#his 'i realised what i really wanted: to learn that devotion towards living a fun life and shedding sweat and tears and blood for it.'

[hivemindscape]

the buddy-buddy act ends now

[yvtro]

Ideally, how would you change Jason's story? I completely agree with what you're saying and love Jason but I don't really know how you could really fix that without completely changing his character?

Maybe instead of retconning his behavior have him instead realize he was in the wrong and grow from it that way it doesn't change his past comics?

yes!! but also no. i talked a bit about it here, but let me elaborate.

there's plenty of potential in post-resurrection jay material, as shitty as it is. i love stories about haunting and about trying to escape from the narrative and about regaining autonomy, and i love reconstruction. which is why i think the best thing to do here is primarly to do what you said: for jason to realise he was in the wrong and grow from it.

i think here a new narrative (new-old, because it's something that some writers have been trying to imply but never succeeded) could be given shape, one more compliant with his 80s characterisation: that he gave in to a moral defeat mostly because of the tension between how it was initially his sensitivity and devotion to protecting others that pushed him into extreme methods as a vigilante & the fact that he tried to detach himself from these feelings at the same time. (of course it is much more complicated, because there's plenty things coming into play regarding his red hood persona, including bruce, his personal trauma etc., but let's set it aside for another time). in other words, he turned to extreme methods because he cared too much and didn't know how to handle it, so ended up repressing it and committing to violence in order to avoid vulnerability. we could move towards this interpretation of his story in two ways:

–– by jason failing completely and hitting the very rock bottom. i'm thinking about him, for example, killing the wrong person by accident and being confronted with the consequences of his action. or maybe failing to protect someone because of his methods. this would be a wake up call for him. it's an easy, fun and fast vision, this one. altern

–– by a gradual process of jason opening up back to his community and seeing that his actions do not help them in the ways he hoped, and that him committing to more positive and grassroot work makes a much bigger difference.

i'm a fan of the first option because there's so much space for pathos there, and the second scenario can naturally follow from there. i'd like to see bruce in this kind of story, also; i want jason breaking down and asking "if my ways don't work, and your ways don't work, then what will work? are we doomed to live like that? i want these people safe. for them to feel safe" "jay. do you not feel safe?"

what then though? well, jason has to learn how to live. i talked about if before, but i think one of the biggest sources of jay's misery is that he doesn't really have any civilian identity. i want to see jason unburying himself and for dc to actually address this issue instead of hinting at the fact that he's no longer legally dead (not even talking about lobdell's storyline where jason reveals that, i'd rather forget.) i want to see jason retiring for at least some time and living among people instead of working on the peripheries of the society with no connection to anyone.

and then, if he takes up the mask again... controversial, but i would love to see him as batman at some point, even if just for a while or as a substitute for bruce when b is not around. i think one part of batman's philosophy that is completely overlooked by many jason fans, and that would be so valuable for jason's storyline, is that bruce is completely aware both of all the evil in the world and the long term futility of vigilantism. the thing is that he is also able to own the success of helping even just one person. and it's something that jay, on the other hand, can't seem to be able to focus on; he is so preoccupied with both suffering of the others and his own pain, that he is not able to appreciate small "wins."

not to quote this again but jason really needs to realise that "one measure of maturity might be attaining an awareness that there can be no genuine devotion to fighting the forces that unworldly the world without genuine devotion to the littlest manifestation of beauty that make this planet a world and this existence a life.” he needs to embrace hope the way bruce did, because there's no other way of living for self-sacirificial bastards like them (and they are so similar in so many ways that are completely overlooked by writers, although i guess it's also hard to see it with how chronically mischaracterised bruce has been in recent years).

of course i don't mean that jason should be moulded into a copy of bruce. he should actually become better than bruce, and that's not that hard to achieve given that jason has infinitely more connection to the people. he has a community where his dedication comes from, and he is needed there, among them, as opposed to above them.

having said that, this story couldn't really happen with some changes to the canon, by which i don't really mean retconning anything, but rather underwriting certain reboots, to name a few:

–– the story has to get jason's origin as a robin and his inherent kindness right. it has to denounce lots of flashbacks in which jay was potrayed as aggressive and angry. this should come with the narrative addressing victim-blaming, but this is a complicated matter, because jason being victim-blamed was not only shitty for his character, but also sometimes rather out of character for the others. and i'm personally not necessarily interested in mindless whump at expanse of the narrative as a whole. so it's tricky, but we need to see victim-blaming being acknowledged without jason being victimised further for no good reason.

–– willis and catherine should be shown to be as loving as they were originally. willis being abusive doesn't add anything to jason's story rather than trauma porn and classist undertones. it's not necessary here.

–– honestly, let's just ignore half of rhato. bruce beating up jason for example was a crazy fantasy that didn't bring in anything to the narrative.

with these aspects corrected, the story can be reframed as a reconstruction of tragedy, where jason realises that there's no fate (and definitely no fate adjacent to classist rhetorics) that he needs to fight by commiting to the tragic irony of assuming his murderer's past persona. all he needs to do is to go back to his roots and find a way to live with all that happened to him, and still have hope and love for the people he seeks to protect.

so, tldr: yes to development from the point where we are at, but also yes to underwriting and reconstruction of past events in a less invasive way to push the storyline in the right direction. of course what i described above is also a very specific scenario, but you asked how i would ideally do it, so i delivered.

[seijorhi]

Acts of Devotion

👀 i um 👉 👈 i hope this is okay...

Akaashi Keiji x Female Reader

TW blood, gore, violence, murder, dub con, nsfw

Akaashi loves you.

He’s known that for a long time now, probably from the very first moment he laid eyes on you, back when you were both just wide eyed first year uni students, wildly out of your depths.

A lot’s changed since then. For one, he now gets to call you his, and it’s his arms that you return to at the end of a long day, his house that you both live in. It’d be a lie to say that it doesn’t bother him that he wasn’t your first love, but he’s contented himself with the knowledge that he’ll be your last. Your only great love.

The only one that matters.

But it hasn’t been without its challenges. He’s learned a lot about love since those early days, about what it means to truly devote yourself to somebody, to give everything you have for them.

Love essentially boils down to two things, Akaashi’s come to realise - sacrifice, and forgiveness. 

You always look so beautiful when you’re sleeping. Of course, Akaashi thinks you’re beautiful all the time; when you’re smiling and laughing, when your face is screwed up in petulant anger, when those pretty eyes of yours well with tears and they glimmer and shine - but there’s something about the peaceful expression, so soft and unguarded when you’re asleep that inexplicably draws him in. 

There’s a part of him that wants nothing more than to stay, to reach out and brush away the hair that’s fallen across your face, pull you closer and let sleep drag him under, but he can’t. 

Not tonight.

Instead he cranes his neck to press a kiss against your lips, a small smile tugging at his lips when you let out a quiet mewl in response. He loves you so, so much… that’s why he has to do this.

He’d forgive you anything. You know that, don’t you?

Sure, it hurt him when he found the messages. Scrolling back through your text history, it was like somebody had grabbed him by the throat and plunged a knife into his gut, twisting it for good measure.

Kaito i don’t know what to do

i love him but lately it feels like idk he’s being a little controlling i guess? 

… but maybe i’m just being paranoid?

He knows it’s not entirely your fault. For all the amazing qualities you possess, you are remarkably naive and so very, very impressionable - which worked to his favour in the beginning, he’ll be the first to admit, but now…

Now it’s becoming a problem.

You haven’t realised yet that everything Akaashi’s doing - it’s all for your own good. 

Your family wanted you under their thumb. They always asked too much of you, guilt tripped you whenever you tried to stand up for yourself or set boundaries. They’d never be happy for you, not truly. It hurts, he knows that, but some people don’t deserve to be in your life, especially when they treat you like that. 

Your job was causing you stress, and your boss was an arrogant, nasty piece of work. His salary is more than enough to support you both, why put yourself through that if you don’t need to? Aren’t you happier now that you don’t have to trudge into that office every day and pretend that it isn’t making you miserable?

Your friends were bad influences. Jealous of your relationship for one, but they were also petty, self absorbed and vapid, always trying to drag you down to their level so you wouldn’t ever outshine them. You’re better off without them, why can’t you see that?

Akaashi’s the only one you’ll ever need.

And he really thought that he’d solved that little problem, but apparently not. He supposes he shouldn’t be surprised that out of all of them, Kaito’s the one who’s been the hardest to shake. An old friend of yours from high school, Akaashi had known within five minutes of meeting him that he was head over heels in love with you and had been for a long, long time. 

He can’t blame him for that. You’re beautiful. Perfect. Entirely his. It’s painfully obvious that even before he came into the picture to sweep you off your feet, you’d never so much as looked twice at the guy. So Akaashi was more or less content to let his somewhat pitiful one sided crush on you slide. Considering that he had absolutely no intentions of letting him or any of your other friends remain part of your life for much longer, it was hardly worth wasting energy thinking about.

Until, that is, he read the messages that Kaito’s been sending you.

Leave him

I’m serious. 

My sister had a friend who was with a guy like that. She had to get a restraining order because he wouldn’t let her go - it got scary… You can come stay with me. I don’t want you getting hurt :(

It’s that last one that bothers him. Not the attempts to lure you away from him under the guise of being a safe haven from your ‘dangerous’ boyfriend, painting himself as your knight in shining armour - mildly irritating if not a little amusing - but for putting the idea in your head that Akaashi would ever hurt you.

That he can’t forgive.

He won’t have you look at him with fear in your eyes. 

Akaashi’s never tried to deny that side of himself, but he’s kept it from you, locked it away and buried it deep. The things he does… you’re too pure for that. He loves you, loves the way that your eyes still soften when you catch sight of him, the warm, trusting naivety that bleeds out of your every pore. If you knew what the hands that caressed you so gently had done, would you still beg for his touch?

You wouldn’t, he knows that just as he knows that even if you were to uncover the truth, he wouldn’t let you go. He can’t, you’re his.

Is it really so selfish of him to want to preserve that innocent naivety? 

But it seems like now he’ll have to indulge once again, and Akaashi, really, truly can’t say that it bothers him. Killing other people has always thrilled him, made the blood in his veins race… Killing other people for you, oh, that’s going to be a whole other level of pleasure he can’t wait to explore. 

The pads of his fingers trace the curve of your jaw for just a moment. “Back soon,” he whispers, gracing your cheek with a feather light kiss.

You’ve never asked why the door to the basement locks from both sides, he doesn’t even think you realise that the walls are soundproofed. Tonight he’s grateful. You won’t wake up, he’s almost positive of that, but Akaashi has no desire to be gone from your side for any longer than absolutely necessary.

He usually prefers to take his time. 

His first kill was more of an accident than anything else, there was too much blood, he panicked and it was over in the blink of an eye. There wasn’t time to savour it, to really enjoy the sight of the light leaving their eyes, the weak, desperate struggles and whimpers, the tantalising fear that inevitably bleeds into the air, growing more potent by the second - even the strongest break eventually. He’s learned since then how to draw it out, how to have fun with his work.

But he doesn’t have that luxury tonight, and, as he keeps having to remind himself, this isn’t about his pleasure.

Guns are quick. Messy. Akaashi’s never really taken a liking to the crude, graceless weapon. He prefers his knives. 

Waving a gun in somebody’s face gives them the idea that they’re going to die, and there are only so many times that you can shoot somebody before they just… bleed out. It’s not nearly as satisfying a death. A knife, on the other hand, brings with it more opportunities. It isn’t death that his victim becomes worried about, at least not initially, but pain. And as his hand glides over his collection, Akaashi decides that Kaito is due for a little pain.

I love him, you’d texted. I love him. I love him. I love him.

That’s what he’s trying to protect. 

Long, pale fingers wrap around the handle of his chef’s knife, (eight inches, sharp - a familiar, comforting weight in his hand) and he takes a deep, steadying breath.

Kaito’s mouth is taped shut. Akaashi doesn’t want to hear a filthy word out of those lips. His hands are bound behind his back, his ankles tied to the old, wooden chair. He’s good with his knots, the more Kaito struggles, the tighter they pull. And judging from the ugly, purpling shade of his hands and the tears leaking from bloodshot eyes, he’s been struggling for a while.

Good.

Akaashi smiles as he strolls towards his captive audience, fingering the straight edge of the knife. Kaito doesn’t try to speak, but the muffled whines and sobs grow louder with every step closed between them. The fear and tension in the air is palpable. 

His breath is little more than a frantic wheezing by the time Akaashi stops in front of him and drops into a crouch. Cool, gunmetal blue eyes meet Kaito’s deep brown ones, blown wide with terror.

“I’m not the monster you think I am,” he admits quietly. 

Looking up at him from beneath long, dark lashes, a faint smile on his lips, Akaashi could almost pass for an angel if not for the gleaming kitchen knife in his hand. Kaito pales, his entire body going taut as his gaze slides from Akaashi’s face to the gleaming blade in his hand. He shakes his head in desperation, another muffled scream escaping his gag-

Akaashi strikes fast, like a viper. The blade plunges into the meat of Kaito’s thigh and without an ounce of mercy, Akaashi yanks it back towards his knee.

The scream that rips through the air sends a pleasurable shiver of warmth down his spine, and his tongue darts out to wet his lips as he feels the muscles beneath him convulse. The gash isn’t too long, maybe a few inches, but it’s deep and Akaashi’s smirk only grows as warm blood gushes from the wound, coating his hand in slick vermilion. 

He tugs the knife free, rewarded with another choked howl from his captive as more blood sprays. Bound to the chair, there’s not a whole lot of room for Kaito to move, but it’s somewhat amusing to watch him try to thrash, escape the white hot agony radiating from his thigh through his entire body. It’s hard for the human body to comprehend that level of pain, and from experience, Akaashi’s well aware that it won’t take long for his body to go into shock and simply shut down from the blood loss, and once that happens, he won’t be of much use to anyone. 

Kaito’s trembling, face pale, his skin clammy. Impossibly black pupils swallow his irises whole, erratically tracking his captor’s every movement as Akaashi pushes himself to his feet and takes a moment to study him. Tears and bubbles of snot leak in a disgusting mix down his jaw, dripping onto his lap as he sobs against his bindings. It’s pitiful, seeing a man reduced to a whimpering, terrified wreck, but as the hand still holding his knife grips at his chin and yanks his face closer, Akaashi can’t help but gleefully drink it all in. 

Your would be knight in shining armour doesn’t look quite so strong and capable now, does he?

Akaashi doesn’t have much time left to make him suffer, but he can’t seem to resist trailing his fingers along Kaito’s injured leg, digging them deep into the ruined muscle - grinning wildly when he convulses and screams, arching up off the chair. 

There’s still so much that he’d like to do. He toys with the idea of taking his tongue, of carving his knife deep into his skin just to watch him whimper and bleed… but no. This isn’t about indulgence. This is about you. He has to have more discipline than that.

Dangling on the edge of consciousness, Kaito meets his gaze one last time. Maybe he senses that his death is close, or maybe he’s just searching for a last minute reprieve, mercy from the cold blooded killer before him. Terrified, agonised, delirious from the blood loss, he tries to speak - a plea, he thinks, or maybe just incomprehensible babbling, but his eyes burn into Akaashi’s, desperate and hollow.

Akaashi’s never been one for theatrics. He won’t waste more time monologuing while your friend clings to the last vestiges of life. If Kaito hasn’t guessed by now the reasons he’s ended up here, at Akaashi’s mercy, he’s far less intelligent than he gave him credit for, but he supposes that he owes him something, at least. 

“I love her,” he says with a small shrug, as if it explains everything.

And maybe it does. 

It hardly matters though, as Akaashi decides to finally end it with a vicious slice across his throat. Blood sprays like a fountain, splattering across the room and drenching him, Kaito’s body slumps in his seat, the last flicker of life slowly snuffing out, and Akaashi revels in the pure, sweet euphoria that floods his system.

He’s never killed anybody while you were home with him before. Normally he’s methodical, quick to clean up whatever mess is left behind. Tonight though, Akaashi doesn’t have the patience for all that.

He should at least take a shower, rid himself of the blood that soaked him to the skin, but the call of your arms, the sweet, soft floral scent he longs to drown himself in beckoning is too hard to resist. He sheds his clothes, casting them aside haphazardly along with the bloody knife as he stalks down the hallway to the bedroom. His heart is still racing, excitement drumming through his veins as he crawls onto the bed and slides the covers off of you.

Dimly, he registers that this is a monumentally bad idea, but all he can think about is the vivid memory of the light leaving Kaito’s eyes and you. Tonight, he killed for you, and it was exhilarating.

He doesn’t think he could stop himself even if he wanted to, and why would he want to?

You’re perfect, beautiful - his. Nothing and nobody will ever be able to separate the two of you, he’ll kill anybody who tries. 

You stir a little as Akaashi’s lips graze along your skin, his fingers sliding the silk of your nightgown up over your hips.

“‘Kaashi?” you sleepily murmur, trying to blink heavy eyelids open.

He wonders if you can feel the way his bloodstained hands are trembling as they ease your supple thighs apart. “Shh, baby,” he presses a kiss against your leg as he manoeuvres himself between them, “It’s okay, go back to sleep.”

Let me take care of you. 

He needs this.

[cybernaght]

Guardian rewatch: episode 7

The world’s most amicable mugging continues in this episode, as Shen Wei waits for Zhao Yunlan to spring into his defence as his personal knight in shining armour. Or, as the official subtitle of the episode states:

I kid you not. Here’s the original with the alternate translation.

I am once more very much not mad at it. 

I say that Shen Wei’s mugging is amicable, but that is of course is before one of the “gangsters” tries to grab at his Pendant of Pining. “It’s not something that you people can touch”, he states, easily restraining the man’s wrist. He’s not losing his composure just yet, but his warrior’s stance is showing, and he comes pretty close to breaking cover.

Thankfully, this is when Zhao Yunlan shows up to intervene. Hearing him approach, Shen Wei’s first priority is hiding the Pendant of Pining. His second priority is straightening his collar and tightening his tie. Shen Wei may be in a middle of an attempted mugging, but he’d be damned if he allows Zhao Yunlan to see him dishevelled. Come to think of it, it’s kind of hilarious that Shen Wei’s attempt at pretending to be a poor helpless human includes being completely nonplussed by being attacked. Surely freaking out a little would be an infinitely less suspicious choice. 

Yunlan politely but firmly pushes the professor aside, and Shen Wei waits patiently next to the wall, neatly folding his hands the same way he did at the unpleasant councillor meeting in the previous episode. 

Here we finally see that Zhao Yunlan is pretty impressive in hand to hand combat. This man may not have a sword, but he can easily knock two dudes out with three moves. Again, this is a very short, but pretty damn flawless little piece of choreography. Zhao Yunlan’s fighting prowess is even more accentuated with a gleeful adrenaline-filled grin he breaks into after he’s done. I understand Shen Wei’s endless desire to protect the man he’s devoted to, but, honestly, it’s nice to see Zhao Yunlan not really needing protection - not against simple street crime at least. 

Shen Wei proceeds to calmly dust off his discarded briefcase. Zhao Yunlan proceeds to retrieve the other man’s watch from the ground and then passes it on. With physical contact. Should I be obsessing over how their fingers linger together for a second? Maybe not. I am doing it anyway. 

“What a coincidence”, deadpans Shen Wei, who knows for the fact that the other man is tailing him, and causes a delightful burst of faux outrage in response. 

“What are you implying?”, Zhao Yunlan asks innocently, deflecting further by inquiring whether Shen Wei thinks he staged this little rescue mission. He follows it with “Only you’re allowed to be here this time of night?”, which I choose to read as, “Really, Shen Wei. Why do you think you should have a monopoly on stalking in this relationship?”

As the two are distracted by the low key flirting, one of the muggers makes an opportunity attack on Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei is alarming Yunlan to this with genuine worry, but does not lose his composure enough to intervene.  

We are treated to another excellent three moves, which are block-break-backfist. Well mixed sound helps, but Bai Yu does look very good as well. The footage does not appear sped up at all, but his movements are fast and crisp, he’s engaging his whole body, everything lands well angle-wise, it’s appropriately safe... Again, I cannot fault this at all. Bai Yu is not physically strong, and this just goes to show that you don’t need a lot of muscle to look like you can be an effective fighter. I don’t want to go into long detail on western media’s obsession with unrealistic physical standards in action media, but suffice it to say that it’s an unhealthy and pointless aesthetic choice which has nothing to do with reality of combat performance - as this scene clearly illustrates. (Look. As I said, stage violence is one of my jobs, and I’m a curvy woman who spends a lot of her time with insecure young actors and drama students. I have opinions.)

Having fended off the attack, Zhao Yunlan exaggerates the situation with the proverb “talking too much will get you killed.” Shen Wei is obviously distressed over his choice of words, but he looks down to hide it. 

At this point the two decide to go home instead of getting the street criminals off the street. 

Zhao Yunlan follows Shen Wei into his flat, pretending very loudly that he has not seen this place before. He is trying way too hard. And there is a touch of a naughtily feline glimmer in his eyes, because he is probably still on that adrenaline rush: his heart would be pounding, senses elevated, brain basking in a pleasant sharpness akin to a sugar rush, when everything is a little bit too saturated. And an attractive mysterious man he just saved is asking him to stay. Zhao Yunlan’s going to have even less brain to mouth filter here than he usually does. 

Shen Wei is getting a first aid to kit to treat Zhao Yunlan’s injuries. It’s anyone’s guess why the self-healing Envoy needs a first aid kit at all - it lives in a Tupperware box as well, suggesting that it’s been assembled and organised by hand rather than store bought. 

Sitting down, and tucking his tie in (because neatness is everything), Shen Wei prepares to administer a mysterious ointment to Zhao Yunlan’s bruise, and states that this is him giving Chief Zhao an opportunity for interrogation. I bet he has got a lie prepared for any question, because this situation has definitely been pre-planned. 

Instead of probing the other man, Zhao Yunlan offers him a job. Shen Wei’s answer is a firm no, which he utters without even a second hesitation. To Zhao Yunlan, this clearly reads as a rejection, as his face crumbles. 

He livens up however, when Shen Wei hurries to add that this is not a denial of help or cooperation. Zhao Yunlan is right to ask why he would take the job then case; this is an entirely reasonable question. I’m guessing, Shen Wei’s reluctance comes from his unwillingness to compromise Hei Pao Shi’s position, rather than an attempt to prevent Zhao Yunlan from getting involved in the cosmic shitstorm which is currently brewing: as the Lord Guardian, he’s gonna get right in the middle of said storm either way. 

“You just move in and didn’t invite your neighbour over for some fun?”, Zhao Yunlan asks.

Laying it on really thick, I see. 

Shen Wei blinks disbelievingly, as if to say “did he just…?” then recovers enough to huff out a laugh.

“My mistake. Next time, I’ll properly invite you.”

Zhao Yunlan snaps his fingers in delight, visibly vibrating with joy. In his head this is Yunlan - 1: Xiao Wei - 0. 

As Shen Wei starts to apply the mysterious ointment, Zhao Yunlan flinches, and Shen Wei is genuinely taken aback by an idea that he might hurt this man. He is so preciously startled for a second, shedding ten thousand years in an instant. I am never going to not be impressed by Zhu Yilong’s ability to switch into Baby Shen Wei mode in a matter of seconds. 

“I didn’t expect you to have such skilful hands.”

Zhao Yunlan’s charm attack truly is unrelenting, and Shen Wei looks up with such a fragile hope in his eyes. He has lived a long time now, and he has learned to maintain thick walls around himself, but he is still incredibly affected by Kunlun’s shameless flirting. 

Continuing his charm offensive, Zhao Yunlan gets so distracted by trying to further impress Shen Wei, he unwittingly reveals that he knows the layout of this flat. And realises what he said. And hopes that the other man had not noticed, adorably brushing his nose in embarrassment. 

He dug this one out for himself, and Shen Wei is far from mortified: he is pleased to have caught the other man out. Zhao Yunlan flails, and Shen Wei quite literally is failing to wipe a smug smile off his own face. 

He’s not even really waiting for an explanation. He’s just happy to win this round. There is even a little “yeah sure let’s pretend I believe you” tilt of the eyebrow, when Yunlan finally comes up with something that sounds as a reasonable excuse. 

After his massive blunder, Zhao Yunlan tries to leave again. Shen Wei stops him, again, and there is no limit to how slyly Zhao Yunlan turns around, followed by a hind of disappointment when all he gets is an ointment, and not, you know, an opportunity to have a good look around Shen Wei’s bedroom. 

Shen Wei is left alone in his flat in a state of utter emotional overload, stroking the Pendant under his shirt. 

Let’s disregard for a second the fluctuating length of the chord the Pendant hangs on (is it between his collar bones or in front of his breastbone? Pick one!), and just appreciate the pining. Shen Wei is going through a lot of feelings since his Kunlun’s returned into his life, and sometimes computing is not an option. 

In the next scene, the muggers are discussing Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, calling them both too formidable to even attempt an act of revenge against them. Definitely a wise idea. Unfortunately for them, they immediately get attacked by… something.

Spoiler alert: no, it’s not a bear.

It’s the White Shirt Day at the SID. Chu Shuzhi is the only one not participating. In this scene, we discover that Lin Jing likes a horror web novelist called Lai Su - which will be very convenient for the case at hand. During their conversation, Wang Zheng alerts he team to the new case, asking for the whereabouts of their boss. Zhu Hong’s reply is that who knows which old pal the man is hang out with. As we never see him having any friends outside of his job, I choose to believe that he is probably hanging out with Shen Wei; quite possibly exploring the layout of his bedroom. Especially considering how good his mood is as he strolls into the office announcing that he is going to buy a feast for everyone.

Unfortunately, the feast has to wait. Zhao Yunlan, Chu Shuzhi and Xiao Guo head towards the crime scene, which is the very same alley the mugging took place the night before. 

“Based on my experience, he died from freezing.” 

There has never been a more apt reason to use the phrase “no shit Sherlock”. 

Apparently, there is a cctv camera trained right on this very particular dark alley. Which implies that the muggers were even less professional than they appeared to be at the beginning of the episode. Mysteriously, the footage fails to show the actual monster who attacked the poor unfortunate street criminals. It did, on the other hand, capture Zhao Yunlan’s dashing rescue of Professor Shen.

Zhao Yunlan can’t exactly stop his team from rewinding the footage, so he is just left squirming as those around him gape at him spending time with Shen Wei in the middle of the night. 

“You... and Shen Wei? This late at night?”

Chu Shuzhi’s transition from disbelief to a knowing “ah” via a mischievous smirk is particularly amusing. 

The following afternoon, Zhu Hong appears in Shen Wei’s office, laptop in hand. She is quietly furious at being given this task; as I imagine it is very awkward indeed to be a laptop carrier for your crush’s crush. The entire scene she will be alternating between glaring, rolling her eyes, pursing her lips, and glaring with even more venom. 

After Shen Wei gets over his initial bafflement at technology, he realises that Zhao Yunlan is video calling him in order to ask for his expertise on the current case. For the most of this scene the call looks like some sort of fake generic video conference software, apart from some shots on the SID side which very obviously show a pre-recorded footage being played: with a pause button, and a time stamp, and everything.

Shen Wei is in full trolling mode when he educates the SID team on all the types of bears that could have attacked the victim. He tasted this feeling of outsmarting Yunlan the night before and it’s too sweet to let go. Judging by the fact that Da Qing, who is by Zhao Yunlan’s side, is falling asleep during this conversation, we can guess that it’s been going on for a while. 

Zhao Yunlan knows that Shen Wei is trying to prove a point here - he will not be bullied into being a consultant. So, Zhao Yunlan changes tactics, and asks Shen Wei for clues as a friend. Shen Wei assures Zhao Yunlan in turn that he would never hide anything important from. The magnitude of this particular lie is immeasurable, unless Shen Wei considers turning himself into a literal suicide bomb inconsequential. Which, to be fair, he might do. 

Finally, Da Qing wakes up and suggests that the suspect is a Youchu (translated in subs a “secluded beast”). He is not correct, but it is important that we know what those are, because we’ll see them in a couple of episodes - so it actually makes sense to write them in here. 

Shen Wei instantly comes forward, fishes a relevant file out of his drawer, and educates the team on that particular monster. Zhao Yunlan relates that he is familiar with those, and that he knows Hei Pao Shi fought them before in nearby cities. 

Existence of aforementioned nearby cities will remain a beautiful enigma, which will never be explained. Seastar will remain very much a Little Prince-sized planet. 

At this point Zhao Yunlan gets a call about the other mugger being found, and Shen Wei tells him in a rush that he does not think those two men possess Undergrounder qualities. 

When asked however what those qualities are, he does not elaborate, and, after a thick silence, Zhao Yunlan sighs in resignation and finally lets Shen Wei off the hook, assuring him that he knows not all Undergrounders are monsters. He knows - of course he knows - that Shen Wei is hiding stuff. He knows the other man is somehow invested in the Undergounders, and is probably is one himself.  Once again he chooses to trust him absolutely. I know it feels like I say those words every single episode, but this is also the choice Zhao Yunlan makes, deliberately, every single episode. This conversation will leave Zhao Yunlan very cranky for the remainder for the case, but his willingness to keep giving Shen Wei concessions is actually really sweet. 

Shen Wei asks, perhaps, impulsively, that Yunlan shares his findings with him, because he is curious who the culprit is. It makes, as ever, little sense for him to do so considering that he would find it out anyway as Hei Pao Shi.

After completing her mission, Zhu Hong leaves in a huff. She did not say hello and she does not say goodbye either. Shen Wei tries to wave amicably, but aborts the gesture.

He does not yet know - and will not find out for quite some time - why Zhu Hong feels so antagonistic towards him. 

Next stop: the hospital ward with a now insane criminal. Portrayal of mental health issues on this show is... interesting, by which I mean terribly stigmatising. I would have understood if this was a magic-induced psychosis, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. 

Lin Jing realises that the case sounds very much like the web horror novel he likes. It sounds insane, but Yunlan hears him out. The scientist goes into great detail over the author, revealing that he was a leader of his fan club at some point, and detailing several murders from his recent novel that appeared to have have happened in reality.

The team moves on to scout the author’s - Lai Su’s - house, with Zhao Yunlan being the one to approach it. He then proceeds to summon his team via a non-existent radio. 

Look. There is no mouth piece on this jacket. There is no earpiece in his ear. There are no wires. None of the team have radios. None of them even look like they are listening to radios. (Trust me, the “please shut up for a second, someone is speaking into my ear” is a recognisable look). Guardian’s writers/directors. Mah dudes. If you can’t afford radios, just make him do a non-verbal signal, seriously. Same effect, with much less silliness, and no continuity issues. 

Before the team enters the house, we see Ya Qing in crow form for the first time. Even without the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to recognise that the crow will become narratively significant because she is animated, and this show would not waste its very scarce and rapidly depleting CGI budget in vein. 

We also know that the crow is a Yashou because Lin Jing starts talking about Zhu Hong at that exactly moment. Guardian is many wonderful things - it’s dramatic, breathtaking, heart-wrenching, and poignant - but subtle it is not.

Inside the house, they discover a secret room, which Lai Su is hiding in, and we finally get to meet our unfortunate culprit. 

It is very peculiar how mean-spirited this episode seems to be. The web novelist in question is shown in an unequivocally negative light. He is a coward hiding behind a blanket, a weirdo living in a secret room, a glutton stuffing his face with snacks and drinking wine. He is shown as too vain to stop chasing clout even when he suspects that his novel is leading to people dying. He writes for attention and money rather than out of genuine artistic expression. He is a whimpering mess, begging Lin Jing on his knees to speak to the Chief on his behalf. Even if we consider that moral of the story (as stated later in Guo Changcheng’s diary note) is “internet bad”, this insistence of making Lai Su so unmistakably despicable is baffling. The series is based on the web novel. What kind of message is this sending about its origins?  

On the bright side, I suppose it is nice that part of this episode not revolving around Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei’s relationship is actually rather Lin Jing-centric. So far, he was mostly there for occasional tech support and countless shots of him of screaming at a computer, but here we get to know more about him, and he goes on a little emotional journey of his own - meeting his idol and being distraught by the author not living up to expectations. It is always so disappointing to see creators you admire being imperfect, or downright unpleasant, and it’s easy to sympathise with Lin Jing’s discontent. 

Zhao Yunlan’s modus operandi has always been intuition. Looking at the author, he knows that he must be responsible for the murders, and also knows that he could not possibly have been. For once it is actually Xiao Guo who suggests the solution: multiple personality disorder. Or, magical multiple personality disorder, as it is the case. We see this click with the Chief, and he genuinely praises the young man. 

Back at the house, Lai Su is deciding to stop the murder spree by writing the demise of the homicidal protagonist of his novel. This is his ultimate redemption, which also leads to his untimely death by the hands of the monster who lives within him and is manifested through his writing. 

The team asks Zhao Yunlan what was going on with this strange case. They won’t get an explanation; but Shen Wei will. 

Zhao Yunlan, as promised, drops by Shen Wei’s office late at night to tell him all about the case. He concludes that Lai Su must have had Undergrounder blood in him, with his power not manifesting until now. Zhao Yunlan sounds rather remorseful as he stipulates that the writer could have lived a long happy life despite his origin and abilities, had he not started unknowingly abusing his powers. This Zhao Yunlan is miles removed from the man who vowed to catch every Undergrounder, and we can see Shen Wei infinitely moved by this man’s empathy. 

This, I think, is the very moment Shen Wei starts to fall in love - not with the man who was Kunlun, or the man who will be Kunlun, or the man who resembles Kunlun - with Zhao Yunlan, Lord Guardian, Chief of Special Investigations Department, with all his incessant flirting, and sharp edges, and pointed questions, and endless understanding. 

In the final moments of this episode Zhao Yunlan shares a dark premonition that something truly terrible will happen in their city. 

He has no idea how right he is. 

Next up: Episode 8: The Morning Porridge 

——

This conversation happened with my partner as I was working on this recap:

Me: … I am two scenes in and this is how much I’ve typed up already. 

My partner: Honey! I know you’re Russian, but War and Peace has already been written. 

[colour-outside-the-liness]

Hi Colour! This is going to be a long one, so buckle up!

Oh wow, that's so precious! You've definitely earned the "real life Dani" nickname haha I wish I could find something meaningful like that to do with my life. I'm actually autistic and have ADHD so hearing you do this kind of work makes me really happy! Keep up the good work Ms. Clayton! 😁 Haha

You sound like a lot of fun to hang out with at pubs! Haha I'm glad you identify with that bit of info on your star placements. I had a lot of fun doing it too!

The thing about Hozier is that some of his lyrics are incredibly sapphic to me for some reason, I'm still trying to figure it out. NFWMB is one of the songs that feels like that to me. Don't know if you've heard it before but give it a try if you haven't. If you close your eyes it sounds like you're in an epic romantic story and there are swords, pretty gowns, and rooms lit by torches. Haha

The beginning of this song was inspired by a poem written by W.B Yeats called "The Second Coming" in 1920, and it talks about an apocalypse of sorts, alluding to all of the horrors men inflicted upon the world which ends up awakening this beast that goes to Jesus's place of birth in the Bible (Bethlehem) to be born. The last lines being:

"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

So the song starts with:

"When I first saw you

The end was soon

To Bethlehem it slouched

And then, it must've caught a good look at you"

And oh boy do I think of Dani when I hear that. Especially bc of that scene where Viola accepts Dani's invitation to live inside her. And nobody knows why she accepts it (but I do!).

And yeah at first glance you might not think much of Dani. in the beginning she's just a tiny frail small-town girl with a lot of anxiety, running away from her past traumas. But she proves us wrong again and again and again. She moves to a country she's never been before entirely by herself, sees an opportunity, and doesn't let go of it even when it looks like it went wrong. Then is very loving and tender with these children who have gone through so much and are still going through so much. Tries to fight (with a fire poker!!) the threatening man that keeps harassing her, the children, and her friends. THEN manages to soften the angry, grumpy lesbian who's given up on people after A LOT of trauma (too much in my opinion) and doesn't give up on her when she rejects her either. Freaking exorcises her ex and makes him stop haunting her so she can be with the love of her life. And then finally as if all of that didn't make her the bravest hero in this story, she literally stops an apocalypse from happening and saves everyone from this beast by sacrificing herself without even thinking twice. Saves everyone that came before her and then the ones who'll come after for the rest of eternity. I mean the P-O-W-E-R this girl has. 💪 so hell yeah the lady in the lake wanted to take her.

When Hozier says:

"Ain't it a gentle sound, the rollin' in the graves?

Ain't it like thunder under earth, the sound it makes?

Ain't it exciting you, the rumble where you lay?

Ain't you my baby? ain't you my baby?"

I can only think of Dani at the bottom of the lake laying on top of all the bones of the people Viola killed and how she's at peace living forever in a dark place like that. That's kinda hardcore y'know?

After the first verses, Hozier goes on to talk abt his lover, someone so utterly terrifying even the beast of the end of the world can't stand to look at them. But this song is also about being proud to be this person's lover bc nothing can fuck with them, not bc you are there to protect them and wouldn't let anyone harm them, but bc they're more than capable of protecting themselves and you too. So in my head, this song is Jamie's declaration of love to Dani.

And then I think of Jamie's devotion to Dani when she said "If you can't feel anything, then I'll feel everything for the both of us." shown in this verse:

"If I was born as a blackthorn tree

I'd wanna be felled by you

Held by you

Fuel the pyre of your enemies"

And the fact that she took what she could get just to be with Dani. She knew she'd have to suffer for/bc of her at some point, but chose to be with her anyway. I have no doubts in my mind she'd want to be anything for her as long as they could be together in any way, shape, or form. In all the lives they happened to meet one another too.

Wouldn't it be cool to see them in an AU where Dani is like a medieval princess who's supposed to marry Edmund to form an alliance between kingdoms or something and Jamie is an assassin who is hired to kill the princess so she has to pretend to be Dani's personal guard or wtever but they fall in love and run away together and Jamie teaches her how to fight so Dani becomes this warrior but turns out Dani is naturally good at it and then she becomes a legend? Hahaha I can see her riding a horse in the winter with paint on her face and her blonde hair falling over this fur-lined cloak, fierce look on her face, and Jamie riding next to her (always). Then they come across Viola who's a witch and puts a curse on Dani and then Dani and Jamie have to travel to all sorts of places and fight all sorts of people and go on this whole adventure to rid Dani of this curse. Maybe Dani has to go back to her kingdom bc her father dies and there are other people trying to take her kingdom so there's a lot of angst and suffering but then they win at the end after a lot of sweat and tears and they live happily ever after! 😎Hahaha

Anyway, I hope you're having a great week so far and hope you had fun with your niece today! (I know if I was her and you had us make fudge and paint I'd worship you haha) I'm sorry for the very (very) long ask, but I've been obsessing over this idea for months and I just had to share it with someone! ✌️✨

(And you can call me Libby or wtever since I'm not anon anymore 🤗)

Awwh thank you so much for saying I have earned my 'real life Dani' title is means a lot to me that you guys see that in me!! I am sure you do so many meaningful things in life without even realising it!! I honestly just want to make a difference and I love helping people so going into a career like this just seemed so natural to me and I really do love what I do!! Thank you so much I really hope I can keep up the good work!! I hope I'm a lot of fun- I know I have helped win a few pub quizzes and there's been a few times I've won games of trivial pursuit as well so that really did make so much sense to me and learning about all the placements of my chart was so much fun and was so interesting so thank you very much!! I have heard some of Hozier's lyrics are quite sapphic and I always mean to look into more of his songs and then just never do but I will definitely look in to NFWMB because the lyrics you have sent me here are incredible and definitely give of Dani x Jamie vibes I definitely agree with you in everything you have said about why Viola accepted Dani's invitation- Dani and Viola are similar in some ways and this was something I was explaining to my niece when she watched it with me. I explained to her that both Viola and Dani are strong willed, and stubborn, and would do anything to fiercely protect the people they care about. We saw that time and time again with Dani, how within days of knowing Miles and Flora she was out with a fire poker trying to protect them from a strange man that she kept seeing around the manor. And how Viola would've done anything to protect her daughter. One major difference between them though is that Viola seemed to have a slight selfish streak where as Dani is entirely selfless, she was selfless for the longest time in even agreeing to marry Eddie so she wouldn't hurt him, she was selfless in protecting Miles and Flora, and even more selfless in saving Flora's life and freeing all the trapped spirits of Bly Manor and then she is selfless in the fact that she won't drag anyone down and won't hurt anyone else at Bly ever again. The one thing she did for herself was being with Jamie- and she was able to make Jamie open up and trust people in way she probably hadn't for the longest time. Dani is a truly strong person as was Viola and I can see why she would accept Dani's invitation. I will have to listen to this song to see it from a Jamie perspective which I will definitely do tomorrow but from the lyrics you have sent me I can definitely see it being a love declaration to Dani from Jamie. Jamie knew in the end she would suffer because she knew she wouldn't be able to keep Dani forever, and knew that one day she would have to leave her- but she knew loving Dani for as long as she was allowed to would be worth that pain in the end and Jamie is a truly strong person as well for knowing this and staying by Dani's side anyway when that must have been such a hard thing for Jamie to ever have to accept. Jamie would've been anything for Dani and would've one anything for her as Dani would've for Jamie and that's why I love them so much. They loved each other so purely and without conditions and so wholeheartedly and it really was such a lovely thing to watch play out in front of us (even if it did hurt us all at the end). I think it would be so cool to see an AU like that I think medieval stuff is always so fun and so interesting and a good enemies to lovers start never fails either because there's so much tension there between them. And Jamie being undercover as someone to get close to Dani and them slowly falling in love with each other would just be a great thing to see!! And I am all for warrior Dani and Jamie (women with weapons is a little bit of a weakness of mine)!! This whole AU just sounds incredible I love a good curse in fantasy stories and the curse slowly taking over and you thinking they're going to run out of time but everything works out in the end!! Dani going back to her kingdom because of her sick Dad dying would be great for angst because it would look

like she would have to marry someone to create an alliance and that she would have to take over a kingdom (perhaps something she never wanted to do in the first place)!! I think this could be a very angsty one shot and could be so interesting and fun and the happy ending would definitely make all the angst worth it in the end!! I am having a good week so far thank you and I had so much fun with my niece today, making fudge went great and she was happy that I was able to show her how to do it because she'd never made it before so now that's something she knows how to do (I think she thinks I'm way cooler than I actually am haha thank you for saying you'd worship me though if you were my niece haha 😂) but tomorrow she is teaching me how to do something because I taught her how to make fudge today... she's gonna teach me how to draw in an anime style- which is something she is really into and even though I'm not she loves drawing so I've asked if she can teach me since I taught her something today!! There's no need to apologise I loved this long angst and I loved this idea I think it's really great and interesting and that song just seems amazing and I am definitely gonna listen to it tomorrow when I get chance!! Thank you for sharing this idea with me I loved it!! ☺️ Haha oki doki then as long as that's alright with you Libby is what I'll call you!! Like I said you can seriously call me anything!! ☺️

[waejinyoung]

Can’t Swim - EP . 1

word count: 4.6k+

a/n: this is my first ever post. i hope you guys enjoy! since we recently found out that jinyoung has been learning how to swim, i wanted to write a fanfiction related to this new fact. enjoy! :)

warning: minimal swearing, a lil suggestive, nothing else

EP . 1 , EP . 2 , EP . 3 , EP . 4 , EP . 5 , EP . 6 , EP .7 , EP . 8 , EP . 9

You were a part time swimming teacher/coach at a small leisure centre in Jinhae. Many questioned why you moved from a city like Seoul to a small town, but you knew you needed a break from the city.

The pay was a little less but so were the bills. You were paying less than half your rent and had made amazing friends at your new centre. What more could you ask for?

A gentleman who would meet you when you arrived home would be nice but a man who would meet your high standards would be a miracle. You had closed the romance book a long time ago.

Now you devote your time to teaching people how to swim. A skill that’s regarded as vital. Your groups tend to be filled with children aged 5-10. A reasonable age for students to start learning a life-long skill. Until one day a new student joined your group. A bit older. Much older.

PRESENT TIME

“YA Y/N! YOU’RE LATE AGAIN”, Jooheon was screaming again for the 100th time since the start of your job.

“Sorry boss!”, you waved Jooheon off and went straight to your locker to change into your full bodysuit.

You and Jooheon were childhood friends so the worker-boss relationship was very light-hearted. Meaning being late wasn’t going to cut it for Jooheon to sack you, luckily.

You came back to the staff room to check up on which group you had for Monday’s morning group.

“Right, I have my 8 student group for the morning lesson.”

“Make that 9!”, shouted Jooheon as he exited the staffroom.

“Right, I HAVE 9 STUDENTS!”, you shouted back.

Hmm, 9 students? I guess I have a new student, you thought to yourself. Jinhae was a small town so your groups tended to be no more than 10-12 students. This was a plus compared to the place you worked in Seoul. Seoul’s population meant bigger swimming groups. It was hard having to supervise and teach 20 students at the same time. You would get paranoid every time you lost sight of a child only to find out they had gone to the bathroom without asking. In Jinhae it’s much more relaxed. You’re able to control all students and they seem to be more understanding too. That could just be your luck.

“Ahh, Y/N looking good!”

That’s Max. The swimming teacher of the teenage groups. He always came in early to fit in his own morning swim to then continue with his lessons. Also, top notch f-boy material. He’d take any chance to check out the females in his groups. If I’m honest though, they love the attention so it’s a win-win situation for both sides.

“Max cut it; you have an all-girls group in the afternoon. You can feed your eyes then.

Funny enough, you didn’t spend much time in obtaining that perfect body. Other than the swimming lessons you don’t really work out. You don’t diet either. But you were lucky. I mean that’s what Max says anyways. Apparently to him, your fat goes to the right places. You just take that as a compliment and don’t question it or he’ll get very… explicit?

“Come on, Y/N I’m just playing with you.”

“Take your games elsewhere, I have a group to teach. See you at lunch.”

“See ya!”

You headed down the hallways towards the pool. These short haul walks tend to be a bit… creepy? You realised the first time round walking down this corridor that there are many more guys just like Max. Thirsty. In other words, pathetic. Like damn, do you need to express everything that’s on your mind out loud? Most days it feels like you’ve just stepped foot into the Amazonian Forest surrounded by tropical parrots all whistling. But today was different. For you anyways.

There were whistles again but you caught glimpse of a parrot. A very silent one unlike the reckless individuals around him. He was new. You had been working in Jinhae for around 4 months now, so you knew more or less when you saw a new face at the centre. He seemed very… shy? You couldn’t tell since it was just a glimpse and you had come to the end of the corridor.

You were early for your lesson. In 5 minutes, you’ll have all 8 kids + the newbie running towards you with joy. You had an amazing bond with the kids in this group. They say you as their big sister who they saw weekly. Before they would arrive, you always fit in a quick 2 laps to get your heart pumping. Although, this time your little heart didn’t need the 2 laps. If only you had known beforehand that an individual would do the same job as those 2 laps.

“2 laps in 90 seconds. Not bad” You looked at your Fitbit.

“Y/N!!!”

“Y/N eunnie!!!!”

“Noona!”

You could see your little herd of minions running to the edge of the pool where you were. They greeted you with little waves knowing you don’t like it when they jump in the pool without warming up. We wouldn’t want someone having a cramp mid front stroke.

“Hello, everyone! How have you all been?” Hmm, weird you couldn’t see the 9th student that Jooheon had mentioned earlier on.

“Good!” They all replied back in synchronisation. Cute.

“I heard that there’s somebody new joining our group. Have any of you happened to meet the new student yet?”

“No~” another reply in sync.

Maybe they got lost trying to find the pool? Maybe they are shy? Shy. No… you thought maybe the silent parrot from earlier on could be the new student and realised the age group of your students. See the groups were not categorised through age groups it was just a coincidence that all the beginners ranged from 5-10 year olds. The groups are organised as beginners, intermediate and advanced. Parents tend to send their kids to swimming classes at a young age hence why the beginner’s classes consisted of young children.

“I heard from Jooheon Oppa that there’s a new student joining us today. Jaehyun could you please lead the morning exercise whilst I try and find the new student? Once you are all done make sure to sit on the ledge of the pool and wait for me to come back. Jaehyun you’re in charge until I get back. Understood?”

“Aye, aye Captain” Jaehyun saluted back.

Jaehyun was the lifeguard at the pool you taught your lessons at. He was a year younger than you. Exactly a year funny enough. Same birthday, what a coincidence. Also, something else to point out which you may have realised. All the staff besides the receptionist are male. Don’t know why, it just happened to be that I was transferred here upon my request to move from the city to a town.

You headed off to grab the register for the morning group. The new students name should be written there. Right? You entered back into the staffroom and grabbed the register of your desk. You ran your finger down the list and got to the last person of the list. Park Jinyoung. He must be the newbie. You fast paced it back to the group and mentioned the name to all the students again. Nope… they don’t know who it is.

“Jaehyun, any sight of a newbie from up there?” Jaehyun had returned back to his lifeguard dock after seeing you return.

“No captain, actually- “

“H-hi…”

You whipped your head round. Silent parrot? Wait no, Y/N he has a name don’t be so rude. Park Jinyoung.

“Hi, Park Jinyoung right?”

A subtle nod.

There’s a whole ass adult standing right in front of you. Note to self. He’s really handsome… and fit. Anyways back to reality.

“Just to double check. Beginners class at 10 am on Mondays?”

“Yes, Miss”

You whipped your head back round to the group of children whispering among themselves. Children. God knows what’s going through their minds right now. The new generation are a bit… advanced.

You had to keep yourself composed. Cheeks are not turning red this easy. Knees are going to be fully functioning throughout this lesson. Breathing. Right we need to keep breathing, duh. You let out a deep breath and turned back round to Jinyoung.

“Well. We are now set. We have all 9 students. Anyone want to teach Jinyoung our exercise routine before he enters the pool?”

All hands were up. Wow. When were these students this hyper Monday morning? Kids these days.

“Me miss! Miss please me! Miss y/l/n please can I?!”

And that was Woojin. An enthusiastic ball of sunshine. Can be mischievous at times but his smile makes up for it.

“Sure Woojin. Everyone else scoot along to give them space.” This was going to be funny.

You had this exercise + a song to go along with it that you prepared a couple years ago for when you had a kids group. Once you were assigned to these minions you have been using it since day 1. Some may say it’s… well… cringe? I don’t blame the older ones but honestly its fun.

“You’re in for a treat Mr Park. No ifs, buts, or ands. We students in this group participate in everything. We expect the same from you.”

“Understood.” One word answers. I guess he isn’t much the talker, you thought to yourself.

“Take it away Woojin”

“Baby shark dudududududu, baby shark dudududududu, baby shark dudududududu, baby shark…”

Yes. We went there.

Woojin was amazing. Jinyoung on the other hand. Well, you could definitely tell from his face that this exercise was more an embarrassment than a warmup for him. He wasn’t in the plan so he couldn’t blame you for it. You and the other kids were having the time of your lives giggling at the site in front of you all. You could also hear Jaehyun trying to keep his giggles in. One customer complaint and he could be dismissed, and he wasn’t going to throw away this job.

“Mr Park, for a new student that was an impeccable performance. Right everyone?”

A roaring applause came in response and Jinyoung realised you were trying to lighten the situation. But rules are rules and everyone in your group had to obey them. The slight blush on Jinyoung’s cheeks had died down a little by the end of the clapping.

“Now that everyone’s all warmed up. Grab your floats and enter the pool”

You helped everyone put on their arm floats and guided them to a spot in the water. Jinyoung being the grown adult he is was given a float board. The arm floats would have been the second stage of embarrassment.

You positioned everyone and guided Jinyoung to the last spot of the circle. Usually you would get straight to teaching but since you had a new student and introduction game was compulsory.

“Now since we have a new student, we’ll be playing a ‘get to know each other’ game to find out more about Jinyoung and for Jinyoung to know more about us. Understood.”

“Yes, miss” in sync.

You glanced at Jinyoung and he responded back with another subtle nod. Cute.

“I’ll begin and then we’ll continue clockwise.” This meant Jinyoung was going to go last. Exciting.

“As many of you know, my name is Y/N. I’m turning 25 in May- “

“So am I! But I’m turning 24…” Jaehyun had interfered into your introduction. Typical.

“Jaehyun. Nobody asked.” The kids started giggling again and you’re sure you heard a slight chuckle escape Jinyoung’s mouth.

“As I was saying. I’m turning 25 in May so remember to bring me presents. 6th May to be exact. You guys can also see that I’m a foreigner. Both my parents are from the Mediterranean hence the coloured eyes and unfamiliar name-“

“I like your eyes Miss” Classic Woojin with his cute compliments.

“I like your eyes too Woojin”

You could see from the side that Jinyoung had a smile on his face. I guess he’s fitting in? you thought.

“Have I missed anything?”

“Are you single?” At this rate from all the neck whipping you’ve been doing today you’re sure you’re going to dislocate it if you whip it one more time. Jinyoung being the source of the sudden personal question.

“Huh, Oh. Yes, I am”

“YA, No personal questions!” Jaehyun yelled down towards your group. I swear this kid has superman powers to hear us all the way from up there, you thought to yourself.

“YA, have some respect. I know where to cross the line. I’m willingly answering the question so mind your own business.”

Jaehyun sank back into his seat after realising he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.

“Ignore him”, you directed towards Jinyoung. He just nodded.

The introductions went around, and you did the register simultaneously.

“Woojin, it’s your turn.”

“My name is Woojin. I’m 5 years old. When I am older, I will be Y/N’s future husband- “

“HUH?” You let out a loud gasp due to the aspiration the young one had shared with the group. The other kids started laughing.

“Woojin you can’t take away my future wife away from me like that” You hadn’t realised but Max had been sitting on the bench near the edge of the pool. Weird, he’s usually in a different pool for his morning workout.

“Max, your 6 other girlfriends would be distraught if they heard that they weren’t going to be the supposed ‘lucky’ one. Let’s not upset them.”

You heard a scoff from Jinyoung. He seems to be entertained and Max was not having it.

“Do you have something to say newbie?” The situation wasn’t moving in a good direction but Woojin stepped in before you could.

“Y/N is mine Max hyung. My favourite subject in school is colouring. I have a dog called Jae…”

Luckily, the situation died down as Woojin continued with his introduction. You thanked him in your head. That was close. Last but not least it was now Jinyoung’s turn but you felt uneasy since Max was still in the vicinity.

“Hello! I’m Jinyoung. I was born and raised in Jinhae. I am 26 years old. I like listening to music and reading.”

“What do you do for a living?” You were curious about what the handsome gentleman chose for a career.

“I would like to keep that private, if it’s okay with you all”

“Yh sure that’s fine. Right, now that we’ve gotten to know each other, I’ll be splitting the groups into two. One half will go with Jaehyun to that side of the pool and practice staying float without your arm floats. The other half will come with me to learn front stroke. Agreed?”

“Yes, Miss!”

He’s mysterious too. Newbie is becoming more and more interesting. Obviously, you purposefully put Jinyoung in your group. You swam to the end of the pool you had assigned to your group, completely forgetting you have a bunch of immatures that need to be here too. You named your method of teaching, “survival”. For the students to start learning how to swim they need to find a way of getting to this end of the pool as soon as possible. This will give them an inkling to try and swim and overcome any form of fear towards water.

Minutes later all 5 students had arrived at the point you were at. You had sent Woojin to the other group. As hard as it was for him, he finally agreed to join Jaehyun and the rest.

“Alright. As you all heard earlier, we’ll be learning front stroke today. It’s the most common and popular type of swimming style. I’ll first demonstrate with one lap what front stroke looks like. I want you guys to pay close attention to the movement of my legs and arms. After that I want to see you guys attempt front stroke from purely seeing what it looks like. I’ll then come around to all of you and individually tweak your weak points. Is everyone okay with that?”

Everyone nodded. You proceeded to push off the wall and drifted under water. As you surfaced you started kicking your legs and rotating your arms. You shifted your head sideways when you needed to catch some air. When you arrived at the other end, you flipped and kicked back off the wall again and swam back to your group. You arrived back to a crowd of clapping seals, including Jinyoung.

“Did we all watch like eagles at the technique and movements I displayed?”

“Yes, Miss”

“Great, now can we all line up to get ready for a race?”

“A race?” Jinyoung questioned whilst the other students positioned themselves.

“Is there a problem Mr Park?”

“Please call me Jinyoung, I was just a little surprised”

“I’ll quickly explain why it’ll be a race. As humans we all have our competitive sides. If we are competing, we all want to win right?”

Everyone nods.

“If we want to win, we’ll perform our absolute best to not come last. This means I’ll be seeing your optimum performance of front stroke. It’s your survival mode kicking in trying to avoid becoming embarrassed in front of everyone. Understood?”

“Yes, Miss. Can we start?”, Hyeji insisted with some confidence.

“Yes, sure Hyeji. If everyone’s ready, when I say go I want you guys to swim to that end and back. Remember, try to copy the same movement I was using when I swam. The closer you get to using the technique the quicker you’ll go. It’s not necessary to move quickly.”

Everyone takes their positions and you start to countdown.

“3… 2… 1… GO!”

All 4 of the beginner swimmers start swimming towards the other end of the pool. You watched them eagerly to see where each swimmer was struggling. To your surprise Hyungwon came first. He was a student you have been teaching for only 4 weeks so it was rewarding to see him improve in such a short span of time.

“Hyungwon well done! You’ve improved so much since the first time I saw you swim. High five!” You high five Hyungwon and then the rest of the students. Jinyoung was hesitant at first but was willing to comply.

“I’ll now come around to all of you and help you improve your front stroke, until then you guys can carry on practicing.”

You moved to Hyeji and explained to her how she needs to kick her legs. At first she was hesitant on how much her legs were splashing but you told her the stronger she kicks the better. Hyungwon had more or less nailed front stroke. You were with him for only a couple of minutes. You moved onto the other student and helped him out too. Then moved onto Jinyoung.

You were quite surprised on how good he was since he had mentioned it was his first ever swimming lesson. He was struggling with his hands.

“You’ve gotten the harder parts of front stroke. With your hands you need to capture as much water in it in order to move forward. To do this you need to cup your hands whilst you swim. Does that make sense?”

Jinyoung bit his lip. You could see he was pretty nervous. You couldn’t understand why but you didn’t push him out of his comfort zone unless he refused to swim. He moved away and started swimming, but something was off. His legs were kicking but they were completely submerged under water.

“Jinyoung!”, you yelled to get his attention. He stopped in his lane and swam back.

“You’ve understood what to do with your hands, but I’ve noticed something else.”

“What is it?”

“You’re kicking your legs which is great, but your legs are completely submerged under water. You need to make sure that you are kicking at the surface of the water.”

“How can I keep them lifted? They just seem to sink.”

You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“It’s nothing against you. Just the way you described your legs it through me off guard.”

There was an awkward silence. You realised that he may have taken the chuckle to heart.

“Let’s do this. How about you get into the front stroke position and I’ll lift your legs where they need to be? Then you can start lightly kicking and I’ll slowly move my arm away and you can continue swimming. Deal?”

“Deal.”

You hadn’t noticed but Max was still sitting on the bench watching your every move. Once he saw you make contact with Jinyoung’s legs, jealousy started kicking in. See Max wasn’t the type to commit to a relationship, but he always questioned himself, if he had to settle down with someone this very day who would it be? and you were the first option that would come to mind. He was using all his strength to not jump into the pool and pull you away from Jinyoung.

“That’s it, you’re getting it” You cheered Jinyoung to make up for the awkward encounter. Jinyoung continued to swim and you concluded that he was a fast learner. You felt sad though. You’ve had many students who got the basic hang of swimming and so progressed to the intermediate classes which meant you no longer taught them. You kind of liked having Jinyoung around as your student so seeing him go so soon will be a bummer.

It had marked an hour since the start of your lesson which meant it was the end of Monday morning for your students. Your group and Jaehyun’s cohort re-joined and everyone spoke about what they had learnt today. You hugged all your young ones and shook Jinyoung’s hand. It was awkward but hugging might push Max of the rails.

Everyone exited the pool. Once Max saw Jinyoung off site he rushed to your side. He was ready to confront.

“Who is he?”

“Max, watch your tone. He’s my new student.”

“Newbie seemed very excited when he heard you were single.” You flushed a light tone of red.

“And it seems like you’re a little excited by it too.” He snarked which started to piss you off.

“Who are you to be questioning my relationship between my student? Why do you even care?”

“Because- “

“Y/N?”

You snapped your head round to the direction of the voice. Worst timing Jinyoung.

“Yes Jinyoung. Was there something you needed?” He also realised that he had interrupted a heated conversation. If anything, this was your escape from Max.

“I heard that there’s some sort of form that I need to fill in for new students. I didn’t have the time to fill it in before the lesson, by any chance do you have one for me to fill in?”

“Yes, I do. It’s on my desk. Give me 2 minutes and we can go.”

Jinyoung dropped back and waited for your conversation between Max.

“Because? You were saying?”

“I- never mind. Just don’t mix your personal life with work.” And with that Max left the pool area.

“What is up with him?”

You turned to face Jinyoung and showed him the way to the staffroom. You opened the door to see an absent Max and a present Jooheon.

“So, did you find out who your new student is?”

“Yes, Jooheon I did.”

“You have another munchkin to teach now. Luckily for you, you actually enjoy your job.”

“I would exactly describe him as a munchkin per say.” You look at Jinyoung.

“Waaa, if you’re going to not describe him as a munchkin then he must be a real nuisance.”

You look at Jinyoung again and let out a small chuckle.

“Jooheon if you could give me a minute to explain- “

“If you want me to transfer the student to a different group I can happily do so.”

“Jooheon!”

Jooheon and Jinyoung both look at you with a surprised expression.

“Jooheon meet Jinyoung my new student.” You gestured towards the young man standing beside you.

“New student?”

“Yes Jooheon, new student.” You let out another chuckle.

“Now do you understand why I wouldn’t exactly describe my new student as a munchkin?”

“Yes, I do. I mean you could if you wanted- “

“Jooheon” You laughed his name.

“Was there something you needed?”

Before Jinyoung could answer you shifted back to what you were doing in the staffroom.

“Jinyoung asked for a new student form. You know the one with extra contact details for emergency needs.” You grabbed a copy of the form and a pen of your desk and handed it over to Jinyoung.

“Yes, sir. I wasn’t able to fill in the form before my lesson or I would have been late so I asked Y/N about it now.”

“What do you think of our Y/N, Jinyoung?”

You shot your head up towards Jooheon to try and translate his facial expressions into his intentions. What was he trying to do? You thought.

“I think she’s a really engaging teacher. You can tell she likes to teach and doing so her students thrive in swimming. I too improved so much in the span of an hour. I look forward to my future lessons with Y/N.”

You couldn’t help but smile. It’s always rewarding to hear students are glad a with your teaching. It’s also good for your boss to hear from your students first-hand.

“It’s only been one lesson and you seem to be very diligent in learning how to swim. I’m guessing this is the effect of Y/N’s amazing enthusiasm.”

“You’re correct.” Jinyoung placed the pen down and was quickly done with the form.

“Done?”

“Yep”, Looks like it was time to part away with Jinyoung. You were already beginning to miss his presence.

“I’ll see you next week Jinyoung. Continue practicing and you’ll be progressing up to the next difficulty level in no time.” Even though this wasn’t what you wanted, the true reason he was here was so to learn how to swim.

“With your help, I’m sure I’ll do great”

“Bye Jinyoung” You waved.

“Bye Y/N, have a great week.” And just like that he was out the staffroom.

It was now just you and Jooheon.

“Jooheon?”

“Yes Y/N.”

“Max has been acting a little off today. Do you know if something’s up with him?”

“From what I know, nothing abnormal has happened. Why’d you ask?”

“We all know he goes for his morning routine on Mondays before his lessons. Today he was watching my lesson. Then he questioned my new student over a small matter. Not only that he thinks I’m mixing my personal life with my work. Can you imagine, me? You know how far away I am from even having a personal life let alone to mix it with work.”

“Do you really don’t get why he’s acting that way Y/N?”

You took a minute to try and find an answer, but you didn’t get it. You shook your head.

“He’s jealous Y/N.”

Jealousy and Max. Nope, I’m not buying it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me Jooheon. He has so many toys to keep himself busy with, why would he be jealous?”

“Y/N I don’t think you realise how many of the male customers and male workers would want to date you. You’re up there in top 3 hottest females they’ve probably seen in their lives. Such low standards.”

“YA Jooheon! Just because you’re jealous too don’t make rude comments.”

“Me? Jealous? Y/N don’t make me laugh. You’re like a sister to me. Brush Max off for now, he’ll get over it. I don’t blame Max though. You’re someone to be jealous over especially when there’s strong competition.”

“You guys are really hard to hack, honestly. He could have just said but instead he trys to play a masculine role trying to win me over. Hes not even my type.”

“You do you, Y/N.”

You and Jooheon hadn’t realised but Max was listening to your dialogue from the beginning. And he wasn’t the happiest.

———

That’s it’s for the first episode of “Can’t Swim”. I’m so excited for this series. I’ve already more or less finished writing up the second part too. I hope to fulfil your expectations with this series ahgases!

writer-nim x

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Through a Telescopic Lens

AU-gust Day Thirty-One: A Combination of Two Previous AUs. (19th Century & Professional Rivals) Fandom: Once Upon A Time/Stargate Universe/War of the Worlds Pairing: Rushbelle

Rated: T

Summary: For all that they don’t seem to get along, Ogilvy is certain that there are finer feelings at work between his two assistants, Belle French and Nicholas Rush, and he decides to help them on their way.

Through a Telescopic Lens

Ogilvy had long since accepted that finding true love was probably not going to be on the cards for him, and he had learned to live with this sad knowledge, and he had made his peace with it. Far from vowing never to have anything to do with love and romance and becoming bitter about the whole affair, he had decided that whilst he could not in good faith hope for himself, he could definitely do something about helping others towards true love. 

That was why, when Miss Belle French first came to his observatory with a keen interest in astronomy and a desire to learn as much as she possibly could, having heard tell of the accuracy and resolution of his telescope, Ogilvy began to wonder.

He began to wonder even more when Miss Belle French first met Mr Nicholas Rush. 

Rush had been Ogilvy’s assistant for the past three years. Unable to afford university attendance and having been dismissed from his hard-won scholarship after one too many arguments with the professors, becoming an apprentice had been his best chance of increasing his knowledge and putting his intellect to good use - and even Ogilvy would admit that Rush was a brilliant scientist, although he never used quite such strong terms to Rush himself, fearing that the younger man’s hubris would one day be the better of him. 

When Belle came into their lives at the observatory, Ogilvy knew that day had come. 

To say that Belle and Rush hated each other at first sight would have been incorrect. Belle had no feelings towards Rush one way or the other, so the hatred went one way only, and Ogilvy didn’t think that Rush’s strong feelings really manifested as hatred, more a fear of losing his prestigious position. If Ogilvy took Belle on as another apprentice, then where did that leave Rush?

He needn’t have worried, and Ogilvy had tried a few times to reassure him. Ogilvy would quite happily have taken on as many apprentices as his observatory could hold. Still, it was clear that Rush viewed Belle as an imposter and a rival, and he seemed to be devoting as much time to needling her and trying to push her out as he did to actually working on his observations.

Belle, for her part, took no notice of Rush’s insistent prodding, which only served to infuriate him even more. In fact, Ogilvy would go so far as to say that Belle found it amusing and would needle Rush back just as much in jest in order to get a giggle at his expense. The interactions between the two of them were fascinating to watch, and Ogilvy was certain that had he been a naturalist instead of a chemist and astronomer, he would have been able to write an entire thesis on the courtship habits of the human male and female using Belle and Rush as a case study.

There was definitely something there between them that neither of them had acknowledged yet. He had first seen it on the very first day that Belle had come into the observatory and set up at her little desk, much to Rush’s chagrin. It had only grown in the weeks that had passed since then. For all Rush professed his ire towards her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and Belle, for her part, would sneak little glances at her rival whenever she thought that he wasn’t looking.

There were definitely some finer feelings going on there, although getting them to admit it might prove rather more difficult. Ogilvy had toyed with the idea of simply leaving them alone in the observatory together for increasing periods of time until they actually talked to each other properly without the sniping or sarcasm that usually accompanied their conversations, but given the high levels of antagonism that were heavy in the air, he feared for the safety of some of his scientific equipment if he were to take that option.

The one thing that was clear was that they were not going to get there under their own steam, and Ogilvy, in his self-appointed position as matchmaker and helper along of true love, was going to have to coax them in the right direction. First of all, though, he had to establish that he had not misread the signs completely. Like any good scientist, he was going to have to test his hypothesis before it could be confirmed as a viable theory.

Ogilvy put his hypothesis to the test one evening after Belle had left the observatory and gone home. She lived with her father, who, whilst he did not actively condemn her interest in science and astronomy, was certainly rather iffy about the whole thing, and he did not like her staying out the entire night with only two single men for company. Ogilvy smiled at the notion. There was certainly nothing to worry about from his quarter, but he felt that Mr French would have to get used to the idea of Rush being in his daughter’s life sooner rather than later.

“You know, Mr Rush,” Ogilvy began as they were packing everything away for the night, “I think that some days you spend more time attempting to aggravate Miss French than you do actually doing your own work. Perhaps if you were to focus your attention more on what you’re supposed to be doing, you would not feel so incredibly insecure in your position as to feel the need to watch her every moment of the time you’re in the same room.”

Rush stiffened. “I just want to make sure that she doesn’t make any stupid mistakes,” he muttered. “She hardly has the experience that her position requires. She’s barely more than an amateur.”

“We were all barely more than amateurs once,” Ogilvy pointed out. “But in all the time that you’ve been, ahem, supervising her, has she ever made a stupid mistake?”

“No.”

“Mr Rush, there’s really no need to sound so incredibly disappointed in that fact. This game of one-upmanship that you’re playing with Miss French isn’t at all gentlemanly, especially since she isn’t playing back. Might I suggest that you try and take your eyes off her for a while? Although I will admit, she is certainly beautiful, and I can quite see why a man such as yourself would want to gaze upon her so intently for such extended periods of time.”

At this suggestion, Rush began to splutter indignantly, the tips of his ears going distinctly pink. Ogilvy just smiled to himself. It appeared that part one of his hypothesis had been nicely proven. Now all he had to do was to get Belle’s side of the story.

Given that Belle did not bristle every time Rush’s name was mentioned, this was a far easier process, since he could as good as ask her outright. It was the next day, and Rush had been sent on a contrived errand to the post office to get him out of the way. He had gone grumbling that as the more junior of the two of them, Belle should be the one sent to the post office, but Ogilvy had just smiled benignly and waved him on his way before turning back to Belle. They had been working in a companionable silence for a little while before he spoke.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Belle, what your thoughts towards Mr Rush are. I know that you always respond to his jabs marvellously, but in the moments when you’re not verbally jousting, how do you find him?”

“Well, he’s rude, and arrogant, and incredibly insecure. He’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of Cheddar Gorge, but there’s something about him that I can’t help but like. In the moments when he puts aside this stupid rivalry he has with me and gets talking about the science and the stars he’s so passionate about, he becomes a completely different person. It’s wonderful to hear. Then it’s almost as if he remembers that he’s supposed to be snipping at me rather than enthusing about science and it’s back to the way it was before. For those moments, though, it’s like getting a glimpse into the real him…”

She broke off with an embarrassed cough, looking away.

“Sorry. That probably wasn’t what you meant.”

“Oh no, my dear, it’s proved most insightful nonetheless.”

Belle sighed. “Do you think that he’s ever going to stop hating me? I can handle the verbal jousting, as you so quaintly put it; in fact I quite enjoy it at times, but I can’t help thinking that it must be exhausting for him to maintain such a high level of petty dislike for so long, especially when I can see it’s just for show, and I’ve seen the glimpses of his true nature.”

“I don’t think he hates you at all, Miss French. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the opposite.”

“He’s got a very funny way of showing it.”

“He is, as you correctly surmised, incredibly insecure. He’s had to fight hard for everything that he’s received in life, and he can’t bear the thought of what he has now being taken away from him like his other opportunities have been. Put frankly, he recognises your brilliance and he feels threatened by you. Once he realises that he has nothing to fear from you, then I think you might be surprised.”

Belle smiled.

“I do hope that you’re right, Dr Ogilvy.”

X

For the next few days after these conversations had taken place, Ogilvy continued to watch the progression of Belle and Rush’s conversations. At first, it seemed that nothing had changed between them. The sparring continued, and so did the constant glances. But after a day or so, he noticed the change. Both of them mellowed a little, the back and forth no longer as sharp and biting but more in the spirit of fun. Rush actually praised one of Belle’s observations one evening, which earned him a glowing smile from her, in turn making his ears go pink again.

Ogilvy just smiled to himself as he superintended. Things were definitely going in the right direction. Perhaps they could be trusted to be left alone together after all. It would only be for a few minutes – he couldn’t afford a scandal, after all – but hopefully it would be enough for something to happen. If Rush didn’t feel the need to keep up the façade of hatred for Ogilvy as an audience, maybe true feelings would come to light.

It was a sunny day in the observatory when he announced that he was stepping out into the garden for some trivial reason or other, and he promptly proceeded to walk around the perimeter three times doing absolutely nothing of note before coming back into the observatory. Belle and Rush were standing a little closer together, their heads both bent over the same book as they worked together, rather than against each other for once. After a while, they seemed to realise the proximity that they had got into, looking at each other as awkward silence reigned.

Belle took the initiative. Ogilvy had thought that she would be the one to do so. She snapped the book shut and pecked a chaste little kiss to Rush’s cheek before saying her thanks and moving away. Rush was left standing as if petrified for a long time afterwards, and it was only Ogilvy taking pity on him and attracting his attention that pulled him out of his stupor.

Ogilvy smiled to himself again. Yes, he was certain that those two were going to be heading in the right direction now.

[moonyinchaos]

no problem and i would really love to see what you wrote about snape so if its not a problem share

Alright, I’ll put the Keep reading thingy, because I think this will be a long one. If you’re not interested in my opinion on Snape, please, keep scrolling. We can have a constructive argument about Snape as a character, but I won’t ever tolerate character bashing (with the exception of Dolores Umbridge, Peter Pettigrew and Fenrir Greyback). If anyone disagrees with me, I respect that, and I would really like to know why :) 

It’s so funny to write my opinion when someone actually asks for it! So here it is my opinion on Severus Snape... 

I think that Severus Snape is one of the strongest characters; both mentally and magically. Possibly even the strongest one right next to Harry. He is really determined, devoted, self-controlled, but most importantly he is emotional. Of course, he doesn’t show it, but he is really driven by his emotions. The main thing which made him change was his love for Lily. Love is the purest emotion, and I don’t think it was an obsession. His patronus was the same as her, she was something what made him happy, something that protected him. It was just unrequited love, and that happens in real life. But you can’t just push an off button, and stop feeling something for someone. We can see him showing exactly how he feels in some occasions. For instance, when he was mad that Sirius got away at the end of the PoA. Or when he refused to teach Harry occlumency after Harry saw his worst memory. But let’s go back in time for a bit... 

Judging someone according to something they did while they were teenagers, or really young adults is not really fair. But let’s start from his hostility towards the Marauders. It’s completely understandable since they were mocking him all the time, and without any real, valid reason. Even if they did have a reason, bullying is never justified. What James did to Snape in his worst memory is something that can make a serious trauma on a person. He, again, acted on emotions. He was humiliated, frustrated, angry, and he let it out by calling Lily a Mudblood. Was that right? Of course not. Did he regret? I think he did, until the day he died. But, teenagers say a lot of dumb stuff, and should never be judged by that. I would most gladly slap 16 years old self because of some things I said when angry and emotional. And with what he said, he lost the most important person he had in his life. I think that was the worst punishment ever for saying one dumb word. People often mention his invention of Sectumsempra. He invented the powerful spell to keep himself safe. Is it brutal? Yes. Could he kill someone with it? Yes. Did he ever? No by what we find out from the canon. Sirius, who is one of the most loved characters, endangered Snape’ life because of his teenage rashness, and lack of sense for consequences. The fact he literally sent Snape to transformed Remus was more dangerous than any spell Severus invented. Why? Because transformed Remus can’t be controlled, and what he can do cannot be undone. As we saw clearly, Sectumsempra has a counter curse, since Malfoy survived Harry’s experiment. If you’re judging Snape for inventing Sectumsempra, and using it against the Death Eaters to save Remus and George, then Harry is way worse than Snape because Harry used the spell purposely to hurt Malfoy. He could easily kill Malfoy, and then what? All the characters in the whole HP universe did at least one stupid thing, and we can’t judge them just because of that. Because if we do, write out Remus, Sirius, James, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and many, many others as good characters :)

As we all know, Snape joined the Death Eaters. Kind of expected because, let’s be serious, most of the then Slytherin house did. Peer pressure is a nasty thing + Snape wanted control/power. He was naive to think he’ll get it from Voldemort, but look at all the people that followed Voldemort. Snape was among the smartest there, if not even the smartest one. Was that a mistake? Yes. And again, he did it when he was what 18? As I said before, people do stupid shit when young, and that’s a fact. Alright, he did really, really stupid shit, but it was a moment of naivety. If someone is judging him plainly on that, remember what Sirius said about the world, people and the Death Eaters :) From the moment he realised what he did when he told Voldemort about the prophecy, Snape did everything in his power to make up for that. He risked his life in various occasions, he lied to one of the most powerful wizards ever, who can read minds, torture, and kill people just for fun. But he did that for years. Snape always did exactly what Dumbledore told him to do, and even killed him, knowing that the deed will make him an enemy number one in the eyes of the Order. But he did that with a higher purpose, and on Dumbledore’s order. If Order wasn’t so judgy towards Snape, maybe they would know about this plan, and they would handle it better. Snape was a Death Eater for what, a couple of years, but he spent seventeen years trying to redeem himself for what he’s done. You can at least respect that. As my best Skyrim friend Paarthurnax wisely said “What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?” :)

The only thing I can’t justify is his teaching methods towards a particular group of students. We never see Snape teaching a bunch of Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws, so we don’t really know what was he like in those classes. He is a mastermind with potions, and has a potential to be a great teacher. I don’t justify his behaviour towards Harry & co., and never will. His teaching methods were questionable at best, but lets take a look on who he “bullied” as a teacher. 

Harry - son of a man who bullied him, and a woman he loved. The Chosen One. The Boy Who Lived. It occurred to me that maybe Snape didn’t want Harry to forget what was important in life, and since Snape grew stronger from being treated poorly, maybe he wanted to do the same effect with Harry. I think he didn’t like Harry in particular, but I don’t see him as having bad intentions in long term. Nothing comes served in life, and I guess that was Snape’s point. Teen James was pretty spoiled, and vain, so maybe Snape didn’t want Harry to turn into teen James. 

Ron - Ron was to Harry what Sirius was to James. In Snape’s eyes, the same thing, and he deserves to be treated the same. Still, can’t be justified. 

Hermione - I guess she really did remind him of Lily. The fact that Snape didn’t want to hear anyone call Hermione a Mudblood tells us all. Emotions got the best out of Snape in this one, since he obviously couldn’t really control them. 

Neville - a soft kid who needed some strengthening for real. Well, not really in that way. Snape’s treatment was just too much. Was the fact that Neville was terrified of him good? No. But Neville got stronger, and learned to stand up for himself. And don’t forget, the prophecy could easily be about Neville, and if it was, then Lily wouldn’t be dead. 

As I said before, I don’t support his teaching methods, and can’t justify them because it was his choice to act like that, when he could easily be someone better than that. And that is the only thing I don’t understand about him. Maybe Dumbledore told him to be nasty :’D And of course he was biased to Slytherin. I think that doesn’t need any arguments. I would love to see what Snape was like when teaching young Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs because I’m sure he wasn’t that bad. Strict? Sure. Snarky? Always. But I highly doubt he treated Cedric, or Padma Patil, like he treated the students I mentioned. 

To conclude this, I think the anti-Snape fandom need to at least respect what he did because the man did some great things, and he was one of the main links in a chain that led to Voldemort’s downfall. Voldemort who was deceived by Snape. And as far as we know, Severus Snape is the only person in this world who did that long term (kudos to Narcissa Malfoy for lying to Voldemort’s face)! You don’t have to love, or like him, but he doesn’t deserve the bashing he gets. He deserves respect. I made him close to Gwen, my OC, to show the softer side of Snape. The emotions he hides, and how he is surely capable of them. I made him mentoring Gwen to show how he has a potential to be a great teacher. And I have a great plans for Snape in my fic because he, as a character, really gives an opportunity to make an interesting story :) 

[bnha-ra]

Like I promised, here is some more about the Supernatural au! This time, it’s teachers! Or in this case, the Guardians of Yuuei!

Also, I wanna change the name from simply “Supernatural au” so guys, send me some suggestions!

(These guys were way harder for some reason, I might change them later, if you guys have any suggestions, please send some in!)

It was fun writing for these characters, but some of these guys will have smaller descriptions because there is less to work with (I wanted to include Lunch Rush but there’s barely enough to make a profile :( )

Undercut for you guys!

Chiyo Shuzenji (Recovery Girl)

Species: Human (Wiccan - Witch)

Shuzenji’s an old witch who’s lived in the forest for- God knows how long. She’s got a ton of healing potions within her little cottage and she’s your go-to girl if anyone if hurt. She’s a really sweet lady, very compassionate about the inhabitants of the forest, but she’s not afraid to tell them off if they’re reckless or hit them with her broomstick if they come to her with injuries from stupid actions. She acts like a grandmother towards (Name) but she’s really worried about her.

Ectoplasm 

Species:  Human (Wiccan - Mage)

Ecto is a mage who leans towards necromancy magic, creating soldiers from past monsters to help protect the forest from any harm, mostly human harm, especially after human hunters had taken his legs in the past. He’s pretty mysterious, as shown with his constant mask, but he’s actually pretty social too. He’s a good warrior and guardian. He taught (Name) close combat.

Higari Maijima (Power Loader)

Species: Human (Wiccan - Artificer)

Maijima’s got his own little forge/workshop within the forest, he creates tools to help assist the other guardians and himself to protect the forest and its inhabitants. His weapons are able to channel magic energy so that it’s easier for the others to use them. (Name) has asked him multiple times for a weapon; his answer is always no.

Hisashi Yamada (Present Mic)

Species: Siren-Banshee/Half-Human (Wiccan - Bard)

The guys super hyper and really nice, likes to narrate everyone's lives for some reason though? (They just label that as a little “quirk” of his) he likes to play music during his routes while patrolling and most people underestimate him because of his silly personality. Some advice? Don’t. The guy is incredibly smart and knows his way around his magic, his mother was Half-Siren/Half-Banshee so he has one of the most deafening screams in the forest and he can stand his ground alone against a whole group of hunters. He also grew up with Aizawa, so he was there when the man had gone through his ‘turning’ phase and has been there for him ever since. (Name) likes to dance to his music and gets a lot of her obnoxious personality from him; he’s so proud of her.

Ken Ishiyama (Cementoss)

Species: Golem

Ishiyama’s a golem who had originally been created by the village (before magic had been completely shunned by them) to “protect” the town and takedown any monster that dared come near them. However, as they didn’t have a proper handle on magic, they ended up giving him sentience and after experiencing their hatred first hand, he escaped to the forest and eventually met the other teachers and he shaped his own life from there. He’s very compassionate, but he’s strict about the forest boundaries and his post. Ishiyama’s usually the one catching (Name) trying to leave her assigned territory.

Nemuri Kayama (Midnight)

Species: Half-Human/Half-Succubus (Wiccan - Sorceress)

Kayama was originally born in the Lower Realm to her incubus father and sorceress mother. She spent most of her younger life in the Lower Realm, learning how to control her magic before she left for the Middle Realm to inflict the “chaos” she was born to make. Until she actually made it to the surface and realised how much better it was. Like Ishiyama, she decided to abandon her duties and began to live her life on the surface before meeting the other teachers and deciding to help protect the forest. She’s got urges because of her bloodline, so she acts flirty and playful with everyone but can be temperamental at times. She’s (Name)’s wine aunt.

Nezu

Species: Chimera

Another person who had fallen victim by human hands, he was the village’s first experiment to “protect” them from monsters. They decided to try to create a chimera as a way to hunt down and kill monsters that came close to their lives. However, Nezu had come out “defected” and was used as the “village pet”, being abused by the villagers and taunted by them. (Name)’s mother had been the one help Nezu escape to the forest and helped him begin his life as a free monster. He’s incredibly smart, leaving him to be appointed as the leader of the others. Nezu’s also still got a bit of a grudge against humans, so when they’re involved with anything damaging he’s not afraid to make them feel as hurt as they made him feel. (Name) is greatly intimidated by him (for good reason).

Ryo Inu (Hound Dog)

Species: Werewolf

Inu is a werewolf born from werewolf parents, so he’s got more control of his transformations unlike some. He prefers to be in half transformation, walks and talks like a human but he looks much more wolf-like. Inu tends to talk with a growl to his voice, loses himself in barks when he’s angry/raged, very intimidating to some, but he’s actually a really nice guy, it’s just kind of hard to control his emotions sometimes. Kan tends to be his translater when he gets too angry to speak, they’ve known one another since they were younger. He taught (Name) how to hunt.

Sekijiro Kan (Vlad King)

Species: Dhampir (Half-Human (Wiccan - Mage)/Half-Vampire)

Kan is a dhampir born from a vampire father and human mother, he grew up alongside Inu deeper within the forest and have been friends for years. As he has a mage background, Kan has the power to control his own blood anyway he sees fit, so he uses that to help him protect others. Kan and Inu eventually decided to leave, wanting to explore the rest of their home and eventually found themselves with the (eventual) guardians and stayed to protect their home. He’s a pretty friendly guy and a very encouraging individual, he’s was actually one of the first people to accept (Name)’s want to leave her assigned territory. 

Kan is only mildly affected by the sun, but he still wears a cloak during the day and drinks special potions to keep himself safe. 

Shota Aizawa (Eraser Head)

Species: Vampire (Wiccan - Wizard)

Aizawa was once a human, studying to become a warden wizard within “The Capital” (It’s the leading city in the supernatural world that holds millions of monsters - I’ll explain more if anyone asks) but was attacked by a rogue vampire and turned. Aizawa wen through the ‘turning’ phase with Yamada, helping through his powerful urges for blood and his want to attack others for it, but he eventually got through it and decided to leave the capital, Yamada following him along the way. They eventually met (Name)’s, mother, who promised the two sanctuaries and helped Aizawa with adapting to becoming a vampire. He tends to nap a lot during the day, (even though he doesn’t need it, old habits die hard!) as he takes the nights shifts but he also likes to keep an eye on (Name), seeing himself as a caretaker after her mother’s death. (Name) just sees him as a nuisance that doesn’t let her explore, but she loves him dearly.

Snipe

Species: Human (Wiccan - Sorcerer)

Snipe had actually come from human society, not the village, but somewhere much farther away, apparently somewhere described as much worse than what the village’s inhabitants were like. He abandoned that place to rediscover himself and understand his powers, that eventually lead him to Yuuei forest where he decided to learn how to use his abilities. He ended up becoming a guardian when (Name)’s mother offered him the position and has been there since. He teaches (Name) how to sharpen her aim.

Sorahiko Torino (Gran Torino)

Species: Fairy

The guy’s an old fairy who’s done with everyone’s bullshit. He's lived for a long time and has seen more than anyone can ever know. He pretends to act like a senile, old fairy to trick others when he feels the situation calls for it and then surprise attacks his victim. He was there present for the previous deity, Nana Shimura, All Might’s mentor and helped trained All Might to become the best deity the man could be. He’s a “retired” guardian and he’s not afraid to kick anyone’s arse. (Name)’s call him grandad and he hates it

Thirteen

Species: Human (Wiccan - Mage)

Thirteen’s a mage that tends to lean more towards astrology and what they “divine or celestial magic”. The mage likes to use their abilities to help protect others through methods like rescue than violence, they’re pretty passionate about it. They are the one who tends to the barrier (That (Name)’s mother had placed) between the human forest, monster forest and the “pocket” (The territory holding (Name)’s home) making sure that the barrier is intact and strong. They usually take (Name) star gazing and like to explain their magic.

(Guys, okay, so, I’m going to refer to Thirteen as genderfluid, using both “they/them” and “she/her” pronouns, because the wiki said that they’re a girl but an actor refers to them as androgynous, so I just decided to use both! Because I like the idea of a genderfluid hero! So if you see in posts I keep changing between those pronouns, don’t be alarmed and you don’t need to point it out! I’m just working with those 2 pronouns)

Toshinori Yagi (All Might)

Species: Deity

Now, this is the big man himself. All Might, or his old human name, Toshinori Yagi, is the (appointed) King of all deities and the deity of monsters. He’s the perfect of what a deity should be; kind, devoted, strong, all-powerful- described as the “best of them all”. He’s an old friend of (Name)’s mother who was deeply impacted by her disappearance and decided to use the rest of his days on Earth, watching over her daughter, protecting his people from their perspective. Eventually, he realised his love for his old home and decided to look for a successor for his power, which ended up being (Name)’s best friend, Izuku Midoriya.

[reddeadmort]

I think your writing is great! Could I request something where ArthurxFreader have been together for a while but kept it secret from the gang & Micah keeps creeping around her even though she’s clearly not interested & the gang can see that she’s getting uncomfortable & try warning him away but he won’t listen. Arthur’s listening from the side & can’t take it anymore so he kisses her in front of everyone & threatens Micah to stay away from his WIFE & everyone is like ‘wait what?! Wife?!’

You’re too kind :D Lovethis request, oozing with fluff. I hope I’ve done it justice!

Arthur Morgan x F Reader |Paired up

Guidance: Fluffy fluff,with some minor violence and swearing.

Words: 1.6k

You certainly hadn’t planned on starting a relationship with Arthur. An outlaw gang was no place for a solid, healthy relationship; too much danger, too much uncertainty. A bit of fun here and there, sure; when the nights were cold, or the drink was flowing, or you just needed a bit of de-stressing. You had fun harmlessly flirting with the others in the gang; Sean was always a laugh, and you enjoyed hearing Javier slip Spanish words into his responses. You sure as hell didn’t understand them but knew they were probably rude. You even flirted a bit with the girls, just for fun; though given the way Abigail looked at you when you laid it on thick towards her, you were sure one of these days she’d invite you to follow through. Unfortunately, one time you’d made the mistake of saying something flirty to Micah without realising it was him you were talking to, and since then he wouldn’t leave you alone.

It was at the big party the gang had at horseshoe overlook when you’d realised that you only had eyes for Arthur. You and him had spent a few nights together out in the wilderness on hunting trips; he was gentle, and far more attentive than any other man you’d been with. But still, you were both part of a gang; you’d both been hurt before, rejected because of your situation, neither feeling deserving of another’s devotion. You shouldn’t, couldn’t, commit.

Yet, there you’d ended up, stood in the nicest dress you’d ever owned (let alone bought) with Arthur’s hands in yours in front of a clergyman. It was a shame none of the others had been there with you, but you’d both agreed that it was best to keep your relationship a secret. You knew that as soon as the others found out, you’d be viewed more as Arthur’s companion, and less of a gang member in your own right. Neither of you wanted that; you were excellent at your jobs, and as much as Arthur worried about you, he wouldn’t stand to see you demoted to a more subservient position in the camp. You hoped it wouldn’t be like that, but Dutch was becoming more unpredictable, and there was just no knowing how he’d react to his top enforcer being in a relationship. You’d already noticed Arthur seemed to be taking fewer risks and were sure it wouldn’t be long before the others noticed too.

That night, in the room above the saloon, had been wonderful. For a while, you could pretend that you both had normal lives, with a proper home waiting for you. The weeks since then had been tough, and you were pretty sure some of the other girls suspected something. You and Arthur were only able to snatch brief moments together at the camp; hotels and overnight camping trips were the only time you got to be properly alone and hold each other. You’d dialled down the flirting with the other gang members; just enough to not arouse suspicion that anything had changed, but not so much or so bad that Arthur got jealous.

But Micah just wouldn’t let up. He was obsessed; no matter how many times you told him to shut his goddamn mouth, he still kept loudly describing the things he’d like to do to you, watching as it made you squirm. It had gotten so bad, even the others were calling him out on it; they knew you could take care of yourself, but seeing you grimace when he spoke to you made them uncomfortable. You had no idea how Arthur was holding it together. He tried to not be too vocal about in his disagreements with Micah, he didn’t want to give the game away. After a particularly bad evening with Micah being exceptionally lecherous to the girls, including you, Arthur had stomped away from the fire; you were sure you’d heard a thud from the woods and some muffled swearing. Arthur had re-appeared and headed for his tent, rubbing his knuckles and you’d managed to slip away to him. You’d laughed as you gently kissed his knuckles and Arthur explained to you that that particular tree certainly wouldn’t be bothering you anymore.  

A week or so after the tree incident, it was once again party time at the camp. Pretty much the whole group had pulled off a brilliant train robbery; the driver had been so distracted by Karen’s low-cut top he hadn’t noticed you and the butt of your gun hurtling towards the back of his head.  

You were all sat around the fire, on benches and at tables, drinking, singing and relaxing. You weren’t too sure where Arthur was, and you didn’t dare ask lest you receive some nudges and knowing winks from Mary-Beth; the girl shared a tent with you, and wasn’t stupid. She must have noticed you slipping out in the middle of the night more and more recently.

Despite all the merriment, you were in a bit of a foul mood. You and Arthur had gone on an overnight ‘hunting’ trip two days prior, only for Charles to ask to come along. You had no good reason to deny him, so had to accept. It hadn’t been a bad trip – it was certainly more successful than normal, as you spent much more time hunting – you enjoyed Charles’ company. But you had been craving that closeness with Arthur, being able to snuggle up into his chest and fall asleep in his arms.

Much to your annoyance, that evening Micah had managed to take the seat next to you. You were nodding along as Javier told another bounty hunting story; he’d managed to hogtie his target, only to have them start hopping away. They’d hopped head first into a tree, knocking themselves out, while Javier had just watched in bewildered silence.

Despite your mood, you laughed, hard; that was a mental image that was going to stay with you for a while.

“I bet ya’d like that, wouldn’t ya” You shuddered as Micah slurred into your ear. “Bein’ all tied up….. I want to watch ya try and escape from me.” Micah’s grimy hand went to your face, but you slapped it away.

“Micah, don’t you dare.” You stood up, eager to get away from the drunken fool.

Micah stood up and grabbed your arm as you turned away, his dirty fingernails digging into your skin, and yanked you back round.

“Micah, I told you, don’t fucking touch me.” You slammed your free arm down on his, breaking his grasp. You tried to step away but Micah grabbed you again by the chin, causing you to wince in pain as he gripped your jaw hard.

“Now that’s a dirty mouth girly” he snarled. “The things I would do with that….”

Micah’s sentence was left unfinished as Arthur grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground. You’d had no idea he was even nearby; you’d seen Sean run off out of the corner of your eye when Micah started getting too close - he must have gone to find Arthur. Sean was happy to try and help out when he could, but when Micah was like this – a bit too drunk, a bit too rowdy – he knew Arthur was one of the only ones that could take him on.

Micah was groaning on the floor, swearing. Arthur stepped between you and him, one arm holding you behind him protectively, while the other pointed at Micah.

“Micah, if you goddamn touch my wife again you’ll be learning first-hand what gelding feels like” Arthur growled at him.

You froze, one hand resting on Arthur’s outstretched arm. Did he just….

All the chatter had ceased, and all the eyes were on you two. Arthur, oblivious to what he just said, turned to check on you, frowning when he saw your wide-eyed expression.

“Yer what, old man?!”

Sean’s voice broke the silence. You saw realisation suddenly appear on Arthur’s face – he’d done it now. You were still frozen, internally panicking – do you try and laugh it off as a joke, or what?

Arthur slowly closed his eyes and sighed. Then he opened his eyes, staring straight into yours as he raised his hand to the side of your face, gently caressing it.

“My wife, Sean. My gorgeous wife.” Arthur leaned forward and lightly kissed your lips, washing away any panic. After a moment, as soon as your brain engaged again, you threw your arms around his waist and hugged him, hard. You nuzzled into his warm chest as the whooping and cheering started.

The two of you were quickly surrounded, the girls peppering you with questions as the men gave Arthur hearty slaps to the back. Hosea stood slightly apart from the group, arms folded, watching; he knew how much this meant to Arthur, how hard it must have been for him to ask you. He smiled slightly, thinking about Bessie; he sure hoped you two got a different ending.

“You should have damn well said Arthur” grumbled Micah as he got to his feet, rubbing his throat. Arthur had barely opened his mouth when Abigail retorted “Well, maybe Micah, you should have taken no for an answer!”

Arthur smiled as Micah stomped away, waving his hand dismissively at Abigail.

“He’s going to be really pissed at you Arthur” you said, gazing up at Arthur with a slight shake of your head.

“Probably darlin’, probably. Guess you’ll just have to be sitting on my lap at breakfast to protect me.” You laughed together and, hand in hand, turned back to answer the barrage of questions still coming from the others. As Arthur squeezed your hand, you thought that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to work out.  

[selfshippinglover]

~Headcanon Tiiimeees Part 2!~

@spectralsapphic The cuteness concludes!

Vanessa:

~Randomly steals you away for trips

~Always acts cool and casual but blushes over you in secret

~Talks to you about deep things and random things

~Goes with you to Paris

~Blows you kisses

~Winks at you from across the street or in the crowd

~Sings loudly around only you and her family in the car

~Allows you to keep secrets so she can have hers

~Never loses faith in you

~Compliments you very casually

~Isn’t all that touchy-feely but craves you being around her

~Honest to you about everything that she’s willing to share

Stacy:

~Gets flustered around you easily

~Goes out with you ALL the time to everywhere in town

~Is nervous around you and plays with her hands

~Tries to hold your hand or brush past you at any opportunity

~Talks to you about everything under the sun

~Loves to share drinks with you <3

~Easily excited when you’re around

~Talks about you to anyone that will listen

Linda:

~Talks to you about her touring days, saying how she wishes you’d been there

~Giggles and laughs a lot more around you, cheeks staining slight red

~Talks about future plans with you in a realistic yet fun fashion

~Likes to plan your meetings since she’s a very busy women

~Always smiles when you’re around

~You guys kiss all the time

~She just loves you wholly and unabashedly

Candance:

~Freaks out every time you talk to her

~Frets over every little thing when you’re around because she believes you deserve perfection

~Lots of cuddles, kisses, and anything else

~Movie dates and sleepovers are ya’ll go to hangouts

~Though the mall is one too!

~SHE TELLS EVERYONE ABOUT YOU AND IS ALWAYS TRYING TO GET YOUR ATTENTION BRO

~Overthinks everything she gives to you cause she wants her love to expressed to the fullest

~You two jam and dance to The Bettys

~DUCKY MOMO BINGE

~Concert dates are a must!!

Janis:

~She’ll straight up kill a dude for you ngl

~Stands up for you

~Always makes sure you feel heard

~Eating lunch together everyday <3

~YOU SPEED DOWN HIGHWAYS IN HER CAR WITH THE MUSIC TURNED WAY UP

~Expect her to kiss you all over 

~Holds your hand when in need of a boost or comfort

~Ya’ll gonna makeout real hard

~She isn’t jealous, just protective

Regina:

~She’ll burn people to social and mental SHREDS for you

~Jealous and clingy AF

~Wants you to burn the world with her

~Flusters when you laugh

~You gotta buy her stuff, you know?

~Reads books about love triangles and rants to you about them

~Threatens anyone that flirts with you

Gretchen:

~More than anything, she needs to know that you’ll be there for her

~Cries at sad movies with you

~Keeps her crush secret from everyone

~You’re one of the only people that can put the light back in her eyes

~Asks you to stand up for her since she can’t bare to herself most of the time

~Only does things like kisses and cuddles in private

~seriously, please tell her how beautiful she is cause’ you’re the only one that can get through to her at times

~She’ll sing but only if you sing with her

~You two will share many starry dates where you stare up late and chill on the roof

Ember:

~Rock concerts 24/7

~She sings songs with and for you on stage

~Lots of terrorizing the locals

~Totally mind controls people to do stuff for the two of you

~Gets pissed and tells you all about whilst you hold her

~She flushes when you get angry and/or protective cause’ no one has ever been mad for her sake

~Will mess anyone up that starts problems for you

~Puts arms in front of you protectively if others try to involve you

Penelope:

~She’s always seeing you after school to, “study”

~Doesn’t brainwash you since you’re in love

~She’s honestly shocked when you confess to her cause’ no one has ever liked her like that much before?? 

~Like, she laughs in your face and then is all, “Wait, you’re serious?”

~If someone threatens you, it becomes personal to her to make them pay

~She hisses at people that interrupt the two of you talking

~She’ll kiss you in front of the students so watch  out sahfhwej

~Follows you around in her shadow form

Vlad:

~Is jealous and will make it obvious that ya’ll are dating(I.E. kissing you, sweeping you into a dip, grabbing your hand, etc)

~Privately cuddles and spoils you

~Asks you to live with him in his mansion

~Gives you expense things

~Kisses you all through the night

~Holds you tight in his ghost form

~Flashes his fangs and winks at you

The Hex Girls:

~They all shower you with love and laughter

~They wink at you in the crowds at their shows

~They ask you to come up on stage and dance

~They like to have you be a guest star at their shows just to fluster you

~Seriously, like, they’ll compliment and faun over you at anytime

~Cuddle piles every night!

Isabelle:

~Cuddles and long sleepovers are constant

~She always has encouragement for you

~Stands by you no matter what

~Is little spoon

~Clings to you a lot 

~Is always smiling when you’re mentioned and blushes to herself

~Asks to live together

~Cooks all kinds of food for you!

~ADORES YOUR FOREHEAD KISSES(THEY FLUSTER HER SOOOO MUCH)

~Is honest with you about everything(though she’s also a bad liar)

~Her tail wags when she sees you

~Loves your scent but tries to hide the facet that she looks for it in crowds

Gothel:

~Will actually slay a bitch for you

~Loves to hold you captive with her eyes and arms

~Does the “hands against the wall” thing lots

~Seriously, there’s no way you can’t know that she likes you

~Protective and kinda obsessive about you

~If someone looks at you the wrong way, maaannnn I fear for them

~Hopes you’ll join her in eternal youth

~secretly a little spoon

~Longs for you to understand and not fear her

~Will fetch you cool things from the woods to make your favorite meals 

Honey:

~Easily flustered when she sees or even THINKS ABOUT YOU!!

~Wants to show you everything she makes!

~Talks to you about her life and everything about herself

~Tells you bad jokes

~Finds creative ways to gift you things

~CUDDLES CUDDLES CUDDLES 

~Makes you coffee

~Makes inventions for you

~Would love it if you would pet her hair

Elsa:

~makes snow magic creatures and structures for you

~You are her main source of calm

~She really admires you

~Holds onto your waist when scared

~Meets you at every royal endeavor to vent

~Sing alongs of course!!

~Long, unyielding kisses

~Camping out underneath the sunset

~Starry nights trading stories

~Long bouts of staring at each others eyes

Megara:

~Hates that she has a crush on you

~Avoids trying to see you ends up doing so anyways

~You two end up rescuing one another a lot for some reason??

~She just straight up wants to kiss you until neither of you can breathe

~Competes and trains with you

~Argues playfully with you

~Sings to you in a secret place(the garden)

~Always pushing you to do your best

~Keeps you on your toes with her actions and flirting

~Really likes it when you cuddle her from behind but will never say it out loud

Octavia:

~Plays her violin for you 

~Not very cuddly but loves giving you surprise gifts

~Whatever she gives you holds meaning

~She’s so sincere towards you

~Holds you tight in bad situations

~She really cares about your feelings and will go to great lengths to not upset you

~Always invites you to her concerts before anyone else

~Isn’t really jealous but will be curt about it if somepony is giving you trouble

~Supports you in everything you do and gives you blunt, realistic feedback

Queen Chrysalis:

~Celestia save anypony whom would dare hurt you is all I gotta say

~Super clingy and will NOT SHARE YOU

~Hisses at anypony that has something bad to say about you two

~Makes you a personal bed in her throne

~If you’re going the redemption arc route, then she feeds off of your love for her eternally <3

~If not, then she wonders why you like her and keep coming around??

~Like, every other pony doesn’t. You can’t seriously like her, can you? ~she decides to use your self-proclaimed “love” as a weapon against the main six

~But as you continue to devote yourself to her(no matter how reluctant you may be) she realises you really DO love her

~And something in her changes

~Everypony can see it when you’re with her

~Yes, she still wants revenge but,it’s not the only thing she wants

~She wants you

Princess Luna:

~Takes long walks with you at night

~Takes care of your nightmares as fast as she can

~When a crisis strikes, she fights with herself about whether to help you first or not

~Luna comes to you in dreams

~Wakes up early to hang out with you

~Is flustered when complimented

~Geuinely wants to know what you see in her so she can try and see it in herself

~Big spoons you often but doesn’t mind being little spoon

~Is still learning how to show affection

~Tries writing you love letters 

Natsuki:

~Likes you and does everything to be around you despite sounding mad

~Bakes you goodies 

~Likes to teach you things

~flusters at anything remotely flirty happening

~Takes naps with you

~sleepovers mostly happen at your house

`You are her safety and the one person she can trust with venting

~Enjoys bantering with you

~Shares her cute collection with you 

~Buys you merch and manga she knows you like

~Reads to you

~Calls you out on your problems bluntly and does her best to help you with them

Yuri:

~Shows you her book and knife collection

~Shy and flusters at small touches and prolonged gazes

~Longs to talk to alone about everything she is thinking

~Tries to figure out your schedule to run into you on “accident”

~Tries to read any books you like

~Writes poems for you

~If we’re going bad rout though, she’s a yandere so there’s all the things that come with that

Monika:

~Possesive and clingy but lowkey

~Aims to impress you in anyway that she can

~Writes you songs, writes you poems, sings for you

~Feels more relaxed with you

~And like herself

~Gosh, she holds so many daydreams of you two together in her head

~She’s always trying to get you to notice her, but in subtle ways

~Asks you to go with her to run errands

~Invites you to hang out with her in and outside of school

~If we’re talking about bad end, then, you know, your hers forever :)

Sayori:

~She’s always loved you but was scared to say it cause of wht happens next

~Still, she does her best for you and herself

~Making sure you’re keeping up in with your studies

~Helping you make friends

~Making sure you know she’s always there for you

~When you confess, she’s so happy happy her heart could burst!

~You guys walk back fourth from school hand in hand

~She compliments you 

~Flusters when you do the same

~Playfully kisses and cuddles with you

~Slowly comes to express all of her fears to you

~There’s just so much love and care

~Wholesome overall

~If we’re talking just Sayori, however, then get ready for friends eternally :DD

[killer-benhardy]

Say It - Part 7

Ben!Roger Taylor x Reader

A/N: I really suck at writing sad sappy stuff. so get ready to cringe your heads off ;) but i’m so sorry that i like died for a while. but writing this actually broke my heart into pieces. hope you enjoy this x 

“Say it?” Roger questioned. It was the first time that Roger didn’t know what ‘say it’ meant. For the time since you’ve been dating him, he was unsure of what he had to say. And it made you feel even worse.

“Why aren’t you saying it?” You cried out. It brought the attention of others around you. Of course, since it was just outside the pub. You weren’t usually one to make a scene in public.

“I think you just need to relax for a bit Y/N. You need to breathe the fresh air,” he held your hand.

His touch meant everything to you. Until you saw him lay hand on another woman, probably not even thinking of you.

You wanted it to always be like this. Roger would be by your side, you’d watch him as Queen’s success would grow, you’d marry each other, you’d grow old together, see your children grow up.

To live in a house that would have enough rooms for the two of you, and for the parties that Freddie would throw. Maybe have a garden full of the most beautiful roses and a water fountain that you’d dance around with Roger till midnight. That was what you’d always dream of. But that’s all it was.

A dream.

“You know that I love you so much, right?” Roger smiled weakly. It’s what you wanted to believe. But you know that is wasn’t the truth. All you could think about was him with another woman backstage.

“I don’t know what to believe anymore, Roger.” You pulled your hands away from him.

All you wanted to do was hold in your embrace forever. You wanted to remember all the times you’d spend dancing around in the living room while having a drink or two, listening to Queen’s records.

Those memories had now become blurry. You kept imagining all the times he’d go on tour and how many girls he’d hook up with. You don’t know how many that would be, but you know that it would be at least half a dozen.

“How was your time away from me? Did you have fun performing not in London?” Your eyes could stop getting watery.

“Why would you ever think of that, babe?” He kept trying to reach out to you. You wanted to, but you couldn’t.

“Just say it, Roger!”

“I can’t say it to you Y/N! It’ll make me feel worse.”

“I know. That you’re fucking another woman while your girlfriend is in the same building,” you said surprisingly very calm.

But he knew that meant that you were more than angry. It was something that Roger had learn after being in a relationship with you since you weren’t one to get angry often.

“I-I- it isn’t what it looks like baby, believe me.”

“What. Was it just a one-off thing?” You questioned, trying to figure out if it really was or not.

He kept silent for a while. For a bit too long. “N-n-not exactly, but-” Roger was close to admitting it.

“But what? You just accidentally go into a bathroom and shove your dick in her?” Every word you said broke your heart. Why did you have to say these things to him?

“Okay, but I haven’t seen or spoken to Amy for weeks and-”

“Just weeks? How long have you been seeing her? Weeks? Months?”

“I can’t answer that Y/N. I feel so guilty and I’m sorry,” he shoved his hands into the back pockets of his pants. He was clearly uncomfortable and genuinely sorry.

‘I’m sorry.’ The words you deeply didn’t want to hear. But he finally said it to you. You didn’t realise how much it would hurt you.

More tears. And it felt like your breath began to shorten more and more. It was like you were drowning in the sea or as if you’ve been spinning for hours and hours.

“Do you remember when you were a child and always wanted to hold onto a balloon?” You put on a weak smile.

“Yes,” he croaked. He was confused.

“And you’d let go. And watch it float up, up, up, up into the air. You’d hope it would come back down. But it never did. It kept going.”

“What do you mean, Y/N?”

“That’s what I’ve been feeling inside ever since you’ve been acting like I’m just one of your fucking groupies! And it’s cause you’ve been cheating on me!” You’ve never seen Roger look so vulnerable, with tears forming in his eyes.

You hadn’t noticed it, but he had a small black jewellery box in his pocket. “I-I was going to pro-” He held it and tried to reach for your hands.

“Don’t fucking touch me, Roger Meddows Taylor,” you broke down even more. The thought of Roger proposing to you was something you didn’t want to imagine anymore. He was going to propose to you with the secret of him cheating on you.

“Don’t you fucking dare try to call me.”

“Don’t speak to me.”

“Don’t even look at me,” you choked on every word. You didn’t expect yourself to ever say that to the person you love.

Once loved.

“Y/N, where are you going?” He knew that trying to follow you would make things worse, so he just stood where he was.

“Anywhere but here,” you stated while walking away from Roger. As you tried to wipe away the tears, all you could think of was Roger chasing after you.

But for the first time, he didn’t. And this saddened you even more. You didn’t expect yourself to experience something so heartbreaking.

You’ve been in other relationships and had other breakups, but for some reason this breakup really hit you.

Maybe it was the fact you gave everything to him. All your love, devotion and time. All the time you gave to him which now seems like has gone to waste.

“That jerk,” you sniffled.

“Um, where’s Y/N and Roger?” Brian asked a very drunk Freddie and John. Everyone was completely shitfaced, so there was really no point of trying to ask them questions.

“Why are you wondering darling? They’re a couple so they’re probably shagging somewhere,” Freddie slurred with a glass of champagne.

And that’s when a familiar blonde came towards the three boys. “Fancy seeing you here, how have you boys been?”

Amy. Her hair was at waist length, had the same colour as Roger’s and her blue eyes were like the ocean. Along with her perfect body proportions, and symmetrical face, she was obviously a model.

“Oh my dear, Amy! It’s been only a few weeks since we’ve seen you!” Freddie spoke raising his glass towards her.

“What brings you to London?” John asked with a drunken smile. Brian wasn’t trying to acknowledge her being there, but that would just be just plain rude if he were to do so.

She was wearing a plain black dress that just cut off around her thigh, and it was quite short with some simplistic makeup.

She sat down in the seat where you were sitting before you left, and that bothered Brian. “Uh, sorry Amy, but that’s Y/N’s seat.”

A smirk came upon her face, “Who’s this Y/N? Oh, Roger’s Y/N? I’ve heard lots of things about her.”

“You have? Y/N is the best, she’s the sweetest to all of us,” John smiled slouching into his seat.

“Where is our darling Y/N?” Freddie asked, moving his head around the place to try and find you. But none of the boys knew that you already left.

“Well I bumped into Roger when I came in, he looked a bit off. Maybe you should check on him, Brian?” Amy stated, fluttering her eyelashes with a huge grin. So he walked around the pub again and walked into the bathroom, to find Roger curled up on the floor.

“Roger, what are you doing mate?” He was crying, something that none of the boys has seen before.

The only time that they’ve seen Roger cry was when his drumkit broke, but those were tears of frustration and not sadness. But this was the first time Brian has seen Roger so heartbroken.

“It’s Y/N. I fucked up Bri. Fucked up real bad.” He sniffed on nearly every word. He was breaking. And the ring he was going to give you was now on the floor along with the box that looked like it was thrown around the place.

“Maybe we should call it a night. Go home and Y/N will be there,” Brian recommended but he knew that you wouldn’t do that. You were hurting.

“Yeah that sounds good,” Roger stood up and headed towards the bathroom door. He wasn’t walking the way he usually would, instead of walking with his shoulders back and high, he wasn’t caring about his posture.

“No, I need another drink, Bri.” And Roger decided to stay in the pub, drinking his sorrows away.

Walking around past midnight wasn’t the best idea, especially since there weren’t many people around. And you didn’t know where else to go since you couldn’t really go back to yours and Roger’s apartment.

You couldn’t bear to see his face after you shouted at him how much you didn’t want to see him. Even though you really did.

You didn’t know where to go until you found a phone box and called the only number you knew that would pick up at this time. “Let’s hope you pick up the phone.” You slot in a few coins and dial in the number and wait.

“Hey, can you please pick me up? I have no idea where I am. I’ve been walking for ages and I just don’t know where to go. I just got too angry and I regret everything that I said. I just don’t know what to do. It’s cold and I want to go home but I know that it wouldn’t be the best thing to do. I’m sorry to bother you for this,” you spoke while you were shivering from the cold.

Your feet were aching and it would be best to think that you’ve caught a cold from walking for so long.

“There’s a few shops around, lots of streetlights and a pub-”

“Y/N, are you outside the pub we were at?”

“Yes…”

“I’m coming.”

Not even fifteen minutes passed by and Queen’s band van came by. And all you could think about was the first time you met Roger. But that memory went away when you saw John open the door.

“John? I-”

“Don’t worry, he answered the phone while he was in the bath. His place isn’t far away so don’t worry.” John explained while you sat down. And he wasn’t kidding, you were outside the apartment in ten minutes.

You knocked on the door, just twice, very lightly. A few seconds later, it opened.

“Y/N.”

“Brian.”

--

Taglist: @roger-taylor-stole-my-heart @ilyjules @cosmiclunas @lilliekrs @mrsmazzello @mercurys-bike@jemcairrstairs @wolverinesbeer@anamcg317@wingardiumlevidonewithlife @a3lizale @lelifesaver @jennycidesstuff @killerqueenbucky @benhardyjones @bookish-oreo@obsessedwithrogertaylor @cloveofmylife @yourealegendroger @florenceivy @marvellouspengwing

[caps-clever-girl]

jaime brienne actors au

jaime’s been an excellent actor on many tv shows. he’s practically world renowned.

his favourite and most frequent roles are in historical films - basically anything that requires a sword, and he does all his own stunts because he loves the training so much.

he’s recently taken a year and a half break from acting due to an on-set accident filming for his last role, where he lost his sword-hand.

he seems to be back on form to the public eye, but those he’s worked with before can tell that he’s different.

his next few roles all stay well away from anything that involves a sword - aside from a cameo for the sequel of one of his older films. they have to use a stunt double for one of the big fights and it burns him.

however someone finally makes him an offer he cant refuse. its a wonderful prom a director/producer team he’s worked with before and absolutely adores - not that he would ever tell them that, because its his brother and their best friend bronn.

they tell him that he wont be taking the leading role for once - they’ve already found someone that they’ve been wanting to work with for ages and they assure him that most of the big fighting scenes will be focused on her. his role will be more of a reluctant mentor.

when he meets her, he finds that he can take on this role perfectly since he hates her.

well, hate isn’t the right word. shes annoying, and not the prettiest, but she’s smart and stubborn and fun to mess with. but she hates his ‘mildly flamboyant star ways’ and he hates the fact that she’s so good at sword-fighting. she’s relentless about it. she has a drive and passion for it that jaime hasn’t seen on anyone except his reflection. she reminds him of himself before the accident, and thats just a remind her of what he lost.

most of all he hates her because she’s a reminder that he’s given up. not metaphorically - no, she literally doesn’t shut the fuck up about hit, telling him to get off his ass and do something about it instead of wallowing. it infuriates him because shes right, he has given up and he is wallowing, but its NOT that easy. it isn’t. and she’ll never understand what he’s lost.

but he gets pissed off seeing her obliterate everyone on the practice runs and is convinced that if he was back to his old self he could have destroyed her.

so he finds bronn - who’s background mostly consists of stunts and swordplay - and pretty much demands him to teach him left-handed sword-fighting so he can finally one up that prideful bitch. bronn agrees because he’s glad jaime’s finally trying to get out of his funk - and also because his and tyrion’s plan is working ;)

so jaime works and works and works. he gains a begrudging respect for brienne, but mostly he’s more interested about getting a rise from her than say, learning lines or basically doing anything she thinks he should be. by the time he’s confident enough that he can at least hold his own against her though, production wraps. he doesn’t get to fight her - most of the remaining scenes are dialogue based and filmed back to back - theres no time and no reason, since there are no more fighting scenes and no need to practice. and judging by the stilted goodbye she gives him, he’s pretty sure brienne never wants to see him again.

it irks him, that he didn’t get to fight her - didn’t get to properly say goodbye - and continues to do so even after the film comes out.

they see each other for the first time again at the premiere, having done promo stuff and interviews separately because of their differing schedules, and wow, isn’t that a shock. jaime’s never been a big fusser when comes to makeup - girls with, girls without he doesn’t really care. but he admits that brienne looks completely different all dressed up for events and it makes him look at her differently. to be honest, in sweats or grimed up for battle scenes, sweating and messy from training with swords and constant re-takes for hours on end every day, he probably didn’t look his best while they were shooting anyway. but he cant mention any of this, because whatever they attend, she mostly avoids him. he hates it.

finally, avoidance isn’t possible. the film does excellently - so much so that they are both invited to a charity event on live tv where they will participate in a skit. jaime agrees because it will be good for his career, the charity is actually a decent one, and because brienne will be there. she goes because its charity - who says no to that?

they get given a script, and thats when they discover that it’s a skit. the acting is meant to be bad, they don’t have to try too hard, they have to have fun, so the audience has fun. jaime thinks its a great idea. he loves his job, but it will be nice to relax while filming and not have to be so serious all the time, and purposefully acting bad will actually be a challenge.

the problem comes with brienne. she hates the script for their little group; hates that shes the damsel, hates the stupid dress and hates that she got stuck with the smaller part. most of all she hates the fact that she has to kiss jaime at the end.

shes miserable. and for once, jaime actually tries to do something about it - brienne style, not his own. he cracks jokes, but ones he knows brienne will find funny and not offensive. (well. not too much.) he brings her coffee and tea whenever he gets his own. he actually compliments her - which doesn’t go down well for some reason, so he takes to subtly giving her advice and direction and (genuinely) constructive criticism, which she takes much better to.

eventually things thaw, and they end up having a blast halfway through their rehearsal time, they actually start laughing, joking together like they’re friends. jaime loves it. he starts to wonder if brienne does too.

but she always shut’s down towards the end, like she remembers herself. he gets cold goodbyes and she doesn’t stick around once he gathers her stuff.

so like any good friend/crush/work-buddy/enemy, he follows her home one night. he knows the apartment number from her keyring and he stops off at a nearby store once he finds out the building. once he’s well supplied with coffee, hot chocolate and snacks, and enough stationary to fill his car, he turns up outside.

he doesn’t get a warm welcome, instead she demands to know what kind of creep thinks its alright to follow her home.

he admits that it wasn’t the best thought out plan, but he shows her his offering and tells her his intention: they are going to take their weekend and re-write the script into something that is still fun, but isn’t some well-recycled misogynistic fairy tail princess and knight story that everyone and their great grandma has seen a million and one times.

she agrees. and doesn’t waste any time telling him that it would be much easier to use a laptop than write it out by hand.

he feels like an idiot. (especially when he remembers how god awful his left handed handwriting is and that he’d’ve probably had to make her do the writing anyway.) but it makes her laugh so thats alright.

things are frosty at first - but brienne has clearly been thinking about this pretty much since they got the original script handed to them, so she immediately launches into her idea and starts writing.

they agree to mostly keep everybody else’s parts the same, since its not fair to them to get a script change halfway through.

the stationary does get used - mostly for planning and idea scrapping. brienne is impressed by the collection of highlighters he amassed for going through the old script, and he lets her keep them. shes genuinely really happy about that.

and THATS the moment that he realises he’s in love with this sword nerd geeking out over four different 5 pack of highlighters.

eventually they call it a night. they’re both tired, and they have most of the script outlined and some parts already re-written. they can probably finish it completely by tomorrow.

brienne offers jaime the use of her couch for the night, since its early-late enough that theres no use in him going home if he’s just going to come back tomorrow.

it takes him by surprise, and he says. “such a kind offer m’lady. and here i thought you didn’t like me.”

and just like that, the easy atmosphere vanishes - as does brienne’s smile.

jaime realises he’s fucked up by finally talking about the elephant in the room. but they’ve had fun today, and even if she doesn’t like him like That, he wants to be friends. at least, he wants to know why she hates him. so he asks.

she hates that he talked down to her for most of the shoot. she thinks he doesn’t respect her. he hates that he can just wander about, doing what he wants - if she did that, she’s be blasted as unprofessional. she says that the women she knows had to work twice as hard as the men to get taken seriously in their line of work, and she’s had to work twice as hard as them - she’s not as pretty, she’s too tall and too brutish. shes lucky that she actually wanted to be in the kind of roles she does, they’re the only thing shes really suited for. and even then, she had to work so hard just to prove that she knew what she was doing, that she could fight. her earlier job quizzed her on all parts of the armour she would have to wear - and she knows for a fact that her co-workers hadn’t been asked that.

she says that all those things he said to her - about her height and her hair, the constant reminders that he was better than her, that he could take her even though they never actually fought, made her hate him. she was disappointed because she had heard so many good things about him - his passion, his drive, his devotion to the role - and had been disappointed by the arrogant prick who took everything for granted and avoided his responsibilities.

jaime responds that he was always like that - at least the last part. if she wanted the first part too then she should have done a film with him before he lost his hand. theres a lot of bitterness there, more than brienne expected, and she doesn’t know what to say.

so jaime speaks instead. he says how much of his role depended on his hand and how no one understood how fucking awful it was losing it because it was practically his identity. it was all well and good people telling him to go for other roles, but he enjoyed the ones he had - thats why he took them. thats why he hated having stunt doubles. in the past he just really wanted to do it himself. now it just reminds him that he cant do that shit any more. he tells her that a lot of that was why he was so difficult with her; he was jealous. jealous of her skill, and that she could still do what he couldn’t.

he acknowledges that he was a prick. he explains that most of it was just teasing, trying to get a rise out of her. he didn’t know how much it was actually getting to her since she never showed it and always gave as good as she got. he admits that he is self-absorbed; but he does try to look out for the women on the set. his sister used to be treated like shit on the sets she worked until she quit, but she had never shown or said anything about it, he hadn’t noticed because she seemed fine enough that he didn’t look for it.

she says thats because she was lucky in that set; the only problem was him. he’s fucking mortified and apologises profusely. he tells her that he does respect her - very much in fact. he admires her skill greatly and he admits that he knows that his brother bronn want to do more with her. he tells her he likes her, he’s seen her as a friend for most of the time even though she hated him, and she admits that she has had fun with him. when he’s not being an ass he’s fun to be around, and when he’s not being a cock he does seem to understand her. they get along well when they aren’t at each other’s throats.

they resolve to be friends, now that they’ve aired so much stuff. the air is still heavy, but jaime finds it more like the air after a long rain. thick and heavy but with the sun already starting to come through the clouds.

she lends him some sweatpants and a shirt to sleep in. they’re both too big and he plans on stealing them the next morning.

(spoiler alert: he doesn’t even change out of them the next day. when the script is done and he has to leave, she doesn’t even ask for them back and he leaves in them, a very very happy man.)

they take the script’s out to the show’s producers the next day and are impressed, particularly since the only major changes are to their own lines. any prop changes are small and require no additional cost, and there are no additional backgrounds or anything like that. everything gets the green light.

rehearsal goes so much better after that; their acting improves as it worsens and the two of them love it. brienne has a blast - finally able to loosen up properly and stay that way, no longer running out the door to avoid jaime. instead, they hang around while they pack up and hat. sometimes they go get dinner or a coffee afterwards, or go back to hang at brienne’s - since it’s nearer. jaime still hasn’t returned the clothing he stole. in fact, he steals more.

(thats fine though, because his favourite fleece plaid jacket and mustard yellow hoodie have been nabbed in return)

by the time the live production roles around the two of them are practically joined at the hip.

everything goes wonderfully. jaime, the dashing knight, manages to get to the princesses tower by ‘fighting’ anything in his way - aka being saved by multiple unrelated but coincidental things like falling branches and dragon’s being afraid of mice while jaime trips over his own sword - and when he gets there and shouts for the princess; gets told “MOVE.”

brienne, having ‘shorn off’ her massive plaid of hair before jaime got there, throws it down and uses it to rappel to the ground. jaime says hes come to rescue her, to which brienne replies that she ‘can to that myself, thanks.’ and reveals shes only been in the tower for a day. she rips off the tear-away bottom of her dress, picks up a sword, and proceeds to kick the ass of everything that comes their way after - including, of course, a bear - as she basically becomes jaime’s escort to the city and keeps him from getting killed.

then comes the big issue. the kiss scene, which they’ve never practiced because they both avoided so well that they hadn’t realised they hadn’t practiced until the moment they have to do it live on air.

it makes the final scene EXTREMELY awkward - which is Very Obvious and the audience finds absolutely hilarious - as they both realise and both Panic...

until brienne says in a very loud voice: “oh screw this” and grabs jaime by the fake leather doublet and essentially snogs the shit out of him - to the point where jaime has to scrabble to get hold of her and keep his balance and spends most of the kiss severely off balance on his tiptoes trying not to fall over.

the show gets the most donations ever recorded for that particular programme.

jaime and brienne’s newest film - which is brienne’s first production credit, since bronn and tyrion insisted she help write the script after finding out about her work on the last one - is a spy comedy that has brienne playing the lead role of the spy, and jaime has the wonderful role of the villain that falls very obviously head over heels in love with her and leave his evil ways behind - but not without bringing some tips and tricks to defeat the True villain of the film.

principal filming takes place the day they get back from their honeymoon, where they wrote a script for a knight movie that features jaime as the best knight getting his ass handed to him by brienne, and spending the rest of the movie trying to marry her. turns out that being a very lovestruck idiot is a role jaime suits rather well.

[09yards]

7 - Houston, I have so many problems (days gone by - nct)

Days Gone By masterlist | main masterlist - ao3 link

warning: excessive use of italics in this chapter because apparently I felt like it and I've only worked on this during night hours and honestly it probably doesn't make sense because it isn't edited properly okay love you bye now, enjoy the chapter (:

Mark drowns his sorrows in T Swift, Grey's Anatomy and Ben and Jerrys and we talk about Johnny a whole lot and the pressures of school and life decisions.

I’ve got a hundred speeches thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

&

Yeah, after all this time, I’m still into you

      Johnny was a good brother, just not exactly role model material. He was protective, but still let you do all the dumb stuff you thought of - like jumping fully clothed in the lake during winter or staying out past curfew because ‘mum will never know, not unless you tell her anyway’ - he was the one there to laugh with you, cry with you, encourage you to do stupid things because you have to live your life. Mark never really understood when Johnny would go on some philosophical rant about how you only get one life, if you aren’t enjoying it then you’re not doing it right.

     He wasn’t constantly thinking about what to do next, how if he did this or that then this would happen. Mark was confused by it in all honestly, he couldn’t comprehend that Johnny studied for fun, wanted to do well not because he felt he had to but because he wanted to. Mark never felt like he made choices purely for himself, he did it for other people or because that’s what he was supposed to do. It wasn’t just academics, Mark was nice to everyone, he it his tongue when he really wanted to correct someone on their opinions (everyone is entitled to their own opinions but the guy was just plain wrong, zero factual basis for his arguments). Mark liked being in control of his own thoughts and feelings, he liked dictating his own life, for once. He just didn’t know how to regain control. He wanted to stop doing things for others, he wanted to be a little selfish – wanted to make himself happy first. He didn’t realise there was absolutely nothing selfish about that at all.

      And then, as stupid as it may sound, Mark started binging Grey’s Anatomy. The medical drama was a major turning point for the sixteen-year-old (at the time), taught him about how he wanted to help people, how he wanted to make a difference to people’s lives. He remembers sitting down and talking to Johnny about it, about how he felt like he’d found his calling. Sure, if anyone asked him now, he’d tell people that he fell in love with medicine as a young child, always playing doctors with his teddy bears and seeing his mum go to work every day, not that Sandra Oh being the magnificent actress she is, made him want to learn more and more about the field, thus he pulled an all-nighter googling different medical pathways and finding what was right for him – and how.

      Johnny was there for all the big decisions in his life. Johnny was there when Mark didn’t realise you were supposed to ‘come out’ if you were anything but straight (frankly, he strongly believed in the idea that no ones sexuality should be pre-determined and that no one should feel the need to define who they are - like that clip in ‘Love, Simon’ which prompted Jisung, Hyuck, Renjun and Jaemin all telling him to shut up when he went on a rant about how assuming someone’s sexuality is wrong and how coming out shouldn’t just be for the non-heterosexual) and in the midst of his first full-on breakdown over his burgeoning crush on Daniel from year 10 maths, Mark had said ‘he’ around thirty-two times, give or take a few (yes, Johnny had counted just to be sure), and only then had it truly dawned on Johny that this was it, this is the closest Johnny was getting to an ‘I-am-gay-and-this-is-me-coming-out-to-you’ moment. Honestly, it’d made Johnny quite proud - his mother was an avid supporter of the community and they’d grown up completely aware that any and all love was love, nothing wrong with any of it and those who believed otherwise didn’t deserve a lollipop (sue him, he was only eight and that was their mum’s way of describing people who were arseholes without calling them bad names). Johnny was there when Mark, sweating nervously and disgustingly clammy-handed, told them how he wanted to follow in their mothers (actually Meredith Grey’s, not that he was going to tell his mum that) footsteps and become a doctor too. Why he was so nervous, he’ll never really know nor understand.

      Especially not when Johnny picked him up and twirled him around in a hug shouting about how his little brother is going to be a doctor, Johnny always was one for theatrics, their mum on the other hand gave her usual warm-hearted smile, said she’d support him no matter what and wrapped him up in one of her bear-hugs. She always gave the best hugs, they simply felt like home, like no matter what you’d be safe.

      Jisung smiled, too young to really care and didn’t understand why Mark had made some big deal about it – “it’s just a degree, you could buy one online for like a hundred pounds instead”. Yes, Jisung spent too much time on the internet, Mark really didn’t want to know what the majority of his time on there was spent doing. Honestly, Mark had him pegged as some sort of edgy Tumblr teen running an insanely successful blog for a book-turned-tv-or-movie series so the majority of his time was probably devoted to reading (that Mark knew) and watching and then reviewing the episodes. It was somewhat worrying the amount Mark had thought about this, was he a multi-fandom blogger or did he just stick to one? What was he watching? Shadowhunter’s? Harry Potter? Sherlock? So, many, questions. But hey, it wasn’t Marks business to know. If he’d just asked Jisung he’d be aware of the youngers multiple blogs, one dedicated to his love of kpop and idols with dimples, the other dedicated to reviewing and just general chatting and fan theories about his favourite book series turned movie/TV shows, Mark wasn’t as far off as he’d like to believe.

      With everything that was happening with Hyuck, or rather lack thereof, Mark was desperate to feel at least somewhat in control of his life. Desperate to feel like he was doing something that mattered, like he was working toward something. One thing Mark could always rely on is that all of his friends and family, among other things, would describe him as a workaholic. As much as Mark loved to attempt to dispute this, he couldn’t. It was the truth and being the emotionally constipated teenager that he is – what better way to deal with your emotions that not doing so and instead throwing yourself into schoolwork? Mark was a broken human in many ways, in many ways he was just normal. Just like any other teenager feeling like they didn’t have their lives under control, feeling like they had to make life altering and affirming decisions at the age of sixteen or seventeen. It wasn’t fair. It didn’t feel fair at least. It didn’t feel fair that he couldn’t have some cute teenage love story like in the movies, didn’t feel fair that he had to submit his university applications by mid-October when everyone else got to wait until December, didn’t feel fair that everyone else had their soulmates or were finding them left and right but he was stuck.

      It was stupid and selfish but he wanted to feel upset. He wanted to feel like he’d lost something rather than just admitting the plain truth that Donghyuck just didn’t like him back. Not every love story was straight (oh the irony) out of Wattpad and not everyone got their happy ending, at least not yet. So, a very stressed Mark was free to wander mindlessly around his home, mind too occupied with some parallel universe where there’s no such thing as soulmates and everyone possess the ability to fall in love with whomever they wish. Not that that would change much in Mark’s case, but let the guy dream okay? Okay.

      Johnny was a good brother. But Johnny was still his brother at the end of the day.

      A brother who comes home for the weekend unexpectedly and so his seventeen year old brother believes he’s able to be singing his heart out to wildest dreams by Taylor swift, I break from crying over Mcdreamy’s death, with a pot of Ben and Jerrys fish food (yeah he was in full blown sad mode) in hand and the most over-sized hoodie he could get his hands on, actually wearing his glasses for once and well… Mark was a mess, in peace, but Johnny took the initiative of filming Marks current endeavours before making his presence known by snorting obnoxiously and crumpling into a ball (well as close as Johnny could get to folding his over six foot body into something remotely small) on the floor of their kitchen unable to breathe normally for at least ten minutes and unable to look Mark in the eye for the next two hours while keeping a straight face, as every time it resulted in him wheezing again and managing to get out a “Y-you, you listen,” another wheeze, “to Taylor, the Taylor Swift,” another, stupid, wheeze, “like queen of break up songs when you’re sad? Oh, Mark, where did I go wrong with raising you.” Yeah, not the most pleasant of experiences for Mark, his bright red ears clearly displaying his emotions.

       He should be allowed to drown his sorrow in peace, listening to Taylor Swift (and Adele but Johnny didn’t hear his rendition of ‘hello’ so #MarkFirstWin) eating his ice cream and dancing around the kitchen. We’ve all been there and anyone who says they haven’t done some sort of version of this is a down right liar, or just really, really, lucky and hasn’t experienced any form of heartbreak ever.

      Nevertheless, this is the same Johnny who then slaps you so hard on the back that it winds you, and then tells you with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, “Hey! You know what would be perfect to distract you?” No Johnny, he was taking the Taylor Swift route. Mark just shook his head, his ears tinting red at the memory of Johnny catching him again (yes it was three hours again) and how he would definitely be relaying the message to others. “Well, your uni applications are in, nothing you can do right now to change that. So, I wasn’t going to invite you because I knew you’d say no but now I’m leaving you no choice. As it’s Winwin and Yuta’s birthdays, they’re having a party tonight and you are coming with me.”

       “But-“

      “Yeah, no buts. You’re coming. Yes, everyone will be there – it’s a family affair. Even Jisung is coming for a bit but I’ve already bought him chocolate milk and put it in the fridge at Yuta’s place.”

      “And you’re really going to let me drown my sorrows in alcohol after my birthday party?”

      “Sure, after all, what’s the worst that could happen?”

      Like Mark said, Johnny let you do the dumb shit. He’d help you pick up the pieces later.

   Hyuck. Alcohol. Jungwoo. Alcohol. Yuta. Alcohol. Winwin. Alcohol. Jaehyun. Alcohol. Soulmates. Black-out drunk.

[anything-advice-blog]

I've been with my partner for almost 6 years. The first year we saw each other every day at school, the last 5 have been long distance. He lived 6 time zones away from me. After he graduated uni last summer he wasnt finding work so he recently moved another 3 time zones away to be closer to some high school friends but the job search isn't any better. Despite having no job prospects he didn’t want to come visit me for a couple of weeks this summer just in case he found something. 1/5

This is in spite of the fact that his parents are very well off and support him, so he can live comfortably. Had it not been for my parents wanting him to come to a big family event this summer I honestly don’t think he would’ve come, he booked a ticket to come here to stay for 6 days. We see each other twice a year and he booked 6 days. I am still really pissed about that. I can’t go see him because I’m currently ill and on welfare, as part of that I’m not allowed to leave the country. 2/5

Recently I met an old friend at a dorm party and we started hanging out, we watched GOT every monday and now some other stuff. We've gone to the movies and to dorm barbecues. It’s just fun, at no point have we done anything inappropriate for friends to do, I don’t share anything intimate with him so I don’t consider this emotional cheating. We aren’t attracted to each other but spending time with him made me think about what it would be like to have a partner from my own country. 3/5

Having my partner move even further away from me, not wanting to spend time here, makes it seems like our lives will never be united in a meaningful way. I also realised that I don’t really want to leave my country to go to his. It would make more sense because his is English speaking and he would have to learn my language but I don’t want to leave my universal healthcare or my family. He doesn’t have any family in his country, only friends nothing else ties him there 4/5

I’ve been playing with the thought of breaking up but we’ve been together so long, I don’t want to make a mistake. I’m fantasising about being single and how wonderful/scary that would be. I don’t know how to be sure that leaving him is what is best for me. His devotion has literally never wavered, he’s never had doubt that we’re going to be together forever but it’s been 6 years and we’re as close to living together as we were in 2014. I’m tired of living in an LDR, sorry this is so long 5/5

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

Hi there,

First of all, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been with someone, you shouldn’t feel obligated to stay with them. Have you tried talking to them about how you feel? You don’t have to make them feel guilty but you can have a conversation about how you feel and how this long distance relationship is affecting your feelings towards the relationship. Be patient and gentle but be honest. If you decide to work it out,  try setting some rules for the relationship. For example, you might agree to skype once a week and talk on the phone twice a week, or that whenever there’s a school break, you visit each other. It’s helpful if you both have the same clear expectations of what being in a long distance relationship means. 

If you decide you can’t or don’t want to work it out, that’s also entirely acceptable and you shouldn’t feel obligated to stay with someone just because you’ve been together for a certain length of time. If you decide you don’t want to be together anymore, think about why. Is it something that you can fix or change or is it something that is unlikely to change? If it’s something that can be changed, are you both willing to do what’s necessary to make the change? I’m not going to lie to you, long distance relationships are a lot of work. It’s a lot easier to drift apart in a long distance relationship but it’s up to the two of you to decide whether or not you’re willing to put in the effort to make it work.

-Livia

[tmae3114]

Tell us about the AUs. all of them.

Friend, that is a lot of AUs.

But okay!!

I won’t go immensely in-depth because a) that’d take forever and b) I want to do separate posts and drawings and stuff for a bunch of these

Okay, so, going in the order that I mentioned them in the tags:

(whoops this is going under a cut because It Got Long)

The Pokemon AU

More of a fusion than strictly an AU, I guess, because it’s pretty much “canon, but there are pokemon”.

I’ve determined full teams for the whole ‘crew, along with the genders, levels, abilities, natures, and movesets of all of their pokemon. I got… really into it. I went way too detailed with their teams. I even know what kind of pokeball each of their pokemon are in. I’m in the process of nicknaming them. I’ve also got scatterings of backstory for how they came to have each of the pokemon in their teams!

For now, I’ll tell you what their teams are, along with the nicknames and such of their pokemon. More in-depth stuff (such as aforementioned abilities and movesets and also the backstories) should probably be saved for a different post.

Diath:

“Cath” - Klefki - ♂

Ninjask - ♀

Scyther - ♀

Liepard - ♂

“Dawnguide” - Absol - ♀ 

“Gutter” - Aegislash - ♂

The pattern I went with for nicknaming Diath’s pokemon is based off of the one thing we’ve seen him name in canon - Moonsplinter. So the nicknames for his pokemon, when I eventually come up with them, will be two nouns put together into a name that connects what was named to someone or something important to him. Cath and Gutter are exceptions to the pattern because they were gift pokemon and came with the names (…sort of, in Cath’s case).

Evelyn:

“Morning Glory” - Rapidash - ♀ 

“Periwinkle” - Lycanroc (Midnight Forme) - ♀ 

“Thistleberry” - Eevee - ♂ 

“Sunflower” - Larvesta - ♀ 

“Jonquil” - Solrock - N/A 

“Juniper” - Pichu - ♀

The pattern I went with for nicknaming Evelyn’s pokemon started with Morning Glory and Juniper - I figured that since Evelyn showed a predilection towards plant names in canon, it was as good a theme as any to run with. Thistleberry is the closest to breaking that pattern, since I’ve been unable to find out if that’s actually a real plant (I’ve found thimbleberries but not thistleberries, so I feel like they might be a fantasy thing) in which case you could argue that he was named for Evelyn’s favourite pie. The reasoning for Sunflower should be obvious, a jonquil is a kind of flower similar to a daffodil which sort of resembles a sun in shape, and periwinkles mean “early friendship” in flower language, and Evie sure does make friends fast.

Jonquil may or may not mean “I desire a return of affection” in flower language but sshhhh, that was unintentional

Strix:

“Fuzzywuzz” - Venomoth - ♂

“Waffles” - Ursaring - ♀ 

Mismagius - ♀ 

“Stinky Junior” - Garbodor - ♀ 

“Clothy McClothface” - Banette - ♀ 

“Stinky” - Alolan Rattata - ♂

I don’t think I really need to explain the pattern/theme for naming Strix’s pokemon because, well, *gestures at canon* I just tried to follow the existing naming patterns.

Paultin:

“Palpatine” - Malamar - ♂ 

Exploud- ♂ 

“Charlotte” - Chatot - ♀ 

Gengar - ♂ 

“Peter” - Baltoy  - ♂ 

Alolan Marowak- ♀

I don’t strictly have a naming pattern for Paultin, wildcard that he is. I’ve just been operating on a general rule of “regular real life name that sounds fitting” (a la him naming Simon) or “reference”.

The Superhero AU

You are getting far less information about this one because it’s going to be getting posts of its own when I finally get the drawings for it finished - I’m going to do character profiles and everything.

The basic premise is a vaguely-modern-era-ish Waterdeep (in a vaguely-modern-era-ish Faerun) has a lot of superheroes running around and the Wafflecrew happens to be one of the teams that call the city home. Diath, Strix, Evelyn and Paultin are all doing the secret identity thing and there will be shenanigans involving those because, well, here’s the thing:

The Wafflecrew is a superhero team who’s members keep their identities secret even from each other, mostly because they haven’t been together as a team for very long yet.

Diath, Strix, Evelyn, and Paultin, however, are a group of friends who happen to share a flat. Who are all trying very hard not to let on to their friends that they’re a superhero.

So. Shenanigans.

(Well, except for Diath and Strix. They know about each other’s secret identities)

I won’t tell you everyone’s codenames, though, because ~character profiles~ :3c

The Daemon AU

This one is more loosely defined than the others, to be honest. I will say, straight up, that I have never read His Dark Materials and don’t have any particular intent to, because I’ve read enough excerpts to know I could never get through it. But the concept of daemons is really cool and fun and I’ve read a ton of daemon aus and I feel no shame in yoinking the concept for an au despite never having read the source material.

Evelyn’s daemon is a Norwegian Forest Cat named Carwyn, Paultin’s is a lyrebird named Leto, Strix’s is a Barred Owl named Cináed, and Diath’s… well, if you were to ask him, he’d tell you that his daemon is a very shy house spider named Perdita. The thing is, nobody’s ever actually seen her…

Diath may or may not be in a Special Situation in this AU thanks to the whole ancient-soul-that-Shemeshka-has-part-of circumstance

The Class Swap AU

This one!! Is one that I love!! a lot!! And also one that I fully intend to give its own post with art.

It started with me realising that Mason Marthain existing presented the perfect Backstory Butterfly to play with things a little and justify Evelyn being a rogue in a class swap AU. From there, I just kept playing with their backstories to see what there was that could be tugged on to shift them to one of each other’s classes. Ultimately, my class swap AU stands as such:

Evelyn Marthain, a swashbuckler rogue. Inspired by a slightly different family member, in this universe, Evelyn decided at a young age that rather than follow in her father’s footsteps, she wanted to follow in her uncle’s. Thus, rather than training at the Spires and taking on the mantle of a paladin, she apprenticed on her Uncle’s ship throughout her childhood, and eventually became a rogue.

Diath Woodrow, an oath of devotion paladin. A childhood on the streets went just a little bit differently for Diath, this time around. After a paladin caught him preventing another street kid from pickpocketing, he got taken in by the Church of Selune and found a calling that appealed to his sense of duty and his desire for adventure at the same time. (How does the oath of devotion’s call to obey just authority mix with being chaotic good, you might ask? Well, how does one define “just” authority? In Class Swap!Diath’s case, as soon as someone abuses their power, their authority is no longer just)

Paultin Seppa, a wild magic sorceror. Paultin honestly doesn’t know where his powers came from. They’ve been at the tips of his fingers for as long as he can remember. It probably has something to do with the big swath of his childhood that he can’t remember but he’s not particularly bothered with trying to figure it out. (The thing is, a panicking, traumatised child, very much going into shock, tearing through the mists of Barovia and out of Ravenloft, all on his own and without parental supervision for the very first time, has so much potential to go wrong. He stumbled through a few less than hospitable places before he ended up on the Prime Material)

Strix, a college of glamour bard. Her years in the Feywild were harsh and this time it wasn’t Baba Yaga whose care she stumbled into. She learned a lot, living amongst the fey, and not least amongst that was how a silver tongue, with words carefully chosen and used, is a magic all of its own and also a very dangerous weapon.

I can’t say anything about the two AUs I’m currently writing fics for because spoilers~ so just know that They Exist

The Star Wars AU is extremely conceptual. It features aspiring Jedi Knight Evelyn Marthain, an Alderaanian human raised in the Coruscant Jedi Temple, travelling musician Paultin Seppa, a human of mysterious origin who has an even more mysterious knowledge of the Force, given that he seemingly has no connection to any known Force sects, galactic treasure hunter/archaeologist Diath Woodrow, a human from Coronet City on Corellia, whose heritage may-or-may-not have originated on a certain planet starting with ‘M’, and Strix, a force-sensitive woman of indeterminate species (at first glance, you might think zabrak, but zabraks don’t have tails. They also usually don’t have hair but it’s not like hybrids are completely an unknown possibility… the thing is, if she’s a hybrid, there’s no way she’s a hybrid of just two)

The RWBY AU is Exactly What It Says On The Tin. It’s just an AU where the Wafflecrew are in Remnant. They comprise Team DEPS (”Deeps”) and all I’ve really figured out is their weapons and semblances and tbh, as an AU, it’s probably not going much further than that.

I had a Lot of fun with their semblances, though.