#anyways I stand by the fact that none of you could make me hate Joe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

qqueenofhades · 4 years

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The photo set you reblogged of Yusuf and Niccolo helping throughout time just filled me with so many happy feels and it made me realize that it seems so common in media with immortal couples that they take breaks from each other and reconnect after a few decades. Which is a great trope but seeing these two that seems to have been attached at the hip since the day they met just fills me with all the heart eyes.

(I haven't read your fanfics for them yet. I know I'm a bad fan but if it helps I havent been able to read anything since all this started but while writing this ask I got the feeling that all this rambling I spewed out is a big theme)

Hush. Bad fan nothing. We all are coping with this stupid, awful year in different ways, some of us by escaping into fandom and some of us being unable to engage with it and some of us doing both or anything else. You certainly don’t owe me or anyone any obligation to interact with our content, fic or otherwise. So just to have that there on the top. You’re good, hun. :)

ANYWAY, thank you for giving me a chance to meta a bit on the boys and their relationship and to have a window into what my brain looks like pretty much 24/7 these days. (I blame them.) I keep thinking about all the ways this couple is depicted in the TOG film and how lovely it was and how unusual it is for me to have an OTP where I actually love them in canon and don’t need to violently disavow it in order to create AU fan content with just the characters. (See: Timeless, Game of Thrones, pretty much any show I’ve hyperfixated on at some point.) I love AUs anyway, because that’s the way my brain works, but the fact that I can also enjoy canon just as much is rare for me and for a lot of us. I saw a post somewhere remarking on how the fanfic for Joe/Nicky isn’t fixing anything, which is usually the point of transformative fanworks: we take something that canon atrociously fucked up and fix it. But in this case, all our interpretations are based on actually appreciating the way they’re presented in canon and wanting to enjoy that and uphold it, and that -- especially with a couple like this one -- is shocking??

Like. Despite my historian gripes about the occasionally incongruous details for their graphic-novel backstories (which are the only things I HAVE fixed in my fics), I’m just... deeply appreciative of the care which everyone, writers and actors and all else, put into depicting Joe and Nicky and their relationship. And god YES, one of the things I love the absolute MOST is that they’re a loving, faithful, committed, happy married queer couple over centuries, and that seems to be the case for as long as they’ve known each other/ever since they got together. (See Booker’s “you and Nicky always had each other.”) These fools can’t sleep apart from each other even when they’re stuck on a freight train in the middle of nowhere, they flirt like teenagers at dinnertime and even when they’re strapped to gurneys in a mad-scientist laboratory, they make out to enrage bad guys and also because they’re just still that goddamn into each other after all this time.

I think it was Marwan Kenzari who pointed out that there’s simply no way to truly state the depth of their knowledge and devotion and commitment to each other. They’re 950 years old. They have known each other since they were in their thirties; they’ve been husbands for literal centuries. There is no way anyone else in the world could possibly come close to replicating the kind of bond they have with each other, and neither of them have ever had any inclination to look, because why would they? Especially with the fact that queer couples in media, even otherwise sympathetically portrayed ones, often have Drama and Third Parties and Promiscuity and whatever else (because of the tiresome old canard that Gays Equal Hypersexualized!), and Joe and Nicky don’t need or want ANY of that. There’s no urge to make their relationship a cheap source of soap-opera conflict. It’s the rock and the center and the core of both of their lives, and everything they do stems from that.

There have been some great metas/comments on how neither Joe and Nicky are sexualized, they dress like stay-at-home dads during quarantine (Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli are both objectively gorgeous men, and they’re out there looking like that, god bless), and the viewer is never invited to goggle at or fetishize their relationship. There are no leering or exploitative camera angles on anyone, and their expressions of love aren’t posed or intended to titillate the audience, they’re just solidly embodied and natural and lived in. It’s never bothered to be stated clunkily in dialogue that they’re a couple; we just see them exchanging looks and smiles in the early part of the film, and then we see them spooning on the train after the mission in Sudan, which confirms it.

At every turn, the narrative celebrates the kindness and love shared by the Immortal Family, the individual characters, and Joe and Nicky, especially and explicitly in queer form. The villains of the film are also defined by how they react negatively to that love. @viridianpanther had a great meta on how Keane as a villain is especially set up to menace Joe and Nicky as the narrative representation of toxic masculinity, aggressive heterosexuality, and the usual “Kill Your Gays” trope that we’ve all come to wearily expect. But instead, after that scene where Joe and Nicky fight Keane, Nicky is shot and comes back to life in Joe’s arms rather than dying permanently like we probably all momentarily expected, and then Joe gets to FUCKIN’ BREAK THE NECK of the guy who enacted that violence.... good GOD. The first time I watched it, I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. (This goes for the whole film, but especially that scene.) Like... when do we get that?? When do we EVER get that???

Obviously, there are so many stereotypes, whether visually or in behavior or character traits, that could have been assigned to a gay Italian character (excessively dramatic, effeminate, fashionable, etc) or a gay Arabic/Muslim character (explicitly announcing He’s Not Like Those Muslims, having to actively reject his heritage to make him more palatable to westerners, being tormented over being gay, etc) and Joe and Nicky subscribe to none of those. I get very emotional about Joe referring to Nicky as the moon when he is lost during the truck scene partly because it’s SUCH a common motif in Arabic love poetry. To call someone your “moon” is a beautiful way to say they’re the light of your life, and since the Islamic calendar is obviously lunar and the holidays, months, and observances, are set by the phases of the moon, this also has a deeper religious significance.

I don’t know for sure if they did that on purpose, but it it’s a lovely and subtle way of showing us how Joe clearly doesn’t have an issue with being both queer AND Muslim, and is able to draw on both facets of that identity in a way that a lesser narrative would have denied him. And that is just really wonderful. Yes, we’re seeing these characters when they’ve had centuries to settle into themselves, but there are plenty of writers who would have forced those conflicts artificially to the surface, rather than letting them be long in the past. It’s the same way when you watch a film set in the medieval era, it wants you to know that it Is Set In The Medieval Era. Cue the filth, misogyny, racism, violence, etc! Rather than it being a lived-in reality, it has to be jarringly drawn attention to, and I’m just so glad they didn’t do that with Joe and Nicky. And for them to have met in the crusades and fallen in love??! Come on. That’s just rude. Rude to me, personally.

Anyway, this was a rather long-winded and feelsy way of saying that these characters are constructed, acted, and written organically in such a way that you hate to even THINK of them being separated, and it’s not because they can’t function without each other, but because they are two halves of a whole. We also see that the characters themselves can’t stand being forced apart: Joe’s freakout in the truck scene when Nicky briefly won’t wake up, Nicky making sure to tell Joe that he’s glad he’s awake in the lab, the whole post-Keane fight scene that I talked about above, the way Nicky fights ferociously to get to Joe when Merrick’s stabbing him, etc. For that to be given to the queer couple, where the strength of their love and devotion is reinforced as one of the emotional goals of the story, and for that queer couple to be written in the way that Joe and Nicky are, both individually and as a unit, is just so very rare.

Because yes, there’s plenty of drama and angst and pain in their lives, but there’s none at all in their relationship, and that’s what fans keep telling TV writers the whole time: they WANT to see the couple confront things as a unit, rather than being kept on tenterhooks the whole time and forced to go through manufactured or artificial drama. It would feel especially wrong for Joe and Nicky, who have known and loved each other for 900 years. The fact that their respective actors also put so much care and love into them is very obvious, and makes me feel even luckier that they’re played by people who clearly get them and honor them and know what they’re doing.

Basically: of course Joe and Nicky have been with each other the whole time, and of course we’re all drowning in feelings over it, and I feel very blessed that this ship exists, and I very much need the sequel ASAP. Thanks.

#the old guard meta #joe x nicky #immortal husbands #long post #roseoswiins #ask

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backtothestart02 · 3 years

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Just Best Friends - 7/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Enjoy. :)

...

Chapter 7 -

Iris rolled over the next morning, stretching her arm across the empty bed. She blew out a puff of air and opened her eyes when she realized it was just her in the bed. She groaned and rolled across it, getting tangled in the blanket and bed sheet before she realized she was nearing the edge of the bed and would fall off if she wasn’t careful.

Scooting back to the middle, she moved one pillow with her while pushing the other off the bed, then stretched out her arms and legs so they reached the bottom corners and sides of the bed.

“So,” she spoke aloud to herself. “He’s really gone.”

She curled herself up so she was sitting upright and pulled the blanket and sheet free of her legs. She scooted to the edge of the bed and got up, walking into the kitchen to make herself some coffee.

She really wished he hadn’t left. With the way she’d been feeling – and still felt – towards Barry and her dad, Eddie would’ve been the perfect distraction from all that. Maybe she could’ve even forgot about it entirely. Then Barry wouldn’t have to worry about her spilling his secret at all.

Not that she owed him anything. Not for keeping that secret from her for almost a year.

And what about you?

She decided to ignore the little voice in her head that continuously tried to point out the facts she didn’t want to acknowledge. That she was attracted to Barry, that she might have feelings for him, that she’d broken his heart not for the first time because she refused to acknowledge those two facts.

“And because I’m in a relationship!” she said aloud, wondering why she felt the need to defend herself to herself. It didn’t make sense. She’d already decided who she wanted. She wanted Eddie. He was her boyfriend, and she refused to break the loyalty she had to him.

Except when you cheated…

“Shut up!”

She sighed and braced her hands on the counter, watching the coffee machine work its magic for several minutes until the coffee was ready. Pulling a mug down from the cupboards, she poured some of the hot steamy liquid into the container. She set the pitcher back on its platform before digging in the fridge for the milk. She poured some into her dark beverage and put the gallon back. Then, after mixing the contents with a spoon and depositing the utensil in the sink, she walked over to the couch in the living room and took a seat.

Blowing on her drink, she then set it on the coffee table on a coaster she’d handpicked, and waited for it to cool some. She sank back into the couch and thought about the last time she’d been there.

The night she’d cheated…

No, no. The night Eddie had come home drunk and kicked her out.

And then nicely apologized the next morning.

That’s no excuse!

Neither is yours…

Ugh.

She hated her inner voice. She hated how right it was, so instead she opted for how annoying it was. What did it know anyway? It was a conscience. Maybe. Probably. But it didn’t take into account how she felt through all of this.

She’d been incredibly hurt by Eddie’s dismissal of her. The fact that he came home drunk at all was so shocking she hardly knew how to handle it. She’d tried so hard to make it a good night for him, for them. And it was all thrown out the window when he couldn’t get past the fact that she and Barry were affectionate with each other and that somehow meant that deep down they had more than platonic feelings for each other.

Well, he was right…

Argh. He was not right.

Oh, really? Then how come-

Pushing herself forward to cut off the voice, Iris reached for her mug and downed some coffee, even though it wasn’t quite cool enough to not burn her tongue and throat on the way down.

Right now, she decided, her cheating on Eddie was a non-issue.

Her inner voice snorted.

What mattered now was that Eddie was out of town and Barry and her dad had betrayed her. What was she supposed to do as a distraction? Work? She supposed she could work on mending things with Linda. Though, what was the point? They had never really been friends, and Iris had always been a little intimidated and felt threatened by her because Barry had chosen her to move on with.

She still remembered that first day he had come by CCPN, not to see her at her workplace, but to meet up with Lin-daa to go on a date. She scrunched up her nose in disgust. He’d never come to see her at her job even once, but he came to meet one of her co-workers that she didn’t even know about to go on a date.

She remembered shaking Linda’s hand and smiling brightly, happy to meet her, ecstatic even. Linda was happy, Barry was happy. They were all happy. And the next time she heard about them going out again, this time at Jitters, she’d been happy for him too.

She was so, so happy. She could hardly stand how happy she was. He was finally meeting a wonderful girl who would give him what she couldn’t. A romantic relationship.

And then that night had happened, and it had changed everything. For her, for Barry, for Eddie, for Linda. Barry had been so quick to break up with Linda after it, she realized there’d been no point in her being jealous at all of their relationship.

Ohh, jealous? That inner voice teased.

“Not jealous,” she said aloud, shaking her head.

She blew over her coffee another time, then hesitantly went in for a tiny sip. It was cooler now. Hot but not scalding. The perfect temperature.

There was nothing for it. Mad at Barry for his Flash reveal or not, she couldn’t face Linda at work. Even if she didn’t recognize her existence like before. Between Barry and her dad betraying her, Eddie being gone – mostly because he was mad at her – or hurt? Probably mostly hurt. And because he believed the answer to their couple problems was her making up with Barry. She rolled her eyes at that.

And then there was Linda and their nonexistent relationship. She still hadn’t been able to get a solid conversation out of her, or even a greeting. Linda hadn’t told Eddie of Iris’ little dalliance with Barry yet. That much was obvious. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t though.

Iris nibbled on her bottom lip and stared down into her coffee, setting it back on the coaster before going into her shared bedroom with Eddie and unplugging her now fully charged phone. She practiced her sick voice aloud a few times, the same one she’d used as an example for Barry when he needed to convince her dad he was sick back in elementary and high school.

“Hello?” she croaked as soon as HR came on the line. “My name is Iris West. I’m an employee at CCPN,” she rasped. “And I…” She coughed into the phone and heaved dramatically. “I won’t be able to come in today. I’m sick.”

Yeah, she didn’t want to deal – or not deal – with Linda at work today either.

…

Barry zoomed just to outside CCPN on his work break. Then he straightened his jacket and flattened some of his hair that had blown wild during his running. Glancing at his reflection in the glass door, he decided he looked okay enough. At least he didn’t look like he’d been running at super speed or been blasted by a massive wave of wind.

Joe didn’t know that he was here. He’d left a little earlier than his usual lunch break when he knew Joe was probably still busy with own work at the station or maybe even out at a crime scene that he – Barry – was hopefully not needed for. He knew that they’d decided to not interact with Iris for a few days, give her some space to breathe before making some peace with her, but Barry had decided what was the harm in trying it at least once the very next morning?

After all, her being mad at him was almost worse than her breaking his heart. It kind of was worse because it broke his heart in the process, and he knew she was right to be mad. About this at least. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d tried to convince Joe to just let him tell her. Joe would have none of it though. At least he was seeing the error of his ways now.

Swinging the door open, Barry walked in and immediately saw that Iris wasn’t at her desk. Mason, the Nobel-prize winner that had finally warmed up to her wasn’t at his desk either, which Barry found very suspicious until he spotted the man across the room.

He approached him and cleared his throat loudly.

“Excuse me, sir? Sir?”

Mason finally looked up at him and squinted his eyes where he stood at the copier.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

Barry felt fire in his cheeks but forced himself to get past it so he wouldn’t blush too hard in front of this stranger.

“I’m a friend of Iris. Iris West. Do you know if she’s in today?”

Mason made some sort of a grunting sound, then shook his head and pushed past Barry roughly, heading back to his desk with his papers.

“I-” Barry frowned, unsure of how to proceed.

Luckily, Linda had witnessed the entire thing and felt sorry for the poor guy enough to try and get his attention when Mason was gone.

“Hey, Barry. Barry!”

Barry looked in the direction of where his name was being called and sighed in relief.

“Linda!”

He walked over to her quickly.

“What’s with that guy?” He pointed in the direction of Mason with his thumb.

Linda crossed her arms and looked over Barry’s shoulder to where Mason was getting settled at his desk. Then she looked back at Barry.

“Oh, uh…he’s not super friendly to newcomers.” She winced. “Sorry about that. What did you need?”

Barry blew out a puff of air.

“I was looking for Iris. She and I had a little…”

“Oh, another…?” She winked dramatically.

“No, I mean, yes, but…” He sighed. “She found out I’m…” He mouthed the words ‘The Flash’.

Linda’s mouth fell open, and she shut it quickly while nodding slowly.

“Ah,” she said. “I thought she was supposed to…never know about that.”

“She wasn’t,” he ground out.

Her brows furrowed.

“What happened?”

He ran a hand through his hair, tousling it some.

“Apparently,” he lowered his voice, “I didn’t think to change my make-out style from Barry to a certain…scarlet speedster. She put two and two together real fast, and…yeah.”

“Wait a second, let me get this straight.” She held up a hand. “You made out with Iris, as…” she mouthed ‘The Flash’. “After you and I…as in, the same night?”

Barry’s head fell to his chest.

“Not my finest hour, I know. I just can’t…”

“Resist her,” she finished, shaking her head and smiling. “I can see that. Damn, it’s really good we broke up when we did or I’d be going mad with jealousy at this point. Not even sex can keep you from straying.”

He winced. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” she said, giving a short, quick laugh. “If anything, I’m amused.”

“Yeah?”

“Consider us friends, Barry Allen. That’s much better than just exes, isn’t it?”

He nodded reluctantly. “Yeah.”

“Besides you should have someone who knows…” She lowered her voice. “Your secret.” She returned to normal volume. “That isn’t pissed at you about it. After all, we were only dating a few weeks. You had every right to your secrets at that point.”

“And you’ll keep it, right? You’ll keep my secret?”

“Of course,” she said automatically. “I said I would, and I will. You have my word on that.”

He smiled tremulously.

“Thanks, Linda.” He looked back over his shoulder before looking back at her. “So, about Iris?”

“Oh.” She frowned. “I think she called in sick today actually. I thought I overheard that when I passed HR’s office this morning.”

“Oh.” Barry frowned too.

“But if she’s as mad at you as you make it sound like she is, then I probably wouldn’t be bringing soup by her apartment any time soon. A) she’s probably not actually sick, and B) she’s probably still rattled from the recent revelation she discovered.”

Barry sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, she came over to the house last night and gave Joe and I a piece of her mind,” he muttered, still feeling scarred from just how angry Iris had been.

Linda rubbed her hand on Barry’s arm to soothe him and pull him out of his dark thoughts.

“Just give her a few days, Barry. She needs time to process everything before she can even think of forgiving you or even being nice about any type of apology on your end. That’s how it would be for me if I was in her position, at least.”

“Right,” Barry said, mostly to himself, as Joe’s voice loomed in the back of his head. “A few days.”

Linda tilted her head to the side.

“Want to have lunch with me? Might serve as a good distraction from your problems.”

He shook his head.

“No, thanks. I should get back to the station before Joe realizes I’m missing.” He paused before meeting her eyes. “He also suggested waiting a few days before trying to talk to Iris.”

“Ah.” She smiled. “See you later then.”

“See you,” he said quickly, then power-walked to the exit and flashed back to CCPD.

Linda watched and shook her head in wonder.

“That is…something else,” she murmured, then sat back at her desk and pulled out her paper bag lunch.

…

The next day Iris came into work. She came in the day after too. Barry didn’t interact with her that second day at all. He just flashed past CCPN to see if she was at her desk, to make sure she was okay and not genuinely sick. On day 3, he decided three days was the absolute bare minimum of ‘few’ and that he would wait till the end of the workday to surprise her and hope she didn’t blow him off. If she did, he’d probably have to wait a couple more days to see if she’d be more open to talking then. But if she gave him an opening, he wasn’t going to just sit by and not take it. She wasn’t just his best friend. She was the love of his life, and deep down he saw a future for them romantically.

Iris, exhausted after a long day, and having realized there was no danger in Linda surprise-interacting with her, got her things together and headed for the exit. The last thing she expected was Barry standing there in a suit with a huge arrangement of roses in a heart shape on a stand. She couldn’t even get a word in before he interrupted her thought process.

“It’s too much? It’s too much. It’s the heart, right? It’s too cheesy. Alright, hold on.”

And before she could blink, the flowers had been rearranged. Now they formed her name in all caps: IRIS.

“Is that better?”

Still trying to process, all she could do was stare, looking at the masterpiece before her and wondering how to respond to it, especially since she’d decided at the beginning of the day she was still mad at him.

“It’s worse?” His face fell. “We’ll go back to the heart. It’s-”

“No, Barry! Wait, wait. It is so beautiful, and you are so sweet…in theory.”

His frown deepened.

“In theory?”

She sighed and approached him tentatively.

“Did you forget what happened just a few days ago? Already?”

His shoulders slumped.

“I thought that would’ve been enough time.”

Her brows furrowed. “For what?”

“For you to forgive me.”

She took a step back and scoffed.

“You kept a life-altering event from me for months, almost a year, and you thought a few days would be enough for me to just…let that go?”

His mouth fell open but nothing came out.

Iris rolled her eyes and started to walk away. Luckily, Barry snapped out of it and immediately pursued her.

“Wait, wait, Iris, hold on!”

“And what’s with the suit?” she demanded. “It’s not like we’re going on a date.”

“No, I know that. I just…I wanted to look my best.”

“For what?”

“For you, obviously.”

She stopped and turned to look at him.

“And I think flowers look best with a suit accompanying them. I mean…right?”

She sighed, ignoring the tug on her heartstrings from how hopeful he looked.

“Look, I know what you’re thinking,” she began. “How can I possibly be mad at you for keeping a big secret when I’m keeping an equally huge one from Eddie?”

His voice squeaked a little. “Well.”

He hadn’t wanted to say it, but…yeah.

“We’ve been friends for over 15 years, Barry. We tell each other everything. Or we’re supposed to. I may have had a few days to let things sink in, but that doesn’t mean I can forgive you for it. It’s too huge.”

He took a step towards her.

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk about that, can we at least address the elephant in the room? You’ve been avoiding it since it happened, and I don’t think it’s fair. With Eddie gone, I mean…”

“Eddie did not break up with me,” she said. “He’s just out of town. That doesn’t give me permission to just…pick up where I left off with you.”

“No, I know that,” he was quick to say. “But do you ever…want to?”

He knew it was a risky question to ask, but if she wouldn’t even consider talking about the Flash reveal from the other night, he figured the other ginormous elephant was worth talking about. It had been long enough.

Iris took a breath, fighting with herself to not break out in a screaming match in the middle of the street.

“Okay, fine. You want me to be honest? I’ll be honest.”

Barry held his breath.

“Am I attracted to you? Yes. Did I just figure it out that night? More or less. Has the memory of that night been stuck in my brain ever since? Pretty much.”

His eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“But here’s the thing.”

Uh-oh.

“It’s just sexual attraction.”

He frowned.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means…we’ve been friends for so long, we were bound to develop a physical attraction to each other at some point. And for some reason neither one of us was smart enough to give in to a one-night stand to get those completely natural attraction feelings out of our system. It was going to come out and some point sporadically.”

“So, what you’re saying is…”

“I don’t have feelings for you, Barry. I love Eddie. He’s the only person I love. Romantically, at least.”

“I…see.”

“Ideally, a one-night stand would fix all of this, but I obviously can’t do that without cheating on Eddie again. And this time with actual sex.”

Barry gulped.

“It’s not gonna happen.”

“Right.”

“I will just have to…figure out some other way to get you out of my head. Or your body, rather.”

He wrapped an arm around the back of his head and did not succeed in stopping the blush that spread across his cheeks.

“I see.”

“And even if I did have feelings for you, which I don’t…”

“Yeah?” He licked his lips.

“All of that is moot, because I can’t trust you.”

His face fell.

“I feel like I don’t even know you anymore. Like you’ve been a completely different person since the moment you woke up from that coma.”

“Iris…” He reached for her, but she took a step back and held up a hand to fend him off.

“I’m sorry, Barry, but a few days and some flowers, gorgeous though they may be, is just not going to cut it.”

He found he had no words to that.

So this time when she turned away, he didn’t chase after her. He watched her walk away and out of his life. Again.

…

The plan was to go back to the apartment. That was the plan. But for some reason after Iris got into her car, she kept driving past a street she was supposed to turn onto and went to a familiar place instead. A place she knew better than the apartment she shared with Eddie and felt more like home to her, though she’d never admit it.

Jitters.

When she got inside the coffee shop, she headed straight for the back staircase without even stopping to get a drink. She opened the heavy, gray door and looked up at the long winding staircase above her. Taking a breath, she started the ascent, memories playing over and over in her mind with each new step she took.

She saw that first moment she really met the Flash again. That wink he’d sent her way. It had immediately caused chills to race down her spine. She’d been breathless, absolutely and completely. Was that what a crush felt like? It’d been so long since she felt that. She skipped that step with Eddie. He’d just come into her life when she was absolutely falling apart, and they’d naturally gone through all the relationship steps, but she never really had a crush on him. They’d missed that part somehow.

But she had a crush on the Flash. There was no denying it now. No denying how superficial it was either. She was a dedicated fan, and he was a superhero. There were probably loads of people had a crush on the scarlet speedster. She couldn’t be the only one.

But he’d met with her.

To stop her from running her blog, sure, but she knew the reason behind that now. She wondered how different things could’ve been if he hadn’t been trying to stop her during every clandestine meeting they had together. He’d probably have revealed he was her best friend sooner. But then she probably wouldn’t have had a crush on him or would’ve stopped having crush on him.

Right?

She kept walking up the stairs as another time flashed before her mind. Their second time on the rooftop. She’d been so happy, so full of life, so eager for even a snippet for her to include in her blog. And she’d been flirty too.

“My hearing is fine. It’s just selective.”

She smirked at that.

Another time… the time she cut off all contact with him, at least for a while. Because a meta had taken over his mind and nearly killed Eddie.

That made sense now too. Of course in a warped mind state Barry would go after Eddie. Eddie had wanted to take down the Flash since the second he believed in him, and then there was the other thing.

Barry was jealous.

“Don’t contact me again. Okay?”

If she had only known it was Barry.

She would’ve responded so differently. She would have understood. She would’ve wanted to know if he was okay, what he had gone through, how he’d broken through. She would’ve been entirely focused on him instead of her boyfriend. Eddie might not have liked that, but he would just have had to deal. Barry was her first and foremost, always.

She burst through to the rooftop, heaving, and went to the far side, leaning on the half-wall, which practically came up to her shoulders.

Her hands were trembling, so she gripped them to the stone as tightly as she could. And then she felt a gust of wind behind her and knew who was there. Who else could it be?

“Did you search the whole city for me?” She swallowed, as she turned around.

Barry approached slowly from the doorway.

“Didn’t have to. This is…your spot.”

Her irritation boiled up inside her again. Of course he knew that. He knew things about her that she hadn’t known that he knew. All because he’d kept this ginormous secret from her for months. He hadn’t let on at all, and she’d never figured it out. Maybe that bothered her the most.

“Yeah, it’s a special spot,” she said aloud. “It’s where I first met the Flash.” She shook her head. “All those times, you were standing right in front of me, and I had no idea. I don’t even know you anymore.”

Words she’d said before, but somehow they bared repeating. He needed to get it through his thick skull that she wasn’t going to just…forgive him because he was persistent.

“What are you even doing here?” she demanded.

He took a breath, ignoring her question.

“Every time I falter make a mistake, the thought of you is what picks me up and keeps me going. And not just as Barry, as the Flash too. With every meta, every crook, every time I have to step in and be a hero, it’s you, Iris. It’s you.”

Iris licked her lips, the words hitting home for her despite how much she didn’t want them to. It was a boost to know she was the support for a superhero. Even if he was just saying it to get her to consider forgiving him.

He closed the remaining distance between them.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is…even though you didn’t know everything about my life this past year, that does not mean that you weren’t a part of it. You were. Every. Single. Day. Without you…there wouldn’t be the Flash.”

And she knew in that moment, she was going to forgive him.

Her dad might be a different story, but this was Barry. How could she not?

Barry reached down and grazed his fingertips across one of her hands. She swore she felt a spark. She’d bet her life on it. She gasped even, albeit quietly.

“So, what do you say?” he asked, his voice gravelly and rough, almost like the Flash. Almost. “Are we good?”

And in that moment that she looked up into his eyes, she saw their whole life together flash before her eyes. Past, present, and future. She felt hope and longing and love. And she didn’t see Eddie in the future just then. She wasn’t thinking about him at all.

She felt butterflies too, exploding inside of her, and a dawning revelation hit her stronger than the one before she’d kissed him weeks before.

Oh, my God. I’m in love with him.

She could hardly breathe, and it was dangerous to be this close to him, to be touching him, knowing what she now knew.

“I think…” She licked her lips. “I think we might be okay.” She tried to push past the feelings cascading around her, but it was impossible. “Fresh start?” she made herself say, and he nodded.

“I’d like that,” he said. “No more secrets?”

She could almost laugh. She was sitting on a big one right now.

Tremulously, she smiled.

“No more secrets.” She tilted her head to the side, not wanting to part with him but knowing she needed a distraction that wasn’t confessing her undying love for her best friend while her boyfriend was out of town.

“You want to go see a movie?”

He grinned, and she wanted to melt. She’d forgotten how sexy that grin was. She hadn’t let herself think it, but now she was having trouble thinking of anything else.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”

He dropped her hand, but she looped her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked toward the door on the far end of the rooftop. She felt like a girl with a crush, and she knew then with absolute certainty that if Barry had told her who he was from the beginning, her crush wouldn’t have gone away. It would’ve intensified.

And that should’ve worried her more than anything else.

But for some reason, it didn’t.

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #just best friends #chapter 7

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thiswasinevitableid · 4 years

Text

Return (OT4)

Prompt for the 28th was: Costume

He might be showing off a little bit, carrying all the suitcases in at once, but Duck likes the appreciative look Indrid gives him as he does. The Sylph is already settled on the shoved together king beds, sketchbook in hand, eyeing the ranger conspicuously when he bends to set Joe’s bag down first, just as the agent finishes checking something off his to-do list

“Oh, thank you, um, honey.” The last word still comes out quiet. Really, the only time Joe says it loudly is when Duck has him pinned to one surface or another.

He smiles to show he heard him, but if he’s being honest his attention has been mainly on Indrid this whole day, watching for signs of discomfort or unhappiness. The Sylph has insisted over and over again that he wanted to come on this trip, that he would be alright, and that they could all stop fussing about this please and thank you.

But that doesn’t change the fact they’re in Point Pleasant.

They’re here for the Mothman Festival, Duck making good on his promise to Joe to go with him. He’s excited, and he likes seeing the agent happy. Indrid seems happy too, and Duck is trying to walk the line between letting him be and making sure he’s as alright as he claims to be. In spite of his experiences in Kepler, Indrid still sometimes takes unhappiness as inevitable, even when it’s his own.

“Okay” Barclay tucks his phone into his back pocket, “my vote is for that cafe a few blocks over; if we go early, we can beat the dinner rush. Plus, even though it wasn’t a huge trip, being on the road tires me out, so I wanna crash soon as I can.”

“That is your only reason for wanting to get into bed sooner?” Indrid sends a suggestive smirk his way, making the bearded man blush.

“Maybe. Depends on what everyone else is up for.”

The answer turns out to be a decent dinner followed by collapsing into bed in rapid succession. It doesn’t escape Ducks’ notice that Indrid stays in his human form and opts to nestle down between the ranger and the agent, holding Barclay’s hand where it’s draped over Joe’s waist.

He wakes up once during the night, the dim light of the alarm clock enough to sting his eyes. In his arms, Indrid takes several deep breaths, rolls to burrow his face into Duck’s chest. He waits to see if Indrid will say anything, but the next sound he hears is a gentle chirp-snore. So he kisses his forehead, and goes back to dreaming.

-----------------

“Having been to the TNT plant plenty of times, I do not feel the need to go on the hayride there.”

“Yeah, think we can skip that.” Duck sips his coffee as they wander through the first few blocks of the festival. Joe’s early rising has them beating much of the crowd, though runners from the 5K jog by now and then.

“Why were you there, anyway? It doesn’t seem suitable for you.” Stern turns them towards the museum.

“The Winnebago’s previous incarnation wasn’t all that far away. Frightened humans are not known for their powers of observation.”

“True.” Joe and Barclay say as one.

They split up soon after, Joe and Duck into the museum while Barclay and Indrid scope out the food booths (“Being in a space with a great deal of inaccurate information about me is not my favorite). Wandering the exhibits, the agent’s fingers slip between his own, and Duck smiles when he sneaks a peek at him. He’s so relaxed, his dark hair out of it’s usual slicked-back state since he wanted to get out of the door quickly, looks utterly at home in his mothman patterned button up shirt, animatedly talking about the displays. Indrid is usually the one of them most likely to dump information out in one big flow, but Joe has his moments.

The building is warm enough that Duck unbuttons his overshirt, revealing the t-shirt beneath. Joe turns to tell him something, and stops, eyebrows zipping up his forehead.

“A little on the nose, isn’t it?”

Duck grins, looking down at the bright red letters reading “mothman is my boyfriend.”

“Juno bought it for me once she found out. Usually just wear it when I wanna make Indrid laugh. Plus, seen three people with similar ones, so it ain’t like anyone is gonna take it as confession.”

Joe nods, gracefully weaving through a small clump of visitors on their way to the gift shop. When Duck falls in next to him, the agent murmurs, “you’re worried about him too.”

“Kinda hard not to be.”

“I know. I’m trying to take him at his word but it’s, well, it’s difficult. It wouldn’t be the first time my interests turned people off. I’d hate for him to get overwhelmed by all this and try to hide it for my sake.”

“He ain’t bad at hidin things, but he’s also real fuckin blunt.” He puts his arm around Joe’s shoulder, “it’ll be okay, city mouse.”

After spending slightly more money than necessary (look, he promised lots of people souvenirs and also he needed to buy a few things for Joe for the holidays), they make their way back into the festival. On a bench near an outer edge, Barclay and Indrid are sitting thigh to thigh, Barclay feeding Indrid funnel cake. He says something and Indrid laughs.

“You know, even though it was fleeting, I’m glad they found each other all those years ago. One of the things I love most about Barclay is how he takes care of people, and I think Indrid needed that.”

“Not gonna lie, never expected the biggest softy in Kepler to also be Bigfoot.”

“You didn’t expect it? Think about how I feel.”

He laughs, “yeah, you got me there.”

They move through the festival as a quartet after that, Barclay delighted with his “Mothman Blend” coffee and Indrid with the sweater bearing his likeness and the words “live, laugh, lurk.” As noon approaches, more and more mothman appear, all in varying degrees of impressive or lackluster cosplays and costumes. Stern keeps muttering about scale, Indrid about wing placement, and Duck can’t help but think none of them get the color right.

“I have an, ah, an idea.” Indrid says, turning a mug reading “I Heart Mothman” over in his hands, “So many people are excited to meet those who look like me. I want to see what happens if they see the real thing.”

“Uh, that seems real-”

“Risky yes, but I’ve checked the futures and there is not one where I am identified as what I actually am.”

Duck and Barclay trade a skeptical look, but Joe has an uncharacteristically scheming glint in his eye.

“I know exactly how we can insure that. Duck, Barclay, wait here please. Indrid, come with me, we need to run back to the hotel.” He grabs the Sylphs hand.

“What are you--oh, oh yes, that is rather clever” is the last Duck hears before losing them in the crowd.

“....you wanna help me pick out a present for Jake?” Barclay still looks worried, so Duck nods and they set off towards a t-shirt booth.

Barclay is mid-anecdote about his run in with a cougar out in California when every visitor in sight starts whispering and taking pictures.

The cooks mutters “If this goes wrong, Mama’s going to lock all four of us in the safehouse for the rest of our lives.”

In his Sylph form, Indrid towers above the crowd. His arms are resolutely set by his sides and head held high, Duck gets a rare glimpse of how his boyfriend must have looked in the halls of Sylvain. All the same, his eyes are drawn to the antenna twitching with nerves as the onlookers get closer.

“If you could just step back from the specimen a bit, thank you.” Joe steps directly in front of Indrid, and Barclay lets out a soft, appreciative growl to Duck’s right. The agent is in a full suit, complete with sunglasses, a picture of handsome, aloof calm.

People in the crowd laugh,take more pictures as Indrid’s “handler” guides him over to Duck and Barclay.

“Do you just pack a suit no matter what, babe?”

“No. I, um, I know how much certain people like it when I wear one. I planned to bring it out this evening but this seemed like the better use.”

“It’s working splendidly. So far. Just keep people away from my wings; I only like it when you three touch them.”

“Roger that. Lunch?”

“Sounds good to me. Lead the way, mister man-in-black.” Duck steps aside so Joe can go first, clearing a path for them, Indrid staying close to the agent’s back. They opt for a waffle stand selling, among other things, waffle sandwiches and something called the “Mothman Delight” that consists of strawberry jam, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Indrid orders one, only to ask Barclay to feed it to him to keep up the ruse of this being a costume. The cook doesn’t object in the slightest, though at one point he whispers something in high sylph that makes Indrid poof up with a chirp.

The longer they wander the festival, the more relaxed Indrid becomes, fielding questions about costume construction and wing mechanics with the ease of someone who spent a century constructing alibis for his very existence. Lots of people take pictures with him, Joe shepherding them into poses that won’t make the Sylph uncomfortable. Several inquire as to why he didn’t enter the cosplay contest.

“It wouldn’t have been fair.”

It’s when they’re debating when and how to get dinner that a family approaches. Sandwiched between her parents, a girl of about seven stares up at Indrid with wide eyes, clutching her stuffed mothman to her chest.

“Can, um, can” she looks back to her parents for help.

“She wants to know if she can hug you.” The woman says, as a child wanting to hug a massive monster is utterly unremarkable.

Joe glances at Indrid, who nods, “Yes, if she would like to.”

The girl hands her small mothman to her dad, takes four steps forward, and throws her arms around the much larger one. Indrid does his best to hug her back, settling for putting his hands on her shoulders.

“She’s just obsessed with cryptids.”

“You’re my favorite” she smiles up at Indrid.

“Mine too.” Duck chimes in, resting his hand on the smell of Indrid’s back.

“We’re out here because it’s all she wants for her birthday.”

Joe makes a high-pitched noise at the same time Barclay lets out an “awww.”

Indrid smiles, pats the child’s head, “In that case, would you like to take a picture with me?”

“Yes!”

“May I pick you up?”

She nods hard enough to send her alien-patterned headband down her forehead. Indrid picks her up, holding her while she beams at her mom’s camera.

“Are you liking the festival?” He asks as they pose.

“Uh huh. ‘Cept for the parts where people say mothman does bad things. He doesn’t, he stops them, everyone knows that.”

“She’s gotten in at least three arguments with classmates over that.” Her father adds, holding out his arms as Indrid passes the girl back to him.

“I, ah, I am glad to know the mothman has such determined defenders. Happy birthday, my dear.”

As they turn, the little girl calls out, “bye mothman! I love you!”

Indrid looks back, red eyes a bit watery, and waves as Duck murmurs, “Me too.”

----------------------------------------

Stern doesn’t regret how much he ate at dinner. He;s just glad he packed those antacids.

When he sits up, two bodies are missing from the bed, and it’s only the sight of a note on the nightstand that keeps him from bolting out of bed to look for them.

Indrid and I are out for a late-night walk. Back soon.

-Duck.

“Everything okay?” Barclay rolls over, brown eyes reflective in the dark.

“Yes” he pops the antacid into his mouth, “they just stepped out.”

“O-” the sylph yawns “kay.” Blinking sleepily, he smiles, “anyone ever tell you you’re the hottest thing on two legs?”

“You did, this morning.”

“Good, gotta meet my quota.” He opens his arms and Stern snuggles in net to him, “sleep tight, special agent.”

-------------------------

Duck didn’t see Indrid leave, but he’s got a hunch as to where he went. Still, he almost misses him, spots the silver hair in the moonlight right before a hedge obscures it.

Indrid sits in the middle of the embankment, the Ohio reflecting the night sky in motion. To a passerby, he looks to be studying the opposite shore. Duck knows that his gaze is closer than that, sweeping over air that wasn’t always empty.

“Huh, there was only one future where you followed me.”

“You want me to go back?”

“No.”

Duck picks his way down to Indrid’s side, finding a flat stone to sit on.

“It’s funny, the ways stories change. What they say about me grows further and further from what I say about myself.”

“‘Drid, you know this wasn’t your fault. No more than the Cottonwood or anythin else was.”

“That is the story I try to tell in my mind. That there are things that cannot be stopped or altered, that must only be endured. That was why I gave up for years. Then you and the others showed me that even the worst, seemingly inevitable futures can be changed. And that is good, so very good, but all the same it....it sometimes serves as proof of what I fear; that I could not stop these” he gestures to river, “disasters not because they were unstoppable, but because I was incapable.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Sometimes. Just as you sometimes worry you could have done much more good in the world had you neglected your powers. I wonder how much of my failure was out of my hands.”

“Drid” Duck cups his cheek, turning his head and gingerly tilting his glasses up his forehead, “You’re forgettin somethin; the cottonwood, the funicular, the end of the goddamn world, none of that was stopped by one person. It took a whole bunch of us, every damn time. You were alone. There’s only so much one fella can do on his own.”

Indrid closes his eyes, inhales and looks out over the river one last time. Then all his attention is on Duck.

“You’re right. I may not always believe that, but I know it’s true.”

“You know what else?”

The smile suggests he does. Indrid leans the few inches in to kiss him, the action dreamlike in its softness. Duck catches a hint of two different scents; a pine tr sop and a cologne. The Sylph is sheltered from the chill by a sweatshirt that started off as Barclays, but is routinely claimed by his boyfriends.

“You ain’t alone anymore.”

For the first time in decades, the mothman smiles while within sight of the rebuilt silver bridge.

“You’re right, my love. I’m not.”

#promptober #OT4: Government Men and Their Cryptid Boyfriends #sternclay #indruck #duck newton/agent stern #indrid cold/duck newton #agent stern/barclay/indrid cold/Duck newton #trans duck newton #trans agent stern

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fluffyunicornofdanger · 5 years

Text

Oscars After Party

Author’s Note: The idea for this just popped in my head the other day and I knew I had to do it cause I haven’t seen anyone else do it. I’d also like to thank @waymorecake4me for helping me edit. She’s been a real lifesaver. Anyway, I should have the third part of Living a Little out at the end of this week and I will be starting a new series and should post the first part tomorrow or the next day. I’m also taking requests for one-shots. So, please send in requests.

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Masterlist

Joe Mazzello x Reader

Summary: Going to her first Oscars, Y/n expected many things but none of them were running into a certain actor that had her heart fluttering. But a trip to the nearest 7-Eleven after the show would be her win for the night.

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: Language

Women in extravagant gowns and men in sharp black tuxedos passed in a blur as Y/n tried to navigate the red carpet. She had never attended the Oscars before, the thought had never crossed her mind until a movie that she had starred in was nominated for an award. It took her by surprise when she found out. She had only ever done small movies, ones that people had generally never heard of, and those never were nominated for anything. But her most recent movie wasn’t one that people passed up when looking for something to watch. It had caught the public’s attention and thrown the young women into the spotlight.

And that was terrifying.

Due to that movie, she had gotten more offers for parts then she ever had in her life. It had become harder for her to go out without people noticing her and her social media accounts had gained more followers to the point where she was feeling the pressure of her fame. Don’t get me wrong, she loved it. Well… parts of it. It was something that she had dreamed of since going into acting, but she didn’t realize how overwhelming it all could be. And she was all alone as none of her friends or family members knew that kind of feeling.

That feeling is what left her standing in the corner of a big open area where other actors and celebrities were mingling as they waited for the show to start. Y/n looked around desperately for her co-stars, but they couldn’t be found. There were just too many people in the way for her to spot them. Everyone seemed to blend in as it was anyway.

“You’re Y/n Y/l/n, right?”

She jumped when the question hit her ears. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed someone come to stand next to her. Turning to where the question came from, her eyes landed on a man in a black tux with swept over brown hair and a warm smile.

“I’m sorry if I scared you,” he apologized.

Y/n waved it off. “Oh, no. It’s not your fault. I was just caught up in my thoughts,” she gave him a nervous smile. Of all the people that could have approached her, why did it have to be some that she found attractive? Why? “What was your question?”

He laughed, making her heart flutter. She had a feeling that she was going to screw up her first time at the Oscars if she talked to him much longer. There was just something about him that sprouted butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “I was wondering if you were Y/n Y/l/n and if you’re not then you’ll have no trouble stealing her identity.”

She let out a laugh, fiddling with her clutch. She thought her nerves were going to be at bay until the show started, but she was wrong. “Well, everyone knows me as Y/n Y/l/n, but that doesn’t mean I’m really her.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Y/n, if that’s even your real name,” he joked, extending his hand for her to take. She grasped his hand, feeling his soft, cool skin against hers that were burning up and all clammy. “I’m Joe Mazzello, but most people just call me Joe.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Out of the corner of her eye, Y/n was still looking for her co-stars. Being alone at the Oscars was one thing. She could deal with that. She could manage. But being alone with an attractive member of the opposite sex was completely different. Y/n wasn’t the most confident or most outgoing. She wasn’t that person that could just walk up to strangers and start conversations by herself. Maybe if she had a friend with her, someone she was comfortable with, then she would have no problem getting out of her comfort zone. But she didn’t have that.

And when it came to men, she was a wreck. She always got flustered and nervous when she was alone with anyone that she found attractive. She knew it had to do with the fact that all the attention was then trained on her and she hated it. She was an actress, the attention was supposed to be trained on her. She was supposed to be used to it, but she wasn’t.

Joe let out a sigh, glancing down at his wristwatch. “I’m waiting for my friends, they should already be here, but-” He gestured to the open area in front of him. “- clearly they aren’t.”

She nodded, knowing the feeling. “Yeah, mine too. At this point, I think they’re avoiding me.”

He shook his head in disagreement. “Now, why would they want to avoid someone as beautiful as you?”

Her skin burned at his question as a light smile danced on her lips. She had to keep her cool. She had to. It was nothing but meaningless flirting. The two would probably never see each other again. “Because they’re assholes,” she told him as she caught sight of one of them who gave her a smile and thumbs up from across the room. They were probably avoiding her for the sheer reason that she was talking with Joe.

He laughed at her answer, “My friends are too and I’m still forced to sit next to them.”

“Same here.”

Before their conversation could go much further, two men walked towards them. One was tall and lean with light brown hair, wearing a black suit much like Joe’s and the other was around Joe’s height with a head of blonde hair, wearing a white suit that seemed to be out of place amongst the sea of black ones. Joe turned to them with a big smile when he noticed them approach. “Where have you guys been?”

The tall one shook his head, “We were waiting for you at our table with Rami and Lucy.”

Joe’s eyes lite up at the realization. “You guys have been here the whole time?”

“Afraid so, mate,” the blonde man confirmed.

Y/n bite her lip as everyone just stood there, unsure what to do. And it didn’t help matters that she could feel their eyes on her every now and then. They were quick glances, ones that would generally go unnoticed, but she noticed them.

Fiddling with the clasp on her clutch, Y/n smiled up at the men. “Well, I should get going. I’d hate to keep everyone waiting.” She pointed to a group of her co-stars that had gathered on the other side of the room to watch their conversations. If they were waiting for them to exchange numbers, they could continue waiting. It wasn’t going to happen. She turned to Joe. “It was really nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, it was nice to meet you too,” he called to her as she started walking towards her friends. He would be lying if he didn’t say he was taken by her. He was generally a man of many words, always talking up a storm, but not around her. He wasn’t even sure what to say while they were talking. He wasn’t given much time to start up a real conversation, anyway. But there was just something that drew him to her. He couldn’t quite pin down what it was, but he hoped that wasn’t the last time they crossed paths that night.

The Uber came to a stop in front of the nearest 7-Eleven. Y/n opened her door, thanking the driver before shutting it and walking up to the store. She was probably overdressed for the corner store, but she didn’t care. She’d seen people wear much worse, so it would probably be a nice change for the cashier.

The award show had been fun. She spent time with her co-stars who had pretty much become her family. It had come to the point where some of their parents were alright with all of them calling them ‘mom’ or ‘dad’. Sitting with them and their dates was nice. It brought her comfort and dropped her stress a few levels. Of course, it was brought back up when they mentioned the man that they had seen her talking to. He had apparently been in a big movie, so big that it was nominated for quite a lot of awards. The first thing that any of them asked her was if he gave her his number and the answer to that question was no. Why would he? If he was such a big actor, he could have anyone. So, why settle for an actress that had only ever attended the Oscars once?

He could do so much better than her.

And she probably was the last thing on his mind. He, just like almost everyone else that attended the show, was probably already at the after party, having the time of his life. Parties, award shows, things like that just weren’t Y/n’s thing. Her co-stars had tried to get her to stay and attend but she was done for the night. The awards themselves were already too much for her. She still needed a little time to adjust to her new found fame.

Y/n opened the door to the convenience store, the knot, where she tied her long dress up to keep it from dragging, hit against her leg as she walked around. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, pretty much just anything that she would crave while watching something on Netflix back at the hotel. She walked down the aisle that housed the chips and candies, stopping where all the Lays chips were stored. Holding her clutch, she tapped the fabric with her other hand as she bite her lip in thought.

All the flavors looked good.

She wasn’t given any time to decide when two men opened the front doors, laughing their heads off. She tried to pay no attention to them, picking a flavor was more important than random strangers. But she was pulled from her train of thought when they came waltzing down her aisle.

“Why are we even here?” one of the men asked with a British accent. The voice sounded oddly familiar, but she tried not to look at them as she picked up a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

“Because after parties are lame, Ben. We’ve been over this,” the other man answered.

Y/n was just about to walk to where the drinks were being kept when the voice met her ears. She knew now why the first one had sounded familiar. She turned back to see Joe and the blonde man from earlier looking at the different packs of Oreos that the store had. “Shit.”

She wasn’t quite sure why them being there was a bad thing, but her brain told her it was. It was probably because her friends had made her self-conscious about the fact that he was a big-time star and she wasn’t. She wouldn’t even consider herself a star. But that wasn’t really their fault, they had meant well. They just wanted to see her happy and they knew how lonely she was sometimes. If anything, she ruined the idea of Joe for herself.

If her heels, that were starting to rub her feet the wrong way, had been quieter, Joe and his friend wouldn’t have turned around. They would have kept their eyes fixed on the cookies in front of them and not noticed as she grabbed a tea and walked to the register. But that wasn’t the case.

The noise of her heels rang through the store, causing their heads to turn in her direction.

“Y/n?” Joe questioned, she didn’t even have to turn around to know that he was walking towards her, his shoes were just as bad as her own.

She slowly turned around, nodding. “Yeah.”

“Why aren’t you at the after party?” he asked, a concerned look taking over his features.

She shrugged. She was clearly not there for the same reason he wasn’t. “Not sure what fun that would be. Besides, I can’t eat these-” She held up the bag of chips in her hand. “-if I’m at one of those parties.”

Joe laughed, running his fingers through his already ruined hair. “I guess not.” Someone behind them cleared their throat, causing Joe to turn around, a big smile appearing on his face when he realized it was his friend. “Were you feeling left out?” he joked, earning a stern look from the man. “Oh, Y/n-” He turned back to her. “-this is my friend, Ben.”

“Hi,” she gave him a small wave, trying not to drop her chips. Ben gave her a smile in return.

“Ben, this is Y/n.”

From the look that Ben was giving Joe, she could tell that it wasn’t the first time that her name had been brought up. Maybe she was wrong after all. Maybe a star like him would want to be with a tiny one like her.

“So, why aren’t either of you at the after party?” she questioned, walking over to the fridge that held all the teas.

“That’s a good question,” Ben glared at Joe who was following behind her. He looked like a lovesick puppy. The poor man.

Joe waved the comment off. “After parties are lame.” He opened on of the fridges to grab a coke. “And anyway, we will probably have much more fun on our own. Right, Ben?”

His friend just grumbled, clearly not completely up to the idea of skipping the after party. Who could blame him?

Y/n nodded, trying to balance her clutch and tea in one hand. That’s one reason that she decided not to go. She knew wouldn’t have much fun being around loads of people that she didn’t know and didn’t care to know. She would have more fun on her own, watching so random movie on Netflix. “That’s one reason I’m here instead of there, too. And the fact that I’m not a very social person…”

She turned to the register, trying to keep her nerves together as Joe followed close behind. That man had brought about feelings that she hadn’t felt since middle school and she wasn’t happy that she had to suffer through them on her own. She wasn’t sure she could. Placing the items down on the counter, she gave the cashier a nervous smile as she fumbled with her clutch. Her nails weren’t even that long, yet she was struggling to unclasp the buttons.

“Let me help you with that,” Joe’s fingers brushed against hers as he took the clutch from her, opening it with ease. He handed it back, getting a small thank you in return. “And I think you’re pretty social,” he stated.

Y/n scoffed at his words. “Joe-” She turned to face him. “-we have barely even had, what I would call, a conversation. It has been more small talk than anything. So, I don’t think you know how social I am.”

She wasn’t trying to be harsh, but she felt that’s how her words escaped her lips as she watched Joe’s smile fade a little. It was true, though. They barely knew each other. Sure, she wanted to get to know him better but she wasn’t the type to ask or give numbers. That was never something she was confident enough to do. But not even a second had past when his big smile returned. “Well, maybe I want to find out how social you can be.”

Y/n grabbed her bagged items, taking the receipt from the cashier and raised her brow. She had a feeling she knew where it was leading. “It that so?”

He hummed in conformation. “Yep, I would love to find out how social you are and maybe help you be more so.” He clasped his hands behind his back as he walked with her to the door.

“Well, maybe I’ll take you up on that offer,” she laughed, resting her elbows on the door rail. She wasn’t sure what was getting into her, maybe he was already making her more social.

“Really?” He looked about as happy as a child on Christmas morning.

She nodded with a smile, her confidence growing. “I’ll hit you up sometime. How does that sound?” she asked, pushing the door open.

“Th-that would be great! I’ll be waiting,” he smiled as she turned from the door.

“Bye Joe,” she waved, clutch in hand, as her Uber approached.

He waved, watching her open the car door. “Bye.”

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marvelmymarvel · 6 years

Photo

In Denial

Joseph Liebgott x Marshall!reader

Synopsis: Joe and you always got on each other’s nerves, but how long will it take before you both realize how in denial you are about how much you love each other.

You couldn't seem to tell your anger and lust apart from each other. They always made you feel the same thing when it came to Joseph Liebgott. He frustrated you and made you want to kiss him all at once, and you were tired of it. As the only female in Easy Company, it was hard to gain respect from the men, to begin with, but once you showed them what you could do, they all began to respect you. Except for him. His teasing always got on your nerves. ‘Y/N you’re doing that wrong’, ‘Y/N you run like a girl’, ‘Y/N Y/N Y/N’ he just couldn't leave you alone. "Why does Joe hate me” You grumbled to George in the bar, where all of Easy Company was celebrating their graduation. "Joe?” George asked clearly drunk already “Joe doesn't hate you” he simply stated as he poured someone a drink. Your face contorted into confusion “Yeah, yeah he does hate me George” you stated back “Oh I know, You think I'm talking about Toye!” you smiled thinking you found his error. George simply chuckled at you “No, I know exactly who we are talking about” he stated. Before you could counteract his idiotic words that the Joseph Liebgott didn't hate you, Colonel Sink came in interrupting everything. “At ease Gentlemen” He stated. You wormed your way up to the front, watching the Colonel give a speech that was supposed to somehow ease all of the worried minds that existed in the room.

Your father knew Colonel Sink, hell, your father was General George Marshall and the only reason you were here was that your father allowed it. Colonel Sink loved you, as the only female to serve in the airborne, you were special in his eyes. “I just wanted to recognize someone” Sink started and he looked right at you. Your eyes got big and he motioned for you to come onto the stage. You went up, face blazing red, and stood there awkwardly. You didn't notice that Joe was following your every move with a little smile on his face. Colonel Sink shook your hand and turned to the men “As you all know, this here is Y/N Marshall, General Marshalls daughter, and I just wanted to say that I am proud to have you in my infantry. The first female to serve.. and in my Infantry! It’s such a blessing!” He stated. You nodded but all you wanted to do was to get off that stage. Colonel Sink turned and raised his glass, “Currahee!” he yelled. The men followed and you looked at George with a ‘please help me out’ look. He only chuckled. Joe turned to see where you were looking and frowned at Georges smile to you. Why was he feeling jealous? He looked down at his beer as everyone resumed and you practically flew off the stage and towards George. He watched you pull him into a hug and his heart broke a little. His facade went back up and he downed his drink.

The boat was crowded as you tried to find a bed to sleep on. George had got one at the top but you refused to climb up that high, so you settled for one a little higher up but not too far of a fall. It was the perfect place until you realized who was next to you. “Well, well, well if it isn’t Colonel Sinks pride and joy” Joe teased from his place next to you. “Fuck off Joseph” you grumbled trying to reread the sentence in your book. “Aw come on, don’t be so uptight” he playfully pestered as he took a drag of his cigarette. “Joe… Shut the fuck up would ya” you snapped finally glaring at him. “Why don’t you make me” he suggested leaning forward. You inhaled slowly, trying your best not to deck him then and there. You leaned forward into his face and cocked an eyebrow, “I will end you” you whispered. His smile grew and he leaned back laughing “As if sweetheart!”. His comment made you roll your eyes but he finally left you alone. “That pricks a son of Abraham” Guarneres’ voice brought you out of your fairyland that the book brought you to. You looked over at Joe wide-eyed, knowing that if he got the chance to punch someone, he would take it. “He’s a what” Joe asked Bill “Joseph” you warned, you didn’t know why you did, it just felt like you had to. “He’s a Jew” Bill continued. Your head snapped to Bill and you threw a ‘what the fuck’ glance at him. “Joe” you repeated but he cut you off “Oh Fuck” Joe growled throwing his cigarette down and jumping down. You watched wide-eyed as Joe approached Bill, and for some reason, you felt fear for Joe. You were confused by this feeling, it wasn’t of lust or frustration, it was something different. “I’m a Jew,” Joe said in Bills face angrily, “Congratulations, now get your nose out of my face” Bill stated and pushed Joe out of his face. Your breath caught as Joe’s fist rose and slammed down into Bills. A fight broke out and you just watched in awe as the other men pulled the two apart. The fight settled down, but Joe didn’t talk the rest of the night.

Holland. You were overjoyed to finally meet some people that actually were happy that you were there. Dancing happened in the street, children cheered from above, and confetti flew down like rain. You laughed as Perconte was pulled from the chest of a woman and rolled your eyes at the fact that Talbert was making out with another woman. You felt joy and happiness. Something that rare was welcomed. A man grabbed your hand and pulled you to dance. “No no I am good thank you” you responded but he continued to pull, he responded in Dutch. You shook your head but a hand grabbed the one he had and a body blocked your view of him. Joseph stood in front of you and towered over the little Dutch Man “Ze zei nee” he snapped as he threw the mans arm down. “Joseph he just didn’t understand” you tried to reason as he guided you away from the crowds and the man. You threw the man an apologetic look but let Joe take you away. “He could have been dangerous” he grumbled. “I didn’t know you knew Dutch” you stated “what did you say anyway” he shrugged at you and replied with what you had said before, but in Dutch. You nodded happily, thinking that what he said was kind, but what you didn’t realize that it was simply “she said no” but there was a certain feeling in that tone that made the man back off fast. You met up with the other men and quickly forgot about it.

It had been months. You lost men, you lost friends, you lost brothers. Bastogne was hard, but Foy was harder. You felt relief run through you once Speirs ran out and took control and you were all finally singing happy songs on the tank. That was until a shot rang out. A man fell above you and you tried to hide but another shot pierced your shoulder. Your yelp rang out as you hit the ground clutching at the wound. You heard screams and then a shot, then applause. Joes face hovered over yours, and it held panic as he tried to talk to you. The pain was so much for you, you had never felt anything like it. “It hurts” you cried out as Doc ran to your side and tore your jacket open. “I have to get the bullet out darling I’m sorry” Doc mumbled and his fingers dug into your wound. You cried out and Joe yelled at him to stop, “Joseph I can’t. The bullet can kill her” Doc stated as he continued to dig. You grabbed onto Joe’s arm, squeezing tightly as he looked at you in fear. Fear for what, you had no idea. The pain subsided a little once Doc pulled out the bullet. He poured Insta-clot powder on the wound and put a bandage on you. Joe just looked at you blankly. Doc helped you sit up and then finally stand, but when you turned to talk to Joe, he was gone. “Don’t mind him” Doc stated as you turned back to him “Why does he hate me?” you asked, Doc looked at you and threw a little smile. “He’s just in denial” Doc stated and before you could ask him to clarify he walked away.

Showers. That word made your heart sing, the only bad thing was that as a girl, you didn’t really have your own shower. You walked up towards the showers and saw Webster. It had been a while since you saw him and you practically threw yourself into him. “WEBSTER” You screamed happily as he hugged you back harder “I missed you so much!” You continued pinching his cheek “I missed you to y/n” he responded trying to get his cheek out of your sharp pinch. You didn’t realize that Joe was nearby, but Webster saw the glare he threw at him. “What’s up with Joe,” Webster asked looking down at you smiling. You looked over at Joe and he looked away, “Beats me” you sighed out “He hasn’t talked to me since I was shot… SPEAKING OF SHOT!” You screamed again “HOWS YOUR ASS-” “Jesus Fuck y/n do you ever shut your trap” Joseph cut you off as he got in line for the showers. You sent a glare at him but pulled Webster into line with you. “I’m not really sure how I’m gonna shower but, I guess there’s a first for everything” You giggled at Webster. Webster was always the closest with you, even before George. The fact that he loved to read made it even easier to get closer to him, which was something a certain somebody hated. “How long has it been since your last shower” Cobb called out to Webster. You shot a glare towards Cobb but Webster nodded embarrassed and annoyed “I’m gonna skip” He whispered to you. “Okay Web” you mumbled sadly. Why were these men so mean to him all of a sudden? Joe sent a glare behind your back towards Webster as he walked off.

You turned back towards the showers and realized how close Joe was. “Jesus Liebgott” you whispered, “Get out of my space”. You tried to push past him but he grabbed your arm softly. “You don’t like him, do you?” Joe snarled. You looked at him in pure anger, “Its none of your fucking business if I do” you growled back. You tried to walk away but he yanked you back. You were chest to chest with him as he looked at you with a fire in his eyes like you’ve never seen before. “You are my fucking business” He replied lowly. You scoffed and ripped your arm out of his hand “I’m not even your girl, and if you would ask me, I never will be because you’re nothing more than a prick to me. So leave me alone Joseph Liebgott” you snapped. You had finally had enough of his idiotic ways. You had enough of his hot and cold moods. You had enough of the way he made you feel. You simply had enough. You stormed off towards Webster leaving Joe standing there in self-pity. “You really fucked that up eh Joe” someone joked. Everyone in the company knew about his feelings towards you, except the problem was that he just now realized it. He didn’t say anything snarky back to the soldier, for he wasn’t wrong. He turned back to face the showers. His heartbreaking just thinking about you loving Webster instead of him. It broke him. He stood in the shower, trying to wash the thoughts of you down the drain. But all it left him with was wet hair and a broken heart.

The ride out of Haguenau was quiet. You sat across from Webster and Joe and in between George and another replacement. You were freezing as you cuddled in a little deeper into George. Joe glared at where your head was placed on Georges’ arm and he didn’t even realize he zoned out on your face until Webster nudged him. Joe looked over at Webster with a blank expression and Webster nodded in realization. “You love her,” he whispered in Joe’s ear, quietly so you wouldn’t hear. They thought you were fast asleep but they didn’t realize you were wide awake, and that you could hear everything.

Joe contemplated the words but looked back at him shrugging. As if he didn’t already know the answer. Webster just stared at him knowingly. Joe sighed and looked out thinking and then back at Webster. “Okay, so what if I do?” he stated defensively.

“Then you should ask her out” Webster answered. Joe stared at him blankly, “I thought you liked her” he countered. “I don’t like y/n as more than a friend Joe” Webster answered truthfully. To him, you were nothing more than a baby sister. While Joe ended the convo there, you sat there in shock. Then all of the instances came back to you. Georges knowing smile back home, Docs in denial statement, you being his business, it all made sense. You smiled and snuggled in closer to George. You knew Joe wasn’t going to just out and pop the question, so you had to force it out of him.

You watched him speak to the Jews. He looked broken but you couldn’t get to him, you didn’t know why you needed to. But the way he looked was the only answer you needed at that moment.

A break came in the sea of Jews and paratroopers and you ran through to the truck where Joe was now sobbing in. You climbed in and immediately grabbed him, making him look at you. “Joe, hey shhh its okay” you whispered trying to calm him but you just couldn’t seem to. Taking his face into your hands you forced his head to yours “it’s okay Joe……” you started and he just stared at you. He let out a broken sob and you just pulled him into your arms as he cried into your neck. You waved George away as you soothed the crying man in your arms. “Everythings going to be okay” you whispered. You didn’t stop rubbing his back until his sobs stopped.

He didn’t talk much to you after that. His angry outbursts scared you, and his hatred towards the Germans, while rightful, made you fearful. You didn’t step in and stop it until Webster told you how he forced a German down and almost killed him. That was the final straw. You knocked on the door of Joes room which was only steps from yours. “Now I don’t normally step in on these types of things” you started. He just stared at you from where he sat on the foot of the bed, “But you’re scaring me Joe” you whispered out. “They killed my people” he answered sourly. You gulped but nodded as you took a step forward, you were shaky. He wouldn’t hurt you, but his outburst itself would frighten you back into submission. “I know Joseph… But killing them all isn’t going to change anything” You whispered. He looked at you angrily and disgusted “You’re siding with them?” he scoffed. You shook your head violently “No Joe I would ne-” he stood up, cutting you off as he towered over you. You planted your feet firmly and looked up at him. Seconds passed, but it felt like years. The tension between the two of you was suffocating. “I just don’t want to lose the man I love to anger” you whispered finally “and I know you like me too, Joe so you can’t hide it anymore, so for me, please stop killing” you practically begged him. He just watched you, taking in everything that you just said to him. Love. That word repeated in his head over and over again. Joe couldn’t say anything but he nodded, promising to not kill someone simply out of rage. It was all too much. The anger, the jealousy, the love, all of those feelings had made him in denial. But not anymore. As he cupped your cheek lovingly, it all fell into place. “I’m just so fucking in denial” he whispered before capturing your lips in his.

#joseph liebgott x reader #joe liebgott x reader #band of brothers imagines #band of brothers imagine #webster x reader #george luz x reader #joseph liebgott x y/n #lieb #joseph liebgott #band of brothers #reader insert #eugene roe x reader

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bunker-verse · 5 years

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Drabble: Into the Fire ( welcome, Jedi Collins )

“I dunno, Sam,” Buffy’s sunny, these days. Lots of yellow, a re-appearance of spring butterflies here and there in her hair. Like she’s trying to use color to pull herself out of whatever funk she’s been in lately. Shades of morning and summer to offset her gloomy demeanor. Her eyes cast down to her half-eaten yogurt, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with an equally tired, equally glum Caroline who hasn’t taken her eyes off Stefan since he walked into the room. It’s late, somewhere in the midst of twilight that sees these overworked, underpaid Avengers finally up and at ’em. Sitting down to the world’s most depressing breakfast before heading out for nightly patrols.

Buffy sighs without making a sound and doesn’t lift her gaze until she absolutely has to, “I mean, I don’t have context, I’ll grant you — I only faced Katherine once. And I know you guys have history,” which is the nicest way, ever, of saying Sam has a thing about bad girls that gets him into an awful lot of trouble, “It’s just, after everything she’s done. Sam. After everyone she’s hurt…”

Sam half-smiles, flinches, that annoyed little tick that rears it’s ugly head when someone’s listening, but they’re not hearing him. He’s frazzled, has to get his hair out of his face, so he brushes it back with both hands, “You know, I get it. I do, I get why you’ve got reservations and, you should. Katherine’s done a lot of damage but if we’re saying that makes her damaged goods? That she’s not worth saving? I’m sorry, I just don’t accept that.”

That would be catnip to Faith if she hadn’t checked out the minute Katherine’s name was brought up. She’s vaguely aware of what’s going on, and about how much of Sam’s ass will get kicked later on for this weird obsession with a former slice that was, by all accounts, a cheap placeholder for Faith in his life. Right now, though? By the grace of God, it’s none of her business.

She’s sliding in her earpods, intent on ignoring this all in favor of every Smashing Pumpkins song she’s ever heard, when one of them is suddenly yanked out of her ear. She turns her head a bit, just in time to see Damon plop down on the seat between Ric and herself with a smirk and the most wicked eyebrows you’ve ever seen.

He wants something, and it’s distracting to Sam to watch Damon sweep glossy curls off Faith’s neck as a dramatic prelude to whispering something in her ear, cheek to cheek, that tickles her enough to crack a pirate grin across her face — distracting, but not for the reason you’re thinking. Damon’s too touchy-feely. Especially here lately, walking around cocooned in the glow of eternal honeymoon. Pulling a Joe Biden with anyone who doesn’t flinch. It’s just how he is and they all know he doesn’t mean anything by it. Ric doesn’t even look up from his book for anything but a bite of his sandwich. He doesn’t really need to. For all their bullshit, there’s a trust building there that’s a beautiful thing to behold — or, it would be, if anyone noticed. So long as Damon’s not leering at Sam, Ric can deal.

Sam’s still not happy, about to lay the whole situation out because Buffy’s about as wrong as you get without being Bizarro Superman. When someone finally busts in, it’s Dean. Both elbows on the giant table, forehead in his hands. Frustrated by a replay of fluffy-headed nonsense from the original Ruby Apologist, “Alright, alright, alright,” he uses his patented shushing hand to quiet his brother before he can do more damage, eyes still shut for another blissful moment before he’s got to join the conversation, “Look, Dude. I get you have some fond memories there, who wouldn’t? But Buffy’s right. What’s Katherine ever done but go full-on Cujo on us? Huh? No. No, Sammy, we got our own problems now. Long as she doesn’t go floatin’ around, making noise, we got no reason to cross her path, but fat-ass chance of her staying quiet.”

Sam’s complaint catches in his throat and he’s on his feet, pacing away towards the telescope with both fists in his hair. He sighs, turns back to the group and tries not to look like a toddler with his arms folded, “Fine. You’re right, she’s not trustworthy… and I’m not saying she is but she came to me for help. I think. Maybe she just needs to feel like she can come to us if she’s in trouble?”

Caroline sighs, obviously tired. Of the conversation, mostly. She definitely got more sleep when she was human. Her cheek’s resting hard on the edge of her balled-up fist and when she speaks, it’s weakly through a set jaw, “Okay. I don’t love it, but if you think she’s being genuine? We trust your judgement.” she glances around the rest of the group, hoping for some show of support to put an end to a conversation she doesn’t really want to be having, “Don’t we?”

The room falls almost silent at that, no one really wanting to be the first to agree that Katherine Pierce should get the benefit of any doubt. What sounds there are seem nervous. The squeak of the cloth against Giles already clean glasses. Dean loudly clearing his throat. A ‘since when’ look on Castiel’s face that’s almost audible. Sam’s pissy, “Yeah.” is the cherry on top of the silence. He’s not getting anywhere with this group, and he knows it.

“Never fear,” if there’s one thing Xander Harris is good at, it’s putting himself in a situation that might end in a kicking of his ass. It’s a good thing the group in front of him is used to crappy surprises, because in other circumstances? Announcing his presence like a jump scare to a group of tired, jittery superheroes might have ended badly. As it is, the tension and exhaustion is obvious as he makes his way into the middle of the War Room with a clearly unwanted junior Slayer and a pretty little red-headed thing no one’s ever seen before, “Xander’s…” he’s barely acknowledged. He slows, looks around at a crowd that’s definitely not happy to see them, “… here?” then glances back at his posse with an uninspired, sarcastic shrug, “And you guys were worried we were interrupting something.”

Kennedy, who looks less than enthusiastic to be part of an entourage lead by Xander Harris, shoots the room a look and puts one hand on her hip and a friendly arm around the new girl’s shoulders, “See, Jedi? I told you the Men of Letters were total adults,” it’s sarcasm, but at least it’s a chipper sarcasm.

If confusion could manifest as a person, it would be the new girl in the room. With her huge, innocent eyes and miles of ginger mane, Jedi definitely stands out in the crowd of exhausted hunters. She’s taking things in as calmly as she can, but being in the Men of Letters bunker, for someone with a heightened olfactory sense, is like being in a candle shop. A gross, disgusting candle shop that sells trash-scented candles. It’s sensory overload for someone not used to it. The Slayers smell human, mostly. Like a fight, the dirt in a wet cemetery all being masked by expensive perfume and cigarettes. The hunters, more like booze and gunpowder — all familiar to her.

What’s not familiar? There are corpses in this room. They walk, they talk. They spend too much time on their hair. The group’s vampire-to-everyone-else ratio is actually ridiculously high, and if it weren’t for the fact that there were more than one species of vampire in this room, they’d be easy to pick out just from the scent.

And there’s a demon in there. Sulfur, whiskey and fear. At least one, but demons aren’t something Jedi’s run into, much, and pinpointing exactly what that scent is will likely keep her up, tonight. Xander glances back at her, “You okay, Jed?” she nods, and he goes back to addressing the group, “I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this isn’t great timing, but we kinda have a fire to put out, here.”

If Damon smells a werewolf, he’s not saying anything. Just finds a way to sit closer to Ric and gently elbow his ribs to get him into the game. It works, and when Ric looks up he finds that Caroline and Stefan are sharing a concerned glance, one that makes it’s way towards Dalaric. The vampires look to Angel, standing as far off from the group as he physically can manage without technically being in another room. There seems to be a consensus among the undead — vampires and werewolves aren’t a great mix on a good day, but with everything going on with Katherine and the Hellmouth, now’s not really the time for a strange wolf in the mix.

Dean closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose and winces as Sam tosses him a beer from the other side of the table. He catches it in mid-air, twists it open and motions with it to the newbies in the group, “Who the hell gave him a key?” not that Dean has an issue with Xander, besides hating his guts, but lately it’s starting to feel like they’re running a hotel for the Shadow World.

Heavily, Sam takes the empty seat beside Faith and absently drapes an arm across her back, coupling easily in a way that makes Dean’s stomach turn. She’s not even paying attention, reacts by resting comfortably back against him and finally opening her mouth on the subject, “What are you guys even doing here, anyway? Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re lookin’ to get a room for the night? We’re all booked up on crazy, here.”

“See? I told you this was a waste of time – ” Kennedy starts, but Xander’s not having it.

“Look,” he interrupts, folding his arms, “I’m getting we walked into a hornet’s nest, here, but we’ve pretty much got bad coming out the wah-zoo. As the Undead Americans probably already figured out, Jedi’s a werewolf. Thing is, she’s trying to outrun a bigger wolf and we need a place to lay low while we figure out how to take him on.”

Jedi’s attention is taken by Kennedy, who’s still leaning on her, arm around her like they’re friends. If Kennedy seems too calm, it’s because she is. This doesn’t affect her like it affects everyone else and, frankly, she thinks she should get brownie points for bothering to show up. Kennedy rolls her eyes, looks from Dean to Sam, “I seem to remember someone telling us if we ever needed help?”

“Yeah,” Dean’s the one who responds, pushing out of his chair and making his way towards Xander’s group. He’s looking down his nose at them, literally. Chest puffed out. Fucking werewolf. He knew he didn’t like the smell of this whole thing, “Well, that means the Slayers, Buddy. Not you, and not just any old rando demon off the street. How do we know this thing’s even house broken?”

“She’s not a ‘thing‘.” as if Dean doesn’t infuriate Xander on the regular, as it is, “Hey, she’s innocent, okay? She needs help. We do still help people, right?”

“Right,” it’s back to Dean, standing taller in his boots. Shoulders back, in no mood, “People. We help people, Harris. Oh man, do you ever have bad timing.”

“We just lost people,” Buffy slowly makes her way towards the group, Caroline and Willow not far behind. She crosses her arms stiffly and glances over at Willow before continuing, “A Slayer. A couple of hunters. It was wolves, Xand. We were ambushed. I- I know she had nothing to do with it, but this? It’s just a little hard to take right now.”

“I mean, we wanna help?” when Willow finally speaks, there’s a weakness to it. The weight of that loss on her heart is audible in her voice, “We will help, just…”

Sam takes his time standing, prompting Faith with him. It takes them both a few long moments to crowd around the newcomers, shoulder to shoulder. He sighs, “She’s right, we’ll help if we can but Xand, we’re at war right now. I mean, another Hellmouth went active just three hours from here and KC’s rumbling. Now the Clave is pushing us to put up the Lightwoods for a couple of weeks to learn how to control dimensional disruption because Brooklyn’s a full-blown Hellmouth. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but we’ll do what we can do. We just need to be sure having her here’s not putting everyone else in danger.”

“Dude,” Dean sighs it out, “We’re not set up to deal with a werewolf here, okay? Full moon in three days, Sammy! Use your head. You really wanna risk that thing tearing into somebody, huh? Having to put it down?”

She.” Xander’s about in Dean’s face, now. He knows. He knows what’ll happen to him if he throws a punch, but he’s not thinking straight, “Not ‘it’, she and she’s got a name. Jedi.”

Dean sneers, starts advancing on Xander in a way menacing enough that Jedi finally wrestles herself away from Kennedy and practically lunges at Dean, baring human teeth the way you’d expect a wolf to bare theirs. Surprisingly, it’s Faith who slides between the wolf and her brother-in-law, takes one of Jed’s shoulders and spins her back into Xander so hard it almost topples them both, “Whoa! Watch it, Jojo! Anybody’s gonna tear his throat out? Gonna be me.” Faith starts to step back, cautiously, reclaim her place beside Sam like it’s her birthright or something, “You best leash that dog, Harris. Somebody’s gonna get hurt.”

For Jedi, though, it’s not over and as soon as she gets her balance again, she’s headed for Dean. Slow, angry. Out to protect the man who saved her life. Dean’s calm about it, when he reaches for his gun. It’s almost casual if there is such a thing. Before she’s anywhere near him, he raises the weapon, aims it and squeezes off a round – grazes her cheek, “Warning shot, Mama. Next time I don’t miss.” he up-nods in her direction, “Back off, Bitch.”

When the bullet whizzes by, Jedi’s head turns with it. She snaps back, slow and angry, glaring at Dean. She’s bleeding. Long, thin cut on her cheekbone. And her eyes, usually that pale, grey-blue that nobody seems to notice but Xander? Are steeled, angry wolf eyes glowing an intense punch of blue that startles the group and makes everyone take a step back, “I will rip your testicles off,” and there’s a pause, a long beat before Jedi sneers, echoing Dean, “Bitch.” Her claws are out, and that’s werewolf speak for ‘put up or shut up’.

Except, no one’s listening to that warning. Definitely not heeding it because everyone in the room packing heat has their weapon out, sight trained on the new girl.

Sam reaches out to gently touch the back of Faith’s arm like it might calm her down, gun still aimed in the other. He’s about to say something that’ll probably make this a thousand times worse, when Ric pushes through the group and gets between Dean’s gun and Jedi. He puts his hands up, reality suddenly dawning on him and forcing him to realize that Dean might actually shoot him. As if on cue, Damon slithers in between Ric and Dean with a smirk on his face that’s begging his least favorite Winchester to give him a reason to vamp out. Alaric sighs, rests his hand on Damon’s shoulder in hopes of calming the situation, and addresses the crowd, “Okay! Okay, everybody just calm down. She came to us for help. We’ve got food and we’ve got rooms. If someone pulls their trigger, this won’t end well. No one needs to die tonight.”

It’s tense, though. The standoff drags on for another long few seconds until Dean grunts and lowers his gun, a cue for the rest of the group to do the same. Alaric’s clearly relieved, lets out a breath he’d been holding in as Dean stalks off, angrily exiting the room and hell bound for the kitchen.

While the room cools down, Willow tries to smile at Xander, “Well, at least nobody got shot this time? I mean, that’s progress?

@jedicollins @professional-brat @strangeandoffputting @samattheend @choosingtogodownswinging @thatslayer @ricsidiotbestfriend @allroundlostcause @iwannadogirlystuff @unicornsrequired @optimisticyellowcrayon

#bunkerverse #bvdrabble #jedicollins #Welcome to Lebanon #written by thatslayer with the help of jedicollins choosingtogodownswinging samattheend #drabble; into the fire

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nancydrew65 · 5 years

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SKAM Austin Season 2 Episode 4

I have to say, SKAM Austin really threw me off this week. They mixed together so many different episodes, that I was left guessing what would happen. I did not know until the Friday clip whether or not Daniel and Grace would have their first kiss.

Nobody

We got to see the morning after clip! OG deprived us of this scene, and none of the other remakes showed it either. (Well, Druck kind of did, but they copped out on us by having Alex gone).

I do have to say, though, that this clip is suspiciously similar to the first clip of OG episode 6. They have the whole “Were you looking at me while I slept?” exchange (they switched it so Daniel was the one watching Grace as she slept and not the other way around) and we got introduced to Daniel’s brother.

I thought the banter between Grace and Daniel was cute. However, it kind of felt off. In OG this exchange happened after a couple weeks of them dating. This is the night after Grace slept at his house. And I wouldn’t necessarily find it as unnatural as I do, if in the previous episode there had been more joking and flirting around. Grace and Daniel were so much more serious the night before than Noora and William were in that episode, so it feels weird to have them flirting so light-heartedly in this scene. Not to say I didn’t like it; I just felt it didn’t fit their characters and their dynamic as well as it did in OG.

And they continue the Noorhelm/remakes tradition of pillow fighting. Honestly, one of the cutest things this couple does.

So when his brother comes, Daniel legitimately leaves Grace in his room for like ten to twenty minutes. Kind of rude.

Grace eventually gets up and heads to the kitchen. She meets Clay, Daniel’s douche of a brother who pretends he knows all about feminism, but is actually just a condescending example of male privilege.

Well, Daniel is less of an ass in this scene than William was. I’ll give him that. I have seen people defend William in this scene and say “Oh, look at his eyes. He was practically screaming that he would explain everything later to Noora. She should have known he didn’t mean it.” Sigh. Look, while you as an audience member might have been able to grasp that oh so subtle look in his eyes, Noora probably could not. Think about it from her perspective: William has been so caring to her up to this point, so it is a huge shock to hear those words. She probably couldn’t think of anything beyond that. Nor should she be expected to. Also, it is apparent that William was never going to explain his actions because Noora had to drag an apology out of him later that week when she confronted him about his shitty behavior.

Anyways. Grace picks up on Daniel’s uncomfortable vibe and leaves. As she is walking out she hears Daniel refer to her as a “nobody”. Still shitty, but at least at this point, Grace and Daniel are not actually dating. Like Noora hearing that from William after weeks of dating, was a harsh blow. Here, it sucks, yeah, but not at the same level.

Harlot

Eve is going through Grace’s clothes to give away to immigrants. I do think changing it to immigrants is great. It is especially prescient right now, with all the debate about Mexican immigrants. And Eve does not seem to be prompted by a love interest, so, an improvement in her motives?

Megan comes over to return Grace’s things. She wants to get back with Marlon. Nooooo!

So, I guess they are skipping over the Season 2 cabin episode. It makes sense; that episode in OG was an Easter special and it didn’t do much to move the plot forward.

Eve reveals that Grace slept over at Daniel, and Megan is all over that drama. She doesn’t believe for a minute that Grace is not into Daniel.

Megan and Grace decide to take a nap together. #friendgoals

High-Key

Yay, Jo is joining the newspaper! I love that they are giving her more to do in this season. OG Chris was kind of just there. C’mon guys, give us a Jo season. Is she confirmed to be bisexual? OMG, make her Shay’s love interest! Make her the Austin Even. That would be amazing! I literally just came up with the best idea ever.

Also, Jo deserves all her instagram fame. She deserves world-wide fame.

Squee! Grace deleted Daniel from her message history. Not as badass as deleting his contact info, though.

Oprah

Zoya is actually talking about the dance team! Wow, when are we going to see the girls in action? Will we EVER see them dancing?

Zoya is constantly getting overlooked and bullied by the Kittens. Abby literally bumps into her. I can see that Zoya is getting angry by this. She wants to put the Kittens in their place. Will this replaces Sana’s subplot with Jamila in Season 2?

Mmmm, Zoya’s line about ‘her always being the one who has to be chill’ was on point. I feel like that is so true for many minorities because otherwise they’ll be punished more than the white girls. I really liked that line, but the whole back and forth between her and Grace felt so stilted and scripted. IDK, it just felt like Grace was acting - something out of line with SKAM’s vision.

Grace just busts out her dance moves right there in the middle of the hallway. You gotta have respect for that.

Kelsey is running up and down the stairs. She is really going over the top. Whew, that was one crazy monologue. It was all over the place.

Zoya drops some more truth as she tells Megan to forget about Marlon. Yes, girl. MARLON IS NOT WORTH IT. Megan complains that Zoya is being mean to her. But I’m with Zoya here. She’s just telling the truth, and Megan needs to get over Marlon.

And then the benefit comes in. Daniel and Pen-Joe trashed Pen-Joe’s father’s cabin and now they have to pay him back. Well, this doesn’t really make sense. It is just his dad, so it is not as big a deal as trashing someone else’s property.The football guys are auctioning off dates to raise the money to pay back Pen-Joe’s dad.

Kelsey fails so hard at trying to act all nonchalant about Daniel. Also, why are they hinting at Hunter for Zoya. He was straight up Islamophobic to her. I don’t really care if it was a joke or anything. That was such a bad directorial choice. Unless… he is the equivalent of the guy on the Russebuss who bullies Sana and is a straight-up asshole. If they eventually paint Hunter as an asshole, I would be OK with this as set-up for that.

Grace suddenly snaps, “Can we not talk about guys, for once?” All the girls are kind of taken aback. You can tell Kelsey is very shook. Maybe she should listen to Grace for once. Daniel is not worth it.

Jo saves the day once again. I hope her cat is doing better.

So, is the benefit happening this episode? Does this mean Daniel and Grace are going to have their first kiss this Friday? SKAM Austin is really switching things up this week. They cut the cabin episode and they are combining elements from episode 5 and 6. I actually like this because it keeps me on my toes. I don’t know what will happen this Friday. However, I do confess that I hope Grace and Daniel don’t kiss this week. I just don’t think they are at that point in their relationship, especially after what Daniel said about Grace on Saturday morning. I hope they at least talk about that incident before they kiss. I need to see Grace drag Daniel for calling her “nobody”.

Uninhibited

Continuing a fight that neither she nor Grace know anything about is such a Poonam move.

Aww, I love that Grace invited Poonam to join their dance team. Please, we need to see this! Also, I just got reminded just how sweet Grace is; she was pretty awesome in Season 1.

But I didn’t need SKAM Austin to hit me over the head with it through Poonam. They really didn’t need to include that line; it was so obvious. C’mon. We are not a stupid audience. We know when Grace is being nice.

Grace gets called out of class to go to the “principal’s office”, but it is just a ruse for Daniel to see her.

Damn, Daniel acts as though nothing happened. Even if he didn’t know she heard him say the “nobody” part, he was still rude to her around his brother.

Daniel wants Grace to come to the fundraiser. Grace lectures him on immigration issues.

She seems really hurt that he called her nobody, but I think it is more because she let her guard down for him when she knew she probably shouldn’t have and she is angry with herself for doing that.

Daniel apologizes. I guess he sounds sincere.

Then Grace says, “Could you be any more of a fuckboy?” YES!!!! Thank god we had this scene. I think Grace did a great job standing up for herself against Daniel’s shitty behavior earlier this episode. So, now I am almost positive the kiss is happening this week.

Spring Showcase

Kelsey is missing. I hope she is alright.

Zoya is focused on getting the Spring Showcase spot.

We get the whole “I’ll donate to an immigration charity. But only if you come” between Grace and Daniel. I don’t know why, but this exchange has always angered me immensely. It is not even one of the worst things William/Daniel does. I think I hat it so much because it is so hypocritical. At the fundraiser, when Noora mentions how he is blackmailing her, he states that he would have donated the money anyways, even if she hadn’t shown up. And he says it like it is the most obvious fact in the world. I think it was meant to make us think he was such a good guy, but it just made my blood boil. Because he literally said the exact opposite to her in this scene. If he had said he was going to donate to charities anyways, Noora never would have come. Ugh! I just hate how much of a hypocrite William is (and Daniel, by default).

We are about to see the girls dance, before the clip cuts out. Why????!!! Is it just a running joke that we will never see them dance? So sad.

Chill Out

Grace and Megan just look miserable. Grace is eyeing Daniel who is talking/flirting with Abby. Oooh, theory time. In OG and SKAM France, the girl William was talking to was Mari, who we later learn knows his family. Will Abby be a remake of Mari and Ingrid?

Pen-Joe goes up to the girls and compliments Jo on her lips. Zoya is like “Are you gonna let him talk to you like that?” and Jo’s like, “yeah” and goes off with Pen-Joe. Treat her well, Pen-Joe. Zoya turns back to the guy she was talking to (who I’m pretty sure is Hunter). Hmmm, Zoya, you can’t really talk. Hunter said way worse things to you. They are trying to make a point here about how girls shouldn’t let guys talk to them that way, but it is a bit hypocritical when they throw in this whole Hunter/Zoya dynamic.

Also, I think OG Chris and remakes are actually really interesting characters. I feel like because of their weight (or their skin color in some remakes), they feel like they have to be the one to go along with everything and never stir up trouble. The remake that I think has portrayed this the best is Druck with Sam.

Megan goes off, and Kelsey joins the girls. But then Grace and Kelsey have to go rescue Megan who has just kissed Shay!!! Well. This is a hell of a lot more awkward than OG where Eva kissed Vilde. I really liked that they switched it up, but I do feel deprived of a Kelsey/Megan kiss.

God, Tyler is so rude all the time. Go, Grace for standing up to him.

Grace and Daniel have their confrontation where he asks if she likes him. She says no. But you can see she doesn’t mean it. I think the red lighting in that scene was great; it really heightened the drama.

Grace runs out of the party to catch up with Daniel and they share a passionate kiss. Now, I’m kind of sad they didn’t have any dialogue before their kiss. In OG, Noora’s line right before she kisses William is so iconic. It directly represents her struggle. She tells him what an asshole he is and then kisses him. Druck also had a great bit of dialogue between Mia and Alex. BUT, I think the scene works well without it and the kiss was cute.

Cut to Kelsey watching them as she holds Megan’s hair back while she vomits. She looks so stricken. I think for her it is more of a shock. In OG, I think Vilde kind of had her suspicions. Here, Kelsey just seems more clueless, so I can buy that this comes out of nowhere to her.

General Comments

Overall, it was a pretty interesting episode. I didn’t know the kiss was going to happen until Thursday, so that was nice. I like when there is still an element of surprise in the clips. That’s what made SKAM so addicting and popular. I look forward to see what happens next because usually the scene where we meet Niko follows this episode, but as you know we already got introduced to Daniel’s brother. I don’t know if it’s just me, but he seems so much older than any of the other versions of Niko. It will be very creepy when the sexual assault storyline comes around. I need more of Jo; she is amazing and SKAM Austin has the opportunity to make her a very complex character. We got the kiss! Let’s see how Daniel and Grace’s relationship develops.

#skam austin #skam remakes #skam reaction

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rhiezus · 5 years

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Lover As Our Ships.

I Forget That You Existed.

Literally Nayoung to everyone in her life before, including mostly SPB, the Nameless and even Kim Yura.

How many days did I spend thinking 'Bout how you did me wrong, wrong, wrong? Lived in the shade you were throwing 'Til all of my sunshine was gone, gone, gone

Also Keun to SPB... Everyone to SPB, that company is trash. But look:

Sent me a clear message Taught me some hard lessons I just forget what they were It's all just a blur

And don’t even get me started on the chorus.

Cruel Summer

At first, I thought, damn, I don’t have any ship for that because it’s about a breakup and stuff... But then it cleared my mind and now I think it’s two at the same time. First, Minhye and Jukan at college times.

Fever dream high in the quiet of the night You know that I caught it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it) Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price You know that I bought it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)

[...]

Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine I'm not buying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it) You say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times We're not trying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)

But it just doesn’t stop there, it also gave me little hints of Anna and Kuen.

I'm drunk in the back of the car And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (Oh) Said I'm fine, but it wasn't true I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you

[...]

And I screamed for whatever it's worth "I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

Lover

We got mixes feelings about this one, it literally could be any ship at some specific moment, so I really don’t know. However, I still keep my word that Hana and Mark were the first one that came to my mind when i listened to this song for the first time, probably because of The Archer and because of the state they are in right now that makes it easy for me to see Hana listening to this one right now and thing “Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?” and “All's well that ends well to end up with you”. Anyways, it also reminds me of Nayoung and Keun because of tHE MAGNETIC FORCE OF A MAn, and for the same reason, I can imagine Bonghu and Sanchan. And let’s not forget of Julie and Valak, they also marked this song as theirs. Oh my god, it also reminds me of Minhye and Jukan, for christ's sakes.

The Man

Speaking of her, that’s very Minhye. And nAYoung TOO. Actually, Nayoung seems like the type that would pick a lyrics from this song and posts on her stories, she is that kind of person right now. That’s official I even put on yes girl, there is no going back. But just... look:

Would you like to worry about drinkin' and dollars? And getting bitches and models? And it's so good if you're bad And it's okay if you're mad If I was out flashing my dollars I'd be a bitch, not a baller They'd paint me out to be bad So, it's okay that I'm mad

The Archer

To all the Hopeless Romantics I did before. I’m serious, this song is every single little bitch that's too hopeless romantic. It started with Hana, then I thought of Haneul, probably Kim Yura too, Anna & Clay.

'Cause cruelty wins in the movies I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

(JUST LOOK AT ANNA AND KIM YURA RIGHT THERE)

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face Then I hate my reflection for years and years

(HANEULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL)

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost The room is on fire, invisible smoke And all of my heroes die all alone Help me hold onto you

(CLAY)

I Think He Knows

Speaking of Clay, this song radiates Allen and Clay. But before that, I totally thought about Yehjin and Chang too. So well, probably both.

He got that boyish look that I like in a man I am an architect, I'm drawing up the plans It's like I'm 17, nobody understands No one understands

Seriously? That’s Clay about Allen.

Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh We could follow the sparks, I'll drive Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh We could follow the sparks, I'll drive "So where we gonna go?" I whisper in the dark "Where we gonna go?" I think he knows

And this is so Yehjin and Chang, hell yes.

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Chines & Chihye. There is none else for this, I swear because I’ve looked up.

You know I adore you, I'm crazier for you Than I was at 16, lost in a film scene Waving homecoming queens, marching band playing I'm lost in the lights

YES, SHALL WE ALL BE SAD ABOUT THIS?

I'm feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men? Darling, I'm scared (Ah)

Keep listening...

No cameras catch my muffled cries I counted days, I counted miles To see you there, to see you there And now the storm is coming, but

And finally...

It's you and me, that's my whole world They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl" (Okay) The whole school is rolling fake dice You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes [...] We're so sad, we paint the town blue Voted most likely to run away with you

Paper Rings

Oh my god, the first time I listened to this song I was “maybe it’s Bonghu and Sanchan”. bUT reading the lyrics I’m so shocked because it’s Raye and Kaili, and fuck this song is very them... From the instrumental to the lyrics, everything.

The moon is high Like your friends were the night that we first met Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet [...] Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

Shut up, this is totally about the beer pong! And then suddenly by the end of the year the fact they are together...

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want, and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Shut UPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws We wouldn't be standing here so tall, so

Cof cof, that’s for Julie. Costance said, “suck it”.

Also, let’s not forget the part she keeps referring to him as “Baby Boy”.

Cornelia Street

Listen to me, I get the feeling this is Jinhyung and Kyungri. There is no further explanation on how I get to this conclusion, I just felt like it.

We were a fresh page on the desk Filling in the blanks as we go As if the street lights pointed in an arrowhead Leading us home

Hm??

And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends I'd never walk Cornelia Street again That's the kinda heartbreak time could never mend I'd never walk Cornelia Street again And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name And baby, I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away

I had to do a whole specification about this, but can you get the feeling that when they finally realized that they didn’t want to cheat or be with anyone else just because what they had was enough? That’s the feeling. Perhaps it’s also about the fact that they were falling so hard that they just suddenly were like ‘that’s true, i don’t want anyone else besides you and this thought kind of terrifies me a little bit’, you know?!

You hold my hand on the street Walk me back to that apartment Years ago, we were just inside Barefoot in the kitchen Sacred new beginnings That became my religion, listen

Totally talking about they sneaking wndr’s dorm to be together.

Death By A Thousand Cuts

I never had this vision about this breakup until reading this song’s lyrics, but this is probably Seulgi when Hailey and she broke up. Yes, very random, yes, you probably didn’t expect this one but it’s true, let me show you.

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts Flashbacks waking me up I get drunk, but it's not enough ’Cause the morning comes and you're not my baby I look through the windows of this love Even though we boarded them up Chandelier's still flickering here ’Cause I can't pretend it's okay when it's not

Very weird seeing Seulgi demonstrate any type of feeling, she probably felt this because they were together for a significant amount of time and Hailey traveled back to her country to sort her things out so... You can imagine how lonely Seulgi must have felt for a while.

I dress to kill my time, I take the long way home I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright They say, "I don't know" And what once was ours is no one's now I see you everywhere, the only thing we share Is this small town You said it was a great love, one for the ages But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

Seriously? This is totally Seulgi trying to figure out where to move from aside WNDR and Hailey, although she did figure it out somehow I can see why she was confused and a little upset even though she totally agreed with Hailey that the best thing was to break it off.

Tryna find a part of me that you didn't touch My body, my love, my trust (It's death by a thousand cuts) But it wasn't enough, it wasn't enough, no, no

And with that, I rest my case.

London Boy

This would be Nayoung if it was called “Jeju Boy”, also Linlin would take a ride and sing it too if that was the title. Throwback that this is also Taewoon and Hojin (screams and sobs at the same time). If it was “Canadian Boy”, it could be Clay. Wait is Allen from where? IS HE BRITISH? I Thought hE Was AmeriCAn. And finally, if someone does a cover saying “London Girl”, then it’s definitely Evie and Sunny, or even me for wolfie. Yes. I love this song is so catchy, could be anyone talking about their crush, it’s really cute.

Soon You’ll Get Better

You know what this song it's about, let’s skip the crying.

False God

Haneul & Hyuntae. FUCK THIS SONG I SWEAR, IF IT WAS KOREAN I WOULD SAY HANEUL WROTE IT AND GAVE IT TO TAYLOR. SERIOUSLY JUST LOOK AT THE DESCRIPTION BY GENIUS: ”False God” uses heavy religious imagery to compare Swift’s relationship with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn to something all-powerful and greater than themselves.”

We were crazy to think Crazy to think that this could work Remember how I said I'd die for you? We were stupid to jump In the ocean separating us Remember how I’d fly to you?

Oh, boy, shut up Haneul.

They all warned us about times like this They say the road gets hard and you get lost When you're led by blind faith, blind faith

Also laughing about the part she says: “ You're the West Village”, change it to UN Village and it’s good to go.

You Need To Calm Down

That's us. And also Hailey. And also sweetpea.

Afterglow

Oh, here we go. Okay, this song is Linlin and Mingyu. I still can’t get over how much this song is them, seriously, I’ll just show the lyrics and let us be sad for the time being.

I blew things out of proportion, now you're blue Put you in jail for something you didn’t do I pinned your hands behind your back, oh Thought I had reason to attack, but no

[...]

Hey, it's all me, in my head I'm the one who burned us down But it's not what I meant Sorry that I hurt you I don't wanna do, I don’t wanna do this to you (Ooh) I don’t wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you (Ooh) I need to say, hey, it’s all me, just don't go Meet me in the afterglow

[...]

I lived like an island, punished you with silence Went off like sirens, just crying Why'd I have to break what I love so much? It’s on your face, don't walk away, I need to say

[...]

Tell me that you're still mine Tell me that we'll be just fine Even when I lose my mind I need to say Tell me that it's not my fault Tell me that I'm all you want Even when I break your heart

Yeah, I KNOW.

ME!

I hate that song, next.

I’m kidding, this actually brings me good memories even though it’s kind of insupportable. As for a ship, this is Kim Yura and Abe Chiyo. Eleanor and Zeev!!! And WNDR when they are getting ready in the dorm.

I know that I'm a handful, baby, uh I know I never think before I jump And you're the kind of guy the ladies want (And there's a lot of cool chicks out there)

[...]

I know that I went psycho on the phone I never leave well enough alone And trouble's gonna follow where I go

I underestimated how much of Eleanor and Zeev this is.

I know I tend to make it about me I know you never get just what you see But I will never bore you, baby

YeAH, BoY.

It’s Nice To Have A Friend

Me to You, until I realized this was a romantic song and went all “well’... So, to sum up, as a ship this is straight-up Gok Inna and Pyongho. Just check out the genius description: “ Infused with steel drums, It’s Nice to Have A Friend is a dreamy ballad about two friends meeting in school and ending up getting married. It recalls the similar love story of children growing up together and falling in love.” We don’t even need to read the lyrics after that, I agree.

Daylight

This is another song with different ships to different situations. First, it’s Yohan and Sebin. Jinah and Bokyum. Danbi and Daehyun... Basically, everyone that went through a lot before finding their true love. Again, let’s take a look at the Genius description: “In the final song on her album Lover, Taylor Swift sings about struggling through previous relationships, beginning to doubt her ability to find true love, until she meets someone who brightens her life in a new way. She refers to being unlucky in love in the past, but when she meets her new partner, she only wants to focus on them and their happiness together.” Gotcha?

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night And now I see daylight, I only see daylight

I can only think of Yohan and Sebin finding each other, but you could also see where I thought about there other two here too. Jinah and Bokyum? Totally random but totally meant to be. And Danbi and Daehyun were both like in a love maze thing until they realized how stupid they were since the start.

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky And so I became the butt of the joke I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down Maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now It's brighter now, now

I swear TO GOD, THIS SONG!!!!! What a great way to finish an album and my thread... *heart emoji*

#ITS OUT AND ABOUT!!#*a

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silverstar56 · 6 years

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Murphy’s Law 01

Summary:

Miracle? I was no miracle.

I was a mistake in the making with no way out of this mess.

When you die, you expect that to be the end.

No restart.

No continue.

Just… The End.

Realistically speaking, there is no magic or ritual or some fantastical reason to give one person out of the hundreds and thousands of people who desperately desire that second chance that slim possibility.

God?

Why would any heavenly (or demonic) being bother with an average joe?

A continue button?

Life is not a game so no such thing.

Some cosmic change in the universe?

It’s possible but what are the chances. Way too astronomical to be true.

So when her life ended oh so abruptly, Saki thought that was it.

But like almost every cliche come to life, she woke up again in a new world with that ‘amazing’ second chance.

Normally, one would expect that reincarnated person to rejoice. They got another go at life, what was there to complain about? To do so would mean that they are a spoiled brat who did not understand what god given opportunity they were given.

But Saki understood something very intimately. It was that she was happy, content and fulfilled in her past life. She did not need to have all that ripped away from her and told to restart in this new reality.

Her stern but loving family?

They were now just whips in smoke that she could no longer grasp in her hand.

Her many hours put into her hard earned degree?

Falling through her fingers like sand as her memories began to blur.

Her culture and identity?

It was gone in the abyss and now she had been blanked out like a white canvas for others to fulfill.

Safe to say, Saki hated her new beginning with a vengeance that she did not think she had the capacity for.

For many weeks, her new parents blustered around and worried frantically as their newborn child constantly screamed and wailed as she rejected her new reality. Unknown to them that their child mourned for the loss of an entire world she would never return to.

But the world never wants for the sake of one person, so life moved on. Saki quietly let go of her fading past and with trembling chubby fingers grasped on to her new world.

Saki upon reconciling with her new life, reflected upon her actions the past few weeks and had flushed red upon realizing how troubled her new parents were with her constant wailing and had resolved herself to be a good child for them. Partly out of guilt, the chestnut haired child mused, as her new mother combed through her slowly growing locks.

I stole the life of the child you should have had. Its the least I should do.

So the girl tried to love and fell to love. She adored her kind and comforting new family and life slowly fell into place for the old soul. Saki adapted and watched as three seasons passed.

It was on a bright spring day that Life decided to kick the girl into the curb again.

Sitting in front of the television and absentmindedly watching the children’s anime playing across the scene, Saki squished the soft plush bunny between her fingers as she tried to practice her finger’s coordination. Listening to the anime, the girl scrunched her nose as she tried to make sense of the Kanji being used.

The broken sound of ceramic and yelp of pain broke the child out of her musing.

“Mama?!”

Scrambling to her feet, the toddler stumbled over her two feet to reach the source of the noise and when she reached the kitchen her jaw dropped. The floor was littered with jagged porcelain and her mothers fingers cut and bleeding profusely.

“Ara? Saki if you come closer you will get hurt.” Saki’s mom had a serene smile as she clutched her fingers close to her chest. At the time, Saki faced pinched at how air-headed her mother had to be to wave off what obviously had to be a painful injury.

“But!”

“No buts! besides this is nothing.”

The older woman had gently admonished the child but as she her cild’s distress she giggled before she held out her hands and to the toddler’s astonishment the wounds slowly but surely closed up on their own.

… I’m pretty sure wounds don’t heal that quickly.

Saki’s head tilted to the side and she mimed a fish as she tried to make sense of the phenomenon that she just witnessed. Long enough for her father who had come down from the second floor to see what had caused the ruckus and chuckle at his child’s reaction.

“What’s shocked you so much my little blossom?” Saki’s father had a wry grin on his lips as he bundled her up in his warm arms.

“I was showing her my Quirk. I think this is the first time she has ever seen it Dear.”

A sense of foreboding, a jogged memory from her fogged past.

“That’s because there hasn’t been a need for her to see your Quirk Honey.”

Recognition from a past long gone. Children in a school gifted with the supernatural.

“True, minor regeneration isn’t something I can show so easily. But anyway, Dear could you please?”

A forest ablaze in blue flames. Children collapsed on the floor as a pink gas embraced their forms. Their peers bleeding as they braced themselves against the darkness.

“Of course Honey!”

The porcelain pieces started to float and was lifted gently before displaced into the trash. The child paling as the pieces in her memory clicked into place. She vaguely remembered her Mom giggling as she poked my cheek to snap me out of my shock.

Two boys anxiously watching the large Television screen. The Symbol of Peace, weary and injured but standing tall. Fulfilled in his duty and pointing to the camera.

“You’re next.”

The evidence was standing in from of her and yet the child could only remember her dropping stomach as she pieced together where she was reborn into. A world only thought to be fiction but was now her reality.

Oh god i’m in a world where the supernatural is the absolute normal.

Unknown to her parents, Saki panicked at the revelation but her denial at where she was dropped into abated after she considered the facts for a while.

Her parents had very minor quirks, her mother had a minor regeneration quirk while her father had a minor telekinesis quirk. Given that, it was likely that I would manifest a minor version of either of their quirks or a minor combined version of their quirk.

Which meant that Saki would not be pressured to become a Hero.

At that, Saki sighed in relief.

She did not want society to force her to risk her life for others when she did not have the mental or physical strength to do so. The vague reminder of her death made Saki shiver uncontrollably and she was glad she did not have to face that again for as long as possible.

The tiny girl was content to be the norm in the world of the extraordinary.

But Life does not cater to the whims of a single person, and once again threw her to the wolves.

Come her fourth birthday, and Saki was slow to show any signs of a quirk. When she fell and bruised her arms, they healed at a normal rate. When Saki focused on an object, it did not levitate.

Nothing out of the ordinary changed.

As expected, despite how lighthearted her parents usually are, they were quite worried to realize how late their child’s quirk was coming in. So hand in hand, Saki was taken to the hospital for a check up.

Saki learned two things that day.

She did not have double joint, so she did have a quirk.

Just… not quite a visible one.

At first, the doctors considered that she might have a dormant quirk that required certain stimulation to activate. So she went through testing and physical activities to try to activate the quirk.

However, the tests came out negative so it was assumed that Saki did not have a dormant quirk but instead an invisible quirk.

An invisible quirk was as its name implied, a passive quirk that is constantly active but is so minor that it basically doesn’t seem to be visible.

So after the results were presented and her parents reassured, her parents brought her back home. Saki was still loved and cared for the same as before. Her home life remained the warm heaven that it was.

But of course, things never go that smoothly outside her haven.

Returning to kindergarten with no quirk to show off quickly made the tiny girl the class pariah. The kids assumed if she could not show a quirk meant that she was quirkless and suddenly she was not ‘good enough’ to the everyone. Saki had not changed, and in a world where you had to show off some ability and have nothing to show for, you were punished for it in the form of isolation and bullying.

Children were innocent. They had no concept of what was right and what was wrong. They only acted according to what other said was ‘right’. The product of a society molding them to their image.

It was childlike. It was pure. It was cruel.

The Manga did not elaborate on how bad this quirk obsessed society could be to the quirkless. Often, Saki was tugged in two extremes, either bullied for being ‘useless’ or treated with the kid gloves for being too ‘fragile’.

In the quiet night and hidden underneath the covers, Saki had considered how amazing Midoriya was. To endure when society deemed his dream just a dream. To still reach for what was considered the impossible.

Midoriya had determination in spades. And Saki had none in contrast.

However, life was not ‘bad’. While Saki could not escape the stigma that was being considered ‘quirkless’ she could avoid some of the problems that came her way.

She never responded to taunts-the sharp barbs thrown her way to bring her down for the short enjoyment of the few-and bullies eventually considered a worthless ‘target’ and soon left her alone. Her belongings safe from the grubby hands of children who did not understand enough.

No one bothered her after a while, but at the same time she had no one outside her family.

Her family worried, her kind parents fretting in the night under the darkness. They whispered their fear of their sole child left with no companions. All the while the old soul hid behind the door and her gaze was trained to the floor before slowly walking back to her room.

Saki dealt with things the best way she could. It helped that as an introvert she became tired of social interaction quickly and retired to herself. In a sense, Saki was free of responsibility and pressure. Free of society who judged for Quirk and not the person behind it.

Free to choose whatever path may walk.

Looking at the bright side, Saki was glad she was reborn in this world. If she had been reborn in Naruto or One Piece, her uselessness was a dead end in the making. So she dealt with life and moved on.

She ignored the pitiful looks of their neighbors. The awful whispers of condolences to her parents for bearing a ‘Quirkless’ child. Her parents tight smiles and clenched fists.

She ignored the malicious giggles in her school halls. The teachers glancing at her once before looking away. The obvious boundary between her and everyone else.

She welcomed the warm hugs, the cheerful laughter, the kind words inside her home. She was safe and sound inside and that was enough.

Then in the beginning of her third year of middle school, Life threw a curveball on her way.

In the early morning of a cheerful spring day, where the sakura petals floated down gently, Saki had picked up a glass of milk and sipped on it as she turned on the news.

What greeted her was the amazing video of a blonde being strangled by sludge and a green haired boy running to save him.

She immediately choked and spat out her milk.

Saki was aware of what era she was in. While she was unclear of where in the timeline she stood she knew she was in the era before All Might’s retirement. She still saw All Might on the news after all. She had hoped that she was a decade before the plot started. Unfortunately, she was not that lucky and with the news showcasing the Protagonist and his Rival she was given a clear indication of when exactly she was in the Timeline.

So it was with vengeance that she decidedly tried to avoid any interaction of the plot.

She immediately threw out any high school application that had hero courses and settled for an average school that was within walking distance of her home. She vigilantly followed the news and avoided areas where hero and villain fights occurred with more effort than before.

Cowardly? Perhaps. But Saki was well aware of her position in this society. She had no ability, no backing and was not prepared mentally or physically to face any sort of danger and deal with the consequences.

People’s lives were at stake, this was a reality she lived in for more than a decade now. This was no fantasy to play Hero and become a Mary Sue and save the day. One wrong step and the whole structure would crumble like a stack of cards.

So she refused to be involved and destroy the carefully scripted events that is Fate and started High school in an average non-hero school that had no relation to U.A. at all.

That did not mean that she would completely ignore the turn of events. The petite girl obsessively kept up with the news and took stock of the report of the USJ incident. It was the first time she saw Class A outside of pen and paper but that brief debut of heroes in training came and went.

She properly saw the class during the airing of the UA Sports festival and watching the event on the news made Saki breath heavily.

They are so young. So young and the world is going to throw them the gauntlet.

They don’t deserve any of that.

The revelation made Saki’s stomach turn and she had to resist the urge to grab the remote and close the tv. She refused to hide under her sheets as she stood riveted to the screen.

Her nails dug into the palm of her hands as she took it in.

Shinsou’s slouched posture straightening as he took his first step to his dream. Uraraka, her body littered with bruises, burning determination in her gaze as she took her stand against Bakugo. Midoriya, as he broke finger after finger to save Todoroki.

At the end of it all Saki was trembling. Her mother, her kind and gentle mother glanced at her state and that night she was handed her favorite food to chew on.

That night as Saki laid under the covers, fingers clutching the fabric of her old and worn plushy, she contemplated the future. She was in the same year as the kids who would one day bear the future of Japan on their shoulders and she trembled.

But Life does not wait for one person and the world moves on.

Time moved on, she views the Hero Killer on the news and huffed in amusement at the white lie provided of the incident. The disgruntled look of the Pro Hero Endeavor as he reported the incident on the news was something she would remember for a while. She also contemplated the viral video that was floating on the web for a while. The blurry but unmistakable figure of Stain who declared his intent against the UA kids and heroes.

The clock was ticking and Saki was so very aware of the impending end of an era. The end of All Might’s days as a hero.

Soon enough, the chirping of the crickets announced the arrival of summer and alongside the heat waves was the rising dread of what is to come.

It was with those emotions that Life decided to stop giving Saki the illusion that she had a choice anymore and threw her head first into the chaos.

On a night like any other, where the streets were filled with buzz and life, Saki had been given an errand from her parents and was walking on the crowded streets. Opening the news on her phone, she froze as she saw the iconic news conference being aired.

Murphy’s Law: When things can go wrong, it will go wrong.

There was no warning.

A loud sound, the cacophony of screams.

The concrete building, large enough to dwarf her overshadowed her form.

nononoNONONONONONONO!

Idon’twANTTODIEAGA-

…

When a pebble is dropped, it needs not to take any action. Just being dropped into the water will cause ripples to roll.

HERE IS THE REDONE CHAPTER OF THE PILOT CHAPTER I DID. I WASTED MY BREAK OVER THIS FOR SOME REASON. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS THINK XDDD

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #boku no hero #my writing #Murphy's Law #I NEED THEM VALIDATION LOLOLOL

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areyouscarletcold · 6 years

Note

Someone hires Leonard to take out the Flash but his sense of honor won’t let him do it so he and Barry end up working together to take this guy down.

Not quite the prompt, but I’ve been trying to get over writer’s block and this was already late so here ya go, Nonnie.

“You know Joe will kill you if he sees you in that chair, right?” Barry closed the front door behind him with a shake of his head and crossed his arms over his chest. Unlike their last meeting, he appeared much more calm, less territorial and outraged by the unexpected presence in his living room. The bags around his eyes might’ve been an indication as to why, though. “He wasn’t exactly happy after Iris told him the first time.”

There was no cup of hot cocoa in hand this time, but that hadn’t stopped Len from making himself a pot of coffee while he’d waited for Barry to come home. He took a sip and smirked to himself at the way the other watched him drink warily.

“Hello to you too, Barry. Fun day at work?”

“Had two cases of assault and homicide in one day and I had to chase both Tricksters through downtown Central,” Barry snarked back, the corners of his mouth twitching. “So no. I don’t suppose you’re here to bring any good news. Unless you had something to do with the Tricksters trying to bomb the city this afternoon.”

He looked so much like a disapproving mother Len was tempted to tease him further. Ready to get right to business, no matter the circumstances. Barry really made it too easy to rile him up.

Unfortunately, he had more pressing matters to discuss.

“Relax, Scarlet. If I wanted to level the city, I wouldn’t have left that job up to Jesse and Walker.” He lowered his mug and placed it on the side table. “Don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of a man named Henry Hewitt?”

Barry’s expression darkened. “Yeah, I know him. Why? How do you know him?”

“We’re hardly pals,” Len said. He couldn’t help but grit his teeth against the last word, his hand curling around the cold gun in his lap reflexively. “I knew of him. Mostly through rumor and word-of-mouth. We didn’t meet, however, until this afternoon.”

Barry walked away from the entry hall and into the living room, his brow furrowing more with every step. The splash of concern behind his stare was almost endearing. “Why was Henry Hewitt contacting you?”

“He had an idea…for a job.” Len held Barry’s eyes and watched his jaw clench. He’d had his suspicions about Hewitt from the start, particularly due to the venom in his tone when he’d brought up the Flash, but seeing Barry’s distaste for the metahuman brought little relief. “Something he said would benefit us both.”

Len didn’t make deals. Not with people he didn’t know, much less trust farther than he could throw them. The only exceptions to the rule came from Lisa or Mick, no one else – both were family or the closest thing to it and there was hardly a need for deals when he was often the one drilling the plan in down to the last second.

So when the Flash – when Barry Allen – bartered for a deal in the woods…

Well, he should’ve said no. It was the smart choice, no matter the stipulations. It would have been far easier to unmask the hero and watch the press have a field day. He could break out of Iron Heights with little problem and they both knew it, speed or no speed.

But the fire behind those green eyes, bright yet standing resilient against his barbs, held his attention and Len let him speak, let him make speeches about his skillset and the good of the city. And if he had to make an exception, just this once to stay out of prison and keep playing the game (because that was the point of all this, wasn’t it, just a game with Central’s proclaimed savior of the city), then he supposed he could handle making one.

Just this once.

He told himself the same thing, that it was a temporary gig, a way to remind the Flash he was in control as much as him, when Barry visited Saints and Sinners with lips pursed and shoulders taut.

And again, every time Barry found him – with his father, in the bar, arriving ready to infiltrate the diamond heist, staring down the barrel of the cold gun.

And against the fireplace of the Wests’ living room, staring back at Barry’s furious face with little abandon.

Exceptions, he now thought bitterly, were going to be the death of him.

Specifically, making exceptions for goddamn Barry Allen. The Flash, he could take him or leave him, but the doe-eyed, speedy, golden-hearted hero underneath was causing…issues.

This plan of Hewitt’s, though, wasn’t made for his skillset and while he hadn’t officially turned the man down, part of him churned uncomfortably at the thought of Hewitt recruiting another, more gullible criminal to do his dirty work. Or, worse yet, going after the Flash himself.

“Hewitt’s got this idea that he’s been wronged by your team in some way. Asked me to do him a favor in return for a good deal of money.” Len traced his fingers along the side of the cold gun’s barrel. “Said it was too suspicious to do it himself, that he needed someone up to the job who could get close to the Flash.”

Barry’s eyes darted between the gun and Len’s face. “So he asked you to hurt me. And possibly the rest of the team.”

“I believe his exact words were to ‘take him down while I handle the rest’.”

The flare of anger that crossed his face, sharp and vivid like the glint of a knife in the darkness, was interesting. Nonetheless, Len had a sense it wasn’t directed toward him.

“Hewitt was a candidate for Firestorm,” Barry explained, his fingers digging into his arms through his gray sweater sleeves. “He wasn’t a match with the other half, but he absorbed energy from the failed connection anyway and…he didn’t take it well.”

“Obviously,” Len drawled, drawing out the syllables as his fingers neared the trigger.

“Yeah, we had to get him to overexert his powers to take him down. But he also promised he wouldn’t do anything drastic or tell anyone about, you know.” He made a vague gesture toward himself and bit his lower lip.

“Thought you would’ve learned your lesson from the last time you trusted a man’s word, Barry.”

Another flicker of something too quick for Len to name. Len wondered if Barry had forgotten about Ferris Air after the shitshow that was Lewis Snart.

“If you’re here to kill me, you would’ve done it already,” Barry pointed out. “Or is this another one of your ‘gifts’?”

The fact that Barry was unafraid of him, even now after everything he’d done and betrayed him over, after deals he’d twisted to his advantage and breaking and entering multiple times, should’ve been worrying. Well, it was. Maybe the kid had had a point when he’d brought up his lack of crime last December.

He could do it: fire at Barry - who’d likely avoid the initial blast and either try and distract him with more heroic speeches or, if he was smarter, seize the cold gun - and end it like Hewitt wanted. They both knew Barry wouldn’t attack first, wouldn’t try and hurt him no matter how difficult Len made the fight for him.

Maybe Barry would throw him into Iron Heights again, this time without a visit or a sad, knowing stare to accompany him to his temporary home. Both Wests would have a field day berating him about trusting supervillains. Maybe then the message would sink in.

His hand slid away from the trigger.

The thing was, Len didn’t feel terribly concerned. Which was a problem in itself. For many reasons.

None of which he was diving into right now.

“Neither.” Len pushed up from the chair, placing his gun back into its holster under Barry’s ever-present gaze, and crossed the distance between them easily. Barry didn’t budge, but his grip loosened on his arms as Len approached. “I haven’t turned Hewitt down yet, said I’d give the offer more thought after a good night’s rest. And I don’t doubt he’ll be asking around for other volunteers, most of whom would be more than happy to help.”

“You…don’t want to turn it down?”

Len rolled his eyes. “Unless you want an onslaught of metahumans coming after your friends at the Labs, no. Funny, though - thought you’d be jumping at this opportunity.”

Barry frowned. “An opportunity for what?”

“Didn’t you say you just needed to wear him down? Hard to do that by yourself without the rest of this Firestorm, I’d imagine.”

Barry’s eyes widened; the implications (finally) registering. “Wait. Are you suggesting a team-up?”

“More of a hook and bait situation,” Len corrected, but the growing smile on Barry’s face indicated he was hardly listening.

“And you said you had no interest in playing hero.”

Len fixed him with glare. Not that it seemed to do any good with Barry already relaxing and unfolding his arms. “And I don’t. That isn’t what this is, Flash.”

“Of course. Definitely not,” Barry teased, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Len hated the unwavering eagerness and that deliberate curl to his mouth.

He was going to regret this.

#coldflash #the flash #barry allen #leonard snart #anon #my writing #it took me a bit to figure out a decent villain for this prompt tbh

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minishawmd · 7 years

Text

Water Bottle(WillNE

Requested?: Kinda Warnings: None Pairing: Will and Reader Yes I now take requests for Will. As I am in love with him. Also this is a bit shit, I'm trying to get back into writing so allow it. ______________________________ Y/N POV Upload this year went fairly well. The sidemen boys honestly made it a bigger hit than last year. I think having that second floor made all the difference. Everything was going smoothly, no drama or anything. Until the press conference between KSI and Joe Weller. That's where things took a turn. On the way out there was so much commotion. People yelling and talking over each other. It was all a bit mad. Everyone was just trying to get out. Trying to get away from all of the tension that was built up, or maybe even trying to stick around and see what will happen. Nonetheless Will and I were standing around with a bunch of our friends, trying to let some of the people clear out, before we started to make our way out. That was when a water bottle came flying across the room. I'm sure it was meant for Joe, considering that JJ himself threw it. But instead it ended up hitting me. I was going to go over there and give JJ a piece of my mind. Telling him how he shouldn't throw things. As I start over there I feel two arms wrap around my entire frame. I immediately know that it is Will. He holds me against him, knowing that if he lets go things will not be pretty. "Let me go Will." I say trying to push him off He doesn't say a word, he just pulls me in tighter. "Will Lenney. Let.Me.Go." I say through my teeth "No can do." He says, practically dragging me away from the scene Pulling me into a smaller, more quiet room. Anyway from everyone. Sitting me down, he sits in front of me. He still has a hold on my hands, keeping me from getting up. "Y/N, you need to calm down." He says softly "Will, I just got hit by a water bottle, and you expect me to be calm?" I almost yell "Seriously calm down. It's okay." I give him a glare, and let out a loud sigh. "I still want to go off on him for throwing that. Even if it wasn't meant to hit me." "Y/N, you can't just go up there too him. I don't want you getting anymore hurt than you already are." "More hurt than I already am. Will what are you on about?" "That bottle hit your face didn't it?" I nod my head "Yeah, but it didn't really hurt all that bad." "Y/N, you've got a black eye already forming." He says, bringing a hand up and removing the hat that I had on. He then brings his hand to my face, and gently rubs his thumb underneath of my eye. That's when I felt the initial pain. I grimace just a little bit, but not much. "See, it's hurting already. We should go and get you some ice or something. I push his hand away "Will, I'm fine. It's nothing that I can't handle." "I still hate the fact that you got hurt." "If you hate it so much, why don't you let me just go and yell at him." I say standing up "Because you can't just go off yelling at people."

"Will, I can if they did something stupid." I say throwing my arms up "And especially when I get hurt. I want to let JJ know what he did was stupid and what could have.." I'm cut off by a pair of lips. Not just any lips though, the lips of my boyfriend, Will. He defiantly knows how to get my to shut up. He's does this a lot, especially since he found out it stops my rambling. He gently pulls away from the short kiss, softly saying "Better now?" I nod "Better." He smiles "Good. Now can we please go get something to put on your eye. It just looks horrendous." I roll my eyes "Yes, we can go get something to put on my 'horrendous' looking eye." I say putting air quotes around the word horrendous. Will takes my hand in his, leading me towards what I'm guessing is the first aid. He sits me down in another chair while walking over to where they keep ice, grabbing a bag and filling it up. "You know that I would be fine without the ice right?" I ask him as he places the freezing bag underneath of my eye "We are just helping the swelling." He says quietly "Or are you doing this so people don't think you did this?" "I would never." He says, looking directly into my eyes "I could never hurt my princess." "Aside from picking on her." "You know that I'm joking about that stuff." "Are you though?" "Yes Y/N. I'm joking about it. You know that I love you too much for that to be real." I smile "I love you too." He sets down the bag of ice, leaning in and connecting our lips. I never get tired of kissing him, each time feels like the first. I still get the butterflies in my stomach, and that tingling feeling in my lips. The kiss is shortly ending though by Gee running into the room. "Y/N! I heard you got hit by that bottle. I wanted to make sure you were okay." She says awkwardly, knowing what she just walked in on. "I'm fine Gee. I've got this idiot to take care of me." "You might get worse then." She jokes "Hey, I'm not that bad." Will says "Will we both know something could happened that you get both Y/N and yourself hurt." "He promised not to hurt me, or let me get hurt anymore. But we will see." I say, softly laughing "Well good luck with that," She says now turning to walk out the door "I'll see you two at home." Once she leaves Will turns back towards me "You know I would never hurt you on purpose." "I know. We just like to pick on you. Considering that you pick on other people." He rolls his eyes "Let's just go home. Its been a long day." With that he takes my hand in his again, leading me out the door. Now on our way home. Where he will probably put me in a buble so I don't get hurt anymore.

#WillNE #willne imagine #will lenney #minishawmd imagine

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airadam · 4 years

Text

Episode 136 : Protection

"I'm a walking heart attack, looking for somebody to happen..."

- Boogieman

Still shut up in the house for the most part, which at least gives me a chance to really dig through my crates, vinyl and otherwise! This month's selection has some great recent records, some older underground favourites, and a mix segment I've been wanting to do for ages - figured this episode was as good a time as any!

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Mac Ayres : Shadows

If nothing else, this enforced time spent in the house has yielded some great musical discoveries. I heard this cut on a DJ Jazzy Jeff Twitch session, and bought it immediately as soon as I found out what it was! Mac Ayers is a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist from Long Island, and if he's already turning out material like this in his early 20s, I can only imagine what it'll be with more experience. This is a highlight on last year's "Juicebox" album, and one that those who enjoy the modern soul sound will almost certainly enjoy!

[DJ Premier] Prhyme : My Calling (Instrumental)

This beat from "Prhyme 2" is so, so good. DJ Premier continues to turn out fresh creations over thirty years since his debut, with more different styles than he's often given credit for. The pianos sound like falling rain, the low end is the solid ground, and everything else fits perfectly around them.

Ski Beatz & Stalley : Gentlemen's Quarterly

Smooth from the lyrics to Ski Beatz' sophisticated production, this is a cut I'd managed to forget about until I rediscovered it in my collection recently. Find it on the "Ski Beatz 24 Hour Karate School Presents Twilight" (snappy!) LP, if you can find a reasonably-priced copy!

LL Cool J ft. Keith Murray, Prodigy, Fat Joe, and Foxy Brown : I Shot Ya (Remix)

A classic from the mid-90s. LL brought in some of the hottest MCs of the time alongside a young Foxy Brown making her on-record debut for a Trackmasters-produced street banger. The "Mr. Smith" album is the source for this often-sampled gem.

O.C. & Organized Konfusion : You Won't Go Far

Unapologetic boom-bap from this all-NYC combination, taken from the second volume of the "New Jersey Drive" soundtrack. Of all the tracks on that release, it's the one that hews closest to the plot of the film itself, which itself makes it a standout in the world of 90s Hip-Hop/R&B soundtracks! OK self-produced this one, and rather than give each MC a verse each, they split each verse between the three of them for more of a tag-team feel.

Rise : Make Sure That We Win

Note: I got this wrong on the voiceover - this is a Beatminerz beat, not DJ Spinna. Spinna produced the excellent "Part of the Game" on the same EP.

Rise is an MC out of Brooklyn and the Demigodz crew, who has a knack for punchlines and quotables within a laid back style - he just seems puzzled by wack MCs most of the time! The Beatminerz provide the beat with the fuzzbox guitars moving all over the soundscape and the classic boom-bap drum style and some sub bass to give it the heft. DJ Evil Dee of Da Beatminerz rounds things out with his cuts for the hook. Grab this and a couple of other great tracks on the 2003 "The Intro..." EP.

Pete Rock : Air Smoove

"Petestrumentals 2" may not become the low-key icon that the first instalment did, but don't sleep on it - it's still Pete Rock on the beats, after all. I keep going back to it and finding myself enjoying tracks more and more, with this being a prime example.

Above The Law ft. 2Pac and Money B : Call It What U Want

I once nearly got into a fight (the other guy was heated) when I off-handedly mentioned that I remembered when 2Pac had been a dancer for Digital Underground - but it was true, and there was never any shame in it! Anyway, it was also with that crew that he made initial strides onto the mic, and after going solo himself, this was one of his first features, alongside Money B from DU. Above The Law's "Black Mafia Life", from which this is taken, is one of the most overlooked albums that could claim the accolade of "classic" when you listen to how it sounded and how early it was made - I strongly recommend that every listener seeks it out for an end-to-end hearing. It's striking to realise that of the four MCs on this cut, only two are still with us today - RIP 2Pac and KMG.

DJ Quik ft. Pharoahe Monch & K.K. : Murda 1 Case

An absolute stomper from Compton's finest, leading with the piano, keeping the drums hard but simple (kicks on 1 and 3 only, snares on 2 and 4), and three MCs going at it. On this clear standout on 2002's "Under Tha Influence", the underrated Quik holds his own against one of the best to pick up a mic, and shows the confidence and intelligence as a producer to know that this was the man to bring in for the closing verse.

De La Soul : Verbal Clap

Many years after their debut, De La remind you that they can get busy on a state-of-the-art thumping beat with no problem - in this case, a masterful creation by J Dilla, one of two on 2004's "The Grind Date". Dave's rhyme style here is extra raw and he dominates by sheer brute force, standing out even on an album where De La sound highly-motivated overall. If you don't yet know it, it's well worth your while to search it out and have a proper listen.

Mr. Scruff ft. Broke 'n' English : Listen Up

Manchester all the way on this track, with the DJ and producer Mr Scruff getting the drumline mad active with a nice bassline, and Strategy and DRS of Broke 'n' English bringing all the local flavour on the mic. This great cut is on the flip of the also-excellent "Nice Up The Function" 12", which is now available digitally - so no difficulty in finding a copy!

[The Neptunes] Busta Rhymes : Pass The Courvoisier, Part II (Instrumental)

A great party beat, one to get people moving even without Busta and Pharrell's vocals!

AZ : Take Care Of Me

From his very first LP, AZ was flowing over soul/R&B samples, so it wasn't a reach for him to make a track like this for "Aziatic", his fourth. Precision soundtracks it with a "no samples" approach which for the non-Bad Boy producers tended to be the move for the club/radio tracks, and it's aged fairly well. AZ's lyrics are definitely reflective of the time - cellphones are so unremarkable in 2020!

Krumb Snatcha ft. Boogieman : Oxygen

Krumb Snatcha is pretty much as rugged as it gets, but here he shows that while he can give you an underground street classic like "Closer To God", there's still time to have fun! This track from his second LP "Respect All, Fear None" isn't what you might expect from KS but I think he did a solid job here. Nottz' beat bumps and burbles with a solid low end, and the guest MC Boogieman, who's already collaborated with him previously, steals the show with a casually disrespectful closing verse - not a particularly technical one, but entertaining!

Mic Geronimo : Nothin' Move But The Money

This record was hated when it came out, of all the tracks in this section, it was the most blatant pander to the pop audience - after all, Puffy (now Diddy) was the producer! This was amplified by the fact that Queens' own Mic Geronimo was a darling of the underground scene after his excellent debut LP "The Natural", and this is a million miles away stylistically. "Vendetta" was a big change, and arguably a bit of a career killer because of it. Have a look at the video - every so often, Mic actually looks pretty uncomfortable!

Goodie Mob ft. Big Boi and Backbone : Get Rich To This

This was the next most derided track when it was released - if someone else had recorded it, it may have been received for what it was, but again, this was a serious sonic whiplash for anyone who had heard "Soul Food" or "Still Standing". It was still Organized Noize on production, still the same MCs (plus guests), but definitely not what people were expecting, by and large. I can't front though - I kind of liked it even then! The "World Party" LP is the source for this one.

[Kenny Dope] L Swift : Ride This (Instrumental)

Crispy clean drums and a nice guitar line are the highlights of this beat from a 2000 12" by one of the MCs from the incredible Natural Elements (now reformed, with L Swift as Swigga). The vocal version features A Butta from NE and the B-side is produced by Spinna, so well worth picking up if you see it!

Toots & The Maytals : Funky Kingston

We close the episode with the title track of the 1973 album by the reggae legend "Toots" Hibbert, who passed away this month at the age of 77, and his band. The throatiness of his delivery on this classic cut does bring to mind the American funk godfather James Brown, but the message and the groove is pure yard. It may be almost fifty years old now, but still moves a dancefloor with ease!

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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danfanciesphil · 7 years

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I am *loving* your prompts!! I love the way you capture the boys, Ellen. :) I'd love to see something where they're out of their element (being forced to drive, or camping, or a blackout, or outside of the city, etc) Hope you're having a fabulous Parisian day, lovely!!! :)

Thank you sweetheart! I am enjoying all the practise enormously! Just sorry it’s taking so long.

Ok so your prompt is a little broad, I hope you don’t mind that I’ve run away with it a bit! Hopefully this is along the lines of what you were looking for. Much love, angel! xxx

Got a prompt for me? Click here! (Please be aware that due to an abundance of prompts, your prompt may take a few days to complete - but thank you all for submitting so far!)

Dan and Phil are indoor people.

It’s something they really, really appreciate about one another. A basis for their friendship, in a way. And then, later, their relationship.

Their perfect weekend would probably consist of very similar things - video games, Deliveroo, pyjamas, Netflix, and staying up laughing about stupid memes or playing board games until the wee hours.

This is how most of their weekends are spent, in fact.

However, occasionally they are forced outside of their comfort zone. They don’t budge easily, as they are very happy in their socially reclusive, hermit-crab ways, much to their friends’ chagrin.

Usually, when they have to spend their weekends elsewhere, it’s unavoidable.

Like this weekend, for example. Caspar Lee is having a birthday. Well, he has one every year, so it’s not exactly unusual. This year however, he’s decided to organise a camping trip.

In other words, he’s decided to single-handedly create Dan and Phil’s worst nightmare, and invite them to it via a Facebook event.

When Dan had first seen it, he’d snorted with laughter, showing Phil. Phil also rolled his eyes, amused at the idea of accepting an invitation so hideous to them both, and Dan had moved on with his life.

He figured he’d whip up some excuse later - feign a fictional conference or event of some sort - and tell Caspar that, regrettably, he and Phil would have to pass. Instead, Dan just forgot about the whole thing, and then it was two days before Caspar’s birthday, and Dan received a text.

From: CasparTo: Dan13:24pmHey Dan! We’re leavingat 5 on Friday. Are u andPhil driving up? x

From: DanTo: Caspar13:26pmWhat? Driving where? x

From: CasparTo: Dan13:28pmLake District lol Didn’t u read the event?

Dan’s blood runs cold, and all of a sudden he remembers everything. He jumps up from the sofa, sprinting towards Phil’s room in a sudden panic.

Phil is sat on his bed eating crisps and scrolling through his laptop; at Dan’s entrance, he looks up, frowning in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“Fuck, Phil we forgot about Caspar’s thing.”

Phil looks confused for a moment, then his eyes grow round and wide. “What?! The camping thing? I thought you said no to that!”

“I thought I did too!” Dan cries in despair. “I must’ve forgotten.”

That’s how, two and a half days later, Dan finds himself in the passenger seat of a rented Land Rover, watching warily as Phil navigates the rural countryside of Northern England, despite the fact Dan knows for certain that he hasn’t driven a car in years.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” Dan asks for the fifth time.

Phil side-eyes him crossly. “I know you’re a paranoid person, but you’re supposed to have total trust in me, remember?”

“I do, I do.” Dan lies, turning to look out of his window, trying to find something to distract himself amongst the flat, endless bracken stretching out to meet the greying sky. “How fucking far away is this place, anyway?”

Phil sighs, glancing at the Sat Nav on the dashboard. “It says we’ve got another hour at least.”

“Ugh,” Dan grunts, lifting his feet up onto the dashboard.

Phil looks at them in silent disapproval, no doubt thinking about the fact that this car needs to be returned in pristine condition if they want their deposit back.

“Maybe it’ll be fun,” Phil suggests, shrugging.

The atmosphere has been pretty tense between them ever since they found out they’d have to go through with this debacle. Camping, in the wilderness, with five other boys. Louise had initially said she’d come along, but has since pulled out due to ‘childcare issues’.

Dan hates her a little bit for having such a good ‘last minute’ excuse. If he and Phil had a baby, they could’ve weaselled out of this thing too. Dan pauses at this peculiar thought, wondering where on earth it came from.

If he and Phil were ever planning on adopting a child - which they have absolutely no current plans to do - they probably need to have a better reason than ‘using it as an excuse to get out of socialising’.

“It’s gonna be so... laddy.” Dan complains, pouting. He fiddles with the knob of the radio, which is only receiving static, as they’re in the middle of effing nowhere.

“We have alcohol,” Phil reminds him. “That might make it a bit better.”

Dan nods vaguely, sighing. He has no right to be complaining, he knows, because it’s all his fault they’ve ended up having to do this. He’s the one that forgot to reply to Caspar’s invite. For some reason, Caspar didn’t invite Phil on the event, but neither of them thought much of that. It’s more or less assumed amongst any of their friends that if you invite one of them, you’re gonna get the other too.

“I hope so.” Dan says, shifting into a position where he thinks he might be able to nap for a while. “If not we can just make out or whatever.”

Phil chuckles, and it’s the last thing Dan hears for a bit.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this experience is that Phil seems to adapt to it with an ease that Dan literally could not have foreseen. They’d gone on a mega shop before they left London, packing the boot of their hire truck with a brand new tent, specially designed outdoor cooking utensils, sleeping bags, groundsheets, kindling for the fire... you name it, they bought it.

Of course, Dan’s main concern was that he and Phil would flail about for hours trying to set up their stuff whilst Joe, Caspar, Josh and the others would whip out those protein enriched muscles and have their tents erected in two seconds flat.

On the contrary, Phil launches himself into the task, and quite honestly blows the others out of the water with his prowess.

He and Dan pull up to the spot Caspar had chosen just after the others, and hop out of the car to greet them all. Then, as the others begin unloading, Phil strolls around to the back of the truck, slinging the - heavy, bulky, complicated-looking - tent onto his back, and waltzes over to a spot near where Caspar has begun setting up. He looks over at Dan, stares at him, marvelling really, and calls: “Is here okay?”

Dan nods wordlessly, and Phil gets to work at once. He hammers the pegs, he threads the rods through the frame. He lays the groundsheet and carts the bundles of sleeping stuff through the front entrance.

Dan just watches him, mouth agape. It’s strange that, despite the length of time he’s known Phil, intimately, the man still utterly astonishes him.

“Voila!” Phil says after what can only have been fifteen minutes of work. He stands back from the tent, proud, and for good reason. “She’s ready.”

Before Dan can speak, Joe and Caspar sling their arms around his shoulder, grinning at him.

“Always pick a man who knows how to use his hands, eh Dan?” Caspar asks, jostling his shoulders.

“I wonder who wears the trousers in this relationship...” Joe adds on, winking before wandering off towards his half-erected tent.

Phil walks over to Dan then, smiling nervously. “Is it okay? I can make it a little straighter if you want.”

He’s taken his outer shirt off, and his arms are slightly dewy from the exertion of all the physical activity. His hair is ruffled by the cold, Yorkshire wind, and he’s breathing heavily. In other words, he looks kind of like sex on legs.

Dan stutters on his own breath for a moment before replying.

“N-no, it’s- I really- you did a good j-job.” He gets out eventually, and Phil beams, clearly pleased.

Phil pulls Dan towards him, right into his chest, and Dan just sort of melts there, his eyes falling closed as Phil’s thick, bare arms wrap themselves around him.

He feels Phil press a kiss to the top of his head. “You’re teeth are chattering. Are you cold?”

Dan hasn’t the heart to tell Phil that he’s just stuttering because he’s overwhelmed by Phil’s Heathcliff-esque ruggedness in the setting of this wild moorland landscape. Instead, he just nods silently, and Phil tells him he’s going to go and find Dan’s jumper in the car.

By the second night, Dan has more or less surrendered himself to the wilderness. At first, having no showers, toilets, or other amenities was a difficult adjustment, but despite being a bit of a princess nowadays, Dan has in fact camped quite a bit in the past. Okay, so maybe camping at Reading Festival isn’t quite the same thing, but it’s still a tent, and sleeping outdoors, and slowly descending into a savage over time.

They’ve hiked (not Dan’s choice of activity, duh) all day around the beautiful, raw and untamed land of the Lake District. They’ve even climbed a (smallish) mountain, atop which they’d stopped to guzzle the picnic they’d brought along.

Normally, Dan would’ve hated it, and it certainly wasn’t what he’d call fun, but the views were immense and breathtaking, and there’s something about being here, amongst the undisturbed wilderness, that leaves one with a primitive sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself.

He tries to explain this to the others, and they all laugh, of course. But it doesn’t matter. Phil squeezes his hand in acknowledgement, showing that he understands, even if it’s only a bit.

They get back to the camp and crack open the beers, huddling around a campfire in their bedraggled states. None of them look their best in their rain macs, thick woollen jumpers and muddy walking boots, but it doesn’t matter. Nobody is filming them now. They snap a single photo for Caspar’s Instagram, then tuck their phones away. They’re no use out here, anyway.

Dan is squeezed into one of the camping chairs they’ve brought along, on Phil’s lap. He’s tipsy and his face is pink and warm from the wind burn and the heat of the roaring fire they’ve created. He’s full of soup and hot dogs and marshmallows - camping food - and he’s surprised to find that he’s happy.

Phil’s arms are wrapped around his middle. It feels so safe, here, with him, despite the fact they’re a hundred miles or more from London, in a place they’ve never set foot before now.

Silly games are played, drunken stories are exchanged, which leads to secrets being told, and a solemn pact that nothing will leave this spot. And then, it’s time for bed.

Last night, Dan and Phil had slept restlessly, too cold to lift their arms from their sleeping bags let alone cuddle. Dan looks into Phil’s eyes as they extricate themselves from the chair, and he can tell, at once, that the same won’t be said for tonight.

They stumble through the tent flap, giggling drunkenly, and fall onto one of the sleeping bags - Dan doesn’t remember whose is whose at this point.

Phil is immediately attacking him with kisses, which makes Dan laugh harder, and he rolls them until Phil’s on top of him, though it’s hard to see what’s happening in the dark.

They struggle with layers of clothing, pulling and prising at various fabrics in the pitch black, laughing uproariously at the whole affair because it seems so difficult they might as well give up the attempt.

They don’t, though, and somehow they get there, naked and shuddering as they make love in the narrow confines of their two man tent, the sound of the furious wind whipping against the canvas outside.

When it’s over, they crawl into one sleeping bag with some difficulty, the heat radiating off their naked bodies at once suffocating and not enough. Dan listens to the steady, fast pace of Phil’s breathing, and traces his lips with one hand.

“Can’t believe you just Brokeback Mountain’d me,” Dan says, teasing, and Phil laughs.

“Couldn’t help myself.” He confesses, yawning. “Please don’t get murdered with a tyre iron.”

Dan chuckles. “Fine. If you insist.”

“Home tomorrow.” Phil mutters, sounding sleepy.

Dan snuggles towards him, more than happy to close his eyes as well after the copious amount of exercise he’s done today.

“Hm,” Dan agrees. “Maybe you were right, though.”

Phil’s hand is at the base of his skull, his fingers trailing through the short, bristly hairs there. “Hm?”

“Maybe camping isn’t so bad...” Dan says, feeling awkward about the confession. “Y’know,” he pauses, swallowing his embarrassment as best he can manage. “As long as I’m with you.”

#prompts #camping #pg-13 #fluff #adventure #hope you like it babe!#anon #ellen answers

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novadreii · 7 years

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New job update

So I realize I haven't really talked much about it, and it's not because I don't like it, because I do. But I find the first few months of a new job are trying no matter how you slice it, so any impression I've gotten so far wouldn't really be indicative. Working in the aerospace industry is highly technical, full of all kind of jargon and red tape and beaurocratic fun stuff. There are hundreds of thousands of different parts, and my company is unique in that is has one of the largest inventories in the world (since most parts are manufactured to order--we get them on consignment or purchase them, and keep them in stock from authorized manufacturers so clients don't have to wait 135 days for a cockpit chair, or whatever).

Anyway, I'm just shy of 2 months working here, and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm settling into a day to day routine and I don't have to ask for help literally every 30 seconds. My department is different from the other half of the office, who deal exclusively with military contracts. We get potential clients from all over the world who are also distributors/brokers, wanting certain parts, and my job is to literally come up with a price for this part based on past quotes, sales, purchases, online marketplaces, and the part itself. can't base it on cost because these parts were bought in giant lot sales, so there is no individual cost attributed to each part. But there are a million little tiny rules and exceptions about what can and can't be quoted to who, export license issues, and contract rules with our partner whose parts we distribute (the biggest giant in the aerospace industry, which I won't name but they are a huge deal according to everyone).

My first few weeks here, I made a mistake every 5 minutes, but everyone is super cool and helpful. Thank god I am a pretty quick learner, because since this field is so specialized and everyone has been here so long, there isn't a lot of hand holding when it comes to learning. They just kind of throw you in, and leave it up to you to ask questions and inform yourself. So I've mainly been devoting myself to learning, asking about everything I don't know, and writing it all down in this giant word document that is open 24/7 on my desktop.

I'm also finally starting to feel included/accepted in an office social kind of way, where people chat with me and include me in inside office jokes. It was rough at first because everyone was just a teensy tiny bit standoffish. Apparently the last few people they've had in this department didn't "get it", couldn't stay on top of their workload, and ultimately were fired. I can see where it's not for the average Joe; it's not rocket science but it's not a walk in the park either. On top of finishing your stack of quotes, you also have manage all the sales you make from start to finish, which is a multi-step process. If you have 5 or more outstanding at the same time, it can seem like a lot. You have to be organized. And I thank my last job for overloading me all the time because it forced me to learn time management and the ability to juggle many ongoing issues at once in my head. So honestly, that aspect is a walk in the park for me. Once I learn about all the aerospace technical stuff, I'll be golden.

Anyway, I think my boss/senior co-workers have realized that I am competent and give a shit about doing well, because they've opened up a lot more recently. They actually say good morning to me when I walk by them in the morning, whereas before they would keep looking down or grunt out "morning" when I said it first. They started sending me memes in our office group skype, which is a pretty big step in our relationship I think. I understand that initial skepticism towards a new coworker, especially when your last few were lacking. My method has been to just be persistently nice but in a mild way, because I know from experience that being overly nice and cheery rubs people the wrong way too. I'm proud of myself for not taking any of it personally and just concentrating on improving. If I'm gonna stay here I plan on moving up the ranks in time, so I know it's equal parts about the quality of your work and the quality of your schmoozing abilities.

Aside from that, it's been really good. My back/feet no longer ache from spending 40 hours a week standing and running around. I don't dread going to work the night before because I know I'm going to be short staffed or customers are going to scream at me. You know how customers bitch at people in an office environment? Through blunt emails and curt but polite voicemails. I am LIVING. Because my "customers" are not consumers, but representatives of their own companies. So there is none of that rude, humiliating, animalistic behaviour here.

The biggest difference and boost to my mental health has been how I now feel like I'm treated like a human being. I consider myself to be pretty immune to what most people think of me at this point, but retail was breaking me. It just happened too many times, that I was spoken to like a piece of shit of someone's shoe, after going to incredible lengths to try and help them. Too many incidents of being smiley and friendly, only to be met with variants of "can you tone it down" from customers who wanted to shit on my parade and bring me down with them. Too many instances of being hit on by creepy old contractors who wouldn't take me seriously in a professional sense, making me feel like an idiot at my job. And as much as I wish that consumers were more conscientious of how they treat retail workers, it's simply never going to happen, not while corporations continue to codone and reward that behaviour monetarily. Here, if someone screams at me, they'll probably get fired. It's just not tolerated. But go scream at a cashier for not returning something that you broke or lost the bill for, and you'll get a full refund AND a free exchange AND maybe some ass-kissing coupons. It's conditioned behavior and consumers will never rely on their own moral compass. They simply don't give a shit as long as they benefit.

My general stress and anxiety have decreased to nearly non-existent levels for the first time in years. No medication required. I sleep through the night. I have a new confidence in dealing with people that I never knew I had. I'm not borderline agoraphobic anymore. I don't want to cry at 7pm thinking about the approaching workday the next day. I honestly feel like a different person. So basically, life is good right now.

And to those of you who hate retail and are suffering because of it, know you have other options and that it's worth it. I didn't even consider leaving until my friend insisted she refer me here, because I felt stuck, like I had no other options. But a quiet, low key desk job is exactly what I needed and it's soooo worth the reduction in stress. It was also a huge sensory issue for me: all the banging, beeping, shouting, etc in a hardware store was driving me crazy. I just wanted some peace and quiet. And this job didn't require a university degree, thought the fact that I am a few classes shy of one didn't hurt. But just TRY. It could change your life.

Ok ramble over.

#personal #work #retail #customer service

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