#bo burnham posting again yeah whatever but his work actually makes me think about being an artist like. so hard

[g1rlonl1ne]

hysterically sobbing over can’t handle this by bo burnham again because being an artist sucks and the world is cruel

[ticklishtimothee]

start of something new (bo burnham x reader)

summary: bo and the reader are just friends, but when he takes them out to dinner before his tour is going to take off, that just might change.

a/n: based on a prompt from @deborahmessingsfingers who wanted a fic about having a first kiss with bo!! the plot sort of just came to me and i also wrote this at like two o’clock in the morning.

words: 1,100

You and Bo are friends. Good friends, and have been for a few months now. But lately you’ve been thinking, wanting more.

You went to see his show last night, always excited to be a supportive, familiar face in the crowd. Now, he’s taking you out to dinner while he’s in town, claiming he didn’t want to miss out on spending time with you before his tour really kicks off.

The thought of him being states away doesn’t appeal to you very much, but hey, it’s all part of his job. It sucks to think that you’ll have to go without his hugs, the scent of his cologne, or having Bruce snuggle up to your lap when you visit.

But that’s in a few days, and you can’t dwell on it now, not when he’s sitting across from you at the table, the sleeves of his sweater pushed up to his elbows, his glasses balanced on his nose as he scans the menu.

“The show went really well,” you say, wanting to break the silence.

His head perks up like a puppy hearing its name. “Yeah, I think it went alright. Do you think they could tell that I was nervous?” he asks.

You shake your head. “If you hadn’t told me, I’d have no idea.”

He lets out a little sigh of relief. “Thanks for coming tonight. To the show, obviously, but also, you know, to dinner.”

You smile. His eyes are fixed down at the menu again, although he doesn’t seem to be reading it. You assume that it’s post-show nerves and figure it’d be best to not point it out, and just let him work through it on his own.

While the two of you are pretty open with one another, anxiety is still something he’s working on. You don’t want to push him to talk about something he’s not comfortable discussing, especially on a night where you’re supposed to be celebrating.

The waitress comes around and takes down your orders. The restaurant is a regular spot for the two of you, and Bo orders the same thing he usually does.

When you tease him about it, he makes a joke about needing some consistency, since he’ll be in a different state every week soon enough.

The reminder that he’ll be gone drops your gaze to the tablecloth, giving a half-hearted chuckle at his comment.

“Hey,” he says, reaching across the table to nudge you gently. “What’s the long face for, hm?”

You look up, but avoid looking in his eyes. “I’m just gonna miss you, I guess.”

Bo’s cheeks color, although it’s barely noticeable in the restaurant’s dim light. He runs a hand through his hair. “I was actually thinking…”

But before he can finish telling you whatever he’s been thinking, the waitress returns with your food. The interaction makes Bo’s words slip your mind, and he appears to have forgotten, too.

You eat, bantering and chatting about the show, the upcoming tour, as well as your life and plans, too. He asks about work, your family. He scolds you for never taking time off.

You have to scoff at that, because it’s hypocritical of Bo to accuse anyone of working too hard. He’s always writing, rehearsing, and recording. 

By the time you’ve finished eating, both too stuffed for dessert, you’ve almost forgotten that this is the last time you’ll be together for some time. But the wicked reminder still lingers in the back of your mind, and while it should make you savor the memories, it only causes sadness to wilt the edges of happy moments.

Bo insists on paying the check, despite your protests, and then offers to walk you home.

Sure, you could call an Uher, but both of you live close enough to the restaurant, and thankfully, you wore comfortable shoes. The evening is cool and breezy, but warm enough for a pleasant stroll.

Bo’s long legs fight to keep at your pace, and the closer you get to your apartment, the more you feel the urge to break through the small talk and tell him how much you’re going to miss him, but the words keep dying on your tongue.

You and Bo have never been overly emotional with one another. Sure, you hugged, and talked about deep shit, but there was always an unspoken tension that held you back from platonic ‘I-love-yous’ and allowing those hugs to linger.

You’re in front of the apartment building when you finally work up the courage, but before you can say anything, Bo is touching your hand.

“I know that this is horrible timing,” he starts. “But I couldn’t leave without doing this.”

And he leans in, having to bend his knees to press your lips together properly. The kiss takes you off guard for only a moment before you’re kissing back, wrapping your arms around his neck and melting into his touch, the smell of his cologne, the taste of his beer lingering on his lips.

And fuck, you hadn’t realized how badly you wanted this until he made the first move. It just feels right, standing there, with him. His lips on yours.

He’s reluctant to pull away, but he does so after a moment, his cheeks flushed and glasses a little lopsided. You reach up to fix them with a little laugh, and he chuckles, too.

“I told you it was bad timing,” he says.

“It is,” you agree. “But I’m not upset about it. In fact, I’m glad.”

He seems relieved. “I just…I couldn’t risk going on tour and being away, and, and the possibility of you meeting someone new, someone better while I was gone.”

“There’s no one better than you,” you reply, reaching up to place a hand on his cheek.

His skin is warm to the touch, and he leans into your palm like it’s the only thing keeping him grounded. “Careful; you don’t want to feed my ego,” he warns, a smile playing on his lips.

You giggle. “Yeah, I guess not. But I mean it.”

Bo touches your waist gently, coaxing you closer to him. “You could always come visit,” he says.

You nod. “I would love to.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’ll have to keep me posted on when you have days free, and I can take time off of work—”

“Finally,” Bo mutters, making you grin.

“And we’ll make it work,” you finish, gazing into his eyes.

“That sounds like a pretty good plan to me,” he says.

Then, he kisses you again, and it feels less like a goodbye, and more like a beginning.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 163

Honorable mentions:

Terrence gives me life no lie

Terrence what do you know

You know fucking something

Tell me your secrets Terrence i beg

I just want to know why Isen didn’t outright say he wouldn’t publish the story because he doesn’t want to encourage more fake jokers. Just saying that he doesn’t “want a word of this slipping out!” is more enticing to share tbh.

I love how Isen and Blyke just talk casually about how the authorities are lying about EMBER, like they’re over it or whatever lmao. Mood.

Short and late, but honestly, I know you all expected that so-

Remi:

    Remi in this episode again highlights the changes to her character. She talks to the low-tiers about treating each other better and she understands that if Wellston were to become a better place, the students would have to learn to get along. As Bo Burnham once said, “if you want love, then the love’s gotta come from you.” (Felt that). 

    Anyway, something I do want to point out from this episode is that Remi seems a little tired now. I kind of mentioned this in my review of episode 157, but Remi seems way more disheartened than she usually does, which can be expected after losing a big fight, but still. She’s always been this energetic, positive person who is one of the only people who truly believe in fighting for what you believe in, and even though she said that the royals need to fight John again, she’s lost her spark. In this episode, when she talks to the low-tiers in the hallway, you can see her visibly tired and sad. She sighs with an emotionless face before leaving and saying, “From now on, please treat others better,” all while faced away from them, like she doesn’t care enough to really say it to their faces. I don’t know, she’s just different now. I’m not pointing out something new.

    I want to talk more about her in reference to Blyke, and what he’s thinking, but that’ll come later in this post.

Blyke:

    OKay so later in this post literally means the next bit I guess lmao. I thought I was going to do a bit about Isen and the newspaper, but not really. The small thing I had to say is in the honorable mentions. Anyway, on to Blyke.

    We kind of got teased in this episode that Blyke is thinking about getting ability enhancement drugs to improve his ability. It makes sense. He really needs to prove to himself that he is worthy, and the only way he thinks he can do that is by defeating Joker. 

    The way I jumped when I read Blyke actually thinking about this because oh shit.

    Do you guys realize what this would mean? The possibilities of Blyke trying to get his hands on and using ability-enhancers? Because he had some exposure to how that all works when he, Isen, and Remi became the superhero posse. And the satisfaction I would get from seeing him act on the other side of this whole thing would be fantastic.

    I do think that obviously if Blyke went through with this whole ability enhancement thing, something bad would happen (words are hard shut up). It’s even brought up by both Isen and Blyke in this episode. They both call it “exhausting,” which is honestly probably a good way to put it. Pumping drugs into your system to give it a permanent adrenaline high must take a huge toll on the person and their bodily functions. I would be worried about overexerting my body and having it go into some weird coma or something. Not that I would really know anything about how this would work, but anyways. Ability-enhancement has bad side effects. I think it would impact Blyke in a mental way too. Using drugs to defeat an opponent might leave Blyke unsatisfied with the results, regardless if he comes out on top. If Blyke is obsessed with being perfect, he’s not going to just be able to accept in his own head that he “cheated” to win. (and with that sentence, I reminded myself about how I think that Blyke is turning into Seraphina when she was a royal, but they’re not that similar that I think I’ll go into detail about that). I feel like I have something more to say here, but honestly, I don’t care. Anyway:

    When I talked about Remi earlier and wanting to say something about her and Blyke, I meant that I was thinking of how they seem to be the only two high-tiers truly motivated to fight Joker again, which is actually a mistake that I made in one of my recent posts, which I’m sorry about (I said Blyke was the only one who wanted to take down John, even though Remi said she did too.) Like, yeah the others aren’t exactly thrilled about John on the throne and they want him gone, but they’ve decided that they aren’t going to do anything. The obvious difference between Blyke and Remi in this is, like I pointed out before, Remi doesn’t seem as driven as Blyke does. What I was thinking was maybe they could team up in defeating John. Maybe this new change for Remi might have her supporting things she didn’t use to, like Blyke using ability enhancers. Both of them have experience with ability-enhancers and it would be exciting to see them on the other side of that situation, which I’m practically repeating from the specifically Blyke part. Lowkey, I also would really love to see Isen’s reaction if he found out. I already know he would get mad because, well, the whole ability enhancers thing (they literally attempted to shut this down earlier in the story) and also feel a bit betrayed that the two of them did this together, without him. It would likely be the end of their little trio. And as horrible as that would be, the entertainment value of the falling out? Off the charts.