#anyway blame my shadow mutuals for this post (happy)

[d0d0-b0i]

silly

[niningtori]

cruel intentions | part one

part two out now!

pairing: choi beomgyu x you

summary: you live your life (un)comfortably in the shadow of your bright and beautiful best friend, chaeyoung. when campus heartthrob, beomgyu, takes an interest in you, you can't help but feel like it's just a way for him to get closer to your beloved best friend. in reality, his intentions are far crueler than that. or, beomgyu agrees to get with the campus' resident dark cloud in order to win a bet with his friend.

genre: romance, angst, campus life, clichés and melodrama (as per uje)

warnings: brief mentions of reader's abusive household, reader has almost comically low self esteem

word count: 7.8k

notes: hi... r u mad at me? i know i've been gone for a month or so and definitely have other projects i've promised to work on, but i've had a lot of personal stuff going on and couldn't focus on anything. i love this trope so much tho and couldn't stop myself from wanting to try my hand at it. i'm not expecting much from this seeing as how it's devoid of any suggestive content, but i figured it'd be better to post it so you all know i'm alive. if people want a part two, i will gladly make one since i really like this trope, but i do want to know if that's the case before i write anything. anyway, i think that's it. enjoy, my lovely friends :^)

you’re okay. you really, really are. you wouldn’t say you’re happy, per se, but things are alright as they are. there are worse things than living in the shadow of your bright and beautiful best friend, whom you love very, very much. chaeyoung is nothing if not dazzling, so much so that everyone falls flatly at her feet in the wake of one of her smiles. you are, as a matter of fact, no exception. chaeyoung has been like a savior from your unstable home life ever since middle school. she has stood up for you when you were too afraid to stand up for yourself and has become more like your family than your family ever was. even so, are you envious of the way that everything seems to go her way? you’d be lying if you said it doesn’t bother you at times, but it becomes more and more bearable every day. besides, you can’t blame her for it; she has no idea that you’re considered as little more than her sidekick and, for lack of a better term, a mob character in the colorful campus life you’ve grown to accept as not your cup of tea. 

being chaeyoung’s best friend comes with “perks” such as invites to what would otherwise be completely exclusive parties you wouldn't even dream of being considered for, but you can’t count how many times you’ve been approached with the intent of getting closer to her, so you refrain from any such affairs and opt to focus on your studies and fulltime job. in the beginning, your feelings would be hurt when men you were interested in feigned mutual attraction in hopes that they’d get closer to chaeyoung, but you’ve come to accept things as they are and you’re now known for your flatout rejection of anyone who attempts to woo you. 

these past few years, what with your heavy coursework, demanding job, and feelings of inferiority, have been grueling, to be sure, but you’re finally in your last semester and closing act of this entire charade you’ve come to call your college career. in a few months, you'll be a free woman and you’ll be able to begin your life as a fully fledged adult. chaeyoung will remain as your best friend, you know, but you won’t have to be compared to her every second since you two are set on very, very different career paths. life, as it is, feels so small and unvaried to the point of suffocation, but all of that will be over once you’ve entered the post-college workforce. or, at least, you hope it will. 

-

heeseung is lovesick, to put things in the simplest of terms. 

“i just don’t see why chaeyoung won’t give me a chance! i really, really like her,” he whines.

“i know,” beomgyu says with a roll of his eyes. 

“so why can’t you help me out?” he pouts.

“what the hell am i supposed to do about it?” beomgyu asks with a hint of irritation.

“gyu, you sit next to her and her friend in class! put in a good word for me!” he pleads.

“she’s always talking to that girl, so it’s hard to even say two words to her. you know that.” 

heeseung is, again, pouting, but the machinations in his head are firing in overtime as he searches for a solution. suddenly, his face alights as if he’s found the perfect plot. beomgyu’s wariness increases tenfold as he waits to hear whatever fucked up plan heeseung has put together.

“i know! what if you distract her friend so i can actually talk to her? and you can find out what type of guy chaeyoung likes.” he looks so earnest in this moment, but beomgyu cringes at the idea.

“dude, no. that’s fucked up,” he says.

“c’mon, i know you can do it!”

“well, yeah,” beomgyu nods in agreement, “but i’m not pretending to be interested in somebody just so you can fuck her friend. that’s wrong.”

“oh, please, gyu. we all know you’ve done worse.” he’s right. still, beomgyu vehemently disagrees. heeseung, in his desperation, can only think of one way to force him to give in: attack his pride.

“what, are you scared she won’t fall for it?” heeseung teases. “well, i can’t blame you. i heard people calling her the ‘iron maiden’ and that she won’t let anybody near her. why would she fall for you of all people?” beomgyu scoffs at his insolence.

“i could get her if i really wanted to,” he replies. “i just don’t feel like it.” 

“sure, whatever. i know you’re just scared she’ll reject the ‘great beomgyu’ and you won’t be able to keep saying you’re the hottest guy on campus.” beomgyu actually rolls his eyes at this.

“i bet you i could get her to fall in love with me by the end of the semester if i really wanted her to,” beomgyu argues petulantly. 

“prove it,” heeseung challenges with a raise of his eyebrows. now he’s got him.

“not for free,” beomgyu says with a smirk.

“... fine. what do you want?” 

“i want you to pay my half of the rent for the rest of the school year.” heeseung whines in response, but he quickly makes the calculations in his head and decides it’s worth it when he takes into consideration how fucking hot chaeyoung is. 

“deal.” 

“deal.”

and so it begins.

-

beomgyu, like most people, hasn’t really paid much attention to you before now. he barely even has an idea of what you look like, to be perfectly honest, but he can immediately figure out who you are just by looking to chaeyoung’s side as she's walking through the classroom door and seeing who’s sticking there. he takes in your features as if he’s seeing you for the first time, and he kind of is, frankly speaking. you’re not nearly as pretty as chaeyoung, and you definitely lack the aura she has, but you’re not bad by any means. your clothes are ill-fitting and your entire demeanor is soaked with an air of exhaustion, but if he looks carefully, it’s not like you’re an eyesore or anything. still, he’s considerably better looking than you are. this should be easy.

“hey,” he says softly in his baritone voice when you slide into your usual seat next to his, chaeyoung sliding in on the other side of you. to his surprise, you say nothing in response.

“hey,” he tries again, a little louder, thinking you just didn’t hear him or something.

“oh. hey,” you say confusedly before turning back to look at chaeyoung and continuing your conversation with her. well, that’s not nothing, he guesses, but heeseung sends him a knowing, goading glance from his seat and beomgyu feels himself growing irritated. 

when the professor enters, you turn to face her with a focused face and immediately pull out your pen to begin copying whatever she says down with solemnity. 

beomgyu is staring so intently, he’s surprised you don’t feel his eyes boring into the side of your face, but you don’t seem to notice a thing. before long, your professor announces that there will be a final project that will require a partner. chaeyoung excitedly grabs your arm with a grin, to which you answer her with a soft smile of your own. 

unluckily for the two of you, your giddiness is short-lived when she pairs chaeyoung with the person sitting on the other side of her, and you are stuck with the boy who randomly greeted you earlier. 

“i’m glad we’re partners,” beomgyu says with a smile as soon as the professor is finished relaying the details of the project with the class. 

“why?” you blink in confusion. 

“‘cause you’re really smart, right? and cute, too,” he chuckles. 

“oh, i guess,” you say flatly after a short pause. “when do you want to work on the project?” there is no wavering in your voice when you speak to him, and you look directly in his eyes, which is a far cry from the sweet, trembling voices and shy glances he’s used to. do you not find him attractive or something? no, that can’t be it. he’s everybody’s type. 

“i’m free tomorrow after 5. do you want to come to my place?” you tense up, but he keeps pushing. “you know, so there are no distractions?” you’re wary, of course, but you see no hint of sinister ulterior motives. besides, he can’t possibly see you in an impure way, so you agree with a low hum. 

“great. i’ll see you then.”

-

you arrive at his doorstep with your usual exhausted, haphazard look. some part of him thought you might try to doll yourself up to some extent, seeing as how you’re coming to the apartment of the hottest guy on campus and all, but he can sniff out no such effort. your hair is carelessly thrown up and your face is devoid of anything but the barest amount of makeup. your eyes are tired and there’s a permanent crease in your brows. still, he figures that complimenting you is worth a shot.

“hey, you look pretty today,” he says warmly. you do nothing but stare with a withering glance, but the grin never leaves his face.

“hi. where did you want to start?” you ask while following him to his living room and setting your bag on his couch. if he feels slighted by you ignoring his compliment, he doesn’t show it. 

“i thought we could review the rubric first and go from there,” he shrugs.

“okay.”

he makes several attempts at small talk, but they go nowhere. you are laser focused on the project and don’t even hesitate to reject any and all advances from him to the point where he’s beginning to grow frustrated. maybe you aren’t called the iron maiden for nothing, but the prospect of having his rent paid for the rest of the year is enough to keep him from giving up. he decides he’ll try a different approach.

“do you want some coffee? you look tired,” he says gently. you’re actually surprised at his observation, and he can tell. 

“yes, actually. thank you.” 

when he finishes making your coffee, he hands you a mug and you thank him while sporting a shy, grateful smile. momentarily, he’s stunned. he’s never cared enough to look for your smiles, and even if he had, he’d never see them unless you were with chaeyoung, but he realizes you look infinitely prettier while wearing one. 

“of course. if you don’t mind me asking, is there something wrong? you look really tired lately.”

“i-i’m just working overtime these days. th-thank you for noticing,” you sputter nervously. seriously? his feigned consideration of your personal circumstances is what makes you flustered? well, whatever. he can work with this.

“work is important, but your health is more important. don’t spread yourself too thin.” if your cheeks felt hot before, they’re scorching to the touch now. 

“i… i’ll keep that in mind. thanks.”

he doesn't probe much more deeply than that for fear of scaring you away, but you seem to have opened up just a bit in light of his thoughtful words. when you two decide to wrap up for the night, he walks you to his doorway.

“thank you for tonight,” you mumble with another one of your rare smiles. 

“you’re welcome,” he replies with a grin. 

you’re about to walk through his doorway when you turn back suddenly. before he can ask about it, your next words come tumbling out.

“chaeyoung likes confident men, but not to the point where they’re obnoxious. she hates movie dates because she wants to talk too much during them, but she likes stargazing, preferably with a picnic, too. she won’t text first, but she’ll respond quickly if she likes you back.” he’s stunned into silence and tries to stutter out something to the effect of “i wasn't trying to get you to tell me about her”, but all you do is give a knowing stare and he realizes he’s been caught. you leave his apartment and he’s left reeling. so much for being discreet.

-

the next time he sees you, he knows he has to apologize, but it isn’t until you meet again for the project that he decides the timing is finally right. 

you’re sitting on his couch, scrolling through your laptop as you proofread what you two have written so far when he musters up the courage to say something.

“listen,” he begins cautiously. you lazily look up at him and he tries to swallow the lump in his throat. 

“i… i think i owe you an apology and an explanation. i’m sorry for making you feel like i was just being nice to you so you could tell me about chaeyoung, but i really have no interest in her, i swear.” well, he’s half lying and half telling the truth, but he means it when he says he couldn’t give less of a shit about her. he can’t say he wasn’t just being nice to you in order to get his rent paid, though.

you look confused for a moment, as if you don’t even know what he’s referencing, but realization dawns on your face as you finally remember what he’s talking about.

“oh, it’s okay. it doesn’t bother me, anyway,” you reply with a shrug. 

“i’m serious,” he says firmly. “i really have no interest in her. to be honest, i’m interested in someone else at the moment.”

“oh,” you respond flatly, and you turn back to your laptop as if you’re bored and couldn’t care less about the most popular guy on campus actually having feelings for someone, for once. he snaps your laptop shut and you look up at him in surprise.

“i mean it. the person i actually want to get to know more about is you.”

your jaw drops in pure shock. 

“m-me? why?” you say, as if you can’t possibly believe that anyone could take a genuine interest in you. for some reason, he feels a pang in his heart at your sheer incredulity. sure, you’re no chaeyoung, but it's not like someone liking you is so rare of an affair as to throw you off kilter like this, right? 

“what’s wrong with me wanting to get to know a pretty girl like you?” you scoff and roll your eyes. you know you’re no trophy by any stretch of the imagination, so you have a hard time believing he means a single word.

“yeah, right,” you snort derisively. “the cutest guy on campus has a crush on me. you can’t honestly think i’d fall for that, can you? if you’re trying to flatter me to get me to do this entire project by myself, keep dreaming.” he’s surprised at your insistence. well, you’re not entirely incorrect. his intentions are impure if nothing else, but for some reason, he’s determined to prove you wrong. 

“oh, so you think i’m the cutest guy on campus?” he teases with a smirk and a wiggle of his eyebrows. as if you didn’t realize you said those words yourself, you look more flustered than you’d care to admit.

“w-well, i —” 

“i’ll take it. and no, i’m not trying to get you to carry our grade on this. i genuinely just want to get to know you better.” and he doesn't know how much of that sentiment he really means, but he does know it means more than it should.

-

after a few more meetups, you’re pretty much convinced that beomgyu truly has no interest in chaeyoung. he never asks about her, and even when you offhandedly comment on her, he never pushes to know more. he just hums in recognition or perfunctorily answers. as for believing that he sincerely has interest in you? you’re not sure you believe that, but when the project is finished within a week and he asks you out on a date, you can’t help but seriously consider this previously inconceivable thought. 

“what did you say?!” chaeyoung asks excitedly once you relay that beomgyu, of all people, has asked you to go to dinner with him. 

“i said i’d think about it,” you sigh.

“you should go! text him right now and tell him you’re going!” 

“i don’t know, chae. you’ve heard the rumors about him. he’s a player…” 

“who cares about the past?! i haven’t heard anything like that in a while. plus, it’s worth taking a chance, right? you haven’t been on a date in god knows how long. if you don’t text him, i will!” she exclaims. “gimme your phone, i’ll do it right the fuck now!”

“no!” you counter, clutching your phone to your chest protectively. “i… i’ll do it myself,” you mutter.

“that’s my girl,” she says with a sweet grin.

-

“i feel stupid,” you mumble as chaeyoung applies the finishing touches to your hair. 

“well, you don’t look stupid, i’ll tell you that much. you’re absolutely gorgeous,” she boasts. 

“as if,” you mutter, but you know she truly believes it. chaeyoung has always argued that you’re beautiful, even though you know that the rest of the world, including you, doesn’t think so.

“i’m being serious!” she says with a playful smack to your shoulder. “you look hot! i bet he’s gonna drool when he sees you.” 

“alright, you’re going too far,” you say with a shy smile.

“go! you’re going to be late,” she chastises. you check the time and realize she’s right. you hurriedly grab your things and scramble out the door. 

beomgyu offered to pick you up, but you vehemently denied this on account of the restaurant being a 5 minute walk from your apartment. you need the walk to calm your nerves, anyway.

when you enter the restaurant, all bright-eyed and beautiful, beomgyu looks up from his phone in sheer shock. he knew you were actually pretty cute under the exhausted veneer you have permanently placed over you, but he never knew just how stunning you are when you don’t look like life has run you over. you’re actually wearing form-fitting clothes for once, too, and he likes what he sees.

when you lock eyes with him, you actually smile, which you have been doing a lot more lately, and he can’t help but return it with a smile of his own. it’s a little more eager and sincere than he realizes.

“you look gorgeous,” he remarks when you sit down in front of him. 

“you’re exaggerating…” you mumble embarrassedly. 

“i’m not. you’re stunning.” and he means it.

“th-thank you,” you say, and the air is thick with tension before you clear your throat and ask him if he's already ordered drinks.

the date goes surprisingly smoothly, all filled with laughter and banter. he already knew you were smart, but he realizes how funny you actually are when you’re not so tense. you match his mischievousness with your own and it feels so much like a real date that he forgets why he’s doing this in the first place. 

he’s surprised to hear that you’re actually quite interested in music. you share a mutual interest in a lot of bands and you even offer up some recommendations of your own, which he earnestly writes down in his notes app. when he mentions that he actually plays the guitar, your eyes light up in interest. 

“will you play for me, someday?” you ask excitedly. 

“of course,” he smiles softly. a lot of girls have asked him to play for them, and he has always happily obliged in order to get in their pants, but this time feels… different somehow. like he really just wants to show you how much he loves music and creating his own.

as you leave the restaurant, he grabs your hand and laces it with his. to both of your surprise, you don’t pull away and even let him gently swing your hand back and forth. you actually look like a real couple. you feel like one, too.

-

dates with beomgyu become a happy, regular occurrence. you’re not necessarily together as of now, but it’s been about a month and you’re genuinely considering something serious with him. he seems to eagerly reciprocate this sentiment if his constant invitations are of any indication. 

he suggests walking to the nearest park to sightsee, and you agree before you can even fully consider it. as you walk through the trail and take a seat on a bench in front of the pretty, sparkling pond, he locks eyes with you. you look so beautiful like this, eyes devoid of their usual exhaustion and wariness, replaced by a sense of peace. he can’t help but try his luck and lean down to, hopefully, join your lips with his for the first time. usually, he’d have tried this a lot sooner, but for reasons unknown to him, he’s treated you with a lot more care and reverence than he’s ever treated anyone before. a sudden ringing interrupts the moment, though. you casually take out your phone and all the aforementioned contentment in your eyes flushes out as you see the contact information. 

“h-hello?” you say unsteadily as you unlace your hand with his and walk away. 

he can’t quite hear what you’re saying from the distance you’re at, but he can see how wound up you are. he tries to be considerate and tune out your conversation, but when he hears you yelling and the person on the other end of the line yelling back, he can’t help but be engrossed. you’re borderline screaming now about something related to money. something about a sibling of yours, maybe. something about how you’re tired of being taken advantage of and how the other person is being unfair. you’re angry, he can tell. indignant, even, but all of that leaves your demeanor when you deflate with insincere apologies and a sense of relenting out of sheer defeat. after the explosive call ends, you walk back to him with the same exhaustion permeating through your bones that he’s become so familiar with. even though you’re dressed and primped so beautifully, nothing can cover the tiredness of your entire person.

“i’m sorry you had to hear that,” you say in a monotone voice. 

“o-oh. it’s alright. is… is everything okay?” he tries tentatively.

“yeah,” you say with the most forced smile he’s ever seen. 

“do you… do you want to talk about it?” he asks.

you sigh. normally, you would not. normally, you’d brush it off and just call chaeyoung to blow off some steam, but for some reason, you’re so frustrated that you can’t help but want to tell somebody other than chaeyoung because you know you rely too much on her for comfort. as for that somebody being beomgyu, you, for some reason, somewhat trust that he won’t go around telling everyone about your family troubles. you also vaguely feel that he won’t judge you, either.

for his part, beomgyu genuinely seems concerned. he seems like he wants to listen. he’s shown you, in the past month that you’ve known him, that he really does notice when you’re tired and cares enough to ask about you. he tries to cheer you up with coffee and snacks even though you have refused to divulge any of the details of your personal life thus far. what’s the harm in trying to trust him? you feel like you can tell him about this, so you do. and once you do, it’s like you can’t stop.

you tell him all the dirty details of your home life and just how fucked up it is. you tell him about how you’re forced to work a full time job on top of being a full time student to help with your family back at home. it’s not that you mind helping out, but they show you no consideration or care and you’re always left feeling like you’re just there to be their workhorse no matter how many times you tell them that you’re tired. the only time they ever contact you is to try to wring every last penny out of you. your sibling, of course, is the exception, and is the only reason why you keep doing it aside from your unfettered guilt that you were practically born feeling. your need for validation has not sprung from nothing, and it seems like your money is the only way to get it from the people you reluctantly call your family. you don’t delve into details about the abuse you’ve endured, either, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. still, you can't help but love them. you just wish they loved you, too.

when you’re finished speaking, you don’t even realize that you’re crying until beomgyu gingerly wipes your tears away. oh no, you think. you’ve said too much. he’s going to be scared off just like every other guy you’ve told about your emotional baggage. who would want somebody whose life is in shambles? your self esteem is low, your financial circumstances are almost as equally dire, and you have no redeeming qualities you can think of. what have you done?

you hurriedly apologize for your outburst and wipe your tears away in a frenzy. 

“s-sorry. just ignore me,” you say with a shaky breath and he can see you folding into yourself. 

“why would i ignore you?” he asks, cupping your face. “you haven't done anything wrong. i’m so sorry that you’re being treated this way, and i’m even more sorry that you feel the way you do. you don’t deserve this, you know?” 

your eyes snap up to his at his words. does he really mean them? his eyebrows are knitted in concern and he seems like he really does care. 

“it’s… it’s okay. i’m fine. i should be used to it by now, but i’m just so, so tired all of the time. i feel like everybody on this planet just wants to use me,” you sob. “everybody besides chaeyoung a-and now, maybe, you,” you admit, grabbing one of the hands that holds your cheek. he feels like he’s been electrocuted as your words resonate in his heart. he is using you. he is planning on throwing you away at his earliest convenience once he’s done with you. 

but he’s increasingly unsure if he wants to do that, anymore. with every day that you spend together, he finds himself wanting to soak up every part of you. he wants to know everything about you. your likes and dislikes, what makes you tick and what makes you smile, and, now, what makes you feel so sad all of the time. he wants to be the one who takes away all of your exhaustion. he wants to be the shoulder you can cry on. he realizes that he never wants to see you sad ever again, and, more than that, he realizes that he’s felt this way for a while. when he began to genuinely care about you, he doesn’t know for sure, but it may have been the moment you told him how to win chaeyoung over as if you never expected anyone to be kind to you for good reasons. he realizes that he’s wanted to prove you wrong and that you’re worth giving a fuck about ever since then. 

“sorry if that’s too much,” you say in lieu of his pensive silence, pulling away from his touch, but he pulls you into a tight hug before you can fully separate yourself from him. 

“don’t be sorry. i want to hear about these things, if it makes you feel better. i want my girlfriend to trust me,” he says softly. 

“your girlfriend?” you ask incredulously. 

“well, yeah? i mean, if you want to be, of course,” he says sheepishly. 

“of course i do!” you say excitedly. you throw your arms around his neck and pull him into a sweet kiss. your lips are soft and so, so warm. warmer than anything he’s ever felt before.

-

it’s a mere month before graduation, and you and beomgyu have been together for a few months now. every day is blissful. he convinces you to relax, and his mere presence is enough to soothe your nerves. the exhaustion that previously hung around you like a curse is pretty much gone and a spark of life has finally entered your countenance. he feels proud when he thinks that he helped put it there.

every time you’re overwhelmed at work, he seems to notice before you do, and he always stops by with a meal because he already knows you forget to eat when you’re stressed. by the same token, you reciprocate this sentiment by showing up to his apartment and helping him through some of his harder coursework with no complaint, even though your workload is considerably heavier. he resists, at first, but you insist on helping as much as you can and you tell him it makes you happy just to help him a fraction of how he’s helped you. 

you don’t realize that you’ve helped him just as much. you’ve made him into a better person, unconsciously or not. you’re so considerate of his feelings and always make him feel important no matter how busy you are. he’s never felt this way about anyone or anything before, but he’s so grateful you’ve shown him how much love has to offer. love. he never expected to find it in such an unconventional way, but he knows it when he feels it. 

-

heeseung, for his part, is pretty satisfied. after months of chasing, chaeyoung has finally agreed to go on a date with him. he has promised her a picnic and a night of stargazing, which she happily agreed to. when she tells you about her upcoming date with heeseung, you’re a little surprised. what are the chances that beomgyu’s friend knew what you had suggested to beomgyu when you thought he was interested in chaeyoung? but they’re friends. best friends, even. it’s not shocking to think that if heeseung expressed interest in dating chaeyoung, that beomgyu would share what he knows. you snuff the light of suspicion out with a vengeance. hasn’t beomgyu shown you how much he really cares about you? how could you doubt him like that? you’re a bad girlfriend for even entertaining that thought.

-

it’s another dreary day in the library for beomgyu. he just wishes you weren’t working so you could hang at his apartment and make out, but he knows you’re swamped with work these days, so it’s all just a fantasy. that doesn’t keep him from indulging in it, though. when heeseung pulls up a chair next to him, he audibly groans.

“what’s with the attitude?” heeseung playfully chastises. beomgyu doesn’t need to rely on his almost preternatural intuition to know that heeseung is over the moon right now.

“oh, i know. you’re thinking about your little girlfriend, aren’t you?” he teases. 

“so what if i am?” beomgyu snaps, a little too defensively.

“hey, man, i’m just kidding. you’ve done a great job on bagging her for me. my date with chaeyoung went great, by the way. thanks for asking.” beomgyu just rolls his eyes at heeseung’s obnoxiousness, which, if he recalls correctly, was one of chaeyoung’s turn-offs. 

“i’m glad it went well,” beomgyu says sarcastically, devoid of any sincerity.

“for paying your half of the rent for months, it better have! it was worth it, though. so, so worth it.” 

“what the fuck are you talking about?” a sudden voice cuts in from out of the blue. chaeyoung. oh no. 

“n-nothing,” heeseung says hastily, looking like a deer in headlights. beomgyu can only stare with widened eyes — too shocked to do anything else.

“bullshit. you said you paid his rent because he ‘bagged her’ for you. were you talking about who i think you’re talking about?” heeseung rushes to deny it, but she turns her hardened gaze to beomgyu.

“were you fucking talking about who i think you’re talking about?” chaeyoung repeats through gritted teeth. beomgyu feels his heart sinking to his stomach. his whole world has come crashing down around him and he feels like he could just die from the shame. he wishes he could deny it, but her eyes are teeming with a sense of knowing. 

“y-yes,” he says softly while breaking eye contact with her and looking at his hands, which he didn’t even know he was wringing. a sudden burst of pain on his cheek tears his gaze away from them, though, as chaeyoung slaps him square across the face.

“you’re a piece of shit, you know that? she trusted you, and you know how hard it is for her to do that. you’re fucking filthy,” she says in rage and disgust. the librarian has now come to investigate the disturbance, but chaeyoung quickly says she’s already on her way out. before she goes, though, she sends one last damning look at beomgyu and leaves her parting words. 

“just you fucking wait until i tell her about this, you son of a bitch.” 

-

beomgyu is anxious beyond words. he doesn’t know if he should call you, text you, or show up to your apartment groveling on his knees. he doesn’t have the time to do any of it, however, before he sees a text from you saying that you’re coming over. 

when you arrive, that same old tired look you always had before meeting him is there, and it has increased exponentially. gone is the vigor you two had fought so hard to restore. oh no.

he tries to greet you, but you just hold a hand up to stop him in his tracks. you take a seat on the couch and look so tense you could explode at any moment.

“chae already told me, but i want… i need to hear it from you. is it true?” you ask shakily. 

“baby, listen, i was—” 

“is. it. true?” you repeat impatiently. 

“... yes, but i—” 

“i see,” you say with a solemn nod and a tight-lipped smile. his mouth feels dry as he waits for you to elaborate, but after a long, long silence, he realizes that’s all you have to say in the face of his deceit. he wishes you would cry, or be angry and yell at him for lying to you. it’s infinitely worse, somehow, to see you accepting it as if it was a matter of course. and, to you, it is. of course he wouldn’t like you — let alone love you. of course it was all a sick, cosmic joke. that’s what you are. this is what you deserve, and you’re an idiot for expecting anything different from him or anyone else.

“well, i guess you’ve won the bet,” you sigh, rising from your seat and smoothing down your skirt. “congratulations.” 

his eyes are watery now, but you perceive it as the reaction of a child getting caught doing something he knew was wrong in the first place. you have accepted things with the type of resignation only a truly defeated person would have, and it breaks him more than he ever supposed anything could.

“don’t be sad,” you can’t help but add when you notice his upper lip trembling. “you can smile; i know you want to. now you won’t have to deal with me anymore. i’m sorry for wasting your time.” your words snatch him out of his entranced state and he’s rushing to get his next thoughts out with a desperation he can only describe as primal. 

“n-no, that’s not it at all! and don't be sorry! i… i’m the one who’s sorry. i’m so sorry. i didn’t mean —” 

“it’s okay,” you cut in with a knowing smile, which shatters the last remnants of his heart. “i understand. i really, really do. i know you’re not a bad person. it’s my fault for taking this whole thing too seriously.” your smile is still there, but it has twisted into something truly ironic and teeming with disgust. not toward him, he realizes, but toward yourself. “i should’ve known better.” 

he’s rendered speechless once again, but you don’t give him a chance to collect his thoughts before walking away, closing the door lightly behind you. what words can he say to you to undo what he’s done? he wishes he could dig out his heart so you’d understand his true intentions. they were ill at first, yes, but they’ve evolved into something different entirely. something so sincere and pure he doesn’t dare to show it to anyone other than you. and you’re so calm about this entire situation, it’s driving him mad. how could you think so lowly of yourself as to see this coming? how could you think his actions were anything less than appalling and cruel? and, oh god, what has he done?

-

you’re okay. you really, really are. living in the aftermath of what you had foolishly believed was love is painful, to say the very least, but there are worse things, after all. what those things could be, you can’t seem to think of at the moment, but you know they exist even if you don’t have the energy to ponder them at present. chaeyoung, as expected, is more loving than ever. she rarely leaves your side these days. she’s always been clingy, but there is a level of doting and care she reaches without complaint on her part. beomgyu, to his credit, has seemingly taken the hint and fucked off. he doesn’t show up to your shared class and you took the liberty of blocking him on everything you could possibly think of. even it he hadn’t gotten the memo, chaeyoung is by your side like a rabid dog and she will gladly bite if he approaches. you’re grateful for that, you guess. him essentially cutting himself out of your life has made pretending like he never existed much easier. there are still traces of him, though, and they haunt you viciously. 

-

there’s a party celebrating your impending graduation, and you would rather die than go, to be honest, but chaeyoung makes such a convincing argument that you can’t help but relent after hearing her drone on and on about how you deserve to have fun and let loose since your college years are ending and you have yet to fully put yourself out there in terms of student life. you will, in all likelihood (and with any hope), never see most of these people again, so will it kill you to just let go for once? on top of that, it will be a welcome distraction from your downward spiral that inevitably comes when you think of beomgyu. 

you don’t really know what you’re doing when it comes to dressing up besides the basics, but chaeyoung knows more than her fair share and is all too willing to doll you up in a way you previously thought was impossible. after her flitting hands while doing your makeup and careful choices in wardrobe, you barely recognize yourself. for once, you feel good. you feel confident. you even almost feel worthy of standing alongside a drop-dead gorgeous girl such as your best friend, so when you enter the door of the house party, you don’t feel as small as can be under the scrutinizing gazes of all the usual party goers. one familiar pair of eyes watches you in awe, though, even if you don’t notice. you’re much too engrossed in the atmosphere of pure fun to recognize anything else.

you’re not really one for dancing — far too awkward and uncoordinated to really try it — so you sit as comfortably as you can on the decidedly uncomfortable couch and sip on what must be your third drink this evening. you’re smiling in contentment at the sight of chaeyoung dancing with her new crush. if you can't be happy, you’ll be satisfied with her happiness, instead. this is how it should be, you think. this is how it always should’ve been. 

you’re so stuck in your thoughts you don’t even turn your head at the feeling of the couch sinking as a boy sits next to you. that is, until he clears his throat and you’re snapping your eyes up to meet his.

“i’m taehyun. i’ve never seen you around before,” he casually remarks. he’s really beautiful, like, fresh off the runway beautiful. you almost wonder if he’s talking to somebody else for a second, but his expectant eye contact with you tells you otherwise. you shyly introduce yourself and mumble something about parties not particularly being your scene.

“really?” he smiles. “that’s a shame. i wish i’d seen you before tonight.” you can’t help but blush. “i’d like to get to know you, if that’s alright.” you’re not so stupid as to fall for a man with honeyed words, at least not again, but you find yourself caring less and less about the repercussions as your head feels foggier and foggier. so what if this is a sick joke? you’re almost out of this hellish purgatory you call school life, anyway. even if taehyun doesn’t end up liking you, what’s the harm in indulging in a little fun while you can? you’re not going to put your heart on the line again — you’re too jaded for that — but maybe you can enjoy his company for what it is, no matter how fleeting it may be. so before you can think any better of it, you agree. 

or, at least, you try to, but your sentiment is cut short with a sharp tugging of your arm.

“beomgyu, what are you doing?” you hiss as he leads you to an unfortunate-smelling bathroom.

“i-i need to talk to you,” he replies sheepishly. 

“what’s there to talk about?” you ask with a sigh. “i’m not mad at you. i forgive you. so what else do you want from me?” you actually seem a little annoyed, which he has never seen before from you. it causes him to sputter and almost lose his train of thought.

“you know what i want to talk about…” he says meekly. 

“oh? the fact that you dated me and said you loved me because of a bet?” you can't help the bitterness that laces its way around the edges of your words.

“yes, it was for a bet, but then it wasn’t about that,  anymore. i really did fall for you. i… i love you.” 

“i don't believe you.”

“b-but i mean it! how can i make you trust me?” his voice is overrun with desperation, but you quirk your eyebrow at his words.

“you can't make me do anything. i don't know what you're getting out of this, maybe some sick satisfaction that you can pick me back up again at your leisure? maybe you just feel bad for me? whatever it is, i don't care anymore.”

“no! listen to me, i really do care about you! i know i hurt you, but let me be there for you. i… i'll prove to you how much i care. how much i love you.” you're quiet for a long, long time. an excruciatingly long time. you seem to consider every syllable he just uttered, but you don’t seem fazed by his sincere words at all, and he worries he's losing you for good. before he can stop himself, he gently cups your face in his hands and tenderly runs the pads of his thumbs across your cheeks. you don't push him away and, for that, he’s grateful.

“alright. alright, i do believe you. i believe you love and care about me,” you admit with a sigh. he lets out a shaky breath he didn’t even know he was holding in before he presses his forehead against yours. thank god you believe him. maybe you don’t trust him yet, but he’ll do everything in his power to earn it back.

“i believe you, but it’s not enough,” you say resolutely, grabbing his hands and prying them off of you. his heart sinks and he can’t help but feel the sting of tears in his eyes.

“i forgive you, i really, really do, but you can't treat people however you want and expect things to go back to the way they were just because you’re sorry. i can’t… i won’t accept that.” he winces and he makes no move to stop his tears from falling now, but he bites his lip to stop the whimpers.

“you know me. you know how hard it is for me to… to believe that i’m worth loving.” he flinches at your self-deprecating words and he wishes he could kiss your face and erase any doubts of your worthiness. you are the most lovable person in the world to him. he wants to shake you and demand that you see it, but what right does he have to do so? instead, all he can do is shake his head furiously in denial of your sentiments.

“and everything you said, everything you did, just makes me believe that i’m right about myself. even if you mean it now, i can't get over the fact that it was all a lie from the start. if you love and care about me like you say you do, don’t you think i deserve better than that? better than having to be reminded that the person i love the most in this world only chose me because he wanted to get his rent paid?”

“i’m… i’m so sorry,” he repeats with a whine. “i wish i could go back in time and redo everything.”

“but you can’t,” you say softly, and he whines again, like an animal. 

“i promise… i promise that i really love you, okay? and i’ll wait for as long as i have to for you to see that,” he says between sobs. you can’t help but feel sorry for him. you’ve seen beomgyu cry from stress, but never from the pure, unadulterated amount of pain he’s feeling as of now. you almost want to acquiesce and let him have his way, but you can’t do that. you don’t have much dignity to speak of, but even you can’t tolerate a betrayal this sizable. maybe, before you met him, you would have, but ironically enough, his presence has taught you that you should never compromise yourself like that for anyone. not even for the one you love the most.

“thank you, beomie,” you say softly, “but i don’t want you to wait for me. i want you to be happy, okay?” you ask as you stand on your tiptoes and press a goodbye kiss to his forehead. “and i’ll try to be happy, too.” without waiting for an answer, you leave the bathroom and shut the door behind you. 

“i don’t want to be happy if it’s not with you,” he mumbles bitterly, but you’re too far away to hear it.

notes pt. 2: is this cheesy? YES. do i care? ONLY A LITTLE BIT. anyway like i said lmk if u want a part two <3

taglist: @my313 @superbbananananana @zzhyuu @lonelybutterflytae @cherrycolaberry @defnotleee @midwinterblizzard

*if you would like to be added to my permanent taglist or my taglist for the (maybe) upcoming next part, lmk!

[aprillikesthings]

I'm awake, I'm drinking coffee, and I'm waiting for some laundry to get done before I do some homework for my Bible/theology discussion thingie (EfM, for the handful of Episcopal nerds I've become mutuals with) (....who didn't give up tumblr for Lent)

So I might as well watch some She-Ra, right?

s4 ep4 pulse

(Side note I posted a short fic yesterday if you're interested)

PLOT

I've read the synopsis and I'm not sure if there's much I'm gonna screenshot/talk about with this one

does this character have a NAME? I forget

the bit of animation of Double Trouble shifting out of "Flutterina" is pretty great, someone clearly had fun with it

(Do you think it takes effort to stay in another "shape"? Amethyst in SU clearly had to put forth effort the whole time, whereas I think Double Trouble doesn't, other than the acting part.)

"Espionage is a long game, kitten."

Catra is Amused

Double Trouble: "This is supposed to be fun!" Catra: ":( this is supposed to be war" Double Trouble: "No reason it can't be both :)"

Me, A Human in a Non-Fictional Universe: there are many good reasons it should not be both but I suspend them for fiction

Double Trouble literally makes a foreshadowing joke, I love them

...is it all poisonous plants

I mean that does look like foxglove

She's laying it on pretty thick imho

eugh

STOP TOUCHING PEOPLE'S FACES oh my god

are they going to drill down to the Cluster

(how many Steven Universe references am I gonna make by the time I'm done rewatching THIS cartoon)

nope don't like that

I was rereading that one "missing scene" fic that Nate posted and in it Adora talks about how doing the healing thing here is actually fucking exhausting and makes her sore all over. If you were wondering why she doesn't do it all the time.

It also doesn't entirely heal the person in question; they still have to rest a lot!

One person: suggests, even slightly, that the Horde is somehow tracking She-Ra Adora: OBVIOUSLY THIS IS ALL MY FAULT

Meanwhile, Glimmer:

(she also blames herself)

oooooh I forgot

She's talking to Double Trouble but I still cackled

oh god Glimmer goes to Shadow Weaver to ask "how to think like Catra, since you know her best," and while Glimmer isn't wrong in that Shadow Weaver is the only one around (other than Adora) who knows Catra at all, it's just.....eugggghhhh

DUH

Okay the "what do those do" "those are daisies, I find them cheerful" is actually pretty funny

every time she gets into someone's personal space like that it's creepy as shit

....she's not wrong. Part of me is like "lol even Shadow Weaver knows" but tbqfh she probably knows better than anyone considering how much she used their mutual affection to abuse them. >:(

what is it with lesbians and game nights (she says, knowing she bought the boardgames Wingspan and Ticket to Ride as Christmas gifts for a partner) (actually it's been a while since we played I should suggest it again)

"people don't come to game night because YOU insist on serving vegetable platters" okay is this a "lesbians are vegetarians" joke are they gonna mention hummus next lolol

"no one likes vegetable platters!" D: I do (...with hummus, even)

anyway they get surrounded by drill bots, meanwhile Glimmer sneaks up on Catra

"wtf?"

(she literally thinks it's Double Trouble at first lol)

I love it when Catra's just like IMMA BITE

please tell me the Glitra shippers reference this line as often as possible

Poor Adora, Glimmer is straight up like "I will continue using you as a decoy--I mean a distraction :) while I destroy shit" and Adora, well--

This actually reminds me of a conversation on reddit the other day, about how people who've always had happy families (or at least, no truly shitty family members) often cannot wrap their minds around the idea that someone who is nice to them could be an abusive piece of shit to someone else, and you end up in these situations where naive people try to force a reconciliation or pull a "but they're your faaaaaamily" or just straight-up don't believe your version of events, because nobody could be that horrible to their own kids, right???? I don't think that's what Glimmer's doing here but it still sucks for Adora.

"I'll bring back some cake!" lol I forgot about this line when I wrote my fic (linked above) but I'm glad this is canon, that she just raids the kitchen, and specifically for cake XD

ehehehehehhehheh

also we see Catra hand Double Trouble an actual little bag of (presumably) coins, what currency do you think Etheria uses??? Like who sets the standard for it. The most obvious thing would be that it's just coins of some standardized weight of a metal rare enough to be valuable. But it's funny to ask yourself if it's like, the kind of coins with someone's face on it, because whose face would it be?! Because then either the Horde and everyone else would be using different currencies (which would be useless across sides) or they're all using the same currency. Some obscure person from Etherian history, probably.

Also I'm not sure the Horde actually pays anyone. I think it's just "you can get enough to eat (barely), and a place to sleep (sort of), and uhhh you can fight each other over getting a small step up in power"

As usual I am overthinking the world-building here lolll

okay episode over :D time to flip the laundry

[mutilatedmadonna]

A Heart To Heart Conversation (Not Literally Jesus Christ Where Did You Even Get That)

YOOOOOO made it with one hour to spare but ya girl still has her submission for the @secret-shifters gift exchange! This is for the lovely and talented @hiddendreamer67 who I was so fucking excited to write for! Also side note, I started a fic before this one but it was taking too long for my taste so I popped out this sucker instead. That being said like............why waste a perfectly good fic.............why not finish it eventually...........and still gift it to her since it’s techinically her prompt lmaoooo

I will go back and edit this post to include the AO3 link when I publish it :3c

Anyways

Warnings: Mild depictions of gore, fearplay; obviously, it’s all I know how to write whoops

Some people are great talkers, others are fantastic listeners. Some listen so well, in fact, they’re willing to destroy a government lab for you.

“Stop, please, I don’t want to hurt you!”

As if Derrick stood a fucking chance against the massive creature that was currently inching closer to him, crouched low to fit within the compound’s hallways. The alarm ringing was making his head pound, an unfortunate addition to his dizziness he’d been overcome with as soon as he saw the first body. Well, bodies. It had wiped out nearly every scientist and researcher in that sector as soon as it was freed from its cage, growling and hissing all the while as it dug its teeth and nails into the panicking humans. How it escaped at all was still a mystery and probably forever would be. As soon as it clawed its way through the protective lockdown doors into gen pop, all hell really broke loose. Guards tried and failed to take it down, hoping to wound the monster at best so that it could be recontained, but even as more backup arrived with heavier artillery, they never stood a chance. It was fast, it was strong, it was pissed, and it seemed to have a taste for blood and bones.

He didn’t know if it had any sort of plan beyond escaping the observational cage it had been trapped in for years, seemingly going into halls and sectors at random to slaughter the hapless scientists seeking refuge. The only reason Derrick had survived this long was simply because he ran and he continued to run. There was no use trying to hide, it was too good at tracking, so instead he did his damnedest to stay ahead of it. It had been working pretty well until he was stopped by the door at the last hall, a dead end to safety potentially. The only problem being his fucking keycard wasn’t high enough clearance to open it. He could hear it getting closer, hear the screams and crunch of bodies and deep growls that echoed all around. His breathing became more ragged the louder the sounds grew, knowing it was just one final turn away from being at the far end of the hall with a straight shot right to Derrick. No, no, no, he didn’t want to die like this. Not at the hands of this beast, not at the hands of...shit, what he thought was almost his friend.

It was his job to observe the creature in its confinement at night and take excruciating notes about every sigh and twitch it might make. It was truly as boring as it sounded, especially when the creature was awake a majority of his shift but only laid on the floor, quiet and still. It looked depressed and Derrick didn’t blame it. It had long since been locked away before he had even started at the organization, subjected to trials and tests day in and day out for hours so that the scientists could jot down these amazing discoveries. He had no idea what they planned on doing with all this data they were collecting given that this whole place was top secret, the creature certainly never meant to see the light of day. Or rather, people were never meant to see the creature. It’d cause mass hysteria. So, one evening, a few hours into the terribly dull silence he started talking aloud. Not to anyone in particular and not about anything exciting, just idle chit chat with the wall, really. 

He never expected the creature to perk up at the sound of his voice, eyeing him curiously as he continued on. He certainly never expected to turn his head back towards the massive bay window to see it sitting much closer than before. Still watching him with wide, yellow eyes and tilting its head when he quickly shut his mouth. It had never moved so close before, hell it never even showed interest in him before beyond a few glances when he’d first enter the small overhanging room. At the same time, it didn’t appear aggressive or annoyed with his mindless ramblings. In fact, when he had stayed quiet for a minute during their staring contest, it chirped at him. Like it was...encouraging him to talk again. So he did, nervously at first before getting back into the flow of whatever random thought he had at the moment. And every time the creature would just sit and listen, its full attention on Derrick, with the occasional dozing off in the midst of his longer topics. He wasn’t sure how much it actually understood him. After all, it never listened to any directions it was given during another trial, but then again that could have just been out of spite and defiance. It didn’t speak English to his knowledge as it had never once given him a reply, but that didn’t mean it didn’t know it.

It never really responded, but there were quite a few times it would react to whatever he was saying. He theorized it was basing most of its assumptions off of whatever emotion he was portraying in his speeches. When he was visibly upset about some incident with Travis down in aquatics, it would whine. When he was excited about some great news he was dying to share with someone, it would chirp. When he was exhausted for one reason or another, unable to keep his eyes open or his stories coherent, it would purr. Almost as if it was trying to lull him to sleep, which it succeeded in every time with its soft white noise. If he were to be honest, he genuinely looked forward to his evening shift just about every day. Derrick could get so much shit out of his head and off his chest without having to worry about what the creature would think about him later. Maybe this was just a trick of the mind, but...it almost seemed just as happy to see him as soon as he would appear in that bay window, immediately twitching its ears up and moving closer.

Clearly, the mutual bond was not reciprocated.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, why the fuck would the creature like him? He was just another human that stared at him for science and soon enough he’d be just another human ground under its palm until his organs burst. Perhaps it just liked hearing the sound of his voice, anything being better than the silence it was constantly surrounded in, or maybe it had always been sizing him up for a snack. He had never written any of these emotional reactions down. He didn’t...well, it was hard to put in the right words, but he just didn’t want his superiors to have that knowledge that could understand feelings for the most part. That it appeared to like him. That it could be docile. Almost like he was trying to protect it from more severe and psychological tests they would surely run. He wondered if things would be different if he actually did report his findings, like if they could have prevented whatever triggered its rage strong enough to rip down doors and walls.

It was creeping closer now, claws clicking along the concrete floor. It was absolutely soaked in blood, especially around its mouth and hands. The way its tail jerked side to side reminded him of an irritated cat, which he didn’t take as a good sign. It wasn’t like Derrick actually had something to protect himself with like he so claimed. His bluff was called in an instant and it made a throaty rumble in response to his threat. It had been difficult to see at a distance with the flashing, red light acting almost as a cheap strobe, but now that it was only a few yards away, he could very clearly tell there was something hanging from its mouth. Something large and dripping and red and oh Christ it was a body. He hoped the poor bastard wasn’t alive anymore for mercy’s sake, firmly clamped between its jaws and impaled on its fangs. Was that a sign of things to come for him? He pressed as much as he could against the lock door in a vain attempt to somehow phase through to the other side and reach safety. With no such luck, he slid down to sit on the floor instead and covered his head with his arms curling in tightly on himself. He was shaking something terrible and tears still managed to find a way to escape his shut eyes. This was never how he imagined he’d meet his end, but either way he didn’t want to see it coming. Maybe if it did like him just a smidge, it would grant him a quick and painless death. He doubted it, though. It sounded like it enjoyed the struggles of its prey far too much.

Derrick could tell when it was hovering right above him. Its shadow engulfed him, blood dripped steadily into a puddle in front of him, spreading out across the floor until it actually touched his shoes. Fuck, he couldn’t help the sob that escaped him. He was scared. Strangely enough, it didn’t...do anything to him as seconds ticked by agonizingly slow. Staring at him, he presumed? Just how it would when there was a safety window between them. Something heavy landed in front of him with a disgusting squish, splattering more blood onto him. When the silence stretched on again, he hesitantly cracked open an eye to see what was supposedly laying at his feet and immediately wished he didn’t.

It was fucking Travis. Or what was left of him, anyways, torn to shreds and missing a few vital chunks from his body. Derrick wanted to throw up, but his throat was already choked up with more panicked cries. He looked away from the corpse, not wanting to take in anymore of the gory details and instead looked at the face of the creature. It didn’t look upset in the slightest, not like how angered it had been dismembering every other unlucky human in its path. Instead, it just stared back at him with those same wide, yellow eyes, tilting its head at Derrick’s lack of reaction. It leaned down to nudge the body closer to him with its nose, pushing it against his legs and rumbling curiously. No, no, no, get it off, get it off!

“S-stop! I don’t fucking w-want it!” He cried, kicking his legs out to shove the remains away from him. What was he supposed to do with it anyways!? Why was it showing off its latest kill, like it was seeking his approval, like it--

...like it did it for him.

The night before last, he and Travis got into it again in the break room. He was already pissed about being transferred to the division the creature was in and leaving his previous work behind. It could have been because Derrick happened to be the only one there or because he was one of the younger hires, the asshole decided to take his frustration out on him instead. Snide comments turned into full on insults and all Derrick wanted was some goddamn coffee before he clocked out. Waiting for the machine to finish brewing wasn’t worth it at this point, he could pick up a cup somewhere else on the way home. He tried to leave, but Travis blocked the doorway and he, not being in the fucking mood, tried to shoulder past him instead. It was very much not appreciated as the next thing he knew he was being pinned against the wall, the lapels of his coat clenched in his fist. He was absolutely ready to throw hands with this guy before he backed off suddenly, another coworker entering the break room with a cheery greeting and total obliviousness.

Maybe he should have told his superiors about the incident, but he chose instead to vent about it to the creature the next night. As soon as he mentioned when it got physical, its ears flatten back and it growled, though Derrick was too consumed by his own emotions to really care about its apparent threat display. After that was when it had clawed its way to freedom and started its rampage. That...that couldn’t have been what set it off though, right? There had to be other catalysts surely. However, it didn’t change the fact how eagerly it was presenting the mauled corpse of his aggressor, almost as if to say look! For you!

Did that mean...it really did understand him? It understood enough that Travis had tried to attack him and he was not his biggest fan right now. He had been really worked up during that little rant, too, probably making it sound worse than it actually was. Either way, it didn’t like that and took matters into its own hands. Or, mouth rather. This must be its interpretation of protecting him, killing the threat before it could strike again. Good thing he wasn’t one to usually bad mouth coworkers or the creature possibly could have had its massacre sparked by Derrick being mildly annoyed that Sarah always forgot to clean out the coffee filter when she was done.

The creature looked at the body as it was kicked back towards it, whining slightly. Was it upset that he didn’t accept its gracious tribute? That wouldn’t start another fit of anger, would it? He thought it just might when he scoot forward those remaining few injuries to press its face against Derrick’s trembling body. Its bloody mouth transferred an unfortunate amount of gore onto his clothing, but he had other things to worry about, like how close its fucking mouth full of fangs was to his more important organs. The nose buried into his chest rubbed gently, trailing up his neck and to the side of his head. Purrs rumbled with each quiet breath, taking care not to accidentally deafen him. He still cried out when the creature invaded his personal space, though he didn’t have much room to struggle as he was pinned between the door and the face. He whimpered regardless, trying to turn his head to avoid being nuzzled and ultimately failing.

If he thought the impromptu cuddling was bad, he was in for a worse shock when the creature pulled back just a hair, foolishly thinking that it finally had its fill of smelling him or scenting him or what the fuck ever. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy, not when a black tongue darted out from smiling lips to lick him from his stomach to the crown of his head in one, quick swipe. Now that made him actually scream out some sort of pathetic, strangled sound, squirming about as he was lapped again and again and again.

“N-no, don’t, p-please!” He begged uselessly, “D-don’t kill m-me, please, p-please, don’t e-eat me!”

Much to his surprise, the creature actually pulled away from him after that last remark, tilting its head questioningly again. While Derrick was in the middle of his panic attack, doing his damnedest to keep his cries from becoming too harsh, it crossed its arms and rested its head on them, watching as he tried to collect himself to no avail. When it seemed like he was starting to slip deeper into his episode, it started to purr. Quiet and soft, a nice noise to help drown out that increasingly annoying siren. And the worst part was that he really was actually starting to calm down. Not that he liked being so scared he couldn’t breathe, but it was the sheer fact that it was the creature bringing him comfort when it was the one who terrified him in the first place. His sobs quieted down after a few minutes and when they were ragged breaths instead, it started to chitter. Little chirps and purrs and throaty noises he could only assume were directed at him since that’s where it was staring so intently, though the sounds meant nothing to him. Was that how it felt when he used to talk to it for hours on end?

Was it trying to talk to him to soothe him, because him talking to it made it feel relaxed?

He supposed their time together was a much needed break from being poked and prodded and tested and it started to associate Derrick with that mini luxury. The talking probably gave it a sense of company considering he had no fucking clue if and where other members of its species resided. Maybe this friendship wasn’t as one sided as he thought. Maybe it cared so much about the stupid little human that would blather his entire shift that it was willing to rip the facility inside out just to get rid of his bully. One by one his muscles started to uncoil their tension until he was sagging against the door. His breathing was still labored, but he could at least get a steady breath through his nose rather than his gasping mouth. A minute tremor in his hands was all that was left of his previous quivering and his headache was now replaced with a cloudy exhaustion. The creature was still making its imitation noises, only tapering off when Derrick managed to raise his head up and look at it.

“You won’t hurt me...will you?” His voice was so small and weak, it was a good thing the creature had fairly strong hearing.

It responded by bumping its nose into his chest again, smiling all the while. Affection. It liked him. Hesitantly, he raised a hand and gingerly placed it on the creature’s cheek, giving it a tiny pat.

“...you...you know we’re fucked when the army comes...right?” They were a last resort when all other failsafes went south and had yet to be deactivated. It wasn’t their job to find and help survivors, it was their job to make sure nothing about this event was leaked into the public. Be it the experiment itself or scientists who could potentially blackmail the directors.

It shifted to push itself back into a crouched position, lowering towards him with its mouth open. He flinched and turned away which seemed to be exactly what it wanted, clamping down on the back of his shirt and jacket and narrowly missing giving his back a nasty scrape. Derrick all but squeaked in surprise when he felt himself be lifted up, dangling a few dozen feet in the air. It was like he had the same POV as the creature, watching its hands paw at the locked door until claws were able to scratch through the metal in large gouges. Wiring and mechanics were exposed as a result and with a little more tearing and pulling, it opened the entry wide enough for it to slip through, Derrick in tow. Huh. Guess keycards we’re always a necessity. 

He hadn’t the faintest idea where they were headed, but it seemed like the creature had a general sense of direction and so far it was taking the correct route to the surface, to outside. For the moment, he didn’t have a single thing to say and simply let himself sway with the creature’s gait. Its intentions with him after they escaped into the world above were pretty vague at best, but he couldn’t really find the energy to care right now. As long as the military hadn’t beaten them to the exit, they’d be fine. 

They could talk later about their really unconventional future later.

[trulycertain]

fic writer interview

Tagged by @skogrr Thank you very much! It's a while since I've done one of these, and I've missed them.

Name: Tru/"Oi you" Fandoms (that I write for): Dragon Age, mostly. Still the fandom of my heart. Mass Effect, Deus Ex... uh, accidentally GreedFall? I don't know how or when that happened. Two-shot: Hmm... The actual last two-shot I wrote was Terms & Conditions, a very silly Dorian/Inquisitor modern AU where Gal is the guy Dorian hires to stop his late father's house falling apart. Recently? I suspect that's going to be Driftwood, which can stand on its own as a sort of weird post-canon first-meeting AU, but is trying to tempt me to continue it. (Vasco ends up going looking for Tír Fradí, which has disappeared - and finds it. He also finds De Sardet as a highly avoidant tree god of the island, post-Bad Ending, who transformed against her will. And he ends up falling in love with her anyway.) Weird tree gods! Pining by literal pine! An eventual happy ending! More grumpy commentary by Vasco!

Most popular multi-chapter: Either An Unquenchable Flame or Distraction, probably - both juggernaut pairings, the former close to the game's release and the latter with some fancy forbidden romance, so not so surprising. But surprisingly, Prague, 10:42 PM has done really well, considering it's for a small fandom (Deus Ex) and a rarepair age/rank-difference pairing that I thought would be a one-off experiment? I get it, guys. I like sad repressed stoics too.

Actual worst part of writing: Editing - which can be fun, but that "over and over" stage when you're about to post, especially in a longfic if you fear you've lost the spirit of the thing and the character voices and you can't see the wood for the trees. And when I have to remove a whole scene which Jenga-unbalances the fic, and then I have to redux from the top. Basically, most things to do with pacing. How you choose your titles: I like double-meanings and one word titles. If that fails: quote from a song. If that fails: quote from poetry, but very rarely. Do you outline: Only a little. A bulletpointed list of events or noted-down major lines of dialogue, that's usually it.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: Uh... oh god. I blame so many people for some of these.

Post-Destroy ending where John is attempting to build a shed on Rannoch because that's the kind of thing retired people do, right? and Tali is far better at it than him, and it's just... disgusting fluff.

Actually, just reduxing the early John/Tali stuff with a bit more nuance and a stronger style.

Eva and Kaidan, and their mutually wary first meeting. ("Wow, that's a lot of pomade." "Wow, that's a lot of death-glare.")

AU where Gal and Dorian never met in DAI, and after everything went down, Gal tried to fade into the shadows and leave. He ended up working in Tevinter as an occasional informant/odd-jobs guy the way he was pre-Inquisition. He ends up being a gardener for a bitter, wry magister who seems to hate the entire Magisterium, has recently lost his father to political scheming and murder, and wants to take down the entirety of the remaining Venatori with one staff and maybe his teeth if he has to (hi, Dorian). But first, Dorian's going to drink his own body weight in whiskey and be a recluse for a while and start thinking about time magic again. Gal is trying to keep his head down and should definitely not be falling in love with said magister. Who's someday going to end up at one of the more southerly ports, come across a statue of the great Inquisitor, and go, Oh.

Stuff on Jensen's PT and rebuilding himself post-augs. More of Proprioception, basically.

Mer-AU where Marie De Sardet is still a diplomat attempting to make new connections, just not a human one, and it's a disaster. An awkward disaster. Highlights include her being framed as the beast trying to drown their best captain; her attempting to wobble about on brand-new legs and Vasco's coat while everyone assumes the dear captain has had a few too many; her asking Vasco if his "fascinating markings" glow; them getting into a duel, and her (fondly) getting punted off the side of the ship going "Woo-hoo." OK, I wrote a bit of that, but only a 1k doodle I'll probably never return to.

Non-Naut court AU where Marie gets promised to Bastien D'Arcy, because he's a bit of a layabout but he's also rich, popular at court, and amenable to bribe - [cough] suggestion, and the D'Arcys have prominent trading links with the Alliance. Instead she falls for his far less of a social butterfly, tired, worried-numbers-guy brother Léandre, who's pretty damn uncomfortable around Nauts because he's well aware he nearly got sold to them and he is not the favourite.

Straight-up role-reversal AU (another thing where I've put down 1k that I'll probably never return to), where Marie's Naut name is Paz, and she's a fed-up second-mate who's tired of noble idiots and feels a little strange and conflicted about her mark (and has context for it, because they make frequent crossings to Tír Fradí). Also a little more jaded, without the love of her mother, and not nearly as much of a tryhard as Vasco in canon; she ended up here because she had nowhere else to go and the Nauts were like "Ooh, free kid," and she's well aware. She gets stuck escorting the D'Arcy brothers to Tír Fradí for their new venture and is not looking forward to it. Except one of them is intensely bright and wry and keeps asking questions about the ship and noticing shit he is definitely not meant to notice, and they keep ending up in strange conversations, even if he seems really, really wary and uncomfortable about Nauts.

Some vague stuff about Vasco's thoughts on Jonas and that whole side quest, considering he's also a sea-given and implies sea-given take some shit in the Nauts, and also how damn difficult it must be watching a sea-given's parents endeavour to get their kid back when he knows full well his didn't do that for him.

Actually, just more Vasco POV in general, even though he's damn hard to nail down. I've written much pining for him from Marie's perspective, and I'd like to try things from the opposite. This guy's idea of wooing someone perfectly normally is to panic and then recite Baroque poetry. You know he's sappy as hell in the privacy of his own head, even if he's trying not to be.

Jean and Síora having the "I'm a sad healer who just lost my mother and I'm trying so hard not to crumble under the weight of assisting the leader" mutual talk way too late at night around the campfire and maybe him crying on her shoulder a little, with mutual kindness and the beginnings of attraction, and her finally getting past his jokey-smug facade to understand him.

More stuff about Jean's past in general, and how he wanted to be a doctor before he was dragged away from it by looking after Constantin and being nobility.

Síora and Eseld and the ways they changed over the years; something like an exploration of grief and growing her own will and the ways they very differently view the renaigse. Also maybe more about the en ol menawi magic, if I can worldbuild well enough?

I'd also love to do a GreedFall soulmark AU - it's generally not my kind of trope, I'm not into biological determinism type tropes - just because names and aliases and assumed identities are such a mess in GreedFall and it's a repeated plot point. That said, I feel like it's been done so beautifully in this fandom before that I wouldn't have much to add.

Callouts @ me: So. Many. Commas. So much over-explaining everything. If they get out of the car, your readers do not need a five-page manual of "and then he undid his seatbelt and leaned over to grasp the door handle, and then pulled it, and then stepped a foot out before he almost thought better of it - but no, he was going to get out of this car. The other foot joined the first, and he nearly banged his head on the doorframe."

Best writing traits: People say I have a head for finding small-but-important moments. I'm also told I write likeable protags. People have more than once said my writing makes them feel safe or makes them smile, and I really couldn't ask for more than that. I'll take those.

Spicy tangential opinion: I don't think I have any, really? Oh god, that makes me sound so very boring. Oh! Um. There should be more tree body horror in fandom. And body horror in general. *thumbsup*

No pressure tagging: @artemis-crimson, @eridanidreams,@rainypixel, @aphreal42.

[yeah-klave]

A Short History of What Happened - Chapter 5

Written, with love, for EnKlave Fest 2021.

Catch up with the story so far: Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4

Prompt: Omegas aren’t allowed to join the army, but then Omega!Klaus gets dropped into Vietnam and has to pose as a Beta. He manages quite well, right until he goes into heat. Alpha!Dave is protective and incredibly aroused/horny.

Genre: Omega verse, smut, developing relationships, slow burn, undercover, misunderstandings, secretly in love.

Word length: This chapter: 3.9k

Warning: Implied, canon-compliant abuse. Implied homophobia. Discussion of AU-specific political issues, including victim-blaming, gay-shame and dub-con medical procedures. The entire work, when posted, will contain explicit sexual content. 

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of The Umbrella Academy characters or settings.

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

They walked on in silence for a while.

Dave wasn’t quite sure why or how, but he felt more content in this moment than he had in months, years even. Maybe ever.

It was ridiculous. The man walking beside him was practically a stranger. A mystery; with secrets and a painful history and – quite possibly – more than a little darkness inside him.

Dave couldn’t explain it, but somehow, he still felt a… pull.

Perhaps Klaus did live in a world of shadows, but maybe Dave could turn on the light. Maybe Dave could be the light.

Dave heard a gentle inhale next to him and turned to see Klaus breathing deeply, his eyes closed and his heard tilted back slightly.

Dave faltered, was he… scenting the air?

Klaus’ lashes fluttered and he opened his eyes and caught Dave’s gaze. His irises were thin green disks around the dark pools of his blown pupils.

“Whaafght,” Dave stuttered.

Klaus blinked.

Dave composed himself, took a deep breath and started again.

“What,” Dave swallowed, thinking frantically and eventually grasping at the first coherent thought that came to him, “what kind of music do you like?”

Before him, a smile spread slowly across Klaus’ face and a twinkle lit up his eyes.

“Buckle up, David,” Klaus smiled, “I’m about to take you on a wild ride.”

And he did.

Dave hadn’t even heard of most of the songs Klaus listed off. In fact, he didn’t recognise them to all, even when Klaus sang bits aloud in a breathy, enthusiastic, but slightly off-key voice. Dave was feeling light and relaxed, but he didn’t start getting giggly until Klaus began adding the accompanying dance moves – a series of shimmies, little hip rolls and dramatic arm movements. Dave started laughing. And once he started, he found it really difficult to stop. The sound of Dave attempting to supress his giggling seemed to spur Klaus on because he just started hamming it up even more.

Dave tried to get himself under control a couple of times, glancing around nervously, aware of where they were. But the coast looked completely clear and then he’d look back at Klaus and the expression on his face would set him off again.

“I’ve never,” Dave wheezed between peals of laughter, “even heard of these songs. My favourite song is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Where you’re from must be much hipper than where I grew up.”

“Ohmigod, Dave!” Klaus choked, “Hip! You’re just too precious!”

“It means trendy or… happening,” Dave helpfully supplied.

Klaus’ faced creased and he doubled over in silent giggles.

“That’s perfect,” Klaus choked out, gasping for air, “absolutely spiffing! Completely ripping! Positively groovy!”

Dave didn’t quite get the joke, but grinned along with him.

“It must have been, though,” Dave bobbed his head earnestly. “We must be pretty out of touch with the cool music where I’m from.”

“Where’s that?” Klaus asked.

“Near Dallas,” Dave supplied.

“Ooh, a Southerner!” Klaus said. “So, Dave, are you more a smooth Southern gentleman or rough Texas cowboy?”

Dave paused. “Neither,” he said finally, “I’m just me. Just boring old Dave Katz. There’s nothing interesting about me. I’m just… a plain hamburger kind of a guy.”

Klaus looked at him steadily. “I don’t buy that at all,” he said. “There’s nothing plain hamburger about you, Dave.”

“Well,” Dave corrected himself. “Actually, my order would probably be plain hamburger with two pickles, if I’m being exact. And picky.”

“Exactly,” Klaus grinned. “See, just what I said! Flavour! Dave Katz likes to slip a bit of pickle in his hamburger!”

Klaus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Dave coughed uncomfortably. This conversation was straying into dangerous territory.

“How do you take your hamburger, then?” Dave asked.

“I like a little pickle,” Klaus said. “Well actually, I like a big pickle. A big, hard pickle.” He waggled his eyebrows again and then did an adorable little two-eyed wink. Dave felt his cheeks heating up at the same time his heart clenched a little at the cuteness. “The cheese can go take a running jump, though,” Klaus added, “and it had better come with fries and ketchup or else heads will roll. To be honest though, hamburger probably wouldn’t be my first choice for favourite food.”

“What would be?” Dave asked, interested.

Klaus pondered. “I knew someone once who made amazing ossobuco, that was pretty good. And I’ve always had a sweet spot of doughnuts. My siblings and I used to…” Klaus trailed off.

Dave held his breath, but Klaus didn’t add any more. Dave chanced a glance sideways. Klaus had a distant, faraway look in his eyes.

Dave racked his brain for a change of topic.

“Have you ever read Dune?” he asked.

Klaus appeared to give himself a little shake.

“No,” he said, “what’s it about?”

“Well,” and with that, Dave launched into a monologue about his favourite ever book. As he talked, he saw Klaus’ eyes flitting over his face, smiling and nodding along. There was a warmth and fondness there that took Dave by surprise; an unguarded acceptance. The mutual respect of a new friendship. It made Dave feel giddy and drunk, a bubble of happiness growing inside him.

Dave was just wondering whether he should start telling Klaus about his interpretation of the ‘fear is the little death’ line, when he suddenly noticed in the distance, the location of the new camp they were travelling towards.

Reality hit him like a punch to the face.

He’d had all this time alone with Klaus to talk about the difficult things, the things they couldn’t speak about in front of the others and they’d wasted it on hamburgers and silly dance moves. In fact, he’d hardly got any answers to the multitude of questions that has been plaguing him since Klaus first arrived. They still had so many practical things they needed to discuss.

“Klaus,” Dave said, his voice low and urgent.

Klaus flinched and looked around quickly for the danger.

Guiltily, Dave backtracked.

“No. Sorry. It’s fine. It’s just, we’ve almost arrived and…” he paused, usure how to phrase the next bit. “There are still a few things we should probably talk about first.”

“Like what?” Klaus asked, his voice innocent and confused.

“Well…” Dave started slowly. “You know…” He looked at Klaus hopefully. Klaus looked back, nonplussed.

Dave shifted uncomfortably, then whispered. “You know… omega stuff.” He swallowed. “Like… how we’re going to mask your scent and keep you safe.” He shifted uncomfortably again. “And then there’s,” he gave an embarrassed little cough, “there’s your…. ummmm…” his cheeks were bright red now, “there’s your…” he looked down and finally mumbled, “your heats.”

“Oh,” Klaus said breezily. “No need to worry about that, I have the suppressor implant.” He waved Dave’s words off with a distracted flap of his hand. “And the IUD, too” he added as an afterthought. “With the scent thing, though, I thought you said the others were all betas? They won’t be able to smell me. Only alphas can smell omegas. And there’s just you, so I’m all good.”

Dave frowned, confused. “What do you mean implant?”

“The heat suppressor implant,” Klaus clarified. “I have been – almost exclusively – since I was in my teens.” His face darkened. “My dad made me. He didn’t trust me. I mean, it’s not like I wanted to get bonded to the first alpha that came along, or get myself knocked up at seventeen. But I would have liked the chance to masturbate my way through my heats in my locked bedroom like a normal teenage omega. What I really needed was a whack-off dildo. But, oh no! That’s not okay for Number Four. He had to have the medical implant instead.”

Dave frowned deeper, trying desperately to keep up.

“Are you saying,” he said slowly, “that you have something implanted in you that’s stops you going into heat?”

“Umm, yeah,” Klaus drawled, looking at him as though Dave was the one talking nonsense. But then his eyes got really wide and he snapped his mouth shut.

“Fuck,” he said under his breath, staring into the middle distance. “They didn’t start doing that until…” he paused, “So nobody here has…” he trailed off again.

“Klaus?” Dave prompted.

Klaus gave a deep sigh. “Look,” he said. “I can’t explain it. But we don’t need to worry about my heats. I’m good for easily another few months.” He sighed again deeply. “And by then I expect Five will have… done something anyway... probably come and got me. So, I’ll be long gone before that’s an issue.”

Dave choked. “There are five of them after you?”

“What?” Klaus frowned. “No, Five. My brother Five.”

Dave was completely lost. “Okay,” he said slowly, still not quite sure what had happened but somehow trusting that Klaus knew what he was talking about. “Okay, that’s good, I think. So unexpected heats is something we can cross off the list of worries.”

“Yes.” Klaus gave a definitive nod. “So go on, what else did you have on that list?” Klaus asked. “It was my scent, wasn’t it? I don’t get what’s the big deal is if we’re just surrounded by betas?”

“Everyone else in our unit are betas,” Dave confirmed. “But there are alphas in the other units. I mean,” he added delicately, “I don’t know if any that are openly… you know…” he trailed off.

“Gay?” Klaus supplied.

“Yeah,” Dave said thankfully. “But, I mean, that’s not to say there aren’t any. If they were they’d probably – no definitely – try to hide that.” Dave twisted his face in discomfort. Klaus was looked at him unblinkingly, a question lodged behind his slightly furrowed brows.

Dave swallowed again and tried to steady his breathing, determinedly not making eye contact. He couldn’t let Klaus know that he was talking about himself. Not after everything Klaus had said earlier about manipulative alphas only being kind to omegas for sex. He wanted Klaus to feel safe. He wanted Klaus to trust him.

So Dave couldn’t let him know that he was one of those kind of alphas. The ones who were attracted to men. The alphas who were almost as rare as male omegas. After what Klaus had shared about his past, he didn’t want Klaus to feel scared of him. He didn’t want to make him feel like… prey.

Klaus was one hundred percent safe with Dave. Dave knew he would never force himself on anyone. But Klaus didn’t know that. Klaus would just see him as a potential threat. Even worse, he might think that he was manipulating him, that Dave had befriended him on false pretences, only to get close to him and... and… Dave shuddered.

Klaus had made it very clear – he was running from an abusive alpha. So absolutely under no circumstances could Dave let him know his preferences. The competing alpha urges battled inside him again: desire and protection. Protection won.

“So,” Klaus said slowly, “you’re saying I need to be careful to hide the fact that I’m an omega from the alphas in other units, not because they’d want to fuck me – because they’re probably not interested in that – but because they’d out me as an omega. And I’d then be sent… back.”

“Yeah,” Dave nodded. “And if back isn’t safe for you, then we need to make sure they don’t find out, so that you can stay here where you’re safe. Safer.”

“Okay,” Klaus said. “How do we hide my omega-ness from them, then?”

“Well,” Dave said, “for a start, don’t tell anyone you’re an omega.”

“Good one, Sherlock” Klaus grinned.

“Secondly,” Dave said ignoring Klaus’ comment with a small shrug and a roll of his eyes, “I guess, try to keep the scent glands in your neck and wrists covered as much as possible. Clothing is okay for a start, but if you’re going to be around alphas for any length of time, it might be a good idea to cover up even more… bandages or dressings maybe? Or – at a push – a layer of mud might work.”

“That sounds gross.” Klaus wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“I know, it sucks,” Dave pulled a sympathetic face, “but it’s safer.”

“It sucks to be safe!” Klaus huffed in frustration. “And you have no idea how much it really sucks. I’m not really one for coving up. I like to live my life scantily clad.”

Dave swallowed and looked resolutely ahead.

“You know…” Klaus said in a sing-song voice, “bare chested twink, make the boys wink…”

“Twink?” Dave frowned.

“That would be me, Dave,” Klaus said, waving his arms in a flourish that took in his whole body. He did a quick twirl on the spot.

“Oh.” Dave could feel his face heating up again.

“Or,” Klaus carried on, “if you want to sin, show some skin… to make him cum, bare your tum.”

“They’re,” Dave swallowed, “interesting rhymes.”

Klaus let out a musically little giggle and batted his long eyelashes theatrically. “All of my own creation, Davey. And anyway… what more do you expect? I’m just a little omega sex toy, there’s nothing up here in my head. I’m only good for one thing… pleasuring horny alphas.”

Dave frowned. “Omegas are worth so much more than that,” he said seriously. His mouth had gone very dry.

“Dave, it’s fine, I was joking.” Klaus said with a little shrug.

“No,” Dave said. “It’s not okay. I know what the law says, but general perceptions aren’t so fast to change. And it’s not fair that omegas are still treated like second class citizens. You shouldn’t feel like you have to act a part just because it’s what’s expected of you. You should be able to be exactly who you want to be.” Dave’s voice had risen and he was breathing deeply. The ironic weight of his words rang in his ears long after he’d finished talking.

“I completely agree,” Klaus said seriously, all frivolity stripped from his face. He looked vulnerable and open again. “I’m absolutely an advocate for omega rights. And it’s good to know that you’re an omega ally. Those rhymes though… I know it might seem like that’s me conforming to an expected stereotype, but actually, it’s the opposite. I hate being told that I shouldn’t embrace my sexuality because it negates years of omega rights protests. Acting like a flirt doesn’t mean I don’t believe omegas should have equal rights in society, whether they’re bonded or not. As far as I’m concerned, there’s a world of difference between choosing to act like a sex object and being forced into it. And I hate it when other omegas imply I’m being a bad omega, like there’s a right way and a wrong way. Fuck everyone who says acting like a stereotype propagates the wrong impression and makes it okay for alphas to treat us that way. That’s just victim blaming. If alphas act like fucking dicks, that’s on them, not us!” Klaus took a long, shuddering inhale.

“I’m sorry I said anything,” Dave said sincerely. “I’m sorry if I upset you or I said the wrong thing. I’m not always the best at talking about this kind of stuff. All I meant to say was… I think omegas get a raw deal and… and… and I’m on your side.”

Klaus smiled contrite. “I know, I’m sorry that got a bit heavy. And don’t worry, you didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just omega politics!” He blew out a frustrated breath.

Dave pulled a sympathetic face.

“Anyway,” Klaus said, gathering himself again, “where were we? Oh, yeah, slathering me in mud and making me cover up like a nun.” He grinned and did his funny little two eyed blink again. “Any other ideas about how to mask me up and make me the least fuckable guy in the country?” His voice was light and Dave knew he was only joking.

Dave cleared his throat. “Umm,” he started, “I thought maybe… you could wear my clothes?” He could feel his cheeks heating up again. “After I’ve had them on, I mean. That way my natural alpha smell might cover yours a bit. But you don’t have to,” He added hurriedly, “if you think that’s weird or gross or whatever. It was just an idea.”

Klaus shrugged. “Nope, I mean, that’s a perfectly logical idea. To other alphas, a faint alpha smell mixed with a fait omega smell will probably come out smelling like… well, probably like a bit of a funky smelling beta. But I can deal with that.”

Dave nodded. “I know it’s less than ideal, but I think that’s probably the best option. Other than that, I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear.”

Klaus paused, then said slowly. “So, basically, I’m not really safe here unless you help me. I have to stay on your good side, or else bad things could happen to me? That sounds like it’s come straight from victim testimony.”

Dave grimaced. “Yeah, I totally see where you’re coming from with that. All I can say is that… I’m not like that. I genuinely just want to help you. I know that sounds pretty pathetic and not very reassuring. But the bad things are genuine threats, and we’re in the unusual situation where I actually am the only one who can help. So hopefully you can learn to trust that I am actually an okay guy.” He gave an apologetic little shrug and looked over towards Klaus. “I’ve got your back, soldier. Whether you believe me or not.”

Klaus cocked his head to one side and appraised him seriously, but Dave thought he could smell something light and teasing in the air.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we… soldier?” He said eventually.

“I’ll take that,” Dave said calmly, his face soft and open and honest. Klaus just looked back at him, his expression unreadable.

They had walked on a few more paces before Dave looked over at Klaus warily. “There is something else I should probably tell you.” He said slowly.

Klaus’ ears pricked up and he looked over at Dave quickly. Dave’s nostrils flared, expecting a wave of apprehension from Klaus, but instead all he caught the scent of was… hopeful. He faltered and looked over at Klaus, whose eyes were large and fixed on Dave’s face.

“There is an alpha in another unit,” he started and watched as Klaus’ face fell slightly before his eyes. “I don’t really know, but I have heard… rumours.”

Klaus frowned again. “What kind of rumours?”

“Well,” Dave said. “I heard that… when he was back home… he was arrested a couple of times for abusing omegas, but he got off on technicalities.”

Klaus swallowed and his upper lip twitched in suppressed anger. “Bastard,” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” Dave intoned flatly. “But look,” he added quickly. “I don’t know if that’s true. It could just be an ugly rumour.”

“All rumours start with a grain of truth somewhere. Except when Allison’s involved.” Klaus grinned. “Man, I wish I could introduce people like that to Allison. She’d sort them right out!” He barked a laugh.

Dave fought the urge to ask who Allison was, and instead said, “I just thought I’d give you a heads up. Just in case, you know. Just to be extra careful around him. He’s big. And not just alpha big. I mean, he’s big big. He could probably snap you in two with his little finger.”

“And by that you actually mean he’d split me in half. Right up the middle.”

Dave grimaced. “Well, I was trying to put it delicately.”

“Yeah, I know you were. Thanks though, I’ll watch out for him. Maybe you can point him out to me?”

“Sure,” Dave agreed.

They walked a little further in silence. It wasn’t exactly the comfortable silence of earlier, but Dave at least felt content that he’d said what needed to be said and was happy they’d come up with a plan. After a few more steps, Klaus chimed up.

“It really doesn’t seem fair that omega biology makes us so much smaller and slighter alphas. I mean, why do we have to be as small as betas. We’re the ones expected to mate with alphas. Alphas who are biologically huge!” He turned towards Dave and looked up into his eyes. Dave looked down at him, really appreciating for the first time the size difference between them. “I mean, everything is just so big about alphas. Their height, their build, their personalities, their cocks…” Dave choked slightly and Klaus grinned, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t get me wrong, I am into alpha cocks, but biologically they really are unnecessarily enormous.” Dave looked resolutely ahead, but dimly he was aware that Klaus’ gaze had travelled down to his crotch and the noticeable bulge in his uniform pants.

“The size thing is all very well when it’s an alpha you’re into,” Klaus continued, his gaze still lowered. “But when it’s a predatory alpha throwing his weight around, it’s a bit disconcerting. Omegas should at least have some sort of biological defence mechanism to protect ourselves from alphas like that. Like skunk stick gas, or retractable cat claws.”

Dave let out a loud laugh. He brought a hand up to cover him mouth.

Klaus watched him with a twinkle in his eye.

“Oh my god,” Dave huffed out a chuckle. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m just picturing you with tufty ears and a tail, like a hybrid feline-man… or a cat-boy or something. That’s so wild.”

“Wow,” Klaus said under this breath. “Just wait ‘till you realise what that means, it’s going to blow your mind.”

“What?” Dave asked.

“Oh, never mind, ignore me” Klaus said hurriedly. But he was still grinning.

They turned a bend in the track and suddenly ahead of them they could see the camp site and others in their unit already hard at work.

“I guess it’s back to war now then,” Klaus said shakily.

“I guess so,” Dave replied slowly.

“I’ve got to say,” Klaus grinned, “I really can’t wait to wear that shirt tomorrow.” He nodded at Dave’s chest and furrowed his brows in a mock thoughtful look. “I just don’t think clothes feel right unless they’ve been worn in first by another man during a six hour hike through a tropical rainforest. Clothes are just missing something if they don’t come dirt encrusted and pre-stiffened in dried sweat.”

Dave grimaced and looked down at himself, noticing for the first time his pit stains and the dampness across his chest and back.

“Maybe I’ll give this a quick rinse first,” he said sheepishly.

“Don’t you dare,” Klaus said firmly. “I need all the alpha musk I can get, remember. Come on, Dave,” he said biting his lip slowly and looking up – way up – into Dave’s face, “you have to mark me. Cover me in your scent.”

Dave swallowed hard and forced his breaths to come evenly. As he looked down into Klaus’ breathtakingly beautiful face, he thought there must be some sort of trick of the light as the sun set slowly beneath the horizon in a pool of blood red light, because he could have sworn he saw a faint blush spread across Klaus’ nose and cheeks, the flush working its way down his throat.

“O-okay,” Dave stammered.

Klaus just blinked slowly and raised his gaze from Dave’s lips to his eyes.

Maintaining this charade, Dave thought ruefully, is going to be much harder than I thought.

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 3, episode 5 reaction

This whole episode I kept doing that Marge Simpson groan. You know, the one that’s like tight-lipped and this low, exasperated mmm from deep in the throat? That was me constantly.

Episode 5

Clip 1 - Jens gives Robbe sex advice

Robbe texts his mom and says to her he can’t visit, lying that it’s because he’s sick. One repeated element that does exist in this season is Robbe listening to music on his headphones, which is him retreating into himself, or using music to cope. The song lyrics reflect that: “I used to feel so alone, now I’m feeling better on my own.”

Since I’ve been trying to think of ways to rewrite this season, they could expand Robbe using music as a coping strategy even further. Music should have been something that Robbe bonds with Sander over. And not just Sander’s recommendation of Bowie, either, which is all they’ve done so far - it seems like Robbe should give recs or insight as well. Talk about how important music is to him with Sander. Make it a serious point in their developing relationship.

Jens skates up and talks to Robbe. Robbe wants to get high, but Jens doesn’t have weed with him at the moment. He asks Robbe if he’s thought about the Brrrothers, because they’re not the same without Robbe. Robbe snaps and turns away from him, then lies and says his bad mood is about Noor. Jens has already heard that they’re fighting.

Jens’ talk to Robbe, knowing that Noor wants to have sex and Robbe doesn’t, is actually pretty sweet. Even though he doesn’t understand the real reason why Robbe doesn’t want to, his talk is thoughtful and not shaming Robbe for being a nervous virgin, it’s considerate of him. Considering the Brrrothers have been obnoxious about sex and girls all season, this was a refreshing change. One question I do have is how Jens knew that Noor wanted sex and Robbe didn’t, but I guess it was implied that this explanation was part of the rumor mill. 

Of course, the downside is that Jens’ advice prompts Robbe to text Noor about how he misses her and wants to meet up. Bad, Robbe! I don’t know if Jens’ talk encouraged Robbe to text her because Robbe was like “Yeah, I’m supposed to like Noor, better get back on that,” or because maybe he genuinely told himself, “I just don’t want to have sex with her because I’m nervous, yeah, that must be it,” and decided to just move forward with it. 

I do like drama that comes from characters trying to be helpful but unintentionally saying or doing the wrong thing - that’s what happens in the locker room scene with Isak and Even. When Isak says he’s better off without mentally ill people in his life, he’s telling Even this as a way of saying that his mother won’t cause problems for them, he doesn’t care what she’ll think of them dating. So taken on its own, I think this scene is fine.

HOWEVER. The pacing of this season is again, SO SO weird, because this scene would have fit right in around episodes 2-3? Right after Robbe tried and failed to have sex with Noor, you know ... the first time? Or the second, or the third? Like … have it be in line with Isak’s episode 3 sexuality crisis, all the “why does he have to be so gay” stuff. It would’ve worked well to have this talk at like, the beginning of episode 3, and then have Robbe making the “that guy is so gay” comment as an unintentional result of this - by trying to convince himself he is just straight and nervous and distancing himself from being gay. We had three entire scenes of Robbe failing to fuck Noor, so narratively, why did we need to wait this long for Jens to talk to him about it? 

Clip 2 - AGAIN?

Robbe invites Noor over to bone. He’s lit about a million candles and is trying to make this a big romantic deal, except lmao, he has on David Bowie’s Life on Mars … Robbe … what u doing…

Actually, I’m not sure if this is diegetic music or not, if Robbe is blasting Bowie from his phone as mood music or if he’s only hearing this song inside his head. I think we’re definitely meant to take away that Robbe is hearing the song since it gets distorted as he slinks down Noor’s body, and that it’s not just there for the audience. In either case, Sander is supposedly the shadow hanging over this sad hetero affair.

Tbh listening to Life on Mars is the best part of this season and I wish I could just like … listen to this song play against a black screen instead of watching poorly written, repetitive clips.

They start to get it on and he takes off her shirt, unhooks her bra, yadda yadda, he doesn’t look happy but he soldiers on and it’s implied they went All The Way. On the one hand, I will rage if they actually had sex. On the other hand, if they don’t, it’s yet another clip where the same shit happens, Robbe tries to bang Noor and fails.. 

Clip 3 - Robbe’s not turned on by Noor and this is BRAND NEW INFORMATION

… okay, so he didn’t have sex with her AGAIN? He couldn’t get it up?

For fuck’s sake. I mean, on the one hand I’m glad it was actually Robbe’s choice (apparently) to put a stop to the sex instead of like, someone else walking in and interrupting yet again, but on the other hand, I feel like we have done this scene SO MUCH. We KNOW. About the only thing that’s changed I guess is that Robbe kissed a boy and now he’s trying to be straight? If this was only like the second time this scene had happened, it would have been fine.

I just don’t have a coherent idea of Robbe’s arc. This season is going in circles. 

Anyway, Robbe couldn’t get it up, Noor is sympathetic, she asks if it’s her, Robbe says she’s amazing, he looks sad and haunted blah blah we’ve already seen this play out.

Why were these separate clips? In the first clip, we have Robbe seemingly determined to have sex with Noor, and then in the second, he can’t get it up. So why not SHOW THE MOMENT OF CHANGE? Are these filmmakers on drugs? This is storytelling 101. Like there’s no reason to split up these clips except to cause a bit of anxiety if you happen to be able to watch the clips at the exact time they’re posted, and from a real-time perspective I get it, but that’s ineffective for the vast majority of people who will have to watch later and then will watch these two clips together at the same time. I mean, the fact that it’s not even 10 minutes in between clips … just SHOW THE WHOLE SCENE. Holy fuck. How are they this incompetent?

The pacing of the scenes themselves is so weird. So many of the clips are oddly short, we don’t NEED them to be split into parts. It makes me really appreciate Julie’s pacing: Skam S3 episodes had 4-6 clips each, and in those clips, we got rich scenes packed with details, often multi-tasking within different story threads. wtFOCK’s pacing is simplistic and choppy and unnecessary.

Clip 4 - Milan gives Robbe a pep talk

Robbe is Googling erectile dysfunction which is honestly kind of funny (but again, probably would have been a better fit for earlier in this season, before Robbe had already kissed a dude ...) Milan comes in wanting advice on two shirts, Robbe is annoyed.

Milan tries to get Robbe to talk to him. It takes some prodding (and I do like how Robbe is swiveling in his chair and not looking at Milan) but Robbe admits there’s a guy who likes him and, after Milan asks, admits that it’s mutual. 

Tbh … I don’t find it so hard to believe that Robbe opened up to Milan even though they’re not anywhere as close as Eskild and Isak, because I do think another gay guy is a “safe” person to talk to about this situation and I can see Robbe doing it. What I do NOT get is why, here and now, Robbe is now openly admitting it. Why did we go from Robbe trying to fuck a girl and, before that, calling the boy he kissed a pervert and a homophobic slur, to admitting his attraction for a boy? Why the sudden turnaround? Based on the clips themselves, all we have to go off as a turning point is that he couldn’t fuck Noor, BUT this is nothing new for either Robbe and the audience, AND not being able to fuck a girl does not actually mean that Robbe would be able to fuck a guy, or that he’s into guys, and it especially doesn’t mean that Robbe would accept that he likes a guy.  I mean, he’s Googling “erectile dysfunction” not “am I gay?” which tbh seems still more like denial than anything. He’s blaming his lack of arousal on a medical issue, not his sexuality.

This scene would feel more true to me if Robbe was like, downplaying his side of it, or playing it off as only Sander had feelings and it wasn’t requited. That’s more in line with the characterization we have just been given, that Robbe is denying his attraction to Sander.

Another way would be to not split up the sex clip and to show like, Robbe flashing back to his kiss with Sander while he’s making out with Noor, so we get that it’s not just that he’s not into Noor, it’s that he’s very into Sander, and we see him grudgingly admit to himself that yes, he’s attracted to Sander (at the very least.) which would make it believable that he admits it to Milan. Cause and effect, etc.

MIlan is like, are you so nervous to tell me you have a crush on another guy (...????? um, yes, Milan, you have to know it’s hard to come out???) but is pretty supportive and says Robbe’s lucky to have him, Milan would have wanted himself when he was going through this. Robbe is just like, I don’t know what I feel and I want everything to be normal, there’s too much shit going on right now. Milan says Robbe IS normal and he doesn’t want to bottle up who he is, the pressure will get too real and he’ll explode, he’ll hurt people. Robbe seems to take this advice seriously, so hopefully this scene will actually lead to cause + effect.

Again, this scene is fine on its own? There’s just something about the pacing of the season as a whole that feels strange.

I don’t know if this is supposed to be the equivalent of the Pride clip, because Robbe doesn’t say anything offensive and Milan didn’t get upset. Milan’s advice is good about not pushing away who you really are, but there’s nothing specifically confronting internalized homophobia, which Robbe desperately needs seeing as he’s had some extremely homophobic outbursts. I think it’s a shame to lose that part of the scene, because it’s got a very pointed and urgent message. (EDIT from the future: We got the Pride clip later in the episode, so that’s good.)

Clip 5 - Robbe tells Jens he likes someone else

Robbe is sitting on the sidelines listening to music again. Jens comes over and asks how things are, Robbe says he took his advice with Noor and Jens is happy that he’s a matchmaker. Robbe is like no, there’s someone else. He says he thought it would go away, but it didn’t. 

For a moment it seems like this might be a sudden coming out scene, but Jens finally asks who it is and Robbe clams up and finds it hard to get out. Jens asks if she goes to their school. Robbe is saved by Moyo wanting to play a game against some guys.

This is some plausible conflict, at the very least, Robbe not being able to tell his friends that he’s into a guy. It would have been way better to focus on this instead of Robbe flinging a slur at Sander. Robbe’s friends seem like the clearest explanation for his internalized homophobia. 

Now Jens needs to follow up on this development, or else turn in his Jonas card. Because there’s dropping the subject if he senses Robbe doesn’t want to tell him yet, and then there’s forgetting about the subject because Jens isn’t that engaged with what’s happening with Robbe, and unfortunately the latter vibe has come across far more than the first. Like why does it seem like Jens is always walking away?

Clip 6 - Robbe breaks up with Noor

Old Town Road is playing as Noor meets Robbe in a cafe. One thing I do notice is that there are a fair amount of gay musicians on the soundtrack this season, so that’s cool.

Robbe is stressed because we can tell he’s gonna try to break up with Noor. He doesn’t order anything to eat. Noor is sympathetic about him not getting it up with her, but Robbe says he needs some time for himself, he has so much shit on his mind. Noor says she can help with that, he’s like nah, Noor is crying and reaching for him desperately. He gets up and walks out.

L O L I heard all about how Robbe supposedly handled this better than Isak, and I mean … on the one hand, I certainly agree that he did Noor a solid by officially breaking up with her and not just running away from her in the hallway. But er ... first of all, Robbe went wayyyyyyyyy farther with Noor than Isak EVER did with Emma. Robbe and Noor had an actual relationship for what, a month? Isak and Emma made out twice and flirted a bit. They were not exclusively, seriously dating. So yeah, Noor is owed this breakup. 

Second, Robbe still cheated on her with Sander before he broke up with her. The fact that they were naked while they made out in the pool frankly adds an on-screen sexual element to the cheating. And technically Isak making out with Even in the pool was not cheating … for sure it was a dick move to lead on Emma and then ditch her like that, I’m not going to say it was NBD, but like I said, they weren’t exclusively dating. I mean, in all my years of Skam fandom, it’s pretty rare that I’ve heard anyone refer to what Isak did as cheating - it’s usually talked about differently than Even cheating on Sonja. Robbe and Sander BOTH cheated on their girlfriends here. 

Third, it’s nice he did this with Noor but lmao, kinda small potatoes considering what Robbe said to Sander. 

Fourth, Robbe just gets up and leaves while she’s crying, lol. He let her order soup and then he ditched her! That’s cold as ice! Bro, you need to stick around until she tells you to leave, or you needed to pick a breakup location where both of you can leave ASAP without someone coming by with the meal you ordered.

And to be clear, I don’t think Robbe not handling this perfectly makes him a terrible person or anything. It’s more the comparison to Isak with how Isak is supposedly worse and Robbe is much nicer. Nah.

Sucks for Noor and all, but whyyyy are they making the Emma character so tragic and emphasizing this het relationship so much? We don’t even end the clip on Robbe’s POV. Because how he feels about this breakup doesn’t matter, I guess. Does he feel guilty? Free? Unsure? Conflicted? IDK because we close on her, not him! I’m sorry, but it’s not her season!

I mentioned this in an earlier reaction but I’m just super tired of gay storylines that have this intense focus on how much someone being gay hurts a straight person. I believe I mentioned Love, Victor as a prominent example, because Victor’s relationship with his girlfriend seemingly gets more screen time than the relationship with his actual male love interest. And I get why this storyline is relevant to a coming out arc, of course I do, but it really bugs me when the het relationship seems to overshadow the gay relationship, as it does here. At this point I feel like Robbe/Noor has been given equal plot relevance as Robbe/Sander, if not more, and that should not be the case. It’s not about shipping, it’s about wanting a story about a gay kid’s journey of self-acceptance to focus more on the life-changing love story that is the catalyst for embracing his sexuality, than the fake passion-less relationship that is doomed to failure that is just a momentary stumble in said journey of self-acceptance. There is no need to demonize Noor, but there is actually a middle ground between treating her with respect and empathy and making her the real victim of this story.

This narrative choice also does not exist in a vacuum. It is completely fair to be skeptical of the prioritization of a het relationship over a gay one. It’s fair to wonder why we’ve gotten multiple scenes of Robbe getting hot and heavy with a girl, why Robbe spends a pivotal clip being so sad about Noor that he doesn’t seem to really notice or care that he’s alone with the guy he supposedly likes. 

I mean, fuck, Robbe seems more upset about hurting Noor’s feelings by breaking up with her for legitimate reasons than he does about hurting Sander’s feelings by calling him a f*g and accusing him of sexual assault.

Clip 7 - Robbe tries to speak with Sander

Robbe goes to school (not his school, Sander’s) and asks where the art room is. He’s in a way better mood, a spring in his step, but LMAO you better pray that Sander actually wants to talk to you rather than kick your ass or avoid you for all eternity because of what you said to him.

Sander is sketching a nude male model. Robbe seems happy just to see him. He walks away and goes to the bathroom, fixes his hair, stares in the mirror, takes a deep breath. Then he goes up to Sander after the bell rings. Robbe wants to talk, Sander is not having it and walks away. Robbe is sad, angsty music plays. 

Uhhhhh, serves you right? No offense but I can’t even feel sad for Robbe in this scenario, because what he did crossed a line. Internalized homophobia is a hell of a drug, but there’s such a difference between Robbe just denying that the kiss meant anything or blaming it on being drunk or whatever, and essentially accusing Sander of sexual assault and calling him a slur. It’s not an ignorant mistake, it’s a malicious one. I feel bad that Robbe ever had such self-hatred that he made those comments in the first place and I certainly don’t hate him or think he should be forever alone, but it is 100% understandable why Sander would not want to speak to him after that.

Also, going up to Sander at his school was not the best move, because he’s basically ambushing him. Sander doesn’t have a choice whether to deal with Robbe in that moment. It would’ve been better if Robbe sent him some kind of apology text or voicemail first and left it up to Sander whether he wanted to meet. I get that’s not as good for televised dramaaaa, but it’s kinder to Sander. (And if Sander doesn’t respond, or if he’s blocked Robbe, well, those are just consequences of Robbe’s actions that he’ll have to live with.)  EDIT: Robbe actually did contact Sander first via text, wanting to meet up so he could explain. That does make it somewhat better, although I still think he shouldn’t have approached him at school. If Sander doesn’t want to talk to you? Then give him space. Maybe he’ll be willing to hear you out in time, or maybe he’ll decide he’s better off without you, but Robbe’s the one who did something wrong and it’s not up to Robbe whether Sander forgives him.

Clip 8 - Robbe and Sander make up and kiss

Angsty music keeps playing as Robbe walks home. He sees a mom and her kids playing, more sadness presumably due to his own family troubles.

Sander has followed him and says he has five minutes. Robbe’s like “Why don’t you want to talk?” LMAO IDK ROBBE, WHAT COULD IT BE. 

Robbe says he’s sorry and that he loves Sander. LMAO WHAT. Is this a nuance of translation where “I love you” isn’t as strong as it is in English? Are you kidding me? 

First of all … he LOVES Sander when they’ve barely interacted? They’ve spoken only a handful of times. Hell, they only met in episode 3, and this is episode 5. It’s been like two weeks since they’ve met, and while I could buy that some ships fell in love in that short of time, this is sure as fuck not one of them.

Second … Robbe goes from shoving Sander and calling him horrible things and trying to fuck Noor, to professing his love for Sander, WITHIN DAYS? And this is the character who’s supposed to have a big coming out arc? What is nuance, what is good writing, what is a coherent idea of this character’s struggles with his sexuality and himself... The talk with Milan might convince Robbe to accept his feelings, but it would make way more sense if Robbe was more tentative about them. He doesn’t need to come out swinging the big epic declarations in order to accept his romantic interest in Sander.

Like this isn’t even based on what I personally think is believable for a romance, this is based on what wtFOCK has told me about this character! They made the choice to make him say more viciously homophobic things. They made the choice to have him go back to Noor and try to have sex with her for the millionth time.

I’m glad that Sander doesn’t buy the confession at first, at least. 

Robbe says that he was really fucked up and hat Sander is the first dude. There is a cute moment where he’s like “that kiss (mimes fireworks)” but then things went Chernobyl. Would have been great if we saw exactly what made him go Chernobyl and make him regret the kiss. He says he’s sorry but asks for one more chance.

Sander steps in, leans in for a kiss. “What about Chernobyl?” “Fuck Chernobyl.” They kiss, it’s really sweet, but lol they’re kissing in public??? Robbe is ok with this?? I just have abso-fucking-lutely no idea where this kid’s head is. Like ... how is he so cool with this considering where he was just days ago? Apparently Robbe’s internalized homophobia was so extreme that he was all “get away from me f*g” toward Sander with no clear catalyst, but also not so extreme that it couldn’t be fixed with a pep talk from Milan? Okay!

This scene would have been totally fine if Robbe’s mistake was less cruel and amounted to blocking Sander or telling him to stay away or w/e. It doesn’t feel satisfying for what Robbe actually did say.

Also, sigh, because Sander did forgive Robbe just like that, and I don’t buy it. I mean, if anything, it makes me sad for Sander. I want to tell him that he deserves better. I suppose I can buy this as part of his fear that no one will ever love him, that he’s desperate to be accepted and loved and so is quick to forgive.

It would have made more sense for Robbe to have a longer period of self-reflection, have him come out to his friends, etc. and then reunite with Sander an episode or so later, similar to how Isak and Even reunited at the end of episode 7. Or to have Sander take some time before letting Robbe talk to him, during which Robbe works on his own issues.

Sander gets a call from Britt, which he ignores, saying Britt’s the past, he and Robbe are the future (as the song lyrics talk about the future and the past … they’re going pretty on the nose this season. Fine by me, OG was also on the nose.) Lmao but Robbe has no right to be upset about Britt after he explicitly told Sander to stay away. I mean, it’s dubious of Sander to keep dating her after cheating, but he also thought Robbe was no longer an option sooo don’t be surprised Sander is still with her, dude.

Sander goes to meet Britt, but not before some make outs, some handholding. I think their chemistry is good! It’s just that I don’t really buy the depth of this relationship. It legit makes me sad that these actors are getting served this half-assed material. 

Clip 9 - Zoë gets a letter

Robbe goes home and gets a text from Sander, with a sketch of them, saying their kiss was Chernobyl. Well, that’s cute.

Milan is telling Zoë about seeing some straight-looking dude on the bus who melted when Milan looked at him. Robbe is in a good mood and is gonna do the cooking. Milan observes that he’s happy and asks if things went well with his (Robbe looks toward Zoë) “lovely girlfriend”. At least Milan covered for him! (EDIT from the future: Ahahaha, funny considering how casually people out Robbe this season...) 

Robbe hands Zoë some mail that turns out to do with Viktor, the apparent Nikolai in this version, about the case going to court. She has to testify. She is upset and walks out of the kitchen.

I complained a bit about Zoë/Senne drama taking up time in Robbe’s season, but to be clear, I have no problem with them following up on this plot point from S2. It’s a hugely important story. But I also think it works best if you integrate it into Robbe’s story, by drawing a parallel to their situations, finding a common theme, etc. And it depends on whether Robbe’s story is otherwise satisfactory, because if the writing is pretty tight, I’m not really bothered by digressions in other characters’ subplots. 

Clip 10 - Robbe and Sander get cozy

Oh hey, it’s the big cuddling clip! Robbe and Sander goof off, pillow fight, smoke a joint, make out. Mostly make out. Sander shows Robbe a sketch of him (Robbe) and implies how good it would look on a wall (big). 

Robbe’s fave actor is Leonardo DiCaprio, because hasn’t Sander seen Romeo + Juliet? It’s fucking beautiful.

Man, on the one hand, sick Skam reference, and it’s just a simple, cute little nod to OG, not something complicated. I can dig that. But on the other hand, now I’m annoyed at how Isak got all of this beautiful development and watching R+J actually meant something for his character, and Robbe has absolutely nothing like that. Stuff like the fact it’s Robbe who likes R+J instead of Sander, WHICH IS FINE, but like … doesn’t say anything about Robbe’s view on masculinity or w/e, doesn’t do much for his characterization.

Sander takes pics of Robbe. Their chemistry is cute. Once again I despair at gifted actors being given subpar material leading up to this clip.

LMAO at them copying the dialogue from OG, Sander being all life is like a movie. Again, irrationally annoyed because this dialogue MEANT something to Even. Even was a huge film buff and an aspiring director. Sander hasn’t mentioned movies at all, he’s into art and David Bowie and photography. So why not have Sander quote some Bowie lyrics that explain his thoughts on life? Mention what art means to him? Personalize this dialogue so that it’s specific to Sander. Or, if you’re going to borrow this chunk of dialogue, at least establish Sander as a film enthusiast prior to this clip.

Also that Isak brought up the multiverse theory because he was smart and inquisitive, but I have no idea who the fuck Robbe is. Does this make sense with Robbe’s prior characterization? Shrug.

I do like the multiverse reference to Spider-Man because HELL YEAH Into the Spider-Verse!!! Fucking masterpiece! I could be watching that for the 20th time instead of the upcoming gay-bashing hate crime.

I do like Sander’s acting in this scene and his reaction, how the music (“Ocean Eyes”) stops when Sander starts talking about multiverse theory. His dialogue is a little different here than OG, about thinking about what he’s done and wondering why he thinks something, his thoughts never stop, which fits in with bipolar disorder.

Robbe notices he’s a little agitated, Sander says the only way to stop your thoughts is from dying. So I guess we’re putting in the suicidal thoughts in this version?

“Sometimes I forget how young you are.” Are they the same age in this version? Lmao. It’s a joke so it’s not a big deal.

Robbe starts kissing him and asks when Sander fell for him. Sander is like, before you! When Robbe was spraying the graffiti he knew Robbe was the one. Robbe is like … you were there??

I mean. this is cute and all, but doesn’t it kinda take away from later events, if Sander goes back to Britt, then like … knowing Sander has been Pining All Along should create way less doubt in Robbe’s mind? When Even went back to Sonja, there was room for actual doubt in Isak’s mind (and the audience’s) about the sincerity of Even’s feelings. I think people forgot that the “I saw you the first day of school” moment at the end of the season was a surprise. I was in the fandom and I don’t think a lot of people thought Even had fallen for Isak that early. So Robbe now knows that Sander fell for him well before they even talked, doesn’t that remove some of the tension about Sander’s motives? I suppose it depends on how the story goes from here, but if it’s similar to OG, then I think it slightly lessens the ambiguity and tension.

Also, another reason why it would have been good to actually see the graffiti scene play out in episode 1… and to see what Robbe tagged on the wall … come on. COME ONNNN. Let’s see what got Sander’s attention! Did Robbe create something funny or clever or insightful? Wouldn’t that have been a great detail to show their connection? This is basic storytelling, hello? 

I guess if I’m being fair, we don’t know exactly what Even saw in Isak that first day of school, either. But then again, we didn’t see the first day of school in a clip, while we definitely saw the graffiti scene. Just a missed opportunity, IMO.

They kiss and Sander gets a text from Britt. According to Sander, he told Britt about him and Robbe, but she doesn’t believe him, which is what I assumed of Sonja too, btw. At least, that’s what I thought at Emma’s party where she initiated the kiss with Even. Sander says Britt is so controlling. Robbe seems uncertain.

Sander says there’s probably another universe where Sander is still with Britt, but he’s glad to be in this universe. I do like this part.

Clip 11 - Milan schools Robbe on Pride

Robbe’s alarm goes off in the morning. He smiles a bit, though, presumably because he’s got Sander in his life. He gets a good morning text from Sander, which is cute and makes him smile more. Goes into the bathroom and Milan is there. Sander texts Robbe that he’s been thinking about him in all universes, Robbe is happy.

Milan is like, when can I meet your boyfriend??? Robbe says soon. Awww, this interaction is pretty sweet. Milan is like, welcome to the club! You know, “our” club meaning dudes who like dudes.

Robbe is like, just because I’m with Sander doesn’t mean I belong to some club, I’m not like you. Milan is like … and how am I? Robbe gives the usual Isak-ish response of dressing up and talking about BJs, Milan gets upset. Robbe says there’s nothing wrong with being gay but when people think of being gay, they think of that and it’s not fair to those who aren’t like that. Robbe’s not going to put on leather pants and dance at pride just because he likes Sander!

Milan gets very upset and goes into the Pride speech. I always appreciate this scene and I’m grateful that it’s one thing the remakes don’t really fuck with, since it’s so important (I think the remakes all recognize that it’s amazing, heh). 

Senne wanting to use the bathroom is kind of a jarring thing, they should’ve just let the moment sink in.

Robbe takes a Good Hard Look at himself in the mirror which is on the nose but like, better than nothing. I think there was a mirror earlier in the season? I confess that I’m so hung up on the basic writing fumbles that I might be missing stuff that’s actually supposed to be symbolic.

Anyway, all things considered, I think they did fine with this clip. Robbe coming out to Milan earlier in the episode did help pave the way for this talk since they didn’t have the close relationship as Isak and Eskild. Like, any issues I might have with it are related to the bigger issues in the season, but on its own, I felt like it was decent, and the “welcome to the club” comment is something I can believe Milan would say and something that would make Robbe reply with a boneheaded comment.

Clip 12 - This fucking scene

Robbe and Sander flirt in a bar and get touchy-feely with each other. For some baffling choice, we start with some rap/hip-hop song and then it cuts to “Two Men In Love” by The Irrepressibles … like … you could just start the clip with that song instead of this weird non-transition?

They kiss and then move outside the bar and then kiss and cuddle some more (again … I ask, where did Robbe’s boldness with gay PDA come from ...) Robbe jumps on Sander for a piggyback ride. They kiss passionately in the street.

Ahahahahahahahahah HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAA FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Some homophobes spot them and call them slurs. Robbe and Sander try to grab their bikes and quickly leave. The bigots manage to grab them and beat the shit out of them. It’s really brutal, like we get POV shots from the ground as the guys kick them. The guys call them f****ts once more before leaving Robbe and Sander crumpled on the ground in the fetal position. The wheels on the bike go round and round.

I mean … where do you even start.

OK, I’ll start here: worst decision made in a Skam S3 remake yet.

“Yeah, Skam season 3 was a masterpiece and all, but you know what I could have used more of? Violent gay-bashing,” said no one ever.

I don’t get triggered by media, not really, but boy am I glad I was spoiled for this. Because I do get fucking angry at media. And I’m angry now, but if I was watching this unspoiled? Man, I would’ve popped a couple of blood vessels. And I feel so, so sorry for people who watched this unprepared and were triggered. Because yeah, it is a remake and not 100% like the original, you can’t predict everything that will happen. But this isn’t something that you expect in S3, because you expect the writers to know enough to leave this shit out. This isn’t made with kind intentions for the audience, it’s made for shock value.

Consider that the WHOLE POINT of this very, very short clip is the hate crime, btw. It’s like two minutes long! They dropped a clip just for a cute kissing montage and then to interrupt it with a brutal beating! Something about that makes it even more repugnant than if it were like … a long involved scene about something else, and this happened. IDK, something about it feels even more tasteless, like this beating is their cinematic setpiece.

The first-person POV of the beating = not necessary. Like of ALL the fucking times in your season to actually give a shit about the importance of POV, lmao. This isn’t a video game. I’m not shooting zombies or getting jumped by bandits.

Remember when Skam faded to black on Noora’s blackout? And cut away from Even walking naked out of the hotel? Yeah, there are plot and POV reasons for those, but they were also ways to respect the audience and not include pointlessly triggering, exploitative material. 

There’s just so much to say about this bad choice that I’m at a loss. Why did we need to go here? In particular, why did we need to go here knowing how the rest of the season plays out? Because for me, that’s what clinches this as a terrible decision. This isn’t a shitty scene with a satisfying follow-up. The resolution - or non-resolution, as it turns out - of this plot development is what exposes wtFOCK’s true character.

There is an AMAZING Evak vid set to Two Men In Love and I recommend you watch it to get the bad taste out of your mouth from this scene.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Sigh.

This is just textbook bad writing for coming out stories, not to mention packed full of tired cliches.

Closeted gay guy is violently homophobic (Robbe calls his love interest homophobic slurs and accuses him of being a pervert) - I’m sorry but I am so tired of the “dating your bully” trope and this is what it fell into for me. Why should Sander take back Robbe after that? After Sander told Robbe he was afraid no one would ever love him? 

Gay-bashing For The Drama, to make sure you know homophobia is bad, really bad.

Overemphasis on the heterosexual love interest (“love interest”) and how it’s hurtful to her, like I get that it’s a delicate topic with not demonizing her, but I always feel like there is SO much interest on straight characters in these stories! It’s not about them!

The hate crime has to go. Really. What is even the POINT of it in this particular story? As if there wasn’t enough angst in S3? Especially if you consider: they wasted a few episodes on repetitive nonsense. Their pacing is fucked up. And now you have to insert this monumentally offensive storyline and its fallout into a season already full of problems? Next.

Okay, I will offer ONE way to incorporate the hate crime, and that is simple: Make the rest of the season about the fallout. Similar to Noora’s season with her assault, dive deep into the trauma, spend a few episodes with Robbe and Sander recovering, telling their friends about it, going to the police about it. Cut back on other drama from S3. Don’t fuck around with Sander going back to Britt, unless you tie it in directly to him being afraid to date a guy after the hate crime. Don’t fuck around with Noor outing Robbe considering he has enough shit on his plate. If you want to bring her back, make her support him through the trauma. Honestly? Don’t fuck around with the hotel incident. Like I truly hate to lose Sander’s mental illness as a vital part of the season, but adding a full-blown manic episode on top of gay-bashing is way too much misery porn. I think you could probably show how the hate crime and resulting trauma affect Sander’s mental state without pushing it into full-blown wandering the streets naked while manic. 

Do I particularly like this plot? I mean, no, not compared to the original, and I feel like this is better off as its own thing rather than a S3 adaptation. But at the very least, I can see the attempt to take the hate crime seriously. You cannot just throw in this type of scenario to shake things up and leave it at that. This show is specifically made for teenagers, to take their struggles seriously and to give them positive examples of how to handle problems. If you prioritize the violent act itself because it’s dramatic and shocking, rather than the recovery (because that’s like, boring and uninteresting, amirite), then you’ve shown your ass. You don’t understand the purpose or the appeal of Skam in the first place.

Jumping ahead, I think this is exactly where wtFOCK exposes its true intentions. wtFOCK does not care about helping vulnerable teenagers find solutions to tough problems. wtFOCK does not care about healing or educating. wtFOCK is about shaking the audience so hard that viewers get whiplash. If wtFOCK gave a shit about helping the audience, the rest of the season would focus on Robbe and Sander dealing with the assault, giving them options to report it, showing them ways to cope with the trauma. Things that might help audience members who unfortunately also found themselves victims of hate crimes or homophobic violence. Those are not present in the rest of the season. It’s just a fucking soap opera. 

If you MUST have a homophobic incident to go with your dark ‘n’ edgy season, you can still limit it to some assholes yelling homophobic slurs without resorting to violence. That’s bad enough, and it did happen to Isak and Even later in the series. Even if you decide you MUST have a violent angle to this incident for whatever reason, I don’t fucking know why but OK, you don’t need to film it in this super exploitative manner where our heroes are getting viciously beaten on the ground. But there are so many ways to incorporate external homophobia without this shit.

Wouldn’t this dreadful scene make more sense at least if it had happened after the pool kiss? Like they go out a few days later, the hate crime happens, and then THAT’s why Robbe pushes away Sander and calls him names? Because now he’s afraid and he’s internalized what the bigots said? It’s tragic and gross, but at least there’s some character-driven logic in that sequence of events.

Another thing that really doesn’t work is that they’re straying so far from the original script, but at the same time they keep jamming in scenes from the original, except there isn’t the same buildup. Or any buildup, sometimes. This results in an incoherent mess of a season and of a POV character, where Robbe is part-Robbe, part-Isak.

I think all the remakes do this to a degree: there are certain beats they feel they must hit, and they hit them even though they’re off course. You need to commit either to doing a mostly faithful adaptation of the original, or to doing a remake with your own spin on the characters, but you need to be very, very careful not to just haplessly mix ‘n’ match the two. Does a scene from OG make sense within this remake universe? No? Then drop it, rewrite it, do what you need to do, just don’t carelessly recreate it if it doesn’t fit.

The way they’re writing Jens is bizarre because he seems to care enough about Robbe to ask him how he’s doing, but also not care enough to stick around and listen once the next shiny thing comes along. From the beginning they’ve set up the friendship tension with the boy squad as not just Robbe’s fault, but as a failure of his friends to pay attention as well. Like in the first episode Robbe is trying to talk to them and they just ditch him! They really need to make Jens more aware of how he himself has messed up with his friend, and not act like this is all Robbe’s doing.

We don’t need another Noor blue balls scene, thank you, bye. But if we keep this one, then we absolutely needed to see what exactly made Robbe stop in the act of sex with her, such as him flashing back to his kiss with Sander. Or even just letting us see him make the decision, because goddamn, what’s with wtFOCK not letting this young actor actually act out some of the meatiest material?

Overall, give Robbe more baby steps in his personal development, and not unbelievable leaps and changes in his behavior because the plot demands them.

I did try to think of a way to incorporate much of the same material from this week, including a hate crime, in a way that made more sense and was not ridiculously OTT or offensive. It’s hard because I really think you need to go back to the beginning of the season, but here’s what I came up with, borrowing some elements from the last episode as well.

Robbe wakes up the night after kissing Sander. He’s happy and glowing, he sees a cute text from Sander and smiles. Then he goes to the kitchen and Milan is there with a black eye or something, he’s talking to Zoë and Senne, maybe they’re tending to his injuries. Robbe asks what happened. Milan had a date last night and some homophobes started giving them a hard time, Milan wasn’t having it, punches were thrown. Milan is very shaken and upset. So is Robbe, who panics. Is this what he has to look forward to if he’s dating a gay? Will people harass him just for being out with his boyfriend? The implications of what it means to be a gay person in this world hit him really hard. He looks at Sander’s text again and ignores him and possibly blocks him. At some point we will establish that Robbe is also ignoring texts/calls from everyone else, too: Noor, Jens, his mom...

Sander shows up the next day outside Robbe’s place after Robbe has been ignoring him. He tries to talk to Robbe, but Robbe is freaked out and visibly nervous, his eyes darting around - he’s paranoid now about being seen with Sander, due to Milan’s incident. He’s worried about being a target for homophobic violence, understandably so. Sander doesn’t realize that Robbe’s frightened, however, and keeps talking and being nice. Robbe tries to play off the other night as just him being drunk, it was a mistake. When Sander physically gets too close to Robbe, Robbe yells that he’s not gay and runs inside, leaving Sander alone.

Robbe encounters Milan at home alone. Milan is still bruised from the homophobic incident. Milan is unusually subdued. Robbe says he’s sorry for what happened to Milan, it’s terrible. Robbe then sticks his foot in his mouth by saying something well-intentioned but hurtful and ignorant about how maybe Milan shouldn’t be so gay in public or w/e, since that will just attract homophobes, and that not all gay people act like Milan (meaning flamboyant, etc.) Milan gets really, really upset and snaps at Robbe about how gay people have been beaten and killed for just being who they are - basically a version of the Pride speech with a somewhat different context - and that it takes bravery and strength, Robbe doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. So that ends on a bad note for them.

Now trying to get out of the house since he’s fought with Milan, Robbe meets up with Jens, or maybe Jens finds him at the park or whatever. Jens comments on how it’s been a while since they’ve talked. Robbe says he was just worried about what the guys would say since he blew up at them previously. Jens is like, dude, we’re your friends. You have to talk to the people who care about you, you can’t just ghost them and avoid facing your problems. Robbe takes this advice to heart. Jens tells Robbe that he’s ready to listen when Robbe wants to talk.  Maybe Robbe sees something that reminds him of Sander, like graffiti on a building, and despite his fears, we can see that he really misses Sander, and that his feelings for Sander are stronger than his fears.

Next he meets up with Noor. She’s really upset that he’s been ignoring her. He apologizes and a version of the breakup scene goes down. When Robbe leaves, we see him walk away with a conflicted expression. Sorry that he’s hurt Noor, but understanding that this was the right call, and relief that he doesn’t have to pretend any more. 

Robbe sees Milan again and apologizes for what he said last time. Milan accepts his apology. Robbe admits that he’s been confused lately because he likes a guy and he doesn’t know what that makes him. Milan says something like that’s great Robbe likes a guy and that Robbe doesn’t need to label himself right now, he should just follow his heart. Maybe that liking boys is scary (Milan points to his black eye) and sometimes you need to be careful, but at the end of the day, Milan has to be himself and live his life honestly, and so does Robbe. After Milan leaves, Robbe takes out his phone and texts Sander saying he wants to talk.

Sander meets Robbe somewhere and Robbe apologizes for ignoring him, says he freaked out because that was the first time he kissed a guy, but now he’s made up his mind that he wants to be with Sander. They kiss and make up, yayyyyy.

This is by no means a perfect solution (like the thought of then going into the shit with Britt next episode on top of this makes my head hurt), this is just an attempt to include stuff like homophobic violence, Robbe’s ghosting Sander, scenes with Jens and Noor, etc. in a way that makes a little more linear sense to me and doesn’t feel as haphazard, and isn’t super triggering or exploitative. I think if you have a hate crime happening to Robbe himself, that really needs to be the main focus from here on out, for at least a few episodes; if you have something off-screen happening to another character, you can address the topic of violent homophobia without having it dominate the season or featuring triggering scenes. And hopefully it would still have some emotional impact, because we see how it affects Milan, and some clear consequences for character development, because we see how it affects Robbe, as the situation he may find himself in one day.

If I missed anything, cultural notes, translation nuances, let me know!

[jojoreadwhat]

nothing else will do, all I want is you this christmas. | j.m. x fem!reader

a/n; hi. so you probably seen the post where I explained I deleted my last piece for Joe. I was not happy with it and I had another idea just floating in my head. this I think is my fav yet, so I hope you enjoy! I also re-tagged everyone from the last post, hope that’s cool! you’re the best!

prompt; joe can’t make it home for Christmas.

words; 1.7k

mentions; lucy boynton, ben hardy, gwilym lee & rami malek. (this is set around borhap’s production)

this tale includes lots of fluff which may lead to a lot laughs and a bunch of sweet kisses.

inspiration;

You were heartbroken by the news of Joe not being able to come home for Christmas. This was going to be your first, elaborate holiday spent apart across the pond.

“I’m sorry, y/n.” Joe repeated for the fourth time in the last 30 minutes through the blue screen of your laptop during a somber video chat.

Joe has been working on a major project, Bohemian Rhapsody, in London while you were back home in New York. This was Joe’s biggest part yet and it was supposed to stop, momentarily, for a lengthy week of rest for the cast. Unfortunately they have a deadline to catch up to and can’t halt the production.

Smiling soft and shaking your head. “It’s not your fault. We’ll celebrate it once you get back!” Trying to change the mood of things, Joe smirked briefly before his eyes trailed off the screen.

You felt so bad, in the way that technology advanced in today’s world, you were wishing you could reach through the screen and hug him, hug all of his sadness away and kiss the straightness of his lips till it giggled against your lips, curling up. Telling him it was going to be okay. Nothing made you more upset then seeing your boyfriend, blaming himself for something that was out of his hands.

“Joey?” Watching his eyes look up at the sound of your voice. Breaking the silence, “Hm.” meeting the lens like he was looking into yours with all of his attention. “Please don’t beat yourself up for it, it’s okay.”

It wasn’t, not for him anyways.

Joe and you have been together for a little over a year. You met through mutual friends at a party and hit it off instantly. He wasn’t expecting you to come in his life. Joe had his fair share of relationships and flings to keep him steady, he was ready to settle the bat down after a shit game on the field of love. But he met you right before he benched himself. You’ve become his best friend, his confidant, his lover and all good things between or beyond since. He was lucky to have stumbled upon your path, grateful even. It was time like these that made him question if he deserved you.

In the many years of his acting career, this current film was the most challenging he’s ever experienced. The longest he’s ever been away from home too. It was worse taking up jobs like this knowing he had someone to come home. He doesn’t know how you’ve stayed this long. He swore the first time that he spent away from you, would be the last he’d ever see you. He would’ve understood you leaving too. You stayed though, he never understood that by a long shot but you did and he wanted nothing more than to be back home with you.

Falling into another silence, you spoke up again. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

“How you do it.” He remarked, gingerly. His chin resting on hands, peering back at you. You raised your brow in confusion, wondering where this was going. “Do what?” Your naivety getting the best of you.

He smirked at your dumbfounded expression, you really had no idea what you meant to him.

“Stay.” He said, feeling your lips turn up into a smirk you couldn’t put a stop to even if you wanted to.

Sometimes you really thought you weren’t good enough in the ways that Joe was good to you. You couldn’t begin on how much he meant to you. How important and how amazing he was to you. You had your share of boyfriends using your heart as a welcome mat. When Joe came into your life it was like nobody could ever show you greater if anything wrong were to happen to your relationship. He was your beacon of light, the most kind, most affection, fun and generous soul you ever had the honor of having in your life. To call yours, for hopefully forever if he’d have you. You couldn’t walk away from him.

You smiled, brightly at the fluffy red hair with a funny, but adorable perm right now and his hazel eyes gazing back at you. “Because,” you began. “I love you.” watching his cheeks grow a deep shade of pink as he wasn’t used to hearing that.

Soon after, Joe and you bid your goodbyes before closing down your laptop. You sighed to yourself, dimly. Your eyes following the glistening, warm Christmas lights scattered against walls in the living room up until you focused on tree. Covered in odd ornaments, admiring it. You wished you could bring Christmas to him.

That’s when it hit you, what if you could? Joe couldn’t fly out but nothing was stopping you from flying out to him! You were overjoyed by the idea, checking your calendar and immediately texting the best person you know would be down to help.

Lucy Goosy: Are you up??? I just had the best idea!!

+

Lucy was over the moon by your idea of coming to London to bring Christmas cheer to Joe. She was also so excited to have another female around on set for the next week to be honest.

You two had met earlier on in the year before Bohemian Rhapsody began to be filmed. It was a little get together between the cast and crew, you two hit it off well and absolutely adored each other. She would help you out sometimes on keeping a good eye on Joe and his well being. She was always rooted for Joe and you, she knew first hand how much you meant to him.

When you landed on english soil on Christmas Eve. Lucy had her driver pick you up at the airport. You sat in the back of the black SUV, your nerves shot and all over the place, anxious and excited all in one over what today was going to be like. You hadn’t seen him, physically, in months and you couldn’t wait much longer, it was driving you mad not seeing that goofy smile and those hazel eyes for so long.

You texted Lucy when you had arrived outside of the place where her and the boys were filming.

She had everything figured out, even jobs for the boys. Lucy was going to do everything in her willpower to make sure this goes perfect as planned.

Still waiting for the go to exit the SUV, Lucy opened the door.

“Y/N!” Lucy shouted, excited as you shared the same enthusiasm, leaping into her arms. “It’s so great to see you!”

Gwilym was standing behind her, I shot him a smile before I pulled away and gave him a hug too.

Lucy placed my hands into hers, “Okay, so Rami and Ben have Joe out and about for lunch.” Smiling big, “We have an hour!”

We came up with the idea of decorating Joe’s trailer. “Okay! Let’s get rolling!”

+

Gwil, Lucy and you all hurried with bags full of twinkle lights and frilly decor to Joe’s trailer. Gwilym being the tall chap that he is, helped with hanging garlands and lights from the walls and draping from the ceiling. Lucy and you fluffed out a tree she had found from somewhere, cluttering it with lights and ornaments.

You were hooking a few ornaments, cute little Yankees ones too. “Lu, these are so cute!” Holding up one to her, she flashed a smile. “I heard wedding bells when I seen them!” Winking at you, “I believe I saw him looking at rings on his phone!” And your cheeks grew rosy as you placed the ornament onto the tree.

Time had passed and you had finished up with ten minutes to spare.

Gwilym was adding extra bows to empty areas and Lucy was adding an extra “dazzle” she quoted, with some candles.

We all stood in the main room at the glistening lights “It’s so cute!!” You cried, wrapping your arms around their middles and pulling them to your sides, gleefully. “Seriously couldn’t have done it without you guys,” leaning your head onto Lucy’s shoulder. “I owe you all lunch before I go!”

Gwilym chuckled, “No need! Just get our boy to cheer up, will ya?” You smiled, toothlessly. Nodding, “Absolutely.”

Lucy’s phone dinged, “Alright, they’re on their way back!” They scurried around quickly, grabbing trash and what nots before hugging you, “He’ll be here right after he gets in to change.” Gwilym announced, “hang tight!”

+

You sat on Joe’s sofa with a smile plastered to your face, in awe about the way the place came out. You were overwhelmed wanting to see his face.

Shortly you heard muffled sounds outside, you immediately went into action. Turning out the light switch and standing in place.

Your heart grew faster at how close you heard Joe’s sweet voice getting to the trailer.

“Hold on, I’ve gotta change back into my costume.” He yelled outside the door, hearing the door knob move.

You stayed carefully still, afraid he’d make out your shadow. “I thought I left the lamp on?” Muttering to him once he entered the room, hearing his feet shuffle across the floor as he reached for the light switch.

“Oh my god!” Joe nearly screeched at the sight and then when he seen you, he gasped “Y/N!” Beaming at the sight of his excitement taking over him.

He almost knocked you over with how fast he hurried to you, engulfing you into the warmest hug that you felt in ages. “Oh my god, you’re here!” Feeling his words in your hair, his hands roaming you like he was making sure you were really here.

“When did you get in?” His mouth was running for miles, How did you do all of this?!” He finished, then. Pulling away to go look around him at all the decorations, overwhelmed by everything.

You stood by, adoring him as he admired everything. “I had a little help, thanks to Lucy and the boys.”

He gasped, “they knew you were coming this whole time?!” Giggling as he watching him talk with his hands, one landing to his chest. “Come here,” waving his hand over towards you.

Wrapping your arms around his waist, he brought his hands to your cheeks. Tilting your head up towards his. “What did I do to deserve you?”

You didn’t know how to answer his question, but you knew he needed to be happy in the same way he made you feel.

Moving your hands to his dark red fluffy locks, simply smiling as you brought his lips to yours before pulling away to look at his eyes, the hazel ones you called home and loved with your all.

“Merry Christmas, Joe.”

Taglist - @myfatbottomedgirls @fairestkillerqueenofall @stephydearestxo @merryjolie @deacyblues @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark @bethanyann64 @fallingoutofthe1975 @plentyoffandoms @ask-mr-baldis-class @miss-artemis-wild @candiesandcherries @rocknrollqueenie @stormyparker @pastelhybristophiliac @briarrose26 @justapurrcat @theyreallidiots @standing-onthe-edge @escabell @heykarsyn @xinning19760326 @sheerhotspace @ca0s-artistic0 @augustturtle @strangemaximoff @richardhammondappreciationblog @coincidence-ithinknots-blog @kaleighmc

[canumoveurseatup-no]

Shadow and Shade Casting List (Part 2)

HAPPY 800 FOLLOWES BTW!!! Here is part 2 of the casting list! This part will contain more of the sons. Next part will contain her siblings. Everyone in the cast is 18+ !!! I should have just added Elpis to part 1 but I wasn’t thinking.

ANYWAY! Enjoy and let me know what ya think!

———

Amber Riley as Elpis, Goddess of Hope:

Daughter of Nyx.

Abilities:

-control over hope and expectation

-can temporarily project her consciousness to locations where hope is especially strong

-can blind opponents with hope which falters their attacks

Home: Pandora’s Box, sometimes goes to Tartarus to spend time with her family

Personality/Traits: If anyone is an optimist through and through it’s her! Elpis is very uplifting and inspirational. She’s a natural-born leader and always tries to be the boss when her siblings fight and you’re away taking care of business. She’s such a motivational speaker and highly driven. She does not give up easily.

Quote: “I, Elpis, the Spirit of Hope, would not abandon humanity. Hope does not leave without being given permission. I can only be released by a child of man,”

———-

Tyler James Williams as Aether, God of Light:

Son of Nyx. He rules over light and the upper skies. A Protogenoi

Abilities:

-Unparalleled Aerokinesis: air/wind manipulation and pure air generation.

-Advanced Psychokinesis: flight, teleportation, and telekinesis

-Nephelokinesis: can control and create clouds

-Atmokinesis: can control the weather conditions

-Photokinesis: absolute control over light

Home: Tartarus during the night. Up in the clouds with Hemera during the day.

Personality/Traits: Believe it or not, for a God with a big responsibility, he is childish! He can be a bit obnoxious but loves having a good time. He has a bubbly personality just like Hemera, they might as well be twins tbh. He’s really sweet and tries to brighten everyone’s day, literally.

Quote: “I am Aether. The light and air God, who can in fact, be a true air head”

——-

Cameron Boyce as Moros, God of Doom:

Son of Nyx. His twin sister is Akhyls.

Abilities:

-can project an illusion of one’s possible doom

-can bestow false doom on someone (making them run into minor/weird accidents)

-can induce feelings of depression and/or pessimism

-becomes stronger in the presence of depression, pessimism, and gloomy people

-able to see when someone’s doom is near

Home: Tartarus

Personality/Traits: He becomes really excited when in the presence of people who are gloomy or depressed. He loves playing with people’s minds and enjoys causing fear. He loves dark things and while his siblings often have a splash of some sort of color in their room he does NOT. He loves his stuff black and dark. He is an absolute sadist, whether it be with actual sex or just causing people mental and psychological pain.

Quote: “Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it”

———

Kyle Forde as Hypnos, God of Sleep:

Son of Nyx. Twin brother to Thanatos.

Abilities:

-Somnokinesis: the ability to manipulate and control sleep functions of one’s self or others (astral projection, dream manipulation, nightmare manipulation, ability to cause one to not be able to sleep, subconscious manipulation, sleep inducement etc)

-Memory Erasure

-Flight

-Shapeshifting

-Hypnosis

Home: Tartarus

Personality/Traits: He’s not a villain or immoral but he is irresponsible af. If you’re looking for him you will most likely catch him sleeping! And boy is he lazy as well as cowardly.

Quote: “Dreams are as simple or as complicated as the dreamer”

————

Brandon Mychal Smith as Momus, God of Satire, Blame and Mockery:

Son of Nyx.

Abilities:

-able to create a field of energy around one to make them feel an incredible amount of guilt, embarrassment and self-pity.

-can ridicule his opponent so bad it lowers their battling skills

-can mock his opponent attacks and alter it against their will.

-enpowered when someone around him is mocked or ridiculed

-can induce laughter in others

Home: mainly roams on Earth but sometimes Tartarus

Personalitys/Traits: Momus whines A LOT! He’s really funny though, like he can barely go a minute without cracking a joke or mocking someone. Always blaming other people but never takes the blame for himself

Quote: “Fools are my theme. Let satire be my song”

———

Lance Gross as Geras, God of Old Age:

Son of Nyx. Such a mama’s boy tbh

Abilities:

-Senescence: power to accelerate a persons age

-can age an opponent, slowing them down

-can curse one with senility for time

Home: Tartarus

Personality/Traits: He’s usually really serious and isn’t too fond of mortals. He likes to stay to himself. He hates Momus’ mockery and doesn’t find things funny really.

Quote: “I am darker still! I dim the eyes and addle the brain. Every mortal fears old age!”

———

Brian J. White as Thanatos, God of Peaceful Death:

Son of Nyx. Keres’ opposite. Twin brother to Hypnos.

FUN FACT!: Thanatology, the scientific study of death, was named after him, as well as Thanatophobia, the fear of death.

Abilities:

-Necromancy: has absolute control over death and the dead (can call the souls of the deceased forward to aide them)

-Can kill someone with just a touch

-Doors of Death Control: can easily pass between the world of the living and the dead. (He refers to the “Doors of Death” as “The Doors of Me”

-Flight: with his huge dark wings he can quickly glide through the air, this in turn helps him capture escaped souls.

-Invisibility: he uses this so he doesn’t have to reap souls directly, instead he does so invisible.

-Can drain the life-force of his opponent, making them weaker and slower

-can see anyone’s lifespan but is forbidden to share that with the person.

-Shadow Travel: anywhere that is dark (such as shadows) he can easily and quickly travel through them.

-Soul Splitting: can split his soul to make more than one of him

Home: the Underworld

Personality/Traits: Thanatos is obviously undiscriminating. He is quite morbid even though he is the God of Peaceful Death. He favors the idea of omnicide (human extinction, which plays a big role in the story obviously) He shares a mutual hate for the other Gods and Goddesses as well as mortals. He doesn’t like spending time with his family. He likes all things quiet and peaceful believe it or not. As the God of Death, he hates the idea of people losing their lives violently, which is why he absolutely despises his sister Keres.

Quote: “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at anytime.”

———

SHADOW AND SHADE PART 2 WILL BE POSTED ONCE PART 3 OF THE CAST IS POSTED!!!

Hope y’all like it!! Let me know what you think!!

Tags: @sideeffectsofyou @chonisberonica @majikmelanin @vozit @mirajanestrauss1999 @scarletlingeries @babybubastis @whothehellisbinky @amandahq @jillilama-blog @motivation-idontknowher @anise-d-castle6 @just-a-littlebit-of-everything @adreamemporium @ssaaraw @a-lumos-in-the-nox @blackreaders-assemble @mbaku-babygirl @unstable1902 @winksasleeplesseye @hold-me-like-a-heart-beat @cutiepiemimi13 @celishaa-xx

[sage-nebula]

I love myself. I love being myself. And I would not want to be anyone else.

It’s taken me so long to be able to say those first two things, and sometimes I still struggle, but for the most part it’s true. And I’m still discovering new things about myself all the time. It’s weird, because some things I took forever to discover about myself were things that took forever to discover about myself because I didn’t have access to the resources to help me. Like I didn’t realize that I was asexual until I was twenty-one and stumbled across a Wikipedia article about asexuality. I didn’t realize that I had fallen in love with my best friend until I was pretty much in college, which is ridiculous to me considering I look back on how I only went to our senior prom because I was jealous over the idea of her going to said romantic dance with a mutual friend of ours. They were only going as friends, but I felt strong jealously, like, “She should be going to that dance with me” and somehow did not put two-and-two together that being jealous that another girl was going to a romantic dance with someone else was a very not straight way to feel. (For the record, I was a third wheel basically the entire night even though we were supposed to be a big friend trio and it was no one’s fault but my own. I regret it, but I don’t blame my past self because I was a teenager and, as a teenager, I was well within my rights to do stupid things. It was part of the learning and growing process, and thus there’s no need to shame my past self over it. I’m still astounded that I didn’t realize how very not straight I was at that moment, but still.)

One of the recent things I discovered about myself at nearly twenty-nine is the fact that my preferred fashion style---my fashion style---is, and always has been, pretty grunge. I’ve answered meme questions on here before that ask similar questions, and I’m always like, “idk, comfortable and cool?” because I never knew what to say. And hell, when watching Queer Eye, whenever Tan would ask the champion of the episode who their style icon was, I never had an answer. But after I saw Captain Marvel, I realized that my style icon is Carol Danvers when she was wearing the leather jacket + the Nine Inch Nails shirt + the (ripped?) jeans + the flannel + the boots. You know, the “someone’s disaffected niece” look. I saw online that this was a grunge look. I saw a list of grunge traits. And what I saw was:

Oversized, baggy clothing

Muted colors

Makeup, if worn, is preferably dark and a bit smudged

Ripped jeans

Leather jackets and/or flannels

Converse shoes or Doc Martens boots

Band t-shirts

Messy hair, sometimes dyed bright punky colors

Pretty much all of those bullet points hit things I’ve always had in my own fashion sense. My hatred for skinny jeans is well documented; I’ve always worn baggy jeans, and oversized hoodies and often baggy t-shirts are my jam. I definitely prefer more muted colors (see my favorite shades of blue and green for examples) over very bright ones. Wearing makeup is a pain in the ass, but when I do wear it I wear dark eyeliner that looks a bit smudged due to how I apply it, and eye shadow and lipstick that aren’t very bright. Pretty much every pair of jeans I own is naturally distressed and ripped; my absolute favorite pair, which I’m wearing as I type this, has GIANT holes in both knees, and a smaller hole on the back thigh. This is because I’ve been wearing them since high school (they still fit!), and have just naturally worn these holes into them. They weren’t distressed at all when they were purchased for me about fourteen years ago, but now they’re very distressed, and also very beloved. They spark a lot of joy. I’m never getting rid of them.

I don’t have many flannels at the moment (though I have a couple), but I have several different leather jackets. I wore Converse shoes for YEARS, but unfortunately they offer no support and are the reason my achilles tendon is pretty much permanently damaged (might also be why I have knee crepitus as well), so I don’t wear them anymore and instead have legit tennis shoes instead (but ones that are black with white soles so I feel they still fit). However, I do have two different pairs of Doc Martens, one of which is a platform pair, and I love them to death, so. The fact that my preferred shoes were Converse and Docs before I even knew about this is pretty . . .

I used to wear band t-shirts almost exclusively in my teen and young adult years, and stopped pretty much only because I stopped going to concerts, and lost a lot of my band t-shirts to boot (though I do thankfully still do have a 10 Years one, and I hope to get the one currently on their website soon too). But I do have a 10 Years light jacket (super oversized of course), and replaced the band t-shirts with gaming t-shirts. I guess this would make me a bit of a geeky grunge? I don’t think that’s really a “thing,” but if people can invent things like “soft grunge” or whatever, then I feel this should be allowed. I am donating some of my gaming shirts to charity in a couple days because I don’t think I really want them anymore (either because they’re for games I don’t play but got them for free, or because I don’t really like the colors on them and also got them for free), but I still have quite a few of them. I’m a geek, I can’t help it, it’s just who I am.

And my hair is always messy no matter what I do. Even when I pin it up, it still looks a bit messy. It’s just the way it is. 

While I do shower every day and so I don’t fit the “greasy” part of the grunge criteria, and while I’m obviously not going to change myself to more closely fit the grunge criteria, it still felt like a huge “OOHHHHHHHH” moment for me when I realized this. It also makes it a bit easier to shop for fashion things, I feel, because I now have a starting point. I’m not sure this is a starting point that Tan France would approve of given that I am almost twenty-nine and so the “someone’s disaffected niece” look is one I feel that he would think I should not be striving for, but it’s not like I’m really striving for that look, but rather, that that look is who I am. Like it’s what calls to me. And you know what, if Karamo can live off Skittles and Coke every day of his life, I feel like I should be able to dress in a geeky grunge style every day of mine (excepting the days I’m at work since that doesn’t fit with the dress code there). Not that these two things are related, but hey. (Besides, I’m sure that Tan would help me find a way to make it work. Orrr he might try to steer me away from it. Or maybe a meeting point of both? Hmm. Who knows.)

Anyway, there’s no real point to this post. I just felt like making it. And I’m fine, or even happy, with looking like someone’s disaffected niece when I’m outside of work. Sure, I’m almost twenty-nine and therefore nearing thirty, but that doesn’t mean that I need to give up the things I enjoy or who I am, especially since in so many ways I’m still discovering them. You know, there’s this idea that permeates society that at some point you have to grow up and leave behind all the things you liked to do and wear in your younger years behind, but that’s ridiculous. No one magically changes into a boring, plain adult once they hit a certain age, and no one should have to. I still love video games. I still love series and things that I loved when I was a kid. I still like wearing graphic tees and ripped jeans and oversized headphones. I am still a mature, responsible adult despite all this. I still own my home, my car, and hold a steady 8:30am - 5:00pm, Monday through Friday job. People are complicated, they’re complex. You can be someone who enjoys silly, frivolous things like fandom and alternative fashion, and also be an adult who carries adult responsibilities. You never have to worry that you’ll get to an age where you should have yourself figured out by that point, or else you’ve failed, because life is an ongoing process and learning experience. You’re never too old to learn about yourself or embrace who you are. This is something I’ve been realizing with regards to myself and my own life, and it’s something I think so many people could stand to realize, too.

Anyway, this is just some personal rambling, so please DO NOT reblog this, or I’ll just delete the post so it won’t show up with the “keep reading” link is clicked anyway and also block you. It’s just something I wanted to get out of my head, and now I have, so I’m going to go get some sleep. Good night. ♥

[samsterham]

I'm officially insane. A friend of mine posted "How did we meet? Wrong answers only!" Several people came up with funny & clever responses as expected. They were all entirely fictional and fun to read.

Of coure MY extra as hell ass took it as a whole entire writing prompt & wrote a short story with a twist at the end. I'm not super close to this guy, & before I could post it hit me how bat shit I sounded. So I copy/pasted it into my notes app and proceeded to edit & play around with it for about an hour. It's absolutely not high-brow literature but I had fun writing it. I'm too chicken shit to post it on his post but I'll share it here because if nothing else, Im extremely amused with myself. Anyway, happy reading!

It was dark, and hot, and loud, as it is on nights like these in places such as this. The mass of revelers swirled & stamped maniacally around the place, lost in their own worlds. The colorful, flashing lights made the shadows as animated as the people and the music pulsed, drowning out most other sensation. Sweat and spirits and heavy vibrations congealed & hung in the air, engulfing all in a thick fog of sweltering hedonistic stupor.

Our eyes met abruptly, a certain anomaly of chance verses the density of the atmosphere around us; yet here we were, eyes locked.  You stood perfectly still he expression on your face familiar, intimately so, and you sensed that I understood. You were correct-- I'd know that look anywhere, anytime, from anyone. Coming from you it was jarring, albeit compelling. Your eyes flashed as the light show passed over them again & again in time to the music. I was indeed compelled, for reasons I can't exain, to make my way to you. I pushed through the noise & undulating bodies. You dared not move a muscle, never taking your eyes off of me as I wove my way toward you. With every step a mutual sense of urgency violently bloomed. As I drew near a sensation, like a pungent pheromone, emanated from you & seemed to clear space around you. I was momentarily taken a back when I sensed it--still I knew I had to come to you.

I reach you &tenderly placed my hand on your shoulder. I felt your body tense & your breath quicken as I leaned in close to speak in your ear, our cheeks brushing oh so slightly. You shivered. I didn't need to ask, I already knew the answer, I knew what you needed, and how badly you needed it right then. You instinctively knew I could provide it & keep it between us; but I needed you to validate it, lest it end in an incredibly awkward misunderstanding.

I took a breath to speak, something tangy & intoxicating tickling my nose & throat. I asked what you hoped I would ask. You didn't want to say it yourself, wary of how you may come off. I put your thoughts into words and then  back into your ear. You shiver again.

"Yep."

What else could you say? It was too late to deny anything. You couldn't have even if you tried. It didn't matter that I was a perfect stranger, somehow you knew I was safe, and willing.

I smiled gently & you relaxed a bit. You handed me your car keys & apologized for asking such a thing of me, a stranger. You expressed gratitude at my lack of hesitation or criticism. You gestured that you'd meet me by the bathroom once I retrieved what you asked for. I began to make my way out and I thought about how I could have run, or laughed or ignored you, and good sense says I should have. The absurdity! I could have left you to stew & lament over where I'd gone and why. I could have left you in the muck & mire with no relief, and you wouldn't have blamed me.

What was I doing? We were indeed strangers! "What a truly ridiculous way to make a connection" I chuckled as the stark reality of the situation rushed through me. I decided though that this was not a moment for hesitations or second thoughts. This was happening & there was no room to veer from this path now. I had told you I was in, & you didn't deserve to be left that way, in such dire need. No, that would have been cruel.

I found you exactly where you said you'd be. Even at a distance I could see you tremble from terrible anticipation. You made sure once more that this was our dirty little secret, and ours alone. I assured you it was and no one would ever hear it from me. I follow you where the crowd can't see & I gave you what you asked for. You simply said "Thanks." and wasted no time pushing through the scuffed & grimey bathroom doors.

As abruptly as it had begun, it was over. The deed was done. Not another word spoken, or look given. I left you alone to finish yourself, as I was no longer useful. I had given you what you needed & you sent me on my way. I didn't mind though, sometimes in these situations you need a stranger who won't judge you, willing to help you to the point you can finish the job yourself. No harm or shame in that.

You said you would find me again if you could find the willpower. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't.

I smoothed my skirt, checked my lipstick,  and allowed myself to be swooped back into the bedlam of the dance floor. My girlfriends gave me knowing looks, made sure I was alright, and I allowed them to assume what they wished. Afterall, I'd promised to keep our secret-- but also how on gods green earth do you explain that a strange man in the club singled you out to retrieve clean clothes from his vehicle so he wouldn't have to explain to his friends that he'd shit himself?

[tryingtofeelanything]

That’s what being a partner means, right ?

Soukoku Week - Day 2           「That’s what being a partner means, right?」– Dazai Osamu, Chapter 11

English Bungou Stray Dogs Soukoku One shot SFW (minus implied suicidal thoughts and maybe self-harm, depends on your interpretation)

Here is my contribution for the second day of Soukoku week. I may not do the other days, as I won’t have much free time this week. We’ll see. Just, two things here. First : this is originally an idea for Dazai’s birthday. But I didn’t have enough time to write it back there, so here it is, with some minor changes to fit the prompt. Second : this can be - but it’s absolutely not necessary - read with another OS of mine, Just before the Night. Thank you for your feedback, it’s always highly appreciated. :) Also, I’m sorry if this contains some typos, mistakes or weird translated parts. I did it in a bit of a hurry. I’ll fix everything when I post in AO3, probably by the end of next week.

He didn't know why. Really, honestly. And he didn't want to know. Not at all. Why he had fallen back into old habits, old like four years ago, so easily. Why he had found those old, forgotten, cleared thoughts back. Dazai didn't mean anything anymore. Dazai was only a traitor. He had betrayed them. He had betrayed him, betrayed Chuuya. Not that this individual betrayal was anything special. Dazai threw people away like he threw objects away, once used, worn out, definitely damaged. His partner was a tool like any other, he would have never claimed any privilege. Or was it what he kept saying to himself. In order to make the thought more bearable, to forget he had personally suffered from it. First when the doubt surrounding Dazai's disappearance had morphed into certainty. Then, after two years, when his named had appeared again, in conversations, in Yokohama, when it had became sure that the ex-prodigy of Port mafia was still in town, alive, and had decided to come back to the public streets – in the lively streets downtown, not those darker ones surrounding the less visited neighborhood, the one housing the intimidating premises that had welcomed him so often when no one would have done it. Finally, two more years later, when they had eventually faced each other, in the flesh, after four years of dodge. Dazai's face had lost those light round childish shapes from his teenage years, and his eyes part of the cruel sharpness he used to know. So he had let curiosity take over him. Maybe had he really changed ? Maybe had he became someone... better ? And instead of rejecting everything about him as a whole, he had watched him ; he had let himself get caught, a split second too late, by the familiarity that was Dazai's view, that was the way his heart was getting carried away in front of it, imperceptibly for just an instant, never more, but enough for him to know, to know that they were still here, those feelings of affection, of tenderness, mixed with a craving need to touch, to feel, this coldness, this scarred personality. No matter if it was about letting his blood flow between his fingers, or welcoming his intimate touch and pleasured moans – they had experimented with both, in the past, and both were suitable for him.

Beyond that, a deeper desire, of loving touches, of lengthy, tender gazes, of stolen kisses in the shadow, had never been satisfied. Chuuya would had even never realized he had it, if such gestures, inappropriate in a relationship like theirs, had not awoken it, to eventually disappoint him every single time, as they were always aborted, quickly dropped. And it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Dazai could have looked at him this way, such a deep way, seemingly sincere, in those stolen moments. It wasn't fair that he could have made him lost his composure, his defenses so easily, and, eventually, that he could have ended up taking his heart away. It was even less fair that, each time, the young man had turned his dark eyes away, looking like he was recanting, eliciting such harmful questions inside his partner's mind : was it unintentional ? Did he had this same kind of affection too ? Was he trying to stifle those fleeting hopes, because they had no room to be in their relationship, too ?

We're really fucked up, his mind concluded as he gently put his cheek against brown locks, a bit more tangled than usual, and tightened his embrace around shoulders maybe a bit skinnier than he remembered them. The bottom of his back was already protesting against this half sitting position, leaning against the wall, on a futon smelling like alcohol, in the middle of empty bottles of sake, open books and other things he did not want to identify more precisely than as some trash. To his feet, used bandages, covered in blood and dirt, the contents of a first-aid kit scattered on not-so-white sheets. Wedged between his arms and knees, the gentle human warmth from Dazai's body, the regular raising of his chest to the rhythm of the deep breathing of someone sleeping.

But he was not sleeping. Chuuya knew it. Not when his body was hurting this much. Despite the darkness, he could already see a few dark stains on the spotless white of bandages he had just used, even though he had put a generous amount of it on him. A sigh, like a light snort, crossed his lips.

"Still, happy birthday... moron."

Moron, for hurting yourself so much. Moron, for still only seeing the day of your birth as one more failed year not being able to take your own life. Moron... because I'm still here as if it were something normal.

Dazai's back was shaken by a slight shiver – a silent laugh, a surprised shudder, why not even a repressed sob ? Two recently bandaged hands pressed against each of his shoulder blades, as if they were made to fit perfectly together.

"Ah, Chuuya, it's really mean to ram it home like that."

In any other situation, the tone would have been exaggeratedly whining, and it even sounded like it did take such accent in his mind, as the sound of his voice reached his ears. Instead, the words only felt like a whisper, though. Chuuya did not reply. He slightly moved, trying to lighten the pressure on the bottom of his back that less and less liked having to hold his whole weight, as well as a big part of Dazai's. The fabric of their clothes sliding against each other was the only sound echoing in the room for a moment, as his ex-partner took the opportunity to change his position against him, gently putting his chin against Chuuya's shoulder.

The embrace had something strangely familiar. Such a situation had not happened for years. Chuuya sighed. Such thoughts had occupied his mind just a week ago. When they had fallen together on this same futon, a bit inebriated, and their minds especially clouded by the unconquerable desire to rediscover each other's body, even though they had thought they had been weaned from this mutual sensual addiction. He then had the opportunity to make a note about Dazai's address. And he eventually had not been able to resist the need to check on his state, this nineteenth day of June ; he knew the detective could not be fine this very day. He had seen it in the past ; some rare times he had watched a cracking on this perfect mask the boy had always worn in his memories.

"That's what being a partner means, too, right ?"

Chuuya eventually found himself whispering an answer, long minutes later, the same moment the idea crossed his mind. Some words Dazai liked to repeat, just to see him throw irritated glances and harsh groans. This time, the shiver that ran between the young man's shoulders matched a slight laugh.

"But we aren't partners anymore, Chuuya", he replied softly, imitating what Chuuya would automatically answer with a voice full of blame.

An amused smile forced Chuuya's lips and, before he could think about it, they were nuzzling a few brown locks. The sudden wave of affection that overwhelmed his chest brought him quickly back to reality and he hurriedly reconsidered.

"Anyway, Chuuya, since you're here, I hope you at least remembered to bring a gift for me."

The tone of his voice was more frivolous. It still sounded openly fake though.

"As if I thought about it", was the sharp reply.

Dazai did not need to know he had actually thought about it. The latter straightened up with a pout, his hands folded around the back of his neck to wrap a few locks of hair around the tip of his fingers.

"You're such an apathetic character", the detective sighed. "Then, I have the right to ask for anything I want by way of compensation."

Both men were plunged into darkness. Despite that fact he could discern with certainty the odd sparkle that furtively crossed both chocolate eyes though.

"You could told me 'I love you' and kiss me, for instance."

Every vital organs in Chuuya felt like they just stopped for a whole second as his guts made a 180 degrees rotation. Dazai smiled at him, his features full of an adoration he had never seen on him and which, if he had not already been, paralyzed him entirely.

"Don't look at me like that, Chuuya. That's what your eyes keep telling me. It would just be formalizing things out loud."

No, it would not be. No, his eyes were not telling anything. They could not betray him to that extent, he kept checking. How could Dazai's eyes hold his so calmly after such an aberration ? Why had he came in the first place ? He wanted to leave. He had to leave. He had nothing to do here, they had nothing to do together. The hands that landed against the chest facing him with the aim of pushing him away shook more than he would have wanted. However one of them was grabbed and slightly moved downwards, where it could feel the heart that beat a bit more quickly than usual. Chuuya raised wide, incredulous eyes towards the young man, questioning this silent admission, so far from the Dazai he knew.

"Or you can grant me access to your bank account, it would be good with me too."

The mafia executive put a bit more distance between them and turned his eyes away, but not trying to pull his hand away. He tried to seize such a generously offered opportunity, but his reply painfully lacked its usual sharpness.

"Maybe in your dreams."

"You earn your living on fencing and money laundering, it's not as if you deserve it anyway. I may as well help you spend it."

He could have whispered sweet nothings at the very moment, the tone would have not been much different. All of that was deeply troubling.

"Tch, it's not as if you hadn't done it for years too."

"Hm... So if it's a no for that, is it okay for the rest ?"

Dazai had suddenly gotten considerably closer. Chuuya found himself trapped between the wall and those shoulders, larger than his. He could have easily freed himself, he knew it. But he also only had to finish reducing the distance between them to join their lips.

"Can I at least kiss you ?"

"What would be the point, anyway ?"

The irritation starting to break through his voice was only a way to protect himself. How could Dazai ask him this kind of things so easily ? Their relationship did not work like that. It was only based on denials and unsaid things. Why had he to smash everything to pieces all of sudden ?

"I just want it. Please, Chuuya."

Something in Chuuya snapped. Dazai never said please. Dazai never asked for permission, besides. He was realizing only now that, maybe, just, maybe, the ex-mafioso's defenses had shattered more than he had thought. Was it only because of this day he openly hated ? Or was it also because of his partner's – ex partner, whatever – presence, who had not thought twice before forcing him to take care of his bloody wounds, cutting off this so confidential moment with his oh so harmful thoughts ?

A pair of lips gently pressed on his and he immediately stopped thinking. In the end, Dazai still did not ask him for permission. Unless his whole face had already approved for him. The sweet feeling of warmth quickly disappeared, letting a feeling of incompletion behind, when the detective pulled away to look at him in the eyes. Chuuya quickly put his hands on the back of Dazai's neck to make him get back close to him. He could not bear seeing those eyes with red reflections look at him with so much affection any longer. Neither could he hear his name, repeated in a breath, like he could get addicted to that, any longer. Their lips met again, in a real kiss instead of this first affectionate brush. He let Dazai turn his head gently, slowly open his lips and deepen their embrace as they progressively fell against the futon. Until the young man with brown locks released their lips and suddenly hid his face against his partner's – partner in which way ? - shoulder.

"Dazai...?"

"My whole body hurts, Chuuya", was the whining answer.

He sighed.

"It's your fault."

From instinct only, he could guess the pout drawing the curve of lips, dangerously close from his neck. The two boys stayed like that, against each other, for a while, silently. Dazai broke the silence again, but as if using a lot of caution.

"Chuuya...?"

"Hm ?"

"Stay until morning ?"

"You're asking for too much things tonight."

Yet he did not move. He did not answer expressly either. Words would not be necessary. He knew, and Dazai knew too, that he would comply and stay. Why would he leave ? He had never been able to, anyway.

[hyperesthesias]

Loki x Sigyn

Love Never Dies | Part XII

Rating: G

Words: 2.466

Notes: i’m tired of writing summaries tbh. i never know what to say! D: i had a second part to this but i don’t really have time to write it, and this is consistent in length already, so. i’ll make it part of the next chapter. i will probably post the next one soon. anyway, enjoy! ♥

Four days passed, and Sigyn had taken to the deer bone broth nicely -- drinking whatever Loki gave her with obedience and a will to get stronger, and not only for her own sake. But to see the lightness in his features, a levity she had not seen on him in some while, like the days of old when there was nothing else but them, her soul quietly rejoiced to see him happy. As he did to see her well. Every day, he would feed her a bowl of broth, working on the same bowl throughout the entire day -- sometimes she would finish it all, sometimes she could drink no more for fear of bursting -- but whatever she drank, he said some quiet thanks to whomever might have been listening. He would read to her, books in her own language, and books in his, recite to her poetry, recall stories of his misadventures during his absence -- being sure to eliminate any thing of his doing that might have upset her, but this was not ignorant upon her -- and day in and out he would care for her every need. And never did he leave her side. He would bid her not to speak, not so often, that she might not over-exert herself, and he asked her not to move, that whatever she needed, from moving the blanket, to the washroom, he would aide her in her every whim. 

But by the fourth day, Sigyn’s voice had become less clouded by the fog of Death’s cling, and she was determined to speak to her love in a conversation, rather than some wheezed and morose hum. Thus, when she woke, she saw him sitting there in a chair at her bedside -- slumped over, with a fist to his jaw, looking entirely uncomfortable. She could only smile, her head turning more to see him clearly as the daylight fed through the space in the curtain -- he was so beautiful when he was asleep, she told herself, never getting into trouble that way. She couldn’t help a whispered chuckle as she thought on him, and how they both would say the same thing about their son. But a thought came over her as she watched him, his lulled breathing keeping him in slumber: had he been sleeping in that chair the entire time?

An attempt to move her arm proved fruitful, and she managed to slide it off the bed, lifting it with great effort to place her hand on his knee with every fragment of gentleness in her. “Good morning, my love,” she breathed -- this time with some clarity, that she smiled not only at Loki, but in pride of her condition.

Loki started awake, his fist slipping from his jaw and he gracefully caught himself as he sat upright, confusion muddling his features in whether or not he had imagined the voice that bid him hearken. 

“Hello,” she said again, a languid smile now resting on her as her eyes bat sleepily, trying to hush away the claims of night. 

“Sigyn,” he quietly exclaimed and immediately took her hand and knelt by her. “Are you well? What do you need?” 

She shook her head on the pillow as she gripped onto his hand with what strength she had -- which had been more than any other time she’d tried. “Nothing, my love. Just you.” 

A sigh emanated from him as his worry bled to contentment, and he kissed her knuckles. “You have me.”

“Then I count my fortune as every speck of sand,” she said, without a hitch, neither a breath, or a rumble or wheeze -- yet with a wide and gladdened smile.

His brows lifted as he heard her speak, keeping her hand to his lips, he let a breath of paled shock. “Your self...it returns to you.”

“It does,” she agreed, struggling to sit up by herself, perhaps a little too hasty in her efforts, but she was determined to do it herself.

Loki immediately stood to aide her, offering her his hands, after she had stopped him from lifting her by the waist. And while he would have felt shunned at any other instance when she rejected his help, he could do nothing but admire her as she lifted herself to sit with her back against the headboard. He shied from tears of relief and joy that threatened him as he watched her -- exasperated as she may have been afterwards -- as her strength returned to her inch by inch.

If he had been honest with himself, and he often was not, he would have admitted he had losing hope that anything he had been doing would help her -- that he had doomed her, and that she would be doomed until Death came upon her for a second time. He’d begun to dread each day, feeding her the broth as a last resort, where he felt perhaps it was meaningless and he might as well had been feeding a corpse. But to see her, seated there of her own accord, moving her arms and legs -- as slow and as halting as they may have been -- he had felt no such joy like the joy he felt then. Nothing could compare to it. 

“Do I make you proud, my love?” she asked.

Though she had no reason to. “I take pride in your very existence, nyaphte’h,” he spoke in her language a word that has no translation, but that was only reserved for the one most beloved to the heart. 

She beamed with his words. “It warms my heart to hear you speak my language. It always has,” she cleared a place for him among the blankets to sit beside her. “Come,” she beckoned him beside her. “Have you slept in that seat this whole time? Or had you succumb to exhaustion last night?”

“I took my place there,” he answered and came to sit beside her, landing his long legs out the length of the bed, as he placed his head on the wood of the headboard, hands rested behind them. “I did not wish to exceed my permission,” he sighed finding his back was much more agreed to his newfound position.

She took heart in his wish to make and keep her comfortable, but placed a hand on his leg to reassure him. “I wish you here beside me.”

“Then here is where I shall be,” he turned to her, removing a hand form behind his head to comb it through her hair. 

Sigyn’s eyes closed with a breath of peace and pleasure at the sensation of his soothing -- and though her time away, as she had decided to call it, had not been perceived as very long from her own perspective, it felt as though she had not felt his touch in aeons. Every fibre of her ached to be near to him, every cell and nutrient that was huddled within her begged to never part from him again -- for just as he had missed a piece of himself in her absence, she had not been complete, either.

But when she opened her eyes, she was met not with a mutual expression of serenity, but a shadow that darkened him. A swell of pity came over her as she lifted her hand again to meet her fingers to his face. “Such dimness is always plaguing you -- I think it more familiar to you than quietude,” her voice not above a whisper, this time not out of necessity, but of gentleness to his heavy spirit. 

Loki’s eyes lifted to her, an apology hidden somewhere within their emerald shade, and he pursed his lips as he averted his gaze once more. “I think our welcome may be overstayed soon,” he admitted. 

“Then it is good that I have been getting better so quickly,” she offered, ever the one to balance his grimness.

“And for that I am grateful, but...” he sighed.

“What troubles my King?” she murmured, tucking a lock behind his ear.

Eyes flickered to her again, his heart not unnoticing to her words, but his relishing in them had to be saved for later. “...Thor returns today.”

“He is away?” she asked, wondering if he had told her already -- the past weeks had been naught but a blur. “Yes, I wondered why it was so quiet.”

He couldn’t help a chuckle as he returned his sights to the canopy above their bed. “I just...haven’t any notion to where we might go.”

There was a pause in her, that a question had perched itself on the tip of her tongue -- but she was afraid to ask it, unsure if she wished to know its answer: “Can we not return to my realm?”

By the breath he took in alone, she knew the outcome, and steeled herself for his words.

“All the portals are closed. The Convergence has passed, and every doorway from this side of the Universe is...gone,” he wished not to break her heart, but less so did he wish to lie to her. Especially about something so dear to her.

Then she was trapped there, Sigyn thought. Although, she supposed ‘trapped’ was too harsh a word. The Universe from whence Loki and his people came was not too frightful but...her people. What had become of them? Who led them whilst she was away? Would she ever see its golden skies again? Or participate in festivals of the deep blue forests, or feel the softness of the red meadows, or let the river wrap her in its mirth?��

“I am...truly sorry,” she heard his voice call to her.

Sigyn’s eyes stung as they looked up to him, but he dared not look to her -- she knew, she knew the guilt on his complexion, there was some deed he’d done for which he blamed himself, not out of unjust cause, but she knew his words were sincere. Nonetheless, she did not blame him. What happened had happened, whatever it had been -- actions would take their course, whether good or bad, this she knew all too well, and what needed to be done would be done. All she could do was accept it, and with no people to lead in the midst of everything, she decided to lead herself. To navigate herself through whatever outcome had befallen the Realms in her absence. 

“We will find some other way -- we always have,” she cleared her throat. “But you say your brother will be returning soon -- from what?”

“Some peace-keeping ruse Odin concocted,” he scoffed. “Merely to keep him away from his pet, I’m sure.”

“‘Pet’?”

“That is what I call her -- Thor has acquired a Midgardian woman of whom he claims to love,” the ire dripping from every word.

“You seem not to like her,” whilst the unsurprise breathed from hers.

“I despise her kind,” he spat, a little too quickly, and a little too harshly. He glanced to Sigyn, swallowing as he regained himself. “But Odin wishes not for any other to become the future Queen of Asgard than an Asgardian, as we well know.”

Indeed, they did. For all its grandness and all its gildedness, Asgard was not without its faults of prejudice and misguided attempts -- then again, no Realm was immune, this Sigyn tried to remember. “I suppose there will be a celebration for his return,” she mused.

“Indeed -- for three days,” he grumbled. “However, I will be required to attend, at least for a little while, lest they grow suspicious.”

“How have you abstained from suspicion thence?”

“I’ve had my mother tell everyone I was ill,” he huffed. “But I suppose that will not do for now.” He turned to her again, leaning on his side as he continued his motion of stroking her hair. “I fear to leave you.”

She took in a breath as he ran his fingers through her tresses, closing her eyes for a minute, stilling herself as he spoke.

“That...if I leave, and come back...you will be gone when I return. That you...” he trailed off, shaking his head as he took his eyes from her to the blankets beneath him. “That you were naught but once more some...figment.”

His meaning did not escape her, and her eyes fluttered open to see him, but she did not question him -- only wondering what torment he had endured to make him see her when she was not there. A hand of hers cupped around his sharp features, thumb stroking along his cheek, while her fingers reached to soothe the nape of his neck. “You needn’t worry, my love,” she whispered, nudging forward to close the space between them; her head resting against his. “I am here, and I will not vanish.”

He found he had no words left within him -- she the only one who could make him speechless -- where his hand ran through her hair to rest upon her neck, pulling her closer and closer, though there was no more space left, until his lips met hers. 

The first kiss they had shared since her return -- and how sweet it was, a nectar to the bitterness that resided on his tongue; the antidote to the poison that rested in his bones -- he felt his entirety purge itself all at once, and he was both himself and not within her presence. And through all its sweetness, the taste of her was still tainted with the fog of Death, for never could he forget that her breaths of peace came at the price of screams of terror, and never could he forget that, for a time, he enjoyed it.

But never moreso than the feel of her. For tat, and more, every life had been worth it -- for she had no price, and this he remembered and held nearly as dearly as he held her. 

He didn’t want to let her go -- fighting with his hands to relinquish her as he left the bed and readied himself for the banquet in Thor’s honour. An event to be dreaded in of itself, but when he had Sigyn, who needed him, who wanted him even, even more did he rue it. Nonetheless, to protect her secret, to not arise any more suspicion than his presence did normally, he obliged, wearing nothing particularly special, and assuring himself he would not stay particularly long. But any amount of time away from her was long enough.

And when he kissed his wife in parting, he felt his soul nearly threaten to break within him -- and when he closed the door behind him, he was sure it shattered with the sound of its finality.

[syrupwit]

Dear Yuletide Writer Letter 2017

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you very much for writing for me! This is my first-ever year signing up for Yuletide, and -- while I’m not up on all the etiquette and may make mistakes -- I am quite excited. I’m sure I will love whatever you write.  

Although some of the sections below are longer than others, please note that I don’t have a preference between requested fandoms and would be super happy to receive work for any of them. I just write a lot sometimes. (But usually not when I need to, of course.)

-

General Likes: Many things. In convenient list format...

Gen, femslash, slash, and het

Genres: humor, horror, slice-of-life, ghost stories, romantic comedy, casefic, action/adventure, angst, crack treated seriously

Atmospheric stuff where nothing really happens but you sure get an image or a mood

Intense relationships between women, whether they’re romantic or not

Surreality and silliness

Appetizing descriptions of food

Loyalty kink, especially where a more powerful or physically stronger character is loyal to a weaker character

Characters standing up for each other

Characters who are socially disliked, awkward, or shunned but secretly really good at something

Cats

General DNW: Permanent major character death; graphic depictions of violence, torture, or gore; rape/noncon; onscreen child abuse; onscreen harm to animals. I’m also generally not a fan of stories that focus heavily on characters’ experiences with social issues or identity. 

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Fandom: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Characters: Justine Florbelle, Daniel of Mayfair

Likes/Prompts: Amnesia became my favorite new canon this year. I’m currently on my third playthrough of The Dark Descent and have completed the Justine DLC too many times to count -- though I still haven’t managed to save the last guy, darn it. Things about these canons that I adore include the morally conflicted protagonists, atmosphere of imminent doom and lingering anxiety, Lovecraft-influenced but not strictly Lovecraftian horror themes, mechanics that balance the player character’s essential helplessness with rewards for ingenuity, and the fact that you can throw stuff. And stack stuff! I LOVE throwing and stacking stuff. I... haven’t played a lot of first-person video games.

While I am interested in stories that include both Daniel and Justine, I’d be happy with a story that only focuses on one of them.

Justine fascinates me -- the contrast between her cruelty and caprice on the one hand, and her physical (and, to an extent, social/legal and emotional) vulnerability on the other. She’s also really creepy and into some weird shit. I’m not usually interested in sociopathic villains, but something about her character just hits my buttons. 

For solo Justine scenarios, I’d enjoy anything about her escapades in polite society (the ball! the irony! Justine loves irony), interactions with Clarice (how much does she suspect?), or initial meetings with the prisoners. Also, how is her poetry received among her peers? Delving more into the history and development of the Cabinet of Perturbation would be cool too.

Daniel is likewise a fascinating character. During my second playthrough, I was impressed with the slow reveal of his descent into metaphorical and literal darkness. Fear makes people scary, or something. I was also pretty into his relationship with Alexander, all the layers of manipulation and betrayal mixed with genuine connection. (For the record, I totally ship them.)

For solo Daniel scenarios, I’d like to see more about his early days at Brennenburg, interactions with the outside world post-game, and a reunion with his sister Hazel. If you want to pair him with Alexander either romantically or platonically, that’s great. Agrippa, too. I’m honestly interested in Daniel interacting with any character, if you have an idea. 

For the combination of Daniel and Justine, I’m interested in either gen or het, set around the time of either game. I feel like they’d make a great pair, for certain values of great. The Unopened Letter found in the water dungeon in Justine also seems to hint at the possibility of a meeting between Daniel and Justine. 

As an adult, Justine is experienced at manipulating people, would easily ferret out Daniel’s fears and how to play on them, and could be intrigued by his experiences with the supernatural. Perhaps, in an AU where Monsieur Florbelle answers Daniel’s letter, a child Justine would see a kindred soul in one who’s also been in contact with the artifacts. In a universe where the letter stays unopened until Justine’s day of subterranean exercise, maybe adult Justine invites Daniel to visit with the intention of adding him to her Cabinet, or tries to court him as a momentary amusement and finds it more challenging that she expected.  

For his part, Daniel has already spent a lot of time escaping dungeons and being manipulated by Alexander -- adult Justine’s flavor of betrayal would not be that shocking. There’s also his relationship with his sister Hazel and guilt over the girl he murdered, which could soften him towards a young or orphaned Justine. If it’s after the events of The Dark Descent, what choices did Daniel make? Did he favor taking revenge on Alexander over helping Agrippa? Is he guilty, guilt-free, still racked with nightmares, sound of mind? If Weyer rewarded him for saving Agrippa, has he spent time in the other world? The age difference could even be handwaved if Weyer sort of miscalculated when he was sending Daniel back to our world by 19 years. 

Fandom-Specific DNW: Please, no romance between Daniel/Justine when she is underage.

Notes: While it is my understanding that some regard the relationship between Justine and her father to have been one where she attempted to seduce him, I do not agree with that interpretation and would prefer not to receive stories that subscribe to it. It seems much more likely to me that her father abused or at least behaved inappropriately towards her.

- 

Fandom: Pocket Mirror (Video Game)

Characters: Lisette (Pocket Mirror)

Likes/Prompts: What distinguished this game to me, made it stick in my mind, and kept me playing was the atmosphere. Fleta’s bright and well-ordered domain with hints of lurid nastiness underneath, Harpae’s drafty wooden corridors with their creaking floors and distant lights, Lisette’s total abandonment of any reasonable organization whatsoever: I love it. Which brings me to...

Lisette! Poor Lisette. She gets blamed for everything, doesn’t she? She’s mean and destructive because no one else will let themselves be, and hates herself for it. (Or...? I’m also interested in alternate character interpretations, if you have different ideas.) I would like to see her have a nice time.

I’m not super attached to any of the canon endings, so if you want to go an AU route, please feel free. That includes canon divergence AUs as well as AUs where they’re all sort of... I don’t know, neighbors in the real world? Except one of them lives in a mirror maze populated by her evil shadow selves, and maybe they’re all witches.

Femslash, gen, or unusually clingy/possessive/intense friendship with romantic undertones are all of interest to me for this canon. I’m particularly interested by Goldia/Lisette, Fleta/Goldia, and Harpae/Lisette.

Prompts:

Lisette receives a new dress. Who made it?

Lisette expects to be alone on Christmas, but is proven wrong.

Harpae has had enough of Lisette’s tormenting Fleta.

Goldia is in trouble in the real world and only Lisette can save her.

The girls pay visits to each others’ domains.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU

DNW: No explicit sexual content for this fandom, please.

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Fandom: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Characters: Kiryuu Nanami, Arisugawa Juri, Shinohara Wakaba, Himemiya Anthy

Likes/Prompts: I’ve been told that RGU is considered “the Evangelion of shoujo anime,” and I feel like that’s... accurate? Anyway, I love it to bits -- stock footage, surfing elephants, and all. I also love the movie and have a bunch of theories about its relation to the series, which I will spare you at this time.

For this exchange, I’ve requested fic about Nanami, Juri, Wakaba, and Anthy. I’d be happy to read about these characters all together, on their own, or in any combination. Gen, femslash, het, and slash are all welcome, as are stories set before, during, or after the series.

While there’s much to be said about the grand sweeping themes in Revolutionary Girl Utena, what won the series my heart is how goddamn weird it is. The Nanami filler episodes, for example, were among my favorite parts of the show. I’m interested in exploring more of that weirdness.

Possibly in this spirit, I’ve come up with a long and eclectic mix of prompts. These are just here in hopes they might give you an idea, if you’d like one.

Prompts:

Nanami goes to space to try to replace one of the stars with herself.

“A Christmas Carol,” starring Nanami.

Touga’s kitten survived... and now it’s back for revenge! Nanami is being blackmailed by a cat.

Nanami spends the night in a strange house, trying to convince herself it isn’t haunted. Anthy orchestrates small events to make her think that it is.

Anthy and Nanami are rivals at magic school.

Juri becomes a world-champion bowler.

Among the incoming freshman class, rumors spread that Juri is a vampire. In attempting to dispel them, she encounters some obstacles.

Juri and Wakaba have a super-torrid romance as adults.

Wakaba dreams of life as a Jeep.

Wakaba has an identity crisis and joins many different student clubs.

Wakaba and Anthy share a rare moment of understanding over their mutual difficulties with cooking.

Anthy embarks on a side career as a barista.

Anthy arranges for Utena to fight a dragon.

Between dueling cycles, Anthy is permitted one day off from being the Rose Bride. How does she choose to spend it? 

Fandom-Specific DNW:  No onscreen incest, please.

[angstandhappiness]

ADORABLE

silly