#also they both want irish dick so bad it makes them look stupid i guess

[goddisposez]

these two being my favorite most specialest boys in the terror kind of baffles me because they have next to nothing in common. except that i know they both come loud and abundant

[calypsoff]

Forty Seven. Part 2

Slowly opening my eyes, the sun is shining all in my face and interrupted my sleep. Lifting my head up seeing Robyn stood at the balcony doors just looking out from them, she could have actually just stepped out, but I guess it is time to wake up for me. Clearing my throat as I stretched out, Robyn turned away from the balcony to look at me “morning” Robyn’ sweet little voice, she sounds so cute “morning” I sound bad “did you purposely leave the curtains open so the sun could wake me? I think you did” Robyn made her way over to the bed “erm, maybe. Well I want to enjoy Jamaica, so I don’t want us to sleep in even though I am so tired” she sat down on the edge of the bed, placing my arm behind my head “I’m tired too, that is down to sex” placing my other arm just on Robyn’ lap “you naked under this?” She nodded her head, which made me grin “I mean I’m not going to tell you that we going to have sex now but I’m just smiling, how are you feeling?” Playing on the ties of the robe, she is making me so happy right now “erm, ok. Well I am not sick I guess but I am ok I would say, but I haven’t ate. I did read into it and they say it’s the first trimester that this happens, but it will get better eventually, I think this baby is a pain in the ass already. But this baby is very different from the first time around, I feel like the first baby was a different sex, they say boys are the weaker sex so it may have been a boy. I am just guessing now” nodding my head “don’t say that what if this is a boy again and he can hear you” I shushed her “you’re so annoying, get up so we can have breakfast, dramatic as hell” Robyn got up from the bed, I smiled so wide just watching Robyn walk off, she is really the love of my life.

I have been to some beautiful places thanks to Robyn of course, I have many more places to visit but I am experiencing such beauty in the morning in Jamaica “better than Barbados this” I knew to say it because Robyn is about to get her flag out “don’t make me get you kicked out of my country” I snorted laughing “you took the bait, I am joking of course. But it’s beautiful right? You have to admit to that at least, you can’t just front like that and say it ain’t beautiful when it is” Robyn is not happy that I said that “Barbados is better and you’re not allowed back in my hometown now” I snorted laughing “you’re unbelievable, but if we talking this is my roots though, Jamaican and I have Irish” Robyn is not interested, cannot say anything bad about Barbados “you a whole white man Chris, so now you Irish. But is this the first time here for you, I mean if this is my hometown well where my heritage is from, I would be here. I am so glad I was bought up on the island, imagine having to live that life in America” now she is being petty “imagine being an exchange student” staring at Robyn and she just stared at me “you are an asshole” she laughed “but my mother never really bothered with it, well my dad so we just left it alone. And yeah, I am so light skinned but I’m black and people struggled with that, I’m sure you probably felt the same, because you’re light skinned as hell too” me and Robyn both are “I did get bullied for things you wouldn’t think, like my skin colour, my forehead. My nose and it was stupid, but it happened and now I think back to it these bitches just wanted to be me, you know. And now I’m working with puma, I am working with fashion designers, I am being called beautiful for things I did get bullied for, I wish no child gets that because I could have been depressed and you know, killed myself about it and it didn’t help when I got to your ugly ass school, but you were there. I am so glad you came late that day, I was your punishment” Robyn giggled “I hated it, I was like I have to walk around with you. I was so mad but then I got to know you, life is good” I grinned, I am happy “be honest, like we are adults now. Did you actually like me when you first time saw me?” I know I did, I was shook “when I first time saw you Chris, you’re eyes just lit up seeing me. I think at first with your attitude because you was so moody with me I was like oh god no, this boy is not going to be nice to me so I just followed behind you like a lost child and then after you loosened up I fell for you because you was so kind to me” rubbing my chest smiling “I was an asshole, I don’t blame you on that” I don’t know how she could like me.

Drinking champagne for breakfast is what kings do, because that is what I’m doing “what? You’re jealous because you can’t” pouring the champagne in the glass, noticing Robyn recording me so I drank from the bottle. Moving the bottle back “this is how kings drink in the morning” holding the bottle up to the camera “you’re stupid” Robyn moved the phone down “you posting that? You know you can see my ring in that, or don’t you care?” Robyn shrugged so that means she don’t care “I am putting it on my story, mornings in Jamaica. That is what I put, I mean I wouldn’t post me, I look terrible without makeup” placing the bottle on the table “also no more drinking, I am not dealing with you drunk” Robyn pointed at me, I saluted her “gotchu, alcohol hits hard in the morning” not even going to front, I feel it. I let out a burp “no more” she said again “I won’t, relax. So I was looking because we need to do pregnant friendly things right? So I set up a few things for us to do, private of course” I won’t say it to Robyn, but Jamaica is better than Barbados, the views here are amazing and the hotel is so much better too. I won’t say it again because she will ban me from her country altogether “that’s cute, and Dennis sent me a link. He’s already processed the photos and selected ones he thinks we should post, he says that these are magazine worthy, but I said I am not selling them, it’s not what I want. I will post these because I want too” she has a point; I agree with her with that but if she can make money out of it, why not.

Stood behind Robyn as she is scrolling through the pictures, these some cute ass pictures right here “you seen them all?” Putting my tee on “kind of, getting there anyways. You know what, since putting that video of you being a fool I have had people ask me are we married, I haven’t confirmed or denied it though, I just feel like I want to keep it a secret. I feel like when people see you happy they want to bring you down and I don’t like that feeling. I just want to keep us quiet, I don’t know, what you think?” She asked for my advice “why do you care if nobody is happy for you? Talk to me, what is going to upset you the most?” Walking around Robyn, pulling the chair out and sitting down “I do care when it upsets you, they will attack you and say things, I mean you have felt the shit with just dating me but marrying me, I just feel like people will attack my bubble. I mean there will be more happy people than anything, but I don’t know, what do you think? I will listen to you, please tell what to do?” Turning the laptop to me, seeing the picture of Robyn and I sat together at the evening event, so much love in Robyn’ eyes and I love that about our pictures, flicking through to the ones where we are walking down the hall “Dennis wasn’t lying about these pictures, these look like they come from a wedding magazine, I mean I for one look so good” Robyn grinned at me “how about I post your face for Puma, get you modelling” shaking my head “I am just saying, I think let us enjoy our honeymoon and then we will think about posting it. I think we should do it, but let’s forget this and go and have some fun yeah?” I think Robyn is really in two minds with this “ok, we will wait it out, but I want these pictures framed at our house, they are beautiful” nodding my head agreeing, she is right, they are beautiful.

We finally left the hotel; I mean after ages we finally left the hotel room and are in the car to go to my little adventure I did for us “why does your dick look big in the shorts” lifting my butt up and pulling my shorts down “better? These are baggy as hell actually” Robyn placed her hand on my thigh “I better enjoy wearing my bikinis because I won’t be able too soon” Robyn poked her lips out at me “I know, but it’s all for a good cause. Do you feel your body changing?” I asked, I mean she may feel it “I do, I feel it a lot. You like my bikini though, you like the clear swim wear I got on over my bikini” nodding my head “I do, of course I do. I mean I am always going to say yes” I chuckled “I would hope you would tell me the truth, oh we here?” Robyn pointed out “we are, you feel nervous yet?” Robyn turned away from me to look outside the window “we are rafting!?” nodding my head “I mean not us but someone is going to do it for us” Robyn looks so excited “oh my gosh, this is amazing, so quiet around here too” the car came to a halt “that is because I booked it off, I said I want it to be private for us from this time, I paid extra for this. You excited?” she seems it “I am, this is amazing. I can already imagine how beautiful the scenery is going to be. Can I leave my bag in the car? I can yes, I mean I don’t want to drop my things in the water. You have your phone?” nodding my head “yeah, he is waiting here for us” I pointed out.

I feel like all the workers came out for us which is funny to me “welcome, I am your raft captain miss Rihanna” he shook her hand first, I mean who am I, the spare part of course “thank you” she shook his hand “and you sir, welcome” he gestured for us to get on the raft “I am about break my ass with these slides on aren’t I” I didn’t think this through “you want to get on first” I gestured “no, you get on first and you help me on, you hold it steady” the guy is just watching us go back and forth “I step on first, hold it still. Don’t be scared” he laughed, I could do it but I want to be careful with Robyn. She is sensitive and I don’t want anything happening to her, he waved us on. It was nothing for him, he just jumped on the raft. Stepping on the raft “oh this moves” the guy got his hand out to me “come friend” grabbing his hand as I stepped on it “see, you’re ok. Just be easy” turning around “I do not trust you oh my god, get the fuck outta here Chris” Robyn laughed “I trust the captain more then you” I feel offended now “Robyn quit playing, come” holding my hands out to her, this guy just come up to Robyn “hold my hand, I won’t let you fall” she is such a pain for this, she held the guy’ hand and then mine as she came onto the raft “shake this thing I will scream” shaking my head knowing damn well I will not be doing that, helping her to sit down on the raft.

Placing my arm behind Robyn, this river is so beautiful. I made the right choice in this because it’s so beautiful and peaceful “I am still annoyed that you didn’t trust me, if like I would let anything happen to you” Robyn shushed me “I was thinking what if there is crocodiles in this water” side eyeing Robyn “now why would you say that? Stupid, there won’t be” there is rafts coming back down the river slowly approaching and are going by us, there is a little girl on the raft with her parents, her parents stared so hard and then realised “Rihanna, oh my god” the lady said ever so loud, Robyn’ fault she is busy waving at the little girl “hey baby” the little waved back as the raft went by “well this is fun” there other rafts going by us have clocked on now “why couldn’t you just not wave at the girl” I questioned “she was too cute, she waved at me first Chris, oh my gosh. How adorable was she” she was cute “but still, you got your fans wanting to swim over to us now” I pointed at them “we love you Rihanna, oh my god” licking my lips just watching them just take pictures, Robyn did respond by waving “quit it now, it’s about us” this was really her fault in this, she caused the drama.

We reached the end, which is a nice meal out here, it’s actually very peaceful here with nobody around besides the workers “please picture together with your wife” I looked dumbfounded “how did you know?” I questioned “your honeymoon, see you forgot. But we want to put you on the wall with all the famous friends” letting out an oh, he is right I did say honeymoon “Robyn, come. Take a picture for the nice man here” I pointed, Robyn is busy looking at souvenirs “I want some things, you got money on you. I left my bag” digging into my pockets “I do twin, let’s just take a picture for him” Robyn made her way over “of course, Captain has been so good and I felt more safe with him then my husband” she playfully rolled her eyes “whatever” placing my arm around Robyn and held her close as he took the picture “you want a picture with her too” I asked, I think he did “oh please” I knew that, moving away from Robyn. Taking the camera from him “thank you” holding the camera up “smile” taking the picture of them “thank you and I wish you both all the blessings on your new journey for the three of you” he took the camera from me, Robyn and I just stared at each other confused “what?” I said confused “how?” he smiled “I sense things, her aura. You both will have a happy and blissful marriage. I see the future; it will be a girl you both have. And I see you both having three kids, maybe four or maybe that forth is because you lost one, but I sense four but it’s vague with the fourth. Happy memories for you both, thank you for these pictures please sit and eat, I will wait for you at the bar” he smiled walking off, this guy has took me out, what the hell just happened.

[phoebenavarro]

My Doctor Sleep Review

Here’s the short version:

If I like The Shining movie but haven’t read the book or Doctor Sleep, will I like this? YES. It pays homage to the film beautifully but doesn’t rely on it too much, and it creates a beautiful story of it’s own.

If I’ve read both books, will I like this? Well, here’s where things get complicated. It’s definitely still worth your time for how beautifully Ewan McGregor and Kyliegh Curran bring Dan and Abra to life, but you will also probably find yourself incredibly frustrated with the third act.

My more complicated thoughts are under the cut. (Spoilers, obviously!)

Overall, the film does a wonderful job blending the differences between the movie and the book, although overall it felt to me like they were privileging the film and mostly just giving nods to the book, so that book fans could be happy. And as much as that frustrates me as a book fan, it worked! I can absolutely believe that in a world where the Overlook didn’t explode at the end of The Shining, that this would be what happened.

I guess my biggest issue was that I wanted them to mostly ignore the movie. They could keep the Overlook standing, sure, that was just fine with me, but I wished they’d followed both books’ canon basically to a T. And for the first two acts that is pretty much exactly what they did! It was almost beat for beat the book. And the things that they did change in the first two acts, I loved. I loved their take on Billy as a character!

And well, let’s talk about the good for a second, shall we?

Every actor gave a STELLAR performance and was perfectly cast. I knew I was gonna love Ewan McGregor and he went above anything I ever imagined. Abra was amazing too! She really captured Abra, her rage, and her love for her family. Rose was great, the only thing that kept catching me off guard was that she kept changing her accent and I’m not sure if it was intentional? Like there were some scenes where she sounded Irish to me, and other scenes where she sounded completely American. It could’ve been that she was Irish with the Knot and American around rubes, but it didn’t seem purposeful enough. Minor characters that really stood out were Billy and Crow Daddy, especially Crow. He never struck me as particularly interesting in the book, but he was very engaging in the film. The little boy who played Danny killed it as well. He merged the catatonic Danny from the film and the talkative Danny from the book in a way I didn’t think was possible.

Also Azzie the cat was perfect and I’ve never been so happy to see a cat in a movie in my LIFE.

The scene where Dan fell into his role as Doctor Sleep for the first time was really wonderful, and that was the first time I cried during the movie. His speech at the AA meeting, about Jack, absolutely WRECKED me. I was straight up sobbing. Because it was the first (and only) time in the movie (or the Shining movie) where you see how much Dan loved his dad, and how he’s been struggling his whole life with continuing to love a man who hurt him and his mom, tried to kill them, and that’s just as much why he drank as trying to drown out his shine. THAT’S Dan Torrance right there, and a hint towards the Jack Torrance from the novel, the one who loved and died for his family. THAT is why the Shining is a tragedy, that’s why I cried for an hour after I finished reading Doctor Sleep for the first time. It showed that Dan was finally moving on, he’d found friends and community, he broke the cycle of abuse and alcoholism.

And from there, we go into another scene of Dan helping someone pass as doctor sleep. It’s such a stark contrast to the first time. He’s comfortable with it instead of horrified by it, he’s HAPPY to help these people, to comfort them in their final moments, because he knows what that fear feels like. He’s been trying to escape that fear since the Overlook. So he sings with him, he’s not afraid to use his shine to look into his mind to make it easier for the man. For the first time in his life his shine brings him something other than pain. And I loved it.

The scene with the baseball boy was WAY more brutal than I expected it to be. Like I was genuinely surprised that they really showed the Knot torturing him like that, and all the blood. It was harrowing, and it worked so well, because before that the Knot was pretty likable. Sure, they killed kids, but we didn’t SEE it, and they’re cooky and fun! And then there’s THAT, and we see that they are monsters. I loved Abra making murder appear on Dan’s wall, and him seeing REDRUM in the mirror. Dan’s face was CHILLING.

We also GOTTA talk about Dick Hallorann. He was really perfect, and I loved how excited Dan was to see him the last time they talk. And well, I heard him tell Dan “ka is a wheel” which FLOORED me. The last thing I was expecting was a Dark Tower reference! I’m not 100 percent sure he said it, I might have misheard it, but it works. I mean, in the book, King describes many things as a wheel, and that’s a running theme in his work, so it makes sense. And that’s really what this story is about, the wheel of ka turning and the mentee becoming the mentor.

This is a scene I have slightly complicated feelings about, but I mostly liked it, and that is Dan’s conversation with Jack’s ghost at the bar. I loved how they paralleled Dan to Jack but also highlighted how Dan is his own person, and in many ways succeeded where his dad failed. I gasped incredibly loudly when Jack referred to the whiskey as medicine, and called Dan a pup, cause that is something from the book that (correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been a while) he never says in the movie. And ohhhhh god, the way Dan cried. The way he got mad and said “Don’t you want to know what happened to your family?” and how Jack finally broke character. It fucked me UP. But it was Jack from the movie basically saying fuck you to Jack from the book, which like, I GET it. It would feel really weird if Nicholson!Torrance showed ANY warmth or love to Dan in any way, but still. I mourn book!Jack Torrance every day of my life. (But would Nicholson have been able to pull it off? Probably not. So maybe it’s for the better. Steven Webber, on the other hand, from the miniseries, is MY Jack Torrance.)

And here’s where we start to get to the bad, or the things I have very complicated feelings towards.

Well first of all, there was genuinely no fucking reason to kill off Billy OR Dave. They don’t die in the book! And it’s not a great look that they killed off the two men of color who are on the good guys’ side. It’s as stupid and pointless as killing Dick Hallorann in the Shining. But I guess we gotta continue that legacy right? /s If they wanted to get Billy and Dave out of the way for the final confrontation, there were other ways for them to do it, like they did with Abra’s mom! Crow could’ve just drugged Dave. He still could’ve told Abra that her dad was dead, to manipulate and fuck with her. And hell, Dan could’ve made Billy stay behind, to take care of Dave, or to wait for Abra’s mom to get back and fill her in on what’s happening. They definitely didn’t need to fucking DIE, Mike! You don’t need them to die to raise the stakes, nothing raises the stakes like watching a child be tortured and murdered.

And well, in concept I really like Dan and Abra having their showdown with Rose in the Overlook. And uh, “waking it up.” It makes sense, I mean, he already uses the Overlook ghosts against the Knot in the book, so why not? And I liked that part. I think Dan walking around the hotel went on a little too long, like they just wanted to show off that they rebuilt the overlook set. I liked the continued parallels between Jack and Dan, but again, it highlighted how Dan was different. Like when Dan is on the stairs holding the hatchet, he’s actually playing Wendy’s role, while Rose is Jack in that instance, walking up to him with her arms out, falsely trying to placate him. She has the power in that moment. And her toying with Dan? MM. I liked that a lot. I’m a sucker for whump. And her finally getting destroyed by the Overlook ghosts was SO SATISFYING.

I had kind of thought that Dan would find a way to harness Jack’s spirit and sick her on Rose, and that would be able to be Jack’s redemption, and then Jack would be able to finally move on. It would’ve made sense, since in the book he uses Abra’s momo, but in the movie she’s not really important. Tbh I think that would’ve been the best way to let Dan finally find peace with Jack, to give us something like that moment in the book where Dan sees Jack at the end and Jack blows him a kiss. But whatever, it’s fine. I think the conflict between Dan and Rose as it was was pretty great.

If it ended with that, I would’ve been VERY happy. Maybe there could’ve been a bit of a scare with the hotel trying to possess Dan and Dan being able to fight it off, and Abra and Dan leaving, letting the boiler explode. And then maybe Dan could’ve collapsed from blood loss outside the hotel, giving the audience a bit of anxiety over whether Dan will survive or not. But it didn’t end there.

I take issue with the very premise that the ghosts would be able to possess Dan like they did Jack. Jack had so many weaknesses, more than just the alcoholism. Jack was insecure about everything in his life, his career, his role in his family, his talent of an artist, but Dan doesn’t share those insecurities, just the alcoholism. ALSO Dan’s been sober A LOT longer than Jack ever was. He’s much more skilled at resisting that temptation. Maybe back before Dan hit rock bottom and started fixing his life, I would buy it, but not Dan at this point in his life. ESPECIALLY since they couldn’t get him when he was a kid, when his shining was so much stronger. Why would they be able to get him now? Dan has a lot of similarities to his dad, but he is his own person.

But whatever. Let’s assume that it’s possible for the hotel to possess Dan. I loved that they played out some of the scenes from the Shining novel, because the climax of the Shining has my favorite moments from the whole novel. I gasped when Abra said “You’re not my Uncle Dan. You’re just a mask.” And I ALSO gasped when he said “let’s unmask then,” (or something to that effect) because I thought they were gonna do MY FAVORITE moment from the Shining, when the hotel bashes Jack’s face in with the mallet and we see a different ghost after each hit. As cool as seeing that would’ve been, I’m glad it didn’t happen, cause Dan would’ve been gone after that. And oh god, the hug between Dan and Abra. It hurt. And Abra remembering the boiler, knowing it’s gonna blow.

And well, finally seeing the Overlook burn was VERY satisfying. In a lot of ways this film was both a love letter to Kubrick and a “fuck you” to Kubrick simultaneously. I wish they’d leaned into the “fuck you” side more because honestly, WHY should we keep celebrating him or his films? Especially with the Shining. The pure disrespect he showed to the source material, and to Stephen King, and of course, the way he tortured Shelly Duvall on set.

I think my feelings of betrayal come down to this: I was COMPLETELY blindsided by Dan’s death. I TRULY did not expect Dan to die. I thought that would be departing from the book too much, and honestly I didn’t think King would’ve gone for that. Like, I started to get worried when he got hit in the femoral artery, but, perhaps foolishly, I kept holding out hope that he would be okay. And I know the whole point of the end is that yes, he’s dead, but he’s good, but he deserved to LIVE and die of old age. The Overlook should not have been given the satisfaction of getting him, even if it was destroyed in the process.

I did like that as he died Wendy was there with him, since in the movie she’s the one who actually loved him. But mostly I was in a state of mixed rage and sadness, because Ewan SOLD that performance. He was perfect. He IS Dan Torrance. But I did not come to the theater to watch Dan suffer Jack’s fate. I came to see Dan finally move on from his trauma and embrace his shine!!

Ultimately, It feels like the movie undermined it’s own climax. The whole film was building to Rose’s defeat, which is then COMPLETELY overshadowed by the hotel trying to use Dan to get Abra. It focused too much on the Shining, and forgot that Doctor Sleep is DIFFERENT. Dan is not Jack. Abra is not Dan. There are parallels, of course, but they are different. And why undermine your more interesting villain? The ghosts of the Overlook PALE in comparison to how interesting and engaging Rose is. It was a great nod to fans of the book, and as a book fan I enjoyed it, but I think it made the film weaker.

If Flanagan wanted to do the ending scenes of the Shining, he should’ve just remade the Shining, for God’s sake! And actually, I would’ve liked that very much, Ewan McGregor could make a VERY good Jack, as shown in the scenes when he’s possessed by the hotel. I actually would love to see adaptations of The Shining and Doctor Sleep where the same actor plays Jack and Dan. I think that would produce fantastic performances and really force the actor to highlight the differences between the characters. And anyway, we need a new version of the Shining. Steven Weber and Rebecca Du Mornay are PERFECT in the miniseries but it’s just that, a network television miniseries, and it’s aged pretty poorly. A new Shining remake is gonna happen eventually, if Kubrick’s estate ever gives up those rights.

And finally! They ignored the BEST PLOT TWIST in the book!!!!! That Dan is literally Abra’s uncle! They kinda set it up, too, which is extra frustrating. I wonder if it was present in an earlier version of the script and got cut? I had a sinking feeling that they weren’t gonna do it when Dave was killed, but like, without that reveal, the audience is gonna be left with a lot of questions. Namely, WHY was Abra drawn to Dan? And of course, it’s because he’s her uncle, but in the movie we never find that out. I wouldn’t be surprised if it shows up on Cinema Sins or whatever for being a plot hole, which is frustrating, because it’s NOT. It’s just a lazy oversight in the film. I also wished we got to see more of Abra’s parents, and Dan meeting Abra’s mom! But I guess they couldn’t include any of that in the movie since they basically cut Momo out completely. Still, that in itself is frustrating. Abra’s momo is so important to Abra in the book. In general it kinda felt like they elected to focus more on Dan and his relationship to Jack than Abra and her family, when in the book they’re pretty evenly balanced!

It’s frustrating, because the first two acts of the film are nearly perfect. And the third act has a lot going for it too, but it is just not the way to handle the ending, in my opinion.

My final feelings are: Dan Torrance is not Jack. That is the whole POINT of Doctor Sleep. And he did not deserve to burn in that hotel. He deserved to finally live out his life in happiness and with the family he’s built for himself. And that will always upset me.

[narryblossom]

Sorry to bother, but I'm new to the Narry fandom. Your blog has really taught me a lot. I was wondering if you have a rec list of your favourite Narry fics? The longer the better. Thank you for being awesome!

No bother at all! I’m glad to be of service, Narry truly is a wonderful ship. Let’s talk about fics! Here are 50 that I love:

if I got a condo on a cloud then I guess you can stay at my place by orphan_account – 8.3k, pretend boyfriends au

Harry can’t just show up to his sister’s wedding where his ex boyfriend is going to be without somebody with him, I mean he can’t just loiter around the chocolate fountain. So that’s why he enlists Niall’s help.

Turn all your grey skies blue. by mogigraphia – 9.7k, kid fic

Niall’s a new single dad, and Harry’s his daughter’s teacher at the daycare.

The Wedding Singer by littlecather – 27.5k, strangers to lovers

It’s not that Harry doesn’t believe in love, exactly - he just thinks that romance and marriage and all that comes with it are overrated. Niall has sung at over a hundred weddings, and is determined to prove Harry wrong. After all - there’s a reason for all those songs.

Frenemies by alteringegoism – 8.1k, enemies to lovers

Harry hates Niall. Niall hates Harry. But Harry wants Zayn and in order to get to him, he’ll have to go through his best friend Niall. Harry will just have to kill Niall with kindness. That’s if Niall doesn’t kill him first. Oh and Liam and Louis are getting married.

When I Close My Eyes, All the Stars Align by FallingLikeThis – 11.6k, soulmate au

A Beauty and the Beast Au in which Harry’s only beastly qualities are his hair and his bad attitude and Niall arrives to spy on him for his sister but ends up staying for so much more.

Lips As Red As Mistletoe by runawaymind – 9.2k, friends to lovers

It’s near Christmas time at Hogwarts and these damn magical mistletoes seem to chase Harry wherever he goes, and it’s a riddle of its own as to why Niall is close by every time one of those stupid plants seem to bloom out of nowhere.

take me over the edge by jamesniall – 6.7k, smut

“The bathrooms are in the end of that hallway, turning to the right.” Harry says, voice slightly lower and deeper than what Niall was used to hear out there in the golf grounds. “Go in there and wait for me.” Harry finishes, softly slapping his cheek, cleary not intended to hurt Niall, but still enough for him to feel it in his gut, making blood rush faster down to his cock. It feels heavy, more than halfway hard in his briefs and Niall has to bite down a whimper when Harry opens his mouth again.

“And don’t touch yourself.”

Or, Niall is Harry’s caddie for the first day at The Masters, at least that’s how it starts.

baby, you don’t know what it’s like by peerpressure – 31k, strangers to friends to lovers

Harry tries really, really hard to only see Niall as a friend.

It’s not working very well.

Because Niall is simply amazing and Harry is so stunned that he’s even allowed in his presence. And also because he wants to suck his dick. Just a little. But he also wants to cuddle him and maybe share food and fight for blankets and press cold feet against each other and shampoo each other’s hair.

Harry just wants to be with Niall.

(In which Louis is a good friend, Liam is kind, Zayn is always stressed, Niall is the new guy and Harry falls in love)

friends just sleep in another bed by littlecather – 39.2k, canon complaint

“Just - I’ve just been hanging out with Harry. A lot - slept over a couple of times.”

“You slept over?” Dougie echoes.

“Not like that,” Niall rolls his eyes - even though it kind of is.

Tour starts; Niall and Harry grow closer.

must have been the mistletoe by countthestars – 7.3k, friends to lovers

“Hey, Harry,” Niall says, voice low and conspiratorial. “Look up.”

“What?” Harry whispers back, because there’s a lot to look at up there, blinking lights and boughs of garland and… “is that mistletoe?”

“'Fraid so,” Niall confirms. His lips twitch like he’s fighting a smile, but he keeps a straight face as he taps his finger against his mouth. “It’s bad luck not to kiss someone underneath mistletoe.”

let’s spin the world around by jamesniall – 4.4k, college au

“Superlatives are just about putting the word más before an adjective or a sustantive. Like más grande which means bigger, or más fuerte, which means harder” Niall says, looking pointedly at Harry and Harry is 99% sure he’s doing it on purpose.

“más rápido means faster” Niall continues, “Are you getting hard from this, Harry?” and if Harry would have had something in his mouth he would have spilled it all over Niall’s face.

Or, Harry learns spanish thanks to Niall’s dirty talk.

Maybe You’re My Snowflake by pintsandguitars – 20k, college au

Harry Styles loves the snow. Niall Horan loves the stars. And somewhere between snowflakes and night skies, they start loving each other.

A head for business and a body for sin by flickerbyniall – 2.1k, au

He first time he caught Harry’s eyes was about an hour ago, the boy was eating some strawberries from the buffet table around the corner, oblivious to the fact he was standing out in the crowd with his rebellious look.

or Harry goes to a Gala and can’t take his eyes off the boy wearing a leather jacket.

Searching by littlecather – 12.1k, au

Niall has been hired by a magazine to track each employee’s searches on Google. Harry uses Google a lot.

wide open spaces by outwardbound93 – 18.8k, au

“Well,” Harry says at the end of the day. The sun sets late in Texas like it doesn’t want to go, clinging to the scrubby flatlands with the last reaches of striped sunbeams. Niall leans on the broom and watches Harry fidget with a bundle of notecards he has to fill with peoples’ heartfelt sentiments. Love notes, apologies, get-well-soons, Harry’s got them all. “Will I see you tomorrow, then?”

Niall props the broomstick against a shelf holding a bunch of little green plants he doesn’t know the name of. The shop is bursting with green leaves, colorful blossoms like pops of candy mixed with buttered popcorn at the movie theatre, and at the heart of it, Harry. Harry, with his languid speech and that one curl that stubbornly sticks out on the side of his head that Niall always wants to twirl around his finger and that smile that arrives in a flash or unfurls slowly.

“Yeah,” says Niall. “I’ll be here.”

Relatable Content by makesomelove – 12.3k, au

Harry glances down at the floor, then up at Niall, lip curling up in a bashful smirk. Niall wants terribly to kiss him. The opportunity is right there in front of him, and it’s the worst idea in the entire world.

It would reach the press. He’d be in the news - CEO and Founder of BeepFodder Niall Horan Sexually Manipulates Underlings. His mum has an alert for him on her computer and she’d see it and have a heart attack. They’d lose sponsors. Even if they didn’t publish the footage, it’d still exist. It all still would have happened. Harry would know Niall likes him. The thought of the most vulnerable spots in his heart being captured on film and shown to millions of people makes Niall sick. Going through with this in a legitimate way would ruin his life no matter what.

just a little rush, babe by theamazingpeterparker – 10.3k, vampire au

“You know everything they say about Dracula? All that stuff I wrote in my paper?” Niall asks as he rips one of the glazed donuts in half. Harry hums. “It’s all bullshit. Real vampires do tomato juice cleanses and do yoga. Fuck.”

Harry’s a vampire who’s awful at parallel parking, being scary, and being alone. He meets Niall walking home alone one night.

this could be the end of everything by basementhero – 20.4k, mythological au

The Norns remembered each cycle of time and would recount the tale if asked: Harry and Niall were not the first of their kind, nor was it the world’s first attempt at existence. Some cycles were short while other stretched on for tens or hundreds or thousands of millennia. It was always the same in the end, though, no matter how many intervening years it took to get there. Baldr always fell; the giants always attacked, and the realms of Yggdrasil—the world tree—were always plunged back into the void after Ragnarök, waiting for rebirth.

But not everything was so set in stone; at least, it didn’t seem to be.

(or: Niall and Harry are immortal deities, but even gods are subject to fate.)

We Could Be The Ones Who Matter by jibrailis – 17.5k, canon complaint?

Harry and Niall both get weirdly intense about things, and by things, they mean competitive Scrabble.

Uncertainty Principle by jibrailis – 81k, au

He didn’t expect this: Australia, the vineyard, and Niall who won’t look him in the eye.

lovesick boys will write you lovesongs by narryblossom – 15k, past relationship

When Niall walks through the gate at Dublin Airport at four in the morning, jet lagged to hell and back, he feels like he’s home. He thinks he’s never felt so happy to hear an Irish accent, and he certainly has never been so happy to have no fucking clue what he’s doing.

(Well, he has some idea of what he’s doing, he just isn’t sure it’s going to work out the way it does in his head.)

(An AU where Niall dreams of his lost love and finds himself going home to search for him.)

let yourself be enchanted by acastle – 23.8k, hogwarts au

“Which means, I’ve got a Charms post to fill. And do you know who he suggested for the job?”

Harry doesn’t trust the wide beam on his face, and Louis goes on, “Well, he’d told me about this bloke. Class of 2011, student rank number three but top at Charms of his class, Hufflepuff, prefect, atrocious Quidditch player, but he makes a great treacle tart-”

“He suggested me?” Harry says blankly.

Along the Way (Something Changed) by catrinahart – 25.2k, au

For the last five years, singer turned actor, Harry Styles has had Niall by his side to help manage his incredibly crazy life. They met and quickly became the best of friends. Then people start asking questions, making Harry think, what do they see that he doesn’t?

baby, you make my heart beat faster by countthestars – 9.8k, au

Niall’s into Harry. Harry’s into taxidermy.

move your world a little closer by countthestars – 45.8k, alien au

In which Niall is a bit lost, Liam and Louis can’t seem to get their shit together, and Harry is literally out of this world.

(aka: alien narry)

and days gone by by outwardbound93 – 20.7k, college au

Niall catches himself glancing at Harry in the backseat. The tops of buildings are lined with Christmas lights like the iced piping on a gingerbread house, and the crisp sharp light of a winter night makes Harry’s skin look warm and soft.

riverina by outwardbound93 – 13.2k, royalty au

Harry looks up at Niall, the sharp, almost antique lines of his face thrust into regal beauty by the stadium lights. Harry’s ribs press against the size of his heart.

Or, a royalty!au where Niall’s a prince and Harry’s the reporter that writes about him.

and you know in your heart it’ll be worth it by outwardbound93 – 12k, mythological au

“At home, we sleep on the,” he points at the ceiling. “The top, so we don’t float away.”

Niall laughs. “The ceiling, you mean?” He traces the line of Harry’s dimple. “I figured you slept inside a castle, like in the pictures of what Atlantis looked like.”

“I doubt that’s accurate,” Harry says. He palms Niall’s thigh, running his hand down to his knee, where he pauses to feel out the unfamiliar bones with his fingertips. “Otters sleep holding hands so they won’t drift apart, did you know that?”

“What, are you an otter?” Niall asks.

“No, but it might not be too bad,” Harry says. He lays his head to rest on Niall’s chest, over his heart. His fingers tangle with Niall’s in the sheets, his skin tanned and smooth, Niall’s pale and scarred.

“Eh,” Niall says. “It’s not too bad, I guess.”

let me photograph you in this light by storhan – 29.6k, college au

“I like that one,” he says, turning the camera back around to show Harry the picture he took earlier that day of Niall reading. Harry also finds himself smiling, he quite likes that one too.

“Me too,” Harry says softly.

Or, Harry’s a photography major and Niall is his muse.

something so magic about you by storhan – 14.7k, kid fic

Niall’s a single father and Harry’s his neighbor who never seems to wear a shirt.

i sing you like a song i heard when i was young by disequilibrium – 17.7k, magic au

Niall never thought he’d find his way back home. But then, the wind works in mysterious ways: a stranger at the door, an impossible escape. A whisper that changes everything, forever, again.

St-st-stuttering by asaprockme – 8.8k, college au

In which Harry has a stutter that he just can’t control. Niall doesn’t mind.

If we dream forever, whatever happens next by brokendrums – 6.3k, au

Niall meets Harry on the train and can’t stop thinking about him. Then one evening when they get off the train, Harry invites him back to his.

let’s start right now by dramaturgicallycorrect – 29.6k, au

[Harry’s a professional cross country road trip driver, and Niall is his latest fare.]

What’s A Fella T’ Do? by iwanna_seeyou_undoit – 35.6k, pretend relationship

Pretend!Boyfriends AU where Harry doesn’t own any trousers that don’t have holes in them, Niall is the only one who can drive, and they definitely aren’t shagging.

I’m not trying to stop you, love by littlecather – 27.4k, college au

Niall and Harry are the only ones left on campus over the Christmas holidays, and even though they’ve never really hung out before, they manage to spend most of the week holed up in Harry’s room, together.

the piano man’s playing some old melody by littlervoice – 5.6k, pianist au

Harry is a piano player. One day his neighbour puts in a request.

Do you want to come to the gym? by maxette – 3k, strangers to lovers

Niall is Harry’s personal trainer: a romantic comedy without the middle forty-five minutes of misunderstandings.

running around in love again by mozartspiano – 2.5k, college au

they meet at a coffee shop on valentine’s day. it’s all a horrible cliche.

place your head on my beating heart by takesmeunder – 5.3k, college au

That’s usually how they fuck, with Harry on his hands and knees with Niall doing him from behind. It’s impersonal and something they both enjoy, but something twists in Niall’s heart at the thought of doing it that way tonight.

You Feel Like Home (You’re Like A Dream Come True) by roughvoiced – 16k, pretend relationship

Niall sighs and unwraps the scarf from around his neck. “A plus one,” he repeats. “I need one.”

“For what?” Harry asks, watching as Niall unzips his coat, letting it slip off his arms and drop to a rumpled pile on the carpet before slipping off his shoes and striding over to Harry, plonking himself down on the sofa beside him and snuffling up under his arm, waiting for Harry to pull him in close before he speaks.

“Greg’s wedding.”

or, the au where Harry offers to be Niall’s plus one and ends up with a whole lot more than he bargained for.

This Time Tomorrow by colbyjack – 36k, dancing au

Even under the yellowing light of the streetlamp above them and the faint, milky glow from the moon; even in a vacant street in a bustling city and the entire span of states farther than the hills’ green border; even under the rain, Harry thinks Niall is the most wonderful person he’s ever met—the very ‘you’ in his journal.

*

A story in which a contemporary dancer/ballet teacher and a Latin ballroom instructor fall in love within the first year they meet.

Another Auld Land Syne by colbyjack – 6.2k, this is probably my favorite narry fic of all time i think of it constantly and idk why ok bye

“We drank a toast to innocence We drank a toast to now. And tried to reach beyond the emptiness, But neither one knew how.”

-

Harry and Niall are old flames who eventually find each other again, of course, because the universe doesn’t want to give up on them.

stacked against you by siempreniall – 3.3k, college au

Niall hates the library. All of the computers are always taken, the stacks make him feel claustrophobic, and his short attention span has never given itself well to studying anyways. The cute boy at the information desk makes it all worth it, though.

i want you so much (but i hate your guts) by siempreniall – 6.2k, secret relationship smut

Niall doesn’t know what he’s still doing there. This isn’t really how he likes to spend his Sunday nights. He doesn’t want to be yelled at and made to feel guilty for something that happened months ago. All he wants is to leave, really.

heartbreak hero by acastle – 30k, enemies to friends to lovers

“So you want me to hear your side of things?“

“Yes, that would be a start.”

“Fine,” Niall steps forward, so he and Harry are practically nose to nose. “Come back tomorrow at 8, so you can air your side of the situation on my segment.”

In which Niall is a love guru of sorts on the radio, who thinks love is the bane of the world, and Harry is a fuckboy who’s lovely, surely, but is not the best boyfriend in the world, not by a long shot. His girl breaks up with him while on air with Niall, and Harry isn’t having that, so he forces Niall to help him win her back.

(Alternatively, Niall’s Guide On How to Win Back the Girl, patent pending. It should work, in theory.)

hold me closer tiny dancer by countthestars – 3.6k, strangers to lovers

Dancing isn’t really Harry’s strong suit. Niall doesn’t really care.

Home is Wherever I’m with You by ziamfcks – 5.3k, strangers to lovers

Niall is blind and Harry works in a coffeeshop. It’s love from the start.

[Click this link to see drabbles from tumblr I’ve rec’d]

So there’s that! I’ve read soooooooo many fics over the years and I’m sure there are a ton that I’ve forgotten. There’s also a narry only fic rec blog called @thenarrystore that posts every day so that’s a good place to find more!

[squishyharold]

could you maybe possibly write a drabble of niall cuddling harry in the morning ? i love your writing ! 💛

oh gooddddd I know this took ages and I’M SORRY but… at least it’s longer than a drabble! (and cheesy as fuck) I hope you like it

Niall wakes up with a massive hangover. He doesn’t even remember how much he had to drink last night, all that he knows is that it was way too much. There’s only so much alcohol his irish blood can take without passing out and that absolutely happened last night.

The other thing is that he’s not in his own bed. It’s too warm and too soft and too cuddly and - Oh. There’s a body wrapped around his and for a second Niall worries that he did something stupid last night. Until he recognises the familiar shape and scent that makes him relax instantly. It’s Harry, just Harry. His best friend since he can remember, the best friend he’s been in love with ever since he figured out what love is. It’s a bit pathetic really. He can’t even remember a time when he didn’t trail after Harry or hadn’t had mental breakdowns whenever he dated a new girl or boy. But at the same time he never had to worry about Harry leaving him behind. Even after a good date he’d climb through Niall’s window and spend the night with him talking about shit.

Sharing a bed is nothing new either, but this is new. Harry usually doesn’t wrap himself around Niall like this. Sure, they sometimes cuddle because Harry is a big old sap but this… this hits home almost too hard because it’s exactly what Niall always wanted.

Harry fits into his arms perfectly, with his head tucked underneath Niall’s chin and his fingers clutching at Niall’s back. Their legs are entangled in a comfortable way and Niall did not expect it to be so nice. From experience with other girls he knows how stiff his limbs get after a while. It usually doesn’t take long for his knee to act up too. But here, with Harry, he’s completely relaxed and it’s pure bliss. Fuck, he still might be a little drunk. Which is why he doesn’t panic as much as he usually would. He tightens his grip around Harry instead, with one hand in his brown curls, and almost faints when he hears Harry let out something between a sigh and a purr. He pushes his nose up under Niall’s jaw and takes a deep breath before he stills again.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Niall’s heart is hammering and the heat underneath the blanket only seems to increase. For over twenty years he has daydreamed about this, has jerked off to the mere idea to be this close to Harry. He remembers his mum telling him how he was only four years old when he declared he would pack his bags and move with Harry into the tree house. Playing house with other kids ended up with Harry and Niall as the parents suspiciously often. Everything led to this, he’s sure of it.

Only Harry doesn’t want him. Harry has dated girls that looked like super models and boys that came straight out of the movies. He’s not interested in dyed hair and crooked teeth and bad knees or legs that look like toothpicks. Harry always wanted a knight in shining armour, a warrior princess. He wanted a fairytale and that’s why his relationships usually never last longer than a few months. So Niall would be an idiot to make a move on Harry, for so many reasons that he already listed. But his biggest fear would be to lose Harry, to make things awkward between them.

Sadly his hungover brain forgets 80 % of his worries and doesn’t have the usual resolve with finally having Harry in his arms. So instead of pushing him away and silently making his way home to cry about his lonely love life, he stays. He stays and lets his hand trail down Harry’s spine to the hem of his shirt. It’s just a bit of skin he touches but it’s enough to get hooked and with a deep breath he angles his head to kiss Harry’s forehead. It’s nice, so nice in fact that he places another kiss on Harry’s temple. Unlike Niall he doesn’t smell of alcohol but of the shower gel and shampoo he usually uses and it completely fucks with Niall’s heart and dick.

His lips wander down to Harry’s cheek bone, his jawline and then he has to gently put Harry on his back so he can reach his smooth neck. Harry’s hair is fanned out on the pillow and it takes Niall’s breath away how beautiful he looks, how lucky he is to– wait. Waitwaitwait.

He isn’t lucky at all. Because Harry isn’t his.

Panic climbs up his throat and he feels like he’s going to vomit, but not from the alcohol. What is he doing? Harry probably had a bad night and didn’t want to be alone, maybe he was looking for comfort and Niall has nothing better to do then touch him inappropriately? He feels sick of himself and carefully removes himself from Harry’s body so he can pick up his shoes and leave. But he doesn’t even get his feet out of the bed before he feels a hand wrap around his biceps to hold him back.

“You leaving?” He hears Harry’s lazy drawl that sounds even worse in the morning.

Niall turns his head and realises with horror that Harry knows exactly what just happened. Shit.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts out.

Harry frowns. “What for?”

“I shouldn’t have… I mean. I was so drunk yesterday and this morning just… I’m sorry. Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Well… then you would have stopped. Didn’t want that.”

“You… what?”

“Niall. Do you remember anything that happened last night?”

“Uh…” He knows there was a lot of alcohol involved. And then Louis was passing around a blunt. Niall had never tried that before. There was also Harry and this big guy who was probably five years older than him but ‘so experienced Niall, I bet he has a massive dick’. Niall remembers being furious and… “Oh.”

“You were so adorable,” Harry mutters and pushes the blanket away to stretch out his half-naked body. Oh god, Harry is just wearing a thin shirt and his tiny shorts, how didn’t he notice?

“Shit, I completely ruined your date, didn’t I?” Niall rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “You wanted to get laid and I ruined it.”

“I wouldn’t call it ruined. Do you really not remember?”

“I tried to punch him, didn’t I?”

“Emphasis on ‘tried’. He punched you first.”

“So my head isn’t hurting from the beer?” Niall asks and stares down at Harry. He has his legs slightly parted and both arms behind his head, wearing one of his stupid grins.

“You told him he didn’t even deserve to look at me. And then you told me you’d save me and tried to carry me out of the house bridal style but you couldn’t even lift me up. So I convinced you to come to my place and sleep it all off. But you wouldn’t let go of me and asked me out on a date every few minutes until you fell asleep.”

“Oh my god,” Niall groans as the humiliation starts to seep through. It all sounds very familiar. When he tries to get up again to flee to the bathroom, Harry stops him again but this time he pulls Niall back onto the bed completely and rolls over to straddle his hips. His hair is a mess and the way he smiles down at Niall makes him look divine.

“I said yes every time you asked me, Niall.”

“What?”

“I said yes.”

Niall tries to find his breath. “Why?”

“Because I’m in love with you, obviously.”

“Oh…” Niall lets that ridiculous and wonderful statement sink in. “Oh!”

Harry hums and lets his hands rest on Niall’s chest. “I admit I didn’t know that I’m in love with you until yesterday. Until you tried to carry me because you said that I deserve a fairytale.”

“Oh,” Niall repeats and wishes he could come up with something better.

“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it before, but I didn’t think we could be best friends and in love, you know? And I didn’t want to lose you as my friend. But then you said–”

“ ‘There’s no one better for you than me…’ ”

Harry smiles softly now. “Yeah. And you’re right.”

“Shit, did I try to suck your dick?”

Harry throws his head back and laughs and Niall wishes he wouldn’t because it makes him move on Niall’s crotch. “You did. I guess you meant that no one can suck my dick ‘better than you’ but I figured it applied to everything else as well.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“You said that already. What are you sorry for?”

“Well, I… I would’ve liked to do it differently. Sober, most of all.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t quite the fairytale I imagined. We definitely can’t tell that as the story of how we got together.”

Niall swallows hard and carefully places his hands on Harry’s thighs. “Then how would you like to tell it?”

“Hmmm… I’d say that you were the most romantic idiot ever and kissed me awake like I was sleeping beauty… and then I opened my eyes and realised that I’ve been in love with you all along.”

“All along? Then why did it take so long?”

“Because we’re idiots.”

“Sounds just like us,” Niall laughs and carefully sits up with Harry still in his lap. He circles both arms around him and tips his head back. “So, as a little thank you for waking you up… could you kiss my headache away?”

Harry hums. “I can try.”

The kiss is anything but wonderful, it’s dry and in an awkward angle, his own mouth tastes like death and Harry’s hair gets stuck between their lips. Still, they smile into the kiss and Niall carefully drags them both back into the sheets.

It’s definitely not a fairytale and very much the hangover he’s been feeling all morning. But it’s the best hangover he ever had.

[tomioneer]

yyh rewatch number 11 WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY KIDS NOW

been a few days bc I am BUSY AF irl, and I made it through the dr ichigaki fight--just barely without tears--by watching with a friend. now we’re at episode 35 and watch straight through to 42, and I can’t help but blog about it because HELLOOOO, NINJA BABES

guess who’s here

it’s jin and TOUYA BITCHES

kurama recognizes them, I wonder if he's actually fought them before

I remember that hiei and kuwabara both get taken out of the fight, but can’t recall if genkai does as well

what I figured out when my friend asked why koenma knows genkai’s younger face is that since she was on a mostly human team in the past, she was probably one of the special guests at the tournament? and thus a member of a team koenma technically owned 

it’s upsetting that toguro didn’t seem to recognize his EX GIRLFRIEND.

jin speaks so quickly I can hardly understand him

it’s like merida in the new wreck it ralph trailer, just.. irish

ps JERRY FUCKING JEWELL again, for those keeping track

I’m gonna go ahead and mark yusuke and jin down as a ship now before I lose control

also, jin and touya

ship count: 8/400

I should really make a list of whose’ who in that count lol

oh yeah, here’s the medical exam, I remember it

her hair is gorgeous I would marry him if she asked

WOW she doesn’t even take kuwabara just genkai and hiei

a barrier master

and she’s just

oh man she took her coat off and I melted

STOP ELECTROCUTING MY KID BABE

epilepsy warning for this whole arc

koenma you’re a jerk

jin decides to fuck off because he doesn’t like fixed fights, bless him, he’s a terrible shinobi

demon makeup cool. not cool? the FUCKING RACIST image in the back during the explanation. I SAW that feathered headdress, togashi!!

kurama isn’t BOTHERING to attack because he’s observing

and hiei tells us why kurama is going to be fucked

jin is so done with this subterfuge bullshit

the audience is eating this up and touya speaks at last, my love, my darling, my short spiky blue beautiful man

I would kill to be able to put on makeup that perfectly, that easily

I know how kurama finishes this fight, but my friend can’t remember. I love it, this is so good.

“with his hair??” she asks, shocked

“only an amateur depends on arms and legs for victory”--kurama, with a whip coming out of his hair

“How is he controlling that?”

“With his spirit energy?”

isn’t there more behind why this guy is trying os hard? they’re not being blackmailed are they

oh.

there’s more, the patterns--

fuuuuck

and of COURSE his reiki is sealed, and as long as he’s standing--goddamn

wait

touya fights an immobilized kurama?

I don’t remember that!!!! son of a BITCH

“how will yusuke’s shattered team survive” asks the narrator. “This is bad” says yusuke

this is not good

I hate that kurama seemed to observe that gama’s paint was made of blood but didn’t like. pay attention to it?

friend just punned: “Touya is a cool dude”

I’m screaming she hates puns

one of the black black club just asked sakya why he is sharing “Ass space” with demons. fucking. what.

why does the committee want yusuke so dead, when they invted him? I guess that’s the whole REASON they invited him, ugh.

genkai tries to be optimistic for the first time in this series, and kiei shuts her down immediately

ohhhh the shinobi just need attention so they keep getting jobs

koto freezes to death, it’s very sad

touya somehow thinks a theif can’t keep running.. and seems to be right

“running like a baby is perfectly brave if the odds are uneven enough”--Koenma’s words of wisdom

such an inspiring leader the spirit world has

doesn’t he smudge the seal withhis own blood HEY he does

I am remembering these things seconds before it comes into play

touya’s attacks are honestly amazing

koto is a bit twisted

kurama plants something in himself, and then that’s what holds him immobile for the next guy right?? the big one yusuke kills

why doesn’t touya know who he is??? I thought, if they called him a traitor, we could ASSUME they knoew who kurama was??

why was touya blishin’?

the ICE SWORD man oh man one of my old old old old mary sues had that attack

oh yeah there it is, the arm wound, he plants it in that

“son of a frickin bitch”--yusuke urameshi

Koenma: Why do I get the feeling our most intelligent fighter is about to do something incredibly stupid?

Kurama: Let me do what I must... *does something stupid*

touya decides they’re friends now, so he wants to kill kurama painlessly

is

is touya fucking DEAD

oh good he’s alive

but also it’s not good

oh but okay kurama won

three more then

I know kurama vs. bakken is terrible

kurama also thinks they’re friends

faint heartbeat

amazing

ah, bakken

I hate him

“a fighter standing in the ring cannot be removed agains this will. as will cannot be determined...”

hatred

hiei is ready to go to war for his man

how is that motherfucker even a shinobi

yikes that last shot of the ep is absolutely awful

yusuke promises the audience that of he goes, it will be with a bang. I remember more of a whimper when sensui kills him.

who is that last guy on team masho? I remember bakken, and it’s clearly jin, but the third one, I can’t remember

BAKKEN JUST BITCH SLAPPED KOTO

yusuke is my BOY

I love him

this “kill the traitor” count is just. horrible

kuwabara is STILL out for the count

kick his ass baby boy

yusuke is my hero

why is uh. bakken sweating so much

mist made from his own uh. sweat. that’s pretty nasty

yusuke: I hate saunas.

I don’t remember this fight taking even this long???

yusuke has such great eyelashes

boy is already so like. pumped to fight jin. 

yusuke just used eighth grade science”you can get on your hands an knees and start begging.and maybe, just maybe, I’ll listen.”--yusuke urameshi

KILL HIM YUSUKE 

he’s ready to commmit murder and it’s amazing

jin didn’t even flinch

“That’s a pretty good fight”

kurama’s gorgeous and also awake

he’s making plant jokes and I hate it

I STILL DONT REMEMBER THIS RISHO BITCH

look how great these kids are. 

I DID remember about ruka’s barrier thing healing hiei

no way jin can’t fight first if he does how does yusuke fight him SECOND????

“If I win my whole team’s screwed and if I lose I have to fight again.”

jin is amazing. seriously. also, can these boys get married please?

you know I’m a multi shipper right 

well that was a fun match, sad it’s over

jin is just

such a happy guy I love it

they call them brothers but really the chu thing is much closer to that

“ass space” bbc guy now claims to pull the tournament committee by his the “ass hairs”

so quick!!

kuwabara seems insistent on the fact that he is “spiritually aware” in situations where he lacks that talent to actually observe

yusuke lands exactly one punch and jin floats up to let the impact wear off

“Hey, I needed that!” says yusuke when his spirit gun is deflected by jins wind 

jin thinks he’s very funny

he’s right

why is boan lashing out at kuwabara, when she’s supposed to be TREATING HIM

somehow Jin with his irish accent--or rather, Jerry fucking jewell  with his irish accent--isn’t triggering at all lmao. maybe because this is how I prefer him

yusuke’s hero eyes, at it again

how many reigun shots does yusuke have left?

jin’s so good at fights I love him so much

“something always comes ot me at the end” say yusuke about his battle stretegy

hiei

genkai, sarcastic: you truly havbe a way with women, hiei

JIN IS HUMMING LOVE HIM

yusuke plans to try the spirit wave, somehow forgetting his shotgun move???

shizuru once again knows exactly what’s up

bless the kuwabara family sixth sense

it’s so weird how genkai is speaking in third person

have I mentioned how much I love Jin’s eyes? 

yusuke call shimself a freak because he enjoys fighting

okay we’re back to who the fuck risho is???

if jin’s the official captain---

oh my god I just screamed when risho revealed himself and dropped my laptop holy shit

like a gut punching, throat-tearing godawful scream. 

“IT’S YOU!!!”

oh my god I don’t reember anyting about him other than earth and rocks and how much I HATE HIM

does he fight kuwabara? yukina just showed up trying to get in to see the tournament, does she heal kuwabara for this fight?

touya comes up. does risho attack him? that would explain why I hate him

yusuke defends koto, who he doesn’t like

hiei

i love

these two children are so angry

lkjlkjdasdflkjsadfkhjsdfasdf;lkjsadf

shizuru finds yukina and recognizes her from watchign that video, bless her

girls helpin’ girls

kuwabara was never technically ruled ineligible to fight, and I hate life

ginger son, don’t do it

he is so goddamn fucking helplessly sacrificial

yukina, go inside and heal your goddamn boyfriend

yukina is looking for her brother, oh SHOCK

shizuru intimadates an entire crowd of demons

her legs oh my god

just wait kuwbara, your girl with healing powers will be there soon

kuwabara is doing his best

keiko gets hit on by a bouncer and murders him

shizuru once again takes out a demon

can kuwabara shizuru marry kino makoto please???

risho is a dick

koto is clearly a sado-masochist

hiei GET OUT OF THERE

ruka is just like. a fetish indulgence of the artists. I know she’s hot but how long are they going to draw this out? 

koto: I’m goign to take the ocunt now, so everybody make sure to tell me how I’m doing it wrong, okay?

savage

START the DOUNT KOTO, he’s OUT of the ring

shizuru WRECK THEM

oh yukina has ptsd flashbacks when she runs into toguro

sakyo lets shizuru escape bless her

kuwabara prepares to sacrifice his ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE and becomes telpathic?? bless

kuwabara can’t imagine what to say to yusuke, who means so much to him, goddamnit

yukina is in the stadium, babies

YOU’VE GOT TO BELIIIIIIIIIIIIEVE IN THE POWER OF LOOOOVE

IT GIVE MEANING TO EACH MOMENT

IT’S WHAT OUR HEARTS ARE ALL MADE OF (just look inside)

oh my god

amazing

“That’s my girlfriend!”--Kuwabara Kazuma, aged fourteen

yusuke is astounded by his boy

koto isn’t counting either of them

SPIRIT SWORD

GET IN THE RING 

damn kuwabara

I can’t beleive he did it that’ s an highly unlikely triumph

hiei

“She’s... really here.”

Kuwabara bonds with yukina while keikpo and keiko FINALLY talk

KILL HIM BABY GIRL

pls get married

t;dr I would marry shizuru in a heartbeat if I didn’t know she was meant for sailor jupiter

shoutout to @batmares!!! thank you ever so much for joining me today for the Urameshi vs. Ninja arc of the dark tournament saga!

[racingtoaredlight]

THE DEGENERATE’S GUIDE TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV WATCH ‘EM UPS 2021: WEEK THREE: THE END OF THE BEGINNING OF THE END

We’re still really in the early middle of the year. Sure, Oregon looked powerful against Ohio State but it’s possible Ohio State just hasn’t found it’s footing yet and the Ducks just peaked. Shit happens like that every year, more or less. You can pretty much count on Bama to win 10 and not much else. That only applies to football. The continued stratification of social classes, the accelerating collapse of natural systems that support human life, the complete lack of representation the average American in our freedom loving democracy- you can count on those things. Football is different, though: wilder but more ordered while somehow being better and stupider than real life all at the same time. It’ll be fun to all more or less die together, I think. So let’s get to the games!

I forget the business reason for having more major OOC games that actually stay on the schedule but we’re reaping the rewards for now. You know the rules: eastern times, average vegas odds at the time of writing, prediction abilities are bad on a good day, there’s supposed to be a weekly RTARLsman post but I haven’t done a real one in about 21 months, formatting errors up to and including listing the teams incorrectly aren’t worth pointing out because nobody’s coming to fix them anyway. I don’t expect professionalism out of you so don’t ask it out of me.

Saturday, September 18

Matchup                      Time (ET)        TV/Mobile

NIU at 25 Michigan     12:00pm            BTN

It’s easy to say Michigan is due for a self-inflicted dick kick the trick is to predict ahead of time when exactly the embarrassing, season-unraveling loss will come. I don’t think it’s today but I also don’t have a lot of faith in Michigan to cover a 27-point spread.

UAlbany at Syracuse     12:00pm        ACCN

I find it hard to believe Albany’s football program is in such disrepair that they don’t even warrant a line against Syracuse. I think we’ve had five 1AA-over 1A upsets so far this season. I couldn’t possibly watch this game but I’ll keep an eye out for it on the ticker. Syracuse is bad enough to lose anywhere to anybody.

  Tennessee Tech at Tennessee   12:00pm    ESPN+/SECN+

I should probably find a site that lists the good games at the top of each time slot instead of this free for all.

Western Michigan at Pitt     12:00pm    RSN/ESPN3

Pitt has actually looked pretty good so far but they don’t have an AP ranking yet. I can’t say much for this matchup so I just assume the Panthers cover the -14.5 and get a little number next to their name next week.

15 Virginia Tech at West Virginia     12:00pm    FS1

This is actually of some interest to me. Virginia Tech is ranked 15 on account of beating UNC but it’s not hard to imagine that neither the Hokies nor the Heels are actually worthy of a ranking. WFV is favored at home but still might trigger some couch burning and “upset” talk with a win. The Mountaineers are this week’s new collection from Homefield Apparel so expect some magic!

Boston College at Temple        12:00pm     ESPNU

Old Big East rivalry game. Nobody can look away.

Chattanooga at Kentucky         12:00pm     ESPN+/SECN+

I thought Chattanooga had moved up to 1A but there’s no line listed for this game so I guess not.

8 Cincinnati at Indiana           12:00pm            ESPN

Indiana was good last year and maybe that was just a once-in-a-generation fluke but I’ve still got visions of the Hoosiers toppling Cincy and ruining their theoretically possible playoff run. I’m assuming the Bearcats won’t play anybody else better than IU this year but that’s just a guess backed by historical precedent which isn’t a thing you should really use to gamble on college football.

16 Coastal Carolina at Buffalo    12:00pm      ESPN2

Chanticleers vs. Bulls, the eternal struggle writ in football. I don’t think the CSUNY school is particularly good this year but Coastal being favorited by 14 points in an early kickoff road games still feels like a trap to this sharp.

Michigan State at 24 Miami (FL)     12:00pm    ABC

Surprisingly to me, this is the fifth all-time meeting of these two schools. Just as surprising to me, Miami has never before lost to Michigan State. Weird but makes sense if you think about it, this will be the fourth out of five matchups played in Miami. As near as I can tell, Sparty tried to use the Canes the same way Notre Dame used to as an in-season bowl game but bailed on the idea when they kept losing. To be fair, Sparty’s record in bowl games isn’t that much better than their 0-4 against Miami. The last time these two met was 1989 when Percy Snow was on his way to the Butkus Award and Miami was on their way to a third National Championship. The Hurricanes team was pretty well-stacked but is probably the least remembered of their title teams. It did feature future Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy and a freshman OL that would go on to be September 2021′s hottest head coach in cfb, Mario Cristobal. This year’s Miami roster might look good in 30 years but right now they’re a little messy. D’Eriq King is only 8 months removed from ACL surgery (if you watch the game you will hear about this several hundred time) and has so far looked bad on his throws and a touch slower than he has in the past. Which makes sense given the timeframe but does not generally bode well for Miami’s prospects for this season.

Nebraska at 3 Oklahoma         12:00pm         FOX

If Oklahoma is a real title contender they are gonna lay Nebraska the fuck out. I’m scared of the 22.5-point line just because I don’t think the Sooners defense could stop Bishop Sycamore but it’s not crazy to think Nebraska can saw their own dicks off to the tune of a four-score loss.

New Mexico at 7 Texas A&M     12:00pm       SECN

Fuck. Jimbo must be stopped. I hate this Aggies team. UNM isn’t the team to do it but somebody along the way has to throttle aTm or this season is going to become a plague the likes of which we haven’t seen since... well, now, I guess.

UConn at Army                 12:00pm         CBSSN

Reading this matchup aloud five times in a mirror will kill college football.

Southeast Missouri at Missouri      12:00pm       ESPN+/SECN+

The southeastern part of the state will travel to within the bounds of the state for a classic football game somewhere within the borders of the state.

Minnesota at Colorado            1:00pm         P12N

I’m not completely disinterested. It’s weird and doesn’t have any national impact. Not much more you can ask for in a game you probably can’t find on your TV.

Nevada at Kansas State          2:05pm          ESPN+

Hell yeah, this is trash. Nevada is a road favorite! Take KState all the way.

Purdue at 12 Notre Dame         2:30pm          NBC

Notre Dame has looked a little bit of a mess so far but they’ve won both of their games. Not the worst position to be in. Purdue has also won both of their games. I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet but it seems like the Irish are riding the razor’s edge just asking to be pushed off. Keep an eye on this score, maybe the good people of the world will have something to celebrate in the late afternoon/early evening.

Kent State at 5 Iowa                 3:30pm         BTN

Iowa’s fifth? It’s too fucking early for this shit.

Florida State at Wake Forest     3:30pm         ESPN

0-2 Florida State goes on the road as a 4-point underdog to face 2-0 Wake Forest. Mike Norvell is really out on a plank right now and I am not sure he can safely find his way back to the deck.

Georgia Tech at 6 Clemson        3:30pm          ABC

Clemson’s got talent all over and Georgia Tech sucks but I’m still not sold on DJ Uigalelei as an NFL savior type of player. Or a national championship winner for that matter. He reminds me of EJ Manuel.

Baylor at Kansas                    3:30pm             ESPN+

Baylor is not good but the betting public is getting hip to the “bet against Kansas every chance you get” strategy so the line has jumped four points already this week and I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes it another couple before kickoff to get to 20+. Which is still probably too kind to the Jayhawks.

1 Alabama at 11 Florida           3:30pm           CBS

Bama has only had a couple of practice games against lower division opponents but they look as complete as any team I can remember from a talent/scheme perspective. This is a pretty good test and the 15-point line seems a little over-confident on the road in the Swamp. If the Bammers really do overwhelm the Gators then you can pretty much start planning on their return to the CFB Playoffs.

Tulsa at 9 Ohio State                3:30pm            FS1

Every week of every year I struggle to keep Tulsa and Toledo straight. Toledo is the one that almost beat Notre Dame last week. Tulsa is the one that lost to UC-Davis in week 1. Ohio State may be troubled on defense but that only matters against other top-tier teams. Having the line moving in Tulsa’s direction is absolute lunacy. If the Buckeyes can’t cover 25 points then they’re in real trouble. For now my guess is that Oregon is just better than we realized and OSU is going to be fine.

SMU at Louisiana Tech             3:30pm         CBSSN

This is my kind of counter-programming if nothing else is close. Not sure if there are some ponies down to have points shifting towards the Karl Malones but I think SMU is up to a two-score win.

LIU at Miami (Ohio)   ��                3:30pm          ESPN+

Sure, whatever you say.

USC at Washington State         3:30pm            FOX

At first I thought this was USC-UW and I was ready to emotionally invest in the drama but it’s just Wazzou. USC giving up on a playoff spot in week two to sit around and wait for Urban Meyer is going to be fucking hilarious when the Trojans end up getting jilted at the altar.

Idaho at Oregon State                3:30pm           P12N Oregon

Pac-12 Network Oregon. This implies the existence of a P12N Washington. I’ve seen the main network on TV before. It was fine if a little bit too “featuring Matt Leinart” for my tastes but seeing the weird way they’ve splintered their content is giving me a deeper understanding of west coast football fans that absolutely hate the Pac-12 Network.

Bryant at Akron                           3:30pm           ESPN3

Tune in to see some guy named Bryant touring around Akron.

Elon at Appalachian State          3:30pm           ESPN+

I hope App State runs this grifter out of their campus on a rail. The more bad stuff happens to Elon Musk the better off all of humanity will be.

Delaware at Rutgers                   3:30pm             BTN

Fuck me, this is just all the pain in the world masquerading as a sporting event.

Eastern Michigan at UMass         3:30pm          FloFootball/NESN+

I don’t have much interest in this game but seeing that it’s available on the Nintendo Entertainment System Network is intriguing.

Colorado State at Toledo              4:00pm           ESPNU

Toledo blew a huge opportunity last week so they’re ripe for a letdown but all signs point to Colorado State being incredibly bad at football this year.

Sacramento State at California    4:00pm          P12N Bay Area

P12N Bay Area probably reaches cable subscribers in like Vallejo and nowhere else in the entire world. When I put it that way it seems like exactly where this game belongs but it’s still not a thing that should exist. I mean the network but it’s true for the game also.

Northwestern at Duke              4:00pm              ACCN

Disgusting.

Mississippi State at Memphis        4:00pm          ESPN2

I think Memphis can knock down the SEC’s middle tier but I haven’t gotten a clear idea of either of these teams yet.

Georgia Southern at 20 Arkansas       4:00pm      SECN

Arkansas rose up last week because of the weird insistence by Lice Dad that playing a middling Texas team was the biggest game in school history. Arkansas has played in the SEC CG more than once. They’ve won a national championship. How does a guy that’s paid to be an SEC homer even make such a dumb statement and keep his job?

Ball State at Wyoming                  4:00pm             Stadium

I watched the CFB 150 episode about the Black 14 this week so now it’s all I can think about for Wyoming football.

Arkansas State at Washington       4:15pm            P12N

What the hell happened to UDub to fall back to this lowly spot? Did Chris Peterson just fall on his ass in recruiting?

Murray State at Bowling Green       5:00pm           ESPN3

This sounds like a sixties movie title for a spy agency thriller that could be mistaken for a comedy when not viewed through a then-contemporary lens.

East Carolina at Marshall                 6:00pm         Facebook

ECU is looking like a doormat and Marshall might be really good again but I would never in good conscience ever contribute to facebook’s good fortunes wittingly.

Fordham at Florida Atlantic             6:00pm             ESPN3

I want to love this game but I actually hate it.

Old Dominion at Liberty                    6:00pm           ESPN3

There is going to be so much COVID passed around this stadium.

Middle Tennessee at UTSA                6:00pm          ESPN+

Beautiful, horrible, unwatchable mess. This is where you go to feel like you are alone in the universe.

Troy at Southern Miss                        7:00pm             ESPN+

There’s also this.

Grambling State at Houston               7:00pm             ESPN+

And this one.

Utah at San Diego State                      7:00pm            CBSSN

This is real entertainment. Twitter will be all over the next listing so I’ll be FOMO’d into watching that for a while but SDSU-Utah on CBS SN might be where I first dreamt up the concept of degenerate football. It was either that or a UFL game featuring a QB duel between Daunte Culpepper and Jeff Garcia.

South Carolina at 2 Georgia               7:00pm             ESPN

I’m waiting for Georgia to bumble. I’m counting on it. Georgia-Clemson was a classic early season game that somehow helps both teams in the rankings all year but ends up actually being a showcase of how shitty their offense are rather than a referendum on great defense.

UIW at Texas State                             7:00pm              ESPN3

I think UIW is a union trade school or something. So I guess I’m rooting for them.

Charlotte at Georgia State                 7:00pm              ESPN+

Charlotte’s semester in Atlanta would shape her life in ways that nobody could have envisioned when she left her family’s home in the late summer following her failed attempt to run a bakeshop.

FIU at Texas Tech                              7:00pm             ESPN+

Maybe I actually hate college football.

Florida A&M at USF                           7:00pm             ESPN+

USF could lose this. Worth checking on if you see an upset alert.

Furman at NC State                          7:30pm            RSN/ESPN3

Body bag game.

Utah State at Air Force                     7:30pm             FS2

Kind of neat degenerate game but, depending on the uniform choices, could be a bit monotone and tough to follow.

Virginia at 21 North Carolina             7:30pm             ACCN

The South’s Oldest Rivalry! Like most of the previous 125 meetings of these two school’s, this year’s game will mainly decide who sucks worse. Of course in the ACC Coastal being slightly less bad than your opponents is the winningest strategy of all. Go Hoos!

Stony Brook at 4 Oregon                   7:30pm            P12N

Great scheduling to follow up an emotional game with a body bag. I’m not being facetious, this is right where you need these games.

UAB at North Texas                          7:30pm           Stadium

Not gonna open an app or whatever to watch this but I bet it’s fun for off-brand college football.

Central Michigan at LSU                  7:30pm             SECN

LSU at home at night is supposed to be the best atmosphere in college football. Way better than a 19.5-point line against Central Michigan. What stage of LSU’s life cycle are we in right now?

22 Auburn at 10 Penn State               7:30pm            ABC

War goddamn Eagle, baby. Penn State is doing that stupid white out thing which, correct if I’m wrong again, only goes for the people in the stands. So they’ll all be dressed up in pretty much Auburn’s road colors to watch Auburn. I hate Auburn but I really hate Penn State.

Alcorn State at South Alabama          8:00pm           ESPN3

Things are looking rough for the rest of the docket.

Rice at Texas                                      8:00pm            LHN

A battle of equals.

Stanford at Vanderbilt                        8:00pm           ESPNU

Look at this American aristocracy horse shit. Fuck these schools and the teams of horses that carried them in.

Tulane at 17 Mississippi                      8:00pm              ESPN2

The racist south may just have the nation’s best QB. It’s a good year for Matt Corral to show off his arm strength because 2022 is not looking like a bumper crop of QB draftees at this far off date. He’s small for the position but Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and Russell Wilson are all smaller. If the arm talent is real he could go #1 overall.

Jackson State at ULM                         8:00pm              ESPN3

Nope.

SC State at New Mexico State            8:00pm           FloFootball / CW El Paso

Sorry.

Oklahoma State at Boise State              9:00pm          FS1

Whoa whoa whoa. This is uniform heaven. And on the blue turf? Your eyes will burn. Embrace that feeling.

Northern Arizona at Arizona                  10:00pm          P12N AZ

P12N AZ. Holy shit. What the hell were these people thinking? This has to be the smallest demo ever targeted by a network.

19 Arizona State at 23 BYU                     10:15pm          ESPN

Seeing these teams face off as ranked opponents is very weird. Real late 80s vibe here. It’s titillating in its way. Might not even be the most fun game in the late night region.

14 Iowa State at UNLV                           10:30pm           CBSSN

UNLV is an absolute wasteland of a program. It’s kind of stupid, really. They aren’t in an unsellable spot and they don’t play the most rugged schedule but year after year after year they lose 9 or more games. Makes more sense than not having a good baseball program but there should be some G5 magic in Vegas. Iowa State is going to roll.

Fresno State at 13 UCLA                       10:45pm            P12N

Chip Kelly having UCLA as the premier program in L.A. is something I couldn’t have seen coming just last week but we’re there now. And Fresno State plays some wild offense that could/should make this the late night hangout spot. If you can find it. If you have this channel. That shouldn’t be a question! Fuckin’ a, Pac-12, what are you doing?

San Jose State at Hawaii                      12:30am            FS1

Technically a Sunday game but I cut the header because if you’re watching this there is an implicit understanding that it’s still Saturday. Not sure what’s going on with the kick time, though. I was under the impression that Hawaii games had to kick off by 11:59pm Eastern to count with the rest of the week’s games. Very odd. That’s really all I have to say about this game.

[deli-counter]

@666lucifersbitch asked me to do all the musical theatre questions so here we are lads!

13: Most embarrassing story from your early teens. One time my mic was on backstage and I didn’t know and I said “fuck I gotta shit so bad” and like 900 people heard that 

1776: Favorite Founding Father? they all didn’t wash their dicks idc 

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Biggest middle school achievement having to leave my middle school because of bullying and then a rumor started that I got knocked up. That was honestly legendary 

A Chorus Line: Favorite type of dance I want 1920s jitterbug swing shit!!

Aladdin: 3 wishes you want to come true 1. get into a good fucking transfer program 2. fall in love 3. love my body 

Amelie: Strangest dream you’ve ever had i hate this cause every dream story someone shares just sounds made up and stupid. I had a dream once that I had to milk myself to stay alive, figure out what that says about my subconscious 

Anastasia: Would you rather be rich in money or in love? Love baby!! I wanna drown in it daily!

Annie: Favorite thing about NYC? General energy of the city is delightful

Avenue Q: The Muppet’s or Sesame Street? Tbh I really haven’t watched either but I guess Muppets

Bandstand: How much hometown pride do you have Ehhh. I like where I live and it’s a nice area but I wouldn’t die for it by any means. I really adore Atlanta and have a lot of pride for it but I’m not really from Atlanta, I’m like 18 miles away 

Be More Chill: One thing you wish to change about yourself I just don’t wanna have trauma anymore y’all. Also I wish I could dance 

Beauty and the Beast: Small town or big city? Both for different reasons but probably moreso big city

Bonnie and Clyde: Favorite dynamic duo idk....Rosencrantz & Guildenstern 

Book of Mormon: One book I love so much that I’d go on a worldwide adventure to tell everyone about. The Curiosities which is actually a collection of short stories but it changed my life 

Bring it On: Something you’re overly competitive about Probably cooking and baking

Carrie: Favorite prank Asian Jim on The Office was classic

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Favorite candy Those raspberry gummies with the nonpareils on them ugh!! Love

Cinderella: shoe size 6.5 / 7

Come from Away: One place you’d like to travel Japan or South Korea 

Dear Evan Hansen: favorite social media platform Twitter or tumblr I guess

Dogfight: Describe your first school dance I went to prom with my senior boyfriend at the time my sophomore year and it was so bad and we ate at this awful restaurant and I felt fat the whole night and he kept trying to grind on me so we left early cause I yelled at him in front of everyone and then his mom showed up drunk and yelled at me and then I went home 

Falsettos: favorite baseball team Whatever teams are playing in the “What a Game!” Ragtime number

Fiddler on the Roof: How many siblings do you have One older sister named Bailey she is my best friend in the entire world and so beautiful and intelligent and funny and I really owe her my life!

Footloose: Could you survive a world without dance I would prefer it as I have never met a worse dancer than me truly

Frozen: One super power you wish you had Telekinesis/whatever Scarlet Witch’s powers are. Or shapeshifting would be good too

Grease: Summer lovers or high school sweethearts Idk I didn’t have either lol

Groundhog Day: One day you wish you could live in forever Day I saw OBC of Great Comet 

Hairspray: Describe your-go to hairstyle Straight and boring maybe pinned back a bit? Idk I don’t know how to do much w my hair

Hamilton: Which Schuyler sister do you relate to the most Uhh probably Angelica cause I’m outspoken to compensate for my worries and fears and grieve what I never had

Heathers: Favorite Slurpee flavor White cherry or coke, specifcally from the Target snack bar

In the Heights: What’s your heritage? Normal White European Mutt, Irish, Swiss, French, but mostly German. Also a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch/Mennonite stuff

In Transit: Favorite Subway/street performer/performance This one guy in the London tube has a drum kit and he dresses up in a suit with puppets and plays the beats that come as a demo on the drum kit and makes the puppets dance. So dumb but he is a sweet guy and I love his dancin dudes!!

Into the Woods: Least favorite camping experience Only went camping like once or twice and it was with my girl scout troop and I just remember having an anxiety attack and not knowing what it was cause I was so young and feeling miserable 

Legally Blonde: What’s your stereotype For theatre I’m typically always cast as the brunette belting bitch or unfit ingenue(that no one fully believes cause I’m not skinny) or whatever, in real life probably just a generic ~artsy girl with red lipstick who thinks she’s unique~

The Lion King: Favorite animal I really do love koalas

Mary Poppins: Have you ever flown a kite Once in a production of Mary Poppins actually lol 

Matilda: favorite teacher Jeff Gillis, my freshman year English teacher. Changed how I looked at education and now we are very good friends and hang out/go out to eat and stuff 

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812: Best party you’ve ever been to I don’t really go to parties ever? My friend’s birthday party was 1960′s themed and he rented furniture and a tikki bar and there was a strict dress code and all the food was themed and it was very on brand and very much my style 

Newsies: Have you ever been in the local paper. If so, why Yeah for scholarships or singing or something

Pippin: Have you ever been to the circus No I don’t think so? Huh

Rent: Favorite thing about life How fucking cool is nature y’all?

School of Rock: favorite instrument Handpan or accordion!

The Sound of Music: Which is more important, faith or love Uh they’re hand in hand really....this is so tough. I think Faith 

Spring Awakening: Age when life bothered you the most Currently, actually, so 20 

Waitress: favorite dessert Tbh......pie, as it is and always will be 

Wicked: biggest insecurity “Am I talented enough? Will I amount to anything? What if I’m the kid who peaked in high school?”

The Wizard of Oz: Your definition of home not to be that guy but....a theater, in all honesty 

[halethestilinskis]

“I Couldn’t Pass Up This Opportunity” - Niall Horan Imagine

This is a work in progress, I just wanted some input of if I should continue.

It was a chilly day in Boston, Massachusetts. The wind whipped around you every time a bus drove by, causing you to wrap your North Face closer around you, but didn’t stop your teeth from chattering from the icy blast. You had a meeting in the afternoon, and decided it would be a good day to walk around Boston, for a few hours, before your meeting started. It wasn’t a very important meeting, but the higher managers liked to get together once every couple weeks to talk about sales, even though you weren’t even in that department and had no say in anything that happened.

The train dropped you off at South Station, the second to last stop before it hit Back Bay and turned around to fill up with passengers again. Getting into the station was a warm relief, letting the muscles you didn’t realize you were clenching, relax a bit, while you busied your mind looking for the Starbucks you knew so well. You got into the unnecessarily long line, inching forward every 5 minutes, before you finally gave up, giving it a deep sigh, and knowing you’ll be able to sit in the Starbucks by your building before heading in for the meeting.

You braces yourself for the cold again, zipping up your jacket until it was covering your neck, and taking the hat and scarf out of your bag. Ducking your head low so your face did take the chill full force, you opened the doors and started your journey.

Boston was always a magical place in the winter time, there were rarely any rude people that you bumped into, in fact, strangers rarely talked to each other, other than the excuse me’s while passing, some occasional apologies for running into one another, and then some thank you’s when checking out. Boston wasn’t quite a winter wonderland yet, but you knew as soon as reached the Commons, it would be highly decorated with lights that would brighten your mood.

You pulled your phone out of your pockets every few minutes to check the time, even though you were about 2 hours early, you still didn’t want to be late, since the CEO sometimes makes appearances at these pointless meetings, you were pretty sure, not even he knew what was going on in the company.

Turning the corner, you ran into a bunch of people hustling out of a store, and looking up, you saw it was the CVS that you always pass, but never really go into, mainly because you were never really worried about buying anything from the connivence store on the way to work. But today, you decided to go in, and enjoy the warmth, and get a snack, before continuing on your chilly walk.

“Welcome to CVS” the cashier greeted with a smile, “let me know if I can help you with anything”

You gave her a courteous smile and nod before heading over the clearly marked coolers on the wall. On the left we’re drinks and the right we’re snacks. You peeked into the drink isle, noticing another person browsing, wearing gray sweats and a black North Face, also noticing his black hat hiding all of his hair.

“Excuse me” you said, moving past him to look at the drinking the cooler.

“Sorry” he said, flicking his eyes to you, then back to the coolers. An accent poked out with his word, but you couldn’t quite detect what it was.

You were trying to decide whether you should get a caffeine fix from a bottle of Mountain Dew or an Arizona, one was cheaper, one had a lot of caffeine. You turned around to look at some snacks, hoping that would be able to help you decide, only to have the stranger say “excuse me” and move behind you. There was that accent again.

You watched him for a second, seeing him take his phone out of his pocket, send a text, and then place it back in his pocket. His profile looked familiar, you’ve definitely seen it somewhere, you just couldn’t place a finger on it.

Or maybe it was the accent that was throwing you for a loop. You decided to test it out, moving towards the Arizona’s, “have you tried any of these?” You asked the stranger.

“Hm?” He hummed, looking up to you, meeting your green eyes with his blue ones.

“Have you ever tried the Arizona’s?” You asked shyly again, a lot of people up north don’t socialize with people they don’t know.

“Oh” he realized, looking at the flavors, “Yeah, I’ve had most of them”

“Which ones best?” You interviewed, needing to hear more of the accent.

“Uh” he muddled, “they’re all pretty good, but I personally like the Arnold Palmer” he motioned to the gray can in the last row.

The familiarity was coming back to you, but a quick google search could help you a little bit more, but when that search led to nothing, you stated doubting if it was actually who you thought it was.

“Thanks” you said suddenly, grabbing the can out of the cooler, and rounding the corner to more snacks.

You knew it was Niall Horan that you just had a casual conversation with, everything added up, the accent, the piercing blue eyes, the only thing that wasn’t adding up in your mind, was why he was here, and why it wasn’t showing up on google or even your snap map, that he was in town.

There was a large part of you that didn’t want to bother him because he was obviously trying very hard to stay hidden underneath that hat. Another part of you wanted to ask him for a quick picture and promise you won’t post it until much later on when both of you were no longer in Boston. With your anxiety raging, you rounded the corner back to the drinks where you spotted him before, finding him still standing in the same spot.

“Not the right flavor?” He asked, looking up from his phone.

“Uh” You fumbled, knowing who it was, was causing you to go stiff with admiration, “I just need more of a caffeine fix”

He nodded, and smirked at you, watching you put the Arizona back and replacing it with the Mountain Dew you thought of earlier. You took another look at him, you stomach in knots, not really sure how to bring up the celebrity.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” You asked him suddenly, causing him to give you a small look of shock.

“No” he smirked again, “how did ya know?”

“The accent” you commented, “what is that? Irish?”

“Sure is” he nodded, keeping his head low now.

“I always loved those accents” you commented nonchalantly again, your stomach still writhing.

“Thank you” he said, reaching into the cooler and picking up the Arizona you just put back, “think I’ll get this for meself”

He turned around to look at the snacks, just like you did earlier, if he had the idea that you knew who he was, he hasn’t ran yet, but probably will when he finds out how much of a Stan you were.

“So this is awkward” you said, your flushing red before he even looked at you, “I know who you are and I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to ask for a picture”

“Who am I?” He asked you with a wink, making you immediately second guess yourself.

“Uh, you’re Niall Horan, right?” You said in an awkward whisper.

“No” he said emotionless, looking you dead in the eye, making your face go even redder, and feel like you were about to cry.

“Fuck” you cried, “I’m so sorry, this is so awkward”

The stranger laughed, “I’m just kidding, but your face” he laughed harder.

Humiliation washed over you, you were unsure how to react, should you walk away from him, or just stand there until he was done laughing at you.

“I’m sorry” he said, calming down from him temporary high, “of course I’ll take a picture with you”

“Thanks” you said awkwardly, small defeat in your voice, which caught his attention instantly.

“I’m sorry” he said sincerely, “I didn’t mean to upset ya”

“I just feel like an idiot” you confessed, feeling sort of numb.

“Nooo” he whined, pulling you into an immediate hug, “I’m sorry, I’ve just always wanted to do that”

You weren’t really sure what to say to him as he pulled out of the hug, not out of humiliation, but the shock from him hugging you out of the blue, and the way he smelled, sent your soul away from your body for the short few seconds his arms were around you.

“Let me buy yer drink, I promise I’m not a bad person” he motioned, grabbing the Mountain Dew our of your hand and walking to the register, with you blindly following him.

“That’ll be 3.20” the cashier said. You watched Niall pull out his wallet and swipe his card through the reader, the cashier giving you envious eyes. You wondered if she knew who he was or if she just thought he was good looking and you knew him.

The cashier handed him his receipt, “thank you” he said, followed by a “You too” when she said ‘have a nice day’.

“Thanks” You said as he walked out the door, giving you your soda, coming alive to the cold that shocked you.

“So are you from around ‘ere?” He asked, cracking open the can.

“Uh” You stammered, the Mountain Dew freezing your fingers, “yeah, I work a few cities over, they have us come here for a corporate meeting every few weeks”

“That’s cool, so you must be in a high position?” He questioned.

“I’m only a manager of the store” you shrugged, “they like to invite us to show us what we could be”

“Well then” He chuckled, “that’s stupid”.

“Yeah” you scoffed, “I agree”.

“But you know your way around the city?” He questioned further, as you aimlessly walked down the street together.

“Pretty well, I’m here at least 3 times a month” you shrugged again.

“Know any good places to eat?” He interrogated.

“Plenty” you informed, “what are you feeling? I can point you in the right direction”.

“Hm” he hummed, thinking to himself, “what are you feeling... unless you have to go to that corporate meeting”

“Uh” You stammered, looking at the time on your phone, only an hour until the meeting starts, “no” you shrugged your shoulders, “it’s not required that I go” you said, knowing damn well you were going to get a call from your district manager asking where the hell you were today.

“You sure?” He asked, eyeing you, knowing as well as you, that you were lying.

“Yeah, like I said, it’s just a dick measuring contest, and to see how far you can deep throat the CEO”

“That was....” He stammered, “vivid”, he chuckled after.

“Yeah well” you breathed out, “it’s true, and I’m the only female manager so they like to think I’m below them, when I have the best numbers in the district”

“What!?” He asked, taken aback in disbelief, “my entire team are females, and they do a better job”.

“Well obviously” you said with a sarcastic hair flip, making Niall grin at you.

[bowditch]

overshadowed

Hullo! This is a fic exchange with @fuyunoakegata . It’s rated T for language. It’s Gen in content.  overshadowed (AO3 Link) The apartment was full of blasting 1990s pop music and five minutes before, Dick Grayson had been cheerfully singing along. Or, he had been trying to with an intentionally forced cheerfulness. But now he was standing in front of the bathroom mirror just staring at himself.

For a moment, it felt like he was making sure he was still there, but that was a little ridiculous. Of course he was there. No, he was making sure he was still...himself.

It should have been an easy thing to answer.

It wasn't.

He shook it off and left the bathroom, his toothbrush still unused on the vanity counter with a glob of toothpaste that would dry and turn gummy as the day wore on. He turned off the music and left the apartment.

Hour after hour seeped by and he ran through errands on autopilot, always half distracted with the mess inside his own head. He was running on three hours of sleep but that didn't really explain why he flinched at the bang of a cash register or why the crackle of electrical work on a street corner made him break out in a cold sweat.

By afternoon, he was exhausted in a way sleep wouldn't fix. He turned the corner from numbing fear to anger around dinner at the Manor, right before encoded strategy messages started filling the secure group channel.

He edged out of conversations, made flimsy excuses, left half a plate of food unfinished when he left for his apartment. He claimed he would catch up on sleep.

He did not sleep.

When night fell and he shuttered the windows and pulled black and blue over his chest, onto his arms, flexed his fingers in the gloves and pressed the mask into place, Dick Grayson was furious and absent.

His mind was years and miles away, strapped down and full of the tang of incense and blood, while his body leaned over the edge of a roof and he tapped his comm only to say,

“The cult guys are mine. I won't need backup.”

“O on monitor. Red on standby if you change your mind.”

“I won't change my mind,” Nightwing said firmly.

“If you need backup,” Batman amended Oracle’s statement. “Robin and I are also available after Tennyson Street bust.”

“I won't need backup,” Nightwing repeated, a little irritably. He tried to lighten his voice, to not sound so much like how he felt. “It’s not that complicated. What am I, a rookie?”

He muted his comm.

He didn't need the distraction.

He was already too far away. ***

The stupid thing about city cults, from a vigilantism standpoint, was that they were full of desperate and weirdly skilled people. People with a lot of nothing to lose and fractured lifetimes behind them. Men like ex-cons and trigger-happy soldiers with PTSD, looking for a shot at redemption or silence in their battered souls.

Nightwing knew what it was like to want something like that.

Their ranks, even small, were usually full of women both timid and fierce, made hesitant by trauma or loneliness and made forceful by the instinct to protect the one thing they believed in: their leader.

Not every cult was worth systematically taking down. But other cults, even the ones not set on world domination, sometimes ended up involved in dangerous and shady stuff-- experimental drugs, suicide pacts, ritual sacrifice. And Gotham was a breeding ground for the weird.

Illegal activities mixed with fervent acolytes made for a deadly cocktail. The most recent manifestation was a congregation of forty or so people, an adherence to five hundred year old missiles of an excommunicated Irish monk that might have been forgeries, and a manic depressed fourteen year old girl offering herself for spirit-summoning bloodletting that would probably kill her.

Nightwing had been tracking their activities, including the hallucinogenic drugs they were smuggling, for a few days and tonight was his last chance to act.

The Gaelic was unfamiliar but the robes they wore heightened his sense of unease, disrupting what focus he had. And when he leapt, the monotone chanting swelled in volume and the involuntary shudder that wracked him threw off his balance midflip and he staggered through his landing, skidding onto his knees.

He heard the shots before he saw the guns and it just figured that it would be the sort of cult to have semiautomatics. It was such a Gotham thing to have.

Nightwing was already on his feet again and he disarmed three of them, fighting toward the leader who was rushing his lines and standing near the teenager with a ceremonial dagger that looked so gaudy Nightwing was pretty certain it had been picked up from a Chinese bulk manufacturer.

The next man fell under his sidekick and then Red Robin was right next to him, scowling as he relieved two more congregants of their weapons.

“Turn. On. Your. Comm,” Red hissed while spinning to take someone down with his staff.

“I’ve got this,” Nightwing answered sharply, as a woman with a heavy candlestick managed to land a blow across his back.

“The gunshots were called into GCPD,” Red shouted back, while using a shoulder of a falling man as leverage for leaping into a double kick. “We had no idea if you were okay.”

“I'm good!” Nightwing yelled over the frenzied Gaelic chanting of the leader and one disciple who held the girl’s wrists down while she was clearly having second thoughts. Nightwing saw her face, that moment where she shifted from aligned to fractured in intention and understanding.

“Nightwing!” Red yelled and the man slipped right by Nightwing’s punch and lunged forward. All Nightwing was aware of was that the man missed him, he had moved quickly enough and he could get to the girl in time.

The disciple went down hard and the girl was already scrambling away from the crude altar. The dagger sliced through the sleeve of his suit and the leader’s face took a blow and another and another and--

It might have been more, it might have been too much, but in the mere seconds it had all taken, the man Nightwing thought he had evaded made it to Red Robin instead.

Red shrieked and Nightwing threw the leader behind the altar, where he lay writhing and moaning.

He took the last guy out from behind, a stunning blow that wouldn't leave him unconscious but dazed and immobile for at least a few minutes.

“I thought you had him,” Red gasped at him, a hand to his side. He was standing, leaning on his bostaff. “Sorry. I'm good. I just thought…”

He swayed and Nightwing reached out, put a hand on his shoulder.

He turned his comm back on and swallowed hard.

“We need GCPD and some Bat clean-up here,” Nightwing said. “I'm taking Red to the Cave.”

“What happened?” Batman demanded.

“They fought back,” Nightwing said sourly, torn between defensiveness and guilt. He could have asked for help, he could have gone in prepared, he could have been better.

“It's not that bad,” Red said when Nightwing didn't clarify. “Just give the Doctor a heads up.”

“Done,” Oracle said. “He’ll be down there by the time you guys arrive. Now’s the time to be honest, boys.”

“Just a level two,” Red said. “Really.”

“Robin and I will handle cleanup,” Batman added.

Nightwing reached out once more to steady Red, but the younger man jerked away from him and began picking his way through the groaning bodies.

This was his fault. He could have prevented this: Red getting hurt, his own cut on the arm, the girl fleeing to the streets and not getting help, breaking the leader’s jaw. He was so weary, so shaken, so bitter, so lost, all at once. All things Nightwing-- Dick Grayson-- was not supposed to be.

He didn't feel like himself.

And he hated that feeling.

***

Kiran Devabhaktuni was sipping a morning cuppa that felt a rather lot like an afternoon cup of tea after an overnight shift at the hospital. Alfie was reading a newspaper and Damian Wayne was sitting between them at the small, round table.

Dev had taken advantage of both Damian’s proximity to Alfie and his own penchant for stealing and munching on straight brown sugar cubes. A simple nod while Alfie was buried in the paper had bought Damian’s complicity and lured the boy out of a sulk.

With a casual motion, Dev would snatch a sugar cube and then slip it under the table to Damian’s waiting hand. The boy was silent and had perfected sneaking as an art form and he was quietly adding each cube to Alfie’s untouched tea.

Damian sipped his own tea while this was going on and shoved back his bed-mussed hair more than once when Alfie glanced over the paper at them. Dev neglected his tea through most of this.

Finally, Alfie set the paper down, folded neatly.

They were up to fourteen cubes.

“How long did you sleep?” Alfie asked Damian, squeezing lemon into his teacup.

“Long enough,” Damian said sourly, his bitter mood returning a bit.

“I'll talk to Dick,” Dev said, guessing at the mood. Damian met his gaze with a startled lift of his brow and then nodded and looked down at the table.

“You were out much later than usual,” Alfie said calmly. “Shall I keep you home from school to sleep?”

At that offer, Damian yawned and stretched.

“I ought to go,” he said, “but if you insist on my truancy…”

“Stay home,” Alfie said with a fond smile. “The year’s almost out and I think you deserve a day off.”

Damian picked up a spoon and fumbled it out of his fingers; it fell beside Dev’s chair and Dev bent over to snatch it up.

“I'll use another,” Damian said, his hand already over another spoon when Dev sat up with the utensil. Dev shrugged and set it aside. He'd thought Alfie was just being kind but perhaps, if the boy was randomly dropping things, it was an attempt to get him to actually sleep.

With role models like Bruce and the other Waynes, it wasn't surprising he had a hard time setting aside appropriate time for rest during busy weeks. As the weather picked up, so did the criminal underbelly of Gotham.

Dev lifted his tea and sipped it and immediately recoiled. The brew was so sweet his teeth stung and he winced in reaction.

“Everything alright, Kiran?” Alfie asked in a mild tone.

Dev set the teacup down and nodded, but gave Damian an affronted look. The boy gave him a crooked grin in response. Alfie sipped his own tea, finally, and then sipped again as if nothing was the matter with it.

“I put too much sugar in this,” Dev said, standing with the tea cup.

Alfie looked up at that.

“I didn’t think you took sugar in your tea,” he said.

“I thought I’d give it a--” Dev stopped mid-excuse because Alfie was none-too-subtly exchanging an amused smirk with Damian. “Bloody hell,” Dev muttered as he took the tea to the kitchen. He dumped it out in the sink and wondered about the problem of how precisely to talk to Dick Grayson.

Ever since he’d come to the Cave with a wounded Timothy two nights before, and frankly even before that, he’d been acting oddly. Dev hadn’t seen much of him, exactly, but what little he had seen, the younger man had been brooding and reclusive in conversation and quick-tempered. It had worsened since Dev had sutured Timothy’s side and Dick’s arm in the Cave that night.

Dev knew from both Timothy and snippets of overheard conversations in the Cave that Dick had been dealing with a violent cult. When it became clear that breaking up their gathering and imprisoning some of the key members had not solved the problem but rather exacerbated Dick’s foul mood, and that it was radiating outward through Tim and Damian now, Dev spent the night before his shift at the hospital sorting through older case and medical files.

He’d found...not much. Plenty of information, to be certain, but very little about cults and several concerning gaps of long stretches of time-- most of them right before and after the date Jason Wayne’s own files had details redacted in thick, black markings that Dev now knew were about his first death.

For all his frequent failings contradicting this, Dev wasn’t exactly a stupid man.

The Waynes were not precisely the sort of family where one could wander around demanding explanations from just anyone-- after months of feeling out of the loop, he’d realized they kept their secrets from each other just as much as from him. Some of those things were none of his business and others sometimes fell in that hazy approximation of doctor-patient confidentiality they maintained. Going to the wrong person and asking for information might result in answers and might just as likely result in, “He did what?” and hours or days of upheaval.

And Alfred, who seemed to know everything and maintain a constant calm, actually hid his own sour reactions and grieving aches behind that demeanor and Dev knew after fumbling through that a few times that even if the older man had information, it wasn’t always worth the emotional cost just to avoid asking someone more directly involved.

So, if there were gaps relevant to his current state, Dick Grayson would need to answer for them himself. Dev ran the risk of Dick refusing and shutting him out for weeks or months, but at least it minimized the damage and isolated it a bit.

“We’re having a family lunch,” Alfie announced, coming into the kitchen with a tray of tea things. “Would you care for another cup of tea before I clean up?”

And Dev knew, as he accepted the offer and poured another cup of tea and drank it standing at the counter, that Alfie was arranging things on purpose. The older man had a way of putting people in the right places that sometimes made Dev feel a bit like a piece on a chessboard, but with gratitude instead of a lingering sense of manipulation.

“I’m going to go sleep,” he said, yawning and setting the cup down. “The hospital was busy last night. If there’s lunch, I’m not going to bother going to my flat and coming back.”

“Cassandra is using the ballroom,” Alfie said as he left the room. “I’ll leave you to decide on earplugs or interrupting dance.”

Dev opted for earplugs.

And seven hours later, after lunch where everyone who happened to be in town was present, Dick Grayson had been pressured by Damian and Cass into staying to swim in the just-reopened pool. And Dev, still trying to decide exactly when and how to approach him, went to at least sit outside (he didn’t care much for freezing his bollocks off in the still-frigid water) and found Dick by chance, standing in the hallway to the back door.

Dev stopped and took a step back. Dick Grayson in best form would have noticed him immediately, but Dick right now was distracted and self-absorbed in some inner turmoil. He left the hall, but once outside, took a sharp right away from the pool. Dev followed, quietly, as Dick loped around the house and then from the patio off the ballroom doors, swung himself up the face of the house and onto the flat section of roof.

“Mate,” Dev called after him, and Dick’s face reappeared at the edge, stony and dark. “I’m not nearly as skilled. I’ll be up when I find a ladder.”

He expected Dick to protest this or swing down and storm off, but Dick leaned out of view and then a moment later called, “There’s one behind the hedge in the landscaping.”

Dev found it and clambered up without looking down, glad that the flat roof was walled in by steeper sections and more like a deck without railing than a proper roof. If Dick had gone any further up, he wasn’t sure how useful he’d be in conversation.

“You’ve been out of sorts,” Dev said bluntly, sitting down next to the younger man.

Dick shrugged.

“I’m sorry about Tim,” Dick said after a moment.

Dev blinked and leaned forward to look at Dick’s face.

“What?”

“Tim,” Dick said again. He swallowed. “I know...I mean, I know you guys are close. And I sort of figured you’d come chew me out if I stuck around long enough.”

“Mate, Timothy’s plenty good at getting himself injured without help,” Dev said. “It’s not your bloody fault just because you happened to be in the same building. Nah, I’m not miffed about that. He’ll be fine. I’m worried about you.”

Dick glanced up at that and frowned.

“And Dames rather is, too, if you hadn’t noticed.”

At that, Dick sighed and put his head in his hands.

“It’s been a bad week,” he admitted. “Just...a lot of stuff I’d rather not think about.”

“But you’re thinking about it anyway,” Dev said, leaning back and resting his palms on the gritty roof. In answer, Dick just nodded, his head still in his hands. “Flashbacks are bloody awful,” Dev said gently. “I’m not going to force you to talk about it. It doesn’t always help. But the option’s there.”

“Thanks,” Dick said, lifting his head and wrapping his arms around his knees.

“There are some...gaps,” Dev said slowly. “In your medical files.”

Dick looked at him sharply.

“Research,” Dev said, not feeling guilty in the least. “The files that are there are there for a reason.”

Dick sprang to his feet and flipped up into a handstand. He stayed upside down for a bit and then bent backward and came up on his feet. He brushed his hands off and sat back down heavily.

“There was a cult, a while ago. A guy named Brother Blood. It got some media attention.”

“I very vaguely remember that,” Dev acknowledged.

“Bruce knows that we, I mean, that the Titans and I were involved. But we weren't exactly on the best of terms, Bruce and I, I mean. He didn't ask for updates and I didn't offer them.”

“I can't imagine how you ever got to that point,” Dev said, prodding at Dick with his shoe.

Dick chuckled, a little low, and then sighed again.

“Yeah,” he said. “Me either.”

“So, massive dangerous cult and smaller dangerous cult,” Dev said. Dick shuddered in response and Dev’s brow creased in concern.

“I was captured and tortured-- you probably know the usual story by now,” Dick said with a wry frown. “It was awful, but honestly that wasn't the worst part.”

Dev is quiet, waiting him out, and cursing inwardly at the fact that capture and torture are in fact too common elements of stories that get brushed under the rug.

“The worst part was the mind control,” Dick said quietly. “And it went on for months without me knowing. I…” he paused and put a hand to his forehead. “I almost, no, I sold out everyone I cared about. I mean, obviously things didn't stay that way, but I didn't know about the mind control until after.”

“Well, bloody fuck,” Dev exhaled. “Months, you said?”

Dick nodded again.

“And the horrible thing is that I remember what it felt like, to want to trust people and defend them and being completely convinced they were awful at the same time. Just how divided I felt at the end, knowing and believing two totally different things at once and not being sure which was right.”

They’re quiet in the afternoon sun, the irritated shouts of Damian and high, pealing laughter of Cass drifting across the rooftops. Dev thought of his own internal dichotomy, that he fought against even now, of you’ll never be good enough and you’re probably fine.

“That's sodding terrible,” he said. “That's a lot of time to lose.”

“It ruined a lot for me,” Dick said in a small voice. “I recovered but it didn't fix everything, you know? Some stuff was just too far gone. And chasing this cult the past week, it wasn't like I really thought I was vulnerable, but it just dragged up a lot of stuff I hadn't let myself think about for a while.” Dick rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Thanks for talking. It does help.”

Dev shrugged and didn't mention how little talking he'd actually done.

“Anytime,” he said.

Dick stood and stretched. “You're swimming, right?”

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” Dev exclaimed, standing.

“It's not that bad,” Dick argued. “Al turned the heater on last night. Anyway, I'll meet you down there.”

Without another word, Dick sprinted across the roof and sprang up to the overhang of the sloped section.

“Those bloody slates are loose!” Dev yelled after him.

“Ain't nobody got time for that!” Dick yelled back without slowing down.

Dev took a deep breath and exhaled slowly and went down the ladder and replaced it behind the hedges. He strode over to the pool just in time to see Dick take a running leap off the roof and curl into a flip on his descent toward the deep end of the pool.

His heart skipped about five beats and he swore, but the water’s surface burst into a high splash and when Dick resurfaced, laughing, Damian raised an eyebrow and said, “Six out of ten.”

“Six!” Dick exclaimed in mock outrage, tugging the younger boy into the pool with him. He shoved Damian’s head under. When the younger boy came up sputtering, he shoved himself away and treaded water.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly, while Dick floated on his back.

Dev sat in one of the lounge chairs and reclined until he was almost horizontal.

“Getting better,” Dick answered. “Wanna race?”

“Slowpokes,” Cass muttered from her perch on the diving board.

“You get down here and race with us,” Dick ordered. “C’mon. Dev! Sit up! We need you as a judge.”

Dev hauled himself off the chair and went to one end of the pool and put his feet in. It wasn't as cold as he was expecting but it was still pretty icy.

“Alright, then,” he said. “Best out of three. If any of you try to drag me in, I reserve the right to exclusively use Hello Kitty plasters for a month.”

“I fail to see how that is a suitable deterrent for either of them,” Damian called from the other side of the pool.

Dev studied the matching grins on Cass and Dick’s faces and he reconsidered. There was still a faintly haunted look in Dick’s eyes but it was faded far from what it had been earlier.

“All medicines will be dispensed in liquid form with strawberry flavoring,” he amended.

“Gross,” Cass said, wrinkling her nose. “Changed my mind, Dickface.”

“You've been spending too much time with Jason,” Dick told her seriously while Damian snorted into the water. “But yeah, that's pretty convincing leverage.”

“Are we racing or are we not?” Damian demanded impatiently.

“We’re racing!” Dick said, “Places!”

Dev ended up in the water anyway.

Dick took two separate medicines that month, both with artificial strawberry flavoring.

And Dev was relieved to see that while it took a few weeks and a few long nights just hanging out at the manor, the man’s mood improved and evened out and things went back to as normal as the Wayne household usually managed.

[cincinnatiburn]

accepted - mason mccarthy

there was only one applicant for mason mccarthy but it was the perfect applicant. so julie, please head over to the checklist for the next steps. excited to have you!!!

out of character information

I’m Julie, I’m from the Middle of the Midwest and reside in CST, I’m 23 and I’ll gladly fork over my Skpe over IM since that’s where I live 90% of the time. Mason’s my first and most-loved Glee muse, with most of the other newest-bies (and the rare Kitty Wilde) also filling my time in my past two-and-some years in the GRPC. I’m excited to see how this plays out! general statistics BASIC NAME: Mason Ichabod McCarthy NICKNAMES: Mase, MaseFace, Mc-C, Em-Squared, Numba-Five, Five of Nine. His twin sister calls him Ich, which is rude and uncalled for, so he calls her Hairy in return. AGE: 26 BIRTHDAY: 12-02-1990 GENDER: Cismale. PRONOUNS: He/Him/His. ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius. MOTHER: Lauren “Lola” Theresa McCarthy, nee O’Brien FATHER: Richard Irving McCarthy PARENTS: Rich and Lola. Typical Irish-Catholics from Boston; loving, loud and too much personality for too little space. His father is a professor of 19th-century literature at Harvard, and his mother is a personal secretary for a legal firm. FAMILY: His paternal grandparents, Theodore and Jane, died before Mason was born, but the whole McCarthy cohort still treks down to visit their graves a halfdozen times a year - their birthdays, deathdays, Christmas and Easter. His maternal grandparents, Stuart and Catherine, live in Florida, and he didn’t see them nearly as frequently growing up. Both his parents also come from big families - he has more aunts and uncles and cousins than he can keep track of, most days. SIBLINGS: In order from oldest to youngest: John Darcy, lawyer, 37; Peter Nathaniel and Andrew Hawthorne, a biographical writer and a veterinarian, identical twins, 33; Madison Harriet, wedding planner, and himself, 27; Elizabeth May and Catherine Emily, high school chemistry teacher and graduate student for Student Affairs, identical twins, 24; Thomas Samuel, 21, unemployed/parental monitor/professional slacker; Joan Sydney, high school student, 17. LIFESTYLE BORN: Boston, Massachusetts. RAISED: Boston, Massachusetts. VEHICLE: 2012 Honda CR-V, which older brother Andrew passed down to him when he traded up. PETS: A Dalmation named Lucky. Mason really liked 101 Dalmations growing up… POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Apathetically liberal. Don’t be a dick. RELIGION: Raised Irish-Catholic, semi-practicing, semi-agnostic, semi-probably-going-to-Hell. BELIEFS: Mason believes that MLK Jr. had it right when he said the arc of the universe trends toward justice. There’s so much bad crap in the world, and he mostly just tries not to add to it. Aside from that, he believes in good music, good people, good books, in that order. Because he can’t not, he believes in God, but in the more vague way - he doesn’t think there’s a right or a wrong way to worship, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else; God, Buddha, Allah…whatever makes the universe line up, Mason can get behind. MISDEMEANORS: Mason’s got more charm than he knows what to do with, so of all the stupid, minorly illegal things he’s done, all but three incidents never officially made it to his record. Once, when he was 18 and some creepy 45-year-old tried to grab at Madison, which in turn caused Mason to bust out those self-defense moves and dislocate his shoulder; once, for public intoxication during his freshman year and once for vandalism. He’s still mad they painted over his graffiti. FELONIES: None. TICKETS AND/OR VIOLATIONS: Mason has the worst luck in the world when it comes to parking meters running out of time. DRUGS: Okay, listen. Mason did the whole party scene, the whole recreational drug scene, the whole waking-up-in-the-hospital-with-eight-siblings-ready-to-kill-him-as-soon-as-they’re-sure-he’s-alive scene. No more, no thank you, not ever. SMOKES: We get it, he vapes. ALCOHOL: Frequently. DIET: Mason still pretty much eats the same way he did when he was 17 - that is, like someone else is gonna beat him to the punch. Given that he’s trying to make ends meet, Mason resorts to cheap and easy over healthy, but he gets enough exercise and has an active enough lifestyle that it doesn’t really show. Life’s too short for bad food or bad sex. interview section “ we know that when you were a young and fresh faced kid, you were the party monster of the scene so tell us what you are like now ” Man, I’m never gonna live that down, am I? I’m older, I’m smarter, I’m now found behind the DJ booth instead of wasted in the bathroom with someone I’m never gonna see again. It’s not a crime to have fun, and I refuse to be buried before I’m dead, but I look back at some of the choices I made back then and just…cringe. I still know what’s happening and I’m not about to buy a sweatervest and move to the suburbs, but that sorta lifestyle isn’t maintainable. At least not without being like, a gazillionaire with no friends. “ we’ve asked everyone and now it’s your turn, sex or romance? ” What kinda question is that? Is this a “which do you want right now” question or a “which would you prefer if you had to only have one for the rest of your life” question? Jeeze, I dunno. I’m great in bed, and I really appreciate people who are the same, but lately…I mean, I dunno. I don’t necessarily believe in soulmates or ‘true love’ or anything like that, but…sometimes it might not be so bad, having someone to come home to, y’know? It might not be so bad, having someone to wine and dine. I dunno. I guess if the right person came along, I’d have both, right? “ rumor has it that you plan to be the biggest dj in cincinnati but in the meantime what are you doing to support yourself? ” Hey, get it right. I plan to be the biggest DJ in the world, but yes, Cinci is the first step, and I’m supporting myself with my art–playing local gigs and mixing tapes for people, getting the name out there, showing people a good time. I do some part-time, fast-cash stuff…oh, wait, that sounds awful. I’m not a hooker. I’m a waiter sometimes, sometimes I go do those like sleep studies at the University, sometimes I do some freelance writing, sometimes I grab my crappy electric keyboard and play streetcorners. We all gotta get by. “ it can’t all be good music and good times, so what’s the hardest part about being an openly gay man for you? ” The hordes of beautiful women who want to date me. …I’m kidding, ish. The hardest part is worrying about discrimination - and, like, the actual discrimination and stereotypes that follow you around when you’re gay and okay about it. So many people want to know about your “coming out trauma” and it’s like, dude, first of all, back off, second off, why do people think being gay automatically equates to something terrible having to have happened to you?? This is just who I am and I love who I love and people want to make such a big deal out of it. “ in order to become the next great dj, what’s the road map for the future looking like for you? ” It’s looking…well, I’d love to say it’s looking easy like Sunday morning, but I wasn’t raised to be a liar, so it’s looking challenging, at best, and like a fool’s dream at worst, but…well, a liar I’m not, and whether or not I’m a fool is still kinda up in the air. The game-plan is to get my name out locally as much as possible, get good social media coverage, get some devoted fans, score a big gig or two…someday I’d like to maybe get some of my own music out there, but I’ll fight anybody who tells me being a DJ isn’t ‘real’ work or isn’t being a ‘real’ artist, because until they’ve sat in the booth, they don’t know a dang thing. Is it bad that aside from having fun and helping other people have fun, my biggest goal is just, like, being self-sustaining? Talk about setting the bar low, I guess, but you gotta start somewhere, right?