#but i have been caught in a big comedy spotlight | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

restlessmaknae · 3 years ago

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camp hybe

➳ Camp Rock, but make it a Hybe one with Choi Beomgyu being the iconic Shane Gray with his equally iconic hairstyle, and you as the main lead. Less drama, more fun cameos, and a happy ending! What more could you want?

♪ Characters: popstar!Beomgyu x camper!reader/you

♪ Featuring: all present and previous artists who are/were under Hybe in any way (as of 2021 July)

♪ Genre: camp rock au, comedy, fluff

♪ Words: 8.2k

♪ A/N: Click here to be added to the TAGLIST and to let me know about your fic preferences. 💖

“Is this the end for #012?”

Hueningkai read the headline of the online article out loud, looking up from his phone to look at his band members. “Guys, are we doomed?”

“We were doomed ever since we were named #012,” Taehyun remarked, rolling his eyes at his band member’s all too frantic antics.

Sure, it was not an everyday thing that #012’s member, Choi Beomgyu, had been caught up in a scandal because he had stormed out of the music video shooting, and the agency had cancelled the summer tour because of the said boy’s unapologetic behaviour and the other members’ fed up attitude, but Taehyun believed that it was not the end of the world. Maybe for Beomgyu it was, seeing that disgusted look on his face as he looked out of the window from their limousine, but for the two of them, it wasn’t. At least, they could get rid of Beomgyu for a month.

“I’m not going to spend my summer at some camp,” Beomgyu exclaimed when he looked back at the two guys, and as opposed to Hueningkai who looked like he was about to malfunction, Taehyun kept his cool.

“Look, we started out here. #012 started out here. We were the youngest campers at Camp Hybe a few years ago, and now there are younger ones than us. It’ll only do you good if you can spend some time in nature, maybe even get a tan, have some inspiration from other musicians and learn some manners while teaching the next generation of stars,” Taehyun commented unapologetically, referring to the boy’s behaviour lately. Seriously, fame had gotten to him, and despite both Hueningkai and Taehyun staying as humble as ever, it was as if Beomgyu had wanted to put on a one-man show by himself, enjoying the spotlight alone. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t dragged the rest of the band with him, and if it hadn’t been just because he had gotten a little bit too confident.

“Oh, and can you make a birdhouse for me?” Hueningkai chirped in, jumping at the idea of Beomgyu spending some quality time at the camp. “I’ve never managed to take mine home in one piece,” he added as if it would have explained anything, and Taehyun felt like facepalming himself. Not to mention Beomgyu who looked as if he had been thinking how to murder his band member.

“Do you think that anyone would take me seriously when there are senior music instructors? Don’t you think I would look like a joke beside a BTS member?” He quirked an eyebrow nevertheless, playing the victim and starting on his whining, but neither of his bandmates were having any of it.

“Look, you should have thought about it before you stormed out of the MV shooting because you needed your beauty sleep. It’s time to wake up and realise that you’re not the only musician who made it big, Beomgyu,” Taehyun pointed it out very much honestly, and there was a sense of tension in the air. He would never assume that Beomgyu would be violent enough to want to throw hands at him, but he did look like he wanted to murder him with his gaze.

However, the boy merely grabbed his guitar case, getting out of the limousine and starting to walk away from the vehicle without saying goodbye, but Hueningkai shouted after him nevertheless:

“Oh, and the agency said we’ll have a song with the winner of the final jam, so make sure that whoever that is, they are prepared well.”

Beomgyu snorted, steps furious and head full of questions, but he couldn’t have cared less about the winner of the final jam. He just wanted to get over with this whole stupid summer camp thing as soon as possible.

When you had learned that you had gotten into Camp Hybe, you had been over the Moon.

Camp YG had not been the worst camp ever, but it had felt like a training camp instead of an actual music camp where you go to meet people because boys and girls had been separated, and there had been only one event at the end of the summer, and everyone had to prepare for that. Meanwhile at Camp SM, there had been so many campers that you couldn’t have even wrapped your head around who had been who because by the time you had learned names, the camp had already ended. Since your mother had always had a bad feeling about Camp JYP due to the person who had run the camp (she had always said that he had seemed weird based on the songs he had written and well… you couldn’t have disagreed), you had never been let to join their camp, but you had always wanted to get into Camp Hybe. The only problem was that they hadn’t even accepted girls in the beginning because of a previous scandal, but two years ago, they had started accepting girls, and you had tried your luck both times, but to no avail.

However, this time, you had put together a killer performance, and it had seemed to impress the judges because you had gotten the acceptance call a week later. You couldn’t have been happier, and seeing all the hustle bustle at the camp when you arrived with your two suitcases and one bag, your heart raced so fast that you felt like it would break out of your ribcage.

Before you could dwell on your erratic feelings, a camp volunteer came up to you, asking which wooden house you belonged to, and he lead the way when you told him, casually chatting with you about how special you must have been because there were still not a lot of female campers, especially with Gfriend making it big last year and coming back only as instructors for the last week because their schedules didn’t allow them to spare some more time.

“I didn’t even know that they would come back, that’s so cool!” You exclaimed enthusiastically, earning a smile from the boy who introduced himself as K. Then, you were given an extra key to the house, being told some basic information about the rules, and he let you join the other girls who were already there; namely Kyulkyung, Yehana and Sungyeon. It turned out that all three of them had been here last year as well, so they knew everything about the other campers.

So you listened to them attentively while they enlightened you about everyone, and you were eternally grateful that they were already this friendly and chatty with you.

“So basically, we have BTS and Nu’est as the main instructors for the camp this year, then there’s Lee Hyun, but you’ve probably already known that because he’s like the boss here. Not the boss boss because that’s obviously Bang Sihyuk, but it’s Lee Hyun who manages everything on sight,” started Yehana very enthusiastically, and you couldn’t help but nod fervently. You had been contacted by Lee Hyun when you had been told that you were accepted, so you knew who he was.

“Oh, and he’s also #012’s Beomgyu’s uncle,” Sungyeon added matter-of-factly, but you had never heard about the said boy having a connection here other than the whole band starting out here, so you furrowed your eyebrows in question.

“Yeah, probably that’s the reason Beomgyu can still join the camp after what has happened,” Yehana mentioned and boasted a proud smile as if she had connected the dots. However, you were a tad bit confused about this newfound information, so you couldn’t help but inquire:

“Will he join this year’s camp? I’ve thought they would go on a summer tour.”

“No, they cancelled it two days ago. Apparently, Beomgyu’s scandal didn’t do good to the band’s reputation, and so he needs to do some good PR to make up for it,” Kyulkyung explained patiently, and there was a sense of awkwardness in the air for a moment. No one seemed to know what to say, and honestly, you didn’t either because you had never been a huge fan of #012, but you liked their songs, and despite hearing about the boy’s scandal, you wouldn’t have thought that it would lead to their summer tour being cancelled. It must have been a really big mistake on the boy’s part then.

Yehana sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere, and after clearing her throat, she continued on introducing the campers as if nothing had happened.

“Anyways, we have the Seventeen guys as all-time campers. They are a super talented bunch, and even if you need a whole choreography or help with some lyrics or some vocal tips, they are here to help because they always do their own stuff, so they are like the creative bunch of the camp.”

“Yeah, and we also have the newbies called Enhypen. They are sooo young but they are sooo talented. And they’re cute, too,” Sungyeon chirped in with an enamoured smile, making you giggle. It was cute how they were so open about their opinion, it made you feel like you were already an insider which was definitely a big bonus since you didn’t know anyone here. Well, except for the celebrity instructors, but that was different.

“Oh, and you can’t forget about Yeonjun, the IT boy of the camp! Oh, and Soobin, the guy at the cafeteria! He’s just so nice. Just tell him if you need an extra portion, he will give you one without any questions,” Yehana enthusiastically listed off more and more people, and you weren’t so sure that you would remember their names, but you were glad that they had decided to tell you so much about the camp and its campers.

Time flew by fast while they were telling you stories about their time here, and by the time lunch rolled by and you saw the other campers for yourself, you had already felt like a part of Camp Hybe, and it wasn’t awkward at all that you had joined them only this year because there were others like you, and everyone was welcomed in a friendly manner.

After lunch, everyone had some free time, so you decided to occupy one of the practice rooms while the other three girls were jogging in the nearby woods because honestly jogging wasn’t your cup of tea, and you felt like you had to take advantage of the high-tech equipment and huge practice rooms while you could do so. Thus, after booking a slot for yourself at one of the practice rooms, you started going over a few of your well-practiced songs, and it seemed to go well until you heard a very frantic sound on the other side of the practice room’s door:

“I’ve showered in cold water, I’ve looked at a tree, it’s been three hours, I need hair product because I’m running away from my fangirls which doesn’t help the state of my hair,” the boy complained, and his words came out as more of a childish whine than anything else, so you couldn’t take him seriously, not even when he opened and closed the door, dramatically turning the key and leaning his forehead against the wooden material of the door. He was with his back to you, so he couldn’t even see you, but your eyes got twice as big as their usual size upon seeing who the boy was.

You were about to speak up, but he was still on the phone for a few seconds, and only when you were sure that he hung up, did you speak up:

“Did you just lock us in?”

The boy turned around as if he had been hit by lightning, and when he caught sight of you, his eyes widened comically. You did the same because #012’s Choi Beomgyu was right in front of you in all his glory with his newly grown longer curls, innocently boyish features and tall self, but the situation was more amusing than shocking, so you couldn’t really feel anything close to awe.

“Oh my gosh, you scared me!” He exclaimed as he put a hand over his heart. Gosh, he was so dramatic, especially when he tried to play it cool, brushing a curl away from his face once he managed to overcome his initial shock. You had to admit that he indeed looked gorgeous with his new locks and those pure features, and he definitely looked better - more real - in person, but you had never been one to fall for just the exterior, so you didn’t want to stare at him as if he would have been an art piece in a museum.

“Yes, yes, I did. There were some fangirls chasing after me, so I needed to find a place to hide.”

“Okay,” you croaked out, not sure what to say to that because you could hardly imagine tons of fangirls going after him since there weren’t a lot to being with, but maybe there were some newbies who had come especially to see a celebrity like him, and now they were shooting their shots.

A long second passed by before the boy’s eyes widened yet again, and he took a step back as if you would want to hurt him.

“Wait, are you also a fangirl?”

“Chill, I’m not going to jump at you. I was here to practice anyways,” you explained to him, pointing at the piano beside you, and you saw when the realisation hit him that he had just asked a very egoistic question. Not all girls were fans of him, not even here. You may have liked a few songs by his band, but you weren’t crazy over musicians in general, so you didn’t idolise him or the other two members of #012.

Beomgyu continued to pull himself together to play it cool, brushing some dust off his shirt that was probably not even there. You could see that he found the situation very awkward, but there was something in him that made you question whether it was because of the fact that you weren’t a crazy fan of his, and he wasn’t used to that, or whether it was because he had just locked himself in with a girl.

“Do you need help with your singing?” he inquired, quirking a curious eyebrow in question as he took a few steps towards you. You didn’t know what this newfound confidence in him was, but you answered sincerely nevertheless.

“I’m okay. I would have preferred to be alone and practice, but it’s really NOT pressuring to be in the same room as you, so I might as well not even try,” you said ironically, hoping that he got the message that you didn’t actually want to practice in front of someone like him. You were so used to being in choirs and groups that you didn’t even remember when was the last time you had performed alone apart from your camp audition. You just… didn’t feel that confident to sing a whole song by yourself, and while it would have been fine since you weren’t a big fan of his band, you wouldn’t have wanted to practice in front of anyone including Choi Beomgyu himself.

The boy let out a snort, obviously not being able to detect your real feelings behind your words. Instead, he acted a bit edgy as he asked:

“So what? Do we just look at each other for god knows how long?”

“Was I the one who locked us in?” you retorted equally frustrated, and you both let out a sigh when you caught sight of each other’s gazes. Oh boy, you definitely didn’t know what you got yourself into when you had booked this practice room for yourself.

Since you weren’t one to send him away because he might have told the truth, and you didn’t want to hurt his feelings no matter how much you didn’t know anything about him, you knew that you should let him stay. On the other hand, you really didn’t feel like singing in front of him, having feedback from him that might not be sincere since he was said to be quite full of himself lately, so you were sure he would make fun of you and your singing skills.

However, the silence that stretched between you two kept getting longer and longer, and the awkward pouts and faces he made didn’t help the situation either, so you ended up playing some songs on your phone, hoping that could help to pass the time. Beomgyu didn’t say a word in the beginning, but then when the first song came to an end, he put on a song by himself, and you were ready for a #012 track because that was his band after all. Yet, he chose a ballad song that you had never heard before, and it took you by surprise that he enjoyed songs like this, and he was willing to share this song with you because it was quite raw, talking about insecurities and the pressure to meet others’ expectations. You started to wonder whether there was a boy hurting under all that glitter and gold, but you were in no place to ask anything, and his uncle called him half an hour later anyways, so you had to bid your goodbyes.

“So… I guess I’ll see you around?” Beomgyu turned back by the door, and you were so surprised that he decided to say anything before he would leave that you could merely nod with an awkward smile. That was enough of an answer for the boy, and he left just as quickly as he had arrived, leaving behind more questions than answers.

Choi Beomgyu didn’t have any of that “natural nature vibes will do good to you” feeling, at least not in the first few days. Even though he had packed enough of his face masks and favourite snacks, he felt stressed out not having a proper grocery store nearby, not to mention that the canteen food was nowhere near the food he was used to. It wasn’t bad, but it tasted rather plain. He was certain he didn’t have big expectations, it was rather the camp that had low standards. He remembered how much he had enjoyed being here a couple of years ago, but now he had more money to spend on quality stuff, so why would he settle for less? Of course, Taehyun and Hueningkai couldn’t stop teasing him whenever they were on the phone, and it got to the point that they didn’t even pick up on Thursday! How dare they? Beomgyu was fuming so bad that he nearly walked into a tree. Damn those trees for god’s sake!

Anyways, the actual tutoring part of the camp didn’t go terribly. The campers were talented, and they followed him well. There was no problem with him being younger and debuting later than his senior tutors, so he was kind of glad. He expected more drama and gossips, but apart from running away from some fangirls a few times out of classes and being pranked by the younger campers (they were in the so-called Enhypen cabin which didn’t make any sense to him even after he had gotten to know the origin of their name... Not that #012 made a lot of sense, Beomgyu representing 1 as he was born in 2001, Taehyun and Hueningkai representing 2 as they were born in 2002, and the fans representing 0, the base of it all, and the hashtag being there for aesthetic purposes only but still... how much more sense Enhypen made?), it didn’t go that bad.

Except for the fact that you were there during his classes, and no matter how much he tried to act nonchalant, he couldn’t hide his slight embarrassment whenever he was around you. Because you had just gotten to see him at a very unflattering moment for the first time, and being locked up in a practice room with him hadn’t been how he had wanted to start his acquaintanceship with anyone. Not that you acted any different around him, it was just him hoping that you didn’t think he was a whiny child. Not that it should have mattered, but still... He was hoping you didn’t think ill of him.

Thankfully, there were no classes on Sunday because Sundays were for the special nights - the first one being the open mic night on the first Sunday, then the campfire night on the second Sunday and then the final jam on the fourth Sunday. He couldn’t wait to be over with the final jam already, but actually, he was curious what kind of performances the campers could put on when they were practicing mostly on their own. Sure, they could ask help from any tutors and the other campers, but the classes were general ones, not based on the performances they wanted to put together and present on these special Sundays, so it was mostly their doing.

So he made his way to the stage that was built outside right beside the canteen, hiding behind a random tree (not that anyone actually cared when he didn’t perform that night, and everyone was already close to the stage). He didn’t have anything better to do anyways, so why not check out what the campers could do? Not to mention that his uncle had asked him to attend the open mic night. Speaking of whom...

“Hello campers!” Lee Hyun hollered very enthusiastically into the mic, making Beomgyu roll his eyes. The campers were equally excited though, cheering loudly after his greeting. “It’s the night you’ve been waiting for all week! The first special night of the camp! It’s the open mic night! Make some nooooooise!”

The campers shouted so loudly that Beomgyu got scared for a second, but put himself together a bit later.

“Anyone who has decided to sign up for this night was granted the chance to perform, either alone or in groups! So let’s not drag the introduction any further, I’m sure you’re all very pumped up already. First up, we have Sunghoon and Jay from Enhypen’s cabin, and they are going to cover NCT U’s 7th Sense! So let’s all give them a round of applause before they start,” his uncle introduced the first performers of the night as excitedly as it was humanly possible, and Beomgyu wanted to deny that they were in any way related because his uncle was just sooooo embarrassing.

Anyways, the two guys were pretty cool actually, and since Beomgyu helped them out with singing and songwriting mostly, he didn’t know how well they could dance, but they were great nevertheless. After them came Yeonjun, the so-called IT boy of the camp who was good at singing, rapping and dancing, and he gave a cover of Song Cry, paired up with his own choreography for it. Then came some guys from the Seventeen cabin (Beomgyu couldn’t get why they were called Seventeen if they weren’t even seventeen years old and there was 13 of them), a few guys who didn’t come up with a name for their cabin yet, the rest of the Enhypen guys in one dance performance and one vocal performance, and then came some young girls who covered Blackpink.

Then, came you with your roommates, covering Gfriend’s Apple which was a brave move since Apple wasn’t the group’s most innocent song. In fact, it was pretty alluring, and Beomgyu needed to hide the fact how dumbfounded he was seeing you like this. Your outfits were identical to the original ones, and everyone was quite impressed by your performance. It was truly amazing, and he couldn’t recover from it even though there were some other guys putting on a dance performance after yours, and they were good, too (but they were guys, you know).

Anyways, the purpose of the open mic night was to introduce oneself to the other campers and to practice putting on a performance, not to choose a winner, so there was no real pressure on anyone, and the mood was lively and energetic. It could be said that the open mic night ended well.

Speaking of which, before he could get caught hiding behind a tree, he basically ran away to the pier that was almost at the other end of the camp, but he almost turned on his heel when he caught sight of someone already sitting there. However, when he saw that it was you, he knew that he couldn’t embarrass himself further, so he decided to join you, startling you when you heard the footsteps.

“Hi!” Beomgyu greeted you, hopping down beside you without asking, noting that you were still in your performance outfit. Not that it should have made any difference… it was just that he had always seen you in sweatpants and loose T-shirts, so seeing you in a somewhat revealing and tight dress was odd. Not the bad kind of odd… rather unfamiliar.

“Hi!” You greeted him with slight surprise in your eyes. He could tell that you didn’t expect him to approach you out of your classes, but he hoped you didn’t mind.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just gave a call to my mom, telling her about tonight, and it’s the furthest place from all the noise, so I came here,” you explained with a shrug of your shoulders, and he had to give it to you that your reason made perfect sense. After all, he had decided to run away to the pier because it was far from the hustle-bustle of the open mic night. “What are you doing here?” you threw the question back at him, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I was just…” He started, stretching the back of his neck, not knowing how to tell you the truth without revealing what he had just done. No wonder you were faster while he was searching for the right way to put what he was doing.

“Running away from your fangirls?” you inquired, almost teasingly, and Beomgyu didn’t take it to heart either. He seemed rather neutral about it, so when he clarified with a shrug of his shoulders, you weren’t baffled:

“From the attention, I guess.”

“You look like someone who can deal with attention well,” you pointed out, and there was no malice in your voice, so he had a feeling that you weren’t referring to him enjoying the spotlight, but rather not showing any signs that he was having a hard time regarding the attention he received.

Beomgyu took a deep breath before he replied because he didn’t know how to phrase himself. Yet again. It seemed like you asked questions no one had dared to ask, and he found himself trying to reach an answer that he had never thought of before.

“I can, it’s just weird coming here again, being here alone without my members when I know that I’ve been here with them when the band first started out here. I feel a bit…”

“Out of place?” you guessed, but the boy looked dramatically hurt by your suggestion.

“Yah, why would I feel out of place when I’m Choi Beomgyu? I just feel... weird,” he left it at that because he really couldn’t pinpoint the feeling better, and it didn’t help either that his vocabulary was rather limited thanks to the same themes they were singing about as a boyband.

You didn’t push him any further, and he was secretly thankful for that, but he didn’t want the topic and the atmosphere to linger any longer than it was absolutely necessary, so he directed a question at you instead:

“Anyways, why didn’t you perform alone tonight? You seemed really confident when you had your part,” Beomgyu commented casually, looking ahead of himself, but he sought after your reaction and monitored your facial expression from the corner of his eyes. You let out a resigned sigh, looking down at your intertwined hands, but you seemed sincere when you answered him.

“I don’t feel confident performing on my own. It reassures me when I’m not the only one people look at,” you reasoned quietly as if you were afraid to share something like this with a popstar beside you, but it wasn’t your confession that made him confused, but rather the fact that you seemed so confident yet you didn’t feel the same way.

“That’s weird,” he said it out loud, but instead of furrowing your eyebrows or giving him a stare, you let out a giggle.

“You're literally in a boyband, why would that be weird to you?

“Hey, that’s different!” Beomgyu clarified as he held his hands up in the air, but even he couldn’t deny that there was a smile hiding in the corner of his lips. There was just something in the way you made it so easy to talk to him. That’s why he wasn’t afraid to tell you the truth about how he felt. “I do feel confident on my own, but we got recognised as a band, so that’s how I got famous. I could go solo if I wanted to,” he added casually, so you could understand his point of view, but when you inquired about the following, he was yet again speechless:

“Would you really be able to go solo after being in a group for years?”

Sure, he liked the attention (maybe a bit too much), and he liked it when he got most of the parts in a song (maybe a bit too much), but it helped to lift some weight off his shoulders that he didn’t need to dance and sing through a whole song by himself. He would be able to do so, but he felt more empowered when the three of them could sing a song, and everyone could have their own representative parts. That’s how a song could sound more captivating, too.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly, because even if he were able to go solo, would he really want to? No matter how much he hated his band members for not answering his calls since Thursday, they had been through the heaven and hell of training and making it big together. #012 had made it big as a three-membered group, he wasn’t so sure that they would have been that big of a thing if they had debuted one by one.

You didn’t force the topic onto him since he didn’t seem to know the answer, instead, you suggested that he could always come here if he needed to run away from his fangirls, and he gifted you with a smile in return. Not his poster boy smile that was there for marketing and captivating hearts, but the genuine one, and both of you knew that it was sincere. While you found it unusual that he smiled at you like that, he found it unusual that he could loosen up beside you so quickly, especially after your rather embarrassing first encounter.

You didn’t mind meeting Beomgyu only a few times during the week afterwards, only at either a practice room or by the pier because at least you weren’t surrounded by the crazy hustle-bustle of the camp, neither noise nor distractions that might have made your encounters uncomfortable. Of course, he still gave you classes, but you needed to act professional during those classes, so others wouldn’t think that you had warmed up to the boy only to get on his good side and earn that duet with #012. Not that anyone would have seemed so cruel, but you really didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, especially when you didn’t know what was going on between you and the boy.

At first, you had been very much of the opinion that he was so full of himself that nothing could have saved him, the fame had gotten to him, and he had seemingly not cared about anyone or anything, except himself. He had given classes as if he had been the center of the world, and he hadn’t taken others’ feelings into consideration. However, after the open mic night and a few more encounters, you had had to realise that maybe, there had been more to him, he had merely needed time to get back to his true self, and the place where the band had been formed helped him to remember.

It didn’t mean that he didn’t have those moments where you wished you could shake him because he was just so self-centered, but there were less and less of those moments as time went by, and you started looking forward to each and every day at the camp, hoping that you could bump into him. You didn’t have his number, and even though you knew which cabin he occupied (the one where his uncle, Lee Hyun, also resided), you didn’t want to be a creep, and visit him there. You were fine meeting him at the pier, near the woods or at a practice room, because what else could you have wished for at a summer camp? It’s not like you wanted the Enhypen guys to awkwardly walk pass by the two of you or Yeonjun to tease you if he caught sight of you two hanging out (because the boy sensed something, and he couldn’t stop giving you knowing glances whenever Beomgyu held a class where you were present).

You had other things to focus on apart from Beomgyu (though he would tease you that you didn’t have), the preparation with the girls for the next big event - the campfire night - taking up most of your time. You and the girls had tried to put together a killing dance performance with no vocals this time because you wanted to put the emphasis on the dancing itself, and you had worked extremely hard to do the moves well and precisely because you had always felt like you were lacking in dancing compared to singing.

The week went by pretty fast this way, and in between practices, the camp organised team events such as quiz nights and movie screenings, and you also had DIY cabins where you could go in the afternoons and do some arts and crafts. On Fridays, you could go into the kitchen and cook something together with Soobin and the rest of the kitchen staff, so it was always pretty fun, not just when you were practicing, but of course, you enjoyed that the most because that’s what you had been working so hard for. You had wanted to get into this camp to learn from professionals and to improve, and that’s exactly what you did. The campfire night was no different, you poured your all into the performance, and even though it was a 3-minute long performance, you were sweating bucks by the end because of the intensity of the choreography and the humidity of the stuffy summer night.

After the event came to an end, you headed to your wooden cabin to take a shower and changed into your shorts and loose T-shirt. When you announced that you would take a walk outside, Yehana gave you a curious glance, but didn’t say anything, and Kyulkyung waved you off, wishing you to have fun which indicated that they indeed suspected something, but you knew they didn’t mean any bad by their teasing, so you just smiled to yourself while you were making your way to the pier, knowing all too well who would be there.

“How did you like the campfire performances?” you inquired as you hopped down beside the boy who was staring far ahead until you showed up and put a smile onto his youthful features. Now that was a smile that you could imagine girls falling for, and your heart indeed beated faster when he directed it at you.

“They were pretty good.”

“Pretty good equals really good coming from you, I guess,” you teased a bit, your lips curling upwards in a playful way.

“I have high standards, that’s true,” Beomgyu admitted through a giggle, and when he said it like this, you could hardly imagine that this boy was so infamous for his special requirements, but well… everyone had their own quirks. “But everyone is talented here, so I can’t say a lot of negatives,” he added a bit more seriously, and you were afraid to ask about your performance with the girls because you weren’t sure whether he would take it seriously or not, but he was faster, and commented on it himself. “Your performance was good, too. You just need to loosen up a bit more, but otherwise, you’re good.”

You weren’t taken aback that he had noticed that you were still a bit stiff, but you were pleasantly taken aback by the gentle tone to his voice. It wasn’t like the first time when he had oh so smugly offered to help you with your singing. This time, he was caring and sincere, and his thoughtful feedback helped to soothe your nerves a bit.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I just concentrate too much on the moves because I feel like I’m not that good at dancing and I’m afraid that it shows, so I become stiff.”

“It’s good that you concentrate on the moves and not on the audience like you do when you’re singing, but you have to let go of that thinking that you’re not good enough. You try your best, and it’ll be enough, that’s the best you can do. Even if someone says otherwise, if you do your best, you shouldn’t feel guilty,” he continued solemnly, his features radiating honesty, and it surprised you that you could see hurt behind his carefree attitude.

This was the first time you felt like you were looking at a young boy, barely an adult, and not a pop star. He seemed vulnerable and wise in that moment, and you were sure that he had gone through so much in the last few years since he had made it big with his band than he would have let it show, but you didn’t want to go there. You were content looking at those manga-like features of his, the abyss of his onyx orbs, the slight curls of his shoulder-length locks, and that barely there smile in the corner of his lips.

“Wow, I didn’t expect such a pep talk coming from you,” you remarked playfully, dissolving the solemn atmosphere because you didn’t want to get personal because he might not have been ready to talk about his struggles. He seemed to appreciate your behaviour though, playing along with you.

“I should give a TED talk, huh?”

“Choi Beomgyu: my road to success. I can already see it happening,” you suggested with a wide smile, but the boy shook his head.

“You should have said: Choi Beomgyu: the talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before…” He quoted the famous lines, making you both chuckle. Gosh, you would have never thought that you would get along so well with him, not after your first encounter with him that had seemed to prove just how full he was of himself. But now, looking at him, joking around with him, he couldn’t have been further from the boy in the tabloids.

“For real, I’m happy to give you private lessons if you need,” he offered casually once you had overcome your laughter, and you quirked an eyebrow, a bit tentatively.

“Isn’t that discrimination?”

“Well, you could ask for assistance from any tutor here. I don’t see the problem asking me.” He shrugged his shoulders, and you had to give it to him that he was right. This camp was a camp for a reason: you could contact any tutor and ask them to help you out with a performance, or to give you tips on your skills. No matter how famous they were, they had once started out here, so they knew how much such feedback could mean to a young artist.

You didn’t know what to say to his offer, especially when he smiled at you so charmingly, so you nudged him in the side, teasing him that there were multiple tutors you could have asked, it didn’t have to be him, and he dared to say that maybe he could give you special care. Now, you really didn’t know what to say to that, so you nudged him harder, and that punch caught him so off-guard that he fell into the water. Obviously, you were quick to reach your hand out to him to help him get out, but he pulled you instead, and you ended up in the lake with him.

“Hey! I’ve just showered!” You complained, your so-called pyjama pants and shirt getting soaked all over.

“Well, you could have said so before you had pushed me in,” Beomgyu said as he stuck his tongue out at you. Oh boy, he was so annoying(ly cute), you couldn’t take it anymore.

Needless to say, you ended up spraying water on each other until you got tired of it and decided to get out of the water before the sun would set, and you wouldn’t see a thing around you. The night was spent filled with laughter though, and you wouldn’t have changed it for the world even though you needed to change into another set of clothes once you got back to your wooden cabin soaking wet much to the girls’ teasing.

The closer you were to the day of the final jam and the last full day of Camp Hybe, the more buzzing the campers were. Everyone was busy preparing for their performances, and as much as it appealed to you that you could sing a song together with Beomgyu and his band, you didn’t want to get your hopes up high. You decided to sing a solo, but not because of this opportunity, but because you took Beomgyu’s advice seriously, and wanted to challenge yourself. You had been deemed good enough the moment you had been given the chance to come to the camp, so the only thing that had kept you back had been your fear of appearing as something less than perfect. However, just like the boy had told you during one of your pier encounters, if you didn’t give it a try, you would never know what you could do, and the final jam was still not an audition or a concert with a packed arena; all the campers were still amateurs just like you, so you had nothing to lose. Yehana, Kyulkyung and Sungyeon all prepared a solo performance, too, so they didn’t even hold a grudge against you, if anything, they were just more supportive than ever.

So a solo it was, and a ballad on top of that because you weren’t sure that you could carry on with an upbeat song if you couldn’t soothe your nerves when you performed. You prepared diligently for it, and thanks to the members of Gfriend coming to give classes during the last week of the camp, you had a chance to learn from one of your favourite singers, and Yuju was helping you out with some tips for managing your breathing while singing a ballad, so you were extra grateful for the assistance you received. Not that Beomgyu didn’t try to give you tips, but it was different with him. Not to mention that you wanted your song choice to be a secret from him because at least you could tease him with this, and you wanted him to... well, maybe get a bit surprised? Impressed? Because Speechless by Naomi Scott was definitely not the easiest song to sing, and maybe you wanted him to be a bit speechless, too.

Anyways, the purpose of your stay at the camp was improvement, and by the time the final jam night rolled by, you had already improved so much, gained confidence, learned from professionals, made really good friends, had a really fun month and of course, you had become close to Beomgyu, so you felt like the real winner, and you didn’t need any special prize on top of that.

However, you didn’t expect to run into Beomgyu in the concert hall backstage that was booked for the night while you were warming up your vocal chords even though you knew that his band would perform that night.

“Are you nervous?” The boy raised an eyebrow in question, and there was no sign of playfulness in his voice, so you knew that he was being serious this time.

“Just a bit. It’s not that bad,” you admitted with a light smile. You had already been in situations like this for the camp’s audition, the open mic night and the campfire night, and even though now you had a whole concert hall to fill with your voice, not just the usual assembled stage between the canteen and a few wooden cabins, you were singing for more or less the same people. So your anxiety wasn’t off the roof, and you were supported by great people, so you had nothing to worry about.

“That’s a relief,” Beomgyu remarked, mirroring your smile, and reached into his pocket. Then, he reached for your hand, and even though it was the first time he touched you so gently (and not teasingly), you were more surprised by the feeling of a metal object in your hand than his touch. When you looked down at it, you gasped. It was a bracelet with tiny little symbols attached to it ranging from music notes to flowers and even a strawberry (because he had already gotten to know about your love for strawberries), so you knew that it was made with you in mind because all your favourite things were there.

“It’s just a little lucky charm, though I’m 110% sure you’ll do great,” Beomgyu reasoned quietly, breaking the silence that fell over the two of you as you were staring at the bracelet in awe. You looked up at him when he spoke up, and immediately broke into a smile.

“Thank you! I love it! It’s so pretty!” You exclaimed beamingly, and before you could think twice, you closed the distance between you two, and hugged the boy. He hugged you back, holding you in his arms tightly, making you feel like nothing could go wrong if he was around, making you feel safe and sound.

As expected, your moment was shattered into pieces when someone cooed:

“Oh, I can’t believe we sent Beomgyu to a camp to get a girlfriend for himself!” Hueningkai from #012 snickered when you two took a few steps back from each other when you heard them, and looked at them wide-eyed.

“Yah, you never know when not to disturb someone!” Beomgyu retorted, but the younger boy merely stuck his tongue out at him, as childish as ever. Taehyun rolled his eyes seeing their bickering, but didn’t say anything.

“I could take it as an offense, but I won’t because I’m such an angel!”

“Alright, we’ve had enough of you,” Taehyun interrupted his all too eager bandmate, covering Hueningkai’s mouth with his hands and looking back at Beomgyu in the meantime. “Anyway, we came to tell you that we’re up next!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Beomgyu reassured them, turning back to you with an apologetic smile. You smiled back at him, waving him off because he needed to go, and that wasn’t his fault. He mouthed a thank you and followed his bandmates, and you swore you could hear Hueningkai asking the boy about you.

After that, everything seemed like a blur. Better and better performances were displayed, and both the campers and the instructors did well, so you had a fun time watching and listening to everyone. Every time you would catch yourself panicking a bit, you looked down at the bracelet around your wrist, and it helped to put your mind at ease, so much that you don’t remember ever putting on as good of a performance as that day, so you were genuinely so happy about overcoming your fear of performing all alone in front of so many people that you didn’t even get discouraged when they announced the camp’s IT boy - Choi Yeonjun - as the winner of the final jam.

You didn’t even need that win to meet and sing with Beomgyu because he gave you his number after the final jam (after giving you a bone-crushing hug), and even though you had no idea what dating a pop star like him would be like, you were so ready for doing this with him, the one and only Choi Beomgyu.

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alt-rose · 4 years ago

Text

a trip to syracuse - colson baker

colson baker imagine

a trip to syracuse - a trip to syracuse leads to a cameo and a heart to heart.

word count: 4.9K (someone stop me)

the scene is in big time adolescence. if you haven’t seen it, i highly recommend. it’s on hulu.

(this could be considered a part 2 to 21, but it could be read alone)

(GIF from tenor)

it was July. you had spent your last few months working your ass off at SNL before staring as a lead in your first comedy film after your second season of SNL had ended. you had been all over the country in the last few months. you were in New York for work. then, you traveled home to your hometown to visit your family during your first week of the summer hiatus. then, you had to ship out to LA to work on your movie. then, you somehow ended back in your hometown.

you were everywhere. busy. never had time for yourself, or the time to do what you really wanted.

you hadn’t seen Colson since a few weeks after your birthday weekend. you texted back and forth. you called occasionally when you both had time. he made you laugh, and you, of course, enjoyed hearing about all his crazy stories. you looked forward to the random pictures he sent you from the studio or from set. he liked having something to share with someone, or rather, someone to share things with.

the two of you were like two best friends that could share everything with each other without needing to be physically there for each other. you could go days without talking because of your busy schedules, yet whenever you caught up with each other, it felt so natural. your relationship felt impossible to explain to anyone that asked. you felt connected to him somehow, but you couldn’t place the feeling.

colson baker: you should come visit me

that was the text you got at 3 am on a Wednesday, well technically Thursday.

you smiled at your phone as you stared at it. the light blinded you as you laid in bed in your dark bedroom at your parent’s house. it was 4 am in New York. what could he have possibly been doing? you learned not to ask that question often when it came to Colson and Pete. they were night owls and tended to drink or smoke anything they could get their hands on. for your sake, you’d rather not know what they were doing. it helped keep your nerves at bay.

however, 4 am in New York tended to worry you a bit. you opened your phone, squinting as the light grew brighter. you began to type back.

you: I should?

you: please tell me you are being safe

you scrolled through your phone as you waited for a response. your phone buzzed with a notification. you opened the message.

colson baker: safe at pete’s place

ah. Pete’s place was their new hangout. Pete was staying with his girlfriend, AG, as you called her, and it was technically her place. they were getting ready to head to Syracuse in a week or so for Pete’s new movie that Colson was making a cameo in.

colson baker: you should visit

colson baker: call me a pussy but I miss you

you smiled at that text. he missed you. your heart thumped in your chest.

you: I miss you too

you: text me tomorrow when you are sober and it’s not the middle of the night.

you: let’s see if sober colson wants me to visit

you watched as the typing bubbles appeared before the message appeared.

colson baker: sober colson said yes

colson baker: but, I’ll text you tomorrow about it

you laugh at his message before typing back.

you: goodnight cols

you: get some rest

your eyes began to lull shut, but you were determined to stay up for the next ten minutes in case he wanted to text you.

you fell asleep to one finally message from him.

colson baker: goodnight velcro monkey

somehow the velcro monkey joke always made an appearance when someone was drunk or high. it made them laugh at how the reserved, independent person you were could turn into the clingiest drunk on the planet.

you smiled one last time before shutting off your phone and going back to sleep.

the next morning, you sat in your parents’ kitchen answering emails on your laptop. your attention was occasionally pulled away from work as you watched your dogs play in the family room. it was good to be home for a bit, but your parents and dogs were a bit distracting when it came time to work.

“your phone has been buzzing for the last 20 minutes,” you mom said setting your phone down at the kitchen table. “you left this upstairs.”

“god, thank you,” you tell her not looking up from your computer.

“a lot of messages from a Colson Baker,” she gives you a look, raising her eyebrow.

“who’s Colson Baker?” your dad asked butting into the conversation as he made his way into the kitchen.

you moved to quickly snatch you phone from them. you were an adult now with an adult job, yet they still treated you like a teenager.

“a friend,” you reply as you opened your phone.

you had four messages and a missed call from Colson.

“seemed like they really wanted to get a hold of you,” you mom hummed as she moved to make her third cup of coffee that day.

“why do they want to get a hold of you so badly? seems important,” your dad chimed in.

“guys, it’s fine. please chill,” you reply. “just a friend. anyway, I have to take this call.”

you got up from the table before taking your dogs out to your back patio. you took a seat on one of the outdoor lounges as you called Colson.

“hey,” his raspy voice rang through the phone.

“hey,” you sigh. “what’s up with Syracuse?”

“you should come visit me in Syracuse.”

“I know, but why Syracuse?” you laugh.

“Pete’s doing his movie, and we’re both making a cameo.”

you went silent for a bit.

“we talked to the director this morning. they need background for my cameo scene, so I suggested you to Pete, and he was cool with it. the director said it was cool if you wanted to join the project for a cameo.”

“are you serious?”

“deadly. come spend the rest of the summer in Syracuse with me.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule-”

“shut up,” he laughed. “I know you’re free.”

“you’re right,” you sighed. “my family isn’t going to be happy with me leaving again, but they can just visit when SNL starts back up.”

“so you’ll do it?”

“sure, what else do I have to do?” you asked adjusting the phone to your ear. “plus, a week or two in Syracuse with you and Pete would be fun.”

“YES,” you heard him shout over the phone. “aight, cool,” he finally calms down. “I’ll let Pete know.”

“alright, Cols. sounds good,” you sigh into the phone.

“what’s wrong?” he asked after a beat.

“nothing. I’m just trying to figure out how to explain why a Colson Baker was blowing up my phone earlier to my parents.”

you heard him let out a laugh from his end. you heard him murmur something to someone. you heard him laugh once more before he addressed you.

“Pete said to tell your parents that I’m your dealer.”

“tell Pete that my parents might have a heart attack.”

you heard him mumble something before you heard a roar of voices.

“tell your parents that Colson works as a janitor for NBC,” you heard Pete yell into the phone.

“you guys are ridiculous,” you sigh into the phone as you pinch the bridge of your nose.

“but you love us,” Pete sang into the phone.

“yeah, I do.”

you heard them laugh.

“you could just tell you parents the truth,” Colson suggested. “I don’t mind your family knowing. the whole reason we were keeping it quiet was to keep you out of the spotlight.”

you thought about it for a minute.

“and what exactly are we keeping from her family?” you heard Pete in the background.

“that I’m her best friend now. I replaced you,” Colson quickly replied.

“HEY,” you yelled sitting up in your seat. “I never said that.”

“it’s okay,” Pete said louder into the phone. you can only assume he was closer to the phone. “I know you love him more than me.”

“that’s not true,” you said in a defensive tone. “I love you both equally.”

“RIIIIIGHT,” Pete drew through the phone.

“right,” Colson agreed.

“it’s okay. I know who you text when you’re supposed to be working, (y/n),” Pete slyly said in the phone.

“knock it off, Pete,” you growl into the phone, causing the guys to laugh. “where’s your girlfriend? can’t you go bother her?”

“oh shit,” you heard Pete say. “I forgot to bring her the food we made. bye (y/n).”

you laughed at him before you heard Colson.

“I took you off speaker. he went back into his room with the food.”

“you guys made breakfast?”

“yeah, our post-mushroom pancakes,” he said. “totally came down from them a half hour ago. the food’s probably cold as shit now.”

“RIP to AG’s kitchen.”

“RIP, indeed.”

you laughed.

“I can’t wait to see you, Cols,” you smile into the phone.

“I’m excited to see you, too. I’ll send you a plane ticket.”

“I can pay for my own plane ticket. it’s okay,” you reply. “you can save that up to buy me dinner when I get to Syracuse.”

“(y/n) (y/l/n), are you asking me on a date?”

“too forward?” you laugh.

“not forward enough. maybe, I could buy you breakfast too?”

you laugh and cover your mouth with his suggestion before you finally calm yourself down.

“maybe you could,” you reply coolly.

“NOOOO,” he whined into the phone. “can you come to New York now?”

you laughed together before the conversation lulled into a gentle silence.

“can I tell you a secret?” you whisper into the phone.

“shoot.”

“I’ve been listening to your music.”

you paused waiting for his reaction.

“oh boy, have I converted you to hip hop and rap?”

“no, I made an exception for Machine Gun Kelly,” you smile.

“really?” you could hear him shift around. “got a favorite?”

“27,” you reply too quickly. “I’m a sucker for the piano. Kiss the Sky and Habit are pretty good too.”

“next show I have, you’re gonna be in the crowd. I want to perform for you.”

“for me?” you ask in a posh voice. “you could always give me a private show.”

“I just might.”

suddenly, your attention was pulled to your mom who was standing at the back door. you raise an eyebrow at her as you listened to Colson mumble through the phone.

“hold on, Cols,” you tell him. “what’s up?” you ask her.

“we’re leaving in a half an hour to go to dinner at your grandparents. you need to get ready,” she replied.

you nod to her. she stood in the doorway waiting for you to get off the phone. you raised another eyebrow at her. she wanted to eavesdrop on your conversation.

“alright,” you sigh. “Cols, I have to go. I have dinner with my grandparents.”

“fine. fine. call me later?”

“yeah, I’ll call you later.”

“bye (y/n), love you.”

you smiled at that. even though the love was platonic, it felt good to hear it from him.

“bye Cols, love you too.”

once you hung up, you gave your mom a pointed look.

“love, huh?” she smiled.

“just a friend,” you mutter before calling the dogs in.

“just a friend that you love,” she teased.

“so who is Colson Baker?” your dad chimed in once the two of you made it inside.

“he’s a friend of Pete and I,” you reply heading to the stairs.

“what does he do?” your dad asked looking up from his phone.

“just look him up. I have to get ready.”

once you safely made it up the stairs and away from their questions, you began to rummage through your closet for clothes. you were pulled out of your search by your dad yelling up the stairs.

“MACHINE GUN KELLY. YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH MACHINE GUN KELLY?”

a week and a half later, you were on a plane to Syracuse. your parents weren’t super hip about you leaving so soon, but you argued that it was for work. and, it was. you weren’t lying.

they also were not so happy about your friendship with Colson, or Machine Gun Kelly as they knew him. your mom argued for the tattoos, which made no sense, since they liked Pete, and he had tattoos. they were also not so impressed that he was a rapper.

maybe, you shouldn’t have let them read all the articles about him.

he was heavily misunderstood by the media, and Colson was not ‘Machine Gun Kelly’. he was Colson Baker. you tried to explain that he was so much more than what the media portrayed, but your parents were more of the seeing rather than believing type.

with that all said, you were happy to be out of the house. you were tired of constantly arguing for and defending your friendship. anytime you got super defensive of Colson, your family accused you of being in love with him. were you? hell yeah. but, you weren’t going to admit that to anyone. you ran from your feelings, remember?

once you finally landed at the airport in Syracuse, you texted the guys.

colson baker: in line waiting for you

colson baker: north pick up line

colson baker: black escalade

when you finally made it out the doors with your baggage, you searched for the black escalade. you attention was pulled to the sound of doors opening, and you found Colson on the passenger side of the car as Pete climbed into the backseat. you smiled as you watched the guys. you made your way to them.

“hi,” you smile.

“hi,” Colson replied looking down at you.

you kinda forgot what it was like to be around six-foot giants. Colson moved to take your bag from you before putting it in the trunk. after you helped him load up your bag, he took your hand and led you to the passenger seat.

before you could hop in, he grabbed you and kissed you. you moved to grip the fabric of his jacket as you kissed him back.

“did you just kiss her? what? did he just kiss you?” Pete asked dumbfounded from the backseat as he looked back and forth from you and Colson.

you laughed to yourself as you buckled your seat belt while Colson made his way to the driver’s seat. as he hopped in and buckled up, he turned to you. you laughed before turning to Pete.

“anyone want to answer me? did you kiss her?” Pete said slapping Colson’s shoulder with the back of his hand.

“yeah, I did. what are you going to do about it?” Colson raised an eyebrow at him.

you laughed picking at the skin of your lip.

“what the hell? am I third wheeling this whole trip?”

“dude, you would have had me third wheeling this whole trip if we didn’t invite her.”

“how long?” Pete whined. “how long has this been a thing?”

“since my birthday,” you reply quietly.

“since your birthday,” he said dropping his jaw. “that was months ago.”

“I know,” you laugh. “to be fair, we haven’t seen each other much since. we’ve been talking and stuff, though.”

“what the hell, guys.”

you and Colson both laughed as he pulled out of his spot in line and drove toward your hotel.

“oh, I told my parents about you, and they googled you. they aren’t very happy.”

“fantastic.”

you spent your first day on set waiting around for the guys in Pete’s trailer before your call time. you and Colson sat and talked, just being close to each other after months apart. once it was finally your call time, you got your makeup and hair done, which wasn’t much considering you were just an extra in a scene.

the director had you placed at a bar table with two other girls. drinks were all placed in front of you. you fixed your hair a bit before the director called action. the scene began and you just kept your head down, while you waited for your cue. one of the guys walked up to your table and began talking to the three of you. the camera panned over to your table, and the guy began his lines. you smiled and laughed at him.

“I already have a tab open so if you want another-”

“hey,” Pete yelled catching your attention. “I’m sorry about our friend. we found him in a dumpster. he’s a rescue. sorry”

“it’s okay,” the girl next to you yelled.

“aw don’t worry. he’s got all of his shots though, so he won’t bite,” Pete called back.

“oh,” the girl laughed. “what about your puppy?”

“who? Mo?”

“yeah, he looks a little young to be in here.”

“you look a little old to be in here,” Pete shot back. you had to hold in your laugh.

“CUT,” the director yelled. “let’s do it one more time, just in case, and then move on.”

you repeated the scene once more before everyone moved on to the next part of your scene. the guys all crowded around your small table. Colson stood behind Pete, who was sitting on one of the barstools.

“you guys look great. can we get another girl on the other side of Griffin please?” the director asked, gesturing to the second lead in the film. “(y/n), can you move?”

“yeah,” you reply before hopping out of your seat to sit on the other side of Griffin. you then realized that you were directly in the camera’s line of vision.

you looked up at Colson who was across the table from you. he sent you a wink before taking a drink of whatever liquid was in his glass. you smiled back at him before Pete reached across the table to fist bump you. you laughed at him before getting ready for the scene.

the director moved back and called “Action.”

“Mo actually got back from the army,” Pete started his lines.

“yeah?” you respond.

“yeah, he was there for 16 years,” Pete replied to you.

“let’s not talk about, yeah,” Griffin responded giving Pete and Colson a look.

“anyway, yeah, he hasn’t been laid in 16 years. how crazy is that?” Pete said before Colson could interrupt him.

“aye, to Mo,” Colson said bring his glass in.

“to Mo,” the table responded crashing the glasses together.

“welcome back brother,” Colson said.

“yeah, man.”

“hoo-rah, right?” Colson said clinking his glass to yours.

“hoo-rah,” Griffin cheered back.

“hey, may we all make it to heaven before the devil knows we’re dead, baby,” Colson yelled.

“YEAH,” Pete cheered back beating his chest like a frat boy.

“cheers,” Griffin called before clinking his glass to yours.

“wait. what does that mean?” Pete asked.

“like, we’re sinners and-and-” Colson nodded his head. “and, bad motherfuckers, and he’s coming to suck us back…” Colson paused to do a little motion before continuing. “he wants us.”

“isn’t that, like a Buzz Frontier song?” the other guy asked, and Colson looked up at him.

“who wants us?” Pete interrupts looking at Colson. “what did he do? what did we do?”

“Satan, motherfucker, wants us,” Colson said moving his head to emphasize each word.

he then bent his head back up before making eye contact with you. one of the other girls began to laugh, which caused the table to laugh with her. Colson sent you another wink, and you smiled back at him.

“Cut,” the director called. “that was good. let’s do it one more time.”

you were sad that your scene was over. you liked working with Pete and Colson. after you finished getting out of your costume, you put your clothes back on before heading to Pete’s trailer. in there, Pete and Colson were lounging on the furniture.

“what are you two doing?” you laugh as you close the trailer door behind you.

“waiting for you,” Pete shot back.

“what’s the plan?” you asked taking a seat on the couch next to Colson.

he wrapped an arm around you.

“I have to shoot for a few more hours, but we can meet up later,” Pete suggested.

“do you want to go out?” Colson asked you. “while we wait.”

“sure,” you nodded. “what time do you think you’ll be done?” you asked Pete.

“not sure, but I’ll text you.” Pete stood up from his seat. “I have to get back, but I’ll see you later.”

“aight,” Colson replied reaching to dab up Pete.

Pete took his hand before patting you on the head.

“bye Pete,” you call to him as he leaves.

“bye, be safe,” he laughs back at the two of you.

as you watched the door of the trailer shut, you felt a pair of eyes on you. you turned to find Colson staring down at you.

“what?” you laugh at him. “do I have something on my face?”

“no.” he gave you a small smile.

“then, stop staring at me like that.”

“staring at you like what?”

“like that,” you said pointing at his face. “making me feel self-conscious.”

“can’t help that you’re really pretty.”

“and that’s my cue to go,” you say starting to get up from the couch.

Colson laughed behind you before pulling you back onto the couch.

“do you want to go to the mall?” he asked smiling at you. “then I can take you out for that dinner you promised me.”

“ohhhh, I guess I did promise you a dinner,” you hum. “let’s go then.”

“try it on.”

“no. did you see how many zeros were on that tag?”

“jesus, just try it on.”

“no.”

“get in that goddamn dressing room and try on the goddamn dress,” Colson mutter quietly to you.

Colson had dragged you into some fancy boutique to “buy you a dress.” you resisted, of course, and the fact that he was so willing to buy you an expensive dress scared you. you were very responsible with your money, and you never splurged on yourself. this, of course, was not going over well with Colson now that you were refusing to even try on a dress that was more than a hundred dollars.

“Colson, it’s really expensive,” you softly say looking up at him.

“so?” he shrugged. “please let me buy you something nice.” he gave you the closest thing he could to ‘puppy dog eyes.’

“jesus, fine,” you breathe pulling yourself from his eyes. “I’m trying it on, but if I don’t like it, you’re not buying it.”

“scouts honor,” he said holding up his hand.

with that, you snatched the hot pink mini dress from his hands and marched toward the dressing room. you could hear Colson lightly laughing at you as he watched you.

once you made it into the dressing room, you took a seat on the bench. you put your head in your hands before taking a breath. were you doing this? yes, and it went against every bone in your body. after you settled yourself down, you began to take off your clothes before trying on the dress.

once you began to slip on the dress, you couldn’t get it to zip up. you tried every angle possible, but the zipper wouldn’t budge. you let out a heavy sigh before collecting yourself. you peeked through the sliver of the door to see if Colson was outside the dressing room. you found him browsing at a rack of clothes a few feet from your dressing room.

you opened the door by a crack before poking your head out.

“Colson,” you whisper-yelled to him.

his head perked up before finding you. he began to stalk closer to you.

“how does it look?” he asked when he got to you.

“I think I need a bigger size,” you admitted to him.

“I’ll go grab the next size up, but can I at least see it?”

“no, it won’t zip up,” you shot back.

“can I try?”

“can you try?”

“jesus christ,” he sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. “just turn around.”

you opened the door a bit more before turning around. you felt him place his hands on your hips before finding the zipper.

“this should totally zip,” he whispered in your ear. “the zipper’s just stuck.”

you felt him move the zipper down before pulling it back up. the dress finally zipped.

you sighed once the dress finally fit properly. as you glanced in the mirror, you fell in love with the dress. you looked good. it was almost as if the dress was made for your body. it didn’t gap in weird places, and it wasn’t too snug. it felt perfect, and for its price, you were glad it was perfect. it would be a rip-off if it wasn’t.

“damn,” Colson whispered.

“damn,” you nodded.

“you’re getting it.”

“I’m not going to fight you on it,” you reply turning around to face him. “now, get out so I can get dressed.”

“at least, let me unzip you first,” he laughed.

four hours and a shopping trip later, you and Colson were sitting in some fancy restaurant together. he was in a fashionable shirt and jacket while you sat in your hot pink mini dress.

“thank you for dinner,” you say reaching across the table to take his hand.

“you’re welcome,” he smiled at you after he handed the paid check back to the waitress. “I promised you a dinner, didn’t i?”

“you did,” you laugh.

“you wanna get out of here?” he suggests nodding toward the door.

“sure,” you nod back.

with that, he moved to help you out of your chair. with his hand in yours, the two of you headed to his rental car. he opened the passenger door for you. before you could get in the car, you turned and placed a hand on his cheek.

his eyes met yours, and your heart melted. his hands landed on your waist, and he pulled you close before planting his lips on yours. you leaned up to kiss him back. and there you were, standing in the parking lot of a fancy restaurant making out like a bunch of teenagers.

at sunset, the two of you were sitting at the private rooftop patio of your hotel. you were both laying on one of the daybeds watching the sky change colors. you were deep in thought.

“I’m scared,” you admit staring up at the sky.

“scared?” Colson quietly asked you from where he was laying next to you.

“yeah,” you breathe. “I don’t do relationships. I run from them. maybe it’s my fear of rejection or my fear of getting hurt.” you pause for a moment. “I really like you. like really, really like you. and part of me is scared because I don’t want to get hurt, but I want a relationship. I want love, you know?”

“I get it,” he murmured next to you.

you were both at the point of the night where deep conversations were rolling. should you have been so honest with him? who knows. would you regret it tomorrow? maybe. but, right now, it had been said.

“and, I want a relationship with you.” he rolled over on his side to face you. “I’m just scared because I don’t want to be just another girl for you. you buy me a pretty dress and take me to dinner with the hopes that I land in your bed tonight, and it makes me wonder,” you whisper.

you could feel his gaze. he took one of your hands and placed a kiss on the backside of it.

“you and I both know my track record with relationships kinda suck,” he starts. “but, I want this to work.” he brushed a peace of hair from your face. “I’ve never felt this way with anyone, and I’m going to be completely honest when I say it scares the shit out of me. and, if it makes you more comfortable, we can take this relationship at whatever speed you want it to go. I just want to be with you. I want to make this work, and I want to be a part of your life. I want this relationship to be more than just texts at 4 am and kissing you once every three months.”

you were both quiet for a bit. you were processing what he had said. he wants this to work. he wants to be with you. he wants this relationship, and he wants it to be more.

“I’m gonna fall in love with you if you keep saying shit like that,” you whisper after your moment of silence.

“good,” he smiled placing a hand on your cheek. “because, I’m falling in love with you.”

your breath caught in your throat. you wrapped your arms around his neck before pulling him down to you. he placed his lips on yours and kissed you. laying there in the daybed, you kissed him back.

“be my whatever,” he whispered.

“be your whatever?” you ask raising an eyebrow.

“yeah, whatever you want to call yourself. just be mine. be mine, baby.”

“okay.”

and you kissed him once more.

not sure how i feel about this. hopefully, this does justice for a part two, anon. i hope you enjoyed. feel free to send requests. - rose xx

#colson baker #colson baker imagines #colson baker x reader #machine gun kelly imagines #machine gun kelly x reader

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daydreamsofh · 4 years ago

Text

Terrible Love- Part Two

A/N: Ahhhhh hello! Welcome to Terrible Love, part two! I have had so much fun writing this story, and I am so so proud of it, and so happy to share it with you!

A massive thank you to my girl @harryinsweatersandbandanas for just being herself and always encouraging me, and to my sweet friend @dallas-suit-harry for being the best beta reader ever! I’m so lucky to know you, Em! <3

Here we go, again! Feedback and reblogs are always welcome, my ask box is always always open!

Summary: Love, or should I say falling for your best friend has a way of being terrible, and wonderful all at the same time.

Inspired by the song: Terrible Love- Birdy

Word Count: 6k, almost 7k

Part One: Terrible Love

You weren’t proud of what you did. Leading guys on wasn’t one of your hobbies, and you genuinely felt bad for inviting Connor to go to the party with you, knowing there were no hopes of an actual chance of a relationship between the two of you at the end of the night. It wasn’t like you were a villain in a romantic comedy, wheelding your imaginary sword to hurt people on purpose. If anything, you did feel like you were in the middle of a romantic comedy, torn between wanting Harry so badly it made you sick, and all the while being so weary of him and the mountain of feelings you held for him. Although, It was clearly looking like you didn’t really have a choice in being with him, his hands and mind busy with someone else. But still that didn’t stop the aching feeling you had in your chest, and the shaking feeling you had in your hands.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, however you were convinced that absence from the guy you were embarrassingly in love with, made the heart grow bitter and on the verge of an emotional breakdown at any given second. Harry was normally always on your mind, but ever since he got home it was tenfold. You couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, you felt like you would never catch your breath. You would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking about who gave him those marks on his neck, who got to feel his lips against theirs, to feel the stubble of his jaw lightly grazing their skin. The feeling of his hands, no doubt a little bit rough in texture from the nights on end of him strumming his guitar on stage, gripping on to their hips in the most possessive, yet gentle way. The knowledge that the smile on his face and the extra swing in his step was from the new flame budding between the two of them.

You were more uneasy now that he was home again, there was no way to ignore your feelings when he was literally right in front of you. You found yourself unable to sleep, yet again, and without having the comforts to lull you to sleep like when he was gone. There was no duvet to bury under that smelled of him, no bedside book’s that have the lines he fell in love with littering the pages to make your eyes heavy, and no air to breathe that he once had. You were awake at all hours of the night wondering who was on his mind and in his heart, the way he was in yours.

Meanwhile, Harry was absolutely positive he was losing it. He was unable to focus on anything for longer than five minutes before his mind filtered back to you. More specifically, your smell on his sheets and throughout the air of his home, he wondered where you had sat and where you had laid your head to rest, where had you eaten your breakfast and where had you taken his calls? He was romanticizing every little detail about you that was now etched into his home. Even the strands of hair that were stuck to his pillow, and the smell of your perfume practically stamped into every one of his jumpers, every little thing. He was even dreaming about you, and he doesn’t need an expert to tell him that that is a clear sign that that was a sign. He loved you, he was sure of it. But among other things, he was also painfully sure that it seemed you had met someone else. When you were so nonchalant about going on a date and then coming back to his house afterwards like it was no big deal, he had never been so cross with you, but mainly with himself.

How is it that he never said anything? How is it that he’s a man who writes love songs for a living and always urges people to tell people how they feel, no matter how embarrassing and terrifying that may be? How is he someone who says “Give Love, Choose Love” so naturally, so afraid to just bloody tell you how he feels?! How is he someone who fearlessly spews romantic advice to those who ask for it, and he can’t tell you how he feels? How is he a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, (literally and figuratively) and he can’t tell you how he really feels about you? He’s known he’s loved you for forever, but now he’s more than sure that he’s in love with you, and that notion, the one that he’s in love with his best friend is the most mind blowing/overwhelming revelation that he thinks he’s ever had. Hang performing in front of thousands of people, this is the biggest rush he’s ever felt. What is he supposed to do now?! You have a new guy in your life and he’s not the type of guy to run in the middle of that and cause a scene, and plus, who knows if you even feel the same way? He’s gone for months at a time, and while his personal life is more private now than ever before, being in his life in that way does require being a bit in the spotlight, and he’s not going to ask you to sign up for that.

But Christ, what if you are? What if you did want to sign up for that? Being his girlfriend, being in his life in a way you never have been before? BUT, you have a bloody boyf-friend-thing. Christ. How the hell did you even have time to meet someone? He had spoken to you nearly every day he had been gone, and he never even got the slightest inkling that there was anyone remotely new in your life. Let alone a dodgy sounding guy like him?! Christ how long had he really been gone? You had been so cheerful with him on the phone, but you always are. Telling him everything was good and that he doesn’t even need to come back because you had made yourself right at home. He had laughed at that one, the kind of breathy laugh that turns into the most dreamy sigh because the thought of you calling his house, home, is something straight out of one of his dreams. And yours too, but that's besides the point.

He felt so stuck in the weeds and he just wanted to grab your shoulders and shake you and kiss you until you were breathless. But on the other hand, you had only just started dating this new guy, so maybe he could still say something. He had to, or he at least had to try.

Every time Harry finished a tour, or the leg of a tour, Jeff was insistent on throwing him a welcome home party. As if he hadn’t just been showered with love from stadiums of people for months on end. You had attended every single one, because if there’s anyone who is best in the category of showering Harry with love, you take the cake. You stood alongside Anne and Gemma for a majority of the last one, in between gazing at him with so much love in your eyes you couldn’t believe you weren't actively crying the entire time. When he cozied up beside you after all of the toasts in his honor, you could feel the heat radiating from him, and then he slipped his hand to rest over your leg under the table. You couldn’t feel your hands when he reached over to give yours a squeeze, and when Gemma and Anne weren’t looking you leaned over and planted a kiss on his shoulder before pausing to rest your head there and gaze up at him. He gave you a lopsided smile, (one of your favorite ones of his) and he dipped down to kiss your forehead.

You had chalked up his touchy behavior to him being slightly buzzed, but for the next week every time you looked down at your hands you stopped breathing for a few seconds.

You were dreading this one though, positively absolutely dreading it. You were mad at Harry, and sad and jealous of whoever he was now mysteriously dating while on the road, but you couldn't not go. You couldn’t not go and tell him how proud of him you were, and it didn’t matter how frustrated you were at the situation, or really at the universe for misaligning the timing of you two, again. You hated to throw the i’m in love with my best friend and he has no idea and has some secret new girlfriend and you just wanted to cry the entire time card, but it was very tempting. You knew that if you didn’t go, that would raise more suspicion and would require further explanation, so you were forcing yourself to go.

There was only a two day stretch from the time Harry got home to the night of the party. You had been nauseous most of the day, incredibly anxious about the fact that you were about to be in the same space as him for an unimaginable amount of time, with a guy who you barely knew and definitely shouldn't have invited to come with you. While you were positive that Harry didn’t feel the same way, you were also positive that you didn’t want to be with anyone else, either. Who knows, maybe you would wind up being an 80 year old woman, single and alone with an australian shepherd mysteriously named Harry. Anything was possible at this point.

You had been more than useless at work all week, and the closer the time came for the party, the more you were thinking of reasons to get you out of going. You could say you caught a cold from the office? Or that you ate some bad chinese food and had a stomach ache? Or… you could just run. Run and never look back, hide out somewhere in Italy and start making hand spun soaps out of your living room? Yeah, you liked that option best.

When you had originally texted Connor and asked him if he wanted to tag along, you weren’t really thinking straight. You had tears running down your face and your heart was rolled into a ball in the pit of your stomach. Nothing felt right and you just wanted to turn the car around and fall into Harry. You had just seen the marks on his skin in real time with your own eyes and everytime you shut yours they were lit up with big bold letters beside them. He’s met someone else, get over it. You weren’t looking for an eye for an eye with Harry, but you also didn’t want to show up by yourself and seem anymore sad and alone, however stupid and counterproductive that sounds.

Connor had texted you back almost immediately, clearly looking to hear from you. He said he would love to join you, babe! Which could not have sounded more unnatural coming out of his mouth, or across the screen. Same difference. You guessed you really had no choice than to go, now.

When the day of the party rolled around, you had done everything in your power to stay at work for as long as you possibly could. Save from actually rearranging your desk furniture for the upteenth time, you dredged home to change before Connor picked you up. He had insisted on driving you, (clearly trying to establish his good guy facade) and you would have rather had him hit you with his car than go to the party. A bit dramatic on your end but you really, desperately, whole heartedly, DID NOT want to go. He could just knick you a little and then you would really have a reason not to go. Wait, were you actually thinking of asking a guy you barely knew to hit you…. With his….. Moving car?! Get a grip! You can do this. It’s not like you actually had to have a conversation with Harry, you just had to show up and make your presence somewhat known. You didn’t have to give a toast in his honor or read a poem about your deepest strongest feelings for him. You could do this. It was just one night. One night of acting like you weren’t in love with him, one night of acting like your heart hadn;t been ripped out of your chest, once night of hiding the love that you felt so deeply for him. One more night of you trying to convince yourself that you never needed to know what it was like to feel him brush your hair back as he kissed you, that you never needed to know what it was like for him to glance at you from across the room and wrap you up in his arms, just because he could, that you never needed to know what it sounded like to hear him moan your name out in the middle of the night.

One more night of you trying to convince yourself that he was so much a part of your heart that it was practically in the shape of an H. You could do this. You could learn how to love him from a distance. You at least had to try.

Connor had volunteered to come by your house and pick you up, which you had wanted to say no to, but you thought it was the least you could do if you were dragging him along to this party with you. You could tell that as soon as you asked him to come with you, and who the party was for, he was more than game to go. Name dropping was absolutely not something you ever did, especially Harry’s name, but when he asked you didn’t see any reason to lie.

The drive to the party had been a quiet one, only glancing at him when you felt like it was absolutely necessary when he asked you a question. You gave him short answers, instead focusing on the car getting closer and closer to Harry’s house. When the car came to a gradual stop and Harry's house was in view, you felt your stomach drop and your hands start to shake. You very sullenly opened the door and got out, wanting nothing more than to bolt down the street on foot.

Connor walked from the other side of the car to yours, and you kept your hands to yourself, crossing your arms before falling in line beside him and walking up Harry’s driveway. You could hear loud laughter booming as you got closer to the front door, and you could only guess that Harry was attributing to some of the sound. You let out a small whimper before almost bolting back to the car. The front door to his house was wide open, adding to the relaxed, and easy going mood of the night. You strolled in with Connor in tow, him closely following behind you. When you glanced back at him he was wide eyed, taking in his surroundings while simultaneously taking a count of every one that was there, clearly not used to being around famous people. The house had a few people grazing in and out, with the majority of the people outside in Harry’s backyard. Lights were strung in the trees and you could hear the faint sounds of Fleetwood Mac playing somewhere in the distance.

You felt like a zombie walking into the party, your heart was in your throat and you were afraid to dart your eyes around to see who else was in the room. Too afraid that Harry would be in your immediate direction and you would be forced to look at him and talk to him and hear his voice. Just the image of him in your head made your heart physically ache in your chest and speed ip all at the same time. You didn’t want to see him, but at the same time you wanted to see him as painful as it would be. You just wanted to lay your eyes on him, maybe from a distance, hiding underneath a table where no one could see you weeping, or you know, something like that.

You were busy talking to a mutual friend of yours and Harry’s when you swore you felt the wind in the air change. As dramatic as it sounds, you suddenly felt warmer, safer, and you could feel a pair of very familiar eyes on you. You shifted your gaze from your friend, and when you turned around you made direct eye contact with Harry. Your pulse was rising and you swore you could hear your heart pounding in your ears. You could feel your eyes beginning to brim with tears before you looked away to (as discreetly as you could) wipe your eyes. You felt stuck in your stance but you couldn't ignore the other feeling pulling at you, almost pushing you over to him.

You were trying to listen to what your friend was saying, something about a new cat of hers, but you couldn't hear a word over your whirling thoughts and your head was starting to become dizzy from your eyes darting around the room trying to find Harry again. You were hot and bothered (and not in a good way) at the fact that he was in the same crowded room as you were now, and you felt like a sitting duck, just waiting.

The selfish part of you wanted so badly to feel his arms wrap around your waist and his voice in your ear as opposed to only in your wildest daydreams. He was everywhere but physically with you, and when you really thought about it, that’s how it always seemed. Always on your mind and in your heart but never in your reach. Always a fleeting, overwhelming feeling that only seemed to grow over time. It grew in every touch you shared with him, in every timid and sometimes annoyed glance, every time you made him laugh and every time you made him grin and shake his head in disbelief at you. They grew each time you innocently fell asleep on the couch together after a night of movies, it grew each time he called you while he was away and you could hear the smile in his voice as he told you about each crowd, and each show and which joke he had come up with on stage that was way less funny than it actually sounded. It grew everyday just because he was Harry, just because he was him, and because you were you. You had no say in the matter anymore.

A hand on the small of your back broke your train of thoughts, you jumped and nervously clutched the pendant hanging from your neck before you whipped your head around to see who it was. Much to your disappointment you were met with Connor’s eyes instead of bright green ones and you were unable to hide the pout that your face immediately fell into, and then the nervous uncomfortable smile that you shot at Connor.

“There you are, lost you in the crowd for a bit! Good to see you again,” he said to you with an awkward smile as he threw an even more awkward arm around your shoulder.

His arm felt like a dead weight draped around you and you felt nauseous at the mere sight of the two of you. Your cheeks were beginning to heat up and it certainly wasn’t at the feelings you had toward Connor, rather at the sight of your friend's eyes on you two, together. If this was the look they were sporting, you could only imagine what Harry’s would look like.

You smiled while Connor introduced himself to your friend while at the same time gently but firmly removing his arm from your shoulder. You let it fall to his side before running your hand up and down your arm, suddenly cold from the strange contact and the cool air rustling through you from outside. At the same time as the chill went through you, you heard a familiar voice directly behind you and your knees buckled. You could feel the heat radiating off of Harry behind you and you wanted nothing more than to turn around and fall into his familiar warmth and smell. Oh god you could feel your throat thickening and eyes tearing, this was not the time to cry with he who shall not be named literally directly behind you, close enough to reach out and touch. Get it together!

You heard the conversation behind you die down and before you knew it you felt the familiar brush of a shoulder against yours and your eyes clamped shut before opening again. You felt the air being stolen from your lungs while his presence practically enveloped yours and you felt yourself starting to sway towards him. You felt your breath hitch before your eyes even met his and when they finally did you practically melted into a puddle at his feet.

“Uh oh-- look who it is! Hi love,” Harry warmly spoke to you before his eyes took in your appearance, looking you up and down.

You opened your mouth to speak and when just a squeak came out you cleared your throat before muttering a very profound, dramatically quiet, “Hi, H” Brilliant. Just brilliant!

“Hi love,” he said through a chuckle.

It was like it was just the two of you in the room, his gaze was warm on yours and his eyes were glossy as he watched you and it wasn’t until Connor broke up the moment with a nudge of his elbow annoyingly against yours that you looked away.

You let out a nervous, annoying high pitched laugh before you coughed and turned towards Connor.

“Um, Harry this is, this is Connor, Connor this is Harry,” you gestured in between the both of them and nervously tucked your hair behind your ear before you started fiddling with your pendant again.

Harry’s gazed dropped to the floor before he solemnly picked his head up and reached his hand out to shake Connor’s hand, and you had never wanted to go back in time so badly, back in time to when Connor picked you up, instead of just asking him to hit you with his stupid car just to get you out of this horribly awkward and uncomfortable moment.

Harry cleared his throat before firmly shaking Connor’s hand (almost a little too firmly if the buckle in Connor’s knees told you anything) and introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you, thanks for,” Harry glanced in between the both of you before continuing, “Thanks for coming out tonight.”

Connor cleared his throat before you could see him trying to make himself taller by puffing his chest out and muttering a less than confident, “So good to meet you, mate! I’m a huge fan of all of your….. Stuff!”

You dropped your gaze back to the floor and your cheeks were positively on fire and when you looked back at Harry he had a dazed, confused and solemn look on his face that you couldn’t quite read.

Harry spoke up before you could think to say literally anything and he stratched his hand up and down the back of his neck, (a nervous habit you picked up on years ago) before he sighed and looked back, only at you this time.

“Well, I’m glad you’re both- you’re both here. Drinks are around back and I’ll be around if you need anything,” he gave you a weak smile and you just shook your head before looking down at your feet again.

It was the most awkward, lukewarm conversation (if you can even call it that) and you felt sick to your stomach- had you two reached that point in your friendship? In your whatever-you-call-this-ship? If you took being with Harry in a romantic sort of way off the table completely, if you learned to love him from a distance, is this what it would be like and feel like?

The awkward silence and not knowing what to say, the knowing glances and not-knowing glances, and the glances where you know what one of you wants to say but you just... can’t? The rubbish timing and people in between you, the aching, empty feeling in the pit of your stomach and your heart. Not being in his life remotely as much as you were, now? You weren’t sure you could do that. No, you were positive you couldn’t do that.

The majority of the night consisted of stolen, painful glances and half lipped smiles and half full glasses. You had listened to the toasts in Harry’s honor and the speeches recounting details of tour life and rounds of applause. After things had died down a bit and you had lost Connor in the crowd of people (thankfully and more than willingly), you found yourself inside the house, wandering the halls and eventually landing in his closet.

It was a strange thing, but his wardrobe always brought a sense of comfort to you. It was big enough to live in and packed to the brim with clothes enough to make you feel oddly safe. Surrounded by the pieces that made Harry who he was and that had memories of the two of you intertwined through the fabric. And out of the corner of your eye you spotted those atrocious white loafers of his, on the bottom shelf of his shoe shelf and you couldn’t help but let out a loud, slightly inebriated, genuine giggle.

“Thought I heard someone pilfering through my things like a thief in the night, should have known it was you,”

You whipped your head around and your eyes raised and settled in surprise, that warm, almost burning feeling in your chest back again, like it was every time you caught him looking at you.

“I actually just came in here to confiscate these god awful loafers from your closet, never got around to doing that when I was here,” you smiled through your nerves and Harry was gazing at you so warmly you could feel the effects of it all throughout your body.

“You know they're actually not that bad, paired with the right pair of trousers they don’t look so grandpa-y,” he chuckled through his sentence and you mirrored a similar, giddy one.

“Ah of course of course, all depends on how you style it, Lambert teach you that trick, huh, H?”

You noticed a blush creeping down his neck and you could feel the butterflies beginning to erupt in the pit of your stomach.

“He did actually, practically his prodigy at this point, y’know?”

“Oh yeah I bet you are- I’m sure you’re a great student,”

He let out a loud laugh and his eyes were crinkling at your joke and he shook his head before he looked at you again.

He moved closer to you and you felt yourself drift closer to him in response.He was close enough to you now for you to feel the heat radiating off of him, and your fingers itched to reach out and touch him.

He raised his hand up to brush your hair out of your face and behind your ear, and your breath hitched before he brought his gaze up to yours.

Your hand instinctively reached to squeeze his forearm before you moved it across his body to rest on his chest. His hand moved from your hair to grab your hand and he held it firmly, proudly against his chest. You were surprised to feel his heart beating rapidly against the back of your hand, and it took everything in you not to lean forward and brush your lips against his.

His voice was raspy and warm when he opened his mouth, “I realy, really missed you. I’m s’happy you’re here tonight. Always feel so much better when I can see you from across the room,”

You could feel the tears pooling in your eyes and you had to divert your gaze to the row of shoes behind him in order for the tears not to pool down your cheeks. You were leaning into his chest and he was holding a firm, but tentative grip on the side of your face with his other hand.

You could feel his calloused fingers resting against your cheek and it grounded you in the moment and at the same time made your heart race faster.

How could he say things, incredible incredible things like this to you, and have marks from someone else on his neck, at the same time?

That thought was enough to bring you back to earth and you cleared your throat before briefly shifting your stance in his arms.

You retreated the tiniest bit and his hands and eyes were following you, and with whatever strength you had left you squeaked out, “I’m really happy I’m here too, H. I can’t even tell you how good it feels to be in the same room as you again,” your eyes fluttered and shut as you managed to get that out and you felt him rest his forehead against yours.

A knock on the door broke you two out of the moment, you could hear the faint voice of Connor (otherwise known as the ultimate moment ruiner) and an ask if you were ready to leave.

You and Harry were still standing there, resting against each other and his eyes were boring into yours and you just wanted the floor to swallow you both whole. Take the both of you somewhere far, far away where no one else can be found.

You sighed before taking another step backwards out of his grip and muttered a very shaky, nervous, “well I, I guess I should go, he’s kind of my ride,”

Harry cleared his throat before he released his grip on you and you saw his smile turn into a frown before he said, “oh yeah- of course love. I’ll, I guess I’ll see you soon? Thank you f’comin,”

He leaned down to kiss your forehead and you let out the tiniest, hopefully inaudible whimper and you took his hands in yours and gave them a good squeeze before turning away from him.

Heart in your throat and partially in the pit of your stomach you made your way out of his closet and down the hall, where Connor was waiting for you with a giddy grin. He was chit chatting with one of the sound engineers that works on tour with Harry, assuming that was where his good mood was coming from. You watched them say goodbye and when you turned to open the door to leave you couldn’t help but let out a confused, albeit relieved laugh.

You had brought Connor here feeling terrible of giving him the impression you were leading him on, and here he was meeting someone totally new. You were halfway down the driveway when you saw him turn around and wave goodbye to her yet again before you stopped yourself completely.

Wait a minute- wait a minute- wait a minute-wait a minute! If an absolute emobossil of a guy like Connor could meet someone at a house party where he knew literally no one, who's to say you were wrong about how you thought that Harry felt about you? There weren't exactly any rules to love, not any that made sense anyway. Who’s to say that Harry doesn’t feel the exact same way about you, as you do him?

Who’s to say that he’s not as ridiculously, overwhelmingly, annoyingly, dramatically as in love with you, as you are him? You weren’t sure, but you had to find out.

Connor stopped once he realized you weren’t following him anymore, and he turned his head to look at you before walking backwards to catch up to you.

“Did you forget something inside?” he asked you with a quirk to his brow.

You laughed before answering him, “you know what? I actually did. I’ll go back in and get it and just get a car from here, don’t worry about me!”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting.” he said to you before looking behind you to peer at his new friend again.

“I’m positive, plus it looks like someone else is waiting for you, go on,” you smiled before glancing behind you and waving.

“Are you sure?” he asked without even looking at you and you just shook your head.

“I’m more than sure, go on,” you smiled at him again and gave his shoulder a friendly, reassuring squeeze.

And with that you sprinted back into the house and left Connor on the sidewalk to catch up with his new friend.

When you got back into the house there was no one inside, just the aftermath of a usual houseparty- empty bottles of alcohol everywhere and balloons and streamers littering the floor of Harry’s foyer.

You didn’t see him in the kitchen or the living room, so you ran back down the hallway to the wardrobe you left him in. You burst through the door without knocking and sure enough, there he was sat on the ground picking at the carpet on the floor of his closet.

His eyes shot up at you and he jumped to his feet.

“What are y-”

He was cut off by you lunging at him and you gripped the collar of his shirt before tugging him down to where he was eye level with you.

“Love, what are y’doing,” he asked you while rested his forehead against yours, panting at your close proximity.

“Shh, please I need to say this,” you shakily started.

“Harry, I-- oh god I can’t believe i’m saying this, I-,”

“Wait wait, no I need t’say somethin’ first,” he countered when you failed to get the words out.

You took a shaky breath in and you could feel the warmth of his body pulling you in further towards him.

“I love you, I love you, I- m’so in love with you. Please tell m’you don’t love him, please tell me i’m not too late, that we’re not too late,”

You felt your face drop in shock and as dramatic as it was you thought you were going to pass out face first on the very plush carpet of his closet.

“You-you what?!” you practically shouted at him. Your fingertips were burning as you gripped his shirt tighter and you felt like your heart was going to physically beat out of your chest with how loud it was pounding in your ears and against your ribcage.

“I love you, I mean it, I truly, truly do. M’going out of my mind. Please y’can’t leave with him, I can’t be without you any longer,”

“Harry , I-” you started, only to be cut off again by his stammering.

“M’sorry it took me so long t’say but god I mean it, I love you. I’ve been going out of my mind since I got home, I see you everywhere here. You’re in every room I go into, and every corner that I look. I’m better when you’re here, I’m more-- I’m just better. Please, I just, I love you, you have t’believe me,”

When you didn’t say anything back in response Harry took that as his cue to back away but instead you gripped on to him even tighter.

It was suddenly a lot hotter in his room and you were full on shoulders raised and fingers shaking panting, and there were streams of tears rolling down your face.

“You what?!” you shouted at him in disbelief, again.

He laughed before shaking his head at you, “Do you need me to repeat all of that to you again?”

Your only response was to pull him towards you the rest of the way and to slot his lips against yours. The kiss started languilly and Harry was cradling your face in his hands to keep the both of you steady. His lips were so soft and gentle against yours, and you could feel the faint tugging of the remnants of facial hair against your skin and you melted into him.

Your lungs were starting to burn and when you physically couldn’t keep kissing him you broke away from his lips and rested your head against his chest.

You were both panting and when he muttered your name to get you to look at him, you couldn’t help but look up at him with watery eyes.

While this was a mind blowing revelation and you were 50% sure you were dreaming, you got sight of the stupid marks against his neck and you had to finally ask where the hell those came from.

You pulled him to you again, and snaked your arms around the wide expanse of his shoulders. You ran your (albeit shaky) fingers down his neck until you brought your eyes to meet his again.

“Who, who gave you these?” you said, voice barely above a whisper.

Harry looked down at your hands, “Gave me what?”

“What do you mean, ‘gave you what’?! Who gave you these marks?”

“What marks? Love these are from my stupid guitar strap,”

His guitar strap?! His stupid stupid fucking guitar strap?! That was why you had been breaking into sobbing fits for the past two weeks?!

“Are you- are you serious?! That’s why i’ve been crying at the drop of the hat every second since our call a few weeks ago?!” you shook your head and laughed, “I thought someone, I thought you had met someone, and you know…..”

“Absolutely not love. Don’t really have the time for that when i’m on the road, not like i’ve really been interested in that lately to begin with,” he gestured to you and you sputtered out a laugh.

“Okay, well if we’re admitting stuff I guess I should tell you, I’m not with him, Connor. We’ve never been together. I barely know him. I just drugged him here tonight so I wouldn’t be here alone…”

Harry dropped his head in relief before pushing his hair back from his forehead, “Oh thank god,” he muttered from behind his hands.

“Does that mean that you…..” he started.

“I love you, I love you, I absolutely love you, H. You’re my favorite person in the world, I love you, I always have. I’ve always been here,”

Harry lunged forward and slotted his lips against yours again, that was an answer all in itself.

When you broke apart finally Harry spoke up before resting his forehead against yours.

“From here on out, let’s just be honest with each other, yeah? Would have saved a lot of trouble if we’d just said how we felt from the start,”

You simply nodded before pulling him into you and nuzzling your face in his neck.

You stood there for a few moments, just basking in this new feeling of love and sureness that you had between the two of you. Your lips started to quirk and you raised your head from his neck.

“If we’re being completely honest here H, you have got to get rid of those terrible, terrible shoes,” you said it with a serious face before you burst into laughter.

He laughed a bug, genuine laugh before resting his hands on your hips.

“I guess that can be arranged, love,” he rolled his eyes playfully and you batted at his chest.

What a terribly fun love this was going to be.

#waaaah i hope you all enjoy!!!!!#terrible love #harry styles imagines #harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry fluff #oh the yearning #brb going to cry forever now

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thecrownnet · 4 years ago

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weekendmagsocial The Diana we’re desperate to meet. The return of The Crown [...]

*Spoilers Alert*

The Diana we’re desperate to meet. The return of The Crown will feature assassinations, avalanches and the tension between the Queen and Mrs T. But the most anticipated entrance has to be Diana’s. Today Weekend tells how they’ve captured her charisma

[...] The upcoming fourth season will take Diana from her early days as a shy kindergarten teaching assistant to a fairytale princess and an iconic global figure, as well as explore the early days of her disastrous marriage to Prince Charles.Her entrance comes when it returns to our screens in November or December, almost exactly 40 years after Nigel Dempster revealed in the Daily Mail in 1980 that Charles had found his ‘future bride’, having transferred his attention to Diana Spencer from her older sister Sarah.

Like Diana at the time, the actress playing her in The Crown is also a young unknown. Emma Corrin, 24, is a privately educated Cambridge graduate, who didn’t go to drama school.

By coincidence she’s originally from Sevenoaks in Kent, where Diana went to West Heath School from the age of 12 to 16.

Aware of how challenging the role would be for any actress, the producers started their search with a desperate call for ‘a mesmerising new young star with extraordinary range.’

The brief added, ominously: ‘She has to play charming comedy, flirt and social exhibitionist on the world stage, desperate and lonely self-harmer at her lowest ebb and the kind of psychological intensity of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby.’

It would obviously be helpful too if she resembled Diana, and in some of the new scenes, as the kindergarten teaching assistant, and wearing a pink polka-dot dress on her 1983 tour of Australia, the likeness is uncanny.

Emma’s co-star Josh O’Connor, who plays Prince Charles, agrees, saying it was ‘spooky’ how much of a ‘breathtaking spitting image’ of Diana she was.

But Emma says she has never been told she looks like Princess Diana before – although strangely her mother, who works as a speech therapist, has been! ‘I have never had that,’ she adds. ‘I get told I look like a young Jodie Foster.’

Emma spent more than two hours a day in the make-up chair to achieve the Diana look, accentuating her doe eyes, and with several wigs re-creating the journey from ingénue to one of the most stylish women in the world.

Amazingly, she was still working hard for her final exams at Cambridge when she went through the auditions for The Crown.

‘They actually offered me the part in person,’ she says of her last audition. ‘It felt like I’d just been proposed to; it was the best moment of my life. There’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve been glued to the show since the first episode and to think I’m now joining this incredibly talented acting family is just surreal.’

Peter Morgan, the creator, writer and producer of The Crown, has complete confidence in her. ‘Emma is a brilliant talent who immediately captivated us when she came in for the part.

'As well as having the innocence and beauty of a young Diana, she also has, in abundance, the range and complexity to portray an extraordinary woman who went from an anonymous teenager to the most iconic woman of her generation.’

Like all the cast in this heavily researched production, she was given a large bundle of written material and documentaries to watch, and she spent hours on perfecting the princess’s distinctive high voice with a vocal coach and learning how to re-create her particular habit of glancing up from under her fringe, as well as her graceful way of moving.

It’s not an impression, I’m going for essence - Emma Corrin, who plays Diana ‘Something they have been making clear from the start is that this is not an impression,’ says Emma.

‘I am going for essence. Any movement and voice work we have done has been figuring out why she talks the way she does, and how she was a massive departure from the Royal Family, a bit like Meghan is now I guess, by bringing something different in the way she talks.’

Season four brings back memories of naive young Diana, with a re-creation of that first photo, at the Pimlico nursery school where she worked, which showed her holding two of her charges while the sun shone through her skirt, revealing her shapely legs.

And it follows how she becomes hardened into a mature but troubled woman who is the toast of America.

The retelling of the royal romance starts with a traumatic event: the assassination of Charles’s beloved great uncle Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance) who was killed, along with a grandson, a local boy and his son-in-law’s mother, by an IRA bomb hidden on his boat in Ireland in 1979.

Diana recalled how she’d watched Charles at the funeral on TV and when she saw him ten months later – the families were friends – she told him: ‘You must be so lonely? You know, it’s ghastly. You need someone beside you.’ He quickly decided he was in love.

Diana was turning 19 when she got together with Charles. He was 31. After 13 dates they were engaged. The rehearsal of their 1981 wedding at St Paul’s has been filmed in Winchester Cathedral with Emma wearing a replica of the blue floral dress Diana sported before the big day.

A later scene shows the joyful day when Diana, pregnant with Harry – with Emma sporting a fake baby bump – enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt at Buckingham Palace, chasing toddler William in the gardens.

The new episodes also focus on key moments – and key looks – from 1989, three years after Charles is thought to have resumed his affair with Camilla.

In one scene Emma is seen outside The Savoy hotel in London, re-creating Diana’s appearance at the Barnardo’s Champion Awards.

Emma wears a floral one-shoulder dress, reflecting one of Diana’s favourite silhouettes – a style which suited her immensely but which the Establishment is said to have hated, deeming it ‘not royal’.

Having played Charles so sensitively in season three, Josh O’Connor, 30, says the heir to the throne will be portrayed in a harsher light this time. ‘Well, it’s the Diana years,’ he says.

‘If series three was to make people feel empathy for him, I guess we’re going to pull the rug from under him. We all have a set position on the dynamic between Diana and Charles. It’s been great to have the ability to either fight against that or, at times, acknowledge it and to challenge any question of, “Did he ever love her?” Personally, I think he must have done.

'There’s a wealth of layers to Charles and Diana, and I have loved seeking that out.

'I think Diana wasn’t completely innocent – I’m talking fictionally, in our story – so there are ups and downs. There’s the difficulty with Camilla and the whole family, so it’s going to be, hopefully, an interesting arc.’

Josh says they all enjoyed delving into an era which is so crucial to the modern Royal Family. ‘Everything changed when Diana came onto the scene,’ he says.

‘I think she changed the game, and modernised them, and made them relevant again.’

Also returning are Emerald Fennell as Camilla and Erin Doherty as feisty Princess Anne.

The real Anne revealed recently that she’d watched early episodes of the show, which she found ‘quite interesting’.

Peter Morgan says, ‘So many people asked me, after she first appeared, to put more of her in there.

Anne’s often overlooked. But Erin’s portrayal means that everybody has fallen in love with her. I read that searches about her on Google went through the roof, she’s now one of the most popular royals.’

Prince Andrew’s romantic life is set to come under the spotlight too. His most famous affair was with actress Koo Stark, who is said to have threatened to sue producers if the portrayal of her is negative, while the period covered in this series also sees him marry Sarah Ferguson.

Meanwhile, Edward is seen growing up and going to university.

There was a rush to finish filming before lockdown was announced.

It meant one key scene of an avalanche had to be moved from the Pyrenees to Ben Nevis.

The incident is likely to be a re-creation of the fatal moments in 1988 when a skiing party including Charles was caught in an avalanche in Klosters.

Major Hugh Lindsay, a former equerry to the Queen, was killed and Charles was seen weeping as he was helicoptered off the slopes.

The bizarre affair when Michael Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom in Buckingham Palace in 1982 will also feature in this run, but the 1987 It’s A Royal Knockout embarrassment, when the lesser royals dressed in medieval garb to play games for charity, is mercifully absent.

Once this series is over, an older cast are preparing to take the lead roles, with Imelda Staunton as the Queen and Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret.

They are due to start filming next year, and die-hard fans will be cheered by Peter Morgan’s recent change of heart, when he announced in July that there will be a sixth series to come.

The Crown will return to Netflix later this year.

- Source: Daily Mail August 14, 2020

*It has just been announced that Jonathan Pryce will portray Prince Philip in season 5 and 6.

#josh o'connor #emma corrin #princess diana #the crown #the crown spoilers

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 4 years ago

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Julie and the Phantoms Theory

Wow so I just binged watched julie and the phantoms on netflix and this show is amazing, like really really fantastic. It is aimed at a younger audience than most of the series I watch but it really doesn’t matter, I do think this is a show that any age group can enjoy. The music in it is so so good and I’ve been listening to the songs on replay non stop. Also have two new ships I am obsessed with Juke and Willex. If you haven’t seen the show it is defo one I would recommend. However despite watching the whole season I have soo many questions that need answering and well anyone who has read any of my posts ever know how much I love to over analyse and obsess/ theorise about tv shows. The rest I am going to put under the tag because of spoilers so if you want to hear some thoeries/ analysis then read on, but I should warn you I am going to be talking about the sensitive topics of death and bereavement so only do so if you feel comfortable.

So one of the biggest questions I have is regarding the deaths of Alex, Luke and Reggie. Now I know that they die from eating bad street hotdogs and I know alot of the reason why they die that way is for the comedy aspect of it. I mean one of the many things this show did really well was balancing the comedy aspects with the emotional aspects. I appreciate that as the audience we are suppose to just accept this somewhat wacky death and go with it but well thats just not me and I kept wondering what exactly was wrong with the hotdogs that it actually killed them. Some things about it just don’t add up and I hate not knowing the answers so here are some theories I have, some more outlandish than others.

Theory 1- Food Posioning (Honestly this isn’t really a theory but lets just go with it)

My first thought when I first watched it is the most obvious one which is they got food poisoning. I mean the place they got the hotdogs from didn’t look the most sanitary. However here’s the part that doesn’t add up for me and that is how quickly they died. We know from Alex’s comment to Willy in episode 8 that they were two hours away from going on stage the night they died. This means they had to have started showing symptoms within those two hours before the show which lead to the ambulance being called. In the first episode Reggie says that after they floated out of the ambulance they went to a dark room. The part that caught my attention here is the line about the ambulance as this tells us that they died in the ambulance before they ever got to the hospital. Now I don’t know how far away the hotdog place was from The Orpheum but I’m assuming it was fairly close considering how important the show was to them, I personally wouldn’t go too far from the venue if I had a big show in just a couple of hours. According to my google search the nearest hospital to The Orpheum is Diginity Health California Hospital Medical Center. This hospital is only 5 mins away from The Orpheum, obviously I know this time would be effected by traffic amongst other factors but the point is the time between ingesting the hotdogs and them dying was relatively short. Which makes it unlikely that they died from food posioning. Whilst food poisoning can kill its very rare and usually takes a lot longer than a few hours I mean ordinarily it takes days. So the likelihood that all three of them would have been killed by food posioning that quickly is actually slim to none.

Theory 2- It was Premeditated.

My next theory is much much darker and definitely more out there. It also depends on how dark they plan to go with Bobby/Trevor’s character. But we know that Bobby stays behind and doesn’t go for hotdog’s claiming to be a vegetarian (which was a lie), he also seems to be pretty eager for the other three to go. Now in the scene it seems like the reason for this is so he can be alone to filrt with Rose but what if Bobby had more sinister plans what if he had some hand in the boys’ deaths and had actually posioned them or arranged for them to be poisoned. Maybe he always planned to steal Luke’s songs and take all the credit, fame and money for himself. When Julie looks up Sunset Curve on her phone you can get a glimpse at the article she reads. In the article it says ‘There was a surviving band member, Bobby, but no one has been able to track him down...’ This article seems to have been written about a week after the night they died which shows that Bobby went under the radar pretty quickly after his bandmates died. Now again this could be explained away as Bobby grieving and wanting to stay out of the spotlight as he worked through that and that him stealing the songs was a more opportunistic act than him premeditating his bandmates murders.

Another possible variant of this theory is that it was still an orchestrated death but it wasn’t Bobby who wanted the boys dead but Caleb. During that opening scene they were still alive and we know normally lifers can’t see ghosts so for all we know Caleb could have seen them perform and had decided then that he wanted them as his house band, he didn’t want to wait for them to die so he took matters into his own hands. We assume that the first time Caleb hears about the band is from Willie but there was that scene from the first episode where he bumps into Alex and to me it almost seems like he recognises the group. Also I don’t think its a coincidence that he bumps into them right outside The Orpheum. It could be that he knew they would show up as ghosts at some point and figured they would go back to The Orpheum when they did and so would sometimes patrol that area just waiting for them. It could also explain why he’s willing to let Willie skate around the streets of LA maybe he was hoping Willie would do exactly would he did and bump into one of the boys whether Willie was aware of this plan is a whole other kettle of fish I feel like most likely he wouldn’t have because I feel like he would have told them Caleb had sent him to find them when he told them about the jolts. Point is the whole thing could have been one big elaborate plan of Caleb’s to get the band for himself, his obsession with the band could have been bigger than what we were shown in the first season.

The last variant of this theory could be a mixture of the previous two. Maybe it was an elaborate plan made by Caleb but with the help of Bobby. Maybe Bobby made a deal with the devil so to speak and in exchange for fortune and fame he gave up his bandmates. Maybe he even gave up his own soul too but he gets to live out his dream life first. We know through Willy that Caleb has made deals with lifers that are part of the Hollywood Ghost Club so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to think he could’ve made a deal with Bobby.

To be honest I’m not completely sold on this theory purely because the show is aimed at a younger audience and although it does cover some mature themes around death and bereavement I think murder might be a little too dark for its target audience. But then on the other hand they did have that storyline of Caleb trying to destroy the boys with those jolts so maybe I’m wrong.

Theory 3- The Car Battery.

Ok so this theory I think is the most likely out of them all. When you think about what we know about the boys death and the timeline its that 1) They ate hot dogs that tasted bad. 2) They obviously started to show worrying symptoms that lead to somebody calling an ambulance, these symptoms showed up in under two hours. 3) They died in the ambulance before getting to the hospital (which was approx 5 mins away). Also from the sound of it they all died around the same time, as in all of them were in the ambulance it wasn’t a case of one of them died at the scene, another in the ambulance and another in the hospital. Meaning the effect time was pretty consistent, we know that they all took the first bite at the same time. So keeping all that in mind lets look at the scene again. The first thing I want to point out is that when the boys get the hot dogs they don’t show us them actually being handed the hotdogs, when we see them they already have the hotdogs and they are at the condiments adding their pickles and sauces. This in my opinion tells us that the hazard did not occur during the cooking process but at this moment when they were getting the condiments. Also we see Alex talking about how he couldn’t wait to eat someplace where the condiments weren’t in the back of a car. This scene opens by showing us said condiments and also whilst Alex is talking focusing in on the car battery. Right after his comment about the condiments Alex goes up to the seller and apologises for getting pickle juice on his battery cables once again this draws attention to the battery and its close proximity to the food. The seller just laughs it off stating that maybe it will help with the rust. This seems like a throw away comment but it could actually be a big clue into what happened to the boys. This tells us that not only is the battery near the food but its rusting and in a bad condition and if its in a poor condition it could be leaking. Ok so why is this important to how the boys died? Well because car batteries have sulfuric acid in them. I said before that the whole food poisoning thing didn’t add up for me because generally speaking when things go wrong during the cooking process such as something being undercooked or unclean, it doesn’t tend to kill you and in the rare circumstances if it does it usually takes days to weeks; but the chances of surviving food posioning are very high. However if someone were to ingest sulfuric acid even a couple of drops could be fatal. For examble if there was any sulfuric acid in the bottom of the trunk it could have gotton onto the utensils they used or onto the bottom of the sauce bottles which could then have tranferred over to the food.

Also sulfuric acid usually kills a person within a few hours and can start having an effect on the body pretty much immediately. The mortality rate of sulfuric acid poisoning is very high the survival rate is only around 35% which would make it much more likely that not only did they all die but that the all died around the same time after exposure. The reason why it can kill so quickly is because it can effect the airways. Also the comment the seller made about the rust could have another possible explanation because whilst a leaking battery could have contaminated the food, sulfuric acid can also be found in some anti rust treatments. So if the seller was trying to treat the rust on the battery without removing the condiments from the trunk then that too could have created an opportunity for the food to become contaminated with sulfuric acid.

So yeah this is my best guess at how the boys died, they accidently ingested sulfuric acid that had contaminated the condiments that had been stored next to a rusted car battery. It’s tragic and more tragic than that is that although it can only take a few drops obviously the less posion a person ingests the more chance they have at surviving. We know that even though the first bite tasted weird they continued to eat the hotdogs but if they had stopped after that first bite they might have actually survived. Obviously I’m not an expert on any of this so I could be totally wrong but to me this is what makes the most sense.

Anyway what theories do you guys have? Also what questions are you hoping to get answered if we get a season 2 (we better get a season 2 or I’m gonna be real mad)?

#julie and the phantoms #sunset curve #jatp speculation #jatp spoilers

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aaronmaurer · 4 years ago

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TV I Liked in 2020

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Was there ever a year more unpredictably tailor-made for peak TV than 2020? Lockdowns/quarantines/stay-at-home orders meant a lot more time at home and the occasion to check out new and old favorites. (I recognize that if you’re lucky enough to have kids or roommates or a S.O., your amount of actual downtime may have been wildly different). While the pandemic resulted in production delays and truncated seasons for many shows, the continued streaming-era trends of limited series and 8-13 episode seasons mean that a lot of great and satisfying storytelling still made its way to the screen. As always, I in no way lay any claims to “best-ness” or completeness – this is just a list of the shows that brought me the most joy and escapism in a tough year and therefore might be worth putting on your radar.

10 Favorites

10. The Right Stuff: Season 1 (Disney+)

As a space program enthusiast, even I had to wonder, does the world really need another retelling of NASA’s early days? Especially since Tom Wolfe’s book has already been adapted as the riveting and iconoclastic Philip Kaufman film of the same name? While some may disagree, I find that this Disney+ series does justify its existence by focusing more on the relationships of the astronauts and their personal lives than the technical science (which may be partially attributable to budget limitations?). The series is kind of like Mad Men but with NASA instead of advertising (and real people, of course), so if that sounds intriguing, I encourage you to give it a whirl.

9. Fargo: Season 4 (FX)

As a big fan of Noah Hawley’s Coen Brothers pastiche/crime anthology series, I was somewhat let down by this latest season. Drawing its influence primarily from the likes of gangster drama Miller’s Crossing – one of the Coens’ least comedic/idiosyncratic efforts – this season is more straightforward than its predecessors and includes a lot of characters and plot-threads that never quite cohere. That said, it is still amongst the year’s most ambitious television with another stacked cast, and the (more-or-less) standalone episode “East/West” is enough to make the season worthwhile.

8. The Last Dance (ESPN)

Ostensibly a 10-episode documentary about the 1990s Chicago Bulls’ sixth and final NBA Championship run, The Last Dance actually broadens that scope to survey the entire history of Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson’s careers with the team. Cleverly structured with twin narratives that chart that final season as well as an earlier timeframe, each episode also shifts the spotlight to a different person, which provides focus and variety throughout the series. And frankly, it’s also just an incredible ride to relive the Jordan era and bask in his immeasurable talent and charisma – while also getting a snapshot of his outsized ego and vices (though he had sign-off on everything, so it’s not exactly a warts-and-all telling).

7. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

This miniseries adaptation of the Walter Tevis coming-of-age novel about a chess prodigy and her various addictions is compulsively watchable and avoids the bloat of many other streaming series (both in running time and number of episodes). The 1960s production design is stunning and the performances, including Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role, are convincing and compelling.

6. The Great: Season 1 (hulu)

Much like his screenplay for The Favourite, Tony McNamara’s series about Catherine the Great rewrites history with a thoroughly modern and irreverent sensibility (see also: Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). Elle Fanning brings a winning charm and strength to the title role and Nicholas Hoult is riotously entertaining as her absurdly clueless and ribald husband, Emperor Peter III. Its 10-episodes occasionally tilt into repetitiveness, but when the ride is this fun, why complain? Huzzah!

5. Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC)

A limited (but possibly anthology-to-be?) series from creator/writer/director/actor Jason Segal, Dispatches From Elsewhere is a beautiful and creative affirmation of life and celebration of humanity. The first 9 episodes form a fulfilling and complete arc, while the tenth branches into fourth wall-breaking meta territory, which may be a bridge too far for some (but is certainly ambitious if nothing else). Either way, it’s a movingly realized portrait of honesty, vulnerability and empathy, and I highly recommend visiting whenever it inevitably makes its way to Netflix, or elsewhere…

4. What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2 (FX)

The second season of WWDITS is more self-assured and expansive than the first, extending a premise I loved from its antecedent film – but was skeptical could be sustained – to new and reinvigorated (after)life. Each episode packs plenty of laughs, but for my money, there is no better encapsulation of the series’ potential and Matt Berry’s comic genius than “On The Run,” which guest-stars Mark Hamill and features Laszlo’s alter ego Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

3. Ted Lasso: Season 1 (AppleTV+)

Much more than your average fish-out-of-water comedy, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso is a brilliant tribute to humaneness, decency, emotional intelligence and good coaching – not just on the field. The fact that its backdrop is English Premier League Soccer is just gravy (even if that’s not necessarily represented 100% proficiently). A true surprise and gem of the year.

2. Mrs. America (hulu)

This FX miniseries explores the women’s liberation movement and fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and its opposition by conservative women including Phyllis Schlafly. One of the most ingenious aspects of the series is centering each episode on a different character, which rotates the point of view and helps things from getting same-y. With a slate of directors including Ryan Bowden and Anna Fleck (Half-Nelson, Sugar, Captain Marvel) and an A-List cast including Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Sarah Paulson, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ulman and Elizabeth Banks, its quality is right up there with anything on the big screen. And its message remains (sadly) relevant as ever in our current era.

1. The Good Place: Season 4 (NBC)

It was tempting to omit The Good Place this year or shunt it to a side category since only the final 4 episodes aired in 2020, but that would have been disingenuous. This show is one of my all-time favorites and it ended perfectly. The series finale is a representative mix of absurdist humor and tear-jerking emotion, built on themes of morality, self-improvement, community and humanity. (And this last run of eps also includes a pretty fantastic Timothy Olyphant/Justified quasi-crossover.) Now that the entire series is available to stream on Netflix (or purchase in a nice Blu-ray set), it’s a perfect time to revisit the Good Place, or check it out for the first time if you’ve never had the pleasure.

5 of the Best Things I Caught Up With

Anne With An E (Netflix/CBC)

Another example of classic literature I had no prior knowledge of (see also Little Women and Emma), this Netflix/CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables was strongly recommended by several friends so I finally gave it a shot. While this is apparently slightly more grown-up than the source material, it’s not overly grimdark or self-serious but rather humane and heartfelt, expanding the story’s scope to include Black and First Nations peoples in early 1800s Canada, among other identities and themes. It has sadly been canceled, but the three seasons that exist are heart-warming and life-affirming storytelling. Fingers crossed that someday we’ll be gifted with a follow-up movie or two to tie up some of the dangling threads.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

I liked Breaking Bad, but I didn’t have much interest in an extended “Breaking Bad Universe,” as much as I appreciate star Bob Odenkirk’s multitalents. Multiple recommendations and lockdown finally provided me the opportunity to catch up on this prequel series and I’m glad I did. Just as expertly plotted and acted as its predecessor, the series follows Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman on his own journey to disrepute but really makes it hard not to root for his redemption (even as you know that’s not where this story ends).

Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim)

It’s hard to really describe the deadpan and oddly soothing humor of comedian Joe Pera whose persona, in the series at least, combines something like the earnestness of Mr. Rogers with the calm enthusiasm of Bob Ross. Sharing his knowledge on the likes of how to get the best bite out of your breakfast combo, growing a bean arch and this amazing song “Baba O’Reilly” by the Who – have you heard it?!? – Pera provides arch comfort that remains solidly on the side of sincerity. The surprise special he released during lockdown, “Relaxing Old Footage with Joe Pera,” was a true gift in the middle of a strange and isolated year.

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

One of the few recent Star Wars properties that lives up to its potential, the adventures of Mando and Grogu is a real thrill-ride of a series with outstanding production values (you definitely want to check out the behind-the-scenes documentary series if you haven’t). I personally prefer the first season, appreciating its Western-influenced vibes and somewhat-more-siloed story. The back half of the second season veers a little too much into fan service and video game-y plotting IMHO but still has several excellent episodes on offer, especially the Timothy Olyphant-infused energy of premiere “The Marshall” and stunning cinematography of “The Jedi.” And, you know, Grogu.

The Tick (Amazon Prime)

I’ve been a fan of the Tick since the character’s Fox cartoon and indie comic book days and also loved the short-lived Patrick Warburton series from 2001. I was skeptical about this Amazon Prime reboot, especially upon seeing the pilot episode’s off-putting costumes. Finally gaining access to Prime this year, I decided to catch up and it gets quite good!, especially in Season 2. First, the costumes are upgraded; second, Peter Serafinowicz’s initially shaky characterization improves; and third, it begins to come into its own identity. The only real issue is yet another premature cancellation for the property, meaning Season 2’s tease of interdimensional alien Thrakkorzog will never be fulfilled. 😢

Bonus! 5 More Honorable Mentions:

City So Real (National Geographic)

The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

How To with John Wilson: Season 1 (HBO)

Kidding: Season 2 (Showtime)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs The Reverend (Netflix)

#tv #television

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years ago

Text

CSI: Rogers and Barnes The Serious Cereal Serial Killer

Prologue: Aye Aye Captain.

Series Intro: Captain Steve Rogers and Sergeant James ‘Bucky’ Barnes are hot on the tail of Brooklyn’s latest criminal- The Serious Cereal Serial Killer. Captain Rogers assembles the best officers from the Brooklyn 101 Murder Unit. This specialist team, nicknamed The Avengers, are working in the dark as the killer leaves behind no clues, other than their choice of murder weapon- whichever beige cereal he/she chooses.

The team are in a race against time as the bodies begin to mount. Can they catch the perp before it’s too late?

Episode Summary: There’s a lake, and Steve’s in a suit. Someone he clearly has feelings for appears and we get the impression that he may have done something a little bit dumbassy… Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Dark Comedy themes. CSI:NY + Brooklyn 99 = CSI: Steeb!

Episode Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark (will they, won’t they, did they???)

Song for Episode: Alien by Cary Brothers

A/N: Inspired by THAT picture of Mr Evans on set in his suit by the lake, myself and @icanfeelastormbrewing put our heads together and we present to you CSI: Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Serial Cereal Killer. I really hope you’re ready because this is a journey into our very, very odd minds but we promise there is a decent plot underneath all our Avengers and Stark Spangled Banner Easter Eggs and jokes! You don’t need to have read that series to understand or enjoy this, but we’ve used the Universe to spin this from.

Our knowledge of American Policing is limited, so bear with us if we slip up, but at the end of the day this is a fiction so we’ll claim any mistakes as creative license!!

Episodes will be given individual warnings, summaries, pairings and songs so please pay attention to those.

PLEASE REBLOG and COMMENT!

Tags are open.

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List

Main Masterlist

“Nice suit, punk.” Sergeant James Barnes smiled at his Captain, Steve Rogers, who sighed, dropping his hands to his hips.

“You’re a jerk, Bucky” Steve replied simply, eyeing his best friend through his Aviators, a small smile playing on his face.

“Ready for your big speech?” Bucky questioned.

Steve took a breath and looked around. It was a gorgeous, sunny May evening. The Lakehouse which had been hired by the NYPD for the Ceremony was full of people all milling around inside and out.

“Yeah.” he nodded “I think so.”

“Think so ain’t gonna cut it Steve.” Bucky chuckled “You got half the force out there. The Deputy Commissioner, the Commissioner…” “Buck, just don’t” Steve sighed “I’m well aware of who’s here, thanks.” “Well it’s hardly surprising…” Bucky said, taking a pull from his beer “It was a pretty big case. Thanos and The Children were terrorising Brooklyn for years. “And it was the 101that put him away.” Steve smiled “It was a good team effort.” “You gonna take that time out?” Bucky asked. Steve shrugged.

“I dunno.”

“You work too hard.” “Criminals don’t exactly take time out because we want to a holiday you know.” Steve said, looking at him. “I’m sure the Unit wouldn’t fall apart if you took a week out.” Bucky said “Stark’s right, you need to get a life man.” “Fuck you.” Steve shot back and Bucky snorted a laugh.

“Whatever.”

At that point, Deputy Commissioner Nick Fury approached them, and Steve nodded to him

“Sir.”

“They’re ready for you now Captain.” he said “You do your speech and then Senator Ross will join you on stage to hand out the Commendation to you and your Unit.” “Yes Sir.” he nodded.

“Knock ‘em dead Punk.” Bucky smiled, and Steve shot him one last look, before he took off his aviators and tucked them into his pocket, Bucky making his way to his seat.

He passed by the other members of his specialist unit, smiling as he went. Detectives Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff aka Clintasha on account of them hardly ever being apart, Patrol Officer Odinson, aka the Bungalow on account of him ‘not having much upstairs’ according to Bucky (which was ironic seeing a the guy was about 8 feet tall) and then on to his support staff- Tony Stark and Bruce Banner his forensic experts aka the Science Brothers, their Assistant Peter Parker, Sam Wilson, the lead Pathologist and Police Technician Wanda Maximoff.

After acknowledging them all, he walked up the steps to the stage to a round of applause and wolf whistles, and smiling he pulled his pre-written speech out of his pocket.

“Thank you.” he spoke into the microphone, squinting slightly against the sun “It’s my pleasure to welcome you to this celebration of achievement for the Brooklyn 101 and their efforts which led to the removal of a dangerous crime lord from our streets.” he paused as Clint gave a little cheer, followed by a shout.

“Go Avengers!”

More cheering and Steve smiled at his team before signalling with his large hands for them to settle down. As the noise died down he cleared his throat and glanced down at his notes again.

Bucky watched him, smiling to himself. Steve was good a public speaker, his ability to command an audience and simply make people listen was one of the many reasons he had risen through the ranks so quickly, alongside the fact that he had an impressive ability to manage people and a huge number of solved crimes to his name. Bucky was incredibly proud of his best friend. The tall, broad man on the stage was a far cry from that skinny little blonde haired punk he had grown up with, bailing out of fights constantly on the streets they had roamed as kids.

Steve caught Bucky’s eye, and his Sergeant flashed him a wink and he smiled before continuing.

“Months of hard work, long days and even longer nights went into putting Thanos away. And each and every single member of the 101 had a huge role to play. From Sergeant Barnes who commanded and led the team to Wanda who kept all our paperwork and reports water tight. No matter how meaningless you may have felt your contribution seemed on the outside, every single bit of it was influential in bringing Thanos to justice, and he I am over the moon to be able to thank you all for your efforts and service today.”

He paused and looked out and that was when he spotted her, gently weaving her way through the crowd that was stood up at the back of the seats. Not that it took much effort, he could have found those big green emeralds among millions of people. Her hair was different, not only shorter, but different. It curled round her left ear and her bangs swept across her face sweeping down and finishing in a longer point along the right hand side of her jaw. But those eyes were piercing through him the same way that they had always done. Steve had seen them shine with excitement, sparkle with laughter, darken with lust and close with utter bliss… he had also seen them water with disappointment and shrink with anger.

Just like they were doing now.

Steve had always been one for containment and keeping his emotions at bay, he was the righteous Captain everyone in his team looked up to after all and couldn't afford to let his emotions get in the way. At that moment though he struggled to focus on the page in his hands which he was surprised to find were shaking slightly. With a deep breath he steeled himself, cleared his throat and resumed his speech. Had he let that scrawny Brooklyn kid he once was come out, he would have stayed there slack jawed with nothing to say.

Bucky sensed something was off, he knew Steve too well not to notice. He turned around to follow his best friend gaze only to find a brunette young woman with gorgeous green eyes dressed in a sleeveless dark green cocktail dress adorned with little golden pineapples. Bucky turned back to the front and glanced at Natasha, whose sharp eye had also noticed Steve’s reaction. Bucky shrugged and motioned with his head to the back of the seats where the woman was stood. Natasha glanced back and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She nudged Clint who turned to look, before he shared an imperceptible knowing glance with Natasha.

Ok, so they knew who she was. Bucky still had no idea.

When Steve finished his speech and the crowd erupted in a big round of applause, Senator Ross approached his spot on the stage and handed out the Commendation, giving Steve a brief hug and pat him on the back. Steve then showed it to his team mates who were now stood, cheering him from the front row under the stage and that was when Bucky saw Katie approach Tony, dropping a kiss to his cheek. As he looked at the faint resemblance between the two, understanding suddenly flooded his system. This had to be Katie Stark, the youngest child of the late Commander Howard Stark, Steve’s one time boss and mentor.

As Steve was dragged to the side for photos with the Senator and Chief, he continued to watch the unit out of the side of his eye. Tony said something to Katie’s ear as his arm curled round her shoulders and that smile Steve would have died for threatened to spread across her pretty face. Steve swallowed, and allowed himself to be rearranged for more photos with the Senator and Chief, before all to soon he was being dismissed to leave the spotlight to mingle with his friends to celebrate.

Get yourself together Steve, you can do this.

He took a moment to inhale deeply and give himself a pep talk, before he drew himself tall and walked over to where the members of the 101st .and Katie were.

As he approached he saw Thor sweep Katie into a huge hug and drop a kiss to her cheek. "Little Stark, you look fantastic. It's good to see you." "You too big guy" she grinned before she stepped forward to hug Clint and Natasha, her one time team mates "and you two." Steve shuffled uncomfortably, his collar and tie felt real tight. His hands slipped into his pockets and he rocked to and fro on the balls of his feet, a little tick he had whenever he got nervous. One that didn’t go unnoticed by Bucky.

"Not that we're not happy to see you but...what you doing here?" Clint asked, releasing her. "Was on a rare few days off and came to visit Tone" she said, smiling at her brother. "He insisted I come...share your success. Was a pretty big case you guys smashed." "Well me and Bruce were the ones that actually linked him to 30 crimes forensically but I don’t wanna brag..." Tony quipped and Katie rolled her eyes. "And he’s so modest about it too." Bucky grinned, flashing a huge smile at the girl in front of him "James Barnes, Bucky." "Pleasure to finally meet you Bucky." She smiled "I heard a lot about you. I'm Katie, Tony's sister." "You're Howard's daughter?" Bucky cocked his head to one side and she nodded. "Your dad was a legend. Sucks what happened to him and your mom. Choking on fondue...no way to go." "Thanks. He was good man." Katie said. And then her eyes flickered to the blonde Captain who took a deep breath as her green eyes grew colder. "Hi Katie" he said softly.

"Captain Rogers." Her reply was a little curt, and it cut him to the bone that she could be cold towards him, especially after everything they had been through over the past almost 10 years. But deep down he couldn't blame her. He had been a total jerk. He deserved her indignation.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Good thank you.” she said.

“I hear you made Sergeant.” he said, and she nodded.

“Yeah, month or so back.” “Congratulations, you deserve it.” “Yeah, thanks, err…” She turned to Tony “Any chance we can get a drink, I’m gasping.” “For you kiddo, anything. Anyone else want one?”

Pretty much the entire unit nodded and they headed off to the bar leaving Steve and Bucky alone.

“Ok…” Bucky turned to his friend “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Steve sighed, looking back at him.

“Bull crap.” Bucky shot back “I thought you and here were fiends. When I was in Russia, for 5 years all I got was emails and shit telling me about her and what you’d been up to…now she looks like she wants to kill you.” Steve snorted “She probably does.”

“Wait, did you…” Bucky frowned, before his mouth fell open “You did didn’t you! You slept with Howard’s daughter!” “Shhhhh keep your voice down.” Steve hissed.

“Was that before or after he died?” “Bucky shut up.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, looking at his friend.

“Does Tony know?”

Steve gave a derisive laugh “Do you think I’d still be alive if he did?”

“Good point, he’d have probably designed some kind of murder-bot to kill you in your sleep…” Bucky mused. “You sly little punk, I didn’t know you had it in you. Well, she had it in her more like, but that’s by the by…”

“Buck, I swear to God…” Steve’s nostrils flared at his friend’s crassness and Bucky gave a howl of a laugh.

“I’m just toying with ya Stevie…I’m impressed. She’s hot.”

“Not a word.” Steve glared at his friend as the unit started to make their way back, various beers and glasses of wine clutched in their hand.

Bucky mimed a zip closing across his mouth and smiled, slightly surprised as Natasha handed both him and Steve a beer.

“Thought you might need a drink.” Natasha said quietly to Steve, shooting him a knowing look as Clint did the same. Steve groaned, he should have known. Nothing got past Clintasha. He swore the pair of them had been fucking spies or secret agents in a past life.

“So Katie…” Clint turned to the youngest Stark. “How’s DC?”

She smiled “I love it. It’s a beautiful place. Not home though.” “She misses me.” Tony interjected and Katie slapped him on his shoulder, rolling her eyes.

“Like a hole in the head.”

Bucky laughed “What made you move over there?” he asked, ignoring the deep breath of annoyance from Steve to his left.

“Well, I wanted my Sergeant stripes” she said, nonchalantly “I was told there was no progression available in the 101st so imagine my chagrin when they replaced me with one.” Steve bristled slightly but he didn’t reply.

“Wait…I was your replacement?” Bucky frowned, looking at Steve.

“It wasn’t like that.” Steve said gently “The budget for a sergeant was only provided to me after you left Katie.” “Sure.” she shrugged “Anyway, it’s irrelevant now. The position in the SHIELD unit was too good to turn down so…” “Yeah you guys got a good result on the Mandarin Case.” Peter Parker looked at Katie

“It was hard going…” she nodded “I was undercover pretty much for a month, hence the haircut.” “Ha Steve knows all about being undercover….” Bucky snorted

“Shut up.” Steve said.

“What?” Bucky looked at him innocently “I was merely referring to your impressive moustache man…” Steve gave a groan as the unit began to laugh.

“As part of the Thanos op, Steve had to infiltrate the gang.” Tony looked at Katie who was frowning, not understanding the reference. “He basically shaved his beard off but left this God awful tache…he looked like a 1970s German Pornstar.” Katie snorted “Beard murdering…” she looked at Steve who simply shrugged giving her a small smile.

“Yeah well its coming back.” he shrugged, gently stroking his chin where there was a faint smattering of stubble.

“Hmmm.” she made a small noise, and then looked around, and smiled with a wave as Deputy Fury caught her eyes “Excuse me guys, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Steve watched her leave before he turned back to his team listening to their conversation. But he couldn’t focus. Just seeing her again was enough to send his head into an absolute whirl. She looked amazing, not that she hadn’t always. Maybe it was the fact he hadn’t seen her for 5 months that was making it worse. But all he could remember was her touch, the way her head would rest against his chest when he hugged her, the smell of her shampoo, the softness of her hand when she would take his…and then the feel of her lips on his, the smoothness of her skin…

Fuck! He had been a grade A jack ass.

Steve took another long pull from his bottle of Stella and looked around. Katie was just finishing a conversation with Fury and Pierce, before she excused herself and headed for the bar after shaking hands with both men.

Now or never, Rogers…

"I’m, err, going to get a refill..." speaking for the first time as he showed his team mates his almost empty beer bottle, "be right back."

“Course you are…” Bucky mumbled, as he watched Steve slope off. He turned to Natasha.

“So what’s the deal…” he asked, dropping his voice and turning side on to face her so that Tony wasn’t looking. “I mean I kinda figured something went down but…” “Well we don’t know for sure…” Natasha said “But they went home together after the Christmas party in December. Was a long time coming, they’d been dodging around each other for years.” “Yeah, both dating other people when it was clearly obvious they were head over heels for one another.” Clint added.

“But it got frosty. Like real frosty and she put in for a transfer request.”

Bucky sighed and looked over at Steve who was now stood by the woman. Stevie had always been useless with women, Bucky had all the luck in that department when they were growing up. That was until Steve went to University and discovered the Gym and signed up for an experimental Nutritional Programme called ‘Operation Rebirth’. 3 months later Steve’s physique had changed dramatically. Gone was the lanky, twig thin kid and in his place was a stocky, ripped, 6ft 2 adonis. Frankly it had put Bucky’s nose well out of joint as the women flocked around him. But he needn’t have bothered, he was still as fucking hopeless has he always had been,

And seemed he still was.

“What?” a voice said, and Bucky turned to see Tony stood there, looking at them, his brown eyes flashing as he glanced from Natasha to Clint and then to him.

Shit.

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

When Steve reached the spot by the bar where Katie was waiting patiently for her Martini to be served (made with gin, obviously, he recalled as he had bought her enough- I’m not a heathen, Steve…) he gently touched her forearm and she turned around slowly with a sigh to face him. Steve know she had sensed his presence even before he touched her, she always could. Many years of friendship did that to you.

"Are you avoiding me?" he asked lightly.

"Does that surprise you?" she replied looking at him directly in the eyes.

"No, not really." he said looking shyly at the grass beneath his shiny black oxfords. With a sigh he looked back up, straight into those deep green orbs "Look, Katie, I hate how we ended things, I..."

"How WE ended things?" she cut in, "Are you for real? I didn't end anything, Steve, because there wasn’t actually anything to end was there? You made sure of that!"

"I'm sorry, Katie, I truly am." he spoke again.

"Sorry for what exactly?" she fired back.

She was pissed. He could sense it in the rising tone of her voice and the way her eyes seemed to squint in the way they always did when she was winding up for an argument. He had to do something before they attracted too much attention and Tony made an entrance.

"Look, can we maybe go for a walk by the lake?" he looked at her, his eyes pleading. "We can talk and errm..."

She sighed "Fine." and with that she started to make her way through the rest of the people at the reception heading towards the calm water. Once they reached a spot under a tree near a small jetty she stopped and turned to look at him.

"What do you want, Steve?" she asked shielding her eyes with her right hand from the sun that was beginning to set.

"To check in. I care about you, Katie" he answered looking at her with an almost apologetically.

"So, you care about me.” She snorted “That's rich."

"Of course, I do!" he almost yelled. "We've been best friends for what, almost ten years?"

“Were, Steve.” she stared at him, “Past Tense…”

He took a deep breath and looked away, the lump in his throat growing even larger. Her words feeling like a slap in the face, but he wasn’t sure exactly what else he had expected. Things hadn’t been the same. They hadn’t actually spoken since she had left for DC. And he was the reason she had left, regardless of how she dressed it up and pretended otherwise to everyone else.

He looked back at her, and saw her eyes. They bored right through him, a mixture of anger and melancholy.

He had to try and fix this, he had to….

“Look, Katie, I know you must hate me..."

"Steve..." she said putting a hand over his forearm, before pulling it back immediately, almost like it had been an involuntary reaction. And the fact she wasn’t comfortable showing him that type of friendly affection anymore made him feel even shittier than he already did. "I..." she was fumbling with the words and he remained silent whilst he waited for her to gather her thoughts. “You know what, you’re right, I did hate you. I hated what you did but…you know what the worst thing about all of this was?”

He looked at her waiting for her to continue.

“Was that I mostly hated myself" she finished quietly, her voice beginning to break and she looked away.

Steve was aghast at her statement. "Wha... what do you mean?" he asked stuttering. He wasn't prepared for something like that. Over the last few months his mined had conjured thousands of possible conversations and things she would say to him when they finally met each other again…but not that.

"I hated myself for letting you in, Steve" she inhaled deeply before looking back at him and continuing, trying to keep the tears at bay. "You knew how long it took me to get over Grant, you knew what that bastard did to me because you were there, you were my best friend. You wiped my tears, held me when I cried myself to sleep, you helped me pick up the pieces of myself, told me I was worth more. But then, when it came down to it…I clearly wasn’t, not to you anyway.”

Steve couldn't stand her gaze and looked down to his shoes, jaw clenching. "Katie, I..." he started to speak but did he know what to say?

"Let me finish, let me say this, Steve, please." she pleaded. "I trusted you, you knew how I felt about you, and you know how much it took to tell you that and let you in…" she swallowed hard "You broke through every goddamned wall I put up around me and what’s more, you broke me too."

"Breaking your heart was never my intention, doll" was the only thing he managed to say, swallowing thickly. He didn't even know how he could have possibly formed those words in his brain and actually uttered them, he was numb and wanted to tell her she meant so much to him, so much more than she could ever imagine…but the words just wouldn’t come.

"But you did." she said quietly, tears now threatening to spill. "And I need time to heal, Steve. There’s not going back from what happened. We can’t just go back to being best friends and hanging out…it doesn’t work like that.”

“Kiddo?” They both jerked a little at Tony’s voice as he approached. She hastily wiped at her eyes and Steve stood back, taking a deep breath. “You two alright?” “Yeah, just catching up.” Katie said, smiling at Tony.

“Huh, that what they call it?” Tony said, his voice somewhat steely and Steve felt himself blanche. He turned to Tony but before he could say anything, the man’s fist had connected with his face, cracking his nose, making him reel backwards.

“Tony!” he heard Katie say, loudly, and as Steve recovered from the blow he looked up to see her stood with her hands on his chest, pushing him away gently.

“I can’t believe you, you son of a bitch!” Tony was spewing, glaring at Steve. The Captain was relieved to see that Bucky and Thor were hastily making their way over. They were well enough removed from the crowd for this not to be seen, thankfully.

“Stark…” Thor said in his deep breath “Come on, calm down…” “Calm down, calm down?” Tony’s face contorted with fury “I just find out, he slept with my sister, and then…”

“I’m a big girl Tony.” Katie said gently “I don’t need you fighting my battles for me, not like I did when we were kids…”

“I knew there was a reason you ran off to DC, and all the time it’s been him!” he said, looking at her, before he glared back at Steve. “You’re a piece of shit, Rogers…”

Steve waved off Bucky who had stepped forward to check he was ok.

“Come on…” Katie said, pushing Tony’s chest, “Time we left…” With that she turned to Thor and Bucky, gave them both a smile before she locked eyes with the Captain “Bye, Steve" she said turning around and beginning to walk away with Tony. Steve could do nothing else but watch as she walked out of his life for the second time in less than 6 months.

“I’m sorry” Bucky looked at his friend as he wiped at his bleeding nose with a handkerchief. “He overheard me and Natasha and…”

“I’m surprised it’s stayed a secret as long as it has.” Steve sighed “I deserved it, he’s right, I am a piece of shit.”

“We all do stupid shit bud.” Thor said, “Doesn’t make us bad people.” Bucky looked at Thor “That’s pretty smart for you.”

“I have my moments.” Thor shrugged, before he frowned “Unless you’re my brother, of course. He is inherently bad…but that’s another story.”

There was a pause, and then Bucky looked at Steve.

“Think you need another drink.” he said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’ll go grab you one.”

Steve smiled, knowing full well it was Bucky’s way of saying “I’ll give you a moment…”

His friend squeezed his shoulder before he turned and walked away leaving Steve stood, looking out across the lake. The tall blonde stood there, mulling the conversation they’d just had over and over in his mind. He knew he’d hurt her but now he understood the extent of that, he hated himself even more.

Steve Rogers was a man of honesty and principles. A man who believed that you faced up to your actions and took the consequences whatever they were, not merely hid from them. But here he had gone against every single thing he stood for. He’d let Katie walk away all those months ago without so much as a fight. Because it was easier, easier than being honest and explaining why he had done what he had done.

If time travel was possible, he’d go back and do everything differently.

@the-omni-princess @momobaby227 @geekofmanythings16 @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld @cobalt-gear @asgardlover75 @jennmurawski13 @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie @navispalace @patzammit @joannaliceevans-fanficblog @djeniiscorner @ayamenimthiriel @coldmuffinbanditshoe @disneylovingal @madzmilllz @sgtjaamesbaarnes @sweater-daddiesdumbdork @southerngracela @goldenfightergir @kellymat @official-and-unstable-satan

#csi rogers and barnes #the serious cereal serial killer #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers #bucky barnes #tony stark #clint barton #natasha romanoff #thor #bruce banner #wanda maximoff #nick fury #sam wilson #peter parker #csi au #alternate universe #avengers #avengers fanfiction

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marypsue · 4 years ago

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hm. time for another teaser for an as-yet-incomplete longfic, I think.

...

Rain rattles against the windows. Somewhere out in the night, thunder booms and grumbles. The sky flickers like an old black-and-white movie.

It’s been years since Steve cared about whether his parents are in town for any reason beyond party planning. But he catches himself wishing they were here, now, just so he wouldn’t have to be alone in the house. It’s way too quiet.

And he couldn’t shake the feeling, driving back from the video store after his shift, that he was being followed.

It’s probably the craziest paranoid thought he’s had since this all started. There wasn’t even anybody driving behind him most of the way home. Actually, traffic had been totally normal. Maybe even…too normal?

No. Nope. That’s nuts. He’s nuts. It’s official, Steve Harrington is out of his ever-loving mind.

He turns the TV on to MTV, with the sound up as loud as it’ll go, and stubbornly tries to pretend he doesn’t jump halfway out of his skin when the phone rings.

“Jesus,” Steve breathes, to himself, turning off the TV set before picking up the phone. “Harrington residence, you got Steve.”

“ ‘Harrington residence’?” Robin’s voice echoes, disbelievingly, and Steve breathes out.

“You try explaining to my old man why one of his business partners called his home number and got greeted with ‘You got Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington at Loch Nora’s one and only twenty-four/seven party pad, how can we get you fucked up?’” Steve waits a moment for Robin to stop laughing. “And yes, before you ask, that did really happen.”

“Oh my god, Harrington, how did it take everyone this long to figure out what a hopeless dweeb you are?”

Steve shrugs, before remembering Robin can’t see him. “I have a nice, big house that’s usually empty, I’m good at sports, and my hair is awesome. Nobody in high school ever really needed or wanted anything more from me.” It hits him, as he says it, just how true it is. Thinking about it just makes him feel pathetic, though, so instead he says, “So. You got Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington at Loch Nora’s one and only twenty-four/seven party pad. How can we get you fucked up?”

Robin snorts.

“Don’t really need much more help in that department, thanks,” she says. “My parents went to a movie and I’ve got the house to myself. Mostly I just called you to hear another human voice.”

It wasn’t so long ago, Steve thinks, that getting a call from a girl who said her parents were out for the evening would’ve meant one thing and one thing only. That’s so far removed from what’s happening here that it’s almost funny.

He doesn’t laugh, though. “Yeah? Well, I’m glad you did. It gets way too quiet up here, too.” He paces across the kitchen, then turns around and paces out into the living room, going from the full length of the cord in one direction to the full length of the cord in the other. “You get home okay before the storm hit?”

“Yeah. I caught a couple drops pulling into the driveway, but I didn’t get, like, drenched. Or struck by lightning.” With eerily good timing, a flash lights up the picture window in the living room, illuminating the patio, the pool, and the woods beyond in sharp black-and-white for an instant before everything goes dark again. Steve mutters a curse, straining against the phone’s cord to try to reach the drawstring for the blinds. The cord’s just about a foot too short. “What about you?”

“Wha? Oh, yeah. Definitely,” Steve agrees. “What – what were we talking about again?”

Robin sighs heavily into the phone. “Steve.” There’s a shade of concern in her deliberately casual voice as she asks, “Are you okay? You seem…more of a space case than usual lately.”

“What? No, I’m fine.” Steve brings a hand up to run absently through his hair. Outside, through the raindrops smearing down the glass, he can still see the pool, even with its lights out. The clouds overhead crackle and glow with lightning, the sound of it hissing and popping in the phone line. The lights in the kitchen and the living room all flicker, and Steve’s heart clenches in his chest, but the steady glow comes right back, warm and reassuring. He breathes out. “Just, y’know. Haven’t been sleeping so great.”

“Steve,” Robin says.

“Right. Already told you that.” Steve squeezes his eyes shut. Thunder booms through the house like there are no walls between him and the storm, vibrating in his bones. A dull ache starts in his temples, works its way down into his cheekbones, his jaw. Those fucking Russian thugs must’ve fractured something in there, something that didn’t show up on the X-rays. The bruising’s all healed, but it’s still hurting whenever he gets stressed out. Which is…all the time, now. “Hey, what did you mean when you asked if the Russians could have come back?”

Robin is silent so long that Steve wonders if the lightning’s knocked out the phone line. “Robin?”

“Nothing. I didn’t mean anything. Just had a – weird feeling… Look, we probably shouldn’t talk about this over the phone.” Robin makes a token effort to sound like she’s joking as she says, “You know. Wiretaps.”

“Right. Gotcha.” Steve twirls the phone cord around his finger as he stares out at the patio. “You work tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but I’ve got the late shift. You’re on in the morning, right?” Robin pauses for a moment before she says, “Meet you at Benny’s for lunch?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Noon?”

“It’s a date,” Robin says. “Try and get some sleep, Harrington. Day of the Dead might be a hit, but it’s not out on tape yet, we don’t need a zombie in the store to advertise it.”

“Seriously. Standup comedy is missing you,” Steve sighs into the handset. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Robin agrees, and then the line goes dead.

Steve keeps the handset pressed to his ear for a moment before he realizes he’s acting like a little kid with a security blanket, and hangs it up as fast as he can. The plastic of the cradle cracks with a sad little noise, just up in the top corner, and Steve flicks at it with one finger. He didn’t think he’d slammed it down that hard. Probably the plastic’s just gotten brittle from sitting in the sun.

He sighs, and flicks the TV back on, turning up the Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’. Steve already knows he’s not going to be able to take Robin’s advice. He hasn’t had a solid night’s sleep in a week, and tonight doesn’t seem set to break the pattern. It’s impossible to tell if the sun’s set yet behind the solid wall of black clouds blotting out the sky, but he’s already vibrating with nervous energy. Wide, unfortunately, awake.

Sting’s vocals aren’t exactly relaxing, either. Steve’s never really listened to the lyrics to this song, but it turns out they’re creepy. “Every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you…”

It’s stupid. Steve’s not a baby. He’s gone after way worse monsters than a couple of guys with funny accents, with nothing more than a baseball bat with a few nails hammered through it and a healthy helping of bravado. And he’d been fine afterwards. Sure, had a few nightmares about getting ripped apart by demo-whatevers – or having to watch the kids get ripped apart by demo-whatevers – but they’d gone away. Eventually. Mostly. And they hadn’t had him jumping at shadows like this, scared to be alone in his own house, too scared to sleep, scared to look out his own window –

Lightning strikes, somewhere close by, throwing a sharp spotlight on the patio and the woods beyond. It goes on and on, for – it’s got to be seconds. Thunder smashes into the house and Steve’s ears along with it, rolling and rolling, rattling his teeth and making his jaw ache. Every light in the house flares brilliantly white, and then dies. The music dies with it, leaving only the drum of rain on the roof and the low, near-constant roll of thunder.

The lightning cuts out abruptly, plunging the world into darkness.

Steve steps closer to the window, to get a better look through the streaks the pouring rain leaves on the glass. After the flash, mostly what he can see are purple afterimages. And, looking pale and scared and only halfway there, reflected in the depths of the dark glass, his own face.

But he knows what he saw, in that single, blinding flash. And he knows he sees it again, as his eyes adjust to the dark, as he presses his nose nearly against the glass, holding his breath so it doesn’t fog it up. A rounded shape, gleaming pale against the darkness, half-hidden back between the trees. A round, pale shape turned towards the house.

A round, pale shape at about the height of a face.

There’s somebody out there.

Somebody’s watching him from the woods.

#this is mary's fic tag #stranger things #monster longfic samples tag

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spoileralertitsme · 5 years ago

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Here’s my part of the collab with @codenamed-queenie and @pauimaginart

-------

“There’s no way,” Dick said with a cynical shake of his head.

Jason clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair, letting his arms and legs stretch out obnoxiously. It was hard for Dick to remember seeing him more...’smug’...than he was at this moment, but he was sure it’d happened.

“That’s the kinda attitude I ‘preciate,” he slurred, with a raise of his wine glass. Instead of merlot, though, Jason had filled it to the brim with the vodka he’d smuggled in here in a hidden flask. Dick wasn’t sure why he was surprised. “Cause it means I’m ‘bout to be fifty bucks richer.”

“Jay,” Dick deadpanned.

“Fifty bucks is a lot.”

“Jay.”

He huffed, nursing his vodka glass a little closer to his chest. “Yeah, well, Daddy Warbucks just cut me off, okay?”

Dick raised his eyebrows, stunned. “I didn’t--”

“Yeah, well, somebody’s not getting a tie for father’s day this year. Let’s just leave it at that.” Jason sat up, and leaned over the table, elbows balanced precariously on the edge. “Back to the matter at hand? He can too sing.”

“You haven’t heard him in the shower.”

“As a matter of fact, I have,” Jason countered with one raised finger. “And he sounds like a dying squirrel, I’ll give you that. But! That’s when he’s just messin’ around. You should hear the kid when he actually tries!”

A waiter swooped over to their table with their meals. Dick and Jason both paused to appreciate the steaming cuts of meat as the plates were slid onto the tablecloth in front of them. A few questions about service preference, apologies for the wait, and generous smiles later, and their server bid them farewell with a warm, “Enjoy the show.”

On cue, all lights in the conference hall dimmed, and the rest of the gathered socialites and city elite murmured lowly across the room. Their hushed chatter fell on Dick’s ears like a buzz, and he turned to Jason with narrowed eyes.

“I want to be the supportive older brother, here. I do. But the fact is, you can’t hear him try Mariah Carey in the bathroom at three a.m. and expect me to have an open mind.” Dick leaned forward, tapping a finger against the linen-wrapped tabletop. “I love him, Jay, but he sucks.”

And Jason’s smirk was enough to make Dick’s blood boil.

“We’ll see, bro,” he drawled. “We’ll see.”

Motion over on the stage caught his eye, and Dick turned to watch.

Tim walked up to the microphone, shoulders as squared as his jaw as he gripped the stand in a death grip. The look on his face was two parts determination, and one part wounded pride. Dick felt a prick of guilt, remembering their conversation a few minutes ago.

“Well, we’ve been puttering around this shindig for an hour, and still no way to get the intel we need. Any ideas?”

Dick had shrugged. “Distraction, obviously. It’s the only thing that works at these functions.”

“I can take care of that.”

“You? What’re you gonna do, Timbers? Squeak at McElvers until she gives up her phone?”

An angry blush colored Tim’s face. “I just overheard the event coordinator. They had a cancellation for tonight’s entertainment.”

“So...you’re gonna squeak at McElvers until she gives up her phone.” Jason’s snicker had been a little cruel. “What’ve you got, stand up comedy? Magic tricks?”

“I’ll sing,” Tim countered with a noncommittal shrug that wound up being at least a little committal.

And Dick, Big Brother of the Year that he was, choked on his drink. “You?”

He wasn’t proud of it. And he definitely wasn’t proud of causing the betrayed look Tim had given him.

“Yeah. No big deal.”

“Alright.” The note of approval in Jason’s tone had surprised both of his brothers. “Well, I think it’s a solid plan. Go sing your little tweetie-bird heart out up there, Timbo. Dickie and I’ll grab McElvers’s phone while she’s distracted, download the intel, then we’ll all make like a tree and get the heck outta here. Sound good?”

“Jay,” Dick had protested, side-eyeing Tim apologetically. “You sure? We could trip one of the servers, rig a small explosion--”

“Oh, so you’d rather blow something up than let me pull a little weight?” Tim’s expression had reminded Dick of an angry pug, but he’d been a little too emotionally torn to snap a picture for the scrapbook. “I’m a little fed up with third-wheeling on all your missions, guys. Either let me help, or let me head back to the Titans and mind my own business, okay?”

Jason’s eyebrows had risen in a clear challenge. “I say do it, Timmers.” To Dick, he’d added, “Fifty bucks says the kid knocks our socks off.”

Dick had been tempted to argue that Tim’s singing voice would probably knock them off their socks, but he wanted to avoid an explosion of a different kind. So, with a heavy sigh, Dick had nodded, and let Tim storm off to do battle with the event coordinator.

And whatever Tim had promised the woman must’ve worked, because now he was standing in front of a blazing spotlight, ready to sing his little tweetie-bird heart out.

The light threw his features into shadow, a dramatic effect that the audience seemed to appreciate. The dry sound of clapping fluttered through the air as a few pinging notes began to play over the speakers.

Dick sunk a little lower into his seat. Maybe McElvers would be sufficiently distracted when Tim hit a high note and shattered her eardrums. Or her wineglass. Or maybe even both.

Wait, Dick recognized this song...

Seriously? Ariana Grande?

They might’ve actually been doomed--

--but then Tim started singing.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and bottles of bubbles...”

And Dick’s jaw hit the table.

For a few moments (which was, admittedly, probably a waste of valuable time) Dick and Jason could only sit still and listen, absolutely mesmerized. The rest of the audience seemed to be hanging on Tim’s every word, the trilling notes of the song holding them captive.

Especially Elaine McElvers.

Jason tapped his arm frantically, motioning towards their hypnotized mark with his chin. Even with the urgency, though, Jason had a hard time keeping that smug grin off his face.

“Alright, let’s move,” he whispered.

“Holy $#!^,” Dick breathed.

“Ditto, pal, but we need to get a move on.”

“Holy $#!^.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason said, head bobbing as he clapped one hand on Dick’s shoulder. “You owe me fifty bucks, and you owe Tim an apology. But both of those things can wait until we nab that phone.”

Dick shot one last glance up at towards the stage. Tim’s expression was schooled into a suave, showy smile.

When he met Dick’s gaze, his eyebrows quirked up in a very told you so sort of fashion.

“Please tell me we’ve been recording this.” He turned to Jason as both of them stood up. With a flick of his wrist, he snagged the towel off a server’s arm and draped it neatly over his own.

Jason turned his suit coat inside out. Both of them had worn reversible jackets tonight, and the white tuxes typical of the wait staff were perfect for hiding in plain sight.

“Shyeah, man, what do you take me for?” Jason snorted as he edged the sleeves back over his arms. “Dami’s gonna have a stroke.”

“Steph’s gonna lose her mind.”

“But that’ll be nothing, nothing, compared to the old man.” Jason shook his head disdainfully, adding under his breath, “Cut me off. Like he’s never blown up a building before, that hypocritical son of a--”

“Alright,” Dick nudged his little brother forward. “Let’s do this.”

The song ended softly, and the spell seemed to linger over the crowd just long enough for Jason to slip the phone off the tablecloth and into his pocket unnoticed. McElvers would notice in a few moments, but they planned on leaving the device somewhere along the edges of the room, where it could’ve easily fallen out of her purse.

As they stepped away, the spell broke. Applause shattered the air as audience members rose from their seats.

And Dick clapped loudest of all.

#batman family #batfamily #dc comics #tim drake #red robin #jason todd #red hood #dick grayson #nightwing #my write stuff #dont steal please

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zwiezraczek · 4 years ago

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Nice To Meet You - Chapter 1

Niall Horan x Sydney (oc)

PROLOGUE - CHAPTER 1: Lights Up

SUMMARY: Sydney knew that this job was something else for her, that it wouldn’t be as simple as it used to be with other celebrities. But she was ready to face it, and to face love too...

WORDS: 3.5k

NOTE: Okay, I love developing relationships and I’m probably into developing first a relationship between Sydney and Harry while only hinting something with Niall for the moment(even if I think that my hints are like PRETTY MUCH OBVIOUS but hey). Perrie’s introduction was like... Complicated. Because I wanted her to be supportive of Sydney, while knowing that she couldn’t fully trust her so yes... Ambiguous Perrie. But she’s love. I hope you’ll enjoy this chapter! 💕

DISCLAIMER: This story is all fiction and fun, I respect all the boys and this is just a piece of fiction out of my mind, all the relationships and events thay will be portrayed are fake (I mean, in the way I put them) and I know it. I don't want to harm anyone with this either so enjoy this writing or if it makes you uncomfortable I just not recommend you to read it. Love and peace and kindness to all of you 💕

TAGLIST: Leave a comment to be a part of it!

Sydney was nervous and tense. She could sense some shivers down her spine as she was sitting in the hallway waiting for Harry's manager to come out. Signing the papers was the first stage of their relationship, getting along was another, but it was the first time for her being introduced to his bandmates as what she actually was. A comedian playing a role, nothing else. Usually her clients were more keen on faking the relationship only between her and them, not sharing with anyone what truly linked them and why they were together. It was always easier for everybody once they had to split after a longer moment, but here it was a requirement of his management and Sydney couldn't refuse what they wanted. They were paying her on her terms and that was the least she could do in this very tricky situation.

She wasn't nervous because they were huge superstars, loved and supported by millions, but because they were five friends seeming to love and care for each other. She had studied them, one by one after she had signed the contract for good. She had looked them up on instagram, they all had nice feeds to look at and seemed to be pretty funny, and protective of each other on twitter. She saw the wars that had once occurred with another boyband, she saw the love poured on them and the love they poured on each other. She saw the videos too and saw how happy they looked around each other, and how clingy they all were. Especially Harry, being the youngest of the group he seemed to be protected by others at the very beginning, then the tendency shifted on Niall. Niall, the Irish one, with his endless laughs and a smile going on forever. He seemed to have the ability to laugh for everything and anything, and most of the time when Sydney watched the videos she found herself laughing with him under her blanket while the boys were joking during interviews. They were all nice, but would they be nice to her?

“Mrs.Sydney,” a man asked and she looked up from behind her sunglasses with a little smile.

“Yes it is me,” she replied and the man invited her in the room.

She stood up, arranged her large bottle green sweater and entered confidently in the room, or faking the confidence that was leaving her body when she met all five of them. When she first put her eyes on the band, they looked as if they came straight from the cover of a magazine. All their eyes were on her, severe and cold. She felt shivers again. She was absolutely impressed by the men standing in front of her, and she truly believed that whatever she would do would be held against her. Harry stood in the middle, surrounded by, on his left, Zayn and Louis, and on his right, Liam and Niall. She felt like an intruder, and it was the first time she felt that way. Everytime she met her client it was in an intimate space where they could talk about everything and anything about their relationship, it was always away from their surroundings. But here, it was different and she thought she was ready, but she really wasn't. They were facing her, with their grave looks and their crossed arms – only Niall had his hands behind his back – and Harry stood right in the middle, like a child protected by his brothers. Sydney felt small and meaningless for a moment.

“So, boys this is Sydney,” the man that entered right after her said in a happy tone and the boys seemed to cringe a bit. They were uncomfortable, maybe as much as Sydney was, but at least they had each other. “She'll be around Harry for a moment, she's a professional.”

“Yeah, just like the ones before,” Louis said and the violence of his tone made Sydney feel a bit guilty, something she refused to be for a long time. But something about his voice obliged her to yield to the force of guilt.

“It happens sometimes Louis,” their manager said and brushed off the subject. “I'm introducing her to you so you know who this amazing lady is when she'll be around, and so you won't be surprised.” Sydney could see Liam roll his eyes as the man spoke. “So, Sydney, from left to right, Niall, Liam, Zayn and Louis, they are lovely lads really.” Louis coughed really loudly just after the man spoke. Will be nice, she thought.

“Nice to meet you all, I know it isn't common or may seem a little bit off but I'm very excited about working with you. I'm happy to be able to help.”

“Yes, the other one said the same thing too,” Louis whispered and his voice was immediately covered by Liam's.

“We're glad to have you here,” he said and Zayn nodded calmly while putting his arm around Louis' shoulders.

“Great great,” the manager said while clapping his hands and Sydney just thanked him internally because it was becoming very awkward for the six of them. “Now, all we need is to settle a version for our lovebirds' encounter,” he said and invited the boys and Sydney to sit on the sofa and the chairs that were disposed in the room.

Happily, the man exposed to all of them his story for the fresh and cute couple while Sydney sat far from Harry, who was still shielded by his friends. They saw her as a threat, and all she could have been asking herself was who hurt this man so badly. All Sydney knew was that she didn't want to be part of the team his friends were protecting him from. However, she carefully listened to their little made up love story that looked like a bad scenario from a romantic comedy, but they were her clients so she had nothing else to say. They met at a party and Harry texted her, they met afterwards and now they were a thing. All details were left to them to confirm and to work on, but the core of the story sounded as fake as it should. Sydney almost sighed, and caught Niall looking at her for a moment, but as soon as she laid her eyes on him, he looked at Harry. Sydney was about to lose it all, working in such an environment was about to not be as fun as she predicted it.

Being put under the spotlight that soon wasn't what she had expected in the very first place. She knew that her first appearance in Harry's life had to be big, but not that big. Not at a charity concert, not while being surrounded by this many people looking at her as if she was a complete stranger, without any proper introduction. This was probably the most stressful situation she has ever been put in during her small career, usually her clients were almost clinging on to her and showing her off to any living soul that wanted to hear about their little story and their new, loving and caring relationship. But Harry ran away as soon as she arrived, talking about some rehearsing. But he greeted her, which was already a big win on her side. He has been avoiding her for the past few days, and Sydney began to ask herself if she wasn't in a fake relationship with not him but his manager.

So Sydney wandered around, as close to the boys' fitting room as she could, looking as excited as she could and was, and somebody asked her what she was doing there and then she could pull out the Harry Styles card by asking them that she looked out for him and that she was a... Friend of his. The man didn't paid too much attention it seemed because he told her that One Direction were rehearsing right now and showed her how she could get to the stage where all the magic was happening. And with great enthusiasm, Sydney made her way through the hallways in order to see them sing. From afar, she heard some verse to “Story Of My Life”. She would lie if she said that song didn't move her even a little. The evolution they had gone through during the past four years was really awesome, going from singing teenage bangers to ballad-like sounds which really were pleasant to Sydney's ears. Their voices were truly beautiful and soft, carrying all the emotion the song needed to touch one's heart. And Sydney found herself drifting away, as she leaned on the barrier right in front of her, looking up at the boys singing and rehearsing their movements. When she finally settled down for a moment, it was Louis' turn to sing, his eyes closed, focused on the words he was about to say, and Harry right next to him with a faint smile on his face. His blue eyes were looking at Louis, with a kind of fondness she didn't see earlier, not in person at least. And when she began to question this fondness, a hand was put on her shoulder, making her turn around.

“You're Sydney, right,” a girl right behind her asked and Sydney saw Perrie Edwards, Zayn's girlfriend. She wasn't ready for this meeting, not at all, but she should have been. She just nodded shyly. “Nice to meet you, I'm Perrie, Zayn's girlfriend!”

“Nice to meet you,” she replied as Perrie shook her hand with the brightest smile ever, “I'm Harry's friend,” she stuttered as she didn't know how she should introduce herself for the moment, even to Harry's surroundings.

“Oh yes, the one Zayn talked to me about the other day,” she casually said and hugged her, with her chin resting on Sydney's shoulder to whisper: “I know, I'm aware of the situation. Don't worry, I'm not telling anyone.”

Sydney felt an adrenaline rush in her veins. This job was about to be the death of her. Perrie's smile reappeared in front of her, sunny and adorable. She knew that the boys knew, but she wasn't aware of the fact that their girlfriends could also know, and that began to become a bit problematic for her job. Maybe even a little more than problematic because the more people knew the less the secret was kept, statistics said so. And Sydney hated statistics for a reason. She just smiled awkwardly and Perrie took her by the hand, a genuine expression on her face.

“I'm going to show you around a bit, I know the place pretty much because I performed here, so at least you won't bore yourself to death out here while the boys are rehearsing.”

Sydney didn't really know what to do as she was dragged on an adventure on her own, with one of her fake boyfriend's bandmates, aware of the whole situation. She asked herself if Perrie was a good actress of genuinely a nice person because of the way she acted with her while knowing who she really was. Especially after seeing the boys' reaction to her irruption in Harry's life. Which was truly understandable, Sydney couldn't deny that. But Perrie seemed to sincerely show her around, joking about some places and even talking about her band, Little Mix, as if she had known Sydney for a long time. Was she playing around in order to give the people around some suspicion about her and why she was there as Harry's “friend”? If she was, Perrie had a beautiful career in hiding secrets and making things believable to the public eye, for a mere second Sydney thought what it would be like to be her stunt because it seemed to be a perfect person to hang out around during trying times like these. They shared some laughs, fake or not Sydney couldn't really tell, and talked about things and other and to be quite frank, Sydney felt comfortable around her, and maybe a bit bolder than intended because she dared to ask her questions about the relationship she was in. Something she refused to do for a long time, usually because nobody around knew, but if Perrie was just playing along, even if she was only in Harry's team, she would help her at least a little, just as she was helping here right at the moment.

“Perrie,” Sydney almost whispered, looking around in order to see if they were in a safe space and indeed the room they were in seemed to be that kind of place, “how... Well, how should I handle all of this?” Perrie immediately closed the door, inspecting if anyone was there and then she nodded to her to continue. “I mean, this is the first time so many people know what I'm doing, I mean so many people around the concerned person. And this is making the things difficult for me because... I try to be friends with him, or at least to make it pleasant and to not annoy him more than this situation is.”

“Well,” she sighed and leaned on the door behind her, “the boys really do love each other, and they won't let you approach Harry more than you should.”

“And this is what makes things difficult,” Sydney said and Perrie looked a little confused, “I know my boundaries, but I just don't want all of this to be painful for him, not to be just a 'girlfriend to show off' but to make him feel comfortable around me, something the guys are preventing me from.”

“You care a lot about him, don't you?”

“I care about him being comfortable, nothing more. It's my job to help him out from a difficult situation I'm not aware of, and I need to be able to not make a difficult time out of being his girlfriend like this. I want Harry to be happy, or at least to forget that it's all fake and just have fun while being with me, as platonically as possible, but as romantically as possible for the press.”

“You're the first one of his stunts to ask me how to make him feel happy and not 'what it is like to date a guy from One Direction',” Perrie admitted and walked towards Sydney and put her hands on her shoulders. “It's very nice, you're lovely. I'm going to talk with Zayn about it, and I'll keep in touch with you, alright love?”

She was playing along for the full time, Sydney thought but now she was seeing the true Perrie. At least, a little bit of her true self. She couldn't really tell if she was as open as she was at that very moment, but she knew that Perrie could think that she was faking it all, because they were other stunts, other girls around probably making it difficult for Harry apparently. It touched her to know that she was the first one to ask about him, and how to make the things the less awkward possible around him, and not only to want attention. It also made her sad thinking that other stunts weren't as considerate as she was, at least not the ones that Harry had known.

“Thank you Perrie,” Sydney whispered. It was the first time she could ask for help with her client, without feeling guilty, without feeling like cheating. And even if Perrie was doing it for the sole purpose of serving Harry's interest, it was nice that she was willing to help Sydney out.

“Thank you for caring for the boys' well being Sydney. Now,” she said and quickly took her phone out her jeans pocket, “I'm following you on instagram so we can keep in touch for all these things and how the discussion went with Zayn. Take this and type your username.” As soon as she got Perrie's phone, she did as asked and gave it back to her. “Now, we need to go and have fun at the concert because you need to see what being a Directionner is like!”

She took Sydney by the hand again, and rushed her trough the hallways. At that very moment, Sydney knew that Perrie wasn't totally playing along.

When the lights went down, and she stood in the vip section during the concert, she could feel many eyes on her as Perrie held her by the waist and danced with her with a smile. What was even more surreal was hearing the fans behind them – Sydney didn't dare to watch all these persons crying and singing along. She felt the energy of the whole room being poured on her, the music, the artists, everything and even more. She let herself go a bit, enjoying the moment until One Direction's appearance on stage. They were properly introduced by the host, and the hall went silent after a ton of applause. She held her breath against her will for a moment, and then, the light illuminated the group. Harry stood at the very front, slowly making his way towards the edge of the scene, she noticed that he was shaking a bit. He was tense, and his jaw clenched until he began to sing. “Written on these walls are the stories that I can't explain” and then, he locked his blue eyes with hers for a mere second. Sydney couldn't really tell what all of this meant, but he winked at her. Almost secretly, but she was sure that the camera caught it, as well as her face while he did it: a total surprise as Perrie was swaying with her. Sydney was taken aback by this gesture, and Harry didn't seem to mind as he continued singing without even flinching. The circle of the boys moved, allowing Liam to be the one standing in front of the audience as Harry moved on the left. While being kept captive of this sudden change of attitude, she however managed to enjoy their performance. Perrie decided to stand next to her after a while, and Sydney could look at her and her loving looks when Zayn walked by, with a smile for her. They truly seemed deeply in love. From time to time, Sydney saw Louis smiling at Harry, for a mere second before looking at the audience again. His smile was bright and radiant, and so caring. But Sydney was mostly captivated by Harry himself and Niall. He had something special that didn't allow one to avoid his smile, his face and his blond hair. Syney's eyes were bouncing from Harry to Niall and from Niall to Harry, sometimes passing by Louis's smile. The atmosphere was magical.

And once they were done, Perrie grabbed Sydney by the hand in order to take her backstage to see the boys. With all of this rush, Sydney was glad to have someone by her side in order to guide her in the halls and through this hectic place. When they arrived, it was the time of the group hug and Sydney witnessed this magical moment with her own eyes. Harry, the tallest, was wrapping them with his long arms, holding tight onto Louis's sweater as the other boys were hugging each other too. And, while Harry's expression was the most relaxed Sydney has ever seen while being this close to him, he noticed her and immediately stopped the hug. And she felt like an intruder again.

“Guys, you were fantastic,” Perrie said with her enthusiastic smile and Zayn looked at her fondly.

“Thank you Pez,” he replied.

“Yes, it was a great performance I loved it,” Sydney said with a confident smile while still standing next to Perrie, whose hand was now held by Zayn's. She truly was an intruder.

“Great to hear,” Niall replied and his smile almost blinded her, so much joy.

“Happy to hear that, dear,” Harry said right after looking at his manager who stood right on his left. “It really means a lot to me to know that you liked it.”

She didn't feel like pushing the conversation further, because now she could sense how uncomfortable Harry was while speaking with her, even if she was standing there, still, not trying to hug him or to force anything. She could have, but she knew that all of this would be useless. Instead, she smiled and blushed as he said that. She wanted to seem cute, nothing more. She couldn't be clingy with him, not until they would become more comfortable around each other, and even the looks from his manager wouldn't make her do the move. She was the professional, he said it himself, and they had to cope with her ways of working if they wanted this relationship to work well and to be believable. And Harry smiled. It was probably the most genuine smile she had received from him since the very beginning.

#one direction #niall horan #niall horan x ofc #harry styles #zayn malik #liam payne #louis tomlinson #perrie edwards #pr stunt au

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timeless-hollywood-classics · 5 years ago

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Veronica Lake (born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman; November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd during the 1940s and her peek-a-boo hairstyle. By the late 1940s, Lake's career began to decline, due in part to her alcoholism. She made only one film in the 1950s, but made several guest appearances on television. She returned to the big screen in 1966 in the film Footsteps in the Snow (1966), but the role failed to revitalize her career.

Lake's memoir, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, was published in 1970. Her final screen role was in a low-budget horror film, Flesh Feast (1970). Lake died in July 1973 from hepatitis and acute kidney injury at the age of 50.

Lake was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Her father, Harry Eugene Ockelman, was of German and Irish descent, and worked for an oil company aboard a ship. He died in an industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932. Lake's mother, Constance Frances Charlotta (Trimble; 1902–1992), of Irish descent, married Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, also of Irish descent, in 1933, and Lake began using his surname.

The Keanes lived in Saranac Lake, New York, where young Lake attended St. Bernard's School. She was then sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from which she was expelled. Lake later claimed she attended McGill University and took a premed course for a year, intending to become a surgeon. This claim was included in several press biographies, although Lake later declared it was bogus. Lake subsequently apologized to the president of McGill, who was simply amused when she explained her habit of self-dramatizing. When her stepfather fell ill during her second year[vague], the Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida. Lake attended Miami High School, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to her mother.

In 1938, the Keanes moved to Beverly Hills, California. While briefly under contract to MGM, Lake enrolled in that studio's acting farm, the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting (now the Beverly Hills Playhouse). She made friends with a girl named Gwen Horn and accompanied her when Horn went to audition at RKO. She appeared in the play Thought for Food in January 1939. A theatre critic from the Los Angeles Times called her "a fetching little trick" for her appearance in She Made Her Bed.

She also appeared as an extra in a number of movies. Keane's first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small role among several coeds in the film Sorority House (1939). The part wound up being cut from the film, but she was encouraged to continue. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets (1939), Dancing Co-Ed (also 1939), Young as Your Feel (1940), and Forty Little Mothers (also 1940). Forty Little Mothers was the first time she let her hair down on screen.

Lake attracted the interest of Fred Wilcox, an assistant director, who shot a test scene of her performing from a play and showed it to an agent. The agent, in turn, showed it to producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., who was looking for a new girl to play the part of a nightclub singer in a military drama, I Wanted Wings (1940). The role would make Lake, still in her teens, a star. Hornblow changed the actress's name to Veronica Lake. According to him, her eyes, "calm and clear like a blue lake", were the inspiration for her new name.

It was during the filming of I Wanted Wings that Lake developed her signature look. Lake's long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created a "peek-a-boo" effect. "I was playing a sympathetic drunk, I had my arm on a table ... it slipped ... and my hair — it was always baby fine and had this natural break — fell over my face ... It became my trademark and purely by accident", she recalled.

I Wanted Wings was a big hit. The hairstyle became Lake's trademark and was widely copied by women.

Even before the film came out, Lake was dubbed "the find of 1941". However, Lake did not think this meant she would have a long career and maintained her goal was to be a surgeon. "Only the older actors keep on a long time ... I don't want to hang on after I've reached a peak. I'll go back to medical school", she said.

Paramount announced two follow-up movies, China Pass and Blonde Venus. Instead, Lake was cast in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels with Joel McCrea. She was six months pregnant when filming began.

Paramount put Lake in a thriller, This Gun for Hire (1942), with Robert Preston as her love interest. However, she shared more scenes with Alan Ladd; the two of them were so popular together that they would be reteamed in lead roles for three more films. Both had cameos in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), an all-star Paramount film.

Lake was meant to be reunited with McCrea in another comedy, I Married a Witch, (also 1942) produced by Sturges and directed by René Clair, but McCrea refused to act with her again, reportedly saying, "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake". Production was delayed, enabling Lake to be reunited with Ladd in The Glass Key (again 1942), replacing Patricia Morison. The male lead in I Married a Witch was eventually played by Fredric March and the resulting movie, like The Glass Key, was successful at the box office. René Clair, the director of I Married a Witch, said of Lake, "She was a very gifted girl, but she didn't believe she was gifted."

Lake was meant to co-star with Charles Boyer in Hong Kong for Arthur Hornblow, but it was not made. She received acclaim for her part as a suicidal nurse in So Proudly We Hail! (1943). At the peak of her career, she earned $4,500 a week.

Lake had a complex personality and acquired a reputation for being difficult to work with. Eddie Bracken, her co-star in Star Spangled Rhythm, in which Lake appeared in a musical number, was quoted as saying, "She was known as 'The Bitch' and she deserved the title." However, Lake and McCrea did make another film together, Ramrod (1947). During filming of The Blue Dahlia (1946), screenwriter Raymond Chandler referred to her as "Moronica Lake".

During World War II, Lake changed her trademark peek-a-boo hairstyle at the urging of the government to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles. Although the change helped to decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery, doing so may have damaged Lake's career. She also became a popular pin-up girl for soldiers during World War II and traveled throughout the United States to raise money for war bonds.

Lake's career faltered with her unsympathetic role as Nazi spy Dora Bruckman in The Hour Before the Dawn (1944), shot in mid 1943. Scathing reviews of The Hour Before the Dawn included criticism of her rather unconvincing German accent. She had begun drinking more heavily during this period, and a growing number of people refused to work with her. Lake had a number of months off work, during which time she lost a child and was divorced.

In early 1944 she was brought back in Bring On the Girls (1945), Lake's first proper musical, although she had sung in This Gun for Hire and Star Spangled Rhythm. She was teamed with Eddie Bracken and Sonny Tufts. The movie was not a financial success.

In June 1944, Lake appeared at a war bond drive in Boston, where her services as a dishwasher were auctioned off. She also performed in a revue, with papers saying her "talk was on the grim side". Hedda Hopper later claimed this appearance was responsible for Paramount giving her the third lead in Out of This World (1945), supporting Diana Lynn and Bracken, saying "Lake clipped her own wings in her Boston bond appearance ... It's lucky for Lake, after Boston, that she isn't out of pictures".

Lake had a relatively minor role in a film produced by John Houseman, Miss Susie Slagle's (also 1945), co starring Sonny Tufts; Lake was top billed but her part was smaller than Joan Caulfield. In November 1944 she made a third film with Bracken, Hold That Blonde (1945). She liked this part saying "it's a comedy, rather like what Carole Lombard used to do ... It represents a real change of pace".

Lake then made a second film produced by John Houseman, The Blue Dahlia (1946), which reunited her with Ladd. While waiting for the films to be released in 1945, she took stock of her career, claiming, "I had to learn about acting. I've played all sorts of parts, taken just what came along regardless of high merit. In fact, I've been a sort of general utility person. I haven't liked all the roles. One or two were pretty bad".

Lake expressed interest in renegotiating her deal with Paramount:

The studio feels that way about it too. They have indicated they are going to fuss more about the pictures in which I appear. I think I'll enjoy being fussed about ... I want this to be the turning point and I think that it will. I am free and clear of unpleasant characters, unless they are strongly justified. I've had a varied experience playing them and also appearing as heroines. The roles themselves haven't been noteworthy and sometimes not even especially spotlighted, but I think they've all been beneficial in one way or another. From here on there should be a certain pattern of development, and that is what I am going to fight for if necessary, though I don't believe it will be because they are so understanding here at Paramount.

Since So Proudly We Hail only The Blue Dahlia had been a hit. She made her first film outside Paramount since she became a star, a Western, Ramrod (1947), directed by her then-husband Andre DeToth, which reunited her with Joel McCrea, despite his earlier reservation. It was successful.

Back at her home studio she had a cameo in Variety Girl (1947) then was united with Ladd for the last time in Saigon (1948), in which she returned to her former peek-a-boo hairstyle; the movie was not particularly well received. Neither was a romantic drama, Isn't It Romantic (also 1948) or a comedy The Sainted Sisters (1948). In 1948 Paramount decided not to renew Lake's contract.

Lake moved to 20th Century Fox to make Slattery's Hurricane (1949), directed by DeToth. It was only a support role and there were not many other offers.

In 1950 it was announced she and DeToth would make Before I Wake (from a suspense novel by Mel Devrett) and Flanagan Boy. Neither was made.

She appeared in Stronghold (1951), which she later described as "a dog", an independent production from Lippert Pictures shot in Mexico. She later sued for unpaid wages on the film. Lake and DeToth filed for bankruptcy that same year.

The IRS later seized their home for unpaid taxes. On the verge of a nervous breakdown and bankrupt, Lake ran away, left DeToth, and flew alone to New York.

"They said, 'She'll be back in a couple of months,'" recalled Lake. "Well I never returned. Enough was enough already. Did I want to be one of the walking dead or a real person?"

She performed in summer stock theatre and in stage roles in England. In October 1955, she collapsed in Detroit, where she had been appearing on stage in The Little Hut.

After her third divorce, Lake drifted between cheap hotels in New York City, and was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. In 1962, a New York Post reporter found her living at the all-women's Martha Washington Hotel in Manhattan, working as a waitress downstairs in the cocktail lounge. She was working under the name "Connie de Toth". Lake said she took the job in part because "I like people. I like to talk to them".

The reporter's widely distributed story led to speculation that Lake was destitute. After the story ran, fans of Lake sent her money which she returned as "a matter of pride". Lake vehemently denied that she was destitute and stated, "It's as though people were making me out to be down-and-out. I wasn't. I was paying $190 a month rent then, and that's a long way from being broke". The story did revive some interest in Lake and led to some television and stage appearances, most notably in the 1963 off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward.

In 1966, she had a brief stint as a television hostess in Baltimore, Maryland, along with a largely ignored film role in Footsteps in the Snow. She also continued appearing in stage roles. She went to Freeport in the Bahamas to visit a friend and ended up living there for a few years.

Lake's memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, which she dictated to the writer Donald Bain, were published in the United Kingdom in 1969, and in the United States the following year. In the book, Lake discusses her career, her failed marriages, her romances with Howard Hughes, Tommy Manville and Aristotle Onassis, her alcoholism, and her guilt over not spending enough time with her children. In the book, Lake stated to Bain that her mother pushed her into a career as an actress. Bain quoted Lake, looking back at her career, as saying, "I never did cheesecake like Ann Sheridan or Betty Grable. I just used my hair". She also laughed off the term "sex symbol" and instead referred to herself as a "sex zombie".

When she went to the UK to promote her book in 1969 she received an offer to appear on stage in Madam Chairman. Also in 1969, Lake essayed the role of Blanche DuBois in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire on the English stage; her performance won rave reviews. With the proceeds from her autobiography, after she had divided them with Bain, she co-produced and starred in her final film, Flesh Feast (1970), a low-budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline.

After purchasing an airplane for her husband, André de Toth, Lake earned her pilot's license in 1946. She later flew solo between Los Angeles and New York when leaving him.

Lake's first marriage was to art director John S. Detlie, in 1940. They had a daughter, Elaine (born in 1941), and a son, Anthony (born July 8, 1943). According to news from the time, Lake's son was born prematurely after she tripped on a lighting cable while filming a movie. Anthony died on July 15, 1943. Lake and Detlie separated in August 1943 and divorced in December 1943.

In 1944, Lake married film director Andre DeToth with whom she had a son, Andre Anthony Michael III (known as Michael DeToth), and a daughter, Diana (born October 1948). Days before Diana's birth, Lake's mother sued her for support payments. Lake and DeToth divorced in 1952.

In September 1955, she married songwriter Joseph Allan McCarthy. They were divorced in 1959. In 1969, she revealed that she rarely saw her children.

In June 1973, Lake returned from her autobiography promotion and summer stock tour in England to the United States and while traveling in Vermont, visited a local doctor, complaining of stomach pains. She was discovered to have cirrhosis of the liver as a result of her years of drinking, and on June 26, she checked into the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.

She died there on July 7, 1973, of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury. Her son Michael claimed her body. Lake's memorial service was held at the Universal Chapel in New York City on July 11.

She was cremated and, according to her wishes, her ashes were scattered off the coast of the Virgin Islands. In 2004, some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard.

#veronica lake #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #classic cinema #old hollywood #1940s cinema #1940s hollywood

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go-events · 5 years ago

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GO Rom Com Spotlight: @caedmonfaith

The most excellent @caedmonfaith (also Caedmon on AO3) has claimed 27 Dresses to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About 27 Dresses: Perennial bridesmaid Jane (Katherine Heigl) always puts the needs of others before her own, making her the go-to gal whenever someone needs help with wedding plans. So when Jane's younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) snags the man (Edward Burns) Jane secretly loves, Jane finds herself questioning her role as a wedding junkie for the first time in her life. Meanwhile, a handsome reporter (James Marsden) sees Jane's unusual story as his ticket off the bridal beat.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @caedmonfaith a little better!

* * *

goromcom: Let’s start with something about you. You know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "#black widow and #clintasha". I love learning about which other fandoms all of you are in! Black Widow is amazing, I really like that character!

caedmonfaith: Yep, caedmonfaith is my tumblr, and that's the only social media I have that's not facebook, really. And that's really interesting about the tags I'm associated with! Clintasha is the very first ship I wrote for, the ship that pulled me into fanfiction and started me on this wild journey, but I haven't written for Clintasha in almost five years. I guess maybe I was just more active on tumblr then, and that's why they're like that? I don't know... seems like Doctor Who would be one of the tags, since I wrote 141 Doctor/Rose fics! LOL And yeah, Black Widow/Natasha Romanov is amazing. I love her so much. I miss writing for her, honestly, but Good Omens has sucked up all of my attention.

goromcom: Oh, I miss Rose so much, too. I really loved that era of Who. But let’s move on to your romcom! You are adapting 27 Dresses as your romcom. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

caedmonfaith: I didn't actually mean to choose 27 Dresses - it wasn't my first choice! My first choice was 10 Things I Hate About You. As soon as I saw the list of romcoms, I decided that was the one I wanted, and started plotting the story. I needed to pick more than one romcom, though, for claims (I believe the number we were supposed to pick was ten), so I picked nine other movies I thought I might be able to do something with without putting a lot of thought into it, because I was caught up in 10 Things. I used a randomizer to sort them, with 10 Things at the top of the list, and 27 Dresses just happened to be second. But due to a laggy connection to google docs, I got my claim form in about sixty seconds too late and my first choice was taken my the amazing Mia_Ugly! I was salty about it for a hot minute, then sucked it up. I realized that she'd do an amazing job and got really excited to see what she would do. She's such a brilliant writer.

As far as 27 Dresses goes... I remember seeing it when it first came out and thinking it was super cute. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, anyway, especially when they involve weddings, and James Marsden is absolutely beautiful. It's no hardship to look at him. This was my favorite role Katherine Heigl played, too. I remember watching the movie multiple times when it came out, because I enjoyed it so much.

goromcom: What's your favorite moment of your movie, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

caedmonfaith: My absolute favorite moment in the movie is one that isn't going to make it into my story, unfortunately. It's when Kevin is at Jane's apartment and she's trying on dresses to show him the range of things she's worn for all the weddings she's been in. She comes out in a ridiculous, hokey dress, and he says, "What is that?!" She replies with a smile, "It was a theme wedding!" And he comes back with, "What was the theme? Humiliation?" I remember being really tickled by that line at the time, and it's the biggest moment that's stuck in my memory. Unfortunately, I don't have an organic place to put that line, so I'm having to scrap it.

goromcom: Do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

caedmonfaith: Confession time: I haven't seen the movie in ten years, since I was pregnant with my middle child! I debated about whether to watch it again to refresh my memory or to go ahead without watching, and to be honest, I'm still debating whether to watch it or not. I didn't want to follow the film too closely - I wanted to put my own spin on it, and worried that if the movie was fresh in my mind, I'd be more inclined to follow it too closely. But my beta has suggested that I rewatch, so I'm on the fence.

I'm keeping the broad strokes of the film, but making some pretty significant changes. Crowley is playing the Kevin character, and he's a reporter who has recently had a 'fall from grace' after publishing some unflattering information about his publisher's wife. That's fairly consistent with the film, as I recall. But Aziraphale is taking the Jane role, and I've had to change him up quite a bit. In my story, he's a very sought-after wedding planner, nicknamed the 'Angel of Love'. In the film, Jane is in love with her boss and heartbroken when her sister, Tess, manages to catch his heart. The movie revolves largely around her turmoil over being a bridesmaid for Tess while watching the man she loves marry someone else. None of that made it into my story. There's no love triangle.

goromcom: Oh, I personally appreciate that change. Love triangles are not my bag, though they must be someone’s, as they seem to make it into lots of media.

Other than that, what's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

caedmonfaith: The film takes place in an American city I don't recall, but I've relocated my story to London (and Tadfield). I have Crowley in the Kevin role and Aziraphale in the Jane role, as the romantic leads. Anathema features heavily in the story as a matchmaking American heiress who has made her home in England and writes occult books. Newt is her hapless fiance, a boring accountant who indulges his love's every whim. Madame Tracy is Aziraphale's assistant, and is married to Shadwell. I'm throwing in nods to canon as much as I'm able without shoehorning them: I don't want them to feel forced.

goromcom: I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

caedmonfaith: Oh goodness, this is a dangerous question. I have three beautiful, amazing kids, ages 14, 10, and 8, and they're all three awesome. My husband is handsome, wonderful, and incredibly indulgent of my fanfic writing, and I'm very lucky to have him. I could rhapsodize about any or all of them for hours, but I'll spare you.

I guess the most significant exciting thing on my horizon is that I have a major milestone birthday coming up on March 5. I'll be 29 again! (I'll actually be 40.)To celebrate, my best friend is throwing me a huge party at her house, and I have close friends flying into my town from New Hampshire and Seattle to spend a four-day weekend with my BFF and I. We have tons of plans to do fun stuff, and I simply can't wait. Happy Birthday to me!

goromcom: Indeed! 40 is slightly in the rear view mirror for me, so I feel like I can tell you that I’ve had a lot of fun with the ages that begin with a 4 so far. I hope yours are just as good. :)

And speaking of things that are good, make sure to catch the marvelous GO adaptation of 17 Dresses, coming very soon!

#goromcom #goromcom spotlight #good omens #caedmonfaith #27 dresses

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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FEATURE: 5 WEBTOON Series We’d Love to See Animated!

With Tower of God over and The God of High School hitting the midway point, it’s pretty obvious that WEBTOON Series adaptations are a hit, but what will come after Noblesse later this year? While we don’t have any real answers to that question, we do have five titles we think would be fantastic adaptations to see animated on our screens. The WEBTOON library is frankly huge and filled with tons of great possibilities, so we decided to try and narrow it down to five different genre titles we think would really shake things up on the “big screen!” If you want to learn about even more WEBTOON Series we think are great (some of which definitely deserve an anime), check out our previous article here.

When deciding what would make a good anime, though, there’s more to it than just, “Wow, I really love this series, so it should totally get an anime!” It’s also worth asking the question: “Would this benefit from being animated?” What would they be able to do with it that they couldn’t do as a WEBTOON Series? What sort of changes might they have to make? As we’ve seen with Tower of God and The God of High School, action series benefit from animation greatly, but that doesn’t mean only action series deserve some lovin’. So with that in mind, I tried to grab a few different genres and styles of WEBTOON Series. But, of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and we highly recommend you go check out the WEBTOON website or app (available on Google Play and on the App Store) and see what types of amazing series you can find!

Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell

I’m a huge comedy fan, some of my favorite series of all time are comedies. So when I started reading WEBTOON Series, I really wanted to find something that would make me laugh. I didn’t have to look too hard, but perhaps no series has been as funny so consistently than Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell. The main character, Paul, just can’t seem to get the attention of the woman he thinks he loves. So he chooses the best possible course of action: learning black magic and summoning Astaroth, one of the Great Dukes of Hell!

The comic routinely features amazing, understated visual gags and humor while building an interesting and deep storyline over the course of its run. In fact, I really didn’t expect the characters and world that Duke of Hell creates to really suck me in as much as it did, but that just lends to its overall strengths. As far as an adaptation goes, I could see this as a fantastic comedy hit that either focuses on extensive, gorgeous animation for gags like HINAMATSURI, or a muted and simplistic animation style like Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san that lets the art and jokes combine without getting too big. Either way, just thinking about voice actors for the various characters, especially Astaroth, is perhaps one of the most fun fantasies to have—after all, it would need to be someone with enough gravity to play such an amazing Duke of Hell!

Purple Hyacinth

Purple Hyacinth has long been on my read list and was actually one of the series that got me started on the idea of seeing WEBTOON Series animated. Unlike other series, Purple Hyacinth routinely asks readers to turn their audio on, playing ambient and specific music throughout the series to create a multimedia experience. Of course, that isn’t the only reason for it being on this list. No, Purple Hyacinth is here because it’s a type of story that, frankly, isn’t told very often in anime lately: a gritty crime mystery thriller!

Lauren, the protagonist, has dedicated her life to avenging the death of her childhood friend and the elimination of Phantom Scythe, a terrorist organization responsible for the events that would alter her life forever. Lauren meets the assassin “Purple Hyacinth,” who just so happens to share similar goals as her. This series really just gets how to build a complex and deep mystery and the fact that you need excellent character drama to make people care about what happens next, especially when big twists and turns come! Lauren possesses the ability to detect lies, “seeing” them in red whenever people tell them. Just imagining the creative ways this could be animated alone makes me giddy at the idea of a Purple Hyacinth adaptation. But beyond that, the character drama and intrigue of the twisting mysteries here would turn this into a killer multi-season anime. I can just imagine the gleeful frustration waiting for the next season after the first one ends on a cliffhanger! If any of these series were worthy of being dubbed “binge-worthy” as an anime, I’m convinced it would be Purple Hyacinth.

Lookism

Readers of our first article on WEBTOON Series pointed out Lookism as a favorite of theirs, and with good reason. This long-running ugly-duckling story packs a lot of punch, both literally and figuratively, as the story threads of school bullying, the ugly side of society, delinquent fights, and more together into a fascinating tapestry. Daniel is poor, overweight, and bullied to such a degree that his mother scrapes all the money together that she can to send him to a new school. However, his life takes a huge change upon arrival to his new school home when he wakes up in a different body: gorgeous, tall, and super-strong! The “new” Daniel gives him the ability to pursue the life he thought he wanted, but it comes with a lot more than he bargained for!

One thing about Lookism that caught me off-guard is that it seems, at first, to be a sort of traditional ugly-duckling story where Daniel learns to love his original self while teaching those around him to be better people. But it also features heavy delinquent style fights and action. While this might sound a little dissonant, it’s fair to say that Lookism would provide tons of great material for high school delinquent action and social drama—and the fight scenes in later storylines are truly amazing to behold on the page. Lookism also features an amazing supporting cast of unique and weird characters that tend to steal the spotlight from Daniel as they get introduced, meaning there are tons of characters to fall in love with here (I’m a big Vasco and Jay fan, myself!). With a unique mix of action, comedy, and heavy drama, Lookism really has a lot to bring to the table, and when animated, would surely take advantage of its mixed genre-typing to be a big hit.

Let’s Play

While many of the series we’ve talked about have a tinge of supernatural action or combat to them, Let’s Play is quite a bit different—just regular people here! Of course, these regular people are involved in all sorts of turmoil and romantic drama, but that’s to be expected. Let’s Play follows game dev Samara “Sam” Young, creator of the game Ruminate, and the trouble she runs into when her game’s biggest critic, Marshall Law, becomes her neighbor. Let’s Play is a fairly interesting drama due to the combination of game dev discussion—which veers into similar territory as shows like Shirobako that delve into making things—and the personal drama of the main cast.

Although it is indeed a romance, the most striking part of the series is Sam’s struggles with anxiety; her internal monologues and issues make her an incredibly relatable and fresh character. Let’s Play would make an amazing romantic comedy with a woman lead, which we really need more of these days! The video game elements of the story add that extra touch that, in all honesty, feel like they would be amazing to see animated and played with using various graphical touches, allowing animators to play with the adaptation in ways that don’t rely solely on action sequences.

unOrdinary

If you’re an avid WEBTOON Series reader, then it’s very likely you came to this list expecting to see this exact series, so don’t worry: we agree! UnOrdinary would be an amazing anime adaptation, likely to find a huge audience of new fans who would gobble up the series premise: a world in which some people are born with powers, or Abilities, and those who don’t find themselves treated as lessers and outcasts. John, unfortunately for him, is the latter, and as a result, he is relentlessly bullied by his classmates for his powerless nature.

In a lot of ways, unOrdinary is almost like a darker My Hero Academia, except instead of a world of superheroes and villains, it's a world of the “haves” and “have nots,” where people without abilities are treated extremely poorly. Like quite a few WEBTOON Series, social class, status, and bullying are a big part of unOrdinary, which gives it a sharp, dark edge to its narrative at times. Similarly, John is a fairly interesting protagonist and, without spoiling things, certainly makes unOrdinary, well, unordinary! Given the popularity of My Hero Academia and Tower of God, unOrdinary would probably be the best possible candidate to get the anime treatment next, likely becoming a smash hit in no time—especially once the superpowers start showing up!

With the continued success of shows like The God of High School and Tower of God, it’s only a matter of time before we see more and more WEBTOON Series adapted to anime. Of course, there’s no real plans or releases yet, but we think our list is pretty solid. No matter what, it seems like an exciting time to get into WEBTOON Series and keep an eye out for the next big hit title that might be showing up on your screens in animated form!

Which WEBTOON Series titles do you want to see animated? Do you agree with our list? Let us know what series you like and what you think in the comments!

➡️ Watch The God of High School today! ⬅️

Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

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