#like sorry but ‘yeah the final move in the most iconic routine they do at every game actually tears up their body so much

[newdayslinguine]

The longer this dallas cowboys cheerleaders docuseries goes on the worse it gets

[astranva]

TikTok Compilation (pt.2)

Word Count: 1.8k

Category: Fluff

Warning: Some language, very, very slight implied smut; like, it’s a line.

Summary: Yet another compilation of Y/N and Harry content on TikTok as a couple.

// masterlist //

a/n i’ve been receiving loads of tiktok requests so i combined some here! y’all have been asking for this for so long, sorry it took me long to post! let me know what you think. stay safe, friends!

..

Surely, you had hoped life would have taken a turn a long time ago with the pandemic.

Going outside without masks and crippling fear seemed like a dream, despite it all having been a reality for most of our lives. And while it was cliché, you truly don’t know what you have until it’s gone, like the boring routine you had complained about but now wished to get back.

And in your case, you also didn’t know that one app could have the ability to make things slightly easier during these times – TikTok.

Call it as you may, but quarantine TikTok content was a blessing and while you could swear by that, so could the fans and everyone else on the app since the moment you (and Harry) joined.

Having had tried so many pranks, challenges, and dances, you showed no signs of coming to an end of finding humor and pleasure from the app that Gen Z dominated with the wildest spirits.

With wild spirits, came wild content and for a generation that is openly expressive, there was also wholesome content; all of which Harry’s fans had tagged you to do and try with him.

‘Make your partner impersonate you’

For that one, Harry seemed to be the most excited to do, face beaming with a thousand spiraling ideas of things he could do and say.

The moment the video began, Harry was seen under your white covers, your pink velvet headband that everyone considered iconic rested on his head to show that he was acting like you, pretending to be sleepy as he spoke in a softer voice than his, “Don’t want to get up. More cuddles, please, baby.”

Then video then cut to Harry in the kitchen, you following behind him.

“I wonder where H is, need to pinch his bum.” He said in the same pitch he used for the previous shot.

The video then cut to Harry sitting on the couch beside you, holding his phone, “Baby, look at that!” He showed you his phone, showing you a video on TikTok, “Can we do it?”

‘Wipe your lips after your bf kisses you’

For this, you were picking Harry up from the studio.

Waiting in the parking lot, you had your phone placed behind the box of tissues.

To stay safe, you began recording a normal video for you to edit later as you waited for Harry to show.

When he did, Harry looked right and left as he searched for your car before his eyes fell on you and despite the mask on his face hiding half of it, you could tell that he smiled.

Getting inside the car, Harry took off his mask with a sigh, “First time to actually breathe since morning.” He said before leaning closer to you, pressing his lips against yours.

Doing your part, you looked ahead as you wiped your lips with the back of your hand, noticing Harry’s body stiff as he looked at you.

“Did you just-” He paused, “Did you wipe your lips?”

You hummed in confusion, acting as if you hadn’t heard him as you looked at him.

“Did you-Come here,” he frowned before pulling you close by your hoodie’s drawstrings, pressing his lips against yours in a kiss again.

Again, you wiped your lips.

“Why are you doing that?” He asked, not only confusion being evident in his tone, but hurt, too, “Why are you wiping my ki-Babe, I’m clean.”

“What?” You asked, looking at him as you smiled amusingly, trying to contain your laughter.

“Why are you wiping my kiss?” Harry almost whined, frowning.

“I’m sorry, it’s for TikTok,” you giggled, breaking into laughter when he groaned with a roll of his eyes before he grabbed your jaw, kissing your lips more aggressively.

“Never again.”

‘Let go of your partner’s hand and see what they do’

If there was one thing Harry liked to brag about, it was knowing how to multitask; drive with one hand, hold yours with the other.

It was a natural occurrence for the both of you to hold hands when he drove, no matter what.

Deciding to try that one trend, you took advantage of Harry being focused on the road to film your intertwined hands on your thigh for two seconds before taking your hand out of his.

Instantly, Harry glanced at you, seemingly unaware to you tilting your phone in the other hand to film his face, “Why’d you leave my hand?” He only mumbled before opening his palm towards you once again, smiling when he heard you softly giggle as you put your hand back in his, cooing when he raised it his lips, pressing a soft and gentle kiss on your knuckles, “This stays right here.”

‘Film yourself acting like your partner’

Since the TikTok of Harry acting you like received so many reactions, among them were fans asking you to act like Harry as well, and Harry was down to watch that happen.

Harry recorded you, first shot of video being a little shaky as he couldn’t contain his giggles while watching you in his flared pants, an oversized shirt, his cross pendant on your neck between the valley of your chest, rings on your fingers that showed chipped black polish on your nails.

Your hair was gathered up in a scrunchie, one leg over the other as you sat on a chair, “I’m Harry Styles,” you began, “And like, I never explain my music, I let people interpret it the way they want because music,” you sucked a breath, “Is art. It’s a form of expression that isn’t limited, it’s, like, very open. Like the ocean.” You said slowly, mimicking Harry’s accent and smiling at the end when Harry burst out laughing.

For the next shot, you were in Harry’s white bathrobe, coming out of the bathroom before leaning on the doorframe and looking at Harry as he filmed you, “You sure you’re going to let me shower alone, love?”

Another shot was of you in Harry’s joggers and TPWK black hoodie, sprawled on your couch with the hood on, looking at Harry in disbelief as you still mimicked his accent and deep voice, “Excuse me? Why are you standing there and not cuddling me?”

In a grey tank top of his that you dramatically spilt water on to make it look like sweat and sweat shorts, you had Harry’s boxing gloves on your hands as you bumped your fists together, approaching Harry as he recorded, “God, I’m so sweaty, I have to go hug my girlfriend.”

For the final shot, you had Harry’s guitar in your arms, adjusting the strap as you stood, “I’m going to write a song that is so sexual and record it but I’m not going to release it because I’m a biiiiiitch.” You sang, dramatically strumming the guitar.

‘Pretend to take a mirror selfie with your partner then whisper something dirty in their ear’

You enjoyed the sun; the way it sneaked inside yours and Harry’s room from the sides of your curtains, lit up the room so warmly.

You enjoyed how the natural lighting looked for pictures.

You also enjoyed teasing the shit out of your boyfriend.

“Come here,” you made one grabby hand at Harry who entered the room, scratching his chin, “Let’s take a picture.”

Already used to random pictures being taken together, Harry reached you, standing in front of your vanity mirror as he wrapped his arms around you from behind, pressing a kiss against your temple.

Oblivious to it being a video, Harry leaned his chin on your shoulder, giving his famous smug look to the mirror as you held up your phone.

Turning your head, you made sure your voice was low so that your phone wouldn’t pick what you said;

“Want you to pound me.”

And instantly, Harry’s smug look faltered; his eyes widening, face brightening as he looked at you as you giggled before releasing a squeal once you felt him carry you and move you from where you stood, and to the bed as you laughed.

‘Tell your partner your ex wants to return a hoodie of yours’

Propping your phone up, you made sure it showed Harry as he cooked while you sat on the kitchen stool.

You folded your arms on the table, clearing your throat as you eyed Harry while he was chopping carrots.

“Hey, H,” Harry hummed, stealing a glance at you before looking back at his chore, “My ex called earlier,”

At this, Harry’s eyebrows furrowed before he looked up at you, putting down the knife and leaning his hands on the counter, his arms seeming to look bigger as he tensed, “What did he say?”

Trying not to laugh, you looked down, beginning to play with your fingers before giving him a shrug, “Just that he still has a hoodie of mine at his place,”

“Yeah?”

“And asked if I need it back.”

“What did you say?”

You gave him another shrug, “Said I’ll let him know.”

“Well, do you need it?” He asked, “Like really need it?”

“Yeah, it was my high school’s.”

“But baby, you have a lot of hoodies,” one hand of his reached to his lips, fingers grazing his bottom lip for a moment, “Can get it for you.”

“That’d be so awkward, H,” you sighed.

“Why? I’m your boyfriend.” Harry reasoned, “Maybe I can just come with you,” he said again before his face lit up, “I can have it customized instead. Just tell me how it looked like and-”

“Baby, no,” you chuckled, “It won’t be the same.”

“Come on, love,” he frowned, “He calls you 3 years later to tell you he still has your hoodie. You don’t think that’s suspicious? He knows you’re with m-Everyone knows we’re together.”

“Maybe he forgot,” you shrugged, “Actually, let me call and as-”

“Oh, fuck no!” Harry instantly rushed to you.

‘Aggressively tell your partner you love them’

Chilling on the couch, Harry was watching the TV, unaware of your phone that had been resting on the shelf to record you beforehand.

You stomped where Harry was, whose head snapped to you, his mouth chewing his banana bite slower as he eyed you carefully, taking in your angry state.

You threw your notebook on the couch beside him, “I love you!” You said aggressively, a frown on your face as you pointed at him, “I fucking love you!”

Harry took a moment, his face shifting to one of amusement before he raised his hands up – one holding his banana – before pointing at you, “I fucking love you, too!” He screamed.

“No, no,” you shook your head, still aggressively speaking, “I love you more!”

“I’m so fucking in love with you!” Harry said as aggressively, standing in an instant, towering over you as he pressed himself against you before wrapping one arm around you, “Why are we shouting, you weirdo?”

‘Stick your hand out and see what your partner does’

Harry was sat beside you on his laptop, music blasting from it as he emailed himself some tasks.

Recording him with one hand, you reached your arm out, opening your palm at him.

Harry looked down at your hand, a smile making its way to his face before he looked at you before placing his chin on your hand, closing his eyes as he gave you a dopey smile as you squished his cheeks while giggling, “Hiii.”

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Okay, now I’m gonna give a little history of the band Take That. (Sorry random recent obsession of mine.) So they were formed in 1990. Their most recent album came out in 2019 I believe. So yeah they’ve kinda been around for a while. xD

Now as it happens, this band was not a group of friends coming together with the great idea of making music. In fact the band was manufactured when their future manager had this great idea of creating the perfect boyband. He modelled it on New Kids on the Block and went on the hunt for five boys that would be sure to make it big! 

Things started well when he discovered this kid called Gary Barlow who had already been singing every night in some pub like establishment and even better he was also writing his own music. He impressed the manager with the track a million songs, which he’d written when he was 15 and was surprisingly good. 

But he needed more than some pretty tunes. That’s cool but not really what a boyband needs. What a proper boyband needs is image. It needs to be iconic, full of character, it needs to be outrageous and attractive. So he found himself a cute boy, a more muscular sexy boy, a cheeky rebellious boy, and a quiet boy with killer dancing moves. 

Yeah dancing! The band had to do lots and lots of dancing. All five of them doing dance routines together. It meant they could put on quite the show. So besides Gary, there was Jason Orange, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Robbie Williams. 

And they went big. 

Like they were insanely popular at their peak in the 90s. They developed a really rabid fanbase really quickly. Of mostly teenage girls. They were massive, they were having consecutive number one hits and massive concerts and had fans who would stalk them everywhere. It was quite the phenomenon. (Mostly contained in the UK though they were popular in Europe too.) 

So they did well for a few years but then there issues. A lot of internal conflict. All they were thinking about was growing and being big and the band and life was moving fast and they weren’t really taking care of each other. It hit Robbie the worst, he was the youngest and got into heavily drinking and taking drugs and just recklessly. There was also a ton of friction between him and Gary. Gary had seen himself as most important what with the songwriting and he tended to monopolise taking lead vocals too. And there probably a lot of other issues as well. Who knows? Either way, the band confronted Robbie, asking him if he was taking it seriously and Robbie left the band. 

A year later, things weren’t the same and the band broke up in 1996. Sobbing teens across the country (no literally - the Govt had to set up a helpline for the heartbroken fans). 

Gary tried going solo which failed when Robbie went solo much, much more successfully. Robbie was incredibly charming and also bitter about the band and had no kind things to say and the press at up his narrative so the rest of the band faded into obscurity as Robbie achieved bigger and bigger success, becoming the biggest UK male Solo artist. He was Robbie Williams.  He’d shed his boy band image.

Flashforward to 2005. The old band minus Robbie have a documentary and reunion and it turns out that the world misses Take That. So they decide to tour together as a four-piece and unexpectedly it all works. They’ve settled all their issues now all a bit older and wiser than the hectic life they’d been thrown into as teenagers with far less control over their lives.

And so the decide to try the whole band thing again and release a new album with new songs that they all wrote together, now working more as equals, all getting the chance to sing lead vocals and just generally working together so much more smoothly. They take the world by storm releasing number 1 singles and a number 1 album and just generally having the best comeback of all time. 

And it continues. Another sell-out tour and then another album and they finally reunite properly and reconcile with Robbie Williams and they join together as a five-piece once more, 15 years after they split apart. They are incredibly successful. It’s a good story of reconciling and talking out their problems and realising they’d both done things wrong and that there was a lot of pain because there was a lot of love their too. And they’re all much, much happier for it. 

So a couple years later, Robbie goes off to do solo stuff once more, bt they’re now on good terms and he can rejoin whenever he likes. Jason also decides to leave the band for personal reasons (likely needing a break from the life).

They’re down to three members so they decide to stay with it, even naming their next album III. It’s been years now so they’re not as big anymore but they’re still sticking around and their tours are all sell-out tours because their concerts are literally unparalleled. They release another couple albums, get involved in more stuff like a musical and even a potential Take That movie. 

They’ll probably do another album in a year or so, they’re all fathers these days and have a lot going on but they’re still Take That. A band that is just kinda beloved. They’re the sort of group you want to root for, having started as a cringy boyband and grew up and allowed their music to mature with them. And they respect their past and love to play their old songs without relying on nostalgia either and its good to see that they can put differences aside and work out their problems. Fam has been a real rollercoaster with big highs and lows. Amidst all that, they’ve released a lot of great music.

[deiitaelric]

Soulmates bakudeku / kirikami au Part 12

Part 11

The next day Katsuki found himself looking at Deku’s name on his phone for too long. He typed and erased word so many times he lost count. But finally pressed send.

“We need to talk about yesterday” Katsuki kept staring at the icon that indicated Izuku didn’t receive the text. He put his phone aside and sighed. After doing his routine, Katsuki checked his phone again, but the situation was the same.

“You’re gonna open a hole in the middle of the screen if you keep glaring at your phone like that” Denki joked, sitting beside his friend. “Are you okay? What’s happening?”

“He isn’t receiving my texts”

“Well, I don’t know, maybe he’s out of battery or signal” Denki shrugged. “Don’t overthinking it. He said he was going, right? Maybe he’s on his way now”

“Do you know where he’s going?” Denki shook his head in response. “What about Kirishima?”

“I’ll ask him” Katsuki made a noise which Denki took as a “thanks”. But the days passed, the summer break started, and no one knew where Izuku was.

Katsuki tried to call Izuku, texted him some more, but it was like Izuku has his phone shut down permanently. Katsuki was lost. He didn’t know how to feel anymore, he needed to discuss things with Deku and get answers, but it was just too late. He should have talked to Izuku back then, when he was right behind him, hugging him. Every time Katsuki thought about the feeling of having Izuku so close, feeling his breath, the warmth of his body pressed against his back, his arms around him… He just felt like losing his fucking mind. And then the stain. Katsuki didn’t know why he had it, but he looked at it every single fucking day. He replayed Izuku’s words over and over again in his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about Izuku saying he won’t care about him leaving, saying it was strange to touch him but that he was doing it selfishly, saying he was important and that he loved him, that he had to lose him…

 Katsuki couldn’t sleep too well during nights, opting for the couch most of them. He had the TV on to entertain and occupy his mind so he wouldn't overthink things. He kept telling Denki not to worry about him. Denki had just started dating Kirishima, and Katsuki didn’t want to be a burden. But the boy spent some nights with Katsuki on the couch anyways, ordered his favorite foods, and did things with him to keep him away from his own thoughts.

One day, Katsuki called Izuku’s mom, just to see if he was there. “He spent some days here, but now he’s with his dad. And Katsuki, he told me not to give anyone his father’s number or address, so I’m sorry. I don’t know what is happening between you two, but I think my boy just needs some space. He’ll come back to you, eventually, he always does”

Summer vacations passed slowly, in Katsuki’s opinion. He was counting the days left for classes to start again. Izuku has to come back for classes, right? Katsuki brushed his stain every day, thinking about Izuku, founding more and more tears inside him just when he thought he had ran out. Having Izuku close had been always tough but having him farther away was like a physical pain. As if they had some rope tied around their hearts, and the farther away they were, the more it tensed, making his heart ache. But maybe the rope was just tied to Katsuki’s heart, because Izuku didn’t contact him, and he still hadn’t come back when summer break came to an end.

 Izuku came back on the last day of summer break without telling anybody. He just sneaked inside his shared apartment and locked himself inside his room. But Kirishima was up, and Denki was there too, and they had noticed him. They knocked on the door and tried to talk to Izuku, but he didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to listen. Denki went back home, and Kirishima left him alone for the night. Izuku collapsed on his bed, grabbing the phone he had left under the pillow, thinking about turning it on, but he didn’t. He was too exhausted. The next day Izuku checked for Kirishima before leaving his room. He locked the front door and made lunch for himself, because it was way too late for breakfast.

“Hey, hmmm… So you are back”

Izuku sat with his food and started to eat. “For not too long. I’m searching a new place”

“What, why?”

“Because I don’t want to live here. And I won’t accept more questions. This is my decision”

“Um, okay, but… We’re friends, and after all we went through together… Why are you closing yourself off to me?”

“I need to do this. I needed to leave, and I need to move out”

“Why?” Kirishima asked, and made a face because he wasn’t supposed to ask about it, but-

“For him”

“Are you talking abou-?”

“Don’t” Izuku interrupted him. Kirishima approached and grabbed Izuku’s shoulders.

“What is happening? Come on, you’re my best friend, let me help you”

“I can’t be helped, Kiri. I just can’t. I… I’m feeling bad being here”

“Was you better farther away?”

“No, but… He must be feeling better, and this iss what I want to do”

“That’s not true…”

“Yeah, it is. He’s always struggling when I’m around. That’s why I’m leaving”

“Listen. I don’t know what’s happening, but he is not doing well. If you thought leaving was gonna make him happy, think twice. I’m not saying he was upset because you left, because I don’t know nothing about it, but I can tell you he wasn’t doing great”

“He would be worse if I was around”

“You don’t know that!”

“Yes, I do! Because every fucking time I’m around him, he’s on guard, he’s upset, he’s cold, he’s mad, and he’s always yelling  at me to not touch him because he’s so fucking scared that I might be his soulmate!” Izuku started crying, with an expression half angst, half angry. “Do you know how it feels? Do you have any idea what it’s like knowing you’re making the person you love the most, feeling uncomfortable being in the same room? Do you know? NO! Nobody knows!”

“Come here, I know you’re hurt, but-” Kirishima attempted to hug him but Izuku broke free.

“You don’t know anything! I just want to be alone because that’s exactly how I’m going to spend the rest of my life!” Izuku got up and marched towards his room, slammed the door and locked it. Kirishima left him alone, he had classes that day. He would try to talk to Izuku later.

Kirishima texted Denki asking, not for the first or second time, what was going on with Katsuki. But Denki answered like always. He sighed, explaining him a little of the situation with Izuku. His boyfriend texted back later that evening and Kirishima got up to leave the message, knocking on Izuku’s door.

“Mido, it’s me” The redhead said, just to catch Izuku’s attention. “Look, I texted Denki. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him much about all of this but… I think he figured something out because he told me I should tell you to check your phone. I don’t know why he said that, but I’m leaving the message”

Kirishima stood there a minute, not hearing nothing, until the door opened. Izuku’s eyes and nose were red. Kirishima slowly went in for a hug and Izuku allowed it. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here, okay?”

“Sorry for earlier. I just… I’m so overwhelmed”

“Don’t worry about that. I know you’re suffering, but let me help you, okay?” Izuku nodded against him and just stayed in his arms for a bit. When he pulled back, Kirishima kept his hands on his shoulders. “Go clean yourself up and come out to eat, got it? Later you can check your phone if you want, and if you don’t want to, that’s okay too”

Izuku nodded and did so. They ate on the couch, watching a superhero movie that Izuku really liked. When it finished, Izuku said he was tired, and go straight to bed.

“Call me if you need anything”

“I will, thanks” Izuku offered a sad smile and entered his room, letting himself fall face first on the bed. Being closer to him was painful but being farther had been worse. Izuku had expected coming back would hurt more, but finding out that that wasn’t true, and it only made everything more difficult for him. He moved his hand underneath the pillow and found his phone. He took it out and turned it on.

He found texts, missed calls, and even voice mails. Most of them were from Kacchan.

---

FINAL PART

[pearlsephoni]

Barre None

Can also be read on AO3!

Rating: T

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Pairing: Zutara (Zuko/Katara)

Characters: Katara, Zuko, Suki, Piandao (v. briefly)

Summary: Katara hated the idea of being a cliche. The last thing she wanted to do was fall for her co-star. But with a partner like Zuko, perhaps she was doomed from the start. 

A/N: Written for Day 3 of Zutara Fanwork Appreciation Week: Fanart. Inspired by @ourgraciousqueen‘s beautiful Ballet Zutara sketches and @unidentifiedspoon‘s stunning Katara and Zuko dancebending animations.  I also borrowed heavily from the Royal Oprah House’s production of Romeo and Juliet, specifically the choreography of the Balcony Pas de Deux, which pops up a bunch in this lol don’t cancel me More Author’s Notes can be seen on AO3!

@zkfanworkweek

Katara wasn’t afraid of being in a starring role. She was nervous, yes, but she was mostly thrilled. She had spent her three years of college with the student ballet troupe, and she’d expected to have to wait until her senior year to get a solo, much less a lead role. Funnily enough, the senior who would have had the lead, Suki, was the lead choreographer, and has actually been the one to suggest Katara for the role. 

She wasn’t even nervous for the pas de deux, even though it would be her first time being a part of one. 

No, there were only two things that scared her about this year’s show: the show was Romeo and Juliet, and the Romeo to her Juliet would be...Zuko. 

To be fair to the first-year grad student, he seemed just as startled by the news as she felt. Katara got to the first rehearsal early, just in time to overhear a conversation between her co-star and their director. “Uh...are you sure you want me as Romeo?” 

“If we weren’t sure,” Director Piandao said with a wry smile, “we wouldn’t have cast you.” 

“I...right. I mean, thank you, I’m...I’m honored.” 

Katara couldn’t be sure if the raspiness in his voice was from nerves or Zuko just...being Zuko. Awkward, quiet, intimidating Zuko. 

This would be fine. Just fine. 

———————— ———————— ————————

She wasn’t fine. 

Zuko was a brilliant dancer. Piandao wouldn’t have cast him as Romeo if he wasn’t. And while he was reserved and awkward in daily life, all that seemed to fall away when he performed. When his back straightened, the omnipresent weight on his shoulders disappeared, and his eyes brightened into stars. Offstage, his smiles were rare, but onstage, they came easily. Happiness, pleading, grief, anger, it all looked unnervingly natural and real on him, as though all the emotions he held back burst forth through his characters. 

Katara had known all this. She had seen him perform. But she hadn’t ever seen him perform at her. She’d prided herself on her own performance and dance and acting abilities, but when she performed with Zuko, she found herself reacting naturally to him and the achingly real love and longing that lit up his gold eyes. Her heart seemed to skip a beat every time the choreography and direction called for them to gaze into each other’s eyes. 

And then the dancing...she’d heard how easy a pas de deux could be with the right partner, but that still didn’t prepare her for how natural it would feel. Any worries she had about being able to trust in Zuko to catch her and lift her and support her were gone by the end of the first rehearsal. Even Piandao looked surprised at how quickly they were able to learn together. They were able to put the first several counts of the Balcony Pas de Deux to music by the end of their first rehearsal with just the two of them. The lifts were complicated, but Zuko seemed to know just the right place to hold her, and Katara knew just how to drape herself over him, just how much to leap to him and make the lifts easier for him. 

The last counts that they had learned that day ended with Zuko kneeling, hands holding onto Katara’s waist as she rose into an arabesque. When the music turned off, Katara stepped down from en pointe, but she stepped further into Zuko’s hands, inadvertently bringing their faces closer to each other. Her breath caught in her throat, and she saw Zuko’s eyes widen, a rosy hue rising to his cheeks. 

The sound of a throat clearing jerked their attention back to Piandao, who watched them with a mix of amusement and...something else. “Well, and here you were both so worried. It’s been a while since I’ve directed a pair of dancers who work together so well.” 

Katara looked back at Zuko to share a smile, but that just reminded them of their close proximity. “Oh!” she gasped, stepping back and out of his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to...sorry.” 

“It’s...it’s ok.” He was still kneeling, and he didn’t get to his feet until after he stared at her for an extra moment, as though trying to puzzle something out about her. “Director Piandao’s right...I, um...I really enjoy dancing with you.” 

“...Me, too.” His compliment settled warm like an ember in her chest, at odds with the feeling of sparkling giddiness she could feel bubbling through her. Oh no...that can’t be good. 

———————— ———————— ————————

Weeks of rehearsal passed. The show was quickly coming together, the set builders and stage crew had begun pulling together plans for the set and lighting and sound design, and everything was chugging along right on schedule. 

But Katara felt wretched. The weeks of rehearsal meant weeks of dancing with Zuko, and spending time with Zuko, and getting to know Zuko. One day, after a weekend afternoon rehearsal, he mentioned his uncle owning a bubble tea shop, a fact that piqued Katara’s curiosity. He invited her along, and that was how she ended up getting to know Zuko’s Uncle Iroh, tea connoisseur and loving father figure. After that, they somehow fell into a routine of working on homework at the tea shop before or after rehearsal, and lingering for a bit longer to just...chat, after their work was done. 

The more Katara got to know Zuko, the more she learned what a kind, hardworking, and earnest man he was...and the more she began to like him. Really like him. To the point where she wished she could dance Juliet’s choreography without being Juliet, just let her growing affections for her dance partner shine through. 

Matters got worse when Suki let them know it was time to choreograph the kissing. It wasn’t much, just one in a couple of scenes. A small part of Katara almost wished there were more kisses, if only so that she stood a chance to maybe get used to kissing Zuko (and maybe, just a little bit, so she could have an extra excuse to kiss him). 

The sprinkling of choreographed kisses meant she had plenty of time to anticipate each one, her heart leaping into her throat the moment Zuko began taking Romeo’s steps towards her. The first time they kissed, she nearly forgot the rest of the choreography, only remembering to move because of the guiding hands at her waist. 

Suki and Piandao blessedly didn’t notice the cause of her distraction, but they were both too sharp to not realize something was going on. 

“Is everything ok?” 

Katara jumped from where she was crouched by her bag. “Suki! Hi! I’m doing alright, why?” 

“It’s just...you seem like you’ve been having a hard time with some of the choreography, and you were doing so well...I wasn’t sure if there was something you wanted to change, or if there was something else I could do to help?” 

“Oh, Suki, I’m so sorry.” Guilt tasted sour in Katara’s mouth - here she was, an underclassman given the chance to star in such an iconic role, and she was messing it all up because of a guy. “I’m ok, I just...I just need to get more practice, I think?” 

“Do you want us to reserve the studio for you and Zuko sometime this week?” 

“That’d be great, thank you! Oh! But Suki?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Please don’t tell Zuko. I’m the one messing up, I’ll be the one to figure this out.” 

“...Sure, Katara.” 

It was her own fault, really, for thinking it would be that easy. 

She didn’t even have it in her to be surprised when she ran into Zuko at the studio. “...Did Suki snitch on me?” 

Zuko’s eyes were lined with concern, but he couldn’t help letting out a small cough of laughter at Katara’s dull words. “Don’t get upset with her. She mentioned she would be reserving a studio for you, but I was the one who asked for the time and day.” When Katara didn’t show any sign of being swayed by his explanation, he tried again. “We don’t have to practice together for the whole time, I can stay out of your way and get some solo practice in, but...y’know, if you wanted to go over the pas de deux altogether...I could be there for you.” 

Either her crush was making her soft or those gold eyes were more than effective in their entreaty, but either way, she couldn’t bring herself to say no. Zuko stayed true to his word - he stayed out of her way, quietly warming up by himself before stretching on the floor by the mirror, keeping himself limber for whenever Katara asked him to join. 

It didn’t take very long. There was only so much she could do by herself to work on a pas de deux. At some point, she just felt ridiculous, holding onto an invisible hand or compensating for the lack of support with a half-heart arabesque and pirouette, when her perfectly-willing partner was right there. He brightened up visibly when she sheepishly beckoned him, and wasted no time in getting to her side. “From the top, then?” 

Katara felt herself re-entering the performance sweet spot she always loved, where she could let herself get carried by the music and choreography while still feeling grounded and remembering to actually act and perform. And for the first time in a while, she felt good in Zuko’s hands, her nerves at least temporarily leaving her to enjoy and trust in her partner. 

But nerves are a funny thing. For most of the pas de deux, Katara didn’t let herself get distracted by Zuko’s proximity, nor the intimacy of the way their fingers tangled together and his cheek pressed against her body and his lips brushed against her knuckles. Then, the moment he began taking those final steps towards her, all of her anxiety flooded back to her.

He’s not going to kiss me. Piandao and Suki aren’t here and he has no reason to kiss me without an audience-

Her internal reality check was interrupted by the very external feeling of Zuko’s lips against hers. She gasped against him, but when he began to move away, misunderstanding her gasp, she pressed forward, the rest of the choreography forgotten. She stayed en pointe, but only because it made it easier for her to drape her arms around his shoulders and press in close. His hands, which were supposed to hold onto her waist to support her, began to move up her back as he stepped forward, until he was supporting her with his body. 

This was not the stage kiss that Katara had gotten used to. He wasn’t forceful at all - his lips were careful and gentle - but they were also achingly tender, as though he were truly cherishing every touch of his lips to hers. They parted, but he never made a move to deepen the kiss, until Katara boldly swiped her tongue along his lower lip. It was his turn to gasp in surprise, but he was more than happy to keep up with her pace. 

When they separated, it was only because Katara’s legs couldn’t hold her up anymore, forcing her feet to flatten to the ground again. “Shoot,” she muttered, earning a soft laugh from Zuko. She couldn’t help looking up at him with a shy smile, not expecting his smile to fade into a guilty grimace. “Zuko-?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t- I shouldn’t have-“

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I kissed you...like...like that.”

“Zuko...I kissed you back. If I didn’t like it, I would’ve let you know.” 

That made him smile again, though his grin was wry. “...That’s true.” 

Katara felt like she was glowing with giddy bliss, but that faded when the complications of their positions caught up with her. “What...what now?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“The show is still a month away. I like you, Zuko...I like you a lot, honestly”-the surprised glee on his face nearly made her stop speaking, but she muscled through-“but I don’t want to risk...complicating...things.” She didn’t want to become the underclassman who was incapable of performing a romance without it becoming a real-life romance, and she certainly didn’t want to risk causing any drama with a backstage romance. 

Zuko’s face fell, but before she could try to clarify what she meant, he was nodding. “I understand...but I don’t want us to stop spending time together. I really, really like you, Katara. So much that I’d rather keep spending time with you as a friend than make things complicated for you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, of course. The fact that you feel the same way about me is more than I’d ever hoped for. Knowing that will make any waiting easy.” 

Somehow, his reassurance and respect for her wishes suddenly made Katara want to push the boundaries a little more. “You don’t want to try and date in secret?” 

She wasn’t expecting his snort of response. “Director Piandao would sniff us out in no time. I’m pretty sure he already suspects something.” 

Well...he wasn’t wrong. 

———————— ———————— ————————

The month leading up to the show was the smoothest the ballet troupe had ever experienced. Somehow, the stars aligned and allowed all the sets to be built, all the lighting and sound effects to be set, and all the costumes to be adjusted to the performers with nary a technical difficulty in sight. As for the performers themselves, the choreography was smoothed into a perfect shine. The ensembles were synchronised, the lifts and leaps looked effortless, and everyone gushed over the chemistry between Katara and Zuko. 

And Katara was miserable. She had thought that getting all their feelings in the open would make the rest of the rehearsal process easier. But now that she’d gotten a taste of Zuko’s true kisses, his shy smiles and the way he brushed her curls behind her ear, she couldn’t seem to feel satisfied with their onstage romance. The sweet kisses that had made her blood sing in her veins now left her longing for something more, and his lovestruck visage as Romeo didn’t make her heart skip the way his blushes and embarrassed grimaces as Zuko did.

Not that anyone else noticed a difference. Zuko was as brilliant as ever, and Katara could only hope she was pushing herself enough to be a worthy partner to him. Judging by Piandao and Suki’s pleased smiles, and the words of encouragement from their castmates, it felt fair to guess that she was doing a pretty good job. 

And so the final month passed in a blur of rehearsals and “dates” to the Jasmine Dragon and her feelings for Zuko growing and growing until she thought she might burst with how much she cared for him. 

The weekend of performances that she was so excited for at the beginning of the semester had somehow become a part of that blissful, miserable blur, the final obstacle she had to clear. Among the cheering audiences, the glowing reviews from her loved ones, and busy rush of the performances, one moment in particular stood out to Katara: finding a single, snow white lily tucked into the side of her bag after their first performance. She had immediately tucked it into her braid, and was rewarded by a furiously blushing Zuko as the cast and crew left the building for their opening night dinner. 

Everyone was exhausted, but proud, when the weekend of performances was finally over. At their cast party, Suki passed a message from Piandao: there would be an informal class the following week to review how the performances went, and what they’d like to keep and fix in the process for their next show. There would be some simple warmups at the start and cool-downs at the end, for the sake of routine, but otherwise the optional meeting would be for the sake of review. 

Katara already knew she'd go. And when she caught Zuko’s eye and saw his smile, she knew he’d be there as well. After all, they had their own important conversation to have. 

When the day of the meeting came, she managed to get there a bit early, and was relieved to see Zuko already there, tugging his slippers on.

“Hey, Zuko?” 

“Yeah?” 

Oh, she hated this. Hated this feeling of being on uneven ground, the nerves and weird shyness and uncertainty bubbling through her. He likes you, you know he likes you. 

And yet. When those golden eyes landed on hers, and those lips curved into a genuine smile at the sight of her, she felt delirious with the disbelief of her own luck. Surely this was a fluke. Surely this handsome, talented, respected (though a bit awkward) guy had made a mistake in liking her. 

She shoved those thoughts away, and let a shy smile curve her lips. “I, um...I was wondering if you’d like to...if you’d like to dance with me?” 

“Really?” He sounded genuinely surprised, even a little shy. “I thought you’d be tired of dancing with me by now.” 

“Oh...are you tired of dancing with me?” 

“No!” His answer was immediate, making Katara blink in surprise. Zuko flushed, but he still shook his head resolutely. “No, I could never get tired of dancing with you. I just thought...with the show being over and all…” 

“With the show being over, I thought it’d be nice if we could just...dance as ourselves. No characters or story or anything, just...us.” 

Zuko’s blush deepened, and his smile widened. “I’d love to.” 

They stayed behind after their class. Theirs was the last class of the day, and they didn’t need to warm up before their “date” could properly begin. Katara did her best to ignore the knowing smiles of Piandao and their classmates when she lingered behind and took her time packing away her things. Piandao even made a point to leave the door unlocked behind him, something he’d never done before. By the time it was just the two of them in the studio, Zuko’s cheeks were red again, and Katara couldn’t hold back a giggle at the sight. 

“So...do you have anything in mind?” she asked him, her laugh still decorating her words. 

“Yeah, actually...you might hate me for this, but...I was wondering if you’d want to do the Balcony pas de deux?” 

“You have me in a studio all to yourself, and you want to do the same thing we’ve been doing for months already?” Katara teased, letting herself drift closer to him while grinning at how flustered she was making him. 

“It’s not- I mean- I just thought-” He caught the grin on her lips and frowned slightly when he realized she was teasing him, though his eyes glittered with amusement. When he spoke again, his words came a lot steadier. “It’s like what you said. I wanted to dance it with you one last time...not as Romeo and Juliet, but just...ourselves.” 

That made Katara go quiet. It was her turn to watch Zuko approach her, warmth traveling up her arm when he carefully took her hand and began tracing his thumb along her skin. She ducked her head to look at their hands, hoping she could hide the flush that had spread across her cheeks, before she quietly admitted, “I...I think, at some point, I was already dancing with you as...as myself.” 

“Oh…then...then show me.” 

Katara met his eyes again, and another wave of warmth washed over her at the small, understanding grin on his face. “Okay.” 

The music of the pas de deux felt like home, the familiar notes carrying her to her starting position like it was an instinct. Zuko’s smile as he joined her from the speakers told her he felt the same. But this time, his hands on her felt different somehow. They were still secure, but she felt a flex to them, as though Zuko wanted to press her closer than they already were. 

Small changes like that abounded throughout the number. Katara felt like she was floating through it, her practiced limbs carrying her through the choreography, but every so often, there was something just a little different - she didn’t run as far from Zuko, she let herself press against him, let herself hold his hands a moment longer. And he let himself do the same, pressing a kiss to her sternum when the choreography called for him to let his cheek rest against her chest, letting his lips ghost against her cheek when they came face-to-face, his fingers lingering on her body when it’s time for her to leave his hold. 

But most changed of all were his eyes. Where before, he had conveyed all the gleeful wonder of a boy falling instantly in love, he now looked like he couldn’t believe his impossible luck, like he couldn’t believe he was here, holding her, dancing with her. 

He...he was looking at her with adoration. Open, raw adoration that she’d never before seen directed at her. If she’d thought it was surreal to have his performance skill directed at her, his emotions now were making her breathless. 

When it came time for the kiss, Katara didn’t bother pressing up to be en pointe. Zuko took his choreographed steps towards her, but when his hands came to her waist again, she didn’t give him the chance to lift her onto her toes. Her arms were already around his neck, tugging him down to her, his surprised grunt smothered between their colliding lips. He thankfully, blessedly, wasn’t as shy about kissing her this time, his lips quickly parting on hers, inviting her to taste and feel and memorize every part of his kiss. Her hands set out to do the same to his body, his leotard making it easy for her to map his muscles and relish the way she could feel them jump under her fingertips. 

But it was a poor substitute for feeling his skin, and she didn’t realize she had started plucking at his leotard until he pulled away with a breathless laugh. “Maybe you should take me to dinner before you go that far?” 

Katara’s eyes widened, mortification coloring her cheeks a deep red. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize-” 

Zuko cut her off with a sweet kiss, immediately melting her panic away. “It’s ok, I wanted to do the same. But...would you? Like to go to dinner with me, sometime?” 

“As a date? An actual, more-than-friends date?” 

“Of course! I mean, only if...If that’s what you want.” 

She swore he was the only person who could get kissed within an inch of his life and still be so sweet and concerned about crossing boundaries. “Zuko, what I want is an excuse to keep seeing you and kissing you as much as possible. I like you so much, it’s almost embarrassing. Of course I’ll go to dinner with you.” 

Zuko’s smile was so sunny, so bright, so warm, that Katara was ready to promise him the world just to see that smile again. Thankfully, he was far more interested in getting more kisses than anything else, and she was more than happy to oblige.

[drarry-with-a-side-of-harry]

THAT WAS ONE OF THE GAYEST EPISODES IN A HOT MINUTE LMAOOOO WTF

so i’ve just watched series 4 episode 10 ‘A Herald of the New Age’ uhhhhhh

wait wait wait so gwen’s gone for two (2) seconds and Arthur and Merlin are flirting like they’re in a school playground all over again lmaoooo i’m so done

so first of all they get back to Camelot and Merlin’s falls back into his concerned boyfriend routine 🥺🥺🥺🥺 SIDE NOTE THE KNIGHTS ARE JUST FULLY AWARE OF THESE TWO AT THIS POINT THEY ALWAYS FLIRT AND ARE REALLY TENDER IN FRONT OF THEM I CANNOT BE ARSED anyway Merlin asks Arthur if he’s alright and Arthur’s all sad and brooding 🥺🥺🥺 so Merlin says he was being quiet and Arthur just answers him with a snide remark but with none of the laughter and ARTHUR, KING, SWEETIE WHY WON’T YOU JUST LET THIS BOY HELP YOU???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺

SO THEN WE SKIP AHEAD A BIT AND OMFG LET ME TELL YOU I WAS CACKLING WITH LAUGHTER AND KEPT HAVING TO PAUSE IT. THIS SHIT IS GOLDEN

so Merlin walks in on Arthur asleep at his desk. if you’ve watched the show you will remember this scene because it’s too iconic but am i gonna run through it anyway?? you’re damn right i am because i am obsessed lmaoooooo

SO MERLIN JUST STRAIGHT UP BANGS ON THE DESK REALLY FUCKING LOUDLY TO GET HIM TO WAKE UP HAHAHAHAHHAA AND ARTHUR HAS FOOD ALL OVER HIS FACE I-

who fucking wrote this shit it’s too good man

Arthur jumps out of his mind and Merlin the little shit has the audacity to say “oh i’m sorry i didn’t mean to scare you” HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD MERLIN 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and he barely even cracks a smile how this man holds it together i will never know. honestly how Colin Morgan managed to deliver that just once without cracking up is beyond me.

OH BUT WE’RE FAR FROM FINISHED

so Arthur responds “you didn’t scare me, i was asleep” LMAOOOOO YEAH BITCH WE KNOW HAHAHAHAHAHA IM STILL SCREAMING ABOUT THIS

so now Merlin starts to laugh a bit but he’s holding it together. you know when you’re in school and something funny happens with your mates and you shouldn’t laugh because you’re meant to be working but you can’t not laugh and you’re all just snorting to stop yourselves from laughing??? yeah same energy

Arthur: “why’ve you got that stupid smile on your face?” baby i don’t know what to tell you anymore

Merlin: “it’s nothing. why were you sleeping with your head on the table?” and his face just drops to confusion HOW DOES HE NOT KEEP LAUGHING

Arthur: “i fell asleep while i was reading” uh huh okay sure thing

Merlin: “what were you reading?” this is turning into the most mundane conversation you’ve ever heard but it’s priceless because Arthur’s still half asleep and Merlin’s just fucking with him i’m so done

Arthur looks around trying think of something and realises be can’t lie anymore so this bitch just has to say “i am the King of Camelot i do not have to answer to the likes of you” LMAOOOOOOOO KING JUST ADMIT YOURE AN IDIOT AND LEAVE and Arthur’s almost cracking a smile at this point too we get it you love him

Merlin: “oh you’re in a good mood, you obviously got out of the wrong side of the table” AND THIS MAN JUST STARTS PISSING HIMSELF AT HIS OWN JOKE I-

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AND ARTHUR’S DEADPAN STARE IS PRICELESS

and Merlin explains the joke while he’s still laughing and Arthur replies “that’s extremely clever and funny Merlin there really are no limits to your wit now will you please just get me some breakfast” HAHAHAHAHHAA MATE WHEN I SAY IM HOWLING WRITING THIS POST

‘there really are no limits to your wit’ sent me

so Merlin goes to get breakfast and Arthur (who has loads of food on his face remember) uses the plate as a mirror OH BOY

THIS SCENE COULD NOT BE ANY FUNNIER I SWEAR

he lowers the plate with another deadpan stare aimed at the door. boy is FUMING LMAOOOOOOOO

he shouts Merlin and i will suck my own big toe if there is anyone in the castle Camelot that didn’t hear him MY GOD THAT WAS PRICELESS

me current state: deceased

OH AND IT DOESN’T STOP THERE OH NO NO NO

so the very next scene we’re at training Arthur tells the lads to pair up and Gwaine asks what’s in his hair. Arthur’s face is just a picture. Merlin helpfully answers that it’s stew. Leon asks him why he’s got stew in his hair. Merlin quickly responds “because he was reading” in that tone when Merlin’s being a right snarky little shit oh you know

the lads just turn to look at Arthur like “wtf man??”

Arthur takes a minute and says “change of plan. i think we’ll try something different” lmaoooo you just know what’s coming next

so Merlin’s used for sword practise

Arthur has first go and the lads are smirking at them and each other like “oh these two had another domestic” “about the stew this time ahhh right” lmaooooo

JUST GOLD

there was a whole two (2) minutes of just solid flirting, taking the piss and just generally annoying the shit out of each other i-

OH AND THERE’S MORE

it’s nighttime now and this cheeky bastard asks “would you like me to make up the bed Sire, or will you be sleeping on the table again?” with a little smile on his face HAHAHAHAHAHAHA it just keeps getting better this episode really is a gift

Arthur doesn’t respond because he’s all moody again and Merlin all but roles his eyes all he wants to do is cheer up his boyfriend 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 so he sighs “is this about Gwen” and Merlin looks kinda irritated and sad and Arthur won’t even look at him and Merlin says “we all miss her. you more than anyone” and Arthur cuts him off with “you can go now” maaaaate the feels

Merlin: “Arthur”

Arthur: “get out” oh so now you look at him

omfg you were happy earlier can you please just let him help you ffs you’re just making each other really fucking sad and it’s not helping anything

and Merlin leaves and Arthur kind of looks over his shoulder and almost shakes his head like he doesn’t actually want him to go 🥺🥺 and every damn time something like this happens i expect him to say “no, wait” 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

and now Arthur looks even more sad. well baby i don’t know what to tell you but you did just do that to yourself a little bit. just leT MERLIN HELP YOU ffs

SO Merlin storms in and dad Gaius is at the table reading and Merlin’s just ranting that he’s done being nice to Arthur and he doesn’t get any thanks and he’s saved his life so many times and all he ever does is shout at him. yeah boy we know aND SO DOES GAIUS because this man does not look up at him!!!!!! tell me that’s not Merlin ranting to his dad about his crush i swear-

Gaius tells him there’s more important things to worry about like the plot of this episode perhaps??? lmaoooo this is getting out of hand now. dad’s so done with Merlin’s lovesick bullshit lmaoo

so we move on a bit and Arthur tells his uncle that Merlin thinks Elyan’s possessed oh so now dad’s dead you value Merlin’s counsel huh king?? we love to see it

we love that Merlin can speak up a bit more now ehehehe

so uncle says that Merlin’s just tryna protect his friend and Arthur just looks at Merlin like “i believe you don’t worry but we need evidence man”

oh my christ we’re only half way through true episode i’ll try and speed things up a bit i think the main Merthur action’s done anyway

Merlin breaks Elyan out. arrives back at Camelot and walks into the throne room. Arthur’s drinking and reading something and just looks up when Merlin enters with the most glorious look on his face like “oh this bitch is back finally” and carefully considers what he’s gonna say to him 😂😂😭😭😭

Arthur: “Merlin! good of you to join me. perhaps i should fill you in on all that’s been happening while you’ve been... that’s a good question. what the hell have you been doing??” LMAOOOOO these two i can’t

Merlin: “i was...”

Arthur (cutting him off): “choose your next words carefully. they may be you last” pahahahahahaha alright king pipe down

Merlin: “i was searching.. in the woods.... for some herbs for Gaius” boy’s just rambling about herbs and says he got lost

Arthur: “you mean to tell me that you’ve been wandering around in the woods all night???”

and the look on this man’s face. WONDERFUL

Merlin says yes and Arthur asks what happened to his head because it’s bruised and i just knew it was coming ffs “i tripped over a root and hit my head on a tree and knocked myself out” this fucking moron. this fool i despair

Arthur just toys with him and offers him some food with him at the table is it a joke though Arthur if you actually just want to have a lunch date with him and Merlin realises he’s joking and we get another golden deadpan stare from Arthur and it’s the funniest shit damn this episode is blessed and Arthur just stares him down as he fucks off out of the room lmaooooooo 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and then to finish it off dramatically picks up his paper again so we all know he’s back to ‘important reading’ uh huh Arthur sure you’re not just thinking about that interaction?? like the rest of us clowns

fast forward and Arthur let’s Elyan go and somehow Merlin’s there again???

anyway Arthur talks to his uncle and when he’s gone Arthur confides in Merlin and Gaius i’m sorry but we have to stan some A+ development (also i really hope Arthur’s starting to lose trust in his uncle because i was sort of getting that vibe from this scene idk we can only hope)

Merlin’s in Arthur’s chambers that night clearing up and Arthur says “that’ll be all Merlin” anD MERLIN REPLIES “are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” UMMMMMMM FOR WHAT????? I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT ARTHUR WAS GOING TO SLEEP UHHHHHHHHHHHHH IDK MAN SEEMS KINDA SUS TO ME WHAT’RE YOU GONNA DO MERLIN JUST SLEEP IN HIS BED WITH HIM??? HMMMMMMMMM THE PLOT MAJORLY THICKENS BECAUSE ARTHUR DOESN’T EVEN FIND THIS AN ODD SUGGESTION BECAUSE HIS RESPONSE IS JUST “think i’m gonna get an early night” OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL THAT IMPLIES THAT HIM AND MERLIN WOULD BE- *BIG COUGH COUGH*

AND SECONDLY THAT IMPLIES THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THEY’VE DONE BEFORE I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION THE EVIDENCE SEEMS PRETTY CONCLUSIVE TO ME YOUR HONOUR

then they have a nice little joke about Merlin not getting an early night lmaooo we do love to see the bants

so later on Merlin follows Arthur into the woods lmao of course he does would you really expect anything less at this point?? and they have this whole why are you here?! no why are you here?! moment lmao

Arthur tells him he’s free to go back to Camelot at any time sweetie you really think that’s gonna happen?? you fool Arthur Pendrgaaon because obviously Merlin’s not going anywhere AND THEN ARTHUR’S BACK TO BEING A SELF SACRIFICIAL LITTLE SHIT AGAIN BABY YOU’RE KING NOW YOU CAN’T BE SO WILLING TO DIE AT EVERY FUCKING PROBLEM WTF we find out that this whole thing’s Arthur’s fault but this whole scene is honestly so nice and lovely and warm and he knows what he did was wrong and that he was a stupid young man 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and the druid boy forgives him 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and he’s CRYING omg recently Merlin’s constantly on the verge of tears but when Arthur cries you know some bad shit’s going down and the music omgggg 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 “from this day forth the druid people will be treated with the respect they deserve, i give you my word” 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 i love him your honour

so then we’re back in Arthur’s chambers and Merlin says “you know that was incredibly moving what you said at the shrine” Arthur says “it served it’s purpose” because Elyan’s alright ARTHUR STOP PRETENDING YOU DON’T CARE TO LOOK COOL FOR YOU BOYFRIEND MERLIN KNOWS YOU’RE 10X THE MAN YOUR FATHER EVER WAS

Merlin says “you meant it” and then Arthur gets a bit snappy because he’s embarrassed 🥺🥺🥺 and Merlin says “i don’t ever think i’ve seen you cry before. well not like that. you had tears running down your cheeks it’s nice to see this new sensitive emotional side to you, it suits you” doesn’t it just baby???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺 then we get a classic shut up Merlin and this is the first time Arthur dares to look at him throughout this conversation 😭😭😭 and then Merlin mocks him *gasp* “i really thought you’d changed” lmaoooo “then you’re as stupid as you are ugly” lmaooooooo Arthur just tell him he’s pretty and leave

and just to finish things off

Arthur’s walking to the door

Merlin: “so there’s no chance that we could have a hug?” and he’s half 🥺 and half smiling/laughing ready to play it off

Arthur turns back to him and starts play running towards him and Merlin runs away and Arthur tackles him off screen aND YOU CANNOT TELL ME ARTHUR DID NOT GIVE THAT MAN THE BIGGEST HUG WHEN THEY WERE BOTH DOWN ON THE GROUND AHHHHHHHHAHAHAHA THEH ARE SO PURE I LOVE IT 🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 can you not just imagine these two giggling and chasing each other round the room i-

[rueren]

hiii, I love ur posts and was wondering if I could get some asahi general headcanons if possible

thank youuuu babes 🥰🥰 of course you can get some, i didn’t know if you meant general dating hc’s of just him in general but i did the second one.  lemme know if you want dating hc’s babes !! but here you go my love mwah <3 (also sorry this is v late i been studying for my exams next week n my phones basically off >.<)  hope you like it

***

Asahi HC’s

***

softest hugs for sure.  just doesnt wanna crush you .  

fuzzy socks 

he’s so freakin adorable i cANT

ok i acc cant get side tracked

moving on

i feel like hes got pretty neat hand writing, the type that gets scrawly towards the bottom of the page, cuz he doesnt wanna get a paper cut from sliding has hand across the edge of the page.

like hes got his hand slightly raised over the edge, and sometimes the ink doesnt hit the page and the letters get chopped 

when hes studying he does that thing where you put your hair up with a pencil ohmygod my heart

colour codes his notes which a highlighter legend but it gets overwhelming to keep up so he kinda gives up halfway through.  but every now and then he’ll do it for a chapter of a class here, another one there.  

he def invested in sOO many hair products after kiyoko told him that he might damage his hair if its pulled so tight.  

speaking of kiyoko, idk but i feel like out of the third years he really appreciates kiyoko the most because she was one of the first girls to not see him as intimidating despite his stature.  

i can def see him walking her home at times where its really late, if practice got went on too late. if he’s too nervous he makes all the third years go with him to make sure she gets home safe because k i y o k o   

i love to think that he starts to speak his mind a bit more after kageyama literally forces him to tell him if theres anything wrong with his sets. 

it gets to a point where he just absent mindedly says it right after he hits the ball, and kageyama just goes “okay thanks” and they continue sets, while everyone's like 0.0.  all teary eyed n proud that he’s finally not so shy 

the hair care products lead to the rabbit hole of self care products. now he’s got a routine that he does every night.  very calming for his jittery nerves.

noya found his bag of products at a training camp while looking for a spare charger, and went to ask him what everything is.  he knew what most of them are from going over to tanaka’s place so often and seeing saeko’s stuff but he’s never tried them.  asahi happily yet timidly shows him what everything is for.

the next away game,  him n noya get lil face masks for everyone incase they wanna try. 

he doesnt strike me as a tea or coffee person.  hot chocolate child.  

i just fEEL it in my soul that he’s got a bunch of those gas station t shirts or like dad shirts with the wIERD slogans across the front cuz they are big enough to be loose on him.  regular big shirts are a bit snug.

the wierd slogan ones are SOLELY for in the house. hes a fashion icon cmon now cant be caught lacking.  

if yall make eye contact he’s a blushing mess for a solid 5 minutes.  

will probably teach you a bunch of volleyball stuff, but only if you ask a bunch of times because he’ll be worried that he’s boring you

he’s got this picture of the team taped to his mirror and its the cutest shit ever.  

has to retape it every now and then because he takes it off to stick it somewhere else, then changes his mind and puts it somewhere else, then changes his mind aGAIN- yeah you get the drift. 

probably the tallest around school so like when anyone needs a lightbulb fixed, they like legit have a teacher call him out of class to go and fix it, or do something really tall if the janitor cant get to it 

cats love him because he’s really warm and he just pets them with his big hands.

im just so in love with this man it hurts.  

[lovelyshawnn]

Nervous: CEO!Reader x Intern!Shawn

My heels clicked loudly onto the white marble tiles of my company’s building as I made my way down the hall, towards my office that overlooked the city. The volume of the chatter from my subordinates decreased as their eyes followed my body, silencing their words. The whole floor would quiet down unintentionally out of pure intimidation whenever they sensed my presence. I’m really not as scary as they think I am, but I have a reputation to obtain. I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to be their boss.

My assistant, Arlene, spotted my iconic high ponytail above the walls of the many cubicles on the office floor, taking that as her cue to stand up with my schedule in her hand, walking with me to my office as she read it out loud. She understood how I wanted everything to be organized and fastpaced. She was to read my schedule aloud every morning as soon as I walked through the door, not a single second late. As a CEO, I have a lot of things to do, so I don’t appreciate an assistant that isn’t quick on their feet for everything and anything. Which is probably why I went through dozens of assistants before I found Arlene. We quickly grew a bond and she was one of the few employees that I could actually bear in this company. I even consider her a close friend since we know each other like the back of our hands. This was not the case for the rest of my employees, who probably have never seen me shown any emotion besides irritated.

“We have a staff meeting at 9am, lunch with the representative of WFF at 1pm, videochat interview with Vogue magazine at 9pm, then we need you to read and sign these forms by 12pm tonight,” Arlene said all in one breath as quickly as she could.

“Oh! And our new intern, Shawn, starts today!” She said excitedly as she ushered him into my office. I looked up from the pile of papers on my desk to see Shawn walk in nervously, a tightlipped smile etched on his face. My brows raised in surprise. I was expecting some lanky, nerdy kid as the new intern but Shawn was quite the opposite. He was 6 foot and 2 inches of sculpted muscle. My eyes travelled up and down his glorious body like a predator stalking its prey.

“Hello, its a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Y/L/N,” he said. As soon as I heard his deep voice,I knew he was done for. I wanted so badly to just wreck him, taking him right then and there. I didn’t even know why I was thinking of this, I’ve never been truly attracted to a coworker in all my years of working, but here I was. There was just something about his pink blush that complimented his pale skintone, his big calloused hands, his perfectly wavy hair and...wait, what? I have to snap out of this haze, he’s just an intern. An incredibly cute intern, but still just an intern.

I shook my head to vacate all the inappropriate thoughts from my head. “Hi Shawn,” I replied, sticking a hand out for him to shake. His large hand flew up to firmly grip my small one, which ignited tiny little sparks in my hand that created a blush on my face.

I quickly pulled my hand back and diverted the focus from his hand to my work to avoid the awkwardness. Arlene took the hint as she saw my eyes shift back to the paper work, so she ushered Shawn out of my office to let me be. I decided to begin my work day by reading over some forms to sign but my mind kept thinking back to how his hand felt wrapped around mine. Why was my mind so occupied on this one guy? Fuck, maybe I just have to get laid. I never get this weak for one guy.

I huffed in frustration before getting up and making my way to the office kitchen/break room in desperate need of coffee. Usually I’d just ask Arlene to do it but today, I felt the need to get out of my office and clear my head for a bit. As I rounded the corner and walked into the break room, I spotted Shawn’s muscular back turned towards me as he was fixing himself a cup of coffee. It amazed me how someone can look so good in a pair of trousers and regular old sweater. I rolled my eyes at my own out of character thoughts. Treat him like every other employee. He’s no different.

His head turned toward me as he heard the clicking sounds of my heels. “Mrs. Y/L/N! Arlene said I should make you a coffee before the staff meeting, so uh, here you go,” Shawn stuttered out nervously. I eyed the cup of coffee that looked rather small in comparison to his huge hand, before taking it away from his grasp and taking a sip. My face scrunched up in horror at the taste, “Shawn, have you ever made a coffee before in your life?”

His eyes widened in fear, which made me smile at his innocence, but I was quick to cover it by turning away from him and towards the coffee maker. Or so I thought, but little did I know that Shawn most definitely caught the sight of the tiny smile that graced your lips, which eased some of his worried nerves.

“I like my coffee iced if its before 3pm with 2 sugars and some creamer,” I said as I made my coffee in front of him to demonstrate, “If its after 3pm, just make me some caffinated tea. Please tell me you know how to do that, at least.” He nodded frantically.

“I’d study this if I were you, you’re gonna be making a lot of these throughout the next few months,” I said with a bit of harshness in my tone before closing the lid on my coffee cup and strutting out of the room with a sway in my hips, not once looking at him as I finished my sentence.

He watched as my legs carried me away from him, his eyes trained on that perky ass of mine as he felt his pants tightened against his bulge. As soon as I left the room, he let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding. His new boss scared the shit out of him, but he had to admit, he was kind of into it. And the fact that she was hot as hell didn’t help his innappropriate infatuation with her. He snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered that he was supposed to be at the staff meeting and quickly made his way to the office.

I was sat on the end of the big rectangular desk with Arlene to my left and Shawn to my right. The rest of the main employees were sat all around the desk as they took turns updating me with how their department was holding up, and if there was anything we needed to do to fix it. As Dwayne from finances was talking about our budget for the month, you noticed that Shawn’s occasional nod had stopped, and he was now staring off into the distance lifelessly. I took my heel clad foot and gently tapped his calf to gain his attention, raising my brow at him in a disapproving way. He jumped up slightly at the sudden realization that he had zoned off, resulting in him leaning forward, trying to seem more intrigued in the insanely boring meeting. I smirked at how obvious it was that this poor guy was intimidated by me before ending the meeting after everyone had a chance to talk.

I walked back to my office side by side with Arlene, Shawn trailing closely behind, as she gave me any updates or any new information that you needed to know. “The representative for WWF just called saying he can’t make it to lunch today, should I reschedule?”

I rolled my eyes at their unprofessionalism and lack of punctuality. ”No, that won’t be necessary. Remind me to never waste my time on them again,” I said with irritation. My annoyance only grew as my stomach grumbled and my hunger grew.

“I’m still hungry, though. Would you like to accompany me to Le Petit Bistro?” I smiled at Arlene hopefully.

She shook her head no, “I’m sorry babe, I got a bunch of deadlines coming up today, I don’t have the time.” I pouted slightly in disappointment until I spotted Shawn, who was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes scanned all over the office that was still new to him.

“You. Shawn. Would you like to go to lunch with me?” I asked in a straight forward fashion. His eyebrows raised and eyes widened as he realized that you were talking to him. He glanced between you and Arlene, unsure of what to say. Arlene gave him an encouraging nod, mouthing something along the words “Say yes!” Shawn swallowed the lump in his throat before nodding, “Y-yeah, I’d love to.”

I grinned and turned in my heels, making a beeline to the office elevators. As I got in, I noticed that Shawn was still stood exactly where I left him, “You coming?”

He rushed to meet me in the elevator before it closed. His heart was racing, feeling anxious about being alone with the CEO of this medium sized company.

“So, where are you from, Shawn?” I said in an attempt to make small talk. “Oh, uhm, I’m from Pickering, Canada.”

My brows lifted in surprise, “Wow, really? When did you move to San Francisco?”

“About a month ago, I moved as soon as I found out that I got the internship.”

My heart dropped as soon as I heard this. Suddenly, I felt pretty bad about not treating him a little more kind. This guy was completely new to this city, and a scary boss wasn’t going to help him get settled in. I weighed the pros and cons before making the final decision, “How about we do some sight seeing today? Have you seen the Golden Gate bridge yet?”

Shawn’s eyes widened for what seemed like the hundredth time today, “No, I’ve been meaning to, but wait don’t you hav-“

“No buts! We’re going!” I cut him off, earning a small chuckle from him. We walked out of the elevator and made our way to my car, where I replaced my black stilettos with sneakers that are more appropriate for walking around all day.

“Alright. First stop: Pier 39!” I screamed with excitement as he watched my childlike outburst from the passenger seat. Truthfully, I’ve been living in SF my whole life so I couldn’t care less about the tourist attractions, but this was the first time in a long while that I did something spontaneous. I have to admit that I’m a workaholic, and I love to stick to strict schedules and routines. But I was loving the thrill of finally doing something out of the blue.

After a pain in the ass time looking for parking, we finally made our way to the pier. We spent the hour walking in to all the cute little shops, enjoying the live entertainment, taking a ride on the carousel, and stopping for some clam chowder.

To end the day’s adventure, we took a boat ride that allowed us to get a good view of Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate bridge. The soaring wind made me a bit chilly, making me wrap my arms around yourself, clinging onto my thin dress shirt to find some kind of warmth. Shawn noticed my actions before taking off his jacket and handing it over to me.

I smiled up at him at the kind gesture before slotting my arms through and shrugging on the oversized jacket, ”Thank you.”

“No problem, honey,” he said, swinging an arm over your shoulder to keep the both of you warm. Hm. Honey. I replayed the way he said the word honey over and over in my head, thinking about how perfect it sounded rolling off his tongue.

As we made our way off the boat and back into my car to head back to the office, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his body felt against mine. What seemed like just a harmless, relaxing getaway from my intense work load was now having me rethink everything about my love life. I haven’t dated anyone in the longest time, I’ve always been way too occupied with work to even think about men. But there was just something about Shawn. Like the way his soft voice makes me feel all warm and relaxing inside, or the way his smile was so goddamn contagious.

No. You’re just in love with the idea of him, the idea of someone being able to take you away from the stress of your demanding job, I thought. This is just a temporary crush that spawned from the fact that we were both out of the office doing fun things, it’ll die down as soon as we get settled back in the office, working.

We rode the elevator in silence and when we got to our floor, I noticed that no one else was in the office. I glanced at the clock, which read 8:30pm.

“Oh shit, its already 8:30?” I said in shock. ”I’m so sorry, I must’ve lost track of time. You can go ahead and head home now, Shawn. Our office usually closes at 6, but I still have some work to do.”

“Oh, uh, actually Arlene wanted me to finish organizing some of the files in your office before I leave for today,” Shawn lied. I mean, Arlene did tell him he could do that to start his first day doing something easy, but she never set a deadline for him. He just wanted to spend a little extra time with you.

“That’s fine, you can do that while I do my videochat interview in a bit,” I replied, unlocking my office door for the both of us to step in. Shawn nodded and headed for the file cabinets in my room while I set up my computer.

Within a few minutes, I heard the blaring skype ringtone. I quickly fixed my hair before accepting the call.

“Hi there! My name is Jess, I’m a journalist from Vogue magazine,” a woman with dark brown hair said. After we exchanged greetings, she explained how the interview would work and began asking typical questions like when I began my business and what it feels like to be a young female CEO in the city.

I answered all these questions with ease since people ask me them all the time, it was as if I was running on auto pilot. Some time during the interview, my eyes shifted from my computer screen to Shawn, who was currently sorting through some papers quickly with his massive hands. Fuck, those hands were beautiful. Watching his fingers fly through the papers made my mind wander off, thinking about how those fingers would feel on me.

“Mrs. Y/L/N?” Jess called out.

I quickly diverted my eyes back to the computer screen, “Yes, uh, what was the question again?”

Jess chuckled slightly, “Well, as a young female boss, where do you find the time to date? Are there any special men in your life at the moment?”

Shawn’s head snapped towards me once he heard the question clearly, curious to my answer. My mind blanked out as I processed the question. I never really got personal questions, but since this was Vogue that was interviewing me, I should’ve expected that.

I laughed nervously, “I’ve mostly been focusing on my work actually, so there hasn’t been any special men in my life for awhile.” Shawn’s eyebrows flew up a bit at your response before he turned his head and got back to his work. You furrowed your eyebrows slightly in confusion about his reaction. It looked as if he were questioning the legitimacy of your answer. For the most part, it was true. I’ve only been on a handful of dates here and there since the start of my career 2 years ago, but none of them really connected with me. Not until today... with Shawn.

After a few more questions, we said our goodbyes and ended the skype call.

Remembering how Shawn’s eyebrow lifted at me in a questioning way, I decided to stand up from my spot by my desk and walk over to him to confront him about it. “Why’d you look at me like that? When she asked about my ‘special men?’” I asked, using hand quotes mockingly for the words special men.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He smirked without glancing up at me at all. That fucker knew exactly what I was talking about, it was evident in that cheeky smile he was wearing.

I rolled my eyes at him, placing both my hands on my hips and giving him my signature bitch face that I was known for around the office. He finally looked up at me, acknowledging the stance I was in before laughing lightly. Thats weird. No one ever laughed at me when I did my bitch face. They’d usually start apologizing or pissing their pants by now.

“Okay, okay,” he said as he placed his papers down, “I just find it hard to believe that someone as beautiful as you doesn’t have any ‘special men’ in your life.”

His words left me with my lips slightly parted, mouth opening and closing again while I tried to find the right words to say, but I was left speechless. A blush started to creep its way up my cheeks. Goddamn this intern and his ability to make me blush so hard. I made an effort to cover up the blush immediately by turning around to the stack of forms I still had to sign. I sat on the edge of my desk with my legs dangling off and papers placed on my lap.

“Well, it is true. I have so much work to do, and men are just a pain in the ass. I need to relax, and men make me do the complete opposite of that,” I said while rubbing my temples at the mere thought of being in a relationship at the moment.

He didn’t know what took over him. Maybe it was the wine that you two downed on the boat. Or maybe if was the way your perfectly tight high ponytail was now messy with baby hairs flying out of your head. Or maybe it was the way your skirt rode up your thighs when you took a seat on top of your desk. He didn’t know why at all, but the words just slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, “I can help you relax.”

And before he knew it, his legs travelled the short distance from his spot by the file cabinets to right in between my legs that were slightly parted. One of my eyebrows quirked up in a curious way while my pupils dilated to watch his every move, still confused as to what was going on. The shy, nervous fresh faced intern that started the day off by being scared shitless of you was now bolder than ever.

At the lack of my response, Shawn leaned over to close the small gap between us and planted his lips on mine. It was like I was completely out of control around him because although it was against all the red flags in my head, I wrapped my arms around his neck and curled my fingers into his soft curls. His hands were on my waist as his lips meshed together with mine. In a swift power move, I gave a good tug on his hair which resulted in him letting out a small gasp. I took advantage of this by slipping my tongue through and adventuring into his pretty mouth.

The fact that we were all alone in this big office, doing exactly what we aren’t supposed to do made it so much hotter for us. The feeling of his skin on mine, his lips brushing against mine, ignited a once dead spark inside me. I craved the touch of a man that I was deprived of for so long, but more specifically, I craved him.

I took the initiative, moving my hand from behind his neck to the front, grasping his throat between my fingertips lightly before trailing them down his toned chest. Shawn whimpered almost inaudibly at the feeling of my hand around his neck, nails digging in just the right amount. If the office wasn’t completely vacant at the time, I would’ve missed how the tiny whimper escaped his swollen pink lips. I smirked into the kiss. Of course he’d be into that. God, I’m going to wreck him.

My hand travelled down to where he needed me the most, cupping his member with my palm right when the phone rang. We jumped at the sound of the ringtone, scrambling off of each other as I hopped off the desk and made my way over to the phone. Its like the phone’s ringtone was like a wakeup call, bringing us back to reality.

I’m his boss and he’s just an intern, we’re not supposed to be doing this. But fuck, that just made it feel better. I flattened my clothes out, smoothing over the creases before picking up the phone.

Arlene was on the other end of the line, reminding me of the deadlines for the paperwork that needed to be scanned and sent off and notifying me of a sponsor’s interest in our company. I thanked her and wrote down the notes in my planner before hanging up. I turned around to face Shawn, but instead I was met with my usual empty office. What used to be comforting to me, was now cold and lonely. The sadness creeped in as I took in my surroundings and saw how there was not another sign of life in this building.

He left. And you were alone, as usual.

a/n: there will be a part 2 to this!! im thinking about making this a whole ass series/fanfic so stay tuned and pls leave feedback heheh

[fydk-translations]

Cine21, Jan ‘19 issue: Kyungsoo interview

[mild spoilers for swing kids]

Q. Let’s start from Swing Kids (2018), your latest. Ro Kisoo goes about ruffling feathers, and his flashiness stands out from the rest of your filmography.  I had a lot of discussions with the director on what was best for Kisoo. There was [a boy in] an old reference picture almost exactly like Kisoo’s character. He was in an old school uniform and wore his army cap tilted; even his pants were wide and baggy. He seemed trendy for the time and I drew a lot of direction from the picture. 

Q. Ro Kisoo expresses himself through dance. What sort of experience was it for you, as his actor?  When I stand on stage as an EXO member, our choreography and formations are already determined. It was harder as Kisoo because there needed to be emotion in every one of his movements and expressions. I was especially worried about conveying the scene where he dances to David Bowie’s Modern Love in a way that the viewers would find refreshing and freeing. It reminded me of my first time trying to dance - frustration because my body wouldn’t listen to me, how good it felt to get each move down. Also, I could dance as I pleased because the director would capture the whole routine and the big emotions. Big movements for happiness, fast ones for frustration. To be honest, I was surprised by the final cut of that sequence. I didn’t realize how brightly I had been smiling. That dancing is something happy and to be enjoyed is what I’d felt as a musician too, but I had felt this so strongly that the smile came naturally. 

Q. It wasn’t something you planned to act out, but constant dancing is of course tiring, and that starts to show on your face. I’ve seen other actors say that actors who also know how to dance are better at filming action scenes, so it seems that your music career helps your acting one. All that happens when you try to put emotion into motions you aren’t comfortable making is that you ruin the movements and expressions. So for scenes where they’re both important, like the Modern Love one, I made myself familiar. When my body can move without my input, it’s possible to be expressive. All I could do was practice. Action scenes and dancing do have a lot in common, so I did have a little know-how from applying what I had already learned.

Q. The first and second halves of Swing Kids have totally different tones. As its leading actor, you must have put a lot of thought into handling the clash well. There was a part that I worried over for a while, without straying too far from how Kisoo would feel. The film’s tone shifts after the arrival of a supposed friend, Kwang-guk, to the prison camp. Kisoo’s mood worsens, but a sour face would have thrown off the intended tone. Kisoo wasn’t supposed to get too caught up in the atmosphere of that scene, and I kept his expression flat.

Q. It also seems like acting dryly ties in with your own disposition.  I wonder all the time why, in acting, anger has to be obvious, why there needs to be yelling. Because I’ve never expressed my anger that way. I usually try not to let my emotions complicate issues. Of course, I have to adjust because characters have their own personalities, but I went with what felt natural to me for Kisoo. 

Q. Swing Kids features both snappy cuts and long takes. Did you worry about how the editing room would preserve the rhythm of the scenes? I found it interesting rather than worrying. I liked the long takes because those let me get immersed in a location. I had so much fun with the scenes like the one where Kisoo keeps thinking about tap-dancing even in his sleep, and it would cut away each time with a tak-tak-tak! I really wondered how the end result would turn out. The Modern Love scene in particular, because (Park) Hyesoo and I had practiced and filmed for it separately. I was curious about what kind of picture that would make after editing, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. (laughs)

Q. There were a lot of iconic lines from the tvN drama 100 Days My Prince (2018). Bad delivery for the funny ones like “am I the only one uncomfortable?” and “the feeling you feel” would have weakened a sageuk, but you did really well with them. I don’t really dwell over how my lines should be said. The lines with the potential to become popular might have been funnier if their deliveries were lighter. But that wouldn’t make sense for a crown prince who had just lost his memory. To be honest, I did have some concern over making them more palatable. In the end, the answer was that I should just speak as the character would speak. That’s how I decided on the delivery.

Q. Conventional wisdom says that, for TV dramas, one must act in a way that the viewer will know what your character is feeling even if they’re not paying full attention. It seems your acting in 100 Days My Prince ran contrary to that. In the first half, you didn’t look at Hong Shim like you were in love. I think I just did what felt right. It would have been more romantic to look at each other like honey could fall from our eyes, as the saying goes, but that was unrealistic and wouldn’t have felt natural.

Q. Actor Sung Dongil said in an interview once that when he acts, he thinks of meeting the number 100 when acting with another. If the other is acting at a 70, he acts at 30. I think you make a good case for this with My Annoying Brother (2016) and Room No. 7 (2017) - in Room No. 7, actor Shin Hakyun made much larger actions than you, and in Brother, actor Jo Jungseok put much more flare into his character. I totally get what you’re saying. If there’s a character who brings the energy up, it’s good for watchability and tone and manner to have another who brings the energy down. I also learned how to lend realism to characters from Hakyun sunbae and about Jungseok hyung’s acting style.

Q. You’re the type of person who works diligently outside of the spotlight. I found that, in Room No. 7, you were constantly moving about in the background of some scenes, without distracting the viewer. Some of those parts came from talking with the director, but I wanted to fill up the space too. I found it fun to find things to do as my character that wouldn’t get in the way of the other actors. Even if the camera angle would barely catch a finger and I could honestly relax, I’d rather be doing something. 

Q. The two most disparate pieces in your filmography are director Lee Byunghun’s Be Positive (2017) and the movie series Along with the Gods. Your acting as the problem soldier Private Won was especially convincing in Along with the Gods: Two Worlds (2017). I thought there was nothing smooth about acting as Won Dongyeon, and that was reflected in-universe with the film. I have yet to serve in the military, and I’d never put a noose around my neck over the guilt of causing another’s death. The director helped me a lot. We talked about his personal experiences, as well as the characters. Much of my base [for Private Won] were films and other indirect experiences.

Q. In a previous interview, you said that Private Won was the most saddening of your characters and that you probably wouldn’t act as someone that pitiable again. I found it amusing how he was introduced as a problem soldier who kills an innocent and thus might get hate. Right, that’s not wrong... (with a seeking gaze) but doesn’t he make you feel sorry for him? He made a mistake that killed someone, wasn’t able to defend himself to anyone - I felt so bad for how much he suffered from circumstance. I understand why some would hate him, but I still think of him as the most saddening of my roles. 

Q. To be honest, while your acting as Private Won can be commended, the character himself is not admirable at all. People might misunderstand the actor because of the character. Many of your previous roles were of troubled, depressed youths let down by society. Did you not worry as an actor? Not at all. It’s not like all my roles have been dark, and I try to express a part of myself with each character anyway. I think, as long as I keep trying new things, the people who think that way will stop misunderstanding me. 

Q. Then in that regard, Swing Kids’ Ro Kisoo is an important point for you. Very. He’s a very dear figure to me. I wonder what will come next? What do I have left to show? It’s exciting to think about. 

Q. I can’t help but wish to see you a character with a lot of aegyo, maybe because you dislike it so much that even variety programs comment on it. (laughs) I think it’d be a fun role. I don’t hate the thought. (laughs)

Q. When you appeared on Naver’s Actor Chatter, you mentioned that if you could film a drama with actress Kim Hyesoo, you’d like it to be an introspective office drama where you’re a new recruit to her team. Then Park Kyunglim said, “And not a rom com? Kim Hyesoo might have a word with you!” To which you said, “With me? How could I (dare)...” Why do you think it’s so impossible? How would that even happen! I’d be incredibly honored, but there’s no chance of it happening. 

Q. Maybe if your character was like Jung Haein’s in JTBC’s Something in the Rain (2018), where noonas dote on his cuteness... That’d be really nice. I’d like to try being in a drama like Secret Affair (2014) too. I look forward to melodramas in the future, and trying out thrillers...

Q. Yeah, you were good in I Remember You (2015). Really? (laughs) Someone like him is good too, but I’d like to try acting as a completely average person. I’d rather embrace a variety of characters, not just one type.

Q. It’s Okay, It’s Love (2014) and Cart (2014) were your first and second released projects, respectively. You had to act as a victim of ALS; I wonder how you prepared for it when you’d never even gotten acting lessons before that point. For that, I had watched documentaries for indirect experience that I could use with my imagination to make [it seem believable].

Q. I heard that writer No Heekyung helped you a lot as you were starting out? It’s a given that she taught me skills, like how recounting things in staccato will help me with my pronunciation, but she talked with me about the characters too. I absolutely want to work with her again. I really enjoyed Live (2018) and its focus on daily life; my favorite of her projects is the film The Most Beautiful Goodbye (2011). I related to it a lot.

Q. I’m curious about how you figure out characters when aspects of them don’t overlap with you. Right now, are you more the type to conduct deep research, or the type to think it out? I look inside a lot. Of course I do my research too, but I leave the next step to my imagination. Sometimes seeing the actual props on set help, but the more I think through my character’s personality and mentality and how he would act or speak, the more the set seems to build itself. That’s what I’ve been doing so far.

Q. There are actors who write diaries in-character, or go through the day performing their character’s routines, or make exhaustive notes on their role. Mm, I don’t write anything down. My favorite scripts are clean and light, and I just keep it all in my head. My memory isn’t great, so I think trying to be exact would make acting too complicated for me. It’s easier for me to play things out mentally and then concentrate hard on set. 

Q. Didn’t you say that yelling at your mom in Cart was very hard for you, because it’s something you’d never done? How did you resolve it back then, and what do you do with similar impasses now? I played everything out in my head then, too. I just did it on set. How would I get angry when I’m by myself? I’m too shy to practice being angry in my room all alone or with the EXO members helping. (laughs)

Q. So you’re the type who just needs to be on set. I’m still not good at yelling. During Cart, I just said to myself (makes a sad face) “I’ll just do it when I get there,” but acting it out was actually thrilling. It was a huge thrill to feel what I’d never felt and to do what I hadn’t done. 

Q. When I view your filmography, I get the sense that directors love your eyes. You get unique close-ups that show off the fleeting emotions in your gaze. Is there anything in particular you do to act with your eyes? Uh... (thinks for a long time) I don’t do anything except stay in-character. My eyes are a bit weak. Whenever my immune system drops or I get too much sun, they dry out quickly and turn bloodshot. It would bother the viewer if I blink too much during a touching moment, so I put a lot of focus on my health. My eyesight is honestly really bad. I can’t monitor well on set, so watching the fully produced release, when I can have glasses on, will be my first time properly viewing myself. I can’t wear contact lenses either. I’m told it’s because the surface of my corneas aren’t curved like normal. When I put in lenses, my eyelids will push them down. So I wear glasses.

Q. There must be a certain comfort to live with the other EXO members, who also have their own acting projects. It’s closer to gratitude from their support than comfort. We don’t talk about our acting. Like I mentioned earlier, I get too embarrassed to practice acting with them.

Q. Have you ever given advice they took? I don’t. They’ve pointed out to me when I was slouching or hanging my head before, but we’ve never given each other acting advice. It’s not like I have any seniority. So how could I, when we’re all in the same boat? (laughs)

Q. There are people who police what it means to be a man - including in terms of physical build - and like to suggest actors who fit their mold for certain genres [over other actors who don’t]. It was very gratifying for me to watch you find success in 100 Days My Prince, maybe because you defy those definitions.  I don’t think much of their advice either. The admiration you feel from someone’s abilities, personality, or mentality is what matters. And I act for myself - I just want to figure out my own path, and to give my best in order to show my best. 

Q. Every time, without fail, you seem unsure whenever someone compliments on your ability or charm. Yet, no matter how I look at it, you have high self-esteem. How would you reconcile this? When someone keeps complimenting me, I feel embarrassed. Like I’m seriously going crazy (laughs). Even by my own judgment, I think I have a pretty high self-esteem; it’s important to have self-esteem. Except it might not be connected to my abilities, but with my well-being instead. I have to stay firm so that I’m not ruined by stress, so that I can keep going.

Q. During last year’s appearance on Knowing Brothers, I saw you say you hoped to be a farmer one day. You like cooking too, so I was wondering if you wanted a life like you’d see in Little Forest (2018)? (laughs) The Little Forest series (2014) from Japan is a big influence for me. I’d like to cook with what I grow, and to live in good health in a small, quiet home. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I hope it’s possible by my late thirties or early forties. 

source: @wallnuut | translation: fydk 

[lonelypond]

Moonlight Becomes You: Apocalypse Midnight Dance Party: Nico Protects

NozoEli, NicoMaki, KanaMari, Love Live, Love Live Sunshine, 2.5K, 3/?

Summary: Nico can't reach Eli while Maki realizes she's not where she wants to be.

Nico Protects

Nico was glaring at her phone...Maki Nishikino aka DJ Diamond Princess was on a two week tour of all the Ontario and Quebec hot spots. And so Maki was all over EVERYONE’S social media, in cute and huggy and air kissy poses with all the hot hot young female celebrities. Not that Nico cared. Not that the pictures were any good. Not that with the time difference and Nico’s insanely early morning shooting schedule for an actual live action show Nico had any time to do more than text and send selfies. Maki’s texts were usually rants about people wanting to take pictures and messing with her equipment or touching the vinyl. She was ready to stop being away from home. And Nico was ready to stop seeing her with so many women in so little clothing draped all over her.

Nico glanced at the clock. Maki would have usually texted something by now. And Eli should be done with Day Two of her weekend of dance at the Ohara on The Beach, getting the choreography down in 20 hours worth of dance sessions. Why wasn’t Eli back? Nico hopped up from the couch to check the kitchen calendar. Nope, another week until the full moon. So why wasn’t Eli home?

Quick text: Hey, Eli, did you get lost. Or meet a cute girl?

There was a reply.

“Sorry, I’m still busy.”

Nico frowned, “Sorry, you’re not Eli, WHY DO YOU HAVE ELI’S PHONE?

“Who is this?”

Nico hit call. The person on the other end actually answered so Nico only YELLED a little, “Who are you?”

There was a cough, and a shuffle, and a high silly voice and a muffled bark in the background that put Nico on alert. Then Nico heard a high voice giggle with the distance Eli’s phone on speaker would give. “Eli can’t come to the phone right now. She’s not feeling well.”

“Who is this?” Nico got quieter but sharper, “Tell me right now where Eli is or I’m calling the cops.”

Nico heard another voice, frazzled, “Mari, let me talk to her. Is this Eli’s roommate?”

“Yes.”

New person now had the phone. Her voice was a cool breeze compared to the previous. She switched the phone from speaker. “I’m Kanan. That was my wife. She likes to play jokes. I’m sorry but...”

Nico wasn’t that easy and cut off what she knew would be a lie from Kanan, “Where is Eli?”

“She isn’t feeling well. She had a sudden…” a pause…”seizure.”

“I’ll be right there. This is that hotel right?” Nico was on her feet, already deciding what to bring along.

“Yes, but…”

The other voice was back. “She’ll be fine, Bella. Kanan and I know what to do…”

Nico paused…’knew what to do’. Now she was positive Eli had switched her four legged form. No more discussion. “I will be there in a half an hour. If Eli isn’t somewhere Nico can see her, Nico will tear through your hotel room by room.”

“But....”

“Yeah, bye.” Nico ended the call and her phone buzzed again. She was about to answer with a snarl when she recognized Maki’s icon. Why now? Why the sudden switch from texting? Did no one realize Nico needed some normal as she raced to be the number one actor on any coast.

“Maki! Hey! How was your gig?” Nico tried to remember how much she’d been looking forward to Maki checking in.

“Exhausting.” Maki sounded growly grumpy. It might have been kinda cute, but Nico had seen too many pictures of Maki with her arm around a half dressed dancer or three. “SO many people hanging on me.”

“I know.” Nico knew her sentence would come through gritted teeth, “Nico saw all the snaps.”

“Rin just wouldn’t shut up either and I so want to get on a plane and just cancel the next three gigs and finally take you out to dinner and talk about anything but this or….”

Nico interrupted before Maki could get into full rant flow. “Maki, Nico completely agrees with where you’re going, but I can’t talk…”

“What’s wrong?” Maki’s tone instantly changing from complaining to concerned.

“Eli’s being held captive in a hotel.” Nico tried to speak as if that were an everyday thing Nico could obviously cope with.

“WHAT?” There might have been a phone dropping into a cushion noise. Then a scrabbling sound and Maki breathless, “What’s going on?”

“Nico doesn’t know….” Nico knew now she was sounding scared and frantic but she didn’t have the time to smooth things over for Maki. And it was a relief not to have to lie to Maki. “And I have to find out. So can we talk tomorrow?”

Maki sounded...mad…”Sure. I’ll text you.” And the call ended and Nico could feel the sourness left in the silence. Her hand tightened around the phone and there might almost have been a tear, but Eli was missing. And people Nico didn’t know had taken her roommate’s phone.

###

Maki wanted to pace, to punch. EVERY conversation with Nico seemed to stall at Eli, every plan Maki wanted to make...how much of Nico’s life revolved around her roommate? Before Maki had left town, Nico had made it seem like things were back to normal for Eli...But then Maki remembered the snarling, vicious sounds the night she’d gone to Nico’s to check on them,...was that how Eli was now all the time? Was Nico in danger? Maki checked her calendar, full moon next week. Didn’t Nico say she thought the early changes were more violent...Maki put her phone on speaker. Why pay a lawyer so much money if not to get DJ Diamond Princess out of things that Maki Nishikino didn’t want to do. Rin would be disappointed, but…

“Call Aya” she said as she opened her laptop to get to her travel account.

###

Nico stormed right up to the front desk. “Call Kanan Matsuura. I’m here to see Eli Ayase.”

The clerk frowned, typing a quick message into the pad in front of her.

“I said call…” Nico’s clenched fist rested on the desktop, ready to provide emphatic punctuation to her request.

The staffer smiled and pointed behind Nico, “Ms. Ohara will see you in her private suite. Please follow Ms. O’Hara’s assistant to the elevator.”

Nico turned to see a polite young woman in an exquisitely tailored suit, a pad tucked under her arm. “Good evening, Ms. Yazawa.”

“How do you know my name?”

“You’re listed as Ms. Ayase’s emergency contact. Ms. Ohara wishes me to assure you that Ms. Ayase is physically unharmed…”

“Shut up and walk faster.” Nico snapped, managing not to push the staffer along.

###

The elevator opened up into a foyer, with fountains and sculptures, a few tables and divans scattered, there were several floor to ceiling windows that looked out on the Pacific, Nico could see stars twinkling and the majority of the currently traitorous moon. It would have been breathtaking but Nico was on a mission.

No one was in sight so Nico just yelled, “ELI! WHERE ARE YOU? ELI!”

Nico heard a bark and a growl and someone, not sprinting, but hastening in her direction. A busty blonde, nearly falling out of a sundress, came around the corner and stopped in front of Nico, wagging a chiding finger.“You didn’t have to do that, silly. We just got her settled.”

Nico stepped right up to the blonde, who was slightly taller than Eli, “If you don’t let Eli go, I’m going to go through you, get her, and then maybe leave your front counter standing.”

“Oh, bella, you’re so cute, so tiny, so stizzoso…” the woman giggled.

Nico, seething, squared her shoulders and prepared to do her blitz move through this increasingly annoying obstacle. Another woman came into view, dark haired and solid, arm in a cast. Kanan Matsuura, Nico recognized her from Eli’s TWIG posts.

Kanan was shaking her head, hands in the kangaroo pocket of a sweatshirt,“You know Mari, I’m not going to defend you.”

The blonde whirled, pouting, hands reaching out. Nico just strode forward, busting the connection before the two women could even lock hands, shouting again, “ELI!”

A bark to the left, and a confused howl, then a whine of pain and a growl. Nico stopped, eyes the most dangerous of reds, “What did you do to her?”

Kanan put both hands up, “We just moved her to a safe space once the transformation seemed to be over. But she keeps…”

Nico didn’t let Kanan finish. “That doesn’t happen. It’s not even a full moon, that’s next week,” Nico knew she was starting to sound panicked, but Eli had been acting so oddly recently. “Something must have happened…”

“She’s in our guest room, Nico,” Kanan started to explain, “But I don’t think you should see her, she’s…” Kanan’s purple eyes were kind, but nothing like the amethyst Nico had been daydreaming about. She pulled up her sleeve and showed Nico a recently bandaged forearm, “It’s why we didn’t meet you downstairs. Eli’s lashing out. She’s terrified.”

Nico felt her knees buckle. What was happening? Why couldn’t Eli keep her transformations under control. “Eli hates changing. She usually sedates herself, but she wouldn’t have been expecting this not ‘til next week.” Or she would never have come here. Nico knew that.

Mari asked. “What does she use? We could slip some in her food?”

Nico froze. She’d been talking too much. These two already knew too much. Eli would be pissed. But they had to solve this immediate problem before Eli hurt herself or someone else. Racing through her knowledge of Eli’s habits, Nico grudgingly offered a suggestion, “Try playing Tchaikovsky, start with the Nutcracker. That usually relaxes her some.”

Mari pulled out her phone, swiped twice, and typed in letters. Classical music began to play. Kanan had a gentle hand on Nico’s shoulder and was leading her to a couch, “Are you hungry?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Nico shook her head, “Is she really okay?” And then suspicion kicked in, “And why are you so calm?”

“She’s physically uninjured, but it sounds like there’s been recent upheavals in her usual routine, which would be a long term concern.” Kanan sat next to Nico, “And I have some experience with a similar situation.”

“Kanan’s not nearly as fluffy, though.” The super annoying blonde giggled. Nico glared, not wanting to encourage what seemed to be silly jokes.

“Mari.” Kanan’s voice was stern, a warning. Then she turned back to Nico. “We know people who can help.”

“How? Who?”

Mari laughed, “LA is one of those places where you can find anything. It’s why so many of us come here.”

“So you know other werewolves…”

Kanan shrugged, “Mermaids, jiaos, selkies, frogpeople, dark watchers...we have friends who help them get help...very quietly.”

“Have you told Eli?” Nico didn’t like having this discussion about Eli without Eli.

Kanan sighed. “We didn’t know she needed it. Until tonight.”

Nico stood. “Then Nico doesn’t say anything else. This is Eli’s business. Nico’s just here to make sure you’re not going to skin her or turn her into the government.”

More giggling. “She’s too adorable to…”

“Mari…” Kanan snapped, her patience finally fleeing to join Nico’s somewhere else. “Please forgive my wife, she has a very questionable sense of humor.”

Nico frowned and crossed her arms, ignoring the blonde irritant. “Where’s the room, Nico wants to tell Eli I’m here.”

Kanan stood, “Follow me.”

###

Nico’s phone buzzed and the room she was lying on pillows in front of exploded in a crazy frenzy of barking. “Damn it…” Nico pulled out her phone. Maki...calling....

“Hey.” Nico winced as she thought of what Maki was hearing on the other end.

“Are you at home?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Long story, Maki.” Nico sat up, pulling the blanket Kanan had gotten her up to her shoulders. “Can we speed this up. I need to quiet Eli down.”

A pause. “Where are you?”

“The Ohara BeachFront. Where Eli rehearses.”

“Fine. I’ll be there as soon as I clear customs.”

“What? Why aren’t you in Canada?”

“Do you need anything?” Maki ignored Nico’s question.

Nico frowned, she hated to say what she was going to say next but it was already after dawn and Eli was still sounding furrier than usual, “Bring a muzzle.”

Another silence and then Maki blew out a long breath. In her mind, Nico could just see the arc of the redhead’s jaw sharpen as she processed that request.

“All right.” And then Maki’s voice got kinder, “Be careful, Nico, please.”

“Nico is trying.”

“Good.” Maki muttered something away from the phone, then came back, “I’ll see you soon, Nico.”

“Are you all right, Nico?” Kanan’s voice came out of nowhere as Maki ended the call and Nico jumped.

“Don’t sneak up on Nico.” Nico knew it might be unreasonable to scold someone for walking around their own house, but Nico was not in a polite mood.

“Sorry.”

“My friend is coming to help me get Eli home.” Nico pocketed her phone.

“Eli can stay here as long as she needs to. You too.” Kanan offered Nico her hand, “Are you ready for breakfast. Mari had the staff send up everything.”

“Including raw chuck roast? Eli likes to chew on that.” Nico stretched. Next time she was in a fancy hotel for a sleepover, there would be comfy mattresses.

“I’ll get some.” Kanan started down the hall.

Nico put her hand on the door, whispering. “It’s okay, Eli. Nico’ll get you breakfast and take you home.”

Growling. A thump as Eli lunged at the door. Nico closed her eyes, frustrated at both the situation and having an audience.

“It might be better…” Kanan had stopped.

Nico’s temper flared, and she only barely held back a shout. “You don’t know anything about Eli. I need to get her back in a familiar place as soon as possible. She’s…” Nico chose her next word with some thought, “sensitive.”

Kanan smiled, but Nico wasn’t open to friendly, “Mari and I just want to help. We consider Eli a friend now.”

Nico snapped her fingers at Kanan, “Well Nico can’t really talk to Eli about your new BFF status now, can I? How does Nico know you didn’t dose her with something.”

Horrified, Kanan’s eyes widened, “I would never…”

“How would Nico know?” Accusation. Strong. Fierce. Nico was back to something solid, protecting her friend.

Kanan hung her head, Mari was better at winning over skeptics, but she’d had to deal with handing off her morning tasks so it would be a half an hour or so before she would return. “I promise we’ll help with whatever you and your friend want to do. Just eat some breakfast first.”

“Order Eli’s.”

Kanan pulled out her phone. This was something Nico was going to allow her to do. Maybe after breakfast Kanan could get everyone working together.

A/N: Just finished up 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' which was excellent but exhausting fun so getting back in the writing game. Is it too darn hot wherever you are?

[sailorzakuro]

SCD Week 3: Movie Week Thoughts

This is so late cos I’ve had a crazy 24 hours basically I had the house to myself all night so I watched Strictly alone for once XD.

( @missemperor ) Michelle and Giovanni - It was really good!! I’d say this wasn’t as good as her Viennese Waltz IN MY OPINION but she still did great! Hold was still great, footwork kept up and she made it look easy.

Alex and Neil - Eeeee still don’t like her XD. It made me laugh when Shirley inadvertently gave her shade when she was praising Cath and Jo’s rumba and called other week 3 rumbas “usually cringey” XD. Her upper body still has no shape to it, her feet were flat most of the time and her arms had no flow to them. Every joint has to move individually to create a shape but she kind of did it from the forearm up, making her upper arm look awkward. Sorry Neil fans but I’m just not impressed by her at all yet.

Chris and Karen - Awwww bless him he tried so hard T_T. I could see nice moments! His frame wasn’t too bad, his free hand was half the time nice and he seemed to really get into the character. He felt suave and cool but still in keeping with the Fred Astaire ambience XD. Karen pushed him and I think he did well! Also the set legit reminded me of a scene from Still Life omg if I can find my old Dance notes I swear it said the set I’m thinking of was inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers XD.

Karim and Amy - Honestly it was difficult to see his technique in a fucking black baggy fluffy panda suit WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. Not as good as his other dances but I think he did well! He’s certainly a great dancer but the samba technique and precision just got the better of him.

Catherine and Johannes - Oh my god I did not expect this to be my favourite dance of the night but THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE DANCE OF THE NIGHT. SHIT. Catherine had flow, she really showed a closeness with Johannes and her technique was amazing. Ugh, it was, just... SO good. I think she deserved more than 4 eights honestly.

Will and Janette - K I seriously had to watch this a few times cos I KEPT BEING DISTRACTED BY THE POKEMON-NESS IT’S TOO GOOD. I think Will did great yet again!! He really got into character, he was sharp and he was in control. Yeah he always had full attack rather than anything slower but to be fair, the choreo didn’t give him a chance to be anything else (you know, like, THE VERY BEST) so I wouldn’t blame Will for that. I loved it!! Would have been my favourite dance if not for Catherine snatching my weave and taking some of my scalp with her.

Kelvin and Oti - Okay yes I will say it IT WAS AMAZING. He was so in character, he went for it, had great dynamics, great swivels and made the lifts look so effortless. All I would say is towards the end he lost timing a bit and seemed a little behind Oti, so not completely deserving of a ten (nevermind two lol) but still absolutely amazing!!

V.Emma and Aljaz - I thought this was okay XD. She conveyed the story really well and had nice footwork, but her head omg it was like she’d broken her neck. It didn’t help that her hair was up so she couldn’t hide how far back it was. She just needed to move her shoulders and upper body back a bit more and lower her shoulders so she would look less tense and, well, like a corpse XD.

Anneka and Kevin - Holy crap I don’t even know how it’s physically possible for someone to be that bad XD. She seemed to just be flailing her limbs about all over the place. I seriously don’t know what else to say.

Saffron and AJ - Omg for once Saffron actually impressed me?? WHAT?? I liked it!! It wasn’t absolutely amazing obvs but honestly her annoying nature didn’t come out in this dance XD. It was more of a hardcore paso than a Spanish one (which you should know I prefer somehow) and reminded me slightly of Seann and Katya’s Matrix paso but Saffron did pretty well here! All I’d say is her upper body still needs to loosen up a little and her characterisation towards the end was a bit naff and cheesy but the rest I was really impressed by! Holy shit I never thought this day would come.

Mike and Katya - Oop watch out Mike week 3 is where it all happened last year, do not go to a pub with Katya, I REPEAT DO NOT GO TO A PUB WITH KATYA. I mean she kept falling over she’s very clearly not stable. Anyway the actual dance XD. Best dance Mike has done so far but still not amazing XD. His timing was off A LOT. He tried technique but had no balance or control of his body and instead of looking sharp he just looked wobbly XD. Good effort but still not impressive.

David and Nadiya - He’s definitely improving but it’s still not looking good for him. His footwork is actually okay in ballroom, it’s just his upper body needs a lot more refinement. Free hand I think once looked like he was trying to make a chicken shadow on the bat signal. I think this was better than last week certainly but his improvement is very slow.

Emma and Anton - Waaaaaah I was looking forward to this one but it was kind of disappointing. The song is just so bad for a salsa Anton had no chance of choreographing anything decent. Most of it was more 60s bonus moves, and if that was what was being judged then Emma did great with that XD. She got into character and embraced the whole vibe. But there was so little salsa content I don’t even know if I can judge her technique at all. It was also quite static and they stayed on the same spot of the floor for the whole routine. Entertaining but they gave them no chance with that song and dance style. Also Anton’s teeth are iconic and beautiful.

Dev and Dianne - Oh my god he painted the whole floor blue rip T_T. The routine was absolutely amazing!! It had so much street in it but still felt in the vibe of Aladdin XD. All I would say is Dev lacked some dynamics at the beginning but other than that it was so good!! And FINALLY an Aladdin dance where no one is dressed as either Aladdin or Jasmine man I hope next year someone’s Iago lmao XD.

Overall it was a very enjoyable movie week!! My favourites were Catherine and Johannes, Will and Janette, Dev and Dianne, Saffron and AJ and ofc Chris and Karen (that was a lot of favourites soz), and least favourite was Alex and Neil and Anneka and Kevin. Again I’m not spoiling who gets out for myself although I have a slight hunch of who it’s going to be XD.

[sangria-sheeran]

The Calm—Chapter One

A/N: Here it is! Please leave feedback, it is very much appreciated. Also, I absolutely hate when the two people meet and instantly fall in love, so yeah, this may take a little while (but be patient, it’ll be worth it). Enjoy!

I furiously scribble on the paper in front of me, trying to remember something about derivatives from the grueling school day prior to this. My foot bounces under the wooden table and I shift in the nylon booth. If I don’t get this done now, it will never get completed.

“Five minutes, Cassidy,” Steve, the bartender, yells from behind the bar.

My eyes snap up to the small pub. There are only ten people here despite its location in downtown Detroit, and most of them are engrossed in their conversations or enjoying their dinners, anyway. No one will pay attention to me. But not that that matters; this is a chance to be out of the house. Plus, I’ll just have to work for their attention–this is good practice. I shove my notebook into my backpack that I have situated next to me in the burgundy booth and head to the small stage in the corner of the dining room. My guitar is already there, I just have to bring the electric keyboard out from the shadows in the back of the elevated area. This is routine. I have been playing here every Monday and Wednesday for the past eight months—ever since Mom and I started fighting a lot. Steve always promised me a free meal and a chance to crash in the apartment (apartment is a hyperbole, it’s more like a room with a mattress on the floor) upstairs, so it’s worth having to wake up at 5 a.m. to make it to school on time twice a week.

“Are you ready?” Steve asks, coming up next to me.

I sling my guitar around my neck and nod, stepping into the shadows.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a treat for you tonight,” Steve says into the microphone on stage. “Please welcome Cassidy Collins.”

His introduction is met with sparse applause.

“Thank you,” I say as I take my place where Steve was. Everyone has already gone back to their conversations. I take a deep breath—I have my work cut out for me tonight. “Is it alright if I play you a few songs?”

Steve woos from the side of the stage.

“Thank you,” I laugh. “Well, this song is called ‘Crazy’ by a band called Gnarls Barkley. Please sing along if you know it.”

Then my brain and hands go on autopilot. I have two sets that a play, both four songs: two covers and two originals. I was afraid to play all original songs because people would disengage since they didn’t know anything, but if I played a mix of covers and originals, it was always a fun experiment to see what songs they knew. But I always put my own spin on the songs. And that’s what I did with “Crazy”; turned a highly produced r&b hit into a more earnest ballad that forces everyone to pay attention to the lyrics. It seemed like it was working, too. Everyone was looking at me as I played the familiar song. Some people were even singing along quietly. Their reactions brought a small smile to my face, making my racing heart slow down a little bit.

“Thank you so much,” I smile as I play the last chord.

There is light applause—an upgrade from earlier, though.

“I appreciate you letting me infiltrate your dinners,” I remark and they all laugh, probably surprised by my candor. “To be honest, being up here terrifies me, but it calms my nerves if I’m not the only one singing; it makes me not feel so far away with everyone staring at me-”

There is a sharp gust of wind from the door opening. I glance over and see a group of around ten walks in, talking amongst themselves, but they immediately quiet down when they see me on stage.

“So if you do know any of these songs, please sing along,” I set my guitar down on its stand and move so I’m sitting at the electric piano. “But I hate to disappoint you, I don’t think you’ll know this one. This is a song I wrote called ‘Latch.’”

I play the first few chords and shallow. Just when I got the hang of this group more people decided to show up. Great. Then I take a deep breath. This is my song—I put my heart into this—I have to do it justice.

After I play the introduction I look up and see the group that just walked in sitting in a half-circular booth in the back of the restaurant. It’s all guys. They’re all searching the menu for drinks, but one person at the end, who looks about my age and has his hood up, is watching me.

Then I start singing. Playing my songs is a lot more nerve-wracking than playing a cover. If someone doesn’t like the way I play a cover, so be it, my taste is different than theirs, no harm no foul; but if they don’t like an original song, they don’t like a piece of me. So I do what Steve told me to do when I get really nervous: look only at him. He’s heard my set so many times that he knows the words and mouths them as he’s filling orders at the bar.

Somehow I make it through the song, and the applause is a lot louder than the previous song due to cheers from the booth in the back. The boy in with his hood up is smiling and shaking his head, a shocked look on his face. The man sitting next to him leans over and whispers something.

“Thank you very much. I really appreciate you listening to me talk about my feelings,” I blush. “And to reward that, you get another song you’ll probably know.”

My fingers hover above the keys about to play but then I stop.

“Actually, if you don’t know this song then I don’t know what you’re doing with your life. I don’t mean to sound like a bitch but…” I trail off. “I’m sorry, I’m babbling, but please sing this really loud. Remember what I told you earlier about that alleviating my anxiety. This song is really easy to do wrong.”

When I play the iconic introduction, everyone gasps and cheers, recognizing the tune: “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John.

I smile. That’s what I thought would happen.

Everyone sings along, with the booth in the back being the loudest. When the chorus hits they all put their arms around each other and scream at the top of their lungs, which encourages everyone else to join in singing. This is the best crowd I’ve ever had. People usually sing this song, but never with this much energy. I don’t want it to end. But when it ultimately does there is a lot of cheering.

“This applause isn’t for me, it’s for you! You just outperformed me at my own gig!” I joke.

There’s chatter again briefly but then it dies down.

“Now, this is my last song,” I tell them. There are boo’s from the back—that’s the first time this has ever happened. “And is it alright if I play another one of my songs? I promise I’ll teach you a bit at the end you can sing. But you can’t let me down. I just saw how loud you can be.”

I stand up and grab my guitar from the stand and sling it around my neck.

“This is called ‘Home,’” I say into the microphone.

This is my favorite of my songs. Don’t get me wrong, I love “Latch,” but I feel like “Home” is more me. Plus, “Home” encourages audience participation because of the repeated choruses at the end whereas “Latch” is a ballad.

“You can’t let me down,” I say before singing the last chorus. “You’ve been studying and here is your test.”

And people actually sing along! This doesn’t happen very often. Usually by now they’re back to their original conversations they were having before I went on and are completely disregarding me. But this makes my heart happy.

When I play the last chord there is long and loud applause.

“Thank you so much for listening. Honestly, that doesn’t happen very often and you’ve all made my week. Have a fantastic night,” I nod at all them. The boy in the hood catches my eye again. He’s beaming while clapping.

I unplug my guitar, return it to the case that’s sitting in the back of the stage and walk over to the bar.

“That was insane!” I exclaim and sit down in front of where Steve is standing, with the bar separating us.

He laughs. “Yeah! That group in the back was a bit rowdy, but they were having fun,” he plops a laminated menu in front of me. “What will it be tonight? I think you deserve a treat after that.”

I shoot him a gracious smile and my eyes fall to the menu. My heart is still going a thousand miles an hour from being up there, but for the first time, I’m not anxious at all, but rather grateful for everything that just happened.

“You know what, I deserve it, I’m getting a cheeseburger and fries,” I proclaim.

“Coming right up,” he nods at me and scribbles on a little notepad he has in his hand. Then he reaches down and gives me my backpack over the counter with a stern glance. “I know you don’t finish your work. I can’t let you do this if your grades slip.”

I roll my eyes and take my calculus notebook out and wave in front of him. He nods and then disappears into the kitchen to get my order in. I sigh as my eyes fall on my homework again. It was nice living out my fantasy for a while but now it’s time to go back to reality. My head hurts just thinking about doing this problem, but it must get done—and if I don’t do it right now then it will never get done.

“I’m sorry to bother you but I just wanted to say that you did really well up there,” an accented voice says behind me.

I turn around and smile. It’s the boy with the hood up, but he finally took it down revealing a mess of fiery orange hair.

“Thank you so much!” I respond. “It seemed like your group really enjoyed it.”

He blushes. “Yeah. It’s been a long few days and we just needed to have a bit of fun. I’m Ed by the way.”

He sticks out his hand for me to shake.

“Cassidy,” I take his hand and shake it.

P.S. The songs are “Latch” by Disclosure and “Home” by Gabrielle Aplin. All of Cassidy’s songs that she sings will be Gabrielle Aplin’s.

[barneslives]

Nervous (2/3)

Summary: You tried to move on, but the universe just kept putting Sebastian on your path. (Inspired by the song Nervous by Shawn Mendes)

Here is Part 1, what you were trying to move on from. 

Warnings: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS (minor, but still here’s your warning); Swearing; Implied Sex; Drinking

Pairing: Sebastian X Reader 

Word Count: 4953

*Y/D/N is Your Dog’s Name, just FYI. Not sure if I used it right.

She stood still, looking at the big screen of the movie theater. Tears streaming down her face, she had absolutely no idea why – she wasn’t the type of person who cried at the end of sad movies. She watched as people passed by her side and left. When she finally saw the cleaning crew enter the place, she decided to get up and get out.

“That movie was amazing!” She heard someone say. “Yeah, but why would they kill so many characters?” Someone else answered. She felt a kick in her stomach, but she brushed it off; probably something she ate earlier moving around.  She shook her head. Infinity war was one of the most talked about movies right now. But she only went to see him. She missed that day they spent together, but that was four months ago. She just took a deep breath and kept moving. He probably forgot about her, but she just couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t leave her head. After a while, she remembered every little thing that happened when they were drunk and that was her punishment. She accepted, she even liked to remember how sweet he was. She got out of the building and went into the street, completely lost in thought. It was a little warmer outside, but since it was spring it wasn’t too hot. She kept walking towards her apartment, still thinking about how much she missed his lips on hers.

- Well, this is great but could you just not? – She mumbled to herself and then looked around, to see if no one was looking at her. She laughed. Remembering was her punishment, but she was happy to take it.

~

She never talked about it with anyone. When she got home that day and picked up her dog at the neighbor, she didn’t say a word and no one asked. She was home now and there was something in the back of her mind that kept popping up. The way his character fell to the floor and just turned into dust. Why did that bother her so much? Her dog jumped on the sofa beside her and starred at her, eyes full of hope.

- You wanna go for a walk, Y/D/N? – The dog jumped out of the sofa and started running around the house. – Where exactly do you want to go? – He stopped and turned to look at her, ears up, full attention on his owner. – Wanna go to central park? It’s been a while, right? – The dog started running again, this time jumping on the sofa and pushing her legs, as if telling her to get up. Y/D/N was a small dog - when she adopted him she hoped he’d turn out that way – but he pushed her in such excitement that it felt like he was bigger. She laughed at his persistency, because he kept pushing her. He was too excited. – Okay okay, I’ll go pick up your bag. You do remember how to walk in it right? – The dog jumped out of the couch and ran towards the closet where the bag she used to carry him was and he started barking at it. She looked at him, not surprised on how smart he was, and got out of the couch. Maybe a little sunlight would bring her spirits up and clear her head a little.

~

She was wearing a tank top and shorts. Still, she kept brushing sweat off of her forehead. She looked at Y/D/N; he was wagging his tail in a way that made it look like he was moving his ass side to side. The dog kept looking everywhere, smelling everything he could. She smiled a little and then she looked up. Blue eyes staring down at her. Sebastian just stood there, looking at her with his warm gaze. Oh shit oh shit oh shit, she kept thinking. She could see his breathing wasn’t even, his chest rising up and down rapidly. She felt a tug pulling her forward, Y/D/N was eager to keep walking but she couldn’t move. The dog kept pulling her forward, towards the way where Sebastian was standing. He had his headphones on and was wearing some workout clothes that were completely soaked in sweat. She took a deep breath and turned on her heels with her arm behind her, while Y/D/N adjusted to the new direction. Her dog was right in front of her in no time. She kept moving, feet almost tumbling into each other with how dizzy she felt after five minutes of walking in a faster pace. And then she was out of the park, just like that. She didn’t look behind her at all, just kept going forward until she stopped at a café. She crumbled into a chair, her back facing the park. She kept taking deep breaths, holding Y/D/N in place, telling him to sit. What the hell was that? There wasn’t even time to process the question, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. His touch was light like a feather and it send chills all over her body. She closed her eyes, hoping he would just leave it at that. When the hand fell out of her shoulder she wanted to scream. She actually wanted him to stay. And then she opened her eyes and watched as he walked right by, towards the street and into the city.

~

After that day she finally thought she made the right decision, but that didn’t stop the memories from creeping up on her mind every now and then and today she couldn’t concentrate. The memories were so vivid and so strong, that she kept trying to write a few lines and they didn’t make any sense. She cursed at the computer, almost throwing the keyboard into the screen. That character from Soho, the one she was creating when she met him, her fingers just kept trying to write Sebastian into the story as if he was the only man to ever walk those streets. She sighed. What else did she have to research? Just to keep her mind busy while she couldn’t create anyone else. She heard the phone vibrate on the table and took it to her ear, pulling the green icon on the screen up.

- Hey, boss! – It was her superior on the other end, she never really called, mainly email and text. One of the perks of being a journalist, the other was the fact that Y/N could just work from home in her pajamas.

- Are you busy? – She asked directly. That woman hated small talk. – I need you to be at Drive495, that’s in Soho. – She didn’t expect Y/N to say no, almost as if she knew you were just writing drafts. – The other girl got really sick and can’t be there. That was a really tough interview to get and I need someone there in 2 hours. – She finished. Y/N sighed. Soho. After five seconds without an answer, she insisted. – I have no one else to ask, it’s a pretty simple interview and everyone else is way too far to get there in time. – Y/N took a deep breath and agreed to it. Her boss gave some instructions and send some information to get her up to date on the piece. She looked at the clock. It was 5am, she had the most fucked up sleeping hours and for the first time you felt that was a problem. Fucking Soho.

~

It took Y/N ten minutes to get ready, but it took her 30 to just get out the door and she was glad Brooklyn was a 40 minute subway drive to Soho. She kept mentally preparing herself to see him, walking his dog on the street. She passed by his apartment on the way to the gym and her whole body trembled. She felt her feet moving faster towards the gym that was just three blocks away. Of course you got out at the wrong station and had to walk all these streets. She kept seeing glimpses of him, she ran into him way too many times and the memories kept popping in her mind – like the third time they saw each other, when she was leaving a restaurant he was just walking into. They just smiled at each other and she looked down, hoping he didn’t remember her, but she could never forget those blue eyes. When she finally got to the gym, she realized she was early. She looked around to see if it was open and then walked inside. The air smelled like rubber and steel, there were sounds of heavy things falling on the floor every thirty seconds or so. She walked towards the reception and greeted the woman on the other side of the counter.

- I’m here for Don Saladino. – She said, looking around to see if he was close. – I’m with the New York Times. – She added, when the woman kept staring at her, not knowing who she was.

- Oh, right. He’s expecting you. – The woman smiled, getting out of her chair to go look for him inside. When she came back, she showed Y/N where she needed to go. Once there, Don greeted her and the interview went on just fine. It was a piece about his workout, the ones he did based on the celebrities he worked with. He was really passionate about everything he did and you almost missed it when he said Sebastian’s name.

- I’m sorry, could you repeat that? – Y/N interrupted him mid sentence and he smiled.

- I’m training Sebastian Stan when we’re done here. There are going to be some reshoots for the next Avengers movie and he was called in. – He repeated what he said earlier and you still couldn’t believe what he was saying. He stopped and smiled again. – Would you like to see it? It’s a really great example on how the challenges work. – He finished, waiting for Y/N to respond. She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, making him frown.

- Yeah, sure. That would be great! – She finally answered, trying to sound excited about it. If her boss found out she denied content for the sake of her sanity she’d kill Y/N with paper cuts. – Could you tell me a little bit about Mr. Stan’s – She cleared her throat, his name almost getting stuck in it. – Routine and which of the challenges it resembles most? – And so Don went on about a whole lot of things she couldn’t care less right now. She was just glad there was a recorder on the table, catching every single word he said; while she was just trying to catch her breath.

~

Sebastian was a lot smarter than Y/N remembered. When he saw her beside Don, he had the same reaction as in Central Park, but after that small moment he managed to get a grip on his breathing and she saw a smirk on his face that she just couldn’t read. He got excited to see her, and when he remembered what Don said about being interviewed, he realized something about Y/N that he didn’t know, which made him smile. She was quiet the whole session. Never giving him an opening to say something; and he was quiet too, even though she could sense his curiosity every time he looked at her. His hands shook a little when he was resting from the exercise and she wondered if he was nervous. Could just be his muscles aching from the heavy weights.  She watched while Don helped him stretch at the end of the session. Her flight instinct kicking in just as she realized that her job was almost done. She was a bit further from them now, there was a class happening around where they were and Don asked Y/N to stay where she wouldn’t risk getting hurt. So she stayed right beside the door. She watched them as they talked to each other and laughed. She saw Sebastian look at her and then at Don, saying something that she couldn’t hear. He got up from the floor and walked in her direction. She felt her heart pick up speed and kept reminding herself to just breathe. Air in. Air out. He walked with such confidence, and the fact that he took his shirt off wasn’t helping. She took a deep breath as he was getting closer.

- I’ll see you later. – He said as he passed beside her and she felt a shiver through her whole body. Damn it. Y/N didn’t allow herself to answer or to turn his way. She kept her eyes locked at Don, who was correcting a girl’s posture before coming in her direction.

- So, I guess that’s it, right? – He said, smiling awkwardly your way.  

- Yeah, I guess. – She smiled back at him. – It was an amazing interview. Thank you! – She said, shaking his hand. He nodded in agreement and she was just about to turn around, when he asked for her number. It wasn’t a flirt at all.

- Just so I can call you to know when the piece is going to be published. – He lied. Y/N didn’t see any harm in his words, so she wrote it down on a page of her notebook and gave it to him, after ripping it out.

- I think it’s coming up next week. But you can call me in a day or two and I’ll confirm that to you. – She smiled. He took the page from her hand and nodded. And after that she turned around and left. Sebastian’s words playing on repeat in her head. I’ll see you later.

~

This is ridiculous. That was all Y/N kept thinking while she was on her way to lunch. Don called her two days after the interview to know about the date. But then he asked her if he could read it before it was published. Y/N said she would talk to her boss about it and he said he already did and she was fine with it. She found out later that they were close friends; they lived next door to each other for a few years now. So she just agreed to it, said she’d email him a copy. He was persistent on the fact that he wanted to see it in person. “What’s the difference?” Y/N asked with an unapologetic rude tone in her voice. “Well, you could see my reaction. Come on, I’ll buy you lunch!” He insisted and she just accepted. And there she was back in Soho again. She had a folder on her hand as she walked fast on the sidewalk. She kept looking at her shoes, pacing fast through the hot summer sun. When she got to the restaurant she recognized the front. It was the bar where she went with Sebastian. Apparently during the day it served food too. She entered the place, looking around; searching for him and hoping he wasn’t there. Then it hit her, remembering what Sebastian said at the gym. I’ll see you later. And she held back a scream. If Y/N didn’t love this job so much and if she didn’t need it to feed Y/D/N, she’d walk right out of that place right then and there. She found his eyes across the room, laughing at something that Don said. When he saw her at the door he smiled even wider. And his friend turned to the entrance. She waved at him, hoping he’d come to her, but there was no such luck. He waved back, signaling for her to come to the table. This is ridiculous. She took a deep breath and walked slowly towards them. They were sitting at a round table near the back; there was a booth and one chair on the side, where Don was sitting. She inhaled, holding the air inside her lungs for just a moment before forcing it out. She got there and sat next to Sebastian; cursing every bad word she knew in her head, before looking at Don. Y/N put the folder on the table and slid it towards him. He smiled taking the folder and then looking at his phone. He made a fake surprised face when his eyes reached the screen. She sighed, she knew exactly what was going to happen.

- Oh my god, Ryan Reynolds is at the gym. I forgot to postpone that. – He said and she rolled her eyes.

- Just go. – Y/N said, bored out of your mind. – I got played. I get it. I’m not leaving. Just fucking go. – She finished, pointing at the door. He looked at Sebastian and mouthed “good luck” before getting up from his chair and leaving the restaurant. She took a deep breath, again. Turning to look at the blue-eyed man that sat right next to her. She just kept staring at him, waiting for him to say something. Why why why. He was such a handsome man, such a kind soul. Why was he after her? He could have the world if he wanted to and yet, here he was. Staring right at her and smiling. Blue eyes making her feel warm again, making her remember the lust she once saw in them.

- I’m sorry. – He started, taking a deep breath and trying to steady his voice. – If I thought you’d come any other way, I wouldn’t have asked Don to do this. – He gave you a weak smile and continued. – Just lunch. And your number. – Y/N opened her mouth to complain, but he continued, trying to convince her that this was a good idea. – Do you remember the first time you saw me? – And with that he broke right through her defenses. She nodded. – You were just taking pictures of the city and I ran right into you. I was lucky your camera was attached to that thing around your neck, you gave me such a piercing look, I thought you were about to punch me. But then you just smiled. And I just wanted to know more. – She smiled at his words. She remembered it all, and so did he.

- And then I turned around and kept walking. – She finished his story for him.

- Yeah, I think I stood there at the street frozen for a good minute before I processed that. – He looked down, nothing could take the smile out of his face. He was just happy she didn’t walk right out of the place when Don left. – And then the other day when I woke up – She felt her heart break a little. – And you weren’t there. – She swallowed and it took everything in her not to interrupt him. – I just… There was nothing I could do. I thought you had a good time, I thought you were going to stay at least for breakfast. – He kept stopping a little, trying to shake off how nervous he felt around her after that day. – I don’t think I did anything wrong. – He frowned his forehead a bit. She loved when he did that, his face was full of wrinkles that expressed exactly what he was feeling. – But I didn’t know anything about you, either. So I just tried to let it go, shake it off.

- Yeah, me too. – She said. She took a deep breath. – I just didn’t want to bring you into my mess. – She kept talking, words coming out of her mouth that she had no control over. – I really liked you and I fucking loved that day. – He raised an eyebrow in confusion. Y/N forced a smile, he could see right through it. -  I just didn’t want to ruin it. – She finished, feeling like she might have said too much. He still didn’t understand exactly what she meant, but he was glad she was talking.

- Okay, so that means you accept my forced lunch date? – He asked and she didn’t hesitate to answer.

- Yeah. I’ll even answer some questions this time. – She joked and he took his hand to his chest, making a surprised expression. Panic set inside her head. She tried to shut it down somehow. She was done running.

~

It has been a week since they exchanged numbers in Soho that day. He had to travel for a few days, but he never stopped talking to her. He sent pictures and videos of the places he went, and she always smiled when she heard his voice narrating where he was. On the last one he was talking about this great restaurant that he missed, while showing Y/N the plate of food that he was eating. And then he asked her to go there with him. For dinner. On a date. And that date was today. He said he would send someone to pick her up and she just agreed to it, not feeling like walking in heels at the subway. She lost count of how many times she needed to remind herself to just breathe. She was wearing a simple black dress, with a low cut on the back and an above the knee length. She clicked her heels on the floor as she walked towards the car. When someone opened it from the inside, she almost tripped. He didn’t say he was coming too, he wanted to surprise her. He got out of the car and stood in front of her. He was wearing a dark blue bomber jacket, with a black shirt underneath. White pants that were just right for him, showing off his tights up against the fabric. She took a deep breath and smiled. He smiled back, moving out of her way and holding her hand to help her get in the car. She was a lot more comfortable with him now, her defenses lowering each time she told him something about her life. And he already knew a lot. Yet, they never stopped talking. There was traffic on the bridge so they stayed in the car for two hours. Every time he asked her something, she fed his curiosity and then returned the question to him. She loved every little thing she learned about him. The feelings growing more and more inside her. And the panic too. But every single time she felt like pushing the eject button, she just had to concentrate on his eyes. His perfect blue eyes.

- That day at central park. – Y/N interrupted him mind-sentence. He locked his eyes on hers. – Why did you walk away? – That was her first original question and it took him by surprise. They were inside the restaurant, walking around the tables being led to theirs. He smiled at her, but didn’t answer. When they got to their table, he thanked the hostess and pulled out a chair for Y/N to sit. After they were both sitting down, the waiter came to their table and he asked for him to come back in a couple of minutes. Still, he stayed quiet for a while. – Sebs? – She insisted.

- Yeah, sorry. I was just trying to put my words together. – He smiled. – I’m pretty sure you didn’t notice me walking right behind you before you sat down at the café. – She frowned. – Yeah, well. I was. And I just kept thinking of so many maybes and so many ways that I could approach you. I didn’t think much, I just followed you. – He let out a small laugh. – Of course I wasn’t walking as fast as you were, but I was right behind you. – She felt her face blush and looked down at the table. – So, when you sat down. – He took a deep breath, pausing a little. – I thought about where we’d go from there, if I should ask you out, if I should buy you coffee again. – He watched Y/N, as she looked up, her eyes now looking out the window at the city. – I wanted to sit at that chair in front of you so bad. – He ran his hands through his hair, anxious for her to look at him. – But then I thought about my trips and my schedule and I was probably going to be gone for two months because I had two movies to promote and all that – He circled his hand, waving them around in the air – And I just thought you didn’t need that. And then I thought “maybe that’s why she left” – She turned her head and looked at him. She opened her mouth, but he kept talking before she could say anything. – But by then I had my hand already on your shoulder. When you didn’t turn around to look at me, I just took that as a reason to keep walking. – He raised his shoulders, dropping them down right after. She smiled. – And then I saw you at the gym and I just thought “okay, this is my last chance. I need to do something NOW”. And then Don said he’d help me and here we are. – He finished. There was a brief moment of silence, before she said something.

- That’s not why I left. – She said, feeling her knuckles tense up against the table. He kept his gaze at her. Those warm blues making her relax, so she stretched her hands a little. – But I don’t think I’m ready to talk about that. – She gave him a weak smile and he nodded. Right after that the waiter came back. He left two menus at the table and introduced himself, leaving again right after. Sebastian took her hand, brushing his thumb against her palm trying to get her to relax.

- Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter anymore.- He gave her a reassuring smile, she returned her gaze to the city. Oh, but it does.

~

- Okay, I have a question! – Y/N said, excited she finally thought about something to ask him. They were back at the bar that was close to his apartment – he suggested they go there after dinner just to keep her with him a little longer, he didn’t even expect her to agree, but here they were. Sebastian looked at her, he refused to drink this time, but she was just as drunk as at that first night. He waited for her to continue. – How would I know about your schedule? – She asked raising an eyebrow. He looked at her confusion written all over his face, so she continued. – I mean, you thought I left because I knew you’d be away for the- two months? – She was looking at her fingers in disbelief, not remembering how many she was holding up. – Is this two? – She asked, raising two fingers in front of his face. He laughed and nodded.

- Yeah, I was gone for two months. – He said, reassuring her that she was on the right track. So, she continued.

- Okay, but how would I know that? I said I was a fan, not a stalker. – She said, trying to keep her face serious for a moment. He smiled at her, remembering the first time she actually said something – the time they were at the café. But then, her question hit him. She couldn’t have known that. So, in the end it really didn’t have anything to do with him when she left.  – Sebs? – She called for him when he stood quiet for a little too long.

- Yeah, you’re right. – He gave her a weak smile. She frowned.

- I liked some movies you were in, but it’s not like I’ve seen every single one of them. To be honest, I just remembered your face, I didn’t really know your name when we first met. – She moved her hands around while she explained.

- It’s just- I mean- Why, then? – He sighed, knowing she would change the subject right away. She looked down at the counter, thinking that if she had another shot of tequila she would just let the words fall out of her mouth. But she didn’t and she was done drinking for today.

- It’s getting really late. – She said and he sighed.

- It’s Saturday, doll. There’s no way you have to be home by ten. – He said jokingly, which made her smile.

- I have a dog, you know? – She said, feeling like she was saying something that he had no idea about.

- The one that you were walking at the park? He’s pretty cute. – He smiled. A real bright smile this time, which made her smile even wider. – What’s his name? – He asked, trying to keep her at ease and not going back to that conversation. He was done with it. It didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was that she was there and he wasn’t going to let her go again. And just like that the night went on. Ending with them in his apartment, only this time when he woke up, she was still there. Heavy sleeping on his bed, right next to him. He watched her as she stretched her whole body on the bed, then she turned to him, resting her hands on his chest.

- Hey sunshine. – She said cheerful, warm blue eyes staring right at her. It had been raining outside since the night before and she knew that they weren’t going anywhere today. And for the first time in her life, she felt the panic slip away from her mind. There was no eject button, there was no running away. There was just him and his warm blue eyes, making her feel like that was everything she needed for now.

~

HERE IS FALLIN’ ALL IN YOU, ALSO KNOWN AS PART 3.

AGAIN  I’m really sorry if there is ANYTHING wrong in the writting, I have read this a thousand times and tried to get it to look its best.

Please leave comments if you liked it (or not). Thanks!

[stan-and-the-newbie]

A kpop newbie’s reaction to BLACKPINK

Alexa: bold Alex: italic

today you are reacting to... BlackPink!

o damn, are you sure this band isn’t your favourite?

pFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT-  ok, good one, anyway this is them :3

((she tried sending me a picture but it didn’t work))

awh come oN

~ technical difficulties, please stand by ~

dfgfd shhhHhhHhH i know wot im doin smdh. this is alreaDY GOING BADLY

...should i just google them?

its okay, i got it. this is them

o damn. they're very pretty, but that was to be expected

yep.. so what concept do you think they have? lol as if it isnt obvious

idk man three of them are giving me death glares. uhh black? and pink?

tbh,,,,,they have the girl crush concept, like, theyre all badass and stuff

oh, well that’s..  interesting

i cant believe im letting you edit this post..  anyway, opinion on them? they dont look that similar, thank god

well the red-haired one i like the most so far since she doesn't look like she wants to choke me (and not in the kinky way)

fgjgfghj yes i see

the one wearing the 2b outfit is probably your goth waifu

omf

and the pink(TM) one looks like she's the sugar mommy of the group

m o o d

i'm guessing she's the leader? it could just be the thanos throne

they dont really have a leader..  this is also them

ah, lovely, a picture where they don't look like they want to murder me

yes, finally

a bunch of talented asian cuties, wot is new

to be honesT. i'll start with the first one from the second picture

alrighty

her stage name is rose

the first two from left to right are the prettiest imo

o rlly

i'm gonna get lynched alive for saying that, aren’t i

so, opinion?

she's uhhh 23? and a singer, and she's the goofy one

well youre right about her being a singer..  shes 21, and yes, she is pretty goofy. she is fluent in english because she is australian

n i c e

this is her kickin everyone's ass 

((Then she showed me this video))

i-

skinny legend

and they said infinity war was the most ambitious crossover... asian idols wearing brazilian carnival outfits as some dude sings that song from shrek 2? sign me tf up

LMAOO gee her voice still gives me chills rose step on me

alexa that's lewd, let us move on swiftly

sorry i just like her shes also a good dancer

i'm guessing she's gonna be my favourite

o

english speaking idols get bonus points, and she seems to excel at everything else, so...

yes, she is amazing. oh, she also cried over her fish's death

;-; oof

:( bless her anyway, you have any questions?

nop, she's gucci, let us proceed

right, the next one is jisoo

she's a qt ;; she looks like a dork i want to shake her hand and give her a hug

this is her smiling

i-

see thats the heart smile

is she the radiance? because my retinas are burned

SDFGFDSADFG MOOD

literally no one is gonna get that joke

wat if they do?

then they are people of culture

opinion?

uhh, she is the soft one, and.. she's short because why not, and she's 22 and she sings ;; 

o- i mean, she isnt really tall, but she isnt that short. yes, she is a singer, the oldest, 23 y/o and she is a goofball, a derp. very entertaining tbh

she looks adorable and has a cute name and is a goofy dork god bless

all of them are good at english but her. but she Tries- and is confused.  

o o f

tis a baby

she deserves all the hugs

she isnt the best dancer, but shes a Great singer, and very stable on stage

their hair alexa their hair is so fucking aesthetic

i KnoW

i am in pain, pack your dictionary we're moving to korea

fuck yeaH the next one is lisa

abs of JUSTICE

hot diggidy she's the sass queen, and she's uh..  23, and a rapper

oh, this is also her

she is also 21, and yes, a rapper!! a very swaggy one

jackpot

but shes a whole cutie, and the youngest

awh ;;

and she gets embarrassed easily

i see, so she's the tsundere of the group

she is from thailand, and i think shes fluent in four languages, including english

nice, man

she is also an Amazing dancer

n i c e ,  m a n

shes kinda my wife but theyre all my bias so i cannot decide it is Too Hard

i only have one bias  u-u

ofc u do

remember to only have one waifu alexa, too many waifu will ruin your laifu

a baby

they’re all cuties this is fucking illegal

it  i s do you have any question about baby lalisa over there :(

so far this is a very solid kpop band

o

lots of english speakers, cute dorks and pure babies everywhere

;-; yes

it has my seal of approval

n i c e the last member is jennie

o damn. jennie? j-just jennie?

just jennie. she doesn’t need anything else

is that an ACDC shirt

apparently

why do they all look so good and fashionable, and both glamorous and cute and pure at the same time, alexa the space-time continuum shouldn't allow this

pffft opinion?

hmm.. she's both a rapper and a singer, and uhh..  she's the second sassiest, but also a goof, and she's 23. I'LL STICK WITH MY 23 also damn nice thighs

she does have amazing thighs tbh.. WAIT HOW DO YOU KNOW SHES ALSO A RAPPER AND A SINGER

well usually in smaller kpop bands one of them does the support for both singing and rap..r-right?

,,,,,,,,,now that you say it

it finally happened folks, i taught alexa something about kpop

badass

THEY'RE ALL SO PURE, FUCC

THEY ARE, they have the badass girl crush concept, BUT THEYRE ALL FUCKIN CUTIES IRL also, take this

my poor heart

jennie is so smol ;; jennie is the smolest

i'm sorry, i was distracted by the thicc

mood tbh she is also fluent in english lmao

pack your shiT ALEXA WE'RE GOING TO KOREA

y ES theyre all really cute and entertaining, they dont go over the top, but theyre still pretty funny - as funny as a girl group can be anyway

pfft i find all of them entertaining tbh. show me some songs fam 

o, alrighty. this is a dance practice, it was the first thing that was released and everyone went nuts

((Then she showed me the dance practice video))

lisa is the one with shorts, jennie has the cap, rose is the one with braids and the last one is jenniejisoo

oof, a bit too edgy for my taste, sorry. but the routine is great!

well, they were kinda made to be badass

yeah, i figured

also, a little side note

o?

their company is one of the biggest companies out there, but theyre known for their shitty management, as in, they dont really give idols many comebacks or promotions, so they dont have many songs;; even tho they debuted two years ago

well, that kinda sucks

yep..

i imagine this business is pretty finicky behind the scenes. i guess it can’t be all sugar and glitter all the time

true..  anyway, this is is one of the two songs in their debut ep lol 

((Then she showed me “Whistle”))

also, may i add, their mvs are hella aesthetic

they seem to be..  not a fan of the super edgy american-ish songs though

yeh, their second ep was better. this is from the second ep

((Then she showed me “Playing With Fire”))

pyromaniac title, piano in the first second. this one's gon' be gud

yeah, this one was definitely better - well, not objectively, just imo 

yeah then theres this beautiful beautiful song 

((Then she showed me “Stay”))

that title gives me the hibby jibbies

y e p p

nvm i saw a mcdonalds in the background and now i'm chuckling

sdfdsdfg honestly the mv is So Pretty

ALEXA I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR SAD TIMES

shhh its a nice lil song just dont read the lyrics lmao

...i'm reading the lyrics now I THOUGHT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A BADASS GROUP WHAT IS THIS

the chorus is so nice tho, with the claps

it is..  well, that was mildly depressing

at the end they hold hands and laugh and jump around in a circle in the mv and its just..  i rlly like the mv and the filter is very pretty

a e s t h e t i c

anyway, back to badass

((Then she showed me “Ddu-du Ddu-du”...?))

this is their most recent release, this time with a mini album

and i see thanos’s throne is back

y eS

these sets look expensive as fucc.. is that a fennec fox?

maybe..

and the evil parrot from rio? what is this, a crossover episode?

THE MOST AMBITIOUS CROSSOVER

first we had the shrek 2 song, now this they gon' hit me with dat turu turu du alexa halp meh  

i k r wat u gon do

is that.. a sparkly tank?

y ES jennie is an icon

i feel like i've ascended

tbh all these things were so unnecessary yet they did it anyway

well i certainly don’t regret it

that breakdown at the end is kinda cheap, but i think the diamond tank made up for it

definitely

sdfvbvGJHGthere are two mvs left

oh, just.. just two?

y es

i feel bad for them ;; did u say it's been two years

yeah..

this is so r00d

yes, always feel bad for yg artists

what’s yg?

its a company - their company

ah, i see

their shitty company

oof

here's their debut song (which i dont really like but Oh Well.)

((Then she showed me “Boombaya”..? who the hell comes up with these names?))

well, in all fairness if they're one of the biggest they probably have a lot of bands to manage

not really..  they had very successful bands though, so that kinda paved the way for the ones nowadays

ALEXA THESE FUCKING LYRICS ARE KILLING ME

ASDFGBFVDS MOOD CLICK CLACK BADDABING BADDABOOM QUEEN

"i'm so hot i need a fan i don't want a boy i need a man" BISH YOU'RE A 5 FOOT 20-SOMETHING ASIAN IDOL CHILL

hjkjhghj shhHHH

this is a whole drugtrip

it iS

are those..  black leather biker pants...  mixed with blue jeans? this is some next level shit alexa i can't handle this

y ES fashion icon

why do coke when you can watch this for free and legally?

ikr theres one last mv, and its better, trust me

..alright...

theyre cute in this one

((Then she showed me “As If It’s Your Last”))

jisoo is the one with the heart magnet and i love her

awh ;; man these titles are edgier than 13 year old me

oh come on, its a love song

that dancing, it's s-so lewd  <-<;;

it iS oh, i forgot lisa's rap is in english

n o i c e i didn't know jennie had her own ice cream business

girl is going places okay but 1:36

what about it?

th-the cotton candy part

pfff

sorry i remember the first time and saw it and was like fukc thas cute

well, it was. it was pure ;;

alright, final thoughts?

well, they're a bunch of cute and talented dorks, but that ain't nothing new. either way, 10/10 for the lewd dancing and the fact that they speak english. give dem more comebacks, fam

they have lewder choreos, but thats for another day. justice4blackpinkcomeback edition

yeS, let’s make a petition

Heya peeps, it’s a boii mod Alex here. This was the first time I put together a Reaction Wednesday post, so uh.. yeah...  I think it turned out pretty good! But seriously, a lot of work goes into these, even though it may not seem like it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! See you next week!

[vcepsis]

Question: If you're taking yoi prompts, have you ever written/would you consider writing a sick Otabek? Figured you like him a lot since he's your icon. Plus it's always refreshing to have sickfic content for characters other than the mains.

Hey thanks so much for the prompt! I do love him, he is my precious son. I’ve never thought about an Otabek sickfic but I decided to try it! I find Otabek’s character a bit hard to pin down but I hope I did him justice.

Also, there’s a bit of Otayuri in this. I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about Otayuri; for me, I don’t have a strong preference about whether or not they’re romantic or platonic. So I did write about Yurio here, but really you can read it however you want (I kept it pretty open to interpretation I think). There is no Yurio whump here though (I doubt I could ever write whump for him, lol).

Just over 2k. Enjoy!

Otabek’s alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. Approximately two hoursafter he had finally gone to bed.

Normally, Otabek was smarter than that. When he got offersto DJ at a club on a weekday, during training season, he always turned it down(it didn’t stop people from asking, though; apparently he had quite thereputation). Why would people want a DJ for a Tuesday night, anyway? It seemedthe party  in Almaty never slept.

Lately, however, everything had been going wrong. He hadbeen falling on his jumps in practice more often than not, to the point wherehis coach was growing concerned. His short program for the coming season wasnearing competition, but his free skate was still a complete mess. Thechoreography refused to work, no matter how many times he reordered things. Itlooked like he was going to have to scrap it altogether.

Plus, he woke up a few days before with his throat feelinglike sandpaper. It sent a wave of dread through him. This was not what he needed right now.

So when a friend had reached out about playing at a club,Otabek threw caution to the wind and said yes. Nothing else was working, butmaybe a successful show would finally knock his head back into place.

For the most part, it did. He was able to forget all about triple axels and quad salchows and getting sick in the middle of trainingseason quite well with the bass pounding in his chest and the free alcohol(despite the fact that he was underage, but really, nobody cared if the DJbroke a law or two, as long as the party didn’t stop).

Of course, that had been a mere three hours ago. He had managedto get a little bit of sleep to avoid another all-nighter before practice(hiscoach had threatened him in many colourful ways the first time he tried that) but he certainly hadn’t done hisbody any favours.

His alarm was still ringing in his ears, exacerbating theheadache that hadn’t quite faded. Sitting up slowly, he put a hand to his headas the room started to spin. Am I stilldrunk?

No, he hadn’t had enough to be hungover. He may have been anidiot by going out, but he wasn’t that dumb.

Sighing, Otabek rubbed his throbbing temples. The time onhis phone said 6:10. He didn’t need to be at the rink until 8. Surely he couldsleep a little longer, at least to get rid of this headache. He decided to liedown and close his eyes for another half hour or so.

Not two minutes later, it seemed, his phone started to ring.Groaning, he pulled it off his bedside table. It was his coach. He frowned abit, but answered.

“Where areyou??” Came the annoyed voice on the phone.

“What—” Otabek took the phone away from his ear longenough to see the time: 9:28 a.m.

Shit.

Shit.

“I’m sorry,” Otabek said earnestly, wincing whenhis voice came out more like a hoarse whisper than a heartfelt apology. Hetried clearing his throat. It didn’t help. “I’ll be there in—”

“Were you outlast night?”

This stopped Otabek in his tracks.

Shiiiiit.

“I only meant to sleep a little longer,” Otabeksaid, trying not to sound like a pleading child. “I’ll make up for ittoday, I’ll stay late, I’ll pay you double for the day—”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. “Hang on, just stop for a second.” Thevoice was much gentler now. ”I knowyou’ve been frustrated lately, but I wish you would ask for help rather thantaking your frustrations out on cheap alcohol and loud music.“

Shame turned Otabek’s cheeks red.

”I’ll meet youhere at 10, and we’ll have a short day. Do not worry about fees. I just want tohelp you.“

Swallowing the fire in his throat, he agreed.

~~~~

Otabek woke the next morning feeling, somehow, even worsethan the day before. His sore throat had evolved into  a grating cough which no amount of water woulddispel, and his head pounded so hard it felt like a bass drum.

His second alarm went off at 6:30 (after yesterday’s fiasco,he set four alarms to make sure he got up on time). With a groan, he switchedit off and dragged himself to the shower. When he finally arrived at the rink,his coach took in his pale complexion and weak voice with a raised eyebrow, butsaid nothing.

Practice was even more grueling than normal: Otabek feltcompletely drained by the end. His body had a heavy, groggy feeling that madeit hard to concentrate, and he was blowing his nose twice as much as normal.

Usually Otabek waspretty hardy when it came to illness, but his frustration at everything hadgotten the better of him, and he was ignoring his body screaming at him to slow down! Even now, when he had to stopmidway through his routine to cover his awful sounding coughs again, he refused to take it easy.

Distantly, he heard his coach sigh.  "I thought you were hungover yesterday,but it seems you’re not well.”

Otabek stiffened at the accusation. So he wasn’t feelingwell. So he could barely breathe without coughing and the room was beginning tospin. It was nothing. He could pushthrough.

A hand appeared in Otabek’s vision, cool on his forehead.His coach tsked. Otabek just shook itoff, scowling. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are. Now go home.”

Otabek opened his mouth to protest some more, but he wasswiftly cut off. “No, I don’t want to hear it. You’ve been a mess latelyand now you’re neglecting your health. Go home, get some rest, and come backwhen you’re better.”

Obviously Otabek didn’t look convinced, because his coachcontinued, “Or you can stay here, work yourself into the ground, and getnowhere. While infecting everyone around you. Is that what you want?”

Otabek blinked, shocked. He had been doing his best to stayaway from his rink mates and cover his mouth, but what if it wasn’t enough? Heput a hand to his forehead, embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

His coach sighed again. “No, I’m sorry. That was toofar.” Otabek felt the weight of his coach’s hand on his back. “I knownothing seems to be working out, but this is not the solution. You need to takecare of yourself. So go home, get some rest, and we’ll start again when you’rehealthy.”

Otabek hesitated for a moment, but nodded in the end.

It turns out his coach’s advice was sound, as he barely hadthe energy to walk back to his apartment. Dragging himself through the door andtrudging to his room, he barely had the energy to change out of his practiceclothes before collapsing into bed and promptly passing out.

His phone, however, had other ideas.

The shrill sound of his ringtone cut through his fitfulsleep, and he groaned as the pain behind his eyes spiked anew. Turning towardhis nightstand, his phone told him two things: that it had only been a fewhours since he got home, and that Yuri Plisetsky was calling.

Ah, shit. In hishalf asleep state, he had completely forgot about his agreement to have a chatwith Yuri tonight. Sighing at his own incompetence, he hit the answer button. “Hey, Yuri.”

“Whoa, you soundwrecked,” came the greeting from the other end. “Were you out last night or something?”

Why did everyone assume that because he was a DJ, he waspartying every night?

Well….he was outa few days ago. Bitterly, he supposed it was a fair assumption after all.

“No,”Otabek replied. He held the phone away from his face as he coughed harshly.“Just a bit sick.”

“Oh,”Yuri said, sounding a bit surprised. “Areyou….uh, are you ok?”

Otabek couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Yuri’s somewhatfretful tone, which turned into another wet sounding cough. “I’ll be fine.It sounds worse than it is.”

“Yeah.”Yuri sounded unsure. “Did you, like,take your temperature or anything?”

Huh, that actually wasn’t a bad idea. “Not yet,”Otabek said, “I passed out as soon as I got home from practice.”

“Shit, did I wakeyou up?” Yuri sounded upset. ”Ishould have texted you first, ugh.“

“No, no, it’s ok,” Otabek said, rubbing his tiredeyes and sitting up in bed. “I should have let you know I was going to bedearly.” It seemed everything really was going wrong. He couldn’t even be ahalf decent friend.

“It’s ok,”Yuri said.

Otabek pushed the covers back and stood, blinking rapidlywhen black spots appeared in his vision. There was silence on the phone for amoment while he tried to get his bearings, and he stumbled a bit on the way tothe bathroom. Now that he was up and moving, he desperately wanted to blow hisnose, but didn’t want Yuri to hear (and be any more grossed out than heprobably already was), so he resorted to sniffling as quietly as he could.

He didn’t want Yuri to have to wait in awkward silence whilehe looked for his thermometer (when was the last time he even used the damnthing?). Clearing his throat—wincing at the raw feeling there—he asked,“How is training going?”

This, predictably, sent Yuri into a spiraling rant about “Victor goddamn Nikiforov thinks he’sSO GREAT and that PIG worships the ground he walks on it’s absolutely pathetic—”which allowed Otabek to dig through his bathroom cabinets. Despite Yuri’s angrytone, Otabek knew he didn’t actuallymind that much. Having Katsuki around was good for him, Otabek knew, from themultitude of texts he got about how well practice was going. Otabek hadn’tknown him long, but he knew that Yuri secretly looked up to Katsuki, and thathe maybe even enjoyed the sudden burst of activity Katsuki ended up bringing tothe St. Petersburg rink.

About halfway through Yuri’s colourful rendition of howVictor was an absolute prick, Otabek finally found his thermometer. Washing itoff quickly, he stuck it in his mouth just as Yuri was asking, “Can you believe the shit I have to dealwith?!”

Otabek couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Soundsterrible,” he said, the words a bit muffled by the thermometer. It beepedsoon after, the sound louder than he anticipated.

“Was that yourthermometer?” Yuri asked.

"Yeah,” Otabek replied, looking at the numbers.101. He couldn’t help the frustrated noise that escaped him.

Yuri was silent for a moment. “Is it….bad?”

“No,” Otabek said honestly. It wasn’t that bad,but his fevers always tended to stick around longer than his other symptoms. Itjust meant more time away from the rink.

“Well….”Yuri started, a bit unsure. “This isgonna sound dumb, so like, don’t listen to me if it’s stupid or whatever—”

“What is it?” Otabek asked, rubbing his nose withhis palm, sniffling quietly.

“You’veseemed….frustrated, lately,” Yuri said tentatively. “Like…you’ve been doing too much. Pushingyourself too hard. That’s probably why you got sick. Maybe…..this time awaywill help?”

Otabek was silent for a moment. He thought he hadn’t beencomplaining to Yuri that much, that he’d been pushing his concerns far enoughaway that no one else would notice. Clearly, that wasn’t the case. Because Yurinoticed.

Wait. Was Yuri….worried about him?

A sigh came through the phone. ”That was stupid, I know, just forget about it.“

"No, no,” Otabek said. “You’re….probablyright, actually. I have beenfrustrated. I might just need some time. Clear my head.” At this, hisbreath began to hitch, and he pulled the phone away to sneeze twice into hiselbow.

Yuri sighed a bit. “Yousound like shit. Go back to bed, dude. I can call you when you’re better.”

“Yeah,” Otabek replied, wincing at the evenrougher sound of his voice.

“And…..text me.When you wake up. Let me know you’re still alive.”

Otabek huffed a small laugh. “I will.”

They hung up, and Otabek finally got to blow his nose. SoYuri wanted him to text when he woke up….maybe he was worried after all.Otabek felt a bit bad for worrying him.

But also, it was kind of nice that someone cared.

He trudged back to his bed, making a quick note on his phoneto buy some cold meds the next day. As he was finishing, a message from Yuricame up: it was a cat meme, with no context, of course. Was he trying to makeOtabek feel better?

Otabek smiled at the thought. Sending a quick“LOL” to Yuri, he put his phone down, crawled back under the covers,and was out within minutes.

[my-sweet-pea]

Do you take requests? If so could you write something with sp? Something similiar to the brooke/julian scene in one tree hill. Reader is dancing around in a store because her favourite song comes on and Sweet Pea walks in and he's totally fascinated by her despite her being a northsider and it's all cute and all?

First request!! Thanks so much for sending this in. I hope that a dancing scene in Pop’s isn’t too lame after the Josie/Chuck scene in the last episode, but I couldn’t think of other stores this could take place in.

Dance Like No One Is Watching

The hardest thing about working the night shift was preventing the rush of boredom that usually comes rolling in after 1:00 AM. Fewer and fewer customers arrive, and there’s always less to do with every passing minute.

It was a Wednesday night in Riverdale, and most of the usual late night cl had already stopped by. I had made it to 2:17 AM, and I was counting down the minutes until freedom. Sammy started her shift at 3:00 AM, so I didn’t have to scrub the same spot on the counter for much longer.

I loved working at Pop Tate’s. I’d worked there for two years now, and it was an easy enough gig with good enough pay. Since it was open 24 hours, I was able to work around my school hours fairly easily. The 7:00 PM to 3:00 AM shift worked well with my homework and sleep schedule, allowing me to just barely get four hours of sleep during the school week. I was always tired, but at least I made good money.

The silence of the shop could be eerie at times, especially at night when it was impossible to see what lay past the parking lot in the dark. When there were no customers, I liked to blast my favourite songs and dance while I cleaned and re-cleaned every surface.

Tonight was no different. My music blared through the audio system. I had a lot of different music in this playlist, but suddenly I heard the iconic opening notes of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)“ by Eurythmic. 

I gave a shriek of delight, leaping down from the stool I had been slouching in. I grabbed my spray bottle of cleaning solution and began to dance like an idiot down the length of the bar counter, scrubbing and dancing at the same time. I kicked my leg high into the air, bobbing my head in different directions. I never cared what my dancing looked like when I was having a blast.

Little did I know at the time that someone stood outside, watching me dance in awe to the muffled music which could be heard all the way in the parking lot.

I danced to the entire song, infusing each second with high energy kicks, arm movements, and leaps through the shop. As the final note sounded, I was on the floor, breathing heavily. Over my panting, I heard clapping. My head jerked up at the sound, eyes wide in horror. Was Sammy early?

No, it was so much worse than that.

A very tall boy with tanned skin, dark brown eyes, and black hair was clapping sardonically in the entrance. He wore a black leather jacket over a blue plaid flannel and a white tee, accompanied by jeans that were faded and worn in all the right places. His silky hair curled around the collar of the jacket and fell across his forehead. He was the most gorgeous human being I had ever seen.

I couldn’t manage to get off of the floor. I stared from my kneeling position, still breathing heavily, trying to understand why this glorious man was standing in Pop’s at almost 2:30 AM. He strolled towards me, sticking his hands in his pockets. 

“That was amazing,” he said in a very sincere sounding voice. “I’ve never seen anyone dance like that. You really take that whole ‘dance like no one is watching thing’ to heart, huh?” He smirked at me, a sparkle in his dark eyes.

He reached out a hand towards me. I stared at the proffered hand for a moment before grasping it and allowing him to help me upright. His hand was large and warm in my grip, and it felt like I held his hand forever as I stood. I tried to quickly drop his hand once I was safely on my own two feet, but he held on.

“Thanks, I think,” I said, my voice cracking slightly. I was staring at our conjoined hands, waiting for him to drop my hand.

He shook the hand still clasped in his. “You are quite welcome. My name is Sweet Pea.”

I blinked once, trying hard not to react visibly and insult his name. I smiled up at him, offering my name in response.

Sweet Pea dropped my hand and looked me over from head to toe. I knew I didn’t look my best in my end-of-the-night uniform, especially after my incredibly embarrassing dance session. I shifted uncomfortably.

He grinned, seeming pleased that his gaze had rattled me.

“So tell me, where did a beautiful girl like you learn to dance?”

“Umm well I’ve never taken lessons, but I’m sure you could tell that depending on how long you were watching,” I responded dryly.

“I think I saw from the very beginning until the very end,” he said slowly, “but if you want to start the last song over again and show me the whole routine from start to finish, I’ll know for sure.”

Oh no… I wanted to sink into the floor and stay there permanently. I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I blushed. My hands moved to cover my cheeks.

“Wow, I don’t think I can hate myself more than I do right now.”

The twisted smirk on his face dropped immediately, followed by a look of concern. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, no, please. I genuinely thought it was amazing. You looked so adorable and full of life. You don’t need to be embarrassed.”

I peeked through my fingers up at him. He looked sincere. I laughed slightly.

“I don’t know if I can agree with your taste in dancing, but I do appreciate it.” Both of us dropped our hands down to our sides again.

We had talked through an entire song, the next song starting at a louder volume and startling both of us. He looked around the empty diner, his eyes coming back to rest on me.

“Wanna dance some more?” he asked with a boyish grin.

I considered his offer. He had already seen me at my absolute worst. I might as well just have fun with it now.

“Why not?”

We danced through the next 3 songs before I collapsed into a booth, panting heavily. I was too out of shape for this.

Sweet Pea collapsed onto the bench across from me, panting and laughing at my reddened face. He shook his head thoughtfully, chest still heaving.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun before. Especially not at this time in the morning and in a completely legal way.”

I leaned on the table, still trying to catch my breath. “I know for a fact that I haven’t.” I smiled at him, thankful and happy and just having fun.

He just stared at me for a moment, looking a little lost. 

“What’s wrong?” I was concerned that he was going to pass out on me after that crazy dance party. There was no way in hell I could keep him from crashing to the floor if that was the case.

He shook his head to clear it and smirked. “Nothing’s wrong.”

We sat there, smiling at each other like idiots for what must have been a couple of minutes. My heart rate was coming down but I found myself feeling just as flushed as before as he gazed at me, our faces a foot away from each other across the table.

He cleared his throat finally. “So, how long have you worked here?”

“Around two years. It’s fun.”

Surprise flitted across his face. “Years?” he repeated.

I frowned in confusion. “Yeah, years. Why?”

He shrugged. “Just surprised I never met you before is all. I don’t come here that often but if I do, it’s usually at night when there are fewer Nor-people to stare at me.”

I blinked, realizing what he meant. I had spotted the serpent tattoo on his neck almost right away and I was trying my hardest not to stare at it or acknowledge to myself what it inevitably meant. As we had whirled around Pop’s, dancing together, I had managed to almost forget that this boy was a South Side Serpent.

I had heard a lot about the Serpents growing up. I had always lived on the North side of Riverdale, and while I was always reminded of the many privileges which came with it, I had never really understood the actual struggle that the Southside residents experienced until the whole mess with Jason Blossom. That event showed me a lot about the Serpents and the south side’s dynamics. I had read Jughead and Betty’s articles about the topic as they were published, learning more about how the Serpents were and were not involved. I had met many different Serpents before, including FP Jones. The Serpents would occasionally come to Pop’s, though what Sweet Pea said about Northsiders staring was very true, and most Serpents didn’t want to deal with the animosity when it would inevitably end with them getting in trouble for something.

I found myself nodding sympathetically. Of all the people who could have found me dancing like an idiot, I was glad that it had been Sweet Pea. He made me feel fun and exciting instead of embarrassing me.

“Well, I just started this particular shift when school started back up. I was working days before that. And I can understand why you wouldn’t want to come during the day. Some people in this town seem convinced that human decency and logic are horrifying things.” I smiled at Sweet Pea, leaning further across the table to tentatively reach for his hand.

His hand jumped back, away from mine. I froze, feeling unsure and awkward before trying to beat a hasty retreat back to my side of the table. I could feel my cheeks filling with blood in embarrassment. 

Of course he isn’t going to let you hold his hand, idiot. He’s a badass Serpent and you’re…a waitress at Pop’s who hops around like an idiot when you think you’re alone, I berated myself, twisting my fingers together awkwardly.

“Sorry, I just-you just startled me,” he said after a second. “If someone is reaching towards me, it is very rarely a positive thing.”

I blinked like an idiot. “Oh. Right. I didn’t mean-”

“No, I know. I’m just an idiot. Surprised me is all.”

He reached out for my hand, smiling at me in a very gentle way. I tentatively reached out again, letting his warm, calloused fingers envelope mine.

We sat there for a couple minutes without saying anything. The silence was comfortable between us. We were both watching the other’s face closely as we held onto each other.

Surprisingly, I felt extremely drawn to the Serpent. I don’t think any of my friends would have ever expected me to meet and actually connect with a Serpent. My friends and I weren’t exactly close-minded, but we didn’t go out of our way to meet people from different backgrounds. We were all pretty comfortable just sticking to what we knew, especially since we had all met each other in kindergarten and had just kind of stuck together throughout the rest of our schooling. Proximity and social circles were the definite predictors for whether someone would become our friend.

Sweet Pea broke the silence with a chuckle. “If my friends say we might now, I have no idea what they would say.”

“I was just thinking the same thing! They would probably be so confused how we even connected, especially if I told them that it was because you saw me dancing.”

Sweet Pea raised his eyebrow quizzically.

“They all hate my dancing,” I admitted, laughing.

“Well, I certainly enjoyed it. A lot. You’re not half bad for a Northsider.”

I rolled my eyes in an extremely exaggerated manner. “Says the guy who broke down and danced with me. Your reputation as a badass may be called into question if anyone hears about that.” I grinned mischievously.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Sweet Pea hollered, dropping my hand in fake outrage.

“Don’t mess with me or I just might!” I said, snootily raising my nose and crossing my arms before breaking into a huge grin.

Suddenly the bell over the door rang out. Sammy walked in, already chattering about to me about how awful her day had been and how she just needed a milkshake to make the world right again. I watched her in loving amusement. She always arrives like a whirlwind, leaving traces of her perfume and the echo of her boisterous voice behind her wherever she goes. I loved her like she was a member of my family. The age difference made her more like an oddball older aunt to me. She was a single mother in her mid-thirties with two adorable kids.

I turned to see how Sweet Pea was taking Sammy’s entrance. He was smirking at her slightly, not I could tell he wasn’t judging her.

Sammy finally looked up from trying to unsuccessfully unbutton her coat. “This DAMN coat al-” she froze, noticing the additional presence in the room. “Why, hello there, my lovely Serpent friend. You’re early tonight!”

I looked between them, slightly surprised. Based on the small number of people who came in after 1 AM, I had assumed Sweet Pea just hadn’t been in since school started. I guess he usually comes in after 3 AM instead.

“Hey, Sammy. How are the kids?” Sweet Pea asked, lounging back in his booth.

“Those little ankle-biters are pure perfection and evil in one beautiful package, and don’t pretend like you don’t know it!”

Sammy managed to finally get her coat unbuttoned and she fell into the booth beside me with a sigh.

“Now I suppose I have to pull out the protective momma speech and warn you that this boy here is just looking for trouble, right?” she said in her fake stern voice, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud. “I don’t think Sweet Pea knows what trouble is. Look at that face.”

I was joking around with Sammy, but I also knew that Sweet Pea was watching us closely. I didn’t want Sammy’s attitude to scare him off.

Sammy snorted derisively. “And my left butt cheek is made of diamond encrusted gold.”

She stood in a whirl and rushed to the back of the kitchen to prepare for her shift. I stood reluctantly. I didn’t want to stop talking to Sweet Pea.

“I have to finish up here so Sammy can get started.”

Sweet Pea looked up at me from his spot in the booth. “Wanna ride home, Northsider?”

I felt my stomach leap at his words. I swallowed and tried not to look as excited as I felt.

“That would be really great if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I wouldn’t want you walking home alone at this time of day, especially with the Black Hood roaming the Northside of town.”

I gulped. I always tried not to think about the danger I put myself in every night. I knew the Black Hood was targeting Northsiders, and I bet he knew tons of details about all of our lives. With a quick nod of thanks, I turned and rushed after Sammy.

—————

When I came back from the kitchen 5 minutes later, Sweet Pea was in the same spot, staring out the window. I watched him for a moment, studying his profile. He looked tired more than anything else.

“You ready to go?” he asked, turning towards me with a knowing grin.

Embarrassed at being caught watching him, I bit my lip. “Yeah, of course. Thanks again.”

He stood and held out a hand for my bag. I gave it to him and shyly followed him out the door.

Sammy’s words to me when we were in the privacy of the kitchen ran through my head. I had asked her what her opinion of Sweet Pea was and she had responded with a warning.

“Sweetie, he’s a good boy. He’s a Serpent and he would die for them, but I know he would die for anyone he loves. Just be careful. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

I watched the back of Sweet Pea’s neck as he walked down the step before me. I could see the muscles in his neck working as he turned to look at the sleek black motorcycle resting in the corner of the parking lot.

I almost walked into his chest when he suddenly stopped and turned to me. 

“Are you good on a motorcycle?”

I shrugged. “Won’t know unless I try!”

He eyed me as a small smile twisted his lips. “Good to know. Let’s get you home.”

I buckled the helmet and held on tightly to Sweet Pea’s waist, heart in my throat. I couldn’t stop now; I had to know him. And if I found a guy who actually liked my dancing as much as Sweet Pea, I needed to hang on to him.

Let me know what you think! First time trying to write a one-shot, and I didn’t get to go back and really edit.