trust him. He’s a liar,” she urges. The king of cover ups’ response? “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Elsewhere in the two-and-a-half minute trailer, Scott’s deception escalates from odd to harrowing. At first, he’s copying what Dickie says. Then, he’s copying his identity documents. Finally, there’s a corpse, “struck on the head by some heavy instrument”.

“Someone is dead in Rome, and Signore Ripley is missing,” says actor Maurizio Lombardi, who appears to play a detective on the trail of Ripley’s crimes.

Ripley also stars Napoléon actor John Malkovich, Mia Madre actress Margherita Buy, and non-binary I Blame Coco singer Eliot Sumner.

The series has a lot to live up to, considering the 1999 film version starring Matt Damon was nominated for five Oscar awards. Yet with Schindler’s List writer Steven Zaillian helming the show, both directing and writing it, it seems likely that Ripley will live up to its name.

Fans are already gagging to watch the series, which will land on Netflix on 4 April.

“As much as I loved Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, I think I shall love Andrew Scott even more. Looking forward to this,” commented one person on the trailer.

“Yeah, one min in, I’m so in. Andrew Scott cannot miss,” another added.

A third raved: “The cinematography. Andrew Scott’s acting. The noir look. This is going to be a sensational show.”'

[tomhollandfics]

Bodyguard!Tom

if anyone knows of any other bodyguard!tom fics, please let me know

* = smut

Safe With You - @hufflepuffhollander

as an a-list celebrity, there can be a lot of threats out there - luckily, you have a bodyguard that keeps close by, in more ways than one but always being watched comes with its own problems

Champagne Bubbles - @minichedders

bodyguard!tom taking part in a bubble bath and champagne

Princess - @minichedders

bodyguard!tom helping you find a suitable husband within three months

High Stakes - @minichedders

you're introduced to your new bodyguard after your fathers job puts you in danger

Safe House (Series) - @angel-holland

“looking for my daughter?” the king interrupts, laughing “have you lost her again, thomas?” - tom lets out a light chuckle, “aren’t I always looking for her, sir?”

Bodyguard - @pastelpeter

tom is your bodyguard and you are a prestigious business woman, the ceo of l/n industries

* Join Me - @sadchappuccino

you were done with tom just being your bodyguard

"Need Your Saving" (Series) - @oneshots-heaven

fame doesn’t always come with good terms - as the paparazzi’s start following her everywhere she goes, the movie company hires a new bodyguard to protect her - not knowing that she may not only need his protection, but also his comfort

Lifeline (Series on Wattpad) - @peterparkerstingle

y/n never thought that her father's career in politics would influence her life so much: where she went to school, who she dated, what she studied, and whether or not she needed someone to watch her every minute of every day

Blurb - @lamptracker

y/n’s a famous singer and needs a bodyguard - tom does his job when she gets attacked on stage

* Pointing The Gun - @blissfulparker

the daughter of one of london’s most royal families always has a gun pointed at her, freedom restricted and never having one true friend or love in her life - although one bodyguard, one safehouse makes everything change

Safehouse - @blissfulparker

after a threat against you, you and your bodyguard tom are sent off to a safehouse where you and him are stuck on a beach leaving all the feeling kept deep pulled to the surface

Blurb - @spiderboytotherescue

where something really bad happens to you and that night you have a nightmare and woke up screaming and he’s there to calm you down

Caught - @spiderboytotherescue

making out with bodyguard tom in your dressing room and harrison (who's another one of your guards) catches you

Separated - @spiderboytotherescue

where you get separated from him in a crowd and have a little anxiety attack

Real Or Not Real - @multi-fandom-writer

you couldn’t believe that you had been so stupid as to let yourself end up in a situation like this - he was supposed to be your bodyguard

Almost A Good Way To Die - @hollandroos

in public and in front of cameras, tom is just your bodyguard but behind closed doors you’re much, much more - this is just a glimpse into one of your mornings with him where something goes a little wrong

[missymurphy1985]

The Writer (part 10) Final Chapter - Epilogue

Warning - childbirth

Massive thank you goes out to @heidimoreton for your trust and faith with your idea - couldn't have done this without you 💖

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @peakyciills @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @noctvrnalmoth @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @namelesslosers @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @cilleveryone @peaky-cillian @misselsbells06 @datewithgianni @heidimoreton @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch

It had been nearly a full year since that first encounter. Twelve months of pure bliss. Your roommate was married to your brother now, and had a job as Charlie's tutor - Thomas still hadn't allowed him back at the school so Laura had been hired as his home tutor. You'd moved into Arrow House when you discovered there was a mini Shelby on the way.

Flashback

"Y/n, come here..." Polly had been over that morning to help you make plans for Christmas dinner. Your brother and Laura were coming, along with the Shelby family, and you were panicking about the whole thing. You wanted it to be perfect. You entered the kitchen where Polly suddenly grabbed under your left breast, and you instantly pulled away.

"What are you doing?"

"Just stand still will you?"

"Stand still while my boyfriend's aunt gropes me??"

"Yes." You furrowed your brow in confusion but allowed her to continue.

"This isn't awkward at all Polly, wanna tell me what's going on?" Thomas walked in right at that moment, and froze instantly.

"Polly... Polly what are you doing?" He eyed her, but not suspiciously like you did. It was more of a 'knowing' kind of look.

"Well well Thomas.. hardly surprising considering you two can barely keep your hands off each other..." She smirked.

You were totally confused, darting your eyes between them

"Someone wanna enlighten me?"

Tommy looked to the floor, rubbing his eyes, before smiling. A huge grin, followed by a long sigh.

"Remember telling me you didn't have children with Jack because you thought you couldn't have them?" Polly asked and you nodded, still trying to work out what was going on.

"You weren't infertile, y/n." Tommy leaned against the door, his eyes slightly damp as he glanced at your stomach. The penny still hadn't dropped.

"Someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

Tommy nodded at Polly who left the room, smiling to herself. Tommy pulled you over to him, his hands stroking your arms.

"After Grace died, I vowed never to love again. It felt like I would be cheating on her, disgracing her memory. She didn't need replacing, and I certainly couldn't replace her. When you lost Jack, you felt the same, which is exactly why I think fate brought us together. We discovered there was enough room in our hearts for another love. Now, it seems we need to make room for one more." His right hand took yours, and he placed them both over your stomach gently. The penny dropped, and your mouth hung open in stunned silence.

"I'm... I'm pregnant?"

"You are. Pol?" Polly came back in and threw her arms around you, squealing with delight.

"But I didn't think I could... Jack and I tried for years..."

"You clearly weren't the infertile one, y/n. I'd say you're around six weeks already, you're glowing! That's how I could tell," Polly had tears in her eyes, and you felt your emotions coming to the surface.

"I can just about handle one of you crying, both of you will send me over the edge, knock it off!" Thomas laughed, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve making your eyes water more, a choked sob leaving your chest.

He pulled you close, his chin resting on the top of your head as you sobbed with happiness into his shoulder.

"A baby..." You choked.

"Our baby. And now we know you can have them, don't think we're stopping here either," he winked, making you grin. You'd have a football team of Shelby's if you could.

Present Day

You were both lying in bed having a lazy Sunday morning. Tommy's hand drifting over your baby, still tucked warmly inside you but due to make her appearance in the next two weeks. Occasionally she would kick his hand - the clear bump visible making both of you smile.

"She's going to be famous - Polly told me," you grinned, clasping your hand over his, resting it where she'd kicked.

"She's going to be beautiful. Any thoughts on names?"

"Yes. What do you think of Jacqueline Grace?" You asked, nervously. A mix of the two people who'd brought you both together. He looked down at your belly, moving his body down to kiss it lightly, smiling.

"I love it. It's perfect.. thank you.."

You grimaced slightly as a sharp pain shot through your abdomen, you'd had a few over the last few days but put them down to over exertion - you'd refused to rest up like Tommy had ordered, continued the renovation planning of the house.

"You okay?" He asked as you tensed.

"Yes - Ada warned me about this, it's just my body preparing that's all, nothing to worry about." Your hand suddenly tightened on his as another pain gripped you, you sat up and gritted your teeth.

"Shit..." Tommy gasped as a sudden gush of water flooded the sheet underneath you. He looked to you, both of you panicking but smiling through the fear.

"Call Polly - I think your daughter wants to meet us a little earlier than planned!" He kissed you, then shot up and ran down the stairs to the phone in his office.

You stood up, walking round in circles, rubbing your belly as another wave of pain took over. You were doubled up, haunched over a chair when Tommy came back in the room, panting through the pain.

"She's out - Michael's out looking for her... We need to call a doctor -"

"No! I wanted this to be family only Thomas, I don't want doctors fussing or drugs, I can do this without them... Just rub my back, please.." he moved to your side, his hand stroking firmly over your lower back.

"I don't know what to do y/n!"

"You do as I need you to do, then when Polly gets here you can leave if you need to.."

"Not a chance am I letting you go through this alone - I'm staying right here if you'll let me?" You turned to him surprised, but nodded.

"Fuck... Tommy this really hurts..." Another wave of pain. "Take me downstairs, I need water..." He led you slowly down the stairs into the lounge, before fetching you a glass of water. You paced the room, the pressure in your pelvis was excruciating but you tried to remember Ada and Polly's advice as much as possible - breathing slowly, staying calm.

"Thomas where is she?!" You screamed, leaning over the back of the sofa. The contractions were coming quickly and getting more painful. Weren't these things supposed to take hours?? Days even??

"Come lie down, rest - you need to keep your strength up..." He lay you down on the floor, but you quickly realised that wasn't what you wanted. You moved into a kneeling position, your upper body resting against Tommy's chest as he breathed with you through each contraction.

"Tommy, I can feel her pushing down..." You panted. He suddenly took charge - lifting your nightdress up and ripping your panties away from you. Reaching a hand between your legs, he pulled away sharply.

"Then push - she's coming now whether Polly is here or not, I can feel her head - Push!"

You bore down, gripping onto his shoulders for support. The pain was stifling. His hand between your legs, he could feel his baby's head slowly pushing through.

Pulling away from you slightly, he grabbed a cushion from the sofa and placed it between your knees.

One of the maids must have heard the commotion, and she entered the room carrying a bowl of cool water and towels.

"Mr Shelby let me help, I've delivered three sisters..." He nodded, holding your nightdress up by your waist as Clara focussed on the baby.

"Thomas Shelby, you put that cock anywhere near me again and I'll cut it off, you hear me??"

"Shh now you know that's not true.... I've got you, come on... I'll breathe with you, eh?"

"Mrs Shelby you need to pant - do not push until I tell you to, okay?" Clara ordered.

Tommy leaned back, looking directly into your eyes.

"With me... Come on..." You found strength in those blue eyes, as he panted with you. Your eyes watering from the immense pain between your legs. "Stay with me, that's it, I've got you.."

"Heads out, push now Mrs Shelby!"

A scream left you as your body took over.

"How much more Clara?!" Tommy asked, desperate not to see you suffering any more.

"We're nearly there now, one more Mrs Shelby.."

"You hear that? One more and our girl is here. Jacqueline Grace will be here in her Mama's arms, come on baby, you can do this I know you can." You shook your head to protest but again your body defied you.

"Tom... Shit shit shit...." The wave of pain, tied with your exhaustion, was almost too much to bear. You couldn't take anymore, you could see the blood on Tommy's shoulders through his shirt where your nails had dug into him. You rested your head on his chest, focussing on his heart beat as he kissed your head. One scream from you, followed swiftly by a baby's cry from underneath you as you slumped against him, completely exhausted.

A few minutes went by, as Tommy eased you onto the floor between his legs, pulling your nightdress clean off you. You didn't care that Clara saw you completely bare - there wasn't much more she could have seen at that point. Just as you regained your senses, your baby girl was placed on your chest, having been checked and cleaned by your new favourite maid.

"Congratulations Mr and Mrs Shelby, she's perfectly healthy," she smiled, handing her to you. She instinctively searched for your breast, hungrily suckling from you as a wave of pure love took over. You could feel Tommy shuddering slightly underneath you, unashamedly crying as he watched his daughter feed.

"You were so brave.. so strong.. you blew me away y/n, I'm so fucking proud of you..."

Once you'd been cleaned up and moved back upstairs in bed, Polly arrived. She stopped in the doorway in shock, seeing you lying in bed sleepily as your husband swayed back and forth, Jacqueline in his arms dozing.

"Better late than never, eh Pol?" He laughed, handing his daughter to his Aunt. She choked holding the little one close, kissing the top of her head gently.

You tried so hard to stay awake but you could feel your eyelids growing heavy. A small kiss placed on the top of your head sealed the deal.

"Sleep now Mama. You'll need your rest, because I'm putting another one of those in you at the earliest opportunity."

[bxllafanficc]

In your eyes

Pairing: Damiano David x reader

Summary: one-shot angst of which Damiano misses to shoot his shot with (Y/n) and she ends up going home to her country for a month. Damiano believed in a few seconds of her return that their friendgroup would never change. However, much can happen in a month. (basically just Dami our poor baby being miserable so read on your own free will:))

(note from the writer: Aaaah I'm so sorry for the terrible format, tumblr just won't give me a break and makes the spacing super weird.>~<)

There were several ways he could’ve done it differently.

Your smile seemed genuine tonight. Damiano realized that now, unlike the past weeks leading up to now. His band, including you had started out as colleagues last year when both your managers had decided it was time for a collaboration unlike what him, Vic, Thomas and Ethan had done in the past. You were already pretty famous back in your country. A quick breakthrough for your career, just like them. And the months during your stay in Italy only seemed to fly past for every time you got closer to the group, which didn’t take long. The tour came to an end months ago but you stayed since there was nothing dragging you back home, you said. Tonight they celebrated their friendship at a beach house because Vic hired the place in secret with the motivation of ‘you all need some sand and vodka’. Everyone laughed at first and spent a great day caught up in the waves until dawn. Though, It didn’t take long to notice there was something occupying your attention tonight. He noticed you had been chewing on your lip the entire day like you always did when something was on your mind. Maybe it had something to do with him breaking you heart.

Yes, there we’re several ways he could’ve done it. For starters, he could’ve not rejected you so abruptly when you confessed your growing feelings two months ago. Your eyes were bright back then, sparkling almost. He didn’t notice the way you gave him glances like to no other in the group until it faded that evening. He really fucked up, scared of what might happen if it didn’t work out since you were so close to everyone in the band. Your confession hit him like baby deer in the headlights. His brain function really caved in and he blurted out something about only seeing you as a friend though it was far from true. You were embarrassed at first. Felt like a fool for thinking there was something more to Damiano’s way of approaching you all this time. And he was a coward for never properly explaining himself afterwards. No man and no woman received those bright eyes after that. That look he craved now as his feeling only grew hungrier for every day. He made a habit out of chasing your gaze, searching for some kind of sign that he didn’t fuck up as big as he thought. Your bottom lip was already tinted red from all the chewing by now. “You’re gonna draw blood if you keep doing that.” Your chin was now in between his index finger and thumb. The waves had calmed down hours ago and a cold breeze caressed your skin, making every hair on your arms stand up. The mild water flowing through the gap of your bodies felt like an embrace in a way. It made Damiano rather confident. Your eyes were round of surprise as he drew the pad of his thumb across the swollen side of your lip. As bright red as it was, he couldn’t help but imagining what it would be like to kiss you. To nurse you back to health with his lips. Your skin felt hot compared to the evening air, the last streams of red sunlight casting a spell on the entire scene. “I’ll just apply some ointment on it when we go back. I think they’re pretty used to me being so rough in my treatment anyway.” You broke away from his grip, as of a gently apology as the spell broke. Damiano felt like bringing up one of his usual jokes just to get a reaction from you. He wanted to see the flustered state he always put you in. ‘Surely they wouldn’t mind me taking a bite of you either, then’ was what he’d planned to say. No wonder you wanted to confess your feelings, since he’d been so flirty all the time. He wanted to fix this. He was going to confess, right now. Then beg on his knees for your forgiveness. He didn’t care if he was going to get a mouth full of water by doing so. "I have something to say”, He blurted out and thought you’d look surprised of his sudden tone. “Me too.” It was visible on your face before you even spoke the words. You were prepared because you’d planned to say the exact same thing. He motioned for you to go first. This would be it, yeah? He’d do it. But one wrong turn and he might just lose his confidence. “I’m going home in a week.” Fuck. “I haven’t seen my family for awhile now and honestly, I’ve not been feeling too great lately. I think everybody needs a recharge and the best I could do right now is to go back home to (Y/c). It’s only gonna be a month though! Then it’ll all be back to normal.” Damiano knew you’d have to go home sooner or later. It was just the timing of your announcement that was off. No, if he hadn’t screwed up in the first place, there wouldn’t have been a situation like this now.

He knew spending time with your family would do you good. He’d just have to wait a month and confess later. While at it, he might as well plan to make the confession more romantic instead of what he’d felt like doing now in the heat of the moment.

“Can I still call you? You’re gonna be caught up in work in (Y/c) too, right?”.

Your smile was genuine tonight. Because you’d be going separate ways and wanted this stay on the beach house to feel special.

“Of course, you all have call me. We should make a schedule! I’m gonna miss having all your chatting around. Without it, it’s dead quiet.”

Yes, there were several ways he could’ve done it.

The last week went by in a hunch and the farewell were emotional. You kept patting a sobbing Vic on the back reminding her that it’d only be a month. It was a quick last goodbye but the month seemed to go past in slow motion just to torture Damiano a little extra. It felt empty in the studio where he spent most of his time, working past his hours to keep himself occupied. He worked overtime in order to not drown in his thoughts, of the discovery he’d made when he watched the news from your country. There was a man greeting you at the airport with a big hug. Some reporters caught a shot of it happening on camera and it showed you entangled in the man, face buried in his shoulder. The nausea had increased for every typed letter in the search bar of his browser, trying to find out the identity of the man. A famous singer from your country, it seemed. You’d met a few times and were about the same age. You even went to the same school in different time periods.

Damiano didn’t let the others know of his discovery since their browsers wasn’t as entangled in (Y/c) social media. But he kept on checking the newsfeed every day, a burning knot aching in his stomach every day of anticipation that he’d find a new article about the two of you together.

One week later it was announced that you and this man would hold a concert at the end of the month along with the usual gossip when two single stars would collaborate. Rumors just like the one spread throughout Italy and Europe when you came here back then. Rumors of you and Damiano having a thing going. Back then he’d just laughed it off at the interviews.

“You should ask her. Instead of stalking her social media, I mean. You have a scheduled call tonight, right? You should bring it up.” Vic had been the first to confront him after it became obvious of his anxious behavior. He’d just brushed her off with a mutter and gone back to work but on the inside he truly considered asking you later.

“Hi, Dami! I’m not interrupting you or anything, yeah? I realize that I’m thirty minutes late but I have a reason for that-“ Two weeks in and the sound of your voice made all his tense muscles just wither away.

“I’m just glad you called.” He was a coward. When it came to it, he couldn’t ask the question, wasn’t prepared for the possible answer. You’d been late to almost every call but it didn’t matter to him. You began sounding happier for every call and mostly, it brought him to peace for the night. The anxiety would hit the day after when he began wondering of the reason behind your happiness. How down you’d been because of him and how all that disappeared when you went home. You always had to quit your calls early because you were drowning in work and kept ranting about how you missed the days of doing nothing at all with the group.

The last week went by the slowest. Damiano watched the concert on repeat on his computer to the point where his eyes had trouble focusing on the screen. You were bouncing around at the center of the stage with that man in neon clothing and a roaring crowd under your feet. He’d seen that type of performance before because that was the man’s signature way of performing. The endless videos he’d watched of your partner until he could point out every little detail you changed about your own stage presence to match his. Your smile seemed genuine that evening. And Damiano understood why you were so cheerful in his presence. The man was a real ray of sunshine, always smiling and joking on every interview. One of those unicorns who seemed perfect in and out. Everything Damiano was not. If you didn’t end up with him at the end of this month, you’d made a dumb decision. He kept ranting about it in the studio and to everybody present who would listen until Thomas had enough and drove him home for the night.

“She said she’d be here in a few minutes.” Vic elbowed him in the side and motioned for him to turn his visible pout into a smile.

It was time for you to return and the whole group decided to gather right beside where the plane would land to greet you right when you hit the ground. Thomas stood a little off to the side and performed a small dance with flailing jazzy hands to shake off the numbness everybody felt from their body being cramped up in a car for too long. Damiano had to squint his eyes to see properly because of the obnoxious morning sun not getting properly covered by all the clouds floating by. He couldn’t help but giggle and join in, his hands moving in a circle in front of his face.

After all, the relief of this month finally being over put him in a lighter mood. The whole confession he’d planned was supposed to take place today too. With all the waiting he’d done, he could hardly stand the few minutes leading up to your arrival. He knew you’d be hungry in a few hours so he booked a table for two at your favorite restaurant. The rest of the group were in on it, even though Ethan complained that he would be hungry too by then right before laughing it off.

You were supposed to have landed now. But no airplane in sight.

“Damn, Dami can you check the arrival of her flight? It’s over there.”

He barely made it back before the group spotted the plane in the sky. A wave of relief but also anticipation washed over him and he started fiddling with his hands for something to hold onto. What would he do when you landed?

The door to the plane opened and some flight attendants stepped outside in order to not trip as you came sprinting out first in line. You all met in the middle of what it took to run there, Damiano being the first to reach you. You were finally wrapped around his body, him slightly pushed back by the collision of the hug. Vic and Thomas wasn’t far behind and lastly Ethan who always seemed to come a few seconds behind. Three more bumps of the group colliding into a big ball of hugging caused Damiano almost to fall over. You gave away a small yelp of surprise when he regained balance at the last moment and laughter erupted from everyone.

“I’ve missed you so much, guys! But please... let me breath”, you wheezed out after a long time of hugging and not letting go.

“You’re gonna have to bargain for us to let you go, (Y/n).” Damiano had to laugh and warmth spread throughout his body. Vic wanted to bargain for you wanting a breath of air? The group truly hadn’t changed even after a month of being apart. After this, he was confident that he’d spent the last month worried sick for nothing.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll pay for food!” Your laughter would always surprise him. How cute you’d be and how it would always catch him off guard. He’d forgotten what a pleasant sound it was since you hadn’t laughed like that in awhile.

“Actually, Dami has already planned to take you-“, Thomas began but was quickly elbowed by Vic silencing him. Oh, yeah. He had to tell you now.

“Actually, I’ve already booked a table at our restaurant.”

Your eyes shone with new light. There it was, the sparkle he’d sought after for months now. Did it really make you so happy to know you’d get to eat there? Cute. But the direction of your eyes seemed off and Damiano quickly understood why. You weren’t looking at him, but slightly off to the side, where the plane was still letting out passengers. You hadn’t heard him. So why did your eyes light up?

He tilted his head towards the plane and wished he hadn’t immediately. Cause maybe he could’ve frozen time if he hadn’t looked behind him.

“Over here! We’re here!”, You shouted and flailed your arms for the man you’d been working with for the past month getting out of the plane, last person in line.

Oh.

It didn’t take long for the man to make his way to your side. Everyone looked surprised when the man grasped and took a hold of your waist.

You looked so flustered in that moment. And when your eyes met the gaze of the man by your side, it all came down to Damiano. Those eyes weren’t meant for him, not anymore at least.

The air no longer seemed to do any good as he took deep breathes to calm down, bite back the lump in his throat. He couldn’t breathe.

There were several things he could’ve done differently. To prevent this. Several chances where he would’ve changed the future if he’d just stopped being a coward. All those moments where he could’ve said something flew past the surface of his eyes as if played on a screen. Moments where you’d been alone, moments where he comforted you after a scary movie, when you cried, when you were simply laughing on the cough in the hotel. When he fucked up in the first place and spat out the lie of only thinking of you as a friend. Damiano realized that he’d never be able to let that moment slip. A girl like you would never stay single for this long. He truly missed his chance. A coward, is the word to describe his actions. He should’ve realized that the light in your gaze died forever that evening, realized how it wasn’t because of him you seemed more at ease the week before going home to (Y/c). When you were smiling at your phone, he should’ve realized that you weren’t just watching a funny video. And every time he chased the longing in your eyes, he should’ve realized that it’d never return.

Because those eyes no longer belonged to him.

[astralaffairs]

concept: first lady mc reads of fotp!tjeff’s speeches and edits them for all the things she thinks are stupid or unethical. and he’s like “sweetheart, my party isn’t ready for universal healthcare. i can’t be pissing people off within the first month of my presidency.” but she couldn’t give a fuck and continues marking up his speeches with a red pen all while insisting he gets a new speech writer.

y'all need 2 STOP hitting me w concepts i like this much i have 0 self control and WILL write every damn one of them. there are like 4 sitting in my inbox rn smh.

(by which i mean pls keep sending me concepts like this i love writing fotp drabbles)

---

"What're you still doin' up?"

Y/N's eyebrows shot up as she looked up; a small, tired smile graced her lips as Thomas entered their bedroom, shaking his blazer off as the door fell shut behind him. "Hey. I'm glad you're back," she said softly. "I've just been tying up a few final loose ends with what I've been working on before I go to sleep."

"Can it wait until the morning?" he asked. He laid his blazer on the back of a chair at the side of the room before immediately starting to loosen his tie. "It's gettin' late. And I miss spendin' time with you. You work too much."

She scoffed, but her smile was only growing at his words. "Did you, the President of the United States, just tell me that I work too much?" He rolled his eyes as she spoke, just discarding his tie on the floor beside their bed. "That really is rich coming from you."

"Yeah, yeah, make fun all you want," he said, crossing the room to join her on their couch, "but you always overwork yourself, and you know it. You've been doin' it for as long as I've known you."

"Alright, I'll come to bed in a few minutes." He took a seat behind her, and when he rested his hand on her inner thigh, it sent shivers rippling across her skin. She looked up. "You go get some sleep. I'll finish this quickly. I promise."

"What're you workin' on, anyway?" She didn't protest when he withdrew the paper from her lap, glancing over it, and the corners of his lips quirked up. "Is this the address I'm givin' on Friday?"

"The very same."

"You shouldn't be losin' sleep over this," he said matter-of-factly, turning his head back toward her as he squeezed the top of her thigh lightly. "Either lose sleep spendin' time with your dear, sweet husband who's fucking sick of thinkin' about legislation, or just come to bed, hm?"

He passed her back the paper, instead looping an arm around her waist as he kicked his legs up onto their coffee table, and when he pulled her in to rest against his shoulder, she put up no protest.

"Just five more minutes. I promise." The barely-concealed yawn in her voice made Thomas look down at her skeptically.

"Alright, but I'm holdin' you to that. If you're still working in five minutes, I'll carry you to bed myself."

"No complaints here." She turned her head to kiss the corner of his mouth gently before she turned back to her paper, fidgeting with her red pen as she reached the last page of the document. Thomas's eyes had fallen shut; he was more than content to just sit there with her until she finished, as he had no desire whatsoever to think anymore about pushing his healthcare bill through Congress.

He opened his eyes when Y/N scoffed. Her pen ran down the page in a long slash, and she was pursing her lips as she jotted notes in the margins, but it made Thomas furrow his brow.

"Hey, now, what was so wrong with that paragraph?"

"Seriously?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow, glancing back at him. "You keep treating healthcare like it's some privilege that poor people should have to grovel at the feet of the rich to have access to. It can't be conditional like this."

"I'm not actin' like that," he defended. "I'm just sayin', hiking up taxes threefold isn't a sustainable way to fund this. It'd be an overreach from Congress. We've gotta use money efficiently."

"You fucking libertarian," she muttered. "The part of the bill about work requirements is gonna get killed in Congress. There's no way the House Democrats will vote to pass it unless you get rid of that."

"What's that got to do with my speech?"

"You're misrepresenting the legislation if you keep that paragraph," she said, proceeding to scribble out a sentence in the paragraph after. "And get rid of this. If you're trying to implement a public option, focusing on the private sector will get you nowhere. You're just gonna make people angry."

"I'm not 'misrepresenting' anything." He scowled. "Both those things are important for the bill."

"But this isn't a bill, Thomas; it's a speech," she huffed. "Anyway, the legislation needs to be universalized, or you can't 'mitigate poverty' how you claim to. Do you have any idea how many of the people who can't meet the work requirements on healthcare are going to end up in poverty because they can't afford the care they need?"

"I hear you," he started, "but this is the best way to make it more affordable without tankin' the economy."

"Have you even considered capital gains taxes?"

"That's gonna kill entrepreneurship."

"You're so full of it sometimes," Y/N scoffed. "'Entrepreneurs' won't be affected. It only affects, like, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, and they have so many assets that it literally doesn't matter."

"I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you about this. I'm not sayin' you're wrong, but I am sayin' this bill needs to be somethin' I can convince the Senate to pass," he said, and Y/N rolled her eyes.

"Then write a new bill that doesn't mean the people who are the worst off don't get coverage," she said, jotting that down on the side of the paper, "because this doesn't resolve the issue."

"I'll bring it up when I get the chance," he assured her, and she glanced back at him with a grateful smile. "Can I ask why this is so important to you?"

"Because I'm an empathetic person, and I care about people?" she replied, tone scathing, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Woah, there. That wasn't an attack, sweetheart," he said. "What's got you worked up?"

"I'm not 'worked up,'” she bit back, but when he gave her an apologetic look, gaze soft, her annoyance began to subside. “This is just a sore subject for me." Y/N finally lowered the paper in her lap, turning her head toward Thomas. "I know I've told you about how long my parents spent in the hospital before they passed."

"Yeah. Yeah, you have," he said softly. He turned, orienting himself in Y/N's direction so he could pull her into his lap, and while she sighed, she laid back against his chest.

"When they died, I was left with most of their healthcare debt," she continued. "I was living far below the poverty line for almost a decade because of it."

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, and she laced her fingers into his with his arms around her waist.

"It was a long time ago," she replied. "I just don't want anyone else to end up in anything like the situation I was in. Nobody deserves that."

"No, they don't. I'll see what I can get past Congress." He kissed the side of her neck, and she hummed contentedly, squeezing his hands. "But I've still gotta discuss my plan for healthcare on Friday, so stop demolishing my speech."

"You asked me to look over it," she said frankly, and though her eyes had fallen shut when she laid against him, she cracked one open to glance at him skeptically. "These are my edits. Change the bill."

"That's an awful weighty edit, sweetheart."

"Hey, I also improved your phrasing," she went on, holding his paper up where they could both see it. "I'm making your speech better, don't complain about it."

"You cut my section about deductibles?"

"No one wants to talk about deductibles, babe." She tapped the paper with the back of her pen. "They want to know whether they'll be insured or not. They won't listen to the nuances of your bill in your public address. You're going to need a press release for that."

"And the part about family values?"

"It was useless." She shrugged. "I know you're just pandering to your party and all, but it sounded stupid in the context of the speech."

"Harsh," Thomas said, and the offense in his voice was mostly dramatized. Y/N pursed her lips. "But I can't be breachin' party lines in this speech. I'm not gonna get anything done if I turn the Senate Republicans against me."

"Listen, I'm not a political strategist, so that's your prerogative," she said matter-of-factly. "But if you don't like my feedback on your speeches, then hire a damn speechwriter, Thomas."

He hummed reluctantly. "But havin' you review my speeches gives me an excuse to spend more time with you. I don't have a whole lotta interest in having even longer meetings with White House staffers."

"Then take my edits to heart." She pursed her lips. "You know very well that I'm the only reason you have bipartisan support. If I didn't pick fights with you once a week about green energy, all the Democrats would still oppose all your stances on it."

"I'll look back over the speech in the mornin', then," he decided, and she shifted on the couch to face him, legs still draped over his lap. "I trust you."

"Good," she replied, and she looped her arms around his neck as she pulled herself up to kiss him. "But stop exploiting my degree in journalism."

"I'm not exploitin' it."

"Then what do you consider asking your wife to edit your speeches pro-bono to be?"

"A nice li'l side effect of managin' to convince someone so smart to marry me." She laughed as he pulled her back in to kiss him, but she gasped when he bit her lip teasingly, and his mouth drifted down her neck. "I love you," he murmured against her skin.

"I love you, too."

With that, Thomas hooked his arm up under her legs, and his smile widened against her neck when she yelped as he picked her up. "Now, I seem to remember sayin' something about carryin' you to bed if you were workin' for more than five minutes, so you don't get to negotiate anymore."

She squirmed in his grasp, but any of her efforts to get out of his arms weren't in earnest. She huffed. "So much for respecting personal liberty. Just wait until your voting bloc finds out all that rhetoric was just a lie."

"Oh, hush, let's not pretend you mind," he said as he tossed her down onto their bed, and she bounced when her back hit the mattress. He didn't hesitate to climb on after her. Though she tried to pull herself up to rest on the throw pillows, Thomas was on his hands and knees above her; she didn't have much of a range of movement when he dipped down to kiss her. "If you did, you wouldn't have married me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Jefferson," she grumbled, despite wrapping her arms around his neck. "Talk all you want, but I dunno how smug you're gonna be when I up and leave you one of these days."

He grinned. "You know I don't buy that for a second." She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips twitched upward when he kissed her forehead. "You love me too much."

Despite everything, Y/N could feel herself flush. "Just go put on some pajamas so we can go to sleep."

"Alright, if you insist," he huffed, rolling off of her. "Be right back."

"You'd better hurry, or I might run off with Dolley and elope," she called after him, and Thomas laughed.

"'S cute, but we both know you aren't goin' anywhere."

"And why not?"

He raised a confident brow. "I'll tie you down if that's what it takes to keep you here, sweetheart."

"Wouldn't be the first time," she mumbled, turning to discard the throw pillows from the bed onto the floor.

When she looked back at him, his grin was still wide, smug, but the look in his eyes was soft. She pursed her lips as her own smile broadened. "Now go change. I'm not going to sleep without you."

"Fine. You need some rest.”

“Yeah. So do you.”

[writerdream22]

Attack On Titan

You’re Levi Ackerman’s wife

“You own my heart” with young!Levi Ackerman 

F.r.i.e.n.d.s.

“Is the cat in a onesie?” and “Uh,no?” with Chandler Bing

“Okay, where are all my jumpers?” and “Oh, you’ve started stealing my socks now?” with Chandler Bing

“Can we get some food?” with Joey Tribbiani for @moonlit-imagines writing contest

“I had a thought” “Oh no” and “I swear it’s a good one this time!” with Chandler Bing, Monica Geller and Phoebe Buffay

“Did you just... agree with me?” “Oh, I wish I would take -” “Nope! You said it! No take-backs” with Chandler Bing

Harry Potter

Imagine being hired by George to work at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes

You’re Harry Potter’s best friend turned girlfriend

“At the end of the day, it is what it is” with Harry Potter and sister!reader

“Detention?Again” and “That was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done” with George Weasley

“Are you going to eat that?” and “Apparently there’s a bet going around” with Fred Weasley for @nebulablakemurphy‘s 500 followers celebration

Lucifer

“Forget it, you’re a fucking asshole” and “Is that blood?”“....No?” with Lucifer Morningstar

“Oh, you’re jealous!” with Lucifer Morningstar

Imagine finding a puppy at a crime scene, and it taking a liking to your partner

LOTR

Imagine fighting at the battle of Helm’s Deep

MCU

Imagine being Steve Roger’s teenage daughter, and meeting Bucky for the first time

Imagine being Deadpool’s teenage daughter

You’re Wade Wilson’s daughter, and the latest Avengers recruit (Headcanon)

“You interrupt my reading once more, and this book will become a lethal weapon” with Loki Laufeyson

“You owe me a kiss” with Steve Rogers

“You’re a very rare person to come across, I think-” with Steve Rogers

“Have you seen my hoodie?” “Noo.” “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?” and “Are we on a date right now?” with Peter Parker

My Hero Academia

“Let’s go for a walk” and “It’s 2 am!” with Aizawa Shouta

Peaky Blinders

Imagine young Thomas Shelby proposing to you, and your family being against the marriage

“So science proves that a human being’s pupils enlarge when they see something they’re attracted to. So that’s what it means when you do it while looking at me” with Thomas Shelby

Good Looking by Suki Waterhouse with Thomas Shelby

“Are you hurt?” “No.” “Then why are there bruises all over your face?” with Michael Gray

Imagine being the leader of a rival gang and Thomas Shelby falling in love with you

“He can be a little dumb sometimes” and “I’m sitting right here!” with Thomas Shelby

“You said to be honest stop hitting me!” with John Shelby

Imagine being John’s wife and a writer

“You’re not very intimidating” with Thomas Shelby

“I love you” and “A horrible decision, really” with Thomas Shelby

“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry. I don’t have my glasses on” with Thomas Shelby

“Dance with me” with young!Thomas Shelby

“Let’s go for a walk” and “It’s 2 am!” with  Thomas Shelby and daughter!reader

“You punched him in the face” and “Look, he deserved it” with Thomas Shelby and daughter!reader

“Okay, where are all my jumpers?” and “Oh, you’ve started stealing my socks now?” with Thomas, John and Arthur Shelby

“I think I just ripped my pants” and “I’m too sober for this” “You don’t even drink” “Maybe I should start” with Alfie Solomons

You’re John Shelby’s significant other and you come from another country (headcanon) 

Imagine being the true reason why Thomas Shelby’s heart is broken: part 1 part 2 part 3 finale

You’re Thomas Shelby’s twin sister (headcanon): part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 finale

Jujutsu Kaisen

“There’s no such thing as a stupid question” “What’s in mango salsa?” and “I stand corrected” with Satoru Gojo

Riordanverse

Imagine being a child of Hades and trying to find your place at Camp Halfblood

You’re Percy Jackson’s twin sister and you have hurricane powers (headcanon)

Imagine being a child of Persephone and arriving at Camp Halfblood

“Well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead” and “That was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done” with Percy Jackson

“If being clumsy was a currency, I’d be a bloody billionaire” with Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase

You’ve lived at Camp Halfblood for years but you still don’t know who your godly parent is part 1 part 2

Stranger Things

Imagine that you’re cuddling with your best friend Will 

You have a sleepover with your best friend Jonathan (Headcanon)

You’re Eddie Munson’s best friend (Headcanon)

You’re Steve Harrington’s sister (Headcanon)

“I love this song!” and “I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified” with Steve Harrington

“Oh, hi.” “Hi!” “Hi.” “You already said that” “Right” with Steve Harrington

“Control your anger or you’ll have me to worry about” with Billy Hargrove

“A date? I’m sorry, but I have to go home and laugh at that idea” with Billy Hargrove

Sherlock (BBC)

You live at 221b, Baker Street, with the boys and Mrs.Hudson (Headcanon)

“You’re insane” “You love me” and “Not right now, I don’t” with Sherlock Holmes

“I hate you” and “Why? I’m lovely” with Sherlock Holmes

“Did you sleep last night? At all?” and “God no, what do you take me for?” with John Watson

The Breakfast Club

Imagine being a cheerleader and meeting Brian Johnson in detention

The Hobbit

“Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture” with Thranduil Oropherion

The Umbrella Academy 

The Shelbys meet the Hargreeves (One-shot)

“Can you shut up for once in your life?” with Klaus Hargreeves

“Why the hell is there glitter everywhere?” and “Yeah, well, if you weren’t so drunk maybe I would” with Klaus Hargreeves

“Why is the tree on fire?” and “This is breaking my heart” with Klaus Hargreeves

Diego Hargreeves proposes to you (Headcanon)

“You could have gotten yourself killed” and “But... I didn’t?” with Diego Hargreeves

The Sandman (Netflix)

“You humans are most amusing” with Dream of the Endless

“My kingdom is in danger. I’ve come to ask for your aid” with Dream of the Endless

You’re Morpheus’ consort (Headcanon)

“I’m an insomniac. This is just normal” with Dream of the Endless

The Witcher (Netflix)

You have a daughter with Jaskier and the little girl has a strong bond with her father (One-shot)

“I don’t know why, but there’s some days where you feel like more than a best friend” with Jaskier

“Please don’t cry” and “I’m here for you” with Jaskier

Imagine being Triss Merigold’s sister, and her finding out about your crush on Jaskier and setting you two up on a date

No Time To Die by Billie Eilish with Geralt of Rivia

Titans

Imagine patching Dick Grayson up after a fight

Vikings

You’re Ragnar Lothbrok’s younger sister (headcanon)

“Maybe not” and “Maybe in another world” with Ragnar Lothbrok

“The battleground is my kingdom. The Queen can keep her throne” with Ivar The Boneless

“Well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead” with Ivar The Boneless

You have twins, but you get sick after birth and Ivar takes care of you (gif imagine)

The Ragnarssons discover that you have similar powers to those of the scarlet witch (Headcanon)

You’re a princess, praised by people because of your rumored kinship with the gods, and Ivar takes a liking to you when he visits your kingdom with his brothers (gif imagine)

[maxwell-grant]

Have you read the short story Norvell Page wrote as a wedding present for a Big Name Fan about Dick and Nita's first meeting? Any thoughts on it? My main is that Page does not go where you expect him to based on that description.

I did! Actually it was one of the first Spider stories I read. And yeah, to an extent, it's absolutely not what you'd expect from something set in The Spider's world. And on the other hand, it's absolutely what makes the most sense for these two characters. Because, yeah, Norvell Page could have done what he usually does, and written some over-the-top action where Dick and Nita happen to meet during it.

But no, that wouldn't work. Because, for all the turmoil and chaos in The Spider, for everything that he and Nita go through, there are many times when, sturdier even than Dick's resolve is their love for each other, the deep understanding and affection that carries them through hell itself time and time again.

And so, when it was time to showcase how such a romance started, Page wisely deviated from his usual narrative style, and instead told a very, very intimate and personal story, a long and extended conversation between the two, and more importantly, between Page and the reader. Between The Spider, and You, peering into The Spider through the eyes of Nita van Sloan.

I think for a start, it's an interesting coincidence that this meeting takes place on a cruise ship, and it involves Dick rescuing Nita from suicide. I say this because Margo Lane's first meeting with Lamont Cranston, in the pulps, was stated to have taken place on a cruise ship, and of course, the first time we see The Shadow in the pulps, he's rescuing Harry Vincent from suicide, and both Harry and Margo are The Shadow's main supporting characters. I'm not saying it was intentional, but it's an interesting fact. And more so because Dick doesn't really rescue Nita.

Her scarf whipped in the wind on deck, and it blinded her... and a hand touched her arm, and a voice spoke to her.

"If it's intentional, don't let me stop you," the voice said, "but you're heading straight for suicide."

Nita looked then at the stop toward which, blindly, she was going, and it was a chain barrier beyond which was the sea. And she looked at the man who had stopped her and it was Richard Wentworth. And his words had been a shock to her.

"You wouldn't try to dissuade me from suicide?" she asked.

Wentworth's brows were tilted whit a hint of mockery, but his eyes were very grave. "Every man is master of his own soul, and hence of his body," he said. "And your eyes are wide open and awake. So it would be a considered action. I'm not sure, under those circumstances, that I would have a right to meddle in another's business."

Nita said, "I think you can help me."

Wentworth shook his head. "Only you can help yourself," he said, "but it may be that someone else could help you find the way."

The whole text is a great example of how wonderfully realized of a character Nita van Sloan is in ways so unlike the typical pulp or superhero girlfriends at the time, because the text is written from her perspective, and half of the text reads like an extended character breakdown of who Nita is as a character and person. And the other half of the text is almost entirely comprised of Dick Wentworth spouting philosophy and talking in-depth about his reading of her and what's upsetting her, talking about God and fate and so on. And like so many other attempts to explore serious theological/psychological/philosophical/etc concepts explored through pulp fiction, half of it is bullshit, and half of it is fascinatingly disturbing and thought-provoking bullshit.

"Self-contempt," Wentworth's words were very quiet now. "Is second only to self-pity among the greater sins. Self-analysis is a dangersous thing. You need so much charity. And any person who is advanced enough to think about himself at all is apt to be over-stern in his judgment of himself."

He said to her, "If you don't honor youself, who will honor you?" And, a few moments later, "There is conceit in ruling others, but none in mastering yourself." And, "There is no arrogance so great as self-righteousness."

Nita clashed with him violently, "You are being self-righteous in judging me!"

Wentworth laughed. "I am speaking only truism. It is you who judge yourself, not I." He was serious, then. "My dear," he said, "I would be presumptuous to try to teach you. No man can teach another. But one who has been along that same trail would be less than a man if he failed to mark certain signposts and certain places where there is water to drink so that another, traveling that same road, may know where another struggled and what he has learned. But, as no man can travel a road for another, so no man can teach another. You must work out your own salvation."

"That sense of separation between the inner and outer self," Nita rushed on, "between yourself and the world ... while you were talking, I could almost feel that difference disappearing. The feeling is gone now, but ..."

"All progress is three steps forward and two back," Wentworth said, slowly, "and this is good because thus all ground is three-times covered and triply learned."

And I should probably clarify by this point that, it's not so much Dick Wentworth talking in this story, as it's Norvell Page himself. In fact, he admits as much in another letter he had sent to his readers that he was prone to talking philosophy by this point.

There was a time when the burden of writing just one more Spider seemed too much to undertake. (After all, the magazine is in it's ninth year!) But I never feel that way any more. I know now that the Spider actually does help people; that there are those who appreciate his idealism even though it is expressed in violence.

Especially in the last half dozen Spiders, beginning with the 100th I believe, I have tried very earnestly to teach a little of the philosophy and faith, of which we all need so much in these days.

Here's the thing about The Spider: It's not that the character is mad. Well, okay, he IS mad, I don't pull these over-the-top maniacal cartoon meme descriptions out of thin air, but that's because he lives in a batshit insane disaster horror world where there IS no sane response other than joining the carnage to overcome it. It's not just that Wentworth who is a madman. It's that Norvell Page was a mad man, and Dick Wentworth was Norvell's Page alter-ego, by the man's own admission.

Friends have informed me that I moved about the company as one in a trance: there were some who were concerned about my health, so oddly did I behave. Of course, only my body attended that occasion. My mind was entirely engrossed in Dick Wentworth's big problem - back in my study on a sheet of paper stuck in my typewriter

I did not dream that night; in the morning I restlessly paced my floor thinking, thinking, thinking. I sat down at the typewriter, stared at the words and the keys. Suddenly, as if by magic, Dick Wentworth seemed to move of his own volition. My hands raised, my fingers literally flew over the keyboard.

No matter how ridiculous it seems, I will always feel that Dick Wentworth, creature of my own fabrication, guided me through that tough scene.

No two people can live together without being influenced by each other to some extent. So constantly has Wentworth been in my mind, it is as if we were roommates - partners in everything.

Page has talked about how close of a connection he feels to the character, about many ways he's emulated his mannerisms, even some pretty embarassing anectodes where he claims to have "accidentally" used the character's "indomitable will" to scare waiters or drawing connections between The Spider's cast and real people he's met. Others who met him remarked that he talked of the "Spider" characters as though they were members of his family, or drinking companions.

Even before I got into The Spider, I had heard of rumors that he used to present or discuss stories in his office by putting on a cape and jumping from desk to desk, swinging a yard stick in his hand, and I can't find any source that confirms it, but I don't doubt it in the slightest. A lot of pulp writers had really weird lives, and Page was no exception. He was a journalist who frequently dug into his newspaper clippings for grisly stories to incorporate into narratives. I mean, just look at the dude's eyes, he's seen some shit.

When he was 3, his mother fell down a manhole while they were walking down a Chicago sidewalk. Norvell, terrified, thought she had dissappeared and never quite got over the experience.

When he was a little older, according to some family members, his parents had tickets for the Titanic and escaped disaster when Norvell begged them to cancel the trip for reasons unknown.

Norvell again played a hand in the family's escaping disaster when, one Christmas the family home caught on fire. Candles on the tree had been left burning. He quite arguably saved everyone's life. Waking first, he threw his mattress out of his window, grabbed his infant brother and sister and ran screaming through the hall as he went back to jump to safety. His screams woke his parents who then jumped to the mattress themselves.

Norvell lied about his age and experience to the Norfolk "Observer", claiming to have been writing for Richmond's "Times Dispatch" and was hired there.

His father managed Thomas Edison & Hugo Wurlitzer's ad accounts, and had always encouraged him to write, envisioning him as another Poe, whom his Great-Uncle had worked with as an editor

It is rumored that, in NYC, while at the "World Telegram", he became involved in fellow editor Varion Fry's effort to rescue artists and scientists from occupied Europe. President of the American Fiction Guild, he edited their newsletter for some time. Among his closest friends were fellow writers Ted Tinsley and L. Ron Hubbard and Surrealist painter Max Ernst.

WRITER'S REVIEW 35.08: Norvell W. Page, whose bloodthirsty Spider novels would do justice to Ghengis Khan, demonstrated his bloodlust the other day by accidentally killing a sparrow.

He wrote until 1943, when he abruptly stopped without warning. He dissappeared, for all intents and purposes, from both New York, the arts world and the pulp world for good.

His wife of 20 years, Audrey, had died and this, along with the U.S. involvment in WWII, led to his returning to VA where he would go on to be an intelligence worker in the Truman, Kennedy and Eisenhower Administrations.

He died suddenly of a heart attack in August of 1961.

Surviving family members do not know where he is buried.

I think this is a story that Page might have told differently had he written it earlier in his career, before he got tired, before he underwent his depression and loss of weight that caused him to briefly stop writing pulps all together, in a time period before the World War had cast an oppressive miasma on the world. In a time period where most of the horrifying nightmares he infused into the stories were really just that, nightmares, that he didn't live long enough to see turn into prophecies.

Because that's another thing about The Spider that makes the character more than just a batshit vigilante: As over-the-top as the stories were, a lot of them also inevitably turned out to predict some form of catastrophe in real life.

Written with an eye to the horrors festering in Germany at the time, The Mayor of Hell now reads as an infernal vision of the Homeland Security Act.

The poisoned products found in The Red Death Rain and The Pain Emperor call to mind the Tylenol killings of the summer of 1982, and the hundreds of poisoned products cases that followed.

Bio-terrorism plays large in the Spider mythos, with bubonic plague in Wings of the Black Death, rabies in The Mad Horde, and cholera in The Cholera King foreshadowing the Anthrax scare of 2001. The same could be said of the terror gases from Kingdom of Doom and Green Globes of Death and the nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subways in March of 1995.

Masters of the Death Madness unfolds as a nightmare meditation upon suicide, which has become one of the principal weapons of modern terrorists. One scene involves suicide bombers.

Another scene chillingly presages the Jonestown massacre of 1978: a grand procession lines up to drink from a bowl of poisoned wine while surrounding gunmen pick off anyone who refuses to drink.

The modern reader will recognize the psychological and sociological effects of a citizenry living under the threat of terrorism, so chillingly evoked by Page: the grating loss of safety, the imminent threats lurking in familiar objects, the way security can no longer be taken for granted, the kind of skittishness that empties a building at the first sign of an unknown white powder.

The eeriest of all the modern terrorist parallels appears in a novel called The City Destroyer, originally published in 1936. It features a set piece involving the collapse of a fictitious gigantic building, supposedly the tallest in New York City, called “The Sky Building.” When it fell, it wiped out five city blocks and claimed 1,000 lives. And perhaps it’s worth noting a further parallel that occurred in the 1970’s, when Pocket Books tried to revive the Spider; they repackaged him in a paperback series, striving for an image of what was then cool and thrusting Richard Wentworth into a contemporary setting.

When Pocket Books reprinted and updated The City Destroyer in 1975, the collapse of the Sky Building was replaced with the collapse of the World Trade Center - Stuart Hopen's essay on The Spider

Regardless of how much reality Page was infusing into his stories (because, again, he took a lot of his material from newspapers) or how much he foresaw intentionally or not, writing The Spider definitely took it's toll on him, and as the magazine neared it's final stretch with him on the helm, certain parts did began taking a more philosophical or religious tone, as more of Page's own beliefs, more of Page's attempts to use it as a vehicle to do good, began to bleed through the page.

And ultimately I think that's also what the story of Dick and Nita's first meeting is about, sort of an extended analysis not just of Nita, who Page himself said was a character he conceived as "the epitome of womanhood" and everything he thought admirable about it, but also of Wentworth's own character, and the things Page wanted to get through in his time.

Religion crept deeper into the series with each succeeding year. By all accounts, Norvell Page was a man of deep faith and spirituality who just happened to be writing the exploits of a hero whose idea of mercy was a bullet in the brain instead of the stomach.

In the 100th novel, Death and The Spider, Wentworth battles Death itself - or so it seems - and on Christmas Eve, he is shot so badly while protecting the President from assassination that everyone believes he's dead - including himself.

Dead or not, he forces himself to fight on, sustained only by reciting the 23rd Psalm over and over again.

Nita laughed and accepted a cigarette. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Don't," Wentworth's voice was sharp. "I told you I am only a channel. Don't confuse me with the Source."

It stopped words on Nita's lips, and it gave here a new respect and a new and sudden attitude toward this man beside her, this man who could laugh and jest with everyone about him, and who could teach like a very oracle ... and who carried about him such a sense of dedication to high purpose. He might seem apart from the world, but he was utterly and completely of it.

Nita said, half-laughing, half-serious, "May I like you? And may I admire your ... adjustment?"

"Don't envy my adjustment," he grinned at her. "Have one yourself." He snapped flame to her cigarette with his lighter, and his lean, strong hand was steady and sure as his eyes, as his voice. He was speaking to her but he was looking at the lighter. "I have found my mission," he said quietly.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is an improvement upon its predecessor thanks to it being able to jump into the action immediately. None of the potential victims are all that well developed and if you can’t swallow the premise, nothing this film does will win you over but the puzzles are inventive and fun to solve. In a film like this, that counts for a lot.

Determined to expose the Minos Corporation, Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) and Ben Miller (Logan Miller) follow a series of clues that lead them to their New York City headquarters. Before they know it, their search has backfired. They are put in a game of life-and-death with fellow escape room “champions” Rachel (Holland Roden), Brianna (Indya Moore), Nathan (Thomas Cocquerel), and Theo (Carlito Olivero).

“Wait. Didn’t the last movie end with Zoey on a plane revealed to be a trap set by Minos?”

“You’re right, and the movie ‘explains’ this by showing that Zoey and Ben suffer from escape room-related nightmares.”

“Sounds like the writers couldn’t figure out what to do and just retconned the ending.”

It’s true, but this movie's premise helps it recover from this decision rather quickly. I don’t mean the idea of this organization with sci-fi tech that can do whatever it wants, including kidnapping people, hiring legions of actors, hijacking public property, and building immense facilities underground; I mean the winners from previous escape rooms being brought together for another round. The intricate puzzles-within-puzzles are the film’s highlights. It’s kind of a shame they’re given time limits with each room and have to rush through them but it’s not supposed to be easy or 100% survivable so that’s fine. Each new room means a wide array of inventive dangers.

While it’s a shame that we don’t really get to know anything but the basics about the characters, you learn to care for them for three reasons. First, they’re smart. The movie shows you all of the pieces necessary to escape. Granted, you can’t handle them like these people do so you’re at a disadvantage but even so, it would be difficult to solve things as fast as them. Secondly, they care about each other. These people know teamwork is the key and unlike Jigsaw’s victims, they never turn on each other because they think “there can be only one winner”. Thirdly, the kinds of death promised by these rooms are sufficiently horrible for you to not want ANYONE to suffer them.

But let’s not get crazy. This would’ve been a better picture if the characters had been given more depth. Maybe then a particular contestant's special skills would’ve felt less like an afterthought. Then, there’s the ending. It’s standard fare for horror films to have “the evil live on” but that tactic can get tiresome, particularly since the first Escape Room - retcon or not - revealed that no matter how smart the characters might be, Minos has thought of everything. They can be beaten, which means the heroes can’t win, and if they can’t win, what’s the point? This won’t disturb fans but general audiences? It might. Me? I'm looking forward to Escape Room 3. (Theatrical version, November 23, 2021)

[schrijverr]

'Till Death Do Us Part

Part 4 out of 13

When Alex has to bring Philip to work, he and Thomas discover that they both have something in common: they lost their love. They form an unexpected bond and connection about this that grows into something more.

A medium burn with parental feelings about Philip and flowers.

On AO3.

Ships: Jamilton

Warnings: brief mentions of death

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4: Cornflowers Means ‘Delicacy’

Thomas felt as if he’d gotten Martha’s blessing to pursue Alex. He had wanted to before, but he’d felt guilty towards her, so instead he had riled the other up and argued with him.

But now…

With their tentative friendship evolving every day, the sudden email reminding him to keep living seemed like a sign. Maybe that was stupid, but Thomas was going to cling to it. Though he had to figure out how to work up the courage to flirt first.

He was absolutely hopeless at the whole thing. He’d started bribing Alex with food, making sure the other ate lunch everyday as a way in.

It was a slow process, but yesterday Alex had shown up at his office with a bag with two bagels in it when Thomas had gotten lost in his work and forgotten the time. He’d shrugged: “Seemed only fair to chip in myself for a change.”

Instead of using it as a way to thank him or something, Thomas had made a joke about Alex finally stopping with mooching off him, which had only earned him a small shove, before they had started an argument about the usefulness of the hole in the middle of a bagel.

Thomas was close to ripping his hair out in frustration.

Martha had flirted with him, he had never done this. He had no clue what he should be doing and James was absolutely no help. When he had asked him the man had simply said: “Too aroace, Tom.”

So now he was going to the one other person who could help him with this, but by God did he dread it.

“Hi, Thomas, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hello, Angie,” he replied, holding up a bottle of red wine, “Can I embarrass myself again and have you tell me I’m stupid before helping me?”

Angelica grinned: “With love. Here, come in.”

Thomas came in and dropped the wine on the kitchen counter of her apartment, before throwing himself on the couch with a groan. That earned him an eyeroll from Angelica, who poured them both a glass of wine, before pushing his legs of the couch and sitting down.

“Pizza and a romcom?” she asked, phone already in hand.

“Yeah, let’s be fully trashy,” Thomas agreed.

“You love trashy.”

“I truly do.”

Angelica ordered the pizza and waited for Thomas to leave behind the shelter of a pillow. He finally did and took a large gulp of his wine, before he said: “I don’t know how to flirt.”

“What?” out of all the things, Angelica had not seen that coming, but the realization hit her: “Oh my God are you trying to shoot your shot with Alex?”

“Maybe?” his voice was unsure and small and Angelica was living.

“Are you for real?” she exclaimed, “Tell me everything! Leave out no details. Holy fuck, this is great.”

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said miserably.

“You can’t just ask me about advise to flirt with a guy, whom you’ve been crushing on for years while claiming you were never going to go after it and expect me to not get excited about it, Thomas. I mean come on, what changed?”

“I mean, me and Alex are kind of friends now and then-” he hesitated, unsure if he wanted to tell Angelica about the email from Martha, “then I got a reminder- it’s a long story.”

“Tell me,” Angelica demanded.

“You remember Alex brought Philip with him to work?” Thomas began.

“Yeah, that was four months ago, though.”

“Well, me and Alex talked and I told him about Martha, because Philip had told me about John, remember that?” he asked.

Angelica nodded.

“He called me,” Thomas went on, “It was John’s birthday and he was struggling and I had told him he could always talk to me and stuff, so he did. We bought Philip a Halloween costume and then we went to John’s grave so that he could show it to him.”

“Oh shit,” Angelica took a big gulp of her wine, “That’s a lot heavier than I was expecting, sorry. I didn’t know that part, he told us he handled John’s birthday well.”

“I mean, he did, sort off,” Thomas said, “Don’t let him know you know, I don’t know if he wanted me to tell you. But in the end it was a good day.”

“John loved Halloween.”

“Thought so, Alex mentioned Philip getting excited about his costume,” Thomas told her.

Angelica cringed in sympathy.

“Anyway, we spend John’s birthday together and after that it was different in the office and stuff and I brought him lunch-”

“You brought him lunch!”

“He had forgotten, what was I supposed to do? Was that weird?” Thomas sounded scared, Alex hadn’t seem to mind and he did it after. WouldAlex be mad at him?

“No, no, not bad,” Angelica quickly assured him, “Just sweet.”

“Then why did you react like that?” Thomas hissed, stress outing itself.

“Because I haven’t seen Alex eat in break room since forever,” Angelica replied, “He deflects every time I asked, we were already planning an intervention or something.”

“Oh,” Thomas didn’t know what to say to that, “Well, you don’t, he’s been eating fine.”

“Thank God for that, Eliza can be scary.”

Thomas huffed out a laugh at that, before proceeding: “So, I brought him lunch and he thanked me and said that I could call him if needed too.”

“How precious.”

“So I did,” Thomas decided that after sharing about John’s birthday to Angelica it would only be fair to tell her about himself as well, “Because Martha had send me an email – it was a site thing, send emails to the future and stuff – and, well, that was an unexpected punch to the gut.”

“Are you okay, Tommy?” Angelica’s brows were concerned, “I didn’t hear you about it.”

“It’s fine, Angie,” he assured her, “Me and Alex watched movies all day and just reminisced about her, it was nice. But in the email, Martha told me to move on from her.”

“She knows you too well,” Angelica smiled softly, she had known Martha herself and had seen first hand how devastated Thomas was after her death.

“Yeah, so that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past few months, but I. Can’t. Flirt,” he fell back dramatically once more.

“God, you’re hopeless,” Angelica said, “Luckily I am here to save you, I am the best wingwoman known to man.”

“I hope you’re right, because being friends with Alex is killing me. Do you know how cute that motherfucker can be?” Thomas told her, “He has these big ass smiles and these little giggles and they are designed to kill me.”

Angelica smiled fondly, slight hurt in her eyes as a different person with the same complaints flashed in front of her eyes.

The bell rang and Angelica quickly got their pizzas before she sat down to form a game plan, which she privately named ‘Plan Jamilton’.

“Okay, so first up, what is a regular day with Alex like? So an office day, but then I don’t have to hear about your boring meetings unless Alex is involved,” she asked.

“I get in, he’s usually in the break room getting coffee, we talk – well, argue, but not mean – about whatever, we work, we eat lunch, then work some more, then I tell him to home if it’s not Tuesday or Friday, because he goes home earlier on those day, because he has to get Philip from school,” Thomas listed, then shrugged: “Meetings are still the same.”

“Huh, is that why I couldn't find him last Tuesday?”

“Yeah, normally Philip gets picked up by one of his Aunts or Un- you know that, sorry,” Thomas cut himself off.

“I know the others pick Philip up from time to time and that Alex hires a babysitter, I didn’t know there was a pattern,” Angelica confessed, “I’m more the fun Aunt that shows up from time to time with presents, Eliza is more the overly involved Aunt, but that’s fair since Philip was in her for nine months.”

“Touche.”

“Anyways, you and Alex seem to talk a few times during the day. Morning and lunch and before he goes home, all good opportunities,” she suggested.

“I’m aware, but then I’d have to know what to say, don’t I, Angie,” Thomas pointed out.

“Alex is a natural flirter, give him a push and he’ll do most of the work.”

“But then what do I do? How do I react to him flirting? That’ll be bad for my soul,” Thomas whined.

“Think of it like banter, you two do it all the time,” Angelica rolled her eyes, “Just maybe make it a bit more suggestive here and there, add innuendos. I think you can manage that.”

“And what if Alex thinks it’s weird or if he’s just doing it because he’s flirty?” Thomas worried, “I mean, you said it yourself that he’s naturally flirty, what if he doesn’t think anything of it and then I am the weird one and he hates me.”

“He’s not going to hate you, you idiot,” Angelica rolled her eyes, “He likes you.”

“What? How do you know that?” Thomas needed answers and he needed them now.

“Technically, I don’t, but-”

“Then you have no ground to stand on and I shouldn’t risk it.”

“Let me talk, Thomas Jefferson,” the full name shut him up, “As I wanted to say: Technically, I don’t know for sure if he likes you, but he has stopped complaining about you and last week he said you might have shit ideas on company policy, but you had great taste in classical writers. He loves classical writers. That’s huge for him.”

“That’s hardly anything, Angie.”

“And Laf asked me what was up between you two,” Angelica played her ace.

“Laf thinks there is something up between us two?” Thomas took the bait as predicted, hopeful puppy eyes that shouldn’t be adorable on a 6’3, grown man.

“Yeah, he said – and I quote – Hm, did you notice anything off between mon petit lionand our dear Thomas, those two seems to be getting closer,non?”

“Your French accent is horrible.”

“Not the focus, Tommy. The focus is that he wiggled his brows about it.”

“He wiggled his brows?”

“Yes, he only does that if he is super certain of his observations or if he knows something. I’m still figuring out which one it is,” Angelica informed him.

“So maybe Alex said something to him?” Thomas suggested.

“Maybe, but you’d have to ask him.”

“I’m not going to ask him.”

“Why not?”

“Because he is a nosy Frenchman, who doesn’t know when to stop meddling and he’ll embarrass me in front of Alex, I’m sure of it,” Thomas whined.

“He’s not that bad, Thomas. Get over yourself,” Angelica told him, taking a bite out of her pizza slice.

“No, one time I told him I was considering celebrating my birthday and he threw me a huge surprise party – granted, it was sweet of him, but also no, not for me – with like a live band and stuff. It was way too much.”

“Okay, so maybe not ask Laf directly,” Angelica conceded.

Thomas eyes suddenly lit up with inspiration and he exclaimed: “You could ask him!”

“No!” Angelica protested immediately.

“Why not?” Thomas was pleading now, “For me.”

“Because then he’ll know for suresomething is up and talk to either you or Alex and then your whole plan will still be ruined,” Angelica explained, “You just need to trust me and flirt with Alex. I swear it will be fine.”

“But what if it isn’t?”

“Then I’ll get you ice cream and chew out Alex,” she promised.

“I hate it when you make a point,” Thomas complained.

“And I hate eating without playing a movie, we both make sacrifices,” Angelica rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed as she took another bite of her pizza, almost as if to make a point.

In the end they did watch a movie. It was a shitty romcom, as promised, and every time someone flirted Angelica rated it and advised for or against the method. Thomas wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle or hug her.

He still didn’t say anything for almost a week and a half, until he found himself in the printer room with Alex.

“Honestly, Thomas, you can’t possibly think that saying a cloud and rain are the same makes any sense,” Alex rolled his eyes, pushing some buttons on the printer.

“No, just think about it, okay? Clouds are water, rain is also water, correct?” Alex grudgingly agreed, “A cloud is basically water floating around until it gets cold and falls, so therefore rain is basically just a cloud falling.”

Alex paused, processing his words, before he said: “Oh my God, shut up.”

“Make me,” Thomas had been so caught up about winning their argument that he hadn’t even thought before letting the slightly suggestive words slip out.

Now they both paused. Thomas looked shocked at his own words and Alex studied him curiously, his eyes scanning him up and down, before he smirked and asked: “Is that a threat or a promise, Tommy? Because you really shouldn’t say things you can’t deliver on.”

Then he grabbed his papers and left Thomas gaping like a fish on dry land as he tried to process the entire interaction.

Alex was internally panicking as he hightailed out of the room, hoping to leave Thomas before the man had gathered his wits again. Sure, Thomas might have started it, but Alex had taken it a level further.

He’d wanted to flirt with Thomas, but they only just started to be friendly. Well, maybe not just, but it wasn’t as if they had stopped being rivals that long ago.

It was just…

It was just that Philip had really liked Thomas, he was still sometimes asking about how Mr. Thomas was doing. And the man had done so much for him on John’s birthday. And he had looked so vulnerable with the email and Alex had never seen that side of him and his stupid crush was developing at an alarming rate. And he didn’t want to acknowledge it or make it real, but…

Butnow he might have made it weird.

Fuck, what was he going to do? Oh, wait, Eliza was picking up Philip today – normally he would do it, but school ended early that day so Eliza had offered – and it was after lunch, so he wouldn’t see Thomas today and he could talk to her and have a plan tomorrow.

With that in mind, he tried to forget about the whole incident and work till the end of the day, losing himself in his work and hoping he wouldn’t run into Thomas.

He left at five on the dot and at half past five he was knocking on Eliza’s door. She opened, but before she could say anything he blurted out: “I flirted with Thomas today. I think he started it, but now I’m thinking it might have been me.”

She blinked, then blinked again, before she pulled him into the house: “Tell me everything. Is this the great Mr. Thomas Philip was telling me about? The one you’ve been crushing on and didn’t tell me and I had to hear about from Herc?”

“Maybe?” he squeaked.

He and Philip ended up eating dinner with her and Maria and afterwards Maria watched a movie with Philip, sending them a knowing look that made Alex blush.

Alex had known Eliza since Freshman year in college. He and her had hit it off right away, even dated for a while, but then John had taken a break from the army to study and- well, they just found they were only dating to prove something to themselves.

The point was Alex told Eliza everything. She’d been the first to know he fancied John, had helped him pick an outfit for their first date, had been there for ring shopping and wedding planning. She had carried Philip for nine months for Pete’s sake.

Yet he had hesitated with telling her about Thomas.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but if he told her it would be real, because telling her made it real and he was scared of this being real.

But now it was going to be real.

It was going to be real because Thomas had said something slightly suggestive and Alex had taken that as a sign to blatantly flirt with the man. It was going to be real, because he was going to tell Eliza.

Fuck.

He started up slowly, hesitating about certain parts, what to say and what not, but in the end the words started to flow out of him like they always did.

Alex told Eliza about how he’d thought Thomas was attractive, but had pushed that down with the personality, but then he’d been nice to Philip and that had stirred something inside him again. He told her about John’s birthday, the endless jokey lunch discussions, Martha’s email, how he the feelings had been building up until he had blurted out his comment that day.

All throughout Eliza just listened and nodded along until his word vomit session was over and he just sat there and breathed.

“It sounds to me,” she began carefully, “like you really like Thomas and that he is a good influence on you. And if I understood correctly, he has proven himself to be willingly involved with Pip. He sounds like a catch, ‘Lexi.”

“He is,” Alex sighed with a smile, then slightly sadder he added, “I just don’t know what to do. I might have scared him off today.”

“Come on, don’t be so deprecating. I knew you in college, you can woo him,” Eliza encouraged him teasingly.

“Wow, thanks, ‘Liza,” he huffed.

“I’m serious, ‘Lexi. You can flirt and you know it, you’re a charmer if you want to be, when you’re not, you know, forcing people to have opinions they need to defend,” she said, “Though, Thomas already knows that, since-” she gestured vaguely, “since you two do that.”

Alex laughed at that, before he turned more serious: “What if I fuck this up, Betsy? What if I do something wrong? What if Pip gets hurt by this? I don’t know how I’d live with myself if this hurts him.”

He only called her Betsy if he was really worried about something.

“Hey, Alexander, look at me,” if he was calling her Betsy, she was pulling out full names, “You’re not going to fuck this up, you just need to be patient for a moment.”

“Have you been hanging around Burr?” Alex groaned.

Eliza rolled her eyes at him: “No and just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean they can’t have a point.”

“He should have points, ‘Liza, that’s the entire point,” Alex told her.

“I am not having this discussion with you right now, we were focusing on something else,” she knew deflection when she saw it, “We were talking about Thomas and you wooing him.”

“What? Do you have a battle plan or something?”

“Of course I have.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re the best?”

“You could stand to mention it more,” she smiled, “Now, you are flirty, which is great everyone will say that you are. He knows Laf, he’ll ask if he’s curious and Laf is how we keep tabs on him. Trust me, he will come talking if Thomas ever asks him anything like that.”

Alex laughed: “Remember when Herc said he had a date and Laf showed up at the restaurant in a disguise to check on her, because she had ‘weird vibes’?”

Eliza snorted and nodded at the memory, before moving on: “So we have a route of communication, sort of, to tell how the flirting is received. If it’s good, you can ask him out. If not, well, I have ice cream and a shoulder to cry on.”

“Betsy, you are the best of women, honestly. If you weren’t so gay, I’d marry you,” he told her with a grin.

“Like I said, you’re a charmer,” she ruffled his hair, before ushering him and Philip – who had been elated about the later bedtime – out the door while reminding him to tell her everything from now on.

He left with that promise to her and a lighter heart.

The next day started like any other, with Thomas finding Alex in the break room like nothing had happened. For a moment Thomas worried the other was going to pretend that nothing had been said, crumbling his resolve to start flirting today.

“Hi, Alex,” he decided on his normal greeting, just to test the room.

Alex turned and smiled – it was that stupid bright smile that did things to Thomas – then said: “Hi, you’re looking good today? New pants?”

They weren’t new and Thomas knew that Alex knew that, because it was an outfit he’d worn many times. The comment eased some of his anxiety about this as he replied: “No, but glad you’re finally appreciating my impeccable sense of style.”

The eyeroll Alex gave him couldn't have been stopped even if he tried, so he just winked: “Nah, you still dress overly colored. Maybe I can help you find a better sense of style. Those pants would have to come off for that, though.”

Then he sashayed away like he hadn’t left Thomas blushing, pouring coffee over his hand because he wasn’t paying attention to the coffeepot.

And for the next few daysit continued like this. Their arguments that had turned into banter had now turned into flirting.

They were dancing around each other like teenagers afraid to be rejected for prom and the whole office had probably caught onto it. Alex was sure of that with all the looks knowing they were getting.

This was confirmed when Washington made him stay after a meeting in which some flirty comments had slipped into their debate, he raised a brow at Alex and asked: “What happened to the ‘nothing like that, sir’?”

Alex blushed heavily and squeaked: “Back then it wasn’t.”

“So it is like that now?”

“Sir,” it was a whine and Alex would deny it later.

“Alex,” Washington just replied, completely nonplussed.

“Ugh,” Alex groaned, this softly said: “Maybe? Not yet. I don’t know.”

“Well, Thomas is a good man, be kind to him,” Washington told him, a slight warning in his tone, before he got protective, “And be careful with yourself too, son.”

“I’m not-” Alex cut off the standard reply, because it was really not true at this point, so instead he nodded: “I will, thank you, sir.”

Washington send him away with some paperwork and an order not to stay late again and Alex promised he wouldn’t, because he was picking up Philip today and he had promised the kid they could go to a park after school.

Philip was so excited to see him and Alex pushed him on a swing and caught him when he wanted to jump off.

During dinner Philip asked: “How is Mr. Thomas? He was nice, why doesn’t he come around again? He came that one time and you are friends now, right? Why doesn’t he come around like Uncle Herc and Uncle Laf do?”

“It’s a bit complicated, Pip,” Alex said after a moment, “Me and Thomas are friends, but it just never flowed like that.”

“You always says I can change my own path, why can’t you?” God, sometimes Pip was too smart for his own good.

“I’ll see if he wants to come to movie night with your Uncles and Aunties. Does that sound fun?” he might regret this, but the look on Pip’s face was worth it.

He didn’t approach Thomas directly, with all the flirting he didn’t want it to come across as asking for a date. If he was going to ask Thomas, he was going to ask it better than that. Instead he approached Angelica: “Hey, Angie, can I ask you something?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“For movie night, I, uhm, well, I wanted to ask Thomas to come, but that’s weird, because it would be me asking, so I wanted to ask if you could invite him to come along?” Alex hoped she would say yes.

Angelica smiled pleasantly and Alex dreaded her answer: “Why is it weird when you do it?”

“Come on, Angie,” Alex whined, “I’m sure you and Eliza gossip about me. You know what this is about. If I ask him out, I’ll do it differently than a group movie night, because Pip wanted to see him again.”

“You’re gonna ask him out?” Angelica asked excitedly.

Alex cursed his stupid mouth and said: “Maybe. It’s still new and stuff, but eventually, yeah, it’s the plan at least. Don’t tell him though, please.”

Angelica cooed: “You are too cute. I won’t tell, don’t worry.”

“Will you ask him?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” maybe there was a bit too much force in the words, but Alex didn’t care.

That Friday Alex was more anxious about movie night than he had any right to be. It was usually hosted at his house so that he could put Pip to bed on time, before they watched non-kid movies, though everyone had a soft spot for the animated movies.

He had checked everything over multiple times and the only thing distracting him was Philip’s latest car parkour.

Herc arrived first, sweeping his nephew into his arms and being a calming enough presence that Alex had relaxed by the time Eliza and Maria along with Peggy showed up.

Then Angelica arrived with Thomas in tow. He greeted Alex awkwardly: “Sorry, is this okay? Angie said it was, but I don’t want to intrude.”

Luckily Alex didn’t have to answer, because Philip came running: “Mr. Thomas! Mr. Thomas, I have started keeping my drawings in this book and it’s already pretty full, do you want to see? We’re going to watch Mulantonight? Have you seen Mulanbefore? Did you like it?”

Thomas smiled: “Hey, kiddo, how about one question at a time? I’d love to see your drawings.”

Philip cheered and dragged Thomas away, who send Alex an apologetic look, though Alex didn’t mind having the pressure of him. He was distracted by Angelica: “That went well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you dork, it’s going fine,” Angelica assured him, “Now, I want something to drink. Do you have popcorn?”

Lafayette arrived last. By the time he came knocking they had all the snacks set out and the movie was waiting. He bustled in: “Bonjour, Bonjour, sorry I’m late. There was traffic and I was sleeping.”

“Uncle Laf!” Philip was off the couch and at Laf’s side in seconds, these nights would always make him excited enough that he dropped off early.

“Ah, mon petit neveu, how are you?” Laf hugged him tightly.

Philip babbled excitedly: “I’m going to become an artist. I showed Mr. Thomas my drawing book and he says they’re really good and my teacher says so as well.”

“Mr. Thomas?” Laf asked, he hadn’t been around often lately with his job keeping him busy and traveling. He had seen something was up, but he hadn’t gotten the note that the two were doing something about it and he hadn’t heard Philip about it yet either.

From the couch Thomas spoke up: “Hi, Lafayette. How was your week? Heard they needed you back in Paris?”

“Thomas! What une surprise!” Laf said and they had a conversation, which was more an interrogation how he’d ended up here. Alex saved Thomas by telling the nosy Frenchman that they were worked together on his financial plan and Thomas was not so bad ‘yes, Laf just like you said, I know.’

Movie night went great, they watched Mulan first and Philip kept asking Thomas questions throughout the entire movie, which Thomas answered dutifully. This amused the other adults greatly.

By the end the excitement had died down and Philip was nodding off. Alex left Eliza in charge of refilling the snacks, while he got Pip ready for bed.

When he got back the only spot left was right next to Thomas, he suppressed an eyeroll at his friends antics and sat down, knowing Laf would be all over this when the night was over. But for now he didn’t care.

He and Thomas had watched movies together before, albeit under different circumstances, but it was nothing new. Though he had forgotten how warm Thomas was and – now that he thought about it – he was kind of tired.

Slowly he slid sidewards throughout their viewing of The Patriotuntil he was leaning on Thomas’s shoulder, fighting to keep his eyes open. In the distance he felt something shift and the he slid further, a warm arm resting over him before he drifted off completely.

When he awoke it was dark and he was tucked in on the couch, cold and alone.

He sat up in confusion until his eye fell on a note in a familiar cursive handwriting that was too pretty to belong to someone in this century. It read: You fell asleep. We thought it better to let you be. Thanks for inviting me, I had fun. Sleep tight. x, T.

And honestly that little ‘x’ shouldn’t have made Alex blush. He looked up to a picture of John and whispered: “My dear Laurens, I think I’ve fallen in too deep already.”

The picture didn’t reply, instead John’s smiling face stayed static, but Alex still found it comforting to have John looking at him with something akin to encouragement. John would want him to be happy, he had always tried to do what he thought to be best for Alex, for Pip.

“You’re right, Jacky, I shouldn’t be dancing around this,” he said, “It’s just hard. And I’m scared,” he huffed a laugh, “Isn’t that ironic? After everything I’ve been through the great Alexander Hamilton is scared of asking someone on a date.”

He paused for a moment then said: “Don’t look at me like that, you asked me on our first date, you rash motherfucker. Don’t think I’ve forgotten you springing it on me when I was almost collapsing after finishing a paper. I got you with marriage, though, so even-Steven.”

It was comforting to talk to a picture of John, it was different when talking to his grave, less heavy when not surrounded by stones. Was it probably slightly strange? Yes. But Alex had been strange his entire life.

“Maybe I should be a bit rash for once, pick up your slack,” he told John, ignoring that his friends always said that they were both too rash and it was bad for their health that the two of them got along so well, “I think I’m doing it.”

That weekend he made a plan, had to double check something with Philip and worry-rant at Eliza, she was a great listener, he truly loved her.

Then Monday morning it was time, God he was nervous as he waited at Thomas’s office, where the man usually dropped his stuff before starting his day.

“Hey, uhm, this might be weird, but Pip told me about the vase in your office and if I remember correctly it was empty Friday, so I got you these,” Alex held up a bouquet of purple flowers, “It’s- they’re cornflowers, I hope I remembered correctly.”

Thomas took them, a bit stunned, his eyes slightly sparkling.

“I looked up their meaning. They mean ‘delicacy’, but also ‘be gentle with me’ and I thought that very fitting, because you’re – this is sound weird – but you’re very cute in an ‘I want to protect you’-way,” Alex was stumbling over his words, “But it’s also a request – the ‘be gentle with me’-part, I mean –because-” he swallowed and hesitated, “Well, you see, I- I was wondering if you- you would like to go on a- uhm, on a date. With me. This Friday. If you want. You don’t have to of course, maybe I’ve read this whole thing wrong and that’s fine, but if you do want to then I’ll be happy- more than happy, actually-”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“I’d love to go on a date with you this Friday,” Thomas told him, blush coloring his cheeks and a bashful smile tugging on his lips.

Alex grinned the grin that did things to Thomas as he replied: “That’s- Yeah, great, I- uhm, I’ll text you details?”

“Yeah, okay. Then I’ll go put these in water. Thank you, Alex, they’re beautiful,” Thomas walked away, flowers in hand, planning to yell at Angelica through the phone.

Bit of a more lighthearted chapter after all the grief and angst lmao

Also, always lovely when I get to the part of ‘and now they flirt’ only to realize that I do not know how to flirt and I have no clue how to write it. Ooof. So shout out to time skips xp

Side note: this → “well, they just found they were only dating to prove something to themselves.” is not invalidating the fact that Alex is bi, just that Eliza wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t a raging homosexual while Alex wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t in love with John.

Also I thought it was very funny that they thought to use Laf to keep track of the other, only for both to tell him absolutely nothing

[salt-is-a-terrible-currency]

Of course he likes Westerns

Din Djarin x ofc Maike

For Writer Wednesday, arranged by @autumnleaves1991-blog and @clydesducktape

This drabble is set in the same universe as The Hunter and the Consigliere.

Also tagging: @captainpoopweinersoldier @brightlycoloredteacups @spacedadmando @startrekkingaroundasgard @buckysxgal @whateverpersonsstuff @noshame-bb @rayslittlekitten @darkravenqueen98 @t-r-i-s-h-a-w @dreamxcollide @kingdomblvck @anjodedesgostoeerros @badedum-badaboom

Words: 1 170

Rating: Mature

Warnings: PMS/cramps, brief mention of childhood poverty, fluff, mentioned/referenced sexy times, age gap (Maike is 22 at the time of this)

Opa = grandfather

Onkel = uncle

~*~

There’s never been a lack of food and snacks in your Opa Derya’s kitchen. He doesn’t like to talk about it but you know he sometimes went hungry as a kid and so now his people, related by blood or not, are always well-fed. Currently, the kitchen is occupied only by Djarin and you. Your grandfather, uncle and the staff have already eaten dinner but the mercenary just arrived back at the estate and is helping himself to leftover dolma. He watches, with no small amount of amusement, as you raid the pantry. Popcorn, paprika flavoured chips and one large bottle of soda all goes into your arms. The choice of chocolates is what stumps you. You select two, white chocolate with lemon and milk chocolate with peanuts, then turn and hold them both out for Din in a wordless question. He raises an eyebrow, like to silently ask if you can even carry that much. You stretch your arms even higher. Just pick one, Din.

He indicates the white chocolate with a raised index finger. Satisfied with your loot, and Din’s choice, you close the pantry and shuffle everything around in your arms so that you won’t drop it on the way to the smaller house which you share with your cousins. You brush past him, closer than necessary, and his hand lands at the small of your back. Stopping you without grabbing you. He glances at the closed door leading to the living room where Opa Derya and Onkel Thomas are watching TV, judging by the sounds. You lean in closer so Din can whisper.

“One hour.” He promises, eyes still on the door. His hand disappears from your back, so quickly that it might never have been there to begin with.

Of course he likes westerns. Din kept his promise: showed up at your house an hour after your food gathering mission with a DVD hidden in his jacket. You might have already gotten into the popcorn while waiting for him. While he busies himself with starting the TV, you study the cover. A group of men, all of them wearing cowboy hats, on horseback. The Magnificent Seven.

"This is the movie you chose?" The title sounds vaguely familiar and you wouldn’t be surprised to find a copy in your uncle’s movie collection. Din plops down next to you on the couch. Pets across the worn leggings you changed into after giving up on studying.

"It is."

"We have a night to ourselves, and this is how you want to spend the time?" You tease. It took some convincing but your cousins both agreed to evacuate the house for the night. Bekka went to a friend, and Johannes to his friend. Uncle Thomas was reluctant but eventually he let them go. You, being the responsible young adult that you are, said you needed to study. And you did, until the cramps and the knowledge that Din would spend the night got too distracting.

"It's only two hours long,” he smiles “There'll be time for other things as well." The way he says it makes you duck your head down, hiding behind the mess of thick curls.

"Like cuddling?" You ask. Cuddling seems like a childish request considering how the nights usually go. There is cuddling, it just usually happens after. He offered to get you off early this morning when you noticed the stain on the sheets, said he didn’t mind the blood. You hesitated. It’s not that you don’t want Din it’s just that, well, you’re uncomfortable. And afraid. That it will hurt too much, that it will get messy and creep him out. You left the offer unanswered and he didn’t push the matter. Din shrugs.

"Nothing stopping us from doing that while watching too." He opens his arms in an invitation but before you can settle in, bowl of snacks in your lap, he pauses. Glances at the front and back door.

"Doors are locked, right?" He asks. Like you would have forgotten the routine.

“Yes,” you confirm, then add “And curtains drawn.” Din, your sweet Din, isn’t supposed to be here. Thomas might have an aneurysm and Sasha might fly into a rage if they were to find out how the mercenary that your grandpa hired has been spending a good portion of his nights. It’s unprofessional. Irresponsible. Both things that neither him or you are supposed to be. To Thomas and Sasha it won’t matter that you’re an adult capable of choosing who to sleep with. You settle with your back against his chest and he brushes your hair over one shoulder so he can press a kiss to your cheek.

It’s not your kind of movie but you appreciate the glimpse into Din’s mind: he’s not great at sharing personal facts. Between the way his arms wrapped around you at the beginning of the movie and the dim light of the room, you’re almost asleep by the time credits begin to roll.

"How are you feeling?" He carefully puts a hand on your belly.

"Tired,” you admit, twisting your fingers into the front of your t-shirt “and my stomach hurts." The nausea is gone and at least your food cravings have been thoroughly satisfied. Din makes a soothing noise, burying his face into your hair.

"Want to go to sleep?" He asks in a muffled voice. Maybe. It would be nice. But you don’t want to waste the opportunity to do something other than hiding in your room out of respect for your cousins. You shake your head in response and Din strokes your belly. You hate your body for deciding that this was the day to give you one of maybe three periods you have every year since getting on birth control. It makes you feel gross, like you’re smelly and sweaty and like your underwear is chafing at your skin. Just about everything becomes more annoying. You want to sleep, you want to spend time with Din, you want to feel fresh.

"Shower with me?" The suggestion comes out like a question, mumbled and shaky. Din’s chest rises suddenly with an intake of air. He sits up a little straighter, runs a hand down your side and across your upper thigh.

"Okay." He agrees. Christ, he’s seen you naked, what are you so nervous about? You twist in his arms as best as you can. Cup the back of his neck to bring him into a kiss. He responds to you so quickly, like he’s been waiting this entire time for you to touch him and is ready to go down whatever path you lead him whether it is just going to sleep or having sex on the living room floor. His offer is a little tempting. But not tonight.

“And then sleep.” You say against the corner of his mouth.

“Right.” He agrees and he begins to release you so that you can get up from the couch. Maybe tomorrow you’ll take him up on his offer.

[nekoannie-chan]

Charm-ed

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Mutant! Reader

Word count: 3596 words. 

Summary: You managed to prevent Thanos from snapping, but not other events that led to victory.

Warnings: Angst, sad, actually very sad, death of a character, mentions of smut but nothing explicit, mentions of blood.

A/N: So I was watching Skins season 6 when this idea came to me, this fic is a little bit based on that season.

Flashbacks are in italics.

The note is in italics and underline.

Phone calls are in italics and bold.

The prompts are in black, italics, and underline.

In this fic the Snap never happened, this means that Thanos was defeated and Pietro is alive.

The UFO catcher is the claw machine where you can catch stuffed animals or other prizes.

This is my entry to the @joannie95 ‘s 500 Follower Writing Challenge with prompt #19:

“Please don’t forget me and all the things we did” 

Also is one of my entries to @im-a-writer-right ‘s Writing Challenge ~2K Follower Celebration~ with the angst prompt #37:

“I haven’t been the same since you left me”.

And my entry to @jtargaryen18 ‘s 30 days of Chris.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don’t steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other’s people. The only exception is the ones I gifted ‘cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Marvel’s characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet.

If you like it please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog. 

Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve heavily turned off the alarm clock, it had been late, he flipped to your bedside, and he sighed disappointed when he noticed that it was empty.

He dialed your cell phone in the hope that you'd answer him, but you didn't, the mailbox came in instead of hearing your voice, his stomach protested.  

He went down to breakfast like every morning, even though they had prevented Thanos from making the snap, and you had beaten him, nothing was the same again.

After finishing breakfast, Steve decided to go for a run in the park, it was the fifth lap he gave when his cell phone rang.

“Y/N!”  He answered immediately excitedly. 

"Steve, you keep calling me a lot," you answered.  

"I know, it's just that all I want is for you to come back," he confessed embarrassed.

"Maybe you should have come to visit me more often after those days," you complained.  

"You know I tried, but I wasn't allowed in.”  

"You didn't try hard enough, but now no one will stop you from visiting me.” 

“Y/N…”

 The call was cut off, Steve blinked, after the battle, the calls were strange, sometimes he didn't understand what you wanted to say.  

"Steve?" Sam called him while he approaching carefully. 

"Hey, Sam.” 

“Are you okay?" Sam questioned. 

"Yes, only... I was thinking about Y/N...”  

"Steve we've talked about this... she's gone," Sam said.  

"I know... I know," Steve replied sadly. 

Sam looked up at a tree on the other side of where they were, blinked several times, you were half-hidden behind the tree, waving you a hand.

 Wanda Marya y Pietro Django Maximoff

 Wanda and Pietro were training, Wanda moved obstacles with her powers while her twin dodged them.  

"You're doing great," you congratulated them. 

"Y/N...”  

They approached skeptically, they weren't sure what they were seeing, and they didn't even care if it was a hallucination.  

"But...”  

"Aren't you happy to see me?" you asked.  

You stirred their hair, they were dumbfounded, and they didn't know what to say or do.

"You should stop feeling like you did something wrong when you joined HYDRA. 

"How do you know?" Pietro questioned.  

"Pietro... I know everything.”  

The twins saw each other, they had never told him anything about what they thought about what they had done.  

"They told you a lie, but when you found out what was going on you decided to do the right thing, didn't you?" you went on. 

The twins nodded.  

“Y/N...”

Wanda couldn't take it anymore and fell up to you to hug you, Pietro imitated her.  

"I've missed you so much," Wanda confessed.

"Me too, but you know I can't stay.”  

You separated from them.  

"Please, stay with us,” Wanda begged. 

 "We need you," Pietro supported.  

You were already gone.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve was taking a shower when he heard the bathroom door open, he didn't pay attention, and he still felt angry with himself.  

You went into the bathroom, took off your clothes, you walked in with him, you hugged him in the back, he turned around. 

"Y/N..."  

You put a finger on his lips. 

"Shh, I don't want to talk, you know what I want."  

Steve kissed you fiercely as he touched you while the water was falling.

 Natasha Alianovna Romanoff

 Natasha peeked out the window, blinking several times, you shouldn't be there, and she immediately ran out to where you were.  

You kept swinging without being undeterred by the presence of your friend.

“Hi, Nat” you greeting.

“How is…?”

“You should talk with Banner,” you said.  

"I beg your pardon?"  

"You still love him."  

"Y/N, but you..."

"Nat, I just want you to be happy, I can assure you that you've paid for everything you've done in the past, it's time to start over," you said.  

"Y/N... But... is just..."  

"Nothing Nat, I promise you everything will be fine."  

"Steve..."  

"I know.” 

Nat heard footsteps close and turned to see who was approaching.

“Are you okay?” Clint asked her.

Nat turned to where you were... but there was no one on the swing anymore, it just moved slightly as if someone had just come down.

“Yeah…is just…”

 Steven Grant Rogers

 You handed the documents over to Cameron, you joked a little bit and then he left, Steve saw everything, got discouraged, but he had to get the doubt out of his head.  

"Agent Y/L/N,” he called you.  

"Captain.” 

"Your boyfriend?" Steve asked referring to Klein.  

"Hmm? Oh... Cameron... no, no, no, we're just friends," you answered.

"Friends?" repeated Steve unconcern convinced.  

"If we've known each other since the Academy and we're friends.”  

Steve exhaled more calmly, maybe he should be encouraged to ask you out.  

"Do you have anything to do on Saturday?" he questioned.  

"No, I don't think so.” 

He impulsively kissed you.  

"You already have plans then... with me, " he sentenced before he left.  

You just stood there smiling like a fool.  

Natasha had told him he had to be bolder if he wanted you to go out with him, so that's what he did.

 Samuel “Sam” Thomas Wilson

 You knocked on the back door of Sam's house kitchen, he was preparing his breakfast, he went to see who he was, suddenly he felt the air was missing, it was not possible what he saw.  

"Y/N, but you..."  

"I'm here Sam."  

"Y/N, I need explanations because..."  

"There's no time for that, Wilson, I need you to do me a favor, I need your help," you interrupted him.  

"What is it about? If you're in danger...”  

"Take care of Steve for me, I know he doesn't want to accept what happened, but I don't want him to do anything stupid," you asked.  

"What do you mean Y/N?" he asked across his arms.  

"Just promise me, Steve needs the support of all of you."  

"Sure, just explain to me what happened..." 

He looked up, there was no one in front of him.

“Y/N?”

 Steven Grant Rogers

 "You took a long time to get back" complained when you saw him walk into the room you shared.  

Steve was startled, he was supposed to be alone, but there you were in front of him, lying and naked in the bed you used to share.  

"Are you going to stand there watching me all night?" you asked.  

He came slowly, put a hand on your face, wondered if you were real, and kissed you.

 Anthony “Tony” Edward Stark  

Tony was designing armor for Pepper, they had decided to postpone the wedding one year after what happened, it was so unforeseen, and no one was over it yet.  

"I'd ask FRIDAY to announce me, but I'm sure you'd think it's a joke," you said. 

Tony turned around, what was going on was implausible.  

“I forgive you for being a moron with all of us,” you said.  

"Thank you?"  

"I know you have thousands of questions, but I won't answer them even if you do them, so abstained yourself," you continued.  

"Everything's been gone wrong since you left..."  

"No Tony, everything went wrong since the Accords, forgive Bucky," you ordered.  

"But he..."

"He killed your parents under HYDRA’s orders, not because he wanted to do it, all that he did was because he was under their control, all that things still cause him nightmares and a lot of regrets, anyway, shouldn't you be mad at your father and Peggy? They were the ones who hired Zola in S.H.I.E.L.D.; Zola was the one who created the Winter Soldier," you explained.  

Tony saw you quietly for a few minutes processing your words. 

"If you want to have a quiet life you could do it, but first, you must forgive and apologize, Tony."  

"I should have done something else, we should all have..." 

"It was my decision."  

"Could you come back? You are the heart of the team..."  

You smiled and left the lab without saying a word.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 You saw your little dog approaching you while he wagged his tail.  

"What are you wearing on your dog collar?" you asked when you saw something weird.  

Your dog sat in front of you and when you checked it, you saw the engagement ring.  

Behind Steve, he was watching everything, realizing that you already had the ring in your hand, he peeked out.  

"And what is your answer?" questioned nervously.  

"Of course I accept to marry my little boy," you replied jokingly as you took the dog in your arms.  

Steve's face was a mixture of emotions, it couldn't be said if he was bewildered, wanting to laugh or something else. 

"Would you marry me, doll?" he asked.  

You approached him and you were going to kiss him when the dog got between the two of us, laughed. 

"Of course I want to marry you, Steve," you answered.

 James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes

 Bucky dared not leave the room, he feared he would meet Tony and that He would start a fight; however, his cell phone rang.  

 "Hello, Buck."  

"Y/N..." 

"Can I see you?"  

 You gave him the directions, a few minutes later he arrived at the agreed place.  

"It's not a trap, is it?" he questioned.  

"No Bucky, HYDRA is gone, I promise you.”

"Sorry, I..."  

"Stop blaming yourself for what you were forced to do, you've done the right thing to redeem yourself," you said.  

"I'm not sure..."  

"Believe me, I just need you to take care of Steve for me, okay, like before the war, I know it's hard..."  

"We can't without you..."  

"You must continue without me, there is no other way,” you sentenced.  

"Y/N" he called you.  

"Yes?"  

"Thank you for taking care of Steve, while... You know... I wasn't there," Bucky thanked.  

You smiled.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve was training, it was the fifth punching bag he broke.  

"You should stop this habit of breaking punching bags, Stevie," you said.  

"Doll..."  

"I've always liked to see you train, it's so... Hmm, I have no words to describe it.”

He didn't say anything, he just took your hand. 

"Don't go, please,” he pleaded.  

"I love you, Stevie."

 Thor Odinson

 Thor had in his hands the little teddy bear you had taken from one of the UFO catcher machines, he looked up when he felt a presence in the place.  

"Lady Y/N.” 

“Hi, Beach-boy" you welcome.   

“What...?” 

“I think on this planet, somewhere you could create New Asgard with the survivors, do you like the idea?" you proposed. 

Before Thor could answer, you were already gone

 Steven Grant Rogers

 The nerves invaded Steve and increased every minute, what if a last-minute mission came up and ruined everything if everything was ruined, would you still want to marry him? 

His doubts vanished when he saw you walking down the aisle, fortunately, there was no inconvenience. 

"You're the most beautiful bride in the world,” he whispered to you as you danced the waltz

 Scott Edward Harris Lang y Hope van Dyne

 "Giant-man" 

"Y/N," Scott said surprised.  

"Who are you?" Hope asked. 

"Do you remember Cap?" Scott asked.  

Hope nodded.  

"Well, she's his girlfriend."  

"I’m his wife actually, you must be Hope, Scott told us about you," you corrected.

"Well, this doesn't make sense..."  

They knew what had happened.  

"Nothing has it, maybe you should talk to Steve, and I think there's room in The Avengers."  

Both of them were confused, when Scott was going to ask you what you meant, there was no one else was with them.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve woke up when he heard a noise in the kitchen, he had fallen asleep in the lounge sofa, and he went to see what was going on.  

"Y/N?"  

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry, I can't find my chocolates," you apologized.  

Steve turned to see the clock on the kitchen wall. 

"It's two in the morning..."  

"It's never too late for one," you joked. 

He smiled, always his little jokes were funny, and he loved to see you smile and heard your laughter; he approached the cupboard and pulled the box out of the highest shelf.  

"Do you want to see a movie?" he proposed.

 Clinton “Clint” Francis Barton

 "I keep insisting that it's not safe to have arrows in a house with children," you said.

Clint dropped the bow to the floor, it supposed he was alone, Laura was taking care of their children.  

"Maybe you should go visit the guys, Steve will probably need paternity advice; Nat and the twins miss you so much," you continue.  

"Y/N...”  

"Several times I envied that you had such a beautiful family, sometimes things don't go as you expect," you said.  

Clint looked down at the bow without understanding, when he looked up to ask you something, there was no one.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 He was nervous, it was still supposed to be two weeks before your baby was born, but you'd woke up with contractions.   

"Steve, calm down now, you're not helping me at all," you asked with a grimace of pain. 

"But it was two weeks away...”  

"WELL, THE BABY WANTS TO GET OUT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO!” 

"Don't yell doll, we're in a hospital... Auch...” 

You squeezed his hand very tightly when you felt another contraction.  

You had no idea how many hours or minutes had passed, but eventually, the little girl was born. 

"It's so small," Steve said as he carried her.  

"Steve give it to me, I have to feed her," you asked

 Robert Bruce Banner

 "You've never been afraid that one of your experiments will go wrong?" you asked.

“Y/N…”

Bruce watched you for a few seconds.  

"There must be some logical explanation," he said.  

"That doesn't matter, get out of this damn lab and talk to Nat, one of you has to take the first step," you ordered him.  

"She hates me," he said.  

"She doesn't hate you, I had to put up with her talking about you, I don't know how many years, most of the time she described how she wanted to kill you."

"But the other..."  

"She doesn't care, she loves you the way you are, then do it or I'll hit you so hard that it's going to scare the other guy," you threatened. 

"Okay, I just have to turn this off," he said.  

Bruce turned to the team he was working with and then flipped to where you were.

“Y/N?”

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve heard Sarah crying, in last weeks he had not felt able to be close to her daughter, Natasha had cared for her at the time, but right now she did not know where the spy was. 

He approached the girl's crib and loaded her to try to reassure her.  

"Shh, calm down little girl, I know you miss Mom, so do I."  

Suddenly the girl calmed down unexpectedly and stretched out her little hand. 

"Mommy" she babbled.  

Steve turned strange, there you were, you approached them and you took your daughter.  

"You put her plushies wrong, she likes to have her stuffed animal on the left, but you put Cap's stuffed one in that place that goes to the right" you explained.

 Maria Hill, Nicholas “Nick” Joseph Fury, and Phillip “Phil” J. Coulson

 "Haven't they decide what they're going to do yet?" Fury asked Maria.  

Maria left the phone on the table before answering. 

"No, no one has dared to talk about the situation," Hill confirmed.  

"Maybe if we tell them there's an option..." 

Whatever they want to try isn't going to work," you said.  

"Y/N?!" the three exclaimed surprised in unison. 

"Guide them, they feel completely lost, they don't want to continue with the proposal," you asked.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Steve took all the pictures of you and the drawings of you he did, there were too many, he’d give anything for you to come back. 

"I wish you'd never left..."  

Someone knocked on the door, he was hoping it would be you, he needed you, he opened the door and his face showed complete disappointment.  

"Stark wants to talk to everyone, he needs us in the boardroom," Nat told him. 

"Okay," he said, trying to hide things.  

"Are you okay, Steve?"  

"Yes, in a moment I go, I only put in order a few things,” he answered.  

"You're a bad liar."   

"In a moment I will go,” he said again.

 Peter Benjamin Parker

 "Queens Spider-Boy" he greeted.  

"Miss Rogers.”  

"Y/N, just call me Y/N.”  

Peter carved his eyes, maybe he was hallucinating, and there was no way that was possible.  

"I would never think that Tony did it right when he involved you in something that was only to adults, but you should go visit him, he feels a little or maybe very lost," you said.  

"With who are you talking to Peter?" May asked. 

"With...”  

He turned to ask you with his eyes if I should reveal your presence, but you were gone.  

"... Nobody.”

 Steven Grant Rogers

 Thanos had finally arrived in Wakanda, Wanda was trying to destroy Vision's gem, just as Thanos came up to her feeling it.  

You assumed what he was going to do, with your powers you immobilized him. 

"Don't you dare,” you warned.  

He was too strong, but you weren't going to give up so easily, you managed to take away two of the stones -the time and reality stones- as soon as you had them in your possession, you opened a portal to go somewhere else and destroy them.

You concentrated as much as you could, it was difficult, but if Wanda had been able, you could too, all you needed was that Thanos didn't find you, you hadn't left Wakanda, but if in the next few minutes you couldn't destroy them, you'd open another portal to go somewhere else to buy more time.   

"Y/N, status,” Steve required.  

"I've got two, I'll try to destroy them," you reported.  

"Where are you?" he questioned.  

"Just deal with him," you asked.  

You had finally succeeded, those two stones had been destroyed, without all three, you were sure That Thanos could not fulfill his goal, you rose with difficulty, you were exhausted, to destroy them you had needed more powers and energy than you thought.

As soon as you turned around you felt a bump, Thanos had found you.  

"They no longer exist... I destroyed them," you mocked.  

"How you dare?"   

Suddenly you felt a sharp pain in your entrails, the metallic taste in your mouth appeared.  

"No!" Steve yelled.  

He pounded on the enemy to get you off your back, at that moment Thor appeared where you were.  

"Go with her," he told Steve.  

Steve came up to you, the blood kept flowing, he didn't know how to stop the blood, but he had to do something.  

"S-Steve..."  

"Shh, its okay, doll, don't try hard," he asked. 

"I think... take care of Sarah, okay, I love you..."  

Your eyes were heavy, slowly closed. 

 "No... Y/N... no, wake up doll, please..."

 James Rupert “Rhodey” Rhodes

 “Rhodes” you called him.

He stood still, did not know what to do, perhaps he had heard wrong, but no, your voice had been very clear, slowly turned. 

"I made a mistake in signing the Accords..."  

"It’s okay, you thought you were doing the right thing..."  

"I thought the government would know what to do, like acting the right way. But when Thanos..."  

"Okay, now just try to reunite everyone," you asked.

 Steven Grant Rogers

 His mobile phone rang, desperately Steve caught up with him to answer him as quickly as possible.

 “Doll, we need you.”

“Stevie, you know I can’t go back.”

“I haven’t been the same since you left me.”

“Sarah need you.”

"She needs you, she wants her mom back..."  

"You're a good father Stevie, you'll do well, I didn't mean for that to go wrong either, but you know I did it for her."  

"Please come back."

“Stevie.”

“Doll.”

“Please don’t forget me and all the things we did”

"Stevie, you know, this is a very beautiful place" you commented. 

"I want to be with you."  

"No, you must be with our daughter, you know, I met your mom, she's a lovely woman."  

"What?"

 He wasn't sure what he'd heard, those words only saw one of his greatest fears, now he had no choice but to accept what had happened in the battle.

 “I have to go.”

"No, don't go, please, " he pleaded.  

"Tell Sarah about me."  

"I love you too much, never forget it."

 You hung up, you knew time was up, you smiled, at least you'd been given a chance to say goodbye.  

Steve dropped to his knees crying, give anything for you to come back, though he would tell Sarah about you.

 Everyone

 On the board all the tension went away, they had already decided what to do, all the roughness had been filed, and from now on they would be a team.  

They decided to go visit Y/N's tomb, they put the flowers on it. 

 "She wanted us to continue," Nat said.  

"I found this," Steve commented, showing a note. 

"Me too," Wanda replied.  

They all got the same note, none had no idea who had written it or exactly what it meant.

 Thank you for what you did, I hope you liked the gift.

W.

 "Are you sure it was the best?" asked Ulana.  

"They deserved a gift for saving the universe and she had not been able to say goodbye to everyone she loves," Uatu replied.  

"You're right."  

Now they could get on with their lives.

[dukeofonions]

How do you feel about the upload schedule for sanders sides? It’s been 10 months since the last proper episode. Also, I read a post on another blog about how they feel him hiring his friends leads to a slower production process due to messing around. Thoughts on that? Also also, do you think that since YT is his job, he should upload more? these are things I am thinking of tonight.

Not to worry anon, these are things I think about a lot because I have nothing better to do with my life. 

Seeing as I joined the fandom shortly after Can Lying Be Good? came out, the longest my first wait for a new episode wasn’t that long actually. The video came out in February but I didn’t see it until early March. The next episode Logic vs Passion, came out in April. So it didn’t bother me much. And right after that we got Crofters: The Musical so I was on the hype train and fully invested. 

Then we didn’t get another episode until October which left me a bit antsy, but I was still excited anyway and didn’t mind the wait. Embarrassing Phases then came out that December. So we got two videos within a fairly short time span. 

SVS Part 1 came out that next year in March, again, bit of a wait, but it’s becoming standard now that we get a couple of new episodes every few months. No biggie. We get Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts in June, Asides in November... This newest one just came out now in May... 

Yeah, if we hadn’t been given that Asides, we would have had almost a year-long wait for this next episode. And we did have a year-long wait for the follow up to a video that honestly, kinda made me think “Why do we still care about this? I’m not really invested in the “Wedding or callback” dilemma anymore” which, when you’re trying to tell a story using this medium, the last thing you want is your audience to lose interest in something that’s meant to be this big of an event within the series. 

And what do all these videos have in common? Each one uses some kind of gimmick. CLBG and SVS had them filming in different locations, Logic vs Passion, LNTAO, and POF involved them using different mediums to tell the story (animations and puppets) Crofters and DWIT both had music in them, and Embarrassing Phases had the costumes. 

Before that, the videos were all fairly simple. Maybe a few gimmicks here and there, but none of them went to the same level as these other ones. 

Basically, what’s happening here is that with each new episode, the team is trying to bring something new to the table each time, and their solution is to use a different gimmick. Which, in theory, is fine. But I honestly believe these are doing more harm than good. For one thing, not everyone is a fan of these gimmicks and while sometimes they can be used to benefit the story, other times they just take over and the writing suffers for it. 

The main reason (as far as we know) that this newest episode in particular took so long was because of the video game animations they wanted to use, but after watching the video besides a few instances, they really weren’t necessary to have. 

And I plan to make a whole other post on this topic so I’ll leave it there for now. In regards to Thomas hiring more of his friends to work on episodes? Again, it’s good in theory, but I for one have noticed a certain change in the episodes since they brought on more writers, which officially started with Embarrassing Phases where Thomas said in the live stream following it that it was the first episode he really didn’t work on and it shows (but more on that in another post) I do think the other writers are talented people, but maybe all of them shouldn’t be working on Sanders Sides. 

Each one is gonna have their own preferences for each character and ideas that may clash, and if these were simply coworkers, it wouldn’t be as much of a problem shutting down ideas that go too far. But when they’re literally all your friends, you have that connection to them and you don’t want them hurt, which can make saying “No” to certain things much harder. I’m not sure exactly how the writing team gets along so I can only speculate based on what I’ve learned from live streams. 

As for their inclusion making the production for videos longer, I can also understand that seeing as you’re more inclined to goof off with people you’re close and comfortable with, especially when you’re not in a professional setting. Which, in Thomas’ case, he’s usually at home with his friends around. This automatically makes things more casual and one would feel more relaxed and not worry too much about being serious. Which, when you’re trying to get things done, can be a problem.

I’m gonna briefly use my own workplace as an example: I work in fast food, and all of my coworkers get along really well. We like to joke around and have fun, especially when we’re slow. But as soon as things start picking up it’s like a switch is flipped and we go from “Fun mode” to “work mode” just like that. Sure, we might continue to quip and joke with each other. But we never let it take precedence over the work that needs to be done. Some of our coworkers, don’t understand this. And when the rest of us are trying to work, they’re still goofing off. And in fast food, if just one person isn’t doing their job, it can bring everything crashing down. We have customers waiting in line for almost ten minutes, they get angry, they get mad at us, even if it’s just because of one person not doing their job. But we don’t have time to argue. We accept their complaints and do our best to fix the issue and get things moving again. 

Obviously, what Thomas does is very different from working in fast food, but Youtube is still his job. Logan puts it best in LNTAO, “Thomas made a commitment to regularly sharing content. He must be held accountable.” 

Now in fast food, we are most definitely held accountable by the customers if their food isn’t delivered in a timely manner or isn’t made to their liking, and we as the providers of said product, have to heed their words and make the product to their liking in order to ensure their satisfied. If they’re not satisfied, they won’t want to pay. Simple as that. 

Thomas, on the other hand, is never held accountable by his fanbase. Now I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for him to have such a supportive fandom, heck I wish the customers I had to deal with on a regular basis were as understanding. But honestly, the way the majority of this fandom blindly follows Thomas and holds him on this golden pedestal is... 

Kinda creepy... 

He is surrounded by constant praise, hardly any criticism, and I believe that’s why we hardly get content from him. 

Quick note, I understand that part of why this video in particular was delayed due to the pandemic and I respect their decision to not put themselves or anyone else at unnecessary risk for the sake of a Youtube video.  However, plenty of Youtubers are still making and posting regular content on their channels despite this. To me, the main issue with Thomas’ content as of late is that he tries to put too much into what should be simple things. I understand wanting to give your audience the very best, but honestly, in my opinion, his newer content isn’t as good as the older stuff. It all had just such a simple, wholesome charm to it, that’s now been replaced with a fancier production and flashy editing. Not only that, they tend to start way too many projects at once, which result in never getting done.

You guys remember when they said they’d be bringing back Story Time Madlibs? That was last year, and the most recent thing we’ve heard about it is that they want to add more to it by including animations made by different people! Which will only increase the amount of time it will take to make what should have been a simple video that shouldn’t have taken more than a couple of weeks to film, edit, then post. 

I’m not saying they shouldn’t try new things, but they’ve been trying to do so much that we end up getting nothing, and the fandom just seems okay with this. 

At the end of the day though, this is just one opinion from a random faceless, nameless person sitting behind a computer screen. I doubt anyone on Thomas’ team will see it. I doubt a majority of the fandom would agree with any of it. But with more people starting to voice their opinions, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes too much of a thing to ignore. And if it becomes apparent that there’s a group in the fandom that is being ignored, that’s definitely going to cause problems.

Because in short if someone is out there, producing content for people, and they have complaints about it, then if those complaints are legitimate and can be fixed, then I believe it is the responsibility of that person to consider what they are saying and do their best to heed their words. If no one is ever criticized, then how will they ever improve? Criticism is not a bad thing. And once people get that out of their heads I think things will go much smoother for this fandom. But honestly, that’s just wishful thinking at this point. Sorry this answer got so long, I really should have just made a whole other post about this. XD