#billy has a mullet which is FANTASTIC but

[trainer-blue]

i’m so glad i picked up a curt-centric comic the other day like i've been too focused on ock lately but yes.... yesss…. show to me the Original Boy

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Love On-Set (Pt. 01 of 10)

Pairing: Dacre Montgomery X Reader

Word count: 3K

Next part (02) ->

Summary: You knew acting on Stranger Things season 3 would be a challenge, and you also knew, from the start, you'd have to work closely with Dacre Montgomery. But is wasn't a big deal for you, since this is your job and you're determined to act professionally. You had it all figured out, or so you thought, until the moment you were out face to face with Dacre. Then, this job became a lot harder than it was supposed to be, since you can't seem to focus whenever you're around Dacre. And you'll have to be around him a lot until the end of production.

{Dacre Montgomery Masterlist}

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

First Sight

The minivan stops right before entering the set as the driver speaks with one of the security guards. A huge structure was built around the area, and if it wasn't for the strong lights, you'd be in complete darkness. It's late at night, but yet, there are some journalists and a lot of cameras. They immediately surround the car, trying to see who's inside.

“Vicki, do you think I should go out and talk to them?” You decide to ask her first, because you're not as known as the other actors, and you're not sure if they'd want to talk to you.

“Sure. But don't take long.” She nods, touching the drive's shoulder and telling him to wait.

Taking a deep breath, you push the door open, a smile on your face as the cameras quickly find you. Running a hand through your hair, to make sure it's not messed up, you take in all the microphones and smartphones pointed at your face.

“(Y/N), could you answer some questions?” A short, dark-haired guy asks, a camera flashing.

“It depends on the question, but I'll try my best.” This seems to please them, and you wonder if the others couldn't afford a few minutes.

“Your posted on your Instagram account that you were a Stranger Things fan from season one.” A woman asks. “How was the transition from being a fan to acting on the show?”

“It was fantastic.” The first season of the show was still driving people crazy when you got the call for an audition for the role of Amy Whitehall, for seasons two and three. Vicky, you have no idea how, got in touch with some friends when she heard they were searching of someone with physical traits similar to yours. Thankfully, the audition went well and you got the job. “It's an honor to be part of this masterpiece. The only bad part is that now I have some spoilers.”

“Your character's scene by the end of season two had any interaction with Billy Hargrove, Hawking's bad boy. Does that mean she'll be in any kind of relationship with him?”

For that, you have to think, careful not to say anything that will expose the plot.

People are very interested in Billy, not sure exactly where the character will go from now on, after his introduction on season two. He stole many hearts, for love or hate, dividing opinions. And your character had a short appearance by very end of the last episode, shown in an interaction with him. On her way to the ball, to help Nancy, Billy almost runs her over with his car, after dropping his sister. They had a small dialogue, him asking her to get out of the way and her telling him to look where he was going. Then a pause, a little bit of tension, and that was it.

“I'm not allowed to answer that, but Amy's scene was just an introduction. Her character will be around throughout season three.” Offering another smile, you turn around, giving attention to someone else.

“What will be a new threat? The season finale raised a lot of questions about–”

“Excuse me, excuse me.” Vicky pokes her head out, a hand raised. “I'm sorry, but we have to get going.”

“Aright.” You mumble. “Thank you, guys. Bye.” Politely, you wave at the reporters before going back into the van.

You're soon moving again, leaving the entrance behind and driving in darkness for some minutes before more lights come into your sight until they're all around you. The set was built around a piece of the road, where you already shot earlier this week.

“C'mon, (Y/N). Hair and make-up." Vicky urgers, stepping out of the van with you.

You easily find your way around the set, chatting with people as they do your hair and put the makeup on. There will be a tiny cut above your left eyebrow, and Ron, the guy who always take care of the fake wounds around here, takes only fifteen minutes to get it done. Once you're ready, Vicky guides you to the filming area, and you sit on your chair a few feet away, under one of the many huge tents scattered around the place.

“Hi.” Someone says, and you abruptly look up from your phone, finding your co-star. The only co-star of the day, Dacre. He's already full Billy, with the mullet wig and the leather jacket. “I didn't mean to startle you. Just thought I'd come to say hello before the scene.”

You haven't properly spoken to Dacre. The single scene you made was quick, one of the last, and the set was a mess. So you didn't have the chance to talk, and ever since, you haven't crossed paths with him. But today's scene is all about your characters. Amy's first appearance on season three will have her running from something in the woods, the Mind Flayer, and she crashes her car on Billy's, while he's on the way to meet Mrs. Wheeler. That's it for today, their first meeting.

“Hi.” Smiling back, you shake his hand. “I'm (Y/N).” You decide to remind him.

“I know.” He simply says. “Do you want to go over the lines before the real thing?”

He has such a nice voice, it's impressive. You've watched some of his movies, and he's really good. It's not like you haven't acted before, but nothing so important or famous as Stranger Things. You can't help but be a little nervous. “Sure.” Blocking your phone, you stand up, leaving it on your seat.

“Alright. Let's–”

“(Y/N)! Dacre! It's time, c'mon!” The director calls, cutting you off.

“Guess we'll go straight to the real thing,” Dacre says as you start making your way to where the cars are positioned.

Billy's Camaro and Amy's light green Toyota are placed a few inches apart, the front part already wrecked and a light smoke coming off from under the hood.

“The mechanism will push the cars on each other and the rest you already know.” Your stylist comes to check on you one last time, making sure everything is perfect. When she steps away, you get inside the car.

A few days ago you shot Amy's way over here, driving insanely fast, running from the shadows creeping. Most of the scenes where Amy will be alone were already made since there weren't many. She will be around the others a lot, as the events are unrevealed.

Once you're in the car, you take your time to get into character, ignoring the orders being yelled outside. The lights are turned off, and the road before you is almost completely dark.

“Let's get it started, everyone!” The director shouts. “Action!”

At his command, the car jerks forward.

Letting your head fall on the wheel, you breathe fast, wide eyes acknowledging what just happened, the crash, the smoke, the other car that collided with yours. Looking over your shoulder, you imagine, you picture it coming, moving through the threes, growing closer.

“What the hell!” The voice yells as you try to make your car start again, uselessly. “You could've killed me!”

“Damn it.” Cursing under your breath, overcome by terror, you step out of the car, running around it and into the other one, which is still working, opening the passenger door and rushing inside.

“What do you think you're doing? Get the hell out of my car!” Dacre shouts at your face, in Billy's voice, a little deeper.

“There's something in the woods!” You yell, looking through the rear windshield. “It's coming!”

“Are you crazy or something?! You almost wrecked my car!” As he speaks, you imagine it once again, the tentacles coming from the sky, taking over the road behind you.

Then you grab his arm, squeezing the muscle underneath the jacket. He's in the middle of a sentence when he looks back too, immediately going silent as he's eyes meet the same inexistent thing you're seeing.

“What the–”

“Drive!” You burst out, and the car starts moving.

“Cut!” The director's voice reaches both of you and Dacre hits the brakes.

Relaxing, you let go of his arm.

“That was great, but I want another take. Ryan, turn those lights down.”

The scene is repeated three more times, with different lighting until they finally decide it's perfect. Then the whole set starts moving to the next scene, which is the sequence to what just played out. It'll be shot in a street Northeast from the road, and since it'll play out from the Camaro, you're told to stay in the car as Dacre drives there, following the other cars.

“You did well back there,” Dacre says as you move, taking a different turn from the other cars to reach your mark. The street has a few small houses on one side, which will have their lights on and some people moving inside and on their balconies, and tall threes on the other.

“You too. Hope I didn't hurt your arm, but Amy was terrified.” Shrugging your shoulders, you smile to hear his giggle.

“I noticed.” He says. “But my arm will survive.”

Looking his way, you're able to have a good look at him now. It's a little dark, but you can take in his features. Dacre makes the mullet look good, which is impressive since you absolutely hate the hairstyle. But not on him. Clearing your throat, you look away. “Make sure it will. You'll need it.”

Dacre stops by the mark, everyone apparently already on their positions. “Things are about to get tense for Billy and Amy now.”

“First fight.” You say, taking a look at your outfit to make sure nothing is out of place. “Enemies to lovers is quite a good arch.”

“I like it too.”

“(Y/N). Dacre. Are you ready?” The director asks and both of you give him a thumbs up, hands off the window. The crew with the microphones and cameras are already positioned, ready for the scene. “Alright then. Ready... Action!”

Dacre moves the car forward, just enough to fake it as he hits the breaks. “What was that?” Billy asks, annoyed for some reason Amy wouldn't know.

“I don't know.” With a hand on your hair, shaking a little, you breathe fast, terrified. “Just take me home.”

“Now I gotta drive you home too?”

“Screw you.” The sudden outburst and the disgust in his voice makes you bolt out of the car, keeping in mind not to look at the cameras following you.

“Are you going to walk?” Billy yells, but you don't look back, walking fast, crossing your arms. “Wait.”

“Screw. You.”

“Don't be an idiot.” You roll your eyes when you notice he's coming closer. Dacre grabs your arm, forcing you to turn around. “Are you really going to walk home with that... Thing out there?”

You're confused at his change of moods, pushing your arm away. “Does it look like I have a choice? You just saw that–” You gesture at the threes on the other side of the road. “–and you still couldn't bring yourself to drive a lady home. You're such a gentleman.” Raising your voice, you put the same tone of disgust in your voice that you heard in his. The cameras move a little closer, and you know why. That's when the tension starts, when Amy stands up to Billy. Stepping forward, lifting your head to try and look him in the eye, you put a single finger in his chest. “You're far worse than what people say you are.” You don't get why his eyes make you nervous. Maybe this whole thing is more than you're used to, too big of a production for you after a few years away from the cameras. As much as Dacre's face being so close makes you feel funny, you gotta keep it cool, don't let it show. You're scared, terrified of a monster in the woods.

“Cut the bullshit and let's go.” He takes your arm again, but you refuse to follow him, standing your ground.

“Let go!” You struggle a bit on his grip, noticing how you actually need to act as if it's tighter than it really is. When he turns to face you again, as you struggle, his face comes close again, his eyes filled with Billy's annoyance.

“Get your butt–” Exactly in time, a crack reaches your ears, and both you and Dacre look at the woods with wide eyes, your breaths caught in your throats, unsure of what made that noise, but not excited to find out. “Let's get out of here.”

“Yeah.” You mumble, heading back into the car.

“And cut!” The director yells as soon as you close the door shut. “That was good, but I want another take. I want the same tension you both built on season 2, only now it's stronger, you're face to face. And Dacre, work this out because people need to be convinced Billy likes someone for something else than just fool around.”

You both nod, repeating the same thumbs-up gesture. Taking a deep breath you wait for the sign and starts moving, doing pretty much the same until you're both out of the car, but this time, when Dacre pulls your arm, you act as if the pull was stronger then it actually was, letting yourself collide against his chest before stepping away. “Are you really going to walk home with that... Thing out there?”

“Does it look like I have a choice? You just saw that and you still couldn't bring yourself to drive a lady home. You're such a gentleman.” Instead of just putting a finger on his chest, you push him away with both hands, not keeping the normal distance as doing so, and letting your eyes fall on his unbuttoned shirt for a couple of seconds before raising your them again. You feel the heat on your cheeks, and you know you're blushing. Checking him out was not the intention.

Dacre's eyes meet yours, and for a second they soften before the usual annoyance comes back. You wonder if he's trying to say something, give you a hint about something he wants to do, but you have no idea what it might be. “Cut the bullshit and let's go, princess.” The weight on the last word is different, lower, meant as in insult, an irony.

“Let go!” You whisper-yell, trying to pull away, but you stop when Dacre holds the other arm, trying to drag you to the car. His stare is intense, and the cameras move a little, coming closer, and you know they're focusing on your faces. “Let go.” You repeat, much lower this time, trying to put some distance between you and him, since your bodies are way too close already.

“Get your butt–” The crack again, the stare at the woods, and the sudden change of moods. Run now, fight later. “Let's get the hell out of here.”

Nodding in agreement, you give your arms one last push, and Drace's eyes come back to you as if remembering he was still holding you, finally releasing his grip. You both run to the car and the scene is over.

Despite saying it was perfect, the director wanted two more takes. He wants proximity, touching, anger mixed with a sudden, recently discovered passion from an unexpected connection at first sight. You're happy to hear that you did achieve that, not sure if it came from your skills or the funny feeling you had in your stomach through the scene. It's weird to have someone you basically just met so close, only inches away.

When it's all done, you take off the outfit and put your clothes back on after washing the make-up away. Then you wait for Vicky, leaning against the minivan, scrolling through your Instagram feed.

“Hi again.” You see Dacre approaching through the corner of your eyes, raising your head to look at him. “Have you checked in at the hotel yet?”

“Yes, just before coming here.” All the actors are staying at the same hotel, just so it's easier to gather everyone around when needed, and be sure of the time it gets for them to get on set.

“I came in my car. I can give you a ride there if you like.” As he speaks, you see Vicky coming, talking with the director. Which you still don't know the name yet.

“I came with Vicky, my agent.” Gesturing at her, you feel embarrassed to decline, and you hope Vicky will say something to help you out as she usually does. “Right, Vi?”

“Oh, no.” Waving her hand in a fast motion, she puts a lock of her blond hair behind her ear. “Remember what I told you? Make connections, friends. Don't stick with me during the whole production.” She reaches out her hand and Dacre politely shakes it. “I'm Victoria Klein. (Y/N)'s agent and her mother's oldest friend.”

“Dacre Montgomery.” He simply says.

“You may take her to the hotel. I have some things to do and she needs to rest. Long day tomorrow.”

You just watch as Vicky sets you up as if you're not even there to make your own call. But you're too shy to say anything else, to still refuse Dacre's kindness. “Ok then. See you, Vicky.”

“Have a good night.” She says after giving you a quick hug.

Silently, you follow Dacre through the set to the parking lot. His car is among several different trucks, some of them already leaving. “Nice car.” You tell him as you get into the passenger seat.

“It's rented.” Dacre turns the ignition and the car comes to life. “I can't be without a car. What if I need to go somewhere?”

“Fair enough.”

He drives through the huge set and you fall into a comfortable silence, not sure of that to say. It would help if you could see some kind of landscape or anything at all through the window. Then you wouldn't look like an idiot with eyes glued at nothing but darkness.

“Did you stop to speak to the journalists?” Dacre asks when you reach the exit, waving at one of the guards.

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah. What did they ask?”

“Spoilers.” Shrugging your shoulders, you give him a glance, and he does the same. “About Amy's and Billy's relationship. What can be expected after their meeting in the season finale.”

A low giggle escapes his lips. “Wait until they know.”

“But they will have to wait until next year.”

“You did well back there. You actually blushed. How did you do that?” He stops at the red light, and you feel when he looks at you. Running a hand through your hair, you meet his eyes.

You weren't trying to blush. You just did. “I'm a very good actress.” Giving him a sassy smirk, you see when his lips break into a smile. It's different from Billy's smile, he doesn't act like he's trying to hide some unknown meaning behind it.

“You sure are.” The red light turns green and you start moving again. “Uhm... There will be a kissing scene, you know.” Oh. The kissing scene. You read through it, of course, you just didn't give much thought about it. “Have you ever done a kissing scene?”

“No.” The answer is quick, you don't have to think much. “In my long list of three movies, in two of them my character didn't have any romantic interests and in the other one it was platonic.” Dacre had done it, you remember from some movie, not sure which one. Your mother insisted on watching some of his movies, just so you'd ‘get to know your co-star skills’ before actually having to work with him. But it's different. It's completely different watching a character on screen and then meeting the person behind it.

“Oh, ok. I hope I won't make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Don't worry about that.” You're a professional, and that's your job. It's just a kiss anyways, and the scene won't be shot any time soon. You'll have time to get used to the idea.

“I just think that since our characters arch is connected from now on, it would be good to get to know each other. It helps a lot when the co-stars are somehow friends.”

“Of course.” He has way more experience in this than you, so whatever he says, you agree.

When you get to the hotel, Dacre leaves his car on the underground parking lot, and, despite having his room key, he insists on accompanying you to the reception to get your card. Once you're in the elevator, you rest your back against the mirror, watching the numbers as they light up.

“We should exchange numbers,” Dacre says, turning to look at you. “In case some of us need to go through the lines or work on something.” He shrugs his shoulders, the light fabric of his white shirt moving. “It's a thing among us. You'll be invited to a lot of parties like that.”

“Sure.” Taking your phone off your pocket you unlock it and hand it over to him as he does the same. Quickly, you type your number and save if on his contacts list.

“That's my stop.” He says when you reach the 14th floor. “See you tomorrow.”

“Good night.” You mumble, waving at him as the elevator door closes again.

The first thing you do when you get to your room is kick off your shoes, already undressing to hit the shower before throwing yourself on bed. It's very late and you won't have many hours of sleep. You're halfway to the bathroom when you take your phone to put on some music. But you don't recognize the object in your hand. After a moment of confusion, you realize it's Dacre's phone.

“What now?” Stopping on your tracks, you start making the way back and gathering the clothes you left on the floor, putting them on again. Since you don't know the number of his room and knocking from door to door is ridiculous, you decide to call reception and just ask. But on your way to the landline they have near the couch, Dacre's phone starts ringing. You were wondering who would it be when you read your own name on the screen.

“Oh, hi.” You're quick to pick up. “I guess you have my phone.”

“Yeah, I got lucky it didn't lock, or else I'd have to call reception asking for your room.” His voice gets a lot darker through the phone. “Would you tell me which one is it? I'm already heading to your floor.”

“1703.” Already making your way to the door, you hear the soft beep of the elevator's doors opening.

“I'm almost there.” He's still speaking when he turns the corner, getting into your sight. You hang up, a shy smile on your face. “Sorry about that.” He hands you over your phone and you give him back his.

“It's alright. We're both tired.” You expect him to just say good night and leave, but he doesn't, shifting his weight from one leg to another.

“Have you met the others yet? Natalia, Joe, Millie...?”

“No, not yet.” You've heard they are very close, and you're the new girl in set. Saying you're nervous doesn't get anywhere close.

“I'm your only friend so far then.” Dacre states. “I'll break the ice with the others, don't worry.” He smiles again, and now, under the bright lights of the hotel hall, you can see his face perfectly. His blue eyes, a lot kinder then they were earlier today when he was Billy.

“Thanks. Guess I'll see you tomorrow then... Pool scenes.”

“Pool scenes.” He repeats. “I'll leave you to sleep now. Good night, (Y/N). Again.”

“Good night, Dacre.” Standing by the door, you watch as the walks away, towards the elevators.

You're about to head inside when, just before he turns around the corner, Dacre gives you one last look, a smile coming to his lips when his eyes meet yours.

×

@baker151910 @shinydixon @dreamin-of-dacre @hanoi15 @lickmymelanin @skykittysstuff

[lazybakerart]

Fic Writer Questions

tagged by: @deardmvz​ @disdaidal​ @cherrydreamer​ @introvertia​ @ihni​ thank you!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

85 (my math could be wrong there??)

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

592,521

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Stranger Things (TV 2016) (39)

Hannibal (TV) (13)

Basic Instinct (Movies) (5)

Kingsman (Movies) (5)

Mænd & høns | Men & Chicken (2015) (5)

The Walking Dead (TV) (2)

Gotham (TV) (2)

Charlie Countryman (2013) (2)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies) (2)

幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files (2)

The Exorcist (TV) (1)

Naruto (1)

The 100 (TV) (1)

Adam (2009) (1)

The Path (TV) (1)

Supernatural (1)

Hannibal Lecter Tetralogy - Thomas Harris (1)

The Boys (TV 2019)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

in Harringrove:

Cherry

falling for you in hawkins, indi-fucking-ana series

thank god you see me the way you do 

The Best Offense is a Good Bl*wjob 

Turned Bitch

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes it’ll be right away and sometimes it’s months later (which I do feel really bad about). Sometimes though the anxiety gets to me and I just. My head goes dead and comments go un-replied to (which I also feel extremely bad about).

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

the boy and his car - Years later, Steve sees Billy’s camaro fixed up and for sale, he buys it and while driving it, he sees and talks to a ghost-Billy.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I used to! I really loved (I still love) Harry P*tter and YYH crossover fic. I’ve written it way back on ff.net days and I read the heck out of it (and I still do check back in and read it))))

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes! It feels real shitty! Don’t leave hate on a fic, never ever EVER do it. 

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do, I try to write stuff that isn’t so straight forward. I try to take it into a weird turn.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I’ve had fic ideas stolen, in the sense I was asked if it was okay if they wrote this idea, I said I was writing it, they then said ‘okay’ and then. . . wrote my idea anyways.

I’m a lot more free with the whole ‘we can write the same thing and it’ll come out way different anyways’ thing now, though. But back then, my undies got themselves in a twist.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, in lots of languages~ It’s very cool to have someone like something I wrote enough to want to translate it into their own language.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! It was a Hannibal fic, a lot of fun and a very cool learning experience~

What’s your all time favorite ship?

ATM, it would be Harringrove, but I have my top pairings that will destroy me at the slightest inclination (Hannigram, Dest*el, HieiKu*ama, Nar*Sasu, Kak*Gai)

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

There’s a lot adskgjhkdsgdf. It’s hard to pick even one out of the pile here. Steve at the gay bar. Steve outing Billy. The Mood Mullet. The fantasy au where they’re both princes. Tattoo Thing. There’s just. So. Many. Yikes.

What are your writing strengths?

Length.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Every single thing. It’s a mess. (Maybe pacing is the big one. Or dialogue. Or just writing something with some oomph to it. Or writing something that the fandom actually cares about. Just writing something interesting. It’s all pretty rough.)

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I try to avoid it. I could use google translate, but most of the time that just isn’t even right and I don’t want to be disrespectful by half-assing it either so. Once in a while I’ll throw in like. A word. Usually a term of endearment. Something that I’ve researched enough to be confident including.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Probably YYH (or Nar*to?????)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

falling for you in hawkins, indi-fucking-ana series because I’ve worked so hard on it for, apparently, four years?!?! I poured so much of everything I love about Billy and Steve into it and parts of myself too and just. Everything has gone into it. I’m currently having a really tough time with it and if I should continue with it, but, still, no matter what happens, I’m really proud of it.

tagging: @gothyringwald @shewritesdirty @gravegroves @stevie-wicks @cherry-sorry @lizardkingeliot @memes-saved-me @neonponders @catharrington and if you see this and want to join in! please do!!

[hartigays]

23. A kiss that tastes of the food/dessert they are eating.

for @mullet-diaries as requested 💕 quick shout out for this angel because she’s cheered me on while i’ve worked on filling all these requests. you really are my biggest cheerleader and ilysm 🥰💘 so here’s your request you fantastic human!!

“where the fuck did you learn how to bake?” steve moans, grasping his stomach.

billy made a tray of brownies for them to munch on after dinner, but they’d turned out so well that they’d cleared the whole tray within an hour. and to top it off, billy had picked up a tub of uss butterscotch, which they’d used to top the brownies.

fucking delicious, is what it was. steve thinks he’s going to be in food heaven for at least a week, or at least until billy whips up another batch of his baked goods.

“mom taught me, before she ditched,” billy shrugs. clears his throat and busies his hands with the dishes, heading into the kitchen and popping them in the sink.

steve frowns a little. billy rarely talks about his mom, and steve doesn’t push him. he knows there’s a lot of baggage there, and billy will unload it when he’s ready. but he does catch sight of the calendar tacked up on the opposite wall and curses. stands and makes his way into the kitchen.

he wraps his arms around billy’s middle, plastering himself to his boyfriend’s back as he scrubs the dishes. hooks his chin over billy’s shoulder and hums softly in his ear.

“i’m sorry, sweetheart,” steve murmurs, his voice hushed. “i’m here, you know. always.”

it’s the anniversary of the day billy’s mother left. steve has been so slammed at work that he’d forgotten what day of the week it even was. he understands now why billy has been so tense. why he suddenly turned into a master chef this evening.

billy turns off the sink. twists in steve’s arms until he’s facing him and kisses both of his cheeks. “i know. ‘s why i love you so damn much, stupid.”

steve grins, cheeky as hell. leans in and brushes his lips across billy’s. he tastes faintly of chocolate, much more so of butterscotch ice cream, sugary sweet. steve chases the flavor, deepening the kiss. he fists his hands in billy’s shirt, pressing him up against the sink.

billy hums into steve’s mouth. runs his tongue across steve’s, getting a taste. they kiss the sugar from each other’s lips, until all steve can taste is billy and all billy can taste is steve. it’s soft and it’s sweet and it’s downright fucking scorching, leaving steve’s legs feeling like jell-o.

he pulls away first, breathing deep. billy even smells like butterscotch. the taste of it still lingers on steve’s tongue. it makes him feel warm from the top of his head to the very tips of his toes.

“guess i should bake for you more often, huh?” billy asks, his voice a breathless laugh.

“what can i say, i guess i like it sweet.”

billy gets a thoughtful look on his face, then slips out of steve’s arms. he pads over to the fridge, then pulls out a can of whipped cream, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“that so?” billy inquires, slowly walking backwards in the direction of their room. “you mind if i test that theory?”

he doesn’t give steve time to answer before he’s darting down the hall. steve just chases after him, the sound of his laughter echoing through the apartment.

steve doesn’t sleep at all, given their massive sugar intake. but that’s okay. great, even. because they have one activity in particular to occupy their time.

so, yeah. he can sleep when he’s dead. right now, with his arms full of billy and a belly full of homemade love, steve feels just fine.

sleep is for amateurs, anyway.

send me a number + a pairing!

[katehuntington]

How You & I Will Be - part two

Fandom: Supernatural Timeframe: mid-season 2 Main characters: Reader, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer (mentioned), Ellen & Jo Harvelle (mentioned), Ash (mentioned), Mary Winchester (mentioned), Reader’s mom (mentioned) Pairing: Dean x Reader (eventually) Series summary: When a hellhound case in the mountains goes sideways, Dean and Y/N find themselves trapped in a small cabin, miles from civilization. A serious injury forces the two hunters to come to terms with their true feelings for each other. Rescue is on its way, but will it be in time? Warnings part two: minor angst, some fluff, pining, swearing, description of blood and injury, bittersweet memories, Dean’s bad singing voice. Music: ‘Hellhound On My Trail’ by Robert Johnson, ‘Piano Man’ by Billy Joel Word Count: 2341 words Author’s note: Part two of a five part mini-series. This part might feel like short pause from all the drama, but I promise you it’s only the silence before the storm. @idreamofhazel and @littlegreenplasticsoldier, thank you so much for being awesome betas!  

Find the ‘How You & I Will Be’ masterlist here!

     “You know what I want?”      Y/N pulls up one knee to her chest and fold her arms around it, trying not to move the injured leg as she does so. It took a little while, but the abandoned cabin is finally starting to warm up now that a fire is growing under the chimney. Thankfully, Dean found some wood in the backroom, although they will run out soon enough. Flames flicker playfully and every now and then the wood cracks, lighting ambers up into the air.      “Please share,” he replies before he rests his head against the wooden wall and closes his eyes for a moment.      “A beer.”

     He chuckles and gazes at her, a sense of pride and amusement on his handsome face. He straightens himself, his shoulder rubbing against hers, and smiles. Man, is she one cool chick or what?      “Right there with ya. I’d kill for a Budweiser,” he agrees.      “Or a good glass of whiskey,” she imagines, closing her eyes imagining the drink.      “Jack Daniels.”      “Johnny Walker.”      They both sigh at the same time as a silence follows, and for a while they dwell in their thoughts. Chances are, though, that neither of them is ever going to have that drink. Surely, Sam is a smart guy and a fantastic hunter, but he can’t work miracles. The youngest Winchester is right; for as far as they know, there is nothing that can kill a hellhound.

     Tired out, Y/N stares at the fire, the same fire she saw when she looked that monster in the eye as it sneaked closer, growling, blood dripping from its mouth. Apprehensively, she swallows; this is going to result in some nightmares, of that she’s sure. Looking for a little affection, she leans in towards Dean and rests her head on his shoulder while her gaze slides down to her leg. Her friend bandaged it to keep it clean, but she can feel it throbbing. She lost a fair amount of blood, enough to feel sleepy and light headed. It’s clear as day that she needs to get to a hospital, and that says something coming from her. Yet they are stuck on a mountain slope, miles away from civilization, miles away from help. Y/N wants to keep her hopes up, she does, but even an optimist would have to admit that it's looking pretty grim.

     "What's going on in that pretty head of yours?" Dean asks softly, laying his cheek against her hair.      A small smile forms, the corner of her mouth curls up a little. She has known the Winchesters for quite some time now. They are like her brothers; she would die for them and they would do the same for her. Both boys have the ability to see behind the mask she claims to wear so well. It’s not often that Dean is this affectionate, though. Him almost losing his friend probably has something to do with it.      "We're in deep shit, Dean," she acknowledges.      "Can't deny that," he admits. "But we'll get out of this mess. Sam is working his mojo down the mountain and we will figure out a way to kill those chihuahuas, okay?"      Y/N looks up at him, into his emerald green eyes. He seems so calm, so confident. It eases her a little, and so she lets the air escape from her lips as he slips his arm around her and lets her lean in against him. Her eyes fall shut; it's starting to dawn on her just how tired she is. A mixture of fear, lack of sleep and blood loss, she assumes. But laying here, so close to Dean, it makes her feel all kinds of other things too.

     Safe, no matter how many hellhounds are on their doorstep.      Warm, despite the freezing cold outside.      Loved, even though she knows Dean doesn't love her the way she loves him. 

    Y/N always had a soft spot for the oldest Winchester brother, but in their line of work it seemed stupid to get involved with the hunter. Of course she has wondered, asked herself ‘what if it works out’ and ‘what if this time it won’t hurt.’ But since everyone she cares for has either left or died, she reluctantly kept her distance. It’s what got her into this business in the first place. The losses she suffered left scars so deep, that she promised herself that she would never let anyone close again. And then Sam and Dean walked into the Roadhouse and bought her a drink.

     She chuckles. The Roadhouse, man, did they spend a lot of time there. She thinks about the bar for a moment. The worn leather stools, the pool table that Ash sleeps on when it’s not being used, the old jukebox that is full of R.E.O. and other mullet rock.      “I wish I brought my iPod,” Y/N comments.      The silence in the cabin is bothering her and a little music would have helped cast out the sound of the dogs rustling through the snow outside, barking every now and then.      "Yeah, I could dig some rock tunes right now,” Dean agrees.            Y/N watches how he picks up the backpack and digs up a snack. Her upper lip twitches at the sight of the protein bar; she finds them disgusting. Dean offers one and she refuses.      “C’mon, you have to eat something,” he pressures.      “I’m not hungry.”      Dean lifts his eyebrows and glares at her sideways, holding her gaze.      “That’s a new one,” he comments after which he takes a bite from his bar. “Have some Gatorade then.”      He hands Y/N the plastic bottle with the blue sports drink inside.      “Dean, stop nursing me!” she refuses chuckling.      “You need to keep up your strength,” he argues.      “For what?”      “For when Sam gets here. Who knows what stunts we might need to pull off when we get your fine little ass out of trouble,” he replies, after which he takes another bite from his bar and grins while chewing.

     Rolling her eyes and sighing reluctantly, Y/N takes the bottle and drinks. When she restores eye contact, she shoots him a ‘Satisfied?’ glare. Dean smirks, amused with her attitude, takes the bottle back and has a swig as well. Y/N can’t help but to steal a glance. My God, isn’t he gorgeous, she thinks to herself. Watching how he has his head tilted back, his strong jawline and rough stubble standing out, throat exposed, then licking his lips after he brings the bottle back down. It reminds her of the times she had a beer with him and his brother. The three of them rode out plenty of nights, to find a quiet spot where they sat on the hood of the Impala under a night full of stars. Dean kept the beers coming, she played some music, Sam made sure they got home okay. Y/N smiles at the memory and flips through to the next, not noticing how Dean is studying her.

     “What?” he wonders, looking at her intently.      “Remember how we basically fought for a month because I wanted to bring my guitar along on the road and you thought it was a waste of space?” she recalls.      Dean looks away as the smile on his lips grows wider.      “Yeah, I remember that. And I had a point too. Baby is not a tour bus.”      “It’s one guitar, Dean! You have an arsenal big enough for a small army in the trunk!”      “Exactly! No room for your musical instruments,” he exclaims, but smirking nonetheless.      Y/N lifts her head victoriously because they both know who won this battle.      “Where is my guitar now?”      Dean clears his throat. “In the car.”      Both have a laugh, the grim mood lifted for a moment.

     “You brought your harmonica?” he asks curious.      Y/N opens her jacket and takes the tiny object out of her inner pocket.      “Who needs an iPod then,” he responds, delighted. “Play something.”      Looking forward to her performance, he straightens his back and turns to face his partner. He always enjoys it when she plays or sings, somehow it always seems to calm him down. Dean watches as Y/N leans against the wall again, trying to think of a suitable song. Then she holds the harmonica in front of her mouth with one hand and partly covers the exhale holes as she lets the air flow through, creating that unique sound. Waiting for Dean to guess the song, she plays the tune. He’s a little slow on the uptake, but then she notices the expression of recognition on his face.      “Hellhound On My Trail? Seriously?” he comments.

     Y/N pauses and laughs. She was wondering how long it would take for him to figure that one out. Content with herself she holds the harmonica in front of her, tracing the delicate initials in the silver with her fingertips. There's a story behind this instrument, the first she learned to play.      "It used to be my Mom's," Y/N shares, when she feels Dean's lingering stare. "She taught me to play it. Guitar, too."      The line on Dean's lips curve up, listening to her story.      "She was a great singer. I remember when I was really young, she would sing me lullabies, but not always usual ones."      Dean chuckles; that sounds familiar."My mom didn't appreciate the traditional lullabies either."      "Really? What would she sing to you?" she asks intrigued.      "Beatles songs, mostly. 'Hey Jude' was her favorite," Dean recalls.      His gaze drifts away as he takes a short trip down Memory Lane, trying to grasp what recollections he has of Mary. Afterall, he was only four years old when she died.

     "Mom was a big fan of Billy Joel," Y/N remembers. “She usually lulled me to sleep by singing ‘Vienna’ and ‘Lullabye’.”      “Why don’t you play one of his songs, then?” Dean offers.      “I thought that wasn’t your thing,” she assumes.      Dean shrugs. “Maybe not what I would normally listen to, but I sure can appreciate it. Play something you enjoy for once.”      He’s got a point, because Y/N usually plays what he likes. Truth be told, she would practice songs by his favorite bands for hours whenever they weren’t together, just to impress him. It worked too, she will never forget the sparkle in his eyes as he watched her absolutely nail the riff of ‘When The Levee Breaks’ by Led Zeppelin.

     Again Y/N takes a moment to find a song in her memory to play, then the ultimate Billy Joel track comes to mind.      “Okay, imagine…” she holds out her hand, painting a picture as she’s telling the story.  “Imagine the Roadhouse. Old worn furniture, hunting antiques and vintage beer signs on the wall. Pool table over there, a U-shaped counter on this side. It’s crowded, but not too crowded, y’know? Hunters are having a drink, laughing, writing in their journals, exchanging stories. Jo and Ellen are there, Bobby too, Ash is drinking his PBR. It feels…”      Dean watches her in awe. There’s something about her, that’s a given fact. But when she’s passionate and lets her imagination run free, he just can’t stop looking at her. She’s so vibrant, all big eyes and wide smile. Damn, she’s beautiful, he thinks to himself.

     She pauses, feeling Dean’s eyes on her and meeting his intrigued gaze, causing her to lose her breath for a second. Their eyes remain locked and she can feel him drinking her in. It’s a good thing that she knows he’s not in love, otherwise she might start to believe he is.      “It feels… cozy, and happy… and warm,” she continues.     Then Y/N breaks eye-contact and points at the other corner of the little cabin.     “Over there is a piano. A man walks over, sits down and starts to play.”     She brings the harmonica to her mouth and starts the music. Although Dean would probably consider this kind of music too soft, the joyful sound of his laughter mixes with the notes. Y/N breathes out relieved in the break; she hoped she would get to hear that sound again. The melody repeats with a playful variation and she closes her eyes in enjoyment.

     “You know the first verse?” she challenges.      “What? Me?” Dean glares at her, surprised.      “I’m not asking the dogs to howl along. Yeah, you!” she grins.      “Yeah, I know the song,” he sits up and prepares.      Y/N nods excited. “Alright, you do first verse, I’ll do the second.”      Again she hits the note and Dean comes in right on cue. His impression of Billy Joel is not entirely on key, but it’s amusing nonetheless.

     It's nine o'clock on a Saturday      The regular crowd shuffles in      There's an old man sitting next to me      Makin' love to his tonic and gin

     He says, "Son, can you play me a memory      I'm not really sure how it goes      But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete      When I wore a younger man's clothes.

     Y/N can’t help but to laugh, but keeps on playing and Dean keeps on singing. She takes over the lyrics of the second verse and they join together for the chorus.  

     Sing us a song, you're the piano man      Sing us a song tonight      Well, we're all in the mood for a melody      And you've got us feelin' alright

     It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday      And the manager gives me a smile      'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see      To forget about life for a while      And the piano, it sounds like a carnival      And the microphone smells like a beer      And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar      And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

     Sing us a song you're the piano man      Sing us a song tonight      Well we're all in the mood for a melody      And you got us feeling alright

Read part three here

Thanks for reading the second part! Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think.

This series is already finished, so I expect to update soon. Stay tuned for more!

Tags: (want to get tagged? Send me a message!) Follow forever: @angelsandwinchesters @atc74 @bandobsession98 @books-wands-swords-impalas @canadianspnhunter @chumi-la-chula @cookie-dough-lova @dillpicklesunflowerseed @hannahindie @heartsaved @hennessy0274-blog @hyperella @idreamofhazel @just-another-busy-fangirl @kathaswings @like-a-bag-of-potatoes @mrswhozeewhatsis @myheartbeatsjustforyou @rainqueen @sammyssupersmile @sheepdogs33456 @sofiadiaz04 @spiritsofoblivion @spnimag @sunskittlex @supernatural-girl97 @super-not-naturall @susan-is-in-the-house @theyaremyveryownthoughts @trashforwinchesters @ultimatecin73 @unlikelygalaxygiver @uzum4k1-uch1h4 @vvishous @winchesterxtwo 

SPN pond: @bennyyh @castieltrash1 @cas-backwards-tie @chaos-and-the-calm67 @chelsea-winchester @clueless-gold @deanscarlett @deansleather @deantbh @deanwinchesterforpromqueen @deathtonormalcy56 @emoryhemsworth @evilskank-inthemegacoven @faith-in-dean @fandommaniacx @frenchybell @imadeangirl-butimsamcurious @impala-dreamer @just-another-winchester @kayteonline @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @maraisabellegrey @memariana91 @mysupernaturalfics @nichelle-my-belle @plaidstiel-wormstache @revwinchester @roxy-davenport @ruined-by-destiel @samsgoddess @spn-fan-girl-173 @supermoonpanda @supernaturalyobessed @supernatural-jackles @there-must-be-a-lock @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @waywardjoy @wevegotworktodo @whywhydoyouwantmetosaymyname @whispersandwhiskerburn @winchester-writes @deanwinchesterxreader @winchester-family-business

How You & I Will Be: @deanwnchstr @parkeret @professionalspnfangirl @tmiships4life

[eternalporcelaindoll]

stranger things!

Hey Kayla!!<3 favorite male character: I mean, Will is my baby by now but I do love Eddie. Steve has grown on me as well but Eddie is just so relatable to me. Nerdy metalhead and all lol favorite female character: Robin!!! my disaster lesbian who talks too much and can't flirt for shit? That's me in a nutshell lol least favorite character: Ted Wheeler maybe? That Reagan voting asshat could die for all I care. prettiest character: not to expose myself as a MILF lover but Karen lol funniest character: I mean all of them have some funny moments but it has to be Dusting obvs. And Steve though he is funny in a rather unintentional way lol favorite season: I'm actually debating that with myself atm. I really don't know.. It's not S4 bc Vol2 kinda ruined it for me (I don't think it's bad.. it just wasn't that good..) but I can't decide between the other three atm. favorite episode: S03E07 for the wonderful coming out scene. favorite romantic ship: for canon: Jopper all the way. I do think Jancy are a nice ship but they both need to talk ffs.. Non-canon: Steddie, Ronance, Robin x Vickie (not yet canon but it looks like it might be). favorite family ship: The Hopper-Byers family will forever be the best. A fantastic patchwork family that loves each other so much and has been through so much! favorite friend ship: The lesbian and her himbo, obvs lol worst ship: Anything with Billy probably. I get it. Dacre is very good looking and manages to pull off that mullet but his character is an absolute ass.

Thank you for asking!!<3 also for the other two which I might queue.. or not lol We'll see.

Send me a tv show/movie!

[thisishawkins]

Here We Go

Here’s the second part to “Dammit”! I plan on making this a series, so feedback would be much appreciated! I tried uploading this once, and it didn’t seem like it was showing up, so here it goes, again! ~ K

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Trigger warnings: none (if there is any thing that is, please let me know!)

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

“Heyo, Jonathan.” You greeted as you walked up to the lanky boy with reclusive-tendencies.

He smiled as he pulled his Physics textbook out of his locker. “Morning, Y/N.”

The both of you had been friends since you were in elementary school. His mom, Joyce, and your mom had been close friends since they were about your age.

The two of you began to catch up, as you hadn't spoken in a couple of days. The warning bell rang as you were talking, alerting the both of you that class would start in five minutes.

“So, I guess I'll see you in the red room during fifth period?” You asked him. The both of you had your free period during that time, which normally meant you would either develop photos with Jonathan, or sit outside in your car or the library.

“Yeah, I started a new project. I think that you'll like it.” He stated, a mischievous glint in his eye. You narrowed your eyes and smirked.

“Okay, Mr. Sneaky. I'll see you then.”

You walked past him to make your way to your literature class.

You and Jonathan had almost always had a hint of playfulness towards each other, but that was because you both were so comfortable. It just proved how strong of a friendship that you had with one another.

You had other friends, like Julia Donovan, another girl who frequented the red room, Nancy Wheeler, and a smattering of others, but your friendship with Jonathan Byers was the most resilient.

Not that you had problems with the others, but Julia could be a little rude to Jonathan. And Nancy Wheeler seemed to have her head so far up Steve Harrington's ass that she had seemingly forgotten about her friends.

Steve had always been nice to you, even when he was an utter asshole. Luckily, since he started dating Nancy, he had gotten better and better.

But more often than not, you went solo. And sure, you'd had a couple of boyfriends, but you were so used to being content with it just being you, a handful of friends, and your mother that you couldn't stand it.

They had been clingy. Jacob Donahue had trouble with understanding that you wanted to get out of Hawkins some day. And Derrick Jacobs couldn't get it through his thick skull that you were your own person, not some piece of property, or just a piece of ass.

Being on your own was nice a majority of the time, but other times it kind of ate at you. Like there was something that you were missing out on.

After Jonathan’s younger brother Will, along with Nancy's friend Barb, disappeared last year, and somehow it had to do with something that Nancy and Jonathan couldn't talk about due to it being involved with “the government”, that feeling of missing out accompanied a feeling of uneasiness that settled into the pit of your stomach.

Something was off about Hawkins, and you knew it.

*

Billy took the desk closest to the door once he arrived to his calculus class. He slid into the faux-wood chair with metal-legs, and dropped his bag beside him.

He spotted Mr. Winston at the opposite corner of the room, slowly rifling through his briefcase. The man moved and spoke like Frankenstein.

Billy huffed, and perched his head onto his hand. He’d much rather be driving around in the Camaro, maybe going to grab something at the local diner he hadn’t been to, yet. Maybe even with you by his side.

His thoughts and eyes wondered, and he noticed that the girl sitting in the desk next to him was looking at him with a glaze over her eyes, practically under a spell.

He flashed her a smile and winked, and she all but sighed in a way that could’ve lead to her fainting.

God, these girls are too easy to win over, he thought. At least he knew that they weren’t getting bored of him already.

Later, when Mr. Winston finally began his monotone lecture of the morning, and Billy surprising jotted down some notes, the gears in his mind began to turn.

Although Billy had another nightmare the night before, he still felt more, well, he couldn't put an exact word to it.

Yeah, his home-life was insufferable and his father was a complete dickwad, plus the annoying morons and airheads at school didn't really help, even if they were beginning to worship him. But somehow, briefly meeting you had made him a little more positive. Maybe this town held something, or someone, of significance to Billy. Maybe Billy could make it out of this hellhole alive, and not end up like his father.

There were a lot of maybes in Billy’s life, and he wanted answers.

*

You had been sitting in your car with your windows down, jamming to Black Sabbath and eating your salad when you noticed that Billy Hargrove was walking toward you.

He gave you a small wave, a smirk already settling onto his lips.

You reached over to turn down your stereo as Heaven and Hell started playing.

He approached your car, and when he did, he leaned against it, placing a hand above your driver's side window and looked down at you.

“Enjoying your lunch, Y/N?” He asked, squinting from the bright sunlight.

“Well I was, until some guy with a curly mullet interrupted me from my afternoon Sabbath session.” You teased, a smirk resting on your face.

“Can I join you?” He inquired, shaking the red apple in his hand for emphasis.

Some of his blonde curls were laying on his forehead, nearly meeting his eyes, while the rest lay on his taut shoulders. He was wearing a white button-down, with half of the buttons done up, despite the chilliness of the late September air, and fitted jeans with his bulky boots. A darkened silver chain with an emblem hung loosely on him, which the lighter metal of his dangling earring contrasted. He was a sight.

You nodded, and his smile grew as he headed around the front of the Gremlin to open the passenger side door.

He slid himself next to you inside the cabin of the car, his long frame fitting into it somehow.

“So, how're you liking Hawkins, all things considering?”, you asked him, meeting his eyes before taking a drink from your bottle of water.

“Indiana doesn't really compare to California. God, I miss it.”, He answered, his smile slightly shrinking, “But, it seems like I'm about to bump Harrington off of the top of the food-chain, so that’s a plus.” He took a bite of his apple and slung his right arm to hang out the window.

You rolled your eyes. You knew that Billy had this big-headed air to him, and you’d heard some things from a few of classmates. You also knew that his need to be overly-masculine and harsh with others were ways to release some of his anger and the pain that he endured at home. You had taken note of his raw-red cheek last night, and had witnessed the interactions between Billy and his father.

“Oh please, these people flock to anything with a nice ass and a bad attitude.” You commented, before you resumed eating your lunch.

“Did you just say that I have a nice ass?” He began, a smile still perched on his face and a glint of something fiery flickered in his eyes.

You smirked on, holding his gaze for a moment.

“Billy, you know that most of those people in there, like Tommy H, are only going to peak here. Plus, I can't tell who wants to screw you more, Tommy or Carol.

Billy nearly choked on a bite of his apple, and you burst into laughter.

*

As you both talked and joked on, Billy's hopes lifted, but worry began to set it. You and your mother were coming over for dinner tonight to see his family. He knew that his dad would never lay a hand on him in front of other people, besides Susan. But, he couldn't help dreading you meeting his father and seeing a small glimpse of his life at home, or the facade that Susan and Neil strenuously put on in front of others.

“You're saying that Blitzkrieg Bop is better than The Passenger?” He asked you, amused by how this lunch, and conversation, was going. He took another puff of his cigarette, feeling the familiar burn.

You allowed him to smoke in the car, as long as he held it out the window and blew the smoke toward it.

“Hell yes, Iggy has definitely lost his touch. When is comes to punk, The Ramones is where it's at. Have you heard that song? It's defines the word rad.” You explained before flipping down your visor mirror and reapplying some lip balm.

“Oh come on, The Passenger is fucking great. The Ramones are cool, but Iggy is just fantastic.” He told you, irritation slightly peeking through, but his smile never faltered.

“Hargrove, you can't believe that you’re telling me that -” You began, but you were interrupted by the faint sound of the bell ringing.

“I guess that's our cue.” Billy told you, his gaze meeting your own. He tossed his cigarette bud out of the window, and blew the last of the smoke out. He didn't want to leave his spot from sitting in your car with you for the rest of the day, even if it was small and in the school parking lot.

“Unfortunately.” You answered, giving him a soft smile. Turning around, you grasped at your backpack and pulled it into your lap as Billy got up and shut the car door. He walked back around to your side and opened your door.

“What a gentleman, Mr. Hargrove.” You joked, a hand placed over you heart. You got to your feet and slung your bag on to your shoulder. He tried to contain his smile, but failed.

“You know, I never would’ve pegged you for a guy that’s into punk rock.” You commented with a sly smile. He met your eyes and returned it.

“There’s a lot of things that you don’t know about me, darlin’.”

The way he said it made a fire light inside of you, and your cheeks slightly burned as if you were near one. You bit your lip and looked down, hoping he didn’t notice.

The both of you walked in comfortable silence as you approached the side door of the school.

“See you at dinner, princess.” Billy told you as the two of you entered the school and the scent of chalk dust and sneakers wafted into your nostrils.

“I'll be the one in the Zeppelin tee.” You told him. He chuckled and winked in response.

As you parted ways, the both of you thought the same thing.

You're something else.

*

“Jonathan, these are amazing!” You said as he revealed the series of photos he had taken that weekend, hanging them up onto the line above the both of you to dry.

He beamed. You hoped that he would pursue photography when the pair of you graduated, knowing he would be truly happy if he did instead of settling with something more dull and possibly more “reliable”.

“Thanks.” He paused, sincerity in his hazel eyes as he blushed slightly, “Yeah, I never thought that I'd get any inspiration from Hawkins, but a lot of the buildings downtown just have this thing about them, you know? I guess it's just the memories that belong to them.” He explained, his eyes glazing over in thought as they moved from you up to the photos, again.

One was outside the strip of stores downtown, one of which Joyce worked at. The sun was setting, as many of the street lights and neon signs were on in the photo. In a way, it looked quite beautiful.

As you continued to look at his collection of photos, you had spurts of memories run through you as your eyes switched from photo to photo.

One of you and Jonathan getting ice cream at one of the parlor's downtown, the pair of you having to be at least seven or eight years old. Your mom found the both of you and had wiped her thumb across both of your faces, for smears of chocolate ice cream had decorated your mouths and chins like an abstract art piece.

Another of when Will had crashed his bike in the middle of Maple Avenue a few years back, and you had ran up to him to help with his small injuries. Will was one of the sweetest boys that you had ever known.

When you had helped him up from the ground, he practically insisted that he was alright, though his arm was bleeding and he had a scrap underneath his small chin. “It's fine, really, Y/N. I don't want to get blood on you.”

At that you had chuckled, and continued to help him down the road towards his mom's store to get bandages.

Then, there was one photo in particular that you had to take a closer look at. Unclasping it from the line, you held it up and closer to the fluorescent red light, while Jonathan peered at you questioningly.

It featured Will and his friends, the Party, they called themselves. All four boys were riding their bikes away from the camera, supposedly on one of the roads leading toward the country roads near the Byers’ house. Above the Party were some dark clouds, but as you took a second glance, something was way off about the sky.

In the photo, above the small figure that you identified as Will, the clouds looked twisted and contorted into some kind of creature, something between an octopus and faceless alien, it’s multiple arms sprouting out across the sky and looking down on the four boys.

“What in the hell is that?” You asked Jonathan, snapping your head over to him as you still held the picture up. “You’re seeing this, right?”

He nodded, his mouth agape, no real words forming. “No, not again.” He finally sputtered out.

“Jonathan, what the do you mean ‘not again’?”

Your jaw clenched, that feeling of uneasiness returning to the pit of your stomach. It had to do with what both of your friends couldn’t tell you, about their loved ones disappearing last year.

“Jonathan Reed Byers, if you don’t tell me what the fu-”

“It’s a long story. And you cannot tell a soul. Unless you’re prepared to skip sixth period, then it’ll have to wait.” Jonathan had a frown plastered on his face, clear stress already evident in his eyes.

“I’m all ears, Jonny boy.”

*

Still reeling from everything Jonathan had told you, about the utter horrifying insanity that was the Upside Down, a world that somehow latched itself onto your own, the Demogorgon, an alien creature that inhabited it, and how that it was where Will and Barb had disappeared to last year. As you had concluded, Barb didn’t make it and the government covered it up, just as they still were. Jonathan also mentioned that the girl that the FBI had been looking for last year was a part of it, too. Apparently her name was Eleven, and she was a cruel government experiment, and had special powers that could connect with the Upside Down. If not for her, Will would have not made it.

You couldn’t concentrate in the rest of your afternoon classes, still dazed from whatever you had just been absorbed into. As you sat there, impatiently waiting for the school day to end, you thought about Jonathan’s picture, it being etched into your brain.

It’s not over. It’s coming back for Will. For us all.

You thought as the shrill ring of the bell signaled that you were finally relieved from an education for the day. You bolted to your locker.

*

“You ready to head over?” Your mom asked you as she popped her head around the door frame to your room.

Nodding, you set your hairbrush down onto your dresser. You had been quieter than normal, and your mom had assumed that you were just nervous about dinner. If only she knew.

Your mom grabbed the casserole that she had made, while you grabbed the container of cookies. The both of you walked down to the Hargrove house, the air already changing from comforting, light, and warm to one of foreboding and chilliness. You shivered at the sight, worried for Billy.

“Here we go.” You mumbled as your mom rang the doorbell, then elbowing you in the arm.

You heard shuffling footsteps, and a hum of a television. The door opened and the pair of you were welcomed by a woman, slim and pinkened by a still-present Californian tan, a puff of red curls neatly atop her head, and a set of doe-brown eyes that had greeted you before her words.

“Welcome, you two! Please, come in.” Her voice was soft, matching her eyes. You wondered then if Mr. Hargrove treated her and her daughter anything like he treated his son. Susan and your mom began chatting as they headed towards the kitchen.

“Oh, I’ll take that dish, Y/N. Why don’t you go make yourself comfortable? I’m sure Maxine or Billy will be out here shortly.”  Susan told you. Your mom gave you an assuring glance.

You turned, but stopped, noticing that Billy was walking out of the hallway toward the front of the house. When he met your gaze, he flashed you a smile that made you melt a little. You would never admit that to anyone but yourself. You weren’t one to drool over a guy.

Little did you know, when you returned an equally charming and genuine smile to Billy, he couldn’t help but melt just a bit, too.

However, much to Billy’s annoyance, Max came walking down the hallway, interrupting the pair of you. You shifted your gaze onto the younger girl, a scowl shown on her tanned, freckled face, clearly indicating that she wasn’t thrilled about attending this dinner, either.

“Hey, you must be Maxine. I’m-”

“It’s Max.” She corrected, Billy’s irritated expression deepening. You, however, weren’t fazed.

“Oh, okay. Max, I’m Y/N.”, You smiled before saying, “I know that you would probably rather be riding your skateboard and not meeting another lame person, but let’s try to act like we are enjoying it, just for our moms’ sake, yeah?”

Her mouth quirked up a smidgen at that, nodding. “Nice to meet you, Y/N.”

She walked off to the living room, leaving you and Billy alone.

“So, do you want the whole tour?” Billy joked, shuffling his feet.

You look over at your mom and Susan, both of them happily bantering back and forth and setting the table. Max was watching the television, lazily situated on the sofa.

“Lead the way.”

*

Billy was unorganized, to say the least. But, he was neat, too.

After showing you the bedrooms, bathrooms (one of which was all pink, and the shower-head was too low for him), the spot where he worked out, Neil’s office (which you didn’t go into, and he wasn’t allowed, Billy noted), the both of you found your way back to his room.

He was pretty much settled in, a few things still in their boxes.

His vinyls, cologne, and hair-products (which you couldn't help but tease him about, because he used the Farrah Fawcett spray, and you knew for a fact that Steve Harrington did, too) were organized and together, but everything else was not. His bed was made haphazardly, some of his clothes were off the hangers. He had a couple of beer cans that hadn’t made it into the small trash can.

Though, he had posters up, a big mirror leaning against one of the walls and a couple of framed pictures. The posters were of a model, Lori Singer from Footloose (which you thought was cute), and one of the newest model of the Camaro.

“So, what do you think?” He asked, amused. He had been admiring the way you were studying things. His jitters replaced his smooth, composed style. He had noticed your sweet smile looking over his possessions, and the room he was forced to move into.

You picked up one of the photos, it was small, but in a frame. It was tucked close to his bed on his bedside table, almost seeming like he was trying to hide it.

It was of a woman, her blonde locks tied up into a loose ponytail, and her wide smile and flashy blue eyes stared at you. She was beautiful.

“Is this your-”

“Y-yeah. It’s a ��� that’s my mom.” He sputtered, looking down at his hands, which were now together and twisting his rings. You saw this, and quickly put the framed portrait back where it was.

“I didn’t mean to upset you or anything.” You told him, gulping back the worry and empathy that overtook you. He shook his head in response, assuring you that you didn’t do anything wrong, but he still didn’t look up to meet your eyes.

You sat down next to him on his bed. Not really knowing what to say, you just leaned in and said, “You know, I don’t know what you've been through, but now that you’re kind of stuck here in this shitty town, you do have someone that you can suffer with.”

He looked up then, his blue orbs now watery.

“It’s me, you goof.” You smiled as you bumped his should with your own.

His frown dissolved into a small smile. Although he was vulnerable, something that he definitely wasn't used to and didn’t enjoy in the slightest, you somehow made him forget that.

The moment evaporated when a thud of a door shutting alerted the pair of you of another presence in the Hargrove household. Both of your smiles shifted into looks of uncomfortableness, but Billy’s was more cross, a look of trepidation in his eyes that he would never let anyone else see.

Neil was home.

[sportsconvergence]

Championship Week Picks

To borrow words from the great Vin Scully, we’ve had all the pomp and circumstance, we’ve had all the fuss and feathers…it’s time for conference championship football!

I offer these conference title picks with a heaping measure of trepidation since my accuracy in these games in prior years has been even worse than my rivalry week picks.  But seeing how this year’s rivalry week was much more efficacious, I’m moving forward undaunted – all engines ahead full, as it were. 

There are several intriguing title games on tap for this weekend! So much so, that I offer the following marital advice – better knock out those “honey do” list items now because it’s a wall-to-wall “must see TV” this coming Saturday.

An aside: yes, I know the PAC 12 title game is on Friday night, but like just about every college football fan living east of the Rocky Mountains, I don’t know enough about that conference to make a pick one way or the other.

Here are my picks in the top games on Saturday, along with start times and networks – an extra service from me to you:

Big 12: Baylor vs Oklahoma State (Noon on ABC) – Oklahoma State makes their first appearance in the Big 12 title game.  Baylor was here before, losing a close game to Oklahoma in 2019.  The last two games in this final have been fantastic to watch and this one should be as well.  As much as I admire Dave Aranda at Baylor, I’m going with Mike Gundy and his million-dollar mullet.  He’s a man, in case you haven’t heard. Oklahoma State wins it late and heads to the FBS playoff.

Sun Belt: Appalachian State vs Louisiana (3:30 on ESPN) – Earlier in the year, these two teams met on the same field and the Ragin’ Cajuns won by a 41-13 final.  The Mountaineers had four turnovers in that game and want to prove that loss was a fluke. Lest we forget, Louisiana coach Billy Napier was recently named to be the new coach at Florida, but he will coach his soon-to-be-former team in this one.  This should be a great game and I like the Mountaineers to send Napier off with a loss.  Appalachian by a very slim margin.

SEC: Georgia vs Alabama (4:00 on CBS) – Can anyone stop Georgia? Some might say the Crimson Tide can, but let’s be honest here – if not for a questionable third and short call from Mike Bobo (sound familiar?), ‘Bama would have lost to Auburn in the Iron Bowl last weekend. They may be 11-1, but it’s fool’s gold.  I like the Bulldogs here in a game that may not be that close.

ACC: Wake Forest vs Pittsburgh (8:00 on ABC) – This should be a great game between two evenly matched squads.  Pittsburgh has won 10 games this season, including their last four.  But they don’t seem to be able to put teams away. That could be fatal against the Demon Deacons, also winners of 10 this year. Wake may have the best offense the Panthers have faced all year, and I think that will be enough.  I’m going with Wake Forest in a nail-biter.

Big Ten: Iowa vs Michigan (8:00 on FOX) – Iowa…why did it have to be Iowa? Painful memories of November 12, 2016 still haunt me, when four-loss Iowa beat undefeated Michigan and derailed their playoff hopes. This year’s Hawkeye squad features the best run defense in the country, which will pose a challenge for the Wolverines.  I’m also wary of an emotional letdown from the Maize and Blue after their smack-down of Ohio State last Saturday.  If anything gives me comfort, at least this game isn’t being played in Iowa City, where the Maize and Blue have lost three in a row. It’s all there for Michigan – win and go to the playoff.  I think they will find a way to win, but it will be close until deep in the fourth quarter. I’ll call it Michigan by field goal.

[analogscum]

HARD ROCK ZOMBIES (1985, d. Krishna Shah)

NOTE: I RECOMMEND WATCHING HARD ROCK ZOMBIES BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS!

Human ambition is a funny thing. It can lead to great triumphs, but also great tragedies. Without human ambition, we would not have rock n’ roll, the most vital of American art forms. On the other hand, human ambition also lead the Third Reich to exterminate more than six million Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, physically and mentally handicapped, and Romani people. How does this tie in to today’s film, Hard Rock Zombies? Well, for now, let’s just say that it is a testament to both sides of the coin of human ambition that the sickos who made Hard Rock Zombies said to themselves, we’re going to make Hard Rock Zombies…and then actually went out and made Hard Rock Zombies. I’m honestly not sure if I mean that as a compliment or not.

We open on two metalheads riding a T-Bird convertible down a winding desert road. Lo and behold, they stumble upon a buh-buh-buh-baaaaabe hitchhiking. What are they gonna do, NOT invite this bodacious blonde into their sweet ride? We now cut to a dwarf with an eyepatch and a troll dancing around with a guy holding a camera by a river. You read that right. The metalheads and the blonde pull up on the other side of the river, strip down to their skivvies, and do a little skinny dipping. Suddenly, she drowns each of them one by one! And also does something else, because the water turns blood red, but I have no idea what that could be. The camera guy takes pictures of this gristly scene, while the dwarf and the troll celebrate the carnage. They chop off one of the victims’ hands, blondie picks it up and sings “I wanna hold your hand.” Again, you read all of that right.

Cut to: our heroes, the band, whom the movie never bothers to name (seriously, this band has no name), rockin’ out before a sold out crowd. Right away, we’re confronted with the major problem of all of these 80s metal horror movies: these guys just do not sufficiently rock. I mean, they have a synth player, for cryin’ out loud! This was not too long after Van Halen risked losing their metal fanbase by adding synths to “Jump,” because synths were pop, and pop was for pussies. But seriously, these guys make Billy Joel sound like Napalm Death. Oh well, at least the crowd of roughly 12 people seems to be having a good time.

Backstage, the band strip down to their banana hammocks, and their manager, Ron, tells them that they have to have their photos taken with a bunch of groupies. None of the dudes in the band, especially the lead singer, Jesse, seem to want to do this. They’re incredibly ambivalent about potentially sleeping with these women. Which of course is par for the course for 80s metal bands. Most of Motley Crue’s autobiography, The Dirt, is about the dudes politely sipping Earl Grey tea and discussing Nietzsche. We soon get an idea as to why Jesse is not interested in all of these women who want to ride his mullet, and believe me, you’re not gonna like it.

As he’s escaping all of these annoying women who wanna show him their boobs, Jesse runs into Cassie. Now, the movie is not entirely clear on how old Cassie is supposed to be, but let’s just say she’s young. Like, teenage. Like, below the age of consent. She warns Jesse to stay out of the town of Grand Guignol (subtle), where the band is scheduled to play the next night. Jesse instantly falls in love with her, because this movie hates you, and we’re treated to white hot, sexually charged flirting such as this:

Jessie: You're neat.

Cassie: No, I'm not.

Jessie: Yeah, ya are.

Cassie: ...shakes head...

Jessie: Yeah, ya are.

Guys, it’s rare that I make a point of writing down dialogue in these movies that we talk about, but Hard Rock Zombies left me with no choice but to slam that pause button and record some of these lines, because holy macaroni, peep this screenwriting magic:

“I got it from a book. You know, a boooooooook?”

“You guys ready for the show? The loud show? Loud music show? Rock and roll?!?!”

“Oh bullshit, young stupid!”

“You suck, mister! I know it and everyone knows it!”

Eat your heart out, Aaron Sorkin!

So the band arrives in Grand Guignol, and wouldn’t you know it, they pick up the same hitchhiking blonde, who invites them to stay at her family’s mansion. The family is pretty normal, you’ve got blondie, the photographer, the dwarf, the troll, the groundskeeper who, um, is that a Swastika armband he’s wearing, and grandma and grandpa, who speak in thick German accents and we meet them while they’re in the bone zone and the dwarf and the troll are watching them. Oh, and by the way, they’re secretly Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, and Eva Braun is a werewolf. I PROMISE THAT ALL OF THIS IS TRUE.

As it turns out, everyone in Grand Guignol is a backwards rube who thinks that rock n’ roll is the devil’s music that will lead to “physical sex” (again, actual quote). So they get super duper outraged when the band engages in some antics that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of The Monkees. They skateboard around, do silly dances, and mug for the camera. The sheriff throws them in jail, the town council cancels their concert, and outlaw all rock n’ roll in general, leading to a scene where everyone throws their records and tapes in a pile and destroys them (again, subtle).

Meanwhile, Jesse and Cassie keep running into each other and falling deeper and deeper in love, and the movie keeps rubbing our faces in their obvious age difference, because apparently the overt Nazi imagery wasn’t cringeworthy enough. Just wait until we get to the song he writes about her, because you’ll have to go to jail once you hear it. They practice at the creepy mansion, and the family tries to electrocute them. That doesn’t work, so instead they murder the band members one by one overnight. The drummer is stabbed in a terrible homage to the Psycho shower scene, the keyboardist is felled by werewolf Eva Braun, I don’t remember what happens to the guitarist, I think he falls out of a window or something, and Jesse is crucified and disembowled with a weed hacker by the groundskeeper. This means Hitler is finally ready to turn California into the fourth reich…here we go…no turning back…complete with gas chambers. Which come into play later. THIS IS ALL FROM A REAL MOVIE THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Luckily, before he croaked, Jesse gave Cassie a tape he made of a bass lick that can raise the dead. Look, just roll with me here, ok? You’ve made it this far. So Cassie plays the tape at the band’s grave, and they rise from the dead, ready to get revenge on Hitler and Eva Braun and co. In zombie form, they all sport weird mime makeup that kinda looks like KISS in the early days before they figured out their image, and they walk around as if they’re doing a combination of the robot and the Macarena. These are both choices that the filmmakers made. So they pretty much instantly murderize the Hitler clan with no problems, but whoops, they don’t stay dead for long, because now they’re zombies too, and they’re attacking all the hicks in town, which makes THEM zombies. Now we’ve got Nazi zombies and redneck zombies running around, which is not an ideal situation to say the least, but for now, the band have to go play their big gig.

This is where we finally get to hear Jesse’s love ballad to Cassie in it’s entirety, and, well, here it is…

“I’m so in love, but you’re so young.” BARF BARF BARF BARF ETERNAL BARF. Anyway, see ya in jail, which is where I live now because of this song!

I’m really loathe to talk about the rest of the movie, because at this point, it takes a turn into goofy comedy, and just completely falls flat. Not that their satirical bits about the PMRC and anti-metal hysteria were all that biting, but at least they were trying to say something, whereas these Zucker brothers-lite groaners are just insufferable. There’s a gag about a girlfriend who’s so possessive of her boyfriend that she won’t let any other women get near his severed head after a zombie rips it off, which the filmmakers obviously thought was beyond hilarious, but is really torturous. Then there’s an even less funny gag where some Pointdexter is like, hey, since zombies are brainless, they must be, like, allergic to brains? So if we all walk around with these giant cardboard cutout heads, they’ll leave us alone? Huh? And of course it doesn’t work, and of course the zombies just eat everybody, and as he’s being devoured, the Pointdexter yells, “Don’t believe everything you read!” Ugggh, read this: you suck, movie.

OK, there is one running gag from this section that I liked: after the troll becomes a zombie, he just eats his own body until he’s a burping skull. I happened to think that was charming and great.

Eventually the townsfolk try to sacrifice Cassie to the zombies, because they read that if the undead feast upon a virgin, then they’ll rest for another hundred years. Whatever. So Cassie is totally about to be gang banged and devoured by zombie Hitler and his gang (wow, what a sentence), when luckily the band shows up, and lures them away by playing that resurrection riff that Jesse learned from a book (you know, a booooooook?!?!) And where do they lure them? Ugh, sorry…here goes…they lure them to the gas chambers, where they’re all gassed to death. You know, like in the Holocaust? I have nothing more to say.

The film ends, in perfect fashion, by spelling co-writer/director Krishna Shah’s name wrong in the credits. Fantastic.

When a movie looks particularly bad, I often like to say that it reminds me of a fake movie meant to play in the background of a real movie. Well, as it turns out, that’s the actual origin story of Hard Rock Zombies. Originally, the film was supposed to be 20 minutes long and featured as the movie the characters in another Krishna Shah production, American Drive-In, go to see. Apparently Shah decided at some point that he could double his profits by turning Hard Rock Zombies into its own feature film. This begs the question: is this where all the Nazi stuff was added? Because it’s easy to imagine characters in a movie occasionally checking in with the drive-in movie and seeing a bunch of rockers rising from the grave, but that Hitler subplot is just so bizarre and so incongruous that I can’t help but think it was tacked on.

Hard Rock Zombies is the craziest film I’ve seen in awhile. It approaches Demonwarp and Spookies levels of what the hell am I watching madness. You genuinely will not be able to predict where this movie is gonna go from scene to scene. However, the tacked on nature of that madness keeps you at arms length a bit, and eventually it just becomes tiresome once you realize it’s not going anywhere beyond mere shock value. I mean, this movie is nearly an hour and forty minutes, and ends with a scene in a goddamn GAS CHAMBER. So, by all means, show this one to your friends, just don’t blame me if they never talk to you again. You may be right, they may be crazy, but in the end, it’s still rock n’ roll to me.

[primary-colors-squad]

The Fam™

So, this is our first original post on this blog. It’s an introduction to relationships between the Voltron squad and our OC’s Celeste and Willow Sobek. This ties directly into our Crossover Fanfiction we’ll hopefully be writing out soon when we get our shit together.

And without further ado, my kids.

Celeste:

Allura

Original Space Mom and Space Mom v.2

Spaceship baddies

Are pretty af but will kill you

Celeste is fond of her, as she is with everyone on the ship, but isn’t for the Princess shit

Years of Jaeger piloting has taught her that maybe a warrior is more her style

But, if she’s in the mood to be pampered (or if Willow wishes for a ‘girls night’) she will go to Allura first to get that girly love

After that is Lance but that’s more of a party than gossip and hair braiding, sh don’t tell Allura

Coran

???

Celeste thinks he’s hilarious

Designated Space Uncle

She enjoys all his stories because they remind her fondly of how her father used to tell boot camp and Jaeger glory days tales

That and he so exuberant it’s hard to ignore him

She finds him interesting in the ‘hey you’re an alien, but you’re so human it hits home??’ sort of way

Lowkey reminds her of Willow because of his high intelligence, loyalty, and seriousness when necessary that collides with his overall fantastic attitude and the way he can blurt out the weirdest shit ever in a matter of seconds

Hunk

BESTIES

Food besties

Bond over their love of food and fierce loyalty

ALSO LET’S NOT FORGET ENGINEERING BUBBIES AAAA

Both of them may seem a bit on the dimmer side due to their physical appearances, but these two can pull apart and reassemble a ship (or a Jaeger) in a matter of seconds while telling you exactly what was wrong, what part and tool they need/are using, and what they’re doing to fix it

Literally friend goals

They will spend hours figuring out how to cook from the alien stuff Coran provides them with and will experiment to the point everyone kind of steers clear of the kitchen when they’re going past because they have no idea what the hell they are doing in there

Snack breaks are essential

Cuddles are 11/10 always 100% expected and needed during snack breaks or hanging out

Can sit in silence for hours and not be bored of each other

Personal pillows for each other or portable furnaces, usually both

Often found asleep on each other

If you can’t find one, they’re probably with the other somewhere

They share nearly everything, every insecurity, every problem, every nightmare, everything

Hunk is one of the few people to ever see Celeste cry

Keith

Oh god where to begin

First, Keith is the only person she has ever let dominate her. 

One time, she made him extremely jealous and he literally fucked her into the mattress. After that, she was much more open to the idea of being sub. 

Keith is the only person who’s ever asked her why she has such sad eyes. 

He had thought that Celeste was truthfully unbothered by her situation. Like Allura, Celeste never let her emotions show through. She chose to internalize it and act like it wasn’t there. She laughed and cracked jokes, but sometimes when Keith would look at her, he could see the pain in her eyes, and he realized that Celeste may have been a goddess, but she was also painfully human. He never let her get away with “I’m fine’s” or “I’m just tired’s” because he knew better. Though she never cried in front of him, she did open up about her family and her nightmares. 

She even eventually told him about the man she loved, despite their sexual/romantic relationship. He had been hurt, but tried really hard to get past it because he simply had too strong of feelings for her. 

If it got her in his bed, he did it. After all, she was still extremely dominant, so she exercised this “control” everywhere but in the bedroom. 

Keith is extremely possessive, but know’s how not to be a shithead. He’s long since accepted that Celeste will do as she pleases and nobody (but Willow) can tell her otherwise. 

When Keith first laid eyes on Celeste, his only thought was “Goddamn” and nothing else. It must have been the sight of her crawling out of a smoking Jaeger in a skintight suit of armor (that he later learned was called a Drivesuit.) 

Get’s frustrated by her lack of shyness (he loves seeing girls blush), but discovers that the one way to get her to blush is have her ride his face. Though she loves being on top, she feels that she’s too heavy and that she’ll crush him. 

He convinced her that she was not too heavy, but she still hesitates when he asks. 

Both are extremely witty and sarcastic. When they to are together, nobody is spared. Lance usually takes the brunt of the roasts, but occasionally they go after Shiro because annoyed Shiro is best Shiro. 

Celeste weighs more than Keith and has more muscle, but he’s faster. Both are brutal fighters, and both are equally terrifying. Once, when fighting Galra soldiers, one actually ran from them in fear after watching them absolutely eviscerate one of his comrades. 

Both love they swords and literally will gut you in one swipe if fucked with. 

Both are sinners but when they sleep, they cling to each other as if they were going to be torn apart. Morning showers are routine because they wake up drenched in each others sweat. It’s gross af but they can’t help it. They’re both hot-blooded. 

IMPULSIVE FUCKING DICKHEADS CAN I GET AN AMEN 

Celeste calls him Billy Ray Cyrus because of the mullet. He hates it and in return calls her fishface.

Lance

Both flirt to annoy one another but are basically siblings.

Lance broke down once, relating to her on missing their family. He feels as though he’s not important to the team. So, her being other space mom, she sings to him and plays with his hair and realizes that he’s still just a baby and gains a newfound respect for how strong he and all of the Paladin’s are. 

P.s. she sang You are My Sunshine because honestly, Lance is a little baby sunshine and a blessing. 

Celeste dubbed him the “annoying gremlin” of the team and nearly died having to explain what a gremlin was to the two very confused Alteans. 

Can be found playfighting, but Celeste denies it because she’s “too old for that shit”. Lance is always offended when she says this, but alas, the fighting still goes on. 

They are the hispanic children of the team.

When Celeste and Willow first arrived, Lance had come down to find them at the table casually eating breakfast. When he asked who they were and where they came from, Willow explained their situation, but Celeste, attempting to be a little shit, said “Somos el puto pez que cayó del cielo, estúpido muchacho de culo”, which translates to “We are the the fucking fish who fell from the sky, stupid ass boy.” Lance, being Cuban, understood what she had said and called her out on it, much to her surprise. Since then, the two would communicate in mostly spanish. 

During their play fights, Spanish curses could be heard from throughout the castle, frequently “Idiota” from Lance and “pinche pendejo” from Celeste. 

At first, Celeste couldn’t stand the kid because he wouldn’t stop hitting on her, but after he got used to her, (and she played him for Keith’s attention), he opened up and started to act like regular!lLance around her. She gave in, finally laughing at his stupid jokes and antics, hence the sibling attitude and play fighting.

Pidge

Celeste will only call Pidge “Pudge” because it annoys her. 

Celeste pulled Lance aside one day and carefully instructed him that if and when her and Willow made it back home, Lance would have to continue to call her Pudge. There wasn’t a specific reasoning, but she never wanted the small child to forget her. 

In retaliation, Pidge calls Celeste “Cilantro”. Lance had jumped on the bandwagon and tried to call her Carnitas, but Celeste threatened him with death if he ever called her that again. When Pidge had asked why she got so mad, Celeste had to explain that Carnitas translates to “little meats” and was basically pork cooked in lard or oil. 

Pidge lowkey hated Celeste because she thought that she was just a dumb brute (harsh), but when the girls had brought them to see the inside of ‘Cuda and Celeste began to explain the mechanics behind her, and the AI etc, she realized that Celeste was much smarter than she looked. 

Celeste walked in on Pidge mid breakdown about her father and brother, and despite her lashing out and begging for her to leave, Celeste simply wouldn’t. When Pidge (reluctantly) let her sit beside her, Celeste coaxed her to tell what was wrong. She shared her story, telling Pidge how she had lost her mother and father. She didn’t know if it was her story or the soft way that she spoke to the young girl, but she found herself cradling the her as she cried. They both vowed to not tell anyone, but since then, Pidge has looked up to Celeste as a big sister. 

When the girls returned home, Pidge was crushed because Willow and Celeste had filled the void in her heart that had formed when she lost Matt. It was almost like she had had him back.

Shiro

Actual Space Parents ™

Celeste is more of a mother figure than Allura could ever be, no shade just truth. She’s better with people and much less condescending. Even if she’s hurt, she will always listen to the other side of the story. When Keith was found to have Galra blood, she still loved and treated him the same because he had protected her and everyone else on the team with such fervor and fierce loyalty. There was no question that he was on their side, at least not to Celeste. 

Both consult each other before Allura (usually) when making decisions. Celeste may not be a total nerd but her leadership skills are A1 and Shiro always goes to her for a second opinion. 

These two are extremely close, not in a sibling way or a best friend way, or a romantic way (she ain’t willow tho he daddy ™ ), they just are. It’s difficult to explain, but they both are headstrong, natural born leaders. They’re prepared to do what it takes to protect their team. Self sacrifice isn’t even a question if it would save the lives of one another or the team. 

Both are secretly silly as hell but hide it well unless they’re with someone who they trust. One time, they had an argument over what he should name his Galra arm. 

“Name it Herbert.” “What?” “No, name it…. Pepe.” “What the hell is ‘Pepe’?” “Oh God.” 

Lance and Willow lost their shit and never let Shiro live it down, despite his claims that he had “bigger things to worry about than memes.” He also grumpily claimed that it was because he was imprisoned by the Galra for a year and got increasingly irritated when neither of the three would take him seriously.

Willow:

Allura

Honestly?? Willow is intimidated by her

Willow doesn’t understand how someone can be so strong even after losing everything

She really respects it

She’s jealous of the fact that Allura can so effortlessly hide what weakness she may have

She enjoys Allura’s presence, it’s soft, but sometimes Allura’s need for command and attention irks her

It don’t make sense because Willow has no problem with Celeste’s or Shiro’s authority ??

One time she started gabbing in Gaelic (a bad habit she’d had since childhood) Allura - without missing a beat - started rambling back in ancient Altean and Willow thinks that was the closest she’s ever been to Allura

Coran

Again SPACE UNCLE

He reminds her of her Grandma and her father, with all the boot camp stories and such, much like Celeste

Willow likes to remind him that she comes from a family of ‘warriors’ and that her Grandmother could so easily kick his ass just because he always talks about meeting her Grandma

Hugs

Coran is one of the few fellow touchy-feely persons in the Castle, so more often than not, if they achieve something together, they hug and cheer

Coran is incredibly interested in Gaelic and is trying to get Willow to teach him some

He just doesn’t recognize he’s terrible at learning other languages

Hunk

Like with her sister, Willow and Hunk are cuddle buddies

Willow will often share little things from she and Celeste’s childhood (especially dishes that their mother made) and will find out Hunk tried to make it

Her basic reaction is !!!!

She may or may not kiss his cheek and hug him because he’s such a fucking cutie

She’s almost cried twice because of how kind Hunk is

The other hugger on the ship so they’re constantly hugging and being affectionate

The Squishies

Keith

They don’t really talk, both aren’t able to read the other well besides what’s on the surface and know that a whole untreated ocean is underneath.

They leave well enough alone

They respect each other, high five after missions, all that friendly shit

Lowkey awkward cuties

Mostly connected by Celeste, so they know they have at least one thing in common

Willow is still loyal and protective to him, as is he

Training buddies

Keith hates when she beats his ass but it’s making him better so he can’t complain that much

His complaining increases if Lance is present during their training sessions

Just like Lance, he both hates and loves her

Dabbing, for example, since Lance refused to let Willow explain it to him

Which is a thing he loves, if he doesn’t understand something, then Willow is sure to explain it to him with as little judgement as possible

But also conspiracy theories, oh my god it is the way to this boys heart so of course he’s gonna like it when Willow makes a bad bigfoot joke

Lance

M E M E T E A M

Literally their entire relationship is essentially finger guns, sunglasses, and depression memes

Before I get into the funny shit; they share insecurities and often run to each other when they need reassurance because they are terrified of telling anyone else about their internalized problems

Literally have seen each other cry so many times

Love and protect each other almost like siblings

They’ve almost entirely wired themselves to calm down in the presence of the other tbh

Weepy cuddles and depression naps 

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled meme program - 

First off, Lance is probably partially deaf; the one time Lance wasn’t fully paying attention to what Willow was saying, he misinterpreted ‘Shiro’ as something along the lines of ‘Shirp’

His reaction basically being “Willow, wouldn’t it make sense to say ‘shrimp’ like everyone else? I mean what is wrong with you Irish??”

He didn’t understand why Willow started laughing so hard until she could finally breath again and explained to him what was going on

After the initial embarrassment of his stupidity was gone, Willow made him promise one thing….

Shiro is forever and always going to be named Shrimp now

Don’t tell Shiro

Dabbing

They started doing it ironically but now they can’t stop

It really bothers Keith so Lance just,,, eggs Willow on to the point both of them look ridiculous

Don’t get me started on the Yeet thing …. These two

Lance did it first, Willow swears on her life

Lance showed her it because ‘she wasn’t meme cultured’ properly and it just kind of,,, spiraled

They were being funny one day, exchanging puns and inside jokes, when Willow - being the meme loving shit that she is - proceeded to try and make Lance laugh by throwing her (plastic, it was important it wasn’t metal or glass or Coran and Hunk would be on her ass about it) cup after she had drank all of the liquid inside and yelled “THIS BINCH EMPTY! Y E E T!”

She did manage to get a barking, almost crying laugh from Lance, until they both realized that she had thrown the cup right in Shiro’s face and hit him square in the nose

If it would’ve been later in she and Shiro’s relationship, Willow would laughed and said something along the lines of ‘get wrecked’ but this was still when she was mildly intimidated by him and thought of him as only her commanding officer

It took a three second silence before both she and Lance were out the fucking door in a full r u n

“Shiro, ground her, she was the one to throw it.” “Lance.”

Pidge

SCIENCE TWINS

Lit just bond over their love of technology and general fuckery

Willow bonds with her because, honestly, Pidge is the closest she will ever get to a little sister, she has always been the little sister, but with Pidge, she has someone to pass her womanly knowledge of the world onto

Pidge is the same way, she loves that Celeste and Willow have taken her under their collective and metaphorical wings

Pidge enjoys the fact that Willow loves the quiet of the working mind as much as she does

Most of the time (if Willow isn’t working on Cuda as well) Willow will sit with Pidge in the lab and knitt as Pidge does her smarty thing

Willow loves carrying her around

Pidge would be salty about it with anyone else but Willow is so soft and smells close to home and asks first, so she lets Willow give her piggyback rides and carry her around on her shoulders so Pidge can reach all those high places without dangerous climbs

Willow is highkey president of the ‘protect the smol green bean’ club

Don’t matter if Pidge is a little badass, Willow will still smoother her

Pidge secretly loves it

Shiro

I don’t even know where to start

Literally that awkward, positively pure couple that everyone knows will happen eventually 

It’s vv hard to hide the fact that there’s something there from the squad

Especially Lance and Celeste with these two

Keith is oblivious, but as soon as Celeste figured it out, he happened to know to

The info spreads like wildfire tbh

Pidge pokes fun at Willow about it aLL the damn time and Hunk makes it his mission to get them alone as much as possible 

Celeste is really good at talking to and reading her sister, so it’s not hard to get Willow to finally admit it under great duress

Lance finds it wonderful to drop little comments and ideas on Shiro he thinks it’s fun to watch Shiro’s ears go red

But every pure couple has to have angst

Cough cough Chuck Hansen

Of course a girl like that would have someone at home waiting for her

But… It was really easy for Shiro to figure out that she could be so much happier, in a much healthier situation that isn’t sending her into fits of guilt and panic because of what Chuck says to her

And it’s not easy to convince Willow she deserves better

When Chuck told Willow she couldn’t be close to the Paladins, she listened, avoiding everyone unless necessary

Lasted like a day before she was back to talking to Shiro and cuddling up to Lance once again for comfort

She just stopped telling Chuck excitedly about her new friends, which everyone would see was hurting her more than ever

Shiro and Celeste were really the ones to set Willow into the motions of letting go

To make a long story really short, Shiro has a firm resentment of Chuck even though he’s never met him face to face and that Willow likes tea when she’s upset like him and was more than happy to share a cup of her favorite tea with him, no matter if she only had a limited supply or not

Surprisingly, vulnerability is their bread and butter

Vulnerability allows for the falling of walls, and with every vulnerable moment shared, the more walls are crashed down on both sides

For a quick and easy example besides from the one above; Sendak

Willow is a natural nurturer (both an advantage and a fault) so she was at Shiro’s side and understood every boundary, every panicked look, every need for silence

Shiro’s panic with Sendak was their door opener, the first sledgehammer against walls of emotional hurt that they decided to wade through together

These two, like, never sleep (literally my nightmare kids) so they’re often spending those sleepless nights in each other company

Lots of tea and books and blankets are shared between them if they end up in the longue

Willow found a room made entirely out of glass (Allura scolds them if she finds them in the control room late at night looking at the stars instead of sleeping guys wtf) and sometimes she’s already there when Shiro wakes up from nightmares

They just kind of lay down next to each other, sometimes they don’t talk at all, other times they don’t shut up

It’s their bonding time

Totally haven’t been found asleep in the lounge in blanket forts cuddled up to each other

And definitely haven’t held hands when they’re in their ‘star room’

And of course they haven’t kissed at all at four in the morning when both of them are half dead but struggling to keep awake for the other

Just omg

[photolover82]

The Masked Singer Season 3 Episode 10: It’s Super 9 Time! (April Fools Episode Commentary and Guesses)

Hi my fellow Masked Singer peeps! It’s finally Super 9 time! Nick Cannon has been talking about this for forever and everyone wants to be here... so here we are! Half of the contestants are gone and now we have 9 left (well after this post it’s 8, but you get the picture). So, since I have so many to cover (9 is way harder than 5 or 6 when it comes to detail), I am going to follow a tighter format with me only mentioning the Super Clue and April Fool’s clue after the performance. I will also mention judges’ guesses just bc most of my guesses haven’t changed (except 1, you’ll see). Ok, so let’s get started... 

Disclaimer: There will be a ton of spoilers so don’t read if you haven’t caught up on the show. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

So, how the Super 9 works was that each group (A,B, and C) performs and of the 3 contestants, the ones who were in the bottom 3 were: White Tiger for Group A, Banana for Group B, and Rhino for Group C. 

Of those bottom 3, the one with the least votes who went home/got unmasked was: 

*DRUMROLL PLEASE* 

White Tiger 

Ya, so is anyone really surprised at this point? His performance was um, ya, um... let’s just say my thought after watching was wtf man. I was a bit uncomfortable and hoping for it to end. He sang “I’m too Sexy” by Right Said Fred and let’s just say it was the strangest (and not in a good way) performance I have ever seen. Having said that, I have known for weeks who he is.... 

So White Tiger was revealed to be... 

ROB GRONKOWSKI (AKA GRONK) 

Super Clue: He was doing the floss dance and shooting a basketball while saying “Swish Swish.” Gronk appeared in Katy Perry’s Swish Swish music video, which also featured the Backpack Kid who popularized the floss dance. April Fools Clue: “I’m just not bronze, I’m brains. I even wrote a best selling book.” Gronk wrote a book called “It’s Good to be Gronk.” 

Judges’ Guesses: 

Jenny and Robin: Rob Gronkowski (they were right yay, thank God, finally the judges got it... well at least some of them) 

Ken: J.J. Watt (sigh... Ken is always wrong... not shocked) 

Nichole: Joe Maginello/John Cena (both wrong... sigh... Nichole is turning into Ken with the terrible guesses) 

Alrighty, now that we are done with that, let’s talk about the remaining 8 contestants in the order they performed:

1. Turtle 

Performance: Omg you guys know how in love I am with the Turtle and I was so happy and excited to see him perform once more, I really want him to win. In this performance, he sang Higher Love by Steve Winwood. I honestly loved it, it was amazing! He looked so cool and effortless maneuvering the stage. Also, it showed a lot of his vocal potential and I want to see more of what he can do with his falsetto and hitting the high notes, because he just gets better and better. Can’t you tell I just love him? 

Anyways, having said that, my guess still stands as: 

JESSE MCCARTNEY 

Super Clue: Shown was a comic book titled “The Amazing Adventures of Shellboy” and it was priced at $10.13. He voices Robin in the animated series based on the comic book “Young Justice,” and it aired from 2010-2013, but it got renewed again in 2019. 

April Fools Clue: “I am not just known for one thing.” This one is too easy, he is not just a musician but is also an actor in various roles in both film and TV. 

Judges’ Guesses: 

Robin: Drew Lachey (ya, wtf, no) 

Ken: Brian Littrell (again, no... too simple to go the boy band route) 

Nichole: Nick Lachey (ok, Nichole, that was just lazy, going off of Robin and picking the sibling, again I say wtf no) 

Jenny: Chris Evans (woah, that one was way off of left field Jenny, almost a Ken guess) 

2. Kangaroo 

Performance: Ok, she isn’t my favorite ngl, but I can’t deny she is really good in terms of voice. However, this performance was not her best. Her voice was pretty shaky. The song, which was Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks, didn’t really show her entire vocal range I feel, but honestly if it is who I think it is, that’s a low key shady song choice, but I get the shade so I'm not mad. 

The person that I am referring to as my guess is: 

JORDYN WOODS 

Super Clue: Inflatable Kangaroo came out of her pouch and she said “alright dolls” = the inflatable kangaroo could be a reference to her younger sister who she refers to as her “mini-me” and the dolls reference is when she played a doll in Justin Roberts’s music video 

April Fools Clue: “I may be a kangaroo but I have never lived in Australia.” yup, self explanatory, the girl ain’t from Australia, and has never lived there. 

Judges’ Guesses:

Jenny: Amber Rose (holy crap, that was painfully close, especially with the Kardashian drama and connection she mentioned as her reasoning for her guess) 

Nichole: Leann Rimes (yikes, another really bad guess) 

Robin: India Arie (idk who she is, but seems like an ok guess)

3. Kitty 

Performance: Ok, ok, this is the one that I changed my mind about and it was such a hard pill to swallow to suck it up and say I am wrong and the Internet is right about this one. Every time I put my old guess on YT, (Lucy Hale) I always get “NO, IT’S *insert person I am about to mention in a moment*” and a bunch of people trying to convince me and I finally caved and agreed but that was because of one specific clue in particular, but we will get into that later. Her performance of Celine Dion’s “It's all coming back to me now” was so powerful and strong as are every Celine Dion song ever but to me it was her best performance to date and now I am clear on this new guess...

The new guess I have for Kitty that the Internet has nagged me about is: 

JACKIE EVANCHO (she’s from AGT, she sang opera as a like 7-year-old, well that’s how I remember her) 

Super Clue: The Tree from Season 2 and her saying “Christmas is the most wonderful time of year” = she has 3 Christmas albums 

April Fools Clue: “I wasn’t dreaming when Robert Redford helped me get my first role.” = he got her the role in The Company You Keep when she was 12 years old. 

Judges’ Guesses:

Robin: Emma Roberts (no... that doesn’t sound like Emma’s voice) 

Jenny: Vanessa Hudgens (Vanessa can’t sing like that either) 

Nichole: Nichole Richie (Really? Ya, I don’t think so.) 

Ken: Avril Lavigne (You’re kidding, right?) 

4. Banana 

Performance: Ok, so this performance was much different from his previous ones. I feel like he is starting to show more of his true self and not hiding his voice as much. With the song “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, he showed more rasp in his voice than he did before which kind of made it more obvious to who it could be. 

That ever so obvious guess for Banana is... 

BRET MICHAELS 

Super Clue: A mullet was shown and Bret Michaels isn’t a stranger to the mullet, it’s a signature to his image 

April Fools Clue: “Blue collar means many things. I’m a funny guy, but not stand-up funny.” Ya, easy again, Bret Michaels is the lead singer of Poison and he does have a sense of humor, but he isn’t a comedian nor has he done stand-up at all. 

Judges’ Guesses:

Ken & Nichole: Brad Paisley (not their worst guess, but it’s too country of a singer... Banana fuses the country with a bit of rock) 

Jenny: Bret Michaels (she’s getting it... yay Jenny is catching on) 

Robin: Billy Ray Cyrus (see, this would have been a good guess, if he hadn’t have sung a Billy Ray Cyrus song in a previous round) 

5. Frog 

Performance: He sang “Jump” by Kris Kross and again he isn’t my favorite but he is pretty entertaining. For some reason, he is my mom and my friend’s favorite, which I don’t get. Whatever, anyways, this performance was fun and energetic and he is a great rapper/dancer what can I say? I feel the same way about him as I did about Kangaroo. Anyways, he is to easy to figure out...

My guess for Frog is still... 

BOW WOW (aka Chad Moss) 

Super Clue: Knight Armor= he was in a movie where he was a basketball player for the LA Knights 

April Fools Clue: “I am actually not a trained dancer at all.” = ya, duh, he’s never been known for being one either.

Judges’ Guesses:

Ken: Sisqo (what? just because of one irrelevant clue, you choose that Ken... le sigh) 

Jenny: Lil Romeo (meh... I guess that’s kinda close but no) 

Robin: Omarion (again, like Jenny’s guess... kinda close but not there yet) 

6. Night Angel 

Performance: With her performance of Rise Up by Andrea Day (which is A+ song choice), she proves that she is one of the strongest vocally in the competition. However, that's it, she doesn't dance or entertain as much as some of the other contestants do. Nevertheless, she has an insane vocal range and I still am sticking with my gut on this one... 

I am convinced Night Angel is.... 

Kandi Burruss 

Super Clue: Tricycle= reference to either her 3 kids or her high school, Tri-Cities High School (or both who knows?) 

April Fools Clue: “I am not just a voice, I am a mogul.” yup, self-explanatory, this lady does it all. She has a restaurant, a makeup line, a line of adult toys (let’s say that to keep it clean and PG) and has done multiple spin-offs of RHOA following her life, so mogul indeed.

Judges’ Guesses:

Ken: Tiesha Campbell (not the worst guess from Ken but still it’s a no from me) 

Jenny: Brandi (idk man.... idk who that is) 

Robin: Tamar Braxton (omg so close yet so far)

7. Rhino

Performance: Ok, so he was trying to be upbeat with What a Man Gotta Do by Jonas Brothers and I appreciate the effort, it wasn’t bad by any means. He does have a fantastic voice, but this was not his strongest performance. He did do a little dance move there and it was kind of everything ngl, but his strength is ballads. They just fit his tone so much better, but having said that, he took me a while to figure out but I feel good about my guess...

I feel like the Rhino is... 

BARRY ZITO 

Super Clue: A Slot Machine= he was born in Las Vegas (and he also got a baseball move called the three-quarter slot or something like that but I don't know sports so I am not good at these kind of things)

April Fools Clue: “I am not nearly as tall as you think I am.” The Rhino mask is as tall as White Tiger (Gronk is 6 feet 6 inches for comparison) but the mask adds more height to Barry Zito, who is only 6′ 2″ 

Judges’ Guesses:

Nichole: Vince Gill (meh... that’s a pretty ok guess but ya not there yet) 

Jenny: Derek Jeter (what?! I get baseball referencing but he can’t sing, he has no albums, come on Jenny do better) 

Robin: Duff McKavin from Guns N’ Roses (pretty ok of a guess too, but think less rock, more country... this would have been a more suitable guess for Banana) 

8. Astronaut

Performance: Last but not least, another favorite of mine, we are starting off with a favorite and ending with another one. He freaking Rick rolled everyone (Google it if you don’t get the whole Rick Roll thing.. too long of a post to explain) with “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Ashely, but it was the best Rick Roll ever like I can listen to his voice sing anything (objectively it’s a pretty darn good song if you remove the meme aspect to it). Damn, bro, like his falsetto in the song was amazing. Like I said for Turtle, I wanna see more of his range. Also, like he freaking spoke in his performance unfiltered voice and everything and it was so obvious who it is like how are the judges not getting this? 

The lovely guy I think the Astronaut is (yes I have a soft spot for the Astronaut, don’t make fun of me)...

Hunter Hayes (and mind you, I also have a soft spot for him too) 

Super Clue: Holding a record with a world on it breaking (breaking a world record)= we already spoke about this earlier but refresher this guy right here Mr. Hunter Hayes, ya him, broke the Guinness World Record for playing the most shows in most cities in 24 hours, with 10 being the number of cities he played

April Fools Clue: “I’ve never had traditional voice training” = easy, Hunter has said this in many interviews in the past and recently had issues with his voice so he got a vocal coach to fix it 

Judges’ Guesses:

Ken: JC Chasez from NSYNC (really Ken? Boy Bands again? Are you really that basic and that clueless?) 

Jenny: David Archuleta (not bad of a guess, pretty ok, but the voices don’t really match up) 

Nichole: Ryan Tedder (again, not bad, but it is too obvious that it is like mind blowing they aren’t getting it) 

Ok, so ya wow that was a lot! I did it tho! This was my recap, sorry for the length, but I hope you enjoyed. See you in the next one! So excited to see what they will be doing next! 

[lyndsey-parker]

Exclusive photos: Ranking ‘The Voice’ Season 13's top 20

The Voice Season 13’s top 20 semifinalists were revealed this Tuesday, and Reality Rocks has their exclusive cast photos… and, of course, some opinions as well. Check out this definitive ranking of the contestants, so you can make an informed vote next week!

Chloe Kohanski (Team Blake)

Chloe is this year’s Jeffery Austin: a sleeper contestant absolutely no one saw coming (who was even montaged in the Battles), until she showed up at the Knockout Rounds in a snazzy suit and slayyyyed. Her gorgeous, goosebump-inducing Knockout cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landside” was the standout performance of Season 13 — and the season’s highest iTunes charter so far, peaking at No. 12. Shockingly, Chloe’s doppelganger and original coach, Miley Cyrus, gave her up, but Miley’s loss is definitely Blake Shelton’s gain. Blake could pull off a six-peat win with this exquisite young songstress. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Davon Fleming (Team J.Hud)

Jennifer Hudson will probably land an endorsement deal with Zappos before Season 13 is over — because as long as she has fellow Whitney Houston fan Davon (and his nearly Whitney-level vocals) on her side, she’s sure to be throwing designer shoes left and right. This charismatic entertainer is a force to be reckoned with, the real deal, and the total package. Jennifer, a former Voice U.K. coach, may soon be bragging about winning The Voice on both sides of the pond. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Addison Agen (Team Adam)

While there is a risk that Addison and Chloe, both indie-leaning songbirds, will cancel each other out in the Playoffs, I feel there is room for both in the Season 13 finale. With a natural “melody in her voice” (according to J.Hud, in one of the most astute comments of the season), Addison has also experienced early iTunes success, with her “Beneath Your Beautiful” hitting No. 38 and her Battle Rounds duet of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” going to No. 36. Interestingly, Addison is another Team Miley castoff; Miley apparently came in like a wrecking ball and wrecked her chances of winning this season, by getting rid of two of her star players! (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Noah Mac (Team J.Hud)

He’s got Harry Styles hair — and Harry Styles charisma. But did Harry Styles ever make Kelly Clarkson cry? Becaus that’s just what Noah did with his soulful Knockout performance of James Bay’s “Hold Back the River.” I’ll be crying a river myself if this talented kid doesn’t at least make it to the top six. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Janice Freeman (Team J.Hud)

A rock ‘n’ soul powerhouse channeling Mary J. Blige and Tina Turner, a cancer survior, and a mother, Janice is a true fighter. She pours every ounce of her pain and passion into go-for-broken, gauntlet-throwing performances like “I’m Goin’ Down” and “Radioactive,” and it’s always good TV. I would love to see Janice differentiate herself in the Playoffs with more leftfield alt-rock choices, a la her Imagine Dragons cover; if she does that, there’s no way she’s goin’ down any time soon. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Moriah Formica (Team Miley)

Moriah is, as Blake might say, BAD. ASS. And she’s as tough as her surname implies. A guitar-slinging 16-year-old raised on ’80s hair metal (she even once guested on a solo album by Stryper singer Michael Sweet!), Moriah nailed every note of Heart’s “Crazy on You��� in her Blind Audition. Granted, she sounded a lot like Heart’s Ann Wilson, but in her Knockout performance, she started to find her own voice with a fierce take on a contemporary Kelly Clarkson classic. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Chris Weaver (Team J.Hud)

Chris is a worship leader by day and a drag queen (Nedra Belle, the drag daughter of RuPaul’s Drag Race veteran Sasha Belle) by night. Can I get an amen, literally? With a pedigree like that, Chris makes for good TV, but he also has vocal chops — no lip-syncing for this guy! However, with dual backgrounds in church and NYC drag clubs, Chris’s performance style is, shall we say, far from subtle. He’ll have to work on his oversinging tendencies, which could alienate viewers — otherwise he might sashay away from the competition way too soon. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Brooke Simpson (Team Miley)

During a mentoring session, Kelly Clarkson said, “Not only does Brooke have what it takes to be in the industry, I think the industry needs people like her. She’s so lovable on top of being an amazing vocalist.” High praise from one America’s sweetheart to another! Brooke might fade into the background as she goes up against some of this season’s flashier personalities, but like Kelly on American Idol Season 1, she has chops and charm. Don’t underestmate her. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Ashland Craft (Team Miley)

Miley is determined to win with a country contestant this season, which would bring her career’s Joanne-reminiscent, return-to-roots story arc to its logical conclusion. With fellow sassy rebel girl Ashland, Miley may get her wish. Ashland has enough Gretchen Wilsonesque sass to please diehard country fans, plus the rock ‘n’ roll edge (note her Skynyrd-style cover of Bon Jovi’s road-weary “Wanted Dead or Alive”) to cross over. I’m interested to see if she can pull off a ballad, however — at some point, America will yearn to connect with kinder, gentler Ashland underneath all that leather. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Keisha Renee (Team Blake)

The onetime Adam Lambert/Nicki Minaj backup singer-turned-country contender occupies a lane all her own, and she’s certainly interesting and unique. But will country fans, and Blake Shelton fans, embrace her? I’m concerned they’ll cast their votes for the more traditional, conservative country contestants… like Adam Cunningham. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Adam Pearce (Team Miley)

Adam has a fantastic, ferocious rock voice, but the Led Zep cover band frontman has some corny onstage habits he needs to kick — like his tendecy to prowl the stage in endless, nervous circles, not to mention all that excessive hairography. However, every Voice season needs a longhaired rocker dude, and Adam P. is the only longhaired rocker dude of Season 13. I think if Miley, a rock chick herself with impeccable taste, gives him some newer tunes that prove he’s more than just a Foreigner/Deep Purple karaoke type, he could stick around a while. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Hannah Mrozak (Team J.Hud)

Hannah is a classic Clarkson-style pop/soul balladeer, and though she has faded into the background for much of this season, her Knockout Rounds performance of Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain,” which resulted in the final dramatic Steal of Season 13, established her as a strong contender — and Brooke Simpson’s stiffest competition this season. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Adam Cunningham (Team Adam)

Like Miley, Adam Levine is determined to win with a country contestant (and rub it in his longtime rival Blake’s face, of course). Adam almost achieved this goal in Season 11, when his bro-country contender Josh Gallagher placed fourth and country-crossover pop singer Billy Gilman was runner-up, but maybe his dastardly dream will come true with this guy. While Adam the C’s earlier performances were generic meat-‘n’-potatoes country, his gruff Lee Ann Womack/Chris Stapleton remake in the Knockouts was a revelation. If Adam the L continues to push Adam the C down that singer-songwriter lane, that lane just might lead to the finale. (Making the victory even more sweet would be the fact that Cunningham was originally a member of Team Blake.) Song choice will be key here. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Shi’Ann Jones (Team J.Hud)

Shi’Ann, at age 15, is the youngest semifinalist in the top 20 — a fun fact that will surely be trotted out at every opportunity this season. (“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE ONLY 15!!!”) Obviously Shi’Ann’s inexperience may hinder her, and the novelty of her youth will only get her so far; from this point onward, she must be graded on the same curve as everyone else, even 40-year-olds Red Marlow and Esera Tuaolo. But Jennifer Hudson sees a younger mini-me version of herself in Shi’Ann, and is therefore likely to give this girl special guidance — so Shi’Ann could be this year’s Wé McDonald or Jacqui Lee. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Emily Luther (Team Adam)

There’s no doubt that this theater-trained, Berklee-schooled jazz chanteuse is one of Season 13’s most techincally skilled vocalists. But even her own coach Adam said she’s “almost too perfect.” She lacks charisma and doesn’t pop onscreen like some of her opponents, and she seems much older than her 24 years. It’s easy to see why her former YouTube duet partner Charlie Puth’s career soared, while hers has stalled. I think Emily could have a bright future on Broadway, but sadly, I don’t know how far she can go on this show. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Red Marlow (Team Blake)

This dyed-in-the-flannel everyman could not be more obvious Team Blake material if he’d showed up wearing an “Ol’ Red”-era mullet and drinking a Starbucks cup filled with whiskey. A “country as cornbread” (or “country as a wheelbarrow full of turnip greens”) dude who rattles off one-liners like “I’m as excited as a fat kid at a candy store,” he sure has a big, made-for-TV personality, and Middle America will love the lug. Until this week, I’ve found his performances to be typical weeknight bar-band fare andand corny as cornbread, so I’d rather Middle America’s country votes go to Ashland Craft or Adam Cunningham — but Red’s “Outskirts of Heaven” Knockout performance proved that he has a softer side and doesn’t always have to be the Season 13 class clown. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Mitchell Lee (Team Blake)

Mitchell has the cougar-baiting, hunky good looks to make America’s housewives swoon, and with his excellent pitch, he’s easy on the ears as well as the eyes. He’s already shaping up to be the Barrett Baber of Season 13. However, there’s a Ken-doll slickness, forced smiley-ness, and smugness to his performances that I find offputting, and he plays it safe with his song choices. I’d love to see more grit and gravitas from Mitchell, so he can become the Brendan Fletcher of Season 13 instead. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Anthony Alexander (Team Adam)

Young Anthony has teen-heartthrob appeal and tons of potential, but even his coach Adam admits that he’s “not fully cooked yet.” With only four weeks of Playoffs, will Anthony have the time to “cook” and catch up with his more, um, seasoned opponents? I am not so sure. Anthony has talent, but he may have been better off waiting to try out for Season 14. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Jon Mero (Team Adam)

Jon’s confidence can sometimes come across as cockiness, and the professional corporate gig singer’s performances (“Blame It on the Boogie”? really??) don’t feel modern or relevant. It doesn’t bode well for his chances that his Knockout Round performance was montaged — a rarity on this series — and not even uploaded by NBC to YouTube. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

Esera Tuaolo (Team Blake)

As an openly gay former NFL player, Esera has by far this season’s most fascinating (and timely) backstory. Does he have the pipes to back that up, though? I sense that he’s made it this far mainly because he makes for compelling television. It’s unlikely that there’s a Voice touchdown in his future. (Photo: NBC)

Source: Yahoo Music

[dahoodsie]

Markism

Reposted so as to hold myself accountable for writing something new.

NOTE: there is something mentioned at the end that I SWEAR TO YOU was not true at the time -- hee hee.

Originally introduced 7/28/00: What the hell's wrong with admitting you're having a good time? 

There is a tone many people use when they say something like "Yeah, I totally marked out for that." It's a subtle mix of chagrin and apology in which you can detect the unspoken defense "I mean, of course I know it's not REAL."

Not even a ten year old comes out of a movie ranting and raving about how good it was, but feeling the need to justify to listeners "I mean, of course I know it wasn't TRUE." These performers we see week after week, onscreen and in person, put their health, their lives, their time, and their pride on the line for everyone's entertainment -- especially their pride. Why is it that so many of those watching would make a point of not putting their own pride on the line by admitting how much they loved what they saw? It's a far lesser risk than being on TV yourself.

It's become a very cynical world in which we live. Idealism becomes a burden when it seems that anyone who might change the world for the better is gunned down for their trouble. People assume Clinton is lying in a court of law, but worse, they don't care. There's not a lot of joy involved in living like this. On the other hand, living by the maxim of "ignorance is bliss" isn't the greatest option either. Though it seems unlikely, there's no reason cynicism and idealism can't be combined. Having the advantage of information doesn't mean you have to forgo the advantage of enjoyment. Sure, there's no Easter Bunny -- but in a case like this, isn't it more satisfying in the end to know how much trouble your family went to by creating a fun holiday and acting out a story for you? It's possible to accept both the deeper truth and the surface fantasy at the same time -- getting your entertainment out of both.

For all that my mother has been careful to point out that Stan Stasiak never pulled aside the curtain to anyone that she knows of, there was never a time where I was aware of wrestling but wasn't equally aware that the performance going on in the squared circle shared much in common with the Easter Bunny. "Ha ha! Did you see Superstar Billy Graham getting the shit kicked out of him, then he hides under the ring for a minute and now all of a sudden he's covered with blood?!" These were the sort of conversations that I would overhear. I stick to my guns that it's perfectly possible to express appreciation on both levels simultaneously -- and that it's just as important not to get caught up in how smart you are as it is not to get caught up in confusing the characters with the performers.

Let's say you were watching a match involving Ese Rios. Yes, there is a particular brand of fun involved in seeing who gets their turn to drive and how people trade off. "Did you see that? They hit him extra hard, like maybe since he doesn't speak English that well you have to speak louder in body language too." Even so, all calculation must be suspended the moment you see defiance of physics in action. As another example, the Rock must also be given his due. It's all too easy for hardcore fans to become irritated with his limited repertoire, his failure to take many bumps, and the lemming-like devotion he inspires -- but even on the most cynical level it must be admitted both that he works hard and that he stinks of presence in a powerful way. When your appreciation of wrestling as performance art has become complex, it's not necessary to throw out the baby with the bathwater. There's more to enjoy, not less -- and there's no shame in any facet of it.

This sort of dual appreciation can be deeply rewarding. Every once in a while, what you think you know to be true in real life collides with the more calculated incidents you see performed and the results are glorious. In my opinion, the trio of Shawn Michaels, Hunter and Chyna have at times elevated this to an art form. But there is one occurrence that serves as a perfect example of enjoying both levels at the same time -- and whether that adds up to realistic fantasy or fantastic reality is hard to say.

I'm sure you're familiar with the story: Once upon a time, there was a man who was champion and mainstay of the smaller federation. He agreed to leave for the big leagues, more specifically the federation that is better thought of. No one could believe this was true, for it is a very stand-up guy of whom we speak. Because he is, indeed, such a stand-up guy, he makes a point of handling this decision with honor and class. Fast forward. In the absence of said stand-up guy, a meathead with a mullet finds himself getting a lot more attention than anything but his physical size necessarily merits, due to a vacuum of talent created by those who migrated to the big leagues. This attention brings an offer of lots of money from the federation who seems to believe cash is the answer to everything. Said meathead accepts the offer, and proceeds to handle this situation in a manner that could charitably described as tacky.

Hence we see Taz return to ECW to choke out Mike Awesome and strip him of the belt, followed by Tommy Dreamer appearing on SmackDown! to take it from Taz, and I! TOTALLY! MARKED! OUT! Not one cell in my body balks at the admission I found this utterly thrilling.  There will always be those who mock you for the joy you take in anything. Know that they are just too bitter and too fearful to be half so happy. Be content with the awareness that you know Stephanie's not really married to Hunter, and enjoy the show. This is not brain surgery we speak of. This is not the Bay of Pigs. The future of the world is not dependent on who can cut a better promo. This is entertainment, pure and simple, and you're supposed to enjoy it. Because if you're not willing to loosen up and have fun, why else are you alive?