#i do wish they’d given us more from the photoshoot

[silverfoxstole]

A few of the photos from the Paul and India interview in this month’s DWM, plus a couple of snippets:

[chonidale]

what are your top 5 choni scenes and why

was cleaning out my inbox and found this from 6 years ago lmao back when this would have been a lot easier to answer because they had a LOT less scenes. i really tried to sit and narrow it down to just 5 scenes, even if i couldn’t rank them, but it was really hard without setting some limits, so i’m going to make myself only pick one scene per season and list them in chronological order.

season 2: first kiss. just iconic, perfectly set up and executed. best first kiss on the show, hands down, was never topped. cinematic. honorable mentions to the scene at the bijou and their almost kiss.

season 3: their reunion in the finale. it’s a short scene, but so sweet. toni gathering the cavalry to save cheryl, the ‘baby?!’, the running hug and kiss, the sheer relief and emotion in toni’s voice, so good. honorable mentions to the 3.12 bed scene purely for how cozy it is and cheryl sacrificing herself to save toni at the farm, also so cinematic.

season 4: the couch cuddling scene post thanksgiving dinner. so comfy and sweet. i love a good cuddling moment, but add in a cute i love you exchange and a kiss? i’m happy. honorable mentions to the 4.08 pops scene and cheryl telling toni about nick, so much better than the garbage suicide attempt convo from s3 that was all about archie.

season 5: the pops convo from 5.05, nobody could ever make me hate that scene, the emotion and history and understanding and love there, just so good. forever mourning the excellent angst of those first two time jump episodes. what could have been if the rest of the season kept that tone. honorable mentions to the whole flashback sequence in 5.04 and the convo in 5.18. i do like their break up scene too but i’ll always be bitter about how much better it could have and should have been. deserved a last kiss or cuddle at the very least.

season 7: the music room convo in 7.10 is just so perfect, absolutely no notes. really sweet and mature and well written as a stand alone resolution to the plot in that episode, but even more satisfying and meaningful from a larger stand point, showing their growth from s3 and how they’re doing things right this time, etc. honorable mentions to the scene outside the school in 7.08 for some reason and the photoshoot, i think, but there’s so many i really love.

(no scene selection for s6 since i had to cut a season to narrow it down to 5 and most of the choni content in s6 is thabigail, but the bed scene from the finale is very excellent and bittersweet, even if i retroactively wish they had given us more since it ended up being the last interaction in the og timeline and there was a lot of opportunity for more closure there than what we got. and i think if they’d known they weren’t going back to the og timeline back then, we would have gotten more, but alas.)

[yelenasdiary]

Snowflake

Pairing: Florence Pugh x Actress! Reader 

Summary: A documentary is being filmed to show a life that was taken in an accident. Florence who is accompanied by three other co-casts, share their memories and thoughts on the actress, friend and fiancé. 

| Heavy Angst with Light Fluff? | 4.3K | Death & Greif |She/her pronouns |

Requests are closed.

Notes: I have used different coloured font for those who speak just to make it less confusing. 

AC: This was inspired by a song I was recently shown called ‘snowflake’ by Powfu ft. Jaden Smith & Sarcastic Sounds – I’m not exactly sure why I went with this idea but I felt it was something a little different and I was bored. I hope you enjoy & my apologies for the heavy angst (I’m not really sorry). 

Florence opened the front door of her home with a tissue clenched in her right hand and greeted the camera crew and director that welcomed her with soft and sympathetic smiles. No smiles in the world were able to ease the paining stabbing hurt she felt in her heart but still, she let them in to her home with a soft smile and a few handshakes.

“I thought we could film in the backyard, if that’s okay” Florence suggested once closing the front door. “Yeah, that sounds great, we can just move inside once the sun starts to set” the director who is also the interviewer suggested earning a nod from Florence before she led them out to the back patio. The documentary took interviews with other friends, family, and co-stars over the course of two months. Now, it these interviews were the last to film before the documentary went to final editing. The documentary was a Disney+ exclusive given that you had worked closely with Disney and having a major role in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. 

Florence had the decking table set with plenty of refreshments along with a cheese board that she’d made herself and a few of your favourite snacks. She’d applied so little make up that she shook her head in the mirror with disappointment on the waste of products used, knowing today would end with soaked cheeks and puffy eyes and a promise she would wake up with a runny nose and stinging eyes. With her sat three close friends and co-stars that you worked with, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Hailee Steinfeld. The three arrived easy in the morning, the four of them having tea and coffee before sharing their thoughts on what to expect from the interviewer. 

The cameramen and crew set up their equipment as Florence, Elizabeth, Hailee, and Scarlett had made themselves comfortable at the table. A warm mug of tea gave Florence a sense of warmth that she so tenderly needed to get through the next couple of hours. When the documentary was first pitched to her by your manger and publicist, she said no and that if anybody were to tell your story it should be those closest to you and not a bunch of media outlets and information on past headlines and interviews. A couple of months later, your manger and publisher came back to Florence with the idea that she’d have full control over the documentary and the final cut was her call but again she said no and suggested that the only way they’d get her to agree to have the documentary moving forward would be for it to be a sit down with your closest friends and family while they share their favourite memories and wishes for you. It wasn’t a lie that Florence was rightfully pissed off that not even a year after your death that she was being asked for things like merchandise and interviews, photoshoots and other little things that didn’t sit right with her, she was grieving you and the last thing she wanted was to be placed in the spotlight. 

“We’re ready to start whenever you guys are” the director smiled softly once more. Florence was never going to be truly ready to do this, but she knew deep down you would’ve wanted her to do this for the fans. Those who made your career take off, the ones who showed up to events just to catch a glimpse of you, the ones who would send in their questions for interviews, the ones who made fan-pages and showed support for you in their own little way, the ones who made Florence smile softly at night as tears rolled down her cheek watching the fan cams people tagged her in, the ones who sent her messages with love, she was doing this for them. So, they could find closure and find comfort that even though you’re not longer here, you would live on through them and those closest to you. 

“I’m ready” Florence said in an almost whisper, her heart racing already. Scarlett placing a comforting hand on Florence’s knee giving her a light squeeze to say she’s here and it’ll be okay. But it wasn’t okay, nothing was the same since you left the world for another. Nothing was okay at night when Florence found the energy to cook dinner for 1 when it used to be for 2, or in the mornings when she expected to see a posted note on her phone from you telling her you’d see her after work and that you were thinking of her, nothing was okay, not a single thing. 

“We’d like to start with getting a couple of shots of the beautiful photos you have around the house, if that’s okay of course” Leon, the director spoke. Florence nodded slowly then led one of the cameramen inside. They took shots of the few photos that Florence had hanging on the walls of the two of you, some goofy ones from on set, ones with her family and yours and lastly, a couple from events that the two of really loved. The slightest smile tugged on her lips as she watched the cameramen get the shots before they returned to the table on the patio. There was a silence between everybody as the director got comfortable and grabbed their notes, the cameramen made sure to get the ‘perfect’ shots while Florence, Hailee, Scarlett, and Elizabeth sent each other soft smiles as they waited.

“I would like to start with some easy questions, some light ones to start. If at any point any of you need to take a break just say the word and we will” Leon spoke with a warm smile, the table giving him a soft nod in agreement. 

“I want to start with Scarlett, now, you met Y/n on the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2013, tell us what you remember the most” 

Scarlett nodded as Leon spoke, a smile tugging softly at her lips as she remembered the memory. “I’d heard about Y/n from mutual friends of course, she’d just finished filming her small role in Iron Man 3 before we started filming Winter Soldier the following April. I remember being her age and how stressful filming things so close together could be but that didn’t seem to bother her, she was so excited and eager to learn. I remember she’d just turned 15 a few weeks into filming, her mother was on set every day and made sure she was eating between takes and doing her homework which was didn’t like at all” Scarlett chuckled at the memory of the roll of the eyes and slight groan you sent to your mother after a scene. “Everybody loved her, we all made sure to watch over her, especially at her age and working as much as she was. What stood out to me was just how beautiful and full of life she was, she was always pulling some kind of prank or joke on the cast and crew which made work more fun than what it already was, she made everybody excited to come back the next day” She adds with a wide smile. 

“In the movie, Y/n’s character becomes almost tied to your character, Natasha Romanoff, did the two of you practice lines together?” 

“Oh, all the time! Winter Soldier was her big major role. In Iron Man 3 she was introduced to Tony Stark who at firsts pushes her away but by the end takes her under his wing then in Winter Soldier her character gets a bit too comfortable with her status as Tony’s little helper and tries to adventure out and find her own feet which led to Natasha Romanoff finding her in a wrong time, wrong place situation. Y/n was so excited to work, she loved everything about filming sometimes when she wasn’t doing her homework you would find her behind the cameras with the crew watching scenes being taken and asking a million questions between shots. So, working with her as much as I did at the time and how close our characters became, Y/n quickly became like a little sister to me” 

Florence watched as Scarlett answered and couldn’t help but nod in agreement with her comment of how you’d ask a million questions, or you’d be seen with the camera crew between takes. 

“From there we move onto the first Avengers movie, Age of Ultron which is when you met her, Elizabeth?” 

“Yes, I did” Lizzie smiled, “She as a delight to work with and I remember telling Kevin just before we finished filming Age of Ultron that he can’t get rid of her character no matter what and he laughed a little and told me there was no plans on doing any of that. She had raw talent that not a lot of young people at her age know how to show or channel but she did, she was always on time, she remembered her lines better than any of us, she was respectful and like Scarlett said, a goof ball. We all had so many laughs together, I still have a video on my phone from a prank she pulled on Sebastian” She added with a chuckle before taking a small mouthful of water. 

“Do either of you remember when Y/n started doing her own stunt work?”

“She mentioned to me that she wanted to be an actress who did it all, she wanted to try going all genre of movies and do her own stunts but her parents weren’t a fan of the idea so but she somehow convinced them before we started filming Civil War so here she was at 16 years old learning to do her own stunt work then from there all her stunt work was her own and she loved it. She’d get so excited whenever she was able to do her own stunts” 

“Florence, you met Y/n at a movie premiere before working with her on Black Widow. Which premiere was that and do you remember it?”

“I first met Y/n in passing at a gala in 2017 and met her properly in 2019 at the Fighting with My Family premiere and then again at the Little Women premiere. She said she’d seen Midsommar and was blown away with the movie which then led to a million and one questions, she wanted to know everything about doing a film like that and mention how much she’d love to do something similar. That night we exchanged numbers and became friends after that. 

When I got the role for Yelena Belova, I remember telling her about it and she gave me the run down on everybody she’d worked with while doing Marvel and how much she loved everybody. She didn’t tell me that she’d also be in the movie so that surprised me a lot when I got to set the first day.”

“Scarlett, you mentioned in an interview that you saw something between Florence and Y/n while on set, did you push them together a little or just let things take their course?” 

“I knew Y/n had a crush on Florence shortly into filming Black Widow, she came to me and asked if I thought getting flowers sent to her while on set would be inappropriate. That was the first time I’d ever seen her nervous before, her cheeks were so red I don’t think any layer make up would’ve hid that” Scarlett laughed causing chuckles from the others. “I was there when the delivery guy came up to Florence with this massive bouquet of flowers, the little smile on Florence’s face told me she also felt something” 

“I know I never mentioned what was written on the card” Florence spoke while looking to Scarlett, “but that was her way of asking me out to dinner. The card said, ‘I hope this is okay and if it is, could I please take you to dinner when we’re not filming and if it is then enjoy the flowers and forget dinner’ and she drew a little smile face at the bottom. I don’t why I thought it kind of funny just way she worded it, but I did go to dinner with her two days later” she adds. 

“It was two? See now I didn’t know that”

“That’s because she ordered pizza, and we ate it in my trailer at like 11pm” Florence chuckled as the memory played in her mind. 

“So, from there on was it official with the two of you?”

“Not straight away, we took some time to get to know each other on that level. We’d been texting and catch up over drinks a few times before filming so we weren’t strangers, but I could she was nervous about a relationship due to personal things she’d told me, so we took it slow. Working with each other every day helped with that”

“If you remember, would you like to share the first kiss story?”

Florence’s cheeks went slightly red, and her heart sunk as her smile slightly dropped, it hit her she’d never feel your touch again. 

“I-it was cut from the movie because it was off script” Florence started, Scarlett kindly placing a hand on Flo’s back and rubbed gently. “We had a scene where Yelena was being harsh on Y/n character, it was sudden. I finished my line and next thing I knew she was leaning in for a kiss, I went for it. She didn’t even think about it or who was around us and I liked that oddly enough. I still feel her smile against my lips as she whispered a sorry when the director called cut. I have that clip on disc somewhere” 

Flo blinked back her tears as she told the story, her eyes fell to her hands in her lap as she slowly shook her head when her tears started to flow. “We’ll take a minute” Leon said before he gestured for the crew to give her a minute. They walked into the kitchen and waited until Florence was ready again. 

“If this is too much, too soon, don’t do this Flo” Hailee reached for Florence’s hand for comfort. “It’s fine, I can do this” she replied, “I just miss her so much”

“We all do honey, it’s okay” Elizabeth smiled softly at the broken blonde. 

After a few more silent moments, Florence said she was ready to continue, wiping the tears from her eyes not caring to retouch her light make up. Leon and the crew got comfortable in their seats once again before looking over his notes he mentioned that he wanted to talk more about the relationship if Florence was up for it. She nodded and mentioned she’d love to share her favourite moments. 

“What was things like for the two of you after filming Black Widow?”

“We wrapped up filming in October 2019 so that was a few months before Covid took over, we still spent time together, we went for lunch and tea because she saw how much of a tea drinker I am” Florence chuckled once more, “then when Covid started to creep in she got a little worried and would call me just to say she missed me. We made the decision for her to move in when they were starting to shut down things and ask people to stay home. I think that worried her because she’d been filming non-stop for a few years that she didn’t really have a home to go to, she was staying in hotels and trailers, or she’d fly home to be with her parents and she mentioned she didn’t exactly want to leave LA so I just told her she could stay with me while the pandemic was happening” 

“So, you both spent the two years together after only dating a few months?”

“Yeah. But it never felt like that, Y/n and I clicked. She always made me laugh to the point my insides would hurt, she was sweet, loving and she cared so much. I never felt like we were moving too fast or anything like that. That’s not to say we didn’t have arguments, we did here and there but we always came back and spoke about it like adults. With her the pandemic didn’t feel like a drag. Every day was exciting even though we couldn’t do much, she found something for us to do. I taught her how to make home-made ice cream after I learnt it myself, she would sit and watch me do my ‘Cooking with Flo’ videos and poke fun at the fact I don’t like doing Instagram live. Y/n found joy in anything and everything, I didn’t matter at all what we did, she was just happy to be doing something, you couldn’t get her to sit still for too long”

“Was that hard at any point with the pandemic?” 

“Uh, sometimes. I mean, like everybody, you discover things about yourself that you didn’t know, and I found that I suffer from anxiety more than I thought I did and for Y/n she struggled with something’s, and we went through a couple of dark patches, but she was working on it once the pandemic allowed us to leave our homes again” 

“I’m going to ask a tough question now, Y/n’s accident. Where were you or what were you doing when you heard the news? Can we start with Hailee?” 

Hailee nodded before looking to Florence whose jaw clenched and her eyes filled with tears once more. Hailee was fighting back her own as she took a deep breathe in before exhaling. 

“Y/n was insane to work with, I just want to say that. I loved working with her for the second season of Hawkeye, her character, and the way she brought them alive has always been inspiring for me when I was casted for Kate Bishop. 

That day should not have happened. We were getting ready to do a scene and she was to jump off a ‘building’, she was harnessed and hooked up to the safety wires, everything was normal about it. I watched as they took her to the jump mark and she had this big smile on her face, our photographer took a picture of her just as she gave the cameramen the thumbs up. Director called action and that was basically the end of it” Hailee paused as tears started to stream down her face, dabbing them softly with a tissue she continues, “She jumped like she’d been practicing for 10 minutes beforehand and next minute everybody just rushed to her. Emergency services were called, our Onsight paramedic asked everybody to step back. I remember seeing her lying there on the landing mat, I wanted to be by her side, but security wasn’t letting anybody near her, we all just assumed she’d broken a bone or something” 

Leon could see it was getting a bit much for Hailee and moved on to Lizzie, asking her the same question. 

“I was home with my husband, Robbie, we were just making lunch when Scarlett called me. She was crying so I said ‘what’s wrong? Is everything okay?’ and just said you need to come to New York, and I looked at Robbie and something just didn’t seem right, so I asked again, ‘Scar what’s going on?’ and that’s when she told me. 

At first, I didn’t believe her, how does something like that happen? There are so many safety steps for a reason, you know. I couldn’t stop crying that day, I just kept thinking it wasn’t true and that this was her playing a prank, a sick one at that but when I saw the headlines as I tried to book a flight to New York that’s when I sort of hit me that it was true, she was gone.” 

Lizzie grabbed a tissue from Hailee sending her a soft smile. Leon nodded a thank you and looked to Scarlett, again asking her the same question.

“Florence called me asking if I had heard the news, I said no as I was at my office doing some promotional work. Florence just bursted into tears and told me there was an accident and Y/n was hurt. I knew by Florence’s reaction that hurt wasn’t the word she meant and my heart broke. I was already in New York, so I called Lizzie like she mentioned and then I went to be with Florence.” 

“Florence, do you want to share?”

It wasn’t an easy nod, but she managed to do so as she grabbed a backup tissue. 

“I was with her in New York while she was filming, we were staying at a hotel, so she didn’t have to live in a trailer, and I was able to cook and what not. At the time I was getting the vegetables prepared for dinner and my phone just wouldn’t stopped buzzing. I had all these text messages and miss calls from friends and family. I opened a text from Raffie, my sister who said ‘please tell me it’s not true. Answer your phone, we’re worried’. I thought ‘god has somebody told them something stupid’ so I called her back and she said, ‘is Y/n okay?’ and I was more confused, I said, ‘yeah she’s filming why?’ and then she sent me the link to a headline. 

‘Actress, Y/n Y/L/N, pronounced dead at 25 after stunt fail’ in big bold letters made me sick. There was no way I just found out via the media, but I had serval missed calls from Hailee and Y/n’s manager. I stared at the headline in disbelief, Raffie says I hung up on her, but I don’t remember that. 

Hailee came to the hotel in tears as she told me. They needed me to confirm her identity which was stupid because we all knew it was her, but I went to the morgue they told me she landed wrong and that she wouldn’t have felt a thing. They let me be with her for a while longer after I confirmed her identity. She just looked like she was sleeping but she was cold and there wasn’t anything I could do to warm her” Florence broke into tears, “I just wanted to hold her, tell her I love her, that she is the love of my life, but she was just cold, and her chest wasn’t rising and down like it should’ve. My entire world just fell apart, my heart was broken. I stayed with her as they pulled the sheet over her beautiful face, I’ll never forget it.” Florence added with more tears, chocking on her words. Hailee stood up and walked to hug her tightly. Leon stopped the cameras to give the women a moment. 

“I can’t do this” Florence stood up, “I’m sorry, I hope you understand” she added before walking to her room. Her tears not stopped even after the Leon and the crew left, leaving the four women in a time of grief once more. 

Two months passed by, and the documentary was set to release in a matter of hours as Florence had your closet friends and family over to watch it together. She made sure to cook your favourite meal, your favourite snacks on offer, anything you loved she made sure that was on offer. Today was about you and the life you lived, short but strongly loved and adored.

The documentary was hard to watch but brought tears, smiles, laughs and more tears as your loved ones watched it as one. Florence finding a bit of comfort and closure by the time it was over. She knew the fans were waiting for a post of anything from her, so she did just that, pulling together 10 of her favourite photos and videos of you, 5 of each just to keep it even. 

“florencepugh: it’s here, it’s out and it’s beautiful. 

If you have the chance to sit down and watch this documentary, please do. Y/n was a gift to this world and this documentary shows it. From her goofy side to her loving side and back to her goofy side, she’s inspired each and every single one of us who knew her, and I hope you find the same inspiration in her like we have. 

Y/n loved you all to the ends of the earth, she saw the comments, the messages, the fan pages, the video edits, and she loved them. You guys are her family, she always said that, and I hope this documentary can help you deal with this sadness we are all feeling. 

I know some of you are mad about this situation and best believe I was mad as well. How could something like this happen? we don’t know. We know that everything was done by the book to keep Y/n safe that day but sometimes we can’t have answers and we’ll never truly understand what happened. We want somebody to blame, I understand but please, don’t blame anybody but the way life works. 

Y/n, my beautiful, beautiful angel, I love you and not a day goes by where I’m not thinking about you or looking back on our favourite memories together. I’m broken that we didn’t get the chance to go ahead with the plans we made but I will always call you my wife, my love, my darling, my snowflake, my all. I miss your smile and your contagious laugh, I miss the posted notes and the shared glasses of wine, I miss the warmth of you touch and the sparkle in your eyes, I miss you dearly, but I know wherever you are, you are with me, with all of us. I love you so much my angel, forever and I can’t wait to meet you again in another life. 

For now, I’ll see you later for tea and cake, my love x” 

Taglist: @red1culous | @bentleywolf29 | @natasha-belova | @jeyramarie | @lissaaaa145 | @high--power | @parkerdaramitzzzz | @mmmmokdok | @wackymcstupid | @kiwiana145  | @sophie-xox | @shin-conan-kun | @nattyolw | @ripofflizzie | @get-the-fuck-outta-here | @goofy-goonie | @makegoodchoices | 

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Tues 8 June ‘21

Harry recorded a message that was played at the Stoneman Douglas High School graduation; SD is the school in Parkland Florida that in 2018 became the site of the deadliest school shooting in US history. Harry has consistently been a vocal supporter of the student activism to curb gun violence that followed the shooting (it was when he added the Stop Gun Violence stickers to his guitar and he spoke about it before when playing near there on HSLOT, for example, as well as signing on to things and donating money and talking about the bravery of the young women leading the effort in particular). “You are an incredibly strong group of people and I have no doubt that you’ll all do incredible things whatever you chose to do in the future, so good luck, love each other and be nice to each other and I hope at some point I’ll get to see you guys,” he said in the video.

A blurry blob in a blue hoodie in London last night was said to be him, out for a stroll, Don’t Worry Darling was announced to be set for release next year, and some fans literally chased Harry and Olivia down the street while filming them against their wishes (recently, not today, seems like she might be back in the US with Jason now that his filming is wrapped) and then people tried to blame their behavior on... larries?? UM did larries possess them and force them to literally chase a person asking to be left alone I DON’T BELIEVE SO, I am BEGGING you guys to quit listening to anything anyone on twitter says. My Policeman is filming in Hitchin, at a location reported by local media to be “shrouded in mystery”, but I’m pretty sure the hordes gathered to peep at filming have killed any aura of mystery at this point. They are working on location at a pool in Butts Close (YEAH I KNOW) and are apparently besieged with fans, some of whom managed to get more pictures of a blurry blob said to be Harry- this time in tiny yellow short shorts (2021/1950 version)!

Niall and Anne Marie’s Tonight Show performance aired! Anne Marie’s black and white cheetah print lined three piece outfit is amazing, like Niall is pushing the envelope a little with shapes and fits but her look takes center stage I’m afraid; anyway also they sound great and are cute, yes yes.

Liam has been in his discord lots, commenting on things and polling people. Current polls, yes no or wtf about NFTs, which landslide result (wtf) got him to say yeah okay I’ll make an explainer, and should we rename my fandom which resulted in a chat for people to make suggestions. About front runner Paynedora’s Box (Liam’s own amazing suggestion) he said “it came to me as I thought it meant every type of fan is a possibility, never know what you’re going to encounter.” Yes plus Pandora’s Box was full of demons! Apt indeed though Liam’s fans are sweeter than some, it’s true. He gives a little love to Champaynes too, which is good though given our boy’s struggle with alcohol addiction I’ll stick with my vote for the first one. He posted from an “impromptu night photoshoot” (about which his hair guy said “bringing the grit back, prepping for a very exciting launch…”), followed NFT co-creator Gabe Damast who later posted some behind the scenes talk about the making of Lonely Bug (with glimpses!) and the page for animated film Ron’s Gone Wrong, which he commented about (“this looks amazing!”), liked a Lonely Bug fanart of the bug with his face on it, and signed on to a UNICEF letter, along with 28 other celebs, asking the G7 (rich countries) to donate vaccines for distribution where most needed. And he was seen today at a Top Golf! An employee posted a distanced pic with him. Also btw those necklaces he’s been wearing all the time lately are apparently diamonds and are £50k each, but he wasn’t wearing them for golf time at least.

And additional bits from Liam’s interview from yesterday because it’s REALLY LONG, one recap wasn’t enough-- Liam said he definitely has not yet figured out what makes him happy (which makes me sad although also, normalize not having it all figured out in your 20s I don’t think that’s unusual) and talked about the difficulty of figuring out what to do when you’ve already accomplished your life goal so young, he mentioned the people speaking out against the X Factor and that he thinks there needs to be a care system for people in those shows, and said “find you a man who looks at you like Russell Brand looks at you when he’s listening to your stories, he looks into your soul,” and when host Steve talks about meditating naked says “now that’s what I want to think about!” (they’d been talking about what to focus your thoughts on for meditation). He said he wants to experiment with the way he does promo, specifically to wait to see if a song is doing well before doing press tours that might not have any point and that he thinks the industry is in a place where they need to throw out the old molds, and he talked about the industry wasting money on things they don’t need to do for promo. “You have your fanbase, grow it organically, properly,” he said, which is so much more true for any one of the 1D boys than anyone else, for sure, and it makes sense he’d say this stuff not just for the obvious reasons- we’ve all seen how badly labels have fallen short with post 1D solo stuff- but also because the 1D fandom always has been in a position out at the forefront of new ways that fan engagement work (as Liam points out, he talked about the perfect storm of the rise of twitter trends and of 1D) and modeling what will be next for other artists, so trying to fit it into old boxes doesn’t make sense, and it’s still true. Other solo artists simply DON’T HAVE the same kind of fandom these five do, and trying to market them the same way you would any random artist is just throwing away money and engagement! So it is exciting to see these guys take the lead on their own stuff and experiment with new ways of doing things, and Liam is smashing it at that.

[sailorsero]

nothin’ else like this - nsfw

author: claire (@sailorsero​) ship: solo adult bakugou katsuki, dash of adult bakugou x gender neutral reader, side adult kaminari denki x adult shinsou hitoshi prompt/genre: birthday & food kink themed solo play wordcount: 2887 warnings: explicit sexual content, swearing, kink, food fetish/food kink/sploshing a/n: • written for the Bakugou’s Birthday Bash Collaboration - check out the masterlist to see everyone elses!) • shoutout to @foolishfortuna who is writing an amazing food fetish kiribaku that inspired me to write this kink • i do not give permission for this (or any of my writing) to be reposted, by anyone, on this or any other website. please don’t do it! • title from ‘birthday cake’ by rihanna

nothin’ else like this *** pinkyofficial • HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BLASTIEST BOY IN THE GALAXY!!! @explosiongoddynamight LOVE YOU!!! 💥🧡🍹🎂😘 CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AND GET TURNT WITH MAH BOYSSS!!! BAKUSQUAD BABY!!! 👬🧍‍♀️👬 GO TELL DYNAMIGHT HAPPT BIRTHDAY Y’ALL!!! #dynamight #pinky #birthdaybitch

its_cellophane: happt birthday @explosiongoddynamight pinkyofficial: @its_cellophane suddenly we’re a squad of 4 #cellowho theredriot: Look at us 🥺 can’t wait to celebrate together, love you guys!!! happy birthday bro @explosiongoddynamight ♥️ chargebolt: But can we get #birthdaybitch trending tho?? 🤔

Bakugou tutted, flicking through the photos Mina had posted to Instagram. One from last years Hero Gala, with Tweedle Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest crowded into his personal space - all smiles, suits and champagne flutes. A post-graduation selfie with the woman herself, where he felt so triumphant at moving onto the next stage of his quest to become #1, that he hadn’t even objected to the filter that gave them huge eyelashes and bear ears. A couple from their most recent meetups, candids from their school days (mostly taken without his knowledge, let alone permission; the only one that he was posing for featured a double middle finger that had set Iida off for a good fifteen minutes), one from a photoshoot his publicist had strong armed him into and his friends had christened ‘The Great Bakugou Thirst Trap of 2020’.

Bakugou did not consider himself a sentimental person, or someone who placed a great deal of importance on his own birthday; he hadn’t even made any fuss when you told him you were needed in Osaka for a mission that would take you away two days before he turned 24.

But he couldn’t help but go back to the first photo of the bunch, allowing himself a soft smile he would deny under oath.

His 17th birthday, his first birthday with - ugh - real friends. He remembered rolling his eyes when Racoon Eyes had given her blindingly pink phone to the waitress, yelling at Sparky and Tape Face when they’d shoved themselves into the same side of the booth as the rest of them, growling when Shitty Hair had told him to ‘say ‘cheese’, Bakubro!’.

They all looked so young, pre-undercuts and piercings and late teenage growth spurts. He’d have to remember the (very secret) happiness that night had brought him next time Kirishima annoyed him by stepping mud into his carpet or Kaminari pissed him off by opening his big fat mouth.

Bakugou was drawn from his thoughts by knocking on his office door. Knocking that started out strong for the first hit, dropping noticeably into something more tentative for the rest; probably once they remembered whose door they were knocking on. Kirishima had once told him that the interns drew straws on who had to ‘rattle the beast’s cage’ (interact with Bakugou). He’d know; that idiot had been rattling Bakugou’s cage 25/8 since their first year at Yuuei.

“Come in!”

The door opened far enough for an assistant who had already been by this morning with a sack of birthday cards mixed in with regular fan mail to poke their head through the gap.

“Mr Dynamight, Sir, there’s another delivery for you.”

Bakugou nodded, leaning back in his leather desk chair and stretching out his back. Damn paperwork day, and on his birthday. Fuck, was 24 the age your back started aching from sitting in a goddamn chair?!

The assistant continued as they approached the desk, despite the fact that Bakugou didn’t fucking ask.

“It’s a cake, from a lovely bakery downtown; a delivery person just dropped it off. Their cakes are exquisite, by all accounts.”

They stepped back from the desk once the baby blue box was securely placed down, a white satin ribbon wound expertly around it. An embossed logo Bakugou recognised shone under the overhead light.

The blonde’s quirk made short work of the ribbon, burning it idly with one hand so the rest could be severed with ease.

Bakugou flipped the lid of the box up, letting it fall fully open so he could inspect the contents. He blinked. He blinked again.

It was a cake. A strawberry shortcake, slathered with cream and fresh fruit, and perfectly placed in the centre was a chocolate disc with immaculately piped words.

♡ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYNAMIGHT ♡

“It’s from your fanclub!”

He let his eyes drift back up to the assistant, who - from what Bakugou could infer from the overly positive, cheery tone he was using - clearly thought Bakugou was seconds away from blasting the expensive gateau across his office, and was trying to avert having to call the janitorial staff back up to this floor. He understood; unbridled, perhaps not-always-reasonable rage was kind of his brand, and the cleaners had already had to make a return journey today after Kaminari had set off several sprinklers making toast.

A cake. Yes, a cake. From his fanclub. A cake from his fanclub. That he was definitely going to eat and nothing else, nothing weird! A cake for him to eat. At home. In private. As soon as possible.

“That’s-” He cleared his throat and tried again. “That’s...great. It looks delicious...yes. Thanks. That’s all. You can...go.”

The assistant looked like they were struggling to process the combination of words that had just left Bakugou, but he was pleased when they decided to take this struggle on the road and left his office with a rushed “Yes, Mr Dynamight, Sir, thank you, you are welcome, good bye!” and the click of the office door.

Bakugou barely had time to drag his fingers through his hair, letting out a breath he had apparently been holding since he’d spoken, before the door opened again.

“Knock knock!” “You know he says it doesn’t count if you say it instead of doing it, especially if you’ve already open- Denki!”

Bakugou groaned as Kaminari shot across the room, peering into the still-open box on the desk. “Ooh, that looks amazing, bro! Can I have some?”

“Hey, Kats! Happy birthday, man!” Kirishima beamed at him before dropping his gaze to the cake Kaminari was currently eyefucking. Bakugou slid the box an inch or two closer to himself. He steadfastly ignored the other blonde’s question.

“Thanks, Ei. What’s Dunce Face doing here - world’s worst birthday present?”

Kirishima snorted, clapping Kaminari on the shoulder. “Ran into him a few blocks away on our patrols; figured we’d catch you now to say ‘happy birthday’ on the actual day instead of waiting for Saturday!”

Kaminari brought out what he probably considered the big guns; his finger guns, that he did for literally everything. “Happy birthday, Blasty! Speaking of your birthday, where did the cake come from? Sent with luuurve from Osaka? Although, that would be weird because you don’t even really like sweets and this won’t keep until Saturday when we get togeth-“

“It’s from my fanclub, Pikachu, and keep your staticky hands off my cake!” Bakugou flipped the lid back down, shielding the cake from view.

“Man, don’t be like that - there’s no way you’re gonna be able to eat all that by yourself!” Kaminari whined.

“Relax, Denks - you know Y/N has a cake ordered for Bakubro’s Belated Birthday Blowout!” Kirishima patted his back consolingly.

“I really wish you’d all stop calling it that. God, letting you guys have their number was a fucking mistake.”

Kaminari looked thoughtful; it was terrifying. “You know, I heard, one time, a hero got given a homemade cake by a fan, and when they took a bite of it, they realised they had a mouth full of the fan’s pubic hair!”

“Dude!” “What the everloving fuck, Dunce Face?!”

Kaminari just beamed, apparently proud of himself for making Bakugou question his life on the anniversary of his birth.

“Firstly, does this cake look fucking homemade to you? Secondly, where the fuck did you read that? ‘Disgusting Stories for Stupid Fucking Idiots Monthly’?”

Kaminari shrugged, nonplussed. “Sero told me.”

“Yes, then. Same thing, pretty much.”

Kirishima interrupted, looking thoughtful. “If you think Bakubro’s cake is full of pubes, why do you want to eat it?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a mouthful of pubes, bro! ‘Toshi’s more of an au naturel kind of guy…”

Bakugou saw Kirishima’s (painful looking) thinking face intensify, and intervened immediately. “Ei, do not pull at this thread. He-“ Bakugou punctuated with a harsh jab towards the electric hero. “- has told us several times that he’s had Mindfucker’s dirty feet in his mouth before, not to mention all the bodily fluids, and then there’s all the disgusting public places they’ve fucked, and-“

“Don’t kinkshame me, bruh!” Kaminari cut in, sounding lowkey offended, but Bakugou noted the look of pride from before hadn’t diminished, even a little bit.

Bakugou snorted. He constantly shamed Kaminari and his walking corpse of a boyfriend, but that was because they were shamelessly disgusting oversharing nymphomaniacs and someone had to do it. Preferably before one of them creamed their pants in a karaoke bar again. That was Shinkami shaming, not kinkshaming.

He definitely had no room to kinkshame people; not with the plans he had for this cake.

***

Bakugou slammed the door to his apartment shut with his hip and laid the bakery box down on the side table so he could make quick work of his boots and jacket.

God, that had to have been the longest taxi ride of his life. He couldn’t risk the subway with such a precious cargo, so he’d had to sit in the back of the cab next to the box (that he’d had to resist the urge to belt in) and sweat in silence.

Bakugou didn’t know where this kink had come from - maybe he’d watched too much Food Network in his formative years, or passing by the bakery with the amazing smell opposite his junior high school twice a day for three years before going home to jerk it had warped his sexuality; all he knew was, he was gonna fuck this cake.

It was a shame that you were miles and miles away and unavailable for a Facetime like no other; introducing you to his kink had been one of the best weekends of his life, and he was pretty sure - if he knows you as well as he thinks he does - you’d placed an order for two birthday cakes for his belated celebrations.

Maybe you’d got other stuff in mind, too - pie, custard, ice cream, syrups, chocolate, sushi, spaghetti, fruit…and now he was half-hard, still fully dressed and standing in the hallway.

Well, you weren’t here now, but it was his birthday, dammit! He would just have to play alone, and send you some photos afterwards.

Bakugou seized the box and made quick strides until he could place it down on his bedside table.

The comforter flew off of the bed, pooling into a lavish lump on the floor right before the pillows landed one by one on top. The undersheet was last, leaving the rubber sheet beneath exposed to one of the only two people who knew it was there in the first place.

The box made its final move to the middle of the protected mattress, where Bakugou tilted it just enough to be able to coax the cake free with help from gravity and without getting it all over his hands. Not yet…

Bakugou made short work of his clothes, kicking his pants and briefs off impatiently a second before climbing onto the bed and kneeling beside his prize.

Normally, he’d take his time, play around more, have more of a plan, but today, the anticipation had him on a knife edge already. It had been nearly four hours since he’d unwrapped this gift, and he was dying to play with it.

Bakugou leant his knees spread apart, sinking into a squat so he was as close as he could get to his treat.

He was fully hard now, and gave his cock a couple of quick pumps, letting his fist settle loosely from the base down as he took a deep breath and brought his leaking tip to the side of the cake.

His breath left him in a quick rush when the first contact was made; the cream was on the cooler side, and the smooth finish of the outside of the cake was everything he had been missing since he’d last indulged himself like this.

It took all the self control Bakugou had to only push the head in, then pause and take a breath, focusing intently on every sensation as he pushed in as slowly as was physically possible.

The afternoon of waiting felt like edging, so the sensation against his cock, inch by inch, was almost too much as it was not enough.

The sponge was almost as soft and velvety as the cream, but providing some texture and resistance that felt as delicious as the dessert looked.

Bakugou let out the first of many moans as he bottomed out, the air in the bedroom already beginning to smell like sugar and strawberries - just the right side of cloying, and he knew before long it would be so heady he’d be dizzy from it.

He pulled out almost as slowly as he went in, raising himself back up a little and bracing himself with his hands on the other side of the intact cake, leaving him looking over it on his hands and knees.

His reentry at a slightly higher point of the cake wasn’t quite as slow as the first breach, but he’s never been known for his patience.

Bakugou pulled in and out a couple of times, leaving a clear hole to fuck as he began to do just that, his hips begnining to thrust in a steady rhythm.

It didn’t take long for the squishy sounds coming from between his legs to turn into sloppy ones; the delicate cake was beginning to buckle already, the defined layers enveloping his cock becoming mushy around him.

Balancing his weight on one arm, he swiped his now-free hand across the top of the cake, coming away with as generous a handful of cream and strawberry slices as he could without threatening the structural integrity of the cake prematurely.

Bakugou raised his hand and smacked it right into the middle of his chest, before smearing it across his right pec, rubbing purposefully over his nipple as he did so. His hips sped up slightly without intention - or him noticing - as he alternated between smearing the food deeper into his flushed skin, and tugging on his nipple.

He could hear whimpering in his ears and it took a beat or two for Bakugou to realise they were coming from him. Fuck, it all just felt so good.

He blindly grabbed another small handful, this time coming away with some cake mixed into his spoils, before repeating the treatment on his left pec, but with a roughness borne of his increasing desperation.

“Fuck, fuck, shit, I-“ He hissed out a breath, pinching his nipple firmly as he felt the cake begin to collapse inwards, the squelch of the fucking he was giving it echoing in his ears.

A final scoop of the dessert onto his fingers went straight into his mouth, his plush, pink lips parting to accommodate three fingers; he was close.

Bakugou’s balance was starting to go as his orgasm approached, so he pulled his fingers free from his tongue and resumed his position, but beginning to sink lower into the mess he was fucking into his mattress protectors. From his angle, his balls began to slap what was left of the sides of the sinking cake, and the noise that created tore another moan from the blonde.

He could feel the sticky mess coating his crotch and inner thighs, closing his eyes as he lost himself in the feeling of indulging in the kink that turned him on like nothing else, wanting to savour something he knew was nearly over.

“Oh my fuck- ing, shit, oh, fuck-“

Bakugou’s hips were moving at a frantic pace now, chasing a release inside the cake while it still had an inside.

His orgasm had been teetering for a couple of minutes, then came all at once. A shout turned into a long, drawn out moan that was almost a cry, as he spilled his release in one, two, three bursts; biting his lip so hard, he’d discover later he’d drawn blood.

His arms gave out before he’d come back to himself, his lower half landing into the gooey puddle of expensive baking with a splat that would almost have been enough to get him half hard again if his soul hadn’t just shot out of his dick into a cake.

The blonde let out a deep, satisfied sigh, smiling dopily into the shiny, specialist bedsheet. Happy birthday to me, indeed.

Bakugou had only just had the energy to raise himself back onto his hands and knees when he had to find a little more to turn his head towards the door at the sound of it creaking open.

“Awh, did someone get you a birthday cake, babe?”

He nodded. You were back early.

You dropped your duffel on the floor, taking your first step towards the bed as you slid your shirt off with ease.

“Ooh, good - you saved some for me! I’m starving…”

[masterthespianduchovny]

Any Philes (or Gillovnies) who enjoyed seeing David and Gillian together on Sunday please ignore the antis.

Do not allow them to shame you for enjoying David and Gillian getting along. These antis have spent years shaming and harassing people for daring to believe that Davis and Gillian get along and are friends. They claim it’s all about shipping real people, but as I can attest to myself (which I have proof of), I was like sent almost 30 hate anon stemming from a post explaining why I believe David and Gillian are friends.

I explained why they may have not got along during certain points in the original run, but ultimately they got along and have become closer since then. Various examples were used to back up my assertion. Antis got so upset they sent, again, almost 30 hate anons. Only like three of them were neutral or in agreement with me.

This is legit not an exaggeration.

Gillian’s post yesterday blew their whole belief system apart. They claimed that Gillian didn’t like David and that she only associated with him for either the x files or to promote a charity. They said we were making up shit to say they get along and that Gillian was grossed out by him.

Again, this was because people said they were FRIENDS.

Then, yesterday happened and now it’s, 1. “I don’t know why people are losing their shit, David was visiting a friend.” Or, 2. “You guys are being weird about David visiting Gillian.” And, also, 3. “fans needs to quit that shipper shit, they’re ruining a good pic.” 4. “I hate that Gillian is friends with him, she doesn’t know the truth about him.”

Although I’m Gillovny as fuck, I was just happy to see they got along. I was vindicated after what antis tried to put me through and all the shit they put others through. Gillian’s post utterly destroyed their bullshit and claims of rationality/objectivity.

As far as the antis remarks about this visit:

1. They HAVE to admit that David and Gillian are friends because there’s no other way to explain David’s visit. As far as we know, there aren’t any plans for live action x files, they have no active projects to promote, and David is against appearing with Gillian in non x files projects.

So, if they aren’t friends and they aren’t working together, that’s means they’re fucking or dating, right? In this situation, friendship is the lesser evil and they’d be delusional to pretend they aren’t friends at this point.

But it’s not enough to acknowledge that they’re friends, they have to downplay it like it’s no big deal as if the narrative that they hate each other hasn’t been peddled since the fucking 90s.

I mean, what fan wouldn’t rejoice at the fact that two actors with mad chemistry actually get along?

However, antis have to downplay it just to subtly stress and imply that this is a friendship and nothing more. Just because we were right about this doesn’t mean some Gillovnies are right that there may be something more (even if it’s just emotionally), which the confirmed friendship now makes them believe we may be on to something.

2. Most weren’t being weird about David visiting Gillian. However, it’s a pretty big deal because they famously only took professional/work related photos together. How many personal pics have we seen of them. And they spent years talking about how they don’t really hang out and barely text/email each other. Why can’t we squee on the people we care about hanging out?

3. Most fans didn’t bring up Gillovny and, even if they did, it’s a part of life for them at this point. I’d argue that many of the fans who do bring it up are casual fans and don’t mean to be malicious. Most fans don’t keep up with their dating lives. Last year, I just found out that a phile thought David and Gillian were married because Tea and Gillian kinda look alike. Most don’t know Gillian’s dating history, that she and Peter broke up, or about the girlfriend that David hasn’t claimed despite being involved with her for years. Antis find reasons to be upset, and then blame it on excited fans or Gillovnies because they’re upset that we were right about something they swear wasn’t true.

4. Unless you actually had personal dealing with David or a trusted person you know was, a random fan on the internet will never know David more than Gillian. Whatever allegations y’all want to level at him during his x files days, she likely knows about. There aren’t many secrets in Hollywood, so if you know something and believe it, Gillian likely knows as well. No people don’t always know everything about a person, but people in Hollywood love to gossip. There’s no way Gillian could be friends with David and she somehow doesn’t know about the allegedly bad things he did.

Antis also love to lean on remarks given by Dean Hanglund (???), William b Davis, and pat skipper to prove David and Gillian hated each other. All while overlooking Kim Manners (who spoke on record about their connection), Mitch Pileggi, and other people who have said the opposite.

You have the Mark Mann photoshoot where Mark described the event from beginning to end and it was a glowing assessment of their dynamic, which antis claim was “PR.” You also have Jimmy Kimmel who initially observed how well they got along off camera, noticed it again on camera, remarked on it, and then flat out asked them, “what’s going on with you two?”

You have various celebrities, people who know or have come in contact with them, liking and commenting on shit regarding their relationship. I don’t mean this romantically just in general.

There is way more evidence supporting the fact that they got along and are friends (now) than this idea that they hate each other. I’m not saying they’ve never butted heads and fought, however, I think their relationship shouldn’t be defined by the moments they didn’t get along. These two worked long hour days together and became famous at the same time all while isolated in Vancouver together. Cut them some slack.

Keep in mind, their “dark days” came around the time where, in addition to long shooting days, they also shot a movie at the same time! Yeah, they didn’t get along at times before then, but they were some workhorses for Chris!

I do find Orlando Jones’ place in this hilarious and intriguing. We know for a fact that he worked with David and may even be friends with him. Also. he may have worked with Gillian or come into contact with her. They had roles on the same show, but didn’t share scenes together. The fact that he openly ships them is intriguing because of his proximity to them and he’s a professional actor. Orlando likes to have fun and can be trollish at times, but not maliciously.

The fact that he openly ships Gillovny and hasn’t been told to stop is fascinating. I don’t think he’s been told to stop because Orlando has good relationships in Hollywood and doesn’t seem the type of overstep boundaries. So either he’s having good fun with it and doesn’t believe it OR he wants something to happen and likes being involved in the fan shipping. And that tells me either David (and Gillian) don’t have a problem when he does it and/or he sees/hears things we haven’t and wishes they’d get together. 🤔

Ultimately, don’t listen to antis because they’re upset as fuck right now and most of us are just enjoying the content and having a good time. :) don’t let them think we’re doing anything wrong for loving the pics that were released for us to enjoy.

[lifeofkaze]

When Stars Ignite - Chapter 10

HPHM Rockstar AU

A/N:

General Warning: This whole fic has a general warning of being NSFW / 18+. We will give specific warnings for every chapter in itself, but several adult themes will be more or less present in every chapter, may it be explicitly or in mention. These include sexual topics, drug abuse, (ab)use of alcohol, smoking and a whole lot of cursing.

Specific Warning: None, wow 😂

~~~

Find the masterpost here, the previous chapter here and the next one here. The songs featured before every chapter can be found on this pretty badass playlist here.

~~~

This work is a collaboration with @the-al-chemist

Taglist: @slytherindisaster @night-rhea @carewyncromwell

I make my livin' off the evenin' news

Just give me somethin', somethin' I can use

People love it when you lose

They love dirty laundry

~ Don Henley - Dirty Laundry ~

Ethan’s plan to raise Equinox’s standing within the record company was very clear. While their nights were spent performing on stage, Ethan had made sure their days were filled with a tight schedule of PR appointments.

Where they’d had plenty of time to relax, socialise and explore on their previous tours, every day was now jam-packed with meet & greets, photoshoots and interviews. Even when they were off duty, Ethan was constantly reminding them to take pictures and film stories to publish on social media.

“People aren’t following you because they like your music,” he never got tired of saying. “They want to see who’s behind their favourite rockstars. Give them a look at your private life and you’ll be everybody’s darlings in no time once again.”

Some of them were more reluctant to put themselves out there than the others. While Lizzie and Skye didn’t mind the odd goofy backstage clip, Lizzie noticed Merula and especially Orion were increasingly drawing back into themselves.

Lizzie and Orion made a point to avoid talking about band business when they were spending their nights together; not that they were talking much at all. But the concerned crease that she could see more often than not on Orion’s forehead these days wasn’t lost on her either.

The worst part of Ethan’s strategy, however, were without a doubt the countless press appointments. All in the spirit of keeping the enemy close, Lizzie had lost track of how many interviews they had given since their U.K. tour had started. The publications they were working with ranged from reputable magazines and newspapers to the trashiest of tabloids. At least, most of the stories those were coming up with were just too hilarious to be actually believable; Lizzie shuddered to think what dirt they could uncover if they’d ever decide to dig for real.

Like on so many days before, Equinox were scheduled for another interview before one of their rare days off. It was for a feature story with a magazine well respected in the industry, all with an accompanying photo shoot and the whole conundrum. It wouldn’t have sounded so bad, had it not been for the journalist who had been chosen to conduct the interview.

Lizzie had met a number of reporters over the course of her career, but none who ground her nerves as Rita Skeeter did.

Beloved by her readers and dreaded by the subjects of her stories, Rita Skeeter was one of the most sharp-tongued critics British journalism had to offer. She had a singular gift - although some called it a curse - to wiggle even the slightest of juicy information out of her unheeding interview partner. Many a career had taken a dive after an unfortunate encounter with her.

If you wanted utmost attention, Rita Skeeter was the right woman for the job; but you had better get your guard up.

The blonde woman was currently watching Andre preparing them for the interview and the shoot afterwards; usually the magazines brought their own stylists, but Ethan liked to keep as many things under control as he could. Having Andre in charge of their looks guaranteed they would give off just the impression Ethan wanted.

Andre was in the process of applying Lizzie’s make up, the tip of his tongue showing between his teeth while he concentrated. She winced as her eyes started tearing up from the wand of the mascara.

“I don’t get why this much makeup is necessary,” she complained, drawing away from Andre to blink her tears away. “I get it with Merula, she’s singing and in focus, but I’m behind the drums, no one’s paying attention to me. Give her the spotlight and leave me in peace,” she added glumly as she saw Andre approach with a curling wand.

Andre tutted as he opened her ponytail and loosened her hair with practised hands. “Stop arguing, you know it’s useless. And besides,” he added with a wink that showed off his glittery eyeliner, “loads of people are paying attention to you; you’re just not looking.”

“I have to agree with Mr. Egwu,” Rita suddenly said. She had been leaning against one of the dressing tables on the set and watched them being dolled up. Andre usually held their wardrobe in dark colours, black and white, so Rita’s bilious green dress stood out like a flare in comparison. She pursed her bright red lips as she looked Lizzie up and down over the rim of her half-glasses.

“You’re a favourite with my readers, Miss Jameson… Lizzie, I may call you Lizzie, right?”

Without waiting for Lizzie’s answer, she continued. “You have a bright personality and some decent looks; you are the little sunshine of this group and everyone likes themselves a good ‘girl next door in the big wide world’ trope.”

She raised her hands at Lizzie’s sceptical look and laughed; it sounded incredibly put on. “I’m not a fan of putting people into drawers either, but it’s what the people want to see.” She tapped her finger against her temple. “It’s how my readers think.”

Skye snorted in the background; she was already done with her styling and sat on one of the tables, legs dangling in the air. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Rita giggled. “Of course the rebel of the group would say that, I expected nothing else; after all, there’s true rockstar blood running through your veins, Skye Parkin.”

Not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to herself, Skye fell silent.

When everyone was ready, they moved over to where two comfortable looking sofas and an armchair were set up for them. Lizzie sighed inwardly as she took her place between Skye and Everett. Rita Skeeter was known to make her interview questions up on the spot; Lizzie just hoped they wouldn’t be too off the rails.

Rita leaned back into her armchair facing them and placed a dictating machine onto the small wooden table next to her. It was no secret that the infamous reporter liked to keep her own notes, kept apart from the material belonging to her magazine; she usually kept the dictating device running long after the cameras had turned off.

“So,” she began speaking to an invisible audience with a sickly sweet voice, “I’m honoured to be talking to England’s hottest export when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll - and I mean that in more ways than one.”

She turned her attention towards them. “It’s so good to have you here today, how are you all?”

They all muttered some noncommittal phrases before Rita started with her first question. Like always in the beginning, it was more of a general palaver as both parties were taking the other’s measure.

If the questions weren’t directed at anyone in particular, it was usually Everett answering them. He loved the attention he got from Rita and contrary to the rest of them, he almost seemed to feel comfortable around her. The pictures Lizzie had seen of him and Rita in Skye’s tabloid came to her mind again, and she wondered if that might be the reason for Everett’s talkativeness.

As the interview continued, Rita’s questions were gradually becoming more detailed, focused on several aspects that she deemed sell-worthy. She watched every one of them closely as they answered, and they picked their words carefully.

“One thing I noticed about this last part of your tour is your very increased availability,” Rita said. “I don’t remember seeing you do so much fan service and public appearances before. What’s the reason behind this?”

It was Orion who answered her question. “The most important thing to us is to make sure our fans are having a good time. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are now; it’s not a lot, but this is our way of thanking them.”

“Is this the reason for your upcoming special show tomorrow? Reserved for the indigent foster care children?”

Her eyes flicked between Merula and Orion. “It’s no secret you two have a history with the system. One orphaned at such a young age, the other the daughter of convicted criminals, bound to be raised in the shadows of her parents’ deeds. Two unlikely siblings, not bound by blood but by trauma - how does it feel to risk a look into your own past?”

“It’s a show like any other,” Merula replied bluntly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She scowled at the blonde reporter. “No need to make a big deal out of this.”

Orion inclined his head in Merula’s direction. “What Merula wants to say is, we make no difference in what good cause we are supporting, as long as we can put a smile on the faces of those who need it, even if only for a little while. We do have our past in the care system, that is common knowledge, but as Merula pointed out already, this is in the past. If you want to continue on your path, it is no good walking with your gaze turned backwards. We live in the here and now, so it’s what’s in front of us that matters.”

The slight twitch around the corners of Rita’s mouth was almost too quick to catch, but Lizzie had seen it nonetheless. Apparently, Orion had given her the exact bridge to her next question she had hoped for.

“If you want to speak about the here and now, I’ll be too happy to fulfill your wish,” she cooed. “Now that we’re speaking on a more personal level anyway, I just have to ask. You guys are living everyone’s wildest dreams, a life all of us mere mortals can only imagine.” Her eyes sparkled behind her glasses. “It’s only us here, you can trust me; what about the juicy stories? Any tales of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll you want to share with the world?”

Lizzie subconsciously bit the inside of her cheek, hoping Rita hadn’t noticed before she got herself under control again; this woman was a bloodhound when it came to scandals. If she ever found out what was going on between Orion and her, Lizzie might just as well bury herself alive.

Luckily, Orion wasn’t fazed by her question. “The only passion we share is the love for our music,” he smiled noncommittally. “As professional musicians we try to keep our public and private lives separated.”

Rita’s eyes gleamed as she leaned forward. “You try to keep them separated?”

Before Lizzie couldn’t help it, her eyes flickered to Orion again.

“We have been friends for years, of course our lives intervene in places. The friendship between us we show to the world is genuine and not for show.”

“Friendship, huh?” Rita’s nostrils flared as her eyes swept the round. “Come on, we’re all adults here. So many gorgeous young people spending their time together all day, everyday? Don’t tell me you’re all staying up drinking apple juice and playing board games.”

Her attention shifted so suddenly that Lizzie was taken by surprise. “What about you, Lizzie? Any stories to tell?” She looked her up and down critically. “If you ask me, you and Jason would make quite the pair. The golden girl and the bad boy? People live for stories like that.”

Everett sighed wistfully. “Just call me Ev, Rita, everyone does. But yeah, that’s what I’ve been telling her for years now, but so far to no avail. Perhaps she’ll listen to you.”

Lizzie was relieved when he immediately started laughing his words off. “I’m joking of course; Orion is right. The band is our job and our management wants us to keep things professional. There’s other ways to live the rockstar lifestyle,” he finished with a wink.

Rita pursed her lips in a knowing smile. “That I believe in a heartbeat. Fill me in guys, between us, how is it with the ladies? The bad guy with an angel’s voice and the soulful songwriter and his magic hands… you must be spoiled for choice.”

Everett grinned and leaned back against the sofa. “I can’t complain, is all I’m saying.”

“How about you Orion? Dark eyes, messy hair, all those tattoos - your fans must love this,” she winked with a sly smile, “At least I know where I would try to go after a show if I was a little younger.”

Lizzie tried very much not to roll her eyes.

“Even if they do, I wouldn’t know of it,” Orion answered serenely. “While I love all our fans dearly, my relationship with them ends when our show does.”

“So no stories behind your many tattoos? No tales of long lost love?”

“I didn’t say there are no stories,” Orion replied, “only that they have nothing to do with any fans of ours.”

Trying to steer the conversation to a less dangerous topic, he started explaining the stories behind some of the less meaningful tattoos on his wrists and arms. Lizzie knew each and every one of them by heart, the pictures as familiar to her as Orion’s smile when she ran her fingers over his painted skin.

What he didn’t mention was the biggest of his tattoos and her favourite one; the giant dreamcatcher running along the whole length of his back. Thinking about the intricate lines made a little smile appear on her face.

She didn’t even notice Rita asking her way through the rest of her friends until the reporter’s attention turned to her.

“All of your friends seem to be quite the fans of body art; what about you, Lizzie? Do you have any tattoos as well?”

Lizzie flashed Rita the brilliant but noncommittal smile reserved for the people she just couldn’t stand. “I do have one, yes.”

Rita raised an eyebrow when she didn’t continue. “And where might that be?”

Lizzie chuckled in response. “That will stay my little secret.”

Her gaze was fixed on Rita, but out of the corner of her eye she could see Orion fighting hard to suppress a grin. Of course, he knew exactly where it was.

Rita blinked, clearly irritated by her answer, the same empty smile that was on Lizzie’s face never leaving her red lips.

“Very well, keep your secret - for now. I’ll find out eventually.”

Her smile broadened, a dangerous glint shining in her eyes. “All secrets have their way of ending up with me, one way or another.”

Rita stood up from her armchair to get herself something to drink. When she turned her back on them, Lizzie slowly breathed out, relieved to have the blonde’s prying eyes taken off her.

As the others got up to leave the set as well, Orion and Lizzie’s eyes met for a moment. A smile was playing around his lips as they dropped to where her tattoo was hidden from everybody else’s sight.

She felt her lips curve into a smile of her own and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, her hand resting over the small spot on her ribcage where the words that resonated with her so much were inked into her skin. Seeing what she was doing, Orion couldn’t contain his grin any longer. Judging by the twinkle in his eyes, the memory of when he had first seen them was playing just as vividly in his mind as it did in hers.

[eryiss]

Summary: Freed has taken great joy in watching Laxus become not only a powerful mage, but a celebrity as well. As any dutiful husband would, he saw it his responsibility to make sure Laxus' new found fame didn't go to his head. And what better way to accomplish that than to splash him back to reality. [Fraxus One Shot]

I'm not sure where this idea came from, but it seemed fun and I don’t write canon-focused as much as I'd like to. This is just a fun little one shot, that I hope can put a smile on your faces.

You can read this under the cut, on Fanfiction, or on Archive of Our Own. Hope you enjoy it.

A Splash of Reality

Freed wasn't entirely sure how, but Laxus had become something of a celebrity.

It had started out during their stint working for Blue Pegasus, wherein Laxus had been forced to take an interview with Sorcerer Weekly. Master Bob had insisted on it, claiming that the guild was run on patrons as well as their jobs, and having the world-renowned Laxus Dreyar suddenly as a guildmember was big news and could stir up a lot of business. It was made an even bigger deal because of Laxus' previous aversion to anything to do with press. It was his first interview, and it had been incredibly successful.

From there, things had snowballed. Other interviewers suddenly saw Laxus as a viable target, and Bob forced Laxus to do the more high-profile ones. When Fairy Tail had returned, Laxus had been one of the main points of intrigue, partly because now he was a well-known media figure and Fairy Tail returning was big news, and party because of the rumours about Laxus taking over.

Once he had started, he hadn't seemed to stop. Not only did he do interviews, but he also done an advertisement for the creators of his cherished headphones, which had kickstarted his pseudo-career in modelling. Every interview now came with a photoshoot, and Freed was immeasurably amused about how, with every shoot he did, the amount of clothing Laxus wore seemed to be lessening and the poses became more focused on his physique. Apparently the magazines knew a body they could profit from when presented with one.

While Laxus did complain, Freed knew he was enjoying it all. The man, while private, did like attention, if only on his terms.

The amount of time the couple could spend together did lessen slightly, but Freed didn't mind that. It would be hypocritical if he did, given when they had gotten together it had been the same year he'd gained the reputation as the 'Pretty Boy with a heart of darkness', and he had topped the 'Wizard I'd Like To Date' list; something Laxus had yet to do, Freed thought smugly. Media was something a famous wizard had to deal with, and it was a lot more fun laughing at Laxus' awkwardness in interviews than it would be if he allowed himself to be angry at the late nights Laxus spent in a studio somewhere.

One such night, Freed found himself doing the dishes as Laxus returned home.

"Hey," Laxus greeted as he entered, immediately shucking off his coat. "You alright?"

"Perfectly well," Freed said with a smile, placing the sponge on the draining board and turning to greet his husband. "Did your meeting go well?"

"I guess so," Laxus shrugged. "They offered me the contract. Pretty good pay, lots of coverage, they seemed enthusiastic about it."

"I can't imagine why," Freed chuckled. "It's not as if you're the person everyone's taking about right now, and that everything you attribute your name to seems to explode in popularity. Oh wait, you're exactly that," Freed chuckled. "I expect they threw a party just because you considered it."

An underwear company had, a month prior, come to Laxus saying they wanted him to be the headliner for their new ad campaign. They had stated in no uncertain terms that they would do almost anything to have him as their lead model, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Laxus had done a photoshoot for Sorcerer Weekly where one of the pictures showed Laxus teasing his underwear, and it had been the year's most successful issue of the magazine. The company had openly grovelled to get Laxus to consider their offer, and Freed had found it hysterical. He remembered what it had been like when he'd gotten similar offers, and was thankful that he no longer had to deal with it.

"Are you considering taking it?" Freed asked as he turned back to the dishes.

"Not sure," Laxus said, walking behind Freed and pressing his lips against the man's crown, a silent greeting. "They're respectful, and they said I can pick a photographer I know which means I won't get stuck with a creep. But I'm a mage, y'know. It'd make me less credible if there were magazine and billboard with me nearly naked on them, right?"

Freed paused, and smiled. He had known Laxus most of his life and they'd been together for a good few years, so he could read the man well. The fact that he'd phrased his last statement as a question, rather than as fact, was telling. He wanted to do it, almost definitely would do it, but he just needed a push.

And unfortunately, Freed had a bit of a cruel side.

"You're absolutely right," Freed said, voice almost haughty in tone. He was grinning into the unclean dishes. "Not only would you seem a sell-out, it would also affect your guild work and your reputation. It would risk taking away the fear factor you bring to missions; you shouldn't do it."

There was a beat of silent, one that Freed relished, before Laxus spoke again.

"But there's good aspects to it," He stated, forcing a nonchalant tone. "I could get some more money for the guild, which it always needs. And it's not like it's uncommon for mages to do ad campaigns and get into modelling. I mean, Mira does it all the time and nobody questions how fucking scary she can be."

"I'll agree to that," Freed nodded slightly, looking to Laxus with a wicked grin. "If you agree that you're loving this."

This had been the unspoken aspect of Laxus' celebrity status. Before it had happened, the blonde had been ardent that he'd never get into the publicity side of mage work, and that the people who did weren't as respectable as those who didn't. He'd claimed he would never do an interview by choice, and that he would hate every moment of it if forced to do one. That might have been true at the start, but as he had gotten used to it, gotten more comfortable with it, and had created professional relationships with journalists and photographers, he'd clearly started to enjoy it. A lot. But he refused to admit it, another amusing part of the situation.

"You kidding me?" Laxus scoffed. "Wish they'd stop asking, then I'd go back to normal."

"If that's the case, I'll talk to Master Makarov and have him block all correspondence from the media," Freed offered, and smirked when Laxus' eyebrow twitched slight. "Just admit it Laxus, you've become a celebrity, and you're enjoying every second of it."

"No I'm not," He protested, collapsing into a chair at the dining table.

"Oh please," Freed chuckled. "There's a small voice in your head that is constantly celebrating every moment of this. The arrogant teenager who wanted to hog the spotlight," Freed smiled as Laxus blushed a little. "You remind me of me when I first got into the celebrity side of things."

"I ain't that bad," Laxus stated. "Nobody can be as bad as Freed Justine the Pretty Boy."

"You might be more subtle about it," Freed conceded. "But I know that if you hadn't made such a big deal about not being one of those people, you'd be just as bad as I was."

"So what if I'm enjoying it," Laxus huffed, looking away from Freed and ignoring the chuckle that got him. "It ain't like I'm doing anything wrong by liking it."

"Certainly not, you're a well renowned wizard and you have put a lot of effort into proving yourself capable and impressive. Your celebrity status just proves that it's not just magic you're proficient in, but also publicity, arguably something a lot harder to do," Freed said as he walked from the kitchen sink and towards Laxus. "But if you think I'm not going to take every opportunity to annoy you like you did when our roles were reversed, you are very naïve indeed."

Laxus chuckled slightly at that, and the minor amount of defensiveness dissipated. As a couple, they had always had a flirtatious, harmless tit-for-tat rivalry, and Freed was glad Laxus knew his teasing was a part of that.

"Guess I deserve that," Laxus conceded. "What are you planning to do then? Find an embarrassing picture of me and send it to every magazine you know?"

"I'd hardly do something so unoriginal," Freed chuckled, thinking back to when Laxus had done just that to Freed. The picture of Freed sleeping, leaning against his sword, hair a mess after a mission, drooling slightly, had been featured in every low-end gossip magazine for a week, something which Laxus and The Raijinshuu found great delight in.

"Then what?" Laxus probed, smirking. He was clearly thinking of the picture as well.

"I can hardly ruin the surprise for you," Freed chuckled. "But, overall, I simply intend to keep you humble. To make sure all the grovelling and worshipping doesn't go to your head."

"How d'you plan on doing that?"

"Well, this, for example."

Freed moved quickly. As he had walked from the kitchen sink, he had grabbed the sponge that lay on the draining board and hidden it behind his back, something that Laxus hadn't noticed. He speedily moved it above Laxus' head, wringing it out. A cold shower of dishwater dropped out of it, landing on the blonde's perfectly styled hair, and splashing onto his shoulders.

Laxus let out a loud and undignified squark, wide eyed as the water dripped down his face. He looked up at Freed with shock for a moment, before determination painted itself across his featured. Freed met the expression with a cocky smile.

"You'll regret that," Laxus stated plainly.

"I don't think so," Freed chuckled. "After such a lovely noise, I don't think anything you do could make me regret it."

Laxus strode to the kitchen sink, scooping his hand in and collecting a handful of the foam bubbles. He turned on his heel and looked to Freed, who had crossed his arms and looked at the bubbles with an unimpressed eyebrow quirk. Not put off, Laxus stepped forward and slowly stroked Freed's face over with his bubbly fist, covering the man's features. He chuckled as he stepped back, the bubbles clinging to Freed's face.

"Well I have had a taste of my own medicine," Freed said in a voice so sarcastic it was almost impressive. "And it is very bitt-"

Freed cut himself off, gaping slightly as realisation – and a glass full of water – hit him. He gaped slightly as the cup full of dishwater splashed cold against his face, part of it entering his mouth. He slowly spat the water out onto the floor, glaring at his husband as bubbles trickled down his face. Laxus loudly laughed at him.

"I see," Freed said, voice calm now. "It's war then, is it?"

"Guess so," Laxus shrugged, crossing his arms, and adopting the same stance Freed had used just a moment ago.

And so, the war broke out. Before Freed could get to the sink, Laxus had splashed another handful of bubbles and water in his direction, drenching his crisp shirt and sending a shudder through him. Freed quickly got his revenge, cupping his hands and doing the same. His attack had been more effective, and Laxus groaned at a large wet mark covered his designer clothing; designer clothing that looked indistinguishable from his other clothes, given that no designer could change his unique sense of style.

The impromptu water fight lasted for a short while, and was covered in a mixture of sounds ranging from cries of annoyance to loud and raucous laughter. Though their kitchen was something of a mess by the time the fight neared its end, neither man cared. They both faced a lot of pressure, and moments of ridiculous fun was something they both relished.

Particularly Freed, given that he was now holding Laxus by the hair, threatening to plunge his face down into the rest of the dishwater.

"You wouldn't," Laxus grunted, muscles flexing as he pushed up against Freed's grasp.

"We both know I would," Freed taunted. "Unless you concede, of course."

"Never," Laxus demanded.

"Well then, let me give you a taste of what you've got in stall," Freed laughed, and Laxus' eyes narrowed. "Tonight I had gravy with my dinner, so the water is not only cold and stagnant, but it's also got a delightful hint of soapy beef. The few specs of the dinner I didn't finish are still floating around, which I expect will make this interesting," Laxus curled his nose at that; he could already smell the mix of contrasting scents. He was fine not having a closer look. "And from your nasty sneak attack, I can say from experience that it has a disgusting taste."

"You won't push me in," Laxus huffed. "When it comes to arm strength, I win."

"Perhaps with another man, that would be true," Freed mused. "But as your husband, I know a weakness or two that I can exploit."

Freed's fingers grazed against Laxus' waist, and a tickling sensation flushed through the blonde. His eyes widened as he reaffirmed his grasp on the sides of the sink, because Freed had barely been trying to tickle him and he was now only an inch away from the water's surface. If Freed really wanted to do this, Laxus would be powerless.

"You have one last chance to admit I win," Freed chuckled, breath hitting Laxus' ear. "Or it's bath time."

"Go fuck yourself."

"Very well," Freed grinned. "Enjoy yourself, Mr Celebrity."

And with that, Freed's free hand attacked Laxus' weak spot, his muscles buckled, and his face was shoved into the disgusting water below him.

~~~

"You've made a decision then?" Freed asked.

He walked out of his bathroom wearing nothing but a robe, his hair a slight mess after a quick towel dry. After Laxus had been pushed into the sink, Freed had been declared the victor of their water fight, and the two had retreated to the shower to clean off. Laxus had left the bathroom before Freed, claiming he was going to call the underwear company and give them a definitive answer while Freed readied himself for sleep.

"Yeah, just got off the phone," Laxus said, smiling at Freed and shifting the covers so his husband could climb in. "Told them I'd do it, they seemed pretty happy about it."

"I imagine so," Freed chuckled. "I hope you don't become disillusioned by it all, because glamour shoots can be a tiresome bore. I'd certainly rather you endure it than me."

He climbed into the bed, automatically leaning against his husband and curling up around him. Laxus wrapped him in his arms without a second thought, smiling a little at the scent of Freed's distinctive shampoo. He nuzzled his nose into the man's hair for a moment, before resting his chin on the man's head.

He grinned to himself before speaking again.

"You were right, they really would have done anything to get me working with them," Laxus mused, seemingly out of nowhere. "I went to them with a pretty big demand, and they actually went with it. Kinda shocked."

"As I said, you're a big name," Freed shrugged, covering himself with the duvet. "What did you want from them?"

"Double the pay."

"They really were desperate," Freed chuckled. "What they offered before was generous anyway."

"Well, I guess they saw the perks of it," Laxus chuckled, and smiled a little wickedly. "I mean, when I say they doubled the pay, I might have been misleading. Because while they're paying twice as much, it's not just going to me."

"Then who is it going to?" Freed questioned.

"You, of course," Laxus smirked, and Freed froze in his arms. Laxus tightened his grip slightly. "You see, I told them just how much my stud of a team captain – who was the fantasy guy of the whole nation a couple years ago – wanted to get into modelling. How he missed the spotlight, and wanted to show off to the world. And when I told them in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't be doing anything without him, they seemed very happy to do what I wanted."

"You didn't," Freed said, voice hollow.

"Oh I did," Laxus chuckled. "So it looks like I'm not going to be the only celebrity living here from this point, huh?"

"You bastard," Freed grunted.

"Damn right I am," Laxus grinned, taking Freed's chin with his fingers and turning him so they were face to face. He smirked at the man, who was doing a mix of a glare and a pout. Laxus leant forward, kissing Freed with a victorious expression. "I guess I win after all, Pretty Boy."

[0reblogufufu0]

Spoilers Ahead For IPYTM EP 4!

Well, it happened.

So, they broke up. Wow, that was surprising. Yes, of course it was the right decision, but man it is not common to see in BL’s. A lot of BL relationships are rocky at times, or they take breaks that aren’t really breaks until they kiss and make up, but rarely do we see the words ‘break up’ actually used and there being a scene specifically for it. I didn’t expect them to go in so deep with it. Now, I want to say this because I’ve been thinking this for the last couple episodes, the acting isn’t great this season. No, it’s not bad, and man, does it sure carry a lot of the scenes without development, but it does fall flat a lot more often here then it did in ITSAY. There are moments when it is still and especially tired. I’m talking specifically about PP and Billkin here, since their performances are the focal point of the series. I don’t hate it, but it does make some scenes uncomfortable, and I’ve noticed during certain emotional scenes they sort of just make the same expressions over and over with it feeling really fake at some points (like when Oh-aew cries to his friends at the end of the episode). I’m by no means bashing any one, really, I just wish they gave this all more time. It’s obvious they were tried and so much had to go into getting into the headspace for this show, it’s clear it took a toll on them. I wish they had more time to rest, things must’ve been non stop for them since ITSAY with not only IPYTM to film but also interviews, brand deals, the documentary, photoshoots, etc. Hope they rest well soon. Now, for the episode.  Well, just as I said last time, not sure how I feel about Jai. He obvious feels guilty when he hears Teh talk about how he feels for Jai in the aftermath of talking with Oh-aew, but it doesn’t redeem him all the way because he still intentionally made Teh think they had a spark of something together not just with the kiss but everything else, like talking about his ex or taking him down to that view, period, and well, it’s not a very good thing to do, manipulating someone’s feelings so they’d act how you want them to in your play. Anyway, Jai is complicated, but seems to be mostly a background character in the story again with the end of the episode.  Judging from the gifs I’d seen, I really expected more of angry break up scene, but it was very hushed and vulnerable, even when Oh-aew was telling Teh to leave him alone and how he didn’t want to see him anymore. I like the choice not to include music till a certain point, it definitely helps because this is one of the most crucial as well as one of the better acted scenes of the series. I think PP and Billkin thrive best in scenes like this where there is a lot beneath the surface they try to hide or hold back, allows them to now go full in ugly crying but also strays from just sitting normally. I like the responsibility given to Teh and his actions here. We know he knows he messed up, but also that things are more complicated than just admititng that or just giving up what he felt for Jai. What he did was undoubtedly wrong, but nothing is ever just that simple, so there is a struggle on both ends. We see a lot of call backs this episode to things from the first episode clothing wise, etc. It stands to prove how big a part of each others lives they were and still are. The bed reminds them of night together, when they think about school work they think if the other is doing well, break ups aren’t easy, we all know that. Thought it was a bit of a weird place to put Teh’s roommate as an actual character, but, whatever, I like him. Towards the end of the episode we get  another look into an independence storyline, this time not just with Oh-aew, but also with Teh, them both trying to build a foundation without one another. Teh in acting without Oh-aew’s support and Oh-aew in agreeing with his friends to forget Teh. They’re both trying to find a life without one another after not having thought about it in years, but in the end, I think it’s better for them to be apart. I am worried seeing the preview though, cause it looks an awful lot like we may see them together again or reconsiling in some way, by the set up to have Oh-aew be helping Teh in work, presumably before a performance of some sort, which always leads to a heart to heart with pressed time where they may or may not have to choose between one thing or another. No matter what, an hour isn’t enough to cover anything new developing between them, but there would be no purpose filling an episode with just their solo lives, not really. So, hoping we get a Oh-aew centered episode after these last two (though this one was sort of split), and not having too high of hopes because no matter what, one episode just isn’t enough. I know there will be some beautiful shots though, so I’ll enjoy the gifsets.  And, for those wondering, it is past 7 AM now and I am tired, so if this is lazy, sorry I’ll organize better for the last one since there isn’t anything to wait for after that one.

[taylizmasterpost]

Liz After the Agency (September 2012 - September 2014)

So, Liz is spiraling. Her mental health isn’t doing great. And she was just asked to leave The Agency (presumably to take care of herself, although the public reason given was for her to start a solo career). Things are bad.

However, in the darkness, there’s always a light. And the light for Liz, in this case is her neighbor, Bryan Brown.

24 September 2012 - Liz and Bryan tweet at each other for the first time:

17  October 2012 - Taylor writes This Love:

Now, this COULD be about Liz, considering the back and forth. However, I’m more inclined to believe Taylor wrote this about Swiftgron’s first break up, right after they got back together, which you can read more about here. 

The same day, Liz makes a vague tweet about jealousy:

It’s crazy weird to me that the same day Taylor is celebrating getting back together with Dianna and writing This Love, Liz is pissed off and jealous about something. Coincidence? Maybe. But I don’t think so.

22 October 2012 - Red is released. According to a later interview with the photographer who did the Red booklet (who happens to be Liz’s current roommate), Taylor based the concept of the photoshoot on some headshots they’d taken for Liz: 

“Taylor is a mutual friend of ours. Stephen and his brother were friends with her years before, and I became friends with her separately. What ended up happening was one of her background singers needed headshots. When Taylor saw them a few months later, she came to me and was like, “Liz showed me the shots you took of her, and I need my album to look exactly like that.” Clearly, this was a no-brainer. I said, “OK!” Before then, I’d been kind of burned out on music photography. A lot of the shoots were super controlling. I needed a new perspective on the field itself and wanted future shoots to be very free-flowing — just the artist and a minimum crew. Luckily for Stephen and me, that’s exactly how Taylor presented the Red album shoot. So it was just the three of us shooting everything together. She wanted everybody else to remain off set, allowing for a more personal and intimate experience.”

So, I don’t know why Taylor did this. Maybe she wanted to look like a hipster for the Red album and Liz was the best she knew. Or, maybe, she wanted to scream to those who knew her well that this album was about LIZ HUETT. 

In this series of Liz headshots, there’s also one specific photo of Liz wearing the Stevie Nicks moon necklace that Taylor possibly gave to her:

Is this possibly one of the reasons why Taylor wanted to mimic them for the Red album? 

Later that day, Taylor goes on Good Morning America and says she wrote a new song “like two days ago” (probably talking about This Love?)

And after that, Taylor tells the LA Times that Begin Again and State of Grace are about the same person:

“There were a few track list choices I knew I was going to make way in advance,” she said. “I knew I wanted to bookend the album with ‘State of Grace’ and ‘Begin Again’ because they’re inspired by the same person who inspired a few songs on the record. I wanted to start and end the album with the first and last song I ever wrote about that relationship.”

“Then in between those songs, I wanted to paint a picture of the ups and downs I’ve experienced in life and love, not necessarily in the order it happened chronologically,” Swift continued. “I like to spread the emotions out in a way that never makes you feel like there’s a sad lull, then a burst of four songs in a row about joy. At the end of the day, I make a track list based on what my gut feeling tells me.” ‘Begin Again’ is my song version of a cliffhanger ending. Throughout the whole album, there have been songs about the trials and tribulations of love and loss, and there at the end of the record it starts all over. As soon as I wrote that song, I knew exactly where I wanted to put it.”

Now, I don’t think this means Begin Again is about Liz. I think it means that Liz is the past relationship in the song, and Dianna is the present. And Liz actually has a song called “Good About Her” that kind of mirrors Begin Again and I find that HILARIOUS and also kind of a smoking gun.

26 October 2012 -Taylor goes on Katie Couric. Katie asks if Taylor’s ex in WANEGBT got the message and Taylor says she “hasn’t heard from him since” and also mentions “some of my exes like to write really long emails.” Now, if the song is about Liz, this is a lie, because she definitely did get lunch with Liz after WANEGBT came out. However, I think it’s fair that what she’s hinting here is that things did not end well in that messy relationship.

25 October 2012 - Liz quote tweets Caitlin about crying on the treadmill to All Too Well :

8 November 2012 - Liz releases Never Know on YouTube:

The lyrics that make me think this is about Taylor are the “now and then I catch myself singing your old song.” ESPECIALLY in the context of that treadmill tweet and Liz probably having written this during her Nashville sessions over the summer. However, it could also be about Jason, who, as we know, was a struggling musician before he became a photographer.

18 November 2012 - Taylor shoots the MV for IKYWT, wears the same black and white shirt she wore around when Liz first joined the band. Liz calls the news of her leaving the Agency “bittersweet.”

And “bittersweet” is the exact same phrasing that around a week later Taylor would say the ex who most of Red is about used to describe listening to the album:

19 November 2012 - Ali Puliti tweets about listening to two Liz demos -- Blessed Are the Brokenhearted and Dammit, meaning this song, which wouldn’t be released until 2018, was likely written during those summer 2012 songwriting sessions:

When the song was eventually released by Jana Kramer in 2018, Liz posted this on Facebook:

The song also notably contains the lyric “cause I could hear you in the kitchen, playing your guitar” which REALLY REALLY makes me think of Taylor. Although it could maybe be for Jason, who was also a musician.

Here’s the story Liz told about the song:

“‘Dammit’, actually, was a story that I lived out. Like, I was with somebody I was, you know, getting very serious. We were talking about starting a life together and we even had this house, like, picked out in the city where we lived and we would drive by it and be like ‘one day when we buy that house’. And, so, when we broke up, the pain of, like, saying goodbye was really, you know, really intense, but it was also mourning the loss of the hypothetical future. So, it was like saying goodbye to the past memories and stuff, sort of what we almost had and that’s where that song came from. So, honestly, I didn’t write it for anyone else, but myself, truly. But, um, it’s beautiful that music has such a way of resonating with someone who might not even know and they connect with it so much that another artist would want to sing it. It’s such a high compliment.”  

And here’s a quick clip of Liz singing it. So, seems like a Jason song, if not for the fact that she wrote it almost a year after they broke up and kept it hidden for years before eventually giving it to another artist.

13 December 2012 - Taylor’s birthday. Liz does not wish her happy birthday. This, to me, is the biggest evidence that there’s some amount of bad blood between them at this point.

14 December 2012 - The Music Video for IKYWT comes out. Taylor wears a shirt she wore a LOT when TayLiz was first a thing in 2009. She also wears a key necklace, which will be important later.

17 December 2012 - Liz posts a picture from Claire’s birthday party using a picture without Taylor in it (even though it seems fair to assume Taylor would’ve been invited).

20 December 2012 - Liz tells a fan her favorite song from Red is All Too Well:

21 December 2012 - Liz wishes Claire happy birthday. Further signaling bad blood with her and Taylor since she didn’t bother to do it for Taylor.

9 January 2013 - Liz releases Blessed Are the Brokenhearted:

Here she describes love as “burning up out of control” which is the same phrase Taylor used on Red -- “burning red” -- and Begin Again -- “I’ve been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end.” Also, the idea of love as an out of control flame really does describe their relationship.

20 January 2013 - Liz releases One Hand on the Wheel:

Here, much like in Red, Liz describes a relationship using the metaphor of a car. The relationship is messy, maybe even toxic. There’s even a lyric that sounds like it could be out of treacherous: “Being wrong shouldn’t feel so right like it does / But it does.”

22 January 2013 - Liz releases Wreck of Who I Am.

This is the song that is the strongest evidence for me that Liz WAS going through some mental health stuff over the summer when she was doing all this songwriting, and that that Reddit post about running into a drunk Liz who said she was fired for being “out of control” seems somewhat accurate. Here Liz sings about her battles, the way she’s losing them, and asks her younger self what she would think if she saw her now.

I’m not going to go into too much detail on Liz and Bryan (since unlike her and Jason there’s no need to use them to say much about TayLiz) but, despite his flaws, he was the person to pick Liz up off the ground when she was feeling this way, so he should get some credit for that.

Sometime around this - Liz releases Stones. Similar upbeat nature to Blessed Are the Brokenhearted with mentions to some of the struggles of Wreck of Who I Am.

Choice Lyrics:

When you’re knocked off your throne And lying on your back Things will never be so clear Cause when you see it all like that Sooner or later it comes around Yeah we all taste that bitter truth But all the stones you’re throwing now Will be the ones they throw at you

Also with these batch of songs, we get Sun Out of the Rain:

So baby, hold on, the storm will roll away It may be pouring down, but it’s only for today A million pieces might be falling into place And when there are no words to say We’ll make the sun out of the rain

29 January 2013 - Chantelle Paige posts a picture of Liz and Taylor and talks about a “sad night turned awesome.” Once again, I think this is a throwback from that night in 2012.

2 April 2013 - Liz goes to therapy. Her and Bryan are dating at this point.

2 September 2013 - Liz tells a fan on twitter that she hasn’t been to any of the Red shows, which to me definitely backs up that fan account of Liz being bitter about being fired.

23 December 2013 - Liz wishes Taylor Happy Birthday. This seems like a peace offering to me, considering they haven’t spoken in like a year and she refused to do this the earlier year. Also worth noting that Swiftgron is on its last legs at this point.

1 March 2014 - Sara Evans releases Put My Heart Down, which was co-written by Liz and is about walking away from a toxic relationship:

Now, from what I know of Liz and Jason, this doesn’t seem like their dynamic at all. It’s too soon for it to be about her and Bryan However, it does remind me a LOT of what Taylor was writing about on Red. Her are some choice lyrics:

I never pictured us fighting this much Thought we were figured out, but it’s so messy now Your words cut so deep and I think you should leave

Put my heart down and walk away This kind of love is dangerous So pack up all your things, just leave some air to breathe A million toxic tears fallin’ like rain over here This is the final hour The end of our story tonight And I don’t wanna fight

Now, please go listen to Treacherous, Battle/Let’s Go and Story of Us and tell me this is not the same relationship.

Bonus though, this song is copyrighted for 2014, making it make even LESS SENSE for it to be written about Bryan. 

17 July 2014 -  Timothy James Brown releases a song called Change My Mind that was co-written by Liz. I’m out of video links, so here are some choice lyrics:

All the horses became soldiers Dark as night to drag me away A complicated kind of heartbreak When you promise somebody you’ll stay

I know you’ve been hurting I know more than most I don’t have the courage Where you’re going, I can’t follow

To me, this reads as Liz making peace with leaving the Agency. She recognizes her demons, and how they ruined her relationship with Taylor, and says “where you’re going, I can’t follow” because she’s not in a good enough place to keep touring with Taylor.

So things are looking bleak in TayLiz land. However, Liz seems to be recovering! She’s writing songs acknowledging some problems in the relationship and her own battles, and she’s also in therapy and dating Bryan. It’s time for some reconciliation. But first, let’s see what’s up in Taylor-land:

Liz References on the Red Tour

[acioo]

( PART ONE HERE ) & ( PART TWO HERE ) here are EVEN MORE NINE CHARACTER BASES ( label & background & personality ), all of whom i have played out in the past. they expand beyond ‘ the queen bee ‘ and ‘ the awkward nerd ‘ because i think as a community we’re all tired of the cliche bull, so have some of my most fun & most subversive times. these are for inspiration purposes as well as admin purposes. if you are going to use these in an rph setting, i request credit, but otherwise, it’s not necessary. ( all details viable to change ; pinterest board links available for all of them - if you are interested in my characters, see my muse page )  TW : violence, alcohol, drugs, child neglect, murder, death, abuse, kidnapping, adultery

001.      THE GOLDEN CHILD TURNED DARK — you grow up golden. you’re the oldest child of the best psychic in town and no one likes to remember it. your childhood is a string of choir practices and photoshoots and sleepovers only ever at other people's homes. ( you sometimes wonder whether your home is even a home at all, for it is vast and cold and unsettling ground at the best of times, and a war ground at the worst of times. ) your mother’s a showman and you are more party favor than you are human, most of the time. for you, they will forget her black cats and tarot decks and smoke screens. you are too good to ever be apart of such foolishness, right, sweetheart? you’d never put your hands in something like that, we know. you’ll smile and nod; you try not to think about the way that you share your mother’s same big eyes. the fact that as she gets older, the more sense she makes. how sometimes, inexplicably, more often than not, she is right in one way or another. that your mother is playing god and winning, and sometimes you let her take your hands and take your energy, and you are winning too. they’d never suspect the dirt on your hands like they suspect your little sister, who never had the patience for your mother's whims and wishes and stays bitter about the way people treat her. sometimes you can’t stand her for still being kind to you when you know it’s not fair that she’s on the outcasts of society when people treat you like a god. when you hear the blonde cheerleader with full lips call your little sister an ‘arrogant fucking occultist,’ you’ll beat the shit out of her until it takes two of the football players to tear you off. you’ll have a heart to heart with her about it later, where she stares at you in fear and you in guilt. she doesn’t press charges but you become the first class president to ever get expelled. you never tell your sister, even though she begs to know. hell, sometimes you don’t even know. it’s your mother’s work on you and you know it. some cosmic karma for playing with things she shouldn’t. your sanity for the sake of a little bit of power. you’ll don your mother’s long dark gloves. her heavy veils. you’ll become a fixture at the haunted home at the end of the block.

002.    THE FLIGHTLESS BIRD — your mother tongue is not your mother’s mother tongue and you never manage to remember this fact. your cousins are a world away, but you’re glad they are. they love to mock you and your shiny, pristine life away from everything that was once your mother’s pride and culture and family all wrapped in one. you’re not enough of an immigrant but this isn’t your homeland, either. you can’t help it, though. you fit in like a new dress. your whole life, all everyone has ever wanted to do was try you on for size. for what it’s worth, you’ve grown used to being tossed aside, even if it doesn’t make it hurt any less. your grandmother, who crossed continents because she missed your smile, likes to say that your curse is your love of humanity, but you think it’s that humanity doesn't love you back. no matter how hard you try you can’t hold on to that helium balloon called happiness and all your broken bridges trail behind you singing a siren song trying to take you home, but you don’t think you have a home. where would it be? your birthplace, where everyone looks like you but no one really gets you, or where you grew up, where you know everyone but sometimes wish you didn’t. your mother tells you to grow up. that you remind her so much of her sister, who weaves tales all marked with complicated, who your grandmother will reference with one finger to her temple in a swirled motion. your mother doesn’t do complicated, and you’ve never been anything but, which you think is probably why she spent so much time at work, and not with you. you’re okay. you adapt. it’s all you know how to do.

003.     THE HEIR — before you are even born, you have a reputation. your last name is the brand you’re not sure you ever wanted. when your mother was twenty-five she inherited the title of head of the crime family she was born in. the crime family that runs the east coast. when you are twenty-five, you’ll drink until your heart beats thunderously in your chest. when you are twenty-five, your best friend will comment about how unfair it is that your life has never been yours, that tomorrow you will be gone forever, that you will have to dedicate your entire life to running something you weren’t even born to run, and you will beat her to death and live to regret it. when you are born, you are not mommy’s little heir. you’re second in line. your big brother’s love shines down on you. he’s different than you, or your little brothers who have a sickening taste for this kind of life. he’s kind. before you can grow to understand that he is the best of your family, your mother cuts him out with a single dinner party and you won’t see him again until you’re sixteen and he shows up outside your school with an expensive leather jacket on and tries to beg you to come with him and get away from this life you’ve been saddled with. you will look him in his eyes and ask him, trembling, fingers playing with the hem of your skirt, eyes blurry with tears, “have we met?” your mother raises you to be strong. unflinching in the eyes of adversity. knives nestled into your boots, blood dripping from your mouth, a smile on your lips, the first gift you ever get is the lives of the men who kidnap you when you are thirteen. you’re so angry in a way your brother never understood how to be. you’re so angry you don’t know what you’re angry about anymore. your lot in life? your family? your personality? the fact that you understand violence, deeply and intimately? that you invite violence into your bed? that it does not make you flinch and you cannot, will not remember a time that it did? you will never be normal. this is your normal. it’s an inheritance and it’s yours. an inheritance worth a life.

004.     THE GONE BOY — your mother tells you that you were born in the winter. she tells you that she thinks a piece of winter got into your soul. that she’s afraid you’ll never move past it. you’ll shrug your shoulders and smile at her. you try not to think about it too much and you do a pretty good job of it. she sees too much of herself in you to be happy. all her worst parts, the kind she didn’t bring into your parent's marriage. you’re the youngest child. the favorite, or at least you were until you got old enough to have a rightful personality. your older siblings envy the fact that your moms are still together while their parents don’t live in the same states. you’re supposed to be the best one yet because they’ve had a lot of practice by the time you rolled around, but all you’ve ever done is make problems for yourself. you take joy in finding ways to piss people off. when you’re thirteen, you’ll bleach your hair white and your mama’s face when she sees it is something you treasure so deeply. when you’re fifteen, you’ll come home from school high as a kite and telling your mother your eyes are red from crying is better than the truth. mama will understand crying, but you’re supposed to be the golden child with the pretty blue eyes. their perfect little experiment and you just want to scream because you know, you fucking know, but the fact of the matter is that you’ve never really cared. you’re more you than you will ever be them and half of them is glad but the other half is indignant and the bad side is louder. you can understand that. all your bad side is, is loud. they ask who you are, and you’ll always tell the truth. they just wished that you hadn’t.

005.     THE TSUNAMI — you hit the news at sixteen years old. the littlest heir of the biggest chain of luxury hotels across the west coast. your mother didn’t want this life for you, but you’ve never given it much thought. all you’ve ever cared about it is waves that crash just right and that marvelous feeling you get when it’s so early in the morning that no one else is awake but the birds are chirping and the sun is peaking out. you’re simple in that way. people like complicated, but for the first sixteen years of your life, you are anything but. you like surfing and you like kissing whoever you want and saying fuck wherever you want. your first best friend starts a smear campaign against you after you break her heart by outgrowing her. she’ll say whatever she likes, and most of it you can acknowledge has some truth to it. you’re popping pills ( adderall's a hell of a drug, baby, you’ll croon out to her, mouth spinning around the straw of your slurpee ) and you’re always crawling back to your mommy. people are enthralled by you. they want something from you that you never cared to give. you’re peculiar in a way they want to write about or scream about, but you don’t have time for any of it. you never meant to hurt anyone, really, ever at all. you’re more baby bird on the verge of flight than you are spoiled brat with hundreds in your wallet.

006.     THE GREEK TRAGEDY — you’re the og child prodigy. one of the most famous ever and if you had a normal childhood, you would come to understand the consequences of this. you wonder about it. would you have cracked under all that pressure or would you have been a diamond? some ivy league college before you hit puberty, saving the world, and making sure everyone knows it, all the while? you never find out. when you’re still a child, you’ll wander off. that itself is not a problem. you always wander. you live in the middle of nowhere because your parents are fancy, famous scientists with more money than you will ever need and your house is surrounded by nature. you prefer that to the marble columns. the problem is that you wander and you are found, but it’s not who you should be. by the time everyone realizes you’re missing, properly, milk-cartoon, headlines on the morning news missing, you’re out of the state. you’ll be everywhere. your face, your story. you won’t realize this until you’re seventeen, but they looked for you. everyone looked for you. no matter how many years had passed, everyone still waited for you with bated breath. you won’t get to be a child prodigy, but you will get to be something else. a killer. the man who finds you has hands coated in blood and he wants to make sure you do too. before you know anything, you know violence. your intelligence is no longer the most important thing about you. in fact, it’s not even mentioned. he wants to know how powerful you can swing, how silently you can sneak up beside someone, and with how much force you can dig in a knife. you forget your old life. your parent’s kind smiles. your sister's gentle hands. the way everyone knew your name. now, you have no name and you have no story, just someone to follow. there are others like you, who got taken away by him, but he doesn’t like you guys hanging around much. you’re not the favorite, and he never fails to tell you this. you’re too you. he will hit you and you will spit blood with a smile on your face. a part of you will always be free, and you tell him this. all he does is hit you again. when you’re seventeen, he’ll leave you in the city and tell you not to come home without blood on your hands. you go to a diner, sit at the counter and pray they don’t make your dirty self leave as you sip orange juice. the news plays. celebrity marriage. robbery. and, suddenly, an anniversary, eight years to the day since a child with your cheekbones disappeared off the face of the earth. it all floods back and you’re left reeling. in a short period of a few months, you will escape from his hand. you will also very, very nearly die by his hand. you will go home. they never stopped waiting.

007.     THE FALLEN PRINCESS — you don’t look goddamn anything like your siblings. it’s the first thing people say when meeting you and your mother's smile will always tighten around the edges. you’re tall and blonde and shining and they’re all pale skin and brown hair with the same roman noses and aura of power. you get the family's mossy green eyes but nothing else. your mother always dismisses it as a fluke and your father never mentions it, though you never fail to notice how his eyes always skim over you. you just attribute it to the wrongness in you. the one they never stop talking about. physical proof that you’re the black sheep of the royal family. it’s your eighteenth birthday when your mother sits you in her waiting room and tells you that almost two decades ago, she had a brief and passionate fling with one of their country’s soldiers before he went into the war and was never seen again. it all makes sense but you wish you could just go back to before she ever told you. everything pieces together. you’re a mar on the family's reputation and their dirty little secret in plain sight. your father is not your father and he’s only ever acted like it. you’re a living product of your mother’s whims, which he never fails to mention are his least favorite of your mother’s qualities. it only makes you worse. the royal terror, they call you. you’re the youngest of the family, the little asshole with a less than little drinking problem, and eventually, it becomes an open secret of your lineage. word gets around fast in a kingdom like yours, but it isn’t even yours anymore, really. one of your hands reaches out for a crown that will never really be yours but still sits heavy on your head.

008.     THE STORYTELLER — you’re five years old and your mother tells your uncle that one day, you two will have screaming matches loud enough to wake the neighborhood. you’re ten and your big sister tells you that sometimes she doesn’t even know who you are, that you’re a cycling door at best and a rolled dice at worst. you’re thirteen and the doctor tells you he knows you’re an intelligent kid, but he wishes you would act like it. you’re a rolling stone of your own. you like screaming and fighting and no one likes that side of you. the dirty, loud one, the one you really weren’t raised to have, but sometimes when your mother isn’t around to call bullshit you’ll say is a product of moving so much as a kid, or of your dad never being around, or of never fitting in the right way. but it’s quite possible that you were just born this way. with some kind of fire in your soul that has never been quiet enough for you to hear yourself think, or at the very least, hear before you run your mouth. your mouth which more often than not will leave you stranded in fights and in relationships you don’t know how to get out of. you like causing a ruckus. flirting with people you shouldn’t, drinking honestly excessive amounts of alcohol, saying fuck around your abuelos just to see the looks of horror on their faces. you’ve been told both that you have a big heart and that you’re a big bitch, and it makes sense because you’ve always been bigger than life in one way or another. too much for people to swallow with ease, so they usually just don’t try. you’re fine with that. you have enough try in your for both of you guys.

009.     THE RICH KID ADDICT — the first thing you remember is your mother. you must be four or five, sitting next to her on the fancy dining chairs, dressed in perfect little church clothes and your feet not reaching the floor. you asked her what daddy was talking about. all you hear is angry and death and destruction and revenge. your mother tells you in her soft voice, her matching eyes quivering with something that is not fear but rather pity, that your daddy has a curse. you learn much about this curse over the rest of your life. it makes your father not a father. an angry bitter man who shouts at you to get the hell out of his lab, to get out of his sight for a few nights, to stop asking so many questions. there are periods of reprieve that you never understand. your father’s happy again, hanging out with his best friend who you thought he loathed, wearing hawaiian print and having the same kind of smile you used to have before things got so hard all the time. but then it’s all over again. you’re sixteen, doing astrophysics homework in the living room while sipping on sangria in a stemless wine glass when things will come to a head. your father’s bad again, but he’s pleading with you, saying baby, baby, just come to the lab, just come see what i’ve done this time. this is new, so on even feet you’ll follow him in, until he wraps a handcuff around your wrist and puts the other one around his lab chair. you scream and you bang things, but no one’s there to hear you. your mother’s at a conference call in miami. your father tells you it’s fine, it’ll all be okay, and you beg him, please, daddy, please just let me go. he takes out a syringe and it’s green and big and you scream and thrash, and then you wake up in your bed. you feel the same and look the same, but you rip the doorknob off its hinges. when you cut your finger in engineering it heals up in seconds. you feel more awake, more real than you ever had, but worse than ever. he poisoned you and you’re not you anymore. you can’t cope with it, but his eyes shine with pride whenever he sees you around the house. you drink to forget it all and you become a cliche, but you’re never sober enough to be aware of it. a bit of beer on most nights and a lot on the weekends turns into pills and bottles and long nights, until your mother’s divorcing your father and it’s psychiatrist offices and failure notices and tabloids.

[vln-vibes]

Unwanted, Unreliable, Unstoppable

Yeah so this thing is crazy long so I’m dividing it into three parts. Anyways this is very self indulgent but I hope you like the content.

Summary: They were tired, they were so so tired. This fight has been going on long enough, this war was getting harder and harder to fight as the years went on but no one ever helped; Not the citizens of Paris, not the French government and certainly not the Justice League. But what is they received help from a man that was practically a myth himself; the Batman.  Is this exactly what the Miraculous Team needs or will this lead to their falling from grace?

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“I’m so tired of this!” Ladybug scratched at her head feverishly. Currently she was standing at the second most top of the Eiffel Tower with her team: Chat Noir, Ryuuko and Viperion.

“I know m’lady” Chat sighed, letting his cheerful mask take a break as he stood next to her, leaning into the railings.

“Those— Those assholes that call themselves the Justice League just keep ignoring us; it's like they just don’t give a shit about us” Viperion rolled his eyes. They had tried, time and time again, to get help from older, more experienced heroes with their situation in Paris; they were fucking teenagers thrust into an adult’s war. One they didn’t even care for anymore.

“They don’t care for Paris… Why should we?” Ryuuko spoke up, cold fury clear in her eyes. “If they cannot find the need to handle the Paris situation themselves then why must we be the ones to? No one even appreciates out efforts, its like they just want us to have everything handled”

It was true.

At first the Parisians praised the Dynamic Duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir, for stepping up and saving the city from the terrifying Akumas they had no way of handling. They even got the heroes to help out with things not in their jurisdiction; suddenly any crime, as minor or major as it could get, required their attention, any fire could not be handled by the fire department alone, schools needed the heroes to make guest appearances, they were wanted in television interviews, everyone needed to know everything about them. It was fine, for a while, they didn’t mind helping out.

Then Heroes’ Day happened.

Suddenly they were pathetic.

If they were supposed to be so strong then how come other heroes had to come to help? It had never occurred to them that they were chosen by Ladybug and Chat Noir, all they knew was that the duo was not as strong as they once believed.

After all it was just one criminal,

How hard could it be?

Sometimes, Ladybug wishes, she had just let Alya keep the stupid earrings. She was sure the girl would have taken them immediately at the time but, given her brashness and temperamental nature, she would have already lost to Hawkmoth.

Plus she didn’t blame the small kwami or even Master Fu all that much: She resented the man but still respected him very much and knew he went through the same thing as she did at an even younger age with absolutely no way out. She was aware that if she truly wanted to all she could do was just give the earrings to someone else or even hand them over. But Ladybug was stubborn and the earrings were her’s now, just like the ring was Chat’s, the choker was Ryuuko’s and the bangle was Viperion’s.

That didn’t mean this battle was theirs to fight.

“... Why don’t we leave?” Viperion asked, disturbing their silence. The trio looked at him curiously, as though he broke an unspoken rule.

“Why would we?” Ladybug responded, knowing fully well that Viperion didn’t tend to speak up unless he was certain of his words.

“Because they’re running us dry, this city is killing us” Viperion raised his voice, aware that they could already, “Adrien and Kagami are living shitty home lives with abusive assholes that want to call themselves parents. Mari, you’re being burdened with too much responsibility by that bitch Bustier and that class full of sheep! I hate seeing you all kill yourselves for people that will never appreciate it because they think they’re above it!”

At the end of his rant Viperion’s eyes were nearly glowing, his breathing a bit more rough than normal, looking away from his teammates knowing he stepped too far. “Sorry, but I don’t want my friends to die on me when I can do something to stop it”

Ryuuko, Chat Noir and Ladybug understood where he was coming from but it was like a slap on the face, a reminder of what civilian life was like for them. Ryuuko could feel the sting coming from her leg, where mother had hit with her shinai after failing to be in proper form. Chat Noir still felt the ache of having to do photoshoots all day and then staying up at night to have to do his make-up work; not that his father cared with his disregard of child labor laws. Ladybug still had some redness from bruises Alya had caused by tripping her on her way to class.

“... Okay so these are the sad gang hours” the group turned back seeing Roter Fochs land, Roi Singe and Pegasus landing behind them. The Parisians were really only aware of ‘The Core Four’ as they’d rather have some aces up their sleeves; not that the three were ready to confront the Parisian backlash just yet. They didn’t want to deal with anymore bullshit than they had to in their civilian lives.

“Is everything alright? Or is it just Life™?” Roi Singe asked, leaning onto his bo-staff next to Viperion.

“It takes 60 euroes to go to therapy but no money to say it just be like that sometimes” Roter Fochs shrugged, much to the dismay of Viperion, Roi Singe and Pegasus.

“Can you please stop joking about your mental health” Pegasus found himself groaning. A small hovering screen appeared next to him, a cowboy hat firmly attached to the top with an antenna sticking out.

“Yes studies show that LGBT youth have a higher percentage to suffer from depression, some even to the point that they𑁋”

“Thanks for the concern CowBot but, really, I’m fine; let me have my fun” Roter softly tapped the little robot. It was nice having people, well sentient beings, still concerned with his well being.

Suddenly the group tensed, their artificial ears and enhanced senses picking up a light clink, the sound of something quickly winding up followed. Two male figures landed in front of them, quickly surrounded by the Parisians. The taller one of the two quipped:

“Well aren’t you a merry bunch”

“Who are you and why are you here?” Chat Noir kept an icy cold edge to his voice, emulating how his father would talk to employees that weren’t Natalie.

“They’re not Akumas, no magic radiating off of them” Ladybug analyzed, looking closely at the duo but she couldn’t recognize them at all. The male that had spoken had a lean and relatively tall body, he couldn’t be more than four years older than her team, so around his late teens early twenties. He had long raven hair, his bangs framing his face perfectly, even in the moonlight she could tell he had a pale complexion though the black domino mask he sported helped hide most of it and his eyes. His uniform wasn’t one she recognized from any superhero from the League; black kevlar, if she had to guess, made up nearly the entirety of his suit, from his boots, pants and even gauntlets, heck she wouldn’t be surprised if his cape was bulletproof. One of the only things to bring color was his crimson chest piece, with two belts across it holding up a golden bird symbol, the same one on his canary utility belt.

“Tt, we just came here to talk” the smaller male scoffed, his posture not looking any more tense or relaxed, just attentive. His build was also lean like his taller partner though she could tell his body would be able to build more muscles with his broader shoulders. She assumed they were around the same age, his jawline defined but not to the same extent an adult’s would be. His hair seemed almost darker than that of his partner’s and was slicked back though maintaining most of its volume, a naturally tan skin was found beneath a green domino mask, much like his companion’s. His uniform was definitely more colorful, almost as if he was meant to garner attention(and boy wasn’t that concerning); black seemed to be the main color in his suit with the outer cape, pants and sleeves being that color, ruby red tunic that went beyond his belt with dandelion accents on its edges and a golden R over his heart, pine boots and gauntlets matching the shade of his mask with dandelion yellow covering the inside of his cape and hood as well as his own utility belt.

She had no clue who they were.

“And why should we trust you?”

“Because we don’t like the Justice League any more than you do”

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One Week Ago

“Hey B, we found something interesting while reading the League’s data” Barbara Gordon’s voice echoed in the BatCave. Currently she and Tim were doing the weekly check-in on the League, something those heroes never seemed to notice. Not that they were surprised.

“What did you find?” Bruce asked, telling Duke and Damian to take a break from combat training while he did.

“There’s an alarming amount of distress calls from France, specifically Paris, that the League has been either ignoring or not receiving” Tim showed him the graph of all the history, going back at least three years closer. It was small at first, once every two months at the beginning, once a month when the second year began, every two weeks bordering on weekly near the end of it, by the start of the third it was daily until some time three months ago they just stopped.

Well wasn’t that cause for concern?

“Can we get any audio of the calls?” Bruce’s detective side coming up as Barbara was able to bring up a few that hadn’t been automatically deleted by the Justice League’s system. The first one was the very first from three years ago, a video call.

“Uh hello!” the girl on the video said awkwardly, clearly nervous but determined to get her message out, “My name is Ladybug”

Her costume looked like it was simply made by spandex, a rather plain design of red with black spots around, a domino mask with open lenses was the only thing really concealing her identity.

“Paris has a supervillain, his name is Hawkmoth and he feeds off of negative emotions. His power can turn anyone into his enslaved champion and we- my partner and I are the only ones really fighting this. I- I know you’re all really busy saving the world and all that but- but we’re just kids! We have no experience and well, we were hoping you can send someone to help? We’ve only confronted him three times now but well, we were just pushed into this”

Bruce could feel his blood growing cold, she couldn’t have been older than thirteen when this was recorded. He knew no Leaguers went on missions to Paris for the past five years… He told them to play the next video, from two years ago.

“Hello Justice League” Ladybug still wore her simple spandex though now standing tall next to a boy with a black cat leather outfit. Behind them was a girl with a bee themed outfit, a girl with a fox themed outfit and a boy with a turtle theme.

“We just came out of this Heroes Day disaster”

“No thanks to their help” the bee girl snapped before looking away.

“Look, Hawkmoth is getting more and more dangerous. He was able to transform half of Paris into his minions, they took over Paris and nearly won”

“What is it going to take you for you guys to finally help?” the cat boy growled much to the surprise of the others.

“Chat Noir!”

“Oh please we can totally handle Hawkmoth without them; you two should be enough already. With us three helping you, defeating him should be easy, power of teamwork and all that” the fox girl waved off, much to the surprise of the turtle.

“Rena did you seriously not remember what just happened. We were compromised, we nearly let Paris fall. We’re not trained for this, not even LB and Chat, and they’ve been doing this for the past year”

“Whatever”

“What was the last transmission?” Bruce found himself asking as the cave suddenly grew silent, all eyes on the monitor as their last transmission played.

“Why are we even bothering with this?” a new male voice asked, the video was shaky before finally pointing at the Parisian streets. If you could even call what was essentially a river of water, reaching to the top of most rooftops streets anymore. Items were floating about, bodies littered around them.

“They’ll never listen, they never did” another female voice agreed, they assumed it was the girl at the corner of the screen, looking down on the streets in what could be described as pity.

“I know” Ladybug’s voice sighed from behind the camera. “But they should at least see the consequences of their actions”

“If they even bother watching these, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just delete these as soon as we send them” Chat Noir entered the screen, eyes cold and calculating.

“Paris should be thankful that Lucky Charm is able to bring them back” the male with the snake themed outfit shook his head. “This is probably the 1,000 time most of Paris died with an akuma, second with Syren”

“Super lucky” the dragon female rolled her eyes “It’s not even worth trying to save citizens since all they do is cretique us”

“And the officers; Apparently we should be able to deal with city-destroying being and protect the people at the same time while officers just stand behind the lines waiting for us to do both” Chat Noir hissed

“What's done is done. This will be our last call for the Justice League; I hope you’re all happy, knowing that you’ve forced children to grow up and fight in a man’s war. Bug Out”

“There are no records of these videos even being played, or even of these events happening as far as Parisian government records say. But there’s clearly a lot of cover up going on, most of Paris’ emergency broadcasting doesn’t make it out of its borders, heavy encouragement of tourism even though there have been complaints by the people about… akumas?” Tim reported as soon as the video finished playing.

“There’s even records of a city-funded statue being made for Ladybug and Chat Noir yet no indication of where it is or what its for” Barbara continued “This blog keeps coming up, it used to be called the Ladyblog before it switched to Fox Tea. Look at these videos”

The screens were suddenly filled with shots of these Akuma; one that froze the city over, one who controlled the weather, one who began dropping adults from the sky, Syren, Heroes’ Day… All of them had to be handled by scared children. 

“These look too real to be edited” Duke said in awe. He was very aware of his children all surrounding the screens, looking at the countless destruction of one of the major cities in the world.

And none of them had ever heard of them or these children who were forced to deal with it.

Ones who seeked out help and were never given the time of day.

“Red Robin, Robin” his two sons standing in attention “I want you to investigate the matter and offer our help; convince them that we’re on their side on not aligned with the League”

“We’re on it, Batman”

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“So you just want us to believe you found out about us and suddenly want to help?” Roter Fochs looked at the duo skeptically. 

“We wish to assist you with this whole… situation. No one has heard of Akumas or of Parisian heroes before, we concluded that it may be the government attempting to keep tourism up” the shorter male, Robin, they later learned, spoke up while keeping his hands in the air.

“Though that doesn’t excuse the League, who we know you personally sent distress messages” Red Robin echoed the message “We understand the incompetence of the League better than anyone else. Did you know they never bothered to even open most of those messages?”

Red Robin was surprised by the sudden animalistic growling coming from the group, some of their eyes glowing while others looked disappointed.

Ladybug looked hurt.

“Who do you work for?” Ryuuko  asked, curious but not letting her sword lower from its position.

“We’re Robin and Red Robin”

“Like the food chain?”

“.... Yes. Anyway we’re vigilantes sanctioned in Gotham, New Jersey in the United States; we’re both proteges of the Batman” Red Robin held back the need to roll his eyes at the monkey boy’s statement.

“Never heard of him” the French heroes turned to each other, trying to see if the name rang any bells.

“According to the internet the Batman is almost a folklore for Gotham; people claim to see him and his array of birds and bats but none could ever get clear photos” CowBot replied after a quick search.

“If the League never saw our messages then how do you know about them?” Chat Noir stared right at them, as though he’d know they were lying, which he couldn’t but Roter Fochs could and would.

“Because we’re better than the League” Robin said with the same certainty one would say the grass was green.

“Why should we believe you?” Ladybug asked skeptically, if they were so good then why didn’t they handle what the League wouldn’t? Why didn’t they just try to take over the Hawkmoth situation without their input? Why didn’t they just take down the League by themselves?

“You shouldn’t, “ Robin shrugged once more “But we’ll actually help where the League wouldn’t”

Ladybug stole a look from Chat Noir, both turning to Roter Fochs, who shook his head softly indicating the duo wasn’t lying.

“If you really want us to talk then give us the coordinates to meet with the Batman” Ladybug demanded, Robin looked outraged at the implication while Red Robin nodded.

“Alright, but how will you know if we’re lying to you?” he asked curiously, typing something in his communicator, the center of his utility belt, before handing it over to her.

“Trust me, we know when you’re lying plus we’d know when we get there” Viperion smirked, “Also you can stand down now Bunnix, MultiMouse”

The duo were not surprised to see two figures standing behind them, one male with a mouse theme and rope wrapped around his hands, and a petite girl with a bunny theme and a sharp looking umbrella pointing straight at their backs. They were just surprised that they hadn't sensed them before.

“Did you get those coordinates, Pegasus?” 

“Yes Ladybug, waiting for your signal”

“Well then birdies, we better hope you weren’t lying or you’ll find Hawkmoth won’t be your biggest problem”

“Voyage!”

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“Why don’t you guys like the League?” 

The meeting between the Bats and Team Miraculous had gone much better than any of them had expected; it had certainly helped when they found out one of their own, Agent A as they called him, was once a wielder.

They had both been surprised by the amount of members each team had: The Bats had expected Ladybug, Chat Noir, Ryuuko and Viperion; Roter Fochs, Pegasus, Roi Singe, Bunnix and MultiMouse had been a surprise.

Meanwhile Team Miraculous had only heard of whispers of Batman and many Robins, even a theory on a bat girl of sorts from their brief research; having Batman, Robin (V), Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Signal, Batgirl, Batwoman, and Black Bat not to mention Oracle and Agent A; they had almost thought it was an ambush.

They supposed they each knew how to keep certain secrets tight.

“The Justice League, though still consisting of some of the most powerful people in this Earth, are too high and mighty; none of them really consider the consequences of their actions and are too reliant on their powers to be able to resolve all their problems. None of them have any contingency plans if their enemies find out their weaknesses and exploit them. Not a single member is a ‘normal human’”

He pulled up a hologram in the middle of the meeting table, every person who's worked with  Justice League showing up, each showing their array of powers and abilities before showing their membership status.

Batman, Green Arrow, Speedy, Robin, Artemis; Non-Members

Two Green Lanterns, Captain Marvel, Black Canary, Bumblebee, Rocket, the Atom, Blue Beetle (II), Superboy; Reserve members with clearance.

“That does seem pretty discriminatory” Viperion hummed as he thought of the people on the list, those on the Non-member list had no power or enhancement at all while those on the reserve, with the exception of Captain Marvel and Superboy, had powers or suits but the vulnerability of humans.

They weren’t considered strong enough, or maybe even reliable enough.

“We’d probably be considered in the same capacity as a Green Lantern” Pegasus concluded “Take away their ring and their powers go away”

“Which brings us to the next question” Batgirl chimed cheerfully “What is it exactly that you’re facing off against?”

“The Miraculous are ancient artifacts that lend you the powers of certain godlings named Kwami. Kwamis are the essence of concepts and ideas: The Ladybug who represents Luck and Creation, the Black Cat who represents Misfortune and Destruction and Horse who represents Transportation and Innovation are just some examples” Ryuuko explained for them

“Hawkmoth is in possession of the Butterfly Miraculous of Metamorphosis and Desire along with the Peacock of Emotion and Will” Ladybug paused briefly as she saw the look of surprise on Agent A’s face, wondering if she’d feel that way if she found out Tikki was being used for evil in the future. “Both were thought to be missing, possibly destroyed, when the last Master of the Order was able to salvage them from the attack to the Temple of Miracles. He was only a child when the Temple was attacked, thus he was able to escape without being detected by the enemy”

“If I remember correctly,” Chat Noir interrupted “I believe Master Fu said their name was “The Shadows” or I think he said they now go by𑁋”

“The League of Shadows” Nightwing softly added, the air tensing immediately.

“You know of them?” MultiMouse was weary considering the Shadows were very keen on keeping to, well, shadows. That had to mean that the Bats had confronted them.

“Intimately so” Batman growled out.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bunnix’s brows furrowed underneath her mask, feeling as though they wouldn’t like the answer.

“The Shadows have been a pain in Gotham’s ass in the past” Batgirl explained before turning to Batman “Especially since the Demon’s Head was interested in having Batman as a Son-in Law, though his daughter is sometimes an ally”

“Batgirl!” Red Robin admonished

“Don’t forget the little demon over here” Red Hood joked, missing the look of shock in the Parisian heroes.

“Or the fact that it sometimes seems like he wants to get on Red Robin’s dick and have his babies”

“Batgirl, Red Hood that’s enough” Batwoman sternly looked at the duo.

“You’re saying Robin is related to the Shadows” the Parisian heroes in the Reserve Team looked at them suspiciously while the Core Four just patiently waited to see what the Bats would say.

“That’s in the past” Nightwing steely stated “He was born into that lifestyle, but his mother let him chose to leave and live a different life”

“We had no choice of who our parents were” Black Bat reinforced, the team taking a mental note that she was once a shadow as well.

“Noted” Chat Noir said cooly “Though you must understand our reluctance when hearing the Shadows; like we said the Shadows destroyed the temple that was meant to safeguard the Miraculous and killed off every Guardian in the process”

“It would be foolish of us to not be on guard when hearing of them being so close to us again” Ryuuko explained “Though we will give the benefit of the doubt”

And so was the beginning of their partnership.

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“You’re all skilled fighters for not having any proper training” Oracle commended, looking at the statistics of the spars they all had, by far the Core Four had the strongest stats but it wasn’t because of the others’ lack of skill.

“Thank you, Oracle” Ryuuko bowed after finishing her match with Robin, an intense sword fight having just finished. If she had truly wanted to she could have ended it by cutting Robin’s katana but she found it both dishonorable and the easy way out considering they were testing skill sets. On the other side of the room was Red Robin and Roi Singe’s fight, bo-staff against bo-staff, being monitored by Black Bat.

“Oh kwami” Ladybug whispered as she and Chat Noir were called for the next match… against Batman and Batwoman.

“This is where we die Noir”

“It’s been an honor m’lady”

The fight had been entertaining, each side coming in with an array of attacks. At first the Bats had played offensive with the Miraculous duo playing defensive, dodging Batarangs and all their little gadgets. The Bats hadn’t expected just how durable the simple looking yo-yo and staff would be or any of its features.

At some point there had been a flash bomb, Chat Noir blocking it from Ladybug and getting temporarily blinded, Batwoman had planned on attacking while he was disoriented however the attack amplified his enhanced hearing, extending his staff and tripping her in the process.

In the end the Bats had won but it had been a close victory considering the Miraculous Team had not bothered to use their special abilities during any of the fights.

As they were taking a breather, resting and getting drinks, Robin spoke up.

“How are you allowing your city to step all over you?” Team Miraculous looked at him briskly before Red Hood, of all people, continued for him.

“We’ve seen the reports and the Parisian news, they’re relying on your team of four, considering they aren’t aware of the others, to be there to solve all their problems”

“It’s okay for your people to put so much trust in you but it's gotten to the point where they expect it of you” Robin concluded.

“I’ve tried telling them” Viperion sighed, facing his group “We really should be leaving Paris to handle their own problems, we’re busy enough in civilian life and akuma fights as it is”

“How do you suppose we do that when we already face scrutiny for not dealing with Akumas fast enough?” Chat Noir asked, his tail flickering behind him.

“You could always stop patrolling in broad daylight if you don’t want to leave the city altogether” Red Robin suggested, “Hiding in the night is easier to avoid any authority or anyone trying to get interviews. Plus this way it's less predictable where you’ll be certain hours of the day”

“He does make a good point” Ladybug said, mostly to herself, before nodding “I think it's a good idea”

“You heard her team,” Chat Noir turned to face the others “All for stopping daylight patrol?”

All of them nodded in agreement, the beginning of a long list of necessary changes in their lives.

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“My father is planning a press conference to talk about his ‘concerns’ with the lack of your appearances” Chloe rolled her eyes. A year ago, after the Heroes’ Day Disaster, she and Carapace had chosen to stand down while Rena was ultimately retired. She’d found out about Adrien when she went for a visit only for him to jump in through the window.

It was awkward between the two of them before they called for Ladybug.

She gave her neutral face of disappointment first before making a plan.

They were all aware that Lila must have been the one to start the disaster, being Volpina was the only explanation, as Ladybug confessed that Lila had a vendetta against her. Chloe also figured she must have been lying, something she had already suspected before, about being in another country considering Hawkmoth’s attacks only stayed in Paris.

Due to Chloe’s secret identity being out in the open they realized Hawkmoth wouldn’t be above targeting her family again. Thus Chloe became Ladybug’s spy.

Meanwhile in civilian life Nino was getting tired of Alya and Lila’s antics, especially the ones against his bros Adrien and Marinette. Well more against Marinette and more sexual harassment/getting together with Adrien. That’s not even touching on their newest content on the blog which was just criticizing the Miraculous Team for all their weaknesses and shortcomings, in the guise of offering “suggestions” on how to get better. 

They thought it’d be good to have an inside man, someone who could warn them of anything Lila and Alya might come up to.

They were both the secret members of Team Miraculous.

“Holy shit are you serious?” Nino exclaimed in Chloe’s room. They’d all come in secretly and by different entries to meet up in case certain nosy classmates had spotted them.

“Yep, I may or may not have threatened my father with a lawsuit against his violation of child labor laws and me not receiving my paychecks” Adrien said excitedly.

Chat Noir had made an off-hand comment on how his father had tired him out with a packed work schedule. This resulted in prodding from the mother hen known as Nightwing asking for details which ended in Chat Noir confessing that he works for his father’s company, had been homeschooled most of his life and often had a packed schedule full of extracurriculars, including up to around 12-hour work days sometimes. Turns out with that brief information Oracle informed them that his father was violating child labor laws due to the fact that he had worked more than thirty five hours a week since he was fourteen.

“Holy shit” he’d say in awe at the moment “My father is rich though… who knows if this would even go through with his influence”

“No man is truly above the law” Nightwing had given him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “But… is everything alright in your home life?”

“I- I shouldn’t say anything that reveals my identity… '' the usually chaotic boy said solemnly, his cat ears downcast.

“Chat Noir,” the group turned to Ladybug, the one who’d help introduce her team to the life of masks and magic “Your own safety is much more important than keeping your identity safe. We both know the kind of person your father is… I’d rather you have the best options possible to face this”

“How come you’re so fast to trust us?” Robin asked, surprised but keeping a stern face.

“You do realize that she has the coordinates to this place, right?” Viperion smirked “She’s known who you are for a while and never mentioned anything. We just expect you to return the courtesy”

“That seems about right” Red Robin sighed before taking off his mask, the others of the Bat Clan following suit. Team Miraculous gave Ladybug one last look before dropping their own transformations, some of them looking familiar to the Gothamites.

“Marcus is that you my boy?” Agent A, otherwise known as the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth made his way to MultiMouse who nodded shyly. 

“I actually go by Marc now great-uncle Alfred”

“Wait what, Al has siblings?” Stephanie exclaimed, Jason was whispering for Tim to write it down in The Book.

“Yes, an older half-sister” he said with an impeccable raised brow “I would have never thought you’d follow after my footsteps Marc”

“I guess it does run in the family”

“Adrien Agreste! Like son of the fashion mongul Gabriel and late actress Emellie Grande de Venily?!” Stephanie exclaimed as soon as she focused on the blonde teen.

“Yep” was all he could find himself saying, taking comfort in Marinette’s presence next to him.

“Don’t worry Adrien,” the boy looked up to the slightly intimidating looming figure of Bruce Wayne “We’ll help you deal with your father”

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“Boys” Bruce had said as soon as he entered the living room, where the group had devolved into a video game competition. “Remember tomorrow is your monthly therapy session”

“Already?” Damian groaned, his brothers, with the exception of Dick, looking like they would rather not go.

“Timmy isn’t prepared to face his inner demons” 

“And it seems Timmy hasn’t slept in some time again, hasn’t he?” Luka teased, continuing to run his hand through Tim’s hair, the boy practically purring in response.

“You have a therapist?” Marinette asked Bruce skeptically.

“We’ve all… gone through things growing up. Alfred made me realize that we were all in need of some help”

“And do you umm… talk about your nightly activities?”

“They’re trustworthy and confidential, yes”

“Do you think you could give me their information?”

That’s how Team Miraculous found themselves on the day after another akuma attack, in a private room within Wayne Tower, each waiting their turn to see the doctor.

“You’ve been through alot Luka” the teen was lying on his back, facing the ceiling as the psychologist who worked with Bruce talked. “Losing what you’ve come to accept as your family, watching your friends die, even though you knew you could change the outcome. Doing it over and over again in order to save the city… It's not something anyone could be expected to handle, let alone a child your age”

“I… I know Dr.Quinzel. But I can’t allow myself to feel guilty over everything or even get overly emotional. If Hawkmoth found out it’d be a disaster, especially because Marinette trusted me with the miraculous… the first for her to assign full time as the Guardian…. I can’t let her down” Luka gave her a lost look, one rarely seen on the charming boy before.

“Keeping all of that inside… It could fester up and explode if you’re not careful Luka”

“So you’re telling me that you are perfectly fine with how your life at home is going, Nathaniel? Even after everything we’ve discussed”

“Look I’ve tried telling my parents they were wrong but they just keep saying I’m confused, not to mention think my art is a joke… and maybe they’re right”

“Those are important parts to who you are. Saying that would be like considering yourself a mistake… Do you feel that way Nathaniel?”

“I…”

“I think I have pretty bad taste in girls, though my friends usually call me a himbo for not really thinking things through. Maybe I should think before acting more?”

“I’ve known I was going to become Bunnix ever since I was fourteen, it was always just a matter of when. So when I was finally called to action I was so excited but… I can’t help but wonder if I’m cut out for this”

“My mother has groomed and taught me to be perfect at all I do. It was something ingrained to me since I was a child; It wasn’t until recently that I learned that is impossible to achieve. Why was mother so pertained to me being it?”

“I know I’m the smart guy but I shouldn’t be expected to have all the answers, especially for my classmates who refuse to look at evidence as it is. Seriously, if I had known they would have taken my comment about how dangerous a napkin can be as pure fact then I would have not said anything that day”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m not enough for my grandmother. She’s getting older, she’s starting to forget a lot. I help by telling her things like stories but I’m not sure how long that will last… She’s the only family I have left in Paris, I don’t want to leave my friends or boyfriend behind”

“My father has always been a distant man but ever since my mother… I’m not sure if he even sees me as his son at this point. There are some days I’m treated as nothing more than a trophy boy or a regular employee. I wonder if this would have happened regardless of my mother’s passing”

“I am Ladybug, I am also the last Guardian. But I’m just a teenager! I have a life I want to live outside of Paris… I want to be a designer, start my own brand, find love and have my own family… But Hawkmoth is in the way of all that”

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“Are you sure about this LB?” Nino asked from the terrace of Chloe’s penthouse. They’d been talking strategy when an Akuma attacked, given the chaos displayed by the news via LadyBugOut livestream, they could only assume it was another Volpina attack.

Unfortunately Volpina had a Sentimonster to help, Reality Check. A glorified 3D printer who could temporarily make Volpina’s illusions tangible and real.

It had proven to be a difficult battle, especially since Luka and Adrien had been caught up as civilians and couldn’t help Ryuuko and Ladybug. The others still had to wait for Ladybug to give the signal before they’d consider going out to help in broad daylight lest their hidden cards be revealed too soon.

In the middle of the fight the two heroines had made a strategic retreat, one the Fox Tea blogger did not hesitate to call the coward’s way out. Suddenly the two appeared at Chloe’s along with Roter Fochs. The scarlet hero had taken out two familiar boxes with extremely familiar jewelry inside. 

“I’m certain of it” she said with a determined smile, “Besides this could finally get Hawkmoth and maybe even Alya off your backs if I introduce new heroes; Of course your costumes will have to be different, as will your codenames, but I trust that you’ll know what to do”

“Hello my queen!”

“What’s up dude”

Paris was in uproar when they heard of the new heroes; Abeille and Anselm.

Abeille’s costume was much more armored than that of Queen Bee’s; the whole suit had a honey yellow bodysuit with black armor pieces, her chest piece in the shape of a bee’s face, black elbow length gloves with some honey stripes, thigh high black boots with honey kneepads. Her own mask was different from her former as it changed her eyes to royal blue like Pollen’s while being honey colored with black v shaped lines. The golden gauntlets on top of her gloves would be able to send out small shocks, capable of stunning enemies for small intervals at the time, nowhere near as potent as Venom.

Anselm’s own attire was not so different from Carapace; Anselm still kept the hoodie his predecessor did though beneath it is where the differences began. Anselm wore a pine green helmet, yellow tinted goggles on top of his red eyes, with pale thin daffodile lines going from the top to the bottom of his hood. The hoodie and his undersuit was sacramento green, bordering on black, though the majority of the suit was also armored with pine pieces like the hexagonal chest piece, shoulder, thigh, shin, knee and elbow pads. He also had much thicker gauntlets than Abeille’s along with armored gloves and reinforced sneakers.

Of course, Chloe Bourgeois and Nino Lahiffe were quickly off of the suspect list when the two were spotted separately looking for shelter amongst the Akuma attack during Fox Tea’s livestream.

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“So you’re part of the OG Team huh?” Stephanie asked as she gave a once over to the two newcomers.

“Deep undercover missions, you know how they go” Abeille scoffed, her honey blonde hair swaying along with her five black streaks around it.

“What she said. We couldn’t help as Queen Bee and Carapace anymore, compromised identities, so we helped as civilians before covering our tracks and coming back” Anselm tried to keep back Chloe’s prickly personality.

“Like what?” Cass’ appearance startled the two, though both looked like they were about to draw out their weapons.

“Well I get them intel from what’s happening in the mayor’s office that Max and Markov can’t get out from the computers, daddy is a bit of a pushover and squeals pretty easily”

“While I get intel from Fox Tea’s disastrous dude duo. I’m usually among the first to find out about anything their plotting… though I’ve had to drop that. It was getting too much for me to continue being with Alya so we broke up”

“So you kept dating Cesaire just to gather intel? Doesn’t that seem manipulative?” Duke asked from his seat on the monitor, the two Parisians looked at one another before beginning to laugh.

“Not compared to what those two are capable of”

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“Are you sure about this?”

Currently Viperion, Ladybug and Bunnix were on the Gotham rooftops, shadowing the Bats for the night. The three were honored to be trusted with the responsibility but still felt foreign in the much darker environment, literally and metaphorically.

“It’ll be a good experience” Oracle said in their ears, their comms being synced to those of the Bats “And you won’t be alone, I’ll be here and so will your partners”

Right on cue Robin, Red Robin and Black Bat landed on the same rooftop. The plan was for the six to cover the patrol for the night, the others would be getting rest or doing specialty training with their abilities. It was a surprise for the Miraculous gang when it was revealed that Signal and Red Hood would be joining them as fellow trainees. Alfred and Black Canary, a metahuman who often worked together with Green Arrow in Central City, would be in charge of the training while Bruce also oversaw their progress.

Honestly they hadn’t known what surprised them more: the fact that Batman had metas on his team or that he trusted other heroes with the training of his children.

“It should be a regular night; standard mugging, gang fights and possible robberies should be all that happen tonight”

Of course that was not what happened.

As it turned out Riddler had escaped Arkham, no surprise, and had gone too long without his medication. Edward Nygma was usually a pretty tame man, if a little eccentric with his love of riddles and his brilliant mind.

He decided to hold Gotham Grand Terminal hostage.

Ladybug was decidedly trying not to panic as she saw the very obvious bombs spread across different sections of the terminal. There were too many for them to deactivate in less than three minutes and there were probably more hidden around.

“Riddle me this; What is Joan of Arc made of ?” Ladybug and Robin were the first to arrive at the scene, Viperion and Red Robin being the closest to coming as back up. Robin seemed as confused as she felt but decided to really think about it…

This was so stupid.

“Maid of Orleans” the look Robin gave her, like she just made the most foolish decision of her life, was seen spread across the faces of hostages before Riddler began to laugh.

“Why you are correct, little red” he wiped a tear from his eye “Bats would never think of something so punny like that!”

“Yeah well I’ve had a lot of experience with annoying puns”

“What’s colorful, loud and is a mess to clean up?” Ladybug’s eyes widened as he pressed the big red button on the remote control, Robin bringing Ladybug down and shielding her as the hostages began to scream.

BOOM!

“...Confetti cannons” Ladybug muttered, her whole body covered in the colorful paper pieces with glitter in the mix.

That son of a bitch!

It was April 1st.

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“So what is it that we’ll be doing?” Bunnix asked as Black Bat silently leaped through the Gotham rooftops, camouflaging effortlessly with the shadows unlike her because of the white and baby blue costume she had on.

“You two will be checking up on Red Hood’s sector for the night, Crime Alley” Oracle’s voice responded for her.

“Right, so is this just a standard patrol?”

“Something like that”

Bunnix was admittedly a bit nervous about being with Black Bat, Cass didn’t really talk much and was kinda hot. Bunnix had just dutifully shadowed her, staying as quiet as she could even if she did more parkour than necessary, when they stumbled upon a drug deal. Bunnix was about to go down to smack some people around with her umbrella when Black Bat shook her head.

“One of Red Hood’s men, let’s wait to see the deal go through”

Bunnix wasn’t sure what to think as she watched the deal go down. Weren’t they supposed to be the ones to stop this from happening and not helping them? It was a bit confusing and against her moral code…

“We do this to keep the kids out of the involvement” Oracle seemed to read her mind, explaining their reasoning “Before Red Hood decided to get involved with drug trafficking Crime Alley was full of children who would be taken advantage of by dealers; whether it meant getting them addicted or becoming their messengers and delivery boys. He made it very clear to his ‘allies’ that no child from Crime Alley was getting involved in their plans again or else the deals were off. Those who tried going above him… well they’re no longer around to try and take him down”

Still that did not help ease Alix’s worries as the night continued on. Black Bat came to a sudden stop on top of a warehouse, gesturing for Bunnix to follow behind her, and climbing in through a shattered window. Inside were dozens of wooden crates, each with cameras pointed at them and only one with an open lid. Black Bat walked towards the open crate with ease, going inside and taking out three duffle bags from inside. She placed two on her, criss-crossing each other before handing the other one to a reluctant Bunnix.

The tow then headed to a hidden tunnel underneath one of the empty crates, making their way in a closed (?) Gotham sewer. It didn’t smell as disgusting as Alix imagined it would be, musky at best, though she thought that it may be due to the fact that there was no dirty sewage water there. They walked in relative ease, essentially walking for what had to be at least 15 minutes in numerous twists and turns before reaching a ladder. The two got out, Bunnix recognizing it as part of Crime Alley with how run down the area looked.

Black Bat knocked on a rusting steel door, three times, five, once and then a tap with her palm.

The door opened up, a boy no older than 12 being the ones to greet them.

“Where’s R.H?” he questioned, he looked disappointed but not alarmed, clearly he had met Black Bat before.

“Was busy. This is Bunnix, she’s helping for the night” The boy was clearly unimpressed with her but he closed the door and led them down the long hallway. She noticed the few scattered toys along the way, with some open doors showing mountains of writing supplies and even a little library.

What was this place?

“This is Red Hood’s sanctuary for the kids of Crime Alley” Black Bat whispered next to her “Batgirl and Red Hood are usually the ones to come here though all of us have come at some point.” they entered the large room showing children of all ages, some as young as infants and others looking close to early adulthood. They dropped the duffle bags in front of what she thought was the leader of the pack when Red Hood wasn’t around.

They were filled with non-perishable food, wads of money that will probably be used to provide for the group of 30 or even more for the next month, toys, books and some new clothes.

As the children gathered around, each a little dirtier than Alix remembered ever being as a child, lining up to get a new something that Red Hood got for them she couldn’t help but think;

… Maybe things were never so black and white.

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“I know it may seem frightening, even unnerving, to let go of your control but if you keep your powers bottled up it may prove to be disastrous in the future” Black Canary told the group of teens.

“With abilities bestowed to you like those of the Miraculous are left untrained then it may prove to lead to your downfall” Alfred nodded along to Dinah’s words.

“As capable as Ms.Lance and I are, we have realized that we would need further assistance to properly be able to train each of your abilities”

From one of the Batcave’s entrances they could hear the screech of tires before a slick black car parked next to the Batmobile and Hoodcycle.

“Sorry, we’re late” a red headed woman said as she stepped out of the car, her pale freckled skin slowly gaining a green tint to it as she removed her lab coat and glasses, “Selina here thought she could make a quick steal on our way here”

“Oh c’mon Pam, you know you love the rush as much as I do” a tanned woman laughed, twirling around a golden necklace with one of the biggest rubies they had ever seen in its center.

“Now, ladies; Pam-a-lamb has a class of powered kids to teach” they recognized Dr.Quinzel belatedly as she was missing her glasses and uniform. She was now wearing a much more colorful array of clothes with the consistent theme of red,black, and white. Her skin seemed paler than they remembered and her blonde hair had red tips on one side and blue on the other.

“Hey girls” Barbara came down the elevator at the same time as Stephanie and Cass, seemingly cutting their conversation when she saw the newcomers”

“Babs!” Dr.Quinzel exclaimed, making her way to the other girls after giving a quick kiss to the green skinned woman.

“Well you’re right on time Pam” Dinah sighed, cocking her hip before pointing at the newcomers “These are Dr.Pamela Isley otherwise known as the Gotham Rogue Poison Ivy, Selina Kyle a more vigilante type thief Catwoman, and, of course, you know Dr.Harleen Quinzel or as she prefers to go by Harley Quinn”

“Hey kittens” Selina waved at the group “By the way it's been too long since we girls have hung out; how’s about a Birds of Prey raid? You in?”

“Only if Oracle agrees” 

“Oh pleasepleasepleaseplease!” Stephanie and Harley’s persistent pleading could be heard immediately afterwards. A polite cough interrupted the chaos.

“As enthusiastic as you ladies are for your plans, may I remind you that we have prior plans to care for first. Namely the training”

“Sorry Alfie” Harley said, chastised, “We’ll get out of your hair. C’mon ladies!”

“...So training?” Marc asked

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“What happened to you?” was the first thing Kim laughed out as the duo stepped into the cave, leaving a trail of confetti and glitter behind. Marinette looked back at her team, unimpressed, in their own state of disarray.

Chloe, Max, Marc and Nathaniel seemed to be nursing their own cases of migraines; most likely having pushed the limits of their own new abilities which relied on mental fortitude. Chloe and Jason’s powers were the most similar to Alfred’s which involved manipulating and projecting thoughts and ideas to the people around them or to specific targets. Nathaniel was developing the power to create illusions that only his target would be allowed to see. Marc could create intangible clones of himself but could still project what they were seeing and hearing to him. Max could teleport objects a few meters away from or towards him.

Kagami, Kim, Adrien and Nino seemed the most physically exhausted. Kagami was beginning to have slight control of fire, wind and water but not yet conjuring it; given her slight burn marks, wet clothes and messy hair Marinette would guess that she still hadn’t fully grasped the manipulation aspect outside of being Ryuuko. Kim’s own face was dirty and slightly bruised and matched that of Adrien’s. Kim had begun to use his chaotic energy to make the wackiest things happen but to have the outcome he wanted while Adrien could suck the luck out of people for small intervals lest he want to have the misfortune backlash cling on him. Nino’s was more tame though he now had to focus on two things since he could now use his energy to both heal and to create a shield that encompased his body like armor.

“Oh god you guys look like messes!” Alix laughed along with Luka, the only two that looked fine as they had a fairly tame patrol with Cass and Tim.

“Next time I see Riddler remind me to throw a glitter bomb” Marinette grumbled as she made her way to the showers.

“Not before I stab him with his stupid cane” Damian growled heading for the male showers.

“So how long till Daminette guys?” Adrien asked

“Definitely before the end of the year” Duke concluded, the others not being sure if he used his power or not.

“I’ll take you up on that. I’ll bet we make more money than with Red Scales” Stephanie laughed.

“Red Scales?” Luka asked curiously before the others yelled out.

“Nothing!” 

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“Okay how come no one warned me about that!” Jason yelled as he came out of the Cave’s entrance. The group either gave questioning or amused looks.

“Oh, so you saw that too?” Alix asked, perched from one of the sofa’s armrests.

“You assholes could have given me a heads up” he complained before groaning into a sofa “God, someone get me some bleach”

“What’s Jaybird talking about?” Dick asked, coming in from the kitchen with an array of snacks for the rowdy bunch of teeneagers.

“Oh just Timbers getting some with the big bad snake boi” Stephanie sang, causing Jason to groan and Dick to choke on his own spit.

“More like trying to eat each other’s tongue out” Nathaniel responded in disgust.

“Timmy, no!” were the words the oldest yelled out before heading into the Batcave in record time.

“Anyway,” Stephanie began “It’s time to pay up bitches. Marinette and Cass get the loot”

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“Hmm, so I guess that’s what fresh blood splatters looks like” Chat Noir said in morbid interest.

“Well it's certainly more noticeable than dried blood” Viperion nodded along, watching as Red Robin and Red Hood carried out the interrogation from a one-way mirror. There was a new gang who specialized in child trafficking, most of the kids coming from Crime Alley and therefore not getting reported to the police; luckily they had Red Hood looking out for them.

“Yes, well we are here to see how they carry out their investigation and get used to all the squeamish things” Ladybug gave a calculated look, as though she herself were in there and what she would do to get the information out of the man they captured earlier that night.

“Do you guys think this sort of thing is going too far?” MultiMouse asked curiously, he was beginning to grow a bit uncomfortable with the amount of blood the man had begun to lose. 

“I mean this asshole deserves it” Roter Fochs glared “I don’t think it's too much if it means saving all those kids”

“Standing on the edge of what is seen as a hero𑁋”

BANG

“Let’s you see all the things you can’t from the center” Ryuuko watched as the man was forcibly being held back up by Red Robin after Red Hood slammed his face on the interrogation table. 

“World is not black and white” Black Bat spoke from next to them “Many shades of gray in between; We are in the gray”

Ko-Fi

[dawnwave16]

Reflections - Project Widow Soldier Part 2

I don’t know if I’ll be posting much of my own content again until after the New year so if you don’t hear from m until then, hope you all have a Merry Christmas (Or whichever holiday you prefer to celebrate!) and I’ll see you in the New Year! Also, I don’t think I’ll be continuing this any further as I have no more headcanons for it but I hope you enjoy this anyway.

Part 1

Anyway on with the story!:

Marinette sat in the lounge of the Avengers tower, eyes closed and for once almost completely relaxed. Friday was playing a mix of Christmas music that had everything from Peter Hollens, Pentatonix and Lindsey Stirling to Frank Sinatra and co. Currently, it was 'Grown-up Christmas List' by Evynne Hollens and its wording was making her reflect on the past few months.

When the Avengers had found out she existed she had been worried that she would be dragged away from the life she had made for herself in Paris completely. She had been extremely when Tony had walked into her class and dealt with Lila, Alya and Ms Bustier as it took all the pressure she had been feeling from dealing with those three herself off of her. The fall out from that had been extremely swift with Ms Bustier being replaced by a Ms Pargeter, who was not only a good teacher but made history much more enjoyable! The class had gone back treating her the way they always had before Lila had taken over and while she didn't care all that much about their opinions it was nice to be able to walk through the halls without people trying to trip her. She was also grateful as she hadn't expected them to support her wish to stay with the Dupain-Cheng's nor had she expected them to stick around long enough to help with the Hawkmoth problem. 

That had been interesting to be part of. Not long after they had arrived in France, there had been an Akuma attack that had forced Master Fu to name her as the guardian. Due to this, she knew she wouldn't be able to leave Paris until Hawkmoth was dealt with, and if she was honest with herself, she wanted a true holiday! This led to her asking the Avengers for help, which they were all too willing to provide. When she wasn't working on her hacking skills with Tony to get into the police video archives, she was sparring with Natasha and Bucky to make sure she hadn't lost her skills there. She had gone over her weapons training with Hawkeye too and was pleased to see that despite not actively using her skills she hadn't lost any of them.

They had had their first break when they had noticed that there were no camera's around the Agreste Mansion and gone backtracking to find out why. Seeing the number of bribes the man had paid to various people to make sure the area remained camera free was staggering, to say the least! The next step was to hack all of the computers in the mansion. She knew that Adrian had missed several classes due to photoshoots and she also knew that all the computers in his home were linked so it was simple to slip a program onto a flash drive that would bypass all of Mr Agreste's firewalls and give them unlimited access to all his computers without having to bother about hacking them. Tony had seen the logic in that as it saved time, even if it did require him to have some patience.

Some of the things they had found on those computers, when combined with the police records had been enough to convince everyone that Mr Agreste or Nathalie was Hawkmoth. When Mayura was added to the mix they were almost 100% sure. To be safe, Marinette had lent her mother the fox miraculous to case out the mansion without it being traced back to any of the avengers. Natasha had named herself Kuma Lisa* and her colouring when transformed was a dark red that could easily be mistaken for black. She had almost no white on her and as a result, she tended to vanish into the shadows which was perfect for her spying activities. When she had seen the huge butterfly window and even more damming, the corrupted butterflies that left from it, they knew they had been right. They also knew they would have to be careful as some of the purchases they had seen through the computers had included military-grade hardware and weapons.

With all the evidence they had, Marinette knew she had to bring Adrian in so that he didn't receive a shock during the battle. She had had to think hard about how to break the news to him and eventually decided to slip him a note to meet her at the Grand Paris where she could reveal herself as Ladybug and the Avengers could back up what she was saying. He hadn't taken it well but in the end, he had lowered his head in defeated acceptance. He had then asked what would become of him when his father was arrested and had been shocked when Tony had offered to adopt him. Tony knew of his love of physics and chemistry and had wanted to nurture it though he knew he would need to get Adrian into councilling so that he didn't end up the same way he had. When Adrian had found out about Marinette was adopted her had been more than willing to accept Tony's offer though he was shocked when he found out who her birth parents were.

With the help of her parents and the rest of the Avengers, the battle had gone smoothly. They had Kuma Lisa had waited out of sight near the opening of Hawkmoth's lair and had alerted them as soon as it had opened. With Kaalki's help, the whole team had been on-site within seconds. Hawkmoth had tried to fight back as had Mayura but he just didn't have the skill to go against the Avengers and Ladybug at the same time, especially as for the first time ever, Ladybug had not held back. The fight had been brutally one-sided from the start and within 10min of everyone arriving the fight was over. Chat Noir had been tasked with getting all the hard copies of anything Miraculous related from inside the mansion along with Bruce as they had wanted to spare Adrian from having to fight his father and they hadn't wanted to risk the hulk becoming Akuma bait. 

The fallout all over Paris with Hawkmoth gone was interesting, to say the least. The government had to hire extra psychologists to deal with everyone trying to get used to being able to show their emotions again without fear, yet not knowing how due to having to keep everything suppressed for years. It became a common sight to see adults floundering to situations that they should have normally been able to handle. The mayor had been outed as had several police officials for corruption, new people had been brought in to help and the UN had offered to help out the same way they normally would in war-torn countries in order to help Paris recover.

By the time term had ended she had been glad to get away from her classmates and go on tour with Jagged. She had taken the miracle box with her but had sent all the scrolls and books with Tony to be stored in her room at the Avengers tower. They were in one of her lock boxes for now but she knew they needed to get everything away from Paris as a precaution.

The month she spent travelling was liberating in Marinette's opinion. Sure she had checked every new area for any lost miraculi as Tikki had advised her to but she had also taken the chance to observe what worked the best design-wise for stage vs videos and even event situations. This had led to several wardrobe additions for Jagged and Penny as well as for herself when she found herself dragged on stage to either help translate what Jagged was saying or to sing with him after he caught her singing Halestorm's Amen while she was working on his next stage outfit. The first time he had pulled her on stage for a duet, it had been an instant sensation and from then on it became a regular thing for his concerts. She always insisted on a mask though, she had destroyed her Hydra records but she'd rather err on the side of caution, just in case!

Once her month with Jagged was up she'd headed to New York and met up with the Avengers and with Adrian, who had taken to living in the tower like a duck to water. She had been surprised to find that Tony had given her a whole floor, rather than just a room but apparently each of the Avengers had their own floor too so she just shrugged it off. She had jumped back into her normal training routine now that she wasn't travelling and had enjoyed those first few spars against her parents immensely. It was during one of the no-holds-barred all-out two on one spars they held every so often that Adrian had walked in and been stunned by how fast and hard they were fighting. When they had called an end to it he'd asked how much she had been holding back during their time as Ladybug and Chat Noir. His disappointment when she said that she hadn't used 90% of her skills had almost been tangible but he had understood why she'd done it after she'd explained her reasoning.

They had settled into a sort of sibling relationship soon after that as she tried to teach him moves that would work for him and he tried to learn how to cook from her. It had gotten to the stage that they were banned from the main kitchens due to the number of flour fights they'd had. Somehow they had ended up making sure they had a least one day a week set aside for anime and they had worked their way through SAO, Akagami no Shirayukihime, Seiken-Tsukai-no-World-Break and Isekai Cheat Magician within a week before they decided they needed to slow down. The only downside to watching Anime was that Marinette had picked up the language to the point she no longer needed the subtitles and he still needed them much to his disgust. Especially as she hadn't known any Japanese at all when they started.

She had been at the tower for three weeks when she met Peter Parker for the first time. She had just finished her work out and was leaving the gym area when he'd arrived and had been highly annoyed with Tony, thinking he'd adopted her like Tony kept trying to do with him. She'd laughed but hadn't corrected him and simply carried on her way. The second time they met was when she'd made breakfast for everyone as it had been her turn to do so as one of the few who could without burning down the kitchen. They'd spoke for a while this time and found they enjoyed each other's company. By the time her summer had ended they had become close friends and she was looking forward to seeing if any more would happen. She'd had to go back to Paris for the new school year but Adrian had decided to enrol in a school in NY instead of going back to Paris as he had too many bad memories there. Marinette didn't blame him at all for that.

School hadn't changed all that much when she returned for the new term. There were the same faces, the same subjects even though they had new topics within them and for the most part there were the same teachers. She hadn't held back as much as she had in previous years, blaming her time at the tower for her slightly more advanced knowledge. She was still bored though and although she had missed Tom and Sabine when she had been away from them she had looked forward to coming back to America again. Especially as things with Peter seemed to be getting more interesting.

Marinette was startled out of her memories by several of the Avengers walking into the room.  

“All good there malen'kaya oshibka?” Bucky asked. (Little bug) “Yeah, I'm alright zhuzhzhaniye.” She replied (buzz kill) “Just thinking about how crazy everything has been since you all dropped into my life.” “You wouldn't change it for the world and you know it Bug,” Adrian said even as he settled on the floor in front of her. “True,” she admitted quietly “I'm just glad I have somewhere I can be me, you know what I mean?” Adrian nodded as did most of the Avengers. “Enough with the heavy thoughts, people. It's Christmas! That means presents and getting drunk and possibly eating too much!” Tony said effectively interrupting her thought process again. Jarvis changed the song to 'December Song' and by seemingly mutual agreement the ones sitting closest to the tree started to pass round the presents that had amassed underneath it. The rest of the day was spent enjoying their time together and living in the present. They knew that should anything threaten any of them, they would face it together.

*(Kuma Lisa is a fox from Bulgarian folklore and Russian folklore who usually plays the role of the trickster. Kuma Lisa is encountered with another character known as Kumcho Vulcho - a wolf which is opposite to her and very often suffers from her tricks.)

@northernbluetongue; @liamnl; @vivilakitty

[cutie1365]

A Kid from Queens Part 15

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Info: CA: Civil War Era. Tony Stark enlists his daughter to find the web slinging spider in Queens.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: n/a

(no Far From Home spoilers)

A/N: There’s one part where maybe pretend you have an ‘A’ initial, this idea was written more for my OC on Wattpad, so I’m sorry, but I kinda love it so I didn’t wanna change it.

Masterlist linked in my bio. Taglist in the reblog.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

“Where are you headed all dressed up?” Tony asks as you’re leaving your room at the compound.

“All dressed up? Dad this is a suit.” You laughed him off, he walked with you as you were making your way towards the front to board the jet.

“Alright Scully, where are you headed? Did I miss a memo for a shareholder meeting or something?” Tony asked.

Ever since you’d presented the information to him about the Mayor, he had been extra protective. But you’d done as he suggested, you turned the information over to the FBI. They suggested that for the time being, you keep up with Thomas and the family for appearances sake, to not cause suspicion. You told this to your father. What you didn’t tell him was that the FBI invited you to aid in the investigation, due to your proximity to the case you’d be useful. Also considering they were likely stealing from a government warehouse that was half Stark owned and maintained. You’d be a good person to have on board, and your commitment would be minimal. You’d publically stay with Thomas until they told you it was time to distance yourself, meaning they’d found something or want to provoke the family into making a mistake and slipping up, hopefully exposing a hole in their network they could exploit. You thought it was a good idea, you also thought it would be best for your father’s nerves if you didn’t tell him the full story.

“I guess someone doesn’t read their emails. But no, Linda has me judging the annual robotics competition at MIT, so it’s Back to School for me.” You spoke, digging through your purse, making sure you had everything, your suitcase should have already been on the jet, but you were only going to be gone for a few days.

Tony nodded, as if he now remembered seeing something about that somewhere. He saw the jet on the tarmac, ready to take off any minute as you both stood before the glass entrance of the compound.

“Alright Animal House, no toga parties.” He hugged you goodbye, you chuckled at the thought of a bunch of engineers throwing a toga party.

“I’ll try my best. I’ll be back in a few days. Oh, and tell Wanda I left a box of clothes for her in my room. And I made a prototype of an upgrade for Rhodey’s braces that I left in the lab for you to do some testing on.” You began to ramble off things for him, knowing there was a low chance he’d remember everything.

“Alright mother hen, you don’t want to be late.” He hugged you once more, shooing you off.

You made your way to the jet, as Tony watched you from a distance. His little girl, all grown up. He hadn’t seen you this happy in a while, it brought a smile to his face. Ever since he’d practically ordered you to stay away from Peter, he noticed a change in you. You spent so much time in the lab, tinkering on things to take your mind off of life. You were rushed around from interview to interview, dress fitting to dress fitting, and photoshoot to photoshoot. He noticed the toll it was taking on you. He hated seeing you so run down, and nearly considered giving the kid a chance. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad, it worked for him and Pepper, it might just be able to work for them. He’s a good kid, but he’s not willing to take a chance yet, not when it comes to his daughters safety. He’s kept you safe for a long time, and he didn’t want to ever see you hurt again.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

As you arrived in Boston, after a quick flight, a car was waiting to take you the rest of the way to MIT.

The car pulled into the familiar streets where you’d resided for a few years when you were younger. You hadn’t been back in years, yet it all looked the same. Near the entrance you spotted some of your old professors chatting, likely they were also judges.

“Y/N.” One greeted you, his expression somewhere between surprise and joy.

“Dr. Greenfield, it’s nice to see you again.” You smiled, shaking his hand.

“You’re all grown up now aren’t you. You know, I still remember your first day in my class. I had to go home and rework half of my lesson plans.” He chuckled at the memory. You remembered sitting in his class, answering all his questions that were meant to stump the class. He was a sweet older man, and you were happy to be here with him now.

You chatted and caught up for a few more minutes before you were invited inside to check in and meet the teams. You were given a metal name plate that you slipped on. Dr. A. Stark, it read.

You met the other 5 judges and mingled for a bit while the teams were still setting up in their prospective rooms. Some were industry experts, some were old professors of yours. Each judge had been assigned to a team, to mentor and offer insight and guidance before the final judging in two days time.

When a facilitator led you into a room of five boys standing in front of their invention, you weren’t met with the warm welcome you were expecting.

“Gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to your mentor Dr.-” The facilitator was cut off by one of the boys, he seemed to be the ringleader of the group.

“No, no, our mentor is Dr. A. Stark. Anthony Stark. Not some...” He waved his hand at you, trying to think of the best descriptor, “Vogue cover girl.”

You’d had a nice day so far, you were willing to let it slide, but when he opened his mouth and spoke to you with such disrespect, you were going to make him wish he’d called in sick today. The facilitator, likely a student committee volunteer, had her mouth hung open slightly in shock, she didn’t know what to do. So you stepped forward towards the boys, and that’s exactly what they were.

“You got Dr. A. Stark. Y/N (I’m sorry my OC has an A initial) Stark. My father actually doesn’t have a PhD. But I’ve got two. One of them in Electrical Engineering from this fine university.” You raised your hands motioning to the school around you, stepping closer once more, and oh if looks could kill. “But if you don’t want my help, I’m sure there are other teams who would be happy to have me...”

You turned on your heel and made one strutt towards the door before whipping around once more.

“By the way, you’re going to need the help, because I can spot six errors already from here. Seven if you count that sloppy rotary potentiometer.” And with that, you spun towards the door once more and didn’t look back at what you were certain were five speechless boys nearly shaking in their boots.

You’d certainly inherited a flair for the dramatics from your father, but this time it was merely a facade. Deep down you were on the verge of tears. This was your livelihood, you didn’t care if the civilian population thought you were some brainless covergirl, but you at least thought the people in your own field would respect you. The opinion of five students shouldn’t have hit you as hard as it did, but it now had you questioning everything. Every move you’ve made since that damn photograph came out.

You were leaning on the wall in the stairwell, if you were going to cry, you were going to make sure none of them saw you do it. You suddenly heard the large metal door open next to you, and a student looked at you in shock.

“Dr. Stark?” He asked, he wasn’t one of the boys from before, he must have been on another team. You knew he wasn’t like the others, he at least seemed to recognize you and your title.

“That would be me.” You smiled, lifting yourself off the wall slightly.

“I read your paper on nanoparticle technology. I think it’s completely revolutionary, I mean the implications alone... I just, it blew my mind.” He smiled, you watched as he spoke so passionately, waving his hands about as he spoke. A smile slowly spread to your face as well. In his excitement, he’d forgotten to introduce himself. He was tall but lanky, with a dirty blond mop of hair resting on his head, and deep blue eyes.

“That was my doctoral thesis from a few years ago. Back then the idea was completely theoretical, but even today at Stark Industries we’re developing prototypes using only nanotech.” You stated proudly.

“How’d you get around the deterioration objective?” He asked, with a slight tilt of his head.

“A housing unit that harnesses palladium and vibranium to almost charge the particles.” You explained, enjoying watching his eyes pop as you explained. It was refreshing talking to someone who spoke your language.

“That’s brilliant. It’s really such an honor to meet you. I know my team and I would be grateful if you would be able to spare a few minutes to look at our design? Our mentor is just... well he doesn’t have your experience.” He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“I’ll see what I can do.” You smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Harley, Harley Keener.” He shook your hand with a smile.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

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Sorry this chapter is a little shorter, I’ve basically got the next one written but I thought it might be too long to combine them. Don’t worry Peter’s coming in soon!

[wenttworth]

Yuuri burrowed deeper into his scarf and jumped from foot to foot. He squinted at the name of the building, compared the Cyrillic with the message he’d been sent, and walked in.

The sudden warmth was a relief, though he did have to wipe his glasses when they fogged up. He baulked at the sudden Russian as he approached the front desk.

God, he wished Viktor were with him, but when he’d suggested it Yakov had gone puce and ranted about training and Worlds and did he want to keep his title or not?

“Um, English?” he asked.

The receptionist blinked. “You’re Yuuri Katsuki, yes?”

Yuuri affirmed, and she led him to the back, chatting about what he should expect of that day. She left him with the designer, who also talked, about his ‘vision’ or something. Yuuri wasn’t really paying attention.

“So, for the photoshoot, we have four or five different outfits. They have been fitted to your measurements, so if you would like to keep them you’re free to.” She passed him the first outfit, a white shirt with lace panels that revealed more than it covered. As if he could wear that in public, but at least Viktor would enjoy it. “You can leave your clothes here. Come next door when you’ve changed and we’ll get you through hair and makeup.”

Once it was on, he had to admit that the lace panels looked good. Viktor really would enjoy it.

He was about to take a picture—to send to Phichit, Viktor would appreciate the surprise when Yuuri returned to St Petersburg—when his phone buzzed with an incoming text from Viktor.

Found an antique mirror at the market this morning!

Another buzz.

Miss you.

Yuuri sighed. They’d taken to going to the market every week and Viktor always found something to bring home, paintings and vases that he would either keep or give away.

A photo came through, and Yuuri downloaded it immediately, almost dropping his phone when it came through.

The mirror was nice, slightly worn gold gilding, intricate, curling carving around the frame. But Yuuri couldn’t focus on that. Viktor was in the mirror, sitting on his heels with his knees spread to reveal tight silk underwear that did very little to hide anything. The silvery silk continued with a short dressing gown, loosely tied, falling off one shoulder. Yuuri had left a bruise on that shoulder just before he had left for Moscow. Even stockings that finished halfway up his thighs.

Yuuri stared hard at the peek of abs, the one pink nipple he could see, the small bruise near his collarbone. There was a knock at the door and he jumped, going to open it.

“Are you ready, Yuuri?”

“Yes! Sorry,” he said, hiding his phone in his bag and following to hair and makeup.

Photoshoots were always long and boring in a studio, holding the same position for minutes at a time before changing incrementally, and today, knowing what was on his phone made it even worse. He couldn’t help thinking about what Viktor might be doing, how the silk must feel against his skin, pushing the gown off his shoulders to mark that perfect skin even more... he swallowed and forced Viktor from his mind. Uhh... walking Makkachin (Makkachin tripping Viktor over so he would fall into Yuuri’s arms), skating (Viktor skating in those stockings and that gown), Yakov (...oh, that worked).

When it was finally over and he’d been given boxes with the clothes he’d worn—‘Dry clean only,’ the designer had insisted before handing them over—and Yuuri hurried back to the hotel, the only thought in his head to call Viktor.

He checked the time and his heart ached. Still seventeen hours before he could be in Viktor’s arms again. He hated being apart.

Calling Viktor as soon as he’d shut the door and dropped the boxes on the floor, he collapsed face first onto the bed.

“I’m at practice so behave,” was the first thing Viktor said, and Yuuri laughed.

“Oh, you hypocrite. Do you have any idea what it was like at that stupid photoshoot after seeing that picture?”

“I can guess,” he answered, a teasing smile in his voice that Yuuri ached to kiss away. “Do you like the mirror?”

“I preferred what was in the mirror. Next time you’re coming. No matter what Yakov says. Just imagine, a whole hotel room going to waste.”

There was a small hitch in Viktor’s breath. “We’ll make good use of it when you get back.” Angry shouting from somewhere in the rink. Viktor sighed. “Break’s over,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later?”

“Okay. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

-

“Wow, your expression is... intense in these,” Viktor said, staring at Yuuri’s screen with a light blush on his cheeks.

Yuuri’s face, meanwhile, was probably bright firetruck red. Very unattractive next to the dawn colour on Viktor’s cheekbones. He hid his face.

“Urgh,” he groaned. “This is so embarrassing.” Viktor pulled his hands away to kiss his cheek. The clothes had already been fairly revealing and risqué, but his expression, eyes dark and intense, suggested way more.

“I’m kind of jealous that other people will see this,” Viktor said, a laugh in his voice. His hand was slowly inching up Yuuri’s thigh, and Yuuri snapped the laptop shut. He wrapped his arms around Viktor’s neck to pull him closer.

“Surely the real thing is better?”

[ryuukia]

[Translation] SolidS Drama Vol.5 “One faithful day, I saw you laughing under the starry sky” Track 1

Ryota passed me this CD and the following one, and since these 4 are therapeutic for me (translation-wise), I couldn’t refuse. Personally I wish I could start with drama 6, but I have to do things in order... Also many thanks to Ryota for proofing this for me.

Please don’t repost/retranslate/reuse my translations. Likes and reblogs are appreciated.

CD Cast:

Takamura Shiki (CV. Eguchi Takuya)

Okui Tsubasa (CV. Saito Souma)

Sera Rikka (CV. Hanae Natsuki)

Murase Dai (CV. Umehara Yuuichirou)

Haiduki Fumihiko (CV. Kowahara Yoshihisa)

Horimiya Eichi (CV. Nishiyama Koutarou)

Staff A (CV. Uenishi Teppei)

Staff B (CV. Hose Yuuichi)

Track 1: A different view from usual

-typing and click sounds are heard-

Shiki: Sigh. I think things will turn out well if I continue on with this.

-phone rings-

Shiki: Hm? -picks up- Haiduki. What is it? Yeah. Yeah. Ah, this one? As soon as I’m done with it, I’ll hand it to you. Wait a bit more. You know the most what exactly keeps me busy right now.

Shiki: Hmm…… You can’t make me give this up. No matter how much you ask, my answer will be the same. Let me stick with this project.

Shiki: I’m aware my other jobs are pressing me, I’ll do something about that.

Shiki: I won’t say something stupid like “Trust me” at this point, but we’re still in the same boat. Just this once, follow along with me, manager.

Shiki: Fine, if everything ends up well, I’ll send you all the alcohol you want, Fumi-chan. I’ll leave the rest to you.

-call ends-

Shiki: Alright. -goes back to work-

Staff A: Alright, this is okay for now. Let’s take a break.

-Rikka goes back to his seat and drinks some water-

Staff B: Sera-san, excuse me, I’ll be fixing your make-up. Hmm, aah, your skin’s in perfect condition as always. Do you have any secrets to share?

Rikka: Hmm, nothing in particular. If anything, I only try to sleep properly and have balanced meals. Though I can’t deny I have issues following these rules sometimes because of my jobs.

Staff B: Ooh, that really does sound difficult. Everyone seems so busy.

Rikka: This is nothing. Though it might seem easier to me right now because of my years of experience as a model. Our manager is also very attentive with us.

Staff B: If I’m not wrong, SolidS’ manager is… Haiduki-san, right? If I think about it, he’d look cool even as a talent.

Rikka: I’m sure he’d be happy to hear that. 

Staff B: That person is very considerate with the staff members on the set too. I also heard that he does his work fast and properly. When it comes to Solids, the schedule is extremely packed, but when you realize it’s him who will manage it, you get some sort of sense of relief.

Rikka: I’m glad to hear that. I’ll make sure to let him know.

Staff B: Please tell him we’re under his care from now on too. Oh, isn’t that person over there Murase-san?

Rikka: Eh? Dai? 

Staff B: Next to him is QUELL’s…

Rikka: Oh… It’s Eichi. Please excuse me for a bit.

Rikka: Dai! Eichi!

-both come over to Rikka-

Dai: Hello.

Eichi: Good job~! Ahh, Rikka-san! You look so pretty!

Rikka: Thank you for the compliment! But Eichi, didn’t you forget something important?

Eichi: Ah…

Rikka: I told you to drop the ‘-san’, only ‘Rikka’ is fine. I asked you that the other day. No formal speech.

Eichi: A..h…

Dai: You’re still on about that? You’ve been so concerned about that for a long time now...

Rikka: Indeed. Just like how Dai won’t drop the honorifics with Shiki, Eichi also doesn’t really seem to be able to relax around me. I don’t mind it, but I’d be happier if he was more frank with me.

Dai: The fact that I speak formally with Shiki is more of a habit. I used to be into swimming once, so something like casual talk with the seniors from the sports club was unlikely to happen. It’s not in my intention to keep a distance or to be more reserved with any of you, especially Shiki. 

Rikka: I can understand that.

Dai: Right.

Rikka: But although I’m about the same age as Shiki, you started to talk to me informally right from the beginning.

Dai: That’s... because you were glued to us almost instantly.

Rikka: So that’s what won you over, huh.

Eichi: In the meanwhile, my circumstances are similar to Dai-kun… err, I’m about the same. I used to be in a sports club once, then after I became an assistant director, it was all about that hierarchy in both industry and occupation-wise. It was a given that we had to be polite to those who were older and more experienced in the industry.

Rikka: Eichi, just follow Dai’s example. Make me an exception and drop the honorifics. Once you turn 20 years old, an age difference of 2-3 years is pretty much equal to nothing. You don’t need to treat me like a senior either. I’m usually ill at ease when people address me like that, it’s not my kind of thing. Okay?

Dai: You’re going to use the same tactic on Eichi, I see.

Rikka: Fufufu. Exactly.

Eichi: Err, uhh… alright… okay, then... Once again, you’re really pretty, Rikka.

Rikka: -laughs- Thank you once again.

Rikka: So, what’s up with you two here? You surprised me.

Eichi: I told Dai-kun the other day that Isse and Icchi would be having a photoshoot here, so he invited me to come and have a look.

Dai: I simply dragged him with me under the pretext of having a look in advance. I said it could make him feel less nervous.

Rikka: Now that I think about it, Eichi’s also some sort of manager for Issei and Ichiru. 

Eichi: Yes! Ah- I mean, yeah. I’m more of a substitute. They suddenly made their debut in the entertainment world through QUELL, and they know nothing about manners or rules when it comes to agreeing to things. So, in order for them not to be too nervous on set, I go and check on them to help keep their minds at peace or something like that, In my case, I may have been with them since our debut, but before that I was working as an assistant director, so I know how things work on the set.

Rikka: I see. They can count on you then.

Dai: It’s the same case as Shiki then. He has practically years of experience of working as a staff member.

Eichi: -laughs- If Icchi and Issei could think that way about me, I’d be happy. Though lately I’ve observed they started to get the gist of it. Both of them seem to have gotten used to the set and feel more in their element. I’m about 90% happy and proud of them, but also 10% a liiitle lonely.

Rikka: -laughs- You must feel like a parent whose children became independent. But indeed, both of them started to look a bit more relaxed. The other day Shu came to SolidS’ common room with a bunch of magazines only to boast about them.

Eichi: Shu was showing off his doting parent side and I didn’t know about it!

Dai: I think it took them about as much as it took me to get used to the set. I suppose it’s thanks to Eichi’s support and their own power, huh.

Eichi: If you could tell them that directly, I’m sure they’d be very happy.

Dai: If I were to tell them that, I’d end up talking about myself and that would be awkward.

Rikka: That sounds like a good idea! You can tell them about how you used to be bad with photoshoots, your dark history, your experiences, and a lot more, senpai.

Dai: Are you teasing me?

Rikka: You’re wrong, you’re wrong! I was only thinking that it would cheer both of them up.

Dai: Then when the time comes to discuss about myself with them, I’ll also add 2 or 3 things about you.

Rikka: Eh? What do you mean?

Dai: Things like how you hate to lose and how they should run out of your way if they ever catch you being angry.

Rikka: Eeeh? -laughs- How mean! You’ll scare them.

Dai: It’s only the truth.

Eichi: -laughs- Dai and Rikka are getting along really well.

Rikka: Right?

Dai: I've learned to stop holding back. And I'm only saying what I want to say. 

Rikka: Eh? You were being modest before?

Dai: It’s all in the past. You know about it, too, don’t you? We’re in the same boat.

Rikka: I guess so. I remember having a tough time trying to get closer to you.

Rikka: Ah, I apologize. You were also fixing my makeup, I should have been a little more quiet.

Staff B: -laughs- You don’t need to worry about that. I told you before, Sera-san. The make-up is almost untouched.

Eichi: Ah, right. During photoshoots the light is strong and it gets rather hot, so many people need to have it fixed.

Staff B: Exactly. That’s why I was asking if he had any secrets.

Eichi: I wanna know about them, too!

Dai: Even if he said something, it probably won’t work on anyone aside from him.

Rikka: -laughs awkwardly-

Staff A: The shooting will resume in 5 minutes! Everyone, get back to your positions!

Staff B: Ah, lastly, allow me to apply some lamé powder. -taps- And… this is it.

Rikka: Thank you very much.

Dai: Then I’ll head back. What about you, Eichi?

Eichi: Err, if it’s okay with you, may I watch the photoshoot?

Rikka: I suppose it should be okay.

Staff B: I think the members on the set would be alright with it. The studio is large enough, one or two more people wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Rikka: Let’s go ask the director. It’s a rare occasion, so I’ll introduce you to him.

Eichi: Thank you.

Dai: Good for you, Eichi. Sorry to disturb you during work.

Staff B: No, not at all. 

Dai: Then see you later. Rikka, good luck with the rest of your photoshoot.

Rikka: ‘Kay. See you later.

Staff B: Good job.

-Dai steps away-

Eichi: Thank you, Dai-kun!

Rikka: That’s right, Eichi! Do you have any plans for today? If you don’t, can we head back together after you watch the shooting? There’s something I want to talk to you about.

Eichi: Eh? With me?

Rikka: If you’re busy, you can just say so! I think the photoshoot will be over in about an hour or so, too.

Eichi: Ah, no! I don’t really have any plans for today, so it should be fine. I was actually wondering whether I should show up at the office or just head back.

Rikka: I’m glad to hear that. Thank you.

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