Her whole body was on fire.
Not the pleasant, tingling sort of fire that had been consuming her as she kissed Sebastian just moments before.
These were terrible, burning flames that made her nerves scream in agony as her body tried to purge itself of the curse. Once her coughing stopped she tried her hardest to straighten her spine and pretend that it wasn't what they both knew it was. But everything hurt so badly, and she knew she wasn't fooling Sebastian.
Eloise was terrified. She had seen how Anne's body had wasted away due to the curse, and Eloise wasn't hopeful she would survive. Even if Sebastian hadn't given up hope when his sister was cursed, he had already been researching relentlessly for a cure for over a year without any breakthroughs - and his research was in addition to Nurse Blainey and St. Mungo's fruitless attempts to heal her.
But...she could take a small measure of comfort from the fact that she had managed to save Anne.
Even if it was at the expense of her own well-being.
"What did you do?" Sebastian whispered, voice raspy, eyes wide and horrified as he looked at her.
Her eyes darted away from his accusing glare, down to the white sleeve that was now peppered with tiny spots of the blood she had just coughed up. They were slowly growing, the tiny spatters expanding and mingling with each other. "I..."
Throat constricting, tears welling up in her eyes, a sob that she was trying to swallow back down.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Eloise shook her head helplessly. "I have no idea."
She wasn't lying. When she had run to help Anne in Feldcroft all those weeks ago, she had been acting on pure instinct. Just as she had when Leander had hit Sebastian with diffindo. It was the most natural thing in the world to dip into whatever ancient magic reserves she was privy to and just use them. Even if she didn't fully understand these instincts.
"What did you do?" Sebastian repeated, voice rising with every word. He started pacing in front of the fireplace, running an agitated hand through hair that Eloise had already messed up. "I...oh, god. This can't be happening again."
"I would do it again. I saved Anne." Eloise's voice sounded very small to her ears and she shrunk away at the expression on his face when he turned to look at her. It was incredulous and devastated and furious and she couldn't look at him any more. She turned her head to watch the flames. Out of the corner of her eye she could see his agitated, jerky movements.
"At the expense of your own health! Merlin, this is all my fault. I -"
Eloise couldn't hear whatever Sebastian was about to say as his words were lost to another fit of coughing. His anger slipped away and was immediately replaced with concern as he moved to stand in front of her, gently reaching out a hand to her shoulder.
She was lost to the pain and flames screaming - was she screaming? - their way up her throat, the hacking coughs so gratingly painful that it was all she could focus on.
"Fuck," she heard Sebastian say. "Wait..."
He put an arm around her waist and helped her move the short distance to the bed. As soon as he let go of his hold on her, she fell to her side. Her arms were useless at the moment, and the side of her face met the mattress as she fell without being able to catch herself. Tears were streaming down her face as she coughed and coughed and coughed and -
"Here. Please..." A reassuringly solid presence at her side, leaning her body against his chest, her head lying limply across his shoulder. A gentle hand grabbed her jaw and then forced a potion down her throat.
Eloise immediately started gagging and tried to wrest herself from his grasp. The potion was thick and viscous and tasted like mud, slowly sliding its way down her throat. If the curse had manifested itself in all-encompassing flames, this potion was its antidote in the form of shards of ice that burned in an entirely different way. Her ears were ringing and her head swam in pain as she whimpered.
But...
The coughing had stopped.
Her eyes slowly opened.
Sebastian's face swam in and out of her vision as she blinked away the tears. There was a sharp stab of pain through her head when she tried to focus her vision, so she just closed her eyes again and moved her face into the crook of his neck.
Her breath came out in ragged gasps, but at least she wasn't coughing anymore.
She felt his arms tighten around her, one of his hands starting to massage the base of her neck as he cradled her body to his. Sebastian was warm, reassuring, solid. That, she could focus on. Eloise breathed in deeply, and the faint smell of cinnamon mixed with what she was now recognizing as Sebastian filled her senses. She tried to move an arm so she could caress him the way he was, but her arms were numb and tingling and she was just so tired.
She felt herself drifting off to sleep in his arms, the overwhelming feeling of safety and comfort being her last fleeting thoughts before sleep overcame her.
the scene after their first kiss, that I drew a while ago😇😇😇
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the oliver family reveal scene is such a character defining moment for felix. it reveals how deeply self serving he is as a person. ignoring that oliver is lying, since felix isn't aware of that at this point, felix is forcing his seemingly deeply traumatized friend back into said traumatizing environment because he feels the need to play the savior. "i'm not taking no for an answer. you have to fix this" why is felix insistent upon involving himself in these deeply personal family matters? to the point where he's bringing oliver there against his will? answering his phone and talking to his mom for him? as venetia said, he's known ollie for around six months. he couldn't truly begin to understand a family history that complicated and so opposite of his own in such short time, yet he's made himself an authority on mending this broken relationship between an abusive addict mother and her son. by deception. on ollie's birthday!!!!
the attention is taken away from this aspect of the dynamic very quickly since yknow, we find out everything is a farce anyway, but felix imposed himself like it was nothing. he has no concept of boundaries or overstepping- he cannot handle the word no. you can tell it's not the first time he's said "i'm not taking no for an answer" and it wouldn't be the last. and it wasn't ever even truly for ollie's sake, it was another part of felix's fantasy. it's another part of the role ollie plays for him. felix is a damsel that doesn't understand he's the damsel. he thinks he's the knight. and when his damsel isn't actually in distress, the illusion falls apart. suddenly, felix is the one actually in danger and the whole play is ruined.
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Bad Buddy remains one of the only romcoms I really enjoy rewatching and would recommend.
Like. Its got its weak spots. But its strengths definitely override those: extremely talented main leads and director, utilizes every romantic and comedy trope it can fit in an entertaining and emotionally in a way that benefits the story (making it easy to watch if you Only like romance or Only like comedy, or Only like stories of friends growing up, Or only like stories about overcoming conflicts with parent's baggage, or Only watching for it's interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, since it'll deliver those experiences). The Just Friends main theme song is pointedly about the whole story, sounds good, and is used in lyrical and instrumental variety to thread through the emotional beats. (Its also an Action romance comedy, something I particularly need in my romance stories lol or I tend to lose focus personally ToT). It aims to tell a solid Romeo and Juliet modern retelling, while also being made fresh with very fleshed out Pat and Pran as characters with rich lives, and it packs in enough angst to really resonate as a romantic journey with stakes and real risk of loss. You turn it on, and you get an experience you're hoping for, and a very well made one.
As an added bonus, like a lot of newer BL, it: depicts bisexuality, depicts queer women, depicts fairly realistic relationship conflicts (like how out to be, how commited to be, unsure of anothers feelings, when each person is comfortable with X, dealing with a lovers other close relationships like friends and family), depicts accepting parents and friends (and them being unaccepting for other reasons unrelate to queerness - making both an allegory to the biases against queer people we have to deal with while also 1 being escapism and wish fullfillment in the kind of world we might wish we had around us and 2 utilizing conflicts that Any watcher might relate to, since everyone's had disagreements with friends or family at some point).
You just turn it on and know you're getting what you hoped for, and a really amazing piece of work.
It doesn't particularly break any huge new ground (although it did help kick off the trend of shows realizing there's a desire for more GL from audiences, and it was part of the wave of earnest efforts in BL to show more realistic kisses and sexuality and Discussions Of Sexuality - which thankfully was a trend which continued, and is now almost expected to be Included in newer BLs that are made). Its a romeo and juliet story, with the young love and warring families and impossible situation that it promises. Its two people who desperately wanted to be friends, but couldnt, who became buddies anyway and wanted to be more. For that, its perfect.
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