#also me: ooooh alex would love this

[sentientsky]

i can’t scroll thru tumblr for too long cause i inevitably see a piece of art or something that i immediately want to buy for my best friend and. i. i just simply don’t have the money for that AUGH

[miloformula123fan]

hey, I love your writings. Can you please do a Lando x reader, where the reader is lily’s best friend and often hangs out with Alex and Lando with lily. And Lando is constantly flirting but the reader is clueless and one time she says “are you trying to flirt with me?” And he replies “for a year now, thank you for finally noticing!”

thanks so much for your request, sorry if it's a little short :)

sorry it took so long to get out

Please keep requesting - y'all have awesome ideas we agree on a lot of stuff :) - my guidelines are here, and if you want some prompts, they are here.

also feel free to come in and start chatting to me in my asks, would love to get to know y'all better

and if you want to be added to my taglist lmk :)

lando norris x female!reader

“Hey Y/N. I love your outfit today.” Lando blushed slightly as he complimented Y/N

“Aww thanks, I got it from Dior, as a gift for some sponsorship I did a while ago.” Y/N smiled as she did a small twirl to show off the outfit.

“Yeah…” Lando awkwardly tried to pass it off as a friendly comment.

—

“Hey Y/N, do you want to go for dinner tonight?” Lando looked more hopeful, there was no way she could interpret an invitation to dinner as solely platonic.

“Aww yeah sure, we should go to that new restaurant around the corner. There'll also be some fans there, so we can please the fans!” Y/N grinned as she started rambling about what they could have there.

“Yeah…” Lando awkwardly tried to shuffle away again, once again thwarted by Y/N’s oblivion.

—

“Hey Y/N, do you want to come around to my room after?” Lando didn’t entirely mean it in ‘THAT’ way, but there was no way Y/N could interpret an invite to a hotel room as anything but romantic.

“Yeah sure, F1 2020?” Y/N grinned as she looked at Lando, eyes sparkling. The same eyes that were the sole reason that Lando was stuck in this spot now.

“Yeah…” Lando was very tempted to punch something now.

1 month in

“Is she taken? Is this why she isn’t flirting back?” Lando had managed to corner Lily, who had been the one encouraging Lando to begin flirting with Y/N, but now Lando was just annoyed.

“No, definitely not. She would tell me. Not to mention she would be showing me so many photos. Also I was on her phone last week, the closest was some guy called Karl, I quizzed her. It’s her brother’s boyfriend.” Lily attempted to reassure Lando.

“Okay, so why isn’t she flirting back?” Lando was a little pissed at the fact that he’d been flirting with Y/N for a month, and she was still acting like it was entirely platonic.

“Because you have fallen in love with someone who quite frankly, Lando, is the densest person I know, so you’re screwed.” Lily patted Lando between his shoulder blades, trying to reassure him, while remaining brutally honest.

“Thanks Lily.” Lando got up and stretched, ready to try again, and then the race.

“Just keep trying, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually.” Lily reassured before he wandered off again.

“Eventually.” Lando sighed.

3 months in 

“Daniel, how did you get a girlfriend?” Lando shyly approached his ex teammate, and watched as his eyes lit up.

“Ooooh, got your eye set on someone, Lando? Who’s the lucky girl?” Daniel shook Lando’s shoulders, ready to tease the young boy.

When Lando hesitated Daniel seemed to sense that there was something he wanted to say, and paused and his eyes lit up a little less.

“Is it a guy, Lando? You know I won't judge…” Daniel tried to approach the topic, sensitively. He knew he was known as the ‘happy go lucky’ guy, but he knew when his friends needed to talk, he needed to just be there for his friends.

“No, no, no. Definitely a girl. I just-” Lando quickly shut down those rumours, while he wasn’t homophobic, he was definitely straight, despite the way he acted around his teammates.

“Aww has Lando gone all shy?” Daniel immediately resumed the teasing.

“No, the complete opposite. I’ve been blatantly flirting with her for almost 3 months and she has no idea.” Lando sighed.

“Have you come up with the idea that she…just maybe…isn’t into you like that?” Daniel tried to let him down slowly.

“No, Lily asked her and she said she has a crush on me, she’s waiting for me to make the first move. Which I have been doing!” Lando put his head in his hands, knees up to his chest.

“There’s a lot of women around Lando, maybe the densest one isn’t for you.” Daniel was half teasing him, half trying to let him down easily now.

“No, I would've said that 3 months ago. Now that I’ve realised she’s THAT dense. I’m now determined to make her realise that I’m flirting with her.”

“Wait, Lando…are you talking about Y/N?” Daniel’s eyes widened.

“Yeah why?”

Daniel couldn’t help it and started laughing.

“My man, you are going to die a virgin.”

“She’s not that dense is she?” Lando looked slightly panicked.

“She once walked in on her surprise birthday party and asked what the party was for.” Daniel was trying to hold his laughter.

“I’m fucked.” Lando buried his face in his hands.

“Yeah you are, but you’ve got your mates.” Daniel clapped him on the back before wandering ahead again towards his garage.

9 months in

“Lily, you are friends with the densest person I know.” Lando sighed

“Oh I know. I’ve been trying to hint that you’re flirting with her for the past, what? 9 months. Yeah she is a dense motherfucker.” Lily laughed slightly, but stopped at the hopelessness on Lando’s face

“Any suggestions?” Lando looked so defeated.

“No. just keep trying, eventually she’ll get it. Or she won’t and you’ll just have to move on.” Lily comforted him, before he got up and went off to race.

A year in

“Are you trying to flirt with me?” Y/N started laughing at the idea, however she stopped when she saw Lando’s face.

“For a year now, thank you for finally noticing” Lando laughing and throwing his hands up before seeing Y/N’s face.

“A year?” Y/N looked shocked and a little sad.

“...yeah” Lando noticed how all of their friends stepped back and tried to give the 2 space. “You’re a little dense.” he shrugged.

“Oh my god- you were FLIRTING WITH ME?” Y/N looked so shocked.

“...yeah!” Lando looked a little sheepish.

“Oh, my god, Lando I’m so sorry, you should’ve asked me on a date or something, I would’ve said yes and…” Y/N started rambling and wringing her hands as she panicked. ‘A year, how did she not notice’ she thought to herself.

“I did. Or well, I thought I did, but you uhh didn’t realise.” Lando scratched at the back of his neck, looking down at the floor.

“OH LANDO! I’m so sorry, uhhh, if you still want, we can go on a date?” Y/N offered, also kinda sheepish.

“Of course, I would love to.” Lando smiled, before offering his hand to Y/N, and she took it, smiling.

---

taglist: @leosxrealm, @tallrock35, @wolf-knights, @janeholt3

[jmagnabo92]

Loyalty of Friendship

Does it still count as WIP Wednesday if I'm posting it? Who knows!

***

When Henry leaves him at broken-hearted at the Lake House, Alex struggles with returning to life before Henry, but he's lucky to have a good support system with very loyal friends.

***

It sucks that Henry ran away just when Alex was ready to jump and hope it wasn’t a cliff, but maybe Alex was the only one in love here. 

It made sense, honestly.

Alex had made it clear what this was, and he never said that he thought of Henry as his boyfriend.  He crossed that line without checking that Henry was in on it with him. 

It still sucked, but it was fair. 

He let himself get in too deep and that’s what he gets.  Everyone always leaves eventually.

June was right, he should’ve told him that he was feeling things … feeling different about everything… now, it’s too late. 

It’d been awkward with his family when they realized Henry had left in the middle of the night without a goodbye.

It’d been worse when Alex returned to the White House and after a week, his mom had Zahra put him back on First Son duties supporting her campaign.  It was like … actually admitting it was over. 

Henry wasn’t coming back.  He wasn’t changing his mind. 

He’d just left.  It opened a wound that cut as deep as his dad’s leaving while he was at camp.  Next to the one that Liam had left when he stopped answering Alex’s messages – at least, Alex understood now – Liam had stopped because he was protecting himself, his own heart. 

And now, Alex has to protect his heart.

So, he went back to work.  Throwing himself into the campaign once again and ignoring the fact that it didn’t make him as happy as it once did – not when returning to the campaign meant losing his boyfriend.  

***

Things slowly got back to normal.  He focused on getting his mom re-elected despite June’s objections.  He put Henry out of his mind, except when he couldn’t.

It was a month or so after the ‘breakup’ when Alex is back in his room at the White House – a two-day break at ‘home’ for the first time since he started working as First Son and the campaign again. 

June’s sitting on his bed, trying to distract him with articles like they used to do when her phone dings.

She glances at it and rolls her eyes but doesn’t bother to answer back.

“Ooooh, who earned that look?” Alex teases. 

“Look, what look?”

“Come on, June.  You looked at that phone like whoever texted you personally offended you.  Like how dare they have the audacity to text you,” Alex states.  “So, who is it?  What did they say?  Do I have to go punch someone?”

“No, no.  It’s no one.”

June shakes her head and moves to hide her phone. 

Alex frowns.  “June, why are you lying to me?”

“Technically, I’m not lying – you don’t have to go punch anyone,” June assures him.

“I also asked you who it was and what they said.”

“It doesn’t matter, and it’s not important.”

“June.” 

June shakes her head and takes a deep breath.  “Fine, it was Pez, and he wants to hang out while he’s in the states.”

Oh. 

For some reason, he knows that he shouldn’t be surprised.  Of course, Pez, who’s been crushing on June since before he met her would want to hang out with her now that he has, in fact, met her.  Only twice, but who’s counting? 

There’s a part of him that doesn’t want her to still be friends with him because that’s a line to Henry and he doesn’t want that connection there, but that wouldn’t be fair.  He wouldn’t want her to stop herself from being friends with someone on his account.

He could… deal with the awkwardness.  He’ll get Henry eventually and just because June’s hanging out with Pez doesn’t mean he and Henry will cross paths or hear about each other, right?

“Oh, well, you should hang out with him if that’s what you want.”

He tries to hide his mixed feelings about it by returning to the speech that he’d been neglecting for the event in Texas.

“Are you kidding me?”  June scoffs.  “Of course, I’m not going to hang out with him.”

He looks up at her, surprised.  He wants to say something about his conflicted emotions, but instead just asks, “Why not?”

“Well, for one, we’re not actually friends,” June states.  “He’s had a crush on me since before we met, and we’ve only met slash hung out twice.  And both of those times were because of you… so for the second reason, it’s the code.  Friendship of loyalty.  My loyalty will always be with you.  Even if it’s been a decade and we’d been hanging out all that time before the breakup, I would still choose you over Henry’s friend.  It’s like with Nora.  We would’ve had to be friendly because of the whole nonsense trio thing but we didn’t have to be best friends – if you two hadn’t worked out being friends, I never would’ve become best friends with her.  I’m always going to be on your side, Alex… plain and simple.”

There’s a warmth that spreads through him.  He doesn’t want to admit it, but there’s a part of him that needed to know that someone was in his corner.  No matter what.

Even if that meant pushing off the chance to build a friendship. 

“June, I – I want to be able to tell you that you don’t have to do that, but… thank you.”

June reaches over and squeezes his hand.  “You’re my itty-bitty baby brother and I’m always going to be on your side.”

“I appreciate that and I’m always on your side, too.”

“That was never a question.”

***

It’s over.

His mom won.

It’s great… so why is he sitting here outside on the steps, staring up at the night sky wondering why he’s not happier.  He should be happy.  Thrilled even.  His mom won.  It’s what he’d been focused on for more than a year. 

A year-long goal and they won.

They even won Texas! 

Alex’s hard work with regards to Texas meant something, but he just…

“You okay, mijo?”

He jumps, but he’s not surprised when he’s joined on the steps by his father. 

“Yeah, just wanted some air.”

“Thought you’d be celebrating with your ma and sister, another term, it’s great, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s everything we wanted… it’s great.”

“That doesn’t sound very happy.”

Alex shrugs, not looking at his dad.  “You know, I’m not naïve enough to think that being in politics doesn’t come with a cost, especially… considering… but there was a part of me that thought it wouldn’t cost me anything until it was me running.”

Oscar laughs causing Alex to look at him. 

“You’re laughing?”

“Alex, you’ve already been paying the price for your ma’s politics for years – ever since she decided to make you and June celebrities.  You paid the price for your ma and I being in politics when we were gone in D.C., when we got divorced, etc… you were made into someone you weren’t – long before she was even elected… you literally decided to lie to the world about your friendship with Henry and then your relationship with him because of politics.  You were hidden away for months, and you’re just the son of a politician.”

He's right. 

“I just – I always wanted to be a politician, but I don’t …”

“You don’t have to be a politician, Alex.  You’re so intelligent that you can do anything you set your mind to,” his dad says.  “And you don’t have to decide that now, you can make your own choice in your own time.  Right now…”

“Right now… I should be celebrating.”

He nods.  “Yeah.”

“Then, let’s do it.”

***

Despite the fact that he should absolutely be happy – his mom won, again – now that the busy-ness of the campaign is over, he can’t help thinking about Henry.  Especially today. 

The day before Thanksgiving.  A year since he first called him in terror over the turkeys that are once again in his room – sometimes he wonders about why he cares about the spending so much that he’s reliving his worst nightmare, but he doesn’t like wasteful spending.

If only he could call Henry, again.  He made him feel better.  Even if there was that teasing flirting, God how had he not realized?

He reaches for his phone.  Just because Henry doesn’t love him, doesn’t mean they can’t be friends, right?

“What are you doing?”

Alex jumps.  June’s standing in his doorway.

“Uh, being terrorized by mom’s stupid turkeys.”

“No… with your phone.  Were you going to call Henry?”

How the hell did she know? 

“Uh, no.”

“Alex,” she says, sternly as she walks towards the bed and joins him.

He rolls his eyes.  There’s no point in lying.

“I just thought – well, it’s been a while… and Nora and I are friends, and Liam and I made up –”

Liam had shown up on election night with his boyfriend.  They’d talked it out, and Liam had admitted that he missed Alex’s friendship, and that he’d only stopped answering because he needed to get over the hurt before he could be his friend again. 

“– and you think that you and Henry could be friends?”

Alex shrugs.  “Well, I mean, clearly, I’m capable of it.  I’m sure he is, too.  It’s even possible that he’d be easier at it since he always thought of us as just friends…”

June frowns.  “Is that what you think?  That he thought of you two as just friends?”

“Well, with benefits.”

“Alex, no.  That’s not true –”

“Of course it is!  I went to tell him I loved him, and he ran away.  Obviously, he didn’t feel the same way.  We were just – having fun.  I should’ve realized.”

“I’ve never met someone be so dense before.”  June rolls her eyes.  “Alex… I don’t know if this will be easier for you to hear or make the end of things harder, but Henry was in love with you, too.  It was written all over his face the first time that I saw you two together.  You know – when he rearranged his business to be here for your birthday.  Remember, I went with you to the Met.  The way he looked at you, then… in LA, God it was like you hung the moon.”

Alex shakes his head.  “You’re wrong.  If he loved me, why would he run away?”

“Because he can’t come out.”

“Of course he can!  He just doesn’t want to…” he trails off. 

He ran away the first time that he kissed Alex and went on a date with a woman because the queen had set him down on his eighteenth birthday and told him that he couldn’t let his deviant desires reflect poorly on the crown…

Oh.

Henry had told him plainly that he couldn’t – couldn’t come out… and Alex was talking about the next summer and making out and not caring about the neighbors seeing…

Alex doesn’t resist putting his face in his hands. 

“Alex?  What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head.  “Bug, I’m such an idiot.  I was over here worrying about mom’s election because Zahra put it into my head that it would cost her the election if Henry and I were caught… but he told me that the stupid Queen sat him down on his eighteenth birthday and told him to hide his deviant desires and essentially throwing him in the closet forever.”

“It’s not your fault that he wasn’t clear with you –”

“He was, though!  He told me and I just – I guess I ignored it.”  He shakes his head.  “It was fine at first because it was my idea – friends with blowjobs – I did that.  I told him that it was all it could be because of … the election… I never thought that I would … until I was suddenly hit with – my feelings.  I built the wall, and I broke it down, and – and I didn’t even think about whether or not he went along with it was because he needed it too!  I just – it’s my fault…”

“No, it’s not.  Stop that nonsense,” June nearly commands.  “Henry has a voice here that he didn’t use.  He loved you, too, and he could’ve told you that you were more than friends with blowjobs –” she rolls her eyes.  “– I’m pretty sure it was never just that, but he could’ve talked to you about why you could never be out and still be with you and chose not to.  He chose to run rather than talk and just because you changed the rules on him by nearly confessing that doesn’t excuse what he did.”

“But he did tell me.”

“I meant when you clearly got closer – texting, calling, emailing – you gave up the campaign for him that is not something that you do for friends with blowjobs and hell, he met dad that weekend, he had have realized what that meant to you.  He had to have felt things becoming more serious… especially when you didn’t take his option to stop so you could go back to the campaign… and all he had to do was say I love you, too, but this has to stay a secret because of the Queen.  All he had to do was tell you or remind you the situation – he didn’t.  That’s not on you.”

Alex shakes his head.  “It doesn’t matter.  That’s not the point.  Understanding doesn’t make a difference here.”

“Then what is the point?  Why were you going to call him?”

“I thought – I am friends with Nora and Liam and it’s stupid, but I miss him.  We didn’t just – we were friends, you know?  Argued over stupid things like how he’s wrong about his favorite Star Wars film and everything else – he understood me, you know?”

“He’s your match,” June says, softly. 

The words hurt because it means he ruined it for them. 

“Right, so – I mean, I’ve done it before… we could go back to being friends,” Alex states.  “So, I thought I’d start with a picture of the turkeys or call him up and tell him that Cornbread has a demon cousin currently living in my bedroom.”

He doesn’t like the look June’s giving him.  Like she’s trying to figure out how to let him down easy. 

“Alex… I don’t think being friends with Henry is a good idea.”

“Why not?  I’m friends with Nora, Liam…”

“You weren’t in love with Nora or Liam.  Hell, you didn’t even know that you were doing anything more than friends do with Liam until recently.”

Alex shrugs.  “It’s not a big difference.  I just have to be a bit careful, but since we live in different countries, it’s not like I really have to control myself in his presence –”

June rolls her eyes.  “This isn’t about whether or not you can control yourself and you know it.  You’ve given him far more than you ever did Nora or Liam and you’re still in love with him…”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

She’s right and he knows it. 

“Okay, well, I can – I’m good at avoiding my feelings.  I’ll put them in a box and ignore them.”

“That’s the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard!  It’s not healthy and I’m not going to let you do it,” June states, plainly.  “Okay, you want to be friends with him some day, that’s fine – today’s not that day.  Take a leaf out of Liam’s book.  You have to wait until you’ve moved on from him and then, maybe, becomes friends again.”

It’s probably for the best, but there was a part of him that was hoping maybe he could intentionally start something again… something more than friendship.  She’s right though, he shouldn’t go there, again.

Alex sighs.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

***

“Come on, let’s go party!” Nora says as she bursts into his room some day in December where he’s looking at possible jobs that would allow him to do good in the world. 

He glances down and notes that he’s in his underwear since he’s doing this in bed.  “Uh, I’m not dressed to go out – and don’t you knock?”

“You’re wearing just underwear that’s strange since you normally don’t wear any,” Nora says, shrugging.  “And I don’t need to knock – there’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“It doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed privacy or the decency of someone not bursting in on me –”

“Ouch,” Nora states, arms crossed as she sits on the bed across from him.  “What’s up with you?”

Alex shrugs.  “Nothing.  I’m just busy.”

“Don’t lie to me now, Alejandro.”

Alex shakes his head.  “It’s dumb.”

“If it bothers you, it’s not.”

He closes the laptop and tosses it to the side. 

“I just keep thinking that things wouldn’t have changed if Zahra hadn’t burst on us at the DNC.  Then, I never would’ve told mom, and she wouldn’t have fired me and told me that I had to make a choice – find out if I felt a thousand percent about him.  I could’ve kept going… with what we had… with what he wanted… with what we were both happy with.”

“For how long?”

“I – well, what kind of question is that?” Alex questions, confused.  “That’s not the point I was trying to make.”

“I understood what the point was, but here’s the thing – Zahra invaded your privacy and it sucked – but all she ended up doing is make you face what you needed to face: the fact that you two were in love and you needed to talk about it.”

Alex frowns.  “I’m complaining about her invading my privacy.”

“I know.”

“And we can’t say that we needed to talk about it or what would’ve happened, the point is that we know what did happen and –”

“– and while it’s true that Zahra bursting in was wrong… it doesn’t change the fact that eventually you would’ve gotten there with being so in love you could die, and you would’ve ended up here,” Nora states, plainly. 

“You don’t know that –”

“You want the odds?”

It doesn’t matter if he nods or doesn’t because she goes into the odds anyway.  Statistics are her thing, and she goes into them anyway.  At first, he wants to deny her math, but she’s right. 

The odds were never in their favor of working out.

He shakes his head when she stops laying out the different possibilities, all of which ended here.

And he needs to stop holding onto the possibility of what could’ve been and accept what is.  It all sucks, but he appreciates that she reiterates what June’s been saying about loyalty of friendship that no matter what she and June are on his side and all they want to do is help him through this. 

Going out is apparently her way of helping…

“Alright, you win.  Let’s go out.”

Nora brightens.  “Really?”

Alex nods.  “Yeah.  I’m sure.”

“Great.”

***

Fuck. 

It’s been months … months… he’s thought about trying to find someone to sleep with – that had been Nora’s plan when she randomly announced that she was taking him out –, but that wasn’t going to heal his heart. 

Especially when he finds himself leaving his own New Year’s party to walk out to the same damn tree that Henry kissed him under a year before. 

He hadn’t been all that gung-ho to do the party this year, especially since Zahra suggested keeping up appearances with Henry until June shot her down.  He shouldn’t be forced to see him until he’s ready.  The problem is that Alex wants to see him, he wants things to be back to the way things were, but he’s not going to get that.

So, instead, he’s out here in the snow wishing that he could’ve just stopped himself from ruining things by trying to tell him how he felt.  That’s all he really had to do. 

Then, he might still be with Henry.  It might hurt to love him and never tell him.  To pretend that it didn’t mean anything when it did, but at least he’d still have him in his life.

“It gets better, you know?”

Alex doesn’t have to turn to know that it’s Liam.  He and Spencer had come for the party.  It was great to see him, nice to have someone who knows him – not his profile.  An actual friend.  Something he missed when he lost Henry and hadn’t yet made up with Liam.

“Hey, enjoying the party?”

“Missing the host.”

“Technically, June and Nora –”

“I remember the first one – when you came up with it, remember?”

Alex laughs.  It’d been his idea.  He was always the more outgoing of him and June and Nora, despite easily making friends, wasn’t much of a partier until she met him.  His mom hadn’t been thrilled with idea until June re-branded it with the name it goes by every year rather than what they prefer to call it.

“Right, yeah, but technically…”

Liam gives him a look and he shakes his head. 

“Yeah, I just needed some air.”

“Yeah, I figured.  Like I said, it gets easier.”

“When?”

Liam coughs.  “Maybe when you let yourself be willing to let him go.”

“You think I’m not willing?”

“Come on, Al.”

Alex shakes his head.  “I think I feel stuck because as long as I’m here, as long as I’m the first son – I might run into him, again, and if I see him…”

“… then you might start up again?  And that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Alex nods.  “Yeah.”

“Would it be better, then, if he was here?”

“Maybe.”

It’s quiet for a second before Liam says, “Well, he’s not.  And if you don’t want to be the first son, you don’t have to be.”

“My ma just won another four years.”

“Yeah, but – they stopped you from doing the campaign and ‘first son duties’, which by the way is not required or a thing before your ma took over, just because of who you were dating.  It was like a month or two and it would’ve kept going if he hadn’t run out on you – so figure out what you want to do… and go for it.  If that’s a job – a different campaign or going to back to school – do it.  And if that’s ‘quitting’ being the first son – do it.  Whatever’s best for you.”

Alex looks up at the night sky, thinks back to last few months – losing his job, choosing Henry, getting heartbroken, and being useful, again.  Finding out about why Luna ‘defected’ and realizing that maybe he doesn’t want to work in politics anymore, but he doesn’t know what he wants.

He just wants to do good.  He wants to help people.

He thinks back to sitting the LSAT.  To ideas he has with regards to being a lawyer and helping the disadvantage people that have no one to fight for them.

He’s in the best place to do that. 

“Thanks, Li.”

“Anytime.”

***

After that, Alex threw himself into applying for law schools to start in the fall.  He could go to Georgetown, but he figures he needs to leave the White House.  He also casually found excuses not to do First Son things anymore.  June had helped him find excuses – checking out the law schools he was applying to, visiting his dad, etc.  He’s not sure that Zahra or his mom really believes that, but his mom’s so excited that he decided to go to law school that she’s okay with him essentially quitting first son things except the inauguration. 

Until the State Dinner. 

Zahra had once again suggested that Alex should be there … with Henry.  That their ‘friendship’ was still important because people have written about their friendship and how it suddenly disappeared. 

“What does it matter if mom’s already been re-elected?” Alex asks, when he really wants to ask if Henry was really coming.  He’s not sure what he wants the answer to be.  One side – seeing Henry is what he wants, but on the other – it might be better not to see him. 

“Because it’s still important to have strong ties with the UK, and for the public not to question things.  People are suspicious that you went from spending all that time together to not seeing each other in months…”

“Again, what does it matter?  Who cares what the public thinks?  It’s not like my friendship with Henry ever actually impacted the relationship with the UK – so it would just be fake pictures of us pretending once again.”

“So, we know you can do it.”

Alex looks to his mom for support, but she’s not offering up anything.  Great.

“Fine, whatever.  I guess.”

Maybe this is what he needs…

June, who had been texting on her phone, looks up.  “Actually, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because Henry’s not attending the State Dinner, Bea is, and I will gladly pose for pictures with her, so you can leave Alex out of it.”

Alex looks to her, surprised and relieved.  Had she been texting Bea about it?

Zahra opens her mouth to argue or something, who knows, when his mom says, “That works for me.”

“Good.  Then, we can go.”

June grabs his arm and leads him out of the room and to their own rooms before she speaks, “Just so you know, I haven’t been talking to Bea, either.  She falls under the same loyalty rule as Pez, but I knew that Zahra was going to ambush you about the State Dinner – I overheard her and mom yesterday, so I texted her and asked her if they were really going to send Henry here knowing what happened between you.  She confirmed that Henry had never intended to come and that she had volunteered to come in his place.”

He's relieved and disappointed at the same time.  Sure, he didn’t want to have to face Henry, but at the same time, he misses him.  If he knew that they could talk it out and at least be friends (even though June and Liam both make it clear that he’s not ready to be friends with Henry), then he’d be okay to see him, but he doesn’t know how it would go, so… he’d rather not see him.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Here for you, always.”

“Same.”

***

A couple of weeks later, Alex has spent the last week in NYC so he could do his law school interviews.  He feels better every time he’s away from the White House, and despite knowing his name and his position could be part of the reason he’s gotten these interviews, he can, at least, remember that he worked his ass off in school, completing it in three and a half years while being ‘the first son’ and working various campaigns. 

He's earned his spot.

Or at least that’s what June keeps telling him. 

It’s his last night in town.  His interviews here went great, but all of the Valentine’s Day decorations have him thinking about Henry.  Which… is not that uncommon, but he’s hoping someday that wouldn’t be the case.

For now, he’s sitting in the same seat at the same bar in the same hotel that he was sitting in when Henry showed up at the DNC wishing that he wasn’t drinking alone.

Wishing Henry was here.

“Someone looks lonely, mind if I join you?”

Alex would assume the voice is talking to someone else because people usually don’t approach him, but he knows that voice. 

It’s the voice he’s been wanting to hear for months. 

He looks to his left and sure enough it’s Henry. 

He opens his mouth to say that no, he doesn’t mind, but what comes out is, “What the hell are you doing in New York, Henry?”

Henry laughs and Alex can’t help the smile that comes to his face.  It’s really Henry.

“I, er, I know that I am likely not the person you would want to see after I ghosted you again, but, er, I have been going through some changes in my life and I have something that I needed to tell you and I wanted to do it in person.”

“If you’re here to tell me you’re pregnant, the first question I’m going to ask is how,” Alex jokes because he’s a little nervous at suddenly being in Henry’s presence, again. 

“I’d ask how too, so that’s fair,” Henry says, a slight chuckle.  “Do you mind if we go over there to that table over there for a bit more privacy?”

He’s looking around at the people around them, and yeah, they’re starting to get some looks and it’d be better to go to the standing table a ways away from the bar. 

“Yeah, yeah, we can.”

Henry gets a drink and they both move to the table that seems to have a safe bubble of privacy.  He stands with his back to the wall, and Henry joins him a minute later. 

It’s awkward for a second before Henry speaks.

“I know I don’t deserve a minute of your time for the way that I left you with no explanation, but as I said, I have been thinking a lot about my life and everything that I want for my future and with the support of Bea and my mum (believe it or not) I made a big decision and it’ll be aired tomorrow on BBC an early special for Valentine’s Day – it’s an interview and I got an early copy… I’d like for you to watch it.”

It’s not what he expected when Henry said he wanted to talk in person, but Alex nods as Henry hands him his phone with ear buds.

He spares a look at Henry’s hopeful look before pressing play on the video.

There’s a bit where the host does something for Valentine’s Day, and then introduces Henry.  Alex ignores the fluffy back and forth until…

“So, Your Highness, do you have a love in your life?”

“Well, actually, that’s why I am here.  Why I wanted to have this interview.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, see, I’ve been called the ‘Prince of England’s Hearts’ for years now, pretty much since I became an adult, but I’ve always had a secret and that secret is that I could never love any of those women.  I wish I could have, it would’ve made my life so much easier, but I couldn’t and part of that is because I am gay.”

“Gay?  As in –”

“I am only interested in men.  In fact, I am only interested in one particular man, but before I get into that – erm, I’ve decided to come out today because I spent years in the closet, afraid to come out because I was not sure that I would be supported as a gay prince.  I thought that I had to keep hiding, maybe get married to a woman and figure out how to have children because of certain expectations that come with being a prince.”

He takes a deep breath. 

“I was okay with that because I never thought that I would find a man that loved me as much as I loved him and be able to handle being a prince’s boyfriend.  I knew that if I did find someone that the odds of them being able to understand my life and being able to handle coming out as it wouldn’t be easy would be nigh impossible…”

“And yet, you’re coming out now?  Does that mean that you found someone?”

“I did.  I – it’s a long story, but we met years ago, and I saw him across a crowded room like one of those meet-cute moments in romance novels or romantic comedies, except well, my first thought was that he was this amazing man that was living in a dimension that I couldn’t dream of accessing.  He was free in a way that I never dreamed I could be.  No, I thought if someone liked that ever loved me, it would set me on fire.  So, I had to keep him away from me for my own sanity.  Lo and behold, he didn’t get that memo because it was only in my head and he introduced himself to me, and I – I acted like a complete dunce.  I shook his hand and asked my equerry to, erm, get rid of him.  I was unaware that he heard me, but he did, and it actually started a bit of a rivalry.”

“So then, he isn’t the someone you’ve found?” the host asks, confused.

“Oh, no, he is.  See, we had a bit of a back-and-forth situation where I tried to keep my cool every time we met over the next few years (to make sure that my fancy of him wasn’t obvious), and he thought I was playing along with the rivalry – that I was aloof with him because I thought I was too good to consort with him.  Until, of course, an accident led us to spending some time together where I learned why he seemed to dislike me, I apologized, and we became friends.  This was about a year and half ago, now.”

“So, you’ve been with him for a year and a half?”

Henry shakes his head.  “No, we haven’t.  At first, we were just friends – real friends – we chatted every day about our lives and playfully bicker about things we didn’t agree on.  It was … I thought I loved him when I first met him, but actually getting to know him… I fell so hard so fast, but as far as I knew… he was straight.”

“As far as you knew.  How did you find out otherwise?”

“Well, see, my best friend kept insisting he was flirting with me and there was this party – something happened, and I got jealous, and I kissed him… before fleeing the country.”

“You fled the country?” the host questions, clearly not believing him.

“Oh, yes, and I ghosted him.  I was afraid, I thought I ruined everything.  So, I ran, and I didn’t answer his calls or texts, but then I had to see him again and it turns out – he fancied me, too.  He kissed me and made it clear that I was what he wanted.”

“That’s great, isn’t it?”

“It was great, it was perfect – almost.  Except the fact that we were both pretending that it was just … it wasn’t a fully romantic relationship… hiding it made it seem less like we could fall in love.  I was already in love, and I was okay with that, but we kept growing closer and closer, and I know that he fell in love with me, too.”

The host looks confused.  “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No, it wasn’t.  I never wanted to hurt him, but I could sense that he might be happy hiding for a while, but some day he was going to want to come out and I never thought I could.  So, I broke his heart.  I walked away back in August…”

“And yet, you’re here.”

“Yes, well, as I said, I never thought that I would be able to or want to come out, but I haven’t been able to get him out of my head in the few months, and my mum and sister wanted to help me by helping me set up the Henry Foundation for LGBTQ+ community, specifically some youth centers that I’m going to be in charge of.”

“And that’s why you’ve come here today to talk about the foundation?”

“Not exactly.  I came here today – hoping that he’ll see this, so that I can tell him that I’m sorry.  That I regret walking away, especially because I was misguided in thinking that I could give him up when I love him so much.  That I know I don’t deserve his forgiveness, but if he’s willing to forgive me – I’m here, now.  I’m out now, and we could be together – if he wants, if he still loves me, if he can forgive me… I’m here and I still love him.”

The host is kind when he says, “I’m sure that with a big apology like this – that he’ll forgive you.”

“I can only hope.”

Alex can see that there’s more than a few minutes of interview left, but he’s seen what Henry wanted him to see. 

He pulls out the earbuds and looks up at Henry uncertain what to say. 

Luckily, Henry speaks first.

“I know that even after all this, after everything I’ve done, that I have no right to ask this, and I expect that you’ll slap me because that’s what I deserve, but as I said, I’m coming out tomorrow – and I’d like to be on a date in Paris on Valentine’s Day with you… if you’ll give me another chance because I love you and I am so sorry for leaving you like that.”

Alex can’t help it when he says, “That’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?  A first date on Valentine’s Day?”

The fact is – Henry’s confession is overwhelming.  The idea that he was in love with Alex or thought he was, but reacted out of self-preservation because the evil queen had told him that he had to hide who he is, only for Alex to end up pushing through those boundaries for a benefits situation that was never just benefits.  They were both just pretending that was all it was…

Maybe they believed that they had to – because of the election, because of the Queen – they weren’t honest with themselves or with each other, and even if he says yes… it still won’t be easy.  Being out will help or hurt possibly, there’s no way to tell.  It could still be quite difficult…

He’s got another choice here: jump with Henry off a cliff together or walk away once and for all. 

This was their chance to start fresh and on the right foot.  A real relationship. 

If that’s what he wants.

He looks into Henry’s eyes, and he can see that it’s what Henry desperately wants.  He wants Alex to say yes.  To whisk him off to Paris, to be together, again.

Alex wants it, too.

“I – well, yes, I suppose it is,” Henry admits, a flush on his face.  “However, I’ve always been a bit of a romantic and our last visit to Paris was nearly a year ago and … felt different to the first two times…”

“Because we spent the night together, cuddled all night, had breakfast the next morning…” Alex says, thinking of what he’d been thinking the first time – how those things made a relationship and how they couldn’t do those things if they were just having sex.  

“Erm, yes, that makes sense.  Anyways, yes, it is a bit on the nose, but I –”

The rest of what he says is cut off by Alex kissing him.  It’s not as long or passionate as Alex would prefer, largely because they’re in public.  “Yes.  On one condition.”

“Condition?” Henry asks, dazed.  “Anything, name it.”

“You’re not allowed to ghost me, again.  We try this and it doesn’t work – you don’t get to just disappear, we’re going to talk about it and –”

This time he’s cut off with a kiss. 

“Deal.”

“Good.”

Even though they should be aware enough to not make out at a bar out in the open, Henry pushes Alex’s back against the wall, and kisses him passionately. 

It feels just like the first kiss in his room – he swears that he can feel the wind in his hair, which is added by Henry’s hands in his hair.  One of them moves to the base of his skull and tugs, causing Alex to moan. 

Eventually, Henry needs air and leans his forehead against Alex’s.  “Upstairs?”

“Yes.  One thousand percent yes.”

***

They were quick to make it Alex’s hotel room to pack his bag before their plan to get on Henry’s private plane to Paris, but the second the door closes Henry’s lips are on his and frankly, Alex has been wanting this for too long to focus on packing right now.

Henry’s tongue in his mouth and his hands working to undo his clothing is everything he’s been dreaming about for months.  He can’t resist running his hands all over Henry and it’s only needing air that makes him lean back. 

Henry immediately starts kissing his neck, mouthing at that spot on his neck and no doubt leaving a mark, not that Alex cares.  He loves it. 

“You know … that interview … makes it … so obvious,” Alex pants.  Next to Henry’s lips that’s all he can think about.  Even though he knows that Henry wanted him to know that he was apologizing to him despite the fact that he never said who the man he’d fallen in love with actually was. 

Henry pulls back, his eyes are blown, and he looks like he’s not quite wanting to stop, but he knows that Alex’s mind is only half on what he’s doing to him and that’s not enough. 

“That – that was the point,” Henry says, breathlessly.  “I wanted the world to know that you turned my life upside down just by being you… I didn’t want there to be any question on who I was in love with.”

There’s a warmth that spreads through him at those words. 

“Good.  That’s – good.”

Henry sits on the bed in just his boxers, and pulls Alex into his lap, which prompts them to fall back on the bed with Alex on top. 

He kisses Henry, lightly, before pulling back.  “I – just, why now?  Why not months ago?  I can’t imagine Bea letting you wallow for too long.”

“Well, I – at first, I really thought it was for the best…”

“Because the Evil Queen told you that you couldn’t be gay?”

Henry laughs.  “The Evil Queen?”

“Fitting, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”  He shakes his head.  “Anyway, erm, yes.  That part is the problem.  I never could come out without the Queen’s acceptance.  Unless someone outed me and even then, I wouldn’t put it passed her to pretend it was faked evidence or something.  If she could get away with it.”

“She probably could.”

Henry nods.  “So, I was prepared to give you up – I didn’t want to put you through that.  Until Bea finally got tired of my whining and immediately came up with a plan to make me happier.  The plan involved getting mum to be a mum and er, I told her – everything.  She decided to take on the Evil Queen – we don’t need to go into the details of that with you naked on top of me – speaking of… why aren’t you wearing underwear?”

Alex chuckles and grinds down, the only fabric between them being Henry’s boxers.  “I go commando a lot, but I suppose that means she finally won, and you decided a public declaration of your love was in order to win me back?”

Henry flushes.  “I was hoping it wouldn’t be too hard.  Thought maybe you’d be easy for me, what with the way things started between us.”

He’s not wrong.  Alex is far too easy when it comes Henry.  The fact that he’s here, naked, after everything speaks volumes.  As does the fact that he’s perfectly happy to stop talking just to have his way with Henry. 

Henry appears to know what Alex wants without him needing to say it because he flips them and starts kissing Alex passionately. 

It’s everything that he’s been dreaming of since Henry left him in a lurch and honestly… he couldn’t be happier.

***

Although the original plan had been to pack Alex’s bag and get on the plane, they both decided that the plane could wait and decided to spend the evening/early morning catching up on everything they missed and talking things out because Alex did not like the way Henry left him.  He wanted to make sure that he’d never wake up again with Henry having left in the middle of the night.

They’d fallen asleep somewhere around 3AM, and unfortunately didn’t get to sleep long because Alex’s phone goes off at dawn.  It’s not an alarm and he’s unfortunately aware that it’s his Zahra ringtone. 

“Ten bucks says she saw your interview and somehow thinks I should deny that we’re together or at least, used to be,” Alex groans. 

He knows without even answering the phone that Zahra’s going to react the exact same way she did at the DNC, and he hates it.  He was so worried about the campaign that it took Henry leaving and his mom winning again for him to realize that his relationship would’ve never had any impact on the presidency.

The phone stops ringing and he briefly considers just rolling over into the comfort of Henry’s arms before it starts again.  It’s way too early for this, so he declines the call and immediately gets a text.

What the hell do you think you’re doing with the Prince, you little shit? 

Attached is a link to the BBC interview right at the end where the interviewer speaks live, next to him is a video of the previous night where Henry approaches Alex and all the way through their make out session before going upstairs. 

Well, at least there’s no denying it.

“Well, if there was any question before on who Prince Henry fell in love with and came here to apologize to, it’s a question no more.  This video of the Prince and the First Son from the early hours of this morning clearly answer the question – it was none other than Alex Claremont-Diaz, the First Son of the United States and one-half of what you used to call the best bromance of the year… perhaps we were easily fooled, what do you think, Lou?”

“I think the situation between the two over the years suddenly makes sense and that we should wish the two nothing, but happiness.”

“I concur, and I’m actually thrilled that I was right about the mystery man in question.  Given the clues, it was obviously the First Son that had stolen the Prince of England’s Hearts’ heart.”

“Yes, and clearly, the Prince has been forgiven – just in time for Valentine’s Day!”

There’s clearly more to the discussion, but Alex leaves it.  “Well, I think that’s a good sign.”

“I agree,” Henry offers, kissing his cheek.  “Although I hadn’t meant to out you.”

“You just wanted to make it obvious that you fell in love me,” Alex grins.  “How could that not out me?”

Henry opens his mouth – probably to apologize – but Alex cuts him off with a kiss pushing him on his back and straddling him as he does.  “I don’t care as long as we’re together.”

Henry grins up at him.  “That’s all well and good because there’s certainly nothing I’d want to do about it now, especially if I’m getting to enjoy the sight of my naked boyfriend on top of me.”

Rather than answer, Alex starts kissing him passionately, letting his hand snake between them to jerk them off together when his phone rings – this time June’s ringtone.

“You should… probably … get that,” Henry pants when Alex leans just a bit away to glare at the offending phone.

“Nah, they know I’m with you so… they should leave us alone.”

The phone falls silent and Alex resumes his task, only to be annoyed a second time by it going off again. 

Frustrated, Alex answers the phone with, “I’m little busy here –”

“Doing Henry?”

“As a matter of fact –”

“I was kidding, I do not want to hear about that,” June cuts in.  “You need to stop what you’re doing and get dressed because I convinced mom to at least conference you in rather than storm your hotel and force you to come back and you should not be naked for that.”

“Why do I have to do it at all?” Alex complains.  “Henry’s out, I’m out and we’re living happily ever after, who cares?”

“Apparently, it’s still something they feel they need to ‘address appropriately’ and ‘handle this presidency-ruining secret’.”

“What the fuck, June?  You don’t really think that, do you?”

“No, of course not,” she assures him.  “But I didn’t think you’d want a repeat of the DNC.”

He glances at Henry, who’s violently shaking his head, and sighs, “Fine.  We’ll be dressed and call in a few minutes.”

“Good,” she says, sounding pleased.  “And Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m happy for you, but I’m still going to give Henry a shovel talk for how he left you.”

She hangs up before he can possibly respond, and he smiles down at Henry, who’s blushing.

“I suppose that I deserve all of the shovel talks that your family wants to give me.  I’m so sorry that I –”

“Hey, it’s okay, honestly.  It’s partially on me, too.  We both share some of the blame for not talking about when our relationship went from fuck buddies to an actual relationship.”

He gives him a light kiss before getting off of him.  “We better get dressed before the meeting – I do not need another nightmare of people bursting in on us (and I haven’t forgiven her for the last time).”

“Good because that was highly unprofessional.  Shaan would’ve never done such a thing.”

“Yeah, true.”

***

The meeting is completely ridiculous.  From Zahra berating them for kissing in public (“you never said anything when it was ‘America’s sweethearts’,” Alex complained) to suggesting that they somehow hide it (“seriously, ma, we were making out in public and even if we could somehow rewind that and erase that evidence, Henry’s whole thing made it really obvious it was me”) and finally landing on “you could’ve at least warned us” (“right because you haven’t know for months that if I ever saw Henry again, I’d run into his arms like one of those romantic reunions in rom coms” – this had caused June, Nora and Henry to burst out laughing ruining the seriousness of the conversation).

It finally ended with, “You should, at least, come home and make a speech addressing the situation.”

Alex laughs, openly.  “No.”

“No?”

“No, it’s not happening.  My love life has no bearing on your presidency, it’s not like I’m the president and he’s the king, he’s literally fourth in line (unlikely to ever be king) and in four years, I won’t even be the figure head of ‘First Son’ ‘cause you won’t be the president anymore.  So, no – no speech, no press address.  Henry and I have essentially come out – it’s pretty clear that we’re in love and he’s taking me to Paris, so… we can’t really stop by the White House.”

“Alex, I don’t think you understand –”

“No, Ma, I don’t think you understand even if we wanted to – which we don’t – we can’t put the genie back in the bottle and it’s not the public’s right to know anything about our love life.  We have the right to privacy and you’re trying to capitalize on our relationship and for what?  Your numbers?  I don’t think that that matters at all anymore.  If we don’t make it a big deal of it, it’ll just be a thing that fades in the background.  Which is exactly what we deserve… to love in peace.  We already let ourselves suffer because of our roles in the world, and we’re not about to keep doing that.”

“I’m not asking you to suffer…”

“But you are asking us to make this a big deal when it shouldn’t be…”

“It is a big deal –”

“No, it’s not.  We’re happy, we’re together and you know what?  It’s no one’s business, but ours!  So, that’s it.  Goodbye.”

He ends the video call and turns to Henry.  “I know we’re still exhausted, but I really want to get on a plane before they try and stop us.”

“Anything for you, love.”

“Good.”

***

Months later, Alex and Henry are having a housewarming in Texas.  Alex had decided on going to UT Austin for his law degree and Henry had decided to use his foundation to help queer youth in Texas.  Of course, it would take time, which is why they’d bought a house with lots of land (and a guest house for their security) to give them the chance to be happy and in love and at peace.

While his mom hadn’t been happy that he hadn’t wanted to make some grand speech about his love for Henry, the fact that he went from Paris to London and stayed with Henry for nearly six weeks until the press chilled out by moving on to something else (and his birthday had passed), made her realize that he’s an adult that can make his own choices.

He had gotten his acceptances and he and Henry had made their decision about Texas in that time, which meant finding a place and getting happily ever after.

He had briefly worried on seeing Pez and Bea that they’d be upset that June and Nora hadn’t been in contact due their loyalty with him, but Bea had said that it was the same reason that she hadn’t gotten into contact either.  Pez, on the other hand, had laughed and said he’d been testing them.

“Testing them?”

“It’s important that we have a boundary, Alexander.  It’s important that you know that you can always rely on them.  I knew that someday you and our dear Henry would end up happily ever after, but I wanted you to know that you have the same loyalty of friendship that Bea and I have with Henry.  It should be a requirement that the people closest to you will always be on your side.  Because you and Henry may have fights and you’ll need support to get through it – to vent without worrying the other half will hear.  We can all be friends, but we should all remember that there are lines when there needs to be.”

“So, you would’ve been disappointed, then?”

“Oh, absolutely.  Don’t worry, dear, I was merely helping you.”

At that, Alex threw a pillow at him.  “Even though I do like the assurance, it’s not your job to test my sister and best friend.  I never expected them to keep that line open even if I told them they could because I know that they’ll always have my back.”

Pez grinned.  “And there lies your test.  You pass.”

It devolved into a pillow fight, but the end result was that everything worked out and they could have gatherings at their new house without fear that it would be awkward.

Alex finishes straightening the banner for the party as Henry comes out laughing at him.  “Do we really need a banner?”

“Yes, yes we do,” Alex assures him from his chair.  “It’s our housewarming, it’s gotta be perfect.”

Henry helps him down and pulls him close.  “It is perfect because it’s with you.”

“You’re such a Prince Charming.”  He’s grinning up at him, so happy and content and ready for this next chapter of their lives.

“Does that make you Cinderella?” Henry teases, as the door rings. 

“Only in that I finally get a happily ever after with Prince Charming.”  Alex gives him a quick kiss.  “Now, come on, Prince Charming, we’ve got a housewarming to celebrate.”

Alex pulls him towards the door as Henry says, “Then, here’s to happily ever after.”

“Cheers to that.”

***

Thanks for reading :)

[chicgeekgirl89]

Chapter 2 is Here!

Tagging: @lemonlyman-dotcom and @kiwichaeng

T.K. stares directly into Paul’s eyes without blinking. His face is completely neutral, his body still. There’s no possible way—

“Got any eights?”

“Damn it Paul!” T.K. explodes, throwing a card down on the table that Paul sweeps up victoriously. “You have to be cheating!”

“Not cheating,” Paul says, a smug smile on his face. “Just very good at reading your tells.”

“I don’t have a tell!” T.K. gripes.

Paul places his eights on the table, spreading them out so everyone can see. “That’s what you think.”

“This game is not fun when you’re losing,” Mateo says sadly, looking at his hand, which is very full of cards.

“Marj, you got any fives?” Paul asks and she rolls her eyes as she hands them over. “Ooooh I am never doing dishes again!” he says happily.

Despite his annoyance at his teammate, there’s a spiral of happiness swirling through T.K. This feels normal. It feels good. The last year has been hell, but he finally feels like he can breathe again.

Leaving New York for Austin had sucked. In a lot of ways it still does. But he’s been going to meetings, going to therapy, and having the 126 at his back has helped a lot. The world still seems grey, but that’s an improvement over the black sucking hole his life had become after Alex rejected his proposal and sent him spiraling toward the grave. 

Oddly enough, the thing that helped the most was getting shot. That had also sucked, but the way the team had rallied around him after has helped to sharpen the edges of the fuzzy world he’s been living in. They care. They love him. They’re family.

And now he’s finally back on active duty. He’d shown up last week to his first shift and found a banner and a cake and decorations all over his locker. For a moment the world had flickered into color again, just a flash of what life could be if he was, you know, happy. It had gone away as quickly as it had come, but it had given him just a tiny bit of hope. Like maybe things could be okay again. Maybe he could be okay again. 

Paul has finally run out his turn and Marjan is trying to get Judd to give her nines that he obviously doesn’t have. T.K.’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out, frowning at the unfamiliar number on the screen.

Random Number

[8:32pm] Hey, I had a good time the other night. Would love to hear more about that trip to Croatia sometime.

“Well that’s a face.” His dad’s voice cuts through the ribbing of the game as he joins them at the table, an espresso in hand. “What could possibly be in that text message that’s got you looking like that?”

“Some random person texted me the other day and they just did it again,” T.K. says. “Must be a wrong number.”

“You sure?” Mateo asks. “One time I thought I was getting random texts asking me on a date and I kept deleting them. Turns out it was my dentist reminding me of the date of my appointment. I missed it and they charged me like a hundred bucks.”

“Yikes probie,” Marjan says with a grimace, shuffling through her cards again.

“It’s not my dentist,” T.K. tells them.

“Just ignore ‘em,” Judd says. “No point in wasting your time wondering. Delete the text.”

“Or text back and ask who it is,” Paul says. “Could be a Nigerian prince who thinks you’re very beautiful and will give you many riches if you just send him a check for a thousand dollars first.”

“Shut up,” T.K. says with a roll of his eyes. 

“Just text them back. They should know it’s a wrong number,” Owen says.

T.K. considers this then starts typing.

T.K.

[8:34pm] Who is this?

Random Number

[8:37pm] Carlos. From the bar. We kissed, remember?

Carlos? T.K.’s mind goes completely blank. He’s not sure he’s ever met anyone named Carlos in his entire life. And he definitely hasn’t been kissing guys in bars lately. Things have been…incredibly dry in that department. Getting shot sort of sucks the libido right out of you and so far he hasn’t had the energy to try and find his dating mojo again.

He frowns and types back.

T.K.

[8:38pm] I don’t remember kissing anybody at a bar recently…

“T.K., your turn,” Judd prompts him.

“Sorry,” T.K. says, watching distractedly as three bubbles pop up on his screen and then looks hurriedly at his cards. “Marj, any aces?”

“Go fish.”

He grabs a card from the pile and adds it to his hand then glances back down at his phone. Holy hell.

Whoever this Carlos guy is, he’s sent a selfie and he’s hot as fuck. T.K.’s eyes take in dark, wild curls and a set of broad, muscled shoulders. Below that is a six pack worthy of an Oscar that tapers to a cut V along this guy’s hips, disappearing into his low slung shorts. His pecs are so defined they look photoshopped. He’s gorgeous. T.K. has never seen anyone like him.

“Whoa.”

T.K. startles when he realizes Marjan is leaning over his shoulder so she can stare at his phone. “Who is that?” she asks, nearly as awed as he is.

“The guy that’s been texting me,” T.K. says, trying to cool the blush that’s heating up his face. He’s not even sure why he’s blushing. It’s just a picture. 

“Ooh lemme see!” Mateo gets up in a flurry of cards.

“Hey! Aw hell,” Judd says, throwing his hand down, the game now ruined.

“Damn. That guy is BUILT,” Mateo says. “Text him and ask him what his workout routine is.”

“Better yet, text him back and ask him out,” Paul says, crowding in behind T.K.’s chair. 

“I’m not going to ask him out,” T.K. says, pushing the words past his throat and wishing he’d chosen somewhere more private for this. “I’ll just tell him I’m not whoever he thinks I am.”

“Are you crazy?” Marjan asks, shoving his shoulder. “Who cares if he thinks you’re someone else? That man is gorgeous. If you don’t do something about it, you’re stupid.”

“I agree,” Paul says.

“Me too!” Mateo pipes up.

“Do I get a vote?” Judd asks.

“Well apparently everybody else does, so why not?” T.K. huffs.

“I vote we get back to this game and stop gawking over some guy’s picture.”

“I believe the kids call it a ‘thirst trap’,” Owen says, joining the throng and peering down at T.K.’s phone. “It’s mean to attract potential sexual partners by increasing desire.”

“Okay thanks Dad,” T.K. says, pushing his chair back and forcing them all to scatter. “I think I’ll handle this on my own.”

They all protest as he heads to the bunk room, but he ignores them, grateful when the door closes and there’s nothing but quiet. 

He sinks down onto his bed and studies the text again, pulling the photo up and zooming in a little, his eyes drinking in perfect bronze skin and muscles. God. Whoever this Carlos thinks he’s texting is extremely lucky. T.K. reluctantly texts back.

T.K.

[8:49pm] Hey, sorry, I really have no idea who you are.

Hot Guy Carlos 

[8:50pm] This isn’t Deacon?

Deacon? T.K. snorts. What a pretentious asshole name. Then again, Tyler Kennedy isn’t exactly your standard Kyle or Chris either. But good to know Carlos is as gay as he looks.

T.K.

[8:51pm] Nope. I’m T.K.

He sends a selfie for good measure. One where he knows he looks hot. He’s wearing his AFD t-shirt and his eyes are doing that flirty sparkle thing he uses to drive men crazy. Because if Carlos is going to start texting the real Deacon instead, T.K. would at least like him to know what he’s missing. 

Three little dots pop up and second later a text comes through.

Hot Guy Carlos

[8:53pm] Oh my god. I’m so sorry.

T.K.

[8:53pm] No worries. 

And that’s the end of it. Right? Because when a random person texts you and you graciously explain that they have the wrong number, you don’t continue to text. No matter how breathtaking they are.

T.K. pulls up the photo again and his heart clenches in his chest. Everything around him seems grey, but this photo is stunning technicolor.

He saves it to his camera roll.

[jazzically]

the magnus protocol episodes 4 through 7 — my live reactions not clickbait

magp 4

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IS THIS THE STATEMENT AND/OR ORIGIN OF ALFRED GRIFTER

omg i love how the literal only reason for hearing statements from the 1800s is gwen being behind on her work

ALSO I FRICKING LOVE THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL THEME

Oh my lord you know it's a good sidequel when you can already feel the itch to relisten to everything you just listened to

magp 5

Ok i do not know whether we say "a blast from the past" in America but i have heard that phrase like five times now from Brits all on the RQ magnus feed so im wondering if that's just an alexander j newall thing or !!! what (love it tho. i love it)

faith the unholy trinity referenced???? faith the unholy trinity!!!!!!?

aint no way he won the contest by coincidence LMAO

OOOH THIS IS SUCH A COOL FORMAT!!! ahh ... just how many ideas do they have for digital first-person storytelling mediums?? cuz with every new one i am fascinated

i wonder if jonny just flipped between soft speaker and robot while recording or if "[UNINTELLIGIBLE]" is a digital insert. if it's the latter i am VERY impressed although it's characteristic of jonny at this point lol

OOOooooOOoOoO personal relation is always extra spookyyy

i am also extremely impressed by the similarity in writing style. i can see it (in a good way) now that i'm looking harder, but i would never have guessed jonny didn't write all the episodes

also i just love how alex and jonny swap announcer roles sometimes (jonny as credits, alex as title/episode) for tmp

NOTE TO SELF: check out the cellar letters!!!!! omfg!!! it sounds fire!!!!

magp 6

aw that's such a sweet dedication message

URGH HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE THE TMAGP THEME

i always wondered what the muffled falling-down-the-stairs noise at the end of the original theme was. it always put me in mind of the aesthetic of the beginning of portal 2 (and, later, the Buried coffin) idk why

I LOOOVE ALL OF THESEEEE none of them have been hard to get through at all?? which is rare for me bc i fail to pay attention to things for long unless they come in more than two forms of stimulus simultaneously (video + music, audio + fidget toy, video + candle)

AWIEE SAM AND CELIA 😭😭😭

Yes alice you do that matchmaking you are SUCH a girlboss

magp 7

OMFG CELIA DEFINITELY KNOWS SOMETHING

lmao jonny says ree instead of err ee now (for "re:"/regarding)

[ThEory time babes woooOoO]

heyyyy is this one of those other worlds that the fears got banished to. actually what happened to the dread powers? am not exactly clear on that (i hope it's on purpose). maybe the place where the dread powers exist alongside "our world" in tma is also adjacent to other worlds in exactly the same way?? like how a hexagon can be adjacent to six other hexagons??? that'd be sick and it would also explain why there wasnt an overwhelming amount of supernatural incidents in "our world" such that everyone was familiar with the dread powers and normalized safety procedures and such ... interesting au idea ... also the idea jonny proposed about a post-apocalypse world in the s5 qna... that one is cool too............ writers get on that (/j/j/j)

is tmp a separate world ??? they only said it was in the same universe as tma iirc

[wild speculation over]

RAAAAAA i LOVE the robotic voices' VAs' abilities to slowly transition into humanlike speech

cLaYtOn!!!!!? do i know that name or am i going crazy

perhaps i am yet again thinking of the worker of clay (see previous post)

LOOOLL "better than norris, whiny little toad"

OHMYGFUCKING GOD WAIT I RESCIND MY EARLIER STATEMENT!!!!!! THAT'S CANONICALLY JONATHAN SIMS' FRICKING VOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehehe ooooh you're evil writermen. how dare you use our constant uncertainty as to which characters you're referring to induced by your earlier repetition when naming characters (really there should be a limit as to how many michaels can be in one story) so that we are still unsure, even with prior knowledge, whether sam's mysterious "john" is actually the archivist or just some other john. good lord (im obsessed)

HOLY CRAP COLIN KNOOOWSSSSSSSS THINGSSS i just adore his role as the town crazy old man

omg alex's writing is incredible

[captmickey]

Noticing the “Open” sign on your shop, I mosey in to talk.

- Favourite act of Three Adventurers?

- The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page?

- Creativity is most fun when ________.

- Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. (I blank out if asked questions like this, but maybe one will come to mind while answering another question?)

- If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect?

-How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things?

(Pick and choose any of the above!)

1 - Favourite act of Three Adventurers? Ooooh... hmm, I feel like it'll change as I go further down the line, but so far it's a tie between acts 5 and 7. Five because it forced me to get creative with how to distinguish the boys when they're one person (and I'm sorry, but I love Effie so much and I miss her as well as Giggle). Seven because I really did try to do better with pacing, I got to explore more with Guybrush within 3adv, how all of ya'll reacted towards Mako (and me clapping my hands like a seal with each week), and because I FINALLY got to do the cool action shot I've been dying to do since I started 3adv- which was Graham shooting the ice arrow as he's shot out of the water.

2 - The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page? DO. NOT. CLUTTER. LESS IS MORE. I have to scream that at myself and then go "Can this panel, if it's not working for the page, be pushed to the next page? Does it add anything? Can it be scrapped? Can a different panel be scrapped or even merged?" and go from there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I try to make my panels cohesive and not a jumble of too many panels. Also reeeeeeeally helps to have the speech bubbles easy to follow and lead the eye. I read it somewhere once and it kinda lived in my head ever since.

3 - Creativity is most fun when ________. When you do it for yourself. I know it's more appealing and even rewarding when others respond or give feedback (I'd be a liar if I didn't admit of being guilty of wanting it), but it's super important and critical and even liberating when you create things for yourself first. I read somewhere, I think it was Alex Hirsch or Rebecca Sugar (or both and I'm combining the two) how when they made their shows, they did it as a something that they wanted to see and refused to budge for the fans, so I take that to heart when I make things. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, it might even anger or frustrate or have them throw a fit how it's not what they want... but when I'm making things for myself, it becomes way more fun and I don't feel so pressured. I even might surprise myself with what I'm able to pull off and that, as a creator, is so much fun.

4 - Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. I have too many, ha ha. But one in particular was how I recently broke out of a writer's block of sorts of Act 8 of 3adv. Mainly I was on my way to work and honestly it was just.... a very ridiculous Looney Tunes-esqe kind of scenario with Guybrush that made me burst out loud in the car that I had to share with my sister (she is the only one that knows the entire spoiler for all of 3adv and tragically the one I bombard for feedback) and she, bless her so much, slam-dunked with an even dumber idea that made us both laugh super hard and things began to click so perfectly that I got to writing again after um... actively avoiding it. So when the act drops, and you see a joke that seems almost TOO cartoonish.... I apologize in advance.

5 - If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect? You're really making me go through my works aren't ya? Ha ha, lets see.... off the top of my head that is posted and not, y'know, a WIP. From Act 7: The pirate’s jaw tightened slightly before he gave a smile that dripped with venomous resentment. “I did, actually. In fact, I’d say I thought it rather well considering you were more focused on beating me up both physically AND emotionally! Wow, who’d a thought a simple pirate such as myself could do such a thing!”  From Perspective: Number Two slammed the final nail in the coffin as Number One bursted out laughing, unable to contain himself. Did that boy really bring that in and thought it was a ticket? Who was the trickster that convinced him it was one?! The other guards laughed alongside him, but he simply had to leave the Theater out of fear that he would appear to be more unprofessional than he already was, laughing the whole way out.

From This Can Be Explained: “Okay, so don’t freak out–”

“Guybrush, there’s a dead body on the floor! How can I not freak out?!” Link shouted. From Sea of Adventurers: “Although… you two made it very clear that the seas doesn’t run in your veins.”

“How so?” Graham asked, sounding somewhat insulted, even though it was the truth.

“You two screamed the entire journey from where you initially washed up to this town when you witnessed the kraken and sharks.” The Pirate Lord explained. “You also crashed your ship repeatedly into the deck, anchored in the wrong place and at one point managed to set it on fire.”

There are more quote that I'm blanking out on... but I am curious what ya'lls favorite quotes are.

6 - How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things? Pretty expressive! But mostly it goes up and down, not back and forward. I think I showed its range?

But yeah, it's rarely super high up but it does perk up when extremely happy, twitches when he hears noises and droops when annoyed, scared or bummed. But by default his ears is like.... juuuuuuust partially up, always listening. I ah........... realized it became canon when it happened in Breath of the Wild. So of course I made it canon in 3adv.

[sunlightfeeling]

so..... how did you get into smap, anyway? (i would like to hear the origin story)

hiii anon! i would love to tell this story!!

first the elevator pitch version:

like a lot of more recent fans (i.e. post-JE launch), i was a victim (affectionate) of the RGG to SMAP pipeline

…bit of a boring story, and honestly isn’t a real indication of how I got to have this brain (affectionate, i love having five old men stewing in my brain all hours of the day 👍😬)

sooo im going to tell the story of how the pipeline hit me so hard 😄

the real origin goes back to 2021…

(im gonna make a cut for this story because this is gonna be long long - i promise this isn’t an exaggeration)

so back in 2021, i had an xbox one and game pass (side note: game pass is so worth it, actually fantastic)

and I found a series that I had never heard of…Yakuza

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hX9EomZwntU

sorry

anyway

downloaded Yakuza 0 and started it up

really dug the vibes, story, music, legitimately everything

then I reached Majima’s first chapter and ooooh the opening got me good

not too long after getting to this chapter, I was graciously gifted a ps5

and one of the first things i did was…

…impulsively buy every Yakuza release on ps4

…and the Judgments as soon as I realized they were under RGG’s umbrella

…after only playing like probably less than 10 hours of a prequel

(disclaimer: i do not mean to romanticize/minimize impulse purchasing; I’m more trying to give an accurate image of how deeply invested I got in a series that essentially sent me on my path; i was/am very fortunate and cognizant of how lucky i am to be able to cover/shield myself from consequences of my actions - so to speak lol)

probably six-ish months and 2 hiatuses later, I reached Y6

and i dont know if it was because the game was the last Kiryu game (at the time) and I was getting all emotional, or if it was because the likeness to Kuroda was pretty…

<stares at pictures of Y6 Kiryu way too long>

…preeeetty 🫠

i started developing (what knowing what i know now call) a hyperfixation on not just Y6 but also Kuroda Takaya lol

basically listened to his music whenever I could/on repeat; Y6 was the only thing I wanted to spend my free time playing; etc etc etc

(for reasons, this fixation actually led me to consider my possible neurodivergence; I wonder why 🤔..🥲)

finish Y6 and become baseline-which-isnt-really-baseline normal about Yakuza when I play LAD7

but then….

“Alex, stop hyperlinking sound effects”

(affectionate)

yeahhh it’s Judgey Time

okay so ive mentioned in tags somewhere but i actually didnt have high hopes for Judgment

at all

the cover just didn’t do anything for me at all…

…and i thought the protagonist was ugly 💀

(im actually genuinely serious, this isn’t me “not like the other girls”ing; i vividly recall looking at the cover when it was about time for me to start playing it and whining to my then-bf that I wasn’t sure I was gonna like it cuz the guy looks really weird 🤣)

but i booted it up and right when Yagami shows off his badge in the prologue

girl

giiiiiirl

I didn’t realize at the time but the seed had been planted and baby that beanstalk grew

Halloween 2022 (and I only know this date for a fact because I memorialized it texting then-bf about it) is the day I decided to look up who this guy really was

I can’t recall what made me finally look him up, whether lurking on the Yakuza subreddit or just something in the game, I dunno

i shared it once but I’ll share it anytime i can…

^^ this was my first Kimura photo

the first one I actually paid more than just a passing glance at anyway……

…i finished judgment in like two/three weeks [and not in a rushed playthrough by any means - getting all the cats, doing all the side cases/romance, etc.] (have a text trail of me going into the finale and date stamp is p exactly two weeks from Halloween 🥲)

started lost judgment immediately because i have texts days after this bitching about dropping money on the dlc before even starting it lol (again: not recommending/romanticizing; just giving perspective on how active my brain was about RGG/Kimura already)

now this…..this is where my timeline gets fuzzy

because i cant really remember how fast i beat lj before starting his dramas

or if maybe i started them before even finishing the game

skipping ahead to January 2023 and I’ve definitely wrapped lj by this point

and have watched a fair amount of kimura dramas (i genuinely cant give a number tho 😭)

around this point, ive determined that im fairly confident in being audhd

and i personally would have described kimura as a combined special interest-hyperfixation at this point (because the intensity would ebb and flow in a way)

started collecting things, starting with his albums and his live recordings (and eventually a lot lot more [I’ll get back to scanning consistently eventually I promise lol])

the defining moment to when I finally crossed from Kimura to SMAP…

…was actually watching Go with the Flow

I had heard bits of SMAP, but, as many unfortunately discover, accessibility to their music is…..well it’s just not there lol

I even got YouTube Music because I found playlists of SMAP performances and could just listen to them while I was working or driving

not that I could really hear them all that well since they were all live performances w screaming or muffled audio/crunchy audio/remixes/etc etc etc

(except for pams seigi shoutout to pams seigi [sorry goro 😔; also i linked that specific one for the tags but please look in the reblogs for a diff version of seigi that they did because it’s ridiculously good])

On Go with the Flow, Kimura performs “Style” which made me go on basically a witch-hunt to find the song since it wasn’t an album track and I didn’t know SMAP’s discography

Eventually found out it was SMAP (Kimura solo on s.m.a.p specifically) and decided that I actually really needed to listen to SMAP

aaaaaand I did ☺️

and then I found Jes yeah no I definitely didn’t

and…that is my SMAP origin story

[tamelee]

Hii, when are you uploading your next art? It's been like ages lol. Also how's your progress on manga going? And can you suggest some other artists you know, artists like you? Since you also started from 0 followers at some point and your progress on your art is also very inspiring and i guess you know many different artists. I'm searching for inspiration and looking for some Low key artists from other fandoms. I'm slowing trying to improve on my digital painting skills. Still at level 1. Who do you look up to for your inspiration? Sorry, this became a pretty big ask hehe.

Hi~ 💕

Ages? Yeah, ... a little over a month now. I know that because I keep track on it. I pretty much keep track on most things. I do this thing where I plan a few weeks ahead and it is supposed to make sure I have more time left because of the planning but it doesn't account for roadblocks such as wrist pain, technical issues with tablets etc-, mental states, stress, health declines or others. So.. I haven't uploaded anything in a while but I never stopped creating ^^! In fact, I'm learning every single day so that I can create more, "better" (subjective) and build a skill-set that will help me be able to make what I want. I felt like I was making art aimlessly, but having a goal helps. Though, by chance, since you're wondering- this week for sure!

And within that planning is of course the Manga! The process is a lot of fun, but also there is science behind Storytelling and I'm using what I know and learning during my graduation process as well in order to create it. That's why I didn't start drawing until I am completely happy with the story (...and now don't mind so much that my previous draft got lost even thought that was so painful lol). I was so ignorant about it though, thinking I could just... create a Manga. Like c'mon. I knew so much time and dedication went into it and yet I thought I could just... do it 😆 but also, it is this dedication that made me able to do most crazy things in life so why not. If I'm going to spend idk how many hours on this then it better matter to me. I don't want Naruto and Sasuke to just drown in some plot, I want them to actively pursue something they care about and struggle, have dark moments and conflicts... heh.

When I first started drawing.. surprisingly I didn't have that many inspirations. I had no clue what I was doing and so what inspired me was the little art-community around me on Instagram because our goals were similar. My goal to finish Inktober, a wish to "someday create a webtoon" and seeing artists around me upload their art was what inspired me. Then, talking about art, each other's uploads, our obsessions- it was all a lot of fun and helped me improve and so did they! Of course you don't have to go there, you can find artists at any stage of their journey anywhere but really try to find artists and art that you like because your style will grow from that and eventually become your own.

I guess a few artists really stood out to me then, but they're literal gods and nothing like me 🥹..they're; wlop, Z ed, Ruan Jia, Zeen Chin, Guweiz and Dao Tong Le. I had a splash art phase where I fangirl'd (still do) so hard over Bo Chen, Sean Tay, Alex Flores, Cheng Du (crow god), Foritis Wang, but there's also Paul Nong, Ley Bowen, Inhyuk Lee... and for storytelling art there's Kan Liu which art I love and Toni Infante and ooooh Astri Lohne's brushwork is amazing as well. Song Nan Li has a few artworks that I've stared at for days and would love to study someday. Jaz Chiang too. Krenz Cushart has a course that I want to purchase because those colors are sublime... and oh, I'm probably forgetting SO MANY right now but I could go on forever tbh. Lemme talk about artists and their art and I won't be able to stop. There have been many Instagram artists that I've followed but I'm not currently active on there until I graduate so I don't really remember but if you're looking for Twitter/SNS/Naruto specifically then you can look through my following-list or my reblog account here @re-tamelee. Nsfw-warning on Twitter (@ tam_e_lee) though. I think currently a few that inspire me regarding story/expression are helenpeanut, velinxi, Kishimoto, Ramón Nuñez, Moryo, Ryo Yambe, Rias Coast, Yusuke Matsumoto, Bengal, Hong Soonsang, Horikoshi- and still a few others... I'm not sure what you mean by 'low-key' or if this is not what you're looking for but I hope you can find some inspiration from this post and have fun looking at these amazing artists' art! ^^ Thankyou for your lovely ask, have a nice day 🌷 Happy drawing!

[bardicbeetle]

soft vampire writing prompt! if you choose to do so, no pressure if you don't 💜

are there any (non-violent) times where the any of human cast under- / over-estimates what the vamp!characters are able to do, maybe by confusing them with classic or 'fictional' vampires (ex: like thinking they can shadow meld or have weaknesses to crosses,etc )

if so... maybe you could give an idea of what that conversation would look like i think that could be kinda cute

Ooooh, yes. There are.

There are smaller scale discussions of this a lot, especially when Carrie comes into the picture and goes "Hey so, many questions, many many questions as a medical professional, most of which boil down to what and or how the fuck?", her quickfire interrogating Jesse to get answers out of him when Alex is wounded (Can I pierce you with a needle, can I still get blood from your actual veins, etc) and her later conversations with Daniel when she's trying to figure out what exactly the parameters of care are when she is Very Abruptly Playing Doctor for the Undead.

There is also a pretty big one immediately after the other two members of the Chaos Trio find out Alex is a vampire, where they are both prodding at Alex for answers about "powers" and Alex is just sitting there like "I have been this way for approximately three months I do not have the answers you want me to have."

Fuck it have an excerpt of Carrie doing what she does best:

“So your body just- just what, how does it repurpose blood into new cells when you’re not technically alive?” Carrie’s voice had changed, her eyes were wide with curiosity “Your fangs, they’re retractable obviously, which is really cool, but are they just to make a hole or are they hollow? On that note, you don’t have to take blood from people directly- are there vampires working in hospitals, taking blood when there’s excess? Holy fuck, vampire paramedics? Turning people who wouldn’t make it to the hospital?”

I love her.

I need to rewrite those scenes because a lot of them are Old. Like, pre Alex Pronoun Change Old, sometimes Still in First Person POV old.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

Hellooo my lovely! 💖💫I am here to distract you! If you're up for it, I'd love to hear your answers to the gold obsidian egg and van gogh tapestry questions of that writing ask game you reblogged? 👀 Sending lots of love and good thoughts your way!!! 💛💛💛

hiii lovely 😘 why are you always just the absolute sweetest?? 🥺💞

gold obsidian egg: what do you treasure the most about your wip?

ooooh i had to reflect on this, because although i absolutely treasure writing four walls, i'd never really paused and tried to distil into words exactly why! i think there are probably two main things:

1) escapism - i love being able to completely immerse myself in characters and a world that feels so vividly real to me, and the safety/freedom of exploring the complexity and wonder of relationships and connection in such a safe space 💗

2) world view - this is going to be harder to explain, but i'm going to try 😅 whenever i write something, i get really immersed in the headspace of my protagonist - like to the point where i'm going about my daily life i'll find myself thinking about the way they'd experience the same environment that i'm in, almost get like - little flashes of being them?? eg, when i'm out walking and i feel my keys in my pocket, it's like for a split second i'm alex in four walls with his little set of miles's keys (i probably sound insane 😭). that's always been a feature of my writing process, but i feel like i've been able to connect to alex in this fic more vividly than i've ever connected with a protagonist before, and i've just absoltuely loved the process of immersing myself in his headspace and trying to view/describe the world in the way i imagine he might. and idk, putting myself in someone else's headspace also just constantly gets me to reflect on the experience of how different situations/emotions/internal thought processes really feel which is something i find endlessly fascinating.

it probably sounds ridiculous, but it's actually changed the way i view so many everyday things around me - like there are things i notice differently or didn't notice before from spending so much time in his headspace. also, writing in a way that i imagine might be how alex in four walls would think feels like it's just opened up new gateways for me in my writing and the way i use language.

god sorry, that was a very long and rambly answer and god knows if it even makes any sense to anyone who isn't me - in short: there is a lot that i treasure about my wip 💜

van gogh tapestry: do you create from any specific emotion? what drives you?

oh wow, this is such a good question. in terms of what drives me - i honestly don't really know, i've just always written and always have a drive to create characters and worlds through that particular medium. i genuinely don't feel like me if i'm not writing something. but i think also it comes from a drive for deep (and safe) emotional connection - and that's something that comes from my connection with the characters i'm writing, their connection with each other, and the connection i have with the people who're reading it too.

i've always been someone who feels things very deeply, so i think i'm quite largely driven by a desire to express the emotions i maybe don't get the opportunity to or feel to big to in real life. i'm not sure if there's any specific emotion that drives me - i think it's more just that sense of feeling everything so poignantly that does. for four walls though, i do feel like i drew particularly on the emotions of belonging and pining. i also notice that i always write best when i'm in a state where i'm feeling things particularly poignantly, even when those feelings can be quite negative or challenging ones - i don't know why, but that's usually when i feel like i connect best with my writing.

okay that's enough before i go off on a whole other tangent 🤦‍♀️ these answers have ended up being way more in depth than i'd anticipated - anyone who's read this has really ended up with quite the little glimpse into my psyche 😅

[prolix-yuy]

Hi lovely LJ - for the ask game - A, I and W 💗 hope you’re doing well!

Hello lovely nonnie! I am recovering from the hecticness of the holidays and gearing up for the marathon that is New Years at my place. I need all the fortitude I can get. Let's get into it!

A. If you could rec a piece of music to accompany one of your fics, what would you pick? Why?

Ooooh. OOOOH. So I do have playlists for both SW!Frankie and I Think of You (both on my masterlist page), but I'll chose one song from each that really gets me for my favorite boys:

Dancing with Your Ghost - Sasha Alex Sloan

This is exactly the song that would appeal to our girl from I Think of You in the years after Din entered her life. She wasn't pining after him all the time, but in the moments when she's lonely and remembering him, this would be the song on repeat.

I Knew This Would Be Love - Imaginary Future

I mean, it's just perfection. Exactly how their first meeting went, and how Frankie felt through their "session". It makes me gooey for them every time and I love it so.

I. What’s your favorite work you did this year? Why?

This is the funniest question because all of my writing was done this year, so I do think of all of them as my favorites. If I had to choose one of my babies it would be One Very Good Night, because it launched my writing on Tumblr and was the spark that lit the fire in my desire to write again. I love so many of my other works too - SW!Frankie, The Plan, Below the Line - but Din holds a special place in my heart for being the first.

W. Who are your favorite writers?

Holy hell, so freakin many! I will try to be brief because I'm gonna mention a ton of my mutuals, but also any person I reblog should be read thoroughly because there is so much talent on this site it's sickening and I wish I could read everything for a full time job:

@brandyllyn, @littlemisspascal, @littleferal, @mandosmistress, @amywritesthings, @iamskyereads, @magpie-to-the-morning, @leslie-lyman, @lowlights, @astroboots, @ezrasbirdie, @pedrito-friskito, @mandoblowmybackout, @write-and-buried, @boliv-jenta, @chaoticgeminate, @grogusmum, @jazzelsaur, @pedropascalsx, @whataperfectwasteoftime, @fuckyeahdindjarin, @starlightmornings, @radiowallet, @psychedelic-ink, @haylzcyon, and a bajillion more but I'm exhausted just writing this list out. feel free to drop your author recs in the reblogs/comments, I'm also always on the lookout for new amazing writers!

Thank you for the fun nonnie!

[mrsbsmooth]

Red, White & Royal blue: live blind reaction.

I have never read the book, I have no idea of the plot, I have a two line summary.

Let’s go.

There is so much exposition in this it’s not even funny

PRESIDENT UMA THURMAN!

Is the book written like this what the fuck this is kind of bad

Where was Prince Henry’s actor when they were casting the crown fr he’s a dead ringer for baby wills

Don’t get me wrong. The two main characters are fucking hot as shit, but the actual story and the dialogue is so predictable

Alex has the eyelashes of a god

The budget for this is… not high. The president’s son can only afford to have like 50 people at his party? And it’s in a marquee tent with fairy lights instead of at a venue? The fuck? Lol

And they’re skipping all the relationship development.

Okay wait Get Low just came on

Henry watches TV, but he’s never heard popular music?

Oh this everyone getting low except then thing is kinda cute but a little cringe but actually a lot cringe. I refuse to believe that someone who drags their mate to the DF for get low isn’t getting aforementionedly low.

Aw Henry leaves when Alex kissed a girl, methinks he’s got a little crush

OH

OH I SEE

oooooooooooooooooooo

Aw cute Henry likes him. Wish we’d had a little more foreshadowing of that though cause it seems like they were just friends. Could’ve done with a bit more from Henry’s POV

God this snow is so fake though I’ve never even seen snow but that was so obviously a closed set

Pairing up the only two black characters I see hmmm

The actress who plays Nora is absolutely adorable

Both women leaders I love it

Omg did he not come to the party naur his poor little empty place card

Did his place card say “Prince Henry” I’m fucking sorry but a black tie event he would be “HRH” AT LEAST, and they would be using Alex’s full first name (assuming it’s Alexander) or just Mr. Full first name and Surname who wrote this you know nothing of etiquette 🤣

Miguel hot. Please don’t sleep with him though please Henry will be sad.

Alex you didn’t tell him off the record you eejit

REDRUM

OKAY HER WALKING IN ON THEM WHHXHCHHAHAHAHA IM DYING OMG THAT WAS SO GOOD

Are you still…. “Like Stonehenge”

“Your Royal hardness”

Omfg I’m dying 🤣🤣🤣🤣 that’s so cute

He did NOT just pat Henry’s ass in public babe you’re gonna get him in trouble

OH OKAY THIS JUST GOT GOOD LETS HAVE A BJ SCENE

oh wait no it didn’t. They really just faded to black on me 😒

“Keep it Casual” rude and not okay

And also wtf did Henry get off too or did he just blow Alex and leave. What happened to “I’m gonna do terrible things to you” like no sir it sounds like you just got a blowjob and then didn’t reciprocate. Lover of the year 10/10 (sArCaSm)

THOSE GREY PANTS HIDE NOTHING ALEX GODDAMN

Why are there bagpipes playing at a polo match?

I’m sorry but for people trying to keep things quiet they sure talk about their sexual escapades in public a lot

A mouthful muahahahha called it with the grey pants alex is hung like a horse

Oof Alex got swerved for the hand hold that’s a big ouch

Aww the bit where he’s not sure who’s topping and who’s bottoming it’s such a mood and it’s cute.

Okay stop. Wait. I’ve paused this. Anyone who says they went to boarding school as a justification for being gay or experienced is lying. I went to an all girls boarding school, and my husband went to an all boys. All boys schools are some of the most disgustingly homophobic places on the fucking planet. If he’s saying that all the boys are fucking each other he’s dead wrong. If anything he’d be so shamed for being even remotely gay that he’d be traumatised. Fuck boarding school. Okay back to the movie.

Ooooh damn alex has a great body

Oh wow this is actually really fucking cute

I can’t believe how wrong I was about you FUCK OFF THIS IS SO CUTE

Aaaaaahhhh!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! THIS SEX SCENE IS SO ROMANTIC AND CUTE!

I can’t help but laugh with the hand closeups though it’s so titanic and cringe

But the facial closeups are *beautiful*

These guys are phenomenal actors I’m so glad they didn’t fade to black for that scene. But the directing is… interesting.

Pausing to find out if the actors are gay

Unconfirmed for both. I ship them together they look beautiful as a couple.

“I’m learning” oh fuck off that’s beautiful

Oof the plane home is a mood alex is so in love.

His mum is right though. She can’t do shit unless she gets re-elected

Wait was he formerly allowed to speak to the press lol since when??? As if he’s authorised.

“Yes madam president” oh shut up you angsty teenager 🤣 this is so “you just don’t GET me mom and daddddd”

Awww he’s so cute with his Texas thing though

THE EMAILS BACK AND FORTH

WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT TALKING ABOUT THIS SHIT IN PUBLIC

Wouldn’t it have been more romantic for him to be waiting in Alex’s apartment because then he actually would’ve been able to greet him properly instead of just grabbing his shoulder like “what are you doing here”

Miguel KNOWS and this is bad bad bad. Why the evil Hispanic man though?

AHAHHAHAHHA ZAHRA STORMING IN WHERE IS SHE omfg she is by far my favourite character in this whole movie

“Who knows about this?” “Literally no one but you. And the secret service. And Percy. And Nora. Oh and I told my sister. Oh I didn’t know that? Yeah she’s really happy for us.” BSHCHJCJSHAHHAAHHAHA

That was my favourite line so far hands down

Technically I’m the spare CHCISOOAK PRINCE HARRY CODED 🤣🤣🤣🤣

As for you little lord fuckleroy I will brexit your head from your body OKAY ZAHRA HAS THE WORLDS BEST DIALOGUE NEW FAVOURITE LINE

THE BOW - your royal highness omfg I’m dead Zahra deserves an award and an Oscar the actress is so good

Aw the talk with mum awww this whole thing is cute. Bestie Uma is an ally. Her telling him about bottoming is so iconic omfg

Aw look at Henry in a flannel shirt 😂

The karaoke omfg and he sucks 😂

Alex is so in love holy shit

Aw and Alex’s dad loves him

THE SHUFFLE CLOSER ON THE DOCK

WHAT A CALLBACK

oh

Oh no

Oh I don’t like this

I don’t like the look on Henry’s face rn

Oh wow alex just got swerved.

I— *splash*

That’s how I’m leaving every uncomfortable conversation from now on. Just roll away and splash into the water.

HES LEAVING COMPLETELY?!!!!???!

Aw i like your dog what’s his name

Wait where’s the dog I want more dog

Quickly checks doesthedogdie.com

Only one report and it says no so I think we’re good.

Did you actually end things with Alex though? NO YOU DID NOT. You just GHOSTED HIM

Nora’s right go to london

OH HES HERE HES AT THE GATE shkskskksksks

oh my god Henry’s speech is heartbreaking.

“I can love you and want you and still not want that life. I’m allowed. And it doesn’t make me a liar. It makes me a man with some infinitesimal shred of self preservation and you don’t get to come in here and call me a coward for it.”

Okay whelp now I’m crying. Being a prince do be like that. Except fuck Harry and Meghan for reals.

Well you can’t just not let anything happen to you. Because nothing will ever happen to you. Isn’t this what Dory says to Marlin in Finding Nemo wtf 😂 PLAGIARISM

I’m pretty sure the royal family don’t have a key to the British museum please correct me if I’m wrong, they could have magic skeleton keys to every building in Britain but it seems unlikely.

Circling a sculpture of a male torso like sharks hmm yes the deepening of the movie such imagery much wow very meaning

Please don’t dance amongst the statues that’s really cringe

Aw okay no I take it back it’s cute.

Elvis? it should’ve been a Bowie song just saying.

OH WAIT THE DOGS NAME IS DAVID I JUST REMEMBERED awww yesss hope nothing happens to david

Aw they’re dancing like they’re at a school disco 🤣

History huh? Bet we could make some.

PLEASE Alex waking up in Buckingham palace 😂 that’s gonna be an awkward walk of shame past the paparazzi 🤣🤣🤣

The chain on that key is new it is not old. When did he make that necklace yesterday?

OH MY GOD NO NOT THE EMAILS

#Hacked

No

No

No

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

WHY WONT THEY LET THEM TALK THIS IS DUMB AND STUPID

Surely someone has a sneaky phone they can hook them up on COME ON!!!!!

I fucking knew it was Miguel. Even when I thought it was the palace I knew it was him.

“This is about privacy” eek Prince Harry is gonna love this IRL

That whole speech from Alex was beautiful. Also means they can’t deny anything which is probably not the best strategic move I hope Henry’s not mad that he did that. Stupid idealistic Americans.

ZAHRA IM OBSESSED WITH YOU YOURE THE REAL QUEEN AND SHES FUCKING THE EQUARRY OR WHATEVER HIS NAME IS IM IN LOVE IS ZAHRA SINGLE I WANT TO MARRY HER

SKINNY PERFECT ASS hjcicidoskkcncjidisokncnnfmdkskskkckkckcjncnsnamkck

“Baby” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

“I’m coming to london” WHY DID YOU NOT DO THAT AS SOON AS THE EMAILS GOT LEAKED

Omg that hug on the stairs stop it they’re actually so beautiful together

HES NOT PLAYING YANKEE DOODLE ON THE PIANO

Did Henry see Alex’s speech tho I kinda need to know

OH YAY HE SAW IT jcjcjdkksoxjjcncks

“Your boyfriend”

Oh the king wants to see them oh shiiiit

THE SIGNET RING

Shut the fuck up Phillip you Poncy cunt

THEY

No

NO THEY DIDNT

They did not get STEPHEN FUCKING FRY to play a HOMOPHOBIC KING

Bsbchjcjsjdjkckfkkdmsa I am laughing so fucking hard right now I’m crying I actually had to pause it I’m laughing so hard

THIS CASTING DIRECTOR EITHER NEEDS AN OSCAR OR A RAZZY I CANT DECIDE

Why haven’t they bowed all the royals now to each other

He smokes lol the king does not smoke they would consider it vulgar these days

That is a LARGE glass of whisky. Like that is four shots minimum.

Dear God, this King is so fucking stupid if he thinks that this can be explained with Clandestien reports after Alex has just done like a super romantic beautiful speech publicly acknowledging their relationship .

Like what is he expecting Henry to say that Alex was lying and he was making it up to further his mums political campaign?

Hommo sek siual 🤣🤣 I’m sorry but Stephen fry playing a homophobe is just so far outside the realm of me being able to suspend my disbelief I’m just PMSL

They will not accept a Prince- just wait

Now is the part where there’s a giant crowd supporting him

CALLED IT

GO

YAYYYYYYYYYY aww they’re so cute together aww aww awww yayyy look at all the pride flags

Of course the election hangs on Texas lol

It’ll come down to Austin

Writing her concession speech on election night I think not this would’ve been preappproved weeks ago

Prince would not be on stage he wouldn’t be allowed either by the royals or by his security team or by the Democrats lol

AND THE MOVIE’S OVER

Rachel Hilson that’s her name I love her

Someone needs to tell me if the book has better pacing than this because the pacing was all over the place for the first 45 minutes. The rest of the movie was great but idk

OH THERES A POST CREDITS 🤣 aww cake YAY that’s so cute abbdbsjajhahahahqh

There we go.

Overall not bad but the pacing and exposition was really off at the start. Lucky I’m procrastinating from writing otherwise I might’ve turned it off lol.

Love the actors (especially Alex’s eyelashes babe what mascara you using damn) and their chemistry but idk the writing was a bit cringe in parts. Really well acted though.

Recommend-ish?

Edit: it’s now the next day and I’ve had time to think about it. And the more I think about it the more I’m fucking in love with this movie

How rarely do we get to just see two silly little boys in love with none of the trauma dumping or anything just a beautiful little romcom for two happy little gays

10/10 idc about the exposition and cringe I loved it and it deserves the world.

[yoohyeon]

Bias tag game ✨

rules: you're going to pick 10 of your biases (or as many biases as you have and then fill in the rest of the spots with idols you like) and number them 1-10. then answer the questions below! try not to look at the questions before you make your list!

1.Yoohyeon (DC)

2.Minhyuk (MX)

3.Jinsoul (Loona)

4.Yves (Loona)

5.Hyeju (Loona)

6.Yoon (Stayc)

7.Sumin (Stayc)

8.Chungha

9.Jessica Jung

10.Yena

1. between 7 and 5, who did you bias first?

Hyeju ! She debuted first and even if I didn’t bias her right away it was still before I got to know sumin fkdbdjd

2. between 2 and 6, who are you more attached to?

The only man or my daughter jfbsjd i love them all so much but I will say Minhyuk, He’s so important to me and I’ve been a monbebe for the last 6 almost 7 years I they’ve been my ults for half of this it’s a long time 💙

3. if you were to spend the day with either 3 or 1, who would you choose and what would you do?

I’m sorry Jinsoul, but I honestly would choose Yoohyeon over anyone HDJDBDB if I could spend even 1 minutes with Yoohyeon in exchange of anything I would do it and I would play games with her !!! I know she’s a gamer and I am so it would be so fun 🥹

4. what is your favorite physical feature about 9?

Ooooh her hair, whatever she does with it it’s always so pretty but I also love her eyes 💖

5. what is your favorite part of 6's personality?

Yoon is just so sweet, her personality feels like a a hug and I’m so bad at describing personality and all but she’s an angel 💕

6. if you were to tell 8 anything you wanted, what would you tell them?

That I love her and miss her, but her health and happiness comes first. I hope she knows that we are all so proud of her and what she became and when she’ll be ready to come back we will be here cheering her on 💓

7. between 1 and 2, whose closet would you raid?

I think they honestly were the same type of clothes 😭 jfbsjdn so ummm Yoohyeon’s I guess jfbsjdjs

8. what is a style that you want to see 3 try?

Oooooh idk I always hope my bias would try punk kinda style, but I have a hard time seeing Jinsoul doing that bfksbdjs and I don’t know anything about fashion, if she goes back to blond one day let’s dress her as Barbie <3

9. between 5 and 4, who are you closer to in height?

I think I’m taller than both by 1cm or 2 🤔 but Yves is taller so her hahaha

10. between 10 and 9, whose music do you like the best?

Yena ! Her music is honestly so Alex core it’s crazy, while I love Sica’s music it’s not as much as my style and she’s not doing music really anymore 😭 (SNSD music is great but Yena is really just exactly what I like)

Thanks Dia @hotgirlyuta for the tag 🥰 Here’s who I’m tagging (if you want to do it of course) : @lenteur @bearwoo @deukaeloveclub @jikyu @lesseraive @ssini @doyeons @jonghobf and anyone who wants to do it I don’t wanna make the list too long djsbdjsb

[transexuality]

lost signals spoilers under the cut i have a lot to talk about

i wasnt attached to riley at first, like i wasnt really crazy about her as a character but holyyyy shit her character arc and her relationship with rex hit me like a truck, i really learned to love her over the course of the game. i love that the protagonist was a cynical, stoic woman. i love that the protagonist was a pregnant woman in her 30s, i feel like we dont really get a lot of stories like this about people like riley. especially when we saw the snippets of what her life had been like leading up to the events of the game... Ouch. Ooooh my god ow. she is such a great character, i cant say enough how much i feel for her. AND i love that there was no romance between her and jacob! theyre just friends! and its great! maybe theres a romance plotline i missed with them cause of the choices i made but i dont see a way there would be? anyway, really loved their dynamic theyre both SUCH good characters. i just really love that this game is about these two 30 something year olds who are just sort of... lost and aimless in life, who both feel like they dont have anything going from them but because of each other and because of what they go through, they find meaning again. thats beautiful to me. AND JACOB BECAME AN ARTIST IN MY ENDING! im so happy! literally teared up when i saw that he was pursuing his passion! i also cried, very hard during the scene with riley and rex on the deck when rex was fishing.

AND SAVING ALEX, oh my god. that made me cry. saving everyone was just. cathartic. what an amazing conclusion to this story, everything fell into place for me and im so so happy with how this happened!!! i cant wait to play again and get different endings. It's all about love. oxenfree has always been about love and this game is about love its all about love.

i chose for olivia to go in the portal... i thought i was going to regret it but i kind of dont! im happy with how the game ended and where everything ended up! i felt so bad for picking olivia but i wanted riley and jacob to have their futures so ultimately im happy with what i decided.

jacob is my favorite character i think? honestly it might be riley, she really won me over in the second half of the game. i love her. i dont know what else to say. this is a great game. i love how much STUFF is in this game, i got all the addler letters! not the bonus collectable which im curious about... i also didnt get the picture for hank, so im looking forward for that.

And oh my god. maggie!!!! shes real!!!! we got scenes with her!!!! thats crazy!!!! god that was just so cool to actually TALK to her and be in a scene with her! i was hoping for more of her and anna, i wouldve loved a scene of riley traveling back in time to see them together in love or something but ill take what i can get. I LOVED THIS GAME

[sithwitch13]

ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/26/24

MxM BABY

JJBA-ass nerds, I love them

Yay Marina!

Gotta say I do like Marina's himbo stable

FUCK, THE X-MEN GEAR, HELL YES

Aww, Infantry and Top Flight being friends

The Outrunners are so fun.

Really digging this intro video.

Is it me or does Alex Abrahantes' outfit look like a Power Ranger homage?

The momentum Kommander has while doing moves is ridiculous

Okay I'm actually here for MxM vs FTR if they make it a fun time

HELL YES KYLE AND HIS FACES and the Ishii walk I'm gonna die

First blood tonight is from chops, wasn't expecting that

FUCK OFF KYLE, LEAVE KYLE ALONE

Hell yeah women in deathmatches!

CHANCLA

THUMBTACK CHANCLA

There are no words for how much I love and appreciate women who do deathmatches

THAT MOONSAULT

Yuta vs Moriarty time!

HOLY SHIT MORIARTY

Yuta putting the belt on him I'm gonna cry

Red Velvet vs Billie Starkz! This should be fun.

...are they Wolverine and Deadpool?!

Lol the double fakeouts

YAY RED VELVET!!!

I want Dark Order to win so badly, but I know it's gonna be Dustin Rhodes and the Von Erichs ☹️ (no offense to them, I just love Dark Order so much)

Ooooh Shibata

I'm going for Lio Rush and Lee Johnson here

Not mad about Atlantis Jr retaining though

QUEEN AMINATA VS ATHENA HERE WE GOOOO

Desperate to know what Athena's gear will be

CAPRICE WITH THE COMING TO AMERICA BIT

Dying at the Sandlot reference

Skeleton wolf!

They're silver and gold, I love it. (Also maybe foreshadowing?)

If Mark doesn't win then I will cry. (If he does I probably also will but in a happy way.)

"WE HATE RODERICK" "NO WE DON'T"

I know it's because they have to remind the audience who they, the off-screen commentators, are, but they really do get up to "Supernatural" levels of saying each others' names more than anyone in real life would

Good Friends Kyle and Ishii

YES

A+ show all the way through.

[smugraccoon137]

Supergirl Season 1 Episode 4 Review and Thoughts

Ahh the greatest of beasts. One's own mother

Fun choice of words there Alex “coming out” as Supergirl.

Is Kara actually the favorite? Damn not usually what happens in foster/broken families situations

Oh my God I love this Leslie bitch roasting her. 

“SHE DOES KIND OF GIVE OFF A SAPHIC VIBE” okay I never watched season 1. But thats two “Kara you gay?” jokes in 4 episodes. Thats a lot by tv standards

Also yes Leslie she is very butch and I am thankful for it

W: How was breakfast with your mom?

K: Foster mom

*me nodding and taking notes*

Oh no not a friendsgiving episode lol

Oh my god even Cat Grant is on to Supergirl's sexuality. 

C: Leslie you can’t make fun of the girl for being gay

K: *listening in with super hearing* Wait what

Cat wants to adopt Supergirl thats canonical and hilarious

K: “I came out as Supergirl”

Just as soon as they brought James in as a love interest they pull him out. Because I guess he and Lucy have unfinished business

Wouldn’t this have made more sense to have him already dating Lucy in the beginning, and cultivate his and Kara’s relationship. And then Kara have a one sided crush before they break James and Lucy up? Or even them not realizing their romantic inclinations until after the break up?

 It feels clunky the way they’re going back n forth like this. 

Poor Alex and her mommy issues.

K: Maybe its time for you to come out. Tell her who you really are

A: That im a DEO agent?

K: …….. *shrugs* 

When you know your sisters gay but she doesn't

Cat being supportive in her own catty way to her first daughter Leslie

Oh my fucking god it is PERD

Gotta love hearing Kara's foster mom talk about “Alex allowing Kara” to do anything. Its controlling as fuck. Also the disappointment in Alex hurts my little mommy issues heart

So far Leslie Wilis is the only interesting villain they've made

Drink up Alex you're going to need more than that

I wonder what Thanksgiving means to someone like Kara? Someone whose lost so much but gained family anyways.

Feels kind of weird for Kara to put so much into friendsgiving dinner but as soon as James calls its like “fuck all of you”

We are all Winn. First time in years he's done Thanksgiving and it's super awkward. Poor guy just wanted some turkey and chill time with Kara. And now there is drinking and arguing and storming out. Big oof 

Honestly fuck Eliza

Godddd this flashback hurts. It feels like real foster/broken family shit. Everything is new and yet the dynamics are being thrust upon everybody. Someone whose supposed to look after you but is only a few years older and never had any siblings is now a big sister. You’ve got two adults who aren’t really your parents trying to parent you. You’re different from all of them but you're expected to fit in. And you can’t go anywhere. You’re stuck. Bitch imma have a flashback

I love how Cat doesn't know who winn is

Ooooh I dig Livewire shes sick af

Nothing better than a villain whose like “naw im actually good like this. Like you should have seen me before”

Who thought getting in an elevator was a good idea when the person who can control electricity wants you dead?

Whoever plays Cat Grant is a really good actress. Again a very meaningful scene between her and Kara in this episode. And it got delivered perfectly. It's almost as if when the writers take the time to slow down the writing makes sense and is better??

Something something Cat Grant is Karas unofficial mother figure something something wanting to gain her approval something something desperately wanting to connect to her something something their bond

Wow this is the first episode where Kara independently actually took down the bad guy

Aww i loved what winn was grateful for. That was a really nice moment

Andddd he kissed her. Of course he did

Cat picking out the tabloid of the week: Which would you pick? The closeted teen heart throb who was caught slipping out of national city’s randiest gay bar?

There is a lott of closetted talk in this episode. Also baby lena luthor lol

Overall Thoughts

This is the first episode I’ve watched that I thought was actually good. Sorry Episode 1. 

Of course this is also the episode with the least amount of DEO involvement which I’m pretty open about not liking and thinking is a boring plot device

Lets make our way down the list.

Live wire is the first interesting villain we’ve had. Very reminiscent of Smallvilles what would happen kind of character creation. She’s a person with a personality outside of being a prisoner in Fort Rozz. And she has a clear motive for being the way she is and acting how she does. That already sets us up for success in this episode. Especially with her clear contrast to Supergirl’s sunny demeanor.

Its Thanksgiving! Which means the characters actually get to interact besides one liners and fun crime busting  shenanigans. We get meaningful dialogue with each person in Kara’s life. And not necessarily with her! Last but not least we finally get to meet Kara’s foster mother, Eliza, for the first time.

One of the best things about this episode was acknowledging parts of Kara’s Earth childhood. We get to see her new family dynamic and uh it doesn’t look all happy go lucky the way she makes things seem.

I’m glad its finally a conversation though since I feel it took them far too long to get to. It felt strange to just ignore such an important part of Kara’s story and life and just skip to her getting Cat coffees. Not only did it feel weird but I felt like it would’ve been more interesting filler for episodes 1-3. That helped us to understand/relate to Kara and Alex better. As well as tie into defeating our Villain of the Day instead of whatever plan the DEO basically just tells Kara to do.

Another point! This is the first episode where Kara defeats her opponent on her own. I’m not so much counting the plane from ep1. But the two Fort Rozz guys as well as “I hate superman” radioactive guy were all taken down because of the DEO. It was their plan or their information that took those guys down even if Kara did the heavy lifting. Which I hate because like isn’t this her show? Shouldn’t she be the one like figuring things out, coming up with plans that fail only to figure out something at the very last minute? It feels very much like she's just doing what she's told in the first three episodes. It feels like she doesn’t have as much autonomy as other heroes.

But in this one! Yes the DEO gives her a magic box thingy that's supposed to take down Livewire. But Kara is the one who agreed to work with Cat as bait. She's the one defeats Livewire with water. I don’t care if it's pulled out of someone ass at least she did it herself. This and the plane are the only things Kara has decided to fucking do herself without anyones help.

Cat Grant and her involvement in this episode is one of the tipping factors as to why its better than the others. Her relationship with her own mother paralleling her and Leslie's relationship was really nice. As well as this hopeful end to that conversation with the concept that Kara is like Cat’s second chance at getting it right. I really enjoyed that.

Finally coming full circle at the end of the episode where Kara has a moment with Cat, then Winn, then James, and finally her sister and foster mother. It makes sense for a thanksgiving episode but is also classic soap opera formatting that oddly enough the show needs more of. I would not expect myself to be saying that a show mostly about the Wam Bam Pow needs more drama but here I am.

And then of course another classic drama trope. We end with a cliff hanger and new reason to tune in next time. Jeremiah's death is revealed and now the girls have a mystery to solve. 

I wouldn’t usually rely so heavily on these tv devices, but because the writers have done little to make me care about characters that I’D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW. Its kind of become one of those things. If you’re not making your viewer tune in because they love/relate to the characters, then you have to do it with the story.

Right now we have the overarching plot of General Astra and probably Zod if I’m right. And then the disappearance/death of Jeremiah. Thats our plot outside of our Villain of the Day thing we’re doing right now with Fort Rozz.

Final Note. There was like 6 times where the word “closeted” was thrown around like candy from a pinata. And the episode started with Kara’s sexuality not just being scrutinized but argued that she was saphic. This doesn’t feel like a joke. It feels like someone really wanted something in the writers room. Like most media with subtext I’m like “I mean it’ll be gay but it won’t be gay gay”. But I gotta say that kind of stuff toes the line