#let’s ignore the fact that two are movie musicals and thank I didn’t add many more

[pretentiouswreckingball]

Top 9 movie posters

Thank you for the tag mi amorrrrr @blossoms-and-possums <3

Post the posters of your top 9 favourite films in order

no pressure tag: @static-radio-ao3 @arsonfaerie @frank-lilac @belleandsaintsebastian @bellaxisworld @spacexcowgirl @whorerific @nevvaraven @calamitoustide @otrtbs

[kaghoeyama]

three of cups.

featuring: eren jaeger, armin arlert, afab reader.

word count: 5.5k

summary: you, eren and armin have been best friends for ages. there’s always been an underlying tension between the three of you, until that tension finally snaps.

content warning: smut, college au, post-timeskip characters, alcohol consumption (characters are tipsy but not inebriated), threesome, mlm, mutual pining, voyeurism, thigh riding, fingering (f receiving), slight edging, use of good boy/good girl, masturbation, cumplay

a/n: uhh so i was horny and this happened. pls be kind this is like my first fanfic ever (also english is not my first language so if you spot any mistakes feel free to let me know).

update: so apparently tumblr took out a whole ass paragraph after the “keep reading” and then repeated two different paragraphs twice?? i’ve seen people trying to fix this by adding asterisks so i’m doing the same. sorry about that lol.

18+ CONTENT - MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

So loud, you think.

You can almost feel the room vibrate with beat of the music, your steps naturally adapting to the rhythm as you make your way through a crowd of college students in various states of dishevelment. A smile comes to your lips. The whole place smells of alcohol and sweat and the floor is sticky, but you can’t bring yourself to be annoyed at the chaos; the year had been brutal for a lot of you and with finals finally behind you, no one was gonna miss the chance to loosen up and just have fun, yourself included. Which was exactly what brought you to make this little trip across the room, eyes fixed on your objective.

*

*

*

He’s leaning against the wall, his golden hair making it easier for you to spot him in the crowded room. His eyes are trained on his phone as he mindless scrolls down with his thumb, so you’re not too surprised when he doesn’t notice you straight away, even when you’re standing right in front of him.

You take a moment to take in his delicate features, his skin turned to porcelain by the bright light coming from his phone; the alcohol makes you bold enough to trail a hand up his arm and rest on his cheek, successfully shifting his attention to you. His face relaxes in a smile when he sees you, but his eyebrows are still raised in surprise at your sudden closeness; he opens his mouth to greet you but you’re quicker,  “Armin, would you please let me kiss you?”, your gaze keeping him pinned against the wall.

“I- what?” 

You relish in the way his breath catches in his throat, and you certainly don’t miss the flush that comes to his face or the way his eyes drop to your lips. 

“It’s for a dare… please?” your answer comes so innocent to his ears and he tries not to think at how pretty your plea sounded, even prettier than he’d fantasized so many times now.

 “I- I mean, yeah, sure” he stammers; you chuckle when close the distance between you, his pretty blue eyes still confused as you press your lips against his. 

The kiss comes out of the blue for him, yet you don’t miss the way his hands instinctively grip your waist as he pulls you closer to him. You hum into the kiss, your body suddenly so warm as he moves his lips against yours; he’s so pliant, all you had to do was ask and now he’s all over you, his grip keeping you flush against his body. Your fingers slip between his golden locks and when you lightly tug at them his hold grows tighter, his lips parting with a low moan. You swear you hear him whimper as you slip your tongue past his lips, taking control of the kiss as you explore his mouth, warm and wet and oh his hands are gripping your ass now, and you moan into the kiss as you feel his erection poking at your hip.

 “The dare said ‘kiss’ but if you two wanna get a room…” Sasha’s loud voice somehow reaches you from across the room and you pull back from the kiss, a string of spit connecting still connecting your mouths. He’s panting, mouth still parted, and you can’t help but stare at his pink lips, slightly puffed and still shiny from the kiss.

 Without thinking you brush a thumb against his lower lip, “so pretty” you murmur. 

Armin swallows around nothing, and when your eyes meet his pupils are all blown out, pleading, almost begging you to close the distance once again. Fuck he looks so flustered, heat pooling between your legs as you wonder how he’d look if you took his cock in your mouth, if you could make him so lost in pleasure that his smart little brain couldn’t form any coherent thoughts.

 You feel his arm around your shoulders before you see him, his usual scent of soap and lemon shampoo now mixed with a hint of smoke. You rest your head against his shoulder, your body craving physical contact after the kiss you’d shared with the blond. “Hi ’ren” you murmur against his shirt, dazed eyes looking up at him and then shifting to Armin. Your kiss was enough to make his brain fuzzy but now, with Eren’s arm wrapped around him and his body so close, he felt completely overwhelmed.

Eren pressed a kiss over your hair and pulled you and Armin even closer. “You shouldn’t keep all the fun to yourselves, don’t you know that sharing is caring?” he whispered, loud enough for both of you to hear through the music.

You can’t believe that cheesy line sent a shiver through your body. You figure it’s because of Eren.

“Maybe we should make use of that tequila bottle in our dorm room, what do you say Armin?” he adds, the blond choking out a soft affirmation. You doubt your sober self would have done that, but you were tipsy enough not to care when you took both their hands, interlacing your fingers with their own, a teasing smile gracing your lips. “Then what are we waiting for?”

 You feel strangely calm as you walk down the hallway. It’s definitely quieter than the party, and your attention is quickly drawn from one dorm room to another, where you catch glimpses of people smoking and drinking to the sound of at least ten different playlists.

Again, you smile. For the third year now you’re witnessing how your otherwise rigorous and law abiding campus turns into a huge frat party in the weekend after finals. You don’t know if it’s the warm weather or the fact most common spaces are surprisingly clean by monday that makes everyone look the other way, either way you’re thankful. You close your eyes for a moment as you walk, slightly overwhelmed by the music and the loud chatter and the drink you had at the party, your brain lost in a pleasant buzz.

 A light squeeze to your hand brings you back to earth. Your head turns to your left, eyes slowly opening to meet a pair of blue ones. 

“Are you okay?” Armin asks softly, the tiniest hint of concern slipping past his lips. You wait a beat before addressing his question, choosing to look at him instead. You note that his cheeks are almost as pink as his lips, and that his blue t-shirt makes his eyes sparkle; you ignore how your stomach flips when you realize he’d been holding your hand since you’d left the party. 

“I’m great,” you say as you shift closer to him “I’m in a good mood actually.”

 You catch Eren’s eyes leaving you as he turns his head forward and keeps walking in front of you. You let your gaze travel from his head – you loved that half bun he kept his hair in more than you should – to his broad shoulders, entranced by the way his black t-shirt stretches over his muscular back.

You must have missed the part where he stopped in front of the dorm room, because you end up bumping against that back. 

“You’re completely out of it” Eren teases with a grin. 

“No, I’m not” you retort, “as I said, I’m in a good mood.”

 The look he gives you is playful. “You call it good mood, I call it being drunk.”

 “I had literally just one drink, there’s no way anyone could get drunk from that.”

 “Depends on how strong the drink is.”

 “Will you shut up?”

 You’re still bickering as you enter the room, Armin rolling his eyes at the two of you with a fond smile. Once Eren shuts the door though, you all fall quiet.

 The only light came from the blue led Armin had put on his side of the room, casting a glow over your faces that was almost ethereal. There’s a weird tension, a nervous feeling gripping your stomach and making you tingle with anticipation. You’d been alone with them in that very room more times than you could count, cramming for tests, watching a movie or simply hanging out, but tonight something was different. You sit next to Armin on his bed, eyebrows knitting together as you quickly try to analyse that feeling.

 The three of you had been friends for ages, since you all attended the same elementary school and lived down the same street. You had bonded with Armin first, his quiet and intelligent personality matching well with yours. You remember fondly the warm afternoons in his backyard, grass tickling your skin as he showed you his new ocean life books and you rambled about ancient Egypt, Greek myths or whatever you were fixating on at the moment.

 Eren on the other hand – at first you couldn’t stand him. You only knew him as ‘Armin’s other friend’, but he was such a loud and hot headed kid, you’d always found his attitude too off-putting to even start a conversation, and you were pretty sure he didn’t like you either. After some pushing from Armin though, you’d actually tried to get to know each other; much to your surprise, you found out you had a lot of interests in common. Eventually, you’d even come to admire how passionate he got about the things he cared about, how strong his ideals were, and with time his impulsivity left room to a much more calculated approach.

 After all these years, the three of you were still as thick as thieves; you’d become so comfortable around each other that people always assumed you were either dating one of them. You’d always brush it off with a laugh, but now you wonder if it’s normal for friends to behave like that around each other. It was the little things at first; lingering touches, wondering eyes, teasing comments. Then Eren’s hands all over you every time you wore a pretty dress, or Armin’s obvious erection that time you and Eren were messing around at the pool; even your friends had noticed how close you were – and never missed a chance to tease you about it.

This is stupid, you conclude. They’re your oldest and closest friends, you won’t allow your attraction to them – at least you’re admitting it’s there – to make things weird.

 You move to get the tequila you know they keep hidden in the closet; maybe that will shake the awkwardness away. You take a long sip before handing the bottle to the blond, alcohol still burning in your throat as you lay on your back, head resting on his lap.

 You feel him still beneath you; when you look at him, his flustered expression is clear despite the dim lit room – before you can catch yourself, you wonder if he’s still hard from before.

 Eren looks at the both of you on Armin’s bed. You’ve closed your eyes and your head is lightly nodding along with some music coming from the hallway, the beat muffled by the closed door. He watches Armin, a fond smile dancing on his lips as he can almost hear the mental pep talk the blond gives himself before raising a hand to play with your hair. You hum at that, eyes slowly opening as you turn your head towards him.

 “Eren, come closer” you say, stretching out an arm as if to reach him.

 “And why would I do that” he answers with a playful smile on his lips.

 You raise your eyebrow, smiling back to him. “If you insist on staying over there, I guess Armin and I are really gonna keep all the fun to ourselves, isn’t that right Armin.” You say lightly, rising from his lap to lay against his side, your body wrapping around his arm; his hand ends up between your closed thighs and somehow you manage not purr in his ear as you rest your head on his shoulder, both of you now facing Eren. 

When Armin speaks, you don’t miss how his playful tone hides a hint of malice, eyes fixed on the brunette, “oh I’m sure he wouldn’t mind just watching if we were actually having fun.”

Eren laughs at that, his voice dropping lower. 

“True” he admits calmly, as if the thought hadn’t brought him to several orgasms through the years, “but right now I think I’d rather join.” 

And he does, sitting close to your other side.

You wish that type of exchange wasn’t as common as it was between the three of you. You also wish it didn’t send a wave of arousal trough your body every single time.

You watch him as he leans toward you to grab the bottle from Armin’s hand, taking a sip of the amber liquor. Your eyes follow a drop of alcohol at the corner of his mouth, unconsciously tightening your hold on the blond as Eren’s tongue comes out to bring the drop past his lips.

In that moment, Armin decides he’s had enough. He’s way too turned on to let all this teasing slide; if the three of you really are as attracted to each other as he thinks, this was the time he was gonna do something about it. So when he speaks, he does with a purpose.

 “Is it weird that I’ve kissed both my best friends?” his question sounds so innocent, he even lets out a calculated chuckle to feign embarrassment.

Eren tilts his head toward him, throwing him a curious glance “You still remember that? Must have been one hell of a kiss huh” he smirks. 

Armin knows he’s teasing, and that he clearly remembers too, but he can’t help the pink blush that colours his cheeks as his thoughts rush back to that night.

 It happened first semester of junior year, after Sasha’s ‘small’ housewarming party had quickly turned into a full blown party. As the music got louder and more and more people filled the tiny flat, Jean, all tipsy and bright eyed, had gathered all of you in Sasha’s room to play spin the bottle – most of you had booed him, but you’d followed him anyway.

 After watching you awkwardly peck Connie on the lips and Mikasa blush violently as Sasha took her face between her hands and gave her a loud smooch, it was his turn to play. He gave the bottle a spin and almost choked on his spit when it landed on Eren. He remembers everyone cheering as he tried to stop his face from flushing red, looking everywhere but at Eren; that’s how his eyes landed on you, quiet where your friends were loud, your eyes focused on him in a way that was almost daring.

He followed your gaze as it moved towards Eren, finally making eye contact with the boy. His attempts look composed failed miserably when Eren, a lazy smirk spreading on his lips, beckoned him with his hand to move closer.

 “I- uh we don’t have to…” he choked out.

 Eren’s smirk grew wider, “It’s just a game Armin, what are you scared of?”

 Armin couldn’t tell if his tone was soft or mocking, either way he felt as he had something to prove now.

He stood on his knees and crawled on the floor as Eren mirrored him, ignoring the way his stomach flipped as they met in the middle of the circle, so close he could feel his breath over his lips.

“What’s taking so long?” Jean said from somewhere behind him, “it’s not like you haven’t done this before” he teased.

Armin wanted to turn back and state that no, they had not actually done that before – he’d probably sound way more disappointed than he should – but before he could even open his mouth he felt a hand on his cheek; his eyes flickered back to Eren’s green ones, only to find them trained on his lips as the brunette sealed the gap between them.

Eren’s lips felt so impossibly soft again his, he tasted like vodka and something sweet he couldn’t recognise and Armin couldn’t really thing about anything as he lost himself in the kiss. The hand on his cheek moved through his hair and Eren pulled slightly, just enough to make Armin gasp against his lips, taking the chance to slide his tongue against his lower lip and into his mouth. Armin broke the kiss at that, a whimper leaving his lips because he wanted, needed more, but the feelings building up inside him – and the arousal making his pants tighter – were sending him in a slight panic.

He barely registered his friends’ loud noises as he sat back on his spot, but he didn’t miss the way Eren winked at him and licked his lips, green eyes boring into his blue ones. Armin struggled to act like his normal self rather than some teenager who had just kissed his long time crush. He desperately tried to focus on something, anything but Eren and his stupid lips and stupid grin and stupidly pretty eyes right in front of him, and that’s how his eyes found you again.

 You had watched the whole scene with an interest you hoped went unnoticed by your friends. You sure hoped Mikasa, sat right next to you, had missed the way your breath hitched in your throat as you watched the blond gasp under Eren’s grip, heat coursing through your body and pooling between your legs. When Armin’s blue eyes found you, flustered, with half lidded eyes and teeth sunk in your bottom lip, you’d lowered your head in shame.

 Eren rests his head again the wall and closes his eyes, as to enhance the memory.

It had been over a year ago, yet he remembered Armin’s sweet lips against his, the small noises he unconsciously let out going straight to his groin.

 He remembered your face, eyes glossy with desire as you watched them part, flustered almost as much as Armin, as if you’d been the one kissing him instead, and oh had he wanted to kiss you. Had it been just the three of you in that room, he would have grabbed your face and bruised those pretty lips, forcing Armin’s sweet taste in your mouth.

 He’d long given up the guilt that came with fantasising about his closest friends, any uncomfortable feeling quickly replaced by pleasure every time he wrapped his hand around his cock. At first it was just one of you under him, on top of him; soon enough he’d started picturing both of you on your knees, eyes bright and pleading, pink tongue hanging out of your mouths as you wait for him to paint your pretty faces with his cum.

“So who’s the best kisser?” you ask, your warm breath against Armin’s ear making him shiver.

 “I can’t- You both… I’m not gonna answer that.” Armin manages to sound flustered when he answers.

 Eren looks at him. “I would” he states nonchalantly, “but I don’t have all the materials to make my choice.” His tone drops to a low murmur, green eyes slowly shifting to you.

 Armin tries to hold back a smile, both of you reacting exactly as he anticipated.

 Your heart is hammering in your chest, it’s beat so loud you’re sure both of the boys can hear it; when you speak, you desperately try to keep your voice steady.

“Then god forbid you make an uniformed decision.”

 Eren is straight up grinning at this point; he grabs your wrists and tugs you closer, pulling you on his lap. You balance yourself on his shoulders as his hands graze your bare thighs up and down, your skirt bunching up to your hips and barely covering your panties.

 When your eyes meet, you’re shocked at how softly he’s looking at you. “I’ve been waiting a while for this” he murmurs, his voice almost a whisper, and you swear you can feel him stroking your cheek before burying his hands your hair and drawing you closer. He’s so warm all pressed up against you, so sweet when his lips ghost against yours before finally kissing you.

You’re slow to respond at first, too lost in how right it feels to have him so close and all over you, but you’re quick to part your lips for him, his tongue sliding against yours; he tastes of alcohol and you get drunk on it, a small moan leaving your throat and getting lost in the kiss. You whimper as you feel him groping your ass and push you even closer. He’s kissing you like a man starved, devouring you, the intensity making you feel light headed. You break apart from the kiss with a sigh, head falling on his shoulder, barely registering what you’re doing as you lightly grind against his hardening cock.

Eren groans as he tugs your hair so that you can look at him, his dark pupils swallowing up almost any trace of green. 

“So needy… how many times have you thought about this?” he asks, a teasing smile on his lips as his fingers play with the hem of your skirt. 

You look away from him, cheeks heating up; you don’t want to admit how many times you’ve cummed on your fingers with their names on your lips, but you don’t think you have a choice.

 His head dips lower to press an open mouth kiss to the column of your throat, “Answer baby, there’s no need to be shy; we’re all friends here.”

 You suck in your breath, voice embarrassingly shaky “so- so many times, w- with both of you” you confess.

 Armin groans at your words, a curse slipping past his lips. “We- we could have done this so long ago” he mumbles, eyes fixed on you as he palms himself through his jeans. You feel so hot under his gaze, so wanted, you never want his eyes to leave your body.

Eren steals your attention by sucking a purple mark at the base of your neck; you bite back a moan as he licks at the bruise, heat pooling in your panties. he clicks his tongue in disapproval.

 “This won’t do” he says softly against the shell of your ear “how can Armin hear all your pretty noises if you hold them back?”

 Before you can choke out an apology, his lips go back on your neck, finding that sweet spot below your ear that makes you whimper. You’re trembling as he sucks another bruise on your skin and this time you don’t hold back, soft moans leaving your lips as your hands grips his hair, tugging it loose and fawning all over his shoulders.

 Eren pulls back, admiring his work as you try to steady your breath. 

“Good girl” he murmurs, “let us hear you.”

 You shudder at his words. You don’t think you’ve ever been so turned on in your life, and he’s barely put his mouth on you. You can feel wet slick gathering in your panties and you shift to straddle one of his thighs, grinding hard to relieve the tension as your head falls back, a loud moan leaving your lips.

Two strings of low curses reach your ears, and you barely register Armin slipping a hand under his pants as Eren pulls you down on him again, the knee you have trapped between his legs pressing against his hard cock.

 “Fuck, baby you wanna cum like that? Riding my thigh?” he pants, slightly bouncing his leg up to meet your movements, successfully drawing another moan out of your lips.

He brings a hand your face, almost reverent as his thumb grazes your lower lip, just like you’d done with Armin barely an hour ago. Your tongue darts out and licks the tip of his thumb before wrapping your lips around it, sucking slightly as you nod, eager.

Eren parts his lips, eyes glued to your mouth. He can’t believe he finally has you – both of you – as he wants you, as he’s pictured so many times; he wonders if he’ll come undone in his pants like a teenager, as you add pressure on his throbbing cock with each grind of your hips. He slips his finger from your warm lips, rushing his hands under your skirt to take off your panties.

 When you finally readjust yourself on his thick thigh, you almost sob at the feeling of your bare, sensitive cunt against the rough material of his pants. Before you can resume your movements, he lifts up the piece of fabric, dangling it in front of your face.

 “Look at this” he murmurs, “completely soaked” his voice trailing off as an idea suddenly forms in his mind. 

He turns to Armin, and fuck, he feels his cock twitch at the sight. The blond is laying against the headboard, legs spread apart; he has a hand wrapped tight at the base of his hard, leaking cock, his pretty face all scrunched up in pleasure. 

Armin’s cheeks heat up when he notices Eren’s eyes on him, but it doesn’t stop him from slowly stroking his cock, trying to delay his orgasm as much as possible.

“’Min, you think you could use these?” Eren asks, dark eyes dropping between the blond’s legs. Armin’s eyes widen at the request, his brain shutting down for a moment as he looks at the drenched panties in his hand. 

“What? I- I-…” he looks at you, dazed, half lidded eyes boring into his blue ones as you rub slowly on eren’s thigh. “Y- yes please” he chokes out, shame reddening the tip of his ears.

 “So polite… what a good boy” Eren purrs, his deep voice making Armin twitch in his own hand. 

He takes the panties, the beads of your arousal thick on the side your cunt was, and he wraps the fabric around his cock. You watch with wide eyes, struggling to believe that sweet innocent Armin would ever give you such a lewd sight; you’re itching to lean over and kiss, lick, bite every inch of his body, but Eren’s grip on your waist keeps you in place.

Armin moans loudly as your slick smears all over his shaft. He keeps rubbing at himself with your panties trapped between his hand and his cock and how the fuck is this already topping every sexual experience I’ve ever had he manages to think. His eyes trail up and down your body, Eren’s body, and he doesn’t even notice how much his strokes speed up, hips bucking desperately into his own hand.

“Slow down baby or you’ll miss all the fun” Eren’s voice is as soft as the hand he puts on his leg to appease him. “If you behave, y/n will let you cum on her, right?” he says, sneaking a hand between your legs and sliding two fingers between your dripping folds.

 “Ah- ye- yes Armin, wherever you want” you squeak, arching your back as Eren slips his fingers inside you. You feel inebriated as he slowly starts pumping, his fingertips massaging your walls, so slowly you want to cry. You wail when his fingers curl over your sweet spot, a hand gripping your waist to stop you from fucking yourself against his hand.

“Please ‘Ren, oh god, please, faster” you sob, high pitched moans slipping past your lips before you even realise it.

Instead of listening to you, Eren pulls his fingers out and slides them up to your clit, collecting your slick; you whimper when he retracts his hand from your cunt, pressing down on his thigh once again to get more friction. When your clit brushes against a wrinkle in his pants your eyes roll inside your head, orgasm so close you can taste it, but apparently Eren has other plans.

 “Not yet baby, hold it for a bit longer, will you?” he purrs close to your ear, his mouth peppering wet kisses on your neck.

“Please a-ah Eren I c-can’t-” your words come out as broken sobs but you’ve long stopped caring, your brain filled with nothing but pleasure.

When Eren looks at your face you look absolutely wrecked, sweat shining on your forehead and cheeks red from the strain, chest heaving as quick pants come out of your parted lips. “

Armin, come here.” He says, hungry eyes still locked on yours. The blond obeys and shuffles closer to the two of you, your panties forgotten on the bed.

“You’ve been so good I think you deserve a reward” he says, as he pushes the glistening fingers he’d just pulled out of your cunt straight into Armin’s pretty mouth. 

The blond moans at your taste, both hands coming to grab Eren’s wrist and push his fingers further in his mouth, choking slightly when they hit the back of his throat. Eren watches him in a trance, mesmerised by his blown eyes and the drop of spit that dribbles from the corner of his mouth. He wants to fucking ruin him. But not yet.

He takes his hand from the blond’s grasp – the whimper that leaves his mouth almost makes him cum on the spot. Eren lifts you from his lap, ignoring your pout as he places you right beside Armin.

 “Sit still for me” he says as he slowly palms his cock before unbuttoning his pants and sliding them down with his boxers. You hear Armin suck in his breath as Eren’s hard cock slaps against his stomach, your own eyes widening at the sight; in length he almost matches the blonde, but the girth is just… fuck. Even dwarfed by his huge hand it’s almost intimidating, a thick vein reaching his pink leaking tip.

Eren takes his time as he pumps himself, eyes fixed on both of you; he drinks in your pretty, desperate faces, hands clutching the bedsheets as you try not to squirm under his gaze.

“Where do you wanna cum ’Min?” Eren’s question snaps him off a stupor, eyes leaving his groin to settle on your face.

You’re surprised Armin can blush more than he already is as he stutters that he wants to cum on you tits. You smirk as you quickly take off your top and unhook your bra, lust clouding you senses as you lay on the bed, head towards Eren as you motion Armin to straddle your waist. His eyes flicker to Eren and you miss the brunette’s nod before Armin comes on top of you, knees straddling your thighs.

Armin can’t believe just how fucking pretty you look under him, naked except for that cute pleated skirt you’re somehow still wearing. His hand trails up your stomach to squeeze your tits, fingers playing with your nipples as he pumps himself faster.

You feel Eren’s hand cradle your face, “touch yourself” he says, and you do just that.

With your skirt bunched up at your waist and your fingers quickly circling your clit, Armin doesn’t stand a chance; he leans forward, a hand planted on the bed as he cums on your tits with loud moan and your name on his lips, warm liquid painting your heaving chest. 

You watch the blond leaning back against the headboard, desperately trying to catch his breath; you lock eyes with him, toungue wetting your lips as you bring a hand up to play with the mess he made on you, getting high on the look of pure defeat on his face as you take your cum coated fingers back to your clit.

 “Oh fuck” Eren can’t believe how wrecked his own voice sounds “who would have thought you two would be such dirty sluts” he pants, his hand sliding faster and faster against his cock.

 You moan at his words “’Ren p-please can- can I-”

 “Cum.” He orders, and you obey right away.

The sounds that leave your lips are nothing short of pornographic, your body shaking and twitching in pleasure, mouth agape and head thrown back as white lights explode behind your eyelids, any coherent thought wiped out of your brain. Eren chokes out a curse at the sight, soft, high pitched groans echoing in the room until he finally cums with a broken moan, the liquid coating his hand and making a mess on his clothes.

It takes a while before any of you even attempts to move; silence falls in the room once again, except for your labored pants mixed with the music still playing in the hallway.

 Eren is the first to get up and head for the bathroom. By the time you’ve all taken a shower and settled back on Armin’s bed, no one has still said a word. You feel anxiety settle low in your stomach, its grip speeding up your heartbeats.

Did you ruin everything? Is this the end of your friendship? 

 “So who’s the best kisser?”

 Armin’s voice comes out tired and rough, but it puts a halt to the doubts swirling in your mind.

 The breathy chuckle leaving Eren’s mouth sends a wave of relief through your body; “I’m sorry ’Min but y/n is definitely winning this one.” You smile as you feel his hand ghosting over your spine.

 “Yeah, figured.”

The blond curls up against you and you’re still smiling. 

The bed is way too small for the three of you and the night breeze coming from the window does little to cool you down, but you’ve never been better, a warm feeling spreading from where your bodies connect with each other.

 As slumber takes you, you hope they’re still gonna be there when you wake up.

[itsallyscorner]

BABES! What is she’s a little mix member and a cast member of Spider-Man 💀

YES! Hiya my love and thank you for the request💜 I’m honestly so obsessed with these Little Mix requests, I didn’t think people would like them, but turns out people love them! I’m totally obsessed with these AHHH! Happy reading darling😌

💌.

Exposed

The girls aren’t really involved in this one, but they are mentioned💜 Heavy on the dialogue, I tried :)! This one’s more focused on Tom & reader:)

(Gif from Pinterest)

For your first time being in a movie, you’ve hit the jackpot. Not many people can say that their very first project in the movie industry was with Marvel Studios. You’ve been lucky enough to be casted in Spider-Man: Far From Home, playing Amelia James, a classmate of Peter but was from another universe. Though that last part wasn’t established yet.

You were currently at Capital FM’s studios doing an interview with Roman Kemp, someone who you were very familiar with. Accompanying you were your cast mates, Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, and Zendaya. You lot were currently on the press tour promoting the movie that was only days away from premiering in London. You were all laughing at Tom who has been retelling a story of him getting punched on set.

Though you’ve only met him a few months ago, you felt as if you’ve known the charming man since forever. A fond smile was set on your lips as you watched him talk animatedly into the mic. You felt a nudge beside you. Turning, you see Zendaya smirking at you. She’s caught on at how you looked at Tom, always teasing how when either of you looked at each other, your eyes would turn into beating hearts.

You playfully roll your eyes and nudge her back. Your attention is diverted from her when Roman calls on you, “I’ve been wanting to mention this from the beginning, but it’s odd to see you without the girls in the studio.”

You nod chuckling, “I know! I actually feel weird not having them with me here because I’m so used to doing everything with them.”

“How was that like? I know you girls are genuinely close in real life, so how was it being away from them for so long?” Roman asked you.

“Honestly, I felt a bit anxious not having them by my side all the time. I hate not being with them because they’re like my safety blanket.” You explained. On your other side, you saw Tom frown at you.

You quickly add, “Not that I’m having a horrible time with you guys, it’s just that I miss them a lot. Like I don’t have Jesy beside me to make jokes with or Perrie to mother me around, you know?”

“She’s lying, she can’t wait to leave us. We’re horrible.” Tom jokes looking at you with that cheeky grin of his. You sigh swatting his arm, “That’s completely false, I loved working with these guys.”

“Have the girls visited you on set?” You tilt your head in thought.

“Well—not really. We’re busy working on our sixth album so everyone’s been at the studio here in London. But we have called each other on FaceTime and texted almost everyday, so we were always in contact even when I was away.” You answered fiddling with the hem of your dress. Tom has known you long enough and been in many interviews with you to know that the gesture was something when you felt nervous. Discreetly, he inches his hand closer to yours under the table until his large palm rests atop your hand. You look at him and flash him a smile before turning back to Roman.

Roman continues with his questions, “I know the girls are very supportive, but what was their reaction when you told them you were gonna be in a movie?”

You feel Tom’s hand squeeze yours and you couldn’t help the smile that makes it’s way to your lips. “They were so supportive and excited. I was actually reluctant about accepting the role, but they literally pushed me to do it and I’m so glad they did. I’m truly blessed to have them in my life.”

“Yeah, thank God for Little Mix, or else we would have never met (y/n).” Jacob says into his mic. Zendaya let’s out a “YES!”, high fiving her friend in agreement. You laugh at the two’s antics.

“Aren’t you glad they pushed you to take the role? Now you have us in your life.” Tom proudly states smirking at you.

“No, it’s actually worse now because you’re in it.” You tease him. Tom gasps and placed his free hand to his heart.

“I actually made it harder for myself because I told him some stuff about the new album and now I’m just nervous he’s going to spill something. Then I’m gonna be in trouble.” You go on to explain. Z shakes her head at you, “I told you not to tell him anything.”

Tom perks up and leans forward to glare at her, “Excuse me? I’m capable of keeping a secret, for your information.” He sassily tells her. You and Z burst out laughing at the man in beside you.

“Ok, so are we just going to ignore the fact that you were about to post a video of me in the studio recording a new song?” You question him. Tom was about to speak but Jacob beat him to it.

“I swear if it weren’t for me or Daya, you would’ve been responsible for leaking a song.” Jacob pointed out. Tom huffed out slumping himself into his chair.

“I just can’t catch a break can I?” He asks rhetorically looking at the ceiling. Roman smiles at the four of you, “Obviously from the energy in this room, you guys all seem to get along.”

“Everyone except for Tom.” Z mumbles under her breath. Roman snickers before continuing, “How was it like working with each other? Especially for you (y/n) because you’re the newbie of the group.”

“I mean for me, it was nice to work with everyone again. These guys are my friends so it was like hanging out with them everyday with a side of working. (Y/n)’s part of the group now too, so even better, karaoke nights are gonna be lit.” Jacob answered first. You sent him a wink with finger guns, him doing the same thing to you.

“I’m just glad there’s more women in the group. Laura wasn’t in this one so we were one girl down, then (y/n) came and we just had an amazing time together. It was nice to get away from those two and all the stuff they’re up to.” Z gestured to Tom and Jacob. You loved both of them, but when they were bored they were always up to no good.

“This was my first movie, so I was really nervous to step foot onto set. I remember when we had our first table read and feeling so intimidated because everyone there were professionals and had experience. Meanwhile there’s me with zero experience at all trying to fit in with all these actors.” You answered with a slight chuckle. Tom hums beside you squeezing your hand once again.

“But everyone was so sweet and welcoming. From the crew to the cast, they’re a really great group to work with and I’d like to work with them again, if given the chance.” You finished off.

“You know, for your first movie, you did amazing.” Tom complimented you. Roman quickly swooped in, “Tom, I actually wanted to talk to you about something you said last time you were here.”

Tom looks at him confused, “What did I say?”

“How was it like to finally meet (y/n)? Last time you were on here you admitted t—.” Roman began to talk but Tom cut him off.

“ADMITTED TO LISTENING TO LITTLE MIX!” Tom yells over Roman. He has slightly gotten up from his seat and was making wild motions at Roman with his hand. Everyone shot Tom a look except for Roman who stared at him amused.

Roman shook his head, a cheeky grin on his face, “Not quite, mate.”

“Y-yes. I did admit to listening to them, Touch is my favorite song.” Tom said nervously, regretting that he mentioned Touch.

Roman snickered at Tom, “Well it definitely had something to do with Touch, you had a lot to say about—.” Tom cuts him off again.

“The visual effects.” You raise a brow at Tom.

“Tom, there were barely any effects in that music video.” You tell him. Tom glances at you with wide eyes before correcting himself, “The camera work was really good.”

“Are you good?” Z asks Tom squinting at him. Tom let go of your hand and rubbed his palms together, something he did to ease his nerves.

“I’m great, man.” Tom’s voice pitches as he adjusts himself in his seat. Roman stifles a laugh before turning to you.

“Tom’s admitted to fancying you.” He reveals. Your eyes widen as Jacob and Z have smirks plastered onto their faces.

“Oh? When was this?” You look between Roman and Tom. Tom was cringing at himself hiding behind his hands.

“This is cruel.” You hear him mutter.

“He was promoting Homecoming I think. Then we were playing Touch and Tom just went into a whole conversation about the band and you.” Roman answered, a shit eating from on his face.

Tom pops up from his hand, “You don’t have proof!”

Roman looks at him with a ‘seriously?’ kind of expression as he pulls up a video on the screen. Shaking his head at Tom, “Mate, it’s my radio show.”

Tom groans as he shoves his face behind his jacket.

“Oh this is good.” Z laughs leaning back to face the monitor on the wall.

“Shall we watch my evidence, everyone?” Roman presses play.

“Is Touch the only song you know from Little Mix?” Roman asked. Tom shook his head almost offended.

“No! I’m a big fan of them, I really enjoy their music. Shout Out To My Ex, Woman Like Me, Wasabi? Ugh!” Tom closes his eyes while doing a chef’s kiss, “I’m a man, but their music is so empowering, I love it.”

Roman teasingly smiled at Tom, “Do you fancy any of them?”

“Mate, you can’t ask me that. They’re all very beautiful.” A blush starts to form on Tom’s pale cheeks.

Roman continued to prob at Tom, “You really don’t fancy at least one of them the most?”

Tom shyly smiled looking around, “I mean, (y/n)’s always stood out for me, if I’m being honest. Not just cause of her looks, but I’ve watched her interviews and she seems like a really sweet and funny person. I find that very attracting about her.” He admits.

“Have you seen the Touch video yet? Everyone was raving about her in the video.”

“Oh I definitely have, maybe a few times. She looked stunning, as always.” He dreamily smiled into his palm.

“If she were to watch this, what would you like to say?” Roman asked him. Tom’s face dropped at the mention of you seeing his confession.

“I hope she doesn’t see this. She’s gonna think I’m weird or something. I just ruined my chances.”

The video cuts off and Tom is still hiding behind his jacket. Jacob’s mouth is agape as he looks at Tom, “Dude, you just got exposed.”

“Really Jacob? Have I been exposed?” Tom finally comes out from behind his jacket, face fully flushed in embarrassment. You pouted at him, feeling bad that he was embarrassed, but your heart felt all giddy inside at the fact that he fancies you.

Roman holds his hand out cautiously at Tom, “Now before you permanently hate me, your mate Harrison put me up to this. Something about payback for a prank?”

Tom’s jaw drops as he looks out the window of the booth. Outside Harrison and Harry are seen laughing there asses off with tears in their eyes. Tom curses under his breath. The room suddenly felt like an oven, his face was flushed, his palms were sweaty, and his heart rapidly beated against his chest. Mustering up his courage he looked at you.

“Hey, at least you know who my favorite Little Mix member is now?” He awkwardly shrugged. You smiled at him, cheeks flushed as well.

“I can’t believe you’re an actual fan though!” You say, trying to ease off the embarrassment off him.

“Uh—that’s what you got from the video?” Z asked from beside you. You glance at her real quick to give her a look. Of course you were thrilled that Tom reciprocated your feelings, but at the moment it looked as if he were gonna pop a blood vessel at how hard he was glaring at Harry and Harrison.

“Of course I’m a fan! Who wouldn’t be? You guys are phenomenal, I remember watching you guys at the BRITS when you performed Shout Out To My Ex, it was epic.” His attention immediately turns to you, his eyes softening once they meet yours.

You place a comforting hand on his arm, “Why didn’t you just tell me I was your favorite?”

“Because he has a crush on you.” Jacob states as if it were an obvious fact. Tom was about to protest when Z cuts him off, “Man, don’t even try. You already got exposed and you were never good at hiding your feelings in the first place.”

Roman’s eyes shift to look at each of you, “Did I just unintentionally successfully set two people up?”

You look at Roman and shrugged your shoulders at him nonchalantly, “I don’t know yet Roman, maybe if Tom agrees for dinner, then you could say you’ve successfully set two people up.”

“Oh that was smooth.”

Tom looks at you mouth agape since he couldn’t believe you just asked him out on a live radio show.

“What?” He asks in disbelief.

“I’m asking you out, Tom.” You chuckle, your thumb tracing patterns onto his arm. Tom looks around wide eyed and leans into you, “Is this for the movie?”

Everyone in the room groans except for you and Tom. Instead you roll your eyes at him and shake his shoulders. Moving to be in his view your eyes connect with his brown ones.

“Hi, Tom, honey? I’m asking you out for dinner, don’t make me regret doing this on live radio.” You tell him, slightly joking. His eyes glance down at your lips before they return to your eyes.

“Yes, yes, yes—please, I would love to have dinner with you.” He finally snaps out of his thoughts and a smile forms on his lips. You smile back at him and lean back into your seat, “Great, we could go out tonight.”

“Sounds good.” He nods leaning back into his chair. Tom tries to fight the smile on his lips but was unsuccessful. So he sits there, smiling like an idiot. Sure, he just got humiliated on air, but it was worth it since he left that studio with the girl of his dreams anticipating the night to come.

[the-awkward-outlaw]

A New Adventure - Pt 12

Hey folks! I figured it was only fitting that this series get a chapter about Thanksgiving. Enjoy! (BTW, this one made me really excited to go and bake some stuff).

Masterlist 

Read on AO3

Thanksgiving 

November has swept past and Thanksgiving is now only days away. 

Right after Halloween, Arthur mentioned it. Of course, you knew that Thanksgiving has been celebrated in the US since the Civil War. 

Curious about what it used to be like, you asked him how the gang celebrated the holiday. 

Arthur just smiled and explained that the last Thanksgiving he had with the gang, he and John had gone out hunting for turkeys, managing to catch four of them. 

Pearson had done his best to make an exemplary meal but, lacking a proper kitchen, he could only do so much. He’d made a hash along with some peach cobbler. 

There had been roasted vegetables cooked with the turkeys. 

Sean and Lenny snuck into town and stole some pies and desserts. 

The night had ended with most of the gang getting trashed. 

Arthur, chuckling at the memories, sombered up and asked you what Thanksgiving is like now. 

Your smile faded. You haven’t had a Thanksgiving in years, thanks to not really having much of a family anymore. 

The last one had been the last year your father was alive. 

Arthur apologized and hugged you. 

“Well, why don’t you and I do one? Just us?” he suggested. 

You heartily agreed and were silently grateful you still had the recipes your mom used for this celebration. 

The next shopping trip, you bought as many of the ingredients (and most importantly the turkey) as you could in order to get them before they were gone. 

Arthur looked at the frozen turkey. You didn’t get a big one, just one of those packets of breast meat since there would only be two of you. He seemed a little put off. 

When you asked him why, he said “Just don’t seem as satisfyin’. Buying a turkey from the store. I always caught ours back with the gang.” 

You put your hands on his hips and kissed him. “Well, maybe next year, you can go turkey hunting. I’ll get you a license and everything.” 

Arthur kissed you softly and thanked you, saying he’d like that. 

As the weeks of November went by, the inevitable signs of Black Friday and Christmas were popping up. None of which excited you. In fact, nothing annoys you as much as Black Friday. 

Arthur was seeing the ads too. He asked what Black Friday is. 

“Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving where, even though people just had this big feast to be grateful for everything they already have, they go insane and spend hundreds of dollars and stand in lines for hours on end while risking getting punched in the face so they can save twenty dollars on a $400 dollar item.” 

“You serious?” he said, not hiding the ludicrousy from his voice. 

“Yeah. It’s a bullshit holiday. I always just stay home and watch South Park’s rendition of Black Friday.” 

Arthur said it shouldn’t really be classified as a holiday and you agree before telling him it’s just a US thing. Other countries don’t do it. Black Friday is the most undeniable form of capitalism that has ever existed. 

Along with Black Friday comes the other signs of Christmas. Ads on Youtube playing holiday music and some people in your neighborhood have already put up lawn decorations. 

You tell Arthur you don’t really like Christmas, not being religious yourself and not having a proper family. Then you tell Arthur you don’t wanna talk about Christmas because you hate the avaris of the whole thing and want to enjoy Thanksgiving properly this year since you finally have someone to spend it with. 

He agreed, figuring you’d tell him about Christmas the closer it got. 

Now that Thanksgiving is only days away, you’re getting excited. You’ve just pulled the turkey out to thaw ans Arthur comes up and kisses you. 

You love whenever he does this, surprising you with his kisses. 

The two of you have not slept together yet, and honestly you’re not quite sure you’re ready for that just yet. Soon probably, but not yet. 

Arthur has not been pushy. In fact, he hasn’t even brought up sex or made any kind of advances. 

“So, there any Thanksgivin’ movies you folks got?” he asks, figuring there must be as it seems there’s a movie for everything. 

“Not really. Unless you count Garfield,” you say, referring to the cartoon cat. 

Arthur wants to watch it as he enjoyed the Halloween episode of Garfield, so the two of you sit down. 

Arthur pulls you into his lap while it plays. God, he is such a sweetheart. How can he go from being scary as hell to sweet as honey within seconds? 

Thanksgiving day comes and you get up early in order to start making pie dough. 

You don’t have to start the turkey until a couple of hours before eating, thanks to your trusty Instapot. 

Just as you’re starting, Arthur comes into the kitchen, hitching his pants over his union suit. 

You have to avert your eyes as his suit hugs his body in the right places, showing the firm muscles of his chest, arms and shoulders. He leans on the doorframe and watches you for a second. He really thinks you’re beautiful and he’s thankful every day for having ran into you. 

After a moment, he joins your side. He wants to help you make dinner. 

He’s pretty out of his element, rarely having cooked anything proper and never having baked. 

Despite that, he’s helpful and eager to learn. You show him how to grind the ingredients together to make it into pie dough. 

He tries his hand at it, but seems to struggle. You tell him to just add a little bit of cold water and a lot of elbow grease. 

Finally the dough is ready, so you show him how to throw it into a ball and then roll it into a circle and then how to get it into the tin. 

Arthur asks if it wouldn’t have been easier to get pre-made dough. 

“Gah, no. That stuff is crap. Besides, for Thanksgiving you should make as much by hand as you can.”

Arthur is impressed. He didn’t think you knew how to make so much from scratch.

Arthur samples the pumpkin pie and he sighs audibly. You have to push him out of the way to stop him from dipping his finger into it for a second time so you can get it into the oven. 

While the pie is cooking, you begin another batch of dough, but this one is different as it is meant to make rolls. 

Arthur likes working with this dough much better as it’s more stretchy and doesn’t take as much pressing. 

When you show him how to grab the dough and toss it hard on the table, he finds it particularly enjoyable. He really likes kneading it too, chuckling when you ask him if he likes it. 

“There’s something to this,” he says. You agree that this dough is fun. 

Finally the dough is ready to raise. The tricky thing about this recipe is it has to be raised three times, but you learned when you were young how to grow the yeast in order to make it rise quickly. 

You and Arthur have about an hour to relax while the dough rises and the pie bakes. 

Arthur suddenly pulls you close and suggests the two of you cuddle up on the couch and just watch something that isn’t going to require your commitance. 

You blush heavily but agree. You love cuddling with Arthur. He’s warm and soft in just the right places. 

He takes you into the living room and plops onto the couch before opening up his arms so you can climb onto him. You do so right after turning on some Netflix. 

The second your cheek hits his chest, he starts combing his fingers through your hair. 

The two of you watch the show for a bit but neither of you is really interested. You’re more distracted by your company. 

You really just want to kiss him. Lately you’ve been thinking about what he might be like in the bed. Something tells you he might not be too bad, though perhaps a little inexperienced or ignorant. Sex ed nowadays is bad enough, it was even worse in his day. 

His heart is pounding hard in your ear, and it’s faster than it usually is. Is he thinking along the same vein as you? 

Before you can stop yourself, you look up at him and kiss him. He responds enthusiastically. 

It isn’t long until you’re fully straddling him, your hands winding in his hair. His hands are gripping your hips almost painfully hard. 

As you shift your thigh, you feel something below his belt pressing into your hip. It makes you blush but excites you when you realize what it is. 

You stop kissing his lips and instead move down to his neck, sucking on his pressure point. He groans heavily. 

Just as you’re about to start working at the buttons of his union suit, the timer for the pie goes off. 

“Shit,” you whisper into his neck. He’s panting a bit beneath you. 

If it weren’t Thanksgiving, you’d say fuck it and keep going with Arthur. But you want today to be special. 

So you resolve yourself and get up, not looking at him as you go into the kitchen to pull out the pie. 

You expect Arthur to be practically behind you, but he isn’t. Even when you go to the roll dough and pound it down for the second rise, he doesn’t come. 

You blush again when you realize you left him half baked and he’s probably working on taking care of things. 

Part of you wants to go and help him, but you know you really shouldn’t. Right now isn’t a good time. So you decide to just carry on with cooking and give him five minutes. 

Before his time runs out, he strolls into the kitchen, a pink tinge to his cheeks. 

“Sorry, darlin’. Didn’t mean to leave you with the work.” 

“No, it’s fine. And I’m sorry too. Didn’t mean for things to get so far between us.” 

He smiles a bit. “I’m not. That was… well, it was nice.” 

You smile back a bit and return to the turkey, which sits mostly wrapped in the sink as you’re letting the juice run out. 

Arthur gently pushes you aside and takes the turkey from you. He delicately strips it of its wrappings while you get out the spices. 

When the meat sits inside the Instapot with all the spices and oils, Arthur takes a curious sniff. He hums appreciatively. 

By the time the turkey’s set to cook, you find the roll dough is ready to be rolled out. So you show Arthur how to roll it out into a circle, how to cut the dough into crescent shapes. 

After they’ve been rolled and buttered, you put them in your room, on your bed, and turn on your space heater and close the door. 

By the time the rolls are set to go, you have to start making mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. 

The mashed potatoes are a tried and true recipe so they don’t take too much effort. 

The vegetables are different as you’ve never done them before. But the spices make them smell good. 

Once all the food is cooking to the point you don’t need to do anything, you and Arthur give the kitchen a quick clean and begin setting up the table.

Luckily you have your grandmother’s china (your mom didn’t want it). You’ve rarely used it as it’s only for special occasions. 

Arthur inspects the china, noting the hand painted designs on the edges of the plates. He’s obviously impressed. 

Finally everything is ready to be set out. You and Arthur sit down, but you feel a little awkward. It’s been so long since you had a proper Thanksgiving you’re not really sure what you should do. Should you say what you’re grateful for?

You look at Arthur questioningly and his face says he’s thinking of the same thing. 

He clears his throat. “Darlin’, I know what I’m grateful for. I’m real thankful for havin’ run into you that day all them months ago. You saved my life and, well…” He blushes a bit and looks away. You’re blushing too.

He looks back at you, his eyes bright. “Darlin’, I love you.” 

Your eyes widen. He loves you? 

You huff a little and return his smile. “I love you too, Arthur. I’m most grateful this year for that day too. I wasn’t the only one who was saved that day.” 

If you were close to him, you’d lean over and kiss him, but as you’re separated by the table, all you can do is reach your hand over and grab his. 

He returns the gesture and squeezes yours. 

Dinner turns out to be surprisingly good. Better than you’d hoped seeing as you haven’t cooked this much or this complicated in years, and some of the recipes were new to you. You even pulled out some of your good wine.

Arthur heavily enjoys the meal. He excitedly dives into having seconds. 

After you’ve both gorged yourself, you and Arthur retreat to the couch again to wait out the guaranteed stupor that is to follow. 

You’re embraced in his grasp like before, but you don’t end up in a make out session. In fact, your mind doesn’t even wander into the direction of anything sexual. 

For the next two or so hours, you both slip in and out of your sleepy states while watching Netflix. 

Arthur likes brushing your hair. He’d never say it out loud, but he loves the way your body feels pressed against his.

He’s not thinking about sex either as he realizes this. You just feel comforting and warm. 

By the time the sun has properly set, you and Arthur go into the kitchen again and pull out the pumpkin pie.

“Oh, I’ve been excited for this,” Arthur admits eagerly.

You giggle as you lay on the whipped cream. 

The pie turns out to be just as good as the dinner. 

On his last bite, Arthur comes up to you, puts his hands on your hips and kisses you.

You can taste the pie and cream on his lips, but you enjoy it. 

As you kiss him, you wonder where your next steps in your relationship will take you. Unsurprisingly, you’re excited to find out.

[gracereadstoomanybooks]

answering questions I’ve been asked on TikTok✨

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QUESTION: how did you get into reading?

So, when I was in middle school (many moons ago) we had this thing called AR Testing. Basically, you read a book and take a test on it—the questions were things that happened in the book, it was really simple. If you got a good grade, you got points. The more points you earned, the more eligible you were for the reading party at the end of each semester. Me, being the nerd I am, got top of my class because I went through 8th grade level books like it was nothing. The librarian at my school brought me books from the high school to read since everything was easy for me, and alas, my addiction began. And now that I have adult money, it’s a true addiction. Also, telling my father “I’m bored” and his response being, “go read a book or something” so thanks dad.

QUESTION: what’s one book you ALWAYS recommend to people?

This one is tough because I’ve read THOUSANDS of books, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be Confess by Colleen Hoover. I fell in love with her work in high school when I first read Ugly Love, but Confess is the type of book that pulls at your heart strings, y’all. It has everything people love: humor, sexual tension, drama, love. GO BUY THE DAMN BOOK. Or honestly any book by Colleen Hoover—she’s a fucking amazing author.

QUESTION: outside of making TikToks, what do you do for a living?

I currently work at a restaurant and hate every second of it. If anyone tells you to become a server, DONT. It’s not worth the hassle, I promise you. Sure, you can make decent money but the amount of rude customers and shitty tips you receive each shift is very disheartening. If you really need a job, do anything BUT work in the food industry.

QUESTION: what’s your wattpad story about?

First question: which one? I have about 30 drafts sitting there waiting to be posted. But, I’m going to assume you’re talking about the Harry Styles fan fiction I’ve been working on for the past 4 years and haven’t had the courage to post. I’ll tell you a little about it: Elaine Aldridge is forced into a betrothal to a man she’s never met & loathes. She goes to his court and realizes things aren’t what they truly seem. And the guard her future husband sticks on her??? None other than Mr. Harry Styles. Add in some magic & deaths and you’ve got my story— The First Prince. (Honestly, that’s an extremely shitty description so if you wanna check it out go to my wattpad account)

QUESTION: how old are you?

Ahem. . . twenty-one.

QUESTION: what is your dream career?

Being a published author and having people rave about my books. That’s all. Or, an editor for a publishing company. Imagine reading all day and being paid for it🤩

QUESTION: what was your least favorite read of 2020?

I already KNOW I’m gonna get shit for this but....... the wicked king. YALL I LITERALLY COULDNT GET THROUGH IT IM SO SORRY, I STILL HAVENT FINISHED IT

QUESTION: current favorite author?

Sarah. J. Maas. I don’t know what it is about her writing style, but it’s addicting. Throne of Glass is hands down the best series I’ve ever read. A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book I’ve EVER reread. Her stories truly suck you in and hold onto you—you get lost so easily in her writing and it’s like once you’re done with a series, nothing will compare. Or, at least that’s how I felt after finishing Kingdom of Ash. Honorable mentions: Jennifer L. Armentrout, Penelope Douglas, L.J Shen, Elle Kennedy and Kennedy Fox.

QUESTION: any recommendations/tips to give to a new reader?

I’ve always given this advice to people who want to get into reading: find what you like and start with that. If you like romance, I’ve got a list for you to choose from. Mystery? Another list. Sci-fi? I GOT YOU. Fantasy? Yes! Sports fiction? It might take me a second but I’ll find you a book. Nonfiction? I’m zero help in that category, honestly. The point of the matter is that you’re never going to enjoy a book if you aren’t interested in the underlying topics.

QUESTION: do you ever find yourself comparing your life to fictional life?

Yes. All the time. I daydream about being apart of the Inner Circle and living in Terrasen with Aelin and Rowan. I think about what it would be like to have real powers and a mate. It drives my boyfriend crazy—but he loves me anyway.

QUESTION: what are your most anticipated books of 2021?

Here’s a list:

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Gods and Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

Crescent City 2 (Untitled) by Sarah J. Maas

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer (I just ordered this one & it arrives tomorrow)

Blessed Monsters by Emily A. Duncan

QUESTION: why did you start a Tumblr?

Honestly, I used to love tumblr when I was in grade school (way too young to be on here then but what else is new). I like having an extra space to get my questions and comments out without having to compress it into a 60 second video for TikTok to see. Tumblr is a good place to blog & post things like this.

QUESTION: what’s your favorite song right now?

I’ve listened to Carry You by Novo Amor every day for the past two months and I cry each time.

QUESTION: why write Harry Styles fan fiction?

Simple: I love Harry Styles. I’ve been a fan of him and One Direction since they were on X FACTOR. Read that again. X. Factor. I used to watch their performances on YouTube before WMYB even came out. Of course, I love all of the 1D boys but I was always a Harry gal. And I look up to him in a way—I’ve read things about people wishing they knew him personally and honestly? I would never want to meet him. I like the version of him I’ve cooked up in my brain over the past 10 years. I like the symbiotic relationship I have with his music. Fine Line is a ✨masterpiece✨. HS1 is a ✨work of art✨.

now, some topics I’ve been asked way too many times and want to finally get to:

QUESTION: political views?

the saying “anyone but trump” has been in my brain for the past four years. No, I’m not a republican. No, I’m not a democrat. I like to think of myself as a progressive (ahem, liberal) Did I vote for a democratic candidate? Yes, and I’d do it again and again until the US isn’t one of the worst countries—I’m sorry, businesses— to be apart of. I wanted Bernie but got Biden, and I’m alright with that. And my girl Kamala🥳

QUESTION: how did you feel about the BLM protests?

I went to multiple BLM protests and donated a lot of funds to BLM & other organizations. It’s 2021, people... stop being fucking RACIST. And don’t be afraid to call racist people out! Black Lives Matter, even if no one is posting about it anymore.

QUESTION: thoughts on abortion?

your body your choice, queen! not my uterus, not my problem.

QUESTION: there was a comment on an old video of yours talking about r*pe, why did you delete the comment?

I made a video when I first started my account on TikTok about reading in public and feeling “turned on” by it. Go watch it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. BUT, some ignorant male decided to comment and say “this is how girls get r*ped”. Whew. So. I deleted the comment because ....

I am a victim of sexual assault. Along with a lot of other women. 1 in 5 women have been victims of sexual assault. Talking about being r*ped isn’t funny.

No one else needed to see his comment. I reported it immediately and his account was shut down.

I never got justice for what happened to me, and the fact that some random male—who had never even met me or seen me before my video showed up on his FYP—had the nerve to comment that? Unacceptable.

this question isn’t as controversial but

QUESTION: what’s the best way to get out of a toxic relationship?

okay, let me just start off by saying that the people around you who love and support you are going to be your backbone. Leaving a toxic situation is hard, and every situation is different, but my best piece of advice to offer you is don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your loved ones are going to be there for you when you need them, even if you don’t believe they will. If you explain what’s happening, someone you know and love will drop whatever it is their doing to make sure you get out safely. good luck my babes.

now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

QUESTION: any tips on making tiktoks?

Literally none. I post what I think is funny and relatable and if anyone agrees, I’m satisfied. Even if it’s one view, it’s good enough for me. So I guess my one tip is to not base your life off of an app and followers.

QUESTION: favorite Harry Styles fanfic?

DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE. Duplicity is up there, along with Stall 1&2, and Kiwi. After? Absolutely not.

QUESTION: favorite WEBTOON?

y’all already KNOW. LORE OLYMPUS BY USEDBANDAID. Rachel is a genius and I have reread the series a million times. Hades is my soulmate and Apollo can rot in the fiery pits of the Underworld. also, if we’re talking about other webcomics, reading Walk on Water on mangadex...🤫

QUESTION: favorite movie?

Howls Moving Castle. I will be getting my “a heart is a heavy burden” tattoo very very soon.

QUESTION: I read your Elain theory on tumblr, can you explain a little more?

I thought I was pretty straightforward but I’ll say it again: she is always the “good” one and it’s too suspicious. SJM has already given one Archeron sister a happy ending, Nesta’s is obviously inevitable, but Elain? She has too many options for a happy ending. Lucien, who is her “mate”. Azriel, who is intrigued by her slightly. Her human guy—I don’t remember his name—who is disgusted that she’s not human anymore. Or, alone, planting flowers all day. BUT! My point is that she’s not truly happy. She was forced into the Cauldron just like Nesta. She was ripped away from the life she loved so dearly and didn’t want to give up. The man she was going to marry now hates her guts because she’s a High Fae. She has the perfect set up for a villain plot line and I’m all here for it.

well, that’s all I feel like doing tonight. hope you enjoyed my little q&a! be kind, and talk to you later! byeeee!

[whenitcounts33]

last name (1)

Summary: When Alice and Bella dragged Rose to Vegas to celebrate graduation, Rose never imagined anything actually happening like in the movies. Then she wakes up the morning before they leave, married to the very good looking man from the bar. 

Rose bit her lip, cringing when the plane's wheels touched down on the tarmac and sent up a thank-you to whatever God was listening. Flying was the worst way to travel in her book and she hoped she could talk Alice and Bella into letting her drive back to Seattle. She knew it wasn't likely, but a girl could dream. 

Alice turned around in her seat to grin at Rose, earning a grimace from her best friend. Bella, sitting next to Rose, rolled her eyes and elbowed the blonde playfully. "It wasn't that bad, Ro," she said with a smile. 

Rose glowered and held out her hand to show Bella the half-moon marks her nails left in her palms. "Over-dramatic," Bella said helpfully, making Rose snort. She was right, of course, but Rose wouldn't admit it. 

"Maybe," she allowed, standing up when prompted and stretching her arms above her head. "I'm just glad Bella's bad luck didn't strike the plane down." Bella glared at her, and at Alice when she laughed, muttering "har har" under her breath.

They made their way off the plane and to the luggage claim, Alice chattering a mile a minute about their plans. "Check-in at the hotel is at 11:30 and we have reservations for dinner at 6," she paused for breath, cheeks pink with excitement. "Tomorrow we have a date with the strip and sight-seeing. Dinner at 6 again." 

Rose gave a non-committal hum, grabbing her bag when she saw it. Alice and Bella grabbed theirs and Alice grabbed onto both of them, towing them along towards the automatic doors of the exit. 

The awfully hot air of the dessert hit her in the face like a brick and Rose immediately started to sweat. "Why did we have to come here again?" She demanded as they waited for the large family ahead of them to get into the minivan taxi waiting at the curb. 

Alice gave her a glare that would have sent a weaker person running but Rose was used to her and just glared back. "You are going to have fun Rosalie Hale, or so help me," she warned, a small finger poking into Rose's chest. "We are finally finished with school and we are going to celebrate!" 

Rose fought back a small smile, and nodded for Alice's benefit. "Yeah, yeah," she muttered, brushing Alice away with a flick of her wrist. 

Bella watched them with a small smile, amused by their antics and knowing nothing Rose said or did would change the plans. Alice was a force to be reckoned with and Bella, and Rose, knew to just lay back and let Hurricane Alice go down it's path. Though that never stopped Rose from teasing her best friend when she got a tad bit out of control and or enthusiastic. 

The hotel was a block away from the strip and two nightclubs, huge and intimidating with the bright lights and people streaming in and out. Rose welcomed the AC with a sigh of relief, letting the cold air raise goosebumps on her arms and shoulders. She fluffed out her hair, wincing at the sweat wetting it and the back of her neck. "Couldn't have picked out a cooler climate, Al?" She asked, already knowing the answer. "Like maybe the Antarctic?" 

Alice ignored her, stomping towards the front desk, mumbling under her breath about ungrateful friends and how they are traitors that don't know how to have a good time. 

The lobby was huge, with shops and restaurants and big flat screen TVs with couches and armchairs everywhere. Rose thought it was too much, but what did she know of interior design? 

Bella was watching her, a crease over her brown eyes and a frown on her lips. It was a look she got every time Rose and Alice butted heads. Or when her boyfriend, Edward, was being melodramatic and over the top. Which was all the time. 

"Just try to have fun," Bella told her, tugging on a lock of Rose's hair with a smile. "Alice really wants to do this and it won't hurt to have a small vacation, just us girls." Rose sighed, knowing Bella was right, and nodded. "I'll try," she promised, letting Bella tug her towards the front desk where Alice was. 

It's not that she didn't want to have a girls-vacation, Rose was just really excited, and anxious, to start her new job. She fought so hard for this, to show the men that she deserved a spot in the "boys club" of mechanics. She wanted to show them that she could be just as good, better even, than all of them combined. 

The room, a suite really, was quite nice. Bigger than her whole apartment, and better furnished. She dropped onto the large bed with a sigh and spread out her arms and legs so she took up the whole mattress. It felt heavenly against her body and the sheets smelled like lavender. She could hear Bella and Alice walking around, oohing and aww-ing at everything. 

She sat up after a moment, blinking to wake herself back up. They could see the strip from the balcony, the light and signs dazzling and hard to miss. She missed Seattle, with it's muted colors and smaller buildings. She missed her small apartment and the diner two blocks away with the amazing coffee and omelets. 

"Get a grip, Rose," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head. No need to feel home-sick, she'd be back home in four-days, all snuggled up in her own bed. She watched Bella look at herself in the mirror in the bathroom, pursing her lips and shaking out her hair. Alice was somewhere in the living room, stuffing luggage under the coffee table. 

"We can stay in the hotel for now, then leave at 5:20 to get to the restaurant." Alice was saying, now in the bathroom and putting all their toiletries in a neat little line for later use. "I wanna see the little boutique they have in the lobby," Bella interjected, sitting on the bed next to Rose. "It was cute," Rose agreed, shrugging. She wouldn't buy anything though, knowing stores in hotels always over charged everything and Rose did not want this trip to put a considerable gap in her bank account. 

Her father made good money as a banker, but they were a middle-class family, not rich by any means but far from poor. Her mom came from nothing though and instilled it in her daughter to always make sure she had enough money to live off of in her accounts, no matter what happened. She raised Rose to appreciate every check and every coin. Rose lived by that rule and tried to never spend money on anything that she didn't truly need. Alice, who came from old money and never had to worry, always laughed when she heard that, but Bella, who was raised on a one-parent income, understood better than any of their other friends. 

"Boutique it is," Alice said, standing in front of them like a little tyrant, hands on her hips and a determined tilt to her head. 

On the third day Rose openly admitted that the trip had been a good idea and that Alice was right. Alice had made Rose repeat it all with her phone trained on her face as she was recorded. "For the next time we argue and you say I'm never right," is what Alice had said to justify it. Rose, tipsy and easily agreeable, had laughed and hugged Alice, thanking her for forcing her to Vegas. 

They were at a nightclub a few blocks from the hotel, hips swaying to the music and alcohol running through their veins. Rose felt warm, like someone had lit a match and set her blood on fire. It was a good warmth, one that started in her chest and went through her arms to her fingertips, down her chest and into her legs. Her head felt fuzzy and everything was bright and loud, calling to her like a siren song to keep on dancing and drinking. 

She could feel someone watching her, the hair on the back of her neck standing up and the skin erupting in goosebumps. Her adrenaline spiked, unbidden memories bubbling up to the surface and she turned slowly, nails digging into her skin hard enough to hurt.

There were so many people in the club that it took her a minute to see who her watcher was. She finally found him, standing at the bar, tall and built like a line-backer, all hard muscle with a handsome face. The fact that he was so handsome did not quell her fear, it made it worse because pretty boys knew they could get away with more. It made them cruel. 

The guy flushed, fair cheeks turning pink, when his eyes met hers and he realized he'd been caught staring. Rose watches him look away, biting his lower lip. His dark curls are sweaty, flopping down onto his forehead and sticking to the back of his neck. It makes her feel safer when he doesn't try to come over to her or stare at her again. She tells herself that he had just been spaced-out, merely looking in her direction, not at her. Lord knows she's done that plenty of times. 

She tells herself later that it was the alcohol, not him being not creepy, that moves her feet over to him. Through the throng of people, away from the safety of her friends who don't notice her leave, and towards the giant of a man. 

The smell of alcohol is stronger there, sharp and bitter and mixing with the salty tang of sweat, and her nose wrinkles against it. The guy turns his head to look at her when he notices a new person. His eyes are brown, reminding her of the forest surrounding Washington, and he has a very nice smile. Her heart flutters in response and she gives him a small smile back. 

"I'm Emmett and I am sorry for being a creep and staring at you. My Ma taught me better," he says, voice smooth like honey and deep. He has a Southern twang that makes his words rise and fall in weird places, but Rose likes it. "If you wanna hit me, that's perfectly fine ma'am, I can take it," he adds before Rose can say anything. He stands up straight, arms at his side like a soldier. He's so tall he's half a head over her five-foot-eight and she feels small near him, which she likes more than she thought she would. 

Rose let out a snort and he looked down at her so quickly he must have gotten whiplash. "I'm Rose and I won't hit you, my mom taught me better than that," she says, voice equals parts playful and haughty. 

He gives her a slow grin and her stomach flips itself at the same time her heart skyrockets. So pretty her mind whispered, noting how the smile makes his eyes crinkle and how the left side of his mouth rises higher than the right. 

"Well Rose," he says, and she tries to ignores the way his mouth wraps around her name, how pretty it sounds in that Southern twang. "Looks like I'll have to make it up to you in some other way." 

The way he says it is dangerous, like some dark promise he's bound to keep. But Rose isn't afraid. Not of Emmett, who thinks highly of his mom, who smiles with his whole being and blushes when he looks her right in the eye. 

So Rose smiles, and stands up to her full height so she can better look him in the eye. "Looks like it," she murmurs, and commits the happy gleam in his eyes to memory. 

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Casablanca: Facets of Film

Once the story and characters are set, and the script is written, all that’s left is to set up the cameras, special effects, costumes, music, sets, and performances.  Nothing to it, right?

These elements listed above are, while not quite as vital to a story as the plot and characters, absolutely intrinsic to any movie.  These are the factors that make a film a film, and it is sometimes up to these factors to take a good movie and turn it into a great one, coming together to best express what is going on in shorthand, without having to explain it to the audience.  In short, these elements are storytelling devices, designed to further the plot, make the movie look good, but never overshadow the core story and characters.  It’s a delicate balance, but when it works, it works very well.  

So yeah, they’re pretty important.

Any film worth its salt has to know how to use these elements, no matter how big or small, to benefit and enhance the existing story and characters.  The skillful use of these factors combined with a great script and good characters can make the difference between a ‘good’ movie and a classic.  

Such is the case for Casablanca.

Even though Casablanca didn’t have a very large budget, (initially thought to be just another standard film, nothing special) the filmmakers made the most of what they had, effectively using the tools at their disposal to turn Casablanca into a masterpiece.

Today, we’re going to be taking a look at the storytelling devices used to do that in order to answer this question:

How does Casablanca use its movie-making tools in order to get across the story it wants to?

Let’s take a look, starting with something that would seem pretty simple: the camerawork.  (Spoilers below!)

Like I’ve mentioned before on this blog, there’s more to cinematography than pointing a camera at the actors and letting it roll.  A good movie crew knows how to use a camera to focus on the emotion and impact of a scene, and a better one knows how to use a camera to add a new layer of depth to the scene, and the film overall.  Casablanca is certainly the latter.

One of the most interesting things about the visual style of Casablanca is the way it’s shot.  It’s not filmed like the typical drama or romance film of the 1940s, rather, it’s shot very much like a film noir, full of dark lighting and use of shadows to emphasize the ambiguity of several characters.  Notable exceptions include the character of Victor Lazlo, who is rather consistently shot considerably brighter as both a visual and moral contrast to the more darkly-lit Rick Blaine.

On the other hand, the character of Ilsa is lit rather differently; rather than explicitly light or shadow, Ilsa is shot out of focus, always appearing hazy and with a shine in her eyes, making her seem almost disconnected and hauntingly beautiful throughout the film, almost placing her in a different world from the other main characters.

There are a few standout shots in the film, but I would be amiss were I not to point to the cinematography of the ending for the chief example.

Fully cementing the sense of an uncertain future, the ending is shot in a fog, with the mist enveloping the characters as Rick reveals his decision on who is to board that plane.  Further emphasizing this is the final shot, of Rick and Captain Renault walking off into the fog until they are completely obscured, swallowed up by the haze.  

There are other notable shots throughout the film, of course.  The image of Rick talking to Victor, each in their respective lighting serves as a distinct capture of the two characters, and the shot of Rick’s shadow falling close to Captain Renault serves as a vivid and distinctive visual among many.  Even the image of Rick, dripping wet and heartbroken on the train station platform, tends to stick with an audience.  But there’s more to a film looking good than just the camera.

There is very little that could be considered a use of ‘special effects’ in Casablanca, and what is there is so incredibly dated it’s difficult to take seriously.  As heavy an emotional blow as the flashback sequence of Rick and Ilsa in Paris is, it’s hard to ignore that the scenes in the car are one of the most egregious cases of Driving a Desk in Hollywood history.  The plane used in the airport sequences is more salvageable, but still not exactly on the same level as effects used in other war movies of the time.  Despite the emotional weight of the scenes in which these effects were used, the effects themselves don’t exactly look all that great.  But that’s fine.  The rest of the visuals more than make up for it.

From Rick Blaine’s iconic white suit to his classic Bogart fedora and trenchcoat, to even the design of club, every inch of this film breathes with well-defined imagery.  Every inch of this movie is distinctly Casablanca, dark lighting and all.  The set of Rick’s Café Americain is memorable and full of personality itself, requiring very few detours out of it.  It’s contained, but it works.  The few sets that are used outside of the club are as real-life and gritty as this one, cementing Casablanca as feeling very real and personal.

But Rick’s Café Americain just wouldn’t be the same without the music, thanks to Sam.

The musical score of Casablanca is soaring and moving, but, of course, nothing stands out like ‘As Time Goes By’.  Despite the number of tunes that are played (and sung, courtesy of Dooley Wilson), throughout the film, nothing quite says Casablanca like ‘As Time Goes By’.  It’s a bittersweet tune that perfectly encompasses the mood of the film, and Rick and Ilsa’s equally bittersweet love affair.  But there’s more to the soundtrack than that.

The instrumental music of Casablanca is there for a simple reason: to emphasize and enhance emotion.  It more than rises to the task.  The music of this film soars and drops with the mood, setting the tone for each scene, always teetering on that line of darkness but never getting too cynical, just like the movie itself.  Thanks to the film’s winning combination of simple sets, camerawork, and music, Casablanca is perfectly put together.

Now, wait a minute, you might say.  Sets, camerawork and music are all well and good, but they can’t carry a movie by themselves.

You’re absolutely right.  In fact, even with all of those elements, Casablanca wouldn’t mean anything now if not for the final, essential ingredient: the performances.

It’s here that Casablanca truly earns its reputation.

Every single part in this film, from large to small, is acted to perfection.

Humphrey Bogart is the cynic with a heart of gold as Rick Blaine, his first ‘romantic’ role, and boy does he sell it.  Bogart plays Rick with a perfect blend of compassion and brusqueness, with a quick wit shielding a broken heart.  All of his emotions, while not expressed outright, are present in every movement and expression, from guarded love to pained sacrifice, to the simple happiness from days in Paris.  The conflict within him is visible, but not overstated and obvious, a perfectly subdued performance for a perfectly subdued character.  Examples of note include the scene where Ilsa comes to explain herself to Rick, the farewell note at the train station, and (of course) the scene at the airport from the very end.  

Ingrid Bergman puts in a similar performance as the carefully closed off Ilsa, portraying a character in turmoil, torn between two men, and two worldviews.  Her own struggles are perfectly realized by Bergman’s quiet strength, and the cracks in the shell that become more apparent towards the end.  She portrays desperation, love, despair, and wistfulness, balancing between love and duty in a believable internal conflict that the audience can both see and connect to, and her surprise and uncertainty at the end mirror the expressions the audiences themselves feel.

Paul Henried as Victor Lazlo is outspoken and upright, a good and just man in trouble.  He is a patriot, brave to a fault, and yet very human.  Henried gets across the humanity of an utterly heroic character who, in any other film, would likely be the hero.

Claude Rains shines as the scummy, sharp witted and dry Captain Renault, perfectly portraying the corruption and friendly relationship with Rick.  Rains manages to present a character that we aren’t exactly fond of, but enjoy watching, adding a layer of charm to the conniver and making his turn to the side of the angels at the end that much more believable.

And of course, the other cast plays their parts perfectly.  Dooley Wilson, Conrad Viedt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre all put forth excellent performances for their respective characters, portraying the emotions and motivations necessary without having to explain in dialogue.  It’s a one of a kind cast, in a one of a kind film.  It’s no wonder Casablanca is considered one of the best acted films of all time.

Every character in this film does their part, each contributing the exact amount with their reserved, but heartfelt performances.  It’s a genuine film full of genuine emotion, carried by every storytelling device used in the film that comes together for a final product that’s complex, but not complicated.  Every element comes together, resting on the shoulders of the actors to draw the audience in, resulting in a gripping and compelling narrative that’s helped along by the masterful work done by the filmmakers.  As a result, the film feels real, if not realistic, grounded in emotion and immensely moving, a film that’s consistent from beginning to end.

Casablanca has long been hailed a masterpiece, a classic, one of the greatest films of all time, and with good reason.  Every factor fits together perfectly to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, a story that has been passed down for more than seventy five years, and is likely to be passed on for seventy five more.  Casablanca just works, in every sense of the word and from every angle.

Thank you guys so much for reading!  Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for questions, suggestions, discussions, or just saying hi!  Join us next time where we’re going to be discussing the behind-the-scenes story of Casablanca in ‘Facets of Filmmaking’.  I hope to see you there!

[queen-of-the-avengers]

My Savior

Characters: Sebastian Stan x Suzanne Annucci (second person; you; you’re)

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: fluff, minor freak out about pregnancy and renal disease

Summary: Your wedding day is here, and you couldn’t have been more happy about the choices you’ve made, and the person you decided to be with. Here’s to spending the rest of your life with the man you love, the love of your life, and your best friend.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Author’s Note: This is the seventh part of seven parts of the commission for @sea040561​​.

Today is the day. Today is the day you marry your best friend. It took a long time to plan, but you’re glad you waited for this moment. Instead of rushing right after your little girl was born, you decided to wait until the moment was right. Taking care of Sabrina came top priority, and after she got out of diapers, and she just got down the potty training, so it’s now or never.

Your sisters and best friends are your bridesmaids, so they’re the only ones in the room besides Sabrina and your mother. They are getting the last minute things taken care of while Sebastian and his best men are waiting at the altar. It was going to take a little longer for you to get ready since you know you would cry about this.

You’re just staring at your reflection, thinking about how far you’ve come, about how far you still have left to go. You’ve beaten your disease, you’ve got the guy, and you’ve had your baby girl. There is still a lot that needs to be done, but all in due time. Right now, you just have to focus on marrying your best friend.

“You look stunning, baby,” your mom smiles.

“Thanks, mama,” you chuckle.

“Remember, I’ll take care of my baby Bina here until you get back from your honeymoon. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Did you pick a spot yet?” one of your sisters asks after finishing pining up your other sister’s hair.

“Sebastian said he is going to surprise me. I have no clue where we’re going.”

“Here’s to you marrying the famous actor who can take you anywhere in the world. Lucky bitch,” your best friend jokes.

“I think it’s time now,” your mom says.

“Right, let’s go. I’ll take Sabrina,” your older sister offers, and your mom passes her off to her.

“Don’t get cold feet!” your best friend jokes as she and your sisters walk out of the room.

“Don’t listen to her,” your mom rolls her eyes.

“I never do,” you laugh.

“I am so proud of the woman you’ve become. Your father would have been proud too. I wish he were here,” she sighs.

“I know, mama, me too. He’s here, I can feel him.”

“I thought it was just me,” she smiles.

“Go, I’ll be out in just a minute.”

She kisses your temple before doing as she was told. You’re left alone to gather your thoughts. This is the wedding of your dreams, and you can’t believe it’s finally here. You never thought you would get this much less get the guy you’ve been dreaming about. Everything you could ever want is waiting for you at the altar, and who are you to make him wait?

The music starts just as you open the door, and you grip the bouquet tightly in your hands. Your mom must have made her way back inside because all you can see are your bridesmaids by the door. Sabrina is holding your older sister’s hand, and she has the widest smile on her face. To have her in your wedding is a dream come true. They open the door and begin filing into the large room.

Sabrina takes as many flower petals as she can and throws them on the ground with the assist of her aunt. Sebastian smiles when he sees his daughter, but he’s waiting for you. The bridesmaids walk to the altar and stand off to the side, and that’s when everyone in the room stands.

You would have your mom or Sebastian’s dad walk you down the aisle, but you believe in Heaven. You know that when your dad passed, he went there. You also know that he is standing right by your side to walk you down the aisle. You can’t see him, but you can definitely feel him by your side.

“Let’s go, Daddy,” you whisper.

You take one step into the opening, and your eyes immediately go to your future husband’s. At first sight of you, he gets so emotional that tears build up in his eyes. Chris leans in and whispers something to him, but you’re not sure what he said. Whatever he did say, Sebastian wipes his eyes and tries to focus on not crying. Everyone’s eyes are on you as you walk down the aisle.

You pass off the bouquet to your eldest sister before grabbing Sebastian’s hands. Everyone seems to just float away so that it’s only you and Sebastian here. The minister starts the ceremony and everyone takes a seat again. You’re not sure what the minister is saying, but you honestly don’t care. You’re just excited to get to the vows since you two had written your own.

“Now for the vows. They’ve each written their own. Who would like to go first?” the minister asks.

“You can,” Sebastian says.

“Before, all I was known for was my disease. I spent my life in and out of hospitals, never knowing what it was like to really live my life. I didn’t see myself having a future. That is until I met you. I used to watch your movies with my friends because you are what made me feel better. So, to see you roll into my room after the transplant is something I will always relive in my head. To know that you’ve become my best friend, my soulmate, and the father of our beautiful baby girl. To know I will never be alone, and I will always have you by my side. You are the love of my life, and I will promise to always love you no matter what.”

Sebastian wipes his eyes before starting his vows, and your heart begins to pound.

“I never thought my life was complete. I used to go to parties and have dates I wished to get away from. I always searched for that something extra, but I could never find it. When I walked into that hospital and heard you screaming at the TV, something was pulling me to that room. The second I laid eyes on you, I got a vision. I saw this moment, and I saw us being happy together with kids and dogs and a great big house. I remember telling Chris that I knew you would be the one because I believe in love at first sight, and I believe in soulmates. Every time I look at you, I fall in love all over again. I promise to spend every moment of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me.”

You want to cry, but the only thing stopping you is the fact you had someone work very hard in fixing your face with the best kind of makeup, and you don’t want to ruin it. The rest of the ceremony goes by in a blur with the only thing on your mind is sealing the deal.

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Sebastian was already pulling you in before he could finish his words. The entire room erupts into cheers and claps, but you can barely hear them. You kiss Sebastian with everything you’ve got, proving to him of your love. You pull away and turn to everyone with a big smile. He takes your hand and leads you down the aisle where people are tossing the flowers into the air.

This party is only half-over, and everyone moves into the reception area where you and Sebastian can have your first dance. Everyone gets their first to start the party, and you and Sebastian join a little while later. You want to get used to the fact that you’re now Mrs. Stan--something you never thought you’d get to say.

As soon as you walk into the room, the DJ announces that it’s time for the first dance. Everyone shuffles away from the dance floor so that you and Sebastian can have the entire floor to yourselves. One of your favorite songs of all time starts playing, and Sebastian pulls you in close. Your left hand goes around his neck, and the other meets his by your side.

You two begin to slow dance together. You’re ignoring the many pairs of eyes on you since Sebastian’s is the only ones you care about.

“Thank you, Sebastian,” you whisper.

“For what?”

“For saving my life.”

“You saved mine. I don’t think I can be any more in love with you than I am in this moment,” he confesses.

You lean up and kiss him, still moving around the dance floor elegantly. This one kiss tells you that despite the downs you’ll experience, you’ll always know that his love will be there to cushion the fall. To know that you’ll have the greatest love anyone’s ever going to get.

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[fuckinuchihas]

Omg, I didn't think I'd actually get it! You're welcome for putting you out of your misery! I sent in a guess the first time and didn't get it but I'm Poppy, 25, and I like Bokuto! Thank You!

- 🦄

Alright Poppy! I finally finished it. 

Honestly if it feels like this is not who you are or completely and totally out of character that’s okay just tell me I can absolutely do it again. Or if it just sucks...which it might cause like...I’m hella fucking sick, but my anxiety won’t let me not be productive so here we go. 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL A DO-OVER!!! ILYSM THANKS FOR PLAYING WITH ME AND SORRY IT’S SO LATE!! 

BOKUTO X READER VALENTINES DAY FLUFF 

You’ve been with Bokuto long enough to have mildly convinced him that you don’t really care about the extravagance of Valentines day. You don’t want a huge box of chocolates, to which half of them you don’t even like, or a bunch of flowers that will be dead in a week. 

It’s not that you don’t appreciate them, you absolutely do...but it doesn’t feel necessary anymore.

He makes you feel loved each and every single day. 

You don’t need cheesy red and pink decorations hung up in the living room or an expensive dinner at a restaurant where you feel out of place.

It just feels like way too much when you’ve already got everything you want and need by simply having him in your life. 

It’s more than enough already. 

Bokuto looks down at the last page of his ‘special love coupon book’ and grins to himself.

He’s old enough now to know that it’s kind of ridiculous but he’s given one to you for every single holiday or special occasion you’ve spent together and though you sometimes roll your eyes at what he believes are quite frankly generous rates on the slips, you never fail to smile when you see it. 

And..you’ve even cashed a few in, though after the first time he made you promise not to actually tear them out again, they were in fact, unlimited. 

He’s satisfied with it when he’s done with the design, this year he’s beefing it up a bit and having it actually printed out so he wanted to make sure the colors weren’t overwhelming or anything. 

Once that’s complete, and submitted to the print shop...he’s kind of at a loss. 

He knows you don’t want anything big. You’ve more than made that clear, though he’s been given contradictory advice by a couple of his teammates.

Still...he knows that he knows you better than anyone and that you wouldn’t be secretly expecting more.

The issue then becomes that he still wants to celebrate the day with you, even if it’s a lowkey thing with just the two of you. 

He makes up his mind that he’s going to get some of your favorite food and drinks and a hardback copy of that book you’ve been wanting and he can still feel like he’s celebrating the love he has for you, and that you feel it too...without overwhelming you.

Yeah, that sounds good…

He texts your best friend three days in advance, after setting many, many reminders on his phone and asks if they’ll take you out to coffee or a movie on him, a secret between the two of them. They of course love him and how affectionate he is with you so they agree quickly and he sends the money over before he forgets. 

The morning of, you have a nice lazy morning in bed before you bring up the friend date, he makes a big act of begging you not to go but just before you change your mind and cancel, he gets flustered and says he should probably get his workout in early so the two of you can spend the evening together.

You find it a little suspicious given the fact that Bokuto is about as subtle as a sledge hammer and a terrible terrible liar, but you trust that he won’t ask for too much and you put it behind you and go on with your day. 

As soon as you’re out of the house he grabs every pillow and comforter he can find and texts someone he knows isn’t busy today and grins when he answers on the first ring.

“It’s just a fort, man. What’s so hard about that. You tie a couple sheets to your ceiling fan and throw up some fairy lights and bam, you’re done and everyone is happy.” Kuroo answers after Bokuto explains why he wants him over.

Sure, building a for looks easy, but ‘ol Bo has learned his lesson and he doesn’t do any kind of large scale (or small scale) project without supervision anymore. 

“Just get over here man. I don’t have a lot of time...and what are fairy lights? Y’know what just stop and get those or whatever you think we’re gonna need and I’ll pay you back.”

“No...no what’s the real reason you’re asking for help. Besides the fact that you’re decoratively challenged?” 

“I AM NOT! SOMEONE TOLD ME I COULD BE A MODEL LAST WEEK!” he calls out before he realizes he does still need Kuroo’s help.

He ignores Kuroo’s response and continues on. “Anyway, uh,” he rubs his neck, not wanting to admit the truth but Kuroo is kind of like an evil genius sometimes. “I may or may not have sworn an oath that I wouldn’t do any umm projects without help.” 

Kuroo immediately starts barking laughter against his ear. 

“Stop being such a jerk and get over here dude, I’ve only got a couple hours!” 

“Wh-what’s the-” Kuroo is still slightly wheezing from laughter. “What’s the penalty.” 

‘Oh no, not telling. I’m hanging up. Be over here in less than 25 minutes or I’ll tell Kenma you broke his lucky switch, bought a used one on a street corner and then filed the edges down to make it look ‘authentic’.” 

“Fuck. Ugh fine.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” 

Bokuto hangs up the phone with a smirk splayed on his lips. 

He makes a resolute promise to himself to never let Kuroo find out the consequences of not keeping his promise is that he can’t have kisses or cuddles for a full twenty four hours. 

What can he say, he’s weak..okay. He’s weak for you. 

Kuroo gets there after he’s scheduled the takeout delivery and sloppily wrapped both your coupon book and the one you were itching to read. 

He defends his blanket choices with his life but Kuroo insists on using these plain white ones he bought because it would ‘look more romantic’. He rolls his eyes but lets him do what he wants because if it’s one thing he does trust, it’s Kuroo’s eye for design.

“Ooh I forgot you had these ceilings...this is going to look awesome, dude.” 

“Good, now what do you want me to do…” 

“Nothing, I got this part.”

“Nooo, I want to do it myself,” he says, resisting the urge to stomp his foot. “It won’t mean as much if you just do it all for me.” 

“Y’know you might not be the brightest but you’re a good man, Bokuto.” 

“Eh?” he says, because Kuroo rarely ever compliments him sincerely.

“Nothin’ man, just get the clothespins.” 

They work together and in less than an hour it looks, well...it looks fucking amazing he thinks.

He’ll give up just this once and say Kuroo was right, the white sheets look pretty cool and the little lights they strung up are pretty neat too. 

It looks super romantic so he hopes you like it. 

He kicks Kuroo out before he can invite himself over, Kenma has a special v-day stream going on and he wants to crash it from a different ip, whatever that means. Well either way he turns him down and swears the secrets he has will yet again, stay between the two of them. 

Now he just needs to wait for you to get home. 

When your friend texts that they’re about to drop you off, his heart starts beating out of his chest and he gets super excited.

He waits for you at the door, stepping outside when he sees their car pull in and softly closes it behind him. 

“He yells out a greeting that could probably shake the ground if it was another decibel louder but you love how excited he gets so it doesn’t bother you. 

You make your way over to him with a skeptical look on your face as he starts nervously rubbing at his neck.

“Why are you outside?” you ask and there’s a pink tinge to his cheeks that you’re pretty sure isn’t from the cool weather. 

 “Umm Happy Valentines Day?” he says, an awkward chuckle quickly following the words.

“Kotaro...what did you do? Why are you standing outside?” you ask, immediately concerned about the state of your home. 

“I swear it’s not bad. I just wanted to surprise you so...please?” he asks, a hopefulness in his eyes that you can’t bring yourself to squelch no matter how worried you feel. 

“I mean I said I didn’t want anything big but I guess if you want-” you stop mid sentence, breath stuck in your throat when you see your transformed living room. 

He’s moved all the furniture except for the couch and the tv stand and it’s gorgeous. The lights twinkle a little in the darkness and you feel the irresistible urge to kiss his face. 

So you do.

He never objects to kisses. 

“This is really nice… I mean it. I’m sorry I almost ruined your plan or if I made you feel like you couldn’t do anything. I don’t ever want it to be that way. I just also don’t need you to make a big fuss,” you say, trying to be a little logical about it, but your heart is definitely thumping in that cheesy romantic way. 

“How about a little fuss…” 

“A little fuss feels nice.” 

You lay back on the couch, you read to him from your book and share music playlists that quietly add to the ambiance of your conversation. He coaxes you into some weird verbal games that he’s played with Akaashi over the years, because it was something he needed to bring him out of his shell a little and you end up laughing until your belly hurts. 

The takeout arrives on time and you enjoy the food and Bo loves to feed you small bites of your favorite stuff, so you let him. 

He tells you to unwrap your gift and you feel fondness and warmth rush over you when you see the handmade coupons, this time even more beautifully drawn out. 

It’s really easy to see why you’re so in love with him. 

Even in the in between moments. 

He’s always thinking of you and always wanting to be the best version of himself for you.

I wrote like an extra 600 words cause a lot of it was bokuto and kuroo interaction lol my bad but I hope you enjoyed it! 

[silvia7272]

10 ~ Now It Happens!?

Hayo, how are you all? Hope you’re all ok at these current times. But now it’s the awaited arrival of the little child that was first mentioned in my first fanfic. Also, I have over 200 followers, wow, amazing, I’m so impressed, thank you all, I’ve never had this many people like my work as much as you guys, so thank you all.

Also, I’m very proud of this, since we don’t have a list of the powers of all of the Kwami’s I took the liberty of making them myself. And they all work perfectly with my story. So, I’ve also drawn all the future chosen’s characters as well, they should be different and hopefully better than canon. But I won’t be changing the designs yet unless I think something else fits better. The names may not as be as good but at least I know what they are. Also. Unless you want me to, do you guys actually want me to reveal them, do you want to find out or leave it as a surprise? I’ve kept the tradition of all the powers ending in -tion so yeah. Hope you’ll like them when they’re released.

Word Count: 6313

Tags: @queenmj10​, @fangirl39​, @animegirlweeb​, @northernbluetongue​, @maribat-is-lifeblood​, @raisuke06​, @indecisive-mess-named-me​, @luleck​, @themotherofhogwarts​, @more-or-less-human-i-guess​, @gwennex​, if you wish to be tagged all you have to do is say. Also, if you change your name please tell me, I don’t want to leave you out since you’ve asked to be tagged.

This fanfic and its ideas were all made after season 3 and before season 4/movie came out, so if something doesn’t add up please don’t worry. That information wasn’t available then, and unless it fits into my story or I like it, I won’t include it in my story.

Also, I may need some help with developing Luka’s personality. I may adore Luka, love him, but I can’t disagree with the fact that he is bland. Some help would be nice. All I have is that’s he’s an incredibly chill guy who likes music and Marinette, I firmly believe he’s a pacifist and hates to resolve situations with violence, wanting to either defuse it by walking away, giving in or trying to talk the other into a compromise? Maybe he bottles all of his emotions inside. But really besides that, I can’t think of anything else, what else can I do to give him a personality? Any help, kinda struggling. Might also need help with Noémie but I have more of an idea with her. Plz DM me plz if you have any thoughts, comments are welcomed as well. If I don’t reply I’m asleep so don’t be offended.

.

I think the Revenant idea came from Madoka Magica as it all slowly started making sense why I liked it so much. Any ideas to help me change it so it looks more original? I do have one an idea as you might be able to see but do you guys have any suggestions?

***

“-and then Jean had pie all over his face, it was utterly hilarious when he tried to clean it all off” Chloé laughed as her other two friends were walking with her along the roads of Paris, the redhead laughed along as the bluenette looked unimpressed.

“Really Chloé? I doubt that was good for Jean” Chloé waved her off, stating she just had to be there for it before Marinette just sighed. How long had it been since they all decided to become friends? She lost count, being glad she had people around her that actually believed her, and people she could trust everything with… Well, almost everything. But even then, she couldn’t tell everyone or she’d be stripped of her Miraculous… But a thought always entered her head, if she did reveal herself to the other heroes, would it really be so bad?

Like, revolutionary bad?

Oh well, maybe when she was older, she could divulge that type of information to people she trusted.

After all, trust works both ways.

Before Marinette could even give a retort back to her blonde friend, a body had stopped in the middle of the pathway. Since all of their arms were linked that caused them all to come to an abrupt stop, much to the annoyance of one in particular.

“Rosina what are you doing? Your lucky people aren’t behind us or they would’ve bumped into me- I mean us” The blonde was still getting there, slowly thinking of everyone around her instead of just herself, sure she still had a long ways to go but she was at least trying.

To that, the redhead still hadn’t answered, her head was turned to an alleyway. Nothing was at the utmost significance other than a green bin and a fence blocking the other alley from joining up.

The girls became confused when she let go and ran up to the dumpster…

.

.

Before flinging herself inside.

The two girls widened their eyes before running after the speedster.

“Ok Rosy you are freaking me out now, what the hell are you doing?” Marinette asked, was this normal for her? She’d have to tell her not to randomly jump inside bins anymore, she was sure she could help stop that habit.

Again, before the two could say anything, a suitcase was thrown their way, Chloé screamed as a smudge of dirt landed on her clothes.

“Rosina you better get your butt out of that bin this instance, how dare you ruin my clothes!” Marinette meanwhile looked into the bin to help Rosina out, she wasn’t covered in dirt mind you, but you could see that her clothes were darker.

“Explain yourself at once!” But the redhead ignored her and proceeded to open the suitcase up. Chloé was tempted to gently nudge her with her foot, but then she saw her expression, fear? Uncertainty? Something like that. Did she sense something in the suitcase?

That seemed to be true as the sight of a bright grey light came into the girl's view.

“Mari. It's here. It’s really here. Oh god, it’s the first one, I need to contact Aunty-” She spiralled into her thoughts not being able to hear Chloé’s concerned questions as Marinette looked at what was the cause of the light.

It was a Trinklet, it looked just like Rosina’s but grey. This was it; this was the day she would finally know what the Trinklets would really entail.

“Chloé!” Said girl jumped as the one who called out her name laid her hands on her shoulders.

“You need to go back to the hotel and put the bee signal on” Both girls looked at her as if she had grown two heads.

“But I’m not Queen Bee anymore, and how is that going to help us?” Rosina shook her head, knowing she’d have to explain since no one knew what she was implying.

“If you put the bee signal on people will notice and word may get to Ladybug. Please tell Ladybug that she needs to come and meet me here… And please tell her to get the new hero Sovereign Stinger” Marinette was shocked, would this really require Chloé so soon? Or would this just be early training?

“Err who’s Sovereign Stinger?” Marinette had to ask as to stay in character, geez this was so complicated with her knowing both their identities, Rosina knowing both identities and Chloé only knowing Rosina’s identity. She examined how Chloé’s facial expressions widened but soon calmed down.

“I don’t know either, probably one other meaningless Miraculous user who doesn’t know anything, really Rosina you should rather get Queen Bee to help out-” Chloé saw how their expressions were not interested as she coughed and laughed it off. She had overplayed her part, but it didn’t matter now that she had stopped.

“Alright alright, I’ll help. Now c’mon Marinette, you can stay in the hotel as I handle everything else.” Marinette waved back at Rosina, who would transform into Crisono any minute now.

She had to admit she could be smart when it came to stuff like this. Not blowing her cover of Ladybug and Stinger’s identity when any slip up could’ve blown everything away.

It kinda made her sad that Rosina was so used to all these secrets and fights.

***

“This is the disaster?” Stinger had questioned, after getting over the fact of basically dimensional hopping.

And that was a long time.

They hadn’t been long getting back and were quick to enter the Trinklet, Ladybug couldn’t help but notice the intense look on her friend’s face. She silently rested her arm on the other girl which caused her smile to reappear much to her relief.

When they had finally arrived, their field of vision centred around grey. Grey sky, grey floor, grey everything. If Ladybug didn’t know any better, she’d think she were in a monochrome painting, but by her friend’s face, this wouldn’t be a simple Revenant to defeat.

What was that saying again?

“They are a portal to a strange land; time is unnecessary and cannot expand. Travel you must, succeed and entrust, to destroy the Revenant at hand.” She remembered. Funny, the rhythm helped.

“Yes. It may not look like it, but it just hasn’t started yet. But you need to get ready” With that Crisono held her trusty fencing sword out. The two followed suit, it was starting to scare them, Chloé really wasn’t used to her serious mode, she kinda wanted her to stop it.

“Crisono, do you have any idea what we should expect?” Ladybug questioned.

“Yeah, all the Trinklets are colour coded, so in the future, you’ll have somewhat of an idea what to expect.” The air around them seemed to change, they could all feel it.

“This one was grey, so I think I can safely conclude that grey has something to do with gravity.” The other two eyed each other, it all still seemed unbelievable, but they had been used to Akuma’s so it couldn’t be too far out of their realm of possibility.

Then… The ground lit up.

But it was strange. Only certain bits lit up, almost as if it were just multiple squares along the floor. That was weird. What was weirder was some or those squares flew up into the air. All at random.

There didn’t seem to be any structure, it was all unsystematic. Now Ladybug could see why Crisono was so worried, she would’ve preferred a much simpler Trinklet to start off with.

But she wasn’t a superheroine for nothing.

She proudly swung her Yo-Yo around, looking over to the two new people she could trust.

“So, what's the plan Crissi?” The redhead smiled before extending her sword, making it point to something in the distance.

“We head towards the centre. That’s where it's residing. Then it’ll all be over.” The three all smirked before taking off. There was a rush of adrenaline soaring through them all, this was an oddly exhilarating experience, something new was happening and only they knew about it. It felt like it was only their little secret.

But as soon as they started running, all of the platforms moved as well. Ladybug wondered if the Revenant were somewhat alive and knew that it was under attack. She threw her Yo-Yo and swung from place to place, landing on the platforms and manoeuvring away when they rose up. So far so good, she just had to keep looking where she was going.

Stinger… Not so much. She had only been Queen Bee like four times. She didn’t count the times of being Akumatized since she couldn’t remember them, and she said she had practised, but not to this degree. And besides, she hadn’t even trained with her Miraculous yet.

So, it was only befitting that the newest hero was the first to fall.

Right into the crack.

She didn’t fall for long, something wrapped around her waist to pull her up, it was a real close call considering the platform was about to shut the blondes only escape.

Crisono swung Stinger further away to a safer platform before holding a thumbs up to her. Stinger breathed a sigh of relief before continuing on.

‘I won’t let you down again Crisono, Ladybug. I swear’ They continued before Crisono raised her hand.

“What's wrong?” Ladybug shouted; her eyes searched the area to see if anything was different.

Their Silver eyed heroine looked over to them, and she looked so confused.

“Did you two hear that?” They fell silent, trying to strain their ears for any type of noise.

.

.

It was feint, very feint.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“What was that!?” Ladybug looked over to Crisono, she couldn’t count how many emotions crossed over her face in a matter of seconds. First shock, then realisation, lastly dread.

“I really hoped that hadn’t happened”

“Crisono what's happening?” With a solemn look Crisono answered. Causing devastation to overflow the two.

“Trinklets need a human touch to be activated, and I wasn’t the one to activate this one”

“And that noise! -”

They all immediately rushed ahead. A civilian being held in a Trinklet? That would cause an uproar of trouble, possibly exposing the Trinklets to the media could cause outright panic, and with Akuma’s running amok… Well, you knew.

“We need to get the civilian out of here now, we aren’t sure if the Miraculous cure can work here so we can’t take any chances.” But there was only one problem, they didn’t know where to look.

The noise seemed to echo as they travelled along multiple platforms as well. They couldn’t locate anything.

Until Crisono fell headfirst in one of the gaps.

“Crisono!” The others screamed Ladybug swung her Yo-Yo at her, it just grabbed her foot before she would fall any further, and she didn’t like that endless drop of nothingness.

But as Crisono was suspended in mid-air and upside-down. She saw something.

Something or someone was in the distance, and they were just hanging on… Or so it seemed, she wasn’t sure.

“Ladybug let me go!” She realised there wouldn’t be much time left, she had to go and see who it was before it fell.

“What! Are you crazy! -” Crisono held up her ring, reminding them both she could make that flying skateboard again, to that she was released and fell, before flying off in that direction.

“We have to keep moving forward, hopefully, one of the other platforms will rise, or we’ll just destroy it so she can get back to us” They nodded as they took off.

They dodged and fled from all the platforms that were unstable or suddenly lift into the air, become replaced within a few seconds… Or even explode with near contact.

Yeah, that’s right, explode.

The first one knocked them both off their feet, they couldn’t even rest before they saw that they had activated another one, so they sprinted away.

There was no direction or identified method to understand so they couldn’t make a concrete plan. There was no way to make any type of strategy, or plan ahead.

So maybe that was the reason she hadn’t realised she’d stepped on an explosive tile. The explosion flung her across the arena, and she wasn’t moving. Stinger felt dread flow through her.

This was not like an Akuma. This wasn’t a game.

This was a battle far greater than whatever Hawkmoth could present.

But because of that, if they could just beat this then they could definitely defeat Hawkmoth.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared, seeing Ladybug on the floor like that, and on top of a moving tile no less.

“Ladybug! Wake up!” She leapt to the platform, quickly grabbing Ladybug before falling to another tile.

She was alive thank goodness! But what could she do? She wasn’t smart like Ladybug or brave, or strong like Rosina. She didn’t have any plan to help out. She hadn’t even been able to do anything but fall.

She was just Chloé…

***

When Crisono was released from Ladybug she prayed the other two would be fine, she hadn’t exactly explained everything to them in full detail since she wasn’t used to that yet, she already knew what to do but her Aunt was the one to tell her anything she’d missed, she wasn’t a leader type or a relayer of information. She just knew she had a job to do.

And that job was being a hero to everyone who needed to be saved/helped.

Just like in front of her. Whoever this person was, or thing she couldn’t tell. But she would have to hurry, she could hear and see explosions about to happen, so she knew she had to check whatever this was quick!

So, she sped along, the object becoming bigger and bigger, and she saw black and brown… Wait, that was hair! It was a person; she couldn’t celebrate as she came closer and saw it was a smaller person.

A child.

A really frightened child.

She neared the platform just as the child took notice of her, they were covering their ears because there was a lot of noise around. But they still looked really frightened, and nearly took a step off the platform.

“Hey hey there,” She carefully approached, stopping just on top of the platform, not getting off her board just in case. The kid still looked scared.

“I’m Crisono, what's your name?” She smiled but it didn’t seem to work. She looked up when there was another explosion as the little kid screamed.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry! It’s all my fault I’m sorry,” Crisono stopped her smile as she grew worried, this wasn’t their fault, why did they think that?

She tried to take a gentle step forward, but the kid recoiled. She removed her arms from her sight and tried hiding her head.

Was it in fear?

What had happened while she was there, she thought, was this the reason she had some bruises on her arms?

Whatever Crisono thought it was replaced with the urge- no. Need to help this poor child.

So, she knelt down to be a bit more level getting the kids attention.

“I’m sorry I lied about my name” She raised her arms to take her mask off, Marinette was bound to be mad but she needed to do this, for the kid's sake.

“My real name is Rosina Scoats, see I’m a human just like you” She flashed a smile before moving the mask in the kid's direction.

“I know it’s not your fault, and whoever told you that is wrong so you shouldn’t blame yourself. So why don’t we get out of here ok?” The kid picked up the mask, ever so slightly. They felt it in their hands, it was really smooth and nice.

Maybe the Lady was right, maybe she could help.

Maybe she could’ve been faster.

Boom

The sound surprised the two so much…

The kid misplaced their step.

And they were falling.

“I’M COMMINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!” There was still her job to do.

She was going to be a hero.

The kid was falling and falling. They didn’t know when they would stop, if they even could!

This was all their fault; everything was their fault. That Lady should’ve never come to her, why was she there anyway? She’s going to get hurt because of her, just like everyone else, she should’ve just left-

“Hold Out Your Hands!” It was the Lady. Why was she still trying to help them? They were a curse to everyone around them!

“I’m sorry! Stay away. Leave me alone” But her hand was still outstretched.

Why?

“I won’t. I promise I’ll save you! And I’ll never leave you alone ever!” What?

“Just let me be your hero! Please!”

.

.

The kid's arms reached towards Rosina, because they finally trusted her words.

And she was finally able to grab onto the child.

“I swear” The child apologised more and more, but Rosy just pats her head.

Getting her board to fly towards her was easy.

Escaping with everyone would be a lot harder.

***

‘Why didn’t Rosy stay with us? She just had to go off on her own in this place we know nothing about. She’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous’ Sovereign Stinger was carrying an unconscious Ladybug, she may have wanted to be close with her idol but not like this.

But she didn’t know what to do, if she had known Rosy was used to this sort of thing, she would’ve wanted no part of it.

No way, this was above her pay rate… Wait what did that mean, she wasn’t paid for this.

She wasn’t paid for any of this.

But neither was Ladybug… Or Crisono.

They wouldn’t get anything out of this, no recognition at all.

Chloé had always wondered why Ladybug continued to be a hero, sure she was adored but she never abused her power.

Unlike her.

She had proudly proclaimed she was Queen Bee, only to purposely crash a train. She preferred to have any type of fame without actually doing any work, didn’t Ladybug see that!? She was selfish, not brave or caring.

She wasn’t Ladybug.

She wasn’t even Crisono.

She wasn’t a hero.

She was just Chloé.

She was just a blonde rich girl, able to make other people do what she wanted.

.

She wasn’t Ladybug.

She wasn’t even Crisono.

.

She wasn’t a hero.

.

She was just Chloé.

She was spoilt.

She was a brat.

She was-

“Chloé. I don’t think you need to be Queen Bee to be considered a hero. We can help you. Me, Marinette and Kagami too.” She remembered Rosina cheering her up that day. She had been upset with some events that had happened before she came into the picture. She had wanted to spend some time with her Maman, but she denied, saying she had better things to do, and called her a different name again, Catharine. But Rosina was there for her.

“Chloé, you don’t need powers, or a costume, or money to be a hero.” Why was she remembering this now, it seemed too convenient for her, this type of positivity?

“Just do what your heart wants, morally do what’s best, we can help you with every step.”

Did she really mean that?

“You’ll never be alone Chloé. Just trust us.”

Yes. Yes, she did.

“Let me help you be Chloé Bourgeois”

.

She was Chloé Bourgeois!

And she was going to prove she was a hero to herself and to everyone else who wouldn’t believe in her.

But she was knocked to the ground, Ladybug fell out of her arms just as they both rolled onto another platform.

She hadn’t given up.

.

.

“What…?”

Stinger looked at her side. Her spinning top weapon. It was…

Glowing!

She picked it up, and something told her to say her word Venom.

But only to slam it into the ground.

That would’ve been strange, but Stinger didn’t question it.

She lifted the weapon into the air and slammed it into the ground. She saw that Ladybug had started to gain consciousness, looking around her environment and wondered what was happening.

She was confused when she saw spikes shoot up and strike around her.

“Ch- Stinger what happened?!” Stinger opened her eyes, looking around at what she had done.

She had created this?

“I-I couldn’t just stand by any longer Ladybug. I had to do something. But I don’t know what I did!” Stinger was still kneeling down on the platform; spikes had shot through multiple platforms all around them.

They were all held in place.

It was like her usual power, but it was subjected to others as well.

“Level 2 already?” Mrs Hernandez had taught her about even more power-ups, more than Master Fū ever had but that was beside the point, and told her how if a teen had gotten a hold of a Miraculous they would all start at the base, Level 1, but through time teens were able to unlock more levels, and that would be shown through their suits.

It had seemed Chloé was able to unlock level 2.

But there was still the time limit.

“Stinger, how long do you have?” She was looking around, she hadn’t seen Crisono for a while now, was she trapped?

“I don’t know… Four minutes? You better hurry up Ladybug, this is starting to become harder to control” Another thing the teacher mentioned, it wouldn’t be easy to control either, it had to be worked on or it wouldn’t work.

There was only one thing to do.

“Lucky Charm!” Instead of throwing her Yo-Yo into the air, she was able to reach into her bag after being told it would be a better design choice for her, and she pulled out a flashlight.

She looked around, some of the platforms were suspended in mid-air, and they hadn’t been replaced, so Ladybug could look into the hole and use the flashlight as a means of a signal.

“C’mon Crissi. Where are you?” She flicked the flashlight on and off over and over again. Hoping, just praying she was alright.

“Crisono. We’re over here please find us!”

“Ladybug! … I don’t know how long I can hold it!” Stinger sounded like she was struggling to keep control. They could only pray now.

“H-” She heard something!

There in the distance!

Red.

“Ladybug, I’m here, just hold it for a little longer!” She was flying even faster,

‘C’mon Rosy you can do it.’ She pleaded.

“Ahhh!” Stinger was pushed back and thrown across the room, Ladybug looked back in shock, oh no! That certainly wasn’t good.

But Crissi was so close now, she had to make it!

.

10 meters, a 1/3 of it had closed.

.

5 meters, halfway closed.

.

“Crisono!”

Swoosh

She made it. With just an inch left.

Ladybug hugged her; thankful she had escaped.

“Hey, I did most of the work here!” Sovereign grunted, still on the floor slightly glaring at the two… Three?

“Err who’s that?” She got up and pointed to the bundle in her arms. And why was her mask off?

“I think they were the one who accidentally activated this, but we should try to get out of here now. The Trinklet should be riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight around? -” She took several steps forward.

“Here!” The other two were confused, there was nothing there.

“Err, Crisono?” Stinger was about to ask what she meant but then she was handed the child as Crisono struck her weapon into the ground.

Then they saw it, a light high above them.

“Is that!?” Crisono nodded. Jumping up into the air and grabbing it.

Reality started warping around them, until the familiar sight of Paris made them realise, they were back!

But not in the same place.

It seemed as if the Trinklet had moved from its original location.

An exhausted blonde hero fell down, breathing a sigh of relief. The little kid ran back to Rosina. Hand still clutching the mask as Rosina transformed back. She would just have to make another one, she didn’t want to take it back.

“I’m never doing that again…”

“Typical” A voice spoke out.

!!!

A cane shot out from nowhere, catching the three-off guard, and knocked Stinger’s Miraculous out of her hair. She immediately transformed back into Chloé, dread sweeping over her.

She lost her chance of ever being a hero now.

It was all gone, her greatest fear.

“Aunty!” A shrill voice screamed and ran off to hug the attacker…

Whack

…Only to get whacked in the head.

“I’m highly disappointed with all of you” She glared at all three of them, Chloé became angry. What did she mean by that?

Her question was answered when the woman took a heavy sigh.

“Bourgeois, you didn’t even try being a hero until near the end, disgraceful. Ladybug, getting knocked out amid battle, how irresponsible. And you, Rosina. I thought I taught you better than that. Not explaining to your friends at the beginning? I’m very ashamed right now” Rosina’s face turned sad, dejected that her Aunt had pointed out something she really hated doing.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that was our first fight against, whatever the hell that was! And we won in the end, we even saved someone, isn’t that enough?” Chloé couldn’t stand back any longer, how dare she disrespect Rosina like that, and Ladybug! They didn’t know what this was, but they were able to adapt and solve it.

But the look in Hernandez’ eyes said otherwise.

“You were formerly known as Queen Bee, you held no regard for saving anyone, or being a hero. Only for fame, so how can you say anything?” She smirked as she crossed her arms.

Chloé felt dejected, yeah, she did do that huh.

But then she felt two pairs of hands on her shoulders. Looking around it was Ladybug and Rosina.

“Chloé has become a far better person than what she was, so to hold her past actions against her now as she’s becoming a better person is disgraceful.” Ladybug mocked as Rosina nodded along.

“Yeah Aunty, Chloé is trying her best, and I believe she’s gonna become a great hero in the future” She smiled, they really stuck up for her.

But she could stick up for herself just fine.

“I’m may not be a good hero yet, but I’ll show you that I can change, and next time you try spying on us, you’ll just have to be amazed when we execute another, trinket off” She turned her head up proud, a grin forming across her face.

“Trinklet”

“Don’t ruin the mood”

Hernandez stood there for a while, yet again words she was proud to hear, but she wouldn’t tell them that, they had to work for admiration.

But she could be lenient at times.

“Ladybug, you’re about to transform back. I suggest you use your cure before catching up with us. We need to take care of that little girl now” Ladybug soon had a miniature freak-out, she had completely forgotten about that, with Rosina and Hernandez there, she forgot Chloé couldn’t know.

“Right of course.” She threw her flashlight into the air, shouting those oh so familiar words she was so accustomed to as she watched small ladybugs wrap around Chloé and herself…

None went around Rosina just like she expected, it looked like Chloé hadn’t noticed but that was fair, she didn’t really have any scratches on her.

“I’ll meet you all later bugout” She used her Yo-Yo to take her away, not before taking the Bee Miraculous as well.

It was only then that she had realised something. Or two things.

That child, being carried by Rosina, the one they realised must’ve activated the Trinklet.

What was she doing inside a closed suitcase…?

And why weren’t those bruises healed?

***

“Here, this will help your arms, they should be right as water before you know it”

“Rain Rosy you mean rain”

“Same thing”

They were at Hernandez’s apartment; it was incredibly far from where they resided that was for sure.

Ladybug soon found where they were and stayed with them, after informing Tikki what had happened, the tiny god creature was happy the young holder was able to defeat a Trinklet so soon. They giggled before transforming back.

The child, which they had realised was a girl after they gave her a bath, still looked scared, but she seemed to trust Rosina the most. She stayed very close to her, almost clinging to her poncho.

If Rosina got up, so would she. And follow her around like a little puppy. Ladybug gushed at how cute it was while Chloé secretly smiled. She had never been a fan of kids but this one was cute, her black hair was gorgeous, and black skin was lovely. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of pink, everything about her was adorable.

She was an exception.

Rosina came back with the girl.

But instead of whatever dirt rag she was wearing, she wore a white dress with red, blue and yellow stripes.

“Awwwwww” Ladybug cooed.

“It was one of my old dresses from when I was younger. I’m surprised Aunty still kept it”

“Of course I did, I keep all of your dresses” Chloé smirked at her.

“Looks like you do have a soft spot for your niece huh?” She teased her.

Franchezca turned her head, but she didn’t deny it. Chloé giggled.

Ladybug decided to ask the girl some questions, crouching down to her level to try and make her feel more at ease.

“Hey there,” But immediately the little girl clung to Rosina, scared.

The spotted Lady grew worried, if she kept being scared, she could attract an Akuma. And she really didn’t want to fight a little girl. So, Rosina felt she had to encourage the girl.

“Don’t worry. This is Ladybug. A hero of Paris” A snort was heard but ignored.

“And she protects everyone. Just like me. She’s really nice as well. So, you can trust her.” The little kid looked from Rosy to Ladybug.

Until she came out and stood in front of Rosina.

“O-Ok,” The kid replied, fear vanished as she looked back at Ladybug.

“So, you were in that world with us. Are you alright?” She nodded several times. The bluenette smiled, she was like a mini Rosina, except less bubbly.

“Do you know how you entered that place?” She was worried about asking too many questions at once, it may confuse or alarm the girl.

“I-I erm. I was asleep, and I woke up cold an-and inside something. I-I was alone, and gone and- and-. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m-” Tears started falling down her cheeks as she raised her arms.

“H-Hey its ok, you’re safe now. No one will hurt you now ok” Ladybug was about to reach out to her when she flinched away, and fell back into Rosina.

Now she was nervous.

Rosina picked her up, trying to console her, rocking her back and forth. Whispering positive words to her. Saying how she’s safe now, and no one will hurt her. How it's not her fault at all.

She calmed down and Ladybug was greatly thankful. Even Chloé was relieved.

The little girl looked up at Rosina…

And booped her nose.

At first, she was confused before chuckling was heard as the three looked at Hernandez.

“I believe the kid has shown that she likes you” Rosina gasped excitedly. But Ladybug shared a glance with Chloé about what she had just told them.

Chloé, deciding she wanted in on the action, walked over. But a bit slower so not to scare her.

“So, err kid? What's your name?” The girl cocked her head to the side.

“What’s a name?”

.

.

.

‘Oh my god’

“It's like how I’m called Rosina, and this is Ladybug, and that is Chloé” Rosina pointed to them as it looked like the girl understood.

The girl looked down, fiddling with the mask. Was she nervous?

“C-Can I have a name?” The girls, of course, said yes, they wanted to shout so the heavens could hear but didn’t want to scare her.

“So, what name should we call her?” They all pondered for a while before Chloé offered a name.

“Piper” They all stared at her.

“What? Was it that bad?” She crossed her arms, ready for them to joke and berate the name.

“No, I like it, what about you? Fancy being called Piper, Piper?” The kid tried pronouncing it, with it being an easy name she excitedly chirped a yes as the girls gushed over her.

Franchezca shook her head, those girls needed a lot more training to go through.

“All three of you will be training under me” The gushing stopped as they all looked at the older woman.

“What?” Chloé hoped she was kidding.

“I’m sure you heard me, now you’ll be training under me, I’m a far better instructor than Wáng. And you all better be at your peak. Unless you think you don’t want to be a hero anymore” Ladybug and Chloé glared at the older woman, she was given her answer.

“I will not accept anything but the better, so you best put in all your effort” Chloé and Ladybug looked at each other, was she serious. Nah how hard could it be?

But then they saw Rosy salute towards her. Saying ma’am yes ma’am.

And Piper copied.

They all laughed before Chloé gasped.

“I forgot about Marinette! I’m the worst friend ever…” Ladybug and Rosina slightly glanced at each other.

Well. It was nice she remembered Marinette.

***

It was around 11pm. The sky had turned darker, and pitter-patters of rain droplets against the bedroom window had formed. A pity really, it was such a sunny day as well, there would be plenty of puddles tomorrow.

Rosina had offered to take Chloé home since Ladybug just had to get going.

When they arrived back at the hotel Marinette and Piper officially met and somehow, Piper became comfortable around her a lot quicker, Chloé would be lying if she said she wasn’t jealous.

They spent hours showing Piper the sights of Paris before they headed home. Rosina had told the two that her Aunt would try to get some paperwork to show that Piper was her Sister or something, the redhead was unsure how to explain it but then said something to the effect of like how she had done to me, it was then Chloé had realised what that may have meant and immediately hugged the girl, her being confused but accepted nonetheless.

Later Marinette and Chloé had to come up with a plan on how to bring Piper home, Marinette’s Parents would surely question it and they couldn’t say they found her in another dimensional world.

They came up with the idea that Rosina had an adoptive Sister before coming here, but because she was shy, she was spending more time with her Aunt. But then Piper had wanted to come and stay with Rosina and spend some time with her.

Luckily it worked and Sabine and Tom were just more than happy to look after another child.

Chloé had gone home, complaining about how tired she was, she was picked up in her limo and driven away.

So, it was now night. And the tiny makeshift bed Marinette was able to make fairly quickly. But Piper couldn’t sleep. She didn’t want to stay in the bed, she wants to be near that nice Lady, ro- ros- Rosy. Yeah, that was her name. She looked around and felt her way until she felt something.

There! An arm.

She wanted to tap her awake, but she was afraid if she would be angry, so she started tearing up.

That definitely woke Rosina up.

“Piper? Are you alright? Did you have a bad dream?” Piper stopped her tears and stood straight up, not daring to speak.

But she felt a gentle hand on her head and Rosy’s smile making her feel something.

“Did you want to stay with me? Well of course you can” She outstretched her arms and Piper ran into them, literally. She was clinging to her like life-support. But it looked like Rosina didn’t seem to mind.

Piper’s breathing shortened to an even pace as she fell asleep, Rosina thinking how cute she was. As she pattered her hair, she realised something.

She was a number to this little girl, and maybe more.

.

.

.

~Bonus~

Rosina: Hey guys -uploads a photo- I made a Sister today.

Aurore: What?

Kagami: Marinette! Explain! Now!

Noémie: This is not like how biology works, where did she come from?

Marinette: It’s a long story please just let us go to bed.

Marc: It's too late for this type of thing, I’ll sleep on it.

Aurore: I think Marc is still sleepy and hasn’t realised what Rosy said.

Luka: Would congratulations be ok to say or inappropriate?

Marinette: Luka stop this is serious, and sorry guys we’ll be going offline soon we’ll talk tomorrow. We have to get the little one to sleep… And I’m not talking about Piper.

Luka: Aww, she even has a cute name.

Noémie: Luka stop being a Brother you can’t just do this.

Luka: Watch me.

Marinette: Anyway, night guys.

Noémie: Night smols.

Kagami: You all better explain yourselves tomorrow, in full detail, I swear I will get the whole truth somehow.

Kagami: I see you’ve all read it.

Chloé: Yeah yeah just go to bed.

Aurore: I’ll tell Mireille, knowing her, her phones turned off.

Noémie: Goodnight, and tell Piper she’s like soo adorable, ok smols. Peace out.

.

.

.

Marc: WAIT ROSY’S GOT A KID!?

***

Hope you liked it. Oh, and here's Piper. She’s adorable.

Oh, man, have I been drawing a bunch of stuff. My sketchbook is halfway filled with ML costume redesigns and some original ones as well. It’s been great. I drew 3 in a day and I have all of the future Miraculous holders sketched out and I’m planning to digitalise them in the near future when their chapter comes out, I’ll post the picture in due time. I’m so happy and impressed with myself, although I must admit I drew more than I wrote but oh well, I loved doing the designs as I tried to search for the best to references. Although I must admit I didn’t really like Luka’s much, he may be one of my favourite characters but I hate drawing him, I don’t know why but I think I can never draw him good, he always looks weird but I digress. Anyway, Piper has been introduced and the training has started. I’m not sure about what the next one should be, I had thought this one should’ve included more but it was already getting long, the next maybe a 3 in 1 but I’m not sure, if I can make a whole chapter then the 3 in 1 will be after. Cya later. Have a nice day/night.

I may soon be adding another love square hehe. Feel free to guess who it is, 3 of the characters have been introduced.

[jenoptimist]

Moving houses wasn’t considered a tragedy; tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were all tragedies. They were all extremely serious and devastating to be considered one. And yet there you were, staring at your new house with a large box in your hands, practically reeking of misery. Logically, you knew why your parents up and moved your small family from the busy, largely populated city to the quiet suburbs with its tight-knit community–rent was disgustingly high in the city but a mortgage in the suburbs, while not dirt cheap, was certainly worth the money when they did the figures. But still. Your whole life was in the city. It wasn’t like you had many friends or anything, however the few that you did fortunately lived within walking distance. 

At least decorating your room would be fun. Your brother wasn’t as artistically talented as his close friend, Ten, but he had better artistic skills and vision than you did. You knew that he wouldn’t disagree when you’d ask him to help. At least you hoped so, anyway, because Taeyong had the tendency to be too absorbed in whatever game he had just recently purchased. His newfound love seemed to be Animal Crossing at the moment as he talked about it non-stop. In the off chance he’d decline, you would probably just resort to searching up a Bob Ross painting tutorial on YouTube. Although you hoped you wouldn’t have to. You wanted to spend some quality time with your brother before he inevitably disappeared in his room to play his games or produce some mixtapes in his makeshift at-home music studio.

“Isn’t it fantastic?” Your mom breathed out enthusiastically as she came up from behind you, a small box in her hands. Not wanting to see her face wrinkle with a frown, you decided to agree.

“Yeah, it looks great.” 

If she heard the melancholy in your voice, she chose to ignore it.

*

It had been a few months since you moved in and you tried adapting to your new life in the suburbs. Not changed that much really–you still just stayed inside your room alternating between reading books and watching movies on Netflix. What did change was that you could no longer just walk up to your friend’s house when you were bored. Facetime was fantastic and everything but could only do so much. You loved your friends. Really, you did, but the commute to the city was almost two hours by bus. What made it even worse was that the bus was infrequent, showing up either a few minutes early or vice verse. In rare occasions the bus wouldn’t make an appearance at all. Your older sister sure was lucky that she had a stable job and could afford to maintain her life in the city. 

Deciding that you needed a change of scenery, you abandoned your seat by the window and made your way to the kitchen where you found your mom chopping up some vegetables. When she declined your offer to help her, you beelined towards the fridge to grab a glass of water before sitting down to watch her as she hummed, skillfully cutting the carrots into thin strips.

“Honey,” she said as she dropped the knife on the chopping board, looking up to face you. “Do you ever get bored in the house?”

You shrugged noncommittally. “Sometimes.”

“Well, what if I gave you a task?” You scrunched your nose. The last time your mom had given you something to do because you were ‘lazing around’ it ended up with you almost breaking your arm, and probably your leg, because the ladder wobbled. Fortunately Taeyong was with you at the time and was able to help break your fall. “Please? Our neighbor, Mrs.Na keeps asking me about ‘the child that keeps looking out the window wistfully’ and I think that you could use a bit of fresh air.”

“So you want me to,” you said slowly while practically disappeared into the chair, “make friendly with the neighbors?” She tittered at your reaction. But could she blame you? You weren’t a social butterfly or anything. In fact it was even amazing that you had friends in the first place considering how introverted you were. 

“No. Not if you don’t want to. I was thinking more like you could fix up our front garden.”

The garden wasn’t horrendous looking. At least you didn’t think so. Sure, there were some weeds that littered the majority of the grass and there weren’t any flowers, but not everybody could have beautiful front gardens like Mrs.Na! Her sons was super conscious about how their garden looked. It was a regular occurrence to see one of them, usually the one with the bubblegum pink hair, water their plants at least three times a day while you were reading by your window, with a large smile on his face. Although you weren’t sure that plants needed to be watered that often, their garden was super lush and vibrant. Maybe they just had a magic green fingers and that was why none of their plants died of over-watering and always looked spectacular.

You eyed your mother suspiciously. “And it isn’t because you want to have the best front garden in the neighborhood.” Your mom was as competitive as they got; any time a festive season was due she had to outdo the rest on the street with the decorations that she hung up, she never let you or any of your siblings win at Mario Kart and you remember when you were younger, you had to have the prettiest lunchbox in the class. There were more instances you could think of but those remained vivd in your memory.

The smile that she let out was a guilty one. “Well, maybe just a little.”

You snorted, knowing that the opposite was true. “I’ll do it but only if we buy Disney Plus.” You had been bugging your parents to buy the subscription for a while, needing to fulfill your love for Disney movies, but they didn’t budge no matter how hard you pleaded. If you received allowance you would have subscribed the day it became available but you didn’t and Taeyong, sadly, had to decline because of his recent gaming purchases. You waited patiently as she mulled it over.

“Alright kiddo. You got yourself a deal,” you whooped loudly, “but the garden needs to look fabulous.” 

You mock saluted her as you hopped off of the seat. You had garden plans to make.

*

It was disrespectfully hot when you decided to put your plan into motion. The sweat trickled down your back as you tried to remove your first weed. You had been at it for a few minutes but it didn’t shift, not even a little bit, and you were getting more and more impatient as the seconds flew by.

“Can’t you help me?” You whined, gloved hands still gripping tightly onto the annoying little plant, as you turned to look at your brother who was sitting on the steps.

Without raising his eyes from his phone he said, “nope. It’s your job. I’m just here to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.”

You mimicked him silently as you returned your gaze to the weed, hoping that your glare would somehow disintegrate it. The annoying thing was that you had everything you needed except, apparently, a small digging spade. Grumbling to yourself, you exerted what you hoped was enough energy as you pulled harder. Nothing. It didn’t even budge. You folded your arms as you scowled, watching as it danced with the breeze. It definitely seemed to mock your failure with each movement that it made. Wiping your forehead you stood up and marched back inside your house, making sure to lightly kick your brother on the way in, and determinedly searched for something that could help you dig out the little monster.

Deciding that one spoon disappearing mysteriously wouldn’t be noticed by your parents, you grabbed one and stomped back outside. Taeyong slapped your leg as you passed by which made you stick your tongue out at him–not that he noticed, too engrossed in his game. As you began harshly shoveling at the soil surrounding the weed, you reasoned that your mom couldn’t be annoyed at you if she were to find out about the spoon. She was the one that wanted the prettiest garden after all.

It felt like more than an eternity had passed before you successfully managed to rid the garden of its weeds. The sun was setting and while your parents told you to head back inside, something about removing all of the weeds made you more motivated to execute the plan that you had for your garden. As you bagged up the remaining stems, you heard footsteps approach you from behind.

Taeyong squatted beside you, holding out a Caprisun. “You did a great job.” He smiled, ruffling your hair affectionately when you took the juice pouch from him. “Let’s go back inside. You can continue tomorrow.”

*

“Looking good.” A voice that definitely did not belong to your older brother commented. Whoever the person was had to be lying to you, seeing as your flowers were only cute little sprouts. Standing up and turning from your position near the steps that lead towards the door, you found yourself staring at Mrs.Na’s sons. They stood side by side on the pavement, just a few inches from the grass, surveying your garden.

“Thanks.” You mumbled, growing self conscious at your work the longer they looked at your unblossomed flowers. It had taken a few weeks but the garden was finally starting to take shape; you mowed it to perfection, planted the seeds strategically and planned to convince your parents to add a wooden bench just beside the steps so that you could read while bathing in sunlight. Maybe you could even purchase a bench from IKEA, assemble it with Taeyong and somehow convince him to paint it so that it can have some personality.

The pink haired teen, you weren’t sure but you suspected that they were around your age or maybe even a bit older, smiled brightly. It was the smile you saw when he watered his flowers. You returned his smile, albeit awkwardly, and hoped that that would be the end of the conversation. Your hope was brutally crushed when he strode towards you, stopping just a few meters away from you before thrusting his hand out.

“I’m Jaemin, your neighbor across the street. Nice to meet you!” The smile still sat on his face and you briefly wondered if his facial muscles ever grew tired. “That’s my best friend Jeno.” He continued when you shook hands.

You nodded at his not-brother, geez you were so embarrassed that you assumed that they were related, who remained at their original spot. You held your smile as you met his eyes which earned you one of his own–he had a pretty smile. It was a smile that took over his entire face, his eyes adorably disappearing into little crescents. Jeno apparently deemed the small interaction between the two of you as an okay to head over to stand beside his best friend. You felt a little dazed the longer you looked at his cute smile so you averted your gaze back to Jaemin.

“Your garden is prettier.” You complimented, hands wringing the t-shirt you sneakily took from Taeyong–it was an old one, anyway, so hopefully he wouldn’t notice that it was missing from his closet. 

Jaemin visibly preened, his smile somehow growing even wider. “Thanks! Hey, we were on our way to grab some milkshakes or something,” he side-eyed Jeno who nodded slightly. “Want to come with us?”

You blanched at his suggestion. What on earth possessed this guy and his best friend to compliment your garden and invite you to their hang out? Was this a common thing to do in the area? Although you doubted it seeing as they only approached you now and your family had moved in months ago. Unless, maybe, they were waiting until the perfect time to corner you? Whatever the reason, you had to reply because they couldn’t smile and wait patiently forever.

“They’d love to!” You turned immediately and stared at your mom incredulously. “What?” She asked as she smiled serenely. “They look like nice young men. Now go and get changed while I get them something to drink.”

*

The days that followed the impromptu hang out were fun. It was routine at that point to care and maintain your garden during the morning and then seeking out Jaemin and Jeno for company when it was the afternoon. While you and Jaemin bonded over horticulture, the teen freely offering advice on how to care for your plants and asked for your opinions on pots, you and Jeno preferred to spend your time with each other by talking about various books or him playing his guitar as you tended to your garden. Jaemin regularly teased the two of you for being ‘boring nerds’ but neither of you cared because you both knew that he was aware that his extroverted-like nature could be overwhelming at times for the two of you.

It was the afternoon and, like clockwork, you collected Jaemin from his house so that you could both walk to Jeno’s house down the street. Jaemin chatted animatedly, comfortably filling up the silence like he always did, not stopping even as the two of you approached Jeno’s house where your friend was waiting patiently at the steps on the porch of his house.

“So what are we doing?” The black haired teen asked as he jumped up and made his way towards you. He and Jaemin did their handshake when he was close enough. 

When they were finished he smiled radiantly at you, raising his hand. The gentle high-fives he gave you every time he saw you was something that you always looked forward to. There was nothing special about it or anything, you just liked the feeling of his hand against yours–which you knew was absolutely pathetic. Sometimes, though, when you were feeling particularly courageous, you folded your fingers so that your hands would interlock. It was something you did quickly, fold and then immediately let go because you knew he wouldn’t return it anyway, so there was no point in making things weird.

Your brain almost short-circuited when this time it was Jeno who folded his fingers, smile turning shy, but you managed to fold yours as well. You supposed that the two of you looked stupid; two teenagers staring at each other with their hands interlocked in mid-air however you couldn’t find it in you to care. Not when your heart was beating as fast as it was, your hands becoming clammy.

“Oh get a room!” Jaemin exclaimed as he pretended to gag. The two of you jumped apart, avoiding eye contact as your pink haired friend snickered. While Jeno started a play fight with him, you took the time to calm yourself down. When they finished, they looked at you.

“What?” Hopefully there wasn’t a flush evident on your cheeks or something because you would be mortified.

“It’s your turn to choose something for us to do today.” Jeno replied, peeking at you through his lashes.

You tilted your head slightly as you thought. The three of you had already gone to the cinema and ice-cream parlor that week because that was what Jaemin had chosen to do two days ago and yesterday, when it was Jeno’s choice, the three of you went to the small museum before he requested that the two of you model for him so that he could work on his photography skills. There wasn’t much else to do so you were stumped.

“How about we build something from IKEA?” Your parents caved in and bought the bench however Taeyong declined your invitation to assemble it because of work. At his refusal you immediately began to sulk but quickly cheered up when he promised that he would paint it when he had the chance.

“Do you mean the bench that your parents bought the other day?” 

Pleased that Jeno remembered the tidbit of random information, you beamed. “Yep! So, what do you guys say?” They chirped their agreement and with that, the three of you spun around and walked back to your house.

“Are we nearly finished?” Jaemin asked from where he was laying down on the grass, resting his face on the palm of his hands.

Jeno clicked his tongue at response. “You mean are me and y/n nearly finished.” He corrected as he continue to twist the screwdriver. Jaemin pouted which made you huff out a laugh. He was the one who eagerly volunteered to read out the instructions as the two of you assembled it, imitating a loud buzzer when either of you did something wrong.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost finished.” You assured him then you turned to face Jeno. “Can I have that screwdriver when you’re done?” He nodded in reply. As you waited, you allowed your eyes roam his figure; from how his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and then all the way down to his bicep and hands. Your eyes averted immediately to the large tree behind him when he moved suddenly. “Thanks.” You said as he held out the tool towards you. The two of you held eye contact for longer than necessary, your hand over his as you swiped the screwdriver from him.

“Your welcome.” Jeno responded quietly, his eyes searching your own.

From your right, you heard Jaemin flop onto his back and release a loud, groan that spoke of long-suffering.

*

Unable to fall asleep, you scrolled through your phone aimlessly. It was four in the morning and the entire house was asleep. As you were about to click a random YouTube video that was in your recommendations, you received a text from Jeno. You smiled goofily at your screen as you tapped your reply to his question. Just as you were about to start the video, there was a light tap on your window. You waited, hoping it was just in your imagination or a bird that crashed into your window by mistake. Another tap convinced you to slowly get off of your bed and check the winow.

Jeno stood on your lawn in a puffer jacket and sweats, camera strap hanging on his neck. “Come with me.” He said, keeping his voice low.

“Where?” You inquired, already ready to grab your hoodie and your shoes.

“It’s a surprise.”

The surprise ended up being a forty-five minute away. The location he lead you to was on top of a steep hill, where a large cherry tree stood. The hill overlooked the neighborhood and, if you squinted hard enough, you could just about make the outline of your house. The view was very pretty. You made a mental note to read in the shade of the tree some time during the week or maybe even host a picnic there.

“Why’d you take me here?” You questioned, turning to look at Jeno.

“I thought that we could watch the sun rise,” he kicked at the air lightly, fiddling with his camera. “And that maybe I could take some pictures of you?”

“Okay,” you agreed easily, loving how he beamed at you in return. You sat on the grass, patting the spot next to you, and hugged your arms against your chest. Resting your temple on your knees, you caught Jeno looking at you. “What?” He shook his head. “So how’d you find this place?” You asked. You were mesmerized by the way he spoke, calm and gentle as always. Sleep was threatening to possess you but you fought against it, not wanting to miss anything.

When the sun made its slow appearance, Jeno hopped up and held his hands out to you, pulling you up when you grabbed onto them. Him taking pictures was nothing new but you felt a little bit antsy because it would be his first time taking pictures of you without Jaemin. As you contorted your body to create a variety of silly poses, you tried not to think about how intimate the whole situation felt. It was probably all in your head anyway.

“Wait, just two more.” With that, he let his camera go and retrieved his phone from his pocket. He took a photo of you and then he walked up to you, put his arms around your shoulders and snapped a quick picture.

The walk back involved plenty of saccharine smiles, bashful gazes and Jeno handing you his puffer jacket to keep you warm. You didn’t feel brave enough to take his hand on your own or kiss him sweetly like they did in the movies when you were saying goodbyes. But as you stared at your ceiling, smile so wide it hurt your cheeks, you wished that you did.

*

“What are you guys doing?”

The two teens stopped bickering, Jeno placing something behind his back. You quirked a brow but took a seat in the booth opposite them, anyway. Jaemin wanted to watch a movie again and so to pass the time, the three of you decided to grab a milkshake in the diner before the screening.

“Oh no,” Jaemin gasped dramatically as he patted at the pockets of his denim jacket. “I forgot my wallet at home,” you shrugged, offering to pay for him immediately. “No, it’s alright. I’ll just go and grab it. Ow! Jeno, what the hell!” You glanced at the aforementioned teen, who smiled innocently before wincing. “Well,” Jaemin sighed as he stood up, “I’ll just head out.” Jeno covered his eyes with his hand, avoiding the look that his best friend gave him. As soon as he disappeared, Jeno’s phone buzzed numerous times which made him mutter something you didn’t catch.

“Okay,” you said, dragging out the word. “What was that all about?”

“Who knows?” You remained somewhat suspicious. There was something going on, you were sure of it. “I, um, ordered your regular for you if that’s alright?”

You nodded an affirmative and allowed a beat of silence before you spoke again. “He’s not coming back, is he?”

Jeno sputtered. “I– Well, you see–” You giggled at him, causing him to whine out your name as he hid his face in his hands. “There’s something I need to give you.” Then, without further hesitation, he produced a mason jar from behind his back. “It’s a terrarium that I made for you yesterday.”

You took it from his hands and held it with caution as you inspected it. It was very pretty. The plants that he chose were extremely vibrant, the stones different colors and he even placed a cute little cat figurine that was made to appear like it was sleeping.

Removing your gaze from the mason jar, you met his eyes. “Is this why you couldn’t hang out with us yesterday?” You asked softly. When he nodded, you returned your gaze to the mason jar so that you could continue to stare at the terrarium in wonder. “Oh my God,” you breathed out, gently placing the container onto the table. “This is totally a date, isn’t it? That’s why Jaemin abandoned us the minute I got here.”

Jeno fidgeted with his fingers as he met your eyes, clearing his throat before he spoke. “I wanted to ask you before, you know the day we watched the sun rise together?”

“Jeno that was two weeks ago.”

He winced. “Yeah, I know. I chickened out last minute.”

“Oh my God,” you repeated, eyes widening. “If you had told me this was a date I would have dressed nicer. Jeno, how could you do this to me?”

“So you don’t mind that this is a date?”

“Jeno, sweetie, I’ve had a massive crush on you for ages now. I’m surprised you didn’t notice or I didn’t accidentally tell you.”

A goofy smile lit up his face. “Oh.” He looked extremely pleased, like a dream of his came true. You supposed it probably did. “You look great, anyway, so it doesn’t matter. You always look great.”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t stop the smile that emerged. “So does this mean we can hold hands on the table as we share the same milkshake and stare adoringly into each others eyes?”

Jeno threw his head back to laugh and you were quick to follow. “If that’s what you want.”

Later that evening after your date was over and the two of you were sitting on the bench, the one that Taeyong successfully gave some personality, you kissed him softly like you wanted to weeks ago. And as you watched him walk away, him repeatedly looking back at you, you startled when you saw Jaemin waving his arms erratically on his porch. When you acknowledged him with a wave of your own, he gave you a huge thumbs up.

“Finally!” He hollered before breaking out into a silly dance.

“Thank you!” You yelled back.

Finally indeed.

[buckybabybaby]

Mr Hollywood (Epilogue Part III)

Summary: Bucky Barnes, an underpaid teaching assistant in a small English village, dreams of a movie career back in his home country of America. He finally gets the break he's always wanted, and if it wasn't for you, his best friend, he wouldn't have been able to take it.

But is that fact enough to save your friendship when it's tested by the pressures of Hollywood?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Reader (Gender Neutral)

Word count: 1532

Chapter summary: The peace of normality, for once.

A/n: Probably the last epilogue, but who can say?! I think this rounds if off nicely though...

(If the picture is all blurry, opening it in a new tab in browser helps!)

Warnings: Just fluff.

Previous: Epilogue Part II

Mr Hollywood Masterlist | Main Masterlist

*****

“Do you mind it when Mr Barnes kisses other people?”

You don't have to look up to know Isabella is staring across your desk at you, eager to know the answer. Her younger sister Emilia has also drifted in to your classroom this evening, dragging with her a box full of building blocks, and is currently creating a mini town on your window sill and ignoring everything else, not quite old enough to be interested in gossip.

If you can call it gossip. Even with Bucky's dramatics over the month you spent in America, the paparazzi didn't catch on to anything and you returned to England and your work just as anonymous as you left.

That doesn’t mean, however, that curious little eight year olds can't figure out that something has changed between you and him. Edwin and his wife Ana both work full time, which isn't usually a problem as the two girls attend after-school clubs most days of the week, and even on Fridays when there aren't any running it's still not a problem as there is plenty to keep them occupied while they wait to be picked up. The music room seems to be a favourite of theirs, the lure of bashing around on the drums or piano unsupervised too hard to resist, but more often that not recently they can be found with you.

Isabella's continuing. “And do you make him clean his teeth before he kisses you afterwards?”

You laugh, still surprised at how direct she is. It only took her a couple of minutes to wrangle out the truth about you and Bucky on you the first day back, and so far it seems like she's stuck to her vow of keeping it to herself, in exchange for stories of your time in Hollywood.

She's still talking. “Does his character kiss other people? I haven't seen the show, daddy says I can watch it when I'm a little bit older.”

“Your daddy's probably right,” You say, not answering her other questions.

That doesn't stop her asking, “Will you get married to him now?”

“We'll have to see.”

“Will daddy get an invite to your wedding? 'Cos then I could come too! Emilia's too small but I could come, couldn't I?”

“Don't get too excited, Isabella. Nothing will happen for a few years yet, probably.”

Resting her head on her crossed arms, her brow furrows in obvious disappointment and you feel guilty.

You can't have that. “Tell you what.” Holding out your hand, you offer her your little finger and she wraps her own much smaller one around it with a grin. “When we get married, I'll make sure you get an invite, okay?” She gasps happily, and you add, “And one for Emilia, because I'm not planning on marrying him any time soon so she'll be old enough by then.”

“If you wait a few more years then the new baby can come too!” Isabella's hands clap over her mouth as you both realise what she's said. “I wasn't meant to say!”

You feign confusion. “Say what?”

She slumps back into her seat in relief, giggling quietly when you wink at her.

Then a soft knock interrupts from the classroom door and you look up to find Ana leaning against the frame.  Not so subtly you glance at her tummy, trying to see if you can make out a bump, and from the look on her face, she notices.

Isabella and Emilia jump up at her arrival, gathering up their belongings as she comes to perch on your desk.

“I'm guessing she told you?”

“In her defence, it was an accident.”

Ana shakes her head fondly as she watches her oldest collecting her pens and zipping them away in her bag. “We didn't really expect her to not too. We're in the process of telling people so it doesn't really matter, and I'm just so pleased she's excited.”

Her daughters have finished fastening their coats and are hovering by the door, tired now after a long week and more than ready for dinner and bed.

“Thank you for looking after them.”

You whisper your congratulations as you hug her goodbye, waving as they leave, and you've nearly packed up your own book bag when you're interrupted again.

“This place really doesn't change, huh?”

Spinning around, you're met with the most beautiful sight you can imagine on a Friday evening. Bucky, taking advantage of a break between his scenes to visit you for the first time since the summer, is stood in your doorway in the outfit he tends to wear every time he travels, and before you can stop yourself you're skipping across the room and into his arms.

“I thought I was picking you up from the airport?” You mumble against his shoulder.

He shrugs and holds you closer. “Got an earlier flight. So I thought I'd come and surprise you.”

“You're the best sort of surprise I could ask for,” You admit. “If you'd been here ten minutes ago you could've also surprised your biggest fan.”

“Edwin's daughter, 'bella?”

“Yeah. She's first on the guest list when we get married, too.”

He leans back slightly to catch your eye, grinning widely. “Oh, it's 'when' now, is it? Not 'if'? That's encouraging.”

Your smile matches his. “But we'll have to wait until both of her siblings are old enough to attend too, I've made a solemn promise I couldn't possibly break.”

Bucky frowns. “Both her-oh, a new baby?”

“Yep.”

“And you don't want screaming babies ruining your big day?”

“Nope. Well, not ideally.”

“So, three to four years is how long we've got to wait?”

“If you're prepared to?”

Bopping your nose, he slides his lips briefly across yours. “Don't worry doll, I'm a very patient man.”

*****

“He's going to spoil your little girl rotten, I hope you know that.”

Sat on one side of your lounge with Sophia, you watch Bucky on the other side of the room cradle week old Amelia like she's make of tissue paper. The timing of his trip back 'home' is perfect as his baby niece was born just days ago, a much easier birth than her older brother so the whole family's able to come round to your house for the afternoon when she's still so young.

“Well, not rotten,” You acknowledge. “Never rotten, not one of your children, but he's still going to absolutely treasure her like he does Benjamin.”

“I know. I don't really think there's anything I can do to stop him.”

“Nah, you've just got to embrace it.”

“And what about you? Does he spoil you too?”

You flush at the knowing look she gives you. “He tries to.”

Not elaborating nor giving her a chance to pry any further, you get up and saunter over to admire the newborn, sitting next to Bucky on the sofa as Dayton slips away back to his wife, leaving the two of you alone for a minute.

Bucky turns to you. “Do you want to hold her?”

“Oh, er-”

“Here.” He holds Amelia out to you carefully. “Just keep her head supported and she'll be fine.”

“O-Okay.”

Waiting until you settle comfortably, he then passes you the precious bundle. You're tense at first, terrified of holding her incorrectly and causing her pain, but when she doesn't stir in your arms, you sink back into the sofa and watch her sleep. She looks almost exactly like her brother did when he was born, just that the soft hair across her forehead is darker, the same colour as her father as opposed to Benjamin's blonder curls, matching his mothers.

“She's so tiny,” You murmur in awe.

Bucky nods, smiling down at her when she stretches. “But she won't be for long. Which is yet another reason to come back more often.”

*****

It may be October half-term, but with the sun shining down it's warm enough to enjoy the fresh air in the garden, at least for a little while. Benjamin drags himself away from his little sister long enough to offer the chickens some corn, and under the watchful eye of both his parents he hesitantly holds out his hand to them, even after you warn him their beaks may hurt. Just like his dad and uncle, he loves a challenge.  

Bucky guides you away from the others, ambling around the edge of the borders as he tells you about his and Sam’s latest antics, finally stopping at the base of the apple tree that holds so many memories.

“I miss you Y/N.”

“I'm right here.”

“I know, but when I'm gone, I-” He pauses, sighing. “I wish it could be like this all the time.”

“Me too.”

“I was thinking, for the next project, I could find a role a bit closer to you. Maybe a British production?”

“You shouldn't limit yourself for me.”

“No. But if something came up...”

“Then that would be very nice.”

“Wouldn't it?”

He holds you tight as he kisses you in a sunny patch under the slowly yellowing leaves, and you know that, whatever comes your way, as long as you have moments like this nothing will ever tear you two apart.

*****

Epilogue Part IV (Final!)

*****

A/n 2: if this is this last part I just wanna thank everyone who read and commented on this over the last eight months! It's been quite a while, so if you've stuck with it, thank you!! Once again I find it hard to let go when I feel like I've built a little safe family around Bucky, but there's always more stories to write, and different ways for him to fall in love with y/n, so watch this space ;)

[lesbicattiva]

araki’s interview at luccacomics&games 2019 part two.

loose & imperfect transcript / translation of araki first interview (30th oct 2PM) at lucca comics & games 2019 at teatro del giglio about his main work: jojo’s bizarre adventures. (talk show translated from italian to english 2/5).

A: Good evening. Q: Good evening. Since we’re here to talk about it, I’d like to ask: how was JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure born? A: [ignores the question just to properly repeat ‘good evening’ again and then point at cosplayers] I think I recognize that character! Maybe I saw it on japanese tv! Q: [stammers] Uh.... my question? A: Oh right [laughs]. The idea of JOJO came because I wanted to draw characters with superpowers that can’t be seen. I wanted to draw that and shape those powers on paper. I did it on shōnen jump, where I debuted, and just tried to pick a name that could be easily remembered, something like with a double J and a double O.

Q: Continuing with the foundations of JOJO, as I was saying earlier, there’s a common theme in this year’s lucca comics and JOJO; the focus on ‘humanity’, its tight bond with ‘fate’ and the ‘immortality of the human spirit’. I’d like to know why these themes have been chosen and why you like them so much. A: Actually, it’s because I’ve been told to draw something like this, and so I did it [editor of JOJO laughs]. But only after drawing it I realized that “wow, I drew something really interesting!” a theme so deep such as ‘admiration for human beings’ and so on. It’s really a serious thing [him, the translator and the two editors laugh] but yeah, I only realized it later because at first I’d just been told to draw [head-editor of ultra jump speaks to araki and he nods]. Well, yes, actually this was the short version of the story, the longer one is that I actually wanted to draw the theme of the ‘affirmation of humans’, of ‘not rejecting your humanity’. And because of this there are ‘good’ characters, which are obviously appreciated, but even ‘evil’ characters have something that can be appreciated since they are human beings. And this was more or less the idea for JOJO’s theme. I gave a bit of a superficial answer at first but now it’s a good answer, isn’t it? [everyone laughs]

Q: Let’s remain on the theme of fate, of destiny, of how we humans are destined, or damned, if you will, to follow a certain path. In JOJO there isn't just the protagonists’ family, which moves from location to location, but there’s also another family.... the Zeppeli [audience laughs]. It’s good to see you guys taking it that way because they really.... don’t. Since, as you can hear, I’m from Napoli, I’m rather curious if their fate will always be the same or if they’ll be able to take control of it someday. A: I don’t mean to ‘persecute’ them, but they are complementary to the Joestar family. Them ending up dying serves to complete the flow of the story and to facilitate the path of the Joestars. Q: But do you see a possibility for them in the future.... I really care about them, you see. A: I’m glad that you’re a big fan of the Zeppeli as I am. But I think that the beauty of their family is in the very fact that, yes they will die, but they will also pass on those values and positive qualities through their deaths. The very act of dying for them allows that. Don’t you think too? Q: Yes. I too.... can’t wait to die. [audience laughs and so does araki, but he’s still a little concerned]

Q: In JOJO, compared to other mangas where characters fight, you made a precise choice; that is, the absence of a direct clash. You opted for a more studied, strategic way of fighting, almost like a chess match. And the cornerstones of that are stands. How do you manage to always find new powers and tactics? A: Having new ideas is my job. I get inspired by many things, especially during my everyday life: when I meet my friends or I see them do particular gestures, when I talk with my old neighbour or when I drink a glass of water and some gets stuck in my throat; then I think “hey! I could make a stand power out of that!”. Basically, I think observing little details is essential to my creative process.

Q: Many of the stories of JOJO are real travel diaries, since a huge variety of settings is present. How much the setting influences the writing and how fundamental is it? Do you start from there to create the story or is it just a plus?  A: I was very inspired by the small trips I did when young. As a kid I would bike to various places, I’d climb up mountains, go around other cities.... This travelling process helped me a lot in my growth – from kid to adult, so for me the philosophy of a journey is very important because it allows the characters who partake in it to evolve and become adults, from the beginning to the end of the journey. As for the other part of the question, thinking about the creative process of the manga for more contained locations.... For example, if you stopped to camp during a trip and encountered one of your fears, you would have to face it directly. But I asked myself what would happen if that fear, that enemy, is the one hiding instead; maybe even in the apartment next to you. From this idea the setting of Morio-cho was born, to have an invisible enemy, a peaceful person who just waits silently somewhere in the background. This has been a different challenge compared to what I previously tackled regarding the process of a journey.

Q: Speaking of Morio-cho, would you like to live in this town you created? A: Yes. I’ve answered your question right away because it’s based on the town where I grew up, near Sendai, it was full of weird people [audience laughs] – well, they were all good people but [laughs a bit] still some were weird. Q: I see. I’m sure there were some Zeppelis there as well.

Q: Again, speaking of the creative process, it’s common knowledge that you listen to a lot of music while working. It’s also an interesting concept, since rhythm is essential to storytelling. How much music, and what type, influences your work? A: What influences me the most is the rhythm, and you can probably see it in the onomatopoeias that I use, which can go like [makes an index gesture] ‘tan-tan-pa’. They are all different types of rhythms that I listen to while writing, this of course influences my creative process as well.

Q: Okay. This is my last question, then I’ll leave the rest to fans. What will the future of JOJO be? A: I don’t know [laughs]. (note: translator suggests he might know but doesn’t want to reveal anything) Actually, I had a good idea of the beginning and a relatively clear idea of the end, but everything else in between is like a jazz concert: it’s a very spontaneous and in the moment creative process. But yes, the ending is pretty definite to me.

F: Hi. As we were saying, you are often inspired by ordinary things: your travels, your childhood, music.... In Diamond Is Unbreakable there's a stand called Bad Company and I remember seeing something similar in a Stephen King's story. I'd like to know if you took inspiration from that and if you like horror movies in general, and if they influence you in any way. (note: people say this guy was rude) A: No, I didn't know there was a story like that. But yes, I do like Stephen King. I enjoyed The Twilight Zone and I'm definitely influenced by horror for my work but I prefer movies like Chucky or Child's Play. I really love horror movies though. 

F: Hi. I read online that the ending and opening songs for the anime are personally chosen by you. I'd like to know if there's an italian song that you like and maybe would use as an ending for the anime. A: An italian song? Mhh. I really like PFM. Was it Premiata? Premiata? [audience claps loudly and araki smiles] Premiata Forneria Marconi, that's it! I didn't decide it just now, I really do like it! [laughs] I also love Puccini's opera.

F: Hello. We know that clothes are one of the main characteristics of JOJO and that many are also inspired by famous brands, I'd like to know, then, what's the creative process behind the creation of those outfits. A: A thing that all of my clothes have in common is that they are comfortable and facilitate movement. In particular, for the protagonists, I always base myself on the model of a classic japanese student uniform, on which I then add other features, like ladybugs brooches or more fancy accessories. But the start is always the school uniform. When I was young I really liked “Babil Junior”, a manga where the protagonist wears a school uniform while in the desert. I found that truly beautiful and it inspired me a lot. To be able to draw these characters in school uniforms and have them go around desolate locations.... It really touched me and even made me cry a bit.

Q: While I search for the next person can I ask another quick question of my own? If you could choose your stand, what would it be? A: Judging by the weather here in Lucca, which has been pretty gloomy today, I’d say that I’d like the stand power of a ‘hare-otoko’ / 晴れ男 (lit. a man that brings good weather). In fact, forecasts said that it would rain a lot today, but since I’m here, thanks to me, there’s good weather [laughs]. (note: believe it or not, it always rains during lucca comics, but for the hours that araki was there, the weather was good. as soon as he finished his talk show, it started raining heavily. he really has a powerful stand.)

F: Hi. A straightforward question: since today's theme is ‘becoming human’ don't you think that Diavolo's punishment was a bit too much? (note: people say this guy was also rude) A: Oh, sorry, you don’t like his punishment? [laughs] I think he was such an evil character that he deserved to end like that. I’ve been told that his death was too harsh by japanese fans as well, however.... I think it was fitting for someone as evil as him. Sorry.

Q: Since time is almost up, allow me to ask the last questions. Is there a character that you think looks like you or just one that you can easily identify with? A: Rohan— [audience interrupts him by cheering loudly] NO NO NO [araki and the translator laugh]. I was saying that Rohan is who I aspire to be but it’s not who I am, sorry [araki and the translator laugh again]. There isn’t a character that I can really identify with but my favourite is Shigechi. [audience is kinda surprised] I like it when he collects the money that fell on the ground.

Q: Looking in hindsight at the work you’ve done on JOJO so far, is there any anecdotes that you’d like to share with us here today? A: I don’t know if it’s interesting but when I was writing for weekly shōnen jump the deadline was set to 19 pages of work each week. But every single time I just couldn’t limit myself to only 19 and always ended up doing 21. Like this, 2 pages were always going to be cut out. They wouldn’t even go in the next chapter because they were part of the current one and thus had to be cut out completely. Currently I’m very satisfied because I have 45 pages to work with in ultra jump. Although, actually, maybe now they’re a bit too many [everyone laughs].

Q: The last thing that I’ll ask you before saying goodbye is: if you could go back to the very first day in which you sat down at your desk and started working on JOJO, is there something that you would do differently? A: I would change the printing mistakes, for example ‘nani o suru da’ / 何をするだァーッ would often be written incorrectly as ‘nani o surun da’ / 何をするんだァーッ (where んだ got added) [laughs and jokingly blames the editor of JOJO, who takes responsibility. even though the editor wasn’t able to correct them at the time he still feels it was his responsibility nonetheless]. But yes, in the end, I would change little things like this, because in the first volumes there were many mistakes like this.

[lemoncakepanda]

Top 50 NaLu Anime Moments {Pt 1}

And thus we get back to me fangirling over my favorite NaLu moments once again, only this time we do it based on the anime-only moments, which covers: canon, filler, movies and ovas. 100 year quest is not included bc it hasn’t been animated (yet) and it’s still fairly early in the story to start listing my fave moments, so we’ll just cover these I mentioned. If you’re not up to date with the anime, I recommend you skip this list.

Originally, I was just going to do 30 moments, but the list kept getting bigger and so on, and here we are. So I’ll post from least favorite to, well, most favorite, and will divide the list in 5 posts. In this first one, I’ll list my fave moments from 50 till 41.

Warning: lots of gushing and fangirling over a beautiful ship. also, a few moments will be differently placed on this list contrary to where they ranked before (some may be higher and some may be lower) and that’s due to the fact that some of them were better in the manga, whereas some were better in the anime, and some of them are lower simply bc dragon cry exists. so, here we go,

50. “Hang out with me a little longer.” (Ep 125).

We starting off with a filler moment, and you may wonder why it’s so low, since it’s such a cute moment. One, it’s filler. Two, it made into the list, which is already saying something. There’s many great NaLu moments, and they have a lot of scenes together, so choosing only 50 moments was hard enough, so no judging the rankings, kay? It’s the only scene ever where Natsu and Lucy are dancing, so I couldn’t leave it out. It’s such a great moment because, especially at first, Lucy hardly initiated the NaLu moments, and this was post Tenrou, which is known for its NaLu amazing-ness and where the ship truly start to develop, so to see Lucy grab Natsu’s hands even though he “ruined” what she thought would be a romantic moment, and just pull him in for dancing, was actually really sweet, especially at the sound of “Glitter” which is a great song. Also, it’s easy to miss, but Natsu is blushing when she pulls him to her so they can dance, which made the scene extra cute. Let’s ignore the fact that he probably puked on her next, lol.

49. Lucy stops Natsu in Edolas. (Ep 82).

Does anyone else find amazing the fact that Lucy can calm down Natsu and talk him out of so many fights? Natsu Dragneel, the guy who storms into fighting without a second thought? Because I do. And this moment here is no different. Back when I was watching this, I had no idea where we were going with NaLu as a ship, esp bc I knew Lisanna was coming back this arc, so it was nice to see them having moments like this, where you can see Lucy’s affect on Natsu, the way she calms him down, even when she’s upset too, like you can see on the photo. Also, a back hug, which is a total NaLu thing, so it’s a must on this list.

48. “That was dangerous. Thanks, Lucy.” (Ep 59).

BLUSHING LUCY IS SO CUTE! Srsly, though, I love seeing her blush over Natsu, especially so early in the series. I headcanon that she had a little crush on him around this time, but didn’t know how to deal with it, so she just buried it, but moments like these would happen, and it would slip out. Also, the matching outfits are a plus! I don’t have much to say about this moment, other than it’s hard to show this photo to someone and have them explain how could this be platonic in any way. I mean, they’re friends, ain’t nobody denying it, but it’s not just that.

47. Original Team Natsu is formed. (Ep 3).

Time to travel a bit back in time, back to when I didn’t even ship NaLu, and they certainly did not have romantic feelings for one another, but it’s still a pretty special moment, and that’s when Original Team Natsu, which consisted of Natsu, Lucy and Happy, was formed. I love how in sync they were with each other since the beginning; they certainly had immediate chemistry with one another, even when they were still getting to know each other. Gotta add this one, bc, where would we be if the Everlue mission never came in about? If they never needed a blonde? I mean, Natsu would probably choose Lucy anyway, but this was very essential to the building of their friendship, as it also opened the door for them to start spending time together.

46. Natsu saves Lucy from Zash. (Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry).

And from one jump in time, to something more recent, and where Natsu and Lucy are 100% the ship we love, which would usually not be so low on the list, but God, there are so many moments that weight more, especially on the emotional side, for me. This moment I feel it’s important to point out bc we all know nothing good was about to happen to Lucy, and Natsu once again comes through to save her, to make up for the fact that he almost hurt her, and he just burts in yelling “Give Lucy back!” and just wrecking in everything and punching that creep in the face. And he still picks Lucy up in his arms and is all flirty with her and starts sniffing her. Also, for someone who complains about Lucy’s weight, he sure doesn’t mind holding her like this, does he?

45. Lucy and Natsu falling from the waterfall. (Ep 59).

For those of you who don’t know, I feel it’s fair to point out Orácion Seis is my least favorite FT arc (yes, I know Alvarez exists, but at least it’s entertaining), and the only thing I really liked about it was Jerza, Wendy’s introduction, and, well, the moments with Natsu and Lucy, individually and together. I wanted to bring this moment in because it’s always nice to see Lucy being the one to save Natsu, but also because it shows how their relationship is slowly but surely progressing; before, every time he got motion sickness, she’d tell him to snap out of it or just call him pathetic. And then, somewhere along the way, she stopped finding it ridiculous. As we can see on this moment, I think for the first time, she’s so worried about him and goes on to save him even when she’s all banged up too, and she risks her life to protect him, even when he’s about to be sick right at her chest. She doesn’t ridiculize him, she doesn’t roll her eyes at him, nor ignores him, she steps in to save him because she already cares about him so much. It was a nice development in their relationship, and I’m very grateful for this moment. It’s always nice to see NaLu being reckless together.

44. End of the Starry Sky arc. (Ep 150).

And whereas in one we had Lucy jumping from a waterfall grabbing onto Natsu for dear life to protect him, here we have Natsu straight up jumping at the sky to save Lucy from falling to her death (again), with a beautiful scenery, with all the stars falling, nice background music, and, after the long roller-coaster arc we had, ending it this way, with Lucy giving Natsu one of her sweetest smiles after he catches her and then throws himself on the ground as they fall so she doesn’t get hurt, gave such a warm feeling to my heart. The nice reminder that although Lucy had lost all of her family (Layla, Jude and Michelle), she still had a family right there in him, in everyone else at Fairy Tail, and they would always be there to catch her. 

43. The “almost kiss”. (Ep 219).

While I’m sure we all knew there was no way Lucy and Natsu would be kissing in the middle of the anime, and certainly not in an omake, it was very entertaning to see how they both would react to the suggestion of doing so, which resulted in: Natsu was all okay going for it, and Lucy became a flustered mess. I like how the anime added her heart speeding up when Natsu came closer, right before she pulled Happy to the middle. And can we talk about how Natsu just went for that kiss, though? He didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest. Oh, if only Lucy wasn’t so shy! But it’s okay, I’m sure it’ll be even better when it actually happens in the actual story. Also, kudos to little Asuka, the mvp, speaking for us NaLus and trying to make dreams come true right there, lol.

42. “We can’t let it end here.” (Ep 122).

A small addition the anime made for the scene where they’re all getting ready to defend themselves from Acnologia, during Tenrou Island, which was very much appreciated. To see once again how Natsu knows exactly how to comfort Lucy, how he gives her hope, how they become stronger together, and have so much trust between them. Also, holding hands, which is always welcomed. They could have shown Natsu comforting anyone else, literally, it could have been anyone else from the guild who felt hopeless, just like they could have had anyone else comfort Lucy and give her hope. But, for this situation, who better than these two? They do so much for each other. Moments like these, filler or not, showcase how important they are for one another and the affect they have on each other. It could be their very last moments of their lives, and they were spending it with one another. Simply amazing and very touching.

41. Last moments before the war. (Ep 291).

Yup, I love this moment. I love how Natsu knows war’s gonna break out the next day (it happens on the same night but only bc Zeref is extra like that), and he goes to spend his last peaceful night at his favorite place, with his two favorite people, Lucy and Happy. I also like the talk they had and how Natsu explained himself to her, about how he loved fighting, but he didn’t like hurting/killing, and he only wanted to protect his guild. In moments like this, you can see Lucy look at him like that, like she’s thinking, yup, that’s why I love him so much. And when he says stuff like that, I think she can’t help admiring him even more. And this is the moment that opens the “let’s talk of the future” thing between NaLu, which has a nice conclusion by the end of this arc, which I’m sure you all know what is, and I’ll bring this moment back, but we’re still far from it. Anyways, a great moment because, even though it’s little, you can see how close they are with one another, and after spending one year apart, they’re more than happy to stay with each other for their last peaceful night too bad it gets interrupted huh.

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow!

[lamiasluck]

Freed From Solitary

(Thank you @xpouii again for the prompt! I started this immediately after watching heist lol)

Summary: The new egos arrived and now live with the rest of the egos. For the most part, it all goes well! Illinois and Captain fit in perfectly! However, Yancy finds himself out of his element with the new environment. The new house is far more different than the prison, and Yancy begins to miss his old "home". As he wallows in his homesickness, someone notices how distant he's acting. Eric can spot his anxieties from a mile away and tries his best to help the newbie.

Characters: Eric Derekson and Yancy

Words: 1639

Read on AO3!

The others weren’t sure what to do with Yancy when he arrived. Illinois and Captain were fine, more eccentric personalities to match the rest, but Yancy? Yancy was a new case.

On the surface everything seemed fine, at first he seemed standoffish, but no one blamed him. It was a new place to get used to, after all. However, a keen eye could notice something deeper behind that cool attitude. They could see it in the ways he kept his responses short, in the fact that he found any excuse to lock himself in his room, and by seeing how awkward he acted. Which is why Eric began to worry about the newest ego.

It didn’t take long for Eric to notice something awry, though he was surprised that no one else could tell. Maybe it was because they didn’t know how to deal with shy personalities. Eric knew that fact very well. But Yancy didn’t seem shy like him, just… out of place. It would take awhile before Eric mustered up the courage to confront him about that. Yancy was still a criminal, after all.

The final breaking point really was the fact that Eric never saw Yancy eat with the other egos. Usually, all of the egos ate together with a chosen few trusted to cook, aka Eric. However, Yancy never showed up, honestly Eric has never seen him get food in general. The hospitable part of him just won’t have that, not even his nervousness could compete. So he prepared a neat plate of leftovers after the egos finished dinner and made a beeline for Yancy’s room.

Whatever anxiety was still plaguing him was too late to stop him from knocking on the door. Though he was shaking slightly.

The door cracked open and Yancy peaked at his visitor. “Oh, it’s youse.” He fully opened the door with a confused expression. “Eric, yeah? Whatcha want?”

“Um, I just - just noticed that you, um…” Eric fidgeted under Yancy’s questioning gaze. “You - you weren’t at dinner so, um, I got you food.” He hastily offered the plate.

“Oh.” Yancy nodded and took the plate of - delicious looking - food. He glanced between Eric and the plate with suspicion. “Thanks, but… what’s in it for youse?”

“W-What? Nothing!” Eric said, perhaps a bit too quickly for Yancy’s taste. “I-I mean… it’s just - it’s just that… you’re never around for dinner or lunch s-so… I got worried.”

“Youse worried about me?” Yancy said softly, moreso to himself than to Eric. His heart wept as he stared at Eric’s shaking form slightly shifting side to side and keeping his gaze to the floor, no doubt worrying about a hundred things at once. He cleared his throat before he could actually cry. “Sorry ‘bout that, I usually eat later.”

Everyday on the hour. He could only eat at this time, shower at this time, sleep at this time… Over and over again. It was autopilot at this point. The other egos schedules just didn’t align with his system. The system he was conditioned with.

“It’s okay! No worries, It’s okay,” Eric reassured. “I-I can, um…” He raised a hand to grasp at his shirt collar, “I can start cooking later. If-If you want-! It’s just that you’re missing the others and stuff.”

Yancy scratched the back of his neck. “You don’t gotta worry ‘bout that. I’ll manage.”

“Oh. Oh… okay.” Eric continued to fiddle with his collar. His words kept getting stuck at the back of his throat, mind racing with a million different responses. “They’re… they’re not that scary, y’know?” he blurted out.

Yancy paused, only responding with a questioning noise. He was met with Eric finally looking up at him, doing his best to keep a determined gaze.

“I was nervous too,” he said, voice soft. Yancy found it amazing that someone could speak so quietly, so hesitantly. “I know - I know what it’s like… it’s not too bad, though.”

“Well, it’s not like that. I’m just not used to youse guys, is all.” He didn’t feel shy in the conventional sense, and certainly not to the extent of Eric’s case. It was simply abnormal. The people were too different, there were too many options… too much freedom. His brain couldn’t grasp the concept. He let out a heavy sigh as he stared at Eric’s still determined face. “You’re not gonna let this go, pipsqueak?”

Eric shook his head. He wondered if the nickname was supposed to intimidate him. People seemed to have an affinity to label him with cutesy title, so he had no clue.

“Alright, alright I’ll bite,” he huffed.

“W-Well, you don’t have to force yourself…” his voice quivered, eyebrows quirked upwards in worry. “If you wanna take your time I-I can - I can keep bringing you food here until you’re ready.”

“That’d be nice.” He nodded at Eric’s helpful words, smiling. “Thanks for the grub, pipsqueak.” Yancy reached over to ruffle Eric’s hair before he shut the door. Leaving Eric with a new job, nickname, and messed up hair.

-

There was another thing to add to Yancy’s ever changing routine. Everyday without fail, Eric went up to his room with a plate of whatever he cooked that day. As different as it was from prison food, he didn’t mind the variety for once. Besides, it wasn’t just the food he savoured.

Some days Eric stayed for a chat and they talked for hours about whatever was interesting. Or, more specifically, Yancy yammering on about prison and/or musicals and Eric listening intently, occasionally muttering thoughtful comments. Other days Eric quickly came by, dropped off his food, and bid farewell. Yancy didn’t mind either option.

He knew the others weren’t anything like Eric, but he figured he needed to join them at some point. His stomach dropped at the thought.

No, he couldn’t stay like this.

Isolation was a different type of hell altogether. Reminded him too much of solitary…

While surprised by his presence, most gave him a friendly welcome when he showed up at the kitchen table. Though it was Eric's reaction that made him give a genuine smile.

“How’s it goin’, pipsqueak?” Yancy surprised him by patting him on the shoulders while his back was turned.

Eric beamed at him. This time shaking from excitement rather than nerves. “You showed up! I-I mean - it’s good! It’s good.” He gestured to the pot of soup. “I’m… I’m almost done with this. You can, um, you wanna join the others?”

“Oh… right,” he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck as he glanced at the others. “Yeah, I guess I could…”

“Or you could… y-you could chop those potatoes for me?”

Eric smiled as Yancy’s mood instantly bounced up. “I guess can do that for youse.” Yancy cleared his throat, letting his cold guy act return once more. “Been meaning to brush up on the ol’ cooking skills anyways.” He clumsily twirled the knife and almost cut his finger.

“Pl-Please don’t get blood on them.” Eric giggled.  

“Yeah, yeah…”

The two listened to the noises of various chatter from the egos while cooking in silence. Well, it was more like Eric doing most of the work and Yancy hovering with moral support. Reminded Yancy of kitchen duty, and dear god was he awful at cooking. Eric’s polite, but insistent suggestions to leave everything to him prevented Yancy from ruining the entire meal altogether. At least he cut the potatoes alright, sloppy, but passable.

“There’s a meeting after this,” Eric said while killing the stove’s fire. “Y-You can go… if-if you want-!” he continued, wiping his hands with a towel. Not all the egos went to the meetings. Honestly Eric didn't know what happened in them, probably malicious scheming considering Dark and Wilford run them.

“Ah… well, I ain’t got anything to add.” Yancy kept scratching the back of his neck mindlessly. The instinctual gesture hit far too close to home for Eric.

“Th-That’s okay! I don’t go to them either. Tonight Bing, King, and I were… were gonna watch some movies. The - The musicals you talked about, actually!” Eric rambled on.

“Oh yeah? Youse guys got a real treat then,” Yancy hummed. He could remember all the songs off the top of his head. Most find it surprising that he knows such an extensive knowledge on these things. But hey, what else is he going to do? Be dark and brooding all the time? Sounded tiring.

“Um… do you - do you wanna join us? I mean… I know you watched them already, but - but y’know?”

This time Yancy didn’t bother hiding his excitement, shining a bright smile. “Course I can watch it with youse!”

“Oh, good!” Eric smiled back. Though after some thought he furrowed his brows. “Have… have you met Bing and King? Are you - are you alright with them?”

“Yeah theys seem alright. I ain’t got any complaints.” Yancy shrugged, ignoring that pit in his stomach for now.

“Okay, s-sorry, just making sure. I-I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

Yancy smiled again, more sheepishly. “Thanks… you’s a good kid, pipsqueak.” He didn’t care that Eric was technically older, it was the thought that counts. “I’ve never dealt with a type like youse,” Yancy said with a hint of amazement. He laughed to himself as he muttered his next sentence. “Wouldn’t last a day where I’m from…”

“Wh-What…?”

“Nothin’, don’t worry ‘bout it.” A hearty pat on the back was all he reassured Eric with. Different environments, different people. A large part of him still felt out of his element. As he glanced at the talking egos, walked by the unlocked doors, and met personalities like Eric. It all violently shook him back to his reality. “We should get grub served, yeah? Come on, I’ll help ya out.”

But that doesn’t mean he’ll give up.

[lockewrites]

His Fault in Her Scars

A follow up to “Sparring Match.”

Trevelyan x Hawke || SFW || 1634 words AO3 & FF

Garrett learns about the extensive scarring Corinne has from her initial run-in with Corypheus. (I totally stole the title from a movie/book I've never read.)

“Shit,” Hawke breathed in sympathetic astonishment as he stood holding the pavilion’s flap open.

The glow of the setting sun mixed with the pale hue emitting from the healer’s hands and the lanterns set out on the various tables, one of which held Corinne’s sitting figure. Her back was to him, completely bare save for her breast band; the faint freckles splattered across her back and shoulders were interrupted by a few bruises from their earlier sparring, as well as a vast amount of pink and white scars, varying in size and depth. His eyes followed every welt, every divot, every mar, completely fixated on the image before him; that is, until the view was twisted and the owner’s voice spoke.

“Hawke?”

Corinne waved away the healer and swung her legs over to the opposite side of the table to face him. Her eyes ran down the length of him, looking for any indication that he was injured; she furrowed her brow when she found none

“What are you doing here?”

He closed his mouth, not realizing it had been partially agape, and after moving to allow the healer to leave, he took a few steps forward until he was just a short distance in front of her. The sunlight disappeared as the flap fluttered shut, leaving the two in the flickering light of the lanterns which reflected off her hazel eyes, illuminating the yellow undertones.

“I was looking for you actually,” he replied, forcing his tone to be lighthearted despite the pity he held for her. His signature smirk spread across his face with his words. “I figured you owed me a drink for nearly blowing me up today.”

A soft scoff vibrated in her throat as she pushed herself down from the table. “I nearly blew you up? You did just as much damage to me as I did to you.” She grabbed her shirt and began pulling one sleeve up her right arm. “Tell you what. I’ll buy you a drink if you buy me a drink,” she offered, matching his grin with one of her own. Her movements slowed as her right arm dressed the other; the smile fell and an involuntarily groan escaped from her.

Hawke reached out, but stopped, unsure of what to do or what was wrong. “And here I thought I only left you with a bruise or two,” he said, deflecting his worry with humor. “Do you need any help?”

“Ha, you don’t get credit for this,” she remarked, pointing to her right shoulder. “And no, I’ve got it. I just… I can do it.”

Her fingers rolled the hem of the shirt up to the collar and slowly lifted it up; a wince replaced her smile and in a poor attempt to hide her reaction from Hawke, she turned back around toward the table.

Even if he hadn’t noticed her pained expression, her struggled movements were obvious enough. He gently gripped her right elbow and held it in place while his free hand took hold of the wad of fabric between her hands. 

“I said I can do it,” she insisted but put forth no further effort to deny his help.

He chuckled and shook his head even though she couldn’t see it. 

“Why is it that all the women I know are so stubborn?”

After tugging the shirt a few times, she released her grip and allowed him to pull it down the length of her back, hiding the disfigured skin. His knuckles brushed against her spine, sending a shiver through her body and raising small bumps against his hand.

“Maybe you just bring out their very best.” Her left arm fell to her side, but the other remained in his grasp; carefully, he lowered it until it too was perpendicular to the ground. “Thanks,” she muttered grudgingly. 

“Now, was that so hard?” he teased, prodding her with his elbow.

With a harsh shove, she warned, “Keep being an ass and you’re not getting that drink.”

Hawke let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “Alright, alright. I’ll keep on my best behavior just for you.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet."

She allowed him to lead her out of the healing tent and through the courtyard; a few lingering glances followed the pair into the tavern, whispering among themselves. The residents of Skyhold always seemed to cling onto the tiniest bit of gossip-worthy information they could, and if there was none to be found, they’d create it. Numerous rumors about her supposed interest shared between her and her companions and advisers had already run rampant through Cullen’s forces. Soon, she’d be hearing about the imagined romantic exploits she and Hawke shared after such a sexually-fueled sparring match. She scoffed inwardly and rolled her eyes before swinging the tavern door shut behind them.

They settled in at the bar and ordered ale for each other. The bard’s lute and voice carried over the conversations in the tavern; Corinne listened and tapped her fingers against the wooden counter in time with the music. She’d never understand why so many complained about Maryden; her songs were entertaining and her voice was captivating. 

“Here you go,” the dwarf behind the counter announced, dropping two mugs in front of them.

Corinne waved a quick thanks to the barkeep before taking a drawn out swig of her drink. She finished with a satisfied sigh and placed it back down, “I needed that.”

Hawke smiled into his mug before putting it next to hers, “So, Inquisitor-”

“No.”

“You have no idea what I was going to say!” he laughed.

She shook her head, “Don’t call me ‘Inquisitor.’ Call me ‘Corinne,’ and try again.”

“Right. Sorry. So, Corinne,” he began, fixing his previous error, “You’ve done quite a number on your back and shoulder. Can I ask how?” Normally, he would’ve kept his curiosity quiet, but she hadn’t seemed embarrassed or concerned about covering up when he entered the healer’s tent. He regretted his words, however, when he noticed her tense up at the question. “You don’t have to-”

“No, it’s fine,” she assured. “It’s just… I don’t know. I try not to think about the injuries; I wasn’t exactly having that great of a time when it happened.” She had pushed them so far out of her mind, she never thought about them any longer; she didn’t even know what they looked like. Her healer offered a looking glass, but Corinne didn’t want to see; ignorance was bliss, right? “I’m guessing they look awful, otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked.”

He wished he could take back the question. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything, but wonder won over his sense of judgement; it always did. “Really, Corinne, I’m not going to die of curiosity if you don’t tell me.”

She raised a brow and looked over at him, “Are you sure? You’d end up asking Varric anyway.”

Her eyes remained on him, searching for the extent of his curiosity. A melancholic chuckle broke up her words before she continued. “After we closed the Breach, Haven was attacked by Corypheus, but I’m sure you already know that part."

Hawke nodded.

"Corypheus’s dragon threw me around a bit and tore through my armor," she explained, her tone nonchalant. "And, as if that wasn’t enough, I had to jump through the wooden base where a trebuchet had been and, with my armor being useless at this point, the wood added on to the damage already done by the dragon."

Taking a pause, Corinne downed another long swig of her drink, and Hawke simply blinked at her.

"And the shoulder’s gone to shit from landing on it over and over again during that fight.”

Her eyes remained fixated on the grain of the wood, and though her tone was light, the pain of every laceration, every fractured bone, every impact to her body pounded through her with each heartbeat. 

Throughout the story, Hawke watched her. The guilt he felt for the pain she endured was overwhelming; if he had truly defeated Corypheus, none of this would’ve happened. The temple wouldn’t have been destroyed, the Divine wouldn’t have been murdered, and Corinne wouldn’t have been thrust into the center of it all. He may have been the Champion of Kirkwall, but he never solved any of the city’s problems, he made them worse, just as he had for his siblings. Even now, his actions were causing issues.

“I’m… I’m so sorry,” he said, pulling her attention to him.

Her expression was one of confusion, and as much as he wanted to explain to her how it was all his fault, he didn’t want to put the thoughts in her mind. She already knew that he had faced and killed Corypheus, but she didn’t seem to blame him… not yet, at least.

“You didn’t deserve anything that’s happened to you.” In fact, if Cassandra had her way, he would’ve been Inquisitor and he would have the burden and responsibility of this war, not her. Just one more regret to add on to that list. “Fuck,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.

“What?” She was completely lost; whatever thoughts he’d been sifting through he kept to himself.

He held her eyes with his, fighting the urge to reach out and wrap his arms around her and apologize, over and over until the words repeated themselves. Maybe if he said them enough, they’d make her forget everything that’s turned her life to shit. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, pushing himself off the bar stool. “I… I have to go. Here.” He tossed a few coins on the counter before turning for the door. Only Varric could handle him prattling on about his guilt, and right now, that’s what he needed. He needed his best friend.