#and nothing our party does has a short explanation lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

moral-turpitudes · 4 years ago

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Tea Party:

A/N: So Tumblr has been a bitch and not showing certain things in the tags so I’m reposting this requested fic lol.

Trigger Warnings: Angst, Some fluff, Slight smut, Swearing, Fighting, Blood, Drinking/Alcohol, etc.

Word Count: 3,425

Characters: Tommy x Reader

Summary: Y/n helps Ada Shelby on a whim, saving her life and earning some praise from the Shelby family, but little did she know she’d fall for one of their most respected members.

Summary of Request: “Reader saving one of the Shelbys from their enemies and taking them home safely and the family being thankful. A few days later the enemy goes after the reader thinking she works for them and they destroy her shop, house, or car. The Shelbys find out about this and offer help, and she becomes closer to the family and everybody really likes her and she starts a relationship with Tommy. I’d like angst, fluff, and smut.”

Requested by: Anon

It was a bleak winter evening the night you met Thomas Shelby. The stars were shining and the moon was illuminating the dark roads of Small Heath, giving you an rare view of the town. You had just finished packing up your small jewelry stand that you had set up near where your families vardo was parked. This was one of your more frequent stops as there were always locals wanting to buy jewelry for their loved ones. In return, this made you a nice familiar face amongst the dreary town.

In the distance, you heard screaming, but it wasn’t one of children playing or couples yelling, it was fearful and full of anguish. Before you knew it you were running towards the sound. Yelling for your mother to keep an eye on your stuff as you dashed off into the unknown. Your heart beat frantically as the shrill screams got closer, causing a shiver down your spine as your eyes adjusted to what lay before you in the dark alley. A woman seemingly around your age was lying there in a pool of blood, a cut running across her arm and a stab wound to her abdomen. You cringed at first, but having seen your fair share of blood due to your family throwing punches and hunting, it made you a bit less squeamish. You carefully crouched down beside her, pulling off your scarf as you gently placed it over her abdomen.

Her eyes were closed and her voice was horse when she spoke.

“Please don’t let me die out here. Please take me back.” She said crying as she finally glanced up at you.

“I-I won’t let you die love you’ll be fine...where do you live? What’s your name?” You asked applying pressure to her wound as she screamed out in pain.

“A-Ada...Ada Shelby...I don’t want to go home. Take me to my brothers.” She said frantically trying to get up.

“Hey hey easy, it’s okay I got you. Where are they aye?” You asked as you draped her arm across your shoulder and helped her walk down the dark glass-like roads.

“The betting shop on the corner. You really don’t know do you?” She asked.

“Know what Ada?” You asked, leading her up the street.

“Usually if I say the last name Shelby people run or they look at me like I killed their whole family. The Shelby’s are part of the Peaky Blinders...does that ring a bell?” She asked wincing, signaling for you to stop for a moment. As you both caught your breath, you shook your head no.

“I don’t know how you couldn’t tell but I’m not like most people. I’m not from here. I travel with my family and I come here often to find work and to sell jewelry, but other than that? I’m on the road.” You said looking at your flat shoes, nothing compared to miss Ada’s fancy heels.

“I see...what’s your name?” She asked smiling slightly.

“Y/N Y/L/N.” You said, grabbing her arm and helping her walk towards the brick building up ahead.

You led her through the doors, the scent of whiskey and cigarettes filling the dimly lit lobby.

“Polly! Tommy! All of you bastards help me please!” She said yelling as the scarf grew more saturated with blood in the short time you walked her in. She was paling and you sat her up in a nearby chair as you heard everyone running over.

“My god what happened! Arthur, John, get the first aid kit now!” She yelled as Tommy came over, a worried look on his usually stoic face. You grabbed your coat, applying pressure as Ada winced until they got back with the supplies.

“I was walking here from my apartment. Tommy, I think one of Changretta’s men got me. They had those awful tattoos on their necks. They fucking cut me and stabbed me. I can’t die not like this.” She said putting a hand on her pale forehead.

Tommy looked at her concerned, his eyes going down to you as you sat by her holding her other hand.

“Who are you?” He asked angrily.

“Y/N Y/L/N...I heard her when I was packing my jewelry stand up. I ran over to help her. I didn’t see where the men went though.” You said looking him in the eyes before helping Polly prep some gauze. You took your glove off and urged her to open her mouth.

“You’ll want to bite down on something. This is going to hurt.” You said before pouring some of the whiskey on her abdomen while Polly poured some on her arm. Ada screamed through the cloth, earning concerned glances from some of the unrelated workers in the shop. You poured more, making sure to flush out the wound before quickly threading a needle.

“I can stitch if you’d rather not go to a hospital.” You said. Polly eyed you and Ada nodded as you began. Tommy watched as you worked, neatly stitching the small puncture wound closed.

Polly gently wrapped her arm with gauze and you helped Ada up to wrap some around her waist. After that, she gave you a hug and you went to grab your coat.

“No dear, here I’ll wash these, it’s the least we can do. Thank you for saving our Ada, Y/N.” Polly said smiling.

“Of course...I couldn’t let something happen knowing I was that close.” You said, messing nervously with the gold necklaces draped around your neck.

“So you’re travelling with the other gypsies up the road aye?” Polly asked.

“Yeah. my family likes stopping here, good business since it’s busy usually.” You said.

“Oh I’m very familiar. I grew up traveling. I think I’ve seen you before...you sell the beautiful necklaces.” She said smiling, putting your nerves at ease.

“Yeah...” You said.

“C’mon we have to find them. John you get the guns, Arthur you get the ammo.” Tommy said lowly walking by you.

“Are you going after them?” You asked him. He stopped in his tracks as his eyes pierced yours. He nodded and lit a cigarette staring at you as he waited for his brothers.

“You going to kill them?” you asked.

He smirked and looked over at Ada and Polly and then back at you.

“No I’m just goin’ to see if they want to have a tea party.” He said dryly joking.

You nodded, knowing the real answer. To be honest you’d do the same if someone came after your family.

They soon left, leaving you with Polly and a groaning Ada.

“You’ve not heard of the blinders?” Polly asked gathering your blood soaked clothing. You shook your head, yet preparing yourself for her explanation of the family business.

Later that night, you were taken back to where you family was parked by one of the Shelby’s drivers. Thanking him as you were helped out of the fancy black car. Your family came out of the two vardos and ran towards you enveloping your frame in a hug and asking where you had run off to. You hesitantly told them, knowing they were more likely to know who your new acquaintances are.

Your father tensed up and so did your mother, but you reassured them and could tell they were still happy you stopped to help someone.

The next few days passed and you spent them selling various necklaces and then deciding to go into town with your parents. You all bought some supplies and various things, and then returned a few hours later. While unpacking your latest haul, you heard an oddly familiar voice outside. Carefully stepping out, you saw Ada and Tommy talking with your parents. They seemed at ease as you heard Tommy speaking with your father. As you walked up you saw Ada smile and go in for a hug. You embraced her gently to avoid ripping her stitches and then stepped back.

“Hello Y/N. We wanted to thank you.” He said smiling slightly, handing you your jacket and scarf from the previous night, no sign of blood on them. They were soft and smelled rather floral.

“Oh thank you. And it was no problem really Mr. Shelby.” You said, catching him looking at you as you glanced up from the coat in your arms.

“Call me Tommy.” He said, another small smile playing at his lips.

Your parents excused themselves knowing this was more your business than theirs, and you hugged Ada once more before waving them off.

A thought crossed your mind though, making you smirk.

“Hey Tommy!” You asked, causing him to stop with Ada, the two of them looking at you.

“How was the tea party?” You asked smirking.

“Great...a little bloody though.” He said smirking back.

You nodded and waved them off, putting on your coat and placing your scarf in one of your pockets. When you tried to pull your hand out, your fingers brushed against a piece of paper. You gently pulled it out, and opened it so you could read what it said.

“Y/N Y/L/N,

I apologize for being so frank last night. Per my aunt Polly’s request...as well as all of my sibling’s, I have written this as a thank you for saving my sister. She has been talking non-stop about the events that transpired and about you. Something about how we should meet more often and that you seem like a good fit for me? I can’t say no to her though, since she practically begged me to write this.

Therefore, since we didn’t meet in normal circumstances and since I can’t help but to agree, I’d love to ask you out. I’ll be at the shop tomorrow evening at 6. If you’re interested, I’d love for you to come by. I look forward to getting to know you and discussing the “tea party.”

~ T. S.”

You smiled at the small letter and laughing at the assumed inside joke between you two. You’d barely met the man, but if his family felt this strongly, you figured it couldn’t hurt. You’d been single for a long while, the constant travel putting a strain on any relationship you attempted to have in the past.

The next day you spent the day rummaging through your various dresses, picking out a lacey white one. You slipped it on and checked your makeup in the small mirror in your vardo before heading out, wrapping your coat around your shoulders. As you made your way through the streets you eventually got to the shop and walked in nervously. It was a drastically different atmosphere compared to the other night, men were roaming about yelling out various numbers and the other women among them were typing and making calls.

You saw Polly in the distance and smiled when she saw you come in. She quickly walked over, giving you a hug.

“What are you doing here dear? Is everything alright?” She asked.

You smirked. “I’m um, here to see Tommy. I got a letter?” You said, holding it in your hand.

“Ah that. I’m glad he got to writing it. I’ll show you to his office.” She said, taking your hand.

She knocked and he answered, letting her in with you following behind.

“I have a visitor Tommy. Be good. She said nodding towards him and leaving.

Tommy smiled and stood up, eyeing you as you walked towards his desk.

“I see you got the letter...would you like a drink? I have whiskey and.....whiskey.” He said, walking over to his stash of the brown liquid and crystal glasses.

“That’s a hard one...I’m going to have to go with the whiskey.” You said smirking.

A minute later you were holding a cold glass, sipping on it as you sat in one of Tommy’s leather chairs.

“So about the tea party...I’m assuming my aunt told you about the peaky business right?” He asked.

“Yeah.” You said, fiddling with your necklace.

“Does that make you scared?” He asked. You thought for a moment, but you decided to take another chance.

“Not really. I’m here aren’t I?” You said.

He laughed lightly and took a drink, sitting down beside you.

“You said you agreed to their request of meeting me...is that true?” You asked. Tommy got up after a moment and put his hand out for you to grab.

“If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be leaving.” He said. You took his hand and laughed as he pulled you through the lobby and out the doors of the shop.

“Where the hell are we going?” You asked seeing the sun was setting over the town.

“The Garrison. I figured that it’d be more of a date if I took ya somewhere.” He said ushering you inside the pub. The smell of smoke and various alcohols filled your nostrils as you took your coat off and placed it with Tommy’s.

As you all talked the night away, you grew more drowsy and he walked you back towards your vardo. But in shock, you stood there looking at the sight before you. The wooden planks holding up the intricate structure were torn off, and the inside was destroyed. You ran over to your parents and saw them picking up pieces of clothing and random trinkets the assumed robbers left behind. When you walked back and checked your living space you saw a black cross-like design had been painted on your door.

You looked at Tommy with hot, anger filled tears in your eyes.

“Who did this? Who fucked with my family aye?” You said walking up to him and shoving him in the shoulder. He barely moved as a an angry look overcame his features as well. You stormed off and rummaged for a handgun you had in your purse, never feeling the need to use it until now.

“You know who did this don’t you. Don’t fucking lie to me Tom.” You said cocking the gun and checking the bullets. He watched you as you angrily paced, and walked over, gently placing his hand over the barrel of the gun.

“I do know. It’s the same gang that attacked Ada. We...unfortunately have a vendetta with them. But going out there and shooting random men isn’t going to stop this.” He said looking at you. You were shaking slightly at the sudden rush of emotions as the alcohol still burned through your system.

“They took almost everything from us. Where will we go? Where the hell will we live? I though you took care of them last time!” You yelled, easing the handgun down and shoving it back into your purse.

“I have a spare property down the road, you all can stay there. Don’t worry Y/N I’ll make sure they won’t live to see tomorrow.” He said before you threw him into a hug. You cried knowing your family was safe, but also at the thought of losing all you’ve worked for. Your life was in that small space and it was all gone or severely broken, and your heart was too.

“C’mon, I’ll send some men to come help them. I’ll take you to the shop, and you’ll stay there until I get back ok?” He said. You nodded and followed him to the shop, this time in a much more sullen tone.

He immediately called everyone into the meeting room and he let you sit by Polly as he spoke. You quietly told her what happened and she sighed. The rest of them you had assumed liked you after saving their sisters life and all, and so they all got ready, cocking their guns and putting on their razor caps. Ada came over to you with tears in her eyes, taking your hands in hers.

“Oh Y/N I’m so sorry to have dragged you into this.” She said. You smiled and reassured her she wasn’t at fault. As the night drug on, you discussed your new living situation and were alerted by some of Tommys men that your parents were safe. You cried with relief, sitting in the meeting room shakily. Polly came in a moment later, with some tea, knowing you needed something to calm your nerves.

“Thanks.” You said, feeling the hot steam against your lips.

“No problem. Don’t worry about him, he’ll be back. He always is.” She said staring out at the night sky through the dusty window.

You nodded, sitting there as you let your mind wander. You looked up after a long while, your eyes growing heavy, and decided to concentrate on the clock. It was almost midnight.

Before your mind could race to where your new love interest could be, he thankfully came through the doors with his brothers, as they hollered and sat their weapons down.

You stood up slowly, as you saw Tommy walk towards you. He had a cut on his forehead and a slightly busted lip.

He said nothing as he came to you, the adrenaline from the night coursing through him as he embraced you, catching you by surprise. He then kissed you, his lip burning slightly as he kissed you, but nevertheless he continued. When he stopped, you stood there gazing into his eyes.

“They’re gone. You don’t have to worry now.” He said. You nodded and hugged him again, feeling him planting a kiss on the top of your head.

“Well are you going to invite her over or are you going to fuck in the lobby?” Arthur shouted as John and the others laughed. Tommy turned around slightly and gave him a look and then turned back to you.

“Would you like to go now?” He asked.

Your cheeks heated up at his brothers remarks, but you decided to take him up on the offer. “Yeah, as a matter of fact I do.” You said, and before you knew it you where being led out to his car and driven to his house, nervously awaiting what was to come. As soon as you got to his estate, he led you through on a tour. Your eyes widened at the grandiosity of the place. You had rarely seen a place like this, only imagining them in fairytales. You looked around as he led you through, stopping lastly at the main bedroom which you assumed was his.

You had just enough time to revel at the room before he kissed you again, making you giggle slightly as he snaked his arms around your waist and nipped at your neck. As he worked his way down, he undid your dress, letting it slip down your frame as he went to lie back on the bed. You hesitantly undid his shirt and pants, slipping them off as he watched you.

“Are you sure you want to?” He asked.

“Never been so sure in my life...” You said before straddling his waist. He smirked, and kissed you as you continued your movements making him fall for you more with each second that passed.

After your night together, you decided a couple of days later on another date, more-so like a re-do since you both were more drawn to each other. As time went on, you became closer with his family, while yours acclimated to their new temporary surroundings. And over the upcoming weeks you managed to land a job with them, helping you to earn some money and helping your parents to get a new vardo to get them back on their feet. After a couple of months you had been able to attend more of the family meetings, after deciding to stay at Tommy’s place instead of travelling. And after some odd weeks later, a new gang problem arose, giving you that same fearful feeling that you had some many months ago. Before heading out, tommy cocked his gun and checked the bullets making sure each one was accounted for, and walked past you with his brothers towards the door.

“Hey you forgot something...” You said smirking as he smiled and walked towards you kissing you.

“No more tea parties alright? You be careful okay?” You said. He chuckled and winked at you before heading out the door, going out to deal with death and destruction once again. As much as you hated him being gone, you loved when he came back, and his family did too of course, especially since you’ve made him a bit nicer. As you walked back to your desk and picked up where you left of with your work, you smiled, knowing you made the right choice and took the right chances.

Tag List:

@msbzowy, @nofckingfighting, @aranoburns, @sighonahurricane, @ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes, @gaytommyshelby, @wowjeena, @fifty-shadesof-tommyshelby, @inglourious-imagines, @thebloodyshelbys, @tsolomons, @blinder-secrets, @reveparade, @shelby-fanatic, @ta-ka-shi-ma

#katiesanons #katiesrequests #katiesfics #thomas shelby x reader #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x y/n #thomas shelby #tommy shelby #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagines #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders oneshots

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parkersharthook · 3 years ago

Text

Love For All

Peter Stark-Rogers & Stark-Rogers!reader (twins)

warnings: mentions of drinking/being drunk, pretty fluffy

1.8k+ words

series masterlist

a/n: happy pride month (lol I queued this in february just so I didn’t forget to post it) anyways im bi and pls know my page is a safe space for everyone 💗💜💙

Fluffy piece where Tony and Steve are chosen as the grand marshalls for the pride parade and it becomes a family affair.

“this just in, you all officially have the coolest dads in history!” Tony bellowed as he dramatically entered the common space, Steve right behind him with a plethora of eye rolls.

Right as you were about to protest, Bucky chimed in, “neither of you are my father.”

“with the way I’ve saved your sorry ass? Might as well be.”

“saved my sorry ass? Oh Stevie, have you forgotten who pulled your ass out of every back alley fight you got into? Or have the years 1932 to 1941.”

“I did not start a fight in 1932!” Steve argued back, hands placed firmly on his hips.

“bullshit! 5 years old, playground 2 blocks over, Arthur Williams.”

Steve frowned slightly, “damn I forgot about that.”

Beside you Peter snorted, “you got into a fight when you were 5?”

“Wow darling, you came out of the womb with righteous indignation didn’t you?” Tony added with a small smirk as he moved to rest against the back of the couch.

Steve threw his hands up in defeat, “oh haha laugh it up. Yes I’m old, yes I’m stubborn. Can we please just go back to how we’re cool?”

“Wait before that, back to the ‘not my fathers thing’ does this mean you see yourselves as the team fathers? Because if you’re adopting more people, I want in!” Clint said cheerfully.

“Sorry we capped out at four.”

You stuck your tongue out at Clint with a little ‘ha ha’ because you were mature like that. “anyways… why do you think you are the coolest dads? I wanna get my rebuttal in soon.”

Tony bopped the back of your head playfully as he dropped a very rainbow piece of paper into your lap. Peter instantly leaned into your space to read it. You pushed him back with a shove to the forehead. “relax nerd I’m gonna read it out loud.”

“hurry up I’m getting antsy.” You threw an unimpressed look at Clint who had practically crawled into Bucky’s lap to get closer, not that Bucky minded.

“Chill.” You smoothed out the paper and held it up, “All hail the next Grand Marshals of NYC Pride, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. We are happy to formally announce the two superheroes and super husbands as our fearless leaders of the float parade this year.”

“That’s the public announcement they put out, turn it over to read the letter they sent us.”

“Dear Mr. Anthony and Steven Stark-Rogers, we are so excited to welcome you into our NYC Pride Parade family. As this year’s appointed Grand Marshals it is both our duty and pleasure to pass the Pride Baton over to you. Included in this letter you will find the rules and expectations of our Grand Marshals, as well as what is permitted for first floats. We would love if you extended this invitation to your entire circle of family and friends to join you in the parade and on your float.”

You put the paper down and tilted your head back to stare at your dad, “you? Grand Marshal? Really?”

“What’s so shocking about that?”

“umm…. You’re old and not cool.”

Bucky sputtered a laugh beside you as Tony bopped you on the head again.

“Was this your way of telling us to come to pride with you?” Peter asked.

Steve shook his head as he flopped into a nearby loveseat, “actually this was our way of telling you that we need your help coming up with ideas for the float and how to decorate it. But of course we want you to join us on the float, we’ll be inviting the rest of the team as well.”

“I’ll help decorate but Bi-derman is making another appearance this year.”

Tony slapped his forehead, “can you take your old suit at least? The paint was a bitch to get off last time.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “the old suit chafes.”

You grimaced, “I hate this conversation.”

“I think you should do a dog themed float, Lucky can be our mascot.”

Bucky sighed, “of course that’s your suggestion.”

“what about the history of pride? Recognizing the Stonewall Riots and the two black transgender females that started it all. Plus then we can also advocate for Black Lives Matter. Make it clear that to support one, you have to support the other. Educate and entertain.”

Tony smiled, “that’s not a bad idea y/n.”

Steve looked at you with hopeful eyes, “are you willing to help organize and coordinate?”

“can I invite friends to help?”

“yes.”

You smiled, “then yes.”

------

“when I said organize and coordinate, I didn’t mean take over the conference room we use regularly for avengers meetings.” Steve said with a deep sigh

“it’s the only one with a vending machine.” MJ helpfully pointed out, taking another large bite of her pizza slice.

“yeah it was the only way to get Clint to sit through meetings without leaving to get food.” Steve explained as he stepped into the room and took in the large array of papers everywhere. The four teenage girls that occupied the room were all busy with one thing or another, looking intense and determined.

MJ snorted, “figures.” Her hand ghosted over the page again, dragging the pencil with it and creating another addition to her sketch.

Steve’s brow furrowed for a moment and he took a step closer to get a better look, “is that me?”

MJ nodded coolly but offered no other explanation. Betty huffed a laugh, “we’re trying to design both you and Mr. Stark crown-like head pieces.”

“crowns?”

You rolled your eyes, “Pops, you really do only hear what you wanna hear. Crown-like head pieces. I know dad would go for a full ass crown but I knew you wouldn’t and we want you two to match.”

Steve studied the photos of celebrities that were projected on the wall. “and that?”

“The 2018 Met Gala. Theme: heavenly bodies. There were a bunch of great head pieces that night, we’re using it for inspiration.” Gwen supplied, “let us know if there’s any you like.”

“I wanna go in a Cardi B direction.” You stated without taking your eyes off your computer screen, you’ve obviously already committed every possible headpiece to memory.

“don’t taint his selection with bias!” Betty cried

MJ waved her off easily, “there’s no way he knows who Cardi B is.”

“thanks for the confidence MJ.” She just smiled cheekily at him.

“I think he should choose something like what Frances McDormand was wearing.” Gwen stated with a small smile

MJ laughed, “as much as I think that would look amazing, there’s no way he’s picking that.”

“who’s this?”

You barely had to glance at the photo to recognize the red and gold dress and of course the iconic headpiece, “Black Lively.”

“Okay well I like that, it’s simple.”

“what about…” Gwen drawled as she typed something and new photo, a larger one, took over the whole wall, “Something like SZA’s?”

Steve took a step back and grimaced slightly, “it’s kinda… big.”

“But if it were smaller?” Gwen pressed politely

“I suppose.” Steve glanced around at the four girls. “You guys have a lot of stuff planned.”

“Oh yeah.” You looked up with a big grin, meeting your dad’s eye. “It’s gonna be great.”

“You’re not designing us costumes too are you?”

“Well Tony specifically said not too and that he already had something planned.” MJ said before eyeing Steve up and down with the critical eye of an artist, “But we could design something if you wanted us too.”

“No, I kinda of already have a plan too.”

You rose a questioning brow, “oh yeah? Please tell me you’re not going to be wearing something boring.”

Steve rolled his eyes at you and obnoxiously bumped his hip into your side as he walked out, “I’m not clueless on how to dress for Pride. Plus, I like dressing up for it, it’s fun. And it’s not something we got to do back then. I’m planning on taking full advantage.” And with that he walked out dramatically and closed the door.

Betty laughed slightly, “ten bucks that he paints the shield.”

Gwen shook his head, “No way. I think he’s gonna wear one of the flags as a cape.”

MJ clicked her tongue, “I know for a fact he’ll be wearing his ‘trans rights are human rights’ shirt.” Pause. “and probably his rainbow pants.”

You looked at MJ with a perplexed expression, “why do you know about my dad’s rainbow pants?”

MJ smirked slightly, “he wore them to pride a few years ago. Plus, me and peter talk about things. You’re not the only Stark-Rogers twin I hang out with.”

Gwen obnoxiously nudged Betty with her elbow and a large wink, “Oh yeah… she talks to Peter.” MJ scowled at the two as you snickered behind your hand.

MJ grumbled slightly, “let’s just get back to work.” It was silent in the room until the three other girls heard MJ mumble, “I never have to deal with this at college.”

You burst into a fit of laughter.

------

Pride was without a doubt a 100% success.

The float looked great. The area had already been swept for trouble. One Grand Marshal was moderately drunk. And Everyone was dancing and partying. Perfect.

Even the float attendees looked great. Clint was the brightest of the all. With no shirt on, glitter all over his chest, a rainbow tutu around his hips, tight purple booty shorts underneath, knee high socks with the pan pride flag on them, plus his signature purple converse… he looked good.

You’ve been snickering every time you catch Bucky not so subtlety looking Clint up and down. But that being said, Clint was doing the same to Bucky because he had someone managed to get the stoic and whiney super soldier into a rainbow button down. Nothing else, as that wasn’t Bucky’s jam. He paired the shirt with simple jeans but you were sure that he would be covered with glitter later.

Peter had been swinging around the parade, his first Stark suit now painted a vibrant pink, purple, and blue. Plus there was a large, messily painted on heart over where the spider sat in the middle of his chest.

You and all your friends had taken up the dance floor on the float, and if you said so yourself, you all were killing the dance moves.

Tony was more than tipsy because Bruce was on babysitting duty tonight for Morgan, so he let himself go and lean heavily against his husband, who just grinned at him all lovingly.

In the end, it was a good day. You threw beads and candy to the crowd, joining them at times for drinks and dance parties. You laughed endlessly with your friends and your family. And yeah… it was a good day.

Plus, all your friends had been correct.

Steve wore his trans shirt in solidarity with the ongoing movements and the float.

He wore his rainbow pants because they were “super fashionable y/n” and to support everyone.

He painted his shield purple, blue, and pink to show off his own sexuality and support Peter.

And he had a pansexual flag tied around his neck to match with Tony’s pink, yellow, and blue shirt.

He looked great.

#marvel #spiderman #reader #peter stark rogers #peter parker #superfamily #reader insert #peter parker & reader #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #superfamily fanfiction #superfamily imagine #reader fanfiction #reader imagine #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #stark!reader #stark-rogers!reader #emma writes

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c-c-cherry · 4 years ago

Note

I simply must ask... could you spare some spooky Halloween headcanons? I know it’s not quite Halloween yet but I’d love to see your spin on a jojo Halloween!

Oho....hohoho...you have no idea what kind of a beast you’ve awakened in me...

Halloween is arguably the best holiday ever because free candy, costumes, and the weather is fucking PERFECT. (also idk what’s up with the rest of y’all but Canadian thanksgiving is in the middle of October so I’m still riding the high of good thanksgiving food by the time its Halloween (AND I’m half-American so we celebrate it in November too hehehe)

But long story short I love spooky season (and autumn in general) with a burning passion and I am SO willing to go hard on jjba spooky headcanons

Thanks again to @jjadegreen for alway being my best headcanon bud!!

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Part One:

-For the sake of this, I’m making them like 13 or something, like maybe not even a year after they met

-In 19th century England, it was actually pretty typical for them to have a bonfire on Halloween!!

-Halloween costumes were popularized a few centuries ago in France so you bet our phantom blood buds were wearing costumes and shit :)

-I doubt the rich participated in such “unruly” stuff like lighting shit on fire and bearing torches and whatever (but you never know)

-Like George probably spoiled Jonathan with candy as a kid and let him dress up with his school friends and that was it lol

-Dio though OH MY GOD-

-You know based on where he grew up that all that wild shit definitely happened

-He can’t say that he misses living like that, but there’s some kind of weird nostalgia that comes with it

-...which is why Jonathan is really confused when he catches Dio sneaking out of the mansion in the middle of the night

-Begrudgingly, he tells Jojo his plan and this boy’s eyes LIGHT UP

-Instead of being a “stupid, crybaby, tattletale,” as Dio puts it, Jojo is like,,,super hyped

-“Oh! I have an idea! Why don’t we sneak out in costumes so no-one knows it’s us??”

-The sheets on their beds may have two holes in them now, but it's worth it

-They hijack a horse or some shit and skeet over to a giant bonfire

-Dio thinks it's gonna be a drag since Jonathan is there to watch his every move, but it's actually,,,really fun

-As a kid who’s barely ever left his sheltered property, Jonathan is having the time of his life and Dio never thought he would be happy to see Jonathan so happy

-It ends with the two of them sitting by the river, absolutely exhausted from the rush and Jonathan pulls out this bag of shit from his pocket and is like

-“It’s candy!! :D”

-Dio could never really afford things like sweets on Halloween growing up so he’s a bit touchy about it but OH MY GOD that shit is GOOD

-Probably one of the only times where they actually bond properly

-BUT IF THIS IS MY POCKET DIMENSION THEN I CAN SAY THAT THEY BECOME FRIENDS >:)

Part Two:

-I’m just gonna start out with the fact that Joseph is fucking OBSESSED with candy. You know those kids you knew growing up that loved it more than anything on this goddamn earth? *cough cough @jjadegreen*

-That is Joseph

-And now that he consumes that type of shit with the power of mastered Hamon at his fingertips,,,holy shit man,,,it's like a child’s sugar rush but 100x worse

-Caeasr is put in charge of Jojo to make sure he doesn’t do anything idiotic *which he definitely will trust me*

-The MOMENT he goes to the bathroom, Suzi pops in like “JOJO!!!! :) Let's go trick or treating!!!”

-He can’t say no to that, bro,,,he and Suzi are tight ;-;

-While Lisa Lisa is out to meet Speedwagon and Erina and bring them back over to where everyone else is, Joseph sneaks out with Suzi and the two of them dash off into the streets of New York

Caesar: *steps out of bathroom*

“Jojo, what the hell do you and Suzi want for dinner?”

*silence*

“...Jojo?”

*Hears the screams of of children in the distance*

“JOJO, NO—”

-So turns out Joseph’s way of trick-or-treating at such an old age is just terrorizing young children and ransacking them for candy

-Suzi Q is just totally unphased by how awful this is and just thinks its the funniest shit

-Caesar is running out into the streets of New York like ???? and spots Joseph being himself and he could probably just pretend he doesn’t know them

-But,,,Joseph may be an idiot but he’s his idiot and Suzi Q is his bimbo best friend so he goes out to drag them back home

-Erina, Lisa Lisa, and Speedwagon are already home by the time they get back and Caesar sits Joseph down and chews him out in front of everyone

-Erina is super pissed and lectures him about “Joestar values” or whatever and tells a really embarrassing story about how a kid took his candy once when he was little and he cried about it for DAYS

-Caesar is still really angry about it so he replaces all of Joseph’s gummies with sugar free ones (you goddamn know the ones I’m talking about) but he didn’t know Joseph WOULD EAT THEM ALL AT ONCE

-He is so fucking sick on November 1st

-Also off-topic but Lisa Lisa gives out dental floss or some shit on halloween

Part Three:

-Honestly all Jotaro wants to do is buy candy for himself, hole himself up in his room like he always does, and just munch and watch shitty horror movies

-But of course he has actual friends now

-Kakyoin tackles him before he can get his ass upstairs and suggests that they go out and trick-or-treat

-To which Jotaro thinks is a joke and laughs because he’s not only 17, but also 6’5” but Kak’s face looks dead serious

-Kakyoin goes on this long, detailed ramble about how he meticulously made the best Halloween route for them to get the best candy

-Now THIS is when Polnareff abandons whatever he and Avdol are doing to join in on the stupid plan they have

-When Kakyoin comes back with a handful of white sheets, they already know what he’s thinking and its brilliant

Kakyoin’s 5-step, foolproof Halloween plan:

Step one: It’s already established that stands can hold non-stand items (like when Star Plat whipped Iggy across the desert) so what’s stopping them from being able to have sheets over their heads?

Step two: They faze a bit of their stands into the ground so that they at least resemble the height of children (plus non-stand users can’t see anything besides the sheets so it's perfect)

Step three: Polnareff pretends to be the father of these shy children who can’t speak (he looks the oldest) while Jotaro and Kakyoin hide nearby so their stands don’t de-summon

Step four: Hit up every good house in the neighbourhood

Step Five: Candy.

(Kak used to put a sheet over hierophant all the time as a kid and always got twice the amount of candy each year)

-It actually works pretty well, aside from the fact that Star would sometimes scream “ORA” in a really deep, manly, not seven years old at all voice whenever the people at the door would try to speak with him or make him say ‘trick-or-treat’

-They finally reach the richest house in the neighbourhood, where the snootiest lady lives (but she has a shit ton of candy leftover every year since no one goes there)

-Once the stands knock on the door, she starts saying stuff like “ohh, let me see your faces so I make sure you aren’t too old for this” and ducks under to look at the sheets…

-...Only to find that there’s literally nothing there

-She looks up at Polnareff like 👁👄👁 and Kakyoin seems to get the message because one of hierophant’s tentacles grabs her ankle and she SCREAMS and throws her entire candy stash at them, slamming the door behind her

-Half of them are full-sizes chocolate bars. Candy acquired.

-When they get back, Joseph is so fucking angry that they didn’t invite him out for Halloween shenanigans >:(

-Avdol and Holy have a very nice chat, meanwhile. They answer the door while everyone's gone and are so sweet to the kids about their costumes :)

-Also Avdol is 100% the kind of person to bake pumpkin seeds and season them and shit

-Kakyoin sorts all his candy and puts it on a spreadsheet and also make a pie chart just like he does every year

-T’was a very successful halloween

Part Five:

-Giorno is probably short enough to go out if he really wanted to

-But he has maturity issues and there would be no way in hell that the Bucci Gang would catch him going out in a costume and begging for candy

-So as soon as all the daily tasks and shit are met Giorno locks himself in his room

-He honestly wants some candy and to watch spooky movies with the gang but he just feels like an outsider to all of that stuff since he never did it

-So Bruno slips a thing of dracula-themed chocolate pudding under his door and leaves him be :)

-Narancia and Mista DO go out, however

-Not only do they go out and steal shit, but they also go and hit up houses for candy just for the fun of it

-The moment the clock strikes 6 Trish is OUT of there

-Girl is hitting up as many parties as she possibly can and eventually meets up with Nara and Mista at some shitty Halloween party and end up just buying really shitty beer and going to the graveyard or something

-Fugo wants none of that shit

-He’s perfectly content sitting with the black cat that Giorno made him and watching shitty reruns of whatever’s on

-Bruno takes out his tacky Halloween apron that definitely looks something like this

-Fugo helps him make all this really good spooky-themed dessert shit and helps him sort the candy in the nut and nut-free bowls :))) (because Bruno really goes and does that)

-Abbacchio seems like the kind of person who would go really fucking hard with Halloween decorations

-Like, no explanation why, he just loves it and everyone knows not to get in his way

-The moment October 1st comes around, this man is in his ELEMENT. He’s READY.

-It’s the one month where he looks anywhere near normal compared to other people and man is ready to rock that shit

-Later that night they go to check on Giorno and find him asleep surrounded by bags of candy

-Turns out he snuck out and had a good time after all :’)

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You’re wondering why I skipped part 4, right? ↓ ↓

I’m sorry to disappoint y’all, but I don’t think I’m gonna be doing much for Whumptober this year! (I’m just shit at monthly challenges in general lmao) but I think y’all need a breather from all this giant dump of whumpy stuff coming this month, so I, your dear friend Cherry, have decided to write fics throughout the month that I dub SOFT HALLOWEEN :D (with uhhh a side of whump and hurt/comfort and all that shit because I can’t help myself)

It’s gonna vary (hopefully from parts 1-5)! I didn’t add any part four headcanons in here because Jade and I are literally writing part 4 shenanigans first and we didn’t wanna spoil anything :)

SPEAKING OF SPOILERS here’s a horrifying, blurry, teaser picture that’s only gonna make sense once you read the fic:

Isn’t it beautiful?

Hope you enjoyed these!! Tell me what you want the Jojos to do on Halloween!

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Ok so apparently its not normal to sort your candy by type, count it all out and then put it into a spreadsheet which then gets made into a graph? Because I did that. EVERY. FUCKING. YEAR. Ask Jade. She was there every goddamn time. Please I’m begging you someone else tell me you did shit like this I need to know

#jjba #jjba headcanons #halloween #halloween headcanons #jojos's bizarre adventure #phantom blood #battle tendency #jojo's bizzare adventure golden wind #vento aureo #stardust crusaders #jonathan joestar #ask-c-c-cherry #joseph joestar #jotaro kujo #giorno giovanna #spooky month #:)

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kirishwima · 4 years ago

Note

Could you please write about RFA + V&Saeran reacting to MC playing otome games? I don't know if you ever wrote something like that before. Thank u ♥️

as a big fan of otome games i’m obligated to answer this OwO

Since you haven’t specified any pronouns, I’ll be using they/them for MC!

YOOSUNG:

* “MC, do you like playing games?” he asks one day whilst on a call with MC, the glee in his voice palpable.

* He’s so happy when MC replies with a shy yes! He’s about to ask them is they play LOLOL when MC cuts him off with a rush. “I-it’s probably not the kind of games you play though!”

* He’s a little baffled by that, but MC is quick to change the topic to Yoosung’s beloved LOLOL, and he’s sufficiently distracted to let the matter slide in the meantime.

* It’s only after he and MC meet at the party, only after they start dating and spending much more time together that he understands just what kind of a gamer MC really is.

* “MC! Stop paying attention to your fake boyfriend and come hug me! Me! Flesh and bone, right here!” he groans, patting at his chest and belly with a big sad pout-and really, MC you heartless fiend, how can you ignore those big puppy eyes in favor of an online hottie on your laptop?!

* He’s not nearly as upset over MC’s choice of games as one would think-so long as he receives sufficient amounts of kisses and cuddles, and reassurances that he’s their one and only true boyfriend, he’s good! He’ll even watch MC as they game on their phone whilst they rest their head on his chest.

* “Oh, MC, go with that guy! He looks um-” he blushes, wondering how to phrase his next words-how can he say that that dude with the choker full of spikes and smudged eyeliner looks hot?! “he looks...promising?”

* Oho? *MC will remember that.*

ZEN:

* He never really noticed what exactly it was MC was playing-he saw them giggling at their phone or laptop from time to time and found it cute, sometimes he’d see the background of a game but he’d pay no mind to it-if it was something MC wanted to share with him, they would after all!

* Well, one day he was sitting besides them as they played on their laptop, going over his lines when MC laughed and tugged at his shirt, nodding over to their screen.

* “Zenny, look at this-doesn’t this guy look a lot like Jumin?”

* Zen raised a brow and looked at the screen-and he was floored. The man at the screen was a well-drawn, hyper-realistic man that really did look oddly similar to that Trustfund prick-and what was that? There was a dialogue bubble at the side of him that wrote ‘For you, my love, I’d buy the moon and all the stars.”

* “MC-are you not satisfied with me...?” he trembled as he uttered the words, his eyes fixated to the man on the screen-and he suddenly had a deep desire to punch Jumin the next time he saw him (doesn’t he always feel that way tho orz)

* It took a lot of explaining from MC to show him that yes, this is just a game, and no, this isn’t real-yes they’re super happy with Zen and don’t need any compensation from a virtual boyfriend, these are just fun games to play, same as Yoosung with his LOLOL.

* Eventually Zen eases into the idea, though not entirely-and if he catches MC playing any game like that, he’ll always urge them to go for the character that most resembles himself lmao

JAEHEE:

* She really doesn’t see the appeal-and doesn’t really have much of a reaction when MC tells her of their hobby.

*She’s interested to learn of what MC enjoys in their free time, and she’s content to spend some time lounging around on the couch with them, her watching Zen’s musical whilst MC plays on their phone or laptop, and she’ll occasionally look to MC’s screen, offer commentary on the characters, but that’s pretty much it

* Until one day....MC discovers a Zen dating fan game.

* They figure Jaehee will be thrilled to see this, that she’ll want to play this right away! So they waste no time in showing it to them-the plot is fairly good and the art is great, so they know it’s a promising game...

* ...but Jaehee doesn’t seem all that interested. She shakes her head when MC offers her their phone, pushing it back to MC.

* “Thank you, but I’ve already seen this game before-playing as Zen’s lover feels weird, more so when he’s a dear friend. If you’d like to play it you’re free to do so though....” she lowered her head at that last bit, biting her lip.

* With a bit of coaxing and a chin tilt so she’d look MC in the eye, Jaehee admitted her fear. “W-what if after playing this game you fall in love with Zen?! Of course I had no such fear with all the other games you play, they’re fake, but this is real and it’s Zen and-”

* MC had to kiss Jaehee to shush her, the phone all but forgotten, the game still gleaming on the screen.

* “Let’s never play that game, ok? Neither of us has any use for it. I love you, and only you” MC whispered on Jaehee’s lips-and that was all the confirmation Jaehee needed.

* Zen couldn’t stop sneezing that night, poor dude lmao

JUMIN:

* “So....MC you enjoy playing as someone else’s significant other?” “I mean...kind of but not really?” “I see.”

* The conversation was as awkward as you can imagine-MC had been giggling at something a character had said while playing on their phone, and Jumin asked what they were laughing about, so they answered honestly-and that’s how they ended up here, sitting across each other, MC’s phone in the middle of the two on the dining table, the rich-dude-character still shining on the screen, his brooding expression perfectly matching Jumin’s.

* “Is there anything you feel is lacking from our relationship, that these games provide instead?” Jumin asked, nodding down to MC’s phone.

* “No! No, not at all-Jumin, these are just games, and these are simply characters. I enjoy playing the games, and I like seeing well-written characters, but that’s as far as my exchange with them goes. You-you’re here. You’re with me, and we’re together. I love you, and no game can change this or take that away.”

* This is getting too meta for me lmao

* “I see” Jumin said at last-the words sounded cold, but his lips betrayed a small smile as he stood up, coming around to kneel in front of MC, taking their hands in his. “Thank you for being honest with me, MC.”

* And that was that. Or so MC thought.

* Barely a week after this conversation, a notification popped up on MC’s phone. ‘New Otome Game, Exclusive-Corporate Heir Professes His Love?!’

* Curious MC cilcked on the suspicious link, assuming it’d be a prank from Seven or something of the sort-but hoo boy, it sure wasn’t.

* No, instead it was a full-blown, million-dollar-budget otome game; featuring Jumin Han himself, with his own voice, and a lot of cameos by Elizabeth the 3d-even the MC was built-in the game, designed to look exactly like...well, like MC.

* Jealousy, meet Jumin Han, the man that created an entire freaking game for his fiance to play, which he updates weekly so they’ll focus on him and only him lmao

SEVEN/SAEYOUNG:

* “Dude, you’re playing The Arcana?! Do Julian’s route, he’s one kinky motherf-mmf!”

* Seven’s words were cut short as MC put a hand over his mouth, stopping him mid-sentence. “Babe!” they screamed, “spoilers! I’m still on the prologue!”

* He plays any and all games, and otome are no exceptions lol, it just has to be good enough to catch Seven’s eye.

* He’ll often recommend games to MC, or lay in bed with them and play on their phone, choosing bad dialogue options on purpose to mess with them lol

* You’d think he’d make them an otome game featuring himself since they love them so much-and he might, but he’s a little too self-conscious for that lol, so he’d end up making it more of a meme than anything. He might add in a deep profound love confession unlocked through a series of tests though, just to see if MC would go through the trouble of achieving it~

* And they would-it’d take a lot of trial and error but they’d reach a point in Seven’s game where there’d be a blank screen and his own voice, simply telling MC how much he loves them, how he’d do anything to see their smile and how their every action brightens up his day. It’s short and simple, but enough to make MC’s heart melt, and make them run to Seven’s desk to jump in his arms and kiss him.

* Also he’s a total sucker for blushy innocent characters that can’t reckon danger if it were to punch them in the face, wAnna guess whY?

* also if u havent go play the arcana its p darn good

V/JIHYUN:

* He finds MC’s obsession with otome games to be pretty darn cute?! The way they giggle at some of the dialogue or point out their favorite and explain why they like that character to V is so endearing, and he’s always eagerly listening to their explanations-he’ll even play with them from time to time.

* He won’t really play otome games on his own, but he’ll sit with MC on his lap, his head resting on their shoulder as he helps them pick dialogue options (the best, cutest option, always-this man can’t be mean even to a fictional character, never)

* His favorite seem to be the overly sarcastic, blunt characters that seem to want nothing to do with the main character-MC questioned him about it once, asking him if he’s a masochist or something, but he gave them such an innocent look they just dropped the subject without much thought.

* One night MC was too busy playing otome games as V sat on the couch besides them, gently nudging their thigh with his for even a glimpse of their attention-but MC kept mumbling ‘not now babe’, focusing on their game and the moving dialogue.

* V pouted, prodding his lip as he leaned close to MC. “Baby, do you prefer these characters over me...?”

* Listen. Listen V does NOT get into these cutesy moods often so if he does you are LEGALLY OBLIGED TO DROP EVERYHTING YOU’RE GOING AND GIVE HIM ALL YOUR ATTENTION and that’s exactly what MC did, otome games be damned.

* V=Victorious

SAERAN/RAY/UNKNOWN:

* He’s so confused???!

* “Wait so the point of the game is to...date the characters?! All of them?!”

* MC nodded, a mischievous grin on their lips. “Sound familiar?” they asked, knowing full well that was how Ray once lured them to Mint Eye-a story as old as time now, now that he’s on his path to recovery, now that the two are happy together.

* Saeran grumbled under his breath, a blush spreading on his cheek. “It’s not like I really knew what these games were at the time...I just took a look at your search history, saw a lot of that ‘otome’ or whatever and made up a rouse based off of it. I didn’t know you’re that invested in them!”

* MC laughed at his obvious confusion, how he looked to MC’s screen, a desktop folder full of otome games open on their screen and glaring back at them. He pouted, furrowing his brow.

* “Wait but-you’re not like-you like me right?”

* MC rolled their eyes. He was slowly getting over his insecurities, sure, but there was still a long way to go.

* They leaned in close and kissed him, a quick peck on the lips before they leaned back, looking to their computer screen. “I could delete all these if it’d make you feel better. I love you. Only you.” they shrugged.

* Saeran’s reddened face was adorable, the way his breath hitched in his throat, his hands trembing as he came to rest his fingers over MC’s wrist.

* “N-no it’s-it’s okay, I trust you. I um-I love you too.”

* He’s not a fan of otome games, especially not with the connnotations they have for him, but well, if his beloved likes them...he doesn’t mind building a proper game for them.

-send me a mystic messenger headcanon for character reactions-

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

Note

Okay, I feel like an idiot for not getting this, but the show still portrays Robyn and RWBY in the wrong for what they did. Robyn WAS meant to be portrayed as reckless and temperamental, while Ruby was wrong for lying, and Blake and Yang were wrong for telling Robyn (Weiss was an accomplice to both). I don’t think you’re wrong, I just want an in-depth explanation, or a link to one you’ve already done on the topic, please.

No problem! I’ve definitely discussed this extensively, though sadly it’s not in one, uniform place since most of that discussion has taken place over hundreds of asks like this one. (Someday I’ll sit down and create a detailed tagging list for just such purposes...) If you’d still like a link, a somewhat decent one might be my RWBY Recaps since I touch on this issue throughout Volume 6 and 7, though even then that’s just me skimming the surface. I try to get recaps up the same day as the episode, which necessitates summarizing some issues just for practicality’s sake.

To try and provide at least a bit of an explanation here, I’d like to highlight a question: How do you know the show portrays all these things? How do we know that Robyn is in the wrong, that Ruby shouldn’t have lied, that Blake and Yang were foolish to tell Robyn, etc.? If someone had never seen RWBY before what scenes, dialogue, and imagery would you point to as evidence for these conclusions? That’s what separates an argument embedded within a narrative (the show says that lying is wrong) vs. an argument that the viewer applies to the story (I think lying is wrong). Providing evidence is just step one though. Then it’s a matter of determining whether a) The evidence itself is persuasive, b) The evidence is substantial enough to prove the claim, and c) The evidence is not undermined by other aspects of the story.

Let’s take a specific example: Ruby lying is portrayed as wrong. What’s the evidence for this? Over the last year I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Ruby looks guilty when she talks about her lying, so obviously it’s painted as wrong.” However, “looks guilty” is not a specific moment in the story and there is no “obvious” connection between the two. Just because a character thinks they might be in the wrong doesn’t mean the story isn’t going to come in and reassure them of the opposite. Which is precisely what happens in RWBY. Looking at the whole context of these scenes, we see a very different message than “Ruby is wrong to lie.” We start off with Yang asking whether they’re really going to keep quiet and yes, that cues the audience into the fact that everyone might not agree with Ruby. She might, in fact, be wrong. However, her response is

“What about it?” What’s there to discuss? Ruby doesn’t seem to think the conversation surrounding Oscar, Ozpin, the lamp, and lying is terribly important and as our primary protagonist her perspective holds weight. As the “simple soul” of this story we’re primed to take her viewpoint as fact and the show, in turn, follow’s Ruby’s perspective very closely: What she believes is portrayed as morally correct in this world. (That’s a whole other argument to prove but one specific example would be the airship debacle. Ruby believes stealing the airship is necessary and the story reinforces that belief all the way through).

Ruby then gets defensive. We are telling Ironwood these things! Or, um, we will. You all saw what Atlas was like.

Note that Ruby herself is making a very unpersuasive argument. “How things looked when we flew into Atlas” does not automatically equal “It’s perfectly justified to lie to our general.” Her justification skips a TON of conversation about, say, how the office scene severely undermines the “he’s not trustworthy” assumption that Mantle initially gave them. Thus, this flimsy argument leaves room for the other characters to call Ruby out and teach the audience that she’s in the wrong here (or at the very least that she is presenting a highly debatable perspective incorrectly as a fact). But RWBY doesn’t do that. Every character here agrees with Ruby’s choice and supports her reasoning. First Blake with “but that doesn’t mean we should trust him yet.”

Then Weiss with “We need to play along for a while”

Then Yang with “Okay.”

By the end of this conversation everyone agrees with Ruby: lying was necessary and none of them are concerned with when she will decide to tell the truth. They’re satisfied with a very noncommittal “we will,” implying that - like Ozpin - it’s okay if Ruby decides for herself when someone is trustworthy enough. Could be a few weeks, could be a few years, but the point is they’re both given complete power to make that call (more on that below). The only character left who might provide a different perspective is Oscar who, yes, questions Ruby like Yang did... but then goes on to do nothing and say nothing about this from then on out. He doesn’t pressure Ruby to tell the truth. Or tell Ironwood himself. Or even grapple in the background with their ongoing lies. This is what I mean by some evidence outweighing others. A short flashback where a character very hesitantly suggests that Ruby might be wrong - mirroring a conversation we just had where the outcome was everyone agreeing with her - can not compare to Oscar keeping happily silent for the rest of the volume. He does not send the message to the audience that Ruby is wrong because his silence acts as a passive agreement. Oscar must have been persuaded like everyone else was since he’s not doing anything about this. Or even looking conflicted. Why would we think he still disagrees with Ruby when none of that disagreement is shown? Then, when he finally does break his silence it’s done with humor.

(Sorry for the bad screenshot I couldn’t get the loading bar to go away lol)

Oscar doesn’t treat this situation seriously, telling Ruby with weight and conviction that the lying needs to stop. Tone is important in a story and this scene’s tone encourages the audience not to take this issue seriously either. Ruby lying about Salem? That’s not a horrific topic that others have a right to be furious over! It’s just something you laugh about - oh wait

See, RWBY’s problem is not just that Ruby’s lying is treated as a simplistic “Yeah you’re in the right” thing, but that this simplicity is coming off of a volume that directly contradicts this. Volume 6 is all about how keeping the Salem immortality secret is The Worst Thing Ever. It makes people shout, punch, drive Ozpin away, bad-talk him whenever he comes up... The evidence of Volume 6 heavily supports the argument “Keeping this secret and telling lies to your allies is really, reeeeally bad. Bad enough that no one will forgive you for it weeks later.” Which means that when Ruby does the exact same thing in Volume 7 (with far less justification imo, but that’s a whole other argument) you’d expect there to be a similar level of fury. For the story to show us that lying is indeed bad like it said it was last year, especially when one of the people who argued that lying is super bad, mere days ago in-world, is now turning around to do it herself. The show should be presenting Ruby as, if not outright wrong, at least hypocritical... but as demonstrated above, we’re not getting that. Who’s mad at Ruby? Who’s punching her? Who’s driving her away because didn’t we establish that liars shouldn’t lead? Who’s calling her a hypocrite and demanding that she change her ways? Who’s acknowledging that she’s exactly like Ozpin? No one... except for Ruby herself:

This is very good evidence for camp “lying is portrayed as wrong.” Ruby, in a moment of self-reflection, begins to acknowledge that she may have made a horrible choice. The problem is that it’s really only “begins.” Remember, the show’s whole context is necessary to accurately read any individual lines of dialogue and this dialogue’s context is “Qrow tells Ruby she’s mistaken”:

Not only does Qrow halt Ruby’s self-reflection in its tracks - she in turn never fires back that he’s wrong to absolve her - he does so in an entirely unpersuasive manner. Qrow claims that the difference between Ruby and Ozpin is that Ruby trusts others after making sure they prove themselves first. Problem is, that’s exactly what Ozpin did. He kept secrets until specific individuals had proven themselves trustworthy and then they learn specific information to reflect that trust. Ruby is to Team WBYJRN what Ozpin is to his inner circle. And arguably neither party reveals everything: Ozpin keeps the Salem secret but reveals everything else, Oscar reveals Salem but we don’t hear him say anything about Jinn, there being a question left, or why Ozpin isn’t there. The show sets up that Ozpin is bad for not telling the group that the relic attracts grimm, yet it fails to call out Ruby for likewise not telling Ironwood that the relic attracts grimm when he wants to entrust it to them. We also have other individuals like Yang who appear to be keeping the Spring Maiden secret. So not only is the claim “Ozpin only trusted himself” not accurate, not only are both parties only trusting after others “prove themselves first,” but arguably both never provide the full truth anyway. Qrow fails to establish that Ruby is acting any differently from Ozpin, the show fails to point out that Qrow is a fallible character whose perspective shouldn’t be trusted here, and the show likewise fails to acknowledge the incredibly important differences in Ruby and Ozpin’s situations: a thousand year old leader not telling a bunch of barely trained kids the world’s biggest secret is not the same thing as kids not telling an established ally who has been fighting this war for years this secret when he’s unknowingly wasting necessary resources on a doomed plan. The evidence tells us that Ruby is exactly like Ozpin except that Ozpin had better justifications for keeping those secrets... but what this scene tells us instead is that Ruby is ~different~ and Ruby is right to have lied. That’s the takeaway. Qrow gives the thumbs up to lying to Ironwood and no one challenges him on this, ergo that’s the story’s stance. It’s all we’re left with. We can’t claim the show thinks differently when it doesn’t show us that.

The last saving grace would have been for there to be consequences for these lies. You can have every single character go, “Yeah! This is the right thing to do!” and then allow the plot to put them in their place, forcing them to discover later on that they were wrong. However, that (again) doesn’t happen. The consequences for lying end up being an attempted arrest... which Ruby rejects. By insisting that she shouldn’t be arrested - shouldn’t face the chosen punishment for (in part) this crime - she rejects that she did anything wrong in the first place. Ruby wins the fight in a spectacular manner, does so with confidence, and the end, like her scene with Oscar, is played for laughs. None of this encourages the audience to take Ruby’s potential mistakes seriously, let alone teaches us that they are, in fact, mistakes. She’s supposed to be the hero of this scene and just a silly kid later on.

So if the question is “Where does the story tell us that Ruby lying is wrong?” I’d reply, “It doesn’t.” Yang, Blake, Weiss, Qrow, Oscar, and JN by further silence all agree with Ruby’s position (the exception, as far as we’ve seen, might be Ren. But as of yet we don’t know exactly what he’s upset about). The story draws a comparison to Ozpin, only to unpersuasively insist that Ruby is different from him. She also faces no consequences for her actions and never learns/admits that what she did was wrong. It’s not enough for us to apply our own ethics of “Lying is wrong” to a story. The story itself has to actually do the work to present the act as wrong and have something come out of that: punishment, growth, apologies, etc.

Now apply this sort of work to everything else listed above. We might interpret Robyn as reckless (I do) but when does the story acknowledge that? It’s not when Qrow, our hero, agrees with her by standing at her side and attacking Clover. If the show wanted to say “recklessness is wrong” then it wouldn’t have had the hero support that (or would, at least, acknowledge that the hero is also in the wrong - something we admittedly might still get in Volume 8. If Qrow later says, “I shouldn’t have attacked Clover with Robyn” that will indeed convey that message. But we don’t have it yet). When are Blake and Yang presented as in the wrong for trusting her? Is it when the Ace Ops call them out on that, but Yang still insists it was right? (Pay attention to who gets the last word in fights - that’s often the perspective the story is upholding. By ending on that perspective it’s the one that’s given the most weight). Or is it when the Ace Ops as a whole are rejected for their support of Ironwood and soundly trounced, thereby painting all their views as equally incorrect? (If the Ace Ops are the bad guys here, why in the world would the audience think their perspective about Yang and Blake is the correct one?) Or was it when the story rewarded them by not making Robyn betray them, ensuring that Yang and Blake face no consequences for that decision? The plot never does anything that makes Blake and Yang go, “Oh man... we shouldn’t have trusted her.” Reading stories like this is always more complicated than just the first thing you spot on screen. Robyn is absolutely portrayed as temperamental... but that doesn’t mean that temperamental as a personality trait is portrayed as bad by the story. Not when the volume as a whole paints her position as the right one: Ironwood is a bad guy now and anything - even temperamental actions - is justified in the name of stopping him. That context turns what should be a flaw into something the story wants us to uphold: “Yeah! Ironwood is horrible for making this arrest! Wait...Robyn is fighting back against it? Hell yeah!! You go, girl!!!!” Her being on the supposedly “correct” side of this disagreement paints any bad actions as necessary.

So whenever someone makes a claim about any story, ask them for some evidence. Then see if you find that evidence persuasive - compare it to your own evidence from the source, not just general feelings about what you think the source was doing. There’s a reason why professional analysis requires engaging with the primary source over and over and over again - because it’s really easy to make truthful sounding statements, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s supported by the canon. When it comes to RWBY, what RT might have intended to do and what the audience assumes is happening is often not in line with what we actually see on screen.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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makeste · 5 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 257: New Year’s Party and All Might Feels

Previously on BnHA: The kids ate some yummy cotton candy and got to demolish a bunch of robots in flashy and expensive ways, because U.A. is every child’s dream school and All Might is getting closer to finally achieving his goal of being The Cool, Fun Teacher. There was also some cute Kirimina and Izuocha stuff, and also some panels of All Might watching Deku with a wistful dad smile which was both heartwarming and also makes me slightly terrified for his chances of surviving to the end of this series, but what else is new. Anyway so after class we cut to Aizawa and Mic who were all “we’re still sad fyi” until the Big Three interrupted them to get Aizawa to come help with Eri’s quirk. Meanwhile, All Might sat down with Deku and Kacchan and gave Deku a notebook all about THE PAST SUCCESSORS AND THE SIXQUIRKS. And we’d better be covering that pronto in this chapter because holy shit I had to wait two weeks after that cliffhanger and that was not fucking fair.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan and Deku read about the one quirk user WE ALREADY FUCKING KNEW ABOUT before they get bored and decide that WE DON’T NEED TO HEAR ANY MORE ABOUT ANY OF THOSE OTHER LAME QUIRKS APPARENTLY. In an effort to console me, All Might reveals that Shimura Nana’s quirk was THE POWER OF FUCKING FLYING YEAH BITCHES, which does admittedly warm my heart. Also Deku and Kacchan have an entire page of going back and forth at each other like the squabbling siblings they are and that helps too. Also we then cut to all of the 1-A kids having a New Year’s party, and yeah, Horikoshi admittedly knows how to play me like a goddamn fiddle I guess. The chapter then takes a sudden swerve for the nostalgic, with Deku and pals reminiscing about how much they’ve grown and how lucky they are, before we cut to All Might who’s sitting on a bench having Winter Night Angst until he’s comforted by Aizawa of all people, because this chapter is actually fucking great. And then we cut to THREE FUCKING MONTHS LATER LMAOOOO [blows noisemaker] SHIGARACALYPSE 2020 COMING ATCHA KIDS. WOOP WOOP.

okay so I have been persuaded to try out the fan scanlation this week! for several reasons: (1) the new scanlators have had a few weeks now to improve their game and I’m curious to see what the quality is like, (2) there are already spoilers all over my dashboard lol and I’m tired of trying to dodge them, and finally (3) I have nothing else to do this afternoon and I wanna read it. SO IMMA READ IT. BRING ON THE SIXQUIRKS OF DEKU THE NINTH

-- GOD DAMMIT ALL MIGHT

I assume that those are the two shadowy ones, then? Bakushadow and PonytailShadow? goddammit. meanwhile even if we didn’t have that whole mystery, the second user would still be the one I’m most curious about, because (s)he was the first one to actually get OFA handed down to them, and to say that I’m curious about how exactly that went down would be putting it mildly. like how the hell did Lil Bro figure out that he could pass his fucking quirk down to people. and what exactly was the trial and error process involved, if any. was he just like. “dude, come here, I want to try something okay? this is gonna sound really fucking weird but hear me out... I want you to eat my hair”

sob, honestly a time-traveling Bakugou who already knows how The Whole Deal Works might honestly be the least bizarre explanation. I have so many questions ughh

btw I do also want to call attention to the fact that this chapter is titled “make it your own”, a.k.a. the mantra that Kacchan has been trying to get Deku to adopt since the provisional license exam. so this I do like. that is very promising

hmmMMMMMMMM

motherfuckin time travel is starting to sound more and more likely you guys. oh my god. but how?? someone’s quirk?? or maybe they can just get Mei to build them a machine. fuck it, she’s already upgraded Deku’s costume ten thousand times with random crap, what’s one more. you read it here first, Deku’s next upgrade will be gloves that carry him back and forth in time

lmao Katsuki

on the one hand that is very rude, but on the other hand I too would like him to get to talking about the ones whose quirks he actually did learn about. so yeah. [taps watch] we gonna do this All Might, or

lmao Deku’s asking about Blackwhip and meanwhile Katsuki’s just PICKING UP THE NOTEBOOK, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING, YOINK

(ETA: Kacchan with a normal face is such a rare Charizard of a panel that I just have to stop for a moment to appreciate it. take a good look everyone, we probably won’t get this again for another 50 chapters.)

fucking thank you Kacchan. holy shit. I mean All Might worked hard on it, might as well make use of it. and never mind the explicit “FOR YOUNG MIDORIYA” plastered on the cover I guess lol

also!! BALDY FINALLY GOT HIMSELF A NAME OMGGGGG. “LARIAT.” we’ll see how Caleb translates that tomorrow, I guess. I have no idea what it means but I’m excited!!! yay naaaames

OH THAT’S JUST HIS ALIAS HE’S GOT A REAL NAME TOO OH SNAP

(ETA: also there’s the expected “go” since he’s #5. so that’s apparently still a thing, meaning the mystery behind nos. 2 and 3 is still as perplexing as ever. maybe a bit of a stretch, but does anyone suppose that the “己” at the end of Katsuki’s given name could be interpreted as kind of looking like the Arabic numeral for two? eh? eh??)

seems to be causing a whole lot of collateral damage, but hey, price you pay for being a badass

oh my god my sons are bickering

(ETA: but lmao though at Katsuki being all “YOU THINK EVERY FUCKING QUIRK IS AMAZING” because sob it’s true.)

Katsuki please. first of all WHY WOULD YOU ONLY GO INTO DETAIL ABOUT THE ONE FUCKING QUIRK WE ALREADY KNEW, and two, I kinda need at least one of those quirks to be at least a little bit badass, because fucking shit you guys, uhhhh. [gestures frantically to the last page of chapter 255] nyghhnghh. and also!! [gestures to the last two pages of chapter 245] ...

hmm so All Might says that Kacchan is right, and that it makes sense that most of the quirks would be weak ones because AFO made it his business to stomp out any strong quirk users on account of the whole “he’s fucking evil” thing and all of that world domination biz

look how evil

oh wow

goddamn that’s one hell of an image. all these fallen heroes desperately trying to make sure that their power, the world’s only hope, doesn’t die out with them

so then from the way All Might makes it sound, it seems like some of the successors maybe weren’t carefully selected at all, but instead they were just the ones who happened to be in the right (wrong??) place at the right time. maybe some of them were fellow soldiers in the war against AFO, and when their comrades fell they were there to pick up the gauntlet. that actually makes a hell of a lot of sense

and also the way they seem to be passing on the quirk appears to be the blood-on-blood method rather than the hair-eating method, so that also potentially addresses my snarky rambling earlier in this very recap lol. Lil Bro may not have meant to pass it on at all; he might have just been gripping some spiky-haired passerby’s hand while mortally wounded, and knowing that his time was up, and hoping against hope that this MYSTERIOUS KACCHAN-LOOKING STRANGER would somehow be able to take up the fight and continue what he started. and then lo and behold

-- motherFUCKER HE REALLY JUST PUT IT BACK DOWN ON THE TABLE LIKE

SO, I GUESS WE JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THE OTHER QUIRKS THEN! WELL FINE. let’s just never talk about anything I’m dying to know about again ever!!

“seems they’ve all died young” WELL ISN’T THAT JUST FINE AND FUCKING DANDY. what a wonderful legacy All Might has bequeathed unto our sprightly green protagonist. what a barrel of laughs this has turned out to be

sob my son literally doesn’t know how to take his foot off the gas

but I guess it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have someone there who only relentlessly knows how to go forward, forward, forward

SDFLKSHDOGIHSOGISHLGKSDLFJ

EXCUSE ME, MCFUCKING WHAT DID YOU SAY?! SO YOU’RE TELLING ME MY BEST GIRL COULD FUCKING FLY, IS THAT IT?? AM I READING THIS RIGHT?? WAIT -- HOW DO YOU BREATHE, AGAIN?? OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD, I

LOL WHAT THE FUCK

(ETA: I left the edges of his speech bubble in while cropping this so everyone can appreciate just how spiky it is.)

me too kid!! you were playing quirk bingo, right? it was only a matter of time before someone came along with flying powers and we all knew it. I’ve been saying it and saying it, Deku was born to touch the sky

lulz he’s screaming at Deku that he can already fly with his explosions, so now while Deku works on mastering his own flying quirk, Katsuki will pull ahead of him SO THAT MAKES HIM THE WINNER I GUESS. lol honestly this speech is one of the nerdiest things he’s ever done and I almost wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d ended it with “OWNED!!!” watch him look around for a mic to drop

oh my god

this isn’t even rival energy, this is sibling energy. like, this one panel is some of the rawest fucking sibling energy I’ve ever seen. the relentless shittalking, the competition over absolutely nothing, the ridiculous faces... just, wow

anyway so I have a ton of thoughts about Katsuki’s current feelings toward Deku ever since the Endeavor and Natsuo “you don’t have to forgive me” thing, but the short version is that I think Katsuki lately has actually been really worried about upsetting the status quo with Deku, and, well... “losing” Deku, so to speak. I think during the internship he finally clued in to the fact that he actually had been a real certified jerkweiner to Deku, but more importantly he woke up to the realization that he doesn’t know for sure if Deku actually has forgiven him. like, he’s been going around thinking that it’s in the past, that it doesn’t matter, and then along come the Todorokis with all their drama, and he sees that and he realizes oh shit, sometimes people secretly have tons of resentment that’s just burning away at them underneath and shit!

and so the thought is kind of eating at him now that Deku might not have actually forgiven him, and he’s actually really scared of that, and so he’s reacting in two different ways: one, by being irrationally annoyed/angry with Deku for having that power over him (the power to either forgive him or not), even though that’s his own fault; and two, by trying in his own way to aggressively push things toward being the way they were back when they were little kids before their whole falling out. which, in his mind, means them being rivals. like, in the second character book, there’s a section that’s all about the characters’ relationships with each other, and in for Deku it says he views his and Kacchan’s relationship as “childhood friends”, but from Katsuki’s perspective, their relationship is listed as “childhood rivals.” so yeah

anyway so I guess I lied about this being “the short version” (I’m gonna have to essay about this more in a separate post I think), but basically I think that in Katsuki’s mind this kind of juvenile making-faces-and-egging-each-other-on thing is how he interprets their friendship, and he’s very awkwardly trying to get back to that

anyway! I got hella sidetracked there so let’s get back to the plot shall we. there’s a sweet panel of All Might smiling at the two of them because I think he also sees that this scene is somehow heartwarming in its own bizarre way lol

and then WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO THE DORMS YESSSSSS

(ETA: stray thought -- it’s an absolute fucking delight to see all of the male characters cooking for once while the girls, as far as I can see, are just sitting around chilling in the living area. like I’m sure they are helping as well, but you have no idea how fucking refreshing it is to not have the girl characters be all “WE’LL COOK FOR YOU BOYS SINCE YOU’RE SO HOPELESS AND/OR YOU’RE WORKING SO HARD TEEHEE.” holy shit. it’s great.)

to answer your question, Sero, they’ve been having secret powwows with All Might and discussing things like how Kacchan is objectively better than Deku it’s science, and how to make Deku fly. what have you all been doing

OH I SEE YOU ARE HAVING DINNER

is that Tokoyami running like a Hanna-Barbera character in the background. every time I think I have a handle on his character Horikoshi has a new twist ready to keep me on my toes. also lol at Kirishima remembering how Kacchan did jackall to help during the Christmas party, and making sure he does his part this time IF HE WANTS TO EAT

(ETA: lol so after rereading this that’s clearly Deku in the background. I still think it looks more like Tokoyami though! but obviously the two of them are the only ones still in their uniforms, so.)

OH BOY OH BOY NOW THIS CHAPTER IS CRACKIN’

TODOROKI SHOUTO!! YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME UNTO YOUR FAMILY! lmao he’s so quick to answer “IT WAS ME I DID IT” with his two fucking exclamation points too lol. I don’t know why that’s so amusing to me but it is and I love it

meanwhile Horikoshi got a little too playful when drawing that Momochako page there huh. drew the back of her head but was then like “BUT THEN YOU CAN’T SEE HER ADORABLE SMILE” but he couldn’t be assed to redraw it so he improvised. IT’S CALLED ART

ahhhhhhh class B is joining them yesssss!! and Kodai’s bringing a couch oh my god such an excellent and practical application of her Ant-Man quirk to make sure everyone has someplace to sit these children are so cooperative and wise

YAY WHOLESOME NEW YEAR’S PARTY ANTICS

KATSUKI HAS UPGRADED FROM SANTA GRUMP TO SITTING NICELY WITH HIS SQUAD!! SHOUJI IS WEARING ANOTHER OF HIS LEGENDARY PONCHOS!! TSUYU JUST SAVED MINA’S LIFE!! KOUDA BROUGHT HIS BUNNY BECAUSE BUNNY DESERVES TO PARTY TOO!! AND AOYAMA IS PROBABLY WEARING A ROBE, BUT I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THAT IT’S A DRESS AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME!! NEW YEAR NEW HIM YES CHEERS

oh my god they’re starting to reminisce, no my emotions were not ready for this please chill out kids

look at them talking like they’re all grown up now

you do realize you all are still just babies right. “it was a crazy ride... back then we were so young...” is that Joe Cocker’s version of With a Little Help from My Friends I hear playing in the background. why has the film quality gone all grainy. what is this what’s happening

THANK YOU IIDA

as expected from the resident 40-year-old. please tell these children to get a grip. they’re out here talking about which Roth IRAs they’re going to get and how much their lower backs hurt

also, this scanlation hasn’t been too bad so far, but I feel like knowing it’s “Iida” and not “Lida” is like the bare minimum of translating a chapter of BnHA. like at least get the names right. but anyway I cropped that part of the panel out regardless because Mineta’s face was ruining the atmosphere so it’s all good

oh no. oh shit wait. what’s going on here

do not tell me this is one of those “calm before the storm/AND THAT WAS THE LAST TIME EVERYONE WAS ALL TOGETHER AND HAPPY EVER AGAIN” things. please no. please tell me I’m overreacting and grossly misinterpreting the general vibe here. fuck

also though, you see that bit in the Kacchan panel though lol. so yeah their relationship is just like that. it’s weird but they like it

jesus christ now Deku is sitting there saying “I’m very fortunate” with this face like he’s just DARING fate to come on over and punch him in the balls. DEKU!!

no!!!! [swipes at the air in an attempt to ward off the oncoming plot] go away! shoo!

and interestingly, Tokoyami is watching him!

do you want in on this plot too buddy. is that it. well your mentor has gotten himself all wound up in this spider’s web by this point, so why not. if we’re gonna have angst I guess the more the merrier

LMAO NEVER MIND, THE VERY NEXT PANEL HE’S ASKING DEKU TO PASS THE FUCKING PONZU AGAIN. DEKU COULD YOU FUCKING SNAP TO IT ALREADY HOW MANY GODDAMN TIMES DOES HE HAVE TO ASK

NOW ALL MIGHT IS SITTING ALONE ON A BENCH OUTSIDE THE TEACHER’S DORMS AND AIZAWA IS THERE SUDDENLY

is he going to talk to him about Eri. or the whole Noumu thing. ahhhhhhh

someone please tell All Might he needs to stop acting like he’s about to die. holy shit. this is reaching unacceptable levels. the fond smile while watching Deku’s progress. another fond smile while seeing him and Bakugou going back and forth, perhaps feeling reassured that someone else will be there to look out for Deku once he’s gone. giving Deku a notebook with everything he knows about OFA. and now SITTING ON A BENCH ALONE IN THE DARK IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER WITH HIS HANDS FOLDED IN HIS LAP JUST THINKING THOUGHTS!! AND AIZAWA’S ALL “WHAT ARE YOU DOING” AND HE’S ALL “NOTHING... JUST...” HOLY FUCKING SHIT ALL MIGHT COULD YOU PLEASE NOT

but anyways so what’s this you say about training Eri now

fffFFFFFS HE’S DOING IT AGAIN

he doesn’t know if he’ll be here come springtime, that’s what’s up. the clock is ticking on Nighteye’s prophecy, and even though he swore he’d live and punch fate in the mouth, you never know though and shit but this is depressing. anyway if my guess is right he may be about to share the secret of OFA with Aizawa though, because that’s what I’d do if I thought I was possibly gonna die and my student might need someone to continue mentoring him once I was gone. so, you know, still a bummer but also YES ALL MIGHT DO ITTTTT

oh nope nevermind he’s just rambling and Aizawa doesn’t have a clue wtf he’s on about

fffff this is some prime grade A All Might angst right here, the gods have blessed us after so long oh snap oh dang

so then maybe he doesn’t think he’s dying lol. well whatever. I think it’s probably a little of column A, a little of column B, that sort of thing but hey

yo you guys, Aizawa bonding with All Might is just. [chef’s kiss] it’s been so long. I don’t think we’ve had a long scene between them since the parent teacher meetings oh my god. Aizawa definitely respects him so much more now and it’s great

totally off subject btw, but the third light novel has a chapter where the teachers all meet up at a local bar and get trashed and talk about all kinds of crap, and Aizawa drunkenly tells All Might he respects the hell out of him, and it’s an absolute delight and everyone should read it. here’s the link to the Viz edition. it’s easily the best of the light novels (though I haven’t read the fourth one which is coming out in March), and an enjoyable read from start to finish. anyways thus ends my unsponsored plug, now back to our regularly scheduled programming

yep. safe to say the days when he thought All Might was an attention-loving media whore are long gone. fuck I love this

oh my god oh my fucking god

wow. just. ...shit. this is a message that I think everyone should hear, first of all, and this is easily one of the most gorgeous and profound panels this manga has ever had. like holy shit I almost cried

and second of all, tell me something, how is Aizawa the most comforting, gentle, supportive, encouraging man in the universe, and how did we get so lucky, and can you believe this man wasn’t even planning to become a teacher holy shit. we can’t afford to lose him, ever

OH FUCK ALL MIGHT, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU START CRYING HERE --

let me tell you I did not need that flashback panel of Nighteye TODAY OF ALL DAYS, HOLY SHIT. THE HELL KIND OF TIMING IS THAT. HE KNEW WHAT EPISODE WAS AIRING THIS WEEKEND, HE DOES SKETCHES FOR THEM EVERY WEEK, THIS WAS FULLY INTENTIONAL AND I FEEL AGGRIEVED

my god All Might is pinching the corners of his eyes and apologizing I can’t. STOP OFFLOADING ALL OF THESE ALL MIGHT FEELS ON ME. even now, after everything he’s given, he still feels like it’s not enough. it’s in his nature to feel restless, to want to do more. he’s earned the right to rest -- earned it more than anyone in the world -- but he can’t, and he feels guilty and helpless because the burden he shouldered for so long has been passed on to everyone else now, and he knows how heavy it is, and he was so willing to carry it even if it destroyed him, but he can’t anymore! and then to have someone come along and say “it’s okay, you’ve done enough, you’re doing enough, you are enough,” just. shit shit shit shit shit. I can hear Horikoshi’s truck beeping as it backs up to dump YET MORE FEELS all over my goddamn house. there are feels being tossed out of an airplane door overhead with little parachutes. fucking paperboys are riding by on their bicycles and whipping them at my face screaming “EXTRA! EXTRA!” fucking...

-- HOLY SHIT!?!?

well my jaw just dropped. um. [peeks at calendar] do you mean to tell me that we’re just CUTTING STRAIGHT TO THE PARTY NOW, JUST LIKE THAT

WELL FUCK, LMAO. BEEN NICE KNOWING Y’ALL

sDFLKSHGLKH

Horikoshi: [poking his head in the door] hey what’s up guys just thought I’d toss in this panel of Ujiko here to remind you all that Spring is when --

everyone: JESUS CHRIST WE KNOW

-- WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK LOL, WHAT

well I guess it’s nice to know that those feelings of impending doom were apparently RIGHT ON THE MONEY sob. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, JUST THE END OF ALL HEROES!! JUST UJIKO ROAMING THE HALLS OF HIS LOCAL HOSPITAL BEING ALL “HO HO” BECAUSE HE’S FINISHED HIS WINTER PROJECT OF TURNING TOMURA INTO ONE OF THE FOUR HORSEMEN AND HE’S FEELING REALLY FUCKING GREAT ABOUT LIFE. JUST THE MANGA JUMPING AHEAD THREE FUCKING MONTHS JUST LIKE THAT, AND DROPPING US BACK IN BARELY A WEEK BEFORE THE START OF THE KIDS’ SECOND YEAR, A.K.A. “YEAR OF THE SHINSOU”, A.K.A. “YEAR THAT KACCHAN FINALLY REVEALS HIS HERO NAME BECAUSE HOLY SHIT SON YOU REALLY FUCKING SAT ON THAT FOR THREE MORE FUCKING MONTHS!?”, A.K.A. “THE YEAR ALL MIGHT BETTER NOT FUCKING DIE”, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A.K.A. “[GESTURES FRANTICALLY TO CHAPTER 245 AGAIN]”

lol. here I was hoping we had at least a little more time before the whole “we’re fucked” thing kicked in, but I guess the apocalypse waits for no one. gentlemen it has been a privilege playing with you tonight

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oldfritz · 4 years ago

Photo

this was surprisingly hard because half of them I wanted to throw in f, but then felt guilty about it so here’s where we are. explanations under the cut to be nice (fair warning: I’m writing this while tipsy so this is a journey)

S-tier

Old Fritz: look me in the eyes. look at me. are you looking? good. where else was I was going to put him? where? in C with the other losers? foolish. I am ruining my life for this man, I’m going to go into debt so I can be moderately qualified to write books on him so Tim Blanning and Christopher Clark don’t boo my off the stage. I sit here sometimes and I’m like ‘y’know, I would start a podcast to talk about his life’ as if I’m some straight white guy who thinks any of you want to listen to me for an hour. he’s a bastard, a smug bastard, and is the epitome of self-destructive tendencies. and, honestly, I wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t so fucking misogynistic all the time. ‘oh women aren’t fit to rule’ shut up Fritz before I time travel to fuck your wife and make her have one night where life feels worthwhile. but he’s funny, I enjoy how he does foreign policy, and he’s unfortunately relatable to me. cheers, Fritz. here’s to never being satisfied from one gay disaster with anger issues to another. may we burn in hell together

A-tier

Friedrich iii: “Suzanne, he was only on the throne for 99 days!! how can he be this high up when some of these bastards refused to die?” I hear you, my friends, and I have answers. I’ll tell you two words you’ll be shocked to hear put together: liberal Hohenzollern. a rare breed, isn’t it? imagine, friends, a world where he got over his throat cancer because he listened to a doctor and we get through the 1910s, 20s, even the 30s without Wilhelm II Electric Boogaloo being in power. Prussia is still on the map, the Anglo-Prussian alliance is strong, and I live in peace. but no. this stupid man had to keep smoking. because he’s selfish and doesn’t care about my needs. you know, he actually loved his wife. rare in this family. loved her and wasn’t abusive. the bar is so low, guys. and his wife is amazing too, Victoria. the world would’ve been in competent hands if they’d been in power longer (and Bismarck would’ve been out of a job still but at least these guys are smart. their son inherited grandma Vicki’s IQ). I would sleep with both of them and would thank them for the honor (when it should always be the other way around, remember that)

B-tier

Friedrich I: if your name is Friedrich and only Friedrich, we’re buds. that’s my rule. I have to give him credit where credit’s due. he was the first. while I agree with Fritz in his proscription that he was ‘small in big ways and big in small ways’ (I may have flipped that around), he wasn’t a bad guy. he just was born into the wrong job for him. I appreciate that he rode on his father’s coattails of proving useful to the Habsburgs and did a little himself to get that sweet, sweet kingship. smart move. I also like that he saw Louis XIV and said to himself “I stan, I kin, on God we’re gonna do that’ and tried. only for have his stupid, ungrateful, unclassy son to do away with that. I, too, am a woman of luxury and self-indulgance and if I had all the riches of Brandenburg and Prussia at the time (not much), I would spend them ridiculously on outfits and music and art. now, what did he do as king? what policy legacy did he leave behind? that’s a good one :)

C-tier

Friedrich Wilhelm III: now as a king he sucks. and I stand by this because, you know, he lost to him *imagine me pretending to be short and saying ‘oui, oui’ in a bad french accent*. and as any proper Englishwoman I can’t support a monarch who goes around losing to the French unless their name is Mary I. but, he’s a pathetic little man. he really is. so indecisive, so unsure of himself. what are you doing little guy? you think because your last name is Hohenzollern, God thinks you’re a good king? well it is like 1805 and, while divine right isn’t really being used as much, it’s as good as any reason on why you’re the chosen one and my family is eating dirt in Sicily and on the Scottish border. he’s really just a dude, nothing extraordinary about him except that his wife was the only one with brains and was the first to establish that (sorry Wilhelm I). he cried when he found out that his children didn’t call him ‘papa’ and went into a deep depressive state when his wife suddenly died. he’s an average man, of average abilities, but of big heart. and the big heart is what bumps him up, for me, from his old place as an F to a C. though, his moralizing is tedious

Friedrich Wilhelm II: this man should have partied with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. everyone’s got that one ruler whose all about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. for the US it’s JFK, for the UK it’s Margaret Thatcher Charles II, France has Louis XIV. Prussia has this guy and we should thank him. so many mistresses, so much sex, so much revelry and debauchery and sin! this guy’s personal life is like a treasure trove of political and sexual intrigue. if you’re into that - as I am as a town gossip - you’ll love him. I am constantly amazed by the fact that some STD didn’t kill him. syphilis, herpes, crabs. something, man, anything. but he didn’t. he’s a shit king though. absolutely horrible. all he did was whine that he didn’t get taught anything by Uncle Fritz and, yes, that’s not good if it’s true (but it’s not completely because the treatises are detailed but I guess he didn’t have time to read) but c’mon. actually apply yourself and learn on the job. I know that would’ve required him to not be balls deep somewhere, but unfortunately he’s not Dorian Gray. there’s work that needed to be done and he didn’t do it. boo!!

D-tier

Wilhelm I: apparently he was a good guy, unlike the other 3 who populate the lowest rungs of Prussian kinghood. so I give him that and I can respect that. but what did he do? what were his own ideas? I thought about putting Bismarck as king instead because, really, he was. Bismarck was a minister who ran around the king’s back to set things up exactly as he liked and it fucking worked because he was the brains. his wife was intelligent too, but theirs wasn’t a wamr and loving marriage. and Bismarck worked to get Wilhelm to distrust her because she was liberal and the fact that Wilhelm would listen to Otto even if it meant allowing himself to be drowned in the Rhine is pathetic. fun party at Versailles though. hope it was worth the war reparations

F-tier (bastard time) I’m going in a different order because I want to go from the ones I hate least to most xoxo

Friedrich Wilhelm IV: “I won’t accept a crown from the gutter” then you won’t accept a crown at all, stupid idiot! god, the smugness. the authoritarian impulses. I know it was the cool thing in 1848 to put down any revolts/protests with as much force as possible, but man, at least the Habsburgs were transparent. homie was like “yeah guys lol I’ll make a constitution and it’ll be epic! you’ll have so many rights! xoxo gossip girl” and then...nope. and AND he wanted the Habsburgs in charge of things too! Mr. ‘I’m Nostalgic For When HRE Was Great And We Blew Austrian Dick!’ grow up man. it’s Prussia time buddy, Austria is beginning to fall apart. don’t look to the past, look to the future, but you didn’t have that vision did you?

Wilhelm II: *banging pots and pans* I blame this man for everything! now, intellectually, does Germany take all the blame for WWI? no, that’s foolish and propaganda of the Allies only. if you’re a European power in 1914, you get to share the blame (ex: why did UK need to make this a naval arms race? Austria should’ve declared war on Serbia sooner if that’s what it wished to do. Russia, please stay out of the Balkans then and forever). but does my irrational hatred of Wilhelm blind me to this truth when I see his stupid face and that ugly fucking mustache that I wish to yank off? my god, yes. I see him and Rule Britannia and The Yanks Are Coming start playing so loud in my head and I’m like ‘yeah, the kaiser’s gonna pay.’ I’m sorry that Bismarck’s ego was bigger than yours but did you have to prove him right by getting incompetent buffoons who were playing checkers when he set the board up for chess to replace him? Did you have to prove Freud right by displacing private problems onto public life with your little tit-for-tat with George IV (VI?) because his mummy loved you more? Why did you need to fuck every naval vessel you saw like an inferior of Peter the Great who believed he was Sir Francis Drake? but that’s just the first war and he lived to see things setting up for the second. wasn’t in convenient for you to be close with the N@zis when you thought they might want a king back on the throne and you could reclaim your little tyrant. like every goddamn Prussian conservative or Junker, you thought you could play the tyrannical cockroach. sure, you figured out earlier that he was no pal, but you still collaborated and you still allowed yourself to get played like the weak man of conscience you are. cheers!

Friedrich Wilhelm I: ladies and gentleman, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! the biggest bastard straight outta Berlin, FW1! and who doesn’t love an abusive father? who doesn’t love a man, so insecure and pathetic, that he needs to terrorize children to be able to look at himself and have a little pride. I understand that it was because he wanted his kids, specifically Fritz, to be best. but being best and perfect meant being miniature versions of him and aren’t we supposed to want our children to be better than a carbon-copy of a small man? honestly, I could live with the occasional smack for this time period. it’s within the norm and, while horrible, isn’t irreparably damaging. this guy really had to beat the shit out of Fritz and Wilhelmina and I’m sure Augustus and Henry and Amalia and all the others (so many kids) didn’t get spared either because if you hit one, you’ll hit ‘em all. and I judge them for their flaws all the same but, for some of them, it gets hard to. because what fighting chance did they have when their father was telling them how worthless they were and beating them senseless and threatening death and life imprisonment on some? I’m constantly impressed by Henry and Fritz and Wilhelmina for amounting to any semblance of maturity, even though it’s always fleeting, because this man didn’t give them the tools to be functioning adults. but each of them managed to be greater than their father, as did Amalia managing a really cool coup in Sweden. and what did FW1 get? he built up his army, had a tall guy fetish, increased the treasury, and made the cabinet and executive offices more efficient. there used to be this one guy on here that would argue that that was all a good king made and that this lowlife didn’t deserve the contempt he got by some on here (an obvious vague of me) for his behavior as a father. and maybe I’m a crackpot, but I believe the quality of a man outshines all those other achievements and that that’s meaningless to me, in my personal life. and when I get to hell, before I go to any of these other men, I’ll go to him and ask him how hell’s fires feel because, if his God was real, it would never love him. and that’s beautiful

#i just wanted to give you guys the mental image of ol maggie doing lines of coke #i dont like her i just like to give nicknames to all my enemies #makes them uncomfortable #im very tipsy so this is weird #i apologize #but i hope its kinda funny and enjoyable #frederick the great #old fritz #the name frederick officially looks meaningless to me #frederick william i #frederick i #frederick iii #frederick william ii #frederick william iii #frederick william iv #wilhelm i #wilhelm ii #prussian shitposting

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farmerlan · 5 years ago

Text

Farmer Lan’s Rewatch Guide to The Untamed - Episode 7

This is going to be a short one since there’s a lot of Yin metal action going on and we all know how that goes in the novel! Thank god because Episode 6 was A LOT.

SPOILERS THOUGH

[We learn that Lan Yi is basically ancient, and BSSR went into seclusion shortly after they feuded. Lan Yi guesses other pieces of Yin metal have now resurfaced, and Wei Wuxian deduces someone is trying to be Xue Chonghai Redux and turn cultivators into puppets.

Now our main quest begins! Our plucky heroes are entrusted to find the other pieces of the Yin metal. Lan Wangji is like get outta here Wei Wuxian, I don’t need your help. Wei Wuxian says since BSSR went into seclusion because of this, technically it IS my problem.

Wei Wuxian is discovered by Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing while lying on top of Lan Wangji as they tumble out of the cave and Wen Qing is suspicious but Wei Wuxian lies and says there was nothing in there. Turns out the Yin metal was the entire reason Gusu Lan sealed up the back hill in the first place - and Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren knew all along. They realize they are being spied on by the Wen clan.

Wei Wuxian goes around making shit up to Nie Huaisang about what happened while he was missing and Jiang Cheng is all low-key petty about how he’s bffs with Lan Wangji now.]

Differences from the novel:

Yeah... so as you might have gathered, none of this, including the saucy woops lost my balance and fell on you scene, happens in the novel. Let it never be said that the directors didn’t try to give us as much fan service as possible within the limits of censorship.

[Wen Ruohan decides to have Xue Yang go after the Chang sect and have Wen Chao shadow him, but it seems like Wen Chao has ideas of his own. Cut to the lantern ceremony and we see Jiang Yanli with Jin Zixuan, and Lan Wangji with Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian makes a special bunny lantern for Lan Wangji (cue rare smile ayyy!!) and they make their respective wishes - Wei Wuxian wants to always stand on the side of justice and live with no guilt.

As Jin Zixuan leaves, he asks Mianmian not to mention the arranged marriage again. Wei Wuxian demands an explanation, things escalate and fight!fight!fight! Things get kind of awkward since Jiang Yanli is right there. Wei Wuxian is punished and forced to kneel the next day. Lan Wangji checks up on him, only to see him playing with an anthill.

Jiang Fengmian shows up and Jiang Cheng berates him. The two sects decide to break off the marriage. Jiang Fengmian also discusses the Yin metal and Wen sect with Lan Qiren while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian go off to find Jiang Yanli.]

Differences from the novel:

There’s...also no lantern lighting scene in the novel sorry :(

In the novel, the altercation with Jin Zixuan does happen, although it happens as they are learning about Gusu Lan’s history. The topic turns to ‘cultivation partners’ and someone brings up Jin Zixuan’s betrothal, to which he says not to mention it. When Wei Wuxian confronts him about it and asks “What specifically is not pleasing about her?”, Jin Zixuan actually answers “Why don’t you ask me if there’s anything pleasing about her?!” WAY HARSH DUDE.

The anthill scene does happen - Lan Wangji sees Wei Wuxian’s shoulders shaking from behind and thought he was crying, so he goes to check up on him...only to see him shaking with laughter as he plays with the anthill. He narrates this to Jiang Cheng with glee obviously lol.

In the novel, Jiang Cheng actually mentions that if he hadn’t been pushed aside by Wei Wuxian at that moment, he would have beat up the other half of Jin Zixuan’s face. Wei Wuxian says it’s better to leave it lopsided since he’ll look uglier ahahaha. He casually comments that he should have just let Jiang Cheng do the honors so that Jiang Fengmian wouldn’t show up - and even though it was a throwaway comment, Jiang Cheng felt conflicted because he knew in his heart that it was true. Jiang Fengmian never hurried to Jiang Cheng’s side for anything. :( Poor bb.

[The Jiang trio show up to say their farewells to Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen. Lan Wangji shows up as well - it’s officially a party - but the Jiangs depart upon his arrival. Wei Wuxian stays on long enough to figure out Lan Wangji is entrusted with some kind of task and he also does an excellent Lan Qiren impression HAHA.

We end with Wei Wuxian hiding some rabbits (presumably from the cave) within a bamboo forest in the Cloud Recesses. He thinks of Lan Wangji - and figures out that he’s off to search for the Yin metal.]

Differences from the novel:

Wei Wuxian leaves with Jiang Fengmian when he comes to resolve the arranged marriage issue - there’s no farewell scene in the novel. I believe Jiang Cheng actually stays on to complete the rest of his studies. Jiang Yanli wasn’t at Gusu Lan in the novel so she’s been at Yunmeng this whole time.

About the rabbits - in the novel, Wei Wuxian captures two wild rabbits as a gift to Lan Wangji to apologize for getting him in trouble. Lan Wangji refuses at first and Wei Wuxian is all “Well SHAME guess I gotta go give these to someone who is good at cooking…” and he relents. Except the two MALE rabbits start doing the dirty right in front of them and Wei Wuxian runs off cackling, leaving him in the library with the two rambunctious rabbits running around.

Overall thoughts:

So we’re pretty much done up through Chapter 18 in the novel, which marks the end of the Gusu Lan arc. In the novel, the entire arc serves as an exposition of their first encounter, but in the drama series, we obviously have to advance the plot + flesh out backgrounds, so certain characters are introduced earlier than in the novel timeline - most notably the Wens.

In terms of what’s next - the drama has our heroes running off in pursuit of the Yin metal, and then it’s basically one long flashback arc up until the point of Wei Wuxian’s demise. In the novel, these flashback arcs are scattered throughout, so at this point we actually return to the present and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji set off on a different quest - that of investigating the whereabouts of the remaining scattered corpse of the Demonic Left Arm that was at the Mo estate.

I think it’s going to be very similar to what we’ve seen so far - big events (e.g. the Tortoise of Slaughter cave, the Phoenix Mountain hunt, the burning of the Cloud Recesses + sacking of Yunmeng) are going to align with the novel broadly, but the motivations and backgrounds of our characters and specific details of the events will be divergent.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #episode 7 #recap #魔道祖师

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softbiker · 5 years ago

Text

Born to Run - Chapter 4

Warnings: some language, descriptions of injuries

Word Count: 2.5k

A/N: this chapter features a proposition, some explanations, and an intro to a new character :) the response to this series has been overwhelming! I did not expect it to get very popular lol. As always, let me know what you think!

Steve flicked the cigarette he was holding and returned it to his lips. Its glowing tip lit his face from underneath as he took a slow drag, then exhaled through his nose, letting the smoke float around his face.

“She did a damn good job, way better than Barton.”

“Under pressure, too.”

“Does she have anybody here? Family or friends?”

Sam and Steve turned to Bucky, who had his arms crossed while he listened to their exchange.

“No one,” he shook his head. “She’s alone in that house.”

“That’s good,” Steve nodded. “Less of a risk.”

“So…” Sam looked between the two of them. “We all agree?” Steve raised his eyebrows at Bucky.

“No,” Bucky frowned. “But I know I can’t stop you.”

***********************************************************************

A week after the carnival, Y/N finally understood a bit more about her situation. After applying careful pressure to Charlotte, she learned that Mr. Van Horn’s use of the word “gang” was not a stylistic choice: Barnes and his friends run a motorcycle club called the ‘Avengers’ that had quite the reputation around town. Some feverish googling revealed that no criminal charges had ever been filed against the members, but it didn’t stop people from being suspicious. Several local news articles accused them of a string of vandal acts in 4 neighboring counties, spray-painting a skull and crossbones on public buildings and signs.

Y/N kept a close eye out for her neighbor after that - she listened for his motorcycle leaving the house and planned her own trips around his absence. She had the locks changed on the front door and went to the hardware store for a security alarm for the front and back doors of the house. Still, she was on edge whenever she was at home, alone in her quietly creaking house, with nothing but the sound of the TV for company. She started taking melatonin to help herself get to sleep at night.

As far as she could tell, Bucky was making no attempt to see her, either. He often left his house late at night and returned sometime after she had left for work, or stayed gone for a couple days at a time. If he worked a real job she couldn’t tell what it was - his comings and goings were so sporadic there was no way he was holding down a 9 to 5 somewhere. In any case, Y/N was just glad that their opposing schedules never allowed their paths to cross.

A week after the carnival, Y/N was sitting in her office at the clinic, filling out invoices for supplies. As a kid, she never imagined being a doctor would involve so much paperwork and planning, but somehow the dull minutiae of “real” jobs would always catch up with you. She puffed out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, refreshing the email page on her desktop. A reminder for a birthday party she wouldn’t be able to attend popped up, along with a student newsletter from her medical college she kept forgetting to unsubscribe to. She went back to her invoices.

A knock at the door startled her from her pile of paperwork. Charlotte poked her head in.

“Um, exam room 1,” she squeaked, clearing her throat before she continued. “The patient is ready in exam room 1.”

“Oh,” Y/N frowned. “I thought we had seen our scheduled patients already this morning? Is it an emergency visit?”

Charlotte’s eyes darted to the side before she nodded.

“Alright, then.” Y/N stood from her desk and slipped her lab coat back on. “What am I in for?”

“Um...I think you should just see for yourself.” Charlotte’s voice was tight, an octave higher than usual. She scurried back to her place at the front desk before Y/N could ask her anymore questions.

With her mind spinning a thousand worst-case scenarios, walked down the hall and opened the door to exam room 1.

Fuck.

The room was practically at capacity with the 3 burly men occupying it. On the exam table, swinging his long legs, was a smiling Steve Rogers; Sam Wilson sat in the chair next to him, browsing a pamphlet on STDs; and leaning against the wall next to the door was the man she tried so desperately to avoid - Bucky Barnes, in the flesh. His thick arms were crossed over his chest as he glared at the other two men, not sparing her a glance.

“Hi, doc.” Steve lifted his hand in a small wave. “I came to check up on my stitches.” Sam looked up over his pamphlet and waved, too. Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed.

“And you needed two friends to come with you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rogers nodded.

“We’re here for moral support,” Sam piped up.

“Uh huh.” She glanced at Bucky again, who continued to give her the cold shoulder. “Okay. Should only take a couple of minutes.”

She washed her hands, worked on a pair of gloves, and stepped closer to examine Steve’s forehead. Having three large, and reportedly dangerous, men in one small exam room with her set her nerves on edge. Their complete silence while they watched her certainly didn’t help at all, but she was nothing if not a professional, so she took her pen light from the pocket of her lab coat and leaned into his personal space as if it didn’t bother her.

“Hm. This has healed up nicely, Mr. Rogers,” she nodded, tucking the light away.

“Just Steve is fine.”

“Steve, then. Let me just cut these stitches out and then you can be on your way.”

“Sounds good.”

She opened the cabinets above the sink and pulled out some bandages, scissors, tweezers, and alcohol wipes, laying them all out on a moveable tray next to the exam table. She could feel Bucky’s eyes on her and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Still, he was silent as he kept his place by the door.

While she wiped down the area and started clipping the stitches, Sam made light small talk - asking about her weekend, how she was enjoying the clinic and the town, if she’d be going out of town for Labor Day. Y/N wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all, but gave him polite, short answers. She never asked him about himself, but she’d prefer to stay at arms length of all these men.

She swiped the cut again with an alcohol wipe and then covered it with a bandage, stepping back from the table.

“Alright, you’re all done, Steve.”

“Thank you, doc,” Steve smiled appreciatively. “You do good work.”

Y/N shrugged, tugging her gloves off and tossing them in the trash.

“It’s not like you really have a lot of options.”

“You’re right,” he nodded, looking at Sam. “Which is why...we have a proposition for you.”

Y/N blinked. Had she heard him correctly?

“What does that mean?”

“I think you must have heard about us by now, doc,” Sam said, rising from his chair. “The Avengers could use a medic like you.”

“We’re...accident prone,” Steve added. “And as you know, there’s not a hospital nearby, so we’re stuck with having one of our members doing a little first aid whenever we get beat up. But having a real doctor around? Could really save our asses.”

“I’m sorry...what exactly is it that you’re asking me to do?”

“It’s just some extra work on the side. After clinic hours, you’d be available for a member of our club if they needed any medical care. We could come to your place or bring you to the clubhouse, we’ll get you any supplies you need. And of course we’ll pay you.”

Steve was calm and confident while making his pitch, Sam standing beside him and watching her closely. Y/N’s brain was spinning. They were basically asking her to join their motorcycle club, right? Staying at the clubhouse and patching up their buddies? What the fuck was happening. She looked over at Bucky, who had stayed silent this entire time. His eyes were on her now, and they looked...wary. Tired. It was like he was asking her something but she just couldn’t hear him.

“No, I’m afraid I’m not interested.”

“Not interested? In getting extra money for doing your job?” Sam’s eyebrows went up.

“My job is running this clinic, not playing nurse for a biker gang,” Y/N fumed. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “You’ve really got some nerve coming in here and telling me that - but I took out your stitches and answered your question, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave now.”

She crossed her arms, giving the three of them a final glare before opening the exam room door and motioning for them to get out. The men shuffled out, their massive height filling the doorway. Steve glanced at her as he passed.

“If you change your mind, the offer is still on the table,” he said. Then they were gone.

Back in her office, Y/N slumped forward and laid her head on her desk. What the hell was that? How was this happening to her? ‘Young doctor moves to a small town, joins a biker gang’ sounded like a really bad premise for a movie.

She ate her lunch alone at her desk, obsessing over the situation. Joining a biker club was insane. Completely batshit. There was no chance in hell she would consider it. But on the other hand...Steve had said they would pay her. How much could they offer? She had to admit, she was weakly tempted by the money. If an extra paycheck helped her pay off her student loans faster, she could get out of here...move back to the city, back to her life. Her texts were full of friends begging her to come back and visit, sad that she was stuck in the middle of nowhere. Besides Charlotte, she hadn’t really managed to make a lot of connections here. It was lonely and hard...and patching up a few bikers on the side for a year or so could get it all over with.

But no, she told herself. Still not worth it. Absolutely not worth getting arrested when the Avengers got busted for drugs or human trafficking or murder. These bikers could end up ruining the rest of her life. No way. She’d take the slower, safer route, even if it was more boring.

Around mid-afternoon, Stacey, one of her other nurses, announced another walk-in patient.

“He says he wants you to look at his shoulder, he thinks he might have injured it in a football game,” she shrugged. Y/N nodded and slipped into the exam room.

Yet another large, muscular man in her clinic - where was this town getting all of these beefy men? He had removed his leather jacket and was sitting on her exam table in a white t-shirt and jeans; his hair was shaved on the sides and longer on top, slicked back from his forehead, and his arms were covered in tattoos. He had a nice enough face, she thought, even though he looked like his nose had been broken one too many times, and there was something...shifty about him. A little greasy.

“Good afternoon Mr…” she glanced at her chart. “Rumlow, is it?”

“Oh, you can call me Brock,” he smiled, a little sleazy.

“Okay, Brock. So it’s your shoulder bringing you in today?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay. Let’s have a look then.”

He nodded and pulled off his shirt before she could tell him not to, revealing even more tattoos across his muscled skin. He turned halfway, showing her his right shoulder.

“Oh, wow. Um, well there’s a lot of bruising here,” she said, stepping closer. The skin all around his shoulder and collarbone was bruised purple and blue. “How did this happen?”

“Playing football with some buddies,” he sighed, turning to give her that smile again. “I guess we like it a little rough.”

“Hm.” She ignored his comment. “Can you rotate it?”

She tested his range of motion, felt the area and asked about his pain. She brought Stacy back in and did an X-ray, to check for a break in his humerus. The results all seemed fine, which was a relief, as she was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her.

“Well, the good news is that you don’t have any broken bones - I think you just have some really deep bruising from the impact,” she said, putting her X-rays to the side. “So I would advise you to just be gentle with it, take it easy, and put some ice on it every day. The muscles need a little time to heal - so no football for now.”

“Alright, doctor’s orders,” Rumlow raised his hands in surrender.

“Anything else?” Y/N asked politely, ready to be out of the room.

“Well...now that you mention it,” he said slowly, pulling his t-shirt back over his head. “I was wondering if you were taking on any new patients. No special conditions - other than a sweet tooth, that is.” There was something in his smile, like he knew something she didn’t. She cleared her throat.

“If you’d like for us to keep your information on file, you can ask Charlotte at the front desk and fill out some paperwork,” she nodded.

“Alright then.” He hopped off the table and turned to slip his jacket back on. She could see a skull and crossbones tattoo on the back of his neck.

“Have a good day, Mr. Rumlow.”

“Brock.”

“Right.” She held the door for him and was glad when he was down the hallway and out of sight.

*************************************************************************

Y/N was in bed by 9:00 that night, too tired to care. Maybe living in an old woman’s house was turning her into the spinster she had always feared. But today was just too much, and she crawled into her bed with her clothes still on and passed out.

She woke to someone pounding on her front door.

Blearily she glanced at her alarm clock - 2:05 am. Why would someone be here at that hour? The pounding continued as she dragged herself out of her warm covers and stumbled towards the front door, remembering to grab her pepper spray off the lanyard on her nightstand. She crept up to the door on soft, silent feet, waiting for the banging to stop.

“Who is it?” she yelled when they took a break.

“Bucky,” he called, sounding exhausted. “Please, open the door?”

She hesitated, her hand hovering over the knob. This man was the rumored enforcer of a dangerous motorcycle club. She should not help him or be his friend, or let him in to her house at 2 in the morning.

“Please?” he called again. “I’m not gonna hurt you, I swear. I just...need your help.”

She sighed. Probably more stitches, or a broken hand from punching someone. Y/N turned the lock and swung the door open. Bucky was leaning hunched against the door frame, one of his hands pressed to his stomach. In the glow of the porchlight she could see it was covered in blood, soaking the lower half of his shirt. He looked up weakly when the door opened, giving her an apologetic look.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” he panted. “I’m sorry.”

#bucky x reader #bucky x reader fic #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #biker!bucky #biker!bucky au #avengers #avengers fic #avengers fanfiction #marvel fic

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hanramm156 · 5 years ago

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Rammstein Family Game: Get to know me! (Warning: a long ramble)

I’m honored to be tagged by @cherrisplace and @momoredcrow. ^^ It’s been a pleasure to read other people’s Rammstein memories and opinions, so here comes mine as well. Writing is one of those rare things that keep me sane during this crazy season, so I apologize this being super long. More rambling is probably coming when everything’s cancelled and I have nothing else to do.

Rules: There are no rules. Tag whoever you want. Don’t tag yourself. Tag yourself. You don’t have to answer all the questions. Do what you please. Have fun.

Created by: @vapor-stein

1. I’m curious: when did you discover Rammstein?

2004 properly, but I might have heard Du hast or other popular songs even earlier.

2. Tell me your story. How did you discover them?

As said, it was 2004 and I was watching some random Finnish music show. Back in the days, I watched a lot of music videos from the tv and recorded my favorite ones to VHS. One evening Rammstein’s Amerika came from the show and I was like “??? What on earth is this??? Sounds interesting…”. I wasn’t into metal music back then (I mostly listened to indiepop and alternative rock), but for whatever reason, I got hooked instantly to this German band’s dark, eerie sound. It was refreshing to hear something else than English and the video was also thrilling.

Rammstein had intruded my mind already, but the final straw was when I saw the Mein Teil video. I liked both the song and the video A LOT - so much that I even felt kinda “dirty” for liking something this dark. A 14-year-old me was constantly asking from myself that: “am I even allowed to like this kind of stuff this much?”. The backstory for the song was creepy, but so mesmerizing – like I had been introduced to the darkest corners of human mind: yes, this kind of stuff happens, and we shouldn’t close our eyes from it. So next, the only thing I could do was to buy Reise, reise album, listen to it on loop and sketch my German notebook full of Rammstein lyrics. Here’s a proof:

I have so many stories about my relationship to Rammstein that I might have to write them all down now when there’s a lot of time.

3. Favourite song?

This topic would be worth a novel itself, but here are some of my favorites:

Asche zu Asche – So badass, gives me such an energy every time – plus, not to forget the burning microphones and SILVER REESH!

Bück dich – Yes, it’s a horrible story once again in this song, but I can’t help but to admit that the song is freaking catchy and in a weird way, hot. Also, there’s a funny backstory when I was in 9th grade and we almost performed this song in our official graduation party with my boyfriend and a bunch of our friends (maybe good that the idea was abandoned in the end…). We had a vague clue what the song was about, but we just thought it was funny – also, our German teacher dressed always in leather and loved Rammstein (she played us Bestrafe mich during one class and I’ll always remember the awkward atmosphere) so we were thinking to dedicate the song to her for as our goodbye. XDD Seriously, why I have been so weird for all my life…

Sehnsucht – In most of the pop songs, longing is described by tender words and soft lyrics, but not in Rammstein’s case. I’ve had this weird feeling of “longing” all my life that I can’t describe properly. It’s kind of an inner emptiness, only arts and music can help to deal with it when it hits. I think Sehnsucht describes so realistically what is longing about in reality: it’s this angry pressure in your heart which you want to get out of your chest but can’t. In the end, you just want to scream your lungs out.

Mein Herz brennt – Powerful song that always gives me goosebumps. I can’t even explain why. Maybe the fact that “tough” men being emotional is my soft spot and Rammstein hits that spot hard.

Links 2-3-4 – I have always been kind of a rebel and I feel like when everyone else is going to the “right” I have to go to the left, to the unknown. My heart is longing for adventure, for the paths the others are not going. I dunno, but this is such a powerful song for me. When I hear it, I always just want to jump around. In Tampere concert I went totally nuts when Links started as the second song, lol. From that moment I felt like I was back home with my boys.

Mein Teil – No need for further explanations anymore.

Los – The harmonica solo!!! The dropped c tuning and the acoustic sounds!! I love it.

Amour – My favorite R+ ballad. I confess that I listen to this and think about the lyrics when I’m in the mood for writing something painfully romantic.

Weit weg – There’s this painful longing once again that always resonates to me. I listened this to a lot after the “after blues” of Ratina concert.

Tattoo – A song that I didn’t care about so much at first, but for whatever reason, it’s almost my favorite from the new album nowadays. It’s catchy as hell and I like the “rattling” guitar riffs.

4. Least favourite song? Come on. I know you have one.

Feuer frei – Too much Vin Diesel vibes. I also get a picture of drunken, middle-aged Finnish guys on a R+ gig who don’t care about to band, but just want to have a party of their life and get drunk, far away from their wives. (No offense to anyone, but as music is almost like a religion to me, I can’t help but to have a bit of disrespect for kind of people who just “consume” music.)

Pussy – Both musically and lyrically, so bad, but I get the point the guys tried to give with this nonsense.

5. Favourite album? & 6. Least favourite album? aka. I ramble about all the albums.

Tough one… as the rules were vague, I decided to have a short opinion about each of the albums.

Herzeleid – Summary: a bunch of guys, born and raised in DDR, are tired of everything so they get together and play aggressive songs - you can almost smell the testosterone miles away while you are listening to this album. I have to admit that I love this album even though it’s not musically super creative. It’s just raw men with raw feelings – and I have to say, it works for me.

Sehnsucht – I was creeped out of the album art as a teenager, lol. But yeah, musically improved from the former one and there are some classic songs that make Rammstein as they are nowadays. I listen to this often when I’m driving.

Mutter – The album that they had the most struggles with if I have understood correctly. The pain can be heard through the songs and it’s so honest and raw. I lost my friend in 2004 tragically and this album was one of the things that kept me sane back then. Especially the beginning of the album (MHB, Links, Sonne) hits me hard in the guts.

Reise, reise – The album that started all this hype in me, so it has a special place in my heart. I also liked how they tried something different to their usual sounds in this one, like orchestral and acoustic songs.

Rosenrot – To be honest, this album has always left me a bit “cold”, so I cannot even make a real opinion of it. There are some good moments though, like Mann gegen Mann that really speaks to me.

Untitled: This has been on the loop since last August and I was honestly surprised how good the album was. I hadn’t listened to Rammstein for a while, but when I got this album to my hands after the concert, holy shit it hit me. I like hearing the path the guys have gone: their new music is much more mature than the first angry albums. Also, I love Till’s poetry in this one, like Was ich liebe and Weit weg.

I think I answered the question #7 already, so I’ll skip to #8.

8. Unpopular opinion about a member? A scandal? Anything?

Even though I appreciate Till as an artist and a poet, I don’t find his appearance attractive. You can throw rotten tomatoes at me now, but this is just my opinion, no means to offend anyone. Maybe the reason is that my taste for men tends to go for androgynous side, so I am not drawn towards very masculine men.

I’m not interested in Lindemann project and I don’t like their music so much, but the tour looked entertaining though. I bet all the people who attended had a lot of fun.

How Richard pronounces English is extremely sexy to my ear, even though it clearly sounds like a German guy trying to sound American - still, it’s like honey to my ears. Stupid man who makes my knees weak with everything he does.

I hate to admit that I don’t like Ohne dich so much. I don’t know why. :(

9. Have you ever seen them live? Tell me what you felt.

Three times this far! Oh man, I could talk about for hours how the concerts have made me feel, but I try to be reasonable now.

Ruisrock, Turku, 2005 – My first time seeing them live – and going to a festival without any adult supervision, so it was a special experience overall – and they blew my mind. It was raining and thundering and we were completely soaked with my friends, but it was worth it!

Bonus for everyone who managed to read this far: teenage me waiting for Rammstein to start playing, looking so badass with my denim jacket and R+ logo drawn with eyeliner. :D

Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, 2012: We went to the show together with my boyfriend to celebrate Valentine’s day and holy shiiiiit it was awesome. Hands down one of the best evenings of my life. I was so hooked to Rammstein afterward that when we were at my bf’s family’s cottage, his brother had to tell me to stop blasting Herzeleid all the time in the kitchen. :’D

Ratina Stadium, Tampere, 2019: Aka. byebye my life, say hello to fics, listening to the band all over again, stupid memes and all the content this fandom creates. I fell in love again with Rammstein during this concert.

I have tickets for Düsseldorf and Tallinn, but now I can only wait and stress that will Corona ruin everything. In that case, I’ll weep alone and write fics about the tour 2020 that ended up never happening.

10. Do you play any instruments? If you do can you play any song by them?

Yeah, I play guitar and piano but nowadays I mostly sing. Rammstein songs are super easy to play with guitar and I recently learnt to play Tattoo and Sex. Have been practicing Engle on piano as well. Some songs I like to sing are Deutschland, Tattoo and Engel. The “speaking” parts are difficult though. ^^;

I’m not sure who I could tag to this who hasn’t done it already, but I’ll try my luck: @ah-its-too-much @soronya @einemelodie @xiaolianhuax @so-darya-darya @maximaembra @kvidasjuklingur

#rammstein #tag game #get to know me #hanhan's rambles #I spent ridiculous amount of time doing this #whatever

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sweet-steddie · 6 years ago

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Safety Mode (g.d. & e.d.)

Summary: @zoenighshade555 and @zealousllamawolfknight each more or less requested that I write about the reader being uncomfortable or scared and the twins going into safety/overprotective mode, so I combined those requests and this is the result! I hope you both like it!!

A/N: Here is my actual fifth (5th) imagine on this account and I can hardly believe it! I have been having such a wonderful time filling requests and I’m so glad that people actually give a damn about my writing lol. Without further ado, here’s imagine # 5. Enjoy! And please send in requests if you have them!

3.2k+

I’m busying myself in the kitchen, making sure that the fridge is equipped with plenty of refreshments, then I’m raiding the cabinets and pulling out all the snacks that I’d purchased earlier in the day. Just as I’m emptying some chips into a bowl, a hand clasps lightly around my wrist, effectively stopping my actions.

“You don’t have to do this, babe,” Ethan insists softly over my shoulder. I crane my neck to look up at him and he looks mildly exasperated, but there’s a hint of a smile tugging fondly at his lips. “You’re a guest too, ya know,” he teases, smile now stretching helplessly across his face. I close my eyes and sigh out, leaning back into his chest and surrendering to his touch, my hand coming to rest on the counter top as I give up preparing the snacks.

“I know, I know,” I relent, opening my eyes to peer up into Ethan’s soft, droopy, brown ones. He blinks down at me patiently and my heart lurches in my chest for a moment. “I just want everything to be perfect for you guys. There’s some important people out there and I wanna make sure they have no reason to complain about this party,” I explain for the umpteenth time today. Ethan and Grayson had decided to host a party for their team and, naturally, plenty of powerful YouTube execs had been invited as friends of friends. In short, this party is a potentially wonderful opportunity for the boys to make a good impression and I want to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

“I know you do, love. But you’ve been running around all day and everything already is perfect,” he pauses to kiss my forehead lovingly before breathing out, “thanks to you.” I grumble unintelligibly in protest, knowing he’s right but worrying nonetheless. This pulls a laugh out of him and he throws his arms around me, walking us backward from the kitchen counter. “Mhmm, you know I’m right. Now chill out before I get Grayson in here,” he threatens playfully and I roll my eyes. Not a moment later, the man, himself, comes strolling into the kitchen.

“Why are we getting Grayson?” Grayson plays along, grabbing a chip from one of the bowls before casually gripping my waist and pulling me away from Ethan. I hug him around his middle as he settles his lower back against the counter.

“She won’t stop freaking out,” Ethan supplies bluntly and I chuckle into Grayson’s chest against my will. Grayson smooths a hand down my back.

“Baby we told you, everything’s okay. We want you to enjoy the party, too. You’ve been helping us set this thing up for days; you deserve to relax now,” he pecks the top of my head and I look up at him, at which point he rests his forehead against mine, our noses nearly lined up. “Can you promise me you’ll relax? Hm?” he murmurs sweetly, eyes searching mine for any sign of surrender. And at this painfully close proximity with his cologne wrapping around me like seductive vines and his cute little nose mushed up against mine, how can I ever say no to anything he asks of me? I sigh, physically deflating, a nonverbal agreement to his terms.

He rewards me with a dimpled smile and a kiss to my cheek, murmuring a “thank you,” against the skin before kissing it again.

“We should probably get back out there, Gray,” comes Ethan’s voice from behind us and Grayson begrudgingly loosens his hold on me, nodding his agreement.

“Yeah, probably,” he sighs out as I spin around to face Ethan, who’s already fixing me with a gentle smile.

“You be good, alright?” he teases, raising an eyebrow challengingly in my direction. I roll my eyes at him for the second time tonight, giving him a sarcastic thumbs up of agreement. “You’re feisty tonight,” he observes, but he doesn’t sound particularly put off by it. I crack a smile at that, accepting the hand that he holds out for me to take as we begin to stroll back out into the crowd of people, Grayson in tow.

No sooner than we set foot back into the living room does someone demand their attention. Ethan nods his head in acknowledgment at the person speaking before giving my hand a squeeze and then letting it drop. He drops a kiss to my forehead, throwing in a muttered “have fun,” for good measure before heading over to the person who had called for he and Grayson’s attention moments ago. Grayson waltzes from behind me to follow his brother, landing a quick, playful slap to my ass that seems to go unnoticed by everyone but me. I feel a pleasant flush creep into my cheeks as I go to mock-scold him, but he’s already out of arm’s reach and I decide, instead to bite the inside of my cheek to ward off the ear-to-ear grin threatening to split my face.

As I collect myself, I take the time to observe my surroundings for the first time this evening. I had been so busy bustling about in order to maintain perfection that I hadn’t had the time to see how my many preparations had payed off. By the looks of the attendees around me, they paid off quite well. There’s a calm buzz of chatter surrounding everyone and the faint bass of music thumping over the speakers provides a nice ambiance while paired with the chattering voices. I breathe my first relieved sigh in several days as I calmly snag an hor d’oeuvre from a nearby tray and settle myself onto one of the plush, unoccupied couch cushions before me.

I make polite small talk with a few people here and there, all the while mindful to keep the conversations topical, at most. I want to make as little of an impression as possible; it’s the twins’ night, not mine. This flurry of exchanges takes up about a two hour block of time and I’m surprised to witness the night passing by without a hitch. From my spot on the couch, I watch as Grayson and Ethan mingle effortlessly. Their energy is unmatched within the room and all eyes are on them as they dance from person to person, from party to party, and do so with ease.

This is, without a doubt, the boys’ element. Socializing with people and - from what I’ve seen of them tonight and what I see with most of their interactions with others - leaving them alight with adoration and yearning for more comes naturally to them both. I smile to myself as I watch my boys work the room. Every once in a while, I’ll catch either Ethan’s or Grayson’s eye and they’ll shoot me a wink or blow a little kiss before continuing to network and charm their way around the area. I conclude that the night won’t be wrapping up anytime soon, so I decide to pass the time by playing around on my phone for a long enough time that I can later excuse myself from the party and retire to one of the boys’ bedrooms in seclusion for the remainder of the party.

As I aimlessly thumb through my phone, the sounds around me seems to fade away into a pleasant buzz of general background noise. I’m so immersed in my screen that I’m startled to feel the couch dip next to me. My head shoots up quickly, eyes comically wide at the interruption before I put a palm over my chest. “I’m sorry, you scared me!” I exclaim through a laugh and the man who had sat down reciprocates the sound.

“No worries. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he apologizes, eyes crinkling a bit at the corners as he continues to smile at me. We chuckle off the moment and I look back down at my phone as a means of transitioning from the awkward incident and back into my own bubble. My eyes are having trouble focusing on any one thing on my screen as I force myself to process the words and images before me instead of having to face the man again. “So, how did you hear about this party?” the man asks, causing me to look up at him again. I lock my phone at set it in my lap, figuring that it would be rude to continue ignoring him at this point.

I scan over his features as I go to respond, observing his casual, but quality attire and his slightly graying hair. He looks to be at least in his mid-to-late-40s. “Well, I know the boys. Ethan and Grayson, I mean,” I clarify, smiling politely as I continue my explanation. “We’ve known each other for several years and I’ve gotten to watch them grow as entertainers and I’m just so proud of them and so impressed with how influential they’ve become,” I can’t help but brag. Any chance I get to ramble about the boys’ accomplishments is a chance I take wholeheartedly. The man nods along as I speak.

“Yes, they’re extremely talented. My daughters are just,” he gestures around dramatically to find the words, “they’re just absolutely crazy about them. So needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of their videos. Very cool guys,” he praises and I laugh at the anecdote. A comfortable silence befalls us for a moment before the man speaks again. “Ya know, living here in L.A., being a single dad and all is, well. It’s interesting, let’s say that,” he says and I give him my attention, ready to jump into yet another boring attempt at small talk.

“And sometimes, it’s refreshing to see a young, pretty face like yours,” he continues and that’s when an alarm sounds off in my head. The mood has shifted drastically and it has my heartbeat speeding up uncomfortably in my chest. I choose not to address his comment and instead, give a tight-lipped smile that doesn’t even begin to reach my eyes. I become fidgety in my seat, preparing to stand up and walk away in a way that won’t invite Ethan’s and Grayson’s suspicion. I’d rather vent about this creep later on than have the boys loudly defending me in front of their company.

“Would you wanna get outta here? Business parties are so boring,” the man presses and I scoot over to the edge of the couch furthest from him, keeping my eyes downcast, not that he seems to be taking the hint. “My place is a lot quieter and my daughters are out for the night. We could,” he pauses to scoot a bit closer to where I’m sitting and my stomach lurches out of discomfort, “get to know each other better.” he propositions suggestively. Before I can muster up a quiet, venomous response, another voice beats me to the punch.

“Do we have a problem over here?” Grayson’s voices slices through the tension and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see him in my life. He’s standing beside where I’m sat on the couch and I immediately stand to my feet, grasping his hand in both of my sweaty ones. His jaw is set, nostrils slightly flared and eyes are hard as steel, a stark contrast to the way that he softly encompasses my hands with his big fingers. The man sitting on the couch looks, for lack of a better word, caught. Caught in the act of creepily advancing on me moments earlier as I so obviously portrayed my unease. He doesn’t reply right away and that isn’t good enough for Grayson. “I asked you a question,” Grayson presses impatiently.

My eyes suddenly land on Ethan, realizing that he’s standing opposite of Grayson and I, arms crossed and jaw equally set as he stares down at the offending man. Together, Ethan and Grayson have the man flanked and he looks like this is fact hasn’t escaped him as he nervously splutters out a response.

“I don’t really think that’s any of your business,” he defends weakly, but he refuses to meet either boy’s eye. “I was just having a private conversation with this lady and I don’t appreciate you eavesdropping-“ he goes on, but he doesn’t get a chance to finish.

“No no. No. You being a fucking pervert and making a lady uncomfortable is absolutely our fucking business. And especially when it concerns this lady,” Grayson emphasizes, referencing me. “And especially when you’re at our fucking house. You have some nerve, showing up here and acting like this,” Grayson fumes and I can tell that he’s fighting to keep his voice down.

“It’s time for you to leave,” Ethan cuts in firmly while stepping closer to the man, arms now dangling at his sides menacingly. The man on the couch actually has the audacity to look affronted.

“You’re overreacting a bit, don’t you think? It wasn’t that big a de-“

“Leave or I call the police right now. I’m not fucking kidding, you need to go,” Ethan doesn’t allow him to finish that sentence. The man scoffs, narrowing his eyes, first, at Ethan and then at Grayson as he slowly rises to his feet. He glares at me briefly before I feel Grayson physically tense up.

“Don’t you dare ever look at her like that. Get the fuck out,” Grayson spits and I free one of my hands from his grasp so that I can run it soothingly up and down his tensed bicep. His eyes never leave the man as he makes his way pitifully to the front door. If he had a tail, it would be tucked between his legs. It’s not until the door closes behind him that Grayson’s body relaxes a bit.

In realize, all of a sudden, how silent it’s gotten around us since the event unfolded. I dare to take a peak around and notice that most eyes are on the boys and I. One brave person takes the opportunity to speak up, a woman who had been here since much earlier in the evening.

“Thank god that creep is gone,” she announces amidst murmurs of agreement. What follows is a general chatter, likely about the drama that just ensued, but the atmosphere soon returns to normal. I take some solace in that just as Ethan grabs my attention again.

“C’mon. You wanna hide out for a while until the party dies down?” he suggests softly, but he looks like he’s still on edge from the interaction.

“Yeah, actually. Thanks,” I agree, following Ethan as he turns on his heel and heads in the direction of he and Grayson’s bedrooms. Grayson’s grip stays secured on my hand as we follow Ethan through the house. I notice that he’s yet to speak since he had banished the sleazy man from the house. When the three of us reach Grayson’s bedroom, he closes the door behind us and leads us to sit on the edge of his bed, Ethan sitting on my other side. The three of us are silent for a moment.

“You guys didn’t have to do that. But I’m glad you did anyway and I just want you both to know that I really appreciate it,” I start softly, caressing Grayson’s large hand with my thumb and reaching out my free hand to grasp Ethan’s, giving him the same treatment. “This night was supposed to be all about you guys and I’m sorry that creepy fuck ruined it for a minute,” I express, my anger flaring up at the mere thought of the slimy man that had aided in causing a scene earlier. Grayson releases a heavy breath through his nose before speaking.

“If I’d had it my way, I would’ve beat that guy’s ass to a pulp. How dare he make you feel like that,” he seethes, eyes closing out of pure frustration. When he opens them again, they hold a considerable amount of concern. “Are you okay? How are you feeling, baby? What do you want me to do?” he questions in quick succession, eyes searching my face. I free my hand from his to run softly through his locks. I could kiss him silly right about now.

“You’ve done more than enough, Gray. What I really want you to do is go back out there and enjoy the rest of your party,” I insist, turning to Ethan. “I want both of you to enjoy your party. Don’t look at me like that,” I softly chastise as Ethan begins to pout, obviously feeling just as sour as Grayson about the whole situation. I could kiss that pout away, easy.

“I think Grayson will agree with me when I say that the only way we’ll enjoy the rest of the night is if we get to spend it with you,” Ethan declares and I watch as Grayson nods immediately.

“Yeah. Yes, that. It’s already been over five hours, I think we should call it a night anyway,” Grayson says and he looks right into my eyes as he continues, gaze never wavering. “I don’t wanna leave you in here. Please?” he asks my permission to cut the party short, knowing how much I’ve fussed over it. My initial reaction is to argue with him about it, but then I really look at him and, honestly, he’s already won. He has those droopy, puppy dog eyes trained on me just right and I’m putty in his massive hands.

“Okay,” I relent easily enough and Grayson smiles out of relief and I’ll do anything to make sure that smile stays there, I decide. He looks past me to address Ethan for a moment.

“E, get rid of everyone. I’m gonna stay in here with our girl,” he says that last part while looking back at me with a pleased smirk. I shake my head at him fondly before turning to face Ethan. Our hands, that have since been clasped, separate and I use my fingers to brush through his loose curls.

“Yeah, E. Get rid of them,” I playfully repeat Grayson’s command, giving him the go-ahead and he smiles down at me.

“Yes, ma’am,” he affirms, pressing his lips briefly to my cheek before standing up from the bed and making his way out into the living area to clear the house out. When the door clicks shut, Grayson wraps his arms around me and forces us both to fall down on our backs, causing me to erupt in delighted laughter. He scoops me up so that I’m halfway on top of him, head resting on his chest and knee bent with my leg thrown over top of his. The bass of the music playing in the living room has stopped and I hear the front door open, meaning that Ethan must have successfully brought the party to an end.

“I’d never let anything bad happen to you. You now that, right?” Grayson speaks up, hand caressing soothingly over my leg that’s propped on top of his. “Ethan wouldn’t, either. You’re always safe when we’re around. Always. Okay?” I look up at Grayson as he finishes talking, catching his searing gaze and using a hand to cup his pretty face. I don’t doubt a single word that he’s said.

“I know, Gray. I know.”

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noscorpsaladerive · 6 years ago

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LRA Korea Write Up!!! This is so freaking long and rambly and fangirly but here we go

So obviously spoiler alert, I’ll mark the appropriate parts with trigger warnings, and also I don’t speak any Korean so obviously I missed a lot of stuff

Okay so first off the theater and stage itself were pretty damn small especially in comparison to the 4000 seat Palais des Congrès in Paris but they def made that stage work for them. The back of the stage was curved in and had steps going all the way around, a screen above the steps with projections, etc, and a couple of entrances for actors. They had some minimal set pieces, but the coolest part was the like celestial pattern they had on these giant moving screens that they used for a curtain as well as for backdrops for some of the scenes. Tbh the costumes weren’t like mind blowing like you could tell they didn’t have the biggest budget but they worked and none were so ugly or awful that it took me out of the story.

So the show starts in a similar way with Merlin and the Dragon, but it was really cool bc the part (i assume at least) where the Dragon mentions the king’s son Arthur pops up at the top of the steps! As the knights are slowly appearing for the tournament and start fighting, Arthur actually sings part of Je me relève??? Which imo is brilliant???? Anyways it gets down to just Meleagant and as he goes up to try and pull Excalibur from the stone, he sings part of Un Nouveau Départ which is also brilliant???? This production did a great job of establishing and maintaining musical themes for characters and i was living for it.

Anyways Arthur does the thing and yay he’s king now but wait side note Han Jisang who played Arthur was SO FUCKING GOOD. Like he captured Arthur’s transition from a boyish squire to a grown ass adult king so beautifully and wonderfully it was truly incredible.

Okay so now it’s Advienne que pourra time and holy fuck. Holy f u c k. Kang Hongseok was the perfect Meleagant. I’d link it but I’m on mobile but you can see his Advienne que pourra in the King Arthur press call around the nine minute mark and he just fucking k i l l s it. Also there were no sword dicks in the choreography so it’s automatically better. And the projection1!!! They had a sun up from the beginning bc the Dragon had appeared in the sun but it was still up for Meleagant but then during the bridge it’s eclipsed by the moon and it’s like ooooo symbolism for Meleagant’s feelings~~~

Side note i really really really loved the staging of this like so much of it made soooo much more sense than the french production and like I’m attached to the original because obvious reasons but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t‘ve been better.

The training scene with Gauvain was pretty similar as the original. Merlin introduces the stag and the wolf again, and ngl the dude who plays the wolf has very nice abs so good for him for being motivated to work out like that lol. Anyways i really liked the staging of Qui suis-je because Arthur still has his existential crisis but Merlin’s explanation of the Grail is less directed at him??? Like Arthur’s still on stage but he’s not listening and is working on training with Merlin’s brothers. So it’s much less “I know you’re having a hard time but look at this shiny thing!” Than the french one.

They took out the Danse des guerriers battle dance number music but they did still have a dance battle! At the top of the stairs they had Guenièvre and Léodagant being held prisoner by Méléagant and they showed Mélé like trying to be romantic ish with Guenièvre so establishing that connection was really nice. And Méléagant had a new song???? That was really short????? But i don’t think it matched any of the melodies of his other songs?????? I’m confused but intrigued.

Oooo what was really cool was how they did Arthur asking Meleagant to knight him. Like in the french one it’s tense but i really felt the tension among the characters tonight it was sooo great oh my god. But after Meleagant takes the sword, he sings a few lines of Advienne que pourra and then points the sword at Arthur’s neck and idk i just really liked it it was such a nice touch and maybe it was Hong Seok and the other actors reacting to him but there was a true sense of holy fuck no one knows what he’s gonna do next and Arthur had this look on his face like I’m prepared to die if this is my time and ugh i love them all so much ;alkdjfa;dk

Okay next is Rêver l’impossible. I liked our Guenièvre but I’d have to see her again to have a more detailed opinion of her lol. I really loved this scene because one no pregnant handmaidens and two Arthur was being really cute and acting all in love with her and it was adorable and I love it. Quelque chose de magique was more of the same like Han Jisang fucking killed it as Arthur like he was such a dork in love and I loved it. And towards the end of the scene Méléagant walks on stage and looks at Guenièvre and Arthur and so you know he knows he’s lost Guinevere.

Un Nouveau Départ was great because Kang Hongseok is great and I love him. They did have the dancers do body rolls which i found very amusing for some reason idk why a;dlkfajd;lfksd Next was my one complaint about the show and it’s that there was no transition whatsoever between Un Nouveau Départ and Au diable but maybe they had Guenièvre do that lyrically??? Still some sort of musical interlude in between would’ve been nice. I did l o v e how they did the water for her arrival like she stood at the top of the stairs and they had blue fabric covering all the steps then they pulled it down as she started to walk down and the screen was doing these cool star projections and it was just so pretty.

RAPE TW for this next paragraph

Next was A l’enfant and Tu vas le payer. Nothing really changed story wise but our Leia was soooo good and was such a great dancer. And I noticed the lady playing the role of child Morgane in the story had such great expressions and body language and tbh the same can be said for the entire ensemble they were amazing. Anyways our Morgane was really amazing too her expressions were also soooo great and I’m running out of adjectives bc it’s three am a;ldkfjad;l but anyways the way things go down for these two songs is about the same in the french but the staging is different obviously like instead of the party scene it’s mostly Morgane jamming out with the ensemble then they roll Arthur and Guenièvre in on rolling platforms and then Morgane waves her arms bc magic and she does the same movements as Guenièvre so it looks like she’s controlling her which I thought was a cool way to do that. Afterwards Arthur is obviously very distraught but instead of Merlin being like “you have bigger problems your people are dying” Arthur runs off stage to (hopefully) process what just happened so i appreciate that there’s that moment instead of just rushing on to the next thing.

Next was Guenièvre’s garden and Lancelot’s arrival, which was really cute bc her handmaidens blindfold Kay and have him try to find one of them and he ends up in Lancelot’s arms ;aldkfjsdl;k. And the way Kay tries to protect Guinevere was so freaking cute he kept throwing his arms up to protect her and she kept pushing them down then his arms would pop back up it was so cute ;ladkjfadlk

Si je te promets goes down pretty much the same, but what’s interesting is afterwards Merlin shows up and is like hey your people are dying and that’s when they have Délivre-nous! They also had ensemble member solos instead of just one singer which i thought worked really well. And Arthur’s moving among them and he tries to reach out to help them as they fall dying and i just love the staging so much like from the very beginning with the dude who rushes in to tell Arthur Méléagant is holding Guenièvre and her father captive you can just tell Arthur is so concerned about caring for his people and i love him so much ;alkdjf;aldk

After that song ends Arthur’s like hey we gotta fix this shit so he creates the round table then goes into Je me relève!! Which was a lil creepy bc that’s the exact same idea i had in my own LRA rewrite and i was like fuck did they find my blog but it fucking works y’all!!!! And they end Act I on that song and ugh it’s so beautiful i love it

Act II starts out with Dors Morgane dors but it’s not about her mother’s rape anymore, we think she’s talking about her plans for Lancelot, Guenièvre, and Arthur but that is to be confirmed. They then show ARthur and Lancelot kicking ass and taking names which i liked that it showed Lancelot had buddies besides just crushing on Guinevere lol

Next was A nos vœux sacrés which holy shit y’all. Holy shit. Both actors are so freaking good and they both hit high notes at the end of the song and i died and went straight to heaven it was sooooo amazing ;alkdjfa;ldskjfas;d also they did not paint Méléagant up like a war boy they had this like branch like mask thing??? It looked really cool omg

Next Lancelot and Guinevere had a short scene that led into L’amour quel idiot and i loved this staging so much!!!! Like instead of having him sing at their faces after the wedding he’s downstage singing and longing for Guinevere while she and Arthur are standing at the top of the steps getting ready for the wedding and i just love it so much y’all

The wedding scene didn’t have a song but Morgane sung Ce que la vie a fait de moi afterwards and holy fuck y’all i freaking died and went to heaven every time this Morgane hit a high note she was soooooo good y’all. So fucking good.

I don’t really remember much about le Serment d’Arthur prob bc i know they changed things but language barrier so I’m not 100% sure how it changed rip

Faire comme si was good but I’m so attached to the french staging of that song i still miss it ;alkdfjsad; one thing that i really really loved and preferred in this one was Lancelot and Guinevere don’t really touch?? It’s just longing gazes and at one point they touch hands and Lancelot like freezes like oh fuck she’s touching me i can’t believe it but then Guinevere pulls her hand away and he just leaves his in the same spot for a second like he still can’t believe she touched his hand and ugh i loved it the lack of touching really upped the ante on the pining and it was sooo good a;ldfkjadfkl;

Next was another scene with Morgane and Méléagant where Méléagant starts out being all like you promised me!!! And then I *think* Morgane tells him something like be patient and explains her plan but once again Korean and changes so it’s mostly speculation

But y’all

Y’all

They had Morgane and Méléagant sing Mon combat

Like w h a t

But also y e s

I’m glad they didn’t just leave the song the way it is in the French version bc it doesn’t work very well where it is in the French one??? So I’m so happy they moved things around and tried to make things work better

Next up Merlin peaces out and Arthur????? Sings a slow reprise?????? Of Quelque chose de magique??????? No clue what he says in the lyrics but i thought it was an interesting melodic choice to bring back in the moment Arthur loses his mentor

So Guinevere gets kidnapped and Kay’s the one who actually realizes she’s gone and who took her but Arthur decides to go after her himself??? Then it switches to Lancelot who’s looking for the Grail and they kept the phrase Wake Up in English bless them but he doesn’t find Guinevere’s handkerchief until partway through the song and Niel (the kid playing Lancelot) was really great??? Like it was so much fun watching him as Lancelot ugh

I don’t remember why but Arthur then has a reprise of Si je te promets jury is still out on what he’s singing about but will keep you posted

Yoooo nos corps à la dérive man. So. Good. I’m so in love with Hong Seok’s Méléagant he’s so great and i just ;lakdjf;alkdjfd but the set was so cool they had like all these white ribbons??? That Guinevere was attached to??? Which sounds weird but it was like part spider web effect part almost shattered mirror effect???? That’s not explaining it well but it looked really cool and avant garde ish and there was a significantly fewer number of random creepy skeleton projections so i was here for it

Major difference tho Lancelot shows up ready to throw down except he gets his ass kicked and is seriously injured??? And Arthur shows up but he just listens at first so I think that’s when he really figures out what’s up between Lancelot and Guinevere but then Arthur steps in and kills Méléagant (who sings a reprise of Un Nouveau Départ before being carried off into the afterlife) (rip in peace). Arthur then leaves Guinevere and Lancelot alone while the latter dies and they sing a really sad reprise of L’amour quel idiot :(((( my son dying meant that Il est temps got cut but like they added soo many reprises and things it makes sense that they’d have to cut at least one song but still sad :(

Next Arthur talks with Morgane and I’m not entirely sure what was happening but it seemed like she was having a breakdown because of what happened and what she did to Arthur and Vanessa said that he said something like “Don’t turn into our mother” or something like that but she breaks down and spirits herself away while she and Arthur sing a reprise of Dors Morgane dors

Then it’s Tout est joué and Merlin is standing on the back of the steps while Arthur is in front of the closed screen so it was nice to have that kind of physical barrier present on stage to further emphasize that Merlin’s not gonna be helpful bc he’s now separated from Arthur rip

Next up was Auprès d’un autre which involved a lot less yelling and shit then the French version and holy shit Han Jisang fucking killed it (again) he was sooo great but Arthur lets Guenièvre go partway through the song and so the show ends with him by himself holding up Excalibur

At curtain call they sang some of Je me relève (i think) again and it was cute esp bc at the end everyone was holding a dramatic pose except Han Jisang was just quietly bopping and jamming to the instrumental outro by himself so everyone is dead still except Arthur who was just bopping along it was so cute ;alkdjf;alskdjf

Anyways it was amazing and they seemed to make changes to make the story make more sense which bless them for doing it but i loved it so much and i need to see it like a million more times it was so good a;ldskfjas;ldkfjads;lkfjasd;k

#ella writes text #la legende du roi arthur #la légende du roi arthur #lra korea #stagedooring shenanigans #ella sees lra

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backtothestart02 · 7 years ago

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Christmas with the Newlyweds | A westallen x parkwest fanfiction

For @inksmudge on her birthday!! Happy Birtheday, hun!! You’re amazing and deserve everything!!!

(I’m really cutting it close here, but it’s still in before midnight, so it still counts in my book!! lol. I hope you enjoy it, dear! - And everyone else too!!)

*Big thanks to @valeriemperez for beta’ing on such short notice & getting it back to me just in time! You’re awesome!!

Synopsis: 4x09 - Canon Divergent - The Christmas Party goes as planned with no arrests and no interruptions, except for a couple surprise visitors.

Rating: General Audiences

Romantic Pairings: Barry & Iris, Wally & Linda

Settled at the kitchen, her ankle pleasantly brushing up against her husband’s knee, Iris took in the surroundings. It was a shame Cecile – and Wally – couldn’t be here to experience it, but there was so much joy and happiness humming in the air. After the tension of the last couple days, after fretting about how she’d let her levelheadedness as a leader swamp every nerve ending in her body that screamed at her – what if? What if Barry doesn’t make it? What if you made the right call but you lost the love of your life all over again and this time he couldn’t be brought back? What if???

But the familiar rush that tossed her hair about and sent chills racing down her spine returned to her as if it had never left. And there he was – tired, exhausted, but all Barry. All hers and back in her arms. He was barely letting go, but she needed to just hold onto him for a while, to breathe in his scent, feel the warmth of his body holding her too, and forget all her worries. Because she almost lost him, but she hadn’t.

And now they were at a Christmas party with almost everybody they loved. Ralph is questionably pleasant, but she wouldn’t let herself be bothered by that. Even Dominic was a welcome addition. She smiled to herself, counting her blessings. Even the mystery of why there had been no counter attack from Devoe could be dismissed tonight. It was Christmas, her first Christmas as a wife – and in this moment, she couldn’t be happier.

“What?” she heard Barry say and flicked her eyes in his direction.

“Hmm?”

His sappy, incredibly sexy grin made her feel hot all over, a feeling which miraculously subsided when she remembered there were people no more than a few feet away.

“What’re you thinking about?” he asked, nudging her foot a little with his leg.

She bit her bottom lip, smiling.

“Just thinking how lucky we are.” She reached her hand across the table. Barry met it halfway and intertwined their fingers. “How happy I am.”

He pulled their hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

“Me too. And it’s only going to get better.”

She had to look away after a while because the pure adoration in his eyes was almost overwhelming. Her gaze fell to his ring finger when he set their hands back on the table, and she felt her heart leap into her throat.

“What?” he asked again, a teasing lilt to his voice as he smiled at her.

“It’s nothing. I just…”

He raised his eyebrows, waiting.

“I can’t believe we’re finally married,” she admitted, her eyes shining. “This is our first Christmas together as a married couple and God, that ring looks really good on your finger.” She gave a short laugh, aware that she was gushing over such a simple thing.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, lifting her hand and angling it so her rings could be seen. “Your wedding band doesn’t look too shabby either.”

She rolled her eyes, fighting a smile.

“That’s different. I’ve had this diamond on my finger for months. You’ve had time to get used to it. Adding a wedding band to it shouldn’t come as big of a surprise to you. Your ring on the other hand…is new to me.”

Barry laughed. “Used to it?” He shook his head. “Iris, I am never going to get used to the fact that you’re my wife.”

Iris felt the shivers run up and down her spine as he said that word.

“You say it so nonchalantly.” She looked away again, bashful even though she had no need to be. Barry practically quoted romantic soliloquys to her in his sleep. “As if-”

“It’s not the reason stars burn bright and time stands still?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Isn’t it, though?”

Barry’s eyes softened, and he started to lean in. Iris could already feel the press of his lips and the warmth of his breath before he’d descended far enough to touch her.

The moment their lips brushed, there was a knock on the door. Regretfully they turned to see who it was, and everyone else broke from their conversations out of mild curiosity as well.

“Oh my God, Wally!” Iris immediately sprang to her feet and crossed the room, engulfing her brother in a ginormous hug the second she spotted his face as he walked through the door. Joe barely had a chance to get his hello in before his daughter interrupted.

“Hey, Iris,” Wally gushed in return. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“I thought you were in Cambodia,” Joe said when Iris finally released her brother.

“I was,” he confirmed. “But, I, uh, met someone there.”

A devilish glint shone in Joe and Iris’ – and to be fair everyone’s – eyes as Wally started to babble.

“She…” He cleared his throat. “She-”

“She thought,” the pretty woman pushed past him from on the step behind him, “that this boy had better see his family for the holidays, since she hadn’t seen them in a while either.”

Iris’ jaw dropped. Barry’s slow stride suddenly sped up a little, just as shocked as the rest of them.

“I don’t get it. Who’s this?” Ralph asked in the two-second silence.

“Oh, my God, Linda?!” Iris pushed her brother aside, nearly causing him to fall over as their dad caught him in his arms. “What were you… You were in Cambodia?!” She pulled back from the crushing hug. “How did you – wait.” Suddenly everything clicked. “Are you and my brother—”

“Together?” Linda let the single word hang in the deafening silence as the surrounding guests waited with baited breath. Her eyes shifted over to a bashful yet proud Wally standing in the corner. “In a manner of speaking,” she allowed.

Harry slowly walked up between them.

“You do know that he just got out of a very serious relationship…”

“Harry-” Joe warned.

“With my daughter,” he continued, tuning the older West out.

The tension was so thick in the room, Iris couldn’t decide whether to defend her brother or Linda or even Harry on Jesse’s behalf.

“So did I,” Linda retorted.

“What?” Barry and Iris asked simultaneously.

“With who?” Cisco demanded, having re-emerged into the house when he saw Wally and Linda walking up the front steps from the street outside.

“Does it matter?” She raised an eyebrow daringly.

Cisco’s eyes squinted but he said nothing.

“You have a vibing girlfriend who just sent you a sex cube, Cisco,” Caitlin muttered under her breath.

“I’m aware of that,” Cisco said defensively. “I was just asking who-”

Joe closed his eyes and pressed a hand to his forehead before moving out of the cluster of individuals towards the kitchen.

“I need some ‘nog,” he said, heading straight for the mug that he decided had his name written all over it.

Harry stayed glaring at Linda for a while before she finally matched his pointed stare with one of her own.

“We’re taking it slow,” she said, genuine in her response, not in her tone. “I’m no more interested in jumping into something that might very well crash and burn than he is, I assure you. And I would be happy to meet your daughter at any time, since Wally has done nothing but talk fondly of her.”

Harry relaxed some, glanced over at Wally, then back at Linda.

“I’m happy for you two,” he suddenly said and headed in the direction Joe had gone.

Linda looked at Wally for an explanation, but he shrugged helplessly, so she turned to Iris who quickly looped her arm around hers and tugged her across the room.

“Tell me everything about Cambodia,” she gushed, looking pointedly over her shoulder at Wally as they walked farther away. “You’re next.”

Wally pointed to his chest, a degree of fear reverberating there.

“Me? What did I-”

“Come on, man,” Barry said, saving him and squeezing his shoulder from the other side. “Sit by the fireplace with us. It’s way better than whatever they have in Cambodia.”

Wally laughed and nodded. “Okay, yeah, I’ll do that.”

Barry grinned, more of his pearly whites shining through when the door opened once again to reveal and unexpected by warmly embraced Cecile and Joanie Horton. That entrance really boosted up Joe’s mood, and in no time Harry was borderline terrorizing Joanie on what she planned to do with her future, surprising them all when she said simply, “I’m thinking something scientific.”

Later she responded to Iris’ questing for a more specific position in the scientific field, “Oh my God, I hate science.” Iris almost spit out her eggnog. “But that guy would not shut up. What was I supposed to do? Endure lectures about my future all evening. On Christmas?”

Iris stifled her laughter. “No, of course not. Never on Christmas.”

Joanie didn’t catch the sarcastic undertones, and in a minute she was gone to pour herself the much coveted eggnog on the kitchen table. The complaint of why her grandmother’s eggnog hadn’t been made was immediately dismissed when she tasted the recipe that apparently had come straight from Ralph’s family going back several generations.

“We are going to be drunk,” Joe said, staring down into the beverage that likely contained more alcohol than anything else.

Iris laughed to herself and traveled to Barry a while later after catching up with Wally and Linda.

“Hey, Handsome,” she cooed, landing as solidly on his lap as he had before.

She felt his hand cup her ass and smiled without saying a word. His next words melted away the amusement buzzing inside her.

“Hello, Wife.”

“God, I love hearing you say that.” She started to lean in.

“Oh yeah?” he whispered when she was a breath away.

“Yeah.” She nodded, silencing him a moment later with a kiss.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Joe cleared his throat loudly.

They parted and looked up to find everyone suddenly staring at them.

“Keep it PG, would you?” Joe said. “I don’t want to send you two home too. You’re family.”

“I came back!” Cisco interjected, but it was ignored.

“We’re newlyweds,” Barry defended.

Iris wiggled her finger and gushed as her husband held his hand up to showcase his own ring.

“Iris West-Allen, remember, Dad?”

Joe tried to remain strong, but softened a little under the reminder. He managed to point a finger at them accusingly.

“PG,” he repeated and walked back into the kitchen.

“I think it’s cute,” Linda said from her position squished beside Wally in a massive chair. “Flaunt that all you want.”

Iris laughed. “Actually, I have an idea.”

“Oh?” Barry raised his eyebrows, simultaneously curious and amused.

“Mhmm.” Iris managed to get to her feet and lead him across the room away from most of the guests. She stopped right exactly beneath the mistletoe Ralph had thankfully managed to place amidst his many decorations.

“Oh…I see, Mrs. West-Allen. Very clever.”

Her eyes glittered. “Thank Ralph.”

“Hey, nooo,” the taller, annoying man whined, but they paid it no mind.

Iris grabbed onto the collar of her husband’s shirt and pulled his down to her, thrilling in the way he cupped her face, sunk his fingers into her hair, and kissed her as if no one was watching.

“PG,” she whispered when he tried to stick his tongue into her mouth.

He sighed regretfully, but nodded. “Later.”

Her eyes glinted mischievously as she lowered herself from up on her tiptoes and clasped their hands together, rejoining the crowd settling down to open Christmas presents.

*Also posted on AO3 and FFnet.

#backtothestart02 fanfiction #westallen #parkwest #fanfiction #for inksmudge #canon divergent #the flash 409 #fluff #romance #humor

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witchin-bitchin-twopointoh · 7 years ago

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ANALYZING WHO KILLED MARKIPLIER CH. 1: PART TWO

Once again, this will be long. This is every notable piece of dialogue, action, clue, relevant theory, or anything else I see fit to include about the second half of the first video. Hold on to your hats, buckos. I’m a detective.

Part One

Scene 5: The Detective (7:02 - 7:51)

After the Mayor leaves, the Detective gives you the preliminary autopsy.

After a totally procedural and trustworthy rectal exam, our detective has established that Mark died “around” 1:30 AM. Note the use of around.

Also, our Detective is clearly not a real Detective. Why then, I wonder, does The Mayor not have anything to say about it? Nor The Attorney (you)?

A pattern is beginning to develop; the Detective does not want any sort of authorities involved.

Which is odd, considering you’re an Attorney and the Mayor is involved.

You apparently give him your alibi through flashback. Must be that main character privilege. This is definitely Markiplier Logic, so I’ll let it slide, but you do learn something about yourself: you sleep with your eyes open. Weird.

Also, this drug induced flashback alibi is apparently 100% solid, despite there being no witnesses to confirm you didn’t just get up and murder Mark. Methinks the Detective trusts you a bit too much.

At this stage, the Detective says we need to find out everyone’s alibi (without directly saying “alibi,” a term a Detective would definitely know and use during an investigation).

However, after asking about alibis, he hastily includes that you should find who was with Mark last “at the very least.” This could imply that the Detective may not have an alibi.

You are sent off to try to piece together the events of last night, leading up to, including, and following the murder.

Also, you leave the Detective with the body to do more, er... rectal examinations.

Scene 6: Damien and The Colonel (7:52 - 9:46)

You duck under the crime scene tape and walk up to a room where you can see The Mayor through a door left a bit ajar. He’s talking angrily to someone we cannot see.

He accuses them of being flippant, and the Colonel responds from inside the room, out off view, that he is taking the matter very seriously. He sounds rather insulted.

The Mayor doesn’t believe it, and says that he knows the Colonel “hated” Mark, but that apparently Mark had “reached out” to him. What animosity did they have? This is a clear motive for murder, and just short of an active accusation that he did it.

The Mayor is upset. Clearly the most distraught of anyone.

He tells the Colonel he wants him to care. Others have pointed out that he may be saying this because the Colonel is throwing suspicion on himself by acting too aloof.

Meanwhile, the Colonel insists that he does care.

The Mayor expresses disbelief then leaves in an angry huff. This seems like it would be typical of the Colonel, so why the disbelief?

You enter the room once the Mayor leaves, and you approach the Colonel.

He believes that you are the Mayor, and inadvertently reveals the Mayor’s name is Damien.

The exact quote is “Damien, I don’t-” You don’t what, Colonel?

He is immediately quite interested in you.

Just like Damien, he reminisces about how wild you were the night before, calling you a rapscallion. Considering that multiple punches were thrown, Damien did a keg stand, and the Colonel pointed a loaded gun at people, just what did you do last night?

The Colonel doesn’t believe Mark was murdered.

He then gives us a black and white flashback of his version of what happened, voiceover and all. As of Chapter 2, this is the only explanation of what happened by a suspect.

This is silly, but there is some very important information about the Colonel here.

Whilst mocking Mark, he says “My name is Markiplier now.” Then follows that up with “forget all the friends who helped me along the way, just look at my money!” What happened between Mark and The Colonel?

Despite the Colonel insisting that Mark couldn’t hold his booze, Mark never actually drank.

The Butler and The Detective are next to Mark when he says “I need to pay people to be my friends.” Why them, specifically? If he was going for hired help, why not the Chef instead of the Detective? Is Mark indeed paying people to be his friends? If not, why would the Colonel seem to think so?

“You like me? Too bad!” What?

“Gotta go off to the little boy’s room, who wants to join me?” Is this a Detective-like innuendo or a clue?

“My house has more than one staircase!” Indeed it does. Why do you know that, specifically, Colonel? And why is it important?

Mark definitely didn’t die by falling off the stairs. But we have no real reason to believe the Colonel doesn’t believe this, so off you go to investigate the entire house.

Interestingly, this also means you’ve stopped looking for alibis.

Scene 7: A Domain of Evil (9:47 - 11:02)

The Butler approaches you as you are leaving the home theatre you spoke to the Colonel in. Was he listening?

He has something to show you. Vague and ominous, but okay.

“Now if you’re looking for answers, there’s really no mystery at all.” Is the Butler hinting that he knows what happened?

The Butler knows every detail of the house, and claims he has vetted every guest. Is this a trustworthy claim?

This also makes everything the Butler says and does extremely important.

“A domain of evil this is.” Was this where the murder took place?

Some have claimed to hear an additional voice in the background here, but I simply can’t hear it.

“You first.” He appears scared. What is he expecting to find?

This is a wine cellar, and the first obvious clue.

A bottle with a red top is smashed on the floor, though there is no liquid anywhere to be seen.

On the racks, there is one row of seven larger gold-topped bottles. Directly next to that is what should be exactly the same except in red, except there’s a gold bottle in the midst where the now broken bottle used to lie.

This means whoever smashed the bottle had to leave and come back to get the 8th gold bottle.

They also had to know and have access to where the wine bottles are kept, or even leave the Manor to get more.

Also, the Colonel’s flask is here. Hm.

The wine bottle appears split in two. That’s not how it’s supposed to look if it was smashed over something... say, a head. It’s safe to assume, due to how intact the bottle is, that something fishy is going on with that.

(...Or teamiplier didn’t want to clean up a bunch of broken glass.)

The Butler is extremely upset. Hysterical even. This is his first display of grief.

He asks you to avert your eyes. Is it because of the mess, or the clues?

He sobs loudly as you exit the cellar.

Scene 8: The Chef and His Little Buddy (11:03 - 13:01)

The Chef is in his kitchen as you approach, angrily chopping... something.

He threatens you in much the same way as at the beginning, brandishing a knife. This is a rather common murder weapon.

Once he recognizes that you’re investigating, he outright threatens you if you were to suspect he’s the killer, and he then launches into his alibi.

He was cleaning up after the food he prepared leading up to the time of the murder.

Obviously this line is funny, but what blood was he "sopping” up?

He retired to his room at 1 AM.

His chef statue is a security camera.

The FNAF-style security footage has already been analyzed, far before the videos themselves came out...

However, we now have video and audio of the 1:17 AM meeting between Mark and the Detective.

Mark reveals that the Detective’s name is Abe.

Also, according to Abe, both the Chef and the Butler are “clean.”

Where did this occur? There are odd bars in view.

When you finish viewing the security footage, the Chef is gone.

Also, there’s a bottle of red wine on the counter with an empty glass.

Deciding there’s nothing left to do here, you move on to the courtyard.

Scene 9: Damien (13:02 - 14:12)

When you walk up to him, Damien is agitated, fidgeting with his walking stick.

Upon seeing you, he sighs. He then begins to explain himself from earlier.

He apologizes that you had to see him lose his temper.

He also still seems to believe that the Colonel is acting uncharacteristically, even for him. He thinks that he is in shock.

Apparently, the Colonel is an eccentric. Shocker.

Damien is/was, apparently, friends with both Mark and the Colonel.

Curiously, this seems to imply that Damien knew everyone at this party, if the familiarity with which he spoke to the Detective in Scene 2 is any indication of prior acquaintanceship. He and Mark are the only characters with this trait.

“I know I’m supposed to be a leader in this scenario...” Because you’re the Mayor? Because you were Mark’s best friend? Why, exactly?

Damien has known Mark since they were kids.

Also, Damien seems to be in denial.

“I don’t have any answers right now.” Damien assumes that his grief exempts him from possible guilt, and he doesn’t provide any sort of alibi.

He leaves to think.

Scene 10: The Body is Gone (14:13 - 14:40)

Abe calls to you from behind, clearly agitated.

Apparently, the body has vanished.

There is crime tape to mark where the body was found.

Also there’s a dick. Ha-ha, but Mark may literally have been naked when he vanished.

Also, what’s with the strange head shape?

The scene fades out, and the audience is called to join the hunt.

This took far less time than part one, but it’s also less detailed. I’m running out of steam, lol. This is abt two hours of work so reblogs would be super appreciated, and comments even MORE so!

#markiplier #who killed markiplier

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camille-marshall-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Birthday Ficlet Part #3

Alternately Titled: Wait For It

a/n: hi hi hiiiiiiiiiii!! And now we reach the final part of Marshall’s Birthday Fic Trilogy. This one mainly features @nathaniel-schreave , so thank you so much Claire for the RP!! Also, I forgot to thank @victoria-seaberg and @ladyaadamaier in my last post for coming to the party sooooo Thank you guys!!!! Making this a short author’s note so yeeeeeet. (also, you guys probably might notice that I’ve been using lyrics from Hamilton, so kinda would like to mention that they’re nice accompaniments to their respective fics lol) Anyways, Happy New Year’s Eve from my timezone to yours! Hope you enjoy! (3799 words)

“Woah… Ah.. Hi!” I greet, surprised to be seeing Natalie Nate at the door. It was getting late, and I wasn’t really expecting him to make an appearance tonight.

“Hey, happy birthday. I wasn’t sure what to get you so I kinda just guessed and got you this.” Nate greets as he hands me the poorly wrapped box. “Sorry about the wrapping, it’s not my best skill.” he adds.

“Wow!” I try to avoid eye contact for a second, feeling flattered by his gesture. “Thank you so much!”

This felt oddly… different, the whole receiving so many gifts thing- I mean. I try to shrug off the distinct feeling, focusing my attention on inspecting Nate’s wrapping skills. It wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, that honor belonged to my sister. “The wrapping's not that bad, give yourself a break.”

He flashes me a look that seems to suspect my patronization, “a 5 year old could’ve done better.”

A small chuckle escapes my lips, “You're not used to wrapping gifts?”

“Nope, not a thing I have to do often.”

Of course he didn’t have to wrap gifts often, there were probably people who did that for him… but I’m surprised to know that he did take the time to wrap mine.

“I'm flattered that you took the time to wrap mine though.” I smirk, it was a thoughtful gesture.

“I’m not sure you’ll want to be flattered over that, anyway enough about the wrapping what’s happening in here?” Nate tries to catch a glimpse of the festivities happening inside, and I step aside to give him a better view.

“Truth or Dare, and a number of people that I theorize have had too much alcohol.” I answer with an amused tone, no way was I drinking tonight, but it was pretty funny to see everyone fool around as effect of the alcohol in their systems.

“That’s what happens at parties.” He laughs and I laugh with him, then shaking my head disapprovingly.

“I wouldn't really know what happens at a party,honestly.” I shrug my shoulders, “But would you... want to come in...? Have some cake?”

“Yeah,” he agrees, stepping inside to get a full view of the party. “wow like all the girls are here.” he comments as everyone greets him and waves.

“I was just surprised as you were when Venus brought me here,” I shrug as we make our way to the cake.

“But everyone was sober and you weren’t walking in in the middle of truth or dare…” Nate jokingly replies with a laugh.

I snap my fingers and point to him, “Good point… so,” I say reaching the table, “Can I interest you with a slice of cake made by the talented Clara Éclair?”

Nate catches up to me, “Oh of course.”

“Here you go.” I say as hand him one of the plates that already had a slice of cake with a fork on it.

“Oh my gosh, just as good as the other one. I seriously don’t know how bakers do it.” Nate comments after taking his first bite.

“Baking is the closest thing we have to wizardry.” I laugh at his reaction, relating to how much I appreciated the cake- it was glorious.

“true, very true” he mumbles as he continues to dig into the slice of cake.

“So…” I start off, trying to make more conversation (I know, that’s a surprise even to me) “…how's your day been?”

I mentally face palm myself for using the worst conversation starter. Well, it’s not the worst to me, it’s actually something I would like to be asked every now and then- but I mentally berate myself for the lack of substance in my question.

“It’s been pretty well, how’s yours?”

“Well, you can guess that the day has been pretty eventful from this party alone.” I gesture to the girls still having a go at truth or dare.

“True.” he agrees looking to the group.

“I bet that you don't typically spend your birthdays like this…”

“Not really, my mom likes birthdays to just be family.”

“Really?” I raise my eyebrows, “So it's just you and your family together?”

Nate nods before giving his explanation, “the whole family together is always... something. Like I had to have a party for all the board members, other royals and important people of society because it was my 20th birthday and right before the selection. But my mom decides the actually birthday to just family, it’s really nice actually.”

“Huh, I remember watching a broadcast of that party- there was waaaay too many people for a party…” I remember watching that Report with the Bullets back in Fort Hamilton, when I was just a second lieutenant and my friends were still based in Illea, when everything was completely different.

I continue after being caught up in my thoughts for a second, “…but I guess that's the way things are for the Schreave's golden boy. It sounds nice that you got to spend your birthday with your family.”

A pang of jealousy strikes me at the thought of how united Nate’s family seemed, how it seemed like everyone really valued each other as member of the family, how stable they all were. I wanted that.

“Oh the golden boy?” he raises his eyebrow questioningly at me.

“You technically are their golden boy. Eldest son... heir to the throne... need I say more of your titles?” I explain to him smirking. Golden boy was just a nickname that naturally came to me, it described him perfectly quite honestly. He was golden.. That would have been a nice call sign if he were a pilot- though I’m pretty sure that the guards used something else when referring to him for security details.

“Oh I’ve heard Illeas Sweetheart from another selected,” he adds in good humor.

“Ah yes, Illea's Sweetheart- and let's not forget ‘Nate the ideal Mate’.” I respond, remembering a magazine cover I had saw laying on one of the tables on the library, I found that title hilarious- though probably not completely disagreeable.

Nate rolls his eyes, “who could forget that one.”

“Everyone basically loves you- hence... ‘Golden Boy’.” I reason with a laugh, it was like he was a compliment magnet.

“Thanks,” he laughs.

“Don't let it all get to your head though” I smirk, “You'll lose your charm.”

“You do realize this isn’t the first time I’ve heard those names.” Nate claire-ifies with me. ((Love you Claire <3 Don’t kill me for this pun))

“Of course... a guy like you? You probably hear that on a daily basis.” I muse.

“I’d say more weekly. But yes.”

“Weekly basis... how oddly specific!” I raise my eyebrow. Did he actually keep track?

“Interviews…” he explains further.

“Ahhhh... I get it.” I nod in amusement, still adding a teasing tone in my voice.

“What! I have to do them..” Nate exclaims, probably trying to clear his own reputation to me, and I’m trying not to laugh too much.

“Of course, because you're the golden boy.” I tease, enjoying using the new nickname.

“Okay you can stop it with the names now” he declares and I relent my name tirade.

“Okay okay..” I jokingly raise my hands in defeat, “Enough about being the golden boy…” I couldn’t resist using it one last time and it earns me a glare from Nate that makes me snicker a little.

“How are you holding up with the ball?” I ask while making sure to change the topic and avoid the temptation of calling him another nickname.

Nate shrugs, “I’m fine, it’s one of those things where you have to just be there. You can’t prepare yourself for it.”

“Lady Collette's been saying the same thing- doesn't stop her telling us every single bit of etiquette we should practice throughout the entire thing.”

“She takes her job... very seriously” Nate agrees.

“She does... she should consider an alternate career as a drill sergeant though, she'd fit right in.”

“I’ll let her know,” he winks at me jokingly.

“She does a good job though... teaching us stuff. I've definitely improved my ability to ‘glide through the dance floor like a swan on a lake’.” I explain, putting air quotations as I use the same description as Lady Collette often mentioned during practices.

“Oh is that what you’re supposed to do?” Nate exagerates with mock surprise, “I do more of a graceful elephant dancing on ice.” he smirks before chuckling.

“I'm pretty sure that elephants on ice still have a chance to be incredibly graceful.” I counter, though laughing with him. I’d pay good money to see his impression of graceful elephant dancing on ice tomorrow at the ball.

“Yeah okay. Are you all ready for tomorrow night?”

“Ready as I'll ever be,” I nod. “Well, I'm mentally preparing myself for all those... people that are gonna be there.”

It’s not that I hated people, I just felt overwhelmed by big groups of people and trying to not make a fool out of myself in front of all of them. Big groups of people always made it more difficult to observe things.

“It’s really only going to be the girls, guards, royal family and maybe a couple of board members. Nothing too crazy.” Nate reasons out, and I admit that it helps ease me.

“Nothing too crazy- yeah.” I try to shake my head, shaking off the unease. I shouldn’t be scared of some ball.

“Seriously they aren’t that bad. If anything they are boring. Unless all the girls get drunk,” Nate points to the girls, “which it seem like they might.”

I laugh, “I doubt it would be boring tomorrow but ... I wouldn't want to see everyone else get drunk. Some of us need to be the responsible adults.” I kinda felt the need to make sure everyone didn’t drink too much for tonight, it was my party afterall (well, it was hosted by Vee- but as the reason for the party, I felt the responsibility to make sure everyone was okay)

“It’ll happen, I’m betting it now.” Nate amusingly declares.

“And what would you exactly wage that all the girls would get drunk tomorrow?” I raise my eyebrow questioningly at him, surprised in the confidence of his statement.

“First of all I never said all of them. But at least…” Nate looks at the group, “7 of them. If 7 or more girls get drunk you owe me…”

I interrupt him with a scoff, “depends on what you'd be interested in getting from this…”

What he would want from me did intrigue me, honestly.

“Well how about this, if you win I can get you out of one day of lessons.” Nate offers with a raised eyebrow. One day off lessons, I’d love that- a day with no lesson or anything.

Now, I needed to offer my own proposal of what I’d do if I’d lose this bet. I didn’t have anything great to offer in exchange for that one day of freedom from lessons, and I doubt that Nate would be interested in getting flight lessons from me. Every action has its equal opposite reaction, and bets often worked that way too- with that I decide on my punishment in case I lose the bet (decide while mentally kicking myself, of course).

“Fine, if 7 or more girls get drunk… I will…” I roll my eyes at how stupid this was going to sound, “get as drunk as they are.”

“Seriously?” Nate raises his eyebrow in surprise.

“I'm serious,” I reply, looking him straight in the eye to prove it. “Unless you're interested in anything else?”

“Nope, I’m fine with you getting drunk. Deal?” he extends his hand out in front of him. Now or never, Marshall- the bet has been made, no backing out now.

I take his hand and shake it firmly, I’ll be damned if I backed out of a bet. “I can't believe my dignity is riding on everyone else's sobriety tomorrow.”

“No telling the girls about this. That’s unfair.” Nate adds in a serious tone.

“I'll play fair, your highness- don't sweat it.” I smirk. Scout’s Soldier’s honor.

“I’m not losing anything. It’s a win either way for you.” Nate smirks back at me before continuing, “but really you could get out of lessons. I wished for those days as a child.” he shares.

“I wish for them everyday,” I reply laughing earning me Nate’s accompanying laughter. As much as future queen duties were fascinating (well, not fascinating to me, but I’m sure that the other girls were fascinated), I often wondered what it was like for the king, the allocations for military budgets and resources, collaborating with the best generals for the country’s military strategy (a job my father briefly had served under here in Angeles)- a part of me was interested in knowing what it was like to handle those responsibilities, and an idea pops into my head.

“One more condition- If I get out of lessons, I want to spend it seeing what you actually do as a prince.”

I know Nate didn’t have the heavy load of tasks, seeing that he was still a monarch in training, but it was something different and maybe more of my speed and pay grade.

“Um…” he pauses to think for a moment.

“I’d have to ask my dad, but it’s also my dad so he’ll probably say yes, unless we have some big secret plan going on.” he smirks jokingly at me. “But you are mostly just going to be sitting there watching me do paperwork.”

“I'd take paperwork over sitting and getting lectured on the dos and don'ts for princesses-in-training.” It was all getting unnecessarily repetitive, honestly- a change in course topic would be refreshing.

“Okay then. It’s boring.” Nate mutters.

“Ahhh the burden of being royalty…” I say as I take a look at my watch to check the time.

12:07 AM

“Whoa, It's already Christmas morning.”

“Is it?” Nate proceeds to check his watch, “hm... it is. Well Merry Christmas.” he smiles.

“Merry Christmas, Natalie.” I smile back at him, leaning against the wall.

Nate rolls his eyes, “Another nick name from our very own Michelle.”

“Get used to it- Natalie's growing on me,” I laugh, “Or would you prefer Golden Boy?”

“Natalie is just fine.” he replies in exasperation.

Now that I knew it was Christmas day, a part of me wondered if Santa would show up in the palace bringing everyone gifts… gifts.. GIFTS! Speaking of gifts…

“So Natalie, On the topic of Christmas... how about you come with me for a while?” I ask, making my way to Vee’s door.

“Uh... sure…” he replies in a slightly confused tone as he follows me.

I lead him across the hallway, “We're just headed to my room across the hall, don't worry.”

“I wasn’t worried, more confused” he mutters.

“Let me spell it out: I'm getting your Christmas gift- hold on.” I open my door and leave the door open, “You can come in if you want.”

“Okay” he says as he walks right behind me, “what a nice room.” he comments.

“Thanks, I like to keep everything organized.” Well, it was a force of habit after living all those years in military school.

I open my closet and search for the present I had just wrapped a while ago after I picked it up from Shipka, who handled the mail. Ah, there it is. I pull out the small box.

“This just came in the mail today.” I explain as I walk up to him.

“I’m guessing that’s for me…” Nate wonders out loud.

“Indeed it is,” I offer him the present, “Merry Christmas.”

He accepts the box and starts to unwrap it, “You do know you didn’t have to get me something.”

“Nah, I figured that I wanted to get you something.” I shrug, if only he knew the day-long internal debate it took to figure that out.

“I asked Jace what you might want... and he said guitar picks and I know that you're a Potterhead from the others so... yeah I figured these.” I look down, trying to not make much eye contact- I wasn’t sure he was going to like the Harry Potter-themed guitar picks, “would be something you'd like.”

Despite my eyes downturned, I manage to see shock come across his expression before he smiles,“Wow, these are really cool. Oh my, thank you.”

“Yeah, I made sure to get a set.. cause I know that they're pretty easy to lose so yeah..” I laugh, trying to shake off my nerves- honestly, I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am and it building up inside of me. “Hope you like them.”

“I really do, thank you. Can I give you a hug...?” he says, and I’m surprised to hear him asking me that. Did he notice how I wasn’t the most comfortable with physical closeness? I’m astonished to say the least. Nate was beginning to earn more of my trust.

I rub my neck, thinking about it. I wouldn’t mind it… anymore. A hug felt like a nice thing to have right now.

“Yeah, sure.” I agree, opening my arms to him.

In a split second, I feel my nerves ease as he wraps his arms around me. It’s a sudden silence and heat that comforts me, the kind that made my heart leap. Being this close to him makes me realize how warm he was to hold, and I wouldn’t have minded basking in his heat a little longer.

“Thank you,” Nate gives me a one side smile as we break apart, and a part of me instantly misses his warmth. But the two of us resume that comfortable distance away from each other, and I’m thankful that it doesn’t feel awkward.

“I feel like I should be thanking you,” I laugh, pushing my hair behind my ear before I put my hands behind my back.

“Why?”

“You have no idea how worried I was if you'd like the gift or not.” I explain to him.

Nate laughs, “They literally are my two favorite things.”

“Good to know that I didn't mess up.” I smile, I’ve always liked getting people the right gifts, Nate was no different.

“Now I feel like my leggings weren’t good enough.” he shakes his head.

“What? No! I'd probably use them as much as I can.” The leggings Nate gave a while ago was actually really pretty (and they were navy blue too)

“Okay good” Nate lets out a sigh of relief.

I pat his shoulder reassuringly, “ I like them a lot, trust me.”

He flashes another infectious smile, and I’m starting to realize how much time we’ve spent away from the party. I check my watch and confirm my realization.

“We should be headed back to Vee's room... or I should at least be back at my own party.” I tell him, taking a step back from him and towards the door.

“Maybe, you are the guest of honor.” He replies.

“Duty calls,” I laugh. “Thank you for visiting the party, by the way.” I turn to him as we start walking to my door, “Too bad that you missed Taylor Swift.”

“No problem, happy birthday and now merry Christmas.” he says walking with me.

“You too Natalie,” I open the door for the two of us and walk out into the hallway with him.

“Have fun at your party. Tell all the girls bye for me,” Nate waves as I watch him walk away before going back inside Vee’s room and catch some of the girls still having a go at Truth or Dare where we continued to laugh and have fun throughout the entire night and into the morning.

#ch marshall #Marshall fics #side fics #marshall's birthday #nate tag #((now you guys know what I meant about research^tm purposes))#((thank you for answering the survey #results of the bet will appear in challenge 4))

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