#did these at the studio while waiting for my work to be reviewed i miss my ocsss

[surreal-duck]

missing my ocs hours

[kykyonthemoon]

Limerence (noun) — a mental state of profound romantic infatuation, deep obsession, and fantastical longing.

⋆˚✿˖° This chapter is a part of a mini-series of dark fairy tales and romance sets in another universe. It consists of three chapters, each with a Male Lead and is separated from one another.

⋆˚✿˖° Character x Reader/MC, from another (OC's) point of view. Reader/MC's pronounce is "she/her/hers".

⋆˚✿˖° Warnings & tags: 16+, MDNI, angst, hurt, thriller, emotional and mind control, manipulation, love spell, obsession, unrequited love, major character death, dark fantasy, dark fairy tale, m.urder, s.uicide attempt.

⋆˚✿˖° Leonard is my OC.

⋆˚✿˖° Read more chapters:

✦ Xavier's ✦ Zayne's

⋆˚✿˖° Masterlist

⋆˚✿˖° My friend Cery made an art for this fic here: x

Chapter: The Muse — in which he brings the world his most significant work of art.

⋆˚✿˖° Word count: 3k1

These days, the artist community was vibrant, with some even competing for acceptance to the exhibition at Mo Art Studio.

So did Leonard. He had to rush around and ask for help everywhere in order to be given a chance. Money was not an issue, but the host of this exhibition was certainly not an ordinary person. He wasn't offering tickets to the highest bidder, but rather to those who possessed an artistic vision and passed his evaluation.

“The ticket will be sent to you within the next three days. Please keep in touch.” The other end of the line cut the discussion off, but Leonard's mind remained lightheaded, unable to believe the gift he had just received.

“Wait…” He spoke before the other person hung up. “Excuse me… May I do an interview with that artist in the exhibition?”

There was no response. Leonard believed they were reviewing his proposal. He held his breath and wait for a while, then the manager named Thomas spoke:

“We do not accept interviews. But a few individual queries could suffice. Of course, if you are able to leave a good impression.”

"I got it. Thank you."

Putting the phone aside, Leonard leaned back in his office chair. How to impress Linkon's most talented painter, or should he say - the world's best artist? Despite his young age, there was no one in this city who had never heard of his work.

The artist's name was Rafayel. He became well-known for his landscape paintings, which brought admirers to a dreamlike state when they stood in front of them. He seldom appeared in public, despite having organized hundreds of major and minor exhibitions. Who he truly was remained a question, and the most mysterious part was probably his disappearance a year ago.

For a whole year there were no new paintings or art activities. No one saw him in Linkon during that time. His manager and studio kept it silent, as if everything had evaporated overnight. Then, last weekend, he unexpectedly reappeared and made an important announcement, which was an exhibition called The Muse.

In contrast to his previous events, guests had no idea what they were about to witness. According to the majority of internet comments, Rafayel returned with a work of a lifetime, a painting that exceeded anything he had ever created. That was the final result of a year-long hunt for inspiration. Of course, there were those who believed he was steadily degrading since he hadn't been able to draw anything decent in a long time and had simply planned this event to earn some money.

For Leonard, either truth was fair. He must uncover all of the details and secrets surrounding Rafayel's reappearance. Since that was what he did for a living.

Leonard was a journalist who specialized in arts. Despite his greatest efforts over several years, he still had little hope of succeeding. He had been without a single decent piece for a long time. Then the opportunity to visit the Mo Art studio presented itself before his eyes. He was not going to miss the chance to see a place that had never been accessible to the public before.

The day of the exhibition approached. Leonard had purposefully showed up early, but as he reached the gate, he noticed that about fifty formally dressed guests were already present. They were enjoying wine and food as they walked in groups into the main hall, where the primary event was held. Leonard also entered with nervousness. All of the windows and doors were wide open, allowing the sea air to convey a salty fragrance into the hallway. Rafayel's famous works are framed, and hung or placed in the center of a floral garden that the host tenderly arranged himself, giving guests the impression that they had just lost themselves in the Garden of Eden.

However, that was not the primary attention of the event. Something massive and cylindrical appeared in the center of the hall. It spanned from the ground to an exceedingly high glass ceiling. It had a diameter of up to ten meters, and was covered in a crimson velvet fabric, protecting it from inquisitive eyes of guests. Even the personnel had not an idea of what was inside.

"Rafayel did all of this himself." Thomas, the manager, spoke up. "I can't answer your questions because I'm not sure what's there. But whatever it is, it will undoubtedly live up to the name of his Muse."

The flock of intrigued guests around Thomas nodded, then split out to stroll around and admire the pillar, as if its very presence was already an art. To them, the less they comprehended something, the more valuable it became.

Leonard found a seat close to the window but not too far from the center of the hall. He was afraid of missing the opportunity to witness Rafayel's Muse. Late in the afternoon, the sun glided across the horizon, casting golden rays into the place. The guests began to get tipsy, wondering if Rafayel would show up or if this was all a hoax, when, down the stairs, the host of the party appeared.

He donned a lavish dark blue suit with sculpted sleeves and shoulders that looked to be encrusted with spectrum fish scales. His presence was as magnificent as his name, causing the entire hall to fall silent. Guests held their breath as they watched the young artist stroll down the steps, the heels of his shoes reverberating on the marble floor as if a piece of music had just been executed.

“Welcome to the exhibition.” Rafayel spoke in a solemn voice. "It appears that all of the guests here are wondering; what exactly has he been doing during the past year? Why didn't he present any of his new work? What's the point of this exhibition?"

Rafayel halted for a moment, his dark eyes behind a few purple curls scrutinizing each guest individually, as if reading them all. The corner of his mouth twisted up in delight as he effectively piqued everyone's interest. He resumed his speech:

“It all began with a muse. My muse. That's a story perhaps a lucky visitor would unveil in this exhibition. But for now…” Rafayel lifted a hand. “Let me introduce you to my one and only, Muse.”

The scorched cloth transformed into crimson tiny particles that flew all about, blending into the fiery sunset outside. The crimson sun halted in the center of the room's largest window, and emerged as an illusion was Rafayel's Muse.

Leonard blinked. In front of him stood a tank of water with a thick glass cylinder. The inside was ornamented with flowers, coral, and white pillars of broken plaster encircling an oval of the glass tank, offering him the sense that he was staring at a lost city under the depths of the ocean. There were schools of brilliant small fish swimming around, weaving between the crevices of the broken world. In the midst of the tableau, there was a woman floating in the water in an upright stance, a few meters above the tank's bottom, conveying an illusion that she was flying. Her head was adorned with pearl jewelry, eyes were closed, as if she was in deep slumber. Her hands opened, allowing the orange-red fish to whirl around her wrists. Then they invited each other to swim along her tiny unclothed arms, to her exquisite neck covered in shimmering pearls, and down to the thin white garment that was floating in the water like her own body. Her bare feet lingered above the seaweed, as if to tease them with the fact that they were unable to grasp her no matter how hard they tried.

A beauty out of this world. That was what Leonard's mind could think of. When he came here, he was full of determination to discover Rafayel's secret, but now, when he witnessed its beauty with his own eyes, he was speechless. His brain felt empty, as if that beauty had filled it and he no longer needed anything else. A melodic rhythm could be heard somewhere, distant seemingly from another universe, but apparently emanating from the tank itself.

All guests were drawn to the center. Rafayel vanished among the crowd that was cheering him. Nobody suspected that Rafayel's Muse was not a painting but an entirely distinct thing. Whatever it was, she was the size of an adult in her mid-twenties. A statue or a doll that resembled a real person?

Leonard brushed past a few astonished others to get closer to the tank. Rafayel's exhibit could easily shock the entire art field. Leonard had already begun pondering concepts for his next piece. Unlike the other guests, who were merely engaged in the beauty in front of them, he was more enthralled by the narrative behind The Muse.

Who was she? Where did her story begin? Leonard sought around for Rafayel's silhouette but could not find him. However, near the stairs, he encountered Thomas with a look of panic and utter shock on his face.

“It can't be… No… It can't be her…” Those were the words Leonard could hear before Thomas bolted out of the hall.

There were just a few people invited to the show, and after approximately an hour, they had presumably spent all of their admiration and hypothesis on the tank. They met again in groups to tour Rafayel's studio. Who knows when they would be able to return here again, in ten, twenty, or even fifty years?

Leonard took advantage of the reality that people had left the area to approach closer and examine more, now that he was the only one standing nearby. The Muse was still inside, a smile on her lips, but why did Leonard feel a suffering coming from her? He strolled around the tank to better view her. It was hard to discern whether this was in fact a sculpture by Rafayel or a real person. That was also what the guests spoke about all day.

The Muse was so genuine. To the point that Leonard expected her to open her eyes and climb out of the tank. But she remained still, absorbed in her own undersea world. He stayed frozen, unable to move his gaze away from the tank, for Rafayel had previously stated that within this, his secrets hidden.

Yet Leonard, with his mundane eyes, might never discover it. The only thing he found was possibly a tiny coating of pinkish red water coming from The Muse's breast. That ruby hue seeped through the attire that enveloped her, and it looked nothing like the color that Rafayel often used in his paintings. There was something rather odd about it. It resembled blood, from The Muse herself.

The exhibition came to an end.  Guests departed on their own after being notified. Rafayel returned to the lobby. Leonard took the opportunity to ask in an instance:

“Mr. Rafayel. May I ask you a few questions regarding the exhibition?

Rafayel gazed at him. To increase his reputation, he identified himself as a journalist who specialized in writing about art.

"Ah. "I remember you." Rafayel responded. "Among the guests, you were the only one who gave an impressive answer to my question."

Leonard tried to recall the survey he was required to complete before Thomas reached him to inform he had an invitation. These questions were all about Rafayel's career, and the answers were readily accessible online. There was just one question, the last one, that sparked a lot of consideration in Leonard, while having nothing to do with Rafayel's works at all.

"If you were given a magical spell that made the person you love love you forever, would you use it?" Rafayel reiterated his query. "You're the only one who chose not to."

Leonard nodded. It was truly what he had said.

"May I know, why?" Rafayel glanced at him with curiosity. Leonard was taken aback, as he had come here expecting to be an interviewer. Who would have guessed it was the other way around?

"A spell is just an illusion." Leonard responded honestly. "That is not love." "Love must come from a true heart."

"A true heart…" Rafayel repeated each word. His eyes were as sorrowful and deep as the tranquil water, yet it was terrifying since he had no idea when the storm would arrive. "Perhaps, she would choose the same answer as you."

"Pardon?…" Leonard interrupted Rafayel's thoughts. "Who are you talking about?"

Rafayel smiled but remained silent. Fearing that the young artist might leave without answering, Leonard impatiently said:

“Aren't you talking about your Muse? Can you tell me who she is?”

Rafayel gazed at the girl in the aquarium. He smiled. Just a small movement of the lips conveyed devotion, anguish, and regret.

"She is my true heart." Rafayel's voice resembled a song. But he said nothing more, and Leonard was asked to leave right away.

The Muse's story was forever a mystery. The mystery that Leonard had yet to come very close.

That story began a year ago. Or perhaps, it had originated a long, long time ago.

When a Lemurian gives their heart to someone, it will die if not reciprocated.

Rafayel had given his to a human girl.

He met her when she was a child. She was his savior when he was expecting such a painful death on land, and she helped him return to the sea.

She could not remember who he was, nor did she know that all those years, he had been watching her from afar. Amid the waves, behind the rocks, he watched her grow up.

He met her again as a painter many years later. She happily accepted his company. But it was not all he wanted. He longed for her. He craved her touch to make her become his, in the way he had determined his heart belonged to her.

But, her heart belonged to someone else.

A year ago, she told him that she was getting married.

Rafayel could not recall how frightening his emotions were. No matter how powerful the storms were at sea, they could never match his rage at the time. And, with a dreadful calamity brewing in his head, he did what he did to her.

He bound her with an ancient Lemurian enchantment. He made her fall desperately in love with him. She did everything for him, even abandoning her engagement and following him to a far away place. A secluded island only for them. Glorious summer nights lingered forever on the beach, when she and he were entangled, merging in the waves of never-ending love. He had her how he wished.

However, like an illusion, that spell did not persist forever. It drove her to insanity. She wandered alone on the shore, tears streaming and her mouth constantly crying out the name of the person she truthfully loved with each sob. She begged of him.

“Rafayel… Please… Let me go… Please… set me free… Set me free!”

Her screams were drowned in the ocean waves. Little did she realize that seeing her in this way made his heart bleed as well.

"Please…" She sobbed. Rafayel's dagger was in her grasp, and she pressed it to her throat. "If you won't let me leave... I must free myself..."

"Hush now, my dearest…" Rafayel quietly stretched out to her. This was not her first time in this state. He approached her, placed a hand on her forehead, and brushed away her wind-blown hair. Her fingers on the dagger tightened, urging him to back away. However, Rafayel seized the blade that was cutting into her neck, forcing his hand to bleed.

"You don't want to cut yourself, dear."

She trembled and stared at Rafayel. He hummed a very familiar melody, which made her thoughts muddled once more. The dagger slipped from her hand as she collapsed to her knees on the damp beach. Screaming.

“Be still, dearest love.” Rafayel gently lowered down. His knees were next to hers, as if he, too, was begging her to stay. “I can ease all our suffering… If you listen to me now…”

She covered her ears and shook her head with ferocity as if she never wanted to hear another word from him. Rafayel smiled in bitter. She had been like this lately, forgetting who she was and how profoundly she was in love with him. But that was alright. He would help her rekindle her love. She would obey at once as soon as he began singing.

He sang their song. He sang it the first time they met, and he still sang it day by day with her by his side.

She wept tremendously. She clutched her head and pleaded with him to stop. But Rafayel could never. Just like he could not stop the waves from crashing against the shore, who could ever stop his love for her?

After a while, she became quiet. No more yelling and pleading. She gave him an empty stare and a smile.

"Rafayel." She called his name. Her hand found his body, as though she had desired to be close to him since forever. Rafayel embraced her. He stroked and kissed the top of her head. His tears sank, condensing into pearls and nestling on her hair.

“I'm sorry… I'm sorry for turning you into someone like this…” Rafayel whispered in her ear. “But I've found a way to fix everything. You shall not suffer any longer... And neither shall I..."

Rafayel held her with one hand as the other sought the dagger's hilt in the moist sand.

“Will you do this for me?”

He gazed into the eyes of hers which were dreamy under the spell of love. She nodded.

"I vow to do everything for my dearest beloved."

"Very good." Rafayel smiled as he kissed her lips. "You will always be my Muse… Mine, forever..."

The dagger swung across the fiery sunset. The water chanted its melody in an ancient ritual. Then everything fell silent.

Rafayel watched her passionately as she slept within the water tank he had specifically built for her. That was her home, now and forever.

His hand stroked across the beautiful design. Her body was adorned with jewelry crafted from his teardrops. She was a masterpiece of his lifetime, which extended to no end. His Muse. His lips found hers on the other side of the glass, and he pressed a kiss.

From now on, she would weep no more. She would feel no pain.

A crimson light emanated from inside the pocket near Rafayel's chest. He pulled out a blazing red protocore.

This entire world will soon know that, her true heart shall forever belong to him and him alone.

[popculturebuffet]

Disney 100th Birthday Special: Top 12 Disney Television Animation Shows

Happy Birthday all you happy people! And it's a very special birthday as it's the 100th anniversary of a company that, while I routinely mock on a regular basis for impaling themselves about a dozen time a year, has brought me a lot of joy. It was a 100 years ago that the wonderful world of disney began and 100 years later it's still bringing us some of the finest and funnest animation around and will likely continue for a hundred more as they create a whole disney planet serving up mickey shaped foods for all time around a disney owned star.

So before we can look forward to happiest dystopian future off earth, I thought hard about what I wanted to do for the 100th. I've covered disney a LOT on this blog: season 3 of ducktales AND the arcs for the two seasons before that, seasons 2 and 3 of both amphibia and owl house, classics like the Lion King and A Goofy Movie, a whole year worth of house of mouse reviews, shorts, various comics great and donald being pro illteracy.. the list could go on for an entire article itself.

So while I had PLENTY of options, from a shorts marathon to another movie, I decided the best way to honor this occasion was by focusing on a portion of disney near and dear to my heart: Disney TV Animation.

Way Way Back in the 1980s, DisneyTVA was formed by fresh faced executive overlord Michael Eisner. Eisner was looking to expand his new empire, and found a clever way to do it. See at the time while there were certainly good cartoons, most had the budget of a paper clip and a piece of string. It's why Disney took this long to get into the game: Walt thought he just coudln't get the quality needed on a tv budget and while he WANTED to at some point, he passed before that could happen.

Many laughed at this decision, citing it as a huge money sink waiting to happen.

Yeah critics not taking animation or kids watching it seriously isn't new and assuming they'll just watch anything is laughable. Yes low budget shows like Transformers got plenty of views... but transformers also put in high quality voice actors and intriguging designs. Take both of those and make the animation bouncier, and kids would notice.

And they did: The first Disney TVA show, Gummi Bears, was a massive success, leading to the planet sized one that was Ducktales and a whole legacy of classic shows.

There is a double edged sword here though: While most of these shows are high quality and well loved.. Disney tends to.. ignore they exist. They don't make merch, think adult and teenage fans aren't a think, and when it comes to merch don't usually tend to make it for these shows during or after their runs. There are exceptions and they are reviving stuff.. but disney has a bad habit to prefer cashing in on nostalgia than on what they have now unless it fits their narrow perameters

For me though.. Disney TVA is home to some of the best, most game changing shows in the medium. From shows I grew up with to shows that sadly just ended, Disney has made a ton of shows permeanntly embded in my heart. My doctor says I should get that removed but what does he know. At this studio are creators who are passionate, create unique works, and work very hard to stand out. Even when shows get slapped with the dreaded 2 season limits, they still stick in our hearts not just because of that nostlaagia pop disney wants, but because they were just that good and still hold up into adulthood. I've covered a lot of this library, owe my career to these shows and will never sotp being impressed by them.

So out of the 42 i've seen I whittled it down by 30 which was way harder than it sounded down to the very best. A few shows like Gargoyles I sadly just.. hadn't watched, so if something's missing it was either that or a very hard cut. Whlie the top 8 was shockingly easy, it was hard to narrow this list down to the very best. I'd also like to point out that this is my opinon: feel free to send me your own lists, i'd be curious to see how your own personal experinces shaped yours. But for now this is mine... and this is my top 12 best disney telvision animation shows.

12. The Weekenders Created by Doug Landale 2000-2004 4 Seasons, 76 episodes

Our #12 is a childhood faviorite of mine.. and also one of the two shows your most likely to hear me bitch about disney+ not having. IT'S BEEN ALMOST 4 YEARS.

But bitch complaning about disney being disney aside, the Weekenders is a charming classic that needs more eyes on it and it's weird I haven't covered frankly.

At any rate Weekenders is a slice of life show with a good yet simple hook: it follows 4 middle schoolers, Tino, Carver, Lor and Tish, as through their weekends from Friday after school to monday morning. It allows for the show to do pretty much whatever it wants, and what it wants is to be a fairly lowkey slice of life show. The only really zany element that I can remember, or that I saw in ToonrfiqTariq's excellent retrospective of the series, which you can find here, is main character Tino, a sarcastic but kind guy played by voice acting royalty James Marsden, talking to the audience zack morris style, which is really just a neat way to move things along so it's not that obtrusive. I highly recommend that retrospective by the way. Tariq is awesome and it helped jog my memory on the show.

The series is a fairly low stakes affair: our heroes have a fairly typical problem, they talk it out or deal with it as the weekend goes on, and at least once an episode they go for pizza at an ever changing pizza restraunt with a fun new gimmick each episode, something I loved already as a kid but love even more NOW as an adult knowing that gag was likely a LOT to do. Keep in mind they had to draw new backgrounds, exteriors, and a new costume for the guy running it every time. It's the kind of joke you think a series would've given up on for those reasons but nope, every episode has one.

Weekenders is a throughly charming slice of life show, helped by it's characters: In addition to tino we have the egotistical Carver (Phil LaMarr) thickheaded jock Lor (Grey DeLise) and immigrant nerd and vegtarian Tish. While the four coudl've easily fallen into their sterotypes there's just enough depth to the cast to make them work. Tish in paticular was my faviorite, not only being one of the first immigrant stories in a show I saw that was largely respectful and not just

It's a great show I genuinely wish I had more to say about. Find it somehow if you can, it's entirely worth it.

11. Phineas and Ferb Created By Dan Povmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2007-2015, 20XX- 129 Episodes, 2 Movies, Upcoming Revival

At a time when kids animation wasn't in the best place, Phineas and Ferb was the smash hit we all badly needed. Done by vetran creators and Rocko's Modern Life Alums, Phineas and Ferb was a fun, creative show about two boys who simply wanted to make the best out of summer... and happened to be child progidys only limited by their immgination, so they could do anything and the utterly catchy theme song helpfully outlined it. Having only watched the first three or four seasons, I still don't know if they ever found Frankensteins' Brain. It was over there.

While the a-plots with the boys were great most of the time and had a great supporting cast: Helpful scout Isabella, shrill voiced nerd Baljeet and bully turned buddy Buford, the real draw for most of us was the b-plot: each episode the boys Platapus Perry would sneak out, don a fedora and foil the plots of his arch enemy and best buddy Heinz Doofenschmirtz, an awkward mad scientest who rather than therapy decides to deal with the many, MANY traumas in his life by building various inators and talking to Perry. Their shenanigans inevitibly undo whatever our heroes did in time for their mom to never notice and just think their sister Candance needs help as she tries to bust them.

The show mostly used this loop for it's lengthy run, ocasionally mixing up the setting by visiting the kids grandparents or with a special, but it mostly went like this. This started as the shows strength as the repitition allowed them to REALLY play with the formula: lampshade it, subvert it, and play with it. Sometimes Perry would go to foil doof but it ended up being something benign like Doof trying to do a party for his Daughter or go on a date. Sometimes the boys would genuinely be trying to help Candance or she'd have her own concerns outside of bustin making her feel good. The show packed this with tons of lampshade hanging, catchy songs (after an early one made the network want it once an episode), and genuine heart. It's hard not to root for Phineas and his optimism and genuine cheer. Depsite "driving our sister insane" being a main lyric.. the kid has nothing but love in his heart for his sister and that simple goal of just wanting to do something fun or help someone each day makes this one of the sweeetest shows around.

So your probably wondering why it's so low. And it's really simple: it's constant status quo.. kind of wore it out for me. After a while there was no real reason for Linda NOT to know the boys were doing this. We never got any indication she'd care beyond "Maybe wear a helmet" or "Have candace watch you", neither of which would really STOP what they do every day. While Across the Universe was a great movie it having a MASSIVE snapback at the end is what eventually got me out of the show. It was hard to invest when the show wasn't willing to really change anything. In hindsight I do get some shows just function better as status quo shows and my bitterness has lessened and it's why this show ended up making the list: it's status quo could be frustrating.. but no one had more fun playing with it at the time than these two kids. And the hunchbacked old man what fights/is common lawed married to their platypus.

10. American Dragon: Jake Long Created by Jeff Goode Developed by Eddie Guzelian and Matt Negrete 2005-2007 2 Seasons, 52 Episodes AmDrag was part of the teen superhero boom on kids shows in the 2000's. Classics like Danny Phantom, My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre and more came about at this time, with disney only dipping it's toes in twice with this show and another we'll get to soon enough.

That said.. American Dragon is an excellent show, mostly down to it's core: The show follows the titular Jake Long, a guy who on surface, from rapping part of his theme to his frosted tips to his skateboard comes off very much like an energy drink came to life and starred in it's own show. Which given the 2000's i'm very suprised never happened. But jake is somehow likeable.. he's a bit arrogant sure, but his arrogance is only in his skill: He genuinely does try his best as protector of new york, cares about his friends and cares heavily about his crush Rose. He's got a heart to him beneath the layers of axe body spray and Dante Basco's standout performance, what would easily have been his defining role as a VA had avatar not come along soon after, helps make this guy feel human.

What also helps boost it's show is it's myth arc. Like Danny Phantom a year before it, AM Drag breaks from the style of the time to have a dedicated arc and continuity. There's plenty of monster of the week stuff, some better (like the oracle twins, easily my faviorite side characters , who also have the fun gimmick of one being super cheery yet predicting horrible things and the other being jaded but seeing only good, with their powers being why (If you see every good thing that you'll ever get it makes it hard to enjoy them and if you see every possible horrible thing that happens to you, it makes the other stuff easier to swallow), some worse, and that can be a weaker part of the show.

But it's core arcs are what make the show it's most intresting. For the first season and a half we have the shows best: Jakes battles with the huntsclan, the foot clan.. if they were violent racists who slaughter magical creatures. Granted we don't SEE that on screen but the show does a good job showing us that no, that's what they are.

This itself would likely work.. but what makes it special and standout for the time it came out.. is the wrinkle they throw in: Huntsgirl, the Huntsclan's #1 guy and sidekick to the huntsman.. is Jake's crush Rose, a fairly well adjusted kind girl who simply dosen't know what she's been indoctrinated into, thinking Dragons are evil. This is a nice change of pace as at the time most relationships with teens and tweens in cartoons were either between some popular slab of cardboard of the characters best friend.

Instead Rose SEEMS to be the cardboard type.. but not only has depth outside of the hood, but the fact the audience can easily tell who huntsgirl is, Mae Whitman has a distinctive voice after all and as usual does a fantastic job only adds the tension: We know who rose is, but Jake doesn't and early on we don't know how much of her is real. And once the secret breaks we get the drama of both dealing with not only being on opposite sides but Rose realizing she was on the wrong one.

The arc after, focusing on a dark dragon isn't as strong in comparison, but it's also not entirely fair given they likely though they'd have another season and a half to wrap it up proper. That being said the series also has an interesting arc with Jake's overachieving younger sister, who goes from knowing about the dragon thing (his whole family does minus his dad for.. some reason) and showing some powers.. to being a dragon herself and often her brother's sidekick.

The show had it's weaknsesses, outside of the big bads there was never really much of an interesting Rogue's Gallery, Trixie felt a bit flat as a character, and again there was no good reason Jake's dad shouldn't know so we got stupid groundings and such. But we also got a compelling enemies to lovers arc with a lot of tension, a nice mythology, and profressor rotwood, Jakes teacher and magic hunter, a fun butt monkey for the show. It's a solid show that i'd love to see get a revivial.

9. Wonder Over Yonder Created by Craig McCracken 2013-2016 43 Episodes

Wonder Over Yonder is one of Disney's more infamous cancelations. Despite being DisneyXD's #1 show they not only barely promoted it, I wasn't aware the second season was going on till it was almost over and still need to get around to watching it, Disney cancelled it. Despite being well loved Disney cancelled it. It's not the worst cancellation on this list, that comes later, but it's still a pretty dang bad one. The fact they didn't put the show on Disney+ for some time dosen't exactly help.

Why Disney hated this show so much I'll never know as Wonder is one of the most heartfelt and creative show's disney put out. And keep in mind as I said i've only seen season 1. I know it gets even better with season 2's dedicated story arc and the introdcution of lord dominator. I've seen the musical number.

Wonder took inspiration from, of all things, dr. seuss, with Craig being an admitted fan of 60's and 70's astetics already, it just flowed naturally as we got the tail of a gentle tumbleweed whose kind and thoughtful to everyone he meets wether they desreve it or not and his tough as nails steed and best friend sylvia. The rolls are easily the best of Jack McBrayer and April Winchel's long careers, nicely contrasting each other in perfect ballance: Sylvia fights the battles wonder can't win with kindness or is too oblvious to realize he's in, Wonder wins fights simply by being too cheery and oblivious to beat.

Over their journey's they repeadtely run into our other main characters, Lord Hater, played by the awesome Keith Fergeuson, an over the top skeletial manchild who badly wants to be taken seriously but is too impulsive, stupid, and easily angered for him to actually achieve that depsite the help of Commander Peepers, his #2 and put upon lackey. Add in tons of great sets, fun scnearios and creative uses of animatoin and you have something unforgitable. McCracken really loves to play with storytelling here, from your standard genre breaks to simply taking a conventional tale like a kinight rescuing a princess.. and turn it into our heroes accidently assitating a stalking jerk and said princess easily clocking him one before they can all unite to save him. The show had so much fun with it's cast and heart in it it's really hard not to like and while it sadly ended too soon what we got... is something magical.

8. Clerks the Animated Series Created by Kevin Smith 2000 6 Episodes Like most of you are as you read this entry, I was suprised to find Disney TVA made this. To date this is Disney's only adult animated series, and the fox acquisition giving them a full studio for that tells me it'll likely stay this way unless they do something actiony for disney +. It's also far and away the shortest lived show on this list. only airing two of it's 6 produced episodes, neither of which was the actual first episode. ABC didn't like what they got, they buried it, standard corprate procedure, and thanks to DVD and Comedy Central airings the show went from quickly forgotten weird relic to one of the best animated adaptations out there and one of the poster children for shows too good to last.

I grew up with this show. Since I was too young for the kevin smith movies my brother was obessed with, the series was the first Kevin Smith related thing I ever watched and it's stayed with me since. The show's short.. but it's 6 episodes are absolutely STUFFED with great jokes. I could honestly spend the rest of the article quoting this series, from "Hey, it's ted danson" to "Why are we walking like this" to "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit you old hag!".... and that's just the second episode. Admitely in terms of tone, Clerks TAS.. is nothing like the movie. The original Clerks was a fairly low key film mostly driven by our leads Dante and Randall's conversation and the various people who came in. It was a character piece about being stuck in a dead end job, about ignoring rules versus blindly following them, and about two stoners who were in it for 5 minutes but became the backbone of this cinematic universe because their the best.

Clerks the Animated Series instead is a gleefully wacky romp where our heroes can't say fuck but do get into sitcommy hyjinks, from clipshows, to a rival buisness across the way, to the deadly motava virus, to a pastiche of the last starfighter turning into a pastiche of the bad news bears then a pastiche of temple of doom. As you can tell this show is kinda nuts and really just Kevin Smith getting to be all kinds of redicluous in the funniest way possible. He replaced being able to say fuck and talk about sex with hyjinks and turned randall from a charming if assholish slacker into one of the best dumbasses in animation. The show is a near constant laugh riot, beautifully animated too. It also naturally has the boys, with Jay and Silent bob still getting in lots of neat antics even if they can no longer deal on screen. Clerks the Animated series is one of the funniest shows there's ever been and I highly recommend seeking it out.

7. Milo Murphy's Law Created by Dan Povemire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2016-2017, 2019 46 Episodes

Meet the show disney somehow treated WORSE than the last two. I swear when I put this list together I did not realize these three would be clustered together.

But yes, when I said there was a worse cancelation I meant it: Milo Murphy's Law was the dwampy duo of Phineas and Ferb.. and got utterly buried because Disney was mad it wasn't the mega hit that show was, forgetting that was also a fairly slow burn, or that you kow THIS IS A DIFFRENT SHOW. So they not only barely promoted the second half of season 1.. but then just sat on season 2 for a full year, with many an episode airing elsewhere long before that and released it over a few weeks. They then just.. straight up ended production to make a phineas and ferb movie. In fact despite a full soundtrack apparently existed only ONE song's gotten released from the show in full thanks to said movie's soundtrack. To say Disney screwed this show over is putting it lightly.

And it's a huge shame this show got buried as it did as Milo.. is freaking awesome. I mean I gave it a shot from episode one simply because it had Weird Al attached. Even if i'd gotten burned out on the previous show, i'll give anything Al's in a shot.

And that shot was worth it as from the first episode to the last, Milo is a truly charming show with, say it again ya'll, "a truly unique premise" . Disney has a knack for those don't it?

MML follows Milo Murphy, a happy go lucky 6th grader who meets new kid in town Zack.. who soon finds out Milo has a family curse, based on, of course, Murphy's Law; if something can go wrong, it will. So the universe bends over backwords to try to murder this tween and anyone around him... hence why while everyone likes Milo well enough, only his feisty hustler best friend Melissa really hung around before Zack took a chance on his new pal.

What makes the series great though is that Milo... dosen't ever angst about having murphy's law. You'd think with his life being a constant never ending string of disaster dominos, the guy would give up or we'd have one episode of him bedguging all he's missed out on. Instead.. Milo sees his life as an adventure, enjoys in the shenanigans he gets into and simply packs his backpack to be prepeared and keep his spleen in tact. He's a sweet, kind, optimist who helps people no matter what and dosen't let his curse get him down or stop him from living his life. It's milo that makes the show this good, having to both work around his jinx as well as many an adventure coming from people's reaction to him: From his love intrest Amanda intitally avoiding him due to being a perfectionist only to let him in more once she realizes what a kind guy he is, to the local security guard played byc hristan slater being an absolute dick to him, we see how it impacts his life.. but how he also enjoys his life regardless.

The series also has it's own perry equilvent, Dakota and Cavendish, who genuinely drive the seasons story arcs, two time policeman and ambigously gay duo who try to prevent pistachos from being destroyed.. then do the opposite once i'ts clear it'll cause the end of the world. They add to the story.

What puts this show up here, and way above phineas is that it's not afraid of change: the basic status who dosen't, but the show has a story arc for each season, characters grow and change with Zack getting more used to the chaos around his bestie, the relationship with amanda I mentioned, and most importantly Dakota and Cavindish finding out about milo fairly early on and vice versa, allowing their plots to intersect. It's also really damn funny.

Honestly the show's only this low because the top 6 are REALLY that good.. and because season 2 kinda crams Dr. Doofinschrmitz in there on what feels heavily like an executive mandate. Sometims he cab be a bit overbearing.. but the show's still up this high because frankly, Doof was the best part of his previous show and still gets a LOT of great material, paticuarlly this bit.

Also his friend there is Jeff. Jeff is a man who lives underground. He's great. And this series is, badly underated. I can't wait to see these characters again as it's been directly said that while their tabling it for the first two seasons apperances by characters from the previous two shows aren't off the table for hamster and gretel, they just learned from this one to wait, but while I wait.. what we got.. is still damn magical.

6. Kim Possible Created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle 2002-2007 4 Seasons, 82 Episodes, 2 Movies, 1 Live Action Reboot Film

Kim Possible was one of my faviorite shows as a kid, and for good reason. Even over two decades later, the show still holds up as a smart, hilarious, and well done spy show. I also will gladly count it as part of the teen superhero boom as it hits a lot of those tropes too.

The setup however is nicely unique: Rather than work for a big spy orginzation (Though she does freelance in a few episodes for SHIELD expy Global Justice), or for money or what you'd expect from a world class adventuerer and super spy, Kim is just an above average teen whose fairly smart, popular and really damn good at both gymnastics and kicking people who does the job because it's the right thing to do and her organization is really just four people: herself, Wade, a child progidey who finds jobs for her, Ron, her best friend, eventual love interest, and overly panicky but loveable goofus, and Ron's pet Rufus who counts because he saves their lives quite a bit simply by being in ron's pocket and being smart enough. He's also a naked mole rat and the reason I know those exist.

While the show has a strong supporting cast with screen legends Gary Gole and Jean Smart as Kim's Rocket Science and Neurosurgeon parents, her annoying twin brothers, her sarcastic best girl friend monique, her annoying rival bonnie and my personal faviorite her authorative yet still resonable and utterly hilarious teacher Mr. Barkin, played by my boy Patrick Warburton, one of it's biggest strengths is Kim's Rogue's gallery.

Like I said with americna dragon a lot of the weakness for these teen hero shows is that they genuinely only have one or two major foes that are actually you know.. memorable. In contrast Kim has a LOT of intresting and fun villians of the week, not a huge pool but enough to keep it intresting with plenty of fun one offs. The main one is Dr. Drakken, played by John Dimaggio in one of his best parts and Shego, played by Nicolle Sulivan in her best role, an over the top , hammy shortsighted blue mad scientest and his snarky assitant who does most of the punching and is easily kim's physical equal. The two show up the most out of Kim's rogues, and while this on paper could get reptitive the two's banter is great, they play off our heroes fantastically, and they frankly never seemed to run out of great schemes for Dr. D to do.

There were other greats too, my personal faviorites being Senior Senior Senior and Senior Senior Junior, character actor Ricardo Montalban in his best role as a rich old man who after accidently blacking out paris, takes ron's suggestion he had all the makings of a super villian to heart and using his vast wealth to arch our heroes for fun while Junior.. badly dosen't want any part of this. Ther'es tons more I could gush about from DNAmy to the bebes, to my boy Frugal Lucre, a guy who works at a wallmart expy and barely spends money on his arching suplies.

The show's other weapon is it's writing: it's clever, hilarious, and the main duo are incredibly likeable: Kim is incredibly compitent but just as prone to teen angst as anyone her age, while Ron is incredibly panicky and goofy but far more compitent than he seems or he thinks himself to be. Our leads, Kristy Carlson Romano and va god Will Fridle in my faviorite role of his, have an effortless chemstriy between them, even before it turns romantic. You see how valuable their friendship is and how much they need each other even when they bicker.. and it turning romantic just feels.. natural. There's a risk there, and i'll likely go more into tha twhen I eventually cover so the drama (Either later this year if I can squeeze it in or early next year), but needless to say their the gold standard for friends to lovers and I love them.

The show is just.. damn good and worth checking out if you haven't. It's on Disney+ , all of it including the reboot film which is.. alright. not as good as the series but thanks to great casting and the creators involvment , still solid. Call it, beep it, reach it, it's a masterpiece and I badly hope those revivial rumors are true as i'd love to see this cast as adults.

5. Amphibia Created by Matt Braly 2019-2022 3 Seasons, 58 Episodes

Anoyone whose seem this blog before probably saw this coming. I mean I covered two whole seasons of the show and deeply love it's main cast. And Maddie. God bless my creepy frog daughter. So it being this high up isn't a huge shock.. but damn if it dosen't deserve it. Amphibia isn't perfect: some of the one off episodes, even those important later, aren't the best... but the show still plays one of the best long games in animation. The character arcs are well set up from the get go and we follow our lead Anne Boonchuy from reckless and irresponsible teen plunked into a frog world to a strong empathetic heroine who has to save both worlds from a tyrant and his abusive computer dad. Along the way there's betrayal, slice of life shenanigans, and lots of cleverly done worldbuilding. And some padding. There's just a touch padding. But the strong character arcs not just for Anne but her friends (With Sasha being my easy faviorite but Marcy not exactly far behind and complex and engaging enough to get her own spinoff journal), found family and even her earth family. It's a beautifully done three act story: what seems like a lonnnng time spent in the rural town of Wartwood ends up not only buliding up the show's supporting cast but characters who are vital to the world's salvation later. The second season shows how far anne has come while also building out the world, continuing Sasha's arc as she spirals further and giving us the glory that is marcy, cumilating in season 3, a fantastic season that reverses the premise to amazing effect and ends with a truly satisfying conclusion.. even if SOME of the getting there is messy. Hey it's #5 for a reason.

IT's a well built, hilarious, and heartfelt human into swamp water story, and one of my faviorites. I only don't say TOO much as I want anyon ewho hasn't to try this themselves. Amphibia is a masterpiece and if you haven't seen it it's WELL worth the binge with one of the best voice casts in animation (Something that's really true for everything from far out), really choice world building, and a satsifying ending. This section may of been short but damn if i don't love this show with a lot of my heart.

4. Gravity Falls Created by Alex Hirsch 2012-2016 2 Seasons, 40 Episodes

Another fairly obvious pick.. but one I weirdly HAVEN'T covered on this blog. I'll really have to fix that next year. Still just because something's obvious dosen't make it any less true. Gravity Falls is easily one of the most influental animated series of the 2010's, right up there with adventure time in kicking off the animation renaissance of that era and several of it's crew, including Matt Braly from the previous entry and a certain someone else coming up, going on to make stellar shows of their own.

It's rep and influence is well earned: Gravity Falls, like, as i've realized writing this, EVERY show on this list has a very simple elvator pitch: two kids spending the summer with their weird elderly uncle at his toursist trap get into paranormal shenanigans: Dipper as he tries to unwrap the mysteries of their temproary home and Mable as she tries to make friends, find a boy to smooch and genuinely ambles through life. She also gets a pig.

The simple setup belies not only a fairly intriguing mystery with a truly amazing twist halfway through season 2, but a fun arc villian in LIttle Gideon, the con artist next door, town hero and phony psychic, but a one of a kind, memorable and all time great vilian in Bill Cipher, a little triangle man who also happens to be a mad nightmare god trying to get into our dimension whose Chucky levels of deeply disturbing and terrifying as he is incredibly funny and charastmatic.

The rest of the cast is no slouch: Dipper and Mable are incredibly likeable, Wendy is great, played by personal faviorite of mine Linda Cardenlli and criminally underused and Soos, voiced by Hirsch along with Stan, Bill and MANY other characters, is a loveable dum dum 20 something who treats our heroes like surrogate siblings.

The real star of course, and the show stealling heart of the show is Stan Pines, the kids corrupt uncle and one of the most hilarious, and once we learn his deal heartbreaking and suprisingly complex, characters in all of animation. This show is on this list on it's own merits but woudln't nearly be so high without stan, a constant laugh machine, quote factory and powerhouse performance by Hirsch, who despite being new to voice acting steps into it like he's done this for decades. From teaching a bear to drive, to wondering if it's wrong to punch a child to "yes yes burn the child" and of course his greatest folly

Stan constantly boosts the show by existing. Add in strong character ties, a compelling mystery and, like most shows this high up a hell of a finale, and you have a true classic that understadnably changed animation forever.

Also i'm pretty sure Stan killed at least two people in that clip. No one ever talks about that. I mean I knew he had a body count but still.

3. Recess Created by Paul Germaine and Joe Ansolabehere 1997-2001 4 Seasons, 65 Episodes, 4 Movies

Recess is the oldest work on this list, ending just before KP and American Dragon started (though it'd air long into their runs as this show ran forever and rightfully so). It was also part of my childhood, airing long after it finished and being tender the whole way through.

Recess is a masterwork: while many a show stuck with me from childhood this is one that thinking back I can remember the episodes vividly, and given my memory is spotty that says something. It's a show with a lot of style, having it's characters dressed out of the 50s and 60s, with a cold war subtext I never had, but keeping it in the present to relate to kids when it's airing. It creates a vibe tha'ts both of it's time (the monstickers ep is very much of the pokemon boom), and timeless (kids STILL collect pokemon cards and despite some morons best efforts have recess and still form little clicks).

It takes two simple things kids grapple with, unfair teachers and authority figures and cliques and social circles and simply blows it up to be as big as it was in our heads: I remember having epic duels with the kids I played with , wars, whole conflicts and recess meets things on that level: the world of recess is one where the playground has a lineage of kings, the kindergartners are a feral tribe, two kids can reguarly acess shovels, and the local snitch is some sort of combination of gollumn and a weasel while keeping it just grounded enough for adults to relate to. Where rebelling against authority involves elaborate heists.

It's a perfect kind of show for kids: it meets them on their level, as it did when I was a kid.. but is smart enough that as an adult you can still enjoy it. It helps that most of the cast is three dimensional:

TJ is a loveable scamp.. but a good chunk of his schemes aren't just to stick it to the man or get some reward for him and his running crew, but to help kids. TJ's just as likely to break out of detention as he is to help a kid this week simply because they need it. He'll even help Randall, the local snitch I mentioned, despite his better judgment, simply because it's the right thing to do. He'll have to be talked into it because.. it's Randall. Randall sucks, But he'll do it. Spinelli is the tomboy of the group and will fight everyone, but has a good side to her and struggles with being a girl when she relates more to being masculine, something that's only become more relevant with time and can be read a lot of ways. Mikey is the big kid.. but a soft kind giant who deals with being sterotyped for his side. Vince is the sports kid... and okay most of his plots are around that, but we do get neat bits like him being ashamed his brother is basically urkel and having to learn his brother still slaps because unlike Urkel he dosen't harass women. Gretchen is a massive nerd, and the first role in Ashely Johnson's long and storied career, but also gladly paticipates in the schemes, has a lot of heart, and struggles.

And finally we have my boy Gus, the new kid at the start and the one I related most to being a nerdy nervous wreck myself: but he's gladly accepted into the rest of the gang, and finds a home at long last after moving around his whole life. He's got layers to him: he's a military brat, he's never really had stablility int erms of friendship, and he's often put upon, having to deal with King Bob being a jerk to him for being the new kid or bullies. Yet he's got a good heart despite being the nervous one of the group the biggest heart of them and will gladly stand up for himself when the chips are down.

Not only are these 6 fleshed out and relatable.. but they have a wholesome friendship. They'll fight sometimes, kids do, but despite being vastly diffrent people who on paper shoudln't really be hanging together.. you never doubt they like each other or would drop everything to help one another. Mostly because a good chunk of episodes are just that. Gretchen and Gus are never picked on by their friends.. teased a little, maybe , Spenelli be like that, but these six kids love and respect each other on level that's just heartwarming. You never doubt for a second these six are friends, even with Gus not having their shared history. He just fits because they like him, he's willing to do what's right, and he's a good kid. TJ is brave and noble, Spnelli is tough but dosen't punch down, Vince is cool, Mikey is insightful and kind, Gretchen is smart and clever and Gus ahs a good heart. You see the good they see in each other and it shows our diffrences.. make us better. There may be cliques at recess, but when the chips are down, TJ can get them to work together.

The series also just had a knack for creating really memorable episodes that feel entirely relatable: a trading card style boom leads to TJ becoming a rags to riches tycoon, swinger girl who always swings trying to do what all kids did and reach the other side leads to a tale about things we can't explain when she seemingly dissapears, a simple punishment leads to TJ"s teacher psychologically torturing him, a fake swear word leads to an ENTIRE COURT CASE, all stuff that's somehow realistic. The show's premise was a tool box that allowed them to tell a ton of diffrent stories, a lot of which with really adult, meaningful lessons, and the show never really got old. It only ended because Disney's attempts to continue it simply didn't work out and even with the 5th grade eps as an epilogue, it has a hell o a finale in the movie. The whole run's on disney+ and I.. really need to revisit it.. and to review it next year if possible.

2. The Owl House Created by Dana Terrace 2020-2023 3 Seasons, 43 Episodes

Let's face it even if the article image hadn't tipped my hat here.. this one being high up .. was a given. I've gushed about this show at length, covering it as season's 2 and 3 ran out, written fanfiction on this blog, and since I started doing them the show's always ranked decently on my 20 best animated episodes lists I do each year, and will likely have a spot this year for the finale. My love of this show is something I don't remotely hide and have no reason to. So it being #2 on this list is an obvious pick.. but one i'm happy to be obvious with. In fact with these last two their pretty nearly tied in my heart and it was one inching out the other.

And the weird thing is.. I didn't even watch all of season 1. I watched the first half much as I could, but while I liked it I didn't get really heavy into it. The characters were charming, the designs great and it was nice to have a show where Wendy Malick was not only voice acting, but had a MAJOR role that really let her show off her chops. I've always loved her and it was a lot of fun to get a roll this good. It was also nice to have Alex Hirsch back. The show wasn't without style, a compelling lead, a hell of a romantic arc or other attractions.. but it wasn't till later in season 1 when classicsl ike encahnting grom fright and the finale REALLY made the show into what it became.

This lead to season 2.. which is one of the best seasons of television i've ever seen, and tha'ts with the fact that halfway through they had to massively reorganize the plot to fit into 10 episodes and 3 specials, something that's only really noticable in hindsight. And i'm not hyperbolizing: the show was good before.. but season 2 enriches everything, giving the characters more depth, paticuarlly king who goes from an afterthought in season 1 to the emotoinal core of the season and Alex Hirsch's best roll... which given Stan above says a LOT. Season 2 takes the foundations of the show and really plays with them, with pretty much everyone getting a deeper character, the school stuff forced into season 1 downplayed into just showing up as needed, allowing for way more story freedom and belos increased presence and hell of a true self reveal giving us one of Disney's greatest villians. Add in hunter as a new main cast member and best good soft boy, and you have a riviting saga that kept me enthralled the whole season. Even the weaker episodes add something, and the result is something that can't be topped: a show tha'ts funny, heartfelt, unmistakably queer and unquestionably well crafted.

It also managed to pull off one hell of an ending, not only introducing my murder child who learns his lesson the collector, but doing so with only three specials to wrap up what they shoul'dve had a season to. It's a show that like Gravity Falls before it is bound to really shake up animation and influence many a show to come an dI can't wait to see the results. A true epic about finding yourself, religious indoctrination and eldrich owl and tube shaped parasites, this show is something that may never be topped and was an utter joy while it lasted. Hoot.

1. Ducktales Based on DuckTales by Jim Magon /Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks Developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones 2017-2021 3 Seasons, 69 Episodes Like #2... #1 is a show my love of has been transparently obvious: Covering season 3 started this blog, i've covered seasons 1 and 2's story arcs, and done a ton of other duck stuff from a full three cabs retrospective, to donald shorts to the very duck adjacent goofy movie. While I haven't done as much duck content this year, a shame really, and still need to finish my life and times retrospective some day... my love of Disney's Ducks has been something i've had since college and this series not only revitalized it but sent it into the fucking stratosphere with the gold standard for reboots. DuckTales is the only show here based on an existing IP, but still manages to be super creative with it. Matt and Frank took nearly 100 years of Duck stories (not hyperbole, Donald turns the big 1-0-0 himself next year), taking from the legendary barks comics, the worthy successor rosa comics, the giant pile of European duck comics, the shorts, the movies, anything Donald , Scrooge or the Boys had been in, every bit of the disney afternoon, and everything else they could shove in to creat the defintive duck universe: Something that fully and lovingly respects what cames before but uses it all to create something fresh and wholly it's own. The cast is a nice mix of reinventions of old characters and brand new ones just as good if not even better.

This can be seen well with the core cast: Scrooge only gets changed slightly, but those slight changes were BADLY needed: Scrooge is still a guy with flaws: he can get far too focused on the goal ahead and not the human cost, is egotstical as all hell, and disconected from the common person. He can raid a tomb better than anyone, sorry Indy and Lara, but god help him if he tries doing an interview or produce a film. It's a nice ballance: he's out of touch and crotchety as usual, but far less of an abusive asshole. It's also clear that while the bin stores a lot of his treasures, and he won't take one if it's owners need it, being more than happy to give Djinn his family's lamp for instance, with it only being a whole thing because Louie sold it. It paints him more as a historian than a theif and robber baron, while still keeping the nice flaws that make him who he is: he's still cheap, he just won't underpay his staff and in fact mostly recurits people other employers give up on for being too weird.

The rest of the cast is given a more extensive but needed overhall: My boy Donald is less of the likeably selfish ass he usually is, instead a loveable dad who still destroys everything he touches, but spends the first two seasons living entirely for his kids. He's more mature while still being the idiot we love.

Everyone else.. is a huge change as I said. The biggest and best.. is the boys. Usually Huey, Dewey or Louie are a hive mind of goody goods.. or obnoxious boys. Depends on what the story needs. It always annoyed me that when you have three characters there their not at all distinct and there's no real need for them. Thankfully the creators of this show understood that and thus evolved the boys into three seperate people: Huey is more like the barks comics versions, a junior woodchuck, close to his mom and uncles, and exitable.. but with a nice fine pace of neurodivergence and anxiety that not only makes him relatable to me but a fairly likeable kid: one scared of change but with all the potetial in the world. Dewey takes ab it after the more sterotypically 80s moments of the boys in the show, being a rad dude with a penchant for acting out.. but instead of a sexist bully or jerk like the boys could be, Dewey is a pure theater kid who badly wants attention and has no impulse control. He's basically Hank Venture , age 12 and i'm here for it. Finally Louie takes the boys more scheming moments from the comics and shows and boils it down into a gen z slacker who wants to work smater not harder, and not work at all if needed, who evolves from heartless lazy schemer and evil triplet to a keep observer whose just mildly shady.

While the barks 5 are all acounted for we also get nice overhauls for the ducktales three original core characters: Webby gets the best, going from just "small baby child babY" to a hyperactive girl who is easily near scrooge's level in adventureeing.. but has no idea how to socalize and still loves sparkles. She's empathetic, brave, and a contrast to what woudl turn out to be her old man: instead of growing to shut people out , she starts out badly wanting to let everyone end. Beakley likewise gets a glow up from "old lady stertotype whose constantly flustered" to "badass british former secret agent, only sane man and gender swapped brock sampson" , with Launchpad being made a loveable doofus, but still compitent since Donald's here to be the everyman.

The cast.. only gets better as it goes: Ducktales took a huge leap and decided "Hey what ABOUT the triplet's mom" turning della from a question mark that was answered all of once across nearly a century.. to a character just as vallad as her brother and uncle who have said near century on her: Della is Donald's opposite: brave, confident.. but a mess herself and stuck on the moon for half the series. Paget Brewster does a phenominal job.

I emphasise the series characters.. because tha'ts it's heart: it has solid plots, revamps and what not.. but it's a giant, instnatly loveable cast of characters: The side cast is MASSIVE pulling from all over duck history: Fehtry makes his debut, Gladstone is taken from easily one of my most hated characters in the comics to a far more loveable schister, Rockerduck finally debuts, Glomgold is turned from "Scrooge but evil" to someone badly trying to copy scrooge and the most glorious weirdo in all of fiction. Seriously Keith Fergusons glomgold is fucking majestic, and while he's never really a major threat his overinfalted ego, lack of planning, obessions with sharks and bombs and general haminess made him one of the best parts of this. You also get Magica as a genuine threat , and a mess later, Scooge's parents having a more active roll, Fenton having more of his own personality and weird swing for the fences complete and utter makeovers like Doofus Drake going from doofy kid to a very weird child who needs therapy, Donald's neighbor nemisis being his therapist or taking the zombie from voodoo hoodo, one of th emost racist and questionable things in duck comics history.. and instead making him into an unstopable juggernaut frankenstein curse ont he rich.

And of course the original cast.. is impecable. My adopted Daugther Lena is the clear standout, having covered her whole story arc on here and loving the character a lot, A cool teen TM who ends up being a traumtized girl badly needing a home, her stoic and neurodivergent sister violet, the egon to her venkman, fuckboy Mark Beaks, great final boss Bradford, gay icon Storkules, gay icon Selene, everyone's least faviorite dick Zeus.. I really coudl go on for some time and easily could but this article has taken a while. The show just had a knack for memorable loveable characters and making this world feel truly alive and humungous and scope, with gorgeous art designs.

It also had a great throughline, with Scrooge going from a man who pushed everything a way.. to the man who truly has everything, everyone growing along the way, and a finale that while a bit messy and leaving us hungering for more, really got to the hart of the show: a family that comes together after being torn apart and adds a LOT to them. It's a show unlike any other, and was truly the dream of a life time.. and I coudln't put anything else at #1. Thanks for reading.

[outlanderanatomy]

2024 SDCC – Bear McCreary Panel

Greetings all!

I continue my experience at 2024 SDCC with the Bear McCreary panel titled, “Musical World building!”

Before the panel came to the podium, heavy metal music filled the packed auditorium! 👂 Turns out, this music was from “The Singularity.” You can hear more of this composition by following this link: https://bearmccreary.com/thesingularity/

After the muscial intro, the panelists then came out individually and introduced themselves:

First  to the stage was Bear McCreary! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

We Outlander fans honor Bear who has brought us, over the seasons, the most wonderful renditions of the Sky Boat Song! And, of course, we fans are keenly aware of his numerous musical accomplishments beyond Outlander!

Next was Kyle Higgins who was unknown to me but, given the applause, was recognized by many audience members. He is best known for his work on the Batman franchise at DC Comics, namely writing the miniseries Batman: Gates of Gotham and for the Nightwing and Batman Beyond titles, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise at Boom! Studios, and Radiant Black at Image Comics.

Matias Bergara was next.  He lives in Uruguay and is a video game designer, comic book writer and artist. After winning numerous awards in South America,  he works almost exclusively for the international market, and illustrated a children‘s book by Neil Gaiman, “Odd and the Frost Giants.”

Last, but certainly not least, was Raya Yarbrough! Raya is Bear’s spouse who was beautiful and poised as always. Raya, is an eclectic poet, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Although she is most recognized as the singer of the theme for Outlander, her voice and original music have been featured in many TV series, including  Battlestar Galactica, Marvel’s Agents Of Shield, Da Vinci’s Demons, and Agent Carter.  Her album “Raya Yarbrough,” was released internationally on Telarc/Concord records. 

We were not allowed to video record this session, but I did make an audio recording. I hope you enjoy hearing the session in its entirety. Here it is!Audio Player

00:00

00:00

Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

The following are highlights from the discussion in case you missed them.

*Bear talked about working on The Singularity, a graphic musical novel that required collaboration between numerous heavy metal groups and artists of word and graphics including Kyle, Matias and Raya. His goal was to develop one cohesive vision and bring it to life by collaboration. This is the backbone of musical world-building. 

In other news, Bear is working on a broadway show titled “Particle Fever!” It is based on the Higgs boson, aka the God Particle, discovered at the CERN large particle accelerator in Switzerland. He claims molecular physic’s time has come! 🤓

Bear said his musical score for Battlestar Galactic is tattooed on his heart because he got his start there at age, 24! However, his favorite score is from Godzilla: King of Monsters!

He revealed that he decided to score an original piece for the ending credits of Godzilla. When the film was first reviewed by the bigwigs, they started to leave as the credits rolled, but Bear asked them to wait. After the credits were done, they exclaimed they hadn’t authorized money for a final piece but he explained he knew that, he just wanted to do it! Presumably, for free! 🤩

*Kyle was asked what he would tell his young self. His answer: “just finish things!” 🤗 He also said clarity is very important. And, conflict with its tension and release plays an essential role in his creative efforts.

*Matias made a comic book out of music. He advised the audience to do things honestly and directly.  😇

*Raya is a poet, song writer and singer and is now a mother of two! She told us her mother wrote “Night Terrors” for Star Trek: the Next Generation. something I did not know! As a busy mom, she has to find time during the day to compose. She says while writing lyrics, she may not know what she is trying to say until she gets to the last line! 😮

Her latest project is a collaboration with Bear based on 82 ancient wheels and cogs found in the sea near Athens. These remnants comprise the oldest known analogue computer, an orrery (model of the solar system), known as the Antikythera mechanism (image below). Raya sings the voice of the machine as they explore its psychology! 🤔

There is much more to hear in the recording so I will close with gratitude for the gifts that Raya and Bear have given to the Outlander community. Looking forward to the second half of season 7! 🤗

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

Follow me on:

Twitter: @OutLandAnatomy

Facebook: OutlandishAnatomyLessons

Instagram: @outlanderanatomy

Tumblr: @outlanderanatomy

Youtube: Outlander Anatomy

Photo and video credits: www.wikipedia.com, Outlander Anatomy, Bear McCreary

[lorirwritesfanfic]

Bedroom Warfare

Book: The Royal Heir Pairing: Liam Rys x MC (Jade) Rating: E Word count: 1117 Reading time: ~4min Summary: Jade will have to face a tough opponent to get what she wants.

Author's note:

Jade Bourbon-Rys is a creation of this author. The others are owned by Pixelberry Studios;

 I got an ask from my dear friend @missameliep​ about which one of my OTPs made it to Santa’s nice and naughty lists and it got me thinking about Jade and Liam. One would assume Liam be on the nice list. And yeah... He could be. If it wasn’t for his wife... 😂

Jade scratched her dogs' fur one more time and stood up to leave the room. Once she stepped into the hallway, her eyes darted to the door of the Royal Apartment, where Liam's security detail took their positions at last. With a smile, the queen began to whistle a Christmas Carol and ambled to her private chambers. Although she no longer argued with her husband about his tendency to work overtime, it didn't mean she gladly endure the long hours of waiting for him to come back.

"Your Majesty," Bastien bowed and the other guards followed suit.

"Hello, everyone." She then turned to Bastien. "Bas, did my ears deceive me or were Liam and the guys rehearsing to sing at Christmas brunch to cheer up Elise and Leo's twins?"

"I cannot confirm nor deny that information, ma'am."

She narrowed her eyes jokingly. "Really?"

The guard looked ahead, barely blinking.

"If it's a surprise, it's okay. I promise I won't tell or try to record it again. I just need to know when to ensure Elise will be awake to see it. The chickenpox leaves her a bit tired."

"I have no information of when it will happen, ma'am."

"So it is true."

"That's classified, ma'am."

"Okay..." Jade grinned. "Will you please remind my husband to include Silver Bells in the repertoire? It's very soothing and one of Elise's favorites lately."

Bastien glanced at the queen from the corner of an eye and nodded in response.

After giving the guard a gentle pat on his shoulder and biding everyone good night, Jade walked into the apartment made her way to the ensuite.

"Finally!" She said, shutting the door behind her. "I thought you'd never—"

Her eyes narrowed at her husband reading what looked like official documents as a pile of paperwork rested on his bare stomach.

"You've got to be kidding me..." She grumbled.

"Is everything alright, my love?"

"That depends... Are you going to ditch me for work again?"

"I'm afraid these documents can't wait," he apologized.

Huffing, she kicked off her shoes and stormed into the room, heading towards the walk-in closet.

"Jade, you weren't here when I arrived."

"Because I just put Elise to bed and took Bowie and Shirley for their night walk!" The queen shouted while she pressed a roll-on serum under her eyes and began to massage them with her fingers. Maybe that would help her relax.

"I assumed you were working late too. Your schedule is always busy in December."

"I think you're missing the fact that I have bigger priorities than planning fancy parties and socializing with nobility nowadays, Liam," she implied, leaning against the threshold.

His eyes widened. "What is it? Is Elise okay?"

"She's fine."

"Well, if Elise is okay, then what do you mean?"

The queen folded her arms and glared at him.

After a few seconds of silence, it finally hit him. "Oh..."

"Are you still going to keep working?"

"Five more pages to go."

"It's almost midnight, Liam. The kingdom can wait until you get to the office tomorrow."

"My love, I have to review next year's budget for each duchy before the holiday festivities."

Jade closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. From the very beginning, she knew marrying a dutiful man would be no walk in the park. Yet, she didn't think she would miss battles against paperwork so often.

"Fine. Next time anyone asks me again why I'm taking so long to get pregnant again, I'll tell them to ask you," she said, marching back to the closet.

"Oh, come on! You know if we have sex now, I'll crash right after," Liam shouted.

"Face it, Rys. You're getting old," she joked.

"Hey!"

She giggled.

"Besides, we can't conceive a child the way we've been doing lately."

"Funny..." She then strolled back to the bedroom. "I don't recall any complaints from you whenever I'm on my knees giving you head. Plus, you always seem to have extra energy at the slightest hint of lube, toys, anal..."

Liam heaved a sigh. "I know what you're doing and why you're doing it. But I need you to be a bit more patient while I finish these. Please."

Jade huffed and sat down on the plush chair next to the bed. Dr. Ramirez did mention the hormones would increase her libido. She never said anything about getting impatient. Was it included in the mood swings package? Hm...

She looked back at the bed, where Liam calmly read the documents. This was so unfair. How come she was there, half naked, so needy and he was still looking into documents? How dare he?!

Just then, she stood up and went to the walk-in closet once more, returning with a strawberry and vanilla body butter in one hand.

"I'll be damned if I go down without a fight..." she murmured.

Sitting back on the chair, Jade pushed her robe aside to reveal her legs and lack of underwear. With a nice portion of the butter in her palm, she warmed it between her hands and then massaged her leg on the ottoman with firm strokes.

As she switched legs, a gentle shift on the mattress caught her attention. Pretending not to notice it, Jade proceeded to warm the thick cream between her hands and apply it to her leg. Her hands ran up and down her thighs when his physical closeness became more evident.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking into finance budgets, Your Majesty?"

"There is an urgent matter I must attend to now. Otherwise, it will be too late."

"Too late?" She arched an eyebrow. "What could be so important right now?

"Well..." Liam kneeled before her, placed some of the body butter in his palm and reached for her foot. "You've been forgetting to massage your feet, my queen," he said as his hands kneaded the sole of her foot.

"Have I?"

Her gaze followed the path his hands made on her left foot and ankle.

"You spend all day walking around in high heels. Even though all shoes are custom-made for you, I believe your feet still need proper care," he whispered.

A mischievous grin spread on her lips as the king lifted her foot to kiss its bridge and switched to the other foot.

"I do forget to moisturize them sometimes..."

"We can't have that, Your Majesty."

"We certainly can't."

As his lips brushed over her ankle and trailed upwards, her breath quickened.

"Is it okay if I take care of your legs as well?" His eyes darkened as he waited for her answer.

"I guess there are other parts of my body that require your attention, my king," she murmured, spreading her legs.

"Let's see what I can do about them."

With her head lolled back while his tongue lapped on her center, a satisfied grin formed on her lips. Jade (plus vanilla-scented butter): 1 x Paperwork: 0. Victory had never been so sweet.

[stevenbasic]

Growing into the Job Post 283: Late Night TV, p2

I…hadn’t seen TV for a while. I just plain old hadn’t had one since Sheryl had kicked me out, since I’d moved into this tiny little upper-floor studio over the office. Even before that, though, I was never a big television watcher. I’d generally rather entertain myself with a book, a movie…or these days perving over pictures of Melissa. But earlier today I’d come home after work to find that Marisela had set up a big-screen TV in my apartment for me, perched precariously on a stand, sitting atop an old dresser in the corner. She’d hooked me up with a bunch of streaming services and channels, and connected it all somehow to a plain little black box and an old-timey looking remote with what were certainly not English command symbols. Cool, I guess…it looked sorta fishy but there’d be no bill or fee or whatever, she told me, and therefore I didn’t ask too many questions. Pirated? Probably. But I couldn’t afford subscriptions, let alone the 72” flat screen that now dominated my apartment and at which I now stared from my threadbare couch at 2am. 

TV was weird, these days. I watched the network news for a while, earlier. Everyone was talking about these three missing teens, disappeared since Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night.  They suspected foul play from the kid who was with them, the one with the crazy story about witches with tentacles. In fact I’d seen an interview with Sheila Frances, the new medical director at Riverview Hospital, the place from which I’d recently had my privileges suspended and where the boy was currently being held for observation. “We expect the toxicology reports to come back positive,” she’d said to the interviewer, a busty brunette, “but in the meantime the policewomen are still with him.”

I found it funny how she made a point to say ‘policewomen’. That when talking about the investigators, or the team of docs working with the kid, she referred to them all as ‘she’ or ‘her’. I found it unusual that the interviewer, the news anchors, the sports reporter, and the weather person for this local news squad…they were all women. Most of the actors on the ads, the main leads on the majority of the shows I flipped through: all female faces. Young and attractive, lots of times shapely. Had this trend, this fixation for the tall and buxom, already changed TV’s landscape like this? Or was I just imagining things? I mean, I wasn’t complaining. I mean…wow. Look at the knockers on her…this new sitcom about life on Mars? Apparently NASA has new standards for its astronauts haha. Or the girls on this 24-7 reality TV show? “Celebrity House of Trouble”? Wait…did I recognize that one?

Yikes, 2am. I'd been straight-up channel surfing for hours, now bleary eyed and exhausted but unable to look away, sitting in the dark, bathed by the ghostly, flickering light of the screen. I chalked it up to its newness, made my excuses that I was just checking out what sort of stuff Marisela had hooked up for me, told myself I could sleep in tomorrow. But I was basically like a zombie - click, click, clicking through the channels I’d been given. Networks and streaming services: some I knew, many I didn’t recognize. Cooking channels, travel channels, sports channels. Weird stuff, on the outskirts. Foreign languages, broadcasts from overseas. Special interest channels like…dog grooming. A ‘Men’s Network’…what’s this, now?

It was labeled as ‘Men’s Special Interest Television’ on the guide, and by the looks of it was a pretty new addition to the channel lineup, deep in the high channel numbers, broadcasting only late at night. But…wow. It caught my attention. Jesus - the host for whatever sort of show they were playing, something about video games, could be a porn star with hipster glasses. I actually watched it for a bit, raptly absorbing their review of some new entry that involved, holy shit, look at the jugs on that enormous vampire lady. She’s huge…

The segment was over, and suddenly now it was a cooking show. “Dani in the Kitchen”, whose bosomy, MILF-y chef coo’d at the camera like she was talking to a little lost child. Christ almighty Dani can make dinner for me any time. Now it switched to a sports report, now coverage of women’s bodybuilding, now just straight-up tits on the beach. Camera shots lasted moments, scenes and programming changed quickly. Whatever this channel was, it obviously pegged its audience as having attention spans measured in moments and IQs in the double-digits…and I couldn’t look away. 

Even the ads…lord, especially the ads…were filled with content playing into man’s basic instincts to just flat-out stare and lay docile when shown the right curves, the proper swells and smiles. Cleavage and soft-core and busty political candidates pitching themselves before the election bulged from my screen and I caught myself with my mouth agog, even at the political ads. Had I been watching this channel for more than two hours already? I don’t remember much, now, as I was eventually drifting in and out of sleep, but could still probably recite word-for-word that voice-over from the self-promoting station-identification piece that played in nearly every commercial break, layered over imagery that seemed custom crafted for someone like me…

======================================

Thanks to Ray Ridley, a new contributor, for her voice work on the MSIT promo audio, and AgeOfTheGiantess for lots of inspiration on this entry. 

Ray Ridley tiktok

[srorgana1]

Into the Reverb (Kylo Ren/Reader)

Chapter Five

The rest of your work week was a blur. Ochi for some reason was focused on finishing his EP, so he took up most of your time. You can say with certainty EDM was not your strong suit but he seemed pleased with it. You split your remaining time with Rae working with the Knights and Sand Scavengers. She said she didn’t mind at all. By the pep in her step, you were not surprised.

As you sat in an empty studio room, you continued to go over and finalize Ochi’s material. You will be submitting it shortly for executive review. As much as it was a review on him, it was a review of you. You took a deep breath and a big swig of your citrus infused water. You brought one of the guitars with you today, hopeful to fill some of your remaining room time with playing after you got done. You missed being able to get lost in the magic.

—

In another studio room, a large hand slams into the wall. Kylo was frustrated. He had not seen you much this week. He had been stuck with Rae and while the guys didn’t mind her, he did.

Her overt flirting was getting tiresome. He literally pushed her off his lap yesterday. The residual memories of how your body felt as he carried you continued to haunt him. Maybe Kuruk was right and he did need to get some. Definitely not from Rae though, even though it seems she is more than willing.

He turns to see Cardo and Trugden sitting at the soundboard. Rae and Kuruk were nowhere to be found. Typical. They were reviewing the instrumentals for the intro and chorus for their newest song.

Kylo fucking loved it. It had the heavy feel of their older material. Him and Vic could share vocals on it. Problem is they don’t have lyrics for it yet. Kylo was the primary writer for the group but constantly felt restricted when they were with the First Order. He has never felt so free as he does here.

Problem is he hasn’t made up his mind on the song and its direction and he was running out of time. “I’m gonna go grab some water, you want anything?” he asks. Neither men respond. He grumbles as he walks out the door towards the cafeteria.

Taking a glance at the schedule board, he does a double take to see your name on two rooms. One is marked with KOR. The other is Room #6, but there’s no band name listed. Hmm, interesting. His curiosity gets the better of him and heads to room #6.

Upon looking into the window, he notices it's smaller than the others. Maybe for acoustic artists? There is movement and his eyes snap to your form in the chair. You are alone with headphones on, hair pulled back in space buns and a guitar in your arms. Your head is moving rhythmically as your fingers move across the strings and frets. He knows in his soul he HAS to hear you play.

He slips his large form though the door and as silently as he can, leaning onto the doorframe. He just wants a taste of your talent. As he listens, he notices that you are classically trained. Not self taught like him.

The rhythm soaks in. He knows it but not. You seem to have added your own spin to an already existing song. As you start to sing, goosebumps erupt along his skin.

Hello

I’ve waited here for you

Everlong

Tonight, I throw myself into

And out of the red

Out of her head, she sang

Come down and waste away with me

Down with me

Slow, how you wanted it to be

I’m over my head

Out of her head, she sang…

Kylo closes his eyes and lets the sound envelop him. You are so talented, stupidly talented. You shouldn’t be hiding away in an empty room or behind a soundboard. Based on the lights you have on, you are not recording. You are literally playing simply for the pleasure of it.

His heart starts to accelerate as a ripple of arousal flows through him. He focuses on your sweet melodic voice as his mind envisions all the other beautiful sounds it could make. He shifts himself in his jeans to relieve the pressure.

He needs to remove himself before he does something stupid. But before he does, he promises the universe he will make you see what he sees. Show you how much he savors your talents. He wants to kiss those sweet lips and have those talented fingers touch him.

You sing the final lyrics as he slips out and closes the door. He takes a couple deep breaths to calm his body down. He knows he can’t stay here. What the fuck was I even doing before this? Water. That’s right, I was getting water. As he stiffly walks the rest of the way to the cafeteria, he continues to muse all the beautiful music they will make together.

Big thanks to my girls @asnackdriver @punk-in-docs @the-wayward-rose @thepilotanon @ladyzimmerman for their amazing support.

[nel-world]

hi

. STUDIO SPACE - DAY SCENE 1

Anita and Nick walk around a studio space, deeply immersed in their characters, reading from scripts. They are face to face.

ANITA Sure, because whatever you're doing now is just too brilliant.

NICK Look, I know it seems like I'm wasting time, but this is important to me.

ANITA Well, while you're off chasing dreams, I'm stuck dealing with reality. 2. NICK What’s that supposed to mean?

ANITA It means I can't keep waiting around for you to figure things out.

NICK I'm not asking you to wait. I'm asking you to believe in me.

ANITA Believe in you? Believing doesn't pay the bills

EXT. NYC - DAY

Anita and Nick rehearse a scene. 11. NICK Let’s rehearse the opening song of the musical.

ANITA (singing, with feeling) "In the shadows, where I’ve been so long, I’m searching for a place where I belong…

But deep inside, I feel a spark, A way to chase away the dark…"

Nick steps closer, joining in with his own verse.

NICK (singing, encouraging) "I’ve walked through nights with no end in sight, But I’m holding on, I’ll find the light…

We’ve got the strength, we’ve got the will, Together, we can climb this hill…"

ANITA (singing, harmonizing with Nick) "We’ll rise above, we’ll break these chains, And leave behind all the pain…

In the light, we’ll stand so tall, And in the end, we’ll have it all…"

NICK That’s good.

ANITA (sighing) This musical started as a way to express something I've felt for a long time.

NICK What does it mean to you? 12. ANITA My mother was a performer. She used her art to escape. I wanted to honor that.

NICK I didn’t know. That’s powerful.

//

extension to this

NICK Anita, can we talk? I messed up, but we need to address this.

ANITA (slightly softening) It’s hard to forget. 15. NICK I thought confessing would help. I’ve been stressed

ANITA Stressed about what?

NICK the rent, work, my dad’s health. I wanted to fix everything with this project.

ANITA Why didn’t you tell me?

NICK I didn’t want to seem weak. I care about you and the project. Give me another chance.

Nick hands her a stack of papers.

NICK (CONT'D) I rewrote the script, added your ideas, and got help with the set design. It’s your story—I want to tell it right.

ANITA (touched) You did this for me?

NICK Yes. Let me prove it.

ANITA (sighs, then smiles) Okay. Together.

NICK (smiling) Together.\

///

NICK (anxiously) We’ve got less than an hour. If we miss this, we lose our shot.

ANITA (tensely) I know, but it has to be perfect.

NICK (glancing at the clock) 45 minutes left.

ANITA (urgently) Let’s review the climax. It needs to hit hard.

They flip through the script quickly. 19. ANITA (CONT'D) More emotional impact.

NICK (nodding) The lead should confront their deepest fear before the resolution.

ANITA (excited) Yes, make them feel the struggle.

NICK Let’s add a pause before the final song.

ANITA (nodding) Good idea.

///

before

ANITA “So it should be…”

NICK That sounds good.

Anita’s phone rings, breaking the tension.

NICK (CONT'D) What is it?

ANITA The producer wants to talk… there’s an offer.

NICK That’s good. 20. ANITA He wants to take it to London, but he doesn’t think you should be involved.

NICK What? Why?

ANITA He thinks the musical needs a different vision.

NICK After everything, they want to cut me out?

ANITA Nick, I’ll talk to him.

NICK We’ve poured our souls into this, and now they want to push me aside?

ANITA Nick, you matter. Let me talk to the producer.

NICK Will they listen? Or is it already decided?

Anita is silent.

NICK (CONT'D) I’ve given everything to this. If they take it away, what’s left?

ANITA We’ll figure this out, I promise.

NICK Yeah… together

///

EXT. NYC - DAY SCENE 13

She pulls out her phone and dials Nick’s number, but he doesn’t answer. She leaves a voicemail, her voice cracking slightly.

ANITA (softly) I’m… I’m leaving for London. I just got the final offer from the producer. He’s giving us a shot, but only if I go alone. I don’t know if this is the right choice, but I can’t let this opportunity slip away. I’m sorry. I hope you understand. I’ll never forget what we’ve created together. Goodbye, Nick.

Anita hangs up, her hand shaking. She looks around the studio one last time, feeling a deep sense of loss as she prepares to leave. The place that once felt like home now feels like a reminder of the dream that’s slipping away

////

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

I was gonna reblog this to say that while OP is right, I don't think it's so much "media literacy is dead" as it is "media itself has been truncated for profit and therefore it doesn't matter how much the writers understand the original point when they have to boil it down to fit the new timeframe the execs decided on anyway".

But then I did the math and it turns out the runtime is exactly the same.

20 episodes x 24 minutes = 480 minutes

8 episodes x 60 minutes = 480 minutes

What the heck. What are the writers even doing with all that time if not going off on wacky adventures?

But OP I do need to say something about these tags:

#like this fanbase's analysis comes close to that of the lord of the rings fandom #and yet you seem to have completely ignored it

1) Until ATLA has a notable population of fans with PhDs in various Medieval Asian Studies who publish peer-reviewed journals dedicated to the show, host annual conferences, and are referred to as ATLA Scholars, I'm afraid this fandom is nowhere near the level of the Tolkien fandom.

2) Even if ATLA did have such things, I doubt it would help, because the existence of Tolkien Scholars did not protect LOTR. A lot of liberties were still taken with the plot and characters in Peter Jackson's film trilogy, the most egregious probably being Faramir's characterization in The Two Towers and Denethor getting boiled down to a selfish and stupid leader, but also Galadriel's moment of temptation, Legolas's entire personality disappearing, Gimli getting reduced to comic relief, and Aragorn's reluctance to take the throne in general. And Tolkien Scholars were not a new or unknown phenomenon at the time--they've been around since at least the 70s, some of them were consulted while making the films, and it's safe to say that New Line Cinema was extremely wary of upsetting Tolkien fans in general (as evidenced by the fact that they completely scrapped all the scenes they'd already filmed of Arwen fighting at Helm's Deep because Tolkien purists pitched a fit).

That intense level of fan dedication still wasn't enough to protect the characters, and those films are from an era when studios still cared enough to put some heart and soul into their work.

But that's turned out to be the Jackson films' saving grace. Because when compared to the source material, the films are sorely lacking--but taken on their own, they're excellent pieces of art. I love the films, but whenever I watch them I'm always running a comparison to the books in the back of my mind. I can see where the missing pieces are. But I can also see why they were removed, and I can feel how much care and love and effort were put into the movies by everyone who worked on them. That's why the Jackson trilogy still captivates new viewers over 20 years later.

We'll have to wait and see if Netflix ATLA manages to pull off the same effect despite its own departure from the source material. Maybe the lack of Season 1's goofiness will be made up for with something else. Maybe it'll stand up on its own merits. Or maybe this'll be a novel blip in ATLA fandom history before we all ignore it and go back to prioritizing the cartoon.

One thing I do know for sure tho is that if Season 1 isn't goofy in live action, people who watch the live action first and then get into the cartoon are gonna complain about Book 1 being too silly or full of filler. Calling it right now, that's gonna be the #1 complaint among YouTube reactors. But it'll be a good way to weed out the weak. :P

Ok now we're just taking the piss right? Right?

Once again this sort of thinking is removing a fundamental character arc that makes this story what it is. A big part of Aang's journey, especially in season 1, but tbh it does return in later seasons too, is accepting that he is the Avatar, and that he's the only one who can end this war. During the whole first season he is in complete denial about who he is and what he's supposed to do, which is why in most of this season there's no sense of urgency, and then once Aang gets faced with a very real, very close deadline he panics. This makes it even more brutal when in season 3, after accepting this responsibility, he gets faced with the reality of failure. He runs away again, this time not because he doesn't want responsibility, but because he knows how heavy his responsibility is and he doesn't want to burden anyone else with it. Removing the first aspect, aka running away and denying responsibility, it in turn also removes the heavy emotion from his later arc.

It keeps surprising me that people who claim to be such fans of the original seem to completely miss the point of most of this story? Like how could you look at Sokka learning about women's rights, Aang learning to accept responsibility, and Katara's motherly warmth which happened because how young she was when she had to step into a motherly role, and think "well we should remove that." You're taking out all of character development and going purely off of plot (which isn't gonna be nearly as good without the character development!)

Atla is probably one of the most analyzed and picked apart story, has one of the most long running loyal fanbases, people are STILL making thinkpieces about this show, and you manage to still misunderstand so much???

[lewisibarra1512]

What Universal should do with animation - My thoughts

Nobody believed me when I developed a huge hatred towards Warner Bros. since I was actually born in the 90's. But now, seeing they were devoured up by Discovery by cancelling every single show to date and delisting them all from HBO Max as a result of the merger Warner Bros. Discovery goes to show that my hatred towards the former was a lot improved over the years. And you know what? It was fun. And hilarious.

However, considering their competitor Universal Pictures already won the animation market last year with big hits like the Bad Guys, the Rise of Gru and the Last Wish, this begs a very important question: what can Universal do within the animation industry?

Since we're now in 2023, I went ahead and shared my five reasons:

Take their division Universal Animation Studios too seriously - Since 1990 / 1991, Universal Animation Studios (or Universal Cartoon Studios) was established to create animated shows based upon popular IP such as Back to the Future, An American Tail, Problem Child and Casper. Their previous works on film included Curious George and Woody Woodpecker; the latter of which... wasn't well received due to it being restricted to direct-to-video. However, to ensure that animation can be made as fun and attractive, as coined by NBCUniversal CEO and president Jeff Shell, it can not only be made for kids but also for adults too. What I would imagine is that a new animated series should be based around any highly acclaimed film, or just make it original. If successful, it might develop a fan base that would cater to all viewers, no matter what genre.

Acquire [adult swim], Boomerang and Cartoon Network with a bit of rebranding - I know I'm going to drag too much naysayers in this post, but hear me out. Imagine if NBCUniversal casually negotiated with Warner Bros. Discovery by owning the rights to all three divisions [adult swim], Boomerang and CN, and then they'd be split as three respective channels, they'd be rebranded as a certain following: Universal Animation Network (Kids and Families), Universal Animation Classics (everyone) and Universal Animation Alternate. The latter of which is similar to [adult swim] but as a full-on focus for adult animation. All original animated shows to air 24 hours with Woody Woodpecker, including re-runs of Universal Animation Studios produced programmes while hiring former CN animators and artists who were ousted by David Zaslav himself and then get experimental and inspired. Just to keep viewers waiting while new shows are presented without cancelling them. Oh, yeah. Don't shoehorn live action on every network unlike what Stuart Snyder did. Then relaunch said programmes on Peacock in case they miss out. Speaking of Peacock...

Make original animated web shows on Peacock? - Similar to Woody Woodpecker who received a 2018 web series on YouTube, Universal Animation Studios should consider making more original animated shows on their live streaming service Peacock. It can develop new shows as timed exclusives before being aired on either one of the following networks (original, Classics or Alternate) or just YouTube in case no one signs up for the app. Afterwards, it'll help NBCUniversal and Team Peacock to boost more interest into the animation market, just like how DreamWorks Animation had creative control with Jurassic World and Fast & Furious. Sure it had mixed reviews since launch, but after hearing it was the big home to the New Woody Woodpecker Show that debuted on FOX Kids circa 1999, every animation viewer immediately signed up for the app and started to binge watch the living hell out of it. Though, I haven't seen the entire show since it was aired. Luckily, I still have Peacock installed on my iPad Pro, but haven't had the time to sign up for it. Maybe in March, I could consider using a year round subscription so I don't miss out what's going on (i.e. the Super Mario Bros. Movie).

Win against WAG, Disney and Nick while avoiding negative actions - Whether it's from Illumination, DreamWorks or their original animation division, Universal has a huge library of animated content that's from the classics. Unlike Disney, Pixar nor Warner Bros., they don't force too much wokeness nor political nonsense into their projects. And, unlike Netflix nor Nickelodeon, they don't delist any good programme off Peacock despite cancellations. As stated, animation is all about fun and attractiveness, including going experimental in a unique style. Their division DreamWorks Classics has full access to many animated shows such as Harvey Toons, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, Postman Pat, Felix the Cat, Rocky & Bullwinkle and others to show Disney, Warner and Nick who's the real boss. And in case Christmas is around the corner, throw in some Rankin Bass specials so people can get excited again!

What could be next for Universal Animation Studios? - With Warner Bros. Animation now being gutted down by Zaslav and Disney & Pixar facing giant controversies over layoffs and box office bombs, the Rise of Gru and both DreamWorks Animation films (including Jeff Shell involved) could open the gates to their division once again and show undeniable proof that animation can be made for everyone to enjoy. And it's not exactly about kids nor adults. Universal can then reach out to fired employees of both Disney and Warner Bros. and pitch new and original ideas with a talented story, a line of characters and even memorable moments that can make anyone feel lighthearted about watching said content. Love it or hate it, Universal Animation Studios is certainly the future.

And that's all there is about my reasons why Universal should admire animation more than others. But my certain thoughts about it? Well, I have a feeling 2023 is about to get more interesting with the new animated Mario film and Trolls 3 set to be released in cinemas prior to Peacock re-releases. And as an avid Universal enjoyer, I appreciate their hard work now. :)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Sept 2021 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Bite Me Ep 4 (Viu & Viki) - people always talk about how much time and patience it takes to make Thai deserts and I think maybe this show is trying to teach us all that life lesson. I’m still loving the quiet pace of it but I’m sure many are finding it dull as dishwater. The leads are good, even though they’re not being given much to work with (script, what script?) they sure seem sweet on each other. 

Don’t Say No Ep 8 (Line) - having decided that this is basically MAME fanficcing all over herself, I decided this week that this show is ALSO a soap opera, and now I don’t mind anything about anything anymore. The recaps continue apace, and I got pun happy and made up some silly BL soap opera titles. 

7 Project Ep 4 (miss-labeled ep 3 on YouTube ) Once Upon A Time (iQiYi & YouTube) - BounPrem showing us why they are one of the most popular Thai acting pairs, they do LTR beautifully. This installment hurt a lot. Too close to home for any queer who has struggled to come out, been/dated a closet case, and/or went for overachievement and perfection in other parts of life to compensate for the perceived “weakness” of being gay. Which is... oh let me guess... why yes: ALL OF US. Mek makes the right call, and we all know it, but it was real hard to watch. While this one felt like the most cohesive vignette in this series, I still felt taxed by it. Honestly, why does Thailand struggle so much with short form when Strongberry can give us an entire cohesive story in two 7 minute installments? Bah, I’m frustrated. 7 Project is upsetting me. I’m having negative feels, okay? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Peach of Time Ep 8, 9 (WeTV & Viki not USA, I’m finding it on DM) - so many BL tropes this time around (hair dry etc) that I have to conclude this show is falling solidly into the BL genre (despite the inevitable ending, remember HEA is not guaranteed with BL). I doubted it at first. Silly me. It really is adorable but quite sad. Did I cry? Yes I did. I have to say YoonOh has grown on me, the actor is really good and it’s a nice contrast to Peach’s softness. (Did you notice Peach uses chan instead of pom with YoonOh? Fascinating.)  I’m starting to pipe dream other combos. Anyone know if Mew or Saint speak Mandarin? Imagine what either one of those boys might get up to in Taiwan... just saying. 

- Friend or Lover (YouTube) Ep 6 - still waiting on the final of this Taiwanese indie series.

Love is Science? (BL sub plot Viki) Ep 14 - still not subbed on Viki so I’ll review it next week. 

Love Is the series (YouTube) Ep 4 - it’s fine for a V-BL, not wowing me but not scaring me by going off the rails the way some have. 

See You After Quarantine? (Viki) Ep 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 - this Japan/Taiwan crossover BL is set during C19 and is their answer to Gameboys and IT’S GREAT. I’m calling it for Taiwan since it just *feels* more like a Taiwanese piece. It’s truly adorable, light weight, and VERY queer. I adore it. 

The Tasty Florida (Viki) Ep 1 & 2 - Korean BL staring Yoo Hwan of SPEED in an 8 episode run of less than 10 minutes each (we back to Korea being a short arse). Hitting us RIGHT off the bat (TS 1.20) with both a rescue and a crash into me trope. We got us a country mouse foundation and an innocent little floppy-haired cutie with an inclination to voiceover, HaeWon. The 4 rooftop pink-shirts are all different yet perfectly K-pop hot and I’m getting Boys Over Flowers vibes. It’s cool, and very relaxed for a Koren BL (which often feel stiff). More To My Star than Light On Me. I like everything about this show but the perilla oil (I love most vegetables but shiso/perilla leaf, nope.) Also, bonus we got us an out bisexual Harold, thus I predict Second Lead syndrome for me! WEEEEEEE!  

In Case You Missed It

Korean queer studio Strongberry dropped the second chapter of their micro series A First Love Story Ep.2. It’s so so so good. We do not deserve them. 

Chapter of Green is a new Thai BL airing on TikTok (the way that Starhunter one did - what was it called? - Roommates, or something). Anygay I don’t tok the tik so all ya’ll are on your own with this puppy. No MDL listing. Started Sept 17 and drops new eps every Mon, Weds, Fri.

GOSSIP! 

Between Us has supposedly started filming. Tumblr caught fire over Boun posting to his insta (or something) a photo of the Win wings tattoo on his back once again. There was also supposedly a Between Us LIVE on Sept. 21st. Between Us (based on the y-novel Hemp Rope) is the Thai BL follow up to Until We Meet Again. 

GMMTV seems to have also started filming Enchante. This is a little sad because we all though Bad Buddy or Not Me was next, but I’m still excited about this BL and happy to see new leads. 

We might be getting a season 2 of Korean BL To My Star (thanks for the tip, Sarge). This is one of my few 10/10 rated BLs, so it makes me nervous. Why mess with perfection? But I do love this pair. So, yes please but also DON’T FUCK IT UP. 

There is a new Laotian BL coming called 7 Days 7 Boys, it will be on Tara Academy’s YouTube channel. 

KinnPorsche more info. 

New Japanese BL coming too: Vanishing My First Love AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (also The First Love That Disappeared, My Love Mix-Up! look Japanese BL does this with titles). This is adapted of a manga and features a bisexual main character with a male/male\female love triangle (not sure if it’s real or faen fatale). Starts airing October 9 on TV Asahi, but it has not yet been picked up for international distribution. (If it doesn’t we will have to wait for indie subs... makes big pleading eyes at Mitch of irozuku.org) LOOK AT THE PRETTY: 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International subs accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

This week’s best moments?

[suchalonelysunflower]

Take Your Feelings, Put Them Into a Song (A.I)

Pairing: Ashton Irwin x Wallows! Fem! Reader

Requested: yes!

Summary: Y/N Sixx, bassist from the famous band Wallows, is helping 5SOS write their latest album CALM. If only she could keep her crush on the drummer under control…

Warnings: Fluff. Language. Some grammatical errors (English is not my first language, I’m sorry)

Word Count: 4.6 k

Author’s Note: IM BACK! Remember that Reblogs, Likes, Comments and Feedback are very important! You have no idea how much they help 💕 Hope you like it and Happy Reading 🦋🌻✨

My materialist // wanna be part of my tag list?

anon: Can you do a one-shot where the reader was born on 1996 and she’s the daughter of Nikki Sixx and Brandi Brandt and it’s the bassist and songwriter of Wallows (…) and she helps 5sos write songs for the album CALM and starts dating Ashton and the fans go nuts (in a good way) with shipping? There’s no drama like it was in EUH

It was another boring day in the studio and you would literally prefer to do anything else than to listen to Cole talk about the last date he had instead of working on your new song. But inspiration was lacking between you and your bandmates and you really had no other choice since you already took that time on the studio’s schedule.

One would believe that you would be used to dull times in the studio, having spent a lot of time on them while growing up with your parents, but boredom was a cruel crime inside your head and today your patience was running thin.

“Hey, peanut!” Dylan called your attention “Everything good there?”

You were laying on the sofa, looking at the ceiling for some kind of saving grace, but Dylan’s voice brought you back to your reality.

“Are we going to get something done today?” You asked with a sigh, with your eyes still glued to the ceiling “Cause we are really just wasting time by now and I don’t think Cole’s last fling will bring any kind of inspo into our little group”

“Hey!” Cole protested, earning a chuckle from Braeden.

“Whatever,” You said, already getting up from your spot “I’m going to take a walk”

You took a deep breath once you closed the door to your private room. You loved the guys, you really do, but sometimes people can be too much, especially people who you spend every single day and hour with.

Memories from the past year started to fill your mind and you smiled when thinking about how much your little band has grown. Wallows was now everywhere, you created a name for yourself without using your parent’s influence and you were so damn proud of that, yet when moments like these come around - the moments where you just need to breathe to escape the reality for just a while - you start to reflect on every choice you made and if they were the right ones.

It’s the overthinking that got you to write those first lyrics in the first place, the ones that were put into songs and now were, somehow, all over TikTok with thousands of people relating to them. So maybe, overthinking now might not be such a bad idea after all.

“It’s a terrible idea if you think about it for more than one minute, mate”

You stopped in your tracks when you heard that voice, thinking that maybe you were finally going crazy or someone could’ve read your mind. But it wasn’t until you heard someone else answer that you realized it was a conversation.

“Well, I don’t know what to do with it anymore!”

You turned your head to the left and smiled when you saw the little sign that said “5SOS now in session. DO NOT DISTURB” And realized that your other favorite boys were back in town.

Of course you ignored the sign and knocked on the door a couple of times before opening it shamelessly.

“Well, well, well…” You said with a teasing smile as you leaned over the door frame “If it isn’t my second favorite Aussie band”

The faces of two of the members of said band light up once they realize it was you, quickly getting up to wrap you in a hug.

“Mini Sixx!” Calum said, ruffling his hand through your hair “About time you came to visit us”

You pushed him and Luke away from you “And you should’ve told me you’re back from your break! I could’ve escaped Dylan and the other minions earlier”

“Rough session?” Luke asked, seating down and patting the place next to him for you to sit on.

“Oh, you have no idea”

You loved the 5sos guys, it was impossible not to. Ever since you met them at a label party in 2015 when you were introduced to them because you were the same age as half of the group, you knew that they were made to be on the stage.

It was easy to become their friend, given their welcoming attitude and easy-going smiles even before they found out who your parents were. It was nice for a change not to be Y/N Sixx, daughter of the famous bassist of Mötley Crüe and famous Playboy doll Brandi Brandt, for a moment and just be Y/N, a bassist that had a lot to give to the world. And with the boys you didn’t even have to try to be someone you were not, with them everything was just so… real.

Just like now, where you were allowed to complain about your lovely bandmates to them and they would complain just as well, with no judgment nor responsibilities, just three friends letting out some steam due to the stress of your careers.

“-And basically we don’t know what else to do with the song” Luke finished his rant on the missing piece of their new song for their next album.

“And you have the lyrics ready?”

“Yeah, me and my girl wrote it a few weeks ago but the melody is just…”

“It’s missing something” Calum finished for him with a sigh.

You hummed “Can I see it?”

The two Australians got to work, playing the song with the piano and the guitar and you came to the conclusion that they were right: there was something big missing.

“So it’s a ballad,” You said, thinking of ways to fix it.

“Technically yes, but when you play it like that it sounds incomplete and the lyrics won’t work with another type of rhythm” Luke sighed “We’ve been at it for days now.”

You stayed quiet for a while, reviewing the lyrics and melody more carefully now, analyzing the situation with different approaches but without getting anywhere. It was a beautiful song, it truly was, but it needed something else, something that could create a “boom” sensation for whoever was listening.

Something like…

“Hey guys, have you finished with the- Oh, Hey, Y/N/N!” Ashton said, opening the door and finding you with his bandmates in deep concentration.

Bingo.

“Uh, why are you smiling at me like that?” Ashton asked you with a chuckle, but you didn’t even address him as you turned to Luke and Calum.

“It needs drums”

“What?” The three men said in unison. You rolled your eyes and snatched the notes from Calum’s lap and started to sing the melody.

“Here!” You pointed out “In this part, before finishing the first chorus: I already made, already made that…” And then you started to make drum noises and movements with your arms for them to get the idea.

In a matter of seconds, Luke got up from his seat and walked towards you, taking the notes from you and reviewing them with new eyes, smiling as he got the idea.

“Ha!” He laughed loudly, “You’re a fucking genius!”

“Thank you,” You said with a smug smile as you, Calum and Luke started to discuss the arrangements.

“Wait, hold up” Ashton interrupted the chatter “Y/N, I appreciate you trying to help and no offense and all but I think this isn’t your place to just decide something like that,” He said, pointing to the three of you.

You rolled your eyes. You’ve dealt with stubborn people before, but Ashton did take a spot on your top three and you knew just how to handle him.

“Wow,” You said sarcastically with a teasing smile “One would think that by being half of the rhythm section you would have more… I don’t know, rhythm?”

Ashton crooked an eyebrow and you and you knew you had him in the bag “I just don’t think-”

“You don’t think?” You said, getting up from your chair and walking up to him to be almost chest to chest. You looked up to his eyes and challenged him “Or you just can’t handle the fact that I might’ve had a better idea than you”

You could see by the sparkle in his eyes that he has taken the challenge to heart. He took a step closer to you, almost pressing his body completely against yours, and smirked.

“Want me to prove you wrong, princess?” He teased but you didn’t back up.

“I’d like to see you try, darling”

Ashton’s smirk widened as he took a step back, turning his head towards Luke and Calum who were watching the scene with intrigued eyes and knowing smiles “Get your asses back in the recording booth”

He followed them as they walked into the big recording space they had, but not before sending you a wink seconds after he closed the door.

You were thankful he didn’t see you blush.

Once they were all set with their instruments - Calum on the keys, Luke on the guitar, and Ashton behind his drum set - You pressed the buttons of the console that would make it possible for you to hear them at the other side of the mirrored glass.

“Okay boys, show me what you got”

*

You became an official 5SOS songwriter after that day and even Ashton had to admit that you were adding so much more to the band lyrics and melodies since you started to work with them.

Every day you would find yourself walking towards their studio after your band’s session and you start to work wherever they left off. It was a simple dynamic that worked wonders for everyone and after every session, you would get even more inspired to write your own music for Wallows, so it was a win-win situation, not to mention, spending time with your new co-workers; especially a particular drummer that grew closer to you that you would’ve ever imagined.

When you first met the band you hit it off pretty quickly with Luke and Calum, them being the same age as you and having pretty much the same interests; then came Michael that shared a similar sense of humor with you and with whom you discussed videogames with. But Ashton was always the one that you consciously tried to not get too close to.

In all honesty, he intimidated you but not in a bad way. He was smart, talented, and super funny, not to mention also ridiculously handsome. But he was also stubborn, a little bit egotistical, and the only one that could keep up with you in a battle of wits, teasing, and sarcasm. And you knew that if you mixed that all together it might mean trouble, especially when he smiled at you like that.

Of course you had a crush on him, who wouldn’t? But the fact is that you know what it is like to date in the industry and having feelings for a member of another pretty famous band might bring some tension to the table, so it was safer to play the crushing card and just stay friends. Or at least that’s what you tell yourself every day since you started to see him regularly and spend more time with him than with any other of the two bands.

Speaking of…

“Earth to Y/N?” Called Braeden waving a hand in front of your face “Is anybody there?”

You blinked a few times before pushing his hand away with a scoff “Very funny, B. What’s up?”

“You spaced out again” Cole added, fidgeting with his drumsticks “Just when we were going to start complimenting you on that bass line you wrote the other day…”

You smiled as you threw a pillow at him that he was able to easily dodge “Sorry, I was just-”

“Thinking about a particular drummer again?” Dylan teased, to which Cole added.

“I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to fall in love with me”

You searched for other pillows and started to throw them at your band members, giggling as they started to throw them back at you and starting an improvised pillow fight in the middle of the recording booth.

“Hey, Y/N/N! I was wondering if you-” Ashton’s sentence was cut short as he opened the door and took in the scene that was in front of him.

You were so busy chasing Breaden with a pillow on each hand and a devilish smile that you didn’t even notice when the door opened or that Ashton was standing there, smiling at you with his arms crossed as you aimed at your bandmate's head.

“Oh look, peanut!” Dylan said teasingly “You knight in shiny armor is here to-” But before he could say anything more embarrassing, you threw a pillow directly at his face to shut him out.

You quickly turned your head to Ashton who was fairly amused by your battle skills and smiled at him.

“Hey!” You said breathlessly after chasing down the others.

“Hi,” He smiled back “Am I interrupting something or?”

“Nah, you’re good,” You said, throwing one last pillow at your three friends that stood in a corner blowing teasing kisses and puppy eyes at the two of you “These assholes and I are done for the day” You commented before said assholes started to pout and complain, but you were already out the door before they could say something embarrassing again.

“So…” Ashton trailed off, starting to walk alongside you with his hands in his front pockets.

“So,” You said, drifting your eyes from him and praying to the universe that he didn’t hear anything or else it would make the blush on your face even pinker “You needed me for something?”

You wanted to get the topic of work right there in the open as soon as possible, not wanting him to notice how nervous you got when you were alone with him. At least when you were talking about work you leveled the ground in some parts.

“Actually, I’m going home early today” He smiled softly “Luke and the guys are working on a love song that’s just way too happy and butterflies - in - your -stomach like and I didn’t think they needed me there if I can’t bring nothing to the table”

“You’re not a lovey-dovey feeling kinda guy?” You teased by bumping your arm with his, earning a “hey” from him “I actually get it, I’m not that kind of person either”

“It’s not like I don’t like it, it’s just that-”

“You process your emotions differently, and it’s easier to write those when you think of love in other stages and/or mixed with other complex emotions because-”

“Love is not just one-sided! Yes!” Ashton celebrated, amazed that you could understand what he was saying “I knew you would get it”

That comment made your cheeks heat up as you looked at him, all dimpled smiles and light chuckled as he looked at you with sparkly hazel eyes. Oh no…

“Well,” You said, breaking that little moment “If they are going to work on that all day then I guess I would head home, too. I don’t think I’ll be able to provide anything else either”

“Actually,” Ashton said as he stopped in the middle of the hall leading to the exit, making you stop as well and turn to him “I was wondering if you would want to get some coffee with me now that we are both free. Of course, if you really are free and have nothing else to do and want to actually drink coffee or tea… or maybe not and you’re not that type of person and-”

“Are you asking me out?”

Ashton stopped his rambling and looked at you with an incredulous smile and lightly blushed cheeks.

“I- well, yeah,” He said shyly “Yeah, I am”

You smiled and softly chuckled “Look at the famous drummer all nervous” You teasingly took a step closer to him, not knowing where this confidence was coming from, and he did the same “It’s just me, you know?”

“And that’s exactly the reason why”

“Do I make you nervous, darling?”

“Let’s say that if it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have rambled like that, princess”

You pressed your lips in a thin line and smiled as you looked away from him, blushing like a teenager on her first date.

“So…” You trailed off.

“So?”

“Lead the way”

*

From that moment both of your routines changed once again. Now you took time off the studio at least two times a week to go with Ashton on those small friendly dates as he took you out for coffee or just simple but meaningful talks.

Soon enough you lost all the doubts that made you nervous around him, seeing how easy it was to talk to him and how much you had in common in more aspects than just music. You became more comfortable around him and your level of teasing and playing grew alongside your relationship, not to mention the level of teasing and playing you received from your band members and the other 3 Aussies who joined in on all the fun.

You were used to blushing and dismissing comments about your - undeniable - crush on the drummer, but Ashton didn’t seem to be affected by them at all. On the contrary, Ashton played along and even seemed like he was enjoying it. Like in one particular occasion where you were working on a song together and Michael said:

“Oh my god, date her already!”

Ashton didn’t blink an eye before responding “I’m trying! But she just wants to focus on the harmonies”

And you’d be lying if you said that didn’t put a smile on your face.

Yet, you kept it all professional while being in the studio; no need to mix your personal lives with whatever was going on down there, that’s why those coffee runs were your favorites.

It was an unspoken rule between the two of you that “work-talk” was forever banned from those outings.

“So what are we going to talk about?” You asked him the first time you went into his favorite coffee shop.

“Us” He simply answered, unaware of the butterflies he just set in your stomach.

“Us?”

“Yeah, I want to get to know you better, princess. Who is Y/N Sixx?”

“Who is Ashton Irwin?”

“I asked first”

“I asked second” You countered

Ashton smiled widely “You think you’re clever…”

“It doesn’t matter what I think” You answered, casually sipping on your coffee “I know I’m clever just like I know you like me that way”

You were testing the waters back then, hiding the shaking of your knees under the table as you longed to know how he felt about it. But the way he smiled and how he blushed a little bit made all your fears go away.

“Yeah, that I do”

Your cheeks turned red whenever you reminisced about that moment - or any moment that you spent with Ashton for that matter - which gave you the perfect idea for a song.

“I don’t want to kill my time with somebody else…” You hummed to yourself as you wrote down what you think is the chorus to a new song.

You told Ashton that you were not the type to write silly love songs or very uplifting songs; but there was something in that memory, something in that feeling that you couldn't ignore or just let it be without doing something about it. So, you started to write it.

You couldn't separate the feeling from the art, after all, feelings were what led you to dedicate your life to music. People would say it was because of your parent’s influence but they had little to nothing to do with your decision. This was you, the authentical you writing whatever came to mind and then sharing it with the world and only a few people will get it in its entirety. And surely Ashton was one of them.

“Dadadada something, want you all to myself”

“Wacha doing there, princess?”

Speaking of the devil.

Ashton smiled at you as he hunched over the table you were working on, trying to peek at what you were writing. You lifted the notebook and pressed it against your chest faking offense as he giggled.

“Didn’t your mother taught you not to sneak up on people, darling?” You asked as he walked around your workspace and sat himself down on the chair next to you “Besides, you’re late. You were supposed to meet me here like half an hour ago!”

“Aww, sorry Sixx” Ashton pouted “But there were no chocolate chip cookies left in the shop so I had to go around town to get you some” He then put a bag of freshly made cookies on top of the table with a cup filled with coffee.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know?”

“Of course I did! You always only eat chocolate chips cookies in the afternoon”

He started to giggle again, ignoring the way you were looking at him “How did you know that?”

“C’mon, Y/N/N, every time we go for coffee you order two, one for the coffee and another one for the road. And every time we cater something you never touch anything but those cookies”

“I never knew you were so observant”

Ashton shrugged “I just pay attention if I like what I see,” He said nonchalantly with a wink, making you blush instantly, but you covered it up with an eye roll.

“God, you’re terrible” You scoffed.

“I’m honest!” You shook your head and went back to writing, but Ashton was not going to let that go so easily. “Look, how else could I know that you always put an extra bag of sugar in your coffee?”

“‘Cause I always drink the same thing,” You said without looking up from your notebook.

“Yeah, a mocha latte with extra chocolate drizzle and no foam. Honestly, how can you handle that much sugar?” You were about to answer but he caught you off. “But that’s not all you drink, whenever you have a bad day you always order a cup of mango and ginger tea because that’s your mother’s favorite drink and it helps you calm down. You also don’t want anyone to know that you’re having a bad day but the minute someone looks away your smile starts to flatter until you’re back in the conversation”

You stopped the writing completely as you turned to him, suddenly feeling how your heart started to jump all over your chest as he kept talking, eyes never leaving yours as he gave you a soft smile, almost as if he was remembering all those moments with you.

“You draw flowers on the corner of your notebooks whenever you feel bored. You love the sad songs on the radio and you know every single word to Lorde’s Melodrama, yet every time you have to choose a playlist you put 2000’s pop and R&B songs because it hypes you up. You hate awkward silences unless you are the one being quiet. You help Dylan dye his hair every time he asks you to because you would trust each other with your lives, you give Cole relationship advice because you care about him and he always appreciates your advice more than anyone’s and Braeden is your best friend because you always say that he is one of the few people that could make you laugh in a bad day and you have no idea how much I want to be included in that list”

“Ashton-”

“You write better with dim light, it helps you concentrate on your work. You say you don’t believe in astrology yet you check your horoscope every day. You want to make sure that everyone has a good time and feels included, that’s why you always make conversations with Micahel about games you never even heard before or let Luke braid your hair when he’s bored or how you switched topics when you noticed that Calum was not engaging as much in a conversation. You literally take care of everyone but you never let anyone take care of you, and when we do you get all shy and you blush as you say thank you and you have no idea how fucking adorable you look”

You sat there speechless as he spoke. You felt the back of your throat dry as you tried to find the right words to answer all of that.

It was too much. The fact that he knew all of that and how he said it like he was just talking about his favorite things in the world, it was just too much but at the same time, you want to hear him say that again.

A weird sense of joy and shyness came over you as he set his hazel eyes on yours. You gave him a small smile as you averted your gaze to the floor.

“Wow, I-” You started “I never thought someone noticed all that”

“How could I not?” You heard him say “You’re all I can think about and to say that I don’t notice you is like saying I don’t notice the sun in the sky or the stars at night. You’re the brightest light out there, Y/N, you shine everywhere you go”

You noticed how he pulled his chair closer to you and suddenly you felt how your chair started to slowly turn his way until you were face to face.

Ashton carefully placed his fingers under your chin and tilted your head until you were finally looking into his eyes again.

“There she is!” He smiled when he noticed your blushing cheeks and gleaming eyes.

“What do you mean when you say I’m all you think about?” You asked expectantly, curling your fingers nervously on top of your thighs.

Ashton chuckled. “Well, if you didn’t notice, I really fucking like you, Y/N”

You looked up at him, smiling with hopeful eyes and feeling as if a weight was lifted off your chest thanks to the joy you were experiencing while hearing those words.

“You do?”

“Unless you don’t like me back and I just spilled my feelings for nothing-” You smacked him playfully in the arm “Ouch! I’m kidding! Of course I like you! Fuck, Y/N I’ve been falling for years now and I thought I was being pretty obvious”

You laughed “I thought you were just playing!”

In an instant, Ashton pulled your chair closer and grabbed you by the hip, lifting you up and making you sit on his lap as he hugged you by the waist and you placed your arms around his neck.

“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” He said, “I’ll do anything to prove it”

“Well,” You said, pressing a kiss to his cheek and knocking your forehead to his “How about you help me finish this song and then you take me on a date? Cause I’ve been falling for you, too and I don’t want to waste any more time”

Ashton hummed as he nuzzled his nose against your cheek, kissing it softly as he murmured “Will I get to kiss my princess at midnight?”

“Maybe… or you can take your chances now if you’d like”

He smiled.

“I like those odds”

And just before you know it, he softly pressed his lips against yours; finally creating a happy beginning for the two of you.

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[jjamjamm]

The Resident Artist

Masterlist | Domestic Oneshots Masterlist

Wordcount: 852

Summary: Part 2 of Forgetting Something. Your mother arrives at the mountain and gets to work on the royal portrait.

“Mom!” You exclaimed, pulling her into a hug the second she was inside the mountain, “I’m so glad you’ve come.”

“How could I miss all this?” She asked, pulling back to take in the mountain, “The outside really doesn’t do it justice.”

“Itching for your sketchbook already?” You teased, “Thorin really is sorry he couldn’t make it.”

“Nonsense, he’s a king.” She said, “So long as he’ll join us for the portrait.”

“You’ll definitely see him before that.” You began, lighting up as you realized what she said, “Wait, you’ve decided to take the job?”

“Of course, I did!” She laughed, “I get to spend time with my favorite girl and work on my art again.”

As your mom snapped back into her art habits, meeting a few snags as she went, she also got used to life in the mountain. She had made some friends already, growing particularly close to her artist friend, Ori.

Time passed as she rediscovered her artistic side, though as she practiced, she would surprise you with sketches of you and your husband. As she worked, her linework improved and she came to capture Thorin’s features beautifully.

“Honey!” she called, catching you while an important conference was getting out. Balin was clearly amused by her as she approached, “Honey, there you are. I know you said you had a big meeting today, but I just got some canvases in and I’d love to try a practice portrait with my paints.”

“By all means.” Balin jumped in, “Consider these two freed up for the day.”

“Thank you Balin.” Thorin nodded, before your mother linked arms with both of you and whisked you away to her studio. She had Thorin take a seat, with you sitting angled so that your legs touched his. She sketched the basics of where you sat before working on some of the details.

Without moving too much, you slid your hand into his, looking over to see his smile. You turned away, worried you’d laugh at him since he was so stiff but still winking and smiling at you.

“You two are cute.” You heard from behind the canvas, and when you looked your mother held her hand above the canvas, watching you two fondly.

When she finished with the both of you, she wouldn’t let you see it as she rushed you out to let her work on it and give you both a break.

A week later, Ori burst through the door to where Thorin was working. You had finished reviewing what you had to for the day, teasing your husband that you were more productive when the noise of the door caught your attention.

“Ori, what’s the matter?” Thorin asked, rising to his feet, worried something had happened to someone.

“Mom’s alright, right?” You asked, resting a hand on Thorin’s forearm out of fear that she may actually be unwell.

“Not at all, she’s fine.” Ori promised, “Come with me, it’s urgent.”

Ori led you through the halls, bubbling with excitement as he held the doorknob, “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Ori.” You assured him, but when he opened the door to reveal your mother standing next to the portrait, “Oh, mom.”

She had captured the love between you two, while maintaining the air of grace and dignity the king and queen had to present. She was nervously awaiting your reactions, but you could see the pride she had in her work.

“It’s beautifully done.” Thorin complimented, linking hands with yours, “We definitely had the right artist for the job.”

Your mother grew bashful at the compliment, but walked you through the piece nonetheless, “I wanted to keep it professional, especially for you two, but when you were together you looked so in love. I knew I just had to paint that.”

You pulled her into an embrace, “Mom it’s perfect.”

Thorin agreed, “I wish my parents would’ve had a portrait like this.”

“I told her it was perfect, I mean just look at the two of you.” Ori gushed, gesturing to the painting, “I was wary of it when she said she wasn’t doing a ‘traditional’ portrait, but this is beautiful.”

“I will admit, it was hard capturing this handsome face.” Your mother cupped Thorin’s jaw.

Thorin chuckled at that, stroking over his beard when she let go, just incase his beard had been mussed up by the contact.

“I think you’ve done a marvelous job.” Thorin praised her, as the two of you decided that even though it was meant to be a practice portrait, it was just what you wanted to have hanging for everyone to see.

As a result of that portrait, your mother found herself swamped with commissions. Since everyone wanted to have their very own portrait, your mother would be staying in the mountain for longer than she planned. She was thrilled at the extra time she would get to spend with her daughter and favorite son-in-law: the king.

[dreamescapeswriting]

All I want ~ JJK [Request]

WORD COUNT: 4.2k

PAIRING: jeon jungkook x fem!reader

GENRE: Angst, fake dating, established relationship, fluffy ending

A/N: Hope this is okay for you!

The day had started off so brilliantly, Jungkook had been texting you to arrange a romantic weekend away together to make up for the last couple of months of awfulness but now it felt as though your world was falling apart. That and your anniversary was coming up this weekend so he wanted to take you somewhere to get away together. But now you were staring down at the magazine in your hands you could have screamed out in heartbreak as you saw the photo that was splashed across the front page. Lip locking with someone that wasn't you, making out with the devil.

"Y/n? I'm waiting?!" You stared through the glass window at your boss who was smirking at you, she knew what was going on and why that magazine had been placed on your desk that morning. The front page was splashed with images of her and Jungkook making out at the side of the Han River. Taking in a deep breath you got up from your desk and picked up the magazine, slipping it into the reviews of her latest book and walked into her room. 

"You have a meeting with BigHit this afternoon," You told her as you tried to act as though you hadn't seen the magazine, despite her being the one that had placed it onto the desk in the first place. 

"Is Guky going to be there?" You cringed at the nickname that she had for him but you bit down on your tongue nodding your head at her.

"You and Jungkook have a date tonight in his favourite restaurant." What you meant by that was your favourite restaurant, it was where Jungkook had given you a promise ring before he went on his first tour when you were dating. The longer you stared down at the desk thinking about your time together you thought back on the first time he told you about all of this. This being the fake dating contract that was going on between him and your boss Miss Ko Moon-Young. 

The whole world felt as though it had frozen around you as Jungkook told you what he was being told to do by BigHit and it just seemed off to you. Why would Jungkook need to fake date someone to gain more fame when he was in one of the largest boy bands in the world. The contract was sitting on the kitchen table in front of you, he'd already crossed the T's and dotted the I's without even asking you how you would feel about this. After a four year relationship, you figured that he would have at least asked if you would be okay with him fake dating someone.

"Baby it's just for a couple of months...It's not for me it's for her, BigHit needs her reputation to go up as they're signing her." You scoffed at his piss-poor attempt at making it seem as though it was no big deal. The author who was supposed to be fake dating is Ko Moon-Young and she was one of the most well-known authors in the writing world and not because she was good at writing. Her writing was exceptional but it was her personality that she was mostly known for. Being awful to her fans, being nasty with every person she met. The woman would do anything she could to get what she wanted, which included stealing from restaurants she ate at. Stealing things from the people she dated because she just wanted the things she saw. Nothing would stand in her way. The woman was dreadful, you'd always been taught that if you had nothing nice to say than to keep your mouth shut but she was the exception to that rule. Standing up from the table you grabbed the plates from your dinner the two of you had shared and began to load up the dishwasher,

"You mean her reputation needs saving," You grumbled as you shut the dishwasher turning around to look at him as you folded your arms over your chest. Sighing to himself he looked at you, he knew that you weren't going to like the idea of it but when BigHit told him to do something it wasn't as though he had much of a choice. He smiled weakly at you as he stepped closer to you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he looked into your eyes. 

"She's your boss you know, you know what she's like." You rolled your eyes at him and shook your head. Although she was your boss it didn't mean you had to like her. The woman made your life a living hell, always making you do something she could have done for herself.

"Baby, you know that I love you, nothing will stop me from loving you." You hummed sarcastically in response to him and tried to walk away but he pushed you against the countertop and forced you to look into his eyes. He wasn't going to let you walk away without talking about it first.

"Ko is nothing to me, we're the ones that have been together for four years. Nothing is going to make me forget that," You looked into his eyes as you tried not to get mad at him for all of this, 

"You could have told me before signing it," You mumbled as you thought about it more and more, biting down on your lip as you realised what they would have to do together. All of the things that you wanted to do with him in public, the events, the walking around like a real couple and not having to hide in the house all of the time. Pretending as though you didn't know him and hiding whenever you're out in public and someone happens to stare at him too much and realise who he was. 

"I didn't have a choice, I had to sign it," You pressed your head into his chest as you sighed, Jungkook kissed the top of your head and held onto you tightly making you relax against him.

"Now, come up to bed and let's get some sleep?" You hummed at him again and looked over at the clock on the wall, 

"You can't stay. You have an interview with Miss Moon-Young tomorrow," You mumbled, as much as you would have loved him to stay close to you all night you knew if he stayed in your place he ould never leave and if he ever did he'd be late. Manager Sejin was already mad at you enough for making him late a lot, 

"I'll set an alarm." He whined as you started pushing him towards the front door, you shook your head at his protest. 

"Sejin-Oppa already hates me, I'm not letting you make him hate me more or we'll never be able to out our relationship." It was the truth. Sejin was the one in charge of deciding if Jungkook's relationship was allowed to be outed to the public and he'd declined all of the chances you had to announce it.

"Are you even listening to me Y/n?" You stared at her as she questioned you again, you shook your head, 

"Sorry...I was-"

"Thinking about Jungkook? He's so cute, isn't he!? The kiss was so random! I wasn't expecting it!" She screamed out as she stared at you. Of course, she knew that you and Jungkook were dating. It had been revealed to her when she'd been asking what was going to happen between her and Jungkook. Kissing was off the table, you didn't want them to kiss, you didn't even want them to be near one another and she knew that which was exactly why you knew she'd been the one to put the magazine down for you to see. 

"He is. I hope you guys can enjoy tonight," You were doing your best to seem as happy about this as possible, trying to be as kind as you could about all of this. The best way to get through it was to ignore it, the contract had been extended by two more months and this was the final one. Pretty soon there would be a mutual break coming up and you would be able to have your boyfriend back, all to yourself. 

"I'm thinking! This weekend when we all go on our little holiday I can steal him for a few hours?! We can get seen and then you can have him whatever it is he has planned." You frowned as she mentioned the holiday. 

"W-What?" You questioned, staring into her eyes as the smile on your lips slowly began to fade and an evil smirk began to grow on her face. 

"Didn't Jungkook tell you? The only way you were allowed to take your little anniversary holiday was if I came along?" A shiver ran through you as you dropped your clipboard onto her desk in shock. 

"I-I'm taking my lunch." You mumbled quickly as you began to back out of the room, bumping into the door frame as you began to take off and out of the building as you headed straight to Jungkook. Calling his phone and asking him to meet you at the back entrance of the BigHit building where you would always meet up with one another. 

"She's coming with us?!" You yelled as he pushed you into one of the empty dance studios, shutting the door and leaning against it as he waited for you to get the yelling out of your system. When he turned around you were standing with your hands on your hips waiting for him to say something about everything that was going on. 

"It was the only way we would be able to go out baby. I thought you would be happy." He told you as he looked at you, he was doing everything he could to keep your relationship working while also maintaining his job but it was getting harder. 

"Happy? Yes. I would love my horrible boss following me and my boyfriend around all weekend." You held back the tears that were threatening to come out, the one thing you didn't want to do was cry in front of him when you knew he was having a hard time with all of this as well. Taking in a couple of deep breathes you shook your head at him, 

"I'm sorry...I just- She put that magazine of you and her on my desk and then she dropped the shell on me that she would be coming with us?" He shook his head as he brought you into a tight hug wanting to hold onto you for as long as he could, the two of you were finally alone for the first time in months. You'd hardly had any time together since his "relationship" with her, it had always been them needing to be around one another all of the time. Leaving you and Jungkook on the outskirts of the relationship, 

"I promise that once I'm seen landing with her in the airport and we're seen checking it, that's it. We can do whatever we want, whatever our hearts desire," He promised you as he kissed your lips softly, 

"She'll leave us alone?" He nodded his head at you and you smiled weakly at him, deciding that if she wasn't going to be around you all of the time that you could do it. 

"Then I suppose that's okay." You mumbled to him as you wrapped your arms around his neck and kisses him, whining against his lips as you realised just how long it had been since you'd kissed him. 

"I miss you," You whimpered as you pulled at his shirt to open the buttons, you felt the smirk on his lips grow in size as he began to push you against the mirror behind you. Pulling at the shirt you were wearing as he tried to open it, he'd missed you sneaking into the building to have some fun together, 

"I miss you too baby," He panted as he began kissing down your neck, biting into your skin when someone tapped on the door softly making you groan out. 

"Miss Ko is calling for Y/n, she wants her to come back from her lunch early," You heard Sejin say from the door making you bite down on your lip and look into Jungkook's eyes. 

"Just think of our weekend, our time together." He whispered to you as he kissed your lips one last time, watching you walk out of the room sighing to himself as soon as you were gone.

"When are you going to tell her?" Sejin asked as he walked into the dance studio, closing the door behind him as he looked at Jungkook for an answer. 

"When the time is right-"

"She'll see it in the magazines sooner or later," Jungkook rolled his eyes making his way out of the room as he tried to think of the best way to tell you that the fake dating was being moved to a fake engagement. 

The plane ride to your surprise holiday was only short, Jungkook had taken the time to fly you all to a small private island where you could be alone for most of the trip. The plane for you had been awful though since you weren't supposed to be seen with Jungkook you were sitting in Economy while Jungkook and Miss Ko were up in first class, Sejin in business class. You thought you would have at least been placed there since Miss Ko was your boss but it turned out you were just shoved to the back. 

"Baby you're going to love it," Jungkook whispered as he covered your eyes. He'd gotten you to meet him outside his room in the hotel and was now leading you down the beach with his hands over your eyes. Your hands clutching onto his forearms as you tried not to scream out, you always liked being able to see where you were going but he was keeping everything a secret. The only reason you knew you were on the beach was that you could feel the sand and hear the waves crashing down against the sand. 

"Can I just watch? I mean I already know we're on a beach," You giggled as you felt Jungkook struggle to walk you around the beach. 

"Because this is supposed to be a special surprise," He whined as he moved his hands away from your eyes, 

"Anything with you is special baby," You promised him as you turned to look at him, not noticing the way he had arranged somewhere for you both to sit. 

"I know but, the last few months have been so hard on you so I wanted to make this a way of making it up to you," He whispered as he kisses your lips softly, that was when he turned you around to look at the firepit on the beach. Sitting beside it was a picnic blanket, picnic basket and pillows laying all over the blanket so that the two of you could sit comfortably.

"Jungkook this is-" You stopped talking when he bent down and went into the basket pulling out a see-through box to reveal a cake. 'Happy Anniversary Y/n!' Written across the front in bright pink icing,

"Jungkook it's adorable, thank you." You whispered as you looked at him. All the months of the two of you not being able to be together, went out of your mind and all you could think about was the time you had spent together. All of the good memories flooding back into your head.

"I got us some take-out food because I couldn't cook, which was my original plan." He laughed awkwardly at the thought of it. His original plan was to take you to his place and cook for you but with the recent news of his "relationship", he couldn't do any of the things you used to. Taking you out on cute dates in the day when he could hide, or taking you to his place or going to yours. Everything was so much harder now.

"Hey, this is perfect. This is all I could want." You promised him as you sat down on the blanket and got ready to eat some of the food that he had bought with him. 

The night had been perfect in every sense of the word. Jungkook had spent the entire night holding you, after you finished eating you both just laid down on the blankets together. Enjoying the time alone you had with one another for the first time in a long time. 

"There's one thing I can't wait to do," You admitted to him as you rolled over and placed your chin on his chest just staring into his eyes, 

"What's that?" He hummed as he began to run his fingers up and down your back slowly, staring back into your eyes. 

"Fall asleep with your arms wrapped around me-" The sentence was interrupted when you heard your boss's shriek fill the air instantly ruining the moment within seconds. 

"And it's gone," You mumbled sitting up and wrapping your own arms around your body and rubbed your skin as though you were cold. Guilt swamped Jungkook as he looked at you and then to Miss Ko who was squeezing herself down onto the blanket. 

"I'm bored, you said this would be a good trip but there's nothing here for me to do!" She cried out, picking up some of the cake Jungkook had brought and began eating it without being offered any. 

"Move over, the sand is ruining my dress." She hissed at you making you move, she was still your boss at the end of the day and you couldn't be mad at her for ordering you around. 

"Miss Ko, we're having a date." Jungkook tried to tell her but she just ignored him, picking up some frosting on her finger and holding up to his lips. 

"You should eat this, it's lovely. Have you tried some Y/n?" You hummed in answer to her turning to look at Jungkook with some help on making her leave but Jungkook just smiled at Miss Ko. 

"Jungkook...I'm getting tired, maybe we should go back to your room?" You questioned with a smile on your lips but it was quickly removed when Miss Ko told you that she and Jungkook were in the room next to one another with a conjoining door to their rooms. 

"Jungkook. We have that meeting tomorrow with Sejin remember, we have to go and pick out rings." You frowned at her and then looked at Jungkook who was avoiding your gaze. 

"Rings?" You asked, turning to your boss who nodded at you happily. 

"Engagement rings!" The world seemed to stop for you a second time as you stared at Jungkook waiting for him to tell you that she was lying. It was all some fever dream you were experiencing or Miss Ko was just trying to wind you up but he stayed quiet. 

"We're going to announce our engagement next week-" You stood up making her stop talking and walked away from Jungkook and her on the beach. Not wanting to sit there any longer than you had to. He had promised you it would just be a few months, nothing longer than four was what he told you and yet here you were six months later and it seemed to only be extending more and more. 

Later in the night, you figured you were probably overreacting to everything. Jungkook had been trying to call you since you left the beach but you ignored him. Sending him to voicemail while you showered and tried to sleep for the night but it was proving to be difficult. You were having a losing battle with your head and wanted to at least talk to Jungkook about it. Talk it through with him and confirm that their relationship was all still for sure like he told you it was.

You were opening his door with the key he'd given you earlier that day, he wanted you to have it so you could stop by and see him whenever you wanted. 

"Jungkook I know I shouldn't have stormed off earlier. I was just mad when-" Sitting on the bed with Jungkook was a half-dressed Miss Ko, in nothing but an unbuttoned dress shirt and her makeup smeared across her face. Tears welled up in your eyes as you looked at them, sitting so close together it looked as though they'd just gotten out of a make-out session. 

"Y/n it isn't what it looks like!" Jungkook jumped off the bed but you were already crying as you stared at them. The tears you had been holding in for the last six months finally flowing free as you stared at them both. Your breaking point had been passed and it felt as though your heart was being ripped out of your chest. 

"I quit. I'll be on the next flight home, Miss Ko. Jungkook I'll make sure all of your things are ready for you to pick up at my place." You didn't give him a chance to explain himself or chase after you as you walked out of the room. Leaving Jungkook yelling out your name as you burst into sobs, slamming your hotel door and whimpering into your hands. 

The airport was empty thanks to it almost being 3 am which meant you were free to tear up and cry into your hands as much as you wanted without getting too many weird looks. You'd grabbed the cheapest flight possible home and booked it right away, heading to the airport so you couldn't bump into Jungkook.

"Babe!" His voice cried out as he rushed up behind you in the waiting area of the airport, you ignored him. Keeping your eyes forward as though you didn't know him but that wasn't going to stop him. He sat down beside you and waited for you to look at him. 

"Y/n please, she was trying to kiss me but I pushed her off me," You rolled your eyes at him, scoffing at him as he tried to talk his way out of this. 

"Her shirt was open-"

"She walked into my room like that! You know what she's like! She's a fucking bitch," He cut you off as he began to let tears roll down his face. Your flight number was called over the speaker and you got up from the seat, ignoring Jungkook as he raced after you. 

"Please Y/n, you know I would never do something like that to you," You shook your head as you listened to him. 

"I used to think that, now I'm not so sure...Were you even going to tell me about the fake engagement?" He nodded his head but you just let your tears flow down your cheeks and tried to walk away from him but he stood in front of you to stop you from moving. 

"You're making a scene. People will see us together-"

"Let them! I will scream it from the rooftops that you're the one I love and not Miss Ko Moon-Young!" Your hand on your bag dropped and you cover his mouth but he stopped you as he stepped away. 

"I, JEON JUNGKOOK AM HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH Y/N Y/L/N!" He screamed out loudly gaining the attention of some stewardesses and some passengers that were all turning to look at you both now.

"Jungkook. Your contract-"

"I'll rip it up if it means I lose you I don't care! I need you in my life Y/n please," He pleaded with you, gripping onto you as he pulled you into his arms, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you close to his body.

"You're all I want. I didn't kiss her, she tried to kiss me and she unbuttoned her clothes." You stared into his eyes and you smiled weakly, he had always been a terrible liar which was how you knew this was the truth.

"I'll tell Sejin I want no part in it, that I want our relationship to come out. You're the only one I care about," He promised before bringing you into a passionate kiss in the middle of the airport. 

"Come back with me, we can spend all our time in your room." He said to you as he kisses your lips again, looking into your eyes and smiling weakly. 

"You'll be in trouble," You tried to tell him but he shook his head, 

"I don't care, I have you and that's all I care about," He whispered as he took your hand in his and began leading you out of the airport and towards the taxi that was waiting for you both to get inside of. 

The very public relationship between Miss Ko and Jungkook was cut short as soon as Jungkook told his manager that he was no longer interested in doing the contract anymore. You still quit your job with Miss Ko not wanting to work for her anymore, you weren't interested in working for someone who was willing to ruin your relationship with someone you loved. 

Tagline: @lyoongx​ @mitzwinchester​ @fan-ati--c​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @taestannie​ @rjsmochii​ @bisexualmess007​ @innersooya​ @sw33tnight​ @sweeneyblue1​ @jin-from-the-block​

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Welcome To The Family (3/???)

1/ 2

Warnings of bad babysitters, and a couple swears but I think that’s it. Also sorry if this seems more of a filler chapter. Can’t believe I might have made a filler chapter with my favorite character. -_-

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

It’s been a week since that night. Shinsou even started joining Eri and me with things now with a small smile instead of a glare. Aizawa is the last one that still doesn’t really care for me I’m pretty sure. Today they didn’t need me to babysit since the students at the school kept begging them to bring Eri to see again. Who can blame them? Eri can melt the heart of anyone. 

I was already told a few days ago to call Yamada by his first name, but it’s rather similar to Shinsou’s. I still keep getting them mixed up in my head. I still prefer to call them by their last names. Why can’t I just keep calling them by their last names? My fault for wanting to be friends with them I suppose. 

Yamada texted me he wants me to come into his recording studio tonight. Something about finally having the chance to know me better? But don’t we pretty much know everything about each other already from him reading my summary and I knowing him from his professions, as well as Eri telling both of us things about each other?

Eh, I didn’t have anything planned to do today anyway. 

I waited for it to get later in the day and head towards the location of the studio. He’s also a teacher, so it would be better to arrive a bit later, knowing he will be there then as well. I might ask him for a ride back to my home though if he’s willing. I don’t really want to walk alone at night back to my place, considering here is a much farther distance to my place than their house to mine. Kind of surprised to not have run into a villain yet. Here’s to hoping I never do.  

Entering the tower, I’m greeted by someone unknown sitting at a desk. She has a rather deep frown on her face as she saw me enter and walk up to the desk. I feel like a nervous wreck trying to tell her I’m here to see Yamada. What if he forgot to tell her and I get humiliated? 

Okay, that might be a bit ridiculous. No one else is around. “Hello. I’m here to uh… See Yamada?” Her frown deepens even further. “Farthest room on the right.” I walk towards the door. Hospitality much? 

I knock on the door and wait for him to answer. 

“C’mon in, Y/N!” He yells through the door. His voice was rather quiet, so the room must be incredibly soundproof. I enter the room and see Best Jeanist sitting on a chair in front of him. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I ask. 

They both shake their heads. “No, we just finished a bit ago,” Best Jeanist does a weird hand motion over his hair? “I’ll be leaving now. This was a pleasant time.” He gets up and leaves. 

After a bit, I sat in the chair he was just sitting in, and it felt rather awkward between us. The warmth of the seat not aiding in much comfort. 

“So… Is the woman at the main desk usually in such a mood, or is it a bad day today?”

He laughs. “She’s been like that for a while!” 

For a while? “What made her like that?” 

He shakes his head. “She still digs me. A while ago we tried having her as Eri’s babysitter, but it didn’t go well with how uncaring she was for her. Sho and I could both tell she couldn’t have cared less for our kids and was rather disgusted finding out Sho and I were married. She still kept tryin’ though, so we had to kick her from babysitting.” 

“That explains why she seemed so annoyed with me when I asked her where your room was.” 

He nods. “Yep! It probably doesn’t help I teased her by tellin’ her you’re our new sitter!” 

I give him an incredulous look. “Why would you do that?” 

“Ah, don’t be so worried! I just told her how you’re already a way better sitter than she ever was!”

I don’t really know what to say to that. It’s just what I’m supposed to do, isn’t it? “It’s just my job. But to be honest, Eri makes it way more enjoyable. Hate to say I have favorites, but she easily has to be in my top five favorite kids I ever got to babysit.”

He seems to grow even happier at the news, judging by his smile growing bigger. Jeez, how does his face get that big without strain!? “So glad to hear that! I Gotta say, we were close to givin’ up on the whole babysitter thing until we passed yours.” 

I tilt my head. “Why is that?” 

His face goes into a frown. “The first two were actually villains. The first was working with some villains in trying to get Eri. Luckily we found out the same day before leaving from our son using his quirk on them. The second was known for stealin’ people’s items, but the reviews were deleted so we didn’t know until it was too late. They didn’t take anything that couldn’t be replaced though.”

“Like Eri.” 

He smiles again. “Yep! But we obviously couldn’t have someone like that around us, ya know? So we caught them and turned ‘em in.” 

I nod. “That makes sense. Was the next one the woman at the desk?” 

He shakes his head. “Nope! That was the next one. The third one was pretty good. Or so we thought, but our son didn’t feel right with them being around Eri,” His fists clench tightly, and his frown is even deeper than before. “Turns out he had an obsession of bein’ in charge and kept bossing Eri around when we weren’t home. Making her clean everything and took the credit. I went home early one day and caught him in the act.” 

My heart twinges knowing Eri had to go through EVEN MORE than she already did. “Please tell me you decked him for it.” 

He smirks. “Sho wasn’t too happy at me for it, but fuck yeah I did!” 

“Glad to hear!” I smirk. “I bet Shinsou was all for you decking him as well, knowing him.”

He nods. “Yep! He told me if he was there, he would have done the same thing!” 

“Sounds like him.” 

It goes quiet between us after that. I keep trying to think of something else to talk about, but my mind keeps coming up blank. Surprisingly or not, I’m not nearly as good at talking with adults as I am with kids. They’re usually easily distracted, and bringing up one thing can make them go into an hour of talking about it.

“Just curious, do ya ever listen to my show?” He suddenly asks. I’m so thankful he’s able to come up with something. 

“Sometimes. I was introduced to it by a child I babysat before. I wasn’t too appreciative of the tantrums he would throw when he couldn’t listen to it though. It also took a bit, but your show started to grow on me.” 

He smiles again. “Glad to know I’ve got some good hard fans listenin’ in!” 

I roll my eyes with a smile. “I don’t think his parents would agree with you, but go ahead and think what you want.” 

He smiles and shrugs. 

I can’t help but suddenly try to clear my throat from how dry it seems in here now that I notice. He notices, gets up, and grabs a bottle of water from a stand not too far from his seat, passing it to me. “Here ya go! Sorry for it bein’ so dry in here. One of the previous people using this room has some desert-like quirk. Gotten pretty used to it myself!” 

I take the bottle. “Thanks, Hitoshi.”

He stops for a moment and blinks at me. “I think ya mean Hizashi, my dear listener!”

.

.

. 

Oh. OH. FUCK!

I let out an embarrassed groan and couldn’t even look at him in the eyes, making him laugh incredibly hard at my reaction. “Don’t worry about it! They do seem rather similar, don’t they?” I just reply by nodding my head. Not being used to their first names really came to bite me, didn’t it?

Hizashi’s phone started to ring. He sees who it is, and answers it.  “Hey babe, what ya need?” He’s quiet for a second, but then his eyes widen as he turns and looks at the clock. “Shit! Sorry, guess time slipped by! I’ll be there shortly!” He then hangs up. 

“Hey, we gotta pick up Eri and Sho from the school. Since you’re here, I could drive ya if you want!” Hearing that is more relieving than having to ask him. “Sure. If it’s not too much trouble.” 

“Not at all!” 

As we leave, I look back to see the woman glaring hard at me from being beside Hizashi. It’s already decided. The less I’m around her, the better. 

We walk down to his black car. I get into the back seat so his husband can sit in the front. On the left is the car seat for Eri. I’ll get out when we get there so Shin- Hitoshi can sit in the middle. I really need to get them straight now before I get embarrassed by saying the wrong name again. 

Huh, the seats are incredibly comfortable. They’re also a beige color. Some reason, I was really expecting a different color. Not judging though, since I don’t even have one. 

It stays quiet between us until we enter the school area. It’s crazy to see in person. Aizawa, Eri, and Hitoshi are waiting outside by the entrance. I exit the vehicle, and she brightens upon seeing me. I get tackled into a hug by her. “Hey, Eri! Good to see you again!” 

“Even though it’s only been a day?” Hitoshi teases. 

“Admit it. You missed me too.” I tease.

He smirks. “Maybe, maybe not.” He teases back. 

Aizawa’s expression is unreadable as he looks at me. I decide to just give him space and accept he might just never like me. I’m honestly a little scared to try since he might get pissed off at me instead of not liking me too much. That’s a scary thought itself. He sits up front while I help Eri get into her seat. Shin- Hitoshi waits for me to walk around and sit in the middle. Maybe to keep them straight I could call them Toshi and Zashi. Would they mind that? That seems maybe too unprofessional though. 

“Do you want to drop me off first, or your family first since my place is farther away, Hizashi?” 

“I think we can go to your place first. Kinda curious to see your place, dear listener! I heard your place is rather lively!” He looks into the mirror at me. “Oh! And ya got the name right this time!” 

Really? Why do you have to embarrass me in front of your whole family!? I groan and hide my face with my hands. 

“This time?” Aizawa questions. 

“They accidentally called me our son’s name! Ya shoulda seen their face when they realized!” 

I take my hands off my face. “You didn’t have to tell them that! I’m sorry! I’m not used to your first names yet!” 

Hizashi and Hitoshi both laugh at me. Hitoshi’s was more of a snicker. 

I decide to try to change the subject to save myself from the embarrassment. “So, you know where it is, or do you need me to tell you the way?” 

“Nope! I got it memorized already!” 

“Good to know.”

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

We all talk a bit more on our way to my place. “Oh yeah! Hey, Y/N!” Hizashi suddenly pipes up when I was saying some joking banter with Hitoshi. 

“Yeah?” I question. 

“Are ya goin’ to the festival next week?” 

I shrug in reply. “Not really sure. I was thinking of maybe spending a bit more time with my neighbors since I haven’t done that very much for a while.”

None of them seemed to be too happy with that I think from their silence for a minute. 

“You could come with us. I’m sure Eri would like you to come.” Hitoshi informs. 

Eri nods enthusiastically at me when I look at her. My brows narrow in thought. “Isn’t that a family day for you guys though? I really don’t want to intrude.” 

For the first time since I’ve met him, Aizawa replies to me. “It’s not intruding if we’re inviting.” 

I look at Eri again, who is beyond pleading me to go. Damn it, how in the world can I say no to her? “I guess my friends could wait a bit longer. Sure, I can come.” 

“Great! We’ll pick ya up that day then!” 

It’s easy to tell we’re getting close to my place by the music that blairs into the car. 

… Are they seriously playing “It wasn’t me” by Shaggy today? I can’t help but laugh while everyone in the car but Hizashi is confused. It’s a nightly occurrence I’ve finally gotten used to, and sometimes even join them for a bit. I’ve learned quite a bit of English from them as well. They’re great neighbors. Honestly they’re one of the reasons I don’t move out, though now I could. This place has gotten rather cheap rent from these rambunctious people. It started with two, and soon the whole building became nothing but chaos. They’ve been frowned upon by many for their ways, but they couldn’t seem to care less. No noise complaints? No problems. 

“What are you laughing at?” Hitoshi questions. 

“Just my neighbor’s choice of song tonight. I’m beyond surprised they haven’t gotten into trouble for it yet.” 

“You can understand it!?” Hizashi excitedly exclaims. 

“Mostly. They taught me some English from me being here.”

Even though Hizashi seems like the type to like many types of music, he doesn’t seem to like the lyrics too much. Well. it IS about cheating after all. I’m beyond thankful Eri doesn’t understand any of it. Both from probably being too young, and not knowing the language very well yet. 

“What’s the song about?” Eri questions. 

Uh… “You don’t want to know. It’s a gross song.” 

“Why laugh if it’s gross?” 

I reach over and gently pat her head. I’ve finally gotten close enough she no longer fears my touch. “You will find out when you’re older. It’s an adult thing.” 

She seems unsure. “O...kay.” 

Hizashi pulls up to the building. My crazy friends being outside dancing their pants off as usual. I laugh at them and shake my head. Hitoshi gets out for me to exit. They all freeze and stare at me as I exit the vehicle, Hitoshi immediately getting back in. I wave at them and head towards my friends. 

My closest friend, Ryo, comes up to me. “What up, my friend?” They put their hand up for a high five. Just another rare thing these people like to do. I high five their hand.

“Not much! Just got back from another day of sitting! You know, the usual!” Sadly I can’t tell them the truth from the promise to the heroes. 

They take a quick glance at the car, then back at me with a whistle. “You sure got the jackpot huh? Bet those are some lucky kids!”

“It’s nothing much. Kids are kids. They’d like anyone that’s kind to them and listens to them.”

“Ah, don’t be so modest now!” They get me in a headlock and rub my head in a jokingly aggressive way. “Any kid is lucky if they get you as a sitter!” 

I laugh and force myself out of their grip. Hizashi quickly pulls away in the car in the process. 

We enter the building, and I’m incredibly glad they didn’t ask to come in. On the outside the place looks fine, but the inside is pretty much falling apart. Walls peeling, and the floor thin enough to feel the vibrations of the music underneath. Hey, at least we never have a mold problem. It might be from someone here who has a mold-absorption type of quirk. How he discovered it, I don’t want to know. 

I’m rather tired today, so I’m not joining them. Ryo seemed to notice, so they went back out to the others. I just flop onto my bed and almost immediately fall asleep.

[alt-rose]

take a break | colson baker

colson baker imagine

take a break - you’re studying for the MCAT, and he reminds you of the importance of selfcare.

warnings: none? language? school stress? 

it wasn’t unusual for Colson’s living room to be a mess. from all the ragers that he’s thrown to the guys’ weekly get together, the living room was bound to be trashed. empty bottles and glasses usually littered every surface with rolling papers and ash spread thoroughly in between.

however, the mess that currently inhabited the living room was not Colson or the guys’ doing. it was yours. you had taken over the living room, claiming it as your study zone.

you were currently studying for the MCAT, which you were taking in a few weeks. Colson had been so supportive when you decided to visit him during the important time in your academic career, and you were only asking for a few hours a day to yourself so that you could study for your upcoming test. you promised that you would spend the rest of your time with him since you were spending your spring break camped out at his place and would eventually need to head back to school.

he was so proud of you, and he was incredibly impressed with your work ethic. applying to medical school was not an easy feat, and you had worked your ass off to get to where you are today, which is something that he could relate to.

so, Colson let you trash his living room. he had banished the guys from his house for the duration of your break (or at least, kept them out of your study zone), and he even cleared out when you had planned to study, usually spending his time in the studio working on his next album.

when he was gone, you spent your day drowning in study guides and practice tests. your papers were sprawled out on the living room floor as you used the coffee table as your desk. you had pens and highlighters buried within the mess. you had your textbooks cracked open to whatever page that you had frantically flipped to when you couldn’t remember something. mugs with day-old coffee and empty fruit snack pouches were abandoned on the end tables by the couch.

it was safe to say that you absolutely destroyed his living room.

--

             “I’m going to head to the studio for a few hours.”

peering up from your place on the floor, you watched as Colson zipped up his jacket and shoved his wallet and keys into his pockets.

             “text me if you need anything?” he suggested before making his way over to you, leaning down to plant a kiss on the top of your head.

             “sure,” you murmur before pulling him down to kiss his cheek.

             “don’t study too hard,” he joked, earning a stressed laugh from you.

the both of you knew that asking you not to study hard was like asking you not to breathe. both are necessary for your survival.

after he left, you decided to use the silence to your advantage, and you began to take another practice exam. that exam then turned into taking another exam when you didn’t score as well as you had hoped, and then you were spiraling.

you scoured your study guides and notes to review the material you had missed. your eyes were burning from the strain, and your head was beginning to pound. you were digging yourself a hole in your insecurities. you had broken down into tears twice now from the stress. you were dizzy and nauseous from forgetting to eat; not that you really had the stomach for it right now anyway. you don’t even remember the last time you got up to use the bathroom.

when Colson came home after 9 hours at the studio, he found you in the same position that you were in when he left. you were hunched over your books. your blue light glasses had slid down your nose, and your hair was a mess. leaving you to finish whatever you were working on, he made his way to the kitchen to clean up whatever mess that you had left him, only to find that there were no dishes in the sink. the kitchen hadn’t been touched since that morning.

             “hey,” he began as he made his way back to the living room. “did you eat anything today?”

you only hummed a response as you flipped through one of your notebooks, completely ignoring him. finding what you were looking for, you jotted a note down on one of your study guides.

             “hey,” Colson tried to get your attention once more as he took a seat on the floor across the table from you. he watched your eyes flick up to him briefly before they directed their attention back to the work in front of you. “dude.”

             “Col, give me a minute to finish this up, and I’ll talk to you then,” you snap at him as you take a few more notes.

Colson let out a sigh as he watched you go back and forth from your notebook to your textbook. he chose to sit and scroll through twitter while he waited for you to finish, but after 20 minutes had passed, he knew that you weren’t going to stop anytime soon.

             “jesus,” he muttered to himself as he put his phone down on top of some of your papers on the table. “have you taken a break at all today? have you eaten? looked out a window?”

you scoffed at him.

             “I don’t have time for breaks, Colson,” you said coldly. “I have to study because I have to take this test in a few weeks – a test, might I add, that will define my future – and I am not even remotely prepared for it. my practice scores are decreasing. I can’t remember any of this material. my notes are shit. and, I am going to fucking fail, which means I am not going to get into medical school, and all of my years of working my ass off in school will mean absolutely nothing. I cannot just take a break when I have everything at stake here.”

you both took a beat. you were taken aback by your sudden outburst. yeah, you meant every word of it, but you hadn’t meant for it to come out so harshly. and, you definitely didn’t mean to snap at Colson, who had been so supportive of your goals from the beginning. he was kind of shocked by your snappy attitude.

             “I understand,” he broke the silence. “I understand that you are really stressed, and I know that you have a lot of pressure on you. I just want to help, and I think taking an hour to eat and do something other than tear apart your notes would help.” he gently placed his hand on top of yours. “it’s late. I’m tired. you have to be tired. let’s call it a night. I’ll make you something to eat, and then you can turn your brain off for a few hours. killing yourself over this work won’t improve your scores-”

             “Colson,” you interrupted, pulling your hand away from him. “I just need to review a bit more.”

             “no,” he said sternly. “you need to rest. self-care and all that shit is just as important as studying.” he stood up from his spot on the floor, now towering over you. “come on, get up.” you gave him an annoyed look, practically telling him to F off. “no, come on, don’t give that shit. get up.”

he moved to your side of the table, and he pulled you up from the floor, despite your protests. to keep you from running back to your work, he threw you over his shoulder, and you yelped from surprise.

             “put me down,” you whine, pounding your fists on his back. “you’re being a jerk.”

Colson carried you up the stairs toward his bedroom before finally setting you down in his ensuite. you landed on your feet quite ungracefully, only for Colson to pick you back up to place you on the counter. the two of you stared at each other for a moment. you glared while Colson silently challenged you to make a run for it.

he raised an eyebrow at you once he was sure you would stay before turning to the bathtub. he turned the water on and waited for it to heat up before stopping the drain.

when he finally turned back to you, he found you slumped over with your eyes fixated on the floor, as if you were trying to micro nap while you waited. he suddenly felt less confident in leaving you to take a relaxing bath alone while he fixed you up something to eat, now knowing that you were on the verge of sleep.

gently placing a hand on your cheek, he moved to hold you close while the tub began to fill. he rested his chin on the top of your head while you tucked yourself into his chest.

             “was gonna leave you to take a bath, but I don’t want to leave you to drown in the tub if you’re going to fall asleep on me,” he murmured into your hair.

you let out a tired (and slightly loopy) laugh.

             “you might have to join me,” you murmur into his shoulder.

             “okay.”

with that, he moved to pull out two towels and dropped some fancy bath salts into the tub before finally moving to help you off the counter. he helped you slip out of your clothes before moving to undress himself, and then the two of you climbed into the tub together.

you sat with your back resting against his chest, and your head was resting against his shoulder. he let you close your eyes for a few minutes, allowing you to take a small nap. while you laid against him with your eyes closed, he gently ran a soapy washcloth against your skin to wipe away the fact that you hadn’t showered in at least two days.

             “still with me?” Colson hummed lightly.

you nodded against his chest.

             “do you want me to wash your hair?”

             “yes, please.”

Colson’s heart melted at how small your voice sounded. wordlessly, he gently moved you forward so that he could rinse and wash your hair with the detachable showerhead. you rested between his knees while he ran his hands through your hair. you were seconds from falling asleep, his motions slowly luring you to sleep. once he was finished with you, he let you rest your head against his propped-up knee while he quickly rinsed and washed himself.

he watched you carefully as he moved to unplug the drain and to hang up the showerhead before gently running a hand over your cheek. you opened your eyes at his touch.

             “ready to get out?” he asked softly, only receiving a sleepy nod from you.

he got out first, quickly wrapping a towel around his waist before holding your towel out for you. you stepped into the towel and let him wrap you up. after taking a minute to dry off, Colson grabbed the robe he got for you the last time you came to visit, and he wrapped it around you after taking your towel to expertly wrap your wet hair up in it.

you sat on the bathroom counter, slowly doing your skin care routine while he took a moment to dry himself off and put on a pair of boxers.

“you okay if I go fix you up something to eat?” Colson asked from the doorway, watching you apply your moisturizer.

“I’m okay,” you give him a small smile. “thanks, Cols.”

once you were finished, you dragged yourself to his bed, still wrapped in your robe with no motivation to put your pajamas on. you curled up against the pillows, letting yourself rest your eyes for a moment, while you waited for Colson.

             “I made you a sandwich.”

you opened your eyes to find Colson kneeling on the bed next to you with a plate in his hand. you move to sit up to let him lean against the pillows next to you.

             “you’re a saint,” you laugh lightly as you lean into his side.

             “hardly a saint,” he laughed back at you as he handed you half of your sandwich while he grabbed half of his.

             “a god?” you suggest taking the sandwich from him.

             “maybe.” he raised his slice to you. “cheers.”

             “cheers,” you laugh as you bump your sandwich against his. you took a moment to take your first bite. “oooo,” you call to him covering you mouth as you finish your bite. “you’re an angel. that’s what you are?”

             “alright, you noob, knock it off,” he smiled at you. “if anyone’s an angel here, it’s you.”

             “yeah, yeah, okay, you sap,” you nod back him before taking a bite.

the two of you let a comfortable silence fall over you as you finished your sandwiches. once you were both finished, Colson placed the plate on his nightstand before turning his attention back to you, only to find you already tucked under the covers. following you, he slipped under the covers before situating himself comfortably on his pillows. he pulled you into his chest, and you rested your head on his chest.

             “thank you,” you murmur.

             “for what?” he lightly stroked your damp hair.

             “you always take care of me. I love you for that.”

             “I’ll always take care of my girl.”

you lightly ran a hand up his arm, tracing his tattoos.

             “you’re going to be a great doctor one day-”

             “Cols,” you sigh with a defeated feeling sinking into your chest.

             “I mean it,” he told you. “you’re so smart, and I know this is a really stressful time for you, and it’s really difficult for you, but I know you’re going to do great on your test. you’ve been studying nonstop for weeks. you know you’re prepared, and I know it may not feel like it because you’ve been taking so many practice tests and stuff, but I think a break would do you some good. you need a fresh start. get out of your head for a bit, you know? take a day to get out and have fun, and then you can go back to studying for the rest of the break.”

             “Cols.”

             “spend the day with me tomorrow. we can go to the beach, or we can go hiking, or shopping, or anything you want to do. let me get you out of this house.”

you let out a sigh, taking a moment to think. he wasn’t wrong. you needed to get out, and you needed a break.

             “okay,” you sigh into his chest.

             “good,” he smiled to himself as he wrapped his arms tightly around you. “now sleep.”

             “don’t have to tell me twice,” you laugh lightly before nuzzling yourself into his chest so that you weren’t putting any strain on your neck. he reached a hand up and turned off the lamp, and darkness fell on both of you. “hey Cols?”

             “hmmm?”

             “I love you.”

             “I love you too, (Y/N/N).”

.

.

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hope you enjoyed! i took a break from some schoolwork to finish this piece. college is hard, my dudes. feel free to send requests! - rose xx