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rafesbabyg1rl · 15 days ago

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Hey girl pls do me a favor and GIVE ME ALL THE SPOILERS. So weird but i refuse to watch past season 2 bc ik id get so obsessed w the obx universe so its not good but i need to know what happened w rafe n sofia and who and why jj died PLS I BEG

SPOILER ALERT!!!

OBX SEASON 4 (pt.1 &2)

First of all, thanks for being my first ask!!! You have no idea how greatly I appreciate the support and attention I've received within the past 24 hours! I wish you could've seen the smile on my face when I received this anon ask.

Babe, I wish I was as strong as you, I'd be SO much happier if I stopped watching at season 2. But I'm literally addicted and have to watch the new episodes the second they come out. Part 2 of season 4 was so chaotic and DEPRESSING!! Like I already know rewatching the show will NEVER be the same. I'm also curious how season 5 will go now that JJ is DEAD.

I'm not completely sure whether or not you wanted spoilers for the entirety of season 4, or just part 2. But, seeing as I already over-explain enough as it is, I'll just give you part two spoilers.

The following will contain outer bank spoilers for season 4 part one and two:

In episode 6, we learn more about JJ's past (his real parents). Basically, Chandler Groff (JJ's real father) gave JJ (real name Jackson) to Luke Maybank after or just before JJ's mother died. Because Luke worked for the Genrette's and was somewhat close to JJ's mother. Also, in this episode JJ only tells Kie about what happened because he doesn't want the others "even thinking he's a Genrette."

We get TWO Rafe scenes in this episode. AND LET ME JUST TELL YOU HOW SCRUMDIDILYUMPCIOUS HE LOOKS!!!!!!! He just looks so OLDDDD and so handsome, he's also giving majorrrrr dilf vibes and I'm so here for it.

In his first scene, he's meeting with Sarah. Since Kie tells Sarah that Rafe came by and offered to help (with what they though was the land situation) but, what he really wanted to talk about was money. Rafe wants to work with Sarah to get Wheezie back from Rose, since Rose wouldn't allow either of them to even SPEAK with their youngest sister. He proposes that after they get Wheezie back, they get their inheritance. After Ward "died" the first time, he left a quarter of his money to Rafe, and a quarter to Sarah. Neither of them had received their money since Rose clung onto it, keeping all the Merchant Gold money for herself. Rafe appears a bit distraught and emotional as he talks to his sister. Sarah of course gets emotional as well and leaves abruptly, only saying that she's sorry but she can't do this. I felt soooo bad for my baby after this, it was clear that he was trying to rebuild their family, but he was scared to truly show how much he cares, and Sarah crushed him within seconds.

The pogues have no other option now but to round up as many people from the cut to attend court with them and provide support as they try to keep poguelandia from being taken. When things don't go their way per usual, JJ flips out and starts a riot in the courthouse. All the pogues help him escape the cops. JJ starts absolutely destroying shit on figure 8. I think this is him clearly crashing out after finding out his piece of shit, abusive father isn't even his real father, and that his actual parents are a murderer and a dead lady. To help JJ, Pope punches a cop that's about to shoot JJ and gets arrested. Oh, and while at court, Luke made an appearance, something about him being the previous owner of the property and signing some paper that helped the kooks. Trading his signature for his freedom (since he's a literal fugitive and all).

Sofia has a small scene where she's at work but calls Hollis on the phone and demands to meet with her, feeling wrong about their arrangement.

The second scene with Rafe is when he goes and meets with Chandler Groff about the deal he made with Hollis in the last part. In this scene, he calls Sofia his girlfriend. Rafe mentions that his girlfriend thinks the deal is a big hoax and he contemplates canceling the wire money transfer. But he decided against it, agreeing to stay in the deal with Groff and Hollis. He tells Groff that if he screws him, he'll come after him. This was very season 3 of him. AND RAFE LOOKS SO OLD AND SCRUMDIDLYUMPTIOUS. HE GIVES OFF DILF VIBES SO STRONGLY IN THIS SCENE.

Episode 7 starts off with some more of JJ and Chandler Groff talking. JJ happens to go over to see Groff on Goat Island at the wrong time, and he ends up caught up in Groff's crap. Pope spends a night in jail, being released the next day with an ankle monitor and a trial date. Pope was told he must reside at home with his parents, and he's not allowed to see or talk to any of the pogues until after his trial. So pretty much in this episode all Cleo and Pope do is sneak around trying not to get caught talking to each other. And in this episode, Heyward introduces the idea that Pope must go into the military for a few months rather than go to jail.

The rest of the crew (Sarah, John B, and Kie) follow JJ's trail of destruction in order to try and find him. Meanwhile, Sarah splits off to take a PREGNANCY TEST. Of course it's positive, because the writers literally add every single fan theory they come across or something like that. Kie basically walks in on Sarah and sees the test, Kie has quite a few negative things to say. Sarah seems upset as she asks Kie if she has anything positive to say about the situation, in which Kie tells Sarah that she'll be an amazing mom and, John B loves her and will be an "all-right dad", the final thing Kie tells Sarah in this scene is that she has all of them to help. Sarah intends to tell John B, but the timing is horrible, so it stays between her and Kie for a bit.

Sofia finally meets with Hollis to discuss the agreement they had (Hollis getting Sofia to nudge Rafe towards making the deal on Goat Island). The scene is short and despite Hollis' reassurance that the deal is real, all this serves to do is make Sofia feel even worse about what she did.

JJ spends a lot of time with Groff in this episode, not by choice. And you can tell Groff is starting to tear down some of JJ's defensive walls. My thoughts are that since JJ had a shit father that gave him nothing but a shitty life, he's trying to take the recent news and make something good out of it, something real. And when confronted by JJ in the start of the episode, Groff declines being JJ's father only to admit that he is JJ's dad towards the middle of the episode. Groff only admits the truth so that JJ helps him because he can't get out of his bad situation he's involved in with the mercenaries without JJ's help. After both being kidnapped, Groff tries to frame JJ with the murder of one of the mercenaries instead of admitting to it himself. Luckily, they don't believe that it was JJ. This episode ends with Sarah, John B, and Kie using explosives and fire to help save JJ from Groff's problems.

NO RAFE IN THIS EPISODE!!!!

Episode 8 begins with the pogues--and Groff trying to figure out more about the map and the new treasure (The Blue Crown). Pope gets told he has to go off into the military a lot sooner than he expected...like, right now; which leads into the formation of Pope and Cleo's new club, the "No goodbyes club".

JJ and Groff go out on their own to obtain the 'lens' that will help translate the map from his mother's grave, spending some actual bonding time in the process. It's not as if JJ is purposely trying to get close with to/ bond with Groff, but it just sort of happens. I feel like Groff is doing it on purpose because he wants JJ's help so he can continue to play him. Meanwhile Sarah and John B run an 'errand' (go to the court house to i THINK get married officially after Sarah tells John B that she's pregnant. But, the courthouse is closed because of the damage JJ caused so they decide to try again another day. Kiara stays at poguelandia.

We get ONE TINYYY scene of Rafe in this episode. He's just in the sheriff's department yelling and demanding to talk to Shoupe. He explains how Groff and Hollis stole 400k from him, and Shoupe realizes the guy they've been looking for actually is Groff.

Groff makes JJ be the one to get the lens from his MOTHERS grave. I felt so bad because literally she wasn't even fully decomposed so the only memory JJ will have of his real mom is her rotting corpse. Groff tries to frame JJ again and he locks him in his mother's crypt. Groff goes back to poguelandia and steals the map from them, when Kiara catches onto him he pushes her and causes her to hit her head. When she's literally UNCONSIOUS he locks her body in the shop's cooler. Groff returns to JJ, letting him out of the crypt and acting all innocent and fatherly once again, as if he didn't just lock his son's girlfriend up in a freezer. They stop by Hollis Robinson's house, JJ stays in the car as Groff goes in to talk with Hollis. Hollis accuses Groff of lying and stealing 400k from Rafe, threating to turn him into Shoupe. Groff shoots her and leaves the body. He then takes JJ out on a boat, saying that he'll drop him off. Except of course he doesn't. Groff tries leaving the island with JJ, trying to convince him that they don't need his friends and that they should do this one alone. JJ wants to call his friends, but Groff "accidently" tosses his phone into the water.

The others find Kie and she tells him about Groff, they track the last place JJ's phone was before it lost connection. When JJ calls Groff out for his bullshit, Groff injures JJ and throws him into the ocean. JJ is left alone, only able to back float when the others find and rescue him.

In episode 9, Groff frames JJ for the murder of Hollis Robinson. When the cops find where the pogues have been hiding, they have no choice but to go on the run. They all agree that they have nothing to lose and decide to go to Morocco in search of the Blue Crown. While looking for a boat to steal that can get them to Morrocco, they're spotted by the cops and are forced to run yet again. We get a TINY scene with Rafe while he eavesdrops on the pogues and overhears them talking about needing to find a way to get down to Morocco. Pretty much you see him for 2 seconds and all he does is look good, since he doesn't even make a single sound in this scene.

The next scene of Rafe is with BARRY!!! I WAS PRAYING BARRY RETURNED FOR AT LEAST ONE SCENE THIS SEASON, I missed his fruity ass flirting with Rafe. (Literally this was the one GOOD thing to happen in part 2). But anyway Rafe asks Barry to trade boats, Barry's big ass tuna fishing boat that he apparently has now for Rafe's smaller, flashy, half a million-dollar boat. Barry doesn't want to at first but Rafe tells him that if he doesn't get his piece of shit boat back, he can keep Rafe's boat. And because Barry is like in love with Rafe, he agrees and they end the scene being all silly and flirty like always. Also, Idk if it's just me, but in this scene the way Rafe talks is so off. Why does he sound like that?? And part of it is clearly a voice over but why is he talking so weird? It's like the first scene of him in part 1 of season 4.

That scene jumps right into another scene of baeeeee. It goes from a Rafe and Barry scene straight into a Rafe and Sofia scene. I felt so spoiled lmao. Anyways, Rafe and Sofia are talking outside on a beach (I think it's the same spot he took her in s4 ep5 to talk). Rafe tells Sofia that Groff killed Hollis and took off with his money, he explains that he's gonna track Groff down and get his money back. He stays very vague about where he's going though. Rafe tells Sofia that he wants to tell her something before he leaves (I got all excited watching this thinking he's gonna say he loves her)...BUT THEN HE GOES AND GETS DOWN ONTO ONE FUCKING KNEE IN FRONTOF HER????????????? Rafe fucking Cameron PROPOSING? WHAT?? Sofia tries to say that she has something to tell him too (likely about the arrangement she had with Hollis) but Rafe interrupts her by pulling out a ring, "It was my mom's". ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING? Rafe tells Sofia he wants her to have the ring before he left so she knows that they're real. Sofia keeps trying to say that she did something bad, and that it's about Hollis, but Rafe tells her he doesn't care. Rafe admits that there's a lot she doesn't know about him that's far worse than anything she could've done. He says he doesn't care to know what she did and that he wants to be with her. Rafe very clearly is intentionally not saying the real words like husband/wife, married, etc. and I think that's very in character for him. He does say, "If you say "yes", there's no more scraping the barrel, old Pogue bullshit. Okay? I want you...I want you to quit your job, and I want you to...to move in with me. Okay?" And Sofia is crying because, real well and also the overwhelming guilt eating at her from the inside out for what she did to him. This is where RAFE SLIPS THE RING ON HER FINGER!!! Then he quickly gets onto his feet and pulls her up to him and they KISSSSSS for a good, hot second actually. When he pulls away he's all happy and giggly as he gives her keys to his house, putting them in her hands and then wrapping his hands over hers. "I'll be back in a few weeks, all right? Stay at my...stay at our place." OUR PLACE? THIS MAN PAUSED TO CORRECT HIMSELF AND SAY ITS THEIRRR PLACE? Then he literally puts his hand on her cheek and whispers, "All right?" as she sobs. She nods and he says "I love you". I REPEAT, RAFE CAMERON SAID I LOVE YOU TO HIS GIRL!!!!!!!!!!! Then they kiss two more times, he mumbles a 'bye' before walking off, only turning to look back for a second when Sofia says, "I love you too". HELLLOOOOOOO????????????????? Babes I was literally in SHOCK. After being deprived of Rafe for nearly two episodes and then getting a Rarry scene and THIS back-to-back?? Shit gave me whiplash fr.

Going back to the pogues, their stolen police boat deflates due to being shot and Shoupe catches up to them. They have no choice but to talk to him. Shoupe mentions the warrant he has for JJ's arrest for killing Hollis. Except this time Shoupe actually uses his brain and knows that JJ did not kill Hollis. He also speaks to Pope since Pope cut off his ankle monitor when he escaped from going off to the military. Shoupe says he has a good idea on what JJ did and didn't do, but he says he has a warrant for both Pope and JJ and need to take them in. This is when Rafe comes out of literal fucking nowhere and says he's just there to save everyone's asses. He tells Shoupe that Groff was scamming with Hollis the whole time and it was most likely Groff that killed her, not JJ. Rafe says Groff probably killed Genrette too and the body that they found (that Shoupe already realized was murdered by Groff). He says that Shoupe could bring in the pogues for some vandalism 'bullshit', or he can get the "big fish", as in Groff. Rafe explains to Shoupe that the pogues know where Groff is and that Rafe can get them there, but "they can't do shit if they're all locked up". Rafe explains to Shoupe that the smart thing for him to do is to let them go that he can solve the crime of the century and keep his job. Rafe throws in an 'added bonus', saying that when they get back and Shoupe's got Groff locked up, Rafe will tell him "what happened last summer on the runway", when Shoupe had found Rafe out on the tarmac. He says he'll tell Shoupe the real story of what happened, because he knows Shoupe wants to know. In which Shoupe replies, "You wanna know what I want to know? I wanna know about another little runway accident from a while back. How bout' that?" Eventually, Rafe convinces Shoupe to let them go and get Groff. Meanwhile all the pogues stand around in confusion at what the fuck is happening.

Rafe takes the pogues onto the boat he borrowed from Barry. But, the pogues say they don't trust him and they tie Rafe up and lock him up in his own ship. Rafe spends practically the entire trip to Morocco tied up and locked away, not getting to have much interaction with anyone. But, when a huge storm approaches, the ship starts to go down. The pogues almost forget about Rafe until they hear him banging on shit and yelling for help, the room he was in starting to fill with water. Pope and others immediately say not to let him out, but Kie being Kie, says "no, he's gonna drown, we have to." And she's the ONLY one that gets up and finds a knife to cut Rafe free.

JJ spends his time on the boat to Morocco in a spiral and constantly drinking, so he's not doing shit when all this goes down. On the boat, John B even tells JJ about Sarah being pregnant in hopes to cheer him up. At first JJ seemed happy but he suddenly and without warning switched back to being negative and says a bunch of crap like how John B won't be a good dad. During the storm John B drives the ship and for some reason Sarah goes to find him, and she gets hit with a wave, and taken into the water. JJ sees this and calls out for her, without thinking (when does JJ ever think) he jumps in after her. John B watches it all play out, watches as his PREGNANT wife AND best friend disappear into the raging ocean. Kiara finds John B and asks where Sarah is, in which John B responds by hugging Kie as she asks where JJ was as well. Rafe comes out and takes in the situation at hand, he shouts for his sister.

The next scene is of John B, Kiara, Pope, Cleo...and Rafe emerging out of the ocean. The crashed tuna boat visible behind them. HOLY FUCK WAS RAFE HOT AS FUCK GETTING OUTTA THAT WATER...THE WAY HE SPIT LIKE HELLO??? Spit in my mouth next please! Despite their efforts, nobody can find Sarah and JJ. The group of 5 well, group of 4 and Rafe (he's literally 4 feet away from everyone else at all times, like he just sits there in silence), wait around for what I believe is like a day before they finally spot JJ and Sarah.

And FINALLY episode 10 begins with all the pogues reconnecting and talking about random stuff while Rafe just like sits to the side.... JJ mentions, (I'm including this bc I feel like it's def foreshadowing) that a good name for a baby would be JJ, because it can go either way. And because only Kie, JJ, and John B know about Sarah, Pope is like "wait what baby?" And then John B and Sarah tell the group, Rafe just kinda looks at Sarah. I'm mad that he didn't say anything or talk to her about it because I KNOW this man is happy to be an uncle. I know he's happy for Sarah and I KNOW he wants to say something SO BAD.

The group make their journey through Morocco, only stopping when Sarah starts to feel unwell. They ralize she probably just needs to eat so everyone except for Rafe splits off and tries to steal food for her. But they get caught and chased, only getting Sarah a little food. After they just get moving again, the cops find them and try to arrest Rafe. When Rafe has to split up from the others, he figures something out, having to call Sofia to help him with something. The pogues and Rafe all get new clothes and try to blend in.

As Rafe is off on his own mission, he comes across Groff, saving him from being killed by others by taking him hostage himself. Groff tells Rafe about the treasure he's after and how much it costs, since Rafe is only worried about getting his money back after Groff screwed him over. Rafe tells Groff that because he screwed him, and then lost his money to the mercenaries, he is now gonna be Rafe's bitch. "And, if you're lucky, I'll give you a little taste on the back end, all right?" And Rafe gets all up close and quiet, "If I let you live." HE DOES THE SEXIEST LITTLE SMILE/SMIRK/GIGGLE HERE??? I love him. I wish he'd give me a little taste on the back end. Groff shows Rafe how to read the map with the lens, so he can get to the blue crown. As Rafe looks at the map, Groff yaps as usual, but when he mentions a 'girl', Rafe AIN'T FUCKING PLAYINGGG. "What girl?" He asked immediately. Groff told Rafe what Sofia did and this just sets Rafe off. He's not sure whether to believe Groff or not. Groff attacks Rafe with a knife, stabbing him in the hand, but Rafe easily gets ahead in the fight. Groff makes it too fucking easy when he stands right in front of a well, which Rafe of course pushes him into and then scream-laughs into. "Checkmate, bitch!" BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL U HE LOOKED SEXY ASF HERE! Then Rafe like whines and groans in pain and I just literally wanna do anything and everything to make bae feel better. Rafe takes the map and the lens, putting it in his motorbike and wrapping his hand up, quickly driving off and leaving Groff behind.

Rafe calls Sofia and she answers all cute like, "hey babe, what's up?". While he's all pissed off and just says, "Is it true, what Groff just told me?" Sofia says nothing. "Is it?" He asks again, nodding when he still gets silence in response. "All right, pack your shit. Get out of my house. God, after everything I did for you? We're done. Done." and he hangs up. BRO I WAS SOBBING. He sounded and looked so hurt I felt so bad. Like UGHHH. But also like literally he said he didn't care to know when she tried to tell him. So like would he have ended things if she said it before he left? Or was it just like a heat of the moment thing? Especially because he didn't hear it from Sofia, and he had to find out from Groff of all people.

The pogues find Groff in the hole and of course he tries to manipulate JJ into throwing him a rope. JJ gets to make the decision on what to do with him, and he just tosses a big jug off water into the well and leaves. As they leave, Groff shouts "JJ! JJ get back here or I'll tear your throat out!" But they don't listen, why would they be scared of a man stuck way down deep at the bottom of a well? As Rafe tries to follow the map and find the crown, the mercenaries find him. They demand the map from him and he submits with his hands in the air. The listens to what they say in defeat. The pogues watch from a far. Cleo says, "They gonna kill him." To which Pope says, "do we care?". JJ adds, "yeah, that's a good question, Pope.". As Sarah clearly struggles with some internal conflict about her brother, the others keep talking regularly. Cleo speaking again, "Yeah, but then they'd take the scroll." Nobody shows any care or remorse for Rafe as they watch him be held at gunpoint. As the mercenaries approach Rafe and threaten to shoot him, the pogues argue about how they're gonna get the map and lens back. While they all pitch their ideas and shut down others, Sarah takes the gun from JJ, causing them all to look at her. "What are you doing? Hey. Woah." Questions JJ. Sarah doesn't respond as she holds the gun up and cocks it, "that's my brother." She says seconds before shooting one of the mercenaries' vehicles, causing it to blow up and be the distraction Rafe needed to get away.

Rafe and the pogues run off into a building as they're chased by several of highly armed individuals. Pope and Cleo stay to guard the door in case they get in as the others run off. Pope has the gun and gets ready to shoot. Since he's never shot anyone before he's nervous, so when he has the chance, he purposely misses his target as he fires 'warning' shots. Cleo and Pope run as they get shot at.

Meanwhile, Rafe continues to run with the scroll and the lens, but John B tries to stop him. Rafe feels cornered and holds a knife out to John B in self-defense. "It's ours", says Sarah, referring to the scroll Rafe clung on to. "It was. I look the shit." He responds. "I bought it for 400k, actually. Okay?" He's clearly panicked as his gaze frantically switches between John B and Sarah. Sarah reminds Rafe that she just saved his life, and he spins to face her, lowering his knife as he talks to his sister. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You did it so you could steal it from me. There was something in it for you. All right? Not to actually help me. I know that." Rafe pants. John B speaks "Rafe we don't have time." Then Sarah speaks again, "We can read that, you can't." Rafe responds to his sister, his voice getting louder, "Why would I help you? Huh? I don't trust you." Raises the knife back up, pointing it at his own sister. "I don't trust any of you. Do you understand?" At this point it's very clear he's panicking from emotion and because he feels trapped. His voice is uneven, threatening to break with emotion, "Dad trusted you. You remember what happened to him?! Do you remember?!" He yells at Sarah. She yells back in response, "Dad died saving my life." Sarah steps cloer to her brother, her voice becoming more raw with emotion. "And you're so eager to blame me for everything, you won't even listen to what happened. Singh's men had me at gunpoint. I was gonna die." She's fighting back tears now, " Dad took those bullets for me. And if he was still around, he'd want us to work together. I know you know that." (GET READY FOR RAFE'S NEXT LINE, CUZ I CERTAINLY WASN'T!!!) His eyes are watery as he looks at his sister, his voice betraying him as it shakes with his words, "No, you're just gonna screw me like everyone else in my life. You...I know you will." Sarah's crying as she interrupts him, "No, no, because I'm all you've got. And you're the only family I have left." (OH MY GOD RAFE IS LITERALLY POUTING RIGHT HERE AS TEARS THREATEN TO FALL DOWN HIS FACE). John B joins in, "She's telling the truth." Rafe sighs as Sarah breathes shakily, his eyes leave her to look around so he can gather himself enough to speak. His voice is soft now as he gives in, "All right. If we uh...if we work together, I...I still get my cut? So." Sarah nods, "yeah." Rafe asks again, "I get my cut?" And this time John B responds, "yeah". Rafe holds the map out to Sarah and you can very clearly see how much Rafe is shaking. Sarah raises her hand to grab the map, but instead it lowers and both of her arms wrap around Rafe. He just stands there for a moment, confused as he takes in the moment. Rafe cries as Sarah holds him tight. The moment of course is interrupted and they split up again.

Going back to Cleo and Pope who are being chased through the buildings. They stop and check their ammo, Pope reveals that he has one bullet left. The mercenaries continue to chase and shoot at them, eventually, Cleo gets shot in the shoulder.

Kiara and JJ team up to try and distract and take down the mercenaries. Rafe staying with John B and Sarah, giving them the map and lens to figure out. And they figure out where the crown is located just as a sand storm rolls in.

Theres a brief clip shown of Groff climbing out of the well.

Rafe tries to climb to get the crown, but he can't with his injured hand. So JJ decides to be the one to climb and get it.

While Cleo and Pope are held up due to Cleo being shot. Cleo tries to grab the gun so she can shoot the man that killed Terance in part one. But she can't even lift her arm. She wants Pope to leave her so she can shoot the man with the last bullet. But Pope being the great guy he is and knowing how important this is to Cleo he takes the gun from her. Pope decided that hell do it, he'll kill someone for Cleo. And he does, he shoots the guy right in the head.

Sarah and John B fight off some of the mercenaries. Kiara and Rafe watch as JJ climbs the large structure in the sand storm to get the Blue Crown. They're running out of time as the mercenaries creep up on them. But, Rafe tells Kie, "You stay here. I'll go down and buy us some time." In which she responds, "What? No, Rafe! Are you crazy? They'll kill you!" Rafe shouts back, "Hey! I'm a killer too! I've got nothing to lose!" And he walks off. In the disguise of the sandstorm, Rafe fights off several men.

JJ finally finds the Blue Crown. Of course he's shouting in excitement, "Long live Poguelandia!" JJ is happy, this means he'll get to save his home. But, he still has to hurry. JJ carefully climbs down the tall structure, immediately meeting Kie and showing off his discovery. Their cute moment is short lived as JJ spots a gun pointed at them. They run again as they're being shot at. And OF COURSE none other than that annoying motherfucker Groff comes out of nowhere and captures Kie, holding a knife against her throat. JJ comes to the rescue, trading the crown for Kie without any hesitation. Groff yaps like usual "You could've stuck with me JJ. Think about what you could've had. But now, you...you get nothing. Nothing." But JJ disagrees, "Nah, I already have everything. And I have everything I've ever wanted. Things that you'll never have. You want the crown? Sure, take it. Take it. I don't want it. Just...let her go." Groff tells JJ to hold the crown out, which he does as they switch, Kiara for the crown. When Kie is back in JJ's arms he reassures her, "I've got you.", as they hug. "It's okay." Kiara mumbles a response, "thank you." As Groff watches the two, he's clearly in distress, "JJ", he speaks. JJ lets go of Kie, keeping her behind him as he turns to face his 'father'. "It's...it's a shame. You and me." JJ has no time to respond as Groff shoves the knife right into JJ's gut. You can hear his flesh squelching and Kiara gasp while JJ groans, looking down at the knife as Groff twists it around inside of him. JJ looks up at Groff as he speaks, "you should have given me...the rope." Groff tugs the knife out, Kiara immediately catching JJ as he falls back.

Groff runs off with the crown as JJ and Kie fall to the ground. All she can say is "it's okay. It's okay." JJ groans and coughs, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, look at me. Look at me." JJ looks in her eyes as she speaks frantically. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay. Let me see it." Blood spreads through the fabric of his clothes quickly. Kiara sits there in front of him, shaking and scared, unsure of what to do or say. "Oh..." She cries, looking at JJ with a knowing look in her eyes. "Don't...don't move." She mumbles. JJ speaks, "Kie." But Kiara continues to mumble, "no...no. It's okay, it's gonna be okay. JJ, please, it has to be." She cries. JJ chokes out a few words, "Hey. Hey. I never told you my wish." (referring to something earlier in the season, he didn't tell Kie his wish because then it wouldn't come true) "What?" She cries. "No, JJ. JJ. It's okay." JJ groans, "I already got it." He smirks as he speaks, knowing these are his last moments alive. Kiara cries as he speaks again, "I already got my wish. Everything I wanted." JJ uses his last words to help reassure Kiara. "No. No, please..." She sobs, shaking her head. "Okay, okay." JJ groans in pain. Kiara beg, "Stay with me, please." JJ looks her in the eye for a moment before speaking softly, "Take care of the others, okay?" But Kiara shakes her head again, refusing to accept that this is really happening. "No, no. It's not what this is." She sobs as JJ speaks his final words, a single tear rolling down his cheek. "I love you, Kie." "I love you too." JJ's eyes flutter shut and his head falls back. Kiara shakes his body "no, no, no, no. Please, no. JJ, please. John B! Pope!" She screams. "no...no. no." John B starts to narrate here and it's so fucking sad. There's a whole flashback on memories of JJ and a bunch of sad talk. I can't even describe everyone's reactions. Even Rafe was in shock. They buried him out in the desert, he didn't even get to be buried in his home. And basically it ends with Kiara saying JJ wouldn't sit and do nothing if it had been one of them, he'd get revenge. So 100% season five will be Kie's season.

Anyway, I spent WAY to long and put WAY too much detail into this summary...hope it answers your questions...thank you!! Sorry that this is so long, I can't summarize to save my life.

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mightyfloofy · 10 months ago

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Talking a little on the recent mangas I've started reading this week😗✨📚(two of them are new to me, for the others, I've picked up on the manga after finishing their current anime seasons) 💚THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS💚

1) Tomodachi Game:

So i think I've only read up to around 12 chapters or so and it's so good????

The roller-coaster of emotions it's making me have though- like i started loving Tenji with my whole heart and soul then he...disappointed me. Then he earned my trust again- a whole twist.

Yuuichi is a pretty good MC so far. Bro is a cutie.

Sawaragi pisses me off a little. Idk how to explain it though.

Yuutori my girl 💜

Shibe um... 💀💀💀 Yeah. And no i don't dislike him for what he tried to do in chapter 2 or so. I just... He's too dumb.

Also the art?????? Muah

I watched some scenes of the anime in the beginning after i read a couple of chapters and it's...disappointing. Even the animation is wonky.

But just- the art style has me in luvvvv

Manabu-kun keeps on gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing every chapter.

Also, I'm praying for my boy Yuuichi's sanity. At first i was like "Sawaragi, i get hes cute but WHAT do u see in him??" and i see now. My girl has some amazing taste, at least for that.

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2) Mairimashita! Iruma-kun

I've only read 4 chapters but this shit has me ROLLINGGGG

It's so funny pls

The art is also pretty good too. I'm not really a fan of Slice of Life, but this one hits.

Also, pretty boi alert:

My favorite character so far is this guy though:

He's so babygirl ✨✨✨✨

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3) Demon Slayer

So I started reading it right after the events of season 3, of course.

Giyuu's backstory lowkey hit home-

He needs a hug. I won't say more.

Tanjiro is precious, as always, just like Nezukooo (a loud 'Nezuko-chan' came in my and after i typed that)

Oh yeah, Zenitsu:

Me to Shinobu, "Doctor, hes out again"

Nah because he didn't have to chomp Tanjiro's sky wide forehead like that???? 😭😭😭

So i have two volumes of Demon Slayer at home and i gotta say, the art improved and it's nice to have seen it grow. I know it's like this for most mangakas, but here i didnt see a whole art style change or whatever but something becoming finer while keeping that style very present.

The story is at its peak right now, i reached up to the point where Muzan decided to heehee himself in the no-no place for him. (idk how to say this without spoiling)

I'm luving it so far

Also, my husband:

I miss his gorgeous face LAWDDDDD HAVE MERCYYY

Though i already loved him before seeing his face.

I've finally memorised the master's name: Ubuyashiki

It's an achievement.

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4) Blue Lock

Ok i can't add pics anymore but I'm confident most people know what it is without having watched it.

I wanted to share some nice Rin pics but guess it'll be for another time. (yall will be missing out on my man)

So, i picked up from where the first season stops and-

I miss Kunigami. A lot. He was one of my favs 😭😪

Shidou is special (him telling Isagi he'd love to see him explode again got me praying for him fr)

The story has taken a nice turn with the U-20 team rushing things up. I love it but i want to see Sae play already so I'm being an impatient little bug.

The art is MUAH as always. I love the lines added for light shading, ill probably inspire myself off it for future drawings.

Hiori needs to be friends with Chigiri so they can talk about hair products (Hiori is like a short-haired Chigiri with cyan hair. My boy has naturally long lashes (Rin's remain better 💅)

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That's all, folks!

I hope to read even more in the upcoming days and hopefully I'll get to talk about them like i just did above.

Expect headcanons from each of these mangas 💜💜💜

And you can even send me recommendations 😙✨

It's midnight where I am like damn-

Bye byeeeee

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phantomoftheorpheum · 2 years ago

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Okay, I got a chance to watch the School Spirits season finale (1x08) and I have so many thoughts and feelings! As usual, I'll be placing them below a cut to shorten the post & to hide spoilers.

Okay. Okay. I literally just finished watching so this is me processing in real time. idk how I feel. Because there are some things I like a lot, but others that I just... I'm not sure. I haven't been convinced.

Let's start with this- I don't love that the entire money/blackmailing scheme seemingly means nothing?? I thought it would at least factor in a little, since we spent so much time on it. The only way it ties in now is that Janet is using the money Nicole stole to get away. I think it's a bit unsatisfying that we get to uncover all these clues & 90% of them just go completely out of the window.

I also don't love that Maddie's "death" ties entirely back to Mr. Martin & Janet. While, obviously, there are still some questions there as to precisely what is happening, I think I would have liked this plot point a lot more if an actual living person "killed" Maddie for a real world reason, but it didn't actually kill her, but the vulnerability of the moment/being injured is what allowed Janet & Maddie to essentially switch places. Then what happened to Maddie has ties to both life & death. And there's still a person out there who did attack/attempt to kill her (and also adds a dimension of them only having some of the info & not understanding what's going on), but there's also this whole supernatural situation going on.

I'm super conflicted about the Janet situation as a whole. While it definitely opens up some interesting possibilities for season 2 (pls, I need it), I am always nervous about anything that potentially makes death less permanent. I've said before that I don't want Maddie to be alive & even with this revelation, I'm not sold on a potential conclusion that would end with her alive/back in control of her body. Obviously this would be a distinct possibility, since it's unclear exactly how/what happened with Janet/Maddie and presumably it could be reversed. I know everyone will feel differently about this, but I personally tend to feel emotionally cheated when I'm asked to invest in a character's death and then it's walked back. So much of this season has revolved around emotionally plucking at our heartstrings, either by having characters hope that Maddie's alive when the audience has been told she's dead (like with her mom & Nicole), or with a character like Simon who is processing knowing she's "dead" & grieving her loss, that I wouldn't want to feel like those scenes exist to get an emotional response from the audience, not because they have weight long term in the story. Like I said, everyone has a different tolerance level for this, and I know mine is pretty low. That being said, I am staying cautiously optimistic that this could go in a really interesting/satisfying direction, if handled delicately.

Ngl, I wish we'd gotten more ghosts in the most recent episode. I just love the ghost characters & would have liked a little more time with them. I also now feel like I need to rewatch & try to figure out exactly when Rhonda became suspicious/found the info on Mr. Martin. I know we saw her in the fallout shelter earlier, but I'm wondering if her "I wanna cross over" thing was entirely an act, or if she only found out later.

Mr. Martin. Okay, what exactly is he trying to accomplish & what abilities does he have? He somehow managed to lock Charley, Wally, & Rhonda up. He's able to make notes and collect objects, even when he isn't interacting with them. Maddie saw him before anything happened to her. It doesn't seem like he and Janet planned what happened to Maddie (at least not in this way) because he yells at Janet not to move when they are interrupted by Maddie and Janet had been yelling for help. Why are there no notes on Janet? What does the "thinning" note that Wally found mean? Thin the ghosts or thin the veil? How is he trying to use this?So many questions here.

I think, given a little time, Simon has to come back around on the idea that Maddie can't just be a hallucination pretty quickly because she gave him info/led him places, etc. that he would never have been able to puzzle out without her help. One of many examples- if Maddie isn't "real" he wouldn't have known Mr. Anderson's phone code. He got that info from Maddie who got it from Dawn.

I actually found myself warming up to Xavier (as a character, not ever again as a love interest for Maddie, to be clear) more than anticipated in this episode. He has made some shitty mistakes, but he does seem to be trying and I have to give him credit for that. Plus, the scene of him, Nicole, & Claire in the truck arguing was genuinely pretty fun.

Loose threads: I know I've brought it up before, but wtf is going on with the social media thing? Was it really accidentally Mrs. Nears? Was it Janet? But how could it be Janet, she didn't have Maddie's phone (I guess she could know people's log ins like Dawn, but why would she do that?), and Janet doesn't actually gain anything by making people think Maddie is alive if she's staying hidden & trying to run away in Maddie's body. I assume the reason she didn't leave town sooner was because she didn't have the means? It's hard to speculate too much about Janet, since we don't know anything about her personality/wants/involvement with Mr. Martin/moral compass/etc.

I'm not surprised that possession became a plot point (Dawn talking about it just seemed too important for it to not), but I wasn't sure if they were going to dive into that with this season or if that was set up for season 2. Obviously it came into play for season 1. Like I said, still processing that.

I do really hope we get a season 2. While there are some elements (particularly the stuff surrounding how permanent death is) that make me a little nervous about things going off the rails, there are so many interesting things (and characters) they could explore & I want to see where they take things. There's a lot of set up for season 2, but also a lot of the mystery/whodunnit elements are currently wrapped up (since we see the scene of Maddie's.... I'm gonna keep calling it "death" because I don't know what else to call it), it feels like we might need another external mystery for season 2.

Anyway, definitely still processing things. More thoughts to come in a bit! Also I still adore Wally & need him to be happy.

#school spirits #school spirits spoilers #school spirits 1x08 #school spirits 1x08 spoilers #school spirits finale #long post

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thehusbandoden · 1 year ago

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ok hear me out-

mulan!dabi x shan yu!fem!reader

its were dabi was one if the armies greatest fighters but on one battle the enemy manages to take of dabi’s helmet (the rest of the imperial army hasnt seen dabis face before) so after the battle the imperial army kicked dabi out (like how mulan was kicked out) because they thought he was a monstrosity/spy for the hun’s so after he git kicked out he goes to reader for help because they used to be childhood friends but the reader ran away because of the pressure of being a female

ok thats all just pls make it end with them killing the imperial army

and make them get married

and also when dabi and reader meet pls dont make her break down into tears just make her chuckle and comfort dabi when he starts crying

and pls make this a long oneshot

im having mulan brainrot

and no im not a minor i just love mulan

shes my favorite

and i just watched the live action film

A/n: I'm so sorry this took so long 💀

I hope it's worth it though!! I loved this request sm! You're quite creative <33

The Endlessly Cracking Dam -Dabi x Fem!Reader (Mulan Au)

A/n (2): I'm not sure if you wanted a quirkless au or not, but to fit the story better there aren't any quirks. If you don't like that, or there are any other problems feel free to reach out to me and I'll fix them right away!!

General info:

Genre: angst to comfort/fluff // wc: 5,700+ // female reader // requested

Summary: the man called "Dabi" was one of the Imperial Army's best men. Everyone loved him- or did they? Fake smiles and suspicions kept Dabi on his toes, always hiding his face and past. Well, until that darned Hun knocked off his helmet. Zhu Bo, Dabi's all time tormenter, claimed that he was "cursed" and urged their captain to kick him out. But- Dabi just won that battle! Everyone loves him! They wouldn't kick him out... would they? But atlas people are cruel and heartless. Just because of Dabi's patched up face he was kicked out, leaving him and his horse; Mazu, to find there way to the one and only person Dabi could confine in; y/n l/n.

Warnings!: season 6 spoilers, Dabi's background, Endeavor, betrayal, feelings of abandonment, mentions of violence, hint of revenge (aka murder), blood, and animal slaughter (self defense), If any of these are triggering for you anon please reach out to me! <33

The Imperial Army is known to have many strong soldiers. Every soldier has earned trust from him fellow comrades. Battle after battle fighting side by side formed a strong brotherly bond between each, some getting along better than others. And then there was him.

Dabi, son of no one. He was a monstrosity in battle, setting fear in his opponents hearts, and even his own comrades on occasion. Even though he rarely spoke, and kept to himself when the other men laughed and played around, they all respected him, and usually left him alone, as he preferred. He protected their backs in battle, and has saved almost as many lives as he has taken.

He was truly respected and trusted by all.. except for Zhu Bo, their captain's counselor. Ever since "Dabi" showed up, he was immediately suspicious. This man not only had a helmet covering his face, but he refused to give them his actual name, only offering the name "Dabi" telling him to take it or leave it.

He was truly about to tell him to hit the road and come back later with a real name and his face. But, before he could their captain accepted his offer and welcomed him with a huge smile and gleaming eyes. Ever since Zhu has been looking for any reason to get "Dabi" kicked to the curb.

Zhu would sneak around and look for anything ranging between hidden women in Dabi's tent, letters sent or delivered, cheating during training, and he even attempted to take a peak at his face. Not to mention that he reached out to multiple villages miles and miles away, asking for any information on the mysterious soldier. He was desperate.

Well he found nothing.

Women?

The man didn't even indulge in the chattering about a future wife or being in a relationship.

Secret letters?

The only papers in his tent were notes on certain lessons, going over every miniscule detail of his captain's instruction.

Cheating during training?

This man had the audacity to not only do what the captain said, but went ahead and did extra.

Carrying more weight, training for longer, wearing wrist and ankle weights while battle training, woke up early, and stayed up late to train.

A face reveal?

Yeah no, it's impossible. When he's bathing? Always out of sight, usually late at night and away from the usual lake. Eating? He does so far away from everyone else, after everyone else. Sleeping?! If you're lucky enough to catch this "Dabi" sleeping, you'd not only have to stay up into the hours of early morning, but you'd have to be so quiet or else you'll wake the man up and he wouldn't go back to sleep. At all. But, if you do catch him sleeping, he not only has a full coverage face mask, but the only thing poking out is black, fluffy hair, and a part of his hands and feet.

And even in the hundreds of villages Zhu contacted, he found nothing.

Giving up, Zhu decided to resort to trying to convince the captain that he was overly suspicious. And he was starting to make progress! Their captain was watching Dabi a lot more, and even contributed to questioning villages. Zhu Bo will find something, and he doesn't care how long it takes.

~~~

(Dabi's p.o.v; 4:13 a.m.)

The chill of the morning air seeped through Dabi, causing the man to frown as he hurried to get dressed. After tugging on his boots Dabi swiftly attached his sword to his belt, finishing off the look. He always had a full suit of armor on, if any of the soldiers saw his scars.. well they'd think of him as some kind of monster.

The scars that he bore were not humane, and he didn't like seeing them, so who else would? At that thought his mind turned to y/n, his childhood best friend. Oh sweet y/n, she was always there for him. Whenever he needed a break from the horrors of his household she was there, giggling as she brought him to a place to rest, and drown out the world. Sadly, Dabi hasn't heard from, nor seen y/n since he left for war. Dabi just hoped that the Huns hadn't attacked their village, or that she didn't get married. At that thought Dabi let out a growl, ready to fight anyone who tried to take his away y/n from him.

After packing up all of his supplies and his tent Dabi saddled his mare, settling on her back to start making the 10 minute trot to the other tents. Once he got there, there were only a few sleepy-eyed soldiers slowly getting dressed, yawning every minute or so. After nodding solemnly to those who waved, Dabi made his way to one of the wagons.

There were only a few men with horses outside of the captain and Zhu Bo, and those who did had to lend their horse to pull wagons of supplies. Dabi's wagon was to be filled with food supplies, and so he started filling it, keeping in mind that he had to make sure that it wasn't too heavy for Mazu.

Dabi wasn't the kind of guy to have a lot of close ones, or to make a lot of special connections. All Dabi had was his mother, y/n, Mazu, and Nainai.

His mother, who he didn't even speak to anymore was always a support for him growing up. Even though he didn't treat her well she still loved him and tried to help. He will always love and appreciate her, even if she doesn't know it.

You, the girl that he has loved since childhood, and the one and only girl that he would even consider marrying.

Mazu, his companion and friend through thick and thin. His beautiful bay Jielin mare. Mazu has been with him since his Nainai gifted him and y/n her, telling them to be good and to take very good care of her. And that they did.

Dabi took care of her whenever he could get away, and y/n took care of her when Dabi couldn't. She was well cared for and very loved. When Dabi left for war they both agreed that he would take her, but he made a promise to look out for her like he would a comrade, and so far she's been completely safe.

And finally his Nainai. No, the woman was not his actual grandma, but all of his best childhood memories came from sitting in her garden, helping her weed alongside y/n, just talking, or even just listening to her stories. When the old woman asked them to call her Nainai they both willingly agreed, and the rest was history.

Dabi was pulled from his thoughts by the captain making his way over to him, black eyes focused on studying Dabi's wagon.

"Is this all you can fit?"

"If I add anymore it will either be not safely secured, or too heavy for Mazu to pull efficiently." Dabi replied, lowering his head lightly as a gesture of respect.

"Okay. Hook up your mare to the wagon and then get something to eat. You'll need your strength."

"Do you think today could be the day?"

"I do."

Dabi nodded, moving to tie up Mazu as his captain went off to check up on the other soldiers. After quickly eating Dabi moved to spend time with Mazu, lying on her back and he thought back to y/n, the woman who held his every waking thought. Yes, he went to war because he was forced to, but instead of being bitter about it he related it to protecting the people he loved back home.

As he continued to think about his dear friend a frown made its way to his lips. Y/n had promised to write to him, just as he promised to come back to her.

So why hasn't she? She wouldn't have forgotten about him, nor their promise, so that wasn't it. She rarely had problems with her parent/guardian(s), so that wasn't likely either. The only possibilities the Dabi could think of is that either their village was attacked or she got.. married. But she didn't seem to have any interest in marrying anyone when he was there, so what is happening?

"SOLDIERS! WE ARE PREPARING TO LEAVE! HURRY UP, GET READY, EAT, AND GET YOUR BUTTS OVER TO THE CAPTAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES!"

Dabi hissed at the loudness ringing in his ears as he moved to sit right. Urging the mare forward, Mazu smoothly made her way toward the forming crowd. After settling to the side, Dabi fiddled with Mazu's reins, making sure that they were tight and would fit comfortably in his hands, it would be a long ride after all.

As Dabi kept his eyes straight ahead, he was pleased to see that everyone was energetic today, ranting about their future wife and what qualities she would have. After a while of their ranting Dabi spaced out, mind wandering to his special someone. As he thought back to his y/n the soldiers noticed his huge grin and came over to question him.

"So.. do you have a girl worth fighting for?"

"What does that matter? I'm here to defeat the Huns, not to bathe in the wonder of having a woman 'worth fighting for'."

"Yes yes we all know that you're battle hungry- but come on! You have to have someone! Like when you're exhausted and about to give up but then you think about her, it's important!"

"Unlike you weaklings I actually stay focussed on the battle instead of my silly daydreams."

"Gosh what a killjoy. I guess all those rumors about you are true. Have fun by yourself, loser."

Dabi just rolled his eyes, focussing back on the path in front of them.

~~~

Exhaustion seared through Dabi as his chest heaved, breathing heavily. The sounds of battle echoed in his ears as he looked around, dead bodies surrounding him, blood splattered everywhere. After scanning his surroundings, he rushed to help out a trio of young soldiers, pure fear evident in their eyes as they faced two enemies, the ragged hair and crazed eyes causing them to almost whimper.

Rushing towards them, Dabi swiftly cut down one of the two enemies, much to his comrades relief. Quickly moving toward the last enemy, Dabi dodged a hit last minute, which barely nudged his helmet instead of slashing at his neck. Moving to counter, he missed the fact that his helmet flew off, landing somewhere in the heat of battle. After splashing the Hun down Dabi turned to scold the young soldiers.

"Men! That was cowardly, get yourselves together and get back into battle!" Dabi seethed, not failing to notice how the men whimpered at his scolding, sinking into themselves.

Dabi just scoffed, noticing that one of them was the same man that insulted him earlier. Clicking his tounge, Dabi turned back to battle, pinpointing a fairly injured soilder fighting off four enemies at a time before rushing in, saving the man swiftly.

~~~

Hours later Dabi stood near the middle of the battle field, blood splattered acrossed his torn up armor, yet nothing but a small amount was his. After checking the surrounding area for more enemies, Dabi's shoulders dropped at the sight of none. They won. The Huns were gone.

Staggering toward the crowd of comrades, Dabi couldn't help but grin, focussing on their victory rather than their immense losses. They did it. They really did it.

The men cheered as they pushed each other around, reveling in their victory as many tears fell. Though, it all came to a stop as Zhu Bo stepped forward, black eyes pinning Dabi down with a wicked grin stuck on his face.

"Captain! Captain! Come take a look at this!" Zhu called, grin fading as the captain came into view.

"What is it, Zhu?"

"Look at him! He must have been cursed! Look at that face, he's a monster!"

As the captain pushed past the gathering crowd, his face paled at Dabi's appearance.

"Uh- excuse me? I am no moste-"

"SILENCE!" Zhu spat, glaring at Dabi with dark eyes.

"We'll talk in private, Zhu. Dabi, get yourself cleaned up, are you seriously injured?"

"No Sir."

"Okay, good job out there."

"Thank you, Sir."

After the captain led Zhu away Dabi clicked his tongue, moving to find Mazu before cleaning up.

After ensuring Mazu's safety Dabi cleaned up the blood and ate, watching as the other soldier avoided him as if he had the plague.

Typical.

Of course they are, this is exactly what he wanted to avoid.

Everyone always assumed the worst. After the fire incident everyone avoided him, calling him cruel names and telling him that he was cursed. The only one who knew the truth was y/n.

Dabi had told her all about how his father had trained him viciously, going as far as to burn him to the point of these wicked scars. And yet everyone thought that the man was inoccent. But, he really couldn't blaim them.

His father fought in many wars and saved the people multiple times. And yet he was a monster inside. He wed his wife for her family's reputation, and had children for one purpose: war. He always went too far in training and made his children suffer, all for more glory.

Dabi just couldn't take it anymore, and so he dyed his hair and changed his name, before running from home. He stayed with Nainai until the soldiers came.

Dabi was pulled from his thoughts by the captain, Zhu Bo, and an unfamiliar man gliding towards him, faces grim -except for Zhu's grin of course-.

"Dabi, you are being dispelled from the Imperial Army." The unfamiliar man commanded, cold eyes holding nothing but distaste.

"Ca-captain?" Dabi stutterer, hurt and betrayal pulsing through him.

"Dabi, you fought well, and you did us and the people a good service, but.."

"B-but what?"

"We can't risk it. Dabi.. You could be cursed. And I'd rather not take that risk." The captain said, usually warm eyes hardened with a bitter chill.

"I- I saved your butts back there! If it weren't for me you wouldn't have won!"

"Dabi.. just give it a rest."

"But-"

"OBEY YOUR CAPTAIN YOU MONSTER!" Zhu Bo screeched, eyes holding a victorious glint.

"I thought he was no longer my captain." Dabi sneered.

"That's-"

"Silence, Zhu. Dabi, you have an hour to pack up your things and leave."

"You're sick." Dabi sprat, turquoise eyes hardened with anger.

As Dabi turned to leave he couldn't fight off the urge to flip the trio off, causing Zhu to curse him out as he walked towards Mazu.

After gathering both his belongings and enough rations to last him around three weeks, Dabi made his way out of camp and towards his village.

No, he didn't want to be around all of those gossipy villagers, or his family, but he needed y/n. His world was crashing and he just hoped that the dam wouldn't break before he found her.

The next six weeks were spent horse back riding, hunting, and sleeping.

Dabi made sure to keep his eyes on the prize, refusing to even acknowledge the immense hurt that was brewing at the bottom of his chest.

He needed to get to y/n, and he could only hope she wasn't killed nor married, or he would be left alone in this cruel world.

Two weeks later Dabi made it to the village, exhausted, hungry, dehydrated, and smelling absolutely horrible.

Immediately going to y/n's house he doesn't even have a thought about his.. strange appearance and rushes to the l/n resistance.

Swiftly knocking on the door, Dabi's breath caught in his throat as the door swung open.

Looking up at your parent/guardian, Dabi opened his mouth to ask the question he's been dying to ask.

"C-can I see y/n?" He stuttered, inwardly cursing at the rawness of his unused voice.

"Y/n.. I- I'm sorry but she ran away some months back.. and who are you again?"

Dabi's heart dropped.

You.. ran away?

"J-just a friend."

Clutching at his chest he forced himself to exchange a semi humane parting before stumbling back to Mazu.

"C'mon girl.. we.. we need to get out of here."

Treading through the village Dabi felt the dam holding back his emotions crack.

What if he couldn't find you?

What is you were.. gone?

His thoughts were interrupted by a far too familiar face. Panicking, Dabi pressed himself against Mazu, and hopefully out of sight of the villager.

After a few tense moments Dabi sighed. Sitting back onto Mazu, Dabi couldn't help but watch as Natsuo walked away, completely unaware of his older brother behind him.

Dabi chuckled pitifully as he felt another crack form.

He had to find y/n.

(A few hours later; 5:23 p.m.)

After a while of looking and asking around, Dabi found himself in front of Nainai's door.

It was funny, really. He didn't mean to come here. His body has just engraved the habit of going to Nainai for help with anything and everything he needed.

Knocking on the door, Dabi desperately tried to stop the dam from cracking.

He needed y/n when it broke, there was no way he was going to let someone else see him so vulnerable. Not even Nainai.

"Touya? It's so good to see you! What's wrong?"

"C-can I come in for a bit?"

"Of course! Come in, come in! I just made some cookies!"

"Thanks Nainai."

"Anytime Touya, anytime."

For the next hour and a half Nainai took care of Dabi. She found him some clothes that her deceased son used to wear, told him to take a long bath, cooked his childhood favorite food, prepared more rations, and even spoiled Mazu.

When Dabi was done with his soak he had lots of good food to eat, and Nainai did most of the talking, making sure that he wouldn't have to deal with awkward silence or hesitation to reach out to her.

Dabi and Nainai eventually got to the subject of y/n, and Dabi was glad to hear that she had come to stay with Nainai before running off. Nai Nai even had a clue to where she would be- much to Dabi's relief.

"I love talking to you, Nainai, but I really need to get to y/n asap."

"Oh it's alright Dear, I understand. I'll go get you a letter from her."

"A-a letter?!"

"Yes, she gave me one for you, and told me not to open it until you came searching for her. I have kept to my promise, Touya. This letter will be for your eyes, and your eyes only."

Nodding, Dabi's hands shook as he waited for Nai Nai to return.

Y/n.. she was still thinking about him? S-she's safe?

Dabi cursed as he felt the dam of emotions crack yet again.

He really did need y/n.

"Alright Touya. Here's the letter, all I know is that she will be reachable on horseback, and that she's about eight days away."

Nodding, Dabi shakingly took the letter out of Nai Nai's hands, looking at the small envelope in awe.

"Shall we say goodbye here? I expect you'd like some privacy."

"W-why?"

"Love works in that kind of way, I suppose."

"L-love?!"

"Ah yes, the unending denial." Nai Nai smiled bitterly, looking down at her ringed finger in pain. "Now, come give your Nainai a hug and then you can be off!"

After a long, warm, and very comforting hug, Dabi was left alone in his Nai Nai's cozy living room; envelope in hand.

Mentally bracing himself, Dabi tore open the envelope with little care, too anxious to see what was inside to worry about the pretty way you sealed the stupid envelope.

Unfolding a piece of paper, Dabi's eyes skimmed over the writing hungrily, needing your location to stay sane.

My dearest Touya, if you are reading this letter you must be home from war, and I must be gone. I know that you're hurt, and that you're confused at my silence. But trust me, my dearest companion, I tried and tried to reach you, but my letters were always sent back to me. I never received any of your letters, if you sent any. I am safe, and if you'd like to find me you are very welcome to, but I do have one condition. if you are to visit me, you are to always stay with me, locked away where the world can't hurt us anymore. things got too painful without you here, Touya. so if you can, come to me? I will show you a life worth living! If so, follow the instructions on the back of this paper, that is where I lay; and hopefully- where you will too.

Your Dearest friend,

Y/n/n. Or as you like to call me, Doll

Dabi cursed yet again as another crack formed in his teetering dam.

Of course y/n wouldn't leave him like that. She was truly the best.

Hurrying out to the stables, Dabi mentally calculated where he and Mazu needed to go before saddling Mazu and their belongings, and then riding off.

~~~

It had been nine days of riding, resting, eating, riding, and resting again.

Dabi looked like death yet again, and Mazu was pushing her limits.

Due to Dabi's exhaustion, he paid less and less attention to their surroundings, which resulted in unwanted, hungry eyes to find their perfect target.

Dabi glared at the pack of wolves in front of him, eyes full of crazed hatred.

"Wanna dance, muts? Let's dance." Dabi grinned, katana held readily.

Dabi's turquoise eyes never left the vicious pack of wolves as he studied the starving creatures. He might of let them slip into his campsite, but there was no way he was going to let them get past him to Mazu.

Instantly tearing himself from his thoughts, Dabi slashed at the wolf that lunged itself at the solider, leaving a fatal gash on it's stomach. A loud whine set off the rest of the pack, causing three of the seven remaining wolves to leap at him at once.

Slashing the beasts with ease, Dabi held his ground.

A grin splayed across his lips, his exhaustion horrendously miscalculated the wolves damage. Pain shot through Dabi's shoulder as a fallen wolf leaped onto him, landing a fairly decent blow.

Cursing, Dabi stabbed the wolf in the chest, killing the animal.

Turning to the others, Dabi chuckled bitterly.

~~~

(Your p.o.v; 12:22 a.m.)

You sighed as you finished writing another letter.

It has been months since you've last seen Touya.. where could he be? Is he still in war, or did he make it home? Did he decide to stay, or did he find a nice young lady to marry and move to her village? Could he possibly be coming to you now?

The thoughts swirled in your head, souring your mood further.

Touya was not the kind of person to get married to some pretty little nobody. He cares for love, which was most likely due to his trauma with his parents relationship.

If he were to marry someone, he would have to love her deeply.

The thought made you sigh as you made your way to your bed, the thought of some rest helping ease some of the worries within you.

It will all work out in the end. If he truly didn't want to be out here with you, then that was his choice. You couldn't force him to, that would just be cruel, no matter how tempting.

You awoke to a pounding on your door.

Groaning, you grumpily make your way to the noise, opening the door grudgingly.

"What the heck do you wa-"

You were interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around you.

Baffled, you were about to push the person off before you recognized the purple scars.

"Touya? What's wrong To?"

Touya simply shook his head, pushing himself as close as possible to your warmer form.

"Why don't you come in? It's warmer in here."

Touya squeezed you once before skidding into your cabin. After you closed the door he was back in your arms, pressing himself close to your back, head buried in your hair. Returning his embrace as best as possible, you stayed there with him for as long as he needed.

A few minutes later he pulled away before softly spinning you around to face him.

Chuckling, you move to wipe the blood streaming down his cheeks. "Shh it's okay Touya. I'm here now."

Bursting into sobs, Touya buried his head into your neck, arms wrapping around your waist.

"They- I- you-"

"Shh it's okay. It's all okay now. You're safe."

After a while Touya calmed down a lot, and the two of you had moved to your small wooden loveseat.

"Mazu.."

"Mazu? Oh- is she out there?"

Touya simply nodded, eyes hooded as he stared at you.

Squeezing his hand reassuringly, you make your way outside.

Mazu was grazing obediently next to a fence, her reign poorly tied. "Mazu!" You greet, petting the mare's neck lovingly. Neighing softly, Mazu nuzzled her head against yours.

After spending a little time with Mazu, taking care of her, and putting her away in a stall, you hurry back to Touya's side.

Walking in, you smile at the sight of Touya dozing on the love seat, hand buried in your German Shepherd Jin's fur. Smiling, you gesture for Jin to stay before getting ready for bed yourself.

(The next morning; 8:23 a.m.)

Loud footsteps stirred you from your slumber. Rubbing your eyes, you tense at the sounds of another person in your cabin.

Why hadn't Jin alerted you?!

Why would he let a stranger in?!

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of soft, familiar curses. Touya? Why would Touya be in your-

And then the memories came flooding back.

Smiling, you hurry to greet your best friend properly. "Good morning Tou-"

Your heart stopped at the sight of the man in front of Your beloved Touya was overed in.. blood.

"Touya what happened?!" You demand, rushing to inspect the damage.

"A pack of wolves attacked me and Mazu. Don't worry about it. Most of it isn't mine."

Scoffing, you grab a wash tub to start filling.

"Ah don't be like that Doll."

You simply snort, filling the tub with hot, soapy water.

"Get in, wash up." You command, glaring at the man in front of you.

"With you in the room- I didn't know you were so-"

"No! I'm gonna leave, idiot!"

At your angered tone Touya's mood noticeably dropped, causing you to curse.

"Y-you're not mad at me.. are you?" Touya asked, voice small with worry. Everyone else but you and Nainai had rejected or neglected him. He couldn't bare to lose you too.

"Oh Touya no. I'm not mad at you. I'm just cross with you for being so nonchalant about getting hurt."

"But-"

"No buts. I care about you, I don't want to see you care so little about yourself. Put yourself in my shoes."

"W-what? I don't think they'd fit."

Smiling, you shake your head affectionately.

Ah yes. 'Dabi' was still your Touya, a confused and hurt teenager at heart really. He didn't understand metaphors much.

"I mean- look at it from my perspective. What if I got hurt, and acted like it was okay. Wouldn't you be a little upset?"

"I'd kick your butt and pin you down to make sure you're all patched up." Touya huffed, eyes holding a slight glint- warning you to not test him.

"See- that's what I'm dealing with. I care about a lot, I don't want to see you get hurt."

Slowly nodding, Touya's eyes were focused on your face.

MmYou blushed as he stared, noticing how he kept shifting from your eyes to your lips. You'd call him creepy- if you weren't doing the exact same thing.

"Y/n.. have I told you how much I've missed you?" Touya whispered, bringing his face slightly closer to yours.

"No, I don't think so." You smile, following his lead in advancement.

"Well then.. why don't I-"

You both were interrupted by Jin jumping on top of you, smothering your face in his wet and xsloberyx kisses.

"Jin, Off!" You command, causing the large dog to back off of you and sit between you and your love- crush? Friend? You don't even know anymore.

Clearing your throat, you keep your eyes held low as you studied Jin's fur, combing your fingers through his dark fur.

"Umm, I'm going to go care for Mazu. Why don't you wash up?" You blush, sinking closer to your pet.

"Y-yeah that's a good idea.." Touya replied, voice strained from some kind of emotion- embarrassment; you guessed.

Standing up, you gesture for Jin to follow you as you make your way out of the cabin.

"Oh- Touya?" You call, shyly glancing at the male.

"Y-yeah?"

"Your room is in the loft.. there's a ladder in the stable, and a towel will be on the shelf behind you. You have some personal clothes and belongings from the village.."

"Thank you y/n.." Touya whispered, blood pooling under his eyes.

"I'd hug you but uh- you're kinda soaked in blood sooo.."

"Just go you baby!" Touya laughed, making you smile.

~~~

(Two weeks later; 11:38 p.m.)

A sigh escaped your lips as you traced the scars on Touya's arms, desperately wishing to be able to lay kisses on the patched skin.

In the two weeks that Touya's been here, neither of you have talked about the almost kiss; though it was most definitely on both of your minds.

It was driving you insane- you loved Touya with all of your heart, so why couldn't you just voice those feelings?! Why was love so.. so complicated?!

Sighing again, you caught Touya's attention.

"What's wrong, Doll?"

"Oh I'm just.. thinking."

"About?"

"I really don't think you'd be interested.." you murmur, eyes never leaving the gorgeous skin of your childhood best friend.

"Tell me, I want to know what's bothering you." Touya insisted, placing a hand underneath your chin before bringing your gaze to his turquoise eyes.

"Umm.. what do you think about the- the kiss?" You stutter, wetting your lips at the wonder of Touya's eyes.

They were so... gorgeous.

"The kiss? Well.. I'm not really sure. I'm not really used to these kinds of things you know."

"Me neither." You huff, e/c eyes tracing every feature of Touya's.

"But, I do know that I want to try it again.." Touya continued, hand sliding up to cup your cheek. "If you'd let me, that is."

Your breath caught in your throat as you stared up at Touya.

Was this really what you wanted- did you love him?

Your heart beating against your chest screamed yes- causing your cheeks to burn.

"I- this isn't some kind of game to you?" You stutter, mind panicking at his closeness.

"I promise you that it isn't." Touya whispered, thumb caressing below your eye.

"T-then kiss me- please."

A warm chuckle emitted from Touya before he seized your lips with his.

The surprising contrast of his soft upper lip and his rough, almost leathery bottom one caused you to gasp. Taking the opportunity to deepen the kiss, Touya brought his other hand to hold your other cheek. Moving one hand to his neck and the other to his hair, you kissed him back with just as much emotion.

After a few, intense moments you pulled away, gasping for air.

"That- was- amazing-" Touya gasped, stroking your cheek with renewed gentleness.

You giggled as you smiled up at your childhood friend.

"I've been waiting to do that for a long~ time." You tease, practically purring as Touya pulled you closer to his warmth.

"And I've been waiting for longer!" Touya playfully growled, moving his hands to tickle your sides.

"S-stop that!" You laugh, moving your hands to carefully tickle his arms, avoiding the burnt areas with care.

After a few minutes of giggles, you both slowed down before you were simply just staring at one another, entranced in each other's gaze.

"I- I think I love you." Touya whispered, breathe fanning over your lips.

"And I know I love you." You giggle, pressing a kiss to Touya's lips, smiling into the kiss.

After a few, incredibaly soft and dreamy kisses Touya rest his forehead on yours, looking down at you. "Marry me."

"Wh-what?"

"Marry me. We can build our own family here, away from the world. They'll find us eventually.. and an unmarried woman like yourself would be forced to marry some snobby noble."

"You're just making excuses to make me yours." You tease, bumping your nose against his.

"Maybe I am. Would that be so bad?"

"Mmm not really."

"Oh ho? Is that a yes?" Touya smirked, pulling you into his lap.

"Depends. I require lots of attention. Plus foot massages when I'm pregnant."

"P-pregnant?"

"You mentioned a family, did you not?"

"Y-yeah.. I did."

"But on a more serious note, what are we going to do about the Imperial Army? They'll find us eventually- like you said, and then they'll expect our son or sons to go to war. And our daughters to get married-"

"Shhh, it's okay, Doll." Touya soothed, pressing a finger to your lips- receiving a kiss to the warm flesh.

"How about we.. get some revenge and protect our future angels?"

"That sound perfect, actually." You grin, knowing where this was going.

"But, marry me first. And then we'll go traveling around for our honeymoon.. we wouldn't be searching for the army's camp ground or anything.."

"I love you so freaking much."

"Not as much as I love you, Doll."

~~~~

A/n 3: I'm not too sure about the ending, but I hope this wasn't too long + suited your taste anon!! Also, I have zero experience kissing, so I hope it did an okay job lol 💀😅

Feedback and Reblogs are very appreciated <33

Dabi's masterlist | Masterlist | Navigation | You can tip me here <3

~~~~~

Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way -minus reblogging.

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owtenen · 2 years ago

Text

LIMITED LIFE EPISODE 1: The Basics

Where I put all the info we know about the mechanics, team-ups, base locations, etc into one location

(below cut is spoilers to LIMITED LIFE, which is series 4 of the life series. Pls don’t get mad if you read it and don’t want spoilers)

I. Participants

No ren :( I'm sad :(

Skizz is back :D

Nothing really big about this part, just that all of the soul pairs except Box Boys are here for potential refs and angst (there has already been a lot)

NOTE: I have only fully watched 6 out of the 14 possible POVs, so info regarding people I haven't watched might be limited to what the comments tell me when I make a mistake This info comes from watching these POVs and snippets of the other ones.

POVs I watched (in this order): Joel, Tango, Jimmy, Etho, Skizz, Cleo

POVs I skimmed (in this order): Martyn, Impulse, Scar

^ I will be consistently watching these POVs + Bdubs every week, however I'll probably watch others when I'm bored or if something big happens lol.

II. Teams/Alliances (from what I can gather from Episode 1)

EDIT: I originally said that Martyn and Scott were individual teams when that was wrong, it looks like they are teamed together and are called the Coral Kids. This change has been made below

Team T.I.E.S: Tango, Impulse, Etho, Skizz

Bad Boys: Grian, Jimmy, Joel

Coral Kids LBGSeas BadBouies : Martyn and Scott

Nosy Neighbors: Pearl and BigB ( + Froggy the Jellie cat)

Cwackers Cockers Clockers: Cleo, Scar, Bdubs

NOTE: Not all of these are NOW official names WAHOO

It seems like everyone is teaming with pretty much their usual crowd (ie, Jimmy/Joel/Grian , Cleo/Bdubs , Skizz/Imp/Tango/Etho) except for the notable exception of BigB and Pearl, which I don't think have teamed up together in a series before?

I could totally see Etho and Martyn teaming up after this episode, especially later in the season when TIES eventually break up.

III. Base Locations (based off of limited info from episode 1)

Team T.I.E.S seems to be basing on the edge of the main land mass underground. I can't tell if they have cows after Martyn's TNT but they have wheat and chickens, as well as sugarcane. NOTE: Etho seems to be basing close to but not WITH Tango, Impulse, and Skizz. Idk what this means but it's interesting to see what happens

Scott and Martyn are basing right next to TIES on a floating island in the ocean. I didn't watch their episodes but from Etho's it looks like they have both sugarcane and a zombie villager in a boat.

Bad Boys are basing .... *checks notes*.... on top of the woodland mansion .... made of wood .... wait? so Jimmy "our Ranch is burning down!" Solidarity and Joel "If the ship burns everything burns!" Smallishbeans are going to base on the top of the most flammable structure known to Minecraft? Okay cool.... this won't go horribly wro- oh and Cleo’s already burned the whole thing down great that lasted about 2 seconds

Cockers Clockers are based literally just at spawn. There entire thing is going to be building a stadium so they can laugh at people when they die.... I hate them (/lie)

Pearl and BigB are based between spawn and the woodland mansion on the edge of the stone cliff. I hope they slay and thrive there

IV. Mechanics

Okay so, there seems to be a lot more rules to this one than the other ones, so here's what I've gathered.

Everyone has a timer that counts down from 24 hours, this timer started when the series started

When the clock reaches 0 for the player, they are eliminated

There seems to be 2 ways to lose time: Being killed or dying. If you are killed by the boogeyman, it subtracts two hours from your time. If you are killed by natural gameplay (ie creeper, fall damage, etc.) you only lose 1 hour of time. (NOTE: it's not said how many hours are taken away if you're killed from non-boogeyman PVP, but I'm assuming it will still be 2 hours)

There is only 1 way to ADD time to your clock: kill players. When you are the boogeyman, you can kill whoever you want, and when you do you are given 30 minutes to your timer. EDIT: thanks to a comment I now have this info: If you are the boogeyman and you fail to kill a player within the 3 hours (that's how long they record for), you are dropped down to the next color life. For example, if you are a green name boogeyman and fail to kill, your time will go down to 16 hours and you will become yellow. This is the same for the yellow to red drop. (NOTE: Some ccs have said in their videos that it's + 1 hour, however Grian's intro says + 30 minutes which is what i'm going off of. Not sure if the + 30 minutes applies to non-boogeyman PVP kills, however I suspect it does)

Everyone starts as a green name, and the players turns yellow when they have less than 16 hours left on their timer. A player turns red when they have less than 8 hour on the clock

Most of the same rules apply to PVP as before: greens cannot kill anyone, yellow names can now kill green names even if they aren't provoked , and red names can kill everyone. Boogeyman kills can happen to anyone regardless of color. I suspect these rules will not be strictly followed like they have been for every season but yaknow we'll see.

V. Episode 1 Specifically

This series seems actually super cool! Here's some of the thoughts as a writer of traffic series fics and just a general enjoyer of episode 1. I like writing my opinions and these were written in real time while I was watching each POV.

🚧 NOTE: Some (like 4) of these points talk about shipping in fics.. I'll label the bullets with the caution tape emoji but I'd just recommend skipping this entire section if you get really pissed or triggered about it. Reminder that I do not ship real people, just the characters.

the Bad Boys are literally just that one (1) 100 hours hardcore episode.

Joel and Jimmy being idiots and dying is so funny, what a couple of idiots (I love them)

🚧 Boat Boys and Ranchers broke up to be with each others soulmates

it didn’t take even 20 minutes for Team Rancher and Boat Boys to break up. A real love loses moment.

I'm convinced Tango decides his friend groups based only on if there names make good acronyms. Like for sure he didn't invite Martyn to join TIES because it would have ruined the name.

Passive boogeyman Scott has left the chat. Man’s a beast.

^ Bdubs boogey first episode once again, this man can't escape the betrayer narrative

The mechanic has so much angst potential. I’m thinking a curse that slowly eats away at your body until you die. As the timer counts down, people will become more desperate to survive and that’s where alliances will fall. This season has probably the best potential for angst out of all of them, especially when people started running out of time.

just imagine with me: Tango and Etho are in a cave, Tango realizes he only has a minute left on his clock while Etho has maybe an hour and a half. Tango can't kill Etho cause it will just kill his friend immediately, so they both have to just... sit there while Tango's timer ticks by and he eventually gets eliminated by the mechanics of the game. HOW HORRIFYING IS THAT PEOPLE !!!!! I love it >:)

BEST? nah it’s team TIES now (rip Bdubs I guess)

Jimmy might escape the narrative just because of Skizz dying so much lol

I actually hate Grian for this. The fic that could be written about it is…. so much

okay but if Clockers dynamic this season is gonna be single mom with two annoying ass twins i’m all for it. I love them for this

🚧 ETHO TURNING DOWN THE ROLL OF DAD FOR BDUBS AND SCAR THANK GOD !!!! While I would love a Clethubs teamup, a nice straight happy family is not the way I wanted it to be done

Poor Skizz man. Dude was so excited to be back just to be killed twice by boogey and then die again by creeper death. Maybe HE can't escape the narrative

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of this series, and my opinion with probably change as more episodes come out, but I feel like it will be much easier to predict who will win this season than others because of the timer. like there is already a very strong likelihood that skizz will die first, just because if every kill only gives you 30 minutes, he would have to kill 10 people to even get back to normal, where as Bdubs and Scott have already killed 1 person and hasn’t died once, which means they are ahead. Basically, I think we’ll be able to see who will die first/not win very easily, which maybe will take away some of the suspense? I hope not, but that’s my thought rn.

🚧 we were SO CLOSE to a Martyn and Etho team up…. imagine the sus activity that could have happened here. I was so prepared to start writing Martho fics

SKIZZ'S COMPLIMENT TO ETHO WAS LITERALLY SO SWEET? Like it was 100% true and props to Etho for taking it like a champ. Etho really is the most likable guy in the Minecraft space, and he shines like a diamond in these kinds of thing with his friends. I'm glad Skizz took the time to recognize it and say it to his face. He deserves all the love.

🚧 if Bdubs is (maybe canonically) related to both his team members, there is little opportunities for sus mlm activity from him, and he will have to find bitches elsewhere, which might be difficult

TIES are four grown ass men and have three of the BEST redstoners minecraft has to offer and they still can't keep cows alive for more than like 5 minutes. What a bunch of losers

Okay now that I’m thinking about it, Etho might not be completely committed to TIES as it seems. I mean why would he make a base close BUT completely seperate from them? I sense some uh….. drama in the future mayhaps

I love Martyn's editing style it's great

VI. My Bingo Card (🚧)

Uh... so I did a bingo card before the series started and it's already got some good ticks off so here it is after episode 1

🚧 this bingo card contains some shipping/romance spaces, please plan your viewing accordingly

NOTE: I could have probably argued for a lot more of these, but it's no fun to check them all of in ep 1. Also, I didn't watch all the POVS (I think I watched 6/14) so there could have been some of these that happened in the other videos but I'm not watching all the POVS today so there's no point.

Wow sure glad I didn't put any Ren stuff in here (Fr I was originally gonna put a "Ren Win" space on here but thank god I didn't)

that skizz one better happen especially after today

play along if you wish! an unmarked one of these can be found if you stalk my Tumblr page far enough

VII. Conclusion

Um.... this was a really long post.... I'm sorry? I just wanted to make it because I had all this info in my head and it was spinning around in there and it needed to get it out. And maybe someone will find the first part useful! Who knows.

In real conclusion, Etho deserves the win. I don't care what you think should happen, this is what the universe wants. Yes, this is coming from an Ethogirl, and yes, I know I'm also the self proclaimed #1 smallishbeans enjoyer, but i just feel like Etho should be this seasons champ.

Even if I'm looking at it from a completely objective POV, Etho IS one of the top candidates for this specific mechanic/season. He barely dies in these games and he's generally good at boogeykills/PVP so I could see him losing very little time in terms of deaths but gaining a lot with kills. Also, no one really dares to kill him with the boogey (if we can take anything away from last life) so that too is a bonus.

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sothischickshe · 11 months ago

Note

Up for a discussion question? If we’d gotten a full season three as intended, what would you have expected/liked to see from Beth and Rio?

Hey sweetie, I'm always up for a discussion question danke 🙇🏼‍♀️🥰❤️

I stand by what I said once re what i'd've liked to see from s3, particularly: the full s3 😭😭, whatever their vision for that was, so I could judge it on its own merits!! It remains a very romantic concept to me, bc while I certainly have my issues with other plots in s3 (terrible therapist, donor family, here's a hitman let's give him all our money woo, dean's salesman shenanigans & boring affair with gale etc) the angsty messy sexy brio scenes were soooo delicious 🥺🖤 and then while I understand s4 had a lot to reset from/deal with, s4 (b)rio frequently doesn't make all that much sense to me 🤷🏼‍♀️

but also! i finally started posting a fic which is kinda about that? (rio pov, post s3, eventually very long etc). so im gonna say a lil more (thus warning: minor fic spoilers) behind the cut...

....but this thing keeps moving where i put the readmore?!

how do u make a website this bad. um anyhow

pay-off to the boring dean/gale stuff!! helllooooo beth and dean both sleeping with their bosses?! hilarity goldmine no?!

MORE RHEA. like you can't just introduce a character beth's having a quasi-romance with & rio's presumably had an actual one with, who's seen them both at their softest and uncovered worstnesses, and is surely best placed to comment on say their similarities and then do nothing with it???

beth and rio yelling at each other. surely this was coming??

not ending on that next time empty the clip line (which i don't like) / wrapping up the hitman plot

given the (sudden!) arrival of nick in s4 and depressing rio backstory, i'd've loved some suggestion that rio was like consciously paralleling nick & beth's betrayals of him & considering them as similar and/or that his mentoring of beth had something to do with even the vaguest of plans to extricate himself from nick (plus Revenge) etc

like. acknowledgment and processing of trauma???

weird angsty sex

more brio bar scenes, more brio drinking, more brio laughing (at each other)

if not the furniture return, then at least it being more a topic of conversation...like how wasnt it? beth pitching ideas for earning the return (at least of her kids' stuff??) or rio holding it over her head or at least him going on abt how much he's enjoying her lamps or something!

death divorce. the show held this over our head for far too long. i also like this being decoupled from the brio stuff as much as plausible. beth needs to divorce dean not bc she's interested in rio but bc dean is the worst.

plenty of boland bubbles, that spot lasted abt 0.4 seconds after we sat through all that dean nonsense... we should have at least got rio testing out an empty hot tub cos he doesnt know theyre supposed to have water in or something.

inordinate amounts of brio bickering

ending of hitman/plot consciously paralleling s1 and 2 finales, even if it wasn't literally beth + rio + some man + a gun (ideally with some rationale as to how rio finds said hitman, whether or not that was a reveal of his magical powers)

Incentive Convo Callbacks (also rio vs sushi like a million more times, pls)

scars.

#ty for asking! <3 <3 <3 <3 #nbc good girls #tv #fanfiction #i 4got i have to go find a compooter to edit a half saved draft ask answer...tumblo y r u like this waaah

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straw-beret · 1 year ago

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what's up with the pacman machine in the link click opening?

well friends, I'm about to cobble together some information that is so irrelevant to the main plot!!

(also: i came up with this theory prior to episode 11 coming out, but when it did, it only really solidified it for me).

more under the cut :) and spoilers for the most recent episode of link click (episode 11 season 2)

if you know me from my most recent link click post, you'll know i am unnaturally obsessed with the claw machines of the season 2 opening.

But wait, what's that third machine in the middle? The yellow-ish one that's sort of dimly lit?

it's a fucking pacman arcade machine.

a pacman arcade machine that doesn't appear in the show itself.

being me, i had to go on the most unnecessary deep dive into what the hell the relevancy of this pacman machine could be. it's jammed between two of the claw machines in the intro but mysteriously absent in the episode itself. and while i don't have an explanation for THAT (if anyone has an idea, pls lmk!!), i do have some info on the game.

when you start up a game of pacman, this is the general visual you're going to get:

In my opinion, the most important thing to note is the colours of the ghosts. Notice we've got three in that box: blue, pink, and orange. And outside we have red. Do these colours happen to remind you of anything— or rather, anyone?

that's right. the link clickers are the ghosts in Pacman.

All jokes aside, I do think there's at least a bit of merit in this observation. Because red— i.e. qiao ling, is isolated from the power users.

(pink could be either of the Li twins, for convenience's sake i'm just going to assume it's Tianxi for one bit of speculation i'll explain later).

Why isolate one of the three original mains from the other two, and instead have a new character take her place?

Because, as I speculated before in my claw machine theory, qiao ling is not safe!!! in both the claw machines and Pacman, the symbol/motif associated with Qiao Ling has been positioned on the outside of the box.

Now, a character being in the box doesn't guarantee safety, you'll know this especially if you've seen the most recent ep (s2e11) and the trailer for ep12. However, it does provide something of a line of defence— i.e. the box is sort of a symbol for the fact that CXS, LG and LTX are power users.

Qiao Ling was the very first person to get possessed by red eyes, she is the most 'vulnerable' of the OG 3 in that sense. aside from her martial arts realness, she can't defend herself on a supernatural level. she no way of teleporting out of a fight like CXS or seeing into the future to predict her opponent's moves like LG could.

qiao ling, as a normie, is isolated from the power users and thus more at risk to being harmed by the enemy. For the ghosts, it's Pacman, and for the link clickers, it's this motherfucker:

crustlord of the century Qian Jin.

I think pacman is supposed to symbolise him on account of 1. the yellow eyes and 2. the fact that he's out to get basically every single one of the ghosts:

CXS

LTX

Hence why this theory works a lot better with LTX as the pink ghost instead of LTC— Tianxi betrayed QJ, and the one thing he hates most is betrayal.

I feel as though the AI patterns of the Pacman ghosts sort of align with this too:

"Each of the four ghosts has their own unique artificial intelligence (A.I.), or "personality": Blinky (Red) gives direct chase to Pac-Man; Pinky (pink) and Inky (blue) try to position themselves in front of Pac-Man, usually by cornering him; and Clyde (orange) will switch between chasing Pac-Man and fleeing from him"

"Each ghost's name gives a hint to its strategy for tracking down Pac-Man: Blinky always chases Pac-Man, Pinky tries to get ahead of him, Inky uses a more complicated strategy to zero in on him, and Clyde alternates between chasing him and running away."

^^ those two quotes are from the Pacman wikipedia page, a robust source indeed. in the first quote I put the colours of the ghosts in bold and by their proper names for reference.

If we assume Pacman is QJ and Red ghost is QL, and we remember how she bitch slapped QJ in episode 3 season 2:

I'd say that at the very least the AI behaviour + QL's actions are somewhat correlated. And i'd say that the AI behaviour of the other ghosts lines up with their respective characters, LG being strategic and CXS being a bit more chaotic in his approach. As for Xixi, well, we kind of haven't seen enough of her to say.

but "via," i hear you say, "Li Tianxi got fucking murk'd in episode 11, AND she's the one with red eyes! why isn't she the red ghost, and not qiao ling?"

I see you and I hear you. Both QL and LTX have associations with both red and pink, and in fact upon first coming up with this theory i thought LTX was the red ghost as well. But considering the placement of the Pacman machine (between the claw machines+around the rabbits, see my previous post for details on the stuffed rabbits and their relevancy) as well as official art and in-show costuming, I figured that it made more narrative sense (and theory sense) for QL to be the red ghost. Plus she's just more heavily associated with red than either of the Li twins, who are costumed in more light pastels

for reference, I put TC both in and out of drag above^^ and in his xixi cosplay, he wears almost entirely pink.

back to the theory. Qiao Ling's ghost is on the outside; and the stuffed rabbits that I'm almost positive symbolise her are piled on the outside of the claw machines. Surely this isn't a coincidence, right?

this all comes back to my theory that Qiao Ling, as the outsider of the group, the only one without powers, and the last to be informed of all the supernatural happenings, is going to meet a certain fate either by the end of s2 or around the start of s3. And I think the show has tried to set it up from the start.

Although Qiao Ling didn't become incredibly plot significant until I'd say about halfway through S1, we saw a few glimpses of her that were framed to highlight her vulnerability. Off the top of my head, I can definitely think of the horror-movie esque way s1e3 opened, where a strange man, later revealed to be Chen Xiao, approaches her from behind after appearing in a dark alley. Plus there is of course, her possession by LTC in s1e11. So from the get-go, she is framed as the odd one out of the main 3, and the most at risk.

then we get to the intro of s2, with the stuffed rabbits and the pacman machine, and it starts to come together, as stupid as that may sound. the writers are foreshadowing that something is gonna happen to Qiao Ling, and given the way everything connects, I'm of the opinion it could be death, or possibly grave injury.

that's all i've really got to say! curious as to what others might think of this, because it's all founded on the colours of a fckin Pacman game lol.

having seen the e12 trailer for s2 and qiao ling looking like she was gaining a power, I wonder how the finale is going to play out and if it will fit with the visuals and symbolism in the intro. oh well, we'll see!

also good LORD these posts take a long time to make!! let me know what you think, and also if you've got any clue as to why the Pacman machine appears in the intro but not the episode. Maybe IP reasons, although i don't see why they'd end up including it at all in the intro if copyright or IP was a concern. anyways, that's all!

#link click #shiguang dailiren #shiguang daili ren #link click season 2 #link click theory #link click s2 #qiao ling #lu guang #cheng xiaoshi #时光代理人 #link click spoilers #sgdlr spoilers #theory #speculation

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fbfh · 2 years ago

Text

rocks at your window pt. 10 - ricky bowen x reader

disclaimer: this series contains smut and chapter by chapter warnings, so as with all nsfw works, ricky is aged up to 18+!! ricky and reader are 18 and in their senior year

additionally, we're working towards a ricky x therapy plot so he's going to start expressing some symptoms of mental illness and bpd but he does get therapy eventually and has a good support system but he gets worse before he gets better yk. Obviously I'm not a professional and this is for entertainment so while I have done my research pls take this with a grain of salt!! or several!! /lh

!! contains some spoilers for season 1 of hsmtmts, and previous chapters of this fic !!

wc: 10.1k

genre: angst, hurt/comfort, more high highs and a lot of low lows, tooth rotting fluff

pairing: ricky bowen x (afab she/her) reader

warnings: saucy flashbacks, nini and ej are very unprofessional, more fake texts, more coping through the arts, ricky realizes he's a real theatre kid, ricky is simping for you, seb being seb/a good friend/an absolute sweetheart, ricky distancing himself from lynne (slay), spilling tea (after getting permission to do so), conflicted feelings, nini (and ej but mostly nini) ruins the show, three seperate nini pick me moments, reader is about to snap, ricky and reader are mvps, one playful 'babe' from reader to ricky, nini is one delusional bitch!, brief mention of reader's trauma (jumpy at loud noises, flinches when someone raises their voice), ricky and big red are bros, big red has good opinions bc he stans dr phil, minor big red x ashlyn, kourtney and ricky do not get along lol, reader DOES snap, nini is terrible idk how else to rephrase it she's just the worst, nini gets yelled at by both you and ricky (slay), realizations happen, jones BIGASS love confessions and neck kisses.html, flowery descriptions, ricky picks you up briefly, making out, ricky is good with kids and it's adorable, nini is the only one who calls it YAC, theatre kids at denny's jumpscare, mike is a good dad, you wear one of ricky's shirts, saccrine amounts of love declarations, tooth rotting fluff

summary: after the disaster that was act one, act two also finds some way to go unplanned, causing you to be completely fed up with Nini's unprofessional behavior. you turn a night of confrontations around as you realize something and ricky finally gets something important off his chest.

song recs: entr'acte (hands clean) - jagged little pill obc, smiling - jagged little pill obc, what am I to you - rm, you stupid bitch - crazy ex girlfriend cast, first - niki and gabi, for a pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic - paramore, I hear a symphony - cody fry, something to believe in - newsies obc, let's go to the movies - annie (1982), sunrise - in the heights obc

a/n: fangz again 2 cici for beta reading, prepz fuk off. I'm watching american horror story murder house so uh. i'll let you know how that goes. it's hilarious so far tbh i love basement babyman. also this is ricky at you

tags @yesv01 @afidiofobia @aliyahsutherland @hopefullhearts @pikzel @demirunner @brinaslittlefreak @girlfriendwhoseawitch @matiere-detoiles @ifilwtmfc @uselesssapphickitten @nxstalgicnxbxdy @ggclarissa @n-slayaaaaa @stormi-ames @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @rainforest-daisies @sunshineangel-reads

You had heard the first part of their argument from your dressing room. After that it was muffled yelling - most of which you hoped was Ricky’s. When Natalie called for places, they were still going at it. You found Miss Jenn as quickly as you could, worried about Ricky, unsure if he was still okay to perform.

“EJ is already getting ready to go on.” She tells you. It’s the only answer you need for how ugly things got. She ushers everyone to their places, trying her best to squash their questions and speculations of what’s going on.

“Nothing you need to worry about, just find you places, get in character, get ready for act two…” she instructs. She pulls you aside before you enter the wings.

“Mr. Mazzara is escorting her out as we speak.” she informs you quietly.

“Wait, Mr. Mazzara is here?” you ask. She pauses.

“Uh, yes. He’s been… helping run the lights up in the control booth. It was a last minute-” she shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, the… shrew is leaving and Mike is on his way back to check on Ricky.” You’re relieved that his dad is here for him - and Miss Jenn. You look around momentarily.

“Where is he?” you ask.

“That dusty storage room we shoved the creepy mannequins in.”

The one with the piano. The one where he helped you come down from a panic attack your first day at the El Rey, and…

“...So they’re probably going to wait until the show is over, then head home.” You snap out of the onslaught of memories that stirred up at the mention of that storage room, catching the last half of what she said. “You can keep your phone in the wings to stay in touch, just make sure it’s not a distraction.”

“Okay,” you agree, already feeling it buzzing in your pocket. She nudges you toward the wings as the intro to I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You starts playing, Nini and EJ’s voices should be floating through the house.

“Now, go be Sharpay!” she says with a smile, and you start to turn the corner, then pause.

“Miss Jenn!” you whisper-yell, and she looks back up at you. “Thank you! For everything.” you say sincerely. She places her hands on her chest, smiling, and you finally find your place backstage.

“Like, full on screaming,” you hear Zeke say to Martha. You try to ignore them, and everyone else talking and whispering. You knew it would spread like wildfire, backstage drama always does. You pull out your phone, blowing up with texts from Ricky and his dad. You keep switching between the two text threads, trying to figure out what happened, to make sure Ricky’s okay. As you type out replies to both him and his dad, you look out onto the stage. Something doesn’t sound right, the gaps between the dialog are too long.

Your brow furrows, trying to figure out what’s going on. EJ’s hand comes up to his collar and he leans forward. Nina delivers her next line more stilted and awkward and out of character than anything you’ve ever seen. You watch, confusion turning into disbelief as Nina covers her mic with her hand, and whispers something to EJ. Being so close to where they’re standing, you’re able to catch most of what she says - ‘seriously, EJ, where’s Ricky?’, or something to that effect.

High pitched feedback whines at the disturbance to her mic, and for a moment you think you must have imagined it. There’s no way, no chance in hell she covered her mic with her hand, broke character onstage, and got EJ to break character too. You take a few breaths, reminding yourself that you’re not the director. Miss Jenn will have to deal with that one. Your phone buzzes as you get more texts from Ricky, and you check it again.

Ricky stares at the little gray box on his screen, letting your words sink in. He still has four shows to perform in. He has more than just tonight to look forward to. All of those shows, every single one of them, is going to go just fine. Even now, through the worst possible nightmare of a thing that could have happened, the show is still continuing; the show must go on. And it will. It is, right in front of his eyes, as he and his dad enter the auditorium, taking two empty seats, Ricky’s right on the aisle. EJ and Nini harmonize, dancing around the stage - like he was supposed to. They finish the last verse of Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, as the audience applauds. He claps politely as the lights go down.

He mentally runs through what he would be doing if he were back there with you guys. You’re probably getting ready for the scene at Sharpay’s locker with Zeke, standing center stage in the dark, looking at the prop accessories in the pink locker, while Zeke mentally goes over his lines and blocking in the stage left wing. The lights go up, and he’s right. He knows this whole show inside and out, he realizes, and it makes his chest squeeze. Instead of dwelling on that, he leans forward, watching the scene begin to play out. He realizes suddenly that he gets to actually watch you perform. Not just from the wings or during rehearsals or in a grainy camcorder video, but he gets to watch you live.

He smiles a little, realizing how special that is. You deliver your lines flawlessly, bringing a chuckle from the audience with your attitude right when you want one. It’s crazy how you play the mean girl so well, when it couldn’t be further from your real personality. He figures you’re just that amazing. You let out a shrill, frustrated scream, then storm off stage with Zeke trailing after you. When the lights go down, he claps loudly, letting out a cheer. He lets out a shaky breath, knowing you’ll be in the next scene, too - you’re probably quick changing for it right now.

He’s right again, and backstage, you pull on your jacket, relieved to be done a little earlier than usual. It’s probably nerves from everything that happened tonight making you go a little quicker, but you’re not complaining.

“So,” Seb says quietly next to you, bending over to tug on his heels, “what happened earlier? It sounded bad…” You let out a slow, frustrated sigh. He gets the sense it wasn’t just bad, it was really bad.

“Just…” you search for the words, “some personal stuff. Family stuff, I guess.”

“Bad enough for him to leave halfway through the show?” he asks, and you can tell he’s concerned. You pause fixing your belt, looking up to the catwalk and praying for the strength to get through tonight. Seb is one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met, and you know he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but the last thing you need to do is add to the whispers, the desire for someone to spill the tea on what happened during intermission.

“It’s really not for me to say…” you trail off, glancing at the other groups of castmates waiting to go on and techies listening for their cues. ‘Later’, you mouth to him. You have to go on any minute, and you want to text Ricky about it before you tell anyone anything. It’s really not your place to tell anyone what’s going on in his homelife. You pull out your phone, sending him a quick text that says some of your friends are worried about him, and does he want you to say anything or keep it under wraps for now. You turn your phone on silent and hide it in your bra before making your entrance on time.

Seb lets out a huff, then follows you off stage as the ensemble runs in from the wings and the music for Wildcat Cheer reprise starts playing. As the ensemble begins dancing, Ricky checks his phone again, seeing a new text from you. ‘What do you want me to say?’ He pauses, staring at the screen. What does he want you to say? Nothing, at first. For a painful, fleeting moment, he wishes none of this had ever happened in the first place, he wishes he didn’t have to keep making up excuses and brushing things off. He doesn’t have to, he realizes. He doesn’t have to keep covering for her, and overcompensating for her shitty decisions. He bites the inside of his cheek, then texts you back.

Backstage, you return to the stage right wing, ready for your next scene. You check to see if Ricky has texted you back, and he did. ‘Tell them she showed up unannounced and we got in a fight. I’m not trying to make her look good anymore.’ You agree, and a part of you is glad he’s not making himself responsible for his mother’s emotions anymore. When your scene is over, you rush to your dressing room to get ready for Bop to the Top. You have a full costume and hair change, and you need to tweak your makeup a little, so it usually takes you the longest to get ready for. Once you’ve applied enough body glitter to choke a bratz doll, you leave your dressing room, meeting Seb on the way to the wings.

Most of the cast is onstage right now, so it’s not very crowded backstage where you stand, waiting for the current song to end. Seb moves a little closer to you and lowers his voice.

“I know it’s probably not a good time to ask, but what in the Mount Saint Helens happened with Ricky?” He asks in a hushed, worried tone. You bite back a smile at his turns of phrase, and sigh. You think back to Ricky’s text, how he said he’s done covering for her.

“His mother showed up…” you say slowly, pausing at the shocked expression on his face.

“She what?” he exclaims quietly.

“And she tried to corner Ricky during intermission,” he gasps, and you continue, “and they got into a huge fight.”

“Oh my god.” he says, thinking back to the yelling he’d heard.

“Mhm.” you confirm, “Miss Jenn had to kick her out so she wouldn’t cause more of a scene.”

“Oh my god!” he gasps in disbelief that it got that bad. He feels like he’s on an episode of Real Housewives. Or maybe Dance Moms.

“Poor Ricky… Is he okay?” His mind constructs different images of Ricky’s mother ambushing him while he tries to get ready for act two. He can’t imagine how terrible that must have been.

“As much as he can be right now,” you say. Seb can see how worried you are about him. This night took a toll on you, and he’s sure Ricky’s dad and Miss Jenn can’t be doing much better. It makes sense, and he’s glad to at least know what happened.

“That’s pretty much it, but I’ll give you the details later.” you say, noting that you have to go on soon, and walking over to Ashlyn so you can enter together.

The music starts, and Ricky has never been more excited for Bop to the Top. He’s never had the opportunity to see you and Seb perform full out like this from the audience, he’s always been just out of view before because of the blocking and where he was supposed to stand on stage. But now, he’s front and center, watching the light bounce off the glitter scattered across your chest and arms. You’re in a gorgeous, glittering teal dress that bounces and moves with every step you take. Your silver sparkling heels match your bracelets, and your hair is pinned up with big pink and white flowers on the side. Seb begins to dance with you, wearing a coordinating outfit that’s just as flashy.

As the music cuts between the basketball game and science decathlon, you and Seb continue to steal the show. Your singing is gorgeous and your choreography is flawless. You harmonize as you spin around, totally in sync. Your attitude, your charisma is overflowing. The two most important events of the show are happening on either side of you, and you’re keeping all eyes center stage. He’s never seen a number with this much energy, this much flare, and based on the way the crowd is reacting, they feel the same way.

As the tension builds, as the time to score the winning shot runs out and the science questions get harder and harder, as the music builds, Ricky’s breath is taken away. At the climax of the number, the East High Wildcats win the championship basketball game, and the science decathlon at the same moment. You and Seb hit the final note, holding it out as you strike your ending pose. Right as you’re done, Taylor kills the lights.

Ricky is stunned at how good the show looks from the audience. But in spite of how amazing it’s been, he can’t ignore the gnawing in his chest anymore. He’s been trying so hard to focus on you, to not be jealous of EJ standing up there reciting his lines, singing his parts and doing his choreography. Seeing EJ up there, seeing Carlos struggle to fill in as Chad makes his stomach sink. It’s supposed to be him up there. He’s supposed to be the one scrambling to make it to callbacks on time, just like he did in real life all those months ago. He turns his attention back to you, as you begin your biggest Sharpay diva moment of the show.

You storm off with Seb at your heels, and you both begin to get changed for the finale. As you get dressed into your white and red outfits, you can’t resist telling him a little more about what happened during act one and intermission.

“...And she just stormed up to me, demanding to see him. Like, I told her, ‘you’re not cast or crew, you are so not allowed to be back here’, but she didn’t care!” Your voice is intense, but hushed.

“Are you kidding?” he demands, shock evident on his face.

“I wish I was…” you laugh softly, just as flabbergasted by the recent turn of events as he is. You inch closer to the curtain, and see Ricky wave to you in the audience - or more specifically in the general direction of where he knows you’d be right about now. His eyes are still a little pink and puffy, and it’s obvious how much everything that happened tonight has fucked him up. Your chest squeezes at the sight, and you wish you could hug him or do something to help. You sigh, trying to think of something encouraging to text him when you get a spare minute to. You snap out of your train of thought when you realize it’s quiet onstage. Your stomach sinks as EJ repeats his line, trying to cue Nina.

“Oh god,” you mutter next to Seb.

“Did she forget her lines?” he asks. Her head turns, and you see what she’s looking at - who she’s looking at. You’re minutes away from the finale of the show, and she’s staring at Ricky. EJ begins speaking again, reciting his lines, but he just keeps going.

“Is he improving?” you ask rhetorically. “Why is he improving?”

You have no idea what’s going on, but this show is going off the rails so fast. It’s like a slow motion trainwreck, and you find yourself unable to look away as Nina whispers to him out of character, for the second time in the last hour. You can feel your blood pressure rise as she breaks character too, the both of them floundering onstage and deviating from every rule of theatre Miss Jenn has been drilling into your heads for the last three months. Again, EJ speaks up, not even trying at this point.

“I’m not the Troy you want,” he says melancholically.

“What the fuck are they doing?” you hiss, and Seb can tell that after everything that happened tonight, this is really the last straw for you - you’re out for blood. You watch in disbelief as EJ just… walks offstage. And that’s it. You think it’s a really good thing he exited to the other side of the stage, because you sure have some choice words for him right now.

“What is he doing?!” you question again, more pissed off than Seb has ever seen you. As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, you can’t believe what you’re seeing. Nina picks up her mic and begins to walk toward the edge of the stage, singing acapella.

“She better not fucking do what I think she’s doing.” your voice is quiet, dangerous, and Seb is momentarily worried on her behalf. Even though you’re like, the nicest person ever, he doesn’t think anyone would want to be on your bad side.

Your hand flies over your mouth in utter disbelief as she walks into the audience and right over to Ricky, signaling for Big Red to follow her with a spotlight. Just when you think this couldn’t be more of an amature hour shit show, she pulls out her phone, turning her flashlight on him. You have no idea what she thinks that’s going to do, and thank god when she puts it away after a minute. She grabs Ricky’s hand, trying multiple times to pull him out of his seat. His heart is pounding, and he can feel himself freezing up. He has no idea what’s happening or why she’s doing this, and he has even less of an idea what he’s supposed to do.

“I’m… really not at my best right now…” he manages to choke out. She doesn’t listen, and grips his hand, limp in hers.

“Just look at me, Ricky. Right at me.” She smiles, like that will fix anything. He shouldn’t go up there, he shouldn’t go onstage when he’s like this. He and his dad had a whole conversation about it after intermission. But with everyone staring at him, Nini begins to sing. When she holds out the mic for him to finish the verse, he does, almost on instinct. He can’t leave her hanging, not like this. He panics, and next thing he knows, he’s letting her drag him onstage. He doesn’t know what’s happening, why she’s doing this, but he moves automatically and lets her drag him onstage.

He’s struggling to keep his voice level, using all his effort to push past the pain, and smile at her. As she finally brings him center stage, taking his shaking hands in hers, he fights with everything inside him to make this work, to make it convincing, and be the finale it was supposed to be. He just has to keep it together for this last number, work through the pain, the ache in his chest and stomach that’s killing him as he stands up there, just for three minutes. As the rest of the cast begins to hit their cues, the energy has never been higher. They’re giving it everything they’ve got to hype him up, give him something to hold onto. He can feel them reaching out to him, singing and dancing their hearts out to lift him up.

He’s trying so hard to be Troy, to seem convincing, to smile sincerely - not at Nini, but at Gabriella. He holds her hands, beaming, thinking about how badly Troy wants to kiss her. He clings onto this moment, the music, this role like a lifeboat. Troy has a great relationship with both his parents, Troy doesn’t come from a broken home. Troy is okay, he’s never been better, which means that Ricky gets to be okay vicariously through him, just for a little while. Just for a few minutes. He holds onto this catharsis as tightly as he can. He’s not going to let this moment be taken away from him too. The audience is cheering louder than ever as they make their way to the end of the song, incredibly confused at the cast changes and Nini’s actions, but they cheer everyone on - especially Ricky - nonetheless.

He smiles at her through misty eyes, holding her hands and gazing at her in adoration. ‘This is it,’ Nini thinks, ‘my Ricky has come back to me. It’s always going to be us.’ He caresses her cheek, and looks at her like he really wants to kiss her as they harmonize. She knows he wants to kiss her, he’s always loved her and he’s always going to. They’ve had their ups and downs, but she knows that Ricky will always be hers. She was his first love, his first everything, and that’s what really matters. They have history, and you can’t fake that, you can’t manufacture that.

The song ends and she drags him into the wings away from you and Seb, shoving his finale costume at him. He fumbles to take off his jacket, desperately trying to stay in motion, to keep moving, keep smiling, keep being Troy. He throws the sparkly white and red tracksuit on over his remaining clothes, and has seconds before he’s going to get dragged back out for the finale of a show he was only able to half participate in. He hates her so much for ruining this for him. He hates Nini for dragging him back up here, for literally putting him in a spotlight in the aftermath of the worst event of his life. He sucks it up, putting on a smile and getting hyped up to sing along to the megamix.

It takes one look at your face for Seb to know just how bad this is. He can feel the rage, the disbelief radiating off of you, and he has no idea what’s going to happen after this. He thinks it’s nice that Nini tried to include Ricky, but she definitely didn’t go about it the right way. He’s sure you’d feel that’s probably the biggest understatement that could be made about the situation.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, really worried. There’s already been so much drama tonight, he knows your bullshit tolerance is in the negatives right now. You stare at Nina across the stage, watching her whisper something to Kourtney with an expression on her face that infuriates you.

“Not sure yet.” You answer quietly, voice dangerous. Finally, you hear your cue, and you and Seb enter the stage.

He watches you change on a dime, transforming into a sassy, fun, reformed mean girl. You dance with him, and flirt with Zeke effortlessly. He can’t find a trace of your previous rage once you’re past the curtain, singing and dancing as Sharpay. There’s a light, fun, playful energy around you, and it’s infectious, making Seb and Zeke and everyone else around you have even more fun out there. For a moment, he forgets how ugly this is going to get once the lights go down.

You make your way over to Gabriella, doing a little dance with her, just like you’re supposed to. You flash her a thumbs up, and wink at her supportively when Troy pulls her closer to dance, just like you’ve been practicing at every rehearsal leading up to this moment. Nina smiles at you when you do, interpreting yours and Ricky’s behavior as more than just stage directions. She feels a sense of benevolent camaraderie with you in these fleeting moments. Maybe she will be the bigger person, maybe she will extend her friendship to you, because even though you did try to steal Ricky from her - unsuccessfully at that - fighting over dumb boys is stupid.

She and Gina run off to pull Miss Jenn onstage so she can deliver her infamous deleted line. It was your idea initially, but you made sure to tell the rest of the cast before tonight so the surprise could be from all of you. The cast and house cheer as she delivers her line, and you can see how much it means to her. You get a minute to dance with Ricky, and make your way over to him as quickly and naturally as possible. You couldn’t seem happier or more care free, but when you speak, your voice is strained.

“I am so sorry that happened…” you say, barely loud enough for him to hear over the swell of the music and the rhythmic clapping as the audience keeps time. He can see it, the frustration being masked by your energetic, jovial nature. You’re doing the same thing he is, he realizes. You’re using this moment onstage and in character to keep the real world at bay. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt closer to you than he does right now. He wants to say something, he wants to feel horrible - he’s sure it’s justified - but when he looks at you, he can’t

You’re onstage together at the end of your opening night performance, with a full house clapping and cheering and singing along with you both, with the whole cast. And in this moment, you’re worried about him. You’re worried about him. He’s so overwhelmed by this feeling of being onstage with all his friends, an audience full of people who came here and bought tickets and watched the show and are now cheering them on for this, the penultimate moment of all their hard work and dedication and doubts over the last three months culminating to this. He knows you know this feeling well, that this is the first show you’ve done in so long and how badly you’ve missed it - and you’re still up here, worried about him.

“There were some… hiccups, but…” he starts, locking eyes with yours, looking at you that way that he does. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt more strongly for you than he does right now. “This is kind of the best, right?” You smile suddenly at his words, relief evident on your face. You feel like you can breathe a little easier knowing he’s doing okay - or at least, better than he was.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg babe,” you chuckle, nudging him playfully. You’re still livid at that… stunt Nina pulled, that hasn’t slipped your mind. But for now, Ricky is okay. That’s what’s important. You’ll deal with her later, if you get the chance.

“Just wait till you see what I have picked out for the spring musical!” you both look over at Miss Jenn as she smiles, drawing an excited laugh from you and Ricky.

Nina looks over, hearing you laughing with Ricky. It makes her stomach sink. She scoffs, figuring it must be platonic. He’s probably just giving you closure, or something. She looks back out into the crowd, and stops dancing as she watches the scout from YAC leave. Her mouth hangs open in disbelief. If she doesn’t get into YAC, the performing arts school of her dreams, what was the point of all this?

After everyone runs forward in groups, then individually to bow in front of the audience, You, Nina, and Ricky are the last to go. He stands between you, lined up with everyone else, holding both your hands as you and all your friends bow as a cast. He snaps to attention as he hears a certain part of the music, squeezing your hand in warning. Confetti cannons go off from the wings moments later, drawing out a new wave of cheers and applause from the audience. You’re grateful for the warning, and you squeeze his hand back as a thank you. Your heart is warmed that even now, after so many difficult things happening back to back in one night, he still remembered that loud noises can make you jumpy.

When Nina goes to share a look with Ricky, her smile drops. He’s already looking at you. There’s a certain type of joy in his eye, the kind you can only find amidst the ashes of misery, as he realizes that through everything that happened, he’s still okay. You’re still here. That’s the important part. You’re still right here with him, holding his hand. He made it to bows. Everything is going to be okay. In sharing this eye contact with him, you can’t help but reflect on how pretty he looks in the blue cast of the stage lights as he looks at you that way that makes your stomach twist.

The curtains begin to draw closed, and you all wave at the audience until they’re out of sight. Sporadic cheers are let out around you as hugs are initiated here and there, and everyone begins flooding to the dressing rooms to get changed. As you make your way to the back, Ashlyn already leading everyone in a very loud, high energy reprise of We’re All in This Together, you squeeze Ricky’s arm. When he looks at you, he seems to be doing exactly as well as you’d expect - okay for now, the massive high from the end of the show keeping him afloat for now, but you know it won’t last forever.

“I’m gonna go get changed real quick, I’ll say hi to my mom then we can go home, okay?” you say quietly, and he can tell from your tone of voice that you’re here for him, he just needs to hang in there a little longer.

“Okay,” he says with a shaky breath. He doesn’t really need to get changed since he has his street clothes on under his tracksuit, so after hanging it up in its place, he waits in the hall outside the dressing rooms. A few minutes later, everyone who got changed the fastest are in the halls and on the stairs outside the dressing rooms, talking and congratulating each other before they go to the lobby. There's a silent understanding that you're all waiting just a few more minutes before you have to leave, before you have to acknowledge that the show is over. Big Red runs over to Ricky as soon as he spots him.

“Are you okay, dude?” he asks quietly, clearly worried about him. Ricky lets out a breathy laugh.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” Ricky realizes how stressed he must be, having no idea of anything that was going on until half way through the show. "There’s a lot to fill you in on." Ricky nods his head, and they move to a more secluded area so Ricky can begin catching him up. He goes over the series of events from earlier tonight quickly, trying not to get worked up over all of it again. Soon he's wrapping up his summary of the horrible things that happened in such a short span of time, and his eyes are much less misty than he was worried they'd be.

"Oh. My. God." Red states, laughing in disbelief that his mother would do something like that.

"Yeah." Ricky nods, still in shock.

"Don't take this the wrong way, dude," Red says tentatively, "but that does sound like something she would do; the guilt tripping, mind games, all of it." Ricky can't help but agree. In retrospect, Red does remember her using a lot of language that read as passive aggressive or guilt tripping. There’s no way they could have picked up on that as kids, but hindsight is 20/20. Ricky loses Red's attention real quick as Ashlyn walks toward her friends, no longer loitering outside the dressing room she shares with you and Nini - and soon, Gina. She holds up a piece of paper from the mystery bouquet she'd been inspecting more closely.

“We found a card!” she says excitedly. Ricky nudges Red, encouraging him to tell Ashlyn that he was the one to send the flowers. He looks at Ricky, nervous, and gets an encouraging nod. Big Red takes a breath, steadying himself, then stands up and walks towards Ashlyn.

"Actually…" he starts. He doesn't need to say anything else, watching the realization hit. They walk a few feet away, talking animatedly and seeming to have a good time. More people start to filter out to see their friends and family, and as they dissipate, he realizes he still hasn't seen you since you went to change. He spots Kourtney passing by a few feet away and runs over to her.

"Hey, uh," he starts carefully. He knows Kourtney hasn't been too fond of him for a while. "Do you know where Nini is?" He knows where Gina and Ashlyn are, and he really just wants to grab you and get out of here without even more drama. Kourtney sucks her teeth, considering how to respond for a moment. She could say something, she always has something to say when it comes to Ricky, but she knows tonight was hard on him. She doesn't know the details, but she's sure the last thing she'd want in his position is more animosity.

"The scout left, and she's taking it hard. I think she's with her moms, but I don't know for sure." He waits a beat, realizing there's no other shoe that's going to drop, no glares or snarky comments.

"Thanks," he says quietly, before making his way to your dressing room. You're probably just having trouble getting everything back in your bag. He thought you had way over packed when you showed him the huge tote bag you got ready for tech week, but by the end, every 'just in case you had brought had been needed more than once. You really know your way around a theater, he thinks.

When you first enter your dressing room, all you want to do is get changed and get out. Ashlyn talks a little - mostly to herself - about how excited she is for the next show. You reply as politely as possible, doing everything you can to avoid Nina, ignore her as much as you can. You just have to get changed and get out. You have bigger issues to deal with, bigger fish to fry than to chew her out for what she did back there.

"Yeah," she replies, a faux chipper tone to her voice "hopefully we won't have as many last minute cast changes tomorrow night," you pause, gripping the empty plastic hanger so hard your knuckles turn white. "But who knows, right?"

You've tried your best, you really have, but you can't take her bullshit anymore. The hanger snaps in your hands with a loud crack. Ashlyn's eyes widen in surprise, and now out of costume, she makes her way to the door.

"I'll give you two a minute…"

The cacophony of voices get louder for a moment as she opens the door to leave, then it's quiet again. You turn away from her to tug on your shoes, praying to god she'll just leave it alone, let you get out of here quietly.

"Sorry," her voice is dripping with a passive aggressive ignorance that grates on your ears. "Did you have something to say to me?" Before she can scoff and drop a yeah, that's what I thought, you turn, looking over your shoulder at her with a stone cold glare. When you speak, your voice is so deadly, so sharp she feels like she's been stung.

"Count yourself fucking lucky that I don't have time to hang around right now, but I swear to god, Nina, if you pull shit like that again-"

"Wh-" she sputters, "excuse me? Pull what? Including Ricky, and helping him?"

"You think you were helping him?" You repeat, turning to face her. You roll your eyes scoffing. "Wow." She starts to say something, but you cut her off.

"Look, I don't know why you're here, but some of us actually take this seriously. This actually means something- this matters to some people, and nobody needs you turning it into a little three ring Nina circus, and ruining it for the people who actually want to be here!" Your voice rises as you continue, driving your point home, and refusing to let her interrupt you. By the time you’re done, her mouth is hanging open.

“I don’t care what you do in your free time,” you continue decisively, “I really don’t, but don’t ruin everything for the people who actually give a fuck!” you say, a humorless laugh at the end. You don’t know who’s been coddling her up until now, but you are sure as hell are not going to let someone get away with a stunt like that. It’s clear from her reaction that no one has ever spoken to her like this, and you think it’s long overdue. “That was the most unprofessional load of bullshit I have ever fucking seen! And I’ve been around the rodeo a few times.”

Nina blinks hard, fighting tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She feels like she’s just been slapped. Her? Unprofessional? Wow. You’re really reaching now. She’s the most professional person at this whole school, she just… She freezes as it hits her in a split second of clarity, that she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She broke the cardinal rules of theatre; she broke character, went into the audience, broke the immersion. She ruined opening night. You can see the moment of lucidity where she realizes she’s in the wrong, and it’s gone just as fast.

“You’re one to talk about being a professional.” She spits. You look at her incredulously. Once again you have no idea where she’s going with this. When you don’t react, don’t instantly get it, she continues.

“You had a Broadway career handed to you on a silver platter, and you threw it away!” she searches your face for shock that she figured out your secret, continuing, “And for what, so you could slum it at some midwestern high school full of amateurs?”

You figured it was a matter of time before someone found out you’ve done professional theatre before, so if she’s waiting for a reaction from you, she’s not going to get one. The only reason you didn’t tell anyone, the only reason you kept quiet about it is because you didn’t want to come across as cocky or seem like you were bragging. Plus, with how hard things got towards the end, you don’t really want to go around and dig up memories from that time in your life. Besides, you’re not in New York right now, you’re at East High. You’re here with all your friends, finally getting a little piece of normalcy. You’re exactly where you want to be, so why would you waste it living in the past?

Before you can answer, she continues.

“The point is, you need to stay away from Ricky and stop lying to him. Okay?” she demands. Her voice is muffled through the door, but right outside, Ricky hears her loud and clear. He didn’t hear you two before, but now the halls and dressing rooms are mostly empty.

Is she still seriously going on about that? You let out a breath, trying to regain your composure.

“I really do not have the time to keep having the same conversation with you over and over - or explain to you that you can’t tell people who they can and can’t date!” you exclaim. You’re about to drop it, but there’s one more thing you need to get off your chest. “And for the fucking record, you don’t know jack shit about what else was going on in my life when I left New York. And I don’t owe you an explanation either.” you say coldly. You’ve said your peace, the only thing you need to do is fucking get out of here and find Ricky.

“I can’t believe I actually used to look up to you!” she exclaims. “Look. It was cute, or whatever, at first, but this little game of yours has gone on for long enough. He’s mine. Now can you leave him alone, please?” she demands. She’s dripping that passive aggression you’re really starting to get sick of. You look at her in the mirror, illuminated with lights.

“Seriously? You seriously want to do this right now.” You say, exhausted. She either doesn’t hear you or pretends not to as she continues.

“I knew him first! I dated him first, I kissed him first. Everything he’s done with you, he did with me first.” she states. She doesn’t know how else to get it into your head that she was his first everything, and you’re just a rebound or something. What they have isn’t something you can just get over like that.

“You weren’t… every first, Nini.” You both look over at Ricky, and you wonder how long he’s been standing in the doorway, how much he heard.

“Ricky… what?” she whips around at the sound of his voice. He stares back at her, teary eyed and serious.

“You weren’t every first.” he repeats. You both look at him in disbelief. Nina furrows her brow. She can’t believe he’s disrespecting their relationship like this. You stare at him, thinking back, reanalyzing your memories. He can’t be saying what you think he’s saying. There’s no way you were his first time. That couldn’t have been his first time. There’s no way that Ricky Bowen was a virgin before he showed up at your house that night, there’s no way that you took his virginity. ‘Oh god, I did, didn’t I?’ you think, remembering the way he looked at you, how nervous and desperate he was. Heat floods to your cheeks. You have no idea what to do with this information.

“How could you say that?” she demands. She was his first crush, his first kiss, his first date, girlfriend, heartbreak. She was all of it.

“Because it’s true!” he exclaims. “The only first I care about, the only first that matters, is right there.” he gestures to you.

Oh yeah, no, you definitely did take his virginity. You did not expect this, much less that it would make you feel so… tender? Flattered? Warm and fuzzy maybe? You hold back a flustered laugh. Whatever warm thing it is, you’re sure feeling a lot of it. You stare at the ground, cheeks hot, butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you process this in the back of your mind. The majority of your attention is still on Ricky. You’ve been so worried, but he seems okay, which is a huge relief. He catches your eye, and your stomach twists. He’s looking at you like that again, and you’re sure you must be looking at him the same way. Anyone could see it. You snap back to attention, remembering Nina is still in the room with you.

“We should get going-” you start quietly, reaching for your bag.

“Stay out of this!” she snaps, and you recoil at the sudden sharpness to her voice. “This is between Ricky and me.” She turns to him, continuing, “And we are not done talking about this.”

“Don’t talk to her like that.” He says quickly, more defensive of you after what happened earlier. He walks over to you, standing in between you and her. “Anything you have to say to me, you can say it in front of her.” Even though his voice wavers with emotion for a moment, Nina can tell he’s not backing down on this. She weighs her options.

“Okay.” she starts, sucking her teeth. “I think she’s manipulating you.”

He lets out a breathy laugh with a bitter edge. He rolls his eyes, looking away for a second.

“That’s… hilarious, coming from you…” he mutters.

“What? She’s been lying to you this whole time! She’s been doing professional theatre for years, Ricky, she-”

“That’s what this is about?” He realizes. “Oh my god, I already knew that!” he yells. Relief floods him as it clicks that all the bullshit she’s been spewing is nothing he didn’t know about already. She really was just trying to get into his head. “She’s not manipulating me, Nini, she’s there for me! There’s a difference! She actually cares about me - unlike you, and Lynne, and everybody else.”

“That’s not fair-”

“She’s actually there for me, and she doesn’t just bail when shit gets hard. Not like you’d know anything about that.” he says the last part quieter, but she still hears it. She doesn’t have a comeback, she doesn’t have anything she can say to that.

“I don’t have to listen to this.” She grabs her bag, brushing past him. Before she leaves, he turns to her, finally saying something he never thought he’d be able to.

“I’m starting to think I wasn’t the problem in our relationship.”

She freezes, turning to him slowly, eyes glistening.

“What?”

“You heard me.” he states.

“You know what?” There’s nothing she can say, no comeback, no way to defend herself. She lets a single tear fall. “Screw you, Ricky.” She leaves quickly, huffing at what he said. He turns to you, still staring at where she left in disbelief. You exhale for what feels like the first time since this confrontation began, then immediately turn your attention back to Ricky. You’re grabbing your stuff as quickly as you can, desperate to finally get out of here, laughing nervously.

“I can’t believe this night keeps getting worse. Look, we can just go home, we don’t have to go to Denny’s or anything if you don’t want to, I just want to make sure you’re okay, because obviously a lot of-”

“I love you.”

It tears from his throat with more raw emotion than you’ve ever heard, stopping you in your tracks. Your eyes widen as his hands come up to hold your face. He wants to kiss you so badly, more than he’s wanted anything, and you can feel it. He keeps going.

“I love you so much, I wanted to say it before. I’ve wanted to say it since that first amazing night we spent together. Ever since you snuck me into your room, and we talked and watched old episodes of cartoons, and you took me in when I needed you, I have loved you. And then you got those little plastic rings when we were running late for rehearsal, because we stopped for coffee and peach scones, and- and we traded colors, I felt like my heart was going to explode.”

His thumbs caress your cheeks, and it makes you light headed.

“I wanted to say it when we were dancing at homecoming and you were so beautiful I thought I’d die, I wanted to say it every time we kissed, and every time you laugh so hard your nose scrunches up, I wanted to say it. You made me fall in love with theatre, and this beautiful place, and with you. You love everyone around you so selflessly,” his voice breaks, “please, let me love you. The way you deserve to be loved. Even if you don’t want to say it back-”

“I love you too.” You can’t help interrupting him, unable to ignore how true they are any longer. He’s stopped dead in his tracks. “I would have said something sooner, but the last thing I wanted was for you to feel pressured, so I… figured I’d follow your lead.” The room is quiet as he tries to get the air back in his lungs.

“You love me?” he breathes.

“Yeah,” you confirm, nodding, “I do.”

He takes one look at you, holding you intensely in his gaze, confirming that you really just said that. In one swift motion, he pulls you close to him, dipping you, and finally connects his lips to yours. He kisses you more passionately than anything he’s ever done. He kisses the air out of your lungs, kisses away the little space between you, desperately kissing everything he feels for you onto your lips. You lose yourself for a beautiful moment in that kiss. You’re not sure how long you stay like that, holding each other as close as you can get, with kissing as the only means of expressing the depths of your feelings, but it’s long enough that your lungs burn when you finally pull away. He barely moves his face away from yours as you attempt in sync to catch your breath.

“Say it again,” he murmurs against your lips.

“I love you,” you say, soft and sincere, that beautiful smile on your lips where his ache to be again. He reacts instantly to your words, picking you up, and kissing you again and again. You wrap your legs around his waist, giggling in surprise. He sets you on the table in front of the big dressing room mirror where Ashlyn’s character shoes still sit. The mental note to make sure she doesn’t forget them flies out of your mind as Ricky kisses you again and again, mouth open against yours. His lips are all over your face and your neck, turning you into a giggling mess as he holds you tight. He mutters sweet nothings against your skin that turn sensual very quick, but mostly he keeps telling you how much he loves you between kisses, mumbling the three words into your skin over and over.

“Ricky…” you trail off as he bites your neck playfully, causing you to let out a flustered noise. “We have to go upstairs…” you start to forget what you were saying as he runs his tongue over your skin. “Our parents are waiting!” you laugh, desperately holding onto the train of thought.

“Let them wait…” he murmurs, “You said we could kiss after the show, and… it’s after.” The flustered look on your face is too much for him, and he presses his lips to yours again, pushing his tongue into your mouth. You feel so good, your skin is so soft and you smell so sweet, and it’s all so much more now that he’s said it, now that you said it back to him. He squeezes your thigh and bites your lip and moans into your mouth, loving every noise you make, every tug of his hair and grab of his shirt. He’s so desperate for you and your touch, he would fuck you right here if he could. He considers it for a moment.

After eavesdropping too long for her own good, Nina feels a solitary tear roll down her cheek. Ricky’s words ring in her ears. He loves you. He didn’t just say it back, he initiated it. She didn’t stick around too long, just enough for it to hurt. She reaches into her bag, pulling out her songwriting book. She’s sure this will give her plenty to write about, she thinks bitterly. She could probably get a whole album out of it. ‘At least then the pain would be worth something…’ she muses, taking one last look over her shoulder before leaving the dressing rooms - and Ricky - out of her sight.

Eventually, you and Ricky manage to drag yourselves upstairs and greet people in the lobby. Mike finds him quickly, pulling him aside to check on him. He looks back over at you, accepting flowers from your mom and pulling her in for a hug.

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m okay.” He doesn’t look away from you, and Mike doesn’t miss this. His son is a lot of wonderful things, but he sure wouldn’t describe him as subtle. Ricky watches you as a girl in a pink dress walks up nervously to you with who he presumes is her sister. He’s too far away to hear your conversation over the chatter from people milling about, but your face lights up after she speaks. You pull a hot pink sharpie out of your bag and sign her playbill before handing it back to her. The sight makes his chest squeeze. He didn’t know you were good with kids, but it makes total sense - you’re good with everybody.

Mike nudges him toward you.

“Go ahead,” he smiles, so Ricky does.

“Hey,” he starts, pausing when a woman walks up to him, a little girl hiding behind her leg, looking up at Ricky in admiration.

“Excuse me,” the woman says, getting his attention. “You were fantastic. She really loves High School Musical, and we wanted to know if you’d sign her playbill…”

The girl looks up at him nervously, and he smiles, letting out a flustered chuckle. He didn’t expect this, he doesn’t even have a pen - but luckily as always you’re right behind him, extending a sharpie his way.

“Yeah,” he smiles, “sure, of course!” He scribbles his name across the front before handing it back. “What was your favorite part?” he asks. She considers.

“We’re All in This Together.” she decides, singing out the song title.

“No way, that’s my favorite song too!” The way her face lights up is something he doesn’t think he’ll ever forget. She jumps excitedly that someone as cool as Troy Bolton has the same favorite song as her before hiding behind her mom’s legs again. The mom thanks him again before picking up her daughter. Ricky turns to you, not even needing to say anything.

“I know,” you smile, “it’s the best, right?”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “It is.” Your eyes light up that way they do when you remember something, and you reach into your bag. You pull out Ashlyn’s character shoes - thank god you remembered to bring them out with you - and gesture down the hall to where Ashlyn is talking to some of her friends that came to see the show.

“I’m gonna give these back to Ashlyn, and I’ll meet you and our parents by the doors in like, two seconds.” He agrees, and you part ways.

“Thank you!” Ashlyn gasps when you hand her the shoes. “I was looking everywhere for these.”

She pauses, remembering how tense things got between you and Nini earlier before she left.

“Was everything okay with…” she trails off, jogging your memory.

“Oh,” you start, a little unsure of how to answer. “Yeah. Everything’s fine now.” You look off to the side, and she follows your gaze to Ricky. He’s talking to his dad and seems to be doing a lot better now, and you seem to be doing better too.

As you make your way down the hall and across the lobby you’re stopped by a woman you don’t recognize, but she seems to know you, addressing you by name as she introduces herself.

“I’m Kalyani Patel, the dean of the Youth Actors Conservatory in Denver. I’ve been following your career for some time, and I have to say, I’m very impressed. You’re incredibly talented and have a lot of notable credits for someone as young as you are. We have one more available place available for the upcoming semester, and we would be thrilled for you to attend.”

“Thank you so much, Kalyani. I’ve heard a lot about Youth Actors Conservatory, and I’m so honored by your offer, but I’m not planning on switching schools at the moment.” You say as graciously as you can.

“Of course, I understand.” She smiles.

“Thank you again for the opportunity, and I hope we can work together in the future.” You smile back, saying goodbye, and making your way over to Ricky and your parents.

After returning to the dressing rooms to write sad song lyrics and watch herself cry in the mirror, when Nina finally finds her moms in the lobby, she has a piece of good news for once.

“The dean of YAC!” she exclaims.

“I thought they were full, sweetie.” Carol says. She and Dana had gotten a rejection letter addressed to Nini a few days ago, and were trying to find the right time to break the news.

“She said a spot opened up,” she beams, “which means I’m going to YAC!”

Her moms hug her, congratulating her on the good news, and that they’d discuss it in detail at home. Nina looks over to where you and Ricky are standing. He holds your hands in his while you talk quietly. You have no idea that soon she’ll be out of here, and you’ll never see her again. She was on the fence, but after what he said to you, she’s made up her mind. She’s leaving this town, and going somewhere that she’ll be appreciated, somewhere she’s wanted. If that happens to be a boarding school in Colorado, then so be it. ‘Take a good look’, she thinks, ‘because that’s the last you’ll ever see of Nini Salazar-Roberts.’

After more mingling, congratulations, flowers, and playbill signing, you turn to Ricky.

“You ready to go home?” you ask, walking toward your car. He stops, turning to look at you.

“You know what? No.” he lets out a breathy laugh. “I don’t want to go home. I… want to go to Denny’s! I’m a theatre kid, and I just finished my first show, and it’s like, tradition to go to Denny’s, so I want to!” You smile at his sudden enthusiasm, laughter matching his.

“Yeah, okay,” you smile, “let’s go!”

You both walk over to your castmates, who are trying to figure out a carpool to get everyone there before it gets any later. You nudge Ricky.

“So, does anyone need a ride to Denny’s, or should we just meet you there?” he asks. For what feels like the millionth time, everyone erupts into cheers. You know all your friends were worried about him after what happened, and Seb instigates a group hug, that everyone quickly jumps on to. You think it’s important to end the night on a good note like this, spending time with your castmates, cramming into booths and singing obnoxiously in an empty restaurant. It’s sort of a rite of passage, and you’re glad that Ricky’s able to participate, especially after opening night of his first show.

You sleep over at his place that night. After everything Ricky’s been through, after he seems to finally be okay again, the last thing Mike wants to do is not let him spend time with someone he’s so close to - especially considering what a good influence Mike thinks you are on him. From what Ricky told him, you didn’t instigate any drama tonight, and spent every spare moment off stage trying to help Ricky through what was going on. It’s not the first time you’ve helped Ricky navigate the ups and downs of growing up in the time you’ve known him, so when Ricky asked if you could stay the night, he agreed. While you’re brushing your teeth, Mike pulls Ricky aside to talk.

“I spoke to Nini’s moms,” he starts, and Ricky braces himself. “They’re going to talk to her, and I said I’d talk to you to make sure these last shows go smoothly, alright? So, no more fights, no arguing, no more of this… reality tv stuff.”

“Believe me,” Ricky sighs, “I don’t want any more drama. Especially at the expense of the show.”

“I know,” Mike agrees. “So just… it’s only a few more shows. Try your best to…” he looks for the words.

“Politely avoid each other?” Ricky supplements.

“Exactly.” Mike nods. “Just politely avoid each other for a few more days, and all this will blow over.”

When he finally reenters his room, he hands you a t shirt to wear. He knows you probably brought pajamas, but he wants to tell you he loves you in as many ways as he can, like wearing his clothes. When you come back in and sit on his bed in his big shirt and your little shorts, he doesn’t think you’ve ever looked more beautiful.

“Do you want to talk about anything?” you ask tentatively.

“Not really,” he chuckles. “I feel like I’ve kind of talked it all to death by now.”

“You know what we haven’t talked about?” you ask, a look in your eye that immediately has his attention. “How Nina and EJ - but like, mostly Nina - ruined the finale of the show.”

“Yeah,” he starts, remembering how stunned he was. “What the fuck was that?”

You talk shit until you have nothing else to say about it, and soon you’re curled up under the covers together. You’re laughing and talking, and things almost feel normal again. It’s like every bad thing never happened tonight. He doesn’t know how you do it, how you make things feel so okay again, but he holds you tight, clinging onto the feeling. He was going to say it earlier, but he was so distracted by you, by how beautiful you are.

“I love you.” he says, pressing a kiss to your forehead. He feels you smile against his chest.

“I love you too, Ricky.”

You sound so content, so comfortable with him, and he feels like his heart is going to burst.

“I love you,” he says again, running his fingers along your waist.

“I love you too,” you giggle sleepily. Every time you think he’s asleep, he says it again, and again, and again. He can’t help himself, he loves the way you blush and giggle, loves how warm you are against him, loves the way you say it back to him. It’s quiet for a little while, but you feel his hands still tracing little shapes into your skin. You glance up at him to find him staring at you in that way that makes your stomach twist.

“Close your eyes,” you mutter, drowsy.

“But I love you.” he replies quietly, and you can hear the smile in his voice. “I love looking at you. I love everything about you.”

“I love you too,” you answer groggily, and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt better than he does when you say it like that. “But we have a full day of school in the morning, then homework, then another show to perform in, so we have to get at least a little sleep.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, eyes growing heavy as the day catches up to him. “As long as we have time for coffee and peach scones.”

“There is literally always time for coffee and peach scones.” he chuckles at how quickly you respond. You lean up, pressing a kiss to his nose, then snuggle back into his chest. It’s his favorite time of day again, he realizes, where he gets to sleep next to you, and kiss, and cuddle. Except this time, it’s better than it ever has been, because right before you fall asleep, he gets to say it.

“I love you.” he breathes, kissing your forehead.

“‘Love you too.” you mutter, barely awake. Your words reverberate and replay in his mind as he closes his eyes, finally drifting off. He doesn’t know how the next shows are going to go, he doesn't know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about what will happen when the sun rises, he’s just excited for it to happen with you. He sleeps better than he has in a long time.

#hsmtmts ricky #ricky bowen #ricky bowen x reader #hsmtmts #hsmtmts x reader #rocks at your window #I was watching the first episode and there were all the flashes and jumpscares of basment guy (idk his name) but I was like #'oh that guy? that's babyman. he's my neighbor :)'#I love that violet is both pro smoking and pro litter btw #bold stance

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