#and said he just wanted to audition to challenge himself

[makoheadrush]

Quietly bragging that my kid was accepted to the Berklee college of music

Quietly sobbing because it is heartbreakingly unaffordable

[theyluvlyss]

hi! i was wondering if you could write dating hc's for duncan and courtney (separate) please?

𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐧 !

but unfortunately, I do not currently write for courtney :(. although, I hope you like what I do have written and that it doesn't discourage you from requesting in the future :).

𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

《 ♡ 》 headcannons

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 :

you went on this stupid, island, reality show to win $100,000, which could've most definitely changed your life for the better. but instead, you got a delinquent meat-head who had... somehow, earned your heart faster than the cash. "how" and "why" is beyond you. but at least you could come up with a list of some semi-convincing reasons as to such...

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 :

fem!reader x duncan - she/her/hers pronouns

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞 :

season one (total drama island)

𝐓𝐖/𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 :

harsh language/cursing - dangerous elements/themes mentioned - duncan being himself lmao (possibly a little ooc? I apologize if so) - established romantic relationship - casual dominance (cuz ik that can irk some people) - possessive terms (my, his, etc).

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

When you applied/auditioned to be on the show, you didn't actually think they'd pick you. It was a stupid dare amongst friends back home! No way would they pick some random girl with no experience or even a resume from (home/town/city).

And then, they did😃.

Next thing you know, you're being flown out to Canada and then dropped off from a yacht on some random, deserted island. Just your luck to apply for a scammy and sketchy reality show rather than what you were promised...

And, to top it all off, your host might as well have been a sociopath, your chef, a psychopath, and you were now forced to spend your time with twenty-two other lunatic teenagers for eight weeks. Eight. Weeks. To be fully and completely clear, you did not want to be here.

How could this get any worse?

Duncan. That's how.

He irked you at first. No, you didn't hate him. He actually had his moments where you found him quite funny with a sarcastic quip he had said or entertaining with some random stunt he pulled.

But other than that...

"I'm not jumping. I miss the safe zone and get eaten alive by sharks, and then what?"

"Oh'ho, you're jumping, sweetheart. I'll be damned if you lose this challenge for us because you're not a strong swimmer."

"That's not what I said. And what're you gonna do? Make me?"

...you were firm on your dislike for him.

Not that the feelings weren't reciprocated, of course. Though he wasn't exactly opposed to eying any pretty girls he happened to come across, he didn't intend to date. He came to win $100,000, just like the rest of them. And though he had grown used to the way your attitude struck any and everyone who tried to manipulate you into doing something you didn't want to do, at least you weren't Courtney, stick shoved up your butt.

Onto the more headcanon-y portion of this list...

I feel like Duncan actually wouldn't be opposed to random hookups or anything like that. But, once he has specific eyes for someone, he treats things as if he's already bagged them (manifesting king😻✨️). And in this case, them is you. He didn't get the hots right away, but after a couple of weeks or so of spending basically all of his time around you (being on the same team and all), he wasn't too surprised upon coming to terms with those feelings.

Not that you could exactly tell, with him running around calling you "sweetheart" and "angel-face" and whatever other petnames he could come up with on the fly. You figured it was just him being...well... Duncan! Not to mention, you weren't exactly all that fond of him.

Did he know that? Yes. Did he care? Ehh. You'd warm up. He'd actually make sure of it because even if the show didn't end with him either winning the money or getting you as a girlfriend, the least he'd accomplish is wooing you.

He's not gonna sacrifice his reputation for that, so he'd have to play it cool. And during the seventh challenge, an opportunity came to light; he'd help you concor your fear! Not only would it win your team the challenge, but it'd be a huge step into winning over your heart. With peering eyes (and cameras around), he was there to be your tough-love.

"Get over it, toots, it's just (your/fear)!!"

"Do not mess this up for us, or I'll guarantee you go home tonight."

"I've been in juvie with worse than this...!"

But, without any evidence to prove it besides your word and a blushing face, he was totally sweet on you.

"C'mere, sweetheart, it ain't that bad. You just need a little warming up to the idea, that's all~."

"The worst that could happen is you'll be called a chicken. It's not like you'll get voted off. Not while I'm here."

"Babe, you are entirely too cool to be skeezed out by (your/fear). We're gonna have to work on that, yeah?"

Him sling-shotting you through such emotions and behavior was intense. But not as much as the way it kept you hooked. And every time you would start to grow fed up, want nothing to do with him, even cuss him out...

Life (Chris McLean) would manage to thrust you two back together. Until, eventually, you got together. I mean, no official labels or anything yet, but god forbid another guy on either team just breathed sultry in your direction (coughCodyprobablycough). Or if you got hurt during a challenge. Or whenever anyone (butmostlikelyHeather) had it out for you.

And in those moments, I think Duncan wouldn't be as good as hiding his infatuation with you. Not that anyone actually had the gall to tease him for it. Besides, he had managed to make his admiration for you look cool. Always muttering a slick, "She wants me." to his guy friends, or smirking at any intimate reaction you'd give him in front of your peers.

All in all, he's a cocky shit. But he made it work in a charming way that you couldn't quite place, and made you wonder why you were even attracted to it/him at all.

And, surprisingly, he could be quite the gentlemen. Rough around the edges, sure, but see if you ever have to hold a door open for yourself or climb down from something without his hand being offered to you ever again.

He even makes sure to censor himself around you! Er- well, tries. If he deems a curse word too heavy for you to hear come flying out of his mouth, it goes a little something like this:

" ...So I rush 'im, right? And then can you believe the motherfucker-...! Sorry, babe. Can you believe this idiot actually tries to shank me?! Wild stuff, man..."

As if he's not already sitting around the campfire telling the most gorey juvie/jail story ever. But nope, the extra heavy cuss words are the stuff that's impolite for your ears🙄✋🏽.

#it'sthethoughtthatcounts♡.

OH!! And casual dominance? Definitely a thing in the relationship. Mainly from him, with a simple, "C'mere, doll." or a motion of the hand/finger over towards him. But let's not lie and say this dude isn't a sucker for the moments you boss him around...

"Duncan, go grab that for me, please?"

"I'm busy-"

"Now."

. . .

No further protest, your item retrieved and dropped into your hands with swiftness, and a light red dust on his face badly hidden under a scowl.

Things would get serious/official if one of you two got voted off of the island, though. If you got voted off, he'd be sure to give you the most profound goodbye he can in the very limited amount of time he has to actually say it. Make it very clear you're his girl, "...for anyone thinkin' about trying to make a move while I'm not around." And, he promises that if he wins, he's coming for you, and you'll run off together with the money. Cliche, but how could you say no?

If he gets voted off, he sticks on a brave face and basically threatens you to win lmao😭. Think of it as very intense encouragement coming from a deep down place of love.

"Babe, you better win this whole shit, 'cuz I'm gonna be rooting for you back home. Need these losers to see that my girl is the shit."

I could probably go on forever, but I don't want to make this too long :')...

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 !!

this is my first post (as in writing/content) ever, so yay me :D ! and for the person that requested, again, I hope you enjoyed this 'cuz it was fun to write ! although I really don't like the title, but I couldn't think of anything better😭...

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

none :(

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐲 :

anon <3

𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 :

[livestock-and-bibles]

Things I've Noticed During My Several Rewatches of The Doomstar Requiem

(Lock in, this is gonna be long)

Murderface is the only one out of the group to have a completely obscured face, possession foreshadowing perhaps? Also he lacks the golden streaks on the halo-esque circles behind them. Inch resting... (Not gonna talk too much abt when the scene goes red and the beam behind Murderface is dripping blood because I believe it's already been talked about before by others, and I don't want to include anything in this post that's already been discussed) Also I love how all of their weapons match their instruments

The way Toki doesn't even flinch when he gets alcohol poured on his wound is heartbreaking, likely either because the torture his parents put him through as a kid has given him a wicked pain tolerance or because he's so dissociated, similarly to how he behaves in Dethfam when his parents are around or Dethzazz when he's mentally in the punishment hole (I do believe this sort of catatonic state he's in is what's causing him to seem so much worse off than Abigail—though his untreated diabetes + Magnus targeting him more because of his relation to Dethklok probably also adds to it—he's likely not really eating or taking care of himself)

At first I thought that Magnus was feeding them dog food, but on closer inspection I actually believe it to be human remains. Yeesh. You can see it really looks like muscle fibers, and there's bones, as well as skin that still has hair on it. Magnus Hammersmith they could never make me like you

On the table is the Klokateer from Tracking/Ishnifus and The Challenge!!

I think it's interesting how much Nathan's fantasies look like Toki's! I just think it's neat! They're more similar than they seem :)

This is the most expressive we've ever seen Charles and it makes my heart hurt AUUGHH

The way Nathan licks his lips/teeth after the "How can I be a hero when my dick's as big as a shoe" line. DISGUSTING /affectionate

Does this fan look familiar? He should, because it's Dethklok's son, Fatty Ding Dong!! Good to see he's doing well lol, and his real name is Rick, we can also assume that at LEAST four years have passed since season 1, since in season 1 episode 10, he's said to be 14. Since he has a roommate now, he is likely to be around 18 years old

(Apologies for the low quality screencap I had to nab this from Youtube) I kind of wish that the animators didn't change this original animation for the end of The Fans Are Chatting. I just feel like Nathan pushing away the Klokateers is more symbolically relevant. Nathan is quite literally pushing away the safety and security his avoidance has given him, the hologram disappearing and the fans leaving is a metaphor for the fact that he can no longer keep himself deluded into thinking that everything is fine, he can't hide from the truth anymore

Almost all of the Rock A Roonie Fantasy Camp counsellors came to the Dethklok audition, there's even the depressed blues guy in the background. There's also Sammy Candynose from Snakes 'n Barrels, so I like to think that Pickles told him about the auditions

There's also the guitarist from Get Thee Hence

Toki's shadow!!! The wings!!!

The animals they take the form of match two of the guitars Brendon Small created with Gibson, The Thunderhorse and the Snow Falcon :D

It's super tiny but their smiles :'))!!! Also the way their parts play on different sides when you listen with headphones but then combine at this part makes me so crazy. Not only does Toki challenge Skwisgaar and inspire him to get better, but they're also having fun! Which I can imagine never really happened when he played with Magnus

Probably just an animation error but Skwisgaar is animated as his present day self here. Idk, just thought that was interesting

I think the order of the rest of the band joining in on the background vocals is really interesting, it goes: Skwisgaar, Pickles, Nathan, Murderface. Personally I choose to interpret it as a representation of how long it took each member to warm up to Toki as their rhythm guitarist, Skwisgaar was super fast since he was the one to choose him, Pickles was the one wanting a new guitarist in the first place, Nathan and Magnus seemed to be close, so it would definitely take more time for him to accept Toki as the whole Magnus situation would still feel a little raw, and Murderface is a professional hater so of course it took him the longest

I really love just how soft and content Murderface looks in Toki's fantasy. We all know he has a softer side and I think that either Toki perceives it, or possibly Murderface shows it towards him (Which I can believe because they're often together and they get along pretty well, Toki is probably the person Murderface gets along with the best actually)

I also want to mention that at this part of I Believe, Toki is no longer singing along with the other's background vocals, and is harmonizing with himself, which gets really sad when you realize that it's because this was just Toki remembering this to keep himself sane and he's actually kidnapped, hurt, and alone. Ouch :(

The drunk driver who crashed into the Jomfru brothers is the same guy who crashed into Nathan's second grade class in Dethgov. I guess there's only one drunk driver that exists in the Metalocalypse universe lol

I think we as a fandom need to appreciate Eric Jomfru more. He's such a real one. The way they make you care about him after he's already gone is so evil lol /affectionate

The way the Klokateers join in on this song makes me wonder if perhaps they view each other as brothers, or if there's just like a strong sense of brotherhood between them

The groupie on the left can actually be seen in Fatherklok at the beginning of the episode, as one of the women Skwisgaar has been with, so y'know what? She has valid reasons to be mad honestly

Murderface's pose up top always sends me, sir please calm down, keep it together king

Murderface holding his wrist :(

If you look closely, you can actually see that the Revengeancers are eating Ishnifus. Which is just,, utterly horrifying

In between the shots of the band and the assassin, there's so many inconsistencies in the placement of the characters. For the last two images, I just like to rationalize it as Pickles immediately attempting to run away, then noticing that the rest of the band is still there and being like "Oh shit we're squaring up? Ok I guess". I know it's just so Nathan can be in the center when they use the Dethlights but I just think it's funny

Also in the second to last picture, the way Murderface, typically the most cowardly of the band, isn't looking at the assassin, but instead, is looking worriedly at Toki, makes my heart hurt. I adore their relationship

Murderface is actually sleeping in Nathan's bed here. If you compare different shots of their bedrooms and beds, it's clear that this is Nathan's, you can tell from the striped pillowcase. I'm not gonna talk too much about this, mostly because I want to make a separate post talking about how Murderface is seen more than once sleeping in Nathan's bed when he's hurt/unwell. It's very sweet lol

ANYWAY! Thanks for reading these rambles, I love The Doomstar Requiem so much! I might make a post like this for Army of the Doomstar as well, and also just some analysis posts if I get the confidence lol. Big thanks to @ratskal for watching this a dozen times with me and pointing out things too. (I actually reached the max limit of pictures allowed in a post which is a little funny, I am so normal about this show /lying)

[wanderingelvis]

Heyy so i have a request since u want some ideas mabye like an elvis x Innocent reader 🤷🏽‍♀️ I mean I don't have that much imagination so whatever u do with it will be brilliant 💕

Oh wow! My first request and I've barely started but this is such a dream request, so thank you!! Here goes nothing, I hope you like it! 🧚 🧚🏻 Masterlist 🧚🏻 word count: 1,503 pairing: elvis presley x f!reader

Ever since you'd been signed to the same label as Elvis, you'd struggled adjusting to the Hollywood lifestyle. You'd found a friend in Elvis though, something you'd never thought you'd say. As soon as he'd met you, he'd been kind, protective and patient with you, when not many people had been. He'd let you spend time in his trailer between takes and rehearsals which you were grateful for, especially since you were having a tough time in media training classes with other new talent that had been signed.  The boys and girls in those classes weren't as kind to you as Elvis was, they all came from the Hollywood area, with rich relatives who were higher up in the label, whereas you'd auditioned and came from a pokey little town out in California. You tried your best to fit in but your upbringing just hadn't been the same. 

That's where Elvis felt awful protective of you, he'd faced a similar difficulty, growing up in Tupelo all those years ago. He could see the talent and potential in you, not to mention how hard you worked. He didn't want you to face the same hardships he'd had to. 

You'd had enough today, you'd been made fun of, yet again by the other guys that were all training to be dancers and stunt guys, and it had all gotten too much. You missed home and everything that came with it. You made a beeline for Elvis' dressing room, keeping your head down because you knew if someone even dared to ask if you were okay, you'd burst into tears.  You gently knocked on the door, praying that Elvis was there and hopefully not with his entourage. The door swung open and you were met with Elvis' grin.  "Are you busy? I don't wanna bother you." You asked quietly, looking past him to see if he had company. 

Elvis moved away from the entrance, making room for you to walk in, "No honey, want to come in?" You nodded, walking into the room that smelt of cigar smoke as he closed the door behind you. "Don't you have your press conference training now little one?" Elvis asked as he went to pour himself a drink.  "M'not going." You said grumpily, collapsing down onto the plush couch.  "I know it's a drag baby, but you gotta go, I made your Momma a promise that you wouldn't slack on your work." Elvis chuckled, not clocking onto your upset mood yet.  "I said I'm not going!" You snapped, your voice cracking a little. You were just so upset at always being left out and feeling like an idiot.  Elvis stalled, he hadn't heard you speak like that before, especially not to him. You were an innocent little thing, everyone on set knew it and you would never openly challenge or disobey anyone, whether it was a label executive or one of the catering staff.  "Baby, I don't know where you found that goddamn attitude but you best get rid of it right now. I ain't gonna let no little girl talk to me like that." Elvis warned, walking over to you. 

The harsh words tipped you over the edge, the last thing you'd wanted was to upset your one friend on set. You were just frustrated and Elvis snapping at you caused you to burst into soft sobs. You covered your face with your hands as you blubbed and Elvis immediately softened, taken aback with concern as he watched you hiccup and cry. "M'sorry," You choked. "I had a b-bad day." You stuttered, tripping on your words as you let out soft cries. "Oh little un', what's happened hm?" He cooed, sitting next to you, placing his hand on your back, rubbing soothing circles as he grabbed some tissues with his other hand to give to you. "I miss home, Elvis," You said quietly, "Everyone at the rehearsals and classes is so mean and they say stuff and I don't know what they mean and um," You paused to sniffle and wipe your pink nose, "They all laugh at me and it's n-not funny." You said as you sat cross legged on the couch, your whole body now facing Elvis. "What are they saying baby?" Elvis asked gently. He wasn't exactly surprised at what you said, you were an easy target, you were sweet, kind and gentle and it was a tough industry, one you weren't exactly made for. "I don't know, I don't understand it." You said quietly, feeling dumb and ashamed. "Can you tell me what they said to you, little?" Elvis encouraged.  You paused, taking a wobbly breath, glancing at Elvis who only smiled at you. He never made you feel dumb or stupid, even if you could be at times, a bit naive. "They a-asked me if I 'give a head' or if I ever have done and I said I don't know w-what that means, because I don't!" You said, tearily. "A-and they all laughed at me and they wouldn't tell me and I don't know what they mean and it's really confusing." You said, quietly trailing off.  Elvis felt his blood boil. He knew he was protective of you, the baby in front of him, everyone knew he was and maybe he was overprotective at times but how could he not be when this would happen to you? In front of him was the sweetest little girl and whilst Elvis would never call you dumb, even if other people might, he knew you were just innocent and inexperienced and definitely someone that somebody with bad intentions could take advantage of easily. It made Elvis, rightly or wrongly, want to protect you and take care of you in the way that he saw fit and that way was to preserve your innocence.  If Elvis could have his way, he'd take you away from all of this sin and misdemeanour, all the way to his home, Graceland, where he would let you stay and do everything you loved without the stress and pressure of working this gruelling schedule. "Who said this to you?" Elvis said sternly. "It's all of them Elvis, i-it's just confusing." You hiccuped. "I want a name, Y/N." Elvis said as you glanced up at him through wet lashes. "Paulie Matthews." You mumbled softly. "Are you gonna make me go back to rehearsal?" You asked meekly. "No honey, you're gonna stay right here, with me." As soon as Elvis said that, it was as if a visible weight had lifted from your shoulders. Elvis knew the press team would be angry at the lack of your attendance but he had enough power that no-one would question it. 

"Elvis?" "Yes, little one?" Elvis said, gently pushing back some hair that had fallen in front of your face. "What does 'give a head' mean?" Your brows furrowed together and cocked your head to the side with confusion and curiousity. Elvis breathed a heavy sigh at your question and the innocence in the way that you said it, before the door burst open with laughter and chatter, making you jump slightly. Elvis rubbed your back soothingly straight away to try and calm you. It was Jerry, Red, and the rest of the Mafia, chatting after their outing to the local steakhouse. "What have I told you about goddamn knockin'?" Elvis barked furiously. The guys all apologised, insisting that Elvis just needed to hear this story about how Red had pulled a waitress and got a free steak out of it, none of them paying any attention to you, the sweet thing, sat near Elvis. As the bustling continued, Elvis noticed you shuffled a little closer to him. 

You were visibly overwhelmed at all the men and the commotion. "You okay baby?" Elvis whispered to you softly. You chewed your lip feverishly. "Want to stay by my side and keep me company?" He offered, in a sweet and gentle tone. You nodded almost instantly, making Elvis smile down at you. "C'mere sweetheart." He nodded. You nestled into his side as he led his arm across the back of the couch, allowing you to perfectly slot in next to him. Elvis pet your hair and placed a tender kiss atop your head, as your wobbly breathing evened out.  "Elvis?" You whispered. Elvis hummed in response, lowering his head so you could whisper in his ear cutely. You leaned up a little, putting your hand by your mouth so no one could see or hear what you were whispering. "Do ya think the guys might know what 'give a head' means? Should I ask them?" You asked before moving back a little so you could study his face. Elvis laughed a little at you, he couldn't help but adore how sweet and innocent you were. "No baby, I'll show you later, you just relax now pretty girl." Elvis smiled. You smiled back, feeling relieved that you could always be yourself around the most famous man in the world.

[the-ace-with-spades]

Fic idea I'll probably never write:

Actor Bradley + still naval aviator Jake AU

Bradley was a theater kid and he was a really good theatre kid - his last high school won a national award for a musical he had the main male role and a play he's the main character and his theater club teacher encouraged him to send audition tape for acting schools. He does, just to get her off his back and he gets further auditions for Juilliard and Tisch, somehow.

Mav, who is trying very hard to change Bradley's plans to join the Navy by encouraging him to apply to as many colleges as he can, tells him to go, just in case he likes it. He gets a spot in Juilliard around the same time he finds out Mav pulled his papers from USNA. It's supposed to be just something to fill the time until he can join NOCS when he gets his degree, he doesn't actually think he'll be an actor full time, he just wants to be as far away from Mav and Ice as he can.

Things happen fast - he has his first Broadway role before he graduates. Within the next few years, he stars in an extremely popular TV show in one of the main male roles, he's got a side role in a box office breaking movie, and then he gets cast as the main character for a series of action movies (ala MI or FaF). He's one of those actors that does dangerous stunts himself and who is called a madman by most of his co-stars and gets a reputation as the crazy but absolutely the funniest and kindest guy ever who stars in way too many productions every year. Fans know him as the guy who engages in charity work, donates and promotes charities for orphans, veterans and minorities and as the guy that goes to random bars and sings musical numbers on untuned pianos. His main revenue are the popular action movies but he stars in more traditionally demanding roles for the challenge (dramas, tragedies, thrillers) and romantic comedies and musicals for funnsies and in indie movies way under his budget for the sake of artistic creation.

(Mav and Ice watched every single production he had been in, a few unavailable Broadway productions aside. Most of them, they have on DVDs.)

He had a lot of luck because his breaking side role was directed by one guy and that guy loved him and pushed him into many of his movies later and then the same happened with another two directors.

His career hits a tough point when his sexuality comes out (unwillingly). There are rumors and a lot of people who were fans of his action movies come around and talk shit about him and he decides to take a break from acting for a bit.

He's a year into the break when his friendly director calls and says he's got a military action movie for him. A movie about naval aviators, about fighter pilots. To be filmed raw, in real planes, in real flight, with real pilots.

Bradley says no straight away. But then his friend is like, I know you've got a pilot licence already and you fly planes for fun, don't you want to share the fun with the rest of the cast, don't you want to fly a fighter jet?

Bradley has always wanted to fly a fighter jet, that's what hurts most about it all, so he agrees.

He hasn't talked to Mav or Ice for over fifteen years when he finds out that the Dagger Squadron the cast got their assigned pilots from is led by Pete Maverick Mitchell and said Pete Maverick Mitchell is going to be performing the most demanding jet stunts needed for the movie.

Bradley's assigned pilot for the rest of the film is a very reluctant Jake Hangman Seresin.

Hangman doesn't watch movies and definitely not action movies. He's a romantic comedy kinda guy because his life is an action movie with ad breaks for paper work and training. So he doesn't know Bradley and like hell he's going to be flying for some hollier than thou actor - he's going to put him in his place and make him puke as many times as possible the minute he sits in his backseat.

It doesn't work. Bradshaw doesn't puke once. He's almost impressed.

He's definitely impressed when Bradshaw stops by the Hard Deck, looking absolutely not like someone who earns millions every year, wearing an old Hawaiian shirt, an old pair of jeans, sunglasses and a worn out Casio watch, and Nikes that have seen better days and sits down at the piano with Jake's squad and bursts out songs after songs, sounding like a freaking angel. He has to leave when people start asking about autographs from left and right.

Maybe Bradshaw is hot, whatever. He still doesn't think he's a big deal, he's probably a mediocre actor at best, some pretty boy with rich parents that could send him to acting school and who probably grew up with money that could buy him a career.

They have problems working together, obviously, and Bradley is like, fuck that, and tells him the address of a private airport and tells him to show up at four.

Jake thinks he's going to make him fly a small private plane for the sake of bonding but instead Bradshaw packs into the passenger seat of a new piston sport plane and starts it off. Doesn't explain anything, just takes Jake up in the sky, ignores his chatter until they're in the air space where he can do some funny bits and maneuvers.

At some point, the plane tells him Bradshaw is pulling 6 Gs.

In the end, Bradshaw tells him, "I don't care what you think of me, I just want you to fly the goddamn plane like I'd."

And okay, maybe Hangman starts finding him a bit hot.

He googles him. And watches some of his movies. And his rom coms and his musicals and he reads and reads and maybe Bradshaw isn't that bad.

They start to talk between film takes and then he takes Bradshaw to relax to a taco stand where he won't be recognised. Then to an ice cream place, and bowling, and surfing, and then again and again, until finally, Bradley lands at Jake's house.

In Jake's bed.

Everything would be absolutely fine but not even a few days later not only tabloids find out all about Bradshaw's gay navy romance - his sexual orientation being a topic Bradley's been avoiding as much as he could in the past year - but also about all the things he's told Jake during their dates, like about Goose and about his (unnamed) Navy gay parents and about how tough it was for him in college and then how tough it was being in the closet while in the industry.

Obviously, Bradley thinks the worst about Jake and how all that info surfaced.

(this gets somehow resolved but I didn't think that far - they get together and Bradley reconciles with Mav and Ice and they have an awkward meet the parents moment when Hangman finds out)

[blues-valentine]

let’s talk about how gina compliments ricky’s love language so much and he was able to be himself in this relationship as opposed to nini

You know, I appreciate how much this season made emphasis on how both Nini and Gina react differently to Ricky's love gestures. Nini felt suffocated by him. Gina wanted him to fight for her and do those big gestures. And both reactions are valid. I made a post last season about how Ricky and Gina’s love languages complement each other and I love how the show proves me correct on how I interpret this characters. This is going to be a lengthy post.

Ricky is pretty much a huge gestures type of guy. He is unabashedly romantic when he wants to be. He is also incredible clingy and someone that needs reassurance and affirmations. He gives love by big gestures and likes to receive love by words of affirmation.

His relationship with Nini ever since the start of the series showed how incompatible they’ve become for each other. To start off, I think Nini was unable to understand Ricky’s family situation because hers is very different so it might have been because of this that she didn’t understand his reaction towards a public declaration of love (his parents probably didn’t do that anymore). She was unable to identify what he needed from her and he failed to communicate why he felt that way. It goes both ways. He needed to say the words when he felt he was ready to say it. And that's very imporant.

But also, the first thing we learn about their relationship is that Nini feels like she was able to shine over the summer and it’s hoping for new opportunities that she feels Ricky holds her back from. Ricky is resistant to this and tries out for the musical to get her back, an idea Nini is not happy about because she feels he is invading her space. During his audition, he performs a song for Nini to try and tell her he loves her. He thinks is a declaration of love but for Nini is not. But Gina is actually impressed by this. And so, even with the first episode, the show lists many reasons why they don’t seem to be compatible anymore. Nini doesn’t like Ricky’s easy going approach to things. And is absolutely fair. I think she needs someone that pushes her to be more ambitious and that shares the same desire for challenges.

Ricky confessing his love for Nini in an outburst at the end of Season 1 felt like he forced it out because he knew that’s what she needed to hear from him to get back together. He was afraid to lose that sense of familiarity. It’s what makes his love confession to Gina so different because it was intentional. He was so sure and so confident and he wanted to tell her that despite not knowing what the future holds.

Early on Season 2, it's made clear they have completely different ideas on what the other is willing to do for each other. Ricky relied too much on her to have some sense of stability because everything at his home keeps falling apart. Nini just wants to spread her wings and it’s willing to go far to pursue her dreams (“I resolve to follow my dreams however far away they take me”) which is why she felt so trapped and suffocated by him. Ricky’s abandonment issues made him clingier than usual. I also think she was a bit rude at times and had a hard time trying to understand him. Like, when he said he was told he had not profitable qualities on the aptitude test and she brush it off and told him she didn’t come back for him. It was pretty harsh. I don't think neither of them knew what the other needed emotionally anymore. It was a bit of a mess and Ricky didn’t even know what he was supposed to do. Ricky’s love language for her was quality time and gestures but I don’t think that was Nini’s vibe. It got to a point she wasn’t receptive of his attempts at fixing their relationship. And as I said, Ricky needs to feel that his attempts are at least appreciated. And Nini never really did a good job at lifting him up.

A lot of Ricky's issues with how it went down with Nini is that he was dealing with his mom abandonment issues and Nini wasn't putting the same efforts into staying with Ricky (long distance or otherwise) and she's valid for this. But seeing it from Ricky's perspective too is like another person is also choosing to leave him.

Now, Gina is someone that wants to feel wanted. She wants people to fight for her. This is probably due to her family and how they didn’t put her as a priority growing up. How her mom barely even validates what’s important for her. This is why she liked EJ at first, because he gave her the attention she needed at that time. And it’s fair to say Gina gives love by words of affirmation and gifts. And likes to receive love by gestures and quality time. Same as Ricky.

She was impressed by Ricky singing to Nini at auditions on the pilot. She told Ricky to sing the song to Nini by the phone on Valentine’s Day because “every girl [her] likes a sweet gesture”. She threw a big surprise party for Carlos when they weren't even that close yet. She likes huge gestures. And I don’t think it was a coincidence when Ricky asked her back in Season 2 *if they were dating* and he went behind her back but for a good reason (and the whole thing about asking Miss Jenn if she can add Nini to the show last minute) if she’d like it. Gina answers that she would be flattered. Ricky took Gina's words without considering that this is not something Nini would want. For Ricky, it’s so they can spent more time together (and Gina sees it that way too) but Nini does not. She sees it as an added pressure. And you see how much Ricky's midset has been altered by his relationship with Nini that on Season 4 he thinks Gina would be relieved by Dani taking her place as Gabriella because she's been too busy with the movie despite him wanting them to spend time together. And Gina isn’t happy. For her, the the show is also a thing for them.

The season actually makes a lot of parallels to this. It also parallels this especifit moment from Season 2 when Ricky wants to send a *dumb* text to Nini that says something about "he is happy she's following her dreams but also he wishes he was her dream. And wants her to turn aroud and come back here. I believe the word he used was forever." And we know Nini would've felt pressured by that text. And that’s understandable. But the writers are so funny because on 408 during Gina's confessional she says she hasn't made a decision about the movie yet and wishes Ricky would fight for her a little more. And in Ricky's confessional he says he once told a girl (Nini) to stay home and it didn’t end too well so he doesn't want to make the same mistake. But Gina wants for Ricky to be Ricky and go all and beyond. But he has grown too much to be selfish. But he does end up doing what Gina wants by singing to her about forever fully expecting her to follow her dreams away from him without even knowing Gina had already decided to follow her dreams and be with him too. We truly love a full circle.

Moving to Season 3, it’s clear Gina likes the feeling of sharing things with a partner, and she saw how EJ was unable to give her that or even make space for her to be a priority but I do think there’s a lot of growth on Gina about understating the needs of her partner too. For example, Gina was able to give Ricky space after the whole Halloween situation. Ricky called her asking her for space and she allowed. It wasn't a break up, just mutual understanding that everyone needs a minute to take it all in and it's not because they don’t want to face it.

On Season 4, right off the bat, it shows us Gina embraces Ricky’s dorky and clingy side a lot. She likes his unexpected visits and ideas. She likes when Ricky plans stuffs and sneaks into her trailer. She likes when Ricky texts her a lot. Gina wants to feel that love because she lacked a lot of that growing up. Unlike Nini, who wanted to be free and get new experiences. Gina likes the stability Ricky provides her. And another thing Sofia said on a interview is that Gina likes how Ricky is very easy going because Gina is already too perfectionist. But mostly, I think you can appreciate how Gina encourages Ricky to be a little more ambitious while Ricky encourages Gina to be more relaxed. To be more giddy and bring down her walls. Nini felt like she coulnd't be truly herself around Ricky while Gina is the total opposite, she feels seen and understood with him because he is able to give her that with the way he is. And Gina does it to Ricky in return by making him feel wanted and appreciated for who he is. I do hope Nini finds someone (preferentially a girl) that makes her feel that way too. Seen and understood.

And also, let's point out how both Ricky and Gina's love language is also physical touch because they are unable to stop touching each other even if by friendly little shoulder touches. They’re unable to stop kissing each other. Gina can’t stop cupping Ricky’s cheeks. Or holding hands. In conclusion, Ricky and Gina are perfect and love each other so much. And their love story is so well written and for the books.

[finalfantasyx]

Yue Yao (because I need to scream about her awesomeness and the dangers of retconning), Yue Qing, and How NOT to Write Women - A Rant(TM) about Dashing Youth & The Blood of Youth

Spoilers ahead for Dashing Youth and The Blood of Youth if you have not seen either live action drama, since we haven't gotten there in the donghua yet. You have been duly warned. Now come scream with me. I've been wanting to scream about this for a while.

Okay, what the hell??? Prefacing this again with the fact that I watched Dashing Youth before TBOY and I'm just...floored? Yue Yao was so interesting. She was up against some major political issues where the repercussions of her choices and the choices made by the people around her would impact and probably, most likely, cause the deaths of thousands. She was dealing with a missing father who, for all they knew, could have been dead, a clingy sister-turned-annoying-character-trope, the fate of her people, and also the fate of all of Beili and Beique (I mean, seriously, you want to talk about Yi Wenjun being at fault for instigating the three-way war between Nanjue, Tianwaitian, and Beili, AND SHE WASN'T ACTUALLY AT FAULT ASIDE FROM NOT COMMUNICATING WITH HER HUSBAND BEFORE MAKING A HUGE DECISION THAT WOULD IMPACT THEM ALL and leaving her infant son in the house BY HIMSELF, PLEASE Yue Yao would have been directly responsible for all the deaths resulting from any move she made), all the while trying to find a way to do what was best for everyone AND getting to know the prodigy and dumbass with a heart that was Baili Dongjun, whose grandfather Baili Luochen helped Beili in the war with Beique that resulted in her people being killed and displaced to the unforgiving north.

/breathe

And oh, does she ever find a way. Baby girl decides to just DIY this whole shebang when she finds the natural-born martial arts prodigies with the special meridians or whatever the hell the drama said it was that set Baili Dongjun and Ye Dingzhi apart from alllll the other martial arts practitioners and just takes her sworn sister's identity, gets a makeover, and BAM joins the Jixia Academy...audition.

Not only that, but we see that she is more than her pretty clothes and her miss-fairy-in-a-carriage persona that we've seen up until this point in the drama. SHE CAN FIGHT! SHE CAN BEAT SOMEONE'S ASS! SHE CAN CHEAT AND GAMBLE! SHE STRAIGHT UP APPROACHES BAILI DONGJUN AND CHALLENGES HIM. SHE. APPROACHES. HIM. FIRST. Also it's really freakin' cute.

SHE STANDS UP FOR HERSELF AND HER TEAMMATES AND PROTECTS THEM. SHE SAVES BAILI DONGJUN'S TAIL. SHE'S GOT HER OWN WAY OF THINKING AND SHE'S FUNNY AS HELL. SHE SLAPS HIM CLEAN ACROSS THE FACE FOR GOING TO A BROTHEL.

We see her enter Jixia Academy, we see her train under Liu Yue (which I am still salty about because we could have used a lot more scenes of her and Liu Yue training and just being master/apprentice, see her having a hard time with really just using Liu Yue to stay near Baili Dongjun for her own/Beique's ends, especially with Liu Yue declaring that he doesn't care about her true identity, just that she is now his apprentice and that means that he's always on her side please Liu Yue was the best and he got fking nuked at the end, even if he got to retire from jianghu with Mo Xiaohei lol), WE SEE HER STRUGGLE. This entire time, Yue Yao is absolutely torn between a) doing what is best for her people, b) doing what is best for everyone and not causing the deaths of thousands, and c) not falling for the guy whose grandfather is a war hero because he killed her people.

Also the fact that this dumbass she is falling in love with has been pining after her miss-fairy-in-a-carriage persona for so long he has no clue she's right in front of him. Good job, Dongjun /pat pat

Let's play this out.

If Yue Yao a) does what is best for her people, which everyone thinks is reclaiming Beili, a warmer and far more fertile land, and creating better lives for themselves, that would incite another war and cause many, many deaths. Also, there's a very, very high possibility that Beique might lose anyway!

If Yue Yao b) does what is best for everyone and not cause another war and the deaths of thousands, she is condemning her own people to a harsh life in the cold, icy, desolate north.

If Yue Yao c) falls for the guy whose grandfather is a war hero because he killed her people, she will be seen as a traitor and will be turned on because they'll think she turned on them first, especially since she is basically their princess.

What's a girl to do.

SHE FREAKIN' OWNS UP TO IT AND COMES CLEAN with Baili Dongjun and her followers, Mo Qixuan and Zi Yuji. She does not lie to them and is up front about her vision and what she wants to do for her people and for herself, because they don't have to be mutually exclusive things. She follows her heart; she knows that while she wants a better life for her people, it cannot be found in a new war with Beili to settle old grudges and claim old land. She wants to find a new home for them.

Yue 👏 Yao 👏 is 👏 so 👏 great.

...Only for all of that buildup in the first half of the drama to go absolutely nowhere as her vision is never recognized. She returns to Tianwaitian only to be locked up for betraying Beique with zero timeline as to how long she was locked up for and how she actually got out of the cage. There were no repercussions for her escaping or leaving. In fact, as soon as she leaves Tianwaitian, Yue Yao's character basically stops caring for Beique, and she literally did not matter to the plot going forward. Her people in Tianwaitian never find a better home for themselves. They never get to leave the far north, never reclaim their old kingdom, and never get to rebuild, even before Ye Dingzhi establishes the Demon Sect. Ergo, even if we disregard the events of TBOY, Yue Yao still doesn't get to help her people and all of that development was useless.

Instead, after all that talk about wanting to find a better home and do better by her people, after all the character development and establishment, after all the scenes where we get to see that Yue Yao has a backbone and the fighting skills to prove it, she ends up as arm candy for Baili Dongjun for the next like seven years while the two of them remained unmarried. Um??????????

Why build up all that character and her skills and her relationships with Liu Yue, Baili Dongjun, her freakin' sister, and Mo Qixuan/Zi Yuji only for all of them to basically go kaput? Even with Baili Dongjun, most of the time, she's...just there. Just...looking pretty. Not doing anything.

No one waits seven years to get married, especially when they're in such close quarters like Yue Yao and Baili Dongjun were pre-war and during the war. This makes zero sense, and honestly just cheapens their already-sad relationship even more because it shows a lack of respect on his part. There's no denying that he does love her, but the respect, which is based off of the values of the people in their time, is not there, whether for her honor, virtue, or just the progression of their relationship. Seven years is a long time, especially in period Chinese dramas (and reality, back in those times) when two people are hanging out in an established relationship.

Yue Yao is displeased.

And then we come to the problem of her sister, Yue Qing, who has decided to play a self-insert victim and villain, somehow both at the same time by not actually being relevant to the plot and generally not actually being good at anything at all.

Her motivation: Yue Yao is her older sister, the one she has always looked up to, and she sucks at being the eldest princess and has essentially abandoned them to chase after the sweet, sweet tail that is Neo Hou in a period drama. Ergo, Yue Qing needs to leave Beique to find the other special person martial arts prodigy, Ye Dingzhi, and homegirl does her best to manipulate the hell out of this poor, traumatized kid in order to get him back to Beique and free her father so that they can march on Beili and reclaim their kingdom. He sees right through her though, and because there is no way in the eighteen levels of hell she can beat him in a fight, and she tries, she goes back to his doorway like a kicked puppy every time he throws her out because it's clear she has no idea what on earth she's doing except that she thinks she's all that and has every reason to condemn thousands of people to their deaths so that she can incite a new war for a better life for the people of Tianwaitian.

In the same way that Yue Yao was SO great in the first half of Dashing Youth, we do not give two shakes about Yue Qing and how she is barely even relevant to the plot, because if you stuck Mo Qixuan or Zi Yuji in there to manipulate this poor bastard, the result would have ended up the same way and she does not impact the story whatsoever.

And then Ye Dingzhi saves Yue Qing's life, and all of a sudden, she understands why her sister decided to go with Baili Dongjun instead of staying in Beique, according to the story lore. It also doesn't hurt that he's pretty and he's feeding her medicine and didn't just...let her die.

PFFFFFFFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Yue Qing, the bar is on the floor. Also girl, you manipulated him and used him and he does not care for or about you. In fact, the only reason he saved your life was because he lashed out at you and almost killed you and felt guilty for it before he proceeded to throw you out again.

Because Ye Dingzhi is untouchable at this point, Yue Qing proceeds to then manipulate his wife, Yi Wenjun (which is another convoluted story point because she's already married and is a secondary consort to Xiao Ruojin who is an absolute monster in the actual worst way, which is why I did not feel a lick of empathy or sympathy for him in TBOY--I mean, he put her under using some drugs and it was HEAVILY IMPLIED that he gr@ped her while she was completely unconscious and everyone just kind of breezes over this plot point in the dramas), and sends her back to Tianqi by spreading false news of Xiao Yu being really, really sick (causing problems even at a young age, I see). Because of this, Ye Dingzhi is then manipulated into going to Beique to free Yue Qing and Yue Yao's father so that he can be number one in the world and take his wife back, blahhhh blah blah.

AND THEN THEIR FATHER DIES after a confrontation between him, Baili Dongjun, and Ye Dingzhi, and it's almost like Yue Qing and Yue Yao are pitting their respective special martial arts person against each other because they're both natural-born wumai which is NOT actually a thing, and I don't even understand what it is and do not care to actually translate this; IT'S SUPER DUMB.

And because the official leader of Beique, Yue Yao and Yue Qing's father, dies, Ye Dingzhi goes full demon mode and takes over the people of Tianwaitian and establishes the Demon Sect by uniting all 30-something sects in the outer regions of Beili, which was supposedly impossible until this point. He then begins the infamous three-way war between Beili, Nanjue, and Tianwaitian which Yi Wenjun then gets blamed for instigating.

UMMMM??? DOES THIS NOT SOUND FAMILIAR??? DO WE NOT ALSO KNOW OF A WOMAN WHO WAS SAID TO BE SO BEAUTIFUL THAT MEN WENT TO WAR FOR HER AND LAID SIEGE TO AN ENTIRE FREAKIN' CITY WHICH IS NOW A FAMOUS TRAGEDY? DID THE DIRECTORS OF THIS DRAMA WANT A CDRAMA VERSION?

(in case anyone is lost, the answer is Troy. It's Helen of Troy.)

Also, RUDE that her "instigating" this war is what she is known for, even in The Blood of Youth. Yi Wenjun gets blamed for this massive, awful historical event when the only thing she did was be manipulated by Yue Qing using her child. Like, what on earth /eye roll

It was also never talked about how she was coerced into this marriage by her father in TBOY (which we find out in DY) and that this was never something she wanted anyway. Also the gr@pe because that was completely unnecessary and again, breezed over by every single character in Dashing Youth, which, also, WHY did it have to happen that way? Xiao Yu's existence in TBOY could literally be explained by "marital duties" or "wedding night" or something even if the spouses hated each other, did y'all really have to sink to gr@pe????? Especially since I watch dramas for escapism and fantasy and not historical accuracy because of course this has happened probably many times over the course of history. I am angry.

We find out later that Yue Qing is locked up by Ye Dingzhi and then just dies via suicide in prison at the end of the three-way war while Yue Yao rides off into the sunset with Baili Dongjun in her fairy carriage, intent on marrying her at last after SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS TOGETHER, YES I DID THE FREAKING MATH (let me know if anyone needs an approximate timeline).

Following this trainwreck and what Dashing Youth has established, we get to the canon in The Blood of Youth, which takes place twelve years after the prequel. Now that the twelve-year pact between Tianwaitian and Beili where Ye Anshi, the son of Ye Dingzhi and Yi Wenjun, is a hostage in Beili is over, the story picks up where we see our heroes in the following places:

Baili Dongjun: Master of Xueyue City and a depressed drunk after (we learn later) mistakenly killing his wife because he was manipulated into doing so, making this the biggest regret of his life

Yue Yao: dead. Was dead before Tang Lian stepped foot into Xueyue City, and was dead because someone manipulated Baili Dongjun into thinking Yue Yao was Yue Qing and he kills her.

...wait what? But...but I thought Yue Qing died in the prison even before Baili Dongjun and Yue Yao got married in canon? I think we're told in TBOY that Yue Yao blocked an attack for her sister or died for her sister or something via her husband attacking her thinking she was her sister or I DON'T KNOW it's not really clear. The point is, the events of both dramas can't both be true or canon at the same time.

Aaaaaand we've hit one of the biggest retcon snags between the two dramas. Shifting the focus over to the problem with retcons, my first question is this: DY directors and producers, you guys had the perfect template and formula since The Blood of Youth exists and had such incredible ratings. Y'all already have a world and a story and storyline and characters to work with and are able to entirely and completely plan ahead. How did y'all come up with this dumpster fire???? And it's not even a good dumpster fire?? How could Yue Qing cause Yue Yao's death, which we are told is what happens in Baili Dongjun's dream in TBOY, if she's dead??

Other honorable problematic retcon mentions:

There's a specific voiceover at the end of DY telling us what happened to the main characters at the end of the war, and though in TBOY the story said that Lei Mengsha died fighting against Nanjue, we are shown that he and Xiao Ruofeng are both fine and victorious. WHAT???

In TBOY, we are told by Li Suwang of the Sword Heart Tomb that his daughter, Li Xinyue first met Lei Mengsha at the Sword Heart Tomb when he and his buddy his pal Baili Dongjun stopped by and convinced her to duel and then roam jianghu with them. We see that at the beginning of Dashing Youth, Lei Mengsha actually meets Baili Dongjun a LOT later in the narrative, and by then, Li Hanyi is already about five years old and Lei Mengsha and Li Xinyue have been married for A While.

Yin Luoxia and Yue Yao are shown to be sworn sisters who met and became extremely close even before the events of DY, even closer than Yue Qing and Yue Yao at their absolute tightest. Luoxia lives in Xueyue City in TBOY. She knows Baili Dongjun personally. THEY DID NOT INTERACT. SHE DIDN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT YUE YAO ONCE IN ALL THE SCREENTIME THAT SHE HAD.

Sikong Changfeng says in TBOY that Li Hanyi is four years younger than him, but started studying under their master first and this is also why she is the Second City Master and he is the Third. This is only half true; while Li Changsheng took Li Hanyi in as an apprentice, she was literally like five or six at the time. Nangong Chunshui then proceeded to take on Sikong Changfeng not long after, but Sikong Changfeng by then was already a teenager headed into his adult years. Like, he's at least eighteen when Dashing Youth starts.

Speaking of Sikong Changfeng, TBOY says that the healer Hua Jin is his shimei, his younger martial sister from their master, the number one healer in the world, Xin Baicao. DY shows us that they met the one time where Xin Baicao was told by Baili Dongjun's uncle (who was a top poison user and the two of them got into competitions all the time wink wink cough cough) to save Sikong Changfeng's life. Sikong Changfeng stayed in the Medicine Valley for something like six months, all the while studiously not learning medicine from Xin Baicao and instead focuses on his spearwork and fighting skills. Also, Hua Jin isn't in DY at all.

This one is less of a retcon issue and more of a gripe, Baili Dongjun was literal childhood friends and best buds with Ye Dingzhi. Wuxin/Ye Anshi would literally be the equivalent of his nephew/godson. Do we get to see them interact at all aside from like 5 seconds in DY???? No. We do not. WE WERE CHEATED.

Another gripe, Sikong Changfeng and Baili Dongjun were bros in Dashing Youth, and have been for many years (according to my math, it's 21 years between the beginning of Dashing Youth and The Blood of Youth) and did we get to see them actually interact in TBOY??? NO.

Oh, with all this talk of Sikong Changfeng, another gripe about HOW TO NOT WRITE WOMEN--Feng Qiuyu (who is she, you may ask???).

She is, my friends, the mother of Sikong Qianluo.

BUT DO WE REALLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HER? No. WE BARELY REMEMBER HER NAME. SHE WAS LITERALLY WRITTEN INTO DASHING YOUTH SO THAT SIKONG CHANGFENG COULD MEET HER AND SIKONG QIANLUO COULD BE BORN. SHE WAS ON SCREEN FOR A MAX OF 5 MINUTES DURING THE DRAMA AND WAS NEVER REALLY SEEN OR TALKED ABOUT AGAIN EXCEPT FOR LIKE A MINUTE AT THE END. WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE COURTESY OF KNOWING SHE DIED BEFORE TBOY; WE HAVE TO PUT IT TOGETHER USING CONTEXT CLUES.

I AM YELLING.

Man, I started this rant really just wanting to talk about how best girl Yue Yao was done super dirty by the producers/writers of DY, but the more I thought about it and analyzed and wrote it all down, the more I got to the underlying issue of just the less-than-lackluster way this already-awfully-written drama treated their women, the angrier I got.

All this to say, Dashing Youth does not write or treat their women very well and that, my dears, is bullshit.

[wanderinginksplot-writes]

Gar Cyare Chapter Fifteen

The lockdown ends. Alpha has a serious discussion with the ARCs-in-training.

Word Count: 3,600

Warnings: References to past threats, teasing, mentions of physical training, serious conversation, discussions of war.

Previous | Next | Masterlist

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Jorhaa'ir (Talk)

After a total of four days on lockdown, the Kaminoans finished a full audit of their systems. The information that had been sliced and duplicated was largely limited to what General Ti had discovered before beginning the original investigation. 

The threat level was still considered to be high, but the Kaminoans started to fortify the areas that were deemed to be the most at-risk. The additional troopers were dismissed back to their previous assignments. You had been just as sad to see Neyo leave a second time, but you and Alpha had spent quite a bit of time with him in the few days he was on Kamino. 

The Null troopers were some of the last to leave, but they came to say goodbye personally. 

You hadn’t been thrilled when they came through the door of your office, but Alpha had clearly been holding himself back, simply asking, “What.” 

“Just came to get her decision about our deal,” A’den told him with a smile. 

“I’ll help you,” you told him, eyes on the datapad you were working on. There was a victorious sort of noise from one of the six men and you looked at them sharply. “With the understanding, of course, that I’m doing this of my own free will. I’m not working for you or doing anything outside of finding Ko Sai’s journals. Even then, if I need to stop, I will.” 

“You’re a bold little civvie,” Kom’rk said. “I don’t see a problem with those terms.”

“I do,” Ordo countered. “If we leave, it’ll be harder to get back on Kamino. We can’t just hope she isn’t going to change her mind.”

“Have you broken the code for the journals’ location yet?” you asked. 

Ordo gave you a hard look. “No.”

“Then unless you’re going to hide on Kamino and hope no one finds you before you can get to the journals, accepting my offer might be your only choice.” 

“We don’t have a better option,” Jaing said lowly. “It’s either this or try to find a way back on-planet later. There’s nothing to lose.” 

“We accept your offer,” Prudii told you, wearing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. 

“We’ll be in touch when we find out something about the location of the journals,” Mereel said, tapping the comlink on his vambrace. Your comlink chimed and you glanced down at it. “That’s the code we’ll reach out from. If you see anything from another code, don’t answer it.” 

“Got it,” you said, saving the code into the comlink’s directory and linking it to your datapad in case something happened to your comlink. “I’ve gotten a few more parts of the coded message translated if you want them. It looks like a rotational cipher of some kind, but it’s hard without a key.” 

Ordo gave a derisive snort, but Kom’rk stepped forward. “Let me see it. I want to see how you’ve done so far.” 

You held out the cipher, marked with theories and final decisions on what different letters were. Kom’rk studied the flimsi for a moment, nodding slowly. “We’ve got a lot of the same letters done. It looks like your work is right.” 

“Do you want me to comm you when I get the rest done?” you asked. 

“It’s not safe,” Ordo cut in. “The more transmissions that pass between us, the more likely it is that someone will notice. And since long-distance transmissions from Kamino are monitored, it’s better if you just wait for us to contact you.” 

“Have you thought about how we’ll do a data transfer, then?” Alpha made it sound like a challenge. “The kaminii are gonna notice if we start transmitting secret data.” 

“I’m glad you’re so confident, Captain,” Prudii said with a smile. “But let’s focus on one thing at a time. We’ll find a way to get the data from you when there’s data to transfer.” 

“The transport is getting ready to leave,” Mereel reported. “Let’s go.” 

“We’ll be in touch,” A’den told you, just before he left, closing the door behind him. 

You sighed. “They’re exhausting.” 

Alpha snorted. “That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about them. I have to wonder how Skirata managed to get all six of ‘em on Kamino at once. The kaminii never liked the Nulls, and they especially hated Skirata.” 

“Maybe the Nulls were the compromise,” you suggested. “If they weren’t allowed to come, Skirata would come instead.” 

A surprised laugh burst from Alpha as he looked down at you. “Maybe so, little one.” 

“Why don’t they like him?” you asked after a moment, curious despite yourself. 

“Asks too many questions,” Alpha answered immediately. “They don’t like anyone who does that. Reminds me of you that way. He thinks the clones are the greatest thing since the hyperdrive. Wants to protect all of ‘em, give us lives.” 

You hummed. That didn’t sound like a bad thing, but there was something in the way Alpha said Skirata’s name that told you he didn’t care for the man. “Sounds like we would get along.” 

Alpha grumbled in Mando’a for a second. “You’d either menace the entire galaxy or try to kill each other. Or both, depending on the minute. It’d be hell.”

“Flatterer,” you accused, smiling. 

He worked very hard at being grumpy for another few seconds, but an answering smile spread slowly across Alpha’s face. “You would take that as a compliment.” 

“Of course,” you agreed. “I’m sure you weren’t trying to insult me.” 

Alpha opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the chiming of his comlink. “Hold that thought, mesh’la. I have to take this.” 

You watched him step a polite distance away to answer the comlink, still smiling to yourself. The tension had eased slowly from Kamino since Tipoca City was released from lockdown. There were still more guards that usual around the laboratories, and the process of getting information for your report had grown even longer, but the departure of the troopers had been a signal that things were getting back on track. 

Alpha ended the short conversation, turning back to you with an expression of resignation. “I have to get back to the ARCs. Since Kamino’s security is going back to normal levels, training needs to pick back up. You coming?” 

“Definitely,” you decided, catching up with him easily before he left your office. 

The training for that day was relatively simple - exercises to make sure that fitness levels for the ARCs-in-training hadn’t dropped in their brief time away from training, then a group exercise meant to challenge them at all of their weak points. 

You watched Salvo defer leadership to let one of the other troopers take over, then saw Aftermath stop for one of the others who had fallen. “They’re coming along, aren’t they?” 

“Yeah, they’ll turn out okay,” Alpha agreed absently, making notes on a datapad. “They were always going to.” 

“Really?” you asked, skeptical. Alpha quirked a brow, his silent question clear even as his gaze stayed focused on his datapad. “You seemed worried earlier in their training. Something about them lacking the motivation to be ARCs.” 

Alpha finally let the datapad drop away from his face, narrowing his eyes at you. “That’s all training talk, neverd’ika. I haven’t failed a group yet. This was never going to be the ones to change that. They just needed some… motivation.” 

You shook your head. “I didn’t realize there was psychological warfare happening at the same time as the physical training.” 

“Yes you did,” Alpha argued. “I told you that at the beginning of this.” 

“You did,” you conceded after taking a moment to think about it. “I guess I didn’t think you had the patience to follow through on it.” 

“I always have patience for the important things.” Alpha glanced at the field, mouth flattening into a harsh line. “Like… Maw! Put the karkin’ datapad away or I will make you repeat this exercise as a solo mission!”

By the time you had settled your heart rate, Alpha had already turned back to you with an expectant look on his face. You shook your head slowly. “I forget how loud you are, sometimes.” 

“Thank you.” 

“How much longer does this group have?” you asked, deciding that it wasn’t worth it to follow up on the ‘compliment’ you had given him. “They’re a few weeks in, aren’t they?” 

“They’ve been here for a month, so they only have two weeks left.” Alpha’s tone had gone distant once more as he focused on the ARCs-in-training. 

“I know the last group wasn’t typical, but that seems like a really short time,” you noted, frowning. “You’re a great trainer, but it doesn’t feel like they’re going to have time to learn everything they need to.” 

“They won’t,” Alpha agreed, meeting your dismay with an understanding look of his own. “Have you wondered why the kaminii don’t just train all their troopers like ARCs? It’s because it takes a different way of thinking. ARCs have to be individuals, able to think on their feet and alter the orders they were given to achieve an objective. They already have the skills - I’m just teaching them how to think like an ARC trooper.” 

Alpha’s explanation forged a connection inside your brain. “That’s… isn’t that… That seems like the opposite of what the Kaminoans were trying to do when they altered the Fett gene.” 

“Go on.” 

You took a deep breath, hoping you weren’t about to offend him. “I don’t remember everything I read in Ko Sai’s notes, but she seemed very proud of the way they altered the troopers’ genes so they would be more loyal and group-minded.”

“Exactly,” Alpha confirmed with a nod. “That’s why they can’t train everyone to be an ARC. Individual ARC troopers and commando squads are a useful precision tool, but you need armies to fight a war. Personally, I think that the ARC candidates are the troopers whose genes are a little closer to Jango’s.” 

“I wouldn’t think that the Kaminoans would be happy enough about that to give ARCs special training and designations,” you noted, changing your stance entirely about the subject. “I would expect them to try to hide any differences in genes.” 

“Then it would look like an accident,” Alpha countered. “By separating ARC troopers as uniquely capable of difficult missions, the kaminii can act like this was all part of their plan.” 

You shook your head in amazement. “That makes a lot of sense. I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t see it myself.” 

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it.” You felt the warmth of Alpha’s smile, though he was still facing the training field. “Endex, men. On me.”

The platform where you had been observing the ARCs-in-training started to lower toward the floor and you stepped toward where the door would be. “Need me to leave?” 

“No, I think you’ll like this part,” Alpha told you. “Since they only have a few weeks left, we have a meeting to discuss more personal matters. It’s a… motivational conversation.” 

You were instantly delighted, beaming at him and the troopers who were just coming into view. Alpha looked at you long enough for you to catch the warmth in his eyes, then he shook his head as if despairing your lack of a sabacc face.

“Men,” Alpha greeted, stepping off of the platform. You trailed behind him, trying to school your face into a neutral expression. It wasn’t easy, but you managed. “Let’s talk.” 

A pall fell over the group instantly, and you realized that they expected to be berated for something. You watched them shuffle after Alpha, forming a loose semi-circle around him and standing at attention. 

Alpha - cruel man that he was - let them dangle for a moment before saying, “At ease.” 

The ARCs-in-training glanced at each other as they complied, but the tension didn’t ease. 

“Tell me about your battalions.” 

That was clearly not what they had expected Alpha to say. The men hesitated as a group, as if they weren’t sure how to answer… or, more likely, because they were looking for a trap in Alpha’s invitation. 

Salvo spoke first. He had gotten better at letting the other men take the lead and caring less about his place in the chain of command, but he was older than all of the other men and they clearly looked to him for certain things. 

“I’m part of the 22nd Air Combat Wing,” Salvo explained. “Led by Jedi General Roan Shryne.”

“I know that,” Alpha explained patiently. Well, maybe he wasn’t patient, but he wasn’t actively impatient, which was nearly the same thing for him. “I have access to your assignment files. Tell me about the 22nd. Tell me about your General.” 

“The 22nd is an air combat wing,” Salvo repeated slowly, clearly trying to gather his thoughts as Alpha watched him steadily. “We’re mostly pilots, but there are plenty of support roles. Because we’re a smaller group, a lot of our support is natties who were assigned to help out. My best pilot is a trooper named Rally. He’s almost as old as I am.” 

“And your general?” Alpha prompted. 

“General Shryne is… different from most Jedi,” Salvo said carefully. “He doesn’t use the Force very often. He carries a blaster and a lightsaber, but he’s more likely to use the blaster. Wears plenty of armor, too.” 

“Good man,” Alpha said approvingly. “More jetii could stand to learn that no one is invincible on a battlefield. Who’s next?”

As if encouraged by the lack of negative reaction to Salvo’s answer, Maw began to speak. “I’m with the 104th, serving under General Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe.”

“What do you think about serving with a Jedi?” Alpha asked Maw. “Must slow you down out there, especially with a commander like Wolffe.”

“You must know the commander, then,” Maw said with a slight smile.

“Well enough,” Alpha agreed. “Enough to know how impatient he can be.” 

You struggled to keep from laughing aloud at the idea of Alpha calling someone impatient. From the looks on some of the troopers’ faces, they were thinking the same thing. 

“I’m one of the younger troopers in the Wolfpack,” Maw explained. “They brought me on because I had access to some of the updated tech modules in flash-training, plus some experience with my original battalion. They needed someone who could slice into terminals on their missions and I was looking for a change of scenery.” 

“Where were you before?” Alpha asked. 

“Parable Outpost.” Maw shrugged. “It wasn’t the worst place to be, especially for a shiny just off of Kamino, but it was quiet. I got to thinking that I could do more for the war effort, so I requested a transfer.”

“And?” Maw blinked uncomprehendingly, and Alpha expanded, “Do you feel like you’ve done more for the war effort?” 

You expected Maw to shrug off the question, to say something about how life was more exciting away from Parable Outpost or that he got to see more of the galaxy. But a sincerity seemed to have filled the air between the troopers. 

“Yeah,” Maw said with a nod. “I do.” 

Alpha gave him an understanding sort of look and turned to Fives and Echo. “The two of you can go together or separately, up to you.” 

“We’re with the 501st Battalion,” Fives said. “General Anakin Skywalker.” 

“How do you like it?” 

“The general is a little… unorthodox,” Echo said slowly, and you watched the others try not to smile too obviously. Clearly, ‘unorthodox’ meant something specific to the troopers, and it must not be entirely a good thing. “But his plans usually end up working. And he’s always front and center, so he can help fix the ones that go sideways.” 

Alpha gave a short hum. “And the other men in the 501st?” 

“Crazy, all of ‘em,” Fives said with a broad, fond grin. “But you have to be, otherwise you transfer out.” 

Echo looked a little more thoughtful. “Good men, though. No 501st man has ever left before completing the objective or getting the call to retreat. And we’ve never left a man behind, not if there’s any chance that he’s still alive.” 

The warmth and pride that had shone from both of the men when they spoke about their general only intensified when they talked about their brothers. 

“That leaves you, Aftermath,” Alpha prompted. 

“327th,” Aftermath said reflexively. “Led by Jedi General Aayla Secura.”

“And Commander Bly.” Alpha gave a rare nod of approval. “He’s a good soldier. A good brother.” 

“Good commander, too,” Aftermath agreed. “Everyone in the 327th knows he’s got our backs. Never met a battle he’d back down from.”

“He’s always been that way,” Alpha revealed, “even when he was training as an ARC. No one can fight every battle all the time. But rangir! If there was ever someone I’d believe could do it anyway, it was Bly. Not that I’d tell him.” 

“That’d be dangerous.” Aftermath looked thoughtful. “The other men are good, too. Loyal. We’ve only had one transfer out in the past two months.” 

“Impressive.”

Aftermath nodded. “Bad news is that it was our medic. But they needed him at one of the med stations.” 

“He must have been solid,” Alpha remarked. “Med station medics have to be the best at what they do.” 

“He was.” 

Alpha took a step back, centering himself in front of the group. “I want you men to think about what you just said. What each other said. Not every man has what it takes to be an ARC trooper. Odds are, most of the men you left behind will never be able to perform at the level you do. But they don’t have to.” 

“We’re troopers,” he continued. “We’re stronger together. Us ARCs take on the specialty missions, the ones that require independence and higher skill levels so the other troopers can wear down the enemy with sheer numbers. We’re a sniper rifle; they’re a battering ram. Both have their place on the battlefield, and you need both to win a war. Do you understand what I’m telling you?” 

Nods appeared around the group - some more hesitant than others. 

“Remember your brothers,” Alpha commanded them. “Remember where you came from. But you also have to remember that your skills are important for everyone’s brothers. As an ARC, you’ll occasionally work with your brothers from your original battalion. But you could be sent anywhere. When you’re working with unfamiliar troopers, they’re brothers, too. Not only because they’re troopers, but because they’re someone else’s brothers. Another ARC stood here thinking about them, speaking about their importance in his life. We watch each other’s backs, because every trooper is important to someone.”

Alpha tucked his hands behind his back. The angle was too sharp for you to see his face, but the way he leaned forward made you think that he was giving the men a look. “You’ve already made ‘em proud. Now keep ‘em safe. Dismissed.” 

“Sir,” Echo said hesitantly. Alpha paused mid-step. “Could I- could we - keep using the practice room? I have some maneuvers I need to work on.” 

“Granted,” Alpha said with a nod. “Anyone else?” 

The rest of the ARCs-in-training made noises of agreement, each one listing something they wanted to work on. 

“It’ll be unsupervised practice,” Alpha warned. “But I expect to see some improvements tomorrow. Understood?” 

“Yes, sir!” 

You couldn’t tell if that agreement had come from all of them or only a few, but all of them saluted. 

Alpha’s hand at the small of your back ushered you out of the training area. You led the way back to your office, not looking at him so you wouldn’t break. 

The cost of that, of course, was that you rounded on him the moment you were safely tucked away in your office. Alpha caught your mood instantly, a put-upon expression crossing his face the moment he saw your broad grin. 

“What?” 

“You’re so good at that!” You shrugged, still smiling. “You’re a wonderful trainer.” 

Alpha shook his head despairingly, turning to check that the door was secure behind him. That gave you the perfect vantage point to watch the back of his neck grow ruddy. Your grin only spread further. 

When he finally spoke, it was only to disagree. “Seeing as how you’ve never met another ARC trainer, I can’t get too carried away with that compliment.” 

“Exactly,” you told him. “If you weren’t doing an excellent job, the Kaminoans would have replaced you a long time ago. Or at least added another trainer. You are the best trainer anyone could imagine for the ARCs, Alpha. I’m sure of it. And your speech was wonderful.” 

“Speech,” Alpha muttered. “I just asked them a few questions.” 

“And reminded them how important their training is, even as they start wrapping it up.” You gave a satisfied sigh. “I could kiss you right now.” 

For a large man, Alpha moved unbelievably quickly. In no more time than it took you to blink, he was by your side, leaning down with his hands planted on the armrests on either side of you. 

“Well, neverd’ika?” he pressed, gaze roaming between your eyes and your lips. “That’s an offer I’ll gladly accept.” 

Alpha could hardly finish what he was saying before you pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his lips. You were both smiling, which made it taste all the sweeter.

---

Author's Note - Reminder that Salvo is a canon clone trooper (or was, in Legends). If you don't know anything about Jedi General Shryne, he's an... interesting character.

Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, comments and reblogs help share my work and make the long, frustrating, sleep-stealing hours I spend writing this story worth it!

See you soon!

[lemonhemlock]

it's amusing to me how ppl will try to criticise alicent's "where is duty, where is scarifice" by saying it's just her demanding why rhaenyra doesn't "submit to men", "scarifice her happiness", "give up her bodily autonomy" blah blah blah.

there is such a smugness and it's made worse by their security in them thinking this defense of rhaenyra is flawless."

submit to men". im not even going to deign to respond by pointing out all the ways which shows this simply isn't true or at least challengeable for alicent, but in the context of rhaenyra....its questionable because who made rhaenyra his heir in the first place? quickly. her father. rhaenyra "submits" to viserys' will by accepting his decision to name her princess of dragonstone. obviously she's only 14 then but it's a decision she continues to, using their language, "submit" to well into her adult life. of course, you could say that rhaenyra wants the throne anyway and that's fair but rhaenyra's own wants/needs are still ultimately irrelevant. they just happen to align with viserys' own wishes that stem from his powerful guilt over aemma and his conviction that he misread his "prophecy" wrong. it's because of these factors that one can find it really questionable that viserys would have listened to rhaenyra if she asked him to change the succession. what's more important, his daughter's happiness, or his need to redeem himself through her? im comfortable saying this because viserys at his core seems allergic doing right by his kids.another way it's questionable because again who is the final "authority" on rhaenyra's sons? quickly. her dad. rhaenyra's word by itself isn't good enough, she still has to submit to viserys' will through getting his protection.

"scarifice her happiness". mind you rhaenyra calls her own life a "droll tragedy". how great could that "happiness" (harwin) have been then? it's also very clear that harwin was never going to be enough for rhaenyra.

"bodily autonomy" I mean, I wish they kept this energy for alicent. but they don't. alicent's line to viserys "to have one child like that is a mistake" is also really interesting to me concerning this whole subject because it suggests that alicent would have been sympathetic to rhaenyra if she had been honest from the very start with jace's birth. but she doesn't and she ends up lying again and again. obviously rhaenyra lying about such a matter is going to be a huge trigger for someone like alicent whose father was removed from his position partly because of rhaenyra lying or not being wholly truthful.

sorry for the long post!

Hi there! I think there's a lot of naff defence of Rhaenyra and hypocrisy towards Alicent in TB's discourse, but, by now, there are a wealth of critical posts available that highlight these discrepancies and, if they don't pose any interest to them, we kind of, at some point, have to let bygones and be bygones and leave them to their little bubble. They can educate themselves from many sources now; it's not like when the show first aired and the meta was dominated by TB content. But if they don't want to engage in good faith arguing, then there's not much point in getting worked up about it. IMO a lot of these posters skew on the younger side, have a rather primitive view of feminism and rely heavily on anachronism, so girlboss pew pew is appealing to them. Maybe they'll grow out of it, maybe not, but we can't be educators for everybody.

That being said, onto the points you highlighted. I think I agree the most with "sacrifice her happiness", because Rhaenyra had all the options in the world for a husband, but she didn't take any of it seriously and exhausted everyone's goodwill after a ton of resources were wasted on her marriage audition tour for nothing,* until Viserys got tired of her tomfoolery and forced her to marry a closeted gay man. This is where a point about bodily autonomy can also be made, because Rhaenyra could have very well married Harwin (who was in her social sphere), had she taken any of this seriously.

*think of the cost of transporting her and hosting so many suitors under one roof - some of the bill being footed by the lords who were hosting her. Perhaps Lord Baratheon had better use of his time and money than organizing Rhaenyra's engagement contest. And you can bet she didn't just leech off of him, she must have visited other castles as well, since she is said to have been gone for several weeks (? can't remember). And all for what? It's very disrespectful.

I do have some sympathy for her because it's a lot to ask a 15(?)-year-old to start seriously considering marriage proposals, when that's probably the last thing she is interested in. And it is normal for teenagers to be immature. But there's got to be some give-and-take here. Rhaenyra can't both be the nominal heir and future queen, entrusted with more power than anyone else in the kingdom, and not heed any of her responsibilities. It is a position that comes with sacrifices and responsibilities; it's part of the job description. Making a politically-advantageous marriage is one of those compromises. Acknowledging that is not anti-feminist lol. God forbid kings and queens can't just do whatever the hell they want all the time.

And Rhaenyra is presented with choices: at no point does she refuse Viserys' offer to name her heir. He straight-up tells her at one point: choose a husband or I will name Aegon instead. She could have very well said "You know what, I didn't really think about what this would entail when you nominated me in the first place and now I kind of realise this is not for me. I don't really want to get married and I'm not particularly inclined towards politics either, so can we find some kind of alternative arrangement here?" Does she? No!

She doesn't want to run away with Criston and eat oranges either. Fair enough, but then you kind of have to move your butt and work towards securing your position as heir to the throne. Does she do that instead? No, lol. She's the definition of eating one's cake and having it too. In ep. 7 she bemoans to Viserys "I thought I wanted it" (i.e. the throne). So she does want it!

As far as her just going along with whatever Viserys wants, I am going to be generous again and say that I get she doesn't really want to disappoint her father and appear diminished in front of him, cool, but at some point you have to start taking responsibility for yourself and not just explain everything away resorting to your shitty childhood and relationship with your parents. And Rhaenyra never does. Especially when the stakes are this high. We're talking about the possibility of civil war here. It's very laissez-faire to the point of irresponsibility to just "go along" with this, in spite of succession laws, when you know people are going to be opposing your shaky claim, if you don't really want the throne deep down and are just half-arsing it.

And Rhaenyra can't blame it all on the follies of youth either. Because there is a time when she is a mature woman with three illegitimate children under her belt, not really putting in the work to diplomatically advance herself, being rude to people at court and just interested in her love affair and doing whatever she wants. But, by that time, Alicent had already produced 4 children, so Rhaenyra could have just noped out of this situation, if she considered it so shitty, and conceded to Aegon. Viserys by then was old and weak, he wouldn't have really put much of a fight if that's what she truly wanted. She could have lived her life as a very rich, privileged lady, but instead she chose to escalate and marry Daemon. And, no, the greens would not have killed Rhaenyra and her bastard children, not because of the kindness of their hearts, but because Rhaenyra's claim is comically weak and would not be taken seriously by any medieval historian, let alone by a person actually living in those times.

So this is where I wrap it up with the "submitting to men" argument. I don't think it's necessarily accurate to categorise Rhaenyra accepting Viserys' decision to name her heir as going against her will, because she is known to want the throne. What I think is more relevant here is to consider that Alicent is in a much more powerless position than Rhaenyra and doesn't really have much of a choice when it comes to defying men. Alicent is the daughter of a second son and she doesn't have a dragon soul-bonded to her who can roast people who annoy her. I think it quite trite to be "angry" with her (lol she's not real) that she has the (normal) coping mechanisms that she has and is not magically transformed into a rebel Lagertha figure who does whatever she wants and takes no shit from anyone.

However, I don't see the solution as Rhaenyra "submitting to men" either. I think that's a misrepresentation of the green stance (although I'm sure there certainly are green-aligned posters that skew more towards the Kinder-Kuche-Kirchen disposition). On my part, I don't see Rhaenyra respecting the basic law of the land as her submitting to men. Kings have to follow succession laws to acquire the throne, too, and then produce legitimate children to succeed them. Of course the law is meant to favour men, but not once does Rhaenyra do anything to further the cause of women in Westeros, only to further herself. She wants to be Queen, but it has to be served on a platter to her and she is not interested in putting any work in. She's not interested in the plight of bastards in Westeros, as long as her own bastards get comfy seats. At one point you have at least concede that she's mainly on a one-woman mission for her selfishness. And anyone is welcome to like her exactly as she is! She doesn't have to be morally pure to have fans.

But there comes a time when, after appraising the inequalities of the world, you also have to adjust your own behaviour so that you won't end up causing more harm in your quest to advance your own interests. You have to find a balance between your desire for absolute freedom and reforms that are achievable, because some progress is always better than no progress.

Some of this stuff is really complicated, like how can you integrate bastards in the inheritance process when most of the wealth is acquired via land and you live in a society in which people of means turn marriages into economic alliances, with vested interests in passing down that wealth to children related to both parents? The short answer is that you have to diversify the sources of wealth, but, for that, you need technological advancement, the rise of the middle class and, ultimately, to dismantle feudalism. Could Rhaenyra have accomplished this during her reign? No. Could anyone? Absolutely not. These are historical developments that happen gradually, over a great span of time, so the best any decision-maker could do is introduce incremental reforms that can help speed up this process, increase literacy rates* (you cannot become free if you cannot read) and, yes, tumblr is going to hate this, but engage in harm reduction - basically don't become part of the problem or an active vector of destabilisation.

That is wisdom that Rhaenyra never comes to possess. And, to cut her some slack again, this is truly visionary stuff, like very few people would be able to be so politically avant-garde. But, at the very least, Rhaenyra could have engaged in harm-reduction. And it's pretty insincere or misguided of TB to reduce this resolution to just "submitting to men".

*But can you even? You'd need to invent the printing press for this. See my mentioning the need to technological advancement.

[this-is-moony-lovegood]

Oh I'd really, really love to read some of that one! 🩷🩷🩷

And if you have time 😁:

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

🚒🚒🚒

Ask and you shall recieve!

Celebrity!Buddie Fake Dating AU 🩷 - When I tell you I love this one I mean it! thanks for some motivation for it! Here's a snipet of the first time that Buck and Eddie meet to discuss their PR relationship.

“What do you want in life, Buck?” It was a vulnerable question to ask, one that he probably shouldn’t be asking, but Eddie found himself genuinely curious of Buck’s answer. “For someone to love me enough to stay. To choose me even when the world can offer them more.” Man, Abby Clark really did a number on this man, Eddie thinks. After Eddie’s Evan Buckley crash course last night, he had looked up Abby. She was still traveling the world, but this time she had a man at her side - a man that was not Buck. Eddie had barely been talking to him for half an hour and he couldn't fathom how Abby - or anyone really - could have walked away from him. “To build a life and a family with someone... Taylor can never give me those things, and I would never ask her to.” “You know that I can’t offer you those things either, Buck.” Those words felt sour on his tongue the minute he said them, but he had to say them, right? It’s not like this was real date after all, just an audition. “If you agree to this, I’ll only be delaying you getting what you really want.” “It’s not like this arrangement is going to last forever, right?” Buck sighed, but then shook his head and smiled. “Besides, I can wait a little longer if it means I get to help you, too. It seems like you could really use a friend in your corner right now.”

Army!Eddie AU 🇺🇸 - This one is literally so close to being done, I just need a good kick in the ass to get it across the finish line! Here's Buck and Bobby talking about Christopher!

“I can’t help but notice that Chris doesn’t call you dad, just Buck. Why is that?” “Oh.” Buck said, turning back to Chris momentarily, a wistful smile on his face this time. “Well, he’s not… he’s not really my kid.” Raising a brow, Bobby asked, “What do you mean?” Shrugging, Buck answers. “He’s my partner’s kid. I’ve been helping with him since he was three, so while he isn’t really my kid… he feels like he is.” “Then he is.” Bobby says simply, like the answer should be the easiest thing in the world. The look of surprise on Buck’s face says otherwise. “No, Eddie’s his dad. I’m just… his Buck.” Ah, Eddie. The mysterious partner’s name is Eddie. While Bobby didn’t know this Eddie, if he was willing to let Buck into his life for as long had he has - three years? That’s half the kid’s life! - there was no way that Eddie wouldn’t agree with Bobby on this. “He doesn’t have to call you dad for you to be one, Buck.” Bobby assures him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “He can have more than one dad.”

Trapped!Buddie 🚒 - I have legit been working on this since the season 6 finale! OMG, thank you for requesting it! This fic is legit 90% angst, so enjoy some of it!

“Do you know what is louder than the universe screaming at you? Silence.” Eddie doesn’t know when he decided to stand up, but now he’s on his feet, pacing while he scolds Buck. “I called for you over and over. No answer. I begged you to talk to me. You didn’t. I didn’t know if you were just unconscious, or dead. All I knew at that moment was that I had to get to you. That I had to try and save you.”  “You can’t do that, Eddie!” Buck was on his feet now, too. His arms are crossed over his chest as he straightens, back in a line.  “What? Come for you?”  “You’re the levelheaded one. You’re the calm one in the face of danger. You’re the one that knows better.” Buck accuses, eyebrows furrowing. “Running up the ladder to get to me in the middle of a lightning storm? That’s reckless and impulsive. It’s-”  “Something you would do?” Eddie challenges. “You’re not the only one that can watch a video, Buck. I’ve seen you do the same thing for me.”  Buck pauses, taking a step back. “That was different.”  “Oh really, now?” Eddie questions incredulously.  “I got shot. I was bleeding out into the street and what did you do? You faced an active shooter – one who was specifically targeting firefighters by the way – to pull me out, pick me up, and haul my ass into the firetruck. You risked your life for me and expect me not to do the same for you?”

This is so fun! Keep them coming! :)

[lilac-hecox]

Another donation to Gaza and another flash fic this time for @yestomexicansalsa who requested Ian and Amanda! I ran with the idea of her audition and a sort of semi crush at first sight!

Amanda/Ian -Amandian - Audition

--

Ian considers himself a professional. While he’s still getting used to the position of being the person in charge and making decisions, being a leader, he likes to think he is respectful to those who work for him and those he meets. He would never hire based off of just looks and especially because of someone he’s attracted to. He’s not that kind of boss. He doesn’t want Smosh to be that kind of company. All that being said. They call the name of the next audition to be a cast member on Smosh, and in walks a gorgeous woman. The kind of gorgeous that Ian notices right away.

She’s tall, very tall, even in flats. Her hair is long and dark, and her eyes are smoky, but bright as she smiles at Ian, and Kiana, and Sarah at the table.

“Hi, I’m Amanda Lehan-Canto,” The woman says, her voice rich as she meets their eyes.

Ian tries to school his face into something normal so he doesn’t come off as a freak upon their first meeting and scare Amanda out of here.

“Nice to meet you,” Sarah says sweetly, “We have some scenes we want to toss you and we just want to see you improve a little bit.”

Amanda nods, tucks a strand of dark hair behind her ear and she doesn’t look scared at all, instead, she looks ready, energized by the idea of a challenge, of showing off her skills. Sarah gives Amanda a scenario where she’s a PTA mom getting in an argument with another mom during a meeting.

“Ian, care to be the other mom?” Sarah asks.

Ian nods and then he’s opposite her and he’s used to comedy and improv, but he still feels rusty, still feels like he doesn’t really belong here anymore because he did improv with Anthony and now Anthony is gone, and Ian is here, and he wants to be funny and follow Amanda’s lead.

Turns out. She’s hilarious. Amanda is quick on her feet, and she comes with an improv comedy pedigree. Anything Sarah, or Kiana, or even Ian tosses at her, Amanda is able to find the humor and mold the scene to fit around her, her acting breathing life into the scenario.

Ian finds himself laughing. When’s the last time he even really laughed like this?

They pitch Amanda another sketch. She and Ian are two baristas working the counter at a coffee shop. Amanda puts on a voice and sinks into a character quickly, leading the scene and having Ian playing follow-up.

In their scene there is an angry customer and a boss who is wanting to fire Amanda’s character. Her eyes sparkle as she glances at Ian.

“You can’t fire me! I’m pregnant! Ian and I are having a baby!” Amanda says.

Sarah, acting as the boss, says, “Prove it,” through giggles.

Amanda looks between Sarah and then Ian and then her hand seeks out the collar of Ian’s sweater and she tugs him close, close enough to highlight their height difference. Close enough he can smell her perfume. Close enough that her hair brushes his cheek as she dips down to meet him and with zero fear or hesitation, she presses a kiss to his mouth.

Sarah hoots and claps and Ian is lost in the warm and innocent press of Amanda’s mouth against his. She doesn’t know him. He doesn’t know her, but he feels a spark zing up his spine. She’s fearless in a way that reminds him of when he was a teenager in Sacramento.

The kiss breaks and Amanda grins, squeezes his shoulder as Sarah and Kiana clap.

“I hope that wasn’t crossing a line?” she asks, her voice gentle as her eyes bashfully search Ian’s.

It takes all of Ian’s brain power to shake his head, to form coherent words.

“No, it was good, it was funny,” he stresses, “You don’t hold back, huh?”

“Anything for the joke,” Amanda says, as her hands fall away from Ian’s shoulders.

Ian would never admit it, but he misses the warmth of her touch as soon as it leaves him. He can taste her faint on his lips, a new sensation worming through his brain, mapping itself to him.

“Do you write too?” Ian asks.

For a moment, it’s as if the conversation is just them, and Sarah and Kiana don’t exist. Amanda’s eyes brighten and she smiles even wider.

“I do. I love to write.”

Ian looks at Sarah and Kiana, and his mind was long since made up, long before the kiss, and based on her skills, how funny she is. The kiss was a part of a bit, and nothing Ian will hold as an indication that hiring her means she’ll kiss him again, but he would be a fool to not hire Amanda, to not bring her on the team.

“I think you’d be a great fit,” Ian says.

“Really?” Amanda asks excitedly.

Sarah and Kiana are nodding.

“We have a few more auditions, but it’s safe to say we would love to bring you on board,” Sarah is saying.

Amanda smiles and then she hugs Ian before she slips away and her warmth is gone, and she goes and hugs Sarah and then Kiana. Ian watches her and he smiles, feels sure of his decision, feels like Smosh needs Amanda.

[trashbag-baby666]

Willow-Webgott

Hello, @educationalporpoises !!! I’m your secret Santa!! I had a lot of fun writing this!! A lot of fun!! So I really hope you like it!!! I had to split it into two parts because I really bit off a lot with the plot! But please enjoy!!!

Summary: David got his dream part in the art schools production of The Nutcracker. Now he just has to face the taunting of his mother and his dance rival Stephanie Sobel. But Joes there to support him and get him through it all.

WC: 4,017

C/W: topics of eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Some NSFW jokes.

BofB Masterlist!

All dances mentioned can be found on this YouTube playlist I made!

"I got the part!" Web ran over to Lieb as he came out of his last ballet class of the day where Lieb always came and watched the end of practice because he had a study hall.

"Oh Liebling!" Web jumped into his boyfriend's arms hugging him tight.

Web had been working so hard since he started ballet as a kid. Then he moved to the Toccoa art school and found out about their art school.

The ballet program had been good to him and accommodated him wanting to audition for a technical ‘girls’ part.

"I'm gonna be the Sugar Plum Fairy!" Web smiled, holding his boyfriend's hands tight as he smiled. He had always wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. But he didn't know if they would cast him because he was a boy, but they did!

Web originally had auditioned for the Nutcracker himself but the Sugar Plum Fairy was the most challenging and biggest part and he had got it.

"Congrats!" George smiled as he walked over, also getting out of class, "I'm the Rat King."

"But you're going to be the best one you earned it" Web congratulated him.

"Hey guys," Daisy came out of her contemporary dance class. She jogged over to the group seeing the excitement, "Did you guys get the Nutcracker parts?"

"I'm gonna be the Sugar Plum Fairy!" Web smiled even bigger.

"Congratulations!" Daisy hugged Web. She knew how hard Web had worked for this part, especially after the dance board at the school said Web could do a 'girls' part.

"George, is going to be the rat king." Web smirked, he was excited.

Every year around the beginning of fall whatever studio he was dancing at always had auditions for The Nutcracker show.

He had heard all the hype surrounding the school's Nutcracker show when he had moved there in the spring.

“Really!?” Daisy looked at her twin and hugged him, “You’re going to do great, both of you. But who got the parts of Clara?”

“Renee,” George hummed, “She deserves it.”

Web thought that there was nothing that could ruin his day after finding out that he had gotten his dream part.

But David’s parents surely knew how to ruin a good moment. He had texted his parents during lunch that he’d be home late since he had a private after school with his ballet teacher.

So, of course when Web came home it was terrible.

Web sifted through the mail toeing off his shoes at the door. “I’m home,” Web trailed off at the end. His parents sat at the table waiting for him to get back.

“David Kenyon, where have you been?” His mother scolded him.

“I texted you guys earlier that I had a private.” Web set the mail on the kitchen table.

“This is unacceptable, we didn't get it. We're having the Smiths over for dinner so go and clean up; Although, you should be watching your figure with the Nutcracker coming up.” His mother crossed her arms looking up and down at him.

Web looked down and just nodded. Web took in a sharp breath as he walked up the steps then went into his room. Slugging his backpack and his dance bag off next to his desk. He opened his closet door looking in the mirror tugging off his hoodie then his shirt. David stood in the mirror looking at his body. Joe said he was too skinny, His mom said differently.

He sighed as he looked in the mirror observing his stomach. His mother made sure that David would never feel comfortable in his body.

Since when his mother first signed him up for ballet he had been skipping meals and counting calories. The dance world was a toxic place, truly David loved what he did but he didn’t know how much longer he could take the constant body critique.

He remembers the first time Joe saw him naked so vividly.

Web was straddled over Joe's lap as he took off his shirt and felt Joe's eyes on him instantly.

He was toned nonetheless from years of intense dance training but you could also see his ribs.

He knew his body was boney and always wondered why Joe was trying to get in his pants.

“Jesus Christ. Are you okay?” Joe sat up as he saw Web's figure and his eyes began to well up with hot tears.

“I’m sorry.” Web got off of the bed and went into his bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“No, no. Liebling.” Joe got up and came to the other side of the bathroom door, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…I just really care about you and I think you’re beautiful.”

Joe had known Web for maybe a month but he saw how his mom would berate him for the tiniest of mistakes. How hard she pushed him to be the best and to have the most elegant body.

But instead Web wouldn’t eat, if he did he’d count his calories or he’d have his fingers down his throat trying to make himself throw it up.

Web stood in his bathroom crying as he looked at himself in the mirror. He thought he was so ugly and couldn’t blame Joe for being so repulsed by him. “It’s okay if you wanna leave.” David stared at the closed door waiting for Joe to say something.

“I don’t wanna leave, Web.” Joe stood by the door, he could hear Webs muffled crying, “Why don’t you come out and we can talk about it? We don’t gotta talk about it too, I just wanna know you’re okay.”

Web sighed and grabbed a shirt from the hamper in the bathroom and pulled it on over his bare chest. He unlocked the door and opened it, not meeting Joe’s gaze.

“I think you’re beautiful and I mean it David.” Joe said softly.

“I don’t feel it,” Web sniffed, wiping his tears away and hugged him.

“Then let me convince you,” Joe wrapped his arms around him and kissed the top of his head.

Web stood in the dance studio at the barre as the ballet class went on.

“You are the Primas of this school, there should be nothing sloppy about your extensions.” Ms. Mai, the ballet teacher droned on.

“Just look at Mr. Webster, for example. Everyone stop and look at him.” She instructed. Web felt himself suck in subconsciously as everyone's eyes were on him.

There was no secret in the studio that Web was obviously the best ballerina at the school. Some of the girls envied him, especially Stephanie Sobel.

She had made sure Web was miserable every chance she got. She at one point had taken David’s pointe shoes out of his bag so that he couldn’t dance.

“Go ahead and run the combination,” Ms. Mai nodded as Web took in a sharp breath as he ran the warm up combo hitting all of the checkpoints for his legs and his feet pointed to perfection. The class clapped for him as he stood there awkwardly. He could feel Stephanie's eyes burning into him. She had been pissed that Web had gotten the Sugar Plum Fairy part. She was then casted as his understudy.

“I’m scared she's going to axe me in the back everytime I’m in class.” Web shook his head. Web sat at the Speirs family kitchen island as Daisy made a snack and George was working on his homework.

“She’s so scary, everytime I look at her it looks like she’s snarling at me.” George looked up from his laptop. David was grateful that George was also in his ballet classes. He then had someone to stand next to and rely on as an ally in the ongoing war of ballet at Toccoa High.

“I just don’t understand why she takes it so seriously,” Daisy shrugged leaning against the island, “Like yeah it’s a good leg up if she wants to go into the professional world. But her getting the part in a fucking High School production of The Nutcracker isn’t going to make or break her career.”

“Well, you should go tell her that. Then she’ll put a knife in your back instead of mine.” Web rolled his eyes playfully.

“I’d love too then I can kick her ass and maybe she can shut her big fucking mouth.” Daisy grabbed out a juice box and aggressively set it on the counter.

“Maybe you can beat up Herbert too while you’re at it. Two siblings with one stone.” George had been getting harassed by him since they moved here a year ago. The Sobel twins were twins from hell where George and Daisy were the good ones.

“I second that, you and Joe both can arrange a time to fight them and do that.” Web chuckled as he looked back down at the paper he had been trying to write for the last week.

“I can’t get it on,” Web was in one of the bathroom stalls as they were trying on their costumes after they were altered.

“What do you mean you can’t get it on you just tried it on last week?” George stood in the stall next to him trying on the mouse king costume.

“George I can’t get it on,” Web repeated. He was panicking as he was trying to get it pulled up further then his hips.

“Here let me come help,” George came out of the stall and Web opened the stall door. Web turned to see George in the mouse costume and tried his hardest not to laugh at him, “You’re laughing now but when I have to put the mouse head on you’re going to pay for it.”

“I’m not laughing at you,” Web tried his best to sound serious as he tried to hide the growing smile on his face. Completely forgetting the dilemma on hand of the leotard not fitting.

“Then why’re you smiling?” George raised an eyebrow before grabbing part of Web's costume and trying to help him get it on.

“It’s fine I’ll just go tell Ms. Mai that I need it altered again.” Web sighed looking at George. The shorter boy with dark brown hair looked back at him. George ran his teeth over his lip nervously.

“I wish I could help you more, I’m sorry.” George sighed.

“It’s fine, just don’t let Stephanie see.” Web rolled his eyes as he shut the stall door and changed back into his clothes.

Web came out of the bathroom holding the garment bag that the leotard and tutu were in. “Mrs Mai!” Web rushed over seeing his teacher.

“Oh yes Mr. Webster I’ve been looking for you. You and Ms. Sobels' costumes got switched.” Ms Mai smiled, taking the garment bag from him and waving for him to follow. She walked over to where Stephanie and her friends were standing, “Here’s the right one now.”

“Thank you,” Web took the bag from Ms. Mai.

“Yeah this one was huge on me, you probably couldn’t fit into mine.” Stephanie smirked looking at Web. He felt the words go straight to his head like a white hot blade being twisted and stabbed into him.

He just turned on his heels and hurried back into the men’s bathroom before the tears could start falling.

Joe had no idea what he had walked into when he came upstairs. from plating some food for the two after his dad’s were done making dinner.

Web was standing in Joe's room shirtless looking at himself.

“Woah? Do you wanna eat first or is it fine if it gets a little cold while we go a few rounds?” Joe smirked only half joking. Then David looked at him and could see he was tearing up.

“Do you think I’m ugly?” David turned to look at the other boy. He had felt ugly and uncomfortable all day.

“What? No. David, who said that to you?” Lieb set the two plates of food down on his desk.

“No one,” Web sniffed, rubbing his eyes free of the ever growing tears. Joe knew he was lying, but now wasn’t the time to press.

Joe came over and wrapped him in his tight embrace. Web rested his head on his shoulder as he let out a broken sob.

“Let’s sit down, yeah?” Joe led Web over to his bed sitting them down. Web curled into Joe as he couldn’t stop the tears.

He just wished he felt normal.

He had had an eating disorder since he hit puberty.

He hated doing ballet.

He wanted to quit.

“Can I tell you something? But please don't get mad at me.” David tried wiping his tears away but they were never ending.

“I wouldn’t ever be mad at you,” Joe rested his hand on Webs thigh.

“I want to quit ballet.”

Web found himself in class again going over his dance again and again, Stephanie behind him practicing.

“Mr. Webster, don’t make me remind you again.” Ms. Mai narrowed her gaze at him as Web knew he had missed a step. He Had felt off since he and Joe had the conversation of him quitting.

“Here, why don’t you watch Ms. Sobel, do it once.” Ms. Mai motioned for him to come stand next to her. The few steps from where he was dancing to standing next to her. Felt like a walk of shame. He could feel the smirk on Stephanie's face and could hear all her snide remarks going off in his head.

Ms. Mai motioned to the other student to play the music as Stephanie performed the dance perfectly. Just the way that David would’ve a week ago before he even spoke his thoughts of quitting.

When she was finished Web clapped for her just because he felt forced to by the teacher.

“I think if you give me another chance I could perform it just as well.” David spoke up.

“Okay,” Ms. Mai had Stephanie and David switch places. Stephanie was sure enough to give him a dirty look as they switched.

Web took a deep breath and took the opening position of the dance. As the music began to play, Web could feel the eyes of the other ballet classes watching him. As they got dismissed from their classes.

He could feel the next eight counts coming, the one he kept forgetting.

He could feel his heart beating in his ears as the music played and he could feel the counts coming. But he didn’t miss it. He smiled to himself as he knew he had done it and finished the dance. He took his ending pose and smiled as the other students began clapping.

“Very good, Mr. Webster.” Ms. Mai smiled, clapping for him.

It was opening night, Web had fought tooth and nail. Blood, sweat, and tears. And mostly Stephanie to get here.

“Are you excited?” George buzzed as he came over to where Web was doing his makeup.

David truly didn’t know if he was excited. One hand he was excited to finally perform what he had been fighting for since September. The other hand he knew if he messed up not only Stephanie would taunt and bully him. But his mother would too.

“A little bit,” Web looked up from his eyeshadow pallet. The entire friend group was here too including Joe. So that meant he had to perform his best.

“Well Ma and Pa will be cheering for you. Pa probably will anyway while you’re dancing. 20 some years in the military and going on 15 years of me and Daisy dancing. Man still doesn’t know ballet etiquette." George giggled showing off his crooked teeth, “he will be leaning over to the poor soul sitting next to him and go. ‘That’s my son and daughter's best friend.”

Web smiled a bit, George always knew how to make anyone feel better. During their showcase last year when David was nervous to do his solo. George stood in the wings with him before he went on. Doing the best impressions of all their friends he could do. Without the two of them disrupting the whole show with their laughter.

“You’re going to do great, I just know it. You’ve been working way harder than anyone else. You deserve this and you earned it.” George gave him a hug.

“Thank you, you’re going to kill it out there as the mouse king.” Web snickered, motioning to the mouse costume head sitting in the chair next to his.

“Don’t talk about Jaq like that!” George covered the ears of the head.

“You named him?” Web stopped applying the eyeshadow and turned to look at the other boy.

“Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time with him this semester.” George winked, “Don’t tell Joe.”

“You’re gross,” Web laughed, throwing his mascara tube at him jokingly.

“Yeah, next time you and Joe come over don’t leave your used condom in the bathroom.” George snickered.

“Oh? Did Joe not suck your dick on my kitchen island?” Web gasped jokingly.

“Mr. Speirs we’re starting soon and I need everyone in act one to come to the wings.” Ms. Mai poked her head in the dressing room where George and Web were still in there, “Mr. Webster when you’re done you should go run your dance in the hallway.”

“See you later, I’ll come find you when I’m done.” George grabbed the mouse head and followed Ms. Mai out the door.

Web finished his makeup and put on his pointe shoes then grabbed his phone and water bottle.

He hadn’t been running his dance for very long when he saw Sobel walking down the hallway. George paused the music and awkwardly stood by the wall picking up his phone and water bottle. He awkwardly started checking his texts hoping Sobel would just leave him alone and he was going to the bathroom.

He wasn’t sure which came first…he suddenly felt himself being pushed into the wall and Sobel stomping down onto his ankle. Then he heard the snapping as he collapsed onto the hard floor. He heard himself let out a shriek as he grabbed his ankle.

“This is kinda weird,” Joe whispered to Daisy as the dance of Clara and The Nutcracker went on.

“I know, every year I get to watch this weird ballet. I was in it when I was younger actually.” Daisy snickered quietly.

“Really?” Joe smirked as the two bowed their heads to talk to each other.

“Yup, I played one of the kids at the christmas party then one of the mice in the battle.” Daisy nodded.

“Wow,” Lieb joked, elbowing her lightly. Then he felt his phone vibrate, he turned it over and saw a text from Web.

Web<3: Come out into the hall. Please.

Joe showed Daisy the text and Lieb shrugged, getting up out of the end row seat and going out into the hallway and around the corner. Then he saw the scene, David crying, sitting against the wall, and holding his left ankle.

“Jesus, fuck.” Lieb said as he got down on his knees, “What happened, meine liebe?”

“Fucking, Sobel.” Web yelped out as Lieb gently removed Web's grasp.

“I’m going to text Daisy to get Gene, but why don't we take off your shoes and tights. Yeah?” Lieb asked as he grabbed his phone from his pocket and texted her.

David adjusted against the wall as Joe gently took Webs ankle untying and unwrapping the ribbons.

“Ow, ow.” Web sniffed as Joe gently took off the pointe shoe.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, Web. We’re almost done.” Joe gently rubbed Web's thigh supportingly to try and distract him from where he had to reposition his ankle.

“I gotta cut open your tights.” Lieb sighed and grabbed the pocket knife he most certainly shouldn’t have had.

“I know,” Web sniffed. Joe gently cut the seam on the toe and helped him slide it up.

Both cringed as the dark bruised, swollen ankle became apparent.

“Fuck,” Joe muttered and looked up to see Gene and Daisy running down the hall.

“What happened?” Daisy asked as Gene bent down and began inspecting Webs ankle.

“Sobel fuckin’ happened,” Lieb looked at Daisy and he saw the red heads eyes turn red metaphorically as she balled her fist.

“Daisy, I need you to go to the back of the theater where there are paramedics. But also get his parents.” Gene instructed her.

“I’m gonna kill that mother fucker.” Lieb snarled.

“No, stay here.” Web grabbed Joe's hand as Gene held it on his lap to elevate his ankle.

Web was embarrassed as he rode him in the passenger seat of Joe's beat up, old car. His ankle was broken and he had no idea how to respond.

When his doctor told him he wouldn’t be dancing for at least two months the panic set in. His mother just narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

“I’m sorry this happened to you…you don’t deserve that at all. I promise you I’m gonna make sure he fucking knows who he’s fucking with.” Joe said increasingly more aggressively. Before his steering wheel in anger.

“It’s okay, I don’t want you getting in trouble.” Web shook his head.

Stephanie would now take over his part in the Nutcracker for the following weeks till Christmas.

“He deserves to be expelled.” Joe brewed as he drove them back to the Webster house.

Joe carried Web up the steps and down to his bedroom. Setting the other boy down on his bed. “What clothes do you want?” Lieb asked as he set down Webs backpack down.

“Just a shirt and some boxers.” Web sighed and shrugged. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He wouldn’t be allowed to dance for two months. Then he’d have to re-build up the muscles in his feet to dance on pointe.

But at the same time he was almost glad that he couldn’t dance for two months.

He was excited to get to take some time off. He was questioning whether he wanted to stay in ballet and now he had time to make the right choice.

“I’ll go get you some ice when we’re done.” Joe came over and kissed Webs cheek, “Ich liebe dich.”

“Ich liebe dich auch.” David tried to ignore the pain as Joe helped him change out of his joggers and took his boot off him.

He was feeling lucky when Joe came back with an ice pack wrapped in a towel.

“Okay,” Joe checked the pillows that his ankle was propped on and then gently set the ice on his ankle.

“Thank you,” David blushed a deep red. He watched as Joe changed then climbed in next to him.

“I love you, I’m sure you would’ve done an amazing job. I know you would have. You’re the only person I really like to watch Dance. Don’t tell Daisy.” Lieb chuckled. Web smirked and giggled a bit.

“I know I would’ve done it better than Stephanie performed it” Joe took off his shirt and grabbed his phone. He checked her

Instagram page and showed the video to David. She missed some steps and her foot was sickled.

“I love you,” Web gently turned off Liebs phone and kissed his cheek.

“Can’t believe this,” David’s mom shook her head, pacing in the kitchen. Since Joe left and Web was just trying to have breakfast she started nagging him.

“You should’ve stood up for yourself, now look.” She motioned to the boot on David’s ankle.

“I know,” Web sat at the table awkwardly spinning his cereal around in the pool.

“You better be watching what you’re eating if you’re going to not be active for awhile.” She pointed her spoon at the cereal he was eating, “Have some yogurt tomorrow instead.”

“What does it matter?” Web mumbled staring down into the cereal bowl.

“Excuse me? What did you just say to me, David?” His mother snapped at him.

“I said I’m quitting ballet.” David snapped, slapping the table.

Pt Two coming soon…

[svtjinny]

JUYEON :: GAME CATERERS x SVT | 03

[editors captions] | speaking | english , but she only speaks it once and it's clarified there warning: none ! for context, during the filming of game caterers she was blonde. she dyed her hair again soon after. her look at the end !

ep 3-1

jinny's first part is just her raising her hand for love shot with hoshi

she started laughing really hard when joshua did his ..dance..

when kwan & hoshi get the answer she doesn't say anything but she does dance with them

jinny : i love doing this dance~

she's in the center

[ (B S and J dance,) ]

[ (S sings) ]

jinny : great job pd-nim~! that was funny!

when they sit down she rubs seungkwan's shoulder to try and calm him LMAO

during next level she gets up to dance too

she sang along tooo

[ (BSS and the two lemons) ]

[ (Jinny summons her ae-spirit) ]

jinny : dokyeomie... isn't that blackpink..?

she had no idea what the dynamicduo song was so when seungkwan shouted she flinched HARD

she just let the other two answer

jinny : you guys knew this? i had no idea..

kwan : maybe you're too young yeonie! with the most teasing smirk ever pls

jinny : yah! you're only two years older than me!

and when they got up to dance she did whatever kwan did

[ (If SeungKwan dances,) ]

[ (Hoshi and Jinny follow) ]

[ (In sync) ]

jinny : gotta get ... gotta get ... gotta get my grove back ..

[ (Jinny recognizes the dance immediately) ]

[ (Preformed it last year with J.Y. Park himself) ]

jinny remembered run bts right when pd said wrong too :sob:

she did go up to dance with hoshi though

and she devoured.. didn't audition as a dancer for nothing

jinny : lets go! [eng]

[ (Main vocal appears with him) ]

[ (Getting ready to run) ]

[ (Motorbikes) (Exercise bike) ]

[ (Vroom) (Vroom) ]

[ (These two are so amazing) ]

[ (That they're in sync with BTS) ]

[ (who's dancing sharp) ]

[ (Even their feet are in perfect sync) ]

[ (BTS' choregraphy is known for being hard) ]

[ (But they're in perfect sync) ]

[ (He becomes a tiger when he's dancing) ]

[ (And she dances with passion) ]

my fingers hurt from all that oml. it was all just captions and the rest cheering...

cheol : it's never bad to do a lot of challenges

woozi : right right, jinny probably knows a lot of dances from them

[ (Being an MC pays off) ]

jinny : ["how do you do the challenge for run bts"] self taught choreography! we learnt it on our own.

pd said he loved watching them dance and she got flustered // leant into seungkwan

na pd : by now, you should be exhausted...

jinny : dancing gives me energy!

seungkwan : when we were working on the quiz, we were worried about airtime

hoshi : i wondered if i answered too many

seungkwan : he got too many and we barely got any

jinny : i was satisfied with my prize already, that's why

seungkwan : i'm on a roll now

jinny : seungkwan's helping us get airtime~

in all seriousness she was a little tired so she just sat back for bittersweet and pink venom with hoshi

jinny did cheer for kyeom though!! there was a few scenes of her just yelling leaned back in her chair

and she got up to clown cheol LMAO // and did the actual choreo after.. jinny loves hyuna.

[ (Jinny knows the S.COUPS version and the original) ]

[ (I'm) (Not) (Cool) ]

jinny yelled at the others with seungkwan for luv...the apink disrespect.

[ (Two of the youngest scolding the older ones) ]

she totally cheered for chan when he did the dance!!!! that's bff

her face when they announced first place so cuteewjhi

kwan soony and yeonie dancing together we all sobbed

when it came to the wishes she let the others write whatever cuz she didn't want anything

and when kwan was explaining it she was just nodding along

jinny : we're trying to save you guys by not writing down all of seventeen..

when hoshi moved she did too, just closer to gyu though

seungkwan : yah, why are you moving? you didn't even want anything!

[ (Guilty of charge) ]

jinny : so? they're much more generous than you..

[ (Everyone, we promise this is just how they show love) ]

jinny got up to cheer for youth over flowers too!!

she sat down again rlly quickly though

jinny was really quiet the rest of the ep so there's not much to go off of LMAO

she drew the other super challenge wish though !!

that was her last scene in 3-1 !!

ep 3-2

i don't know anything about basketball and neither does jinny... so she just sat this one out

her only scenes in most of the video are her interacting with staff or cheering on the boys

the staff fell in love with jinny i swear she was so cute that day :(

jinny came out again at around 27:40

you can see her talking with myungho a little bit [ she stood between dino & myungho ]

jinny : our lucky deeeekayyyy~

they let her say a little message after dokyeom!

jinny : today was really fun, but i bet we'll have more fun on youth over flowers. please wait for us~ we all hope you enjoy F.M.L. while waiting for this to come out! see you soon!

precious :(

her last parts in 3-2 were her helping hoshi teach na pd the super dance !!

jinny's outfit

[ejzah]

Can you write a fanfic set between the events of late season 4/early season 5 just before Sam finally accepts Deeks after all this time. Hetty witnesses a real hostile moment where she clearly sees Sam being unfair and critical of Deeks during an important mission despite the fact Deeks did his job to the absolute best and height of his abilites. Despite this, Sam still gives Deeks a hard time and so Hetty takes Sam aside and gives him a firm scolding of his unfair treatment.

A/N: As always when I write Hetty these days, I have mixed feelings. While Deeks is/was perfectly capable of defending himself, I think Hetty could have done more to intervene when he was mistreated.

***

Can You See What’s Right Before your Eyes?

“Did you guys finish the weapons audit?” Callen asked, going through the checklist Nell passed on from Hetty every month.

“Yup,” Deeks answered. “And as always, Kensi had the time of her life.”

“Once again, I only enjoy cleaning my own weapons,” she clarified, inclining. “And that’s mostly the knives.”

“Sexy,” he commented with a wink in Kensi’s direction.

“Moving on,” Callen prompted with a pointed clearing of his throat. He nodded to Sam across the room. “Did you review those files Nell gave you?”

“Yeah, another batch of rookies. Hetty’s having a couple come by next week,” Sam said, gesturing to two files on his desk. “The usual drill, they’ll shadow one of us for part of the day in the field to see what we do here and get a chance for some hands-on training. The job is open for any takers.”

“I’ll do it,” Deeks volunteered, gaining a raised eyebrow of surprise from Kensi.

“Oh, that’s very generous of you,” she commented. “You must want something.” Deeks rolled his eyes, knowing she was mostly joking.

“All of you already owe me favors I haven’t cashed in on.” He waved his index finger in a figure to encompass the bullpen and OPS. “No, you guys always complain about having to deal with rookie agents, and since I actually enjoy meeting new people—most of the time—why not? I know, it’ll be tough for you to be separated from me for so long.” He batted his eyelashes at Kensi, who scoffed, overplaying her disgust slightly.

“As if.”

Callen and Sam had watched their whole conversation play out without comment. Deeks turned to them, pretty much expecting the arrangement to be a done deal, but after another moment, Sam shook his head.

“No, I’m not comfortable with that,” he said.

“Excuse me?” Deeks asked, making an incredulous noise. When Sam didn’t crack a smile, he realized he was completely serious. “Why not?”

“You’re not an agent.”

“In all but name. I do the same exact job as all of you, turn in the same reports, risk my life practically every day. What is there to object about?”

Deeks had grown used to his tumultuous relationship with Sam, and had noticed an uptick in the pointed comments, insults, and slights directed his way recently. He’d put it down to the stress of everything going on with Sidorov and Michelle, so had excused it for the most part. None of them were at their best when concerned about a loved one.

This though, was unnecessary.

Sam shrugged dismissively in response to Deeks’ challenge, shaking his head. “You don’t have the same training, you didn’t take the same oath, don’t have the background we do.” He gestured between himself and Deeks now, like it was obvious. “You’re a cop, I’m an agent. We’re not the same.”

“Actually, I think you’ll find I’m an LAPD Liaison, with a rank of Detective,” Deeks corrected with false pleasantry.

“Deeks, we want these kids coming in to learn the proper protocol and have a good example of our work,” Sam said, and Kensi made a soft noise of shock.

“Sam,” she objected, looking vaguely horrified. Callen for his part, was determinedly staring at his computer. He never did like to get involved in these types of conflicts.

“No, it’s ok,” Deeks said, even though bitterness mixed with disbelief filled him. He pasted on a smile that he was sure came off more menacing than anything. “Sam has made his opinion perfectly clear.” He pushed back from his desk. “Have fun answering all those rookie questions, Sam. I know you love that part.”

***

“Mr. Hanna, would you mind coming over her for a moment?” Hetty called from her desk while everyone headed out for the day. As usual, it was voiced as a request, but was in reality a demand.

He walked over, offering a half-smile. “Callen agrees to handle the rookies. All the other monthly duties are up to date,” he reported, anticipating her question.

“That’s good to know,” she replied, waiting a beat, hands steepled, her eyes burrowing into him in a way that would never not be unnerving. She pursed her lips, speaking slowly. “However, that’s not why I asked you to stay behind.”

“Then what’s going on?”

“I overheard your discussion with Mr. Deeks this morning.”

“What conversation?” He’d had half a dozen “conversations” with Deeks, most of which made him what to smack the detective. He didn’t know why, but some days everything Deeks did seemed to annoy him.

“The one about the visiting rookie agents. I heard Deeks offer to work with them, quite generously, might I say,” she explained, pausing yet again. “I also heard your response to that offer.”

Sam smiled, knowing where this was going now. “And let me guess, Deeks complained about it.”

“Mr. Deeks said nothing to me. I believe you know he fights his own battles. No, this is about why you don’t think Deeks can handle the task and why you felt the need to undermine his abilities.”

“It’s Deeks, Hetty,” Sam said. “He’s unpredictable, unreliable, rebellious—”

“Regardless of his pedigree, Deeks is none of those things. To the contrary, he’s one of the very best operators this team has ever seen. Yes, he’s a maverick many times, but that is what makes him so useful to this team.”

Sam set his jaw, frustrated by what felt like an unearned scolding. Hetty stared back with an annoying wide-eyed expression.

“Certainly, you’ve benefitted from his out-of-the-box thinking yourself many times. And even if you can’t appreciate his methods, then you can’t deny Deeks would do anything to protect this team and those we defend.”

“I’m not apologizing to him,” Sam said.

“No, I don’t expect you to. I do, however, expect you to treat Deeks with the respect he has earned and deserves. Is that understood?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Sam confirmed, tapping his knuckle on Hetty’s desk.

“Good.” She nodded. “Have a good night, Sam.”

“Thanks.” He smiled back, tempering his annoyance at Hetty. At Deeks and his floppy hair and inability to conform.

***

A/N: Hope this is all right.

Thanks for the prompt!

[myloveforhergoeson]

a short story featuring bad boy kendall - enjoy

"Hey, Rox, are you still out there?"

Hint of hesitation escaping his lips, Kendall called out to his assistant from one of the small fitting rooms in the costuming department of Rocque Records. They had already had a challenging few days - Griffin was on a mission to get a bad boy into the band and Gustavo was trying to force him into taking up that particular role in defiance.

Bad boy was the farthest term Kendall would ever describe himself with, yet, there he stood, dressed in the all-black outfit his assistant had picked out for him, ready to play the main part in her ridiculous plan.

He knew ridiculous plans - Big Time Rush practically invented the concept of ridiculous plans - but Roxy's had really taken the cake. It didn't help that the rest of the band had thought her plan to be their best shot at kicking the poser Wayne-Wayne out, fueling her ego just a bit as she grabbed his arm and pulled him down one floor to the wardrobe room.

It was hard to say no to her, he had found throughout their first few days in Hollywood. Roxy could be quite convincing when she wanted to, and it certainly didn't hurt that the blond had grown quite fond of seeing her smile.

Selfishly, he had watched it spread across her face just minutes before as she happily bounced from rack to rack of clothes, finding him the perfect outfit he was now waiting to show her.

Curse that girl... Even though she has a great sense of style.

If she didn't already have a budding career as his songwriter-assistant, Kendall might have believed she would have a promising career in the world of fashion.

"I'm right where you left me," she casually replied, and for a moment, Kendall felt a bit self-conscious as he drew back the curtain to the dressing room.

That was a new feeling he certainly didn't take to. Even though Roxy had done an excellent job in finding clothing his size, suddenly the all-black look, from his boots to his jacket to his watch, felt a little bit too tight when her eyes raked over him. Though, he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the attention.

Had they only met a few days ago? Sure, but the way she had so fiercely fought for him and his friends to take a chance and fly out to Hollywood to record a few demo tracks with 90s megastar Gustavo Rocque was nothing less than inspiring. It had nearly broken his heart when he made her cry in his living room the night of James' audition, so much so he found himself doing everything in his power to correct his mistake the next day. And even then, her influence hadn't escaped him, continuing her encouragement the best way she could - a song.

Roxy had written a song about him for crying out loud, the least he could do was wear the tight pants and participate in her ridiculous plan.

Unabashed, she stared him down, taking in the outfit she had created for him while she twirled a small, black pencil between a few of her fingers.

Maybe she'll write a song about this moment, he thought, his silent wish ignored by the nervous words coming out of his mouth.

"Girls seriously dig this kinda crap? The attitude, I mean... I look really good in these clothes."

At her slight nod, he popped the collar of the jacket to show off a bit more, getting her to keep her eyes on him for just a bit longer. But, the suave move embarrassed him a bit, so he turned to check his outfit in the mirror behind him to save seeing whatever expression had formed on his assistant's face.

Of course, what he had really meant to ask was, "You really dig this kind of crap?" for unimportant reasons.

Regardless of how his question was worded, he got his answer as she sucked in a breath, "You don't know the half of it..."

Before he knew it his eyes flickered to hers in the mirror for a brief moment, until he felt brave enough to turn and face her again.

Kendall changed the subject, "What are you going to do to me with that thing in your hand?"

"This?" She held the pencil up, slightly cocking her head. "None of your girlfriends wore eyeliner?"

Perhaps he was just delusional enough to believe that was her subtle way of asking if he was seeing someone. Which he wasn't at the moment. Not at all.

"Probably, I dunno," was all he could manage as a reply, trying to will his heart to stop beating so fast as Roxy continued to look at him. Kendall had only had one serious girlfriend his freshman year, but he was currently having much trouble remembering her name as he watched his assistant step a bit closer to him.

Roxy twirled the pencil a few more times. "It's supposed to help draw attention to the eye. No bad boy look is complete without dark and smoky guy-liner! We just have one issue-"

"The tightness of my pants?"

"No, definitely not," She shook her head, and Kendall just so happened to remember she said she didn't have a boyfriend the other day.

As she continued on, he didn't really process many of her words as he tried to understand why his brain decided to re-feed him such information at a time like this.

Before he knew it, Roxy ripped him from his thoughts as she placed one of her hands on his shoulder, using it as support to hoist herself up onto a small stool she had placed at his feet.

Now, they were looking eye to eye, and Kendall hoped the tightness of his shirt didn't reveal the comically insane beating of his heart.

"I didn't quite imagine we'd be on two save-our-band missions this week," He joked, trying to calm himself down as he looked down at the makeup in her hands. "Please don't turn it into a save-my-eye mission."

A playful gasp left her lips, "Kendall Knight, I can't believe you don't trust me. After all we've been through together..."

The back of her hand flew to her forehead as she pretended to faint in shock at his comment.

"I do, Rox," he couldn't stop himself from sharing, though he avoided her eyes and looked off at one of the clothing racks behind her before changing the subject entirely. "I'm just thinking of it like a weird kind of eye-black."

"Don't worry," His assistant shared, even though he hadn't been at all. "It won't be anything crazy. We're going for more of a Liam Gallagher look; it'll tie nicely with your outfit. Ready?"

Nodding, Kendall closed his eyes, trying to shoo out the thoughts racing through his brain as Roxy began to apply the eyeliner.

To be frank, he had no clue who Liam Gallagher was, but the way Roxy had said his name made him sound important. Maybe she'd speak about him like that one day.

Stupid, Kendall told himself. I doubt she'd go for a guy with zero musical knowledge... Not that that matters.

Sparing himself the pain of thinking about that for too much longer, the blonde shot out, "Which band was that guy in again?"

Even with his eyes closed, he could imagine the way her eyes lit up when she processed what he had said. She always got this flash of excitement across her features when she talked about music, be it her own or someone else's.

"Liam Gallagher? He's in Oasis, they're one of my favorites. Now he's the prime example of a bad boy, always fighting with his brother and everything."

A chuckle escaped her as Kendall made a mental note to head to the Palm Woods computer in the lobby and look Oasis up when they got home. If they were one of her favorite bands, it was probably a good idea to learn about her musical influences since she would be writing more songs for Big Time Rush.

Besides that, he knew that he had heard of that band. Slowly he peeked his right eye open to catch a glance at her expression when he stated, "You had a few of their tapes in your box."

"You remember that?" The tone in her voice came off more shocked than the frontman had hoped as her gaze connected with his. Kendall did have eyes after all, and had poked through most of the tapes she had after she asked him to put on the other morning. "I've got a good collection if I do say so myself."

Kendall wouldn't know, but now more than ever he felt a drive to impress Gustavo as best he could with Big Time Rush's demos. Her collection would easily elevate from good to perfect if his voice ended up floating through her speakers.

Silence filled the room as he closed his eyes again, ready for the other side to be completed. Once more, he felt the pencil in Roxy's hand drag across his lash line, covering most of it. At one point, the girl had lifted the pencil up and Kendall had opened his eyes, not knowing she was about to come back for more.

The pencil drove right into his sclera.

"Ow!" He hissed as his body shook at the sudden pain. Right hand flying to his eye, he managed to hit Roxy's arm - the sheer force of it all knocking her completely off balance.

Since hockey was a sport of balance, Kendall was no stranger to recognizing the signs of someone about to fall, but for whatever reason his brain went numb. Roxy had clearly lost her footing, beginning to tumble backward, and the last thing he had ever expected her to do was to shoot her arms around his neck and pull herself into him.

Contact snapping him out of his stupor, the boy reacted quickly; his hands flying around her waist in an attempt to stabilize her. Gently, he guided her back to the small step stool, making sure she had balance once more.

Roxy was shaking - shaking - as she clung to him, nose inadvertently nuzzled into his neck. All Kendall could focus on was how close they were, how fast her chest was heaving, as he ignored the itch in the back of his brain.

Tell her, tell her, tell her-

"Are you alright?" Kendall asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Neither of them moved while the girl composed herself, a nearly impossible task while the two were practically flushed against each other.

She breathed a breath in. She breathed a breath out.

"Yeah," But she didn't make any move to unlock her arms from around his neck.

Relieved, Kendall finally listened to his train of thought as his blood roared in his ears, allowing one of his hands to reluctantly leave her waist and trail up to the base of her neck, cradling her further into him.

Be it the bad boy persona he was swiftly trying to adapt to or the adrenaline rushing through his veins...

"Would it be crazy if I told you I wanted to kiss you so badly right now?"

His heart nearly stopped as she pulled away from him, eyes widening in surprise as she studied his face, trying to figure out if he really meant what he had said. The heat creeping up the back of her neck reached where his hand had gently been placed, worrying the frontman slightly.

"No... Not not at all" She quickly replied, giving him the dazzling smile he had so desperately wanted to give her by squeezing into the bad boy outfit he had picked out.

Kendall smirked right back, hesitantly leaning into his assistant before she yanked the sides of his jacket, easily bringing her mouth to his for a few short seconds before pulling away.

"Ready to go kick some Griffin-butt?" She questioned. "The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can sneak back down here and... you know..."

He did know.

At her words, Kendall's cheeks lit up, no doubt the source of another big Roxy smile gracing her lips as she hopped down from the step stool.

Holy shit, he thought, running a hand through his hair and watching as she returned the stool to where it came from. Then, she raced back over and laced her fingers through his, pulling him to the studio where he was going to surprise Griffin and WayneWayne with his new look. James is going to kill me.

[anthonysmakebelieveblog]

Switching the subject to his acting career, what do you think he should do next? I don’t think he’s great at choosing roles. He’s diversifying the genres, but not the characters. I want him to push himself, but he said he likes when his friends tell him they still see him no matter what role he’s playing

Did he really say that? 🤨 Also, why does he care what his hanger ons think? -- Woosah, let me regain my composure. 😣💆🏾‍♀️

Now, let me preface this by saying that some of what I write below may offend some Ant fans, so I apologize in advance:

In terms of acting, from what I've seen him in, he can really shine if given proper direction. In Treatment, in my opinion, was his best work to date, in part because I think he was working with a great director (and the amazingly talented Uzo Aduba). I also think he really could relate to the character and just blended seamlessly into that role. This was my first introduction to him and even when I go back to watch it, I don't see Anthony Ramos, I see Eladio.

Now, in terms of other things he's been in, I don't know if either he wasn't right for the role, or he wasn't given proper direction.

⛔️WARNING: POTENTIALLY OFFENSE COMMENTS ⛔️

I don't think Ant is the best actor, or that acting comes naturally to him unless he's playing some version of himself. However, I do think he works really, really hard, and if given proper direction (and maybe some intense dramatic acting lessons) he could do well in many diverse roles. I also think a lot of directors, (Twisters, Transformers for example) kind of failed him. They didn't give him proper direction and feedback, and it showed. I think this has back fired on him, and now he's mostly being offered roles where he is typecasted, because casting directors can't see him in any other role but the latino dude from Brooklyn.

With all that set up, to answer your question, I first think he needs to get some intense acting lessons, and then start auditioning for more challenging roles. He needs to get back into hustle mode.

However, as we have discussed, he may not be motivated enough anymore, and happy with the roles that people offer him and the steady pay checks that they provide. Which is fine. He can make a nice living as a B list actor, especially with voiceover roles (he has had quite a few) and live his life as he pleases.

It all depends on how seriously he wants to take his career at this point.