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whiskeyncoke-redux · 2 years

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I’ve always thought it would be fun to be a seat-filler at award shows, and now I can’t stop thinking about sitting next to a flirty Pedro Pascal.. (especially since they say you aren’t supposed to talk to the actors!)

The idea of him introducing himself (as if he isn’t a famous actor), sharing candy he snuck in with you or trying to make you laugh while on air and having to shoo away the award show employees that try to intervene. Him just being smitten with reader the whole night.. okay, I’d *love* to hear your take if it interests you!

Hi Nonny dearest, sorry it took me so long to respond, I just had to get my thoughts together because I LOVED this idea so much!! So here we go, hope you like it.

The Seat Filler

Pedro Pascal x Reader

A/N: here's another one, hope you all like it. No hateful comments please. Again I gotta shout out @ziggyrocket for the support ❤️. It's 6:32 in the morning, apparently I don't sleep like a normal person, I'm on my second cup of coffee, so any typos or whatever are my bad... and Maxwell house coffee's.

Warnings: none (well, corny jokes I guess)

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You had signed up for this gig half on a dare and half out of curiosity. Being a new sign-up, you hadn’t expected to be called in right away, but yet, here you were, in a borrowed gown, in a theater mixed with some of the biggest stars and regular people just like you: seat fillers.

You remembered the main rules the director told you: 1) look like you’re enjoying yourself, always smile and 2) most importantly DO NOT talk to the actors, meaning the actual celebrities. You nodded and murmured your understanding along with everyone else who was there to work as fillers, not really thinking anything of it. What celebrity would want to talk to me anyway? You mused as you took your seat.

You looked around the theater, excitement flooding through you at the idea of being in such a place surrounded by people you had admired from afar, in magazines, and online. You took a deep breath to steady yourself; you didn’t want to make a fool of yourself. You glanced at the empty seat next to you on your left and wondered who’d be in it. On your right was another filler and on their right was another empty seat.

The filler next to you leaned over slightly and whispered, “Who do you think they’re gonna put next to us?”

You shrugged. “No idea, hope it’s someone good.”

He nodded in agreement, then a look came over his face as he glanced over your shoulder. You turned your head to look and you blinked hard as you recognized the man coming towards you, and taking the vacant seat next to you. While the man next to you was busy getting settled, you glanced back over at your fellow seat filler, whose jaw had semi-dropped. You both exchanged excited looks, then you nudged him lightly with your elbow and he shook himself, cleared his throat lightly and sat up. You both faced forward, determined to be on your best behavior.

Unfortunately for you, your newest seat mate had different ideas. Pedro knew the whole deal with seat fillers and how they were told not to speak to anyone. But he felt a mischievous streak go through him when he saw you glance at him briefly.

“Hi,” he said, taking his seat. “I’m Pedro Pascal.”

“Hi,” you said back, nervously glancing around to make sure that no one saw you speaking to him.

The two of you smiled at each other, before you turned back to face the front. He took a few seconds to study your profile as you sat there, determinedly facing the front, sitting as still as a statue.

He glanced down and saw that your elbow was resting on the shared arm rest. With a small smirk, he placed his on the arm rest too, bumping yours.

You looked over at him, smiled awkwardly and whispered a hurried, “Sorry,” before moving your arm and facing forward again.

After a few minutes, you placed your elbow back on the arm rest, and, noticing that, Pedro, bumped your elbow again with his. You moved your arm again. And then a few more minutes later, you placed it back again, only for him to bump you again. After the fourth time this happened, you looked over at him with a slightly raised eyebrow and he just smiled innocently at you.

A few minutes later you felt him shift next to you, you looked over and saw him pulling out a bag of Skittles. You tried to hide your smile, but he noticed and nudged you slightly and offered you some. You looked around, making sure that there was no one watching, and then you held open your palm and he shook some of the candies into it.

“Thanks,” you whispered and popped a few into your mouth.

A little over an hour into the show, you could feel him getting restless next to you. You figured the sugar had gotten to him. After the Skittles, he had pulled out a candy bar, broke it in half and shared it with you. He fidgeted in his seat, tapping his fingers on his knee and the seat. You tried to ignore it, but you had to admit it was more than a little distracting.

“Are you okay?” you whispered hurriedly to him.

He turned to you and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Are you though?” you asked, gesturing to his jiggling knee.

He smiled. “Yeah.” But his knee kept jiggling, you had to suppress a laugh at that.

He noticed you struggling to keep a straight face, and decided to aim the restless energy he had at you. He was going to make you laugh, really laugh, by the end of the show. His mind was made up.

He thought for a moment and then he leaned over to you, “Psst, hey.”

“Yeah?” you answered looking straight ahead.

“I have a question.”

“Mmhmm?”

“Why did the bicycle fall over?”

You were confused. “I’m sorry?”

“I said: why did the bicycle fall over?”

“Uhh, I don’t know. Why?”

“Because it was two tired.”

You turned to look at him after that, he laughed at the look on your face.

“That was corny,” you said, shaking your head, but pursing your lips to keep from laughing.

“Oh, that reminds me of another one,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. He looked around, cleared his throat, and then asked, “What does corn say when it gets a compliment?”

You shook your head and shrugged your shoulders, not wanting to say anything but wanting to hear the punchline, you turned to him.

Barely able to suppress his giggles, he answered,”Aw, shucks!”

You put your hand over your mouth, trying to stifle the laugh you felt escaping your lips.

“Okay, one more,” he announced.

“Oh, lord,” you groaned.

“It’s a good one, I promise.”

You waved your hand slightly for him to go ahead, knowing he would anyway.

“Okay, why are pirates called pirates?”

You bit your lip trying not to laugh. “I don’t know why?”

He leaned closer. “They just arrrr!” he whispered the last word in a bad pirate accent.

You couldn’t help it, you snorted, then quickly covered your mouth to stifle your giggles, but he’d heard it, and he smiled at that.

“Good one right?” he asked.

You shook your head. “No, oh my god, that was bad, but…” you couldn’t finish as a fresh wave of giggles overtook you. Your shoulders shook with your suppressed laughter.

He smiled and laughed along with you. For the rest of the ceremony, he would lean over and whisper comments about one person’s speech, or another’s outfit, nothing malicious or mean, just something to make you smile. And he always had a bad joke or two to whisper to you.

By the end of the program, your cheeks were hurting from all the smiling and your stomach was sore from the laughing. You couldn’t help it, a few had escaped, luckily it was during the jokes the emcee told, so it looked as if you were enjoying the show. Truth be told, you couldn’t remember what had happened during the show, or who had won which award. If someone had quizzed you on it after, you surely would have failed; but you felt it was worth it because being seated next to Pedro had made it the best night of your life. You hadn’t laughed that hard, or enjoyed yourself that much in a long time.

After the show was over, you headed out with your fellow seat filler.

“You seemed to really be enjoying yourself,” he said as you filed out into the lobby.

You nodded with a huge grin on your face. “Yeah, I did.”

“I could tell,” he said, nodding, “what was he saying to you to make you laugh so much?”

You shrugged. “Oh, just a few jokes, and comments that’s all,” you said lightly.

He looked at you curiously, but when he realized you weren’t going to elaborate he commented, “Lucky you. The one they put next to me was on her phone the entire time.” He shook his head. “At least you got some entertainment.”

You two chatted for a little more, making plans to grab a late dinner with him and some of the rest of the seat fillers. Before you could leave, however, you felt someone tap you on your shoulder.

“Okay, I have another one,” you heard Pedro’s voice in your ear before you could turn around. “Just thought of it.”

You looked at him. “All right, go on.”

“Which bear is the most condescending?”

You started laughing then answered, “what?”

“A pan-duh!”

You burst out laughing along with him. “Where on earth did you even hear these?”

He shrugged. “Internet.”

“They are so bad,” you said, still chuckling.

“And yet, you laughed. Therefore they did their job,” he pointed out.

“True enough,” you agreed, “thanks though.”

“For what?”

“Making this event… well, eventful. I was prepared to be bored out of my mind, sitting there like a statue, smiling a fake smile the entire night.”

He smiled at you. “Well, I’m glad I could help. So, what are you planning on doing after this?”

You shrugged. “I was gonna grab something to eat with some of the rest of the seat fillers…”

“Oh, okay, I'm doing the same.” He nodded and looked away. You noticed that for a second he looked slightly nervous, but before you could get a good look, his face cleared and he turned back to look at you.

“I guess I should let you go then…” you said, turning to catch up with your friends.

“Wait, one more question.”

You stopped and looked back at him. “What's up?”

“Well, you know, I have a lot more jokes…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and, well, all my friends and family have heard them. But you haven’t, at least I’m pretty sure you haven’t….”

You nodded. “I haven’t, I don’t think.”

“Good, well, I shall have to inflict them upon you, you know, if you don’t mind. Maybe over dinner tomorrow?”

You thought for a second. “I don’t mind at all,” you answered with a huge grin.

#ask #answered #pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #pedro pascal fan fiction #pedro pascal fanfiction #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #ficlet #pedro pascal rpf #rpf #javier peña #din djarin #joel miller #frankie catfish morales #whiskey writes

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doggone-devil · 7 months

Text

How (Not) to Summon a Demon: Chapter 4

Kind of nervous about this one. I'm trying to make sure I keep true to Alastor's character and his personality, but boy is that harder than it sounds, haha! Please don't mind the typos and such also; writing is not my primary trade skill XD But anyways, I hope you dear readers enjoy! Feedback is always appreciated! Pairing: Alastor x fem!Reader Warnings: not really any for this chapter, it's kind of a filler

As the bedroom door slams shut, you drop Alastor’s hand and begin pacing. You eye him a couple of times, trying to make sense of it all. You finally stop and face him, waving your hands at him. “The fuck is this?”

“What?” He’s smiling. No, correction. He’s smirking, amused by all of this. You would punch him if he wasn’t a demon.

“This,” you motion to his body, pointing out the obvious. “You look human!”

“My dear, you wound me,” Alastor says, placing a hand on his chest. “I was human once.”

“Yes, but you’re a demon now! How are you…?” you trail off, noting how his voice is no longer filled with static. It’s crisp and clear, soothing even which worries you, but you can’t place the accent. It does, however, remind you of those old talk shows from the 1920s.

Alastor fixes his bow tie, standing proudly. “I’m a demon, darling, it’s all part of the gig.”

“So you have powers?” You feel anger bubbling up. “You could’ve totally shown up like that instead of all demon-y and scaring me half to death!”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t have believed me had I not came out all ‘demon-y’, correct?” he shoots back, smirk widening when you realize he’s right. You would have thought him an insane intruder and called the cops.

“Touché,” you subside, letting it go. You move to sit on your bed in a huff, feeling drained from all that’s transpired in such short little time. Now the matter at hand was presenting itself and you had no idea how to handle it. “What do we do now?”

“I fail to understand the question,” Alastor responds, staying put by the door.

“What do we do? We can’t tell Veronica you’re a demon,” you whisper the last word, afraid she’ll hear or that she’s listening in, ear pressed to the door.

“And why not?”

“You serious?” You scoff and roll your eyes, throwing your hands up. “Yeah, sure! Let’s just tell my roommate that I summoned a demon and that it wants to take my soul for the price of one measly wish. That’ll hold over well.” Alastor raised his shoulders with a nonchalant ‘hmm’. You really wanted to punch him now, demon or no, the irritating bastard.

“How long you gonna hog him?” Veronica calls from the other door, startling you. You groan, not ready yet. You needed a plan, something to say or your roommate was going to get suspicious. Wait… that’s it!

“Ok,” you say, walking over to Alastor in a hurry. He steps back in habit, eyeing you quizzically. You ignore it, placing your hands on his chest and continue, “here’s the plan. We have a spare bedroom that’s been listed for over a year now. I’m going to tell Veronica that you’re here to apply as our third roommate and to rent the room, got it?”

Alastor lets out another amused hum, brows raised and eyes lidded. He’s having a blast from watching you panic. “I suppose I could go along with it, so long as you get to making your wish.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll talk about that later. First, we got a show to put on.” You open the door, Veronica nearly falling on top of you as she struggles to regain her footing. She smiles nervously like she just got caught and stands straight, fixing her shirt.

“So! Ready to let me in on what’s going on?” she asks. You nod and start moving to the living room, Alastor and Veronica behind you.

“Well, remember our spare bedroom we’ve put up for rent?” you start, taking a seat on the couch. Veronica sits next to you and Alastor takes the chair on the other side of the coffee table.

“The one that’s been listed for forever?”

“That’s the one! Well, Alastor here is applying for it, right?” You look to Alastor, hinting for him to take the lead.

“That’s right! I saw your ad and thought to myself, why this isn’t this just a charming little home? Perfect for me to live in as I reacquaint myself with good ol’ New Orleans!” Alastor spoke with ease, like he’d secretly rehearsed the whole thing. Meanwhile, you were sweating, nervous that somehow Veronica would know he’s a demon.

“Reacquaint, you from here?” Veronica asks.

“Indeedy! I use to, anyhow, some years back,” Alastor pauses to glance at you, smirking. “Though it’s been quite a long time since.”

“How long has it been? You see, girlie over there and I have lived here our whole lives.” Veronica leans in, smitten by Alastor already, you can tell. You want to gag, knowing she’d be shaking in her boots to know she’s trying to flirt with a demon, the stuff from nightmares.

Alastor crosses one leg over the other as he leans back a bit, getting comfortable in the chair. He seems to look off into the distance, making you wonder what’s on his mind before his attention snaps back. “I was born and raised here myself, though times were different, I’m sure. I’d say it’s been a few decades.”

Veronica looks at you before laughing. “Come now, Alastor, you make yourself sound ancient. You can’t be no older than twenty-five!” Alastor barks out a laugh, making you jump.

“My dear, you flatter me! No, I’m well in my thirties, but I appreciate the compliment.” You gawk at him. You, too, thought he was young. His complexion and features were sharp yet soft with youth. Then again, it shouldn’t shock your or him to be old. There’s no telling how long he’s been in Hell, been a demon. He could be well over hundreds of years old for all you knew.

“You certainly don’t look it,” Veronica states, breaking your train of thought. “So then, Alastor, what do you do for work?”

“I manage a hotel facility,” Alastor answers. It’s quick and you remember him mentioning a hotel when explaining Hell to you.

“Oh, sounds fancy! You must make a lot of money, then.”

“Veronica!” You smack her arm lightly.

“What? I’m just judging his financial stability, isn’t that what I’m meant to do? He’s going to rent from us, after all. I wanna make sure we get paid,” she defends. She speaks the truth, but she couldn’t been more subtle.

“Not to worry, my dear, any and all financial arrangements will be met.” Alastor shifts, grabbing something from his coat pocket. He voices your name, grabbing your attention. “I do apologize, may I ask again what the agreed amount was for moving in?”

“Right, the deposit,” you rack your brain for a number, trying to remember what you and Veronica set it at when listing the room. “Um, it’s $300 for deposit and $250 for first month’s rent.” Alastor pulls out an envelope, handing it to you.

“That should cover it, unless there’s anything further to finalize this?”

You look at Veronica, words escaping you. She just laughs, turning to Alastor. “Usually this is done a little differently but, what the heck! Welcome home!” She stretches out her hand and Alastor takes it, placing a quick kiss to the back of her knuckles. You frown at the blush on her cheeks.

“I don’t know where you found him, but bag him before I do,” Veronica whispers to you and now it’s your turn for your cheeks to redden. You want to protest, saying how you’d never, but you don’t want Alastor to know what she said. Though from the way he grins smugly at you, you have a feeling he heard.

“I’ll have your lease printed up by tomorrow morning,” Veronica says, standing from the couch. Alastor stands as well and she shakes her head. “Girlie, where did you find him? The 1930s?”

“You’re not far off,” Alastor jokes. Veronica shakes her head, checking the time.

“Good Lord, it’s that late already? I gotta get ready for work.” She steps out of the living. “Oh, why don’t you show him the room? I’m sure he’d enjoy that!” She winks at you and then disappears to her bedroom to get ready. You groan, letting your head hit the back of the couch.

“I think that went well, don’t you?” Alastor asks, that smile still plastered on his face. You wanted to punch it. You wanted to punch him. God, you were violent tonight, weren’t you?

“Come on, I’ll show you the room,” you say, pushing yourself off the couch. You move towards the kitchen, walking past it to a door that sat opposite yours. Veronica’s was next to it, the only other bedroom on this side while yours sat on the other. You liked yours cause it was on the wall with the bathroom, an easy walk to when nightly trips hit you.

You open the door and let him step in first. It’s a normal size bedroom, a full bed sitting in the middle with adequate space on either side to move. There’s a closet facing the bed, the hangers empty. The whole room itself is bare minus carpeted flooring and neutral grey walls.

“It’s not much, but I guess it’s something to be comfortable in while you’re here.” You pause, frowning. “Do demons even sleep?”

“Some do,” Alastor says, walking around the bed, his fingers ghosting over the comforter, “I find it difficult, so I usually don’t.”

“I feel ya there.” You rock on the balls of your feet, trying to kill the awkwardness you feel thickening the air around you. “Um, ok look.” You sit down on his bed with a sigh, running a hand through your hair. “I still don’t know what to wish for. I can’t wish for others and I really don’t know what I can think of that’s worth my soul. So, until then, you’re just gonna have to live here and play roommate until I do.”

Alastor, his smile tight, sighs and joins you on the bed. “It looks like I don’t have a choice, my dear. Can’t leave either way. You’re stuck with me just as much as I am stuck with you.”

“So it seems, Mr. Demon Boy.” You turn to face him a bit, bringing your leg to tuck under you on the bed. “Where are you really from, by the way? The way you talk is so…foreign.”

“Why, here in the bayous of New Orleans!” Alastor answers, spreading his arms wide. “A true, southern gentlemen.”

“But you have an accent, like some kind of talk show host.”

“No, no, my dear! A radio host, and I was quite the famous one during my time on Earth,” he says and you perk up.

“Wait, really? When?” Alastor raises a brow, seeming confused but amused at your sudden prodding. He seems to be in thought, weighing his options of telling you. You wait patiently.

“My last time on Earth was back in 1933. That is the year I died,” Alastor explains. He looks off towards the wall, disappearing into a flashback somewhere. You wish you could see it.

“So you’re from the 1920s then? That makes total sense now,” you say. The accent, the showman ship, the dramatic flairs. You were also right in thinking he was older than he said. Well over a hundred years. Amazing.

“Yes, indeedy! What a time to be alive it was. Say, what year is it now? Time gets a bit fuzzy when down in Hell.”

“2024.” Alastor’s eyes widen, no doubt shocked. You wondered if time even existed in Hell. Did it move just like on Earth? Did they have birthdays and holidays to mark the movement of time? You shouldn’t be so curious and, yet, if you were bound for it then why not learn all you could? It would certainly give you an advantage over others heading that way.

“My, my. I’m going to have to see New Orleans now. I’m sure she’s changed a bit.”

“You’d be surprised,” you say with a smile. If it’s one thing you loved, it was the historical preservation of the city. Sure, new buildings had popped up, but a lot of the old ones stood proudly along side them. “I could take you out to see them!”

“Darling, I would enjoy nothing more!” Alastor stands from the bed, moving to the side just as his door opens after a short knock. You see Veronica peek in, already fully dressed.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m heading off to work!” She looks to Alastor. “We’ll have you a spare tomorrow, too, when you get the lease! Too-da-loo!” She waves goodbye and a moment later, the front door shuts. You’re back to being alone with Alastor once again. Thinking of nothing else to do, you decide to say fuck it and ask.

“How about that city tour?” you ask, standing up off the bed.

“Are you sure, my dear? I would understand if you’d like to stay as far away from the demon as possible. Most in your situation would, but then again, most would have made a wish by now.” You chuckle at his comment, walking past him and out to the apartment entrance.

“I think we both know I’m not normal,” you say, grabbing your car keys. “I mean, I’m literally about to take a demon for a drive through the city. Tell me how that’d be normal?”

“Touché,” Alastor grins. He opens the door and steps to the side. “After you, my dear.” You feel your stomach flip, but push it back down, thanking him as you two leave the apartment.

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gretavanlace · 2 years

Text

Poppins (part 5)

Josh/Jake Kiszka x reader

18+ only! Minors do not interact!

Warnings: graphic sexual content, language, slight angst, etc

Sleep doesn’t plan on dropping in to visit you tonight, that much is clear. Still, it doesn’t stop you from staring up at the ceiling, longing for it.

If you could just quiet the storm inside your head, if only for a moment or two, you might be able to drift away.

All hope is lost completely when your phone begins to vibrate on the night stand beside you. It crosses your mind to ignore it, but no one calls at this hour for no good reason.

With an exasperated sigh, you roll to your side and grab it up.

“Perfect.” You mutter upon seeing Jake’s name displayed on the screen. Yet another facet stepping up to complicate this shit show of a night even further.

“This better be good.” 3 am phone calls don’t lend themselves to a proper greeting in your book.

“Well, hello to you, too, pretty girl.” He laughs, clearly bright eyed and full of piss and vinegar.

“I’m sleeping, Jacob.” You huff, flopping onto your back once again.

He calls your bluff. Of course he does. “No you’re not. You sound wide awake, and I need someone to keep me company.”

“No pretty young thing to follow you home from your gig tonight?” You ask, though you certainly don’t actually want to know.

He makes a sound in the negative, and then adds, “But if I get really hard up, I can just pop my head out the door and flag down one of the hookers that are loitering around this shit hole of a motel.”

“That bad?”

“I’ll put it this way,” he breathes a wisp of a laugh, “If I were to look under the bed and find a dead body, I wouldn’t be shocked. Not even a little bit.”

“Yikes.” You genuinely feel for him. Hotels and their germs freak you out as it is, you can’t fathom being expected to sleep in an establishment as fine as the one he’s describing.

“Make sure you check for bed bugs before you go to sleep.” It breaks your heart to think of him slumbering fitfully while tiny monsters feast away.

“You think I’m going anywhere near that bed?” He sounds offended, but you know better. “I’m sleeping in the fucking bathtub. I wish you were here, though.”

“So, you’d have me suffer through a night in hotel hell just so you’d have someone to keep you company? Narcissist.”

That halting laugh of his, the one you’re completely smitten with, makes an appearance, but his reply comes gently. “No. There’s just something about the thought of seeing something so beautiful surrounded by all this ugliness…I don’t know.”

That, you hadn’t expected.

He glosses over his honesty and begins telling you about the bar he’s playing. About how it used to be a speakeasy. How there are still scattered bullet holes in the walls from a raid. Al Capone once visited, he tells you animatedly, and broke a bartender's nose for speaking without respect…

On and on he prattles, and you let him, paying close attention to his every word. This isn’t your first time being ‘Jaked’ in the middle of the night.

And if you’re being honest, maybe your attentiveness has more to do with the fact that you miss him already. It’s good to hear his voice, that calming, soft rasp. His idiosyncratic tendencies - ‘you know’ as a place filler as he gathers his thoughts, interesting, suppose, it’s all so jake, and it makes you feel safe in the strangest way.

You ask questions in all the right places, not enough to interrupt, but just enough to encourage the stream of thoughts he has decided to share with you.

That is, until he catches on. “Are we whispering because it’s late, or because you’re at my brother’s?”

You pluck at the blanket thrown over you, chagrined. A child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “He was out of sorts with you gone, so I stayed. You know how he gets.”

“I get that way, too.” He points out softly. “Who babies me?”

You shrug, though he can’t see you “A girl in every port?”

“Would you stop with that?” He suddenly sounds sad, and it’s so unlike him you’re shocked into momentary silence.

It stretches on for a while, with you now staring at the wall as the tree outside lends the shadows of its leaves to dance and flutter in the night. And Jake, cooped up in some depressing, filthy room god knows where, breathing in stagnant air and mold spores.

He slices through it first, “Hey, poppins?”

“Hmm?” How easily can make your heart ache and pound without effort. They both can.

“Do you miss me?”

The hopefulness in his query makes you smile. He sounds almost…vulnerable?

“I do, Jake. I always miss you when you go away.”

A discreet hum of satisfaction is his only reply before the quiet returns. Then…

“Why are you at my brother’s, babe? Is this a ‘when the cats away the mice will play’ situation?”

Why is he always so calm and collected? Tipping his hand just enough to stoke the flames of your curiosity. And why is it so sexy?

“Are you the cat?” You ask softly, avoiding his actual question.

He sees your bet and raises the stakes “Are you two the mice?”

Still unwilling to hand over your secrets, you ask a question of your own. “What is this? You both really do get off on the competition of it all, don’t you? Is there a scorecard hidden away somewhere? Because I —“

“Hey,” he soothes, voice comforting like a warm, much loved quilt. “There’s no scorecard. We actually have a scoreboard. It lights up and everything. Cost a shit load.”

He successfully tugs a giggle out of you, plucking the thorn out of your side effortlessly. Seconds later, however, you’re right back where you started.

“Why, then? Sometimes I feel like I’m caught in sibling rivalry crossfire. Like I’m constantly ducking and dodging Kiszka bullets.”

“No such thing.” He’s trying his best to lighten things up. “We Kiszkas are noble and peaceful people.”

He desperately would like to be let off the hook… instead, you keep him dangling on the line. “I’m serious.”

At last, he gives in. “Alright, alright. The thing is, you can’t really blame us. Sometimes it’s unavoidable and that’s just science.”

“Science.” You repeat, unimpressed.

“Yes. Science. Identical twins, such as myself and my lesser half, share nearly indistinguishable brain wave patterns, and —“

“Jesus, do you two carry around some big book of twin factoids everywhere you go?”

Brushing your flippancy aside without comment, he continues on. “So, shared brain waves and 99.9% identical DNA means we view the world around us in much the same way. That’s why you hear those crazy stories about separated twins finding each other later only to discover they’ve been living parallel lives. Essentially, we’re the same person.”

“Is this where I come in?” You ask, trying hard to conceal the fascination hiding behind your nonchalance.

“Possibly.” In your mind's eye, you picture his fingers running over his lips in a gentle pinching motion. An endearing habit of his when he’s feeling contemplative. “But, sometimes I think it has very little to do with all of that. Sometimes I think it’s just you.”

“Me?’

“You’re the lighthouse, poppins…” his voice is soft and thoughtful. “And he and I are the ships. Question is, who will run ashore first?”

“Something happened between Josh and I tonight.” You confess. “And I honestly don’t know why I’m telling you. I just felt like you should know.”

“Doesn’t that make you think?” He questions, backing you into an invisible corner.

“Doesn’t what make me think?”

“The fact that you felt the need to tell me. It’s interesting, isn’t it?”

You’re not sure what to say to that, so you choose the easiest path and say nothing at all.

“Jealousy isn’t a character flaw I struggle with. Never has been.” You listen to the creaking groan of the likely cheap and worn chair he is repositioning himself in. “Territorial? I’ll own that, but almost never with Josh. So you have your fun, love. Get him out of your system. You and I both know which ship your light shines a little brighter for.”

He ends the call with little room for argument on your part. You consider calling him back to tell him he’s wrong (is he wrong?). Instead, you slip out of bed and pad down the hall towards Josh’s room, light and hushed on your feet.

Josh is dreaming of you. Lost in turquoise waters that lull him deeper and deeper, down down down. You’re everywhere. Your voice, echoing and purring with the delicate current. He is tangled in your silken hair. It glows in otherworldly shades of bioluminescent purple and he longs to touch it, but each lock dissolves into blinding glitter the moment he reaches for it. Closer to the floor of your sea he drifts, as your soft moans grow louder, accompanied by the alien mournful song of whales calling to one another, his unconscious world shifts…

Now you lie beneath him, twisted in wrinkled sheets, clinging to him as he rocks into you deeply. Your nails sting as they bite into and drag across his back and he hopes it burns forever. He likes it better here. Bathing in your ocean was bliss, but here he can touch your face. Here he can search your eyes for their secrets and taste your skin. He can hear the desire thrumming in your hummingbird heart. Here you are his.

He always thinks you’re beautiful, but like this, you are celestial. A supernova captured in his arms.

You call his name, but your eyes are cast over his shoulder. He knows without question who has come to dismantle his perfect world.

“Tell him to go.”

You shake your head languidly with a Mona Lisa smile, “I’d like him to stay.”

Squeezing around him just right, you run your fingertip down the bridge of his nose…

…and he startles awake with a curse.

His door isn’t closed, but merely pushed to…still, you lift a loose fist to knock lightly. A faint moan in the dark stops you.

It’s a tranquil sound, one you might expect to enjoy while caught up in slow and easy early morning sex. And while it isn’t overtly obscene, it steals the air from your lungs all the same.

He’s sleeping, your eyes have adjusted to the darkness enough to know that, but he breathes another sigh into the air, and then…your name.

Can a sound be poetic? Can inflection be art? Because that is the only way to describe the way your name sounds on his tongue.

He’s dreaming…and whatever world he has faded into holds some version of you inside of it as well. What is going on inside that brilliant, beautiful mind of yours, Joshua?

This is wrong. You should go back to bed and pretend this never happened…but the angel on your shoulder has taken the night off, leaving the shameless devil in charge, plotting nefariously.

A harsh hiss of “Fuck!” bites out of him, startling you. He sounds frustrated and furious. He is awake, and very unhappy about it.

Standing still as a statue, you wonder ridiculously if he can hear the wild beat of your heart.

Knock now, you think. Pretend you’ve just arrived at his door. For the second time, you raise your hand to knock, and for the second time, you stop in your tracks when you see it.

His hand slips beneath the sheets as a shutter of pleasure ripples out of his chest. It’s no more than a strangled gasp, but your body explodes into heated pins and needles.

The drag of his fist against the linens keeps time with the airy moans he is panting into the night. It’s fucking intoxicating and you so badly want to go to him.

Instead, you back slowly away from the crack into the door, retreating further back in the hall. You’ll slink back to bed and it’ll be like this never even happened —

A floorboard creaks. An inanimate object groaning to tattle tale and shine a spotlight on your presence.

He stops instantly as you clamp your eyes shut tightly for a split second…if I can’t see you, you can’t see me mentality.

And while you pray with your whole soul to disappear like smoke in the air, he rises, tucks himself back into his sweats, and confidently closes the space between the two of you.

Before you can process, his fingers lace around your wrist and pull you into the room. Your body is pressed against the door, his breath warm on your neck as he reaches behind you to twist the lock.

A single finger traces along your cheek before tucking a lock of your hair behind your ear. “Were you watching me?”

“I…” You stammer, guilty as sin. “I was just getting ready to knock and…”

His hand slides between your legs to tease his fingers over soaked cotton. “Oh,” he tilts his head, smug and pleased with his discovery. “Someone was enjoying the show. My sweet little thing has ruined her pretty panties.”

He finds your clit and presses against it, remaining still, taunting you with the delicious pressure of his touch. “Do you like to watch?”

You nod, the shame of being caught slowly seeping from your veins.

“Yeah?” He slips into your panties from the side and teases two fingers inside you, curling upward until your thighs are shaking. “You wanna watch me cum?”

A whine of desire trembles out of you, telling him all he needs to know.

His fucks his fingers into you just a hint faster. Building you up nice and easy, creating a heavenly push and pull that you never want to end. “Some other time, sweetheart. I’m far too in love with this soft little cunt of yours right now. Pink as cotton candy and just as sweet.”

Your hands are fisted into the shoulders of his worn out t shirt, steadying yourself as your hips rock to meet him.

“Jake called.” The words leave you as barely a whisper.

“Did he?” There is a conversational edge to his cadence. As though you might be discussing the weather while you clench and drip into the palm of his hand. “Missing you already?”

“I don’t know, he— oh, fuck…right there.”

“Right there?” You catch a glimpse of the cocky smirk playing over his lips in the dark. “I'll touch you right there, sweet girl. I’ll take care of you. Just relax and let me.”

Your back arches away from the door to bring your body nearer to his. You want him pressed against you, skin to skin. You want to melt into him and live there forever, surrounded by his warm light.

“You look so fucking pretty in this light.” The moon is filtering in through the window, cool and blue. You think of winter, and he mirrors your thoughts. “Like a snow angel.”

Your hand delves beneath his waistband of his tattered sweats. A chill races up his spine when you wrap your soft hand around him. “That’s it, sweetheart. Take what you want…good girl.”

You coil and quiver around his fingers, giving yourself away.

“You like that?” He nips his perfect teeth into your bottom lip. “You want to be my good girl? A perfect princess to make my cock hard and my heart ache?’

Tightening your grip, you stroke him faster, earning a groan, long and low, deep within his chest as he fucks you closer and closer to the edge with just his hand.

“Josh, please,” the air feels charged, the way it does just before a vicious summer storm unleashes. “I’m so close. Don’t stop.”

“Not gonna stop,” he rocks into your hand a little faster to catch up with you. ‘Not until I have what’s mine. Let go for me. Show me how beautiful you look when you cum.”

With another practiced twist of his hand, he drags you under, free hand covering your mouth to quiet your cries, though he wishes he could let you scream until you were hoarse and spent.

He chases after you, burying his face in the crook of your neck to muffle his own cries as he spills over your hand, tiny rivers of warmth that tickle your skin until your eyes flutter closed to savor the feeling.

It’s peaceful for a stretch, but when the words come, you don’t swallow them down like maybe you should. You speak them into existence like maybe you shouldn’t.

“He says you’re in love with me.”

His lips ghost over your cheek, light as the softest feather. “I am.”

Taglist: @gretasintrees @greta-van-chaos @celestialfauna @s0livagant @groggyvanfleet @kiszkathecook @brokenbellz @llightmyllovee @paleshadow-ofadragon @doodle417 @seventieswhore @jake-kiszkas-smirk @weightofdreams-gvf @alisonwonderland29 @gretavanfleas @gretavangroove @sparrowofthedawn @xserenax-13 @tbagggvf @obetrolncocktails @tripthelightjaketastic @jakeslovehandles @poofyloofy @70sgroupielovr @heatmyfleet @age-of-nyahh @sammiboo162 @spicedandicedtea @jakekiszkasleftnutsack @saoirsemaeve @mywickeddivinity @paintmyhouse @tripthelightfandomtastic @tripthelight-fanfic @mckenna4 @sarakay-gvf @theweightofjake @joshsmama @sammysvanfeet @rhythm-of-space @highladyofasgard @jordierama @calumspretty

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giggly-squiggily · 9 months

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Voice Check (Black Clover)

Heyo heyo how are y'all today? This is a gift for the lovely @intheticklecloset! I've had a serious craving for some good ol' Yuno Asta antics and this is the result! :D

This takes place during episode 131, so possible spoilers below the cut! (Nothing major- the episode was a filler but also freaking hilarious- y'all check it out kjarjajrjke)

Cloud 9 (Taglist Peeps):

@duckymcdoorknob @rachi-roo @imjusthere07

Summary: Yuno and Asta take a break during the day. One thing leads to another and soon Yuno is discovering a hilarious quirk about his short best friend.

“Nehehe- stohohp! Asta!” Yuno ducked down with a scrunch, giggling when his friend pressed tickly fingers into his neck. “Cut that out!”

“Heh, you haven’t changed at all!” Asta laughed, ruffling the taller boy’s hair before flopping down in the grass beside them. It was after their assistant teaching gigs; the kids were with Sister Lily at the moment, giving the boys a small break. “Father Orsi used to do that to you all the time when we were kids. You’d be close to tears only to start giggling like crazy!”

“I don’t recall that.” Yuno averted his gaze, his ears tinted red.

“You absolutely did!” Asta grinned, stretching out his arms before tucking them behind his head. “You loved it too.”

“I did not.”

“Did too!”

“Did not.”

“Did too!”

“Do you want me to end you?” Yuno tried to glare, wavering when Asta grinned at him. “Ugh, you’re as annoying as you are short.”

“Heh, yeah- NOW WAIT A MINUTE!” Asta sat up with a huff, earning a small grin from the other. “You jerk- take that back!”

“Or what?” Yuno raised a brow, feeling pretty smug. “What are you going to do?”

There was a stalemate- the two staring each other down with twitching fingers and shifty gazes. A leaf blew by and landed oh so gently…

“Gotcha-whoa!” Asta had leaped forward just as a gust of wind smacked him in the gut, sending him flying backwards. His back hit the ground with barely any pain- Yuno must have used his wind to protect him. What a great guy!

Then said mage was on him, squeezing the ever living daylights out his sides and sending ticklish waves up and across his nervous system. Not a great guy, not a great GUY-

“Yuhuhuhuhuhuhuhno! Ahehahahahhahaha, yohohohohou jeheheheheheerk!” Asta cried, kicking his feet against the grass as his friend began tickling. “Thahahhat whahhahas mihihihihihi mohohohoohohove!”

“Was it now? Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all! If anything- he sounded unjustly smug, wearing that damn sly grin as he carried on dancing his fingers across Asta’s ribs. “Should have moved faster, Shortsa.” “Ahehahhahahha! Yuuhuhuhno! Yuuhuhuhno I’m gohohohohonna-NYEHEHAHHA! A cackle ripped out of the shorter mage’s throat when Yuno pressed his thumbs into each side of his belly. “Oohoohooh yoohohoohohu’re boohoohohohold!”

“Bad spot?” A thought crossed his mind then. What would happen if he…

“Aww, what’s wrong? Does it tickle too much, whittle Asta?” He cooed, using the same voice he used when he played house with the kids. He didn’t know why- he had the sudden urge to try it and see what would happen. “Does somebody have a ticklish tummy?”

“AHEHAHAHA!” Asta’s eyes widened and his face flushed a bright shade of pink- a color he never thought he’d see on the other boy. His laughter boomed as the hands going to catch Yuno’s hands quickly retreated, crossing over his face as he looked away with a whine. “Doohoohohon’t aheahhahahaha! Yuuhuhuhnoohohooohoho!”

Yuno blinked, stunned. Did Asta…?

Then it all became clear.

“No way…!” Yuno was grinning now, utterly delighted at the reaction.

“Noohohoohohoho! Nohohoohoho, tahhahaht was a fluhuhuhuke! A flu-UHUUHUHUKE!” Asta all but squealed when Yuno pressed into his lower ribs, leaning in reeeeal close as he did so. When he was barely above Asta’s ear, he released his ultimate spell.

“What’s the matter? Can whittle Asta not handle some tickles on his whittle ribs? Hmm? You can cut down magic with your anti-magic, but you can’t block out how ticklish you are, can you? I should start calling you pinksta for now on with how much you’re blushing~”

Asta couldn’t even make words- only noises through hysterical laughter as he shoved and slapped at Yuno’s shoulders, feet kicking up a storm. “EHAHAHHHAHHAHAHHA!”

“What’s wrong? Got nothing to say now?” Yuno teased, feeling on top of the world. So many times Asta had him in this exact position, flustered and giggly and unable to do more than curl up and take it. To be able to put Asta in a similar state- and with the voice he used to play house with- it was amazing!

Alas, all great things must come to an end. Seeing Asta starting to cough, he immediately retracted his hands, falling back until he was sitting beside him in the cool grass. “Heh, okay. We’re done.”

The smaller mage raised a thumbs up, far too tired to properly respond. Residue giggles and gasps escaped his lips, and tears of mirth gathered in his eyes, threatening to spill. His face- once tomato red- was slowly fading to a more reasonable peach. For a moment, Yuno felt a little bad. Did he go too far?

“Ahehahaha! Hehehhee…lohohohok at you- wehenent from beheeing tihihickled to doohohing the tihihickling!” Asta grinned, sitting up some. “Yohohou’re stiihihll more tihihckclish though!”

Nevermind.

“Shush.” Laughing himself, Yuno fell back into the grass beside him, watching the clouds roll by with his best friend. “Sister Lily’s gonna come get us soon.”

“Yeah.” Asta nodded, but made no moves to get up.

“She’ll probably lecture us for running off like she did when we were kids.”

“Then she’ll tell us if we aren’t home when she gets there we get no potatoes.”

“Heh. She never did mean it. There were always extra.”

Asta laughed, happy. For once in a long time, he felt like he did before the Magic Knights. Yuno wasn’t his rival, or someone competing with him for the title of Wizard king, but just him. Just- Yuno. “I miss this.”

“Hm.” Yuno nodded, no words needed. Instead, he bumped his knuckles into Asta’s, a looser version of their go-to sign off. They spent the rest of their break staring up at the clouds until Sister Lily came around and gave her usual warning, sending them flying down the hill like kids once more.

Asta wouldn't trade it for the world.

Thanks for reading!

#Black Clover #tickle #tickle fic #yuno #asta #platonic #black clover anime spoilers #fluff #I love them your honor kljarjkeajraejrjker #They make my heart happy

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chantsdemarins · 6 months

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😅Real Villain Training [Tom Hiddleston circa 2012 X Fem.Reader]

Chapter three of Breath of the Æsir is almost here. I’m SO sorry for the wait! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a very brief Tom story...

Honestly, I pledged to myself, no more Tom stories just focus on Loki. But I think I just can't help it. Especially when slutty inspiration like this photo comes my way (@lokischambermaid and @lokisgoodgirl 😳)

I am humbled by this era of Tom. In 2024 he is a husband/father/seasoned iconic actor in perpetual good cheer, but in 2012, he was a bad boy. As always please reblog and comment if you feel inspired!

Summary: Tom is hanging out with some real jerks for a new role, and he runs into you, literally. Your depression has caused your life to turn a little black and white, could this handsome stranger possibly add some color back? (at least to your cheeks🥵).

Smut factor: I hope...HOT 🔥

(Authors note: I have no concrete proof he was in fact a bad boy so please don't take seriously my young Tom plot themes of drugs and sex, which once again appear here. I could be totally wrong about him. It's art! It's a fabrication! Also, this story does involve mental health!)

I also don't know who would want to be on a tag list for a Tom fic these days! These are a few people who might be interested?? @lokischambermaid @mochie85 @mischief2sarawr @lokisgoodgirl @wheredafandomat @sailorholly @mrs-illyrian-baby @superficialdomina @gigglingtiggerv2 @fictive-sl0th @muddyorbs @tbhiddlestan83 @huntress-artemiss @smolvenger @kikster606 @mjsthrillernp @hiroyukinasukawa

Los Angeles, 2012

That afternoon, the rooftop pool at the Saint Avalon was a pink swirl of bathing beauties in early spring. Tom tried to focus on his deadpan conversation with his agent, but polka dots and silly cocktails danced around him. He pushed his Ray-Bans back into place, his sweat—or perhaps nervousness—causing them to slowly slide off his nose.

"Serious British actor succumbs to being typecast as a Norse sociopath. That's where this is headed, Tom, if we don’t do something, get you something else.” “Do you really want to be known only for Marvel?” he repeated his plea. The words just weren’t sinking in.

Tom laughed and inadvertently tried to change the subject. "Have you been to the La Brea Tar Pits yet, John? It’s wild—10,000 years' worth of dire wolf bones.”

His stare remained galvanized by the poolside girls. They just didn't look like that in London. Number one, the sunshine. Number two, the tans. Number three, well, his girlfriend—or ex-girlfriend, rather—made it hard to look too long at anyone else. So had he ever found himself at a rooftop pool party, he wouldn't have had the chance he was having now.

“Tom, are you paying attention? This is important. You're only here for a week, and we need to move on this role. I need to know if you're a yes.” The truth was, Tom was suddenly filthy rich with his own money for the first time in his life. He really loved being a Norse sociopath and already had big ideas for Loki’s eventual character arc into becoming an anti-hero someday. He had filled three journals on his bedside stand with his ideas for Loki.

His agent tried again, “Just hang out with Giorgio. It’s less than a month. Then the movie should be a very easy shoot. You get to embed yourself with some real hedge fund cats.” Tom’s attention snapped back. “Wait, I like that.” “Right? It’s like if Loki worked on Wall Street.” “Well…” Tom hesitated. He didn’t think Loki would actually ever bore himself that way. Those guys were boring to Tom and to Loki.

His poor agent was right, though. He did need another role. Things had gone so well; filming for the next Avengers movie was starting this summer. If he could find another gig, a time filler, a totally different genre, it really would be the best for his career. “Then a play next,” the agent mused, taking a sip of his own cocktail. “Shakespeare, or something 70s.” “70s? As in the 1570s? Or the 1970s?” “Tom.” “How should I know?” Tom laughed to himself, eyes still canvassing the poolside display around him. His agent leaned across his lawn chair and placed his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “So, you’ll do it?”

Two Weeks Later

Deep down, he knew he didn’t have the dissociation required for the job. He was too corporeal, too embodied. Years of being a long-distance runner and a trained athlete had fastened his mind, heart, and soul firmly into his muscles. He clearly wouldn’t be able to hide his feelings in his highly emotive, sensitive body. That was the first thing he noticed about the guys he was forced to hang out with for this role. They were covered up with their suits and sexist jokes. It was like they had Hadrian’s Wall around them. Which was, in fact, what exactly led to his sudden departure from the bar at Rue 23.

He had been embedded with short and loud Glen, buzz-cut Ellis, and the tall and lanky, just like him, Brad Nelson. There were a few others, but they were too milquetoast to be memorable. Role be damned. He left so fast the thick glass door almost hit a nice young couple as he bolted into the cold Los Angeles spring night.

He wasn’t dressed right; in his haste to leave London, he didn’t remember that California got into the 40s after the sun went down. He didn’t even pack a suit coat. Thank God he remembered to grab his leather pack from under the bar. It contained exactly five cigarettes, a finicky Zippo, his aftershave, a white t-shirt, and a travel toothbrush. There might also be a rolled-up Popular Mechanics magazine from the Burbank airport, something he never would be caught dead reading at Heathrow.

He also hadn’t done so much coke since he was in college. Why was LA always so incredibly cliché? He couldn’t blame Luke. He couldn’t blame anyone but himself for this role. He said yes when he was distracted. He was in over his head. They had hired these real blokes to make sure Tom looked authentic when they started filming next month, and given his intense drive for perfection, he had agreed that it was “brilliant” of the casting director to force the eight of them to spend these weeks in Los Angeles and one week in Manhattan, in a true immersive centrifuge of shallow materiality.

The night spun around him, a neon ball of yarn, teasing open his pupils until his eyes were black and not at all blue. As he walked, he ran his large hands down the surface of his body, the material of his shirt feeling like a fancy pillowcase from a boutique hotel.

One finger lingered over his jawline, tracing it as he brought his hands back up to his face. Engrossed in the comfort of his form a moment too long, he was distracted once again. This part of LA seemed to always be full of clusters of locals and tourists, laughing and talking. He was unfortunately moving against the flow of the crowd, a wayward salmon when he almost ran straight into you.

“Watch where you're going!” you yelled, dropping your purse onto the dirty LA sidewalk. It opened enough for your things to tumble out. Tom immediately stopped and bent down to help you, but you batted his hands away. “What the hell? I can pick up my own damn Chapstick,” you scolded. “Ma’am, I am so sorry, I am obviously not from here, and I am a little overwhelmed,” he rattled off. “Why is that obvious?” “My accent, of course.” “I didn’t honestly notice,” you spoke as you inspected the tall man’s face with squinting eyes.

You, of course, did immediately notice the timbre of his voice, his height, and the buttons on his tight shirt which looked like they were in the process of unbuttoning themselves. “Would you believe I’ve been doing coke all night with a bunch of Wall Street assholes at the Rue 23, and I had to get the fuck out of there,” he continued, not sure if you were listening, but you were definitely looking at him, so he continued.

“So now I am wandering the streets of Beverly Hills, and I haven’t the foggiest how the rest of my night will go.” You shuffled your feet for a moment before speaking. You had been heading home after a long day at work. You felt genuinely unprepared for navigating a handsome foreigner in the right direction. Yet there was a certain appeal to a man suddenly without his ship or his crew, so to speak. So you didn’t immediately walk away.

He had been shuffled from the airport to the bar in a hired car, he tried to explain, and his sense of direction bordered on problematic. Further, his flip phone was really only good for texting, and that even took way too long most days. He really did seem high, overwhelmed, and a little lost. He also seemed the type unable to handle any silence in a conversation.

“Do you live far?” he said after suffering through 30 seconds of no discourse. “It’s LA, everything is far.” “Fair enough,” Tom muttered sheepishly, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt, which were still somehow unbuttoning themselves. He thought he had bought the right size shirt. Maybe not.

You realized that if you were to ask this too-high, too-hot British man back to your apartment, you would inevitably cave and end up sleeping with him just because he caught you in this particular moment of your life. It was an in-between time. You weren't quite your old self and your new self that you'd been working so hard on, hadn't emerged yet.

“Want to grab something to eat?” You finally offered a neutral segue. That seemed to be just what the man needed to hear. His demeanor calmed. “Oh sure, yes, I could go for a big American cheeseburger, honestly.” “Okay then, let’s go to Patty’s on Vine, we can walk,” you said as you pulled at his shirt to turn him toward the right direction. He bristled at the feeling of your touch.

His whole body was even more sensitive than usual. You looked like the queen of the ancient British Iceni to him. In truth, he didn’t much care for the California look. He loved that you appeared out of nowhere and you looked like Boudica, not like Gwyneth Paltrow. Even though he was sure he heard she was nice. RDJ seemed to really love her.

The diner where you were headed was the second-tier after-hours hang, so it wasn’t populated with the usual crowd, not yet at least. You had some time before you would be inundated, and perhaps before someone would recognize him, which you still did not. You could ask him, of course. Although, sometimes in Los Angeles, the worst part is knowing who someone is.

Although Tom being Tom was unable to resist personal questions. “Tell me a little bit about yourself, just a little,” he had to ask as the night air propelled him quickly down the sidewalk. You considered telling him about your job, but it was just how you paid the bills. Your passions were your passions and not for a stranger. So you decided to be a little goth. It couldn't hurt.

“I have something like anhedonia, I suppose,” you finally said. Tom seemed to know what you meant right away. “The inability to feel?” He spoke. “More classically refined, which results in numbness, making capturing interior somatic sensations nearly impossible,” you clarified. “Sounds like you are depressed,” Tom flattened out your creative retelling of your current state. “Maybe,” although you weren't sure of his simple label. "You think it will pass?" Tom continued, ever the optimist.

You considered one way to try and test if this state you'd been in could possibly change, would be to see if he could provoke feelings of passion or at least some kind of low-grade horniness. You’d been feeling functionally blank for a while now.

He was stunning, after all.

He seemed game for anything, his amphetamine grin taking up the majority of his handsome face. He looked so lovely under the hanging light in your dingy booth. You ate the two-egg special you ordered and watched him devour his American cheeseburger with genuine joy.

“So, you're here to practice for a new part?” You sincerely tried to keep the conversation flowing despite the growing desire to test your theory. “Yes, they want me to branch out. In my career, there’s the fear I am already 'type-casted,' I guess you could say.” “Type-casted? So early on?”

He looked young to you. Possibly younger than you actually. “Yes, I had a big role as a villain, it really blew up, but, he's like a mythological comic book one. I am misunderstood mostly. I mean my character, not me.” "Sure." You nodded in understanding and agreed even if you didn’t quite pick up what he was putting down. You wondered if he had ever seen 'The Last Starfighter.' A favorite movie of yours, you rarely shared with anyone else. Or had he been in that? Your mind wandered. You really didn't recognize him, but you also didn't want to offend him by this fact.

“So how would this role be redefining your abilities? If you are playing a heartless hedge fund dude, isn’t that also a kind of villain? Maybe that is why you got this part.” Tom pondered your insight. He again fell into overthinking and was only a text away from bailing on the entire endeavor. He was becoming that kind of guy, emotionally uneven under his elite veneer.

“I guess they feel like I don’t have the chops to be a 'real world' baddie.” “I needed more practice.” “You don’t?” you said very timidly, suddenly you weren’t hungry anymore. You gently pushed your plate aside so you could focus.

You realized his bromance compadres would find him eventually. Another LA truth: it was hard to get truly lost for long. You had been studying his face during the conversation. His pale complexion was slowly becoming flushed in small increments. Was it shyness or a hidden boldness he was bursting to demonstrate, you couldn't tell.

You had worn your espadrilles today, maybe it wasn’t the right season yet, but they always went so well with your outfit-a flowery dress from H&M. Gently and playfully, you kicked one of them off your foot, making a soft thud. Tom dipped his eyes beneath the table for only a moment and brought them back to you, a new flash of crimson emerging. Why were you taking off your shoes? Maybe your feet hurt from the walk?

He picked up his water and chugged almost all of it.

Your right leg lifted up and found purchase exactly between his, landing on the soft seat. Tom chuckled nervously and grabbed your foot. “Just what are you doing?” “I thought you were in training to be a real villain. Or did I misunderstand that?” You teased. Tom’s sincerity and earnestness were effulgent. “Oh no, I am, I really want the part, I need this role.” Suddenly when the idea of something illicit going on beneath the table loomed, he was not reticent about this new role. “Then you better continue to practice.” You laughed, your own smile forming across your face. “How long do we have until they find you?” You inched your foot closer to his crotch.

Tom took a deep breath in and pulled out his flip phone eyes squinting, trying to see the rectangle text banner across the tiny screen. He held the phone up to you. “Can you read this at all?” You grabbed it from him, feeling his hand shaking a little. It was charming. He was nervous.

You read the tiny screen aloud, “Not really, something about where are you at…you wanker, we are about to call your agent." It did say exactly that, and you wondered if possibly Tom was throwing away this role. Were you watching him collapse his career before your eyes? “Are you one for self-sabotage Tom?” The question seemed to catch him off guard. Maybe no one had asked him so bluntly. “Maybe,” he said after a long minute of typing something on the seemingly minute phone with his long fingers and even larger hands. “Just like I am possibly depressed," you offered. He looked up and sat his phone down. “Yes, I think so. Just like that.”

Incoming

Just then the waitress came by filled your water glasses and gave you another quick refill of coffee. Your chosen sobriety was a strange foil to Tom’s imbibed stimulant cocktail which showed no sign of waning. “So, are we on?” He finally said after biting his bottom lip, for what seemed like a year, until it was slightly puffy.

“For what? A staring contest?” You offered, laughing nervously too, your foot still stationed between his thighs. You wondered what you could accomplish at this hour with the looming threat of an incursion at any moment.

The glimmer in his dilated orbs registered that Tom was now aligned in a mission of testing the perpetuity of your anhedonic state. Suddenly under the table, you felt his long legs spread yours apart, like opening a long-closed window that had been painted over.

You gasped but didn’t say anything. He laughed and widened his legs further. You moved your eyes to watch him under the table, his hand reaching down to adjust his cock, which was obviously becoming hard.

At that moment you wanted to jump over to his side of the booth, you wanted to concede and take him to your far away apartment in embarrassing Marina Del Rey.

Tom went silent and finally let go of your bare foot, he had been holding it so hard with his other hand, that you were sure it would be bruised. You immediately placed it on his now impossibly hard cock, tenting his pants obscenely. Honestly, you’d never given a “foot job” before and only seen something like this in a French film once. You had no idea what you were doing.

You slowly began to move your foot up and down his length, which was quite impressive and required more force than you had anticipated. You curled your toes around him to try and create more friction, dragging your heel just at the base.

You placed your hands on the edge of the diner seat so you could put some real weight into getting him off. That seemed to work, and Tom let out a guttural moan. He quickly grabbed your water glass and drank it in addition to his own.

“Should I stop?” You let yourself wonder out loud. “Are you crazy? No.” Was Tom’s quick reply. “Does this feel good?” “Fuck yes.” His voice was breathy, and he shifted in his seat, daring to look around at the customers, but none showed any sign of noticing anything other than themselves. “But this isn’t fair,” he spoke again softly, panting. “How so?” “Because I am um, I am receiving.” “Aren’t you supposed to be a selfish cold surface-level junior business asshole?” “Yes.” “Then this is what they do, they get foot jobs in diners, amongst other perks of course,” you laughed. “Shit, you’re right,” Tom barely squeaked out.

Just then the diner door opened, and you could see the dim faces of the guys he had been partying with. They finally found him. “Don’t look now but your Republican friends have arrived.” Tom’s flush became pale. “Should I stop?” You checked in again. “No.” His response was as clear as mid-day.

So, you increased your speed, you took a deep breath. You were so turned on at this point. You were positive there would be a wet spot on the cracked vinyl seat. You lifted your skirt up further. Tom noticed and peered beneath the table again. He saw your hand brush past your underwear and a finger curl inside the lace trim. You matched his erratic breathing to your motions as you fucked yourself intently. His eyes were glued to you, his fists almost punching into the flimsy placemats. You laughed to yourself about the chances of you both coming in public, surely, he wouldn’t, or you couldn’t.

You were about to mention that perhaps you should stop. When suddenly Tom let out a muffled cry. His breath hitched. You could feel moisture beneath the bottom of your toes as you brought your foot back to the tip of his generous cock once more. “Ah, I see,” you laughed. "Well looks like we are done here." There was no more time to discuss what just happened. The bros had spotted him and you and made their way to your back corner.

Tom closed his eyes in what looked like a silent prayer. He had just had one of the best orgasms of his life. The short blond one with cropped hair spoke up, “Hiddleston, where the fuck have you been, your agency was about to call the cops, which would have been lame.”

“Hiddleston,” you said his surname out loud. Realizing you never got his last name. Tom looked at you with both lust and remorse. Then turned back to the assholes. “You found me, good work,” he said assuredly. “Well we gotta go dick we have a strip club that closes at 3am and it’s in the contract that we take you there.”

Tom slowly got up and used one of his long fingers to expertly untuck that white button-down shirt to conceal the mess you had both made. He looked your way, the pale blue of his eyes returning.

You exchanged numbers for the pleasantry of it, as the assholes looked on impatiently, probably wondering why Tom was wasting his time on a girl who looked like Boudica, but that's just what assholes do you remembered. Although you really didn’t expect to hear from him again. To your surprise right before dawn, perhaps as he was leaving said strip club, a text came over your Blackberry.

“I hope you felt something, I know I did.” Shit.

You did feel something, a lot of things actually. Tom had brought something back to the solemnly plain bagel of your life. You quickly wrote back.

"Don't let the bros see you texting me Tom, you laughed knowing he was probably squinting and barely able to see your words. You picture all of them looking over his shoulder.

"They went home. Can I come over? I feel like we aren't done quite yet. My asshole-in-training self expires at sunrise and I turn back into the real me. Is that okay?" You blinked a few times just to make sure you saw that correctly. "So you're actually Cinderella," you laughed nervously.

You managed to type your address and push send before pulling your covers over your head and screaming quietly enough to not wake up your still-slumbering roommates. You then looked around your room in quiet delightful horror, you had about 30 minutes to hide all your dirty clothes from the past three months under your bed...

#Tom Hiddleston #Tom Hiddleston x Reader #Tom Hiddleston fan fic #foot lover #meet cute

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ageofbajabule · 10 months

Text

Dawn of Love | Chapter 4

Josh Kiszka x Female Reader

Word Count: 5.9k

Warnings: Fluff, Anxiety, Sad Jake (just a little scene), Protected Sex, Depression, Talk of Cancer, Arguing, Fear of Abandonment, Mention of Death. (Please let me aware if I miss any!)

If you haven’t read Chapter 3 be sure to do so! And here is the Masterpost for the series.

Author’s Note: Hey!! I know it’s been a long time coming for this update, and I’m sorry it’s not a huge update. Time jumps are happening, especially within the next chapter as well. This chapter is really a filler, but it also adds more to the story that will make sense as it progresses so I do hope you enjoy it. I make sure that my work is up to par, and always give it my all. We’re almost halfway through the series!☺️

October 2014

All the trees have turned over, leaves starting to finally fall off the trees. Michigan was beautiful this time around, and Josh knew it was your favorite season. Perfect time for sweaters and hoodies, bonfires, apple picking and pumpkin patches.

University was offering a fall break a week before Halloween weekend. Josh had opted in making sure you guys had your halloween costumes planned out for Halloweekend here on campus. The costumes he had picked out were great for the two of you.

Josh had mentioned to his parents that the two of you would be staying over at their place for your fall break. Within the past month, your relationship with your dad hasn't been the greatest. He was still concerned about you attending school for a film and photography major. He still thought you should major in something that would “Logically” benefit you.

You felt bad about not staying at home to at least spend time with your mom and sister. But made sure to tell them you would spend time with them before you returned back to campus.

Josh and yourself had been extremely busy working on a film project that was due before your winter break. It was worth 60 percent of your grade. And he was taking every single measure and precaution for this film project. He was making sure the script was perfect, while he had you focus on costumes, make-up. And the two of you together focused on settings, themes, locations and how you were going to film it.

Jake was kind enough to help his twin out with another film. Even Ronnie had decided to join in on the project, a little family affair if you will. Josh said he trusted them to kill their roles they had been assigned. You even had your sister be a part of it as well.

It was finally Friday, Josh and you had your last class of the day. This weekend began your fall break, and the guys had a gig tomorrow night at Fischer Hall. They were excited to be performing there, they actually had been asked to come back a few times as the locals loved their performance. You were absolutely thrilled for them.

On the drive back home, you and Josh had made sure to stop by your house first as your dad was out for the day and your mom and sister were home. You hated having to avoid him, but just did what was best for yourself.

Upon arriving you and Josh made your way into the house, smelling your mom’s baking and hearing your sister’s music playing in the house. “Mom? Olivia?” You called out, walking into the kitchen you find your mom and sister baking cookies.

“Oh hi sweetie! I didn’t even hear you come in.” Your mother giggled softly dusting the flour off of her hands, pulling you in for a hug.

“I was wondering why it smelled so good in here.” You giggled hugging her back. Josh went to hug your sister while your mother kept hugging you.

“Your father is out for the whole day. Went on a fishing trip with the guys.” Your mom pulled away, and immediately went to hug Josh.

You walked over to your sister pulling her in for a hug. “Are they driving you insane these days?” You giggled.

“Always…” She laughed, hugging you tightly.

“Are you guys hungry? I was going to order takeout.” Your mom smiled as she resumed mixing the batter.

Josh and you both nodded in agreement. “Whatever you had in mind will be fine.” He smiled softly.

“I was thinking chinese.” Your mom hummed softly, as she continued to finish making up batches of cookies.

The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, catching up on what’s been going on for you with college. And your sister’s sophomore year, and how close her, Sam and Danny have gotten since you’ve gone off to college. It was nice to catch up with them as you hardly got to call them lately. You’ve been so busy with everything and felt ashamed for not reaching out more.

“Well sweetie, I’ve made up a jar of cookies for you to take back with you to campus. But you can grab them before you go back.” She smiled, putting the jar away to not be touched.

“Thank you mom, for everything. I really don’t know what I’d do without you…” You smiled, pulling her in for a hug.

“Oh, I’ll always be here for you. You know that…” She rubbed your back, hugging you tighter.

“Now, don’t be a stranger you two!” She pulled away smiling at the both of you.

You said your goodbyes to your sister, then headed over to Josh’s place.

Josh opted for parking in the street, as he wanted to let his parents have access to the driveway. He helped grab your bag from the backseat as you entered the house, you could hear his dad playing his harmonica and laughing from inside the family room.

The two of you went downstairs to the basement, preparing the pullout bed. While setting your things down there. Eventually Karen came downstairs to greet the two of you.

“Oh you guys made it in!” She smiled softly pulling you both in for a tight hug.

“Hi mom.” Josh chuckled softly, rubbing her back.

“How have classes been?” She pulled away, putting her hands on her hips.

You and Josh look at each other not sure who to let speak first, but then Josh cuts in.

“Classes have been great! Y/N and I have quite a few together, but some others we don’t.” He rubbed your arm softly.

“Yeah, Josh has been a great help though as well. I thought for sure I was gonna be lost on campus.” You giggled softly.

“It’s nice that the two of you have each other… I’m sure you’ve made plenty of friends though.” She smiled brightly. You smile softly, seeing how similar Josh and Karen’s smiles were.

“That we have. It’s a very different atmosphere, but it’s nice.” Josh smiled.

“Well I know you guys ate already, I talked to your mom Y/N. I’m sure the two of you are tired and want some rest. So I'll leave you to it.” She smiled, kissing Josh and your cheek softly.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Mom.”

“Goodnight Mrs.Kiszka.”

The next day Josh and you were woken up by Jake and Sam bickering.

“No Sam! You can’t just make a last minute change of the setlist. We need to all be in agreement with it.” Jake yelled.

“It’s just because you don’t want to perform this one fucking song!” Sam yelled back at him.

“Samuel Francis!” You heard Karen yell out.

“I’m sorry mom… But seriously Jake. Get over yourself, just say you want total control of it.”

You walked up the steps to see Sam storming past you running upstairs to his room slamming his door shut.

“Good Morning sweetie!” Karen beamed, pulling you into a hug.

You hugged her back, swaying with her. “Good morning!”

She pulled away slowly, and resumed back to making breakfast. Waffles had been made, she was cooking bacon and finishing up the eggs.

“I hope you’re all hungry. Especially for today’s events.” She smiled softly as she finished cooking and getting plates out.

“Let me help you set the table.” You rushed to help her setting the table.

“Thank you.” She smiled, kissing the top of your head.

Eventually Josh made his way from downstairs, heading into the kitchen getting himself orange juice. He helped the two of you with the table.

“Good morning, sunny.” He kissed your cheek softly.

“Good morning.” You hummed softly.

“Samuel, come on down and eat.” Kelly yelled, coming into the dining room.

Everyone eventually piled in, sitting in their normal seats. You could feel the tension between Jake and Sam, as Kelly tried to make a conversation happen with Ronnie. Which worked, Ronnie talked about how she was planning on studying abroad after graduation.

As everyone listened to Ronnie talk about her future plans, you sat back thinking of all the choices you were making lately for yourself. Worrying if you had made the right ones and that you weren’t going to regret then later. But the love you had for photography and film was strong, and you couldn’t see yourself doing anything else but that.

Your thoughts were shortly interrupted by Josh, “What do you think, Sunny?

“I’m sorry, what was the question?” You shook your thoughts away giggling softly.

“My parents were wondering if you wanted to join us this year on our annual ski trip?”

Karen and Kelly were looking at you smiling softly.

“If it’s not a problem, I’d love to join!” You smiled brightly.

“Of course it’s not a problem! You’re a part of the family now.” Kelly chuckled softly.

Arriving at Fischer Hall brought back memories from the first night the guys performed there. They were so nervous, but now they frequently play a show here. And since then they’ve earned quite the audience. You were helping bring gear into the Hall, helping the guys set up.

Since being around them more, you’ve learned where everything goes, how to help tune Jake’s guitar. You’ve probably remembered some notes by now even. But you wouldn’t ever pick up an instrument.

Jake was agitated tonight, it was plain to see in his face. You normally let him come to you if something was bothering him, but tonight was the night you would ask him yourself. He was hanging around the back, pacing back and forth.

“Hey Jake… What’s going on?” You said softly as you treaded lightly.

“Val. She uh. She wanted to-“ He let out a big breath. “She broke things off.” He said flatly, his eyes glossed over.

“Oh Jake… I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” You pulled him into a hug.

He hugged you back tightly, “It only happened just this morning… Hence why I was being an ass to Sam.” He sniffled while chuckling.

You giggled, pulling away slowly, “He’ll understand one day.”

“Yeah, and besides… I should’ve known that she wasn’t going to stick around much longer. She’s in her senior year, and her dad thinks we’re going absolutely nowhere with the band… Maybe it's better off this way.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I for one think you guys are going places. The talent you all have! Come on.” You smiled softly.

“Thanks Y/N… You have no idea how much that means to us, especially Josh…”

You nodded, smiling softly. “Come on, it’s almost time for y’all to perform.”

Especially Josh… What had he meant by that?

December 2014

Winter break had finally come, Michigan weather wasn’t easy to adjust to. Even after living two winters here. Classes wouldn’t restart until a week after the new year, so you had an entire month of freedom from classes.

Josh and yourself were excited to finally be done with your first semester. Your final project for your film class that the two of you had worked on was a major success.

You had decided on staying at the Kiszka’s house again over your winter break. Things with your dad were still rocky, you were absolutely convinced he would never change his view on your passion.

Arriving at their house, the front lawn and front of the house was decorated in Christmas decor. You smiled softly as Kelly was helping Karen finish the last touches to the snowflake lights they were placing alongside the house.

“Oh hey kiddos! We’re just finishing up.” Karen smiled softly finishing the last touches as Kelly helped her down.

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Kiszka!” You smiled hauling your bag with you as Josh followed behind.

“Oh honey please, call me Karen. You’ve known us long enough now, and you’re family.” She giggled softly pulling you in for a hug.

Family. You hadn’t felt so welcomed in what felt like a long time. Sure everything with your sister and mom were good, but since things were still rocky with your dad it made it difficult to feel like a family with them.

“Now we are set to leave around 8am tomorrow. It’s about a 5 hour drive. But the boys always just sleep on the way there.” She giggled softly.

“I’ll be okay to sit in a car for 5 hours. I’ve sat in one for 16…” You groaned remembering back on the trip back to Florida one year.

“Besides, sunny you’ll have me to keep you company.” Josh kissed your cheek softly, he gathered your things, throwing what was going on the ski trip into his parents vehicle. While taking the rest into the house.

Karen ushered you to go inside, you smiled walking into their home seeing their Christmas tree was put up with just the lights.

“We were waiting for the two of you to get home before we decorated the tree.” Karen smiled, pulling the box of ornaments out.

“It's a family tradition to help out decorating the tree together.” Kelly rubbed Karen’s back.

You smiled in awe of them. As they opened the box, revealing all of the ornaments they’ve collected over the years. You smiled softly looking at the ornaments made for each of them for their first christmas. You traced your finger over the details of Josh’s first ornament.

“Oh Josh was the cutest baby…” Karen sighed softly, reminiscing. “All of you were cute!” She laughed, looking at them all.

“It’s okay mom, we know Josh is the favorite.” Ronnie chipped in.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Josh bickered back, as Ronnie giggled.

“Mama’s boy.”

“Okay Ronnie. Daddy’s girl.” He rolled his eyes at her. You playfully smacked his arm, “Be nice to your sister.”

He stuck his tongue out at you playfully. The two of you and everyone else started to put ornaments on the tree. After about a few minutes of setting the ornaments in their rightful place the last thing to be added was the star.

“Jake, would you do the honors?” Kelly asked, handing him the star. Jake nodded, taking it from his hands, stepping on the step stool placing the star on top of the tree and plugging it into the lights.

Once he stepped down carefully everyone stood back admiring the tree before Sam plugged it in. “Go ahead Sammy.” Karen smiled at him softly.

Sam then plugged the lights into the outlet, making the tree come to life. It was all colorful and beautiful. Everyone gasped in awe. “Good work everyone.” Karen smiled, clapping her hands.

The rest of the night was spent making dinner with Karen for the family. She ended up making the boy's favorite dish, as well baking some brownies to end the night.

“You know Y/N… You bring the best out in Joshua.” Karen smiled softly as she put away the clean dishes.

You smile softly looking out to the family room seeing Josh getting into a serious card game with his siblings. “I like to think he brings the best out in me…” You blushed, turning your attention back to his mom.

“Anytime he needs help with planning your dates, he always calls me. Freaking out if he’s doing the right things, saying the right things. And I always assure him that he’s doing just fine.” She giggles softly, finishing up with the dishes.

“So you’re the mastermind…” You giggled while taking a sip of your hot tea.

“Ah, not necessarily. I just tell him to speak and think with his heart. I play no part in planning.” She giggled while taking a sip from her mug.

“You are raising great boys Mrs. Kiszka…”

“Call me Karen… We’ve gone past this, you’re family now.” She walked over to you pulling you in for a hug.

You hugged her back tightly. “Thank you guys for letting me be a part of this… It means a lot to me. More than you will ever know.”

“Oh sweetie,” She pulled away slowly, grabbing your face with her hands. “You are always loved and accepted here. Don’t you ever doubt that for a second.”

You felt tears brimming at your eyes. She wiped them away quickly. “I know things have been hard with your father… Your mom and I speak all the time. And I just want you to know, don’t ever be afraid to reach out to us.”

You nodded slowly, gathering yourself. “Thank you…”

“Come on, let’s see what these hooligans are up to.” She patted your arm softly.

The drive to the ski resort wasn’t too bad. A little cramped and bumpy, but fun nonetheless. The cabin they have reserved was beautiful, it was almost similar to the lake house they had. Josh and yourself got your own room, everyone did actually this time. You all unpacked your bags, then got in your skiing gear.

Josh, Jake, and yourself opted for snowboarding on your trip here. Where everyone else was going skiing. You liked the thrill better of snowboarding than skiing. Especially the flexibility that came with snowboarding. You grabbed your board, following behind Jake as Josh walked beside you.

The three of you then hopped onto the lift, taking in the scenery as you went up the trail. “This is really beautiful here…”

Josh smiled, “You’re beautiful.”

“Oh, how original Josh.” Jake chuckled, as you lightly smacked him.

“It’s definitely beautiful out here. We’ve been coming here for what…. 6 years Josh?” He looked at his twin.

Josh then nodded, “Yeah. We used to go to another ski resort for years before we found this one. This one was closer and had a lot more to offer.”

Before you knew it, you reached the top to get off of the lift. You walked over to the hill incline where everyone started to go down the slopes to ride their snowboards.

“Don’t be nervous, it’s a little scary at first. But you’ll get the hang of it.” Josh smiled, rubbing your cheek softly.

“I’ll be fine.” You smiled softly, kissing him.

He kissed you back, then pulled away as he pulled his goggles down and put his mask to cover his face from the harsh wind. In which you did the same, you then placed your feet into your board clipping your feet into place.

Eventually Jake had already made his way down the trail, picking up speed as he went. Like the dare devil he was. You decided to take your time down the slope when you first pushed yourself to go. Josh stayed somewhat behind you to keep an eye out for you. You giggled softly as you started to pick up the speed, and went around people on the trail. Josh now had to keep up with you, you looked back to see he was practically on your tail now.

You could see him shaking his head as he chuckled. You finally reached the bottom of the slope, removing your goggles while looking over at Josh who just stopped.

“Not bad for your first time there, sunny…” He smiled softly.

“I guess I had a good teacher.” You shrugged, laughing softly. Making him shake his head as he broke into laughter.

Late July 2015

First year of college had been relatively the easiest year. But your next year wasn’t going to be, you had even more classes to take this semester than the last two. Assignments were bigger, and tests were worth more to your final grades as you read some of the requirements for said classes.

Josh and yourself had spent most of the summer at each other’s houses. Your father had tried to work better on your relationship, but it was still rocky. You were only ever really home for the sake of your mom and sister. The guys have been picking up more gigs and have recently been working with a record label in talks of potentially signing. You couldn’t be any happier for them.

The guys and yourself took a day trip to their family’s lake house. Josh wanted to get you out of the house and away from home to get your mind off things. He always made sure you were in touch with nature, said it helps cleanse the mind. Which you couldn’t argue with that.

You were looking forward to spend a day away. You hadn’t been giving yourself the much needed time away. Josh had planned a small picnic for the two of you, and made it clear to the guys he didn’t want them bothering the two of you. The two of you walked to the other side of the lake where another dock was at. He laid everything out for your small picnic, where in the distance Sam, Danny and Jake looked like little beings. You never took in how big the land was here.

“Sunny, can you pull out the strawberries?” He smiled softly at you as he placed everything else out. You nodded, reaching into the basket pulling out the strawberries. Noticing they were covered in chocolate.

“How did you know!” You smiled softly, looking over at him.

“A little birdie told me.” He smiled, kissing your cheek.

You blushed at the thoughtfulness. Chocolate covered strawberries were one of your favorite snacks. Especially in the summertime. You pulled one out offering it to Josh first, in which he obliged by taking a bite. He then grabbed one feeding it to you. Giggling softly you eat from his hand.

“Thank you for taking me out today…” You sighed softly.

He nodded, “I figured we could both use a day away from reality.” He grabbed your hand, rubbing it softly with his thumb.

You looked at all of the trees, listening to the birds chirps and the summer breeze rolling through making the trees bustle. Breathing in the fresh air, as Josh slipped behind you letting you rest against his chest. He began to play with your hair, running it through slowly. Humming contently as he massaged your scalp.

“I love you…” It came out rather quietly from your lips.

“I love you…” You could tell he was smiling by the tone of his voice.

His hand one hand traveled down your arm slowly, lightly tracing down to your wrist and dragging it back up. Giving you goosebumps as he did that. You giggled softly, running your hand along his free hand.

His hand then crept its way across your abdomen, slipping down your waistline slowly as he stills his hand. “Is this okay mama?”

Your breath got caught in your throat, “Y-yes…” You nodded softly, leaning into his touch. As he slipped his hand past your bikini bottoms, his fingers gently brush over your bundle of nerves causing a slight gasp to escape your lips.

“All this for me…” He whispered against the shell of your ear, nibbling at it softly.

“All for you….” You moaned quietly as his ring and middle finger slipped inside of you. He pumped them slowly as he planted kisses down your neck.

Biting your lip softly, you look out at the lake to see if anyone would notice such a lewd scene. But you were broken out of your trance.

“They are too far away from here to even notice… Just let go for me… I know you’re there, I can feel you tightening around my fingers.” He kissed your cheek softly.

You nodded slowly, letting your orgasm wash over you as he kept pumping his fingers. You moaned his name out, he let you come undone holding you close to him. You could feel his erection pressing into your backside.

Sitting up as you turn around to face him you see his honey glazed eyes. You giggled softly, slipping your hand into his swim trunks, taking him firmly in your hand pumping slowly.

“Baby…” His breath hitched,

“Shh… It’s my turn to take care of you.” You smiled softly, pulling his trunks down to reveal his hardened cock. You could see the tip was leaking with his arousal swiping it gently with your thumb rolling it over, causing a hiss from him.

Gently you take him into your mouth, settling yourself between his legs, you took every inch of him slowly without making yourself gag. You had been working on getting better with it, he always assured you that you didn’t have to go down on him. But the thing is, you liked to.

Hearing your name fall from his lips made you hum in response, you started to pick up the pace by using your one hand to stroke him as you bobbed your head up and down. Your saliva coating his cock as you take him into your mouth.

His head rolled back, as his eyes did too. His one hand took a grip to your hair, holding it back for you as you kept sucking him off.

“Baby… You keep going l-like that. I’m not gonna last much longer…” He was twitching slightly, you removed your mouth, sighing softly.

“I need to feel you.” He kissed your lips softly, grabbing a condom from the basket he had made up.

“Always prepared…” You giggled softly, removing your bottoms as he ripped open the package placing the rubber over his dick.

“As much as I’d love to have kids with you, one day. But today’s not the day.” He chuckled, laying you down gently on the towels he brought along. He lined himself up with you, teasing your entrance.

“I thought you were just saying you needed to feel me?” You got cocky with him, earning a shit grin from him.

“Don’t be a brat…” He growled at you. With that he slipped himself inside of you, earning groans from the both of you.

Slowly he began pumping in and out of you with languid strokes. You wrapped your arms around his back, pulling him closer to you as your legs wrapped around his waist. He bent down kissing your lips softly, eager to kiss him back, slipping your tongue into his mouth.

Panting for one another has he kept at his strong pace, he lifted your one leg to rest against his chest to get a better angle. To hit deeper, you let out a cry of pleasure. He smirked, kissing the inside of your leg as he kept thrusting harder.

“J-josh…” Your eyes rolled back as he kept hitting that spot he knew so well.

“I know baby…” He moaned out, his hair sticking to his forehead.

You felt the band inside of you ready to snap, with the next few thrusts your thighs started shaking as you let your second orgasm come over you. Josh’s hips stuttered as he came as well, breathing heavily he kissed your lips softly.

“You’re so perfect, my sunshine…”

Early October 2015

Josh and yourself got assigned to the same dorm building again. This time the two of you were on the same floor. Your classes this semester only two of them you shared, whereas all the other courses you were by yourself. But the upperhand of that was room for you to grow.

You started to get more involved in your photography, earning more clients with your work. And take it upon yourself to start a short film with a classmate. Josh encouraged you to take a leap at a new project with a new partner rather than working with him all the time.

Your parents had called you urgently this Friday and asked you to come home for the weekend, in which you couldn’t argue as you missed them. Josh opted to stay on campus this weekend being he had a project to work on.

Arriving home, it was dead silent in the house. You looked around, calling out for anyone.

“In here pumpkin…” Your dad called out, heading towards the dining room is where your family sat. Looking like an intervention.

“What’s going on?” Your nerves are catching up with you now, as you fidgeted with the chair pulling it out to sit beside your sister.

“Y/N, sweetie. Your father… well.” Your mother’s voice was breaking as she tried to speak.

“I have kidney cancer.” He said out flatly.

You felt your heart sink, like an anchor lowering to hold its ship. Tears started to form, “How long have you known…”

“It’s only been 3 months…” Your father choked out.

“Why didn’t you tell me then!” You felt angry with your father and that they waited this long to tell you.

“Because you were getting ready to go back onto campus… And we didn’t want to drop it onto you, until it got serious.” Your mother spoke softly.

“I have to stay here, I can take a couple weeks off. Help around…”

Your parents shook their heads, “No you can’t jeopardize your education.”

You sniffled back tears, “No. I want to take a break. I need to be here with you… We haven’t been on the best of terms, and I’m not going to potentially lose you without spending more time with you.”

“Honey, my days are filled with chemotherapy… I don’t think you want to see me go through all of that…”

“Dad. You have always been there for me, it's our turn. Let me be here for you. Just for a couple weeks? I’ll go back after Thanksgiving break. I can talk to my professors and I'm sure they will understand.” You walked over to him kneeling beside him.

“Pumpkin. It’s shouldn’t be too much of anything to worry about. The doctor’s are hopeful the treatments will work. They’ve seen great results.” He smiled cupping your cheek wiping away your fallen tears.

“I promise I will go back after Thanksgiving break. Just please… Let me be here with you. I will never forgive myself.”

“Alright, fine. But you are going back after Thanksgiving break. And be sure to have all your professors know.” He gave a half smile, hurt that his daughter was giving up her schooling to spend time with him.

It had been 2 weeks since hearing the news, immediately that night you had called Josh letting him know everything. And that you wouldn’t be returning to classes until after Thanksgiving break. He was understanding of your choice and supported it all.

Josh kept you up to date on all the things happening on campus. In which you were grateful for, but it made you feel like you were missing out on so much, although you wanted to be here for your dad through these hard times. Especially with helping your sister get through her junior year, Sam was helping her with her assignments over the last two weeks as well.

Josh’s POV

It has been almost 3 weeks since Y/N found out about her father having cancer. Hearing she was taking a break from school broke my heart, knowing how much it meant to her. But, she always knew what was best for her.

Lately I’ve been questioning what I want to do with my life… Film has always been such a passion for me, but this whole music thing with Jake is really starting to become something. And I’m terrified to even explain that to her, she would be heartbroken to find out I’ve decided to drop out.

I have to do this right…

I decided to pack up my things and make my way home, but not without stopping at Y/N’s first. Parking in her driveway, I get out of my car nervously walking up to the front door knocking softly. Her mother opens the door, surprised to see me.

“Oh my god, Josh… It’s so good to see you sweetie.” She pulled you in for a hug.

“It’s good to see you, is Y/N home?”

She pulled away slowly, nodding her head. “Josh… She’s. She needs you I think more than ever…” You could see the tears forming in her eyes.

Nodding softly, you make way to Y/N’s room. Knocking softly on her door you hear silent sobs. “It’s unlocked…”

You step in quietly finding her lying underneath the covers. “Sunny…”

Hearing her shuffle from under the bed, “Josh?” She sat up fixing her hair, she looked like she had been crying for a while.

“Yeah, it’s me.” You smiled softly as your heart broke looking at her in this state. You slipped your shoes off and slipped under the sheets with her.

She wrapped herself around you tightly, sobbing into your chest. You wrapped your arms around her tightly, running your hand through her hair.

“I’m so scared Josh… I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him.”

“Hey… Don’t think that way. Everything is going to be fine. He’s going to get through this, he’s a strong man.” You soothed her, kissing the top of her head.

You felt your nerves getting to yourself. It’s now or never Josh…

“Sunny, I have something to tell you…”

She looked up at you, “What’s wrong?”

“So I’m staying home.”

“Oh are you going back after Thanksgiving like me?” She smiled softly, caressing your cheek.

You shook your head slowly, “I actually won’t be returning at all…” You let out under a whisper.

“W-what?” She choked on her words.

“I dropped out, to start focusing on this music thing more with Jake.” There, it was out. You said it.

“Josh I don’t understand… I thought you said film was your dream?” She sat up facing you.

“It is, or was. I don’t know, Jake really thinks we can take off. We’ve been speaking to an agent for some time now…” You held her hands.

She shook her hands away, standing up from the bed. “No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be…” She started sobbing.

Her POV

Josh stood up from your bed. “Sunny…”

“Don’t, sunny me! Josh… You said, you even. You told me you were going to stick with it… Even if you guys went somewhere with this…” You ran a hand through your hair.

“I thought you would be supportive of this!” He was upset now.

“I am, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“Josh, this is a lot to handle right now…” You sighed.

“You don’t think I know that? Your mother was crying to me, worried about you. That has me worried sick. I’m not going anywhere, just because I’m not chasing after my original dream doesn’t mean I’m not excited about this new journey.” He grabbed you by the shoulders making you look at him.

“Josh… But what if you leave me? What if you find someone that…” You looked at him with tears in your eyes.

“Y/N, I love you. And I’m always going to be here. You’re my sunshine. Forever. I’m not going anywhere.” He caressed your cheek with his thumb.

“Promise.” You looked at him scared.

“Promise.” He held your hand up kissing it softly.

“No more secrets. I want to know everything…” You sighed softly.

He nodded in agreement, “I won’t hide anything… I swear.”

You nodded, wrapping yourself in his arms, hugging him tightly as you sobbed in his arms from everything that was going on. You felt alone, but you knew you weren’t. It was hard times right now, and you could only hope that they would get better. Or so you thought…

To be continued

Taglist-

@laneygvf @sacredthefran @fkfearandliveyourlegend @hi-hi-hello11 @gretnavannfleet @themoreyou-love @gvfmuse @meetingthestardust @myleftsock @jordie-gvf-admin @radmads-gvf @twistedmelodies @thunderstomp-and-tequila @sinsofstardust @vanillabear27 @dharma-divine33 @holybananafuck @thecoldwind @gretavanmoon @maren-gvf @itsafullmoon @gretasfallingsky @wagnerbrainrot

#greta van fleet #gvf #josh kiszka #josh gvf #josh kiszka x reader #greta van smut #gvf smut #josh kiszka greta van fleet #greta van fleet fluff #josh greta van fleet #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van fic #greta van fleet fic #josh kiszka series #josh kiszka fic #josh kiszka x y/n #josh kiszka smut #josh kiszka fluff #dawn of love josh

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mauesartetc · 1 year

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Thoughts on Helluva Boss 108 ("Queen Bee")

Yeeeah so we knew pretty much from the jump that this episode wouldn't have much substance to it. Viv Medrano herself said as much. But again, I have to wonder: What's the point of making a full episode of a show if you don't have the story to support it? You know the phrase "This meeting could have been an email"? This episode could have been a music video.

I typically include a list of pros and a list of cons when I write these, but everything was just so bland I can't functionally categorize much of it. I wasn't angry, I wasn't entertained, I didn't feel anything. All my thoughts about this episode are floating around in a soup and I just can't be bothered to sort them into the usual boxes. So this'll be more of a barely-coherent brainspew than anything else. If the writers couldn't put the effort in, why should I?

Fuck it, let's do this.

First, the elephant in the room: Beelzebub's design. That's a lengthy separate rant I'll save for another time, but I'll just say the first time I saw it, I thought it looked like some kid's DeviantArt fursona. But let's be real, I've got a feeling she only looks the way she does so Viv could make an easy reference to her "Die Young" music video.

I get that Kesha is Viv's idol and it must have been huge to land her for this voice-acting gig (though to be clear, she didn't sing the song in the episode. Helped write it; didn't sing it), but man, the self-indulgence is just leaking through the screen. This wouldn't feel so uncomfortable if Viv herself did any of the animation in this episode, but if you check the credits, she didn't. She wrote this plot cul-de-sac of pointless filler just so she could make other people animate the most complex character design to come out of the show and pat herself on the back for all of it. Again: Could have been a music video.

The episode's actual "plot" consists of Loona having a series of awkward conversations, calling Blitzo, and driving him home when he gets too trashed. There is a little development in their relationship? I guess? But of course no one mentions what went down at the beach. Much like what happened between Blitzo and Stolas in "Ozzie's", we can safely assume that event will get swept under the rug, never to be heard from again. I'd like to point out that the musical number takes about three minutes out of the fourteen-and-a-half-minute runtime. They could have cut the rest of this shit and nothing would have been lost; in fact a good amount of time and money would have been saved.

Three minutes. That's all you would have needed.

As far as Bee and Vortex, I never would've guessed they were a couple unless Vortex said so. They act more like good friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. Y'all couldn't have shown us a kiss, a little flirting, or even a hug? The PDA doesn't have to be excessive, but some indication of chemistry might be nice. This would also create more tension and discomfort for Loona, as it'd be hard to watch the guy she has a crush on make out with someone else.

Also, question: In this universe, hellhounds have roughly the same social status as imps, right? Maybe lower? Why, then, is it perfectly okay for one of the Seven Sins, who outranks Stolas, to date a hellhound, but it's not okay for Stolas to date an imp? What the fuck was the main conflict of "Ozzie's", then?! Hello?? With what little worldbuilding y'all give us, could you at least try to keep it consistent?

Speaking of which, the cleanup in this one is just rife with inconsistencies. It's not usually something I comment on as it hasn't been too noticeable in other episodes, but damn. Sometimes the outlines are thick, then they're thin, then they're thick again. The screenshots below came from three consecutive Loona scenes:

And take a look at how often Beelzebub's longest eyelashes change:

I noticed a bit of this in Exes and Oohs as well, with the scratch on Chaz's nose changing thickness from scene to scene. I'll repeat what I said then: Make sure the whole cleanup department sticks to the same brush size.

As for the song "Cotton Candy"... eh. It was alright? Not really my thing, but I'm not a big pop music fan anyway. Would I listen to it in my everyday life? Nah. But it's fine. I will say there's a hiccup in the meter of the lyrics that kinda threw me off:

Hey, I don't know why I'm whatchu want but it's the truth I'm not your lie Let them eat cake let them eat pie Or better yet Let them eat COTTON CANDY!

Feels like there could've been more after "or better yet"; the "cotton candy" seems abrupt there, as if the song were playing on vinyl and the record skipped. Maybe "Or better yet/ The sweetest treat that any one of y'all can get/ COTTON CANDY!" Like I'm not a songwriter by any means and I don't pretend to be anywhere near Kesha or Drew Pearson's level, but perhaps a few more syllables would've made that verse feel more complete.

But the animation for the musical number was really good! (Sounding like a broken record here, but this could have been a music video and it would've been much more tolerable.)

Kesha's voice acting was okay, though in some spots it came off like she's never said the f-word before. Just didn't seem natural. But the rest was alright.

I did like how Beelzebub was actually a decent person, since it would've been way too easy to make anyone Vortex was dating (who wasn't Loona) a total bitch. But Bee is gregarious, generous and actually nice to Loona despite her social awkwardness. And hey, Loona had a somewhat-positive interaction with another female character, so brownie points for that, I guess?

Not sure what Loona actually learned here, though, or how she magically dropped the attitude and became more social after some rando flirted with her (I mean you were literally crying a minute ago but some dude calling you hot is enough to change your mind about leaving?). I don't know, it feels like the episode could've shown her connecting with other introverts and doing something fun in their own little enclave, enjoying the party in their own way, rather than making her extroverted in a matter of seconds. Then maybe her newfound friends would like her for who she really is, not for the arbitrary box she tried to squeeze into. There's more than one way to have fun at a party, y'know? Perhaps a way that doesn't involve drinking, which Loona seems keen to avoid (but has no problem cheering Blitzo on in a chugging contest, apparently-?).

One nitpick about the hellhound in the purple shirt who called Loona a hottie: That was not the voice I expected to come out of him. The delivery just doesn't match at all. Something deep, sure, but maybe smoother, more sultry? (Seriously, if you played the audio of that line for someone who hadn't seen the show and asked them to match it to a male character from this episode, I'd bet anything they wouldn't get it on the first try.)

I know I've said before that Helluva Boss is what happens when you write fanfic of your own IP, but this episode, more than any other, reeaaally felt like fanfic. This felt like a fan asking, "Hey, what if we saw what Loona was up to in the Ozzie's episode?", then creating a bottle story that didn't affect anything else in canon. This whole thing (apart from Cotton Candy) was truly a waste of everyone's time. I'm glad the animators got some good reel fodder out of it, but whatever they were paid, it wasn't enough.

#helluva boss #helluva critical #review #critique #criticism #long post

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kayetra-spade-queen · 6 months

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Because @drawnfamiliarfaces got me into their AU rabbit hole of a variant version of the Teen Heroes™, I hope they don't mind of me making my own variant (I'm self-conscious, please excuse me-).

First and foremost, I can't draw, at least not to the extent of completely fleshing out a sketch out of my ass (ok- I can, but only a single eye, and even then it looks like shit to me-). I can draw clothing better than making a full body to make a whole ass scene. Comics are out the window cuz I will suffer.

Second, it'll probably be more on writing than making fanarts.

Third, I didn't watch the majority of the other characters' respective shows. I watched Danny Phantom a bit because of Nicktoons, and Ben 10 because of the same person who got me into starting this whole thing. I'll probably get my own snips and bits of necessary info from the wiki, but don't expect any accuracy, and I'd appreciate if anyone could dump some info that could prove to be very necessary for me.

Fourth, this is an entire AU itself, so I'm mostly not gonna follow canon at most. There will be stories I will try to twist to my liking.

Fifth, ships. Yes, but bear with me here; thanks to my overconsumption of media, I will be putting just a few ships that I think are neat, but if anyone disagrees with me or didn't like how I didn't mention a ship they like (cuz I barely knew shit about the characters), then please just either move away from my blog, or block me entirely to avoid unwanted conflict. We all have our interests that make us happy, the least you could do is to respect and/or completely don't interact.

Sixth, the clothing are gonna filled with my own personal headcanons, mostly their clothing when they battle (the characters themselves too, but I'm gonna focus more on the clothes because I'm a fashion illustrator). Danny, Ben, and Randy are gonna wear heels because yes.

The ships involved;

Tigerghost (Manny Rivera from El Tigre x Danny Fenton from Danny Phantom) (I completely blame izbubbles for this one)

Benrex (Rex Salazar from Generator Rex x Ben Tennyson from Ben 10) (surprised? Probably not lmfao-)

Jimmytimmy (Timmy Turner x Jimmy Neutron) (first and foremost; no, none of the Nicktoons (Jimmy, Timmy, SpongeBob, and Manny) except Danny and Jenny are part of this team. Danny and Jenny still go on missions with the NU team because duh. And second; they're only here as some sort of filler and cuz I really love Nicktoons since most of them I have watched)

Headcanons involved (will get expanded in due time I swear-);

Trans Danny

Anodite Ben (still wields the Omnitrix. His anodite powers are pink too)

Dani and Dan are Danny's kids (under a different name because they have to go through a re-birth process that I'll touch upon later)

Ben's necrofriggian children now comes to earth to live with their mom (like I said, I'm not following canon)

Randy is still ninja, but because this AU involves a 3rd power/skill, I'll have to twist a bit of the canon my way, especially when it comes to the Ultimate Lesson and memory wipe

There will be some Genshin Impact references here and there, because I do play them, and I love it-

Ghost King Danny (by extent, Ghost Princess Dani and Ghost Prince Dan)

Fashion designer Ben (his sassy and confident nature could be more of a use tbh)

Primal Iudex Randy (he and Furina would get along nicely-)

Pearl Keeper Jake

Side gig magician Rex (leave me be, I think it's neat-)

Engaged Rex and Ben (all of the members are adults over 20, so don't be surprised)

Sandra Tennyson is French, so that makes Ben half-French by heritage

Ben and Randy are pen pals turned close friends by the time Ben moved to France (yes, I made Randy somewhat French here for this reason, but I'll have to put in more details later)

Rex won't lose his memories, but he'll get short-term amnesia often, which just need something to trigger the old memories back

Everyone is under the same universe

Danny's ghost team are Sam-Tucker-Valerie-Jazz and his parents (Valerie deserves better than what was given to her by canon)

Yes, Maddie and Jack knew Danny became a ghost from the very start, but they didn't treat him any differently than he was before; if anything, they felt guilty that their son had paid the price for their ignorance and neglect

Phantom Planet do not exist, and it shouldn't have been to begin with, but whatever

Valerie had always been part of Danny's gang. In terms of Shades of Gray, I'll have to change a lot of things, that includes her father's job (he didn't get fired), so I have other things in mind regarding Cujo

Cujo became Danny's pet dog later on, cuz you can't tell me these two aren't made for each other

Members from oldest to youngest, I do hope @drawnfamiliarfaces wouldn't mind me using their headcanon as well (eldest Kim, youngest Randy). I think they're really neat.

Please keep in mind that none of this follow canon whatsoever, they follow my headcanons and versions. Character backstories are written purely by my own personal headcanons too. I'll probably add actual canon when I didn't have anything good to offer, but this is what I could put for now.

#kim possible #my life as a teenage robot #danny phantom #american dragon jake long #the life and times of juniper lee #generator rex #secret saturdays #ben 10 #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja #Shades of Prisms #Kayetra Spade Queen

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wherethefireliliesgrow · 1 year

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(3) 1070 days: whisper grey

Myoui Mina x reader

Part of the series: Palette

Previous chapter: (2) 1446 days: ivory black

Another filler chapter, sorry please bear with me The next chapter picks up, I promise!

1070 days.

Ryujin had successfully debuted with the girl-group ITZY and was considered one of the prodigies of the fourth generation of KPOP.

You were extremely proud of her for achieving her dreams, but you couldn't help missing your best friend. Living alone now, Ryujin had to stay in the JYP dorms with her bandmates, and you didn't get to see her that often as she was always busy.

Despite her promises to take you to her concerts, you never saw any colors appear. It was always the same haunting grey, and you were starting to lose hope. You would stand near the stage for every concert, and look down below at the sea of fans and see only a tinted grey version of the world.

However, your photography work blew up on the internet, and you landed a job at W Korea. People praised you for your exceptional talent in black-and-white portrait photography, describing your work as "chefs-d'oeuvre of the shadows". You were acclaimed as the shy but talented photographer who could see beyond color when, in reality, you were just a soulmate-less Wayward who had not managed to gain an ounce of color visibility back in the past two years.

Time was running out, and you were panicking. You had not managed to cross paths with your soulmate at all, and you would think they didn't exist if it weren't for the magnetic feeling in your veins.

"It's for the best," you tried to convince yourself, attempting to stop yourself from finding and interfering with the life of your soulmate. They deserved more than being tied down by a random person in the world.

“We’ll need all staff on hand for this shoot,” announced your manager, Seulgi, during your company’s weekly meeting.

"Why? I have my day off that day," drawled your coworker and close friend Karina, who sat next to you with her lips pursed in annoyance. The raven-haired photographer was definitely not a fan of working overtime.

"Because we will be having a photo shoot of all of JYP’s artists for the announcement of their world tour," explained Seulgi, who then walked over and patted Karina’s head as if she was petting a child. "I’ll give you guys an extra week off for this gig."

Karina harrumphed, trying to hide her satisfied smile.

"That sounds like fun!" squealed Danielle, "Do you think we can get free tickets to their concert? I had a blast during Twice’s concert last year. I can’t wait to see them again this time. Do you think they’ll collaborate with other groups? I think they'll probably have a collaborative stage with ITZY, and Nayeon will try to h-"

"Make her shut up, bro," groaned Minji, nudging Hanni.

"It’s too early for this."

Hanni quickly clamped her small hands over Danielle's mouth, shutting her up immediately.

"Thank you," Seulgi smiled gratefully at Hanni before continuing. "Since there are many groups in the line-up, we have arranged five days for the photoshoot. This includes group photos, individual shots, and all JYP groups together."

You groaned internally. Photoshoots like this often-meant extreme work schedules and lack of sleep. At least you’ll be able to hang out with Ryujin a bit during the shoot if you were lucky.

It was also a good thing that your team consisted of a bunch of funny weirdos who took their jobs seriously, making work a bit more bearable.

Seulgi was one of the most compassionate and understanding managers you could ever ask for and had a knack for calming down your icy CEO (and her soulmate), Irene.

Karina was a talented photographer and filmmaker with stunning visuals. She shared the same perspective on the soulmate connection and knew about your temporary colorblind situation.

"I'd rather live and love freely for five years and die happy," Karina would say when asked why she wasn't looking for her soulmate. You and Karina clicked immediately when you joined the team, and she reminded you of Ryujin, whom you've always wanted to introduce her to.

Minji, Hanni, and Danielle were the “kids” on the team. Despite their youth at only 18 years old, they were all exceptionally talented at their jobs. Minji, the serious and soft-spoken visual director, collaborated seamlessly with you and Karina and often kept the other two rowdy girls in check. Hanni, the lighting technician, boasted her ability to eat bread for a week straight without feeling sick. Danielle, the talkative and positive force of nature, put all artists at ease with her makeup skills and welcoming demeanor.

After the long meeting that seemed to drag on for hours, you took out your phone to text Ryujin.

As you gazed at your phone, a faint smile crept onto your lips. Despite not understanding the reason, you felt an unusual sense of anticipation for the upcoming shoot - almost eager even. You told yourself that it was simply the prospect of seeing Ryujin again that excited you, but the faint prickling sensation of your tattoo hinted otherwise.

It seems that with the announcement of the shoot, the bleakness in your eyes gradually subsided, replaced by a subtle, soft grey hue. It was as if a glimmer of hope had entered your world, and the shadows had transformed into mere whispers of grey. Previous chapter Next Chapter

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erenmusic · 15 days

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Revisiting The Life of Pablo and ''Old Kanye'' in 2024

Seeing how Kanye has been acting recently and the quality of his music going down in recent years, especially with the unfinished mess that was Vultures 2 got me to revisit The Life of Pablo (TLOP), Which in my opinion is Kanye's most interesting and creative project to date. It has been a long time and his style has changed a lot since then, so Could TLOP be considered Old Kanye now? Lets see.

The album starts out with the song ''Ultralight Beam'' which sets the Tone for the whole album, giving a feeling of holiness in its sound, and the child's voice at the start praising the lord definitely makes what Kanye's trying to make you feel here very obvious. It is a song to get you ready for what's to come in this album, starting off calm and slow and ending with choir sounds that then lead into some of the best-produced songs ever created in ''Father Stretch My Hands'' parts 1 and 2. My favorite sample from the album comes from an old '70s choir band and it is actually crazy how well Kanye uses these old-timey sounds and makes something that feels brand new and so different from other stuff we got in 2016, it is honestly sad to see how far he's fallen from the peaks on this album. that's not to say that part 1 doesn't have some pretty questionable lines like this one here,

However the songs are still very fun and man is that instrumental good. It can almost get me to forgive any wack line Kanye comes up with.

After the Trip that is both of those songs you make your way to Famous which has one of the best instrumental parts on the whole album.

youtube

This part where the Woman singing reminds me of Jazz musicians doing scat and the idea of using unintelligible noises to make stuff sound good is just so cool.(also really reminds me of The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd where the feeling is given to you not with words but with sheer vocals) Bam bam Bilam Bam was stuck in my head for years after listening to this album.

Unfortunately I think after this song the album does go on bit of a slow streak. Feedback is a fun song but I see it as almost like a filler episode, songs like Low Lights and Highlights never really stuck with me and I don't love the skits and freestyles he does on this album so I will skip them for this review except obviously the song that defined kanye for the rest of his career after this album

The song I Love Kanye really shows us what he was going for on this album. Shutting up all the critics, saying and showing us he is better than his old self, he is confident in knowing this new experimental stuff IS really better and he shows us that he is always ahead of the game. After understanding how Kanye saw himself in 2016 now we can see the opposite situation happening today. Kanye with his new albums like Vultures 2 still imagines himself as a pioneer and the unfinished experimental sound does feel similar to how it was in 2016 However the difference this time is that (at least in my opinion I might feel very different on the album in a couple years, maybe I don't appreciate Vultures 2 enough and I will come to love it later on in life.) the songs are simply less creative and he doesn't have the same messaging and just straight passion that went into TLOP. Vultures 2 feels commercial and it feels like Kanye is trying to cling to success while TLOP was a definitive part of Kanye's career while he was already extremely successful, He didn't need to prove himself he could have fun, have bad bars, and also still make great music. Now it just feels like Kanye is taking the piss on every song, Not even trying to make something artsy, and just wants to be shocking so people will still pay attention to him hence the whole tirade about Jewish people. (Maybe it really is the Nox that got to him.)

To get back to the Album at hand, after the halfway point of ''I Love Kanye'' you get great songs like Waves which really holds up in its production and Wolves with even more amazing production, what makes Wolves special I think is that it has some very different messaging about the modern dating life of people, saying that everyone is in danger of being taken advantage even Mary would be at risk being soured in this day and age is what I get from that song, Definitely an interesting perspective and definitely a Kanye perspective on things.

When you get towards the end of the Album there is a bit of a shift in tone, Kanye gets serious again. (except for Facts which is just a diss song against Nike lol) the main two songs I want to focus on at the end of the Album is probably 2 of the best songs on it. Firstly we have to get to No More Parties In LA. Not only does this song have some of the best bars and overall meaningful lyrics on the album it actually sounds so good that the song has not aged a day in my opinion. if Kendrick and Kanye came out with a song on the same level as No More Parties in LA this morning, it would shoot up to Number 1 and kill everything else on the billboard lists.

Lastly and most importantly we get to the Titular and in my opinion the best song on the album Saint Pablo. This song touches on many points and just sounds amazing start to finish, I love the vocals that Sampha does in his verse and especially the Bridges and choruses in between,

youtube

he adds a really nice and mellow tone to the song and the lines for example ''wondering where's god in your nightlife'' stick with you.

Overall I love this album very much however there are a couple dud songs in there now that I listened to it again. However even though they are some mid-level songs, man do the Good ones keep the album together. I love the concept, the whole idea of Kanye being unapologetic about being himself, not being afraid to say what he wants and the fact that the songs on here are undeniably super important to Music history since it came out. You can hear the influence this album has on Rap music still and almost every song on here still holds up. unfortunately though at this point I think we can even classify The TLOP era as Old Kanye considering how much he has fallen off since this album.

#Youtube #kanye west #old kanye #tlop #spotify #review

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goodluckclove · 5 months

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Oh, I have another question! Do you like stories or fanfiction or anything written by a writer that has what I call the "Beach Episode Phenomenon"? It's where the characters of the story have a great time together in the middle of the plot, like having a party or something, to either enforce relationships or establish mind sets or something. Idk how to explain it, but it really beats some stories where everything is filled with action-plots, and there really isn't enough time to develop a character and what they could've been like outside all the action.

Wouldn't it be funny if I, the writer who is proud to say writes like three actual plot beats per 180k words of "filler", was somehow against the Beach Episode troupe?

In Migration Patterns I have Edgar eat a hot dog and it takes four pages. He just enjoys a hot dog for four pages. I consider it crucial to the plot and if anyone tries to get me to take it out I will bite their hand like a sick dog.

If anything, I'm against calling it filler, when it's more accurate in my eyes to call it character-focus rather than plot-focus. Some stories are entirely character-focused, so you can't call them filler because that would make the whole dang book filler.

I use it as a reference a lot and I'll do it again - let me describe to you the entire plot of Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. The book opens on a guy who's just kind of fucking around. He wanders around the country and talks to some people. Continues to fuck around. He gets a gig guarding a mountain alone for a year. He grows a beard. He's happy. End of book.

It's the most important novel I've ever read as a writer.

Even plot-focused novels still need character in my humble opinion. Otherwise you're just making me watch the first film in the reboot of Dune, where it's essentially just a few sci-fi Wikipedia entries surrounding people I know nothing about and do not care for. Some people like that. My wife likes that. My wife also reads Wikipedia for fun. They and I are on two ends of a vast spectrum.

So yeah take your dudes to the beach. Let them rest. It's not superfluous if we learn something about how they interact and who they are when they aren't fighting mechs or ghosts or ghost mechs or whatever.

On a side note, whenever I watch an anime with Wife and there is any kind of water on screen (Lake, puddle, bath) I like to declare that this must be the beach episode. It's a fun bit just for me.

#writeblr #writing community #writers on tumblr #on writing #writing #writing asks

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meraki-yao · 6 months

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The thing is that with these two interviews, the whole goal of the journalists was to set Nick as a heartthrob and that's it. To them, there's no more depth than that. For this press tour, I've preferred to watch him talk instead because he can fully express everything. You can see how his mind works, the way he respects his craft (because he takes himself and his job seriously, as he should), and you can see his personality shine more: the nervous, anxious, charming guy who loves what he does and understands his characters to the core.

When it comes to these interviews, the tone was, "He's a pretty face with some gigs under his belt." For instance, the NYM interview had a lot of filler information that wasn't completely relevant to the conversation but was kept because the underlining topic was, "Well, he's transitioning from some small movies to bigger projects, and some of these movies are queer and he's not. Gee, I wonder!" This is not that different from the Hunger interview, but this one was more shameful because it went full-on disrespectful to RWRB and Nick.

I've read a couple of people asking why Nick or his publicist didn't edit the articles before publishing, and the short answer is that they can't. Journalists don't like when publicists or their clients ask for changes in their stories. If they do, it can cause problems between the journalist and the PR firm, and the relationship can even break. And publicists don't want that—they have more clients, and they need those platforms. Not even bigger A-list actors can do that without being considered "problematic." And, most importantly, they don't read the articles before publishing. They probably didn't know what was kept. They most likely found out like the rest of us. But everyone's focusing on the photoshoots, so maybe that's why there are not many people talking about these things, but there are.

I think the US press it's a mess; they love to feel better than the subject they're interviewing, and they don't shy away from disrespecting people, directly or indirectly. I also brought this up to one anon question (I'm the ☁️ anon), and this basically supports my theory that it doesn't matter if Nick's projects are doing well, if he's finally being acknowledged, they will see him as an Internet boyfriend. That's why the focus was on his personal life or anything else that was interesting or quirky, not really on the projects and the work behind his character study.

It's not Nick's or even his publicist's fault. I think it's the result of prioritizing social media discourse and language into a different medium instead of focusing on writing a profile or a story.

I'm late, but this is in regards to Nick's NY Magazine editorial and Hunger Magazine editorial.

And I mostly agree! I mean, I furiously picked apart the two articles with my Taiwanese RWRB friend, but from a bigger picture this explains it really well. Thank you.

And I really think that it's unfortunate that so often, either from the creator or the audience, people are more interested in social media discourse than anything else with actual value. It's not just the US press, it's kind of the whole world in general right now. I ranted my family about this and used what happened to Princess Catherine (Middleton, not Henry's mother) lately as an example, and I was... very passionate in the ramble.

#anon ask #answered

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nagichi-boop · 1 day

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A Star That’s Out of Reach (Chapter 12)

[Previous] - [x] [Masterlist]

Don’t get too excited about the quick turnaround for updates, this chapter sucks, sorry. I had a whole idea with Tails I was gonna do, but I couldn’t easily transition from the scenario in this chapter, so it ended up being drawn out too long instead. The upside is that the next chapter will probably be more focused on Shadow and Tails interactions (and a guest that I won’t spoil), so if y’all want that then you’re in luck!

View this as the filler episode equivalent of fanfic chapters.

— x —

Shadow had been sat under the tree for almost an hour now, his eyes fixed on the starry sky, almost as if the heat of them would warm him up. He began to wonder whether Amy would show, but the thought of leaving crossed his mind, he heard someone approaching. Turning his head, he smiled warmly as Amy approved who was graced with a smile of her own. She was hugging a notebook to her chest as she approached excitedly.

“Sorry I’m so late,” the pink hedgehog chirped as she sat beside Shadow. “I lost track of time when I was with everyone.” Shadow shook his head slightly, the smile on his face remained. “Not at all. I’m always happy to wait if it’s you.” A blush crept onto Amy’s face as he said this. She quickly looked up to see Shadow’s face, trying to glean his intention. As she did so, Shadow’s face shifted to one of innocent curiosity. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes, I’m okay,” Amy stuttered as she swiftly looked down. She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face though, even if Shadow’s words weren’t intended as flirtatious. She raised a hand and cleared her throat, trying to mentally reset. But as she tried to do so, she felt an arm wrap around her and pull her in, which only flustered her more.

“Is that better?” Shadow asked softly, his gaze intently fixed on her.

“W-What are you doing?” Amy responded in a stunned confusion.

Shadow titled his head slightly as he responded. “I thought maybe you were cold. Did I misunderstand?”

Oddly, Shadow’s response calmed Amy. She gigged a little before speaking. “Yes, you did. But I’m also cold, so I’m not complaining!” She then flipped open her book on her lap and Shadow did the same, though he refused to use the hand that was now rested on Amy’s shoulder.

“So how exactly does this work?” Shadow asked genuinely. There was a surprising air of calmness to Shadow, one which Amy wasn’t really expected. Perhaps he was taking this potential dating situation seriously, even more so than her.

“Well…I don’t really know,” Amy admitted as she stared at her own notes. “I think when it comes to dating, it’s not a one-size-fits-all. And if I’m being honest, I have no clue where to start.” Shadow hummed in thought as he stared at the notes he had made. They were written neatly in a list, but in no particular order – he just wrote what came to mind. Amy’s notes, on the other hand, were organised with different headings, and stickers and doodles were distributed throughout the pages. This wasn’t her first time journalling, after all.

“Maybe we should just read through each other’s notes?” Shadow eventually suggested. Amy paused to think, then nodded in agreement to the plan. She swapped the two journals, pushing on the spine of her’s so it would stay open for Shadow.

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments as they read through each other’s notes. Amy glanced up at one point and was surprised to see Shadow’s expression was focused, almost intense. He was clearly focusing intently on reading Amy’s notes – it was endearing. She smiled as she went back to reading Shadow’s. A lot of it made sense; needing alone time, no forcing me to hang out with your friends - all things that Shadow already expected of others. She paused on one of the points.

“‘No sudden displays of affection,’” she quotes aloud. She looked up at Shadow, who returned her eye contact. “Anything specific I should avoid?”

Shadow looked back at Amy’s journal as he collected his thoughts. “I guess I was thinking things like hugs and…kisses.” Amy blushed a little at his honesty, but it was quite refreshing to hear things laid out so clearly. “What about hand holding?”

“That’s okay, though maybe not when others are around. For now, at least.”

Amy nodded as she took in this information. “Are hugs and kisses completely off the table, or are they okay if they aren’t a surprise?” Shadow hummed a little, though his eyes remained on Amy’s journal. At first she thought he was avoiding looking at her, but it became apparent he was just deep in thought.

“I’m okay with it, just not out of nowhere.” Though he wouldn’t say it out loud, he had already concluded that he wasn’t ready for spontaneous displays of affection. It left him feeling like he wasn’t in control, and that feeling terrified him, even if deep down he appreciated the affection.

Amy thought to herself for a moment. It was subtle, but she could tell there was a deeper emotion to Shadow’s response. She didn’t wish to push it right now, though. A realisation then crossed her mind. “Did me kissing your cheek the other night upset you?”

Shadow went quiet for a moment, his expression unchanging. The mild tension seemed to go away, however. “No. If anything, it helped me to clearly understand what your feelings towards me were. It was…pleasant. But I don’t think I’m quite ready for that to be the norm. It still makes me incredibly nervous and that is a feeling that makes me uncomfortable.” Amy smiled in understanding. “That makes sense. You’ve been guarded for so long that affection must be scary, huh?” Shadow, though still looking down, nodded in agreement. Amy was perceptive as always. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll make sure to let you know if I want to hug or kiss you. I’m happy to wait until you’re more comfortable for anything more than that.”

Shadow briefly glanced at Amy as she said that, a little confused as to what she meant. But he quickly dismissed the thoughts. When it was necessary, they could discuss what that meant, but he saw little use in worrying about it this early on. He looked back at Amy’s journal, diligently absorbing her notes. The more he read, the more a feeling of unease settled in.

“Is this really going to work?” he muttered under his breath, but with how close Amy was to him, she heard it. She leaned away from Shadow slightly, looking at him with a worried expression.

“What do you mean? Are you having second thoughts?” Though she recognised this as a potential outcome, her heart still sank at the possibility. Shadow’s eyes widened as if he was being snapped back into reality. He quickly turned his attention to Amy, realising that what he said sounded like a rejection.

“No no, it’s not that,” Shadow assured in a slight panic. He glanced at the book again, as if to bring Amy’s focus to it. “It’s just, I realised that your notes are a lot less…strict than mine.”

Amy tilted her head. “‘Strict’?”

Shadow exhaled a nervous breath. “Well, my notes seemed more restrictive. Your’s, on the other hand, sound like the bare minimum amount of respect I’m supposed to show you.”

Amy stared open mouthed at Shadow, surprised at his insightful observation. After a few moments of silence, Shadow looked at Amy and was confused at her expression. In fact, it made him a little nervous. When he turned to face her, Amy realised that her silence may be worrying him, so she quickly shook her head and spoke.

“Sorry, I lost myself a little there. I wasn’t expecting you to say something like that.” She looked away and paused for a moment, with Shadow watching her all the while. Her thumb gently brushed along the page of his journal, as if to show her respect for him. “I guess I was a little unsure of what put down. I’ve read plenty of romance stories, but I’ve never been in a relationship. I have no idea what to expect. And while I don’t expect you to have the answers either, it’s a bit confusing when we can’t talk to anyone about this.”

Shadow stared at her for a moment, noting the worry on her face. After a few moments, a hand entered Amy’s field of vision, hovering over the journal. She followed it up to look back at Shadow, seeing the love and concern on his face.

“Are you offering to hold my hand?” she asked hesitantly, unsure of whether she was interpreting the gesture correctly. She received a sheepish nod, so she gently took his hand, which was soon enveloped by his. His thumb traced the back of her hand, which she observed with a tender expression.

“I don’t expect you to know what to do,” Shadow spoke softly. “In a way, it’s comforting to know this is so new to both of us.” He paused for a moment and gently squeezed her hand, his gaze drifting up to her face. “Maybe we would both benefit from someone knowing about this?”

Amy looked up at him for a moment, before her eyes suddenly widened in realisation. She then smiled nervously and glanced away.

“Actually…there are people that already know,” Amy shyly confessed. Shadow raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised to hear that multiple people may know already. But his expression remained calm.

“Who?”

“Blaze and Silver. I was talking about having a crush on you and they figured it out along the way.”

Shadow nodded as he processed the information. He then came to a realisation of his own.

“I suppose you ought to know that Rouge is away of our relationship,” he admitted. “She was aware of my feelings for you a while ago. But I accidentally revealed the status of our relationship yesterday while I was looking for a journal.”

Amy giggled a little, her cheeks tinted pink. “I guess it was only a matter of time when it came to her knowing.” She smiled warmly at Shadow. “This makes things a little easier I guess. We each have people we can talk to, though Blaze and Silver are perhaps a little less available.”

The two of them sat in silence for a short while, staring up at the starry night. Amy eventually began to start shivering, which Shadow promptly took note of. He considered taking her back home, but a new idea came into his mind.

“Did you want to warm up at my place for a bit?” he suggested.

Amy tensed up at the suggestion, her head quickly flicking to look at him. He appeared surprised at her reaction, which made her realise she was perhaps she was overthinking it. “Oh…y-yeah, okay!”

Shadow stood up and offered his hand to Amy, helping her to her feet. To her surprise, he didn’t let go as they walked side by side. They didn’t speak as they travelled, but it didn’t bother them. Amy would occasionally sneak a glance at Shadow, but the hedgehog had seemingly reverted back to his resting expression.

They eventually reached the house, which Amy took a moment to observed. It was small and unspoken, which was initially odd to her. But she realised that Shadow, Rouge and Omega didn’t seem to be the types to have a fancy house. Besides, it would be counter to their characters for them for their house to stick out, especially for Rouge.

Shadow released Amy’s hand and opened the door. He stepped to the side and beckoned her in, to which she entered. She glanced around for a moment before freezing in place as someone approached.

“Shadow, you’re home!” Rouge entered the room and, like Amy, froze in her tracks. Unlike Amy, however, she quickly recovered. She smirked as she continued; “Oh? Bold of you to bring a lady home with you, Shadow.”

“Cool it, Rouge,” Shadow scolded, closing the door behind him and standing beside Amy. “I invited her here in order to warm up. That’s all.” Shadow and Rouge locked eyes for a moment, and as if he could read her mind, he spoke again. “No need to be coy. Amy knows that you’re aware of us.”

“Oh thank goodness, I can quit with the pretences,” Rouge sighed in relief, her teasing attitude almost immediately fading. “It’s too late in the day to be bothering with that.” She looked at Amy, who was still a little guarded. “No need to be so tense. Make yourself at home and all that jazz. I’ll stay out of your way.”

“No, stay!” Amy impulsively belted, startling Shadow and Rouge a little. “W-What I mean is, you don’t have to go. This is your house, after all! We don’t mind, right Shadow?” She glanced up at him, as if seeking validation.

“It’s fine by me I suppose. But are you sure you’re comfortable with it?”

Amy smiled reassuringly at Shadow. “I’m okay with it, really I am.”

Rouge looked between the two of them, figuring out her next move. She could tell Shadow wanted to be alone with Amy, perhaps out of fear of her prying into their relationship. But she could also tell that Amy was flustered at the idea of being alone with Shadow, not because he would do anything, but because she was now in his house. She sighed, realising that neither option was right or wrong.

“I’ll stay, but let me know if you want your privacy.” With a quick flap of her wings, she made her way to her chair, slouching against the armrest. Unlike Shadow and Amy, she had no qualms with putting up appearances right now. The two of them exchanged glances before Shadow gestured for her to sit down. She sat on the couch and Shadow promptly joined her, keeping a bit of distance between them. After a moment of quiet, Rouge took the TV remote and put on a program, even if to just to break the silence.

The three of them stared at the screen, not saying a word. Rouge was quite content with the quiet, but checked in on Shadow and Amy just in case. Shadow seemed content with the situation, but it was clear Amy was conflicted. Before she could figure out how to help them, Amy stood up with a smile plastered on her face.

“Thanks for inviting me in,” she said, forcefully smiling at Shadow.” I ought to go home now, though.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow in confusion, but decided not to push it. “Sure thing.” The two of them walked to the door, but Shadow hesitated as his hand rested on the handle. He turned to Amy and offered his hand. “Let me teleport you home.”

Amy snuck a glance at Rouge, then took his hand sheepishly. Using the Chaos Emerald at his disposal, she and Shadow were swiftly transported outside her house. She smiled up at Shadow and spoke, “Thank you, Shadow. It was nice spending time with you. I’ll see you again soon, okay?” With a nod from Shadow, Amy turned and entered her house. Shadow stood there for a moment as the door closed in front of him. He sighed, then teleported himself home, back into the living room. Despite returning, he didn’t say anything and instead stood there for a moment, staring at the floor.

“Something wrong, Shadow?” Rouge asked, her head rested in her hand. He sighed again, then wandered to the couch to sit on it, though his eyes remained fixed on the floor. He was clearly upset.

“Did I do something wrong?” Shadow asked himself, his brows furrowed a little in frustration.

Rouge sat forward, giving her full attention to Shadow. “Oh hun, I’m sure that’s not the case. I think perhaps she was just a little…uneasy because I was around.”

Shadow looked up at Rouge, clearly not content with that answer. “She seemed nervous at the idea of coming back here. I shouldn’t have forced it.”

Despite not fully understanding what he meant, she could see why Amy would be unsettled by the offer. Not that she blamed Shadow though: unlike Amy, he hadn’t the faintest idea when it came to relationships. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. The two of you are still fresh – it will take time for you to adjust to being in each other’s lives.”

Shadow’s expression relaxed slightly. He let out a sigh, though this time it was out of relief instead of disappointment. “That makes sense. Thanks Rouge.”

“Glad to hear it,” Rouge smiled warmly at him. She then yawned and stretched, before turning to look at Shadow. “Shoot, I forgot how late it was. This lady needs her beauty sleep. We can talk more later, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Shadow replied. “I forgot how late it was.” He stood up and the two of them walked out of the room into the hallway. Shadow paused as he got to his door, then smiled at Rouge. “Night, Rouge.”

“Sleep well, Shadow,” Rouge reciprocated. The two of them then parted ways, entering their respective rooms.

“EVENING SHADOW,” Omega said, settled underneath the bunk bed.

“Hey Omega,” Shadow replied, jumping up into his bed. There was a mutual understanding that Shadow was here to sleep, so Omega remained quiet after this. Shadow closed his eyes, and shortly thereafter fell asleep.

#a star that’s out of reach fanfic #shadow the hedgehog #shadow #amy rose #shadamy #rouge the bat #e-123 omega #team dark #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sth #sonic fanfiction #sth fanfic #nagichi writes

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saleintothe90s · 10 months

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490. The 1980 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, November 27, 1980

(the whole parade is here, if you just want the commercials and highlights, it's here)

Randy Hamilton from the soap opera Texas sings "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with a small child? Who is this small child. I want it to be a random child that they chose three minutes before turning the cameras on. Randy doesn't have a Wikipedia page! Sadness.

Ahhh!! Is that a baby Mark Linn Baker in the GE commercial?!

I love the crowd whooping it up for the cast of One 'Mo Time. I was wondering what was behind them --- I think it was the broadcast booth for host Ed McMahon! Just ... there with the saddest looking Woolworth decorations ever.

What a weird closing card (what do you call that?) for this Child World / Children's Palace commercial that aired constantly. Ok, the bear didn't fall on his butt? That was the best shot we could get?

For some reason Marilyn Michaels takes off her gloves while singing "Watching the Parade go Byyy". That couldn't of waited, Marilyn?

Todd Bridges sang a song about the Summer. I felt bad for Todd, he had no back up dancers, just dancing in the street. Was this a time filler? Loved the song!

A baby Glenn Close was there with the cast of Barnum. I feel like Ed is auditioning for the Star Search hosting gig with this parade. I love his energy.

I love the juxtaposition of Bryant Gumbel thanking the Museum of Natural history for letting people warm up in their building with Doodlebug.

Ed sang a song! When was the last time a host SANG.

I thought Cootie ran over a clown, but the clown deliberately laid down in front of him??

Just for us Hampton Roads girlies, Busch Gardens of Williamsburg had a Loch Ness Monster float! It's still at Busch Gardens! The cast of Brigadoon was on the float.

Ed was trying to find a date for Happy Dragon. He said "I guess now that he's 21, he's free to go out in the evening and date whomever he chooses. So if you have an eligible dragon hanging around your house moping, we might be able to set them up and in the years to come, who knows how many dragons we might have in the parade!"

There was a float for everyone's favorite box office flop, Popeye! I think that's supposed to be Olive Oyl?!

1980 was electric football's year. It felt like it was the only toy advertised!

"Tonka's Bear in a Box! Everyone's favorite!"

Finally, a game that looks like one of my dad's vintage fire scanners.

Cowboys were HOT this year, due to the movie Urban Cowboy, and the TV show Dallas. Modern equivalent to this would be this past Summer's Western Barbie! We even had Dean Butler from Little House on the Prairie sing "Don't Fence Me In" while riding a tortoise. The Lone Ranger even showed up. Oh, and even the McDonalds commercial with Ronald was western themed.

While Snoopy couldn't fly this year due to a leg injury, we had Underdog.

Can we discuss how a station wagon is pulling a float. Later on, I saw an Oldsmobile sedan towing the float with the Spinners on it.

This beautiful phone store.

I feel like by the time we were growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, Kermit had more bad days at the parade than good, but 1980 was a good year for him. Just look at him.

Casper is over here looking like the baby from Ally McBeal.

Bob from Sesame Street sang a song while Bert & Ernie danced. Even Oscar liked the song.

Unfortunately, the entire parade isn't on YouTube. Looks like the recorder only set their VCR for two hours. One of the final things you see is Linda Ronstadt and the cast of The Pirates of Penzance. "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" slaps.

Related: previous thanksgiving entries.

#thanksgiving #Macys thanksgiving day parade #1980 #ed mcmahon

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 1 year

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The Bugle once got a thing that was thereafter always known as The Greatest Email Ever Received:

youtube

Well earlier today, I got the Greatest Inbox Ask Ever Received. To answer it, I dug through my Britcom folders to find some Andy Zaltzman clips so I could share them with the person who so kindly requested more of him in the world. That made me realize my Zaltzman and Oliver stuff was annoyingly spread out across my hard drive, and I wanted to fix that.

So I put all my Zaltzman and Oliver stuff in one place. And that one folder happened to be just barely under the 15 GB limit that you get on a free Google Drive account, so I decided to make a new one of those and house it online. Here is is, the one-stop shop for Zaltzman and Oliver stand-up/radio/podcast stuff:

What's in here:

A collection I put together of episodes that John and Andy did of Radio 4 shows (stand-up showcases called 4 at the Store/Fringe, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, The News Quiz), from the years before John Oliver moved to America, when Radio 4 panel show spots were quite a natural fit for their careers

The Department - Radio 4 sitcom that they wrote and performed with Chris Addison, also pre-John moving to America, a wildly underrated show in my accurate opinion

Political Animal - that's the name of the gig they hosted in Edinburgh and sometimes in London for a bunch of years, where Zaltzman and Oliver did little sketches and things in between guest comedians who did short stand-up sets of political material, and for a few of those years, the BBC recorded some of those gigs and released it as a Radio 4 show

Zaltzman and Oliver stand-up - these are things I've cut out of various Bugle episodes, and then stitched together at times, when those Bugle episodes released footage of stand-up shows they've done as a double act - also includes a few compilations of them doing the same sketch in different years, and a clip of when Andy Zaltzman briefly came on stage during John Oliver's otherwise solo stand-up DVD, just to be a completist about including all recordings I've found of them doing stand-up together

Every episode of the John Oliver era of The Bugle, including filler episodes and the mini-episodes that Andy Zaltzman did on his own from the 2012 Olympics

John Oliver's 2008 stand-up DVD Terrifying Times, including special features

Andy Zaltzman's 2014 stand-up DVD Satirist For Hire, including special features

Andy Zaltzman's 2019 year-end stand-up show, also released as a Bugle episode, though I cut out all the stuff around it so that audio file is just the stand-up show

In the process of pulling all that together, I did a bit of Googling, and found a couple of reviews of their 2004 that I hadn't seen before and enjoyed reading. The 2004 one is the only full stand-up show I've heard from Zaltzman and Oliver as a double act, because they released a recording of it across a couple of Bugle episodes, and I cut out those recordings and put them together to make one audio file that's just the show, and put that file in the folder I've just linked (the sub-folder with their stand-up), if anyone wants to hear it. It's a recording of them performing the show in 2005, but it's their 2004 Edinburgh show that they're performing. Eloquently titled: Erm… It's About the World… I Think You'd Better Sit Down.

Look, it's everyone's friend Brian Logan! Having opinions in 2004. That guy has so many opinions. Based on the sample I've read, I'd say I agree with about 45% of his opinions. He does have his opinions on a professional basis, though, and I just go around having opinions as a hobby. So I guess he's the real winner, even when his opinions are wrong.

I like comedy with ambition, and saving the world is as ambitious as it gets. Such is the goal that John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman have teamed up to achieve. If the news pages this morning suggest that they've failed, that may be because the duo don't apply any great passion to their task. Their stock-in-trade is the kind of urbane wit that we associate with their regular employer, Radio 4. You sense that they'd treat Armageddon and Nirvana with the same arched eyebrow. But their jokes are as intelligent as they come. Oliver and Zaltzman are better writers than performers, and their tag-team relationship here can seem slightly stilted. But there are some expressive set pieces. I may not agree that public opinion is as rightwing as they portray it, but Zaltzman ruthlessly spoofs the kind of politician who adapts his speech, phrase by phrase, to reflect the vox populi.

First of all - "they don't apply any great passion to their task", "slightly stilted" - how dare you, Brian? Don't you ever talk about my dad that way again. Andy Zaltzman has so much passion that the only way he can detonate it safely is if he wraps it in like 18 layers of irony for protection.

...It's fine, don't worry, I know that Andy Zaltzman's not really my dad. Kind of. Okay, there might be a bit of confusion on the issue, because my visceral "fuck you" reaction to criticism of him is probably a bit over the top, especially if you take into account that "slightly stilted" is at best an accurate description of Andy Zaltzman, and at worst an understatement. "Awkward as fuck" might be more correct. 00s-era John Oliver was also pretty fucking awkward, and Andy Zaltzman made John Oliver look like [insert name of some very smooth and charismatic celebrity here, I can't be bothered to think of one].

I don't think their double act was stilted, though obviously I didn't see whatever night in 2004 when Brian Logan graced them with his presence. I think that double act is the only thing about Andy Zaltzman that isn't stilted. The way he and John Oliver can play off each other without missing a beat - John Oliver's the only person who has good chemistry with Andy "Awkward as fuck" Zaltzman, but Zaltzman/Oliver is maybe the best comedy chemistry I've ever heard. So shut up, Brian. Don't talk about my dad.

Steve Bennett and his opinions. I tend to agree with Bennett's opinions more often than with Logan's, but I definitely agree with Brian Logan's approach to basic editing more than I agree with Steve Bennett's (I know my own blog is full of typos, but I'm just a hobbyist, I get to hold the professional opinions to a higher standard).

There's a lot to admire in the comedy Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver peddle. Considering politics in terms of huge global issues, rather than simple Bush-bashing, they skilfully condense big ideas into silly jokes or slapstick sketches. At their inspired best, their writing verges on the magnificent; with perfect, pointed gags that penetrate all the liberal blether to hit right to the heart. Yet somehow I didn't enjoy this show as much as I wanted to, with the density of ideas and occasional verbosity diluting the undeniably fine material on offer.

I do find that part pretty funny. I got the same sense from both reviews, that it could boil down to: "Well, they write funny stuff, it's good material, but I just don't like the guys. They're really annoying. They can write good jokes, but why do they have to be so annoying about it?"

There's an unnecessary drive-by shot at Kitson later in the review, which I also find funny:

They work well together, which should be no surprise given their solo work covers similar themes with similar sensitivities. Daniel Kitson is drafted in to help with some additional roles, including the voices of God, as if to fit his ego, and a Europhile croissant taking part in a Trisha-style showdown with Oliver's barking mad British Empire.

Hey! Come on, Steve, what did Daniel Kitson ever do to you? You're supposed to be talking about how annoying Zaltzman and Oliver are, and then there's a side-swipe at Kitson's ego. Though to be fair, he's not wrong, as that was part of the joke. I've heard the Zaltzman and Oliver sketch where he plays God, and there are inside jokes in it for anyone familiar with Kitson's career, who will understand why it's a bit on the nose to have him literally play God. The version I've heard was from 2011, though, I didn't realize they were doing the Kitson-as-God joke back in 2004. Actually, I didn't realize Kitson was in this at all in 2004, I thought Zaltzman and Oliver played all the roles themselves back then and they just brought Kitson in for the special reunion performance in 2011. Apparently not.

In other gags, the audience has to join some of the dots themselves, adding an extra satisfaction to the jokes. There are a smattering of comedy in-jokes for the cognoscenti, too, not to mention a few for the football fans to add to the richness of the material. In a swelling sea of topical comics, these two stand out for their intelligence and their lofty ambitions. In short, they are Britain's best hopes for the future of satire, their complex ideas becoming increasingly accessible year after year.

Yep, that sounds like them. Football references, comedy in-jokes, intelligent and putting extra stuff in there for the audience members who can find it. That's high praise for a show you didn't enjoy as much as you wanted to, Bennett. You must have found them really annoying to have struggled to enjoy them despite the material having all that.

To be fair, "better writers than performers" could also sound like them, if you define "good performer" as someone who's remotely smooth and charismatic, which I do not. Anyway, feel free to take things from the folder I linked above, if you are interested in hearing some excellent writers and mixed review-generating annoying performers embody the spirit of Radio 4 for a few years.

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