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once-upon-an-imagine · 2 years ago

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Teenage Dirtbag - Eddie Munson

A/N: well, this keeps on working so far 😂😂😂 here's Eddie's story! and then is full Marauders, James, then Remus, and then Sirius! I hope you guys like it!

Request - lunamadhatter99 asked: I do have a request, my friend! I'm so happy requests are open😍 Anyway: Henderson!Reader x either Steve or Eddie (whoever works better for you), where the reader is very quiet, not necessarily shy, but still. She's targeted by the jocks too because she's the "loser" sister, you know, and maybe one day, one of their pranks went too far and she's very upset about it (maybe is the process a special possession of hers). Every time she gets bullied, Steve/Eddie helps her comfort her, especially because she doesn't want to tell his little brother, who thinks she is friends with them... does it make sense? I don't know, I'm sorry 😂👋

Warnings: mentions of sex; Billy being an asshole (also, this is kinda between s3 and 4 and Billy didn't die so Jason and Andy are his dumb friends I hope this makes sense) reader is kind of mean to Dustin (not really, she's just grumpy and a loner instead of shy, kind of like Kat in 10TIHAY)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Stranger Things :) gif isn’t mine :D

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Teenage Dirtbag

'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me, ooh

“DUSTIN! Hurry up! Steve is gonna be here any second! We’re gonna be late!” you smashed your hand against the bathroom door, yelling for your brother to get ready. You had been feeling anxious all day. Something inside you told you that today might not be a good day and, as much as you tried not to, you took it out on Dustin.

“I’m coming! Geez, calm down!”

You rolled your eyes and walked over to the kitchen to finish your coffee and wash the dishes but you tripped over a bag full of garbage.

“Ugh! Dustin!” you yelled as he walked over to you.

“What? What did I do now?”

“The trash is your chore” you complained, grabbing the bag and handing it to him. “When I say take out the trash, I mean outside of the house. To the trashcan!”

“Maybe you can show me for next time” he laughed.

“Maybe I can give your Nintendo to goodwill” you smirked back, erasing the smirk off his face.

“Fine, sorry” he said, grabbing the bag and going outside.

“Let’s go!” you said as soon as you heard Steve’s car parking on your driveway.

“Wait, where’s lunch?”

“Oh, shit!” you said, grabbing some of the money you left near the door in case Dustin needed to order food. “Here” you said, grabbing $10 for yourself and giving Dustin $5.

“Why do you get $10 and I get $5?” Dustin complained.

“Take out the freaking trash!” you replied, mocking his exact same tone.

“Good morning, Hendersons!” Steve smiled as you got in the front and Dustin got in the back.

“Thanks for the ride, Steve” you said. “Robin still out of town?” you asked, confused to not see her there already.

“Yeah, she’s coming back next week-”

“Why are we even going this early? School doesn’t start for another hour!” Dustin asked on the ride to school. “And why do you always ride shotgun?”

“Because I’m Steve’s favorite Henderson” you smirked. “And Steve has an early shift, so I wasn’t going to make him wait for us” you explained. “Plus, I have to get together with Nancy for something about the school paper” you informed him.

“Well, I could have taken my bike-”

“Just say thank you, Dustin!”

“Thank you” he said, rolling his eyes a little.

“Hey, aren’t those your old friends?” Dustin asked as Steve drove into the parking lot. You looked to where he was pointing to see the basketball players hanging outside the school with some of the cheerleaders.

“No” both you and Steve replied at the same time.

“Are you sure?” Dustin asked, confused. He recognized some of them, although he had noticed you never talked to them anymore.

“I’m sure” you said, rolling your eyes. “Just… stay away from them, okay?”

“Okay” he said, unconvinced. “Um, are we having movie night?” he asked Steve.

“Yeah, my house” he nodded.

“Cool. I think we’re going to Mike’s after school, so I’ll see you there” he told them.

“Okay” you nodded. Dustin started opening his door but you stopped him. “Dusty” you said, making him look confused at you. You rarely called him that anymore. “Nothing… I’ll see you at Steve’s” you told him and he nodded before he got out.

You saw him make his way over to Mike, Will, Lucas, Max, and El and you heard him complain about you and all of them saying how you used to be fun and happy all the time. You let out a sigh of frustration, throwing your head back on the chair.

“You know, you could just… tell him” Steve shrugged.

“I’m good” you told him.

“Dustin’s just worried about you” he insisted. “And to be honest, so am I-”

“Harrington, I know my brother’s your best friend now-”

“That’s not true” he glared at you.

“But you were my friend first and you promised we wouldn’t discuss this with Dustin” you told him.

“I’m just… a little confused, okay? Why did you all of the sudden stop hanging out with them like, what, a year ago?”

“You did too!” you argued.

“Well, yeah, because they’re assholes-”

“Exactly” you told him.

“But, now you’re here alone, because I graduated, I just don’t want you to be alone-”

“I’m fine on my own” you shrugged. “Plus… Eddie’s my friend-”

“Oh, right… Munson. That’s another thing. I know something happened last Halloween, okay? You mysteriously stop hanging out with all of our friends, you started wearing darker clothes, darker makeup and you start hanging around with Eddie, the freak, Munson-”

“I told you to stop calling him that” you glared at him.

“Which you also hide from Dustin-”

“Well, I just don’t want him to think that the only reason he and his friends are in Hellfire is because I asked Eddie to look after them-”

“But you did-”

“Steve, it is too early in the morning to have this discussion” you said, rubbing your temple.

“Fine… I’ll drop it” he said. “For now” he added, making you glare at him a little. “You working today?”

“No, it’s my day off” you informed him.

“Cool, want me to pick you up after work?”

“You sure it’s not too much trouble?”

“Nah, you’re my favorite Henderson after all” he smirked.

“I knew it!” you said, kissing his cheek before you opened the door. “See you later, Stevie” you said.

“Have a good day, kid” he waved at you.

He noticed you walking close to the group of jocks and they yelled something at you but you simply flipped them off and kept walking. Steve felt a bit uneasy about it but decided he would ask you about it when he picked you up. Sooner or later, you had to talk to him.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hey, princess” you felt a small smile, trying to contain the butterflies you felt in your stomach when you heard that voice. You turned around to see Eddie smiling at you.

“Munson, I thought you were standing me up today” you said as he sat at your usual table in the woods, past the bleachers.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love” he said, sitting in front of you. “What do you got for me today?”

“I forgot to make lunch, so I had to grab something from the vending machine” you said, putting your cigarette out. “So, pretzels, or Reeses Pieces?”

“You just… happened to pick my two favorite things?” he smirked. “If I didn’t know any better, Henderson, I would think you like me” he mocked you.

“Uh-huh, is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? And two cokes?” your sked, looking at his bag.

“Grape jelly. Your favorite” he winked at you.

“Huh, if I didn’t know any better, Munson, I would think you like me” you returned the smirk.

“Wanna split it?” he asked and you nodded as you split the three things between the two of you. “So, what are you working on?” he asked, about to grab your sketchbook.

“Nothing!” you quickly said, putting it away before he could get it.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all” he mocked you. “Come on, show me!”

“It’s just… a work in progress” you told him. “It’s not finished yet” you insisted.

“Fine, be all mysterious” he chuckled. “Hey, did you get new colored pencils?” he asked, grabbing one of them.

“Oh, um… y-yeah” you said nervously. “There was a discount at the store where I work and-”

“Really?” he raised his eyebrow at you. “Or were your old ones… broken?”

“Um… there may have been an… incident-”

“Who?” he asked, his tone turning angry.

“It doesn’t matter, Eddie-”

“Yes, it does! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want you to get into a fight and not graduate with me this year” you told him, making him laugh just barely. “Look, it’s fine. I really did get a discount and…” you said, looking through your bag. “I got markers too” you smiled brightly at him. “Look!”

You stood from your place and sat down on the table with your feet on the bench next to Eddie. You grabbed his hand and placed it on your knee, which was not an uncommon thing for you to do whenever you drew something on him but he felt his cheeks blushing. You quickly drew a small doodle of the Hellfire symbol using different colors and you smiled when you were done, showing it to him. Eddie rarely get to see that smile on you and he loved it when it happened.

“Holy shit!” he smiled, looking down at his hand. It looked cooler than the one in his shirt.

“Do you like it?” you asked, bashfully.

“I love it, princess! This is amazing!” he said, looking back at you. “You’re amazing” he smiled.

“Um, thanks” you said, looking down at his hand and feeling your cheeks burn. You could not ignore the butterflies in your stomach any longer. You grabbed his hand and stroked your thumb against your new drawing. “Uh, a-actually, what I didn’t want to show you is um… kind of… a surprise…” you admitted, not facing him.

You saw Eddie’s hand untangle from yours and make its way up to your chin, lifting your head gently and making you look into his beautiful, chocolate-brown eyes.

“A surprise?” he asked, smiling brightly. You simply nodded, unable to form any words by the way he was looking at you. “What is it?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise!” you chuckled. “I just want to finish it before I show it to you” you told him.

“Okay, fine” he said, as his hand suddenly found its way back to yours and you started playing with his rings. “But… you promise you’ll show it to me when it’s done?”

“I promise. I mean, it’s kind of… for you” you told him.

“Really?” he asked, and you nodded.

“Yeah, it’s kind of… a thank you” you admitted. “For everything” you added. “Even for my brother and his friends. Thanks for letting them in Hellfire” you told him. “I know they're a bit weird but… I love them and I'm happy they found someone like you” you said.

“My pleasure, princess” he told you. “They’re cool kids” he chuckled. “Especially Dustin” he added. “Although he keeps asking me why I always have different doodles all over me” he chuckled.

“Yeah, he’s pretty smart” you laughed too. “I don’t think it’ll be long before he realizes about us” you said, without really thinking. “I m-mean uh-”

“Us?” Eddie smirked. “And exactly what would he realize?” he asked, getting up and towering a little over you, placing his hands on both your sides. “That we’re friends?” he asked, with the same smirk still plastered on his face.

“Y-yeah, I guess” you said innocently.

“Would he mind?”

“Um- I don’t think so, I just… don’t want him to think that you’re only his friend b-because of me” you explained.

“Oh, he wouldn’t think that” he assured you, as he gently brushed your hair away from your face. “And… what if he thinks there’s something else between us?”

“Is there?” you asked, as you felt him getting closer. And then the bell rang. The stupid bell rang. “Fuck!”

“Ignore that” he pleaded.

“No! We have a Math test” you said, pushing him away and gathering all of your things. “I told you, Eddie, you’re graduating this year, with me. Let’s go!” you threatened him.

“You’re killing me, sweetheart” he said, as you pulled him with you but he was stronger and he pulled you back. “To be continued?” he smirked.

For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, you smiled. It was a different smile, one that you didn’t think you had in you anymore and you could see Eddie noticed it. You leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“To be continued, Munson” you said, before you started pulling him towards the school despite his protests.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

You were waiting in the parking lot for Steve. As much as you wanted, you were not able to be with Eddie alone the rest of the day. You were hoping to catch him at the end but, as a surprise to no one, he got detention, so here you were.

“Well, if it isn’t my lucky day?”

You cursed under your breath, silently begging for Steve’s car to appear any moment now. But no such luck.

“Hargrove” you sighed. “Oh, if it isn’t Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum” you smirked at Jason and Andy, standing with Billy.

“Fancy meeting you here, babe” Billy smirked at you.

“Can’t say the same” you said, trying to walk away but he stepped in front of you. “What do you want, Hargrove?”

“See, I have a question for you” he said. “Andy here, says he saw you coming out of those woods with Eddie fucking Munson” he said, getting closer to you and making you take a step back. “Is that true?”

“I fail to see how that’s any of your business, really” you glared at him.

“Well, for starters, I think Munson can do better” he said, making Andy and Jason laugh.

“Lovely” you rolled your eyes, trying to walk away again but they blocked your way.

“Aw, did I strike a nerve there? Do you have a crush on Munson?” he mocked you.

“Just, leave me alone, Billy-” you said, trying to leave but, you felt your sketchbook being taken from you.

“Oh, what is this?” Jason asked, opening the sketchbook. “Do you write your love letters to that freak here?” he laughed.

“Give that back!” you said, trying to get it back from him.

“Oh, it’s even better than that!” he said, showing your sketches to Billy and Andy who started laughing.

“Give me that!” you said as he tossed it to Billy.

“Looks like you’re a bit obsessed with him, babe” he said, looking at your drawings. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t want anything to happen to this, would you?” he said, tearing a few pages apart.

“Billy, give it back!” you yelled, but he pushed you back, making you fall to the ground, your hands aching when they hit the pavement.

“Whoops, clumsy me” he said, tossing your sketchbook on a nearby water puddle.

“Stop it!” you said, getting up and trying to get to it but Andy pushed you away.

“HEY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?”

“You want something, freak?” Jason yelled, smirking.

“Oh, speak of the devil” Billy smirked as Eddie approached all of you.

“Get the fuck away from her” he said, making his way over to Billy.

“Why don’t you keep walking and mind your business, freak?”

“You know, I gotta say, even for you, it’s pretty low, three guys against one girl” he smirked, erasing Billy’s.

“You really think it’s worth it? Standing up for that slut-?”

Before Billy could go on, Eddie quickly punched him in the face.

“Eddie!”

“You’re dead, freak!” Jason said, punching Eddie back while Billy got up, laughing.

“Looks, like you got some fire in you, Munson!” he yelled before he punched him too.

“Eddie!” you yelled, trying to get to him but Andy stopped you. “Stop it!”

“You having fun, Munson?” Billy smirked as he landed punches on Eddie before he grabbed him by his jacket. “No one tells me what to do!” he said before he pushed him to the ground again. He then threw himself at Eddie and started landing punch after punch, like a madman. The last time you had seen Billy like this was when he fought Steve and it shook you to your core.

“STOP IT! BILLY, STOP!”

“You really think you traded up, babe?” he smirked, looking at you. “He’s even worse than Harrington!”

“STOP IT, PLEASE!” you said, as tears started welling up in your eyes.

“Aw, you gonna cry, princess?” he said, mocking Eddie’s voice with the last word.

As if your prayers were finally answered, a car reeled in front of you, almost hitting Jason.

“What the fuck, Harrington?” he asked as Steve got out of the car.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

“Come join the party, Harrington” Billy smirked at him, finally letting go of Eddie. “Ready for round two?”

“Yeah, let me just get my friend here” Steve smirked, grabbing his bat out.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Andy said, letting go of you, and slowly walking away with Jason. You quickly ran over to Eddie, pushing Billy aside.

“Ready to go, Hargrove?” Steve said, walking closer to him as he and the other two stepped away.

“You know what? She’s not even fucking worth it” Billy said, throwing one last glare at you. “Let’s just go” he told Jason and Andy as they walked away.

“Eddie! Oh my God, Eddie! Can you hear me?”

“Do I have a concussion or did King Steve Harrington just save my ass?”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry” you apologized, taking the cotton ball away.

You were now in Steve’s kitchen, cleaning Eddie up. You carefully pulled his hair up in a messy bun with your scrunchie so you could see him better. You placed your hand softly on his cheek and your heart broke seeing a big purple bruise printed on his left eye. He looked at you with his huge, deep brown puppy eyes and you had to take a deep breath to not lose it right there because you knew he needed you.

“You okay?” Eddie asked, worriedly.

“M-me? You’re asking if I’m okay? Eddie, Billy and Jason just beat the shit out of you, and you’re asking if I’m okay?”

“First of all, I’d like to think that I handled that with dignity. Secondly, you fell to the ground and that idiot Andy was hurting you” he said, grabbing your hand and tracing his thumb gently on the bruises forming in your arms where Andy grabbed you.

“I’m really sorry, Eddie” you said, coming out in a whisper and tracing your thumb against the now fading drawing you made earlier on his hand. A small tear fell down your cheek and Eddie quickly wiped it away before he cupped your cheek.

“Princess, you have nothing to be sorry for” he assured you.

“Yes, I do! You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if it wasn’t for me” you insisted.

“Hey” he said, pulling you closer to him. “I would do it all over again, love” he smiled at you.

“Hey, man” Steve said, coming into the kitchen and making you and Eddie jump apart. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I got some clean clothes for you” he said offering Eddie a shirt and some sweatpants.

“Thanks, man” Eddie smiled, grabbing the clothes from him. “I’m uh- gonna go change and I’ll get out of your way-”

“We’re having movie night” Steve blurted out of the sudden. “We’re ordering pizza and Dustin, Mike, and the rest are coming over. If you’d like to stay” he offered.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude, man-”

“You’re not intruding. It’s the least I can do after you got hit for me” you told him.

“You keep bruising my ego, Henderson” he smirked at you. “What are we watching?” Eddie asked, interested.

“Gremlins” you told him.

“Seriously?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at Steve.

“Don’t look at me, man. It was her turn to choose the movie!” he said pointing at you.

“Shut up, you two. Gremlins is an awesome movie!”

“Isn’t that what you call your brother and his friends?” Eddie laughed. “I didn’t know that was your favorite movie, princess” he said. “Well, how can I say no to that masterpiece and pizza, I really can’t” he said, leaving the kitchen.

“So…” Steve started.

“So?”

“Are we going to talk about what happened today or are we just going to pretend nothing happened?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Well, you can choose between telling me why your sketchbook has smudgy drawings of Eddie” he said, opening your wet, torn, destroyed sketchbook. “Or why Hargrove and his friends were beating the shit out of him in the parking lot” he added.

“Steve, I don’t want to talk about it-”

“Well, tough. Look, we’ve been friends for a very long time now. I told you why I stopped talking to Tommy and Carol and all of our friends but you never told me why you did and somehow Munson knows!” he argued. “I get that you don’t tell Dustin everything because you want to protect him but what is so horrible that you couldn’t tell me?”

“You don’t want to know-”

“Yes, I do! You’re my best friend! You can tell me anything!”

“You’re gonna hate me!”

“What? No! I swear, okay? Nothing you say will make me hate you! We’ve been through enough shit that you should know that already-”

“I slept with Billy!” you blurted out.

“W-what?” Steve asked, hoping he hadn’t heard you right.

“What?” another voice asked, from another side of the kitchen. Dustin.

“Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me!” you said, feeling like you were going to throw up. “What are you doing here?”

“We all just got here, I was looking for you” he said, walking closer to you and Steve. “You slept with Billy Hargrove, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Dustin!” Steve warned.

“You know what? I don’t want to deal with this right now” you said, grabbing your damped sketchbook and walking out of the house to Steve’s backyard. Dustin was about to follow you but Steve stopped him.

“Look, I get that you’re upset but you’re not going out there if you’re only going to upset your sister more. She had a hard day-”

“Well, how would I know that, Steve? She doesn’t talk to me!”

“What’s with all the yelling?” Eddie said, coming back into the kitchen.

“Eddie? What are you doing here?” Dustin asked confused. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“Uh- I am…” he looked at Steve, unsure as to what to say.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on? And what are you two and my sister hiding from me?”

“We’re not hiding anything from you. You need to calm down and we can go sort this out, okay?”

“Fine” Dustin said, unconvinced.

“You promise you won’t snap at her like you just did” Steve glared at him a little.

“Okay” he sighed, rolling his eyes. The three of them walked outside to find you sitting on one of Steve’s pool chairs. Steve and Eddie sat next to you and Dustin sat on the edge of the one you were sitting in. “Uh, hey” he said, nervously. “Um-” he continued when both Steve and Eddie glared at him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier” he muttered.

“It’s fine, Dusty” you said, sitting up and hugging your legs to you.

“Look, Dustin and I are just worried about you” Steve continued. “We don’t want to push you or anything, we just… want to know what’s going on with you” he added. You looked up at Eddie and he softly nodded at you. He really wanted to hold your hand but he figured Dustin might freak out about it too.

“Um…” you took a deep breath. “Look, I know that… I’ve kind of been pulling away” you started. “And I’m sorry, it’s just…” you sighed. “It was a stupid mistake and I didn’t want either one of you to hate me” you admitted.

“What- uh, when?” Dustin stuttered. “Um, no, y-you go” he said.

“It just happened once” you informed them.

“At… last year’s Halloween party?” Steve guessed and you nodded.

“Look, I was… really drunk and, dad had just left and… mom was kind of a mess and… I don’t know, I guess I was too” you said, sadly.

“Wait, I was there that night, why didn’t you tell me anything?” Steve asked, confused.

“You had your own shit going on” you reminded him. “With Nancy” you added. “So, after you left I got drunker and… then I don’t know, Billy was just there and… it happened” you sighed. “And after I felt so awful” you told them. “When I came down I ran into Eddie and he saw I was upset” you explained. “He drove me home and… he stayed with me and he made sure I was okay” you smiled. “That’s how we became friends-”

“You two are friends?” Dustin asked. “I knew I recognized your doodles” he said, looking at the metalhead.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you” you told Dustin. “I just… didn’t want to get into the whole thing and… it’s not really the conversation you have with your little brother” you admitted.

“I get that but… we used to talk about everything” Dustin said, sadly. “We were always kind of a team and for the past year it just felt like… you hated me” he said.

“Dusty” you said, sitting closer to him and hugging him. “I could never hate you” you assured him. “I am so sorry I pushed you away, I was just… so embarrassed about what happened and, I kind of wanted to forget the whole thing and I guess that in the midst of it all I just… ended up pushing everyone away” you explained.

“So, what happened today?” Dustin asked, confused.

“Well, I was waiting for Steve to pick me up and Billy and his friends just started being idiots” you told him. “Eddie saw and tried to help me” you continued. “And then Steve got there with his bat and they went away” you told him.

“So, that’s why you tell me to stay away from them? I mean, I always knew Billy was a dick but… all of your friends?”

“Well, yeah. I told Billy that if he ever said a word about what happened to anyone, I’d tell everyone he cried like a bitch and he had a small dick” you said, making the three of them laugh a little. “And then, either I just stopped talking to them or they would stop talking to me and… it wasn’t just Billy, you know? You were right” you said, looking at Steve. “They were all just… assholes” you admitted.

“I could have told you that a long time ago” Eddie chuckled.

“You okay?” Dustin asked you.

“Yeah” you smiled. “I’m sorry… about… everything” you told him. “Both of you” you said, looking at Steve.

“Don’t worry” Dustin smiled at you. “I love you dumb-dumb” he said, putting his fist so you would bump it.

“Love you too, dumb-dumb” you smiled back and bumped his fist. “No more lies” you promised and he nodded, smiling.

“It’s fine” Steve said, getting up and kissing your head. “C’mon little Henderson, let’s go set everything up” Steve said, patting Dustin on his back.

“Wait, why do I have to go?” he complained, still getting up.

“Just be nice to your sister, man, she’s been through a lot” Steve complained.

“What about me? I have been through a lot too!” he said, dramatically as they went inside, leaving you and Eddie alone.

“Hey” you smiled back at Eddie.

“Hi, princess” he said, moving over to take Dustin’s place in front of you. “How are you feeling?”

“Not so bad” you sighed. “I still would have preferred not to discuss my sex life with my little brother but… it is what it is” you chuckled.

“Sorry about your sketchbook, love” he said, looking at it on the floor.

“It’s okay” you sighed, going through the damped pages. “It just… might take me a little longer to finish your surprise now” you said, sadly.

“Wait, is that… is that me?” he asked, feeling his heart flutter.

“It… was supposed to be” you told him. “I mean, your D&D character” you muttered. “I… wanted to um… I was trying to get it right and I thought you m-might like it-”

“It’s perfect, princess” he smiled at you.

“It’s ruined, Eddie” you chuckled.

“Well, then I guess I need to get you another sketchbook, love” he said, grabbing it from you.

“You don’t have to get me one, Eddie” you smiled as he scootched closer to you.

“Jesus, Henderson would you just let me do something nice for you” he smiled, cupping your cheek with his hand.

“You do nothing but nice things for me, Munson” you smiled.

“What can I say? You bring out the best in me, sweetheart” he smiled back.

“Well, in that case, maybe you can do one more nice thing for me” you said, pulling him by his shirt, well, Steve’s shirt and he pulled you gently, brushing his thumb against your cheek.

“Gladly, princess” he said, smiling before he finally connected his lips with yours. He felt you smiling against his lips as you started deepening the kiss before you were rudely interrupted.

“Hey guys, pizza’s here- what the fuck?” you jumped apart when you heard Dustin’s voice again, with Lucas, Will, and Max standing next to him, trying not to laugh. “You two are together? I thought there were no more lies!”

“Would you believe me that this literally just happened, Henderson?”

The End

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A/N: hope you loves liked it! :D

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson oneshot

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cinnamontoastcrunch-15 · 1 year ago

Text

Tiny little wolfstar piece to try and get over my writers block.

"Moony..." Sirius started, stopping in front of Remus, who was sitting in James' back garden, book in one hand. At the sound of Sirius' voice, he glanced up, warm smile already in place. Sirius smiled back, dropping down next to him on the grass. "I, uh..." Anxiety waved over him, then. "I have something to tell you. Well, show you."

Remus' smile faded, like he could feel Sirius' nerves radiating off him. He probably could, Remus was the only one who would do that.

"What's going on, is everything okay?"

"Well, I- just... promise me you won't be angry." Remus laughed lightly, reaching out to grab Sirius' hand and squeezing it once.

"Oh God, what have you done?" He asked easily.

"It's... a long story."

A hint of a frown started to appear, then. Sirius knew he just needed to get on with it, but he was nervous! He honestly had no clue how Remus would react, but he had a feeling that Remus was started to overblow the situation in his head.

"Sirius-?"

"Not that it's bad! Well, I don't think it's bad, but I guess- you might think it's... I don't know."

"Love, you're rambling." Remus said gently, somehow calm through his panic. "Just tell me. Surely it can't be that bad, I mean... you haven't killed anyone, have you-?"

"I got a tattoo." Sirius said in a rush, eyes fixing on their joined hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Remus freeze. He was right, though. Just getting it out helped him get his head together, think. "Last week, when I went to visit Andy. Turns out she can do them, so I got one."

Remus nodded, encouraging Sirius to tear his eyes away from their joined hands and up to Remus' face. So far, so good, Remus had shot him a reassuring smile.

"If it makes you happy, then I'm happy." He answered with a shrug. Warmth shot through Sirius, but it wasn't over, he needed to know the rest.

"Let me just- I'll show you, hold on." Sirius added, pulling his hand from Remus' and lifting his sleeve. He flipped his right forearm and showed Remus the tattoo, watching in bated breath as Remus' eyes widened.

"Oh my god. You-"

Sirius turned to the static tattoo on his arm, a small, silhouetted wolf and dog, sat side by side, leaning against one another.

"Hold on, there's more." With that, he ran his fingertips gently over the two, watching as they sprung to life, the wolf chasing the dog up his arm and out of sight. After a few moments, they ran back down, before dropping to a stroll, walking together.

"Sirius..." Remus trailed off, shock laced through his voice, as Sirius let his eyes travel back to him. Sirius didn't expect there to be tears in his eyes. "You- why would you...?"

"Oh, fuck, Moony, I'm sorry. I didn't- I can- I didn't mean to upset you." Sirius exhaled quickly, running an anxious hand through his hair.

"That's permanent. It's on you forever. It's permanent, Padfoot." Remus breathed, stunned, eyes darting over Sirius' face.

"...I know." Sirius answered, a little perplexed.

"You- you got it put on your skin permanently." He said again, and Sirius was really confused, at this point.

"Yeah, I did."

"That's us. You got us tattooed. You and me." Sirius nodded.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked, concerned.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Remus' eyes settled on Sirius'.

"...why?" Remus asked softly, eyes searching.

"...because I wanted to." Sirius said first, trying to find the words for a more substantial answer. "Because it's us. I love you, I wanted it to be there forever. For everyone to see, but only us to know, I guess." He finished calmly, with a shrug.

Remus blinked, clearly taken aback by the response, before finally, finally leaning in and kissing him.

"I love it." Remus murmured against Sirius lips. All of the tension finally dropped from his body, dropping his head onto Remus' shoulder as Remus, arm found its way around Sirius' waist.

"Oh, thank fuck." He said with a relieved sigh, drawing a laugh out of Remus. "Don't do that! You had me bloody terrified!"

"Sorry, love."

"No, don't be, I'm glad you like it." And then, "I was thinking we could get matching ones, next." He added with a sharp eyebrow raise and a grin.

#see i can still write #i think #wolfstar #sirius black #wolfstar oneshot #marauders #remus lupin #remus x sirius #young marauders #moony x padfoot #atyd marauders #marauders oneshot

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nellie-elizabeth · 2 months ago

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February 2025 - Reading & Media Logging

I'll share some thoughts under the cut!

What I Read:

I'll do some brief thoughts on these books!

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. Loved this a surprising amount, it felt like a radically honest book about a fourteen year old girl, and also it made me cry a TON at the end. When the mom says sorry to Toby... or maybe she didn't say and it's just what June wants to be true... oof.

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. Had a perfectly fine time reading this, had a much more fun time talking about it with my book club!

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo. Really good, maybe my favorite of these novellas so far? Loved how horror-y it was.

The Real Inspector Hound and other Plays by Tom Stoppard. This is a collection, but really I feel like only Hound knocked my socks off, turns out this very famous play by a famously excellent playwright is... very good. Huh!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I mean... it's very good. It's an uneven book in a lot of ways that anybody who's read or studied it already knows about, but it tugs at the heartstrings and it's totally earned its place in the canon imo.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Read this with my friend Emily! It was my third reading, her first. I loved it as I always love it, but I did find myself a little more tripped up by the way women are treated in the text. Still one of my favorites though. That Kid Sampson death and the rest of that sequence will always haunt me!

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen. I gave this a try, but I don't think I can read on in the series, I really was not connecting with the way this author writes his characters. I wanted to like Andy, but he didn't feel real to me, and I also felt a vague sense of offense about the way queer 1950's SF culture was talked about in this book? It rang very hollow to me.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. This was an interesting read, I loved the narrative voice and the creeping sense of unease and dread as you wait to understand the motivations of the two people at the table! Also I liked the allegory, like his company's initials being "U.S" and his girlfriend being "Erica" like (Am)Erica, get it??? lol.

James by Percival Everett. Oh man, I wanted to like this but I did not. I was really put off by the implication that the way to give the literary character of Jim a sense of interior being and more of a soul is to... make him literate and well-educated and change all the basic details about his personality and say that the person we know from Huck Finn was just his disguise as a "dumb slave" to fool the white people? I don't know. Why can't an illiterate and superstitious and religious man be a man worthy of having his story told? Also, HATED the twist about Jim and Huck, what the fuck is up with that? Honestly, if this book hadn't been in conversation with Huck Finn I think it would be a perfectly good literary novel, but James should have been an original character and not a re-write of Twain. People were praising this book for its humor, too, and... footage not found. Re-reading Huck Finn before this also didn't do it any favors, because like... sorry, Mr. Everett, you don't have the satirical chops?

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley. I just finished this yesterday and wrote a very long somewhat rambling account of my thoughts! You can read those here if you like. It's a weird book!

What I Listened To:

Still on my Epic run, I still love it, you should listen to it... I've been trying to recruit more people to the dark side... I've been watching reaction videos and behind-the-scenes stuff with the creator...

And then inspired by the Epic thing, have been revisiting the soundtrack for another Greek-myth based musical Hadestown, which like... if you haven't already listened to it, get on that stat. It's probably my favorite musical of all time? If I had to pick just one in this moment? It's incredible.

The Superbowl Halftime show made me go back and listen to some Kendrick... he's uh. Very good. At what he does. Breaking news.

The current season of the podcast Hot and Bothered is all about romantic comedies and it's a great analytical breakdown of some classic movies in the genre! They just did a couple episodes on Cruel Intentions that are really good.

What I Watched:

Also inspired by the halftime show, I went back and re-watched F.D. Signifier's excellent video essay about the whole Kendrick & Drake beef which is also just like a good run-down of some basic history of hip hop as a genre. And then I went through and watched a bunch of his other videos that I hadn't seen before... he's a very good cultural critic and if you're a fan of video essays I would say to check him out if you've somehow missed him so far!

Very Important People on Dropout has a new season! I love Vic, I love this show, it's great. Dropout is worth the subscription price, there's so much good shit on there. Been enjoying the new season of Um, Actually as well. Great background noise.

#my posts #book tag

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aeterna-auroral-avenger · 3 months ago

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Tag Game: People I'd like to get to know better!

Thank you tagging me @trickstersintime I love this stuff!

Last Song: That would be Run Wild by for KING + COUNTRY one of my many many favorites

Favorite Color: I am a sucker for purple, especially like royal purple, eggplant purple, the purple found in the cosmos. You know that rich, deep color mmmmm love it. I also really appreciate a good, dark forest green, especially if it's paired with silver. I love when the purple is paired with silver too.

Last Book: So the last book I finished was...I guess that would be Holmes, Marple, & Poe by James Patterson. Bonus: Currently reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

Last Movie: You mean like movie I actually watched or movie I had on for background noise? If it's the former, then Mean Girls the Musical. If it's the latter, Super Mario Bros.

Last TV show: Oh gosh, well, see I'm currently cycling through 3 different shows right now, depending on my mood. Reba, Frasier, and 9-1-1. I think truly the last episode I watched was from Reba.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: I'm not really one who goes for spicy foods. Now I love savory, and I love sweet very much. But light on the spicy please.

Current obsession: My Wicked obsession has come back with a vengeance on top of my long-term hyperfixations.

No pressure tags: I dunno who likes doing this stuff anymore sooooooo... uh @fleursfairies @marvel-and-dc-geek @antvnger @cantevenbeachhere @fandom-took-my-sanity and anyone else who wants to give it a go!

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sankta-starkova · 2 years ago

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LETTERMAN

020; yes, and

previous chapter | next chapter | masterlist

summary: the one where ej and andy realise that there may be some romantic feelings between them that hadn't been there before, or had they? the new year test this revelation

wordcount: 1.4k

Andy scoffed as she leaned over Carlos' shoulder along with the rest of the group, watching the North High advertisement for Beauty and The Beast on his phone.

"Thats the bitch Lily from out auditions," Andy said, shaking her head at the screen.

"You mean perfect pitch, looks like an actual disney princess, mean girl Lily," Ashlyn said, pacing back and forth.

Miss Jenn walked, in looking at them, "Thank you for coming so quickly on a Saturday, but it seems we are missing a village idiot and a teapot," she said, narrowing her eyes.

"They said on the group chat they couldn't get anyone to cover their shifts at the pizza place," Seb explained.

Miss Jenn looked confused, everyone knowing that they had two separate group chats, one with the students and one with Miss Jenn as well.

"I meant the group chat with me, Andy and EJ," Seb said and Miss Jenn just went along with it.

"Back to the matter at hand," Miss Jenn said, "I can tell you've all seen the video,"

It was nerve wracking to know that East High had such a high production quality compared to theirs.

Everyone nodded, "Its incredible, even I have no notes, I can't believe they stole our show," Carlos exclaimed.

"Miss Jenn, how are we supposed to beat North High at the Menkies if they're churning out this a second after changing their musical?" Ashlyn asked and everyone started to freak out.

Miss Jenn clapped her hands, everyone going silent as they waited for her to provide a solution.

"Wildcats, North High is clearly focusing on bells and whistles. All we need is to get back to basics," she said, explaining that they were going to spend the rest of the weekend doing an active intensive.

"I'm gonna have to cancel the table for tonight," EJ whispered into Andys ear. She nodded. It was their first date tonight and for the third time, it had been cancelled.

Andy just wanted this perfect first date with him, one where they could sit around and just chat and she didn't care if that was in a Carrabba's or a random parking lot.

She reached down, squeezing his hand and feeling him squeeze back.

"Don't forget, we have something North High doesn't have, a brand new original song for the beast and the rose," Miss Jenn explained, Nini was now playing the rose.

They all did some weird warm up exercises, Nini leaving to go and write the song.

They performed loads of weird exercises and finally it was time to practice some improv.

"Ashlyn will start us off, Gina agree with what she says and then carry on, lets get a suggestion for the location" Miss Jenn said.

"The louvre?" EJ suggested, Miss Jenn loving the idea. He smiled, reaching down and grabbing Andys hand.

"I thought this was meant to be a secret relationship?" She whispered to him and he smiled, squeezing her hand.

"Nobody will notice," he promised, the two going back to watching Ashlyn and Gina's improv.

She shook her head, a giddy smile on her face as she felt his hand in hers.

Gina didn't seem connected to the piece and Ashlyn got frustrated, leaving the scene as they finished the improv.

She called Carlos and Seb to the front and they performed some improv.

After a long and incredibly tiring day, Andy and EJ walked outside, her uncle waving from his car.

"Andy!" He exclaimed and she looked at her boyfriend confused before walking over with EJ behind her.

"Hey James, whats up?" She asked, not understanding why her uncle was sitting in his car in the parking lot with flowers and a picnic basket.

"Sophie told me that Viv told her that you told her that you and EJ are dating so I brought you a first date picnic basket," he said, freezing when he saw her confused face, "But if you don't want it-"

Andy cut him off, she just froze because she felt so grateful, "No! It's great," she said before turning to EJ, "I'm up to it if you are,"

He smiled at her, walking over and helping rake the picnic basket out of the car, "Course I am Andy," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"You watch those hands mister," James said with a smile, "Your mum and dad went on a similar first date, back in high school,"

Andy smiled half heartedly at the sentiment, thanking her uncle before walking to the park with EJ.

The two sat there, eating food and just talking about school and the play and everything - it was absolutely perfect.

There was something nice and simple about it just being the two of them with no fuss..

"Do you wish your dad was here, to see all this?" EJ asked randomly and when he saw Andy freeze up, his eyes went wide with panic, "Sorry! God, I shouldn't have brought that up,"

Andy chuckled, "It's fine EJ, I can talk about my dad without bursting into tears," she took a deep breath, "Of course I do, but I try not to linger on the thought,"

For a while, it was silent, both teenagers just looking at each other with smiles on their faces.

EJ leaned in, placing a hand on her cheek, "Your dad would be so proud of you, I know I am," he said and she just blushed.

It was always going to be a slightly tough conversation but she was a grown up and could handle it.

"That means a lot Eej," she said, leaning in closer so that their noses were touching.

"I'm gonna kiss you now," he whispered and she smiled as his lips pressed up against hers in a sweet kiss.

When they pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers, his hand going to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"You're perfect," he whispered and she smorted at his cheesiness.

He started laughing as well when he heard her snort, her hands going up to clasp her mouth. They both broke out into laughs, the two teenagers lost in each other completely.

There was something easy about being around EJ. She never had to worry about doing something dumb.

When they finished, there was a tiny, many make out session on the blanket that Andy had to cut short.

"My uncle will be pissed if I'm late home," she said, a sad tone to her voice.

She didn't want the date to end and neither did he.

They took a slow walk through the suburbs, under the blossoming flowers of the trees and the blue skies.

It seemed like the perfect day, his hand in hers as he held her close, the picnic basket in the other hand.

She looked up at him, his eyes shining in the light. She let out a small chuckle, unable to fathom how she had managed to find someone like him.

"What?" He asked, stopping at the start of their street, looking down at her.

As EJ looked at her, he couldn't understand why someone as amazing as her would ever choose someone like him.

He brushed a piece of her away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. He watched a blush spread across her cheeks at the action.

"Just wondering how I got this lucky," Andy stated.

He smiled, that perfect smile that had made her fall for him in the first place and she knew he was the perfect boy for her.

"Well I don't know how I got this lucky, so i guess we're both in shock," he stated.

She hummed in response before looking behind her at their houses next to each other.

"Pretty good first date if you ask me," Andy said and he nodded.

He squeezed her hand as he walked her over to her door.

"Yeah, and plenty more to come. I'll pick you up Sunday, I'll surprise you with a great second date," he said, sticking his pinky finger out as they reached their houses, stopping.

"Deal," she said, pulling him in for a quick kiss before walking away, opening her door and taking one last look at EJ.

He waved at her and she smiled before closing the door, a giddy grin stuck on her face.

Vivian was standing there and looked at her little sisters elated expression and she knew there would be no boy that could compare to EJ Caswell after this.

Taglist:

@maggiecc @hesfasttandshesweird

#letterman; ej caswell #ej caswell x oc #ej caswell fanfiction #ej caswell fanfic #ej caswell x reader #ej caswell #matt cornett #high school musical the musical the series fanfiction #high school musical the musical the series #high school musical #hsmtmts fanfiction #hsmtmts fanfic #hsm the musical #hsm the series #hsmtmts

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ejsandfarkleslovebot · 3 months ago

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Big Time Pranks

Andi honestly loved pranks. She thought they were fun and exciting only if they don't go too far. Some pranks can be a little brutal. So when Katie texted her, saying that the boys are having a prank war and said that girls weren't allowed because they aren't good at pranks she didn't hesitate to come over to the Palm Woods to tell the boys otherwise.

"What's this about girls not being good at pranks?" Andi questioned along with Camille and Jo, looking at Carlos, James, and Logan with a glare while putting her hands on her hips. She was a bit confused as to why Carlos was in a bear costume but she didn't say anything about it. Katie stood beside Andi, Camille, and Jo with her arms crossed while smiling at the boys.

Kendall shakes his head. "Never said that. I just said that it could get ugly, and girls could get hurt." The Jennifers walk over to them after overhearing their conversation and put their hands on their hips. "So, you're saying girls aren't as tough as guys."

"Hey, have you seen the bear standing next to me?" James asked, gesturing to Carlos.

Andi rolls her eyes. "That's Carlos."

"Yeah," James shrugs. "But this competition gets scary."

Carlos then growls trying to scare the girls which didn't work. Camille smirks. "Sounds like to me you guys are scared of getting your butts beat by a bunch of girls."

The boys scoff and shake their heads. Three girls walk over to stand beside Andi, Camille, Jo, Katie, and the Jennifers with their arms crossed. Carlos takes the head of the bear costume off. "What, ten against four?" He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, that's fair."

Six boys who overheard their conversation stand behind Carlos, James, and Kendall. "We're in."

James then count each of them. "Hey, we're still one short."

While Carlos puts the bear head back on Jett stands besides them. "I'm in too." Kendall looks at Jett with furrowed eyebrows. Jett shrugs. "What? I don't like you, but I will defend my gender." He then fists bumped Carlos. Andi chuckled and rolled her eyes.

Kendall looks at the girls with determination. "So be it as reigning Sir High King Lord of the pranks, I now declare this a megapranketition."

Everyone cheers until the clock on the wall strikes noon. "Bug out!" Kendall exclaims and everyone scatters in different directions.

"Laces tied together." Katie stands beside Andi, Camille, and Jo after she tied three of the boy's shoe laces together which made them fall. "Classic."

Andi smiles and fists bumps her. "Nice job."

Katie grins at her, returning the fist bump. "Thanks."

Carlos, James, and Kendall turn around, looking at them with wide eyes. "So that's three boys down..." Camille noticed.

Jo points at the three boys in front of them. "And three to go."

"Boo." The four girls say causing the three boys to let out a yell. James and Kendall drop their supplies and take off running along with Carlos.

****

Andi found out that the Jennifers is out of the prank war now being pranked by Carlos, James, and Kendall. So now Andi was helping Katie, Jo, and Camille with a pie-a-pult to prank the boys.

"The pie-a-pult." Katie smiled, setting the pie on the small catapult they hid behind some fake plants in the hallway they're in. Andi smiles. "When the guys get out of the elevator to run to the apartment for shelter...""They'll trip on the wire and get a face full of creamy defeat." Jo finished Andi's sentence while high fiving Katie.

Camille then makes sure that the wire is ready while she chuckles. "Boys are stupid.

""Now, all we have to do is hide and watch the show." Katie smirked.

"Boo!"

The four girls turn around, looking at Carlos, Kendall, and James with wide eyes. Camille let out a scream when she activates the pie-a-pult, sending the pie straight to her face. The boys then cheer and high five each other, but stop when Camille starts crying.

As Camille runs down the hallway crying, Andi, Jo, and Katie look at the three with a glare. "Hey," Carlos speaks up and Andi noticed that he wasn't wearing the bear costume anymore. "We told you that pranking was dangerous."

"Well, does your Lord Prankerton say you're not allowed to make sure someone is okay?" Jo asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"No, he does." James sighs. "It's called the Logan Amendment."

Kendall looks at Carlos and James. "Let's go."

Andi, Jo, and Katie get to the park where Camille is at before the boys do. The boys were shocked when they found out that Camille was fake crying and that she sacrificed herself so the girls could take out all of them. Andi, Jo, and Katie stand beside Camille holding pies while smirking at the three boys.

"Also, we brought back up." Andi revealed dramatically, smirking as she gestured to the girls who got out of their hiding places with pies.

Carlos, Kendall, and James look behind them and gulped when they see the other girls with pies in their hands. "Yep." Carlos grimaced.

James and Kendall nod. "We're doomed."

The three boys do their best to try and protect themselves while the girls started to move out of their hiding places and towards them. Jo smiles. "They look so cute when all hope is lost."

"Ready," Katie said, raising her pie along with the rest of the girls. "Aim..."

"Dogs," Andi looks over with furrowed eyebrows when Gustavo walks over to the boys. "I am Kelly today...Long story. So, uh, studio, now."

"Human shield!" The three boys suddenly shout, moving to stand beside Gustavo who they use as a shield just as the girls throw the pies. "Dang it!" Andi angrily stomped her foot when she saw the boys got out of the park untouched.

Camille and Jo sigh. "So close."

The group of girls turn around when they hear the sound of wheels turning and saw Tyler pulling a box with wheels. Andi tilts her head to the side, noticing the box said 'warning! tasmanian devil'. "Well," Katie steps forward, raising the pie she had at Tyler who looks at her with wide eyes. "Maybe it's not a total loss."

****

Andi eventually found Carlos and James hiding in a storage room and it looked like they were going to prank each other. She had to crawl in the vents to find them but it was worth it to take them down. Andi gets her two silly string cans ready to spray and opens the vent. The two lets out a small scream, looking at her with wide eyes.

Andi smirks and sprays both of them with the silly string. "Sorry, boys. But I'm trying to help Katie win that crown thing." She points at the seltzer. "Can I borrow that?" She grabs it when Carlos hands it over to her and sprays it all over them. "Thanks!" Andi then giggled as she watched them try to get the silly string off. Carlos and James give her playful glares. "You're gonna pay for this, Andi." James told her. Andi just grins mischievously. "Bring it on, boys. This prank war is far from over." With that, she disappears back into the vents, leaving Carlos and James to plot their revenge.

Just as Andi jumped down from the vent she was sprayed with something she realized was rotten milk. She grimaces at the smell and wipes the rotten milk off her face using her long sleeve. "Gross." She muttered and then groaned, realizing she was now out of the prank war. She wanted to help Katie win, but she had a feeling Katie was going to be fine without her.

Kendall smirks. "Got ya! Sorry, Andi, but I did tell you this would get ugly." He laughs, offering Andi a hand to help her up. "But hey, you put up a good fight. I think Katie might still have a shot at winning, thanks to your help." He ignored the butterflies in his stomach at the touch of her hand as he helped her up, focusing on the competition instead.

Andi's heart skips a beat at his touch, but she quickly recovers, smiling at Kendall. "Nice one, Kendall," She says, accepting his hand and getting up. "Yeah, I may be out of the game now, but it was worth it. Good luck with the rest of the prank war. You're gonna need it." She smirked, dusting herself off.

Kendall smiled fondly at her and gives her a salute before walking away, leaving her with her thoughts. She sighed, a small smile playing on her lips as she headed back to the lobby.

****

Andi now sat beside Camille on the top of the couch with her back to the wall in the lobby. The girls and boys who were out sat in the lobby along with them. Andi looks over when she noticed Kendall running into the lobby with two big squirt guns. He turns around to face them, looking at James and Carlos with surprise at seeing they were out. "Who got you?"

"Andi." They both said, pointing at Andi who smiled proudly.

Andi gives them a little wave, feeling a sense of satisfaction at their acknowledgment. "Sorry, not sorry." She quipped playfully, earning a chuckle from Camille beside her.

Kendall shakes his head with a smile before turning his attention back to the girls and guys.

Kendall nods. "Nice." He then furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, then who's left?"

"Who do you think?" Carlos and James ask him and the group point over at Katie who stands a few feet away from Kendall. Katie had black paint mark under her eyes while she held the seltzer Andi gave her. She smirks at Kendall. "Still think I can't handle ye day of pranks, big brother?"

Kendall smiles. "Lord Prankterton would be very proud of you, baby sister," He raises the two squirt guns of rotten milk at Katie. "But this battle's not over."

"Yes, it is." Bitters said, standing up from behind the front desk and everyone looks at him with an upset expression. "Because if either of you make another mess, I will pull off the ultimate prank." He pulls out two pool closed signs. "I will close the pool for two weeks. The war is over. Put down your weapons," Kendall and Katie sigh and put down their weapons. "And once again, I win, and you are all losers."

Kendall and Katie smirk at each other when they realize they got the same idea. Kendall looks at Andi, Carlos, and James with raised eyebrows and when the three realized what the siblings were going to do they nod. Kendall and Katie then aim their weapons at Bitters and fire at him causing everyone to laugh as he goes to his office for cover.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Carlos stops the laughter and the cheering. "Who wins?"

****

The next day they decide for it to be a tie. They had the crown cut in half so Kendall and Katie could both wear it. "A tie." Camille smiles after Jo puts both halves of the crown on Kendall and Katie. "Nice."

The siblings turn to each other and bow. They walk down the aisle the boys and girls made. When Kendall walks past Carlos, James, and Logan the three comments, "We'll get him next year."

The siblings stop at where the pool was guarded off. "It was worth it." Katie nodded.

"Yeah." Kendall agreed.

Despite the pool being closed, the group of friends had a great time. As Kendall and Katie stood by the pool, basking in their shared victory, the rest of the group gathered around them, sharing in their triumph. Andi grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction at the successful conclusion of the prank war, even if it ended in a tie.

#bigtimerush #friendship #pool #pranks #siblings #palmwoods #girlsvsboys

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annachibi · 10 months ago

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Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me semi-liveblogging

I'm about 2/3 through and I don't really feel like anything they're showing us is any big revelation? Like I pretty much understand the whole murder mystery part, that's not really confusing to me at all. Granted, I don't know what all the theorizing around Twin Peaks is about because I've deliberately avoided it for fear of spoilers, but it's not about that, is it? I actually got a couple episodes into season 3 before realizing FWWM was supposed to come first, and so far I haven't seen anything that's like "yeah you definitely have to see this first" except for like the fact that they recast Donna, and maybe the whole ring thing. But I haven't finished it yet, so I'll reserve judgement. Just preserving this here in case my thoughts don't change.

What I *don't* get is the weird shit like the white horse popping up. I get the White/Black Lodge and being stuck in limbo for 25 years while Bob is out and the doppelgangers and all that, just not the... additional, unexplained imagery. But at the same time, I don't feel like I need to understand it? It kind of feels weird to be weird, like the girl dancing at the beginning of the movie and what all the various things "meant."

Okay yeah I finished it and it's certainly interesting to see more detail especially about the Bob "curse" thing, but I'm not sure it was necessary. And I guess the angel means Laura's soul found peace? Maybe? And that did explain that the dwarf/giant is the one-armed man's arm...? Though I would have been fine with them just being some otherworldly entity. I'm not sure how them being his arm adds anything. But I can totally understand if this is the response to the audience being like "WHAT HAPPENED THOUGH??" especially since this is pre-internet era where people couldn't really put their heads together to figure stuff out on the scale that we can these days.

Also I didn't liveblog cuz I just binged it over a couple days but my GOSH season 2 dragged on in the middle and I am SO tired of James. And Donna did orchid boy dirty and Lucy is bae and when Andy got all that tape stuck all over his hands that was me for real.

So there, now I'm caught up with liveblogging.

#Ana liveblogs #Twin Peaks

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icanttalkimhavingacrisis · 10 months ago

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Introduction Post!!!

hi!! lovely to see you - won't you stay awhile?

the basics:

name: Joy, short for Jonathan

age: 18

pronouns: he/she/they

orientation: omnisexual, polyamory

gender identity: genderfluid and pangender!!

timezone: CET (GMT +1)

my tops:

musicians: Twenty One Pilots, Måneskin, Hozier, George Michael, Wham!, Bastille, P!ATD, Tally Hall, My Chemical Romance, The Oh Hellos, The Amazing Devil, Lemon Demon, Kwiat Jabłoni

songs: Lavish, Bourgeoisieses, This is Love, ANARCONNASSE, Too Sweet, Sunlight, Midwest Indigo, Routines in the Night, l'altra dimensione, tous les memes

fandoms: marauders era, the lunar chronicles, the good place, grishaverse (haven't read king of scars yet tho), the cruel prince, some musicals (mainly Hamilton), DDLC, FNAF (I haven't played the games but I do really like the lore and songs), WTNV, AGGGTM, TØP lore

books: the cruel prince trilogy, red white and royal blue, they both die at the end, aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, the midnight library, six of crows duology, 1984, animal farm

shows/films: the good place, loki, moon knight, the umbrella academy, heartstopper, hazbin hotel, legally blonde, tick, tick, boom!, hamilton, howl's moving castle

Hobbies: writing, reading, cello, painting, writing my own songs, D&D

miscellaneous:

I'm a band kid, I write songs and plays and stories and books ^^

I finished writing a book recently!! You can read it on AO3 here. Let me know if you want a pdf or epub version, I'd be happy to share!!

hogwarts house: slytherin apparently

grisha order: durast

godly parent: Apollo

divergent faction: amity (born candor)

hunger games district: probably eleven

I'm obsessed with Welcome to Night Vale (mountains are fake y'all, they were made up by the government)(although I haven't listened to a lot of it...)(Still love it tho ^^)

I'm absolutely a yapper, and love meeting new people, so feel absolutely free to dm me if you wanna chat!! <3

please consider using tone tags, I dumb as all heck

I have two younger siblings!! A brother and a sister :>

my people:

@andytheoverthinker - husband, partner, beloved boyfriend <3

@evee-refuses-to-die - squirrel extraordinaire, sweetest lil' insomniac

@lyionly - genuinely the most talented artist I know, best bio partner

@bjcf23 - favourite cousin ever <33

@astroocti - my drummer friend :D

mutuals: @erraticprocrastinator-alt @jess-of-all-trades @finnslay @moonysfavoritetoast @cazzythefrogking @chatter-crow @def-not-kaz-brekker @chaosgremlinlivinginyourwalls @waitingonadeathgodtocallmeback @saivamp @lemon-cosmoscollection @gay-for-zoya @agenaroace-a-fucking-disgrace @finleyforevermore @kaithe-enby404 @currently-becoming-potatoes @catinasink @vintagetee13 @clodoveah @ghost-of-a-poet @viago-vamps @ddlcbrainrot @pan-anarcho @gremleyn @discoveredreality @blue-bell-icecream @xrinnihil @artemisiamezzanotte @drifter-gaming @stqrgirl3 @my-castles-crumbling @winters-rose-daughterofcain @elliots1stshadow @daydream-of-a-wallflower @razz-is-queer @blood-slushy @starcrossedmoony @celestialserenity24 @justafanbutcurious @37x3

WAHHHH I LOVE YOU ALL!!! MANY HUGS AND KISSES FROM MOI <333

final section!! my bullshit:

#jonny writes stuff - my writing

#joy has thoughts - I say stuff

#joy on fandoms - anything fandom related

#joy on volleyball - I rant about volleyball I guess?

#joy has a strange mum - about my mother (sometimes I rant, idk what to tell ya--)

#joy on music - anything music related

#joy has friends - about my irls <3

#joy is gay for andy - about my beloved bf

#joy gets asks - I respond to asks!! May take me a while tho-

#the witchy saga - I post about witchcraft apparently

@joywritesbutitsactuallymystories - sideblog where I repost my writing

@prongsiedadeerest - my James Potter rp sideblog

my poems

my novel

my carrd for further contact info!!:

ok lovelies, that's it!! thank you for being here <3

#intro post #joy has thoughts #jonny writes stuff #joy on fandoms #joy has friends #joy on music #joy on volleyball #joy has a strange mum #joy gets asks #the witchy saga

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moveslikeanape · 1 year ago

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ohh, that's too bad about your computer not being able to play dreamlight valley! i have heard that the game is supposed to have a mobile version, but i'm not sure if it's been released yet or not, so that could be something to look into. also, i can totally see that about tarzan wanting to dive right in and learn about everything around him. i'm sure that if jane were there with him she'd also be really excited to show him new things and help him with anything he didn't understand. oof, yeah, i didn't wanna be too harsh about wish in case you were still really looking forward to the movie, but i admit that my mixed feelings about it are more on the negative side. i like a couple of the songs, but they're riddled with strange and poorly written lyrics (for example, "i'm a star, watch out world here i are" or "i let you live here for free and i don't even charge rent") and some of them sound so generic that i just feel like i've already heard them before. after seeing the concept art and hearing about some of the ideas that didn't make it in, i ended up feeling like the movie had a lot of missed potential. it's a shame, especially since this was disney's 100th anniversary film. there is one other tarzan reference besides the shoutout in the credits, though, so definitely look out for that when you watch it! that's true about mark mancina, i see a lot of praise for tarzan's soundtrack that's specifically about phil collins, but mark created such a good score to go with his work. i'm really glad he got to work on moana as well. ooh i see, that does all sound pretty interesting! i love to read as well and pretty much always have a long list of things i'd like to read, and never enough time for all of them LOL. but i'll definitely have to add the tarzan novels to that list and try to check them out someday. are there any other tarzan movies you enjoy besides disney's version? -🌟

I looked, and is is available through Apple Arcade… but same problem, don't have a compatible device, lol. Not into computers/phones/etc enough to try and keep up with the latest. Would rather stretch my devices as long as I can and save the money for my collection. Oh well, maybe someday I'll play it. Would be so awesome to see more of Jane helping Tarzan learn new things though!

I agree with you on the lyrics, some of them are so bad!! I remember hearing those lines for the first time and feeling embarrassed for them. They sound like they're from a cheap bootleg ripoff, not from the most prestigious animation company in the world. They should be ashamed of themselves, they used to have incredible song lyrics.

That's awesome there's one other Tarzan reference though!! A very good reason to give it a watch!

Mark's score for Tarzan and Brother Bear are so beautiful. As soon as I saw he was doing Moana I knew I was going to love it!

Ah, the pain of never having enough time to read… and it always seems that when you do, you can't find anything to read! I'm currently halfway through the Asian Saga by James Clavell. I've read those books so many times I've lost count. I was about a third of the way through Shogun when I found out that there's a new FX series based on the book that's going to be on Disney+ at the end of February! Although I've finished reading Shogun since, I'm trying to finish reading the other 5 books before the series starts… I don't think I'm going to make it, lol.

I hope you enjoy the Tarzan novels if you get to read them!!

I haven't seen many other Tarzan movies, but I did really enjoy Greystoke with Christopher Lambert and Andie MacDowell. Of the ones I've seen it feels the closet to the books. And it has an unexpected connection to the Disney version… Andie MacDowell's voice was dubbed by Glenn Close, so it's like seeing Jane and hearing Kala!

Growing up I watched the Tarzan tv series starring Wolf Larson and Lydie Denier, which was my first introduction to Tarzan. It takes place in more modern times, and Jane was French in it. I watched it again a few years ago, and it was definitely not as good as I remember it being. But as a kid I found it thrilling, used to stay up until 3 am every Saturday to watch it!

#strangers like me

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ram-de · 2 years ago

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my usual tuesday kinda day

oh wow, look who's here. me again. venting, thinking i'm going to have some reflective introspection moment only to get back and let myself fall deeper into the hole i dig myself. exactly. i know what i'm doing. and i can't even blame my home or my family. because i'm given space and time and all the warm comfort i needed. it's all me. i could blame my habit or some kind of mental illness but i'm not diagnosed and at this point that's just me trying to pick at something to blame.

i wrote a lot about how i'm so flawed and complain about myself and my life a lot. but there's not enough guilt. maybe i felt guilty when i wrote it, but all of it gone when i slept. the morning always fresh, though a bit clueless with all the options of what kind of distraction i'm going to sink deep into.

i've tried books. i don't read books, but if it's a distraction, i can dedicate weeks switching books. i've tried manga. andi i liked mangas, all the tropes and all the pretty art of works that i mostly read pirated because... i'm not exactly working and i don't know if i could afford subscription prices. i should work and let myself face the reality of how hard it is to make money but here i am. talking big and doing nothing. what else have i tried. oh. i've tried games, too. rhythm games, genshin and later on honkai. they're fun and immersive. i've tried netflix, movies or shows in general. and since i'm a marathon kind of guy, what else is there to do than to binge watch most of the series i found interesting?

i've tried lots but not anything productively. well, i tried doing doodling and sketching random things as a hobby. couldn't commit. what else? huh... i don't remember most of it. look at that. i haven't tried much. i didn't do things to improve myself. and no matter how long of a paragraphs i could write about how i really wanted to improve. i don't know if myself would commit to it. that's how much i don't believe in what i could do. 'coz it's so easy for me to bail. to ditch. to leave. to run away. to postpone. to be still. stagnant.

i'm such a hypocrite. fuck myself, am i right. fuck it all. but i can't afford to fuck it all life like that. because... because i spent time pursuing academics... and... and... it's just... i should be more desperate to run past the finishing line. but instead it's more of a whatever-ish kind of vibes from myself. it's so. weird.

it's easy to imagine how liberating doing such an fuck it all moves in life. i can't do fuck it all for a final year project of college because else how can't i graduate?! i can't do fuck it all for post-graduation plans because how else can i get a job? i can't do fuck it all for even coming out and saying i'm gay because i don't have a job and also i don't want to like be apart of my family and be estranged for it. i can't do fuck it all for shaving my head because i'm too much of a coward to make it like a symbolic kind of acts to make a fresh things to start my life with, and for me to just think of it like leaving my burden away with the hair being shed and cut. i can't do fuck it all because maybe i don't want to fuck life itself. i have hopes. but fuck me for not holding onto that strong enough to push myself forward. to force me to walk and do stuff. fuck it all. i said. fuck it...

what even i'm saying. i had this outline in my head about how i want to start the post of vent. so basically. i watched two seasons of the white lotus and it's such a good show. tense. funny. s1 definitely funnier than s2. it's so unhinged it's good. and ahem theo james. yes. um. what? no. i mean, i love series with ensemble cast. and the way it all lead up into the chaos that is the finale? *chef kiss* methinks.

okay, what else. ok prelude done. uh... then i was going to link it with why i was watching the white lotus in the first place. yes, yes. i was thinking of a show that is similiar to nine perfect strangers. and this one shows up right there. better, tbh. so... yep. and why was i watching nine perfect strangers in the first place? well, i was looking for bobby cannavale's other works since i liked his character in the station agent, joe. i think. i wrote a post about it. thinking it's going to be my. like. last movie before i face the world and my problems that i hid under my bed. and look am i here! you know what, why was i watching that in the first place? well, because i was watching kembang api on netflix, and was downright UNDERWHELMED by it. like. really. zero chemistry whatsoever. I'M NOT HATING ON LOCAL MOVIES!! i was intrigued by this movie and the premise. time loop? yea i'm a time loop trope enthusiast. ensemble cast? (i mean it's like 4, but still they're strangers) ok yea i like that too. and yea whatever. why was i watching this movie in the first place? becasue i was tired reading books.

and why was i reading books in the first place. exactly. distraction. fuck me.

ugh. i could talk about it for hours!!!! i should talk about it, actually. but like. with real people. not a void. but i like the void too.

currently? i'm thinking of what kind of lines i'm going to write? am i leaning into the oh i'm so scared of myself and the future or, would it be more into the well i don't think i cared anymore or stuff like that. but then i ended up thinking about what am i going to write? how do i want to be perceived when someone reads this like duh this is a venting blog no one is supposed to read this.

whatever...

how can i practice self-compassion when i'm so ignorant to my own responsibility? when i basically ditched myself? when i... i let myself be in this kind of situation again and again. there's no solution to a problem that i am not willing to work to solve. am i not willing? i'd like to think i am but i don't know how. no, scratch that. i am too ignorant to be willing. i don't know anymore.

maybe it's my hungry stomach writing. whatever... ugh... i'm reminded on the monthly reflection thing and the monthly spotify playlist too. see how commited i am to it whole? ahh....

#ramblingrams

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metalbuckaroo · 4 years ago

Text

Birthday

Summary: Toby invites Bucky to his 11th birthday party.

Warnings: good bit of sexual tension, rude ass parent, cursing, I think that's it???

AU: Babysitter!Bucky x Fem!Reader

AN: I waited soo long to finish this that I couldn't remember exactly what I'd planned for it, so I winged half of it.

THE FILL IN MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

Moodboard by @bucksdolll

"Toby seems to be warming up to the temporary pretty well." One of the Moms whispered to yours. "Bucky? He's a sweetheart. Isn't he, dear?"

You looked away from where Bucky was being swarmed by the younger kids and a couple of their older sisters you'd went to high school with; your mom giving you a sweet smile. "A big softie."

"He's great with Toby, and is sweet on a little miss someone." She grinned, poking your side as you got two bottles of water from the cooler. "Well, aren't you lucky." One of the other mom's chided. "Extremely."

"Go save him, poor boy looks like he's ready to combust." Your mom sighed, fixing a few things on the table that held cake and various types of snacks.

Turning on your heels, you went to where he was stood letting Toby babble on about his arm. "Can I borrow you for a sec?"

Bucky gave a bright smile and nodded, letting you guide him to the open back door. "I think he's have a good time showing off his super cool babysitter." You teased, handing him some extra drinks for the cooler. "Does he ever run out of energy?"

Shaking your head, you looked over the way the dark blue t-shirt clung to his skin, the dips of his muscular torso visible even through the wet fabric. "You're not gonna take that off are ya." You said, tugging the hem.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head. "Nothing wrong with being a little modest, Buck." You smiled, noticing how he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Don't wanna, uh, scare a bunch of kids."

"Or have their dads chasing you down because, the wives are gawking at you." You said, scrunching your nose up at him. He breathed a laugh and shook his head again, leaning down to peck a simple kiss to your lips. "Yeah. I don't think that's gonna happen."

After presents were opened and cake was ate, you and Bucky hid away in the kitchen again for a few moments away from the crowd of kids and parents. "You look beautiful, sunshine." He said, adjusting the thin strap of your dress. "Don't look too bad yourself, Buck."

Your fingers wrapped around the cool metal of his dog tags, tugging them so he'd lean down; his lips ghosting across yours when he turned his head to the opening back door.

"James! There you are." Your mom breathed, pulling the door shut behind her. "Mallory just extended her vacation for another 3 weeks. Please, tell me you're available?" She clasped her hands together and gave him pleading eyes.

"Yeah, of course." Bucky smiled, nodding his head. "Great, perfect. A few of Toby's friends are staying, so I hope they don't bother you too much." She said, looking to you.

"I'm sure Bucky wouldn't mind staying to help, right?" You looked up at him, patting his chest lightly. His eyebrows raised and he nodded, swallowing thickly. "I'll stay."

"Miranda, I've been looking for you." Darlene, one of the most judgemental moms, said, Toby and her son following in behind her. "I've been meaning to ask you- where's Matthew? Shouldn't he be here instead of-" She stopped when she saw Bucky, still standing very close to you.

"He had work." Your mom said with a forced smile. "No wonder it didn't work out, that's all he thinks about." Darlene said clicking her tongue. "Now, you're stuck having to pay a babysitter who-"

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there. Toby, go play outside." Bucky looked down at your hard expression, putting his hand on Toby's shoulder to walk with him into the backyard. "That's not an appropriate thing to talk about at a kid's birthday party. He is eleven, he doesn't need to know why his dad didn't show up."

"It's just- this new babysitter of yours is so-"

"Sweet? Shy, handsome, good with kids? If none of those are what you are about to say, then don't say it." She looked at you dumbfounded, glancing at your mom. "You're not gonna let her talk like this are you?"

Your mom shrugged, leaning against the kitchen counter. "She's grown. I don't dictate what she says. Besides, she's right."

"Unbelievable."

As the families dispersed, going home once the sun started to set, your mom looking exhausted as she cleaned the kitchen. "I've got it, go on to bed. You've had your stress fill for the day."

She gave you a soft thank you before shuffling away to the hallway, Bucky walking in from the chaos filled living room. "Make it out alive?" You teased, picking up the trash that littered the counter. "Barely. Need help?"

His hand rested on the small of your back, pink tinting his cheeks. "You could move the couch for me? Put this to use." You teased, fingertips running up the dark metal of his left arm before wrapping around his wrist.

You finished cleaning the kitchen and went to check on the state of the living room; Bucky laying out the blankets and pillows on the floor for the kids.

"Can we watch Nightmare on Elm Street?" Toby asked, looking up at you with hopeful eyes as you picked up the remote. "No, it's too scary for you." You said, clicking through the movie selections. "Please?"

Bucky chuckled when you rolled your eyes and nodded. "One scream out of any of you and I'm switching it to lullabies."

It didn't take long.

Not even 30 minutes into the movie you were switching it to Toy Story, ignoring the protests that sounded from them.

Another 30 minutes and they were all passed out, sprawled out on the blankets and snoring as you tugged Bucky with you to the kitchen.

"Knew that was gonna happen." You said, breathing a laugh and lifting yourself onto the counter.

Bucky moved to stand in front of you, your knees parting on instinct to let him stand between them. "Steve said he'll have your car done in a couple days. Want me to take you back to your apartment tomorrow? So, you don't have to take the train."

Nodding, you wrapped your arms around his neck loosely; pulling his lips to yours. You all but melted completely in his touch, cool, smooth metal on your right thigh a beautiful contrast to the warm skin on your left.

"I'm so fucking lucky..." He muttered against your lips before pressing his tongue against yours.

"Ew, stop eating my sisters face." You breathed a laugh at Toby's tired voice, looking over your shoulder at him. "Whst are you doing up?" You teased, turning slightly to see him better. "You know I don't like to admit when you're right..."

You were getting restless. Wanting more every time you'd get near Bucky; more of the sweetness of his kiss and gentle, adoring touches.

But hwahented things taken slow. Which you fully understood; and with the group of kids in the front room, it wasn't going to go far anyways.

"Scared?" He nodded softly and you slid off of the counter. "Calm that down and come watch some tv." You smiled at Bucky, gesturing to the strain against his athletic shorts.

Bucky's face burned as he watched you usher Toby back into the living room, staying back for a moment before following.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this." Toby said, pointing a finger at Bucky that made him look to where you were holding the boy's hand from your spot, laid on the loveseat. "You're about as threatening as the neighbors ankle biter." Bucky retorted, sitting in the recliner.

You had turned some random TV show on, suddenly becoming extra quiet within an hour.

Bucky glanced from the screen to see you sleeping peacefully, Toby's hand barely hanging onto yours as Bucky stepped over one of the kids to grab the blanket from the back of the loveseat.

Gently laying it over you, he leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek; biting back a smile when you subconsciously tilted your head to follow his lips.

There's always tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @likeahorribledream @cxddlyash @iwannabekilledtwice @bookstan0618 @marvel-3407 @glxwingrxse @yliumy @pineprincess @makbarnes @cupcakehinch @doasyoudesireandlive @magicwithinnightmares @preferredrealty @andy-is-gay @stucky-my-ship

#bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky fic #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #babysitter!bucky fluff #babysitter!bucky

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otrtbs · 3 years ago

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OKAY SO I FINISHED THE GOLDFINCH (spoilers btw) AND I HAD TO REST A BIT BEFORE I RAMBLED BUT OMG I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

First of all, his mom. Loved her, mourned her. When she was in the museum and she was like “it’s crazy but I think I could spend the rest of my life staring at the same 5 paintings, I can��t think of a better way to go insane.” That’s not an exact quote but like SO TRUE.

Then Welty in the museum and Pippa and omg like him just casually being like my mom loved this painting and this guy wants me to take it? Hell yeah I’ll do it. But also, yeah I’d do it too.

Him staying at Andy’s? HIS DAD SHOWING UP??? Oh my lord when he met Hobie and started learning about antiques, I love them and also that later Boris calls him Potter and Hobie’s name is James? I was like, yeah that’s his real dad. But the fact that his dad showed up with Xandra and he’d been cheating on Theo’s mom? Outrageous.

Then BORIS. Do those two have severe issues? Yeah. Did I love their relationship with all of my heart? Also yeah. Like when Theo is leaving to go back to NY and they KISS and then they like both know that he isn’t saying the thing he really wants to say which is I love you? WHAT?!?! SO GOOD. Like I love Boris and Theo’s relationship and then how Pippa sort of plays into it. I mean like especially when Boris shows up in NY later and Theo just immediately trusts him. Like he does basically everything Boris asks of him without question. It’s adorable. Honestly I feel like Pippa was more of a left over of his mother and his love for her was obv not normal (hopefully that’s a generally accepted opinion).

But yeah then him almost marrying Kitsey? Also him charging so much extra on antiques? I’m not gonna lie I’d do the same thing. But then Amsterdam???? MURDER??? BORIS STOLE THE PAINTING?????

Omg and then the end. The last few pages made me cry and then I sat down and wrote a draft of my college application essay about the lines “we can’t choose our hearts. We don’t get to choose the people we are.” I’m not even kidding. Also I’m pretty sure you said that AHB was inspired a bit by this book and I could tell when reading The Goldfinch, in a good way obviously. I’m not even joking I feel like you’re writing reminds me of Donna Tartts. Anyway I’m never going to stop thinking about this book <3 I love you for recommending it

❗️The Goldfinch and Art Heist Spoilers Below!!!❗️

ohmygosh ahhh!! (i'm sorry this took me so long to get to, I had to wait until I was on my computer so I could TYPE hahaha)

Theo's mom is so amazing :,) I love her too :,)))

WELTY IN THE MUSEUM (reg's death in ahb! is HEAVILY inspired by Welty's death scene) and poor theo is so so naive in those moments too when he knows that Welty's not breathing but then he tries to be quiet as he's leaving anyway "just in case he was asleep" :(((((((

DUDE AND THEN WHEN HE GOES TO FREAKING ANDY'S UR LIKE,,, MAYBE HE'LL BE OKAY-ISH and I can talk abt andy 5ever how he always was afraid of water and hated sailing and he died in a boating ACCIDENT LIKE WHAT ?? ALSO THEO WANTING TO BE ADOPTED BY THEM ALSO ALSO when theo was as good and as polite as humanly possible bc he didn't want to inconvenience the barbours and then when he meets Mr. Barbour back in nyc after vegas and he's like "no free hand-outs" I SOBBED I LITERALLY SOBBED SO HARD

HOBIE BEING THEO'S FATHER FIGURE YEAH YOU ARE SO SO RIGHT AND HE'S SO SWEET AND KIND AND JUST A LITTLE RESTORER :,))) PLEASE

okay yeah!!!! the fact that his dad showed up w Xandra and they took his mom's stuff :,((( please i hate them, i hate them so much it breaks my heart

THEN BORIS AND OKAY THE WAY THAT THEY ARE IN LOVE! but like theo has internalized homophobia to the MAX and the way he's jealous of Boris' girlfriend like soooOOooo jealous and they looked out for each other !

Pippa!! Pippa is the morphine lollipop for theo. just enough of his past life, just enough of his mother to dull the pain for a little while but it's never enough!! and it's unhealthy!!!!! (yeah theo is like obsessed w her in a not healthy way :( it wasn't love)

KITSEY WAS THE WORST DECISION EVER! BECAUSE WDYM UR GONNA MARRY THE GIRL WHO WAS LIKE A LITTLE SISTER TO YOU ??? TO MAKE MRS. BARBOUR HAPPY? YEAHH,,,YEAHHHH ALSO THE EARRINGS HIS MOMS EARRINGS THAT HE WANTED HER TO WEAR I CAN TALK ABOUT THAT 5EVER TOO(also so many people like kitsey but i cANNOT stand her. at all.)

and then AND THEN theo charging so much for antiques and when he tells hobie finally and goes to the kitchen to get water and he's like "that's what my father always did" and when his mom was like "you sound just like your father" right before she died and when theo was like "i hated looking just like my father" SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALLLLLLL

AND THEN AMSTERDAM!!! AMSTERDAM AND MURDER!! AND THEO AND BORIS AND HIM IN HIS SICK PANICKED STATE W NO PASSPORT SITS IN MY BONES AND MAKES THEM FEEL SO HEAVY AND WATERLOGGED THE AMSTERDAM PART OF TGF IS ONE OF THE BEST (and people say they didn't like it and that it dragged on which HURTS but yk)

when i found out boris stole the fucking painting,,,my heart like plummeted in my chest,,,,,like that's why he didn't go w theo to nyc,,,that's why he got involved w all these people,,, to get theo's painting back and THE WAY THEO JUST FORGIVES HIM?? THEY'RE IN LOVE IDC IDC

ALSO POPCHYK AHH I LOVE THAT DOG THE MOST!!!!!

OKAY AND THEN WHEN THEO IS FREAKING WRITING THOSE LETTERS TO EVERYONE IN AMSTERDAM AND COMPARES HIMSELF TO THE FREAKING PUPPY HIM AND HIS MOM FOUND AND COULDN'T SAVE AND HIS MOM ALWAYS CALLED HIM "PUPPY" LITERALLY CRYING AND THROWING UP AGAIN

ahb! was inspired in part by the goldfinch and the fact that you even said my writing was remotely close to donna tartt's make me TEAR UP YOU HAVE NO IDEA I WILL THINK ABT THIS COMPLIMENT FOR THE REST OF MY LITTLE LIFE

IM SO SO SO GLAD YOU LIKED THE GOLDFINCH!!!! AND THANK YOU FOR SHARING UR THOUGHTS WITH ME!! <33333 AHHH (so sorry for the extremely over enthused ramblings on my part!! <333 )

#asks #art heist baby! spoilers #tgf #ramblings

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ejsandfarkleslovebot · 8 months ago

Text

BIG TIME CONCERT - part one, chapter fourteen

The boys had finally made their first music video and it was difficult, but Andi thought it turned out really great in the end. The Puerto Rican girl was currently in the recording studio. She was the only one in there and she decided to play the grand piano that was in there. She wrote a song for herself a few days ago and wanted to try it out and see if it was good. She has a keyboard at home she used, but sometimes if you play it on a grand piano it sounds better.

Out in the hallway, Kendall was following Carlos, James, and Logan to Gustavo's office, but stopped when he heard a noise coming from the recording studio. It sounded like someone playing piano, it sounded beautiful. He wandered off from his friends to go find out who was playing the piano.

Andi continued to play the piano, unaware of Kendall entering the room. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on playing the piano. Kendall smiles as he watches her play. He thinks the song she's playing is beautiful and he doesn't want to interrupt her. He had no idea she could play piano, he had recently just found out she could sing like an angel, now she can play the piano. She was so talented, she never failed to amaze him.

He stood there, mesmerized as she continued to play. She had yet to notice him as she was so focused on playing. The song was a slow, beautiful melody. Her fingers danced across the keys as she played, her expression soft and serene.

Finally, the song came to an end and she opened her eyes. She was startled to see Kendall standing there, his expression full of awe. She blushed, suddenly feeling embarrassed that he had heard her playing.

"Kendall!" She said nervously, standing up. "What are you doing here?" She smiled shyly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Kendall grins at her. "I heard someone playing the piano and I had to come see who it was. I didn't know you could play like that, Andi. That was amazing." He walked closer to her, a smile still on his face.

"Thanks," Andi said, her cheeks still flushed. "I wrote that song myself. It's not finished yet, though. I'm still working on it." She wasn't sure why she was telling him this, but something about his presence made her feel at ease, almost as if she could tell him anything. She didn't know why, but she felt comfortable around him, as if they had known each other for years instead of a few months.

"Really?" Kendall asks, his eyes widening as he looked impressed. He stops walking until he stood in front of her. "That's incredible, Andi. You're really talented. You never fail to amaze me." He reached out and gently took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Andi's heart skipped a beat at his touch, and she felt a warmth spread through her chest.

"Thank you, Kendall," She said softly, meeting his gaze. "That means a lot coming from you." She couldn't help but feel a rush of affection towards him. He always knew how to make her feel special, even with just a few simple words.

Kendall smiles softly at her, his eyes shining with warmth. "Anytime, Andi. You're one of a kind." He pauses before adding, "Maybe when you're done with the song, you could show it to me. I'd love to hear the rest of it."

Andi's smile grows, her cheeks turning a darker shade of pink. "I'd like that," She said quietly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "It would be an honor to share my music with you." She meant every word. She didn't let just anyone hear her music, but something about Kendall made her feel safe, like she could trust him with anything.

Kendall grins back at her, his expression full of warmth and sincerity. "Well, I should probably get going. Me and the guys are here to see if we can get our demos can be put in stores."

"I'll go with you." She offered, her cheeks warming up.

Kendall grins and gives her hand a squeeze. "I'd like that. I have a feeling I'm gonna need the support."

Andi smiles, her heart fluttering. "You've got my support, Kendall. I'm always here for you."

They both left the recording studio, still holding hands as they headed towards Gustavo's office. Their hearts felt lighter, knowing they had each other's support. Though when they got to the studio, they let go of their hands reluctantly. They both immediately missed the warmth and comfort that came from holding hands. But they knew it was for the best. Still, they couldn't help but steal glances at each other, their hearts filled with warmth and affection.

"Well?" The boys asked in anticipation as Kendall and Andi entered the office.

Kelly picks up a box full of their demos. She sets the box on the desk and Gustavo gets out one of the demos, showing it to Andi and the boys. "Schpingo."

Andi and the boys look at the demo excitedly. Andi had to admit the demo looked really good. She would buy it if it was in stores. "And people can buy this...In stores?" Kendall questioned hopefully and in disbelief. He still couldn't believe they made it this far.

Kelly points at them. "Not yet."

The smiles on Andi's and the boy's faces fell at hearing that. Gustavo stands up, going over to a white screen on the wall. "The record company will not release it until they announce your Big Time...." He pulls up the white screen, revealing a map of where Big Time Rush would tour. "Tour!"

Andi and the boys immediately grow excited again. Andi kind of figured that the band would eventually have a tour because she couldn't believe that it seemed like it was so close. "And your first concert is in two weeks." Gustavo said to the boys.

Andi steps to the side, looking at the boys weirdly when they start daydreaming about their concert. "Should I tell them that preparing for a concert will be the hardest thing they've ever done and that it's not in Times Square?" Gustavo asked, glancing at Andi and Kelly.

Kelly chuckles lightly. "Oh, let them have their fantasy." She looks at the boys with a smile. "They look so happy."

"Fine." Gustavo sighs and crosses his arms. "I'll give them another minute. Then I'll burst their bubble."

****

They were now in the recording studio where a stage was set up so the boys could get a real experience during practice. Andi stood on the stage next to Gustavo and Kelly. There were even manakins on stage to be the band.

"The concert stage, where you will need intense focus." Gustavo said to the boys.

"Incredible stamina." Kelly added.

"And," Andi chimes in, stepping to the side along with Gustavo and Kelly to reveal Mr. X. Mr. X looks at the boys, putting his arms in an 'x' position. "Expert knowledge of every inch."

"Why are we wearing dog cones?" Kendall asked, pointing to the dog cone he had on, looking annoyed.

"Because during your concert, you got to...Look at your fans," He sings the last part and then talks again as he points at his feet. "Not your feet!" Mr. X jumps off the stage, moving to stand in front of the boys. "And to avoid extreme injury, you have to know without thinking and see without looking."

A few moments later and the boys are on stage now while Andi, Gustavo, Kelly, and Mr. X are standing on the floor next to a stereo. "What if we have an itch?" Logan questioned.

Gustavo points at him. "Don't!"

"Places." Mr. X tells the boys and the boys did as they were told. "Focus. Begin."

It started off good until when Kendall and James go to walk to the opposite side of the stage, they bumped into each other. When each of them spin, Carlos and Logan end up knocking the drum set over and Andi cringes at the fall and the loud crash.

Kendall and James manage to get Carlos and Logan up while Mr. X turns off the music. He looks at Andi, Gustavo, and Kelly, shrugging his shoulders. "They lasted longer than I expected." He looks back at the boys. "Again!"

Mr. X turns the music on again and once again Kendall and James bump into each other when they try walking to the opposite side of the stage. Andi facepalmed when Carlos and Logan crash into the drum set again after the spin. She had a feeling this would take a long time.

****

There were three more days until the first dress rehearsal and so far the boys had made a lot of improvement but they still had a long way to go. Andi was proud of how much progress they were making, but she was also nervous. The concert was coming up quickly and they had a lot of work to do. She just hoped that they would be able to pull it off.

Training continues for the next few days and Andi had to admit the boys were getting a lot better at being on stage. There were a lot of bumps along the road, but they eventually got to the point where they didn't need to wear dog cones on stage. Dak Zevon had helped the boys prepare for their first concert since he had more experience than them. And Andi couldn't believe it, but she thought the boys were so close to being able to be ready to be on stage.

Now it was the day of their dress rehearsal. Andi thought that it went great. Whenever the crazy fan tried jumping on one of the boys they ducked and when Gustavo shined the bright spotlight on them they didn't faze at all.

Andi joins everyone on cheering when the boys were done preforming. Griffin claps as well, smiling at the boys. "Bravo! Bravo! Watching you boys go from nobodies to somebodies has been more thrilling than hunting humans which is why it hurts me to say the album, the tour, and this concert...Are cancelled."

Everyone looks at him with wide eyes and all speak at the same time. "What?"

"What?" Griffin repeats. He shakes his head and turns to Andi, Gustavo, and Kelly. "I mean yeah. Big Time Rush is dead."

Andi felt her heart drop and she didn't know what to say or think. This couldn't be happening. After everything they went through, how hard they worked, how much effort and time was put into preparing for the concert, this couldn't be the end. She looked over at the boys and her heart ached for them. She could see the sadness and disappointment in their eyes. This was supposed to be their big break, their moment of glory. And now it was gone, just like that.

The boys get off the stage, standing in front of the crowd along with Andi, Gustavo, and Kelly. The boys, Andi, Camille, Gustavo, and Kelly all ask him in a loud tone, "What do you mean Big Time Rush is dead?"

"Accounting has just released their risk and feasibility report on Big Time Rush and they decided it's too risky and not feasible." Griffin explained.

The female member of the marketing team steps forward, holding a children's book in her hand. "We're shifting our strategy to children's books on tape. No tour is required. They have a higher profit margin and are super cheap to make."

"Which is why tomorrow Gustavo will be producing 'Can You Foo?'." Griffin said, gesturing to the book the female marketing team member shows the them. "As read by actor-environmentalist Ed Begley Jr."

"But, Griffin," James speaks up. "This is our someday."

"Close. It's your last day. Sorry fellas," Griffin apologizes. "I like you; I do, but as we say in business..."

"That's business." Griffin said at the same time the female marketing team member says that.

"You can't do this!" Gustavo shouts. "W-We've been working our butts off! Our concert is in one week."

"Don't worry." Griffin assures them. "That's why I'm giving all of you...Fruit Baskets."

"Fruit Baskets?" Andi scoffs, speaking up for the first time since she heard the news. She knew she should've bit her tongue and kept her mouth shut, but she couldn't help herself. She was frustrated and upset and disappointed. "That's all you have to say to us? That you're sorry, but all you can give us are Fruit Baskets?" She shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "These boys worked so hard and now it's all for nothing. What a great business man you are, Griffin." She snapped at him and she turned to walk away. She had no more words to say to him. She just wanted to go home and drown her sorrows. She was frustrated and angry and sad.

She stormed down the hallway, tears stinging her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. All of their hard work had gone to waste, just like that. It wasn't fair. The boys deserved better than this. She knew how much the concert meant to them and to have it taken away was just cruel.

"Andi, wait!" She heard Kendall call after her and she stops, taking a deep breath.

"Kendall, please, not right now." She said, trying to keep her voice steady. She was feeling a mix of emotions and she just wanted to go home and be alone.

"Andi, please." Kendall said pleadingly, stopping in front of her. He could see the tears in her eyes and he hated seeing her like this. He understood why she was upset, but he couldn't just let her walk away without saying something. "I can't let you leave without making sure you're okay."

"Yeah, perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She said sarcastically, wiping away a stray tear that escaped her eye. She didn't mean to sound rude or anything, she didn't want to take her anger out on Kendall, but she couldn't help it. She was so frustrated and angry and she felt helpless. She hated it. "I mean, our hard work was just thrown out the window and all Griffin has to say is that he's sorry and give us Fruit Baskets and think that will solve everything. And now apparently Big Time Rush is dead which means you guys might have to go back and I don't want that to happen and...I'm rambling. I'm sorry. I just need to go home and be alone. If you'll excuse me, I've gotta go." She turned and began to quickly walk down the hallway, sniffling and wiping her tears away. She couldn't stand there any longer. She just wanted to go home.

Kendall watched her go, his heart aching for her. He couldn't believe what happened either, but he couldn't let her walk away like this. Not when she was hurting so much. He hated seeing her like this. He knew he had to do something. He quickly went after her, trying to get her attention as they made it to the lobby of the building. "Andi, wait!"

"Leave me alone." She mumbled, continuing to walk in the direction to the Palm Woods. She felt overwhelmed with emotions and she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

Kendall didn't listen to her plea to be left alone. He couldn't just let her go like this. Not when she was clearly hurting. He caught up to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop and turn to look at him. "Andi, please," he said softly, his green eyes filled with concern. "I know this is tough, but you don't have to go through it alone. We're all in this together, remember?"

Andi sniffled, feeling a fresh wave of tears threatening to spill over. She didn't want to burden Kendall with her problems, but she couldn't deny the comfort she felt from his presence. "Kendall, please, just...Please leave me alone." She begged, her voice cracking.

"No." He said firmly, shaking his head. He wasn't going to let her push him away. Not when she was hurting so much. He cared about her and he wanted to be there for her. "Andi, please, talk to me. You don't have to go through this alone."

"I'm not going through anything." She said, her tone coming out harsher than she intended. She immediately felt bad and took a deep breath, letting out a shaky sigh. "Kendall, please, just let me be. I appreciate the gesture, but I really need to be alone right now."

"No." He repeats, his expression softening. "I'm not going to let you shut me out. You're clearly hurting and I'm not going to let you deal with that on your own. So, please, talk to me." He pleaded, his tone gentle and reassuring. He could see the turmoil in Andi's eyes, the pain and frustration bubbling beneath the surface, and he couldn't bear to see her suffer in silence.

Andi looked at Kendall, her heart aching at the concern in his eyes. She knew he meant well, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to open up about everything just yet. She felt so overwhelmed and lost, and she didn't know where to begin. "Kendall, I...I don't know what to say." She admits, her voice breaking. "I'm so angry and frustrated and disappointed, and I feel like I'm about to burst. And I'm scared, Kendall. I don't want you guys to leave, but I know it's a possibility, and I don't know if I can handle that. I don't know what to do. It's all just...too much." She finally broke down, her tears spilling over as she let out a choked sob. She felt Kendall's arms wrap around her, holding her close as she cried, and she buried her face in his shoulder, seeking comfort from his embrace. She was embarrassed by her outburst, but she was too overwhelmed to care. She just needed someone to hold onto, and Kendall was there for her, steady and unwavering.

She never had many friends growing up, but Kendall and his friends made her feel like she had a family. A place where she belonged. And the thought of losing that, losing them, was too much to bear. She clung to Kendall, his presence grounding her as she cried, her tears soaking into his shirt. Andi didn't know how long they stood there, wrapped in each other's arms, but it was enough for her to calm down and find her voice again.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, her voice muffled against Kendall's shoulder. "This is embarrassing, and you shouldn't have to deal with this."

"Hey, it's okay." Kendall reassures her, his voice soft and soothing. "You're not bothering me. I'm glad you opened up to me. I want to be here for you, Andi. "I care about you, and I hate seeing you hurting like this. We're a team, Andi, and we're in this together. Whatever happens, we'll face it together. You're not alone." He pulls back slightly to look into her eyes, his gaze filled with sincerity and warmth. "And just so you know, you're not the only one feeling scared and frustrated. We're all in this together, and we'll figure it out. Together."

James rolls his eyes playfully, but Andi can see the hint of sadness in them. "Nice try, Andi, but I'm not falling for it." He tries to shut the door, but Andi quickly sticks her foot in the doorway, preventing him from closing it.Andi sniffles, feeling a sense of comfort wash over her at Kendall's words. She nods, grateful for his support and understanding. "Thank you, Kendall," She says, her voice steadier now. "I appreciate that. I'm not good at letting people in, but I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're all here." She can't help but smile, despite the uncertainty of the situation. She feels a sense of warmth and gratitude towards Kendall, knowing that she has someone she can rely on during this difficult time. She knows that whatever happens, they'll face it together as a team.

"Even if we do happen to have to leave, we'll stay in touch. I promise." Kendall vows, his expression earnest and sincere. "But don't worry about that, not right now. Let's just spend some time together, okay? We can watch a movie or something, just to take our minds off of everything."

Andi nods, smiling softly at Kendall. She appreciates his efforts to cheer her up, and she's grateful for his presence and support. She knows that, even if the worst happens and the boys have to move back to Minnesota, she'll always have him and the others in her life. And that thought alone is enough to give her hope and strength. "Yeah, that sounds good," She says, her smile widening. "Thank you, Kendall, for everything." She leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

"You're welcome." Kendall whispered, smiling softly. He was relieved to see her smile and felt his heart skip a beat when she kissed his cheek. He felt his face grow warm, and he cleared his throat, trying to compose himself. "So, um, shall we go back to the Palm Woods?"

"Sure." Andi nodded, her smile widening. Despite everything that had happened, she was grateful for the support and friendship she had found in Kendall and the others. She knew that, whatever the future held, they would face it together.As they made their way back to the Palm Woods, the two shared a look, smiling at each other. They may not have been sure what the future held, but they knew that they would always have each other. And that was enough for them.

****

Andi had to admit she felt better after her conversation with Kendall. She was still hurt and frustrated, but she knew that Kendall and the boys would be there for her, no matter what. And sadly the boys did have to go move back to Minnesota and now Andi was at the boy's apartment to say her goodbyes. Her heart felt heavy as she reached the apartment and knocked.

"Hi, Mrs. Knight. I just wanted to come say goodbye." She greets once Jennifer opens the door for her, her eyes growing wide when she notices all of the boxes in the apartment. "Why are there so many boxes?"

"Katie ordered a lot of merchandise she was going to sell." Jennifer replies with a sigh. "And now she's upset that she can't." She steps to the side, sending Andi a smile. "Come in."

Andi nods in understanding as she walks inside. "Makes sense." She looks at Jennifer with a small smile. "Don't think I'm not gonna miss you too 'cause I am." Andi pulled the woman into a hug.

"I'll miss you too, hun." Jennifer said softly, returning the hug.

ennifer smiles and hugs her back. "I'm gonna miss you too, Andi."

After their hug Andi walks further into the apartment as Jennifer closes the door. Glancing around the place, she furrows her eyebrows when she notices something. "Where's Katie and James?"

"They're hiding 'cause they don't wanna leave." Carlos replied.

Andi sympathetically smiles. "Yeah, I don't blame them.' She walks over to Carlos and pulls him into a hug. "Gonna miss you and that stupid helmet of yours."

Carlos chuckles and hugs her back. "I'm gonna miss you too."

"James, get out here now so I can hug you!" Andi yelled after she pulled away from Carlos.

James opens the door of the bathroom and peeks out. "Not gonna happen 'cause this isn't real and we're not really going back to Minnesota."

Andi points at him, walking over to him with a determined expression on her face. "I'm gonna get you to hug me whether you like it or not."

James rolls his eyes playfully, but Andi can see the hint of sadness in them. "Nice try, Andi, but I'm not falling for it." He tried to shut the door, but Andi quickly sticked her foot in the doorway, preventing him from closing it.

"Hug me." She demanded, not moving an inch. She knew James was hurting and she wanted to comfort him. Plus she wasn't leaving without a hug from him.

Andi's persistence paid off as James finally relented, pulling her closer and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, feeling the warmth of his presence and the weight of the impending goodbye. James hugged her back, his grip firm yet tender, conveying all the emotions he couldn't put into words.

"I'm not gonna miss you 'cause we're not leaving." He grumbled, although Andi could hear the pain in his voice.

"Well I'm gonna miss you." She replied, hugging him tighter. She knew he was putting up a front, but she also knew that he was hurting. She was going to miss him, and all of the boys, so much. They had become her best friends and family, and she was going to miss spending time with them and laughing at their crazy antics. She was going to miss the late-night phone calls and the early morning coffee runs, the inside jokes and the silly nicknames, the hugs and the laughter, and most of all, the memories they had made together.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you too." James finally admitted quietly, his voice thick with emotion.

Andi's heart ached at the sound of his voice, and she could feel her own tears threatening to fall. "You better text me or call me every day. No excuses." She said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I will. I promise." He mumbled, his voice muffled against her shoulder.

"Good." She sighs, taking in a shaky breath. She hated goodbyes, and this one was especially hard. She pulls away, giving him a watery smile. "We'll keep in touch. Promise."

"Yeah, we will." James smiled, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

She also managed to get Katie out of her little fort of boxes she made to hug her. Before she left she made sure to stop by the pool where Jennifer told her Kendall and Logan were at saying goodbye to Jo and Camille.

"I'm gonna miss you both so much." Andi said with a sad smile. She didn't want them to leave, but she knew she had to say goodbye. She hugged Logan tightly, feeling his arms wrap around her in return.

"We're gonna miss you too." Logan whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

"You both better call or text." She mumbled as she hugged him tighter.

"Obviously." Logan muttered, causing Andi to chuckle.

After she hugged Logan, Andi turns to Kendall, her heart aching at the thought of saying goodbye to him. "I can't believe you're leaving." She said quietly, her voice breaking. She felt Kendall pull her into a tight embrace, and she clung to him, trying to memorize the feel of his arms around her and the scent of his cologne. She buried her face in his shoulder, letting her tears fall freely as she held onto him, knowing that this would be the last time they'd be together like this. She could feel his arms tightening around her, as if he was trying to convey all the words he couldn't say, and she clung to him, not wanting to let go.

"I don't want you to leave." She mumbled, her voice muffled against his chest.

"I don't want to leave either." Kendall whispers, his arms still wrapped tightly around her. "But we'll still be in touch, I promise. And whenever you need me, I'll be here for you, no matter where I am."

Andi pulls away, wiping her tears as she looks up at Kendall. "Promise?"

"Promise." He replies, his green eyes filled with sincerity and affection. He holds out his pinky finger, and Andi can't help but smile as she interlocks her own with his. It was a silly gesture, but it meant everything to her. "Pinky swear." He said, a sad smile gracing his features.

Andi's smile widens as she feels Kendall's finger intertwine with hers. She knew that he was serious about keeping in touch and being there for her, and it meant the world to her. She could feel her heart swell with love and affection for him, and she couldn't help but think about how lucky she was to have him in her life.

"Thank you, Kendall. For everything." She whispered, her voice filled with emotion.

"Anytime, Andi." He whispered back, his green eyes shining with unspoken words.

They continued to hug each other, neither one wanting to let go. But eventually, Andi knew she had to. She couldn't bear to watch her boys leave, but she knew that they had to. She gave Kendall one final hug, trying to memorize the feel of his strong arms wrapped around her, before reluctantly letting go. She was going to miss all the boys, but Kendall was special. He became her best friend and more. She would never forget the times they spent together, and she knew that a part of her would always be with him. As she watched him walk away, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness and loss. She knew that things would never be the same again, but she also knew that they would always have a connection. And even though they were apart, Andi knew that Kendall would always be there for her, no matter what.

****

It's been three days since Jennifer, Katie, and the boys haven't been in L.A. and things weren't the same without them. Andi knew it was silly but she was already missing them, and she was dreading the empty feeling in her stomach when she woke up the next morning. She missed having breakfast with Kendall, or hanging out at the Palm Woods with James and Carlos. She even missed the way Logan would constantly ramble on about some new medical discovery. She missed listening to Carlos' crazy ideas and seeing James' obsessing over his hair and clothes. She missed playing hockey with the boys and watching movies with Kendall. Spending time with them made her feel happy and alive, and now that they were gone, she felt like a part of her was missing.

"Get out of bed." Andi groaned at hearing her mom's voice. She knew her mom was right, she couldn't lay in bed all day, but she didn't feel like doing anything. Kelly walked into her daughter's room and walks over to the window, pulling back the curtain and letting the light in her dark room. Andi groaned again, pulling the covers over her head.

"What's the point, mom?" She sighs, her voice muffled by the blanket. "They're gone. I have nothing to look forward to." She dramatically sighed, causing her mother to chuckle.

Kelly walks over to her daughter's bed and sits down. "You have so much to look forward to, hun. You have the rest of your life ahead of you."

"It's nothing without them." She mumbled, her voice filled with sadness.

Kelly smiles sadly, understanding her daughter's pain. She missed the boys and Jennifer and Katie as well, but she knew that they would keep in touch and that she and Andi would see them again. "They're not gone, hun. We'll see them again, and we'll talk to them. They're only a phone call or a text message away."

Andi peeks her head out from under the blanket, her gaze meeting her mom's. "It's not the same." She huffs, frowning at her mom. "And just when I was starting to like him too." She mumbled, burying her face back into the pillow.

"Kendall?" Kelly asked, already knowing the answer. She could see the way Andi and Kendall interacted, and she knew that they had a connection.

"Yeah." Andi's muffled voice replies. "I really like him, and now he's gone. He was the first boy I had a crush on. And now he's gone."

"Oh, sweetheart." Kelly cooed, feeling sympathetic towards her daughter. She could hear the sadness and hurt in her voice, and she knew that she was taking the boys' departure pretty hard. The past three days her daughter had been moping around the apartment, barely eating or talking. Andi was usually a very upbeat and positive person, but the boys' departure had taken a toll on her. She wasn't even writing songs or playing piano. She was just laying in bed, not wanting to do anything.

"It'll be okay, Andi." She reassures her daughter, reaching over and rubbing her back soothingly. "You'll see, things will work out."

Andi lifts her head and looks at her mom, a defeated look on her face. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know you. And I know that you're stronger than you think. You can get through anything, and I'm here for you, no matter what. I love you, sweetie." Kelly said, smiling softly at her daughter.

"I love you too, mom." Andi replied, returning her mom's smile. Despite the emptiness she felt, she was grateful for her mom and her support. She knew that her mom was right, and that she could get through anything. But still, she missed the boys and Jennifer and Katie, and she couldn't help but wonder when they would see each other again.

****

The next day Andi was doing slightly better though, of course, still upset about the boys moving away. She was sitting at her desk in her room, her notebook open as she worked on writing the rest of her song she had started.

"Andi, pack a bag, we're going to Minnesota." Her mom suddenly said, walking into her room.

Andi looks up with wide eyes, a shocked expression on her face. "Are you serious?" She asked, her voice filled with disbelief, sitting up straighter while excitement began to build up in her.

Kelly nods, a wide smile on her face. "Very. Gustav and I have a plan to get the band back together," She goes to her daughter's closet, pulling out her suitcase. "So pack a bag, get ready, and get excited 'cause we're leaving in two hours."

"Yes!" Andi shouted, jumping up from her seat. She was beyond ecstatic. She couldn't believe that she was going to see the boys and Jennifer and Katie again. She eagerly packed her bag, making sure to pack enough clothes for the trip. She was so excited she couldn't even sit still, her nerves and excitement getting the best of her. She couldn't wait to see the boys and tell them the good news. After she was finished packing, Andi helped her mom finish packing their bags, and the two of them met up with Gustavo to head to Minnesota.

****

To say that Kendall was surprised to see Gustavo, Kelly, and Andi at his door later that day was an understatement. Andi watched with surprise and concern at seeing the boy faint back onto a stack of boxes behind him, knocking a few of them down.

"Is he okay?" She asks, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. She was worried about the boy, and she hoped he was alright. After Jennifer came over to let them in, she quickly went over to Kendall to check on him. "Kendall, are you okay?" She questioned, kneeling beside him and gently shaking him.

Kendall's eyes slowly opened, and he blinked a few times, his vision clearing. He first sees a concerned Andi hovering over him, but the angle the light is hitting her at causes her hair to shine like a golden halo around her. He feels his breath catch in his throat and his heart skip a beat as he stares up at her, completely captivated by her beauty. "Andi?" He croaked, his voice hoarse.

Andi nods, a soft smile gracing her lips. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" She inquires, her voice laced with concern. "That fall looked a little painful." She added, her eyes roaming over his body, checking for any injuries.

Kendall shakes his head, still in disbelief. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sits up slowly, rubbing the back of his head. "I can't believe you're here."

Andi is surprised when suddenly he lunges forward, hugging her tightly. "Oof." She grunts as she stumbles back slightly, but hugs him back. "Missed you too." She mumbled, burying her face into his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent. She had missed him, and now that they were reunited, she didn't want to let go.

Kendall smiles, pulling her closer. He had missed her, and he was glad to see her again. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Andi heard someone clear their throat behind her, reminding her why she was there. Reluctantly, she pulled away, giving Kendall a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, but we need to talk. Gustavo and my mom have a plan to get you guys back in the studio and on tour." She told him.

Kendall's eyes widen, and his mouth drops open. He couldn't believe it. Was he dreaming? If he was, he didn't want to wake up. "You really are an angel." He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Andi asked, not quite hearing what Kendall said.

"I, um, just said you're awesome. Yeah, that's it." Kendall lied, not wanting to embarrass himself by telling her he thought she was an angel. He blushed and got up, offering a hand to her. Andi smiled and took it, and Kendall helped her up, his hand lingering on hers for a moment longer before he reluctantly pulled away.

"Thanks." She said, a shy smile on her lips. Soon Kendall was sat on the couch with his mom, Logan, and Carlos as she stood by her mom and Gustavo.

"I'm putting the band back together." Gustavo said, holding a cup of tea as he sat in front of Carlos, Kendall, Logan, and Kendall's and Katie's mom.

Kelly points at them with a grin on her face. "And we're doing the concert."

"Yes!" Katie suddenly appeared from behind the couch, wearing a Big Time Rush t-shirt and hat. Andi jumped, startled with her sudden appearance, but she smiled at her enthusiasm. She was so cute.

"What do you say, guys?" Gustavo asks. "You want to come back to L.A. and take one more shot at the big time?" He questioned in a hopeful tone.

Andi, Gustavo, and Kelly look at them with hopeful expressions. Kendall shares a look with Carlos and Logan before looking back at Gustavo. "No."

Andi frowns, feeling her heart drop. "Wait, what? Why?" She asked, a confused and disappointed expression on her face. She didn't understand.

Andi jumps a bit, glancing at Gustavo when he breaks the tea cup he held. Kendall points at Gustavo. "Gustavo, we're tired of being pushed around."

"We're gonna be a band. We're not gonna be a band. What you want. What Griffin doesn't want." Kendall points at himself. "I want a hockey scholarship."

Gustavo looks at Andi and Kelly with a panicked expression. "I want to be a doctor." Logan spoke.

Andi looks at Carlos weirdly, just then realizing he's wearing some sort of superhero costume. "And I want to make the world a safer place." Carlos said, putting his hands on his hips.

Kendall looks at Gustavo and shakes his head. "You didn't even say goodbye."

"I'm not good at goodbyes!" Gustavo shouts, startling the others. Kelly hits the back of his head causing the hat he wore to move forward a bit. Gustavo fixes his hat and sighs. "But I believe in you. And you've taught me things, other things that...I'm not good at, like friendship and loyalty...And family. Can I-Can I stop now?" Gustavo asked, glancing at Andi and Kelly pleadingly.

"Why stop now when you're so good at this stuff?" Andi chuckled, amused at Gustavo's awkwardness. She smiled sweetly at Gustavo when he narrowed his eyes at her and turned his attention back to the boys.

"If we go back, our album will be released, right?" Carlos questioned.

Gustavo stands up. "Once people will see your concert, everything else will fall into place. I'm almost positive."

While sighing, Kendall stands up. "So you want us to pack up everything, again, for a concert that may or may not launch our album."

Carlos and Logan stand up, crossing their arms. "So, we got a deal?" Gustavo nervously smiled.

A sigh of relief escapes Andi's lips when Carlos, Kendall, and Logan reply with, "Yep."

****

They're finally back in L.A., but sadly without James. They went to talk with James' dad to see where he is before they left Minnesota, and were sad to find out that he is now working with Hawk Records.

"We are back!" Carlos excitedly exclaimed.

"Now, all we have to do is find James, tell him the band's back together, and...." Kendall's voice trailed off as he, Carlos, and Logan realized that the place is empty.

"Oh my gosh, the studio's been robbed!" Logan exclaimed while the three of them panicked.

Carlos gasps. "Looks like this is a job for..." He opens his button up shirt to reveal his superhero costume underneath. "El Hombre Del Flaming Space Rock Man."

"That's an awful superhero name." Andi commented, her face scrunching up in distaste.

Kendall and Logan nods in agreement. Kendall mimics the sound of a buzzer while Logan points at Carlos. "Need a better name."

"The studio wasn't robbed." Kelly explained as Carlos buttoned his shirt back up.

"Yeah," Andi sighs. "Gustavo had to sell literally everything to buy Big Time Rush back from Griffin."

"Including my mansion." Gustavo cried out and sobbed into Kelly's shoulder. Kelly sighed handing him a handkerchief, and he blew his nose.

"Don't worry, Gustavo." Kendall assures him. "We won't let you down."

"And you can stay at the Palm Woods with us." Mrs. Knight offered.

"Yeah," Gustavo stops crying as he looks at each of them. "There's no money for the Palm Woods."

Carlos, Kendall, and Logan look at him with wide eyes. Katie furrows her eyebrows. "Then where are we staying?"

#bigtimerush #andi #kendall #carlos #logan #james #gustavo #kelly #jennifer #katie #palmwoods #rocquerecords #concert

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years ago

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The Weekend Warrior 10/1/21: VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY II, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK, TITANE, MAYDAY, THE JESUS MUSIC

Yeah, so I haven’t had the time over the past couple weeks to write a column, and I kind of hate that fact, especially since I’m coming up on a pretty major milestone for me writing a weekly box office column and reviewing movies. In fact, that milestone comes next week! And once again, I’m struggling to get through the movies I was hoping to watch and write about this week, because I’ve been out of town and once again, very busy over the weekend. Let’s see how far I get...

Before we get to this week’s wide releases, I’m excited to say that my local arthouse movie theater, The Metrograph, is finally reopening for in-person screenings, and they’re kicking things off with a 4k restoration of Andrez Zulawski’s 1981 thriller, Possession, starring Sam Neill and Isabell Adjani, who won a Best Actress prize at Cannes for her performance in the film. I actually saw this at the Metrograph a few years back, and Metrograph Pictures, the distribution arm of the company is now distributing the 4k restoration. There’s a lot of exciting things ahead at Metrograph, including an upcoming four-film Clint Eastwood retrospective, including White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) and A Perfect World (1991) this Friday. Also, Lingua Franca director Isabel Sandoval will be showing her fantastic film from 2020 (a rare chance to see it in a theater and I’ll be there!) as well as program a number of other favorites of hers. Sunday will have screenings of Ingmar Berman’s Scenes from a Marriage (1973) in its full four plus hour glory, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993) and John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994).. In other words, the Metrograph is back!

Moving over to the weekend’s three wide releases, the first one up being Sony’s VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (Sony Pictures) with Tom Hardy returning as Eddie Brock aka Venom, joined by Woody Harrelson as the psychotic symbiote, Carnage. Taking over the directing reins is Andy Serkis, who has only directed two other movies, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Breathe, but as an actor, he’s been heavily involved with the CG VFX (and performance capture) needed to bring the characters in this Marvel anti-hero movie to life.

Venom has been one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains and sometimes allies for quite a few decades now, starting out life as a cool black costume Spider-Man found on a strange planet during the first “Secret Wars,” which turned out to be an alien symbiote that had malicious intentions. Spider-Man got the costume off of him but it then linked up with Eddie Brock, a sad-sack journalist whose emotions drove the alien symbiote to become the Venom we known and (mostly) love, thanks to one Todd McFarlane. Venom continued to play a large part in the Spider-Man books before getting his own comics, and not before a super-villain was created for him in Cletus Kasady, a vicious serial killer whose infection by the symbiote turns him into Carnage. And that’s who Harrelson is playing.

Being a sequel, we do have some basis to go on, although the original Venom movie, released in early October 2018, also arrived at a time when it was only the second time the character of Venom was brought to the big screen -- the first time being Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, in which the character was received without much love as Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And yet, Venom did great, opening with $80.2 million and grossing $213 million domestically, which is more than enough to greenlight a sequel. (It made over double that amount overseas, too.) For comparison, the Wolverine prequel opened with $85 million but at the beginning of summer, so it quickly tailed away with other movies coming out after it. Venom: Let There Be Carnage has to worry about the new James Bond opening a week later, so it very likely could be a one-and-done, opening decently but quickly dropping down as other big movies are released in October (basically one a week).

I’ve already seen the movie, and by the time you read this, reviews will already be up --including my own at Below the Line. Social media reactions seem to not be so bad though, so maybe it’ll get better reviews than its predecessor, which was trashed by critics, receiving only a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But if you look at the fan ratings, they’re higher with 81%, although it’s hard not to be

I’m thinking that bearing COVID in mind and the law of depreciation since the previous movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage will probably be good for around $50 million this weekend, maybe a little more, but however it’s received, I expect it to drop significantly next week, though a total domestic gross of $135 to 140 million seems reasonable.

Another strong sequel to kick off October is the animated THE ADDAMS FAMILY II (MGM), which is following up the 2019 hit for MGM/UA Releasing with most of the voice cast returning, including Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Finn Wolfhard, as well as Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Bette Midler voicing the popular characters from the New Yorker cartoons, a popular ‘60s TV series, and two Barry Sonnenfeld movies from the ‘90s.

The 2019 animated film was a pretty solid hit for the newly-launched UA Releasing, grossing $100 million domestic after a $30.3 million opening, making it one of MGM’s biggest hits since it was restructured under UA and became its own distributor again. Who knows what’s going to happen with Amazon’s plans on buying MGM and whether the latter will remain a distribution wing, but MGM still has a number of movies out this year that likely will be awards contenders. But that doesn’t mean much for The Addams Family II, which will try to get some of those people who paid to see the original movie in theaters back to see the sequel… and if they’re not going to theaters, MGM is once again offering the movie day-and-date on VOD much like they did with last year’s Bill and Ted Face the Music, which opened much earlier in the pandemic (late august, 2020), so it far fewer options to see it in theaters compared to this animated sequel.

It’s highly doubtful that The Addams Family II was going to open anywhere near to $30 million even if there wasn’t a pandemic, and it wasn’t on VOD just because MGM just doesn’t seem to be marketing the movie as well as its predecessor. You can blame COVID if you want, but it’s also the fact they’re distributing the company’s first James Bond movie in six years, No Time To Die, on their own vs. through another distributor, ala the last few Daniel Craig Bonds. But we’ll talk more about that next week, since that’s going to be an important movie to help cover MGM’s expenses for the rest of 2021. (I haven’t had a chance to see this yet, but it’s embargoed until Friday, so wouldn’t be able to get a review into the column regardless.)

We’ve seen quite a few family hits over the past few months even when the movies were already on streaming/VOD, but parents are probably being a bit more careful with kids back in school, many younger kids still not vaccinated, and the Delta variant still not quite under control. Because of those factors, I think The Addams Family II is more likely to do somewhere between $15 and 18 million its opening weekend, maybe more on the lower side.

Third up is THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK (New Line/WB), David Chase’s prequel to his hit HBO series, The Sopranos, which went off the air in 2004 but still finds fans on the new HBO Max streamer. Ironically, this prequel will air on the streamer at the same time as it's getting a theatrical release, which probably won't be a very tough choice for fans.

Chase has reunited with director Alan Taylor, who won a Primetime Emmy for his work on the show in 2007 before moving onto other popular shows like HBO's Game of Thrones. Taylor has had a bit of a rough career in film, though, having directed Marvel Studios’ sequel, Thor: The Dark World, a movie that wasn't received very well although there were rumors that Taylor butted heads with the producers and maybe didn't even finish the movie. He went on to direct Terminator Genesys, which honestly, I can't remember if it was the worst Terminator movie, but it was pretty bad.

What's interesting is that because this is a prequel set in the '70s and '80s, none of the actors from the show appear on it, but it does star Alessandro Nivola, a great actor in one of his meatiest roles for a studio movie. It also introduces Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini (who played Tony Soprano, if you didn't know), playing the teenage Tony, plus it has great roles for the likes of Jon Bernthal (as Tony's father), Vera Farmiga (playing Tony's mother), Corey Stoll (playing the younger "Junior” Soprano), and Lesile Odom Jr, as the Sopranos key adversary, even though he ends up coming across like the good guy of the movie. It also stars Billy Magnussen, who oddly, also has a key role in next week's No Time to Die.

I'm sure there's quite a bit of interest in seeing where Tony came from and to learn more about his family, many who were dead long before the events of the HBO show, but will that be enough to get them into theaters when they already have HBO? I already reviewed the movie for Below the Line, and reviews are generally positive, which might get people more interested in this prequel.

As with most of Warner Bros’ movies this year, Many Saints will also debut on HBO Max and unlike some of the studio’s other 2021 offerings, it will actually make more sense to watch this one on the streamer since that’s how most people watched The Sopranos. That seems like a killer for Many Saints, and it’s likely to keep it opening under $10 million, where it might have done better on a different weekend (like sometime over the last two weeks).

This is what I have this weekend’s top 10 looking like:

1. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) - $50.4 million N/A

2. The Addams Family II (MGM/UA Releasing) - $16.5 million N/A

3. The Many Saints of Newark (New Line/WB) - $9 million N/A

4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel/Disney) - $7.5 million -44%

5. Dear Evan Hansen (Universal) - $4.1 million -45%

6. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $3.3 million -30%

7. Jungle Cruise (Disney) - $1.1 million -35%

8. Candyman (Universal) - $1.3 million -48%

9. Cry Macho (Warner Bros.) - $1 million -52%

10. Malignant (Warner Bros.) - .7 million -53%

Opening in select cities is French filmmaker Julia (Raw) Ducournau’s TITANE (Neon), the genre thriller that won this year’s coveted Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It stars Agathe Rouselle as a young woman who has an interesting relationship with automobiles, but she also has psychotic tendencies that leaves a trail of bodies behind her. On the run, she decides to pretend she’s the missing son of a fireman (Vincent Lindon), who has been missing for 10 years, and things just get weirder from there.

I honestly wasen’t sure what to expect from this although I do remember walking out of Ducournau’s cannibal movie, Raw, just because it was so gross, even though so many of my colleagues and friends swear by the movie, and this one, for that matter. Sure, there’s a certain “prove it” factor to me watching a movie that wins the Palme D’Or, because it’s very rare that I like the movies that do win that benchmark cinema award.

After a flashback to Agathe’s character Alexia when she was an obstinate young girl kicking the back seat of her father as he’s driving. They crash and she’s forced to get surgery that puts an odd looking piece of metal in her head. Decades later, she seems to be a pseudo-stripper at weird punk rock car show -- I guess they do those things different in France -- and hooking up with a fellow “model” afterwards. Agathe is actually a very popular model/dancer but when one fan gets too grabby, she pulls a knitting needle out of her hair and stabs it through his ear, killing him. Oh, yeah, she then has sex with a car and seemingly gets pregnant, but that only happens later. First, she goes on a bit of a killing spree and then goes on a run and decides that by strapping up her breasts and breaking her nose, she can pass off this fire captain’s son… and it works!

So the second half deals with acting great Vincent Lindon’s absolutely bonkers steroid-addicted man who seems to be sexually attracted to his own son, and most of his fellow firefighters knows that he’s gay but in the closet, but I’m honestly not sure what that matters. He’s a pretty disgusting character whose 70-year-old ass we see way too much of, and even those who might find Rouselle to be quite fetching, there’s a certain point where her nudity is not alluring but quite horrifying.

Oh, and at this time, Alexia (or Adrien, as she’s now going) has also gotten significantly pregnant, but it’s not a normal pregnancy because what should be milk from her breasts seems to some sort of motor oil. That’s because she FUCKED A CAR earlier in the movie!!! What do you expect when you fuck a car and don’t use protection, girlie? The fact Alexia/Adrien is trying to hide the fact she’s a pregnant woman from a station full of men isn’t even particularly disturbing. The part that really got me was when she broke her own nose to pass off as this guy’s son -- I actually had to look away for that part.

Listen I’m no prude, and I think I can handle most things in terms of horror and gore, but Titane just annoyed me, because it felt like Ms Ducournau was doing a lot of what we see more for shock value than to actually drive the story forward. There just doesn’t seem to be much point to any of it, and once the movie gets to the firehouse, and we see her interaction (as a young man) with her “father” and his colleagues, it just gets more grueling.

It’s as if Ducournau had watched a lot of movies by the likes of Cronenberg or David Lynch, or more likely Nicolas Refn or Lars von Trier, and thought, “I could be just as strange and horrific as those men… let’s see what people think of this.” And way too many people fell for it, including the Cannes jury. While I normally would approve of any good body horror movie, especially one with cinematography, score and musical selections as good as this one, I doubt I’d ever want to watch this movie again. And therefore, I don’t think I can recommend this movie to anyone either, at least no one I want to remain my friend.

As far as the movie’s box office, NEON is opening the movie in 562 theaters to build on buzz from various film festivals, including the New York Film Festival earlier this week. I think it should be good for half a million this weekend, although maybe it'll surprise me like NEON's release of Parasite a few years back. I just don't see this getting into the top 10 but maybe just outside it.

And then we have a few more movies that I got screeners for but just couldn’t find the time to watch, but might do so once I finish this verdammt column.

The faith-based doc THE JESUS MUSIC (Lionsgate) by the Erwin Brothers (I Can Only Imagine, I Still Believe) takes a look at the rise of Christian Contemporary Music through artists like Amy Grant and Stryper and everything in between, featuring lots of interviews of the artists’ trials and triumphs. Even though there isn’t much CCM I ever listen to, I’m still kind of curious about this one, since I generally like music docs and this is guaranteed not to be the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of most of them. I have no idea how wide Lionsgate intends to release this but it certainly can be fairly wide, because the Erwins have delivered at least one giant hit for Lionsgate, and I Still Believe may have been another one if not for the pandemic. It actually opened on March 13, just days before movie theaters shut down across the country, so it's little surprise it only made $7 million domestic. That said, the acts in this one have a lot of fans, and if Lionsgate does release The Jesus Music into 1,000 theaters or so (which is very doable), then I would expect it would make between $1 and 2 million, which would be enough to break into the Top 10.

I haven't seen any of the movies based on Anna Todd's YA romance novels but the third of them, AFTER WE FELL, will play in about 1,311 theaters on Thursday i.e. tonight through Fathom Events, and may or may not continue through the weekend. These movies just kind of show up, and again, having not seen any of them, I'm not sure what kind of audience they have, but this one stars Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes, as well as Stephen Moyer, Mira Sorvino and Arielle Kebbel with Castille Landon directing.

Grace Van Patten (Under the Silver Lake) stars in Karen Cinorre’s action-fantasy film MAYDAY (Magnolia), playing Ana, a young woman who is transported to a “dreamlike and dangerous” coastline where she joins a female army in a never-ending war where women lure men to their deaths. It also stars Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin and Juliette Lewis. It will be in theaters and On Demand this Friday.

The great Tim Blake Nelson stars in Potsy Ponciroli’s action-Western OLD HENRY (Shout! Studios/Hideout) about a widowed farmer and son who take in an injured man with a satchel full of cash only to have to fend off a posse who come after the man, claiming to be the law. Not sure who to trust, the farmer has to use his gun skills to defend his home and the stranger.

The romantic-comedy FALLING FOR FIGARO (IFC Films) is the new movie from Australian filmmaker Ben Lewin (The Sessions), who I’ve interviewed a few times, and he’s a really nice chap. This one stars Danielle Macdonald, Hugh Skinner, and Joanna Lumley, and it will be in theaters and On Demand this Friday. This rom-com is set in the world of opera singing competitions with Macdonald playing Millie, a brilliant young fund manager who decides to chase her dream of being an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands. She begins vocal training lessons with a former opera diva, played by Lumley, where she meets Max, a young man also training for that competition. Could love blossom? This actually sounds like my kind of movie, so I’ll definitely try to watch soon.

The second season of “Welcome to Blumhouse” the horror movie anthology kicks off on Amazon Prime Video on Friday with the first two movies, Maritte Lee Go’s Black as Night (which I’ve seen) and Gigi Saul Guerrero’s Bingo Night (which I haven’t), and actually I’ll have an interview with Ms. Go over at Below the Line possibly later this week. The former stars Ashja Cooper as a teen girl living in Louisiana who has a bad experience with homeless vampires, along with her best friend (Fabrizio Guido).

Also, Antoine Fuqua and Jake Gyllenhaal’s remake of the Danish film THE GUILTY will begin streaming on Netflix starting Friday after premiering at TIFF a few weeks back. I never got around to reviewing it, but it’s pretty good, maybe a little better than the original movie but essentially the same. I’d definitely recommend it if you like Jake, because he’s definitely terrific in it.

Also hitting Netflix this week is Juana Macias' SOUNDS LIKE LOVE (Netflix), a Spanish language romance movie that (guess) I haven't seen!

A few other movies I didn’t get to this week, include:

STOP AND GO (Decal) VAL (Dread) BLUSH (UA Releasing) RUNT (1091 Pictures)

Next week, it’s not time for James Bond, it’s time for James Bond to die… no, wait… there is NO TIME TO DIE! Also, a very, very special anniversary for the Weekend Warrior….

#The Weekend Warrior #Venom: Let There Be Carnage #Many Saints of Newark #Addams Family II #movies #review #box office #reviews #The Jesus Music #Titane

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