#and today is our last review before the test!!!

[lamby-grahamy]

.

[haikyu-mp4]

Get to know you

Fluffy workplace romance working for the MSBY Black Jackals with your crush Sakusa, for my workplace romance event <3

requested by @act-nat-ural. word count; 1319 – f!reader

“Hi, Sakusa!” you greeted, voice way sweeter than when you greeted any of the other players who arrived that morning. Sakusa nodded his head once in greeting before heading to the wardrobe, leaving you to cover your face with your hands and groan in defeat.

Having a huge, obvious crush on Sakusa Kiyoomi was already hell, but actually acting on it and trying to both gain his attention and act cool about it, that was even worse.

You’re an assistant manager for MSBY, always ready with their water bottles, towels and a thorough review of their game stats. For any events, you were there as well, doing your best to predict their needs.

Atsumu patted your shoulder. “That’s just Omi for ya, don’t mind him.”

You pouted, getting out your notepad to ready it for today’s notes. “I would think less of him if I could,” you mumbled, making the rusty wheels in Atsumu’s head start turning.

Ohh… our manager has a crush!

On the way to the press event, you were squished in the middle seat between Hinata and Sakusa, gnawing at your lips as if that would make you any less nervous.

As you neared the location, you fumbled around in your purse for something while Hinata loudly practised his manuscript. Just as Sakusa was about to turn to you and ask for something, you held your hand out with a small bottle of unscented sanitiser. The kind that was all flat and could fit in his blazer pocket.

He looked up in surprise, silently meeting your eyes with a grateful nod. Instead of holding his hands out, he took the bottle from you and distributed it himself before sneaking it into his pocket.

While he rubbed his hands together, your attention was drawn back to the shorter player who asked you for some details.

It might have been your delusions, but it seemed like Sakusa stuck around you while inside the event building, sighing in relief when you had brought an extra mask for him just in case.

It even earned you a spoken, “You’re a lifesaver.”

After a division game finished in a victory for the Jackals, you ecstatically handed out bottles and towels, doing your best to praise all the players on their individual performance.

You were about to turn to Inunaki when someone stumbled into you, a flurry of awkward limbs and curly hair. Sakusa held your shoulders to steady himself, grumbling an apology and childishly accusing Miya of pushing him.

You smiled nervously before looking to the side so he wouldn’t notice your blush. “Don’t worry. And your spikes were amazing today, Sakusa. Good job.”

Sakusa eyed you for a second before stepping away, throwing a “Thank you, y/n” over his shoulder as he moved along with the rest of the team. 

He said your name.

On the last practice of the week, before you would all have a week off for autumn break, you were surprised to find a cup of coffee sitting on the bench where you usually sat. You blinked at it for a second before asking the coach if it was his, holding it up to him and feeling it was still warm.

“It has your name on it,” the coach said, making you turn the cup in surprise only to find he was right. Your name was written on the back in cursive, with a little smiley at the end.

Looking around, you checked to see if anyone was waiting for you to acknowledge them, but no one was. All the players had lined up for warm-ups led by Meian, so you left the mystery for another time.

Unexpectedly, he added, “Someone already filled the first round of bottles as well, so you can just take a rest until they start the drills.”

It made you stutter, unsure if this might be some test to see if you were still motivated enough for the job, but the coach’s smile made you agree and sit down. You silently drank the coffee and watched the players until you finally had to get to work, and the empty cup was tucked away in your bag.

If only you dared look at Sakusa, who was staring from the corner with a small smile on his face, happy you could take a breather before running around to cater for them all day.

He wondered if that one was actually your favourite coffee, or if you just got it because it was cheaper. He wondered if you liked going to cafes and if you had other hobbies. He wondered if you knew how to cook and what season of the year you liked most.

Sakusa found himself to be very… interested in you.

You were dressed in the most gorgeous dress you could find, in a colour you loved and with your most shiny necklace locked around your neck. To say the least, you felt exquisite.

However, your hands were anxiously fiddling with the fabric. It’s a Christmas party, reserved only for the team and their staff. The players were dressed up in suits and you were pretty sure everyone had noticed by now how your eyes trailed after Sakusa.

It should be illegal to look that good.

You jumped as a figure dropped onto the chair beside you. “Is that drool on your chin?” he teased, pointing to the side of his own mouth with a wolfish grin. You punched his shoulder loosely, but your other hand was still raised to check for any drool.

It made the setter laugh heartily, and you shielded your face from everyone as they turned to look. “Atsumu,” you groaned. “Shouldn’t you be embarrassing yourself on the dance floor by now?”

“Ha, ha.” The man settled into the chair, and you eventually turned to look at him properly. He almost forgot what he was supposed to say, not used to seeing you so dolled up. You looked amazing. “I suppose you don’t want to hear my plan to get you and Sakusa together, then.”

“Hardly,” you agreed. “But I bet you’ll tell me anyway.”

An arm rested across the back of your chair and the setter leaned closer. “Right you are. Now, the DJ has been instructed to play a slow song next, and you will ask dear grumpy to dance.”

You looked at him wide-eyed before your gaze automatically moved to the grumpy in question. “I can’t just do that. Have you seen him today?”

Atsumu rolled his eyes. “Him? Look at you.”

You had to give it to Atsumu. He got you dancing with Sakusa, arms resting around his neck while you did your best not to step on his feet. His hands were firm on your waist, but his dancing was stiff.

Make the most of it, you decide. Taking a deep breath, you finally look up at Sakusa to find him staring at you with an unusual flush painted upon his cheeks.

“Are you okay, Sakusa?”

“Kiyoomi.” You raised your eyebrows, making him carefully clear his throat. “You can call me Kiyoomi.”

“Kiyoomi.” Your heart skipped a beat when his face responded by growing even warmer as you repeated his name. “Are you having a good time?”

“A little embarrassed you asked me before I could ask you, but at least we got to dance.”

You let out a small gasp as he twirled you, making you smile even more. “Do you like dancing?” you asked him as he pulled you back to his chest, seeming to loosen up more in his movements.

“Not particularly. But I think I like you.”

And to say the butterflies fluttered in your stomach would be an understatement. “I think I like you too.”

Your eyes spoke a thousand words that night, fluttering lashes and soft looks coming together to tell the other how you felt. I would like to get to know you more.

masterlist

[fluentmoviequoter]

Rook Book

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!metro!reader

Summary: When you return to the Mid-Wilshire station for a Metro inspection, you don't expect to run into your former TO, Tim Bradford.

Warnings: fluff, brief angst, incorrect police procedures

Word Count: 2.4k+ words

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“Boot, let’s go!” Tim urges. “You can talk to your friends later.”

“Good morning to you, too, Officer Bradford,” Lucy replies. “How’d you-“

“Shop.”

“I just-“

“Shop.”

Lucy sighs before walking away from Tim. She’s used to his grumpiness by now, but she can tell by his attitude that there will be a few Tim Tests today. The war bags are already in the trunk, so Lucy isn’t sure what the rush is.

✯✯✯✯✯

“It’s been a while,” Wade says as he shakes your hand.

“Too long,” you reply with a smile. “When my captain mentioned this, I knew I had to take the assignment.”

“So, what does Metro want with a station review? Isn’t that usually IA’s thing?”

“Typically, yes. I think my role here is best described as a scout. Cap wants some new blood and we’ve got a couple of Metro openings. We need the best, and for some reason, I get to choose them.”

“You’ve already chosen one, I’m sure.”

Wade smiles as you furrow your brows. He shakes his head and reaches for something on his desk.

“Who?” you ask.

“If you don’t know, I’m not telling you.”

Someone knocks on the door, and you turn around as Smitty steps inside.

“I thought you quit,” he says when he sees you.

“I think I know who I won’t be choosing,” you tell Wade.

He tosses you a set of keys and waves. You leave his office and glance around. The station hasn’t changed much since the last time you were there, but you’re sure the people have. As you walk through the bullpen, you see someone you recognize.

“Bradford?” you call.

Tim freezes at the sound of your voice. He hasn’t seen you in years, yet hearing his last name come out of your mouth takes him back to when he was a rookie. Walking several steps ahead of him, Lucy stops and turns at the call of Bradford’s name. She’s expecting to be held up for a minute or two, but when she sees Tim turn slowly toward you, she knows that it’s more than that.

“Hey,” Tim says.

When he sees your smile, he relaxes and steps toward you. You don’t miss his initial reaction, though, and it makes your smile grow.

“I did not think you’d still be here,” you begin. “Maybe I should’ve done a better job.”

Tim nods, and Lucy rushes to his side. She smiles and extends her hand toward you before she speaks.

“Hi, I’m Lucy, uh, Officer Chen. How do you know Officer Bradford?” she asks.

“Nice to meet you,” you reply before telling her your name. “And you are?”

“Oh, I’m Tim’s rookie.”

“You’re a TO?” you ask incredulously as you turn to look at Tim. “Seriously?”

“Lucy,” Tim begins, “this is my TO.”

Lucy’s jaw drops and you chuckle. Wade calls your name, and you look over your shoulder at him. After he beckons you to return to his office, you turn back to Tim.

“I’ll see you around,” you say.

“Why?” he inquires.

“Metro’s recruiting.”

Tim watches you go and doesn’t move until you’re out of his sight. His shoulders are tense, but there’s a small smile on his face that Lucy hasn’t seen before.

“You never mentioned her!” Lucy exclaims.

“Because she was my TO, not yours,” Tim argues.

“She doesn’t seem that much older than you.”

“I’m not that much older than you.”

Lucy raises her brows but remains silent this time.

“Our ages don’t matter. Aren’t you supposed to be in the shop?” Tim argues.

“Aren’t you?”

Tim tilts his head to the side, and Lucy decides this isn’t a battle worth fighting. She’ll ask about you later, anyway. After Lucy walks away, Tim glances towards Wade’s office once more. He remembers every moment he spent with you, and the memories are making it hard to focus.

“You drive,” Tim tells Lucy as he enters the garage area.

“Are you serious?”

“Am I ever unserious?”

Lucy nods and takes the keys from him. As she climbs into the driver’s seat, she realizes why he doesn’t want to drive. He can’t, for some reason.

“You had a crush on your TO,” she accuses quietly.

“Do you want me to quiz you on everything in the rook book?” Tim replies. “Because if you keep this up, that’s what you have to look forward to.”

“You don’t have one.”

“No, because I actually know everything in it. Now, you can pick. Be quiet and drive or I start asking questions about cavity search procedures.”

“I will be quiet and drive,” Lucy decides. “For now.”

Tim takes a deep breath as he remembers the rook book you kept with you when he was a boot. Every memory he has of you is good, and now he’s concerned that Lucy is right. Not that he did have a crush on you, he knows he did, but that he still does.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Bradford,” Wade calls over the radio. “I need you and Chen to return to the station.”

“Copy that,” Tim responds.

“What do you think that’s about?” Lucy asks.

“The Metro inspection.”

“I didn’t know about a Metro inspection.”

“I can tell you’re about to burst, so you can ask one question before we get back to the station,” Tim offers.

“Ooh! Wait, just one? How am I supposed to choose? Because I want to know about what kind of TO she was, but I also need to ask if she knows that you liked her.”

“Choose one.”

Lucy taps her fingers on the steering wheel for a moment before smiling. “Did she test you like you test me?”

“Are you asking if she had a version of Tim Tests?”

“Yes.”

Tim nods as he answers, “Yeah. She gave me tests. It’s one of the reasons I started doing Tim Tests. Practical knowledge and experience are important, but she’s the one who taught me that.”

“That’s so cute! You based your teaching style on your teacher crush.”

“Chen,” Tim warns.

“Okay, okay. Then did she quiz you on the rook book, too?”

Lucy knows she is pressing her luck with asking another question. Tim doesn’t answer, and as she nears the station, Lucy expects he’ll make her do pushups later.

“Yeah, she did. Always had a copy of the rook book with her. Sometimes, she’d read it while I drove around and would only talk to me to ask me questions.”

Lucy smiles to herself, now completely convinced that Tim had a crush on you. The way he talks about you and remembers you, though, makes her think those feelings may still be alive. Once the shop is parked at the station, Lucy decides to get to the bottom of Tim’s relationship with you, and if there isn’t one, she needs to make something happen.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Bradford, thanks for coming back so quickly,” Wade says. “Head into my office. Chen, I’ve got an assignment for you.”

“Yes, sir,” Lucy replies.

“There’s a Metro inspection happening today, and I need you to take the Metro officer around, show her everything she needs to see, make introductions, whatever she asks.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lucy tries to hide her smile because she suspects that you are the Metro officer she’s about to spend a bunch of time with. Maybe you’ll be more open than Tim. When you approach her with a smile, Lucy knows that her investigation of your relationships will be more fun than your inspection of the station.

“Officer Chen, sorry to pull you from patrol, but Sergeant Grey said you were one of the best,” you greet.

“No problem,” Lucy says. “And you can call me Lucy if you want.”

“Okay, Lucy, I would love a tour of Mid-Wilshire station. It’s been a long time since I was here, so walk me through like it’s my first time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lucy turns and leads you toward the front desk, to start the tour as she would with a visitor.

“Lucy?” you ask. “What’s Tim like as a TO?”

“He’s great. I mean, he’s grumpy and has a ton of Tim Tests, but I like riding with him.”

“Tim Tests,” you murmur under your breath. “Cute.”

Lucy smiles at your reaction before she begins the tour. You don’t mention Tim again for a while, and Lucy thinks that you are too focused on your inspection to think about him. As you near the bullpen at the end of the tour, Tim is exiting Wade’s office.

“You abducted my boot for a personalized tour?” Tim asks you.

“Lucy mentioned Tim Tests,” you say, changing the subject. “Don’t tell me copied my rook book move, too.”

Tim rubs his thumb across his jaw before answering, “I didn’t.”

“He told me that you used to carry a rook book around and would ask him questions,” Lucy interjects. “I’m really glad he didn’t take that idea.”

You look at Tim with a smile as you ask, “That’s all you told her?”

Lucy looks back and forth between you and Tim, but neither of you seems to remember she’s there.

“The rook book wasn’t a rook book,” Tim says after a moment. “It was just a book that she put the cover on. Those days that she didn’t want to talk to me, she’d just read through our shift and ask me random questions to make it look like she was doing her job.”

“Yeah. Because I’m the one who had trouble doing my job,” you reply with a laugh.

Tim shakes his head, and Lucy suddenly feels the urge to interrupt before he says something out of line.

“How’s the inspection going?” he asks instead.

“How’d your meeting go?” you counter. “Because the inspection is just a cover and we both know it.”

“Cover for what?” Lucy asks.

“She’s recruiting for Metro,” Tim explains. “Looking for the best talent in our station to move to a new team.”

“We’ve got three openings,” you remind him. “Just think about it, okay?”

Tim looks toward Lucy, but you give him a knowing nod. Lucy feels lost like a kid listening to her parents talk about something she hasn’t experienced yet.

“Thanks for the tour, Officer Chen,” you say. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

You say bye to Tim before walking past him. His fingers flex at his side as you pass, close enough to touch. Tim closes his eyes for a moment before turning to Lucy.

“Let’s go. Patrol isn’t over yet,” he says.

“Are you sure you don’t want to grab a book first?” she responds. “I know, shop. I’m going.”

✯✯✯✯✯

After the day of your inspection, Lucy doesn’t hear your name again. Tim returns to his high-stress tests, driving, and random procedural questions. You clearly made an impact on Tim just by being near him, and as Lucy’s rookie exam gets closer, she wonders if Tim pushed you away.

“Can I ask a question?” Lucy asks.

“Depends. Is it about the exam? Because that’s all you should be concerned about,” Tim says.

“No. Well, sort of. Did your TO help you study?”

“Are we talking about my experience as a rookie or about my TO?”

“Your TO,” Lucy answers softly.

“Fine. Ask away.”

“Why hasn’t she been back?”

“She has a job. Metro is busy, so she doesn’t have a lot of time to make personal visits.”

“Did she offer you one of the positions?”

“She did.”

“And you didn’t take it? Why not?”

“Because you’re still a rookie. I have to get you through this.”

“You could’ve handed me off, that happens all the time. Did you say no because of her?”

“I didn’t say no, Chen. I said not yet.”

“Metro positions don’t open every day! You can’t throw away your career to drive me around for a few more months!”

“Lucy!” Tim yells. “Drop it.”

Lucy sits back and presses her lips together to stay quiet. Tim’s cell phone rings, and he glances at it before raising it to his ear.

“Hello?” Tim answers.

Lucy looks over in shock. Tim has never answered a personal call in the time they’ve been riding together. Whoever is on the other end speaks for a moment, and Tim listens intently.

“Got it… Yep, see you then.”

Tim ends the call and drops his phone to continue driving.

“Who was that?” Lucy asks.

Tim looks over but doesn’t answer. He says, “Read your rook book,” and keeps driving.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Officer Bradford,” you call as he and Lucy enter the station.

Tim leaves Lucy and walks to you. He stops beside Wade’s office and waits for you to begin. You told him on the phone to come straight to the station when his shift ended and he’s ready to know why. Nolan and Jackson enter behind Lucy and silence as they watch Tim talk to you.

“Who is that?” Nolan whispers.

“Tim’s TO,” Lucy answers.

“My captain wanted to call you, but I thought it would be better to tell you in person,” you begin. “You passed the Metro test, and your spot is waiting for you.”

Tim smiles, glad he has his back to the rookies. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything I haven’t done before.”

“Which is?”

“See potential in you.”

Tim nods and thanks you again. You look over his shoulder and the rookies look away quickly, but they’re less than stealthy and it is obvious they’re trying to listen in.

“Has Lucy been asking about me?” you ask.

“Nonstop. Don’t look so happy about it, though.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Mostly if I had a crush on you.”

“We both know you did,” you say.

Tim doesn’t argue, and your smile grows.

“I know you told her about my tests and the rookie book, but what else does she know?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s interesting. Because I don’t know any more than that and I’ve known you a whole lot longer.” You glance down at your Metro uniform before adding, “Oh, and my captain also said that Metro officers are allowed to have interpersonal relationships as long as they don’t interfere with work.”

Tim looks up quickly with wide eyes. You stifle a laugh, and he rolls his eyes.

“So… are you ready to admit you had a crush on me?” you ask.

“Something like that.”

You wave at Lucy and step away from Tim. He reaches an arm out to stop you, but you only wink at him before you continue walking.

“Are you going to do something this time?” Wade asks as he exits his office.

“We’ll see,” Tim answers. “Lucy has to pass the rookie exam first.”

“It looks like she just got herself a tutor.”

Tim turns and finds you and Lucy talking excitedly. You smile at him, and Tim feels like a boot again.

“This is gonna be fun,” Wade and Lucy say simultaneously.

Neither you nor Tim hear them, too busy looking at one another.

> part 2: Rook Book to Remember Me By

[levihanskid]

‘Till the End of the Line: Bakugo Katsuki’s Twin AU chapter 2

Ch1 ao3 link wattpad link i'm sorry this took so long, vet school is killing me ;-; this chapter has been sitting in my drafts for so long but the latest episode made me finally do it

The following months have been extensive for both Katsuki and Mitsuko. They tried to be consistent with their morning runs, but there were times where one or both of them would sleep in. Mostly Mitsuko, which pissed her twin a lot. After school, they would spend an hour improving their physical condition and stamina, and another hour training with their quirks. All while trying to keep up with their studies and reviewing for the entrance exam.

Ten months had passed, and the twins are now walking towards the enormous gates of UA High School. They took the written exam a few weeks ago, which was easier than they expected. Today is the day that the twins are anticipating the most, the practical exam. Mitsuko felt a mix of emotions as she looked up the school’s crest on top of the gate. She’s nervous, but at the same time she’s excited and can’t wait to put her training to use.

As they entered the school grounds, a familiar curly green hair caught her eyes. “Hey look, it’s your bff,” she nudged her brother.

From a few feet away, Midoriya Izuku stood at the middle in deep thought. Probably freaking out on the inside.

“Out of the way Deku!” Katsuki yelled.

“Kacchan! Micchan!” Izuku called in surprise.

Mitsuko visibly cringed at the nickname he used to address her and eyed the boy. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Move it! Or I’ll kill you!” her brother spat, unaffected by the childish nickname.

The boy immediately stepped out of the way and stuttered. “G-good morning! Let’s uh— let’s do our best!”

The twins didn’t say anything back, but she gave him a small smile before continuing to walk to the building.

“Isn’t that Bakugo? From the Sludge Villain Incident?”

“Yeah. And that’s the girl from the video. They’re twins aren’t they?”

Mitsuko is used to people murmuring about them, given that her brother is a big show off. This isn’t the first time they had people talking about something that one of them did, so she chose to ignore the whispers and looked ahead.

Inside the auditorium, they were greeted by the Voice Hero, Present mic. Mitsuko sat next to her brother, as well as Izuku who chose to be seated next to them and is currently fan boying over the pro hero at the podium. Katsuki tried telling him to shut up, but the boy kept muttering to himself and Mitsuko had to lean away from his direction to avoid getting distracted.

“As the application says, you’ll be participating in a ten minute battle in a mock city. Get ready! After this, you will head to your assigned battle center.”

She looked at her examination card, and then glanced over her brother’s.

“In other words, they’re not letting friends work together, huh?”

“You’re right,” Izuku agreed, his eyes glued to the blonde boy’s card. “We have consecutive numbers, but different centers.”

“Don’t look, want to die?” Katsuki threatened. “Tch. Now I can’t crush you, damn it.”

His last words made the curly boy move away a bit and turn his attention back to the stage.

“Makes sense,” Mitsuko whispered, her focus still on her card which displayed a letter C while her brother got A. “The exam is meant to test our individual abilities. They wouldn’t want us to tag-team.”

Present Mic continued his presentation. He went on to inform them about the types of mock villains they will be facing and that each type represents 1, 2, and 3 points each. They were also told about the gimmick villain that they’re supposed to run away from since it’s just there to cause trouble and not give points.

She played with her fingers as she tried to listen, making sure she knows every detail.

“Stop fidgeting,” her brother snapped. “It’s annoying. Why are nervous anyway?”

“I don’t know. It’s a mix between excitement and anxiety. And this orientation is taking so long,” she replied, intertwining her fingers to keep them steady.

“You’re right. We’ve heard enough, I can’t wait to crush those bots. Think you can get a hundred points?” her twin asked, still looking ahead. Although it’s obvious that he’s also starting to get restless.

“A hundred might be impossible, considering the time limit, the competition, and the fact that we won’t have any idea where the villains would be.”

“I can make it possible,” he brother scoffed. “And I’ll make sure to get the first spot.”

“Is that a challenge?” she raised a brow. “Whoever gets less points have to do the other’s chores for two weeks, then.”

Katsuki grinned at the raised stake. “Deal. Let’s show these extras how it’s done.”

***

Mitsuko tried containing her loud heartbeats as she stood before the door where the exam is going to take place. After the orientation, they were directed to change out of their middle school uniforms and get on the bus that would take them to their respective battle centers. She had changed into a white racerback tank top and some sweat pants.

The format of the test is very fortunate for her, since her quirk can easily be utilized. She imagined how those with quirks that only works to people would do against robots.

“Let’s do our best!” she heard an excited voice. Mitsuko looked over her shoulder to see a girl with pink hair and pink skin talking to the people around her with no tinge of awkwardness. They locked eyes for a moment.

“Huh? Why do you look familiar?” the girl looked at her with a hint of recognition.

Before she could respond, the voice of the hero Present Mic echoed through the speakers.

“Start! What are waiting for? Real fights don’t have countdowns!”

Mitsuko didn’t waste any second and ran inside the training grounds, using her quirk to propel herself forward.

She saw a couple of number 1 and 2 robots straight ahead. Without any hesitation, she pointed her palms toward them and willed her quirk out. Her forearms glowed in bright white-yellow color. The light traveled onto her hands into her palms before blasting to the direction of the robots. They exploded with the contact, leaving electric sparks and smokes.

“Nice quirk ‘ya got there,” a voice from behind commented. Mitsuko whirled around and saw a boy approaching her. He’s got blonde hair and gray eyes, but what caught her attention (in a bad way) was the annoying smug face that he has.

She didn’t reply, so the boy continued. “Must be nice having a quirk so flashy, huh?”

He tapped her on the shoulder, and a look of recognition flashed across his face for a second, before being replaced with a smirk. “Weren’t you that girl from the video? Didn’t expect you to be here after all that shit talking to those heroes.”

The smirk was one thing, but his words made Mitsuko’s blood boil. Her red pupils dilated and her right eyebrow raised as she tried to stop herself from blinding the guy. She shouldn’t be distracted right now.

Another batch of robots showed up, and she thanked the heavens for giving her an excuse to walk away from where she’s currently standing.

“Sorry, but I don’t have time for a chitchat,” she said in a monotone voice, swatting the guy’s hand away from her shoulder.

She ran to destroy the robots, but before she could stretch her hands out, quick flashes of light reached and blasted them into pieces. No, those were not just lights, they look too much like hers.

She looked back to where the lights came from, confusion clearly visible from her face.

“Whoops! Sorry for stealing points from ‘ya, but I gotta do what I gotta do, don’t ‘ya think?” it was the same blonde guy, still wearing his irritating smirk. He turned on his heel and began walking away. “I’ll be having this flashy quirk for a while, better make use of it!”

Those words confused her even more. Did he just get her quirk?

She shook her head and put her focus back on the exam. Shit. Was he trying to stall me for some reason?

The exam just started, but she could’ve gotten more points if she wasn’t standing around having a one sided conversation with that guy. She can’t afford to waste more time.

She flew around the grounds looking for more targets, blasting her quirk backwards to levitate and propel herself faster. Taking down every robot she encounters along the way as quickly as she could.

She was at 23 points, if she counted correctly, when she reached the area where a lot of the kids are gathered. Present Mic’s voice echoed through the speakers again.

“We have reached the half time!! Five minutes left before the exam ends!!!”

She saw a bunch of robots with different points surrounding the students. More people means more robots to see them as targets. Just as she figured.

Mitsuko jumped over, smirking in satisfaction as she shot her quirk out at every single robot within her sight while using her flexibility and agility to maneuver herself.

The kids stared at her in awe. “What an awesome quirk she’s got.”

“Isn’t she the girl from that one video?”

“Hey! Leave some points for us!” one of them shouted out.

She continued gathering points, keeping herself airborne using her quirk and sometimes stepping on the robots to use them to keep her momentum. She kept going, faster and quicker, not letting the others steal points from her again.

By the time her feet touched the ground, all of the robots around the area were already blown into bits. Mitsuko wiped the sweat from her forehead and tightened her ponytail. She also noticed her arms glowing a bit. She must’ve used up the stored energy in her body since it’s currently absorbing sunlight again.

“You are so cool!! Those movements were amazing! You look like you could be a great dancer!” the same pink girl ran to her with enthusiasm. Mitsuko just noticed a pair of horns protruding out from her pink curly locks.

“I don’t dance,” she replied, looking around for more robots to destroy. She realized she lost count of her points after her exhibition earlier.

“Really? You should try! The way you’re moving while fighting is awesome!”

“I came here to be a hero, not a dancer,” Mitsuko cut the girls’ blabbering. “Sorry, but I really don’t have the time to–“

The ground shook, and a loud grumbling mechanical sound cut her last sentence. She looked up to see a huge robot approaching. It’s the zero point they were supposed to run away from.

Anyone with no balls would run away from that thing, all right. She thought to herself.

“Let’s go! That’s a no-pointer!” the pink girl pulled the back of her top.

Before they could take a step back however, the robot continued to stroll through the streets, destroying the buildings and causing debris to fall down.

Talk about keeping the damage to a minimum!

People began to scatter in a panic. Everyone was pushing trying to run away.

A huge piece of the building’s wall caught Mitsuko’s attention. It was plummeting into the direction of the students, specifically the pink girl. Mitsuko didn’t even realize that the girl started running off. The girl was looking over her left shoulder, seemingly trying to call Mitsuko to join the retreat. While the debris was coming from her right side, a complete blind spot.

She hasn’t trained much to target moving objects, not to mention fast ones. So she decided not to try and shoot it while it’s falling down.

Her next action was caused by the heat of the moment. It was a crazy idea, but she prayed it would work.

Mitsuko ran towards the girl faster than the rock. When she reached her, she pushed the girl out of the way and produced the strongest energy barrier she could muster. It was a move she’s been improving for the past year. It worked against her brother’s attacks, so she’s hoping that it’ll work against the huge piece of rock.

It did. Sort of.

She was able to stop the debris without her barrier faltering, but its weight and momentum was too heavy. She couldn’t free a hand to blast the rock into pieces. Now she’s stuck holding both her hands up to maintain the barrier.

She heard the pink girl grunt from behind her, and a spray of acid splashed onto the lower part of the rock causing it to move a little. In that given moment, Mitsuko quickly released her barrier and used her quirk again to make the rock explode.

The debris was casting a shadow over her so unlike before, her arms seemed to glow brighter. The rock blew up into pieces, but her body continued to glow a little as it absorbed sunlight to compensate for the energy she just lost.

Mitsuko turned around, panting as bits of sweat began forming on her forehead. She saw the girl trying to stand on her feet, but she couldn’t seem to put weight on her left foot.

“Can you run?” Mitsuko asked.

“No, I think I sprained my ankle from falling down earlier. Why’d you have to push me so hard anyway?!” the girl exclaimed.

“Huh!?” Mitsuko’s brows furrowed. “How is that my fault?! I just saved your ass!”

They didn’t have more time to argue, because the zero-point robot was nearing their position. As much as she hated it, Mitsuko took the girl’s arm over her shoulder and began moving. The people had thinned out, the other examinees must’ve managed to run off far from where they were.

Great. That just made their situation worse, because now the only targets the robot has was the two of them. And it’s currently aiming its enormous metal hand to swat them like little flies.

Despite trying to convince herself that UA wouldn’t allow anyone to get killed for an entrance exam, Mitsuko’s wracking nerves still got the best of her.

With gritted teeth, she let go of the girl’s arms, “Take cover!” she yelled and turned around to face the giant villain. She raised her arms, still glowing from the absorption, and waited for the perfect time to blast. But before that perfect time came, she felt a sudden smack behind her head.

Anger and confusion took over her as she tried to process what just happened. Mitsuko looked around with furrowed brows and saw a guy walking past her.

The annoying blonde kid from earlier stood in front of her and threw an energy blast towards the hands of the robot. Just like their first encounter, his blast looked so much like her quirk. The villain stopped, and the boy snickered before looking back at her. “I never planned to go after the gimmick, but I thought you needed saving,” he said in an arrogant voice which made Mitsuko’s mind ring in irritation.

“YOU FUCKING COPYCAT!” she began stomping towards him.

“Oh, you finally figured it out? You’re welcome, although that’s not a very nice nickna—“

“ARE YOU STUPID?! THAT ATTACK WAS SO WEAK IT WON’T EVEN MAKE A SCRATCH!”

There was a loud metallic creaking sound. Mitsuko looked up, the smokes are gone so she could clearly see how right she was. The robot is still standing, not even a dent could be seen in its huge hands that is now coming down to them faster than before.

She muttered a curse before running to the right side, leaving the other two frozen in their place. When she reached the right spot, she raised her arms once again and acted as fast as she could.

She willed her quirk out, this time much stronger and concentrated than before, making her entire arms glow instead of just her forearms. The light traveled through her hands and palms before shooting out, her legs almost giving up from the shot's recoil. It hit the robot’s elbow, just as she planned. Her attack was powerful enough to pierce through its armor and cut its forearm off, stopping it from hitting the other kids.

Panting, Mitsuko then just realized that she lost track of both the time and her points. She was about to run to gather more points when Present Mic’s voice echoed once again.

“TIME’S UP!”

“Dammit!”

[ofmermaidstories]

So on Good Friday I had drafted up a little post just—I dunno. It started off with me talking about my lunch (broiche toast with peanut butter, some slices of overpriced smoked cheddar and a pottle of cherry tomatoes that i’d halved and dressed with wholegrain mustard, salt and pepper and sesame oil), because i enjoyed it, and then because i had been thinking about it, i had mentioned how Australian grocery prices have climbed well above the global average.

I mentioned some of my favourite people to follow, on tiktok! Food accounts—the woman who does the Dollar Store budget videos, where she plans out meals around limited money, or accessibility. The young mum who’s videos are just her making lunch/dinner for her four little kids. The Palestinian man who used to review resturants and dishes before the war on Gaza—and who, before Tiktok took down the videos, had started posting himself making dishes from aid rations. In the end I just saved the post to my drafts because—there was no real point to the post, not really, beyond how unfair it is that food is swiftly becoming a luxury and how it shouldn’t be, for any of us, anywhere. Not us here in Australia with our 54% on average price increases, nor for American families that have to shop at Dollar Tree with their last $30 for the next two weeks.

And definitely not for the citizens of Gaza.

Israel is manufacturing a famine within Gaza’s borders. And just today, they murdered via airstrike a carload of World Central Kitchen aid workers. Seven in total, six foreign nationals and one Palestinian local. No aid organisation can operate within Gaza’s boarders without reporting their travel plans to the Israeli Invading Force. Their car was branded with the organisations logo. Israel has some of the best surveillance technology in the world—it is often the testing ground for the hot new stuff that then gets sold to the rest of our governments. Israeli knew who was in that car. And they targeted them anyway. And now because of their actions, the WCK is now “pausing (their) operations”. And who can blame them? Knowing that if you stay, you’re just putting more lives at risk—but it means how many less meals, now, less food for the Palestinians still there? All of our countries are cowards. The Australian government won’t even name Israel in its condemnation today, of the attack. The Australian government has let our only two real supermarket chains—Coles and Woolworths—create a duopoly where they can charge the public however much they want. We can’t help ourselves and we refuse to help other people—so what good are we, as a country? The boomers and the ignorant on facebook are too busy frothing at the mouth over the imaginary millionaire immigrants who come to Australia in boats and buy houses by the dozens, per family. So many of our problems—here in Australia, globally—would be solved if the majority of us realised the real enemy isn’t a people bomb-locked on their own land, or the refugees that make it here, or even each other but instead our own fucking governments, and the bastard corporations that are gripping them by the balls. I’m grateful for every meal I get to sit down to. But I would enjoy it a lot more if it were easier for all of us to eat—or if it were a CEO or politician or two on the plate itself.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

It looks like Meghan may be test-driving yet another narrative to handle the criticism about her failure to royal: it's all Harry's fault.

This started last week when reporters and journalists were speculating whether the Sussexes, had they stayed in, would have been able to help KP squash all the noise about Kate's condition and help BP squash the nosie about the royal family's bench strength by stepping up royal work. Hugo Vickers more or less said "no, because the Sussexes are only in it for themselves. Meghan wouldn't step up unless she personally benefited. She would have seen nothing in it for herself and would refuse to work."

So cue Esther Krakue, who appeared on Sky News Australia today. She agrees with Vickers that the Sussexes wouldn't have stepped up, but says it's because of Harry. Not Meghan. And the way she lays the blame squarely on Harry, she plays to both sides of the royal fence:

For the squaddies, she says "it's Harry's fault Meghan was a terrible royal because he made her start working before she was ready and willing."

For the rest of us, she says "Meghan lacked the temperament to be a proper royal because she wanted to be in charge and it's Harry's fault because he should have prepared her better."

That she speaks to both sides is making it a little harder to see whether this is Meghan setting up for a divorce narrative or whether this is an olive branch PR.

A quick disclaimer. I've no idea where Krakue falls in the royal reporting spectrum (is she a Sussex mouthpiece? Is she a straight-shooting royalist? Or does she go where the paycheck is?)

For me, I come down on "well, this feels like pre-emptive divorce narrative." Mainly because Meghan has been laying groundwork since 2017 for a domestic violence-based divorce narrative and "Harry forced Meghan to work" not only plays into that, it also implies he threatened Meghan.

Anyway. Here's the story.

And by the way, did you know this is the 11th time Meghan has tried to rewrite the story of her royal career? Let's review them!

#1. While they were dating/pre-engaged (2016 - late 2017): I’ll be the bestest duchess to duchess, better than Kate.

#2. While they were engaged (late 2017 - mid-2018): I’m going to hit the ground running and everyone will be so impressed The Queen will make me her heir.

#3. While “in” for 72 days (mid-2018 - late 2019): I’m only supporting my preferred charities and best friends, how dare you *coat flick*

#4. While Megxiting (late 2019 - March 2020): I don’t need the royals to do good work. They’re old-fashioned anyway. Watch me hit the ground running and being the bestest duchess to duchess.

#5. During the pandemic (March 2020 - March 2021): I’m not bound by the code of ethics the royals are so I can volunteer and support my most passionate causes, politics and political issues.

#6. While sobbing to Oprah (March 2020 - late 2021): I can’t do anything because Waity Katie gets all the help, attention, and money. I’m just a young black mother.

Next, Meghan loses control of the narrative as everyone shows up for the BRF after the Oprah interview, and even more so after Philip passes away. This collective effort establishes the narrative of Meghan's royal career as actually scornful "I should be getting paid for this" contempt (as summed up by Bower in 2021's Revenge). Meghan tries some things to backtrack over this but she just digs herself in deeper and deeper, leading to three competing narratives over Meghan's work--

a) “No one from the palace helped us, we had to do it all on our own because William and Kate were jealous and refused to let anyone help us.” (Sussexes)

b) “It’s your own fault. Harry should have better prepared you for the realities of royal life and actually, HERE ARE THE RECEIPTS, WE DID TRY TO HELP but you wanted your LA teams to do it instead.” (BRF and Royal Rota)

c) “She never wanted to work, she just wanted the fame and fortune, come on you people, it's so [bleeping] obvious." (The public and most royal watchers)

This lasts until the end of 2021 when Sunshine Sachs/Netflix/Spotify finally dig Meghan out through a few rounds of Olive Branch PR and Jubilee and Hollywood manifestations, leading to...

#8. While finally launching her Megxit career (end of 2021 to September 2022, The Queen’s passing): I’m finally doing the work I was promised I could do by the royal family. Look at what you could've had.

#9. After The Queen’s passing (October 2022 to end of 2022): I just wanted to work but they wouldn't let me do anything because they're jealous.

#10. During the Charles era (2023): I couldn’t do anything because the royals are racist.

And now, #11. Royal Health Crisis (January 2024): I never wanted to be a working royal, Harry made me and he didn’t prepare me appropriately.

[taomyou]

The Paradis Marriage Pact

Author: taomyou Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader Summary: Do you believe in soulmates? No. Do you believe that Jean's coding project can introduce you to someone special? Not really, but your mind can be changed. Word Count: 6.1k Tags: modern au, university au, strangers to lovers, fluff, meet-cute, matchmaking, one-shot

The Paradis Marriage Pact

"Hey, do you think Levi believes in soulmates?" Hange asks, looking up from their laptop at Erwin. The two friends are in a study lounge reviewing for midterms, but it seems that Hange's taking a break since they're asking weird questions.

"I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

To that, Hange angles their screen towards Erwin so he can see what they're looking at. The website they're on looks simple enough: it seems just like any other standard testing site. "This second-year in my biotech lecture sent out the link to everyone! It's a matchmaking form for students here!"

Looking closer at the screen, he sees "PARADIS MARRIAGE PACT" in big, bold letters at the top of the page. What's this got to do with whether or not Levi believes in soulmates?

"You didn't answer my question, Hange. What are you planning?"

Hange dramatically leans back into the sofa, arms crossed and a sinister grin on their face. "I'm filling this out on our dear friend's behalf!"

"And does our dear friend know about this?"

"Of course not!" Hange laughs, "he'd skin me alive if he knew!"

"Well, you're right about that," says Erwin.

Hange nods at him before moving back to their earlier position closer to the table in front of them. "Wanna help me fill it out?"

With a laugh, Erwin shakes his head but starts putting away his own laptop and books. Once his bag is zipped, he scoots over to sit closer to Hange. "Sure, why not?"

"Really? I'll text Levi and ask about the whole soulmates thing, but we can just skip that for now!"

♡

"I don't wanna take it!"

"You can't not take it! The rest of us just did it!"

"Yeah, Connie's right," Sasha says, poking at your shoulder.

You groan and swat her hand away.

You and your friends have spent the last several hours in one of the library study rooms. Connie organized it as a "group study session," but you're sure you and Jean are the only ones actually being productive. You're not sure about Connie since you can't see his screen from where you're sitting, but Sasha's spent this entire time playing Overcooked! 2 in multiplayer mode with who you assume is him. Then, about 30 minutes ago, Connie started complaining about his engineering midterm, which prompted Sasha to complain about her physics midterm, which then prompted Jean to talk about his semester-long coding project.

"Could you guys fill this out? I need at least a thousand participants by the end of next week to get an A on this, and I already sent it to everyone I could," Jean asked, forwarding the link to the group chat.

You click on it and are brought to the website.

PARADIS MARRIAGE PACT: Fall in love today!

Leave it to Jean to choose to make a matchmaking website for his final project. Sasha and Connie found the premise to be quite fun, whereas you rolled your eyes at the page.

"Love calculators already exist," you criticized, exiting out of the tab immediately. Jean flipped you off from across the table, not appreciating your comment.

Which brings you to now, where Connie, Sasha, and Jean have been trying to pressure you into filling out the Paradis Marriage Pact. You don't really get why they want you specifically to do it, since you know Jean's popular and he could probably get enough responses, but it's probably more about annoying you than it is them actually wanting you to find the love of your life.

"If you need responses so bad, I can use my extra emails to spam random answers," you offer.

Jean shakes his head, tutting loudly. "You have to input your school email. Besides, if those answers paired you with someone who made the Pact honestly, they'd be heartbroken."

"So? Serves them right for taking some random sophomore's mandatory coding project seriously."

Connie and Sasha burst into laughter, which earns them a glare from Jean. You sigh dramatically and rest your head on your hand.

"Don't be mean! I put a lot of effort into this project!"

You never doubted that he did, him being a CS major, but it was still entertaining to poke fun at him.

"I have an idea! Why don't we fill it out for her?" Sasha suggests, and you see her open the link to start typing in your name. You immediately perk up and try to get her to stop, but she hurriedly picks up her laptop and rushes over to the other side of the table where Jean and Connie huddle closer to her. "Do either of you know her school email?"

"She forwarded me something a while ago, I can check," Connie says, opening his own laptop to find your information.

It's then that you know that you can either do it yourself or let these fools try to guess how you'd answer, and one of those possibilities is infinitely worse than the other.

"Okay, fine! I'll do it!"

All of them smile and immediately get up to crowd you, the sound of their rolling chairs filling the room as they push them to your side of the table. Sasha offers her laptop to you, and you place it on top of one of your textbooks. You type in your school email and some other information, and then you're brought to your first prompt.

It's okay that my partner drinks.

□ Agree □ Disagree

You check off the box for 'agree' and move on. The next couple of questions are easy enough, just asking what activities you're okay with, but your friends are still watching you intensely, and it unnerves you slightly.

After confirming that you are, in fact, not okay with your partner doing hard drugs, you're faced with the next question.

Do you believe in soulmates?

□ Yes □ No

You click on 'no,' but before you're able to tap the button to move on, Jean speaks up.

"What do you mean, 'no?'"

You turn to face him, completely deadpan and unamused. "You made this quiz, why would you even ask if you're gonna get butthurt about people not agreeing with you?"

"It's not about that! You just seem like you'd be into that sort of thing."

You hum, looking back at your screen. "Nah, I think soulmates are kinda stupid."

♡

Midterms came and went, but that "end of next week" deadline came even quicker for Jean. He managed to get the thousand answers he needed for the chance at an A, but he was stressed as all hell up until the very last day when he finally got enough participants. Unfortunately, it didn't get easier for him since he's been stressing about the next part of the assignment, so you, Sasha, and Connie decided to invite him out to dinner to try and help him destress. It's probably not working if all he's doing is complaining about his professor.

"Seriously, what kind of professor requires a thousand participants in that amount of time? This is a lower-division coding class, for fuck's sake, not Advanced Media Advertising!" He complains, taking a long sip of his soda.

"He sounds terrible, but, hey, at least you got enough answers," says Connie.

You and Sasha nod along while Jean takes another sip before speaking again.

"You guys don't get it! He's the actual devil! You guys are so lucky you'll never have to take his class!"

"What's left for you to do, anyway?" You ask.

"There's a report I have to write. I have to prove my project was successful, too, so I gotta find a couple that the program matched."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?"

"The program should've sent everyone an email with their match's name and contact information by now. I just need a couple to reply to it and agree to get interviewed."

"Man, good luck with that, nobody checks their email," Connie winces.

Jean buries his face in his hands, groaning in agony. "I know! That's why I'm still so worried!"

"Couldn't you just lie?" Sasha inquires.

Jean shakes his head. "The professor wants the audio from the interview and a picture of the couple together. It's so fucking stupid, what do either of those things even have to do with the class?" Suddenly, his face brightens, and now he's looking between you, Sasha, and Connie. "Can't one of you guys just go out with your match? Oh, I'm a fucking genius!"

The three of you awkwardly make eye contact with one another, mostly to avoid looking at Jean himself.

"Uh, dude, I don't really think any of us are up for that," Connie says.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, the questionnaire was fun to do as, like, a personality quiz, but I'm not down," Sasha adds.

Jean's face falls, and he turns to look at you.

By now, his hands are in a prayer position.

The likelihood of anyone getting back to the email Jean sent is slim-to-none, nevermind the likelihood of a couple replying.

You know how hard he works—the two of you study together practically every other day in the library—and despite his popularity, he's not one to go out often, instead staying in to work on projects or research. He really is adamant about doing well on this project and you know he could somehow make it out with a decent grade, but maybe you could do this tiny favor to help him out. It's not like it'd be all that hard, right? Meeting with your match and getting interviewed doesn't sound like too much of a hassle, especially since you're already close with Jean.

You can't really believe that you're choosing to help him, considering how much of a fight you put up when you were asked to take the Pact in the first place, but whatever. You smile at Jean and give him a thumbs-up.

"Sure, I got you."

Jean practically jumps out of his seat to give you a hug, laughing and smiling brightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

You give him a firm pat on the back before prying him away from you so he can go back to his seat. "Really, thank you so much! This makes everything so much easier!"

You blush in embarrassment, not really used to affection from Jean, but hey. He looks like a weight's been lifted off his chest, and that's why you're all out tonight anyway. "Yeah, yeah, let me check my email for a name, though."

Jean eagerly nods, a smile still on his face. Sasha and Connie don't look like they have anything to say, but they pay attention to you, probably also excited to know who your match is.

You don't have any sort of hopes for who it could be, not having your eye on anyone anyway, but you just hope they're understanding enough to agree to an interview. You open your mail app and tap on the "Search mail" prompt to type in "Paradis Marriage Pact." There's only one email related to your search, so you click on it to find your match's name in big, dark letters.

"Any of you guys know somebody named Levi Ackerman?"

♡

Somewhere in an empty lecture hall across campus, Hange, Levi, and Erwin are all lazing around after their last class. Levi's laptop is connected to the projector, and he's just scrolling through different streaming sites.

"Why the fuck are we even in here? We can just watch something at home."

"Because, Levi, tuition's too expensive to not make use of the grand halls at our disposal!"

"Imagine not being a scholarship student."

Erwin and Hange laugh, and the latter gets up from their seat to go over to Levi to help him choose something to watch. He refuses them at first, but they just shove him around enough to get him to give up and go sit where they just were. In the middle of some more aimless scrolling, they notice that there's a tab opened to Levi's email.

Hange did overhear someone last week telling that second-year that they got their results back from the Paradis Marriage Pact, so they get the stupid genius idea to try and look through Levi's email for his match. Switching tabs, they type in "Paradis Marriage Pact" into the "Search mail" prompt.

"Oi! What the fuck are you doing?" Levi exclaims.

Hange waves him off, not looking up from the screen. Erwin just has to sit back and watch it all unfold in front of him, the projector magnifying everything that Hange's doing. Finding the unopened email, they click on it and see a name printed in the same font as the initial title for the questionnaire page. Next to the name is a phone number.

Levi still doesn't really understand what Hange's doing, but whatever it is can't be good. He gets up again and rushes for his laptop, disconnecting it from the projector and closing it before Hange can try anything else.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing!" Hange nervously laughs and looks past Levi's shoulder at Erwin for back up.

Levi follows their eyes over to the man as well. Erwin gets up from his seat, joining the other two at the front of the hall.

"Just forget it, Hange. It was already wrong of us to submit answers for Levi."

"Again, what the fuck are you guys talking about? And what the fuck is the 'Paradis Marriage Pact?' Did you sign me up for a mail-order bride or something?"

Hange extends out both their arms, frantically waving off the accusations and shaking their head. "No, no! This kid in my biotech programed some matchmaking site, so I thought it'd be neat to submit something for you," Hange explains.

Levi exhales deeply, pinching his nose between his fingers. "So you think I need help from a fucking website to find a girlfriend? Just how pathetic do you think I am?"

"You literally have not dated since, like, high school!"

"And? That's a problem how?"

Erwin puts a hand on Levi's shoulder, though it gets swatted away just as quickly. "It isn't, we just thought it'd be fun. We're sorry," Erwin says.

It's certainly frustrating that Hange acts this way, interfering with his personal life, but he knows they mean well (emphasis on "mean.")

Erwin does too, so as much as he hates this, he'll let this one slide. It's a Friday, and the week has been exhausting enough. Erwin and Hange look at one another while Levi reaches into his back pocket to take out his phone. He felt a buzz, so he probably got a text from someone. When he turns on his phone, however, he sees that the notification is a text from a number he doesn't have saved.

Unknown Number - 6:27 PM

is this levi ackerman? this is your match from the paradis marriage pact

He frowns at the text but doesn't say anything. He'll deal with it later.

"Just don't do this again, so help me, God."

Hange's eyes bug out of their head. "You're not mad at us?"

Levi scoffs. "I'm mad, but I'm too tired of your shit to beat you into the ground right now."

"Let's go back home now, yeah?" Erwin suggests, his body facing the door.

After Levi wordlessly puts his laptop in his backpack, the three head back to their shared apartment. Erwin occasionally greets people that recognize him on the walk over, but other than that, they travel in complete silence to avoid pissing off Levi any further.

Once Levi's in his room, he shrugs off his backpack to put near his door and takes out his phone, walking over to the chair he has at his desk. He sits down, turns on his phone, and stares at the message he got.

In the first place, he has no idea what the fuck this Paradis Marriage Pact shit is.

Yeah, sure, Hange described it as a matchmaking program, but it's not like that's much to go off of. He switches over to his mail app to find the email sent from the site.

There still isn't much information—just the match's name, phone number, and a message at the bottom: Please reply to this email if your match is successful and you'd like to be interviewed! He rolls his eyes—the email looks formal enough, but there's no way anyone's going to actually reply to it. He also compares the number that texted him earlier and the number listed on the email.

They match, so he replies to the text.

Levi - 7:33 PM

Yes, this is Levi

Unknown Number - 7:39 PM

sorry if this is weird but i need a favor

Levi - 7:40 PM

Sorry, not interested in dating

Unknown Number - 7:40 PM

me neither

...Doesn't make much sense to text a match from something called a "marriage pact" if you're not interested, but alright. Levi isn't going to question it; he's doing the same thing replying to this person.

Unknown Number - 7:41 PM

could we meet up?

Levi - 7:42 PM

I said I'm not interested You literally just agreed with me

Unknown Number - 7:42 PM

no its not like that!!

Levi - 7:43 PM

Ok, then what's the favor?

Unknown Number - 7:43 PM

my friend is the guy who made the paradis marriage pact program and he needs help getting data from a successful match

Levi - 7:45 PM

And you want me to help because the email asking for it was so pathetic that he needed to get help from someone he knows personally?

Unknown Number - 7:46 PM

exactly! so are you up for it?

Levi - 7:46 PM

No

Unknown Number - 7:47 PM

we'd just have to answer some interview questions together

Levi - 7:47 PM

I said no already

Unknown Number - 7:48 PM

i already told my friend that i'd help him :( please?? i can buy you a drink

Levi - 7:50 PM

Why not just make up the data?

Unknown Number - 7:50 PM

... they need a recorded audio file of the couple talking and a picture

Levi - 7:51 PM

That's an awful lot for just a project

Unknown Number - 7:51 PM

if it means anything, he has dr pixis

Levi frowns.

He had Pixis for Intro to Python in his first year, and it's the only class he's gotten a B in since enrolling at Paradis University. Pixis is notorious for being a harsh grader, but there's only one other professor that offers lower-division technology course requirements for CS majors, so everyone has to take him at some point. It makes sense now that whoever made the Paradis Marriage Pact is scrambling for data. It's stupid that whoever made this decided to reach out for information over email, nevermind over school email, but Levi knows it's too late in the semester to try something else.

Unknown Number - 7:55 PM

ik its asking a lot and i have no idea who you are but if we matched then maybe it wont be so bad

Levi - 7:56 PM

I didn't take it My roommates did it for me and they probably answered it differently than I would've

Unknown Number - 7:57 PM

even better!! we already know we arent a match so theres no expectations

God, she isn't going to stop asking, is she? Levi can't judge their dedication to the cause, though; it's admirable that she's willing to reach out to a complete stranger just to help her friend.

Levi - 7:57 PM

If we aren't a real match, doesn't that make your friend's project a failure?

Unknown Number - 7:58 PM

technically, that isn't his fault

Levi - 8:00 PM

You're not giving up, are you?

Unknown Number - 8:01 PM

i will if you say no again

Great, she's a good friend, and she's respectful.

Levi himself can't believe that he's seriously about to go along with this.

For all he knows, this girl could be a fucking axe-murderer, but, at the same time, he knows how fucking miserable it is to have Pixis for any class ever. She can't be that bad if she hasn't prodded him for any actual information, and she sincerely seems to not be interested in getting to know him.

Just an interview, some pictures, and he'd never have to cross paths with her again?

Yeah, he can do that.

Levi - 8:03 PM

Okay, but you're still buying me a drink

Unknown Number - 8:04 PM

deal!! thank you so much!! let me ask my friend when we can do the interview

♡

"What do you mean you can't come? You're literally supposed to interview us in," you pull your phone away from your ear to check the time, 1:55 PM, "5 minutes!"

"I'm so sorry! I forgot I had a midterm today, and I can't get to you guys and make it back in time!" Jean says.

You groan and change the hand your phone is in. "What the fuck, man, midterm season was over, like, a month ago."

"I know! But Shadis kept pushing it back because people kept asking for more time to study!"

"So what do you want me to do? He already didn't want to do this, and I don't want to inconvenience him even more by changing the date this late."

"I can text you the questions, and you can go through them together."

"What about the audio file?"

"Just record it on your phone, and I'll edit in my voice so it sounds like I'm actually there."

You roll your eyes. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I don't really have a choice."

"Well, you're right about that. Let's just hope this Levi guy is okay with this."

"Okay with what, exactly?"

Looking towards the voice, you see a raven-haired guy around your age dressed in a neat black shirt and dark jeans. Before this, you texted each other the details of your outfits so you could find each other in the café Jean picked out for the three of you to meet, so you know that it's Levi. He seems to have a frown on his face, but you just hope that it's not directed towards you.

Despite that, though, he's.. really attractive.

You try not to dwell on that as you motion him to sit in the booth with you. He does so wordlessly and takes out his own phone to busy himself.

"I'll owe you forever, okay?"

You sigh, putting your elbow on the table. "Damn right you will. I get it, though. I'll try to make it work." You can hear him sigh in relief on the other end of the line.

"Thank you! I gotta go now, but send me the audio after! Don't forget the picture too!"

"It's no problem, Jean. Good luck on your midterm, you got this," you say, then bringing your phone away from your ear to end the call.

Levi clears his throat from across you to get your attention. "Is your friend on the way?" he asks.

You nervously laugh. "Yeah.. so about him, he can't make it."

"Is he who you were just on the phone with?"

You nod, looking away from him. "He called me and said he has a midterm today," you say.

He nods in what you want to interpret as understanding, but he's probably just confused. "Bit late for midterms, no?"

You nod, anxiously laughing again. "I told him the same thing, but he said his professor pushed it back."

"Pushing back a test that far sounds like a fucking terrible idea, but okay."

You hear a buzz come from your phone, so you pick it up to see a text from Jean. Opening it, you see that it's the questions Jean's supposed to be asking you and Levi. You put your phone back on the table and slide it over to Levi to look at.

"He sent me the questions, if you wanted to look at them."

"Just send them to me," he says, ignoring your device. You nod and take your phone back, quickly copying the text and forwarding it to Levi. "I assume we're still going to do this without him?"

You smile sheepishly at him, bringing your hands together in front of your face. "If it's okay with you. I understand if it isn't, but let me at least pay for you to get a drink before you leave. I've bothered you enough asking you to come here in the first place."

He looks up at you for a second before looking back at his phone to skim the questions.

"I don't care."

Tough crowd, huh.

Before you start, a waitress comes to your table asking what you and Levi would like to drink. You tell her you'll have a grapefruit green tea while Levi orders a cup of black tea.

"I'm gonna record the audio on my phone, and then we'll take turns answering, yeah? Jean said he'd edit in his own voice." He hums in understanding, and so you go to open your voice-recorder app and tap the "record" icon before placing your phone between the two of you. "I can answer first, since you have the questions."

He sighs.

"'What's your name?'"

You answer, and he does the same. Easy enough to start.

"'What's your major?'"

"I'm a public health major. You?"

"I'm in CS," he replies. "'How did you find out about the Paradis Marriage Pact?'"

"You forced me to take it," you say, voice wavering as you're unsure if you're supposed to pretend Jean is there or not. Levi looks up at you, his frown now replaced with a neutral expression.

"Are we going to pretend your friend is here?" He asks.

You groan and put your head down. "You're right, it's probably stupid."

He shakes his head. "No, it isn't. It'll help trick Pixis into thinking he's actually here."

You bring your head up and nod slowly, bobbing your head.

For someone who said he didn't care, he sure is nice. Well, as nice as you can be to a complete stranger.

The waitress comes back with your drinks, and you both thank her. 

Levi glances back down at his phone. "'Did you know each other before the Paradis Marriage Pact?'"

"You didn't answer the last question."

Levi rolls his eyes. "I mentioned it to you before. My roommates took it for me, so I didn't even know what this thing was until one of them brought it up to me."

After reaching for your cup to take a sip, you speak up.

"Well, we gotta make something up. You could say they showed it to you, and you decided to take it," you reason. He sighs.

"Okay, then. My roommate showed it to me, and I thought it was worth taking," he says, taking a sip of his own drink. "This is good."

Having never been at this café before, you can't agree or disagree, so you just smile. You notice that he's holding his cup by the rim, which is a bit odd, but it feels fitting for him.

"And no, we didn't know each other before this. It's kind of late now, but it's nice to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to come."

"It's nice to meet you, too."

The two of you continue like this: answering questions, slowly making your way down the list. They're all pretty general—just asking about things like what careers you're aiming for and what hobbies you have. You find out that he's interested in tea tasting, and he finds out that you're interested in gardening. Quite a bit of time passes, and soon enough, it feels like you're just having a conversation with a friend and not recording an interview.

You notice that he hasn't taken a drink in a while, so you speak up to ask him about it.

"Are you out of tea?" You ask.

He nods, scrolling down to the next question. Looking around for the waitress, you call her over to your table.

"What can I help you with?" She asks.

"Could we get two more cups of black tea, please?" At the mention of the drink, Levi looks up at you and the waitress.

"Of course! Let me get that for you," and with that, she's headed off for the drink bar.

"You didn't have to get more, you know." Levi says. "Why'd you get two cups?"

You smile, bringing your cup back up to finish the last of your grapefruit tea. "If you like it, it's probably worth trying. You said you try teas a lot, so I trust that it's good." He rolls his eyes, but you can see the corner of his mouth twitch upwards into a sort of half smile. "Anyway, next question?"

"'Are you happy with your match?'"

"Well, since Jean's supposed to be interviewing a successful match, I'll go along with that. You've been good company too, so yes, I'm happy with my match."

"I feel the same, then." You're glad he goes along with your answer, so you smile over at him. "'Why do you think you were paired together?'" He reads.

"Could you answer this one first? I don't really know how we could lie about this one."

He hums, looking up at you again. "I don't know what kind of questions were on the Pact, but from our conversation so far, you seem like a good person."

You're taken off guard, so you avoid his gaze, looking down at your empty teacup. "You think so?" You can feel your ears start to get red, so you feign fixing your hair to try and cover them. You didn't expect any answer like that from him even with all the talking you've been doing, so you're flustered.

"You didn't know who I was, and you went this far to help your friend with his project. Even after I told you I'm not actually your match, you still wanted to get the data for him. I think most people in your situation would've let him figure it out on his own." 

You laugh good-naturedly, putting your hands in your lap. You look up to see him still focused on you, and the blush on your face feels a little hotter.

You want to thank him and try to answer Jean's question, but before you can say anything, the waitress comes back with two new cups of black tea and takes away yours and Levi's empty cups. The two of you reach for the cups set in front of you, and you take a sip together.

"You're right, this is good," you say. He nods in agreement, and the two of you put your cups down.

"Alright, this is the last question. 'Both of you selected 'no' when asked if you believed in soulmates. Why do you believe that?'" Levi recites from Jean's questions. He pauses, a new frown forming on his face. "One of my roommates texted me to ask this a while ago. No wonder."

You laugh at that, covering your smile with your hand. "At least we don't have to come up with another lie."

He nods. "Yeah."

"Well, there's not really much to say. I think the idea that there's only one person destined to love you is pretty limiting, and then the chances of meeting them would be slim-to-none," you answer. You see Levi nod from the corner of your eye, so you continue. "Falling in love with them would be even harder. It's not really worth believing in soulmates, in my opinion."

"I feel the same way, more or less," he adds. "The idea is there, though."

"Yeah, it'd be nice if there was a way to know someone's perfect for you. Ever heard of the Paradis Marriage Pact? I've heard it's worked wonders," you joke.

He looks pretty unamused, though.

"Yeah, sure. It's so successful that the person who made it has to ask his friend to pretend they've found the love of their life," Levi says.

You laugh, nearly spitting out your tea. "Well, at least we agree that soulmates aren't real! Besides, anyone can fall in love if you spend enough time together."

"I suppose you're right."

Levi did say that the question about soulmates was the last one, so you get your phone from the middle of the table and tap the "stop recording" icon. The two of you don't initiate any further conversation, so you both sit in silence and finish your teas.

The quiet isn't awkward. It's... nice.

You flag the waitress over when you're finished, and after you pay for everything, she asks if you need anything else.

"Actually, could you take our picture for us?" You ask.

She nods, taking your phone from you to snap a quick picture. You smile, and you thank her as she hands the device back to you.

"You guys are so cute!" She coos, waving goodbye to you both. You and Levi both make eye contact, but neither of you say anything.

You check the time on your phone: 3:45 PM. You have a class at 4, so you get up from your seat to start heading over. You look down at Levi who's still sitting and wave goodbye to him.

"It really was nice meeting you, Levi. Really, thank you for agreeing to get interviewed, even if my friend couldn't make it. I hope it wasn't awkward for you."

"It wasn't."

You smile at him, tucking a piece of hair behind your still-red ear.

"Well, that's a relief," you say. You turn to leave the café, but before you can take any steps, you hear Levi clear his throat. You look at him, but he doesn't meet your gaze.

"Did you mean it when you said you were happy we matched, or did you only say that because of your friend?" He asks, looking down at his cup. You see a bit of red at the tops of his ears, so you giggle. "What's so funny?"

Even though he can't see it, you smile at him before answering, ignoring the latter question.

"I think I meant it."

You walk away before you can see his face, but you feel a buzz from your phone as soon as you're out the door. When you look at it, your smile gets even bigger.

Levi - 3:50 PM

I think I meant it too

♡

Jean yawns, stretching his arms above his head. He's finally back home for winter break, the semester having ended a week or so ago.

Despite that, though, Pixis hasn't released his grade yet, and he's getting worried.

Did Pixis somehow figure out that he messed with the audio file? Jean swears he did everything else perfectly, so it's gotta be that if he hasn't gotten his score back. As far as he knew, everyone else in the class got theirs back already. He's been sweating it all winter break.

For the hundredth time that night, Jean goes to refresh his school email. In addition to an email from the university's gradebook, however, there's an email from Dr. Pixis himself.

"Dear lord, please let this be good." He takes a deep breath before opening it. Realizing what it says, he screams out in joy. "Holy shit!"

"Jean-boy, what's the matter?" His mom asks, opening his door to see what all the noise is about. He excitedly motions her over to his desk, a big, bright smile on his face.

"Mom, look!"

Hello Jean, I am very pleased with your project. What an inventive idea—a program to match up students. Easy A. Thank you for not turning in the same boring project as everyone else. This may be a bit out of the blue, but I would also like to extend you a position as one of my TAs for next year's fall semester. You have proven yourself to be highly proficient in the course material. Attached to this email is the paperwork to formally accept. I hope you consider it. Also, good job finding a couple to interview. I seriously doubted that you could when you sent in your first round of data. Actually, I saw them the other day at the ice skating rink downtown holding hands. They look cute together, makes me believe in love again. Consider launching a similar program for professors, will you? I look forward to hearing from you. Best, Professor Dot Pixis.

[theonethatyaks93]

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY ANIMANIACS!!!!!

I just want to say how truly amazed I am with this show. There are very few words that can describe it. I put a few in the picture seen above, but this is barely anything compared to everything I've said. Animaniacs has changed my life in ways that many shows can only dream of. And I'm thrilled to be here today to celebrate its legacy.

I wasn't born in the 90's. I didn't grow up with this show like I know a ton of people did. I was exposed to it, mainly through the Hub Network ads for reruns, the once-in-a-while YouTube video reference, and even in fifth grade when my teacher showed us a clip of "Wakko's America" for our state capital test (which by the way I passed). I didn't acknowledge this show's presence, at least until 2020. That was a rough year, not only for me, but for everyone. Online school sucked. I couldn't see my friends. I was always crying myself to sleep and staying up late just watching videos to wash away my sadness and hurting. It was hell. I didn't have any comfort. At the absolute worst of times around October, I saw that one of my favorite channels posted a video on the trailer for the reboot of a show called Animaniacs. I was curious, mostly since I'd never heard about it before (well, I thought I hadn't). But the way the characters looked and the amount of people talking about it got me interested enough to click on the video. I listened to the reviewer's thoughts, not really understanding much, yet still being enticed to continue. I watched the actual trailer afterwards and...the rest is history.

I instantly fell in love. I watched the trailer on repeat before the reboot's release, laughing and singing along. I researched the show more and discovered a ton of voice actors I knew. I loved the characters, especially Yakko, I listened to the songs, I watched the interviews, and I talked about it constantly to my family and friends. While I didn't have Hulu, I still kept up with the reboot quite heavily. For Christmas, I got my first piece of merch, a T-shirt, and I got the first 25 episodes of the original show. I watched them on repeat with my sister and we both laughed, sang, and danced around whenever the show came on. After taking a fandom break, I got back into the show in 2021, which came with a new appreciation for Pinky and The Brain and fanfiction. Around this time, I was finally able to watch the reboot and entire original series since I got Hulu. My merchandise collection expanded, my knowledge of the show grew exponentially, and my desire to contribute to the fandom was intense. Not much has changed since then. Granted my merchandise collection is bigger, I can do impressions of a few characters, I met some of the voice actors, I joined the community on Tumblr, I actually wrote some fanfiction, and I've seen so many Animaniacs episodes now that it'll make your head spin. I'm so proud to be a super fan.

My appreciation and adoration for the Animaniacs franchise knows no bounds. It changed my life in amazing ways. And I can't believe its thirty years old today. I'm struggling to keep my emotions in right now, it's all so surreal. So, to all my followers I encourage you to give this show all your love today. It deserves it. Thank you Animaniacs. Thank you so much for everything you've done. You have made me a better individual and have fueled my love of animation for nearly three years. I hope you continue to inspire many more like me to laugh, be silly, and sing "Yakko's World" to pass a geography test. Animaniacs is the greatest show of all time, and I'll never stop saying that. (Ps. this isn't the last Animaniacs Anniversary related post I'm making! The next one will be long! And I'll also be showcasing my Animaniacs merch collection! Stay tuned!) Goodnight Everybody!!

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Theory of Love Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I’ll cover Theory of Love, a polarizing show that was one of the first BLs to deep-dive into viewer subversion of commonly held judgements. THANKS SO, SO MUCH to the SWEETEST ToL friends EVER for watching along with me and offering your clarity and insight: @lurkingshan​, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle​, @neuroticbookworm​, @ginnymoonbeam​, @manogirl​, and if I forgot anyone, my apologies!]

It was inevitable, in this project, that I would begin crossing lines into territories of beloved vs. utterly hated shows. I had THAT experience in FULL last week with my review of TharnType and the subsequent public and private conversations that that show, and my thoughts on it, engendered. (And it was a FABULOUS experience, let me tell you -- thanks, ALL Y’ALL, for your thoughts and input on that show.)

[Before I dive into analysis, I just want to say that: if you’re impacted by Theory of Love, particularly by way of any experiences you might have had in your own past that you relate to in the show (especially with Third’s reactions to Khai’s behavior), that is VALID AND REAL. I learned in the aftermath of my TharnType review that I need to be a bit more clear about this, especially because of how divided the feelings are on TT and ToL, so: while this review is going to feature effusive praise for this show, I am, by no means, invalidating anything that anyone felt about relating to Third’s feelings or experiences. Those feelings are REAL. And please feel free to skip this review if you need to get away from Khai, etc.!]

So, Theory of Love -- it’s another one that has a heavily divided fanbase. You’re either in HEATED PASSION for this show, as I ended up being, or you PASSIONATELY HATE this show, and/or Khai himself as a character. Things that I heard about this show as I was putting together the watchlist, and as I began to watch it, were things like, “this show features heavy misogyny,” “this show has bad friend behavior,” “Third is treated horribly,” etc.

However, almost as SOON as I started watching Theory of Love, I realized that I was about to enter into a world of subversion, where I had to have my smell test strong and ready -- and I found it to be a FABULOUS experience.

I’m going to talk about a couple of themes here regarding ToL, as I usually do:

1) The tendency that we might have to fall into a compassion/sympathy bias, and how that clouds our judgement of characters, especially regarding their personal responsibility and accountability to others, 2) The large-scale impact of heteronormativity,  3) How behavioral change is massively difficult, 4) How we as populations and societies are ACTUALLY RESISTANT, OFTEN, to people around us changing,

and more, if I get to it -- because there’s a lot.

As soon as I started the first episode, I was like -- ooooh, FUCK, we’re gonna get played, aren’t we? Third/Gun’s tears. Sobbing in the shower with his clothes on. Raging in despair over Khai’s behavior with women.

First, I ran to MDL, and saw the screenwriters -- and I was like, OHHHHHHH. OKAY. I SEE WHAT WE GOT GOING ON HERE. Bee Pongsate, Pratchaya Thavornthummarut, and Au Kornprom -- some of the heaviest of hitters, in my opinion, authors and/or ADs of some of the best writing that I’ve seen on television (Bad Buddy, anyone?). (I saw a LOT of proto-BBS in ToL, which I’ll hopefully reference throughout this piece.)

When I saw these names, I knew I was in for an experience of emotional subversion, and that’s kind of when I started flipping my lid about this show -- right fucking away. And I felt that I knew what they were doing by giving us so much of Third’s despair, hot and heavy, from the very start.

Let’s backtrack for a moment. When Extraordinary Attorney Woo aired last summer, I referenced in a few of my posts the concept of implicit empathy bias. For Third, I’d adjust this nomenclature to call it our implicit compassion or sympathy bias, in that: we were presented with a very emotionally impacted person, right away, who really served as a foil in a human character to “translate” what Khai’s behavior meant to a larger circle outside of Khai himself.

What I wrote about Woo Young-Woo in EAW is that we as viewers had a responsibility to check ourselves on our having sympathy or even misplaced empathy for her. I argued: who were we to have sympathy for her? Woo Young-Woo was a fucking badass. She was a kick-ass lawyer, she had a hot guy after her tail, and she knew exactly what her preferences were in her life. Oh, and she probably made bank at that private law firm. She earned the respect of her seniors and was someone to be admired, not sympathized with, as an autistic lawyer. 

Implicit compassion or sympathy bias is a concept that therapists need to be aware of when working with clients, as sympathy or misplaced compassion could lead to an unbalanced power differential. Therapists, out of sympathy for a client, may believe that a client may not BE ABLE to change their behavior on their own or with guidance, and may lead to implicit and/or explicit condescension. AND, worse of all (in my opinion): that may lead therapists to not encourage personal responsibility and/or accountability for their clients to own their feelings and their preferences, and allow a therapist to write off problematic behavior and approaches as unchangeable and/or acceptable, even if the client COULD benefit from modalities of change.

And so: Third. Crying in the shower. Despairing over Khai bringing home girl after girl. Raging in pain over his un-communicated love for his best friend. 

Now, listen, before I get further: YES, at many points, Khai was a MASSIVE asshole. He even called that first kiss on Third a “colossal dick move” (I REALLY wanna know how to say that in Thai, lol). Asking your homey to leave your place and keeping him on the street all night -- bad. At least find your best friend a couch to crash on.

But there are two things here I want to tease out vis à vis the implicit sympathy bias concept. In the first few episodes, we see Third in his absolute dumps. 

HOWEVER. The ways in which he’s either NOT communicating, or trying to communicate in INCREDIBLY passive ways? That’s on Third, and Third alone. Bro, don’t write on Khai’s shirt WHEN KHAI’S NOT AROUND! Dump those clichéd posterboards! If you want someone to know your feelings, you are RESPONSIBLE, on God, for doing that yourself.

Couple that with Third’s judgement of Khai’s behavior. He looked down on Khai’s behavior ... all while belonging to a friend group that was EXTREMELY rooted in what we could call stereotypical heteronormative behavior (and I want to heavily credit @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle for bringing heteronormativity to this conversation vis à vis Khai -- thank you for letting me borrow your words, let me give you your flowers!). 

I didn’t see Third condemning Two and Bone (huh huh, Bone) for doing the same thing with girls.

What I saw X, Bee, Pratchaya, and Au doing here was setting us, the viewers, up for an experience of having sympathy for Third -- and almost IMMEDIATELY being lulled into an experience where we wouldn’t, subsequently, hold Third ACCOUNTABLE for taking RESPONSIBILITY in trying to change the paradigm that he was in. INSTEAD, I posit, it would be EASY to sympathize with him, AND condemn Khai for being a booty-chaser, ALL WHILE Third, or us, were NOT holding Two and Bone similarly accountable. PSH.

And think about how easy that is! Gun’s SOOOOOO CUTE, Y’ALL, UGGGHHH. Him crying? Forget about it. Those tears, those pouty lips! Stop that man from crying, get him a Kleenex Thailand sponsorship!

And, AND, in Thailand, and in America: think about how easy it is to judge hook-up culture. It’s SO EASY. A person can be a whore, a ho, a slut, or easy. Write ‘em off. 

We can talk about sexual freedom and agency in one breath, and judge someone for getting tail in the next. 

I’m telling you. I was TAKEN AWAY BY THE BRILLIANCE OF THIS SET-UP from the damn start of this show. And I related to it personally, particularly from the lens of heteronormativity, because ... I related to Khai (maybe I wasn’t as much of a player in my twenties, but ya girl, ya know -- I had my experiences, okay?! ANYWAY, moving on, cough cough.)

So I had my experiences. In my majority-Asian girlfriend group, I was judged for my experiences. Why? 

Because sex is judged in almost all societies (I’m leaving continental Western Europe out of this, but I welcome input from the family over there!). If you’re getting some, there are others that aren’t, for a myriad of reasons. Why do we judge? For religious and/or cultural reasons, a lack of sex education, a lack of supportive input and guidance from elders and/or friends -- the list goes on.

For being able to hook up with guys (I’m cishet), I was called a slut, a ho, a whore. From my perspective? I was doing.... what everyone else was doing. I was participating in heteronormative society and behavior, and because of the ease of my being able to socially engage with others, I was judged for it. (I don’t carry too much baggage from that judgement. I’m happily married to a man I got drunk with in a bar the first time I met him. All I can do is NOT condemn my kids for doing the same when their time comes.)

Again: ToL was NOT set up to elicit judgement against Two and Bone. The judgement -- as ferociously directed FROM Third -- was written and designed to be AGAINST Khai. In summation: I call bullshit on Third. I would argue that the brilliance of the writing here meant that we as viewers could have been lulled into judging one person for their behavior, while allowing passes for others engaging in the exact same thing. And I’d posit that ToL, above all else, provided an INCREDIBLE meta-commentary on the insidiousness of this selective judgement. 

[Let me also add that I believe these messages were woven into the story in other ways. As I chatted with @wen-kexing-apologist​ about: I compared the name “Un,” Earth Pirapat’s character, to the title of the French film that Bone and Paan were into, Un Homme et Une Femme. “One Man and One Woman.” A message from society that all humans are supposed to be... het and monogamous? And unchanging, at that. Memorialized into media. And anything else could be judged. When, in fact: Un himself broke a mold by being in love with Two (un... deux....) the entire time.]

I would also argue that ToL was not necessarily a condemnation of heteronormativity in society. I think, instead, it served as a reflection for both what we as members of society are willing to accept or not accept by way of acceptable behavior, BUT ALSO: HOW UNWILLING WE ACTUALLY ARE TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO CHANGE.

What do I mean by that?

So, Khai. I think Khai, at the start of the show, was being Khai. I don’t know if it was clear from the start of the show that Third was gay, per se. What was only made clear to me was that Third was in love with Khai.

I’d posit that Khai’s expectation of his friend group was that all of them were heteronormative bros, all into the same thing: getting with women. Why would he have reason to think otherwise? Especially from Two and Bone, this is what the guys were into, night after night.

And it makes me wonder about how he was raised, how not just his friends, but his family, his school community, everyone around him -- how they all treated him. All of those impacts WILL contribute to how a person turns out as an adult. Khai acted this way because, in part -- society allowed him, and likely EVEN ENCOURAGED HIM, to be this way. Because he was a tall, cute, homeslice-kinda guy.

Khai is out there Khai-ing. (And, as I noted during my watch sessions, it wasn’t just Khai Khai-ing. Two and Bone were on the scene -- BUT THE GIRLS THEMSELVES were also on the scene, and engaged in their OWN agency in hooking up with Khai. Girls are playas, too.) 

For most of the show, Third is NOT confronting Khai with Third’s feelings. Then Khai learns about Third’s feelings, and tries to get Third to fall OUT of love with Khai, leveraging “colossal dick moves.” Then Third ACTUALLY falls out of love with Khai, and the narrative switch of the show takes place, where we settle into Khai’s perspective and Khai’s attempts at winning back Third’s heart.

Before I get into that switch, I want to note something that I think that the majority of the BLs out of Thailand that I’ve watched so far represent really well. I often write that behavioral change is MASSIVELY difficult. In my real-life job, I very often reference the five stages of behavioral change as a means of relating to my colleagues about difficulties they’re facing in changing something that they’re doing at work. Think about not just GOING on a diet, but STICKING to a diet, if you’ve never been on one; or not just GOING to the gym, but STICKING to an exercise routine, or really QUITTING smoking, as opposed to taking a break. Those changes are MASSIVELY DIFFICULT. 

What I saw in the second half of ToL was another UTTERLY BRILLIANT commentary on society: how, once we have someone under our judging eye, how we DON’T LET THEM CHANGE.

Khai WANTED TO CHANGE for Third. Many, many times, he didn’t quite know HOW to go about it. OR, to be more specific -- how to change PER THIRD’S PREFERENCES. And honestly, Third was clearly ready to just BE judgy, right? Gurl.

But, once you get a label, that label STICKS. You’re a bully. You’re a slut. You’re a whore. 

You need to do a lot of damn work, in the private eye, in the public eye, to shed those labels. Think about the condemnation of celebrities (I am always referencing this amazing video by Ohm and Perth on mental health). How easy it is to write ANYONE in our lives off, and not ever look back, with a single glance.

And Third wasn’t gonna give an inch to Khai. And I had to say, I admired Khai for trying to do the damn thing. He fucked up, A LOT. Praew? Not necessary. All that unsolicited kissing? NO. Don’t do that.

But here, again, I argue that Third needed to take responsibility and accountability, too. Khai was being far more forward with his attempts at communication. And Third? For some reason, he was written as being, like, UNABLE to listen, talking over Khai, interrupting him, not letting Khai finish a damn sentence.

Both of these two DEAR characters were bumbly and immature AF. I really loved that about the BOTH of them. BOTH junior college students, BOTH learning the ropes of their attraction, especially Khai, who was ROOTED in an otherwise DEEPLY heteronormative experience.... but, again, so was Third, taught by... what, exactly, to not be the open communicator that he NEEDED to be to solve his initially unrequited love. Possibly, and likely, because there was a significant corner of society that would SYMPATHIZE with his pain, without holding him ACCOUNTABLE for that pain, as Two, and eventually Bone, did for him, before turning their attentions to Khai to help Khai seal the deal. 

I really love this life lesson. To me, it’s extremely reminiscent of the kinds of life lessons that we saw in Bad Buddy, which is why I might term ToL as a kind of proto-BBS, where we see Bee, Pratchaya, and Au playing with the ideas that eventually became the INCREDIBLE foundation of BBS. 

In BBS, Pat and Pran accepted, with robust empathy (NOT condescending sympathy), the fact that their parents WOULD NOT, and maybe even, COULD NOT change -- leading the guys to keeping their relationship secret.

Here in ToL, I love that the writers played with Third’s RESISTANCE to change, but also, designed him to ultimately OPEN UP to it, with Khai’s constant pushing. Khai and Third didn’t have the generational divide that children and parents do, as we see eventually in BBS. They had youth on their side. We saw in the follow-up ToL special that Third is still a jealous MF, a side of him that Khai plays up and is concerned about. 

But Bee, Pratchaya, and Au were ultimately SO GOOD to Khai and Third (and Two! and Bone! and Un!), because: they wrote these characters ULTIMATELY WITH GRACE, with the GRACEFULNESS that beautiful behavioral change elicits. To witness their processes of change meant, to me, that the show BELIEVED that people CAN CHANGE, AND, AND -- that humans DO NOT HAVE to suffer from weighty labels that are ultimately just a goddamn and meaningless unnecessary burden.

CHANGE IS BEAUTIFUL, if you can embrace it, and if you can allow your loved ones around to TO CHANGE. And when you change, with your community supporting you: you CAN, and likely WILL, become a better person for it.

WHEW. OH MY GAWD. NOW THAT THAT’S OFF MY CHEST! (For real, for ToL: I had MORE notes written, PAGES OF NOTES, written for this show, than anything I’ve watched on the OGMMTVC list, including He’s Coming To Me, my favorite of the old shows so far. ToL WAS SO SUBVERSIVE. UGGHHHHHH!!!)

Some final quick notes, some easter eggs that I utterly loved, that I couldn’t fit into this review in another fashion:

1) 

HAAAAAAA. (Even Khai’s social media probably reinforced the heteronormative lifestyle he had been living before falling in love with Third.)

2) The repeat of the stage/play/sound/actors theme, from ToL, to BBS, to Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (with references to Earth’s characters, to boot!). GOD, I LOVE HOW THEY COME BACK TO THIS THEME! How not just a stage, but so much of LIFE ITSELF, is so fucking performative for the people around us (including Pat and Pran hiding their relationship, Khai bragging to the homies about girls, all of it!).

3) I had planned to include these earlier in the review, but they ultimately didn’t quite make it -- I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff just floating in my head as I watched ToL:

a) My playlist for this show (“I’M NOT A PLAYA, I JUST CRUSH A LOT,” COME AWN! Where did my mom jeans go, shit...) (And the theme of “just friends”? ToL was a total workshop on this theme for BBS. I wish they had sped up into the future to include Nanon’s song.)

b) I had a whole bunch of New York-isms that I wanted to fit into this review somehow, something that like, Dom the pizza guy on the block would say to Third if Third was crying over his slice:

“Who are you to judge?” (pronounced “whoawu”) (besides Third judging Khai, I’d also argue that this applies to the ladies, too -- who are we to judge the ladies that wanted to get with Khai), “No one owes you jackshit,” “GET IT TOGETHER, my friend,”

but they didn’t quite fit, but I feel like I should still jot them down anyway. ANYWAY!

2019, right before the pandemic hits, a year in which you have SO MUCH BL percolating, great BL like He’s Coming to Me, controversial BL like TharnType. And you have this incredibly intelligent, SHARP, subversive, sexy show in Theory of Love, that just causes RIPPLES among the fanbase. I can absolutely see why @bengiyo​ calls 2019 the year that BL bifurcated. ToL, like HCTM, to me, was a little ahead of its time. It was so subversive as to maybe even be a little manipulative. Because I’m in binge mode and in the THICK of the best of 2019, I know I was mentally ready for this -- but I can see why some audiences in 2019 were maybe NOT so ready.

But I’m damn glad this show was made. If this script hadn’t been written by Bee, Pratchaya, and Au, then I think Bad Buddy would not have been as subversive as it was. ToL is a phenomenal show, AND it gives me SUCH clarity into the refining of the creative process of this team that ultimately produced BBS. And in terms of layers and layers and LAYERS of meaning and depth, nothing, in my opinion, comes close to BBS. I’m thrilled that we had ToL, and the spectacular pairing of OffGun, to precede that moment.

[ToL kicked so much ass, AND I finished 3 Will Be Free last night, ANOTHER monumental show -- if I can get it together, I’ll drop a 3WBF review later this week, but if not, keep your eyes peeled next Monday.

My time tonight, I’ll be watching Dew the Movie -- another stop on the Ohm Pawat train, on which I’m a permanent passenger. Mans is such a translator of queer revelation and angst. I can’t wait. And thennnnnn, after Dew, a big one, Until We Meet Again. It’ll be my first go-around with Fluke Natouch, which I’m looking forward to; but I was informed by @bengiyo​ and the clown friends that this shit’s SEVENTEEN EPISODES. WHY DOES NEW SIWAJ HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME?!?! Thailand needs to pass a federal law restricting New to 12 episodes OR LESS! GAH. 

But anyway, listen, we are making big progress, and inching ever closer to a major stop on this journey in ITSAY. I know @shortpplfedup​ is watching my shit very. closely. Annnnd, I’ll take any thoughts on this, but I kinda think that I should maybe do a Very Very Fast Rewatch of KinnPorsche...since it was KP that got me here in the first place, and I think I might have a lot more to say about it, now that I’m firmly familiar with the BL echelon. And, Tong.

Here’s the list as it currently stands. As always, feedback is welcome!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 13) Theory of Love (2019)  14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review coming) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) (watching) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 17) 2gether (2020) 18) Still 2gether (2020) 19) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 20) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) 21) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 23) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 24) Lovely Writer (2021) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 29) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 30) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 31) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 32) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 33) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 34) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 35) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

[ariundercovers]

Palladium (Prologue)

Title: Palladium (Prologue)

Co-written with @ezras--moon

Pairing: Pilot!Frankie “Catfish” Morales x F!Reader

Word Count: 3,828

Warnings: None for now

Chapter (Prologue) Summary:

After his time in the army, Frankie gets a new job as a med-evac helicopter pilot. Reader, a paramedic who has been working on the chopper for quite some time, is unsure of her new coworker and has some serious doubts about their compatibility. 

Authors’ Notes: Slow burn with lots of smut. Multi-chapter fic in progress. F!Reader, referred to by a nickname in later chapters. No use of y/n. 

This fic is co-written by @ezras--moon and @ariundercovers. Please follow both of us for updates! We will be going back and forth to post each chapter, but catch a masterlist pinned to each of our blogs.

Day 1 - Monday, September 4th

The early morning light bathes the bedroom in an orange glow and the warmth of the sunlight hitting your face tickles you awake before your alarm can. You lay there silently for a long while, letting your brain slowly catch up with your body until it’s no longer comfortable and a groan slips out, slowly rolling over to your side to stretch your limbs. Eyes finally blinking the sleep away as you rise, the alarm goes off right as you sit up and put your feet down on the floor.

 A quick shower wakes you up, and a steaming cup of french press coffee immediately afterward motivates you to get ready for the long day ahead of you. You hastily grab a cream cheese bagel along with another cup of coffee to go as you head out for the base, morning news on the radio barely registering in the back of your mind as you pull into your designated parking space.

 Briskly walking to the locker room, you frown when you find it empty and remember what day it is. 

Phoebe’s gone.

The pilot you’ve been partnered with for years, your closest friend and confidant - you can’t blame her for leaving, as much as you’d like to be angry. Her promotion, which comes with a really nice pay raise, meant a transfer to a new base, away from you. 

“Well, fuck,” you mutter under your breath, frustrated with the change. You steady yourself, take a deep breath and a sip of your second coffee, before you slip into the rest of your gear, bright yellow warning vest last. Heading down the hall to the office, you clock in, hoping to see if you can find Benny or catch a glimpse of the new pilot. As far as you can tell, neither of them are anywhere to be seen - not that you would even know what the new pilot looks like. So, you go check in with your boss, Chief Lewis, who is in his office as usual, mustering up an enthusiastic greeting.

 “Morning.” He greets you with a smile and immediately hands you a stack of paperwork. “I need you to meet your new pilot out back, fill this out over the course of your shift today, and then hand it back in tonight before you leave.” You raise your brows and look at the pages stapled together at the upper left corner. Glancing down at the header, you realize that it’s an evaluation, and he wants you to report back about any issues with communication and cooperation between your team and the new member.

“This is just the initial review, you’ll do a few more later on. One next week and the other in six. Alright?” he folds his hands under his chin and looks up at you expectantly. 

You nod, still reading the questions on the paper in your hand, “Alright.” 

You’re caught off guard when he continues. “And, if there’s nothing urgent coming in soon, you’ll be doing a test flight or two to get the crew acquainted with one another. So, go grab Miller and get started on that first.” The disapproval seems to be evident on your face, as he’s now the one to raise his brows. “Please, don’t scare off the new guy with that frown on his first day, now.” There’s a lighthearted chuckle to his tone, but the words he chooses don’t slip past you, either. 

New guy. 

You’re the only woman left on your little team of three. Chief Lewis ushers you out of his office then, and you let out a frustrated sigh in the hallway as you make your way to the heliport to find Benny.

 When you come to find out neither of them are dressed for work yet and are, instead, engaged in some kind of animated discussion while just standing around next to the helicopter, you’re fuming. This means that, most likely, you’re going to be the one carrying the equipment out and loading it into the chopper while they catch up on getting ready, which they should have done at least ten minutes ago.

 Benny spots you stomping towards them and you catch him nudging the new pilot who’s just out of view behind him from where you’re approaching. The stranger is sporting a gentle smile and waves shyly at you as he sidesteps Benny, emerging from behind your trusted nurse.

 Your breath hitches in your throat just for a split second when you see him fully. His face, his imposing build, the messy mop of dark hair that he quickly hides beneath a baseball cap…

He’s handsome. You can feel your eyes start to widen for a split second before you reel yourself back in. 

The moment passes quickly, however, almost instantaneously replaced once again by the annoyment from before as you set down the two heavy bags of medical supplies you’re carrying. 

“Why aren’t the two of you dressed yet?” you almost bark, Chief Lewis’s request not to scare off the new guy going straight out the window. 

Benny raises his hands in mock surrender and rolls his eyes. “Well, good fucking morning to you too.” The new pilot’s smile drops into a neutral expression and it occurs to you briefly that you’re being rude. 

You sigh and ease up a little bit, but your brows remain furrowed as you step closer. “Morning, Benny.”

 The new, aggravatingly attractive guy introduces himself as Francisco, ‘but you can call me Frankie’,shaking your hand firmly and confidently. The sheer size of his palm compared to yours makes you swallow dryly, adding to the list of annoyances  you’ve already racked up today. 

“Please, go get dressed. And hurry. I’ll get started on loading up.” The two men disappear out of sight and you get to work.

 At least they don't take long and have the courtesy to bring the rest of the equipment on their way back out. And then it's not much longer until you’re finally seated with your headset on, buckled in, and Frankie’s communication with air traffic control layers staticky over the vibrating thrum of the chopper starting up.

 It’s deeply annoying that even his voice is nice to listen to, but you know that’s not the source of your frustration... It’s the fact that he’s replacing your friend - your best friend. 

It’s that you’re outnumbered by men, and it’s especially that they’ve already known each other forever. Benny told you as much while you were strapping everything in and sanitizing surfaces before take-off - apparently he had put a good word in for Frankie to be hired.

 There’s an easy banter between the two of them over comms, in which you decidedly don’t partake; it feels like you’re the third wheel, intruding. You feel out of place with them, on this helicopter, on this job. You’ve never felt like this at work before, not even on your own first day when you met Phoebe. She made you feel included and comfortable from the moment you shook hands, and you immediately worked together as a cohesive unit. 

 You’re in the middle of an inner monologue about the situation, talking yourself deeper into the frustration, when Benny addresses you. You’re settled in the air, finally at altitude as Frankie smoothly tilts the helicopter along a predetermined route given to him by air traffic control.

“What’s that you got there?” he asks, pointing at the slightly crumpled evaluation form you’re clutching in your hands. He’s aggressively chewing gum and bouncing his leg, it makes your facial muscles finally relax into somewhat of an easier expression. At least it’s still the same Benny you’re working with. You hand him the sheet and he skims it, then gives it back with a grin, but doesn’t say anything. 

 “Are you okay back there?” Frankie asks when there’s no verbal reply to Benny’s question, glancing back over his shoulder. 

“Yes, don’t worry about it. Focus on getting us back down in one piece,” you respond. It comes out a little harsh, but you don’t pay it any mind.

Frankie shakes his head and turns back to the windshield, flying them smoothly and competently along the route. The longer you’re in the air, the more frustrated you feel, finding nothing about his demeanor or his flying that you could legitimately be disappointed with. Nothing to write down as a negative on his evaluation form.

Turns out, he’s infuriatingly and devastatingly competent.

You can feel your own leg start to shake back and forth a bit, the inner boiling beginning to affect you a bit more outwardly. Frankie’s voice sounds over the comms as you all arrive at your given location - just a mile or so out from the hospital.

“Turning around, and heading back to base, now.” The smoothness of his voice catches you off-guard every time. It’s like an expensive liquor in your ears, even through the static of the comms and the deafening loudness that is the inside of a helicopter. You close your eyes and sigh heavily, shaking it off. It feels impossible, but you just have to get through today. You could go home tonight and pour yourself a big glass of wine over it, but you have to figure out a way to not let this affect you. So, you shift in your seat, looking out over the city in front of you, and you count your breaths a few times, trying to regulate yourself. It helps, at least a little, and you sit back in your seat with a small sigh. 

Frankie has the helicopter back in no time. He’s landing at base, again without a hitch, and you unbuckle yourself so that you can shuffle out of the chopper and back into base as quickly as possible. 

You hole yourself up in the dorm for as long as you can, figuring some distance might help you shake the ugly feeling in your chest. Trying to focus on a new book Phoebe gifted you as a going away present, you’re laying back in your cot as you flip through the first pages. 

An alarm blares over the intercom. They’re sending you out on your first call with the new pilot. A glance at your watch tells you you've lost track of time a little bit, it's almost noon already. You groan but immediately get to it, tossing the book onto your bed and grabbing your bag before jogging out to the helipad. Frankie is already there, climbing in, and you meet him inside just as Benny arrives as well. Everyone’s headsets are on in barely a moment as the chopper starts. Frankie turns and offers a nod to each of you - which you reluctantly reciprocate - before he takes off in the direction of the accident.

It’s a short trip - only a few minutes, really - and you land on a closed-off highway that’s got a three-car pileup blocking all lanes of traffic. There must be hundreds of cars unable to pass and waiting on tow trucks, police and your own team to clear their path. Ground EMS is there, too - you can see the lights from where you are, and you jump out of the helicopter, booking it toward them as Benny pulls out the stretcher to meet you there. The firefighters have already pulled your patient from the car, laid out on one of their stretchers with a very visible head injury. You crouch down, telling them your name and a few gentle pleasantries. You’re not sure they can even hear you, but you do it for all of your patients, no matter how bad of a shape they’re in.

“We’ve got you, now. Don’t worry - my team’s gonna get you to the hospital in no time at all, we’re gonna take good care of you.” One of your fellow paramedics on the ground gives you the low-down on the patient, explaining their injuries, position in the crash, and how the firefighters pulled them out. You nod, taking note of everything as you scan the patient yourself for visual confirmation. Asking a few follow-up questions, you nod to them and offer a polite ‘thank you’ as they stand and step to the side. 

Benny jumps in then, offering you a smile before locking eyes with you. On the count of three, you lift the patient over to your stretcher. Two of the firefighters jump in toward the foot of the stretcher, grabbing the backboard along with you and Benny, and the four of you move quickly over to the helicopter as you load the patient into the cabin. 

Frankie glances back at you, watching to make sure everything goes according to protocol. You and Benny finish buckling the patient down, and then sit in your seats, turned toward them as Benny continually takes vitals and you apply pressure to a deep wound on their shoulder. After one last cabin check, Frankie takes off, en route to the second closest hospital, given it has the resources to tend to your patient properly. 

“Three minutes to General.” He calls back to you, and Benny nods with a ‘roger’ in response. Those three minutes are always both the longest and the shortest all at once - Benny and you working seamlessly to tend to the patient with all of your supplies and training available to you. You’re watching them inevitably deteriorate at once, so you’re grateful when you can finally feel the descent down to the helipad. 

Doctors and nurses are waiting on the pad with a stretcher already, making the transition an easy one as you slide the patient off of the backboard. They run off then, Benny in tow, and you lag behind at the helicopter as the blades above you slowly whirr to a halt. Frankie climbs out as they stop, walking over to stand next to you. 

“Everything go alright?” He asks.

You sigh, the adrenaline of the call slowly starting to wear off. “Yeah. As alright as it could have.” You’re not sure what else to say, so you stand there awkwardly, thoughts bouncing around in your skull for a long while. “I’ve gotta do some paperwork.” 

You walk off, moving back into the cabin of the helicopter to grab the papers Chief Lewis handed you this morning. Setting them up on a clipboard, you settle into your seat and cross your legs, propping it up. It’s not actually that much paperwork, really, but it’s enough to make your head swim. This is, and will always be, your least favorite part of your job.

You fill out the pages on auto-pilot, jotting down route numbers, ID badge information, and generally recalling the course of the day so far. It startles you, then, when you hear the pilot’s door open up. Frankie steps in and takes a seat, swiveling his legs around to face you. He ticks his chin up at you and says, “Hey.”

You lift your eyes to him only briefly, not looking away from the page for more than a second, and raise one eyebrow at him in confusion. “What do you need, Morales?” He blinks back at you a few times and shakes his head.

“Nothing, just�� wanted to say hi, I guess. We didn’t really get much of an introduction earlier.” You raise your chin to meet his gaze, settling against the back of your seat as you regard him.

“Well, hello. Consider us introduced.” You sigh, getting back to work on the papers and doing your best to ignore him further. - - -

The look on your face confuses Frankie to no end. He feels like maybe he did something wrong, said something wrong, perhaps? Made a wrong call during their test flight? It has to be something horrible to make you dislike him so blatantly, but you’ve only been working together for a few hours or so at this point. 

He’s been replaying the day in his mind over and over again, searching for the moment where he slipped up, that moment when everything went wrong, but no matter what he does, he can’t find it, can’t quite figure out why you’ve grown to detest him so much already. He shifts in his seat, staring blankly out through the windshield as he waits for Benny to get back. It’s another internal battle to figure out if it’s worth it to keep trying, or if he should just give up and let you sulk. Maybe it had nothing to do with him, after all. 

But, he’d never know if he didn’t try.

Sighing, he turns back around again and gives you a once over before speaking up once more. “Hey, uh… I feel like maybe we got off on the wrong foot or somethin’. Can we try this again? Tomorrow, maybe.” You huff, but acquiesce, looking up at him with a scowl on your face.

“Sure, fine. Whatever you want, Morales.” You look back down at the papers in your hands as Frankie brightens just a little bit, feeling better at the chance for a fresh start, even if you’re less than enthused about it. He sighs, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, and turns back to the windshield, eyes trained to the hospital doors that Benny would hopefully be walking back out of soon.

It’s a few more minutes only and he’s doing exactly that, climbing up into the cabin of the helicopter with one of his bright signature smiles that makes Frankie shake his head. They head back to base in silence, unloading themselves and their equipment to clean and sanitize. They restock their bags, reload the chopper, and then they’re left to their own devices again. 

Amazingly, they don't get another call for the rest of their day. Frankie stays largely in the day room with Benny, and he doesn’t see you for the rest of the shift, or even when he goes to leave. Benny walks up to him as he’s slinging his backpack over his shoulder and they walk out of the base together.

“Hey, Fish. Decent first day, I hope?” Frankie sighs, pulling off his hat so he can run his fingers through his hair, putting it right back atop his thick dark curls.

“Decent enough, I guess.” Offering a nervous chuckle, he shifts his backpack on his shoulders as they start to head out. “Very different from flying in the army, that’s for sure.”

Benny smiles back at him. “It’ll take some time to get used to, but you’re a natural. Knew you would be, man.” Frankie nods, appreciative of the compliment, and they continue to walk in silence for a few more steps before he perks up with a question of his own.

“Hey, Benny, can I ask you somethin’?” Benny turns, regarding him as the cadence to their steps slows.

“Sure, man. Whatever you need.” They pause in front of Frankie’s beaten up truck, turning to face one another. Frankie’s head ticks toward the base.

“Is she always… like that? Feel like I did somethin' wrong… real wrong, if I’m being honest. Is she cold like that with everyone? Or is it just me?” Benny lets out a hearty laugh and claps Frankie on the shoulder, squeezing him reassuringly.

“Just give her some time. I think she’ll warm up to you pretty quickly. You’re a good guy, Frankie, so just keep being you. She’ll get there, I promise.” Frankie nods in understanding, accepting Benny’s words with a frustrated huff.

“Alright, If you say so.” They offer each other a curt nod and head in their own directions, Frankie ducking into his car and taking a moment to settle himself before driving off in the direction of his apartment.

~ ~ ~

It takes Phoebe a while to pick up when you call her that night, leaning over your kitchen counter and fidgeting with the handle of your spatula. You almost give up when the line finally connects and you hear her voice at the other end. She’s just slightly out of breath, making you think she must have rushed to find her phone at the other end of her apartment.

“Hellooo,” she sings as a greeting and you hear her sit down in her creaky porch chair, front door falling shut in the background. You sigh before you say anything, but then muster a squeaky “Hey.”

It must be so obvious, the exasperation in your voice, because she makes a sympathetic sound before she asks you what’s wrong.

“Oh no, honey, rough day? What happened?”

You sigh into the phone and plop yourself down in your kitchen chair after flipping your food in the pan. “It’s just… the new pilot. He’s a man so I’m left now as the only woman on the crew. And, even better, he and Benny have been super close for years already, and it was him who recommended him for the job. I’m like the third wheel. It’s horrible!” You can hear a breathy laugh on the other side that she tries to cover up, unsuccessfully. “Oh come on, Phoebs… You’re living your best life in your new cushy job and I’m stuck with these two big burly boys. By myself. You’ve abandoned me!” You’re joking mostly, at this point, but the feelings inside are still real, even if you’re covering them up with a bit of laughter.

“I know. A new start like this is tough. But give the guy a chance. If he’s friends with our Benny, he’s gotta be a good one, right? He deserves a fair shot. Give it a couple of days, and see how you’re feeling about it then. It’s too raw right now to be able to make any real sense of it, anyway.” She pauses for a moment and you take a deep breath, standing up to check on your food.

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I know I didn’t give you much time to prepare for it, either. It’s hard, no matter how you swing it.” You nod your head, even though she can’t see you, and look out into the distance of your living room.

“It is. But you’re right, too. I can give him a couple days, that’s only fair.” You sigh, frustrated to know that she’s right, but always grateful for her advice, anyway.

“Exactly. If it was you in his position, you’d only want the same, wouldn’t you?” 

You huff, her wisdom starting to whittle away at your misplaced rage. “Yeah yeah, voice of reason. I know. I’ll give him a chance.”

She chuckles on the other side of the line. “Now that’s my girl! I’d bet he makes out to be pretty decent, after all. Benny wouldn’t stick his neck out like this for just anyone, and you know that.”

You nod in agreement even though she can’t see you. “Definitely not.”

“So just keep your head up and ride it out. You’ll know soon enough.”

[mr2swap]

Exchange therapy: Take a picture of "me"

-Hey son! Take a picture of me with Superman! The boys in the gym will love this! - my son slowly leaned towards the plastic statue that attracted so much attention from all the children, I took out the cell phone from a small backpack and with my small hands pointed towards the 30-year-old frontman me and took the picture then flexed his arms showing the messy hairy bush that was in his armpit even though now I'm in my son's skinny body and I can't smoke or drink I was having fun, unlike my son I was sober, maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave him my credit card, but he knows what he's doing, and I'm having an amazing time at the water park!

The relaxed and carefree life of a teenage boy had completely intoxicated me, there were times when I even forgot that the man with the hairy pecs in front of me was originally me, the body-swapping machine had done a great job with us, everyone our skills and memories were also exchanged, I barely remember what it was like to be an adult, I even forgot how to drive!

Before all this relationship with my son was screwed, we used to argue all the time and my son started to hide things from me like that my son was actually gay and that my ex-wife had a hot new boyfriend, after the divorce with his mother my son's grades dropped to the ground, he started fighting at school and behaving like a real bratty teenager. Still, of course, that was after-life swapping therapy.

The school psychologist recommended me to one of her colleagues with an experimental therapy sponsored by SwapCorp, it's pretty simple me and my son swapped our lives for a month to understand each other better, and after that… well we're still at it, supposed that would only last a week, the therapy was a complete success!

The first thing my son did when he got home changed his clothes and go straight to the gym to test his new strength and the first thing I did was lock myself in my new room to play video games, eat Doritos and discover the pleasure of jerking off a cock. Young and virgin with my soft little hands, when he started touching me I couldn't stop until I shoot my hot and stinky load on a dirty used t-shirt.

In just one week, my son had become a responsible adult, I didn't even miss a day of work when he was in my body. I don't think anyone touched him we exchanged our bodies, not even my ex-wife, it was a bit awkward when I heard her new boyfriend fuck while I was sleeping in the next room in my son's body.

But the strangest thing was when guided by my adolescent instincts I quietly sneaked into my wife's room and masturbated watching how my new "dad" fucked the witch who had made my life miserable for so many years, her new boyfriend was super hot! He had a thick cock and a hairy ass that took all the attention away from my wife's breasts that I missed so much.

With one hand I tried to silence the moans that came out of my mouth and with the other, I massaged my teenage cock until I ejaculated while she wore the pajamas my son had given her the year before for Christmas.

While reviewing the photos on the phone, my son ordered a couple of drinks and flirted with the bartender. I had been away from romance for too long, but my son had only been in my body for a couple of weeks, and now he's quite a casanova, maybe it's better if we stay like this for another time he seems to be enjoying his new authority and his new responsibilities as a single father.

This is supposed to be only temporary, but the doctor secretly confided in me that we could stay like this as long as we wanted we just need to both agree on this, it's not so bad being an ordinary teenager when you get used to having to masturbate 6 times a day with gay porn and getting a boner in sports class.

Hey! You can support me to continue creating stories and see all my stories on my patreon and have access to the stories on my discord server.

[study-with-aura]

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Tomorrow is my last day of the academic year! I will take/present my finals and be done with school until August! I will still be studying of course to prepare for next year as well as my level 9 history exam, but I cannot believe that tomorrow is the last day of my first year of high school!

On another note, not only have most of my pens run out of ink, but all of my wite-outs are out too! That's why you see scribbles on my geometry practice test in the photo. Yes, I DO make mistakes and quite often! This is why I always check my work before having it graded because my biggest mistake is miscalculations! I forget about the negative sign or I accidentally add when I should subtract. Sometimes, my brain goes blank on easy simplifying for expressions (mostly quadratics) or I'll mix up a formula. This is why I have no wite-out left!

Julien drove me to ballet and picked me up again! Because I have a packed schedule right now, I still don't get to spend the time with him that I like. BUT that will change next week when I am done with school during the day! I wonder what we will do! Right now, I must focus on studying for my finals, and that means getting a good night's sleep tonight. Therefore, I shall bid you adieu! ¡Hasta mañana! 晚安!

Tasks Completed:

Geometry - Completed practice test for final exam (91%... ew but it's still an A)

Lit and Comp II - Reviewed Unit 24 vocabulary + studied notes + emailed non-fiction writing assignment to Mom for grading (58/60)

Spanish 2 - Completed vocabulary test portion of my final (100%) + reviewed verb conjugations for all tenses + grammar notes

Bible I - Read Matthew 27

World History - Completed edits on final presentation + practiced presentation with my brother

Biology with Lab - Reviewed notes and study guides + finished lab report for germination lab

Foundations - Read more on wisdom + watched a TEDtalk on grit + read about the difference between western and eastern cultures education styles

Piano - Practiced for two hours in one hour split sessions

Khan Academy - Completed High School Geometry daily mastery challenge + completed High School Biology daily mastery challenge and course challenge (57%, but in my defense, it asked a lot of questions about things that I didn't study in my biology course or on KA, since I didn't complete every unit or lesson in the KA biology course, and those were the majority of the missed questions)

CLEP - None today

Streaming - Watched Empire Games Episode 6

Duolingo - Studied for approximately 45 minutes (Spanish [primarily], French, Chinese) + completed daily quests

Reading - Read pages 245-274 of The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf and finished the book

Chores - Put away the dishes + took the trash out

Activities of the Day:

Personal Bible Study (2 Timothy 4)

Ballet

Pointe

Journal/Mindfulness

[speedyartist30]

First Mission

Jasmine: "This is a terrible idea."

On the cargo plane, Jasmine waits for her captain's orders as they approach enemy lines. Jasmine has been on missions before, but what makes her nervous today is the presence of Jay on the plane. It’s Jay's first mission, and to test his progress and ability to follow orders, his handlers decided to add him to Captain Burns’s squad for an infiltration mission. The only problem is that no one on the squad knows why he is there except for the captain.

Jasmine: “Jay, why are you—”

Alex: “Why are you here? No one said anything about you coming with us.”

Jay didn’t respond; he kept his head down, waiting to be dropped off to start the infiltration. Earlier, Jay was instructed to create a diversion to help the group infiltrate the base and set up cameras and microphones. The most important thing was not to reveal his role to anyone.

As the plane descends closer to the ground, the doors open, letting the cold wind rush inside.

Captain Burns: "You're up, kid!"

Standing from his seat, Jay walks towards the door but feels someone grabbing his arm. Turning to see who it is, Jay finds Jasmine.

Jasmine: “Be careful.”

Nodding, Jay pulls his arm free and adjusts his hood. Taking a deep breath, he runs and jumps out the door, plunging into the thick snow. The plane ascends back into the air and vanishes into the clouds. As Jay walks towards the base, he notices the heavy snowfall around him and can't help but kick at it, sending snowflakes into the air that land on his head. He doesn’t mind.

Finally reaching the gate to the base, Jay jumps over it and heads towards the military garage. Sneaking past a few guards, he crawls under a truck and removes his gloves, placing his hands on the engine. Closing his eyes to focus, Jay channels his power into the engine, causing it to overheat. As a spark of fire appears, Jay crawls out from under the truck, knowing he has only a few seconds. He summons his power and rushes out of the garage, making sure to draw the guards' attention.

Behind him, he hears an explosion and the sounds of people yelling. Rounding a corner, Jay encounters more guards, all aiming their guns at him. A siren blares, and the guards start firing. Jay summons more power and charges at them, blazing with lightning.

On the plane

As the captain reviews the plan, Jasmine can't help but worry about Jay, constantly glancing at the door he jumped out of. Noticing her distraction, Alex elbows her to get her attention.

Alex: “Jazz, pay attention. This is important.”

Jasmine: “I know. I’m just worried about him. Jay shouldn’t be out there.”

Alex: “I know, but they wouldn’t send him if he couldn’t handle it, right?”

Suddenly, a loud bang echoes through the plane, causing everyone to jump to their feet.

Alex: “What was that?”

Captain Burns: “That’s our signal. Grab your gear. I want this mission completed without any casualties. Go!”

Grabbing their gear and weapons, the team rushes out of the plane to carry out their orders.

Alex and Jasmine’s POV

Running through the surprisingly empty base, Alex and Jasmine place cameras and microphones throughout the area to gather intel later. They enter a surveillance room where Alex sets up her last microphone.

Alex: “Okay, Jazz, let’s go. Jazz?”

Jasmine’s eyes are fixed on the screen as she watches Jay take down guards all by himself. Her heart sinks when she sees him stumble after kicking one of the guards in the face. On the screen, Jay glances behind him and then runs off-screen. Moments later, motorcycles rush past the screen in the same direction Jay went.

Jay’s POV

Running through the woods with furious guards hot on his trail, Jay tries to shake them off as they begin to close in on their motorcycles. Zigzagging through the forest causes some of them to crash, but the cold weather is starting to take its toll on him. Leaping into the air, Jay lands on a branch and launches himself at one of the guards, knocking her off her motorcycle. As his hood slips off, Jay changes direction, with the remaining guards in pursuit.

Pushing himself to run faster despite the cold air burning his throat, Jay finds himself in an open area with little cover. Losing his footing on the slick snow, he slows down, allowing one of the guards to grab him. As the guard touches him, Jay sends a burst of electricity towards him, causing the guard to swerve and crash into a tree. The impact splits the motorcycle in half, sending the back of the bike crashing into the ground and causing the earth to crack and split.

Realizing he is standing on a lake as the ground beneath him breaks, Jay quickly runs for the edge. Despite his best efforts, the ice gives way under his feet, and he plunges into the freezing water. The icy water shocks him, making him gasp and swallow some of it. Panicking, Jay forces himself to swim to the surface. When he finally reaches the hole he fell through, he grabs an outgrown root and pulls himself out of the water. Crawling to the base of the tree where the root came from, Jay curls up beside it as icy water drips from his clothes and hair.

He is freezing and trying to take deep breaths, but the shivering makes it nearly impossible. Knowing he can’t stay there, Jay summons the last of his power and heads towards the plane he was instructed to go to after the mission.

Jasmine’s POV

On the plane, Jasmine waits by the exit while her teammates celebrate a successful mission.

Jasmine: "Where is he?"

Alex: "He's not back yet?"

Jasmine: "No, I’m starting to get worried."

Alex: "You're always worried."

Jasmine: "Well... more than I was earlier, okay!"

She glances back towards the woods and spots a small, dark figure approaching the plane. Realizing it’s Jay, Jasmine feels a surge of relief until she sees him stumbling and falling.

Rushing down the ramp, Jasmine hurries towards him as he collapses. Crouching beside him, she notices how badly he's shivering and that his hair is wet. Jay won’t look at her; he just hugs himself tighter.

Reaching out, Jasmine touches his shoulder and realizes he's soaked. Without wasting any time, she picks him up and runs back to the plane.

Jasmine: "Alex!!! I need you to get some towels and blankets!"

Jasmine grabs Jay's bag and takes him to the bathroom to dry his hair and give him some dry clothes. When she emerges, she places Jay on a seat and searches for Alex to help warm him up.

Jasmine: I hope he doesn’t get sick from this.

As she walks past some of her squad members, Jasmine spots Alex carrying two thick blankets, her face partially covered.

Alex: “The captain gave them to me.”

Taking one from her friend so Alex can see, Jasmine and Alex hurry back to Jay.

They find him still shivering and hugging himself, with his knees pulled to his chest. His hands, face, and ears are pink. Jasmine sits beside him, unfolds her blanket, and wraps it around him, while Alex does the same, covering his head as well.

Standing up to assess what they had done, the only part of Jay visible from the blankets was his face. Jasmine have him a gentle smile while Alex snorted

Jasmine: “Aww, he looks so cute.”

Alex: “Haha, he looks like a little burrito.”

Sitting beside him again to keep him warm, Alex and Jasmine start asking what happened, but they receive only silence in response. However, Jay does answer one question.

Jasmine: “Jay, why were your clothes soaked?”

Jay: “I f-fell.”

Alex: “You fell?”

(He nods)

Jasmine: “Where?”

Jay: “Lake broke.”

Alex: “It bro—wait, you fell in a frozen lake?!”

Waiting for him to reply, they are met with only a small sneeze. Jay pulls the blankets closer around himself and begins to drift off to sleep until Jasmine nudges him.

Jasmine: “Don’t fall asleep yet. We still need to warm you up.”

Jay frowns but stays awake.

Samual pov

Samual, the captain of this squad enters with three cups of hot chocolate to help warm up the team. He spots Jay swaddled in blanktes, but clearly anxious. The boy only been around them for a few weeks, Samual can count on one hand the amount of times the kid spoke.

Samual : “You three look like you could use a warm drink.”

He hands Jasmine and Alex their drinks.

Alex: “Yes! Thanks, Captain.”

Jasmine: “Thank you, Captain.”

He gives a nod to the women and glances at Jay, he didn’t realizes how small the boy was. Samual had a difficult time comprehending that Jay is dangerous. Yes, Samual as seen his skills firsthand, but right now, he just looks like a normal little kid, which shouldn’t be here with them risking their lives for the country.

Crouching down to Jays level Samual offers him the drink with a friendly smile.

Samual:” Would you like one Jay?”

Jay doesn’t take the cup but instead scoots closer to Jasmine. She takes the cup from the him and reassures Jay that it was ok.

Jasmine: “It’s okay. He just wants to warm you up so you’re not cold anymore.”

Alex: “Besides, hot chocolate is super good!”

Pulling the blanket off his head, Jay looks at Samual for a moment before taking the cup from Jasmine. He appreciates how the cup warms his cold hands, so he pulls it close to his body. Noticing Jay’s reaction, Alex laughs and asks:

Alex: “Aren’t you going to drink it?”

Watching Alex drink her hot chocolate, Jay looks down at his own cup and takes a small sip. His eyes turn gold, and little sparks appear around him but fade with each small sip. Samaul shook his head slowly and comments

Samual:”No matter how many times I see him do that I still can’t believe it’s real.”

Alex: “Well, at least we know he likes it.”

The blonde leaves to give them space and distribute more drinks. Jasmine and Alex start talking about random things to pass the time until they reach the base, while Jay quietly enjoys his hot chocolate.

[accio-victuuri]

tomorrow, may 3rd is the last day of the “may day” holiday and i hope that btf remains on the #1 spot and will be the may day holiday champion. this holiday ( april 29 - may 3 ) is truly more of a golden week for tourism and not everyone will have the time to watch. may it pick up once they come back and more of em see the good reviews. having said that, i noticed today how people’s daily weibo account posted about btf. then CCTV 1 in the evening, reported about the may day films and only showed clips/mentioned btf. also the front page of beijing daily? btf.

part of the article that talks about btf :

Jing Runcheng said, "In terms of quality, "The King of the Sky" is best, it not only expresses the main theme, but also balances the needs of the audience. The rhythm of the film is good, not procrastinating, suitable for young audiences’ watching habits. There are laughs in the first half and tears in the middle. There is a burning point at the end, and various elements that mobilize the audience's emotions. The protagonist's growth arc is well done, the lead actor Wang Yibo brought traffic dividends to the film, and the performance also received approval. The special effects of the aircraft in the film is a breakthrough. It can be seen that director Liu Xiaoshi has a deep understanding of aircrafts.

One thing i was so nervous about when BTF was ( finally ) released was how it will be taken by the government and the air force community. So far, it all seems positive. Notice how their roadshows were private screening for military personnel too. As much as this is a movie for entertainment purposes, it also wants to send a message to the people & to the world. This was further explained in LX’s interview released today where he said,

Liu Xiaoshi believes that only by being close to the current group of test pilots, feeling, seeing, and observing can their stories be written well. "We must write the stories of the Chinese themselves. We cannot blindly imitate western movies. They ride motorcycles, and we ride motorcycles in the movies. Chinese soldiers don't do that; They go to bars, and we go too, and our troops don't like that. .” ( source )

Even in earlier interviews, LX was saying yibo was afraid to make a mistake in a “movie like this”. Yibo understood what as at stake in taking the lead role for a movie like BTF. One reason why there was virtually no training/filming leaks was they were at a secure base. and of course, he wants to give justice to the story of these men & women who protect their country.

My point is — Yibo does not shy away from projects that may be sensitive/ high stakes. or stories that no one has ever done before ( one & only for example is the first break dance themed movie in mainland china ). This is why I adore him. He does the exact opposite of what people think he should do. He could have easily chosen to do a straight up comedy movie or even a romance and call it a day. That could easily rake up some money, cause historically, movies in this may day season are of that genre and gets the top spot. But no. Even off season, he can pick traffic-star friendly themes and be done with it. Less strain for him. ( no shade to other actors but you all get the point ) No. He wants a challenge. I’m honestly in awe of what he’s been doing with his acting career and it’s a joy to be an audience for all of it. I’m excited where he takes us next 💕

[ayaspen]

Is “Across The Spider-Verse” a great sequel ? Yes.

One thing to know about me, is that I’ve always been a spider-man girlie, granted I wasn’t even born when the Raimi’s trilogy dropped, and it took me twelve years after to discover that Spider-Man was not actually blonde (my younger brain always thought he was for some reason) but there’s no denying that Spider-Man has always been a pop culture symbol, even if you don’t know his story, there’s no way you haven’t heard or seen pictures of the masked vigilante who swings around the city with his webs.

And although there were different interpretations to his story, he was always the ordinary kid in Queens (or in our case Brooklyn) who’s got too much power in his hands and is struggling what to do with it, to later become the masked vigilante who saves people and understands the responsibility he have toward his people.

When Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse dropped in 2018, people had mixed reviews on the subject, (and I was a middle schooler who stumbled upon the trailer by accident but was intrigued nonetheless) I think people were afraid that this was going to end up not meeting their expectations, and boy did it exceed them!

The movie did very well (and for good reasons!), and managed to re-introduce the story of The Spider-Man with a twist, in this case introducing the Spider-Verse, and everyone went nuts about it, from the music to the animation to the well-crafted story. The movie was one of the best movies of that year, if not of all times.

But what happens when that movie has a sequel ?  4 years later and with a very enthusiastic fan-base ? Will it be a disappointment or another win ? 

Today, I’m ready to say that Across The Spider-Verse is as good if not better than the original, and here’s why…

Hello and welcome to Butterfly Scribbles, I am the Butterfly in question, and today we’re going to cross the multiverse…I mean the Spider-Verse, my bad!

So ladies and gentlemen, let’s do this again one last time!

(This review may contain spoilers for the movie, so If you haven’t seen it, I highly encourage you to do so, and then read my review after, have a nice time!)

PLOT:

Miles Morales, is very much accustomed to being “Brooklyn’s one and only Spider-Man”, he loves his job, but him leading a double life starts to interfere with his life as Miles and his relationship with his family (and his grades), which leads to him feeling the loneliness this job imposes and starts terribly missing his spider friends.

After that he gets a visit from his best friend Gwen, and learns that there’s a whole universe full of Spider-people teaming up to protect his very existence which leads to a great conflict and a “Spider-hunt” to stop him from going to change his fate and protect the people he loves most in his life, all while redefining his story and doing what he thinks is his role as a hero.

I think the plot of the movie does a really great job of solidifying Miles as his own hero, he is constantly put into situations that tests his morals and beliefs of what he thinks he is doing right, while everyone is treating him like some ignorant teenager, there’s even a great scene where miles stand up for himself and says: “Everyone keeps telling me how my own story is supposed to go, Nah, Imma do my own thing” which is nothing if not great character development.

The twists at the end of the movie are also sure to leave you feeling blown away!

Characters:

Miles:

Like I said before, this movie gives the best arcs to its main hero, Miles goes through a journey of self discovery and finding himself all while struggling with the distance he creates with his family, especially his mom whom he keeps lying to, and her trying to understand what is going on with her son, to the point where she’s scared of him moving away from her.

Miles also feels like an outcast even with his peers, when he discovers the Spider-Verse, Gwen and Peter are against him joining the team for his safety, Miles then feels pressured to prove himself in order to gain respect and inclusion, which does not end up really well.

In the end, he chooses to do it his way, and decides to have fate in his powers and do what perceives to be the right thing, and save people when he has the chance to do so, even if it means having to deal with bigger consequences.

Gwen:

Gwen was one of the fan favorites after the release of the first movie, but the sequel gives more depth to her character, and expands upon her struggles, how she lost her best friend, peter parker, how he looked up to her and wanted to be “special” like she is, also justifying her choice to not be involved in friendships anymore.

Gwen also has an ongoing conflict with her dad, the captain of the city, who hates Spider-Woman and is leading a manhunt against her, blaming her for the murder of Peter, and how that creates a conflict with her father as Gwen, which leads to a confrontation and an identity reveal.

I think it was very smart to include Gwen as one of the protagonists of the movie for obvious reasons, now we know more about her, we sympathize with her as a heroine, and its show 

the similarities her and Miles are experiencing, establishing her role to be more than a love interest and I’m all here for it!

Other characters: 

I think the highlight of this movies is the hundreds of Spider-people we see, each with their own personality, costumes and very funny cameos too! 

My favorites have to be Spider Girl (Peter’s baby), Spider-Woman, Pavitr and Spider-Punk!

Animation and Music:

I think it’s necessary to have a whole section on this review dedicated to praise the animators and the song mixers for this movie, and It’s safe to say that without these two, the magic of the film wouldn’t be the same, I mean just imagine if It wasn’t an animated movie! and If it didn’t have such great singles like “What’s Up Danger”! 

truly a tragedy.

The animation for this movie specifically was really amazing, they combined multiple coloring styles to create the personality of each story like Gwen’s watercolor world in the start of the movie, the battle scenes are epic especially in the Spider hunt scenes with Miles and Miguel.

For the Score of the movie, I personally like the last track “Across The Spider-Verse (Start a Band)” track,I think the music really fits the last and best moments of the movie!

In conclusion, and If you haven’t got it yet, I’m In LOVE with this movie! (I mean, why else would I write a whole essay about it right ?) It’s the perfect sequel to a perfect first, and I’m convinced it’s the best movie of the year and one of the best superhero movies ever !

So if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly encourage you to do so, because It is a great watch even for people who know nothing about Spider-Man.

If you did, well let me know in the comments so we can talk about it even more, cause I’m not even close to being done with it yet!

[187days]

Day Thirty-Seven

It's not my fault, but the photocopier broke twice today, and both times it happened right after I finished making copies.

I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME, THOUGH!!!

Anyways.

A super nice thing that happened today was that one of our students baked cookies for every single member of the staff. I got a chocolate chip one and a snickerdoodle. How great is that??? Totally made my morning.

I spent part of my prep time on observation rounds. Today I went and watched Mr. I get his APUSH students ready for a test, which was great fun. He keeps the vibe in his classroom so relaxed and upbeat, and I loved being there to watch him guide his students through their review work.

After that, I taught my own classes. My Global Studies students had current events due; more of them volunteered to present their work- or to talk about it from their desks- which is cool. One really fun moment: a student volunteering to present another student's work for her (because she was losing her voice), and doing an awesome job considering he had no rehearsal. After that, we discussed the article they'd read and answered questions about last class, read more together about the major beliefs in Judaism, and watched a video clip about a day in the life of a Jewish rabbi. The video went over particularly well, lots of comments and questions. So I'd say it was a solid lesson.

My APGOV students had a test, so they were a bit nervous today., and rightly so because it was difficult; it was their first test in the style of the AP exam, just smaller (30 MCQs and 3 FRQs), and it's not something that comes easily to everyone. That said, a lot of them did really well. And I'll work with those who didn't to identify what they can change in order to do better next time; it might be the way in which they're studying, or how much time they spent studying, or how they're taking in information in class, or any number of other things.

Side note: I displayed my famously fast grading skills yet again by having their test grades in Powerschool before any of them got home.

And then I got to go home, too! I'm headed out of state for a friend's wedding, and have promised the ninth grade girls that I'll show them pics of me in the dress I'm wearing when we come back to class on Monday.