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devondespresso · 1 month ago

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This Comfort

T | 4.5k words | ao3 | Stobissy (Platonic stobin x Chrissy) | canon divergent season 4 rewrite, pre-relationship, hurt/comfort, happy ending, weird-as-shit stobin | cws: referenced eating disorder, implied depression, implied suicidal ideation, referenced drugs

happy holidays @stellarspecter !!! hows it feel to be THE reason i like this rarepair so much that i had to hold myself back from trying to do a whole chrissy lives s4 rewrite? I tried to be subtle but i also just HAD to reread your stuff while brainstorming this, hope you like it!!! 💕💕💕

<< betaed by @kikidoesfanfic im so sorry idk how i forgot to credit your help but god you helped so much thank you dhmxhmxngdng

also dividers by @/saradika-graphics >>

Chrissy kind of wants to cry.

Her body always seems to want to do that at the first hint of peace she can find. In a bathroom stall, at the rotting picnic table behind the school, and now in the basement at Nancy Wheeler’s house, surrounded by still, sleeping bodies. She can’t help but find their presence soothing, even if their warmth doesn’t reach the cold vinyl of her sleeping bag, even if the gentle rhythm of their breathing can’t be heard over the sound of Olivia Newton-John’s voice clogging her ears.

Would the song even work if she got sick of hearing it so much? Can any song keep her safe if she keeps associating music with life-or-death?

Chrissy’s supposed to be sleeping, or supposed to be trying, at least. But she can’t hear the huffs, can’t feel any warmth, can’t even smell over the stench of highschool boy’s body spray— so Chrissy doesn’t try to sleep, even if she has a comparatively easy song to fall asleep to. She just watches, still as if she were out like they are, watching those tiny movements in the bodies around her.

Chests rise and fall slowly, languid unlike any other moment from the day. Some people twitch or stir—just barely—as their bodies dream, hopefully of something far removed from everything that’s happening now. It’s only half the room in her line of sight, but something about watching even just a part of the life around her makes it easier to feel the rest of it there.

It’s nice. Really nice, compared to the past twenty-four hours. And for some twisted reason, that makes tears prick at Chrissy’s eyes.

Her song starts again, a rhythmic melody that had made her sway in her seat the first dozen times she listened to it today. A melody that somehow—even after literal hours of hearing it over and over and over and over and over—still takes her to a time unblemished enough to keep her from letting Vecna end it all.

The beginning instruments all cut off so Olivia can start singing, new instruments coming in to replace them, but they’re not the same. Chrissy swallows, but a tear still falls, tickling her skin down towards her ear before it stops, falling and soaking into the flattened pillow that smells like the same musty body spray as the rest of this cruddy basement.

“Chrissy,” a voice whispers from behind her, said like it isn’t the first time they’ve called, barely audible over her music. Chrissy pushes up slightly, just enough to look behind her, to find Steve sitting up and keeping watch on the couch, leaning towards Chrissy as much as he can with Robin sleeping on his lap. His eyes stay focused on her through the dark, looking maybe for rolled back eyes or waiting for her to start muttering in tongues, but Chrissy only looks back and waits.

“You okay?” he whispers through the dark, again just barely loud enough. Chrissy nods to him, and turns down her music a notch or two.

Steve keeps looking like she never responded. Maybe—hopefully—because it's too dark to see and not because he expects a different answer with enough waiting. Chrissy swallows a lump in her throat, and answers again.

“I'm okay.”

Steve hears her—he has to—but he keeps looking at her that same way. Attentive, and a little on edge.

Chrissy slides one side of her headphones off her ear so she can hear her own whispers.

“I’m fine, I promise.” She says, loud enough that he has to hear her—or believe her—yet still low enough to mask the way her throat tightens around the words.

Steve hums, a soft thing that blends with the sounds of the room, but Chrissy can make it out.

“Come up here.” He whispers, nodding over to the small sliver of couch left next to him, just big enough to fit her. Or, big enough if she were like Robin and could just half-lay on pretty people without feeling electricity seize her body from head to toe. Chrissy opens her mouth to politely decline and save both of them the awkwardness, but Steve picks that moment to look away—look down to Robin—and lift her ever so slightly, ever so gently, to scoot them over and make the space next to him more comfortable.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Chrissy whispers but finds herself getting up anyway, padding over quietly as Steve settles, Robin slumping back down onto his lap without stirring.

“It’s no big deal,” He mutters, a soft smile pulling at his lips, still looking down at Robin, “She sleeps like the dead like this.”

Chrissy hums, and Steve looks up.

“Or– like a baby, I guess is a better word for it right now.”

“It’s fine.” Chrissy insists, taking a seat next to him, settling into the corner with a respectable distance between them– a distance that the rest of her doesn’t seem to pick up on, unfortunately, but respectable at the very least.

Steve hums and watches her, trying to do it subtly out of the corner of his eye, but even just a day around the real Steve is enough for her to know what worry looks like on him.

Fortunately for her, he doesn’t push. And when Chrissy busies herself with getting comfortable in her new couch corner, Steve looks away, absently combing through Robin’s hair as he plays casual.

“Rough sleeping with music always in your ears?” Steve asks, a lightness of humor there that she wishes was the only thing tied to that question.

“Not too bad, actually.” she says, pairing it with a little smile and hoping it’ll convince them both that she’s alright. “Especially out of all the other songs from Grease. The walkman itself is probably more annoying.”

“Yeah, my ears do not envy you there.” Steve huffs, smiling a little, making Chrissy’s smile come a little easier before they both run out of things to say and the levity falls off both their faces. Chrissy’s dropping faster with no eyes on her to keep up the charade for, while Steve’s falls slowly, slips into neutral as he gets caught up in thought once again.

Chrissy gets to keep a few moments to herself before she catches Steve glancing at her again through the corner of her eye. She pretends not to notice, holds her neutrality for a few nauseating seconds before she sighs, closing her eyes and drawing her knees to her chest in a way that turns the subtle glance into full-force attention.

“Do you think…” She starts, but finds the words stopping before they can get out of her head. Does he think she’ll die? Obviously he’s not going to tell her if he does.

“Eh, sometimes.” Steve answers, shrugging lightly in a way that's playful but not flippant enough to derail the conversation.

Chrissy huffs from the tinge of amusement, then tries again.

“Have you wondered what would happen if we got tired of our songs?”

“Not yet, to be honest. But I figure we’d try to find new ones.” He says, quick enough that it feels like a simple answer to him. But even still he considers it, even if it’s just to show her he’s taking her worries seriously. “I mean, if the whole point is picking a song that reminds you about what’s good in life, I’d figure there’s got to be at least a decent handful of them that’d work.”

Chrissy hums, resting her head onto her knees as she considers. It feels like a simple enough thing, just find songs that remind you of good things, but as she combs through the library in her head, she’s not sure she has as many of those as the others do. Or at the very least, not ones that haven't been sullied by other memories or the things she’s learned since then. Birthday parties with a Chrissy that didn’t think twice about what was in those cakes, sleepovers with girls that had a lot more to say in the halls than they did in their bedrooms. She should count herself lucky that out of all the songs she had loved, she still had one of her favorites.

Though she supposes she should also count herself lucky for even being alive right now. If circumstances were different, she might’ve genuinely felt it.

“To be honest, I’m more worried about how Max doesn’t seem bothered by listening to the same thing nonstop.” Steve chimes in again, that sweet little note of humor back, and though it still makes her smile—truly smile, at both the humor and the intent behind it—it can’t fully lift her out of the headspace she keeps crawling into.

Still Chrissy hums along with him, the sweetness she puts into her voice just as erosive as the added sugars she keeps an eye out for.

“The magic of a really good artist, I guess.”

“Maybe. Though I know I’d still get tired of it no matter who’s voice I’m blasting.” Steve replies, tone light as if he didn’t notice how fake her tone was, and just that thought grants Chrissy an ounce of real levity.

“Even Freddie Mercury.” Chrissy asks with teasing scrutiny.

“I plead the fifth.” Steve smiles mischievously, and when Chrissy raises a suspicious eyebrow at him, he lets out a small but genuine laugh that Chrissy wants to mirror desperately.

Steve hushes himself quickly enough, but Robin still stirs in his lap, groaning and tucking her face down into the denim of Steve’s jeans as if they were somehow comfortable enough to put her back to sleep. But then again, Chrissy figures they don’t have to be, as Steve’s hand finds it’s way back to her hair again, carding his fingers gently and intentionally as Robin stills and soon returns to slow, sedated breathing.

Steve sighs, not tense or aggravated, just restful, like the mood of before was so calm that any change in it counted as disturbance. And then within seconds, he’s back, glancing once over to Chrissy again before looking back at Robin as he continues.

“Rob’s probably the type to be fine listening to most of her music over and over.” He hums, “Not that she needs it. The second she even thought that music might be it she shoved all the tapes she could find into her bag—including our manager’s, actually—”

“Your manager’s?”

“Yeah, Keith’s in for a bit of a surprise soon.” Steve laughs again, “Point is, though,” Steve looks back at her with a new, almost concerning level of sincerity once again veiled as small-talk. “Robin has a pretty good stash of other music in her bag and I’ve got a handful in the glovebox, too, so if you want to pick a couple backups to keep on you…” He shrugs instead of finishing with any extra nod to the favor he’s offering, and Chrissy’s conscience appreciates the discretion.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” she mutters, figuring at the very least that it wouldn’t hurt to look, maybe pick a couple that’d sound nice, even if she doubts anything from after 79’ would spark any good memories, the thought itself is sweet enough to make her sincerely grateful. “Thank you.”

“‘Course. It’s all up to you, just know it's an option.”

Chrissy hums and nods, not really wanting to continue the conversation but also lacking anything else to start talking about next.

Really, she only gets a few seconds to think about it before Steve’s glancing her way again, eyes lingering to study her and somehow sneaking inside towards the softest parts of her, all right under her nose.

“You’re doing good, y’know?” Steve says, quiet as anything else they’ve said tonight, but Chrissy finds it deafening. “This shit sucks… so much. But your still here, still sticking together, still keeping up with the kids—which, believe me, is a feat in of itself.” He huffs to himself, before glancing back to Chrissy with raw compassion. “I know all of it’s… smothering, almost. Too big and too stressful, but you’re doing great, alright? And we’re gonna make it work out.”

He’s lying, obviously, Chrissy hasn’t done jack-shit and Steve just wants to make her feel better– so Chrissy nods—on reflex, almost—because she knows to take a compliment—to take comfort—when it's being given to her. She knows so she nods and tries to just take Steve’s words with a polite smile and a polite nod but–

Her eyes water and tears fall too fast, too many goddamned tears coming and spillingout and she tries—God, she tries— to keep them back and to smile and show him it worked, shes good now, thank you—but she’s failing, failing miserably, so she falls back on breathing– breathing normally and praying he can’t see her crying through the dark–

“Chrissy, I mean it.” Steve says, with the softness of sincerity that—regardless of whether she believes him or not—breaks through the last of her defenses, letting a small, pitiful sound choke its way out of her throat.

“Chris–”

Chrissy stands—giving up on looking okay in favor of being quiet—and wipes her face, looking around for the bathroom door that Nancy said would be down here.

“Chrissy, hey–” Steve whispers, a hand finding her arm gently—not grabbing, just touching—and while it tempts her so heavily, instinct leads her away.

“It’s fine– don’t wake Robin–” Chrissy chokes on her own words and aborts, going towards the bathroom, ignoring Steve trying to whisper-call after her, ignoring how he whispers to himself before the couch squeaks, ignoring his footsteps coming up until they’re right behind her– and Chrissy stops and flings around and–

Turning catches Steve off guard—enough to stop him a foot or so away—and makes him retract an outstretched arm.

“Chrissy, it’s okay.” Steve insists, struggling for words to say next and doing nothing to keep it from taking over his face. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”

“Stop.” Chrissy says– tries to say, even though it comes out wet and weak and crackly– “You’re fine, I promise–”

It doesn’t sound final but it’s all Chrissy can get out—is all that she really needs to. Tears keep coming like she’s a broken faucet and Steve’s still standing there—already knows she’s crying and isn’t going to ignore it—so she just covers her face with her hands, cold fingers cooling unruly flames of embarrassment, and tries catching her breath.

“Wha’s…?”

Chrissy doesn’t try to recognise the voice, just jolts up at the new sound and finds Robin up and walking towards them, going slow and rubbing her face like a rough morning.

“Rob, now’s not–”

“Are you crying?” Robin says as she drops her hand and gets a barely decent look at Chrissy, voice sounding suddenly wide awake, face skipping confusion and going straight to concern as she turns to check Steve next, “Are you– no, no you're– ok, good, so–” She turns back to Chrissy within another blink. “Are you okay? Or– no, stupid question.”

“No,” Chrissy says, but then Robin’s eyes flash with guilt, “No, no, I– not stupid question, I’m okay, I promise, I–”

“That’s debatable.” Steve interrupts, as kindly as he probably can.

“I am.” Chrissy says before heaving a massive breath and pushing her hands across her face again, all to get herself in any way capable of explaining, “It’s not your fault– or yours, or anyones! I’m not mad or sad or upset or anything– I’m just crying!” Chrissy pauses for another breath, then finishes—with more control than before— “Just crying. And crying in front of people is embarrassing, so…”

Steve and Robin both stay silent, gears turning trying to figure out what to say or do next, and while Chrissy does feel a little bad, a small part of her says they were asking for it.

“I cry a lot.” Robin says, in what seems like a reflex at first, but she keeps going even after she seems to realize what she’s saying, “I cry all the time, like, constantly– or not actually really that frequently but when I do it’s like an absolute behemoth amount of crying, and I love crying– or well, maybe not– no actually I do, if I need to cry then I love to cry, just get it all out, y’know? And this whole thing—the end-of-the-world monster crisis thing—is like a really good reason to need to cry, the most understandable reason to cry—even Steve's cried about it!”

“Yes!” Steve confirms immediately, like he either somehow forgot or the detail didn't occur to him.

“And last time– okay I didn't really cry during it much last time because it felt like there was so much going on like all the time but the second we got Steve a hospital room and I could sit down next to him, I started bawling, like really ugly snotty sobbing, and I cried for, like, three hours straight and one of the nurses kept bringing me water so I wouldn't dehydrate and die because I actually could not stop crying and I didn’t even feel that sad, y’know? I had been way more upset in the middle of the whole thing but I didn’t cry once—”

“Just peed your pants a little.” Steve mutters, catching Chrissy off-guard and making Robin fling immediately over to wack his arm.

“You–” Robin says, pointing at him and scrambling for words, “And you shit your pants twenty minutes in!”

“I what?” Steve whisper-laughs, bordering on a dangerous volume again.

“Yeah, you shit yourself and you smelled so bad–” Robin starts breaking into giggles and struggling to keep her volume down, so Steve somehow decides that covering her mouth with his hand would help. It does, kinda, in that it muffles her laughs until she gets them under control and starts swatting him away.

They collect themselves together, clearly trying to keep attuned to Chrissy without directing the full force of attention on her, but as they both try to manage each other’s clumsiness Chrissy feels the pressure of conversation ease and is just left with Robin’s words and the care that both of them were trying to show. Chrissy wipes her face even though new tears still fall, and steels herself with another breath that finally comes easier than the last.

“Robin.” Chrissy says.

Robin stops, and before Chrissy can chicken out she dives forward and takes Robin into a hug.

Robin’s clearly caught off guard but recovers quickly and wraps her arms around Chrissy tight, leaning in with a cheek pressed into her hair, holding her immediately. Chrissy sobs a little for no good reason but Robin doesn’t let go, doesn’t ask again, just keeps holding on.

Instead of waiting ages for her tears to stop, Chrissy just lets go when her crying quiets down and she no longer feels the need to hide from the people holding her. Chrissy loosens her grip and Robin lets go right after, leaning back to check on her, breaking into a sweet, lopsided grin.

Another hand falls carefully onto her back, and when Chrissy turns around and finds Steve still there quietly trying to check in too, Chrissy lunges forward a second time. Steve holds her tight like Robin did– possibly even tighter as his shoulders curl around her frame, like she’s being tucked inside his chest, safe away from harm.

Chrissy kind of hates pulling away, but by the way both Steve and Robin stay close after letting go, Chrissy gets the feeling that it won’t be hard to get more of that affection from them.

“You ready to go back to the couch?” Robin asks.

Chrissy nods.

“Awesome,” Robin says, taking her hand and leading the way back eagerly, “Cause, like, I don’t know about you but I would love to be sleeping right now– and I don’t regret waking up, obviously, totally a good reason to wake up, I just also love getting a full night’s sleep–”

“Aw, poor Robin, not being asleep right now.” Steve teases, getting quieter as they get to the couch but still being loud enough to annoy Robin.

“Aw, poor Stevie, was already awake when things started happening and only had to wake up once in the middle of the night.” Robin whines back, taking a spot in the corner of the couch and pulling Chrissy down to sit with her.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re so funny, Robbie.” Steve smiles, not making a move to sit down with them. “Where’d you put your bag?”

“Why?”

“Wanna look at the tapes you have.”

“Steve, you don’t have to.” Chrissy

“‘Don’t know what you’re talking about, I just want to listen to– uh… Bowie. Obviously.”

Chrissy huffs, torn between the guilt of a favor and a rush of amusement, but couldn’t help but play along.

“And not your manager’s stellar music taste?”

“Steve!” Robin hissed, “You told her?”

“Yeah, what’s she gonna do? Keith’s gonna know.”

“We don’t know for sure!”

“Yeah we do, his walkman’s basically glued to him.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Not with you cause he likes you, but on a Tuesday close with me and I’d be lucky if he heard me dying.”

“Oh, I think he hears you just fine.” Robin laughs.

Steve sighs with a quick eye-roll before gesturing back to the room.

“Bag. Where?”

“Behind the trunk under the staircase.”

Steve looks at her incredulously but goes to find it, repeating her interesting choice of hiding place under his breath as he goes.

“Did something happen to your other tape?” Robin asks, turning and hitting her with the full force of her concern—and while Chrissy appreciates it, a lot, she needs to look away to relieve some of the pressure and calm some of the heat that hits her cheeks.

“No, no, it’s working fine, I just, uh… was worried I was going to get sick of listening to it all the time.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Robin nods and the intensity of her worry lessens considerably, replaced instead by an almost frantic kind of ramble, “Good as in, like, y’know, that it’s not broken and you’re just being extra cautious, I mean–”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Chrissy smiles, cherishing the way Robin smiles with relief as she realizes she’s being understood.

Robin’s eyes flick slightly to something behind Chrissy so she turns around, catching Steve as he gives a note to a recently awoken Nancy Wheeler and starts finding his way back to the couch around the minefield of sleeping teenagers on the floor. He stops right in front of the couch—in front of Chrissy—and kneels down to open the bag between them for her to see.

“Let Nance know about the new plan.” He mutters, probably softer than he has to, “If by some chance something does happen, she’ll know to try your old tape first.”

Chrissy looks up at his eyes for a moment before turning them down into the bag, impressively full of cassettes, some loose, some in their cases, but almost all of them well-loved. Chrissy reaches in and starts looking through the ones on top, some obviously Steve’s, some obviously Robin’s, some probably Keith’s, and a good many that have to be for both of them. She searches through them blankly for a few minutes before Steve and Robin try helping with suggestions.

“I think some of The Go-Go’s are in there.”

“Steve had ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’.”

“There’s definitely some Cyndi Lauper.”

“What was your old song again?” Robin asks.

“‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’. From Grease.”

Robin hums and stares into the bag. After a second, she starts picking handfuls of them out, picking each one intentionally but still grabbing more than enough for Chrissy to choose from until one catches her eye.

“Wait, wait, wait–”

Robin freezes, looking back to Chrissy with her arms still shoved in her bag, unmoving. Chrissy reaches over and picks up a tape that had already made it to Robin’s lap: a standard-looking cassette without its case and a couple of attempts at hearts drawn on it. It wasn’t the only cassette to have cute drawings—far from it—but it was the first one she saw with wonky hearts scribbled out then copied right next to it, like someone tried, failed, and then was told to bring their failure back instead of hiding it away.

She checks the other side. “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper.

“Steve gave that to me ages ago.” Robin hums, and Chrissy smiles, looking over at the other cassettes with little drawings on them.

“Was it the first one?”

“Second, technically, didn’t draw on Total Eclipse of the Heart until later.”

Chrissy nods, then looks up to Robin again.

“Would you mind…?”

“Oh, yeah, totally. I mean go for it. Worst case scenario: I’m still in touch with my dealer.” Robin jokes, making Steve snort as he stands and drops the bag over by the end of the couch.

Robin gets comfortable as Chrissy goes ahead and switches the tapes in her walkman, going to set her old one on a table nearby. When she turns back around, Robin is laying down on the couch, making grabby hands up towards Steve until he finishes his headcount and turns back around.

“What?” He laughs.

“Get over here, it’s my turn to be big.”

“Hm, if I have to.” Steve laughs and goes to settle with her before pausing and looking back over to Chrissy.

“You want on the couch, too?”

Chrissy goes over towards them and Steve smiles, taking that as her answer.

“We can leave you a spot if you want, or…”

Chrissy flushes but pointedly doesn’t take the offer for the separate spot on the couch, and luckily, Steve and Robin both figure out the answer without her having to say it.

Robin lays on her back half-propped up while Steve basically lays on top of her, spooning but with the little spoon on the verge of crushing the big spoon, but they seem more than content with it, Robin hugging Steve almost like a teddy bear. Steve gives Chrissy the go-ahead, so with her walkman in hand, she carefully takes the spot between him and the back of the couch. She brings the headphones up to her ears just as an arm comes around her back, the new melody fitting the new warmth she’s feeling deep down perfectly.

Chrissy lets one of her hands find Robin’s above her across the polo shirt pillow connecting them. Both the bodies laying with her relax, shifting slightly to get comfortable in their strange arrangement on the cramped couch, but the one thing that stays perfectly consistent is the slow rise and fall beneath her, the feather-light puffs tickling her hair, and the warmth of life enveloping her.

Chrissy knows it’s not perfect. The next few days will be far, far from kind to them. She knows that even when she wakes from this nightmare, she’ll just be stuck right back where she was before, working her ass off at cheer practice during the day and then begging their drug dealer for ketamine at night. The thought will probably never leave her mind.

But right now, Chrissy enjoys the new music playing in her ears, the familiar song with a man and a woman’s voices that feel uniquely alive right now, warm and safe and real.

If you’re lost,

You can look

And you will find me,

Time after time.

If you fall,

I will catch you.

I’ll be waiting,

Time after time.

Chrissy falls asleep. No dreams, no Vecna, just sleep.

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disaster-writer · 7 months ago

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Poison (Epilogue)

Pairing: Alpha!Bokuto x Beta!Reader

Summary: You loved love, but it wasn’t made for you… but maybe a certain Alpha could change your mind

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: This is it! Poison has come to an end (but I do have a fun request about these two that you’ll be seeing soon) Thank you for all the kind comments about this series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Beach day.

After four and a half months of long, grueling practices, many victories and losses, and plenty of media fuck ups, the team was finally getting a beach day to celebrate the end of this years season. Though they didn’t walk off with the highest victory of winning the championship, they still got pretty damn close which was enough reason to all come out today.

By the time Bokuto had arrived the rest of the team was already there, some lounging in the sun while others were already in the water… and a couple others already setting up a net to play beach volleyball.

”Oi,” Atsumu barked from his chair, lowering his sunglasses as Bokuto walked up to the group, “Where’s the manager? Thought ya convinced her to come out for once.”

”She’s here!” Bokuto chirped, dropping the bag he carried into the sand, “A sponsor just called so she’s on the phone right now.”

Meian tsked, laying on the beach towel beside Atsumu’s chair. “She’s still working even on a day off?”

”Yeah,” Bokuto seemed to deflate, “They bother her all the time,” he whined, starting to dig out the beach towels from the bags.

”I take it she’s still doing damage control then?” Meian added.

He nodded, unfurling a beach towel, laying it a little ways from Atsumu’s set up, “It looks like she’s gonna be working during the off season to get the sponsors that dropped us to pick us back up.”

”Maybe if ya kept yer big mouth shut during the press conference yer girlfriend wouldn’t have to keep bustin’ her ass.”

”I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to talk about her,” he whined again, pulling out a second beach towel before laying it beside his own.

”You’re allowed to talk about her, she’s still our manager—“

”Yer just not allowed to talk about yer relationship the way ya did.”

”And not for nothing but she did tell you multiple times to keep it quiet.” Meian added.

”I didn’t think it—“

”Bokuto! You’re here!” A very smiley Hinata suddenly cheered, clapping him on the back with a wet hand, the rest of him dripping with ocean water as well, with Sakusa standing behind him. “Did Miss Manager decide not to come?” He asked looking around, “I was looking forward to seeing her looking casual for the first time.”

Atsumu snorted, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up in one of those tracksuits she’s always wearin’. Ya’ve been together for like three months and she’s still the exact same uptight Beta.”

”She’ll be here soon!” Bokuto told Hinata, before turning to Atsumu, “And she’s not uptight! I already told you Beta-chan is super sweet and cute— we have a lot of fun together.”

”Yeah, yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. I mean she still calls you Bokuto-san for crying out loud!”

”Only at work—!”

”Kota-kun!” A girlish shout came from behind him.

Bokuto had turned just in time to catch you as you jumped on him, legs wrapping around his waist as you started laying kisses all over his face.

”Puppy!” Bokuto laughed, letting you cling to him like a Koala.

”Puppy?” Atsumu gagged, as all the players either watched in horror or complete shock, the one’s setting up the net even stopping to watch as well.

”Yeah!” You leaned back, until you could see an upside down Atsumu, being braced by Bokuto’s hands, “Isn’t he so cute!”

“Cute’s not exactly the word I was thinkin’” he said with an eye twitch.

”Why puppy?” Meian asked with a grimace.

”Because she always greets me like this!” Bokuto laughed.

”Really? I thought that’s how you usually greet her?” Hinata asked confused.

You sat back up in his arms, “I got the sponsor back!”

Bokuto’s eyes lit up, “I knew you could! Good job puppy!” He exclaimed, now kissing your cheeks.

”This is weird,” Sakusa deadpanned, watching the couple coo shamelessly at each other.

”I take it back, I think I liked how things were before,” Atsumu added.

“I think they’re cute!” Hinata said.

You jumped down from Bokuto’s arms, “You all should loosen up, I don’t know what you’re getting all uptight about. It’s our day off!” you said, starting to dig through the beach bag.

”HAH!” Atsumu yelled, scandalized, jumping up from his seat, “Yer callin’ us uptight!? Little miss professional thinks I’m uptight!?”

“Yup!” You chirped. You looked up at him, “Oh and Ami said if you ever spam call her again she’s blocking you.”

Atsumu flushed, “Well why didn’t she call back!?”

”You shouldn’t have yelled at her sister at that match~” you lilted teasingly.

”I said I was sorry! I even apologized to her for yelling at you—“

”I told you to leave the Omega alone,” Sakusa said, “She’s not into idiots.”

”And you’re still not off the hook for giving him my sisters number Kota,” you said, pulling out the sunblock finally.

”I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed!”

”Yeah and now my sister has hundreds of messages from this dumbass,” you said, undoing the tie of your frilly white cover up.

”Whoa— what are you doing!” Hinata suddenly yelped turning red as you slipped your cover up off and took your hair clip out.

You raised an eyebrow at the orange haired male, ignoring the gapes on your coworkers faces, “What?” You asked confused, seeing as the rest of the team meandered over. “You don’t like my bathing suit? I thought it was cute— Kota helped me pick it out.”

”It is cute!” Bokuto exclaimed, taking the sunblock you handed him to help spray you down.

Sakusa huffed, apparently yours and Bokuto’s idea of cute was a sexy white string bikini.

”There’s been a goddess among us this entire time,” Inunaki murmured under his breath.

”Um,” Barnes suddenly cleared his throat, wearing a blush, “The nets set up if anyone wants to play.”

* * * *

You sighed, stretching out in the sun as the guys all played their beach volleyball.

You had watched Bokuto for most of the day with a silly little grin on your face but now you were debating taking a nap in the sun while they were invested in their game.

That was until your phone started ringing.

Ami was FaceTiming you.

You sighed, picking up the phone. Both your sisters appearing on your screen.

”(Y/N)!”

”Hi, Onee-chan.”

The two said at the same time.

“How’s your beach day?” Ami asked.

”Good! The guys are all playing volleyball,” you said, flipping the camera to show them.

”Don’t they play volleyball everyday already?” Your little sister, Hana, deadpanned.

”Leave them alone, they like it!” You flipped the camera again.

”Mom and Dad are asking when you and Bokuto are leaving,” Ami said.

”Oh right. Our plan is to pack Saturday night and meet at the station Sunday at 7am for a 7:35 train. So we’ll probably arrive around 9. Who’s picking us up?”

”The twins, said they want to grill Bokuto during the car ride home,” your little sister snorted.

You rolled your eyes, “Dumb Alphas. They’ll probably be best friends with him by the time we get home.”

“I’m so excited for you to see what we did with the room,” Ami squealed, “We turned your section into a gaming area!”

Your jaw dropped, sitting up as you squeezed your phone “You bitches got rid of my bed!?”

”Well you weren’t using it,” your little sister said.

”Yeah but Kota-kun and I are visiting! Where are we gonna sleep!?”

”As if the two of you would’ve been able to fit in that bed anyway.”

”You’re staying in the guest room,” Ami said.

You fell back onto the beach towel, “A guest in my own home,” you cried dramatically.

”Sooo…” Ami started.

”Oh no,” you muttered, “I don’t like that tone.”

”Off season’s coming up.”

Your stomach dropped, suddenly knowing where this is going, “Yeah, and?” You played stupid.

”Bokuto’s rut is gonna start,” Hana said plainly.

”You told her!” You hissed.

”Well yeah! He’s an Alpha and you’re a Beta, of course it came up! We were gossiping and were curious to know what you were gonna do.”

You rolled your eyes, “So that’s why you called.”

”Nuh uh— we just really wanted to talk to our sister!”

”I’m not buying it.”

”Then spill,” your little sister said, “What’s the rut plan.”

You chewed on your lip, glancing at all the guys still invested in their game, before quickly turning your back to them and hunching over your phone and lowering your voice, “We haven’t made one yet, we’re—“

”What do you mean you haven’t!” Ami exclaimed.

”If you let me finish I’ll tell you. We’re seeing a heat and rut specialist. The team goes off their suppressants at the end of the month, our appointment is tomorrow.”

”Oooo interesting,” Ami chirped, “So you’re planning on spending his rut with him then?”

”I don’t really know yet, that’s why we wanted to talk to a specialist,” you said, dragging your hand in the sand, “I did some research and there’s something called a pseudo-heat, where they pump you full of Omega hormones, it’s obviously not the same but it said it could help so I might ask about that, but we’re keeping our options open so he might be on his own anyway.”

”Have you two had sex yet?”

”Hana!”

”Well have you?”

You glanced back at the guys before lowering your voice again, “No, I mean we’ve done stuff but not like sex sex.”

”Then you should probably get that out of the way then.”

A blush heated up your face along with the probable sunburn, “It’s not that easy.”

”Why?” Hana asked, “The penis goes in—“

”I know how sex works,” you hissed, “It’s just that he’s… well, he’s—“

”Alpha dick,” Ami said knowingly with a nod. “Well good luck! Hope he doesn’t tear ya into two! Hi Kiyoomi!”

You jumped nearly five feet in the air, turning around to find Sakusa standing over you with an unamused expression, “Hi Ami. You left your hair brush at my apartment again.”

”Oh damn, I knew I left something,” she groaned.

”I can bring it with me,” you said.

Sakusa nodded, “I’ll drop it off sometime this week then.”

”Oh shit, that’s the time!?” She suddenly exclaimed, “Sorry sis, sorry Omi, we gotta go, we’re seeing a movie.”

”Okay, bye assholes,” you waved, hanging up.

You looked up at Sakusa, “You two seem to be getting comfortable.”

”We are, but I’ll admit she’s a handful,” he answered making you laugh.

”Sounds about right. When are you gonna break the news to Atsumu?”

He looked over his shoulder at a screaming Atsumu who just had his setter dump saved.

”Next time she’s here, we’re gonna tell him together.”

”Probably should have told him after you asked her out.”

”Probably.” Sakusa looked back down at you, “Never took you one for pda by the way.”

”I’m not at work,” you shrugged, “And I have a cute boyfriend, let me live.”

”I’m starting to think neither you or Bokuto know the definition of ‘cute’—“

“Speaking of cute boyfriend,” you giggled, watching as Bokuto took off in a dash towards you. You had already braced for impact as he tackled you back down onto the beach towel.

Sakusa rolled his eyes, taking that as his cue to leave.

”Hi puppy,” Bokuto grinned down at you, planting his lips against your own.

”Blegh,” you spluttered, “You taste like sunblock.”

”Well you do too,” he said, dipping his head back down for another kiss.

”Get a room!” You heard Atsumu yell at you two.

”Ami and Hana called,” you told him, combing your fingers through his hair.

”About us visiting?” He asked, laying his head on your chest.

You quickly learned early on into this relationship that Bokuto was like one of those big dogs that thought they were small, so you were often being crushed under his weight.

”Yeah, my brothers are gonna pick us up from the train station.”

”I can’t wait to meet them. And the rest of your family too.”

”Don’t get too excited. They’re pretty traditional and my parents never really took the time to learn how different Betas are so there’s probably gonna be some stuff come up that we’ll need to explain.”

He was lifting his head again, looking at you with the cutest confused face, “Like what?”

”Like… why you haven’t marked me yet.”

”But that’s not my fault!”

You raised a brow, “Oh so it’s mine?”

His eyes widened as he quickly became panicked, “That’s not what I meant—!”

“Relax, Kota, I��m just teasing.”

He buried his face in your neck, “You’re so mean to me.”

You giggled at the feeling of him prodding your scent gland. “She thinks all those stories of Betas bleeding out after being marked by Alphas are all myths because my great grandfather was able to mark my great grandmother.”

”Then I hope she can understand why that’s a myth I’m not willing to take my chances on.”

”Yeah we’ll see. She can be a bit kooky. But I was thinking of asking the specialist tomorrow if there’s any alternatives or if there’s a way to do it safely since I know you’ve really been wanting to mark me.”

”You’d do that for me?”

”Of course. I’d do anything for you Kota-kun—“

He cut you off with a kiss. You giggled into the kiss, wrapping your arms around his neck.

You broke the kiss only after hearing Atsumu yelling for Bokuto to come back, making him whine.

”I get to steal you away all night and all day tomorrow so you should go play,” you said, giving his lips another peck.

”You should join us,” he grinned. “No one but me Atsumu and Hinata even know you can play.”

”I dunno,” you mumbled, “I’ve been playing on a community team of Omegas. You’re all Alphas and pro athletes.”

”Please,” he whined, “You’re really good.”

You hummed, “Will you buy me ice cream if I do?”

Bokuto lit up, “Yeah! I’ll buy you all the ice cream you want.”

You pretended to think about it for a while longer, “Hmm, I guess I can’t say no to ice cream.”

Bokuto cheered, standing up and pulling you with him before tossing you over his shoulder and bringing you to the others.

”She’s gonna play!” Bokuto exclaimed, placing you on your feet.

The others lit up, mostly from confusion.

”You wanna play?” Meian asked surprised.

”Yeah why not?” You shrugged, “‘S for fun right?”

”Yeah but these knuckleheaded Alphas never take it easy when it comes to volleyball.”

”That’s alright. It’s my day off so it’s fine if I make a fool of myself.”

Tomas laughed, “That’s one way of looking at it I guess.”

”Do you have a position you wanna play?” Meian asked.

“I’ll play libero,” you nodded, walking to the other side of the net, opposite from Inunaki.

One side was now you, Bokuto, Atsumu, Tomas, and Joffe while the other side was Meian, Hinata, Inunaki, and Barnes with Sakusa coming back in to join now making five on each side.

The game started with Sakusa’s serve, with one of the longest rallies you had ever been apart of. Already showing how different their games were to your little community games.

You managed to save the ball a couple times, each time making the other’s cheer until one specific ball was hit over by Hinata, aiming to your right where no one else stood.

It was too far to lunge for it so you swept your leg, managing to get your ankle under it before it touched the sand, having it bounce off and sending it directly to Atsumu with practiced precision.

He set it directly to Bokuto who hit the ball, scoring the point before everyone turned to you in surprise.

“What?” You asked, looking at all their faces.

”You play,” Meian said, matter of factly, a grin growing on his face.

You shrugged, “Not seriously, but I used to be one of the top ten libero’s in Japan back in high school.”

Atsumu’s jaw dropped, “So ya can be cool! Why aren’t ya like this at work!?”

You shrugged, “It’s easier to keep my professional and personal life separate.”

Most of them glanced at Bokuto at that statement.

”Yeah, you did a bang up job of that,” Meian laughed, before turning back to the game, “Okay, our serve!”

You glanced around at everyone with a fond smile before grinning, getting back into position.

Maybe you’d start making it a priority to hang out with your team more.

————————————————————————

Completed

My taglist is still open if you’d like to be tagged in future works with these characters

Taglist (open): @staygoldsquatchling02 @tillyt04 @niiiya @silverhairsimp @leonphi @lunamochii

#haikyuu #omegaverse #haikyuu omegaverse #alpha Bokuto koutarou #alpha Bokuto #Bokuto #Bokuto koutarou #alpha bokuto koutarou x reader #alpha bokuto x reader #bokuto koutaro x reader #bokuto x reader

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bisclavret · 4 months ago

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like many who have suffered at the hands of bbc merlin before me, i recently indulged in a thought experiment in which i outlined my own version of seasons 3-5 that stay thematically and tonally in line with the show (except they're less fucking stupid). but then i quickly realized that focusing on details is pointless: all you need is to solve the one Big Problem the show has, and the rest will follow. the problem in question? ✨morgana✨

i like the first two seasons. s1 achieves what it sets out to do and has fun while doing it, and s2, while flawed, sets up a ton of potential that the following seasons unfortunately squander, beginning with the insidious season 3. you can only distract me with cute knights and goblins and fart jokes for so long before i start seeing through you, evil, evil season of television.

my hypothesis is that if the writers had crafted s3 morgana into anything more sympathetic than a violent half-alive poltergeist that can never be reasoned with because she's suddenly terminally off her rocker, everything would've fallen into place. a sympathetic morgana would've made real, valid arguments against uther (and arthur) that wouldn't just be the ramblings of a woman possessed. her betrayal of arthur would have stemmed from her feeling increasingly morally superior to him because of his complacency in the face of their father's tyranny. under morgause's guidance she would stop believing that arthur is capable of change, and the whole point would be that she might actually be right. arthur would have to actively try and prove her wrong, instead of getting praised for doing the bare minimum because the bar is on the floor.

furthermore, morgana's prophetic dream about arthur and gwen becoming king and queen and her decision to prevent this however she can is a direct parallel to merlin learning about that same prophecy and making it happen by any means necessary. merlin's desires about his and arthur's futures are subtextually fueled by gay love and devotion, so why couldn't morgana's be? why couldn't she properly express her bitterness that arthur gets to be with gwen in a way she can't "took gwen away" from her, instead of suddenly declaring that gwen is nothing more than a servant, after two seasons of demonstrating again and again that she loves, values, and respects gwen more than anyone else in that godforsaken castle?

following this, an angry and emotionally volatile but still sensible morgana asking gwen to stay by her side during the coup of the castle in the s3 finale and gwen going behind her back to help arthur and the knights would've hurt like a bitch. double-sided betrayal! gwen having a real plot! the proper beginnings of a toxic yuri that would shape a generation!

then there's the utter hubris of having morgana shoot arrows at the same civilians she worried herself sick over for 2 seasons — even morgan, her medieval counterpart that was rooted in every sexist trope in existence, doesn't just go around killing senselessly but instead has (often petty!) personal vendettas against gwen, arthur, and the knights. morgana had every right to be sick of the pretensions around chivalry in camelot (she was always quick to mock it, even in s1), and to lash out at the knights and soldiers after years of feeling powerless in a castle full of armed men that blindly followed her oppressor. the show conveniently forgets that morgana was victimized as a woman as well as a sorcerer those first 2 seasons.

but like i said, this is not just about morgana. allowing her to remain a real and multifaceted character even as she betrays everyone in pursuit of her ambitions would've given the rest of the core four more interesting conflict to work with: merlin because he would have to experience real consequences to his actions, arthur because he would watch his sister go against his father (and his knights, and his birthright) and experience some actual internal dilemmas about it, and gwen because she would be forced to choose between morgana and arthur without the pretense that it's an obvious or easy choice for her to make.

even morgause and gaius would come off more interesting as mentors: neither one inherently evil or inherently good, both jaded by events that happened before our protagonists were even born, both heavily influencing morgana and merlin into fulfilling roles that they think are appropriate, but that morgana and merlin may not have chosen for themselves had they not been under their care.

you get the gist. if the show followed its own setup, morgana's mistakes wouldn't lie in cheap and senseless acts of violence but in alienating the people she loves because she is too hurt and jaded to trust them. meanwhile, everybody else would feel guilt over "failing" her and yet they would be too caught up in their own (sometimes flawed!) beliefs of right and wrong to truly see her point of view.

arthur would convince himself it was sorcery that corrupted her. merlin would know that isn't true but he wouldn't be able to argue without confessing everything, which is the defining conflict between him and morgana and it's cheapened when she's just an evil witch caricature and merlin is framed as inherently virtuous in contrast. gwen, too, would become a more active participant in her own life by choosing arthur over morgana and choosing to rule camelot with him instead of just waiting politely to see where things go.

and, of course, uther's downfall and death would be quick, final, and completely earned — when and why did the show even decide he of all people was the sympathetic villain, anyway?

lastly, and perhaps controversially, i think morgana should've learned merlin's true identity by season 4. her being the first of the main characters to find out makes perfect sense considering their shared history and their interconnected and mirrored arcs. even the show seems to agree, considering she does find out a little before arthur. but the narrative itself tried pointing flashing neon arrows towards this way earlier — there is a whole entire episode in s4 where merlin being emrys is repeatedly spelled out for morgana and she still isn't allowed to see it. that episode makes her look like the stupidest person to ever live, which is pretty funny im not gonna lie, but also another frustrating thing in the endless string of frustrating things that make up this show.

morgana learning that merlin has magic would've transformed the source of merlin's anxiety from a crippling fear of being outed someday to the crippling fear of knowing she could out him at any moment. this would make him want to beat her to the punch (perhaps he'd consider killing her for a minute and decide against it because she isn't a cartoonishly insane evil person in my version of events) and maybe he would even feel some tentative excitement at the idea of coming clean, now that it seems inevitable. after all, he always intended to tell arthur eventually! and i think gaius would have to admit outright that he does not want merlin to tell arthur he has magic because he, gaius, simply cannot risk such a gamble. it would be so interesting to see gaius and merlin clash and disagree once it becomes obvious that it's not merlin that isn't ready for the reveal, it's gaius. delicious!

with morgana's knowledge looming, things would inevitably spiral into a magic reveal by the end of season 4. i picture this season as an absolute mess of miscommunication between everyone at camelot, which is, y'know, canon. growing increasingly cunning and vengeful, morgana would use this tension to her advantage, destabilizing the court from the outside while she creates alliances with other sorcerers outside of camelot (instead of living alone in a hovel for no reason — morgana le fay i'm sorry i'm so sorry they gave you agravaine instead of your all-female entourage oh my god).

and here's where the events would change beyond recognition (aka here's where the meta becomes the fanfic i refuse to write). picture it with me: a militia of sorcerers infiltrates camelot and arthur and gwen have to set aside their differences (assuming gwen kissing lancelot and arthur overreacting happens, which it should) for the good of the kingdom as well as for love. picture high priestess morgana in her element, side by side with a bunch of misfit sorcerers that aren't so easily vilified, chopping down camelot's soldiers and knights and assuredly making their way to the newly-minted king.

then, just as it starts to seem that all hope is lost, in swoops merlin (the actual merlin, not his old fart disguise) on dragonback (kilgharrah hates morgana so much i know his sexist ass would stoop to anything to stop her)!!! imagine merlin showing off the extent of his powers in front of everyone and preventing the sorcerers from getting any further, declaring loud and clear that camelot is protected by him, by emrys. imagine that display of power alone being enough to send everyone home.

imagine the loyalties clearly drawn: merlin on arthur's side, morgana on the sorcerers'. imagine arthur, feeling confused and betrayed by everyone at this point, banishing merlin despite everything he's done for him in the angstiest, most emotionally dysregulated scene the show had ever put to screen. imagine merlin starting season 5 free at last but very lonesome, an embittered dragonlord like his father. imagine the absolute mess camelot would become without him, even with gwen — now queen guinevere — there to pick up the slack. imagine arthur actually earning merlin back, finally growing into his role as king as he does so. imagine the reunion.

all this and more could've been not just possible but inevitable if morgana was allowed to remain a complex character that is neither inherently good nor inherently evil: it was undeniably the biased and one-note treatment of morgana's downfall by the writers that set the precedent for literally everything else that happened after merlin chose to poison her. the show wouldn't have even had to jeopardize its tone or the monster-of-the-week vibe, all it would've had to do is admit that even the "good guys" are capable of mistakes and what makes them good is the ability to feel remorse and change for the better. (as opposed to uther, who was miles beyond redemption since way before the pilot and deserved to lose everything and die alone. OBVIOUSLY???)

in a world where morgana remains multifaceted and sympathetic, mordred would get a better arc as well, so if we really wanted to, we could still end on the same tragic note that the show ended on. with so much harm inflicted onto so many innocent people by the pendragons for so long (including mordred and the many druids and sorcerers that raised him), it could realistically end up being a little too late for anything more than one shining glimpse of king arthur and the sorcerer merlin's short-lived golden age before fate catches up to them. glimpsing that reality just to immediately lose it would've been far more satisfying and far more tragic than whatever the writers thought they were doing with all that pointless carrot-dangling.

and finally, an ending in line with morgana's new and improved arc. in this version, rather than bleeding out on the forest floor alone, she would channel the morgan le fay we know from the legends: sobered up by the reality of her brother dying, she would use her high priestess status (and perhaps also her pendragon status) to be granted passage over to avalon alongside arthur on the boat — a one-way ride — just to make sure he gets there safely. this is her penance for the harm she has caused, the same way arthur's penance is to die and leave the true ruler of camelot (gwen) behind to achieve everything he was too slow and indecisive to build while he still had time.

merlin's penance, then, would be to stay behind and watch them cross over without him, waiting and waiting and waiting until they come back or until he can finally join them. which is a bit fucking harsh if i'm honest, so i'd at least make it slightly more faithful to the legends by having him return as an old man and letting him take a long nap under a tree by the shore, his body slowly enveloped by vines like the cobwebbed fisher king in 3x08, never fully sure if he's dreaming or if there really are strange shapes fading in and out of the fog over the lake. still tragic, but nevertheless a little more open-ended and whimsical than [TRUCK NOISES] THE END!

#[johnny the dragon voice] ✨ MORGANA ✨#tldr: if you treat your villain with nuance then more nuance will follow and your story will be better for it! groundbreaking i know!!!#what im also getting at is that morgana broke free FIRST so she DESERVED to become the morgan le fay of legend #way before any of the others grew into their own roles.#morgana #bbcm #bbc merlin #analysis #merlin meta #morgana pendragon #theres no focus on the knights here but if you know me you know how angry i am about s4 and s5 gwaine at all times #so in a story with a more nuanced portrayal of villainy and knighthood i think he would openly question his choice to become one #and maybe he'd leave for a while #go home and sort out his daddy issues. have some fruity subplots along the way. visit merlin during his dragonlord era. that sort of thing #and interact with lancelot at least once!!! for gods sake #but i dont see lancelot surviving sorry. that dude will literally die for anything #also scientists and tv execs had not yet discovered bisexuality in 2011 and he already had everyone acting unwise #in ways that barely got past the censors :/ unsustainable #elyan however shouldnt have died. i know gwen ruling alone with only the lamest knights in her service is “the point”#but its a stupid point. elyan is her best knight and they rule camelot together. working class heroes etc.#poetic justice for their father who was murdered by uther + a fun narrative contrast to morgana and arthur #nightmare siblings of all time. banished from the mortal realm for their crimes. could never rule together. stinky #ANYWAY. I HAVE THREE (3) EXAMS DUE THIS WEEK. HERE'S TWO THOUSAND (2000) WORDS OF BBC MERLIN ANALYSIS.

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paceprompting · 1 month ago

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spontaneous

@steddieholidaydrabbles

"Are you sure this is a good idea?” Steve asked, hands clenched on the armrests of the chair in his living room.

It was the dead of winter in Indiana, so Steve had been wearing a green sweater and sweats; anticipating a relaxing Saturday in his own home with movies and popcorn. And Eddie.

Eddie had come straight from work, bundled up a tad more in a heavy coat and scarf to compensate for the low-coverage of his sleeveless t-shirt.

In fact, that shirt was probably to blame for the whole situation.

Because when Steve had gotten bold and explored the plethora of tattoos along Eddie’s arms—a mix of D&D, icons from metal covers (some of which Steve knew)—asking what it was like to get one, how Eddie had chosen (or didn’t).

Eddie had given one answer and one answer only.

Why don’t I give you one?

And now, Eddie was knelt between Steve’s legs, with Steve in an armchair sans his sweats. They’d put a pillow on Steve’s opposite thigh for Eddie’s elbow, one gloved hand bracing on the upper part of Steve’s thigh, where he hadn’t just shaved away the dark, downy hair.

Apparently, to Eddie this was an extremely good idea.

“Yeah,” Eddie smiled at him. “You gotta scoot closer, though.” And he leaned back to let Steve resituate with his butt sat closer to the the edge of the cushion.

Eddie slid his hands back into place, his touch like brands on Steve’s bare skin—one at the top of Steve’s thigh, pushing up his boxers, and the other resting lower, tattoo machine ready in his hand to ink a design Steve was leaving completely up to Eddie onto his skin.

Even though Eddie had just spent twelve hours at the shop doing the same thing all day for people who would actually pay him for it.

All because Steve wanted his first tattoo.

And no one else would know that Steve only wanted Eddie to go it. Eddie was fucking good at what he did. And Steve wanted very good.

Steve would also be lying if he didn’t also enjoy the idea of wearing Eddie Munson’s permanent ink.

He thought he did well with the first pass of the needle over his skin. Eddie must have been familiar with the shift of muscle underneath his hand, and hopefully Steve had kept his breathing even and his leg still.

He wanted to be good.

Steve watched Eddie as he worked. As his dark curls fell into his eyes, but Eddie hardly seemed to notice, entirely focused on his work with his tongue sticking just slightly out as the machine buzzed away and Steve’s blood thrummed in his veins.

About ten minutes in, Eddie glanced up at him.

Steve wasn’t ready, and so he met Eddie’s dark eyes head on.

His cheeks flushed a hot pink straight across, and Steve could only guess that his pupils were so blown out the light brown of his irises were practically gone.

Eddie wet his bottom lip, and Steve tracked the movement.

“Doin’ okay?” Eddie asked in a soft voice.

Steve answered, but not quite the question Eddie asked.

“Your hair’s in your eyes.”

Eddie had stopped tattooing, and he let out this half-laugh as he said, “Happens.”

Steve thought he remembered Eddie mentioning once that that only time he put his hair up was when he was tattooing, and that Steve had so desperately wanted to see it—but didn’t dark to ask.

He had no problem looking at Eddie, any way that he was.

And Eddie hadn’t gone back to the tattoo yet, which had to be the reason Steve thought it was a good idea to shift forward and card his long fingers through the curls hanging in Eddie’s face—stray strands along with his bangs—and hold them out of the way.

Steve didn’t think it was really how Eddie would normally have tattooed anyone, but maybe Steve was actually helping a little bit and maybe, just maybe, Steve had tucked away a few dreams of doing this exact thing for an entirely different reason.

And for Eddie to be doing it to him.

Not that he’d ever said anything about it.

Even though they’d had a standing movie night just for them for almost two years now. And that Eddie was still staring up at him from down on his knees, pink lips partly open. Head cocked slightly to the side—like something had clicked into place.

He looked the same when he figured out one of the Will’s plots in their game when Steve hosted. Steve usually hosted nowadays, usually also focused on Eddie.

“This okay?” he asked.

And no, not really, he knew.

But also, absolutely.

All Steve could hope for, for sure, was that he was grateful for the pillow over his crotch that was keeping him from being completely given away and embarrassed out of his mind while he was finally getting Eddie (in at least half) the way he’d been craving for a long time.

Maybe since a certain boathouse.

Certainly since Eddie had made Steve put himself first while the bat bites on his sides and his throat healed. So bratty and pushy, but had probably save Steve from horrible infection.

Eddie blinked, seeming to come back to himself a little bit. Enough to give a bit of the confident smirk Steve had to hide how weak he was for and say, “That’s usually my line.”

And apparently, a lot of old habits died hard, because of bit of the old King Steve kicked in while Steve’s heart and mind were spiraling, and the words tumbled out of his mouth in a tone he never thought he’d try to use on Edie.

“Should we switch places, then?”

Eddie smiled wider, rolling his wrist before setting the needle back to Steve’s skin.

And if Steve tipped his head back to run his hand through his hair on a long exhale, Eddie didn’t say a word.

#steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fic #steddie microfic #steddie fanfic #steddie drabble #steddie fanfiction #pining #tattoo artist eddie #the intimacy of giving someone a tattoo (am I right?)

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underthecrosshold · 7 months ago

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Chisaki was wasted

With the MHA manga ending and getting an end to Chisaki’s story I have just a couple of things to say. Most importantly wtf was that. Fortunately in every other piece of media I chose to consume my favorite character is usually one of the main ones or at the very least they are a fan favorite, originally when I started to watch MHA I fell in love with Bakugou but then everything changed when I saw season four and laid my eyes on Mr. Evil Bird Man. I was not expecting Horikoshi to dive into characters who really despised quirks and their existence. It was a fresh perspective on the series and as we got to learn more about Chisaki I started to understand him more and more. I know fans of the show sometimes make jokes about being reincarnated into the show and being born with a hammer for a head. At first it would be fun to go into your favorite series, but the implications of that universes rules can seriously mess you up. For example Dabi’s flames burn him. Quirks are not always a blessing they can be a curse, a sickness.

I believe Chisaki was the first character to bring this up maybe besides characters like Skinner showing that he was bullied for his. Quirks are terrifying when you think about their potential effects, Eri accidentally killed her parents when she got hers and Shigaraki killed his when he manifested an altered version of overhaul. This brings up my next point. Why did nobody dwell on the fact that decay is the first half of overhaul?? Dose this not imply that Chisaki was experimented on as a kid as well? Is that why he is fine doing it to Eri since he clearly shows no remorse to her for his actions, only Pops? Is there some sort of trauma with him and that that he never addressed so he believes that what hypothetically happened to him was okay? Is that why he doesn’t care that he did the same pain onto Eri? This is where my issue lies. Chisaki was used as nothing more than a plot point to push the story further. We barley know anything about him. Why is he the way he is? There are so many unanswered questions.

Chisaki was used to introduce Nighteye, the big three and Eri’s quirk so there was a way to defeat All For One. He doesn’t get expanded on past the bare minimum which I think is insane for a show that has as many flashbacks that it has. The time line we have is that he was in one of All For Ones orphanages, he was somehow on the streets, Pops picked him up, he got into fights growing up defending his fathers honor and he was never really stopped from continuing to do so, then he’s a grown adult and we see his crazy plan being told to his father and he freaks out to then Kai needing to please and repay him so bad he did with anyway. Did Pops not give him enough love and reassurance growing up? Why did he feel the need to go out of his way to help his family. We know the Yakuza was weaker, were they being mistreated? If so why were they allowed to exist if they were just going to be mistreated?

Next thing I want to talk about is Pops and Kai’s reunion, I’m so upset that Pops was somehow woken up via technology. They should have just left him in the coma if Chisaki wasn’t going to get his quirk back. Now I like how Chisaki didn’t get his quirk back but it would have been so easy for him to with the way other characters quirks evolved, like Toga being able to use other people’s quirks of the blood she took, why couldn’t Overhaul turn into creating matter or having skin touch not just hands touch? How hard was it for Pops to be one of the civilians Shigaraki killed and Kai to go into such a panic that his quirk evolves and he helps the heros or goes after Shigaraki himself??? Which brings me to my next hot take. The only reason people hate Overhaul is because we got to meet his victim personally. Shigaraki, Dabi, Toga, all killed and hurt others but their crimes get overlooked because we never knew the names, faces, or anything really about the people who’s lives were taken. I’m not excusing Overhauls behavior whatsoever because the whole Eri thing was insane. I don’t understand why he couldn’t have just taken her hair, or sweat or something. Why blood??? If he needed her DNA it’s literally all over her, you really needed her blood? Okay crazy. ANOTHER THING THATS CRAZY IS POPS COMMENT. What do you mean Hari should have done better? This guy seems to love putting his problems onto other people, Kai is Hari’s problem, Eri was Kai’s problem. Dude you are his Dad maybe if YOU parented him he wouldn’t have turned out like this. Hari was his somewhat equal you had power not him.

Another thing people get mad about is the killing of Magne, she attacked first, just saying.

Lastly him losing his arms was beautiful irony. Yakuza getting fingers cut off for messing up in missions, him cutting off Compresses arm, him wanting to destroy Quirks. Shigaraki was a twisted genius when cutting off Overhauls arms. I’m not mad about him getting the consequences of his actions. I’m just upset he was never expanded on and the fandom collectively hating his surface level character when he had and has so much potential.

I might type more later I just wanted to get this off of my chest.

#overhaul #chisaki kai #kai chisaki #mha #shie hassaikai

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seeingivy · 2 years ago

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the time of your life

actor!eren x f!reader

**part of my method acting fic, masterlist here

content: character death (LOL), very immature fifteen year old humor (that was cross confirmed with real fifteen year olds), idk reader and eren being mad corny

an: tried my best to make this chapter fun but I will just POST WHAT I HAVE BUT THE NEXT ONE IS ONE OF MY FAVS IM SO EXCITED

previous part linked here

Things settle down after the panel, and Eren convinces you to put all your energy into finishing the season. Because you’re going to prove them wrong and now you just have to do it. And as much effort as you put in, the rest of them all make it fun too.

And Eren’s right.

They really are great - funny, charismatic, and idiotic in their own ways.

The inside jokes start one week after filming when you’ve finally learned everyone’s names. And, of course, it starts with Reiner. You and Historia are so tired after filming that you quickly run back to the townhouse just to get snacks from the main kitchen. With the mention of food, Sasha’s following, and then Connie, suddenly, everyone’s marching back together.

Except when you get there, Reiner is in the kitchen. Not only is he shirtless, but he’s also doing some next-level opera singing. For some reason, he’s trying to sing both parts of the Phantom of the Opera and… actually succeeding?

Connie leans over, whispering.

“Look at those mommy milkers.”

You all burst out laughing, which stops Reiner in his tracks. And he momentarily stops and scratches his head before he keeps singing, this time serenading all of you. He’s taking Ymir by the hand and swinging her around and holding hands with Jean as they rock back and forth that even Mikasa’s snorting at the sight of him. You're all sold after that.

Speaking of Mikasa, as solemn and quiet as she can be, she’s gotten you into quite a bit of trouble. Trouble meaning severe back pain. When she first moved into your room, she mentioned that she was a bit of an early riser. She likes to work out to get her blood moving before shooting, claiming that “it gets her in the zone.”

Somehow, she convinces you and Sasha to join her one morning, and by the end of it, Jean and Marco are dragging you both back to the house by your legs, having to shove the two of you in an ice bath.

You just didn’t realize that an early riser meant four in the morning, and working out means an all-intensive full-body press. Levi’s pissed at you and Sasha for being stupid enough to think you could keep up and you’re both mad at Levi for having such little faith in you.

In true dad fashion, Levi’s always lecturing you guys. More like pretending to be mad, berating you around the set. But you know that he cares because the second that you guys ask him for something, no matter how stupid it is, he’ll be the first to give in.

Exhibit A? Marco and Jean recently find out that Levi became a triple threat from doing his own stunts on Bond - including a quadruple flip. They’re both so intrigued by it that every time they see Levi, they force him to do it.

“Levi.”

“No, Marco. I’m not going to do a flip.”

“Do a flip! Levi, please please please please please do a flip. It’s just so fucking cool.”

“Watch your language, Jean. You need to wash your mouth out with soap.”

“I won’t say fuck for a week if you flip, Levi. Please!” Jean says, shaking Levi’s hands as he talks.

Levi begrudgingly rolls his eyes and then backflips in the living room, earning half hearted cheers. It was cool the first eleven times, but Jean literally asks him to do it daily. It gets old fast.

“That was so fucking cool, Levi! Thanks.” Jean says, running off. He bumps into Sasha, who's clearly going to throw up as she runs past.

Levi’s sick and tired of Jean. And Hange too. And himself for thinking that filming with a bunch of teenagers was going to be a good idea.

After finding out that Sasha will quite literally eat anything you put in front of her, Hange’s started a dangerously horrible game of seeing what Sasha will eat without paying attention to it.

Ketchup on watermelon, ice cream with salt in it, cake with mayo. It’s become so disgusting that you can’t tell who people are more grossed out with - Hange for making the concoction or Sasha for eating it. (It’s Sasha)

Armin’s taken maybe twenty before and after pictures of Sasha during these “experiments” that Hange runs and then sticks them onto the kitchen wall - perfectly labeled with the food Sasha ate underneath them.

And he loves taking pictures so much that there’s now a big wall at the front of the set of just individual and group pictures, Armin’s little pictures and commentary tacked to the wall.

One of Jean and Sasha playing video games, labeled “the great war”

Another one of Ymir and Bertholdt tackling each other, labeled “ice cream gate”

And one of Eren pinching your cheek, labeled “the l/n-jaegers”

Right. In another life, you’re all convinced that Connie was destined to work for the paparazzi. Because every time you and Eren are together, he somehow manages to capture a picture at the worst time - making something innocent look like totally not.

Like when you and Eren share a blanket on set because there’s only one left. Or when he helps you put the harnesses on and his hands are around your waist for two seconds . When you guys share the breakfast burritos on set because they’re too big to eat alone. With context, they’re not that bad.

But Connie always catches it at the worst time and then posts it to his fucking TikTok account. His stupid series has garnered millions of views, and you’ve both tried to convince him to stop, to which he refuses

And when you tried to get Erwin involved, he only supported Connie more - stating it was good press for the show. He’s named the series “the l/n-jaegers” hence the label on the polaroid.

There’s currently 32 different parts.

But you know you can’t stop him even if you tried because Connie proves to be the most menacing idiot on set. Him and Annie have developed a horrible habit of pranking everyone on around - Levi, Hange, and Erwin specifically. It’s not that Annie loves pranks, she’s just the only one who can keep a straight face.

“Hey Hange.”

“What’s up, Annie?”

“There’s this guy who works in hair and makeup. He has a few ideas for the Female Titan costume design. He wants to talk to you.”

“Oh. What’s his name?”

“Ben Dover.” responds Connie, the look on his and Annie’s faces blank.

“Ben Dover?” Hange repeats the rest of you, trying you shoving your faces into the script to stop laughing as they respond.

“Yeah. They said they’ve talked to Erwin before. He’s been working with Hugh Jass, on the makeup team.” says Annie.

Erwin walks over, the look on his face confused. And it just gets worse.

“Who is Hugh Jass? I’ve never seen him before.”

“Oh, he’s hard to miss. Really big guy,” responds Connie, his face breaking a little.

Levi walks over, and when Annie talks again, it’s the final nail in the coffin. You and Eren are literally smacking your hands over each other's mouths, the tears spilling out of your eyes to not give them away.

“Okay, we’ll go over there now. Thanks for telling us Annie, Connie.”

“Cool! They’re waiting with Ben Overbich.”

“What?”

“Ben Overbich. It’s Swedish, sir.” Annie responds.

Levi shrugs as he, Hange, and Erwin walk off to go to talk to the costume designers. And when they all walk away, you’re all panting on the floor, gasping for breath. Connie keeps mimicking Erwin, saying Hugh Jass, and Berholdt keeps quoting it’s Swedish sir, which doesn’t make it any better.

When they return, Levi and Erwin are all yanking you by the ears onto the set since the costume team told them what the jokes actually meant. And there’s something so presidential about Erwin naturally that when he starts lecturing you, it starts feeling like he’s giving a sermon.

“You guys are premier faces in the industry. Imagine how people would feel if they found out you were making crude jokes like you were fifteen years old.”

“Sir.”

“Yes, Ymir.”

“We are fifteen years old.”

You’re all snickering as Erwin continues, Hange rolling their eyes as he goes on.

“You should know better. Ben Dover is not a funny joke. Huge asses are nothing to laugh about. You should wish to have that type of issue.”

Jean leans over, whispering in yours and Eren’s ear.

“The divine truths of humanity.”

You laugh and Erwin stares you down, Eren smacking you for laughing out loud.

“Y/N. Up.”

You groan as stand next to him, the lot of them laughing at you, as Erwin stares you down.

“Erwin.”

“Y/N. What did you learn in class yesterday?”

“Uh. States and capitals?”

“Perfect. Name them all.”

You groan. Of course, you get stuck with Erwin and his weird punishments. He always quizzes you guys on random stuff from your classes when you take too long on set or are late to a table read. And you’re usually free from that, but Jean’s stupid comment got you.

“Uh. Okay. California is Los Angeles.”

“Wrong. It’s Sacramento.”

“I’m Canadian, Erwin. This isn’t even fair.”

He shakes his head dismissively as you keep going, literally getting every single one wrong. And when you reach the fifth incorrect state, Eren takes his stand, helping you with the rest of them.

“Eren. No one asked you if you knew the states and capitals.” Erwin says, pinching both of your ears as they all laugh.

“Can’t leave my girl hanging here.”

“Your girl?” repeats Connie and the rest of them widen their eyes, leaving you and Eren to be met with a bunch of “oohs” and “aahs”

Which only flusters Eren even more. And makes your cheeks burn.

“That’s-that’s not what I meant! It’s because we’re co-stars! Like the leads, that’s why she’s my girl! Not any weird reason.” Eren stammers, the tips of his ears pink and his eyes not meeting yours.

No one believes him.

“Eren.”

“Hm.”

“Hot sauce.”

He leans over in the chair, opening the packet of hot sauce and handing it to you. The crew got breakfast burritos again , meaning you and Eren were slouched up in your chairs eating. The scene that was being filmed was primarily a scene for Jean and Marco, but you and Eren always love to watch everyone else act.

There’s something about the energy on set - Levi directing everyone around, everyone getting in the zone that gets you excited. All jittery and nervous and thrilled that people are going to see this amazing thing that is airing in a few weeks.

You hand Eren the burrito and he instinctively reaches forward, swiping his thumb across your bottom lip. His green eyes focused on your lips and you can feel your heart rising into your throat.

“Eren.”

He looks up, right into your eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, my bad. You had some sauce on your lip.”

And then he takes the excess sauce and licks it off his finger.

“Did you just-”

“Y/N, be quiet. They’re starting.”

You try your best to focus on the scene but all you can think about is yours and Eren’s knees bumping against each other, your fingers brushing across as you share the food, and Eren licking the sauce off of his finger. You try to brush it off as you lean over and whisper into his space.

“What scene is this, Eren?”

“Don’t remember. I was so busy trying to check my own lines I forgot to read ahead.”

You nod as Eren scoots closer, the two of you leaning forward as you start paying attention to the scene. Jeans walks closer and that’s when you realize it - Marco leaning against the wall, all charred and slumped over.

“Hey. Are you…. Marco?” Jean whispers, his voice shaking.

Eren instinctively reaches for your hand, crushing it in his hold. You look over to find Sasha and Bertholdt giving you the same confused looks as you all keep watching, Jean acting on. It seems like no one read the scene before watching it.

Jean’s a good actor. Such a good actor that you think he’s actually crying, that his voice is actually wavering. And that’s when you realize it.

Marco just died.

Your mind is running at a million miles per hour. Does that mean he’s leaving? He’s not going to be in the show anymore? You guys were all supposed to spend four or five years together filming together, but how is that fair if he’s already dead? That isn’t even an entire season-

Eren’s squeezing your hand into oblivion as the tears are falling out of his eyes, his face looking all types of broken as you glance over.

“Member of the 104th Cadet Corps and Captain of Squad 19… Marco Bodt.”

The director calls cut and the crew starts moving around, Jean helping Marco up from the ground as he brushes the tears out of his eyes. And when you catch sight of Erwin, you’re blazing fire angry. And it seems like you’re not the only one, because Ymir and Mikasa are following your suit.

“Erwin. What the hell?” you say.

Erwin and Levi look down at the three of you, confused.

“You can’t just kill Marco! That’s not fair, the show hasn’t even started yet and you already killed him off.” Reiner says, crossing his arms.

“Erwin. Cut it out of the show. You can’t do this.” Mikasa responds, glaring at him.

Levi pinches the bridge of his nose as he bends down, Erwin joining him so you’re all level heights. For some reason, angry tears are building in your eyes and your chest is burning, because…you miss Marco. And he’s not even gone yet. And it’s not fair that he died so soon and his character is all but sweet, so why does he have to die and-

Levi places his hands on yours and Reiner’s shoulders as he talks, his voice soft.

“Are you guys upset that he’s going to be leaving?”

You all nod, the tears finally flowing out of your eyes and streaming down. You can see that Reiner’s crying too, Mikasa swallowing her own tears.

“Yeah. Erwin, Levi he’s our friend. And I’ve never really had friends like this and I don’t want him to go away and-” you choke out, stammering on your words.

Levi squeezes your shoulder as you hiccup and Erwin leans forward to press all three of you in a hug. Levi’s hands are in your hair, whispering something under his breath about how you’re all sweet kids.

They both let you go and you look over to find Marco, still in his death makeup, hugging Eren, who has tears streaming down his eyes too. And when you walk over, Marco opens up his other arm, you and Eren and Jean and almost everyone crushing him into a hug, the discomfort sitting in your chest.

As you all trail back to the townhouse after set, quiet for once, you’re all milling around the main room, aimlessly. You and Armin are playing a very underwhelming game of Uno, Reiner and Marco half-assedly playing Mario Kart, and Mikasa’s teaching Ymir how to braid her hair.

Hange walks in and plops down between you and Armin, the polaroid camera in her hand.

“Hey, you guys.”

“Hi Hange.” you both mutter, flipping the cards down.

“Got an idea. You know, this shows kind of… dramatic . A lot more of the characters are going to die, but it doesn’t have to be a sad thing.”

“It is sad. That means Marco’s leaving and we won’t see him anymore.” you say, boring your eyes into Hange’s.

They lean forward to pinch your cheek, softly laughing as they continue talking.

“You’re so sweet. He’ll be back to film other scenes, yeah? And you’ll definitely see him again.”

You both nod, agreeing with Hange. They hand the camera to Armin, whispering the plan in his ears and then duck out of the hallway. And when you and Armin have everything you need - the industrial box of Rocky Road ice cream and the camera - you head to the center of the room, Armin standing on the couch to get everyone’s attention.

“When you fall off, I’m going to fucking laugh at you, Arlert.” says Ymir, looking up from braiding Sasha’s hair.

“Shut up, Ymir. Listen, we should make a deal. Every time a character dies, we all eat ice cream. Play games, stay up late, and then at the end of the night we’ll add their picture to the wall. So we don’t forget them . Like, one last hurrah or whatever. ” Armin says.

“You sound like Hange.” Annie mutters, flicking Reiner in the forehead.

“It was their idea. But we should. If Marco’s leaving in a few days, I want to spend all the time I can with him, having fun and-”

“Yeah. I want to.” says Marco, which has almost all of you agreeing.

You and Armin start by opening the tub of ice cream, all eleven of you refusing to get bowls and instead leaning over, bumping heads as you eat.

“Eren. Move your big head.”

“Shut the fuck up Connie. Your bald head is bigger than mine.”

You all start snickering as the two of them argue, smacking each other and rolling off the couch. And when Marco suggests that you play truth or dare, you all start nervously giggling as you go around the circle, all jittery from the sugar in the ice cream.

Reiner asks Connie to share the last dream that he had, which he begrudgingly shares is that he kissed Ymir. Ymir is thoroughly disgusted. Historia gets dared to call Erwin dad by accident, which just leads to Erwin giving Historia a lecture about how he appreciates that she can see him as a father figure and that he is already very proud of all of the work Historia has put in.

Bertholdt has to eat a spoonful of mayo, which he consequently throws up and Armin gets dared to steal something from the set. He takes Levi’s coffee cup and hides it in the storage room, which he is sure to get an earful for later.

“Eren. Truth or Dare?” Connie asks.

“Dare.”

“Kiss your favorite person in the room on the cheek.”

They all start giggling as they stare you down, your cheeks burning at the thought of Eren pressing his lips to yours. Connie and Bertholdt are making kissy faces at you, Ymir and Annie leaning over to pinch your cheeks.

And you brace yourself, for when Eren’s going to press his lips into your skin. Except he doesn’t. He leans over and kisses Armin on the cheek and you try your best to hide your…disappointment? Sadness? But that’s on you.

Why would you assume you’re Eren’s favorite person on set?

Everyone boos at Eren for picking a copout answer and you pretend not to be offended as you keep playing the game. And on hour two of playing, Levi comes and yells at you all to shut the fuck up and go to bed , which leads to Armin taking the picture of Marco - all cheesing and smiley and tacking it to the wall. Connie takes a sharpie and labels the wall “fly high angel” to mark the occasion.

Except his dumbass writes angle instead of angel.

You all shuffle back to your rooms, giggling and laughing, and you and Eren giving each other a smile as you switch into your respective rooms.

You hear a knock on your door and instantly jump up, ready to duck out of set to go get slushies with Eren. Except when you swing the door open, Jean’s standing at your store instead of Eren.

“Oh. Hi Jean.”

“Hi…is-”

“She’s in the shower. You’re welcome to wait for her here if you’d like?”

You swing the door open and he flops onto Mikasa’s bed, watching your fan spin around on the ceiling.

You’re not sure what it is or why Jean and Mikasa are assuaged from the barrage of teasing and cooing that you and Eren get whenever you’re around each other, because you’re almost a thousand percent sure that the two of them are worse than you and Eren.

Because they actually like each other. You’ve often come home from filming or playing games with Bertholdt and Historia to find the two of them sitting on the floor, holding hands while watching a movie. Or Jean giving Mikasa bracelets or telling her that he thinks she’s really pretty.

Maybe they’re not paying attention and that the only person who knows is you. Or maybe it’s because they don’t turn red or deny their feelings, because they actually like each other. You and Eren aren’t like that, because in earnest, you two really are just friends.

“You okay? Your room must be pretty empty.”

Marco moved out earlier today. Not a single dry eye in the room.

“Yeah, that’s kinda why I came. Sometimes it just feels kind of lonely, but I think Levi and Erwin might move someone in with me or put me with Connie or something.”

“That’s nice. It’ll be fun to have a roommate.”

He nods, cracking his fingers as the shower runs behind the two of you.

“Hey Jean.”

“Hm.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

You sit up, hopping off your desk chair and onto the bed where Jean was sitting. He’s leaned back against Mikasa’s perfectly propped pillows, lazily swinging the charm of his necklace back and forth on the chain.

“How do you know you like Mikasa?”

He looks up from his chain, giving you an inquisitive look, before answering.

“Dunno. I like being around her. Like, whenever I’m in a room, the person I want to be next to is her. Or the first person I tell good news to and I want her to know like…random things about me. My moms name, my first pet, how I hate my first grade teacher. I just like to share things with her. Like how it feels when I'm with her you know - like...like that's Mikasa. She's my girlfriend."

“Oh. Okay, that makes sense.”

He nods, plopping back down on her pillows and twisting the chain in his hands again.

You halfheartedly nod as Mikasa rolls out of the bathroom, giving you two smiles as she takes the seat next to Jean. You give the two of them a smile as you pad out of the room and straight into Eren and Armin’s across.

“Hi. Mind if I sit? Jean and Mika are-”

“Sure.” Eren says, scooting over on his bed and patting on the sheets.

“Where’s Min?”

“Ah. With Erwin. I think he’s taking the Marco thing kind of hard.”

You nod, shuffling on the bed as Eren shuts his laptop, leaning back onto the headboard.

“Are you okay, Eren? With him being gone?”

“Feels weird. It kind of just makes me nervous for who else will leave us, you know?”

Us.

“Yeah.”

Eren tangles his hand with yours at your side, taking turns cracking each of the knuckles on your fingers.

“Do you ever wonder why they tease us so much? For being friends?”

He angles his head over, the wisps of his brown hair tickling on your forehead.

“Like. Mikasa and Jean really like each other. They’re always holding hands in my room and-”

“What? They like each other?”

“I think so. I don’t know, they’ve never really hid it from me.”

“Well, you’re sweet. You’d never make fun of them for that. I had no idea that they liked each other. They’re probably just not outward with it in front of everyone else.”

“And we aren’t outward with anything. I don’t know, we just act normal and they’re always like saying this stuff about how you and I-”

“Y/N.”

You stop talking as he squeezes your hand three times, almost like a little knock signaling you to stop talking.

“I think they just… don’t get us. You and I are special. I just feel like I’ve known you forever and that we really fit together and I think they can sense that or something. And they think it’s romantic even if it’s not, you know?”

“Yeah.”

He squeezes your hand three more times, the words knocking through your head. Special. Fit together. Not romantic. He leans over, green eyes staring into yours.

“You and me. Always?”

You nod, swallowing hard as you lean back.

“Plus. They can’t kill us off. We’re the main characters.”

You shuffle in your seat as the director yells action, as you look down at Eren, tied up against the post in the middle of the set. You’re filming the scene where Levi is supposed to just kick Eren’s ass in the middle of the court, to prove to the other characters that they can control him and his titan powers.

Except you’re on your fifth take of this scene, Eren getting increasingly frustrated because Levi’s been yelling at him all morning, claiming that he isn’t acting good enough for the scene. Levi’s a bit of a perfectionist, meaning he won’t let anyone leave until the scene is perfect the way he wants it.

Eren especially. You could always tell that Levi was always more fond of Eren than everyone else, but you never thought that would mean Levi would be extra harsh on him. Which is clearly just pissing Eren off today.

“Maybe we should dissect her just in case!”

“Wait. Maybe I am a monster, but she has nothing to do with that! Nothing at all!” Eren screams, his voice straining and his eyes pinching shut as he wrestles against the handcuffs.

“As if we could believe you!”

“It’s a fact!”

“You’re defending her? She must be one of you!”

“No!”

Levi stomps into the middle of the set, leaning down and getting level with Eren. And then he starts yelling at him.

“Eren. You can do so much better than that. You have to give it your all or this isn’t going to work.”

“I am giving it my all. You’ve had me working for five hours now and I-”

“So? You have to get used to that type of time commitment if you want to be the best like you said you did and-”

Eren and Levi keep going back and forth, Hange signaling at you from the back of the set as you both arise from your chairs, leaning down to meet them.

“Levi. Go easy on him, we’ve been-” Hange starts,

“No. He can do better than this and I know he can. He just doesn’t want to. If he would just put in a little effort, it would be better.”

“Levi, maybe you’re being too harsh on him-” you start.

Levi rolls his eyes as he stands up, calling for a break as you unhook Eren from the post. The second you unlock him, he storms off straight off of the set.

“Hange.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you take a longer break from us? I’ll talk to him.”

“I’ll talk to Levi. He just…he knows Eren can be really good. That he has potential. He’s just trying to get him there faster because he wants Eren to do well.”

“I know, Hange.”

You shoot them a smile as you run into the storage closet, yanking out the tandem bike and heading to find Eren.

You kick the rocks in front of you as you hand Eren the slushie, anxiously looking over at him. He’s still radiating anger, from the way his shoulders are tense and how his knuckles are nearly white against the cup. The two of you biked in silence and even the cashier could tell Eren was having some type of fit today.

“Eren.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He sighs as he leans into your touch, resting his head against your shoulder.

“I just-I’m trying really hard to get it. And Levi’s always just so hard on me, I can’t even tell if I’m doing a good job or if I can do this or-”

You reach down, crushing his hand in your hold, as you respond.

“Eren. You’re doing a really great job. Even Levi thinks that. He just… he knows you’re great and he’s trying to tap into that.”

“I know, it just makes me wonder sometimes if I’m cut out for this. Or that Best Actor savant that I-”

“Eren. You’re going to get it. I know that for a fact. It might not be this season or the next, but you will get it. You’re- you’re literally amazing, I just know you’ll be one of the best of our generation and-”

“You’re just saying that because-”

“I’m not! I really do think that, I- I’d even bet on it for you. You’re the best person for this role and you’re perfect for it and in general too and I just think you should be more confid-”

“Y/N, I-”

“Like really, I think you have the chops to be great. I can’t even believe I have to be your costar because I am infinitely mediocre next to you when you’re just so amazing and already have so many credits and-”

You’re cut off by Eren’s lips on your cheek, pressing a soft kiss to your skin. You reach up to the skin as you look over at him, positively bug eyed.

“You-why would y-”

“The other day. You are my favorite person on set. I just didn’t want them to make fun of us for it.”

“Oh. Right, I-”

“Finish the slushie. We’ll go back after.”

When you return, Eren finishes the scene in one take. And gets Levi’s golden stamp of approval.

When you and Eren film the last scene of the season, on your last day of shooting for a few months, you can’t help but feel a despair in your chest. Everyone else was already long gone, having given your wistful goodbyes and promises of keeping in touch until you come back to (hopefully) film the second season.

Which leaves you, Eren, Erwin, Levi, Hange, and the crew to film the last scene. The backstory of how you and Eren came to be, where he wraps the scarf around your neck.

While you love having everyone else around, it was nice to have a few days of just you and Eren, where you can soak in his company before you have to be apart for a few days. You make ramen together in the mornings, he teaches you how to play video games, and you talk about almost anything and everything in those three days.

And when you go to film the scene, the despair of being apart from him…from your best friend really settles in. You’re sure it makes the scene all the more better.

“It’s cold…. I don’t have anywhere to go home to.” you say.

Eren walks over, his voice uncharacteristically soft, so gentle when he wraps the scarf around your neck that it makes your cheeks burn.

“You can have this. It’s warm, right?”

Grisha walks forward, placing a hand on Eren’s shoulder as he says his line.

“Y/N. You should come live with us. You’ve been through plenty.”

And when you look at Eren, you can feel your heart beating as he says the next lines. And for some reason, this version of Eren feels less like the character Eren and more like the real Eren.

Your Eren. Tandem bikes, slushies, squeezing hands three times Eren.

He reaches forward, squeezing your hand three times like he was reading your fucking mind, as he says the next line. While he acts dismissive, you can see the warmth in his eyes, and it feels like something else. Like he’s trying to hint something at you, tell you something you can’t exactly pick up on.

“Come on. Let’s go back already. To our home.”

And when you squeeze Eren’s hand three times back and trail off out of the shot of the camera, you both smile at each other, Eren turning to face you.

“See you in a few months?”

“Yeah.”

“Call me every day?”

You roll your eyes as you reach over to flick his forehead, to which he pinches the sides of your waist. You squirm out of his hold, the feel of his fingers ticklish as you both laugh.

“Yes, Eren. I’ll call you every day.”

“Okay, good. Don’t forget me when you become famous overnight.”

“You’re so full of shit, Eren. That’s not going to happen.”

You’re totally wrong, for what it’s worth. The first episode of Attack on Titan airs on Friday. You and Eren start trending on Saturday.

next part linked here

taglist: @platrom @k0z3me @kayleegomez @yihona-san06 @besenpai @sweetenertea @mykyoon @violetmatcha @rebeccawinters @cutiejg @bokutosthings @bookwrmm @mblrrr @wheredidmycrowngo @somethinginyoureyes7 @chilichopsticks @okaystopwhore @you-always-made-me-blush @itzmeme @firelordazulaaa @whoami-72 @g-ghostly @intimacywithceline @erensmoodygf @cocomellxn @princess-ackerman @jaegerfiles @cacapeepee @squirrelspoetry

pls comment on this post or any of the chapters if you want to be added to the taglist <3

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izelthewashbear · 2 months ago

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Good news: we finally know why c!Martyn fell off between his win in Limited life, and then his recent placements in Secret life and Wild life!

Bad news: Not angsty enough.

Worry not, for I have already thought of three (3) alternative reasons for why Martyn fell off the way he did!

(disclaimer: this post is NOT meant to signify that Eyes and Ears is a bad AU by any means. I respect the decisions that Martyn makes (as much as I wanna toss this man into a wall sometimes), but I decided to give this one thing my own little spin, since I've already been thinking about it for a while. Enjoy!)

These headcanons are placed in a particular order: 1 fits pretty well into EaE AU and technically could be canon if Martyn likes it ig?, 2 is a pretty neutral one that could fit into any AU or interpretation (+ is the closest one to what Martyn said on his lore stream, but a little different) and 3 is one I personally use in my own AU, called Preservers AU, or The ones who watch, the ones who listen, the ones who kill AU (WLK for short).

1. Martyn got fucked up the same way Cleo and Pearl did in Double life.

While doing research into EaE and watching Limited Life lore stream a while back, one particular thing caught my attention. As you may remember, in session 6, Cleo and Pearl were absent and Gem and Lizzie came to fill in for them. I really liked what Martyn lored there - the idea that Double Life messed up with them so much (especially Pearl, but Cleo too) that even after "resting" in the eternal fuckass void that the Watchers throw them into (the void has no name, so may I propose the name I use in my own AU - The Midway, as in the middle of the way between different worlds) they weren't quite in the right mindset to enter the games again - hence, for example, Pearl talking about Tilly in ep 1 of LimL. So, their souls got snached by the Watchers, threw into the void like into a microwave when you need to heat up your food for just a minute longer, and their conciousnesses were replaced with Gem and Lizze's.

And what if the same should've happened to Martyn?

Let's be honest, winning this series messes everyone up, especially if it ends by you backstabbing the only person who was nice to you the whole season (+ some random guy who just happened to be too close to your sword). Especially if we take into account the interpretation that Martyn got briefly possessed by the Watchers as he killed them ("time is delicious" yada yada yada, we know what you are sir). I can totally believe that this win messed with him enough that at the beginning of Secret life, he was still a bit woozy, a bit disjointed. That would explain him being the first yellow, first red, as well as ending up in the bottom half of the leaderboard for the first time. Funny how he was still the only person to never fail a task, I guess even when fucked up by the Watchers he still has his 300 IQ.

But why didn't the Watchers snatch him during Secret life and put him back into the aforementioned void? Cuz they like torturing him too much and they were like "naaaaaah he'll be fineeee" (he wasn't). Or, they wanted to, but they accidentally snatched the wrong blond guy (aka Tango) (just like in Wild life, they mixed up their blondes again and got Martyn killed before Jimmy).

2. The nihilism route

Martyn's explanation during the lore stream was that c!Martyn, after he won, stopped caring about his performance and decided to chill out a bit, hence him doing worse and worse each subsequent season. But c'mon dude, where's the angst? So I propose a slightly changed version.

You go through four painful, draining, exhausting death games. Each time you die too early to reach your goal. You see your friends die, and you die painfully as well. Until one day, it happens. You win, you kill everyone. You're ecstatic, now you can fix everything, free everyone, change everyone's fate and be free-

And then you're tossed into a new game. All your happy murder time didn't matter. You're right back where you started. Not to mention, the one you were fighting for isn't around, still. So what do you do? Wallow in sorrow, of course! You're all stuck and you're all fucked! There is no escape! Nothing matters! (/neg)

So yeah what Martyn said but make it sadder

3. The Watchers hate you, personally (spoilers for my AU! + if it sounds stupid out of context I'm sorry)

(TW for body horror, oops)

So I'm no stranger to writing horrible fates to characters I really like (and unfortunately that includes c!Martyn, this guy is just too fun to mangle repeatedly). In my AU, after a win, each player is granted a singular wish from the Watchers - and that wish is twisted into a sick version, making up the new game. WLK!Martyn, the nosey bastard he is, asked to know everything about the Watchers - all their secrets, all their knowledge, how to defeat them. Watchers said "bet" and in return, gouged out his eye and replaced it with their own, "lending" him some of their powers (with the side effects being migraines, insomnia, being flashed with horrifying visions, throbbing pains in half of his skull and falling off in general). So uh yeah, guy that loses an eye in such a fashion and doesn't have any time to recover will probably have a hard time placing high again.

It could also be made into a non-WLK version where the Watchers mangled him in some other way. Sorry Listeners but you can't save your boy from that, he too far gone

So I hope you liked my little ramble! If you have any of your own ideas, interpretations or even questions lemme know, I love loring and I wanna outlore the lore guy one day :3

#inthelittlewood #eyesandears #eyesandearsau #life series #limited life #wild life smp #secret life #life series theory #theorycrafting #martyn inthelittlewood #i am the one who lores

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cherryhazee · 1 month ago

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Patience Is a Virtue | Luke Hughes

wc: 1.8k

Part 5 of The Art of Loving series

One and a half weeks. That was the time the Devils were on the road around Canada. Ten days, four cities, and countless hours on buses and in hotel rooms. For most of the team, it was a routine part of the season, a chance to bond, test their stamina, and hopefully stack up some wins. For Luke Hughes, however, it was proving to be a test of patience.

“You're going to burn a hole in your screen if you keep staring at it like that.”

Luke looked up to see Dawson dropping into the seat beside him, a knowing grin on his face. “What are you talking about?” Luke asked, too quickly.

Dawson gestured toward the phone in Luke's hand. “You've been glued to that thing all trip. Don't think we haven't noticed.”

Luke's noise-canceling headphones rested loosely around his neck, his phone still open on Instagram. Specifically, in a post that Avery had shared earlier that day, it was a photo of a new exhibit at the gallery, captioned with her usual humor. He smiled faintly, his thumb hovering over the like button.

“Noticed what?” Jack chimed in from across the aisle, leaning over to get in on the conversation.

“How Luke here is lovesick,” Dawson announced, loud enough for the entire bus to hear.

“I'm not,” Luke muttered, turning his phone off and shoving it into his pocket with more force than necessary.

“Oh, you so are,” Jack teased a mischievous glint in his eyes, not missing the look his brother threw his way. “What? Haven’t you told them about the date you had with Avery?”

Luke groaned and sank lower in his seat, his face rapidly turning different shades of red. “Can you not?” he hissed, glaring at his older brother.

The banter quickly spread through the bus. “Avery? That’s the girl from New York, right?” Nico asked from a few rows up. Did the whole team already know or what?

“Yeah, the art girl,” Dawson confirmed, grinning.

“She’s not just 'the art girl,'” Luke shot back, his voice coming out more defensive than he intended to, feeling his face grow even hotter.

“Oh, so she’s special,” Dawson said

“Trust me she’s more than special,” Jack said. Here we go, Luke thought to himself.

The team erupted into laughter, and the teasing only escalated as they approached the hotel. Even Ondřej, usually the voice of reason, joined in. “Kid, you should’ve seen how nervous you were when she came to that game,” he said with a grin. “You could barely stand on your feet,” he laughed.

“Yeah, Luke,” Jack continued, smirking. “All that talk about her, and then you couldn't even string a sentence together when she was actually there.”

“You should’ve seen his face when we interrupted them at the lounge,” he turned to the rest of the guys, “If looks could kill I wouldn’t be here right now,” he said while laughing.

Luke rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t suppress the small smile tugging at his lips. “You’re all hilarious,” he said dryly.

“Come on, admit it,” Dawson said. “She’s got you completely whipped.”

Luke shook his head, trying to play it cool as the team’s laughter rang around him. But as the bus came to a stop outside the hotel, his thoughts drifted back to the person this whole thing was about.

As the team filed off the bus and into the lobby, Luke stayed a few steps behind pulling out his phone. His chat with Avery was already open, her most recent text catching his eye.

How’s Canada treating you?

Luke smiled faintly as he typed out a reply.

Road trips are exhausting but I’m managing. Lots of time on the bus, but at least the team keeps it somewhat interesting.

Avery’s response came almost immediately.

I bet. Must be a lot of Jack teasing you, huh?

Luke shook his head, smirking as he leaned against the wall of the hotel lobby.

More like the entire team. I might need a new seat on the bus.

Poor Luke, she teased. Good luck in today’s game, by the way. I’ll be watching.

Luke’s heart skipped a beat at her words. It wasn’t just that she’d be watching, it was that she cared enough to try. She didn’t grow up around hockey which meant the game probably still felt foreign to her. Yet she still made the effort.

He could picture her now, tuning into the game from her apartment, the slight frown she made when she focused, probably trying her best to understand the rules and follow the game.

Thanks. I’ll try to make it worth watching.

Her reply came more quickly than he anticipated.

You always do.

Luke stared at her message for a long moment, a warm feeling spreading through him.

And then there was the thought that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't watching hockey for the game itself, but for him. That thought, as much as he tried to push it aside, left him feeling equal parts thrilled and nervous.

“See! That’s what we were talking about.” Dawson’s voice boomed through the lobby, snapping him out of his thoughts.

With a roll of his eyes, he placed his phone in his pocket and headed toward the elevator, his teammates’ laughter still audible in the background.

Tonight’s game was just another stop on their road trip, but knowing Avery was watching made it feel like something more.

—

When the game ended with a 3-0 win against the Oilers, the place was buzzing with energy. Hooting and hollering could be heard from outside of the locker room as the team relished in their shutout victory. Luke, fresh from his post-game shower, was still riding the high of the win, but his thoughts wandered elsewhere.

As he pulled his phone out of his bag, he noticed a notification, a text from Avery.

Congrats on another win! I think I even managed to follow most of it. That save by your goalie in the second period was insane.

He could see that a few minutes had passed before she had sent another message.

Right?

Luke chuckled under his breath, imagining her replaying that moment to catch every angle.

Thanks! Yeah. Guessing you’re becoming a hockey expert now?

Her reply came a few moments later.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I still had to Google ‘goalie interference’ halfway through the third period.

Luke’s laugh came a little louder than he intended, earning a curious glance from Nico as he walked past. He quickly typed out a response.

Hey, that’s progress. Next time, you’ll be explaining it to someone else.

Don’t hold your breath.

Leaning back against the locker, Luke let out a content sigh.

As the team wrapped up their post-game routines and boarded the bus back to the hotel, Luke found himself scrolling back through their conversation. It wasn't anything overly sentimental or dramatic, but it was enough to keep him grounded.

By the time the bus pulled into the hotel parking lot, Luke had his reply ready.

By the way, next time we’re in the same city, I owe you a crash course in hockey. No Googling is required.

He hit send and pocketed his phone, feeling lighter as he stepped off the bus.

–

The team had safely made it to Vancouver, which meant one thing: a Hughes family reunion. With the game not being until tomorrow afternoon, the evening was occupied by some much-needed family time over a home-cooked dinner.

“So, how’s the road trip treating you, Luke?” His mother asked, handing him a plate as everyone settled around the table.

“Good,” Luke said with a shrug. “Tiring, but good.”

Jack smirked from across the table, unable to resist. “You mean when you’re not glued to your phone?”

Luke froze, glaring at his brother. “What are you talking about?” he said quickly, a little too defensive for it to go unnoticed.

Their father raised an eyebrow. “Glued to your phone? What’s that about?”

Jack leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying himself. “Oh, you know. Texting someone. Like all the time.”

Quinn, who’d been quietly listening, perked up. “Wait, is this about a girl?”

Luke shot Jack a sharp look, but he wasn’t done. “Might be,” Jack added while grinning. “Her name’s Avery. She’s living in New York and works at some art gallery. Also, she came to one of our games, too.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Luke muttered, slumping in his chair as all eyes turned to him.

Ellen’s expression shifted to one of delighted curiosity. “A girl? And Jack knows about her before we do?” She feigned being hurt by this.

“Technically, I don’t know much,” Jack said, shrugging dramatically. “Luke doesn’t exactly tell me all the details. But he talks about her enough that we all know he’s into her.”

“Jack,” Luke groaned, his face now buried in his hands, not knowing what to do to stop him.

Jim chuckled, shaking his head. “So, who’s Avery?”

Luke sighed, realizing there was no getting out of it. He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he couldn’t quite break, and avoided meeting their eyes. “She’s a friend,” he said carefully.

There was a brief pause as if he was weighing whether to say more, but instead, he pressed his lips together, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face. His gaze dropped to his hands, his fingers fidgeting with a loose thread on his sleeve before he forced a casual shrug. “That’s all there is to it.”

Quinn leaned forward, his curiosity clear. “And she went to one of your games?”

“Yeah,” Luke admitted, feeling his face heat up. “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Sounds like it might’ve been,” Ellen said with a knowing smile.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Jim asked bluntly, his tone teasing.

Luke hesitated, not wanting to complicate things even further. “No,” he said honestly. “We’re just…no.”

“Well, she must be something special if you're texting her all the time.” Ellen said while sending her youngest son a warm smile.

Luke smiled, the thought of Avery momentarily easing his small frustration with Jack. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “She is.”

The conversation eventually shifted back to family updates, but Luke couldn’t help replaying the moment in his mind. Jack’s big mouth had caught him off guard, but in all honesty, he didn’t really mind Avery being part of the conversation, it even felt natural.

As they all prepared for the night, Luke’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out quickly, an easy smile tugging at his lips as he saw Avery’s name on the screen.

I could definitely use some Canadian adventures. You’ll have to fill me in when you’re back.

He smiled at her last message, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. Before he could second-guess himself, he typed out a reply.

Definitely. Can’t wait to see you again.

Luke leaned back against the couch, his nerves melting into a quiet excitement. Jack, catching his expression, smirked.

“What now?” Luke asked.

Jack just shook his head. “Nothing. You’re just really bad at pretending this is ‘just friends’.”

Luke rolled his eyes but this time he didn’t argue.

Next Chapter

#luke hughes #luke hughes imagine #luke hughes fic #luke hughes fluff #luke hughes x oc #new jersey devils #nhl fic #lh43

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clean-bands-dirty-stories · 1 year ago

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XX ~ S.S.

Part Four: Rush (Final)

A/n: This is a separate request but I combined them (This prompt list). This has been sitting in my drafts for AGES so very close to completion and I got a final boost from @mmmalakai so this one’s for you bestie <3

Request: “22 for Seb? 👀”

Word Count: 3800+

MASTERLIST

~ Kiss in a rush of adrenaline ~

The Warblers ran into a problem when competition season rolled around. They had essentially been cut in half, and that meant they were working with significantly less people than normal. Adding on top of that the rivalry he was brewing with New Directions and... well, it wasn't ideal.

Y/n got an earful every evening after glee rehearsals. Blaine was apparently up Sebastian's ass, playing some form of protective older brother for Y/n. He had made it clear time and time again that he didn't approve of Sebastian, and his boyfriend Kurt was only too happy to support this endeavor. Predictably, Kurt had been most on board for it when Blaine had told him of Sebastian's initial flirting and move making. It made Y/n wonder if Kurt was in it to protect Y/n like Blaine was, or if he was in it for his own personal revenge.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be where the struggles ended. They had enough people to compete and so did Noteworthies - but only one team could compete from one school. Which meant that on top of push back from Blaine and Kurt, and the dance they'd been having with all of New Directions, there needed to be a pre-competition face off to see which Dalton Glee club was going to compete.

Which was strange to talk about, when they were technically opposed team captains, but also had been spending as much time as they could together again. They'd wanted to perform together again and neither could come up with a reason to. They were busy practicing for all the face offs and performances they had coming up, which meant they didn't have much free time. With the stress increasing, the need for peace and quiet got worse until their routine became shit talking everyone else in the car and then going back to Sebastian's, cleaning up and changing, and then just doing homework in absolute silence for hours and hours, cuddled up until dinner. Dinner was the best part of the day because they would be recharged from everything else and would put the homework away and just talk. Or watch something. They didn't talk about school during dinner, or Glee. They'd talk about music or the thing they watched or anything else. Sometimes Blaine and Kurt, but never New Directions.

It was so strange to find themselves on opposing sides when school came around at the beginning of every new day, especially when their mornings were spent getting coffee where Y/n and Blaine used to and tormenting the New Directions people who were there if they happened to run into each other.

Y/n didn't even feel bad about it. He had tried to stop Sebastian at first, but then Blaine had ruined that.

The day had started cool, which was nice because the Dalton blazers were always a little warm on the body. Adding coffee to that usually meant feeling a little warmer than one was usually comfortable with. But not that morning. Instead, Y/n and Sebastian were in line to get their coffees, Sebastian going on and on about a wild encounter he'd had in Paris when he was still living there. Y/n had been sent into a fit of laughter, face turning red and wrapping his arms around his stomach. "You did not get that drunk at 11 years old," Y/n accused.

Sebastian was grinning. "I absolutely did. My parents were mad, but it wasn't as big of a deal as you'd think. The problem was that I had stolen all the cream puffs. There were three heaping plates made for everyone at that party and I had eaten them all by myself. I was sick for two whole days, and still couldn't eat chocolate without feeling sick for another week." Y/n peeled into giggles again and the room seemed to get brighter, warmer. Sebastian watched him with so much adoration on his face that the people around them all smiled.

Well, almost everyone.

"If it isn't my favorite Dalton boy." An arm looped around Y/n's shoulder, and he looked over to see Blaine. Immediately, the joy started to seep out of him and Sebastian watched in irritation as he put on the mask that he always did. The calm and the patient and the gentle. Not that Y/n wasn't all of those things, but more that he only ever allowed himself to be those things specifically when certain people - like Blaine - were around. The more time he spent around Sebastian, the more he allowed himself to express all of the different sides of him, but it was slow coming. It was easier with the Warblers and most of the Noteworthies, but harder with Lyran and anyone from McKinley. It bothered Sebastian immensely.

"Hey," Y/n greeted with a soft smile.

Blaine positioned himself to cut Sebastian off from the conversation and immediately Sebastian's jaw locked. He tried to play as nice as possible with Blaine - he meant a lot to Y/n. And even if Sebastian didn't get the appeal (he had flirted with the man once before actually getting to know Y/n, and now he just about laughed out loud at the thought. How could be have gone for stick-in-the-mud, goody two shoes Blaine when Y/n was right there?) it wasn't about him, so. Whatever. The move from Blaine was an affront though, and he barely managed.

"I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

Kurt shot him a look and Sebastian purposefully ignored it. His eyes were on Y/n, who suddenly seemed uncomfortable. It seemed he has picked up on Blaine's actions - and Sebastian's reaction to it as well.

"Fine," the boy eased, sliding fluidly from Blaine's hold to pick up something off of a nearby shelf, tilting it as if considering if he was going to get it. He put it down and turned back to the other three. It was a well masked attempt to include Sebastian again, and a well appreciated one. Well, appreciated by Sebastian. Blaine's smile got a little tighter.

"I heard you started a new acapella group at Dalton," Blaine picked up again. There was something very awkward about him trying to start small talk, and Y/n shutting it down with one word responses instead of expanding in the least. An awkwardness that was showing in Blaine's tone.

"Yeah," Y/n nodded, and the tension grew.

Sebastian swallowed a smile when he saw a hint of his Y/n. The hidden shade he was masking so well with innocence and softness. It wasn't cruel, more unsure. Y/n didn't know how to show Blaine that finally, he had changed too. In the way that Blaine had become more a team player, flourishing with a bunch of people who challenged him and treated him like a normal person instead of some music sex god, that Y/n had bloomed in the same way.

Under Sebastian's pressure and fire, he had grown to something infinitely more beautiful: Himself. Not filtered to be more palpable, or fit the vibe someone else was setting. He was himself - both soft and hot to the touch. Soothing at one point, and agitating the next, depending on what he had to rise to the top to meet. And there was a whole new side to him too - one that didn't just react, but set expectations and then kept them going. Who established a mood and then continued it. One who knew control and patience and could balance firm grips and gentle nudges.

Blaine missed it all. He hummed in such false amusement that it was so obviously just irritation.

"Seems you're spending a lot of time with Mr. Competition over here then." It was light and airy, easily dismissed unless you already knew he was trying to shove a wedge between Y/n and Sebastian. Which they all did know.

Y/n seemed to consider that. "Competition drama and interpersonal relationships are different things. At Dalton we try to keep it clean - nothing personal, no dirty play." He shot a pointed look at Sebastian. "These days at the very least."

Sebastian felt himself warm, flaring under Y/n's attention. "The whole point of a game is there are always rules. I set some, you set some. They must all be followed or people stop playing."

Y/n snorted. "Very good job Bas, you're learning so well."

Blaine seemed uncomfortable with the easy banter between the two, and he tended when Y/n used a nickname. "Y/n-"

"Listen," Y/n cut off. "I've tried to tell you before but you refuse to listen so I'll be very blunt with you. I'm a different person now - a better person. This is a good thing, and if you can't see that and accept that people change I don't want to be friends with you anymore. I know you have beef with Sebastian. It's a good thing you're not the one who has a relationship with him." He turned without another word and made his order, filling in Sebastian's as well without thinking. He had been correct to the T so Sebastian let it slide. He relished Y/n stepping in to stop Blaine, and he especially loved that Y/n was so easily showing how well they knew each other and how much they meant to each other. It was delicious.

Blaine stumbled over his words for a moment at the display from the boy who used to be so close to him. "What happened to you?"

Y/n's irritation slipped. "What happened to me is that I finally got a life outside of you. I'm in a glee club that isn't revolving around you. I have other friends. I developed a personality based on myself and not you and your standards and expectations, and found people who like what I have to offer. If the only way you want me is folded nicely so that you can have me at your disposable for you and your irritating ass boyfriend then you don't want me." He slapped money on the counter and grabbed the two drinks before walking away. "See you around Blaine."

As they left, Sebastian's face twisted with a smirk. Not the teasing or biting one he usually donned, but one filled with admiration and adoration.

Something bubbled under the surface of his skin and he shivered. Then decided to ignore it for now. Y/n started a conversation about how bagels sounded good for breakfast and that was the end of it.

For now.

It was decided that a face off would be held to decide who was going to competition of the Dalton glee clubs.

It wasn't a shocking conclusion, but still needed an official announcement.

When the day came, Sebastian thought the Warblers had it in the bag.

Then the Noteworthies went.

Whatever the group had accomplished in the past, they had surpassed themselves several times. They were completely in sync, switching out and weaving through each other like it was second nature. They kept a certain energy between them that truly was contagious, like before, but also tangible. An energy that flowed through the air. Not a performance, or a show of any specific person. No call to attention or vie for spotlight, but a conversation between them that became increasingly interesting to follow.

They sang songs and it seemed like words. Banter between friends, or inside jokes. Stories that weren't all the way told yet. Secrets on the cusp of being spoken into the world. It was a sleep over or a camp out, telling stories in the dark and trying to scare each other. It was a safety net that if anyone crosses a line, you could stop and it would be okay. It was a breath of relief, or the first day of Summer vacation. Full of possibilities and mischief and energy and wonderment with all the stability of not having quite lost your sense of time. Youthful. Bright. Fun. But also accepting and gentle and understanding.

Of course the Warblers lost.

Y/n had been right - a group that worked as a unit far surpassed a ring leader surrounded by people to make them look better. And after the challenge, Sebastian lost even more Warblers.

He was losing the game, and he realized he had been for a long time.

Fascinating.

He swallowed his smile when Y/n met him at the car. Y/n rose an eyebrow. "What is it? You're not mad we won are you? And I swear I'm not trying to steal anymore of your Warblers-"

Sebastian shook his head. "Please. It's like you said - we've far surpassed taking things personally and lashing out."

Y/n rose an eyebrow. "So you're not going to be petty?" Sebastian was surprised to realize Y/n was being sarcastic when he asked the question.

Y/n knew him so well...

Sebastian's smile finally made it through as they got into the car. "Perhaps just a little." Y/n laughed and suddenly Sebastian didn't feel bad at all anymore.

"Oh I love this song!" Y/n shot to his feet, pushing homework aside for a moment to grab Sebastian's hand and force him to follow. They were dancing together before Sebastian could even complain.

He did it while they were up instead, despite the fact that he didn't sit back down even when Y/n let go of his hands. "You promised you wouldn't get distracted if we played music today. We need to study."

Y/n rolled his eyes. "We do homework all the time - my grades are better than they've been in ages. It can wait for a single song." Y/n stepped close, something mischievous in his eyes. "Or two."

Something bubbled in Sebastian's stomach, worming it's way up to his chest. Words were on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't quite pull them out or place what they were so for now he let them be.

And the two danced.

The second song was slower, and Y/n tried to do a funny bit by using choreography slowed to half speed, his facial expressions even changing at a snail's pace, which did get Sebastian to laugh. But then he reached out and pulled Y/n against him, chest to chest, and grabbed his hand and waist. "Slow dance properly or skip the song," he chided.

Y/n snorted but didn't pull away. "Of course the rich boy is particular about slow dancing," he teased. "You know how to waltz I assume?"

Sebastian's eyes shone. "Would you like me to teach you?"

Y/n grinned. "Fuck yes." So Sebastian did. It was the first time they'd danced that it wasn't competitive or teasing. There was fire here too but it was quieter, calmer - familiar. Sebastian grabbed his hand, then his waist, and stepped closer. He spoke softly, giving directions and telling him when and where he was stepping and the directions he was going.

It was easy to follow him. Sebastian was excellent at leading, both with his steps and his words. At one point he spun Y/n, slowly to allow for him learning, and Y/n giggled. When they were face to face again they were both grinning.

"This is fun," Sebastian noted. He didn't speak as loudly as he usually did, keeping that soft directional tone he'd been using up to this point.

Y/n felt his face warm up. "It is. Maybe we should make this a regular thing. You can teach me everything you know."

Sebastian's smile grew a little teasing, and seeing that peek out now only made Y/n blush worse. "Je crois que je t'aime."

Y/n's eyebrows came together when Sebastian spoke in French. "No fair! I don't know French."

"If I teach you everything I know," Sebastian reasoned. "You will one day."

Y/n narrowed his eyes. "Okay," he eased slowly. "What did you say though?"

The deviousness crescendo'd as Sebastian chuckled. "I'll tell you one day." He slowed them to a stop, spinning Y/n outward and catching his wrist. He brought the back of Y/n's hands to his lips, leaving a kiss. "You're a wonderful dance partner."

Y/n raised an eyebrow. "You need to be dubbed an official Disney Prince with all this charm you're using on me."

There seemed to be something Sebastian wanted to say, but he chose not to.

A new side to him.

Instead he cleared his throat, covering up a laugh. "Let's get back to homework." Unsure of how to get him to divulge information when he was so often readily offering it and not hiding it away as he was now, Y/n was forced to let the interaction go.

For now.

Noteworthies killed it at competition, putting Dalton in first place for the first time since Sebastian had started coming to school here. When they were announced as first, Sebastian's eyes went wide and he couldn't stop smiling. He was in the audience, but he was quickly out of his seat and rushing backstage. When Y/n was off of that stage, he was quick to close the distance. Y/n was surprised, but laughed as they met in the middle, getting caught up in the kiss immediately.

It was the first time they'd been explicitly affectionate in public, and it was wonderful. Especially as Lyran smiled to themself, watching the two.

"Finally, am I right?" they whispered to one of the other boys who laughed, all of them heading to the changing room to leave the pair alone.

When the two boys separated from their embrace, Y/n was blushing. "What was that?" he asked.

Sebastian shrugged. "Probably... adrenaline." He chuckled, finding himself a little breathless. No one had ever made him this soft before, taken him so completely. He felt a little silly and completely ridiculous and stripped entirely of his power-

And he loved it.

“Hey I have a question.” Things had changed since the kiss back stage. They weren’t playing this maybe-friends-maybe-not thing, they were definitely more than friends. Things had gotten as casual as Y/n ending up in Sebastian’s bed for no other reason than better cuddling positions as they watched Netflix all day. That was their Saturday routine. They only got out of bed to make food, and then they’d play music and dance together or tease or kiss…

It was domestic.

But they’d never made anything official.

Sebastian had waited for Y/n to give him that staple look people always did when things got a little too serious. Usually that was when he’d run away, but with Y/n he was sure he’d have drifted into a relationship blissfully. No one could keep up with him and change the game like Y/n could - who could ever even keep his attention after this boy?

But Y/n had never asked. It had never come up. And once again the rules were different than Sebastian had expected. It wasn’t Y/n asking about their relationship that day. It was Sebastian. His hair was soft, dried post shower, and he had only bothered with the bare minimum necessary to be comfortable. Y/n had lost his shirt at some point, stealing one of Sebastian’s even though there were clothes just here that were Y/n’s at this point. It felt intimate in a weird way. Different than sex, but maybe on the same level as it.

Y/n looked at the boy, smiling. “Ask away.”

“Are we together?” Sebastian asked. “Like, boyfriends.”

Y/n’s face light up. “I thought you didn’t do labels, Hot Shot.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “If you don’t want to-“

Even if Y/n could throw him off, Sebastian was good at catching up. The dynamic shifted as Y/n gently caressed his cheek, leaning in to kiss him to get him to stop. “No, it’s okay. I’d love to be your boyfriend. And to have yours as mine. Please.”

Sebastian grew warm. “Okay.” There was that thing… that thing just under the surface…. But he let it go.

Not yet. He couldn’t handle two huge leaps in character in one day. Something told him that Y/n wouldn’t want him to anyway.

It happened, ironically, after they decided to hang out because Y/n’s parents were getting a divorce. Maybe that was actually what made it perfect timing. They were tangled together on the couch, Sebastian soothingly running his hands up and down Y/n’s back. They hadn’t spoken in a while but Y/n’s mood seemed to slowly, steadily, improving. Sebastian could feel that feeling that was growing more and more impossible to ignore. The words that were getting closer and closer to slipping between his lips. They were getting less and less scary - easier to say. Easier to accept. He knew that they would escape any second now.

“I love you.” It was Y/n who’d spoken.

Immediately Sebastian sighed. “Of course you managed it before I did.” He sounded only amused.

Y/n laughed. “To be fair, you were the one who made the relationship official. You started all of this. I think I can get one thing on you. If that’s okay.”

“No. It’s not. Take it back.” At Sebastian’s words, Y/n laughed again. Sebastian left a kiss on his boyfriend’s forehead. Lingering. Then his lips parted and-

“Don’t say it just because I did,” Y/n interrupted.

Sebastian sighed. “I wouldn’t say anything I didn’t mean. If I didn’t love you, I’d run. I always do.” He scoffed. “But… I do love you. And I can even say that foul word. You’ve completely ruined me. I’m so young how could you do this to me?”

Y/n shrugged, and his smugness was so gorgeous Sebastian had to kiss him. When they parted, Y/n whispered, “Can we be different than everyone else? Can we just… not deal with all the bullshit? And work together and communicate and not fall apart? Or even worse - stay together forever even though the relationship is cannabilizing itself. Can you promise me we’ll never stop talking?”

Sebastian hummed, sighing. “I can promise I’ll always try.”

Y/n nodded. “That’s enough.” And it was. Everything else could fall apart. Their family, their relationship with Blaine. School could end. The Warblers could get usurped. It was all temporary. And maybe this was too, but it was also worth it in a way. Especially because it was temporary. Even if all they had was this week, or if it was for the rest of their lives… they had each other. What more could one person ask for than that?

Story tag list: @romanthesleepylizardking @taintedmaroon @shydinosaurcandy @clawzzz

Male readers tag: @ravenpuff-oli @sortzz @fadedver

#glee #glee imagine #glee x reader #grant gustin #grant gustin imagine #grant gustin x reader #sebastian smythe imagine #Sebastian smythe #gender neutral reader #warblers #warblers imagine #warblers x reader

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huenation · 2 years ago

Text

seasons / kkh

word count: 1,696

genre: fluff and slight! angst

synopsis: making back the time with bf!hyuka now that he’s back from tour ★ request

note: i wanna give the largest fattest kith to the anon who requested this :’(

soundtrack: seasons by wave to earth

Kai is easily sunshine — in every single aspect. He warms you up, never fails to make you feel better even by text alone, and excluding the existence of gravity, he reels you in in orbit.

It’s the same reason that why now that he’s finally here with you after only four but very long months, it feels like you’re experiencing the first day without rain.

A gentle squeeze to your hand has you returning to Earth, thumb rubbing over your knuckles. Kai swings your intertwined hand back and forth as he continues telling you about one night after a certain stop during their tour. It’s so funny that he can’t seem to get through it, stopping to laugh and apologize for laughing, bringing your squeezed fingers to use them to move his bangs. He could have easily used his other hand, but he’s too busy rubbing circles mindlessly into your tummy. You can’t help yourself either. His smile and laughter is so contagious; it feels like you haven’t laughed or smiled this much since the last time he was here physically.

The soft bump in his nose is so beautiful, the sweet eye crinkles that reflect the sweetness that blossoms from his beam, that beauty mark on the right side of his warm neck, his light, clean, citrus scent mixed with his freshly washed clothes — it’s all here right in front of you. After so long. It seems silly in hindsight considering you’ve endured longer without being able to see each other. As years go by, you both have learned it gets harder saying goodbye every time.

Your boyfriend and the boys landed right before noon, and you’d waited for their arrival at their dorm, feeling like an obnoxious puppy with the way you anxiously paced for him. It was pure joy and love at first turn of the door knob. Kai had practically lifted you in his arms with all the endorphin driven adrenaline and momentum at his overwhelming happiness of being reunited with you. The boys simply chuckled and watched in amusement before FOMO hit. Such a reunion should have wrought tears and half-humiliated kisses, but instead, you two were grinning ear to ear, holding hands, being quietly lovey dovey.

Evening has taken over of the day you’d been waiting for for so long, and now, in the dorms, it’s just you and him. The boys had said they were heading over to play basketball, Yeonjun throwing you a wink, to which you both had whined in unison, making synchronized laughter of different accents and textures ring through the air.

There is no space between you, such a word doesn’t exist in this here. Why should it? You’d missed an entire season with him, and time persevered nonetheless. Impossibly, you wanted to make back all the time you’d missed with each other. He felt the ache of lost time, felt the ache of missing you, and even if more time like this was to be lost again, here and now outweighed everything else. Now with the way your legs are crossed into each other, your hand that’s molded with his, his hand on your tummy, your hand on his chest, playing with the string of his sweatshirt, on the living room sofa like it’s your own little world. It feels like it. It always does when it comes to him.

Now, that reality has settled, the dust of his arrival no longer flurries in the air, you feel like such a thing, such a moment as precious as here and now, can’t be. Not when you had shared some broken phone calls, yearning through the digital medium, showing half your faces through FaceTime, not when you’d worked your ass off everyday in hopes of making time go by faster with it being occupied, not when you’d prayed for his things to go smoothly throughout the tour and especially for him to comeback soon, even if it meant time were to skip and the universe would be tipped on its side. You were willing for anything if it guaranteed your Hyuka would be back.

And here he is. Laughing so big and contagious, the frequencies of it bring you effervescent warmth, his wide but love shaped body pressing into yours to ignite it even further. Even if the story reads Typical Tubatu, you’re smiling so big and laughing too, even if you get only part of the story because of his interrupting giggles. Maybe such untapped expressions explain why stray tears from what you thought were laughing too hard snowball into endless streams and a smile that turns into a frown.

“And Beomgyu hyung just kept going! Soobin hyung wasn’t having it, but it was still! — s-so — oh… Y/N?” A hiccup of a sob escapes your curled lips when he stops, leaning in and his own eyes glazing over at acknowledgement of your emotion. He’s still smiling, it’s softer now, the sunlight in his eyes still bright but again, softer now with brief overcast of his sensitivity towards your tears. His hand drops from your tummy and comes to catch the tears that keep flowing.

“‘M-I’m sorry!” You laugh, sniffling, or sniffle, laughing, really, you’re a mess of it all. Kai coos, shaking his head, so delicate in the way he holds your face, other hand still squeezing yours. You use your sleeve to rub at the rest of your face. He keeps shaking his head to your apologies, closing in to pepper kisses on your cheeks when you don’t let up, when you keep crying.

“Y/N,” he asks with a tone that suggest he’s pleading but for what, you don’t know. Your lips shake. Kai chuckles wetly, your heart squeezing at the thought of him even crying over this sudden slip up of emotion of yours. “I’m sorry,” you say not for the last time, he sighs against your salty lips. He places his forehead against yours, slotting his body closer against yours.

“I just — Kai, I missed you so much. I-I’m so happy, I can’t — I can’t help it! I missed you so much it hurts and I-I can’t…I’m so lucky you’re here. It’s too good to be real!” You cry brokenly, trailing off to giggle at yourself for being so taken, and Kai mirrors your expression entirely, nose reddening, sniffling, and giggling, too. He kisses your the column of your nose, nosing your own once he pecks your mouth a bit clumsily. He does so with purpose, it looks like.

“I’m sorry that I had to leave, I really am, but I swear, I’m here now. And I too am so, so, stupidly happy to be here with you,” Kai steals a few but meaningful kisses from you, keen on trailing the side of your face with his hand, as if to commit it to memory, to mind, to muscle, to heart. He steals your breaths from you, recycling them, when oxygen returns to your lungs slowly but surely — a sheepish laugh leaving your mouth against his because of it all. Kai brings your intertwined hands to his lips, kissing your knuckles, the backside of your palm, your phalanges, and your thumb.

“I missed you so much, my sweet. Feels like one of the many, many dreams I’d have all those lonely nights without you while I was abroad. All throughout the day, I’d think, ‘the alarm should go off any minute now…’ and it never does. I hope it never does. I wanna stay here forever with you.” You’re going to cry again, moving in to kiss him, and he meets you halfway. Lips against the other, your smiles all but mold together. “I love you, Y/N.” He whispers and you hear it twice: through your ears and the burning skin of your lips.

“I love you more.” You say, and his laugh comes out muffled.

It’s a long moment of closeness being fulfilled, soft kisses filling the air every now and then, before you pull away, cheeks red and tear streaked. You lean away, as he lays his head against the top of the sofa, your fingers brushing some of his trimmed fringe back. He cut his hair. He’s so handsome, it somehow makes him look all the more charming and adorable.

“I interrupted your story, Kai. Please continue for me, if you can. I want to hear every single thing you have to say.” Your fingers brush the warmth of his flesh, and he flutters his eyes shut almost in reverence. He nods, opening them, and pecking at your pulse point. Such an easygoing smile graces his lips, so gentle and serene, and yet the repercussions are enormous. Your heart falls back into place. Everything does. Now, that your Kai is back.

“If you say so.” He laughs and sighs after a brief pause, eyes meeting yours. “Thank you for waiting for me.”

You gasp, mouth forming a pout at that.

“Come on, Hyuka. You know me!” Your tone eases up especially when you reposition yourself on him, closer in on him, both of your hands flattening across the width of his chest to lean on him, legs curled with his, your face nuzzling against his shoulder. “I’d wait a thousand years and more just for you.” You whisper, cheeks hot at the shyness of your confession.

Practically swooning and sweating with how speechless you left him, Kai just sputters out an awkward, little, “thank you” before practically deflating and silently whining when you start laughing at him, quickly turning such a heartfelt moment back to the lighthearted scene that the boys had left, who now return to tease at the lovey dovey-ness. You peel off of Kai, back to hand holding, back to listening to his story telling — aided by the others who make it all the more funnier and real — and let the feeling home overtake you, stealing one last glance at your boyfriend, your eyes and his melting and closing like honey.

Kai may be your sunshine, but unbeknownst to you, you’re his entire life, you’re his seasons, and he’d trade everything for you within a heartbeat.

#txt imagines #txt x reader #hueningkai x reader #hueningkai imagines #hyuka fluff #hyuka x reader #txt soft hours #txt fluff #txt angst

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beevean · 25 days ago

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Four episodes of Nocturne Season 2, and I can feel already the brain leaking because of the Peak.

It is really hard to put in order the thoughts during this first half of the season. Then again, the whole thing feels disjointed, so I guess that's appropriate.

The season follows a bunch of microplots, much like the OG S3, but unlike that, they all melt together in the general "heroes vs. villains" macroplot. We have:

Alucard and his sidekicks finding a way to stop Sun Thundercat

Richter and Annette's love arc

Maria's revenge/corruption arc

Tera's struggles in her new vampiric form

Juste becoming less cynical

Olrox and Bara Agent Stone's relationship drama

Drolta's backstory getting revealed episode by episode

Emmanuel's regrets

the French Revolution. yes it's still a thing.

It seems a lot, and yes it is. But thankfully some of these plots get barely any screentime (the gays) and some end fairly quickly (Emmanuel).

It is, however, very hard for me to get invested in anything here. The first season failed to make me care about anyone, and this one feels like a course correction in certain aspects (I suppose the writers took feedback to heart), but it still carries issues from that first season. Namely the dialogue. It is so fake-deep I can predict lines as they come. Everyone speaks about evil, darkness, the power of love, if it's right to execute good kings, and they all sound the damn same. The characters are plot devices moved around by the story - literally, most of these four episodes are characters fortituously meeting each other and talking about something.

Sometimes they're written a bit better. Annette is by far the biggest improvement here. She has stopped being a piece of shit to Richter and the two have now the best interactions in the whole series, OG show included. At last, at long last, one (1) healthy couple developing on screen, joy! Of course, the thing is soured for me because everytime I watch them being cute together, I'm here remembering Annette calling Richter "useless as fuck" and not really finding a reason to change her mind. I don't know why they like each other, but at least now I have proof that they do, and I accept these baby steps.

Problem is, now that Annette has lost her previous odious personality, I'm not sure what they're doing with her. She spends most of these episodes being haunted by spirits in broad daylight, not knowing why. I'll wait until the end to gauge the kind of arc this is meant to be, but as of now it feels rather funny that Annette is literally only defined by her past and her religion.

Richter is there. He hasn't done shit yet except being yelled at by Maria and being looked down on by Alucard for being stupid and revealing their destination to what I assume is a reference to Wallman. I fervently hope he gets to do something in the next episodes because so far you can cut him and nothing would change. This story is so obviously not about him, no matter how many times they're like "ohhhh he is done running, character arc!"

Alucard is a cunt. And the sun rises on the east. But even worse than that, he's a useless cunt. Again, still four episodes in, but i'm shocked at how, when you remove all the flashy fights where he gets to show off how OP he is (the fact that he has the balls to call Richter a show off makes me want to slap him: you still fight one handed to flaunt your skills, jackass!), he's not really... doing much? Well, he recruited the gang, of course. But most of his efforts are off screen. According to what he says, dude lived the best life in these 300 years, travelling around Europe (and even meeting Leonardo Da Vinci huehuehuehue i bet he even told galileo galilei about the earth theory, the show off), witnessing so many revolutions that he doesn't really care about the French one, and working his ass off to find a way to stop Sun Thundercat. On screen, though, he's just there, actively refusing to help people until Richter physically rows the boat towards them, sneering at the Revolution because he has seen it all and doesn't care about anything happening, randomly stumbling upon that McGuffin he has apparently been looking for for three years, and letting Drolta snatch it from his hands despite him being always shown to have superspeed. Oh, and by the way! Technically he made everything worse when he killed Drolta, his one shining moment in S1, because now Drolta is even more OP than him. nice jorb. but sure, keep insulting richter for being stupid and irritating :) even worse as he said that he hasn't had any contact with the belmonts until uhhhh Juste if I understood correctly (I'd love to know why but I don't think I'll ever get an answer), so he's literally only projecting his disdain for Trevor over him.

Oh, and by the way! He talks about Dracula to Maria! More or less equating his grief about him to Maria's turmoiled feelings about her parents. And listen, in a well written show, I could buy that Alucard would convince himself that Dad Was Not So Bad After All because The Power of Love Redeems, and I could buy that Maria is so assmad that she thinks that her Forgemaster father is worse than the monster who planned to exterminate mankind. But I have no trust in this show, not with how Dracula got babyboyed in the previous one, and not with how Emmanuel is barely afforded any grace compared to him. This is the sort of thing that makes hard for me to separate a character's thoughts from the story's thoughts.

Oh, and Alucard is all wistful about having had to kill his Dad, but he apparently never met his parents again! You know, those parents who were brought back to life? Lisa died without ever reconciling with her son? Dracula is still chilling in Hawaii, not accounted for despite this alleged apocalypse coming? What the fuck is wrong with all of you!!!!!! I get that your son is a cunt, but y'all are no better!!!!!!!!!!!!

(fun fact: I praised the first season for attempting to have a message about colonization, right? well, i'll take that praise away. because the plot of the second season is literally the heroes wanting to commit graverobbing and desecration of an ancient relic, like this story is set in 1925 and not in 1792. the absolute peak. now i have no idea about the themes of this story)

Maria... *sigh* I get the idea. I do. The grief is corrupting her, making her lose her innocence. She is snappy, she insults Richter because "you didn't care about my mom like I did!", she has the biggest hate boner for her own father, to the point that even her powers become darker and harder to control. But this arc doesn't work with her. Maria has been angry, surly and aggressive since day 1! "We thought killing vampires was fun" since when?????? your only personality so far has been "revolution good, church bad!" Don't you go and pretend you're having a Sypha arc now! You did not start as a plucky little girl who needs to understand the evils of the world! Maria's naiveté has always been about her black and white vision of the world - you know, like when she said that no wonder a man of the Church would become an ally of vampires, they're all evil! - and in that she is now worse. In short, I don't feel a thing when she gets all angery against her dad: that's all she has been doing since her inception. Plus, why should I care that she has become a jerkass due to grief, when everyone is a jerkass for no reason? This is more of an issue with the writing in both shows, that people are simply meanspirited and often targeting one guy, the Belmonts in particular, so Maria really doesn't feel affected by pain when she downplays Richter's trauma and rudely talks back to Juste for daring to help her, she's just another asshole in a cast of assholes.

(also, while Emmanuel's death is rather effective in its chillingness, Maria yelling with blackened eyes that everything bad in the world is because of Stupid Old Men made me laugh like a dumbass)

(oh yeah, he dies at the hands of Maria's giant evil dragon. after slowly realizing that he fucked himself over and there's no heaven for him. do you care? I don't. he was a caricature of a character, a failed attempt at bringing a new perspective over CHURCH BAD that still ended up emphasizing that CHURCH BAD.)

However, that being said, Tera's arc promises to be interesting. I complained time and time again that the shows don't do nearly enough with the horrors of vampirism, turning people, the hunger for blood, losing one's soul. Tera is surprisingly lucid in her vampirism, clearly regretting her condition, and wanting nothing more than to return to her daughter. I like how dead she looks, uncannily standing in the shadows (although, of course, this season is still politely selective as to when sunlight hurts vampires - special shout out to Tera somehow protecting herself by using AN ICE UMBRELLA, HOW.), encouraging Maria to use her darker animals... culminating, in E4, with her smiling upon seeing the charred corpse of Emmanuel, throwing some mystery in her true motivations. The first episode gives us the question "can vampires love?", which... well, we know that they do. Alucard himself thinks that his father's love made him not so bad, despite the fact that that same love was grounds for genocide. Lenore, Striga and Morana were all framed as being morally sounder than Carmilla because they were in love with someone and that love made them abandon their evil plan. But watching vampirism corrupt in real life a character we have come to know is interesting. (although here we see more of the season's course correction: they're trying so hard to forge a bond between Tera and Maria, when the former was a non-entity in S1. too late, guys)

I don't even know what's going on with Juste, I just know that I'm very annoyed that he only visits Lydie's grave (we never see her in a flashback, btw), and so far he hasn't even mentioned Maxim. I'm also very annoyed that they turned his friendship bracelet, the symbol of his bond with his friend, into a wedding ring. Yeah, sure, Lydie was done dirty in HoD, but the inverse isn't better. At least he hasn't compared Maria to Lydie like I feared he would, it's left to my imagination for once.

And Olrox and Mizrak are there, having their gay drama. They want to fuck so badly, but Mizrak is all "you vampires are animals >:(" and having this sort of crisis between his faith and his boner. As for Olrox, it's getting tiring that all he's doing so far is spying everyone from the shadows: at least getting forcibly branded was a change. As for Mizrak, ngl when Juste is all "I don't really get the point of chastity vows" and Mizrak looks like a kid getting caught stealing cookies made me, for once, genuinely laugh out loud because that was funny as hell.

the french revolution is still going on. The most that happened so far is that the captain was turned into a Frozenshade. You know, because this show is still called Castlevania, in case you forgot. I certainly did. But speaking of the Revolution, I am still not over how the gang literally falls ass first on the EXECUTION OF KING LOUIS XVI. just like that! they just so happened to witness one of the most important executions in France! and they don't give a shit!!!!! they talk over it!!!!!!!!!!!! things just happen in this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, no, nevermind, it's rich of the show to start pondering about the grey morality of the Revolution (Edouard and the Captain still talk about the revolutionaries like they're heroes, but Richter starts to question if it's right to kill a "good king" while Annette is obviously all "he still benefits from oppression"), when we know from the trailers that the revolutionaries will accept to be lead by a Romanian vampire noble :)

I was deadass about to end the post without talking about the villains! Which says a lot. Drolta is back, sexier and more OP than ever, and I am positive, without doubt, that this was only because of fan reception: Drolta was a joke in S1, only propped up by her horny design, but that was enough to enthrall the fans and so she appears front and center now! It gets really boring to see her slaughtering people while being completely invincible, you fuckasses can't tell me Night Creatures are impervious to cannon balls now. And I don't really understand if this confirms that vampires have souls, because Sun Thundercat scoffs at the notion but we know that in the OG show Dracula went to hell but the worldbuilding has gone to whores anyway, but it also gets tiring to see everyone gawk at this retcon miracle.

(ngl though, it was highly enjoyable watching her kicking Alucard's sparkly ass. yes, make the cunt bleed for once 🥰)

She does get a backstory though! She was a priest devoted to Sekhmet because... because, who one day drank the blood of a random ass vampire who randomly killed her sisters (..............) and then spent the next centuries trying to find a right vessel for her goddess. She travels all the way to Hungary to meet up Human Sun Thundercat, whom Drolta calls "the most evil woman in the world" and therefore perfect for being the vessel of the goddess of war. I am not exaggerating, this is not a joke or hyperbole. Erzsebet Bathory is called, by the story, the most evil woman in the world. The villain was chosen to become the villain because she's a one-dimensional evil person. They call Sekhmet the goddess of both healing and war, and that apparently makes her an evil goddess. the piss that i'm releasing

(I am a bit annoyed that this lore doesn't really flesh out Drolta as a character. We still don't know why she's so devoted to Sekhmet in particular, and what lead her to seek a vessel to the point of causing the death of so many women. We know that she's ultra determined... and that's it. I got the feeling that the writing's idea of giving depth to a character is to make them cry. people sure cry a lot in this season, it's highly noticeable)

And yeah, Sun Thundercat really has no reaction over a vampire entering the tower she's imprisoned in and asking her "hey sis you wanna become a god?". at first she's like "oh just kill me if that's why you're here", then she proposes godhood and she's immediately "oh sign me up 👀", no confusion, no suspicion, nothing. even motherfucking Carmilla had to take her time in convincing Hector to betray Dracula. come your entire fuck on people.

That being said, they are doing something more interesting with their relationship. It was funny to see Sun Thundercat crying all over Drolta's corpse, and not just because it looked like this

but because beforehand, the two barely interacted together and I didn't get the feeling that Sun Thundercat cared much about her simp. But now, not only it's very clear that she does, all the lore hints at Drolta being the one with all the power. She may simp for Sun Thundercat, but she gave her power. Very unique. Drolta lacks charisma for me (I still can't help but see her as a more shallow Isaac), but I can see what they're trying to do. I suppose I'd rather them flesh out at least one of the villains, even if now the hype for Sun Thundercat is even less warranted.

and finally edouard's singing is dreadful and i hate every second of it, why is he still here

anyway i am not going to survive the finale.

#anti netflixvania #beev watches nocturne #long post #i'm so glad i have friends to watch this with #i don't understand the appeal at all and at this point i'm afraid to ask

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she-karev · 3 months ago

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Costume Contest (Jolex Halloween Imagine)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: One of Four

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Alex Karev x Jo Wilson/Jo Karev

Canon Episode: Between Season 18 Episode 4 and 5

AN: Happy Halloween guys! So this story was last minute when I felt like Jolex needed a Halloween one shot. Like and reblog below and let me know what you think.

Summary: Alex Karev decides to compete at Joe’s Halloween Costume Contest choosing to dress as the Joker to work. He finds out his sister Amber dressed up as the Joker too to their spouse’s amusement. They later show up that night at the bar in the same costume again where the winner is declared.

Words: 2751

October 31, 2021

“So it’s Luna’s first Halloween, any plans for tonight?” Andrew asks his sister-in-law Jo Karev at the attendings lounge where they are relaxing before their shifts. Despite Jo switching to OB she still frequents the lounge due to finding it more appealing than the residents lounge. She is clad in her pale pink scrubs while DeLuca is in his navy scrubs and sipping coffee across from each other on the table.

Jo groans clearly detested, “I was gonna have a quiet night in, eat candy, ignore the trick or treaters and watch Halloween movies with my family like we usually do. But for some reason Alex is in a Halloween hype this year. He even decided to enter the costume contest at Joe’s which he normally calls a clown car competition. I would find it cute if it wasn’t out of character.”

“Yeah well try being married to the Karev who was already a Halloween fanatic when we started dating.” Andrew shares about his wife Amber who is Alex’s sister, “Every year on Halloween Amber and I always go to the movies to check out the scariest movie showing and then after she spends about three hours putting together a costume that always wins her a 100-dollar gift card at Joe’s.”

“That sounds nice.”

Andrew chuckles darkly, “Clearly you haven’t seen the movies Amber drags me to see. Have you ever seen Terrifier? The one with the mime that smiles and eviscerates people?”

Jo’s eyes widen at that terrifying image, “I haven’t even heard of it until now.”

“Then you are extremely lucky.” Andrew commends sipping his coffee, “I couldn’t eat any meat after Art the Clown sawed that naked girl in half while she was hanging upside down.”

Jo stops chewing the bran muffin she was eating before swallowing and putting her breakfast down, “Thanks for making me lose my appetite. What’s Amber’s costume this year? Something as horrifying as what you just told me?”

“I have no idea.” Jo raises an eyebrow at his lack of knowledge, “She always wants it to be a surprise and insists I leave early so she can get ready. She wants to wear the costume during work.”

“Huh, weird that’s what Alex is doing too.”

“What’s his costume gonna be?” Andrew asks just as the door opens revealing Alex Karev as The Joker from The Dark Knight. Jo chuckles in shock at her husband clad in a purple suit, messy green wig and clown makeup that makes him look exactly like Heath Ledger as the infamous villain.

Andrew DeLuca looks taken back by his brother-in-law’s commitment to his costume that is the same as Amber’s which makes him feel disturbed at this similarity.

“Why so serious?” Alex asks causing Jo to laugh while he stands in front of her with a smile lifting her hand up to his lips for a kiss, “You complete me.”

“Oh my god!” Jo exclaims with a smile seeing her husband going to get himself a cup of coffee.

“What do you guys think?” Alex asks normal with a smile, “Am I a shoe in tonight or what?”

“Honey, I know you said you wanted to win but don’t you think your overdoing this just a little bit?” Jo looks at his eyes and smiles, “Are you wearing my eyeliner?”

“Hey, this suit is expensive I gotta keep a budget somewhere.” Jo laughs at this while DeLuca chuckles, “Yeah laugh now but tonight everyone is gonna love this and vote for me and we’ll see who gets the last laugh. Ha-ha-ha!”

“We’ll I wouldn’t hold my breath man. My wife is entering the contest too and she has won every year.” Alex raises an eyebrow and motions himself up and down at the spectacular costume he worked hard on, “Although it looks like she might have some competition this year.”

The door opens once again revealing Amber in her costume as The Joker from the 2019 movie Joker. She is wearing a red suit with a yellow three button vest and teal button down with red and black loafers. Her face is painted in the same style as Joaquin Phoenix’s in the famous movie with her hair tucked inside a green wig.

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Jo gasps and laughs at this coincidence causing Andrew to turn while he sips his drink and spits his coffee out in shock of seeing his wife wearing the same costume as her brother. Once the shock dies, he can’t help the laugh that escapes him and joins Jo while Amber smiles and recites a quote of the man she’s dressed as.

“Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?” This makes her husband and sister-in-law laugh harder making Amber confused, “What?”

She looks up to see Alex standing by the coffee table in his Joker costume as well with a sly grin and waving at her mockingly. The sight makes her frown and it agitates her that her brother is stealing her Halloween spotlight.

“Oh, come on!” Amber exclaims in anger, “You lazy copycat!”

“Me copycat? You copycat!” Alex retorts offended.

“Since when do you dress up for Halloween?” Amber asks dumbfounded, “You always said I was childish for doing it and now what you decided to upstage me like always?”

“Amber despite what you think I want to dress up for me and me only this has nothing to do with you.” Amber rolls her eyes at the explanation, “So how do you think the audience is gonna pick which Joker to vote for? I’m the oldest and my guy came first so how about I be Joker 1?”

Amber’s eyes widen at that as she realizes what he’s insinuating, “You’re entering the contest? Your gonna wear this at Joe’s tonight and compete against me as the Joker?”

Alex shrugs nonchalantly not seeing the problem but Amber chuckles evilly before proclaiming, “No! No, no, no, no, no, no and have I mentioned no! You have to change!”

Alex scoffs, “Oh no kid I am wearing my wifes makeup, you have to change.”

Amber groans and turns to Jo who looks frightened at being involved in this scrap, “Jo tell off your husband for me and get him to change his costume that he procrastinated last minute while I have been working on mine for a year!”

Alex scoffs and looks at DeLuca who is already regretting being here, “And DeLuca maybe you can tell your wife that Halloween isn’t just her night and that other people deserve a chance to compete against her and win because she is not the center of the universe.”

“Okay both of you enough!” Jo says sternly causing the Jokers to quiet, “Look it’s clear that the two of you are especially childish today and me and DeLuca don’t feel like getting in the middle of your sibling rivalry so here is what will happen. The both of you will change costumes and go as something else for the contest tonight.”

The Karev’s look wide eyed at that with Amber responding, “What?! Jo it’s Halloween day where are we gonna find a costume before tonight?”

“I don’t care, just find something else.” Jo turns to Alex who looks offended at her request, “Honey you work in peds I’m sure you can find a costume and avoid murdering your sister.”

“Bella, I love you but you’ve won the last three years, just dust off on of your many costumes.” Andrew suggests to his wife’s ire, “Hey here’s an idea how about you go as a couple of doctors in a hospital with a very strict dress code policy? Now come on go change shift is about to start and I’m pretty sure clown makeup is not sanitary for the OR.”

Amber groans but follows suit leaving the lounge before having one last complaint, “I spent all year on this!”

She slams the door closed causing Alex to roll his eyes before going to the restroom to change. As the door closes DeLuca and Jo laugh out loud at what just transpired loving this spooky holiday more and more.

That Night

“I can’t believe you got me to agree to compete with you and wear this seriously uncomfortable costume that is giving me a wedgie.” Jo complains as she untightens her underwear under the leather costume.

Instead of going as the Joker, Alex improvised and went straight to the costume shop where there were limited options. His hope seemed lost until he found a Batman costume from the circa 1966 show. He also found a Catwoman costume from the same show that gave him an idea on the best way to win the contest.

Instead of competing solo, he has a better chance of winning with his gorgeous wife who looks especially beautiful in the black catsuit with a gold belt and with a cat mask around her face. The blue spandex costume Alex is wearing is breathable with the mask loose around his face. Unlike his wife’s that she has been complaining about since she put it on.

And to ensure a slam dunk, Alex got a Robin onesie for Luna with a tiny yellow cape. They walk inside the lively bar with their little sidekick inside the stroller as the Monster Mash plays over the bar.

“It’s just for tonight and after we beat my sister who thinks she’s the queen of Halloween. Let me tell you that crown gives her a big head.” Alex chuckles looking at Robin inside the stroller, “But we’ll show her won’t we Little Robin? The Dynamic Duo cannot be beat especially when Robin is the cutest person in this whole party.”

Jo sighs at this competitive side of Alex, “Okay babe this whole over competitive Halloween spirit was really amusing at first but don’t you think your taking things a little too far?”

“That chicks going down.” Alex proclaims seriously.

“Seriously though what is with this whole…Jack Skellington act you have this year?” Jo asks Alex, “I mean any other year you would insist we stay in, watch scary movies, eat candy and ignore the trick or treaters. What’s so different?”

Alex’s serious expression turns thoughtful as he collects his thoughts before responding, “This past year has been hell for all of us and not just because of the pandemic. Meredith almost died, DeLuca almost died, Luna almost died, Amber had PTSD, Avery left, my hospital got bought, everything was a disaster.”

Jo looks at Alex sympathetic over their struggles in 2020, “But then the vaccine finally came out and covid became something we could live with. Things finally became stable and…I realized I’ve been taking my joy for granted. I never really enjoyed things that used to make me happy. Growing up I loved Halloween, trick or treating with my brother and sister, dressing up, I loved it but then I grew up. So I decided to remember a time I was happy with the people who make me happy. We can’t take our lives for granted anymore and I cannot waste a moment with my family.”

Jo grins at that heartwarming confession wrapping her arms around the back of his neck, “You make us happy too, more than you know. And if celebrating this holiday makes you happy then I’ll support you. I mean I’m wearing this ridiculous costume just for a chance to win 100 dollars of food and drinks at Joe’s.”

“Have I mentioned you look purrrrfect?”

Jo smirks, “And here I was thinking that was a Batarang I felt in your pants.”

Alex grins lustfully at his wife until he sees Amber walking across the bar in a new costume. Amber is also Catwoman but instead of the show she is wearing the costume from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns with a whip by her side. The sight sours his mood suddenly at this coincidence once again.

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“Are you freaking kidding me?”

Jo narrows her eyes confused and turns around seeing what upset him to her annoyance, “Oh my god really this again?”

Amber sees the couple and she approaches them with a peeved look, “Seriously? It wasn’t enough you copied me you had to copy me and husband too?! Are you kidding me?!”

“Yes Amber me and Jo knew you guys were dressing up as Batman and Catwoman and decided to steal it.” Alex retorts sarcastically causing Jo to roll her eyes at this fight, “Except unlike Jo you can’t pull off that costume at all.”

“Do not make me use this whip on you Alexander Michael Karev!” Amber yells as her husband Andrew stands by her side annoyed at this with Jo. Like Alex he is dressed like Batman from the Batman Returns movie to pair with Amber’s black leather stitched up catsuit.

Andrew puts his arm around his angry wife to calm her down, “Okay guys this is getting ridiculous, break it up and let the audience decide who’s the best Batman and Catwoman and we can finally settle this stupid feud once and for all and we can get back to sanity.”

Jo tries to pull Alex away from his sister, “Yeah come on honey you look way better anyways.”

Amber chuckles sarcastically, “Please my Batman actually has abs, and that show is so 1960’s. Try not to cry when we beat you.”

“Please cry so I can bask in the joy.” Alex retorts walking away with Jo and Luna leaving the DeLuca’s behind. Andrew raises an eyebrow at his wife who notices.

“What?”

“Was that argument really necessary?” Andrew asks both amused and annoyed, “We can spend 100 dollars at Joe’s without the card. Is this petty feud really worth it?”

“Hey you marry me, you marry my petty sibling rivalries.” Amber points out.

“Is it too late for an annulment?” Amber glares at Andrew smacking his arm with the whip, “Ow! I’m joking jeez! Can we just enjoy ourselves before we go up onstage and settle this ridiculous contest once and for all?”

Amber eyes soften at that proposal, “well you are catnip to a girl like me. Let’s go.” Andrew grins at that as his wife holds his hand leading him to the bar where they have a drink.

Later

After getting on stage and presenting themselves to the audience with other competitors and having ballots cast. The Karev siblings and their spouses wait impatiently as the bartender goes up to announce the winner.

“We all saw some great costumes tonight but only one can be the winner. Hang on to your hats goblins and ghouls cause the winner of this year’s costume contest is…” The bartender opens the envelope with Amber and Alex looking on anxiously, “Alex and Jo Karev as Batman and Catwoman!”

The audience erupts in claps and yells with Alex and Jo laughing at this before going up with Luna and getting their prize. Amber stands them dejected with a frown but reluctantly claps for her family with Andrew who grins squeezing her leather shoulder in comfort before pulling her in for a kiss to her head.

Alex and Jo walk down stage and approach his sister and her husband. Amber lightly chuckles at this result before commenting.

“I never had a chance.” Alex grins at his sister taking the loss well, “You brought a baby with you, I’m hot in leather but I am nothing against a baby.”

Alex chuckles, “Well you almost came close sis if that makes you feel better. Are we good?” He asks holding his hand out for a shake. Amber looks at his offered hand for a moment before shaking it in sportsman ship to their families relief.

“See now that is the spirit of Halloween.” Jo smiles looking at DeLuca, “Sorry DeLuca this just wasn’t your year.”

“Hey I’m just finally glad to be out of this dutch oven mask.” Andrew pulls his mask down exhaling in relief revealing sweat across his face to Amber’s amusement, “Next year I get to pick the costumes.”

Amber chuckles, “Deal. Come on let me make it up to you with a horror movie marathon and a bowl of popcorn with M&M’s and Reese’s with your name on it.”

“I love you.” Andrew says wistfully before he and his wife leave to do just that.

Jo turns to Alex with a smile, “Happy Halloween.”

“Happy Halloween.” Alex and Jo seal this night with a kiss as they celebrate this win and enjoy this family time on this spooky holiday.

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mizufae · 2 months ago

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So, because of my kidney stone and the election happening at the same time, I started watching Friends from the beginning all the way through, as a pleasant departure from reality. Today I finished watching all ten seasons. I watched it when it was first airing on nbc and again multiple times throughout my life but I don’t think I ever watched it start to finish like this before. Notably it was as background tv to playing animal crossing and sundry tasks, so it’s not like I was truly binging it in the hyper focus sense. But anyway I have some thoughts.

One, Chandler’s dad is a trans woman who is also a professional drag queen and she is unfairly maligned by the entire cast repeatedly, which sucks, but if we extend the fiction twenty years she would be a repeated guest judge on drag race and Chandler would get cool points galore.

Two, Chandler is nonbinary. Obviously the language and common awareness of this way of being wasn’t really out there when the show aired but presumably Phoebe or his dad would bring it up eventually, and my god is it written into the show. Every time Chandler is powerfully uncomfortable and disingenuous it’s because of a failure of fitting into explicit gender roles. Every time he expresses disgust at girly things, he is shown indulging in them in secret or with his most trusted confidants later. Every time he enjoys girly things comfortably he has to balance it out with machismo afterwards, but he is hopelessly uncomfortable with machismo as well. And it’s not just that kind of stuff, it’s his role in the friend group as occasional genderless clown, his self presentation, his repeatedly acceptance of mediocre compromise in his professional and romantic life because to really ask for what he wants seems impossible… I could go on. But anyway hopefully mid 50s Chandler is signing his emails with “Chandler Bing, he/they” and crossing his fingers that nobody asks him about it and then his work friends throw him a surprise coming out party he didn’t want.

Three, Chandler, Monica, and Joey are clearly in a poly situationship - we have regressed societally in a lot of ways but the ease with which male friendship and deep affection was expressed on Friends sticks out particularly in light of our current culture, but the three of them have something definitely beyond that. Like, Joey has a room in their house. Joey asks if he can have an aquarium and a sex swing in that room. Who are you sharing the sex swing with out in the suburbs, Joey???

Four, a lot has been said about the insidious silent racism of Friends’ extremely white fictional NYC, but wholly shit it pales in comparison to the rampant, explicit, unquestioned fatphobia. The fatphobia shows up in every episode. There is not a single fat character presented in a positive light. The only reason ugly naked guy is ugly is because he gained weight. Monica’s entire character is built on fatphobia. Even the kindest characters most accepting of individuality use fatness as an insult. We never even get a fat and happy stereotype, unless you count oblivious past fat Monica dancing while eating pizza, but we know she becomes thin shortly after this and also immediately before that shot she is described as “a pile of coats” on a bed. So like, ew. Anyway, the time period the show was filmed during is one of the worst for fat positivity. The perilously thin ideal body type of the mid 90s to early oughts is reflected in the show, but the show was making the culture for nearly half its seasons so it’s not like the writers were powerless to stop it or anything.

Five, Rachel should have ended up with Ross but Ross should have given up tenure to go to France with her! What absolute bullshit. He could have taken sabbatical and spent a gloriously romantic French summer with her and then they could have done the international young parents thing for a bit and Rachel could have come back after a few years to an even better job in the city. The way the whole show was about her slowly growing up and becoming assertive and taking risks and then the complete doormat Ross keeps her from a Parisian high fashion adventure??? Complete dud. I remember thinking this when it first aired, but goddamn, as a 40 year old I am so deeply disappointed.

Six, Phoebe is obviously bisexual and hopefully she came out to everyone some time soon after the show end, and also Mike made no sense. Like, he was fine, and fit in with the friend group okay, and obviously he is Paul Rudd so he is super cute and hot enough for Phoebe, but he was obviously shoehorned in and then barely developed. Half of the boys’ single episode dates had more personality than Mike shows for his entire run. David on the other hand was romantically planted for Phoebe for the entire show and was shockingly memorable considering how few episodes he was actually in. Phoebe’s ending should have been her getting a passport and flying to France with Rachel to be her translator and David meeting them at the airport because it turns out he and Phoebe had been penpals the whole time. But I digress.

Seven, did Ben and Carol die? Ben is phased out slowly, like, he shows up a few times as an older kid and then is mentioned in passing a few times, but Carol is basically disappeared into the void. She is seen like, once in the back half of the seasons and then never shows up or is mentioned again. She should have been there to tell Ross to go to France. She was supposed to be his friend. And his coparent. The rest of the friends all really liked her, and she fit into the expanded world perfectly well, alongside characters like Janice and Gunther, both of whom had important scenes in the last few episodes. So why not have a Carol cameo? A phone call??? Anything? A mention that Carol and Susan had moved to the burbs earlier and now Monica and Chandler were doing the same? Something?????? Poor work.

Eight, despite some of my issues above, Friends is an incredible piece of television. The ensemble never stops having chemistry. The combinations of characters always reveal a new element or dynamic. The costumes and sets are absolutely iconic, in ways I only now appreciate but inherently understood the first time. There is some of the tightest sitcom writing of all time. The guest stars were outrageous but always integrated, and the ensemble actors stood toe to toe with them no problem. There are genuine moments of love and stupidly funny gags all the time. Like, I’m annoyed by plenty of little things. But taken as a whole I now get why it was so big at the time and why it continues to endure.

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carmrants · 6 months ago

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wow this is my first ever post :D

this is going to be about the umbrella academy's season four, so if you haven't watched it there's a spoiler warning here! other warning, this is long. as. shit. (tl:dr, i am as confused as an octopus being taken into the sky)

now, don't before i start this rant i need to say that i LOVE the umbrella academy. i started watching it around Christmas of 2020 (there were only 2 seasons at the time), and the third season even came out on my birthday last year! i love this show, all the intricate details and talks about the timeline are phenomanal. i don't know much about the comics (i've only read the first), but i do know that they are MASSIVELY different, and i appreciate them both seperately!!!

but what the FUCK kinda drugs what this season on???

now me personally, i quite enjoyed most of the whole plot things in the series. i loved the first half. i, unfortunately for five, loved the concept of him being stuck on the subways (especially with all his little other versions). i loved the idea of the timelines melding together, and while the ending wasn't what i really expected, it wasn't necessarily a hate thing if that makes sense? (tbf i am a sucker for body horror, so that might just be a me thing)

but there are some things that did not make sense. at all.

firstly are the powers. now don't get me wrong, i love the power adaptations in this season, they're really cool as a standoff. my favorite was probably five's, since the concept of the whole subway was just SO INTERESTING FOR SOME REASON??? but plot wise, it literally made. no. sense. because the marigold is from them, the powers stolen from them. luther, diego, klaus, and (mostly) ben get to keep their powers, but i don't get where the others came from plotwise. there shouldn't really have been mutations in just a jar, especially since none of the new additions correlated to each other. FOR EXAMPLE, ben's power moving from his stomach to his back can make sense, you absorb it different and it just opens a new way (especially since his power is an eldritch horror, i doubt it cares where it erupts from). and like, if lila's ability slowly morphed from just copying to gaining the powers, that'd make sense. BUT WHERE THE HELL DID HER LAZER EYES COME FROM??? AND ALLISON'S EYES??? AND VIKTOR'S FIRE?????

i'm gonna (try to) address character by character (though five & lila are at the end, you know why.) NOW LET US BEGIN!!

LUTHER FIRST: firstly, why the hell is luther a stripper? why and when the heck did that happen? (it's hilarious yet extremely confusing, and i need the backstory now).

secondly, WHY did he get his ape body back?? since the marigold is a completely different substance compared to the rest of their anatomy, it made NO SENSE. and if it did somehow merge, then that means everyone else, or at least some people should've been part ape too. SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ABOUT?

DIEGO SECOND: i honestly quite liked diego this season, he was rather swag. (he did not deserve what they dis to him.) diego wasn't really able to be seen as a father though, i kinda wish that there was more screentime with him and his kids together as a family, or maybe some flashbacks with lila.

the only thing that really did annoy me (but i can't complain because it's his whole character) is his obsession with government people. you'd think after finding out his father (who he despises) is in the magestic twelve, he might take a second glance at the government.

ALLISON THIRD: okay, SERIOUSLY, why. the. fuck. is no one talking about the fact she literally SA'd luther??? like why is no one talking about this??? like, to me, the only reason she stopped is because SHE got uncomfortable because her rumor power made him force himself onto her (though i haven't watched season three in a bit, so i might be mistaken)

don't get me wrong, i love her relationship with claire, and obviously going through timelines and stuff makes you a not so decent person (i love five, but he's batshit crazy and probably the best example). but that does not, at all, excuse what she did to luther. and everyone just brushed it off???

i think the worst part about this is that it's worse in the first comic. AGAIN, haven't read the second or the third, but i have read the first. and in the first comic, LUTHER NEVER ROMANTICALLY LOVED ALLISON. NEVER. in the comics, he was rumored into loving her since he wasn't giving her enough attention when she was venting about patrick and claire. he only acted how he did in season one AFTER allison rumored him, which i believe is argueably way worse (since she probably would've also made him had sex, had it gone on)

KLAUS FOURTH: i loved klaus this season so much!!! i honestly don't think he got enough screen time, but that could just be that i favorite him a lot. his development of not fearing the dead as much is such a relief, and his fear of getting his power back just seemed so sad but like realistic at the same time too.

one thing i do need to address though was him being possessed by the ghosts to do 'physical buisness'. am i the only one who found that weird as fuck??? like his body was being possessed by ghosts with daddy kinks for an extra buck or two??? and also how he was forced to take his power too?? it just rubbed me such the wrong way, but i don't think anyone else is talking about it though.

BEN FIFTH: honestly, as much as i hate to say it, i kinda like how he ended the show. i was getting kinda bored viktor causing apocolypses writing thing, because although he didn't do it in the third season, he's not the only dangerous power. ben can summon an eldritch horror out of his stomach or back. and five, as figured out more in the third and fourth season, LITERALLY CAN GO THROUGH UNIVERSES.

also, as i said earlier, i am a fan of body horror. the whole corruption thing with the marigold and other element made sense to me for some odd reason? i don't think a lot of other people are happy with it, but i quite liked the whole idea and concept, especially when it was put into action. and also, on a morbid note, the monster was actually like disgustingly pretty. LIKE THE CGI AND STUFF FOR IT??? AND THE DESIGN WAS JUST REALLY UNIQUE TOO!!!

one thing i do wish though is that they made more episodes, that way they could truly go more in depth about ben and jennifer. i know that they were only there for a short time because of the element, but i feel like we kind of missed the progression between them pissing each other off to seeming really possessive? like thr whole 'don't touch her' and 'don't touch him' thing was a bit of a shocker for me, and i really just want development on thatt!! i know umbrella academy isn't exactly afraid to go into taboo topics (ahem luther and his love for borderline sisters ahem), so i felt like they should've elaborated more on it and just shown more progression. it's honestly sad that i saw more with the ship i will not name compared to them.

VIKTOR SIXTH: i'm not exactly sure what to think about viktor this season? he was kinda just there for me, to be honest. though one thing that pissed me off was him working with reginald after cursing allison out in front of the manor about her working with reginald. i mean, they are different motives which i'll give him, but it just seemed kinda odd? but i quite liked his new powers this season, his character was really nice, and im pretty sure elliot page's voice has gotten deeper too!!! which im really proud of him for!!!

but now, we must get to the dreaded part.

lila first, because i decided too: seriously, what the heck bro.

now, i think that five and lila are both in the wrong. though i throw that around loosely because i am NOT accepting that this actually happened. but lila was just, like, weird about it near the end?

she was talking about her kids and everything, but we barely saw her with them in the show at all. it's probably because it's rushed, and had there been a bit more time spent on it, it might make more sense? but it just didn't make sense at all.

secondly, SHE LITERALLY CHEATED ON DIEGO. she went on a break, not a break up. she wanted to come back, but yet she kissed five?? side note, what happened to lila's bracelet thing?? like i know that lila's one from season two broke, but i don't understand why she hated them all of the sudden.

THIRDLY, WHY DID SHE LIE ABOUT THE KEEPERS??? most of the stuff from the beginning she believed to be bogus anyways, so why was she lying about some book club??? that seemed like the most stupid thing to ever lie about.

here is also a thing i don't get about lila this season, because this part also pisses me off too. diego says near the beginning of the season that his twins were concieved because lila said that "she couldn't get pregnant while breastfeeding", which i find to be completely false. lila is not that stupid. she knows at LEAST two languages, was taught a whole bunch about the commission and their protocols, and yet didn't know that you could get pregnant while breastfeeding? diego i believe he didn't know, seeing as though he was talking to a mother, who probably researched this?? the reason i hate this is because of how much she talked about diego complaining about the kids, which is valid because if you do that at least don't do it in front of your kids. but to me, it just seems like she trapped him with more kids??? like it just seemed wrong, not to mention how he acted when we saw them before his and five's first fight, he seemed so sweet.

five second: there is a lot to say, oh my fucking god bro. but i'll start with the small stuff first :D

FIRSTLY, i feel like the plot twist of five's boss working with the keepers shouldn't have gone unnoticed. he should've known, he's the smartest character besides reginald, and worked in both the commission AND the CIA. he would've. noticed. the behaviors.

one thing that just really confused me, and also deals with the ending, was why five thought that the umbrella academy killing themselves would fix everything? the marigold would still exsist in the world, since there were more than 7 children born on that day. lila is proof of that, and so are the sparrows and phoniexs. the marigold as a flower made sense in the end, but i'm not sure why five didn't notice that??

side note, since apperently the writers don't know this. FIVE. IS NOT. A HOMEWRECKER. ESPECIALLY NOT TO HIS BROTHER???

he literally spent 45 years coming back from the first apocolypse, 2 of those years in the commission, and went through three apocolypses to save his siblings. five. loves. his. siblings. NOT TO MENTION DELORES, I HAVE NO DOUBT HE STILL LOVES HER. it just seemed really odd for him to have any romance in the plot.

aidan gallagher and ritu arya did an excellent job with what they were given, the chemistry between the two actors (although odd because of the age gap) would seem realistic. WOULD be, IF the characters WOULD MAKE SENSE TOGETHER. BUT THEY DON'T.

though one thing i think does make sense of this relationship is to see how five's mind works with romance, since he did have one with delores. and i fullheartedly believe that he would pull a stunt like keeping the journal, especially with the abandoment issues he has. the only reason why i hate it was because of the other character. and that's just in the cheating aspect, because the ages also make no sense either??

lila hargreeves is physically probably around her 30s in this part, kinda confusing to do the math though since it's not the most clear with the whole time thing. five hargreeves is physically only around 19. lila met five when he was physically around 15 to 16. and that's only the physical part!!

five, in the part that they kiss, is mentally in his 70s!!!! SEVENTIES!!! he was 15 before he spent fourty five years in the commisson, a couple months through apocolypses (hard to calculate given he sometimes goes back in time), three-four years i believe between season three's end and season four's start, and 7 years in the subway station. HE IS MENTALLY A BOOMER. LILA IS A MILLENIAL. LILA, HELL ALL OF HIS SIBLINGS, COULD MENTALLY BE HIS GRANDCHILDREN. WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT FACT????

ALSO. the fact he fights with diego instead of hurting the monster made no sense either, his whole goal has ALWAYS been the apocolypse. him falling for lila made no sense either, in my opinion it should've been five blowing lila off. (complete sidenote, i get the whole ben/jennifer body amalgimation growing bigger from the umbrella academy's powers was because of the marigold, but why the hell did it grow bigger from five's bullets? there is nothing to cleanse there, and it heavily confused me.)

OVERALL THOUGH, i am so heavily confused. so so confused. the general idea i actually quite like!!! i don't like the idea that they had to die to save the world, since it's addressed in the beginning there's like 43 children with powers. i did really like reginald having a coo coo wife, fit his character as well. THE SUBWAYS WERE REALLY COOL, I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHY, BUT IT WAS.

anyways, that is all!!! thanks for reading the longest rant i've written before

#the umbrella academy #umbrella acedmy #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #lila hargreeves #lila pitts #sparrow ben #rant post #personal rant #idk how to tag this

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