#but another post commented on the birds singing in the background

[sexshopshenanigans]

I think it is a bighead carp

English added by me :)

[sunnyrealist]

Chapter 30: An Expert Guide 

The Sun, the Moon, and All Our Stars

Summary and Details…

Chapter Background and Summary: Kate has just finished another school year as the Hogwarts assistant librarian - finally, it's summer! Sebastian also has a week off of work, and he asked Kate to accompany him on a camping trip to the Scottish Highlands, where he plans to hike into the mountains to explore and seek magical artifacts and treasure in various ruins, caves, and a long-abandoned castle. Kate has never camped before or been on such an adventure, and he's thrilled to share the experience with her. Another recent development: Sebastian purchased a special gift (a beautiful piano) for Kate as a symbol of his intent - he wants their courtship to end in marriage. It turned out that Sebastian was keeping his musical talent a secret; he can play piano even better than Kate can.

Pairing: Aged-up, post-Azkaban Sebastian Sallow x Kate Mayflower (my OC)

Content warnings: In general, this story is rated 18+, so MNDI, but there really are no content warnings for this chapter.

The full chapter is available below the cut; it can also be found on AO3 (link is posted below). Please leave some feedback. A comment, like, or Kudos would be quite motivational.

Chapter 30: An Expert Guide

Sebastian glides slowly, walking through the air to the ground, landing perfectly on his feet. 

Kate does not.

With a thud, she lets out an “oof” and struggles to get up from where she plummeted directly to the ground. Managing to at least support herself on her hands and knees, she almost instantly feels a wave of nausea move through her body.

“Ooh, are you okay?” Sebastian asks, dropping down to his knees next to her. He places his arm over her back.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Kate replies, her voice strained. “Don’t look-”

She attempts to hold it back but cannot. The next moment, she retches. Dizzy, she spits a few times, trying to remove the foul taste from her mouth. 

Sebastian soothingly rubs her back. “It’s okay. It’s okay, sweetheart.”

Kate’s eyes fill with tears. Her face is crimson and hot. “I am so embarrassed. Sorry. I feel like I’ve already ruined our trip. This has to be the worst start ever.”

He kisses Kate’s back, then stands up and walks over to pluck a flower from the ground. Using his wand, he transfigures the yellow flower into a yellow teacup, then casts Aguamenti, filling it with cool water. Kate, now kneeling, looks pale and positively dejected. With a concerned look, he steps back over to her, holding out the cup. Though surprised, she accepts it and begins to sip the water, swirling it around her mouth, then spitting it out. Eventually, the aftertaste of acidic vomit disappears, and she is able to finally drink the rest, letting it soothe her throat.

“Thank you,” Kate says quietly, looking humiliated. Sarcastically, she murmurs, “Who knew that touching a beat up old mitten could cause such a disgusting sight?”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Sebastian tells her with care and consideration. “I know you don’t do well with apparition. You told me that the first night we met. I didn’t even consider that it might happen with a portkey, too.” He places his arm around the small of her back, kneeling next to her. “Take as much time as you need. I don’t want to push you. And our trip is not ruined. It’ll begin when you feel right once more.”

She closes her eyes, trying to calm herself. Taking deep breaths of the fresh, cool air, she inhales and exhales slowly. Her blonde hair flows behind her, picked up by a slight breeze. Birds sing in the distance. Sebastian continues to rub her back softly. Her eyelids slowly begin to open, seeing nothing but green grasses, white and golden wildflowers, rocky mountains standing tall in the distance, and a blue sky peeking out behind a curtain of gray clouds. 

He kisses the top of her head. “Isn’t the view gorgeous? And this is only the start. We’re going to have a wonderful time, sunshine.”

Kate adjusts, sitting on her bum and leaning up against his chest. Sebastian wraps his arms further around her. 

“Do you see - there?” He points to the left of a mountain, to a gently sloping hill. “That’s the direction we’ll head in today. We should eventually reach a forest, and that’s where we can make camp.” He kisses her head again. “How are you feeling now, Kate?”

“Better,” she whispers in response. “It’s beautiful, Sebastian.”

Kate slowly moves to stand up; Sebastian helps her. Once she is steady on her feet, she examines her hands. Having landed so roughly, they’re full of dirt, and one even has a bit of blood on it. Perhaps she had landed on a stick or something sharp? She can’t remember, but the stinging overcomes most of her senses.

“Let me fix that up for you,” Sebastian says, pulling out his wand again. Using Aguamenti again, water trickles onto her palms. She manages to clean them up. Then, he whispers a healing charm, and she watches as the little patches in which she must have scraped her hand disappear.

“Thank you,” she replies, then tries to dust off her mustard-colored pantaloons and the matching brown and green plaid blouse with puffed sleeves. She fishes tan-colored leather gloves from her pocket, pulling them on with care.

Stepping before her, Sebastian holds out his arm, and with a smile, asks, “Shall we begin?” His hair is mussed up a little by the wind, and his freckled cheeks are slightly tinted pink.

Kate almost had to laugh that morning when she saw the clothing he had chosen. It was almost a perfect match to what she wore - a long, green coat over a brown plaid vest, white shirt, and brown trousers. She cannot help but admire how perfectly he looks here in the Highlands, as if he is exactly where he belongs, completely in his element. 

She accepts his arm, and they begin to stroll towards the hill. 

Without an established pathway, Kate has to watch carefully where she steps. Within a few minutes, she stumbles a bit. 

“I hope I don’t slow you down, my moon,” Kate worries aloud. “I’ve only ever gone on easy hikes. This is quite the adventure for me.”

Sebastian shakes his head. “There is no need to rush. I am in no hurry - I’m just happy to be on this adventure with you.” He grins. “The mountain, caves, and castle can wait - we’ll go at whatever pace is comfortable for you, my sweet sun. You’ll get used to the terrain soon. And a couple days from now, when it’s not possible to trek any further on foot, we’ll use our brooms.”

Kate stretches out her arm, running her fingertips along the wildflowers as they walk. “I’m glad I have such an expert guide for my first camping trip.”

Sebastian noisily kicks a little rock in his way, and suddenly, a doe and fawn bound out of their hiding place among the tall grasses. Kate gasps, smiling, and follows them with her eyes until they disappear from view, absolutely mesmerized.

When Kate and Sebastian finally reach the top of the hill, the muscles in her legs are burning.

“Maybe we could take a break for lunch, Seb,” Kate suggests. “I could use a rest.”

“That sounds good. I’m famished,” he agrees.

Sebastian and Kate each pull out a small bag from their pockets, then cast charms to enlarge them. Sebastian fishes through the many compartments of his satchel in search of a blanket on which they can sit and enjoy a picnic. Kate opens her bag, which has turned into a large trunk equipped with an extension charm. She places it on the ground, then steps inside of it, disappearing as she climbs down a ladder. Inside is essentially a tiny cellar. On one side of the room, there is a closet, with clothing folded and organized. Another wall holds various grooming tools and potions, medicines (just in case), and other miscellaneous items that might come in handy. Finally, the third has all kinds of food and beverages, organized perfectly by course.

Kate returns to the Highlands, where Sebastian is laying on the blanket, staring up at the clouds with his hands behind his head. She smiles at him, carrying a basket with items for their picnic. She sits down and organizes it all - apple cider, ham and cheddar sandwiches, fresh strawberries, and sliced cucumbers. 

“This is perfect,” Sebastian tells her with his mouth already full. “Are you certain we have enough food packed for the whole journey?” 

“Yes, Sebastian, I’m positive!” She laughs, recalling how much convincing was necessary to just let her handle the food on their trip. 

“Well, I’m going to really tuck in, then,” he quickly replies, popping a cucumber slice into his mouth.

As hungry as Sebastian is, he makes sure that Kate has her fill before eagerly chowing down on whatever is left. 

“If this was not enough, I have plenty more food in my trunk,” she informs him.

“No, this was just right,” he murmurs before gulping down the rest of the cider in his cup. “Thank you for lunch.”

Sebastian helps Kate clean up and follows her inside her extendable trunk. There’s hardly enough room for the both of them. He looks around in wonder at how organized the tiny space is. 

“You’re quite prepared,” he notes.

“Quite. I always am,” she replies, setting down their now clean plates. 

She turns around carefully to face him, which is quite a task in this space that is really meant for just one person. “But what about you?” she asks, her tone turning flirty. “Are you always prepared?”

Sebastian looks taken aback when Kate’s hands reach around his hips to grip his arse and pull his groin flush against her. He quickly recovers, flashing her a devilish smile. His hands trail from her hips to her abdomen to her ribs, finally settling over her breasts. 

Leaning down to her ear, he rasps, “I may have been taken by surprise here, Miss Mayflower, but I am always up for whatever you are willing to give.”

Pulling her face to his, Sebastian captures her lips hungrily. Kate reciprocates, deepening the kiss. She keens loudly as he lays kisses down her neck and back up again while squeezing her tits. Her hands travel up his back, pulling him closer and closer to her until there is no space between their bodies. His tongue runs along her bottom lip and then enters her mouth. He pushes Kate roughly against the wall, rattling the dishware. Suddenly, a little cup falls, shattering on the floor, completely breaking the spell of arousal.

“Oh!” Kate cries out. “Shit.”

Sebastian pulls back as she examines the cup, giving her as much space as is possible in the tiny storage closet. “Sorry,” he murmurs, breathing heavily. “I’m sure it can be fixed…”

Kate pulls out her wand. “Reparo.”

The shattered pieces of glass lift from the ground and regain the shape of a teacup. She uses her wand to levitate it back to the high shelf where it belongs. 

Her heart rate finally begins to slow back down. “I suppose we should get back to what we were doing… it’s probably time to continue on our travels, right?”

Sebastian nods in reluctant affirmation, coming down from his high. “We still have a long way to go until we reach the forest. We probably won’t arrive there until around dinner time.” 

Kate closes her eyes and sighs. “Then, yes, we should move on.”

Sebastian nods again; she gestures for him to climb the ladder. She follows close behind, silently cursing the teacup.

Kate is relieved to be no longer walking uphill, but there is no forest in sight, which means it will be a long trek. It will be the same scenery for quite some time - tall grasses, wildflowers, and mountains in the distance.

“I have an idea to pass the time,” she said cheerfully. “I want to know everything about you. What better time to ask each other questions?” 

“I’m up for it.”

Kate grins, then looks up at the sky, deciding on her first question. “Hmmmm….I’ll start. Birthday.”

“31st of October,” Sebastian replies. 

“That’s Halloween!” Kate exclaims. “You were born on Halloween?!”

“Yes,” he answers, smiling. “Everyone in my family always thought it was perfect that Anne and I were born on Halloween - the day of mischief. I love that my birthday is celebrated on the day when the barrier between the mundane world and the mysterious is blurred.”

“I like that,” Kate notes. “And you probably remember meeting me on my birthday - May the 19th.”

“I’ll never forget it,” Sebastian affirms, taking her hand in his. “One of the most important days of my life. Really, Kate.” 

She blushes. For a moment, they walk quietly. 

“I suppose it’s my turn. What is your favorite meal?” Sebastian asks.

Kate deliberates in her mind. “It depends what you mean. Dessert is my favorite meal of the day. I love sweets.” She laughs, and he joins in. “I love ice cream, which you know. But outside of dessert, I would say my absolute favorite meal is roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh, soft dinner rolls. You?”

“I love ice cream, too. I mean, who doesn’t?” He grins. “For a meal - probably meat pies. I like savory meat mixed with a buttery, flaky crust.”

“Favorite color?” Kate asks next.

“Dark green,” Sebastian answers without thinking. 

“That suits you. It makes me think of forests and pine trees - and the journey we’re on at this moment! And for me, yellow. It makes me think of happiness.”

“I figured that,” Sebastian replies, squeezing her hand. “Miss Yellow Personified. Now, since you love books and reading so much, what is your favorite genre?”

“Oh! That is a difficult question. I like so many different genres, but I do like fiction. I hope you don’t look down on me for this, but I especially love romantic stories. Tales of adventure are good, too. If a book has both, it’s a winner for me. How about you, Sebastian?”

“I honestly like a number of genres but adventure and mystery most of all. I like to guess the culprit and see if I’m right,” he explains.

“I see! Are you familiar with Sherlock Holmes? He’s a character in muggle literature - a detective. The stories are fascinating,” she tells him excitedly.

“I’ve heard of Sherlock Holmes, but I haven’t read any of the stories. I’m not all that familiar with muggle literature, but I’m interested,” he admits. “I know you’ll teach me a lot about it over time.”

“I’ll procure a copy. Let it be a gift from me to you,” Kate suggests, smiling.

“Sure,” he agrees. A few moments later, he asks, “What do you like to do on a day off of work when it’s raining outside?”

“Hmmm… Sleep in late and not worry at all about the time. Then, I might do some baking. Afterwards, I might read while listening to some music, and then I’d take a long, warm bubble bath before bed.”

“That sounds lovely, and you had better invite me over to join in with you one day. A bubble bath with you sounds like a dream come true, my love,” he says with a wicked smile. 

“You insatiable man!” Kate chides, purposely bumping into him. 

“You aren’t wrong - I am insatiable when it comes to you!” Sebastian laughs. Then, his voice becomes low. “My perfect rainy day… would be one spent in bed with you, sunshine.”

She blushes, but then, she considers it and realizes that she’d want that, too. “I feel the same,” she replies in a quiet voice.

“Of course, I like to read and listen to music, too. You could cook and bake for me while I spend time studying. I’d happily fill my belly with your delicious food.” He smiles. “Any time I spend with you is my favorite. In all seriousness, I think… I think I have been alone for so long that I had forgotten what having a real connection with another person is like. I’m so happy to have met you, Kate. I don’t want to go through life alone anymore.”

“Nor I,” she replies, squeezing his hand. “I love you, Sebastian.”

“I love you, too.”

[writing-fool]

mlqc | let’s hit rewind

What kind of videos would the MLQC guys make if they were YouTubers? I think this is a youtube!au, but to be fair, Kiro probably has a YouTube channel in canon. See it as you will? I won’t really talk about their life outside of YT/internet so you can decide for yourself whether this is an AU or not, and whether they’re a full-time YouTuber or not.

As always, enjoy, and requests are open!

Love,

R.

Warning(s): none

Victor

Victor probably has a cooking channel

scratch that. he absolutely starts as one of those Aesthetic™ cooking channels like Cooking tree, HANSE, Sweet The MI or Nino’s Home.

his channel is called Souvenir because he’s not THAT original you can’t expect everything from a man, people. 

he starts off doing these voiceless cooking videos, but after a voice and face reveal at 2 million followers where he cooks something for his followers as a thanks...well, who wouldn’t want more of that sultry voice and glorious face

currently has about 4 million subscribers

Victor’s channel is kind of comparable to Junskitchen, a rather relaxed, casual atmosphere combined with exquisite, refined cuisine

if he feels like it, he does a voice-over, otherwise he just puts calm jazz, blues or r&b over his cooking

HAS done an ASMR special. low-key dislikes the video because he has to whisper voice-overs but people LOVE it

likes making all kinds of foods, but his channel features quite a lot of sweet foods and desserts because a certain dummy has a sweet tooth

a pretty popular feature during quarantine is Cooking w/ Sou, essentially a live stream where Sou (aka Victor) cooks a whole three-course meal while talking to and instructing his followers

his subscribers notice that he doesn’t really need editing to look clean during cooking because his technique is IMMACULATE

by the end, he’s made a themed dinner for two...which always raises a question mark

is Sou single? does he have a roommate? a girlfriend? a kid? WHAT?

after getting your explicit permission, Victor addresses the situation in one of his recent Q&As

“Why do I always make dinner for two? I have a fiancée, she edits my videos in her spare time. She works as a producer. *you wave your hand over the lens* Dummy.” he breezes over it like it’s no big deal even though he’s a tad nervous about exposing something personal like this

his fans blow up the internet, baffled but not entirely surprised that someone like Sou isn’t a bachelor

of course, some leave hate under the video honestly, people who do this to celebs who start dating are HORRIBLE

most subscribers are super supportive of your relationship and thank you for the editing that makes Souvenir such a well put-together channel...also did he seriously call his fiancée a dummy? such a tsundere!

sometimes, you’ll (well, your hands...we’re keeping a bit of privacy here) even be in the end shot of videos, munching away at the carefully plated food

one day, Sou will be making a video titled Wedding Cake.

Lucien

Lucien’s channel LucidLight is a tad bit all over the place

he’s a man of many talents, and his channel reflects just that

i’m not saying it’s a disorganized channel, because the theme is very much there - the uniform theme in Luci’s content is a cozy background, a cup of tea and a soothing thumbnail

i mean that content-wise, his subscribers don’t really know what they’re going to get next...he has a slightly similar style to the YouTuber simon plant 

his content varies from interesting science theories to poetry reading sessions to ASMR to painting/sketching to cooking and much, much more

he has an heavenly soothing, smooth voice. it’s his trademark since Lucien doesn’t show his face on camera. ever. 

doesn’t have a TON of subs, because his channel is a bit of a niche thing, but I’d say he has 1,2 million subscribers and 400k followers on his added ‘business’ Instagram

he holds a lot of live streams on Instagram/YouTube (i know Moments exists in the game, but that’s more like a Facebook or Twitter kind of app...) and is always shown with just his torso and neck in frame. the lives usually include some poetry reading and generally just having a nice, relaxing chat with his followers. they can last up to 5 hours at once, and YOU know it’s because he doesn’t need sleep like a normal human being, but his fans are still asking questions about his timezone

his subscribers are strangely fascinated by his mysterious, gentle nature and also incredibly obsessed with his large, elegant hands

his ASMR videos are often roleplays of Librarian Lucien or Professor Lucien explaining to people why their rest is important

other times, they include soft affirmations, positive whispers, finger fluttering, hair touching and maybe kissing sounds...

Lucien paints a lot too, although he works primarily with ink and pencil sketches. you’ll find a watercolour or oil painting somewhere, but they’re not his most prominent media

his art videos are usually silent, although he might say something once in a while. there’s always some type of solo instrumental music playing in the background.

he does educational videos about biology and universe theories, but will also have reading sessions about scientific books

not intentionally secretive about your relationship, but he’s not one to mention it either

the first time you appeared on screen was when he was doing another live stream. he’s in his office talking about a play, when you come padding in to bid him goodnight.

“Yes, indeed. Laura’s glass menagerie, as the play suggests, is a symbol of fragility. Laura herself is very frail, but her favourite—”

“Good night, darling.” your soft voice rings through the room. viewers see Lucien’s torso turning a little bit, a hand on his shoulder and a curtain hair appearing from the top of the screen. his hand moves, presumably to cup the person’s cheek, before a soft kiss is heard through the mic. “Sleep tight, my love,” he murmurs.

“Ah. Laura’s favourite glass figurine is the unicorn, which...”

people are in uproar, but Lucien is a strong-willed man who refuses to explicitly announce the nature of his relationship.

his subscribers stop asking after a while, because it really isn’t any of their business, and they now know Lucien’s a taken man

you kind of appear on live streams accidentally a couple more times, but nothing’s really changed about Lucien’s content

the only thing he WILL say, and this is purely to give you credit, is “Ah. The background instrumentals in my art videos are played live. Yes, my lover’s very talented.”

you guys are the mysterious, talented, soft-voiced power couple of YouTube

Gavin

Gavin’s channel probably starts as a joint channel with you, something like Rachel and Jun

it’s relatively obvious from the start that Gavin from Birds&Cops is in a relationship, since you guys have a vlogging-style channel

your channel is filled with gym vlogs, travel vlogs to other countries and a lot of self-defence and sport at home videos. 

you guys also post a lot of funny vlogs talking about your day, going on fun dates, of course food vlogs in restaurants, all that stuff...

you often sit down and talk about your life, and maybe you’ll even do a mukbang during it for someone so fit, Gavin does eat a lot of food. 

Gavin’s channel didn’t blow up right away, because vlogging channels aren’t exactly unique, and he looks like the typical ‘straight boy with a girlfriend’

but he started gaining followers after people noticed how cute and blushy he acts, and how incredibly respectful and caring he is towards you

one of the most popular videos is Boyfriend Does My Makeup and it’s adorable. Gavin’s handling your face with so much care, and comments like “I know what this is, I’ve watched you do it many times.” or “Babe, does it hurt? Should I be more gentle? I’m sorry...my hands are rough.” make everyone SWOON

toxic masculinity left the chat. Gavin loves taking care of you in any way, whether it’s getting pads, chocolate and hot packs during your period or braiding your hair

in those yoga/celebrity fitness routine challenges, subs get to see Gavin in a tight singlet and sweatpants/shorts, and it’s HOLY

you’re very much aware of the attention Gavin receives from female fans, and how lucky you are to have found such a sweet partner

Gavin will usually see this type of comment while scrolling and will turn to you and go “Babe, you know I’m the lucky one here, right?”

anyways, a feature that you do to show fans the extent of Gavin’s sweet personality is Pranking My Boyfriend, where you set up the camera for a harmless prank like pretending to have a nightmare (similar to channels like Farina Jo)

that particular video was so fun to shoot, because it ended up with Gavin softly singing a lullaby to calm you down in his arms

“Baby, wake up. I’m here, you’re safe.” Gavin knows how to deal with panicking people, but he hates this prank afterwards because ‘he didn’t like seeing you in pain’

fans squealed. Birds&Cops gained like 50k subs through that video. the channel’s currently at 999k subscribers

overall, it’s just a really lovely, family-friendly channel

Kiro

Kiro knows his way around the web, alright?

not even just as Key, but he’s had a YouTube channel since the age of 15

his channel, CtrlAltChips is a hit with many people of many, many ages

he streams gaming sessions on Twitch and posts them on his YouTube channel afterwards

other content includes (primarily) covers & original songs, simple talking videos, thrifting & fashion videos, mukbangs and candid dance videos in a studio

think of chloe moriondo, doddleoddle, Victor the Drum Destroyer and Cat Strat

alternatively, for the ARMYs here, think of Jeon Jungkook as a YouTuber

Kiro has about 18 million subscribers, which is A LOT, but he’s been on YouTube for 7 years and he’s made a name for himself as a super likeable and bubbly guy with an angelic voice and killer moves

you’d think he’s just a cute boy when he sings acoustic covers, but his dance moves suggest that he’s not THAT cute

also how does he stay so fit with all those snack mukbangs?

he has a segment named In Our Kloset where he talks about social issues (because our boy uses his platform for good) around the world while customizing (not just pins. we’re talking patches, sewing, painting, embroidery) thrifted clothing to his liking. at the end he holds a little fashion show with his new outfits

after a while, you’ll see many of his outfits in giveaways or on sale for charity. Kiro tries to give back to his fans as much as he can, and how better than by sharing a piece of his unique clothing with them?

a great singer and performer. has held actual concerts before and has an actual music career (author-nim leaves it up to you readers to decide whether this is his idol career or some other musical project)

keeps his private life PRIVATE. he knows how the internet works, and he knows there’s no way he can keep your relationship a secret forever, but he’s not about to expose it to the world because of that reason

keeps tabs on information or rumours regarding you and makes them vanish

he’s simultaneously the most open and the most secretive out of the four boys. his fans know his favourite colour, what type of underwear he wears (trunks. Kiro wears trunks.), his birthday,...

but they know nothing about his past, his location, his close social circle or his family (teeechnically he’s an orphan but ig we’re talking about his mentor here. the blood of the covenant blah blah blah...y’know?). Kiro protects his loved ones fiercely

for someone who’s kept so secret, you’re actually really involved in Kiro’s virtual persona. you’re usually behind the camera during his In Our Kloset videos and are in charge of extra research regarding topics so he doesn’t spread any misinformation 

you also give pointers during filming (of course, these bits are edited out) because Kiro tends to trail off and get distracted when sewing

another way you’re involved is setting up the food during mukbangs. you have a great sense of aesthetics, so all of his videos in general will go through you.

while you like being low-key in Kiro’s life, you don’t want him to feel like he has to protect you from all the hate. 

he doesn’t particularly love keeping you a secret either, and it makes him feel guilty because he doesn’t want you to think he’s ashamed of you. he could never be.

you guys give it a good chat over how you’re going to announce it, and he just ends up making a video titled Miss Chips where the two of you sit down and talk to the camera

“Hello my little chips! Uhm, as you can see, there’s someone sitting next to me today. Maybe you already guessed from the title, but this is...my girlfriend, Miss Chips,” cue the cute jazz hands in your direction, “We’ve been dating for a long, loooong time, right, Miss Chips?”

“I just wanted to share this with you guys, since it felt wrong to keep such an important person in my life private. I hope you’re all kind to her, because I love her dearly, even to the point of giving up my snacks...so it’s serious.”

it really is that serious, hm?

Hope you enjoyed reading! 

[bitterpossum]

Anyways @captainkirkk made a dimensional dad au, and I’m love it so I made some refs for my take on it! The basic plot is that aizawa ends up being thrown through various different worlds via quirk highjinks, and ends up saving the kids of class a1 who live in said worlds and their lives suck

Here’s the lay out of my take on the worlds! Sorry for the long post I’d put it under a cut but I’m on mobile lol

Midoriya- Just straight up normal human world, he ends up following aizawa by accident probably

Uraraka- Lone Space Station Survivor, the rest of her family is back on earth and she is the lone survivor of some disaster that happened on her ship

Asui- Hunted Frog Spirit, the locals believe that she’s bad luck and would rather kill her than politely ask her to leave

Iida- Cyborg, his brother and him lost their legs in an accident and had them replaced by cybernetics. His parents are grooming him to follow in his brothers footsteps and become some sort of robot cop or something

Todoroki- Magic prince, same abusive dad but this time with the extra drama of political drama! Quirks are replaced by magic here

Bakugou- monster hunter, he doesn’t subscribe to the whole ‘kill all magic shit’ his mentors believe but is being forced to hunt and kill monsters

Kirishima- Half Dragonling, caught in a hunting trap, was either going to be killed or sold if the hunters found him before aizawa did

Kaminari- Super Soldier Test Subject, government attempt at giving solders powers to better fight wars

Sero- Vigilante Bar Worker, kinda a SpiderNoir type hero in a 1920s world, but he has the man made webs like Tom Holland Spider-Man

Ashido- Alien, she crashed on earth and is being held and experimented on in Area 51

Jirou- 1920's Musician, she ran away from her parents to follow her musical passion and ended up on the streets (newsies anybody?)

Yoayorozu- State Alchemist (FMA:B), her parents used their power to get her into the state alchemists and now she’s a child solder, which this au seems to have a lot of

Hagakara- Government Child Spy, government spy with tech that makes her invisible, she is not invisible. They’re using kids cause they’re not sure the tech is safe yet

Ojiro- Victorian Steampunk Theif, living on the streets and stealing stuff to survive, and if he nicks a little extra to tinker with who cares?

Tokoyami- warlock type magic user being possessed by a trickster demon, his parents are both warlocks and promised their first born as a demon host in exchange for power. He can turn bird and let dark shadow take over for more power

Shoji- Arm-less Waterbender (A:TLA), a master bender and probably another child solider idk

Aoyama- musical, no clue the plot yet so leave comments below! If he sings others join in as background dancers

Satou- Zombie Apocalypse Survivor, pretty self explanatory

Koda- Cursed Beast with a fondness for animals, he lives scorned in the forest away from the town after his family was cursed. The townspeople revolted and killed the rest of his family

Shinsou- Half Siren, outcast both in land and in the sea shinshou has no where else to go

[astranne]

Jason Todd becomes famous (again)

I was almost sleeping, when this idea came in my mind.

So, it’s quarantine and Jason is bored as fuck. He’s reading some old books and thinks... hmm, let’s write some poem. But it doesn’t becomes really a poem, more like a text. And he’s really really bored, so he begins to sing. And he’s like: let’s write a song! But he isn’t really a musican, so he raps this whole text, uses much slang and has basically a rough voice.

Then he starts recording and is like: damn, this shit is really good. And he opens a youtube canal, makes a new account on insta, twitter and snap. He hides half of his face behind a mask (these corona masks) and has the hood of his hoodie on. And then he recordes himself, tells that he’s bored as fuck and doesn’t have new things to read and just needs to do something. His first song is about Gotham as city, his second about heroes, but disses them, the only one who recives some compliments is Wonder Woman. He admits, that she was his favourite hero in his childhood.

Jason goes on twitter and insta, comments on some posts and makes some memes on snap. And everywhere his username is J.T.

It doesn’t take long and people notice him, find his harsh words about the world amazing and how he’s doing this, because he’s bored. Like boy- you never knew you could sing? He does some covers of pop songs and some raps. And when he covers ‘Rap God’ from Eminem people lose their absolute shit. Boy, what did you do your whole life? And he just shrugs and says without blinking: living on the streets, almost stealing rims of the Batmobil and being tortured by the Joker. So, in like two months, Jason becomes a celebrity. Many love him because of his bluntness, that he knows, what it is like to have a rough life but life on and just tell the haters to fuck off, because he doesn’t care.

@j.t.

i’m starting a petition against trump, bc bitch what the fuckin hell?? high percentage of alcohol is NOT effective against COVID-19. not even i’m so dumb and i did some really dumb shit  #trump...WHY?

@j.t. 

today old man called. took him near 3 months to realize that i’m making music now. good work, b! proud of ya

@j.t. 

demon spawn almost stabbed replacement. 

- replacment is bleeding. 

-- demon spawn is bleeding too.

--- and now big bird is yelling at us.

---- old man just walked in the room, saw this whole shit and went out. me too, b

----- big bird yelling at me, bc i’m tweeting bout this shit

------ i still don’t care

------- #bondingmoments

@j.t. 

sometimes, i wish to be an alien. bc humans are dumb

@j.t.

to all the racists out there... fuck you. i hope you die painfully and if not, rot in hell.  #blacklivesmatter

@j.t. 

big bird cried bc of my new song, old man too (denies this) replacement didn’t even realize and demon spawn scoffed. alfie said it was nice. and the girls are now sticking at me since i dropped the song. why did i write this stupid shit about my fam?  #idiggedmyowngrave  #hellodarknessmyoldfriend  #whereareyou?

@j.t.

sometimes, i wanna be a villian and kill all the other assholes #fuckyoujoker

- and mess with batman 

@j.t.

replacement fell down the stairs. while sleeping  #niceone

@j.t.

old man grew some grey hairs. looks nice. now he’s truly old  #gramps  #greyhairbecauseofhischildren  #totallyproudofit

@j.t.

disstrack about racist out there coming out tomorrow #hopeyoustilldie #fuckyou  #blacklivesmatter  #allthefuckingshitmatters  #juststopalready  #iwannadie

- big bird thinks i’m trying to kill myself and just tried to blank burrito me.  #whythefuck  #iwasjockingyoudumbshit  #stillwanttodie

-- now he nearly chocked me on chocolate  #ihatemybrother  #nowireallywanttodie

@j.t.

demon spawn is in puberty now. he lied the first time to old man

old man: so you lied to me

demon spawn: that depens on how you define lying 

old man: you lied

demon spawn: i just didn’t tell you about it

old man, losing his patience, bc this shit is going on for 30 mins now: i asked you, if you took any new animals home and you told me no

demon spawn: grayson the bird was outside then, so no, i didn’t take him home

old man losing his absolut shit, i can see his eyebrow twiching

- demon spawn also adopted another cat

-- named it after old man  #smooth  #becauseoldmanhasnowhisowncat

--- big bird is singing in the background  #quarantinemood

---- old man tells him kindly to shut up

----- he didn’t, now old man is even more angry

------ it isn’t even noon

If anyone wants to make a story about this, feel free! Just tag me, so I can read it

Masterlist

[rockcrow20]

Reasons I Still Believe in Kaylor - (Updated 3rd March)

Observations since the red “wedding” that make me still believe that Kaylor are still together.

Thank you to everyone in this fandom for there contributions, posts, observations and secret government agency level clue finding skills. (X = links to relevant posts).

Oct 22nd 2018 - Taylors forget me knots flower t-shirt while in OZ..X

Oct 31st 2018 - New Video in Karlie’s Kitchen and she still had the Kaylor photos up.. X

Nov 9th 2018 - Tay sings out of the woods on Tour and Karlie and co post photos in the woods.. X

Nov 16th 2018 - Taylors matching Karlie Clutch at the AMA’s.. X. also kinda matching outfits..X

Jan 15th 2019 - Karlie’s Astrology post with Sagittarius book shown underneath.. X

Feb 25th 2019 - Karlie rocking a Tye Dye t-shirt at Paris Week with Gigi in tow, hello lover merch and also similar to a shirt Tay was seen in also another PR episode themed tye dye (in 2020).. X X X

Feb 28th 2019 - Hanging out with Gigi at PFW X X X X

March 3rd 2019 - Karlie was in Paris for fashion week - Off White walk on 28th Feb then mysteriously posts that she was passing through NY on the 3rd of March before appearing back in Paris for the Stella McCartney show on the 4th March. Where did she mysteriously fly to and why point it out that she was back in America for some unknown reason - plus we know beginning of march is significant for them aka Big Sur or Love locked down...X X X X

March 14th 2019 - Taylor leaving/disappearing early from the Iheart awards the same night Project Runway Premiered..X

March 14th 2019 - Watch what happens live - Karlie getting asked about Taylor - there is a smirk..X

March 14th 2019 - Interesting anon telling Kaylors not to give up.. X

March 31st 2019 - Tay and KK liking the same Ciara post - X

April 2019 maybe??- The i need to make a phone call when filming ME when adopting Benjamin..X

April 16th 2019 - The Lover Butterfly Mural - 2 lady birds, giraffe print, similar previous to karlie VS wings..X X

April 2019 - Berlin video of karlie playing piano with “a interesting” female voice laughing at the end and saying you always.. X X

April 2019 - The man in the umbrella in the ME music video - looks like someone covered up with makeup, could potentially to be karlie?? Or is it Taylor giving us a nod the the Man music video?? X

May 18th 2019 - Tays ‘we’ slip on the Ellen show then saying its just me and the cats.. X X

May 30th 2019 - Karlie using ME! and 2AM in a story.. X X

June 3rd 2019 - Tay wearing a yellow T-shirt with her Wango Tango rainbow outfit.. X

June 6th 2019 - Karlie using a BBF vogue video gif.. X X

June 17th 2019 - THE HAND in the YNTCD teaser video - no one can convince me this isn't Karlie’s hand.. X X X X X

June 17th 2019 - Lover straw in the YNTCD video similar to Karlie’s bride straw. Also the Mint mojito it’s sitting in linking to Karlie’s 73 Question video where she says Mojitos are a favourite..X X

June 2019 - YNTCD with Taylor carrying out a Daisy from her burning trailer plus Daisies making a number of appearances.. X X X X

June 2019 - Taylor wearing the french fries suit in the YNTCD video then karlie saying in reply to a fan “not pregnant just love french fries!!!!” X

June 25th 2019 - KK’s Dad liking certain comments on the Wyoming stunt..X

July 4th 2019 - Abigail liking a KK insta post after the SB drama started.. X

Aug 3rd 2019 - Tay posts Lover Heart crispies pic on KK’s birthday.. X

Aug 16th 2019 - Release date of Lover Track being 13 days after KK’s bday and also track 3 aka KK birthday day also its 3.41 long (3+4+1=8).. X X X

Aug 16th 2019 - Lover lyric video with the kaylor sparklers video plus potential daises and big sur falcon pic.. X X

Aug 18th 2019 - Karlie listening to lover track on her Spotify X X X X

Aug 22nd 2019 - Lover video fishbowl scene X Also the snow-globe imagery and selling it in her merch.” dancing in a snow-globe round and round “ VSFS 2013 X X X

Aug 23rd 2019 - Lover release date may coincide with a certain date range where Kaylor may have gotten engaged.. X X

Aug 23rd 2019 - Lover album in general - Cornelia street, Lover, False God etc etc we all know it plus the release letters all over NY..X X

Sept 9th 2019 - The E news rundown video X

Sept 10th 2019 - Lover Paris Concert Mural ummm a polaroid, locket..X X X X

Nov 14th 2019 _ Karlie’s off the wall post during when SB was not letting Tay perform her songs - which i think is her being off the wall angry.. X

Nov 14th 2019 - Selena liking a Hung Vanngo post of Karlie..X

Nov 13th 2019 - Lover remix released on the anniversary of their first meeting VS2013 - “the girl in my story has always been you”..X X X

Nov 21st 2019 - The orange girl In YNTCD along with the Karlie Vogue cover in orange with cactus jewellery.. X X

Nov 25th 2019 - Use of a ballerina for her Lover AMA performance and then karlie also mentioning said ballerina months later in a insta story.. X X

Dec 4th 2019 - Taylor Wearing the VS angel ring on the kiss gate anniversary X X X X X

Dec 6th 2019 - Christmas Tree Farm song lyrics and happiness

Dec 12th 2019 - Taylor posting a pic of her with the huge cats door and then low and behold the following PR episode Karlie walks through a giant door for a Cats promo episode.. X X X X

Jan 2020 - PR episode with Cyndi Lauper aka photo with Taylor at Billboard Women awards and also having Laverne Cox as a guest too..X X

Jan 2nd 2020 - Martha liking KK’s post celebrating her vogue covers which includes the Kaylor one..X

Jan 23rd 2020 - The use of the song Karlie what you want, (karlie would you want to) song in Miss Americana when talking about her partner also the home video.. X X also this X

Jan/Feb 2020 - The cake recently that Karlie brought to a party that looks exactly like Taylor’s birthday cake from her pic in the studio with Jack plus the cake in Miss Americana X X X

Feb 6th 2020 - The song release of the Man and KK having a suits themed PR episode..X X X

Feb 12th 2020 - KK’s Daisy coat X

Feb 18th 2020 - The drawn Bethany Richards picture of the rainbow dress Taylor wore to the NFL draft on KK’s Galantines insta story..X

Feb 19th 2020 - KK scrapbook present has it open on a page featuring a daisy and giraffe in her thank you video X X

Feb 20th 2020 - Martha - Lily Ashley liking a Gigi disposable acct post of Bella with karlie in the background X X X

Feb 25th 2020 - Potentially the orange hand in the Man promo pic being Karlie’s X

Feb 27th 2020 - Photographed backstage chatting to Gigi at PFW off white walk X X X

Feb 27th 2020 - Taylor posting the picture of the Man scene where she leaves a brunette female in bed X X X X X

Feb 27th 2020 - The man video - “secret moments in a crowded room” with two women secretly touching each other on the train X X

Feb 27th 2020 - The similarity or shade with the wedding scene aka fake wedding no celebrant bride not happy during the cake scene X X X X X X

Feb 27th 2020 - Louboutin shoes - karlie at a show (24th feb), the man MV Tylers shoes, kimbys workplace X X X

Feb 29th 2020 - Hanging out with Cara at PFW after Cara has been quite vocal in her support of Taylor. X X X 

Feb 29th 2020 - Cara twice posting pics with Karlie X X X X Also previous post of Cara’s featuring Tay liked by Karlie X

Karlie Being seen with Cara Lily and Gigi in recent times X

Lily mentioning Karlie in youtube videos and liking her posts. X

Feb 29th 2020 - iwanthermidnights getting a taylor like (her second one) X X X now getting a karlie like on a insta comment

Mar 2nd 2020 - Karlie replying to youtube comments made by kaylor/taylor acct names X

General - 

These Karlie wine photos just give me kaylor feels X X X X X

Karlie continuously latergraming and the Fiordland spelling mistake incident plus always periods of days where she is  MIA aka christmas and coming back looking a bit sun reddened and wearing jumpers, posting dark pictures.. X

Often posting and tweeting within minutes of each other eg kobe posts etc

Karlie’s taking a lot photos from the rooftops in New York City and posting them after Lover’s release. X Her saying she picks gold over silver and that stating NYC is her favorite city vs Joe saying London is his favorite city.

OTHER posts to note..X X X X X X X X X X X

Thank you to everyone who responded with things i missed much appreciated!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #475

(from two days ago, oops)

What is your favorite background noise? (Ex. Water dripping, people talking.) I really like a steady rain tapping on the windows. Do you like taking selfies? Why or why not? No, because I'm ugly. It's annoying because I've been wanting to take pics with Girt considering even as just friends literally none exist of us, but yeah. I fucking hate taking pictures of myself and it takes a billion and two tries to get a picture I deem "acceptable" anyway. Were you named after anyone? No. What was the last comic book you read? I don't and never have read comic books. What is your heritage? German, Irish, and Polish. Describe the worst friend you have ever befriended. All things considered, somehow my former best friend was the worst. She was homophobic, racist, extremely self-centered, drama-driven, excessively bossy, ungrateful... I will never be able to explain how our friendship ever worked. If you found the recipe for immortality, would you sell it or would you burn it? Burn it. With certainty. We just aren't meant to live forever. What is the most embarrassing, cringe-worthy thing you have ever done? 99% of my life has been Cringe. What is the worst thing someone could do on a date? Be distracted/not pay attention to the other, like by constantly using their phone. It's so rude. That would immediately make me lose interest in you. If you could turn one legal thing illegal, what would it be? I dunno. What is something you swore you would never do when you grew up, but you did anyway? I was absolutely going to college as a kid. Fast-forward to the future, I've dropped out three times and am going nowhere. Little me saw me as so, so much more successful. Do you actually iron your clothes? No. Unless it's a formal occasion. Do you rent or own your current home? We rent. Have you ever used cursive after school, aside from your signature? My handwriting is naturally mostly cursive. Do you have your groceries delivered or do you buy them yourself? We order our groceries for pick-up, so we have to go to the store, but not in. Do you have a gym membership? Sigh. I do, but Mom and I have really been neglecting going since my time with my personal trainer ran out... What’s your favorite computer game genre? Horror, of course. Do you have any exes your parents never liked? No. Have you ever been severely mentally ill? I am. What was the last thing you purchased from a small local business? I don't know. Have you ever used chewing tobacco? EW no, that shit grosses me out so much. If someone’s laughing, do you instantly think they’re laughing at you? Suuuure do. How would you react if your parents told you they were having another baby? Well, they're divorced, Mom cannot stand my dad, and she also had a complete hysterectomy when she had ovarian cancer, so like... Have you ever had a garage or yard sale before? How much did you make? Over the course of my life, we've had a few yard sales. I don't remember how much we made at any. Have you ever had to evacuate your home for any reason? No. Which mythological creature is your favorite? DRAGONS. I love dragons. Have you ever been to a butterfly garden before? No, but that sounds amazing. What's the biggest bird you've ever seen up close? Oh my god y'all, when I volunteered once at a wildlife rehab center, I was FEET away from some sort of falcon. Guys, you would not believe JUST how big birds of prey are. I was shocked and in total awe. Have you ever seen a double rainbow before? More than once. Were you ever afraid of the dark as a child? I don't THINK I was? What is the strangest thing you’ve been asked? Something inappropriate that really pissed me off. What was your favorite game as a child? I was obsessed with the original Spryo trilogy and would play all three obsessively. What is the darkest thing you have seen on the internet? I don't know, dark shit. Do you crack your knuckles, neck or toes constantly? No, but ugh Girt does that with his neck and it drives me insane alsdkjfaljdlfkwe. Are you constantly catching colds or other sicknesses? No, my immune system is a legend. Are you afraid of mice? No, they're precious. What type of souvenir do you usually purchase when on vacation? I go on vacations so irregularly that I can't really answer this. I've been on a vacation maybe twice in my entire life. Do you own more than one copy or edition of a book? No. If you could see any musical on Broadway right now, what would it be? I don't like musicals. Will you willingly sing in front of other people besides your family? God no. Do you eat soup when you’re sick? No. I don't like soup. Who can never fail to make you laugh? Absolutely my boyfriend. He's the funniest person I know. Have you ever been on a tour bus? No. Do you prefer listening to things through headphones or speakers? Earplugs. Are you listening to music right now? No; I'm watching Gab play The Evil Within. Have you ever unbuttoned your ex’s pants? Just one of them, but we were together at the time. What are you planning on eating for dinner tonight if you haven’t already? Mom made pizza. What was the worst news you’ve heard this entire week? Girt's mother has Covid. He's vaccinated, but nevertheless, he's still getting a test done just to be safe, and also because if he's contracted it, I might have it. And that means my mother could get it, which just cannot happen, even if she's vaccinated, too. The poor guy is really freaking out about it, but ASTONISHINGLY, I'm not panicking yet. Girt's health has seemed fine, I'm fine, so... We'll just have to wait to see what his test says. Do you have a lot of trees around your house? What about buildings? No; yes. I hate living in the suburbs, it sucks here. Would you say either one of your parents are 'pack-rats?' No. Have you ever disowned anyone in your family? For what reasons? No. Has anyone ever called you a sociopath before? No. Do you have freckles? Do you like/dislike them? Not on my face, no. I have a few randomly on my body though. Would you ever consider getting dreadlocks? No. Have you downloaded extra fonts for your computer? Oh, plenty. Who is the latest great YouTuber you’ve discovered? The latest, uhhhh. I'd probably say John Wolfe as a truly "great" one considering I watch him regularly now. Do you read the Bible regularly? Yeah, no. All the Bible does is piss me off, frankly. Name three patriotic songs you like. I don't know about three, but I do shockingly like this one country song with a name I can't remember. All I know is it has "red, white, and blue" in the title. ... I think. Oh! There's "Deutschland" by Rammstein, even though it's not about my own country. Has it ever snowed on your birthday? Maybe at some point as a kid? Idr. Do you like the way your name is spelled? No, actually. I wish it was "Brittney." It's more true to the pronunciation. Do you believe in astrology? Not in the slightest, and while I really shouldn't care, like believe what you want, it's a genuine pet peeve of mine when others base their fucking lives around what positions some goddamn stars are in in an infinite universe. They make decisions based on bullshit being spat at them that might not be suitable. I know, it's stupid to care, but I can never seem to NOT roll my eyes when I see/hear people blaming their flaws and shit on this stuff. Are you one of those people who has like a hundred apps on their phone? No; I have very few. What’s the band that you love even though you know they’re awful? I can't help but love some Blood on the Dance Floor songs. :x Do you coo over other people’s babies? No, not really. Like I can acknowledge a cute picture and be like "awww," but it's nothing I lose my mind over at all. What is something that makes you very squeamish? VOMIT. If you’re out of high school, have you stayed in touch with your high school friends? If you’re still in school, do you think you will? The only high school friend of mine I'm still actively friends with/is still in my life is Girt, obviously. Like I have HS friends on Facebook that I still very much love and will react to what they post and sometimes comment, but we don't really talk-talk. Do you dye your hair regularly? No. :/ That's not something I can afford to do. Do you have an alter ego? Describe them: No. Do you know both of your biological parents? Which one do you prefer? I do, and I love them both. Do you store a lot of pictures you’ve taken that no one else has seen? I'm a wanna-be photographer, of course I do. If you had to name your kid after an American state, which would you choose? Probably "Dakota" for either gender. What do you use to dry your clothes? (Tumble dryer, radiator, etc) We have your normal dryer. Do you ever play the built-in games on your computer? Which ones? Nah. Do/did you doodle on your books at school? My notebooks and binders, ohhhh yes. Actual school textbooks, absolutely not. Who’d you last see in a tux? The groom and groomsmen of the last wedding I shot. Who’s the bravest person you know? Sara. Have you ever dated someone who was real sportsy? No.

[wedreamedlove]

Bai Qi In Love - Character Study

Archiving from Reddit. This is also the main post I wanted to bring over but it required my previous Bai Qi - Character Study post LOL.

So I went through Bai Qi's Spring Festival Date and I have not been the same ever since, so I wanted to expel all my emotions in another character post.

Had a couple of songs in the background while I was writing this, so feel free to put them on too while reading this post LOL.

Contains spoilers up to Chapter 15 and lines from unreleased CN cards. Translations are from the CN and JP version, so may have differing lines from the ENG version.

My road map this time is starting out with the origin of Bai Qi's love, moving onto his letter, how he's gone through his life with MC being his North Star, and then finishing off again with just how much he wants to share every moment of his life with her.

I mentioned before in my Speech Quirks post that Bai Qi always defaults to absolute sincerity when he's not sure how to respond to MC and I hope this reminds you of that, and just how he has a sixth sense when it comes to MC. Every cell in his body is attuned to her.

Normally, this level of devotion to someone is probably unhealthy but, well, MC is the paragon of goodness here so he's in good hands LOL.

FALLING SLOWLY (IN LOVE)

First (another song here!), this is the JP translation of ground zero in the [Campus Date]:

The man raised his knife and attacked Bai Qi, stabbing the sharp blade at him. But still, Bai Qi desperately countered.

Finally, everyone was knocked down but Bai Qi, who was bleeding horribly, stumbled. In his hazy consciousness, the sound of the piano gradually weakened. It was like falling into light from heaven.

In that moment, the boss of the gang took this chance to kick Bai Qi and, because of that hit, Bai Qi fell from the rooftop.

Bai Qi reached out with both hands, trying to grab something as he felt himself plummeting.

Suddenly, a melody reverberated, filled with a strong energy, pressure, and tension.

That sound crossed space and time and resonated with Bai Qi's memories.

The sight of his father wearing a military uniform and his gentle mother... memories of his childhood poured into him all at once.

"Lieutenant General, regrettably, there was no evidence of Evol in his genes."

"There's no meaning for such a useless thing to exist."

Since his mother passed away, he was always alone. It was like he was the only one in this world.

If he died, those guys would probably be happy.

Bai Qi heard rhythmical and strong piano notes and, as he was engulfed in the fierce winds, he felt his body becoming lighter.

"NO!"

Not like this.

His life didn't need his father, friends, or a meaning.

Bai Qi clenched his hands into fists with these strong emotions and the power, sleeping deep in his body, awakened.

He felt a pulse in the wind and, between the vast expanse of heaven and earth, life spread through on the wind.

The melody he heard eventually turned into something overflowing with emotions. In the depths of autumn, the gingko leaves blown up by the wind danced and glimmered in the air.

Bai Qi traveled through the air like a bird and small birds, with their wings spread, gathered happily around him.

Entranced with the piano notes, he hummed freely to the song.

The birds flapped their wings, startled by Bai Qi's sudden humming.

Bai Qi gently picked up a small bird and continued to hum.

It was joy for his reborn self and a declaration of the coming light and end of darkness.

He heard the singing of a girl along with the piano notes.

That clear voice had a powerful force which captured people's hearts and wouldn't let go.

The girl's singing and piano drew Bai Qi's mind and body over strongly.

The wind lifted Bai Qi's body and carried him to a window. Looking inside, he saw a girl playing the piano.

Maybe it was the reflection of the gingko leaves fluttering outside the window, but the girl's eyes sparkled like stars.

She continued to accompany herself on the piano and it was as if she was resonating with the wind.

It was an ordinary girl, but he felt a strong spirit from her.

The girl's hands danced on top of the white and black keys and her piano song shook Bai Qi's heart.

He quietly watched her, feeling that the seed sown in his heart was sprouting.

The girl had no idea that her piano saved a boy who was about to fall into a dark abyss.

And there was no way for the girl to know that the boy swore on his life to protect her.

BTW, the song MC was playing at this time was Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3 (Love Dream). During the second anniversary, Papergames confirmed some of the piano songs in the game.

I don't think it needs to be said that Bai Qi was literally going to die at this moment. Not only physically but I'm sure he was mentally at his limits too. Despite the tough act he puts on about being used to loneliness and not caring for what other people think about him, humans are social creatures. He felt like he was all alone in the world and was about to give up on life. I feel like we can draw some analogies to depression here.

There's also an intentional foil in [Chapter 12] between Bai Qi, Jay, and Josie. There's a reference to Josie in [Chapter 7] and MC was sympathizing about how Evol made Josie get treated like a monster, and that sort of darkness can easily change someone. Bai Qi's reply is:

[Main Story 7-18]: "Then I'm very lucky. There was someone who caught me right before I hit the bottom."

But going back to the scene with Jay in [Main Story 12-8], when he's being interrogated, he accuses Bai Qi of not knowing anything about the despair he went through. But, as we all know, Bai Qi lost his father (when he didn't show Evol genes), lost his mother (in the fire), and lost his younger brother (their father took him away and their relationship soured after the death of their mother).

Yet, unlike Jay, he didn't lash out at society and turn to the darkness because he met MC.

[Campus Date] is such a critical date about Bai Qi's character and his convictions and how, while a part of it was formed to go against his father's version of justice, it really solidified because of MC. He learned to love life and cherish its preciousness because of MC.

Because of just how important this ground zero is for Bai Qi, we see references made to this scene again and again and again:

[Main Story 15-7]: "And you saved me. Don't lower your head, look at me. Don't feel insecure and don't feel like you're useless. You caught me again right before I hit the bottom."

[Spring Festival Date]: "The day I met her, there were gingko leaves drifting and falling slowly through the air, and it was the most beautiful time in late autumn. It was also the darkest time of my life. But she was the one who caught me tightly when I fell."

[CN Rumors and Secrets: Ashes]: Bai Qi is bleeding out and touches the picture of MC that he always keeps on him in his breast pocket and sees that a corner of it is stained red. Then he thinks back to the time he heard her play the piano, lightly, gently, slowly, and how it seeped into his body and heart. [Context: this is before he reunites with MC].

THE. LETTER.

We learn about it in [Chapter 7] and how Bai Qi gave it to Minor to pass to the MC, but she saw the bloodstains on it and, because of the bad rumors around Bai Qi and how she misunderstood the sight of him threatening a student to cough up (stolen) money, she thought the letter was a threat LOL.

I'm laughing out loud, but rest assured I'm actually crying inside.

However, the truth is that it was a goodbye letter:

[Main Story 7-20]: "What I regret the most? Probably not handing that letter to that girl personally. [Was it a love letter?] No, it was a goodbye letter. [Why did you write a goodbye letter?] Why should I tell you? [Bro, look, everyone's listening. Give me some face] Because that girl said that she hated it the most when people leave without saying goodbye. [One last question. Could you tell us what was in that letter?] It doesn't matter. Let's just leave that letter in the past. We'll have lots of time in the future together."

For those curious, the contents of the letter is from [CN Rumors and Secrets: Angled Light] but I think this is part of the Dream Heart Lake event series and so won't be released: "Saturday, 9:00AM, I'll be waiting for you in the school library."

By the way, to make things more tragic, you also learn here that he waited for 14 hours at the library, until he was forced out because it was closing, and before he left he slid a gingko leaf into a book that had a collection of Lord Byron poems, which the MC often carried.

The reason he wanted to say goodbye to MC was because, after his Evol awakened and he was going to graduate, his father enlisted him into special training and (threatens) points out that Bai Qi now has someone he wants to protect, but MC is special and she won't have a peaceful life. Does Bai Qi really think he can protect her (as he is)?

It doesn't say what page Bai Qi placed the gingko leaf into, but in [CN Rumors and Secrets: Ashes] Bai Qi thinks he finally understands one of the poems in the book.

Lord Byron's "Don Juan" - Canto the Ninth, XVI and I bolded the part he quotes:

"To be, or not to be?" — Ere I decide,       I should be glad to know that which is being? 'Tis true — we speculate both far and wide,       And deem, because we see, we are all-seeing; For my part, I'll enlist on neither side       Until I see both sides for once agreeing; For me, I sometimes think that Life is Death, Rather than Life a mere affair of breath.

Meanwhile, in [CN Tide of Light SSR Chasing Dreams Date]:

"That year, I did want to give you that letter personally. But I gave myself a way out and left it up to luck. I knew that, at the time, I was still lacking a lot and so I decided that I had to meet you again with my best self."

On a last note, in [CN Yesterday's Breeze SSR Former Days Date] MC asks Bai Qi if he has ever imagined them not reuniting with each other again:

"I've thought about it before. I've thought about how, if I wasn't there, would there be people who would bully that girl and would there be anyone who'd get back at them for her? I've also thought about whether there'd be someone who'd give her a love letter and if she would end up loving someone else... So, if I was to ever meet her again, I had to make sure to catch her. And I'd never let go again."

BTW, in this date, MC has some sort of dream projection where she goes back to their high school days (but the past her also exists LOL so there's two of them) and she has some fun interactions with a grumpy high school Bai Qi. But the heartbreaking part is that MC sees the letter and runs to find him and you get to hear Bai Qi say, self-deriding, that he knew "she" wouldn't come...

HIS (GUIDING MOONLIGHT) NORTH STAR

So, after seeing just how important MC is to Bai Qi, is it any wonder that every atom of his body is attuned to her? SOBS HE JUST LOVES HER SO MUCH. Xu Mo may have the red string of fate, but Bai Qi has "all roads lead to you". She's his lodestone and his compass always points to her.

[CN Lost Forest SSR]: "I will always walk towards you first. You're forever my flag, the one I've kept to throughout every moment of my life."

[CN Go See Him: Military Uniform]: "This uniform and these medals are my convictions, and you are the direction I move forward in."

[CN Southern Wind SSR Road Trip Date]: "The start and end of this journey is you."

I feel like I'm missing more, because I swear the majority of Bai Qi's cards all seem to have some sort of direction quote and relating it back to MC.

Anyway, I won't bother bringing the examples I put in the other post (because they're over there) but this is also why it melts me whenever there's description about Bai Qi's eyes following MC or whenever he's just focusing his attention on her (with heart eyes) in the ASMRs.

Additionally, in my previous character study for Bai Qi, I talked about how MC and Bai Qi both encourage each other to grow with unconditional love and acceptance, but I want to add some quotes here about just how much he takes becoming a better person for MC to heart:

[Spring Festival Date]: "She's the one who told me I could live more strongly, and she's also the one who told me I could live more gently."

[CN Clear After the Rain SSR]: "You're the only one who can find the real me."

[CN Drunk Easterly Wind SSR Three Worlds Date]: "Regardless of whatever lives we have, I will always take my best self and give it to you. This isn't an undertaking and it's not a joke. All of these are just words from my heart."

[Slightly Drunken Date]: "No matter which side of me, they're all yours."

What can I say except that's love, baby! You don't need to complete each other, you just need to encourage each other to be the best version of yourselves!

FOREVER BY YOUR SIDE

Now that we've gotten through the bulk of what I want to say, I'm just going to dump all the romantic stuff Bai Qi has declared to MC.

It really bothers him that he wasn't there for most of her early life, but he maintains his optimism (wouldn't be surprised if he learned it from her) and looks forward to their future together.

[Prank Date]: "I wasn't there for your university, middle school, or elementary school years, and even the time before then. In my memories, there's only the sight of you in high school. At that time, your hair was longer than it is now. But it doesn't matter. From here on, we have time to create new memories."

[Love of my Life SSR Goodnight Wish Call]: "I just... thought about you in many small instances. For example... a movie, a song, a lyric, when I'm crossing the road, and... the moment I close my eyes [...] As long as you're willing, I want to take all the time that's considered yours and turn it to "ours" [...] I want to know how you were before I met you. I want to walk the roads you've walked before, see the sights you've seen before, and... brand my mark on all those moments [...] Yes. I really care about that. I want to make up for all the time I wasn't there in your life. But, right now, what I care about more is our future [...] In our future... I want to hold your hand and walk to the end of our ever after. That's the best future I can imagine."

[Mediterranean Date]: "The missed holidays, the dates I couldn't make, and the many times I had to disappear without being able to tell you... I've never had the time to make up for all of these things. So, no matter what we do, no matter where we go, as long as the person beside me is you, I won't have a single objection."

[Love of my Life SSR Wish Call]: "My wish? From the second I met you again, the wish I made to the stars every night has already been realized."

[2018 Birthday Message]: "Sometimes, whenever I pass an interesting place, I'll think about when I can bring you here to walk around. Whenever I eat something good, I'll buy one more on habit. And, whenever I run into danger on missions, I just need to think about you and my will to fight is rekindled. Because you're here, happy occasions went from being for one person to being for two people. And all the things that would worry someone have disappeared into nothing. Is it strange to hear me say this? But I want to tell you, just how important you are in my life. I don't believe in fate, but I believe in miracles. Meeting you is the most precious miracle in my life."

[Spring Festival Date]: "In the rest of my life, I want to use it all to accompany you, care for you, and love you. This is all genuine. They're all words I want to say to you... words said only to you."

[Main Story 14-22]: "I'll be with you, until the very last moment."

MOM, I LOVE THIS 2D MAN SO MUCH!! Haha, sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. Thank you for reading up to this point and I hope this lets people appreciate Bai Qi more. Gotta spread more propaganda for him and convince people that he's not just the boring vanilla character.

He's someone who was teetering on the edge of darkness and could have become someone who lashed out at society like Jay, but instead he chose to be a protector of the people and to uphold justice (even if his methods are unconventional and morally grey).

He struggles with insecurity but it never gets in the way of what he wants to do and instead motivates him to continue to better himself for MC. There's nothing wrong with setting someone or something as your goal to get through life. Baby steps until you learn how to run on your own, or not when you find someone who will walk the road of life with you.

He's a man who loved the person who literally saved his life (and is probably his raison d'être) for 7 years, never forgot her during that time, and has finally reunited with her.

Okay, ending this post for real now with the Lunar New Year card. BTW the ENG version is totally fine and I have no qualms with its translation, but I just like the nuance more in the CN and JP version.

CN goes 你是我的此生眷恋 which is literally like "you're my affection/attachment in this life". If I wasn't separating it from the English version, I'd translate it as "love of my life" too to simplify it and make it flow. But I find it interesting that 眷恋 (juan lian; sentimental attachment) is used instead of 挚爱 (zhi ai; true love) and the way you'd actually write "love of my life" is 此生挚爱 (ci sheng zhi ai) rather than the card's 此生眷恋 (ci sheng juan lian).

JP goes おまえは俺の一生の憧れ which is literally like "you're the aspiration/longing of my life". Again, I find it so interesting that neither JP or CN are using the character for love 愛 (ai) and JP's 憧れ (akogare) bundles in feelings of yearning, longing, desire, and aspiration. IMO the JP version drives in the fact that MC is someone Bai Qi's trying to catch up to. He's loved her for so long, tries so hard to better himself, and all of it is to become a person he believes can stand by her side.

[agoodgoddamnshot]

So Honey, Sing [E] - Geralt/Jaskier

[Gif isn’t mine]

Originally posted on my AO3 account

He can count on one hand the number of times where Jaskier is actually, completely quiet.

During their first few months together, silence was the only thing Geralt seemed to want for. Without asking for it, he had acquired a companion for the road. One moment he was wandering through the Continent from contract to contract; then he wasn’t.

Jaskier talked: a lot. He seemed to make it his own mission to fill the silence as soon as it settled over them. Even when he wasn’t talking, he would just make noises; strumming chords on his lute, humming along. And when he wasn’t doing any of that, he would sigh. All of the time.

In the times where Geralt was on his own again, through either his own fault or not, the bard’s constant rambling about something or other that was had become a welcomed hum in the background was now gone. A deafening silence sat over him instead. And it chilled his blood and made his chest tight.

It wasn’t until Jaskier was gone did he realise how used he had grown to it. Walking on main roads where the only thing to listen to was the rhythmic clop of Roach’s hooves against the dirt, he began to notice little things in a desperate effort to fill the silence: birds singing and soaring overhead, a passing cart carrying tradesmen, exchanging the latest gossip about a nearby royal family. On one occasion he caught himself humming a tune; one that seemed pointless, just a string of notes after another, until he realised it was one of Jaskier’s songs.

And to this day he swears that even Roach laughed at him.

He still heard the songs. Bards throughout the Continent sang them; and Geralt found himself having to retire early for the night each time another rendition of Toss a Coin started to belt through the tavern or inn.

They weren’t Jaskier.

Jaskier’s words would come out of their mouths, and it turned Geralt’s stomach.

None of them were Jaskier.

But his bard is back at his side. Geralt is intent on keeping him there. And Jaskier doesn’t seem like he’ll be moving away any time soon.

Yennefer has Ciri. The girl has magic coursing through her veins just as easily as blood does: magic that she hasn’t been able to temper or control just yet. He hasn’t seen it for himself, but in their short time together before finding Yennefer and Jaskier again, Ciri told him all about it.

Yennefer has a house in one of the more affluent districts of the town – because of course she does. He doesn’t think of how she managed to acquire it, or even who from, but it means that both her and Ciri are well out of earshot of a certain bard and his affinity for making his pleasure known.

At a particularly well-aimed thrust, Jaskier throws his head back. A groan wrenches out of him. “Just like that,” he moans, tightening his legs around Geralt’s hips. “Like that, fuck.”

He’s been wringing noises out of his lark for a while now. Jaskier’s ability to talk only gets worse during moments like these. But the words that come out of him are pure filth; words that send a tremor up through Geralt’s spine. Jaskier has been plying him with them ever since he got back. His bard has a siren’s voice; but combine that with a sly coy smile and a knowing look, then Geralt is truly lost whenever the bard is within a mile radius of him.

Hooded eyes look back at him. A small smile curled along the length of his lip – one that refuses to budge no matter how fiercely Geralt kisses him. There’s no winning with him. If he tries to ignore him, or gods forbid say that he’s too tired, then he’ll pout and sulk. If he gives in, Jaskier will just have more evidence to assure himself that he truly does have Geralt wrapped around his finger.

His hands skim over Geralt’s shoulders, sliding down to the Witcher’s chest. One hand settles over his heart; Jaskier’s fingers curl in slightly, nails just resting against the skin. The other ventures lower, placed just against Geralt’s abdomen, feeling muscles move and flex underneath his palm.

One of them had the idea to stuff a pillow between the headboard and the wall. Geralt didn’t see the point in it at first, but he’s never aware of his own strength at the best of times. And how much stronger he can get if a certain bard keeps goading him with hooded eyes and a slight fucking smirk painted across his face.

And Jaskier will not have the madam of the house knocking on their door, telling them to be quiet or, gods forbid, kick them out.

Geralt catches Jaskier’s hands, pinning them on either side of his head.

Words pour out of the bard’s mouth. None of them make any particular sense, anymore. He occasionally gathers fuck, harder, more. But everything in between is just frantic, gasping nonsense.

Geralt sets his lips against the column of the bard’s neck, nipping at the skin there, but burying his own grunts and noises. Jaskier tilts his head back. Choked-off moans litter the air. Not loud enough to seep down through the floorboards and bother those drinking below them. Not loud enough to creep through the walls of the rooms next door. But loud enough to keep whatever stalks around inside Geralt’s chest content.

Jaskier’s fingers curl, brushing against his own. He could get out of the hold. Geralt’s touch can be firm, but it’s never harsh. If the bard truly wanted to get out, he could.

But with how firmly Jaskier’s legs are hooked around his waist, one heel pressing into the small of his back, encouraging and aiding each grind of his hips, it doesn’t seem like the bard wants to move anywhere anytime soon.

Jaskier does, though, turn his head. His lips brush against the shell of Geralt’s ear. What words come are rasped, but manage to punch him right in the gut.

“You feel so good. Fuck. Will you finish in me?” Jaskier asks. Even without removing himself from Jaskier’s neck, he can tell that the bastard is sporting a coy smirk. His bard knows how to talk – and he knows how to strum together words to get a rise out of Geralt. Jaskier’s teeth scrape against his earlobe. “I know you want to. You’re getting close, aren’t you?”

“Jaskier-”

The bard tilts his head, letting Geralt have the whole column of his neck. “I want you to. Fuck, I want you to.” He’s been meeting the Witcher thrust for thrust since getting inside him almost gods only know however long ago.

But now, Jaskier splays out his legs as much as he’s able to. The movement gets Geralt deeper. A moan wrenches itself out of both of them. Glancing up at the bard, he can see the man’s eyes slip closed. His tightens his hold on Jaskier’s wrists.

“Geralt,” he gasps. “Please. I’m close.”

He doesn’t move from the bard’s neck. Even in the low light of the room, he can see bruises and nicks starting to come through. “Then come. ‘m not stopping you.”

“I want you to finish with me, you clod.” Jaskier’s cock is between them, wholly forgotten about but leaking all over the plain of his own stomach. When the Witcher doesn’t respond, content to just keep going with what’s he’s been doing, Jaskier turns his head, nudging Geralt away from his neck. “I want you to come in me.”

Jaskier has gained this innate ability to control him with words. He’s as much as a siren as Geralt has ever encountered.

With words and noises and the fact that Jaskier keeps tightening himself around Geralt, it doesn’t take long for the bard to get what he wants. Geralt’s hips slam against him one last time before he stills. Warmth floods through his whole body, curling his toes and lifting his head from the pillow. Geralt lines the length of the bard’s neck with kisses, switching from gentle pressing of lips to teeth.

With his hold on him loosened, Jaskier slips his wrists free. He pats Geralt’s shoulder. “Right, this is lovely and all,” he grunts, “but you’re quite heavy. Get off of me before I suffocate.”

With a huff of a laugh Geralt moves, all but collapsing on to the other side of the bed. He keeps close to Jaskier, reaching out and throwing an arm over the bard’s waist. Jaskier’s hand settles over his forearm, fingers ghosting over his skin. Geralt watches his chest heave, his breathing slowly starting to even out. A small smile is still splayed over his face.

He watches Jaskier pad over to the other side of the room. In place of a bathtub, the innkeep offered them a small basin of hot water and some clean towels. Jaskier has his own collection fo oils and salts because of course he does. And Geralt will make quips about it all he likes, but he appreciates the smell of orange blossom or lavender buried in the bard’s pores, or the way his skin feels after being freshly scrubbed with ocean salts.

Jaskier wrings a cloth, making quick work of cleaning his abdomen and chest. At a particularly long stretch of silence, he glances over his shoulder. A small frown creases into his brow. “What?”

Geralt shrugs. “What?”

“What? Why are you staring at me?”

“You’re nice to look at.”

Jaskier hums, seemingly mulling the words over. He grabs a different cloth, tossing it haphazardly in the vague direction of the bed. By the time they’re both mostly cleaned up, and Jaskier has burrowed back beneath the sheets and down-feather duvet, another bout of silence settled over them.

It’s not one to be filled, though. Not with mundane questions or comments about the weather or the affairs of things in the world. He’s had enough of that with whores in towns and cities, biding more time for more coin.

It’s a comfortable sort of silence.

Jaskier settles next to him; an easy fit, as Geralt lifts his arm when the bard is close enough. When he shuffles near, lying over and claiming one side of the Witcher for himself, Geralt wraps his arm around Jaskier’s shoulders.

Sleep will always be shy of him. It’s barely out of reach, but he’s happy enough to just wait for it to come to him. Staring up at the wooden beams of the roof, he lets his fingers sketch idle, unrecognisable patterns along the ridge of Jaskier’s spine.

The contract that brought him here seems like it happened years ago. The town had a selkie problem. An oxymoron if ever he heard one. Selkies don’t cause problems. Humans do. Apparently some fool of a farmer thought it wise, in order to keep his new bride from the water, to hide her coat in the nearby forest. But selkies need the ocean like humans need air. The poor girl looked close to death by the time Geralt wandered into the farmhouse.

After spending an hour or so trudging through matted thicket and undergrowth, he managed to find the coat and return it.

The selkie didn’t talk. He didn’t think that she knew how to. But the look on her face as he handed the coat back was enough to tell him everything. She left the man for the coast, with a faint promise that she’ll be back once the ocean’s water had brought some life back into her.

And she didn’t leave him alone. There’s a healthy, chubby-cheeked baby boy back in the farmhouse for him. He’ll be too busy looking after the sprog to really notice the days going by, waiting for his wife to come back.

It’s an odd change. Saving a life, rather than taking it. Then again, he never really encountered a selkie who wanted to put a knife through him. Ones that were aggravated definitely threw things, sure. But he never knew a bad-natured selkie. Only their bad-natured mates once they realised, with a justifiable horror, that it was their doing that made their loved ones so sick.

It played on his mind the entire walk back to the inn; but a coy-eyed Jaskier, armed with oils and a fine-toothed comb sent any thoughts that didn’t concern him away. He left the selkie and her husband and child behind him, back in that farmhouse that sits on a hill overlooking the nearby sea.

A hum of noise floats up from downstairs. People are still drinking and singing, with no intention of stumbling back to their rooms or homes just yet. At one point in their journeys together, he worried about people hearing them. Vile words and hissed curses under people’s breath were just as familiar to him as Jaskier’s voice was. But the bard didn’t have to experience it. If he kept a reputable distance, he could avoid having his name spat by ingrates.

Not every territory was particularly welcoming of his kind – or anyone who would warm his bed. This town gladly housed him, though. The farmer was one of the key providers of beef and milk to the town: and if he was struck down with grief, where else would the town or its neighbouring villages get its food.

Jaskier has lapsed into one of his rare silences. His eyes, bluer than the summer skies Geralt used to see over Kaer Morhen when he was a pup, scan the expanse of Geralt’s chest. Sleep is something that stays to the shadows of the room, pressed up against the walls, but will stalk forward the second he lets it.

Something must be starting to pull at the bard. His hooded eyes slip closed every couple of minutes or so. But before his head can roll to one side or another, he blinks awake, and keeps to his scouting mission.

Scars litter the Witcher’s skin. He lost count of how many he had a long time ago; and he’s gathered more since. Jaskier seems keen, though, on mapping each one of them out. Long fingers skim along the knotted ridges of scars that never quite healed right. Ones that he got that he had to treat himself, with no healer or mage in sight until the next town over. Others, ones that were treated, are just simple bright lines against his skin.

Some of them are more sensitive than others: and Jaskier knows the location of all of them. When Jaskier’s fingers ghost over one, Geralt quells the shiver that shakes up through him. “I swear you didn’t have this many the last time,” Jaskier hums. His fingers follow the fault line of one scar to another: one that sits on a pectoral.

Geralt doesn’t so much as look at the scars, but more at Jaskier’s fingers. They’re long; good at plucking lute strings and skimming over skin, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in their wake. A low hum rumbles out of his chest.

Jaskier sets his chin on Geralt’s collarbone. “I might just have to start wrapping you in cotton,” he mutters. A slight smile tugs at the corner of his lip.

Geralt arches an eyebrow. He doesn’t say anything, but the bard must catch his meaning. If you even suggest it again, I’ll kill you.

A lazy smile settles over Jaskier’s face. He’s seen it before: a contented smile that comes after nice things. It appears after a tankard of properly brewed ale, or a hearty dinner after rationing on the road; at the promise of an inn’s bed after walking for days or weeks on end.

Or after a particularly good fuck.

Geralt reaches up, tucking some of Jaskier’s hair behind his ear. It’s grown longer in the last few weeks. A smattering of a beard is joining it. Though, they’ve stayed in a good number of inns and taverns in the last couple of weeks, and not once did he pick up a blade to cut his hair or shave.

And Geralt isn’t complaining. The look suits him. If he looks closely, he can see the faintest beginnings of grey hairs starting to poke through. That’s when something cold starts to creep into his chest.

Why the thought of it never hit before still perplexes him. But now, with the bard back by his side, it’s only in these quiet moments that his thoughts run wild. He avoids most interactions with people because of the fact that they’ll wither away and die.

Jaskier gently pats a hand on the Witcher’s chest. “Where did you go, just then?” his says, his voice barely more than a rumble.

His bard was always good at reading people.

“Nowhere,” Geralt answers, hooking two fingers under Jaskier’s chin, lifting his head slightly to press a kiss to his lips.

Jaskier hums, opening his mouth to slightly to let their tongues brush against each other. When he pulls back, he sets their foreheads together, staying close. “If you’re still moping about what happened on that mountain,” he says lowly, “I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

“Good luck with that.” Geralt nudges Jaskier’s nose with his own. “And I wasn’t. I just...”

Jaskier lifts a brow. A silent prompt to continue.

Geralt sighs. “I was just thinking about you, I guess.”

“You guess?” Jaskier pulls back slightly. “You either were or weren’t.”

“I was,” Geralt amends. The fingers skirting over the bumps of Jaskier’s spine still. “I...I just can’t believe that you’re back here, with me. That I managed to find you again, talk to you, convince you to give me your forgiveness-”

“-It’s my forgiveness to give,” Jaskier sighs, weary that this must be the hundredth time that this very conversation has been brought up. But it’s an ever-present whisper in the back of his mind. Sometimes it tells him that Jaskier didn’t actually mean it, when he said he forgave him. Sometimes it’s that Jaskier will just leave in the middle of the night, and Geralt will be faced with the decision of trying to find one person on a Continent that stretches on and on for leagues in either direction.

Jaskier cups his cheek. His thumb skims along the ridge of his cheekbone, gently, but enough that a small tremor runs through Geralt’s spine. “I’m here,” he says firmly, “with you. And I’ll never leave.”

Geralt looks at him for a moment. He doesn’t talk much with people – a fact that many have just come to accept over the years. But he doesn’t actually look at people either. Or not in any way that matters. When he looks at Jaskier, a million different things stand out – the small flecks of gold in his eyes, the scattering of freckles over his nose. He leans into Jaskier’s touch. “I know. But sometimes it just...doesn’t seem real.”

Jaskier plants a chaste kiss to his lips. “Well it is,” he says firmly. “You won’t be able to get rid of me that easily, Geralt of Rivia. I’m with you now forever.”

A huff of a laugh escapes him. “Gods have mercy on me.”

“Oh, they can’t help you now,” Jaskier grins, leaning forward for a longer, deeper kiss.

[darth-el]

Battle Of Starcourt

Pairing: Steve x Henderson!Reader Warning: Bit of violence but nothing too bad A/N: This was based on a request and I’m so sorry it’s taken so long to post, but I hope you enjoy it and feedback is always welcome.

Masterlist

Starcourt was in complete and utter chaos when you arrived with Joyce and Hopper. The chaos had seeped into the atmosphere, everyone was talking over one another trying to make sense of what happened and how it was all connected. You immediately ran over to Dustin and tackled him for a hug taking him by surprise. “Oh my god Dusty!” You screamed as you never thought you were going to see him again after being chased by the Terminator himself.

“Y/N!” He pushed you off as if he was embarrassed but his smile said otherwise. “I never thought I was going to see you again!” He clung onto you tight and you hugged him equally tight, until it sunk in fully what he said.

“What?” You looked at him shaking your head slightly and blinked several times hoping you misheard because he didn't know what you were doing so he must have been talking about himself. Your eyes start scanning the room while he explained about the Russians and the elevator, the moment he mentioned Steve your eyes zoned in on him and he was beaten and bruised but you were angry that he endangered your baby brother's life.

“STEVE!” You shouted storming over to him, fortunately you and Steve were close so you knew you could shout at him if need be and say what needed to be said and you'd be fine within in minutes. He backed off slightly when he saw you marching over to him. “How could you let my baby brother almost get killed?” Usually you'd hit him with whatever was in your hand, but you didn't want to hurt him more.

“He said we'd be American heroes.” The moment he said that he knew how ridiculous that sounded.

“We get chased by the goddamn Terminator, and you almost get killed because you wanted to be heroes.” You were about to hit the roof. You could hear the in the background Erica insulting Murray which if you weren't so angry you would be laughing.

“I'm sorry.” He held up his hands in defeat, in that moment you instantly turned soft.

“What happened to you?” You asked looking at Steve's face very worried, and concerned that he had become Hawkins' own living punchbag.

“I got tortured and drugged by a bunch of Russians.” He said like it was nothing.

“Your brother saved us.” Robin interjected proudly, hoping it would be infectious. You did feel proud but he shouldn't be living through the things that he has.

“How badly does it hurt?” You cupped Steve's chin to get a better look at the damage.

“Really bad.” He winced as you gently moved his head.

“Give me a second,” You walked over to your bag and dug through it looking for painkillers as you never left the house without them. “You did good Dusty, I'm proud of you,” You smiled at him as he watched you go through your bag. “If you do anything like that again though it won't be Russians you have to worry about.” You lightly nudged Dustin who nodded as he knew you were like a protective mama bear when it came to him and his friends. “Here you go.” You put the painkillers in Steve's hand smiling.

The plan had come together and you were going with Hopper, Murray, and Joyce down below, Murray was not happy about the codename at all. “Keep my baby brother safe or I will send you to the Upside Down.” You threatened Steve with a soft smile.

“You stay safe.” Steve hugged you tightly ignoring your threat, you couldn't help notice there being a smell lingering on him but you weren't entirely sure what it was; you just hoped it wasn't a new cologne he was trying. When he let you go you gave Dustin another hug.

“I think you need keep Steve safe more than he needs to keep you safe.” You whispered making him laugh and agree with you. You took off his hat and ruffled his hair which annoyed him as he stuck the hat back on. Give you one more hug as you parted ways.

You could tell Hopper was getting inpatient by Murray conversing with the Russian soldiers who were interrogating him. The moment Murray slipped up Hopper open fired, Joyce screamed loudly at this but it got the job done faster. You became used to Hopper's bull in a china shop mentality, sometimes it worked and others it didn't. This was one of those times it didn't fully work, meaning you all had to improvise. You had to admit to yourself that you looked good in the Russian uniform and you were planning on keeping it, once everyone had their uniforms on you and Joyce hopped into the back of a vehicle and made your way to the first location until you felt it stop, you both wondered what happened. Laughter was heard and it made you really confused.

“Why are you talking so much?” Joyce asked Murray as she climbed out with you following behind her.

“He was nice,” Murray said nonchalantly.

“He was nice?” Joyce reiterated trying to wrap her head around this interaction.

“He was a nice guard.” Murray was getting tired of having to explain himself.

“Yeah, I mean, we should probably invite him over after all this done,” Hopper rolled his eyes trying to antagonise Murray.

“I could bake him a casserole.”

“Get a six-pack, share some laughs. You know, have a drink.” Murray was seething at Joyce and Hopper's attitude but you were thankful they weren't arguing for once. Murray opened the vent and communicated with Scoops Troop.

“I hate children.” He sighed as he climbed and instructed you all to smile and nod if anyone said anything. You were sitting in the corner trying to stay out the way of Joyce and Hopper because there was still tension in the atmosphere and you didn't want to get stuck in the middle of it again, like you had done for the entire day. Hopper was pacing and worried for El which was understandable. The tension left the air once he admitted that they were a pretty good team. You were like a fly on the wall for the whole conversation about making it out alive. You squealed once they finally arranged a date making them both jump and turning their attention to you.

“Sorry,” You beamed happily while clapping gently. “It's finally happened,” They looked confused at your statement. “Murray isn't the only one who thought it was a lovers quarrel.” Your smile was huge, over the past couple of years Joyce had become like a second mom and Hopper was like a father figure so you were insanely happy to see that this was their time.

“We have a problem!” You heard Dustin yell down the walkie talkie.

“What kind of problem?” Hopper went into survival mode almost instantly as did you as Dustin explained.

“Bald Eagle has landed.” Murray interjected.

“How much longer?” Jim asked sounding desperate.

“I don't know, I've never done this before!” Murray shouted down the walkie talkie and then made a comment about love birds meaning he was close. The alarms were going and you ran through the door to do what you needed to do as it was time. You ran into a Russian and the only word you understood was the name 'Mikhail' and you just smiled and nodded until he let you three go. You fell through a door and found a safe. The code you were given was wrong and you hit your head against the wall while Hopper and Murray argued. Dustin's voice was on the other end and what turned out to be Suzi's voice who was pleading with him to do something which was the worst possible time. You were stifling your laughter when you heard them both singing, but it was really sweet. Hopper was looking like he was contemplating his life choices and Joyce was ready to give up until they heard the code and immediately punched it in.

You were standing in the room with the weapon which was severely malfunctioning thanks to Murray. It was a relief to know everything was about to end as Hopper got the keys out. Hopper was keeping watch and you were getting ready to turn the keys on three. Hopper was suddenly thrown across the room and you looked round to see the Terminator fighting Joyce who ran for the gun. You tried to fighting him, but you ultimately lost because of the advantage he had over you which meant you ended up in a pretty bad way. You weren't ready to give up though, you tried tripping him over which worked until he grabbed your leg and forcing something to break making you scream as you heard a loud snap as he got up you felt the sole of his boot hit your face knocking you out.

You woke up and everything was silent, Hopper was nowhere to be seen, Joyce and Murray were trying to carry you back to the surface. You winced at the pain when realised there was more weight on your leg than there should have been. The gate was closed and you felt like it was over.  Government soldiers helped you onto the surface. You hobbled about looking at the utter chaos that had ensued above until you were taken over to an  ambulance. While getting checked over Steve ran over to you hugging you ignoring the paramedic who was about to give you something for the pain. The pain shot through you like lightning.

“Jesus Christ.” Steve laughed relieved to see you were still alive.

“How bad do I look?” You asked still wincing in pain.

“Worse than me.” He teased moving a bloody strand of hair out of your face making you laugh. Dustin climbed into the ambulance pushing Steve out of the way. The paramedic rolled his eyes.

“Only one person can be in here with her.” He sighed giving them a death glare. Steve gave you kiss on the top of the head and climbed out letting Dustin stay with you. The paramedic administered the painkiller and Dustin's babbling became more and more funny to you, you were really enjoying this drug.

Once you had your leg in the cast due to a clean break in your foot thanks to the Terminator, Steve came in with some flowers he had got in a gas station on the way to you, Dustin was asleep in the chair curled up. Steve placed the flowers on your lap, you grabbed his hand and started stroking it.

“I hate the Terminator,” You joked shaking your head as you picked up the flowers and started smelling them. You couldn't really smell them as you were pretty sure you had lost your sense of smell. The painkiller was wearing off but you were still giggly and you hadn't regained your social filter.

“I'm glad you're safe,” Steve smiled taking the flowers from you making you fight back, so he could put them in the vase by your bed.

“I'm glad I'm safe.” You giggled sitting up a bit more in the bed. “I'm also glad Dustin kept you safe.” You smiled at him poking at his nose and cheek with your index finger making him laugh. Your pupils were the size of dinner plates still.

“He's a fighter, and he gets that from his sister,” Steve laugh was soft and gentle.

“Yes he does,” You grinned at Steve making him laugh even more, both of you forgetting that Dustin was asleep in the chair.

“Now that all this over,” Steve sighed contently making himself comfortable on the bed and wrapped an arm around you making you look up at him wide eyed, he wasn't sure if it was from the drugs or if you could read his mind. You hummed in response. “Do you maybe want to go on a proper date?” He asked slightly tensing up from the thought of rejection.

“A date date?” You asked to clarify as your head was becoming foggy.

“A date date.” He smiled pulling you tighter.

“I would love nothing more.” Your mind was getting foggier by the second but you knew you wanted to kiss him, so you decided to try pull him in for one.

“Nope, that is not happening.” Dustin blurted out pretending to wake up but was obviously listening to entire conversation.

“Dude seriously.” Steve laughed.

“Date her, yes. Anything else is a strong no.” Dustin stated as he got up and left the room. Steve turned his attention to you but you had fallen fast asleep in his arms.

[yeojaa]

SUGAR HIGH, chapter vii. (w. JJK)

You're not entirely sure when it happened, though you'd come to terms with it. You'd counted the days, waiting for the inevitable. You'd truly thought you'd be okay, but by the broken, half-beating thing in your chest - you knew you'd never really been prepared.

alt summary.  You thought you’d known real love and maybe you had - it just wasn’t with who you thought.

pairing.  jeon jungkook.  mentions/involvement of ot7.

tags.  angst, break up, post-break up, comfort, OT7, slow burn, friendship, moving on, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, emotional baggage, fluff, canon compliant, jeon jungkook is bad at feelings, jeon jungkook is a good friend, jeon jungkook is a sweetheart.

rating.  general (for now?)

word count.  ~2000

chapter 7.  Heal By Myself

He could give you a solid answer for almost any question you asked him.  If he didn't know, he'd figure it out.  You, on the other hand, struggle with indecision like it makes up 50% of you.  (It would be more, but you're indecisive like that.)

You practically float through the next few days, wrapped up in the afterglow of spending time with some of the most energetic people you've ever met in your life.  It's as if you've borrowed some of that endless exuberance, letting it sink deep into the rivers of your veins and fill the spaces of your broken little heart.

It's nice to forget - if only for a little while.

When you were alone, you tended to be largely introspective, keeping to yourself despite the capacity for love your carried.  

Sure, you'd have girl's night.  You'd dance around Yejin's kitchen counter, laughter bubbling forth like an overflowing fountain.  It didn't matter if you were trying out a new recipe - which, nine times out of ten went wonderfully as long as neither girl touched it - or if you were sprawled across the floor, a tangle of limbs upon haphazard cushions.  

You'd even go out for drinks after work, knocking back shot after shot of Soju like your body depended on it.  You'd keep up with the best of them - the men from the other floors cheering as you'd demand another round.  You'd giggle with the girls, trading secrets like they were currency and fawning over anyone who walked through the door.  What a gorgeous girl!  Look at the legs on that guy!

You were never truly unhappy.  You'd learnt to occupy yourself when the familiar heaviness settled in, weighing your bones down like lead.

But this was different.  This was a welcome effect of the Bangtan Boys.

Not to say their friendship didn't come with hardships.  

As much as they lifted you up, they kept you grounded, forcing you through the motions of sharing.  They coaxed you out of your shell, even when you wanted nothing more than to pretend everything was okay.  You appreciated that about them, too.

"It's nice to see you."  Yoongi's warmth is there, gentle against your side.  He's propped elbows, eyes staring straight ahead beneath a sweeping fringe, as if he's speaking to no one in particular - but you know he's addressing you.  After all, you were the only other person outside.

You suppress a small smile, studying the rapper from your periphery.  "Even though you got woken up?"

A snicker fills the air and his gummy smile appears, brilliant as ever.  Still facing the expansive sky before you and the rolling hills beneath your feet, you can imagine more than see the roll of his eyes.  

"Even then."

The admission makes your heart soar, like a bird released into the mosaic of sunshine above you.  You might have been overly sentimental about a lot of things but Yoongi's friendship wasn't one of them.  To be part of his little gang, his chosen family - it was a blessing you'd never take for granted. 

He was like the brother you'd never known, the guiding light in the darkest of nights.  

"But really."  There's a pause.  "Soo-ah, I know you're not fine."

You want to lie, rebuff the statement with a snort or a toss of your head.  It's impossible, though.  He can read you like an open book, flipping through your pages without an ounce of resistance.  He doesn't press, though, letting the silence engulf you.

You'll speak when you've found your words and how to say them without ripping the wound open again.

"Have you ever been in love?"

The answering grunt is what you'd expect.  As forthcoming as you both might be, there are certain things that don't see the light of day.  They're the half-formed wishes and broken promises that you want to forget.  They claw at your insides or crack your bones and you have to remind yourself that it isn't always sweetly whispered nothings and electricity that restarts your heart; sometimes, it's poorly sewn-up silhouettes where they used to be and tears that leave you drowning.

"Sure.  Maybe."  You're surprised by his response.  You think by taking his hand, extended over the railing alongside yours, it might sooth whatever spectres you've raised.  He squeezes your fingers in response, a silent 'thank you'. 

"Did you think it was going to be how it was?"  There's longing in your voice, strung tight like a noose.  "Because I thought I loved him.  No, I did love him.  But it wasn't like anything I thought it would be.  We never spoke.  We never laughed.  It was like I meant nothing to him - and maybe I didn't.  I don't know.  I thought he'd choose me.  That's what they say, right?  You have to choose to be with the person you love, day after day.  Love doesn't just happen otherwise."

It happens before you expect it to, seeking purchase in your airways and making your head swim. You can hardly breathe around the misery.

And then you're crying so suddenly that you register the choking sound before coming to the realization it's you.  Once you do, y ou're gasping around stuttered apologies, trying to calm the sudden tsunami that threatens to drag you under.

It's Yoongi's arms that hold you above water, rocking you back and forth.  "It's okay.  We choose you.  We'll always choose you."

"You look like a goldfish."  

The off-hand comment tears you from where you've been twisting your bracelet round and round your wrist.  "Excuse me?"

Jungkook flops onto the couch beside you, long limbs edging into your personal space like they belong there.  "You've been crying.  Your eyes are all fish-like," he quips.  "It's funny."  But you know there's concern there, hiding just behind the wall of teasing.  You feel it when he pulls your disregarded bucket hat over your ears, tugging edges low over your temples. 

You want to thank him but you're worried you'll start crying again. 

Instead, you pull at the sleeve of his sweater - another oversized monstrosity that smells so good - and melt against his side.  Your hat shields his vision, hiding you from his probing gaze, but he doesn't mind.  He likes the way you relax against him, shoulder fitting into the space of his arm like he was made for you. 

"Yoongi-oppa gave me a talking to," you relent, embarrassed.  You shouldn't be.

"Hyung's smart.  You should listen to him." 

He's probably right and that's probably why you feel lighter.  It's the first time you've let yourself talk about this to someone  - really talk about it - and while it'd felt terrible when you'd extracted yourself from Yoongi's arms, patting in apology at the damp cotton of his shirt, you'd also felt relief. 

"He told me that no matter who comes and goes, I'll always have you."

By the way Jungkook squeezes you, engulfs you in that familiar feeling of home, you know it's true.

"How's work today?"  

There's static clinging to his words, filling your ear as you flick through racks of clothing.  It's unfortunate today's location was situated in a basement.  It just meant the signal was godawful, his voice breaking every five seconds.  

Still, it's nice to hear from him, even if you can't really hear him.

"I didn't bring a coat and it's too cold on set.  I've accidentally knocked over three props already."  You don't mind, not really.  You liked working - it gave you something to think about other than the emptiness of your apartment and the echo in your chest.  "There are some really nice pieces, though.  There's this sweater I think you'd like.  I can see if they'll let me take it home."

You can imagine Taehyung in the lush camel-coloured crewneck.  He'd let the sleeves hang over his fingers and tuck the diagonal hem into the front of his pants.  It'd stand in nice contrast to those wide-legged trousers he was so keen on.

"Sure.  Dress me up like a doll."  Your long-distance companion muses around a yawn. 

There's rustling in the background and the sound of voices muffled behind a wall.  He must be getting ready for an appearance by the relative silence.  It would never be that quiet in the car or at the apartment.  He's probably early, too, as always, and being on the phone with you kills time.  You're happy to keep him occupied.  Your models weren't slated to show up for another fifteen minutes, anyways.

When you hear the bang of a door and a chorus of ''Taehyungie~' in the background, though, you know it's time to go.  The familiar dulcet tones of each member are already drifting through the airwaves.  Seokjin is complaining about something and Hoseok is guffawing.  

"Tell everyone I say hi!"  You sing into the receiver before you're gone.

Just as instructed, Taehyung regales the others with your greeting.  "Soomi says hello."  

"What!  Why didn't you let us say hi!"  Jimin, of course, indignant and adorable as always.  He's settling into his chair, head cocked to the side in curiosity before it's being gently chided back into place by the hands of his makeup artist.  "What was she doing?"

"Working.  She hung up before I could give you the phone."  A sardonic smile shared as concealer presses into the hollows around his eyes, over the slope of his nose.  "She said she didn't want everyone to break her eardrums with your yelling."  It's not the truth, and yet it could be.  As much as you loved those boys, sometimes you felt like you had tinnitus after a conversation with them. 

The dancer looks like he might pout but says nothing.  

Instead, the conversation steers towards their plans for the day, where they have to be and by what time.  It ebbs and flows between each member, lead by Namjoon as he flicks through his phone.  Eventually, the questions subside and each member is carefully turning their cheeks this way and that, allowing for better coverage of powder and shadow. 

Across the room, seated by the wall farthest from the door, Jungkook blinks away ash that spills over his lids.  A quick swipe here, a ghost of silken bristles there.  He thinks about messaging you and asking if you've eaten.  You had a habit of forgetting to eat when you were busy, or stressed, or upset.  

He'll do that once his face is done. 

You beat him to it, though, your name flashing across his screen the moment a stain is being pressed to his lips.  He almost grins, ruining the painstaking blending, but catches himself before it's too late.  "Thank you," he mumbles, chagrined but preoccupied.

When he unlocks his phone, there's a photo of you beside... a stuffed animal?  It's a bunny rabbit with long legs and soft, heather grey fur.  The ears are floppy but thin, curving over the toy's face.  Its got big beaded eyes and a little button nose.  It's cute, if not a little squished due to the fact it's pressed against your cheek. 

The caption makes him snort.  Your competition, Jungkookie!

If only that were the case, he thinks. 

Instead, he's got living, breathing people vying for your attention.  Sure, not right now, in this instant, but he knows they're there.  He's seen it firsthand when you've stepped out of the sanctuary of your homes together, keen on adventure.

Even with a face mask pulled across your mouth, you garner attention.  Maybe it's the clothes you wear - the transparent silk blouse under the tiered patterned dress with the stacked Comme des Garçons sneakers - or the way your eyes twinkle when you're happy, whether it's because you've spotted a cat in a window or you're taking your first sip of coffee.

All he knows is god, how he wishes that suffed rabbit was his only competition.

( 11.23am )  jeon jungkook:  he's got nothing on me!

( 11.23am )  jeon jungkook:  watch it punk

He imagines you're laughing by the way the chat bubble pops up and disappears a few times.  You were terrible at multitasking.

( 11.25am )  paksom:  i'm not a punk!  you've hurt my feelings

( 11.25am )  paksom:  mr. tokki is definitely my new best friend

( 11.26am )  paksom:  rip

The perfect sticker is being sought out when your last message comes through, disrupting his search. 

It's a joke, obviously, but he can't help the way it makes him feel.  

( 11.29am )  paksom:  g2g!  borahae ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

notes.   inspiration for this chapter came from colde's "WA-R-R" which you should definitely also listen to. 

i'm at a bit of a crossroads in terms of how i want this to go.  if anyone has any suggestions, throw them at me. i'm begging you. i love fluff but angst. ANGST! 

also, italics indicate a flashback/the scene not being present, if that wasn't clear.

[who-is-olivia]

Who Is Olivia?

Harry Styles x OC

Harry proposes during the recordings of Made in the AM. [4.2k]

Genre: fluff

Warnings: none

A/N: hello! fine line is on the way and i think i might have a creative meltdown when it arrives, so i'll just keep posting whatever i please with all the beautiful content harry's ever brought to light. this chapter is a throwback to old school 1D fanfics, bringing the boys back because i'm soft and i miss one direction =) enjoy xx

August 2015

“And you will find me... in places that we’ve never been, for reasons we don’t understand, walking in the wind” he sings in the booth for the 8th time, then stands quietly for a few seconds to give her a clean cut spot. “How’s that?”

“You’re almost hitting the note, but it’s not quite yet” Olivia comes over to the booth, “If you put more pressure in it you might find the best placement, come on, do it again”

He rubs his frown in stress, it’s late and he’s tired, having Oli press him is not helping at all. “Don’t we have a take already?”

“We have, but you can do better”

“Come on, love...”

“Trust me, you can do better-“

“Can we take 5?” he asks Julian, who just shrugs. It’s already late, it makes no difference. However, Olivia doesn’t take it half as well as him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m bloody exhausted, that’s what, and having you... diss me every two takes is not helping”

“You think I’m picking on you?” she asks skeptically.

“I’m just saying you don’t criticize Liam or Niall half as much as you do me” he fires back in frustration. Instead of lashing out as he expects she will, Olivia waits for him to calm down and then spells it out for him.

“The only reason I push you is because I want you to give your best. If you want someone to pat your head and shower you in compliments, you’ll sound fine, but fine is also mediocre” he nods in agreement, letting his head fall embarrassed. At the comfort of that position, he almost lets his eyes close but he knows once he does that he’ll probably fall asleep. “We’re almost there, just help us out”

“Alright... I’m sorry” he replies with a small sigh and so she pulls him to a hug, letting him rest his head on her shoulder as she strokes his back.

“Forgiven” she leaves him with a small smile and a quick kiss, “Don’t forget to put pressure on it”

Julian starts the recorder once again, signaling to him that they’re rolling before playing him the playback. “And you will find me... in places that we’ve never been, for reasons we don’t understand, walking in the wind”

Oli waits for a couple of moments before grinning, “I think it’s the take, come out here”

  After Zayn left, making the fifth album was insane. The four of them kept pulling to completely different artistic directions, Julian could barely help them with the singles so little he could give some coherence to the album. That’s when Oli decided to step in.

  Harry knows he pales in the shadow of her abilities as songwriter, virtuosi and producer altogether so he willingly gave her the helm. At first, the other lads were uncomfortable with her command, fearful that this was one of Harry’s things he does for love, but surely enough Olivia proved herself to be very experienced. Harry always wanted to be an entertainer, but he never truly endeavored to become one before the X-Factor, however Oli’s been almost genetically programed for that, studying music ever since she could talk, studying every part of the process and also rubbing shoulders with generations of rockstars. She’s the woman for the job.

  For their luck, Oli and Frank have been touring across America keeping track of One Direction’s leg in there, often making shows in the same city but a few days apart. To keep up with the recordings, she’s been making an extra effort, dedicating almost all her vacant hours to the album. As they often record in hotel rooms, it at least offers a place for them to pass out after endless hours of work.

“Check it out” she places the heavy headphones over his ears so he can hear the mix with the guitar base. Her whole equipment lies on the bed and over the tables, it’s the best she and Julian could assemble... at least it gets a really great sound.

“That sounds really nice” he smiles at her.

“See? I told you”

  She takes all the material they recorded and starts mixing with Julian at their improvised studio. At some point, Liam and Louis decide to participate, leaving Oli free to rest after long hours of work. She curls up in the bed and immediately blacks out, making Harry feel a bit guilty – through all his hissy fits about exhaustion he never once considered how tired she must’ve been feeling, as not once did she bring it up. But now there’s no point in apologizing, he just lays behind her and spoons her back, holding her like a big teddy bear through deep slumber.

  He wakes up hours later with her still unconscious in his arms. It takes a moment for him to realize where he is, getting up without moving her the slightest he notices Julian and Liam still glued to the computer. At the balcony, he finds Louis and Niall sharing a beer and laughing while the sun creeps up the horizon, so he decides to join.

“Morning lads”

“Morning, Romeo” Niall pokes.

“What’re you up for?”

“Trying to come up with something, we’re still missing a couple tracks” Louis explains, taking a gulp of beer. “You’ve got anything?”

“I always do, just don’t know if it could make it to the album” he mentions while resting his back on the railing. He keeps a writing journal full of poems ever since the band started, and in it he keeps great ideas that never saw the light of day. Recently, he wrote one that feels very personal and very cheeky... just thinking about it makes him laugh. “I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I have a really great one”

“How does it go?”

“It’s silly...”

“Why?”

“‘Cause I just play around with Oli’s name” they raise their brows, ready to mock him. “One of these days she was telling me something about alliterations or something like that, and I just played around with the phrase-“ he blushes, “‘I love Olivia’, because the L sound just bounces off. So I wrote a song for her that went I live for you, I long for you, Olivia, I’ll be now idolizing the light in your eyes, Olivia... see? It bounces off”

“S’ a bit on the nose, don’t you think?” Niall comments skeptically but Louis is thoroughly entertained. “Using her name on the song, it’s not very subtle”

“We’ve got songs with names on them” he argues, playing with the glass bottle. “Don’t see why not”

“We better tell Liam about it-“

“Tell me what?” the man himself walks through the door to join his bandmates with a bottle of his own.

“Harry’s got a cool song for the album but it’s got Oli’s name on it” Niall explains.

“Is she cool with that?”

“She doesn’t know yet” Harry clarifies.

“Well, is it a good song?”

“It’s not done yet, but it has potential” he insists while noticing how much their confidence as a group has grown over the past few months. They embark on his idea without even hearing the full song, although they’ve been rewarded for their trust time and time again. Harry came up with some great compositions this time around, taking all his experience with the band and Olivia in consideration.

“If you want, you can make a demo when we get to London and show us what you’ve got. I think we booked Abbey Road for a couple of days”

“Alright, I’ll give it a go”

  Before they start the British leg of the tour, they get a couple weeks off schedule which give Harry some time to finish the melody before actually recording it. The last shows of the American leg take place fairly close to New York, so he and Oli get to go home ahead of everyone else. Sadly, one side effect of touring for three months in a row is an empty fridge, making them drag their already exhausted bodies out of the house for their meals.

“Do they need someone for the orchestras? I know a guy who can help” Olivia tells, holding her Starbucks cup in one hand and Harry’s on the other.

“Thanks love, but we’ll record the rest in London”

“Oh, right! I forgot... shit, I’ve got to book a flight” she gets ready to fumble for her phone but he holds her wrist.

“I’ll get a private one, just chill, I’ve got this” he soothes, pulling her hand to his lips then smiling amicably.

She smiles back but it immediately flips into an irritated growl. “For fuck’s sake”, he turns around and notices a couple paparazzi snapping at them. When they notice they’ve been caught they lose all decorum and just harass them.

“Harry, how’s the tour? Are you taking a break?” one of them asks, shoving the camera on his face.

“Hey, back the fuck off-“

“Oli, don’t” Harry holds her closer, taking the sunglasses from his shirt and handing them over so she can at least cover her face. “Let’s get a cab”

“Have you been talking to Zayn?” another one asks.

“Would you please let us through? We just wanna walk” Harry pleads politely.

“Sure man, I’m just doing my job” a third one steps out of the way, helping him and Olivia reach a cab and leave the streets for good.

“77th with Central Park West, please”

Olivia watches the paparazzi stay behind as the taxi speeds by, “Where are we going?”

“It’s a restaurant beside Central Park, I went there the other day, thought you might like”

She smiles, “Look at you, all local and stuff”

“I’m looking forward to at least a year of vacation, might as well learn my way around”

“Oh, thank you, by the way” she returns the sunglasses which he stores in his shirt once again.

  They disembark at Central Park, being faced with an enormous queue outside the restaurant they were set to enter. In spite of it, they decide to walk around anyway. The park is a couple blocks away from their apartment, a purposeful decision as Harry appreciates extensive morning jogs when he sticks around. Although they come from polar opposite backgrounds, they both grew accustomed to New York and truly built a life in the city.

“A little blue bird told me that we’re recording at Abbey Road next week... is it true?” she taunts.

“Yes...” she celebrates discreetly, “You’ve never been there?”

“No, never! I always wanted to record something there”

“And Uncle Paul never took you?” he mocks.

“Very funny” she scowls in return, pushing him away.

“You know, it’d be crazy to go to Abbey Road with a Beatle...” he pulls her back, “What do you say? I give you the Road, you bring the McCartney?”

“He’s probably busy” she laces her arm around his, “Uncle Jim used to say Paul and Ringo only show up if there’s a wedding or a funeral... let’s see which one comes first”

“Let’s see” he looks down, his mind immediately sinking deep in thought.

  They’ve talked about getting married, they agreed to it months ago but they never made a move to officialize it.  They didn’t arrange a party, invite their friends or consult a register office — hell, he didn’t even buy a proper ring. For a moment he frets she might think he’s given up, they’ve been living in good graces for three years straight, the only reason they’re not properly married yet is... inertia. Maybe, with the stars aligning and time on their side, he can come up with something.

“What is it?”

“Hm?”

“You got all quiet all of a sudden” she rests her chin on his shoulder, “What is it?”

“Just random things in my mind”

“Yeah, no shit!” he chuckles, “Mind to share?”

“Have you ever written songs about me?”

She frowns, “Not exactly... I usually write about what I feel, and you’re usually the cause of that but it’s way more complex than that. Feelings are a mix of all the baggage you have from life and a catalyst, something that makes you express that. Sometimes that’s you, sometimes it’s not”

He sighs, sometimes she’s humiliatingly clever, “That’s very... fancy”

“I know” she holds on to his hand, holding another over her eyes as the sun hits them directly. “Have you ever written songs about me?”

“All my songs are about you in some way, shape or form, I don’t even have a fancy answer for that” he takes his sunglasses off again and places them over her face, she mutters a small ‘thanks’. “And it’s a bit weird ‘cause I always want people to relate to the songs but I feel like they’re too specific, might as well just slap your name in the title” he suggests almost as an internal joke with himself.

“I think you’re not getting this right”

“Yeah?”

“Take Uncle Paul for example: he wrote a bunch of songs with names on them and people still relate to it. Like Michelle, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie...”

“I think they listen to it more like made up stories than like autobiographies”

“Maybe, but you see, these songs have a clear subject and yet everyone can be touched by the lyrics. When you hear Dear Prudence do you think about Prudence Farrow locked up in her room at an Indian meditation camp?”

“I didn’t even know that story” he admits.

“Exactly, and you don’t have to! ‘Cause when you hear Dear Prudence you understand it’s about going outside, enjoying the day and feeling good about yourself”

He ponders, maybe his song can make its way to the album like that: being based on this incredible experience he lives every moment they’re together but still describing something everyone goes through, “Yeah, it feels like that”

“See? And he’s not talking to you, he’s talking to Prudence” she points a finger on his face to prove a point. “The best art makes you feel personally addressed, even if there’s a name between the artist and the listener. You can quote me on that”

“Alright, clever clocks” he pulls her to a hug and presses a playful kiss on her lips, which extends to this sweet contact in the middle of Central Park. This last album has been challenging, it’s pushed Harry so hard he sometimes feels he’s not up to task as a singer, a composer or a producer. And having her beside him’s helped him realize all the things he can do as well as what he can be better at. He breaks the kiss but keeps his forehead pressed against hers. “Thanks, love”

“I can tell when you need a pep talk”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my left nipple starts aching” he laughs between them and curtly gropes her left tit.

“This one?” she pushes his hand away.

“Stop it!”

  Their domestic week ends too fast, soon they’re back in London to record the rest of the album. Her words help him finish the song without any insecurity holding him back, in fact it inspires him so much that as soon as he gets to London he walks into Cartier and buys her engagement ring. He chooses a delicate one in rose gold with flowers engraved on it and a small diamond nestled between the carvings.

  Today is the last day of recording at Abbey Road and he decides this is the day he’ll propose. However, to do it right, he’ll need a plan:

“Lou, keep her busy in studio 1” he instructs, gathering the four of them on a circle with their arms around their shoulders, almost like a football team, “mess up as many takes as you can-“

“That won’t be hard” he mocks.

“Liam and I will record the strings and the vocals at studio 3, remember, you have to stall her there”

“We get it mate, keep her in studio 1” Niall sighs tiredly.

“Right, when I call her up, you wait outside the hallway. I’ll play her the song and ask, if she says no... please, pretend like it never happened-“ Lou smacks the back of his head. “Ouch!”

“Stop saying that, focus!”

“Alright!... when she says yes, you can bring it on” they all nod excitedly, “Don’t forget to bring Frank up!”

“We’ve got this” Liam hypes, putting his hand in the middle so they follow. “3, 2, 1-“

“We push!”

  The plan gets into motion when she arrives at the studio, leaving her coat at the door. She starts taking pictures of the lobby to send her Uncle, but as soon as she crosses the security Louis comes over and drags her to studio 1.

“Come on lass, we’ve got loads to do!” he pulls her by the hand playfully.

“Calm down, I can walk!” she groans but jogs behind him nonetheless.

  While she’s busy recording Lou’s uncannily messy vocals, Harry and Liam greet a violinist that plays the sheet music for the chorus and the outro. They’re recording and mixing at the same time, hurrying to get a decent enough base for the vocals with what they’ve been working on for the past couple of days, skipping through compressors and equalizers just to get something done.

  At the hallway, Niall is returning from the restroom when he catches Olivia sneaking out studio 1 to look for Harry.

“Oi! What’s up?”

“I can’t take this anymore, if Lou messes up one more time I’ll hit him with my shoe” she pulls her braids out of her face. “Where’s Harry?”

“I... I don’t think he’s here yet” he messes up the last few words. God he sucks at lying, and his hard accent doesn’t help one bit.

She frowns suspiciously, “You  sure?”

“We can call him later, come on” he pushes her frustrated self back to studio 1, “we don’t have all day”

  Few more hours pass and Niall replaces Louis in the recording booth to give her a break, they know he’s got the best intentions at heart but it’s not working a treat. Harry steps into the booth to record his vocals in one go, it doesn’t sound great but he can work on it better if they actually decide to put it on the album. He’s got a lot to prove with this song: for once, he has to prove himself as an artist that can make something incredibly specific and still relatable; and then prove himself to the band, even if it’s probably their last album he wants to be relevant in it. His songs were never really taken seriously, neither were Zayn’s, and he doesn’t want to thread the same path as him.

At last his input is enough, they get great takes and start mixing it together with time to spare — that is, until Louis rushes inside: “Lads, come on, she’s not buying it! Tell me you’ve got it”

“We’ve got it!” Liam replies enthusiastically but Harry holds him back.

“Wha- No! I-I haven’t got anything!” his heart starts racing as it never did before, the prospect of the big moment being so close terrifies him. “I’m not ready for it”

“Of course you are! Mate, you’ve been together for ages, this is just one more step” he encourages, holding Harry by his shoulders.

“Bloody hell... what if she says no?”

“She won’t say no!”

“What if she does?!”

“Then nothing changes! You keep on living your life just without a ring and a wedding date” Louis argues, crossing his arms casually as he tries do play it cool. “Now, can I call her in?”

Harry takes a deep breath and nods, Liam’s hands slip from his shoulder with a friendly pat. “You’ll be great”

  They leave the studio with encouraging looks, leaving him alone and anxious in the vast studio. He pats his jacket to find the box safely stored inside his pocket, one more time he takes a deep breath. This is happening. The silence seems to extend for ages when the door opens again, this time for Oli to sneak in. Once he sees her it dawns on him what is about to happen, but he doesn’t panic... instead he feels at ease.

“What are you up to?” she tip toes inside and sits on his lap, pressing a quick kiss on his lips.

“Just checking this demo”

“Hmm, quite the professional!” she mocks, looking at the tracks. There’s too few of them, only one vocal track and three instrumentals. She’s about to mess with it when he holds her hand.

“Before you play... just bare with me, it’s not ready yet, it’s just a demo –“

“It’s okay Haz”

“– I know, but it just might not reach your standards...”

“Harry... look, I know how hard you’re working on this, I’ve watched you learn this bit by bit for years. I had a lifetime of learning what you learned in five years, don’t be harsh on yourself” she strokes his hair with a humble smile, as if she’s begging him not to torture himself about it. “Now, may I?” he nods in response so she hits the space bar.

 The metronome count starts and a simple violin chord plays before Harry’s vocal kicks in blasting around the room’s sound system. Although she loves every piece of him to the bones, there’s something special about his raspy voice that gets her weak in the knees. She listens to it keeping her eyes fixed on the ground to better focus on her hearing. The first couple of verses are a bit weak, but she won’t say anything to an already nervous Harry. The following ones sound a bit better until it comes to the pre-chorus.

“Please believe me, don’t you see the things you mean to me oh! I love you, I love you, I love-I love- I love Olivia”

“Wait” she frowns at the computer, then the chorus progresses.

“I live for you, I long for you Olivia-“

“Oh my god...” her eyes turn to him in a bolt, he only smirks with those cheeky dimples of his and hugs her waist closer.

“... I’ll be now idolizing the light in your eyes, Olivia. I live for you, I long for you, Olivia-”

“Oh my fucking god...” he laughs at her reaction, covering up her mouth in a struggled gasp. “You didn’t!”

“I did!”

“When you’re gone and I’m alone you live in my imagination, summertime and butterflies all belong to your creation. I love you, is all I do, I love you...”

She chokes a bit at the lyrics, and that is the moment Harry chooses to get the velvet box from his pocket and show it to her. “Oh, come on...” she cries absolutely overwhelmed at the sight of that beautiful delicate ring. She was successfully fooled, in no way would she ever imagine that the sound he was working so hard on was for her and that it was also his proposal... still, all she can do is smile and cry at the same time.

“I think I’ve said it all already, but still” he starts, her reaction causing him to tear up a bit. “You said you wanted a ring, a speech and an ugly cry”

“I did, didn’t I?” she tries to say through a sob.

“Will you marry me, love?”

“Yes! Of course!” she cups his cheek earnestly and kisses him with all she’s got, leaning into him gently but with the sheer will of a hurricane. She breaks the kiss only to wipe her own cheeks and leave a strained chuckle, “I swear to you, one of these days you’re gonna kill me”

“No way, who’s gonna finish the album” to that, she can only roll her eyes. “May I?” he takes her hand.

“Please” she watches him slip the delicate ring on her finger, astounded by his attention to detail. “It’s so beautiful... everything Haz, seriously, the song is...” she huffs, absolutely speechless. Harry smiles in satisfaction, lacing her hips as she hugs his neck pressing herself completely against him, feeling his love irradiating from every pore.

“I meant every word” he whispers, cupping the back of her neck and showering her with small pecks on the cheek.

“She said yes?” they both turn to the door and find Liam, Niall, Louis and Frank lining up at the frame waiting to come in.

“Of course she did!” Harry answers smugly.

“She said yes!” Lou screams, sparking a big celebratory mayhem of champagne popping and flying paper around them. “You should’ve seen his face when we left, he was totally passing out”

“He was shaking” Liam adds.

“Thanks mate, cheers”

“Were you stalling me today?” she points to Louis in accusation.

“In my defense, I was told to stall you for the whole afternoon”

“Can’t believe you were all in it... how long have you been outside?”

“We got here when the music started, I gotta say... it’s really good” Lou compliments, handing them plastic cups of champagne.

“Really good” Niall joins, “We should put it on the album... I mean, if you’re ok with it”

“I’m more than ok with that” she laughs.

“Than that’s it! Just missing another three songs” Louis mocks.

“Can we take a break? Just got engaged, if anyone noticed" Harry shrugs, his inner egomaniac begging the attention to turn back to him.

"Cheers!" they join cups in the center an down the content of their cups merrily, then doing it again this time with Harry and Olivia crossing their arms to do so.

A/N: and that's it! just a small taste, i've got more stuff cooking, adore you has been driving me crazy all week but i'm still figuring out how it makes me feel and how it can become a story... you'll see xx

Check more at masterlist

[ducktracy]

137. i love to singa (1936)

release date: july 18th, 1936

series: merrie melodies

director: tex avery

starring: tommy bond (owl jolson), billy bletcher (fritz owl, penguin), martha wentworth (mama), bernice hansen (fat chicken), joe dougherty (stuttering bird), tedd pierce (jack bunny)

a certified classic that almost everyone has either seen or at least heard of, and for good reason! tedd pierce, writer for mckimson, freleng, and jones, as well as inspiration for pepé le pew, makes his vocal debut as the voice of jack bunny (a very obvious take on radio show entertainer jack benny, who’d be parodied as jack bunny in a handful of cartoons such as slap happy pappy and goofy groceries.) the father owl was originally going to be voiced by bert lahr, who you may recognize as the cowardly lion from the wizard of oz, but was changed to bletcher instead. a parody of the al jolson movie the jazz singer, little owl jolson is born into a musical family that forbids any jazz. kicked out for breaking the strict family rule, owl finds solace in jack bunny’s radio show, where his talents shine—much to the bewilderment of his parents.

pan into a lovely shot of a quaint little home in a tree trunk, trees creating a framing in the foreground as butterflies flit along. a serene home that can do no wrong. a sign in the shape of a violin is posted just above the door: prof. FRITZ OWL teacher of “VOICE, PIANO, & VIOLIN” BUT— pan down to a sign below it, painted in all red letters: NO JAZZ!

tex playful as ever with his transitions as we peer through the keyhole of the door. professor fritz (not friz!) owl himself paces nervously in front of his wife, nesting on eggs while observing her anxious husband. the underscore is a fitting medley of solfeggios. fritz approaches his wife solemnly, who stands up and checks to see if her eggs have hatched yet. nothing but a sympathetic shake of the head.

time lapses, as we see from the rug below fritz’s feet. he’s paced so much that he’s worn it into the ground and then some—tex liked to play around with simple time lapses, a changing background the only indicator of passing time while the animation itself stays the same. once more, fritz returns to his wife. this time, we hear faint knocking. they both observe, and his wife is now beaming and nodding expectantly. the big moment at last! she crawls out of her nest, and fritz takes a conductor’s wand, tapping each egg gently. each makes a strong, reverberating ring of a bell. music to his ears... save for the last one, who creates a jangly dissonant sound instead. fritz and his wife exchange bewildered looks, fritz tapping on the egg again for confirmation. still a dud. very clever use of sound effects by treg brown.

before fritz can mull on his dud for too long, the first egg hatches. a mini owl version of himself dons a sharp suit, singing a beautiful rendition of “chi mi frena in tal momento” from the opera lucia di lammermoor. fritz is absolutely delighted, cooing “ah, what a fine voice! a caruso!” (of course referring to italian tenor enrico caruso) the next egg is set to hatch, this time the owl playing robert schumann’s “traumerei” on violin. he too is met with praise: “what sweet music, a fritz kreisler!” third egg hatches, the owl touting a flute and playing felix mendelssohn’s “spring song”, fritz appropriately commenting “a lovely melody, a mendelssohn.”

and, of course, the final egg. wonderful incongruity and juxtaposition as owl jolson pops out of the egg, blaring red suit and all, informally greeting “hullo, strenza!” “hello, strenza!” was a popular catchphrase at the time and yiddishism for “hello, stranger!”, originated from jack benny’s character schlepperman. appropriate considering jack bunny serves as an important character in the cartoon. owl thusly launches into the eponymous “i love to singa”, written by harold arlen and e. y. harburg (who both worked on the music for the wizard of oz) and featured thrice in 1936’s the singing kid. criminally catchy and a lethal earworm to all... except father fritz.

“ach, a jazz singer! a CROONER! stop! STOP! STOP!!!” fritz is horrified, tearing his feathers out in agony, only pausing to catch his wife, struck unconscious from the horrible thought of her child becoming the next bing crosby. fritz fans her awake, desperately reassuring “listen mama, if he must sing, we will teach him to sing like we want him to.” a sensible plan, right?

apparently not. owl is desperately uncomfortable and unhappy as he begrudgingly sings “drink to me only with thine eyes”, his mother oblivious to his plight as she accompanies him on piano. she pauses to turn the page, and owl gives a quick, hurried, whispered rendition of “i love to singa” behind her back. haven’t we all done that before? personality is very strong in this cartoon, and that’s what sells it, even more than the song itself. mama resumes her playing, and owl resumes his torture session. fritz walks in the doorway to admire his converted son, beaming. owl is unaware of his father’s presence, and as his mother pauses to turn the page he sings some more jazz, but it doesn’t go unnoticed.

bob clampett animates fritz kicking owl out of the house, groveling “enough, it’s too much! out of my house, you hotcha, you crooner! you falsetto! you jazz singer! you... you...YOU..!” fritz is red-faced, sputtering and struggling desperately to find the perfect insult. instead, he opts for slamming the door shut. a pause. he opens it back up and quips “PHOOEY!” before slamming it back shut. perfect comedic timing for a gag that will be used in many a cartoon.

owl is frustrated at first, sardonically introducing to the camera “that’s mein pop.” nevertheless, his mood changes in an instant as he realizes he’s free to sing all the jazz he wants. he strolls along, happily singing his favorite song. a much happier scene than indoors, where mama tearfully suggests that fritz was being “a bit too hasty.” back outside, where owl is strolling along gaily as ever, whistling all the way. there’s a beautiful pan with trees and scenery overlaying in the foreground. you get the sense that everything is going to be just fine, that the world is worth singing about. a very positive and upbeat yet subtle scene. inside once more, where mama calls the police in tears to search for her missing child.

the happy go lucky expedition of owl jolson is put to a halt when he hears a harmonica. it’s coming from a building with a line in front of it: RADIO STATION G-O-N-G. below it: AUDITIONS TODAY. various people are given the boot, the telltale gong sounding as they’re plummeted down a slide and out into the cruel world. owl is enticed, and hurries to join the line.

a few animals perform their failed auditions: a few birds on a flute and saxophone each, another on the accordion, a penguin singing “laugh, clown, laugh” (which daffy would sing in both yankee doodle daffy and duck soup to nuts, both freleng cartoons), a fat chicken singing “i’m forever blowing bubbles” (which was featured in sinkin’ in the bathtub! shows you how far we’ve come)... all of the potential candidates get gonged by a caricature of jack benny (jack BUNNY), and they’re all sent plummeting through a bottomless chute. the fat chicken is so plump that she gets stuck in the chute, and bunny has to give her an extra thwack on the head to get her to go down. very amusing timing.

back at home, mama and fritz are both listening to the radio for an update on their son. mama exclaims tearfully, “i wonder if they found my little boy...” and in a bit of tex avery genius, the radio announcer answers in a deadpan voice “no we didn’t, lady.” a staple that would be used in many a cartoon!

at the radio station, joe dougherty voices a hayseed, stuttering bird with an overbite (a parallel to his role as a hayseed, stuttering dog with an overbite in into your dance) struggling to recount the tongue twister of simple simon. after awhile, the bird gets tired of his OWN act, muttering “oh well, shucks.” and hitting the gong himself and tugging on the rope that would send him into oblivion. elsewhere, a bird reads a telegram out loud, delivered by the telegram boy. she pronounces each “stop” (as i mentioned in my last review, since there is no morse code equivalent to a period, telegrams would use “stop” instead), and we pan over to owl jolson and jack bunny. however, the bird continues to read each stop, growing louder and louder, and we pan back over to see the telegram boy repeatedly attempting to hug her while she keeps shouting “stop!” ain’t sexual harassment funny??? in terms of technicality, it’s a very well structured gag, but is in poor taste and doesn’t feel as funny as it should.

nevertheless, jack bunny asks “well, what’s your name, son?” owl eagerly hands him his very own card, proudly displaying the words “owl jolson” in red ink. he gives a happy salute, and thus formally starts the musical number. it’s been rumored that singer johnnie davis provided the singing voice, but i don’t think that’s true. it still sounds like bond to me, and even when i heard him singing in my green fedora as peter i knew he voiced owl jolson right away, connecting it back to this scene. i could be wrong! but i doubt they hired a separate person for singing. nevertheless, as i’ve repeatedly mentioned, the song is criminally catchy and the animation is cute and fun. bunny is immediately impressed, his defensive glower melting into a gleeful grin.

mama catches wind of her own son back at home, hearing his voice singing on the radio. once more, bob clampett animates mama dragging her entire family outside, happily declaring “it’s him at the radio station!” owl has clearly won bunny’s heart, already displaying the hearty first prize trophy on his desk while he dances along ecstatically to the music.

at long last, the owl family arrives at the station, and they can hardly believe it. everyone crowds around the window outside, peering inside with awestruck disbelief. just as owl as surely clinched the award, he catches a glance of his family and freezes up immediately. now terrified and fearing the worst, he reverts back to his nasally rendition of “drink to me only with thine own eyes”. bunny can’t believe it, even pausing to take his cigar out in disbelief as he ogles at his star pupil. he shoves aside the first prize trophy, ready to pounce.

thankfully, the owl family notices this and they all rush inside. just as bunny is about to call it a day, raising the faithful hammer, fritz cries “STOP! STOP! STOP!!!” he rushes to his previously disavowed son, once more repeating “enough, it’s too much!” but in an entirely different context. a very clever parallel. slowly he attempts to coerce owl back into his song, urging him that it’s okay. “you want to singa! about your moon-a and your june-a and your spring-a, go on and singa!”

hesitant at first, owl picks up his rendition, and in no time things are back to normal. a relieved and ecstatic jack bunny snags the first prize trophy and hands it to owl, shaking his hand. a very endearing, happy, ultimately feel good scene as the entire owl family dances behind their star, the entire family giving one last chorus of “we love to sing!” iris out... leaving the first prize trophy on the black screen. owl pries the iris open and collects his prize, irising out for good (a gag that would be recycled in another avery cartoon, porky’s garden, though porky angrily pries his cash prize away from the clutches of a greedy gardener instead).

a lot to unpack, but all you need to know: a great short that is absolutely worth the watch. if you haven’t seen it already, watch it! if you have, watch it again! one of those cartoons that everyone knows or has at least heard of. do i think this is tex’s best cartoon? probably not. but i DO think this is a major turning point for warner bros. tex saved the studio by shunning the disney attitude instead of adopting it, and this cartoon reflects that. a strong, solid plot with amusing gags (such as the radio bit) would eventually become the norm for the upcoming cartoons. the songs were really beginning to be put on the back burner, and eventually dropped altogether—i don’t have an official date for the last merrie melody to feature a song, but probably anywhere from 1938 to 1939.

i argue that the success of this cartoon lies in the personality moreso than the song. absolutely the song is a big contributor. very catchy, fun to sing, and one that everyone knows. but i don’t think the cartoon is great just BECAUSE of the song. many of the merrie melodies have a lot of great songs, but have faded into obscurity because of weak plots or personality. when was the last time you saw someone lauding harman and ising’s we’re in the money? a very popular song no doubt, but it isn’t held to the same candle as i love to singa because the personality is so staunch. no memorable characters or emotions or motivations or what have you.

all of the personalities are strong, subtle or not. owl has a strong personality, even though 90% of his dialogue is singing. where he begrudgingly sings “drink to me only with thine eyes”, glaring and moping, kicking his feet or making mocking expressions, pausing to give a few breathless verses of “i love to singa”... strong personality. fritz owl has a very strong personality, if not overbearing. 10 seconds into the cartoon and you already know he hates jazz, holding so much contempt for it that he has a sign outside of his house to advertise it. the mother another strong figure, caring deeply for her son and even calling the police to get her son back. even jack bunny, who only says one line in the entire cartoon. it’s obvious he’s fed up with listening to the same old amateur hour acts, and his genuine glee at the freshness of owl’s act feels real and relatable. pair all this with a catchy song and you have yourself a deal.

i think, at the same time, this follows the formula of a lot of tex’s merrie melodies at the time, and i suppose it may be just a bit (for lack of a better term) overrated. not in a bad way, but it isn’t STAUNCHLY different from other merrie melodies tex has been pumping out. but with that said, it’s still a classic and a great short that you certainly need to watch. it’s definitely a spirit raiser.

link!

[thirteen-beaxhes]

Well This is Egg-celent (Tyrus One Shot)

Summary: TJ jokingly left a comment on Cyrus Goodman’s Tweet, and got an unexpected response.

Words: 4248

AO3 LINK IN REBLOG

~~~~~~~~~

“Hope you guys enjoyed this one! I loved the concept and had a blast making it with all my friends. I will see you all again, with another ridiculous to execute idea!” And the screen went black, the boxes of Youtube’s recommended videos popping up.

TJ laughed slightly at the end, using the back of his hoodie sleeve to wipe his nose, ignoring the tears streaming down his face. No stopping them clearly. But he was happy for the short break from his spiralling mind, for the brief respite.

Thank god for Cyrus Goodman’s films and videos, he thought to himself with a sigh, pushing his laptop back onto the bed which he had currently been lying on for two days straight. Amber had been walking in every now and then, desperately trying to get TJ to do something, anything, to try and not have him sink further into his emotions.

That worked about as well as one could imagine.

Drawing a shaky breath, TJ brushed off some of the cookie crumbs on his hoodie, accidentally kicking the empty ice cream carton off the bed. Oh well. He looked around his room to find it resembling the scene of a tornado hitting it. But he just couldn’t get himself to clean it. In that state, the chaos was comforting to him.

He picked up his phone, rubbing his stinging eyes as he opened Instagram. He clicked on the first Story, not even checking the name. He just wanted to let them play, giving some background noise as he just stared blankly at his screen. But, he jerked his head forward as soon as he heard that oh, so familiar voice.

Louis.

TJ gulped, his throat suddenly dry. He held his phone up with both his hands, peering at the screen, looking at the boy who had walked into his life a year ago and had stolen his heart, and who had left nothing but a stain on the carpet when he ran away with its broken pieces 3 days ago. He was at the bowling alley, hugging another boy TJ hadn’t seen before by the shoulders, laughing, his smile radiant. Having the time of his life.

Hoor-fucking-ray.

Tears filled up his eyes, as he immediately exited the stories, slamming his phone down onto the bed. He sniffed, unable to stop  some stray ones from falling, the drops staining his hoodie.

He just hadn’t been good enough for him, that was it, TJ thought to himself, picking up his phone again, very pointedly avoiding Instagram. That’s why he was able to move on so fast. That, and the circumstances of their actual break up.

TJ took a deep breath, opening Twitter to absent-mindedly scroll through his account. He made it a point to stick to his stan account, knowing that it was the only social media where he wasn’t following a certain someone. He let out a small breath every time he came across a meme, just trying to lose himself to the endless scrolling.

A few minutes later, a notification popped up with the tweeting of a bird. TJ narrowed his eyes, scrolling up and letting a small smile come up on his face.

@CyGoodman_ : i’m in an irrationally vengeful and havoc-wreaking mood now

TJ laughed quietly, shaking his head slightly at the tweet. He could just imagine Cyrus standing with a sledgehammer ready to total someone’s car. He focused more on the Cyrus part than the car, but no one needed to know that.

Maybe it was the mood he was in, or maybe TJ was just too tired. But soon enough, he found himself typing out a reply and posting it, before he was able to register what exactly he had just said.

@filmsaregoodman : haha great maybe you can help me egg my idiot ex’s house this weekend then

Why did he say that?! Cyrus was going to think he was so weird!! TJ thought to himself in a panic, taking short breaths as he clicked on the button to delete it, but he stopped himself.

He would never see it, given the flood of replies, he rationalised. Besides, he just saw someone ask him to meet them in an abandoned building with a pickaxe so he definitely didn’t have to worry about being too weird.

TJ just groaned, shutting off his phone and plugging it into his charger as he turned onto his side. He just needed to sleep and focus on trying and actually getting up the next day, he thought as he pulled the sheet over himself.

*

The beeping of his alarm drilled into TJ’s brain, and he groaned as he rolled over onto his back, pinching the bridge of his nose. Who invented the concept of time? TJ just wanted to have a kind word with them.

As he blindly reached for his phone, TJ was also hit with the unimaginable stench of his room, courtesy of him not having showered. He winced at that, making a mental note to go crazy on the deodorant. He opened his phone, clicking on the Twitter app. Nothing extraordinary seemed to have happened, but when TJ looked through his messages, his eyes caught a name and he yelped loudly, falling off his bed in an unceremonious crash.

“TJ!” Amber yelled, running into the room, holding a spatula. She saw TJ breathing heavy on the floor, muttering wildly to himself. She walked up to him and smacked him on the head with the spatula. “What happened?!”

“Why do you have a spatula?!” TJ asked incredulously, rubbing his head.

“Cuz I thought you were being attacked!”

“So a spatula was your best weapon? You were literally in the kitchen! With knives!”

“Well, I’m sorry if I grabbed the first weapon I could find! And we are getting off track!”

“Okay so,” TJ said loudly, before holding up his phone in excitement. “Cyrus Goodman DM’ed me!”

“What?!” Amber yelled excitedly, dropping the spatula on the floor as she jumped next to TJ. “What? How?”

TJ explained the Tweets from the previous night and then held his phone up to her, showing her the message. Amber pulled the phone to her, peering at the message in confusion.

“Hey! This is so weird and may seem stalkerish ahhhh but I saw your reply to my tweet so I wanted to ask: can I have your address?? I swear I won’t send a hitman to your house!” Amber read out, narrowing her eyes in confusion. “Well, that’s strange.”

“I know but, he messaged me!” TJ squealed, but soon he looked at her in confusion. “What do I say? What does he want my address for? Maybe he wants to send something? Oh my god, how do I look?”

Amber laughed, shaking her head as she got up, patting him on the shoulder. “I don’t know bro, you need to figure that out.” With that, she walked out of the room, yelling that she would be back from work late that day.

TJ sighed as Amber left, hiding his head in his hands.

He could draft a message to his favourite creator no problem, right?

Yeah, right.

*

Despite his five hundred mental breakdowns over trying to type a single word to Cyrus Goodman, the next couple days passed relatively normally. Amber finally managed to shove TJ out of bed, forcing him to go to work at the coffee shop where Marty was extremely concerned at his disappearance. Life returned to normal, and if TJ shied away from his phone and social media, and just smiled amicably at guys who tried to hit on him, no one said a word. The messages and tweets slipped out of his mind almost completely.

It was now Friday, and TJ groaned as Amber walked up to him, modelling yet another dress as she prepared for her date that night.

“You sure you’ll be okay at home?” Amber asked, concerned, as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“Yes Amber, I’ll be perfectly fine,” TJ said, laughing slightly.

“Okay,” she said, slightly unsure. But soon, she grabbed her handbag and left, flashing a small smile of nervousness before she left.

After she had gone, TJ slumped into the couch, grabbing the popcorn and ice cream he had abandoned as Amber asked him opinions on all her outfits for her date. He opened Netflix, hugging a pillow as he clicked play on ‘Always be my Maybe’, telling himself he was only watching for Keanu Reeves, not at all because he was lonely and rom-coms were his only shot at romance in his life.

He was more than halfway through the movie, and past the point of being civil as he ate, stuffing popcorn into his mouth as tears rolled down his cheeks. It wasn’t even that the movie was sad, but he was just having one of those movie nights. Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door. Narrowing his eyes, TJ brushed off some popcorn kernels, confused at who could it be. Not Amber, unless her date went bad.

Probably their neighbour about sugar, TJ sighed, as he pushed himself off the couch and rubbed his eyes as he shuffled to the door.

“Sorry mate, no sugar,” TJ said, before looking up and gasping.

Cyrus. Goodman.

What happened next, TJ wasn’t at all proud of. He screamed and slammed the door shut.

What the? How the? Why was Cyrus Goodman at his doorstep? TJ thought wildly, running a hand through his hair. He jerked his head up in shock.

He had just slammed the door on him!

TJ took a deep breath, keeping his eyes squeezed shut as he opened the door, with what he could only assume was a sheepish expression on his face.

“Hey,” Cyrus said softly, and TJ could’ve practically melted on the spot. “I thought for a second I had the wrong house or something,” he said, giving a small laugh that could’ve made angels sing. “Are you, Theo?”

“Y-Yeah,” TJ whispered, finally looking up, but immediately looking back down at his feet because oh my god Cyrus Goodman was standing at his doorstep. “Actually, TJ.”

“What?”

“Call me TJ. I just use Theo on Twitter so people don’t know who I am,” TJ said sheepishly, finally forcing himself to look at Cyrus.

He looked amazing, obviously. He was wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and dark jeans. But TJ furrowed his eyebrows when he looked down, noticing the three toilet paper rolls and three egg cartons tucked under Cyrus’ arm.

“Um, what’s that?” TJ asked, pointing at the questionable supplies. Cyrus looked confused, but looked down at his arm and understood.

“Oh! Yeah, I didn’t wanna bother you with the supplies, so I got them myself!” he said happily, pulling TJ out of the house by the hand. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

“T-Time? For, for what?” TJ stammered out, unable to concentrate on anything other than the fact that he was practically holding Cyrus’ hand. Cyrus tilted his head to one side.

“To teach your ex a lesson,” Cyrus said simply, with a smile that teased I thought that was obvious.

A wave of realisation hit TJ, and he dropped his jaw open. “I was, I was joking.”

“Well, I’m not. Come on, it’ll make you not cry,” Cyrus said softly, reaching up to wipe away a tear that was on TJ’s cheek with his thumb. His hand lingered by TJ’s face, and god, if that was what it felt like to have your breath taken away, TJ never wanted to breath ever again.

Before he knew it, TJ was slipping on shoes and grabbing the keys out of the cat bowl he and Amber had stolen from their parents’ house when they moved out, shutting the door behind him as he followed Cyrus out the door.

Now that they were outside, walking on the streets, TJ was confronted by the fact that this was real. There he was, walking down the street with someone whose work he had admired for so long, who he may or may not think was breathtaking to look at, and they were walking with him to John’s house, to egg and TP it. Even dreams couldn’t come up with something this wild. But it was real, the chill in the night air, his visible breath in the air, everything was real.

“Let me hold something,” TJ said, trying to grab some of the things from Cyrus, but he moved away.

“No no, let me,” he said with a smile. “Least I could do.”

“Well, you’re doing more than you had to already. It’s all I could do.”

“Still. I wanna do this.”

TJ smiled, shaking his head slightly. He looked ahead, catching glimpses of Cyrus in his peripheral vision every now and then. He could also feel Cyrus looking at him every so often, and that made TJ’s cheeks flush, but if anyone noticed, he’d blame it on the cold.

Finally, after some minutes of silence and of Cyrus looking at him, TJ caved and turned to Cyrus. “What? Did I leave ice cream on my face?” he asked nervously, reaching up to wipe whatever it was away.

“No no,” Cyrus said, raising his eyebrows in amusement. “It’s just, I can’t imagine someone being stupid enough to let someone like you go.”

That comment was enough to turn TJ into a blushing mess, his heart doing the foxtrot in his chest. “I mean, I’m not that great.”

“That’s insane! We’ve exchanged like, 5 sentences, and I know that if you were with me, I’d never let you go.”

TJ choked, disguising it as a cough. What what what, did he say if TJ were with him. Hold the phone, he was dying. Tell Amber that he died as he lived, gay.

Cyrus just laughed quietly, bumping his shoulder with TJ’s. “Sorry, too much?”

“No no! Not at all,” TJ exclaimed, turning to look at him. “I just, no one’s said that before.”

“I can’t believe that,” Cyrus said, and TJ had to keep his eyes trained to the ground, knowing that hiss face was burning up.

They walked down the street in silence for some more time, before Cyrus looked at TJ.

“If you don’t mind telling me, why do you want to egg your ex’s house?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

TJ sighed, looking up at the sky, few stars visible in the sky. Fitting. “We’d been dating for 8 months, but I always felt like I was giving more than he ever was. And then I found out two weeks ago, that he was cheating on me,” he said quietly.

“That’s horrible TJ,” Cyrus said quietly. TJ just scoffed.

“Worst part, I knew that’s the kind of guy he was. And yet, I thought I could be the exception.”

“It’s not your fault,” Cyrus said comfortingly, placing a hand on TJ’s shoulder.

TJ just smiled appreciatively. He looked to his left and stopped, taking a deep breath.

“What is it?” Cyrus asked, stopping beside him.

‘We’re here,” he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Well then,” Cyrus said, with a mischievous smile as he set down the cartons and pulled out two eggs. He handed one to TJ and kept one with himself. “On the count of three then.”

TJ smiled nervously up at Cyrus. “One.”

“Two,” Cyrus said with a smile, coming closer to TJ.

And with twin smiles, they looked at each other. “Three.”

*

“That was insane,” TJ said with a smile, running a hand through his hair, but realising too late that there was egg yolk on his fingers. “Ugh!”

Cyrus was laughing, doubled over. TJ looked over, unamused.

“Haha. Thanks Goodman.”

“Hey,” Cyrus said, holding his hands up. “Did it help or not?”

“Actually,” TJ said, looking away thoughtfully. “It did.”

“See? Vengeance tastes sweet.”

“More like tastes like an impending salmonella infestation.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes, shoving TJ in the shoulder. But then, his expression grew softer. “You sure you’re okay?”

And when TJ thought about it, he was surprised to find himself nodding. Cyrus let out a sigh of relief, looking at his watch.

“Well, 2 am is no time to go home but I’ll try my luck,” he said with a tired smile. “I had fun, TJ.” And with that, Cyrus began walking away, but TJ called out to him.

“Hey!” he said, running up slightly to him. “If you want, you can stay over at my place.”

Cyrus raised his eyebrows slightly, and TJ tried to explain himself nervously. “Well, it’s late. And it’s the least I could do after you came all this way.”

“I literally live across town, TJ,” Cyrus said with a giggle. “But okay, I’ll take you up on that offer. Thanks.”

With that, the two of them began walking back to TJ’s house, an unexpected tension in the air. But it wasn’t unwelcome. TJ and Cyrus constantly snuck glances at each other, both looking away as soon as the other caught them, cheeks pink. And it was pure coincidence if they were walking close enough to let their fingers brush against each other with every step.

They crept into the house quietly, TJ putting a finger to his lips.

“My sister is probably back from her date,” he whispered, and Cyrus nodded, and they made their way to TJ’s room, avoiding as many floorboard creaks as they could. When they got to the room, TJ wanted to throttle himself at the mess.

“I’m, I’m sorry about everything,” TJ muttered, trying to clear space. But Cyrus was deep in thought, looking around the room in awe at the posters and pictures, running his fingers along the spines of the books on TJ’s shelf.

“You like reading?” Cyrus asked softly, turning around as he took off his shoes.

TJ nodded. “Mostly history. You?”

“Space and reptiles,” he replied, sitting down beside TJ on the bed.

“Wow. Just two nerds sitting here together, huh?”

“Seems like it.”

There was a silence after that, both unsure of what to say. The soft orange light of the lamp in TJ’s room was making Cyrus’ face look warm and even more gorgeous than normal. TJ let his gaze flick down to Cyrus’ lips, but he pulled his eyes away, reminding himself that he did not need a relationship just then. Cyrus took a deep breath, hiding what looked like disappointment behind a soft smile.

“So, uh, I’ll take the floor?” TJ said, picking up his pillow. But Cyrus shook his head.

“No, I’ll take the floor, you sleep in your bed.”

“It’s fine, Cyrus.”

“No it’s not,” Cyrus said, grabbing TJ’s hand. “Okay, let’s just share the bed.”

TJ glanced at his bed, worried about size. But the atmosphere in the room was making his sleepy, so he just nodded his head, making the bed for the two of them.

Before they got into bed, TJ grabbed Cyrus’ elbow and pulled him to himself, wrapping him in a hug. Cyrus was surprised, but soon slipped his arms around TJ’s waist.

“Thank you for this,” TJ whispered into Cyrus’ ear, before pulling away and climbing into bed, Cyrus following him as his back faced TJ’s.

And when Amber walked into the room the next morning to find her brother sleepily cuddling the famous person who had messaged her brother, she almost screamed in shock, horror and joy. But then, she just smiled, and went to make breakfast.

*

TJ should have known. Some things were just too good to last. Even things like Cyrus Goodman.

Why had he been stupid enough to let himself fall again? Why couldn’t he learn his lesson?

He’d convinced himself Cyrus was different that Cyrus had seen who he was, and he loved him. He had convinced himself that they were meant to meet for a reason, because he was the one.

Well, another thing TJ Kippen was wrong about.

“Teej, please open the door,” Amber pleaded. “I’m worried about you.”

TJ sighed, pausing his loud rock music to open to door to Amber. Amber gasped when she saw his bedraggled appearance, immediately pulling him in for a hug. Even though he had spent the last 4 hours crying, that hug alone made TJ collapse into sobs, sinking to the floor as he pulled Amber down with him.

“I really thought, Amber,” TJ gasped, but Amber shushed his, placing her hand on the back of his head.

“You’ll be okay, I got you,” she whispered back to him, as she held onto TJ. After they pulled away, when TJ’s tears were just a silent stream, she narrowed her eyes. “What did he say?”

TJ just shook his head. “He just said, ‘This isn’t gonna work out. I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s me. I can’t explain.’ Bullshit.”

“That’s a lame excuse,” Amber huffed, pushing a strand of TJ’s hair back.

“I don’t know what to do Amber,” TJ said in a broken voice. “I thought we could make it. But, I shouldn’t trust anyone.”

“I’m so sorry Teej,” Amber said, leaning her head against TJ’s. “Do you want me to make you anything? I can get ice cream from Costco.”

“No,” TJ said, shaking his head and pushing himself off the floor. “I, I need to do something. But I need your help.”

“Okay?” Amber asked, confused.

“Could you get a carton of eggs for me?”

*

“Why are we doing this?” Amber said, hoding the carton of eggs as she and TJ sat in the cab to Cyrus’ apartment. “What, are we gonna egg his front door? Cuz I’m gonna do more than that.”

TJ shook his head, a small smile on his face as he got out of the cab. He took a deep breath and walked into the building, walking up the stairs to Cyrus’ apartment. The lights seemed to be out from downstairs, so he was probably out or asleep.

“Give me the eggs,” TJ said, and Amber handed him the carton, which he set down at the doorstep.

“Wait, what? We aren’t throwing them?” Amber whined, but TJ just looked up at her.

“Can you, give me a minute?” he asked quietly, and Amber nodded, walking down the stairs.

After she was gone, TJ pulled out a carefully penned note from his coat and placed it on the carton, knocking loudly on the door before walking away, squeezing his eyes shut as he left the building.

I couldn’t even find the energy to throw these at you. Because you were the last person I expected I’d need to do that to.

*

TJ called into work sick the next day, a fact Marty didn’t question much. He didn’t need to ask TJ to see that he was going through utter shit at the time. So, some time alone was what he needed. Even though Amber wasn’t completely ready to leave him alone, but TJ pushed her to accept the date her girlfriend had asked her on.

“I’ll be okay, Amber,” he had said, kissing her on the forehead. “Now go get your girl.”

The mood was perfect too, the rain beginning to pour in torrents. TJ curled up in his blanket, watching Love Island on television. At least some people’s love lives were worse than his. TJ was heavily immersed in the drama between the house members, when suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the door.

In this downpour? TJ thought to himself as he walked to the door and opened it. But when he saw who it was, he froze.

“Cyrus, are you crazy?! What are you doing here?” TJ asked in shock, taking in his appearance.

“I, I had to see you,” Cyrus said between pants, taking in deep breaths.

“Did you run here?”

Nodding, Cyrus took a step forward, but stayed outside. “TJ. I’m so, so sorry. I thought I had to protect you, but I, I made a mistake.”

“Don’t,” TJ cut him off, his voice breaking. “Don’t’ do that, Cyrus. I’m trying to move on.”

“Please, TJ,” Cyrus pleaded, grabbing onto TJ’s elbow. “Please just hear me out.”

TJ just sighed, and looked up at Cyrus, nodding.

“I love you, TJ. So, so much. And being with you has been the best thing to happen to me. And when we decided to go public, I was so happy that I could share my happiness with everyone,” Cyrus said with a sad smile. “But, I started seeing messages and posts with people hating on you, and insulting you, and I know you said it didn’t bother you, but I know it did. I could see it in your eyes. I thought if we weren’t together, it would stop, and you’d be okay.”

“Cyrus,” TJ said softly, squeezing his hand. “You don’t need to worry about that. Sure, it’ll take some getting used to, but in the end, I just wanted to be with you.”

“I just wanna be with you too,” Cyrus said softly, reaching up to brush TJ’s cheek with his thumb.

TJ smiled softly, before leaning in to capture Cyrus’ lips in his, tasting the rain without any care. Cyrus wrapped his arms around TJ’s waist as TJ cupped his cheeks. After they pulled away, TJ leaned his forehead against Cyrus’.

“I love you, TJ.”

“I love you too, Cyrus. And I hope you never give me a reason to egg your house.”

 ~~~~~~~~

This is fluff cuz i got peer pressure by @heart-eyes-kippen and @criminalambis​

[a-lilacsong]

Elena of Avalor Live text reaction: Giant Steps

I enjoy reading other people's posts where they watch episodes of shows and write reactions to things in the episode while they're still watching it. So I decided to make one for this new episode: Giant Steps. 

Reaction starts under the cut (Spoilers for the episode since this is a reaction)

She needs a crew 

Wait has she gone to Australia 

Also I love that fish on the wall 

To bad it wouldn't be able to sing most likely

Is that a wanted poster for the bat on the wall?

And it looks like she's selling Esteban’s hat as well 

oooooh I think I feel a song coming on

 also the letter text is so clear I could probably translate this

if I felt like it 

Man, Elena is a fast writer 

I really like the accordion in this song but so far it's been pretty casual 

I don't know, I guess I was just expecting a big old villain song 

What a cute parrot! Naomi should get a parrot

Oh that's a sword for a second I thought it could be a chainsaw 

Don't mind him that's just casual Joe, casually showing off his casual sword to his casual friends Casually 

Wow there's a lot of lens flares in this song, was it directed by JJ Abrams?

Maybe it's not even a big threat Naomi's coming to warn them about, maybe she's just going to come back to say hi at this point, she seems like she's really missing Elena 

This is why she needs a crew, then she wouldn't be lonely 

Having a good cry together?! All of the hurt comfort and angst fanfiction possibilities! 

Oh look there's the not-Ash little girl 

yes the Elena and Naomi feels are strong with this one 

Ship does not rhyme with fate! this is the second time a line hasn't rhymed and it bugs me 

And she's broke

Maybe she should have asked for some money along with a ship eh?

The Bat Wanted poster Is hilarious 

And so starts her career as a bounty hunter 

“So how much gold are you giving for his capture?” “heaps of it.” “But how much gold exactly?” “HEAPS. OF. IT.”

Yeah when you just draw bags of money on the poster it's probably a scam 

Naomi unrolls the wanted poster, Me: *Gasps out loud* They all look so good!

 I wonder if you captured those three along with the bat if they give you an extra gold for that or if they just only give you a reward for the bat

You probably wouldn't get any gold though cuz it's probably a scam

Sudden zoom in on the poster while there's a bell in the background like what

 reminds me how they always always seem to do that during dramatic moments in Star Trek

What's in the bag a knife, a phaser, or is she just giving her the bag 

Maybe a special knockout powder?

Oh cool it's one of those endless Space Bags 

also what a cute red bird 

This episodes giving lots of birds 

But the Winged being I want to see most is Chatana

Oh look she sells harpoons! What does the store not have?

The necklace, of course she wants the necklace, I was thinking about was oddly noticeable with Naomi wearing two necklaces so of course she's going to have to give one away

Will she give it to her, Probably

Yep now she has the Magic Bag

And she got the take the wanted poster as well?! Wow !

It's not illegal to take down wanted posters?

Boy there is probably some kid out there who has fifty wanted posters just up decorating their room because they are very well drawn 

I mean if I lived in that world and knew I couldn't get punished for it I would totally have a few of them up 

Ash and Chatana just look so snug in their pictures, when why was Esteban just looks so innocent compared to them 

Wait so ash gave Chatana the diadem off screen? okay...

I've been waiting months for this, yes, YES team Ash team Ash team Ash YES!

Now I finally get to see more of Chatana

 I will finally get to see what her personality is really like yes

~~ but now I have to eat supper so intermission

Sarah give me spoilers Darn it ~~

 Anyway

 the bat can shape-shift!? wow I always thought that Esteban’s teleportation powers would take them to Vestrella but I was wrong

Of course they're seen immediately, probably because of Ash’s yelling

Wait if you Caught the Jaquin babies, what would you do with them Esteban?

He seems better at this villain stuff than I thought 

Also both Ash and Chatana seem way too confident about this 

I'm predicting it will be their Achilles heel 

Bold of Mateo to assume that she would be looking for her friend instead of the villains 

Probably spied on Naomi before 

It seems Mateo's more Curious boy Then I thought he's willing to spy on someone if they're a friend 

And she's right there, she probably ran past Armando and everyone else that's why they didn't get it notified of her arrival 

Like she always does 

Yay clumsy Mateo

And he didn't drop it!

No one expected you back this soon Naomi not even the audience 

Lesbians lesbians lesbians 

It's great other than the crippling loneliness 

Mateo asks the kind of questions that I asked on tumblr ask blogs anonymously 

“Ancient at least I thought she was ancient '' if she said that to Chatana’s face which you take it as a compliment or an insult I wonder?

Also continuity!

And of course she's only going to bring Gabe because he is the only guard She Knows by name 

Sarcasm aside though I'm glad that these four will get to have another adventure together 

They are the Ultimate Adventure team 

Well Isabel is always welcome on it 

But it is illegal for her to try to fight Esteban 

Or Witness Elena seriously killing him 

Wait is she going because she wants to be with Elena 

Or to get the prize money 

Probably both 

I sure hope Elena doesn't feel betrayed if Naomi tries to get that prize money I mean she has to make a living somehow 

Yes Elena, the team 

It is the only team strong enough to defeat the evil team 

Oh boy every time Chatana walks she looks like she's on a Runway! She is so poised and confident looking 

Also it seems that they have gotten past that cloaking spell 

And Esteban gets smacked in the face

They just love you using him for slapstick don't they?

I just love it how bat says casually that they're being watched 

And Ash and Chatana flip out like they're about to be caught by the thought police 

Okay, Esteban is hilarious 

*Ash Eyeroll*

I wonder who has done more eye rolls in the series Ash or Esteban?

And she blocked it again, I guess it wears off over time?

SOME kind of cloaking spell!? it looks like the same one they were using before!

I sure hope Philly wasn't conscious with Chatana all those years

She CAN fly!

And we finally get to see her make a monster and it's so cool!!!

Spiders spiders everywhere!

Flying spider tornado!

Ash and Esteban’s reactions are valid

BABY spider Eagles! that changes everything 

Now that means that they're really cute 

I would still be distracted by them though

Esteban sass 

Ash threats

If they weren't so evil they make a great sitcom team 

~~~break to watch final episode of Pride and Prejudice with my family~~

Gabe makes yet another strategy which will be most likely ignored or never brought up again 

Points for trying, Captain 

Oh good, that’s just webs, thought it was something else for a moment 

Down they go, too bad she can't use levaloop with that sceptre and they're going to have a hard Landing 

Woo he didn't use levaloop he's learning new spells 

Yay team Ash back views! I've been needing these for artistic purposes 

Did Phili just spit fire Let me back that up 

Wow I think he did

Awww,  “Little one”

They must train together a lot, Ash just needs to give Esteban a look and he does what they need 

That's the same unlocking spell as before

 do the Maruveians only have one kind of lock spell

Also wait did Chatana teach that to Ash at some point?

Because she certainly didn't use that on the gate before to unlock Chatana...

Oh nice unlocking effects 

some...BODY ONCE TOLD ME

MAMA <--May I also mention that my theory was right 

Wait all of Chatana's creatures are locked up here?

I guess there are the Sunbird jars 

True she was captured, (much better excuse than Pink Diamond’s)

And here is Esteban, the king of sucking up 

In a way, Kizin Reminds me of Sarah

He Likes the tall funny man 

Good recovery Esteban, you didn't make any snide comment that time 

And now everyone else sucks up 

Except Phili 

Chatana smile 

Kizin has other friends? AWW, he Just wants to help his friends! 

Ash has done nothing other than that spell so far except yell and complain to others

And there goes a bat

We will probably get him later... or maybe we will just leave him

Oh look will team Avalor attack him immediately or will they try and reason with him first 

If you needed more guards why didn't you just grab them in the first place 

I know Migs and Skyler are Guardians but couldn't you have gotten another Guardian to go and get reinforcements? 

Elena never planned ahead for things

Gabe the running LOL 

So you're going to just attack him instead of reasoning with him? okay 

I think that trip wire might be a little high Naomi

Wait Shouldn't Elena and Mateo wait on the other side of the tripwire so that they can surround Kizim just in case 

Naomi tie the tripwire you won't be strong enough to hold it up yourself 

Or maybe you will you are pretty strong 

Hey look there's the bat

No Naomi, no Naomi no tie the rope Naomi, and then go after him 

Tell Elena of your financial troubles don't risk it all 

(to quote Ash:) foolish child....

Looks like the bats in the bag 

Also why was he attacking ships in the first place, for the LOLs?

More Gabe running 

*Sigh* should have tied it...

She hurt him he hurt her 

Very good, Gabe protect 

See Don't Use Magic on Kizim, use Magic on yourself 

Oh yeah use the wizard to unlock the pots

And then an extra 

You know it seems like every episode where Elena could do a lot more she gets injured and then another character has to save the day 

It happened in the episode with the merman Prince 

Naomi just sort of stands there and watches 

Okay that scene is funnier in context than it is in the trailer 

First aid! Someone actually knows how to do first aid!

Mateo disobeyed a plan and now Naomi disobeyed the plan

When will they learn that disobeying plans always leads to bad things 

Sorry Princess I'm broke 

And Too Proud to Beg 

Okay, this is a complicated situation, on one hand Naomi is a big help in defeating villains on the other, why don't they just get a royal guard who is good with a lasso? 

I mean there are definitely some personal emotions running here 

But also it might have been better to wait to become a Captain until after the villains had been caught

I just think this might be both their faults

Although running out to the bat and not tying the Rope yeah

Little scared Mateo noise

I thought it was just going to run head-on into a wall 

LOL if one man can't do it get the other guy to do it

Gabe with magic well that would be interesting…

Well yeah, he's normally there 

Wait he's not going to attack Keatamos is he?

Gabe and Matteo wouldn't allow that 

“Hello friends” awww

Uh-oh is right, that many shaking pots is never good 

And now they're here to save the day 

When you forget you have an injury 

Although she Naomi should have felt the arm first to see how the sling should be set 

He likes one cousin and dislikes the other

Wait magic wands are handed?

Don't worry that Blaze probably didn't hit the wood that's everywhere around here 

How would releasing the bat help, I feel like he'd be on Kizim's side 

Couldn't you have just caught him in the bag with the bat still inside 

Actually no, the bat would get squished 

Well Gabe, you are bringing the burn today

Esteban reacts to waiting for things the same way I do 

Esteban knows he's the universe is punching bag 

Ash facepalm 

Chatana does care 

And Phili never will 

OOOOh Other allies!??!

It just seems like the Delgados inexplicably know about every different darkforce and possible magic thing there is 

She is angsting, Naomi, Which she always does alone 

Wow her arm is in a cast

Couldn't they just fix it with magic?

Does no one in this world know a healing spell? 

Actually that wouldn't surprise me.

Get a room you two! Oh, you do have a room 

now kiss 

They love each other 

You know you can hire your own ship crew at some point right?

I mean Captains classically command other crew members.

Wait is she coming back to the council

No Naomi don't ruin your life with politics! 

Get out while you still can! 

Wait, Naomi doesn't know she was replaced 

Well it would be easier on Julio if he didn't have two jobs… 

Which is the responsible thing to do 

She lives to serve 

Hugs 

Every episode with Chatana so far has had Elena Naomi angst 

That's the end of my reaction.

~~~~~

So here's my Mini review. Overall I liked the episode, sure the big conflicts could have been avoided if people actually talked with each other about their feelings first before the disasters, but that happens so often in TV shows I'm almost used to it. I loved seeing the villain force again (especially Chatana). Hopefully we will see them again soon. I wonder what job Naomi will get now, (Maybe being the minister of ships)?

[musingmycelium]

MMMMM gonna be THAT person and ask alllll the questions for the quizzy as companion meme for whomever you desire :D

:0! under a read more for obvious reasons ljlkjlkjlkjkj

1, 8, and 9 answered here

2. How would they meet the Inquisitor? depends on how they came to the inquisition! if he came with idrilla, and honestly that means linayel too, then he would meet the quizzy upon arrival to skyhold, having sent word of their visit beforehand [though not too far before]. if by himself he would just show up and request audience with them -making himself available as an agent.

3. What would some of their cutscenes look like?!! his haven cutscene -if triggered with appropriate approval- would be in the woods outside the main settlement, he’d take the quizzy out into the quiet snow and share some dalish mead with them and offer conversation if they would like it and silence if they don’t. at the end he’ll tell them they were looking overwhelmed and taking a step back to breathe always aides with that.a high approval quizzy can get a cutscene at skyhold in the garden: da’ean tending plants until he notices quizzy walking over, at which point he’ll ask if quizzy has ever tended plants before and will offer to show them what he’s been growing. 

4. What would their romance route look like? Would they be romancable?ever a quiet romantic da’ean is

5. If they romanced someone as Inquisitor, would they still fall for that person as a companion? How would that play out? How would they react to that person being romanced by the “new” Inquisitor?yes! so da’ean romances dorian and the iron bull in my canon, and depending on the quizzy he would romance an unromanced bull or dorian or both still. their relationship is pretty solid, though with da’ean as a companion there would be a few changes to their dynamic mostly in terms of da’ean doesn’t have to deal with the trauma of being quizzy lkjkljklj if either of them are romanced by the quizzy he’d approve so long as quizzy treats them well!

6. Write some of their party banter (in reaction to major events, scenery dialogue, or just shitting around. Askers can specify for which character/event, or leave it up to the writer).this honestly deserves a post of its own so like, i’ll do that.... later.....

7. What would be on their tombstone in the fade (what is their greatest fear)?da’ean’s tombstone read: Silenced and Forgotten

10. If Inquisition operated like DA:O, what would their gift items be? What would their approval and disapproval Feast Day items be?:o i don’t have the feast day dlc so i’ll skip that since i don’t have a base of ref for it lmao. his regular gift items would be flowers, dalish artifacts, and books. the two which would trigger cutscenes would be a small halla charm -a high approval quizzy would learn here about his sister, and an ancient looking book written in a mix of elvhen and arcaic tevene -da’ean would excitedly talk about it and with dorian’s help translate the book revealing it to be a dalish songbook.

11. How would they grow as a person? How would they compare at the end of the Inquisition as a companion to who they were as the Inquisitor?at the beginning da’ean is more reserved and less likely to actively engage with the quizzy, as he gets more comfortable and gets to know the quizzy he’ll open up quite drastically. in terms of character growth da’ean goes from someone who is still tied to the past and doesn’t look to the future into someone who actively makes the future the best it can be for himself and those he cares about -effectively taking his head out of his ass and learning to cope healthily with the past.

12. Do they believe the Herald of Andraste is really the Herald of Andraste?absolutely the fuck not. if the quizzy is also dalish there would be dialogue between them for how da’ean believes the quizzy is sent by mythal but otherwise no he doesn’t believe in the maker one whit, and andraste isn’t exactly in his good graces.

13. If the Herald didn’t have them tag along to prep the trebuchets, what would they do during the battle for Haven? (bonus: would they join in on the impromptu Dawn Will Come choir practice in the camp?)da’ean would organize the younger members of the inquisition and ensure they make it out of haven safely. and lmao he has a lovely singing voice but a chantry song will never fall from his lips

14. What nickname does Varric give them?songbird. which da’ean finds hilarious since his name means little bird

15. Without the influence of their decisions for the Inquisition, which of the companions do they get along with? Which ones do they bicker with?da’ean gets along well with bull and dorian [duh] and sera the best, though he is also friends with viv and solas and varric! he bickers the most with solas and cass.

16. What would the Fear Demon say to them in the Fade to try and discourage them?I HAVE. DIALOGUE I WROTE AGES AGO.... FROM MY LONGFIC SO I’M GONNA REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE THAT SHIT

“You’ll fail the Inquisition just like you failed your sister.” The silken voice of the Nightmare sent shivers running up Da’ean’s spine. He couldn’t explain the sense of wrong the voice gave him, even as the words it spoke wriggled their way into Da’ean’s thoughts like worms. The lie based on truth; how many times had he told himself it was his fault before, how many nights had he spent in fear of his own incompetence and inability to protect those he cared about. How long must he carry this guilt, a month ago he would have thought he would never be free of it. Helpless to his terror.

Now; as he saw the snarl on Dorian’s lips, the hard glint in Bull’s eye, the outrage pouring out from Solas’s entire body, he knew, he knew it was not through any fault of his own. His soiled past was not something he could change, but right here, right now, he could move on. He could chose to leave everything that burdened him in the hands of those who came with him. He could ease the burdens they carried without fear of making things worse.“Doubt me all you want, but you know the truth. It’s your fault the slavers caught her, and it will be your fault when Corypheus captures the world.” The Nightmare must be feeling desperate, it had already gone after Hawke and Stroud, and now it was focusing solely on Da’ean. The breath-warm air and disorienting light was causing him enough problems, but if the Nightmare grew bored of him, he would move on to his next target.

“If you think those are new thoughts Nightmare, you are dead wrong.” They were close, they had to be close to the rift. If Da’ean could hold his attention until they could flee, the rest of the part wouldn’t have to deal with it.“I’ve accepted my mistakes, I know what I’ve done.” The hard knot of old anxiety in Da’ean’s chest was gradually unravelling; his newfound beliefs, hard won and solid, slowing taking its place. “I am stronger for knowing myself, what about you Nightmare? What have you done that you regret, what things haunt your dreams?”

maker that’s old but i’m not gonna edit it bc i’m lazy and its late lkjljlkjklj

17. Where do they hang out in the Winter Palace? What’s their thoughts on the nobles/The Game?he’d be out on the open. area. thing??? where dorian is stan-THE COURTYARD, he’d be chillin in the courtyard. da’ean couldn’t give a nug’s ass about the nobles or the game and will show some harsh contempt for those in the palace with their noses in the air around him like he’s not even there.

18. What’s their reaction to a dragon showing up?“fuck this but also fuck this” and high fives bull

19. Once Corypheus is beaten, what do they do during the party? Do they stay with the Inquisition, or go somewhere else? What could the Inquisitor do to convince them to stay?during the party he’d be talking/drinking with sera and after the inquisition depends on his romance options. if he romanced dorian he’d follow him to tevinter bc Fuck You Bioware eat my entire ass to make sure he’s safe and to chill in the background since there’s no going back home. if he romanced bull or bull and dorian he would travel with the chargers as the newest member to the crew. a high approval quizzy could convince them to stay only if romanced

20. How do they react to learning abominations can retain their consciousness and identity, and even live peacefully with their spirits/demons, as seen in Stone-Bear Hold?psst. pssssssst... the dalish already know and you can take that hc from my cold dead hands.... BUT he’d be excited to see it recognized and would want to talk with the augur extensively

21. What do they think of the discoveries made in the Deep Roads? Do they make any comments on anything?Buck Fuckin Wild is da’ean’s take on the deep roads. he doesn’t like the claustrophobic feel they give him, he does have Some Thoughts on the titans and talks about them with idrilla.

22. If you have another Inquisitor, how would those two get along, specifically?UUUHHHHH i have his older sister idrilla who isn’t a quizzy normally but in an au she might have been the quizzy and they get along great!

23. In trespasser, what “gift” would they give the Inquisitor, if any?a halla charm! one linayel carved for just this purpose and it’s threaded on a strip of leather.

24. What are their plans for after the Exalted Council? Will the Inquisition staying in tact or being disbanded make a difference?he goes back to doing what he was doing before it, it doesn’t change much unless he was romanced and then its dependant on player choice

25. In the alternate reality, if they were corrupted with lyrium, how do they act? What’s their attitude about the end of the world/their inevitable death? oh fuck da’ean would fall deeper into depression, lose all sense of time/meaning and he would just end up with total and complete apathy