#and he thinks it’s funny and annoying when dylan makes up words

[sargeantsarmy]

When someone tells Dylan ‘I love you’(platonically or romantically), he doesn’t reply with ‘I love you too’. He replies with ‘I love you more’ so he can not only show just how much he loves the person but also start an ongoing battle that he knows he’ll win because he’s stubborn and has more energy than the person he’s trying to one up.

[mykaelaaa]

detour that lingered

✰ helly r x fem!reader // 4k

✰helly's fed up with lumon and needs a distraction. that makes the two of you.

clicks.

so. many. clicks.

thousands of them made in the past five minutes. maybe more.

you're not really sure. all done by your work colleagues while your hands rested on the desk. cold and almost lifeless. work-wise speaking, anyway.

wide, luminous square of light above you started producing annoying buzz-like hum three weeks ago, exactly on tuesday at 10:03 a.m.

it's drilling in your head but somehow, no one else seems to be bothered. you did report the issue. and in return got million-dollar response from the multimillion-dollar company saying:

"thank you for reporting the malfunction. we will do our very best to make sure your surroundings are as comfortable and enjoyable as we can. but remember, be grateful for what you have, because Lumon has your back."

milchick's refined words, of course.

delivered with his wide smile that fools concerningly big amount of people. well, minus the one if you think more thorough.

time passes agonizingly slow here.

staring at the screen and scattered numbers that still, after months in here, don't really seem to make sense.

you glance down at the bracelet on your wrist. you don't know anything about it. nor the clothes you bought, or where. or how come you picked just this color of the shirt but not a different one. why does your pen holder keep moving even though you swear you put it somewhere else. who in the right mind decided forest and football field green was the office aesthetic?

it's trapping.

sometimes, when you are bored out of your mind, which happens way too often, the green of the desks and flooring all morph into one big green blob, obscuring your vision and you don't know how it happens except blink a few times until it disappears. but lately it stopped.

and you know who's to blame, partially that is. for snatching a few seconds of so rare and precious serenity away.

ever since helly replaced petey, red came into the picture and it was no longer monotonous green.

it's always peeking in the corner of your eyes. one minute it looks like she just left the photoshoot for whatever fancy office magazine out there. the next, it's ruffled by her hands and she's two numbers away from losing her sanity.

but you like her. as a coworker, obviously. well, okay. a bit more than that. but that's debatable and confined deep inside of you for now.

it's just extremely refreshing another person recognizes the deranged, whatever the fuck this is, going on in the building. and they don't only nod along and go chase numbers on autopilot.

she's funny, terribly sarcastic, talented at giving you side eye when something stands out—most importantly, biggest Lumon hater next to you.

others are okay. to put it plainly.

dylan is funny on occasions but too hooked about reaching 100% for some reason. at times it makes you feel bad. to each their own.

irv is undeniably a wise, old guy outside the work. the one that knows a little bit of everything about, well everything. and he loves art.

mark is mark. sometimes there, sometimes lost in thought. carrying that specific and awkward type of humor that makes you feel like you should laugh but also unsure if it was a joke or just a remark that sounded like one. but you're more than welcome for anything that stands out in these four walls.

but helly? she actually asks things.

your first interaction with her was a disaster. which is amazing, by the way. she reminded you of yourself on the first day. a shitty attempt at escaping you did, running in circles and stuck in a loop of doors and hallways. each leading to nowhere hopeful.

you sat back and waited, watching it unfold. feeling slight remorse of how good it felt, knowing she will realize there's no way out. that will make the two of you.

that was helly's first warm welcome here and you couldn't relate more.

by the time milchick caught up with her, you were sure you still hold a record of how many times you saw mr. milchick in one shift. about twenty three.

you should ask helly how many times she ran into him that day.

a day after, you saw her hand pulling the divider down, scooching forwards a bit. a sweet, covert whisper reached you.

"do you know what the fuck is going on here?" heavy emphasis on 'what the fuck'.

you had to just stare at her frozen, caught between "oh my god finally" and "wait, will it be worth it?" and then, since it was the best thing that has happened since you got here, you grinned like an idiot. thanking kier internally.

but also, you felt pity for her. you tried, you complained, oh so many times but met a dead end street. you know milchick hates to see your head tilted and eyes narrowed. forming an actual smart question that throws the unusual work conditions in the spotlight. milchick being milchick, just gives you his programmed response.

if she keeps this up, you owe her a drink.

somehow. if lumon introduces alcohol.

"what you thinking about?"

her voice dragged you back to reality. you blink, shifting your focus off the screen where number 6 is floating like it's waiting for you to do something about it.

helly's watching you, head propped on one hand, looking amused. her eyes—lumon's os standard shade of whatever blue—should blend perfectly into the dullness of this place.

but they don't. somehow they don't.

you grew fond of it. maybe.

you shift in your seat. recalling what have you been truly been dozing off about. but it's a failed attempt.

"just your usual, loyal mdr employee stuff. thriving to reach 100."

she snorts, quietly. and your chest feels weirdly warm. it's been happening a lot lately. since you cracked the code of her sarcasm.

god. you're really starting to pick up mark's jokes.

"hmmm." she draws it out like she's considering something. "shame. i thought you had some mastermind prison break plan in the making."

you smirk, letting your eyes glaze over her features just a little. "maybe i do?"

helly raises a brow. "that so?"

"you know, almost a year here does wonders to your imagination. maybe my outtie is married to a drug lord with, like, fifteen escape routes if we get ambushed. therefore my talent."

you sigh and add, "but instead i'm stuck here. like a bird in a cage, forgetting what flying is like."

she narrows her eyes like she's analyzing you. but it feels different than when milchick does it. better. "oh, wow. that's the most poetic thing you ever said."

"you haven't been here long enough then."

she clicked her tongue smoothly, "gotta make sure to use most of my time on that then."

irving's head peeks out from the green barrier. "ladies. more work, less talk."

helly throws you the 'how the hell did he even hear?' look. you just shrug.

"breaks soon anyway, irv." mark chimes in, though he sounds disinterested about the idea of break. you get him. not much opportunities to get your mind to shut off besides the vending machine.

"yes i know, mark. that doesn't mean we can all chit-chat."

"are you trying to be the good guy here just because she's new?" dylan said, leaning back in his chair that made a screeching sound. he turned his attention to helly, dead serious. "don't listen to him. his bathroom breaks? he's been sneaking off to see some guy from—"

"dylan, that's irrelevant—"

"no it's not, irving." dylan keeps going but you were too busy being overwhelmed with helly jabbing you in the ribs.

you flinch. "what?"

helly, still pressed lightly your side, doesn't even look guilty about it. she's close. close enough her knee is barely brushing against yours. enough that the space left is borderline nonexistent but you can feel it anyway. and it feels like there's a heavy boulder on your back.

it's new. but it feels nice.

when and why did she get so close without you noticing?

she tilts her head a bit and you can feel her hair enveloping your shoulder. it sounds ridiculous but it feels like it's burning straight to your shirt.

"come with me to the supply room."

it's not a question but more of a silent order. your throat dries up and it feels burning. you shift and your hands, like they got a mind on their own, latched onto the nearest thing it landed which was your shirt. you smooth it out for no apparent reason.

"for what?"

"i don't know. office supplies?" she deadpans like it should've been obvious. it is obvious. you just couldn't focus.

you quickly dissect the desk. there are more than enough pens in the holder. sticky notes are untouched and started to collect dust. two hundred and thirty eight of yellow notes last time you counted. judging the way helly's desk is the same, you catch on it.

yeah. this is not about the damn supplies.

helly wheels back out of the way, making room. still waiting on you get along with the idea.

so you push your chair like it's an announcement. irving gave you a quick, iffy look like he saw this as an opportunity to get dylan off his back and shift the topic on you two. but before he could, you stretch your arms out like you're letting out the negative energy of intense, office labor.

"gonna grab some stuff," you claim, standing. "ms. helly, you coming?"

she's already up, rolling her eyes. "obviously."

dylan just snickers, mark doesn't even bother giving a second glance.

the pair footsteps barely make a sound against the tedious green carpet. competing with the noise of the ever buzzing lights.

you wonder if the redhead next to you, who's on a very serious mission to reach the supply closet, ever noticed those little things. and it's not like you're in a rush to get back to the desk either.

when you reach the room she wastes no time. helly briefly stepped aside to let you enter first before following behind. the second you stepped in, discerning same smell of paper and metal hit you.

helly swings the door shut behind you with more force than needed.

she exhales. loudly. did it echo that much or helly r. just pulls you into different realm by doing frankly anything?

you catch her breath hitch for a split second. it looks like she craved this. this getaway or whatever you name it. her shoulders relax against the wall and you feel weirdly happy for her. you would like to be the reason she feels at ease, but you can't just self proclaim the title "i made helly feel good" without her approval.

that sounds wrong the more you repeat it in your head.

"finally," she mutters under her breath, sinking in the surface deeper before pushing off.

"one more minute there and i'd throw myself in the printer or something and hoped for the best."

you huff a quiet laugh, adding, "tried and it didn't work."

helly smiles, one corner of her lips tugging up. and you should probably not stare for too long. it's inappropriate. that's what they say. i mean, it's logical. so you look around the room and—wow.

nothing changed. dry and uninspiring as always—stacks of papers fanatically sorted by colors, and too many cardboard boxes with useless serial numbers.

"so," you start, not knowing what is it that you're about to say. or why does your mouth run faster than the brain. and why does the room feel smaller, like someone turned the heat up.

and why is helly, now on the opposite side of the room, suddenly so engrossed in a shelf of supplies she's seen a thousand times—so engaged it feels like she's not here for a moment.

you sigh, slow and even. "what do we need?"

helly smirks like she was waiting for you to ask. "nothing really."

"i figured."

helly watched you for a second more before grabbing a pack of staplers off the shelf. not really doing anything worthwhile with it—just to keep her hands busy. her fingers tap against the box restlessly, spinning it around, shaking it, repeating the cycle. like she desperately wants to be occupied, and it made you anxious.

"needed an excuse," she admits, voice just a bit hushed but not unheard.

"for?"

she shrugs, giving the box one last twirl before setting it down. her mouth twitches like she's holding a grin from escaping, eyes tracing from the shelves to the floor, to the lonely chair in the corner meant for short employees, and then you.

her lower lip disappears between her teeth, careful not to ruin the lipstick. she leans back against the closet, hands slipping and intertwining behind her. the distance between is only a few steps away but it felt like she's a scorching furnace right in front of you.

"maybe to get the fuck away from that desk and pretending like any of this shit is normal," she dips in the closet even further, voice laced with a raw honesty. "i mean, who the fuck hunts scary looking numbers for a job?" helly snorts, openly fed up with it all.

she expects you to understand. and you do. of course you do.

"and, like… you're pretty much the only one that gets it." helly adds softly and again, the thing in your stomach twists, turns and before you know it, she had you smiling.

you shift your weight, mirroring her stance without meaning to. it's the most natural thing you've done since carving out fruit in shape of kier's face and putting an x sign over it of for some useless lumon anniversary thing.

"alright then, miss helly r. tell me everything."

her eyes flicker with curiosity, and maybe slight suspicion—but she grins anyway. "everything?"

"yeah. i can't team up with someone who's also really keen on burning this shithole down without knowing them."

helly scoffs, crossing her arms but there's amusement behind that. "we are severed, you know. think we're kinda missing 90% of the lore here."

"no, not like that." you explain, taking a break to think. "tell me…tell me who do you think is the worst dressed here? or who's outtie has a dungeon in their basement?"

her lips quirk and it feels like a veil of something unspoken just fell over your figures—the realization, maybe a relief, a shimmer of whatever the third option may be.

helly tilts her head and considers, "worst dressed? gotta be milchick."

you raise a brow playfully, "milchick? really?"

"yes, like a hundred percent." she lazily slumps forward and shakes her head, "that man looks like he lost a bet and has to walk around like that. and the moustache?"

you let out a laugh, staring down at the floor. clutching your shirt with one hand dramatically. "you don't like a moustache? helly r?"

helly rolls her eyes, giving you a look before pointing at you. "okay, your turn. dungeon."

"mark."

"no fucking way."

"it's always the quiet and normal ones you least expect."

she clicks her tongue in denial, "he's too stuck up for that. but hear me out," she leans as if she's about to reveal mindblowing rumour, "dylan."

there's not much you can disagree with to be honest. "well—fine, i can see it." you take in a deep breath, same smell of stale paper hanging in the air.

"who's the best looking around here?"

"wow, i met like less than ten people."

"that's more than plenty."

helly exhaled sharply, eyes wandering everywhere but at your direction. "well," she dragged out, "definitely not cobel. unless you're into having affair with your boss that's thirty years older than you."

now, that made you dwell on it in silence more than helly would like. to the point her expression started to transform into a concerning one.

you found it amusing, although it's better to start explaining yourself.

"i can look past that if it means i can get out of here." nice save. holds bit truth to it.

redhead was still worried, wheels turning in her head and she nodded in flimsy approval. "you know what? i like how determined you are to the point you'd get with our boss."

helly laughed. and for the first time in ages she felt okay.

okay. safe. distracted. something she thought was impossible ever since she got here. it wouldn't be a stretch for her to say it's addicting. you're addicting and this impromptu trip to get away. she'd rather stay here and count papers one by one with you than be in the office, divided by desks.

she scratches her head in thought and clears her throat. "milchick can look charming but he would just turn out to be an ass."

"and the moustache."

"dealbreaker. immediate."

"and mdr candidates?"

the silence eats her alive and she wonders if you can see it. she supposes you wait for her to continue. but it feels like someone drove nails in her shoes and wrapped chains around her. she fixes her posture. paces in place for a moment, aware there's nothing more comfortable to lean on in here anyway. but she knows better than not to speak what's on her mind.

"i guess it's you." man. straight to the point.

not mark? isn't that a delight. "me? really?"

you watch her furrow her brows and swear she looks offended. "yeah, what? who do you think i was gonna say? irv—"

"—i don't know." helly watched your short lived and secretly nervous detour, dragging your shoulder against the closets that stopped once you faced her. arm length of distance. "maybe mark. you hesitated." your finger pointing at her made her feel like a kid sent into a corner.

"i was thinking."

"about mark?"

she glares at you, but it lacks any real malice. helly stays there. she doesn't move or back away. and you start to notice things that you have noticed before, but it feels almost privileged and paralyzing.

yes, she always smelled memorable—you realized that on the very first day she arrived because it was new and not industrial-made air freshener. her perfume lingered in the elevator at the beginning and end of every shift, right now it's seizing every sense you have. and you let it, like it's a matter of life or death.

before you can be smarter about this—not that you want to—your eyes dart over her face. the maroon of her hair catches the white glow of the room like copper. there's a faint scar near her temple, scarcely hidden under the strands. familiar dips of her smile lines are harder to make out, replaced by lips set firm—but not too firm. like they want to say something. but they never do.

no voices, no music, no window that casts wind and traffic, yet it feels like your breaths would suppress all of it if given.

on paper, this looks like a terrible idea. but in practice? it's rare and tempting. especially for a lumon employee.

you reach out to put one hand on the nape of her neck, hesitating halfway. helly took it as a implied question of yes or no. she could tell that much. instead of saying it with fear her voice might fail her, she decided to suck it up and take your hand and guide it where you wished. fingers nearly intertwining like you've both done this hundred of times before, creating a habit.

helly was never this close to someone. physically and mentally.

she doesn't know what her outtie does, with who, how or when. does she have a spouse? kids? is she widowed or divorced? will her outtie ever run into you and remember? any of this?

a brisk worry that you should be getting back to the office dashed through your mind. but it was discarded as quickly as it came.

"listen—i," helly whispered. there was everything and nothing in her head at the same time. exhausted of this job and every day being the same as the one before.

she swallowed harshly, "i know we can't be doing this by—by some dumb company rules but it…"

"it's okay if—"

"no. i mean, it feels right," she nods carefully, like she's convincing both of you. "it feels nice."

neither of you know how to do this properly. or if there's a way to do so. there's a general idea of it. kissing, sex, intimacy and all that comes along.

after all, lumon didn't pass a rule forbidding such profane acts for no reason.

helly smiles faintly, delicately putting her hands on your waist and tugging you closer. fingers dancing on your hips. it was all done in a tender manner, making you wonder she pulled out this sudden confidence out of her pocket while you were daydreaming.

perhaps she was always like this. just another thing to uncover about helly r. amongst many.

it was mutual, bound to happen and next to world ending.

your heads tilted in sync, felt her hands froze on your waist and yours were trapped under her hair upon contact. helly's nose bumped against your cheek along with her bangs tickling your forehead. her lips were lightly chapped, inviting you in. deeper and deeper for more without knowing what that 'more' signifies.

helly backed away and it took her absurd amount of willpower to do so. she rested her forehead against yours. breaths combining together, fast paced like you've both been running down the hallway from entirety of lumon.

"i don't know how to do this," you barely made it sound coherent.

she chuckled, and for this newfound proximity, it ringed in your ears differently. "me neither but it's good."

with no effort helly reeled you back in, fingers brought back in life—now gripping at your clothes. it was more eager and natural. her lips chased yours and she let low groans sneak past her. it was a new sound to you, that caused you to lose control over your own hands too. tangled in her hair that was unsurprisingly soft. you tried to pull her even closer but it was nearing the impossible.

do you even have the right to do all of these things right now?

your back hit the closet. making the irrelevant boxes shake, threatening to fall down. helly's hot breath was all that you could feel as it slid down your cheek, to the jaw and up to your ear. making you shudder. she didn't give one single shit about the cameras and mics.

"how—how far can i-we go?"

seriously? she slightly winced when you tugged her by the roots just to see her better. she looked down at you with some feral look you haven't seen before. panting and gasping. hair disheveled by your fault.

"i don't know helly. all the way."

she doesn't know either. she has faint idea that will involve bunch of improvising but she doesn't care. if needed, she can survive off doing just this.

before you could react, she grasped your jaw gently. forcing you to tear your eyes away from her and be taken care of.

helly settled between your neck, leaving kisses on your collarbone and what's exposed. you smell of something so sweet and distinctive it's like a drug to her. waiting on your reactions because she can't be too greedy. even if she wants to.

"fuck—helly," it was overwhelming. and hearing you, all torn apart, made her weak of all sorts. making her moan near your ear, which was like a last straw of the day.

"helly…i-just…"

"i know," helly breathed out. she feels it too, if not twice as intense than you. but she can't compete right now.

her hands travelled down, lower and lower and you bucked your hips into nothing. she let you guide her lips back, cupping her face. she registers no one in the whole fucking department ever handled her with such care. she allows herself to sink in your touch.

and before you reconnected, your noses bump again. uneven breaths and surrendering knees and—

"so, uh—break is like, almost finished. hope you're all good in there."

mark.

helly hoped she will never hear any of them again.

"is he fucking with us right now?" she speaks with eyes still closed. either in disbelief and let-down or to get back together.

"yeah-yeah, some stuff kinda—fell off the shelves so we had to clean up." you yell out. holding onto helly's shoulders for support.

"oh. yeah, happened to me month ago or so. just uh, try to get it cleaned up in five minutes."

you looked back at the redhead that stared like she had received a letter from lumon saying they approved of her quitting the job.

"what?"

"this is not finished. it's not over, we ain't done, we—"

"—okay, okay. you had your chances to get me in the supply room before and now you want to make up for all of them. i don't think so." you teased like you don't wanna stay here forever. hoping the handle broke or something so you're caged in.

"yes and no. i didn't know what i was missing out."

if someone was to tell helly you have some magnetic superpower in you, she would have believed it. she doesn't want to remove her hands off you, or let the heat you two created go back to usual lumon's cold, or see you in the office hunting numbers rather than her lips.

but she has to adapt and get her way somehow. and she will. win both you and that 'leave' letter.

[anonlanza]

Unnecessarily long rant post about various tcc related things

(selfships, ships, bad headcanons, columposers, "femcels")

I like actually hate tcc selfships so much, I don't care when people say freaky shit about tcc people cause most the time they're joking and I do it too. But like genuine selfships, like drawing themselves or an self insert or an oc with tcc people (what am I even supposed to call them)

Like I hate seeing those blogs where it's like "Dylan's little girl >.<" (extremely directed, you know who you are..). Or like drawing themselves with their favs (in a not joking way), even edits and "___ x oc/reader" fics. Theres another person on TikTok who makes edits of them x Andrew blaze, it makes me so mad cause I think im finding a cool edit and then I get flash banged with some randoms face.

Also I really don't care for the "well what if they're coping, this is a coping mechanism" argument like no, I don't care, cope some other way WITHOUT SHIPPING YOURSELF WITH KILLERS. Having a crush or intrest in a tcc person is okay but like genuinely shipping yourself with them is lowk kinda weird. Cause like I hate seeing people ship themselves with Eric or Dylan (in a serious sense, not a stupid funny haha) and they're everything Eric and Dylan hate. Like I hope you know they would've shot you if they knew about that

The selfshippers are usually so annoying too, like "ohemgee!!!! Don't say that abt Dylan he's mine!!1!1!1!" And then you get doxxed or some shit, like please go outside and touch some grass. Half the time they're greasy as hell or those "ohmigod I'm such a femcel lol!! >__<" just bcuz they're tcc and a female whose just a little different.

It's a little different with movie tcc people, like Andre and Cal because they are fictional and didn't actually shoot up a school. Even those ones are on thin ice, but I don't see as much of them luckily but I do see a lot of shitty Caldre.

Shitty Caldre as in Calvin is suddenly a AuDHD he/they shy femboy and Andre is a big tough guy whose actually secretly a big softie for cal and they go on little dates. Like no oh my god you clearly did not watch the movie, the only way I think of them as "dating" (using this VERY loosely) is them just being normal teenage boys, like when guys their age flirt because they're close friends. Sometimes a little bit of Caldre is okay but only when they're properly displayed the same way they are in the movie. Same with dylric, they were just close friends and had a distaste for gay people (from what I know) and I don't really know how to feel about dylric, but anytime I see one of those "Eric and Dylan kissing and being gay boyfriends >___<" posts I cry a little.

Plus the bad headcanons attached to both pairings, like I just wanna rip my hair out everytime I see one of those long headcanon posts and there's not a single good one, it's always like the "when they cuddle.." things. If I'm gonna take time out of my day to read a headcanon sheet it better be good, or bad fanfics like why am I even reading this. Sometimes bad fanfics are good but it's always the like 100-500 word ones that make me want to peel off the first layer of my skin, cause you can tell what kind of person is lurking behind that screen, it's probably some 11/12 year old that found out about zero day but never watched the movie. I feel like sometimes most people in the zero day fandom never watched the movie, also personal opinion I don't think that Andre self harms if I'm being so real here. Like I get where they're coming from with Cal but I don't get it with Andre.

I also don't like the people who dress like Cal and Andre, I own the shirts and sometimes I wear them but I never genuinely dress up as them, I usually wear them around my house, it's more of a "oh no I have no clean laundry" and I just have to wear it. But like people who go into full cosplay, like I saw someone genuinely buy a wig for it, like please ohmygyat. It just feels like seeing a columposer and I have a hatred for columposers, like tell me why you thought it was a good idea to leave your home in a wrath or natural selection shirt, like Columbine isn't underground, it was a real national tragedy.

Liking Columbine is fine as long as you aren't doing anything weird or harmful, but I feel like dressing as them puts you in both categories. But they always think they're so cool, it's always the most basic Columbine fans. They always listen to KMFDM or Rammstein and if they're trans (9 times out of 10 they usually are) they go by Dyl or Dylan. Plus they just take all of their personality from Eric and Dylan, it's always those intro posts that are like "name: Dylan music: KMFDM drink: Dr Pepper".

Please get a real personality oh my god 😢😢 cause I see like 20 people like that a day, please can we get some originality in this community. But the kind of columposers I hate the most is the ones that think they're the next Eric Harris, like calm down edge lord you're 14... they're manifestos always sound the same like "I hate everybody..... nobody understands me... they're all gonna feel my wrath... I'm gonna be worse than Eric and Dylan could ever be... mwhahahahah..." like shut up oh my god. You are not Eric's top guy bud, then they own a natural selection shirt and when they try to actually shoot up their school they just get caught cause it's always the people in private school trying to be the next Columbine. Like it's not my fault you live in the suburbs chill out.

It's so annoying to come on this app or look at the news and it another retard who thinks they're the second coming. And I have no shame admitting that I hate that Samantha chick, she honestly seemed so fucking annoying. And I hate the stupid "ERM... if you hate her you're misogynistic..." like what 😭. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean I'm a bad guy for hating her, I wasn't thinking about her gender when I decided I hated her ass. There's a new case every week, she's not special. She honestly was the worse thing I've heard about, everytime I hear about her I want to gouge my eyes out, she was just a supreme edge lord who thought she could be Eric. She thought she was so special for hating women like she wasn't a woman, like how fucking stupid are you, plus it's kinda pathetic how she only killed two people (all respect towards them) and then just killed herself, like oh my god at that point just kill yourself in your own house.

I also know the argument of Adam being a columposer is gonna come up, like "how are you gonna say you hate columposers but you worship one". Like yes I'm aware of the fact his shooting was "inspired" by columbine but he was also delusional as hell, like he was an autistic schizo that didn't leave his house. There was a lot more going into that shooting than just Columbine in mind, I don't really think of him as a columposer because it was a lot of psychological issues as well but I get where people are coming from when they say he's a columposer.

But still on the topic of Samantha and her being a woman hater, I just fucking hate femcels, not real femcels but "femcels >___< 🎀" LIKE OH MY GYAT. You aren't a femcel you delusional creep, you're just a female on tumblr get over it, you aren't special. Theyre all the same too, I feel like all femcel accounts are run by the same person. Theyre always some cutecore shit and have micro bangs, they all look the same.

Being a femcel or just an incel is just being frustrated with the lack of sexual or romantic opportunity in their life, that is the dictionary definition. You aren't a femcel if you bedrot, like Columbine, tcc in general, cutecore, hate women or men, if you're just delusional, or a Sematary fan. I feel like no one actually knows what being an incel or femcel means and it pisses me off so much because it's like saying the sky is green. Like you aren't a femcel, there's literally men in your dm's and you have a boyfriend shut up oh my god. It's just so infuriating seeing people being wrong all the time, I hate when I see false information.

It just makes me so mad and that's what most of this rant has been about, I hate seeing people be wrong like you're wrong because this tcc person would've hated you so much. You're wrong because that's not how these people were displayed in the movie. You're wrong because you're not gonna be the next Eric and Dylan. You're wrong because you're not a real femcel.

Sorry if this came off as annoying in anyway but I feel like i genuinely needed to get that off my chest cause im tired of it all.

[clementinecalls]

Can I ask why the beef w Dylan Sprayberry?

I’ve been waiting for this very moment……….

Back in like??? May I think? Idk, i remembered his weird ass avid hatred for thiam. And I was like “huh weird….” And then immediately did some deep dives. And there are so many interviews and clips of him in RECENT days where he will just start shitting on thiam almost fully unprompted. And I’m not saying he can’t dislike it, bro can do whatever the hell he wants.

But what I HATE is that he will get homophobic abt it. And literally just be like “ppl just wanna see me and Cody kiss. And they just wanna see more gay ppl. And we just have such good chemistry on screen.”

Like he isn’t even SEEING Theo and Liam as their own actual characters with personalities and stories. He thinks that bc ONE TIME he saw a photo (that one photo…..) of him and Cody photoshopped kissing (THAT WASNT EVEN THEM, it was LITERALLY Theo and liam), that everyone who ships thiam just wants him and Cody to make out.

And then of COURSE the moment I do all this research and shit, he goes to the Paris meet up and is like “yeah guys I love thiam they shoulve been canon” HELLO?? Bros publicist CLEARLY called him up. And then I saw someone say backstage he literally took it right back?? (Which is so funny btw) so he was literally just lying abt it so fans would get off his ass abt hating thiam.

AND THEN. That stupid fucking cameo he posted??? This week?? Idk, but he literally says the words “I think Theo and Liam fell in love the moment they saw eachother”

….mf no you don’t??😭 he’s like— FIGHTING to stay in the spotlight or something idek.

Literally Sprayberry is so disconnected from liam but acts like he IS liam and it’s so fucking annoying. Bc he can’t disconnect thiam and his relationship with Cody. And in the 2020 zoom reunion when he gets asked what he thinks liam did after s6 he says Liam went to go find Hayden?????? Bro you BROKE UP. Her leaving is a HUGE part in Liam’s development

Anyways moral of the story is I’m insane and autistic

[which-hospital]

Burning Bridges (1/07/23)

I just want to say that I am so jealous and amazed by people who are excited to see drama in their continuing medical drama, even when it affects their favourite characters. I am too naturally anxious for that, I just want to see my favourites sit and be happy together, watching the drama unfold while it only affects my liked but not-favourite characters…

What an episode! Part of me does feel like, a while back, that episode would’ve been spread across two episodes or at least that the explosion would have happened earlier on but they still found time for it to have a lot of impact so I’m not too bothered. I have a lot of thoughts on it all - mostly on the Max and Jodie stuff and the Sah, Paige and Teddy stuff - but I feel like I’ll be going on about it all quite a lot so it’s all below the cut.

Jodie and Max have been incredibly interesting to me and I’ve really enjoyed how this storyline has gone so far. I hoped that they would do the the reveal in association with Max getting hurt to have a bit of a twist on how Jodie always seems to be in constant life threatening danger and also for Jodie to have a chance to realise how much Max cares about her and how much she cares about him too. And Dylan being the first person other than Rida to find out was good. Actually, I just wanna appreciate Dylan and Rida in this episode! Feels like a weird pair to appreciate together but I feel like they were both really looking out for Jodie in their own ways. Also Stevie, even though she’s annoyed at Jodie, she still defends her when she finds out about her resigning. I hope that Jodie and Max can start to have a better relationship now but I’d also be surprised if Casualty allows for that level of peace.

I feel bad for Cam but also when he started yelling at Jodie for getting with Ryan my immediate response was uhhhhh maybe not the best approach there, Cam. I’m glad to see him stand up to Ryan though. Ryan is interesting because we’ll get a scene of him looking all sad and vulnerable and stuff and then immediately be reminded of how much of a prick he is able to be. In that scene where Cam tells him they’ve never been friends, I don’t have it in me to feel bad for Ryan because Cam’s right and also he shows up all oh Jodie didn’t sleep with Max as if he isn’t the person who spread those rumours in the first place. I do think that we probably won’t get Cam/Jodie any time soon considering what he said to her but who knows.

I expected that Iain would break up with Faith in this episode but the writers are somehow going to keep her and the relationship going. I will admit that I found the idea of Sah, Paige and Faith going for drinks together pretty funny - I guess I just think of Paige and Faith as being connected to Sah through Teddy and Iain so it’s just like time for unenthusiastic shots with my friends’ girlfriends.

A relatively smaller aspect of the episode but it’s my big issue of the week: I could write like a thousand words about Sah, Paige and Teddy. First of all, it felt kind of like they resolved the stuff between Sah and Paige very quickly, especially considering it’s only been a day in canon but I guess it kinda makes sense that Paige would want to apologise like the day after and Sah isn’t really the type to stretch out conflict if it can be dealt with. The kiss between them was always going to feel a little out of nowhere and I think that was probably intentional but also I feel like I expected that it would be Sah to initiate the kiss? I had initially interpreted their interest and overinvolvment in Teddy and Paige’s relationship (we’ve almost definitely got more scenes of them asking Teddy about the relationship than the relationship actually being a relationship) through my Sah/Teddy Shipper lens but after the spoilers for yesterday’s episode came out I kind of reinterpreted it as Sah sort of vicariously living out a romance storyline through Teddy and then it was Paige that went for the first kiss instead. I don’t know, I’m just struggling to think of anything Paige has done before this point that like, is explained if Paige has some kind of feelings for Sah but maybe I’m forgetting stuff. I mean, seems like Paige has got a thing for paramedics - what she was saying before kissing them was essentially just woah you’re a paramedic, you do this all the time, now let’s kiss.

I feel so bad for Teddy! All the characters seemed worried about the explosion but he really seemed worried, like my heart was broken for him when he showed up crying and that way he hugs the both of them while they’re looking at each other realising what they’ve done to this person who cares about them both so much. I mean, people have certainly done worse things with their friends’ partners in this show but it just feels like such a specific kind of betrayal between Sah and Teddy. I have my personal, ridiculous dream resolution to this storyline but that seems unlikely. I see a lot of people suggesting polyamory and I’m starting to back that too, I’m not big into Paige like I am with Sah and Teddy (which is like a high bar to meet anyway) - but if she makes them happy then I’ll support them all together. I also have some potential terrible outcomes that I hope we don’t see but that also feel very Casualty-esque. For the next few episodes, I’ve seen a lot of people say that they think Sah will want to tell Teddy and that Paige will try to ignore that it happened and I do think that makes sense considering the circumstances and what I think of Sah’s characterisation. I also hope that’s how it goes, I just don’t want to see them hiding it from him because then it’ll be even worse when he finds out.

NO CASUALTY NEXT WEEK!! Tragic, sobbing, screaming. I can’t even do a spoilers review because there’s no spoilers, I don’t know what to do with myself :(

[chezzywezzy]

Yandere Ryan Erzahler (1/6)

Word count ; 4.0k

*Edited:3

I leaned against Ryan’s shoulder, zoning out completely. We were in the main lodge, sitting by the doorway, sharing earbuds. I wasn’t surprised when the first thing he wanted to do, upon the ‘official’ return of our phones, was listen to Bizarre Yet Bonafide in the open. I knew he was eager to finally listen to the podcast about Hackett’s Quarry itself - even if it was just the retelling of a silly campfire story. I was a fan of the podcast, but I always thought Ryan was the better storyteller. 

Ryan was not a very open individual, but I could tell I’d made his summer a lot easier by being his roommate. Again.

Ryan was humming along, and my eyes flitted up to his expression. He was relaxed. Eyes shut, head back, lips slightly parted. I was an extroverted person, so I liked it when Ryan was happy. That was when it was either when we were together hanging out privately, or he was alone.

Ryan had his legs extended, and mine were pulled to my chest, my arms hugging them. In one hand, he held his phone, and the other was drumming on my knee softly to an invisible tune. We made momentary eye contact, his dark orbs swirling with fondness, before they flustered shut again. However, now that his mouth had shut, a smile tugged at his generally stoic face.

I was about to shut my eyes again, tuning back into the podcast. I loved horror, but I preferred other true-crime podcasts. The two speaker’s voices just… rubbed me the wrong way. It was too high-pitched and annoying. However, Ryan adored them, so I couldn’t help but not voice my opinion. If anything, Bizarre Yet Bonafide was to thank for our friendship at all.

It was funny. The memory of when we first met was fuzzy. However, whenever I asked Ryan, he always recited the same story, as though he knew it like the back of his hand: I walked up to him in the campus cafeteria, where he was sitting alone. I sat next to him and stole an earbud. From there, we bonded over our shared love of mystery, crime, and horror. He was more than excited to introduce me to the podcast.

I suddenly became alert at the sound of distant chatter. Ryan tensed immediately, looking at me with a quirked brow. A grin slowly pulled across my features. I nudged his shoulder, and with half-lidded eyes, he quirked a brow.

“What?”

“I think it’s time to go! Everyone else sounds like they’re out front,” I exclaimed. 

Ryan knew better than no-one that, as much as I loved nature and kids, I missed my family and the privacy of my own bedroom. Ryan probably did too, even though he had a close connection with the Hackett family. We were roommates back in our college town, but I was sure he looked forward to having his own room. Apparently, I snored.

Ryan exhaled quietly and collected his things. We rose to our feet and, out of habit, I entangled my arm with his. He tucked the phone into his pocket and we grabbed our suitcases. As I caught wind of the conversation, though, I tugged on Ryan to make him stop. I’d heard his name. We hovered in the doorway, just out of view from the campers below.

“…Oh, yeah. He’s probably off being all brooding and mysterious and alluring somewhere while Y/n tags along,” Dylan spoke up from below.

I nudged Ryan again, muttering to him, "Hear that? You’re mysterious and alluring. The camp bad boy.”

Ryan only scoffed playfully, and we listened some more.

“Alluring is right,” Kaitlyn seconded. “The girls and I all agreed, Y/n included, mind you, that Ryan was the hottest councilor. Followed by Chris, then you, Dylan, yotta yotta…”

“And where am I on that list?” Jacob piped up.

“The bottom,” Emma snickered, although I already knew the poor guy would take that comment to heart.

“So, you think I’m the hottest?” Ryan mumbled, sending me an amused glance.

I sent a stern look up, since Ryan was incredibly tall. I quipped in return, "No comment.”

“God, where are those two? Making out in a bush?” Kaitlyn complained. Which was enough for me to kick myself out of the doorway and drag Ryan with me.

“Here!” I called from the porch. Everyone’s eyes were glued to us, and I felt Ryan shrink in discomfort. He’d confided in me about his social anxiety before, so it was more of a reason to pull him closer. We arrived at the base of the stairs, and Dylan snickered.

“What were you guys doing up there? Having a party?”

Ryan shrugged, his graphic tee-shirt wrinkling as his arms bobbed. “Uh.. we were listening to a podcast, actually.”

“Oh! A podcast, nice. That’s cool,” Dylan hummed, nodding in a friendly manner. I sent him a smile, which he returned whole-heartedly. Other than Ryan - obviously - I really got along with the boy. Everyone thought he was a braindead himbo, but we’d shared many conversations about biochemistry during our time at camp. We were both total science geeks.

“What’s it about?”

“Yeah, what’s it about? Is it about lo-o-ove?”

The entire summer, the other councilors got a kick out of shipping us together. Ryan always got tense and embarrassed, but I always shrugged it off. I would’ve found it funny if it didn’t make Ryan so embarrassed. His eyes shifted to me, so I could tell he was done talking. 

“As if. What would that even be about?” I chortled. “It’s actually a paranormal podcast. The episode we were listening to was about this place, actually. The… Hag of Hackett’s Quarry.”

“The who of the whatsit where now?” Kaitlyn inquired further, quirking a brow. “What’s the Hag of Hackett’s Quarry?”

“You don’t know about the Hag of Hackett’s Quarry?” Dylan sarcastically added. “Tell her about the Hag of Hackett’s Quarry, why don’t you?”

Ryan chuckled, and I was glad Dylan’s positivity was infectious. I continued, "It’s just this campfire story for the kids. It’s, um… the one Ryan told at some point. There’s supposedly an old lady who died in a fire a few years ago. She haunts the woods looking for her lost son. Pretty basic horror stuff. Ryan’s definitely the better story teller.”

“Yeah, uh,” Ryan started, "There are, like, reports of whispers, or whatever, and this figure that floats around. You know, textbook ghost stuff. Some people say that if she catches you alone, she’ll try to turn you into her son. Or, kill you, or something. I don’t know. It’s never really been clear. Anyways, Hag of Hackett’s Quarry.”

I unlinked my arms and did some ecstatic jazz hands when he finished. Ryan chuckled, although he made sure to wrap his arm around my shoulders loosely.

“Y - you made that up,” Kaitlyn stuttered, somewhat rattled from the explanation. Again, Ryan was a great story teller.

“It’s right here in the podcast, man,” Ryan retorted, pulling his phone out momentarily. 

“Cool story, bro,” Jacob chided. 

“Seriously, though, Y/n’sright. You should’ve seen the first time he told the story at the campfire. They were scarred for life.”

A laugh bubbled in my throat, and Ryan quickly defended, "I mean, not for life…”

“What’s the hold up, Hacketteers?”

Our conversation was cut shot as our attention was drawn up to Chris Hackett, who was leaning on the rails above us. He still adorned his camp uniform and his keychain was strung around his neck. He had a friendly smile on his face, hands clasped together.

“Hey, yeah, uh - we’re nearly done, Mr. H!” Jacob called back, waving enthusiastically.

“Nearly done, huh? Get those butts in gear!” Chris playfully remarked.

“Sorry, Mr. H, we had to liberate some luggage,” Emma agreed.

“Shut up!” Abby hissed in embarrassment.

“Maybe if somebody didn’t spend so much time trying to impress his lady with his ghost story…” Kaitlyn chuckled.

“You asked!” Ryan shot back defensively, and pulling me closer. I had to hop and readjust my footing, not commenting on his tenseness. I knew that, even when spending time with the group all summer, he was still not too familiar with them. Minus Dylan, since he tried really hard to break the barrier.

“Ghost stories?”

“The Hag of Hackett’s Quarry.”

Chris exhaled sharply, rubbing his forehead. “Ugh.”

“Hey, do you still have the van key, Mr. H?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Why, yes I do!” He stood straight and shuffled through his pockets. He sighed, though. “You know, I’d lose my head if it wasn’t stuck on. Back to the office I go. Give me a hand, wouldn’t you, Ryan?”

Ryan and Chris finally returned, and Ryan had the keys in hand. I stood up straight, crossing my arms in anticipation. As nice as a nature retreat was, I was eager to be in the modern world again. Oh, and to be away from all of the petty camp drama. And, no, I do not mean the kids. I meant the councilors, who had acted like middle schoolers all summer.

“Oh, okay,” Ryan agreed, reluctantly separating from me. He sent me one last glance as he went on his merry way. I watched in amusement as Dylan tried and failed to get his phone charged before we left. While I waited, I hoisted my suitcases into the trunk of the van and leaned against the car. I took note of how my fellow councilors were with each other. Nick and Abby would send fleeting, abashed glances at one another, Jacob looked miserable, Emma was… Emma, and Dylan was talking to Jacob about something silly.

“Wait, how did you get our phone back before the rest of us —" Dylan started.

“Because I never turned it in,” Ryan smugly interrupted.

“You should’ve turned it off before you handed it in, Dylan,” Chris stated. “Them’s the rules, you noob.”

I had a hard time resisting laughter from Chris’s attempted use of modern slang. I figured he got it from the kids. Chris handed Jacob the keys as he walked past. Ryan was quick to saddle up next to me, crossing his arms. Although he was comfortable with Mr. Hackett, it rubbed off now that he’d returned to the group.

“I try not to dwell on the past, man.”

“Good, because it’s time to dwell on the minivan and get on with our respective lives!” Jacob hopped into the front seat and I opened the side door, preparing to hop in. “Move it, let’s go!”

However, the van started making odd noises, and I took a step back with furrowed brows. It kept churning and the engine didn’t start at all. I tilted my head as Chris vocalized everyone’s thoughts.

“What’s the problem?”

“Ugh… dude, I don’t know. I - I think there’s something wrong with the engine, Mr. H,” Jacob answered, waving his arms expectantly.

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“Yeah, dude, it’s just like… kaput!”

Ryan frowned, walking up to the the window immediately. “Alright, let me try.”

“What? Dude, I’m telling you, alright, it’s busted!”

“‘Well, maybe you’re doing it wrong.”

“Duh, 'well maybe you’re doing it wrong’!” Jacob mocked, and Ryan froze in place.

“The fuck, dude?”

“Enough! Enough, both of you,” Chris intervened. “Shit. Come on, let’s go.”

“Alright, dude, chill!”

Chris and Jacob changed places, although it only yielded the same results. I walked over to Ryan, peering into the window with him. I rubbed his back, and his shoulders drooped just enough to satisfy me. However, another problem had clearly arisen as Chris’s expression morphed into stress.

“Damn it! I thought I told you kids to check everything!” he scolded angrily. 

“We did! It should be working…” Kaitlyn squeaked.

“Yeah, well, could and should doesn’t mean it is, does it?” He kept trying the engine, cursing even louder. He finally stepped out of the car, his hands trembling furiously. “Okay. Okay.”

“Well, what’s the big deal?” Jacob mentioned. “We’ll just have to spend another night here. It’s no biggie.”

“No. No!” he boomed. “Just stop. Let me think.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in disscontempt. He paused, and we all watched and waited expectantly. I already knew Ryan wasn’t happy about the prospect. Also, in the back of my mind, I suspected Jacob had something to do with the engine in a frivolous attempt to chase love.

Chris finally halted his pacing. “Okay, okay. You’re right. Yeah, you're right.” He suddenly tossed the keys our way, and Ryan caught them with ease. Confusion was plastered over all of our expressions at his outburst. “Hey, Ryan. Come here for a second.”

As he fled to his jeep, he beckoned the man over. Ryan followed, leaving me and Jacob in awe at the change of plans. I couldn’t hear much of what Chris had said, but as the jeep started up, I assumed Ryan would relay the information. Ryan was uneasy as the jeep sped away.

“Lock the doors!” Chris shouted. “And for god’s sake, keep the noise down!”

“So… what was that all about?” I inquired, and everyone’s attention went to Ryan.

“He, uh… said to stay inside. That we’re not leaving until the morning,” Ryan answered, scratching the side of his head in bewilderment.

“Are. You. Kidding. Me?” Emma sighed in irritation. 

“Em-m-m,” Jacob flirtatiously cooed.

“Are you kidding me? What are we supposed to do?” Emma boomed suddenly.

“Well, we should go inside. Like he said,” Ryan insisted.

“We could go inside until morning,” Dylan agreed. “Or… Or we could do something else.”

“What… are you talking about?”

“No Mr. Hackett. No screaming kids. Just a bunch of grown-ass adults ready to cut loose and get down with their animal side.”

“Oh-h-h, hell yeah!” Jacob cheered, catching on immediately.

“P-A-R-T-Y. Why the fuck not? It seems like the stars have aligned for us, no?”

Ryan was shaking his head insistently. I distanced myself from the van, joining the circle. His jaw was clenched and I could tell he was not on board. However, I clapped my hands in excitement, earning a glare from the boy.

“I’m totally down!” I agreed instantly. 

“Okay, okay, okay…”

“One last epic bonfire blowout for all time,” Dylan continued. 

“Jesus Christ,” Jacob grumbled.

He allowed us to collect our thoughts. Nobody was disagreeing, much to my joy. However, that was cut short by Ryan. “I don’t think he was just trying to freak us out, Jacob. I think he was really freaked out by something.”

“Chris seemed really serious about this, guys.”

Dylan shook his head. “Y/n, you’re in, obviously. Come on, Ryan. Just say you’re in. One last night won’t hurt any of us. He won’t even know.”

“Yeah, but I promised —"

“No, no, dude. It’s all good. Alright, we get it, you know,” Jacob taunted. “You, uh, don’t want to disappoint ‘daddy’.”

“Someone’s got to give a shit, dude —" Ryan aggressively continued, but I cut him off.

“He’s in, guys.” Ryan sent me a glare as I placed a hand on his shoulder. I sent him a reassuring smile. “Ryan, it’ll be fine. What do we have to worry about, bears?”

“Alright, alight, alright, Hacketteers! Party planning committee. Let’d do this! Um, okay,” Jacob began. “First things first. Nick and Abby, you go get some firewood. Um, Emma and I will go to the store for some supplies. And, uh, Dylan and Y/n, you just… I don’t know, figure out how to charge the phones or something. Alright, let’s do this!”

I was completely hyped for the party, a grin spreading on my face. Ryan still had a firm frown, but Dylan and I exchanged glances. We knew exactly what to do.

As the group dispersed, I grabbed both Ryan and Dylan’s arms, pulling us together. Ryan tug for freedom, suspicion laced in his eyes. I didn’t give him the chance to be a negative Nancy, though. “Ryan, you have the keys to Mr. Hackett’s lodge. Care to escort us?”

Ryan scoffed. “We’re already breaking enough rules as it is, Y/n —"

“Rules were meant to be broken, my friend,” Dylan chimed in, tugging us in the general direction of the office. 

Ryan sighed, caving, and we were off. Dylan was bursting with excitement, vocalizing his hopes that Jacob and Emma stumbled across some alcohol. Ryan was silent the whole walk. We finally arrived at the office and he pulled out the keys, unlocking the door. It swung open.

Dylan hopped into the room, leaving me and Ryan to linger in the doorway. “Alright… the inner sanctum!”

“It’s just an office.”

“This is where the magic happens,” he insisted, holding up his phone. 

“Yeah. Let’s just make this quick.” Ryan ushered me in, closing the door behind us. 

I wandered over to the desk curiously. I couldn’t help but pick up a family portrait of Chris and his kids. Ryan talked about them often, since he had a close, personal connection, but I’d only met them a few times. They seemed sweet, though.

“So… podcasts?” 

I set the frame back down, turning and leaning on the desk as I watched them engage in conversation. I appreciated how Dylan was trying to break down Ryan’s walls. He was going down the right path, too, since it was the same podcast that did it for our friendship.

Ryan nodded, straining a smile. “Yeah.”

“Alright.” He paused, trying to find a way to continue the conversation. “Uh, what’s it called? The one you’re listening to right now?”

“Uh, Bizarre Yet Bonafide.”

“So, like, ghosts and stuff?”

Ryan scratched his neck. “It’s like… the weird and wonderful.” Dylan had opened the dam, much to my joy. “Digging up weird mysteries and discussing if they’re, well, bonafide.”

“‘Boner’ fide. Get it? Boner? Heh.”

“God, you’re such a child,” I giggled, embarrassed by how much he’d secretly made me laugh. Ryan glanced at me, while Dylan sent me finger guns. 

“Your wit knows no bounds.”

“So… should we check out what Mr. H keeps in his private den of sin?”

“Ah, I don’t know, man. I feel weird going through his stuff.”

“Okay, well, I don’t. I mean, come on, what kind of dirty secrets does the owner of a summer camp have anyways?”

Ryan scoffed, his eyes sending me a plea. “You’ve got my back, don’t you, Y/n? It’s a little mean to snoop around.”

Both of their eyes remained on me. I bit my lip and shrugged. “I always have your back, Ryan. Except now. Because I have a hunch that Mr. Hackett has a secret stash of beer in this room as we speak.”

“Hell yeah, he does. Or maybe a sex dungeon!”

“Escandelo.”

Ryan sighed, leaning against the wall. The keys were dangling in his hand. Dylan walked around the desk, inspecting the contents. I went over and plopping in the wheeled chair, laying back to relax. I for one would leave the exploration up to Dylan and his beautiful brain. And I would leave the brooding to Ryan, because at this point, he was pretty darn good at it.

I giggled as I spun in the chair, which made Ryan join me by the desk. “I could get used to this chair, baby-y-y.”

Ryan snickered, gazing at me fondly. “You better hope Mr. H doesn’t catch you taking his baby out for a joyride.”

Dylan went over to the bedroom door, but to his chagrin, it was locked. He tried the handle again with a pout. Ryan’s attention was brought back to the man, all fondness from his eyes fading. It wasn’t hard to tell he wasn’t having a good time.

“Yo, my guy, toss me the keys.”

“Uh, so you can poke around in Chris’s private area?”

“I’m sorry, is that something that only you’re allowed to do?”

Ryan scowled.

“Come on, what’s the harm in looking? You’re not a little bit curious? I’m not going to touch anything.”

“Sure you will, Dylan,” I chuckled fro the sidelines.

“…Fine. Don’t let me regret it.”

Ryan tossed him the keys, which Dylan caught with ease. He unlocked the door before tossing them back. I leaned my head against the chair and shut my eyes. Ryan walked off, but ruffled my hair before doing so. I wasn’t surprised that he was accompanying Dylan. 

I was convinced that if Ryan was a little more openminded, he and Ryan would have great chemistry.

“Woah, hey…!”

“Hey, hey! Maybe we shouldn’t…”

I listened from the sidelines as they explored the other room. The conversation quickly died off. I still heard it from a distance, but it seemed they were exploring some sort of bathroom. I let them explore. I was planning on saving a nap for the ride home, but now that that wasn’t happening anytime soon…

“Hey, we’re all done here.”

I gasped, startled at the close proximity Ryan was at. He was right beside the chair, while Dylan was cheekily standing with his phone in hand. Ryan laughed at my reaction, but I was quick to hop to my feet. 

“It’s not that cool —"

“God, Y/n, you won’t believe what we found —"

“Mr. H has a secret room in his closet! All sorts of security cameras are set up around the camp. Plus, he has all sorts of blueprints. Isn’t that weird as hell?”

“Damn, really? I want to see —"

“No, nope,” Ryan interjected again, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “We should be off then. For someone who’s looking to party, though, you can’t seem to stay awake.”

I pouted, sending the man a playful glare. “You guys were taking forever. And Dylan, you can’t tell me there wasn’t even one bottle of beer around?”

“Nope. Notta. Except for his deep dark secrets, Mr. H is incredibly dull.”

I groaned, allowing the pair and I to leave. I was still little tired out, but once we joined the group again, I knew my energy would be up. There was a pep in my step, although Ryan always made sure to calm me down regardless. We sauntered up to the campfire, where Kaitlyn had just finished taking a photo.

“Hey Kaitlyn, guess what! Mr. H is a voyeuristic creep,” Dylan declared, separating from us. Ryan immediately sighed, but I giggled, indicating that the man had been doing. “He has hidden cameras everywhere, and a secret room.”

“No, that’s not —"

“Back up. What?”

“His eyes are everywhere. He’s always watching us.”

“Well, actually, he just watches the trails,” I spoke up. “He’s probably keeping an eye out for stray campers and bears.”

“Exactly, Y/n. Thank you.”

“Oh.” Kaitlyn backed down, no longer caring about the new information.

“So, uh… what’s going on here? Everything ready?” Ryan inquired awkwardly.

“I did see a weird light in the treehouse across the lake,” Kaitlyn admitted. “It was pretty spooky. Maybe it’s that Hag you’re so obsessed with.” Ryan laughed haughtily, but Kaitlyn continued, "You know, I just realized we may never see each other again after tonight. I mean, other than you two, since you literally live with each other, but…”

“You’re just realizing that?” Dylan chuckled.

“I’m just trying to set the mood!”

Dylan plopped down on some wood, fetching a playlist on his phone. Ryan pulled me over to sit too, and I leaned against his shoulder as we waited. It was just in time, too, because Nick and Abby rejoined the group. And right after, with a goddamn wheelbarrow, Jacob and Emma appeared.

[dddomenstarstwst]

Play me a song, my love!

I used a fortune wheel to get a prompt and a character so blame everything on it. These are a little long, i guess. Please enjoy!

Prompt: Musician!Crush

Character/s: Dylan Lenivy, gn!reader

Genre: fluff

Format: headcanons

🎧 Dylan enjoys listening to music very much. He thinks music is much more than just a bunch of sounds and some fancy lyrics. He thinks music brings people from all over the globe together. For music it doesn't matter what your sexuality, race, gender identity or age is. That's why he loves music.

🎧 Dylan also loves to support small content creators. He's a sucker for some homemade accessories, artists who aren't as "popular", or people who make music themselves without expensive equipment and a team of professional editors.

🎧 Such as you. He found your youtube channel and spotify account and immediately fell in love. Your style, your voice, everything was perfect for him. He became your fan, he followed you on all your social media.

🎧 Dylan was excited for the summer camp, the place where he can became the version everybody loved. Blasé Dylan. Something he himself always wanted to be. Blasé Dylan is funny, sarcastic, easygoing. In one word - perfect. People won't like Dylan Dylan, because he's not as funny and optimistic, real Dylan is a nerd, he likes quantum physics, he enjoys big dusty books and quiet evenings.

🎧 Dylan unpacked his bag and was ready to get to know his fellow counselors. He knew Ryan, mysterious and alluring, a loner, not really expressive, but Dylan never blamed him. He himself didn't like excessive reactions he gave, but that's what people loved.

🎧 Nick was shy and polite, had a cool accent, Jacob was similar to Blasé Dylan, but probably more real, Emma, an influencer girl, was a little annoying, but fun nonetheless, Abi was an artist with a crazy amount of talent and passion for it, and Kaitlyn was badass, no need for more words.

🎧 But there was also someone that caught his attention. They were another counselor, a very cute one, he admitted to himself. They were awkward at first, but got along with everyone pretty quickly. Dylan swore their voice sounded familiar, but he just couldn't place to where he heard it.

🎧 You both bounded quite fast, became best friends, then he developed a crush on you, and you on him. However, none of you confessed, thinking it was just your imagination. No need to say the Hacketteers were screaming internally from both your stupidity.

🎧 Dylan was an announcer of the camp, so he got to play whatever songs he chose. Of course, that means he sometimes played very questionable ones, but most of the time he played whatever was on his playlist. And that means lots of songs produced by you.

🎧 Much to your surprise, because you never knew he liked your works. When you visit his radio hut, nervously darting your gaze everywhere but to his face, he asks if something is wrong. You don't answer.

🎧 Dylan freezes up, when you ask him if he knows who the artist is. He says your nickname, but you shake your head. 'What's the real identity of the musician, i mean. Do you know it?' He answers negatively, implying that they never disclosed it.

🎧 Dylan swears, he feels butterflies in his stomach when you laugh at his answer. He doesn't care if you think he's ridiculous. He just loves the sound. Dylan swears, but this time under his breath, when you tell him you're the artist that he so loves and adores

🎧 And he doesn't believe it, until you show him some unfinished lyrics and not fully recorded songs. Dylan stares at you, still in awe. His idol, someone he obsessed over so much, was standing right in front of him.

🎧 That said, Dylan will pester you with questions about music making process. He might not understand most of the stuff, but he loves when your eyes light up when talking about your passion. He'll also ask you to teach him how to make music, but that's not an easy task, so you left it for some other time.

🎧 Dylan considers you the biggest professional of all times, much to your embarrassed protests. He complements your skills and is genuinely curious about music from the creator's standpoint.

[litgwritersroom]

If you could rewrite the fallout of Dylan's lies, how would you change it?

FOR A MINUTE

Season 4 - 2400 words - Oliver / MC - Suz (MrsBSmooth)

In this rewrite, MC dumps Tom for not trusting her with Dylan, and for making her sleep outside. So when things kick off with Dylan in the kitchen, Oliver tries his best!

Oliver sat, staring into his breakfast, silently fuming. 

How dare he?

His first 24 hours in the villa had been hectic to say the least. He’d known from the second that Ellie had snuck into his box that she was something special. Their date had been magic. He found it so easy to open up to her. She was so kind. So thoughtful. So funny. She was so easy to talk to. He’d only ever dated girls that were his friends first. But… he already knew that he didn’t want to be friends with Ellie. She was something else. She was amazing. He wasn’t all that surprised that Dylan had tried to kiss her on their date. He seemed like the type to be a little pushy. But he was surprised at Tom’s behaviour. Tom had lost it. 

Oliver had liked Tom on TV. He’d seemed nice. A little insecure, but not the type to make rash decisions or get angry. But the moment Dylan had started putting lies in Tom’s head, he’d exploded. He’d accused her of sneaking around, called her names, and made her sleep outside. Ellie had been devastated. But she’d agreed. 

Again, how dare he?

Angie was furious. He was furious. A lot of people were furious at Tom. Oliver, Angie, Will, and Cora had all staged a protest, sleeping on the daybeds and loungers with Ellie. Oliver usually didn’t get involved in drama… especially not over people he’d met one day prior… but he was pretty annoyed at Tom. 

Oliver had seen Ellie on TV. She would never do something like that. She was loyal to a fault. Kind, but upfront. She would never lead someone on. She’d told James from day one that she only liked him as a friend, and they’d stuck together until she’d met Tom. She’d never done anything to warrant being banished outside for something she didn’t even do. If Tom was the one who wanted ‘space’, why couldn’t he sleep outside?

Oliver had woken up early, clearly still on surf time, and tried to think of a way he could make Ellie feel better. She’d mentioned on their date that she really liked Malaysian food when she’d had it… maybe… he could make her breakfast? Kaya jam! It was early enough that he’d have time to make it. He busied himself in the kitchen, pulling out eggs, brown sugar, coconut milk, and cornflour. He was a little surprised they had the coconut milk, and laughed as he stopped short of looking for pandan leaves. They definitely won’t have those. 

He found himself already a little homesick as he cracked the eggs. Usually, he had his kaya toast with a soft boiled egg, and he usually made an extra egg for Dandelion. Eggs were her favourite. He hoped she was okay without him. 

Eventually, Tom made his way down to the daybeds. Oliver frowned at him a little as he walked by, but he didn’t notice. He instead focussed on stirring the mixture on the stovetop, and eventually the familiar fragrance made him smile again. 

Youcef and Valentina came down, more early risers, and immediately took an interest in what he was doing. Unfortunately, they were followed by Dylan, who made his way into the kitchen, humming a happy tune. 

“So what is it?” Valentina asked. 

“It’s called Kaya jam. It’s like a coconutty-caramelly spread. It’s a Malay thing. You put it on toast.”

“Seems like a lot of effort just for a spread. Why not just use peanut butter or something?” Valentina asked. 

He smiled. “Yeah, but Ellie said yesterday she really liked Malaysian food. And she had a rough night, so I thought this might make her feel better.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Oliver. It’s nice that someone plans on treating her right.” Valentina cooed. Oliver noticed her grin at Youcef who raised an eyebrow back at her.

Dylan scoffed condescendingly, and Oliver furrowed his brow, ignoring him, not wanting anything to do with the lying, scheming idiot in stupidly small shorts. It wasn’t long afterward that Tom came back into the villa, clearly having been crying, and walked upstairs without a word. 

“Valentina, Youcef, would you mind stirring this for me? I want to go and talk to Tom quickly.”

They nodded, looking inquisitively over the pot, stirring it, as he followed Tom upstairs. 

“Tom… can I talk to you for a minute?”

Tom turned to face him. “She dumped me. Can you believe it? She dumped me.”

Oliver looked at him, furrowing his brow. “Yes. I can.”

Tom stopped, staring at Oliver in absolute disbelief.. “You can’t think she was right to?”

Oliver nodded. “Tom, she’s said it lots of times since she’s been in the villa. Trust is really important to her. You told her you trusted her. But you didn’t. And what’s worse, is that you made her sleep outside. You know that a lot of us weren’t happy about it.”

Tom frowned. “Well, it’s not like I was going to sleep outside. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Oliver frowned back at him. “Neither did she”

They sat in silence. Oliver wondered if he had anything in common with Tom.

“So I suppose you’re going to try your luck with her, now, are you?”

“I like her, and I’d like to get to know her better, but she’s probably pretty hurt. I’m not going to rush anything.”

Tom sighed. “Why are you even up here, Oliver? Why did you come up?”

“I just wanted to tell you that I think what you did wasn’t okay. And to see if Ellie was.”

“Why don’t you just go and ask her yourself?”

“I don’t want to bother her if she’s upset.”

Tom shrugged. “She was fine, but nice to know you care so much about my wellbeing, considering I’m the one who just got dumped.”

Oliver’s face fell a little. Darn. He’s right. 

“I’m sorry Tom, you’re right, that was very rude. Are you okay?”

Tom looked surprised, but nodded. “I won’t lie, I’m pretty upset. She’s… I’m going to kick myself for letting this one go. Not like it matters now, anyway. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to have a shower. Make myself look a bit more presentable if I’m going to have to be cracking on with the other girls.”

Oliver frowned. How can he move on that fast? He shook his head, disapprovingly. He was glad to hear Ellie was more or less okay, though. He turned, leaving Tom, and made his way back downstairs. 

He thanked Youcef and Valentina profusely for helping him, and they waved him off. Once the Kaya jam was done, he poured it into an old jam jar, sealing it and putting it in the fridge to cool. Knowing Tom was a bit upset probably meant that Ellie was. He wanted to go and check on Ellie. But he didn’t want her thinking he was swooping in on her the moment she’d had a row with her partner. So instead he fixed his own breakfast, not really in the mood for anything other than yoghurt. 

He, Valentina, and Youcef sat silently, all off in their own little worlds. Dylan continued humming his annoyingly repetitive tune. Oliver took another mouthful of his breakfast, but almost choked on it as Ellie walked in hand-in-hand with Angie. He swallowed, hard.

“Oh! Um, hi, Ellie. Morning.”

“Morning, Oliver.” She smiled at him, letting her eyes meet his for a little longer than he thought would be normal for a regular ‘good morning’. He felt his cheeks go bright red. 

Dylan cooed at Ellie. “Morning, baby!”

Ellie frowned, and looked at Angie. “Did you hear something? It’s weird… I could have sworn I heard a sound coming from over there” she waved in Dylan’s direction. “But all I can see is a worm, and worms don’t talk”

Oliver snorted into his breakfast, and Ellie beamed at him. He was mesmerised by her smile. He felt a dopey, half-grin plastering itself on his face in return.

She’s so pretty.

Dylan whined at her “Hey, what was that for?”

Oliver looked at him, incredulous. “Seriously, Dylan? You have to ask?”  

“Oi, you stay out of this.” Dylan glared.

Oliver shrugged. “Just because it’s not my fight, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to cheer from the sidelines.”

He snuck a glance at Ellie, who looked extremely grateful. 

Dylan scoffed. “You only care cos you’re soft on her”

Oliver blushed furiously. He wasn’t going to deny it. But he also wasn’t going to look at Ellie to see what her reaction was, either.

 “That’s neither here nor there. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that what you did was wrong. You’ve had a really poor attitude since we came into the villa, and you really just don’t seem like a very nice person at all. At least, from what I’ve seen”

“Oh yeah? And what is it you’ve seen, then?”

Ellie stepped in. “I’ll tell you what I’ve seen, Dylan. I’ve seen a giant piece of shit. I don’t know what your plan was, or if you thought I was dumb enough to fall for your negging, or your lies, but I didn’t. I never kissed you, I never told you I wanted to be with you, and Valentina and Tom were never sneaking around behind our backs.”

“I never said they were.”

“You implied it”

“That’s different to saying it” he said, with a disgusting smirk. 

Oliver shook his head. “You did everything you could to make life hard for Ellie. And congratulations, Dylan you did. But i think the thing that no one understands is why. Why try and break up her and Tom? Was it just to prove that you could? Because I know that it was never because you actually cared about her. This isn’t how you treat someone you care about.”

Dylan scoffed. “I’m an alpha. Oliver. And don’t ask me to explain what it means. You wouldn’t understand. Just know… women love it.”

Ellie scowled at him. “I can promise you, as a woman, we do not.”

Dylan smirked. “Agree to disagree”

Oliver slammed his spoon down on the counter. “Dylan, shut up.”

Everyone went silent, and Oliver scowled at him. 

“I’m sorry for yelling, but she’s already told you she’s not interested, and you’re not taking no for an answer. It’s not okay. You don’t get to tell girls what they do and don’t like, and you definitely need to apologise to Ellie, and to Tom, and to both Valentina and Bruno for meddling in their relationship. You’ve made an absolute fool of yourself.”

“I did Ellie a favour. Now she can see how little Tom trusted her.”

Ellie interjected. “You’re right, he didn’t trust me, so I suppose I can thank you for that. But where does that leave you? Why the fuck would I trust you, now? Now that I know you’re a liar, and you’re sneaky, and you’re just a colossal arsehole?”

Dylan wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Because I’m hot”

“You’re starting to make me really angry, Dylan.” Oliver frowned.

“Well what am I supposed to do? Suck up to everyone and be all sweet and cuddly like precious baby Oliver, then? What are you, five?” Dylan seethed

Angie furrowed her brow. “Fuck off, Dylan. You’re full of shit. No one gives a toss what you think. We actually want Ollie here. We don’t want you here. Next dumping, you’re gone.”

“You think I’m full of shit? I’m not just going to sit around being soft, making her breakfast so she feels better.”

Ellie’s eyes went wide, and she looked at him. “You… did you?”

Oliver blushed harder than he ever had before. “Um… well… it’s not….Valentina and Youcef helped.”

Valentina laughed. “We stirred it for like five minutes while you went and told Tom off. Tell her what you made her, babe.”

Ellie’s face lit up like he’d just made her day. He blushed about sixteen shades of magenta. 

“Well… You said yesterday that you liked Malaysian food… and there’s this breakfast spread we have on buttered toast that I thought might cheer you up, that’s all.”

“So he made it for you. Specially” Valentina cooed. 

Ellie dropped Angie’s hand, and started walking toward him. His eyes went wide, and he turned toward her, as he felt an immense panic rising in his throat.

Was she going to kiss him? 

He felt a wave of panic, hoping she remembered what they’d spoken about. And even though she wasn’t with Tom any more, he still didn’t want their first kiss to be in front of Dylan.

In a few steps, she was in front of him, and threw her arms around his neck in an appreciative hug. 

“That is so thoughtful, Oliver, thank you.”

He let his arms wrap around her waist, as he laughed slightly. 

“It’s just a kind of jam on toast, I guess. But I haven’t done the toast bit yet ‘cause I didn’t want it to get cold.”

She laughed into his chest. “How are you single?”

Dylan threw his hands in the air, “You can’t be bloody serious. What the hell has happened to women?” He turned on his heel, and started to storm off in frustration.

“Oh no you don’t!” Angie screamed, following him. “You don’t get off that easy. You get yer arse back here, Dylan, you nasty piece of human shit!!”

“Get him, Ange!” Valentina yelled. She and Youcef grinned at each other, following after Dylan and Angie. 

Oliver suddenly found himself alone, with Ellie still wrapped up in his arms. “I’m sorry for raising my voice. He just really gets under my skin.”

She chuckled. “Are you real? Are you actually this sweet?”

He blushed. “I’m not sure what to say to that, but… thank you? And… I spoke to Tom before, and he said…”

Ellie shook her head. “We’ve broken up.”

Oliver hugged her again. “I’m sorry, Ellie. Are you okay?”

She sighed. “Look, I didn’t want to say it in front of Dylan, but I think Tom and I were already on the outs anyway. Plus… I…” She looked at him, and smiled a little. “I had a really nice time on our date yesterday. A really, really nice time.”

He felt the dopey smile plastering itself on his face again. “So did I.”

She blushed.

He bit his lip, willing every drop of bravery in him. 

“Um… Ellie?”

“Yeah?”

“At the next recoupling…”

Her breath caught a little. “...yeah?”

“If Dylan and I get to pick first… can I pick you?”

She broke into a huge smile. “I would really like that, Oliver. And if it’s girls’ choice, I’d really like to pick you… if that’s okay?”

His heart did a flip, and he beamed at her. 

“I would really like that, too.”

He felt his heart racing in his chest as she stood closely to him.

God, he couldn’t wait until he could kiss her.

[koolkat9]

All is Calm, All is Bright

Rating: T

Pairing: GerEng

Word Count: 627

Author's Note: Happy holidays everyone. I originally had another plan for my holiday fic this year, but that has been taking longer than expected so I may have to save it for next year. So instead I have two one-shots planned, this being the first. I'm aiming for the second to be posted Christmas Eve. Anyway, enjoy!

Read on AO3

Big brothers were annoying. Both Arthur and Ludwig knew this all too well.

“If he tries anything funny, just let me know, and I’ll take care of it,” Dylan said with a smile, though Arthur and Ludwig both knew what lay beneath that sweet demeanor.

“Yes, yes. Now fuck off.”

“Merry Christmas to you too, my precious baby brother.” With a pinch to Arthur’s cheeks, Dylan was finally off, Arthur closing the door behind him.

“Thank god,” Arthur sighed. He slid down the door until he was sitting. “Sorry about that, darling.”

Ludwig smiled and crouched down. “Don’t worry about it. We’re even. Gilbert is not that much different.”

“But finally, we’re alone,” Arthur smirked. He pulled Ludwig against him, eagerly kissing him until the German was breathless. Hands gripped the back of Ludwig’s shirt as he melted against Arthur.

“I…I thought we were waiting until tonight,” Ludwig panted.

“Think of this as a preview.”

Ludwig rolled his eyes, trying to keep his smile down. He got back up on his feet and pulled Arthur up with him.

Three days dedicated to just them. Ludwig couldn’t picture spending Christmas any other way. Sure, family was important this time of year, which is why all their get-togethers with family and friends were planned just before the holiday (save for their celebration with Peter and his family, which was scheduled on Boxing Day). But the few days leading up to Christmas alongside Christmas day itself were set aside for just them. A time to recharge and reminisce about how far they had come from their very first Christmas together.

“So what’s on our schedule tonight? Baking or movies?”

“Movies and hot chocolate tonight, then an afternoon of baking tomorrow, then our little football game after dinner, and for Christmas day present exchange, and then…whatever we want.”

Arthur cackled. “I must be rubbing off on you. No plans on Christmas after Christmas morning? Really.”

“Hey! I can be laid back…every now and then,” Ludwig practically whined.

Arthur smirked and rolled his eyes, not believing him for a second. He pulled Ludwig onto the couch and flicked on the T.V. “How about something a little stronger than hot chocolate?”

“And make me deal with your hangover?” Ludwig scoffed though Arthur could easily tell he was putting on an act.

“I can just stay in bed all morning. We don’t have anything planned until the afternoon anyway.”

Ludwig let it go, and Arthur rose to get them each a beer as well as two glasses, a bottle of rum, and orange juice.

“What a collection for a Christmas movie marathon,” Ludwig teased, cracking open a beer.

“It’s more fun this way,” Arthur assured him, already pouring himself some rum.

Ludwig grimaced. “I can’t believe you still drink that straight.”

“It’s for the nostalgia. Takes me back to the sea, the salty air–”

“‘The gentle rock of the waves, when we had nothing but the stars to guide us,'” Ludwig recited.

“Quite right,” Arthur growled playfully.

By their second movie and three glasses of rum, Arthur was plastered. Ludwig was following behind, slightly sedated and tipsy. Arthur had melded into Ludwig’s side, drooling slightly as he fought to stay awake through Arthur Christmas.

Ludwig smiled softly. Grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch, he covered himself and Arthur, who was now fast asleep on his shoulder. So much for the night plans. Turning on some holiday rom-com as their previous movie came to an end, Ludwig settled down, pulling Arthur closer.

He wasn’t tired or inebriated enough to join his lover in sleep. For now, he’d enjoy the silence, the cheesy, predictable romance, and the adorable face of a sleeping Arthur, clinging to him as if Ludwig was a teddy bear.

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Innocent hug

Dylan O’Brien x reader

Warnings: mentions of rape, sexual assault, cussing, mentions of smut, Dylan being sweet (this can be possibly triggering!!!!!!) angst

Promt: when Dylan finds you crying after an uncomfortable interview, the two of you find your selves admitting things you never thought you would say again (y’all i just, I don’t even know, I can’t write freaking descriptions hahaha)

Word count: 2712

Disclaimer: so basically the interview is for maze runner, just pretend that you play another character in the movie that was like Thomas’ best friend and newts love interest (also y’all pls send some requests)

Not my gif! Credits to @dyobrien! <3

“Hi I’m Dylan O’Brien!” Started Dylan trying to control himself from his laughter, before the cameras had begun rolling Dylan had cracked a joke that he was still trying to recover from.

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N” you said smiling

“I’m Thomas brodie sangster” Thomas said giving the camera a small wave

“And we’re the cast of maze runner” you said still smiling, also trying to control your laughter

“Or at least some of it” Dylan added on making everyone lose it again. Dylan practically fell out of his chair, Thomas giggled and you just kept laughing. Dylan had a habit of making you laugh, it was one of the many things you loved about him. You and Dylan had been best friends since you met on the set of teen wolf. You were a guest star who was quickly killed off. You and Dylan hit it off immediately, you two just got each other. You had the same sense of humor, same interests, and generally you two just felt normal around each other. The two of you stayed connected even after you left the show. Then you were lucky enough to land another part with Dylan in maze runner. Dylan played Thomas, and you played Y/C/N, Thomas’ best friend and Newts love interest. You had become extremely close with the cast, they were like your family. Since the release of the scorch trials you and Dylan had become quite the hit. Though you weren’t together in the movie, everyone shipped it. Two years after scorch trials, you and Dylan were in another movie together! American assassin, Dylan played Mitch Rapp and you of course played Y/C/N, Mitch’s love interest. Everyone wanted you two together, and it was not secret, the two of you were constantly teased on set for “flirting”.

You were doing this interview for the release of your latest movie, Maze Runner: The Death Cure. You were very sad that this series was coming to an end, you were definitely gonna miss it, everyone was.

“So my first question is for all of you actually, out of the three of you, who is the funniest?” The interview met asked

“Dylan and Y/N are both quite hilarious, especially when they are together, they are always cracking jokes and laughing” Thomas said looking at you and Dylan

“We do have fun” you agreed “honestly though I think we are all pretty funny, but Dylan I would say wins this one” you said looking to your right at Dylan

“What can I say? I’m a true born comedian” said Dylan

The questions continued, Dylan and Thomas were asked a lot about work and their new projects, whereas you seemed to be getting the clothes questions, the personal life questions. Things like, “where do you recommend buying clothes?” “How was your trip to Italy” “what are you wearing today”. Sadly that was fairly normal.

“Alright Y/N your up again, now the buzzing question everywhere right now is, are you single?” The interviewer asked

“Yes I am single” you smiled even though you were generally annoyed inside “Im that girl at the family reunions who gets introduced to the 3rd cousins, and who always gets told by the grandmas, “see honey this is why you are still single”” you said

Next to you Dylan weesed and began laughing hysterically. Thomas again just giggled his sweet laugh.

“Well do they know the men you work with? I mean your standards must be pretty high huh?” The interviewer pushed

“Yes yes I guess they are” you said, Dylan laughed next to you

“Why aren’t you with any of them Y/N?” He asked

Your eyebrows knitted together at this question, was he really asking this?

“Well blondie over here” you said gesturing to Thomas “is taken as you know, and taken by one of the nicest people I know, so”

“Well what about you Dylan, I mean the media definitely wants you two together, you two are like Tom hanks and Meg Ryan, and hey if I were you I would totally hit that” he said to Dylan

You froze at this, wtf was this guy doing? Dylan’s eyebrows shot up and his jaw clenched, and Thomas glared at the interviewer.

“Really man?” Dylan asked, you adjusted yourself in your seat, moving your arms to cover your body, you suddenly felt exposed and uncomfortable.

“I was just kidding with you guys” the interviewer said laughing it off

“Wasn't very funny” Dylan said

“Sorry man, didn’t mean any harm” he said putting his hands up in defense

You were shaking, you had a past. A past no one knew about, a past that would be easily triggered by a comment like that.

“Maybe think before you speak next time” Thomas added

“Ya, not cool man” Dylan said

The tension in the room was deadly. But still the interview continued on with only two questions left.

After the interview everyone was checking to make sure you were ok, Dylan kept saying that he’d beat his ass and Thomas just repeated that he is a dick. On the way back to the hotel you were all staying at, the consern eventually died down. Thomas and Dylan were planning on meeting up with ki Hong and kaya at a bar somewhere. They asked if you wanted to join but you kindly refused saying that you needed some me time. They were hesitant at first but then gave in and left you in your hotel room. Once the door closed you ran to the bathroom, looking at yourself in the gold rimmed mirror. Then suddenly you were crying.

“No!” You yelled at yourself “don’t cry, stop it Y/N!” You told yourself, but the tears just kept flowing and they wouldn’t stop.

Dylan’s POV

I swear I was gonna murder that man, who the fuck makes comments like that? I knew Y/N, I knew how this was going to go. I could talk she was shaken up and uncomfortable, but she would never admit that. She never let people in, she claimed she didn’t want to bother anyone with her personal problems. Leaving her alone in her hotel room felt wrong, I knew she wasn’t okay. I could see it in her face. As we walked away from her door, down to the lobby I felt the sudden urge to go back. To run back to her and take her in my arms, stroke her hair and tell her it was ok. Then I decided that that was exactly what I was going to do.

“Hey man I think imma go back, you know how she is, I don’t think she should be alone” I told Thomas, he looked back at me with understanding eyes

“Ofcourse mate” he said nodding, “I think that is a brilliant idea”

“Tell kaya and ki Hong I’m sorry I missed them” I said already waking back to Y/Ns room

“Will do!” He responded

Then I burst out into a run, running back down the hall and to the elevator. I clicked the 6th floor and the second the doors opened I was out, running to Y/Ns door.

Once I got there I took the liberty of unlocking it with the extra key she had given me. She said it was only for emergencies, but I thought I could make an exception. I walked quietly into the hotel room, I opened my mouth to yell for her but then shut it again. I heard muffled cry’s coming from the bedroom. Shit, I hope she’s watching some random soap opera, I hope that’s not her crying.

“Hey Y/N?” I said opening the door to the bedroom

Your POV

When you heard Dylan say your name you quickly sprang into action. Because you were still in the bathroom he wouldn’t be able to see u for at least a few more seconds. You wiped your eyes and tired to put yourself together before walking out to greet him.

“Hey Dylan” you said smiling, keeping up your act

Dylan studied you, he saw your smile, but he also saw your red rimmed eyes and your fidgeting hands, he heard the slight crack in your voice and the tiredness in it as well.

“Are you alright?” He asked stepping slowly toward you

“Ya ya I’m fine! What are you doing here?” You said, way to quickly

Dylan looked at you with sad eyes, it broke him to know that you were hiding from him. “I was worried, I wanted to make sure you were ok”

“We’ll hate to break it to ya, but um you came back for nothing, I am totally fine, faaaaaantastic!” you said smiling at him even more

“You can talk to me” he said stepping closer to you again

“There is nothing to talk about” you said

“Y/N, I know you, I know what you are doing, your not ok, and your hiding it, your shutting me out again”

“Dylan you need to calm down! I. Am. Fine!” You said, he was right though, and you both knew it “you should really go have fun!”

“Y/N-“ he started before being cut off again

“I insist Dylan, please, don’t worry about me, ok?” You said smiling sweetly

“That’s a lot easier said than done” he said looking down, then an idea came to him, it was horrible and he knew you would hate him, but he needed you to let him in “but if that’s what you want, then I’ll leave” he said

“Yes! Go have a good time!” You’d aid practically pushing him out of the bedroom

“See ya later!” You said closing the bedroom door behind him

Dylan walking over to the front door, opened it, and then closed it, still standing in your hotel room. Meanwhile you were listening to hear him leave, and when the door shut you began crying again. Then suddenly strong arms were tapped around your body, pulling you in close. You jumped.

“Hey hey, it’s just me” Dylan said stroking your hair

“But-but you left” you said looking up at him confused

“I didn’t, I’m sorry angel but I needed you to be honest with me” he said looking at you in your eyes. His heart breaking into a million pieces, he hated seeing you like this.

“I-I’m so sorry” you said beginning to cry even harder

“Don’t be sorry angel, it’s ok I’m here” he said hushing you and continuing to stroke you hair. He held you in his arms and never let you go. He held you as you cried, though he was also breaking inside.

After what seemed like forever, your tears ran out and you began to calm down. Dylan still holding you close.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked sweetly

“Not really” you said sniffling

“You know I will go back and kill That guy if you want me too right?” He said pulling away from you so he could see your face

You didn’t look at him in the eyes, though his tried to find yours

“No it’s ok, really. That guy was a Douche bag, it’s not his fault I have shit” because you had just been crying and weren’t thinking strait, those words just slipped through your mouth. Dylan’s eyes widened and he moved your chin to that you had to face him.

“What kind of shit?” He asked

“Nothing” you said

He widened his eyes saying “really?”

You nodded in response to his action.

“Come on Y/N I’m here, please just talk to me” he pleaded

You stood up and out of Dylan’s grasp. “Listen Dylan, there is a lot you don’t know about me, and it’s all for good reason, ok? I recommend leaving it alone” you said

“I have left it alone for long enough Y/N!” He said standing up as well

“Whatever Dylan” you said waving away his statement

“No! Do not shut me out!” He said walking over to you again grabbing you hands, you could tell he was getting mad, but when he grabbed you it scared you

“No stop! Please! I’m sorry!” You pleaded, Dylan let go of your hands. His heart broke. He looked at you with concerned eyes.

“I’m sorry” he said, he noticed you were shaking, he was so confused, your reaction wasn’t normal. “Please just talk to me, please?”

You sighed and sat down on the bed, putting your face in your hands. Dylan sighed, giving up he began walking away when suddenly you began talking.

“I was 20, it was the first week of my sophomore year of college, my best friend at the time was bugging me about going to some frat party for back to school, the guys she liked had asked her to come and bring a friend. I told her I had to study but she didn’t believe me because it was the first week of school. I wasn’t a party person but I gave in. We got there, and she was drunkenly talking to the guy. I only had one drink, that the guy, his name was Brandon gave me. I started to feel sick and I went to go lie down. I was not thinking strait and when Brandon offered to help me I accepted, he carried me to the bedroom and put me down on the bed. By that time I was confused but barely conscious. He um…” you hesitated, Dylan stared at u in disbelief “he rapped me, he fucking rapped me. I tried to tell my friend but she just accused me of being jealous and not happy for her, saying Brandon would never do that. She never spoke to me again. Then a year later my boyfriend, who I had only been dating for a month or so wanted to ya know do it and I told him I wasn’t ready, I lied telling him I was a virgin. He was fine with it and he said he would wait. He asked again a month later and I still said no, this time he was more angry. We fought and I told him what happened and he called me a slut. We didn’t technically break up but we didn’t really speak. I felt bad so one time I decided to surprise him in his dorm. He was there with another girl. He cheated on me. I never told anyone else about what Brandon did to me. Not my parents, not my friends, not the police.” You finished in tears again

Dylan’s heart was in a million pieces, his best friend was raped and he didn’t know about it. Ofc it was a few years before you met him but he still kicked himself for not protecting you. He loved you! He loved you so damn much. He walked and he wrapped you up in his arms.

“It’s okay angel” he spoke softly so he would scare you. He let his emotions take hold of him, he no longer had control of what he said, “I love you so much and I will never ever leave you or hurt you, I will always protect you.” He told you

You looked up, he just said that he loved you, “what?” You asked

Dylan then realized what he had said “oh um ha” he said scratching the back of his head, screw it he thought. “Ya I love you Y/N, I have loved you for a long time, and and I feel bad telling you now, I don’t wanna take advantage of you but I do. I love you and-“ he was cut off by your lips on his. They were soft, moved as if they were meant for each other.

“I love you too” you said as you smiled

Dylan let out a breath of relief and kissed you again. When Dylan met you, you were nervous about your new job next to big actors, Dylan hugged you trying to comfort you. You never forgot that hug.

You layed in his arms, and for once in a long time you felt light, happy, and safe. And it was all because of one innocent hug.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

what about namjoon's and taehyung's personalities doesn't vibe with you? this is just curiosity. for me, for example, i think i would vibe really well with seokjin because he is super down to earth, unpretentious and funny. i think i wouldn't get along that well with namjoon because he kind of intimidates me with all that book and art gallery stuff. his whole personality seems to revolve around those things... i believe he's quite smart and eloquent, but it would put me off from approaching him.

I agree with you about Jin as well. But I also see Jin as the guy who knows how to deal with the business and say what's on his mind. That's hot.

You see, you feel intimated by RM because of that book and art gallery stuff. Let's say I understand the feeling. When I was in my first year of college, I was 19 and I ended up in a bar with some of my friends and a famous director. I couldn't say a word to him all night. He was too smart and wise for my stupid self at that time. But once I got older I realized that all these people who we like to think so high of, are really just that. People. Just like everyone else. Once you really internalize that, you don't get intimidated anymore. And if I'm to be really honest about RM, I see a guy who doesn't go around acting like some dickhead about how smart he is, but I also get the vibe that he enjoys others looking at him like that. I also don't like some of his leadership skills. I bugs me that he speaks over the other guys and I think that at some point, BTS and they company should have changed their strategy and make sure everyone has an actual voice in interviews. Use a translator. But this is strictly the vibe I get. I might as well be incredibly wrong and he's not like that at all. What do I know?

And about Tae, once again, I've been around the artsy type. As you have noticed, I am incredibly biased so I hope stans understand where I'm coming from. I'm risking a lot answering this ask, but whatever.

So Tae is an art hoe. So am I and I know how annoying it can be. Which is why I can smell it from miles away. So you like Van Gogh and jazz and you listen to Bob Dylan and watch artsy films. So? that's not a personality trait (I used to think that's the case, but that was me in high school). And he is a bit bratty which is just something that I don't like about him. I don't mind brattiness, I just don't like it on him. I don't really have a valid reason for why I feel like that. It's just is.

This is just about vibes, that's all.

[writingsbychlo]

Honestly as mcu characters I could see him as Deadpool or Star Lord, but he would also slay Reed Richards and Cyclops 👍 in my opinion

when i made that post my mind was in a place of creating new characters instead of recasting the old ones tbh but i did not make that clear and it very deeply shows

lemme just-

stiles stilinski is a distant cousin of tony stark and he annoys literally every single one of the avengers including natasha but natasha would sometimes find him funny and would not let people speak badly of him because she likes the way he stumbles over his words in front of her and he tells her facts about spiders

stuart twombly attended midtown high a few years before peter parker and has seen some of the weirdest shit going on in new york. got really mad when he heard there was a stark internship that he couldn’t find anything about to apply for and when it came out that peter was spiderman he felt a lot better. he vaguely knew the kid from a robotics class and send him one (1) single text to say that he hoped he was okay after it all came out and then forgot to reply when peter responded.

thomas was doing his student residency at the hospital doctor strange worked at and witnessed a lot of weird shit when steven just showed up and then kept his mouth shut and steven knows this and they both just ignore that it happened and pretend they don’t know one another anymore.

dave hodgman got snapped out of existence and when he came back cassie was in his class and they’re dating, scott loves him and told him he was antman within two weeks. dave was very spooked out but now thinks it’s really cool.

mitch rapp is a CIA transfer and sometimes SHIELD reaches out to help with bigger threats and sometimes they sent littler simple things over to mitch to deal with so he’s met a lot of the avengers and literally couldn’t care less. probably went on a date with sharon carter at some point before deciding she’s tasteless and kinda intense in a spooky way and not calling her after the date.

sam taylor hates the avengers with a burning passion because they do so much destruction but he also loves that they get to do so much repair work. he hates that he keeps getting shouted at by the government for taking ‘souvenirs’ but he loves getting paid, so.

joel dawson stumbles his way into every bad situation every single time it’s like a GIFT he tries to hard to avoid them and always ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and steve rogers now knows his name with a ‘really, joel? you didn’t hear the explosions around you?’ ‘I had my headphones on.’

that is what i meant lmao not dylan himself i was more just inserting his characters into the MCU world

[marshunter06]

@elskamo because I adore you I will write a thing for it, but tbh this really should be a multichaptered fic. I’m just the worst at writing those, so here’s a shortened version. Also you should totally write that alternate world tour idea, it sounds super dope!

“If you think he’s cute, why don’t you just go talk to him?”

“Who are you even talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, I know you Duncan. Just because things didn’t work out with us doesn’t mean you’re not still my best friend. I can read you like a book.”

“You should stick with reading actual books Princess, don’t you have other people to bother. Like Trent?”

“Stop trying to change the subject, he’s literally looked over at you at least twice now. Go say hi.”

“Not interested, besides you know I only have eyes for you Court.”

“Not interested.”

“You break my heart Princess.”

“And you’re unbelievable. Oh look, there’s Heather and oh!”

“What?”

“Looks like she knows your guy.”

“No, Courtney! Don’t you dare!”

Too late, his ex girlfriend proves to still be a pain in his ass as she waves down Heather and motions for her and her handsome friend to join them in their booth. Courtney makes sure Heather sits next to her as they’re all introduced to Alejandro, a childhood friend from her daycare days who she managed to keep in contact with.

“Duncan, Court, this is Al.”

“Heather.”

“Kidding, his name is Alejandro. He just moved here, so he’ll need all the social interaction he can get.”

“I was doing fine on my own.”

“Sure, that’s why I found you napping on the couch with a documentary on whales playing in the background. You need to get out more.”

“I told you already I had it on for the ocean sounds.”

“Dude’s got a point, waves are pretty soothing… um… you know at least that’s what the homies… I mean Geoff tells me.”

Courtney shoots Duncan a pointed look as to say I told you so when he just had a brainfart and blanked out on the words, it had nothing to do with how distracting his new… friend is. None at all.

😏😏😏

Heather: You know if you wanna talk to him, you should’ve just done it. I’ve never seen you this nervous before, I really gotta meet this guy.

Alejandro: Haha, really funny Heather. The only reason why I’m even looking at him is because you’re running thirty minutes late.

Heather: Right… it’s why you’ve only been sending me messages about him when there must be at least twenty other people at the diner.

Alejandro: The guy has a green mohawk! It’s very in your face!

Heather: Oh yeah, not that you were paying extra attention to him or anything… I mean you must just have keen observation skills to see that his eyes are a unique shade of light blue you’ve never seen before and that he has a dimple only on his right cheek when he smiles… but you would notice that about anyone.

He was still struggling with a reply when he catches the guy he totally hasn’t been checking out, no matter what Heather thinks, looks over at him for the third time since he’s been in the corner spot. The sound of the door chiming along with a pair of heels on the tiles lets him know his lunch buddy has finally arrived. She doesn’t even apologize for being late, just glances at her phone and smiles at her while firing away a text message before putting the phone back in her purse.

“You’re not even going to say hello?”

“No time, we have some people to meet.”

Before he even has the chance to question her further, she’s already pulling him out of the booth towards, the guy with the green hair and his friend… that Heather clearly knew and didn’t tell him about. Great, he’s been set up. She shoots him a wink as she sits down next to the brunette he knows as Courtney, leaving him no choice but to slide in next to Duncan.

😏😏😏

“Wait, oh my gosh Duncan! This is big! Your first date together! Where are you guys going?”

“Slow your roll Princess, it’s not a date. We’re just going to watch that new scary movie since someone bailed on me.”

“Going to a movie is a date, I knew you liked him!”

“Yeah, no. Dude seems chill and he was free, that’s the only reason. We’re just two guys hanging out.”

“Sure, just like how Trent and I are just two friends who text each other everyday.”

“We don’t text everyday…”

“Ha! I knew you had his number!”

“... of course I do… we’re friends… don’t wait up.”

😏😏😏

“Wow, look at you getting all dressed up, hot date? Actually don’t answer that, where’s Duncan taking you?”

“I’m just wearing a button down and how’d you know I was hanging out with Duncan?”

“From the way you were smiling at your phone even though you two have been texting non stop all day, and is that what you’re calling it? Hanging out.”

“We’re just going to see a movie.”

“Netflix and chill.”

“No Heather, at a movie theater.”

“Oh, a bit voyeuristic for the first date, but I’m not judging.”

“We’re just friends. Nothing’s happening. I don’t like him like that.”

“Right, just remember to use protection.”

😏😏😏

Somehow they end up having a picnic in the park a couple weeks after their movie not date. Clearly neither of them are interested in being anything more than friends, though their roommates keep trying to push them together. Even though again, they were just friends. Just two bros eating homemade food they made for each other on a nice sunny afternoon in a secluded part of the park next to the lake. Totally normal and definitely not a second date. It’s easy to confuse it as one, especially when they start talking and get to know each other more, what their families are like, favorite foods, hobbies. Just questions to get to know each other better, as friends of course.

😏😏😏

“So when are you going to make things official with Alejandro?”

“Nice to see you too Heather. Courtney’s over at Trent’s.”

“Dodge the question again. I dare you.”

“Al and I are just friends.”

“Woah. This is serious.”

“What?”

“Alejandro doesn’t just let anyone call him Al. He hates being called that…”

“Yeah I know cause José’s a douche… stop looking at me like that.”

“And you’re still trying to convince me there’s nothing there?”

“He doesn’t like me like that and I don’t see him that way. We’re just friends.”

“You two are impossible I swear.”

😏😏😏

“Courtney? Heather’s not…”

“I’m not here for her, what are your intentions towards Duncan?”

“I don’t know what…”

“Don't finish that sentence. You guys have been dating for the past two months. Is this just a fling? I need to know how invested I need to be in this. Duncan’s been through a lot already…”

“I know, his parents, really his dad is an asshole.”

“He told you that…”

“Yeah, of course he did. I know about his time in juvie too, he had a crush on…”

“Dylan. Alright, I guess we’re done here.”

“You’re just gonna leave now?”

“Yep. Oh and by the way, his birthday is coming up…”

“This saturday.”

“Exactly… and I’ll be busy working overtime that day which means I’ll probably end up crashing at Trent’s since it’s so much closer to the office…”

“Didn’t you request his birthday off months in advance.”

“He doesn’t know that.”

😏😏😏

A whole year passes and somehow Duncan and Alejandro are still in denial. They act like a couple, invading each other’s space, giving each other gifts for birthdays and anniversaries, and holding hands in public. Courtney and Heather have both caught them on five separate occasions of them in promising positions with red lips and hickes they tried to hide. It’s exhausting getting them to admit they like each other and are together in a relationship. At this rate, the girls have given up, as long as they’re happy.

😏😏😏

“You’re going to smudge your mascara, I thought you used the waterproof one.”

“Guess I grabbed the wrong one. I’m surprised you’re not crying? How did I become the emotional one.”

“Probably because I’m still annoyed at them for denying they’re relationship when they’re literally getting married right now! Who does that?”

“Let it go Court, they just don’t want to admit we’re right.”

“Okay, but doing this for tax breaks is a lousy excuse. Just like when they were claiming they wanted to save more money by moving in together when our leases were nearing its end.”

“Boys, what are you going to do. Speaking of…”

“This is their day Heather. Look at those two. I swear they’ve only had eyes for each other since the day at the diner.”

“About that…”

“... no… you’re kidding!”

“Fate works in mysterious ways. Who would’ve known they met when they were kids and never forgot about each other.”

“Well that explains why they were so drawn to each other in the first place.”

Duncan and Alejandro both gave a special smile to their former roommates finally acknowledging that they were right to think there was something more to their friendship. Funny how they kept trying to convince themselves there was nothing there when it couldn’t be farther from the truth. They were always meant to meet and continue falling together.

[puckyess]

4 Times He Fake Proposed + 1 Time He Did For Real | Shay Donovan

Expect a double post this week! Hope everyone enjoys our Glue Guy! I’d love to know your favorite part, my inbox is open (& reblog pretty please!)

*** FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED ***

Words: 7k

Free Drinks

“Shay, what do you mean you don’t have your wallet?” You asked incredulously, glancing at him as you pulled into a parking space at the restaurant. “I specifically asked you if I should bring my purse before we left”.

“Now we’re going to be late, again because we have to go back and get money or we’re going to have to ask one of the boys to cover us again. For being called mom and dad we sure don’t act like it”. You huff, laying out your options for him.

“Don’t even worry that pretty little head of yours, Y/N. I’ve got us covered”. The grin he wears spells trouble and you know you’re not going to like whatever he’s planning in his head, but you ask anyway.

“I don’t like that look you’re wearing. How exactly do you have us covered with no money? Are you going to wash dishes in the back to cover our meal?” You sarcastically ask.

“Nope” he says, popping the ‘p’ at the end and grabbing your hand. You think he’s being sweet at first but then he’s pulling your hand closer to his face and examining your fingers. He nods as if he’s found what he’s looking for and slides one of your rings off of your finger before placing a light kiss on that finger and hopping out of the car.

You’re quick after him. “Shay Donovan, what’re you doing with that? Give it back” but he’s already holding open the door, waiting on you.

“After you, my lady” he says with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face. You refuse to walk in, standing in the middle of the door until he answers you.

“Give me my ring, Shay” you demand with your hand out.

He shakes his head at you and pulls the door open further. You’re getting irritated and there’s another couple getting out of their car so you stomp your foot at him. “Damnit, Shay just give it back” you hiss. He pulls you close to him, moving you out of the way to let the couple through and gives them a charming smile as they thank him. You roll your eyes at him once they pass and poke his ribs maybe a little harder than necessary.

“Ow!” He exclaims, putting distance between the two of you again and rubbing his side.

You just give him a look that says “well? You deserved that” and wait for him to hand over the piece of jewelry that was in his pocket.

“Look I’m just gonna fake propose to you and then everyone will just buy our meal and drinks” he says with a casual shrug like he’s talking about what he’s going to order.

Your mouth falls open. That was his plan? “Shay!” You exclaim in disbelief. “You cannot be serious! That’s awful. You can’t do that!”

He nods “yes I can! It’s perfect, everyone will believe it and they’ll offer to treat us. It’s what you do”. How he knows that, you’re not sure. He’s probably right but you didn’t know how you felt about a fake proposal, especially when you wanted the real thing so bad you weren’t sure you could handle a fake one and in front of a restaurant full of people.

He could tell by the look on your face that you were mulling over his proposal. “Come on, it’s a good plan. It’s not like you have a better one” he says trying to persuade you.

“Yes, actually I do. I’ll just ask one of the guys to pay for us and I’ll Venmo them. Bold of you to assume I’d say yes by the way, what if I were to say no?  bet ya didn’t think of that one now did ya bud?” You challenge.

This time his jaw drops and he’s stuttering, clearly thrown off his game. But he recovers just as quickly “well then I’d be the one getting free pity drinks and you‘d be getting booed out of the restaurant” he says as he holds the door open for you once more.

You glare as you walk past him, “No funny business Mr. Donovan. I’ll just ask your brother to cover us again”. But the ring was still in his possession so you should’ve known.

Despite not running back to your apartment for Shay’s wallet, you’re still the last ones to take a seat at your table. You barely sit down before the waiter is taking your drink orders.

“Rydes”, you sing song and bat your lashes.

He groans, “Let me guess, Shay conveniently forgot his wallet again?”

“I’ll pay you back” you promise him, giving his thigh a little squeeze.

“I’m telling mom to cut your allowance and give more to me. I end up buying for you guys all the time” he whines.

Shay rolls his eyes. “Very funny. Actually I have an announcement to make”, he says, clearing his throat.

Everyone’s eyebrows raise, especially your own. He actually looked nervous as he got out of his seat.

“Y/N, I knew you were the one from the very minute I laid eyes on you, cheering me on in a shoving match on the ice. You’ve been my biggest supporter since the night I accidentally on purpose spilled my drink on you to get your number and I can’t imagine my life without you by my side. So, Y/N,” he says dropping down on one knee, “will you marry me?”

Your mouth is on the floor, as is the rest of your table’s. Did he really just propose to you in a room full of strangers? After you had told him not to? Yet, here he was kneeling here in front of you, with your ring in his hand, held out to you. You had half a mind to say no, just to serve him right for subjecting to you this kind of embarrassment but when you saw the look in his eyes you melted. They were soft and filled with a twinkle of light that was reserved just for you. They were begging you to say yes and you wondered if maybe he meant what he said even though it was a fake proposal.

Your reaction was genuine as you nodded profusely and he quickly slid the ring back on your finger, this time on your left hand and picked you up, swinging you around in a circle. You buried your blushing cheeks into his chest as you said “I’m gonna kill you, Donovan”

He laughed as he set you back down, the biggest smile on his face and kissed you fiercely, a little less than appropriate for the amount of people watching. Everyone who was still cheering from the original proposal was now whistling and hooting and hollering for the two of you.

“So what’s everyone ordering” Shay asks as he re takes his seat at the table looking at everyone with a casual smirk on his face.

The boys’ eyes are still wide and there’s a split second of silence before everyone explodes with congratulations and questions.

Needless to say an Uber was necessary for the ride home. Shay’s plan worked accordingly and you had a dozen people offering to pay for your meal and rounds of drinks. The boys also bought a couple rounds to “celebrate” and for a minute it all felt too real.

Especially when Ryder came up next to you and told you that he knew all along you’d be the one to finally tie down his brother and to assure you that Shay was head over heels for you. “I’ve never seen a man as in love as my dad until you came around for Shay. I’m kind of annoyed he didn’t tell me first though” and you had to look away to not let Ryder see the tears starting to form in your eyes as you watched Shay laugh with Tarek. “And that look that you have right there, you’ve got it just as bad”.

You lay your head on Shay’s shoulder the minute you get into the car. He readjusts you so that your body is leaning against his chest and his arm is wrapped around you, holding you. He gives your head a small kiss and you let out a content sigh, playing with his fingers in the dark. “So when are we going to tell them it’s fake?” you mumble. you can feel him shrug beneath you.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of fun being engaged” and even though you know he’s playing around you’d be lying if you said you didn’t agree.

“It is, isn’t it?” You ask tilting your head back so he can see the smile tugging at your lips as the lights pass by.

“One of these days it’ll be for real” he says in the quiet, giving you a squeeze. You can hear the promise behind it and you bring his hand that’s holding yours up to your lips, kissing the place where his engagement band will be. It’s a soft moment and you relish in it.

Finally though he breaks the silence. “I knew you’d say yes” and you don’t have to see his face to know there’s a big old smirk on those kissable lips of his.

Drunk Shay

“Are you sure you don’t mind me going out with the boys tonight? Because I can totally stay in and we can get pizza and watch a movie and do face masks” he offers.

You laugh at his almost request and assure him that it’s okay. “While I appreciate your offer, you should go with the boys. I know they miss you and I love you, but there’s things I need to get done tonight and I can’t do that with you here. You’re a little needy” you tease him.

“Fineeee”, he drags out in a pout. You love that he sounds disappointed that he can’t stay here with you. If you didn’t really have things you needed to finish for work you would’ve given into his puppy dog eyes but you held strong and all but shoved him out the door when Ryder came by to fetch him from you.

“I’ll have him home by curfew, mom!” He called to you with a wave.

“All in one piece preferably” you told him before shutting the door.

A few hours and a handful of snaps later, there’s a knock at your door and you know it’s your boyfriend delivery. One of the many things you loved about Shay was his dedication and how that applied to every area of his life. He lived by the phrase “go big or go home” , drinking included. While he was careful when he was out with you to make sure you were safe, he was wild when you weren’t there to be his tether.

You already had the water getting ready to boil on the stove for his Mac and cheese. “It’s tradition to end every good night with Mac and cheese, I’m telling you” he’d say every time.

“He’s all yours” Ryder says gruffly, trying to make his brother walk through the door. Shay is practically hanging on his brother and Dylan and even though they’re as big as they are, you can imagine his dead weight is pretty heavy.

“Have a good time, baby?” You ask with a smirk.

At hearing your voice his head lifts and a goofy smile takes over his face. He stumbles toward you and Ryder and Dylan both have their arms outstretched to catch him if he falls in the small space between them and you. It was like watching a two year old make their way from dad to mom. He makes it though and wraps you up in a bone crushing hug, forgetting for a second that you were half his size.

Remembering your question he sticks out his lip. “No I did not have fun. No one would kiss me or sit in my lap like you do”

You giggle at your whiny boyfriend. “Well I would hope not”  

Dylan rolls his eyes at Shay’s clinginess. “Seriously though, if I had a dollar for every time he asked me to ‘just kiss his cheek’ I could’ve paid my tab”

You fake shock at this news as you turn to Shay, “you tried cheating on me?”

His eyes blow wide. “No no no, not at all I just wanted some kisses and Dylan was right there so, so , so” he stutters trying to defend himself. “You’re trying to get me in trouble” he says pointing at Dylan.

“I can’t take this anymore” Ryder says running his hands down his face. “I did my part, he’s in one piece.. kind of. Now he’s yours to babysit. Goodnight Y/N”

Dylan gives you one last look as if to make sure you don’t need him to stay too but is silently begging you to release him and you give him a little wave to send him on his way, leaving you with Shay who has wandered toward the pot on the stove.

You shake your head at the man who seemingly couldn’t go a night without you. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around you and give you sloppy kisses on the cheek and you have to keep gently shoving him back from the stove. When he nearly makes you drop the pot on your way to the sink you banish him to the stool until it’s ready. He pouts at first but begins rambling on about his night while you stir in the ingredients.

When you set the bowl in front of him he shovels it into his mouth and is so amazed. He always says it’s the best Mac and Cheese of his life which you find hilarious because it’s literally Kraft dinner. After finishing almost the whole box except for the little bit that you steal he just wants you in his arms to settle in for the night.

He watches you change for bed and it’s like he forgets that you sleep in one of his old hockey shirts. He sees you and his lips form a little “o” and you swear you see his pupils blow even from across the room.

“Damn, baby. You look so good? And you’re mine?” And he lets out a low whistle.

“Come on, Shay. We’ve been over this” You laugh but blush at the same time because the look he’s giving you is one of pure awe and it warms you to the core.

He pulls the covers back for you and pulls you close once you finally crawl in bed. He lets out a soft sigh.

“I can’t wait to do this every night. It’s like a sleepover with my favorite person except you have to come out too next time” he tells you.

“Favorite person, huh? Don’t let Ryder hear you say that” you poke at him but his statement warms your heart.

“Well his favorite person is Clara so I’m allowed to have my favorite person and it’s you. I love you the most” he says matter of factly.

You laugh, knowing he’s probably right but you try to explain that family should be loved more than you and he gets real quiet, which is uncharacteristic for him.

“But you are family”, he says honestly. And now it’s your turn to go silent.

“I mean, my mom always asks how you are when she calls, my family loves you, everyone knows I’m going to propose to you. I wouldn't feel right if you weren’t a Donovan”.

He always talks about marriage on nights like these. And every time it hits you that you truly want nothing more than to spend your life with this man, making him Mac and cheese in the wee hours of the night and watching him be surprised every time you wear one of his shirts.

“I can’t wait for that day” you tell him.

“Well I can do it right now, I’m ready” he says, sitting up in bed and then trying to move to a kneeling position but he’s still drunk enough that his sense of balance is off and he’s face planting into the mattress.

“I have a speech” he mumbles into the sheets and you’re laughing at his efforts as he tries once again to kneel for you.

“I’ve been in-“ he starts to lean again, “fuck it, I’m in love with you and I want to spend forever with you that’s all that matters. Will you marry me?” he says as he finally topples over and off the bed.

“Shay sweetie, I love you too but I can’t accept a drunk proposal” you tell him through giggles, helping him back into his spot in bed.

Once he’s settled back in bed he agrees that he can do better. “It’s gonna be so good. I’ve already got it all planned out, Ryder thinks you’re going to love it. I hope you do”.

For the second time that night, you’re silent. ”I have no doubt that I will”, and you mean it with all of your heart. He spends a few more minutes talking about your wedding, how beautiful you’re going to look in your dress, how he’s sure he’s going to cry when he sees you for the first time in it. He’s so soft and heartfelt and much more serious than earlier.

Until he isn’t, when he dozes off in the middle of telling you that he wants his dog to be the ring bearer.

In a Fight

“I don’t get why you’re mad at me?” you say as you follow your pissed off boyfriend into your apartment. You had just been out at the bar with some friends when Shay abruptly decided he wanted to be at home and hadn’t spoken a word to you since. You were growing more and more frustrated by the second, especially with your question being met with silence.

“Damnit, Shay. What’s your problem tonight, huh?” you finally break and throw your purse on the counter.

“What’s my problem?” he asks spinning toward you, his face flushed. “You’ve got to be kidding me right now”

“Would I be asking if I didn’t already know?” you throw back at him.

He shakes his head, a disgusted look on his face. “Maybe this will jog your memory. ‘We’re just having fun. I don’t love him like I used to and I don’t know how long this thing will actually last’” he mimics, “Way to make a guy feel confident and secure in his relationship”.

His words take you back to your conversation at the bar with a friend. Taken out of context, you admit they did sound bad. You hadn’t realized he was listening in on your conversation as he had seemingly been preoccupied with his boys at the time.

She had asked how things were with Shay, how serious you thought it was. Her question scared you to death. You were having fun, some of the best fun you’ve ever had in your whole life. But it wasn’t “just fun”. You had gone into it all thinking you would just see what happened but with every kiss and every new memory made with him, you fell more and more in love with the man. And you didn’t know how long it would last. Sure, he told you forever, but he still had three whole years of college to get through and you had already had your fair share of little bumps in the road. It came with dating a big time college athlete, but it wasn’t part of any normal relationship and who were you to bank on forever. You weren’t the same person and didn’t want the same things when you left college that you did when you entered and you were afraid that the same would happen with Shay and you would be one of those things he grew out of.

“Shay-” you start, but he cuts you off.

“I don't know what more I have to do to show you I want this, us. I thought we were on the same page, but after your comments tonight I’m not so sure. ‘Just having fun’, Y/N, really? And ‘this thing’? The way you’re talking you’re making it sound like this is some fling and you don’t want it to last!” he’s angrily throwing his hands around and raising his voice with every word. He’d never raised his voice at you before. His brother? Sure. His teammates? Sure, but never you.

And then suddenly his voice drops so low, you don’t even know that you hear him right, when he asks “Is that what you want? For this to not last?”

Your eyes go wide as you realize what he’s insinuating. “What? No, Shay. I want this. I just, I don't know” you groan trying to find the right words to say.

Your words or lack thereof do nothing to reassure him. “So what’re you saying? ‘You want this, but-’ what’s the but, Y/N? You want this now, but if I got down on one knee in this kitchen and asked you to marry me right now, you’d say no? I need to know if I’m in this alone, here”

His face was pained, but honest as he got down on one knee just to prove his point.

Even though you couldn’t come up with the right words to explain what you were feeling, the only words that made their way through your lips were “I want this forever”.

You watched as relief washed over his face and probably yours as well. You went over to where he was still on one knee and took a seat on his lap looping your arms around his neck and looked deep into his eyes. There was still something in those brown eyes of his that worried you.

“But you said you don’t love me the same anymore” he says and his voice is sad and vulnerable.

“No, no , no, baby. There’s so much I have to explain” you sigh. “I’m having so much fun with you, Shay. I meant that but it’s not all just light flirty banter anymore, somethings changed...into more. So no, I don’t love you like I used to. It’s a different kind of feeling now, from the way your lips kiss me to the way your hand fits in mine. It’s better, stronger the longer I’m with you and grows every single day. And well, you just promised forever but things change, Shay. Just because I want forever doesn’t mean that at the end of all this you will too”

He listens intently but shakes his head at the end. “Y/N I’m promising forever because I mean it. Yeah, things change but me wanting you isn’t going to, no matter if it’s me crushing on the hot girl next door in the stands  or planning a future with my future wife, I’m always going to want you”.

He sees your eyes watering and you chewing on your lip and lifts his hand to your chin, taking his thumb to pull your lip from between your teeth. Then he guides your lips toward his and puts some proof behind his words.

When he finally breaks away, breathless he pats your butt, “Alright, hun you’ve gotta get up. I’m too old for this, my knee can’t take this floor anymore”.

TikTok

“Babe, come here a second!” You hear your boyfriend call for you.

“Shay does it have to be now? I’m in the middle of something” you call back to him from your computer. You had a deadline to meet and Shay had been a minor distraction the whole day so you locked yourself in your room and left him to his own devices until you finished.

“It’ll just take a second” he promised.

You sigh as you move your laptop off your lap and onto the bed, grabbing your water as you pad your way over to him.

“C’mere” he says beckoning with his fingers to you. Like almost every other time he’s done that, you go to him. He gets down on his knees and pulls you down so that you’re mirroring him. “Ok now put your right knee up like this and touch mine” he says patting his leg

“Seriously Shay, I was busy” you whine, but do as you’re told.

“Okay now switch knees” he instructs. You roll your eyes but again, oblige.

“Okayyy, one more time. Put your right knee up” he says as he put his right knee up.

“Shay what is this about. I have to get my work done.”

“We’re almost done, just stand up”.

You take a big swig of your water as you stand up waiting for his next move. You don’t expect him to stay on one knee and dig into his pocket and pull out a black box.

When he looks at you with a full smile you nearly choke on your water, spitting it out and leaning over slightly to try and pull him up.

He’s dying laughing at your reaction and he tries his proposal again even though you’re still coughing.

“Y/N, you’ve brought so much light into my world and given me so many laughs like this one,” he tries but he can’t continue because he’s laughing so hard at you.

You’re still coughing and you look panicked with wide eyes and he just can’t believe how well you reacted. He looks over at his phone to make sure it’s still recording. You watch as he does so and put two and two together.

“It’s for a TikTok babe, you can relax. I’m glad that wasn’t real though, I never expected a rejection that harsh” he laughs as he tries to rub your back.

“I can’t believe you! That wasn’t funny” you say, annoyed. “You pulled me from work to fake propose for a TikTok? Unbelievable”. You grab your water bottle and turn to stomp back to your room. Was it a little bit of an overreaction? Maybe, but you had shit to get done and he was using your time to make tiktoks so you were a little annoyed. And he fake proposed again, on top of it all.

“Hey, hey, hey. It was just a joke, Y/N” he rushes to make sure you’re not really mad at him

“Well, I’ve got a deadline to meet, Shay!” you said  with your back to him. His long legs makes the few short steps to be in front of you.

“Something tells me that’s not what this is about?”

Damn him for being able to read you so well. His eyes are searching your face for any indication of where he screwed up.

“With this being like the fourth time you've proposed, but not for real I’m just starting to think you don’t take that very seriously. And well, I do and it kind of hurts that you don’t” Your words tumble out, finally getting the weight off your chest.

He reacts instantly to your words, his arms reaching for you to bring you into his chest. He’s stroking your hair and you can hear his heart beat fast as he says, “oh no, honey I promise you I’m serious about marrying you. You know me, I’m not a serious guy, but I swear to you if there’s one I’m serious about, it’s putting a ring on your finger and making you a Donovan. Not today, because obviously that didn’t work out”, he chuckles, “but I promise you, you’re getting that ring for real”.

You look up at him with a little smile, forgiving him easily with this new promise. “Pinky promise?” you ask, holding out your pinky.

He gives you a soft smile in return and locks his pinky with yours, bringing your pinkies up to his lips to seal the deal with a kiss. “Pinky Promise”.

+1

“Are you sure this is enough? I could probably make it bigger?” Shay asks turning to Ryder.

His brother shakes his head. “Dude, she’s going to love this. This is so her, just relax. Everything’s perfect”, he tries to reassure his brother.

Shay chews on his nonexistent thumbnail as he examines his list for the tenth time that day, making sure everything was in place. You were flying in later that day, thinking you were going on a girls date before the start of your second River Bandit Cup. You had loved the tournament so much last year, it was the perfect excuse for him to lure you out to Duluth even though you’d come anytime he asked.

“So mom, Clara, and Nessa are picking her up at 3, they should be there now actually and they’re going to go get their nails done or whatever and you and Boden have to help me get things ready here” Shay reminds him again.

“And what time are her family and friends coming in? You’re going to have to remind dad to go pick them up or he’ll forget” Ryder points out.

Shay looks up from his phone with a glare. “He better not forget or I’ll kill him. I’m on a very tight schedule here, everyone has to do their part or it’s going to be a disaster” he stresses.

“What’s going to be a disaster?” Vanessa asks as she walks in the room.

Shay’s eyes pop out of his head as he looks at his sister. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at the airport right now! Where are mom and Clara? Who’s picking Y/N up?!” He practically yells as he jumps out of his seat.

“Someone’s a little on edge today” she tsks, “relax, I’m just meeting them at the nail place because the baker called and needed the cake picked up earlier than planned and I figured you’d have your hands full here. So it’s in the fridge in the garage, I do have to leave now though”.

“You’re going to be fine, everything is going to be perfect” she says, patting her little brother on the shoulder. “Good luck!” She calls over her shoulder as she closes the door.

Shay spent the next few hours running around, directing his brothers until there was absolutely nothing left for him to do but worry. He called to check all of the food was correct and ready to be delivered on time, made sure he had the right champagne, arranged the lights out back just so, sprayed the ODR with a fresh layer, reached out to everyone to make sure they knew where to be and at what time, placed and double checked the cameras and even ironed his damn clothes.

Ryder and Boden sat on Shay’s bed and watched as he stood in front of his mirror opening and closing the little box in his hand, trying to rehearse his speech and not lose his mind while he waited for the sound of car tires.

“You can do this, Shay. She loves you, you love her. Nothing to worry about. You can do this” he says like a mantra. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. He was a confident guy and he was 100% positive he wanted to marry you and he knew you wanted the same. This should be the easiest thing in the world and yet the anxiety and butterflies he felt were tenfold worse than any he had ever felt before any game.

His brothers echo his self hype and promise him there’s nothing more he can do to show how much he loves you and you obviously love him. Their pep talk is interrupted by the sound of people entering the house.

—

Hours later after lunch and a nail appointment, you’re finally in the car on your way to the person you desperately wanted to see. While you loved Shay's family just as much as your own, you were anxious to get to your boyfriend. You had weirdly barely heard from him all day, only a few texts double checking your flight time, making sure you landed safely and what nail color you’d picked out.

As you pulled into his drive, your brow furrowed. You had expected to come home to a driveway full of cars from his friends, like last year. Checking your phone, it was already 6oclock. Everyone should definitely be here by now. “Where is everybody?” You question.

Clara and his mom both shrug, little smiles on their faces as the car slows to a stop. Shay’s waiting for you on the porch, a smile on his face and your skates in his hands. He looks as handsome as ever under the porch lights in black jeans that hug his long legs and a grey knit, the same one he was wearing when you first met, you note. A smile graces your face at the thought.

“Well hello handsome”, you call out to him. “You look too nice to be bringing me home that River Bandit Cup”.

You grip onto his arms and raise up onto your tip toes signaling what you wanted from him. You melt when he gives into you and don’t even notice his mom and sister sneaking around to the backyard.

“Change of plans”, he says setting you down on the bench by the door and pats his leg.

You throw him a confused look. “What do you mean? You’ve been planning this for months now?”

He shakes his head, smiling to himself. If only you knew, he’d been planning this, not that for months.

Your leg is across his now and he’s taking off your boots, replacing them with skates. His tongue pokes out of the side of his mouth as his fingers expertly tie your skate. He pushes your leg off and picks the other one up to do the same, staying silent. Your boyfriend was never silent.

“Earth to Shay. What’s going on with you today?” You ask, running your fingers through his hair.

“Is there gel in your hair?” You ask with a confused smile on your face when you pull your hand away. You begged him to put gel in his hair, knowing it would help his curly hair look extra dashing but he refused, only allowing it on game day.

“Maybe”. He says quickly and stands up after finishing up on your skate. Without warning his arm hooks under your legs and he’s picking you up bridal style. You’re giggling as you hook your arms around his neck and hold on tight.

Finally your boyfriend is back as he throws his back laughing, soaking up the sound of your squeals and giggles. “Close your eyes and no peeking” he instructs you.

“What?” You ask him, but follow his command blindly, closing your eyes. You trusted him, even after all these times when he’s made tiktoks and played tricks, you knew your trust in him was well placed.

“Just do it. I have a surprise for you” and you could sense a change in his voice, there was a hint of nervousness.

“Something better than the RBC?” You teased.

He laughs. “I sure hope it’s much better than the RBC”.

“I don’t knowww...I really enjoyed drinking out of that cup last year”

“You’ll still get your cup, but tonight I have something else to give you” he tells you and now there was a hint of excitement to his words.

You can tell you’ve reached the ice in his backyard by the change in his movements as he glides and the crisp sound of his blade cutting into what sounds like fresh ice.

Your curiosity was killing you as you practically begged him to let you open your eyes.

“Okay, now you can open them” he says, holding onto you as your blades hit the ice.

You blink a few times as your eyes adjust to the lights. You look around you as Shay takes your hand, skating you both in little circles so that you can see the whole rink.

There are little candles all around the perimeter of the ice and twinkle lights draped along the fence and club house, creating a soft golden light. Rose petals lay scattered near the candles along with polaroids of you and Shay, dating all the way back to when you’d first met. The thumping in your chest intensified as you took it all in.

“Shay” you breathed. You wanted to look at him but you couldn’t tear your eyes away from each new picture.

There was one from the first game you had nervously waited in the hallway for him, one from the night he kissed you in front of the team to announce your relationship, one from your weekend getaway, and one of your personal favorites, one from the night you had to take him to the hospital because he bet that he could last longer on the mechanical bull than you and ended up throwing out his shoulder … and losing the bet. There was one from your first Christmas together, your first Valentine’s Day together. One of you across the table from him and one of him pretending to be studious at the library even though you know he was watching Netflix. He’s somehow managed to document every little moment of your relationship from the big firsts to unexpected candids. And in each one, no matter who is in the picture they look unbelievably happy.

“Do you like it?” He asks, when all you've said is his name.

“I - I have no words. Yes, of course I love it! What is all this though?” You search your brain trying to remember today’s date and whether or not it was important. You had been so focused on getting to see Shay this weekend that you had barely thought about anything else.

“Oh god, it isn’t our anniversary is it? What’s today’s date?” You asked him, flustered.

He laughed as he skated you back to the center of the ice, where one last picture was waiting for you. He picked it up but didn’t give it to you quite yet.

“Y/N, I’ve spent months trying to craft the perfect speech and I think I’ve come pretty close but no words will ever be able to describe what I feel for you, how much I love you. I knew you were the one from the very second I laid eyes on you in the crowd cheering me on in that shoving match against UMD. I told the whole locker room that night that I’d be marrying the girl in the third row. i looked everywhere for you after that game and low and behold you showed up at the same bar and I did the first thing I could think of and threw my drink on you” he laughs at himself.

“I knew that wasn’t an accident!” You exclaimed.

He shakes his head, “no it definitely was not. I panicked and just threw ice water all over you and then blamed Ryder for pushing me. I still got your number though” he says with a wink and then clears his throat to make himself get back on track.

“You’ve been my biggest supporter through every up and down. You’ve been there to celebrate every small victory like getting cleared to play again and passing my stats class and you’ve held me during my darkest days when I doubted myself and was so lost I didn’t know if I would ever be myself again. But you helped me through that and were my brightest light. You’ve encouraged me and cheered me on. You’ve made me want to be better and challenge myself to grow, not just for myself but for you” his hands are shaking slightly as he takes both of yours, the picture still in his hand.

“You’ve given me so many laughs, so many memories, so much love and I want to do the same for you. I want to be by your side for the highs and lows and tackle life with you, forever and a day. I want to look forward to coming home to you every night and eat Mac and cheese at 3 in the morning and lose my mind every time I see you in my stolen shirts. I want it all with you and I want you to finally have my last name because well,  you have everything else of mine, my heart included. So,” he hands you the last Polaroid as he gets down on his left knee. It’s a picture of a diamond ring.

“Y/f/n y/m/n y/l/n, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?” He asks, holding out a small box with a real diamond ring out to you.

You had passed the point of ugly crying long ago. His words were so filled with love you couldn’t contain the tears. Your freshly manicured hands were covering your mouth trying to hold in the emotions that were pouring out from you. You were nodding your head so fast, not even having to think about the answer to that question for a second.

“Yes?” He asks with a beaming smile just to clarify.

“Yes!” You practically shout.

You’re in his arms in the blink of an eye, skates fully off the ice. He’s twirling you around in circles and telling you how much he loves you when you hear cheering from all around the edge of the rink.

He sets you down and you see both of your families and friends lined up, cheering for the newly engaged couple. You start crying again and hold onto Shay a little tighter, if that was even possible.

“Thank you so much for this. You’ve outdone yourself, Shay. The perfect proposal”

He grins down at you and kisses the top of your head. “Better than the RBC?”

“Much better than the RBC.”

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

The Critique of Manners Part IV

~Or~

A Very Amused Review of Emma (1972)

One doesn’t really know where to begin with this one. I’ve watched a few of these 70’s/80’s period drama adaptations, but I’ve never written a review for one. I think the tricky thing is it doesn’t feel fair to judge them against more recent adaptations because the approach and quality are so very different to modern television making.

But people do. I’m sure it’s different for people who grew up watching these, who are just used to them and their objectively terrible, stagey quality and can look past that particular weakness on the sheer power of nostalgia.

So I’m going to try and find a middle-ground here where I ignore the stagey and obviously dated aspects and judge it primarily on its value as an adaptation – is it faithful to the book?

Let’s dive in.

Cast & Characterization

Normally I would start with Emma and Knightley but this time I’m gonna switch it up a bit and do them last because… well we’ll get there in a bit.

Let’s start instead with Mr. Woodhouse. I have to say, I kind of like this take. The 1996-7 and 2009 adaptations all kind of went for the same type of older man: a bit stout, or in Michael Gambon’s case… however you would describe Michael Gambon. With Donald Eccles, however, this version goes for a rather more frail looking Mr. Woodhouse; in fact to compare him to any recent Mr. Woodhouse, I suppose he comes closest to Bill Nighy (although the general characterization is of course very different.)  He’s a ridiculous but lovable soul who seems always, of course, worried about his own health and comfort, but in his own selfish way, concerned for his friends and family as well. My only complaint is that maybe they over-utilized him.

I thought the casting of a plump Mrs. Weston (Ellen Dryden) was an interesting choice, and definitely different from other versions. Her acting was actually really good too.

I wasn’t quite so pleased with the characterization of Mr. Weston, on the other hand. I have huge issues with this script vis-à-vis the men, but Mr. Weston and Knightley in particular. The problem with Mr. Weston is how he’s written as just verging on uncouth at some points. There are way too many rustic contractions here: “Ain’t I looking well too, Miss Emma?!’ “’Ark at that eh? The sly young rogue!” “Oh I think it looks tolerably gay and festive, don’t it?” and then just throwing himself back on the grass and chortling when Emma makes her fateful Box Hill faux pas? Like, what the hell? I’m not saying he shouldn’t use a few casual contractions (“How d’you do?” for example) but he seems almost like a positive country bumpkin and I don’t think it’s appropriate; he doesn’t talk like that in the book and I’m just all-around not here for it.

Constance Chapman, a well-respected character actress of the time was cast as Miss Bates, while Molly Sugden, of Are You Being Served? fame was WASTED in the bit-part of Mrs. Goddard. If you ask me, they should have swapped this casting, since I think Sugden, an outstanding comedienne, could have done so much more with the Miss Bates role than the usual wittery-old-lady style chattering Chapman delivered.

Mr. Elton was played by Timothy Peters (Right) and was, eh, adequate. They did slime him up a bit by having him over-eagerly offer to fix Emma’s bootlace, which she points out isn’t entirely appropriate for a man to do, especially the vicar and it’s pretty funny; but other than that, he has all the appearance of being a pleasant young man, as Mr. Elton should – becoming less pleasant as the story progresses.

One John Alkin (left) played Mr. Robert Martin, and he, too, was adequate. There’s not much of him and, since Mr. Martin wasn’t one of those characters this version decided to approach more three-dimensionally, there’s not much to say about him. 

Frank Churchill is… OMG IT’S PRINCE HARRY FROM BLACKADDER!

Ahem. Yes, Robert East (BETTER KNOWN AS PRINCE HARRY FROM BLACKADDER) plays a very agreeable (and smarmy, but not too smarmy) Frank. I think honestly this is as good as this part could get in the 70’s, although at 29 he was a little too old for the part.

John and Isabella, in an interesting (?) casting choice, were played by brother and sister duo, Yves and Belinda Tighe. I actually really liked Yves’s John Knightley (he’s actually one of the more handsome John’s, in a 70’s kind of way; for note-taking purposes I have nicknamed him “Not-Harrison-Ford”), but his sister as Isabella seemed kind of old and had just a really annoying voice. Also she doesn’t look at all like Doran Godwin, and Emma and Isabella are supposed to look somewhat alike.

The real casting stand out for me in this version is Fiona Walker as Mrs. Elton, although she too was a little old for her role, I’ve said before that there are no bad Mrs. Eltons (only bad accents) and she just absolutely nailed the insufferable chatter to a definitive standard (until the recent adaptations – 2009 onward).

I did however, get the feeling in this version that they kind of wrote in a through-line where Mrs. Elton is putting the moves on Mr. Knightley (to the point where they actually wrote out Mr. Elton from scenes he should be in) which was one of those unnecessary deviations which made me raise an eyebrow and also was just… weird.

Now my question is – why do all of the young women in this series kind of look like evil dolls?

Debbie Bowen, from a strictly book accuracy perspective is one of the most accurate Harriet Smiths I’ve seen – in fact we don’t get another this accurate (to my way of thinking) until Louise Dylan in 2009, who fits roughly the same model (fair and shapely). Its Bowen’s acting I don’t like, but I know that in the 70’s, this kind of simpering acting for this kind of character was just unavoidable. It was the style at the time, so I’m cutting her a break critically; but the performance just doesn’t cut it for me.

This Jane Fairfax (played by Ania Marson) is not my favorite interpretation of this character. At first I thought she was going to be alright, but in her first scene she bursts out and actually shouts in frustration at her chattering aunt (which she has some basis for, I’ll admit, since Miss Bates, in her muddle-headed way, could very well have unwittingly spilled the beans about Jane and Frank) but this is far more feeling than we should even have a hint of from Jane at this point. The whole reason Emma doesn’t like Jane (other than the fact that Emma is an attention whore and Jane steals her thunder by being so admired and accomplished) is because she’s timid and demure and reserved.

But the biggest problem I have with this Jane is that she can’t even fucking sing. I know they write it away as her having a sore throat (Which I think is a pull from a different part of the book?) but this was just egregiously bad to me. This is the only time in the series they show Jane singing so it’s never actually established that Jane really is more accomplished than Emma (although they don’t show Emma herself singing or even playing at all either.) Could the actresses just not sing well so they decided to write around it? You could have dubbed it; you had that technology in the 70’s!

OK. Now it’s time to talk about Doran Godwin. I’ve never seen her in anything else so I don’t know if it’s just that she can’t act, but I have no idea what she was going for with this portrayal of Emma, and this is something so consistent and unique to her that I, for once, can’t justify blaming it solely on the director because you can’t direct crazy-eyes. They just happen; and they happen A LOT in this series.

I’ve struggled to find the words to sufficiently describe my feeling about Doran Godwin’s facial expressions and her acting in this adaptation. In my ribbon rating notes I think I describe her as a “witchy automaton”? I stand by it. Every time she talks to someone her eyes go very wide and she sort of looks like she’s trying to hypnotize everyone in Highbury. The effect is just absolutely inhuman. I never thought I’d ever see anyone with more patently crazed Crazy-Eyes than Timothy “Crazy-Eyes” Dalton – but man, Doran “Hypno-Witch” Godwin just stole the prize. Perhaps she escaped from the set of a Doctor Who? telling of the story where Miss Woodhouse has been replaced by an android.

You have scenes such as this in episode 2 , where Harriet is trying to get Emma to acknowledge Mr. Elton calling after them as they walk past the vicarage, and Emma ignores her by mechanically continuing to talk, looking straight ahead with laser focus. Of course, Emma is intentionally ignoring Harriet because she wants Mr. Elton to follow them, but that wasn’t quite apparent to me until the end of her ramble – which I had assumed she was forced to complete due to some directive in her programming. I have more to say on her characterization, but we’ll get to that in a dedicated section of the review.

John Carson might actually be one of the better Knightley’s, but I’m sorry – at 45 he was just too old. This is something you can play around with in other characters (Mr. Weston and Miss Bates after all, have no stated ages in the book) but not only do we know how old Mr. Knightley is in the book, they state in the show that Emma is 21 (Doran Godwin was actually 28) and that Mr. Knightley is sixteen years older than her – 37 or 38 – and John Carson is CLEARLY no 38. This obviously-over-forty appearance does have an effect on how I view his banter with Emma, and it’s more avuncular than the older-brother feel that Mr. Knightley and Emma should have.

Whether by direction or actor’s choice, Carson’s Mr. Knightley speaks in a way that just doesn’t feel period to me. He has a very sort of 20th Century, stock British, hearty-good-fellow manner, that dates this adaptation pretty badly and feels old-fashioned (but not in a Regency/Georgian way) even in the 70’s.

Sets & Surroundings

Normally at this point in the review I would talk about the British manor houses and estates used and how they measure up to the book descriptions but the publicly funded BBC ran on a much tighter budget in the 70’s (apparent in the production values and number of obviously bad takes that they just decided to leave in, in everything they made) and as such they couldn’t afford to film in and rent out large estates quite as much, so this has the trademark 70’s/80’s BBC sound-stage quality of all of their other productions of the period. That said, this production actually has some of the better sets I’ve seen and that’s saying something, for being made in the 70’s. The walls didn’t actually shake when doors were closed, and it didn’t feel as stagey as some other Austen serials of the time. (This doesn’t improve the very “on-cue” acting in the series, but I have to give credit where it’s due.) I believe they may used a real manor house for the exterior of Hartfield (and not a landscape pastel) and maybe some of the interiors too? I can’t say for sure, and I would love to tell you what house and where it is but I can’t find any credits on it. I’ll just say that I think it’s very suitable and leave it at that.

Costumes

Much like today, the BBC almost exclusively used, re-used and rented costumes for their period productions. Almost every costume in this series was also used in the 70’s and 80’s BBC productions of Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice (P&P being the overwhelming common denominator – almost every one of Emma’s evening dresses and pelisses was seen, primarily on Caroline Bingley.) Some of the shawls have been picked out in BBC Austens as recently as 2008.

For being made in the 70’s the costumes in this production are really kind of nice. They don’t date themselves too badly. The ones that do feel 70’s retro, in fact, were mostly styles borrowed from period accurate fashions that just happened to coincide with contemporary 70’s tastes, and which aren’t often used in Regency costumes today because, well they don’t coincide with our modern tastes. For the most part, they look well-made (although some of them do have that stiff, dingy polyester look to them and there are definitely some plastic pearls here and there).

I’m quite pleased with the silhouettes which don’t suffer from Square Bust/Boob Droop syndrome the way the 1980 P&P does. All of the assets seem to be lifted and shifted in the right places.

Daywear

I like Emma’s blue day dress the best of all her day-wear looks. It’s a rich color and has pleated cups (Also on her white day dress) which is a style I really love.

Emma wears the gauzy… let’s be kind and say ivory instead of “Yellowish” ruff during the day A LOT (Emma Pic 2). It’s a popular look on Jane Fairfax too (Jane Pic 2) and I just… I don’t like it. Not that it’s not period appropriate (because it unfortunately is) it just makes them look like Dr. Seuss characters to me, especially worn with short sleeves which is something these dramas do a lot and I hate it. It just makes the person in question look very awkwardly disproportionate to me, especially because. if they had long sleeves to go with it (which would be more correct from a historical authenticity standpoint) it would even it out so much better. Compare Jane and Emma to see what I mean. The single layer ruffle (Emma Pic 1) is much more agreeable to me. (I wanna point out that Jane wears the same green dress without any partlet or undersleeves for strawberry picking at Donwell, which is blatant Eveningwear-For-Daywear™ and looked really out of place since everyone else was wearing day-appropriate attire).

Emma’s wider, cuffed, long sleeves and Mrs. Elton’s puffy segmented Renaissance sleeves are exactly what I mean about period accurate styles that suit the 70’s in a way that they just don’t jive today. Even Harriet gets some.

Mrs. Elton Orange ™ is another crayon color Crayola should consider I think.

Harriet gets stuck with a lot of brown outer wear but her day clothes are otherwise pretty nice. I especially like the ivory and blue number (Bottom right) and her white day dress with blue accents (Top right) which I think is the nicest thing she wears in this whole series. 

Evening Wear

Emma’s evening wear confines itself pretty exclusively to cool purples and blues except for her white ball gown. I find this interesting because other versions tend to dress Emma in warmer colors and pinks (As I’m very partial to purples and blues, I love all of them). I can’t say it’s inconsistent with Emma’s cold characterization in this version. Mrs. Weston’s evening gowns are uniformly amazing. I especially love her blue party dress, which is my favorite in the series.

Both of Harriet’s party dresses are characteristically pretty and girlish. The pink is a bit fussy for me but I love the blue one (which has a lot more detail but I couldn’t get a full length shot of it.)

I’m pleased that Jane is given a bit of a break from the Jane Fairfax Blue ™ trope with her evening wear. She has one light blue evening gown and gets a few green numbers, most notable being her mint ball gown. Her beige party dress is absolutely tragic though.

Mrs. Elton’s evening color seems to be chartreuse (Which I think was also the case in the ITV version? ITV fans back me up.) Her black overlay/spiky number is iconic of the Austen Bad Girl, but her ball gown is a bit disappointing in its simplicity to me.

I would love to have seen a full length shot of Isabella’s black and purple number because I have a suspicion THAT would have been my favorite but I just can’t make out enough detail on it.

Zig-zag patterns on the skirt are a huge theme in this version, which is so of the period. Mrs. Cole (shout out to another future Are You Being Served? familiar, Hilda Fenemore) looks straight out of a fashion plate in her dark green party dress, which has (drumroll please…) a padded hem! 

Outerwear

This version has SO MANY PELISSES AND REDINGOTES. Are they all nice? No. No they are not; I particularly hate Emma’s fugly salmon number that she wears for Strawberry picking/Box Hill. Mostly because she looks SO over-dressed compared to everyone else who’s wearing loose fitting light clothes (except Jane, who’s wearing an evening dress). Just looking at her makes me hot. I’m also NOT a huge fan of her pink winter cloak. The one trimmed with… faux ermine? One can only assume. It looks awfully tacky.

That russet pelisse tho! This is one of my all-time favorites. It’s SO. PRETTY and so detailed (See this number on Jane in P&P ’80). I think her gray fur-trimmed pelisse is pretty fabulous too, but I do not like the hat she wears with it. The brim is kind of a funky shape to me.

I know I’ve criticized brown before, but I do like it in moderation and this version is astonishingly brown-free for being made in the 70’s, so I really like her red/brown velvet spencer, especially with the cream dress and gloves, and her hat has some amazing decoration.

Jane and Mrs. Weston are the only other characters who get pelisses/redingotes. I’m not a fan of Mrs. Weston’s fuchsia number, and while I like Jane’s, it does put itself solidly in the Jane Fairfax Blue™ category.  

Harriet gets pretty much only one form of outer-wear, her brown school cloak (a different brown school cloak from the one in the ‘97 version, in case you were wondering) and while it’s pretty dull, it’s hardly unexpected. Here it is paired with her rather ugly blue bonnet, with yellow ribbon. The bonnet features heavily in this episode.

To be honest for the most part I totally forgot about the… 

because a lot of it is very standard. No dandy standouts here, but overall it’s pretty okay and I’m really pleased to say that there are no bib-cravats. That’s not usually so much a problem in Regency Era stuff (Since ruffles were going out at around this time), but you can really distinctly see that the ruffles (where ruffles there are – usually on older men which is good) are part of the shirt and distinctly separate from the cravat. Also there are LOTS of high collars and they’re not comically high to the point where they get wrinkled, like they were in Emma. (2020), so points for that also. These are the screencaps I gathered going back over it for posterity.

Mr. Knightley doesn’t really get a lot of cool outfits. His best is his purple velvet evening jacket which somehow manages to not look ostentatious (but is his only dress jacket), and his gold-topped Prussian boots (which you should just be able to see bottom right.) The worst though… I’m sorry, (looks up costumer’s name) Joan Ellacott – do you really expect me to feel the weight of Emma’s cock-ups when Mr. Knightley is rebuking her in such a cartoonishly proportioned top hat? It’s like being scolded by the Mad Hatter. All of the men’s hats are pretty flared in this series too, and I’m not totally sure but, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that flared top hats are not right for this period?

I think Mr. Weston only has one day outfit (which, in keeping with his characterization is pretty farmer-chic) and one evening outfit. Frank’s dark green day-jacket is a pretty standard look on him and I don’t think we get a fresh look until his fabulous blue jacket/yellow waistcoat combo that he wears for Strawberry Picking/Box Hill. I believe his evening jacket is also dark green but it was tough to tell. Again I think he has only one set of evening-wear. I would expect Frank to have more, since he’s such a dandy.

Mr. John Knightley doesn’t have much to write home about in terms of evening kit, but DAYUM, his blue traveling coat is DOOOOOPE. 

Let’s Talk Script

This adaptation was directed by John Glenister and Dramatized by Denis Constanduros.

Now I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews for this on IMDB calling it the… let’s see here… “The best Emma I’ve ever seen” and “The most true to the novel”… *Takes off spectacles and sighs heavily* I’m afraid I have to disagree. Several people also really love Doran Godwin’s Emma (We’ve already gone over why I don’t, and I have also seen reviews that name her and her lack of charisma as the main sticking point preventing them from really enjoying it, so I’m not alone). I’ve also heard it described as “sensitively handled” “Intimate” and “The most faithful to the spirit of Austen” and so forth, and again maybe it’s that prejudice against the stagey production and… no there’s definitely some other reason I have a problem with this version.

Let me make this clear – I don’t totally hate it, and I’m not here to shame the people who really love this version. Once again – if this version gives you what you want from the story I think that’s great for you. I, myself, like it pretty well and I think it’s one of the better early BBC Austen serials. It’s certainly not boring; but I do want to go over some of the changes that were made and choices in the script.

Some of them aren’t really that egregious, but they’re annoying in that I think they didn’t need to be made and don’t really add anything. Characters being added to scenes where they didn’t need to be and written out of scenes where their presence was missed. Like writing Mr. Elton out of Box Hill (And really the whole second half of the series, to facilitate Mrs. Elton flirting with Knightley), and adding Miss Bates into the after-dinner scene, I think at the Randalls Christmas party? I’m sure this was done for expediency but you have six episodes. It’s not as though you’re strapped for time.

Particularly praised, as far as I’ve seen, is the scene at Christmas when Knightley and Emma make up after their argument over Harriet. It takes place in the nursery, which I suppose isn’t an unreasonable place for Emma to be fawning over her niece (in the dramatization she seems to have been feeding the baby, where in the book she is playing with her). The book doesn’t specify where the scene takes place, although I assumed it to be a downstairs room, and I’m not sure that it’s entirely appropriate for Emma and a man (even one connected to her family through marriage) to be alone in an upstairs room together with the door closed and no more chaperone than a baby. But in spite of this, perhaps inappropriate, level of privacy, the scene feels less intimate to me than the book, where in the course of the conversation, where Mr. Knightley takes the baby from Emma “in the manner of perfect amity” and holds her himself and it is very adorable and sweet. In the dramatization, Knightley sort of just stands next to Emma’s chair and leans down a bit. After this conversation in the book, John comes into the room to talk to George, while in the show Emma puts the baby in the cradle and they leave the room to go downstairs.

But there are more outstanding changes that just feel wrong to me. When confronting Emma about her meddling in Harriet’s response to Mr. Martin’s proposal, Constanduros changes “What is the foolish girl about?” to “What is the stupid girl about?” it’s not that big a change, but it makes Mr. Knightley sound unnecessarily mean.

I’ve already mentioned the, er, additions regarding Mr. Weston’s dialogue and Mrs. Elton, and Jane shouting at Miss Bates; but by far the biggest, worst additions were made with Emma. The worst, I think, is the handling of this scene in Episode 4 when Harriet is feeling heartsick following Mr. Elton’s marriage.

And for those of you who don’t wanna follow the link, here’s a transcription:

Emma: Now Harriet! Your allowing yourself to become so upset over Mr. Elton’s marriage is the strongest possible reproach you could make to me!

Harriet: Miss Woodhouse –

Emma: Yes it is! You could not more constantly remind me of the mistake I made, which is most hurtful!

Harriet: Oh Miss Woodhouse, it was not intended to be!

Emma: I have not said “think and talk less of Mr. Elton” for my sake, Harriet, because it is for yours I wish it. My being hurt is a very… secondary consideration, but please, please Harriet, do learn to exert a little more self-discipline in this matter.

Harriet: {Looks down} Yes, Miss Woodhouse.

Emma: We are all creatures of feeling; we all suffer disappointments, it is how we learn to suffer them that forms our character. If you continue in this way, Harriet, I shall think you wanting in true friendship for me!  

Harriet: Oh, Miss Woodhouse! You, who are the best friend I’ve ever had? Oh what a horrid, horrid wretch I’ve been!”

Emma: Oh now Harriet – (She’s gonna console her now, right?)

Harriet: Oh yes, I have, I have!

Emma: Harriet, control yourself! (ha ha bitch, u thought) Now, you will tie your bonnet, and you are coming with me to call on Mr. And Mrs. Elton at the Vicarage…

Harriet: Oh, Miss Woodhouse –

Emma: Yes you are! And I’m sure you will find it far less distressing than you think.

Harriet: Oh, Miss Woodhouse, must I?

Emma: Yes, Harriet; but you may borrow my lace ruff if you wish.

Harriet: Oh may I, Miss Woodhouse? Oh, thank you!

(Look how evil she looks! She looks like she’s planning on baking Harriet into a pie!)

While this scene is in the book and much of the dialogue is also from the book, it’s the lines that were added that stick out to me. Emma does tell Harriet that her allowing herself to become upset over the Eltons is a reproach on Emma more than anything else and reminds her miserably of the “Mistake [Emma] fell into” but from this point, the script takes a left turn from the firm but kind appeal to Harriet to move on for both her happiness and Emma’s own comfort, to a far more manipulative strain.

Even after Harriet apologizes, she goes from simply appealing to Harriet to let herself move on, to basically telling her that she’s a bad friend. She treats Harriet like she’s unreasonable for feeling this way, where in the book Emma is very understanding and feels that “she could not do too much for her; that Harriet had every right to all her ingenuity and patience…” and only after Harriet goes all afternoon with Emma soothing her and no improvement in her spirits does Emma take any kind of reproachful tack whatsoever.

    In this scene, Emma says that her own happiness is a secondary consideration (this is stressed much more in the book) but from the way she says it, it seems more like she just wants Harriet to shut up about it rather than actually meaning it. (This is a very prominent example of Emma’s not seeming to really like Harriet at all in this version, only tolerating her presence.)

AND THEN she does something which Emma in the book most certainly did NOT do and forces Harriet to come with her to visit the Eltons, as if to put her on the spot and test how good a little friend she will be. I can’t express how disgusted I am by the changes and interpretation here. This is the culmination of the general through-line of Emma’s manipulative characterization being taken to an extreme. She looms over Harriet sounding, by turns, like a school marm and a saccharine nanny. She’s like a (very) low budget version of Tilda Swinton as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia. 

My question about all of these changes is simply: Why? They don’t improve the story or the characters. They’re not big, but a lot of them just strike me as weird and unnecessary, but I guess there’s no accounting for artistic license.  

Final Thoughts

So is it a faithful adaptation? I often find this a more complex question to answer for myself than one would think, since inflection and line delivery and even, at some points, intention behind what the characters say tends to be up to the interpretation of the person reading the book.

Is the dialogue faithful? Other than the many changes I’ve mentioned (and the numerous cuts and edits I didn’t – and besides no screenplay can be 100% faithful), for the most part yes.

Are the characters accurate to description / faithful in their portrayal – again this tends to be subjective and opinions vary. In my opinion, Emma is not. I’ve mentioned that Knightley is too old, and Emma not only seems more intentionally manipulative than I believe she’s meant to be, and also just does not seem 21. She acts and looks like a much older woman, especially when preaching at Harriet) but she’s also very gawky, and Emma is supposed to look very healthy and glowing.

So my book accuracy rating meets in the middle at a 4.5. It’s NOT the most faithful adaptation I’ve seen, nor is it the most fun or the most intimate, but it’s not totally a travesty either and there are good things in it, even with a robot witch playing the main lead.

Ribbon Rating: Tolerable (43 Ribbons )

Tone: 4

Casting: 5 (Witchy automaton Doran Goodwin plays opposite avuncular good-fellow John Carson. Fiona Walker stands out as Mrs. Elton.)

Acting: 5 (Doran Goodwin is by turns crazed and mechanical with some momentary touches of what might be actual emotion. Raymond Adamson way over-acts Mr. Weston as a hobbeldy-hoi, verging on uncouth.)

Scripting: 4

Pacing: 4

Cinematography: 4 (A bump up from the usual 1 or 2 for TV dramas of the time. Surprisingly less stagey than expected.)

Sets and Settings: 5

Costumes: 7 (Very clearly of the 70’s but drawing on perfectly accurate styles that jived well with contemporary taste)

Music: 1 (Plinky, poorly played piano music. Only used for intro and outro I think? Jane Fairfax can neither play nor sing.)

Book Accuracy: 5 (They changed a lot of small details. Lines are changed unnecessarily (Calling Harriet “Stupid” rather than “Foolish” – Why?) Mrs. Elton seems to have a thing for Knightley? People present when they shouldn’t be, others absent when they should be present, again without any apparent reason.)

[puckbuddies]

Not quite a disaster

Tyson Jost x reader

2361 words

Warnings: swear words, mentions of bad dates?

From the prompt: “Yeah I’ll probably die alone.” “I asked if you were dining alone.”

The biggest thank you to @canadianheaters for helping and motivating me ❤

You were looking at your phone for what felt like the hundredth time in the past forty minutes. This guy you had met online and felt like you had a good connection with, had just stood you up. After four failed dates in the past month, this was the last straw.

The first guy was only after sex, which would have been fine if he told you that was what he wanted beforehand. Instead, he shouted at you after you declined the invitation to his apartment after a very mediocre date. A week after that, it was the most boring person you’d ever met. You felt horrible for making up an excuse to leave half an hour after you met them, but you couldn’t put yourself through any more frankly sleep-inducing conversation.

The last guy was the worst. He had asked you to go see a movie with him which in itself would have been fine. Except he chose a movie that you told him you’d already seen with your friends the week before. On top of that, he made you pay for parking and snacks and didn’t even try to talk to you at all the whole night.

Your hope had been dwindling throughout the month and another bad date was the last thing you needed. You’d been really excited about this one as well. Dylan, as your date was called, was very much out of your league and apparently, that was what he thought as well because he decided to not show up to the restaurant he had asked you to go to.

Taking a deep breath to try and keep tears from rolling down your face until you were at least in your car, you reached for your phone one last time to immediately block his number. You didn’t even need to look up to know the waitresses would be looking at you with looks of pity so you decided it would be best to keep your head down while you put on your coat.

Your plan failed however when you heard a person clearing their throat right in front of you. You were so caught up in the surprise of someone talking to you that you didn’t completely catch what they’d asked you.

Answering what you thought was their question you said “Yeah I’ll probably die alone.”  

After that, you were more annoyed than anything. Why would somebody even ask you that question? Could they not see you weren’t in the mood for this.

A loud laugh interrupted you as you were trying to find your wallet to leave this place as soon as you possibly could. You looked up at the stranger with the most deadpan look you’d ever given someone in your life. It took a minute for the man in front of you to stop laughing long enough to give you an explanation of what was happening all the while the whole restaurant was now watching your interaction.

“I’m sorry for laughing at you, it was just funny.” The man said while still laughing.

“I asked if you were dining alone.”

This was it. The one thing that could make your night even worse, embarrassing yourself in front of a whole entire restaurant. The only thing you could do was let out a pathetic “Oh” at your own stupidity.

You could feel tears starting to form in the corner of your eyes and as soon as the stranger in front of you noticed, his laughter stopped.

“Hey it’s alright, please don’t cry.” But it was too late. You couldn’t hear what he was saying because your head was spinning. You barely even noticed him leading you outside to a less populated place.

Once you were sitting on a bench across the street, you couldn’t keep your tears in any longer. They came crashing down like waterfalls and at this point, you didn’t care who could see you. Letting out all of your feelings was the only thing that was going to make you feel better.

You didn’t know how long you sat there, just crying into your hands while the guy from the restaurant patted your back comfortingly. It felt nice, even if you felt like shit otherwise.  

After a while, your sobs turned into quiet sniffles and you regained the ability to think. It was then you turned to the guy to apologize for your behavior. Looking up, you met his worried gaze and it almost made you burst into tears again. The nicest interaction you’d had with a male in a month was when you were hysterically crying on a park bench.

You took another moment to calm yourself down completely before you tried to speak. The stranger was still trying his best to make you stop crying and you really appreciated the effort he was putting in.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that.” was what you offered after your cheeks had completely dried up and you cringed at how hoarse your voice sounded.

“It’s okay, I’m more sorry for making you cry.”

You felt really bad. He thought he had made you cry when that wasn’t the case at all and on top of that he got stuck trying to comfort you when he most certainly had better things to do with his evening.

“You didn’t make me cry, don’t worry.”

He didn’t answer you. Instead he looked at you in disbelieve causing you to give him the most reassuring smile you could come up with.

“Well, do you want to talk about it then?”

It was said in the softest voice, like he was scared you were going to start crying again. For all he knew, you could. But you told him anyway. About all of your bad dates and how embarrassed you felt when everyone in the restaurant was looking at you while you just wanted the ground to swallow you up. He listened very well, only interrupting to wipe away any fresh tears trying to escape your eyes.

Having someone there was nice. Even if he was just a random guy who would’ve forgotten all about you by tomorrow.

“I just wish someone would care enough to take me on a nice date for once.”

This caused the guy next to you to tense up. You could tell he was trying to figure out how to respond to your statement. You felt his eyes on you but were all of a sudden too shy to look up at him.

A soft “Hey” accompanied with a hand on your cheek made you turn to face him. His eyes were full of compassion and care. you were still half sitting in his lap and the moment suddenly felt a little too much. You moved back to put some distance between yourself and the man whose name you did not know. He looked a little hurt but didn’t comment on your movement.

The silence didn’t last long as the guy abruptly stood up. He was wearing a wide smile but his eyes were still as kind as they had been the whole night.

“Let me take you somewhere.”

“No.”

Your answer came almost immediately but you wished you had thought about it a little longer when you saw his smile fade slightly.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to pretend like you want to spend time with me to make me feel better. I’ll get over it.”

“But I do want to spend time with you.” His answer came even quicker than the one you had given him. “I’m not here to pity you, I promise.”

His face showed a hopeful expression and you didn’t want to be the reason it disappeared again. After all he’d done for you today, you felt like you should agree to do this for him if that was really what he wanted.

And so after having asked his name, you were on your way. Most of the walk was spend in silence while Tyson, as you now knew his name was, tried to figure out where to take you.

“Okay close your eyes.”

“What, why?”

“Because I don’t want you to know where we’re going and we’ve almost arrived at our destination.”

You looked at him for a few seconds trying to figure out his age. He seemed to be in his early twenties but he still had that childlike wonder that made you doubt that. When you didn’t close your eyes, instead just choosing to stand there, it was his turn to look at you. He rolled his eyes after you raised your eyebrow at him in a challenging way and turned you around by pushing your shoulders.

Just as you were about to ask what he was doing, he placed his hands over your eyes. You let out a surprised huff at that but ultimately went along with it.

Despite only having known Tyson for maybe an hour, you trusted him. His hands on your face were giving you warmth that the Denver night couldn’t give you. It was sort of relaxing. Blindly walking through the city making you feel like you had no responsibilities or worries.

“Ta-da.”

It took some time for your eyes to get used to the lighting again and when they did you felt your heart drop a little. Tyson had taken you to McDonald's. You didn’t have anything against the place but after your conversation earlier, you had expected a little more.

“McDonald's?”

“Don’t sound so disappointed. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

You were quickly learning that Tyson liked to act like an excited puppy all the time and it really showed as he was basically skipping to a table in the back of the restaurant. While you did really enjoy that about Tyson, it also made you more aware of your own bad mood.

It took you a little longer to reach the table he had picked out and your face showed how unsure you were being there.

“Why are you pouting? We’re on an amazing date.”

“Going to McDonald's is hardly a date Tys.” You replied while rolling your eyes.

“Sure it is, what’s better than milkshakes?”

You had to applaud him on his enthusiasm. As much as you were giving him a hard time, Tyson didn’t let it affect him at all. Looking at him smiling to himself while browsing the menu made the corners of your own mouth subconsciously turn upwards.

It was then that you decided to just forget about what had happened earlier in the evening. You were sitting here now and you owed it to Tyson to at least try and have fun. Even if he didn’t consider this a date and was just sitting here to keep you company, he still offered up his night for you and you really appreciated him for it.

“So what are you suggesting?”

Tyson looked at you over the top of the menu card, his eyes once again showing you everything you needed to know. He was very easy to read and you wished you could be a little more like him. It seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world.

After ordering three different milkshakes, because apparently ‘they taste the best when you mix all of the flavors together’, you and Tyson fell into some easy conversation. Tyson tried to keep the topics light to make sure you were comfortable at all times.

At the beginning of the night, and even an hour ago, you’d never thought you’d be sitting in a fast food restaurant having the most fun you’d had in months all thanks to the boy sitting in front of you. He was currently entertaining himself by throwing pieces of his napkin at your face but you couldn’t even be mad at him.

You eventually leave MacDonald's with a booth full of torn up napkins and a smile on your face, not  even noticing the near freezing temperatures because Tyson was making you feel so warm inside. The thought of arriving at your apartment which looked so appealing earlier, now filled you with a sense of disappointment.

Would Tyson want to see you again? Or was this just a one time thing?

This was the first time during the whole night you had no idea what he was thinking. His eyes were on the ground and silence overtook you. You felt awkward again as you walked the short distance home.

“I hope you at least had a little bit of fun.”

You could feel the nervousness coming off of him and wanted nothing more than to hug him.

“I did yeah.” You answered with a smile. “More than I thought I would have at MacDonald's.”

Tyson rolled his eyes at you playfully before answering.

“It’s not about the location though, it’s about the company. You really think you would have had as much fun sitting in that expensive restaurant with whatever his name was? Money does not compensate a shit personality.”

His expression was playful but his words were serious and it took you by surprise. You hadn’t expected Tyson to call you out like that. Maybe it was good he did. He was definitely right.

“Yeah you’re right, he has nothing on you.”

“So does that mean you’re open to a real date in the future? I promise I’ll do better than MacDonald’s.”

“Tys, you could take me to an outdoor food truck festival in the pouring rain and I’d still think it was the best date ever.”

The happiness that overtook his features was unlike anything you’d ever seen. Even though moonlight was shining down on you, you felt like you were looking at the sun.

“Okay.” He began but paused a moment later. You’d caught him of guard with what you’d said.

“Okay, I’ll call you then. I wanted to kiss you but I feel like I should wait for a better time.”

He gave you a hug and then he was off. And while he didn’t leave you with a kiss, he did leave you with his phone number and a plan to meet up again, and that was good enough for now.