#jd and the straight shot

[remotewatch]

some call it arrogance

Jack Schlossberg x reader | 2.5k wc

summary: Let’s face it: you kind of suck at paddleboarding. Thankfully, your boyfriend is an eager instructor with a trick up his sleeve!

cw: shameless smut, outdoor recreation, questionable teaching, peppy upbeat softdom jack (good lord), fingering, unprotected sex, if you want to keep your plan b go VOTE ‼️‼️, play fighting, jd is catching strays, this is somewhat a comedy

minors dni and stay out!!!!

Time and time again, you realize that you and Jack have very different definitions of what constitutes a short paddle. You could pass out right here on your little break, sun hat plopped over your face and one leg dangling in the pleasantly cool water. He tugs you closer to his board to drum a few fingers on your knee and ask “You asleep?” just as you’re drifting off.

A barely audible “mhm” is all you care to let out. Jack’s hand slides to your inner thigh, a polite veneer of concern slapped onto his more crude interests.

“Do you need something?” When you lift your hat to squint over at him for being so euphemistic, he’s already zapping you with those doe eyes you struggle to resist.

“Diva, the telephotos,” you mumble as you flop back down. There’s almost certainly no one hiding out in the mangroves waiting to catch you two, but the press had noted the extension of your Japan trip to stop at Iriomote. Your growing collection of condemning paparazzi pics is already nudging at the edge of your mind, and you have no desire to add to it today.

“They can’t get a good shot this far out.” His hand stills when you don’t murmur back how much of a whore he’d have to be to know that so definitively.

“Here, let’s get out of the sun for a bit. Get you a honey stick or something.” A grateful thumbs up is the most movement you care to make.

As much as you like getting into Jack’s hobbies with him, it’s undeniably more fun to have him tow you around whistling Elvis tunes like your little chauffeur. It would be so easy to fall asleep to the sound of it paired with the waves crashing in the distance; maybe you do; it’s really none of your business.

The temperature suddenly drops, and you briefly tilt your hat up to see he’s steered you into a particularly thick mangle. It’s a straight, narrow shot from it up to the shore; exactly the type of hidden launch he’d know about.

He turns around from rooting in the supply bag and waggles a fanned out selection of power bars, honey straws, and glucose gels at you.

“What’re we having today, huh?” Still hiding under your hat, you grasp blindly until you find a few straws and tear one open with your teeth, shoving your dentist’s exasperation to the back of your mind. Jack knows better than to pester you until your temperature and blood sugar level out a bit. Eventually, you rise from the dead and get a better look at your spot.

The mangrove roots here are as thick as you’ve ever seen and rise far enough out of the water that you could set up a hammock under them. Schools of diminutive silver fish swirl beneath the surface, bouncing light back up to paint the underside of the overhead foliage. The two of you are technically visible from open water, but a pap would have to drop anchor at the perfect angle to get more than a glimpse. You remind yourself that you’re on the west side of the island anyway; surely there’s more exciting things to report on than America’s most notorious SUP proficiency gap relationship.

“You’re getting better, you know.” You gnaw at a second honey straw and scrunch up your nose.

“Am I?”

“For sure. Remember Lake Superior?”

“God, must I?” you groan, wincing at the mere thought.

“Gotta appreciate where you started!” Jack is laid out on his board doing alternate toe touches, and the fact that it’s more of an unconscious ritual than a way of showing off his balance makes it all the more annoying.

He’s truly so pretty, even after putting your legs through hell on the way out. The little gaps in the mangrove canopy cover him in spots of sunlight, and he still refuses to buy a smaller pair of shorts, just rolling down the hem of those ratty old ones until they’re shorter than any of yours. You’re too busy watching them fall further down his thighs with every leg raise to notice he’s still talking.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said-,” Jack finishes the last of his coconut water and smacks his lips. “Why don’t you stretch a bit before we head back?” You press your hands flat as if to push yourself up, and he notes your hesitation.

“What is it?”

“…Can you spot me?” His smile cracks his whole face open like a fresh daffodil, clearly thrilled to be needed.

“Why, certainly.”

You brace yourself as he slides onto your board as easily as scooting closer on the couch, quads flexing delectably while he helps you stand up.

“Do a forward bend for me,” Jack effortlessly slips back into his instructor cadence, to the point that you could forget he’s your boyfriend aside from his hands feeling far more than professionally comfortable on your hips. He leans up against your backside to peer over you as you place your palms flat on the deck, not bothering to conceal how much it excites him. After the tension of the paddle out and stiffening up during your nap, the stretch in your hamstrings is virtually orgasmic. Jack doesn’t miss the little sigh of relief you let out, nor do you the the smugness that spills into his voice.

“And walk it out, just like that,” you can feel him staring at your ass and can’t even kick his shin without knocking you both over.

“Can you at least pretend to enjoy this a little less?” it doesn’t sound very commanding with his dick pressed right up against you before you shift into downward dog. Even less so when he knows how much you love a good calf stretch, knows exactly how far to push you into it to make you melt in his hands.

“If I’m not happy to be here, how can I expect you to have any fun?” There’s a brief wobble as he reaches to grab your ankles and help you move to a headstand, but one shift of his heel and you might as well be back on dry land.

“That’s why I said pretend.”

“That’s why I’m not an actor. And, push yourself up!” If nothing else, you’re decent at handstands, at least with Jack ready to catch your legs. Decent on a good day, that is, when the humidity isn’t bleeding your energy like a stuck pig. Your right palm slips into the water, and you screw your eyes shut in anticipation of a face full of board and a few tree bark scrapes.

“Fuck!” you hiss, but his grip instantly locks down on your ankles and lifts you out of the line of fire. Jack’s obliques ripple as he rights the board, and he’s very clearly pleased to catch your notice of it.

“That’s alright, you had a few good seconds there.” He lets you swing a few moments longer than necessary before lowering you back down and piping up again. Ever the show-off.

“It’s always…,” he hesitates as if he’s searching for the right words. “-been my understanding that if you can balance on all fours in unfavorable circumstances, you can stay standing just fine.”

“And what kind of unfavorable circumstances would you be talking about?” it’s obvious, though you’d rather hear him say it. He knows you too well to take the bait and cheekily rolls his eyes.

“You know, the favorable ones.”

“Is that what they teach you at surf instructor school?” Your hands are back on the board now, and you kick one foot free to slide it down his chest under his shorts.

“Oh yeah, the first thing,” he chuckles, fishing it out before helping you down into a plank.

Jack somehow wriggles his way under you without causing any major upheaval, claiming it’s the easiest way to check your form. He’s talking like this is your first time on a board just to wind you up and making no attempt to hide how much he enjoys doing so.

“Now, there’s nothing to it, just gotta make sure you’re not leaning too far to the left-“ he tugs at one of your bikini ties.

“Or the right,” he twists the other between his fingers, not quite loose enough to fall off, but certainly plenty of room for him to slide his fingers below your waistband. His smile grows wider when he pulls them back out to observe their newfound shine. You have a halfhearted go at defending your reactivity.

“That has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh yeah? You’re pulling a JD, getting riled up by the dolphins?” If your balance or endurance were half as good as his, you’d shove him off your board and ditch him right there. The best you can do is double down; a bit pitiful, but better than giving him any satisfaction right after that bullshit.

“And these are the unfavorable circumstances? Seriously?” It’s more the stupid fucking grin on his face than the controlled circles he’s tracing on your clit that’s disrupting your concentration. You’re hoping that focusing on the space between Jack’s eyebrows will keep your mind blank, but his fingers feel better and better the more you try to ignore them sliding around like he’s trying to memorize every cell you’ve got down there.

“It would be deeply irresponsible of me to throw you right into the deep end. Safety first, after all.”

“So irresponsible,” the mocking tone you’re going for doesn’t really work when your pitch is stuttering in perfect response to his movements.

Your eyes slip closed out of habit, but he’s right there playfully pinching your nipple to bring you back to reality.

“Hey, now! No daydreaming during your lesson! That’s not very considerate to your instructor,” he’s trying to pout up at you, hit you right in your weak spot, but he looks far too pleased with himself for the illusion to work.

“What if he deserves it for comparing me to a bloated couch fucker?” Again, the conviction isn’t really there when you’re bending your knees into terrible form trying to chase his touch every time they recede.

Jack yanks his fingers away, sucks them clean with a slippery pop, and kisses you on the point of your chin before shuffling out from under you.

“Clearly you’re not being challenged enough if you can complain like that!”

This time, you do try to kick him off the board, but you have no range at all to put some power into it. That’s what you tell yourself, at least.

“Look at you! You wouldn’t have been able to do that at Lake Superior. Told you you’re getting better!” He’s tugged his shorts down and your swimsuit to the side before you can snap at him, and he actually cackles when he sees how much your lats twitch when he first slides in.

“You’re unbelievable.” The way your voice shakes makes it sound more like a compliment than a last ditch effort to compose yourself.

“That’s what I’ve heard! There you go, arch for me.” He’s not causing much motion yet, only waves big enough to scatter the fish, but you’re wound so tight he might as well be putting you straight through the deck. Your arms are already shaking, and of course Jack notices; how could he not?

“Keep your arms steady. No, don’t lock them up, lean into it,” he’s saying like they’re not on fire, like you can’t feel yourself clamping down on him in some sort of weird unified muscular system effort to keep you from falling on your face.

“Can’t believe y-“

“How fast you’re progressing? I know, right! You must have a pretty good teacher!” He’s absolutely insufferable. You’ve been moving nonstop since dawn, he’s got your ass locking up like an NDA, and his voice is still perfectly fucking steady.

Jack’s middle finger just barely trails along your side, feather-light enough to raise goosebumps on your skin.

“You’re holding too much tension here.” Thank god, he mercifully spares you the lecture about proper abdominal engagement.

“Jack, I can’t- I’m gonna fall!” The wavering in your voice is so unbelievably humiliating when he’s barely breaking a sweat. Your arms buckle, threatening collapse, and there he is seamlessly shifting his hands from your hips to swing under your torso and support you when they finally give out, the other splaying flat across the deck.

“Noooo you’re not, you’re fine. You can have a little break, and then we’ll try again, okay?” All while his thrusts remain infuriatingly consistent. The board barely even moves when he catches you. Your nails scrabble at the deck pad, then the limb supporting you, trying to regain your balance, ground yourself, Jesus, something, but he’s got a better angle now and can haul you back onto his dick as hard as he likes without worrying about your arms giving out.

“You’re such an asshole!” you sob as you claw at his forearm.

“Tell me to stop then! Be silly and turn down a free lesson, why dontcha?” Any attempts you make to thrash your way out of Jack’s grasp just stimulate you more, and he’s suppressing a fit of laughter watching you jolt like you’re stuck in a bear trap. When all that’s left for him to knock out of you are little stilted squeals, his resolve softens, and he leans down to kiss your ear.

“I know you can do it. Push yourself up for me.”

The only way out is through. This time, your arms do lock up; blame the unfavorable circumstances. The world narrows to tunnel vision as you watch the board tilt left, then right, with the ringing in your ears making the whole spectacle feel a tinge nightmarish.

Your orgasm hits you hard enough to have Jack choking out an “oh, fuck” that sounds just as strangled as his dick must feel. You can hardly enjoy it over both of your triceps cramping terribly, though you can’t help but feel a little proud of yourself for staying dry when you slump to your elbows halfway through.

As unceremoniously as Jack thuds down at your side, he still instinctively spreads out enough to keep the board steady. He looks about ready to fall asleep, so of course you roll over to bother him.

“Is that how you taught people to surf?”

“Nah, they were way more advanced.”

“Fuck you!” He’s back on his board and paddling out of the inlet in a flash, somehow not flipping yours in the process.

“Sounds like someone doesn’t need any breaks on the return trip!” By some miracle, you manage to grab his leash before he flies past you.

“You’ll tow me back.” Jack spares you a full glance over his shoulder, and there’s an unmistakable streak of you remaining on the left side of his mouth.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m your favorite student.”

[vacayisland]

Hiii I saw that you were still doing requests so I was wondering if you could do a John Dory x Reader van life fanfic?

I dont have anything particular to ask for just a little story of how it would be like to live with JD in Rhonda and have a simple life after all of the events that happened with Floyd and stuff :)

@!; "Put on Pants!" John Dory / Reader

"Summary"! You love JD, you really do... but at this point, you're about two seconds from slapping his pants in his face if he won't put them on!... and this is exactly how your mornings always start with your husband <3 "Tags"! Fluff and a dumb plot I made with my friend for a goofy story. Also I'm very very sleepy while writing this <3 I was also being silly, I need to have fun writing <3 @writergal02 @chamille-trash @valvalentine69 @starzwithapen

@!; You loved John Dory, you really did. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have married him all those years ago, if you didn’t you wouldn’t have put up with his weird antics or his little shenanigans, if you didn’t you wouldn’t have left your old life behind to start a new one with him, if you didn’t you wouldn’t be here right now arguing about him and his pants! It was a very odd argument, not even an argument more like a back and forth bicker, about John Dory refusing to wear his pants inside of the house. Not only not his pants, but his shirt as well! Now, granted, you understood where he came from. It’s his house as well, you both lived in Rhonda after all, and he did live here first, but you also lived here! And not to get you wrong, you could stare at the site of your husband, nearly, butt naked for hours on end yet… there comes to a point where the pants need to go on. If no one is coming over, JD is walking around in nothing other than his boxers and goggles. Sure he’ll put on pants and the vest you got him if he has to go out. But as soon as he gets home? Somehow all of that disappears and he’s left in his boxers, which both baffles and amazes you. How he even manages to basically strip that fast, you aren’t even sure. All you know is that you’re slightly fed up with seeing him in boxers for a majority of your day.

“Babe,” You tried explaining to JD without laughing, knowing this was just plain ridiculous. Though, seeing as your husband just walked out of your shared room for the umteenth time in nothing but boxers, you had to bring it up. Again. “You need to put on pants, you can’t just walk out here in boxers! We have a window. Multiple windows! And none of them are tinted.” “Our house.” Was the only grumble you got from your half-asleep husband, who was brushing his teeth all the while trying to make coffee. He wasn’t actually exactly brushing his teeth, as the toothbrush hung from his mouth, likely forgotten as JD began to warm the cafetera on the stop top. It was also hard to keep a straight face when JD was wearing his red heart boxers, “Ay dios mio, John Dory! Put on your damn pants, no one wants to see your nearly naked ass walking around our camper! Por favor.” You pleaded, slips of giggles escaped your lips as you tried to calm your giggles by rubbing your face. But it was truly no use when you glanced back up at your husband. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, arms crossed, and the widest smirk on his face. He looked a little goofy, seeing as his toothbrush was still hanging out of his mouth, but you could tell what his next words were. It was going to be a quip, a flirtatious one of that. It was one he usually used to end this pants conversation, knowing it got you flustered or flabbergasted or just plain over him enough to stop your pursuit. You loved JD so much, but whenever he says: “Aw come on babe, you know you love the sight,” You wanted to strangle him! “I would love the sight even more if my husband would put on his damn pants!” You shot back, not being able to contain your laughter as JD began to playfully wiggle his eyebrows at you. With a shake of your head, you covered your face in your hands and sunk down on the couch melodramatically. God this man is going to be the death of you and he knew it.

.ᐟ this work is published and owned by @vacayisland. please do not plagiarize, copy, or steal this work; like, reblogs, and saves are appreciated :D

[misscinnamonroll16]

Brozone headcanons

Clay is the type of brother to not believe what any of the others tell him. Whether they're lying to him or not, he don't believe them

John Dory can get his brothers to fall asleep in minutes. He's got all the tricks that knock them out. They worked when they were kids and still work now that they're adults.

Whoever ends up with John will get a wonderful lil house husband. He can cook, clean, bake, sew, and take care of children. Basically a house husband (or pod in this case)

John definitely dated Delta Dawn. They broke up bc they were too similar and too different. This was shortly after the band broke up and before Delta became queen. They were both young and adventurous. They wanted to travel the world together but Delta had responsibilities that she couldn't leave.

Floyd had ONE girlfriend. When he got on his own, Floyd told people he was bisexual bc he knew he wasn't straight but he thought he liked girls. He and that girl broke up on good terms bc she understood when he told her he's gay.

Floyd is scared of clowns

Bruce probably traumatized the little brothers more than John Dory did. He was the one that would force them to go into a haunted house, purposely jump out with a scary mask on type stuff

Drinks of choice: JD prefers whiskey, Bruce likes margaritas and brandy (obviously), Clay doesn't drink often, he likes white wine while he reads, Floyd likes SHOTS SHOTS and mixed drink (club/party drinks), branch doesn't drink much either but likes wine and occasionally mixed drinks.

Floyd is the holder of all the family secrets. He's really good at keeping them secret. Bruce and John are too but they're also known for telling embarrassing stories so none of the brothers want to tell them their secrets and risk it getting leaked

John is incredibly handy, he's very good at fixing most things. He can FIX things most of the time. He's no good at building.

All the boys are hopeless romantics

When one of the brothers (excluding Bruce in this case) get married after reuniting, they are all excitedly helping plan the wedding

Floyd can walk in heels

John Dory handles his machete very well. Nothing gets cut that he doesn't want cut. He also flips it around like a butterfly knife

When JD and Spruce went out to those teenage parties, they had a silent rule of one of them had to stay sober to make sure the other didn't do anything stupid, was safe and they both got home in enough time to get some sleep before having to wake up for the day. Spruce made sure John didn't wander off while stoned and listened to him talk whatever came to his high mind. John Dory made sure Spruce didn't eat something he wasn't supposed to while stoned or do anything stupid while drunk. It was never discussed but they knew that one of them had to be responsible for the other

Despite the band getting back together, both John and Floyd have sole careers that take off. Floyd is more for the performing and shows, JD is more for releasing songs and disappearing for several months. Floyd is selling out shows, John is dropping a song on YouTube that blows up within the first ten minutes. Brozone fans eat it up

While on stage and interacting with fans, the boys do very different things. John Dory leans towards the crowd and the fans go wild, he's a bit taken back but blows them a kiss (cue someone fainting). Bruce still plays up the heartthrob card, showing off his body, a fan yells and calls him daddy. He whispers into his mic "I didn't give you permission to call me that." in a flirty tone, cue the deafening screams. Clay was always shocked a little bit when fans start screaming when he gets close to the end of the stage, he's talking into his mic like "you good? You need something?" which causes the fans to all scream something at him. Floyd is the most memeable, hes making faces and sitting on the edge of the stage. He didn't used to that but after V&V he gets tired pretty quick. So he often ends up laying on the stage, his leg hanging off, his mic by his head along with a bottle of water. Clay kicked him off once and nobody knows if it was on purpose or not. Branch is NOT used to the fans. They're screaming at him and he's backing away. He's also very memeable until he gets more used to it. He didn't perform as much as his brothers (by that i mean he only truly performed once)

Bruce teaches John Dory how to surf. After several hours he gets the hang of it, it's like skateboarding only rougher.

Bruce sometimes watches his boys and sees him and his bros. Theyre wrestling and he can practically see himself, Clay and Floyd on the floor of their Grandma's pod

Grandma Rosiepuff spanked JD and Bruce with a wooden spoon. By the time she stopped, Clay was old enough for him to be next, so he got lucky. The wooden spoon she used had a wooden chunk taken out of it from when she hit John once. They find it while going through her old stuff that Branch had.

"Hey look it's the whooping spoon!"

"The what?!"

"The whooping spoon. The spoon grandma used to spank us."

"What makes you say that?"

"You see this chunk taken out, that's from my ass."

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Ace Succubus

John Wiswell: Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the asexual succubus Wiswell: it's about a succubus who's different from the stereotypical succubus Wiswell: it makes you think about what if you were an individual in a society

Wiswell: so this succubus, you see, is ace Barker: oh come the fuck on Barker: come on!!! Barker: you can't have an asexual succubus! Barker: how would that even work?! Wiswell: well, CLIVE Wiswell: i'm about to explain that

Wiswell: this ace succubus expresses love in other ways Wiswell: like holding hands Wiswell: or parallel play Wiswell: that's when you sit next to each other on the couch playing stardew valley on the krobus the monster merchant roommate route Barker: what

Bram Stoker: interesting! i, for one, am glad to finally hear a succubus story without all that sex Barker: you can't just have an asexual succubus! Barker: that's like having a straight vampire! Stoker: Stoker: NOW SEE HERE YOU LITTLE-!!

Stoker: vampires aren't gay, how dare you!? Anne Rice: um yeah of course vampires are gay Stoker: no they're not! Rice: yes they are! Barker: fight! fight! fight! Poe: stop it! stop it! everyone, settle down! Mary Shelley: [flipping switchblade] finally, some action!

Poe: mary! who's side are you even on in this fight? Shelley: [stabbing Stoker] the winning side! Shelley: [stabbing Rice] as always Poe: Poe: yeah i guess that's usually try Shelley: [stabbing Poe] ALWAYS true Shelley: [stabbing Barker] try and stop me, nerds!

Barker: this is ridiculous, how can you have a succubus who's not horny?? Barker: i am offended by the very idea! King: actually, my boy joe dropped the take of the century on me earlier, he said that some aces actually DO get horny Barker: i am not getting into a discourse steve

Barker: how am i even supposed to get horny for this story about a succubus NOT having sex?! Wiswell: i have another story about a succubus turning into a couch Barker: how am i supposed to get horny for a couch!? Barker: who am i, JD vance!? [rim shot]

[noemilivv]

PH MI GOSH ✨️ANON HERE I GOT ANOTHER IDEA (

So angel Is a performer, right?

So imagine, huskerdust meeting and slowly getting to know reader,, who also works under the vees but as a live theater actor.

Maybe huskerdust might have a crush, maybe not (depends if your ok with poly)

And he recently got cast as a character, and is panicking and angel offers to help, and husk watches, just so happy and affectionately by seeing the people he's closest to have fun in something their both good at

And they go to readers show, where he plays JD from Heather's (like Jamie muscatos ver.) And it's just fluff and maybe some hurt comfort when reader worries on opening night

(Also a one-shot idea but if u don't do those it's entirely ok)

Have fun, take breaks and don't forget to do the do!! Have a goody good :))

HELLOOO ✨ ANON MY LITTLE RAINBOW OF LOVE !! this is actually so cute, and the fact that reader is jd is even better, i haven’t watched heathers in a hot minute so i hope this is good!!

Warnings: Swear Words, Use of the F-Slur, Based loosely off of Heathers the Musical

“Meant to Be Yours”

Husk x MT!Performer!Reader x Angel

You paced your hotel room that was shared between you and your boyfriends, waiting for an email on casting results for the most recent show you auditioned for.

“Sugar, you did great, there’s no way they ain’t casting you, relax.” Angel said, with a sleeping and purring Husk in his arms, his face shoved in his fluff.

Before you could comment your phone dinged, you went to swipe up on it, before realizing it was the cast list. “Fuck!” You yelped, nearly dropping your phone.

Husk groaned, he had been woken up, shoving his face further into Angel’s poof, as your other boyfriend chuckled.

“Well, open it, what ‘re we waitin’ for?” Angel said, quite eager to see the results, being quite the big fan of Heathers himself.

You scrolled for a bit before yelling out a loud scream, “I GOT THE PART!”

“Fuck yeah, baby!” Angel cheered, tossing his arms up in the air.

A monotone, ‘Woo…’ came from Husks lips as he attempted once more to drift off to sleep, he cared, it’s just he was hungover and tired, what’d ya expect?

“Hey Ram, doesn’t the cafeteria have a no fags allowed rule?” Angel quoted from your script.

“…Line.” You muttered embarrassedly.

“They seem to have an open-” Before Angel could finish, he was cut off.

“Ohh!” You said in realization. “They seem to have an open door policy for assholes, though.” You recited, getting back into character almost instantly.

The both of you went on as Angel helped you practice and memorize your lines. But little did the two of you know, that your cat boyfriend who watched from afar, spent the whole time recording you guys out of sight…

After hearing you run lines and songs for almost three months straight, Husk and Angel definitely got them stuck in their heads.

You would hear Husk humming to ‘Freeze your Brain’ while he worked at the bar, and you would hear Angel banging out to ‘Our Love is God’ while in the shower.

You would’ve never expected them to be so supportive of this, but nonetheless your over the moon, theater was your life both on Earth and in Hell, so you’re glad your boyfriends seemed to enjoy it.

Opening night came sooner than you wanted it to, you were gonna miss the cast you grew to love, but more importantly…you were nervous. You had never performed infront of your boyfriends before and you didn’t want them to think you were bad by any means.

You sat in the mirror, doing your makeup to get ready to go to the theater, you could feel your hands shaking from what felt like every emotion known to man.

“You okay, sweetheart?” You heard a rough voice speak from the doorway, you could see him in your mirror, Husk.

“Yeah…” You say, setting down your concealer, “Just uh, nervous, for tonight.”

“Hey.” Husk says, approaching you, his paw resting on your shoulder. “No matter how it goes, you’ll do great, and me and Ange will be supporting from the sides.”

“I guess so, but what if you guys think I’m bad?” You say, looking at Husk through the mirror.

“Hon, we’ve watched you rehearse for this, we’ve seen you go over your lines, we’ve heard you sing your songs, which by the way, are stuck in my fuckin’ head thanks to you, mister. All three of us know just how good you are, and tonight is just an opportunity to show all of Hell how great our boyfriend is.” Husk said, chuckling slightly, ruffling your hair.

You turn to face him, and hug him while still sitting down, “Thank you, baby.” You mutter.

“Of course, Doll.”

[wrestlersownmyheart]

Heyyy~ saw your requests were open and was lookin for some Damian Priest content! Definetly Judgement Day vibes, maybe he’s looking to recruit Y/N? I wanna read this and BLUSH, FLUSTER ME I DARE YA!

I DOUBLE DARE YA! 😂 ok thanks!!!

Thanks for helping me hammer out the title on this @auburnwrites!! Hope you enjoy what I came up with! 😀

Title: Love & Conquests Pairing: Damian Priest X Reader Summary: You work as a trainer for WWE. You notice competition between Damian Priest of the Judgement Day, and wannabe member, JD McDonagh, but you don't realize why. Till they both start hitting on you. Then you feel like a conquest and decide to shun them both. But will you grow feelings for Damian as he spends more time around you? And will JD take the hint that he never stood a chance? Or will his actions go too far, causing the Archer Of Infamy to unleash his pent up rage on him? Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with WWE. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination. Content/Trigger Warnings: Some violence toward men and women.

Note: I saw someone on Tumblr call JD a Funko Pop and I thought it was funny so I used it in this story. Sorry, not trying to be a thief or anything!

Love & Conquests

"Have you seen the new trainer," Dominik Mysterio asked Finn Balor, Damian Priest and JD McDonagh in the locker room Saturday night. "She is a looker, hermanos."

The group was all getting ready for the Fastlane pay-per-view that was to start any minute.

"Really," JD asked. "I'll have t' go check 'er out later."

"Dream on, Pipsqueak." Damian said, his base voice going even lower in pitch. "Keep your mind on business."

"Yeah, okay," JD said reluctantly, buttoning up his black dress shirt. "I'll take care o' business first."

"Why'd you have to go and get his mind off work, bro," Damian said to Dominik. "It's hard enough getting him to pull off a win around here. Why does Finn even want him in our faction?"

"Damian."

Damian looked up to find Adam Pearce standing in the doorway to the Judgement Day's locker room.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to go to the trainer and see how that knee is doing."

"It's fine," Damian replied, giving said knee a pat.

"I still want it checked out. I know you wouldn't tell me if it was still hurt."

Damian rolled his eyes and stood from the couch he'd been sitting on. "It's fine. I'm barely limping."

"But limping nonetheless," Adam shot back. "Go get it checked out or you're not cashing in tonight."

"Wait, what?"

Rhea stood up from the seat she had on the floor. "What do you mean? I thought you were waiting!"

"Chill, Rhea," Damian said, glaring at Adam. "It's not a for sure thing. I was just thinking about it. And if I do cash in, I want to do it on my own." He held up his hands when Finn and Rhea and Dom all three gave him a look. "Look, I just want to win it on my own merit. If y'all go out there and help me, I'm gonna be called a transitional champion. No. I have to do this on my own."

With that, he left the room, a slight limp in his gait.

He headed straight for the trainer's office ready to get this over with. Just as he stepped through the door he was greeted by a beautiful doctor.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

You watched as a very tall, handsome Puerto Rican man entered your office. You felt your face flush, and hoped he didn't notice.

"Hi, Are you Damian Priest," you asked shyly, checking your appointments list.

Seemingly quiet, Damian only nodded as he stared at you.

The fact that he stared at you only made your face heat up even more.

Dang it.

"I'm Y/N. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, Y/N," he replied.

His voice was so deep and sexy!

He reached his hand out to you to shake and you gently took his hand, and shook. You couldn't help but notice how his hand swallowed yours whole.

"So, Adam Pearce said you'd be stopping by. Let's take a look at that knee." You said, motioning for him to sit down on the exam table.

You watched as Damian took his seat on the table. "Now, don't be nervous. We're just going to do a couple of exercises to make sure your knee is stable."

"That's fine. In fact, my knee is fine. I know it."

"I hope so," you said softly, taking a rubber mallet to test his reflexes with. Then you had him hold his leg out straight for thirty seconds to see the strength in his knee and leg. Then you had him stand to his feet and perform a few squats.

Then, you were feeling his knee to see if anything seemed out of place.

"Any pain at all when I do this?"

He shook his head and smiled at you. "The only time it hurts at all is when I walk on it. But the pain is negligible."

You nodded with a hum. "I see. Well, I can't find anything really wrong. I'd still advise you to not cash in your briefcase tonight, but if you do, just use caution."

"Thanks, Doc," Damian smiled at you and reached for your hand once more. You gave it to him and were surprised when he raised the back of your hand to his lips and kissed it.

"Oh," you couldn't stop the half-moaned word if you tried. Then you were flaming red again, you could feel it.

Flustered, you tugged your hand back gently and spoke "If… If you do cash in tonight. Stop by here afterward so I can recheck your knee."

Damian smiled again. "Sure thing, cariña. Thanks again, for checking me out," he said with a wink.

Your face would not stop burning this night.

Especially thanks to Mr. Priest.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

"You weren't kidding, bro. That new trainer is a knockout. I think I'm in love," Damian said, chuckling. He punched Dominik lightly on the shoulder and grinned as if to say, "You know how to pick 'em!"

"I told you," Dominik responded, with a laugh.

"So are you going to ask her out?"

Rhea asked the question with her arms crossed across her chest. She was protective of her family and wanted to make sure the woman in question was good enough for her "terror twin".

"Of course! Maybe tonight after the show. She wanted me to stop by anyway if I was to cash in. So I figured I might stop by regardless."

"I may have t' stop by m'self," JD grinned. "I love a challenge."

"Excuse you!" Rhea scolded. "Did you not just hear Damian say he was going to ask her out? And women are not challenges, jackass."

"Hey, all's fair in love an' war, love."

"Don't call me love," Rhea spat back.

"You'd better back off," Damian growled, stepping toward JD. "The only reason you're here on the outskirts of the group is because you are Finn's friend. That's the only thing keeping you safe right now."

"Easy, lad," JD said, raising his hands defensively. "I just want t' see what all d'a fuss is about."

Damian took another step toward JD, threateningly. "Leave. Her. Alone."

"Alright. Alright, partner."

"I'm not your partner. And you're not part of the Judgement Day!"

A loud, piercing whistle whizzed through the air then.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at Finn.

"Ever'body, just calm down!" He nearly shouted the words. "I'm gettin' tired of d'a mayhem! Can we all just get on d'a same page?"

Sighing, Finn left the room before anyone could answer him.

"He's right guys," Rhea said. "Get it together!"

She stormed out next.

Which meant Dom was running after her.

Which left JD and Damian.

Not wishing to piss Finn or Rhea off any worse, he simply left the room as well, knowing full well that if he stayed, he'd probably kill JD.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Damian was setting Cody up for JD to hit him with the Money In the Bank briefcase on top of the announce table. But JD screwed up yet once more and slammed the briefcase into Damian's sore knee. Damian instantly went down as his knee buckled and he held onto it.

In the next instant, however, Cody had lifted Damian up and performed a Cross Rhodes onto the announce table. Rhea was beside herself as Jey Uso maneuvered Finn into a double-team Cody Cutter. Jey rolled out of the ring and Cody covered Finn for the 1…2…3!

There were new Undisputed Tag Team Champions!

Rhea sat on the floor looking toward the rafters as if to say, "I can't believe this!"

Finally, after Jey and Cody celebrated in the ring, it was time to head backstage.

Finn and Dom helped Damian backstage and to the trainer.

JD trailed behind them apologizing up and down–only to Finn, not Damian.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

You watched Damian's match on the little tv in your office and immediately after JD hit Damian with the briefcase, pulled his file from your drawer and prepared to see him in the next few minutes. You watched as Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio helped Damian backstage with a shorter man–JD McDonagh if you remembered right–following behind looking to be very apologetic.

Minutes later, Damian headed into your office, a more noticeable limp this time, and waited for you to direct him.

"Have a seat," you told him, motioning to the exam table.

"You don't sound surprised to see me," Damian said to you, as he sat down.

"Well, I was… watchingyourmatchontheTV."

You flushed as you said the words as fast as you could.

"Checkin' me out again, huh?"

"Stop it," you smiled, as your face burned even more. "Now, let's take a look at that knee."

"Miss? Can I have y'r assistance please?" came an Irish voice from the hallway. The man that had trailed behind Finn and Damian on the ramp, stepped into the room holding his head.

"Yes, I'll help you in just a few moments," you replied. "If you'll have a seat in one of the chairs, I'm with a patient at the moment."

You heard Damian grumble under his breath as JD took a seat and waited.

"What are you even here for," he demanded. "I was the one who took a hard hit to the knee. Because of you!"

"Hey now," JD sounded defensive. "I took a hard hit t' d'a head. I need t' be checked f'r a concussion.

"Your big head could take a few hits!"

"Guys," you said, squatting down and gently rolling up Damian's pant leg so you could better see his knee. "I'm not equipped to break up a fight. So, please calm down."

"Don't worry, cariña. We're not going to get into a fight. In your office." Damian specified. "The hallway, now that's a different matter."

You frowned as you checked over Damian's knee. There was a bit of swelling, but as you examined it, you couldn't find anything wrong with it–other than the swelling.

"Ice it down tonight and put some heat on it tomorrow, and it should be fine," you said, with a sigh. "You guys need to be more careful."

"Tell that to Funko Pop over there," Damian said.

"Hey, it's not my fault I was given a big head."

There was an odd tone to JD's voice and you looked over at him, saw him smiling an almost perverted grin at you. There was unmistakably an innuendo in his choice of words.

Your face burned drastically, and you frowned again.

Damian seemed to notice and instantly tensed. "Keep the language PG in front of the lady, pendejo."

"Yes, please do," you commented uncomfortably. You went back to looking over Damian's knee and still could find nothing wrong.

"I think you're good, Damian," you said, rising to your feet. "Just ice it and then heat it like I said and rest it till the next show and it should be fine."

"Thanks, cariña. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome."

He got up and surprised you by taking a seat in one of your chairs. You gave him a puzzled look.

"I'm just staying here to make sure Funko behaves himself."

You grew even more uncomfortable. You felt as though they were competing for your attention. And that made you feel like a conquest. Right then, you decided to shun them both. You weren't going to be treated in such a way.

"Okay, have it your way," you said finally. You took out a pen light and tested JD's pupils against the light. They dilated perfectly. You performed other tests to check him for a concussion and there were absolutely no signs of a concussion at all.

"I think you're fine," you said, putting your pen light back in your pocket.

"I think you're pretty fine, too," JD flirted, his blue eyes went dark and he reached out, traced the cross necklace at your neck.

You stepped back, growing more and more uncomfortable.

"Stop it," Damian instantly said from his chair.

You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose. "Seriously, I think you are… okay, JD. There are no signs of a concussion."

"Okay, chill, darlin'. It's all good."

"JD. Leave. Ahora," Damian spoke up once again and stood to his feet. His eyes flashed fire.

"Alright, mate. I'm going."

Damian grabbed him by the collar of his dress shirt and escorted him out of the room himself. As he shoved JD out the door, he turned and looked at you. "Would you maybe like to get some drinks tonight? After the show?"

You looked over at him and gave a slight shake of your head. "I don't know what's going on with you two, but I'm not a conquest. And I won't be treated like one. So, no. I wouldn't like to go out for drinks."

With that, you slammed the door in Damian's face and went to work on filling out the medical reports on Damian and JD.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

"Eres tan estúpido!"

Damian swatted JD on the back of his head and gave him a shove into the wall right next to Finn.

"I swear if you two don't stop it!" Rhea exclaimed. "What is going on now?"

"He screwed things up with me and Y/N," Damian spouted off. "He started hitting on her and made her think we were making her a conquest."

"Maybe you should stay out of Damian's business, JD," Finn said, "After all, he'd made it known his intentions to ask out Y/N."

"But, I wasn't asking her out, per say," JD protested. "I was only hitting on her a wee bit."

"You nearly touched her chest when you were checking out her necklace!" Damian growled, getting in JD's face. "I'd say you weren't hitting on her a "wee bit". You were nearly assaulting her!" He stepped closer, forcing JD to step back against the wall. "And now she thinks I'm a scumbag like you!"

With a roar of rage, Damian lifted JD off his feet by his throat and proceeded to choke the life out of him.

Finn, Rhea and Dom all three freaked out and began trying to get Damian to release JD. He only did when he was good and ready. Which was a full minute later. He finally set JD back on his feet.

"Now, go apologize to her. NOW!"

Nodding silently, JD left the hallway and went in search of Y/N, so he could apologize. And hopefully live after the fact.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

You were filing the reports into the file cabinet when you heard a knock at the door. Striding to the door and opening it, you saw JD McDonagh standing on the other side.

"I just want to, uh, ap-apologize." JD started before you could close the door again. "I'm sorry for d'a way I acted."

He wouldn't even look you in the eye. Some apology.

"Thank you JD. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm quite busy."

"Would you want t' catch a late dinner lat'r? After d'a show?" He asked suddenly. Hope lighting up his bright blue eyes.

"I-I don't think so, JD. I've already eaten," you lied. Why you didn't just come out and say you weren't attracted to him, you didn't know. Probably to keep from hurting his feelings.

"Oh. Well, if Damian's a problem, we don't have to let him know, ya know?"

"It's not that. I just really don't feel up to another meal."

"Okay, I see," JD smiled softly. "We can go another night. Catch ya later!" He was off down the hall before you could object to going out with him another night.

Sighing in frustration you sat down at your desk and began working on the remaining reports for the night.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Weeks passed with JD continuously badgering you for a date. You always came up with a lame reason why you couldn't, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. He seemed adamant that the reason you weren't going out with him was because of Damian's temper.

Which couldn't be further from the truth.

Damian had been nothing but kind since the night that JD and Damian were at each other's throats.

He'd come by a while after JD had, and said he was sorry, himself–in detail–not just some flimsy apology. You'd noticed that he also looked you straight in the eye and took your hand–not in a sleazy way either–giving it a gentle squeeze.

He'd won you over in the past weeks, plain and simple. He'd been there in your office when a fight broke out between Jey Uso and Drew McIntyre. If Damian had not been there to put a stop to it, you didn't know what you would've done. You were slightly shaken up because you'd never been around a fight before. Especially so up close and personal. Damian had hugged you afterwards and made sure you were okay.

He'd been coming around your office more and more hanging out, and one night he asked you out again. This time for dinner after the show.

"Yeah, I'd like that," you said softly with a smile. You failed to mention that JD had asked you out earlier and you'd turned him down yet again. In fact, you'd not said anything about JD hitting on you at all. You didn't want to start a big row between the two.

So, later, the two of you went to a nice restaurant and had a sit-down meal so you could talk and get to know each other better. You were seated next to the restaurant's front window facing the street, and your menus were brought to you. Within minutes, you had both placed your orders and then were waiting on the food.

"So, how long have you been a trainer," Damian asked. "I heard you used to work for TNA."

"About twelve years. Yes, I worked at TNA from the time I graduated till about a month ago." You took a sip of water. "What about you? How long have you been doing this?"

"Almost nineteen years," Damian answered. "I debuted in Monster Factory Pro Wrestling and trained there for about ten years and then went on to ROH for a few years, and from there, I signed with WWE and started in NXT. I've been on the main roster for about two years and I am loving it."

"You're very good, I've seen your work here in WWE."

"Thank you. So, tell me about yourself. And how did you come to be a trainer for WWE?"

"There's not much to tell. I am single. I live alone in an apartment till I get ready to settle down and buy a house. I grew up an only child and got into athletics at a young age. Got a torn ACL playing baseball when I was fifteen and had to get out of sports due to the severity of the injury. But I had an amazing PT that helped me through the healing process, and I decided I wanted to get into the same line of work. I worked my butt off and did just that. And here I am."

Your food came then and you both decided to eat a few bites before continuing on with your conversation.

However, you didn't notice the car in the street drive by extremely slowly, a pair of blue eyes watching you both angrily…

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

"I had a great time with you tonight, Y/N," Damian said, walking you to your hotel door.

"I had a great time too," you replied, giving him a shy smile. "It was really nice getting to know you better."

Damian nodded, "Do you want to go out with me again?"

You nodded, a flush creeping up your face, "I do."

"Aaaand… would it be okay to kiss you goodnight?"

You giggled, you couldn't help it. He made you feel like a school girl all over again. "Yes."

He smiled and leaned downward, instantly catching your lips with his, giving you a firm but gentlemanly kiss. No tongue. That was interesting, you thought. Most guys just rammed their tongues down your throat, no questions asked. Damian was full of surprises.

"Goodnight, Y/N."

"Goodnight, Damian."

With that, he made sure you were safe in your room, before turning and going down the hall to his own room.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

At the next show, the following night, you walked to your makeshift office and was surprised–though not deeply–to find JD standing at your door, waiting on you.

"Hi, JD… What can I do for you?"

His eyes seemed to go dark as he answered you, though he kept up a cheerful appearance. "You could let me take ya out t'night."

"I'm sorry, JD, but no." You said softly, reaching around him to unlock your office door. "I have plans tonight. I've just started seeing someone, and I don't want to discourage them by going out with someone else."

You unlocked the door and stepped into your office, but JD ddin't take the hint. He stepped into the office with you and slammed the door shut to your utter shock, and then locked the door.

"JD, get out." You said, trying to sound firm. "Unlock the door and leave."

"Let me guess, d'a mystery man is none other than Damien. Am I right? I saw ya together at d'a restaurant last night."

You tilted your chin up in defiance despite your growing trepidation. "That's none of your business. Now leave, before I scream for help."

Growing enraged, JD stepped forward and swept his hand along the surface of your desk, raking everything to the floor. Then he pounded his fist against the desk, hard. "I asked ya out too! You should be going out with me!"

"I didn't want to," your voice rose in your indignation. "You make my skin crawl!"

JD charged at you then and slapped you right across the cheek. Stunned, you fell across the desk and held your throbbing face in your hand.

"You're so in trouble now," he growled, unbuttoning his dress shirt from the collar, then undoing the wrist's buttons.

Not knowing exactly what he had planned, but not wanting to find out, you screamed, "Help me! Somebody HELLLLP!"

You knew that you were heard when the buzzing outside your door stopped. Suddenly there was a pounding at the door.

"Y/N? Cariña, open the door!"

You rose from the desk to make a mad dash for the door, when JD latched onto your hair. "LET ME GO!"

The door was being pummeled then. "Who's in d'ere wit' her?" You heard Finn Balor faintly from behind the door.

Then Damian, "JD. It has to be. The little…"

JD ignored the bustle outside the door and bent you backward over the desk. Immediately, his mouth was on your neck.

"STOP IT!" You cried loudly, and struggled against him. He yanked your head back by your bangs, severely arching your back, and bit into your neck. You screamed in pain and fought him even more.

The pounding at the door intensified as JD licked where he bit.

"NO!" You screamed and managed to claw JD's face. He let out a furious roar of pain as he punched you square in the jaw.

Your head bounced back from the blow just as the door busted open and Damian and the rest of the Judgeement day and some policemen came bustling into the room.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Damian roared at JD, seeing the predicament you were in.

He lunged at JD and tackled him away from you, his face contorted in his rage.

The police stopped Damian before he could get more than a punch in, but a hard punch nonetheless.

You lay against the desk, scrambling to right yourself and fighting tears as the police handcuffed JD and prepared to drag him away from the scene.

Damian went to you, instantly pulling you into his strong embrace as JD was led away. Your legs weren't strong enough to hold you up and buckled. You fell in a dead faint as he caught you up in his arms, cradling you against his muscled chest. He immediately carried you over to the exam table and laid you on it, settling the pillow underneath your head.

"Despierta, cariña. Estás a salvo ahora." His long fingers traced the already formed bruising at your jaw, rose up to the welt forming on your cheek. He also took note of the bite mark on your neck. "I want to kill him."

"Rhea grabbed a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and handed it to Damian. Finn and Dom fumbled around the medical supplies looking for smelling salts. When they finally located them, they handed them over to Damian as well. He snapped them open and waved them frantically under your nose, willing you to awaken.

You jumped awake and before your eyes even opened, your first instinct was to fight. So you did. You swung your arms out and struck out at anything that was around you.

"Hey, easy now," came Damian's soft voice. His large, warm hands caught your wrists and gently held on. "Easy, baby. You're safe."

You sobbed and latched onto him, hooking your arms around his broad shoulders as he pulled you into a close, intimate hug.

"Shh-shh… You're okay. You're okay now."

"I-I was so scared!" You couldn't stop crying to save your life. You felt another hand rubbing your back comfortingly–probably Rhea.

"I know pequeña, I know. But you're safe now. I won't let him hurt you again. I swear it."

Hunter hurried through the door then. "I just heard about what happened…" His attention turned to you in Damian's arms. "Y/N, are you okay?"

You nodded slightly and snuggled closer into Damian's hold. His chin rested atop your head. "I'm okay now."

The police asked you so many questions your head spun but you managed to answer them all. Then you were finally free to leave and go back to your hotel room. Hunter had given you the rest of the night off–and the rest of the week if you needed it.

You went to move off the table, but Damian kept a hand on your arm to guide you. When you threatened to crumple again, he lifted you up and carried you out of the room, and all the way to his rental. Once he had you settled in the passenger's seat he turned back to the rest of the Judgement Day who'd followed him to his car. "Can one of you guys get my things out of the locker room and take them by my room? I'm staying with Y/N tonight."

Dom nodded in reply and said, "Sure, don't worry. I got this. You go take care of your girl."

With that, Damian got into the driver's seat and drove the two of you back to the hotel.

He carried you inside, and followed your directions as to where your room was. Minutes later, he was settling you on your large bed and was climbing in beside you.

"Is this okay, amor? Do you want me here, or do you want me to sleep on the sofa?"

"Here!" You cried, pulling him against you. "Don't leave me."

"I won't. I'll be right here. Just relax and get some sleep."

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever for, cariña?"

"He'd been hitting on me for weeks. I should have told someone–you. I kept putting him off but he kept asking me out. He wouldn't take no for an answer."

"It isn't your fault, sweetie. It was all him. He…has issues. But none of this was your fault."

"Thank you. For being here. For saving me. I don't know what would have happened if you'd not shown up when you did."

A tear spilled out of one of your eyes, and Damian wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. "I couldn't let him hurt you." He leaned forward, lightly kissing away your tears. "I could fall in love with you."

His lips trailed down with a feather lightness to your mouth. He captured your lips with his and applied a soft pressure. When you didn't protest, he pulled you even closer and kissed you more deeply, gently slipping his tongue past your lips and tasting your mouth fully. You moaned softly, and encouraged him to continue by curling your fingers into his muscled biceps. Finally, he pulled back, only to find that he couldn't get enough of your taste, and moved in for another kiss. And another. Another.

"I could fall in love with you too," you uttered softly between his kisses that travled down to your neck. He gently kissed the place that JD had bitten so roughly, a show of tenderness.

"He'll never touch you again. Ever."

You smiled softly and snuggled closer against him as sleep overcame you.

THE END

Translations:

"Cariña" ~ "Sweetheart" "Eres tan estúpido!" ~ "You're so stupid!" "Despierta, cariña. Estás a salvo ahora." ~ "Wake up, sweetheart. You're safe now." "Pequeña" ~ "Little one"

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[littlejazzy]

Do you have good recommendations for AgeRe stories? Something really cute and fluffy? (I'm a lonely regressor and I love reading stories about really sweet caregivers.)

I do!! I adore reading agere fics, so here are some recs! I hope you enjoy!!! 💖

Gen:

Decontamination by SailorChibi - Marvel - Baby!Tony and CG!Steve - After a battle, Steve takes care of his baby - (This one is a Classification!AU/Littles are Known!AU... like, one of the very first ones. Very good and fluffy. If you ever read thorough their fics, (tagged NSAP bc agere straight up did not exist as a community yet) you'll start spotting alot of things that other people were/are inspired from.)

Picnic by SailorChibi - Marvel - Baby!Tony, CG!Steve, Middle!Bucky, Toddler!Clint, CG!Coulson, Kiddo!Scott, CG!Sam W., Kiddo!Peter P., CG!Wade, Kid!Wanda, and CG!Vision - All the Avengers have a nice picnic - (classification!au, but a different verse than the previous fic jsyk. this one is suuuuper fluffy and cute and fun <3)

Less than Five by SailorChibi - Daniel Craig's James Bond - Little!Q and CG!Bond - Q regresses smaller than usual; his daddy makes sure he's taken care of - (classification!AU, first of a series. first two fics are pretty fluffy, but the third has some angst, which makes the fluff even sweeter, in my opinion)

coffee makers and bumblebees by orchidsncrake - Daredevil - Little!Matt and CG!Foggy - Matt becomes overstimulated and after an altercation with the office's coffee maker, Foggy is there to make everything better

Small surprises by undergroundrice - Daredevil - Little!Matt and CG!Foggy - Foggy stumbles onto Matt regressing, and together they figure it out

A Second Shot by mylittlestories - MCU - Little!Natasha, Little!Clint, and CG!Coulson - Natasha didn't have much of a childhood. When she sees that having a second one is possible, she wants; Coulson and Clint are happy to make her family :) - (This one is unfinished, but what's there is just so nice I have to include it!!)

Give your Dreams the Wings to Fly by Honey_Dewey - FNAF Movie - Little!Matt and CG!Ness - Mike gets sick at work, but his boyfriend is there to make everything okay

the road to hope and adventures into the unknown (target) by romansprince - Barbie (2023) - Little!Ken, then CG!Barbie and CG!Gloria - Ken has become human... except he's never had a childhood. Sometimes he feels Fuzzy, but that's something he thinks he can keep secret. As he turns out, he can't, but it works out anyway - (Two separate fics that take place in the same universe/series. The first one/set-up is a little angsty, but the second is more fluffy)

Movie Night by mcschnuggles - Heathers - Little!JD and CG!Veronica - JD unexpectedly drops into headspace during a movie night with the rest of the teenagers; Veronica helps him through it - (Modern!AU, Everyone Lives!AU, this one is kinda angsty, but like, it's canon appropriate, lol - also!!! make sure that you check out the author's other works!!!!! lots of agere fics for a large variety of fandoms!!)

Toffee Ticking Time Bomb by GayCheerios - Star Wars - Little!Anakin and CG!Obi-Wan - Obi-Wan has to find his padawan's stuffie before the inevitable temper tantrum ensues - (classification!AU, part of a very nice and good series that, if you enjoy this fic, you should also check out)

Baby's First Bath by CyberToddler - Beetlejuice: The Musical - Toddler!Beetlejuice and CG!Maitlands - The Maitlands give Beetlejuice his very first bath - ( 👉👈 I wrote this one 😖)

Evolution by Cgetbrmj - The Last of Us (TV) - Little!Ellie and CG!Joel - Series that follows each episode of the show, and explores how these characters stumble upon age regression as a coping mechanism and how much they both realize they enjoy it. - (Slowburn agere, as it explores how it develops naturally between both characters. This one DOES contain some angst as it relates to the show, but overall is as fluffy as its setting allows)

Reader-Inserts:

The Doctor's Office by agerefandom (tazia101) - Twilight - Little!Reader and CG!Carlisle - Reader goes to their first check-up in their new town and unexpectedly regresses; thankfully, their doctor is more than understanding - (I can not emphasize enough how much I love this one. Hits all the right buttons, I'm so happy/thankful I found it before I had to establish care w/ a new doctor, it's just- so good)

Sugary Sweet by agerefandom (tazia101) - Twilight - Baby!Reader and CG!Alice and Jasper - A comfy, happy morning with your vampire caregivers - (be sure to check out the writer for more fandoms!! lots of agere fics, including gen and reader!insert!)

little life at the mansion by myworldoffanfiction - X-Men - Little!Reader and CG!X-Men (the main gang lol) - First chapter is a busy yet comfy morning while living at Xavier's Mansion. Second chapter is a fun Summer evening - (this one is sooooo sweet 😭)

Play Pretend by Vinnies_Comfort_Corner - Scream (1996) - Kiddo!Reader, Flip!Stu, and CG!Billy - You and Stu play pretend while waiting for Billy to come home - (if you enjoy this one, make sure you check out their other regression fics!!! there's even one with a petreg puppy!reader!! and other horror media!!)

Red Stained Fingers by CyberToddler - Scream (1996) - Little!Reader, CG!Stu, and CG!Billy - Unorthodox sensory play with diy-ed fake blood, lol - (I also wrote this one 😅 it's sugary sweet, I promise, lol)

[towriteloveontheirarms]

Our love is god (modern!Heathers JD type!Aemond Targaryen x Reader)

synopsis: High school is hell. Truly. However, the one person you think will finally make it better, only makes it so much more worse.

warnings: angst, making out, death, murder, faked suicide, sexual abuse, physical violence, gun violence, afab reader

word count: 6.4k

taglist: @hopelesswritergall, @urmomsgirlfriend1

(If you want to be tagged for a specific character/fandom/series or in general let me know in my asks, comments or DMs)

King´s Landing high school. Your own personal hell as you liked to call it in your journal. You really thought joining forces with the devils that ran it would help you get through it, but all it did was make things harder. You left your real friends and unpopularity behind for a seat at the same table as the Baratheon sisters, only to help them bully the rest of the school and focus on your looks and parties more than anything else. You dreaded seeing them every day. Floris wasn´t as bad you had to admit, she was nice. A cheerleader, but in the end she still participated in her sisters doings. Cassandra was a more devout follower. The year book committee and the boob job that mommy paid for made her think she was more than she actually was, but even she couldn´t reach the tyranny of their sister Maris. She truly was a mythic bitch. Drowning in your thoughts, one makes its reoccurring return. College will be paradise if you´re not dead by graduation.

From the side you could feel an elbow get rammed into your ribs painfully.

“Ow. What´s your damage, Maris?” You spit out the words while rubbing the sore spot on your side.

“Stop whining. You are going to go to the big frat party with me this weekend. You should be thankful.” Just hearing her tone made you want to punch her in the boob or something. Gods, you couldn´t even think straight.

“Yay, great.” You can barely hide the sarcasm in your faked excitement.

However Maris doesn´t get the chance to say anything about it as right in that moment a commotion breaks out in the back of the cafeteria. With your old friends you would have been able to just ignore it, but with the Baratheons? No chance. The four of you turn around to see Cregan Stark and Qyle Martell harassing a student you think you have never seen before, which is highly unlikely as literally everyone here had been to kindergarten, elementary school and middle school together. Despite not recognizing him, you feel an immediate yet inexplainable attraction towards him. The whole ethereal beauty that he had going on was really working for him. So much so, that when the bickering stops and a gasp rolls through the cafeteria as the stranger pulls out a gun, you aren´t even that deterred. In fact you think it´s kinda funny how the two jocks pee their pants at being shot with blanks. They deserve some push back to their constant bullying.

But even that little moment can´t lift your mood long enough to get you over the party. When Maris picks you up in her dad´s way too expensive car you already feel like sending her away again. On the other hand you might as well end your own social life then. No.

“And don´t forget the corn nuts!” Maris yells after you as you walk towards the convenience store on your way to that stupid frat party.

“Plain or bbq?” You yell back.

“Bbq!” You get your answer in the middle of the door.

Rolling your eyes so she doesn´t see it you make your way through the store grabbing the snacks and looking around until you almost run into someone.

“Oh, sorry I didn´t look where I was going.” You take a step back feeling your cheeks heat in embarrassment as you recognize the stranger from school.

“It´s okay… You know, I´m not the biggest fan of your friend either.” He says as he grabs some snacks himself.

“What?” His statement catches you off guard quite a bit.

“I watched you… Today during lunch and how you rolled your eyes at her.” He explains as if it is nothing.

“You´ve been watching me?” You ask surprised, but with a smile on your face. “Should I be flattered or scared?”

"A little bit of both maybe?" He leans against one of the shelves. Putting on a half smile himself. A very handsome one at that. For the first time you really study him. The way his silver hair flows past his shoulders. The intense look of his right eye and the scar above his left one. The sharpness of his cheekbones, nose and chin. Until your eyes stick to his lips. Those perfect, pink lips with the sharp cupids bow.

"I can do that..." You whisper more to yourself than the lean person in front of you.

That's when the penetrating sound of a car horn and Maris screaming your name pulls the two of you back to reality.

"Better run quick. Your friend is waiting." He teases as you make your way to the Cash register. Your name rolling of his tongue in the most promising manner. Promising what? That is what you wanted to find out.

“I should.” You sigh. “But before I go… Since you know my name, it´s kind of only fair to tell me yours, don´t you think?”

“Aemond. Aemond Targaryen.” He finally introduces himself and upon hearing his last name you remember him distantly. You had talked to his sister Helaena once or twice a few years ago.

“Well, it was nice meeting you Aemond Targaryen, but I have to go appease the will of a high school tyrant now…” You shoot him a wink and get back to the car as quickly as possible.

The party, much like you thought, is a total bust. The music is complete shit, the alcohol is cheap and Maris leaves you alone to do god knows what with some frat bro almost immediately. Leaving you alone to be harassed by his friend. It all together gives you a major headache and so you leave at the first chance. Walking home still is a better option than having to bear this any longer.

You arrive there late, but the fresh air helps the headache. To your further luck, your parents are already asleep so you can go to your room directly. Writing out all your frustrations in your journal.

While you do so there is a tap on the window. Jolting out of your seat, you see Aemond standing there.

“Greetings and salutations.” He says as you open up for him to come inside. An invitation he takes instantly. “So how was the party?”

“About as good as one would think…” You scoff, closing your journal as you turn towards him.

“Ah… I bet your presence was missed greatly.” He says, the words dripping with sarcasm and making you laugh. I was nice to really laugh for the first time in a while. The two of you talk some more and somehow end the night cuddled up naked under the blankets. Remnants of both of your juices sticking to your thighs as you talk about gods know what. You honestly can´t pay much attention. Yet even post nut clarity couldn´t give you the realization that he just found out where you lived and came in through your gods damn window. Probably because his kisses kept your mind far away enough from reality.

“Maris Baratheon is one bitch that deserves to die.” He sighs.

“Killing her won´t solve anything. I say we just grow up be adults and then die.” You reply in a quiet tone. Your faces so close to each other that there is barely even an inch between you. Perfect to pull him in once more. Locking your lips in a deep, passionate kiss.

The two of you fall asleep soon after. A tangle of limbs and your head tucked under his chin, on his chest. However when you open your eyes again you are alone. The only sign of Aemonds company the previous night being your own nakedness and a few marks he had left on you that would be easily covered up.

The real shock comes when you get back to school on monday. Meeting up with the Baratheon sisters as every morning, you are surprised to see only Cassandra and Floris. Who look tired. Well, Floris looks tired and quite sad. Cas looks as unbothered as ever, if not a bit happy.

“Where did you leave Maris?” You ask coming to a stop in front of them.

“Didn´t you hear? She killed herself two days ago…” Floris reveals with a quiet voice. Your heart sets out for a beat at the news.

“Yeah, where have you been all weekend?” Cas adds.

“I- I don´t know… I´m sorry for what happened with your sister. You put your sunglasses back on and leave them to find Aemond.

“Hey.” You great him with a small peck.

“What is going on? You look like someone just died.” He remarks, pulling you close to him and placing another peck to your cheek.

“My best friend just killed herself.” You murmur.

“Don´t you mean your worst enemy?” He replies with a small grin.

“Same difference.” Still bewildered by the happenings of this morning, you shake your head and then go to class with Aemond.

Only to learn then that you would all get a half day off. A half day seemed to be fairly less for a student just committing suicide in your opinion, especially one as influential as Maris, but then again she also enjoyed more fame than during her life. So at least she couldn´t complain. You felt a bit bad for entertaining that thought. Then again with how many lifes she had ruined...

Going to school after that was even worse for weeks. Everyone was romanticizing Maris´ reign of terror, Cassandra silently took over what her sister had started, or at least tried to and you? Well, you only ever got away from it all when you spent time away from it with Aemond, who seemed surprisingly chill, if not smug about the bully being out of the way. The two of you get closer quick during that time. He is the most understanding boyfriend you could have ever wished for. Even his few quirks are cute. Yet he keeps his darker sides safely tucked away from you. At least for now, he vows himself. Who would have known it could get even worse.

When you enter the school building the next day, everyone is staring at you, talking to their friends in hushed whispers. At first you assume it was the usual whispers, but when Cas comes up to you, you quickly get taught better.

“You little bitch. I never knew you were that kind of person.” She says with a wide complacent grin firm on her face.

“What are you even talking about, Cas? What the hell is going on here? What is everyone talking about?” You hiss. Gripping Aemond´s hand slightly, who seemed just as confused as you were. Though he was more successful in concealing his feelings.

“Shouldn´t you know what you did? “ your supposed friend feigns innocence. It really makes you want to slap the holier than thou look off her face.

“Just. Tell. Me.” You make sure to put emphasis on every single word.

“Qyle and Cregan are going around telling everyone you blew them.” She holds her hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggle.

Without another word, you stomp past her. Running around the next corner, where Aemond stops you.

“Hey. Hey! Angel, where are you going?” He questions. Holding you by the shoulders.

“To those stupid… fucking…” You let out an undefinable sound of frustration. “They may get away with harassing the all the girls of this entire school, but not me.”

 “You have to take a breath and calm down.” He says in a low voice as to not attract any more attention.

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” You seethe, but at least you stop marching through the mass of other students.

“Calm down.” He reiterates. “I already have a plan.”

Right in that moment however the bell rings signaling the start of first period. And it is pure horror. The whispers all around you echo in your head even when it is entirely silent. Teachers drone on and on about topics that you couldn´t get less of a shit about. Cassandra and Floris arent´t any help with any of it either of course. With how nice Floris tended to be it was easy to forget who they were sometimes. Time stretches endlessly until you reach home. Sitting down on your bed, you wait for the telltale sign of Aemond coming over. By now the knocking on the window doesn´t even startle you anymore. The opposite is the case. Whenever you hear it, your heart instinctively skips a beat. Just like it does now.  You open the window and watch Aemond hop inside. Greeting him with one, two, three little pecks to the lips you pull him to the bed with you by the lapels of his leather jacket. Barely separating from him as you do so, you grin against his lips at the way his large hands grab your hips to pull your body close to his.

“I missed you so much.” He hums against your mouth between kisses.

“We haven´t seen each other for two hours.” You giggle. Running a gentle hand over his chest as the fingernails of the other massage his neck.

“I know and it felt like an eternity.” Aemond all but growls against your neck. Biting it lightly, before sucking a mark into the supple flesh.

You let out a trembling whine at the tingling feeling his lips chase down your spine. The needy sound followed by an amused chuckle from him.

“So, your still out for revenge?” He growls against your neck.

“Yes.” You answer just a bit more breathless than before.

“Good.” Aemond pulls away from you and throws two guns beside you on the bed. Startled by them, you jump back. Looking at the blond, who returns it with a smug expression.

“Aem, I want to pay them back not murder them!” You shriek, settling down a good bit away from the weapons. He on the other hand is eerily calm.

“Do you take german?” He asks as he sits down and takes your hands.

“French.” You answer still on edge.

“These are `Ich lüge´ bullets. My grandpa stole a shitload of them in WW2, they´re like tranquilizers. Only they break the surface of the skin enough to cause a little blood.” Aemond explains as he dumps a handful of bullets between the guns.

“So… It looks like the person has been shot, but really they are just unconscious and bleeding?” You ask just to be sure. The sight of the weapons made you feel all kinds of bad.

He nods. “We shoot Cregan and Kyle, it looks like they shot each other and by the time they regain consciousness, they´ll be the laughing stock of the whole school.”

“And what is that for?” You point to the folded paper that lies between the bullets.

“That is the cherry on top. A fake suicide note. Painting the whole thing as them killing themselves, because they knew they would never be accepted for being a gay couple.” Aemond snickers and you have to admit that the plan in all it´s simplicity sounds pretty good.

Taking your phone you send a text to Cregan. Luring him and Qyle into the woods behind the school under the guise of wanting to have a threesome with the two of them. Knowing full well it would get them where you wanted. Throwing your phone to the bed with a nervous giggle, you feel Aemond crawl on top of you. The weight of his taller frame pushing you into the mattress as his lips find yours again.

When you enter the woods and Aemond kisses you one last time, before you hide your gun and he goes to hide in the trees, your whole body trembles with uncertainty.

“Hey, Dollface.” Cregan greets you.

The two guys come to a stand about five feet away from you. “So, how are we gonna start this?” Qyle adds to his friend. Wasting no time as always.

“I thought you two could start by undressing for me.” You flutter your lashes at them, voice like honey in their ears.

“Okay.” The two of them say in unison. Nodding before they all but tearing the clothes of their body, stripping down to their boxers. The three of you count to three and right as they want to rip off the last piece of fabric down too your plan sets in action. Aemond jumps out from behind a nearby tree, the pair of you whip out the guns and aim for the half naked and afraid boys. Aemond hits Qyle right in the chest and he drops to the ground right where he stood. You are less lucky, missing Cregan by only an inch. He turns to see his friend lie on the ground, in a growing puddle of his own blood and makes a run for it. Your heart starts pounding in your chest even harder than before, if that even is possible. Threatening to break out of your ribcage as you watch Aemond´s face contorts into a grimace of anger.

“Shit! You stay here, I´m getting him.” He barks, chasing after a screaming Cregan.

It´s silent where you remain alone. Making you wonder what is going on. In the same breath your eyes fall down to Qyle´s body. The blood still pools underneath his body, prompting your thoughts run off the rails with crazy theories.

It isn´t until Aemond chases Cregan back to you, where he finally shoots him as well. The burly body flopping to the ground like a sack of potatoes. With horror you see your worst theory come true. They are both dead. Aemond killed them. And you helped him. A scream leaves your lips and you throw the weapon in your hand away on instinct. Clasping your hands over your mouth as the shock seeps in.

“No. No, no, no, no.” You mumble more to yourself than anyone else really. You are frozen to the spot you are standing in and if it were up to you, you would fall to your knees then and there. But Aemond takes your hand and pulls you away from the crime scene.

You don´t come to until you are in his car, in front of your house. You feel empty, detached from reality. Your body functions on autopilot. Putting a cigarette into your mouth to even somehow try to cope with the stress of what you had just become witness to. However when you lift up the lighter, the flame licks at the skin of your palm instead. You let out an agonizing scream and tears immediately shoot into your eyes at the white, hot pain.

The funeral a week later is a rough one. Even rougher than Maris´. The way the Septon plays up the gay martyr part is unbelievable. Aemond´s presence by your side doesn´t give you any comfort any more either. You can barely look at him anymore. Over the course of the past days your mind had started to come back from what lead you there, but it also distanced itself from him. Only able to see that side of him that he had hidden so well. All you want to do is hide under your blanket for the rest of your life, instead you have to sit in that gods forsaken sept, feeling sorry for Floris and Sarah, Cregan´s half-sister and your ex best friend, who seem to be taking this the hardest. You knew that Floris and Cregan, despite him being a total goon, had been kind of on and off for a while. The two of them didn´t deserve this. Fuck, the bad conscience was eating away at you, making you nauseaus. Of course, Aemond is entirely calm. Not letting a single soul see behind the carefully strung up curtain. Even though you imagine to see the same small smug smirk in his face again that he had expressed while explaining his plan to you all those days back.

Repressing the urge to run out of the sept, you pick at the skin around your fingernails until they bleed.

Once the service is over, you get onto Aemond´s motorcycle and let him drive you home. No matter how hard it is to keep holding on to him and not dissociate the whole ride. Your mind makes up then and there, that this has to end. You have to end this.

That night when he comes over, you sit him down.

“We um… We need to talk.” You mumble. Still not meeting his eye. He had already noticed your inability to do so since that day, but until now he thought you would catch yourself again after an initial shock. A mistake he noted mentally to never do again.

“What do you want to talk about?” He feigns ignorance, though he full well has a perfect idea of what you want to talk about.

“I… We… I can´t do this anymore, Aemond.” You stammer out, your leg trembling under his hand that rests on your thigh.

“Cannot do what anymore, Angel?” His one seeing eye rests on you as intensely as ever.

“This. Us. I thought I could cope with what we have done, but I can´t. I can´t look at you like before anymore. The sight of their… bodies… still haunts me in my dreams.” You try to find the right words to express your feelings and still it feels like the severity of them doesn´t come out right.

“You can´t be serious about that.” He faltered. Despite having a feeling about what you were gonna say, he still feels floored by it. His heart hurting at your words.

“I am. I never wanted this. “ Your voice hardens as you get more confident about your decision.

“You wanted this too. You said you wanted revenge.” Aemond insists.

“Yes, I wanted revenge. I did not ask for this. Two people are dead!” You try to get through to him. To no avail.

“You didn´t seem to mind much when Maris died.” He blurts out. It´s entirely in the heat of the moment. And he regrets revealing it to you like that, but it is out nonetheless.

“What?” You shriek in response. “I thought Maris killed herse…”

The thought of the fakes suicide note for Cregan and Qyle enters your mind and you hide your face in your hands, fighting back the tears that sting in your eyes.

“Please just leave…” Your voice comes muffled from behind your hands. Opting to leave your face buried in them as you speak the defeated words.

“Angel, I am not just going to leave you. We can talk about this.” He takes your wrists in his hands and pulls them down to your lap.

“What is there to talk about? You killed three people!” You pulled your arms away from him, but his grip was too strong.

“Yes, but I did it for you.” He argues.

“How was any of that for me?” Your voice drips with disbelieve.

Aemond comes closer to you until he whispers against your lips. “They hurt you. I will never let anyone hurt you.”

Then he presses his lips to yours roughly. His tongue pushes into your mouth forcefully, stunning you into an overpowering inability to act, as he pushes you against the headboard. The way his lips move against yours is aggressive, making you cry out in search for help or to get him to stop. Just something, anything to make him stop. It takes several more moments for your brain to return to the situation, but once it does you start struggling with all your might. Biting his lip and kicking him away from you, finally sets you free from his assault.

“I want you to go. Now.” You say quietly but with as much certainty as you can put into your voice. He turns around and leaves. Surprisingly without another word. Yet your body stays on edge until long after he is gone.

Your arms wrapped tightly around your middle, you shiver from your nerves processing everything that had been revealed and happened. Unable to really cope with it yet. Despite not having really liked them your friends where dead and only the gods knew what Aemond would do next.

That night you get haunted by him in your dreams.

You find yourself in the Baratheon´s dark kitchen. Aemond in front of you, looking for a knife. For some reason you know Cassandra is going to be his next victim. Yet, no matter how hard you try to speak and keep him from going through with his fucked up plan, you can´t. Not a single sound comes from your lungs. With panic you watch as he grabs a dirty knife from the dishwasher and goes into Cas´ room. In the complete dark you can´t see exactly what he does, you can only see the world go dark around you seconds later, feeling like you are falling into a bottomless pit, you wake up with a gasp. Sweat soaking your pillow and your chest heaving with short heavy bursts of breath while your heart threatens to break out if it. You know you have to stop him, before what the dream is foreboding becomes reality. He is incalculable, dangerous and whatever he does end up doing next, can´t happen under any circumstances. You spend the whole day trying to make out a plan, not paying attention to any of your teachers or Floris and Cassandra. Not a single idea your brain comes up with is good enough to work. Luckily it also makes you ignore the weird looks your friends are giving you over your unresponsiveness.

Saying goodbye to them when they drop you of in the afternoon, you plan to head to your room immediately. A plan that is thwarted by your parents, who await you in the living room, worried expressions on both of their faces.

“Darling! We need to talk to you for a moment.” Your mother speaks up first. Seemingly relieved to see you alive and well.

“Sure, what´s going on?” Your mind is still half busy with Aemond when you put down your bag in front of you.

“Aemond just dropped by. Saying all these things about how we should look out for you, that he was worried for you…” Your mom´s voice is shaky as she recalls on the memories of what had happened so shortly before you arrived.

“Did he say something else?” You say passively. Inside you are boiling already. Who does he think he is?

“He said you confessed some rather alarming urges to him. That you shouldn´t be left alone with sharp objects or… or that kind of stuff.” Your father holds your mother a little tighter to calm her down again. You truly feel sorry for them. How could they know that what they have been told was as wrong as it possibly could have been.

“I´m sorry… But I´m not… That´s not true. You know I´d talk to you if there was anything going on.” You assure them.

You try to spend more time with them, but once your parents start to believe you, you make your way back to your room. Your mind is finally made up on what to do. If talking to him wouldn´t help to get him to stop killing, maybe you could shock him into it. Hopefully. He did used say, that the extreme always makes an impression. Taking your bedsheets you tie them around your body in a way that allows you to make it look like you had hung yourself. For once it would come in handy that he had never stopped texting you. Hurrying to get done before you hear that accursed knock. Tipping over the chair you use in your preparations mere seconds before he lets himself in. No matter how much you want to move or even at least open your eyes, you force yourself to stay calm. No matter how unfamiliar the air under your forcefully relaxed feet feels and your lungs hurt from the flat breaths you can allow yourself at most to take. Blissfully unaware to the gun hidden in the back of his pants, with which he planned gods know what. While he doesn´t move or breath or speak for a short moment. Frozen in a shock not deep enough to hold him for long.

It seems you have underestimated his crazy. Mentally you curse yourself out aggressively so that you almost miss him beginning to speak to you.

I can´t believe you did it.” He says in a breathy tone and you can hear his hands slap against his thighs as if he had raised them in defeat beforehand. “I loved you. Sure I was coming in here ready to kill you, but… I at least would´ve wanted to tell you about this petition the whole school signed first. Of course they don´t know what they really signed up for, but that won´t be any of their concern anymore soon. Oh Angel, it´s a shame you don´t get to see this play out anymore. I have the perfect plan. During pep rally on Friday the whole school is gonna come down and everyone in there with it. Listen to this. We, the students of King´s Landing high, will die. Our bodies will be the ultimate protest against you. A society that churns out slaves and blanks. Fuck you all.”

He was even further gone than you would´ve thought or hoped. “It´s not very subtle, but a school blowing up, that´s big. The kind of big that infects a generation. The only place Baratheons and Snows can get along is in heaven. We could´ve united them together, you and I… you left me no choice. So I will do it alone if I must.”

By now he is breathless from the passion that is no doubt not only in his voice but also his heart. The clicking of a lighter registers over the ringing of sheer panic in your ears, followed by the faint footsteps and mumbling of your mother. Aemond is quick to sneak back out the window and you are just about to open your eyes back up and take a deep breath, when the door opens behind you and your poor mothers scream can be heard throughout the entire house.

Hurrying, you untie the bedsheets with shaky hands, hurting your knees in the process of falling to the ground, but you don´t care. All you care about is getting to your mom. Hugging her weak, sobbing form to your body as tightly as you can. Soothing her as best as possible, but the damage has been done you guess and you really can´t blame her. If you would have been in her place you wouldn´t have reacted or felt any other way.

“It´s okay, mom. I´m okay, I´m still here. It wasn´t real.” It´s safe to say, that after all of that you don´t sleep well. Or at all really. How could you after Aemond has told you what would happen next. You want to stop him, feel like you have to stop him, even more so now that your plan has failed so miserably. If anything you´re under the impression of having worsened the state his soul is in.

For two whole days you have to watch school go by without anything out of the ordinary happening. Which just makes the bad feelings in your gut swirl even more intensely. Yet, at the same time, there is a strange calm inside your mind. There certainly, realistically, is very little you can do to keep Aemond from doing what he wants to do. But at least if, or rather when, you go down on Friday, you don´t go down by being by Aemond´s side, watching the smoke pour out the doors. Making s´mores over the burning remains of your dead school mates. This was sick. A whole parade of red flags. A perverted power fantasy, that you can´t believe you didn´t notice before. In those days you have more people than you are willing to count come after you, questioning how you are still alive. How did the stupid rumors always spread the fastest and furthest?

The poor guidance counselor is who almost suffers from you losing your nerves over it, on the day of. You are quick to apologize as well though.

“I am so sorry, I´d be glad to talk about this another day, now I really have something more important to do.” You let the man behind, that still opens and closes his mouth like a fish on land.

Marching through the masses of students on their way to the gym. Scared shitless, but still determined to put an end to this if you can. It was high time you pulled your shit together anyway. Finding Aemond in the boiler room, he is already busy setting up multiple explosives.

“Hey!” You pull his attention away from the dynamite.

“Greetings and salutations. Come to change your mind?” He inquired.

“No. Never! Gods, how delusional are you to think that anyone would join you in this madness! You are no better than your mother.” You take another step closer to him. The venom in your tone gets him to stay silent for once. However he still doesn´t stop fiddling with the bombs.

“Put that down, slowly and then put your hands behind your head.” You put your hand in the pocket of your cardigan to grab your fathers hunting knife in case you´d need it. Pulling it out you earn a genuinely amused chuckle, then everything goes too fast for you to react properly. Aemond kicks the weapon out of your hand, letting it slide out of your reach, and knocks you out with a few , for him very simple, movements. Sinking to the ground you barely stay conscious long enough to see him walk further into the basement of the building. Fuck. The already quiet sounds of the pep rally become even more quiet over the dull thudding in your head and then darkness claims you.

You don´t know how long you have been out once your eyes open again. Thankful for the low light of the rooms you are in, you tumble towards the direction you saw Aemond leave in. Holding on tightly to the wall or anything you can find to keep the dizziness from knocking you off your feet again. Too busy to hear your scuffling steps, you can grab the gun he had brought and laid down beside himself.

“I said put it down… and hands behind your head…” The sentence is broken up by your heavy breathing.

One of his hands shoots to the side to check for the missing gun. Raising them over his head almost immediately and turning around to you slowly.

“Angel, come on. You know you can´t shoot me so why don´t you just put down the gun and join me? I´m giving you one last chance.” His tone is still smug, but you can hear a hint of fear shine through the overconfidence.

Scoffing, you shake your head at his inability to even now be real with his feelings. “Just turn off the bombs.”

Behind his eye you can see his brain mulling over every possible outcome to this situation. Surprising you, by complying to with you have just said. Putting his hands behind his head, the feeling of the imminent danger of the situation subsides from your system and you finally hear the voices from upstairs again. Having had enough of talking you wave for him to go outside with the gun, which you hold safely in both hands. Due to everyone being still in the gym and none the wiser as to what was going on not too far away from them. In front of you Aemond pushes the big front doors open for both of you to step outside.

Standing still, he turns to you again. Eye half closed and so close to you that if either of you were to move, your lips would most definitely touch.

“You know what you need to do now.” He murmurs. The way his breath fans over your face so warm and for a moment you feel set back to the beginning of your relationship. When everything was still okay or at least as okay as it could be.

“I don´t want to have to do it.” You whisper back.

“There is no other way to end this anymore now. I am far too damaged, but you are not beyond repair. Please… Stand back now. You know it had to end this way. No matter how much you wished it didn´t.” Aemond takes a step back himself and stretches his arms out to the side.

You take a deep breath and as you take a step away from him remind yourself of everything he had done and wanted to do. Looking up at him you ask him in a voice void of emotion.

“Any last words?”

“I worship you. So much. I´ll trade my life for yours.”

With a heart heavier than it should be, you point the gun back at the man who you had thought was the only one to ever truly understand you. Then, before your brain can have the chance to think twice about it your actions, you pull the trigger.

The shot rings in your ears long after it is over. The sight of Aemond falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes, filling you with a great void of nothingness. Still you stay there for a few more minutes. Lighting yourself a cigarette and waiting for that atrocious ringing to stop. A part of you still hopes to wake up and have all of this be a nightmare, but you never wake up and the cigarette is entirely done. So you throw the damned thing away, drop the gun on Aemond´s lifeless body and get back inside where everyone is flooding the hallways.

Ignoring Cassandra´s comments and protest, you march past her, taking Floris by the hand and walk over to Sarah who is sitting alone on the stairs.

“Ladies, there is a new sheriff in town. And the way I see it, all three of us are still free tonight. So, I propose we buy snacks and watch movies at my place all night.” You say with a conciliatory smile.

The two girls look happy about the suggestion. About as happy as they can look under the given circumstances and together the three of you decide to cut the school day a bit shorter and go now.

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION PILOT EPISODE CAST/CREW - PART ONE

REBECCA ROOT - MADDIE TOWNSEND/MINA HARKER

Rebecca trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for the National Theatre (UK and Ireland tour); Rathmines Road for Fishamble at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Trans Scripts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Bear / The Proposal at the Young Vic; and Hamlet at the Gielgud Theatre and Athens International Festival. TV, Film and Video Game credits include Monsieur Spade, This Is Christmas, Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Heartstopper, Annika, The Rising, Sex Education, The Gallery, The Queen’s Gambit, Finding Alice, Creation Stories, Last Christmas, The Sisters Brothers, Colette, The Danish Girl, Flack, The Romanoffs, Moominvalley, Hank Zipzer, Boy Meets Girl, Doctors, Casualty, The Detectives, and Keeping Up Appearances.  Radio credits include Clare In The Community, Life Lines, The Hotel, and 1977 for BBC Radio 4. Guest appearances include Woman’s Hour, Front Row, Loose Ends, Saturday Live, and A Good Read.  She plays Tania Bell in the award-winning Doctor Who: Stranded audio dramas. Rebecca has also recorded numerous documentary narrations, audiobooks, and voice-overs. Rebecca is also a voice and speech coach, holding the MA in Voice Studies from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

SEAN CARLSEN - JEREMY LARKIN/ JONATHAN HARKER

Born in South Wales, Seán trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He has worked extensively in audio drama, television, theatre and film.  Seán is perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans as Narvin in the Doctor Who audio series Gallifrey and has appeared on TV in Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion and Torchwood. Recent TV credits include Mudtown (BBCiplayer/S4C), Dal y Mellt (Netflix), His Dark Materials (BBC1), All Creatures Great and Small (Channel 5), A Mother's Love (Channel 4) and Series 5 of Stella (Sky1).  Films include supporting leads in Boudica - Rise of the Warrior Queen, cult horror The Cleansing,  the lead in Forgotten Journeys and John Sheedy’s forthcoming film ‘Never Never Never’

SAM CLEMENS - ARTHUR JONES

Samuel Clemens trained at the Drama Centre London and is an award-winning director with over twenty years’ experience. Samuel has recently written and directed his debut feature film ‘The Waterhouse’ with Take The Shot Films & Featuristic Films and represented by Raven Banner Entertainment, which is due for release this coming year.  In addition, he has directed fourteen short films, winning awards all over the world including shorts ‘Surgery (multi-award winning), A Bad Day To Propose (Straight 8 winner 2021), Say No & Dress Rehearsal’. Samuel also directs critically acclaimed number one UK stage tours and fringe shows (Rose Theatre Kingston, Swansea Grand, Eastbourne, Yvonne Arnaud, Waterloo East Theatre) and commercials include clients JD Sports, Shell and Space NK. Samuel is also a regular producer and director for Big Finish Productions & Anderson Entertainment. He has cast, directed, produced and post supervised numerous productions of ‘Doctor Who – (BBC), The Avengers (Studio Canal), Thunderbirds, Stingray (Anderson Entertainment), Callan, Missy, Gallifrey’& Shilling & Sixpence Investigate’ and many more. Samuel has directed world class talent such as, Sir Roger Moore, Ben Miles, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Alex Kingston, Frank Skinner, Rita Ora, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley, Rufus Hound, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Samuel West, Youssef Kerkour, Sophie Aldred, Ian McNiece, Colin Baker, Olivia Poulet, Stephen Wight, Jade Anouka, Mimi Ndwendi, Michelle Gomez, Peter Davidson, Paul O’Grady and many more. Samuel is one of the founding members and directors at Take The Shot Films Ltd and is Head of Artistic Creation and Direction. Lastly, Samuel is a regular tutor at The London Film Academy, The Giles Foreman Centre for Acting & The Rose Youth Theatre and is a member of The Directors Guild UK. As for upcoming projects, Sam is currently in pre-production on his next feature film “On The Edge of Darkness”, which is based on his dad’s stage play “Strictly Murder”.

ATTILA PUSKAS - DRACULA

Attila Puskás is a native Hungarian Voice Actor born in Transylvania – Romania, so Romanian is in his bag of tricks too, but most of his work is done in English, in a Transatlantic Eastern European Accent, but is quite capable of Hungarian, Romanian and International Eastern European accents, plus Standard American. His voice range is Adult to Middle Aged (30-40+) due to his deep voice. Vocal styles can range from authoritive, brooding to calming and reassuring and much more. He’s most experienced in character work, like Animations and Games, but his skills encompass Commercials to Narration as well. He’s received training through classes and workshops, pushing him to the next level to achieve higher standards. Now on a journey to perfect these skills and put them to good use!

PART TWO: HERE

PART THREE: HERE

[simplydannie]

Previous The Escape

Inspired and and written for @meadow-hearthfire. Based on their ask: Can you imagine Bruce's reaction to seeing Floyd with an unconscious Veneer when he and his brothers found them? Can you imagine Bruce's thought process throughout the past two days Veneer was unconscious? Can you imagine the conversations Bruce has with Floyd about V&V in those two days?

Floyd is found next to an unconscious Veneer who has just been shot…all his brothers don’t understand why he cares so much about the kid, on why he bothers in trying to save him at. The only one to see the truth behind Floyd’s eyes, is Bruce.

“We’re almost to Mount Rageous!” John Dory exclaimed as they neared the city. From afar, the lights of the city emerged through the clouds.

“A little over the top isn’t it?” Branch asked as the lights came more into view.

“Rageons tend to be over the top.”

“How will we know where they are?” Clay asked trying to peak through the windows, “The place is huge compared to us! We’re like ants in a cornfield compared to that place.”

“Good old Rhonda has the scent! That letter that was left to me has the scent of the two Rageons we’re trying to find. We find them. We find Floyd.” JD smirked proudly.

Suddenly, Rhonda halted, the Trolls were confused at her sudden maneuver, “Hey, what gives!” Branch said loudly.

“She’s… picking up something I think… Rhonda?” JD grew curious, but she remained completely still. She made a noise and bolted the opposite direction.

“Rhonda no! To Mount Rageous! Rhonda!”

But nothing stopped her. She had picked up a scent, it was the scent JD had showed her before, she knew it was. Rhonda ran quicker and quicker…. Suddenly she came to halt and settled down.

One by one, the Trolls unmounted the armadillo bus. JD went around and looked at Rhonda straight in the eyes. “What gives girl? Mount Rageous remember? Velvet and Veneer?”

“John look!” Clay motioned. The Trolls looked around to find themselves surrounded by mist. Trees were overhead. The mist slowly evaporated to show a clearing that lead to a river bank…there! That’s when they saw a motionless figure…. It looked like…

“It’s a Troll!” Poppy exclaimed as she got closer. The others followed her lead. Growing closer and closer, the little figure became clearer… the small Troll kneeled next to a larger body, his hands folded over his knees, a sad look in his eyes.

“FLOYD!!” Branch ran straight for his brother. Floyd turned around to find himself being engulfed in an embrace by each of his brothers. “Floyd oh my gosh! You’re out! You’re free!” Branch held him tighter. Floyd let the sadness melt away for a moment as he let Branches love just engulf him, one by one he felt their love…. His family was back again… they were alive, they were safe.

“You guys are alive… you’re okay… I went back and… everyone was gone.” Floyd cried.

“We’re here, bro. We’re good. And we’re together again. Let’s go! Let’s go now! We’re to close to Rageous for your own good.” JD pulled Floyd’s arm, but he hesitated, he stalled.

“No! No I can’t! I can’t leave him.” Floyd said pulling away. He walked over to a bigger figure laying on the ground. The Trolls hadn’t noticed, they thought it was just something there… not an actual person. The rest of the Trolls got closer.

“Oh my gosh.” Poppy gasped, “It’s… it’s a Rageon.”

“Not just any, I know that stringy hair. That’s Veneer. Floyd how’d you escape him.” Bruce said.

“I didn’t. We escaped together. He’s hurt, he’s hurt bad.” Floyd walked up to the boys chest… there was blood… “I tried to cover it with what I could, but he’s still bleeding out. He’ll die.” Floyd jumped down attempting to pull on the boys sleeve causing him to move a little. “Please, what can we do? I need to save him.”

All the Trolls looked to Floyd in confusion. Why would he want to save him? This was his captor, the one who imprisoned him and had been torturing him. Why?… All but Bruce thought that. Bruce automatically knew the tone of voice Floyd carried, the hurt in it… this was much more.

“….Hustle Time.” Bruce said. The Trolls looked at him.

“What?” Branch was the first to ask.

“You guys said the Bergens are our friends now right? Hustle time to them. Bring them here. They have something big enough to carry a Rageon.” Bruce stated.

“Really?” Floyd asked with a glint of hope in his eyes.

“You’re seriously thinking of helping him?” Clays voice sounded. “Isn’t he like the bad guy in this story?”

“No! No he’s not. Trust me. I’ll explain everything, just please help me save him….. please.” There was a desperation in Floyd’s voice.

“I’ll help you!” Poppy exclaimed.

Bruce crossed his arms and nodded, “I second that.” He turned to face the rest of his brothers. JD let out a long sigh.

“Rhonda girl get over here. Let’s see if we can move this big guy away from the water bank first.”

Between them and Rhonda, the Trolls pulled Veneer as far off the river bank as they could, as deep into the brushes that his weight allowed him. He was loosing blood quickly, they thought he couldn’t get any paler, but he was, everything about him began to loose color.

JD, Clay, and Poppy went off with Rhonda to find the Bergens…all they could hope is that they wouldn’t be too late.

Bruce and Branch remained with Floyd. The little Troll never left the Rageons side. His brothers marveled how attentive he was, he was trying to sooth him, trying to wake him up.

“I don’t get it.” Branch said.

“I think I do.” Bruce responded. He saw the hopelessness in his brother’s eyes as he sat there by Veneers side. Bruce had so much to say and so much to ask, but he knew right now wasn’t the time. “We need to be here for him Branch. I’m sure he’ll explain everything one day, but right now, let’s just be here for him.”

Hours upon hours passed. The Trolls did everything they could to keep Veneer from bleeding out of his wound. The boys breathing began to grow staggered, and Floyd began to grow more hopeless.

“No. No. No. No. I can’t loose him! I can’t. Is there anything else we can do?” Floyd said.

“We’re doing our best. We have to wait for the others to come back.” Branch reassured.

Floyd threw his hands in the air, “We’ve waited to long! Look at him!”

“Floyd. Freaking out is not going to help him. We have to be calm, for him.” Bruce said. This seemed to calm Floyd down a bit, but he was growing weary… Veneer was so close to death….

That’s when they heard the sound.

Looking up they saw a vehicle approach. At first they were hesitant, but then they a familiar face popped out.

“He’s taller than we expected! Hopefully he fits in the back.” King Gristle stated.

Floyd never left Veneers bedside. He remained by the drawer staring down at the boy. Bruce walked in and saw everything. Floyd had not left his bedside since they arrived. There were times where he asked JD to take him back, something about seeing if she followed, he assumed he was talking about the kids sister. Bruce hopped up and sat next to Floyd.

“You doing okay, little bro?”

Floyd shook his head and remained silent.

“They say he’s stable. He’s going to make it Floyd.”

“He’s not waking up.”

“He will. He will.”

“When?”

“Floyd I…”

“When is he going to wake up Bruce!! When! You don’t understand, you don’t.” Floyd buried his face in his hands.

“I think I understand a little more than you know. I know that look. I have it when my kids are hurting.” Bruce said. Floyd looked at him, confusion on his face.

“What? Kids? Bruce, he’s not my…”

“But you see him that way, don’t you? Something happened back at Rageous. You wouldn’t just protect or feel this way about anyone who’s held you captive.” Bruce told him.

Floyd fell silent. He stared at Veneer… they patched him up, gave him liquids, now it was just a waiting game. If Floyd hadn’t tried to abandon them, leave them like he would’ve, then maybe this would have never happened…. The twins would have never have to spend those months of torment under that vile woman, “I promise I wouldn’t leave them… and I almost did… I blamed them for something they knew nothing about…I told them that they weren’t my….family.”

“Keep going.” Bruce said.

“…. After leaving, I tried coming back, but everyone was gone. I found my way into Rageous, well, Under Rageous. I was caught, but then…they let me go, they saved me. It’s rough down there…so I stayed with them, hoping one day I could find a way out and bring them with me. We…. We…”

“Became family.” Bruce finished. Floyd looked at his brother, then at Veneer.

“We did…. And I messed that up.”

The brothers stayed a moment in silence before Bruce decided to speak, “I’ve seen you passionate bro, but never like this. These guys are 100x your size, yet you don’t see that, you see the kid in them still. The way you were looking at him at the river bank, here in the hospital… the same love I look at my own kids with.” Floyd opened his mouth to protest, “Don’t deny it. In your own way, you’ve adopted these two as your own…. It may take awhile for the others to understand, but I’ll help you with that. As a father, we want to guide are kids in the right direction. Sometimes that won’t happen, sometimes they’ll mess up…. But as a parent, we got to be there for them when they do. Fatherhood ain’t easy, bro, but it’s a beautiful journey.”

Floyd stared at Bruce, then turned his gaze towards Veneer… Bruce was right. Unknowingly he had began to see these two as his own. Maybe that’s why he got so hurt and upset when he found out what the Mistress was doing. He had felt betrayed… but in the long run, Floyd was the one to betray them. Now here he sat, waiting for Veneer to wake up… hoping Velvet would’ve followed…

“What do I do now?” Floyd asked.

“Learn and wait. This kid will wake up… and the girl will make it out. We’ll find a way to help her, I promise you. Besides, if she had you in her life, then that means she’s a fighter. One thing at a time, little bro.”

Floyd wipes the tears that had unknowingly been falling. But for the first time, he wasn’t crying because he was sad…. He was crying because for the first time since all this happened..Floyd had hope.

[punksdoll]

hii! i requested the long sami and kevin imagine and you made it everything i wanted it to be and more!! thank u!!

can i request a sami zayn x reader x kevin owens x jey uso fanfic (platonic) where you accidentally get injured from a bad bump in a match but have a title shot next week so if u know you tell anyone they’ll scrap the match. So u try to hide ur injury and almost make it to the next week but jeys the one who finds out (also cause ur a bad liar lol). and they make u go to the medic and kev calls you an idiot for not taking care of yourself but they comfort you and force you to go home and rest. and jey tells you to never do that again.

~~~𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒂~~~

gif not mine like, comments, & reblogs appreciated

𝑱𝒆𝒚 𝑼𝒔𝒐 𝒙 𝒇𝒆𝒎! 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒊 𝒁𝒂𝒚𝒏 𝒙 𝒇𝒆𝒎! 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

𝑲𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝑶𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒙 𝒇𝒆𝒎! 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 ^owner of gif

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕

𝒂/𝒏: 𝒊’𝒎 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒐𝒇𝒄<𝟑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐�� 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅<𝟑𝟑𝟑

𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒑, 𝒌𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 (𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.), 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒅𝒔, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇

not proofread

Y/n lets out a shout as she is slammed down, horribly, over the barricade. She feels her back bending in a way that she most definitely knows it’s not supposed to bend. Y/n plops down onto the floor and takes in shaky breaths as she tries to push through the match. She can feel the pain stabbing her back as she slides into the ring and starts fighting, weakly.

“This is MY title shot!” Liv shouts in her face as she gets y/n prepared for her finisher.

Y/n groans and catches Liv and gives her a power bomb, hurting her back even more as she throws her arm over Liv. Catching the win.

•••

Y/n makes her way backstage, limping as she holds her back. She had just gotten herself a title shot yet her back was hurting her like a bitch. She had two options.

Get to the medical room and find out you fucked up your back which makes you not be able to compete for the title against Rhea. Or, shut the fuck up and suck it up until next week.

“The latter…” Y/n huffs as she leans against a wall and slowly lets herself slide down, her body tensed as hell.

“There you are,” Sami walks over with Kevin and Jey behind him. Y/n notices them and quickly gets up, biting down on her lip hard to hold in the groan as she tries to get herself to untense.

“Hi.” Y/n says through gritted teeth as she sends them a teeth smile as she stands herself up straight.

Kevin looks at her weirdly, “you ok?”

“I’m great.” Y/n lies through her teeth as she keeps herself straight.

“Why you standing like that…?” Jey looks at her warily.

“Trying to get my back straight…you know?” Y/n replies with a nod.

“Is your back ok?” Sami asks worriedly, “did you do something to it during your match?”

“Nah, I just seen someone hunch and it just made me stand up straighter.” Y/n lies again as she looks at all three of them.

“Uh huh…” Jey looks her up and down. “When’s your title shot?”

“Next week…” Y/n nods, “against Rhea.”

“you want us to accompany you to the ring?” Sami asks, “we know the JD will be there, so just in case.”

“Speaking of accompany,” Kevin point at y/n, “you should show up when Rhea interferes, it’ll rise up your new found rivalry.”

Y/n immediately shakes her head, “i’m pretty tired, i think i’m just gonna go back to my hotel room and take a nap.” y/n shrugs.

She was lying but she was also telling the truth. She isn’t tired. But she does want to go back to her hotel room and rest herself because of how tense her back is.

“You sure?” Jey questions, narrowing his eyes.

“So very positive, see ya!” Y/n rushes away as best as she could as she sucks up the pain.

They watch as she limps away, having a hand on her back.

•••

Jey is watching y/n with narrowed eyes as she walks tensely and slowly around the gym. He had forced her to join them to work out together since she’s been going against their “tradition” and making up excuses like…

“I’m too tired…”

“My body hurts…”

“I have a headache…”

“My stomach hurts…”

etcetera etcetera etcetera

This time, Jey was done with the excuses and forced her in here. Now he was concerned as she barely pushed herself to the limit. Usually she does.

“Yo y/n you good?” Jey calls over as he pushes his legs up on the gym equipment. “You look tense as hell.”

Y/n glances over at him and nods, “i’m fine…” her voice cracks and she immediately clears her voice, “i’m fine.”

Sami and Kevin look at Jey who narrows his eyes as he gets off the equipment and walks over to her, “you’re lying.” Jey says, “you’ve been lying for awhile about that.”

“What are you talking about?” Sami looks at Jey who gives them a look.

“She always say yes when she is asked to accompany one of us. She said no and she never says no. She can a stupid excuse too about why she is having her back so straight…it’s been set straight for almost half of this week. Not to mention how you’ve been limping and holding onto your back all the time. And the excuses? Don’t get me started.”

Y/n, Sami, and Kevin all stare at him. “How…” y/n mumbles.

“You’re a horrible liar.” Jey raises an eyebrow.

Kevin and Sami stare at her, “relax yourself.” Kevin demands as he walks over to her.

“I can’t…” y/n frowns.

“So something is wrong? You lied to me when i asked if you did something to it on Monday.” Sami frowns.

“Where are you injured?” Kevin asks.

“My back…” y/n sighs as she sees there is no more use in lying as Jey just called her out on everything she’s been doing this past week. “I was thrown on the barricade horribly. My back bent.”

Sami’s eyes widened, “you need to get that check out immediately y/n.”

“you are such a…” Kevin starts pushing her towards the exit as Jey and Sami both grab all their stuffs, “Pen…te…ha.” Kevin says slowly, “an idiot.”

“You are so white.” Y/n grunts as she feels his hand pushing on her back, “that hurtss…” she whines.

“it wouldn’t be hurting if you took care of yourself y/n.” Kevin scolds as he forces her to walk to medical.

“why didn’t you tell us?” Sami asks.

“Because I knew i would be taken off the match for the title…I really wanted to partake in that.” Y/n frowns as they walk into medical, forcing her to sit down on the bed as the nurse starts checking her over.

“When’d you hurt it?” The nurse asks her.

“Monday…” Y/n mumbles as she looks down and swings her legs around.

The nurse gets up and lifts her shirt up to show her back, “i’m going to press on it, tell me where it hurts.”

The nurse barely even touched her before y/n is immediately tensing even more and trying to subtly move away, “it hurts it hurts.”

The nurse nods and takes that note down, “you won’t be in the match. i’ll be sure to let them know and get you an ambulance over because that seems very serious.” The nurse says before walking out.

Y/n feels all three glares at her, making her shrink. Sami and Jey walk over to her and forces her to lay down, laying her down slowly. “you’re really stupid.” Kevin shakes his head, “I cannot believe you didn’t tell us sooner.”

“When that ambulance comes and your clear, your going home and your going to rest.” Sami scolds, “and we do not want to hear you complain. you can get your title match when you are fully healed and fully rested.”

“but the mat-“

“If i hear one more word about the match, you’re never coming back.” Kevin threatens making y/n frown.

“Just don’t do it again and this won’t happen, again.” Jey shrugs.

Y/n narrows her eyes at all of them, “I don’t like any of you right now.”

“Quite frankly, i don’t give a shit.”

[cuprohastes]

Some people are just like that.

Roosevelt got shot and was like “Maaah! I’ll walk it off, I have a speech to do!”

The other Roosevelt just survived polio and led America through WWII.

Shackleton rowed from Antarctica to an island with a trading post and then solo trekked across it using a route that modern survival experts describe as ‘nearly impossible’. He saved all his crew.

And Jimmy Carter had himself lowered into a nuclear reactor for a few minutes at a time to fix it before everyone found out the hard way what a runaway nuke looked like.

Experts say that the radiation probably contributed to shortening his lifespan.

The man is 100 years old! What in the hell would he be like if he hadn’t sucked down enough rads to make Godzilla? Are we sure that the man doesn’t start going ‘vwumm… vwumm…. VWUMMM’ and then breathing nuclear fire when he’s angry?

Can we get him in a room with JD & Trump and find out? Because President Carter may just straight up murder them and be like: ‘Ok boys take me away, let see how long you can keep me locked up before I either bust out or you fit me for a lead and pine overcoat.’

[trolls-poppy-specialist]

broppy kiss analysis (or, well, just me screaming into my laptop for an entire forty seconds straight while i mentally and physically replay this scene)

it has come people. it has come

watch me quote almost every line in that near 40-second clip

"so? how you feeling?" poppy gurl is just concerned for branch it's just RIDNGRSIHGNRSUIDGBEWGEOIWEWGFEHUI

and then branch just gives a whirlwind of feelings (HE OPENED UP HE OPENED UP HE OPENED UP WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT THE FORESHADOWING IN THE BEGINNING), and he looks SO SMITTEN. dude just be like 'i wont hide the fact that im smitten with the queen of pop and the mount rageons will know it'

"whoa! tmi! boundaries, my man; that's a lot of feelings!" girl the hands up just won me over. and BRANCH MY MAN THE LOOK U GAVE HER I SWEAR IM GONNA ROLL OVER AND SOB AND SQUEAL. AND THE WAY SHE REFERS TO HIM AS 'MY MAN' WAAAHHHH AND THE LOOKS THEY'RE SHOOTING EACH OTHER OH MY GOSH

the laugh. the laugh. the laugh. DUDE SOUNDS SO HOPELESSLY IN LOVE, and tbh their voices mix really well, just that his laugh drags on longer

THE KISS (DONT MIND MY CAPS LOL). THE PART I’VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO. OH GOSH THE WAY SHE JUST PULLS HIS VEST AND BRINGS HIM CLOSE FOR THE KISS RIOGHRGSNIOFSIFANIODSANIODF AAAAAAAAAA. AND THE WAY HE LOOKS SO INTO IT LIKE I MEAN I PERSONALLY PERCEIVED IT AS A FIRST LIP KISS IF IT IS IM GONNA CRY AT HOW THEYRE SO IN SYNC (WOW BOYBAND PUN HERE)

AND POPPY LOOKS LIKE SHES SMILING IN THE KISS OH MY GUH-

NO WAIT BOTH OF THEM ARE

AND THEN HE HOLDS HER HANDS WAAAH IM SQUEALING EVEN HARDER NOW

ON THE MOUNT RAGEOUS SCREEN THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE SUBTLY SHIFTING AND THE MOUNT RAGEONS JUST CHEERING OH MY GOSH THEY SHIP BROPPY

THAT GIRL IN THE CENTRE WHOS JUST LIKE AWWW AND EVERYONE ELSE WHOS CLAPPING I HONOUR YALL

BRUCE AND CLAY FIST-BUMPING OR SOME SECRET HANDSHAKE AND SMILING AT THE TWO

AND JD AND FLOYD. FLOYD IS LITERALLY SHEDDING A TEAR (OF HAPPINESS? i don't know tbh) AND JD JUST PUTS HIS HAND ON HIS SHOULDER LIKE 'OKAY WE HAVE A COMMON TOPIC: BRANCH'S GIRLFRIEND'

GUYS BE PROUD BROZONE'S YOUNGEST MEMBER IS DATING THE QUEEN OF POP AND IS SHARING A KISS WITH HER ON SCREEN WITH EVERYONE WATCHING

AND THEY'RE ALL SMILING

RHONDA. OH, RHONDA. SHE JUST WENT WOOHOO AND LIKE MADE HER SOUND EVERYONE IS CELEBRATING

AND IN THAT SHOT BEFORE THEY PULL AWAY BRANCH IS SMILING AND POPPY IS IN DEEP AND WHEN THEY PULL AWAY IT'S JUST SO ADORABLE

anyways that's all for my rant

side note? branch looks cute with braids (he looks like some cute little girl). thank you viva for the wonderful hair-braiding skill :))

[delphinus-dancer]

A deep dive into a swan lake and flipping the (metaphorical, sadly) bird:

A Mihaly-centric view of JD 2024 story mode

(because they’re my favorite and I’ve thought about this way too much over the past few days weeks) Spoilers for JD 24 in the almost-essay under the cut, including some images!

Starting off with Mihaly’s first appearance in the story mode in Canned Heat, it seems like not too much time has passed since the end of jd23- Sara seems to be at the same party, Jack still at the tower, etc. (how Brezziana got to the beach that fast and had a workout class is something I’m going to guess was preplanned before everything went down).

We can assume this would be the first time Mihaly’s come back to their room since then (which makes the idea of Wanderlust FaceTiming everyone like 5 minutes after they left even funnier). Of course there’s the shot of Mihaly ripping the poster off the wall, which probably puts their feelings into words better than anything else within an E10 rating. <Side note: I don’t know much on lore but does the setting mean there’s a chance they’re from Eternyx? Both maps started in dark crowd/nighttime so wasn’t sure if confirmed or not>

While Sara has the spot pretty much clinched for a Night Swan’s foil, Mihaly is a really close second. This shot literally puts it into perspective- Mihaly’s color scheme has as many color elements of Master Panda’s (shirt/jacket/foot wraps) as it does Night Swan’s (hair-that-perfectly-matches-the-poster/ gold of headphones and glasses/pants). Their dance style also overlaps moreso with hers than the other dancers, with the precision and technique of their moves, from the footwork and leaps of Rather Be to the dramatic powerful motions of their Swan Lake part. It’s pretty obvious who the song is directed to, and what makes the song so interesting compared to their last story mode one is how loose it feels. This is unlike their usual technical style because of the connection to Night Swan with the control demanded of certain moves that they’ve presumably mastered- maybe they were fueled by a desire to achieve her success. Regardless, the song and emotion fueled, less ‘perfect’ dance lets Mihaly basically flip the bird at Night Swan’s corrupted idea of perfection. Either way, it culminates in them achieving a new high in their training with channeling their ‘true’ inspiration of the (master) panda. Although they retain most of their same costume after sort of becoming a furry?, a noticeable change is that the black leggings are understandably switched to something looser- but to the navy color of master panda instead of Mihaly’s black.

What’s also interesting is that the specific point Night Swan interrupts Mihaly’s song isn’t at the beginning like Brezziana/Sara/Jack’s or the very end like Wanderlust, but at the climax of their journey for the song. Not only does this imply that she may have been watching the entire time but choose to interfere later, but she is also the only character to see the Panda form before Swan Lake.

As Night Swan basically invades Mihaly’s //mind/headspace/flowspace?/no idea on the lore// they initially try to fight her off, but unlike Brezziana in her map, don’t fight until the end. Although Mihaly themselves wasn’t being corrupted like the background coaches in Brezziana’s map, they still let themselves, in a sense, lose a more internal battle to Night Swan as they leave the metaphorical and literal height of their understanding and power in the Flow and come back to the real world.

This then takes us straight into Swan Lake, which is really interesting for the Night Swan/Mihaly interactions and how they compare to the other dancers. Although from a format standpoint it makes sense for the movements in the bridge to be different, there are more differences too.

A big one that I only realized once I watched Majesty again is how the other swan soldiers/minions were turned back- and that was mainly by doing the same moves to ultimately come together and bring the dancers back. Here it’s the opposite for effectiveness- what causes Wanderlust and Brezziana to fail is that they think that’s how to stop Sara. Sara matches the moves in a way that <well> matches, if not surpasses the power that they put in. As a result of meeting them head on and assuming control, Sarah actively corrupts the two of them. She makes motions to bring in the smoke, and both of them also are stationary/surrendering as their color drains.

When it gets to Mihaly, the dynamic with Sara changes completely. While Sara starts off watching with the same expression as when the others challenged her, it shifts as she realizes she can’t emulate what Mihaly does, with the movements almost like Night Swan’s-dramatic and slower. It comes to a head when Mihaly channels the panda again and visibly knocks Sara back, so she’s unable to push any of the smoke towards them.

Sara’s expression also becomes noticeably softer for the rest of Mihaly’s part, and she doesn’t reassert that dominance/control she had earlier- with dancing or the smoke. See how she looks almost pensive in the photos above/below, especially compared to the earlier parts.

Speaking of the smoke, this is the key part about Night Swan seeing the panda earlier. She knows it exists and how to force it off after the earlier song, and as Sara is incapacitated/distracted, she presumably sends down the smoke that starts attacking Mihaly in Panda form.

This attack is why despite having a chance to get through to Sara, Mihaly still ends up failing as they return to normal. However, they are the only character to be so dynamic in their active corruption. Not only does Mihaly manage to send a signal out to Jack, which was a display of power never seen from them previously, but they also do it as they are actively losing their color and control. Unlike the other dances, Mihaly still moves as they lose control, possibly having the strength to continue to fight had they not realized that Night Swan was attacking alongside Sara.

Although the signal is in the shape of a pawprint, its underlying meaning is more than just a plot device to send Jack on a wild goose chase (pun intended that I couldn’t pass up). With the way it opens to form a window into the location from such a distance, it almost seems to be a step away from a full fledged portal. With the sudden appearance of a new power, it’s also an interesting parallel to Night Swan, who here uses powers to create a unique form of control that wasn’t seen in the previous game and who regularly uses portals with her magic.

Another note is the lights that appear for each of the dancers in the upper left corner during the song as they take on Sara. While Brezziana and Wanderlust’s fade out a few moves before they fall, Mihaly’s still goes strong even as they completely turn grey, as seen the the photos above. This could be a possible indication to them having a more stable power than the other dancers, or a form of magic more comparable/competitive with Night Swan’s. Also to note about the lights: looking on the floor during the song, the diamonds flash 3 colors: hot pink (Night Swan), a deep green (Sara, especially while corrupted- her original outfit but darker), and a teal (the exact same color as Mihaly’s flow energy). Like everything else, this is a stretch, but it could possibly mean that Night Swan’s control and magic background could have stemmed from a pure form of flow like Mihaly practices.

This could also be a factor in why they retain the most of their original outfit in the corrupted design- possibly a form of resistance like they displayed during swan lake or general flow magic? Notice that while they have significant changes to their robe/face/accessories, their feather motifs are much less pronounced than the others, simply appearing as marks on the robe that can be mistaken for stripes, rather than overt feathers like Wanderlust/Sara or Sara/Brezziana’s feather tights. Unlike the others, Mihaly keeps their leggings exactly the same (which were notably lost in the panda form, as mentioned earlier), and interestingly enough, their wraps. I initially thought that Night Swan would have changed that to something like ballet slippers with ribbons, so I think it’s really interesting that they are the only dancer who had any details remain exactly the same, especially one that had unique opportunities to be changed.

Going off of that, since they were the last to turn and have (some?) control over their outfit and (some?) magic that may be similar to Night Swan, I could see them being the first/easiest coach for Jack or someone else to turn back when he (hopefully) takes on the coaches.

One last note is the number of maps per story mode coach at this point. Counting Stronger /Survivor, and Treasure/Lose Yourself (hopefully coming soon after that ending!), that seems to be setting a trend for the other coaches to potentially have an additional map as well. If so, maybe that would be one where Mihaly could individually be freed, or a chance for them to further explore their rapidly developing powers (maybe in a confrontation with Night Swan?? a girl can dream).

And there y’all have it! Thank you for somehow reading to the end!! Happy dancing!!

this took forever oh my god

[blade-that-was-broken]

JD's Squad

A few notes on the beginning of John's squad for Soldier On - this is not a finished list; just what I have for now. The Current Cast is John Dory, Delta Dawn, Dickory, Chaz, Pete (Retired), Tresillo (new) but this is just beginning thoughts.

Suggestions are welcome!

John spends any leave that he has to leave base with one of his squad - usually Delta or Dickory - although in the later years, he does do some camping. In the last few years leading up to the explosion and incident, Delta's sister became a single mother. John has stayed there to help out sometimes.

If he is not with one of his squad, he will usually find a camping spot to stay in while doing the odd and end jobs for locals to pass the time and a cheap price.

For a while, John just stayed on base when his squad was on leave and didn't take it when offered but eventually Delta and Dickory forced him to go.

John lives very simply with very, very few possessions so he ends up just saving a fair bit of money. He's been in the military for probably over ten years now. There have been a few guys that have rotated through their squad. Pete retired and was eventually replaced with Tresillo (they don't share rank though, it's just the numbers).

Chaz is talented but a bit egotistical and can be difficult to work with. Most people do not like working with him. He definitely rubs John the wrong way and although John can usually tolerate him, they have fought before. John has broken Chaz's nose. Which drove him nuts because the guy is a bit vain.

No one expected John and Dickory to get along, but they are actually pretty close. Dickory is the shortest of the group but he's strong and crafty. And not to be underestimated. His parents were immigrants and so he carries a fairly heavy accent. He's got a younger brother, Hickory, who he is close with. Hickory wants to follow in his brother's footsteps but Dickory thinks his talents lie elsewhere.

Growly Pete, as he was known as, didn't talk much but was a great shot and an even better survivalist. John took to it with his outdoorsy nature and wasn't very offput by Pete's quiet nature, so Pete took the time to teach him. He retired a few years before the incident.

Tresillo is a fairly new soldier who was given a choice - jail or the military - and he won't ever tell you he made the wrong one. He doesn't have much in the way of family and was kind of unruly at first but he's got more discipline now and he likes his squad a lot. Doesn't love being treated like a kid but he kind of gets used to the younger brother treatment. Great dancer. Taught John and Dickory Spanish.

Even before Pete left, John and Delta kind of got the dad and mom tag, being the responsible ones. JD took care of his little brothers for years and was kind of used to it and Delta is a natural leader. The mom and dad jokes are mostly kept quiet and behind their backs.

In the incident, John was the one with by far the most severe injuries. Delta wasn't there at all and when she does hear the news, she does feel a little guilt for not being there. It's dumb and John would tell her that, but still.

Tresillo straight up blames himself. Period.

Everyone involved is extremely tight-lipped about what happened and they won't talk about it. Sometimes a little with one another but that is about it.

John becomes especially mindful and protective of youngsters. This may include both minors and young adults. This mostly comes from protecting Tresillo during the incident, who to John, is seen as barely an adult. (This is also a bit of a nod/projection to how my horse trusted and protected kids when we got her before she ever trusted adults with her own issues.)

Tresillo probably won't stay longer in the military than he has to. The incident might even give him an out. It's not that he doesn't like the military, but the incident does freak him out and after what happens to John... yeah. Part of it is some guilt, part of it is that he doesn't get along with a lot of other people and he kind of doesn't want to. John and their squad became the people he got along with, trusted, etc.

It takes a while for Tresillo to visit John after what happens but when he does, he might stick around. I don't know yet. He and Branch do become friends.

The first time Bruce sees John with Clampers, for a second he thinks John knocked some girl up. And John is just...she's like... three years old. It's becomes kind of a joke.

John may or may not punch Chaz again after leaving the military.

Floyd finds out about John entirely by accident and it's awkward and weird. He does get a little upset that no one told him before this. (He mostly communicates by letters and hardly uses a phone and is constantly traveling very busy with his growing career).

Delta ends up finishing her tour but something happens that leaves her having to take care of her niece, Claudia (aka Clampers).

That's all I got for now.

[fakekojimo]

Would fucking kill for Tadahiro Uesugi to do more design work for anime.

Most animation nerds know him as one of the unsung heroes of Caroline, being one the Art Directors, except me. Cuz my pool of my artistic reference is painfully too limited, I'm working on that I swear! But my first exposure to his stuff was on Carole and Tuesday.

I like how elegant his drawings are without feeling overly refined or sterile, it's the opposite even. Not a single ounce of symmetry to be found anywhere! The lights are represented as splotches that all differ from streetlight to streetlight, more solid structures like bridges are mishapen, and no two windows look the same. I hesitate to use the term "imperfection" because that feels a little backhanded and takes away the intent from Uesugi's paintings. The asymmetry in his work makes everything feel organic-- refined without feeling stuffy.

Bahi JD directed the opening, but it was Watanabe's idea to get Uesugi to do imageboards in the first place. He immediately nailed the vibe Bahi was looking for in the first place, nailed it so damn well that they left his work untouched for the opening! Left it straight as it is.

Dropped out of C&T pretty early on. It felt pretty aimless to me from the start, and trying to watch it while it was airing was nightmare due to Netflix still relying heavily on the binge model for anime at the time. But honestly? I got my fix just by watching the opening a billon times. The whole show is about Carole and Tuesday changing the world through their "organic music" against the rise of AI, looking back the premise aged much better than I remembered, but the show's take on "organic music" was represented by extremely janky, melty rotoscoped performances. Never understood that.

The show was striving on the ambition of these live performances to sweep the audience away but they end up feeling uncanny and lifeless due to the poor clean-up and inbetweening. Shows the difference between Uesugi's deceptively simple "imperfections" which aids towards a more organic vision vs those same imperfections holding things back.

Grievances with the show aside, Uesugi did stick around for the second opening. And despite the change in the director, going from Bahi JD to series director Motonobu Hori, the approach is still largely the same. There is less of a focus on more motion and more on Uesugi's gorgeous imageboards instead. Which is more than fine with me!

I always loved this cut the most. Carole and Tuesday jamming out in that huge ass canyon. The way they're dwarfed by it makes it feel so intimidating but the warm colors makes it feel just as inviting as well! Just makes me wanna get in there and explore.

And the closing shot is another favorite of mine too. The right moon (forgot to say this show takes place on Mars whoops) just being a little splotch makes me smile because it's such a fun choice. Again, refined without feeling stuffy!

After C&T Uesugi's been doing ED sequences at BONES for Motonobu Hori projects, while still not quite reaching those same heights as C&T.

His Supercrooks ED is dope, not as thematically appropriate as the previous project, but still cool! It's a solo KA done by Naomi Kaneda, but a good chunk of the motion looks more on the tweened side as well. Uesugi is credited for "イラストレーション and 構成) (Illustrations and compositions?) so I'm willing to bet the left his imageboards and drawings as is, but decided to go for a more of a motion graphics approach this time around.

A friend described Uesugi's work in general having an "urban glamor" feel to it, definitely the most visible here.

His most recent ED on Metallic Rouge is unfortunately his weakest. The thing is though? His ending is leaps and bounds over the show itself!

Metallic Rouge was one of the dullest shows I've seen this year. It's supposed to be a moody and broody cyberpunk show and it's reflected in it's dull and drab world. The show takes place on Mars, but if you told me it took place in a futuristic New York City instead I'd just smile and nod. There is more weird alien stuff in later eps but when everything already feels so cut and dry I'm hardly gonna be impressed. That's where Uesugi's ED comes in and beats the shit out of what came before.

(Yeah I know my stitches suck. Don't look at 'em too hard.)

He paints a world that feels legitimately more futuristic and alien than anything in the show itself! Playing up the fact that we're on an alien planet, and there should be as much wonder and beauty as there is danger and caution. It's the type of range I wish Metallic Rouge had instead of staying one boring register all throughout. I know we all can't be as great as him, but it should be nice if we could be as 1/8th as cool as him.

There are bound to be more Motonobu Hori shows down the pipeline. While I've yet to fully like a show that he directed... I don't mind getting more of them as long as we get more Uesugi openings or endings.

Or maybe something more one day. Maybe.