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love101imagines · 4 years ago

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Will anything happen?

(sinan | imagine)

request: could u please write an imagine, with Sinan having been in love with s/n for years, but he never knew how to tell her that, until she became friends with the group, so he sees an opportunity to approach her.

tags: @zaynlikfalls @girl-looking-out-window @imtoolazytothinkofacoolname

You were sure your life had changed the moment you were doing your philosophy homework during recess, too immersed with trying to finish Miss Ayse's assignment on time you didn't notice how five students entered the room and ushered the rest to leave, even if the room was almost empty.

"What the fuck?" You blurted out confused once someone closed your notebook.

Eda, one of your classmates, sat in front of you, while another boy you vaguely remembered leaned against the wall.

"We need to talk." Osman, a boy you had bought some homework a few times, stated as he sat down next to you.

A quick look around the room made you panic internally, with Kerem, another boy you knew because of his anger issues, closed the door. Your mind tried to come up with a reasonable reason why your classmates you had only spoken a few words were now acting so strangely.

You looked at Osman, the only one you had talked the most out of them, with a raised brow. "Do I owe you something because of the homework? I don't have any money left, I— Are you going to beat me up? What is wrong with you?" You ranted.

"No!" Işik, the one you liked most because of her charismatic personality, reassured you, taking out a chair and sitting next to you. "We only wanted to talk to you."

"We need your help." Eda continued. "It's about Miss Burcu, we want you to help us set her up with another teacher. Otherwise, she'll leave since her transfer is confirmed."

"And this way we'll all make a beautiful thing happen. We’ll spread love." Işik added with a grin.

You furrowed your brows at the strange request. It didn't take you much to see through their act, Isik being the only one who seemed genuinely sad about your teacher leaving, so you just assumed the rest were doing it to their own advantage. Probably because of what had gone down a few days ago during a school debate, in which the auditorium was almost burned down and they were almost expelled.

Still, you had a few questions left. "Why me? I don't know either of them that well."

Eda shrugged. "You have a boyfriend."

"And you two have been dating for almost two years, you must know about love and dates. That really can help us. Isik knows the theory, you know the practice." Osman explained trying to convince you with his businessman smile.

So that was the reason why they thought you were a love expert.

You only could give them an awkward smile, feeling your cheeks slightly blushing because of the obvious fact they didn't seem to be aware of. "Boran and I broke up two months ago."

Being stopped from doing your homework was worth it once you bit down on your lower lip trying to avoid laughing at their faces of sudden realization.

"Fuck. You told us they were in love." Eda complained, glaring at the boy who was leaning against the wall.

He didn't answer, his eyes fixated on the ground while the rest looked at him angrily.

You slowly stood up from your chair while the rest seemed deep in thought. "Well, this was fun but now you've realized I can't really help you. Good luck though."

"Wait, you can still help us." Işik tried, standing in front of Kerem once she noticed he wouldn't let you leave.

With a huff, you sat down back on your seat. "(Y/N), dear. You're the only person who's been in the longest relationship in the whole school." Osman continued. "Come on, help us. This is what you and Isik know best."

You thought about it for a moment, almost flinching when Kerem suddenly stood next to you even if Osman had already said that you didn't owe him anything and even if you did, they wouldn't beat you up.

"Don't worry, he only talks with his fists but we need you."

You looked up at the boy leaning against the wall, now realizing where you recognized him from. You couldn't really blame yourself, after all, Sinan usually skipped classes or never participated, only sleeping most of the time or drinking his flask. You were almost sure you had done one or two school projects with him and Isik, because even if she was the smartest girl in the class, nobody else wanted to work with them, too annoyed with the boy and his usual remarks.

He stayed silent throughout the whole interaction until you shifted uncomfortably because of Kerem and how you only knew him because of every time you had seen him punch someone during a basketball game or recess. But right now, he only glanced at you for a second before returning his gaze back to the ground.

Kerem glared at him. "I'm so sick of his bullshit."

"Calm down." Osman said once he noticed the tension in the room.

You only chuckled, almost giving in to their offer once you noticed Sinan glancing up at you again for a few seconds. But still, you couldn't do what they were asking.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm going to fail Philosophy and Miss Ayse has sent me all of this..." You said referring to the numerous papers in front of you, most of them highlighted with your own handwriting in some notes. "I'm literally fucked with this, and I can't fail another subject again."

Still, Osman wasn't going to give up. "Sinan will help you."

"What?" You both said at the same time.

"If he helps you pass, will you help us too?" Eda asked hopefully.

"These assignments aren't to help students learn what they don't understand, they only exist so teachers feel even more powerful having someone else's future on their hands." Sinan spoke, annoyance clear on his voice.

Kerem rolled his eyes. "You're the man for the job. Every sentence you say sounds like a riddle."

"Can you help me? You can lend me your notebooks if you want, I can manage." You said, trying to ignore the fact that he was always sleeping in class.

He fumbled with his hands, not answering instantly which made you wonder if it was because of a hangover or if he simply didn't like you. "I...I'm not good at writing down notes." He explained.

"But he's really good with philosophy!" Işik added nudging him forward. "He's in the debate team too."

"There you go, he'll explain to you what we covered and you'll help us make Burcu fall in love." Eda concluded.

Before he could disagree, you nodded. "Okay, deal."

They seemed finally grateful, and before you could think better about what you had just gotten into, the bell rang. You got up from your seat and started gathering your things, not noticing how the rest left and how Eda practically pushed Sinan forward in your direction.

"I'm sorry you assumed I would be of any help to you." He started somewhat reluctantly, stopping once you looked up at him in the middle of leaving your notes on your bag.

"Sinan, we've done a few projects with Işik before, and even if you didn't come to my house you helped out in the end." You said forcefully, not taking no for an answer.

Under his impressed look, you paused for a moment as he started helping you with your things, knowing you wouldn't be able to do it before the next class started.

"So..." You started with a soft smile. "Your house or mine?"

As Sinan opened the door for you, you thanked him with a silent smile before entering his house. You gathered your surroundings, amazed by the numerous pairings hanging in the walls while you followed him.

"Sinan, your house is beautiful. I can't believe you never invited us before." You said leaving your bag on the floor next to the couch.

"I have to make lunch for my grandpa and feed my dog..." He trailed off opening the fridge on his kitchen.

You made your way towards him after taking off your jacket. "I'll help you." You offered, taking the bowl of dog food out of his hands before he could say anything.

As you petted his dog, he left a tray of food for his grandpa and then you both sat down on his couch, you looking for a highlighter and him fumbling the only pencil he had.

He cleared his throat a bit, your knees touching while you unknotted your tie. "We're seeing idealism, right?" He asked and continued once you nodded. "Um, it can be classified into subjective and objective idealism, the main difference is that one believes the object is more important, and therefore, it's independent of our consciousness."

He gave you a side look to see if you understood. You looked at your notes, confusion clear on your face as your brows furrowed and you tried to search for what he had just said. You expected him to snap at you for not understanding, which would only cause you to get even more frustrated and to storm out of his house, but that wasn't the case.

"It's fine." He said patiently, taking your notebook to help you search what you needed. "Here, you mixed them up. You should remember that the objective idealism regards as the prime source of being not the human mind, but some objective other-world consciousness."

"And the subjective denies the existence of objective reality." You carried on connecting the dots.

You fixed your notes, a green highlighter on your hand, and the cap between your teeth.

Sinan stood up from his seat. "Tea?" He asked.

You nodded. "Please." You said with a smile, noticing how the corners of his lips curled in a small smile.

After that day, your usual routine changed completely. You planned the perfect date with the rest, helped with the fake fight between Burak and Kerem, went to a rock concert, and even got closer to the rest. You weren't sure, but you felt closer to Sinan after spending every afternoon at his house.

You saw a different side of his, a boy who cared for his grandpa and tried his best to help you with things you found difficult, not losing his patience and explaining it as much as you needed.

At school during recess you flopped down on a bench, Sinan sitting at the end of it like usual. “What’s up?” He asked.

"Look at this!" You beamed with a grin pushing a paper into his hands.

He raised his brows at you before reading your test, you waiting expectantly for his reaction. "You passed Philosophy?"

You let out a sigh of relief. "Yep, no more assignments from Miss Ayse. Now I can help you even more with Miss Burcu, it's a shame she has a boyfriend. We're fucked."

"You aren't." He pointed out, slowly taking out his flask from his jacket. “You can stop with everything if you want, you’ve achieved what you wanted and nothing changes for you if Burcu leaves.”

You scoffed. “Do you really think that of me? That I would leave all of you now that we don’t have to study anymore?”

He only shrugged, going to take a sip of his flask before you stopped him, your hand on top of his. “Can you...not? Please. I don’t like the smell.” You explained taking the flask from his hands to his amused look.

Sinan rolled his eyes and took the flask out of your hands, except this time he didn’t drink from it and only left it back again on his jacket.

With a soft smile, you stood up. “Come, let’s go to my house and have lunch.”

“Why?” He asked confused about why would you want to hang out with him but nevertheless stood up.

“I’m hungry...and we have another Music project to do. I don’t have a partner so, lucky you.” You tugged on his arm to walk.

“Lucky me.” He teased.

With your music cassette playing on the background a Tarkan song and a few books scattered on your bed, you continued with your research on Mozart, your legs crossed while Sinan sat opposite you.

After fumbling with his pen for a few seconds, he looked at you. “Can I ask you something?”

You glanced at him after taking a sip of your water. “Sure.”

“Why did you and Boran break up?” He asked curiously. “Everybody thought you would get married like the two high school sweethearts you are. Were.” He corrected himself.

You shuffled uncomfortably in your place, biting the inside of your cheek as you looked at the boy in front of you. You smiled weakly before starting to talk. “Um, dunno. I mean, things weren’t as smooth like they were at the beginning. I didn’t feel the same and he thought that I had too much...baggage, so we talked and decided to end things. We’re still friends though.”

Sinan’s face softened at your words. “I’m sorry, I thought you two...”

“You thought we were in love, right?” You interrupted him, your voice teasing but quiet. “I remembered Eda said that the first time we all talked, how did you know?”

He looked away as a small blush crept on his neck, and you only waited for him to answer.

“A few years ago we had a History assignment, do you remember?” He asked slowly.

You furrowed your brows. “Sinan, we have History assignments almost every day.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but this time I was with Işik and we needed someone else and you volunteered. Then she dragged me to the library and we spent some time together.” He continued trying to make you remember.

You thought about it for a few seconds until you came to the realization of what he was recalling, your mouth opening in surprise. “Yes! I remember. You slept the whole hour until I told you to help me with the dates.”

He nodded, not talking for a moment and avoiding your look before he took a gulp of his flask, ignoring how you sighed when he did that. “I...we didn’t talk much but I knew that you could see something good in everyone, even in me.”

Sinan struggled with his words, so you left the books aside and moved closer to him. “Why didn’t you talk to me after that?”

He rolled his eyes. “Why do you think?” He answered sarcastically. “You met Boran and...it wasn’t worth it. He was better for you.” He explained with his usual emotionless tone.

He looked at you for another moment, his eyes slowly trying to figure out your expression. For a moment, you basked into the attention he was giving you shamelessly, remembering even more about what had happened two years ago.

“Işik! Guess what! After you and Sinan left I met this super cute guy. His name’s Boran and we talked and he asked me on a date tomorrow!” You gushed to her the next day you went to the library to finish your History assignment, not noticing Sinan’s expression, a mix of jealousy, disappointment, and heartbreak.

“Sinan...” You started slowly. “...did you have a crush on me?”

Eyes darting from where they were fixed on your face, he stared at his lap. “Why would it matter? I’m sure you and Boran will fix things and...” He paused and took a sharp breath. “...you’ll be back again with him. You’ll forget about us, living the true romance fairytale you’ve wanted your whole life.”

Once he finished his rant, he grabbed his flask to take another sip again but you were sick of it. “That’s not true!” You scolded taking the flask out of his hands, leaving it next to your pillow. “And that wasn’t my question, why are you like this?”

He didn’t answer, only moving forward to reach for his flask, but you were faster and cupped his face to make him look at you.

“Sinan, you should have told me. Do you like me or no?”

He stopped breathing, his chest visible not moving as he stared at your eyes. “Yes.”

Your breath hitched in the back of your throat, realizing all of a sudden how close you actually were. Before you could think about it, with your hands still cupping his face, you pulled him towards you and placed your lips onto his.

He was clearly caught off guard, but it didn’t take long for him to kiss you back and place his hands on your waist, a few pencils falling off your bed while he moved to be closer to you.

Out of breath, you broke the kiss, your hands remaining on his face while he looked at you, studying every inch of your face trying to read your expression.

“Things have been different between us in the last days.” You said, your voice coming out like a whisper.

He hummed, waiting patiently for you to continue. “I...I just got out of a fucking long relationship and, I have a lot on my mind.”

“I understand.” He nodded, your hands falling to your side finding his.

Your thumb traced soothing circles into the back of his hands and his eyes almost fluttered shut at the sensation. “But we could try, right? Not a relationship right now, but maybe a date first.”

“Yeah. Yeah for sure.” He mumbled.

He had already waited two years to finally tell you how he really felt, but it seemed like it was worth it seeing how you were smiling at him at that moment.

#love 101 #love101 #burcu #eda #kerem #osman #sinan #ask 101 #aşk101imagine #aşk 101 #aşk 101 imagine #aşk101 #love101imagine #love 101 imagine #sinanimagine #sinanxreader

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tiannarosetarot · 4 years ago

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Wonho Current Energy Reading - June 29th

Very long reading ahead, but I hope you’ll check it out!

There is a lot going on, yet at the same time things feel very balanced. Wonho has just announced his new fandom name and has made his first vlive. This already feels like he has passed over the first major hurdle. He’s been slowly climbing back up from basically rock bottom. Ever since that terrible day in October, he is rebuilding his image, his self esteem and his career. He’s been holding back quite a bit, reasonably so, but I’ve thought since the beginning that when he makes a vlive, that’s when we’ll know. His vlives are extremely special to Monbebe and he has always used the platform to share his life with us and bring us along on his journey. I know that now that he is comfortable enough to go live with us again, he has passed that difficult checkpoint, and will hopefully be able to do it a lot now. It’s kinda like when a couple first confesses that they love each other. At first it is scary and awkward, and they’re not sure whether they should say it. But once they do, now they’re able to say it all the time to each other. I think vlive is Wonho’s way of saying ‘I love you’. And if he’s afraid we might not say it back, that will be extremely harmful to him. I think he needed to wait until he felt comfortable enough that we would reciprocate his feelings. Throughout this process there has been a lot of negativity and people attacked him for something he didn’t even do. So the fact that he feels strong enough to show himself to us again in the way he used to is incredibly special.

Wonho also used this vlive as a way to announce his fandom name with us, which is Wenee. I’m a little worried, because I see a lot of people who aren’t super happy with the name. I’ll admit that it seemed a little strange at first, but after knowing the backstory behind it, I know that it will become super special to us, as he pushed for this name himself. In order to make sure that Wonho feels ready and comfortable to fully come back, we need to make sure that we’re sending positive energy and messages towards him. He is a pretty sensitive person (which is a good thing), but I know that in the past he has sometimes taken negative comments to heart. It is important that we project into the universe what we want to happen. Whether you believe in this stuff or not, there is some truth that if you try really hard for something to happen, it definitely can. So let’s make sure Wonho doesn’t think we don’t like his choices, or he may stop trusting in his abilities. Let’s trust that he knows what he’s doing and can make his own decisions. We are his fans, and it is our job to support him in what he does. To reiterate this once again, the fact that he released a fandom name is much more important than what the name actually is. It means he is moving in the right direction to coming back into the industry. Even if you wish he were back in Monsta X, let’s trust in his new achievements now and worry about that later. Just because he’s becoming a solo artist doesn’t mean the chance of him coming back is completely off the table. And again, hopefully we realize that it is better to have him back in the music industry even without being part of Monsta X, than not have him back at all.

Now onto the cards ~

There is a new start for Wonho coming. He needs to work on his insecurities in order to achieve his dreams, because these things may be holding him back from doing so. There is also this feeling that he doesn’t really want to move on. He’s a little stuck in the past, wishing things were back the way they were. He is missing the group activities and the family he has been a part of for so long. But I think he’s finally realizing that the rest of the members are going to be okay without him. Wonho left because he wanted them to still be successful, and I know that he’s been hyping them up with all of their projects. He can trust now that they are doing fine, and take that as a positive sign that he can move forward. He needs to not let his past hold him back from achieving his dreams. He can remember that part of himself, all of the beautiful memories they shared together, without needing to stay in the shadows forever. We can think of this like any other idol who takes on a solo project or album. They work on promoting that for a while, and still can do group projects as well. Although Wonho may not be in the group right now, there is still a chance that could happen in the future. I know a lot of people have given up, which is totally fine, but I do still believe that he could come back somewhere in the future, and to not give up on those dreams just yet. He needs to not allow the hope of that return stop him from moving forward in his life. He needs to take care of his needs and keep fighting for his dreams.

There is a lot of fire energy in this reading, including a lot of Aries energy. I’m definitely feeling a lot of movement and power coming from this; he is taking back control. Things are happening quite quickly but no longer in a negative way, because he is taking the reins. Things are happening at the right speed for him now. It’s as if he has been using all of this time to sort everything out and now that those things have happened (New Moon in Cancer: he trusts Monsta X is okay, and South Node: he is not letting his past stop him from moving forward) he is able to finally take action. I have a strong feeling that things will all start falling into place now that he has made his vlive and announced the fandom name. Everything has been building up to this moment, and now rather quickly, things will start working out the way they are supposed to. It’s kinda a roller coaster. After leaving Monsta X, he dropped down to the ground. He’s been slowly inching his way back up to the peak, but with a lot of anticipation and maybe some anxious energy. But once he reaches the top he sees where he needs to go. He’s on top of the world again. And he can now soar down the steep track and enjoy the ride; as all of that pent up energy is being released. (I know Wonho hates heights so maybe this isn't the best analogy, but roller coasters are meant to be fun and exciting. I really want to emphasize that this isn’t like he’s reached the top and it’s only downhill now. This is a super exciting drop that will allow him to really set everything in motion.

The New Moon in Aries card is a big sign for him to be able to achieve anything he puts his mind to. He may still have a long way to go on this journey (Aries is the first sign of the zodiac), but he’s definitely getting there. He is making sure he does things correctly this time, and he is taking all the time he needs to really make sure he’s ready. He wants to figure out the logistics so that he can be able to have it easier later on. The only problem with this is that he might get so tied up into making everything perfect that he never actually takes action. But seeing that he released his fandom name shows that is not the case, and I hope this strategy works well for him. I think he has a really good foundation which will allow him to grow into an amazing artist again, so we need to be patient in his efforts. He knows what he is doing.

I’m really glad that the Justice card came up in this reading. This whole situation has been based around a legal matter, an accusation that Wonho did something unethical. However he has been proven innocent and has been given a second chance. Through this card, we are reminded that justice does prevail. Love does win, and people who do the right thing will come out on top. Maybe not always, and maybe not often either, but Wonho worked way too hard to have this all taken away from him so quickly. So the fact that he’s coming back just proves that things are working the way they are supposed to, and that hopefully there is a change happening in the kpop industry. I want to point out a quote from this card which says “Even though events in our life may seem unjust, there is a divine order to the universe.” This reminds me a lot of Wonho’s situation. This whole time we’ve been thinking that what happened to him was unfair, but maybe there is some reason why this happened. There is a hope that can be found in this card, that this event will only make him, Monsta X, and Monbebe stronger. This card can also symbolize weighing all sides before making an important decision, which I do think is what he is doing. It is important he thinks this all through before taking any big risks he might regret later.

The Three of Cups reversed represents overindulgence or an attempt to escape from the unpleasant aspects of life. It could also represent alone time and independence. The upright version of this card represents the opposite; celebration, friendship, community. Wonho is starting out on his own after being part of a group for so long. He has the opportunity to make many more decisions now and get a lot closer to the fans. He has a newfound independence that could have negative and positive aspects to it. He could be enjoying all of this freedom, but he may be overwhelmed in the amount of things he has to do. It’s no longer all being split between 7 members and in the kpop world, solo artists normally have to work harder to become and stay popular. I also sense a loneliness, and a possible emptiness that he’s feeling going through the steps again of things like announcing a fandom name, and eventually a debut, comeback stages and maybe someday his own concerts. In the past he experienced all of these major moments with his members, but he’s venturing out on his own now. He needs to remember that he still has his fans by his side, and therefore he isn’t truly alone.

This situation really is like he’s starting all over again though. He’s relearning how to do all of these things that he may not have done in a while. I could tell he was slightly out of practice trying to do aegyo today. I think he’s trying extremely hard to learn everything he can. He’s been learning English and Japanese, maybe other languages too. He’s been taking his time to make sure he makes careful decisions. He’s really being like the apprentice in the Eight of Pentacles, working hard through repetitive tasks and using keen attention to detail in order to master his craft. The second time around, he has the opportunity to do things with more ease and enjoy the moments that he may have been too nervous during the first time around. I’m really proud of how hard he is trying lately to better himself, and feel even more inspired by him than normal. He doesn’t want to disappoint, and I know that anything Wonho releases will only be after extreme thought and with thorough execution so I really hope that we can see that.

I’m so happy to be a Wenee now, and I want to say happy birthday to my fellow new fandom! Although I’ve been with many of you before, we need to get used to the fact that there will be new Wonho fans who have not known him as a member of Monsta X. I hope we can accept them into this family because the people I’ve grown to know through Monsta X are some of the most amazing people ever. I’m so proud to be part of these two beautifully intertwined fandoms and I can't wait to see what happens in the future. Don’t give up on hoping and be patient for what Wonho as well as the universe has prepared. I believe it will to be even better than anything we could’ve imagined.

#wonho #wenee #tarotreading #tarot reading #kpop tarot

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 6 years ago

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Double The Trouble (Part 3)

Summary: After getting back to Austin for the summer, the reader’s relationship with the boys finally gets to a good place...

Masterlist

Pairing: Jared x reader x Jensen

Word Count: 5,300ish

Warnings: language, implied smut, little bit of angst, fluff

The day went by quickly. Both boys needed to restock their houses after being away for a few weeks and you helped clean or whatever needed to be done. You were coming in from setting the trash from dinner down in the garage when you saw them both sitting on the living room couch, staring out the dark back window, a storm about to roll in.

“She seems much better today,” said Jensen.

“Yeah. She’s a blend of us. Hopefully she knows we understand and aren’t angry with her,” he said.

“I think she does,” said Jensen.

“Jay. Don’t hold back. She’s your girlfriend too,” said Jared. “You’re allowed to give her a hug or kiss without me being around you know.”

“I’m a bit of a chickenshit at the start of a relationship but you already knew that,” said Jensen, giving him a quiet laugh.

“This one’s different for more than one reason though,” said Jared.

“Very true,” said Jensen. You made your way over to them, putting on one of Jensen’s records quietly before taking a seat between them on the couch. Jared leaned over and rested his head on your shoulder, listening to the thunder crack and a flash of lightning fill the room. Jensen was a bit tense, watching the first heavy fat drops hit the windows.

You nudged closer to Jensen, bringing Jared with you. You nestled your head on Jensen’s chest while you tucked into his side and threw one arm behind his back, your other wrapped around Jared’s shoulders. Jensen glanced down at you as if he wasn’t sure what to do before quickly moving his left arm around you, his right pulling himself closer to you, grazing the place where Jared had wrapped his own arm around you.

“I could get used to this,” you said.

“Mhm,” hummed Jared. You tilted your head up to Jensen, getting a nod and smile from him.

“Me too,” he said.

Over the next three weeks, the three of you eased into a rhythm of having fun during the day, date nights, concerts, getting lost exploring the city. Jensen had completely come out of his shell with you. Jared seemed happier than you’d ever seen and the boys were often laughing together like you’d heard a million times.

And then you saw your face online one Sunday morning, pictures of you kissing Jared and Jensen out on a date from two nights before. To make it worse, they were at a con, right that second. Someone would surely ask about it. You’d probably ruined both their careers in an instant.

You barely had time to start properly freaking out when you got a text from Jared.

Hey. We just saw. Take a deep breath for us. We know you’re freaking out. We love you, that hasn’t changed. We’ll call as soon as the panel is over. We knew this would happen someday. It’s alright. You’re our girl and we’ll be home as soon as we can.

You took the deep breath as instructed, taking another before you felt yourself calm down a little. He was right. You all knew it was coming. You just wished you’d gotten a little more time before the world started calling you a freak.

“Hey,” said Jared, brushing your hair out of your face when he walked in the bedroom that night. You rolled over from staring out the back window, Jensen setting down his bag before he was over too. “You were crying all day, weren’t you.”

“This is going to affect your jobs and future jobs and-”

“And we said our piece when the question got brought up at the con. You’re ours and if we couldn’t handle some mean internet comments, we wouldn’t be in this business in the first place,” said Jensen. He sat on the edge of the bed, resting your head in his lap while Jared wiped off your face with his sleeve.

“And shockingly...there’s a whole lot more support out there than there is hate,” said Jared. You lifted your head, both of them giving you smiles. “Socially, sure it’s a bit different. But we’re not doing anything wrong or bad and the fans even told us how happy we looked and acted at the con. Even if they thought different, this is our lives, us three. I’m not giving you up ever and neither is Jensen.”

“Okay,” you said, nuzzling your head back into Jensen’s leg, trying to lean into Jared’s hand on your cheek but having a hard time deciding which way to go.

“Someone wants a cuddle,” said Jensen, bending down and kissing you. “I’m gonna shower quick if you want first dibs, Jare.”

“I’ll take it,” he said. Jensen headed into the bathroom, Jared following him and returning with a warm washcloth, bending down in front of you when you sat up. He helped clean off your face, bumping his nose to yours when he finished. “Okay baby?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want anyone to say anything bad to you guys,” you said, closing your eyes. “You don’t deserve that.”

“You don’t either,” he said, pressing his lips to yours. “I love you.”

“I love you,” you said.

“Did you grab some dinner?” he asked.

“Yeah. I put the leftovers in the fridge for you guys,” you said.

“Mind if I get some before our cuddle?” he asked.

“No,” you said, giggling slightly. “No, I’m feeling better now. I was more scared about losing you guys but I don’t think I ever had to be worried about that.”

“Never, baby,” he said. “I’ll be back in a minute if you want to relax.”

“Alright,” you said. Jared took off and you stood up to stretch, spotting their open bags with dirty clothes. You gathered them up and tossed them in the basket. You debated going in the bathroom but you’d be in and out quick to grab Jensen’s dirty ones. You ducked inside and picked them up off the floor, nearly out of there when the steamed up shower door opened and you caught sight of wet feet. You slammed your eyes shut, Jensen shuffling around for a moment.

“I could have gotten the laundry,” he said gently. You shook your head, a wet finger grazing your cheek. “You can open your eyes, honey.”

Keeping your head high, you opened your eyes, catching Jensen’s green ones staring back. His hair was dark, spiked up in some places, matted down in others.

“You look so cute,” you said, smiling for a moment like he wasn’t there.

“You too,” he said. You kept your gaze up, Jensen chuckling before he rested his thumb on your chin. “I got a towel on. You can look.”

“We haven’t done this yet,” you breathed out.

“You’ve seen me without a shirt on before,” he said.

“You’re pretty much naked,” you said.

“Almost,” he said. “It is a bit nerve wracking.”

“Jensen,” you said, hearing a hum from him as your gaze went down to his chest. “Maybe tomorrow. Not tonight.”

“Hey, no pressure. Ever,” he said.

“I know. But I think it’s time,” you said.

“Whatever you want, honey.”

“Alright you two crazy kids,” said Jared the next night, hopping up from the couch. “I’m crashing at my place tonight. Have some responsible fun now.”

He gave you a wink and a kiss, smirking at Jensen.

“Don’t let this one handle you too hard,” he teased.

“She can handle me however she wants,” said Jensen back.

“Have fun guys,” said Jared. The house was quiet after he left, Jensen rubbing the back of his neck.

“Come on,” you said. You slid over next to him on the couch and straddled his hips, Jensen staring up with hooded eyes as you threw your arms around the back of his neck.

“I so didn’t strike you as an on top kind of girl,” he said. “Not that I have a problem with that.”

“We’re both nervous and I remember the first time I did this with Jared he gave me some advice,” you said.

“Which was?” he breathed out.

“Just kiss me and I’m yours,” you said. “I wasn’t so nervous once we got into it all.”

“I think I better kiss you then,” he said. He shot a hand to the back of your head, pulling you in as you leaned forward. He was more serious than Jared, more serious than his usual self even. You pulled back for a split second, staring him down. He smirked and gently tugged on your bottom lip, turning it into more of a game, a game you were enjoying as he rolled you off his lap and onto the couch. He leaned over you, taking control for a minute, slowing the kiss down. You pushed back on his shoulders until his back hit the cushions, Jensen panting quietly as you planted a harsh kiss on him.

“Bedroom,” you said. He nodded his head, smiling wide. You pulled him to his feet and into his room, kissing a few more times as you took your time undoing the buttons on his shirt. You pushed the material to the floor, Jensen hooking his thumbs at the bottom of your own shirt and pushing it over your head. You felt your cheeks start to heat up but ignored it as you kept undressing one another. When he spun around to kick off his jeans you froze up, wrapping your arms over yourself.

“Hey,” he said, a certain softness in his voice you hadn’t heard before. He gently took hold of your hands but didn’t pry them away from your body. “You’re beautiful.”

“Sorry. Still nervous,” you said.

“Me too,” he said. “Do you want to keep going?”

You smiled and nodded, giving him a kiss while you moved your hands away. You felt his own rest on your hips, his thumbs rubbing circles into the skin.

“You are gorgeous,” he murmured.

“Why don’t you take the rest off,” you breathed out. He hummed and moved his hand around your back, working your bra off, keeping his gaze focused on your face while you shimmied out of your underwear.

“Correction. You’re fucking gorgeous,” he said. You giggled, Jensen pulling you closer to the bed. You ran your thumbs over the edge of his boxer briefs, glancing down to see him straining to get out of them. “S’okay.”

You pushed the underwear down, blinking slowly a few times as he kicked them aside. His cheeks were a little pink by the time you looked up.

“I guess they’re right about everything being bigger in Texas,” you said.

“I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that,” he said, working you back towards the bed. You sat down on it, Jensen smiling as he sank down to his knees. You tilted your head, Jensen tsking you. “Ladies first.”

“I hope you’re not a gentleman all the time,” you said.

“Oh no, not at all. But tonight, I’m all yours.”

The covers were mostly kicked off when you woke up the next morning, Jensen wearing a soft and sleepy smile while he lay beside you.

“Morning,” he said, kissing you and moving some hair out of your face. “Have fun last night?”

“Yeah,” you said, kissing his bicep when you were too lazy to move. He chuckled and lifted your chin up, leaning over for you. “I’m glad we finally did that.”

“I’m not sure I’m quite ready to have someone else in the room or bed yet,” he said, getting a nod from you. “But maybe someday.”

“I don’t think any of us are there yet,” you said. “Want to get Jared over for breakfast?”

“I already texted him. He’s bringing it over,” he said.

“Mmm, smart boys. Glad I fell for the smart boys,” you said. “Better get up for him then.”

“We can stay a few more minutes,” said Jensen, flashing you a smirk.

“Alright. Alright. A few more.”

“Hey Jare bear,” you said that night, sticking your head in his bedroom. He said he wasn’t feeling well that afternoon and he decided to stay at his own place, claiming he didn’t want to get you or Jensen sick. He hadn’t acted like it, only a bit more quiet than usual but if he didn’t feel good, you’d take him at his word.

He was asleep in bed and you gave him a sad smile. You pulled out some medicine and tissues for him you’d bought and set them on his nightstand, refilling his glass of water from the bathroom. He sighed quietly and you spun around, Jared popping open an eye slowly.

“Hey babe. You feeling okay?” you asked, rubbing your hand over his head. He didn’t feel warm and he barely met your gaze. “You’re not sick, huh.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have lied,” he said, shutting his eyes again.

“Jared. Talk to me. You having a bad day?” you asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“You know, before we were even dating, we came up with bad day rules,” you said. “Supposed to talk to me, or someone or just have someone there and you don’t have to talk.”

“I know,” he said.

“Okay,” you said, climbing on the bed beside him. You pulled his head into your lap, Jared nuzzling you a few times before he began to relax. He was quiet and you only moved to send Jensen a quick text that you’d be at Jared’s that night.

You smiled when you saw his response and set the phone to the side for a moment.

“Jared. Jensen wants to know if you want him here too,” you said. “Or just me. Either way is okay with him he said.”

“No,” said Jared. You nodded and reached for your phone, Jared sighing. “Wait. Yes. He can come.”

“Does this have something to do with Jensen?” you asked softly, running your fingers through his hair. He didn’t speak, only lay there while you continued the soothing motion.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. I’m not jealous or anything so please don’t worry over that,” he said.

“Okay, babe,” you said, moving your thumb over his cheek, tickling the beard that’d grown in. He turned into it, starting to relax a bit more.

“I realized there are things I can’t ever give you now, things you should have and-“

“Sh. I have you and Jensen. That’s what I want,” you said.

“Your life would be so much easier if you just went with him. He’s not screwed up. You don’t have to deal with this the rest of your life or-“

“You are not screwed up. He isn’t perfect. None of us are. I want to deal with the both of you. I got what I want. What matters to me is that you get what you want too,” you said.

“I got that,” he said quietly.

“If there’s a problem with you and Jensen, we need to talk about this,” you said.

“There’s no problem,” he said.

“Okay then. Can he come over cause he’s texting me non stop over here worried about you,” you said.

“Yeah. Yeah, he can come over.”

Jared was in better spirits but was still off when Jensen came over. He hummed as he walked in the bedroom, taking a seat on the bed before they both were looking at you.

“I think you boys should talk,” you said. “About your relationship.”

Jensen raised an eyebrow and Jared made a face but you giggled and shook your head.

“You two love each other but you’re on edge and I want you to talk through it. For both your sakes. You’ve both said things to me that make me realize we have forgotten this part of the relationship. You two were best friends long before I showed up. Get back to that, please,” you said.

They were both quiet. Jensen nodded and turned to Jared.

“I know I’ve let you down a lot the past few months and not been there when I should have been. I know I got distant and that was a shitty thing to do. But we’re best friends again and I need to know you’re okay. You don’t...you don’t know how much I need to know that you’re okay,” he said. “Alright?”

“Why'd you stop talking to me?” asked Jared. “Like actually talking, not the small talk that was going on.”

“It hurt, seeing you two together. I needed time to get over that and separating myself was working. I told myself it was working anyways. But I was losing both my best friends. It was wrong. I tell you all the time you can talk to me or we can just hang out and I’m there. And I didn’t talk when I knew better. I didn’t even want to be around you,” said Jensen. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” said Jared. “I get it. Trust me, I get not wanting to talk about stuff and the distance thing. But Y/N had a point I think. We have to take care of each other too. It sounds like we got her settled into this better but not us.”

“There’s more than one relationship in this. You two have to care about the one you guys have and I don’t want your relationship to just be about me now either,” you said.

“We’ll be better about it,” said Jensen.

“Promise,” said Jared. “I’m sorry too.”

“For what?” asked Jensen.

“I could have showed off less that I was dating Y/N. I was excited and I knew-“

“Shut up. We’re good,” said Jensen. “You two let me in when you didn’t have to. We’re all good.”

“Alright,” said Jared.

“Okay. Where’s your beanie?” asked Jensen. Jared sat up and looked around for one, Jensen smirking before he got up and went over to his bag. He pulled one out and pulled it down over Jared’s head. “Take that one, buddy.”

You tilted your head, Jensen raising an eyebrow.

“You got your bad Jared day ways and I got mine,” he said.

“I’ll have to remember that one,” you said. “You feel any better?”

“Mhm,” said Jared, rubbing his eyes. “Kind of tired.”

“Movie in bed?” you asked. Jared nodded and Jensen grabbed his bag, heading for the door when you scowled. “Where are you going?”

“Guest room? Like I normally do when we crash here?” he said.

“Watch the movie with us,” you said.

“Yeah dude. I won’t pull the yawn and stretch move on you,” said Jared, sounding more like himself.

“Well what incentive do I have to stay now, buttercup?” teased Jensen.

“Asshole.”

“Dick,” said Jensen. “You guys sure you’re okay with...not alone time?”

“I’m not really in the mood for that tonight anyways,” you said, Jared giving you a smile. “I’m just going to put on some pajamas quick.”

You cut through Jared’s bathroom to the closet, finding one of his t shirts and pulling it on. You looked around for some boxers to use for shorts and almost jumped when you spotted Jensen in the bathroom.

“Sorry,” he said. He went into the bathroom and shut the door, exiting after a minute in boxers and a shirt, stuffing his other clothes in his backpack. He glanced at you as you looked around for a clean pair of Jared’s. A pair navy shorts were suddenly at your feet, Jensen nodding at you. “They’re clean.”

“Thanks,” you said.

You finished getting dressed and pulled your hair out of it’s messy bun, shaking it out. Back in the bedroom, Jensen was sitting on the end of the bed picking something out, Jared curled up on his side, your favorite blanket out already. You hummed as you flipped off the light and crawled into bed with him, Jensen turning something on and tossing the remote back towards you.

You patted the spot beside you, Jensen moving around to sit back against the headboard. You stared at him and he shifted his body down to lay. You were less cramed than you thought you’d be, the middle of the bed nice and warm with the two of them tucking you in like that. Jared shifted under the covers and you handed the blanket to Jensen, his gaze going over to Jared. He nodded and Jensen tossed it over himself, nuzzling down until he relaxed and promptly fell asleep jammed up against your back.

“Early night?” you said, Jared’s face sleepy again. He hummed as you hit off the TV, the room going dark. He shifted closer, taking a few deep breaths before he drifted. His arm found yours and pulled it to his chest, Jensen moving in his sleep, tossing his own over your waist.

They were both cuddlers whether they were willing to admit it or not. But when they both finally fell into deep sleep around you, you smiled and had a little hope that maybe this would all work out the way it was supposed to.

“Hey, Nolan,” said Jared, giving him a wave when he wandered into Jensen’s backyard a few weekends later. You saw your parents trail in after him, Jensen giving them a wave from over where he was chatting with his own parents and brother. “We got drinks in the coolers, burgers and dogs for food, snacks up on the porch and a heated swimming pool.”

“Two handsome and rich boyfriends,” said Nolan, tilting his head at you. “Seriously, I’ll take whatever one you’ll give me.”

“No! They’re both mine,” you said.

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, giving Jared a smile as he set their cooler down by the others.

“So,” said your mom with a smile, spotting Jared’s parents by the pool. “This is...different.”

“I got two boys to intimidate. This is going to be exhausting,” said your dad, grabbing Jared by the arm and tugging him away. “I’ll bring him back in one piece. Come on tall one. We’re having a little chat.”

“He does know I’m not a little girl right?” you said.

“Oh you know he’s been wrapped around your finger from the second he laid eyes on you, even if he doesn’t know the best way to say it,” she said. “So both the boys parents are here?”

“Yeah, and siblings. It’s just family. We thought it’d be a good idea, answer any questions anyone had, not that anything’s come up so far,” you said. “We’re all starting to get a bit serious so we thought it was time.”

“Don’t seem that complicated to me,” said Nolan, grabbing a beer and cracking it open. “Hey, these people assholes or anything?”

“No, Nolan. Both the boys families are very open to...this situation,” you said. “Go play nice.”

“Well we live in hickville of hick county so I don’t know how open these people are to unconventional relationships,” he said.

“Behave, Nol or I won’t help you find a hot boyfriend,” you said.

“Really,” he deadpanned.

“To be fair she is good at getting attractive men in her life,” said your mom. “I think I’ll go have a chat with Jared’s parents while their son is interrogated.”

“Lovely,” you said. “Oh and I’m serious. Jared’s got a friend in town he thinks you might get along with.”

“I don’t even live here,” he said.

“Well maybe it’s time you got out of hickville too, get someplace better for you. Both these guys got side businesses involving beer. I can hook you up like that, normal shifts,” you said.

“I’ll think about it, sis,” he said, heading off towards the guys sisters. “But get me that guy’s number, hm?”

“Alright, Casanova,” you laughed. You wandered over to Jensen, getting a kiss on the cheek from him. “Hey, my father is going to probably scar you for life in about two minutes just as a heads up.”

“Looking forward to it,” he said. “He’s not terrifying at all.”

“Your folks okay with this all?” asked Jensen’s dad.

“Yeah,” said Jensen. “They helped us get back together when we hit a rough path at the start.”

“I imagine there were a few,” he said. You swallowed, suddenly wanting to get out of the conversation when Jensen’s hand found your own and laced your fingers together. “You can’t help who you fall for.”

“Mhm,” you said, Jensen’s thumb rubbing over the back of your hand, easing away some of the nerves that’d built back up again.

“Well he’s happy and Jared’s happy and you seem happy when you forget to be nervous so something must be working out,” said his dad.

“I think it is,” you said, giving Jensen a smile before your dad whistled and curled a finger at him.

“If I don’t survive, I love ya,” he said. Jensen peeled away and Jared walked over with a blank face.

“You can’t ever break up with me,” he said.

“Oh really? What’d he say?” you asked.

“If you ever come home like that again, it’s not going to be good, like lifetime movie not good,” he said. “Also, you apparently eating ketchup on ice cream is so not just a kid thing. You still-“

“And I’m gone,” you said. “I’m gonna start getting food ready if you want to fire up the grill.”

“Can do, baby.”

Six Months Later

“Morning,” mumbled Jared against the back of your neck. You made some kind of incoherent sound that woke up Jensen, his hand on your waist tugging you closer. Jared’s pressed up right below his and pulled you back, the two of them having a tug of war over you until Jensen moved closer and trapped you between them. “Better.”

“You’re moving tomorrow, Padalecki,” mumbled Jensen. It was almost funny to you how close they’d gotten the longer you’d been together. They could both be touching you in bed now without it being a big deal, both wrap you up like this to make you feel safe. Jensen was more open than ever, talking about things that bothered him, with you or Jared even. Jared was happier than when it’d just been the two of you. The three of you had always been in it together. It’d simply taken some time to see that.

“It’s my turn to make coffee,” grumbled Jensen.

“Yeah it is,” teased Jared.

“Well it’s Y/N’s to make breakfast,” he teased back.

“We better get up before he tries to get all in charge,” you said.

“It is cute when he tries, isn’t it?” said Jared.

“I hate you both,” he said, shaking his head. “You want that tea stuff you been having, Jared?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said. Jensen hummed as he got out of bed and left the room, Jared rolling you over to face him. “I’m glad we did this, gave this a shot.”

“Me too. You two are incredible,” you said, kissing him softly.

“We were talking last night,” he said. You heard Jensen re-enter the room, walking around to sit on Jared’s side of the bed as he sat up. You sat up with him, both staring at you and giving you goofy smiles.

“We can’t really make this official,” said Jensen.

“But we’d like to do our own thing if that’s okay with you,” said Jared.

“What…” you said.

“Us three. We aren’t calling it engaged but...what’d we say? Full time best friends forever or something like that?” asked Jensen.

“Whatever we want to call it, we want to do this for the long haul,” said Jared.

“Are you two not-proposing proposing?” you asked, a smile growing bigger and bigger on your face.

“We got to come up with better names for this stuff,” said Jensen with a laugh.

“Guys?” you asked. Jensen nodded to Jared, a smirk crossing his face.

“Y/N, would you be my girlfriend wife thingy forever and we already talked but Jensen would you be my best friend forever?” asked Jared.

“Yes,” you said with a laugh. “We can work on the names but yes.”

“Yeah, again,” said Jensen with a laugh. “Jared, you want to keep being my best buddy?”

“Yeah,” he said, Jensen turning to you.

“Want to be my girl for as long as we got?” he asked.

“Yes,” you said. “I’ll be your girl. I like being both of yours girl and I like having my boys.”

“I heard two yeses. I think she’s stuck with us,” said Jensen.

“She didn’t really want to go anywhere else though, did she?” teased Jared. Jensen smirked as he leaned over, kissing your cheek. “Now’s probably a good time to tell you we both actually have the day off and we called you in sick last night so we could spend the day celebrating.”

“I love you both so much,” you said, giving them soft smiles. You shifted closer and gave them each a kiss, throwing one arm around them each, their own arms pulling you into a big embrace. “I love that the both of you have never treated me any differently because of the way I feel and that you tried this so we could all be happy and I’m really happy to get to have both of you but also see you two together and I’m kind of babbling but I really love you guys.”

“We love you too,” said Jared. “We love you so much and I’m glad we went for this too.”

“I’m glad Jensen told us how he felt,” you said.

“Me too,” he said, no shyness in his face. “So to start the day, I’m going to make a big heaping breakfast and I will leave Mr. Padalecki here to keep you thoroughly entertained while I go cook.”

“Or you could both entertain me and then we can all go cook together?” you said, biting your bottom lip.

“That could be arranged,” said Jared, grabbing your hips and pulling you into his lap. “You know we love getting you on our own.”

“But together is a whole lot of fun,” said Jensen, tilting your head so he could kiss you. “Want us both right now?”

“Want you both forever,” you said.

“You got us,” said Jared.

“Good,” you said, Jared giving you his own kiss before Jensen pressed up behind you. “Boys?”

“Mhm?” hummed Jensen, kissing your neck.

“I love you,” you said. They looked at each, big smiles playing on their faces.

“We know,” they said together. “We love you too.”

#jared x reader x jensen #j2 x reader #au #spn #rpf #supernatural #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #mini series #polyamory

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lululawrence · 6 years ago

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2017 Fics Written by lululawrence (2/2)

Master Fic Masterpost / Buy me a Coffee?

(And Things Will Be) Hard At Times (35k)

Louis and Nathan had been talking about marriage and kids and a family for years now, but it had never felt right. If anything, the talking about it had petered out over the past while because they were busy living the lives they had settled into. It wasn’t that they didn’t think they’d ever have kids, just that they weren’t to a point where they were ready for it yet.

Well. Ready or not, it was happening.

Or the one where Louis and his boyfriend of five years unexpectedly find themselves pregnant and Harry is the paternity photographer that makes everyone think twice.

Wait for the End to Change (8k)

Harry was running late. He was running late, because apparently his electricity had been turned off overnight, which had caused his phone to not charge, which meant it died and the alarm didn’t go off. He would have just kept sleeping if it hadn’t been for the paper thin walls and his neighbor’s alarm being horribly loud. Anyway.

Harry took his second sip of his glorious morning coffee when someone biked past him and hit him with their bag. It jostled him enough to pour the hot coffee all down his front, staining his work shirt and trousers.

“Sorry!” the cyclist called over his shoulder, and Harry just stood there, staring at his ruined outfit. Maybe he should just go home, climb back into bed, and see if he could try starting the day over again.

Or the one where Harry has the Worst Day that won't stop haunting him, but Louis might be more than just the silver lining.

If It's Meant To Be (It'll Be, It'll Be) (4k)

“So, anyway. I’m done here and on my way to the airport. I think I’m expected to be there in the morning, around ten. I’ll let you know when I’m getting close.”

“Sounds good.” Harry pulled back from the window and threw himself onto one of the beds. Once he got comfortable, he steeled himself and then went for it. “It’s been too long this time, Lou,” he finally whispered. He watched as Louis bit his lip and nodded slowly.

“I know,” Louis agreed, just as quiet in return. “We have to swear to never go this long without seeing each other again. Two months is just...unacceptable. I’m gonna go now, but I’ll see you soon. ‘Kay?”

“Yeah. See you. Be safe,” Harry said, far too fondly for his best friend. He couldn’t help it though. It was how he always had been and probably always would be.

They hung up and Harry threw his arm over his face.

“I am so in love with him,” he whined to himself. “Fuck.”

You Can Read Me Anything (7k)

“So wait, why are you upset over having five classes so far with Louis?”

Harry heaved a dramatic sigh. “Because! It’s so exhausting trying to pretend to be somewhat cool all the time, Li!”

Liam stared at Harry, obviously unamused. “For Merlin’s sake,” he muttered before standing from the table. “I don’t have time to deal with this.”

Or...the one where Harry has pined over Louis from afar, but his sixth year at Hogwarts is when it all changes.

(This Could Be Forever) Right Now (3k)

From the time Mrs. Barkley met them as unruly and hyper twelve year olds in middle school, she took them under her wing. She’d breathed color and hope into their dreams, helped them realize that they could actually go out and attain them. When everyone else was telling them to be realistic and see that their future was just like everyone else’s, she taught them how to do what they needed to in order to get out of their beautiful, homely, loving town.

And now, the woman who had taught all of them such important lessons, the woman who had never failed to send them birthday cards no matter where they were scattered around the country, the woman they’d call in addition to their moms on Mother’s Day, she was gone.

Or the one where OT5 are back together in their small hometown for just one day and maybe that's the perfect time for Harry and Louis to do more than just reminisce.

Will Love Be There (14k)

Louis didn’t care who he had to pay or how much, but he was pretty sure he would give his entire life’s savings and a year’s salary if it meant that whatever was causing someone’s fucking phone to ring would stop.

The person calling must have gone to voicemail, because it stopped ringing and vibrating, but it started up again almost immediately.

“Make it stop,” Louis whined. He lifted his head enough to pull the pillow out from beneath it and smothered his head to dull the sound. “Oh shit, I think I’m gonna puke.”

“Just be sure to get out of bed first, please,” a deep, gravelly voice said from right beside Louis.

“Holy fucking shit!” Louis cried in surprise as he shot up in bed.

Or the one where Louis attends a Steve Aoki concert and accidentally ends up with a husband.

With You In Your Dreams (5k)

“And how are you boys doing?” Professor Trelawney asked as she came to their table. Her wide eyes blinked at the two of them before peeking into the cup. “Ooh, a heart! How interesting…”

Harry’s eyes widened and he looked at Louis. Louis was just looking into the cup in interest. “Should I note that as well, then?”

“Absolutely, Tomlinson. What others do you have?” Trelawney looked at his scroll and she let out an overdramatic gasp. “Oh my my. It looks like someone definitely has love in their future! Those signs all stand for love, marriage, stability, togetherness, and when combined like this predominantly new love! Very interesting reading you’ve done there, Mr. Styles.”

She gave a wink at Harry and then whisked herself off to the next table.

Or the one where Professor Trelawney plays a very unlikely matchmaker.

Couldn't See Past Me, Till I Saw You (13k)

“Look at us, living the dream,” Louis said softly. “But Harry, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish my last semester with the baby. I don’t know how far along I am or anything. And what about my internship and all of that?”

Harry shook his head emphatically and pulled back once more from Louis, this time placing his large, strong hands on Louis’ shoulders and squeezing them tight.

“We’ll make this work, Louis. I’ll help take care of you and your little one and I know you’ll help me make it through whatever happens with this. We’re always there for each other, right? Just like we promised when we were in middle school.”

Louis laughed a bit and smiled through his tears that finally seem to have left. Again. Hopefully they stayed away a little longer this time.

“We’ll figure it out, yeah?” Harry asked again.

“Yeah. We always do.”

Or the one where Harry and Louis have been best friends since they could remember and their friendship has withstood it all...but an unexpected pregnancy might change everything.

All I Want Is To Be Free (11k)

“Uh, you saw photos? Of me wearing the shirt?”

The guy nodded eagerly while he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yeah! I took a picture of the photo I saw so I could remember to look it up. Hold on.”

The guy scrolled through his phone and made a happy sound when he found it. “Here!”

Louis grabbed his phone to look at the picture. Yep. That confirmed it. He was going crazy.

The photo he was looking at was definitely one of him wearing his beloved shirt, but there was a taller man standing beside him, looking at him and laughing as Louis had his hand resting possessively on the guy’s hip. Louis had absolutely no recollection of this ever happening.

Or the one where Louis keeps finding photos around campus of him with a man he's never met before, and the only logical explanation must be he's going crazy.

One Taste And He Want It (10k)

Stan: Yeah, dude. Listen to Steve and Oli, as much as I hate to say it.

Perrie: Well I’m supportive. If you two actually got together, it would be super cute. Perrie: Jesy says she stans you and supports your marriage

Stan: Shut up, Perrie. He doesn’t need more fuel for this. Stan: For real, Louis, I don’t think it’s a good idea.

Louis: Too late. I’m captain, which means my vote counts more than yours, and my mind’s already made up. I’m gonna woo him and learn about his team and we’re gonna kick their asses.

Or the one where Harry and Louis are the captains of the two Frisbee Battles teams in the finals, and Louis has to find a way for his team to win. Seduction is, naturally, the only option.

Better Walk That (Pap) Walk, Baby (25k) - Co-Written with @suddenclarityharry

Harry sat and stared at the print in front of his eyes where the names Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles looked to be in neon lights. It made him think back to those early days when all they’d dreamt of was seeing their names lit up on the signs for popular venues. Back then, things had seemed so black and white. Their love had grown as their popularity had, fast and intense and overwhelming. Maybe that was part of the problem. They’d never anticipated having to weave their way through a love so all encompassing at that age, much less at the same time as navigating brand new careers they’d been lucky enough to be a part of.

Harry stared at the papers as if it wasn’t him who had just signed them. He could do this. He could. He could pretend he was still as in love with Louis Tomlinson as he had been all those years ago no problem. He was now an actor in addition to a musician for fuck’s sake, he could make this work.

Or the one where, after years filled with the anger and pain that accompany a bad breakup, Harry and Louis have to try to put it all behind them, at least for the cameras.

Love So Soft (5k)

“Harry?” Louis called out. It was light out and a Sunday. Harry was probably in the kitchen.

Right then, Harry came walking back into the room with some scrambled eggs and toast on two plates. He froze about three steps in though, and looked up at Louis, his brows furrowed.

“I made breakfast, but...you…” Harry stopped and cleared his throat. “Uhm, your scent changed? Just since I got up to make breakfast. You okay?”

Louis bit his lip and shook his head. “I think my heat is coming early.”

Or the one where Harry and Louis have been friends since they were kids, but when Louis' heat comes early, that balance that always existed between them suddenly changes.

Got This Feeling In Our Souls (8k)

Louis sat up, awoken by something he couldn’t quite put a finger on. He scrubbed at his eyes, unsure if he was actually still dreaming or if he was awake. He didn’t dream often, but when he did they were always vivid like this. Louis opened his eyes and squinted through the darkness before jumping back, his heart racing.

Dream or not, there was a person sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. The chair that usually was only used by Charlie while Louis slept.

“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in my apartment?” Louis asked, voice a bit more squeaky than he’d like to admit. Suddenly there were two flashes of green, and the world went black again.

We're Both Stubborn (Two Hearts in One Home) (13k)

The crickets that somehow were still chirping in the chilly October air suddenly sounded louder after Louis went quiet. Harry wasn’t sure what to say in response though, so he let their song remain unbroken.

“I guess I’m just scared ‘cause I don’t know what I’m doing after this,” Louis confessed with a whisper. “Some days, with the way my mom and dad are fighting, the only thing I’m sure of is you.”

Harry wrapped his arms tightly around Louis’ torso and turned into him, ignoring the night sky they were supposed to be observing.

“Doesn’t matter what else is going on, Lou. You’ll always have me. Always.”

Louis nodded and Harry could feel the movement from where he was, and that was enough.

Or the one where Harry and Louis stumble their way through life and their relationship, but at least they've got each other.

Before I Knew That I Had Begun (3k)

Louis closed his eyes and carefully rolled over so he could wrap his arms around Harry as well. Things were permissible at night that he wouldn’t allow himself otherwise, and snuggling up to Harry, breathing in his scent like this, was definitely one of those scenarios that was only allowed in the dark. Once light broke, they pulled apart again and didn’t speak of the way their bodies fit together so perfectly or the way they always ended up with awkward morning wood that needed to be taken care of separately. The blue haze that filled Louis’ dorm room and the snores from Logan in the bottom bunk afforded them a soft safety net where the impossible seemed possible and where, just for a few hours, Louis could let down his guard and not worry about why his body was so drawn to the curly haired boy sharing his bed.

A Real Work of Art (12k)

“I don’t understand,” Liam said for probably the fiftieth time in ten minutes. “You have to explain again how this is a bad thing.”

“Leeeeyummm,” Harry whined into the phone as he leaned his head onto his desk. “I felt like this year was my year for getting his attention, you know? That senior year I would finally get Logan Thompson to realize I exist! But he’s in almost every single one of my classes, Li. How am I supposed to survive that?”

“Easily,” Liam answered, with the same matter of fact tone his voice always took when Harry was in one of his fits. “He doesn’t know you exist, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Right?”

Or the one where Harry calls on an old friend, the super popular Louis Tomlinson, to help him change his look to capture the heart of Logan. Things only mostly go as planned.

You Can't Blame Me For Tryin' (5k)

Reason # 38 - Because He Is From One of the Countries You Haven't Had Sex With a Person From Yet.

Louis had been accepted into the study abroad program through his uni back home and therefore got to spend a year in rural Minnesota, of all places, but he wasn’t going to complain. It was still a pretty cool experience, even if it was far different from what he had been expecting. And besides, if he’d been sent to literally any other university, he’d never have met Harry.

Christmas at the Holly Lodge (17k)

Harry made his way to the back of the lodge and saw a building that looked like it used to be a barn, that had obviously had some renovations done. The lights were on and it looked a little like Santa’s workshop. As Harry walked closer, he saw that one of the windows was cracked open and through it came the tune of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You. Dancing along was the most beautiful man Harry had ever seen.

The guy was really going to town, too. It looked like he was organizing boxes of ornaments or something, but he had taken time to pause and hold up...was that a hot glue gun?...to sing into so he was belting right along with Mariah.

Harry covered his mouth with his gloved hand to hold back the giggles, and continued walking. He didn’t want to disturb the guy and embarrass him by letting him know he’d been seen. It was adorable and Harry needed to make sure he had a better first impression than that. He could already tell this visit was going to be interesting.

Or the one where Louis is the owner of the Holly Lodge, Harry is an investment advisor, and maybe Christmas miracles really do exist.

You've Got My Heart (2k)

Harry and Louis are celebrating being together for fifty years, but they can't seem to agree about who initiated the first step of the journey.

#mine #my fics #my fic rec #my fic masterpost #2017 fics masterpost #fic rec

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topweeklyupdate · 6 years ago

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TØP Weekly Update #67: I Don’t Want the World to See Me (10/19/18)

I say “they’re back, they’re really back” every week, but I only say it because it’s true. Our band kicked off the first tour of the Trench Era with gusto this week, and that’s only just scratching the surface.

This Week’s TØPics:

The Bandito Tour Begins

Additional Tour Dates Announced

Jim Dun

More Interviews with the Band

And MORE!

Major News and Announcements:

Again, there’s not an awful lot of “news”, mostly just developments happening in real time. That said, there is one notable piece of intel, as the band added another three dates to the second North American leg of their tour: namely, a second show in Toronto, a concert in Newark to further serve that densely-populated metropolitan area, and a show in San Antonio to show Texas some love. You can register for those tickets now, so get to it!

The Shows:

The Bandito Tour kicked off in Nashville last Tuesday, and it was incredible. Of course, not everyone was totally pleased with it: Some people thought there were too few songs from Trench, while others were heartbroken that too many old favorites were knocked off. For that first point: nine out of fourteen of the new songs made their way onto the setlist, one more than the eight songs from Blurryface that landed on the first headlining show in Australia that era. Granted, those shows were significantly shorter than the current arena shows, but those songs also had much less competition for space. Point is, there’s still plenty of time for “Chlorine” to make it on the setlist, clikkies.

As for the second point... listen, I’m gutted for everyone who didn’t get a chance to sing “Migraine” or “Guns for Hands” this week. But if they could play “Taxi Cab” after five years of acting like it didn’t exist, they can- and will- play those songs again. I promise.

The setlist was comprised of:

Jumpsuit

Levitate

Fairly Local- The first full performance of the song since 2015, complete with a reveal of a scissor lift under Josh’s drum kit and a “Hometown”-disappearing act.

Stressed Out- Introduced by a cute video of a flying red beanie to give Tyler a chance to run back to the stage, culminating in it descending from the sky for Tyler to wear.

Heathens

We Don’t Believe What’s On TV- Complete with Nigel introducing Josh with a romantic poem and Tyler’s now-customary first speech to the crowd.

The Judge

Lane Boy- Josh’s flying drum platform gets an extra light display at the end.

Nico and the Niners- A runway out to the b-stage descends from the heavens and hangs over the crowd; Tyler performs the rap there and finishes at b.

Taxi Cab- Tyler Joseph asks the thousands of people in the audience to sit and listen to this nice piano song his dad likes, causing us to drown in our tears.

Neon Gravestones- A transparent curtain imposes giant ghostly images of the band over the b-stage, while a gorgeous moving light display hangs overhead.

Bandito- The debut of this song was accompanied by another incredible light show and displays of soaring vultures. Notably, the first verse was cut, seemingly just to keep up the pace.

Pet Cheetah- Tyler and Josh head back across the runway to finish the sick beats, the pit drops like nobody’s business.

Iris- The band brings out the openers to play this Goo Goo Dolls classic, infusing it with incredible emotion and a killer uke arrangement. So far, Tyler’s been introducing it as the soundtrack for Josh’s childhood “firsts” (first kiss, first Fun Dip, etc).

Hey Jude- The bands perform one of the greatest songs of all time.

Holding On To You- Now with more pretty stars

Ride- Now without a drum island

My Blood- Now with SKELETON HOODIES and holding on to the crowd harmony conducting from The Complete Diversion.

Morph- Tyler does his best rap thing while Josh busts out his most technical drum island yet.

Car Radio

Leave the City- Replacing “Goner” for the encore, Tyler leans in hard for audience participation.

Trees- Now with imagery reflecting Josh’s tree tattoo. The keyboard is also placed above the car, which rises dramatically from the ground in the middle of the song because Tyler’s just extra like that.

Tyler’s Trees Speech in Nashville was a full one. After acknowledging earlier in the show that he and Josh were really nervous about getting this one right, Tyler thanked the opening crowd for giving him the experience of hearing “Leave the City” sung back at him for the first time, lampshaded how ridiculous the production value of the shows has gotten, gave Nashville-native lighting director Shap some grief, and joked about how he only messed up the second verse from “Morph”, so there’s some room for improvement.

Interviews and Other Shenanigans:

The biggest interview from this week was the band’s feature with The New York Times, which did not go too awfully in-depth in terms of revealing information that we didn’t already know but was still one of the more well-written pieces on the band I’ve seen in some time. The article takes their art and artistry seriously, covering their oft-repeated backstory with reverence fitting a band that has proved themselves time and again to be worth that consideration. The descriptions of Tyler and Josh read as totally on-point to their personalities, and there’s a cool revelation that Tyler’s kept an encouraging voicemail from Chris Martin on his phone since 2016. The highlight for me, though, is the absolutely crushing ending where Tyler responds to a question of his mental health by answering “I’m OK today.” It’s a mature and sobering outlook on his future struggles with his mental health; I hope he stays OK for many years to come.

Oh, and Jim Dun’s Instagram page is now public, so you should definitely go splurge through a year’s worth of cute dog photos featuring Josh, cameos from Brendon Urie, and snarky comments from Mark, Brad, Debby, Jenna, Jordan, Abigail, and friends. Josh even gave a little interview with Global K9 Protection Services talking about his relationship with his pup. Jim will be joining the gang on tour, so we’re sure to get plenty more adorable puppy action in the weeks to come.

Chart Performance:

Well, it looks like my suspicions last week were correct: Trench fell just shy of securing a #1 spot in the States, losing out to A Star Is Born’s soundtrack. But that’s no reason to be gloomy- last week was still the band’s biggest sales week ever, selling 135,000 albums and earning an additional 40,000 equivalent units in streams and other avenues of listening. And hey, they were the #1 album in Australia! That’s pretty cool.

As far as individual songs go, things continue to look pretty rosy. The album release boosted “Jumpsuit” and “Nico and the Niners” back to the Hot 100 at #79 and #95, respectively, while “My Blood” was able to debut at #81 off of the music video. Below the Hot 100, “Morph” and “Chlorine” managed to sneak onto the Bubbling Under chart at #6 and #12 respectively.

The songs impressed more individually down on the Rock Charts. Every single track from the album made it onto the Hot Rock Songs chart, which combines every source of music consumption with a similar formula as the Hot 100. Most of this can be attributed to streaming- nine songs from Trench made their way onto the Rock Streaming chart versus only two new arrivals to Rock Sales. “My Blood” is also continuing to gain radio momentum; we’ll see if that’s enough to keep it around next week.

Upcoming Performances:

With the Bandito Tour fully underway, let’s look to the week ahead to see what communities the band will be sharing their music with and try to determine if we might expect any surprises.

Show 3: Enterprise Center, St Louis, Missouri (10/19)

Capacity: 22,000

Tonight, the band returns to St. Louis, a city they’ve visited many times in the past. They played this venue at their last show here in 2016, albeit when it was under the “Scottrade Center” name.

Show 4: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (10/20)

Capacity: 17,500

Twenty One Pilots have never played this venue before, because it didn’t exist the last time they toured; heck, it didn’t even exist when they announced this one! The brand-new Fiserv Forum, built as the new home for the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, opened just last month with a concert from The Killers and has already hosted a number of other artists. It should make for an incredible show, even more so because it will be the band’s first ever arena show in the city.

Show 5: XCel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota (10/21)

Capacity: 13,000

The band also played this venue in their last visit back in 2016. Not much else to say, so... moving on!

Show 6: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio (10/23)

Capacity: 20,000

Tuesday’s show in Cleveland will be the closest thing to a hometown show the band will play until their two announced concerts in Columbus next June, nearly nine months from now. As a result, expect to see plenty of family members in attendance (and maybe an on-stage cameo from Zach to perform his verse from “Kitchen Sink”). It’ll definitely be a real special night.

Show 7: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, Michigan (10/24)

Capacity: 22,000

Wrapping things up, Twenty One Pilots will be playing their first show in Detroit proper since 2015, and their first ever arena show in the general region. This is another relatively new facility that only opened in September of last year, the harshest season of the hiatus. Hopefully those Ohio boys put on a good show for my Michigan kin.

It was another incredible week. I can’t wait to see how these shows continue to grow and evolve in the weeks and months to come. Let me know when you all get the chance to see them. Until then, power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #trench #tyler joseph #josh dun #bandito tour #billboard #a star is born #my blood #top weekly update

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astrotranslations · 6 years ago

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'Refreshing-dols' 'Beagle-dols' ASTRO Have Returned

You’ve continuously been holding overseas performance like in America, Canada, Kazakhstan etc. in the time you took a break from domestic promotions. Is there anything memorable? Cha Eunwoo: Before we left for our Kazakhstan performance, it was a country that we’ve never been to until then so I was a little worried if we’d have fans there. But when we reached the airport, a lot of people were already there. "JinJin, Rocky," they were loudly chanting all 6 of our names to the point that we could hear from inside the arrival hall so I was really thankful. It was a nice memory.

I heard that you have a lot of fans in America. Apparently there were people who even recognised you on the streets, MJ: There weren’t many but there were some (laughs). The six of us were on Broadway Boulevard to buy hamburgers together and I could hear people around me going, "ASTRO, ASTRO." Someone even came up to us and asked if we were ASTRO. We were taken aback too. Moonbin: We wrapped up our American performances and were at the airport waiting for our plane so we could leave for Canada and there was a foreigner who was staring obviously at us. We wondered if they recognised us but they came up to us and asked if we were BTS (laughs). I thought that we’ll have to work harder (laughs). Cha Eunwoo: I saw an electronic displace of BTS sunbae-nims on the streets of New York’s Broadway. It was really cool. I thought that we should work harder when I saw that (laughs). But still, we gained a lot of energy when we performed this time round. Before we left, I thought it’d be a lot of Asians coming down but actually seeing the performance venue, 80-90% of the audience were people of different ethnicities. They sang along to our songs and danced passionately… You could tell they knew a lot about us. I was happy and grateful.

There’re a lot of K-Pop groups so what do you think is the reason people like ASTRO in particular? Yoon Sanha: There’re a lot of people who tell us that the friendship between the members and our teamwork on stage are good. We take self-cameras and upload them on V App and international fans get sad if the intervals between the uploads grow long. I think that people like the members’ natural selves and each of our characters. Moonbin: There’re a lot of 'killing points' in the songs which we’ve released thus far. There are parts which linger in your memory if you listen to them once so I think people find those memorable. I’ve also heard a lot about how others like our bright atmosphere. We’re now slowly growing so we want to show an image that’s a little more developed through this album. You’ll be able to feel a slightly more pop vibe in our music. Rocky: ASTRO’s members have distinct personalities but there’s a synergy which forms when we’re together. If you notice our music preferences, Eunwoo hyung likes ballad, MJ hyung likes trot and Sanha likes acoustic. I like hip-hop. The things we each like and are good at are this different yet we complement each other on stage so I think there’re fans who like that.

All the members are 'talented-idols' who are good at singing and dancing. Wouldn’t that be ASTRO’s strength too? Moonbin: When we promote, there are sometimes moments where we’d have to prepare for stages within a short period of time. The time we had to prepare was really short when we went on 'Immortal Song' and 'Sugarman'. We wondered if we could do well but when we gathered together and prepared zealously, we managed to do a good job in the end. Times like that I can feel how we’ve grown a level higher and makes me proud of ASTRO. Rocky: Our trainee periods were long. We prepared a lot within that time and there’re many things we’ve yet to show. I think there’ll be plenty of moments in the future where we can show a better side of ourselves.

ASTRO’s famous for their solid fandom. Is there a memorable fan? JinJin: When we were in America for our performances, we met a female fan through the 'Make-A-Wish' foundation who applied saying she wanted to meet ASTRO. It’s a foundation which fulfils the wishes of children with terminal illnesses. The young fan came to our practice room before the performance started and burst into tears the moment she saw us. We took pictures together, chatted about various things and we told her, "Get healthy and let’s be sure to meet again." I think about that moment a lot. I really hope she gets better.

Is there a country you’d like to perform at in the future? Rocky: Africa! I think K-Pop groups don’t often go to the Africa region. I hope that ASTRO can pave a new road. I want to go to countries like Egypt. Moonbin: I want to go to the UK. It’ll be nice if ASTRO becomes popular in the birthplace of pop. JinJin: There’re a lot of regions ASTRO have yet to go to. I want to go to those kind of places. I worried a lot the first time we went to Mexico. Like with Kazakhstan, I wondered if we would have fans there but when we actually went, it was to our amazement that there were so many people cheering for us. They usually merrily enjoy themselves so we got pumped too. I want to go through that kind of experience a lot. MJ: I want to go to Dubai. I also want to go to Spain and perform the opening stage for their Bull festival (laughs). We’ve yet to go to China but I’d like to go there soon. Yoon Sanha: It’ll be nice if we go to Australia too. I hope we could go to all the countries we haven’t gone to before.

Are there any goals you’d like to achieve in the future? Please tell us the goals you’d each like to fulfil as ASTRO and as an individual. MJ: It’s my dream to hold a solo concert under ASTRO’s name at our Gocheok Sky Dome, at Japan’s Tokyo Dome, at America’s Super Bowl Stadium, etc.. Personally, I’d like to try trot if the opportunity arises. I’d also like to stand on stage in a musical. Yoon Sanha: ASTRO have yet to win no. 1 on a music broadcast. I also want to hold a concert at the biggest venue in Korea. I hope to be able to enjoy myself together with even more AROHAs. Personally, I like acoustic so I want to one day release a calming album like Roy Kim sunbae-nim’s style. Rocky: Of course as ASTRO I’d like for us to win no. 1 on music broadcasts and stand on big stages. But that isn’t everything. To be honest, I don’t think there’s a specific definition to "an amazing singer". Aren’t singers already no. 1 to their own fans? I don’t want to obsess over that, my real goal is for all our members to get along well like we are now and promote for a long time. Personally, I’d like to challenge myself in different fields. I want to become an all rounded entertainer who’s good at song composition, acting, everything. I believe that an opportunity will come my way if I work hard. I’ll prepare myself well now so that I won’t miss the opportunity when it does come knocking. JinJin: Like Rocky mentioned, I hope for our members to promote together for a long time. I hope we’ll rise together as we experience everything. You’ll grow stronger when you go through difficulties. It’s during times like that when I can feel how our team is growing. It’ll be nice if we can get a no. 1 quickly but more than that, I hope that we could slowly go up the steps and one day become a team who’s capable of playing at big concert venues like BTS sunbae-nims. Personally. I’m studying up on song composition. Rocky and I have our own workspaces. It’s just the start now but I’ll study hard, take part in albums and hopefully produce an album on my own someday. Moonbin: I also want to become a singer who promotes for a long time, an idol of longevity. And I hope that ASTRO will be remembered in the minds of people as "the ones who are cool when they perform". I believe that a singer should be the coolest when he’s on stage. Like the members said, I hope that we can slowly rise as we go through various experiences and when it someday comes the time for us to stand on a big stage, I want us to show everything we’ve got without sparing anything. I also want to try song composition. I have the desire to go on variety programs too. I think I’ll be able to do well in active programs like "Laws of the Jungle" or eating broadcasts. Cha Eunwoo: Personally I’m in the midst of filming a drama. I’ll do my best and do well, I want to show a good side of myself to the people who are cheering me on. As a member of ASTRO, I want to give my all in things that can help the tea,. The six of us are one entity. I’m ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo. I want to do my best at that role. I also want to challenge myself at ballads one day. I’ll talk it over with the members and it’ll be nice if we can include it in an ASTRO album (laughs). Moonbin: I’d personally like to become someone with influence. I want to become someone who’s able to protect what he want to. It creates a big influence when singers comment whenever setting heartbreaking or unfathomable happens at home and abroad. I want to someday become someone with that kind of benevolent influence.

Lastly, please say something to your fans. JinJin: Our special album is coming out in late July. We’ll be having a Japanese concert in August and probably be preparing for another album after that. I want to meet with our fans as soon as I can. I’ll regularly show you how we’re doing through SNS, V App, etc.. Yoon Sanha: The hiatus period after wrapping up promotions for our 5th album is long. You’ve waited for us for a long time. I hope that we can enjoy ourselves tougher once the special album is released. I want to create lots of good memories. Rocky: I’m always thankful to AROHAs who put their faith in us and like us. Thank you for waiting for us even though there was a hiatus period. Moving forward, we’ll become an ASTRO who won’t disappoint fans. JinJin: I think of it as ASTRO being on a trip with AROHAs. I hope that fans can lay down their burdensome feelings and enjoy us. I hope that they’ll build on happy and nice memories thanks to us. I’ll put in effort so that I can become that kind of singer. We’ve been reorganising ourselves so now we’ll really work hard. Moonbin: Thank you for waiting for us and looking for us despite the long hiatus. The ups and downs the team ASTRO has experienced will be of help to us in reaching a position we want to be at. I’m just apologetic that fans have to share that pain with us. I’m thankful at the same time. As much as it’s been hard, I’ll work harder so that I can think of ourselves as valuable singers really worth liking. I hope that you’ll continue to stay by our sides. Cha Eunwoo: I’m thankful but apologetic. Its a hundred times better proving through actions than words so I want to repay you with better promotions. It’ll be nice for you to anticipate a little more. MJ: We’re putting in effort so that we can meet with fans as soon as we can. I’m only thankful that you’ve waited for us. The comeback getting pushed back is so that we can show you a perfect and cooler side of ourselves so please look forward to it. We’ll meet you the fastest we can.

Source: https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=16305088&memberNo=39094895

Translations by @99pmh Take out with full credits

#MJ #Myungjun #JinJin #Jinwoo #Eunwoo #lee dongmin #Moonbin #Rocky #Minhyuk #Sanha #ASTRO

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starlightswitch · 7 years ago

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Journaling 2017

As I mentioned in my 365k/365day wrapup, I used 7 NOTEBOOKS this year for journals. That’s a record. Previously my highest was five notebooks in 2012, The Year of the Frog (irl I call it The [Name] Debacle, but I’m not going to go throwing his name around online): I got a crush on him, he didn’t want to date me, I lost my marbles, wallowed for a year, and wrote tons complaining about him, myself, and the situation in general.

So this is the first year I wrote a lot that wasn’t dragging myself and/or anyone else through the slime and the mud (you get a shout-out if you catch that reference). There were some bad things, even a VERY BAD THING, but there was a lot of positive stuff. And 365k/365day itself helped motivate me to write about it.

Pretty cool variety, I think. If it wasn’t for the red scrapbook-paper one they’d all coordinate. For some of them I have potential titles in mind; the title doesn’t become “semi-official” until I start typing a notebook up at least two years after I finished it.

Started November 18, 2016, this is one I found really cheap at Walmart, end-of-back-to-school clearance that year, I think. Major events here included the New Year’s visit with Mike, and the car accident I got into.

My sister gave me this one and the stickers as a Christmas gift. It has a pocket. I think it was the first one in which I wrote a quote on the pocket, one I discovered while using the journal. The pocket contains my footnote list, a Goulet Pens thank you card, a receipt from the National Aviary, and the memorial card from my great-aunt’s funeral. Big events are getting a ‘real’ job, another visit with my boyfriend, attempting to save money, my boyfriend finding out where he matched, getting a new phone. Temporary title is Life-Altering.

An old Five Star my sister gave me which I covered with scrapbook paper and waterproofed with packing tape.Came out pretty nice. Pocket contains a footnote list, brochure from the dealer where I got my car, ticket from a concert at a local church, ticket and program from my boyfriend’s graduation, program from a play I was in at my church, program from the Mass where my dad was accepted as a potential future deacon, and receipt from a picture I printed for my boyfriend’s mom. Big events include those alluded to by the items, plus going back to my college to welcome people returning from a retreat. Also looking through I realized I misspelled my boyfriend’s last name. Good job, me.

This is the first to have two quotes on the pocket. The pocket contains a footnote list, a printout of an article about rabbits that my boyfriend sent me, a Post-It with the address of where I worked on it which the police used to return my lost ID, another Goulet Pens thank you card and order slip. The writing includes another visit with my boyfriend, seeing a pro soccer game, and seeing my cousin on the referee team at a “minor league” pro soccer game. I almost finished it at a state park where I was meeting my boyfriend. Temporary title: Tick, Tick, Tick.

My first Carolina Pad in a while. No pocket, but I filled the blank shiny page at the front with quotes, and stuck a name tag from volunteering at my church’s fundraiser picnic, a Juror tag from jury duty, and a footnote list to the back cover. The state park visit with my boyfriend, a coworker getting fired, me getting fired, another visit to my boyfriend, the priest at my church retiring and my church merging with another, the fundraiser, the Irish festival, and jury duty. Temporary title: When You Least Expect It.

Ooh, shiny. This one was still new when I started it, having just picked it up during back-to-school season. The pocket has quotes written on it and holds a New Jersey lottery scratch-off that didn’t win me anything, the wrapper from a super cute pair of pajamas, pages from the Pittsburgh Symphony Holiday Pops concert, and a picture of a big present my parents got me for Christmas that’s backordered (so for now they gave me the picture). Visit to my boyfriend, job interviews, Christmasy events.

Current journal! No pocket, no quotes on the blank page yet. Started it Christmas so I’ve mostly written about holiday stuff. I have lit on the temporary title of Catastrophe Brain. We’ll see if that sticks even until I finish the journal. Hopefully not! I would like my brain to do less catastrophizing.

ETA: Totally forgot to credit Erica at The Nerd Journals for this idea! I did somewhat make it my own but I wouldn’t have thought of it if not for that post.

#journal #journal writer #my journal #journaling

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briangroth27 · 7 years ago

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The Flash Season 3 Review

The Flash is my favorite of The CW’s DC shows, and probably my favorite show on TV at the moment. Season 3 continued to thrill me with a terrifying villain and a great exploration of the Flash himself! It truly felt like Savitar helped close the book on a chapter of Barry’s life and I can’t wait to see him move forward.

Full Spoilers…

Barry Allen/The Flash I really enjoyed Barry’s (Grant Gustin) growth this season. He seemed to truly learn that he can’t be selfish and change time to suit his wishes or ease his sorrow after Jay (John Wesley Shipp) talked to him about how time can’t ever be perfectly restored, and I’m glad he stuck to his guns on that score. I was also pleasantly surprised that Barry was—for the most part, at least—up front with the rest of Team Flash about what he’d done in creating and undoing Flashpoint and what he saw of the future instead of dragging the reveals out for several weeks and straining his trustworthiness with the team. I liked that there was a concerted effort on Barry’s part to keep the family aspect of the team together, particularly after seeing what became of them in the potential future he visited. It was clever that this allowed him to finally figure out who Savitar was and I was happy that Barry got to decipher it out on his own.

I really like the metaphysics of the Speed Force and that the show often has it talk with Barry to guide him or, as was the case a few times this season, admonish him. The Speed Force being upset with Barry over Flashpoint was a great beat and a solid reinforcement of what Jay had told him. I felt like an unspoken lesson the Speed Force had for Barry when it spoke to him through Ronnie (Robbie Amell), Eddie (Rick Cosnett), and Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) was that all three of those people chose to sacrifice themselves and none of their deaths were Barry’s fault, so any guilt he felt over “causing” them was misplaced. Even if the Speed Force had to kick him into gear again, I loved Barry getting back into hopeful hero mode. This was taken to the extreme when he agreed to the brilliantly bonkers plan to wipe his memory so that Savitar’s would also vanish, and happy, blank-slate Barry was so good to see! Cisco (Carlos Valdez) coaching him through his statement in court was a fun scene that reminded me of Barry going on his literally blind date with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) last year, and I loved that that aspect of his job came up.

I think the show should emphasize Barry’s scientific knowledge more at Star Labs—though I understand the rest of the team simply needs things to do too—and early episodes this year struck a good balance when it came to fighting crime. For example, Barry coming up with the idea to stop Magenta’s (Joey King) ship plan and Team Flash figuring out how to execute it was a pretty good compromise. On the other hand, I did think the show downplayed his CSI skills too much this year, particularly with Julian (Tom Felton) constantly showing him up at work. Barry doesn’t need to be the best CSI, but he shouldn’t be repeatedly shot down like he’s new to the job either. Similarly, adding Tracy (Anne Dudek) as yet another scientist at Star Labs—one who’d be working on manipulating the Speed Force, no less—felt like it was stepping on Barry’s toes; he could have at least helped her create the Speed Force Bazooka. As likable as Tracy and Julian were, I wish the writers had found a better balance between their skillsets and Barry’s.

I was happy to see that Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry didn’t treat Flash like distinct personality: Barry doesn’t have a divide in his persona like some heroes do; as we saw when he lost his memory, Flash is just his ability to do extraordinary things and Barry is the motivating factor behind his heroism. I’m also glad they dealt with the potential awkwardness of Barry and Iris having been raised together. I never thought it was weird since he loved her before he lived with the Wests, but I've seen that "incest" complaint online a few times. That Barry’s reluctance to move the relationship forward was fear of losing everything now that he finally had it was a great and natural place for his character to go, particularly right after losing his father after he’d just returned. As it turned out, this was also a clever way to foreshadow the end of the season: he almost lost Iris and then willingly entered the Speed Force—giving up his dream life—to save the city. I thought Barry’s first proposal to Iris was a little underwhelming, so I was glad that they played it as Barry getting ahead of himself and trying to change the future more than truly celebrating their relationship and wanting to move it forward. Barry breaking up with Iris to fully focus on Savitar is not the move I would’ve made, so when they got back together in the musical crossover with Supergirl, it felt like Barry fixing a mistake rather than a rushed plot reversal. Barry singing “Runnin’ Back to You” to propose the second time was much more romantic! That was a smart use of Gustin’s singing talent and a cool tie-in to the musical nature of the episode. When Barry erased his memories, I loved that it was Iris and their love that brought them back; she’s his lightning rod, after all. Her line about good memories getting you through the bad ones was great. I loved the couch moment at the end of the season with Barry and Iris, with their playful conversation about wedding invitations. I really wish we’d see more of them as a couple; it’s weird that we haven’t seen a lot of their dates or general relationship moments outside the big ones. Hopefully we’ll get that upon Barry’s return next season. Barry telling Iris to “remember to run” was a heartbreaking way to close this season and I can’t imagine it’ll be very easy for them to get through Barry choosing to walk away from her without a discussion.

I thought it would be far too soon for Barry to get sidekicks—it seemed like he hadn’t really had a chance to dig in as a solo Speed Force expert before becoming a mentor himself yet—but training both Jesse Wells (Violett Beane) and Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) worked out really well! I loved the callbacks to Barry being trained by Ollie (Stephen Amell), and once Barry really started teaching Wally, those scenes felt extremely iconic. “Run, Wally, run,” indeed! It was nice to see Barry’s reaction to hearing that Snart had died a hero too; it’s good to see he was right about Snart having good in him and to see that Barry can inspire people to be better. I was also happy that Barry’s morality triumphed in the Gorilla City invasion, though I think they needed to clarify a few things in the past regarding Barry being a killer. While he never did anything like Oliver, it looked for all the world like the first two metahumans in Season 2 were killed when Barry stopped them. Maybe they were Flashpointed back to life, but if they’re going to make a point about Barry not being a killer, I think they need to do more than just leave a vague possibility that a criminal didn’t die at his hands. I’m happy to see they want to play Barry as a hero who doesn’t kill—who’ll find the impossible answer no one else has time to think of—but I think they should also either clarify or deal with their continuity on that score. If he’s going to do it, he needs to deal with it.

That said, Barry had a number of fantastic superhero moments this year! Phasing an entire train was nothing short of astounding. Snapping his fingers into a stream of compressed gas to ignite it, creating a makeshift flame-thrower, was a cool way to vary his powers. He demonstrated a much greater control of time travel than he has in the past when he went to visit the future, leaving me legitimately shocked that he really did come back just a second after he’d left, as planned. It was slightly odd that he’d run off right when Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) had gone Killer Frost, but I get that his worry about saving Iris trumped that and he was right about his time travel capabilities. There are a few times where Barry could’ve used his speed more wisely, like unmasking Alchemy faster: they could've easily had Barry speed for his mask, then have Savitar catch his hand before he got to it and pin him against the wall. Another time he could’ve done more with his powers was during an otherwise show-stopping fight with an ice slide-creating Killer Frost. Barry could’ve thrown lightning at her or created wind tunnels to ground her; Cisco’s not the only one with ranged attacks. Aside from small moments like those, I never felt like Barry was going easy on criminals for the sake of the plot.

Finally resolving Barry being his own worst enemy felt like the natural close to this chapter of his story while also giving a really good reason why Flashes can't just use time travel to fix everything. Physicalizing Barry’s more selfish impulses in Savitar was brilliant and I love that these first three years built to Barry fighting the darkest version of himself. Barry voluntarily entering the Speed Force was sad, but it also felt like what a responsible, selfless hero would do and I like that he's grown to the point where he knows he can't control or change everything. Even though his progress will be a bit hampered by his time in the Speed Force, I can’t wait to see where he goes once he gets back!

Savitar At first I wanted Savitar to be an actual god of motion—that seemed like a good step up from Thawne (Matt Letscher/Tom Cavanaugh) and Zolomon (Teddy Sears)—then I wanted him to be just some random original speedster, so the season’s main enemy wouldn’t be the third traitorous member of Team Flash in as many years. But as the season continued, I came around to the idea of Savitar being Barry; it was the ultimate way to make Barry literally face his mistakes and his worst impulses; even Eobard pointed out that Barry had become the villain of the story. Savitar had a very impressive, scary introduction, and there was never a point where I thought he was needlessly going easy on the heroes. The only moment that came close to that was when he said he had plans for Jesse so he wouldn’t kill her, which were never brought up again but I assume were meant to go into motion after he had secured his origin. I briefly thought Savitar might be a resurrected Eddie Thawne (either via Flashpoint or Eobard bringing him back with the Spear of Destiny over on Legends of Tomorrow) or Barry from the original pre-show timeline gone insane, but I was sure early on that he was a Barry Time Remnant from the future. “I am the future, Flash” was a very cool clue and the fact that he knew the team sealed it for me. I saw a few tweets complaining that they had called Savitar’s identity as well, but I can't imagine a more impactful or satisfying reveal. I'd rather see it coming than have a crazy twist that has little impact. I didn't think Future Barry needed to omit the existence of a surviving damaged Time Remnant—they could've just as easily not known he survived—but that abandonment explains why Savitar went bad when the prime Future Barry didn't. I liked that they combined elements of the comics’ Savitar—a nobody (literally; we never learned his name!) obsessed with the Speed Force who had a long existence with a cult springing up around him—with Cobalt Blue—Barry’s evil twin, adopted by the Thawnes—and an evil future version of Barry Allen from the New 52 timeline—to improve on all three characters. Thanks to his terrifying power, personal tie to Barry, and the fact that he was a manifestation of so many of Barry’s issues, I definitely think Savitar topped Thawne as the best Flash villain so far!

I enjoyed the mythology Time Remnant Barry created around himself by going back in time to cement his place as the “first” metahuman with superspeed. I loved his increasing god complex and his use of Alchemy to lead his growing cult of followers. That he could be trapped within an Arc of the Covenant-style box was a perfect touch. I loved the origin of the Philosopher's Stone and the reason it allowed him to deflect the Speed Force Bazooka's blasts was pretty cool. “God feels no pain, so I had to become one" was a great line and cool motivation to reshape himself in the wake of Iris’ murder and his abandonment by Team Flash. Since Barry is so dependent on his familial connections, Savitar cutting them all off felt like a perfect direction for his character. At one point I wondered why Savitar wouldn’t just kill himself to save Iris (or give himself over to the Time Wraiths, as the Speed Force suggested Barry do), but I think in addition to completely losing his mind he wanted the power to fix everything…he is Barry, after all. He didn’t think his younger self was worthy of the life he led, so killing himself wouldn’t solve anything anyway. I would’ve liked clarification on his plans beyond recreating himself: my theory is he wanted to make another Flashpoint to create his perfect world; this could’ve grown into an attempt to control the Speed Force itself, since it was preventing Barry from further rewriting time (and I really like the idea of a ��god” out to control/manipulate speedster Heaven). Like Barry trying to fix the past, Savitar may have been fully confident he could perfect time and make everything better once he’d secured his origin—including bringing Iris back to life—and it’d be like she never died…he just had to kill her first.

His successful attempts to mess with Wally’s head and orchestrate his escape from the Speed Force prison were a little similar to Eobard and Hunter manipulating Barry, but still felt fresh (and it makes sense that Barry would’ve learned tactics from those villains). Savitar’s seeming reluctance to kill the people close to Barry—besides Iris, who he needed to kill for his origin—despite claiming he didn’t need anyone, made sense given he was Barry, which eliminated what would’ve been a question about such an all-powerful supervillain’s restraint. I’d like to think that the moment Savitar was forced to relive over and over in the Speed Force prison was Iris’ death, with the additional knowledge that he did it. I didn’t see Savitar pretending to be Barry to discover Iris’ location; they could’ve had Savitar replace Barry at any moment, but that was absolutely perfect and crushing. It doesn’t (necessarily) refer to that moment exactly, but the message in the Invasion Crossover directing the heroes not to “trust Barry” was a cool bit of foreshadowing and another neat clue to Savitar’s identity that seemed to refer to Barry’s Flashpoint shenanigans. The gimmick of Savitar having all the new memories Barry creates as time changes was a great way to let him stay ahead of our heroes; literally anything Barry did, Savitar would remember.

I hadn’t expected the kind of vengeance that created Savitar to be lying deep within Barry, but after its reveal I could see where it comes from. I really liked how they balanced the anger in Barry to establish the potential for Savitar without wrecking Barry as a hero. The idea that Barry's lack of hope and mercy is the wellspring Savitar comes from is a cool way to dramatize the importance of him remaining an optimistic hero. Even though Barry came to terms with the idea that the darkness can drive him to better himself after making mistakes, his memory loss proved heroes don't need tragedy to be heroes. Barry’s attempt to save Savitar by helping him and bringing him back to the light side was unexpected and really well done; too bad the thought of living without Iris and the appeal of being an unfeeling god was too much for Savitar. Gustin did great playing both sides of this section of Barry’s arc (as well as the broken potential future Barry)! I thought Savitar’s plan B for godhood—splintering himself into every microsecond of time to evade the paradox coming for him—was even cooler than his plan to simply recreate himself. It would’ve been awesome to see him succeed and the heroes have to undo that, but I loved the Savitar arc overall and it truly felt like his defeat signaled the end to this chapter of Barry’s life. And what a defeat it was! The forest fight with Savitar vs. Barry, Wally, and Jay was incredible!

Iris West I love Candice Patton’s Iris, but I’m frequently left wishing she had more to do. This season brought her and Wally into Team Flash more, but Iris’ role was often left to acting as the glue of the West family (and sometimes, Team Flash as a whole). Patton is good at it and I like that Iris plays that role, but I really want them to find a way to incorporate her career as a reporter more. I had a similar gripe with Lois Lane (Erica Durance) on Smallville as well: when Barry runs off to fight crime, why isn’t Iris right behind him to get the story? Why not throw in a flirty-cute "see you there!" from her as Barry runs off? That would be such an easy way to incorporate her job into the show; even if she doesn’t have anything to do in a fight scene, it’d be a great reminder that she actually does her job. Since Cisco’s metascanner eliminates her ability to really feed the team scoops on crimes, she could bring some humanity to the villains Team Flash faces thanks to her investigations. While Barry gets physical evidence as a CSI, Iris interviewing the people in these enemies’ lives can provide emotional or background information that could help Flash understand who he’s fighting. Iris also gets saddled with a bit of the “ask questions so the audience understands” unnecessary exposition Firestorm (Franz Drameh, Victor Garber) gets on Legends of Tomorrow, though not as much as she did in Season 1, so this is improving. I hope that ends and the writers give us more credit. It’d also be cool to see Iris cross over to the other shows next time; I think she’s the only regular from Flash aside from Wally who hasn’t gotten to visit another series. I’d absolutely love to see her jump over to Supergirl and give Kara (Melissa Benoist) a few journalism pointers!

All that said, Iris getting to play a bigger role within Team Flash was great to see! It was neat to see her and Wally working together as crime fighters in the Flashpoint timeline and it’s cool that Barry’s season-ending sacrifice and Iris’ increased role on Team Flash effectively makes that the case in the real timeline as well. Iris and Wally had some great echoes of that crime-busting team throughout the season, such as when she distracted Joe (Jesse L. Martin) with a very funny conversation about her possibly being pregnant so Wally could snoop through his files. Iris knocking out Wally when he was possessed by Alchemy was great; I definitely thought she’d end up captured, so taking Wally down was a nice surprise. I was glad when the other characters finally stopped treating her like she couldn’t do her job without dying—especially knowing it’s Savitar that would kill her, not some random villain—because she’s an adult and it was time they accepted that she’s capable of taking the same risks they are (and more than willing to do so). I liked that they came to the understanding that she wasn’t going to stop helping people, no matter what the risk.

It was also fun to see Iris and Barry’s relationship develop, though I wish we got more of it onscreen. The show has never been very showy about Barry’s love life, so it didn’t feel like Iris was shortchanged in comparison to Linda (Malese Jow) or Patty, but while we’ve gotten plenty of moments of Barry being in love with Iris over the past three years, I wish we were seeing more of them actually dating. Nevertheless, what we got was fun; bits like their first date (which ended awkwardly), their redo (which also ended abruptly, but better), and moving in together were fun, as was her joking with him while he was trapped in a mirror. I liked her reasoning for breaking up with Barry after his future-averting proposal, and her video vows were perfect. Intercut with Barry’s futile race to save her, however, they were absolutely heartbreaking!

I'm not sure how I feel about Iris shooting Savitar right after Barry had a heroic moment for staying the course and not killing him. The idea is clearly that killing is not a heroic act for Barry, so why is it OK for Iris to do it? It's a gray area—Savitar was going to evaporate in seconds anyway as the paradox hit him and she does save Barry by killing his doppelganger—but it could've been a less fatal shot. Had she just shot Savitar in the leg, she would’ve prevented him from killing Barry long enough for the paradox to evaporate him. That's the one thing I'd change about the finale, I think; at least Barry brought it up later and it seems like Iris will deal with the effects of that choice next year. I’ve heard she’ll be the leader of Team Flash while Barry’s gone, so I’m definitely excited to see how she settles into that role!

Wally West/Kid-Flash As wary as I was of Wally getting his powers so soon, just like Roy’s (Colton Haynes) early introduction on Arrow, I loved what Keiynan Lonsdale brought to the show this year! I loved how much of a fan of the Flash they made him and how badly he wanted to be a hero, so his ascension to Kid-Flash was great and felt true to the original comics. His glee at finally getting powers was infectious! I love that Wally's the idealistic fanboy while Barry is more of an optimistic realist. It's a nice balance that proves you don't need a light/dark contrast to create friction or friendly competition between heroes. Moments of the guys ribbing each other, like a “Flash vs. Kid-Flash” conversation at Jitters and playing the truth of stage whispering as Barry was asking Iris to look after Wally while he was on Earth-2 dealing with Grodd were great fun and I’m glad that sort of competition never erupted into some epic argument between the two.

I thought Wally’d secretly seek out Alchemy to get his powers, so I’m glad they didn’t go that route (even if he did put himself in the cocoon). I liked that he was willing to use himself as an Alchemy tracker—Wally never needed powers to be a hero—and his moment about fear with Barry before they went into the lair was great. I thought pulling him out of the chrysalis before he was ready would cause more problems with his powers than it did. In the comics, initially they started to kill him so he couldn't use them much until his physiology was corrected, so I thought they were going to do something similar here (I even thought that would be the “fate worse than death”). Perhaps they’ll still play that card in the future, but I’m glad he got to have his dream come true. Wally’s eagerness to be trained played into the Invasion Crossover very well and jumping into that fray was a fun first outing for Kid-Flash! Once Barry started training Wally, I absolutely loved it! Wally's issues with phasing were a nice nod to the comics, where he originally couldn't phase "cleanly" through objects, leaving them unstable, and would instead leave Looney Tunes-styled holes in them. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity of Barry losing his memories to flip their relationship, so Wally could train him for a bit. He brought it up so it seems it happened offscreen, but it would’ve been nice to actually see him in Barry’s shoes and vice-versa.

Wally’s burgeoning relationship with Jesse was fun! The two have good chemistry. I liked their early issues caused by his jealousy over her powers and that they focused more on him putting himself in danger than resenting her for getting superspeed. I was glad that he was immediately honest with her about Harry (Tom Cavanaugh) ��dying;” that could’ve been a source of cheap drama, but they chose to have Wally be mature and honor his relationship with Jesse instead. I really thought Wally would go with her to protect Earth-3 and I wasn’t sure why he wouldn't use the opportunity to get away from things so soon after his time as a prisoner in the Speed Force. I guess he needed his dad and sister more then, and he got his groove back in the Supergirl crossover, so I’m ultimately glad he stayed. I knew he’d get the fate worse than death, but I didn’t guess he’d be trapped in the Speed Force watching his mom die over and over again or catatonic and crippled in the potential future! It seems Wally is fated for a dark path, and I hope they can prevent that.

It was nice to be reminded of Wally's engineering acumen in the finale and I hope Cisco takes him under his wing as an engineering apprentice at STAR Labs. Like Barry as a CSI and Iris as a journalist, I’d love to see Wally applying himself as an engineer next season; Cisco as a mentor would also be a fun, new note for him to play and a different energy for Wally to play off of. I loved Wally's evolution into Kid-Flash and I'm excited to see how he handles living up to Barry, even though I’m surprised we’re getting Wally as the Flash so soon. I’m glad it’s not due to a permanent Barry death (I was afraid WB’s movie division might want that with Justice League’s Barry coming up), and while it seems Allen will be back faster than he should to really play out Wally as the solo Flash, I hope his return creates a lot of drama with Wally suddenly being put back in second position to Barry. Living up to Barry’s memory and then dealing with what his place in the world was after Allen’s return were big arcs in the comics for Wally, so I hope next season gives them the time they need.

Cisco Ramon/Vibe Cisco getting to be in the field more as Vibe was great! Perhaps that evolution is a chance for Wally to pick up his slack in the lab. His battles with Killer Frost were excellent and perfectly emotionally charged. I don’t remember them specifically stating it, but I feel like Cisco’s fear of turning evil after meeting Reverb added some great weight to his attempts to save his best friend from herself. If it wasn’t explicitly stated, that could’ve been a great argument for how she didn’t have to give herself over to the Killer Frost identity. I loved how conflicted and how concerned about hurting Caitlin he was whenever they came to blows and I honestly couldn’t guess how Vibe vs. Killer Frost would go down in the end.

I also liked how much Cisco has grown in hostage situations; he's come a long way since he gave up Barry's secret ID to Captain Cold to save Dante (Nicholas Gonzalez). On that note, I really liked Cisco’s angst about his brother this year. While correcting Barry on whether or not they were friends when they went to recruit Supergirl may have seemed a little much, I think his pain and anger needed to be that big and drawn out or else it would’ve felt rushed and underdeveloped. It’s also possible Cisco and Dante were closer in the post-Flashpoint timeline than they were in the original one, which would be a cruel irony in that they didn’t really get along in one reality and Dante died in another. I liked the way they finally resolved things between Cisco and Barry; it felt natural. I also liked that Cisco had a moment in the Invasion Crossover where he was faced with much the same choice Barry was. His reaction to accidentally changing time for the greater good was a great way to let him understand what Barry had gone through and to work through his problems with his best friend.

Another great development for Cisco was his relationship with HR. I wasn’t a big fan of HR, but at least he drove all of Team Flash to be their best without relying on the genius of a Harrison Wells. The “just show up” speech about heroism Cisco gave HR was excellent and such a great moment for both men! Cisco’s relationship with Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) was fun and breezy, which was a great switch from the angst of his strained friendships with Barry and Caitlin. I’m 100% sure that the dead partner Gypsy keeps referring to—the one that seems to be standing in the way of her starting a relationship with Cisco—was the Cisco of her Earth. I’m definitely interested to see where their relationship goes next year; it’ll be nice for Cisco to have a relationship that goes beyond flirting for once! I also liked Gypsy opening Cisco’s eyes to what he could accomplish with his powers, though I think he should’ve had to land more than one hit on her during their first fight. Oh well. Like pulling a Flash Signal out of the Batman mythos, Cisco calling Savitar “Two-Face” was totally unexpected and very funny!

Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost I’m torn about the portrayal of Killer Frost. On one hand, playing Caitlin’s metahuman evolution like a disease she was desperate to conceal and cure was a great, fresh take on the metahuman condition. I also really liked that she didn’t get over what Barry accidentally did to her with Flashpoint. On the other, it seemed like the show fought far too hard to make Killer Frost a separate personality without any reason why. Unless a split personality was Flashpointed into her past along with her powers, Caitlin showed no signs of one in the previous two seasons and while Magenta did have a split personality brought on by her powers, it was due to Alchemy granting her the memories of her life in the Flashpoint timeline. Caitlin didn’t get her powers from Alchemy and had no memories of any other life, so why was she alone subject to a split personality? It felt like the show was afraid to pull the trigger on a major character development for Caitlin and instead wanted to play it safe by making Killer Frost “someone else,” except they also had Frost say that she was the real Caitlin. There would’ve been absolutely nothing wrong with Caitlin being justifiably angry with Barry and going off the rails—even hurting her friends—in her frantic quest to be cured. Pining for Ronnie aside, we’ve never seen Caitlin really desperate, and this could’ve been a great way to explore a darker side of her (particularly with Savitar showing us Barry’s darkest side). They didn’t need to scapegoat her wrongdoing on her powers. The fact that she was often forced to use her powers to save her friends (freezing Iris’ arm to stop an infection, getting Barry out of the mirror, slowing Savitar, etc.), thus pushing her farther and farther into her Killer Frost identity was perfectly tragic, but it would’ve been better if Frost hadn’t been a separate person; they could’ve just played Caitlin as being sick of saving everyone else when they couldn’t do much to help her.

All that said, Killer Frost was great as an enemy and Panabaker was great in both roles; this may be her best material yet on the series! Her villainous puns were a lot of fun and the CGI—especially the Iceman-style ice-slides in a fight with Barry and Cisco—was outstanding! I didn’t see her being the traitor coming at all and teaming up with Savitar was a nice twist and echo of Earth-2 Caitlin working with Zoom. In hindsight, her early comment about all their friends being their greatest enemies was a fun bit of foreshadowing for both her and Savitar. I liked meeting Caitlin’s mom, Dr. Carla Tannhauser (Susan Walters), and I was sure she’d turn out to be an evil parent, so I was relieved it was actually Nigel (Thomas Cadrot) who wanted to force Caitlin to use her powers while Carla genuinely wanted to help her. I hope we get more of Caitlin’s relationship with her mom next year. At the end of the season, I loved that they didn’t take the easy way out by having Frost cure herself. Going through her full transformation and becoming someone who isn’t quite Caitlin or Killer Frost is the stronger choice and I’m excited to see where they take her character next year.

Joe West Joe’s season arc felt like one that forced him to begin letting go of his kids. From his Flashpoint-created estrangement from Iris at the beginning of the year to dealing with Wally beginning training as a speedster, to learning about Iris’ impending death, and finally to losing Barry to the Speed Force, Detective West was put through the wringer regarding his children. I thought Joe being overprotective of Wally and trying to stop him from being a superhero worked better than his being protective of Iris for most of the season, maybe because Iris feels like more of an adult than Wally does and she’d already been a reporter for years at this point. That said, Joe struggling with saving Iris from her fate and his recollection of when she was a baby was so sad! Her death was a standout moment for Jesse L. Martin. I didn’t think they had to hide Barry’s vision of the future from Joe and I’m glad there wasn’t a huge falling out over it when it was finally revealed. In hindsight, that was a clever reversal where Joe’s kids were needlessly overprotective of him instead of the other way around.

I did think we needed a bigger moment where Joe came around on Wally training. It felt a hair too fast IMO. I liked that his comments about love and family accidentally led to Barry realizing who Savitar was (particularly as Joe’s plot in that episode felt fine, but extraneous at first). His romance with DA Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolet) is fun and I hope it continues. I’m definitely interested to see where Joe is after the hiatus. We’ve seen him repeatedly turn out much worse for wear without his kids, so losing Barry like this must be hard on him. I wonder if he’ll still be the same voice of the common man for Team Flash or if his role will change; I kinda hope it does. I like that he’s been the stable backbone of the West family and I don’t think I’d want a midlife crisis for him, but with all three of his kids growing up, I wonder where Joe’s energy will be put if not into being overprotective of them. I wonder if he has aspirations to climb the chain of command at the CCPD.

Harry Wells/HR Introducing multiple Harrison Wells was a fun idea (and Cavanaugh was clearly having a blast creating the most random Wells possible), but none of them could replace Harry for me. I love his friendship with Cisco and their mini-competition about naming supervillains was great! I thought pretending to be dying to convince Jesse to listen to him was a bit much, but I’m glad he owned it as a mistake. His reactions to HR were always entertaining! I loved that Team Flash hid Iris on Earth-2 with Harry and I was very worried Savitar would kill him (and Joe) when he came for her. I’m glad it seems Harry will be sticking around in Season 4, but I hope the team doesn’t slide backwards into leaning on him as a mentor figure. They’ve grown beyond that, so it’ll be interesting to see how he finds a new role for himself on the team.

I really disliked HR in the beginning: his being a “muse” helping others reach their full potential never worked for me and often came off as though he were just taking the credit for Team Flash coming up with their own ideas. That said, I’m glad that this Wells not being a genius forced Barry to step up as leader and the rest of the team to think for themselves more; I feel that was key to me never hating the character; instead I just struggled to see how he fit on the show at first. HR did grow on me, though, and even though training Wally at first sounded like a terrible idea, it worked. They also got some good comedy out of HR, such as “All’s Wells that Ends Wells.” He and Tracy had a cute relationship while it lasted, and I liked him just being there for the team as the series progressed. Moments like consoling Jesse and getting an inspirational boost from Barry in the final episodes made me like him more (and I liked that the latter was a direct example of what Cold said: the goodness in Barry was the key to saving Iris). I was glad he got to go out being a hero; Cavanaugh won me over on HR and I definitely appreciated how much he’d touched the rest of the team at his funeral.

Julian Albert/Doctor Alchemy This was a really cool reimagining of the comics’ Dr. Alchemy: he's "making gold" from raw materials by bringing people to their full potential! It was clever to take Alchemy’s split personality from the comics and twist it so that it was Savitar’s influence over him. I was torn on whether Julian was Alchemy or not, but there was really no other suspect. When it was finally revealed, it wasn’t a shock, but I wasn’t disappointed either. I liked that he wasn’t the third ally (however caustic their relationship) of Barry’s to knowingly turn out to be an enemy; his opinion that metas were wasting their gifts being evil was an original take on the situation and the layers they added to him as the season progressed all worked for me. His opinion that the police force had become lazy since Flash did more than all of them together was a great man-on-the-street take on Barry’s heroics! I liked that he provided an obstacle for Barry at work, but I do think the show dropped the ball a bit on letting Barry prove himself in that field; even getting Allan’s job back was more due to Julian figuring out who Barry was rather than Barry proving he deserved to be a CSI. Barry just lost too often in the face of Julian’s professionalism IMO. One time Julian’s skills didn’t make Barry look bad was when they had to operate on Caitlin; Barry and Wally could’ve sped-read medical skills to do it, but that would’ve been raw knowledge as opposed to Julian’s experience as a medic. Moments like that worked and I wish there had been a better balance of that sort of “competition;” Barry doesn't have to be the best at everything of course, but they almost made it seem like he was a total screw-up compared to Julian.

That said, once Julian joined Team Flash he was a fun addition and, as my friend pointed out, brought the snarky “friendly antagonist” energy back to the team in Harry’s absence. Bits like him geeking out over a “planet” of apes were fun; I enjoyed his whole Indiana Jones vibe, actually. His relationship with Caitlin wasn’t something I was rooting for initially, but I liked it. Their shared lack of control over their powers was a great bonding factor, even if his experience as Alchemy was much more clearly defined as a split personality than her changes into Killer Frost were. I felt sorry for him when Barry asked him to let Savitar back into his mind again and Felton was great with the agony and turmoil of becoming Alchemy again. Even though he’s not going to be a regular in Season 4, I’d definitely be open to Julian returning for a guest appearance now and again.

Allies I liked a lot of what they did with Jesse Quick this year, particularly when HR tried to stop her from going after Savitar and she responded that on her Earth, she’s the Flash. Though she got some training from Barry early in the season, I loved that she asserted herself as a main superhero instead of anyone’s sidekick. Also, even though HR grew on me and I liked him by the end, Jesse being over him and knocking him out still felt cathartic. I didn’t think Wally and Jesse would make it as a couple because I didn’t think the show would stick with three heroic speedsters on a single Earth for the whole year; it’d be too easy to defeat the villains. I’m glad I was wrong and they made their extremely long-distance relationship work, because I like them together. I liked that Jesse had real, valid concerns about Wally’s interest in superspeed; the drama generated by that arc felt valid and pressing. I did think it was a little odd that Jesse abandoned crime-fighting on Earth-2 to protect Jay’s Earth-3, but maybe she’d gotten things under control back home. There were a few missteps with Jesse that felt like she was simply written out of scenes to make them more streamlined, but ended up hurting her character a bit. For instance, Jesse was too preoccupied with Iris’ engagement ring to help Barry and Wally save lives? Jesse could've just taken in the ring in superspeed, making an out of character moment a little better by putting a fun Flash spin on it, at least. There’s no reason she couldn’t have been right beside Barry to witness Wally’s freakout at seeing Savitar either. She could’ve run off with Barry to try and save Wally from being sucked into the Speed Force prison too (though admittedly, he could’ve done more than watch once he got there as well). Facing off with Savitar and proving he was human, not a god (Stab, Jesse, Stab!) made up for this a bit, but these moments felt out of character and unnecessary. Still, Jesse is a fun recurring character and I’m hopeful she’ll be back often in Season 4!

I thought for sure Jay Garrick would play a role with the JSA over on Legends of Tomorrow, but I liked what they did with him here even better. Making Jay Henry Allen’s doppelganger was an inspired choice and I love it whenever he shows up; Jay stopping by to give Barry advice not only feels iconic but feels important, given Barry’s talking to a man with his father’s face. Read any interview with Shipp and it’s clear how thoughtful he is about his approach to playing both Henry and Jay (and his own Barry) and how best to use his time on the show (or why he should sometimes be kept away altogether), rather than being an actor who needs everything to contort to fit him in. I do think it’s sad they keep locking him away in prisons, though; just being away on Earth-3 is a good enough reason for him to not be around. That said, I hope he’s been helping Wally find his way as the new Flash!

Gypsy was awesome! I don’t know anything about the character she’s based on, so I was up for anything the show did with her and I loved all of it. She was a great adversary even though she didn't want to take over the world or steal things, and her interdimensional collector job made for one of the most reasonable hero vs. hero fights around. Her supreme confidence, tenacity, and preparedness (including handcuffs that Barry apparently couldn’t vibrate through) made her an instant favorite of mine. It was very cool that she entered the show not only with something of a history with HR, but Abra Kadabra too. I hope things work out for her and Cisco and I’m excited to see where she goes next season. Meeting her father (Danny Trejo) is going to be fun too!

I love Captain Cold, so getting to see him in flashbacks, as a Speed Force manifestation, and finally plucked from time to pull a heist with Barry was very cool and a lot of fun! With both his villainous and heroic versions showing up, we got to see all sides of Snart this year. I hope Barry gets to meet the “bizarro” version that’ll be showing up on Legends this season. I was so excited for Julio Mendez (Alex Desert) to finally be on the show, since he was Barry's best friend on the 1990 show! I liked that he ran the CCPD in Flashpoint and I was sorry to see both his appearances cut so short. Since he died in the normal timeline, I hope he gets to be Jay’s CSI buddy/police support on Earth-3. I liked Tracy Brand, but I still think Barry should’ve had a larger hand in helping her build the Speed Force Bazooka/prison. He’s the one with all the knowledge about the SF, so we should’ve seen them working together (the Speed Force even mentioned that, in the original timeline, they did work together on it). Dudek had good chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh and I liked how she acclimated to the team’s sci-fi craziness relatively quickly. I’d be up for more appearances in Season 4. Lyla’s (Audrey Marie Anderson) brief appearance was cool and I liked her reasons for not giving Barry the power source ARGUS had. He didn’t deserve her trust, which was a great example of unforeseen consequences of his actions. That her trust in him was restored by the end of the heist seemed a little rushed, but not unnatural. I thought the Accelerated Man of Earth-19 (Sean Poague) might be important to the Savitar mystery, but I’d still like to learn more about him. At least visually, he’s very distinctive and seems like he could have a cool story.

Villains Eobard Thawne is my second-favorite villain on the show and I love how much he loves tormenting Barry. I still wish his final battle had been with Barry, but I hope a younger version shows up sometime; I still think there’s more to explore with him hating Barry because he idolized him until he found out they’d be enemies. It was cool that he got to call Barry out as the villain of the season. I hope Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) comes back soon and often. Playing him so much like a stage magician isn't what I had in mind, but I thought it worked well and I loved all his tricks! I really liked how creepy he got when he said not telling Barry about Savitar would be like he got to kill Iris too. Savitar aside, he’s my favorite new villain this year and I hope we see much more of him (even though he was taken off to be executed, we can still meet his younger self). The Earth-3 Trickster was fun (and it’s very cool Mark Hamill was willing to pop by for a reunion with Shipp from the original Flash show), but I prefer "our" version and would like to see him return!

I can’t believe we got to see Gorilla City and I loved every second of it, though I would’ve liked to see a bit more of their culture and world (but seriously: the fact that we got anything blows my mind!). I thought Solovar (Keith David) gave Barry a great fight in the coliseum and used original ways to counter his speed. Like I saw mentioned on Twitter, it seemed like Grodd (David Sobolov, Simon Burnett) should’ve been able to read Team Flash’s minds in the cells (or just compel Cisco to open a portal once Barry accidentally convinced the gorillas to fight humans), but I guess he didn’t because he got cocky or, perhaps, Grodd’s telepathy didn’t work within the cages and didn’t want to give Cisco a chance to escape by pulling him out. I liked Grodd’s missile threat a lot and even though they were severely outmatched and outnumbered it was spectacular to see Barry, Jesse, and Wally team up against an army of apes! Barry and Grodd’s rematch was slightly underwhelming after Barry vs. Solovar, but I liked that it was Barry’s goodness that won the day, not his fighting skills. I'm also glad Grodd is locked up at ARGUS for use later on. I don't need to see him again immediately, but I definitely want him back in the future. I hope Hunter/the Black Flash isn’t dead (or that he can be reconstituted somehow), because he was scary on Legends and I’d like to see him continue to play his role as the Speed Force’s Death.

I liked Mirror Master (Grey Damon), but felt they could do more with his powers, like endangering multiple civilians at once from various mirrors/windows around the city. It was cool to mention the comics' other Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch, as being from Earth 2. I’d like the characters to meet him and see what he can do with his tech-based powers. Exploring the mirror universe Scudder travels through between reflective surfaces could also make for some cool episodes. I thought The Top (Ashley Rickards) was better than in the comics and I liked her vertigo effect. Since Count Vertigo (Seth Gabel, Peter Stormare) doesn't have his reality-warping tech (yet?), I'd love to see her fight Oliver sometime on Arrow. However, both Top and Scudder could stand to have their own episodes to fully shine: there never seems to be enough time to really dig into either of them. On the other hand, I definitely hope that their Bonnie & Clyde routine continues a trend of the Rogues working together against Barry. Playing Jared Morillo/Plunder (Stephen Huszar) as a high-tech pirate thief was fine as a one-off villain. The comics' version was the mirror-verse clone of a cop (Morillo), created by Mirror Master to be his inside man. That would've been cooler, but there’s nothing to say that plot can’t be used with any other character either…evil Mirror Joe, maybe?

Like Grodd and Gorilla City, I can't believe they managed a giant kaiju monster on a network TV show! I might've given the moment at the end with the kid (Isaiah Lehtinen) controlling it being talked down to Flash instead of Joe, though I'm glad they made the kid face the consequences of his actions. Speaking of outstanding CGI, we got another fun King Shark appearance and another missed opportunity for a Street Sharks reference from Cisco. Hahaha! I loved the fin in the smoke and am definitely game for King Shark to return whenever they want. Matthew Kevin Anderson was scary as Clive Yorkin, who could disintegrate anyone he touched and was on a killing spree. Magenta may have been a bit low-key as a villain, but her story brought out some great parallels to Harry/Jesse, Barry/Flashpoint, Harry/Barry and mistakes, and Joe/Wally. I also really liked the way Barry talked her down instead of fighting her off. Shade (Mike McLeod) was kind of wasted in his episode, but at least he didn't die. In the comics, Shade's somewhat immortal and has been a villain and an anti-hero, which could provide an interesting perspective to contrast with Barry if he comes back. Given the caliber of other speedsters on the show, Edward Clariss/The Rival (Todd Lasance) felt underwhelming. He served his purpose and didn’t need to be epic, I suppose, but he wasn’t that impressive. Maybe if we hadn’t had so many evil speedsters or if he got more than one episode to show what he could do he would’ve been fine.

General Plot Notes It always feels like so much happens on Flash episodes and I wish more shows were like that. I liked the structure of the season, with the metahumans so closely tied to Flashpoint. I don’t want to get rid of 22-23 episode seasons, because I love getting to spend as much time as possible with these characters and worlds, but it might be better to split each season between two main villains. Alchemy and Savitar worked this year—and the ability to trap Savitar while still racing to rescue Iris from her fate helped to maintain his unstoppable shadow over the season without making him or the heroes look incompetent—so I think the show is headed in the right direction on that front.

Using the headlines glimpsed in the future was a clever way to propel the “save Iris!” plot; they could try and change the future, but they could never be certain of how successful any given change would be. Even travelling to the future didn’t afford Barry many answers, but I liked that it was another chance to show how Barry can inspire hope in even the most hopeless (and a Cisco so desperate for hope that he’d trap Barry there was a great manifestation of that). While the pacing felt a little off in that episode, I loved that it spent so much time with the Future Team Flash and that all the changes they’d gone through were fully explored. The Future Flash suit was a nice touch; I’ve always felt the belt buckle on the present-day suit looked a little awkward and bulky compared to the rest of the suit, but making it gold and incorporating it into his lightning belt made it look like it fit. If they take anything from the future suit for a Season 4 look, I hope it’s that. I enjoyed the fact that even though erasing Barry’s memories was a truly crazy Hail Mary scheme to beat Savitar, it actually worked. That was one of the best uses of (and reasons for) an amnesia episode I've seen in a long time. Wally losing his powers was a cool side effect of Savitar losing his memory that I didn’t see coming. The countdown throughout Iris’ death episode gave it a great sense of tension, even while balancing it with plenty of funny lines. I didn't expect Iris to actually die—and I totally believed it when it happened—but I didn't think it'd be permanent. I guessed HR would take her place with his holographic projector (and thought we might be seeing someone other than Iris as early as when Wally was having his visions of Savitar escaping the Speed Force), but the show had a much simpler way of doing that than my convoluted time travel theory. The finale was not at all what I was expecting, but I loved just about all of it!

The development of the world was cool and felt like we were taking baby steps to the iconic Flash mythos of the comics, particularly with HR opening a museum in Star Labs. It’s great that they have a continuing relationship with the city and its people; Flash shouldn’t be like other superheroes who are inaccessible to the public except when there’s a crisis. That they could teach kids about science to keep their doors open (their needing a source of funds was another good point!) was very cool. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity to rebrand the museum as the Flash Museum in an attempt to change the future; maybe now that the building has been destroyed, that’ll be part of the rebuilt Star Labs. That’d be particularly fitting after Barry’s “death.” The Speed Lab was another cool addition to Star Labs and I’m hoping we get more of this sort of world-building in the coming year. I wonder if they’ll take the building exploding as an opportunity to completely overhaul the Cortex and other sets. It was also cool to visit HR’s Earth-19 and Jay’s Earth-3 (and of course Jesse’s Earth-2); I hope we get to see more of the multiverse as the series continues!

I was wrong about how things would go in Flashpoint (I thought the Invasion Crossover would be a Crisis that would resolve it 8 episodes into the season), but I liked what they did a lot and I'm glad we got back to (approximately) the show we know quickly. I do think they missed an opportunity to have present-day Barry become the Flash who told his younger self not to save Nora in the Season 1 finale, but I guess that moment has been permanently erased (along with the original Barry of the Flashpoint timeline; I understood it that he’d fade away/merge with our Barry when he entered Flashpoint, like the first two times Barry time traveled). It also would’ve been fun to explore the Flashpoint world a bit more, maybe including a classic comic book goateed-Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance-Black Canary appearance, but overall I’m glad the show kept the focus on Barry and his world. As fun as dark alternate realities can be, I felt both the comic and the animated versions of Flashpoint lost the focus on Barry and his affect (or lack thereof) on Central City in favor of Justice Leaguers fighting each other. I’m glad the show didn’t do that and getting to see our heroes in this alternate timeline was a lot of fun. I was sorry to see elements of the show we knew go, but I really liked Flashpoint—and the damage it did to the West family dynamics, Cisco’s brother, and Caitlin’s health—as the reason Barry can't just go back and fix whatever he wants. Even though he came out of his first brush with the Speed Force wiser and more confident, losing Henry crushed him and I think Barry needed a big lesson about the consequences of his actions. That Flashpoint both served as the lesson and fed into the creation of Savitar was brilliant.

I liked the Invasion Crossover a lot! Despite a few choices I would’ve changed, Flash kicked things off (after a brief Supergirl scene) to a great start! I didn't think we needed to see Barry and Ollie pinned down outside Star Labs three times. Seeing the alien ship crash and the Dominators charge would've been enough of a hook to start the episode and I would've cut it to look like Barry and Ollie were being pinned by the Dominators to preserve the brainwashed heroes reveal. I also don't think we needed to see the Supergirl scene again; it didn't add any information to the crossover and it makes watching the Supergirl episode unnecessary if you want to see the "real" crossover. My only other (and larger) issue was a general lack of strategy from everyone involved: Ollie had people attacking Kara with no visible plan to adjust their methods to her powers and Kara and Co. just waltzed into the warehouse where the President (Jerry Wasserman) was being held. It’s true that’s her standard operating procedure since she's invulnerable, but you'd think Sara (Caity Lotz) would know better and at least offer an alternative plan. It also should’ve taken longer to mind-control that group. Ollie and Barry got smarter when their backs were literally against the wall, but I would've liked to see a little more tactical planning from everyone; Wally aside, they weren’t new at this. That said, it was definitely a great crossover! I was glad they got the obligatory hero vs. hero fight out of the way right off the bat. And it was a great, fun fight! I also loved that the front of the Star Labs hanger was the Hall of Justice from Super Friends! What a great shout-out! I love that these shows aren't afraid to dive head-first into Silver Age wackiness! I loved how Barry's Flashpoint guilt played such a strong role in the crossover (and that the invasion was a response to Flashpoint) without feeling like a pity party. Ollie talking to Barry about mistakes and responsibility was perfect; I love their brotherly relationship and was happy to see him reassure Barry (and to support Barry as the nascent Justice League’s leader). Their drinks at the end of the Legends episode were perfect as well. Ollie's right: everyone makes their own choices; Barry just shuffled the deck a bit as to what cards people got dealt. They have fully driven home the point that he can't just go and change time—no matter how much he hurts—and I truly believe Barry won’t ever screw with it again.

The second big crossover, a musical Supergirl adventure, was probably my favorite CW crossover yet. Barry and Kara (and Gustin & Benoist) are a great comedic team and I hope we get many more team-ups from them over the years. "Super Friends" was a ton of fun and a perfect encapsulation of their friendship; I’d love to see more of them just hanging out. Everyone involved in “Duet” sang really well; it’s amazing they’ve collected so many good singers across these shows! Maybe next time Pied Piper (Andy Mientus) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) can join in the fun too. I loved the 1930s/40s setting and, while I would’ve liked more original songs instead of covers, I loved everything we got. I didn't expect Music Meister (Darren Criss) to be purely out to help the heroes at all, but I liked the twist. My theory is, he’s from our world (DC’s Earth-Prime: our world, where Grant Gustin plays Barry Allen on TV), and has been watching Barry and Kara on their respective shows; that’s why he’s so invested in them getting happy endings. It was nice to see J’onn (David Harewood) cross over, but I would’ve liked Chyler Leigh’s Alex to come to take care of her sister as well. The limited time spent in the real world prevented them from really getting into it, but it would’ve been cool if Iris had given Kara some advice on working her way back into the journalism business. It was also cool that they threw in another Supergirl “crossover” when Cisco and Gypsy were fighting through multiple Earths and landed in CatCo for a moment. Bits like that are fun reminders that the shows are connected without having to make a big deal out of it.

With Wally taking over as Flash and the team moving forward, I’m hoping we get to see Barry getting back to basics with science and CSIing this year. It’ll be fun to see how Barry deals with a world that’s moved on without him, particularly after seeing him in a world of his creation at the start of Season 3. Maybe his huge steps forward in personal growth will lead him towards the more responsible Barry from the comics. I wonder if Iris finally wrote the “Flash Vanishes in a Crisis” article, and it refers to the Speed Force storm at the end of this year. I’m glad we’re getting Clifford DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) as the main villain next year: there’s no way they could’ve topped Savitar with a sixth speedster villain (seventh if you count Hunter as the Speed Force Death avatar). We needed to get Barry vs. Barry to finish his current arc, so now I’m ready for the fastest man alive to take on the fastest mind alive!

I can’t wait for Season 4 next week!

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esonetwork · 5 years ago

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Fall Movie Preview 2019

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/fall-movie-preview-2019/

Fall Movie Preview 2019

Fall movie season is here! This is always my favorite time of the year to see movies. There’s such a wonderful variety of films available to see in theaters. Everything from awards season contenders, indie darlings, and exciting space adventures! Get ready to make your way to the theater because this looks like it’s going to be a great season at the movies. Let’s take a look at what’s coming soon.

SEPTEMBER September 13th The Goldfinch Starring: Ansel Elgort, Oakes Fengley, Nicole Kidman, Finn Wolfhard Bring the tissues and prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions because this is gonna be a wild ride. The Goldfinch is based on the Pultizer Prize winning novel by Donna Tart. This is one of the best books I’ve read recently, but it’s quite an emotional journey. It follows 13-year-old Theo Decker after the traumatic death of his mother in an art museum bombing. It’s a haunting and powerful story about the human condition once grief becomes a prominent force in one’s life. The film is directed by John Crowley with Roger Deakins as director of photography. That’s what I call must-see cinema.

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Hustlers Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, Lili Reinhart Based on a New York Times article, former strip club employees band together to hustle their Wall Street Clients during the late 2000’s financial crisis. This looks a bit like the heist of Oceans 8 meets the real world story of Molly’s Game. It has quite a star studded female cast of movie/TV/and music stars and is directed by Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend at the End of the World, The Meddler.)

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September 20th Downton Abbey Starring: Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Hugh Boneville, Jim Carter You love Downton Abbey, I love Downton Abbey. Everyone loves Downton Abbey. I can hear the theme song playing in my head just thinking of the movie being released. That’s right, the beloved TV series is coming to the big screen. Hopefully, it won’t be anything like the season 3 finale. (Real fans know the pain and struggle. We can’t go back to that time.) In the film, Downton Abbey will be visited by the royal family. I’m sure it will make for quite an impressive cinematic experience. As a fan of the show, I can’t wait to see it all on the big screen!

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Ad Astra Starring: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Liv Tyler Just two months after showing the world that he doesn’t age in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt is back and he’s going to space. It makes sense, fall is the only logical time to release a film in the space genre. (The Martian, Interstellar, First Man, Arrival, Gravity were all released in the fall,.) Ad Astra is all about an astronaut who takes on a mission to uncover the truth about his missing father. The film is directed by James Gray (The Lost City of Z, The Immigrant). I just hope Brad Pitt gets to wear his iconic Hawaiian shirt. Audiences demand to see it again.

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September 27th Judy Starring: Renée Zellweger, Finn Wittrock, Jessie Buckley, Rufus Sewell There’s nothing like a good biographical drama. Throw in musical numbers and it’s a hit in my eyes. Renée Zellweger stars as the iconic Judy Garland in this biopic that explores her life in 1969 as she arrives in London to perform a series of sold out concerts. Word from the Telluride Film Festival is that Renée Zellweger gives a very strong performance as Judy. Could she have an awards season run on her hands for Best Actress? We’ll see very soon!

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OCTOBER

October 4th Joker Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert de Niro, Zazie Beets Joaquin Phoenix stars as the Joker in this standalone film that focuses on the origins of the DC villain. The film received an 8 minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, which seems pretty excessive for any movie. I’m just not a movie applauder. It’s unnatural to me. I’m also not much of a Joker enthusiast so I can’t get too excited about this or the way it seemingly wants me to feel sympathy for the Joker. I don’t. He’s a terrorist. However, this is going to be a huge cinematic event. There are striking similarities to 70’s hit films The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver in the first trailers of the film. Director Todd Phillips clearly wanted to make a unique comic book film and this one will have people talking.

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Lucy in the Sky Starring: Natalie Portman, Dan Stevens, Jon Hamm Another space movie! Fall movie season demands it. After returning from space, astronaut Lucy Cola begins to feel withdrawn and disconnected from reality. The film is loosely based on Lisa Nowak, an astronaut who lost her grip on reality after returning to earth after space travel. One thing’s for sure, with a cast including Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, and Dan Stevens, this one promises some impressive acting.

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October 11 Gemini Man Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen An assassin becomes the target of a mysterious government operative who can predict his every move. Soon he finds out that the mysterious operative is a clone of himself. Can Gemini Man help director Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) find critical acclaim again after 2016’s underwhelming Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.

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The King Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, Joel Edgerton Based on Shakespeare’s Henriad, The King follows Henry V as he takes the throne after his father’s death and navigates a kingdom filled with war, chaos, and political strife. While all of that is very interesting, I think we need to discuss the hair in this movie. First of all, there’s Timothée Chalamet’s bowl cut, which is quite a situation. So very round and tragic. Why Timothée? You know you have great hair, but the bowl cut is not your look! Then, there’s Robert Pattinson’s wig. It’s kind of amazing. The hair in this movie alone is going to keep me entertained for 2 hours. The King will be in limited release theaters on October 11th and begin streaming on Netflix November 1st.

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October 18th Zombieland: Double Tap Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin This sequel comes 10 years after the popular zombie comedy first made its way to theaters. A lot has changed for the cast since 2009. Emma Stone has won an Oscar for La La Land, Jesse Eisenberg received a nomination for The Social Network, and Woody Harrelson has appeared in several projects including the Oscar nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and the critically acclaimed series True Detective. That doesn’t stop this cast for returning for a sequel! This time around, the team is back in the American heartland to face off against evolved zombies.

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The Lighthouse Starring: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe I was initially indifferent towards this movie, but after watching the trailer I have to see it just to solve the mystery of who spilled those beans! Willem Dafoe is going INSANE over it. “Why’d ya spill your beans?” Someone please answer him before he turns into the Green Goblin! This movie is about two lighthouse keepers who try to maintain their sanity while living in seclusion on a remote island in Maine. (It’s also about beans, I think). The cinematography for The Lighthouse has a unique old Hollywood feel that is very intriguing.

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Jojo Rabbit Starring: Taika Watiti, Scarlett Johannson, Roman Griffin, Sam Rockwell Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) directs and stars in Jojo Rabbit, an “anti-hate satire” about a young German boy whose imaginary best friend is an idiotic version of Hitler. One day, he discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home and Jojo’s world is turned upside down. There’s no doubt this will be controversial, but the key word here is satire. Taiki Waititi is Jewish himself and the film is obviously making fun of Nazis.

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NOVEMBER

November 1st The Irishman Starring: Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci Martin Scorsese’s long awaited gangster epic is finally premiering this November. The 3 1/2 hour crime drama (Scorsese loves a good 3-hour runtime!) focuses on the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran a mob hitman who played a role in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Netflix is distributing the film, but it will be available to see in select theaters on November 1st for cinematic purists. It will begin streaming on Netflix November 27th. (Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Go ahead and watch a 3-hour mafia epic with your family for the holiday! It’s Martin’s gift to you.)

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Harriet Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monet, Joe Alwyn The true story of Harriet Tubman and her harrowing escape from slavery that eventually led to the Underground Railroad. Cynthia Ervio is going to be amazing in this role! She was such a breakout star in Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale. Can’t wait to see her portrayal of Harriet Tubman.

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Terminator: Dark Fate Starring: Mackenzie Davis, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger The Terminator is back. In yet another installment of the franchise that will last forever, Sarah Connor and a hybrid human must protect a young girl from a newly modified Terminator from the future.

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November 8th Doctor Sleep Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Jacob Tremblay 39 years after The Shining, it’s getting a sequel. Based on the novel by Steven King, Doctor Sleep focuses on an adult Danny Torrance as he meets a girl with similar “shining” powers and tries to protect her from a cult called The True Knot. There’s a lot of talent involved in this project, but The Shining is untouchable in terms of classic movies. There’s no need to make a sequel. Not to mention, this plot summary sounds kind of weak. Consider me very skeptical that this will be good.

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Last Christmas Starring: Emilia Clarke, Henry Goulding, Emma Thompson A Christmas rom-com! Let’s jump for joy because a Christmas rom com is making its way to theaters! Last Christmas is all about Kate, a depressed woman working as Santa’s elf in a department store. She keeps bumping into the same man, Tom, who may help her find happiness in the holiday season. Henry Goulding/Emilia Clarke romance+Christmas? Sounds like a recipe for the perfect holiday movie!

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Honey Boy Starring: Shia Labeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe It’s no secret that Shia LaBeouf has had a chaotic lifestyle in his post-Disney days. It looks like audiences are about to find out what has gone on behind-the-scenes in Honey Boy. The film is written by LaBeouf and follows his own experiences with fame and the strained relationship with his dysfunctional father. Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges will be playing Shia LaBeouf as a child and teen actor, while Shia LaBeouf will play his own father for a meta twist. As someone who grew up watching Even Stevens and saw Shia LaBeouf’s career progress, this is one of my most anticipated films of the fall.

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November 15th Ford v. Ferrari Starring: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Catriona Balfe American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles attempt to build a revolutionary race car for Ford to battle Ferrari at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1966. The premise of this movie reminds me a little bit of Ron Howard’s Rush which is a very underrated movie that should be watched if you haven’t seen it.

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The Report Starring: Adam Driver, Jon Hamm, Tim Blake Nelson The Report is a political drama about an FBI agent’s investigation into the CIA’s torture practice on suspected terrorists after 9/11. Adam Driver stars in the film and he’s about to have a major fall movie season. The Report and Marriage Story (more on that one a little later) could easily get him awards buzz. In fact, I predict he’ll be nominated for an Oscar for one of those roles. Plus, he’ll be in Star Wars in December. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in the next few months.

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Charlie’s Angels Starring: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks Did we need another Charlie’s Angels reboot after the 2000’s movie trilogy and the ABC TV show? No. Yet there’s nothing Hollywood loves to more than to reboot a franchise we’ve just seen! This time around the angels are played by Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinski. Elizabeth Banks is directing and co-starring in the project.

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November 22nd Frozen 2 Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf go on an adventure to an enchanted autumn forest to find the origin of Elsa’s powers and save their land. Just when everyone finally got Let it Go out of their heads, Disney is gonna hit us with another Frozen movie. I have to admit, I’m intrigued by the concept of the autumn forest. We need more movies that take place in the fall! It should be it’s own sub-genre.

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson He’s already played Walt Disney, Captain Phillips, and Sully so it’s fitting that Tom Hanks would play Mr. Rogers on the list of “America’s favorite people” up next. The movie is all about the friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. I cannot wait to see this. If you haven’t watched the documentary about Fred Rogers called Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, do it before this is released! It’s going to add so much depth to the cinematic experience.

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November 27th Knives Out Starring: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette When a famous crime novelist is found dead on his estate, a detective is enlisted to investigate the family. Knives Out is directed by Rian Johnson (Looper, The Last Jedi) and packed with stars. It looks a bit like Bad Times at the El Royale meets the style of a Wes Anderson movie. I’m very interested in the central mystery at play here, but I can’t lie, Chris Evans is the reason I’ll go to the theater for this.

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December 6th Marriage Story Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern This one is gonna be majorly sad, so let’s all take some time to prepare ourselves. A stage director and his actress wife struggle as their marriage falls apart and they proceed with a difficult coast-to-coast divorce. Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha) directed the film which has already been receiving high praise from early festival screenings. This will definitely draw comparisons to Kramer vs. Kramer and Baumback’s The Squid and the Whale based on the trailer’s tone. The juxtaposition of the couple’s happy memories vs. the court scene at the end of the trailer is just heartbreaking. Marriage Story will be available to stream on Netflix December 6th.

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December 13th A Hidden Life Starring: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Matthias Schoenaerts Few movies have affected me the way Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life have. It’s certainly not a movie for everyone, but it works for me. The unconventional narrative, epic cinematography, and orchestral score are unforgettable. Critics from festival screenings have said that A Hidden Life is his best work since The Tree of Life meaning I’ll need to see it ASAP. The film is based on a true story about an Austrian farmer named Franz Jaggerstatter who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. The trailer looks beautiful and poetic.

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December 20th Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega The latest Star Wars trilogy will complete with The Rise of Skywalker. Taking place after The Last Jedi, the members left in the Resistance will face the First Order once again. The conflict between the Jedi and the Sith reaches a breaking point bringing the Skywalker saga to an end. I have so many questions about this movie! Was Kylo Ren actually lying to Rey about her parents in The Last Jedi? Could they really be important people? Will she turn to the dark side like this preview suggests? (I hope not). Why is Palpatine (the villain who died in Return of the Jedi) talking in all of the trailers? Thankfully, J.J. Abrams is returning as director for The Rise of Skywalker to answer all of my questions and hopefully deliver a great Star Wars film.

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Jumanji: The Next Level Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was one of the biggest surprise box office hits in recent years, appealing to people of all age groups. It’s no surprise that The Next Level is being released so quickly after the massive success of Welcome to the Jungle. This time around, the group goes back into the game, but a few of their grandfather’s are sucked in as well. That means Kevin Hart will be playing Danny Glover and Dwayne Johnson will be portraying Danny DeVito.

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Cats Starring: Francesca Hayward, Jason Derulo, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift Forget Star Wars, forget A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, forget A Hidden Life. Disregard everything on this list. Cats is going to be the cinematic moment of 2019! That CGI? Legendary! The actors could have worn cat suits or make up like the stage play, but director Tom Hooper decided that this is the 21st century…time to try out a new technique called digital fur technology! So now this movie exists. It’s difficult to describe what this digital fur technology looks like, but it’s not cats. I will say the trailer was released with plenty of time before the movie gets to theaters so there’s hope that the finished product will look way better than the original trailer. If I’m being totally honest, I love anything musical, so I’m totally going to see this.

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December 25th Little Women Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern Greta Gerwig’s highly ancitipated second film is a remake of the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel, Little Women. You all know the story, but I’ll do a quick plot recap anyway. Little Women is told through the eyes of Jo March as she recounts her life growing up with her 3 sisters: Meg, Amy, and Beth. Each have their own distinct personalities, but have a very strong bond with each other. The film reunites Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet as Jo March and Laurie for a mini-Lady Bird reunion. It also contains a little Big Little Lies reunion with Meryl Streep and Laura Dern. What a great Christmas day release!

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That concludes this Fall Movie Preview! As you can tell, there are tons of movies releasing this season in all genres. What are you most excited to see this fall?

0 notes

hikarain · 8 years ago

Text

Nothing Away

Series: Overwatch

Pairing: Boombox (Junkrat x Lúcio)

Chapters: 10/10

Words: 10.835

Subject: sligthly alternated universe in which a fanboy Junkrat fucks everything up.

Check it also on AO3

@scarecroweyes wanted me to publish this so here it is :) It’s a ten-chapters-long fic that will probably either make you squeal or cringe or both so be prepared. Last warning, I like streams of thoughs.

Chapter 1

On that day I was strolling downtown, enjoying the view of happy children playing football in the empty dusty street. Seeing such innocent fun delighted me: they were so free and beautiful. A white truck was trying to make its way on that road, so I stepped in and made the children move. As I did that, the driver lowered the window and thanked me, a really heavy accent marking his words. He then drove by, showing me a logo I could never forget: Vishkar Corporation. It was a powerful multinational; why would such corporation wander the suburbs like that? At the time I didn’t have any clues. I didn’t like Vishkar, their methods to improve the quality of life in big cities weren’t my cup of tea, everything they did was so … perfect… it looked like a miracle. And I am not the type to believe in miracles easily. Music can at times bring joy to a sorrowful heart, but it can’t last forever. It was almost fishy how each place they visited turned into a paradise overnight. Were they in Rio for that same goal then? Suspicious how they had just one truck, how could they build buildings with just that? Something clung to the hem of my pants, a gentle pull. "Lúcio, wanna play with us?“ I patted the child’s head and nodded. His eyes lit up as he beamed proudly his young smile. "Sure, champion!”

The sunset began to steal the light, so I led the children to their houses; the street was not a good place for children at night, so I always made sure they were home safe. Carrying his dirty ball in his hands, one of them was bragging about some tricks he pulled off in game, others were playfully telling him to shut up; I only laughed at the scene: it was such a peaceful view. There really was no place like that in the entire world. I was sure of that. No matter how shiny the big city behind those little shaggy houses looked, the warm lights turned that dirty view into a home to return to at dusk, our home.

Each of the families I visited that night asked me to stay for dinner, how nice of them to think of me, but I too had a place to be. I had a concert planned for later that evening: it was a small party, the owner of the local asked me, as a regular, to perform for the guests and hopefully attract more costumers from outside. I gladly agreed to help, but I had no expectation of drawing any crowd; I only played music to lift the burdens of my people, I thought I had not that much skill to pull a career out of it. I made my way in the club. "Chief, I’m here!“ "Oh, thank you very much, Lúcio. Make yourself at home!” I put my portable console on the counter and stretched my arms, a bit soar from carrying it around all day. I quickly installed it and set the speakers around the dance floor, checked the lights and the quality of the audio; it wasn’t the best, but for a raw space like that it was already something. The party started and just as the owner thought, many people came to the bar, filling each corner just to listen to my music. Both from the favela and the town, some of them were complete strangers to me. However it was my people that made the night great, they sang, they danced and called my name: all of my work paid off at least. Their happiness was all I wanted, their cheerful voices were all I cared about. Too bad the children were home, but I can always play for them at daytime. As the clock hit three in the morning, the club owner signalled me to stop the music, marking the end of my concert. I thanked everyone for their presence that night and waited for those who wanted an autograph or a picture. I smiled in all of those, strangers or not, my music made their life better even if just a tiny bit and I was proud of that. One of the last to come up to me was quite the particular fellow, his expression stuck between embarrassment and happiness as I shook his hand and posed for the picture his friend took. I was sure he was from outside the favela, but his appearance was not suitable for the town… I couldn’t imagine such a person around the streets of any city, let alone a big one like Rio. I realized he had to be a tourist when he started speaking in English to me; or what I thought was English, he had such a weird accent it was difficult to understand all of his words. His clothes were baggy and badly kept, stains of dirt on the knees and elbows. They both left after another powerful handshake, he laughed his way out while staring at the screen he took the picture with.

Chapter 2

Rio stipulated a contract with Vishkar that day. They made it public around noon and a few hours later agents and architects were all over the place, scanning each alley and corner of my suburb. I did not like that idea, strangers wandering around, claiming to be protectors and saviours… however, my people had faith in them, so I gave them a chance: everyone deserved it. The next day I received a call from one of Vishkar’s employees. With her mechanical voice she asked me if I needed a job and told me to go to their closest branch office. I had been in need of an actual job for a long time, all I did in the last couple of years was working as a freelancer dj or as handyman for the families of my favela. I didn’t swim in gold, but I wasn’t exactly poor either, not compared to my people. The Omnic Crisis hit Brazil’s economy so hard, the situation only began to worsen for us; as the city grew bigger, finally surpassing the Crisis, the favelas around it only grew poorer and poorer… but my people chose to believe in the opportunities Vishkar offered and I wanted to trust their decision. I entered the branch office, a tall dark-skinned woman greeted me with an elegant bow. "Welcome to Vishkar Corporation, I suppose you are here for the jobs we are currently offering the people of this city.“ "Thank you for your offer, I am desperate for a job right now.” I laughed it off, the woman only chuckled. “What kind of job is this?” "You see, we are working on developing Rio de Janeiro for the better, new instalments, buildings, roads and public transports. We have plans for a brighter future, but we need help with handwork.“ "Handwork? And here I thought you architects could build everything with a snap of your fingers…” "Not all architects are like that. Are you willing to work with us?“ My first job was driving one of their trucks to the other side of the town to collect the materials they needed. It was a relaxing trip, I also managed to put on some good tunes instead of those old noises the radio used to pump. I could have worked with that job just fine, but as soon as I delivered the materials they told me I had to help with the building next. Too bad. That time it was draining, I struggled so much with all those heavy pillars and concrete blocks, my sweat was sticking to my skin along with the dust. The people that were working in-group with me were on the brick of collapsing too. All of this while two of the architects watched from afar, all elegant in their white attires… At the end of that exhausting day at least I got to retrieve my payment… it was so little it didn’t even cover dinner. "Excuse me, with all the work we’ve done, is this really it?” They closed the door to my face after telling me to return the day after for other jobs. My co-workers and I looked at each other, our grips firm on the envelope with our salary. "It is just the first day, tomorrow we’ll get more!“ A cheerful man smiled and put the envelope in his large pockets. "He’s right, Lúcio!” A man around my age patted my back. “Also, it is the first job we get in a long while, we should appreciate that.” "Guess it must be like you say then.“ I barely muttered… I wanted to trust those smiles: it was just the first day, a test to see if we could really help them. After all, they wanted to make Rio great again, the favelas too. Maybe they were really going to make miracles happen. The sunset turned the sky orange fast that day, the children still playing in the streets began to pick up their toys. I walked up to them and they ran to me, giggling and waving without a single worry in the world. I had been starting to think: the streets weren’t a safe place in the dark hours ever since the crisis, but now it was over, right? I grew up stuck in my house, I was really upset when I couldn’t get to finish a match against my friends… those trivial things could matter again finally. With the help of Vishkar our home could finally become the safe place we wanted. I smiled at the children, picking the youngest girl up and tickling her. "I don’t want to look too much ahead, but I believe that in little time you guys will be able to play all you want.” "Really?“ They jumped happily when I nodded grinning. The streets were going to be well-lit by Vishkar technology, some agents were going to patrol at night, just to make sure nothing happened and maybe we could finally be paired with Rio, not just as its slums. While I was strolling around I spotted some Vishkar agents. They were armed… "You over there!” I halted immediately and pointed at myself confused. "Yes you! What are you doing outside? Go back home right now!“ I apologised by instinct and headed straight home with swift steps. I noticed they kept on following me until I finally locked myself in my house. "This is no good…”

Weeks went by and… none of our expectations were met. All Vishkar Corporation cared about was the quick development of Rio, all they did was exploit what they could to achieve it. None of that was according to the promises they made, living in the favela was hard as ever before. Curfews had always been a thing, but only for young children, now no one could walk the streets at night. I thought it was going to be the other way around, but it is not. Their controls are so strict on us, we can’t live a single day without being beaten up for no reason, some of our behaviours were called lawless, our morals unfitting of a civilized world. Our salary didn’t grow any higher, we were fighting to stay alive more than ever. We had no money to eat, we had no permission to leave the favela, we could not get another job… we were just like prisoners… I couldn’t even play my music anymore because it didn’t suit the project they had for the town. How dared they say that when music was the only thing that, even for just those few minutes, had already saved my people from despair so many times?

I was sick of that.

We grouped up one afternoon at my pals’ house, we organized a way to show Vishkar who they were trying to submit. We were forced to work on their technologies, those the architects used to create shapes and buildings, instalments and so on. We had no idea how that light technology worked, we never got an answer when we asked, but we knew where it was stored. After all, we were the ones securing them. For a few days we planned our actions step by step, I spoke up for most of the people in the meeting and volunteered to take the lead of the main action. We were ready to take over.

Chapter 3

I admit we infiltrated Vishkar, we did revolt and we did damaged their facility, but I’ll never accept the crime of stealing. Their technology was the result of the hard work of my people, it was ours by right. When we got back to our base, everyone called my name as if I was some kind of hero to their eyes. I was no hero, I barely shouted orders, but I wanted to keep fighting for them. We improvised a concert that night, Vishkar could not stop us anymore; they were already driven out of our favela. Music was such a gift to our souls, our minds were at peace again, my fingers felt light as I scratched the console. I turned up the volume, everyone danced, children and adults alike: it was not a miracle, it was pure freedom, finally.

What happened after was a disastrous turn of events. The night tasted like burning wood and metal, a terribly hot night with screaming echoing in its silence. A fire, all over the place. And everything was a mess. I did all I could to help my family, their screaming killed me, but I too was shouting, shouting for them to hear me over the noisy bursting of flames. Everything turned against us in such a short amount of time.

No victims at least, but so many were harmed and burnt so badly their faces were unrecognisable. In the past I had carried many children in my arms to help them, but never were they so weak, so powerless. Their homes were turning to ashes with little hope to be saved from the ferocious flames. I was dying inside, while on the outside I had to stay calm and think about what to do next, quick and precise. My people… my family needed me more than ever. We managed to evacuate everyone thanks to the help of the young adults, but we ended up out of our favela, out of the city. There was no place for us to return. I couldn’t do anything more than that… I was weak. I let myself fall to the ground, hateful tears staining my face. That caught attention. I didn’t want them to see me like that; it was all my fault, it was my fault they lost everything they had. Had I been stronger they would have been unharmed, had I been smarter they would have been evacuated more efficiently, had I been braver they wouldn’t have had to suffer. Young men and women walked up to me, patted my back and forced me back on my feet. My tears already dried out, but my red eyes gave my feelings away. "Forgive me, it’s my fault…" One of the oldest of the group sighed loudly, watching closely each of my drained expressions. Another man came up shortly after. "It is not, youngling. Our bodies are doing fine but… Do us all a favour, mind playing some tunes for our sad souls?“ "We could always use some good music.” They lifted me up and punched my chest in a friendly way. I clenched my fist on my chest, where his had had hit. They were right. I quickly set up the console and gears, pumping up all the music I could think of. No matter what happened before, no matter what will happen in the future, there was always something we could all believe in. There was always that special gift to everyone: music. I thanked all of them that night; I played for them until it was daytime, we partied like we were free and happy like we used to, the flames in the background slowly fading in black dust. We had no home, but we had each other.

Few weeks after that terrible nightmare, just like in a badly scripted movie, we were all back to our daily life, back in our houses with little to no motivation. They were not our old homes, but new ones the architects of Vishkar created for us. We were so lucky to have them… not. It was them. They were behind it all. Their impossible utopia was all they cared about, not about our lives, our homes… just about that monstrous imaginary world they built for themselves in their rotten brains. Burn down a favela just to rebuild it to your likings? Why didn’t they just tell us to evacuate then? Why did they put so many lives on the line? They were barbarians, crazy psychopaths. Not only were they back in our favela, but their controls were as strict as ever. It was hard. However, even in the worst situation, I did have some luck; my name spread across the country along with my tapes after the night we infiltrated Vishkar. People contacted me to play in their locals, concerts, they wanted more of my inspiring music… inspiring, just as it should be. Did I have the right to neglect my people for my career? I thought I didn’t, but everyone pushed me to go for it. They promised they would not give up, that they would support me and remember their freedom. So I started my journey, a lonely long journey, taking with me what I didn’t want Vishkar to have back.

Chapter 4

"Man, ain’t this Lúcio the best thing in the world!“ The big guy sighed through his gas mask. "Y'right, who ‘m I kidding, explosions come first.” At the time I was working on a new type of concussion mine, all while listening to some appealing elevator noises. ‘Hog told me the music was too loud, but I was deaf and I wanted to listen to it, so I didn’t care. “I remember when I first saw him, that frog boy.” ‘Hog tossed me a screwdriver I really didn’t need, but I kept it next to me just to be sure. "Really? Am I really that predictable?“ I looked at him a bit shocked, usually he would enjoy my conversation topics, not tell me to change so quickly. "Though y’ liked him too, mate.” "What d’you mean not in the same way I do? What other ways are there to like someone? No, now y’explain! Don’t go in the garage, y’know I don’t have my peg on right now! Come back ya cunt!“ I tried to crawl my way and follow him, but the wires of the mines were too much of an obstacle to overcome. I just laid on my stomach, growling annoyed by the rude interruption. I got up and threw away the mine, which exploded in the back of the garden, but it didn’t matter, it was already a dump as it was. I reached for my peg leg, I wasn’t wearing it because I had been fixing it earlier, I got up and headed inside the garage, our temporary base. ‘Hog was turning down the volume of the music, That made me mad. "I told ya I don’t give a shit about your sissy hearing! I want to hear the basses!” Grumping and snorting, I hit him in his fat belly with my metal arm. I knew that must have hurt him! But he punched me to the ground with little to no efforts and told me to shut up. "Roger that…" There I was again, lying on the floor face down. Why did I even bother to get up again? At least from this position I could still hear my favourite funky noises. Dunno why they were so addictive, they just turned me up. And that little Brazilian frog, he did turn me up as well… or on… not sure which one it was anymore. "’Hog, me man, where is the picture again?“ "Gotcha, and where’s my phone?” "In my pants that are…?“ "Of course I know I’m wearing ‘em, shuddup!” I took the phone out of my pocket and quickly headed to the gallery, just so I could see the picture one more time. I loved that picture, each little pixel of it. It was from that time when me and the big guy were in Rio just chilling and got to hear Lúcio’s music for the first time. He even shook my hand! Can’t believe a music star touched a hand of a mercenary like me. On a second point though, we weren’t really chilling, more like working. I won’t go too much in detail, but a certain corporation may or may not have asked us junkers to find a way to quickly burn to the ground a large stock of houses and buildings. Well, unfortunately, we didn’t get to see them burn up, since they only wanted us to provide the otherwise too-suspicious-for-such-a-corporation amount of explosive needed. They told me it was to get rid of the old buildings of the town to build new ones, a totally legit work for once, it felt weird. And I didn’t even get to see the explosion, what a waste of time and bombs. It’s been quite some years since that time though, man I even had all of my hair in that picture! Where did my hair go? I miss it… Hog came back and smacked me on the head with a newspaper. I was about to shout at him, but he shoved it in my face and left again. Did I have to look at that? How pushy of him, honestly… I did just that anyways and oh boy I had to read it again and again to believe it. "He’s coming here! ‘Hog! ‘Hog! He’s coming here!“ I ran to the door, only to meet face-first my mate’s giant hand. "The frog boy!!” It was such a coincidence for us to be in the UK too! He was going to be there!! I was excited, maybe I could see him again… He looked at me, his eyes dead serious. "Do you want to go?“ I nodded my head frenetically at his question, my eyes sparkling with expectations. I fidgeted at the idea of meeting Lúcio again. The big guy sighed loudly.

Chapter 5

It wasn’t really planned, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. We stood near the backdoor entrance of the coolest, most expensive-looking club of the entire town, the one and only place were the frog was going to show off his new hits. We were hiding in the shadows, waiting for the prey to… there he was! Holy dooley was he more handsome in person and so short and he looked so nice and his smile and and and… Hog smacked me in the back of my head to bring me back to earth. He was right, we had a plan. Why was he alone anyways? Not even a bodyguard? What if a gang of dirty creeps tried to kidnap him?! What if we were those creeps?! … we were those creeps. I took a step forward, preventing him from reaching the doorknob. "G'evening! Lúcio, am I right?” He stared at me unimpressed. He was so short… not even reaching my shoulder. That was adorable?! "In the flesh, what can I do for you?“ "Y'know, me and me friend here were wondering if you’d let us kidnap ya.” His expression didn’t change one bit, his happy smile still on his dorky face. So adorable?! "Usually you ask for autographs, not kidnapping.“ He laughed it off, probably thinking I was joking. "Are you two fans? Got no tickets for the show?” "No tickets, mate, we were just prancing around, checking out… the scenery…" "Well… this is just a badly-lit alley, but I guess it can have its charm.“ "Agree! The rubbish bins and the greens from that neon over there just add that atmosphere, right?” At that moment I could hear Hog just sighing a “what even is this conversation”, to which I answered with a glare. That was my first actual conversation with frog boy and he was not going to ruin it! I turned back to Lúcio and he was chuckling… I panicked. "The show is packed, but I guess I could let you in at least if you want to listen to the concert. I can’t just leave out two fans like this.“ That would have been nice! But that was not the point! "No, no, y’got the wrong idea, mate! We’re here to actually kidnap ya!” "We are here for the concert.“ Hog spoke up, a hand on my head, pushing it down, forcing me to show an apologetic behaviour. Lúcio smiled again. "You almost scared me there, I can’t miss a concert for charity, especially around this time of the year.” He was worried about charity after a threat like that? What even was wrong with this bloke’s moral code?! Gosh his smile was the most sunshine-like thing ever… I bit my lip, unable to stop the staring. What were we doing there again? "Am I bothering ya? Sorry about that mate…" He chuckled again, something inside me began to tick, it felt just like the sound of a timer… it felt nice and warm and ready to explode. "Not at all, thank you for the distraction, I was actually really tense before meeting you.“ Well, I was the one that was tense now. He… he… he… ‘Hog hit me again in the back of my head. I scanned the area, trying to focus my eyes on something different, which happened to be his hair: it looked so soft to the touch… "Y’re welcome…” I reached for the back of my head, scratching it to distract myself, pretty sure the feeling didn’t match the view though, my hair was dry and ruined. “You should get going then, y'know, to your charity and stuff…” He took out his phone, or what I though was a phone, it was a brand new model, unlike my old one, and checked the time. "I was early anyway. What are your names? I can give them to the staff and let you in.“ Think fast, think fast, think fast! Faster! You don’t have all day! "J-Jamie!” I spit out. “And my friend here’s Mako.” Lúcio tapped something on the screen and nodded. "Mako and Jamie, got it. I’ll forward your names right away.“ He nodded happily while messing with his phone. A few seconds after he received a reply. "Alright, you can enter.” He beamed a smile and a thumb up, but I was too hyped about him calling me by name.

“Do you think he recognised me?” We walked in the club, following one of the bodyguards. I was still excited and trembling, a big smile crawling on my face. ‘Hog shook his head no, pointing at my face. "C’mon! My face is not that easy to forg-… oh… y'right…" I had been wearing a disguise all day long. I suddenly felt sad, a empty feeling of empty emptiness in my chest. I was wearing a hat, a scarf, glasses and all that shit… he couldn’t possibly have recognised me… The big guy patted me on the back, pulling me with him inside the room where Lúcio was about to perform. There I was though, standing proudly right under that hyper frog. And that was the second time! And then there was my favourite song! And his eyes were so focused but so carefree and his hands worked so intently on that console! I couldn’t stop staring at him. Had I been lucky? Yes, I had. Was that luck going to take me any further? I doubted it. I decided to watch quietly, only bouncing and tapping my feet to the rhythm. Boy, were they the best elevator noises in the whole world… at a certain point he also sang! He sang! And he waved at me during a short break! Well… he waved in my general direction… but he waved at me! I was burning inside, but it wasn’t the usual explosive… it was gentler… "’Hog, can we-“ "No.” "Gotcha.“ Kidnapping was not in my mate’s plans apparently. But I wanted him so bad… screw that! If Hog wasn’t with me, I would have done it myself! … after the end of the concert, because that shit was amazing to watch.

Hours later we left the club, my mind, my ears and my eyes still in utter bliss for the performance. I probably also agreed to donating something to charity in that mental state, but fuck it I was too happy to care. I felt my cheeks hurting for the huge smile on my face but I didn’t give a care. Right when I though the day couldn’t turn any better, someone poked my shoulder, by the size of the hand it couldn’t be ‘Hog. I turned quickly and I froze. "Did you enjoy the concert? I saw you made donations, I wanted to thank you.” The frog boy in the flesh, again, in front of me, alone… my heart!! I cracked a smile and nodded my head, trying to at least answer his question despite my panic. He beamed a grin, his eyes half-closed. I could not stand that anymore. "Stop being so cute or I’ll kidnap you!“ He halted for a minute and then laughed my threat off, again. Why wouldn’t he believe me?! I was a wanted criminal, with a 25 million dollars bounty on my head! I was in a disguise but it didn’t matter, how was I not fishy to his eyes?! I stared at him confused, ‘Hog just ready to snap me out of it, but Lúcio spoke up. "There you go again with the kidnapping, you know, there are other ways to ask a guy out…” Ask out? …ask… him… out? Did he thought…? "You got it wrong, mate! I… I just…" Why wouldn’t Hog help me?! I was a mess in that moment and he was just standing there, laughing behind that mask of his without the slightest care! I was embarrassing myself in front of the frog and he was not helping! Oh, I was going to punch that smirk out of his face, oh, yes I was! But first, I had a little stuttering to deal with. "I-I j-just really like y-yo-your m-music…" Lúcio smiled again, taking a step closer to hear my voice, which was slowly getting lower and lower. “Y-y’re great…” "Thanks!“ He was a sunshine… a total pure ray of sunshine, beaming in my face and torturing me with its heath. My face was burning, probably my expression was both tense and awkward, my lips stuck on a forced smile and my eyes wide open behind the fake lenses of the glasses of my disguise. I scratched the back of my head clumsily, almost getting my prosthesis stuck in the wool of my hat. "Seriously though,” I regained my cool, just that little bit to speak without stuttering, my cheeks were still flaming hot. “can I kidnap ya?” I turned to face ‘Hog, who just facepalmed with no respect. How dare he?! I was being serious there! "I don’t have that much time, unfortunately.“ His voice sounded really apologetic, his eyes never losing mine. "The tour and stuff, I’m just packed, man…” "Oh… I see, that’s unfortunate, mate…" "I can give you my number though, let’s meet up some other time.“ He handed me a slip of plasticised paper, there was a number, a signature and a doodled frog on it. An autograph… his number… still he couldn’t be kidnapped… too bad… wait. "Hold on, why am I asking for permission?!” He blinked confused. "Well, because that’s what you do when you ask someone out?“ "I’m not asking anyone out! Ya got it all w-” In that moment ‘Hog stopped being a silent wallpaper and he smacked me. "We are going home.“ "What?!” "Now.“ He grabbed me by my scarf and pulled with all of his might, I was choking, but the view I had made it impossible for me to die; Lúcio was smiling cheerfully, a hand holding his stomach, holding back the laughter. He was so… so… I was speechless. "Call me, ‘kay, Jamie?” I thought I could not die watching him, but he was breathtakingly handsome. He winked when I nodded in response and then he left to go back in the club. "'Hog… I got his number…" "I’m glad.“ I stared at the slip of paper, my hand trailing to the phone in my pocket. I grabbed it and sent a text to that number saying it was me. I got an almost immediate response.

- Got you saved :)

My body just melted, the big guy just carrying me over his shoulder. Was that day a miracle? How did that happen?! I witnessed a miracle. A damn miracle I tell you! "I fucking love him.”

Chapter 6

So apparently we were requested for some other legit job, that was weird. What was weirdest though was the fact that we had been hired by the same corporation of some years ago, the one that wanted to blow up the city… what was it called again? Vikar? Fishkar? Whatevikar? On the phone they told me the needed about the same amount of explosive as last time but the order was due in three days… who did they think we were, bombs dispensers?! They don’t grow on threes yet, but apparently they didn’t know. Both me and ‘Hog worked hard though, we wanted all those juicy bucks. So we pulled a couple all-nighters and finished the job on time. In the morning we were in charge of moving it from our basement to their warehouse. Luckily for us our crime-spree brought us to a city really close to their headquarters, so we could easily deliver the bombs. We put them all in the back of our car and we sped through the streets, trying to meet the deadline; I might be a criminal, but I sure ain’t late. We reached the warehouse in little time, dropped the bombs, got our bucks and left, smooth as silk. Now we had a couple thousands of dollars to use and no one was going to stop us… except a call on my phone. "Hold your horses, 'Hog! It’s the frog boy!“ "You are driving.” "Hold my horses then!“ I let go of the steering wheel and answered the call, striking an ever so sensual pose. Roadie just launching himself to hold the wheel for me, ready as usual. "G’day, Lúcio!” "Hello! You free right now, Jamie?“ I was always free for him, what kind of question was that?! In that moment more than ever. "Sure thing, cobber, what’s up? Dinner?” "I actually need help…" I sat straight up hearing those words and his worried tone. He asked me if we were anywhere nearby him because he was in real need in that moment. Ever so lucky, we were, just a few kilometres away, nothing a car ride couldn’t fix. Man, what was that period and crime-sprees in convenient locations? We headed to his location immediately… then I realised. "Wait, do we have our disguises with us?“ ‘Hog shook his head and ordered me to take control of the car because his back was starting to hurt for the position he was forced in. No disguise was no good, what if he didn’t recognise me?! What would he think if he found out that I looked completely different?! What if he found out I had little hair?! I kept on driving while my mind just turned blank.

"Jamie, Mako?” I scratched the back of my head at his confused expression but then shrugged it off playfully. I stepped into the luxurious hotel room. "We kind of survived a nuclear war, it’s fine though.“ "You look rad as hell, I love that!” Lúcio’s eyes lit up as he high-fived both me and ‘Hog, his smile so pure it could have killed me. I noticed only in that moment that he too was dressed differently: a gear on his legs, a really weird backpack and an even weirder… gun? What even was that hanging from his belt? It was connected to a band on his arm with a plastic tube… but it didn’t look rudimental at all, more like a really thought out weapon. What the hell was that?! Did it explode?! Hopefully it did! I pointed at it, waiting for him to answer. "This gun? Just the power of music, man.“ "Too bad, it needs more boom!” He laughed at my comment and pointed it to my face with a swift movement. He pulled the trigger, a loud noise coming out of the gun, and I found myself against a wall, my ears ringing a bit. A couple glasses nearby broke for the impact of the sound wave. "It can’t boom, but it can boop.“ That was cool. I was deafer than usual, but that was cool! "So, frog boy, what d’you need us two for? Something to blow up?” He sighed and shook his head. "Quite the opposite actually, I need to stop Vishkar from blowing up large part of this city.“ That was a shame. Wait… Vishkar…? "Who again, mate?” "Vishkar Corporation. They plan on burning the suburbs of this town to ashes so that they can rebuild them to their likings.“ I glanced at ‘Hog, waiting for his opinion on the matter… I swore that was the name of the company we delivered the bombs to that very same day… As expected, we both understood that that was going to be a sticky situation to be in. "I… I dunno, mate, I mean… Vishkar’s a big corporation with loads of bucks and stuff..” "I have money too and I know you two are mercenaries, I want your help.“ That was quite the shock. How did he…?! His expression as serious as ever, his eyes injected with that slight hint of revenge. What did Vishkar even do to him? He looked hot as hell like that though. "How did you know we were mercenaries?” Roadie asked the question for me, I could feel his uneasiness. "Do you really think I wouldn’t recognise the faces of the two wanted criminals Junkrat and Roadhog?“ He smirked at us and handed me a check. Those were a lot of money. "I am not asking this as friends. I need help and my people aren’t anywhere close at the moment.” He offered me his hand, a serious look directed to the both of us. I gulped, quite surprised by his behaviour. "Why should we, uh?“ "For all the times I could have called the police but didn’t because I enjoy your company. Deal?” "Well then, ya could’ve said so sooner.“ Was that going to be a terrible decision? Hell yes. Was I going to leave Lúcio alone? Hell no. I grabbed his hand, gave it a tight squeeze and shook it, he did the same, the most conscious grin plastered on his lips. He did the same to Hog and we all started working on a plan. Who was going to tell frog boy that we worked for that corporation ourselves? Sure as hell not me.

Chapter 7

The three of us were driving toward the warehouse of Vishkar, Mako on the wheel and Jamie sitting in the back next to me. We knew its location thanks to some of my contacts in the city. Jamie was staring at me but I couldn’t really grasp what he could have been thinking. His eyes were empty… they were actually creeping me out. "Man, can you quit the staring? You know I don’t mind but…” He blinked a dozen times before finally jumping awake from his coma-like state. He excused himself and turned his eyes to the road. The sun was about to set, we had to arrive at that place before it was too late, I knew they were going to act once everyone was sleeping. They did that one too many times for me to forgive them, I will not let another suburb share the same fate as my favela. I received the alert from one of my companions, but he couldn’t make it to the actual action so I was in need of a couple more hands. That’s why I thought of Jamie and Mako; Junkrat and Roadhog that is: they were both friends and mercenaries, there was no reason for them to not help me if they were to be payed. A hand touched my shoulder, I looked up to find Jamie eyeing me weirdly… again. "Yes?“ "There is something I want to tell ya, but also I don’t want to…” Usually he would make more sense, I swear he had really incredible conversations… or at least incredible attempts at flirting with me. Maybe it just wasn’t the day. I had noticed there was something wrong with him, but I didn’t want to stress him about it; now though he was just rubbing that feeling in my face and I had to ask. "You have been acting weird today, something’s up, Jamie?“ He hesitated in his answering, his finger pointing at nothing and closing on itself soon after. He scratched the back of his head. "I just want to get this shit done with already.” "I wish it would just end here…" They weren’t going to stop. They were to stubborn to understand the meaning of freedom: anarchy is how they call it, disorder, madness, hypocrisy, not suited for a civilized world… I wish they would open their eyes. I am not just assuming their thoughts, during one of my tours I met a woman. She was young and elegant, a beautiful pearl of the east, her hair long and silky, her movements clean and sensual… but in her head, she was brainwashed. She rambled about a perfect world, she spoke nonsense, she believed in crazy ideals. She believed in Vishkar. I tried to convince her, but she too was just as stubborn. Her name was Satya, she told me when I met her, never thought we would come to hate each other. I had to stop Vishkar not only for my people, not only for the freedom of society, but also for people like her. I will free them from that prison of a belief. "Did Vishkar do something to ya, mate? Y’re looking pretty angry there…" I realised only in that moment that I never told those two what happened to me, even though I had known them for roughly two years now… It was weird how quickly I grew attached to those two, they were out of their minds most of the time… well, Jamie was at least, and they couldn’t give a single care about what happened around them. I loved how they could just shrug off any restriction. I am sure that it’s also thanks to them that I am going head first in this mission of mine: reckless, but free. I must admit that meeting them had really changed me. I was scared at first, I immediately recognised the faces of the two wanted criminals when they first approached me, but somehow the situation worked itself out that night. Now I had two awesome pals I could count on in need. Them being there in that moment… it must have been a little miracle. A little one. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms while speaking. "They did what I am trying to prevent now. Years ago, before my debut, they burned to the ground my favela just so that they could rebuild it anew according to their standards. Many of my people… my family, risked their lives, children were injured and burnt, their young faces forever scarred by the flames.“ I tightened the grip on my arm, rage and fury trying to get a hold of my brain. "I will never forgive them.” That was all I was going to tell the two, but I didn’t get the reaction I expected… actually, I didn’t really get one: Mako was quietly driving, Jamie was just staring at the horizon, his eyes wide open; he really was making me worried. He was silent for about a minute then he lowered his head. "That sucks, frog boy.“ "But it won’t happen again.” Right as I said that, Mako stopped the engine and got off the car, Jamie and I followed soon after. At that point, I took the lead and started to scan the area by wallriding. I quietly made my way in the warehouse; no guards seemed to be on duty, weirdly enough. I returned to my companions reporting the situation. "Maybe they’re hiding!“ Jamie laughed maniacally and grabbed his frag launcher with both hands. "Might as well flush ‘em out, am I right?” Mako held firmly his gun as he stepped forward, he said he was going to test the ground for us. After a couple minutes of searching, still no employee or guard to be seen… why would Vishkar leave a whole warehouse, the one in which they stocked their materials, completely unprotected? "Last time it wasn’t this quiet…" I jumped on another wall and got another higher view of the area: empty. Jamie followed me with his eyes. "Last time?“ I landed on a metal box, it was shining in little blue lights, probably used to mark its position. "When I entered Vishkar back in Rio, there was a high level of security, guards and alarms both, but there’s nothing here.” Jamie laughed again, but it was more of a nervous giggle. He scanned the area quickly, his body twitching with every movement. Mako was keeping an eye on him too; we were both worried apparently. I jumped down back on their level and patted Jamie on the back, concern in my voice. "You okay, man?“ He stared at me for a couple second before turning roughly and pointing towards the far back of the warehouse. "There’s nothing here, the bombs must be in a room over there!” I skated ahead, not wanting to lose more time, but I was soon halted by a number of doors. There were sentries, finally a layer of security. Before I could say anything, I saw something flying toward the doors, quickly followed by a loud and flashy explosion: the sentries were destroyed. Jamie threw a mine at them apparently. "Thank you!“ "No problem, let’s just end this.” He then kicked one of the doors open with no sign of doubt… he looked really aware of the layout of the place. When I spotted the incredible amount of explosive in the room we entered I almost fell to the ground. Vishkar was ill. While I was lost in my hate, Jamie and Mako just walked to the bombs and started messing with them… only in that moment I noticed something, something I wish I hadn’t. I grabbed one of the bombs and looked at it with care. There was a smiling face on them, one I can easily recognise. "Jamie…" "I’ll be done in a sec, mate.“ I was already mad enough, my face was unable to show any kind of emotion in that moment and my chest felt cold. I gripped the bomb, grinding my teeth in anger. I shouldn’t have shouted, they were trying to help me. I shouldn’t have attacked them, they had changed their mind. But what kind of miracle would stab you in the back?

Chapter 8

Of course I could not have won the fight, of course I had fainted, of course they had finally managed to kidnap me after all that time. I was in the back of the car, I wasn’t tied up or anything… I was their friend after all. Junkrat was not sitting next to me, he was in the front seat, driving as fast as he could, I heard him shouting at nothing, his temper so short he would have exploded… more than usual. But I had no words to calm him down, I had no intention of speaking on friendly terms with them. I was really foolish, wasn’t I? They were taking me God knows where, their chatting drilling in my ears, I turned on my gear, at least I could listen to some music, I told myself. Music was great, always there for me… she couldn’t disappoint me. She was not a so-called miracle. She was all I had in that moment, all I wanted. I closed my eyes, drowning myself in that dream. I saw my family, they were dancing and cheering, the children playing together, the elders quietly enjoying the view of the starry sky as the tune I played embraced them. How could that be considered uncivilized? How could you take it away from us? With what heart can you burn a child away from his freedom? I snapped and punched the car door, making a loud noise that caught the attention of the two junkers. They stared at me, Jamie opened his mouth to say something, but he turned and focused back on driving. I was sending rage and betrayal out of my eyes, my lips sealed: they were not going to hear anything from me. Mako spoke in his heavy voice. "We are taking you back to your hotel.” They weren’t kidnapping me? My brain could not process the though in that moment and I just considered that information as a pure lie. Have I already said that I was acting foolishly? I would have slapped myself if I could have. "As if.“ Mako held my stare, not letting my anger get to him. He looked at me from safely behind his mask, I could barely see his eyes. "Trust us.” I was about to snap again, but Jamie took care of the answer for me. "Trust us?! After that d’you think he’d be such an idiot as to trust us with anything ever again?!“ His voice sounded both hurt and furious, he was eating on his own words; I could not see his face, but I was sure his eyes were firing and burning what he was facing. "He’s not stupid.” "That’s why he won’t have anything to do with us anymore!“ "He’ll understand soon.” "Y’re not making any sense, mate!“ Jamie finally turned to the other man and what I saw actually made something in me break a bit. His eyes were distant, foggy and… watery. They were so full of different emotions, more than I had predicted. Had I caused that? I hoped from the bottom of my being that I hadn’t. When he turned completely to me, in that fraction of a second I saw that my hopes were just illusions; it was indeed my fault. "Junkr-…” I halted midway, not wanting to distance myself any further. “Jamie, it’s cool.” Everything went quiet after that. Jamie back to driving, Mako back to facing the road. I was left alone, boiling in my anger as it should have been. I wanted to forgive them, maybe they didn’t know what they were doing; just delivering some bombs, they were just doing what they were payed for. Maybe they didn’t know what Vishkar wanted to do with the explosives. Maybe they did it because they carved that money… I was trying my best to justify their actions, deep inside, under the first layer of fury, the second of disappointment and the third of murderous intent, I wanted to believe in them, I wanted to believe in the sparkling eyes Jamie looked up to me with, in the quiet support of Mako… I took a deep breath, I closed my eyes and I fell asleep, lulled by the soft music in my ears.

I woke up later, a hand gently shaking me, cold metal against my skin. Jamie was looking at my sleeping face, his features not showing any particular emotion. I stood up, but I still had nothing to say to him, a heavy knot in my throat stopped my words from coming out. It was painful, looking at him as he hoped for a smile… I wish I had smiled back then. However I only got off the car, stretching my muscles. He stared at me, his big orbs never letting go of my body… I had known it for a long time, it really was hard to miss; what he felt about me I mean. I was flattered that such a particular person had found an interest in me, but in that moment I could not appreciate his staring at all. My mind was too confused and foggy, too many perspectives were trying to make their way into my subconscious, I had to shut something out. That something so happened to be my feelings for him. That was such a bad decision to take, I blame myself. "Wanna drink something?“ Jamie offered me the tea he always had on himself, I sighed and faced him; a death stare he could not stand. "Sorry about that, Lú…” He sat on the ground, his hands covering his ears and grabbing violently his hair. I wanted to sit next to him.

"Can I know the reason? Why did you give all that explosive to Vishkar?“ "It was just a job! They offered us bucks we needed, they only said they wanted to rebuild buildings in the city!” He answered as fast as he could, a desperate tone in his voice. I wanted to forgive him. "Well, they were not lying, but they were going to burn down people too!“ "That I couldn’t have known!” I took a step towards him, using the temporary height advantage to make my point clear. "Vishkar is mad, everyone can see that Jamie!“ "If you had told me sooner I wouldn’t have helped them!” He didn’t know. It wasn’t his fault. Vishkar from the eyes of an outsider could look like the best corporation in the world. Why would anyone in their right mind think that they’d light-heartedly blow up houses with people in them? "Why didn’t you tell me you delivered them the explosives then?!“ "Because I decided I was going to get rid of ‘em anyway! I was going to throw away days of hard work because you asked for it, frog boy!” I was at fault. I had no right to be angry at him. He changed his mind. I had to take a step down, put my pride to the side. Sit down. Apologise. I sat down next to him, my eyes to the ground. Why were my feelings so hard to reach? I knew where they were: they held my heart in place, it couldn’t beat freely, they wouldn’t come out. When I looked at Jamie, I saw that he had managed to get out what I could not. His eyes were so… He was so unpredictable, you would think he wasn’t serious in his apology, that he was just a random bomber, a mercenary, a crazy psychopath, a pyro… he was all of that, but he was human too. He did feel pain when injured, he did feel sorrow when hurt, he did feel despair when helpless. I did see regret in his distant cold eyes, those same eyes he used to stare at me in awe with. I wanted them to regain that spark of life; I wanted the crazy bomber to scream and laugh out loud again, a proud smirk plastered on his face. Time can heal all wounds, but I was not going to wait. Something else could cure, something even more effective than time. I just pulled my portable console out of my bag, connected it to the backpack and turned it on. Jamie tried to say something, but I stopped him. "It’s cool, let’s just calm down now.“ I started to mix the tracks I had saved, low keys and slow tunes… that was a way to say sorry, right? Jamie was sitting next to me, checking both my hands and my expression as they both turned calmer and calmer as the song played on. He was smiling a bit, I took a glance of that. I was grateful for that smile. I too tried to draw one on my face, I probably failed though.

Chapter 9

Jamie was looking at me intently, so intently it was almost embarrassing. It wasn’t though, I appreciated each of his glances… I loved his attentions. Because of my awful mood I had forgotten how good it felt to be stared by those eyes. I slid closer to him, our arms touching, his cold metal sending shivers over my naked arm. What was I mad about again? I just wanted to forget at that point… I closed my eyes and leaned over, my head on his shoulder; the console playing music by itself… "I don’t want to hate you, Jamie.” He stayed silent, only his breath could be heard in the darkness. It was a peaceful rhythm to follow, the bass of his heartbeat slowly growing stronger. He rested his head on mine, a sigh escaping his lips. My hand looking for his and finding it on his knee. I gently forced my fingers to intertwine with his. "It would be nice if you didn't…" Nice… a pretty cold word just like his hand, freezing metal, but his forehead was warm, his chest a pleasant cosiness embracing me. Just a little longer, just the two of us. No Vishkar, no bombs, no fires, no world. Just us… I loved it. That small miracle… I begged to believe in it. "I want to love you, Jamie.“ He snuggled closer after a few seconds, his hand now holding mine. His voice cracked as he spoke, I could not picture what kind of expression he was wearing. "Think ya can manage that after all this shit?” I nodded and opened my eyes, slightly worried about his hurt voice. I could see myself in his teary eyes, his mouth turned into a sad sulk, he was trying his best to keep his cool for me. There was no need. I should have checked on him sooner though. I caressed his cheek and smiled, softly and gently; I was there for him to see, smiling, just the way he was used to see me. I stroke his hair as I ran my free arm around his neck. "Shit happens.“ And shit happened, but it was good shit.

Chapter 10

That morning… yeah, probably the only lingering question was a really confused… "How?!” How did that happen?! Why did that happen?! “'Hog, how?!” "You are naked.“ "That’s not the point, you fat drongo!” It took me a while to pick up that question, I had almost finished my breakfast when I remembered what happened… what happened… I smashed my head on the table again and again, trying to beat myself awake from that dream. When did we even get into that expensive-looking hotel room?! Why was 'Hog bogging in some expensive-looking pastries?! "Where is the frog?!“ The big guy pointed at a door far in the back of the large living room. I ran towards it, ready to slam it open, but I remembered at the last moment what could have expected me behind that door: either a dream from the past night or… a really messy empty bed… I begged for it to be the first one, I didn’t want it to be just an illusion again. It had already happened, okay? Got something to say? Better not, I’ll make you blow up, I swear. Jamison calm your shit and open that door! I grabbed the knob and slowly walked into the room. He was there. Snooring and drooling like the princess he was. He was there. I held my breath for a moment and sat on the bed myself. I wondered and wondered, thought and thought, but I could find no answer to the stream of fucking questions. Jamison, you cunt, how did that happen?! I didn’t know then, I don’t know now, what the hell happened?! He yawned. Piece of junk. That was adorable. "Good morning.” Send help, that was all I could think about. Wish him a good morning too? That was a great idea! "G'day.“ I cracked a smile, it was so nervous my cheeks were hurting like hell. His on the other hand… he opened his eyes slowly at first, a chuckle escaped his soft lips when he saw my face. "Still a bit embarassed, aren’t we?” I wanted to kiss the shit out of him. I could not bring myself to speak, he was just too handsome. Lúcio sat up and opened his arms, the sheet sliding off his figure to reveal his dark skin. He beckoned me to hug him, his head tilting to the side. Was I allowed to?! I got closer but didn’t dare to… he took me by surprise when he just launched himself in my arms, snuggling his face in my neck. I was stiff… so stiff…

“It’s a shame, but you two should leave the hotel…” After getting dressed, that was not the first topic I wanted to cover, but frog boy was right. We really needed to get out of that place. "Gotcha, we’ll get out in a second.“ "I’m telling this for your sake, people might recognise you in here…” He was pouting, as if he thought we had been offended by his consideration. I smiled at him. "If they do, we might as well just kidnap you, right?“ I still wanted to kidnap him, at that time more than ever. I didn’t want to leave Lúcio’s side yet. "Too clichè at this point, don’t you think?” "Yeah, poor 'Hog over there would just throw me another one on the head if I tried to.“ We both laughed it off as I picked up my stuff, packed it into my bag and threw it from the window and on the car below. Roadie said he was going on ahead and said goodbye to Lúcio with a powerful handshake before slowly taking the outdoor stairs to the ground floor. I stood in the living room for a bit, bludging. Frog boy finally walked up to me, his hand travelling high to my neck, asking me to bend for him, which I gladly did. His lips on mine felt just so right, I wanted more again. He pinched my nose when he understood my intentions when I forced the kiss. But I didn’t want to let go yet, I wanted him close to me… my small sunshine… my adorable frog… "Call me, ‘kay?” He kissed the tip of my nose, stroking my face. “I’ll be waiting.” "I don’t want to wait.“ "We’ll both have to.” I kissed him that time around, I couldn’t help it. Just a quick peck, just to… make sure he still wanted me to. He did, he smiled again. That precious smile.

It’s been a while now, back to the crime-sprees, just me and old 'Hog… fells good, mate. The world knows our names, we are wanted by so many people: we are just like superstars! We are so cool that we always have bucks in our wallets, foods in our stomachs, bombs in our hands and first-row in concerts granted for life. What a great life we are living! Maybe the running from the cops part is not that great, especially if they interrupt the concert to smoke you out… I hate it when they do it, I just want to enjoy some music! I always have to get up from my seat, guzzle my tea and start running.

A hero association we thought was done for actually contacted us once. They asked us to join: the world could always use more heroes! We are crazy criminals, don’t even joke about that, girl. Someone else did join though… he, a dj, a freedom fighter and now a “hero"… well, I had to see it coming. He was just too suited for a role like that, he was born to be a hero. Or was he?

I love his music, even if when I do go all the way to watch him perform, that’s when the police finds me… still, not sure who is following who at this point, we just bump into each other, like magnets, every land we go he’s there for us, every place we run to, he has already a date planned. We can’t stay much together when we meet, but it’s fine, he’s just a call away. He’s a tune away, he’s a nothing away.

Good job on surviving until the end, you earned yourself a cookie <3<br>Remember that I am still not a native English speaker so I have limits.

#overwatch #ow boombox #lucio #lucio correia dos santos #junkrat #jamison fawkes #fanfiction #my fic #it is pretty long so take a seat my friend #also sorry computer-users it is really heavy to read on my blog i can see that ;;#i don't usually post my writing so i don't have a nice theme for it #also anyone likes stream of thoughts? because i do oh yes i do #long post #my fanfic

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antonioviolarosa · 8 years ago

Text

Nothing Away

Series: Overwatch

Pairing: Boombox (Junkrat x Lúcio)

Chapters: 10/10

Words: 10.835

Subject: sligthly alternated universe in which a fanboy Junkrat fucks everything up.

It’s a ten-chapters-long fic that will probably either make you squeal or cringe or both so be prepared. Last warning, I like streams of thoughs.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

I was sick of that.

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

- Got you saved :)

My body just melted, the big guy just carrying me over his shoulder. Was that day a miracle? How did that happen?! I witnessed a miracle. A damn miracle I tell you! "I fucking love him.”

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Good job on surviving until the end, you earned yourself a cookie <3

Remember that I am still not a native English speaker so I have limits.

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