#i played it with my gf which made it all the more enjoyable it was so fun bouncing our ideas and theories off each other...

[ham1lton]

SIMPLE !

pairings: jude bellingham x lewis hamilton’s assistant!reader

summary: after your first few dates with jude, everything seems to be going smoothly. however, there’s just one problem: your boss seems to hate your new boyfriend.

warnings: judeyn being dumbasses.

author’s note: part of my dream girl universe. for best enjoyment, read after the first instalment. assistant2 also makes her first official appearance!!

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📍 berlin, germany.

tagged: judebellingham

liked by ham1ltonshaderoom, jobebellingham and 2,837,918 others.

yourinstagram: the photos he takes of me vs the one i take of him. i think you all can see the better photographer.

view all 1,108,928 comments

user1: LOVE seeing hot people date each other.

-> user11: i love seeing two hot people be BESTIES.

user2: JUDE IS TAKEN ???!!!! NOOOOOOO

-> user3: babe… you didn’t have a chance at all. like please be serious.

-> user13: thank god they aren’t actually dating tho.

user4: my gf <3

-> judebellingham: who even are you.

-> user4: we can share <3 i can keep her satisfied thru the weekend u have the weekdays king.

jobebellingham: love this yn. he looks so depressed and ugly.

-> judebellingham: U JEALOUS ASF 😹

-> jobebellingham: yn i’ll paypal you £50 rn if you post more ugly pictures. which is all his pictures really.

-> yourinstagram: challenge accepted 🫡

lewishamilton: you look good yn!

-> user5: and what about jude??

-> lewishamilton: what about him?

-> user6: NOT YN’S HUSBAND HAVIN BEEF W/ HER BFF 😭

user7: lip combo?!!??

-> yourinstagram: i’m not a gatekeeper. it’s on my tiktok!! my most recent one <3

user8: you did my king so dirty with that one pic…. LMFAO DO IT AGAIN

-> yourinstagram: 🫡🫡

user10: their friendship is so cute!!

user12: yn is moving up in the world!!! from bts delulu to besties with JUDE BELLINGHAM

-> yourinstagram: blocking you! 😃

-> user12: you can block me but you can’t erase ‘hobisbabymama’

-> yourinstagram: HELLO?2&/9£/

user9: WHERE IS LANDO?!

-> user10: she blocked his main and his ten other side accounts because she’s secretly in love with him and wants to leave loser jude for him.

-> user9: hi lando 😁

user10: no roscoe pic?

-> yourinstagram: sorry babe :(( he’s at home with his dad and i’m on holiday. assistant2 has some highlights of him on her page!! <3

judebellingham: why do i look so depressed

-> yourinstagram: idk <3 want to get ice cream?

-> judebellingham: .. yeah

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title: my girlfriend’s boss (l,39) hates me and it’s ruining my relationship. help?

hi all, i don’t really post on here, but i’m at my wit’s end and need advice. i (j, m21) have been dating my girlfriend (y, f24) for a couple of months now, and it’s been brilliant. she’s smart, funny, beautiful, and honestly the kindest person i’ve ever met. here’s the catch: her boss (l, m39), who also happens to be an insanely famous athlete and very wealthy, clearly hates me.

y works as his personal assistant, and from what she’s told me, l has always been good to her. she’s known him for years, and he’s helped her out a lot in her career. she always says he’s like family, but ever since she introduced me to him, he’s been awful.

it started small, like him calling me “mate” in that condescending way that makes you feel about two feet tall. but last week, i went to pick y up from work, and he gave me this look—you know the type, the kind that says, “you’re not good enough to breathe the same air as her.” i tried to play it off, but it’s eating at me.

another time, we ran into him at a café, and he made this offhand comment about how “footballers aren’t known for their brains.” y tried to laugh it off, but i felt like an absolute idiot.

then there was the incident with the tickets. y mentioned she’d been offered two box seats for a big match, courtesy of l, and we were both so excited to go. but when she told him i was going with her, he suddenly “remembered” he’d promised them to someone else. i know it sounds paranoid, but it feels deliberate.

to make matters worse, y thinks i’m overreacting. she says l is just protective of her because they work closely together, but i can’t help but feel like there’s more to it. she brushes off his weird behaviour, but come on—this is the same man who asked her to taste-test a box of chocolate truffles because he couldn’t decide which to order for himself. (weird, right?)

it’s not just the comments, though. y told me l doesn’t usually care who his staff date, but she mentioned he’s suddenly started asking loads of questions about me, like whether i’ve been in trouble before or if i’m serious about her. it’s like he’s looking for a reason to disapprove. y thinks he’s being protective, but i swear he just doesn’t like me. here’s the problem: i’m pretty sure he hates me. actually, scratch that—i know he hates me.

i’m spiralling here. what if l starts sabotaging our relationship? y says she’s not going anywhere, but i can’t shake the feeling he’s got some weird power over her. am i just being insecure, or is there something seriously wrong here? what do i do?

top comments:

soggy_pigeon: nah, this is classic alpha behaviour. he’s marking his territory. he probably sees her as more than just an assistant, if you know what i mean. tread carefully.

fluffybananas: footballers aren’t known for their brains. maybe he has a point.

spicy_gravy: dude, he’s probably jealous you’ve got abs and a girl who loves you. chill.

randomuser_123: sounds like you’re dating your boss’s work spouse.

tofu_throwaway: i think l’s just jealous because y spends more time with you now. he’s like a toddler upset that someone’s playing with his favourite toy.

ladybantheboys: ok but what if it’s the opposite? like, what if l approves of you but is being mean on purpose to test if you’re good enough for her?

football4ever: j, mate, you’re overthinking. l’s just a famous bloke who doesn’t want to lose his assistant to some random guy. show him you’re not random. take him out for a pint or something.

memequeen420: this reminds me of when i had a cat and got a new dog. the cat hated the dog at first but now they’re best friends. just give it time.

plshelpme1998: have you tried googling “how to win over your girlfriend’s boss”? there’s bound to be a wikiHow.

bananabreadbae: mate, if he wanted her, he’d have made a move by now. maybe he just doesn’t like footballers. not everyone does, you know.

user2847: honestly, the truffle thing makes me think he’s the weird one. does he do this with everyone or just y? if it’s just her, he’s probably got some weird older-brother complex going on.

ultimategoblin69: maybe he wants to adopt you. famous people do weird shit like that.

yogurtbutter: ok but what if you’re the problem? maybe you’re just a bit annoying and he senses it. famous people have great instincts.

iamnotanon: have you considered sabotaging him back? like, nothing serious, but maybe show up in a better suit than him one day. alpha vibes only.

opinionatedowl: this is a power thing. l’s rich and famous, and he’s used to being in charge. stand your ground, but don’t disrespect him. he’s probably testing you.

thecheeseman: it sounds like a bad rom-com where l secretly approves of you but can’t admit it because he’s emotionally constipated. if i were you, i’d play the long game.

spicywaterlover: wait… what if l is secretly in love with y and you’re the obstacle? plot twist.

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edit: wow, ok. this has been a ride. thanks for all the comments, even the wild ones. i think i’ll try the “pint” suggestion, but i draw the line at sabotage. will update if anything changes (or if i get adopted).

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liked by messyassuser, lando11priv and 1,938,882 others.

ham1ltonshaderoom: football star jude bellingham seen cuddling and being affectionate with his new girl! she has been identified as yn yln, she is the personal assistant of f1 icon lewis hamilton. they were spotted outside a restaurant in las vegas after the grand prix all boo’d up! according to sources, they were all loved up at the after party. they ‘didn’t leave each other’s space’. what do we think about this new couple ham1ltons?

view all comments

user1: who tf even is she

-> user2: a baddie. she’s seriously so funny and sweet. you guys should see her tiktok or insta pages. jude is punching above his weight.

user3: oh!

user4: HOTTIES!!!

user5: why they doing the most in public???

-> user6: they’re in love? girl lmao.

-> user7: she’s his beard or he’s hers. idk yet. i need to consult the stars.

-> user8: ^ me when i’m off my meds.

user9: am i the only one who thinks they’re cute? good for them!!

user10: um i think she’d be happier with lando.

-> user11: lando please how are you still making new accounts.

-> user10: i’m totally not the handsome and gorgeous lando. i’m actually… pando. hi.

user12: my gf and my bf are dating??? i’m gonna be sick.

-> user13: they got two hands.

user14: they’re rlly dating???

-> user15: no bitch. they’re just coworkers 🙄

-> user14: oh! thank you :D

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UPDATE: my girlfriend’s boss (l,39) hates me and it’s ruining my relationship. help?

hi all, it’s j again. thanks for the advice on my last post—it was a mix of helpful, hilarious, and… well, a bit unsettling. but it gave me the push i needed to talk to l. here’s what happened:

i decided to man up and ask him out for a pint to clear the air. i figured it was the most normal thing to do. well, turns out l’s teetotal (thanks, y, for not warning me properly). when i suggested a pint, he just looked at me for a second and went, “i don’t drink, mate,” in that calm, terrifying way he has. i panicked, said something about tea, and left feeling like an absolute idiot.

but two days later, he called y at work and told her to invite me round to his place for tea. TEA. this man lives in a house that looks like it’s straight out of a Bond film, so you can imagine how intimidating it was to rock up with a packet of biscuits like some budget offering.

long story short, we had tea, and he cleared the air. he admitted he’d been giving me a hard time because he wanted to make sure i was serious about y. he said she’s like family to him (didn’t say “work spouse,” thank god), and he needed to know i’d treat her right. honestly, it was a bit awkward, but also kind of sweet.

so yeah, we’re good now. he even said he’d save me a seat for the next big race. i don’t know if that was a peace offering or a power move, but i’ll take it.

thanks for the push, reddit. you lot are mad, but in a good way. most of the time.

comments:

ladybantheboys: told you he was testing you! this is literally every rom-com ever. next step: you accidentally bond over an inside joke, and he becomes your biggest fan.

bananabreadbae: this is so british it hurts. “sorry i was mean, let’s have tea.” mate, at least you passed the test!

football4ever: called it! blokes like him just want to make sure you’re solid. now you’re in his good books, you’re set for life. congrats, mate.

memequeen420: so… what kind of biscuits did you bring? was it something boring like digestives, or did you go all out with hobnobs? we NEED to know.

randomuser_123: this is like when my dog hated my boyfriend at first but then they bonded over cheese. sometimes it just takes time.

tofu_throwaway: glad it worked out, but honestly, i’m still a bit scared of l. even through your post, he sounds like he could crush a man with a single stare.

iamnotanon: congrats on passing the test. now don’t mess it up, or i guarantee he’ll make you disappear. rich people have connections.

ultimategoblin69: you went to his house?! are you sure it wasn’t a trap? like, did he subtly scan your fingerprints for future blackmail material?

plshelpme1998: like, this whole thing is giving weirdly protective father vibes. good luck, mate.

user2847: what does his house smell like? no, seriously. i feel like rich people’s houses have that “old money” smell, like leather and expensive wood polish. was it intimidating?

(deleted): send feet pics.

opinionatedowl: so… when’s the wedding? i’m assuming l will walk her down the aisle now that you’ve been knighted into his inner circle.

thecheeseman: this is the most British solution ever. “i made you feel terrible, but here, have some earl grey, and now we’re mates.” glad it worked out though!

memequeen420 (again): STILL no answer on the biscuits. j, you’re avoiding the REAL questions here. were they branded or store-brand? did he eat one? this is important.

weirdcookieperson: did he sniff you when you walked in? like, does he have a heightened sense of smell? rich people are weird, man.

alphamale_uk: mate, you handled this all wrong. never apologise, never offer tea, and NEVER back down to another alpha. you should’ve walked in, sat in his chair, and asserted dominance. that’s how you gain respect. next time, bring steak, not biscuits. real men bond over meat, not tea.

j (op): l’s vegan, mate. bringing a steak would’ve been like waving a red flag at a bull. also, this isn’t Planet of the Apes, it’s just tea. chill.

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j (op): wow, i forgot how weird reddit is. for the record: branded hobnobs. because i’m not a monster. no sniffing, no fingertip scanning and i’ll get someone to update you if i go missing. cheers for the laughs.

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— all works taglist: @luvsforme @yelenasloverrrrr @donttouchthegnote @chelle1306 @bloodyymaryy @aliciaablueprint @km-23mr @stinkyjax @f1kenzzz @ctrlyomomma @theblueblub @23victoria @namgification @tallrock35 @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @ariellovelynn @shhhchriss @lifeless-firefly @xylinasdiary @evie-119 @itseightbeats @landososcar @yongi-lee @velentine @m1892 @blushmimi @evans-dejong @nixisracing @lethalvenus @sainzluvrr @santanasaintmendes @idontknowlmaoo @sainzluvrr @tetetoni @ssprayberrythings @heavy-vettel @tashisgf @daniskywalkersolo @c-losur3 @lestappenslover @linoscrly (see yourself tagged when you don’t wanna be? or you want to be and don’t see yourself? send me an ask!)

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[mymarifae]

i stayed up all night playing this game and uh

it's really good.

i can't go into detail about my final thoughts; i don't want to spoil anything for anyone! this is one of those games where the less you know going in, the more impactful the whole thing will be.

still check the in-game content warning list if you think you'll need it!! after finishing i can say that the notably upsetting topics are like... unreality (this is a BIIIIG one. stay safe!), depression and suicide, ableism (specifically directed towards people with autism and epilepsy), drugs/being drugged, and. uh.*squints* mild sexual content. i guess. if you're sensitive to any of these topics, you probably want to take a look at the detailed content warning list. otherwise, the game is probably safe for you to play blind

but this game absolutely insane from start to finish and also it HITS. REALLY HARD. i wholeheartedly recommend this. it's a lot of reading and not the most.. interactive? game out there but it had me hooked so tbh i didn't care. seriously go check it out. and have fun because you'll be in for a RIDE 🫶🏾

ok okguys. GUYS. i started playing siren’s call a little bit ago and i feel kind of insane i’m surprised i haven’t seen more people talking about this game ? like. it’s fascinating. it’s given me whiplash (in a good way) like 20 different times and i’ve only seen about *checks the completion percentage bar* 11% of the content it has to offer. also, it’s free. like it’s just on steam and you can grab it. based on how much this game has going on it’s like. i would have expected this to cost $20 or so at least.

it’s actually hard for me to gauge what it’s about fully rn because it lulls you into thinking the story is going one way and then whips around and drops a line of dialogue that changes everything and you’re left there kind of reeling. IDK i’m very early into it as i said but it’s definitely impressed me. big time. and i think it’s something worth taking a look at, especially considering it’s fucking free

so quick rundown: it’s a visual novel style game. you play as oliver, a fresh high school graduate. it’s the last day of summer break, and tomorrow he’ll be leaving his small hometown to go to college. he’s spending this last day in siren’s call saying goodbye to his friends. the game initially posits itself as a short and sweet coming of age story, something that’s nice to play but you’ll probably forget about in a month or two. but as you go around talking to oliver’s friends (ashton, andi, emil, judith, and violet), you start to pick up all these little hints that uh something really fucking weird and fucked up happened over their summer break? basically - whatever you think this game will be about? it’s not. and i mean when you go to its steam page you’ll see this right off the bat:

but from what i’ve seen so far that little “i killed someone this summer.” line is pretty… misleading. like literally whatever you think this game will be about It’s Not.

as far as content warnings go, right off the bat the game gives you a vague disclaimer like “this game will cover topics related to depression and may be unsettling to some players blahblahblah” but it also offers an actual comprehensive list of warnings that you can choose to view at the expense of mild spoilers. (i didn’t look at it because i decided i want to know as little as possible about this game as i play through it. probably should have because it didn’t take long for me to get upset by something but KJGEBVDUGBGESDVHKJ)

anyways yeah. pretty cool little game that everyone should check out with me (as long as it’s safe for you to do so!! make sure you read that content warning list if you think you might need it ^^)

[evb0]

procrastinating so u guys get my hatchetverse hcs!!! (these are going to be a lot of shit i picked up from random posts that i dont remeber the ops of so sorry if u made one of these hcs and i dont credit you i love you sorry) ethan green

probably like 23? 25?

hes actually bi he told me himself

afab he/they boyflux sue me

lex is his first and only gf. he's probably had like one bf before but he loves lex sm more (simp) (malewife to her girlboss basically)

orphan sorry i dont make the rules

his dad left like immedately and his mom passed of old age when he was like 17 idk

hannah is basically his little sister. he'd die 4 her actually.

ted spankoffski

like late 20s early 30s at the most ithink

so painfully thirsty for anyone he has to be pan

amab he/him but doesnt really give a fuck

has never had a partner thats so sad. he makes up for this by constantly acting like everybody wants him. they dont. (exepct for me i love him)

doesnt really have a CRUSH on anyone speific but mark chastity is his fav to tease (sorry im a baby for holy bastard)

him and petes parents love them but theyre kinda like.. oblivious and absent. like theyre always on trips and leaving pete to live w ted

max jagerman

im not gonna list all of the teens' age theyre all 16-18

im assimilating with this one he/she pronouns amab

hes omni he told me himself pref 2 women

everybody wants him he only wants the nerd (hes just like me fr)

he isnt dead shut up shut up sHUT UP HES FINE OKAY

his dad is not good his mom died in childbirth

stephanie lauter

genderqueer. they/she/he in order of pref. also uses xe/xir idc sue me

pan thats cannon she told me xirself

does tiktok dances but really badly on purpose

the biggest simp on earth to her one guy and nobody ese

will fluster the living hell out of pete in public for fun

hates being the mayors daughter, feels alienated bcs of it

pete spankoffski

he/they afab i dont make the rules

bi if you argue youre homophobic (/J)

actually loves his big bro but acts like he doesnt bcsaude is ted hears him looking up ted he'll never hear the end of it

nickname seymour from ruth (bcause lsoh)

ex-brony

richie whateverhislastnameis

afab he/xe/nya/zap he would have so many cool neos. one of those people whos neo list is longer than the bill of rights

gay mlm yes

undertale enjoyer

nge enjoyer

discord mod in an anime server

owns several body pillows

xem and ruth have been friends since pre-k so they know eachother like the back of their hand

ruth whateverherlastnameis

afab she/they

omni large large large pref to girls. likes a few boys sorta

biggest theatre kid ever but sucks at acting and singing (the curse)

got ensemble ONCE and cried at the cast list

fav show is heathers

heather m kin i dont make the rules

grace chastity

afab she/her

bi

liked a girl once and cried for a week str8 abt going 2 hell

i dont have alot of hcs for her but i think she would like fire a large amount

not even arson wise but like

a firebug

tinky

i already made my hcs for all the LiBs' true forms so go find those if you want

all the libs dont give a fuc about pronouns call them whatever

i do he/him tho

tinky is really just a 13 yr old girl freaking out abt one specific guy (ted) and making fucked up fanfics with him (time bastard nmt)

the "youngest" of the siblings

boy jerry

i beleive that every character jon plays is related. boy jerry is pauls fucked up brother. which means hes also richies uncle

[mo-ok]

Top 5 WORST sentais you’ve watched. or simply least favorite bc I know you’re more of a lover than a hater

OK SO these are simply the ones i think about the least since finishing them (i've enjoyed every season i've seen so far, but some just have less staying power in my brain than others)

OR the ones with the most "little annoyances"/characters i cared the least about/etc etc

So this is less of a "worst" list and simply more of a "i liked other things more" list 😂😂😭

5. Liveman - worst ending in the whole franchise. Absolute downer of a show. Two completely wasted rangers who really didnt need to be there/could have easily been made so much better. I would not recommend this show to someone unless i knew them very well and knew they'd get it. 10/10 i fucking love liveman but oh my god OH MY GOD.

4. Dairanger - very enjoyable episode to episode but really fumbled the bag in the second half imo. I love lots of aspects of this season, i love the characters (probably one of the only people in the whole world who doesnt hate Koh lmao), the suits and intro theme are some of my favourites in the whole franchise. But like... what actually happened in dairanger??? Daigo got a bird gf for a minute? Kemp hurt comfort episode???? We played baseball??????

3. King Ohger - i think i would have enjoyed kingoh a whole lot more if i was able to watch it at a faster pace. The general lack of longer fight scenes and robot fights started to weigh on me lmao, i didnt quite realise how important the robots were to me until kingoh took them away 😂😂 again, i enjoyed the show, but i havent thought about it much since it ended

2. Gaoranger - it was great fun and full on and i enjoyed it a lot, but boy howdy did it make me feel TIRED lmao. I watched this directly after watching Gingaman and was still very much in the Hyuuga trenches, which i dont think helped with Gao not sticking around in my mind. Also, didnt like the ending song (the theme song goes hard though, and Gaku remains a special boy in my special boy jar)

1. Kyoryuger - I remember really enjoying it and its characters, the bad guys were fun and the music goes hard. But there are a few factors that work together to sadly have it end up at the bottom of my sentai pile

- i find myself not really thinking about it AT ALL unless its right in front of me lmao.

- I have a lot of love and nostalgia tied to PR Dino Charge which kinda clouds most of my kyoryu memories

- tyler/shelby >>>>>> king/amy

- fav thing about kyoryu is Utchy and he wasnt even in the kingoh crossover eps wtf

- i think i have simply watched too much since watching Kyoryuger. I definitly am glad i watched it early on, cause i genuinly feel like i'd probably enjoy it less if i watched it now (i did however recently rewatch the Souji parents episode for the dynaman brain rot 10/10 junichi haruta my beloved)

[loonatic-moon]

Back again! You have a great point. 0 is what really revived the series in the west and Akiyama hasn’t really been prominent since before that. At least he was in 6! But yeah… not the most prominent… at least the Akikiryu food there was good.

I always thought Akiyama’s appearance fit in pretty well in 5 myself. Sure he didn’t really have a dream of his own to pursue (an interesting aspect to his character!), but in a way, his whole shtick is helping make dreams come true. To help those who need it most… but yeah I can also sorta see what people mean. 5 has to contain some of my all time favorite Akiyama moments though so I’m no doubt extremely biased.

And oh! You started with 5? Wild! Now that makes me super curious as to how you felt when you went back and played through 4 since I feel like there are slightly different vibes between the two. Not so much uncle/dad energy for one.

I can definitely see what you’re saying about Yagami! I’ve even seen some people say that Yagami’s fighting style (Crane really) fits what Akiyama wants to do. It makes a lot of sense.

True. I am happy to see Akiyama in whatever, even if he plays a minor role. He fits in pretty well as a supporting character so if that’s all RGG can/will do with him then… so be it. And yeah! Hana! Bring my girl back RGG! And hey, if Akiyama’s next role is in a turn based game, Hana would also work really well in that system! We know she can kick ass!

And omg if you write more Akikiryu, you’ll be my hero. I mean. You already are for feeding us fans with some great food, but more content of the moneylender with another man’s face on his necklace, a man he is definitely not yearning for, from you is a welcome treat!

Oh god, Y4 was a very different experience for so MANY reasons, lmao. I vastly prefer Y5 Akiyama to Y4 Akiyama to be honest, but there's something to be said about Y4's protrayal.

I went and played through Akiyama's Y4 bit right after I finished 5 because I had to know what this guy's deal was (and because I had already made the insane choice to jump in the deep end with the franchise). I definitely didn't love the whole Yasuko plot and being a dead ringer for his ex-gf, nor the shit that had also carried over into Y5 like having female clients work at a hostess club as a test. Questionable creative decisions at best. But like most other characters in the RGG universe, the narrative also doesn't make any bones about the fact that Akiyama is a flawed human in an industry that's often adjacent to the criminal underworld, despite his more noble philosophies. That's much of why I find this series so enjoyable, after all.

But anyway, after having played Y4 and the rest of the series by now, I personally still think Akiyama has one of the best opening/introduction scenes for any character in the franchise. I think his conversation with the baby yakuza is wonderfully done just from a narrative standpoint. And damn, all that shit he said to Kiryu in New Serena when they first met? Kinda confirmed my strong suspicions from Y5 that this guy has a Thing for Kiryu. Like most people, to be fair, but his Thing is with a capital-T. It was enough to prompt me to write Dragon and the Sky, haha.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go off on a rambly quasi-analysis, but I've thought a lot about the reasons his character fascinates me and has had staying power with fans-- not the least of which is he's like Kiryu in that he was once someone who was at the top of his game, who then took the fall for someone else and lost everything. I always found that to be an interesting template that RGG chose for him...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, as always!

[fbfh]

light up the dark [X] - Leo Valdez x reader

wc: 6.3k

genre: domestic fluff, slice of life, smut, character interactoins

pairing: Leo Valdez x goth gf!child of eros!reader

warnings: reader might be starting to warm up a little, Leo being an absolute lovemuffin (he's so sweet), c*lypso mentions, c*lypso shit talking, reader nico goth kid friendship, leo hazel friendship, hazel being adorable, possible soulmate au????? v brief, good old fashioned friend group tea spilling/gossip sesh, penetrative sex, closet hookups, emotional sex, oral (f recieving), leo making everyone's heart do backflips, switch leo, gratuitous use of the words cunt and clit, gratuitous clit play, sex w a side of feelings

summary: after a surprisingly enjoyable movie, many important conversations are had while everyone splits up to do chores in groups. your ability to resist Leo is getting weaker, and he's starting to make you feel things.

song recs: that's amore - dean martin moonstruck soundtrack, canzone per loretta/gioventu mia tu non sei morta - moonstruck soundtrack, dear future husband - meghan trainor, don't know how - ricky montgomery, hangin - bastille, let's generalize about men - crazy ex girlfriend soundtrack, she knows - j. cole, bad ideas - tessa violet, haunted house - florence and the machine, if my heart was a house - owl city, I'll make love to you - boyz II men

a/n: struggled with this bc of a change in my environment that ate up an hour of my writing time!! hate it :) the movie they're watching is moonstruck if you didn't catch that lol.

tags: @yesv01 @magcon7280 @avashaye @perseajohnson @afidiofobia @thatmultifandomloser @yelenabel0vaswife @almostjollypizza @fictionalcomforts  @lizziebitch33  @jacksondeeznuts @girlfriendwhoseawitch @urmum-xoxo @Asunnyhunny @dustyinkpages @cowboylikekelsey @legramilis @youkissedareaderinthedark @mrscarolscaramoucheplease @cosmiq-cloud @anything-forourmoony  @i-dont-remember-a-lot  @chasingpj @1dpjohoohp @mystic-writings   @babiesimagines @dreamerball @demirunner @if-only-i-was-fictional

You spend all day waiting for the shoe to drop. You sit through “family meetings” of chore wheel arrangements and board games and movie night schedules with your stomach in knots, waiting to see if Nico told anyone yet, or if he’s going to. One move from him and it could be dramageddon. Dread sits cold and heavy in your stomach, like an unwelcome but familiar old friend. For the whole time everyone’s piled in the living room, dividing up chores and tasks, taking turns picking games and movies, you look at everyone’s faces a little too closely, trying to figure out if anyone knows, if anyone suspects anything yet. It's going to be tough, being in such close quarters like this. You just have to act totally normal, not give them a reason to suspect anything. All these bonding activities and let's split up gang tasks are a minefield, each one laying the potential groundwork for more and more to go wrong. 

But as the time draws nearer to actually do all the things you've spent the morning planning out together, you don't find yourself nearly as worried as you thought you would be. After breakfast - which was obviously delicious because Leo made it - you all cram back in the living room to watch a movie. As you curl up in an armchair that's not too close to anyone and the opening credits begin to play, the only thing on edge is the voice in your head insisting that something is going to go wrong if you're not careful. 

You glance over at Leo, who's scooching an ottoman over to sit a little closer to you. It's enough to make you smile, but not so much that it feels like someone cornering you or encroaching on your personal space. You both settle in in tandem as the opening shot of the movie glows across the screen. You try not to pay too much attention to that voice, try to focus on the movie. You even manage to ignore the grinding pain between your shoulder blades that feels like something’s going to rip through your flesh for most of the time. You did try looking at your back in the bathroom mirror, but the skin around where it hurt just looked a little irritated. You don't know what this is, but you hope it goes away soon. 

The she-devil has been nowhere to be found for all this, the planning and arranging, even now during the movie. You can't say it's an unpleasant surprise, though it still escapes you why anyone would rather sulk then be spending time with a group of people that actually aren't terrible. Granted, Calypso's absence has made it a lot easier to get along with everyone else, keep the conflict to a minimum. Leo did go to check on her once earlier. All you knew was what you heard her berating him about on his way back down, how stupid and pointless she thinks all this is. 

You're not the biggest fan of it all yourself, but hearing the way she talked to him led you to adamantly take the opposite stance out of spite. Group bonding is so important. You'd even go as far as to say it's enjoyable. Your favorite fucking thing since Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. It's not like you'll get to say it to her face, she only shows up for mealtimes, if that. You could easily bitch slap her for never helping with cooking or cleaning either. The only thing she actually does do is make everyone uncomfortable, talk shit about you, then storm off in a huff and expect everyone to worry about her, but turn down anyone who tries to talk to her. So yeah, it's probably best that you haven't seen much of her. 

By the end of the movie - that you actually enjoyed, in spite of the lack of things you usually look for in movies, like blood or the occult - everyone had a great time. You got some laughs, and even a few inside jokes out of it, including the phrase, 'it's like a big snowball' said in a thick new york accent. Percy didn't have to change anything to mimic the line perfectly, which was easily the best part of the whole thing. Once everything is all wrapped up, everyone splits up into teams for chore duty. You and Nico head to the laundry room, Hazel and Leo head to the store for groceries, and everyone else tidies up and starts to get dinner ready. Normally you hate laundry, but you realize this is actually the perfect opportunity to get some more information on children of Eros. You just have to play your cards right, be extra careful with Nico. You can’t charm your way out of this one. 

On the way to the grocery store, Hazel is quiet. She’s quiet when Leo plays old Megan Trainor songs, she barely replies when he asks how her craft projects are going, and she barely even bats an eyelash when they drive past someone walking not one, but two dogs. That’s when he knows something is really bothering her. It takes him until they’re half way through their list to figure out what’s going on, and get her to talk to him about it. Once she does open up, it seems obvious. He wonders how he didn’t piece it together before now, but he’s just glad they’re finally talking about it. 

“I just…” she starts, hesitating at the awkwardness of the subject. “I think that if you’re- putting out for each other, that that should mean something.” 

Leo nods, and she continues, avoiding his eyes.

“That if you like her enough to… you know… roll in the hay,” she mumbles, and Leo bites back a smile at the turn of phrase, “then you should ask her to be your girlfriend.” 

Leo lets out a dry laugh. 

“Be-fucking-lieve me, I want to.” 

She looks at him confused as he tosses bread into their cart. He lets out a sigh, trying to find the words he’s looking for. 

“The thing is,” he starts, skimming the aisles for the next thing they’re looking for as they walk, “I think she does like me like that. And I definitely like her like that. I just…” He trails off, feeling her silent question hover between them. If you both like each other, he should just ask you out! He thinks back to you, to how careful he’s been to not push you away or come on too strong. 

“I just don’t want to move things too fast and scare her off.” 

Hazel nods. 

“Like a horse.” She says solemnly. That gets a laugh out of Leo. 

“Yeah,” he says, scratching something else off their list as she places it in the cart. “Like a horse. So like you said, us doing the diddly-”

“Rolling in the hay!” She interjects with a humorous frown. 

“Whatever.” He says dramatically, getting another giggle out of her. “The point is, it does mean something - at least I think it does, between us - so I don’t want to pile on all this commitment on top of that. At least until I know she’s ready for that.” 

He glances over as she listens. 

“We’re just doing things backwards, I guess.” 

She hums in response. That all makes sense, sure, but there’s something that’s still bothering her. 

“Well,” she says, picking out some nice looking fruit from the produce section, “you shouldn’t keep your backwards relationship a secret from your friends.” 

She really called him out with that one. After how many unnecessary problems arose between the time they came to camp and actually defeated Gaia, all because of keeping secrets and not sharing things that are (in hindsight) really important, they came to the conclusion that keeping secrets is stupid. They all agreed to be much more open with each other, to tell each other everything and rely on their friends when things were hard. This informal no more secrets pact had only been broken twice. By Leo not telling them what’s going on between him and you, and by everyone else not telling him what they’ve really thought of Calypso all this time. Aside from those, things have never been better between them. Leo lets out a sigh. 

"You're right." He concedes, "I promise I'll tell them soon, I just don't want to scare her. I mean…" he sighs with a smile, thinking about how much you've opened up to him already. "She's finally starting to warm up a little, you know?"

Hazel nods. You really do remind her of a horse. You're skittish because you're scared, not because you're actually dangerous. You just need the right person to take care of you, brush you and feed you sugar cubes until you realize they're not all bad. She thinks Leo is probably that right person. She hopes this will be enough of a resolution, but as they walk to the next area of the store, she can feel that antsy feeling beginning to erode at her insides again. 

"So when you say soon…" she starts, getting a laugh from Leo, "do you mean like, tomorrow night at dinner soon, or this weekend soon?"

He considers. He's prioritizing how you seem to be doing, the silent cues he's picking up from you over a specific time. He shrugs.

"If the right opportunity strikes, sure, it could be as soon as tomorrow night." He says with a chuckle, half joking. As they scratch the last items off the list and head to the front to check out, they both feel a sense of resolution about the whole situation. Leo concludes the conversation with an emphasis on timing, waiting for you to be ready to take things further without taking on too much. Hazel concludes the conversation with an emphasis on the specific timing of dinner tomorrow night. She feels better knowing that she won't have to keep this secret from the people she loves more than anything for much longer. The only thing she needs to do now, is figure out how to keep it for that long. 

While you and Nico start sorting laundry into different piles, you try to figure out where to start, and more importantly, how to bring this up at all in a way that feels natural. You can't charm your way out of this with him, so you need to be a little more strategic. Once you decide where to start, which burning question to ask first, you break the comfortable silence that fills the room. 

"So," you start, not looking up from what you're doing, "how did you know that little trick of mine wouldn't work on you?"

He looks over at you with a dry hint of a smile, like he's been expecting this. He lets out a long sigh, and you brace yourself for wherever this is going. 

"Every once in a while, my dad - Hades," he clarifies, before continuing "he'll try to have a… father/son heart to heart with me."

You shudder in tandem at how uncomfortable that sounds. 

"After a few seconds, he realizes how painstakingly awkward it is, and give me a bunch of random information instead. I used to think it was useless, but…" 

He looks over at you, seeming to size you up, aligning what he knows about you with what his dad has told him about children of Eros in an attempt to avoid awkward dad talks. 

"I guess not."

You wait in silence for him to continue, but he turns back to sorting laundry. It's quiet for a few moments before you cave, trying not to seem as desperate for more information as you are. 

"So…" you start again. You try to seem nonchalant, but all it does is bring a good natured laugh out of Nico. You find yourself laughing along with him, and the realization sets in again that you can't make him perceive you the way you want to like you can with so many other people. It's somehow both alarming, and strangely comforting. Nico sighs before answering. 

"Children of Eros can invoke lust, sort of like how some children of Aphrodite can use charmspeak. The thing is, you can't draw on feelings that aren't there. Your powers are only going to work on people in the right age group - within a year or two of your age until you're 18. It's also not going to work on people that aren't attracted to your gender. I have a boyfriend, not a girlfriend, which is why-"

"None of that worked on you." You finish, grateful both for the information and to have someone to talk to about it. 

"Yeah." He agrees, as you finish putting the first load of laundry up in the washer as he continues.

"So basically, it's not going to work on someone who's not compatible because of their age or preference," he says, summarizing his knowledge on the topic, "or your soulmate." 

Your eyes flare at the addition. Soulmate? The curiosity in your eyes is obvious, so he continues. 

"But soulmate connections are pretty rare, so I wouldn't worry about that."

"Oh," you chuckle with a sigh of relief. At least that's one more thing you don't have to worry about. "Thanks."

The rest of your time in the laundry room is quiet, the white noise of the machines adding to the comfortable silence. You don't know if this counts as an actual friendship considering you're both just silently doing laundry in the same room, but you actually don't mind it too much. You're looking forward to the next time you do laundry together. 

Everyone else has made their way to the kitchen, starting to get everything ready for dinner and keeping each other company. It’s not long before the conversation turns to tea spilling, as it tends to when close friends are spending time together. It’s not long before the conversation turns to you. Annabeth asks Jason more about when you first met, and Jason is happy to go into detail. He’s mostly just glad he can finally talk to his friends about all this. After a while, they’re caught up on more or less every interaction he’s had with you before they arrived. 

“And then you guys showed up the next morning, so that’s basically everything. What do you think?” 

Once they’re up to speed, Piper’s the first to speak up. 

“I mean,” she starts, brow furrowed, “I’m worried about Leo, for obvious reasons.” Everyone agrees, none of them needing to go into detail about Leo’s taste in women. Historically, it’s been questionable at best, sometimes even bordering on self destructive. In the midst of Calypso inserting herself into their lives, something none of them are a fan of, the last thing any of them want is for Leo to jump from one toxic relationship into another, or worse, backslide to Calypso. Again. 

“Yeah, me too-” Jason starts, about to reiterate this point. 

“Wait,” Annabeth interjects, brow furrowing, “you said she scared off Calypso? When she first showed up?” 

“Yeah.” Jason nods. Annabeth considers for a moment. 

“I like her.” 

It brings a laugh out of everyone, but none of them disagree. Frank pauses chopping up vegetables for a second. 

“Honestly, I’m just worried she’s going to say something mean.” 

“To Leo?” Percy asks, getting another coke from the fridge and handing a redbull to Annabeth. 

“Yeah,” Frank shrugs, “or to any of us. I mean, we’re already dealing with enough shit right now, you know?” 

“Wait, has she actually said anything mean to anyone here? Like, targeted any of us?” Will asks, thinking back. Jason lets out a dry laugh. 

“Uh, yeah?” He says, stating the obvious, “She was super mean and terrifying when we first met.” He thinks back to how intimidating you were that first day they found you. 

“Wasn’t she, like… scared out of her mind then? Like, she just woke up from a magic coma and probably didn’t even know she was a demigod. Has she done anything mean since then? Like, after that?” 

Jason’s brow furrows as he tries to remember. 

“...I don’t think so.” He says, and Will chuckles. 

“Yeah, she was probably just scared!” 

Jason has no idea how he didn’t think of it like that before. He realizes that now, since your life isn’t in mortal danger, you haven’t really been snapping at anyone but Calypso that much. Everyone else seems to come to the same conclusion. 

“I mean, she did call Calypso a wilted jagweed the other day.” Frank points out. 

“In her defense, Calypso was being a wilted jagweed.” Percy says, nonchalantly. 

“I think that’s the nicest thing I could say about her…” Annabeth agrees, drawing a loud laugh through the room. They start remembering your best Calypso roasts and funniest zings over the last few days, and in doing so, they notice a pattern. All of that, every mean but honest thing you’ve said about her, has been in response to something less good natured that Calypso said or did. You haven’t been the one starting shit since day one. 

“Okay. If no one else will say it, I will.” Piper says, and everyone braces themselves for some scalding hot tea, “Am I the only one who’s noticed how much shit Calypso talks about her?”

Everyone in the room could not agree more. 

“Especially behind her back!” Piper points out incredulously. They’re all reminded of the various mean girls they’ve had to deal with over the years. None of them want to admit it, but ever since Calypso left Ogygia, she’s been steadily getting worse than Regina George. Percy lets out a dry scoff while he stirs the contents of a frying pan, a dish towel casually tossed over his shoulder. It’s something he’s seen his mom do countless times, and it feels weird cooking without one. 

“You know, it’d probably be a lot easier to gel as a group like Chiron said if Calypso wasn’t picking fights all the time.” 

Annabeth turns to him, agreeing adamantly. 

“Yeah! And have you noticed she only shows up to eat?” She scoffs, “Where is she when we’re all cooking and cleaning up?” Facts have truly been spoken, and no one shies away from agreeing with her. At least you’re actually participating. Even when it seems like sometimes you don’t want to, you still make an effort to be there. You still show up where Calypso doesn’t. 

“Yeah, literally!” Jason agrees, “She actually helped me and Leo go grocery shopping on our first day here. She made a list and divided it up so it would be easier and everything.” 

The silence speaks volumes. There’s more than enough evidence that in spite of your prickly exterior, you’re actually much nicer than Calypso is. Granted, with her track record it’s not hard to be nicer than she is, but they all still appreciate the effort from you. Frank finishes chopping the vegetables as cooking smells waft through the air, a preview of the delicious food to come. He finds himself relating to you. After the blessing he got from his dad, he noticed the instantaneous difference in the way people look at him. He suddenly got so much taller and more buff than he was, and that paired with the Mars energy can make him seem really intimidating. He knows what it’s like to be written off as mean and scary before someone even tries to get to know you, because he’s been through that too. 

“I feel kind of bad for her…” he muses. Between how much Calypso has been shitting on you, and gods know what you went through before they found you, they all find themselves agreeing with him. It makes sense that you would have a chilly attitude if you’ve been hurt by people in the past. The tides continue to shift in your favor, leaving them feeling a little defensive over you. It sinks in that even though you’re a little rough around the edges, you haven’t done anything to hurt them. You’re trying to get along with them as best as you can, you seem to want peace. 

Not only that, but you really do seem to make Leo happy. It’s pretty hard to miss. Even earlier during the movie when he scooched his way over to you, and kept whispering to you about what was going on when you missed something or forgot a character’s name, no one could deny that it was sort of… cute. He gets excited when you walk in the room, his gaze always seems to linger on you. They’ve even seen your gaze flick over to him enough to clearly see you’re not totally uninterested in him. Knowing you, that might just be the tip of the iceberg. 

The way you look at each other has Percy and Annabeth, and Jason and Piper sharing meaningful looks. Frank and Will stare into space for a second, thinking about their girlfriend and boyfriend, respectively. Leo seems more confident, more at ease, more himself when you’re around. At the very least, definitely more than he is with Calypso. If it comes down between you and Calypso, which it looks like it is at this point, they all know they’re going to side with you. Because in spite of your thorns and rough edges, you really do know how to make Leo feel good. 

“Oh f-fuck!” Leo sighs out in a strangled moan. You're in a cramped closet you slipped into - or more accurately, dragged him into - when he got back from grocery shopping and you finished the laundry. Nico went off to take a nap and Hazel said she has an appointment with her diary and a hot cup of tea, to please not disturb her. You pounced on him like a goddamn animal the second you got the chance. Now you're biting his lips, scratching his back, sucking hickies into his neck. It really didn't take long to rile him up, get him fuck into you wildly, so deep and good that neither of you can get enough. He has a hand clapped over his mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle his moans. It barely stands a chance against the way you grip him, dripping more arousal with every thrust, but at least he's trying. He's lost all sense of time since you first dragged him in here and pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt, connecting him in a deep, open mouthed kiss. 

He forgets himself, forgets everything outside that door. The only thing he can think about is you. You, and the way your nails bite blissfully into his skin, your sweet smell invading his senses, making him feel high. He can’t hold on, can’t stop himself from moaning out your name like a prayer, over and over as he climaxes inside you. He throbs and pulses against your cushy walls as the condom bulges inside you, stuffing you full with all his cum. In spite of the thin - but incredibly important - layer of latex between you, the feeling of him filling you up is more than enough to push you over the edge. You clamp down hard around him, clit throbbing, as you climax. You do your best to stay quiet, but there’s not a sigh, not a single pant or heavy breath of yours that escapes him. He commits it all to memory. 

He peppers your face with kisses between heavy breaths and murmured praise against your skin as you both come down from your high. 

“So good for me, so, so good,” he mutters, breath mixing with yours, “gods, I love you so fucking much…”

You feel your stomach slowly stop twisting, feel that hollow emptiness begin to go away as he kisses you and kisses you. You indulge yourself, letting him keep kissing you while you attempt to get yourselves straightened up. You have hookups and quickies down to a science at this point. You mentally run through your list of things to fix and check, but keep losing your place at how soft his lips and kisses and breaths are against your skin. He sighs again, all blissed out from you, making your head spin for a moment. It’s really, really distracting. Eventually, you try to pull away from him and his soft, addictive lips and touches and longing looks to fix your lipstick. 

You open the door, nudging him out before someone starts to wonder where he is. 

His gaze, his hand in yours, all of his attention all linger on you. He knows you’ll be a minute or two behind him, and these last few moments in your presence will be enough to sustain him until then. He hates to part from you, every time you’re near him is better than the last, so he takes a leap of faith. He presses the back of your hand to his lips, gazing up at you through his thick eyelashes. From the moment his lips meet your skin until you’re finally out of each other’s sight, you stop breathing. Your stomach flips, feeling less empty than ever. You hoped it was just the way he looked at you, but trying to find your breath in that dark, stuffy closet, it’s also his kiss that lingers. 

When he enters the kitchen, he tries his best not to seem like he’s on cloud nine, he really does. But as he walks through the doorway, making conversation and checking on the food, he smells like you. Piper’s the only one to notice. Her eyes flare in realization as she pieces together what seems to her to be completely obvious, and she takes a sip of her drink to disguise the knowing look on her face. She pulls it together, helping with dinner, joking and laughing with everyone, bringing Leo up to speed on all the gossip that wasn’t about his love life. Both parties remain unaware that just moments ago, while you were milking his cock dry in secret, everyone else was talking about you and him and Calypso, and the two exceptions to the no secrets pact remain broken.

Leo sleeps lightly that night, every noise startling him awake, in hopes that it’s you creeping into his doorway like a cute little Nosferatu. He tries to reason with himself, reminding himself that you might not even come at all tonight. It’s not like you’re obligated to or anything. But he knows you will. You always do. He wakes back up suddenly, only realizing he’d drifted off when his eyes open back up. This time, he’s finally met with your familiar silhouette, quietly closing his door as your inability to resist temptation won again. He smiles that sweet smile of his at you, knowing he was right. 

You want to see him. You still like him enough to do this, to show up here. All it takes is one look and you know he can tell how weak your attempts to hold onto your chilly persona are becoming. You’re going soft. You walk over to the bed as he sits up, looking at you in that way that makes you wish he wouldn’t. You feel unnerved as you approach, and it fights the conflicting yet simultaneous cravings for him that leave you feeling empty and impatient. The hollow twisting feeling in your chest and stomach always makes you less stoic than you usually are, and you don’t like it. You don’t like that you didn’t feel like this before you met him. He just smirks up at you, eyes all soft and sweet as they trace over your features that look so pretty in the moonlight. He thinks you look even prettier during the day, when he can see you properly instead of sneaking around in the dark like this. His hands are warm and cathartic on your hips as he pulls you into his lap, leaning his whole body in to kiss you. 

“It’s just sex.” You insist unprompted. He pauses, lips millimeters from yours. 

“I know,” his voice is low, intimate, and he leans closer. You hesitate. 

“I’m just using you for your body.” You demand. 

“I know…” there’s that signature note of playfulness to his voice, and your words only make him smirk more. He doesn’t seem convinced, because it’s not at all convincing. Not like it was the first time you said it. He learned how to read you like a book in such a short period of time, now he knows you so intimately, and it’s obvious that the words you’re saying aren’t lining up with the way you say them, with everything else you’re telling him. There’s a vulnerability to you, just below the surface. He knows not to press you about it, to let it rise up naturally, but he wants to let you know that he sees it. Just the corner. 

Finally his willpower runs out, along with yours, and he kisses you deep and warm. He pulls away for a moment, looking at you like that again, before he leans back in to really kiss you properly this time. You’re relieved every time he kisses you, every time he touches you and looks at you in that way you don’t like and it makes that feeling go away. Sometimes you don’t even know it’s back before he’s dusting off cobwebs and taking sheets off furniture in your haunted house of a heart, turning on lights you didn’t even know were there. 

You can feel him getting harder under you. It’s enticing, feeling his cock come to life for you. You savor the feeling of how it teases you, rubbing against your hot, puffy folds and nudging against your clit. You squirm against him, hoping it seems like it’s for his pleasure and not because you really, really want him inside you. You reach into his pants, beginning to wrap your hand around the base of his cock, feeling a vein pulse under your touch. Right when you’re about to do something fun, his hands move to your waist and he flips you over before you can blink. He hovers on top of you, faces so close, lips almost brushing. The air freezes in your lungs. 

“Not yet…” he whispers low into your ear, punctuating with a kiss to the tip of your nose. You don’t have time to worry about not letting him see how flustered that made you, how much such simple words and gestures affect you, before he starts to move down. He pushes up your shirt, pressing a few kisses against your soft stomach, sending butterflies erupting through each place his lips make contact. He reaches your waistband, fingertips slipping comfortably below the fabric. He tugs off your panties, nudging your knees further apart, encouraging you to open up your legs for him. 

“Good girl, just like that.” 

He murmurs the words softly against your mound, before pressing another soft kiss against your skin, this time, directly on your cunt. It’s hot against his mouth, and if the way your breathing hitches at the contact is anything to go by, sensitive. He parts your lips slightly, dipping his fingertips between them to trace your entrance. You feel him smirk at how wet you already are for him. You want to tell him to shut up, to stop smirking like that, but the words don’t reach your mouth. In the moment you think them, he spreads you all the way open, and starts pressing soft kisses to your throbbing clit. The sentiment evaporates, leaving your mouth as a shuddering gasp instead. 

He kisses you again, making the slightest contact with his tongue, and you feel the thoughts flying out of your head at the sensation. You forget what you wanted to say anyway. You don’t think things could possibly get better - or maybe get worse? You’re not sure - than they are right now, as he floods you with more pleasure than you knew was possible to achieve from soft, warm kisses. You’re proven wrong by him again, as he fully wraps his lips around your puffy, twitching clit, going to town with his tongue on your sensitive bundle of nerves. The noise you let out is unholy. You clamp a hand over your mouth in a futile attempt to muffle your moans. You feel him smile - not smirk this time, actually smile - and it hits you like a ton of bricks; he’s doing this for your pleasure alone. 

This isn’t prep or foreplay, he’s not trying to get you ready for him, all he wants is to make you feel good. The last time you can remember a guy going down on you, it’s been as a way to get you ready for him - or as a way to get something in return. But not Leo. Leo Valdez, sweet Leo who smells masculine and spicy, with his soft lips and soft hands and soft looks, and his warmth… he’s between your legs, placing your hands in his hair, sucking on your clit for your pleasure. ‘And his, apparently,’ you think, feeling the bed start to bounce as he ruts his hips into the mattress, moaning into your cunt. 

It makes your head swim, and it’s mere seconds before you’re cumming, rutting up into his mouth and dripping for him. When you come down from your high, you realize he hasn’t stopped. He’s still going, slowly and gently, squeezing your hips tight as he does. He moans into you again, the vibrations of his voice feeling even better than they did before. You’re so sensitive, and he’s so good at this that it doesn’t take you long until your legs are shaking in climax for him again. You lose track of everything except the dizzying feeling of him slowly and lovingly making out with your clit. 

You don’t know how many times he’s made you cum - three or four? Maybe five, you’re not sure - until it’s eventually too much. He can feel your pulse racing against his tongue, feel you dripping down his chin, wetter than you’ve ever been as you tug at his hair, trying to get him to detach from your clit and close your shaking legs. He lets go, very, very reluctantly, and looks up at you. You don’t think there’s anything he could say or do to drive you crazier, then he rests his head on the inside of your thigh, blinking up at you through thick, dark eyelashes. A ghost of a smile nudges the corner of his lips as he leans over enough to press a few affectionate kisses to your puffy, sensitive mound, and you’re proven wrong again. 

“Just fuck me already…” you plead. Your hands are still in his hair, and you find yourself simultaneously wishing for more of these intimate acts from him, and for him to just use you to get off, like you’re used to people doing. He smirks again, climbing up to hover closely above you. You’re once again face to face, lips millimeters apart. 

“Yeah?” He presses kisses across your face, your nose and cheeks that sends a chill down your spine, “You want that?”

You do. You want that so bad. You need to feel him inside you like you need air, or Palaye Royale’s entire discography. You nod frantically, humming in response as you close the gap, tasting yourself on his lips.  

“Okay,” he murmurs into your mouth, barely comprehensible from the way your tongue is pushing past his lips. He lines himself up with your entrance, and you wrap your legs around his waist, pulling him inside you as soon as possible. He moans into your mouth at how wet you are, the way your pussy sucks him inside you. He takes his time, fucking you good and deep, his kisses never ceasing. He takes care to grind the base of his cock against your clit, not too much, but just enough so you feel it. You definitely feel it. Every thrust has you whimpering, has your eyes rolling back and moaning into his mouth. 

The whole time he has you like this, there’s one phrase that’s on repeat in your mind, and it makes you realize something. He’s not fucking you, he’s making love to you. There’s a huge difference, and it’s something you’ve only known one side of until now. All this swirls around you in an intangible and undeniable amalgamation of feelings that you can’t dismiss as just lust anymore. You know lust and sex better than anyone, and in the back of your mind, you know for sure it’s not just sex. It’s probably too late now, you think, and if you want any chance to get away from this as cleanly and not messy as possible, you need to leave right now. Like, right now. 

But you don’t. You let him hold your hand, let his fingers intertwine with yours. You let him kiss you sweetly and gaze into your eyes like that, you let him hit all those spots inside you that he knows make you feel good. You let him make you feel good. You let him make you feel like you’re in a movie. And not some artistic psychological horror flick with an overuse of narration and too much dramatic irony, something sweet. Something romantic. Romcoms have never been your genre, but it feels okay with him. Good. You let him make you feel like a leading lady in a campy, wonderful romcom, like a love interest. You’re sure this will complicate things at some point, but you’re too terrified and dizzy and drunk on him, on how good he feels, to worry about that right now, so you stay where you are. You let him make love to you. 

[vacantgodling]

🌻🌻🌻

thank u now for a rant about the most random movie i’ve ever had a hyperfixation on

so, bear with me here, but my autistic ass is so fucking picky about the media i actually sit down and fully watch. i say i’ve watched things and that is partially true. there are MANY occasions that i have watched things partially and then read the rest online when i couldn’t be assed to finish it, or i’ve watched enough analysis and essay videos AND the plot enough times that it is essentially enough for me to have considered myself watched of the movie. it makes sense to me and it saves me time and i enjoy it don’t @ me.

however,

i have a specific list of movies that especially during high school were my go to comfort movies. this list has expanded over the years but the main ones from back then were (1) lotr/the hobbit (2) rdj sherlock (both movies) (3) pride and prejudice and (4) …. premium rush.

now, i’m sure some of y’all have heard about premium rush but tbh i think many have not/it’s an under-appreciated film (it made about 3 million less in the box office than it’s budget of 35 mil so) but I LOVE THIS MOVIE and IDC so y’all are gonna hear about it.

just to knock it out here’s the fucking summary in my own words:

joseph gordon levitt’s character, wilee, is a sherlock-esque bike messenger in new york city. he could do other things with his life like go to college get a real job but he doesn’t want to do shit that’s boring and he’s super good at what he does having similar sort of sherlock vision that RDJ had in the sherlock films; able to map out paths through traffic on the fly to get to where tf he needs to go like *snap*. he has a gf who insists that he make something more of himself buuuut he don’t wanna. causes tension etc. tbh gf isn’t that important of a character to me except for the fact that she has a roommate, a chinese woman named nema. she emigrated to america on a work visa but has a son still back in china that she is struggling to save money to get with her. in her desperation she goes to a gang with 50k to have them smuggle her son and her mother who’s looking after him into america after which it will be easier for her to get them visa’s. because this is gang shit the gang gives her a ticket that she needs to get across the city to give to a woman named sister chen who will know it’s value and help facilitate the transaction. SO nema hires wilee because he’s the fastest bike guy in the city to get it there before 7pm same day — “premium rush” if you will, so that her son and her mother can be let onto the boat to come to america.

the issue arises when a corrupt ass gamble addicted cop enters the picture. he owes a lot of money from his gambling debt to the chinese mob in chinatown and to clear his debts they give him information about the ticket that nema bought which can be exchanged for money. if he gives them that ticket, all his debts are cleared. so he starts hunting wilee through the city to try and get the ticket all while we’re tryna do this before 7pm and it’s fucking lit and stressful.

summary now out of the way.

first of all this movie has joseph gordon levitt and dude—i love his acting style in general. every movie i’ve seen him in he’s elevated it to something Enjoyable and is a bright spark worth mentioning (ie: i hate literally everything about inception however JGL being there made it bearable for all of two seconds before it was awful again. yeah i hate inception sue me). he does a really good job of being witty and charismatic, but also a lil gritty in this movie. michael shannon is just absolutely Unhinged as the main villain here which is something he is Very good at but idk there’s just something SO FUNNY about the vindication homie has about a bike messenger it’s so damn funny. cuz at some point it’s not even just about the money it’s PERSONAL and jgl is like ????? hello????

BUT one of the big reasons i like this movie is because it plays with a nonlinear narrative. everything is rushed and fast paced because it’s literally only a couple of HOURS that this whole shebang is happening in. from risky stunts to car chases to bike races to accidents etc etc like everything is such a, hate to say it, rush that you can’t help but get swept into the movie. and i was really fascinated about they introduced and had the integration of chinese american/chinese mob culture into the movie bc clearly you always hear about yakuza and all that but this movie took a different route and it was interesting. also despite it kind of being a cheap device to gain sympathy i think nema’s actress also plays a strong role in understanding her dedication to what’s going on. i do wish the movie spent more time with her and everything that was going on vs focusing on wilee’s trivial ass struggles so much cuz his whole thing with his girlfriend is just so irrelevant to me and that actress wasn’t bad she just didn’t really do much for me.

overall tho, i used to watch that movie like every day for a time and i wish i still owned it along with other movies physically so i could watch them whenever i miss it.

[harrysgoldenline]

can you pls write an angst where y/n went to her and harry's house that they bought or something like that in Italy to try to move on and go on with her life after harry broke up with her but then she never expected that harry will be there as well with his new gf.... you can end it whatever you like!! thank you

Word Count: 1.6K

Warnings: idk, sad I guess? also not proof read oops sorry lol

When In Italy

It has been three months since you’ve last seen or spoken to Harry. A very abrupt change after being together for four years, with constant talk of marriage and starting a family, the break up was something either of you really expected. It started as a break of sorts, eventually turning into a complete break up after only a couple weeks in a somewhat mutual way. With Harry's career taking off in so many different ways, with acting, the new tour and more, his life had changed completely and has left him very little time for anything else.

It went from daily phone and FaceTime calls, constant text messages and flowers being delivered to nothing.

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Your best friend asked you, concern plastered all over her face, “that won’t bring up too much?”

She had been sitting with you as you finished packing up your suitcase, trying her best to give you her support as you were going to be going on a spur of the moment trip to Italy and staying at the home of you and Harry, needing the much needed getaway and disconnecting completely. Seeing different things online about him all the time didn’t make it any easier and no matter how hard you tried to avoid it, he always found his way to pop up.

“I just need a break, everything here is a reminder to.” You sigh, “I just want a change of scenery. I think it’ll be good for me.”

“I hope so…” she frowned, looking up at you with a sad smile, “please don’t just sit there in the house all alone. Go out, meet some local Italian men!”

“I’m definitely not ready for that.” You say, forcing a laugh as you close your suitcase, zipping it up and placing it on the floor by your door, “but I will really try, I promise. I will call you if I need you and you can come out?”

“Hell yeah I can.” She laughs, standing up and giving you a hug, “and you’re really going right now?”

You bite your bottom lip as your eyes fill up with tears, nodding quickly as you look at her and she quickly pulled you in a tight hug.

“You can do this.”

***

You pulled your suitcase through the front door, waving goodbye to the driver as you turned around to close the door behind you as they left you alone in the house that has so many memories inside. You pause at the door, taking a couple deep breaths as you look around and try and keep your mind at bay before walking to the guest bedroom, deciding the main bedroom was too much and the guest bedroom was already way nicer than your apartment.

After taking the time to unpack, knowing you would stay awhile, you put away your things into the various drawers and closet in the room. You keep out a swimsuit and change into it quickly, sliding a simple dress overtop before walking out onto the balcony attached to the bedroom, taking in the smell of the ocean and beautiful view, memories overwhelming your senses.

“Well don’t you look absolutely stunning.” You can practically hear him say all over again, reliving the memory as if it was actually happening, “ ‘m the luckiest man in the world.”

You remember him coming up behind you, arms tight around your waist as his head rested on your shoulder, soft kisses being pressed along your shoulder as you leaned back into him, a large smile covering both of your faces before you leaned your head back, connecting your lips before he pulled back.

“I can’t decide…” He had whispered, connecting your lips again.

“Decide what?” You had giggled, turning around to face him, arms resting around his shoulders as his came around your waist.

“If I want to get married here or have our honeymoon here.”

You shuddered slightly as the memory came back, letting out a deep breath before packing a beach bag quickly and leaving the house just as fast, taking a walk down to the private beach and settling yourself in a lounge chair. Applying your sunscreen you could almost convince yourself it was him applying it on you like he always would do, large hands massaging it into your skin.

You push the thought away as you grab your phone, playing music softly to try and distract your mind. Your fingers hovered over your different social media apps, wanting desperately to just give it a quick click, wondering if you could get any update on where he could be from his fans, posts always finding their way on your feed. Instead, you hold it down, deleting all of the various apps and throwing your phone down on your bag, grabbing your book and letting the music play, opening to the first page to try and escape into the new world.

***

After a few hours been spent peacefully on the beach, you decided to head back to the house to take a nice bubblebath and order yourself some dinner, deciding that you would go to town the next morning in order to cook some of your own meals. The walk back to the house was more enjoyable this time and you began to feel a sense of hope as you approached the house, your heart not clenching in as much pain as it originally had done when you first pulled up to the house earlier that day.

Using your keys, you unlocked the back door, locking it behind you again as soon as you got inside, making your way to the bathroom right away and letting the water fill up the bathtub, pouring in some of the fancy bubblebath that you remember buying once from your favorite boutique in town, making a mental note to stop there again tomorrow.

Discarding your clothes, you hung them up, deciding you could use it once more as a cover up after not even going into the water, and you honestly didn’t even have the energy to even think about doing laundry right now, even simply showering was too much most days so you were happy to submerge yourself simply into the warm water, eyes fluttering closed as it embraced you with it’s comfort.

You began preparing yourself a mental list of things you could do tomorrow, forcing yourself to get out of the house and keep yourself occupied after locking yourself away in your apartment the past few months, planning on taking baby steps but knowing that even starting will be more like a push off a cliff.

Pulling yourself out of the bath once finishing cleansing your body, deciding to save washing your hair for the next day, you pulled yourself out of the bath, honestly just wanting to curl up into bed and go to sleep but knowing you needed to force yourself to eat something. So, you dry off, applying some matching lotion to your body, which made you feel a sense of pride of yourself as you made small steps to take care of yourself again, thanking the air of Italy as self motivation and threw on the robe that you swear was the softest one in the world.

A sudden sound coming from the house made you jump, a hand coming over your chest to try and calm your racing heart as your mind tried to think of all of the possibilities of who could be there, or maybe it was coming outside? Or honestly at this point you thought it could be your imagination as the memories that have been flashing into your mind have been so vivid it felt like it was actually happening. Your feet softly padded on the wood flooring, making your way to what you thought was the site of the sound, feeling bile rise in your throat at the sight before you.

It was Harry there, with one of the most beautiful women you had ever seen in your life, laughing together.

You weren’t sure if they saw you, both of their hair wet as towels wrapped around them and it seemed like they had just got back from the beach, making you think that you must have just missed each other as you swapped positions. You slowly walk backwards, thinking of running out the back towards the beach and calling a car, leaving all of your clothes there.

You could see slightly into the master bedroom, seeing their suitcases sprawled and things laid on the couch as they chatted together, knowing they must have arrived when you were down at the beach, your presence unknown as all of your things sat seemingly hidden in the guest room which you were now desperately trying to go and hide in, but after it being too log since you been here, you accidentally ran into the wall, a photo that was hanging there crashing to the floor, glass shattering.

Two heads quickly snapped their way towards you, both pairs of eyes meeting yours as gasps left both of their lips, Harry’s face going pale as he saw you. You opened your mouth to speak, but with this being your first time seeing your partner since the breakup, no words were able to come out.

Spinning on your heel your ran back into the guest bedroom, pulling the suitcase out of the closet and messily shoving all of your clothes into it, tears stinging your eyes and unable to hold them in as they silently spilling on you cheeks, more coming as you heard the familiar steps coming your way, feeling the presence behind you and hearing the door shut softly behind you.

“Y/N?”

—————————————————————————

Part 2 anyone???

ALSO PLEASE READ THIS!!

I was wondering what people would think about me doing personalized little blurbs/imagines for people who donate to my tip jar? you could give me your name, prompt, pronouns, etc and i will write it just for you!! :) i’m trying to write more and it’s hard bc i’m a broke college student who needs to work but if people who WANT a personalized little fic with bucky or harry or something with their own name and such maybe I could do something like that? of course I will still be doing all normal requests and such but this way it’s kinda like a one time patreon for people who want to do something like that? idk please comment/send me a message/ask and let me know what you think!!!! let’s talk!

[beybeys-world]

UPDATES FOR THOSE WHO READ MY CONTENT!

HULLO!! So i already posted more stuff about requests but here is another confirmation post. Im lacking motivation to finish requests at the moment. I JUST GET BRAIN FOGGLED!! I hate to disappoint and keep those who requested waiting but, I would like to write when im held with more motivation so that the writes come out better and more enjoyable! Dont get me wrong I am still writing (im always writing) but I might publish some ideas of my own! So if your waiting on a request, its gonna take a bit, especially since there are multiple!  When I have bursts of energy I write for my requests! But I will try my best to do ATLEAST 2 writes per week. But i cant thank you all enough for the love and support for my reads! Seeing all your comments really warms my heart! Another update, I ADDED JONATHON BYERS TO MY LIST!!! I HOPE TO WRITE FOR HIM IN THE FUTURE! Im hoping you guys can be patient with me! But until they are published here are some sneak peaks on what im workin on (PLEASE COMMENT WHICH ONE I SHOULD FINISH FIRST)

10 Things I hate About You

Pairing: Steve x Reader

(requested) 

A heavily inspired fic by the amazing movie 10 Things I hate About You

The bruised boy

Pairing: Billy x POC reader (she/her)

(Requested)

Y/N plays hard to get with Billy, which only ignites a flame within Billy to keep annoying you. Which you shoot him down everytime. One day it changes after a tough night with Neil, y/n notices and wants to help.

My Prize Baby

Pairing: Billy X Sarcastic Reader

(Request: Happy Billy with him takin care of Max)

After asking for a ride to the arcade Max is surprised that you convince Billy to not only drive her, but come along too! Max gains a liking to you once you “help” her win the arcade games for prizes! Billy enjoys seeing the both of you connect

Those Godamn Russians

Pairing: Steve x Girlfriend Reader

(MADE THIS IDEA MYSELF)

Y/N being the getaway driver for when they are all undeground trying to run away from the russians, she is shocked to see Dustin with a VERY intoxicated Steve. Sadly your bumped to sit in the back with him (after constant pleading) And hes just all over you.

Blabber Boy

Pairing: soft Eddie x GF reader.

(MADE THIS IDEA MYSELF)

Almost breaking a bone trying to get to your window, Eddie sneaks into your room one night while your painting your nails. When offered Eddie mindlessly agrees but does NOT know how to stay still when the polish is drying. Making too many hand motions while ranting about dnd or whatever, you decide to hold him down, which ignites a VERY VERY flustered quiet Eddie.

Why so blue Billy?

Pairing: Billy x Partner Reader

(MADE THIS MYSELF)

Y/N just overall comforting Billy when he breaks down about Neil. 

Sharp Turn

Pairing: Billy x Streetracer crush

(MADE THIS MYSELF)

After seeing y/n at a stoplight with her flashy street car, Billy is determined to get to know you. The boy is just headover heels for the racer and she is not goin down all that easy.

Joy Ride

Pairing: Billy x Streetracer gf

(MADE THIS MYSELF)

(a alternate where the reader isnt playing so hard to get) Y/N is neighbors with Billy and wants him to cheer up so she takes him for a ride driving god knows how fast in the middle of the night blasting music.

Music Magnet

Pairing: Steve x crush who works at a music store.

(MADE THIS MYSELF)

While robin is pickin up some new casette tapes, Steve realizes how long shes taking. He walks in to be swept off his feet by the amazing y/n working register. Steve does not know much abt the music you listen to but he tries his best (even if he is lying) to impress you with his “wicked” music taste.

Drumstick Doll

Pairing: Steve x firecracker drummer gf

(MADE THIS MYYSELF)

Steve comes to all of your shows and supports all your angry drummer antics! He adores the reader.

Lets Dance Pretty Boy

Pairing: Billy x Girlfriend

(requested)

Reader taking aux to bump music at full volume while driving around with Billy. (I havent decided a song yet so request any ideas you have in my request box and  i’ll pick my favorite.)

The infamous hearthrob, eddie

Pairing: Eddie x Popular Gf reader

(requested)

Y/N knows lots of people but Eddie was truly a gem. She never understood why he was so judged, afterall she thought very highly of him. Reader tries to hype up Eddie about how awesome he is.

PLEASE HELP ME PICK WHICH ONE I SHOULD PUBLISH NEXT!! COMMENT DOWN BELOW! MAKE SURE TO KEEP UP WITH MY MASTERLIST TO SEE THIS FICS BE POSTED! AND IF ANY AMAZING REQUESTS HAVE SPARKED WHILE READING THIS, HERE IS MY REQUEST BOX AND PLEASE READ MY REQUEST GUIDELINES BEFORE REQUESTING! THANK YOU FOR READING THIS!! HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY OR NIGHT!!<33

-Ahzy

[oodlyenough]

life is strange true colours review

the non spoilery part: i LOVED this game, my personal fave game this year and the first franchise entry since the original that has really resonated with or moved me.

it's a life is strange game through and through, so if you don't like slice of life episodes or bonding with NPCs, it's not gonna be for you. but if you like the franchise, or even if you liked the first game but haven't been interested in/liked the other two instalments, i recommend giving this one a chance. i think it got closer to figuring out the formula while still doing something new and interesting.

more detailed spoilers and opinions:

alex

holy shit i love alex? bisexual chad... my darling... i'm gonna be real, a lot of the trailers and promo for this game made me worried she'd be kind of a dull wallflower Soft Girl character, but she's not! she's so funny, and even parts of her characterization i initially thought were maybe a bit of a stretch ended up making sense as i learned more about her. she stole the show. i straight up forgot how much loving the protag helps enjoyment of these kinds of games lmao ... finally a reason to click on everything in the room: to hear what alex will say about it.

i thought her backstory exploration in ep 5 especially was wonderful and emotive and great. broke my heart and explained so much about her :( baby girl

plot/choices

i loved the mystery. i don't think it was quite as Mysterious as the mystery in lis1, but that was okay, i was still invested in solving it. i also got invested enough in the NPCs around the town to make all the exploration bits really fun. i loved eavesdropping on the sagas of the random NPCs like bald man and ice cream couple... just fun little touches and narratives to follow that i enjoyed.

i really appreciated this script not being afraid to shy away from some messier emotions, even if in some cases i wish we spent more time on them. for example: alex feeling a bit jealous of the other people in town that got to know gabe better than her/spend more time with him than she did. or charlotte hating ethan!!! my jaw dropped, i thought that was so good, what a messy but realistic response.

I'm not entirely sure what all the ramifications of different choices are at this point, fresh off my first play. i ended up getting only part of the council to stand with me (eleanor & duckie) while losing pike and charlotte.

i do wish we saw a bit more fallout or exploration of what taking away emotion DOES. i took charlotte's anger, and obviously it meant she didn't stand up for me in the council meeting, but where does she go from there? does she like... ever return to feeling emotions lmao... I also think we probably should've had the opportunity to do that another time, instead of just 2 isolated events -- I think Diane would've been a good candidate.

the romance

i romanced steph, ofc, but i was surprised during the game how drawn i was to ryan too -- i really liked that Drama of him being the one who cut Gabe free, as well as later the drama of him being Jed's son. UNTIL HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME... that made me mad lmfao, i have to learn what to do to make him believe me before i play a Ryan route bc i'll kill him lmfao.

the steph/alex romance was sweet... it didn't really, like, Consume Me as a ship, but by the end of the game I was still "aww"ing at their moments in the flashforward. steph was more rounded and flawed than i thought she might be, which i really appreciated! i was worried they'd just make her perfect idealized gf, but she has a bit of a temper and is kind of tempestuous and stuff... liked it. loved her standing up for alex so fiercely and immediately at the council meeting <3 and my main reservation about her in ep 4 was that i wanted alex to stay in haven, so when she offered to stay i was thrilled LOL

one semi-complaint i had was that something i loved so much about lis1 was how max and chloe's relationship was central to the entire game and story, it wasn't some extra thing on the side, it WAS the game... whereas here, the romance routes, especially steph's, felt like sidequests. I wish they'd found a way to incorporate those relationships a bit more into the main goings-on. I also wanted to spend more time with either romance option to feel like I knew them better -- splitting the time between Steph and Ryan means that I came away feeling like I didn't get quite as much of either of them as I would've liked, vs spending almost the entire game with Chloe lol.

however, this ended up not really bothering me too much because I DID really like the core mystery and themes, the exploration of grief and Emotion, etc.

other characters

considering everyone knew going into the game that gabe was going to die, i was impressed with how they did it, and how they managed to get me attached to gabe in a mere single episode. it's a tall order to introduce a character designed to die, who your audience KNOWS is going to die, and still make them work.

i thought this supporting cast was ... maybe the strongest in the franchise? or at least, they created scenarios where i felt invested in multiple people in the town, and was genuinely trying to build decent relationships with most of them. duckie cracked me tf up, i liked eleanor and riley, even diane and jeb were good for their roles. (fuck pike. i signed ur stupid thing and left your emotions alone and you still won't do shit? ACAB!!!) the choice to stay in haven or leave was a little harder than i expected honestly, considering how quickly i let arcadia bay burn to the ground lmfao.

gameplay/etc

also i know the whole internet has been dunking on "empathy" as a super power since the game was announced, and i get that it sounds corny and looks corny in the trailers, but i thought how they did it was really cool. i wish they'd branded it "Mindreading" more than empathy tbh because a lot of the cooler elements of it are more along those lines... using her power to manipulate people, potentially taking people's emotions away and what that does to them... very interesting imo!

i really liked the memory feature!!! cool way to give us character exposition and inform the story while encouraging exploration. finally a collectible that like, expands the story, instead of chloe drawing butts on the wall and sean taking 10 years to draw something.

it's definitely the most evolved-feeling LIS game, which it should be, given it's the newest. graphics looked really nice, loved getting to see the characters actually emote, even if there are still some scenes that were a lil comically blank-faced -- usually NPCs. i actually noticed this with Jed the most, which in retrospect maybe was somewhat intentional?

i had a number of visual glitches, nothing major but a little silly, like T-posing Alex, npcs t-posing in the windows, etc. i'm sure they'll get patched out soon.

anyway... i rly liked this game, i'm excited for the steph dlc and finally feel like i have reason to be optimistic about future LIS instalments. hooray!

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Top 5 Female-led sitcoms

Now, these don’t all have female producers at the helm, it was more like they all had female leads.

1. Golden Girls

You cannot deny that Golden Girls is a number one classic for a reason. It has some of the best lines, full of life and cheer even at their advance age. But as my grandmother said "You got to laugh, kid" and that's what this show brings. Even dealing with important topics that sometimes still resonate today such as Alzheimers, interracial marriage, and AIDS but always with some zingers to keep it from being too preachy. Just because you're old doesn't mean you can't keep having adventures, finding love and doing it all with your friends. It's my comfort show, always brings a smile.

2. Teachers

This is an underrated comedy that I think deserves more love. Created by an all-female group of comedians called the KatyDids (all their names are a variation of Kate), a feat which I think is a first. It lampoons and satirizes the public school system with their teacher characters that probably shouldn't have their jobs (One uses the class time to have her 3rd graders dissect her exes posts with his new gf) but fun to watch. It also points out the failings of society such as gun control in schools (which they substituted as bear control), the double standards of female elected officials being sexually active compared to males, and more. Best pointed out in their musical episode, Lunchtime: The musical where the prissy teacher helps her friend with a zit in a Jersey Boy number- "Appearances don't matter is what we say to ugly freaks. Of course, they matter, there's so many things we can tweak. . . Now I know your face is giving you anxiety thanks to the standards of our patriarchal society."

3. Hot in Cleveland

Some critics said that this was a rip off of Golden Girls, using scripts that GG were too good for. But I think its just as good with its own spin on the subject of four middle/senior aged women living together on their third acts. After ditching the superficiality of CA, three women realize they're considered hot in Cleveland and decide to stay. In a house rented by Elka, played by the incomparable Betty White. It deals with the modern foilables of dating, and sticking together even as they get into one mad hijink after another. I always love their Birth date episodes (where instead of celebrating their birthdays and getting older, they arrange blind dates for each other. Always always hilarious) and of course, Victoria Chase's increasing convoluted chase for fame against mortal rival, Susan Lucci. It also had such great guest stars like Chris Colfer, Joe Jonas, Steve Valentine, Mary Tyler Moore, Peri Gilpin, Ed Asner and more.

4. Dollface

A modern Sex and the City for millenials I think. Somewhat. I don't know how to phrase it exactly but its certainly enjoyable with its all-star cast and specific aesthetic. I love the endearing bubbliness of it as it takes on Jules, a girl who recently dumped by her longterm boyfriend tries to reconnect with her collage friends who she totally ditched in favor of being perfect girlfriend. It goes on to such on-point topics like dealing with being in the middle of a friend fight, keeping secrets, catching feelings for your one night stand and trying to climb your career goal ladder (in which Jules works at a woman's lifestyle company soooo based on Paltrow's GOOP). Its earnest with a slight feminist bent too. Just endearing and worth at least one watch.

5. I love Lucy

I don't think I can do justice to I Love Lucy. I mean it made the sitcom. It was the first sitcom. It was so innovative for the time, showing the first pregnancy, an interracial marriage and more. Plus Lucy's slapstick humor still resonates today, she really was the star and who couldn't love her. I only put it fifth because I've only seen a few episodes, not the whole series.

Let’s see if the list stays the same once I get around to watching The Nanny.

[pixelgrotto]

Saltmarsh stories

One more Dungeons & Dragons campaign comes to completion! For over a year and a half, I’ve been running Ghosts of Saltmarsh for my girlfriend and her best friend, and the pair of them finally finished last Saturday after 23 sessions and nearly 100 hours of playtime. We started playing in person December 2019 and had to move online in March due to COVID, and eventually my gf’s best friend moved out of town and then out of the country. But in spite of global transitions and pandemics, we still surmounted the odds and finished without missing a single month.

Since Ghosts of Saltmarsh was my gf’s introduction to D&D (minus a few games she played as a child), it took up quite a bit of space in my crusty Dungeon Master mental cave of planning. Luckily, I found it to be a very enjoyable campaign to run, mostly because as an anthology of classic adventures, it lacks the overly convoluted storyline that plagues a lot of other D&D fifth edition campaigns I’ve either played through or DMed, like Tomb of Annihilation, Out of the Abyss and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. 

Ghosts of Saltmarsh contains eight adventures united by their seaside themes. Three of them are updated versions of the classic U1-U3 Saltmarsh modules, which were among the first British D&D products produced from 1981 to ‘83. These three tales revolve around the players befriending local villagers and helping a lizardfolk tribe fight off invading sauhaugin, and they’re good, mostly as an example of early D&D material that required players to treat so-called “monstrous races” with diplomacy rather than violence. The other adventures are from old issues of Dungeon magazine, and run the gamut from a decent lighthouse dungeon crawl (Isle of the Abbey, from Dungeon #34) to a nifty survival horror-style ship romp (Salvage Operation, from Dungeon #123). Additionally, Ghosts of Saltmarsh contains rules for ship battles, which are good enough considering that D&D isn’t a naval combat simulator, and the book also devotes its first chapter to describing a great new version of the town of Saltmarsh to serve as a central hub. 

I think Ghosts of Saltmarsh’s anthology format is my preferred style of D&D hardcover book at this point. Just give me a main town that I can detail and populate with my own NPCs, a bunch of adventures taking place around the vicinity that I can hack as necessary for my players, and I’m good. This format is also reflective of D&D’s early roots, where campaigns weren’t 250-page books with save-the-world plots, but short modules focused on building clout in a certain region and establishing a base. I think it’s also a very newbie-friendly format, since beginning players can really become invested in one central location and the people residing in it.

Since I was only running this game for two people, I had plenty of time to help the girls grow attached to Saltmarsh and its denizens. These consisted of several faces from my other games, including the very first D&D character I played as - a ranger who settled down in Saltmarsh as the head of the city guard and served as mentor for the next generation of adventurers. Other NPCs evolved depending on what I thought might make my gf and her friend laugh. For instance, Oceanus the sea elf, a Saltmarsh mascot since the '80s, started out as a surfer bro but eventually morphed into a douchebag/dingbat a la Schmidt from New Girl, which I started watching with my gf sometime over the course of 2020. And Captain Xendros, the tiefling owner of the local magic item store, was only supposed to be a minor shopkeeper until her sassy banter stole everyone’s heart, winning her a place as a major character by the end of the game.

I also gave the girls their very own house to decorate and return to in between missions, which was another fun ode to the older D&D roots that Ghosts of Saltmarsh embraces, but also a chance to insert Animal Crossing-style interior decoration into our campaign. My girlfriend clocked a staggering 300+ hours into Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the start of the pandemic, and seeing her and her friend derive great pleasure from using Roll20′s wonky drawing tools to sketch out every room of the house (and create a shrine in the bathroom with random bits of gold on the floor, no less) was stellar. 

Aside from a house, the gals also received two animal companions - a pseudodragon and a shadow mastiff. The pseudodragon appears as a familiar that can be found after Ghosts of Saltmarsh’s first adventure, The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, but the shadow mastiff was an inclusion of my own because my girlfriend really wanted a dog for the longest time, and I figured I would give her one in-game before we got one in real life. (Yup, we now have one in real life.) Generally, I’m a huge fan of injecting a little Pokémon into my games with animal buddies, but in this case the pets also served as valuable fighting companions that helped balance Ghosts of Saltmarsh’s combat encounters, which are meant for four people.

On the topic of inclusions, I stuck a bit closer to the content in Ghosts of Saltmarsh than I usually do when running a campaign based on an official D&D hardcover, probably because the book in question was just more usable this time around. The final split was maybe 60% book material and 40% my own stuff. The end of the campaign was nearly all me, since I couldn’t quite formulate a way to include the final two adventures in the book, Tammeraut's Fate and The Styes. So instead, I gutted them for concepts and created an overarching story that tied Saltmarsh’s threats to H.P. Lovecraft’s Esoteric Order of Dagon. There’s a ton of Lovecraft influence in The Styes, after all, and Dagon was included as a demon lord in third and fourth edition D&D, not to mention Pathfinder. I drew inspiration from all of those versions, along with the stats included in Sandy Peterson’s Cthulhu Mythos book for fifth edition. 

Ultimately, it all made for an entertaining story that scaled mightily. At level 2, Thea the tiefling rogue (played by my gf) and Zora the half-elf bard (played by her best friend) were utterly outclassed by smugglers in a haunted house and had to use a door as a shield to escape. At level 12, the pair defeated a demon lord and closed a portal to the Abyss. (To be fair, both accomplishments are pretty epic. The door escape was one of the most creative D&D moments I’ve ever seen, and we’re still talking about it today.)

While I wish we could’ve rolled physical dice together for a little longer, I’m glad Roll20 was available to keep our game going through a period of global strife. In the midst of it all, there was always D&D to fall back on. And hopefully, there will be more to come. I’ve got Candlekeep Mysteries on my shelf, another anthology of D&D short adventures...and it’s just waiting for me to formulate a plot to tie ‘em all together!

[01tsubomi]

rating things i did in 2021: 

-changed my pronouns: i’d give this like an 8/10 because it makes me happy but i almost never get called he/him (at least to my face). it also opened the door for a lot of gender thoughts that have been stressful when i try too hard to put a label on them. either way this year my perspective on gender’s changed a lot and that was the catalyst for sure

-broke up with my girlfriend: like a 7/10. went really well and props to me for getting the courage and not clinging onto a relationship i wasn’t crazy about but also having a gf is kind of objectively better than not having a gf and well “got a new gf” is not an item on this list

-got the covid19 vaccine: definite 10/10. maybe a 9.5/10 bc it took me out for like 2 days during finals season

-got a journalism (term used liberally) internship: for enjoyment factor maybe an 8/10 bc i did like having a quick and concrete task to do every few days in late summer and i definitely know a lot more about Top 100 Gifts To Get Your Boyfriend This Christmas but also idk if anyone will ever take that job as serious experience. overall 6/10

-started wearing lolita fashion for real: 9/10 for the joy of it and maybe like a 4/10 for the money of it  

-saw the mountain goats: 10/10

-didn’t see my favorite high school teacher at the mountain goats concert even though he was there: 0/10 

-officially started my thesis: this just means another 2 semesters of slaving over my novel which is ofc joyous but also makes me wanna cry and scream and throw up a lot so i’m gonna give this one a conflicted and emotional 7/10 

-read the odyssey: 10/10  

-took a comics class and decided i maybe wanna be a comic artist: 9/10. joyous but loses a point for the sheer terror of it all

-went to my college town’s gay club for the first time: surprisingly not the best club i went to this semester but also one of my roommates started playing clash of clans in the middle of the drag show so i think it was a good night overall 8/10 

-watched ~5 seasons of friends: i don’t know why i did this but i know i’m gonna keep doing it. 6/10 

-officially became “the older cousin who’s into anime and you can infodump about my hero academia at me” and had a lot of fun talking to my goofy little cousins: 10/10 made the holiday season a lot more fun

-follow along when my roommate gets really into taylor swift as a joke but then get really into it unironically and learn her new music and relearn all her old music and start a shitty cover band called “the gromit” as a house and scream the songs at each other as a regular occurrence and it’s really fun and good and nice: 10/10 

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Braid Braid

Summary: One day Mabel asks her Grunkle Ford to braid her hair, but ever since he went out to investigate an anomaly with Dipper instead, the fact he couldn’t deliver her simple request plagued him.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, Ducktective, it seems you’ve quacked the case.”

“Quack, quack, quack.”

Mabel laughed as she continually brushed her hair; the show may have ended ten months ago, but she was convinced that Ducktective was real and would never die, so she happily watched reruns whenever she could. She sat in her grunkle’s chair with her case of hair things, having already finished her sweater for the day, and she planned to play with her long hair while she watched TV. She heard footsteps and casted her eyes to her left. Soon an old nerd came into view and she grinned. “Hey, Grunkle Ford!”

“Hello, my dear.” He smiled at her. “What are you up to?”

“Just watching TV.” She then lit up as a brilliant idea came to her and she held up her hairbrush and glittery bag full of hair clips and hairbows. “Wanna braid my hair?”

Ford held up a hand as he smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Mabel, but I don’t know how to braid hair…”

“I can teach you if you want!” The girl offered happily. “I bet you’d be great at it!”

Just then, Dipper came down the stairs called, “Hey, Grunkle Ford! Ready for our mission?”

“Indeed!” Ford gave him a high-six and the boys headed for the door.

“Where are you two going?” Mabel asked.

“I convinced Ford that we should investigate the Hawktopus further.” Dipper answered. “No anomaly is too stupid to look into.”

“We’ll be back by dinner.” Ford promised as he opened the door. “If not, then assume the monster ate our flesh.”

“See ya later, sis!” Dipper called and the boys were gone.

“Bye!” Mabel yelled after them through the door happily, but her happiness slowly went away as sad thoughts occupied her brain. “Have fun. Without me.”

The teenager slumped in the chair, the sounds of the TV unable to penetrate her thoughts. She knew her grunkles loved her very much, but sometimes she wondered if Ford liked Dipper way better than he liked Mabel. She could understand Ford liking Dipper a little bit more than her, because they were so similar, but it sometimes felt like the Sweater Twins only had sweaters in common and that’s it.

The more Mabel thought about it, it was no wonder Ford liked Dipper way more than he liked Mabel. Stanford Pines was an experienced scientist who had been all over the Multiverse, traveling for thirty years, and was as tough as nails and as strong as an ox; no one like that would want to hang out with a girl who likes glitter and make-overs and other girly things. No wonder Ford would much rather hang out with Dipper than her. Mabel didn’t blame her uncle, but it still kinda hurt.

She wished there was something they could both do. Something Ford and Mabel liked to do. Something no one would only be doing to spend time with the other. Mabel loved adventure and weirdness and exploring, but maybe Grunkle Ford only wanted that to be a Dipper and him thing, which was fine! So Mabel racked her brain for anything he would want to do with her, but she couldn’t think of anything.

To get her mind off of it, she went into the kitchen to get a drink of Mabel Juice and then to maybe hang out with Grunkle Stan, play some cards or throw water balloons at each other. She didn’t really feel like playing with her hair anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Hawtopus investigation proved to be more difficult and more enjoyable than Ford had predicted, so after dinner and the kids had gone to bed he yawned into his hand and ventured into his bedroom to take a shower and go to bed. He entered the clean space and slipped off his trenchcoat to hang it on the coat track, and as he did so his eye caught something bright purple and sparkly. He smiled as he saw a bundle messily wrapped with coloring paper and tied up with red ribbon, glitter added for some “pizzazz” as Mabel would have called it.

Ford gently picked up the package and sat on the couch with the gift on his lap. He couldn’t contain the huge smile on his face as he unwrapped the gift. There, cushioned in wrapping paper and on his lap, was a brand new sweater. Ford grinned and held it up for a better look at the new turtleneck. It was blue, his favorite color, and had a beaker with atoms swimming around it, something science-y for him to display proudly on his chest. Mabel had made him a sweater once before, a new red one with a golden six-fingered hand on it, and now he was honored with two sweaters.

He made a mental note to thank Mabel with hugs in the morning. As he stripped for his bath and turned on the shower, he wondered how in the world Mabel found time to do this, to make so many sweaters in such a short amount of time; she seemed to miraculously make a sweater every day! Then his mind toyed with the idea of her working on the sweater while watching TV, but then he remembered that Mabel had been doing her hair and had asked Ford to braid it.

Under the warm water, the old scientist felt like a rock had been dropped in his stomach. He realized he might have hurt her feelings to choose to bond with Dipper rather than her, considering the boys always seemed to be together. Ford was aware that he accidentally showed favoritism in one twin, something he completely didn’t intend to do, and not only had he done so, it had hurt Mabel’s feelings. He had hoped countless messages and phone calls and video chats between summers had assured Mabel that Ford cared about her, but it was very possible that she might need a reminder every so often.

To make it up to her and to reward her for her kindness and patience with a special treat, Ford racked his brain for what to do for her. The only thing that stuck out was the way she had innocently asked her grunkle to braid her hair. Taking into account that no one in the family seemed to do “girly” things with her, at least not nearly as much as she does “boyish” things with the men in the family, Ford made up his mind.

After the shower and dressing in his new sweater, dark pants, and trenchcoat, Ford snuck out of the house to do some research. The library was closed, but Ford had no problem sneaking in and settling in a desk at the dead of night, reading books on the History of Braids and the Origins of Dreadlocks and literally any hair-themed book and magazine the library had; he even read up on hair-dying techniques for whenever Mabel had the desire to try something new.

The books didn’t feel enough. After a quick cup of coffee at a gas station, Ford hurried up the hill for his best friend’s manor. He knocked on the door urgently and waited a minute or two for Old Man McGucket to come to the door, rubbing his eyes with a bathrobe over his green flannel pajamas. “St-Stanford? Whazza matter?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, buddy, but it’s very important.” Ford pressed, his arms full of books and magazines he had borrowed without permission from the library. “I need to learn how to braid hair for Mabel and I was hoping I could use your mobile computer.”

Fiddleford blinked through his thick green glasses and smiled a half-toothy smile. “This is an emergency. Anythang for Lil’ Sweet Tea! C’min, c’min. Want some coffee?”

“That would be great, thank you.”

Long into the night, the old researchers acted just as seriously as they did back in the day, except they weren’t unintentionally creating a gateway to Hell. McGucket dug up some more books from the Northwest’ private book collection in the lounge and Ford used the laptop to do some more recent, or “trendy”, findings. To he and McGucket’s amazement, the internet was full of videos showing exactly how to do all sorts of hairstyles. From coloring hair to cutting it to braids and ponytails, all kinds of hair from straight to messy curls to somewhere in between could be learned to tame with a few clicks on a computer.

“Bingo!” Ford said, readjusting his glasses, and he quickly got to work, just as enthusiastic as he was about earning another PhD or discovering a new anomaly. Fiddleford had a very hard time keeping the smiling eyes off his friend as he watched him get so excited about a feminine activity, one both men had been deprived of due to a lack of females in their lives but were eager to explore.

The next morning, Mabel yawned into her fist and skipped cheerfully down the stairs for a glass of orange juice to start the day. She heard the front door open and close and she was surprised to find Ford coming home. “Grunkle Ford, wh… Aw! You’re wearing your new sweater!”

Ford grinned and nodded. “Yes, I absolutely love it! It’s almost as beautiful as you, my dear. Thank you very much.”

Mabel blushed and drank some juice. “You’re welcome! So, where have you been? Out on a morning walk?”

“Something like that.” Ford said with a shrug. “So, would you still be interested in me braiding your hair?”

Mabel gasped and cried out, “OH, YES PLEASE! I’ll be right back!” And the young girl ran off to get her bag of hair things.

Ford sat himself in his brother’s chair and Mabel soon returned and plopped in his lap when he petted his right leg for her. Mabel gave him the hairbrush to detangle her bed-head and said, “Okay, so it’s easier to start by parting it into sections…”

“Oh, don’t worry, my dear.” Ford said calmly as he brushed her hair lovingly. “I’ve done my research.”

Mabel had on idea what he meant by that, but she shrugged and decided to let him do as he pleased. She had braced her skull for a bit of tugging as it was sometimes difficult to brush tangled hair, but Mabel was pleasantly surprised to find Ford being as gentle as a kitten and brushing her hair so gently she could hardly feel the pull on her scalp, and yet she could feel the knots becoming undone and progress being made. She grinned and said, “Wow, Grunkle Ford, you’re really really good!”

It was a good thing she couldn’t see how red his cheeks turned. “Well, thank you, sweetheart. You truly have very beautiful hair.”

“So do you! It’s so fluffy and cute! After you braid your hair can I braid yours?”

Now Ford’s whole face was as scarlet as a king’s robe. He knew his hair was a bit harder to manage than Stanley’s but he never considered it to be cute or fluffy. “I see no reason why not.”

“Yes! I’m so excited! You really are very beautiful, Grunkle Ford.”

Okay, who gave this young lady permission to be this adorable? There were several dimensions in which it was illegal. “Th-Thank you, Mabel, but really I’m not… B-Beautiful is a more suitable term for wom-”

“Nu, uh!” Mabel interrupted and shook her head only a little bit, trying to be still for her uncle as he brushed her hair. “Daddy says anyone and anything can be beautiful. If a flower or Christmas lights or an animal can be beautiful, then girls and boys can be beautiful. And also girls and boys can be handsome!” Mabel added to drive her point further home.

Ford chuckled and it made his niece’s chest feel warm. “That makes sense. Thank you, Mabel. So, did you feel well last night?”

“Yeah! I had a really funny dream!”

“Oh, what was it about?”

The conversation spilled into swapping stories of past dreams. While Ford’s dreams from the past mostly contained nightmares, he could recall a small handful of dreams that were positive spins on his imagination and he happily recalled them with Mabel. As their talk flowed so easily, like water, Ford detangled all of Mabel’s beautiful hair and then began to braid. He wanted to impress her with something big and elaborate, but he wasn’t confident in his skills yet and this was his first attempt, so he met in the middle and did something a bit more complicated than a simple braid but he wasn’t nearly ready for a boho wedding braid.

With his tongue between his teeth, Ford carefully tied the braid close and held his polydactyl hands away to inspect his work. “Okay, I think I’m done.”

“I wanna see, I wanna see!” Mabel squealed and pulled out a mirror to see her uncle’s work. She was silent with a hard-to-read expression on her face as her eyes fell on her reflection. She tilted her head and the mirror to see the back of her head to see the braid and remained silent.

The braid started as two side braids at the back of her head, but they trailed down and combined into one big, lush braid that hung loosely from the bottom of her skull and trailed down her back. There were one or two times the braid didn’t match the rest of the hair piece and Ford thought the big braid was too loose now that he took a second look at it.

His face fell a little as he was concerned that she didn’t like it and was trying to hide her disappointment. Ford knew he should have interviewed some hairdressers before attempting to do Mabel’s hair, but he had been so excited that he had become reckless, just like always. “I’m sorry, Mabel, I understand if you don’t like it…”

“I LOVE IT!” Mabel had finally conjured up the strength to grin, the wind had been knocked out of her from pure delighted shock, and her eyes were filled with tears and her lips trembled as she admired Ford’s work. “IloveitIloveitIloveitILOVEIT!!!” She squealed loudly and was bouncing in Ford’s lap. “Look, Grunkle Ford, look! You did SUCH a good job! I’m so pretty now! That’s the best braid I’ve ever seen! ThankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!” And she spun around to kiss his cheek and she hopped off of him. “I’m gonna go show Dipper! DIPPER! LOOK WHAT GRUNKLE FORD DID!” Mabel yelled as she ran as fast as she could.

Ford was as still as a statue as his niece’s kind words ringed in his ears like cheerful bells. He wanted to smile, but all he could manage was a tearful look as he used all his might to try not to try, his eyes wet and shiny and his lips pressed together. He chuckled at himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose and composed himself. Soon Mabel was skipping back to him and leaped back into his hold to hug him and nuzzle her face in his shoulder.

“Thank you, Grunkle Ford, I love it.” She repeated.

Ford hugged her back tightly and rubbed circles into her back. “You’re very welcome, my dear. Thank you for letting me braid your hair.”

After one last squeeze, Mabel climbed up the armchair to sit on the back so she was behind Ford’s head. She held out a hand for the hairbrush and said, “Your turn!”

Ford grinned and handed her the sparkly hairbrush and felt himself relax as his scalp was treated to the gentle sensation of his niece brushing and caring for his gray fluff.

[nat-20s]

MEDIA THAT I RECOMMEND YOU CONSUME INSTEAD OF SUPERNATURAL FOR BOTH HEART AND HEALTH BROKEN DOWN BY TYPE OF MEDIA AND WHY YOU MIGHT LIKE IT IF AT ANY POINT YOU, LIKE MY POOR POOR SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD SELF, WERE INVESTED IN THIS ABSOLUTE GARBAGE FIRE OF A SHOW

with apologies to anyone on mobile who’s readmore function APPARENTLY doesn’t work

(I haven’t watched supernatural for at least five years and, given any sort of luck, I will never do so again, do not @ me)

hello babes. I am talking to you know bc I keep seeing supernatural, unironically, on my dash, and I think we can all do better. I see what’s happening and I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU3i_o5Xd4g

Supernatural is fudge stripes. You are Megan. We can fix this.

So a list of alternate things that I think are overall better written/characterized/just generally more enjoyable that might scratch some of those itches:

TV SHOWS

Good Omens

okay look if u were on tumblr last year u probably already watched this show but like. If u haven’t, it’s only six episodes babe and there’s a large enough fandom that u can go down a fanart hole for days on end

Basic summary: the antichrist has reached that lovely young age where he’s supposed to bring about the apocalypse. An angel and a demon who have decided that actually they like the world as is, thank you very much, try to stop the end times. They’re not very good at it though, which makes for a comedy of errors.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: theologic (mostly christian) exploration/parody/imagery without inherently being a religious show. Fighting off the apocalypse narrative, which I think pretty much always goes hard as hell, but that’s just me. There’s a gay angel who’s socially awkward. There’s a fun very British demon. Touches on the hierarchies of heaven and hell, with framing Heaven as a bureaucracy and blurs the differences between angels and demons.  Pining. Tenderness. A deep nostalgia for 80s music, though in this case it’s specifically queen, and who doesn’t love queen. Main character has a weirdly strong bond with his black vintage car.  Satan is (sort of) fought.

~~

Gravity Falls

sometimes...things that are kids shows...with a set story and a predetermined ending...are better

(also this isn’t relevant to any of what I’m talking about but I really appreciate that Gravity Falls specifically went against the thing that most begged me about ATLA aka that a 15 year old girl would be like yeah I’m into a 12 year old boy because the 12 year old boy has a crush on me and I apparently don’t get to really have a say in this. How does that make sense.)

Basic Summary: Twelve year old twins Dipper and Mabel go to stay with their Grunkle Stan for the summer in a small Oregon town called Gravity Falls. Turns out this town is filled with all sorts of strange phenomena that they often have to confront, work around, learn about, or befriend!

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: The core focus of the show is a close sibling duo, but like It’s obvious that the siblings actually like and love each other and while they have their spats it’s still incredibly clear that they deeply care about each other even with their differences LIKE SORRY SUPERNATURAL YOU CAN’T JUST TELL ME THAT SIBLINGS CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER AND THEN THEY SPEND ALL THEIR TIME FIGHTING AND LYING TO EACH OTHER AND GENERALLY ACTING LIKE THEY CAN’T STAND EACH OTHER’S COMPANY BUT THEN OOOHHH YOU CRY ON TOP OF THE HOOD OF A CAR EVERY THREE EPISODE AND SUDDENLY THEY’RE SOULMATES OR WHATEVER

Anyway. Yeah. GF has a solid sibling dynamic. Monster of the week that builds up to greater over-arching plot. A little bit of body horror, you know, for humor. Fair amount of meta humor playing with the tropes of the genre. A Good Ol Big Bad that tries to pit the siblings against each other. Have to fight the apocalypse (you’ll see this point on like a good half of these recs, I really like ‘what are we gonna do about Armageddon’ media). Interesting creature design. Planned, satisfying ending (which supernatural absolutely does not have, but I still think if it had ended with the season 5 finale like it uhh  pretty obviously was supposed to, that would sort of counted. Don’t revive shows that have clearly already told their stories kids.) Tie in media that gives you some fun extra stories when you miss the characters. (yes I read some of the supernatural novels when I was a c h i l d, yes I’m pretty sure there’s one or two of them still buried somewhere on my laptop, no I don’t wanna talk about it.) Older father figure (?) who owns a tbh kind of shitty shop. Both already in place and found family.

It’s a good show, and it’s two seasons. John Mulaney Voice: I dunno it’s 40 episodes

MINI REC ALERT! (mini recs are basically things that I’m not gonna go into detail about for whatever reason [probably either due to i’m not familiar enough with it OR I just don’t like. Have a bunch to say about it in regards to how it will scratch the itches presented to u by spn] but still seem like a Good Watch)

Mini Rec: Over The Garden Wall. Spooky Kids Media! Episodic! Miniseries so you can watch it in like 2 hours! Cool ass Animation! About two brothers encountering said spooky stuff! Big Bad tries to pit brothers against each other! Might haunt you for the rest of your life! Check it out!

~~

The Haunting of Bly Manor

I think about this show every goddamn day of my life. (Also not relevant but Greg Sestero makes a brief cameo in it and I was like hi greg my friend greg!)

Basic Summary: An girl named Dani, while staying in London, decides to take on an Au Pair job for two young children, an older brother named Miles (age 10) and the younger sister Flora (age 8) at the spoooooky and mysteeerious Bly Manor, and she gets far more than she bargained for.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: Okay so supernatural doesn’t actually do this but I know I KNOW why we let ourselves be queerbaited in 2012. Four words for you: CENTRAL! GAY! TRAGIC! ROMANCE! You want some pining? Some tenderness? Some LOVE? Some dealing with internalized homophobia but no, like, actual violent onscreen homophobia? HAVE I GOT THE SHOW FOR YOU. If ur favorite episodes where the ones that make you sob (for me it was kevin’s death on god), I recommend this show. If you wished that supernatural literally ever had consequences or perma deaths or didn’t retcon major plot events like every five goddamn episodes so that there could be some exploration of like grief and trauma through the lens of/ higher stakes of horror, I recommend this show. If you really do stay up at night picturing a supernatural that wasn’t made by dumbass cishettie white men hack writers but was actually allowed to have Dean and Cas be in love over the course of the show so they could have like actual development and not the most homophobic gay reveal of all time, I recommend this show. Hell, if you just want a banger ghost story in general, I recommend this show.

As for what they actually have in common: horror setting/aesthetic without actually being all that scary most of the time. A strong sibling duo, though they’re not nearly as much of the focus of Bly Manor. Found family. Strong themes of grief. Questions of what turns someone into a monster (and done much better) An actual, much better noble sacrifice done out of love. Escalation of stakes until there’s a big final confrontation. Semi-big bad trying to tear this family apart. Found and pre-installed family. Sad orphans.

Watch this show. Vibe with me. Cry with me. Yell at me about Owen Sharma

MINI REC ALERT!

Haunting of Hill House- spiritual predecessor to Haunting of Bly Manor, though they’re not actually the same universe/story. However, it’s made by the same dude and has a shared aesthetic/sensibilities/some of the cast. This is only a mini rec bc I haven’t actually seen it, but I’ve heard good things and that it, while much more heavily leaning into family dynamics, has similar themes of exploring Grief and Trauma through ghooossstttsss.

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Community

Okay I know that this may seem like a Wild rec considering community is a school sitcom with basically Zero paranormal elements but just like. Hear me out. And no this isn’t just because I think it’s a realy good show and I want more people to watch it, though that is a factor. If I was just recommending comedies that I think are good and more people should watch regardless of them serving as a replacement for supernatural I would demand you all go watch Galavant and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I’m gonna demand it anyway. Everyone go watch Galavant and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Now back to your original program:

Basic Summary: A group of students at Greendale Community College form a Spanish study group, and things quickly go Off The Fucking Rails in the best way possible.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: All right I’m gonna be real honest this rec is for all of my (correct) bitches who’s favorite episodes of Supernatural were French Mistake, Changing Channels, and/or Mystery Spot. You think if Supernatural would’ve been fucking fantastic if it had been a committed comedy instead of a CW melodrama that occasionally landed some admittedly really fucking funny episodes/concepts, Community (and the movies on this list) will gently take you into its loving arms and give you everything you desire. It’s about the Meta comedy. It’s about the discussion, exploration, and subversion of common tropes within the format. It’s about the grand use of group/ found family dynamics in order to max both the goofs and the heart. It’s about fantastic callbacks. It’s about having one of the few “asshole with a heart of gold” leads I can actually stand because. You know. Growth. It’s about the INCREDIBLE genre and ��pop culture parody. Which genre do they parody, you ask. All of them. They parody all the genres. The glee parody episode is a fucking masterpiece of television. If you don’t want to watch a show that features a Halloween party where everyone turns into zombies and the ABBA discography blasts in the background, you can stop reading right now, because I can guarantee you won’t be interested in a damn thing I have to say.

MINI REC ALERT: The X-Files. I’ve also never seen this but a: everything I’ve seen out of context has been fantastically weird and delightful b: it appears that there’s a general consensus that Scully and Mulder are one of the only valid straight couples so it’s probably pretty fun and c: let’s all be honest. Supernatural was already basically an x-files rip off, it had like half of their original writers swiped from the x-files crew, I’m pretty sure if you liked especially the first couple of seasons of supernatural, you’re gonna like the X-files.

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Subcategory: TV SHOWS ( A WHOLE TWO OF ‘EM, OR MORE LIKE ONE AND HALF IF YOU WANNA GET TECHNICAL) I’M SPECIFICALLY RECOMMENDING FOR THAT COCAINE HIT OF PURE UNADULTERATED UNCUT 2012 TUMBLR NOSTALGIA

BBC Merlin

Yes, I know the show ended in 2010. Yes, it still provides that 2012 Tumblr nostalgia. 2012 Tumblr is a feeling, not an actual time period.

I love this stupid show. I plan on rewatching it all over the month of January. I harbor a deep amount of fondness for it. It’s why every time I see literally any depiction of Merlin I get just so fucking excited, and why I’ve consumed as many ridiculous Arthurian adaptations as I have (side note: my two favorite other ridiculous Arthurian legend adaptation are Avalon High, a DEEPLY silly DCOM that is required viewing to level up friendship with me, and The Kid Who Would Be King, which is the only movie that I think truly understands the comedic potential of playing a King Arthur Adaptation mostly straight but everyone in it is 12. I’m not sure it intended to be as fucking funny as it was, but again, they’re all middle schoolers. I have never been more jealous of an actor than I was of the 22 year old that got to play a 16 year old dumbass Merlin who was sometimes also Patrick Stewart and did all of his magic with ridiculous hand gestures That should’ve been me that should’ve been me that should’ve been me. Also Sword in the Stone by TH White is pretty good, because Merlin knows germ theory in the fantasy 400’s and he just uses it to be petty mostly. Also listen to High Noon Over Camelot by The Mechanisms. Also Also I tend to prefer family friendly adaptations because they don’t have the uhhh. You know. Incest and sexual violence of the original legend. Love to Not have that shit!) Whether you watched it initially and are due for a rewatch, or you’re intrigued enough by the concept of the show to watch it for the first time, you should join me on this wild wild ride.

Basic Summary: You know who Guinevere, Arthur, and Merlin are, come on. BBC said let’s make em all YOUNG let’s make em SEXY let’s make em FAMILY FRIENDLY and let’s make magic REALLY SEEM LIKE A THINLY VEILED ALLEGORY FOR BEING GAY BUT TO THIS DAY IM NOT SURE IF THAT WAS INTENTIONAL OR NOT BUT IT SURE SEEMS LIKE IT WAS. @ THE BBC MERLIN CREATORS WHAT IS THE TRUTH BECAUSE THERE WAS SOME INTERVI-

Basic Summary but like a bit more helpful: A BABY version of Merlin (and by baby I mean like 20 year old.) is sent from his small town to the big city the Kingdom of Camelot to find his destiny. Staying with the town physician and friend of his mom’s, Gaius, he ends up as both his assistant and personal manservant to Prince Arthur. But in a kingdom where magic is punished with death and the prince seems hell bent on getting himself into situations that are going to kill him, the young sorcerer has his more than his share of work cut out for him.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: Primo supremo queerbaiting. Like, yeah, okay, it’s queerbaiting, you know it’s queerbaiting, but you watch some of the scenes and ur like okay. I know why I let this bait me. Obviously with a modern show, I would expect more, I would expect better, I would raise my standards, but I gotta admit. Some of these scenes are fuckin compelling as hell, and the subtext is like barely sub. Monster of the week shenanigans. Some awful CGI creatures but like a charming awful. Like the kind of awful that tells you their very limited budget was more focused on cool swords than realistic creatures. Episodic stories build into a more overarching plot, with things getting darker in season 4/5. Shitty father that end up eating shit and while the son of said father is rightfully conflicted and upset over the death it’s cathartic and victorious as all hell for the audience. Multiple hot evil women, and I love hot evil women. There’s also nice hot women, which is a bonus. These women don’t all immediately stupidly die, so that’s a nice change. Also like a LOT of sarcastic humor and shenanigans if u like Sass Merlin is there for u personally name a more iconic line than “Oh I’m sorry, how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord?” AND THAT’S IN THE FIRST FUCKIN EPISODE brilliant amazing fantastic show stopping. Also you know those like dumb hijink episodes where like Dean was possessed by the spirit of a dog or some shit? You bet your bottom fuckin dollar BBC Merlin has those kinds of storylines. Also I know some people go to spn bc it had that HUGE fanbase and like BBC Merlin’s fanbase is still SURPRISINGLY poppin even though it’s been a decade since there was new content so like. Have fun!

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Doctor Who but Specifically the RTD Era

Look I’m not here to say that the first four seasons of reboot doctor who are the only good doctor who or inherently better than all the rest (though the RTD era is my favorite personally) BUT when ur seekin that sweet sweet superwholock frenzy nostalgia, this is the ‘who’ that is being referred to. Also like. Stan 9. We should all collectively stan the ninth doctor. Chris Eccleston, the Objectively Best Famous Chris, deserved better.

Basic Summary: An immortal alien that goes by “The Doctor” travels across time and space with a variety of different companions, often to try and save the day or fix a (sometimes self created) mess. It’s distilled campy sci-fi with a family friendly tone that has made me cry on several occasions.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: Monster of the week that, you guessed it, builds into bigger overarching plot style narrative. Fighting off the apocalypse, but like every couple of weeks because worlds are in danger a LOT. A semi-tragic romance that made people go absolutely buck fuckin wild bc pining n shit. Wamen, but they aren’t fridged. (actually for real though none of the main women die and I just think that’s really fun and flirty even though I could go on a COMPLETELY SEPARATE rant about the injustice of one of the character’s ending YES season 4 is my favorite season and one of my favorite pieces of media ever and I am currently actively recommending it to you  YES im still fucking pissed over how it ended YES we exist) Specifically, a Wonderful and Very Excellent woman named Donna who goes on a spa trip that doesn’t end up going very well. That seems like a highly specific example, and it is, but it did happen in both shows. (Also, to anyone that continued watching SPN after like idk season 9 what happened to Donna? I always liked her and I know she became a recurring character so like DM whatever probably injustice was the end of her story line pls and thank you) I’m also extra specifically recommending for Supernatural Fans and also The World At Large:  Season Four of Reboot Who. I rewatched it last year and it still goes so fucking hard. Donna Noble is the best character in existence. In regards to the appeal for SPN, personally I think the best part of SPN was when people who are soulmates went on adventures and tried to save the day and it was a good mix of banter and sincerity AND GUESS WHAT’S BASICALLY THE ENTIRETY OF SEASON 4 OF DOCTOR WHO. It’s so good y’all I wish Everything was about soulmates going on adventures and trying to save the day.

OKAY TV SHOWS DONE TIME FOR M O V I E S which I don’t have nearly as many recs for but uhh here goes

What We Do In The Shadows/ Shaun of the Dead

I’m lumping these two together bc my reasons for recommending them are largely the same, and I would call them tonally similar enough that if you like one you’ll probably like the other

Basic Summary (Shaun of The Dead): Uh-oh! London’s had a break out of some of that good ol’ zombieism. Shaun and friends decide to hunker down in a local bar, but they have to get there first. Will they survive? Will they fuck up some zom zoms? Who’s to say?

Basic Summary (What We Do In The Shadows): Some vampire roommates dick around. I think there’s technically, like, a plot, but it’s really just about some vampires Doin Their Thing. Vibin.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: This is kind of similar to the Community recommendation, in that supernatural had the opportunity to be one of those things that was both a parody of a genre but also just a really good example of the genre. WWDITS and SotD are both those things for vampire and zombly movies, respectively. Have the aesthetic and some of the themes of a horror but is not actually all that scary. Horror Comedy is a god tier genre and I don’t know why it’s not more widespread. Fun monsters/cast of characters in general, so at least one person in it is probably going to make you go “oh gender” ya know? With SotD you have the fantasy power trip that comes with like any piece of media that involves hunting monsters. With WWDITS I go “yep that’s how bisexuals dress” and I Will Not Clarify which character I’m talking about.

MINI REC ALERT: All of Taika Watiti’s filmography. Thor:Ragnarok is one of like 3 marvel movies that I consider genuinely fucking fantastic completely independent of the MCU and my own tendency to be like “hurr bdurr I love. Superheros”. For the one that is most tonally like Supernatural But Significantly Better and Written By Someone Competent I think I would say try out Hunt For The Wilderpeople. It’s got a reluctant curmudgeonly father figure and I KNOW some of you motherfuckers were so invested in spn when you were like 16 bc you had daddy issues. This is a callout post for my friend [REDACTED], who I should text to watch Hunt for the Wilderpeople, actually.  

MINI REC ALERT X2!!!: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’ve never seen it but it has both Winona Ryder AND Keanu Reaves so like. Goth bi rights.

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Happy Death Day (and Happy Death Day 2 U)

happy death day was one of those movies that I saw the trailer, went “eh”, heard other people say it was great, watched, and went holy fuck this slaps. Not nearly as much of a slasher film as the trailers implied if im remembering the trailer correctly

Basic Summary: Our main character Tree keeps waking up on the day she was murdered. The day resets every time that she dies. That’s right, it’s a time loop storey babey!!!!!!!!!!!

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: If you were anything like me you were foolishly lulled into supernatural for way longer than you should’ve been on the promise that the characters would idk like grow and change and become better and learn lessons and some of that would be through the power of receiving love and kindness. You know. Like how good writers would do it especially if their main characters are kind of dicks that really should make some changes. Well, Happy Death Day fucking delivers on that promise in SPADES. It’s about growth! It’s about change! It’s about making the active decision to become a better person and putting effort into doing so! There’s heavy themes of like grief and trauma and acknowledging them and facing them head on in order to move on and the negative consequences of refusing to do so and just trying avoid it until it goes away. There’s a romance that makes my dumb little self do the pleading face emoji. Tree is also one of the only good asshole with a heart of gold characters. I also think media is improved by having at least one character that is a Good Good Boy (note: Good Good Boy character does not have to be a man.) and Happy Death Day has Carter. Oh on that note: Tree Voice: I’ve only had character for (the same repeating over and over) a day but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone here and then myself. Also the movie is funny so like hell yeah.

that’s all I got for relevant movies right now

BOOK RECS

jk i’m illiterate. Everyone should feel free to go ahead and add their own suggestions for this section The best I can do is uhhhh I think y’all would probably like Mira Grant’s novels, particularly the Newsflesh stories, bc sibling dynamics. Also the book The Haunting of Hill House is really good. Ballad of Black Tom slaps? There’s of course the Good Omens novel that the show was based on. I’m about to recommend some podcasts after this section which will include to Welcome to Nightvale because of course it will and the tie in novels for that slap, especially It Devours!, and I’m pretty sure they work as stories even if you know nothing about the podcast. Also also I think you should read “The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers It’s not thematically similar to supernatural at all but it’s one of my all time favorite sci fi novels and only like four people have read it which is a goddamn TRAVESTY.

Anyway yeah that’s it that’s all there is. Onto the medium that is like books but I can fold laundry or cook while consuming their narratives.

PODCAST RECS

Okay so this is getting uhhh wicked long so I’m gonna limit myself to only three full blown recs and a

mini rec

Alice Isn’t Dead

Fuck me running this show is so good. Literally hands down my all time favorite (and scariest!) horror podcast. Mamma mia, that’s a good fuckin story. The Book version is also good and has fewer Weird events but some further character development so I recommend them both.

Basic Summary: After her wife Alice disappears mysteriously, Keisha takes up a job as a long haul trucker, traveling all across America in order to find her, but ends up finding so much. Pursued by a deadly creature she calls The Thistle Man, the stakes of her journey are raised.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: okay so I have a lost of bullet points of things that appealed to me specifically about supernatural and how no other shows covers all of them which sucks bc it means I basically Yearn for a show that’s supernatural but good. Alice isn’t Dead, however, hits the most of these bullet points AND is so fucking good. It has monster hunting. It has stopping a cataclysmic event BUT also discussion of the cyclical nature of events such as these and how the fight never truly ends but you can make some fucking progress nonetheless. It has a central gay romance that’s actually a central gay romance. It’s the ONLY show on this list that really hits that the weird and dark underside of americana vibe but specifically the americana of not like suburbs and shit but that eerie haunted feeling you get when you’re hours into a late night drive on open roads with no civilization around and an expansive sky and it just Seems like something should be watching you. Have you ever been out for a walk at midnight and encountered a deer and you looked into each other’s eyes and it felt like it was telling you a message that you couldn’t possibly hope to parse? Have you ever felt an incredible sense of deja vu eating in a restaurant you couldn’t have possibly been in before, because you’ve been to a thousand diners a thousand times just like one, and there’s an incredibly sense of homogeneity even though you’re 2000 miles away from anyone and anything that could possibly know you? Have you ever traveled to an area that seems to be stuck in a bubble of time, the only thing that shows any evidence of having aged past 2006 being yourself, and you wonder how your cell phone even works around here? THAT’S the spooky americana I’m fuckin talking about! Messed up road trips! Too much goddamn space! America is scary because it’s big and Filled With Things but also Not Enough Things! Fuck yeah!!!!! That time bubble fuckin EXISTS in Wyoming the most recent song on the radio I heard was fuckin Hey Soul Sister!

Also has a thing where like are there even good guys and bad guys in a conflict or is it all just one umbrella nightmare that you’re trying to stand against in anyway possible (u kno..like how the overarching structures of both heaven and hell were kinda fucked in spn? No spoilers but similar shit be happenin in Alice Isn’t Dead). Exploration of what makes someone into a monster, like how do you go down that path? Also this is the only show on this whole damn list that southern gothic music really suits it so points for that.

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The Magnus Archives

You know I had to do it to ‘em.

Basic Summary: Jonathan Sims has just become the Head Archivist at the Magnus Institute, a “research” “facility” that looks into paranormal/esoteric/unexplained phenomena.

John Mulaney Voice, Again: Nobody knows what the archivist is going to do next, least of all the archivist. He’s never been in an archives before, he’s just as confused as you are.

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: Oh fuck this document is over 5k long I said I wasn’t gonna do this hhhhh so lipton lightning round: Slowburn Gay Romance but Actually Canon, Monster Hunting but Hey What Even Is A Monster Anyway, Acts Somewhat like a Loosely Connected Horror Anthology until it DOESNT, Little Things Build to Bigger Narrative, Characters Be Goin Through It (On God These People Need Therapy), Trying to Prevent/Fix The Apocalypse (X2!!!), Smug Asshole Big Bad,  Horror as a Metaphor For Various Shit, Basically if you thought that the Men of Letter concept slapped and you think it should’ve been the whole damn show including being Deeply British you would probably really fuckin like TMA. Also if ur like the ideal piece of media is a horror tragedy but also like it’s a wacky sitcom but also also fuck cops. U will like tma.

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Welcome to Nightvale

IF ANY 2012 TUMBLR FANDOM DESERVES TO MAKE A MASSIVE COMEBACK AND BE EVERYWHERE AGAIN AND ABSOLUTELY FLOOD MY DASH IT’S WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE WHY DID WE ABANDON THE SHOW THAT TREATED US THE MOST KINDLY DID YOU KNOW THAT EPISODES 108-110 ARE THE BEST FUCKING BUILT UP NARRATIVE REVEAL THAT I HAVE WITNESSED IN MY LIFE DID YOU KNOW THAT IT CONTINUED TO BE REALLY FUCKING GOOD AFTER MOST PEOPLE STOPPED LISTENING DID YOU KNOW CECIL AND CARLOS ARE MARRIED AND THEY HAVE A DOG AND A TODDLER NOW BECAUSE OF ALL THE GAY PODCAST PROTAGONISTS CECIL GERSHWIN PALMER LOVE OF MY LIFE ELDRITCHIAN CHEERLEADER AND CERTIFIED BIMBO KEEPS FUCKIN WINNIN BABY. DID YOU KNOW THAT CECIL THINKS PEANUT BUTTER IS A ROCK.

Basic Summary: Welcome to the sleepy desert town of Ņ̶̏ight V̶͚̰̮͗̔̊̊ale! Community radio how host Cé̵̟͚͕̗̞̙͂͑̽̄́c̵̤̼̞͈̪͓̍̽̋̚̕͜il Pǎ̵̧̨̢͚̻̈̂̄̇͐̇̊̀̆ͅl̶͚͎͕͉͖̬͓͑́̐̒̍̿̈́͢͜͝ͅm̸̧͙̟̖̠̳̬͋́͋́͌̚̚ͅȩ̙̖͎̖͂́̒͐͜͞r̢̢̛̰̻̮̺̩͙̼̈́͋̀͘ is here to k̠̠̰̦͙̯̥̎̄̆͌̎̀̿̔̌̚ê̷̢̬̥̞̩̯̘͒̽̈̓͐̂̔̍e̶̡̝̗̺̫̪̜͆̓̿̈͌͌̆͒͞ͅp̵̹̗̬̼̠̬͙̏͐͐̉̅͊͊́͟͞ͅͅ ỷ̛͙̞̦̦͖̑̉̌̎͞͡͡͝ͅo̧̧̥͎̻̥̲͇͋́́̔̈͌͞ǔ̸̬̯̫͇̦̮͕̤̲̯̽̔̀̔͆͋̈́͘̚ up to date all the local happenings, including w̸̢̢̢̧̡̡͍͖̻̳̹̼̼̰̬̭̱͔̲͙͍̰̠̥̺̝͖̺̖̼̮̼̞̳̞̜͉̤̯͇̖̳͖̠̙̺̲̤͇͈͚͓̮̭̱̭̩͚̟̥̬̟̻̝̼̖͚̘͐̆̅̂̃̈́͆͊̉̏͒́̈́̋͗͑̄̉́̐̌́̿̌͛̾̎̊̾̃̈́̉̔̍̐͛̕͘̚͜͜͠͠é̵̢̡̧̨̨̡̧̨̡̛̹̥̥̞̮̯͙͈̻̝͓͖͙̦̰͍̖̜̲̰̞͎͈̭̯̳͕̗͓͈̭̫̼̯̪̞̯̰̲̘̭͎̪̱̗̝̝̞̤̱͉͙̯͎̬͎̙̜̗͉̩̦͕̪̳͇͙̺̙̰̠͚͎̜̠͔̬͎̺̣͕̜̊̓̃̐̂́͂̎̐̾̔̽̀̉́̍̊̂̿̎͂͐̎̐̄̍̔̋̐̃͗̈́͂̀̒̊̎͘͘̕̚̕͜͝͝͝͠ͅͅa̸̡̧̡̡̨̡̨̛̛͙̣̘̳͎͖̥̝̟̱̩̥͙͉̝̲̙̮̩̩̹̱͔͎̥̹̻̜͚̭̬̳͚̤̙̖̯͎̱̫̞̪̻͖̱̞͔̭̻̺͚͚̯̬͓͓̳͇̳̦͓̞͈̮̤̭̣͉̲̞͚̘͗̆̃͌̅̍͊̓̈̇̌̒͊͑̊̏̊͌̈̓̿͗̒̏̒͊͒̏̃̎̒̀̅̾̍̀͘͘͜͝͠ͅt̵̢̡̨̧̧̛̛̛̯̤͓̘̻̤͓̪̰͔̪̝̫͎̻͔͈͎͔͙͕͈̰͓͍̀̏͒̆͋̈́̈́͂̔͋͆͂̅͗̍̆̍̆̔̑͊̏̈͒́̽͊́̿͂́̓͛̽͐͌̌̐̈̇̃̓̆̍̅̃̔̚̕͜͝͝͝ͅͅh̸̨̨̡̢̢̡̢̧̡̧̢̡̨̡̭̜̬̬̙͕̗̙̻̯̠̘͙̻̥͉͚̼̗͚͇͉̰͍̥͉̗͎̬̫͖͉͔̼̮̯̞̫̬̟̻͉̖̙̥̫͖̬͚̟̜̭͇͎̭̘̝̲̤͕͎̰̭̗̯̮̤̙̙̯͍̞̭͚͔͎̞̹̲̟͉̩̭̖̱̠͍̺͈̟̩̋̆̈́͆̍̆̄̏͜ͅͅȇ̸̢̢̨̨̧̛̜͍̺͎̬̪͙̻̝̣͓͈̺̩̳̟̲̠̣͈͎͎͈͉̙̪͖̳̺͇̹̊̍͊͑̿͊̌͛̿̓͊̾̀͂͛̉͆̾̽͆̈̏͛̊͛̍̈́̇͋̔͂̑͐̂̿͊̽͑͘̚͘͝͝͠͝ͅͅŕ̵̨̡̨̨̢̧̡̧̨̘̟͙̦̲̲̪̦̙̼̠̳͚̞̦̞͖͚͇̳͖̲̭͕̜̫̳̖̙͖͉͎̘̘̤̠͈̬͕̝̻͚̥͍͕̠̥͙̙̪̖̯͍̘̘̲̣̹̜̪̲̭̟̮̫̖̤̰͔̩̩͉̲͚̟̝̦̬̪̘̬̮̱͔̻̦̼̃̐̂͋̐̅̋͒̉͛́̅̈́̒̒͆̑̆͊̒͒̀̍̈́̍͌̍̏̔͋͌̒̍̌͛̓̈̂̐̕͘͘͜͜͝͝͝ͅͅͅ ̶̢̡̨̛̠͇̹̯͕͍̻̟̼̼̗̩̱̗̙̱̥̜̬̫̜͎͉̺̣͓̟̯̱͖̣̞̠̝̥͍̲̳̙̠͔̹̘̲̲̻̖̈́̊͋͜͜ą̵̡̧̟͕̬̳̜͈͈̳̝̜̣̬͔͈͈͎͉͍̯̟̞̺͎̝͇̰̥͖̬̯͙̤̬̼̲̦̯̭͓̠̺̳̱̰̮̎͋͆̈́͌͆̎̉̓̇̐͋͋́̃̉̈̄̏̓̉̿̅̒̉̒̉͂͛̄̀̇̒͊͛́͊̎́͆̌̆́̌͂̈́̽̋͛͗̑̊̀́̍͊̌͆͊͐͆̅̒̊̉̾̄͛̑̕͘͘͘͘͝͝͝͝͠͠͝n̸̡̛̛̛̛̛̙͎̬̦̠̼͓͈̝̾̍͑͛̅̒̾́̌̍͛̇̋̇̓̏͛̔͛̈́͆̿̌͐̿͊̿́͒̍̃̀̈͐̐̆͐̉̒̂̉̀̅̇̾͋̍͒̋̈̌̿͒͐̍́͗̀̌̌̚̕̕̕͘̚͘͘̚͜͠͝͝͝d̴̡̢̢̛̛̛̺̠̳̬͎̞̲̣̲̱̳̪̹͉̝̠̱̗̙̫̠̹̼̙̝͉̲̟̮̙̙̮̻̹͈̦̙̞͚̜̙̖̞͓̙̭͉̃̽̌̅̔̾̈́̒̽͑́̒͋̓̈́͆͋̽̒̃̽̋̐͌͂̍͑́̽̋̍͗̋͗͂̅̽̈̈̾͐̄̃̕̕͜͠͠͝͠͝ͅͅ ̵̡̡̢̛̛̗͚͍̺͇̲̳̯͓̰͍̙̮̙̜̟̞̣̼͕̝͔͙̺̫͈͈̠̻̘̱͍̦̭͔͈̤̺̗̮͕̦̞̘͍̯̻̝͓̤̳̫͔̩͉̬̈́͋̈́̐͒́̔́́̿̓̆͐̎͆̇͒̄̈̿̓̑̾̏̔̿͊̌͆͒̒͊̓̅̓́̔̅̀̀̀̃̿̂̑͂͆̅̎̾̏̓̂̈́͛͌̇̾͌͐̈̂̆͐̅̓̍̓̃̆͗̃͛̏̒̌̀̅͊́̽̐̆̿́̌͘͘̚̕͘̕̕͜͜͜͠͝͠͝͠t̷̢̥͓̄͗̾̄̅̚͜r̵̨̡̨̧̧̢̛̛̛̛̛͍͙͚̥̱̞̜̦̜̼̺͉̠̬͎̰̻̜̼̫̤͓͖͖̤͇̞̥̖̈́͊̆̓͊̑̑̋̒̈́̔̆͆́̐͛͑͊͋̇̈́̓̑̍̏͐͛̽̋̎͑̃̈́͒̇̂̇̌͂̀̍̊̇̓̋̈́̌̏̕͘̚̕̚͝͝͠ǎ̴̡͓͓̯̘̥̱̱͖̦̺͓̘͉͖̞̟̦͈̜̥̰̘̞͈̦̠̼̯̙̭̼͚̟̖̲̠̝̜̐̅͆̏̈́̍́͂̃̾͑̓͋̽̄̾́̾̆̾͒͋̎͂̈́͘̕̕̚͜ͅͅf̷̢̡̡̧̢̨̡̧̢̢̧̡̧̫͖̖͇̲̫̮͕͉͓̩̪̳̹̩͎̖̟̤̤̲̟̪̫̻̻̖̟̦͉̼͎͖̭͍͖͎̖̳̳͙̜͉̝̘̺̖͚̙͉͕͙̯͖̞͚̮̲̻͉͙̺̭͓͎̤͙̦̦̺̯͕̜̰͍̳̙̦͉̪̥́͋̓̅̀͋͐̀̄̊̆̉̒̐͒̀̏̈̇̊̉̆̐̏̾̀̀̓͛͆̍̾͗͌̀̄̔͒̀̍̈́͆̔̒̑̏̍̏͆́̾̐̂͋̂̔̂́̓̓̌͌̉͛́̒̐̽̏́̑͊́̌̆̂̑͋̇̈́͌̑̿̅͗̚̕͘̕̚͜͠͝͝͠͠f̴̨̨̛̹͌̂̓͌͛̀͑̾̓̍͗̽͆̉̊͗̇́̍͌̊͐̔̈́̊̇͆̄̃̑̕̕͘͘͘͠͝͝͝͠i̴̧̡̢̢̧̢̛̛͎̗̳̦̘̙͓̦̙͔̜̼̘͇͇̺̭͉̠̩̟̤̥̘͙̤̩͔̪̱̻͈̪̼̼̞̠͎̟̹͕̻̭̤̪̲͕̟̺̻̻͖͕͚̣͇̖̰̝̩͈̤͕͇͕̝͙̙̪̔̐̆͒̄̈́̀̎̃̃̅͆̌̈́̽̈́̅̈́̑̄̇͒͐̀̐̀̒̍̀̓͌͗̓̽́͗̓̎͂͛̅̑̔̀͛̈́̽̾̃̊͊͆̄̍͑̍̆̌̾͗̄̊̽̉̅̆̀̎̀͑̿̎̋̄̆̃͐̾̏͛͒̍̋̅͘̕̚̕̕͜͜͝͝͝͝͠ͅ��̨̨̧̧̧̗̫͇͎̙̲̲͖̗̘͉̲̣̤͎ͅc̷̛̛͚̝̻̣̞̓́̃́̀̃̓͗͌̂͛́̒̊͑̓͆̇̈́͑̏̆̀͌̑͂͂̄͌̉̔̋́̎͒̿͗͒͛̇͛̿̎̍̕̕̕͝͝͝͝͝ ̴̢̧̢̡̨̢̡̨̡̢̢̛̺̘̹̯̤̩̘̯͔̞̟̬̠̣̟̻̥̜̤͔̥͕̠̥̞͎̗̩̱̮͉͔͎̲̯̱̙̜̥̳̮͔̦̣͖͔̜͉̗̪̳̹̦̤͇̣̙͕̯̫̖̝̼̹͍̠͎͓̗͎̦͓̲̯̱̠̰͇̮̹͔̝͉͙̹̜̹͈̹̥͖̣̳̲͖̓́͌̈́̈́̀͌̄͂̌̾́̍̔̊̓̿͋͂͋̈́̋́́̒̓̀̒̃͂̀͑̐͛̆̆͒̈́̅̿͊͌̍͗̌̌͆̂͌́̉̏̒̓͊̾̒̓̋̽͐̏̾͘̕͜͝͠͝ͅͅr̸̨̢̛̪̞̬͓͔̥̤̣͔̭̥̙͉̦̗̠̳̩͙̂̈́͑͑̿̋̓̀͋͆̋̕͝͝ë̴̢̡̨̬͈͉̖̞͔͎͓͖̼̘̬͕̰͈̥͈̝̩͎͉͉̫̜͚͕̤͔̟̯͓͎̟͙̜̭̩̗̮͎̗̤͇̝̩͎̜̺̯͕͇̝͎̯͙̖͙̮̗̮̘́̑͑͛̂̅̄̌̽̓̒̾̿͆̏̏͐͛̾̂̃͑͆̅̄̿͋̅͂̈́̽͋͒̎͐̒̓͆̌̉͑͊́̀̈̾͛̋͑̋̎̈̀̽̀͊̏͘͝͝͝͝͠͝ͅp̴̧̧̡̢̢̢̛̛̛͚̟͓̖̭̪̻̪̲̬̥̙̥̰̼̹͎͕̪̞̮̺̰̬̘̫̤͉̦͙̮̖̙̹̻͔̖̮̲̞̣̻̜̠͇̬͚̱̦̼̲̮̀̂͌̍̈̒̍̋̌̏͐̓͛̉̂̈̀͑̈́͊͗͋͗́̂̎̎̃͆͒̅̑̇́̈͐̾̀̔̒̉͑͒̅̓̈́̋͋̀̍̄̿̌̀̉͆̇̔̈́͗̋̄̓̇͗̎̉̆͊̒͗̚̕͘͘̕̕̚͜͜͝͝͠͠͠͠͠ͅͅͅơ̶̢̡̧̨̡̛̛͔̦̼̰̠̯̰̟̲̣̜͙̲͙̪̱̱͕̺̪͈͉̺̻̙̥̲̩̲̩͔̠͚̩͓̞̠̯̟̫̣̗̦̰͉͚͙̺͎̼͖̥̙͈̯̲̝̞͎̻͕̮͔̰̖͔̭͙̩̼͔̫̹̘͓͔̜̘͍̍̅̄͋͑̋̍̊̉̄̈̽̈͐̀͌͐̆͊͂̐̋̃̎͆͛̐̀̂̿̈́͂́̈̌͐̇̀̒͋͑͐́͌̐̇̊͆̀͂͋̏́͋͆̏͗͂͑̂̓̽͘͘̚̕̕̕̕̚͘͜͜͠͝͝ͅͅͅr̴̨̨̨̧̨̛̘͕͈͔͙̠̬̯̩̗̰̗̬̦͈̗̝̣͓͓̟͕͙͈̠̘̻͓̭̝̘̦̦͓̭̘͙̻̙̼̩̰̝͈̱̝̱̬͉͙̣̖̮̲͈̙̱̩̣͕̦̰̮͔͈͓̙̮͍̳̟̠̞͎̱̣̰͕̩̝̲̝͐́́̍̈͐͋̐̑̌͋̓̈́̈͗̿̈̈́͗̑̚͜͜͜͜͜͝ͅͅţ̴̢̨̧͇͉͎̣̬̣̝̗̬̹͇̮̞̈́̐̌̇̈́̌͊̐̅̂̌̂͒͌́̈͌̂̊͗̍̿͑͋̎̓͂̀̎̎͒̾̏̒͌̃̄͋̌̾̍̈́̐̏͑̊̍͑͆̉̓́̆̌̾̓͊̊̈̑͘̚̕͘͘̕͝͝͝͝͝s̴̢̢̡̛̬̹͚̻͉̦̦̣̦̠̜͕̤̳͓͙̟̬͕̘̦̿͗̉̏̒͆̓̄͊͌͛͂͑̒̃͛͘͜͝͝!

Shared elements with supernatural that you might Vibe with: Honestly, probably bc Nightvale and Alice are by the Same Dudes, a lot of these points are the same as Alice Isn’t Dead, but it’s less scawy and more funney. Also hits the “horror, but make it kind of a sitcom” vibes. Doesn’t have the same road trip vibes, but DOES capture the exact weirdness of South Western USA, so I’m still giving it “fucked up americana” credit. If you’ve never been to New Mexico ur like this is an exaggeration clearly no desert town is subject to like ACTUAL cosmic horror and unexplainable sights but I’m telling you New Mexico is just Like That. (I highly recommend visiting the land of enchantment if you ever get the oppurtunity it is a deeply odd and wonderfully unsettling experience.) Look man it’s gay it’s a horror comedy cecil has a wonderfully soothing voice and it hates capitalism so fucking much like oh my god so much what more could you want.

MINI REC ALERT: Wolf 359! I have nothing deep to say about this I just like it and my gut tells me that y’all would enjoy it too I know there isnt much for physical descriptions in the show but I know in my heart that the main character is so so pretty and so so stupid. I KNOW yall like some himbos that experience character growth.

Okay since It’s my party and I’ll speak if I want to rapid fire list of podcasts I just like and want more people to listen to even though I’m behind on like all of them shhhhh: The Penumbra Podcast, BomBARDed, Dungeons and Daddies, Stellar Firma, Wonderful!

SONG RECS

okay these aren’t like replacement recs or anything they’re just really good and I almost certainly would have put them on some sort of supernatural playlist in 2013 but I don’t, like, have a good playlist for them now so I’m subjecting y’all to them also they all have the youtube link for ease of access

Woah There Kimmy-  Felix Hagan & the Family

Devil’s Backbone- The Civil Wars

Blood On My Name- The Brothers Bright

Awake O Sleeper- The Brothers Bright

The Bottom of the River- Delta Rae

Old Number 7- The Devil Makes Three

The Bullet- The Devil Makes Three

In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company- The Dead South

Bartholomew- The Silent Comedy

Pomegranate Seeds- Julian Moon

Curses- The Crane Wives

Tongues & Teeth -The Crane Wives

OKAY THAT’S IT! THAT’S ALL FOLKS! FUCK!

[secret-rendezvous1d]

how about an alex first christmas home with his wife or gf? if your uncomfortable writing this prompt i completely understand

Hello, hi!

Welcome to Blogmas 2020. A couple of days later than I promised, and I apologise for that, but here we are. 

Hopefully, the idea of how Blogmas 2020 is planned out will become a little clearer than how my very poor explanations explained it, haha.

Many more blurbs, many more chats and a lot more festivities to come; my inbox will be open all through December this year for blurb prompts for Blogmas so don’t feel afraid to pop in a prompt to get written for tis year; all I can say is that if you’re asking for a lengthy prompt, I’m not the right person right now, haha. 

I’m welcoming absolutely anything for this year; any AU, any characters, any ideas.

Reblog, like, comment and share your thoughts with me. Please let me know what you think because feedback is always appreciated on here; much more appreciated now given that I’ve not written a lot in a long while. Please let me know what you think.

Enjoy! 

A song to listen to throughout the second scene; Bing Crosby, I’ll Be Home For Christmas

“Look at the size of those toms,” Alex gushed in awe, rushing from his place at the kitchen cabinet, where the kettle was whistling on the stove, to grab the woven basket full of fresh garden vegetables from his wife’s arms, saving a couple of apples and pears from becoming bruised by the floor. “They’re massive.”

“There’s something in the soil, I think,” YN teased, wiping her soil-covered fingertips on the pink and white polka-dot apron tied around her waist. Traces of wet mud and dry soil clinging to the material, tiny specks falling to the floor but nothing bad enough that couldn’t be sweeped with the brush and pan. “You should see some of the runners growing in the corner. Nice and long, they are. Perfect for dinner tomorrow eve.”

“How are the potatoes coming along?”

“They’re good, I was going to dig them and the carrots up tonight before the nighttimes cold comes in,” she said softly, standing beside her husband as he unpacked the fruit and placed them in the empty fruit bowl. The kettle coming to a gentle boil, soon being warm enough for them to make a warm cup of tea to drink by the fire to warm themselves up.

The vegetables left in the basket - varying from cabbage and cauliflower to Brussels sprouts and onions - needed a good brush down and a wash under water but looked good enough to enjoy as part of their meal the next day. A meal that would be enjoyed by her parents, Alex’s parents and a couple of good friends who hadn’t had time to make it back home for Christmas, missing the last train out of London for a few days and unable to find a kind-hearted soul to take them two hours up north. It was also a meal that YN had been panicking over for almost the entire month of December… her first time cooking a Christmas dinner and she wanted it to be as perfect as possible to end a year that needed some cheer.

With the war coming to an end, for a second time, she felt safe and happy. Much safer and much happier than the last time a war was declared to have finished.

Maybe it was the fact that the four-year long terror of air raid sirens and bombings and unexpected blackouts had come to its end; maybe it was the fact that Britain had won the war and there was no more fear to live by; maybe it was the fact that her husband had been one of the lucky ones to come home safe and sound, able to celebrate Christmas as normal without worry that he was going to be called back to fight in the trenches and on the frontline; maybe it was the fact that everything was slowly going back to how it had been and life was on track to getting better.

“Dad’s always saying they taste and cook the best after a night in the cold,” Alex shrugged, taking a bite of an apple and feeling the juice trickle down his chin, something that YN’s thumb caught and wiped away, “I’ll go and dig them up tomorrow morning.”

“I wanted to start peeling and cutting them now,” she frowned, looking at him with furrowed brows, “go dig them up for now, please, darling?”

He mirrored her expression and folded his arms, half-bitten apple still in his hand, a smile toying his lips.

“Do I have to? It’s getting cold out there, I’ve got no jumper on and I’ve just put the kettle on,” he playfully whined, pouting his lips.

Her own eyebrows furrowed deeper on her browline, a silent plea for him to do what she said because she was stressing enough and didn’t want to be panicking so early tomorrow morning. All along he was going to do what she asked him to do, no word of a lie, but he found pure enjoyment in giving her the idea he had no intentions of helping. He placed his half-eaten apple on the kitchen counter and took a step towards her.

“Alright, as long as you do me the best cup of tea possible.”

“Of course, aren’t all my cups of tea the best?” To which he nodded and she grinned, squeezing his cheek and leaving a blush pink behind on his cheekbone, “I love you.”

“I love you the most,” he hummed, pressing a kiss to her cold forehead, reaching around her to grab the basket and tuck it under his arm, “I’ll have a look at these nice, long runners you’ve been speaking so highly about, too.”

*

“Mum called earlier. She’s grown some strawberries and rhubarb and said she was making a pie for our dessert tomorrow. I told her that with how hard you’ve been working with the garden, on all the veggies, we won’t need a pudding to eat because we’ll be so full of Christmas dinner,” Alex chuckled, peering over the newspaper in his hands to catch a glimpse of a smile on her lips, eyes still trained to the book she was reading in the gentle, almost, silence.

The radio crackled quietly in the background of the living room, playing a Christmas song that had a frequent place on the station they had programmed to work properly. Adding a sense of merriment to the room they were sat in; tinsel hanging on a scarce Christmas tree, with ornaments made from paper and cardboard, and Christmas cards on the windowsill from family and friends. There wasn’t much they could do but it was enough for them.

“Your mum makes a good pie though,” YN admitted, placing her finger between the pages she’d gotten to, “she didn’t have to do that though. She’s already done a lot for me this year and the last four so tomorrow is, kind of, all about giving back to her and your dad and my parents, too.”

Alex’s family had been a huge constant in her life during the wartime.

His mother had been non-stop on the phone with her about new gardening tips that her friends had told her about and seeds to share amongst themselves to grow a healthy batch of fruits to bake with - because they baked, a lot, and his mother had sent her back home with a brain full of new treats to bake and recipes to try out - and they took care of a flower patch in the front garden of Alex’s home, which seemed to pass the time. His father had been just as helpful to her, whenever he wasn’t in factories or working in machinery, coming by to put shelves up for her or to fix a hole in the roof that had begun to leak. Always popping by with a loaf of bread from the bakery and a tin of meat, that YN would put together as a sandwich and they’d eat until he knew his wife would be questioning his whereabouts. They allowed her to stay when she was feeling lonely, always looked out for her during the raids and insisted she stayed with them to wait it out, always insisting that she stayed with them until Alex was home so she wasn’t suffering with loneliness or panicking when blackouts occurred.

It had always been his mother cooking a Christmas dinner, promising she didn’t have to do anything but sit at the dining table and enjoy a healthy meal with family, with no worrying or getting upset that her own husband wasn’t there to enjoy the family festivities.

So it felt surreal when YN saw Alex dressed in his uniform, on the train station platform with a bag swung over his shoulder, in and amongst crowds of reunited families, knowing that they were about to have their life back on track. A Christmas together.

“My dad’s made a good sherry for us to have. Mum said he’s been working on it for almost a year now. Growing currants in the front garden and chasing kids away when he saw them picking at his bushes as they passed,” Yn giggled softly, because the image of her father chasing active youths down a street was rather amusing to her, reaching for her bookmark to keep her place in the book resting on her lap, “she says she’s barely seen him because he spends his time at the allotments, with his friends.”

Alex snuffled a laugh and folded his paper up, setting it on the floor beside the crackling fireplace.

“We should get an allotment. Could build a shed there to hide in when it rains, have you come and sit and watch me dig the veggies up, let you grow some flowers there. We’d be the best there,” he grinned, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, “what do you think?”

“I think it’s a great idea, baby.”

“Christmases only get better from here,” he stood to his feet and wiggled his fingers in her direction, “let’s have a dance.”

She smiled shyly and stood to her feet, toes all toasty and warm from the fire, reaching for his hands as he twirled her under his arm and let her dress, all dark green and red (which she insisted was her most Christmas-y dress in her wardrobe) billow out at the knees. With the occasional step on his bare toes, and a trip over his own feet, they managed to move themselves around the room with such an elegant sway to their hips as the gentle voice of Bing Crosby filled the room, with the ever so delightful song that YN imagined must have felt so personal to so many around Britain. And she couldn’t help but think of how many others were dancing, singing and crying as the tune filled merry homes, both happy and sad.

And she didn’t want to let her mind wander to the agonising pain of not having a loved one, let alone a husband, arrive home safe for Christmas… but it was planted there and she never ever wanted an experience so heartbreaking.

“You’ve gone quiet,” he hummed and it was in that moment that he felt a dribble of tears against his neck, his feet coming to a stop as the music carried on behind them, “hey now. No crying, we said. This is a happy end to the year, eh? A happy one.”

“I know but,” she choked on a tear and pulled away to look at him, “I’m so lucky you came home to me. To us. But, some women, they never got to say goodbye to their husbands, their brothers, their fathers and grandfathers. They never got to see them for Christmas this year, last year and the years before that. They never knew what was coming,” she whispered with a hushed voice that felt like if she spoke too loud, she’d have the entire country hearing her, as if the music was bad enough to bring out the emotions.

“I promised you, didn’t I, baby?”

She nodded softly and his thumbs wiped away her tears, collecting moisture on the tips of his pads, their eyes locking for a brief second.

“I promised you I’d make it back to you and I did, safe and sound,” he held her face in his hands and brushed the tip of his nose to hers, his warm breath flushing over her face as she sniffled and sobbed, “I’m never leaving you again. Never ever. I promise, no selfish bastard is going to keep us apart, not even for Christmas.”