#but it's so funny how the stuff decided the Sarah thing keep going without problem despite the May and Dee dynamic wasn't mention ever again

[stuworbutwitheds]

Been thinking on this.

Ed at some point started wondering if Dee and Sarah would be a thing just so he could be his brother-in-law. Dee was terrified.

I like to think that Double D's parents don't like Ed's parents at all

They keep telling their son to 'not get involve with such savage kids' while dee keeps in secret that one of them tried to kiss him and the other one actually has a crush on him

[maybebanks]

Hurting - part 4

link to part 1

link to part 2

link to part 3

jj maybank x reader

Previously: JJ and Y/n’s relationship is tested after the mental and physical difficulties of Y/n’s secret. She’s been an expert at hiding them, but now, he knows, and she has to face all her demons, and letting JJ think bruises are hickies is what she decided to do, to avoid the truth.

You didn’t need to get a job, because you were a ‘kook’ now. So what were you going to do with your summer? It had to be out of the house. And it couldn’t be with your best friends, the pogues.

You brushed the setting powder over your neck and jawline. Taking a deep breath before heading downstairs for breakfast.

You couldn’t face your mom, you were just going to grab some food and leave.

“Honey,” you heard a deep voice say.

You jumped and turned around, “um, yes sir,” you frowned, looking down at the ground.

“You’re mother took an early flight and I’m having a meeting here, so you need to stay in your room today,” your step father stated.

“W-wait, mom’s gone?” Your voice was shakey. You didn’t even get to explain the whole JJ situation.

“Yes.” He said impatiently, “look, doll, I don’t have time for you right now! My associate will be here any minute and if he sees you, we will have a problem,”

You didn’t understand, but you listened.

“Can-can I just get my bag? It’s in the front..um room,” you asked, meekly.

“Damnit you idiot!” He shouts, his fists clenching. You squinted your eyes on instinct, knowing he wants to punch you, knowing you were seconds away from pain.

The doorbell rang.

“Fuck. Get the hell out of my face,” he shoved you aggressively, then left your sight to get the door.

You stumbled, landing on the stairs, on your side. Cursing on impact.

You quickly got up, grabbed your bathing suit and ran out the door. Deciding to escape to the beach.

You put on your navy blue string bikini and quickly dove into the waves. It was weird because the last time you were here, you were with JJ.

He’s always been so sweet to you and you never knew why. Your first day on the island, when no one would talk to you, he came up to you. And being the established, well-liked person that he is, others followed.

You were very shy at first, and JJ didn’t know the real you until about a month in. But he didn’t give up, he was perfect.

You came up for air again. The salt not stinging your eyes.

Friendship. You’ve never had anything close to it until you met JJ.

But it’s too late. He’s gonna stop trying after what you’ve done, after what you’ve let him think you’ve done.

“You cheat on me?”

“W-why?”

“Answer me.”

“JJ...I think you should go,”

“Y/n.”

In your head it was the right decision. But in your heart? You’d die without him.

“Hey! Catch any good waves?!” Someone shouted from the shore.

You turned around from wading on your surf board. Waving to the boy at the shore.

A head of shaggy, long-ish brown haired boy seemed cheery. He threw off his button up and jumped into the waves.

You sighed, you were going to have to talk to this stranger. You almost didn’t have the energy.

“Why haven’t you been...around?” John B asks. You were surprisingly comfortable around him. He was your friend, you just didn’t notice at first.

“Just some...family stuff going on,” you shrugged.

“Ohh right. JJ told us!” He remembered.

“He-he what?” You stutter, afraid of what he might know.

“Yeah, he said your mom was coming home and she hasn’t in a while. That’s really all he said,” John B shrugged, flipping his hair after.

You felt like crying. Your mom wasn’t coming home, she was visiting for less than 12 hours.

“Hey...what happened to your leg?” He asked, swimming closer to you.

“Nothing, haha don’t uh..worry about me. How are..how are you?” You changed the subject.

“Well...oh shit! Did I tell you! I fucked uppp bro! I kissed Kie-“

“You did?!”

“Yeah! And she totally rejected me,” John B admitted.

“Did she like swerve? Or like push you?” You asked, curious about a normal thing for once.

“Nah, we kissed and then she pulled away, and said the no pogue on pogue macking rule. Fuckin JJ found a loophole with that,” he joked.

“A loophole?” You questioned.

“Yeah. Because you’re technically a kook,” John B shrugged.

“I guess,” you sighed.

“Hey, wanna get out of here? The waves are shit,” John B asked.

“Yeah.” You sighed, finally feeling calm for the first time in a while. Afterall it was a good distraction from JJ and everything else.

You and John B swam to shore and you threw a hoodie over your head.

“How good does the Wreck sound right now?” John B chuckled.

“So good,” you laughed, imagining shoving fries in ur mouth right now at the best restaurant in the Outer banks.

-

When you arrived at the restaurant, John B held the door open for you. He wanted to see you smile. You did, a soft curl of the lips, but it faded suddenly.

Something was wrong.

John Bs chest collided with your back, he chuckled. Because you stopped walking and blocked his path foreward.

“What’s up Y/n/n?” John B asked.

“Shut up-“ you said abruptly, John Bs eyes widened.

“Um..sorry. I didn’t mean to snap, just...don’t say my name like that,” you mumbled.

“Why? It’s your nickname right? Are you not cool with me calling you that?” John B questioned.

“No, no. I didn’t mean..just..nevermind,” you sighed. You just didn’t like it when people said your name loud in public places, you didn’t want to be recognized by certain people.

“Okayy? Anyway, let’s do that table in the back,” John B suggested.

“Okay,” you answered, keeping your head down.

He walked you to the table, and to your surprise, Kie arrived to take your orders.

“Hey guys! Is this a date? Or...” she joked. Laughing.

“Very funny Kie. Are you trying to make me lose my appetite? Poor business tactic of you ask me-“

“Hey! You asshole,” you mutter. Dipping your fingers in your water glass and spraying it at him.

John B tried to duck, but then bumped his head on the table.

You and Kie laughed loudly as he groaned in pain.

She could barely stop laughing, “can...ah I take your orders?”

“Yeah...um I’ll get um...John B what are you getting?”

“A cheese burger with no Mayo,” he told Kie.

“Idiot,” she muttered as she wrote it down.

“You want the usual? Fries and-“

“Ooh yes I’ll just have fries and cheese please,” you smiled.

“Yup, you got it. Ok I’ll be back,” she winked before leaving.

“By the way,” John B began, “I just want you to know I’d never make a move on you as long as your with JJ. I mean-Kie was joking in all-“

“John B, don’t worry about it ok?” You interrupted.

“Yeah but...I also wanted to ask you, what’s going on between you and JJ. Eveytime I mention him you get defensive,”

“What are you talking about? No I don’t,” you responded.

“Uh huh,” he said sarcastically.

“Look, the truth is, I just don’t care anymore,” you told him. You knew in your heart it wasn’t true, but it had to be. You couldn’t take back the fact that JJ thought you cheated. So you had to go with it.

“That doesn’t sound like you,” John B said.

“Whatever,” you sighed.

“Oh shit,” John B said, staring at the door.

“W-what? Is he here? Did you invite him? I swear to God,” you said in a hushed tone. You didn’t want to turn around yourself, in case you had to look him in the eye.

“No, chill. It’s..isn’t that your step dad though?” John B asked.

Your moth dropped slightly, “John B don’t say shit like that, your-“ you were about to tell him he was scaring you, but you shouldn’t admit that.

“Look behind you,”

“No I don’t want to,”

“Just look,”

You sighed, and slowly turned.

“Oh-“ you started to respond, but you practically felt your heart stop. Instantly, your breathing picked up.

“What’s going on between you and JJ? Why wouldn’t you want him here?” John B said, trying to pull your attention back to him.

You shook your head, instead of answering. You could hardly form words. Maybe it’s the fact that if your step father sees you here, there’s going to be some contact.

“Whoa relax!” John B said, placing his hand on yours.

Immediately, you pulled your hand away.

He furrowed his brows, confused and offended.

“Sorry.” you muttered.

“You wanna...leave.. I mean ... you wanna get out of here?” You suggested, afraid he would say no.

“What? Why? We didn’t even get our food!” John B exclaimed.

“I..I know. I just..don’t feel like eating anymore.”

“That’s so weird, Y/n. C’mon we can’t leave. Just suck it up for a sec,” John B said shortly. Tapping your shoulder.

“Okay,” you responded. You thought back to JJ. He never made you do stuff you don’t want to. He was just so caring to you. Not that John B wasn’t, just that JJ knew you so well.

A few minutes later, your couldn’t shake the thought that the man you feared the most was behind you. You didn’t have eyes. You didn’t have JJ. You didn’t have anything.

“John B, I don’t feel well I think I’m gonna head out,” you told him, getting up slowly.

“You sure?” He said, analyzing your.

“I um...�� for some reason, blurred vision erupted, and you started feeling like you were going to faint.

You stood up slowly. But things were getting worse, and your stance was unsteady.

You gripped the edge of the table for support.

“Y/n...what’s up with you?” John B asked. Sounding annoyed.

For some reason a tear escaped from your eye, you were sorry you were annoying him. So you muttered a quick, “I’m sorry,”

John B stood up, he was now right infront of you. And then, you collapsed. John Bs arms wrapped around you and pulled you into him as you fell.

He was shocked by this. Struggling to hold you up.

No one seemed to pay much attention, but anyone in their right mind would know that they should probobly take you to the hospital. But John B, as did many of the pogues, didn’t always trust authority.

So he took you back to the Chateau, where Sarah, who took a class in Lifeguarding was considerably the doctor instead.

“What happened?!!” Sarah exclaimed as she saw John B carry you out of the van.

“She just passed out. Hey can you help me carry her?” John B grunted.

“Uh..I’ll get JJ,” she said.

“Oh fuck. Wait! I don’t know if that’s such a good idea-“ John B began but Sarah had already called him from working on the boat.

He ran over, his eyes filled with worry. He quickly took you from John B. Carrying you without a problem bridal style.

Inside, he let you down on the couch.

You were slowly coming back to consciousness.

“Put this on her forehead,” Sarah said passing a towel to JJ.

“Hey...hey Y/n. Come back to me okay? Fuck baby. Don’t do this to me alright, wake up,” JJ muttered into your ear.

Moments later, your eyes started to flutter.

To witch JJ sighed in relief, taking your hand and holding it tight in his own.

“Let’s call her parents,” Sarah suggested, grabbing Y/n’s phone.

“Sarah no. Alright? Give me her phone,” JJ demanded.

“No! If I was her my parents would want to know! It’s not normal to just faint-“

“Sarah, give me the fucking phone,” JJ persisted.

John B frowned, “hey watch it, JJ. Don’t talk to her like that bro,”

Sarah frowned, and out of spite began typing on her phone.

JJs temper only grew, he only wanted to protect you.

He grabbed Sarah’s wrists and pulled the phone from her hand.

“Hey!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Dude!” John B interjected.

JJ returned the phone to his pocket.

“Bro, I’m gonna kill you-“ John B said.

“Wait,” you said meekly, “JJ was right, okay? It would only make it worse. Just trust me,”

“But why?” Sarah said concerned.

You shook your head, signaling you couldn’t answer the question.

Sarah sighed and wished you to feel better before leaving.

John B then stepped to JJ, “you’re lucky your girlfriend is so sweet. I would’ve kicked your ass,” John B threatened.

JJ didn’t want to cause a drive between any more of the people he cared about. So he just accepted.

JJ then sat by you, despite what had happened before.

“You really scared me, Y/n.”

“Wasn’t..my intention,” you stifled out, trying to get up.

“Whoa...whoa, can you stay to get some rest? Just stay here for me,” he insisted with a hand on your chest.

“JJ...” you sighed.

“I know it’s not true. I know what you’re doing.”

“Stop. Please.” You pleaded.

“You didn’t cheat on me. Those are bruises aren’t they. They’re not hickies. They’re from him trying to choke you.” JJ explained.

“JJ get away from me. We broke up. I don’t....I don’t-“

“You don’t what? You don’t love me?! Huh! Say it Y/n. Look me in the eyes, and I leave for good,”

“I don’t! I don’t deserve you! You can’t me with me. I’m used, JJ. You deserve a girl that isn’t so-“

“Broken? Y/n, I’m just as fucked up as you. You know my dad hits me right? He beats me. And it’s wrong. And I hate him. But I can’t hate you. Ever. Not for what that sick man has done,”

At this point, you were balling. Wiping tears as soon as they fell.

“JJ...I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying. I thought you would leave.”

“It doesn’t work like that, when I love you more than anything in my entire life,”

“I don’t understand,” you stuttered.

“Understand what?”

“Even after you know what he does. How could you look at me, and still love me?”

“That doesn’t change all I’ve known as soon as I met you. And if you need me to prove it to you, I will.”

-

thx for reading ❤️

@mavelfanatic @my-therapist-hates-me @rudypankowswife @harrypottersgirl @themaddies-obx taglist

[jjmaybankstorys]

NO PLAYER PT3- JJ MAYBANK

Here you can find PART1 and PART2 

Summary: at a party, Kie blurts out that you start liking Jj. After Jj and you ignoring e/o, the Pogues decide to leave you alone on the boat to sort things out....

Also guys requests are always open, so just comment them HERE or text me xx

Today is a party at Sarah's. Well, what does party mean. Her parents are at the Bahamas and the six of you want to hang out. 

When you arrive, you sit outside on the veranda. Jj gets you a couple of beers and you have fun.

"I think we need to toughen up a bit" Sarah says as she stands up and grabs some tequila from the shelf. All you can hear is cheering. Tequila is your weakness. You love it but you shouldn't drink too much of it.

"I'm so in today," says Ki and drinks from the bottle.

"Woah easy Ki" says Pobe and takes the bottle from her hand. 

After a few shots and a lot of beer you are all pretty drunk. But not as drunk as Ki. You could say she really got into it.

Kiara stands in front of you all the time and dances wildly. It's funny. And sometimes you join in. 

"Hey you guys... you're... cute" she says dancing and looking at you and Jj. You just sit next to each other. Nothing special.

"Thank you" says Jj and looks at you.

"Guys guys I've never seen her SO drunk." Says JohnB and laughs

"You know what's funny. No.... not funny but I think it's so cute because Y/N is soooo into JJ." Says Ki still dancing

"Ou..." you hear Pobe and JB say from the side. 

You can't believe what she just said. Everyone is quiet. Your heart beats faster and you blush. You see JJ's shocked face from the side. 

"No... what? That... is not true" you say.

"Yes it is... you just don't want to admit it... but you always come up to me and you're like "omg Ki Jj looks so hot" or "I miss Jj". I swear she would want to have sex with you" Ki says drunkenly as she realises that was too much.

"Oh really?... man I didn't know that..." says jj laughing and looking at you.

"Ugh fuck that" you say, getting up and walking away. 

Jj follows you.

"Wait wait wait... where are you going Y/N?" asks Jj and you stop.

"Home." You reply. 

"So..." says Jj but you interrupt him.

"This is not something I want to talk about right now, I'm pissed as hell at Kiara and I want to go home Jj!" You say annoyed and keep walking 

"Okay. Good. But I'm definitely not letting you go alone. I'll go with you" says Jj and takes you home.

————-

Today is a party on the beach. 

Ki apologized multiple times now but you didn't answer.

You have not continued to talk to Jj about what Ki said. 

You just got into a conversation with a boy. 

"Hey, can I get you anything?" says a boy, daniel, with whom you have often talked, leaning against a tree. 

"No, but thanks" you say 

"So why is a pretty girl like you here all alone?" he asks and smiles 

"Oh, I was just gonna get a drink"

"I'll fix you something" he says and winks at you 

"Oh thank you" you answer smiling  

Jj looks at you. You see how jealousy goes up in him when he sees you with the guy. 

"Jj are you okay?" says JohnB

"I'm fine" Jj says without taking his eyes off you. 

"What are you looking at? Did something happen between you two?" asks Pope 

"no, why should it" says Jj and looks over to the others 

"you've been staring at them all evening" says Ki

"It just makes me sick," says Jj 

"I can't understand why she even talks to him," he explains. 

"I mean, nobody can. She hated him back then" admits JohnB. 

"She still does," says Jj angrily 

"Doesn't look like it," Pope notes 

Jj looks over to you. You hug the guy and you laugh together. 

"Hey guys" you say smiling 

"So you and that guy there," Jj says without even looking at you. 

"He has a name Jj. It's daniel" you say annoyed 

"Oh sorry miss. So you two? You and DANIEL?" Jj replies

"Yeah, we like to hang out together. We're not together or anything," you say 

"fucking bullshit" says Jj and looks at you

"What do you have now. That's none of your business"

"You obviously like him." Jj says angrily 

"It's so wrong" says Jj and kicks his foot in the sand

"why wrong?" you say 

"Oh my God, we're certainly not going to talk about that now" says Jj annoyed 

"what the hell is wrong with you" you say out loud

"Nothing.. just maybe I thought that I'd mean something to you. But turns out, I don't" says Jj 

"I'm gonna go guys, I'll see you later but I really don't need to do that to myself" you say and go back to the guy who was obviously waiting for you

——-

So the others notice that you both like each other. But neither of you has managed to start a conversation. No one wants to make the first move. Even though Jj wanted to fight for you, and did, he doesn't see the point of chasing after you after all this. And you don't know what to do. You don't know how to explain to him that you kind of like him too. 

"Guys, we have to do something," Johnb says to Pobe, Sarah and Ki.

"What are you talking about, you idiot?" asks Sarah with a laugh.

"I mean about Jj and Y/N.... it's so obvious that they like each other and we know that. But they both don't have the balls to do anything," JohnB says.

"Yeah right... what do you have in mind?" asks Pobe curiously.

"Maybe we go for a ride on HMS Pogue and say we have a problem on the boat. Jj's dad's boat. It's still in the water here at the chateau" says Ki

"Yeah... yeah and then have them help us and then we jump off the boat and drive away. We'll leave them there to talk," says Sarah.

"You girls are really great at making plans" says JohnB laughing.

"Good idea though," adds Pobe.

And so they did. They planned everything and told you they needed help. They pick you up and drive you to the boat.

You get on it.

"What's the problem?" says Jj

"Well, somehow the Phantom won't start" says Sarah.

„The Phantom? Nah this baby works all the time. It's like this girl is brand new guys" says Jj as he starts looking at the engine. You join in. Meanwhile Sarah and Johnb jump off the boat and drive away with the others on the HMS pogue.

"Guys she works. Everything normal here" says Jj as you two notice them driving away 

"HEY WHAT THE HELL" you scream and run forward.

"YOU NEED TO TALK. AND NOW YOU HAVE TIME TO" JohnB shouts back.

You want to jump into the water but Jj stops you.

"Y/N it's no use... they're already gone" he says.

"ugh" you say and sit down. You sit there with just your bikini top and shorts. And Jj sits a little further away, topless and in his shorts.

At first you don't talk. Jj is kind of pissed and you are pissed because he is pissed. 

After a while it gets dark and you get some lights from the boat and put them on the deck. 

Jj rolls a joint and smokes it.

"Ugh Jj, you can go away with that. I don't want the smell" you say annoyed.

"Sorry... I'll put it away" he says and throws the joint into the water.

"You don't have to throw it away" you reply.

"Yes... it bothered you" he says.

Kind of sweet. Jj always cared about how you were and made sure you were okay. Even now.

By now it's dark and you're laying on cover under the open sky on the boat. You look at the stars.

"Hey Y/N" says Jj

"Yes" you say

"What was that yesterday?" he says as he turns to face you. 

"You mean you got mad at me for talking to a kook?" you reply, still not looking at him.

"yes Y/N I am or was pissed as shit. Kooks are all the same. And fuck he just wants to fuck you. That's just how they are" he says

"Oh wow Y/N don't be prejudiced. Why are you reacting like this?" you ask and turn to face Jj.

"What the fuck Y/N? I thought you liked me? I thought it was worth fighting for you and that I had managed to get you when Ki blurted out the stuff," Jj says, slightly angry.

"I... I know."

"I'm sorry but I just wanted to distract myself a bit after that" you say.

"Distract? From what, me?" asks Jj slightly hurt.

"Yeah... yeah, kinda" you say.

"What was that Ki said yesterday? Do you really like me? Or do you still think I'm a player?" asks Jj.

"no... I mean yeah... so Ki was right Jay. I do like you. You fought so hard for me and you took it all so seriously I never expected that. You made me change my mind. I believe you. And I like you. I believe you Jj" you say 

You see the relief in Jj's eyes. He looks so happy.

"So you want to go through this with me? Do we want to get serious?" asks Jj

"Yes... yes I will go through with it with you" you say smiling.

"That is... no wait" says Jj and stands up. He kneels down in front of you.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" he asks with a smile.

"Of course Jj. Yes" you say laughing and he hugs you.

“I wanted to ask you that for so long” he smiles

"Y/N I promise to always be by your side" says Jj.

"Thank you Jay" you say

He comes closer and gives you a loving kiss

"It feels so good to know that you are mine now" Jj says with a smile and looks you in the eyes.

————————————————

I really hope you liked it. Feel free to leave any comments or REQUESTS HERE if you have any.

You can find my MASTERLIST HERE.

[everybodyscupoftea]

the plug

college au jj x reader

word count: 3025

warnings: drinking, cursing, mentions of jj’s dad, four year age gap (20yo jj and 24yo reader)

synopsis: you’re the pogues’ alcohol plug and jj’s favorite person

a/n: this was an anonymous request, age gaps are kinda sensitive, nothing here happens until jj is almost 21 but please be careful out there folks; also i got kinda carried away 

You grew up in the Outer Banks, spent most of your time surfing or playing soccer for the local school’s team. Your house was near the Heyward’s shop, and you picked up odd jobs working Kook events all throughout your high school years. When college rolled around, you started working at the Wreck with Kie.

The Pogue and Kook rivalry never particularly interested you, it seemed frivolous, and after a brief stint on the mainland, you realized the world was so much bigger out of the scope of the Outer Banks. Your refusal to participate was what originally drew Kie to you. The two of you hung out after work on Friday nights, you had access to good weed and were willing to share. Eventually she invited you to a party her friends were throwing.

Honestly, you weren’t exactly over the moon at the idea of partying with a bunch of 17-year olds, but the idea of free beer and a night on the beach seemed promising. You figured you could say hey to Kie’s friends and slip away to walk by the ocean.

Until the afternoon of the party rolled around, and you found out that they had no alcohol. Kie scrambled to explain that the guy who normally sold them beer underage had moved and someone stricter had taken his place and refused their fakes. You sighed and stood, “How much do you need me to get?”

“Wait, what?” Kie asked, taken aback.

“Beer. You want packs or a keg?”

She blinked a few times, “We normally get a keg or two.”

“Let’s go.”

You led Kie to your car and cranked it up, immediately turning up the AC as high as it could go. She plugged her phone in to play some music as you drove to the nearest liquor store to the Boneyard.

“Stay here, I’ll be back,” you told her, and she nodded, promising to sit still. The guy inside was in fact different from the guy who used to sell to you and your friends underage, so you fished out your ID. You knew you looked pretty young for your age and had to resist rolling your eyes when he stared at it intensely for a few seconds before charging you for the keg.

When it was filled, he helped you carry it to your car and the two of you set it in the back. Kie stayed still and quiet in case he tried to card her for some reason too, but you weren’t too worried. Soon enough the two of you were back on the road, heading toward your house for a quick change of clothes.

“Can I borrow something?” Kie asked, looking a little nervous.

“For sure, Kie, take what you want.”

You were only there for about 30 minutes before leaving to get the keg to the Boneyard before party time. Kie was really excited to introduce you to her friends, they’d been hearing all about the cool college girl she’d been hanging out with in her spare time, and they were really interested to see who had her so enthralled.

Pope was the first to greet you, recognizing you from when you worked with him and his dad. He nodded at you with a small smile, and you returned it. John B shook your hand with a huge grin, babbling on about how awesome it was to have someone willing to buy them alcohol again. The last of the group, JJ, was the quiet one.

You weren’t sure what he thought of you at first, it was easy to see he was hesitant to just accept anyone, but you did buy him alcohol. He offered you a fist bump and a small smile before telling you, “Really appreciate the plug.”

“No prob, new guy was pretty suspicious, sorry for your loss.”

JJ let out a loud laugh and warmed up to you instantly. From then on, he followed you around. Whether it was hanging around the Wreck while you were working and he was free, or asking to smoke with you some weekends. Kie thought your new shadow was hilarious and she would send you videos of JJ talking about how funny you were or how pretty you were. It was…endearing.

And then you graduated college and got into grad. You wanted to finally move off the island, and with the money you’d saved up from the Wreck, you finally had enough money to rent an apartment just off Chapel Hill’s campus. The Pogues came with you to help you move all your stuff, which you were grateful for.

You let them handle pizza and went to go pick up alcohol for the group as one last hurrah before they left. John B picked through the bag you brought back with a watery smile, “Gonna suck throwing parties without our favorite plug.”

“Aren’t you dating Sarah Cameron now? Get Rafe to buy your alcohol.”

“He hates us,” JJ whined, “not everyone is cool like you.”

You pointed the bottle in your hand at him, “That’s right, don’t you ever forget.”

And then that was it. You were onto the next, without the Pogues. Or, so you thought.

You’d gotten a job at a coffeehouse just off campus while working through your grad degree. It was easy and brought in a surprising amount of tips, and the atmosphere was really chill, so you loved it. Mostly you dealt with regulars, until one morning. You had your back to the door when it opened, making another coffee, and you called over your shoulder, “Be with you in a sec.”

A familiar, slightly deeper voice, answered back, “All good.”

Whirling around, you grinned widely at the boy, “JJ! Long time no see, bud.”

His eyes widened and he laughed, “Holy shit, dude, you work here?”

“Have for the last few years. What can I get you?”

JJ smiled widely, “Actually, just got hired, I’m here for training.”

You passed the customer their coffee and wished them a good day before turning back to JJ, “Okay, go wash your hands and I’ll grab your hat.”

The rest of your shift was spent goofing off with JJ, every so often interrupted by a customer, and you showed him the ropes. He picked up on it pretty quickly, only stumbling through using the register a few times.

“What brings you here?” you finally asked.

JJ took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair a few times, “Family shit. My dad was an asshole and I wanted to get out. I started picking up extra hours at the hotel, but my dad knew where I was, so I decided to just move to the mainland and start over.”

“Fuck,” you muttered, “sorry to hear that. Everything okay now?”

He nodded, “Yeah, um, started taking a few classes at Chapel Hill, and Pope’s family is helping me keep rent until I get my feet under me.”

“That’s nice of them.”

“Yeah, I just, I needed to start over. And I saw the hiring sign on the door, so I stopped in a few days ago to apply.”

You nudged his shoulder gently, “If you need anything, gimme a call, yeah?”

JJ blushed and nudged yours back, “Yeah.”

Because of the small number of customers, most shifts at the coffeehouse were solo shifts except for opening and closing. You and JJ both had mostly afternoon classes which meant that the two of you were scheduled several times a week together opening and closing.

One night you had soft music playing while he was doing dishes and you were sweeping and mopping the dining area. JJ watched you dance around with the broom, small smile on his lips, and when you caught his eye, he looked away with a blush.

“J,” you called out, trying to catch his eye again.

He looked back, blush still present on his cheeks, “What?”

“You hungry?”

“Oh, um, yeah, I could eat.”

You motioned out the window, “That place has fire po-boys for cheap if you want to get one with me after.”

JJ stared at the lit-up restaurant across the street before shrugging, “Sounds good.”

Thursday closing shift dinner became a thing after that. One of you would call in your food and pick it up before going back to one of your apartments to eat and do homework. JJ had a quiet focus to him that you liked, it helped keep you calm while scrolling through mounds of research you needed for your final paper.

He had one afternoon shift a week, unbeknownst to you, and walked in for it one week to see you laying face down on one of the tables near the counter. JJ paused, glancing over at the guy he was replacing in confusion. Your coworker shrugged and clocked out without saying anything else.

You felt someone crouch down next to your table a few minutes later and he softly called your name. Opening your eyes felt like a chore since you’d had them squeezed closed for so long to block out the anxiety over your paper that for some reason wasn’t writing itself.

“Want some coffee?” he asked, as soon as he finally saw your eyes.

The thought of caffeine made you want to throw up, and you made a face before finally responding, “How about some tea.”

“What kind?”

“Surprise me,” you told him tiredly.

JJ squeezed your shoulder once and walked back around the counter to start making you a drink. You woke your laptop back up to see the word count of 406 staring you straight in the face, and just as you went to put your head back down, a steaming mug of tea was placed in front of you.

“That should help,” JJ told you, smiling softly.

And shockingly, it did. It was warm, and with JJ’s steady presence, you were able to knock out over 1000 words before you had to leave for your afternoon class. He called your name just as you went to push the door open and you turned around, “What?”

“Text me if you need anything else, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Unintentionally, you let JJ worm his way back into your life. One of the classes he struggled with you’d already taken so you fished out your old notes and tutored him for the rest of the semester through it. Sometimes he’d show up at your closing shifts he wasn’t scheduled on and sit at the bar doing schoolwork and distracting you. He did at least always help close which was a huge improvement from when you worked at the Wreck and he showed up to cause problems.

One night was interrupted when the door swung open five minutes from closing. You sighed, not wanting to dirty anything you’d just cleaned, and forced a customer service smile on your face. To your surprise, Kie walked through the door, beaming widely at you.

“Long time, no see!” she called out, opening her arms for a hug.

You beamed and set the rag down on the counter, wrapping her up tightly. She squeezed around your middle hard and you sighed, “Missed you, Carrera.”

“Missed you too.”

She sat next to JJ and the three of you caught up while you and your coworker finished the closing duties. You nodded at her to leave when she held up the garbage bag to let you know she was heading out after a trip to the dumpster.

Kie stood, “Okay, we have to meet up with everyone else, none of us have seen JJ’s apartment yet.”

“Hope you cleaned, JJ,” you told him, bumping your elbow into his side with a laugh before continuing, “last time I was there it was questionable.”

“It’s clean,” JJ defended himself, “you caught me on a bad day.”

“Bad month, more like,” you retorted, laughing when he flipped you off in response.

Kie watched the two of you, amused, “Wow JJ, you’ve come a long way.”

John B and Pope stepped out of the restaurant next door, hands full of food bags, before you or JJ could respond and greeted you just as eagerly as Kie had.

“Getting the gang back together,” John B cheered, lifting two of the bags in the air.

You originally had plans to drink wine and watch the new season of Stranger Things, but the prospect of seeing some of your old friends was too enticing. JJ’s eyed you as you shifted on your feet, “You sure you guys want me butting in.”

Kie rolled her eyes, “We thought you knew we were coming in. JJ said he’d tell you.”

“Hey, don’t pin this on me, I wanted it to be a surprise!” he defended.

Pope spoke in what you think was meant to be a mockery of JJ’s voice, “Don’t bother bro, I’ll just text her and let her know.”

With a laugh, John B added, “It was just like old times whenever we needed alcohol and you’d be all ‘I’m going to visit her at work today, we’ll just swing by and get some after, I’ve got this’. The nostalgia was overwhelming, J.”

JJ scowled at his friends as the teasing continued. You’d known about his crush on you back then, tried not to encourage it because you knew you were leaving and because of the underage situation, but it was funny to hear about it from the other side.

“Okay, so we headed to JJ’s place?” you finally interrupted, saving him from the merciless teasing.

“My place,” JJ confirmed and you broke apart into two separate groups, one in JJ’s car and one in yours.

Kie rode with you and took control of the music, like always. You smiled, “Really is just like old times, huh?”

A few weeks later, one of the Thursday night shifts, JJ seemed less enthused than normal. You didn’t want to pry but you were worried about him. After a few more half answers from him, you finally stopped drying the dishes, “Maybank, what’s going on?”

“My fucking-“ he trailed off for a few seconds before shaking his head and continuing, “my dad called asking for money. Apparently, he’s broke and he owes his dealer. I just can’t, god I can’t fucking escape him.”

He wasn’t crying, but you’d never seen JJ’s jaw so tense before and your heart ached for him. You dried your hands off and pulled him into a tight hug, “Your dad is a piece of shit and you deserve better.”

“Do I?” he asked, almost hysterically, while he tried to pull away.

You didn’t let him go far, “Yes, you do. You’re a good guy who deserves to be happy and successful and far away from his dad’s reach.”

“I wish I could see it like that,” he murmured, voice breaking halfway through. JJ’s whole body shuddered a few times as he fought tears harder than he ever had before. He didn’t want to break down in front of you and look like a child.

“How about you go get dinner, I’ll go buy some alcohol, and we meet at my apartment and watch movies tonight.”

JJ’s lips quirked up into the briefest smile you’d ever seen, “Stepping back into that plug role, huh?”

“Turn 21 then,” you told him, shoving him away gently.

“Two months, and then I’ll finally be able to start repaying my alcohol debts.”

“You’re going to be buying me drinks for years, J.”

He held his pinky out, looking significantly more cheered up, “I promise.”

You linked pinkies with him before pulling him into one more hug with one last thought, “You’re going to have to stick around for a while to keep that promise.”

He cleared his throat, almost nervously, and you pulled away, confused. JJ wouldn’t look you in the eye when he spoke, “Surely you knew.”

“What?” you weren’t really prepared to have the conversation that seemed to be happening.

“That I liked you, idolized you practically. You were so cool and older and you dealt with all my shit.”

“J,” you warned, not sure if you liked where it was going.

He let out a sad laugh, “Please just be honest with me, you knew right?”

With a sigh, you pulled your hat off and clutched it in your hands, “I knew.”

“Fuck,” he mumbled, hands shoved deep in his pockets. JJ looked up at the ceiling with a sharp inhale before continuing, “Fuck, I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable. And then I came here and started doing it again.”

And you had to stop that train of thought right there, “Woah, wait, it doesn’t bother me, JJ, you know that right? Like I do enjoy having you around.”

Eyebrows raised, JJ finally made eye contact with you, “What?”

“Well I mean,” you shifted your weight from one foot to the other, suddenly unsure how to continue, “I guess it was a little weird when you were in high school, but it’s not so bad now.”

“What?” he repeated, faintly this time.

You rolled your eyes, “Fucking hell, JJ, really?”

He held his hands up in defense, “Hey, I was walking into this conversation ready to get rejected, let me be surprised.”

“I cannot deal with you, go buy the food, oh my god.”

JJ grinned at you cheekily, “Is this a date?”

You hated him. So much.

He grabbed your hand and squeezed, “Are you asking me out right now?”

“I’m about to rescind the offer if you don’t quit.”

“I can’t believe the day has finally come. Kie is going to flip her shit,” JJ told you, leading you out of the empty shop.

“God, what have I gotten myself into,” you muttered.

JJ stopped walking and looked at you with a soft smile, all traces of teasing gone, “Hey,” he got your attention, “thanks for everything, now and then.” Before you could answer, he continued, “Best plug I ever had.”

“God dammit, JJ!” you exclaimed and his laughter echoed down the empty street as the two of you walked to the po-boy place, hands swinging between you.

[badlydrawnmanic]

you’ve all wanted it, and i’m not ready to go to sleep yet, so here’s the latest installment of the sonic underground rewatch!

episode 6 thoughts under the cut!

• unrelated to the episode but there was some lego ninjago commercial that showed like. non-lego versions of the main characters and it looked nice. don’t know if it was for a show or the website idk i wasn’t paying attention • [GUITAR RIFF] SONIC- • i will literally never get tired of the opening theme and you can’t change my mind, i would die for a remaster of this. it doesn’t even have to be a cover. gimme a live performance and i will cry • “tangled webs”. spider concerns already • ooh, swatbot factory. interesting • manic just slid down a little rocky hill on his ass and that’s gotta hurt • sonia stop shining that laser pointer in manic’s eyes you’re gonna kill him • “switch six, switch six...” reminded me of the fun fact that your brain can only identify numbers up to a maximum of 4 or 5 at a glance, i forget which. but like... notice how if you only look at something very briefly you wouldn’t be able to immediately know “oh there’s 27 objects there” but you can very quickly identify 1-4 • sonia stop hitting manic with the drone what is wrong with you • some of these background characters are passable and some of them are hideous, there’s no in-between

• oh it’s the lion boy!! his voice is weird but it’s him!! • god dingo’s face is all kinds of fucked up in this close up as he’s talking • why is robotnik’s cape flowing so far behind him when he’s walking at a somewhat slow pace • i find it funny when eggman’s henchmen mock him when he’s not around, but i didn’t expect sleet to do that • “intruder .8 kilograms? what?? • how does it weigh a drone that is hovering in mid-air • somehow dingo identifies the drone as being piloted by sonia despite it being a hunk of metal with cameras on it • dingo being or looking like in the case of my headcanon a grown man and slobbering over sonia is kinda freaky (it’s partially why i made the hc so it’s less yikes but it’s still uncomfortable and i’m definitely gonna tone it down because fuck) • sleet don’t hit him!! • sonia is clearly frustrated during her conversation with manic (he’s being reckless as fuck) but the animators decided to give her a dead eyed smile for the whole scene • i wonder how they made the mechanical sounds? like the electronic shweeshweeshwee of the robots walking or the whoosh of doors opening? foley stuff is fascinating to me and i wanna know if they had to do any weird shit

• sleet is monologuing about how he hears the pitter patter of manic’s little feet and oh my god his eyes • how is dingo sneaking up behind manic he’s so fucking huge and noisy • sleet says “sylvia” before whacking the drone out of the air with what looks like an entire swatbot he just sort of picked up? i don’t get the reference and since when is he so strong • okay in the next shot it’s just an arm but still • “sometimes you just have to get their attention”? • cool transition between scenes with the camera glitching and shutting down from the perspective of the drone, that’s neat • dingo picks up sonia but wasn’t he just behind manic? once again the pacing is confusing me • “oh, ick” me too sonia • manic and sonia are tied up and were but in gigantic chairs and it looks so funny • “now, sarah” okay i get the “sylvia” thing now, sleet’s just forgetting sonia’s name somehow • sonia says “twit-face” and i feel like she could be more clever than that • “whatever, sophia” • “where’s sonic!?” [NYOOM] • sonic’s voice sounds... really weird, is that what jaleel white sounds like when he isn’t trying to sound all nasally and shit? also he burps and it’s gross • god the movement in this scene is very janky in general • sonia starts lecturing sonic but gets interrupted by a laser blast and manic pipes in like “can we talk about this later?” • sonia strong • is sonic just spilling lava everywhere??? • you’d think there’d be more sounds here • “am i good or what?” feels like it was pulled from satam? • “you’re insufferable” “thank you” • sonia’s voice is so shrill jesus christ • i feel like this is a pretty good confrontation of how sonic not working as a team with the other two can cause pretty significant problems • sonia i don’t think robotnik would throw you in prison, that’s what the roboticizer is for and i don’t think he’d keep y’all separate from that • cyrus does a weird double take and i think it’s an animation error • this cyrus kid is pretty sus- who is this hippie dude- • CYRUS SUS CYRUS SUS • there was deadass just a normal animal bird with some kind of accessory on its neck as a background character • damn it cyrus • SONG TIME??? • apparently no • once again manic and sonia are tied up which lasts 2 seconds • aosth slow-mo beam, purple flavor • what are these background characters they’re so ugly • OH NO I REMEMBER WHAT SANCTUARY IS NOW • children... i’d love to see the tiny babes but they’re undoubtedly ugly as fuck • ROBOTNIK WANTS TO MURDER CHILDREN • one of the kids looks like reptar • SONG TIME NOW • why is this so. idk, whimsical? idk how to describe this but i already don’t like it • they forgot to draw manic’s head quills in a shot • why is cyrus looking so pissed at these children • sounds like a weird off brand christmas song. don’t like it very much but i guess it isn’t bad. maybe a 2/10 • sdnjksg assaulting your siblings with a cloud of flour sounds fun if not wasteful but still, manic seems to be enjoying his little tech demo • sonia says “this place is gross” and manic goes “hey, you’re talking about my childhood home” and i think it’s a good thing that the show didn’t just forget where they all came from and how this can create very minor conflict between them? like manic and sonia seem to slight each other rather frequently when it comes to sonia’s attitude towards dirty places and manic finding it comfortable there due to familiarity even if it wasn’t all that good. i can relate to that • sonic walks off the right side of the screen after refusing some goggles then. pops up and puts on the shades again? i don’t get it • oh my god sonic knocks cyrus (and manic by extension) over and they literally just. rotate the asset in place and leave them planking. there wasn’t a water splash or change of pose or anything • how does sonic zoom past a swat bot looking directly at him without triggering any alarms? why didn’t it notice him • why are there so many regretful traitors on this show • how does sonic not notice the clearly a hologram man in front of him • god the animation in this episode in general is abyssmal • ah jeez manic and sonia have been captured again • “attention sonic hedgehog” • OH NO CYRUS’ DAD but the expression he made in response to seeing him roboticized killed it

• i know he didn’t snort here but i can feel the little “snrk” sound here. it was at this moment he knew he fucked up • PULL THE LEVER, SLEET • that little drone thing is fucking insane, it melted the entire roboticizer?? • i much prefer when background characters resemble actual animals • aww hug • poor cyrus :( • GOD SONIC AND SONIA SIT DOWN TO COMFORT HIM BUT MANIC LAYS DOWN ALL DRAMATIC JUST SMILING, READ THE ROOM BUD-

[violetwolfraven]

Write Out Some Colors

@the-gay-trashmouth this is a gift for the newsies filmiversary exchange! You asked for newsbians getting together in any au and I decided to do it in my superpowers/rebellion au!

@newsiesgiftexchange one gift down, one to go!

Ngl I’m super excited to flesh out my take on Sarah’s personality here!

Tw: non-graphic injuries, mentioned abusive parents, war-like elements.

...

Sarah had thought she’d seen it all. A 15-year-old who could pull weapons out of nowhere, a 13-year-old who could see the future, even her own twin revealing out of nowhere that no, her own powers hadn’t been misfiring, he did have powers too and could talk to animals and had never told her.

All three of the kids in their family had powers, which made them illegal, which meant they were on the run with a handful of other kids with powers, whom they’d met through a boy Davey met in jail.

Strangely, that situation had worked out okay, as it turned out Jack Kelly was pretty good at keeping a gang of a couple dozen kids safe, and he didn’t have a problem with adding the Jacobs siblings to the mix.

Davey was probably the least-powerful of them, as he could communicate with animals of all kinds, but that didn’t mean they had to do what he said. Les was the most powerful, able to convince anyone to do anything, and Sarah was squarely in the middle despite technically being the oldest.

Her power was that she could see auras. Read them to know what kind of person she was dealing with, who they cared about, and what their powers were if they had any. Occasionally, she could drain power from an aura to put a person to sleep or even kill them, though a general rule of their gang was that they didn’t kill unless absolutely necessary.

Given the information she learned from auras, Sarah could literally see the tension between certain pairs in the group. She could see when they fell in love and instantly tell what power-levels they were dealing with when they met up with other gangs of powered kids. She’d pretty much seen it all.

Sarah had, however, never seen an aura like the one surrounding a girl she didn’t recognize, who was accompanying Spot and Hotshot on a meeting from Brooklyn.

Bright magenta, a glow of power that flickered and rippled in a sphere around her. Not quite as bright as Spot and Hotshot, but powerful nonetheless.

The girl herself was maybe a year or two older than Sarah, with red curls and brown eyes, a hard gleam in there like most Brooklyn kids. Unlike Manhattan, that gang didn’t have qualms about killing if they had to.

The way her aura moved suggested that she wasn’t especially attached to either of her friends yet. Probably a new kid. And the contained energy of it, the way it didn’t quite disperse into the air like, say... a pyro’s, was similar to Jack’s, like it needed to be consciously manifested by an action like drawing or something.

To say that Sarah was curious was an understatement.

Analytically minded in a way that made her good in fights, she liked knowing all possible variables. And she had no idea what power set they were dealing with, with this girl, so naturally she wanted to find out.

But while Jack was talking to Spot about something the Brooklyn and Manhattan gangs could potentially work together on and Hotshot was hanging out with one of the Guzman twins, Specs was already making friends with the new girl. They seemed to be getting along pretty well.

Sarah was going to go over to join the conversation, but... she wasn’t the most diplomatic in the group.

She was on good terms with Spot, but not great at making friends. And that girl was almost definitely a new kid, so it was probably better for relations between gangs for her not to try too hard to figure her powers out and scare her away.

She didn’t even find out her name until after Brooklyn left, when she asked Specs.

“Her name’s Katherine,” he responded, “Katherine Plumber. Nice enough, I guess, for a Brooklyn kid. She’s 18. A bit of a late bloomer, I guess. Apparently Spot considers her some kinda secret weapon.”

Brooklyn was a powerful gang, so if Katherine Plumber was considered special by their standards, that meant she had to be a serious powerhouse.

But, Specs didn’t know what her powers were. Which was rare because Specs was widely considered so trustworthy that he knew pretty much everything about everyone.

It wasn’t unheard of for one gang to turn on another, so Sarah figured it was safest to find out, which was definitely the only reason why she offered to come the next time Jack went over to Brooklyn to talk to Spot.

Screw Jojo and Albert’s laughter. She was only scoping out a potential threat. Power sets she’d never seen before needed to be planned for.

Specs wasn’t there this time, so Sarah got the chance to talk to the new girl alone.

Katherine Plumber was... really funny. And sarcastic. And she’d discovered her powers later than most and therefore was new to this world, but she was figuring it out quickly. She was smart. A fast learner.

Her aura was even more fascinating up close. The energy had an unexpected chill to it, kind of like mint—definitely similar to Jack’s—and Sarah was very curious because it clearly wasn’t the same power set. Jack’s power of bringing drawings to life was so unique that no one had ever heard of anyone else with the same one.

But Katherine wouldn’t demonstrate hers, although she accepted Sarah’s invitation to go on a scouting mission the next week.

And though staking out an office building was dull and boring, she still wouldn’t demonstrate her powers. Fascinating and frustrating.

It was amazing, how she always found a reason not to show Sarah what she could do. There was always a counter argument, always an excuse. And Sarah had just as many ways to ask for demonstrations, so they were constantly intellectually challenging each other. And they were spending a lot of time together, just because Sarah kept offering and Katherine kept accepting.

“You’s got a crush on her!” Albert teased as he and the others cackled after she explained how she had plans with Katherine again this weekend.

“I do not,” Sarah retorted, “I’m being practical for Manhattan’s future!”

No matter how Albert and Jojo and Les and even Davey laughed, it was only to find out how big of a threat she was in case Brooklyn ever became a rival.

2 missions became 3, became 6, became 10, until Sarah could count 27 excuses she’d made up to see Katherine in 2 months and she still didn’t know what her powers were.

Until Manhattan’s hideout got raided while Katherine happened to be over visiting, and as everyone else scrambled to their defense positions to let the less-powerful and younger members of the gang escape, Sarah saw her whip out that little notebook and pen she always kept in her jacket pocket.

Like over a bog, we need some fog

The thick mist rolled in out of nowhere, and all of Manhattan escaped, following Katherine to Brooklyn’s latest hideout. Spot was willing to let them stay until they found a new place of their own. After all, they were on the same side.

Only after she’d helped Jack conjure replacement bedding and supplies for the stuff they hadn’t had time to save did Katherine sit down with Sarah off to the side and explain exactly what she could do.

“I have to write it in verse for it to happen,” she explained, “Rhymes. That’s why I didn’t notice I could do anything until I was 17.”

She explained that she’d pretended she didn’t have a power at all for almost a year, until her 2 closest friends found out and told her it was too dangerous and she had to run away before her parents found out, because they would inevitably find out if she stayed.

Remembering how her parents had told her and Davey to take Les and run for their own safety when she was 16, Sarah was inclined to agree. Powers had a tendency to come to light eventually, no matter how you tried to hide them.

Katherine was a real powerhouse. She was like Jack—Sarah was right—just slightly to the left. A creator. She had endless potential, and power like hers was bound to show through.

However, some powers were good for hiding, and Kenny and Blink had a place for Manhattan to move into within a week.

Sarah was surprised about how she... wasn’t excited about that, and she told Race as much, figuring he would understand. It was common knowledge, at least among the older kids in Manhattan, that he was closer with Brooklyn than any of them.

Plus, Sarah could see it. She could see the way his aura moved around a certain Brooklyn boy, trailing towards him and tangling pale blue with dark red, like all they wanted was to hold each other close.

It didn’t make her jealous at all, being able to see who was in love with who and that it was requited. It didn’t matter that powered people rarely lived past 21 and Sarah was 16 and unlike many of her friends, she hadn’t found anyone yet. She was happy for him that Race had that.

“I’d like to stay, yeah,” he admitted, “Brooklyn’s... part of my heart’s always gonna be here. But Manhattan’s my home. My family. ‘Sides, Jack and Crutchie needs my help runnin’ things.”

In the end, that conversation was completely unhelpful, because Race’s main reason for leaving was that he was one of the gang’s seconds. Sarah wasn’t a second. She wasn’t staying out of responsibility.

The only responsibility she really had was to Davey and Les, and... did they really need her?

“You wanna stay, don’t you?” Davey guessed randomly the day before Manhattan moved out of Brooklyn’s hideout, “Stay in Brooklyn.”

“With Katherine,” Les added.

This time, neither of them was teasing.

“I’m thinking about it,” Sarah admitted, “I’m not sure if I should.”

To her surprise, Davey shook his head quickly, “No, Sarah. If you wanna stay I think you should stay. Especially if the only thing you’d be coming with Manhattan for’d be me and Les.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine without ya.”

“Thanks, Les.”

“I mean we’s got Jack, and Crutchie, and all the rest of Manhattan. You don’t have to worry ‘bout us, Sar. You wanna stay with Kat, so you should.”

Sarah was conflicted until the day they actually left, and though her bag was packed, same as the rest of them, she stood at the doorway of the hideout watching her friends leave in small groups to sneak to Manhattan’s new home for an unreasonable amount of time.

Fuck it. She knew where they were going. She could visit. Her brothers got more powerful every day, same as her. She and Les had survived just the two of them for a while before Davey broke out of jail and brought Jack and the gang into their lives. The boys had each other and Jack and the gang. They would be fine without her.

So Sarah stayed, and she was pretty sure Spot and the others knew why. If she didn’t know any better, she could swear the king of Brooklyn was a little jealous that she was free to. It was nice to get to know him better. They’d always gotten along well, but building a real friendship meant they found out how kickass of a pair they could really be.

She wasn’t sure if Katherine knew why she’d stayed. Her aura gave away nothing but surprise.

The only aura Sarah had trouble seeing was her own.

It was a periwinkle color when she cared to stretch her powers to see it, it had barely any glow, and it moved like a kind of fog, spreading out and weaving through others’ energies, a little bit of it always lingering around the people most important to her even more than others’ auras ever did.

Katherine’s aura was so bright that it was even harder than normal to perceive her own.

But no matter how she denied it to her friends and brothers... she could still see traces of periwinkle flickering around and tangling with the magenta.

“So, you decided to stay,” she noted, and Sarah gave up on trying to see what she was feeling about that, because Katherine’s aura had the contained energy of a creator. Like Jack, it was hard to read her because her aura hardly moved at all.

“I did,” Sarah responded, trying to gauge her reaction the old fashioned way; through her face.

Unfortunately, the difference between the two creators was that Jack wore his heart on his sleeve and his emotions in his eyes, and Katherine, of course, was making things difficult. As usual.

“You’re not going to ask me why?” she asked after a couple seconds of silence.

“It’s because we make such a good team, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s because we all know Spot and I would be the ultimate power friendship.”

Katherine laughed, “I can tell you’re kidding, but you’re not wrong.”

Sarah was strongly considering making some clever remark again, but after thinking about it in the loaded silence for a couple seconds...

“What would you say if it was something like that? Us being a good team.”

She definitely wasn’t holding her breath while she waited for her response.

“I’d say we are pretty kickass together,” Katherine answered, “Maybe even more than you and Spot.”

Sarah was obvious about it intentionally when she gave her a once-over, and she saw Katherine smirk mischievously.

“Definitely more than me and Spot.”

“I think I’m gonna like you sticking around.”

Sarah wasn’t sure who moved first, but they both lunged for each other within the space of a couple seconds, hands tangling in hair and lips meeting as a few months worth of tension released with one kiss.

Albert, Jojo, Davey and Les were going to be so annoying when they found out they were right.

Still, Sarah grinned as they pulled apart, “I think I’m gonna like me sticking around, too.”

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Four

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Fluff and Smut. Small dash of angst. 

a/n: not proofread fam, I didn’t have the strength.

Masterpost

“You wanna go to Homecoming?” Sarah asks you. You and Harry went over to her and Niall’s place for lunch on Sunday.

“It seems really important to my intern that I’m there…it could be fun to check out the tailgate, we used to have fun at that.”

“Yeah, when we were plastered from starting to drink the second we woke up.” She sighs. “What about Rach?”

“I was gonna text her. I think it’ll be fun if we all go.”

“Niall?”

“Yeah?” Him and Harry were playing video games while you and Sarah were in the kitchen.

“Wanna go to Homecoming next weekend with us?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Alright, Homecoming it is.”

“Okay, I guess we’re in.” She smiles at you.

“What was that?” You whisper at her with a grin.

“He’s been really…not into arguing with me lately. I think he’s cracked the code that I’m more apt to fuck him if he doesn’t give me any attitude.” She whispers back.

“See, I feel like Harry wants to fuck me more when I give him attitude.”

“Y/N, Harry would fuck you in any given situation.” You both start laughing.

“Oi, not nice to whisper.” Harry says without looking at either of you.

“Can you two pause that please? Lunch is ready…” Sarah says.

“Only because yeh asked so nicely.” Niall says, saving the game. Him and Harry stand up and go into the kitchen. Niall kisses Sarah on the cheek. “Thanks for makin’ the grub girls.”

You all dig into the food.

“So, do you two have like every little thing planned yet or what?” Niall asks, jokingly.

“We actually just started to go over some stuff yesterday. Next Sunday we’re going to look at two venues down at the Cape. We were thinking a beachy, hotel vibe.”

“Ohh, I like that.” Sarah says. “That’ll be a bust weekend. Homecoming on Saturday, then taking that drive Sunday.”

“The busy season for the Cape is over, shouldn’t be any traffic. I bet we’ll get there in under an hour.”

“And we decided we’re gonna do like a small cake for us and then do cupcakes. Y/N already has an idea for a bakery.”

“Your mum should just make big batches of the dump cake.”

“Niall, I swear to god, do you just want the recipe?” You laugh.

“No, I only like it when she makes it.”

“It’s true. I asked her for it during Rosh Hashanah and I made for him, but apparently I didn’t do it right.” Sarah rolls her eyes.

“That’s so fucking rude, your girlfriend baked for you and you told her you didn’t like it?” You ask.

“Never said I didn’t like it. I said it was really good, it just wasn’t Lynn’s.” He shrugs. “You’re a very good baker, sweetie.” He smiles at her and she rolls his eyes again.

“You teach her to do that, or is that just another thing you have in common?” Harry says to you with a smirk.

“Harry, I’ve not rolled my eyes at you for a very long time. And Niall deserved it, so there.” You stick your tongue out at him.

“What is it with you and the rolling of the eyes, anyways?” Sarah asks. “Like there are worse things out there.”

“I just find it to be really disrespectful.” He shrugs.

“But I’ve seen you do it. Are you the only one allowed?” Sarah asks, crossing her arms.

“That’s right.” He smirks at her.

“Well, that’s stupid and so are you.” She smirks right back.

“Did one of your third graders teach you that comeback?” Sarah’s mouth falls open, and you can’t help but giggle. You always found it amusing when her and Harry would get under each other’s skin a little, like brother and sister.

“No, actually, it was your mother.”

Both you and Niall choke on your food. Harry’s mouth was agape, but he bursts out laughing.

“That was a good one, I have to admit, you got me, love.”

“Love playing tennis with you as always.”

You all finish up eating and go over to the couch to watch a movie. It was a rainy day so none of you minded lounging around. Buster starts to whimper when the rain falls a little harder.

“God, he must be scared of rain now.” You say. “Niall, do you mind if he sits on the couch with us? He wants to be on our laps.”

“Not at all.”

Harry whistles to Buster and pulls him up so his body is on Harry, and his head is in your lap. You both pet him to try and soothe him.

“Poor thing, how’s his leg?” Sarah asks.

“Much better. His checkup is this week.” Harry says.

“I’m hoping that same nurse isn’t working.”

“What nurse?” Niall asks.

“The nurse that was giving us all the information made me feel really embarrassed because I scolded Buster in front of her, and she goes miss…he’s a dog, but luckily Harry was there, he backed me up.”

“I would’ve been like and what about it?” Sarah says. “That’s your baby.”

“That’s exactly what I said.” Harry explains. “I’m the one takin’ him, his appointment is while you’re at work, remember?”

“Still…I don’t want her being rude to you too.”

“I don’t think she’d dare after I set her straight before.”

//

During his lunch break Monday, Harry took Buster for his checkup at the vet. The doctor was happy with his progress, and told Harry he should be just fine, and to keep taking it easy with him. Luckily, that same nurse wasn’t there.

“You did so good in there, Buster. Daddy’s gonna give yeh a treat when we get back to the studio.” Buster yips at Harry from the backseat.

Harry gets him inside the studio and grabs a treat from Isaac’s desk.

“How’d it go?” Isaac asks.

“Oh, he’ll be just fine. Sit Buster.” He complies and Harry gives him the treat. “That’s my good boy.” He pets the top of his head.

“So…apparently we’re going to Homecoming this weekend.” Mariah says to Harry.

“You don’t wanna go?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t go there…I feel like I’ll be bored.” She sighs.

“Seth and I are going too, maybe we can meet up.”

“You guys are goin’ too?”

“Yeah, I guess Seth goes every year. He was in a frat or something, so he goes to support his brothers or whatever.” He shrugs. “All I know is that I’m gonna look cute as hell in my new cardigan.” They all laugh. “I’m surprised all the girls didn’t go last year.”

“It’s not really Y/N’s thing.” Harry says. “Her intern really wants her to go so she can meet the director of alumni relations. He really wants to see her featured in their magazine, and so would I to be honest.” Harry’s phone starts to go off, it’s you. “Hey babe, what’s up?”

“How was Buster’s appointment?”

“It was really good, we just need to keep doin’ what we’re doin’ with him.”

“Okay, great. Thank you for taking him.”

“No problem.”

“Did you remember to eat?” Harry pauses. “I’ll take that as a no. Please remember to eat your lunch.”

“I will, I’ll go eat it now.”

“Okay, I gotta go. Love you!”

“Love you too.” He hangs up and sees Isaac and Mariah giggling. “Shut up.”

“Did she just have to remind you to eat?” Mariah asks.

“Can you blame her? I wouldn’t wanna come home to a hangry Harry.”

“You both are really annoying.” Harry huffs, and walks to the kitchen to grab his sandwich out of the fridge.

//

“There’s my boy!” Buster trots over to you once him and Harry are through the door. “Daddy said you did so good at the vet, I’m so proud of you.” His tail was wagging like crazy. “That’s right, you’re a very good boy.” You cup his hand in your hands and make kissy noises.

“What am I, chopped liver?”

“Blegh, I hope not, I hate chopped liver.” You giggle and go over to give him a kiss.

“Why do you know what that tastes like?” He asks, wrapping his arms around you.

“We eat it during Passover, well, I don’t. God, it’s disgusting.”

“We didn’t really do anything for Passover this year, did we?”

“No, I was in Aruba for most of it, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” He kisses your forehead and lets you go. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Hmm, how about I roast some veggies in the oven?”

“Sounds good to me.”

You and Harry prep the veggies and put whatever seasonings you like on them, along with some olive oil, and pop it in the oven.

“Wanna have rice with it?” He asks.

“Sure.” You shrug. “We can just make that one minute stuff when everything’s done in the oven.” You both sit down at the island.

“Isaac told him and Seth are going to Homecoming too…”

“Oh? That’s nice.”

“Seth didn’t tell you?” Harrys asks out of shock.

“No.” You shrug. “We don’t talk every day you know?”

“Thought you did.”

“Maybe when we first started talking again. We’re both very busy people. He’s probably going to hang with his old frat brothers.” You make a disgusted noise. “That was the most annoying thing about him, when he joined that frat. Although, that is how he got the best room in the apartment he was in senior year. He had his own bathroom and everything.”

“M’sure that was convenient for the two of you.” He says facetiously and you nudge his shoulder. “Teasing.” He says softly.

“Mhm.” You roll your eyes. “Anyways, seems like the whole gang’ll be there. I’ll have to pull out one of my old sweatshirts to show some school spirit.”

“The three of you walking in are gonna look like a gang.” Harry laughs. “M’surprised you weren’t in a sorority.”

“We might as well been our own little sorority. Do you wanna see a funny video from Homecoming our senior year? I was going through some of my old instas the other day and it made me laugh.”

“Sure.”

He leans in as you scroll to find the video. You were all outside day drinking, having a good time. Someone yells to you to dance a little, and you look around and pop your ass a couple times and then go back to doing what you were doing. You burst out laughing when it ends.

“You look absolutely faded.” Harry chuckles.

“We had started drinking so early, and we just kept going to keep a steady buzz. Anytime it was remotely nice out, Seth would have a party at his apartment and we’d all just gather outside on the lawn. It was so much fun.”

“We did similar stuff. There was really nothing better than sitting outside on a nice day and just getting hammered.”

“Mhm.”

“You were, uh, really thin back then.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh, I know…I did not look as good as I thought. I think I only ate like one meal a day back then, it was so bad.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know exactly, maybe I wasn’t hungry, or maybe that’s just the life of a college student. I was going to the gym a lot too to run, so between that and barely eating…it wasn’t healthy at all. Clearly I wised up.”

“Yeah, I was sorta thin when I was in college too. I feel like I didn’t put any muscle on until after I graduated. I don’t think I was gettin’ enough protein.”

“That was probably part of my problem too.”

“Well, I’d love you know matter what you look like, I hope you know that.”

“Thank you.” You kiss him and hop down from your stool. “I’m gonna go put some sweats on.”

“Alright.” He watches you walk out.

He meant what he said, he really would love you no matter what. He loved the little dimples in your back, and the way he could grip onto your love handles when you were making love. He liked when you would grip onto his too.

You both enjoy your meal of veggies and rice, and after dinner Harry takes Buster for a walk so you can get some homework done. Harry reads from his book when he gets back to not distract you from your studies. When you finish you sigh and close your laptop, setting it down on the coffee table.

“What is it, baby?”

“Nothing, this professor is just giving us busy work. It’s pretty un-motivating.”

“Well, it’s done now right?”

“The first half of things yeah. I have to respond to a couple of people in a few days. My advisor seems to think I should finish over the summer, like August, so I’ll be able to walk in commencement in May if I want, but I probably won’t.”

“And why not?”

“Because I wouldn’t actually be done during it, it would be like a false congratulations.”

“I don’t think so at all. I think you should be celebrated for the work you’d already gotten done, so what if you’d still have a couple of classes to finish up afterwards?”

“Harry it would just be another weekend used up for something when we could be doing something else.”

“Well, I would very much like to celebrate you, so would you at least think about it?”

“Okay. I don’t have to decide until February anyways, that’s when the form is due.”

//

You were able to find one of your old college sweat shirts, so you throw that on with some cuffed jeans and a pair of tennis shoes. You throw some curls into your hair and brush them out so your hair looks wavy.

“Do you think we can bring Buster?” Harry asks, as he puts a sweatshirt of his own on.

“Yeah, there’s bound to be other dogs there too. Rach should be here soon to meet us. I’m a little annoyed that Mariah backed out on her.”

“She didn’t wanna go, no big deal.” He shrugs.

“Yeah, but you’re going, Niall’s going, and Isaac is even doing frat shit with Seth. What else does Mariah have to do today?”

“She doesn’t really like big crowds, Y/N. Rachel will have just as much fun with us.”

You all pile into Sarah’s SUV, including Buster, and head to your old campus. There a ton of people everywhere, but somehow Sarah finds a parking spot. The three of you had the same sweatshirt on, but you each still maintained your own styles. You check in at the registration tent, and head down the path towards the football field where most of the events would be happening. There were people of all ages around, and you look at Harry.

“Keep a tight grip on him, he’s never been around so many people.” He nods to you.

“I’m glad Mariah didn’t come, she’d be hyperventilating.” Rachel says. “I don’t remember there ever being so many people.”

“That’s because we were always too drunk by the time we got here, and we’d go right for the food tents.” Sarah says. “So where’s the alumni table that your intern so desperately wants you to stop by?”

“I have no idea.” You say squinting. “Oh! That tent over there maybe?” You point out. “I think that’s Zach sitting down.”

You all make your way over. You and Niall smile and wave at Zach, and he stands up to greet you both.

“I’m so glad you could make it! Hi Mr. Horan, I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

“Mr. Horan.” Sarah giggles and Niall nudges her.

“Yeah.” You laugh. “Niall is actually one of my best friends.”

“Feel free to just call me Niall, Zach.”

“Right, sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“This is Rachel and Sarah, they’re 2017 grads as well. Rachel came to film club sometimes too.”

“Awesome! Can you hang tight here for a second? I’m gonna go grab Russell, he’s the director.”

“Sure thing.”

“Help yourself to some water and doughnuts while you wait!” He walks away in search of Russell.

“I love free stuff, look at these stickers, I could use a new one for my car.” Sarah says.

Zach returns shortly with Russell.

“Russell, this is Y/N, the woman I was telling you about.”

“Hi! Russell Cohen, Director of Alumni Relations, nice to meet you.” He shakes your hand. “I’ve been meaning to email you, it’s just been so busy with all the planning of this.”

“Oh, it’s no worries. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Zach tells me you gave quite the chat to the film club last week.”

“Got some pictures of it too, mate.” Harry chimes in.

“Pardon me, this is my fiancé Harry.”

“Nice to meet you.” They shake hands. “So, you’re over at Mark It, right?”

“Yes, I’m the Associate Director of Visual Media. I’ve been there just over three years now.”

“Do you happen to have a business card with you? We’re always looking for different stories in our alumni magazine. I feel like we feature the same stories all the time.”

“I do actually!” You reach into your back pocket and hand him one. “An alum from here actually helped me out in preparing for my initial interview there years ago.”

“Told you it was a cool story to tell, Russ.” Zach chimes in.

“Well, I’ll tell you what Zach, why don’t you work on conducting the interview. You could even do a digital piece for the online magazine, make a little video.”

“I’d love to!”

“Wait, so this is happening? You genuinely want me to be featured in the magazine?”

“Definitely. You’re a young, successful woman who has used her skills from our university to make a career for herself. Seems like you’re doing well in your personal life too. I’d like to showcase that. Zach sees you a few days a week anyways, so it’ll be easy enough to get some content together.”

“My friends here are both alums too.” You wave over to Rachel and Sarah. “They both graduated in 2017 with me, and are both teaching.”

“Oh great! What do you both teach?”

“I’m a high school art teacher in Brighton.”

“And I teach third grade in Dorchester.”

“Wow, that can’t be easy.”

“Some days are easier than others. I feel like I’m making a difference.” Sarah explains.

“Same here, they wanted to cut a lot of funding for my art program, but I wrote a letter requesting a grant, and we got it.” Rachel says.

“Seems like we have three strong women here, Zach.” Russell’s wheels are turning. “And the three of you were all friends in school, and stayed close.”

“Mhm.” You say. “We feel really lucky to have found each other.”

“My wheels are turning here, but I need to jump over to the cornhole tournament and make sure that’s all set up, and then I need to check on tailgate. I’d like to circle back with all three of you. I’ll contact you Y/N, and then maybe you could get me their information?”

“Sounds good.”

“Perfect, well, have fun today. Good work, Zach.”

Zach beams as Russell walks away.

“Thank you so much for coming to talk to him. I think I just got major brownie points. I really like the work I do for the office, and I’m hoping they’ll hire me on after I graduate.”

“Oh, well, if that’s the case I will for sure talk you up to him.” You say. “You guys ready to walk around a bit?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to hit up that beer garden.” Niall points it out.

“Now that is a great idea.” Sarah says.

“See you later Zach.” You wave to him as you all walk towards the beer garden.

You all show your ID’s and get in. You hang back with Buster while everyone else gets a beer.

“Is Y/N drinkin’?” Niall asks Harry when he sees that Harry only gets a drink for himself.

“Uh, yeah. She’s on a medication that can’t be mixed with alcohol.”

“Still?” Sarah asks.

“Yeah, it’s somethin’ she needs to take every day.”

“Is she okay?” Rachel asks.

“Yeah, perfectly fine.”

“Is it like an anti-depressant or something?” Sarah asks, taking a sip of her beer.

“Sarah.” Niall sighs. “If she wanted you to know, she would tell you, alright?”  

Niall didn’t know you were on meds, but he sure as shit had a clue what it was for, and he also knew it was something you’d want to keep to yourself. Everyone walks back over to you.

“Do you guys wanna check out the tailgate? Seth said he was grilling with his frat brothers.” You say.

“More free shit? Yeah, I’m down.” Sarah says.

You all make your way over, and you’re able to find Seth. Isaac waves to you and Harry. You smile as you hug him, and then you and Seth hug.

“Fair warning, I think you fucked half the guys here.” He whispers to you and he lets you go.

“What?” You whisper back. You look at the other alums there and your eyes grow wide. “Oh no.”

“Sorry, I should’ve texted you…I didn’t realize-“

“It’s okay, maybe they don’t remember me? I mean it would’ve been really long ago.”

“True.” He clears his throat. “Hey, Harry. How’s being engaged to the nicest girl in the world going?” He shakes his hand.

“Really good, thanks.” He smirks.

“You guys hungry, we have veggie burgers too.”

“That’d be great, Sethy, thanks.” You search for a cup to add some water to, and you bend over to give Buster a drink.

“Oh shit, that is Y/N!” Someone says and you stand right up and turn around. “Took me a second, but now I totally recognize you.” He laughs, clearly intoxicated.

“Alright, Billy, that’s enough.” Seth says.

Harry and Niall were extremely confused, while Sarah and Rachel stand beside you, cross armed.

“Chill, princess, she knows I’m just making a joke.”

“What did you just call him?!” You take a step forward. “Billy Meyers, I would strongly suggest you apologize.”

“What are you gonna do, break my nose like you did Ben’s?” He smirks.

“Notice how he’s not even here. He’s not allowed on campus anymore. Apologize to Seth, now.” He looks over at Harry, looks him up and down.

“You really do like the fruity ones, don’t you? Wish I had known-“ You take a deep breath and project as loudly as you can.

“BILLY MEYERS HAS A TWO INCH CHODE, BILLY MEYERS HAS A TWO IN CHODE!” The girls help you out and yell just as loud.

“Quit it! Shut up! Seth, tell them to stop!”

“Sorry, think I’m too fruity to do anything about it.” You tug Billy down by the collar of his shirt so he’s eye level with you.

“You were an immature fuck then, and you still are now. You should walk away now. Not only have you disrespected me, but my friend, and my fiancé, and I will not hesitate to shove my foot so far up your ass that you’ll be able to taste it.” He blinks at you and you let him go. “Walk away, Billy. Go to some other car.”

“Yeah, you’re not welcome here anymore.” Seth puts an arm around Isaac’s shoulder. “This frat is supposed to accept all people, but I think it’s time we made an exception for you. What do you guys think?” The other guys around all nod.

“Whatever, forget all of you.” Billy stumbles drunkenly away.

“Isaac, I’m so sorry you had to hear him say that.” Seth says to him.

“It’s okay, he’s been annoying all day, I’m just glad he’s gone.”

“Seth, are you alright?” You ask him.

“Yeah, I’m good, thanks.” You turn to Harry.

“I’m so sorry. Sometimes I forget people like that still exist.”

“I’m not even dressed…I don’t…I’m in a sweatshirt and jeans…” He looks down at his hands. His nails were pastel pink, and he had all of his rings on. “And my, my pearls are tucked in, I don’t…” He looks at Niall.

“Harry, he’s just an idiot.” You cup his face so he’ll look at you. “He’s gone now, let’s try to enjoy the tailgate, yeah?” You smile reassuringly at him.

“You fucked that guy?”

“No…I almost gave him a blowjob once, but I quite honestly didn’t know what to do with his micro-penis.” Everyone bursts out laughing.

“Yeah, that dude has a lot of internal issues, Harry…don’t take what he said to heart.” Seth says. “Alright, let me get back to the grill. There’s plenty of drinks too, you all can help yourselves.”

Rachel talks to a few of the guys she remembers being friends with, while Niall and Sarah chat with Isaac. Harry stays close to you, and has been really quiet. He only ate about half of his veggie burger.

“Hey, uh, let’s take him for a little walk.” You say to Harry and he nods. “We’ll be back in a little bit, just gonna let Buster stretch his legs.” You say to all of them. Once you’re away from the crowd and the loudness, you speak up. “Are you okay?”

“Not really.” Harry bites his inner cheek.

“Billy’s an idiot, Harry-“

“It’s not just him…it’s like I’ve been dealin’ with this my whole life.” He sighs. You both find an open picnic table to down at in the shade.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve gotten bullied my entire life for comin’ off as…I don’t know, gay? I don’t even know why it fucking matters to me so much, I know who I am, and I know what I like. Why is it a big deal that I like to wear jewelry or paint my nails? Why is it a big deal if somedays I feel like dressin’ a little more masculine and or other days a little less? When I was in school it used to baffle the macho guys as to why so many girls wanted to hook up with me. My hair was long, and I supposed to them I looked girly, but it’s not my fault I just came off as non-threatening and I knew what I was doin’. I also actually took care of my body, like, some dudes I went to school with were nasty fucks.”

“A lot of guys have long hair, it’s come back in style.”

“You know what I mean though.” You nod. “I just thought I had grown out of caring what other people thought. There were even rumors that I was by or somethin’…I don’t know why people need a label for every little thing!” You blink away a few tears, you were trying to keep it together for his sake. “And look at me gettin’ all worked up, and Seth was cool as a cucumber.”

“Trust me, he’s just putting up a front for Isaac.” You rub his back. “Harry…none of that matters. If you know who you are then don’t let what one stupid idiot-“

“But it’s not just one person, Y/N! I mean if he took one look at me and deduced that it just makes me think like, what do other people think when they see us out, or like when we go to the spa together, what do those people think? They probably thing I’m like your gay best friend or something. And then I feel like a piece of shit for feelin’ that way because there’s nothin’ wrong with bein’ gay.”

“Harry, no one thinks that, and if they do so what?” He looks at you. “So you’re a little different, it’s what I love about you. You’re the least boring person there is, and I’m proud to call you my boyf, fiancé. Hell, I can’t wait to call you my husband. If someone has a problem with you, they can take it up with me.”

“I should’ve jumped in to defend you, but that guy paralyzed me.”

“It’s probably best you didn’t jump in because you probably would’ve actually hit him.”

“I would’ve walloped him.” He scoffs. “You really don’t care what other people think about us?”

“Not at all. Like I said, I’m proud to have you as the guy on my arm. I really am sorry that all happened. I hate seeing you so upset, baby.” You lean in a little closer to him so your lips are near his ear. “Every time we fuck, you always show how much of a man you are.” He looks at you and grins. You both kiss. “I hope when we get home you’ll show me again.” You say against his lips.

“I think that could be arranged.” He kisses you quick again and stands up. “Come on, I’m sure that’s where our friends think we are now.”

“Home?”

“No, off somewhere fuckin’.”

“Oh! You’re probably right.” You giggle.

You get back to your friends, and Seth hands Harry a beer.

“Thanks, mate.” Harry cracks it open and takes a sip.

“Y/N, there’s some seltzer water in the cooler too.”

“Thanks, Seth.”

The rest of the tailgate was really chill, and there was good music playing. It felt like old times a little. You and the girls were having a good time, dancing slightly where you stood when a good throwback would come on.

Seth wraps his around Isaac’s chest and rests his chin on his head.

“So, Harry, have you guys started planning anything yet?” Seth asks him.

“Yeah, we’re actually touring a couple of venues tomorrow. I think once we set a date we’ll work backwards, you know?”

“Makes a ton of sense.”

“Hey, Seth, some of the current pledges are coming by to say hi.” Someone says to him.

“Alright.” He kisses Isaac’s cheek and lets go of him.

“Cute.” Harry says.

“Harry…I think I’m in love. I know it’s only been a couple of months, but I think I love him.” Isaac says blushing. “I’ve never been with a guy like him before, he’s so comfortable and open.”

“That’s great. You should tell him how you feel.”

“Yeah.” Niall says. “Harry and Y/N said they loved each other only a couple months in.”

“Oh right, you two had a fight over the phone.”

“Harry!” You say, catching word of what they were saying. “You told him.” You pout.

“Really no other way to tell the story, love.”

“He didn’t tell me what the fight was over if that makes you feel better.”

“Why is this even being brought up?”

“Isaac’s in love with Seth.” Harry tells you. The girls squeal.

“Shh, what if he hears you?!”

“You have to tell him, Isaac.” Rachel says. “Mariah cried when I told her I loved her. I painted a picture of us together and it said I love us on it.” She swoons. “It’s hanging up right in front hall now.”

“What if he doesn’t say it back…I mean, I feel like he feels the same way, but I just don’t know.”

“You’ll never know unless you speak up.” Sarah says.

“Rip the band aid, mate.” Niall says.

“I’ve never felt this way before about anyone…” Isaac says shyly.

“Tell you what, we’ll all walk towards the game and give you two some privacy.” Harry says.

“You want me to tell him now?!”

“Tell me what?” Seth says coming back over to you all.

“We’re gonna go catch the end of the game, it was great seeing you!” You hug Seth, and everyone else also says goodbye. When you get a safe distance away you all stop to watch.

“That was awfully abrupt.” Seth says. “Is everything okay, babe?” He takes Isaac’s hand in his.

“Yeah, everything’s fine…I…just…” He sighs. “I love you, Seth.” Seth smiles and cups Isaac’s face in his hands and kisses him.

“I love you too, Isaac.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He kisses him again. “You’re silly, you didn’t need to be so nervous to tell me. It wasn’t obvious that I felt the same?”

“No!” He laughs. “Obviously not.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to be more affectionate, won’t I?” He winks at him.

“Oh my fucking god, that was the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.” Rachel says as you all start to walk away.

“Right?! I’m so happy for them.” You say.

“Same here.” Harry gives you a pat on the back.

“Do we really need to watch the rest of the game? I’m about ready to leave.” Sarah says.

“Nah, we can go.” You say. “I wanna get Buster home.”

You all pile back into Sarah’s car, and head home. You thank her for driving before going into your building. Buster goes over to his water bowl immediately, and you refill it when he’s done.

“I can’t wait to go to the Ca-“

You’re cut off by Harry’s mouth on yours. He tasted like the beer he was drinking earlier, and you can’t help but suck on his bottom lip. His hands slide down to the backs of your thighs to lift you up. You wrap your legs around him while he carries you to your bedroom. He sets you down and climbs on top of you. His lips stay on yours while he unzips your jeans. His slips his hand inside your underwear and runs his fingers up and down your slit. You gasp when you feel his middle finger slip inside and the cool of his ring brushes up against you. He uses his other hand to tug your sweatshirt up over your breasts. He sucks his teeth when he sees your bra.

“If I wasn’t wearing one you’d be pissed.” You prop yourself up on your elbows to look at him.

“Take it off.”

You grin and do as he says, taking your sweatshirt and bra off, tossing them to the floor. He sucks on one of your breasts while he kneads the other, slipping a second finger inside you. Your head rolls back and you let out a groan. You grind yourself against his fingers and he looks down to watch you, the strain in his pants growing tighter. You were gasping and crying out from how good his fingers felt.

“Fuck, oh god!” You moan as you come on his fingers. “Please, fuck me Harry, need you.”

“Need you.” He stands up to take all of his clothes off. “To sit on my face first.”

You blush and sit up. Harry gets on the bed and lays down so you can place yourself on him. His scruff felt heavenly against you as you rode his tongue. You also loved the way he would moan as he lapped you up. You grip at your head board and cry out as you release again. You scoot down his body and plant kisses on his chest.

“Would you turn around and ride me? I love watchin’ your ass bounce up and down on me.”

You kiss him quick and nod. You turn around and line his hard, throbbing dick up with your center, and slowly sink down on him.

“Ah, babe, that’s it.” He moans, and grips your hips in his large hands.

You start to move up and down on him, and find a good pace. He thrusts up as you sink down on him and it hits you incredibly deep. You both could feel the bed moving underneath with how fast you were fucking each other.

“Fuck, Harry.” You moan.

“Keep goin’, baby, ridin’ me like a good girl.”  Your eyes widen, not that he could see. You look over your shoulder, and make eye contact with him. “I’m gonna come if you keep lookin’ at me like that.” He groans.

“Like what?”

“Like, oh fuck, Y/N!”

You gasp when you feel his come shoot up inside you. You wait a second to get off of him, and then you pad into the bathroom to clean yourself up. He reaches his arms out for you and you happily get back on the bed.

“How was I looking at you?” You ask softly. He rubs his thumbs lightly over your cheekbones.

“I don’t know, your eyes were all glossy and innocent.”

“You just surprised me when you called me that.”

“It slipped out, m’sorry if it made you feel weird.”

“It didn’t, I was just surprised.” You kiss him. “Everything you did felt so good, thank you.” You squish your nose to his.

“Please, I should be thanking you for the show you just put on. You have no idea how sexy your body is, darlin’.” His hands slide down your ass as you lay on top of him. “Do you think, uh, you’d ever let me?”

“Let you do what, honey?”

“You know…have a go at it.”

“Have a go at what?” You look up at him and he gets a better grip on your ass cheeks. “Oh!” Your face flushes. “To be honest…the thought of having your massive dick in my ass kind of scares me.” Harry can’t help but laugh.

“We could just ease into it. Like next time I finger you I could give you the shocker.”

“The shocker?”

“You’ve never heard of that? You know, two in the pleasure, one in the treasure?” You giggle against him. “I’d have two fingers in your cunt, and my pinky in your ass.”

“I think I could be open to that…”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, what’s a pinky?” You hold on of his hands up and compare your pinky to his and sigh. “Even your fingers are massive.”

“They’re just swollen from my rings…I actually think they’re pretty skinny.”

“They’re not.” You kiss his hand. “But I’m not complaining.”

[p0tatonoah]

Couples Therapy

I got a lot of comments more like 3 or 4 on my breakup fic asking for a part 2 where Neil and Andrew patch things up and live happily ever after… This is not it. But you can read it as an alternative ending if you want. Or you can read it as a one shot, it’s up to you. 💁🏽‍♂️

I just thought: people are not always happy, and they don’t always talk, and relationships are not always perfect, so what if Andreil went to couples therapy? 😌

✨You can also read it on A03

✨Wanna read the rest of my stuff?

—-

Session 1

Sarah Barker was in her office and she could hear her 5 o’lock clients arguing outside her door.

“I don’t care what Betsy said, I will not talk to some stranger about our lives, Andrew.”

“You said you’d try. So get your ass in that office and try.”

“I can’t believe it. How can you be ok with this?”

“I… Just shut up and get inside.”

“Hi, I’m Sarah Barker” said the counselor and then, seeing Neil’s scowl, added “You must be Neil.”

“Whatever.” He said, taking a seat on the couch. Andrew wasn’t amused by this behavior, but it wasn’t unexpected.

“Hi, I’m Andrew”

“Hi Andrew, nice to meet you in person. Betsy has talked so much about you,” Andrew’s eyes narrowed instantly “Only good things, don’t worry. Anyway, what brought you here today?”

Andrew looked at his husband’s expression of fake boredom and began talking.

 He told the counselor how they’d been fighting lately over the most stupid things like when Andrew forgot to take the clothes out of the washing machine or when he bought the wrong brand of cat food.

“And why do you think these things are ‘stupid’“ she said, adding air quotes with her fingers.

“Because who even cares about that? They’re such small things. He certainly never bothered about that before.”

 And then they proceeded to perform a live show of a fight about said stupid things. Neil accused Andrew of being careless with his stuff, claiming he was tired of always having to pick up after him. This escalated quite quickly and soon Sarah was having to decide whether or not to believe in the stabbing threats she was hearing.

 When the session was over, she took a deep breath and made a mental note to unfriend Betsy Dobson.

 Session 2

 Sarah greeted her clients and asked how they were doing. All she got in return was a grunt from Andrew and  50 minutes of complete silence.

 Session 3

 “This is useless. We are perfectly capable of dealing with our own shit.”

“If that’s true, then why did you sleep on the couch last night?”

“I told you I dozed off, it wasn’t intentional Andrew.”

  Maybe this session will be more productive , Sarah thought. Only to be proven otherwise when her clients left early without speaking to each other.

 Session 4

 “Hi gentleman, how are we feeling today?”

“Like shit” was Andrew’s response. Neil just shrugged and took his usual seat on the couch.

“How was your week? Did you managed to talk about-“

“It was fine. Everything’s just fine .”

“Neil…”

“No Andrew, I told you this was bullshit. If anything it’s just making things worse.”

“How so?” Sarah asked.

There was a moment of silence before Neil sighed tiredly and began telling the past week’s events. He and Andrew had gone to a function last Friday. The whole team was there and it was supposed to be this huge fancy thing to raise money to the LGBTQIA+ youth shelter and Neil was really looking forward to it. Socializing had become easier over the years and he was excited he could help a cause so close to is heart. But Andrew had ruined everything when he pulled a knife on one of the guests . The man had asked Neil for a picture “Big Exy star like this, my kids are going to freak out” the older man had said. Everything was ok until the stranger decided to hug Neil without clearing it with him first. After that everything was just a blur of knives being drawn and the security escorting them out.

 “Andrew, what was going through your mind at that moment?” Sarah asked.

“I was just trying to protect you,” he said staring at the floor, unable to look at Neil. “When I saw that man touching you without consent I just…“

“I get it, but we’ve talked about this, Drew. Not everyone is… Fuck. Do you know how bad things are for coach right now? For us?”

“Oh your precious Exy. Shouldn’t mess that up, right?”

 “Ok, let’s take a deep breath and think for a second. I’m sure you’re not here just so you can hurt each other further.” Sarah said, trying to keep things from going south.

 “I’ll give you a task,” Neil’s scowl was so deep Sarah thought he’d hurt himself. “It’s pretty simple. I just want you to write down what’s bothering you about your relationship. Doesn’t matter how small  or insignificant you think it might be, just write. This should help organizing your thoughts and once the problem is ‘visible’, it’s easier to find strategies on how to deal with it.”

 As Sarah walked them to the door, she said “It goes without saying, but please don’t read each other’s lists.”

 Session 5

 Of course they read each other’s lists.

 “He doesn’t say ‘I hate you as often’” Andrew read the list out loud. “What does this even mean?”

Neil threw his arms in the air, exasperated. “It means stay out of my business Andrew” he finally said, snatching the list from his husband.

 Sarah had to admit she was curious about that one. “What does it mean Neil?”

 Neil groaned and threw himself onto the couch. “We used to talk more, about all kinds of things. And you used to be funny and I’d pester you because I knew that when you told me you hated me, it only meant that you hated how much you loved me.” Neil spoke the last part like it left a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

“That’s why,” Andrew said quietly. 

“Why what?”

“Why I don’t say it anymore,” He sat down to look his husband in the eyes. “I love you Neil, and I don’t hate any part of it.”

  Aha, Sarah thought, it was worth it. Am I not the best?  

 But damn her and her stupid thoughts, because two minutes later they were at it again.

 “Once after sex you said it was fine .”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“We all know what that means, Neil!”

  Oh Boy, this was going to be a bumpy ride.

 Session 6

 After the list fiasco, Sarah thought she’d have to take things slow if she wanted these men to talk about their issues without storming off.

 The session started off ok, Neil was the first to talk and said nothing had happened that week. Suspecting the look on his face, Sarah asked “And how does it feel, having an uneventful week?”

“It’s fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Andrew snorted at that, but didn’t say anything.

“Last week you said you guys used to talk more. What changed?” Sarah continued.

“I don’t know. At first we just fell into this comfortable silence. Being around each other was enough and then we became so busy with the team…”

“uhm. I see. Do you agree with that Andrew?”

The blond was in silence for a while, and when he spoke his voice was almost a whisper. “I thought I was losing you. To the team… Let me finish” he said when Neil made to speak. “All those people were so brand new, no ghosts, no dead mothers and you looked so happy just to be around them. I thought I was losing you, Neil.”

 Sarah sat in silence waiting for the other man’s response, but he just ran a hand through his hair and breathed loudly.

 “Neil…” Sarah goaded.

 “You are losing me Drew.” Andrew reacted with his whole body. It was almost like he had imploded, his heart in a million pieces. Sarah saw then how much he cared about his brooding husband.

 “You are losing me… not because I have new friends, but because you refuse to move on,” Neil’s voice sounded strangled. “I know what you’ve been through, hell I was there for some of it, but I thought we could grow out of it. Together. Only you refused to let that happen.”

 “I didn’t. It’s not just like that and you know it. You of all people-“

“Yes, me of all people. I know it’s hard. But I trust you Andrew. I trusted you with my life as soon as we met and I still trust you now. But I don’t feel like you trust me .”

“Don’t say stupid things.”

“Is it stupid though? Cause I don’t feel like you trust me enough to let me decide when I’m uncomfortable, or to tell me when you are not feeling safe. Instead you just lash out. That night… Yes that man didn’t ask if he could hug me and, yes, it was awkward, but I wasn’t scared .”

 There was a silence before Neil continued to speak. “I need you to trust me Drew. I need you to know I can protect myself and that I’ll tell you when I can’t. But more than anything, I need you to understand that I love you. Scarred and glued together, just like you are.”

 Sarah was not crying cause that would be unprofessional of her.

 Session 7

 “Well, last session was very emotional. I believe you have talked about it throughout the week…” Sarah said expectantly.

The men sitting in front of her exchanged a guilty look.

“All right… Let’s talk about it now, then.” She rubbed her hands together preparing herself. “Andrew, what do you think about what Neil said, you not trusting him enough and all that?“ 

The surly blond man didn’t answer.

“Neil, have you ever expressed those feelings to Andrew before?” She tried again, but only got a shrug in response. 

  Baby steps, she thought. We’ll get there. Even if I have to kick them all the way there.

 Session 8

 Sarah waited for her 5 o’clock appointment but they didn’t show.

 Session 9

 She was starting to get worried.

 Session 10

“Hello Neil, Andrew. Nice to see you again.”

 “Hey” they answered in unison. Huh 

“So, how have you been?” Sarah said seating on a chair across from them. She couldn’t help but notice how close they sat to each other, their knees touching.

“Fi- Good,” Neil said, and then added “We talked about all the… stuff.”

“Oh I’m glad to hear that.” Sarah was irrationally scared that this was a prank. That they had teamed up to make fun of her one last time. “How are you feeling now? Andrew?“

The man looked at his hands and then up at his partner’s eyes. “I’m good.” Was that a smile on his lips?

 They explained how they finally stopped avoiding the subject and just faced it head on. Neil had already said his piece during the session, but Andrew had a lot stuck on his throat. He trusted Neil with everything except with his own well-being. “Cause lets face it, you were never good at saying how you actually felt.”  He’d said. 

“I tell you that I love you”

“But not that I’m hurting you, and that’s the thing. You need to tell me Neil. How am I supposed to trust you like that?”

 That had gone on and on until they reached an agreement. Neil would always be honest about his feelings if Andrew let him deal with things by himself. 

 “That sounds like a good deal.” 

Andrew’s huff was barely audible. 

“What was that?” Sarah asked.

“As a part of our agreement, he’s not allowed to wear knives at social gatherings anymore.”

  I don’t think anyone should be allowed that . Sarah thought as she smiled pleasantly. 

 Session 11

 “I have to admit, I was surprised when you called, Neil. Thought you’d want to be done with it.” Sarah said at the end of that session.

“Yeah, so did I,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck. “I just wanted to thank you… Guess it is good to have someone to help us see things clearer or whatever.”

“Well, I’m honored.” Sarah was quite pleased with herself. Two happy clients leaving her office holding hands, sharing secret smiles and soft kisses when they thought she wasn’t looking.

 Maybe she should have given Betsy more credit…

—

Lots of words, I know…

But if you made it here, please let me know what you think.🥰 

[thecostumeplot]

Episode 15: What Happened to Monday & Tron: Legacy

Please consult these Instagram slideshows for accompanying images:  What Happened to Monday Tron: Legacy

Sarah and Jojo: Welcome to the costume plot. Jojo Siu I'm Jojo Siu Sarah Timm and I'm Sarah Timm. We're professional designers with a passion for costume design and the performing arts. Our podcast does contain spoilers. Accompanying slideshows for each movie are linked in the episode description. Jojo Siu We hope you'll join us every other week as we delve into the wonderful world of costume design in the Costume Plot. [music]

Jojo Siu Hello, and welcome back. Sarah Timm Welcome back to the costume plot. Jojo Siu Second episode of the day. Sarah Timm We record these back to back so it's been two weeks for you guys, but it's been about five minutes for us Jojo Siu It's weird to think about that. Sarah Timm A little bit, huh? How's the future? Is it fun? Jojo Siu I know. Tell us. Tell us all about it. Sarah Timm Is Coronavirus over? Jojo Siu Finally. Oh man. Oh, yeah. Did you get your vaccine? Sarah Timm I did! Yeah. And by the time this episode comes out, I will be fully vaccinated meaning that the two weeks will have passed. I got it on the 29th of March. Jojo Siu Woohoo! I'm super excited. So excited! Then we'll both be fully vaccinated. Sarah Timm Yeah Jojo Siu And we can actually have a hang out! Without masks! Sarah Timm Imagine that. I know. Our friend Ramsey has gotten his vaccine and his boyfriend has, and we're planning to have dinner parties. And we're just so excited to finally DO stuff. Jojo Siu I know. I'm very excited. Matt's supposed to get his on Friday. Sarah Timm Exciting. Jojo Siu Yeah. All right. Well, I will I will get us started on our our next episode, Sarah Timm What's our theme today? Jojo Siu This one is not as scary as I last episode. Sci-fi is a little less creepy for me. Although, you know, it is also something very near and dear to us in the future. So that COULD be scary. Sarah Timm Sometimes, Sci-fi is scary. Jojo Siu It's true. But I'm very excited to talk about this movie. It's something that I watched a long time ago. And I will say the storyline is probably not the most new or interesting for a sci fi kind of thriller. But I also really just love the actors that are in this movie. And it's a pretty big all-star cast. So I will get started. Let me share my screen. Okay, so I will be covering the movie "What Happened to Monday. And this movie, it's probably not as well known. But again, it's something that I've really come to enjoy. And it's a very fun movie. So if you're looking for something kind of, I don't want to say on the lighter side. I guess there's some light parts of it, but it is kind of a darker movie. It's directed by Tommy Wirkola, who wrote and directed "Dead Snow" as well as "Dead Snow 2". You probably know him the best from the new "Hansel and Gretel" movie. So he did that action "Hansel and Gretel" . And then he also did--I wrote this down because no one knows what it is--but it's "Kill Buljo" which is a parody of "Kill Bill". Oh, and apparently, there's also a sequel for that. So I thought that was funny that, you know, that was on his list of things. So he hasn't done a ton of work. But the few things he's done--it looks like they were more in the sci-fi genre. So he tends to kind of lean towards that. And then the costume designer for this was Oana Paunescu. I hope I'm saying that correctly. She did several versions of "Dragonheart". And then she was also the wardrobe supervisor for a show called "Mirrors". And then she also did "Seed of Chucky", which is probably the one that most people know. But yeah, so this was an interesting kind of adventure for her, she talks a little bit about how she really had to figure out how to dress seven versions of the same person. And I should probably go back and tell you what the premise of the story is. So the idea is that we are in a kind of not-so-distant in the future. The setting is 2043. And I don't know what city it's supposed to be, because again, this is in the future. I think it's supposed to be kind of a representative of any urban city setting. But it's the idea that at this point, they've been doing all of these things to kind of solve all the environmental problems that we've had, that have been created by you know, world global warming and all those other things. But in order to do that, it's actually created a new defect, where humans when they get pregnant, are actually coming out with multiple births. So people regularly will have septuplets or you know, quintuplets or whatever. So basically this idea of overpopulation has now happened. And so in order to control that, the character Glenn Close, who is not necessarily a councilwoman but she's kind of representing this new age of science, where she is fighting for putting all the siblings or having one child in each family that exists in the world and then having all the rest of her siblings or his siblings put into cryogenic sleep until sometime in the future. So that's their way of kind of controlling the population and trying to keep that in control. And so of course, that means that you know, every sibling is supposed to be put into cryogenic sleep, but of course there is the main character is played by Noomi Rapace. Is that how you say her name? Sarah Timm I think it's "Rapas". I'm not 100% sure. Jojo Siu Noomi Rapace, who is infamously known for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Sarah Timm The Swedish one, not the American one. Jojo Siu Yeah, yes, Sarah Timm She's so good in that, Jojo Siu Yes, very good in that one. But she plays our leading lady. So basically, her mother died in childbirth, giving birth to her and her six other siblings. And Karen Settman is the name of the mother. And so the grandfather, father of this mother, who gave birth to these sevenchildren, he decides discreetly, he finds a hospital where she's allowed to deliver them safely and ends up keeping them. And so the grandfather ends up coming up with this whole system. Where because there's seven of them, he names each of the kids after a day of the week. And so he trains them and basically protects them, and actually builds a whole space custom made for them. So he teaches them to go out each day of their week, and only go out, but always as Karen Settman. So each of them has their persona inside the house. But when they leave the house, they are always representing one only child--Karen Settman. Sarah Timm So they each have their own day of the week where they get to leave the house. Jojo Siu Yeah, exactly. But you know, one of the things too, is that the grandfather recognizes that this is a very dangerous world. They actually COULD be taken by the police, and he doesn't want them to be put into cryogenic sleep, he wants them to be able to grow up together. But of course, because of that, he has to train them to realize that whatever happens to one of them outside on the streets, has to happen to all of them, because they all have to be Karen Settman--the ONE Karen Settman. So they kind of lose their own identity. He talks about them being able to be themselves at the house. And there's a lot of flashbacks to him, training them as kids. And what happens if they can't have two of them out on the street at the same time in case someone sees a second twin, or suddenly realizes they have seven of them in the same house. And then he also builds in basically a cry of a panic room. And has them train what'll happen in case the government comes to the door and they have to hide. Sarah Timm Wow. Jojo Siu So basically, that is the the starting premise of this story. And of course, we show the flashbacks of how they came to this place. But then the movie starts off with Sunday returning home. And she is basically you know, she's she's lived her life, she's come back from work. And they have a very specific dress for what she looks like everyday when she goes to work. And then when she comes back to her very kind of shoddy looking hotel, you finally realize she's got six other siblings and their practice is, at the end of every day, that she introduces, or sorry, they all have bracelets where they check in to each of the locations. And it actually--the bracelet goes to the government and tells them this is a one child only. So there's a lot of things that you know, the grandfather has clearly done to tamper with all of this technology that's in the future to make sure they're safe. So the movie is called "What Happened to Monday?" Because on Monday, "Monday" goes out she has this big presentation where she's supposed to get promoted at work. And she goes and is very worried about her job on Monday. And then she suddenly goes missing. Sarah Timm Oh! Jojo Siu ...and shortly before she goes missing, you find out that one of her co-workers is kind of threatening her and says "I know. I know your secret. You better. You better listen to me. You better give ME the promotion so that you don't get ousted" Sarah Timm Right. Jojo Siu And then she just disappears so she never comes home. The rest of the sisters don't know what's happened. And that's kind of where we start the movie. So let me move on to our costumes. Sarah Timm Oh, wow. Jojo Siu So I'm going to start actually breaking this down by character because I've given you quite a lot of backstory. So I'm not going to necessarily go throughout the movie because they mostly stay in very similar costumes pretty much throughout the entire story. And again, this takes place pretty much over a week, because we go through each of the days. This is just a quick, quick close up of Glenn Close, I wanted to focus very briefly on all of her costumes. Because she, at least in this picture, she reminds me a lot of Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Timm Yes. Jojo Siu And sort of the new age of the future. She's kind of trying this changing of a lot of what's happening and trying to really do good for, for controlling this overpopulation problem. And so she's kind of the face of, of this overpopulation. It's called the... Collection--I should know this--Collection something Bureaucy. But it's called CAB for short. So she runs CAB. And basically, they're the people that collect the siblings, if they find out there are more than one. Sarah Timm This hair. Jojo Siu I know, it's crazy. Her hair isn't like that the whole time. That's just the introduction, we see her in at the very beginning of the movie. So then we go to the second image of her and this is when she's in her facility. So in the CAB facilities, and you see her kind of peeping into a room full of children. And these are children that they've collected, when they found out they were siblings of other parents. So she, she looks in the room, and it's just this group of small kids that are kind of playing around. And so she keeps talking about, "they're not going to be in pain, it'll be great." And so this--I just wanted to focus on how beautiful this coat is. She's in a lot of like blues and greens throughout the movie, kind of very earthy tones, which is very ironic, because she's kind of she's actually kind of our villain until the very end. But I love how clean cut her look is. And again, very, very, like Prime Minister; a very "Margaret Thatcher" look. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu And then this is the final scene. So this is actually towards the end of the movie when she's about to run for council woman. So BIG SPOILER alert, you find out that she has not been cryogenically freezing any of these siblings. She puts them into this pod, and then gives them a shot to basically, either put them to sleep or make them unconscious or whatever the series is, and then they actually get burned to death. So they all get incinerated. So you find out that she's actually just been killing all of these siblings. Sarah Timm I mean, that's not surprising. But the mess is..... Jojo Siu Right, right. Right, exactly. So, you know, you find out that she has been lying about all this stuff, she has been the face of this cryogenic, you know, CAB thing for so long. And so she is trying to run for counselor. And she's made this deal with one of the sisters to let her live in order to help her. To give her a huge donation basically to become council woman. So this is that final scene where she's talking to the sister. And this is also just a quick show of whatall of the Karen segments were when they go to work. So this is the typical outfit, every single one of them has the same exact clothing, they wear their hair exactly the same way. And you'll see kind of when we go to some of the other characters, how different they are when they're back at home. But this is kind of the image. And Monday was the first one that was born out of the seven. So she is the one that kind of starts the week. And so, when she disappears, her outfit actually is the closest to what she wears inside the house in addition to outside the house. So I wanted to kind of show that, because that's basically what you see most of them in when they're out on the street. Okay, moving on. So this is just a quick family shot. And you can see how different each of the different family members are. Sunday is actually right at the end of the table Monday you see here is right on the...kind of right of center. And she you can see here she's got green on, but it's actually the same exact silhouette as the blue blazer that she's wearing in the previous scene. This one is Saturday, so she's kind of the party girl. Sarah Timm Basic, 'cause she's Saturday! Jojo Siu Exactly, exactly. And I'll talk a little bit more about how the costume designer decided to break up the days of the week too. Friday is right here so she's kind of got the beanie and the plaid flannel. Thursday is sort of our tomboy, skater girl, so she's kind of the one that always questions the system; doesn't understand why they have to do this; feels like she wants to break out and always wants to have her own voice. Wednesday is our kind of athletic gym rat. So she is the one that's always working out and you know, doing stuff, and then you can't really see your face, but we'll we'll get some close ups on her later. But Tuesday is kind of our hippie pot smoking nerd. So she's the one that's always smoking and always whatever--very chill. She's also the only one with red hair out of the... Sarah Timm Oh. Jojo Siu Seven of them. Okay, moving on. So just another quick shot, this is just what she's wearing all the time when she goes out. So she's got that dress underneath with the blue, but then she always has this blue trench coat that she wears on top. And you see her in that all the time--she's always in the same earrings. So there's a whole scene where they have almost like a technology grid, and it actually will take a look at all the blemishes on their face to make sure that they look exactly the same. Sarah Timm Fancy! Jojo Siu ...whenever they go out, which is so crazy. So you have acne "here", or you're a little red "here", or your eyes are really red today or whatever it is. And then it helps them kind of figure out what they need to make up or cover up in order to look exactly the same. So again, this look is very, very contrived, every single one of them has to look exactly the same when they leave the house. The other big part is they have to tell each other what's happened in the day. Because if there's anything any conversations they had with another, you know, coworker, or they have to be consistent, they need to know exactly what the conversations were about, and all of that. So that part of their bracelet is that they actually have a little camera in there to kind of walk them through what's happened throughout the day. And Friday, who's the tech geek is the one that kind of helps them figure out all of that. Sarah Timm I was thinking how hard it would be to only get to go to work once a week and have to pretend like you've been there the whole time. That's a lot of work to keep up with! Jojo Siu It is. SO much. And I think you know, they all start kind of feeling that eventually, because they've been growing up in this system for so long. So losing that individuality anywhere outside the house can be really hard. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu So it was really hard to find pictures of of these costumes. So I pulled up all of these posters. So there actually won't be as many pictures for this one, Sarah, you'll be very excited. But I wanted to kind of just go through some of the costume designers' notes on what each of the days meant for her. So like we talked a little bit about Monday. So for her "Monday would wear something a little bit softer in color, and you wouldn't necessarily think that she's softer because of what her character does." And again, SPOILER alert, Monday actually sells her siblings out in order to try and stay alive. And she has good reasons at the end of the movie, but the way that it's portrayed in this movie, it makes it seem like she's the villain. When you find out at the very end that she's actually fallen in love with one of the CAB officers, who doesn't know that she's a sibling, but he and her basically have been together for months. She finally decides that she wants to just be free of this life and doesn't want to have siblings. And she's also pregnant with twins. So, in order to protect her twins, she signs this, you know agreement with Kaman who is played by Glenn Close. And so, in order to give her that huge donation to become the Councilwoman, she will be protected, her kids will be protected, and not taken. And so, in addition to that, she has to obviously reveal that she is one of seven, Sarah: Right. So they basically the the rest of the movie is Glenn Close and all of the agents that she sends to try and kill the rest of them. Because the fact that seven siblings have existed and have escaped her notice and not gone into cryogenic sleep, is really bad for her reputation. So rather than trying to like suddenly throw them into cryogenic sleep and make it okay, she just opts to send people to kill them. So, of course, when Monday disappears, then Tuesday tries to go in, but has no recollection of what's happened the day before because she wasn't there. And so she gets she's the first one to kind of get taken by CAB. And so, everything after that kind of trickles after that. So Mondays, you know, we talked about that--Tuesday comes after a Monday. So she said, "which means for example, you may need to smoke more." 'Cause Monday's always the hardest. She said Wednesday, "you're realizing you smoke too much and you have to work out." So again Wednesday, it's like our gym rats. On Thursday, she said "we reboot ourselves". So you find out it for this version of Thursday. She's almost kind of like the Butch femme. So she's always in black t-shirts or white t-shirts and skinny jeans and black combat boots and she's got the short pixie cut. So she's kind of our leading lady out of the seven, if you can really call it, that besides Monday, but she's the one that kind of leads the rest of the sisters in trying to find Monday and save everyone. So Thursday is the reboot day and then Friday. She said "Maybe we choose to study more". So again, Friday is our kind of tech nerd/geek nerd. And then Saturday, "Let's drink" and Sunday: "We choose to behave and go to church". So Sunday is actually the first one that dies. Sorry, SPOILER ALERT. But she also is the one that they talk about, that has to believe. She was always the believer, she always believed in better, she always believed in, you know, better hope for the future. And she's also always dressed in these kind of cardigans and sort of Sunday church dresses. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu And so again, very--on the surface--very perfect and hopeful in her dress and in her costume. So when we first see her in the first scene with the sisters, she's always in these like floral prints, which I really love too. And I think the costume designer actually, I think she was the only one in really a print, everyone else was in kind of more geometric blocks or, or just plain tees. So the fact that Sunday is always our very floral and kind of natural and organic prints, this idea that she's sort of the the hopeful one. And I think that's reflected in her costume. So Monday, again, you know, this was really the only other close up that I could find where we don't see her in the blue, because again, the rest of the movie, she's pretty much missing. And at the very end, we'll see a picture of her back in kind of like a version of the dress that she normally wears. But the way that they differentiated is the costume designer blocked off different parts of the costume, which I really loved. But again, she's she's always kind of in the same type of silhouette each time, even when she's at home. So always this idea of needing to look perfect, always being perfect. And she talks a lot about that. She's the one that's the oldest. So she always sets the example for everyone else. Sarah Timm Right. Jojo Siu This is another picture. And again, this is sort of the way that they differentiated, you know, Monday from Thursday later on, because Thursday also ends up in a dress very similar to this, but the different cut outs is how the costume designer was able to show difference. So, I think Thursday doesn't have the pink on top, it's just the the darker pink and fuchsia on the sides. Alright, so this is Tuesday. So again, kind of the very hippie dress, she's got a lot of off-the-shoulder kind of baggy sweaters, she's always wearing sort of the hippy skirts. It's a very boho look. And again, she always wears a ton of bracelets and a ton of rings. And her hair is always in two pigtails. And she's, again, the only one with red hair. Yeah, so this is just another kind of close-up picture of that soft draped sweater that she has. Okay, so Wednesday, again, is our workout girl, she's always in a black hoodie, and some sort of sports bra, and sweat pants. Most of her scenes are her jogging, or punching a punching bag in the apartment. And when she goes out, so this is after they found out that Tuesday has been taken. Tuesday's eye has been sent back to the house with... Sarah Timm Oh Jojo Siu ...agents to kill them. And so Wednesday is the first one who goes out on Wednesday and tries to escape in order to find out more information because this is when they find out that the co worker has some sort of blackmail on them. So she goes to try and find out what's happened. And of course, she's being chased around the city at this point. Because she knows that they're after her. A lot of agents have been sent after her to try and kill her. And so the other three sisters--it's Tuesday, Friday and Thursday--the tech nerd at home is basically helping her figure out where to go, how to escape all of this stuff. And she gets so close to escaping and she ends up obviously getting killed, but it's the saddest way to get killed. So all of it, of course is very athletic. She gets the most athletic time because you know, she's working out all the time. So she does the most punching and running. Sarah Timm You would think that if they have to make sure that they havethe same zits and stuff that one of them working out more than the others would be an issue. Jojo Siu Yeah, exactly. Sarah Timm Why does she have a bicep? Jojo Siu Yeah. The dress does hide a lot of their outfit. Sarah Timm I guess she's not in a midriff top when she goes to work. Jojo Siu Exactly. Most of the shape is hidden. But yeah, it's mostly face shape. You know, obviously after this scene, when she goes out on her day, she's kind of gone off the deep end. She's like, "I'm not even going to bother wearing the dress anymore", because she's got so gotten cut up at this point. They've somehow defeated the first round of agents. So her coming into this is just, "I just need to find out what's happened". And so she's kind of gone out and gone rogue a little bit. But at this point, they also know CAB realizes that there are seven of them and is trying to kill them. Sarah Timm Right. Jojo Siu So she's kind of the first one out there. So this is just some other running shots. But again, you can see she's just, you know, her athletic day, I guess, of her just running everywhere. And there's another one. Again, just kind of showing all the T-shirts and hoodies that she wears. Alright, so Thursday, again, very much the rebel. They show some flashback scenes of her when she is a child. And she's the first one that actually kind of messes up the system. And she talks a lot about that when she kind of confronts Monday at the very end. But there's a big scene where, as a child, she actually escapes. When it's someone else's day, she goes out andskateboards, and then comes back after the dad has realized she's gone missing. She's out there and everyone else has returned. And she comes back with her finger hanging off because she got into a skateboarding accident. And so of course, because her fingers cut, hanging off, the grandfather ends up having to cut all the other siblings fingers off. So there's this whole like, you know, this big scene just talking about the seriousness of like, Whatever happens to one of you has to happen to everybody. And she's always the one that's like, :I want to get out of the system. Why are we doing this? None of us are living a real life". Sarah Timm Right. Jojo Siu But she is also the one that ends up...I thought I had more pictures of her. Unfortunately, I don't. There were very few pictures of her, but again, she's always the one in black. A lot of tech gear. And when I say tech gear, I mean theater tech wear: black t-shirt, black pants, black combat boots. Sarah Timm like she's a stagehand. Jojo Siu Yeah, exactly. So then Friday is our--like I said--tech geek nerd. And she's always in these kind of oversized sweaters or oversized flannels, and everything is very hidden about her. And she's she basically is the tech geek that gets everyone, you know, where they need to go at the very end. And she and Friday do end up lasting kind of the longest. Until Thursday finally escapes. So sorry, Thursday is our Pixie girl. And then she finally, in order to let Thursday escape, she actually sacrifices herself at the very end, which is really sad. But she talks about how she needed this family. "I'm not like the rest of you. You guys are all independent, and you could do your own thing. But I never thrived without you. And like I wouldn't survive without you". So she decides to sacrifice herself instead. And takes out some of the CAB agents with her. And then we get to Saturday. Sarah Timm I love her hair! Jojo Siu So cute. So Saturday--She's always kind of a schmoozer. So whenever she's at work, she's the one that's really great at networking. She's really great at going to parties. They have this whole thing in the very beginning where she comes back and pukes in one of the buckets and so the guy at the front desk is like, "how do you do it? You were puking yesterday, and today, you look so fresh". And that was Sunday walking out. Sarah Timm Right. Jojo Siu And so of course, it was this idea that she also didn't share all the information with everybody. But you actually find out that even though she talks big about sleeping with everyone, she actually is a virgin, because you find out she runs into the guy that Monday is in love with and has been sleeping with for months. And she doesn't realize that he doesn't know it's not her or that it's not "Monday". So she tries to also find out information about what's happened to "Monday" by pretending to be "Monday" from within. So anyways, it's this whole thing where all the sisters sacrifice for one another, which I just thought was really interesting. But again, she's always in some kind of pink hoodie or really bright red kind of bra or bralette and some kind of jeans. This is one of the last scenes and you can see here, this is Thursday, and this is Monday. And so this is where you find out that Monday has basically betrayed all of them. Thursday is trying to save everyone and get her out. But you find out that, obviously, she has signed off this contract to basically protect her babies. Okay, and then just a couple other shots. You can kind of see here again Thursday, she's always in black. She's also got a black hoodie, very similar to Wednesday. And then you can see the yellow kind of oversized cardigan, and the really bland colors on Friday. And then the pink, and she's always wearing some sort of denim and the red bra for Saturday. And then I believe this was the last one that I pulled, but I wanted to pull the last little quick image of the grandpa and then one of the kids when they're doing the training at the very beginning. And I just wanted to pull this image because again when they got into the street--so this is the first day that he finally lets the first kid go out into the street. So prior to this, he hasn't let any of them leave the house. Sarah Timm Wow. Jojo Siu They've all been confined to the home to try and learn, you know, what their skills are. And also make sure that, you know, they understand the system; that they only can go out one day at a time. And it's funny to me that they're still wearing that dark blue blazer. This idea that they belong to the masses. And I think that was something that the costume designer talked about, too, you know, "I picked a color that kind of blended into the mass and didn't stand out because they needed to kind of disappear. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu And also the fact that Willem DaFoe was in grandpa's comfort wear. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu In all grays. So interestingly enough, when he's training them, there's quite a few shots with him in actually more vibrant colors. And at one point, he's actually wearing that yellow sweater that Friday's wearing, which I thought was really lovely. Sarah Timm That's cute. Jojo Siu But, you know, the rest of the time he's wearing these blacks and grays. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu And you don't really ever find out what's happening to him either. So it's a little sad, but you know, they don't really go further into that side story. I think that was the last of it. So again, not too many photos for this one. But I just, you know, how do you make seven different characters with the same actress? And how do you make them all look different enough and have their own character? I mean, Noomi is pretty amazing. She was basically acting against herself for most of it. And she mentioned that this was one of the hardest products she's ever done, because she didn't have other actors to work off of or to bounce ideas off. She had to create who that other actor was going to be. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu And that carried over, I think, into her conversations with a costume designer as well, right? Sarah Timm They probably use--lots of times when they're doing stuff like that they use like a body double, but it's not someone who's going to be acting and giving you the same energy that a fellow actor would give you. Jojo Siu Right, right. Yeah. And they did us a couple body doubles. But I think, you know, it definitely was like, "I had to figure out who all those characters were". And I think she said she actually secluded herself for five or six months, so that she could get into the headspace of who these characters were. She was like, "it was really hard because I couldn't talk to anybody for five or six months". And I was like... Sarah Timm Commitment. Jojo Siu "That's worse than quarantine! Sarah Timm I feel like we always hear about famous male actors who goes super method. Why aren't we talking about Noomi Rapace? Clearly she's... Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm Super method. She's committed. Wow. Jojo Siu But yeah, and you definitely see how different the little ticks are in each of her characters, even for this movie. So yes, I would highly suggest it. Again, the story plot--there's a lot of plot holes. So I think that's what a lot of critics have said about this movie. And again, it is very close to whatever the episode of "Black Mirror" was... Sarah Timm I was thinking it sounds like "Orphan Black". Jojo Siu Maybe that's what it is. Maybe they meant "Orphan Black". I could have...misquoted that. Sarah Timm "I've seen "Black Mirror", but it's been a long time since I've seen certain episodes. So it might be an older one that I don't remember. Jojo Siu Yeah, that's true. Sarah Timm Orphan Black is the one where Tatiana Maslany plays clones. Jojo Siu Oh, yes, then that's the one. Sorry, I misquoted that. So it's definitely "Orphan Black". But yeah, I know, they took it off with some other idea because that was one of the big criticisms that they got. They were like, "well, it's nothing new. And the storyline is kind of unfinished." Sarah Timm Interesting. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm Interesting concept. Jojo Siu Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely one of those movies that I kind of stumbled across and then I was like pleasantly surprised. Sarah Timm Cool. Well, great job! Jojo Siu Thank you! Sarah Timm Okay, are we ready for me? This was a request--my movie that I'm covering. My dear friend Christie messaged us and requested this movie, I think, over Instagram. I'm covering "Tron: Legacy", which is a movie I hadn't seen since it came out. And I forgot how fun it is. It's very fun. So, a little bit of background. It's this is a Disney movie. So take with that what you will. It's directed by Joseph Kosinski. And this movie is his directorial debut, which blew my brains. I could not believe that this high budget and big of a movie was somebody's directorial debut. And I I did a little googling because I was like, How on earth did he get the job, then... Jojo Siu Yeah! Sarah Timm ...if he's never directed anything? so I found a New York TimesNew York Times article that says, and this is a direct quote, "it sounds corny, but it all started back in 2007, with one guy who believed in him--Shawn Bailey, a Disney producer, who was trying to figure out how to reinvent Tron. Mr. Bailey had heard through the Hollywood grapevine about a director of commercials, which is Joseph Kosinski, who had an unusual visual style." And the article kind of went into how this happens sometimes with really big studios; they'll give a big budget movie to somebody who has only done a few commercials. And some people think it's because a first time director will be easier to control by a big studio, you know. A bigger name will come in with an artistic vision and be like, "Well, I'm not conforming to your corporate Disney whatever. I'm going to do what I want." But then also, like, the more optimistic view of that is, it doesn't matter, your resume if you have the right vision and the right, you know, artistic gumption to go and get it. But I will say that, like, I don't think that if he This might sound cynical, but I think that like, especially in 2010, when this movie came out, I don't think if he were non white, and not a man that he would have gotten this big of a chance. Jojo Siu Agreed. Sad, but true. Sarah Timm Yeah. When I've heard of that kind of thing happening, where it's like, oh, my god, he's only directed five music videos. And they gave him a superhero movies indirect like it's usually a white man that they're talking about, unfortunately. So yeah, that was an interesting thing to learn. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm Yeah. The costumes were co-designed. So two people--Christine...Christine, Bieselin Clark. I'm just gonna say that's how you pronounce that, who has worked on "Star Trek Picard", "Maze Runner" and "Ender's Game". And then the other designer is Michael Wilkinson, whose name you might recognize because he did "Jingle Jangle". Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm So he's done a lot of Zack Snyder's like "Justice League" franchise movies, "Aladdin", "300" and "Garden State". Jojo Siu "Oh Garden State". I haven't seen that movie in so long. Sarah Timm That's a good one. So yeah, interesting. I think it kind of makes sense that like two people do the costumes. This is it's, it seems like a very collaborative design these costumes, because like, the visual style of the movie is so distinct that like the production design, and the costume design, and the special effects are all kind of hand-in-hand. So it's a real team effort. It seems just, that's just my view of it. So let's begin. This is... Yay! ...the beginning of the movie. Oh, I will say I have not seen the first "Tron". So Neither have I. So one of my first notes was, "I need someone to explain to me what the grid is, because I still don't quite really know." I don't know. Jojo Siu I am probably just as lost as you are. So I don't know that I'd be much help. Sarah Timm It's a virtual reality space. That's what I've, that's as far as I got. It's like a computer--digitized--but it's like a world you can enter, but it's in the computer. Jojo Siu That was a very good explanation, Sarah. Sarah Timm Thanks so much. So this is the opening. Basically, the basic plot is: Jeff Bridges who's in the first "Tron" was the founder of this, sort of, tech company. But he went missing in 1989. And his son is now technically the head of the company, but isn't involved at all, I think, and he's kind of like a rebel guy, he doesn't care about the company. And it seems like these people--the suits--are interested in making money and exploiting the technology. Whereas Jeff Bridges--his character, Flynn--was interested in open source software and making it available for everybody and sharing it. So that's kind of where we come in, is in this board meeting, where they're gonna release this program, I don't know, whatever computer thing. Jojo Siu We are so not sci-fi, tech nerds, Sarah Timm Computer thing, great. Jojo Siu Whatever that is. Sarah Timm So I this boardroom scene is interesting to me, because they're all wearing the same color, which is sort of like a slate gray, black. And it's funny to me, because, you would think that we would really want to differentiate this world--the real world--from the grid that we enter later, but the color scheme is kind of the same, which is kind of funny. And interesting that the corporate world doesn't look that different from the sci-fi computer world. I didn't realize that I would sound so dumb describing this movie. Jojo Siu It's okay, you and me both. I was like, I can't help you with any of those technology terms. Sarah Timm It doesn't really matter to my understanding, like costumes, I think, right? I don't feel too bad about it. Okay, so this is actually Killian Murphy who I was like, Killian Murphy's in this movie? Jojo Siu Jojo: I almost didn't recognize him. Sarah Timm Apparently he's uncredited, this is an uncredited cameo appearance. Yeah! Jojo Siu Uncredited? Sarah Timm I know Jojo Siu Did HE put that in or did someone else? Sarah Timm Did he wander by the set one day? How did this come about? He was just like walking by in the scene and said "Okay, I'll be that dude." But this look is interesting because he looks different from everybody else because he's like the young, hotshot guy. And this already looks very dated to me, even though it's only 10 years old, and I think it's the hair. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm It's very floppy Jojo Siu I was gonna say it's that very wind swept look for guys Sarah Timm Yeah. That sort of Justin Bieber, Zac Efron, late 2000s...*hand motion* Jojo Siu I love how THIS is, ...This is the hands motion Hand motion over the forehead to portray the bangs. Sarah Timm Yeah. And you can tell he's so cool because he's not wearing a blazer, unlike everyone else. He's so cool. Jojo Siu Less layers, equals cool. Sarah Timm My arms are out so I'm cool. Moving on. So, this is Alan and apparently he's in the first "Tron" as well. So he was like Flynn's right hand man, kind of guy. And he comes to Sam the son with his pager and he's like "I got a page from your dad". And it's like, what? First of all, you got a page in 2010? Okay. And I like his look because he's bringing with him sort of the old school, into the modern day, sort of like a rumpled trench coat, almost film noir because his collars up a little bit, Detective-y sort of land he brings an air of mystery right? Because he's like, "I got a page from your dad who's been missing since 1989. You should go to the arcade to see where the signal's coming from or whatever. So he basically gets the plot going, and I like that the person with the mystery looks like a Noir detective. I think that's kind of a fun little touch. Jojo Siu Yeah it was a lot of Noir in this movie, and I don't think I thought about that until you said that. Sarah Timm I think, yeah, ...is sci fi noir a thing because that could be Jojo Siu ...It could be, because they definitely bring in elements of that kind of Noir,like 1930s. I think of like the 1930s Film Noir. But yeah, I definitely feel like I don't know that I realized that until I was looking at this picture again. I was like "oh yeah!" Sarah Timm I think he is the most Noir out of the characters for sure. Jojo Siu Trench coat definitely says that, Sarah Timm Yes, yes. And I also like how he's less corporate, you know, but he's sort of--I don't know what color exactly this trench coat is; it looks brown in this picture, I'm not sure if it is--He looks a little bit earthier, you know, so he's not the corporate greed machine that everybody else at the company is. He's still got the original vision in his heart. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm so this is Sam, the son, before he goes into the grid. This is his everyday look. And I, I like it. I think it's a little bit generic, it's a little bit like Disney version of a bad boy. Which makes sense because it's a Disney movie. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm I wrote in my notes that I think if this movie was made today this outfit would have more personality than it does in this. I like the aging of the jacket, maybe it was his dad's, you know. It's old, but otherwise, he's just kind of wearing jeans and a hoodie and I feel like he could have something, you know, a little bit of pattern. Jojo Siu Yeah Sarah Timm ...little bit more texture to kind of, because I really don't know anything about him still after watching. Jojo Siu Right Sarah Timm he doesn't have that much of a personality to speak of. So, I think he... Jojo Siu Does he wear this the whole time? Sarah Timm He wears it for the whole opening scene, but once it gets into the grid they put him into a light suit. Jojo Siu Right, right. Okay. Sarah Timm So this is all we get to see of like his own wardrobe. So Jojo Siu yeah, Sarah Timm This is it? And later in this shot, he's in the front right here. It's blurry, but he's just wearing a gray t shirt and I'm like, Jojo Siu very indistinct Sarah Timm You couldn't at least do like what transformers did and Shia LaBeouf was wearing like a "Strokes" t-shirt. Like it couldn't even be like a Rolling Stones t-shirt or something. It had to just be a solid gray--that makes me sad. Jojo Siu I wonder how much of this was budget too though, although it's...you know, it's Disney, so I don't really know. Because I know sometimes with other brand names, you have to be really careful that you're not stuck with a copyright but it's Disney. So you think they'd have a lot more budget Sarah Timm A stripe? or a Plaid? Jojo Siu Yeah, some kind of pattern. Sarah Timm A color? I don't know, maybe it's to communic-I mean, he's supposed to be like the rebel though, so hhe shouldn't fit in with the nondescript corporate-ness and he lives in this cool, under the bridge, apartment thing. So I think he could be cooler, his outfit could be cooler. That's all. Okay, so here we are in the grid. Welcome, Jojo Siu So different. Sarah Timm So this is him. He basically enters the grid by accident and then just kind of gets ferried along to different places and things happen to him and he's not he has no agency things are justbeing done to him. So this is them getting him ready to compete in some sort of games against other things on the light cycles and stuff. These characters--these female characters are called "sirens", which I was like, of course they are. Sure, Jojo Siu yeah. Sarah Timm And they basically are in charge of outfitting him for, for the games, and I feel a bit conflicted about the female characters in this movie, because they seem pretty over-sexualized in their appearance. But I had to remind myself that like this digital world was made by a man in the 80s, technically. So like... Jojo Siu Right Sarah Timm ...if it's all this one guy his vision, and he's just a straight dude in the 80s Of course he's like "well, the girls and it all have to be super sexy, you know" Jojo Siu Right, right. Sarah Timm I don't know, I don't I'm still not sure how I feel about it because I was just like, why? what? You know, you can kind of see on the right here, this little shell thing. They basically come out of these little holes in the wall. And this little door closes over them and theyhibernate, until it's time again, and the shell that closes over them, has boobs on it, it's like molded to look like a lady's body. Jojo Siu Yeah Sarah Timm So it's things like that was like did we have to do that I don't think we did. Jojo Siu That part was unnecessary. Sarah Timm And even their, their outfits so they're unitard, you can see on this second-from-the-right girl. It has the outline of almost bikini underwear, and none of the men's costumes have an outline. Jojo Siu Right, right. Sarah Timm So it's...And then they're wearing these high heels and it's like why would that be a thing? Why do they need high heels? Is it because Flynn designed this world and was like, "the gotta be hot." I don't know. Jojo Siu Yeah, yeah, exactly. The 80s. Sarah Timm Yeah I mean it's is it like is it supposed to be like the 80s vision of a future and if so then yeah it makes sense. Jojo Siu Right. Sarah Timm And I have a shot of the high heeled too, which is very interesting--has a bar thing on it. Jojo Siu Yeah, it's crazy because I think on the one on the right it looks shorter, and then on the one on the left, it looks taller, and I don't understand. Yeah, 'cause her... yeah her heels are shorter! Sarah Timm Also hers looks like it doesn't have the... Jojo Siu Doesn't have the bar. Sarah Timm It doesn't look like the same girl... Jojo Siu Yeah, Sarah Timm That's weird. Maybe she was taller than the other one? Maybe they had to make them all the same height. And they were like nobody... Jojo Siu Oh yeah. Like at least in the image, they needed to look the same height. Sarah Timm Yeah, because I think they're supposed to be...you know, they're digitized, they're not real humans. They're digitized right programs or whatever they're called. So... Jojo Siu right, Sarah Timm they had to be the same. But, yeah, maybe that was to make them all the same height. Because that girl comes back later, she has a speaking role. Jojo Siu Oh, okay. Sarah Timm I don't know. Yeah. Interesting. Jojo Siu Interesting. Sarah Timm So here's Sam and his life suit, I have a couple shots of it. It's cool. These, I think that these costumes are very successful these light suits. It doesn't look new to us now, but I remember in 2010 thinking like how cool and futuristic it looked. Jojo Siu Yeah, I remember that too. Sarah Timm And I have some information about how they were made because I was like... Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm Is the light, practical? And the answer is yes! Which blew my mind! Jojo Siu So cool! Sarah Timm All the light on all the costumes is practical. It's real; it's not added in CG. Yeah, Jojo Siu I love that it's like. Sarah Timm So I watched... Jojo Siu Was it like E-L wire? Sarah Timm Well I'll read to you! I watched some YouTube videos and I'll link the YouTube video that I watched because it's really interesting to see them sort of like building them, they had a couple shots of their shop. So, this is from Wikipedia, "the skin-tight suits are reminiscent of the outfits worn by the actors in the original film. They designed the lighting costumes, which used electro-luminescent lamps, derived from a flexible polymer film, and featured hexagonal patterns, the lights pass through the suit via light tape, says something about lamination and phosphorus I don't understand. To make it a different color, they put different colors of vinyl. Prior to lamination, so apparently... this kind of...I thought about this too was, nowadays you can get fiber optic fabric and lights can basically be fabric now, which is amazing. But in 2010, flexible light that you could use in costumes was a really new idea, so they basically....it was a very new invention and they had to kind of just like figure it out as they went along, because they didn't Jojo Siu Yeah Sarah Timm they were talking in this behind the scenes thing about how they didn't know how they would make flexible lights and I was like, don't they make strips that you can put on whatever? And then I was like... Jojo Siu Yeah I was gonna say, LED tape is very available now. Sarah Timm Yeah, so that must be, you know like within the last 10 years that that has been so common and easy to get. So, it was just fascinating to me I was just thinking this is great! Jojo Siu Leave it up to Disney to be the first ones to figure it out though! Sarah Timm right. So, these suits were kind of like a collaboration between the special effects department and the costuming department, because, the shell part, especially the torsos, they're made out of foam latex, so they're basically sculpted. If you've ever watched "Face Off" the special effects makeup show where they sculpt, and then they mold foam latex, it's basically like that, where you pour it into a mold and peel it out and it's one piece, you know, and then they applied the lights and stuff, and then they would have fabric Jojo Siu Wow Sarah Timm ...suits underneath. I know can you believe? Jojo Siu So many layers! Sarah Timm Yes! Jojo Siu It's why you gotta have a big budget for this movie! Sarah Timm Good segue, because the blonde lady from that siren scene, who talks about her. Her character's name is Gem. She said, it showed her sort of getting dressed and she said that there was, they're basically wearing four layers, so their first layer is foundation garments so the women would be in sort of like a waist cincher and you know Spanx and stuff to hold you in. And then there was a, just a body suit over that. And then there was the electronics layer, and then there was sort of like a latex-y outer layer that felt sort of like balloon rubber, apparently on hers, and the sirens. Jojo Siu So....they're giant....condoms? Sarah Timm Well, it showed what behind-the-scenes and one of them was getting wiped down. Somebody was shining it with a cloth. Jojo Siu Oh gosh, that just sounds so crazy. I mean these look phenomenal, they don't look like they're wearing four layers of clothing, right. I can't imagine what that feels like. Sarah Timm I mean Beyonce literally wears three layers of tights doesn't she? So, you do you have to. Jojo Siu True, true. Sarah Timm So yeah! Jojo Siu That's funny. Sarah Timm I mean, it literally blew my mind to watch that. I would encourage everybody to watch the video. And the other important thing is that this is a digital world, so the clothes don't exist in a real way so they had to think about what clothes would look like if they weren't made like clothes. How does...What do clothes look like if they haven't been sewn together? If they've just been Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm Created out of... Just been created out of pixels. Pixels...Yeah, so they tried to hide seams. There was no visible closures, no buttons and zippers, stuff like that, because, as you can see in the picture with the sirens it just materializes on to him, you know. He doesn't need to step into it, in the movie. Just...It's super fascinating. I learned a lot, Jojo Siu So cool. Sarah Timm ...On this, Jojo Siu I mean this is why we all thought it was so exciting when we saw this movie because it was just, it really was nothing we had ever seen. Sarah Timm Yes, yeah. Jojo Siu So yeah, it's pretty cool. Sarah Timm Yeah, I think cynically I was like well it's all probably CG, you know. And then I watched it and I was, I felt, you know, I felt so much excitement and wonder, like it wasn't just digital. So, moving on. Jojo Siu Sorry I side-tracked us. Sarah Timm This is "Clue". Yeah Clue, which is like a version of Jeff Bridges, but it's like a computer that just looks like him and I pulled this because I hate the young face that they did. It.... Even now... Jojo Siu It's sooo creepy. Sarah Timm Yes, it looks like a SIM and even now, when they do the aging down digitally, I've never seen that and been like, "well that's convincing and not creepy". It's ALWAYS creepy to me. So I pulled that just so everybody else can be creeped out as well together. I love this outfit, it's very Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, but Tron version it's like a cool asymmetrical cloak with...and he has yellow light, and I think that the colors of light had something to do with their ranks, you know. I didn't, super look into what was what. But you know, the regular programs have just white and then he and his right-hand man over here kind of have different colors. And then I got this of it on display, so that we can kind of see more what it looks like. Jojo Siu Yeah, I was curious was the other side of that jacket looked like. Sarah Timm Yeah, and it's funny because it looks... Jojo Siu It's so crazy it looks like paper. Sarah Timm I know it looks a little bit cheesy just, you know, it looks like masking tape or something. Jojo Siu Right, Sarah Timm but in the in the movie, it looks so rad, Jojo Siu so crazy. Sarah Timm Yeah, I want to wear one. Jojo Siu I know. Disney can you rent out some of your Tron outfits so that we can just have a dress up day? Sarah Timm Can I borrow it um....real quick, real quick, just like five minutes. Jojo Siu I just need like a selfie andthen and then I'll be good. Sarah Timm Did I read anything else I don't think I did. I just wrote he looks very evil. There's something about a long black coat that looks pretty evil. So this is Cora played by Olivia Wilde. Jojo Siu She's so pretty. Sarah Timm She's one of like, you know, five women that we see. Those are my feelings on that. She's one of two who speaks. Jojo Siu Let's pause and hesitate... for a moment of silence, Sarah Timm and I feel kind of the same about her as I do about the sexy siren girls, which is like...Yes, her outfit looks really good--she looks great--but did it have to be...you would think in a future world where gender doesn't really matter that outfits between men and women would look more similar, but like I said, if Flynn invented it, and he was a straight man and he wants to see sexy women then the women look sexy. So, here's the classic shot of her on the weird couch thing. And of course she's in a high heel. She has, you know what, what else do we expect? And then she has a cold shoulder and nobody else has a shoulder cut out. So I thought that was interesting. Jojo Siu Yeah, some differences. Sarah Timm I like her hair a lot, too. Jojo Siu I like the asymmetrical being. Sarah Timm Yeah, I think that haircut is really cute. And interestingly, she and Gem--the other woman--both wear really heavy, black eye makeup. And this is another thing, where if they made a "Tron" today, I think more of the men would be in makeup too, 'cause I think that today we're more free and open with gender expression in a way where, I think if we were inventing a cool sci-fi world where there was cool makeup, it would be on all genders of people, not just women. Jojo Siu It makes me think of...well, just because you were saying that, I was thinking of Aqua Man, because, he wears so much eye make-up. Sarah Timm I've heard that that's a fun sort of like campy movie. Jojo Siu It is...it...the storyline is like, whatever. I wouldn't watch it from that but, he's definitely got some dark eye makeup. It's very Egyptian-looking almost, 'cause he's got like the Kohl, you know, kind of outline of the eye. Sarah Timm Well Jason Momoa--him in a smoky eye , I'll take that all day long. Jojo Siu Yeah, it looks very good on him. But yeah, it made me think of that when you said, it's more acceptable across genders, Sarah Timm Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm going to talk about Michael Sheen...well....no...in a second. When he wears makeup, but h e's also sort of like a flamboyant character so it's sort of, she was in this movie. Yeah, he's really good too. So this is Gem, the siren from before. And she kind of comes along to sort of help him get to his next destination or whatever and talk to the people he needs to talk to, to help his dad escape. Because he does find his dad, inside the grid. I feel like the details of the plot are not that important. We, you know Jojo Siu I don't remember much of this plot from this movie. Sarah Timm The plot is we're in the grid and we got to get out. That's basically it. Jojo Siu Yep. Sarah Timm I love. So where...did I pull--Yes. So this is how we see her approaching. She has this really cool clear umbrella. And this feels like a very direct "Blade Runner" reference for me, which I have not seen, but I know that they have light-up umbrellas in it. I know that It's been a very long time. We watched Blade Runner, at school. And I haven't seen the new one. But the old one messed me up so bad that I was like I don't know if I want to see the new one. It's just one of those--it's like--I don't know you feel very unsettled but in like a different way than a horror movie, you know what I mean. But yes, that was one of those movies that I walked out of that room being like, "I feel like my soul has been sucked from my body" Wow! I've seen some like feminist critique of it so it hasn't made me super excited to watch it just because I like watching feminist movies but I feel like as a reference point, it's kind of an important thing to know, you know to be familiar with. Jojo Siu yeah, there's a lot of film references that go back to Blade Runner. Yeah, which is why it was such a big deal, but yeah, it... Sarah Timm right Jojo Siu it makes you very sad at the very end. Sarah Timm I believe it. Jojo Siu 'Cause...everything is just sad in that movie. Sarah Timm Yeah, we'll get around to it eventually. Yeah so... Jojo Siu Maybe we'll make a movie night at that one. Sarah Timm That coud be fun! And then we can cover it... Jojo Siu If I watched it with someone else, maybe I would have like a redeeming something or other for that movie. Sarah Timm It would be one to watch it together as an activity for the podcast and then think about it. Jojo Siu yeah, absolutely. Sarah Timm Imagine. Jojo Siu Future podcast episode. Sarah Timm Future plans. Yeah so that that's...even though I haven't seen it, I know about the umbrella and the rain and Blade Runner so that feels like a little nod, a little homage. Yeah. And then she has this clear sort of rainbow thing which I thought was interesting, it's fun to see the play of light coming through it. And then there's her with her little bikini outline on her unitard Jojo Siu Of course. Sarah Timm Yeah. This is Michael Sheen. Jojo Siu Yes, I forgot about that. Now I remember his character. Sarah Timm Yeah, so his character name is Zeus, and he's kind of...He's a bad guy. He ends up being a bad guy, but at first we don't know he's a bad guy and he's kind of just at this party, at this sort of nightclub thing, where there's a Daft Punk cameo--very fun because they did the soundtrack--and he said that his character is sort of inspired by the MC from cabaret, or Dr Frankenfurter Jojo Siu I can see that. Sarah Timm Yeah, a little bit David Bowie, sort of flamboyant glam rock, sort of, circus-y guy, and I like how his outfit is obviously in the same world as everybody else's, but it's not exactly the same. He's got a unitard, but it's not as skin tight as everybody else's. It kind of looks more like what we know of as a tail coat. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm And see, like right there, it's got...It does have tails and then he's sort of wearing a flair. And a bit of a heel too, which is fun. Jojo Siu It's a little 1970s. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu But in.... Sarah Timm A little Ziggy Stardust, action. Jojo Siu Tech white. Sarah Timm Yeah. So I thought that was cool and apparently he could not really sit in his costume, which is interesting to me because it doesn't look like it's made out of something he couldn't sit in. Jojo Siu Skin tight. Sarah Timm But what do I know. Jojo Siu Right. Sarah Timm And then he has this lightup cane, which is really fun. It's, you can see right here, it's clear, and then it lights up and then he shoots lasers with it, which is kind of cool. So then this is a shot of his face, so you can see his got these crazy contacts and makeup and then, you know everybody is really pale, because there's a whole plot point with Cora where she's like, "what does the sun look like," you know, "I want to see the sun." Right, so they're all pale, Jojo Siu They don't know what it looks like. Sarah Timm They dont' know what the sun is. And then, this is my last costume I want to talk about. This is Flynn. So, I didn't talk about him much because I had to kind of edit myself down, I had too many pictures, but the costume designer said that he is more organic, whereas he's against this very tech non-organic backdrop. Everybody else looks very sci-fi and futuristic, and he looks a little bit earthier, and they said, "Eastern influence" I think and I can tell, kind of, because in this shot, this garment scene looks Asian, so that's interesting. Jojo Siu The double layering of the crossed...cross-body robe as well. Sarah Timm Yeah, but I love this cloak. So this cloak is just kind of a hooded cloak, but it has this facing of the light strip. So a facing is on the inside for those who don't know, it's sort of like this strip of fabric that folds to the inside of your garment. So here's a shot of just you know, with the hood so when he has his hood up, it just lights his face and I just think it's so freakin cool. I want one. Jojo Siu I feel like...there was a project that I wanted to do way back when, where I wanted a hood with just the inside lit up. Oh it was for "Into the Woods". Sarah Timm Oh. Jojo Siu I was trying to create a hood for for my witch that just had lights on the inside, and I wasn't even thinking about this, but now that I think about it I was like, "oh, maybe that's what I got the inspiration from." Sarah Timm I mean, it's a new idea, but it's not. I really love Disneyland parades, and I love when a light for the actor's face is incorporated into their costume so if it's a nighttime parade like the "Electrical Parade", or "Paint the night", the fairies will have a little antenna, and then the antenna have tiny little spotlights so that you can see the performers face at night. I love something like that that is very...it's practical. It has a function, but it's also really cool looking. Jojo Siu Yeah, that's like intentional, they make it look like it's part of it. Sarah Timm Yeah, it's part of the costume but it also serves a purpose and it just looks really rad, so it's like, ding ding ding you got all the things you need. Jojo Siu Yep! Exactly. Sarah Timm And then this coat has sort of a split. It has different panels and all of them are sort of outlined in it, so when he swishes around, you can see the light fans out, and it just looks really rad. Jojo Siu That part is really cool. I mean, the hood too, is very cool, but I like that he's got all the, all the edges kind of lit up. Sarah Timm I saw it and I was just like, *gasp! Jojo Siu So cool! Sarah Timm Let's see. Did I say anything else about...I think I pretty much covered everything. Yeah, I did. It was fun to watch this movie and like I said the plot: I didn't really pay super attention to it and I was just like "okay we're in the grid, we got to get out of the grid, I'll just look now at the costumes. It's a fun, you know sci-fi adventure sort of movie and that tidbit about the light on all the costumes being practical really made me have a new respect for it. Jojo Siu Yeah, for sure. It shows you a lot, I mean it's, it's different. It doesn't mean that CGI isn't also a lot of work but it's, it's different when you know that it's actually working on the costume, built into the process, as opposed to an after effect. Sarah Timm Yes, and I respect CGI artists so much. I saw this whole Twitter thread recently about how so many directors nowadays are using it as a point of pride to use less CG and act like they're not using CG, where in reality like CG can be used for anything from getting rid of pit stains, to fixing the color or something so acting like movies don't have CG when they do is kind of insulting to the artists who spend hours doing their work. So, I do respect CGI artists and obviously this movie has a ton of that in it. Jojo Siu Right. Sarah Timm But it is really exciting to know that there were other art types of artists who got to innovate and collaborate on this sort of new technology that ended up being used for the movie. Jojo Siu Yeah! Super exciting, and we should celebrate all that! Sarah Timm Yes, yeah, I mean everybody's role in the movie is really important, you know, down to the down to the grips and the PA's and stuff. Jojo Siu Absolutely! Sarah Timm That's the beauty of entertainment, is it really is always a group effort. Jojo Siu Yep, very true. Sarah Timm Yeah, so that's "Tron Legacy". Jojo Siu Yay! So exciting! We picked some good Sci-fi ones. Sarah Timm Yeah, this...this was a fun one! I liked both of these movies that we covered, Jojo Siu I have to rewatch this movie again it's been a while since I've seen it. Sarah Timm I was shook to find out that it is not on Disney plus, and the first one... Jojo Siu Really! Sarah Timm is, and then some animated Tron thing is also on there, and I was like "Excuse me! What?" Jojo Siu Theyr'e still under Disney right? Sarah Timm Yeah, so I watched it with a method I will not discuss. I did watch it. That's just being real there. Jojo Siu Thanks Sarah. Sarah Timm But it's not on Disney plus. I mean, at least it wasn't when I looked. Jojo Siu Yeah. Sarah Timm You know, a few days ago, Jojo Siu Well, maybe someone will hear this podcast and put it on. Sarah Timm Disney plus if you're listening, put it back. Jojo Siu Give us back our Tron Legacy. Sarah Timm People need to see it and look at the costumes! Jojo Siu All right, thank you so much, Sarah. That was so fun. Sarah Timm Thank you Jojo. Jojo Siu I'm glad we covered some fun movies today. Sarah Timm Yeah. Jojo Siu You know, even with the horror movie. Sarah Timm As always, get in touch. Let us know if you agree or disagree with us. Give us feedback, or requests: movies or TV shows or theater pieces, or even something else. I don't know SNL sketches, music videos, anything you Jojo Siu Yeah Sarah Timm want us to talk about, let us know. I know eventually we'll cover some non-traditional things I'm excited. Hopefully we'll have time, yeah, to record another bonus episode soon. And maybe Jojo Siu Yeah, definitely. Sarah Timm we can do a smaller something, because I definitely would love the opportunity to talk about BTS. Jojo Siu Always! Always, Sarah, I expected nothing less. Sarah Timm Thank you so much. Jojo Siu Oh yes. Yeah, please, keep writing us and keep reviewing us and keep spreading the word to your friends, we are nothing without our listeners. So we love having people chime in and give us comments and notes and just tell us more information because we're always learning. Sarah Timm Oh yeah, that's that's the whole, the fun part of this and also I say this to my friends and people who listen all the time. I'm like, I think we have something really good, and there is an audience for this, we just need to find them. So if you have people in your life who you think would enjoy this podcast, please share it with them. Jojo Siu Yes. Sarah Timm Get us into their ear holes. We would really appreciate it. Jojo Siu Absolutely. Thanks again, and we look forward to talking with you guys in two weeks. Sarah Timm Yep, see you then. Bye. Jojo Siu Bye. Sarah Timm Oh, I guess I can stop sharing my screen.

[OUTRO]

Jojo:

Thank you for listening to The Costume Plot! You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thecostumeplot. If you have a question, comment, or movie suggestion you can email us at thecostumeplot@gmail.com.

Sarah:

Our theme music is by Jesse Timm, and our artwork is by Jojo Siu. Please rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[risthebrave]

okay so i was going to send in an ask for the director’s cut thing, but there were too many fics i wanted to ask about 😭 i’ll send them in but PLEASE keep in mind you don’t have to do them all i feel bad dmfjsjf

move so pretty (you’re all i see), sleeping on our problems, works like a charm, just a flicker in the dark, and sweet like honey

ahhh omg thank you for sending these in! i’m so sorry for how long it took to get out - i may have forgotten about it shjkskss also i don’t mind talking about all of them but i’m definitely going to keep each one short. you can find them under the cut:

move so pretty (you’re all i see) ~

this fic was started initially when i was doing word prompts using curiouscat! people would send me words and i’d write a quick little drabble/snippet... they’re typically around 300-ish words but i got the word “owns,” and maybe got a bit carried away? i think that prompt ended up being 1k words - too long to post using cc so i had to take screenshots and post as separate tweet. 

the idea that came to me was something i love to read in fics: one of them walking in on the other masturbating. i didn’t intend for it to become anything more than that snippet but i what can i say? i got intrigued. my brain helpfully provided a backstory: best friends, harry maybe having feelings for louis but not wanting to ruin their friendship... 

fast-forward three days and i posted an 11k fic shjssks

this was my first attempt at writing a pwp so that was an interesting experience!!! i’m too obsessed with giving backstories and arcs to ever write just pure smut but this is the closest i’ve gotten??? 5.5k/11k being smut, that is. and for once coming up with the title wasn’t too hard because there’s one song i always think of when it comes to best friends to lovers and that’s lucky!! 

i don’t really know what else to say for this one! i remember sarah and i both wrote and posted pwps in a short span of each other so that was fun... she’s actually the one who motivated me to finish and post this fic instead of just letting the idea go. and her dog ended up in the story: chica <3 my absolute favorite <3333

sleeping on our problems ~

welp. this fic was a struggle for a long time. idk if i’ve talked about it on this blog but this fic was initially an exes to lovers fic!!! where they spent harry’s rut together right before breaking up and then louis finds out he’s pregnant and angst ensues. 

changing it to a one-night stand (even though it wasn’t only one night shjksks) ended up being a really good decision in the way that this new version of the story required a lot less angst and reflection of their past relationship, choices, actions!! that first fic was going to be a lot heavier i think shjsks but i really love how it turned out!!

barring the main tropes, the progression of the story and the outline itself changed so. much. in the process of writing... i found an earlier saved version of my outline and the story is almost completely unrecognizable haha. and actually the most recent saved version of the outline is also not 100% accurate to the final story because for the last 10k of the story, i was flying completely free shjsksk. 

also, even after i finished the fic, i went back and added two scenes the next day so it’s safe to say i changed so much of this story -- it was never supposed to be that long either hsjsksk the goal was 48-50k and i thought i was being optimistic!

somewhat in the same vein but also really different: this fic was one of the first fics i ever wrote out of order! before this, i had switched around maybe a couple times when writing a fic but mostly stuck to chronological order. but in this one i kept getting stuck with certain scenes and decided that i’d never reach my goal of finishing unless i switched to parts of the story i had the inspiration to write in the moment instead of getting stuck on one single part i had no motivation for. it really helped the process and i’ve been switching around ever since. 

another thing that really helped me actually finish this fic was the motivation and encouragement of people on twitter and i’m still so appreciative of it now :’) there’s no way i could have finished this fic without the kind words and well wishes of my mutuals!!

(also - i included an easter egg in this fic from another one of my fics... i suppose that’s sort of the type of insight that fits for these things? the ballet louis and harry saw in new york was swan lake <3)

works like a charm ~

ooo i wrote this fic for my friend’s birthday!! she loves hp aus and slytherin hl so it was just a given that i write that for her. i was on a deadline - pretty sure i made the doc on september 4th, aka nine days before i posted - and i hadn’t had my full outline done when i started which is is... let’s just say very uncommon. 

this is another example of me going off outline and changing the story as i went because initially the estimation was about 12k and the basic plot was that after they’d fuck for the first time, they’d immediately talk about the past and resolve those misunderstandings. but when i got to that point, i realized it felt too rushed for how the story was progressing so i extended it a bit and added some more *tension* and *miscommunication* until they finally got their shit together!

also i feel like some would find louis’ blatant lies when interrogated about his feelings for harry to be unrealistic but as someone who has definitely done the exact same thing (lmao - without the happy ending), i find it a definite possibility. and i mean, we all say stuff we don’t mean under pressure - whether it’s to louis’ (and my) extent or not. 

another thing i remember about this fic was having to work out with sarah - who was also posting a fic for this friend’s birthday - posting times and dates. we eventually agreed that she’d post first and i’d post the day after (neither were the actual day of the birthday because we were both running late!) this is a conversation we proceeded to have many other times since we both have made habits of birthday fics and we pretty much have the same friends. 

all of this was also happening in sync with us writing a fic together for our other friend’s birthday which was on the 8th... yes it was exactly as chaotic and stressful as you’re thinking but also fun! and i love all three fics involved!! haha. 

just a flicker in the dark ~

okay this fic is definitely my favorite thing i’ve ever written and i’ve said that before many, many times but it’s true! but it too changed so much from the initial idea to the final end product. 

in fact, the original idea was a 20k somewhat-crack fic where harry was a ghost and louis was the paranormal investigator trying to get him to stop haunting this house. it was just supposed to be a quick and fun halloween fic to work on while finishing up my first blff and finally making head way on my abandoned second blff... obviously, that changed drastically. 

it initially started with me getting the idea of louis and harry being partners and enemies. and then i was thinking... why not throw exes on top of it while we’re there??? that was completely self-indulgent since exes to lovers is my favorite trope of all time. but the idea was still that they were paranormal investigators trying to work a case on a haunted house and though the estimated wc had raised to 35k, i was still hoping that it’d be quick and easy because i had two other projects that needed a lot of my attention. 

then came the first day of october. i woke up after having the craziest dream about louis and harry and the ghost that was not really a ghost. i ended up writing about 7k that thursday and the story really just took shape from there. the first sequence i wrote was actually the scene where louis goes into the backyard and ends up in the pocket dimension where the spirit imprints on him - i think it was a 3.5k scene and it just flew out of me sjksjsk. after that i took a small break to start my outline but it was more of a messy list of ideas and details and things i wanted to include than my usual organized format. the next scene i wrote that day was the scene where louis is in the bedroom and the demon is there but harry is not but then he is (i’m so good at describing things, right?) that’s actually one of my favorite scenes i’ve ever written and the funny thing is that i barely even knew all the details of the demon plot by this point but my hands just kept typing and my brain had the tendrils of the story forming and that amazing feeling that this is something good. 

i could ramble on forever about the process of writing this fic but i’ll just say that it’s the most fun i’ve ever had writing anything ever. word-building and supernatural elements are my favorite and getting to delve into those things here was so much fun! the entire process took twenty-five days (spanning from october 1st to october 28th - with a small three day break to focus on finishing miss wedding au!!) and though i did have some small struggles and moments of writer’s block, for the most part the story just came to me. and it’s so amazing to me because i didn’t even have all the details and facets of the plot until louis did too but it ended up working out??? if anything, it showed his process of figuring things out really well because it was the process of me figuring things out!

also this was the first time i heavily featured a fic pet in a fic and i fell as much in love with venus as everyone else did :’) she has my heart, truly <3 i love this world and these characters so so much and i hope to return to it sometime in the future!

sweet like honey ~

whooo, okay, this fic... yikes. this fic was a capital s Struggle. 

so basically this fic was written for the blff and though it came out first, it was the second prompt i signed up for, prompt 63: Friends to lovers AU where Harry and Louis are best friends and flatmates in Uni and they both need money, Harry for his gym membership and Louis for cute stuff like sanrio plushies, so they decide to film homemade porn videos together. Louis is shy and sweet and maybe inexperienced and Harry kinda doms him.

i remember the exact moment i saw the blff post on tumblr about it being allowed to sign up for another prompt from that point on - i was sitting at the counter at my friend’s ranch’s kitchen eating crepes and browsing on my phone. i saw the post and immediately signed up for this prompt because it had been my second choice and though i love love loved my first prompt so much, i was disappointed at not being able to write this one... but i did!

the idea and basic outline was actually completed way back in july/august but for some reason i just couldn’t make any actual progress on it for so long??? i’m pretty sure the document was stuck at 5k for over three months shsjksks to be fair, i did keep pushing it to the side in favor of other newer fics but i was just experiencing the biggest barrier when it came to this story and characters. 

in fact, i actually reached out to the mods in late october about a potential extension - they informed me that all writers could use a two week extension if needed and i figured that would be fine. however, i didn’t end up using it! within the first few days of november, i managed to pull the wc up to 8k by the skin of my teeth (was still majorly struggling) - i was still sure i’d need an extension but then something really awful but in this case, helpful, happened... 

election week. 

basically, i’m a big stress-writer. writing is what i do when i’m upset or anxious or stressed because it truly is my happy place. i wouldn’t say writing during that week made me feel much better about everything going on but it provided a distraction. so much though that i went from 8k to 24k in the span of a few days... and i have absolutely no recollection of writing any of it. 

not only did i not need any extension, i also somehow ended up finishing early by a few days. and i really liked what i had!! or what i remembered of it anyway shjskks.

one thing i remember really focusing on in terms of these characters and dynamic was having it actually just be them starting as friends and developing feelings later. i feel like a common trope in friends to lovers fics is having one or both of them with pre-existing feelings that they feel is unrequited. obviously there’s nothing wrong with that (i’ve written it myself lol) and it’s a common trope for a reason - because it’s good - but i wanted to try something a little different. them actually filming these videos is what acted as the catalyst to them beginning to view their relationship with new eyes and open the door to the eventual feelings that developed. 

i also had so much fun writing harry’s pov in this one haha. i feel like this version of him was really bold and shameless and super easy for me to develop. 

this is also the closest i’ve ever gotten to meeting my estimation word count... ever. my estimate was 32k and it ended up at 33k!!! and yes i’m more proud of that than i should be lol

-

anyways, i pretty much just rambled but if anyone sees this and gets some good insight out of it, then yay! feel free to send more director’s cut inquiries!! i love doing them (even if it takes me weeks - sorry again!)

[glassrain83]

Dear Yuletide Writer

I am GlassRain on AO3, and thank you for writing for my tiny fandom(s)!

I love all these characters and any fic about them will make me happy. If you already have an idea feel free to run with it. If you want extra prompts or ideas, that’s what this is for.

Yes please: gay stuff, outer space, magic. Non-con, dub-con, and mind control. Relationships where there’s a power imbalance but they also truly love each other and do the work to make it good. Relationships with size differences (not as in short human/tall human, as in human/building-sized dragon). Identity porn/any kind of reveal where the audience knows something and gets to enjoy watching the characters figure it out.

No thanks: Gore/body horror/graphic depictions of violence, embarrassment, extreme underage (teen characters having sex is fine), bodily fluids (except the usual ones for sex scenes), non-canon character death, mundane AUs.

Fandoms:

Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette

Characters: Felix, Mildmay

The Doctrine of Labyrinths is a series of fantasy novels by Sarah Monette. It is set in the secondary world of Meduse and tells the story of the adventures of the wizard Felix Harrowgate and his half-brother, former assassin Mildmay the Fox.

Lush fantasy melodrama full of codependence and great hurt/comfort. I have gotten Felix/Mildmay fic before and will keep prompting more of it until the end of time (or until a TV adaptation turns this into a megafandom, whichever comes first). Gen about them is also welcome.

Prompts:

Sci-fi/cyberpunk AU. Make the hocuses into hackers, the magical curses into corrupted cybernetics, the petty thieves into data pirates. Could be the alternate version of a canon event, or a whole new SF-themed plot twist.

Missing scene from Felix and Mildmay’s journey across the continent in book 1, something where Felix has a bad turn and Mildmay successfully calms him down. Just lean all the way into the h/c in their weird-but-deep sibling bond.

Guilty frantic brothercest. (During a time in canon when they’re both mentally capable of consenting.) Especially if it’s already an ongoing situation when the story starts, so it’s not a story about how they fell into it but about how they can’t seem to get out.

If you are up for writing crossovers: it’s a crime that there are no Labyrinth crossovers yet. How would Felix and Mildmay face off against the Goblin King?

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

Characters: Murderbot

Science fiction series about an artificial construct designed as a Security Unit, which manages to override its governor module, thus enabling it to develop independence, which it primarily uses to watch media. As it spends more time with some caring humans, it starts developing human feelings, which it finds inconvenient.

Ongoing sci-fi adventure in an interstellar corporate dystopia. Grumpy sarcastic Murderbot (it picked the name itself) just wants to be left alone to watch TV, but is smart and competent and keeps deciding it likes humans who need inconvenient rescues. No romance for Murderbot please, but go as hard as you want on the intense friendships it doesn’t want to admit it has.

Prompts:

Murderbot finds itself in charge of an impromptu So You Just Achieved Self-Determination, Now What? support group. Possible members: SecUnit Three, the unnamed ComfortUnit, original characters who hacked themselves independently and figured they were the only ones until they saw it on the news...

ART figures out that Murderbot enjoys very specific kinds of touch (low-key, platonic, comfort-seeking, non-threatening), and starts gleefully engineering situations where it can get some.

Murderbot’s love of Sanctuary Moon becomes public knowledge. Let’s see the reactions from SM fan forums, or in-universe cons, or the media company and its marketing department.

Leif & Thorn (Webcomic)

Characters: Any

Leif is a gardener in thrall to a mysterious debt, serving his native Sønheim at a foreign embassy. Thorn is a Knight of Ceannis who got severely burned while dragonslaying, and was rewarded with a cushy job guarding the embassy gates. Thorn doesn’t speak Leif’s language too well at first — but as they get to know each other, he finds a lot of reasons to learn.

Ongoing fantasy dramedy, with a cross-cultural romance and a great ensemble cast. (Read it here.) Leif/Thorn is canon. I’d love fic about them, and/or any romance (canon or not) that doesn’t break them up, and/or gen about anyone else.

Prompts:

Canon divergence AU where Thorn joined the Secret Order of Monster Hunters instead of the knights...and meets Leif while in the middle of a vampire-assassinating mission.

Holiday fic where Leif and Thorn share their traditions with each other. Warmth and fluffiness a plus.

Violet’s participation in fandom on the magic-crystal-internet. And maybe off of it, if a convention comes to town. What is magical-crystal-Yuletide like? Which series have split fandoms over badly-translated Ceannic-language dubs? Who else in the cast loves Violet’s fic without realizing she’s the one behind the pseudonym?

Tender, loving, slow-and-thorough Thorn/Kale. With Leif’s encouragement...or participation...or, depending on how you want to play it, direction.

Jeeves & Wooster

Characters: Jeeves, Wooster

Bertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it’s up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.  

Completed TV adaptation of the books by P.G. Wodehouse, starring Hugh Laurie as Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves. Funny, charming, impressively complicated for how low-stakes the outcomes are. Gen or Jeeves/Wooster romance (with or without any of these prompts) all welcome.

Prompts:

Magical AU where they’re supernatural creatures – fae, elves, angels, demons, nature spirits, things in that category – and still manage to have the same dynamic, over much more ethereal problems.

Role-swap where Jeeves is a smart-but-disaffected member of the idle rich, and Bertie is a fanciful valet. Problems are solved by a mix of Bertie’s own talents and his ability to inspire Jeeves' brilliance.

Bertie discovers the fandom for his published writing (and probably needs Jeeves’ advice on how to keep professional boundaries). This can be a modern AU if you want to get the internet into it.

[rubykgrant]

A list for @vann-haal of some romance/love-stories! These are just a few that I know well/personally own, so it isn’t the most complete list ever (and I’m sure you’ve seen most of them). I’ll put them under a cut with a small explanation for each. Hope you find at least a couple new ones you like~

Animated-

the Sea Prince and the Fire Child (1981)- this one is fairly obscure, but I somehow managed to get it on video when I was young, and it is a favorite of mine. It is a fantasy story, somewhat similar to Romeo and Juliet with a dash of the Little Mermaid, and a whole new vibe of its own. A child of the sea falls in love with a child of fire, the two only able to meet at night, and always in danger of being caught as their two peoples don’t get along. Very bitter-sweet, and sad at times, but also cute

Shrek (2001)- we all remember this one for totally twisting the fairytale trope “love made her beautiful”, but we still got a happily ever after~

the Book of Life (2014)- I adore the animation and character design, and I find the love story so amusing because if other people didn’t keep messing things up, the two romantic interests would very smoothly be able be able to fall in love without conflict... but, y’know, stuff happens

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)- I think this one got ignored for having such a silly title and being using a well-known plot, but it is genuinely adorable and funny, knows exactly how silly it is and owns it. We also get to see the two legit fall in love, and try to stay in love

Sailor Moon Promise of the Rose (1993)- pretty much any Sailor Moon movie has a love theme, but this one is my favorite. We see how much Sailor Moon means to all her friends, plus I am just forever entertained that you could describe the plot as “Guy doesn’t know his childhood friend had a scrush on him, childhood friend comes back to steal guy from current girlfriend”

Doug’s 1stMovie (1999)-  because the show always featured Doug’s crush on Patti, that becomes a core issue of the plot. He keeps trying to impress her when he should be more worried about other problems, and his selfish behavior accidentally drives her away. Once he calms down and acts honestly, it becomes obvious she cares for him, too

the Prince of Egypt (1998)- the romance is just one aspect of this amazing movies, but it feels real

the Princess and the Frog (2009)- I’m a sucker for both “They don’t get along at first” and “They both help each other find what they need” tropes~

the Swan Princess (1994)- how utterly clueless the main guy is almost frustrating, but he finally comes through at the end, and expresses his feelings in really touching words

Anastasia (1997)- this has a slow-burn going on, plus an “I love you but can’t tell you” element, and the interactions between the romantic leads are always entertaining

Quest for Camelot (1998)- the girl is both very determined and also a disaster, the guy is trying very hard to be the strong siltent type, but she won’t stop talking to him so it isn’t working, and they both just keep saving each other

Beauty and the Beast (1991)- I think we all know this one pretty well, but it is one of my favorites. I just love that from the get-go Belle doesn’t take any nonsense from the Beast, and once he learns to chill, he’s an adorable dork for her

Aladdin (1992)- another well known movie, but also one I love. The Wish definitely didn’t need to be so complicated, but it was, and a comedy of errors ensues. The actual love story is so simple and sweet, even in the middle of all the shenanigans

Megamind (2010)- you know exactly why this is here~

 Live Action-

the Princess Bride (1987)- a love story where the two romantic interests only get to spend very little time together, and they are probably even more frustrated about that than we are

Hairspray (2007)- a few different love stories going on, all unique and cute in their own ways, with really great music as well

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)- this might seem like it has the story of a “nerdy nice guy who wishes a pretty girl wasn’t into a bad boy”, but he actually IS a nice guy, and the love between them really works. Plus songs about a plant who eats blood, what more could you want

Runaway Bride (1999)- this movie will always amuse me, because it has almost the same cast as Pretty Woman, but I personally like this one better. It can be hard for somebody to trust the words “I love you” when they haven’t been acting like themselves for the other person

Love Simon (2018)- I’m somebody who doesn’t like a lot of teen-rom-coms, but I REALLY like this one~

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)- the characters manage to find love, even when everybody around them keeps insisting it is wrong, they realize it is right

the Mummy (1999)- this whole movie has really great character interactions, and the love interests are no exception

the Addams Family (1991)- there are few other couples that could match the sheer passion of Gomez and Morticia

Practical Magic (1998)- two sisters who are part of a family of witches experience different forms of love and loss... sometimes with dangerous results, but true love is the most powerful magic of all

Penelope (2006)- love can do a lot of things, including being what breaks a curse... but there are different kinds of love

the Fifth Element (1997)- an incredibly funny sci-fi adventure, it can be all over the place at times, but somehow manages to pull everything together at the end, much like combining elements

Coming to America (1988)- a young prince doesn’t want to simply be betrothed, he wants find a girl who loves who he really is; he decides the best way to do so is to disguise himself as a poor fast-food worker

George of the Jungle (1997)- people throw around the term “himbo” a lot lately, but George here was the otiginal combo of beeffcake/heart of gold/doesn’t think stuff through, and it is great

 Shows-

Joe Pera Talks With You- this entire show is very calming and soothing, the gentle build-up to the romance included. An episode that made me smile for about 3 solid minutes at the end; after staying upp all night talking and watching funny internet videos, Joe Pera goes outside to check on his garden, and he starts to cheer because the beans he planted have grown all the way up the arch, his girlfriend Sarah joins him, and in a fit of glee he gets down on one knee to seemingly propose, but she knocks him over yelling “Too soon!”, and they both proceed to run around laughing

Gargoyles- before we had legit and obvious monster romance available, we had the slow-burn that is Goliath and Elisa

People of Earth- there are several different little romantic storylines in this show, but my favorite is actually a parental-themed one; a space alien abducts a child, and grows to care for him, promising to always protect the little kid. Because different life-forms have different life-spans, a guy in his 30s is relatively still a child to the space alien

Steven Universe- just... Ruby and Sapphire. Yes

Adventure Time- there are a few different characters who fall in and out of love, but it is really all about Bubblegum and Marceline

YuYu Hakusho- known more for being an action anime, the little bits of love we see are actually pretty cute. Especially Kuwabara, who is a hopeless romantic

[louu-7]

everything i don’t know

on wattpad

CHAPTER 3:

“You’re far from becoming a whale darling.”

We laugh and walk towards the Starbucks, because our drinks are basically waiting for us to come and buy them to become whales. That is the life we decided to live.

We arrive in the little coffee shop and order our drinks. They prepare it in a little amount of time before giving to us. We pay and get out of the shop, Alyssa’s telling me that Dad tried to call her.

“Why do they never try to call me? I’m an adult.”

“No you’re not babe, but, I don’t know, it’s just because... they just don’t wanna bother you.”

“They do it anyway.”

She looks at me while letting out a sigh and I shrug innocently. It’s the truth, but anyway. Aly takes me to one of the boutique she thinks could fit with my style and what I like, and we walk inside before she lets me for a minute the time to call Dad back.

I explore the sections of the shop, and I have to admit that Alyssa’s good for this one, I really like almost everything that catch my eyes.

I continue to dive into this chill vibes clothing boutique. A pair of jeans attract my regard, with three or four tank tops that I saw on Internet and that I really appreciate. I choose to try on two tops and the jeans that I already love so much. It’s ripped and the cut is a little oversized; totally something I’ll be wearing.

“Find somethin’?”

~

I bought all the stuff that I choose from the first boutique, and we’re basically just hanging out in the mall, gossiping and laughing at funny people in the shopping mall. Some people are just the craziest like, who’s coming into a mall to play football when they don’t even know how to shoot right in the ball?

“Where do we go now?” I ask, impatient to continue our little trip. “I don’t know, tell me, where do we go. Just look ‘round and choose a shop.”

“OK, hum,” I spin around and a cool store front just catch up my regard, “this one seems so great, let’s go!”

“Babe, this shop is kinda reserved.”

“For what?”

“Pogues.”

“You’re kidding?” I raise my eyebrows while looking at her, shook. “No, it’s a pogue shop. There’s not much pogues boutiques ‘round here but, this one is.”

“Well, that’s perfect, they wear pretty cool clothes. Let’s go.” I start to walk toward the shop but Aly stops me by taking my hand in hers. I look back at her and shrug before understanding the matter. “It’s OK if you don’t wanna go, you’re anti-pogues after all.” I laugh and she tries to give me a faint smile before fail it. “I said to Dad that I wasn’t leaving you alone. I come, it’s OK.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, c’mon.”

She seems against the idea, but she gets in front of me and walk toward the shop before I join her and hug her while walking. I’m so truly happy that we hang out, and moreover that she lets me do kind of whatever I want.

"You’re the best sis ever Aly, I love you babe. You love me?”

"Of course, if not we weren’t gonna buy stuff in a pogue’s shop.”

"You’re right. I love you, you know that?

"Of course, who doesn’t love me.” I sigh in a smile and push her away while she laughs and come back towards me to hug me at her turn. We finally come into the shop and the vibe is just so perfect, there’s some surfboards to decorate the boutique, and the music is as chill as possible. I start walking around again between the section, and it’s even more my style here.

Alyssa doesn’t talk a lot, but she seems to observe a lot around her.

“So, how does it feels to break the rule?” I ask, a smile on my face, while I go through the clothes. “I don’t know. Weird.”

“Doesn’t it feels fucking good?” I almost shout out when a smile’s drawing out on her lips. “Kind of. But don’t say it to the parents, I swear if you say a word ‘bout-”

“C’mon babe, why would I do that, they already have me in their sight.” We keep on walking around, and suddenly, this voice that my brain can’t even forget is speaking up. My face is crumpling, and I quickly take Alyssa’s hand so we move somewhere else in the shop.

“What the hell are you-”

“Shh…”

I can’t stop to looking around us. They’re gonna come in, they’re pogues, it’s not an option, they’re gonna come inside. Fuck. Alyssa’s making me look at her and asks me using her eyes what’s going on. My eyes just dive into hers, and a moment after, her face’s crumpling too. She got this.

“I wanna buy this stuff but I don’t want them to see me, like, I don’t want them to see me.”

“Why, who cares?”

“Them. Look, I don’t know why, but these guys weren’t that grateful for me to come and help the one who was lying on the floor.”

“C’mon, they’re not gonna kill you.”

“No, Alyssa please, the blond was so offensive, and before leaving he looked at me and… I don’t know, it was just… so cold and just pure nastiness against me.”

She sighs and I do the same before starting to leave the little area that I found to look around. Fuck, they’re gonna see us, they’re coming towards us.

The tone of the blond’s voice was so emotionless and mean, like, what did I do to him to receive this kind of attitude... I’m not saying that I’m perfect, but I never did anything to them, they’re not even supposed to know me because of my Dad’s rules…

“OK, let’s go.” I say, the clothes in my hands. “If we’re quick enough we can make it. I think.”

“No, but let’s go, I’m tired of staying here.”

“Yeah same.”

So we leave our safe zone and almost run toward the checkout. To be honest, I think we did it-

Shit. We didn’t. I can feel their looks burning my back and my heart starts to beat quicker. Why is this happening to me, I didn’t ask for nothing, I just wanted to hang out and have good time with my sis…

“It’s OK babe, just ignore them.”

“I can’t because I feel like he’s gonna kill me for fucking nothing.”

“They don’t.” I look back at them and see the blond’s walking toward us. I also remark that Sarah’s with them talking with a brown-haired boy.

“Oh, but it’s Thara Abrams, what a surprise.” He’s coming slowly in front of us and I do my best to ignore this kind of attention. I don’t understand why am I so nervous, like this is not me. C’mon girl, get a grip on yourself, you can do it, yell my conscience at my face.

Once he’s in front of us, I smile bitterly while he acts like he’s clearly superior to me. “What’s wrong with you?” I shrug, a lot more confident than a minute ago. “With me? Who’s the kook hanging in pogue’s territory? Between us,” he winces a little, acting dishonestly kindly, “you should go now.”

“Wow, so you just come to threat me?”

“No, I’m preventing you from doing a mistake, just leave.”

“I didn’t ask for you to give me advice, just leave me alone.”

He smiles again and stop looking at me with his annoying air.

“So now kooks can come into our territory, but pogues are beating up by pieces of shit like you because they do their job.” I frown at him and bite my lips before shrugging. “You kiddin’ me right? I don’t think you have something to say, I came to help him and you clearly told me to fuck off. Now this isn’t my problem, just do your things-”

“Oh, because now you play the victim? You don’t seem to remember what you said ‘bout us behind our back.”

“What the hell are you talking ‘bout?” He starts to go and turns towards me to repeat that I should let it go and leave.

He comes backs with the others and they all just stare at me like I was a piece of crap. I can see something different in the eyes of Sarah, like if I disappointed her, and I sadly frown.

We we’re used to be really good friends before she starts hanging with the rest of them. My parents don’t want me to talk to her, and when it happened they didn’t even let me explain her why we needed to bring our friendship to an end.

I loved her, I always will, and when I was allowed to see her my parent’s rules weren’t that formal. Now it’s as if I was living locked in a castle…

“T, your turn.” I turn towards her and she looks at the checkout so I do the same and smile to the cashier while giving him the clothes. We pay and just leave, the words of the blond in repeat on my mind. What did I do to him? And what could’ve I say, I almost can’t pronounce the “p” word without having my parents yelling at me to keep quiet about them.

“Let’s go back home, I got what I wanted.”

“Sure? Don’t let him ruin your day babe, wanna eat?” I think about it for a minute and accept before we start walking around to find a good fast food or somewhere we can eat good food. “Oh, can we eat sushi?” I ask when we meet a sushi shop. “Sure, let’s go. Didn’t know you liked it.”

“Yeah, because we never eat some at home, the parents doesn’t seem to like it.”

“Right, let’s gain weigh.”

“Babe! Sushi’s good for health. C’mon!”

~

We’re back home. The sushi was amazing, and I’m actually trying on everyone of the clothes that we bought to create some cool outfits, because I only have this to do.

Alyssa’s gone with my mother, because she would like to work with our Mom for the brand, so they have an appointment to talk about it with the boss. They both love fashion, but Alyssa’s really into it, she likes to look good and wear luxurious brand, basically the opposite of me. Mom prefers business, and she hopes that sometimes she could be the co-directrice of the business.

About Isaac, he’s certainly with my dear father, because he can’t live without him and do something by himself. I think they’re on company premises so, I’m by myself, and for once I kind of like it. I mean, I can do whatever I want here, even put the music so loud that the walls would be shaking. But I’m not, because if I do my Dad will know it so quickly that I couldn’t even have the chance to enjoy it.

I’m just walking around, playing with my cute clothes, even trying on pricey dresses that my parents bought me for special occasion. We have a lot of events, that we both organize at home or assist at somebody else’s house. We’re famous apparently, so we have to be at every single one of these chic parties.

My eyes are somehow attract by one of the dresses behind all the others. A beautiful sparkling baby pink long dress. The bottom is in tulle and the top is in this amazing fabric, it’s like a little see-through lace, really simple and there’s a v-neck, and some thin straps, and an awesome open back. I’m in love with a dress, rather surprising for someone who’s buying stuff in a pogue shop…

Am I changing? Fuck I’m becoming my sister and my mother. I like a damn chic gown. What is happening to me…

A noise downstairs draw my attention and I take my eyes off the big mirror in the bathroom to leave and rejoin the first floor. I’m walking around and, by passing the corridor, the open door of my Dad’s office perturb me. Why the hell is this door open, it’s always locked when I’m alone at home, I have the ban to go there, I don’t even remember of what it’s like on the inside.

I look around to check that nobody can catch me because I think I’ll be totally busted, and walk slowly towards the door while my heartbeats become more and more quick. Why do I feel like this door really isn’t supposed to be open… I swear when I’m saying that it’s the number one of the rule, I heard a hundred times not to go into this room all along my childhood, and I gave up.

I reach out for the doorknob and push the door to finally see what’s inside. It’s been years that I was wondering how it was in this room and it’s… darker than I thought it would be but, it’s kind of the cliché of the office where business men work hard.

The portrait of me on the wall makes me frown. Since when does he got this as a painting for his room… and it’s so big, why did he put my face here? To be honest it makes my heart melt, it shows that he loves me even if he doesn’t really show me.

I step forward and observe closely the room, because I think it’ll be the first and last time that I’ll be able to see it with my own eyes. I walk towards the big wood desk and touch it from my fingertips. I don’t know how to explain how I feel, it’s as if I was discovering something new, something… unexpected.

Then I hesitate. Should I look into the drawers? No, of course no, you’re not supposed to come here Thara. I stand there a minute staring at the first drawer. Nobody’s gonna notice, I guess I can have a look. I start to open slowly and quietly the drawer while looking at the door. If I get caught I’m fucking dead and buried. What could I find except boring papers and some useless shit, or even a-

“A gun.”

I close it up and my heart raise his beats while I’m almost having a panic attack. My Dad’s got a gun in his drawer. He’s got a fucking gun in his drawer.

~

hii, please let me know if there’s mistakes i’m french and it’s not easy but i wanna improve, thx so much for reading me it means a lot!!! hope you enojoyed ^^

[aelinbitch-archive]

unpopular opinion: i don’t like rowan/rowaelin. i’m not here to convince u to unstan lol ppl are allowed to like/dislike things w/o feeling bad about it omg but i hate that some rowan stans are so insensitive when it comes to those who don’t like him! they’re so thirsty for him that they condemn anyone who doesn’t stan him & then excuse his problematic/lowkey triggering actions bc he’s hot and it’s gross. AGAIN not saying ppl can’t like rowan it’s ok lol but it’s more about some stan’s behavior

That’s totally fair my angel. I dislike the vibe that some people are locked out of the fandom for not being a cheerleader for every aspect of the series, and I hope that my followers/mutuals know that if they dislike stuff I like, or like stuff I dislike, expressing their opinions regarding that won’t ever cause me to cut them off (unless it’s like, some truly gross shit, which disliking rowaelin isn’t). 

Also I have to say, even tho I do like rowaelin, I understand where you’re coming from about people excusing his actions because he’s hot. I’ve toooooootally seen that. And I’ll just be 100% honest - no shade to anyone, but some of the rowaelin content on this website disturbs me a little bit, in terms what’s considered hot/romantic/acceptable when writing or depicting them in art. I’ve seen some weird stuff defended as hot or even just “not that bad.” Which isn’t necessarily a problem with canon, but your ask was more about stans anyway, so yeah. 

A while ago I actually wrote rowaelin meta in response to some other peeps (which was more about Aelin in relation to Rowaelin and how she’s included or not included in discussions of the ship, but it has some thoughts relevant to this ask) so I’m gonna just copy and paste what I wrote below and feel free to read if u want. (It’s like very overdramatic and fiery lmao but anyway). 

I agree with a lot of this, but (at risk of derailing ms aelinapologist’s amazing post) I do have a few things to say, which are

1. OP took two whole paragraphs at the beginning of her post to say that the point wasn’t to discourse about rowaelin being abuse or not abuse, it was to talk about how the conversations centering around said abuse consistently display a disturbing lack of empathy for the character who should be the main concern of the debate. So I just find it a bit funny/odd that the replies (including a portion of the one I’m about to make, I admit that) have been like “Yeah great post! And now to discourse about Rowaelin-” but I digress.

2. I have consistently loved reading about Rowan and Aelin and they’re one of my favorite fictional couples. So nothing I’m about to say is intended to be like “GOTCHA they suck and you suck for liking them!!!” Because I like them as well. A lot. And in addition, nothing about this reblog is intended to be shady or confrontational in any way shape or form. I just think this is a great and very needed discussion I’d like to contribute to, so here goes.

3. Even if we look at HoF alone and ignore how things play out later: yes, they are both mean to one another, yes, they are both in a dark place and end up having a mutually positive effect on one another (so I definitely agree that, at least for HoF alone, it’s not a “douchey guy changes for the heroine story”) but. There IS still a power imbalance. I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say “they were both bad The End” without also bringing up the fact that Rowan is 300 years old and Aelin is 18, and that Rowan is training Aelin and is in a position that gives him a massive amount of control over her, and that he is stronger and more powerful than her physically, magically, and socially (he is a prince and legendary warrior, she is a AWOL teenage princess currently working as a scullery maid).

Maybe I’m reading into it too much, but I really just don’t think that Aelin, a 17 y/o girl going through an unimaginably shitty time, being like “fuck you!!” to this 300 y/o jerk who doesn’t know shit about her is on the same level as aforementioned 300 y/o jerk hitting her, biting her, and telling her she would have been of more use to the world if she’d died when she was eight.

And in addition to that, we see that his behavior effects her a lot more than it effects him. When he verbally tears her down, we see her experience genuine and devastating despair and shame, whereas everything she does and says to him, no matter how snarky or outright cruel, is not having that same effect on him. People always seem to think they’re giving Aelin credit for being a Strong Woman™ by saying “she’s tough! she can handle it!” when in reality… we have evidence for the fact that she kinda can’t handle it. That the way he treats her in the beginning is slowly wearing her down and sending her deeper into a depressive state. And I don’t understand how it somehow reflects poorly on Aelin (or is even misogynist) to acknowledge this. Women, especially literal teenage girls, should not be measured by their tolerance for mistreatment.

All I really wish is that somewhere along the line we’d gotten a genuine apology from Rowan for this besides a throwaway line in KoA about regretting their “brawling.” And again, none of this is to say “see!! it IS abuse!!” it’s just to suggest that, even as an enemies to friends to lovers story, the “enemies” part was not exactly on a level playing field.

4. But with that being said, I could probably forgive the imbalance in their early relationship, mostly because their later relationship, as both friends and lovers, is so amazing and supportive in pretty much every way. And the great thing about enemies to FRIENDS to lovers, like you said, is that 1) none of the assholery occurred during any kind of romantic or sexual relationship or a transition into one, so it was sort of “fair and square” in that way, and 2) they had the opportunity form a solid, platonic foundation of trust and caring before they crossed into the lover territory.

Aaaaaaaaaand then Sarah did a retcon job on HoF which negated… pretty much all of that. I can totally be down with “good old fashioned mutual hatred thaws into caring which grows into love” but once we start hearing shit like “‘Sometimes, you’d be sleeping beside me at Mistward, and it’d take all my concentration not to lean over and bite them. Bite you all over’” and “‘That was the first time I really lost control around you, you know. I wanted to chuck you off a cliff, yet I bit you before I knew what I was doing. I think my body knew, my magic knew. And you tasted… So good. I hated you for it’”……. hhhhhhhhhhh.

I can’t think of many arguments for this NOT contributing at least a little to the “he’s mean because he loves you (and stick it out because someday he’ll figure it out)” trope. And while it might be a bit different because Aelin was quite mean as well, her behavior was just… meanness. Not some sort of weird outlet for repressed sexual attraction/love. I guess I just get flashbacks of “No sweetie, that boy in your class kicks your desk, pulls your hair, and calls you names because he likes you and doesn’t know how to express it.”

And I think this decision on Sarah’s part to go back and say he was into her all along is 1) a result of the mating bond thing she’s so fond of and 2) kind of a panicked backpedalling to the backlash she might have gotten over Rowan’s behavior in HoF? Which is…. so ironic because she made it SO much worse. In my humble opinion, she should have just doubled down on what she originally wrote as enemies-friends-lovers (and had Rowan bring up his early behavior and apologize in some way), and the problem would have been solved. And while I personally feel that I can recognize this for what it is - a shitty retcon - and enjoy the relationship despite it, I don’t think we should talk over people for whom this is a deal-breaker for the ship.

5. I don’t think about all of this and have the reaction that so many “anti tog” people seem to have of “FUCK Rowan he’s ABUSIVE and PREDATORY and I wish he was DEAD!!!” I think there are things to criticize about his behavior and about the way Sarah decided to spin their relationship, but they have had many great moments, especially in the later books, and I don’t think I or anyone else is “shipping abuse” by enjoying that. All of this is just to emphasize how, in OP’s very succinct words, “your inalienable right to enjoy two characters’ dynamic does not outweigh the right to criticise it.” Because there ARE valid things to criticize, and we as Rowaelin shippers (lol.) need to be careful not to conflate ugly hatred with valid criticism when we speak over it.

And because there IS so much ugly hatred for Aelin and her relationship with Rowan on this website, I completely understand why there’s a kind of knee-jerk reaction of jumping to defense of this ship we love. But that impulse, quite frankly, means nothing to me if defense of Rowaelin includes the erasure of Aelin’s canonical experiences. And maybe this is wacky and controversial, but I’m pretty sure we can express our enjoyment of Rowaelin AND keep Aelin as an individual from being swept under the rug.  

6. More than saying any of that what I really really want to do (and have been trying to do in the previous paragraphs, but maybe unsuccessfully) is bring the conversation back to OP’s original point which was not “abuse!” or “not abuse!” but about how the ways in which we discuss “abuse or not abuse” often includes a stomach-turning lack of concern for Aelin and some frustratingly reductive arguments. And somehow I have the sneaking suspicion that Rowaelin shippers are reading this post and missing the point, which that this is happening on BOTH sides of the argument.

Everyone is perfectly entitled to ship Rowaelin and argue their opinion about its merits or lack thereof, but when we cover our ears and say “she was mean too she was mean too she was mean too she was mean too la la la la la la la” that’s completely ignoring the genuine pain that she did experience in HoF and the power imbalance that she was subjected to, no matter whether or not we personally feel that it was sufficiently rectified in later books.

And I see this ALL THE TIME, in both the fandom and “anti-fandom”, and I’m honest to god quite sick of it. I’m sick of the willful ignorance of a teenage girl’s pain in order to further an agenda. Yes, it’s more stomach-turning when the agenda is to prove what an evil bitch she is or whatever, but it’s not excusable if your agenda is to prove Rowaelin is great, either! And I don’t understand why we have to throw all nuance out the window and ignore how Dorian hurt her, ignore how Chaol hurt her, ignore how Rowan hurt her, fucking hell, ignore how SAM hurt her, just so we can make our arguments! Because as much as the antis love to scream about “WHAT MESSAGE IS THIS TERRIBLE SHIP SENDING THE TINY GIRL-CHILDREN WHO READ THE BOOKS???” it’s also like, what kind of message is our ongoing discussion of it sending by sweeping a teenage girl’s experiences under the rug when we argue about her relationships?

And like OP said, what have we even got to show for it? No conclusion has been reached, nothing has been achieved besides valuing a romance (or the hatred of that romance and preference for a different romance) over individual characters, namely an individual character who happens to be a teenage girl that has suffered an ungoldy amount - suffered, sometimes, at the hands of male characters we like.

In conclusion, the mass allergy everyone seems to have to giving a shit about Aelin unless its to further their agenda is sickening. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to hear about how poor Manon’s character was “ruined” by Manorian (although not directly by DORIAN, of course, because apparently Saint Haviliard can do no wrong) I’d have enough money to buy a lamborghini and drive it off a cliff like I wish I could every time I hear someone’s terrible hot take about how Aelin is complicit in her own alleged abuse. Yet somehow I’ve never heard anyone complain about the damage done to Aelin’s character by any of the male characters, including Rowan. It’s never “Rowan ruined Aelin’s character!!” it’s “Rowaelin sucks and so does Aelin.” In fact, one of the REASONS Aelin sucks in the first place IS Rowan/Rowaelin! What a great implicit message to send to people reading your “critiques”: if you are annoying and #problematic enough, your suffering will be used against you and you will receive no sympathy for it. Cool!

And for other ships, too: it’s never “Chaol and Dorian, while at points a very good for Aelin, also caused her a lot of pain” it’s either “Chaol was right about Aelin in QoS and both he and Dorian are ruined because of her #chaorian” OR, from the fans, who, again, are not off the hook, “Chaol and Dorian and Aelin are BFFs forever #originaltrio.” And as a teenage girl myself, who loves and identifies with Aelin, who is more invested in her story than anyone else’s… I’m just tired. And more than a little appalled. And I wish we could do better.

[spnbaby-67]

A love worth fighting for

A/N: guess what y'all? After two years of writer's block and no words coming to my stupid head, I am back! That's right, I am back with a story idea that I think and I hope you will like. I haven't been on here awhile so I dunno who all my tags are and let me know of you want to be tagged. Please keep in mind this is a fanfiction, not real life and anything that happens in this story is purely for enjoyment and not real. Let's assume for story sake that everyone is single. It is a rpf alternate universe. I respect there wives just as much as I do the boys, so please no hate on the wives. Also, keep in mind I don't have a beta so all mistakes are solely on me, if I have some, please be kind to tell me. No hate will be tolerated, I have had my full share of it lately. It has been two years since I wrote anything and I'm kind of excited about it and nervous at the same time. I don't own the photos I have collected for this story line so thank you to those who post them. This is a Supernatural RPF and OFC and not a reader insert this time around. Thank you jen @grnsorrow helping me decide the aesthetic for this and helping me pick out photos to use. On a side note, please don't copy and post on other sights without my consent please thanks ... Ok let's say we post.

Warnings : cussing (each chapter will have a list as it grows.

Pairing Jensen Ackles and Samantha McKenzie, (none in particular I pictured)

I was currently sitting  on the floor at the opryland hotel, i couldn't even muster up the want to move. I was exhausted to the point of nearly breaking down and let the water works take over. It had been an uneventful day, one that I will never ever forget, and the day that changed my life. 

Let me back up a bit, so you can get the full story.  Hi, my name is Samantha McKenzie. I am a 23 year old, and well now unemployed.  I am from Texas, Houston to be exact, and my life is, or has not been a great life full of magic and unicorns dreams. I have had my fair share of ups and downs since I can remember, and I will gladly take the ups over the downs any day. I know those come in spurts, and when I do get them, I take em by the horns and savor the moment.  Only because I never know when it will happen again. 

My parents both have passed on when I was younger and I have no brothers or sisters, which at times I'm thankful for, but at other times I miss the sibling connections that I see with most families. I was abused when I was a kid, from the time I was 5 to about 15 when I discovered that I could escape the house and not return. 

Actually, back up. When my mom helped us escape the house that we lived with my father who was mentally, physically and emotionally abusive. He and my mom would always yell and fight, cursing words at each other, then he would make it out to be my mom's fault when he knew he started the whole thing.  They never knew this, but I would sneak out of my room through my upstairs window and sit on the roof side that was attached giving me space to sit and stare up at the stars. It cleared my head, and if I shut the window just a bit, but enough to reopen it and go back in later, I could drown out their arguing.  But sitting out there even on nights they didn't argue or yell, I would slip into my own world and imagine me someplace safe and sound. I am a huge reader of books, and I would read a period of time back to the renaissance era and imagine myself there, experiencing the costumes, and conflicts they had when a problem arose. Or I would sit there and dream of my own future if what I would be when I grew up, which as I sit here now laugh back at my thoughts because it didn't end up the way I wanted it to.  Life is funny, and it's strange how you dream up how you want it to be, even going far as mapping out a timeline and have it all turned upside in a snap, because if one mistake.  

One stupid fucked up mistake that sent my ass to jail for nearly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I sighed thinking back that fateful night, if I had stayed home just 15 minutes longer, I would have been ok. But no, I had to have some ice cream because I was out and my boyfriend dumped me for someone else, only because I would not have sex with him. Hell I was 17 years old, I wasn't sure of what I wanted in life at that time, but I could tell you, it wasn't sex. So, what the hell do I do? I grabbed my purse and keys to the house I was sharing with a friend and headed to the store down the street to get ice cream. 

For the love of God, I wished I would have stayed home. Walking in, I knew, no i felt something off and i should have turned away and backed out never going in, but at the same time my head was saying get ice cream.  I was hurting and my heart was not connecting with my head, so my head over ruled that decision and I went in.  

Walking to where I knew the ocean cream was, I saw an old friend of mine and they were standing by the pharmacy side where they had rows of  condoms and other items related to sex and such. I saw her literally put something in her purse and grab other things in her hand.  

"Seriously?" I whispered to myself as I continued to watch her.  My head was saying go stop her, and my heart was saying no don't get involved. But remember my head was not connecting with my heart so I walked over to her.

"Sarah," I tapped her shoulder from behind her and she must have jumped a mile high when I did. 

"What the fuck, Sam?" She said as she turned around to face me, "Trying to give someone a damn heart attack or something?"

"Or something, what the hell are you doing?"  I looked at her like a mother would when they know you have done something wrong. 

She pulled me over to the side and placed her hand on my shoulder, "Jake and I had sex two weeks ago, and I think I'm pregnant.  I am late with my period, and my parents are going to kill me." Her breathing was staggered and erratic. 

I saw her swallow a couple of times like she was trying to swallow a lump that had formed in her throat.  I know the feeling of getting caught, been one to many times myself in her position and its one i don't want to repeat. I have gotten lucky at times and none had placed charges on me, but when your a runaway and trying to live with what you have, you do what you need to, to survive. 

"Just think about what your doing Sarah,"  she looked at me confusingly. I sighed, "I saw you out stuff in your purse. If you need money, I can help you."  I was doing everything I can to help her make the right decision. 

She looked at me, then put everything back on the shelf. "You don't know what it's like to be in my shoes, Sam. Just forget it, stay away from me. Don't bother helping me, my life is over anyways." She gave me a look then left the store. 

What the fuck just happened? 

I shrugged my head out of the state it was in and concentrated on getting my ice cream. I really needed it now, and fuck, that really pissed me off. See if I ever help anyone again.  I proceeded to the frozen section and grabbed my ice cream and a few other things, then went to check out. Little did I know, my life changed that night for the worse because I wanted to help a friend.  Shaking my head. Why do I always fuck up when things were going good? God save me. 

@deans-baby-momma @mirandaaustin93

[sabine-leo]

A smile to remember

Author: @sabine-leo

Chapters:  5?

Genre: Fluff & Humor

Note: I´m a bit uncertain with this chapter, but i thought i needed it that way to build up the story a bit more. Hope you hang in there and enjoy it anyways!

-Chapter 5-

The one with a new dress and cupid in disguise

 The week had just started and even though you really liked your work and a certain man appeared now and then you couldn´t wait for the weekend. Wednesday after work you went shopping with Clara. Something new for your outing on Saturday. You found yourself a stunning dress. Darkest Ocean Blue with beads and sequined. Your curves were hugged in all the right places. It ended mid-thigh but fringes swayed down to your knees. It was the perfect “Gatsby” dress to wear to a Jazz Club and dance in it till morning came. You turned in front of the mirror and smiled.

“Oh wow (Y/N) this is gorgeous. You look stunning!” Clara comes out of her dressing room. She was wearing a 20´s style pantsuit looking fabulous herself.  “Look at you Clara, you look stunning yourself!” Some 15 minutes later you payed for your new clothes and had a quiet dinner with Clara. It was a nice evening, but you are happy to be home now. Smiling at the 2 gorilla drawings side by side in your Livingroom. “Good Night you two!” you say laughing at yourself and switching the light off.

Thursday you only work half a day and run some errands around town. Clara and you talk on the phone that night. Planning what to do with your hair and makeup. You clean up pretty nicely but you don´t like tons of makeup on your face so you decide to keep it simple enough.

Friday comes and goes without anything worth mentioning.

On Saturday you sleep in and have a real relaxing day with a book and some Jazz music to get you in the mood for tonight. The whole week since Monday you found yourself daydreaming now and then. Remembering the last encounter with Tom. But even though he is Dylan´s Uncle you know that he will not be around often. How could he possibly? He surely has a tiring schedule and as soon as he is back filming and in “His” world again he will forget about you. You don´t think that he is smug or snobbish, quite the opposite, you haven´t seen a more down to earth and gentlemanly famous person then him…then again you never met another well-known person before. But how could you leave a lasting impression on such a man as he. That thought, you decide to cherish the brief moments you had with him and keep the memories save.

Tom on the other hand was in a mood currently. It rarely happened but sometimes even a well-behaved person like him disliked everything he was doing. The script he read was rubbish and his agent told him on the phone earlier that the next project he needed to do would probably start 2 weeks early. Tom didn´t like to cut his family time short but then again...he loved his job.

He is preparing himself a cup of tea. It´s late afternoon and he needed a break. A knock on his door sidetracks him just a little bit, but it´s enough that he accidentally touches the kettle in the wrong place. “Bollocks!” he yells and holds his index finger under the tap. “Tom?” he hears Sarah coming in. “Everything alright? I didn´t mean to intrude but I heard you yell.” Tom sighs “Yes, sorry for that. I had a mishap with the kettle.” “Oh…let me have a look.” Sarah walks over and takes his hand to examine his fingers. “Nothing major, you were lucky.” She smiles at him but soon realises that he is not quite himself today. “What´s wrong brother mine?” She ushers him to the table and prepares 2 new cups of tea.  

“Bad day sister! I know, doesn´t happen often but I am not as good a company as normally.” Sarah smiles. “That´s unfortunate. I thought you were a God and never had such mere problems as any human I know.” This comment made him smile. At least a little bit. “Mock me all you want, you may soon have to wait before you can do it in person again.” He sighs. “Good gracious Tom. You love your work. That can´t be the reason why you are wallowing in self-pity.” Sarah sits opposite of him and hands him his cup. For a minute or two they sit in silence and stir their tea.

“I have to say Hi from Dylan. He´s out playing with his Dad. He said it was, and I quote, Soooooooooooo tremendoudely awesome that you visited him to read for him and his pals.” That made Tom grin at last. “Learning the big words.” “Yes, I really can´t think of anyone other than you who would bring him to use those.” Tom looks his sister in the eyes and smiles. “I love you, you know?” “Love you too brother mine.”

After finishing their tea Sarah leans at the kitchen counter and sees a drawing. A gorilla with flowers in his big hands. “What´s that?” Tom looks like he got caught being naughty. “Nothing much…by the way have you seen Moms new gardening tools? She says she´d be 2 times faster planting the flowerbeds now.” “Nah-ahh…don´t even try to distract me.” Sarah walks over to the drawing. “This can´t be for Dylan. He doesn´t even like girly stuff.” Tom laughs “Yes, he told me the other day.”

Tom leaves the kitchen and sits down in the living room. A last attempt to distract his sister. But she wasn´t that easy to deflect. Following him she turns on the reading lamp and points it direct at his face. “Spill it brother!” It´s like being a teenager all over again and living under one roof. His nosy sister always looking out for her little brother. “I´m not 12 anymore Sarah. You won´t hear a single word out of my mouth regarding that drawing.” “Fine…” She sighs and turns off the light.

“Other topic…How about you take me out to that Jazz Club in Camden Town tonight. I haven´t been out since my dear husband went on his work trip. I could use some letting lose tonight. And frankly, you too!” Tom is looking a bit confused but nods. “Are you sure you want to spend time with me instead of your husband tonight?” “yes brother, you said you need to leave soon. So, take me out tonight and have some fun with grown-ups. I promise you, they are probably equally fun as those children you read to.” Sarah stands up and walks to the door before he can find another reason why he shouldn´t leave tonight.  “Meet me there at nine! And dress up!” The door closed with a thud.

Sighing he looked at his watch 6.30. He probably should get something to eat and then look through his closet.

“Clara be a friend and help me with the zipper. I can´t close it myself without dislocating my shoulder.” After another half an hour you are ready to go. The walk to the tube and the ride to Camden Town takes another 30 minutes. Laughing you and Clara get out of the carriage with somebody whistling your way. “Well, that’s off to a good start.” Clara laughs. You link arms with her and say “Let´s go pretty Lady. There is a Dancefloor waiting for us!”

Inside the venue its dimly lit and there is an old vibe to it. As if stepping into a Time Machine and landing in the best of times for Jazz, Swing and Bars like this. You feel good and ready to dance. The people you see are all dressed up. Looking dapper and hip. Clara finds a place to sit in the far corner of the Dance floor. A little lamp sits on the small round table which is almost completely engulfed with a leather bench.

You get rid of your jackets and purses and eye the bartender. “Doesn´t he look neat…and hot.” Clara says and grins “First drink is on me. Let´s see if I´m still able to flirt!” You shake your head laughing but are in no mood to tell her otherwise. The Music already makes your feet tap to the beat. Over at the Bar you see Clara laugh and talk to the bartender. “Seems like she still got it.” You say to yourself. 3 minutes later Clara appears with 2 tasty looking cocktails in her hand biting her lip. “He´s hot and funny… I know it is his job, but I could swear he was flirting back.” You risk a look. “Sure thing…he is watching you.” “Great. This will be a good night!” You both take a sip out of your drink and lean back. It doesn´t take long until you decide to hit the dancefloor.

It´s 15 minutes till 9. Outside the Bar Tom is waiting for his sister. He made it here in good time. Then again, he almost never arrives at the last minute. Sarah is dropped off by her husband. “Hey Tom! Take care of my girl tonight!” Tom grins. “Absolutely, I´ll make sure she gets home safe.” Sarah looks at her brother and her husband and says. “Actually…I´ve decided otherwise.” Tom looks confused. “You need to go in there, and I need to go have a Date night with my husband.”

“Sarah, that´s not funny. Ok, if you could just drop me off at home and then be on your way.” Tom said frustrated and motioned to get in the car as his brother-in-law nodded but Sarah got in his way. “No Thomas, you WILL go in there and have some fun. I happen to know that a certain Miss is inside.”

“What?” Tom asks a little voiceless and high pitched.

Sarah is already inside the car again and smiles at him. “Go, dance. Have fun and talk to her without a bunch of kids attacking you!” She motioned her husband to drive. He laughingly does as ordered and takes off.

Tom stares after the car and lets his head roll back with a deep-drawn sigh.

This couldn´t be happening. He turns, eyes the front door. Turns again, looking at the Underground station. He ruffles his hair. He must look ridiculous turning left right left right left.

Would he go in?

Should he go in?

Another quick note: If you can´t think of the dress that I tried to desribe. This would be it: 

Tags as asked for : @theoneanna @shegatsby  @wabisabigrl @everything-is-awesomesauce