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storm-angel989 · 3 months ago

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Don’t try to force yourself to make content, okay? Self care is way more important than putting stuff out, even if it makes others happy! Us fans will gladly wait until you’re mentally and emotionally ready!😉 Also drink water and eat real food, not just snacks!!!

Hi Friend,

Thank you so, so much for your kind words- I read your message as soon as it popped into my inbox and I did exactly as you said <3 I took the weekend, had some real food, rode a few horses and all of the sudden, a story I've been working on clicked (and I wrote a few more!)

As with all things, I expect it to ebb and flow but I appreciate everyones love, care a support more than words can express! Please enjoy below story and thank you again so so much for your love and patience!

<3 Mandy

Angel recognized the sound, and apparently Valentino did too.

The noise in itself was a concern. But it was Valentino’s reaction to it that interested Angel the most. In the middle of what was supposed to be an important shoot, Angel watched Valentino rush off down the darkened hallway only to reappear moments later with a look on his face Angel couldn’t quite distinguish. Softness, maybe? Whatever it was, it disappeared the moment Valentino sat back down.

“Angel, what the fuck are you doing?” Valentino snarled as he raked his glowing eyes over the set. “Lay down and read the fucking lines.”

As with all things, Angel obeyed.

Now, as Angel stood in the entryway to his dressing room, that same noise from the week prior floated down from the hallway. Soft, childlike giggles in an empty studio. A sense of unease washed over Angel. As abusive as Valentino was, he still had boundaries- and allowing kids in his studio was a hard one. Surely, Angel had to be hearing things. Maybe an actor or actress with a childlike voice. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. If there was, in fact, a kid running around in here it would be easy to get lost. Hell, sometimes he even found himself turned around and he had spent years here.

Hesitantly, Angel walked down the familiar labyrinth of halls and rooms.

“Hello?” he called out softly.

Silence answered him.

“I have gotta stop drinkin before shoots,” he muttered to himself as he turned away.

��Papi?” A girlish voice came from behind him. “Papi!”

Angel jumped and whirled around as tiny arms grabbed at his waist. Blonde hair, blue eyes, human like- Angel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He opened his mouth to ask her who she was, but she began before he could get a word in.

“You’re not Daddy. You’re a stranger,” the child shouted as she jerked away from him. “I want Daddy.”

Angel bit back his surprise. “Does..does your Daddy have a name?”

“Daddy.”

Of course. Typical kid answer. Angel wracked his brain as memories flooded through. Images of his own baby sister, from his human life, floated through. Painful reminders of a distant past he tried to keep pushed down. With a deep breath, he knelt down to her level.

“Okay kid, what does your daddy look like?”

“Daddy is tall. And he wears heart shaped glasses. And a big cozy red coat. But only when he goes to work. And I think this is Daddy’s work.” She answered confidently.

Angel felt his stomach drop. Val had a kid? Fuck, Val had a daughter? Shit. What should he do now? If he brought her back to Valentino, would he get punished? Forced to work extra hours for daring to find out his secret? But as he looked at the little girl, the sinking feeling grew sharper. He couldn’t leave her here. It wasn’t safe. And if he tried to send her back to where she came from, she’d probably end up lost- or worse. Seeing no other option, Angel took a deep breath.

“Come with me then, kid I’ll take you to yer dad. You got a name?” He offered her his hand.

To his surprise, the little girl took it and walked next to him. “Reader. What’s yours?”

“Angel,” he replied as he focused on the hallway ahead. The feeling of her small hand in his, the familiarity of a tiny voice, a little human by his side. Flashes of his own past, his human life. Painful fragments that shattered through his mind like glass shards. He tried to swallow them back with each step they took towards Valentino’s office.

“Daddy!”

The little girl’s yell jerked Angel back to attention. He let go of her hand as she raced across the empty studio and to his shock, she jumped into Valentino’s arms. Angel watched as the overlord of lust and depravity wrapped the little girl up and kissed her on the forehead.

“Bebita princessa, where were you? You have your Uncle Vox all worried!” Valentino scolded in a voice Angel had never heard him use before.

“You promised Daddy! You promised a piggy back ride and you left!” She shrieked in response as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You promised!”

Angel thought for sure Valentino would hit her. Or at the very least, scold her the same way he did his employees. Instead, he watched Valetnino’s expression soften.

“I know mi amore, I’m sorry,” he told her, “but you have to go up to Uncle Vox now, Papi has to work. Later tonight, I promise.”

Suddenly, as if he instantly became aware Angel was watching, he jerked his head up. Their eyes met and Angel couldn’t read the expression on Valentino’s face. Anger? Appreciation?

“So, uh, you have a kid?” Angel asked as he crossed his arms. “I, uh, found her in the back. Down the hallway. She was lookin for ya.”

Valentino’s expression changed to one Angel knew inherently well. Cold, merciless impassion.

“If you tell anyone, I will fucking kill you,” he stated. “Don’t think I won’t.”

That, Angel didn’t doubt. He opened his mouth to promise he wouldn’t, but before he could get a word in, Reader’s voice floated through the empty room.

“Daddy? What’s fucking mean?”

Angel watched as Valentino’s expression went from cold to…unsure? Uneasy? Angel couldn’t tell.

“I, uh, don’t worry about it baby, it’s,” Valentino stammered.

“An adult word. Only adults can use it,” Angel answered quickly.

To Angel’s surprise, Valentino looked relieved at his explanation. The ping of the elevator and Valentino turned away.

“Angel. Don’t be here when I get back.” Valentino said sharply. “I’ll call you when I need you again.”

“Does that mean I get the night off?” Angel called to the retreating figure.

No answer. Angel shrugged and back in his dressing room, he pulled on his jacket. Might as well spend the rest of the night at the hotel. After all, Fat Nuggets could use a little extra attention.

#hazbin hotel #the vees #hazbin fluff #the vees x reader #valentino x reader #valentino #valentino x you #valentino hazbin hotel #vox hazbin hotel #angel dust x you #angel dust x reader #angel dust hazbin hotel #angel dust #hazbin angel dust

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randomfoggytiger · 2 months ago

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Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XIII): Fox Mulder, Partner and Father

Since his arrival at Scully's apartment the previous morning, Mulder has been demonstrating the ever-evolving state of his emotional growth. The events of the following twenty-four hours, however, bring these changes-- and his self-imposed distance-- to a head; and he realizes the only person holding him back is himself.

SETTING THE STAGE

Plot plot plot, a body is found in South Carolina, and Reyes calls Doggett and Mulder in to investigate.

Mulder has, supposedly, stayed away from Scully overnight (and all the next morning) for reasons I can only log as Carterian. This is one of those Season 8 decisions that cannot be explained within reason of Mulder’s character, given his history and past reactions; and must, therefore, be taken with a massive, begrudging mountain of salt. However, because his characterization remains intact despite ill-thought-out teleportation, I’m not too frustrated over this development (as I am his actions in Essence and Existence.) Furthermore, the plot's logical fallacies-- air travel, time, distance, location-- that the writers didn't consider make their decisions... logically shaky, at best.

Personally? I would have written this episode’s case closer to home-- Washington D.C. close-- and had this scene unfold after Doggett slammed Mulder against the wall. It would flow narratively, too: Reyes calls Mulder, Doggett catches them, hears their lack of answers and storms off to Scully’s hospital room. All three are called to the crime scene, then Mulder holes up in his office and tries to shake Reyes off his tail (previous post here.) Afterwards, Mulder walks off the case and stays at the hospital until Scully’s release (as he does the rest of Empedocles.)

DOGGETT AND MULDER, AND MORAL REFELCTONS

Mulder is waiting at the crime scene when Doggett pulls up, answering his “What am I doing here?” with a posturing, cross-armed, “Been asking myself that same question, Agent Doggett." Something’s different: Mulder is suddenly acting as if he’s on Doggett’s side, light-hearted in tone and subtly comedic in mannerisms.

“But it seems,” he unwinds, pointing up to where Monica is, “that the tenacious Agent Reyes does not want to let go of this one.”

Doggett does something interesting here: he squeezes right into Mulder’s zone, right up against Mulder’s back. He’s not trying to intimidate or crowd Mulder, either-- and, while this could be a result of the on-set crew guiding both actors into a tighter frame (for whatever reason), I posit that his actions are a result of his partnership with Scully.

We often give Mulder more props for being up-close-and-personal one in the X-Files department, but Scully does have a history of always initiating physical contact between them (the hug in Pilot and Irresistible, holding him close in Paper Hearts, ruffling his hair and feeling him for injuries as often as possible, etc.) In fact, her rush for comfort in the Pilot began Mulder journey towards more expressive physical affection (post here.) I’m not positing she was as chummy-chummy with Doggett in her partner's absence, but it is interesting to note that being in Mulder’s personal space-- even seeking that space-- was not outside of Doggett’s rote routine.

(Sidenote: Can confirm: while Doggett is a typical, regular dude who isn't as bothered about personal distance, Scully herself initiates close contact multiple times. Both operate under strictly platonic terms-- the actual kind-- but it's an interesting observation, nevertheless.)

Mulder’s not particularly open or receptive to this closeness; but he doesn’t rebuff it, allowing Doggett to keep pace or withdraw as his mood dictates. It's a mark of Mulder's responsive sensitivity to others' distress: a sympathy born from true suffering, and one which enables him to empathize with fellow sufferers.

On the other hand, their actions also demonstrate that Agent Doggett has sensed Mulder's positioning allyship and is responding to that energy by leaning towards (and clinging to) it.

An interesting thing happens here: when Doggett insists, “There is no connection,” Mulder’s face grows strained and weary. The toll of his abduction and the burden of the files are weighing heavier and heavier on his psyche; and his unhealthy mental state-- combined with Reyes’s need for backup and Doggett’s increasing push and pull-- is wearing him down to a nub. More accurately, he’s so worn and weary that his walls and disguises and facades are dropping, and becoming harder to smooth back into place.

When Doggett resists the pull of the crime scene, maintaining that he sees nothing and there is no connection (i.e. denying his own instincts), Mulder’s eyes are fixed on him: surprised that the other agent is sensing something, and guardedly concerned for his wellbeing. And when Monica calls after her friend (“I think you do”), peeved, Mulder stares her down, tense.

An understated but incredibly important point: witnessing Doggett’s reopened wound is tearing down walls Mulder had protectively erected after his return (post here and here.) Empedocles pits the near death of Mulder's own (unacknowledged but wink wink, nudge nudge, he knows, post here) child with another man’s loss. Having observed Doggett's intense emotion in the FBI hallway-- his hope and disappointment and frustration at their lack of answers-- and having read the files on his son and the investigation into it, Mulder is already sympathetic to his pain. But here, he begins to view this case through the eyes of a man increasingly aware of how close he came to this same grief, twenty-four odd hours ago. Total loss-- compared to his near loss-- is refocusing Mulder's perspective, shifting his acceptance and curiosity of Scully's pregnancy to maturer consideration and "ownership" (i.e., literally "laying claim" later by resting his hand on Scully's bump.) Reyes's insistence on pushing and prodding raises his hackles, too, because she is forcing Mulder to confront his own strain of disbelief and cowardice by proxy.

Although this is the only scene that hints at and attempts to address these insecurities (other than Essence's opening monologue... though that was a similar but separate issue), David Duchovny provides just enough fluctuation in his voice and facial expressions to float this idea closer to an actualized, well-written point.

When Doggett turns back around, angered at Monica’s insistence, Mulder looks away from both (handing out a measure of privacy to a fellow father and an ounce of disapproval to his other fellow investigative agent.)

“You’re just afraid to go there,” Reyes states.

It’s not a lie; but it galls Mulder, too. Not only is he frustrated with how bluntly she’s handling Doggett’s pain, but he feels the reproof of her words, too. If Mulder had been solely concerned for Doggett, he’d let the man fight his own battles-- a pattern he upheld with Scully throughout their partnership. Here, he lashes out: meaning, Mulder’s conscience is pricking him over his own withdrawal and cowardice; and, mad at being reproved, he snarks (a classic defense mechanism exhibited in One Son, for example-- post here):

“Oof. Man, you just keep shootin’ until you hit something, don’t ya?” He stares Monica down, signaling she should back off.

Reyes, as the saying goes, persisted: “You’d rather blind yourself to the connections, but I can’t.”

The episode draws clear parallels between Doggett’s fear of grasping the truth, and life, again (i.e. retreating from Scully’s bedside and denying his instincts) and Mulder’s commitment to trying once more (i.e. joining Scully at her bedside and staying.) It’s a rather ham-fisted moral for the formerly dead: Mulder can choose to embrace new beginnings and happiness (“eat, dance, make love”); or he can spend the rest of his days haunted by the past, missing opportunities for contentment in the present. Moreover, it would have been the perfect follow-up to Closure: Mulder found resolution to his old lesson there-- freedom-- but is now presented with a new challenge-- responsibility. No longer would he be victim to-- and have to learn to accept-- the past (i.e. Samantha's death), but Mulder would be able to transform the present and change the future. In other words, he could shape his own life by choice, leaving his mark by fully embracing the desire to love, raise, and protect his growing child. Which, he does... without the added bonus of those connections being drawn for the audience.

Mulder listens to her and Doggett’s back and forth-- Doggett giving her another shot to explain herself, Monica positing her own (unfortunately true) theory; and remains silent until the latter suggests the two cases are linked by “a thread of evil” connecting to the former.

“They see evil in death like others see God in a rose,” she says; and he jumps in with a flippant, “I saw Elvis in a potato chip once,” purposefully reinforcing the distance he’s been creating since their previous scene together. He continues to stare her down, a false grin stupidly plastered on his mouth.

However, Reyes still isn’t letting him off the hook, calling out his pretended idiocy with a pointed, “You know what I’m talking about.”

Caught, and a touch amused, he admits, “Yes, I do,” dropping his flippancy long enough to observe, “I do.” Turning to Doggett, he adds, “But if this man doesn’t see it, he doesn’t see it. Right?”

Point made, he watches Agent Doggett refuse to concede and Agent Reyes work out that she needs John, not Mulder, to solve this case; and leaves, knowing his job here is done.

THE FIRST VOLUNTARY TOUCH

It’s after 3 PM in D.C. when Mulder finally makes his entrance.

He opens Scully’s hospital room door haltingly, trepidatiously hanging on her face. Seeing no sign of pain or distress, Mulder is momentarily soothed; and he blinks, hanging back a second longer to gauge if she’s awake (and to watch her sleep.)

Meeting up with Doggett and Reyes in the field and smacking against the wall he'd constructed post Deadalive began a shift in Mulder’s priorities (that will culminate in his transition from the Bureau.) Still, those sensations hadn't "clicked" yet: he asks after his partner's health, first, not yet considering the baby's until its safety is brought into question. That is the moment everything clarifies and slots into place.

“You awake?” he whispers gently, mirth dancing in his eyes and softening his face. He’s sneaking in, undetected-- or so he feels-- and hopes his partner’s awake enough to play along.

She is. Scully stirs, turns, and tilts her head, birdlike, when she registers her partner. “Yeah,” she answers, and smiles.

Delighted, he immediately slides through the doorway, eyes locked as he tries to divine her mood: to see if she’s all right.

Mulder is newly tender, lighthearted, and unburdened-- a first, not only post abduction but also in Empedocles. We saw his return to form with banter and unbridled two-stepping at the beginning of this episode; but his behavior here is the first glimpse of that lost sense of “wholeness” he’d gained after his revelation in Amor Fati, his next step in Millennium, and his final “truth” in Closure. Even though he’s come a long way since his distance in Three Words (i.e. gravitating to Scully while refusing to open up to her) and the missing scene pre-Empedocles (i.e. rifling through his mom's stuff to bring an offering for his child), this is the first time Mulder approaches the pregnancy "situation" as an equal partner and father. No longer is he trying to puzzle “where I fit in”, but is actively creating a place for himself. And Scully is equally eager to welcome him, in all his Mulderly glory, back to her side.

As he closes the door, Mulder seems to take in, all at once, the cannula in her nose and needles in her arm; and is sucked back into a soberer mood. It dawns on him, perhaps, that he still doesn’t know what her prognosis is-- that neither might be out of the woods, yet.

Closing the door first, he swiftly advances and asks, seriously, “What did the doctor say?” Mulder gives her a gentle, anxious little blink, hovering over the bed with repressed concern. When Scully takes a second to reply-- collecting herself with a sigh-- he starts to panic.

“That I had a partial abruption.”

His panic evolves into terror as Scully continues to soberly lay out the facts. Mulder looks down, trying to make sense of this information; and his eyes shift to her bump while his brain grasps for any slight, hopeful intonation in his partner’s voice.

In fact, not only does he glance over, but Mulder’s head also involuntarily turns in the direction of the baby, lingering there a second or two before swinging back to Scully’s face.

As she continues to lay out the facts, he looks down again, a sense of devastation blooming over the notion that this child might not be stable for long. In that second, Mulder's mentality flips: he immediately rejects that thought, and looks up, eyes burning fiercely. As he licks his lips, a new and powerful determination takes hold and roots: he will do anything to keep this baby alive: not just for Scully’s sake, but for his own.

This is the moment when Mulder alters: it’s one thing to observe lessons and accept truths from a detached distance, and quite another to be struck full-force with a surge of powerful, unconquerable-- and personalized-- emotion. While Mulder sympathized with and reflected on Doggett, he hadn’t understood or embraced those sensations for himself. The baby was his, if the math was to be believed; and he was ready-- he thought-- and happy, despite a lingering, unsteady feeling of inadequacy. But it hadn’t dawned on Mulder how irrevocably that protective and all-encompassing surge of “mine” extended to the baby, until now.

“They’re gonna need to monitor me for a while,” Scully concludes, subdued; but Mulder begins to relax, regardless, not having heard anything more threatening than implied bed rest.

Looking down once more, he soaks her answer in; and clarifies, “But you’re gonna be fine?”

“Yeah,” she confirms, smiling.

The baby begins to move; and when Scully looks down, right eyebrow twitching, Mulder acts on his relief (and a whoosh of courage.) Tense but decided, he reaches out in one stiff, jerky motion, readjusting his hand before slowly letting it sink completely onto Scully's belly. Exhaling, he shoots a strained smile for her benefit: awkward, but settling in. She, meanwhile, is not at all disturbed, knowing these are Mulder's first baby steps (heh) and trusting he will be knocked off his feet once it hits home.

Two things of note: this is the first time since "the return" that Mulder has voluntarily initiated physical contact. While he rushed to Scully's side and rubbed her back at the apartment, that was in response to extreme pain and distress, not a reopening of himself. Post Deadalive, he's been gradually working back to normal (with a few hitches here and there); and his reactions here demonstrate how uncomfortable he still was in the wake of his surfacing memories and PTSD. However, this is his child, and his partner gave him an encouraging directive; and Mulder is determined to do this-- "this, having a baby 'this'"-- the right way.

Scully knows he can feel the baby, and looks up, drinking in the first of many happy firsts for her partner. The camera focuses on her face, her reaction first, then switches hazily to Mulder's comfortably resting hand-- a visual hand-off (heh) from the experienced (Scully) to the inexperienced (Mulder.)

Mulder is in awe, so completely enraptured that he is lost to the world around him. His eyes are full of wonder; his face is impossibly young, and his smile is impossibly soft. He blinks rapidly, unutterably content to bask in the moment yet unwilling to lose a glimpse of this miracle.

Scully reads this on his face; and closes her eyes briefly, soaking in this precious, fleeting moment with Mulder.

CONCLUSION

Empedocles may not be over, but I think this is a good place to end, for now. Don't you?

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

#txf #xf meta #mine #Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma #Part XIII #Fox Mulder Partner and Father #xfiles #x-files #the x files #meta #S8 #Empedocles #Mulder #Doggett #Monica Reyes #Scully #In-Depth

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mondstalgia · 7 months ago

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Gonna talk about what's happening on weibo on Tumblr too because it's so...fucking stupid.

Fans have sighted a woman with Louis and Nat at the airport on their flight home after the fanmeet, whom they assume is Louis girlfriend (he had his arm around her shoulder). Now they are claiming he betrayed Nat and many delulu fans are saying they won't support him anymore (including fansites which shocked me).

Louis then wrote a long instagram post basically explaining that he loves acting but doesn't want to hide who he is because in the end he is also just human. Personally I found it very mature and beautifully written, the way he always expresses himself has always been amazing. Unfortunately angry fans are misinterpreting it as him being selfish and blaming fans, which is ridiculous. He doesn't even mention fans, he talks about himself and what he wishes for in his life.

Personally this feels like a setback to times where idols and actors were seen as something beyond humans and dating was seen as a scandal. Currently he is receiving so much hate which I find ridiculous and dangerous. He didn't betray anyone. Nat was also literally there with them.

In interviews they have always stated that they talk a lot and even share secrets, there is no betrayal. If anyone knows Louis then it's Nat, way better than any fan ever could. Their private lives are non of our business, including their actual partners. Claiming that them living their lives is some sort of betrayal is insane to me, I'm too old for that kind of delusional talk. Unless someone committed a crime this reaction is absolute insanity.

I'm worried about his mental state, he's always been a bit gloomy, I actually do hope he has someone he loves who can support him through this. Poor guy, he just wants to do what he loves. This is so typical of the BL fandom, it makes me sick.

If you have the time maybe leave some supportive words on his social media ♡

#they could never make me hate you baby #kiseki: dear to me #kiseki dear to me #louis chiang #jiang dian #taiwanese bl #chiang tien #nat chen #chen bowen #natlouis #bl ship #tw drama #taiwanese drama #taiwanese series

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intheshadowsbehindyou · 1 year ago

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Okay, got a weird one for ya~ So I have ASD, meaning I can sometimes react oddly to social things, or actions. One of these is that whenever I see seggs scenes in movies, I start laughing. Like seggs in movies, even if it’s not meant to be funny, is just HILARIOUS to me. Sometimes I even explain between laughter why it’s so hilarious, like “Oh my gods WHAT IS THAT NOISE??? MY GUY, you a tractor or some sh!t??? HA!”. Would you be willing to take a request for mercs having movie night, only for their crush to start wheezing and laughing so hard they can barely speak at the seggs scene in the movie?

The TF2 Mercs with somebody who thinks actors acting sex in movies is understandably hilarious

WARNING: sex!!!! (Funny)

Scout:

- Confused at first. Jeremy’s the type of person to taunt the characters and make clever quips during the whole movie to make you laugh. Nothing comes close to your laughter at this sex scene though. Suddenly he picks up on it and begins laughing too. Your reaction is kind of understandable. It seems to be a very forced and over the top performance.

- “Holyyy shit, I wanted to be an actor as a kid, but i’m not one for those frickin theater kid losers. Kinda glad I didn’t go through with it, now.” Typical scout acting like a highschool bully. You can tell he was the type of sportsy jock to shove nerds into lockers. He takes great pleasure in roasting the people on screen with you.

- Overall a solid 9/10 experience. One point taken away because he’s a massive prick and goes way too over the top with his cruel jokes sometimes. You have to lightly slap the side of his arm at one point because he’s somehow coming up with new slurs for hollywood goers that don’t even exist in the english dictionary to begin with.

—————————————————————————-

Soldier:

- Ayo?

- Lifts his helmet up and looks at you for a second. “What’s so funny, private?” He asks, and but of course you’re laughing so hard you fall onto his chest and cling to him. Your laughter is very much appreciated nonetheless. Seeing somebody he loves so happy is causing butterflies in his stomach. Even if he doesn’t quite understand it. Laughter is a beautiful and positive thing.

- He’s a very aged man, and surviving WW2 gave him a lot of life experience. Essentially convinced that sex jokes are somehow crude. But let’s be honest, this is soldier we’re talking about here. He never keeps his word and although he tries to keep a straight face, his younger self comes through and he has to let out an unholy burst of laughter in response to hearing the girl’s performance upon getting her titties gripped. Congrats on cracking his US Army General persona.

—————————————————————————-

Demoman:

- Too drunk to even process why you’re laughing for a spilt second but then it suddenly dawns on him you might be reacting this way because your brain chemistry is different than his. Demoman is more of an explosives chemist guy, but he’s somewhat taught that people act differently due to neurological function. Chemicals, brain shit, and whatever the hell else. He’s too tired to remember. He begins wondering what would happen if brain chemicals were flammable. That would be quite unfortunate. Fortunate for him though.

- You fall onto his lap laughing and that’s what knocks him out of his incoherent descent down the stupid idiot rabbit hole. He puts his hand in your hair and smiles warmly. Dazed, and barely even awake. He even chuckles a little with you despite his exhaustion. Movie nights always seem to get him tired because it’s usually at the end of a hard work day.

- “I can show you a time more embarrassin, tho. In the morning.” He flirts. Knowing full well he’ll have such a bad hang over, he won’t even consider getting his ass up to kiss you. You glare at him, and you wonder just how the hell a sex scene in a movie out of all things can get him horny. The look in his eye doesn’t lie though. Wow, he sets some pretty low standards for porn. Also, you’re really scared what he means by more embarrassing.

————————————————————————-

Engineer:

- He looks away during the entire sex scene and that’s essentially what makes you laugh even harder. His southern upbringing is honestly borderline sad. The idea that he can be “impure” for witnessing such “sacred” acts. Even when somebody’s pretending for a movie. You make fun of him and he’s just sitting there grumpily shielding his eyes with his gloved hand. It’s not even an explicit scene.

- Suppressing something doesn’t help, and everybody knows that quite well. He looks between his fingers to see if the scene has ended yet. Maybe just a peak wouldn’t hurt? He’s an adult after all! ARGH! NO! He covers his eyes again… Okay maybe just another peak. He thinks your humor is just juvenile and there’s nothing wrong with that in his opinion. it’s always admirable when somebody decides to maintain their innocence. There is absolutely no judgment from him.

- Over time he gets more used to watching stuff like this with you, but he never laughs. He acts like a deer in headlights the entire time. Overall, if you act like the quote on quote “way you shouldn’t” then I assure you he’ll be understanding and keep an open mind.

————————————————————————

Heavy:

- Laughing at a sex scene? Eh. He doesn’t care what you laugh at or why. He finds plenty of stuff like that funny but ceases to laugh sometimes. He can laugh for certain, but for some reason there are moments where he doesn’t act accordingly and laugh at a joke. Perhaps you two are the same in that regard?

- Stares blankly at the screen the entire time despite finding hilarity in your response to the poor performance. He’s internally laughing on the inside but it just won’t come out of his mouth. As a result he’s kind of offended at his brain for failing him once again. You stop for a second and wonder if he’s annoyed, but then he turns and says “Sometimes Heavy laughs on the inside and he doesn’t know why.” His expression lacks emotion as always. “That’s fine.” You say, shrugging. This finally gets a response out of him and he looks to the ground and frowns.

- He feels frustrated and kind of guilty he can’t emote like he used to as a kid. This type of deadpan behavior moreso comes from his traumatic life. He’s unconsciously taught himself to stay stoic. Even when he’s supposed to be having fun with you. You lean on his arm to rest assure him you struggle with it differently. In verbose, he’s not mad at you. He becomes angry at himself.

————————————————————————

Pyro:

- You’re laughing so hard that they find your behavior adorable. They find you quite stunning in this moment and immediately hug you to fulfill that random need for physical contact. He can’t help it! You’re just so cute when you laugh! You’re like a small kitten to them. Fuck the stupid movie. Both their eyes are on you right now and they don’t want them to be anywhere else.

- They are baby talking you, and calling you petnames. This sudden shift in Pyro’s behavior makes you laugh more due to the absurdity of their cute aggression. Who the hell finds their crush laughing at a sex scene to be attractive? Apparently Pyro. Pyro’s not really one to pay attention during scenes like this anyway so they find it quite easy to do so. It’s always just pointless filler to appease the horny people. Not to mention sort of setting unrealistic expectations. (Yes, Pyro is smart enough to know this. They are smart enough to run a company, therefore smart enough to harshly critique the movie industry.)

- It is absolutely nothing but sunshine and rainbows to them when you’re happy. It’s lighting up the fiery flame in their heart to see you so satisfied. The scenes are absolutely embarrassing as shit and Pyro hates them, but they’d be glad to show you more bad movies and eat candy while basking in their favorite sound: your happiness. Everything is better with someone you love.

—————————————————————————-

Sniper:

- Um.. Is this guy even alive right now? Hellooooo? Sniper? He isn’t reacting to anything at all and you have no clue what’s happening behind those sunglasses of his. Why’s he wearing them inside, anyway? He claims it’s because the TV hurts his eyes but he’s so timid that, that has to be a lie. You’re laughing your ass off, meanwhile this guy’s brain is in outer space or some shit.

- In fact you get kind of concerned and stop laughing. “Mundy?” You ask. Your concern grows when he doesn’t move. Then his head sloooowly cocks to the side to look at you. There are some big exasperated/disappointed dad vibes coming from this man. “You can’t be serious, you actually find this funny?” He asks. He’s just messing with you of course and it’s obvious his behavior isn’t meant to be taken seriously.

- “Yeah!” You respond, laughing even more as he rubs his own temples and leans his face on his own hand. The way he’s responding like he’s in love with an idiot is kind of funny. Behind that rough exterior of his is somebody whose actually quite relieved you’re enjoying this in the first place. He often thinks his own company is quite boring.

————————————————————————

Medic:

- Actually immediately starts laughing too. He’s had sexual encounters before and knows how procreation works. (Not to mention the behavior of women.) Girls in movies like this are depicted as so two dimensional he knows full well the people who made this movie must’ve never spoken to an actual woman before. Reminder TF2 takes place in the late 60s so these are some very stupid ass corny romance films.

- He laughs so hard he actually starts coughing. Holy shit. How is this man not dying at this point? He’s screaming something you’re certain is insults in german at the TV. But even if you speak the language it’s not like you can understand between his fits of chaotic laughter. He’s so queer that romance movies make him short circuit.

- “Well actually you see; realistically she has a very high chance of getting pregnant now because he didn’t use a condom. Even know they said they don’t want a kid. Not to mention!; He didn’t use any lube which can be quite painful. Surprised there wasn’t a doctor’s visit after this.” He goes on and on about how stupid and corny this shit is and you can’t really blame him. Although now you have to sit there for hours and listen to him ramble.

————————————————————————

Spy:

- Visibly offended you’d laugh at such a beautiful display. Sex to him is like an art piece. Intertwining bodies and becoming one with your other half/halves. Puts his hand to his chest and glares at you with disgust. You don’t care of course, Spy is a drama queen and always has been. His judgmental expression wasn’t because of your strange behavior, in fact. In any other situation he just wouldn’t care if you acted differently than most people. But he draws the line when you laugh at GORGEOUS SEX. How dare you!!!?? For shame! FOR SHAME!

- “Rest assured, Intimacy can be more than this. I can make you feel pleasure that these two on screen could only dream about if you keep an open mind.” Of course Spy turns this into something horny. He looks rather serious about this and points his cigarette to the closet. Unbeknownst to anybody but you, Spy has a museum’s worth of sex toys in that thing. The offer immediately made you stop laughing. “Oh.” You say.

- Spy is satisfied with your red face and timid attitude towards the question. He watches you and takes a huge drag of his cigarette. “Hmm?” He raises both eyebrows and pouts, mockingly. Like a wolf who cornered a lamb.

#team fortress 2 #tf2 #medic x reader #demoman x reader #heavy x reader #spy x reader #tf2 x reader #tf2 x you #pyro x reader #sniper x reader

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rottenpumpkin13 · 7 months ago

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(I just watched a musical 😂)

woe, Genesis has been tasked with getting together and directing a musical theatre production of his choice Loveless featuring the entire SOLDIER floor, for an official Shinra fundraiser gala. nightmare scenario or dream come true or both. the show must go on! also, you are incredibly funny and uplifting! :)

• Genesis has been tasked with organizing and directing the annual musical Shinra puts on for the charity gala, which has one of its departments as the actors. This year the roulette wheel landed on the worst combination—SOLDIER and Loveless.

• Rumors say Zack's anguished "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" as soon as it was announced was heard from 13 floors down.

• Genesis is being benign and letting everyone choose their parts.

Genesis: Who wants to play the goddess?

*Sephiroth raises his hand*

Genesis: Really? You want to play the goddess?

Sephiroth: It was an involuntary reaction. I don't know why I raised my hand.

Genesis: Too late, you're the goddess.

Sephiroth: But I don't want to play the goddess.

Genesis: If you don't play the goddess I'm going to shave your head in your sleep.

Sephiroth: !?

• Since NONE of the female SOLDIERs wanted to play Rosa, Genesis appointed one of the other guys to the role.

• Cloud walked in at an unfortunate time to deliver some documents from Heidegger.

Genesis: CLOUD. You're perfect for the role of Alphreid. Welcome to the show.

Cloud: Uhh, really? Okay. Who's playing Rosa?

Zack: I am!

Cloud: For fucks sake.

• Angeal was placed in the role of Varvados against his will, the same case for Kunsel, who was bribed with money to play Garm.

• The rest of SOLDIER is tasked with being the stage crew. They have a month to rehearse, something which would've been fine had GENESIS not been the director. He insists on getting a director's chair, and wearing the typical director's beret and scarf while shouting from a megaphone even though he's AT MOST 3 feet away from the stage.

Zack: I thought you said I was playing Rosa. Where's my dress and wig?

Genesis: No, no. Since you and Cloud are playing Rosa and Alphreid, I thought I'd make this the gay version of Loveless.

Zack: Ohhh, I get it now. That's why it's Loveless - G edition. The G stands for gay.

Genesis: No the G stands for Genesis.

Zack: What's the difference?

Genesis:

• Sephiroth wishes whoever sold Genesis the megaphone an eternity in the deepest pits of hell.

*Genesis is standing right beside Sephiroth. Too close, in fact*

Genesis: SEPHIROTH, LETS TAKE IT FROM SCENE 3 IN ACT 1 WHEN THE GODDESS HAS HER BIG MUSICAL NUMBER.

Sephiroth: Genesis I'm standing right here. There's no need to—

Genesis: DON'T QUESTION MY CREATIVE CHOICES.

*Sephiroth grabs the megaphone and smashes it over his head*

• If Genesis were not Angeal's best friend, he also would've choked him with his scarf by now.

Genesis, from his director chair: Angeal, great dancing, but go stage left.

*Angeal goes left*

Genesis: No, your other left.

*Angeal goes right*

Genesis: LEFT.

*Angeal goes further left*

Genesis: Your OTHER Left. Turn around and go right!

*Angeal goes right*

Genesis: LEFT. LEFT. GO LEFT.

*Angeal goes left and violently falls off the stage*

• Cloud wouldn't have agreed to play Alphreid if he had known Zack was playing Rosa. Not because he feels weird playing his love interest, but because Zack is a diva.

Genesis: Alright, Alphreid, this is the scene where you're seeing Rosa again. You're feeling passionate, you're feeling butterflies in your stomach, you're sensing—

Cloud: —Zack's onion breath from lunch.

Zack: Onion soup helps me get into character. Get it, because Rosa has so many layers?

Genesis: Zack, I love your dedication. Cloud, quit complaining. Now kiss, you two.

Cloud: I ain't kissing him with that breath.

Genesis: Kiss!

Cloud: He smells like something died.

Zack: I've never felt more insulted in my life.

Genesis: You're being overdramatic. KISS.

Cloud: Please god no.

Genesis: KISS HIM.

*Zack grabs Cloud by the collar and leans in. Cloud takes one whiff of Zack's breath and immediately passes out*

Zack: I can't work like this.

• Opening night rolls around.

*Angeal approaches Genesis*

Angeal: Zack ate an entire onion and his breath smells like depression.

Genesis: The show must go on.

Angeal: Cloud attempted to knock him out with a broom, but it was a prop, so it broke over his head and he attacked Cloud.

Genesis: The show must go on.

Angeal: Zack sat on him and is blowing his breath in his face as we speak.

Genesis: The show must go on.

Angeal: Cloud has literally passed away.

Genesis: The show must—

*Angeal chokes him*

• Somehow the show does go on. Everyone nails their musical numbers and scenes, all goes well. Until act 4, when Sephiroth forgets his lines.

*During a scene with all the characters*

Sephiroth: To engage in the battle for which I have selected you, I bequeath unto you a....a....uh....?

Genesis, whispering from the edge of the stage: Improvise!

Sephiroth: What? Demise? The goddess killing everyone wasn't in the script.

Genesis, still whispering: No! Improvise the lines!

Sephiroth: Demise to the guys? So I am supposed to kill everyone. Alright then.

Genesis: NO

*Sephiroth unsheathes a sword he wasn't supposed to have*

Cloud: Wait, WHAT?

Sephiroth: The goddess was never merciful.

*He takes a swipe at Cloud and now the two are engaged in an active duel*

Angeal: Guys, this wasn't in the script!

• Angeal dives forward and starts trying to haul Cloud away, who's kicking and struggling. Now Sephiroth veers his attention unto Zack and starts chasing him around with the sword. Zack has no weapon, and is screaming as he dodges Sephiroth's blows.

• Genesis, angered, climbs onto the stage with a ball of fire in hand, screaming and hurtling it at them ("ALL THAT HARD WORK GONE TO WASTE—NEVER BEEN MORE EMBARRASSED IN MY LIFE—SEPHIROTH STOP USING YOUR HAIR AS A WEAPON")

*Kunsel, in a last-ditch attempt to save everyone's dignity, closes the curtain, ending the show*

#ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #final fantasy vii #ffvii crisis core #genesis rhapsodos #ff7 crisis core #angeal hewley #zack fair #cloud strife #storytime

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restinslices · 10 months ago

Note

We going fluffy for a lil? YAY! Can I request EarthRealm guys being dads for the first time?

This is longer than what the Earthrealm guys typically get. Usually they all get around 200 words because writing for them takes longer because it’s 5, but this was so cute I got carried away and they all got around 400-500 words😀

Johnny Cage

A mini Cage? Are you serious?

Can I be honest with y'all? I think this kid would be an accident

Because of that he'd be nervous. Johnny has a huge ego but he also has huge debt and a dwindling career so he'd be worried about how he'd even take care of this child

He'd work extremely hard to get more money. He'd even sell his house to get a smaller one that's more affordable (that's how you know he's serious)

He covers his nervousness with humor. This is a whole human he's gonna be raising now

The closer the delivery date gets, the more nervous he gets. His partner moves a little weird and he's “IT'S COMING!”

Calm down Johnny. Damn.

The entire delivery he's jumpy as fuck. He didn't realize how long it'd take and his nerves are through the roof

Does Johnny have a huge ego? Yes. Is he an asshole? Yes. Does he make everything a joke? Yes. But this is different. There's a human that's relying on him to survive

Everytime he looks at the baby he's like “oh shit, I got a baby”

Baby accidents actually make him cringe. His baby vomits on him and he has to physically stop himself from throwing it

Johnny as a girl dad? Omg.

That's his little princess. Any money he makes goes to her. She has so many unnecessary toys and he dresses her like an actual princess

The baby got its own room from jump

He'll never be against a tea party or a makeover

During those makeovers he's giving pointers. “Don't use that color, it'll clash with my hair” type of shit

Be prepared. No matter how hard you try, this kid is becoming a mini Johnny

He tries to be really active in her life when he's not acting

Has debated on retiring but you need money so that's not happening

You'd think he'd want his kid to become an actor but he knows that shit is not safe so absolutely not

He makes little films with her though. Really cute shit he'll rewatch when she's older

Time to him goes by so fast. He feels like he blinked and suddenly she was 18

He's the dad that gets emotional at her graduation. Straight sobbing as she walks the stage

“I'm a cool dad” *puts on shades*

Ok Johnny

His ability to not take shit serious doesn’t entirely disappear. He’s the parent the child wants the principal to call when in trouble

Little fashion shows? Absolutely

His kid is so spoiled, it's ridiculous. Even if he didn't want a child, he loves them with every part of him

Kenshi Takahashi

Another accident baby-

He's trying to fix this whole clan situation so a baby is not something he was thinking of

So when he's told he's gonna have a baby his heart stops for a quick second

Being terrified is a normal reaction and trust me, he's terrified

He doesn't know how to be a dad at all and videos aren't helping

I know I mention this whole on the run from the Yakuza thing a lot but that's a big ass problem. How do you have a baby when mfs are gunning for you?

Why does he agree to keep it? I ain't think that far but anywho, it's too late now. Too far along-

He tries to prepare himself by looking up videos and reading books. He wants to be an amazing dad for his baby

We don't know how his parents were but I'm assuming his childhood wasn't the best

He promised himself that he's gonna care for this baby and give it a fantastic childhood

Idk how his vision works now tbh. I'm assuming he can always see so I'm guessing that's not a problem

Once the baby is here he's all over it. You'd think he gave birth with how much he's playing with it

I wanna make all of them girl dads tbh and I'm the one writing this soooooo that's what imma do-

Kenshi is making sure everyone is comfortable. His partner and the baby. He's gonna help anyway he can

Having a tiny human depend on him is definitely a wild concept to him

He wants to teach his daughter how to fight but he doesn't want to make her a monster if that makes sense

He wants to make sure she never uses her skills to harm others for no reason and because of that, any school reports about violence is taken seriously

Let that school call him and he's asking 20 questions tryna see who the aggressor was. If his daughter was being harassed and she defended herself then as long as someone wasn't seriously hurt then it's ok. If his daughter was the aggressor? Oh nah

Kenshi is not afraid to lecture and discipline (I don't mean whooping. Whether or not you think any of them would is up to you. I'm not getting into that. Be free) his daughter

His kid is never walking all over him. He don't let them slide with shit

He's harsh but it's in a loving way. He's not on her ass for no reason. He wants her to conduct herself well and to be a good person and better than the people he's been surrounded by. He carries this out by being a bit more harsh and strict than he needs to be

That teenage rebellion phase is gonna kick his ass. Omg

He's strict but I don't think he'd be unsafe for his daughter to go to, yk? His daughter knows she can go to him if she needs anything

If she felt like she couldn't tell him something, his poor little heart would break

I don't think he'd ever take his bandana off around them. Idk how the healing would work but I could imagine it'd still look brutal

So protective of her. Let someone move towards her a little quick, he's on his feet before he even realizes it

He doubts his parenting at time and how safe he can keep her but he's doing a really solid job

Kung Lao

Idk whether or not his baby would be an accident or not

Either way, Kung Lao has a huge ego and he'd assume it can't be that bad

He definitely can figure all this out as he goes along. It'll be easy. Nothing to worry about

He wishes he could go back in time and smack himself for being so stupid

At first it's fine, then he remembers he has to consistently deal with a baby and he's like “I may have miscalculated”

Why do babies shit so much? They're so small.

Terrible Twos have him stressed

When the baby's teething he slowly starts to lose his grasp on reality. All the yelling drives him nuts but he's locked in now

He tries to use his baby as a challenge to keep him motivated but honestly babe, you're never winning that challenge. Babies are unpredictable

He has to learn that. Babies are a learning experience and you can't try to use them as some great challenge. Just relax and take things one at a time

He also teaches his baby how to fight

Makes them a mini hat but puts something non sharp on the edges, like crayons or something

Some may think “oh a daughter! She has to be feminine and sweet and blahblahblah!”

Nah, that's now how it works with him

His daughter is learning some Leon Kennedy moves

After what he's been through he's definitely teaching them how to fight because conflict will always happen. You're never catching his daughter slipping

The dad that asks “did you win?” if his child gets in trouble for fighting at school

Let's his child watch scary movies

He's never doing that bullshit again. She was up all night and he's never regretted anything more

The type to “randomly” decide to sharpen his hat when his daughter brings a boy over

“What are you doing dad?” “I'm sharpening my sharp hat that's sharp enough to cut through humans… because it's so sharp”

Puts “The Great” in front of her name whenever describing her

His daughter probably has a huge ego also. This dude does not teach her to be humble and compliments her when she does anything

You think a mini Johnny is bad? Mini Kung Lao gives them a run for their money.

Raiden

I feel like Raiden would have kids when he's older. Idk why but I think he'd be way more careful than everyone else

So when he hears he's having a baby, he's both nervous and excited

He's on it. Decorating the nursery, reading books, looking at websites, he's on it all.

He wants to be prepared so he doesn't mess up

Messing up is inevitable but don't tell him that

Once the baby is here, he's super happy. The room is already decorated and he's so glad they can lay in there

Super affectionate towards his baby. Constantly kissing her head and playing with her

If any of the other Earthrealm men have a baby, he insists on playdates

Even if they don't, he plays with his daughter enough

The type to actually make his voice higher when playing with dolls

Gives his kid cute nicknames that they'll undoubtedly get embarrassed by when they're older

Are we surprised he also teaches his daughter to fight? No.

He was minding his business and was told he had to help protect Earthrealm. His kid gotta know how to scrap

He keeps a good balance of combat and normal childhood so it's fine

He does little lightning shows for his kid. Is it irresponsible? A little. Is Liu Kang gonna take it back though? No.

Raises a daughter similar to him; soft spoken and sweet but is willing to throw down when necessary

He's the parent that genuinely hears his kid out when they get in trouble

Since this is his first kid he's new to all of this so making mistakes is something that'll happen. Good thing about Raiden tho is that he's willing to apologize when family conflict happens

He takes so many pictures, it's ridiculous

Takes pictures the entire first week of school and is spamming Kung Lao with them

He's really invested in child drama ngl. A kid threw a book at another kid? Tell him more so he can gossip with Kung Lao

Discipline is difficult for him because he honestly doesn't know what to do. He's worried he's being too harsh and doesn't wanna push his kid away. It's common knowledge that they'll grow up, move away and he won't see her as much so he doesn't want to push them away and lose them earlier than necessary

Kids need some sort of discipline though so he gotta figure it out

When his daughter no longer needs him to check the closet for monsters, his heart might shatter a little bit ngl

He's taking it one step at a time and honestly? He's doing really good

Liu Kang

Probably didn't even know he could have kids

He just assumed a keeper of time was outta the game so wdym a baby is on the way?

Liu Kang has watched humans evolve so he's watched plenty of parents raise their babies so he has a lot of references

He's not as nervous as everyone else. Like I said before, he has plenty of references of what to and what not to do so he's pretty confident in his abilities

He's only nervous about the threats they'll face once they're alive. Man is used to fighting for his life

Decorates the nursery and child proofs the entire house

Makes sure his partner is incredibly comfortable. He wants them completely relaxed

He packs the bag for when the delivery happens, he doesn't leave the room unless necessary, he's really supportive.

Once the baby is here he's lowkey hogging the baby

Thinks his partner should be relaxing after so the baby is always in his arms

This baby to him is the most precious thing he's ever seen. Having a family is something he really wants so he's on cloud 9

Watching over his kid to see if they get any powers like him, which is likely

Liu Kang has a good balance between discipline and softness. He's not super strict but he doesn't just let them get away with anything

Imma sound like a broken record but his daughter is scraping. This is Liu Kang we're talking about

His daughter is gonna become Gamora-

Fighting skills will be impeccable. Say excuse me if you bump into her or she's going 2 back flips, lighting her body on fire and blowing the area up

He wants to spend so much time with his daughter. He knows how fast time flies. He's seen humans not appreciate each other and that's not happening with him. His daughter will know she's loved

He has references like I said earlier but that doesn't mean it's the easiest to do. He tries his hardest though and is probably the most patient

He's more excited for the firsts than they are. This is not your first day of school Liu Kang, why are you so geeked?

Tons of photos of his baby

Other dads can be really stressed when it comes to their kid growing up but I think he's more accepting of it. Is it sad seeing his baby grow up? Yes. He's used to the idea of aging though. Also his kid is immortal like him so he's comforted by the idea of them never growing older than him

Liu Kang is a parent that is 100% ok with admitting when he's wrong. There's no toxic shit with him. If he fucked up, he fucked up.

Probably has the most or one of the most humble kids

Very affectionate

Probably wants more kids

10/10 dad and imma stand on it

“Forgive me Kenshi. I misspoke.” Liar.

I always ramble at the end of these so here I go: y’all I am out of dry dog food and I’m broke so I can’t pay my sister to get food from her job so I’ve been feeding my dog wet food, right. It is 3am, so naturally we’re not on a walk rn. Why did she drop the most devastating shit? I actually wanna walk into traffic. I did not know it could be audible. She didn’t even eat anything before she did it. Donate to $JMentallyUnstable for my cause😔 (I’m joking but not about my suffering. She’s small. HOW is a felony coming outta you bro?) (If I find a tall building-)

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bizarrelittlemew · 10 months ago

Text

okay. i just watched the movie Snakeskin (2001). i bought a physical dvd in the year of our lord 2024 because Taika has 6.5 minutes of screentime in it. and now i'm sitting here trying to process wtf i just watched asjdhfdjsk so here are the highlights (thank you Meow @blakbonnet for going through this experience with me)

first of all, enjoy these screenshots from the trailer (i'm still not sure if they're mandatory disclaimers?):

...but say yes to snake imagery, because there will be a lot of it

we are definitely in 2001. this is extremely apparent throughout the whole movie. but especially from this girl's hair

Taika's character (Nelson) and his girlfriend (Daisy, pictured above) drive around in a repurposed ice cream truck and sell drugs btw. it's called Mr. Trippy.

main character Alice (Melanie Lynskey) is a huge fan of ✨America✨. her best friend is in love with her but she only wants Bad Boys. also said friend's name is Johnny but it's actually Craig

ALSO Craig-slash-Johnny is played by Dean O'Gorman (Fili)??!?!?!?

their hobby is to drive around picking up hitchhikers but only those who look not boring

enter The American. this guy is the most American you have ever seen. americans wish they could be as American as this guy. no one else has ever Americaned harder.

as you can see, i'm not lying. he even says "howdy ma'am" so we're convinced he is a real American

three skinheads are after The American because he stole their drugs (i think). he also stole drugs from Nelson and Daisy, who now owe money and/or drugs to their boss, who also has beef with The American for reasons i'm still not totally sure of

The American not only steals drugs and money, he also has a real gun(!!!) and fucks pretty much everyone?

"darlin'. u gotta earn the raaaiht. ter wear snakeskins 😎"

oh my god the sunglasses emoji just reminded me of the fucking sunglasses oh no i'm not sure i can do this akjsdhjsk this will make sense later i promise

do not learn gun safety from this movie

at one point, there is a whole lotta sheep. we are, after all, in Aotearoa New Zealand. and ok this had the cutest moment of Taika yelling "SHEEPY" out of a car

there's a scene where uhm. uhhh no not gonna describe this i think but. yeah fair warning this movie has some period-typical homophobia let's just say 💀 this is the live reaction:

MOVING ON

if you enjoy the 2000s aesthetic of "look how edgy we are doing drugs" *colorful-haired people on couches in dark club* *echo-y laugh* *hallucinations* *it's mushrooms look it's mushrooms we're doing psychedelics* then this is the movie for you my friend

oh and Alice also did acid at some point while being very "i've totally done drugs before" about it (((doubt)))

GIRL GET UP FROM THAT DIRTY BATHROOM FLOOR

[New Zealand accent] "wow. six and acid." yes she is living all her american dreams as you can see

by nighttime, all three cars (main characters, mr. trippy, and the nazimobile) and the motorcycle (mr. drug boss) have made it pretty far up the mountain, it seems. cute moment between mr. drug boss and nelson. look how :D he is!

but you know a movie with Taika in it needs to have a father figure talk down to him so he gets very 🥺 right after this

lots of shit goes down (i won't spoil too much if by any chance you still want to watch this) and it turns out that the older skinhead guy is the best actor in the movie??

and NOW things get weird

Craig and The American have so much beef by now that they decide to solve it by russian roulette

Alice's reaction to this is something like "ugh, you guys are crazy, i can't watch this 🙄"

like she just walks away?? GIRL THEY'RE AIMING A REAL GUN AT EACH OTHER

she keeps COMPLETELY UNDERREACTING TO WHAT IS HAPPENING like (spoilers from now on) CRAIG IS SHOT AND KILLED and she doesn't even run over and she doesn't even say anything to The American?? WHO SHOT HIM???? he's just standing there??

and then. AND THEN.

ok this is where i fully lost it for several minutes and missed half the following scene. i was fucking HOWLING like actually crying with laughter, i couldn't see or breathe and my partner got worried ksjdhfdjsk ok so here's what happens

they're in the car. craig is obviously very dead. alice is kinda in denial i guess. The American tells her to shut his eyes and she's like why? BECAUSE HE DEAD GIRL!! but she doesn't, she doesn't shut his eyes, no, this is what she does instead

I COULD BARELY MAKE THIS GIF BECAUSE I KEPT LAUGHING TO THE POINT OF TEARS

NOT THE SUNGLASSES ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. THE UNTAPPED MEME POTENTIAL HERE IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS

ANYWAY shortly after this we hear one of the funniest lines in the movie (and it's not even about the shooting and killing of Craig):

"fuck, Seth! this isn't fucking America, you can't just go around shooting everybody!"

oh yeah The American does have a name and it's Seth

i'll just post a few chat screenshots for the next part because i can't really describe it, i promise we're almost at the end

after some incredible visual effects™️, we end with Return of the Sunglasses (and me scaring my cats away because i was sobbing again)

i haven't even really talked about Taika's scenes much (the reason i watched this in the first place) because the ending took me OUT and honestly he is maybe the most normal person in this whole movie. one review (from the trailer) wrote this:

and yeah that may honestly be the best way to describe it. 10/10 movie watching experience, highly recommend. thank you for coming to my snek talk

#snakeskin (2001)#ida.stuff #🐭📓#anyway if you still wanna watch this movie hit me up lmao #i recommend drinking #but seriously i will go to bed now it's past midnight but i had to get this out #taika waititi

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ohnoitstbskyen · 1 year ago

Note

one piece live action thoughts?

It looks very much like a live action adaptation of One Piece. For better, and very much also for worse.

I mean this in the sense that it's adapted to fit a form that helps it make sense 1) in live action and 2) to a general audience which isn't intimately familiar with manga or anime, and which a broadcaster or streaming service would want to reach.

Luffy especially, at least going by the relatively tiny snippet we have seen so far, seems to have had some of his more peculiar edges sanded off to fit more comfortably into the mold of a typical young adult protagonist, which includes the... I guess what people call "marvel speak" now? The little funny quips and asides and ironic saying-the-obvious-thing-out-loud beats, which are more Americanisms than Marvel specific but I digress.

In One Piece, Luffy is most often not the point of view character, especially early on. Luffy is usually observed from outside by other characters - Koby serves this role in the early chapters, and from then on usually we see Luffy through his crew, or through whatever secondary characters they're interacting with in that particular arc.

People have observed this before, but in the manga, we essentially NEVER get any internal monologue from Luffy, he always either SAYS what he's thinking, or he runs on head empty no thoughts just vibes instinct and gut reaction.

And that... probably doesn't really work with a typical young adult protagonist. If adapted faithfully to screen, I think a lot of audiences would read him as just a reckless, inconsiderate and kinda heartless asshole, because a framing and presentation of Luffy that makes sense in a manga or anime just doesn't read the same in live action filmmaking.

Like, One Piece opens with Luffy recklessly sailing off to sea despite having no idea how to sail, getting sucked into a whirlpool and surviving on sheer dumb luck, getting picked up by some pirates in a barrel. Then he meets an abused child named Koby who has been getting the shit kicked out of him daily for months and immediately calls him a clumsy, stupid, cowardly worthless loser to his face and laughs at him.

Like, if you adapted that faithfully, how would that come across to a general audience? Imagine this scene staged in live-action, with human actors having to portray this conversation rather than stylized cartoon people. It simply wouldn't come across the same way, Luffy would come across as an It's Always Sunny character at best. Why would a general audience sympathize with him? Why would they find him compelling or worth investing emotionally in?

And I'm not saying there aren't ways to adapt One Piece faithfully into live action, there absolutely are (much like the manga, I would make everyone ELSE the point-of-view characters looking AT Luffy rather than try and present him as a Likeable Protagonist, for example).

My point is just that in any translation into live action, there are going to be concessions to the medium, there are going to be concessions to film language, concessions to audience expectations, concessions to the market conditions, concessions to the studio funding the filming, and so on. That's just the nature of the endeavour.

When it's done well, you get an adaptation that preserves the spirit of the thing while fitting its medium. Lord of the Rings comes to mind, an adaptation which changed huge amounts from its source material, but preserved the spirit.

When it's done poorly you get... well, Cowboy Bebop on Netflix.

I don't know from the tiny trailer snippet we've seen whether this show will preserve the spirit of One Piece, it very well may not, and end up another victim on the pile of bad anime adaptations. But I don't think the fact that it changed the vibe of the characters or Main Character'd Luffy alone are reasons to dismiss it, at least not yet. Those might have been necessary concessions for the show to work in live action at all. We shall see.

I'm not super optimistic or excited (because, again, I remember Cowboy Bebop), but I'm not despairing of it yet either.

#tb answers #one piece #one piece netflix #netflix one piece #luffy

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pasaatimonarkin · 2 months ago

Text

A tradition

Han Jisung x reader

Some yummy fluff and a hint of Halloween for fun. Some mentions of a scary movie but nothing else worth warning about.

Having a writers block with No crying in the Busrlesque club so I scrambled up this.

Word count: 1,6k

Jisung's apartment smelled faintly of old books and the lingering scent of yesterday's takeout. It was a typical Friday evening in October, and the air outside was cool with the promise of an early winter. He had always been a bit of a hoarder, so the shelves were filled with books and DVDs that looked as if they hadn't moved in years. You, on the other hand, were more of a minimalist, but you found comfort in the chaos of his place. It was your safe haven when you needed a break from your pristine, almost sterile home.

The TV flickered to life, casting eerie shadows across the room. Jisung had chosen a horror movie, a classic from the 80s that you hadn't seen in ages. You both settled onto the couch, a bowl of popcorn in the middle.

"You okay with this one?" he asked, popping a kernel into his mouth, his eyes flicking over to gauge your reaction.

"Yeah," you replied, trying to sound more casual than you felt. You had always been the one to scream and hide during these movies, but tonight you were determined to keep your cool. After all, you didn't want to be the butt of his jokes again.

The movie began with the standard opening credits, the synthesizer music setting the tense atmosphere. You could feel the couch cushions sink as Jisung shifted closer, his arm brushing against yours. It sent a shiver down your spine, but not from the film. You stared at the screen, willing yourself to focus on the cheesy special effects rather than the warmth emanating from his body.

"You know, you could've picked a comedy," you quipped, trying to lighten the mood and keep the butterflies in your stomach from going haywire.

Jisung grinned. "Where's the fun in that?" His eyes sparkled with mischief, and you couldn't help but laugh, feeling a bit of the tension ease. "It's like a countdown to Halloween. This is just the appetizer. And besides this isn't even scary. Or perhaps for you it is, like literally everything "

You rolled your eyes but couldn't help smiling. Jisung had always had a flair for the dramatic. And he liked scary stuff and god how he loved Halloween. You on the other hand were a scaredy cat and Jisung knew it. He always had. But you liked watching movies with him, especially when it was something that you could hide behind, something that didn't require you to confront the feelings you had for him.

The opening scenes of the movie were more campy than scary. The actors were clearly overacting and the plot was predictable, but you found yourself getting into it. The popcorn was good and the company was great.

As the night progressed and the film grew darker, the air between you two grew heavier. You could feel it, thick and palpable. Each time a scream pierced through the TV speakers, you jumped a little closer to Jisung.

Without warning, Jisung's arm slipped around your shoulders. It was a casual, comforting gesture, one that friends often did. But the electricity of it sent your heart racing. You stiffened for a moment, unsure how to react. Your mind raced with thoughts of whether this was just a friendly move or if it meant something more.

"Don't worry," he murmured, his breath tickling your ear, "the boogeyman won't get to you while I'm here."

You managed a laugh, but it came out shakier than you intended. The warmth of his arm was comforting, but it also made your skin tingle in a way that had nothing to do with fear. You shifted slightly, trying to ignore the way your heart was thumping against your ribcage.

The movie's protagonist was now trapped in a dilapidated house with the killer on the loose. You couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the ease with which she navigated the shadows. You, on the other hand, felt like you were fumbling through a minefield of unspoken feelings.

As the movie hit its climax, the tension in the room spiked. You were practically in Jisung's lap, your heart pounding in time with the film's score. The silence stretched on, the only sounds being the frantic footsteps on screen and the occasional pop of popcorn.

The heroine of the film found a weapon, a knife gleaming in the moonlit kitchen. Jisung's arm tightened around you, and you glanced up at him. His eyes weren't on the screen; they were fixed on you.

"You're not scared, are you?" he teased, a gentle smile playing on his lips.

"No," you lied, your voice barely above a whisper. But the tremble in your voice betrayed you.

Jisung's smile grew into a grin. "Liar," he murmured, his eyes never leaving yours. His arm didn't move, keeping you close.

"Why do you say that?" You tried to play it cool, but the tremble in your voice was unmistakable.

Jisung leaned in closer, his eyes shimmering with a playful mischief. "It's just the way your face scrunches up," he said, his voice low and teasing. "It's adorable."

You felt your cheeks flush. No one had ever called you adorable, not like that. You turned away, focusing back on the movie, but your heart was racing. The scene had shifted to the protagonist hiding in a closet, the killer's shadow looming just outside the door.

As the suspense built, the silence grew thicker. You could hear Jisung's soft breathing next to you. You were acutely aware of the proximity of your bodies, the warmth of his arm still around your shoulders. The anticipation in the film mirrored the anticipation in your chest.

"Do you think she's going to make it?" you whispered, hoping to distract yourself from the unspoken tension.

Jisung's eyes flicked back to the screen, his smile fading a bit. "Well, she's got the knife. That's a good sign."

The scene grew tense, the killer's shadow moving closer and closer to the closet door. You found yourself gripping the edge of the couch cushion, your knuckles turning white. Jisung's grip on your shoulders tightened slightly, whether in solidarity or to keep you from jumping again, you weren't sure.

Then it happened. The jumpscare that had been so expertly crafted. The killer burst through the closet door, the protagonist's scream echoing through the apartment. In a moment of pure instinct, you leaped into Jisung's lap, your arms wrapping around his neck in a vice grip. The popcorn bowl toppled over, raining salty kernels across the floor.

Jisung's laughter was immediate, deep and contagious. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you close, his chest shaking with mirth. "You know I got you with that one," he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

You couldn't help but laugh too, feeling your tension dissolve into a mix of embarrassment and relief. "Shut up," you mumbled into his shoulder, trying to hide your flushed face. His laughter subsided into quiet chuckles, and you felt his arms tighten around you.

Jisung gently reached for the remote and paused the movie. The killer on the screen froze mid-leap, the protagonist's terrified expression etched in time. You pulled back slightly to look at him, your eyes wide with a mix of shock and something else.

"Maybe this should be our thing. A scary movie night, every October. It's like a tradition, you know?" he murmured softly.

"Why?" you asked, your voice barely above a whisper. You were still clutching onto him, your heart hammering against his chest. Like you wanted to almost shit your pants in tradition.

Jisung leaned back, his eyes dancing with a mischievous glint. "Well, it's a good way to get you in my arms, isn't it?"

You pulled away slightly, your cheeks burning. "Jisung," you began, not quite knowing what to say. The air between you had shifted, the playful banter suddenly feeling loaded with unspoken meaning.

He met your gaze, his smile softening. "I mean it. We've been doing this for years. It's just us, scared and laughing together. It's… nice." His voice was sincere, his eyes searching yours for a response.

You took a deep breath, "Yeah," you agreed, your voice barely a murmur. "It is nice."

Jisung's expression grew more serious, his gaze intense. "But I want more than just nice," he said, his voice low and earnest. Your heart skipped a beat as his arms slid around you more securely, his hands coming to rest on your hips.

You swallowed hard, the words you'd rehearsed in your head a thousand times suddenly lost. The movie, the darkness, everything faded into the background as you stared into his eyes. You could see the question there, the hope, and the fear of rejection. The tension was no longer from the film but from the unspoken words hanging in the air.

With a tremble in your heart, you decided to make the leap. You leaned in, closing the gap between your lips. Time seemed to slow down as you felt the softness of his mouth, his surprise giving way to a gentle pressure as he responded. His arms tightened around you, pulling you closer, the warmth of his body enveloping you as the kiss grew deeper.

Breaking away, you both took a moment to breathe. Jisung's eyes searched yours, a hint of disbelief and excitement dancing in them. "Definitely starting a tradition," he murmured, his voice hoarse. His thumb traced the line of your jaw, sending a shiver down your neck.

You couldn't help but smile, your heart feeling lighter than it had in ages. "I'd like that," you said, your voice still shaky from the kiss. The confession was out, floating in the air like a whispered secret, and it felt like a weight had lifted from your shoulders.

#han jisung #stray kids jisung #han #skz jisung #skz han #stray kids han jisung #han jisung x reader #stray kids han #skz han jisung #stray kids #han jisung fanfic #han jisung imagines #han jisung fluff #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines

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pippytmi · 1 year ago

Note

spy!au + meet messy + you never saw me ? If not that's fine, I just thought it would be cool. :)

spy!au + meet messy + you never saw me

“So on a scale of 1-10, how much do we hate the fiancée?”

A wry laugh escapes before Kara can even try to quell it, and she briefly removes the unlit cigarette from her mouth to muse, “You know, I've heard a saying that goes ‘never judge a book by its cover.’ Fascinating stuff, I might have to send it to you.”

“Ugh. Journalists—so idealistic.” But Nia is grinning as she snags the barstool at Kara's right. “Where is the elusive Lena Luthor anyway? Do we finally get to meet her?”

Kara shrugs. “Beats me,” she says. “Last I heard, she was running late.”

“Late to her own engagement party? Finally, someone I can get along with,” Nia says. Before Kara can even get a word in, Nia's attention is immediately stolen by the bartender coming over. “Hey M’gann, can I get an amaretto sour?”

“Sure thing,” M’gann says absentmindedly, her gaze otherwise zeroing in firmly on Kara. “Danvers, you better not smoke in my bar.”

“I won't,” Kara swears, raising both hands in a show of innocence, and M'gann rolls her eyes.

“Journalists,” she echoes Nia's earlier sentiment, but with an entirely exasperated deeper meaning. “I'm putting Nia's drink on your tab.”

“Well in that case…” Nia twists around, already waving her hand as if to beckon someone over. “Make it two, Kara's buying a drink for the bride to be. Alex! Don't—I know you can see me, come here.”

For as much as Alex stressed the importance of everyone showing up tonight, she doesn't seem very…well, happy. And while Alex is not typically one to gush, Kara had expected at least a smidgen of joy on her sister's face, not the harried expression she's currently sporting.

“What?” Alex asks, eyes them both suspiciously while fidgeting as if she’d rather be anywhere else.

“Um, hello to you too,” Nia says. “Clearly, you need this. Where's your soon-to-be better half?”

Alex accepts the drink when Nia presses it in her hand but frowns, however slight, at the question. “She's—on her way,” she says, pausing to take a sip from her glass before her gaze falls on her sister. “Oh, gross, Kara. Since when do you smoke?”

“I don’t!” Kara pouts, feeling like a broken record. “Can’t I be edgy and have a cigarette to look cool?”

“That’s the most pretentious thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Nia says, delighted, while Alex just groans.

“Come on, Kara, not tonight. Just be normal for once in your life,” Alex sighs, already distractedly glancing back to the front door like she is willing her fiancée to just walk through any second.

“You guys don’t understand the intricacies of being a method actor,” Kara argues, waving her cigarette in the air to make her point. (And also, because it is kind of awkward to keep it in her mouth without doing anything with it, not that she’ll admit that). But it’s clear she only has half the audience she had a second ago; Alex is half a world away the second her phone starts to ring.

“I’ll be back,” Alex says, handing off her glass to Nia who is more than happy to finish it.

Kara dejectedly puts the cigarette back in her mouth. “I just realized something.”

“What?”

“I don’t actually know how to smoke. What if someone expects me to, like, smoke with them?”

Nia presses a fingertip to her chin and ponders the question seriously. “Either you're screwed, or they will just think you're a dork. The reaction will depend on the person, really.”

Kara's shoulders slump. “So I won't be cool?”

“Journalists generally aren't cool,” Nia unhelpfully offers. “But I'm sure you could make it work for you. You'd be like…one of those grizzly story-seeking sleuth journalists.”

Kara groans, thumping her forehead on the bartop. “That seems more like a private investigator thing,” she says. “Darn it. I'm going to have to start from scratch.”

“I'm all in favor of quitting method acting for one night,” M'gann chimes in, still eyeing Kara's cigarette distastefully. “Now do you need a refill or are you going to fall asleep here?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kara says, lifting her head in order to sheepishly push her emptied club soda over. “Pour me a double.”

That joke never lands—M'gann just rolls her eyes and refills the glass, wiping her hands off before moving down to another patron. Nia scoots her stool closer to Kara once she's gone to reassuringly say,

“I like the pretentious cigarette. It makes you look like a hipster��they’re coming back into fashion, you know. Just like leg warmers.”

Kara wrinkles her nose. “I don’t think anyone really liked leg warmers.”

“That’s how I know you were unfashionable in high school,” Nia says. Then, apparently already bored with the topic at hand, she turns around in search of their former company. “Hey, where did Alex go? I haven’t even bought her a round of shots yet!”

“That’s a good question,” Kara says thoughtfully. “Maybe Lena showed up?” But when she swivels her chair to aid Nia’s search, she can't spot her sister either; considering Al’s Bar is a hole in the wall with not many patrons, that can only mean Alex has stepped out. “I'll go find her.”

All things considered, the night is pleasant—when Kara emerges without her jacket, the air isn't quite cool enough to make her go back in to retrieve it. She walks around the corner to the alley where everyone goes to smoke, but Alex isn’t there. Alex is also not in the 7-11 across the street, nor is she two doors down at the diner. (Kara orders a donut to go just to be 100% sure Alex won’t emerge from somewhere inside, of course, like a diligent sister).

Eventually, her pointless search leads her right back to Al’s. Nia has apparently had enough alcohol to drag Kelly to dance; Winn and James have begun a spirited game of pool; Querl has commandeered the jukebox and is studiously adding 80’s dance music to the queue. Alex, however, is still notably missing.

With a groan, Kara collapses at the bar again. “Can I get a water, M’gann?”

“You got it,” M’gann says, filling a fresh glass from the tap. She moves on immediately after to another customer, and Kara’s question about whether M’gann has seen Alex dies before it even forms. Kara sighs, takes a much-needed sip of her water, and resolves to just melt into her stool when all of a sudden she hears:

“Is this seat taken?”

It should be noted that, in the past, Kara has encountered situations far worse than this one. Moments where her life was in danger, even. She likes to think she has mastered the ability to remain unfazed in the face of the worst surprises at this point of her career.

But then again…she’s never actually met her sister’s fiancée before. And in a truly horrific turn of events, Kara ends up spit-taking all over her shoes.

“Oh crap, I am so sorry,” Kara says, making a mad grab for napkins off the bar and crouching down to pat at Lena’s heels. “Are you—okay, can I get, er, anything—” She doesn't even know how to apologize at this point, so tongue-tied she is just about to offer her own shoes off her feet.

Lena Luthor doesn't answer right away. She takes a delicate step down, and her hand covers Kara's in order to make her pause. When Kara musters the nerve to cautiously meet her eye, Lena gives her a small smile.

“It's fine.” Lena looks much more <i>vivid</i> than the photographs. Everything about her is sharp; the angles of her jaw, the eyeliner she wears, the intensity of her green eyes when they're trained on Kara. Even her voice edges on the sharper side, not quite cold but almost. “Kara, right? I recognize you from Alex's pictures.”

Kara barely remembers to nod. “Yes, I…recognize you too,” she says. “It's nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Lena draws her hand away immediately after, and Kara hastily rises up in order to put some space between them.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Kara asks quickly. “M'gann makes a great…sour.” She cannot for the life of her remember what it is that Nia ordered, and from the strange look on Lena’s face, she has 100% gotten the name wrong. “I don’t really drink.”

Somehow, that awkward confession makes Lena’s face twist, like she is trying not to smile. “Alex mentioned you’re sober,” she says. “I hope it’s alright, that she did.”

“No, yeah, it’s not a secret,” Kara says, but in her mind she’s thinking Alex and Lena talk about her? About what? Hopefully not embarrassing stuff. Shoot, knowing Alex, it’s 100% embarrassing stuff. “And I wouldn’t expect you to have any secrets with Alex either way, so.”

“Right.” Lena takes a careful seat besides Kara, her expression since gone entirely blank. She orders a scotch, Kara sticks to water, and they immediately maintain an awkward silence that M'gann raises a judgmental eyebrow at Kara for.

Kara clears her throat, desperate for any attempt of making nice she can muster. “So have you seen Alex?” she says.

“Today?” Lena has her glass raised to her lips, but she doesn't drink. “Not yet.”

“Oh. Well, I'm sure she's around here somewhere,” Kara says, and tries not to find it weird that Lena and Alex did not see each other at all today despite apparently living together.

This time Lena takes a long, thoughtful sip of her drink, and she turns her head to regard Kara silently. “Kara,” she says, as if testing the name all-too-carefully, practiced and halting like she wants to call Kara literally anything else. “Would it be a fair assessment to assume you don't like me?”

Kara’s grip on her glass falters in a single blink-or-miss-it second before she manages to control her surprise. “What?” she says weakly. “I know we don’t know each other, but, if Alex likes you of course I like you.” Flustered, she backtracks to say, “I mean Alex loves you. Obviously.”

Lena doesn’t put Kara out of her misery. At least, not right away. No, she just smooths out the imaginary wrinkles of her form-fitting dress that she has chosen to wear to this dive bar, drums her fingertips against the sticky wood of the bar counter, and gazes pensively beyond her company in a way that can only be described as lost. Then,

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t meant to be an accusation,” Lena says. “What I meant is, I'm sure you must despise the idea of me.” An attempt at a smile crosses Lena’s lips, but it’s a sad one. “Today was mostly about putting your mind at ease over any misconceptions you might have.”

“Well, I’ve only known about you for like a week, but I can honestly say I have zero thoughts about you,” Kara says quickly. Then frowns. “Wait. That was supposed to sound reassuring. Can I start over?”

The engagement ring on Lena’s finger shimmers even in the poor lighting, and she rests her cheek against her palm, gazing at Kara with a curious, half-amused kind of look in her eyes. “The floor’s yours.”

“I’m not the kind of person who assumes the worst about other people,” Kara says, reaching for her water again, if only to tip it towards Lena reassuringly before taking a quick sip. “And if you make Alex happy, then I can only assume you’re a good person. Also, you might be a saint to even put up with her.”

Lena’s mouth twists into a proper smile, however small. “The way you two talk about each other is so…” She shakes her head as if she can’t quite finish that thought. “You two are clearly very close.”

“Unfortunately, yeah, I'm stuck with her,” Kara quips, and that at least feels normal—talking about Alex is a safe topic. Even if she hasn’t bothered to come back to her own engagement party. “Do you have any siblings?”

“A brother.” Any semblance of a smile vanishes entirely at that, and Lena hastily finishes the remainder of her drink.

Kara gets the feeling she has said something horribly wrong. “And are you two also…close?” she finishes her train of thought awkwardly, even if she already knows the answer.

“No.” The stony way Lena clenches her jaw suggests that Kara isn't winning any brownie points, here, and she has to bite her tongue to stop from pushing on. “Excuse me, can I get another?” Lena beckons M’gann over when she has a second, and M’gann gives Kara another questioning look but doesn’t say anything to her directly.

“I’m sorry,” Kara feels the need to say. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oddly enough, I believe you,” Lena muses. “You did mention your sister has hardly talked about me.”

“I'm sure she would've,” Kara tries to reassure her. “I just don't see her too much nowadays, with my work.”

“Mm. You’re a journalist, right?” Lena asks, and there is something in her gaze that makes Kara feel hot under the collar. “Or was it a kindergarten teacher? I know you and your sister have an affinity for switching careers.” Something about the calculated way she pauses to take a sip of her drink, gaze expectant over the rim, causes Kara's heart to plummet into her stomach.

Kara, in turn, promptly chokes on air. “What? You—you know? About—” She stops. “I’m not sure Alex was allowed to tell you that.”

“Not even if we're going to get married?” Slowly, Lena begins to smile. It's a real smile, one Kara hadn't realized Lena was capable of until now. “Your sister might be the most by-the-book person I've ever met. Unfortunately for her, I was able to connect the dots about you myself.”

“Ah.” Kara drums her fingertips against the bar counter, feels her cheeks warm slightly with embarrassment.

Lena places a hand on Kara's forearm—a warm, gentle heat Kara can feel through the thin sleeve of her T-shirt. “That was no fault of yours,” she says reassuringly. “She slipped up talking about your job. It was fairly easy to connect the dots.”

Somehow, that does nothing to dissolve the dread slowly building up in Kara’s chest. Alex never slips up. Kara is the resident Danvers sister fuck up (Alex’s words exactly), and all at once Alex’s disappearance tonight becomes decidedly unsettling.

“When did she tell you about my job?” Kara blurts out. “Do you remember?”

“Yesterday, I think,” Lena says, and she regards Kara questioningly. “She was telling me about everyone who was going to be here today and what your friends do for work. Why?”

“Was she working? Looking at her computer or her phone or anything?”

“Yes, that’s all she ever does.” But it’s odd, the way Lena says it, like she’s not bothered in the slightest.

It could be nothing. It probably is nothing. But Kara still scans the bar with a renewed vigor in search of that familiar scowl that she cannot find. “She was just here,” Kara mutters aloud. “She wouldn’t have left without telling someone.”

“Alex?” Lena watches Kara carefully, no doubt trying to decide what to say. “Has she not told you if she’s running late?”

“No, she was here already,” Kara says. “I don’t think she would have—” She shakes her head to herself, cursing inwardly. She can’t assume that Alex has been dragged away for a work reason. Maybe it has something to do with Alex getting cold feet. Either way, telling her sister’s fiancée that the woman she’s supposed to marry has abandoned her engagement party doesn’t seem like it would do Alex any favors. “I’m sure she’s just in the bathroom or something. Uh, I’m going to just…” She pulls out her cigarette in a poor cover and says, “Go outside, for a smoke break, if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all,” Lena says. Then, “Would it be alright if I joined you?”

If Nia knew that Kara’s stupid cigarette would have led to this moment, she would laugh her ass off. Repeatedly. Kara supposes it’s a small mercy that Nia is still dancing with Kelly, so she is spared of any and all jokes at her expense.

It’s not until they’re outside that Kara sheepishly confesses: “So full disclosure…I don’t actually smoke.”

Lena doesn't look particularly surprised at the fact. “It's an odd thing to lie about,” she says, and tilts her head, surveying Kara with a sharp look. “Oh,” she says afterward. “I’m sorry. Clearly, you lied to get away from me, and here I am following you around.”

Kara swallows. Hard. “It’s not that,” she says, even though it kind of is.

“It's okay.” Another touch, this time gently to Kara’s shoulder. Lena has a strange, half-wistful look on her face. “Take your break. I’ll go inside…I should introduce myself to Alex’s friends and keep it convincing.”

That is such a peculiar way to phrase an otherwise normal statement, and Kara feels her brow furrow subconsciously. “What?”

But Lena has turned away by the time Kara even forms the word, and Kara watches, bewildered, as Lena takes two steps forward before immediately whirling back around. There is no other way to describe it, but—Lena has gone sickly pale in the moonlight, as if she’s seen a ghost. Before Kara can ask what’s wrong, Lena has hurriedly bridged the gap between them and grasped Kara’s face with cold, shaking hands.

“Can you turn around?” Lena asks quietly.

Kara does, but she knows her cheeks have gone hot and red by now, so unaccustomed to both the proximity and the specific person before her. “Lena, what’s—”

“I have something very urgent to ask you, and please don’t overthink it,” Lena rushes to say.

“Okay.” Kara tries not to fidget; she has had a gun held to her head several times before and yet, this is the most overwhelmed she has felt in years.

“Can I kiss you?”

Kara blinks. “What?”

“Please,” Lena adds on, as if that makes the question any saner.

And maybe it’s the desperation in Lena’s voice, in her eyes, in the way she keeps on trembling, but Kara recognizes someone in danger. She doesn’t understand what on Earth is going on, but she slowly nods, and trusts that if Alex kicks her ass later it will be for a good cause.

(Kara is not, however, prepared for Lena to immediately kiss her like she’s starving, hands still tight against Kara’s cheeks, dragging Kara so close that Kara is essentially caging her against the wall).

It feels like forever, but not in a bad way. Kara hasn't kissed someone in so long that she feels clumsy, almost like she is outside of her own skin, hands falling against the gravel of the bar’s outside walls in order to stop herself from grabbing at the inviting curves of Lena’s waist.

When Lena gently pushes her away, Kara hastily steps back, digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep from doing something dangerous (like reaching back in). Lena looks as if she's calmed down enough at least; she blushes when she meets Kara’s eyes, glancing down at the floor for a brief moment.

“Thank you,” Lena says. “God, if I was recognized out here of all places Alex would have lost it.”

“Recognized?” Kara echoes. She follows the way Lena jerks her head to the right, where the shadow of a man is disappearing into the alleyway. “I…don't follow.”

“That man used to work for my brother,” Lena sighs. “I don’t know if he would have remembered my face, but better safe than sorry.”

Kara opens her mouth, pauses, and then shuts it when she realizes she has no clue what to say. Her phone buzzes in an all-too-welcome distraction, but her blood runs cold when she sees it’s from Alex.

SENTINEL:

Can you tell everyone the party’s cancelled? Lena’s sick. Also let the cat back in before the night’s over.

“Shit,” Kara involuntarily curses when she sees that familiar code phrase. Suddenly everything makes sense: the secrecy, the mysterious brother, the fact that Lena cannot be recognized in the streets outside of a dive bar used as a front for the average spy (or average drunk that security allows in for the cover). “Lena, are you in witness protection?”

Lena squints at Kara like she is the one dropping a bombshell. “Yes? Did you not know that?”

“No! What the—why would Alex bring you here?!” Kara frantically texts her insane sister back.

SUPERGIRL:

Is there a curfew?

SENTINEL:

The sooner the better. I’m at Dad’s house right now or else I would do it myself.

That next coded message makes Kara exhale, finally, to at least know Alex is safe. Something big must have happened if she is dragging Kara into this without so much as a briefing, sure, but Kara also knows that Alex would not have trusted her with anything less.

“Lena,” Kara says, “can I ask you something urgent now?” She pauses when she immediately remembers the firm pressure of Lena’s lips, and quickly adds, “It doesn’t involve kissing.”

“Fair enough,” Lena says, enough amusement coloring her tone that Kara briefly flushes all over again.

“Can you trust me to get you home tonight?” Kara doesn’t wait for an answer before she goes on: “I know you don’t know me. But you know Alex. And I swear on my life, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for Alex, and by extension that means there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

Lena nods along with every word slowly. “You take your job very seriously.”

“I do,” Kara says firmly. (And, hopefully, comfortingly).

“Then I trust you, Kara Danvers,” Lena says. “If that’s even your real name.”

And for a brief moment, Kara’s not a spy fighting a clock on a mission she knows nothing about; she is, instead, a normal person who is capable of seeing the humor of her almost-sister-in-law who definitely knows more than she has clearance for.

“It is,” Kara says—even deigns to smile before she can quell it. “By choice.”

“That sounds like there’s a story somewhere.”

“I’ll tell you all about it sometime,” Kara promises. “Maybe even tonight, if in exchange you tell me your real name.”

“Unfortunately, Lena Luthor is my real name,” Lena says. “Alex said it was fine to tell her friends, so, this party was her idea. She even came up with the marriage idea so when my last name is changed, no one will care.”

The cogs finally start turning in Kara’s head far slower than she cares to admit. “Hold on. So you and Alex aren’t actually engaged?”

Again, Lena stares at Kara like she’s grown two heads in the last thirty seconds. “No. You seriously didn’t know? I thought you were just being weird, Alex says you get really into your method-acting stuff.”

“No.” Strangely, the first thing Kara feels is relief; she doesn’t have to actually tell her sister that she kissed her future wife. The second thing is, quite reasonably, alarm. “Okay I don’t know what the hell is going on with your case, but you mentioned someone who used to work for your brother, right? How bad is the threat?”

Lena hesitates. “It’s…kind of a long story.”

“So really bad,” Kara fills in the blanks. “Crap. We need to go.” She quickly shrugs off her jacket and presses it into Lena’s hands. “Put this on. There are no cameras in this area, but we’re going to hit some when we get to the parking lot.”

“Is everything okay?” Lena asks, though she hurriedly does as Kara says.

“I’m sure it is,” Kara tries to assure her. “But it’s just a precaution until we can reunite you with Alex and confirm.”

Lena doesn’t seem like she believes Kara entirely—or at least, the way her expression remains a fraction confused definitely indicates as much. But at the very least, she does not argue, though she does make a point to ask, “Where is Alex?”

“She just got tied up at work.” Kara leads the way to the parking lot, careful to hover at Lena’s side on the off chance any threat might materialize. “I don’t know where your current safe house is or if it’s been compromised, so I’m going to take you somewhere else. Is that okay?”

“Not like I have any choice,” Lena says wearily. “So am I not allowed to know when everything’s gone to shit? Or will everyone just keep telling me it’s okay when it’s not?”

Kara swings open the passenger side of James’s car (he’ll forgive her for this later) and waits for Lena to sit down. Lena doesn’t. “It’s—complicated,” she says.

“How so?” Lena crosses her arms and still does not move. Kara is still holding onto the car door, inadvertently standing too close; she feels strangely helpless when Lena looks right at her with eyes dark and determined.

“Full disclosure,” Kara reluctantly admits, “I…have no clue what’s going on with your case. I’ve been in the dark and Alex can't exactly share the details through a text, so, the truth is I have no idea if everything has gone to shit. I know that is the very last thing you want to hear since I’m supposed to be protecting you, but—”

“Actually,” Lena says, and her look has softened, “that makes me trust you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I appreciate that you will tell me upfront you don't know,” Lena says. She sways slightly closer, enough that Kara stiffens, but it's only to duck into the car after all.

Kara shuts the door only after a very brief pause. This should not be as hard as it feels. For a week she has been associating the idea of Lena Luthor as her sister’s fiancée and it’s tough to wrap her head around the fact that the opposite is true.

(And it has absolutely nothing to do with how attractive Lena is. Or that kiss. For the record.)

The dashboard of James’s car reads 7:19 PM; his radio is playing a news station; the gas tank is half full. Kara makes note of everything and decides she will drive as far as she possibly can before it hits empty.

Lena is quiet, at first. And while there is nothing special about the bumper-to-bumper traffic or the hazy street lights or the clouded night sky, Lena keeps her gaze trained outwards, head resting against the tinted window.

But then, “My brother killed twenty people.”

Kara grips onto the wheel and tries not to outwardly react. She has, of course, always had a terrible poker face. “Oh.”

“It gets worse,” Lena says uneasily. “I designed the technology he used to kill them.”

There is no possible response Kara can imagine which might be appropriate. In the end she settles for: “That actually doesn’t seem like a long story after all.”

“I assumed Alex would have told you that, at least.” Lena begins to drum a pattern with her fingertips against the center console. “Do you think the worst of me now?”

“I guess that depends,” Kara says slowly, “on whether you designed that technology for the purpose of killing people.”

Lena gives a curt, kind of disbelieving half-laugh, half-scoff. “They were nanobots,” she says. “I was trying to use them to cure cancer. But my brother…well, he didn’t see half the potential I did.”

Kara casts a quick glance at Lena, finds her staring straight ahead with a stony expression on her face. “Lena,” she says gently, “that doesn’t sound like it was at all your fault.”

“Everyone tells me that.” More rhythmic drumming, each beat more hesitant than the last. “I don’t know when I’ll start to believe it.”

When she was a kid, Kara had been thrown into the foster system with little more than heartache and a wish to find the cousin she never would. She had never felt so helpless—so unsure—and something about Lena’s guilt right now brings her right back to that moment. Like she’s just a little kid, knees pulled up to her chest, waiting for a sign that would never come.

“It’ll be hard,” Kara says softly. It has begun to drizzle rain, and she mindlessly sets the wipers, watching them flick back and forth as they wait for the light to turn green. “But it will get easier. I promise.”

“Odd thing to promise,” Lena notes, but Kara can feel her gaze burning against the side of her head, and Lena sounds…lighter, somehow. “Can I change the station?”

“Sure.” James will hate it, but Kara doesn’t mind. Lena chooses a jazz station that frequently breaks with static, and it’s by far the most peaceful hour-long drive Kara has had in a while.

They pull up to the safe house when the clock reads 8:34 PM and the rain has petered out; the air feels damp and thick with residual humidity, but otherwise, the tranquility of the quiet gives Kara a good feeling. Lena has fallen asleep in the passenger’s side, and Kara softly nudges her awake.

“Here,” Kara says, handing her James’s emergency bag once they make their way up the house steps. “This should have a change of clothes. They’ll be too big, but better than your dress at least…if you’re hungry there will be granola bars in the pantry. We can’t risk ordering anything else right now, unfortunately.” She digs into her pocket for the batch of safe house keys she has on all times and locates the right one, pressing it surely into Lena’s hand. “Until we know for sure if I’ll be briefed on your case or not, just…assume you’re going to be moved tomorrow. Also, you never saw me. Like, officially.”

Lena wipes at her eyes with her palm, absentmindedly smearing her mascara. “You’re going to leave me here?” she says, hugging James’s bag to her chest.

“No, of course not. I’m going to be sitting in the car, out here,” Kara says. “I just mean like in general, you know, if I don’t end up getting briefed on your case it would be all kinds of not-allowed to be talking to you. So if anyone asks…”

“Ah,” Lena says, “right. I’ll just make up a cover story for my cover story.”

“Yeah, you know, we need to protect the bureaucracies and all that,” Kara says. “If I'm even using that word the right way.”

“And you're supposed to be a journalist?” Lena smiles ever-so-slightly. “Good thing you're decent at your day job.”

“Only decent?” Kara feels her own mouth twitch with the promise of her own smile.

“I'd give you five stars on Yelp,” Lena says confidently, and Kara laughs, unable to stop herself from full-on grinning.

“Well if you need anything,” Kara says, and gestures over her shoulder to the car. “You know where I'll be.”

“Thank you.” Lena places a hand over Kara’s wrist, and just squeezes there briefly, her hand slightly cold but her touch overwhelmingly gentle. “Um. Would it be—would it be allowed to ask if you can stay with me inside, instead? I don't really want to be…alone.”

“That would make plausible deniability much harder to fake,” Kara tries to protest, but Lena is biting her lip and looking at Kara underneath mascara-smudged lashes and really, there is no other option but to cave. “…but I guess I could break a rule or two. Or twenty-seven.”

Lena smiles fully this time with obvious relief. “And here I thought I'd have to work harder to corrupt you.”

Kara pushes her glasses up her nose and says, “I’m a little concerned you were planning to corrupt me, but I mean. It’s one night.” She follows Lena inside when she opens the door, surveys the untouched room with a quick, satisfied glance. “Just as long as you don’t get me into trouble.”

“I’ll try my best not to,” Lena says, making a beeline for the couch to inspect James’s emergency bag; she pulls out an oversized T-shirt with an exhausted sigh. “Can you unzip me?” Already she’s pulling her hair off her shoulders, exposing the graceful slope of her neck, and Kara almost forgets to lock the door behind her.

“Y-yeah,” she stammers out, once again fiddling with the glasses that she doesn’t need, and she knows it right then and there: Lena Luthor will undoubtedly get her in trouble. And judging by the way Lena gazes so shyly at Kara over her shoulder, she knows it.

(But, well. In the grand scheme of things, Kara figures a little trouble never hurt anyone).

#vaguest storyline but i was getting TOO invested in the plot for a oneshot omg i had to stop myself #i just have a lot of feelings about this AU okay #supercorp #supergirl #book-nerd1216 #i need a fic tag #occasionally i finish prompts <3 yknow

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