#also u don't wanna know how many times i watched the argument scene in the bootleg so I could get all the stage directions

[sondheim-girly]

my submission for day 4 of @outsidersweek! Thanks again to @walmartbrandwhatever for being my beta reader, and here's the link to the previous chapter in case you missed it.

September, 1967

Marcia

Marcia hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d just sat and watched the movie with Cherry and those two harmless greaser boys. However when Trip saw her sitting with them, he didn’t think of it that way. It seemed as though every other day now they found something to be arguing about, it didn’t matter what it was. It was exhausting, and sometimes Marcia wished she could just break it off. But when they weren’t in an argument, he treated her like a queen. In those moments she was so in love with him that it made up for everything else. It was this endless cycle, going back and forth and never ever breaking. 

So, when he saw her with those two boys and got mad, fixing things was simply second nature. She knew exactly how to shower him with affection, apologies, and kisses, until he forgot why he was even mad in the first place. Once she finally managed to get Trip to calm down, his attention turned over to Cherry, who was still hanging out with one of those greaser boys. 

“What is she doing walking around with that greaser kid?” Trip scoffed, his eyes trailing Cherry and her unlikely friend as they walked away from the concessions stand. “I can’t believe her.” 

Marcia hated when Trip got like this, just itching for a fight. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t even spend one calm night together. But she just sighed, and gently placed her hand on Trips cheek, attempting to bring his eyes back to her. 

“Trip calm down, they aren’t doing anything wrong,” Marcia tried to keep the exasperation from her voice.

“I’m sure Bob would disagree,”

“Well that's on Bob then! He ran off and left her alone, it’s not her fault.”

“It is her fault, she was flirting with Chet,”

“She was talking with Chet! Trip, please just leave it.” Marcia urged, running her hand through Trips' hair. He finally let out a resigned sigh, and gave into her. 

Two-Bit

Two-Bit was no stranger to flirting with girls. He did it all the time, in fact. It never felt like something that was a big deal to him, probably because the only girls he flirted with were simply looking for a distraction that neither of them cared about. And Two-Bit didn’t mind that. He liked the little flings! He liked the soc girls who’d engage with him for a minute, just for a thrill, before running back to their friends and forgetting it had ever happened.

Yet this was never the case with Marcia. He wasn’t sure why it was so different, why they’d made a connection that day at the drive-in, like an invisible string pulling them together. But after that day it seemed any time they were both at the drive-in, sequestered into their separate areas with their friends, they’d always find some way to flirt. Being next to each other in line at the concession stand, or sneaking glances any moment they could without their friends noticing. An idiotic idea if Two-Bit were being honest with himself, because he just knew the moment her boyfriend noticed, Two would be as good as dead. But he didn’t stop, and neither did she.

He was just musing on this while sitting in the back of the drive in, when he heard some sort of commotion going on. 

“CHERRY!” An angry voice shouted, “what the hell are you doing hanging around this ignorant piece of shit!?”

Two-Bit jumped up to see a drunk boy yelling at a pretty redhead, and across from the redhead? The youngest Curtis. Two raced over to Pony’s side in an instant.

“Is there a problem, Robert?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“You greasers don’t know where your damn place is. Opie Taylor here was moving in on my lady.”

“We were just talking,” Pony retorted. His face was cold, but Two knew him well enough to see how uncomfortable he was.

“you were just talking?” Bob looked over at Cherry. “Is that what that was?” He asked, as he made his way over to his girlfriend. “Cherry, get in the car.”

“How much have you had to drink?” Cherry asked quietly,

“Enough to know we’re done here.” He responded. Cherry shook her head and stepped back.

Two-Bit didn’t quite know why he kept on getting involved, but his mother had always taught him to treat women with the utmost respect, and seeing mr. prom king yell at that girl fired something up inside him. “It’s pretty clear the lady doesn’t want to ride with you… prom king,” he interjected with a laugh.

Bob stared at Two-Bit in disbelief. “You wanna fight? Just me and you? ” Bob challenged, taking off his pristine letterman jacket and handing it to his girlfriend without even glancing at her. His friends all started to gather around closer. “Man to man?” 

Two-Bit wasn’t one to chicken out of a fight, and definitely not one with some soc who’s drunk out of his mind, but there was something nagging at the back of his brain knowing that Marcia was standing there, watching him. He couldn’t help but take a moment to consider what she’d think if he fought Bob. He remembered a few weeks back when she’d gotten into an awful fight with her boyfriend because he showed up to the drive-in all busted up. He could still hear her voice yelling that she didn’t want him to get into fights. Against his better judgment, he glanced over at her. She had done a double take when she saw that he was looking at her, and her hazel eyes were begging something from him. He snapped his gaze back down to where Bob had drawn a line in that gravel before he could give her a moment's more thought.

 “Step up to the line, sugarbush,” Bob said. Two hesitated, but he heard those boys making fun of him, and Two-Bit Matthew’s had never been afraid of a fight. It didn’t matter what some pretty girl thought about it, she had a boyfriend, and she’d stay with that asshole no matter what he did. Two dropped his can of beer in Ponyboy's hands and raced towards Bob, but he stopped when he heard a loud interjection.

“Enough!!! I’m not going anywhere with anybody!!” Cherry yelled,

“Sherri Elaine Valance, get in the car!” Bob yelled, shocking Two-Bit. Calling his girlfriend by her full name? That was sure to help. 

“Bob, we’re done,” Cherry said, throwing his letterman jacket at Bob's feet. There was a pause, palpable tension rising through the air.

“What do you mean we’re done? What does that even mean?” Bob protested,

“It means she’s done Bob!” Marcia yelled.

“Eat shit Marcia!” Bob retorted, and Two-Bit was feeling more ready than ever to put this motherfucker in his place.

“Stop it! Just stop! It’s over, ok Bob? This is over!” Cherry repeated. Bob just looked at her in shock.

“Did you just break up with me?” he asked in disbelief. “Is that what just happened? Cherry, get in the car. Now!” He moved towards her threateningly with a final dangerous plea. Cherry crossed her arms and planted her feet, and Two-Bit couldn't help but admire her stubbornness. 

Bob looked at her for a last moment, before turning back around and coming at Two-Bit for a fight. Two just shoved him away, and he was close enough to see that alongside all the anger, there was heartbreak in Bob's eyes.

Marcia

“You’re fucking dead, loser!” Bob yelled at that kid, Ponyboy. Marcia wished she could move, but Trip had been holding her back the entire time, his arm snaking around the front of her waist. Bob was finally leaving, their friends started following suit. Other than, of course, Cherry. Marcia still couldn’t believe Cherry’d finally had the guts to break it off with Bob. She knew how much Cherry loved him, but she still couldn’t help but think that this was a long time coming. Trip grabbed Marcia’s hand and started dragging her behind him to follow their friends, snapping Marcia back to reality. She tore her hand out of his, stepping back. He stared at her for a moment, and she wondered if he’d have the nerve to start a fight. But maybe with the air of break ups flying around, he wasn’t in the mood to risk anything. He let her stay without a word. When Marcia turned away, Cherry was already making her way towards her. The two friends met, but Cherry's attention had turned on Ponyboy. She squeezed Marcias hand, then stepped away to go up to the boy. Marcia just stood there, stuck.

Cherry stayed over at Marcia’s house that night. At around 3am Marcia was sitting on her bed with Cherry, comforting the crying girl as best she could. Her mind wouldn’t stop going back to Two-Bit standing up for them. Well, certainly he was just helping out his friend, Ponyboy. But he’d helped Cherry as well, hadn’t he? She sighed. Why was that what she was worried about, when her boyfriend was probably mad at her, and he best friend was nursing a broken heart! Speaking of which, it seemed like Cherry had finally fallen asleep. Marcia lay her down, covering her with a blanket. Marcia stood up, her stomach in knots, and went down to the kitchen to make herself some tea. She had this feeling in her gut that something was wrong. She was proven right when she heard a frantic knock on her front door. She immediately ran to open it, confused and terrified about who could be at her house this time of the night. When she saw her boyfriend standing there, his face blank, it was like time stopped. 

She remembered him choking out what had happened. She remembered falling to her knees in horror. She remembered Cherry coming downstairs, having been woken up by the commotion. She remembered watching her best friend's face as Trip told her what had happened. It was something she never wanted to relive- she’d never seen grief like this. The screaming through the sobs was a sound Marcia was sure would stick with her for the rest of her life. She remembered holding her best friend as even more waves and waves of tears wracked her body. Trip stayed for a while, sitting with his back against the front door just staring ahead of him, unable to process what had happened. 

Something broke in all of them that night, Marcia thought. What do you do when a life is taken from you so soon, so quickly? He was only 17 years old. Marcia really hated him sometimes. The way he’d get drunk and get all the boys into trouble. His eyes had been like ice to Marcia, and he could be so rude. He used to try and get along with her, but eventually he gave up and either ignored her or was flat out mean. She knew he hadn’t deserved Cherry, but she also knew how much they loved each other. The way Cherry used to talk about him… and now he was gone. It didn’t matter that he could be so horrible, he shouldn’t have died. No one should die that young. 

Trip eventually left, without saying a word. But Marcia sat there, holding Cherry until the sun rose. 

[seven-stars-in-his-palm]

in ur asks once again...

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

HI LEANNE HI LEANNE SORRY I'M LATE BUT I'M HEREEEEEEEEE <3 thanks for putting the questiosn btw this made this hella easier. i should do that more...

🥺 - Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

mmmmm of course I have to bring up arguments but I suppose one that alwayssss gets me is like. a new sense of Understanding that is conveyed just by a Look. 1941-saving-the-books coded, if you will. there's a lot of moments in my fics where a character does something for another or expresses a new emotion that they haven't really before, and the other character's world view has just Shifted. you don't know how it's shifted or even how much, but it's Changed, and that's all that matters. the most recent time this has happened in a fic is for the trans omens bang (just finished the fic btw, now I just have to post it--[really hoping for august 2nd to begin my Schedule but we'll see]) where it happens twice; aziraphale realizing what crowley used the holy water he gave him for (killing ligur) and crowley realizing that aziraphale has never been able to truly express himself* because of heaven's image; that being 'being an angel means that you have to be pure and Never Indulge In Anything, Absolutely Anything, Because Why Would You Do That?'. kinda like with food. so it's not heaven being transphobic so much as it is "why would you dress like that if u don't have to, why are you even thinking about that in the first place do ur job buddy just accept what's been given to you 🤨". still a trans allegory tho. it's kinda hard to explain where you just have to read the fic to grasp it (the message) fully because its just a fun piece about trans things. THE POINT is that 1941-coded realization are AWESOME!!!!

*I personally don't believe that aziraphale has NEVER experimented with gender throughout history, but he's closeted in this au for the sake of the plot. this is not my headcanon but it's soooo fun to project <3

😅 - What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

mmmmmm I have to check but God a few that I remember is the one nimona (2023) fic I wrote that's an unnecessary angst-fest and also that one fic that's basically 'aziraphale rejects crowley so many fucking times' and it makes me cringe because it makes me sad in the bad way. also that one fic about body switch where they decide to execute 'aziraphale' and 'crowley' together in heaven. which I would do SO differently now oh my God, first of all WHY HEAVEN (I would do it in a separate third location now, probably in like. the fields of meggido. and have hell set up bleachers for the demons to watch like they did canonically. for the plot. also the symbolism). and second of all i was still getting the hang of Crowley And Aziraphale Silent Communication and the way I conveyed it in this fic is just CRINGE. full out CRINGE. I wish I could delete it but it's one of my more kudosed fics and I can't get rid of that shit. tbh any fic before i started using beta readers (began with like chapter 5 of stars in a jar au) is Bad and I wanna rewrite them so bad but then i'd be plagued forever. I only plan on rewriting the fics that are secretly a part of the said stars in a jar au (which is 2, I plan to add them to the series when those instances are mentioned in the main fic) as well as midnight's call AGAIN when I inevitably get back to writing its sequel ACTUALLY USING A BETA READER THIS TIME. idk if i'll ever write more long term gravity falls fic after I finish that sequel (except for drabbles here or there and that one gravity falls crossover i'm obligated to finish) but I refuse to let that universe rest until i've fulfilled its potential. I swear to god

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it.

autggh i already did this one but another thing i can say is worried crowley. i've been i'm good at writing him Worried And/Or Anxious because well he is me and i am him. side eyes latest fic

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

HGRHHHHHH THERE'S EIGHT RN which one do i do....i can't stop blabbing about fairytale au but since i'm currently watching a video essay on the costa concordia (by internet historian. god it's good storytelling) i'll talk about the titanic. i'm doing a titanic (1997) fic for the silver screen bang,,, i think i've definitely detailed it before but i'll do it again. heart of the ocean? CURSED. hell sends crowley on the titanic to fucking find that thang, and aziraphale tags along because he too has an assignment from heaven but it's just quick blessings (wonder why...). there's iconic scenes such as paint me like one of your french girls (ily artist ariraphale) and 'im; flying' but it's a DANCE instead. fucking hell i'm melting just thinking about it. i love the themes i love chapter 2 i love chapter 5 i love you anathema's ancestor who's also here i LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU here's a raw snippet,,,

France, Aziraphale knows well, is famous for producing the best of its rich, savory crepes. And, being a simple angel, when he had heard about their momentary stop in Cherbourg to load up more passengers, decided to give into the urges and risk a quick stop at his favorite restaurant and have a brief crepe break. It was worth it in every way possible—Crowley could explore their cabin on his own, and Aziraphale got crepes. Everyone wins!

alright that's enough blabbing. thank you for this wonderful opportunity,,, im now watching a video about a man in a hole. i love video essays

[yansurnummu]

Nine people you'd like to know better

tagged by @thana-topsy! thank you for this! <3

3 ships all of the ships that have me right now are eso and either oc/ oc or oc/canon lol oops Drals/Azandar: my catty old queens... ugh I just love how their dynamic is shaping up in my fic. I don't want to spoil too much since I still have a ton I haven't posted, but some of my favourite scenes I've written with them is weirdly the ones where they're having arguments and things get worse before they get better. It's just been so fun to explore Drals' inner conflict of not believing he deserves nice things, and then Azandar comes in with a fuckin sledgehammer like he's on HGTV like "ok we've gotta take down ALL THESE WALLS" Asha-ammu/Donobhan: they are so special to me <3 I love vampire/human dynamics in general, but so often the vampires are the smooth, sexy ones (not to say Asha isn't incredibly sexy, they're just Nervous) so it's been fun to explore how Asha being autistic and aromantic intersect with them being a vampire. Also Don is a sweetheart and I love him a lot. probably the healthiest dynamic of all my ships. Sadryn/Ember: honourable mention because I haven't really talked about them here at all, but my gf and I have talked a lot about them and they've been sneaking back into my thoughts again. it's one of those relationships where u just wanna grab her by the shoulders and go "GIRL WHAT ARE U THINKING, HE'S DUMB AS ROCKS & THE ONLY THING HE OWNS IS A DIRTY MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR" but she just thinks he's such a fun silly lil guy and wants to put him in a petri dish and study his red flags under a microscope I guess the pattern is that I loooove conflict & drama and when ships are messy and complicated!!

First ship good god... this is fitting because my gf and I were JUST talking about weeb phases and how I was a kid during that like 2006-2010 weaboo golden age of deviantart & pirating anime LOL. I can't remember exactly but I'm sure it was naruto? probably narusasu or something

Last song early sunsets over monroeville - my chemical romance (this is my comfort album and I'm not sorry)

Currently reading I finally started reading the Drizzt books, though so far I have mixed feelings about it. we'll see if I keep going!

Last film my parents made me watch Terminator because I'd never seen it LOL (I'm really bad when it comes to movies... there's a LOT I haven't seen, especially when it comes to the last 10 years or so)

Currently craving ough I want banh mi sooooo bad. I'm on week 3 of recovering from a slipped disk in my back and it's also been snowing here so I have not exactly been eating well :( (I will live I'm not like starving lol I'm just that flavour of ADHD where if I eat the same thing too often/ too many times in a row my brain tries to kill me)

I tag @tilliphont @aviel-the-trans-bucket @toastannas @sassyfahliil @sniperviper @shadylex and @caliblorn if y'all want to! and anyone else who feels like it :)